Hola y'all!
Alrighty so I'm sorry that my email last week was so depressing man jajaja. I'm doing SO much better and have loved the support I've gotten from everyone!
On Tuesday we had a Zone pday (preparation day). As in, the ENTIRE zone of missionaries came to pday in Alexandria!! It was so much fun! Sister Estes even agreed to get donuts on the way there at Shipley's! Just like when the El Dorado quad went down to Alexandria to meet President Amos for the first time! It was still just as good! At the Stake center with the Zone we played volleyball, ultimate frisbee, breaked for lunch then played SOCCER (Sisters versus Elders so y'all can only guess who won...the sisters basically crushed the Elders AND they even outnumbered us, it was awesome, so much fun) then murder ball (it's basically just free for all dodgeball where there are no teams and the gym is the boundaries). It was a fun day. I also talked with my family and they helped answer my questions and put my faith back on track :) Then we drove back to Leesville and stopped for burgers and cajun fries at Fatboy and Skinny's. They had some GOOD burgers man! Basically the rest of the night I helped Sister Estes pack up her stuff to be transferred to West Monroe and we prepared to get Sister Teague.
Wednesday was transfers!! We woke up at 5:35am because although Sister Teague was just like an hour away in Alexandria, Sister Estes had to drop me off there and then drive to Hammond at transfer point before driving up to West Monroe. Luckily we met at a member's home and they fed us breakfast! It was great! I even tried Crawfish jelly...not the best thing in the world...pretty spicy, but I don't know what I was thinking, it's the South! Jajaja Then i said goodbye to Sister Estes and Sister Teague drove us back to Leesville, so we were home by 11:30am. Shortest. Transfer. Ever. Then we had personal study, bought groceries, had lunch and then when the other Sisters got home we stole their car (because we had NO miles left) and went to a member's home in DeRidder and helped them pack up their stuff because they're moving. They even fed us pizza!
On Thursday I hit my 6 month mark as a missionary! That means I'm literally ⅓ of the way done with my mission, that's so crazy! I feel like I got to the mission a few weeks ago! We did a lot of catching Sister Teague up on the area during studies and weekly planning. I realized that I really don't know the ward well and Sister Teague was pretty shocked at how bad it is. I don't think I really understood until now because to Sister Estes, who had been in DeRidder since March, treated it like it was normal, so I did too. So we've got a lot of work to do with our ward (that should really be a branch (smaller congregation)) alone! But to celebrate my 6 month mark we went to go get shakes during our dinner hour and I got to drive for the first time as the new designated driver!!! I LOVE driving, but I mostly hate having the SIM card (texting people). Sadly they were out of all ice cream products at the places we went...so I drove Sister Teague and I back home for our 2 lessons that night with the Partins and Deedee in the ward, it was my first time meeting them after serving in the area for 6 weeks...then after 9pm Sister Newby and Sister Hansen surprised me with Blue Bell ice cream for my 6 month mark! They had gone to Walmart and had got it for me to celebrate! They are so sweet!
Friday we had district council in Many for the first time with the new-ish district. The new people are: Sister Teague (my companion), Sister Christensen (Sister Murdoch's companion) and 2 Elders in Nachitoches, Elder Reck and Elder Coon. The rest of the district is the same! We have 12 missionaries (once Elder Teare's companion flies in next week on the wack transfer with 7 others). It was good though. Elder Hales a.k.a. "Mama Hales" made us all French bread pizza for district lunch! It was SO good! Man he can cook! Afterwards we drove back to Leesville and had a video call with the Britts in the ward and their kids. We played the 10 commandments charades which was cool and they invited us over for dinner on Sunday for General Conference! So nice! Then we had dinner. Now I'm trying to learn how to cook this transfer since it's the first time I'm buying groceries on my own on the mission, so for dinner I made myself a stuffed Bell pepper! It was actually really good and I just put chicken, cheese and spices (of course) in there! I was so proud! Then the rest of the night we called a million members, trying to get people to talk to us.
On Saturday we had General Conference (a big broadcast from our prophet and his apostles)!!! We went to the church and there was a baptism for a little 8 year old boy, Josiah, in the ward. It was a super cute little baptism with just his family, the Bishop and us, the missionaries! After that we stayed at the church and watched the first session with the Bishop. Then we drove to our DeRidder apartment and had some lunch. It was a little difficult though because they just started construction on the other half of our building. They were ripping out the floors, walls and EVERYTHING in hazmat suits! It was crazy! They even thought our apartment was vacant! But luckily they had put a dehumidifier in there to dry it up, sadly there was no water...We watched the next session of conference in the apartment, then Sister Teague and I made fajitas for dinner. They were bomb! Then we went to our appointment with Ray. We just talked to him for a while and he really opened up to us and he's a pretty interesting guy...Then we drove home to Leesville and called it a night.
Sunday morning we watched General Conference at the Leesville apartment, had some lunch and then drove to the Britt's home on base to watch the last session of Conference at their house. They were super nice and fed us chicken, asparagus, salad, cornbread and brownies! It was wonderful having a NICE meal! Then we went home and our appointment cancelled...
Overall this week was WAY better than last week and I am slowly strengthening my testimony more, little by little every single day. It's been really cool to see how as I read the Book of Mormon everyday since my "faith crisis" I have found an answer in what I'm reading EVERY SINGLE TIME. It's so cool! I KNOW that God answers prayers and that the Book of Mormon is the word of God. I KNOW that Jesus is the Christ and is the Son of God. And I am so excited to learn and grow more everyday in the mission field!
Have a blessed week!
Smile because God loves you and remember that I love, love, love y'all too!
Love,
Sister Johnson
October Bug Bite Count: 15 bites
September Bike Mileage: 0.0 miles
August Bike Mileage: 46.9 miles
July Bike Mileage: 161.0 miles
June Bike Mileage: 61.6 miles
Pictures!!!
1. Shipley's donuts in a mask!
2. Shipley's donuts about to be eaten!!!
3. Picture with Sister Barrow after we helped her pack.
4. Cool pic of the Fort Polk sign.
