JOHNSON, MEGAN: Christmas Zone Conference

Hola y'all!

Y'all I'm starting to catch up on my emails! This was a fun week full of miracles and all that good stuff!

Monday we had pday in Many! Only the Many Elders and Leesville quad of Sisters came though because the Elders in the Nachitoches quad had to do service and had no miles (we get a certain mileage allotment per car per month). Sister Lynch, Sister Cave and Sister Hansen practiced for their musical number for Zone Conference on Thursday while we played this card game called "Ramen Fury" it was wack, but fun. We didn't get to stay in Many very long until we had to head back 1 hour and 10 minutes to DeRidder. At home we ate some Thanksgiving leftovers for dinner, called some members and did some Facebook work. Then after 9pm Sister Lynch held a tree lighting ceremony for the lights on our little 3 foot Christmas tree.

On Tuesday we went out for exercise time and it was like 27 degrees. I seriously didn't think it got that cold in Louisiana man! After our usual morning studies we went to meet Mr. Tony. We have been trying to help him clean up his yard for a while and went over there to help out, but he was too tired, at least we finally got to meet him in person, he was nice. Since we were already in our service clothes we went to “For the Critters.” We helped Ms. Debbie clean up her thrift store for a while. Later that night we met a member in our ward, Brother Landan. He was super cool and talked a lot and knows a lot about history and fed us cookies :). Then we went to dinner with the Bergs, we went to this Mexican restaurant in town and it was pretty good. Brother Berg is a recent covert and will be going to the temple soon, which is awesome - I love the temple (House of the Lord on earth)!

Wednesday morning we went to the church building so that Sister Lynch could practice the piano for her musical number. She practiced the piano with Sister Cave on the violin and Sister Hansen singing. They are going to do great! Then we called a facebook referral in the car, she was nice and we handed her off to the elders so she could meet them in person since she lived outside our area. After that we went to Ray’s house. He was pretty interested in what we had to say about the Book of Mormon! We asked why he wanted a Book of Mormon in the first place, he asked us a lot of questions about Joseph Smith, faith, our Heavenly Mother, etc. Still not sure how he feels about God though…Then we finally came home and had lunch at 3:45! Afterward we packed up and drove to Baton Rouge for Zone Conference. 3.5 hours later we made it to the Cane’s (classic Southern fast food place) in Baton Rouge and brought it home for dinner...we stayed with the LSU sisters, they are cool.

On Thursday we had Zone Conference. We got there early so Sister Lynch could practice her musical number. They are going to kill it! We went and helped Sister Amos in the kitchen to prepare the hamburger stuff for lunch. Man oh man I am bad with onions, I was tearing up all over the place! Jajaja Then we went to the chapel and started our Christmas Zone Conference. Sister Amos gave an awesome presentation about being disciples of Christ and President Amos gave a presentation on goal setting that blew our minds. Then we took a bayou break. When we came back we started the Christmas stuff. We had talks and musical numbers from a bunch of missionaries from all four (out of 10) Zones that are part of our mission. For lunch we had burgers, hot dogs, salad and chips with everyone in our fun Christmas sweaters. Back in the chapel the missionaries going home bore their final testimony for everyone in the mission. Elder Mickelson (one of the assistants to the Mission President) even shared a cool miracle about planning to barbeque for lunch, but President Amos said it would rain and to find a back up plan. Elder Mickelson told President Amos that he said a prayer and it would be fine. And guess what it all worked out. God answers prayers! After the conference we had pie and ice cream. Yum. Then we took a million and one photos before heading back to DeRidder.

On Friday morning we went to get an oil change for our car. Since it is freezing outside we filled our water bottles with hot chocolate and put on a bazillion layers. We were at that car place for 4 hours. During that time we went to the park for a couple of hours and then sat in the lobby for 2 hours. It was crazy! Sadly our lesson got cancelled but we had lots of time for weekly planning. During weekly planning we got a call from our bishop...we are going back to phase 1 and church is cancelled. That was super sad for us to hear especially because Michael and the Jacksons had said they would come to church! So that night we watched the Christ child movie as a post 9 pm missionary movie night to cheer us up. That video is so awesome and depicts the birth of Christ in such a cool way (they don't even speak English).

Saturday morning we called Mr. Lawrence, one of our referrals. We taught him how to use Facebook Messenger - that was fun jaja. Then we went to a less active member’s home with Brother Beardsley. I shared one of my favorite scriptures about Jesus Christ and his girlfriend Brinda asked for a Book of Mormon and said they would read it together that night. It was awesome! That afternoon our other lesson got cancelled, but that gave us time to write our number on a lot of pass along cards (basically a Jesus card with our phone number on the back) for the Nachitoches Christmas Lights tonight. The Britts, a family in our ward, was so nice and gave us a ride all the way to Nachitoches! MIRACLE! (we had only asked them the day of, when we found out our district was in charge of a booth there). When we got there our whole zone of missionaries was there. We walked around Front Street, talking to people, handing out pass along cards and setting up a free Hot Cocoa booth. It was so fun and the people loved our free Hot Cocoa. Then we got to stay for the firework show! So much fun! Then the Britts drove us back to Leesville. Then we drove back home to DeRidder and ate some ice cream - it was a good day :)

Sunday we had a church service planned for Michael since church got cancelled, we made it at 10 am just like regular church and a member showed up thinking church was still going on...oof. But since Michael never showed up, we were able to have sacrament with the Gunoes and Sister Boaryan. Afterwards, we came home and did our studies. We had some meetings and then after dinner I was able to call my mom for her Birthday! We also watched the First Presidency Christmas Devotional - it was amazing! 10/10 recommend! A great end to a great week.

This week I got to finally see the Baton Rouge temple, the only temple in our mission. It was a lot smaller than I expected, but nonetheless beautiful! I love how I can feel peace even when I'm not inside the temple and that I can feel His presence at all times, but especially around the temple. I feel so close to heaven when I'm there and it reassures me that God is always looking out for us. One of my favorite scriptures about Jesus Christ and His sacrifice for us is in the Book of Mormon in Alma 7:11-12 that says

"11 And he shall go forth, suffering pains and afflictions and temptations of every kind; and this that the word might be fulfilled which saith he will take upon him the pains and the sicknesses of his people.

12 And he will take upon him death, that he may loose the bands of death which bind his people; and he will take upon him their infirmities, that his bowels may be filled with mercy, according to the flesh, that he may know according to the flesh how to succor his people according to their infirmities."

Although there is uncertainty throughout the world, I can find peace that Jesus Christ knows how to help me, is there for me and knows me individually.

Have a blessed week!

Smile because God loves you and remember that I love, love, love y'all too!

Love,

Sister Johnson

November Bug Bite Count: 18 bites

October Bug Bite Count: 39 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. One of my best friends Mira sent me Chip Cookie for my birthday!