The End

Hola y'all! 

 

Monday was my very last pday as a missionary y'all! So crazy! I talked to my family and I'm gonna see them in person this week! Crazy! I kinda just thought I'd be a missionary forever and just see them through a screen jaja but I'm super excited to see them and my friends again! As a district we all went to the beach! The Gulf Coast is definitely not quite the same beach as back home in SoCal especially with Gulfport's fake man-made beach but it was still nice to walk in the sand, find hermit crabs and feel the water on my feet. Oh how I've missed being able to swim and just go to the beach. Anyways after we gathered all the hermit crabs into one pile and made them fight, we went to the church after getting some Wendy's and just chilled, signing each other's transfer journals. Then our quad went to Subway with the Elders for the last time. It was good. We also raced over there (remember that I can't go 6mph over the speed limit so I raced within what I had to work with jaja) and I totally won so that's always good. Then we dropped the other sisters off at a lesson, did some language study and picked them up again. Then I packed a little bit. Ahh! 

Tuesday was my last full proselyting day y'all!! Ooooo y’all let me tell ya! I had one good personal study! So I've been really concerned with keeping up the habits I've learned on my mission when I go back home and I'm reading 2 Nephi 25 near the end in verses 23-26. I read "it is by grace that we are saved, after all we can do" and had the thought that when we put in all that we can do, all our effort, God will make up for the rest and I know that to be true. I've experienced it on my mission being called to do things I never thought I could have done alone. But that's because God was right there with me and I know that He'll still be with me after my mission too. I know that it takes faith and obedience to receive blessings and that as it says in verse 26 "we talk of Christ, we rejoice in Christ, we preach of Christ, we prophesy of Christ"-  so Christ should be at the center of everything. That's what imma try to do after my mission too, center everything on Christ. And especially so "that [my future] children may know to what source they may look for" hope, joy and peace.” Reading this is my personal study just helped me realize that it's gonna be ok, God will still be with me and that God still answers my questions, even on my last full day as a missionary. Anyways after that we went about our day. We had 3 lessons scheduled and they all fell through so that was kinda a rip...we still did a good amount of contacting, Facebook work and studies though before English class. The senior couple, the Wests, came and we had 2 people that were totally new! This mom and her 9 year old daughter, Gabrielle! They were super sweet and the mom wasn't very confident in her English skills but hopefully we were able to help her out a bit. After that Sister Giuffria drove us to her house to help pack some more stuff and then took us out to Sonic for ice cream afterwards. Yum! 

On Wednesday we had transfers in the morning. It was so weird to be leaving my missionary apartment and to not be going to a new one or receiving my transfer news about my new assignment. I guess my new assignment is to go home and be a member missionary. That morning I packed up my stuff, put on one of my favorite dresses and Sister Scrogham was even nice enough to offer to curl my hair for my last day! Then we drove on down to T-point and it was literally so fun to see everyone and all the past missionaries I’ve served around and past companions and all that. We took a TON of pictures with everyone saying goodbye before they all left for their next areas. Then Sister Lynch and I basically decided we’d be companions again to walk around and say hi to everyone since she is going home too (which is so weird that she served in the Kirtland Ohio historic sites and then came to the LBRM where I got to train her when she is literally at the same time spent on the mission as me…I guess I technically did extend my mission by a transfer but still…wack). But it was really nice to have a buddy since Sister Scrogham went off on her own with her new companion while the rest of the day I will be companionless. Then they gathered up all the missionaries who were going home, which oddly enough it was only sisters and no Elders since we all came out with the first group of COVID reassigned missionaries and all, and we piled in the van driven by the AP’s. We drove to the Baton Rouge Temple because it is the tradition that all of the missionaries going home get to go through the temple together on their last day. It was super special because I had never served around the temple and was too close to going home by the time the temple opened back up to ever go through, so while some of the other sisters had already been to the temple before, I had never. It was so cute and small and it was super sweet because President and Sister Amos were there too as we all did an endowment session together. It was literally so great and I was the very last one to go through and surprisingly I remembered everything after so long! It just made it all that much more personal for me and then to be able to sit in the celestial room and read the scriptures by myself. I was reading in the Book of Mormon and landed on the story of the vision of the tree of life and specifically noticed the verses about holding to the iron rod, the word of God, or the scriptures. I have been so worried about going home and that I’ll go inactive since I didn’t really do any of the gospel study that I do now before my mission, so those verses from my faith flip were exactly what I didn’t about how to stay active in the church and how to stay strong while not having specific time set aside for personal study, a companion to keep you accountable and the spirit with you CONSTANTLY and so strong everyday. It was just perfect! Then the AP’s drove us all to the mission home, where we’d be for the rest of our time in the LBRM. We were free to do whatever we wanted, so President Amos started doing go-home-interviews while we played games outside and stuff. Eventually it came time for my last interview with President Amos which I was SUPER excited for! He is literally THE BEST and probably one of the reasons I’m here in the LBRM. He is exactly what I needed during my time here and my last interview was no different. He was direct and made everything seem so much more simple. I told him about my worries of going inactive and he emphasized reading my scriptures and doing the small, simple things daily to stay close with Christ. He said to do what is doable for that specific day, whether that means reading one chapter or one verse, for 20 minutes or 5 minutes, and to remember that tomorrow is a new day and you have the opportunity to start over again. After hearing that it made everything a little less scary! Then Sister Amos gathered us up for another LBRM tradition of making Jambalaya for our last night. It was so much fun and it was so good!! Then we had a little testimony meeting and it was so crazy to see how far we’d all come. The whole night we’d been reminiscing about our first day arriving here and staying at the mission home together. I don’t think I ever would have imagined being able to strongly and confidently bear a testimony that is ALL MINE, based on experiences of my own and knowledge that I came to know for myself to be true. 

Thursday morning we all got up and got ready to go to the airport. It was all ending so quickly! Once we got to the airport most of us were gonna be on the same plane to Houston, we said goodbye to the other sisters and then got on the plane. Since we had an odd number of us, everyone was sitting next to another sister missionary except for me, I would be sitting next to a complete stranger during our short flight less than 2 hours. At first I was sad about not sitting next to one of my missionary friends but then this really nice lady named Dayna sat next to me and we talked the ENTIRE time! And as we landed I was able to give her a Book of Mormon and exchange phone numbers! God really was looking out for me and showing me that I can still be a missionary even when I’m not in Louisiana with my companion! Then I had to say goodbye to everyone since they were all going to Utah and I was flying by myself back to San Diego. It was sad and crazy all at the same time. I didn’t have any super exciting conversations with anyone on my next flight but the family sitting next to me was speaking Spanish! All the skills I learned over the last 18 months were being put to the test! Then we landed in San Diego and I was SO nervous and excited to get to see my family again!! But as soon as I got on that escalator and saw them standing at the bottom, I was just overcome with pure joy.

I just want to finish out this last email with my testimony. I KNOW that the Book of Mormon is true and that it is the word of God written for our day, to help us now. It has already helped me so much with everything. I KNOW that having questions about the gospel does not mean you lack a testimony and that questions are how we learn and grow. I KNOW that Heavenly Father loves each and every one of His children. I KNOW that Jesus Christ lives and suffered the Atonement for us so that we can live with our Heavenly Father again as eternal families. I KNOW that Joseph Smith was a prophet, divinely inspired by God to restore His church in these latter days. I KNOW that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints is His church on the earth again and I KNOW that it is true. And I say this in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen. 

Have a blessed week! 

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

Oh and remember that "we did not come this far only to come this far"!

Love, 

Hermana Johnson

October Bike Mileage: 0

Pictures!!!

1. My last companion selfie with Sister Scrogham at our apartment in Gulfport

2. Sister Lynch and I and Sister Amos at T-point

3. Literally all of the sisters at T-point 

4. Me in front of the Temple!

5. Our entire group picture in front of the temple

6. Then the AP’s got a quick selfie at the temple too

7. A picture of Sister Ward and I recreating a picture when we first got to the mission home, Sister Solomon wasn’t going home with us so Sister Lynch was our stand-in Sister Solomon lol 

8. A side-by-side of our recreation 

9. Everyone in the kitchen cooking Jambalaya

10. Me putting the finishing touches on our Jambalaya

11. Sister Lynch and I with the final product

12. My picture with President and Sister Amos

13. All of the sisters going home on the stairs of the mission home

14. Me with the Baton Rouge sign at the airport

15. A fun little bathroom mirror selfie with some of the sisters at the airport 

16. We found this cool map at the airport

17. Picture of the Mississippi River out the airplane window

18. Selfie with Hermana Hunt and Sister Lynch on the plane

19. My family waiting for me at the airport, they're so cute!

20. A picture of me and my dad

21. A family selfie out in the airport parking lot (minus Ethan who was busy taking an exam)

22. The side-by-side of our family selfies at the airport

23. Me back at the beach

Are You Scared Of Death? I’m Scared Of Insects

Hola y'all! 

 

 

Bruh…this was my last full week of missionary activities…

 

 

Monday we had zone pday. We all got to the church and each companionship carved a pumpkin, Sister Scrogham and I carved a bat on our white pumpkin (she picked it out lol). Then we headed over to a member's house in Orange Grove and they gave us lunch. We had enchiladas, rice, beans, lemonade and peach cobbler for dessert! They were so nice! Then we all headed back to the church and played kickball (obviously my team won), since messenger and all apps connected to Facebook were down I couldn't really contact anyone…then we played a couple rounds of Monopoly Deal and messenger started working for like the last 15 minutes of my pday! Then we headed home, had dinner and did some language study and training stuff. 

 

 

On Tuesday morning Sister Scrogham was up and awake for personal study! I even got to daily plan with someone else (Sister Thelin) since Sister Bailey is going to Houston for her French visa stuff so we're gonna be a trio for a couple days. Then since Sister Scrogham was up, we finally went and visited our referrals from Sister Garcia. On the way there we saw a bunch of cool old cars for Cruising the Coast, some event going on this week. First we stopped at Yazmin's house. We knocked on her door and she was super nice, we said we were friends with Sister Garcia and she asked if we wanted to come inside so we said yes. We tried getting to know her, obviously we don't know too much small talk in Spanish so yeah...but then her husband, Luis, was home too!! We asked if we could share a verse with them, it took a hot minute to help them find it, they said that they'd both been baptized super young and were trying to get into church. But we read Matthew 11:28-30, one of my favorites about the Atonement of Jesus Christ. After we shared it and everything that Christ has done for us Luis started asking some questions. He asked if we were scared of dying even though we know about Jesus Christ. I told him yeah it's still scary but that Christ can bring us peace. Then Sister Scrogham proceeded to tell him how she's scared of insects and he gave her a weird look, she didn't quite understand what he said in Spanish jaja. But then we got back on track explaining that death is scary but because of God's plan we know what will happen and that Christ can give us hope. Then he asked if we're Mormon and we explained that Mormon didn't die for our sins, Christ did, so we like to be called members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints and we are Christians. Then he asked if we have a Pope so we explained a little about prophets and President Nelson, the living prophet today. He asked how other churches can be hypocritical and be super rich but not help others in poorer countries. We got to explain all of the church's humanitarian efforts and showed a picture of us doing Helping Hands hurricane cleanup. He had so many good questions and wants his kids to know about God too! It was so awesome!! Then we went to Antonia's house, met her and set something up to come back next week (sadly when I'll be gone, which is so weird). Then we came home, some other French sisters picked up Sister Bailey and we became a trio with Sister Thelin. Since this week is our grind finding week we all just called a bunch of people trying to set stuff up. Then we went to English class. We got there a little later than we usually do to set up and when we walked in Laura, from Tuesday's class, was just sitting in the room in the dark. She thought the class started at 5, not 5:30! Poor lady! But the thing was that she stayed!! And her son, Joseph, came and so did Miriam! It was still small but good! Then we went to Subway and Sister Scrogham just loaded up on chips and we all stayed clear of the turkey. Then we came home and called some more people. 

 

 

Wednesday I had my very last district council. It really hit me hard when we all stood together and recited our missionary purpose for my last time. It'll be the last time that is my full-time purpose: to invite others to come unto Christ. It was kinda sad for me, but we had a good council on personal revelation and the steps of asking, believing that you will receive an answer, being worthy of an answer and acting on that answer. Elder Smith even showed a cool video of Elder Bednar, one of the current 12 Apostles, talking about the difficulty of recognizing when the spirit is gone, especially as missionaries because the spirit is constantly with you as you teach and find people. It was very good. Then we went to the library to meet this grandma named Margo to tutor her grandson, Nakota, in Spanish. It was very interesting...she is homeschooling him and needed help with the pronunciation. We did have to assure her that we were not perfect cuz definitely still learning over here but it was fun to just pronounce basic words for them to repeat. It was also kinda funny cuz some words I didn't know if I was pronouncing them 100% correctly but there were a few I felt solid about and the grandma would look at me and be like "are you sure?" and I would just be like "yeah" It was fun though and they were super nice. Then since her book had some Bible verses we practiced I asked if we could close with a prayer and they said yes! I asked if they wanted it in Spanish or English and they asked for both...so Sister Scrogham prayed in Spanish and I translated it into English. It was cool! On the way home we dropped off some more English class fliers at the store we witnessed a drug deal at and literally as we walked out, all 3 of us were sure another one happened when a lady walked into this Spanish store, clearly didn't speak Spanish, and a fat wad of cash in her hand… awkward… Anyways we came home, Sister Scrogham and I jumped on a call with the Biloxi missionary coordination which was good, not a lot of Spanish stuff went on but hopefully that will change. Then we had 2 lessons with some of Sister Thelin's people; a pass-off lesson with the Elders and someone wanting to be baptized but doesn't quite seem all the way there and this nice dude named Alfred who wants a Book of Mormon. Good stuff. 

 

 

On Thursday morning Elder and Sister West, our Senior couple in the Zone, came over to do an apartment inspection. They confirmed our suspicions that there is mold on our bathroom ceiling...very gross, very black and looks very much like someone tried to clean it up but just smeared it everywhere. After that our trio biked to someone Sister Thelin is teaching. Since Sister Scrogham doesn't currently have a functioning bike it was an adventure for her riding Sister Bailey's bike (keep in mind Sister Bailey is 5"10 and Sister Scrogham is 5"2 so...yeah jaja). But we made it and I forgot how much I like to bike and Sister Scrogham did a lot better than the first time we rode bikes and I thought she was gonna die slowly making her way along the beach lol. Unfortunately though when we got to her house she was not home...fat rip. So we biked home, had personal study and then Sister Bailey got back from the consulate in Texas! Most of the afternoon was spent doing my last ever weekly planning session before we headed to Biloxi for a lesson with Juanquina (this is the same lady who I had my first Spanish lesson with here and didn't say anything but the closing prayer so I was super determined to say something this time!) and the Spanish Elders. We were a little late because of all the traffic from Cruising the Coast so I had to use some of my raceway driver skills (just kidding I can't even speed with a tiwi lol). We ended up having to wait for Hermano Espinal anyways. Then we went up and Juanquina's daughter, Maria, was there too with her kids as well. We watched the 20 minute Restoration video in Spanish together and then talked about it. Man oh man was I feeling the spirit strong during the video, even if I didn't understand all of it Hermano! Hermano Espinal did most of the talking and he has such a strong testimony! It was so good! He even brought up baptism and Elder Ruebush invited them to be baptized, Maria and her son were totally down but Juanquina was baptized into another church when she was younger and was hesitant about being baptized again. Elder Ruebush tried explaining and Hermano Espinal took over. Then he asked if us sisters had anything to say. Sister Scrogham was kinda thrown off so I started bearing my testimony. Somehow that was the fastest Spanish I've ever spoken in my life, the words just kept coming (I mean it was still a little rough but it felt good) and Sister Scrogham said that Juanquina even had some tears in her eyes! Then everyone else proceeded to bear their testimonies too and it was sustained so good and the spirit in the room was so strong. Then we had to go because it was 6:30 and our English class started at 7...30 minutes away in Gulfport! So I pulled out the racecar driver skills again and we got there with just enough time to set everything up and scramble to get someone to the building to unlock it for us. We had Juan and Laura and her son Joseph come. It was a good class. At the end I had been thinking of a scripture to share for the spiritual thought and changed it last minute to Matthew 7:7-8 about prayer. As I was bearing my testimony in Spanish I wanted to say "I know God hears our prayers" but the word for "to hear" would not come out of my mouth, I visualized the word but it wouldn't come out! Then Juan stepped in and bore his own testimony and it was really good! Tiny MIRACLE! 

 

 

Friday was an interesting day...we did our studies in the morning, the Elders came over to fix Sister Scrogham's bike because I didn't have the right wrench, we made them cookies for helping, then Sister Scrogham made us this Chicago pizza (last week her parents sent her some of her favorite Chicago foods frozen in a box) and it was pretty good. We decided to stop by the Alvarez family again, knocked on their door and it totally sounded like someone walked up to the door on the inside but no one answered, then we went to the church so I could finish MyPlan (course for missionaries going home) while Sister Scrogham made some posters for us to hand out free Jesus books. Then we went to this neighborhood where lots of Spanish-speaking people live and thought we could set up our car and hand out stuff but there were some signs that said we couldn't park unless we were residents and no good place to do it...so we drove around looking for a better spot they might be to hang out but couldn't find one. We decided to try going to the parking lot of a tienda and some other stores. We started setting up and after we got our table out this dude named Brad started talking to us. He has been through A LOT, apparently there was a movie a while back about some Somali pirates and stuff based on a true story. He was the engineer for one of the ships that got captured in real life! They even left some metal in his body and he had to get surgery then an electrician cut a wrong cord and the power went out during his surgery and now he has a giant scar all up his stomach…he even showed us...anyways he talked to us for like 30 minutes, got his number, gave him a Book of Mormon and all the good stuff. It was 6:30 and starting to get dark but we stayed out there...there weren't a lot of people and everyone we asked said no...one dude pulled up and we gave him a Libro de Mormón y la Santa Biblia! So that was sick! At home we were supposed to have a lesson with this guy named Edwin from some other sisters in Florida but he didn't answer the phone...then we called some members to tell them about church in Spanish on Sunday!!

 

 

On Saturday morning we had to take the car to the shop to get an oil change so we took our bikes with us and biked to the beach, took some pictures of a Book of Mormon for FB marketplace, filmed a teaching video for Abraham, then headed back to get the car. After getting it the transfer boards with everyone's transfer news went up on the Google Drive. It was really weird to not see my name anywhere...kinda really sad. But Sister Scrogham is staying here and getting Sister Bogh as a companion, they lived together in NOLA and both just finished training so that will be fun. Sister Glenn, the other NOLA sister, is getting Sister Tippetts trainees while Purvis and Baton Rouge are getting English sisters serving Spanish-speaking. Sister Angilau is training 2 sisters in Purvis in Spanish! Crazy stuff! Also Sister Thelin is training Sister Thelin! Lol Then after our studies we called all the people in our areabook that seemed to speak Spanish. Only a few answered but still good! Then we were supposed to have a lesson with this guy named Carl, we drove all the way to his house 30 minutes away, he wasn't home from work even though we had talked to him that day so we waited outside his house for 30 minutes but nothing...so we came home, had dinner and then our whole quad biked to the beach to talk to people at Cruising the Coast. We all biked over there at 7pm in the dark jaja, parked our bikes, split up and walked along the beach. Sadly we didn't find any Spanish people but we gave out some Jesus pictures, heard some really loud music and cars, got lots of cat calls...even some for my mother...very awkward...and saw some really fancy looking cars. 

 

 

Sunday morning we drove to my very first Spanish sacrament meeting as a missionary...and my last. EVER. Church. As. A. Missionary. CRAZY! It was like 8:55am and church started at 9am for both the Biloxi English Ward and our Spanish Group and no one was there yet for Spanish. We kinda freaked out a little...then finally the Elders got there, then the Espinals, Brenda and her family and then Juanquina and her family. We had 11 people there and 16 if we include the missionaries!! It was so awesome! Hermano Espinal is the group leader so he conducted the meeting. Sister Scrogham plays a little piano so she was gonna play some prelude music when he started. She realized that the Spanish hymn book is different from the English one (less hymns and different numbers) and was trying to find hymns she could play when I heard Hermano Espinal announcing we were gonna sing some hymns he had...I translated for her and she was like "oh" then he wrote the hymns numbers on the board and we tried to figure out what they were in English. It was so awkward cuz she didn't know what they were supposed to sound like so it wasn't quite the right tune but Hermano y Hermana Espinal were desperately trying to sing to it and have everyone follow along but it wasn't really working...during the second hymn she gave up during the middle of it and we decided to just play it from her phone. But Hermano Espinal was so nice about it and said "this is a good time to practice. We are a family ``. It was so sweet!! Then Elder Ruebush blessed the sacrament and Alvin Espinal passed it while his dad gestured how to do it jaja. It was so cute! Hermano Espinal was the only speaker but he gave a great talk about the importance of the Priesthood, fighting the natural man and enduring to the end. He has such a strong testimony and it seemed to be the perfect thing for Juanquina to hear! Then all the Spanish members left except for the Espinals who stayed for the second hour of church in English. We had a really good Relief Society discussion on President Nelson's opening remarks about listening for pure truth, pure doctrine and pure revelation during General Conference. It was really good. It made me keep thinking of 4 Nephi after Christ visited the Americas and how when the people had the love of God, there was no contention and they were blessed! I just need to hold to that as I prepare to go home this week,  anyways then we came home, planned for the day, got into a small argument about planning for sending videos to Abraham (basically I wanted to plan out a principle to teach and invitation for him and who should say which part, but Sister Scrogham wanted to "let the spirit guide" so she took 2 seconds to pick a scripture and started recording...anyways I think we're good now). Then we just had studies, did some Facebook work and then headed to a lesson in Gulfport with Brenda's family and the Elders. We got to her house and there were 6 other people there! Her kinda husband (probably not legal), Salvador, her 2 kinda sister-in-laws named Cecilia and Vanessa, daughter Cindy and like 2 year old niece. Milagros. We were planning on talking about the Restoration and showing the video. But before we did Brenda just went off about everything; how she wants all of them to be baptized, how she loves going to church and how the church is a church of order which freaks out Salvador because it seems like there's so many rules oof. After that we showed the video and asked everyone what their favorite part was. Brenda went off again and then everyone else answered. It was really funny to see that when I spoke all 3 ladies' heads turned to look at me speaking Spanish jaja fun stuff. We gave them all Libros de Mormón and invited them to read it and all 4 of us missionaries bore our testimonies on it and so did Brenda. It was good and at only one point was the little girl running around with no pants on jaja. We also invited them to English class and Sister Scrogham taught Brenda and Cindy how to say "Sup dog". It was pretty hilarious! Then we came home, had dinner, some of Sister Scrogham's Cheesecake, and my last stewies with Sister Bailey. She gave me some advice on not going inactive (aka my biggest fear) when I go home lol. But she said that she heard somewhere that if you're reading the Book of Mormon everyday you won't go inactive so that's what I'm gonna do! 

 

 

To finish things off I want to actually share 4 Nephi 1:15 which says “And it came to pass that there was no contention in the land, because of the love of God which did dwell in the hearts of the people.” I know that with the love of God, all things can be made right, whether that is our love for God or His love for us. As I get ready to go home I just keep thinking about holding to that truth that God loves me and therefore will help me, be with me and carry me through. Because of that and all that my Savior, Jesus Christ, has done for me, the least I can do is continue to learn and grow by studying and living the gospel. I know that God loves each one of yall and with that knowledge we can do great things! 

 

 

Have a blessed week! 

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

Oh and remember that "we did not come this far only to come this far"!

 

 

Love, 

Hermana Johnson 

 

 

October Bike Mileage: 0 miles 

 

 

Pictures!!!

1. Zone pumpkin carving at its finest 

2. Our companion bat pumpkin 

3. All our little pumpkins lined up 

4. My very last district council pic 

5. Classic Subway group selfie 

6. Classic giving out free Libros de Mormon in front of the Latina Tienda

7. Ok ok so this is our recreation in process selfie

8. Ok ok the original picture 

9. Ok ok our quad recreation of the OG pic (one night we had a district competition of best recreations and this was one of ours…you can’t even tell the difference can you? )

10. Cool red car at Cruising the Coast 

11. Cool corvette at Cruising the Coast

UR & Cops & ER

Hola y'all! 

 

 

I'm so sorry everyone, get ready for the longest email yet...

 

 

Monday was so fun this time. We chilled in the apartment in the morning, went and got groceries, came back and had lunch, then drove to Biloxi for the rest of the day. I was so bored last week that I basically forced our quad to go do something fun together jaja. We planned on going to this super cool looking place called the Sugar Factory that had cool drinks and crazy dishes with extravagant desserts. The only thing was that it's in a Casino and none of us are 21 yet but we thought we could get someone to walk us in so that was the plan. We got to the Hard Rock Casino and walked in and the lobby didn't have anyone checking for ID so we thought that we'd made it in!! Then we met this security guard dude named James and started talking to him. He called us angels, played basketball against BYU in his younger years and told us all this stuff about Biloxi. He was super cool, then he told us we'd been walking the wrong way to get to the Sugar Factory so he showed us the way around the corner and that's when we saw the ID table...we awkwardly told him we're not 21 and he said we'd have to have someone over the age of 30 escort us in and be with us the whole time and get special red bands to identify us as not being 21...so that was a fat rip. We even tried asking him to walk us in but he was getting off work so we were all pretty bummed. We did give him a Jesus card with our number on it though! Then we walked outside and went to a little Hurricane Katrina memorial which was cool and crazy to read some of the facts from what happened. Then since we were all craving dessert we drove to this place called The Yard Milkshake Bar cuz it looked like it had cool desserts too. Their milkshakes were huge! We all ended up getting bowls, mine had a whole slice of Cheesecake on top with edible cookie dough and ice cream on the bottom! It was so fun! Then we went to this place called Sharkheads, a souvenir place on the beach and got some stuff. Then we walked along the beach for the sunset before heading home. It was so fun! Then we got home and I had decided to call Sister Amos (mission President's wife) about going to the doctor for my face since it's still a little bruised from getting hit 2 weeks ago and there's a small bump on my cheek. She freaked out and said I had to go to urgent care tomorrow morning so that'll be exciting tomorrow. The rest of the night we just studied and contacted people. 

 

 

On Tuesday morning we went over to Urgent Care to get my face and foot looked at. The doctor basically touched my face and said it looked like I had a previous injury or had gotten stitches because the skin was all stuck together in that area with a build up of scar tissue...basically I have a bump of scar tissue I have to rub with Vitamin E and a dimple on my upper cheek that wasn't there before I got hit in the face lol. Then I asked about my right foot because like 5 months ago I totally tripped over it and with hurricane cleanup and walking around Biloxi yesterday it was really hurting from being on my feet all day (like the top of my foot had sharp pain). She poked it and said it wasn't swollen and it happened so long ago it should be healed...so she told me to just take ibuprofen when I know I'll be on my feet and wrap it...in my head I was like "I'm just supposed to deal with this the rest of my life and take pain medication when it gets bad?!" So yup that was that. We came home, did our studies, had lunch and then went to the pharmacy to get me that medical stuff. I got Vitamin E oil for my face and an ankle compression sock thingy for my foot. When we got home I tested out my ankle thing and as soon as I walked with it my foot didn't hurt! That compression sock is a miracle! I didn't quite realize how much my foot hurt until the brace made it feel so much better. It was crazy! I think I've been walking on my foot weird to compensate for the pain and so it's just been wack! But I'm all good (for the most part) now! Then we invited a bunch more people to English class and headed out. On the way to the church building we realized we didn't have a key and the other sisters wouldn't get there until English class started...fat rip. So we just kept going and prayed that someone might be there who could open the church and there was 1 car in the parking lot!  But the lady didn't have a key BUT she said her friend was on the way with her key! MIRACLE! Then her friend pulled up like 2 seconds later! The Lord really wanted us to have English class yall! So we went in and got all set up by like 5:15 for the class at 5:30 and then I heard voices in the halls. Then 2 people came around the corner! Their names are Juan and Miriam! They were super nice and Miriam even gave us hugs. Juan is from Columbia and Miriam is from Ecuador. They both knew a little bit of English but couldn't really form the best sentences and stuff. They were so sweet though and a funny pair. Miriam even started showing us pictures of all her kids and grandkids, she started getting a little emotional since they are still in Ecuador. Then Juan told us about his grandkids. So cute! Then it was 5:31 so we thought we'd get started and then 3 MORE PEOPLE walked in!!! That's 5 WHOLE PEOPLE AT ENGLISH CLASS!! MIRACLES! The 3 people that came in were Laura, Teresa and her teenage son, Yester (who already spoke English but was there to help his mom). We went over the first 2 lessons and it was so good! Although halfway through Miriam pulled up Google Translate and it said "we have to make this class enjoyable" and I died inside! She was so sweet! It was a good class! Then we printed out some more English class fliers and joined the Gulfport Ward Council. Then we all rushed over to Subway with the Elders and headed home. And yall will never guess what happened on the way home! I was driving and saw a cop behind me with his lights on, freaked out and switched lanes, he did too and then I got pulled over by this cop! It was on the main road and the speed limit was 35 and I was going like 40 and he was like "I was going 42 and you pulled ahead, gotta be cautious". I was about to tell him that we literally have a device that makes me not speed but he just warned me and then let me go. This was my very first time being pulled over!! And yall I didn't even pass him. This is what I think happened, so I took a different road than the other sisters on the way home from Subway. When I turned right onto the main road the cop was there and the sisters (in the exact same car as us) zoomed passed him and I never even caught up to them. I was next to the cop for like 5 seconds then he slowed down to talk to a lady in the middle of the road. So lowkey I think he meant to pull over the other sisters but whatever. 

 

 

Wednesday was a long day so I apologize for how long this is about to get...but Wednesday morning I woke up to Sister Scrogham going to the bathroom all night long...she was having diarrhea and just not feeling good. So I told her to stay in bed while I went about my usual morning routine. Then she started throwing up, at one point I had to take a shower so I was trying to do it fast and left the door unlocked and right before I got out she came in to puke...that was fun to listen to…anyways she wasn't doing too good so we called Sister Amos who said the nurse would call us. An hour passed by and the nurse still hadn't called us. So I started trying to find the mission nurse and called like 5 different past mission nurses and couldn't find the current one! After SOO long we finally got a hold of her and she told Sister Scrogham to take sips of fluid to replenish her body and stuff like that, she puked while we were on the phone, Sister Amos wanted us to go to urgent care so we made the soonest appointment for 10:57am but the nurse didn't really want us to go until this afternoon so she told us to reschedule for later...but I had a feeling I shouldn't. Then I had personal study while helping Sister Scrogham get some things. Then she said she wanted to go to urgent care now, it was 10:40 and thankfully the spirit helped me to not cancel our appointment so we drove right there. It was nice that I had literally been there the day before so I knew how to get there, what they would ask, etc. She couldn't even back our car out, had to hold on to me to walk, looked super pale and I helped her fill out all her stuff so she just signed papers with a weak little squiggle then she went to the back. They even thought I was her mom (lol probs cuz she looks so small). After a few minutes the nurse told me to pull the car up and that they wanted her to go to the ER! I was like bruh what?! So I disobediently left the building of my companion to drive the car up to the front as they wheeled Sister Scrogham out in a wheelchair and told me to go to the ER cuz her heart rate was way high, 160 resting. So I rushed over to the ER as fast, and as smooth, as I could go. When we pulled up they got her a wheelchair, also thought I was her mom lol but since I wasn't they made me leave the building. Since we only have 1 sim card, I took both our phones so I could call Sister Amos and gave her our phone number to call when everything was done. Then I walked back to the car, alone and called Sister Amos. I told her what happened and she was worried that Sister Scrogham may stay there overnight. President Amos was in the background and said that the Longbeach sisters should just come pick me up. They wanted me to just leave her there. They had me go back into the ER to see if they knew how long she'd be there so I did, but she had only just gone back. Then I called the quad, well they were on exchanges with Wiggins so it was Sister Smart and Sister Thelin. They had gone biking to an appointment and had left the keys inside and were locked out so they couldn't come pick me up...of course everything goes wrong. But they were able to talk to the apartment people, get the apartment unlocked and drive over to me. Although I was there, all alone in the hospital parking lot for like 45 minutes because it took them a hot minute. It was weird to be alone for so long, I also really had to pee but oh well. Once they finally got there I went back into the ER for the last time to see how much longer. The front desk lady said they were just waiting on her x-rays and vitals and stuff. It was funny cuz this was like my 3rd time going in there alone so Sister Thelin was outside looking through the door cuz I didn't realize I didn't have a companion jaja. Then we drove home, it was my time in a trio. The mission was starting a missionwide fast at 1 for General Conference this weekend so in the car we joined that. But once we got home I had to eat some lunch cuz it was 1:30 and I was starving. Sister Smart and I made pizzas. After lunch I called the ER and they said she was being discharged so we went back to the hospital to go pick her up! She was looking a little better and was so much more talkative like her normal self. We wheeled her out to the car and she said it was food poisoning, possible salmonella or E. coli which led to dehydration which made her heart rate go up. So they pumped her with 2 liters of fluid and ran a whole bunch of tests. It probably didn't help that she's already only like 100 pounds and so tiny. The doctor said it was probably the turkey from Subway the night before. OK crazy thing! Last night I almost ordered a sandwich with turkey, so did Sister Thelin and changed at last minute and Elder Smith ordered turkey but the dude gave him chicken! So Sister Scrogham was the only one who got turkey! Crazy! Anyways we went to CVS to pick up her prescriptions and stuff, I still had to help her walk and stuff. Then we headed home and man those 3 flights of stairs were quite the challenge for her. We went very very slowly. Then she called her family to tell them what happened so I went to talk to the other sisters in the living room about the plan because guess what yall?! My very last Zone Conference was the next day in Hattiesburg so we were staying the night in Wiggins. I was really worried I wouldn't get to go which would suck so hard but Sister Amos said she could just sit in the back. Then Sister Thelin and Sister Smart asked me how she was doing, honestly she was doing great in the car until Sister Amos said she could go to Zone Conference and all those people would have to see her, she also didn't want a Priesthood blessing because she didn't want the Elders to see her...but whatever. They said that we shouldn't go to Wiggins and stuff which totally crushed me, it was like 6pm and I was up all night with her, spent the whole day helping her, getting her the right medicine at the right time and worrying about her and they wanted us to just stay her and not go to Zone Conference. I thought that we could make the 40 minute drive to Wiggins and have her just sleep, then drive the 40 minutes to Hattiesburg and have her sleep on a couch during the meeting, I mean she's gonna be sick in the apartment or sick in the church building, which may have been insensitive but it was my last Zone Conference and I was so sad to miss that. They basically decided for me that I should stay while they go to Wiggins. I remember just sitting on the couch, starting to cry as they just looked at me...I wondered if they could take my place or do something but they just looked at me. They then hugged me, but it was more of a sad pity hug as they grabbed their suitcases to leave me alone. I felt absolutely horrible and like the most selfish person ever for wanting to go to the last ever Zone Conference. Then she finally finished talking with her family and said she could make it to Wiggins since she'd just be sick there too. I was so excited! I helped her pack up and grab snacks and fluids her body could handle and walked her ever so slowly down the stairs and into the car. She slept for most of the drive, when we got to Wiggins the whole zone of sisters were there so she talked to them all for a while and seemed pretty good. I set up her bed while they talked then helped her get ready to shower, get her meds and go to bed. As I talked to the other sisters about the possibility of not going to the Zone Conference the next morning, I got the same look of pity from before, except from Suster Burdge. She didn't hesitate to offer to exchange with me so I could go since she has 2 more conferences. That was so nice of her! I still said no though holding out hope. Then Sister Scrogham called me and had a fever (probably from her massive heated blanket but oh well), I frantically called Sister Amos over the loud sisters having fun in the other room. She told me to give her Tylenol but we didn't have any so she told us to go to the store. Then Sister Scrogham changed her mind and told us not to go. Then a while later she called me again and said to go get it, so Sister Burdge and Sister Smart went at like 9:30pm to grab some. Then she was up the rest of the night getting fluids and going to the bathroom. 

 

 

On Thursday morning I woke up and let her sleep in, I was so tired from not getting hardly any sleep the last 2 days. She was willing to go to Zone Conference MIRACLE so I let her sleep until the last possible moment and we got there right at 9am when it started. The STL's had an air mattress set up and a wheelchair ready when we got there. So I wheeled her and all her stuff to the room. I set up all her bedding, laid out her snacks and drinks and refrigerated a few things. She laid down and I told her I'd check on her every 20 minutes. Then I went into the meeting, it was kinda awkward since the room was full and there weren't really any open seats. President Amos found me, asked what was happening and told me to sit in the front by him and Sister Amos, so I awkwardly walked past everyone to the front of the gym and sat down, all alone since Sister Amos was presenting. Then I continued to do this every 20 minutes as I went to check on her, help her get in her wheelchair to go to the bathroom,  get food, etc. She eventually fell asleep though for a solid 2 hours. Then as President Amos was giving his presentation she woke up and I zoomed her in so she could hear it over the speakers and see it. After his presentation it was the go home testimonies (missionaries going home have the chance to bear their testimony for a couple of minutes) and I was supposed to speak as the second person of 3. Then near the end of his presentation Sister Scrogham texted me saying she needed to go to the bathroom. After we were done she wanted to sneak in the back to watch but I heard Sister Hunt speaking and knew I was supposed to go after her. I told Sister Scrogham but she didn't seem to understand what I needed to do so we kept looking for a ramp on stage. Then I heard Sister Lynch speaking and was like "shoot they skipped me!" and heard Sister Lynch say "amen" and I was like crap man! Then Sister Hunt came and got us and Sister Scrogham finally realized that I had to go speak, so I helped her back into bed then went back to the gym and had to once again awkwardly walk to the front of the room while everyone stared at me. But I was used to it by then. I was able to get up and bear my testimony and sit back down. Then President Amos leaned over and was like "that was a powerful testimony" and in my head I was like "thanks it's only taken 18 months of missionary service to get there" jaja. Then Zone Conference was over, I convinced Sister Scrogham to be wheeled out for lunch and pictures, we had interviews and headed back to Wiggins. When we got to Wiggins I basically collapsed on the couch and took a 20 minute nap because I was so tired and didn't think it'd be the best to drive so tired. Then I loaded up all our stuff and we headed out. On the way back to Gulfport we had to figure out what to do for our English class that night. I had asked the Spanish Elders if they could teach it for us but they had a dinner appointment with the English Elders and told us to just cancel it. One of the senior couples, Sister West, said she could come since she served her mission Spanish-speaking. I had asked the Gulfport sisters about doing an exchange so Sister Scrogham could stay home but they said no and then called us on the way home and changed their mind. So we rushed home, slowly made our way up the stairs, I looked over the English class lesson and Sister Thelin (learning Spanish) and I exchanged and headed out. We ended up having 2 people! Juan and Lucia! So now that they've attended twice they're basically regulars jaja! 

 

 

Friday marked my 18 months as a missionary which is so crazy and kind of a big thing in the mission. Since Sister Scrogham was obviously still dead, she slept in until like 11 and came in and out of naps throughout the day. The other sisters were also gone from 9:50am-8pm so I basically spent the day alone, trying to be productive by myself in the living room. Quite the exciting day...while Sister Scrogham was awake though, we did text our entire areabook about General Conference (a conference that happens twice a year where we get to hear messages centered on Christ from our living prophets and apostles today) and invited them to our watch party on Sunday and sent them the link. 

 

 

On Saturday morning Sister Scrogham and I watched Conference at home and I loved Dallin H. Oaks' talk on the noticeable decline of attendance in all churches and the need to go to church for more than just yourself. Then we went to Sister Giuffria's house to watch the afternoon session. I liked the focus on having the love of God so we can be blessed and happy. Then we helped her move some boxes and headed home. Then Sister Scrogham went to bed and I watched the evening session of General Conference by myself and it was good. It did give me time after 9pm to then decorate the apartment with streamers and stuff before Sister Scrogham's birthday tomorrow! 

 

 

Sunday morning Sister Scrogham slept in and I anticipated her waking up to see the decorations, treats (she sadly couldn't eat yet) and birthday sash and tiara I had my mom send. She eventually got up, curled her hair and put on makeup! Crazy! Then we went to Biloxi to watch the morning session of Conference with our Spanish Group and the Elders. It started at 11am and at 10:55am no one was there but the Elders...it wasn't looking good...but by the end we had 14 people watching with us! No one that we invited and half of them were members but it was sick! It was very weird watching 2 hours of them speaking in Spanish, my brain was kinda dead by the end. I definitely didn't understand all of it and at first I tried to read it on my phone in English subtitles, but the spirit was like "no" so I thought, ‘how is God gonna help me if I don't try?’ So I listened to the rest of it in Spanish with no helpers! But I think I got the main message from each talk! Then we got invited to go to the Crawley's for the last session of General Conference and dinner. They had 2 kids under the age of 4 so that was fun. We had hamburgers, talked to Brother Crawley about CA since he's from Los Angeles, and celebrated Benjamin's (the 3 year old) birthday with a golden gorilla cake jaja. 

 

 

So…this was one interesting week, full of so many crazy things but I know that the Lord was with me every step of the way, especially when I didn’t feel like it, I know that He was helping me through it all. 

 

 

 

Have a blessed week! 

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

Oh and remember that "we did not come this far only to come this far"!

 

 

Love, 

Hermana Johnson 

 

 

October Bike Mileage: 0 miles (kinda hard to do with all the trips to medical facilities) 

 

 

Pictures!!!

1. Quad pic in front of some cool frame wall at Hard Rock 

2. Me in front of Casino sign ;)

3. Me and some bomb ice cream of course

4. Companion selfie on the beach 

5. Me with Sharkhead

6. Me with HUGE sharkhead 

7. As Sister Amos calls it “my mission dimple” courtesy of Sister Bailey, my mission granddaughter jaja

8. Group selfie with all zones in Mississippi!

9. Zone selfie

10. District pic

11. Gulfport zone of sisters 

12. Sister Scrogham’s 20th birthday celebration