Hola y'all!
Monday morning we woke up to SNOW!!! We all got so excited but it was so dang cold! I seriously did not know Louisiana would ever get this cold jaja. I got to call my family and they told me all about Ethan’s elaborate Valentines Day setup for his girlfriend, Summer, by decorating our dining room with cute lights and Ethan made Ratatouille (he practiced making it twice before in preparation) and chocolate mousse from scratch! Then they dressed up all fancy to watch the movie ratatouille together, it sounded so cute! He’s quite the romantic! And my dad is turning 50 this year which is crazy! So my mom is planning a fun vacation for when I get home at the end of the year to celebrate, I think she’s getting a little stir crazy with all the COVID quarantine stuff. Then Sister Ward drove us to Walmart in the snow which was a little scary since there were a few inches of snow on the ground and obviously Louisiana is not prepared with snow plows. We even scraped the ice off our car with our missionary tags lol! Then when we got to Walmart there was even a line because they had so few workers because people freak out over the snow, but we got what we needed and slowly drove home. Then we all went outside and played in the snow! We even built a snowman and had a snowball fight! Then after pday hours we contacted and worked on some spreadsheets for media orders.
On Tuesday we had a long, slow day for Mardi Gras. We did our studies, had lunch then a call with Katherine. But it was REALLY weird, we both followed our lesson plan but had no idea what the heck was happening, I don’t know if the spirit wasn’t there or what. The only responses we got out of her were “yes ma'am” and “no ma'am”...it was wack. Then we had stewies with Sister Rosas and Quindo, did some training pass offs and they spilled the tea on their district that Elder Read was leaving for Argentina on Wednesday and that Elder Coon was coming back to Ruston because he got COVID again and couldn’t go to Chile. I was kinda mad that Elder Read (Zone Leader) didn’t tell me he was going back to Argentina though! I hope it means things will open up for me too! Then Sister York and I began planning all of our exchanges with the sisters in our zone. It was my very first time doing this as an STL so it was a little wack. We had to decide on when to do each exchange, for how long and who would go with who and to which area. I started by asking her if I could go to El Dorado because I REALLY wanted to visit my old area! We tried following the spirit as we made decisions, which was super hard so i mainly went with Sister York’s thoughts on everything because they seemed right, then just before we were about to finish and contact the sisters with our plans Sister York said that she didn’t feel right about something…about me going to El Dorado…I basically almost balled my eyes out because I wanted to go there so bad, but in my mind (and the way she acts), Siter York overrules me in STL decisions because I’ve never done it before. Then we called some referrals and the Zone Leaders to talk about social media but it had to be fast since Elder Read was preparing to leave for Argentina. I still can’t believe he didn’t tell us! After dinner we had a Monroe Zone Leadership zoom call with President Amos but the Zone Leaders totally forgot so it was just us and President! But it was still good, we discussed our zone and he gave us some stuff we can apply. Then we contacted some more people and had stewies with Sister Ward and Angilou which were kinda wack and awkward…don’t know why…Then as we were about to go to bed, Sister York checked her phone and saw a LONG message from Sister Cottle about wanting to call her and how President Amos said it was ok (not usually ok to call another missionary outside of your zone for non-STL type purposes). So she called her and it was nice to see Sister Cottle too, she was really freaking out so we all talked through some stuff and then Sister York played a song on the ukelele while I waved my hands in the background. Then we prayed with her and she felt good enough to end the call and we went to bed.
Wednesday morning we had District Council over zoom as an abundance of caution with all the ice still on the roads. But it was SO awkward over zoom, I don’t know what’s up with our district but we have just not quite bonded yet, so there was just a lot of awkward tension and stuff…wack. Then after lunch we sent out a bunch of mass texts to the zone with important information, filled out some forms, contacted more people and then had our usual weekly lesson with Sadie. We just talked about being a disciple, or a follower, of Jesus Christ (off script from our usual Come Follow Me lesson). Then she told us about going to the liquor store to get whiskey and cigarettes and somehow we got on the topic of logic and religions and I felt prompted to share my testimony, so I did and then she bore hers on the Book of Mormon. It ended up being really good in the end! After dinner we had stewies with the other El Dorado sisters, Sister Holloway and Munford, who seemed fine until we had individuals (where we talk to each sister individually instead of as a companionship). Sister Holloway, the trainee, went first. She seemed like she was trying to be the only positive one, encouraging their companionship to get things done and eventually asked what we thought of our Trainers…OOF. Obviously she is having a hard time with her Trainer, Sister Munford, and for me to say that I loved my trainer was rough for her to hear. It was the same for Sister York cuz she loves everyone. Then Sister Holloway asked us how we find joy on the mission. OOF. Clearly she is struggling but didn’t want to admit that she was having a hard time with her trainer. Then Sister Munford was up. She was much quieter until we finally got her going a little. She said the area sucks (she's spent her whole mission so far in Gonzales, the promised land), they made cookies with the Young Women and NOTHING came of it, shoveled snow and NOTHING came of it (girl you won't see the fruits of your labors for a while!) Then she talked about all the disobedient things Sister Holloway was doing like biking too fast so Sister Munford was alone and not wearing the right pants (I think she is just new and doesn’t know better, that’s what a trainer is for!). It was a little rough but we tried offering some advice to help.
On Thursday morning we had a missionwide Vehicle training meeting over zoom which is always fun and I got to see Sister Lynch over video! Then later that afternoon we had another missionwide zoom to watch the Mars Rover Landing!!! It was so cool. Sister Amos (former NASA engineer) gave a little presentation about Jesus before starting and about the knowledge we bring with us for eternity. It was a cool live event over YouTube with NASA at JPL and everything went well (indicated by the constant heartbeat tone coming from perseverance while it couldn't rely back to earth (I think)), it was dope and then everyone got hyped about it safely deploying parachutes and landing! Then we had a Q and A with Sister Amos afterwards…there were some really weird questions out there and a bunch of missionaries that want to work for NASA. Prez dawg (aka President Amos) even stepped in (and Sister Amos at first thought he was telling her to wrap it up because he’s the time police and was like “no I have until 3:30!”) just to say that he married a rocket scientist. They're so cute! It was just super cool to see them promoting how science and religion work together! The we weekly planned for like 3 solid hours. The West Monroe Sisters also came over to get some of our toilet paper since all of the stores are closed because when it snows all of Louisiana just shuts down lol. Later that night we had MCC with Brother Hathcock who is always awesome. Then we had stewies with West Monroe who are struggling to find new people to teach. In individuals Sister Young sweetly brought up Sister Smith not being motivated to be obedient to exercising in the mornings and always getting easily distracted. I felt good that I was able to suggest having a codeword for when they get distracted. Then Sister Smith was pretty chill, she explained how she gets morning sickness and it’s hard for her in the mornings sometimes(hence Sister Young said that it's hard for her to be obedient to morning wakeup times…oof there’s always something you just don't know).
Friday we called the Zone Leaders (Elder Ruenger in Ruston is the new Zone Leader who moved to Joneboro with Elder Rogers) to talk about doing zone unity calls and stuff. Elder Rogers was just like “let's do them now, how long will they take?” I thought they would take like 30 minutes but possibly 15-20 minutes so we started with the Winnfield Elders and it took an ENTIRE hour!! Granted they each got calls in the middle but still (also Elder Arave got the call that he’s going to his original assignment in Kenya)! Then we were able to do shorter ones with West Monroe, Farmerville, El Dorado (mainly Rosas and Quindo), Ruston, Greenville and then called the Zone Leaders to talk about what we found in the zone about what they need and what they are struggling with. Then we went to dinner at the Coenen’s house as Sister York drove as slow as humanly possible with all the snow on the ground (it's fine I'm just a speed demon man lol). And boy do the Coenens live in a nice neighborhood! Their house was huge and on the bayou! We had grilled cheese, tomato soup and crawfish etouffee! It was kinda funny though because I think we were a little awkward since we’d been inside due to the snow ALL WEEK lol. Then we went in the other room to talk with their girls and it felt so normal especially since Marianne just got back from her mission and is struggling to adjust back to normal people life. Sister York even played the guitar a little. Then we shared a quick spiritual thought since it was 9:37pm! We totally lost track of time and were there for WAY too long (missionaries are supposed to be back at home at 9:00).
On Saturday Sister York and I were figuring out the best way to film a video of her singing and playing the ukelele for a video to go on the mission’s Sunday Facebook live. It took a while but we finally got a decent video. We also had a companion discussion about our area and making a new plan for our referrals since we receive so many that it is hard to stay on top of the ones that don’t respond. We also contacted some more people and sent a mass text out to our different groups of yellow dots (those who have expressed interest in missionary visits) and sent out zoom links for church tomorrow. Not too much went on today…then at the end of the night Sister York told me about her ex-boyfriend who she “Dear John-ed” (which means that she broke up with him whilst on the mission)...it was kinda weird y'all…his name is Luke and for her birthday on the mission she sent him 857 paper stars he folded with little sayings that he loved about her on them, which is cute but they were broken up and continues to send her things, literally her ukulele is a gift from him…it just gives off slight stalker vibes…
Sunday morning Sister York made french toast for all of us! And I made buttermilk syrup to go with it. Then we had ward council at 8am where there was a big discussion about going back to in-person church again. They were set on coming back for first hour sacrament meeting but less confident about second hour classes. Then we had church over zoom and got to hear Marianne give her missionary homecoming talk from the church building which was great! Then we went to the church building to get the sacrament from Brother Holt and despite us asking him to bring Sister Holt, when we got there he told us that she “needs time to relax in the mornings at home”...oof. Luckily there were a whole bunch of people there though for Marianne’s homecoming talk. We talked with Sister Bollinger, this cute little old lady, as she slowly scooted closer and closer to us, almost across the whole hallway! I kept scooting back, trying to social distance myself but she kept moving closer until she grabbed Sister york to keep her there lol. Then by the time Brother Holt was ready with the sacrament all the women had left…my heart sunk! I died. We were in a building with a bunch of men, breaking the missionary rule to always have another woman there. I felt so horrible, so I held it in until we got home, went to the bathroom and started balling my eyes out silently about feeling disobedient. After a few minutes as I got worse Sister York knocked on the door (I imagined how I could go out there crying and ask for a hug) and she held her arms open for a hug and I let it out. MIRACLE! She already knew exactly what I needed! She's so good and I talked and we won't have zoom church after Stake Conference so there shouldn't be a problem anymore when we go in-person and get the sacrament there. I just kept questioning “do I put my obedience on the line so that Brother Holt, the WARD MISSION LEADER, can give us the sacrament?” Oof. Later during our companion study we were reading the safeguards about approaching missionaries with problems. It made me think of the Bastrop Sisters not wearing pros clothes inside the apartment (like not wearing dresses but sweats when they are inside) and Sister Ward not wearing her tag inside. So Sister York finally decided to take action and went up to their bedroom door (I said no and that we should think it through and approach the situation differently) and asked Sister Ward about not wearing her missionary tag or pros clothes and Sister Ward (a former STL and honestly kinda scary lady) replied “I'll think about it, but I can’t promise change” then we left and felt really bad. Then after a while Sister York went back and told Sister Ward how great she is and apoligzed and stuff, it was kinda awkward…so I’m still not sure how we correct missionaries as STLs…oof. We ended up going over to the Coenen’s house (members) again for dinner. We had bean burritos and a LONG discussion about members and yellow dots. Brother Coenen even looked through our list of referrals and knew some of them, giving us names to visit which was literally AWESOME! He also gave us lots of advice for how to be a missionary…We shared a spiritual thought on the Restoration and Sister York highkey skipped some points but I was able to go back and do them smoothly and man did I feel the spirit strongly when reciting the First Vision with their eyes closed (my favorite thing to do ever)! Twas good. And at the end I testified of God answering our prayers when the spirit hit me like a BUS yall. So good!
Overall this was a good week full of all sorts of interesting stuff as I figure out how to be a therapist, better correct other missionaries and discern between spirit of the law versus letter of the law. But it was really nice at the end of the week to share the message of the Restoration with the Coenens and be reminded of why I am out here doing this missionary work for the Lord. I always feel the spirit so strong when I recite Joseph Smith’s First Vision aloud and it is my favorite thing to recite when people have their eyes closed and can really focus on what they are feeling. I know that Joseph Smith was a prophet of God and that he saw Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ who instructed him on how to restore Christ’s church onto the earth again. And I know that just like with Joseph Smith, if we let Him, God can use us to do miracles too.
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,
Sister Johnson
February Bug Bite Count: 3 bites
January Bug Bite Count: 28 bites
December Bug Bite Count: 12 bites
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