Hola y'all!
Wow we're literally like halfway through the transfer already...that's crazy! Anyways, I got transferred to Wiggins Mississippi training a new missionary named Sister Cropper so here's a weekly update!
Monday was a pretty chill pday. I took a "nap" in the morning till 8am (I woke up, said my prayer and went pee and then I take a "nap" on pday mornings jaja) which was pretty nice. We spent the day in our apartment and at our church building since the service sucks at our apartment. Then for like the last hour of pday we went thrift shopping at this place called Dirt Cheap. It was super fun and I got some cute dresses since I'm pretty sick of my entire wardrobe by now after wearing the same things for the past 14 months ugh. Then after pday we came home, had dinner and spent the rest of the night putting stickers, with our phone number on them, on Jesus pass along cards, pamphlets, Books of Mormon and Bibles, basically any "media" we could find for our booth at Walmart tomorrow. By the end of the night we had the whole quad helping us sticker things too (until we ran out of stickers and had to just write our phone number on everything)!
On Tuesday morning we went outside for exercise time (cuz Sister Cropper loves running and of course I refuse to run so I switch off walking and biking with her) and it was a bike day for me while Sister Cropper ran. Anyways she wanted to go pretty far into some neighborhoods when we started slowing down, about to go back home. That's when I looked behind me and there was this BIG BLACK DOG like right behind Sister Cropper! So she yells at me that she needs to get on my bike, so I thought that meant we were switching (I'd give her my bike and take death by dog jaja) but then all of a sudden she's on the back of my bike telling me to GO! But the secret dog catcher in me (me and Ethan when we were younger would go outside with a leash and look for neighborhood dogs to catch, bring to our backyard and then call their owners for fun) gets off the bike and pets the dog because he looked nice. Then a SECOND big friendly dog came up too. It was quite an eventful morning! Then we came home, got ready, did our studies and then biked to the library to help them shelf books. Sadly the library was closed when we got there so we decided to find the closest member (because now we can knock on member's doors) and try knocking their door. We were on the way there going up this steep hill when out of nowhere this tiny little dog comes running and barking at us! Of course it goes straight for Sister Cropper (a.k.a. the Dog Magnet) nipping at her feet as she bikes as hard as she can up this hill. Luckily she ended up being ok and didn't get bit but MAN do the dogs hate my companion! We couldn't find the member's address so we biked home and then our quad went to the park near our house to have a cookout with the recent convert named Tracy. He is so hilarious and made us burgers, hot dogs, shrimp and baked beans. The other sisters had to go for exchanges so they told us what to share for their spiritual thought. It was kinda awkward though because they wanted us to read the talk "Rise Up, O Men of God" and emphasized us explaining the law of chastity...this was only our second time meeting Tracy and I was like "the law of chastity?! Um what?!" Luckily the spirit really came in clutch to help us know what to talk about and how to best help him. Then we came home, the sisters came back and we loaded up the car to go to Walmart to set up our stand. We went to the back of the Walmart parking lot, set up a foldable table (aka Sister Cropper's study desk) with all of our pamphlets and stuff on it and 2 poster board signs; one said "Free Jesus Book" and the other said "Bible 4 Free". We were there for 2 hours and had a bunch of people come up to us. We even had 3 donations; a bunch of $1 bills from this girl, some cookies and cold waters from this dude and $20 from a guy and his son. It was really sweet (I lowkey think that people thought our signs were ghetto so they were trying to help out the Jesus cause). But we gave out lots of Jesus stuff with our phone number on it so hopefully some people call us this week. Then we had dinner at a member's house, the LeBatard's. She made stuffed shells and they were good. They had lots of pets and were super nice. Then at home during training hour (daily hour for Sister Cropper's training) we did some roleplays (teaching practice) about the Restoration of the gospel of Jesus Christ. She is super awesome and really wants to be the best missionary she can be! She's still learning a lot and reminds me of myself when I first came out on a mission and literally didn't know anything about the church or the gospel...oof.
Wednesday was district council which is always fun! After district council we went on exchanges and I was with Sister Wendel in Wiggins. It was Sister Cropper's first exchange (I was a little sad though because she was gonna teach her first lesson to a nonmember on her exchange without me...but it's ok we'll just have to find people in Wiggins). We drove home, had companionship study and roleplayed with Sister Wendel using a Faith Flip. Hers was really funny though cuz I picked some picture in Abraham but she connected it really well to me! That night Sister Quick made us salad for dinner and we all biked to a Baptist church for Wednesday night Bible study. We were trying to go to one like 3 miles away but we got tired so as we passed churches along the way we stopped at Emmanuel Missionary Baptist church and just went there instead because it was closer. It was super chill and we became best friends with the pastor and 10 other people there! It was awesome! Then we biked around the main road and met a member who isn't in our records and gave her a Book of Mormon and invited her to church! MIRACLE!
On Thursday morning after personal study I got an email that straight up FREAKED me out...it was an email for My Plan (the program that missionaries start the transfer before their last transfer)! But the reason I freaked out so much was because I thought I still had 2 whole transfers left and would be going home in October...I emailed President Amos and apparently my actual release date is September 2, 2021. I don't know how I got it in my head that I'd be going home in October...I mean all the other missionaries I came out with are going home at that time...I just got stressed that I was going home sooner than planned and started thinking maybe God wants me to go home in September…(by the end of the week I decided to extend my mission to October but it was a very stressful decision man). Anyways on exchanges Sister Wendel and I biked to a park, called some people and then met the quad at the only restaurant in town called Whistle Stop for lunch. We got fried green tomatoes (which are a pretty popular Mississippi food) and they were pretty good. Then we drove to Gulfport to exchange back. As soon as I saw Sister Cropper she was like "Mom!" Oof man my heart! I missed that girl! She said that she missed Wiggins during the exchange (which was very surprising to hear because she seemed to be having a hard time with not teaching anyone here) which was great to hear! Then the rest of the day we weekly planned and went to a Relief Society (group of all the adult women in the branch) activity together where they had a book review and ice cream sundaes afterwards. It was nice to finally be able to meet some of the branch members.
Friday became our designated "Poplarville day". Poplarville is a city within our area but it's 25 miles from our apartment so we made Friday our day to go there each week and it was our first time going. We loaded up the quad with all 4 of our bikes on a 3 bike bike-rack and 1 bike sticking out the window with the seat down (*see picture 4 for details). So we biked to a park in Poplarville as our home base and then biked around for a few hours exploring and knocking on member's doors. Then one of our members, Sister Francis, saw us on our bikes and bought us Subway for lunch! She was so sweet! Then picture this...the Wiggins quad casually finishing their Subway (Sister Johnson is eating a pizza and of course the last one eating because she is slow), about to hop on their bikes to grind out knocking on some more member doors when they look out the window to see a torrential downpour of rain falling from the sky! The parking lot literally became a little river outside. So we got on our bikes and biked to the car as fast as we could, got absolutely SOAKED and drove to the Francis' house to get Sister Smart's bike fixed with our 4th bike sticking out the window jajaja. We got her bike fixed, waited out the rain, biked some more and then drove home. Oh one more traumatic event I need to tell yall about! So while we were biking some more, knocking on member's doors we were heading out again but my bike basket was giving me some difficulties so I was trying to fix it but everyone had already started biking so I decided to just put my bag on the back of my bike and get going. I was WAY behind the group and no one saw that I was behind when all of a sudden they were around the corner and I couldn't see anyone (the missionary rule is to stay within sight and sound of your companion so you're never alone). So I started biking as fast as I could, kinda freaking out a little since I was all the way at the other end of the street. Then I kinda fell and my bag fell off my bike and my water bottle rolled into the gutter...I stopped and picked up all my stuff and tried to get my water bottle but the guard thing was too heavy for me to lift up. It had been like a solid 5 minutes of me being completely alone in this random neighborhood so I decided I needed to try and bike to catch up with the quad, wherever they might be since my phone doesn't have a SIM card so I couldn't call anyone. I was lowkey tearing up cuz it was pretty freaky to be all alone all of a sudden but I rode around the corner and then saw the quad coming back down the street to get me. We got my water bottle out of the gutter and then went on knocking member doors. T'was a pretty interesting day.
On Saturday morning we had service at the animal shelter. We have been low on miles for the month so we decided to bike since it was only 3.6 miles away...little did I know it was 3.6 miles with a few HUGENORMOUS hills! By the time we got to the animal shelter I was completely drenched with sweat! It was pretty gross...but then we got to play with 4 week old puppies so it was totally worth it. We even got to bathe some puppies too and they really needed it because those puppies were FILTHY and stinky when I picked them up. But then we washed them, Sister Cropper helped me wash a puppy (with her gloves on) because she doesn't really like animals...oof. Then we got to give treats to all the cats and dogs in the shelter and bike home, going up all those hills we glided down on the way there...oof...good thing I'm becoming a pro biker. That afternoon we went over to a member's house, Sister Kilgore, and helped her clean her house while Sister Quick (a licensed cosmetologist) gave her a haircut. The rest of the day we had studies and I got to watch Carl's baptism on zoom. He's from my last area in Monroe and I found him in areabook and reached out to him, taught him and put him on date to be baptized. It was so sweet to watch him in his swim cap when he got baptized! I could just feel the spirit testifying of his decision since he had been taught by the missionaries for like 12 years. It just felt right and he seemed really happy.
Sunday morning we walked the 30 minutes to church (we are getting cut 100 miles next month so we gotta start practicing conserving miles) and a little gray kitty that we named Bubbles followed us all the way to church! Then one of our branch members took him home after he got into the church building a few times. But we finally got to go to church in our area! It was really nice to introduce ourselves to the members. There were even like 30 people at church! It was so good and Sister Shiffer even gave us a ride home so we didn't have to walk in the heat. The rest of the day we did our studies and called a bunch of people! Then that night Sister Quick gave me a haircut. Don't worry she's a licensed cosmetologist so it's a good one. Literally the first haircut I've gotten since I came out on my mission.
In closing I just wanted to talk about the spirit and God's plan. I know that we can totally rely on the spirit to guide our everyday lives and actions, which is SERIOUSLY SCARY but the Holy Ghost is a literal member of the Godhead so we don't need to fear! I know that's when I see the most blessings is when I rely on the spirit to tell me God's will and then having the faith to act on that. I also know that God has a specific plan for each and every one of us. If over a year ago you would have told me that I could make it back in time for school by coming home in September I would have been so thrilled. But now I know that God's plan is perfect and by serving a whole 18 months, I will be blessed and don't need to rush things to get back home. Wow I sound like a totally different person but honestly that's what the gospel of Jesus Christ does for ya man.
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
June Bike Mileage: 30.6 miles
Pictures!!!
1. Spooking fog at the Flink Creek Lake we live by during exercise with Sister Smart
2. Cool sign in park with Sister Wendel on our exchange
3. Selfie with Sister Smart and Sister Wendel on the couch
4. Sister Cropper's bike out the window situation to Poplarville...fun stuff
5. The quad about to knock a member's door but ended up meeting a crackhead (whose car was full of stolen stuff and a lady on drugs...yup)
6. Quick quad pic biking around in Poplarville
7. Dude biking makes me tired...what can I say?
8. Bubbles with one of our members who brought him inside the church building jaja
9. Selfie at church with Sister Cropper before I got my haircut
