Collins Week #1

Hola y'all! 

 

Alrighty so this week we had transfers and got to spend our first week out here in Collins, Mississippi Population 2,365. Pretty crazy stuff yall so read all about it.

Monday morning we surprised Sister Smart for her 20th birthday with streamers, birthday presents, a light up birthday sash, a birthday crown and balloons. It was fun and we sang her happy birthday of course. We also had a zone pday in Biloxi. It was crazy because it was at the same church building that I was at last year for the hurricanes when like 60 sisters all slept there for like half a week. It was so wack! We played this card game called 5 crowns, some volleyball, a little bit of basketball, a bunch of minute-to-win-it games (like tying a balloon to your foot and trying to pop everyone else's balloons with your feet, getting an oreo from your eye into your mouth, moving M&M's from one cup to another with a straw, etc.), scriptural pictionary and chair soccer (where everyone got really intense and aggressive man jaja). It was such a fun day! Then we came home, ate Tim's casserole which was really good. Did some Facebook stuff and started preparing the area to get merged with the other sisters. Also did a little bit of packing cuz that stuff's stressful.

On Tuesday we had breakfast with Tracy at Waffle House which was nice to say goodbye to him. He's so hilarious! Then we went to the library to help shelf books for the last time, oof gonna miss those library ladies. Then we walked home, had lunch, did our studies and started prepping our areabook to merge with the other sisters. We filled out a bunch of notes for each of the people we have so they can know who they are and how to help them. That night we went to Poplarville to have dinner with the Francis', the Branch President's family. They are so funny. We found out President Francis likes living on the edge and off the grid by not having a driver's license, bank account, wallet, never really uses his phone and always forgets his keys. He's one interesting dude! At one point as we were eating tacos and their daughter who is my age, Jolie, was showing us her shank (what she uses to defend herself in case of emergency) when I look at President Francis in the other room watching sports and she pulls a small gun out of his bag to show what he uses to defend himself lol. Then the whole family told us about the haunted gym on the community college campus they live on, they're definitely one special and super awesome family! 

Wednesday was transfers! We somehow loaded up all (Sister Quick, Sister Cropper and I) of our stuff into the Rav. It was like 5 big suitcases, 3 backpacks, a laundry basket of stuff, a box of food and a bunch of other random things. MIRACLE! The car was so packed though I couldn't see out the back window, Sister Cropper had a box on her lap and Sister Quick had a suitcase under her feet in the passenger seat and a backpack and her purse. We were stuffed tight man! But we successfully made the 2 hour drive to T-point in Hammond, LA with only one stop at this gas station in Louisiana that had a whole gator (fake) hanging from the wall and gator heads you could buy. Oh how I missed Louisiana jaja! It was nice to see all my buds at T-point, even though I didn't recognize like half the faces there. We found the Collins Elders and got their car, some more info on the area and an air fryer! We loaded up and headed to Cane's for lunch with all the missionaries and brought it back to the church to eat. That always hits the spot! Then we headed out with Sister Cropper driving (I was SO sad to not be driving but apparently she's the designated driver now, usually trainees don't drive but it seems they're doing it more now in their second transfer). She's still getting used to Tiwi and driving again so it was a little rough on the 2.5 hour drive to Collins but we made it. Collins is literally in the middle of nowhere, surrounded by forest and actually only has like 2 stop lights and no Walmart! It is crazy! The address for our apartment was wrong so we pulled up to this house and almost walked inside but decided to call the old Elders and ask. Thankfully they helped us out and we were able to unload in our own apartment, meet the neighbors and call President Sanderson (the Branch President) to get the rundown. Then we went to buy groceries at this place called Ramey's. It had some good stuff but was a lot more expensive than Walmart we discovered...we'll have to do a bit more shopping at the local discount grocery stores...

On Thursday morning we were in the middle of our personal study when we heard a knock on the door. It was Sister Sanderson, the Branch President's wife, we opened the door and she just walked right on in and sat on our couch. I was like "uhhhh…." but we talked with her for like an hour and got the scoop on the branch and the active members that come and who we could reach out to. She was super nice and SO excited to have sisters again since there hasn't been any here in years! Then that afternoon we took a long walk trying to find a park, we found a cute discount store on the way that we decided we'll have to go to on pday for stuff. Then we finally found it and it had a pond and a bunch of ducks. We walked up to a group of teenagers outside feeding the giant mutant ducks and one kid was like "they're in their church clothes?!" It was pretty funny. We tried finding a bench to do our weekly planning but there was one duck eyeballing and following us so we left the weird Jesus pond (there was a giant Jesus statue with a globe and scripture on it and another statue of Him carrying the cross...it was kinda weird tho) and went up to the playground to find a bench to sit on. We were there for like 2.5 hours weekly planning, getting eaten by giant ants and for about an hour this dude drove in circles around us in his golf cart playing music then for the second hour he drove around us with a puppy! Don't know where he got the puppy but it was very wack...thankfully we didn't die by this strange stalker man on a golf cart...but while sitting on this bench we contacted a bunch of people trying to set things up, only 1 lady freaked out about the Elders leaving without saying goodbye and said she'd need "some time" before we can meet her...that was wack...ALSO I think we literally only called like 2 dudes, the rest were women! T'was pretty sick!

Friday we had our first district council in Laurel! It was so weird driving into Laurel and seeing real buildings and shops again since Collins is so small and in the middle of nowhere. The whole thing was quite interesting because we had heard rumors about this district being apostate, hence we pink washed Collins and the Zone Leaders white washed into Meridian. We are also the only sisters in our district of 6 people so that's always interesting too. It was fun though, the Elders are cool. Elder Keen was in my first district in Ruston, Elder Aldana joined my first Spanish calls in the mission, Elder Angilau came out with me and Elder Kephart served in the same zone as me in Alexandria. Good stuff. Then we made a quick run to Walmart (since Laurel actually has one) to get some essential stuff. Man that store just seemed so huge! Maybe cuz I'm slowly getting used to the tiny discount grocery stores in Collins jaja. Then we drove back home, did our studies and found out we're the "Facebook Watchmen" for our zone. That  means we are in charge of posting on the zone Facebook page and stuff...ugh still not a big fan of Facebook but I guess I'll have to be now.

On Saturday it was a wack day. Both of us just felt off...we had personal study, joined the social media call, did companionship study, I had a nice quesadilla for lunch, and then we went on a walk on Main Street in Collins. We walked down the street then found a bench in the shade to sit at and contact people. It was SO HOT! The weather said it was 90 degrees but with the heat index it felt like 105 degrees. Neither Sister Cropper or I wanted to call anyone or be outside sweating our guts out and then it started raining. So we waited it out for a bit and then walked home. We decided to do language study to calm down for a bit and then contacted a bunch of members since we found out church is cancelled due to COVID precautions. RIP. The whole day was just meh. 

Sunday was pretty chill. We went to the church building and explored a little, Sister Cropper even tried practicing the piano since literally EVERYONE always asks us if we play the piano. Then we got the sacrament from Brother Potts and got to meet him, his wife Ashley and their son Aidan! They were super nice and told us about the branch and all the callings Brother Potts got when they got baptized...oof #branchlife. Then we came home, did our studies, had lunch, figured out a posting schedule for Facebook since we're in charge of posting and stuff, put stickers with our phone number on a bunch of media to pass out and then took a walk. We walked around the neighborhood in the 96 degree heat at like 4:30pm but the heat index said it felt like 110 degrees, we were lowkey dying. Then near the end of our walk we talked to this guy securing like 40 watermelons in his truck. We asked where he got them all and he asked us if we wanted some. Dude if yall know me then you know I LOVE, like LOVE watermelon!! So we walked away carrying 3 watermelons half a mile back to our apartment in what felt like 110 degrees and the longest 0.5 miles of my life. I barely made it. Man carrying 2 watermelons made my arms feel like noodles. Wow. Not much else happened the rest of the day, just language study, I made waffles for dinner and ate way too many, did some Facebook and training stuff. 

In closing I just want to share my simple testimony. I know God is our loving Heavenly Father who loves us and wants to hear from us in prayer. I know that Jesus Christ suffered and died for us to know how to comfort us and He lives! 

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

July Bike Mileage: 36.6 miles

Pictures!!!

1. Sister Cropper and I decorating for Sister Smart's birthday

2. The finished birthday decorations product 

3. Gulfport Zone Pday Pic!

4. Elder Pavone and I in the San Diego squad!

5. Visiting the Shiffers!

6. And visiting the Senior Shiffers!

7. Selfie with Tracy in Waffle House 

8. Goodbye pic with Tracy and the 3 of us leaving

9. Goodbye pic with the Francis girls

10. Our car loaded up with 4 sisters and 3 of their luggages...it was a little tight jaja

11. We found one of many discount stores in Collins since they have no Walmart

12. Peep Jesus in the back left corner

13. Me with one of the few streetlights in Collins

14. Got some watermelons from this Baptist dude

15. Flexing my 2 watermelons

We're Going North?! And I Got Ringworm...

Hola y'all! 

 

 

Well this was quite the interesting week full of accidentally leaving our zone, getting ringworm from who knows where and getting transfer news...read below to find out the details.

 

 

On Monday we went down to Gulfport for pday with the district. It was Elder Back's birthday so we met up at the church, the Gulfport quad of sisters stole their house keys and went to their apartment to decorate it for his birthday while we stayed at the church with the Elders. We played phase 10 and only got to like phase 5 but I won so that was fun. Then the sisters got back and we played volleyball, some intense 3 v 3 soccer and then chair soccer (I'd never played it before but everyone has a chair and that's a goal, so you're always on offense and defense trying to kick everyone else's chairs). It was a good pday. Then we came home and kept on calling everyone in our areabook since this week our zone is trying to find a LOT of new people, like 10 per companionship (and we only just found our first new person ever last week)!

 

 

Tuesday was a pretty uneventful morning. But I was hecking SORE from our soccer pday activities! And I found 34 bug bites on my back side so that was fun (don't know how those got there)...but that afternoon we were about to bike to the library for service and I pulled out my bike and the back tire was flat again! Bruh what am I supposed to do without a bike?! ...so we walked...then Tracy had to cancel our weekly lunch so we made a frozen lunch instead jaja. Then we finished calling our ENTIRE areabook (all the contacts we have in our like missionary phone book)! And only 2 people responded...oof...then we called everywhere in town for service opportunities and all of them said they were booked until September...so that was a fat rip...luckily we had Addiction Recovery that night at the church with our members. It was good and was about submitting your will to God's which was cool to think about how God has literally given us EVERYTHING but our will is the only thing we can really put on the altar. It was good stuff.

 

 

On Wednesday we had district council and I was giving the discussion on funding so I was a little stressed in the morning preparing for that. We also had last minute car inspections so we had to stop by the car wash on our way to Gulfport. My discussion turned out alright, luckily Sister Quick likes to talk so she answered my questions and got the discussion going. After we got back from District Council we had our companionship study before we headed over to meet Angie (someone previously taught by the missionaries) on our bikes (well I was on Sister Quick's bike cuz mine still has problems). We got there and met her husband who said she wasn't home yet so we started talking to him and as we were talking Angie pulled up! Her husband was definitely more interested in talking with us though than she was...but she had like 6 kids to handle too. After about 30 minutes we had met the whole family when the 2 teenagers rolled up, their Uncle Robert, some Pastor and a bunch of other friends in the neighborhood pulling up to say hi. But before we left we were able to say a prayer with them as a family...and the Pastor...and schedule a time to come back and share a message. They were super nice and had lots of stray cats. After dinner we went to North Hills Baptist Church for Wednesday night service but no one was there...so we went to the Church of God and there was a lady there who was confused why everything was closed. We offered to do a study with her right then but she was like "which church yall with?...the Mormons? *insert eyebrow raise*" and we told her that was our nickname and she said no...oof. So then we drove to 5 other churches (all less than 5 minutes away jaja) but they all seemed to be closed. Sister Cropper was like "is there some Baptist holiday we don't know about?!" Jaja it was pretty funny. So we decided to knock member doors and ended up talking to this less active member, Cody, for 30 minutes about his dogs, streaming twitch, his Gerber baby, masonry, him getting fat, etc. just the normal Southern things. But we offered to do some service for him so hopefully he'll reach out to us. 

 

 

Thursday morning we had our monthly vehicle training meeting. Someone got in an accident and shared what to do if that happens...freaky stuff man. We went out to lunch with one of our members, Kristy Kilgore, at McAllister's (literally the only good restaurant in town that you can sit down at). I got a sandwich and spud (loaded baked potato) which were bomb and we got to hear all the Kilgore family tea jaja. Then we came home and started weekly planning when we got to like step 6/13 and were so tired! We decided to take a pause and took some fat naps before coming back to finish weekly planning. It's just been a long week man and 2 of our appointments had already fallen through so...rough stuff. We basically had dinner, finished weekly planning and did some training stuff for the rest of the night since our dinner appointment with a member fell through too. 

 

 

On Friday we woke up at 5:30am!! Usually missionaries wake up at 6:30am and are asked not to "raise God's standard" by waking up any earlier jaja. But we were planning on going to Bishop's Storehouse (where we basically pack up people's grocery orders from the church and put them in people's cars) at 7am in Gulfport to surprise our district for the last one of the transfer. So a member, Sister Wood, agreed to drive us to Bishop's Storehouse if we met her at 6am at the church. So we did, we all piled into her truck (which was way to small for my cramped legs) and got going. She told us how she was taking a "new way" she hadn't gone before. We got on the highway and started going north which I thought was strange since Gulport was on the coast, so South from us,but I thought she was taking a new detour or something...then we all finally had the courage to ask and she was taking us to the Bishop's Storehouse in Hattiesburg not Gulfport!! We started silently freaking out because that was outside our zone and to leave your zone you need special permission from President Amos...so we quickly sent him an email explaining what was happening. It was kinda hilarious seeing all the missionaries in Hattiesburg when they saw that we were there, they were so confused. It was great though, reminded me of when I did it during hurricane season last here in Biloxi. By the time we got back home it was 10am and I felt like it should be like 6pm, we were all SO tired! But we got ready for the day, finally ate breakfast and did our personal study. Then we had a "cross study" with the AP's and another companionship of sisters training. It's like a little study with the 6 of us where the trainees do roleplays and everyone gives feedback. Although the last time I did a cross study was with Sister Lynch back in like December and we had to do a roleplay as a companionship, but today they made Sister Cropper do it all by herself which kinda freaked her out. But it was good cuz the AP's stressed how important it is to practice and take roleplays seriously, which she kinda needed to hear...so good stuff! The rest of our day was spent fixing my bike. I had to figure out how to find the hole in my bike tube then patch it up and put the tire back on. Sounds simple enough right?! Well as I was waiting for the patch stuff to settle down I was trying to take my back tire off and it didn't have a quick release so I tried loosening the wheel nut but that sucker would NOT budge. The wrench I was using was slowly just stripping it down and none of the quad could get it loose. We ended up calling our landlord, taking the bike to his work and using his wrench to loosen it, then taking it back home. MIRACLE for the landlord Mr. Purvis. Then I had to take the tire off, replace the bike tube with the one I patched up (hopefully correctly), get it back on the tire and back on the bike. Man my hands were filthy after all that. We'll have to see how it holds up this week...anyways after that whole mess we all, as a quad, went to Walmart to set up a little booth. We used our little outdoor table and poorly drawn signs to set up a booth outside our car in the Walmart parking lot. We had a "Honk for Jesus" sign that was particularly successful. And since there were 4 of us we took turns sitting at the car while the other companionship walked through the parking lot handing out Jesus material (aka a bundle of pamphlets, a Bible and a Book of Mormon) until we ran out of Bibles. It was pretty awesome! It was also hilarious cuz when me and Sister Cropper went through the parking lot for the last time, we had 3 bundles to give away. Sister Cropper gave away one and then I asked like 5 people if they wanted free Jesus stuff and they said no. But when Sister Cropper asks the next 2 people using exactly what I said, they say yes to her. It was hilarious man! Don't know what was off with me but I did get us an appointment with one of those people so fat MIRACLE! His name is Lindell and he said that he already read the Book of Mormon but got tired of it like the Bible. So I was like "maybe that's because you gotta study with someone?" And he was like "mmhhm maybe?!" Oh how I love being a missionary! 

 

 

Saturday morning we were all anticipating getting transfer news (when President Amos adds the transfer boards up on the shared mission google drive)...and then they came! Also keep in mind that I've only been training Sister Cropper for 1 transfer and they white washed us into Wiggins so we totally thought we'd be staying together in Wiggins...until we saw the transfer board without our names in Wiggins...the quad was gone and it was just Sister Smart and her next companion...meaning we got transferred! But what I didn't expect was that we got transferred together to Collins, Mississippi (which is literally just like 45 minutes north of us (guess we're unexpectedly going north again jaja) and we saw the Elders THAT day before when we accidentally went to Hattiesburg jaja)!!! So we're pink washing (what they call white washing an area that's been an Elder area into a Sister area) into Collins and staying companions. Literally so crazy. I'm really excited to stay with Sister Cropper and go somewhere new, kinda sad to do a one and done (only being in an area for 1 transfer) in Wiggins though. I was also a little sad to find out that they assigned 3 Spanish-speaking sister missionaries (which hasn't happened in years!!) to this mission (and we have 3 Spanish-speaking sisters, which are me and 2 others that came out with me) but I'm not training one of them...they are opening a Spanish-speaking sister area in New Orleans (sisters have never been there before) but one of the sisters is training 2 missionaries...which I can't help but think she be my trainee...it's really weird and I know Sister Cropper must need me and I love her, but it's hard to think I could have been in New Orleans speaking Spanish. BUT I know that God has a plan for me and I'm holding on to that! The rest of the day was kind of a mess...we were all so distracted during our personal study thinking of transfer news, then we tried going to a craft fair but it wasn't there. We went to lunch with Tim, this recent convert whose been MIA for months since he's a truck driver, and his mom at McAllister's. He was saying how he wants to "light a fire under the Wiggins branch" and really wants to get things going. It was awesome! Then another member, Sister Bounds, joined us in our discussion about getting more branch activities and things for youth going. It was so hype! Then as we were leaving Sister Bounds looked at me and said "you have ringworm"...I was like what the heck is that?! I have a worm in me?! A parasite?! What?! Basically I had this bite on my collarbone that started getting bigger and had a ring around it, AND the night before I asked my quad mates what I should do if my bug bite was peeling. They didn't really say anything or care...jaja but now Sister Bounds was saying it's ringworm! Of all the things that could happen to me man! Don't worry we got me some cream so hopefully it will go away, but no one will touch me because I'm highly contagious...oof. Later that day we had asked Lindell, from Walmart, if he could meet us today before transfers happened and he texted us while we were on the way to get my cream that he was at the park and could meet "now". So we quickly planned a lesson and went to the park to teach him. It was so good. He even had his wife on the phone from in prison (and we're technically not supposed to teach people in prison but Lindell is the one who put her on speaker). We read 1 Nephi 1 and talked about how it applied to him using the new roleplay from Brother Lee Donaldson in the missionary department. It was awesome and Lindell really opened up a lot about what he's been through (straight up shows us his mugshots) and seemed excited to learn more. So dope. Then that night we had dinner with Ronny Kilgore, a member, and his sister Sister Shiryln Kilgore. We had tacos and talked, they are literally so hilarious and weird but awesome. Gotta love the Wiggins branch!

 

 

Sunday morning we went to church and got to say goodbye to all the members. It was kinda sad because we really only got to go to church like 3 or 4 times in the branch and didn't get to know all the people that well. We're still pretty close with some of them though and it was sad to say goodbye. Basically the rest of the day we had our studies, tried to stay awake, I had a Trainer meeting and we contacted some people before going over to the Shiffer's for dinner. The Shiffers are this cute little grandma and grandpa that showed us all their picture books and the crazy stories that went along with them and had their daughter, Sunny, and granddaughter, Sydni, over too. It felt like a mini hangout at the Johnson house for Christmas or something jaja. It was fun and we had waffles and omelettes that we ate on TV dinner tables in their living room. They are so sweet and imma miss all the crazy, weird, quirky people of Wiggins. That night we were all waiting for Sister Smart to go to bed (because it's her birthday the next day) so we could decorate the place with birthday decorations (and I'm talking 2 things of streamers hung from the living room ceiling and hallway, like 40 balloons, a birthday banner and seriously more streamers than there should be room). Usually she goes to bed early but that night she stayed up late so we were all like "where are you going to bed?" as we each tried to stay awake jaja...I think she eventually caught on lol.

 

 

To finish this email off I just wanted to talk about the hope that we can have in Jesus Christ. In the Book of Mormon it says in Ether 12:4 "Wherefore, whoso believeth in God might with surety of hope for a better world, yea, even a place at the right hand of God, which hope cometh of faith, maketh an anchor to the souls of men, which would make them sure and steadfast, always abounding in good works, being led to glorify God."  I really like this verse because to me it means that when we put our faith in Christ, there will always be hope for better days. We may be going through some hard times, but Christ has walked through those hard days already and knows how to help us. He also knows that it won't always immediately get better the next day, but that's what Jesus is for! I know that He provides us with the peace and comfort we need to endure to the end when we turn to Him.

 

 

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

 

 

July Bike Mileage: 36.6

 

 

Pictures!!!

1. ZDay district pics from last week

2. ZDay zone pic from last week

3. Me after patching and replacing my bike tube

4. Comp picture in front of giant Dr. Pepper can

5. Quad dinner at Ronny Kilgore's and Sister Kilgore (his sister) came too

6. Comp selfie in the car

7. Snuck a selfie with our Branch President Francis

First Appointment! And LOTS Of Rain!

Hola y'all! 

 

 

Shazam! Another one! 

 

 

Monday was our Zday. It's kind of like a Zone Conference but minus President Amos. And we were combined with the Hattiesburg zone in Wiggins so there were like 50 missionaries there! It was so hype! We had our meeting from 9am-noon which was super good about the importance of CPR (spiritual CPR aka Church Pray Read, the lifeblood of the gospel) and then we spent the rest of the day together. We had lunch at the church then went to a member's house, the Schiffers, for board games, spikeball, a slip n' slide and a BBQ. It was a lot of fun! Then we all went back to the church for a bit and Sister Quick basically cut everyone's hair since she's a licensed cosmetologist. And the Pascagoula sisters spent the night with us! 

 

 

On Tuesday morning we were out exercising and I was walking (as I do since Sister Cropper runs everyday) and had a little morning rev (aka revelation). I was thinking about not doing my personal study yesterday because it was such a busy day and I didn't have time. Everyone always talks about how their day just sucks when they don't read their scriptures versus when they do. I was thinking back on my day and we did super fun things and it was like a "meh" day, not the best day of my life but not the worst either...so I started thinking "Am I doing something wrong?" Then the thought came to mind "Did I progress spiritually?"...I had to think about that for a bit...I learned some cool stuff at ZDay during our meeting, but without coupling those new insights with my own study I didn't really feel like I had progressed or moved forward spiritually...and yall know what they say "if you're not moving forward you're going backwards" so oof jaja. But seriously I LOVE learning and progressing to become like our Heavenly Father is literally the purpose of this life, so if I'm not doing that everyday I'm just gonna have "meh" days and that's not what I want. Anyways that was my rev, thanks for listening. Later that morning we got to go to the library and help shelf books. I'm getting really good at the alphabet without singing the song ya'll!! Major accomplishment right there. Sister Cropper also passed off some of her training stuff and did great so that's always awesome. We wrote a bunch of notes to people previously taught by the missionaries and were gonna deliver them but it started raining and then this couple, the Waters, in our branch brought us SO MANY groceries (cuz we didn't get the chance to go to the store on pday cuz it was way too busy) it was amazing! We also had our Addiction Recovery group that meets every week to go over the church's addiction recovery program which is so awesome. There's some great stuff in there just about hope and preserving through the hard times by relying on God. That night I even had a little breakdown crying in the bathroom for like 20 minutes and felt that need to rely on Christ to get through even the little things that build up in us (don't worry I just got kinda stressed as people threw away all my food, I got assigned to speak in church and all that good stuff).

 

 

Wednesday morning we had interviews with President Amos which are always fun. It was nice to see him and talk to him about stuff, he even wrote down some stuff to talk about with the Zone Leadership so it made me feel good that I was still contributing to the mission even though I'm not an STL (Sister Training Leader). President Amos is just the best! Then I drove us down to Gulfport for District Council in the POURING RAIN.  I could not see a single thing! But it's ok, we're alive and well (: At District Council we got to talk about our members and how to get them motivated to do member missionary work...basically they want Sister Cropper and I to give some roasty talks in church this Sunday so we'll see how that goes...then we finally had lunch at like 3pm...I WAS STARVING MAN. Anyways after lunch we drove home and then Sister Cropper and I drove to our very first appointment! We were super hyped and she was kinda nervous for her first lesson. It was with this lady named Lela who we met at Walmart. We went to her house and knocked on her door 5 times, called her, played with her very small puppy outside that attacked Sister Cropper's feet (in a nice puppy way though, she kept asking if it was a rat though cuz it was so small but I assured her it was a puppy...even though I've seen rats that size here in the South...oof) and left a note on her door. It was sad that our first appointment fell through but hopefully we'll be able to get in contact and meet her another time. 

 

 

On Thursday we had a mission-wide zoom call about social media and how to respond to media referrals. Then President Amos gave us some new updates about masks...now they are only a recommendation for those both vaccinated and unvaccinated unless it's the law to wear a mask or someone feels uncomfortable having us in their home without a mask. Everyone freaked out! We're basically back to mission rules pre-COVID and I don't even know what that looks like. It's pretty crazy stuff.  After lunch we biked to what became our first appointment to hold! We biked 4.5 miles and I haven't done something like that since being in El Dorado (our quad mates think we're absolutely crazy jaja) and we were totally DRENCHED in sweat when we pulled up to Ruth's house. But she was just sitting out under her carport waiting for us. She's this cute old lady who just got out of the hospital and one of our members, Mavaun, lives with her so instant fellow shipper (we just have to reactivate her a bit). They were both so sweet and we got to talk with them and their dogs and get to know them better. We shared a spiritual thought from the New Testament in Matthew 10:29-31 about how much God loves us and Matthew 11:28-30 about how God sent His Son, Jesus Christ, to comfort us and bear our burdens. She loves it so much and said she felt the spirit and "wasn't lying" jaja then when we were done she asked if we had any more scriptures for her so we're going over on Saturday to share some Saturday scriptures.  It was so good and felt so nice to see someone else feel and recognize the spirit! It's been a minute since I've had a lesson (like a month) so it was a nice reminder. Then as we were biking home we decided to stop at this place called Frosty Mug to get shakes and do our weekly planning. They were really good and we got to talk to all the people outside getting food too (in the shade with some fans thank goodness). Then we biked home and were so exhausted after our 11 mile biking journey (added miles for going back to the house since Sister Cropper forgot her tag after we just made it up the BIG hill and turning around for Frosty Mug). So we had dinner and called a bunch of people the rest of the night. 

 

 

Friday was quite an interesting day. We were supposed to have a lesson with Pauline at 9am (a referral we got the night before at like 10pm) but she didn't answer...rip. This was also our Poplarville day so after personal study we headed out and parked at the Francis' house (our Branch President). They're out of town so we decided to clean out their entire carport as a fun surprise. We pulled everything out, found so much trash and about a billion and one cockroaches, spiders, a cup of fish eggs, maggots, and other mysterious bugs. We pulled everything out into their yard and started sweeping and organizing and stuff when it started POURING rain! So we frantically started bringing stuff back inside after I felt like I had just jumped in the pool! But after a couple hours the carport looked nice and organized, a little muddy and wet...but organized! Then we were all starving and went to the Way Out West Grill for lunch. I got a burger and sweet potato fries (literally my favorite things ever! But only if they're dipped in ranch). Then we drove across the street (since it was still raining) to talk to Julissa, the shrimp lady, about her Book of Mormon reading and stuff. She read like half of the introduction and said she'd message us with any questions but has been busy with her 5 month old baby. She was super sweet and assured us that she's just been busy. Then we came home (since our lesson with Mary fell through because of "bad weather") and finally got into dry clothes, after being soaking for like 4 hours, and I had some hot cocoa. The rest of the night we finished our studies and went to McAllister's for dinner.. It was super yummy. Then we came home and did some role plays about baptism so that was fun jaja. 

 

 

On Saturday mornings we usually go to the animal shelter at 9am and do service for them for an hour. I'm in the 2/4 quad members that enjoy going. Then at 8:30am the one other quad member that likes to go decided she just couldn't do it today and wanted to make it a monthly and for less time. That meant that we had 30minutes to shower, eat breakfast and get ready for the day since we usually do that after the animal shelter since we're disgusting and smell like cat pee. It just made me super frustrated that this one quad mate was in a bad mood and threw off our schedule for the day and the animal shelter's schedule and we had 30 minutes for both Sister Cropper and I to be ready. I was very mad/frustrated. I jumped in the shower and then did my language study so Sister Cropper could get in the shower without missing any personal study time (since usually that's what we do at 9am). I kinda forgot to eat breakfast until like 10 so I was a little h-angry too...basically by the time we finally got to do personal study I was just super mad at this one person. (we also got a call that Sister Cropper and I would be having to give 20 minute talks in sacrament meeting on Sunday instead of just 10 minutes so I was super stressed) I wanted to find an answer in the Book of Mormon that would help me feel more peaceful, really any other emotion than what I was feeling, but the place I was in the Book of Mormon just wasn't gonna do that for me. So I decided to do something I'd never done before and read a random passage in the Book of Mormon relating to my feelings of frustration. I found a little excerpt from one of the church magazines with little cards that told you where to read "when you're feeling…" so I went to the frustrated one and read 2 Nephi 4:16-35 and what stuck out to me were verses 26-28 when Nephi was saying 

"...why should my heart weep and my soul linger in the valley of sorrow, and my flesh waste away, and my strength slacken, because of mine afflictions? 27 And why should I yield to sin, because of my flesh? Yea, why should I give way to temptations, that the evil one have place in my heart to destroy my peace and afflict my soul? Why am I angry because of mine enemy? 28 Awake, my soul! No longer droop in sin. Rejoice, O my heart, and give place no more for the enemy of my soul."

Basically after I read that I felt like the one person getting on my nerves was "mine enemy" and that it was stupid to let them continue to make me mad for over an hour! It's up to me how I react on the outside but also how long I let them make me feel frustrated on the inside when I want to feel "peace" and get out of the "valley of sorrow". I just really related to Nephi, said a little prayer and it made me feel so much more at peace and not so angry/frustrated. The power of the Book of Mormon is REAL yall!! Anyways after lunch it was pouring rain and we were deciding how we were gonna get to Ruth's house for our appointment 4.5 miles away. Usually we bike but it was raining and we were running a little late so the other sisters were trying to convince me to take the car (basically because they hate biking and think we're crazy for doing it). An hour before, Sister Cropper was telling me how we shouldn't bike for safety reasons then suddenly she was trying to convince me to go out biking...it was wack, but she said she really felt we needed to bike so we did. I could definitely feel the angels pushing my bike up some of those hills! Then as we turned onto her street with like 0.5 miles left it got real hard to ride my bike so we pulled over and my back tire had gone flat! Bruh! So we walked the rest of the way and would figure out getting the 4.5 miles home after our lesson. We had a good lesson with Ruth and Mavuan about prayer. It was kinda hard because Ruth is like 80 years old and when we asked her questions she said she just didn't know or didn't know how to answer our questions...it was kinda rough but then I shared my experience from that morning about the Book of Mormon helping me find peace. Then she started asking more about what the Book of Mormon is. Mavaun (the like 70 year old member) tried to explain to her that it was like the Bible but took place "on another world"...that's when we had to step in and set some things straight. We explained how the Book of Mormon is Another Testament of Jesus Christ but is a record of the people in the Ancient Americas. She seemed to get it and we invited them to read the introduction and invited Mavaun back to church, but she has a hard time sitting and standing for very long, so we sent her the zoom link for church. Then we asked if they had a bike pump for my flat tire. Ruth asked Danny, this guy in his like early 30's, to fix it for us. As he replaced my bike tube we were talking with him and his religious beliefs. Basically he thinks Mary was not a virgin in order to get pregnant with Jesus and there is no God because if we were created in God's image then we'd already be Gods and he's not. It was very interesting and then we talked about how he knows 7 languages and is gonna help me learn Spanish next time we come over. So mini miracle! And MIRACLE that he fixed my bike so I could make it home, now the brake pads were touching my back tire the whole time, making it extremely difficult to bike but I made it! Then basically for the rest of the day we called people. Then after 9pm, I spent the rest of my night preparing for my talk in church and then rewarding myself with leftover cheesecake from McAllister's, the best kind of talk motivation. 

 

 

I spent all of Sunday morning finishing writing up my talk. I was trying really hard to get it to be 20 minutes because Sister Cropper had never given more than a 5 minute talk before and wasn't too confident about filling the whole 20 minutes...which meant I would have to cover for that...stressful! We got to church and it was good. Sister Cropper gave her talk first for like 13 minutes and then I went. I ended up having WAY too much stuff prepared about sharing the gospel and had to cut like half of it out lol. That was a fat oof so it was a little more disorganized than I had hoped but it was alright. That night we had dinner at the Hughes house. Sister Hughes is a member but her husband, Opie, is not a member but loves having the missionaries over! We had spaghetti with them and then Sister Hughes wanted to give the spiritual thought by watching Elder Uchtdorf's talk "Come and Belong" because she thought it would be good for Opie as he tries to say his prayers. It was a good talk about how we don't need to be perfect to talk to God or come to church. Good stuff. 

 

 

I just wanna close with my testimony that God always answers our prayers, sometimes it takes a little more diligence and patience on our side, but He always does. I know that Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ love us so much and are always there for us to lift us up during the hard times and bear our burdens. Christ knows us so well that He knows exactly what to do to help us.(:

 

 

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

 

 

July Bike Mileage: 32.3 miles

 

 

Pictures!!!

1. Sister Cropper's mom got us all matching Wiggins shirts so we were them to Zday

2. The quad at McAllister's 

3. Funny "classic Southerner" text from Tracy, the recent convert