Hola y'all!
So Monday was our first pday in Gulfport. I was able to call my family and have a chill morning, we went to Walmart and it took SO long. We each bought stuff individually and then by companionship and in groups of 3 for stuff...it was a hot mess at the self-checkout jaja. Then we went to the church and all the other Elders in our zone showed up for pday so that was hype! We didn't really do much though...just Uno and Monopoly Deal. Then after pday, we used the computers to create an English class flier while I started MyPlan (this 6 course plan that missionaries take their last transfer to prepare them for going home). It had some good stuff in there including how to still be a diligent missionary at home and keeping with that desire to progress and learn more. It was cool. Then we came home, sorted through everyone's groceries, had dinner and organized our media stuff.
On Tuesday it was raining so we planned to go to a bunch of stores to see if we could find anyone that speaks Spanish (Sister Hunt, who trained some of the NOLA Spanish sisters last transfer had told me to go to the store when it's raining because construction workers can't work in the rain...and it sounds kinda bad but down here a lot of latinos work construction). So we did our personal study then language study in preparation for all the store contacting in Spanish before heading out. We planned to hit every grocery store between our apartment and Walmart! We went to the first group of stores and couldn't find anyone speaking Spanish and there weren't very many people in the stores either. Then we went to the next group of 3 or 4 stores and as we were walking we saw a dude who we thought might speak Spanish (I know this literally sounds so bad like we're making assumptions about the way people look/act but we gotta do what we gotta do to find them Spanish speakers here in the states!) and he told us to talk to his cousin inside the store, I don't think he spoke very good English. His cousin, Omar, had just moved here from Dubai a week ago and didn't really know anyone but said he'd give our card to people if he saw them! MIRACLE! We asked a couple other store owners if they knew of any Spanish speaking communities but had no luck. The next store we were going to was a Latino bakery and we went inside but no one was there. BUT everything looked so good so we stayed so I could buy something and then a family came in! We gave them a Jesus card with our number on it even though they said they didn't speak Spanish (despite their very Spanish sounding names). Then 2 more families came in! It was kinda awkward cuz the first family kinda turned us down and we were trying to talk to the other people about Jesus. We gave one family a Jesus card cuz I was talking to their little son so that was sick! Then I went to buy a couple things and the lady at the cash register, Mercedes, talked to us and let us give her some Jesus cards to display and she was super sweet. She even paid for my pastries so I got them for free. I tried saying no but she insisted so I got her name and said we'd be praying for her. THEN as Sister Scrogham was backing our car out there were some dudes pulling up so I timed it to where she would have to get in the car next to them so she could talk with them and she gave them some Jesus cards too. MIRACLES! And get this...they just kept coming! Next we went to supermercado la veracruzana and it was like half market half restaurant. It was a little different vibe than the bakery, the soccer game was on and there were like 2 aisles of groceries. Eventually a group of dudes came in so Sister Scrogham started offering English classes and Bible studies and they made fun of her Spanish and then were nice and listened and all took a Jesus card. I felt so bad but I couldn't understand what he said and felt weird trying to insert some more of my trash Spanish in there so she did all the talking. Then we went to Tienda Santa Fe which was a bit bigger half grocery store half restaurant. We didn't really talk to anyone there, so I decided to buy some candy and we got to talk to the man and woman at the cash register. At first the man was trying to tell me I couldn't pay with a card but I said something in Spanish and he was like phew and started spitting some Spanish. Sister Scrogham then explained how we're missionaries and offered English classes (speaking all this in Spanish). While she talked to the lady who seemed interested I talked with the dude and I asked him to repeat what he was saying like 3 times until it finally clicked that he was asking me what day English class is, he was super nice for being patient with me even though I could tell he thought it was awkward but I really wanted to understand him and I think he realized that and worked with me. Then we finally made it to our final destination, Walmart, but we didn't hand out any cards there but that's ok because we handed out all of our pass along cards but 2 so MIRACLE!! It was really nice to finally meet some Spanish speaking people, even though Sister Scrogham basically did all the talking (which I felt so bad but I just got so scared and then my mind went blank, forgetting any and all Spanish that was in there). But we came home, had lunch and did some companionship study and that's when everything fell apart...I felt like we were doing pretty good as a companionship and there were a few things we didn't quite see eye-to-eye on but it worked. Then we finished our companionship study and started talking about English class. The Elders have been trying to start English classes up this week but have basically just been doing it with individual families on their own different schedules. Sister Scrogham just came from NOLA where they had a big Spanish Ward and English classes 2 or 3 times a week so she decided that we should make our own English class and have it "be better than the Elders" and started telling people we were gonna see who’s was better...that's where we had a misunderstanding...I thought she wanted to compete against the Elders' English class instead of combining our efforts to work together so I tried compromising with having one here in Gulfport and 1 in Biloxi with the Elders every week and we just got into a major argument and total miscommunication about what the other person wanted. So she came away from our discussion thinking I did not like her idea of wanting to do any English class at all in Gulfport...it was rough to say the least...she ended up taking a nap for the next hour...we didn't really talk about it much after that, we went to a group Bible study with the other sisters and then Subway with them and the Orange Grove Elders and didn't really interact much as companions. I knew something was wrong and didn't know how to fix it without making her absolutely hate me more. So there were lots of quiet tears as I laid in bed that night about how horrible of a person I am and how horrible this transfer all of a sudden got...rough stuff yall.
Wednesday morning she still didn't really talk to me and I was too worried I'd make it worse because it seemed like she found every reason to get mad or offended when I spoke. We had district council and then stayed at the church all day until the sisters would pick us up to join their lesson. During this time we had another companionship study where English class came up again...we had, what I felt like was a more understanding conversation where we tried to figure out what each other were saying and we decided to do English class here in Gulfport twice a week and once in Biloxi. I felt like that was better but still everything I said she took a jab at me...but I didn't want to make anything worse so I just took it. While in the church we did language study, called a dude on Facebook and then went on the computers so I could do MyPlan and she could make more English fliers (since she said that after our conversation yesterday she crumpled the ones she had made all up, which was seriously so sad she felt that way). Then as we cut up the little English class cards we were able to have some normal conversation as I asked her questions about her life, it did seem very fake and she was still taking small jabs at me. Then we went with the other sisters to their member lesson and it was super cute to teach their 3 kids about prayer and how God loves them and cares for them even more than their earthly parents. Then we came home and had dinner before going to bed. That night everyone gathered in our room while I was in the living room on the couch, but I didn't want to go in and ruin everything so I just stayed out and listened to their conversation and silently cried after she was asleep.
On Thursday morning we went to Bishop's Storehouse to help out. A lot of missionaries weren't able to make it so we were the first missionaries in the building and the other 5 people got so excited when we walked in! It was so cute! This Bishop's Storehouse was a little more disorganized than the one in Hattiesburg and we only did 1 order each but hey it's still 1 order! Then we started talking to this old lady for a really long time who told us all about her 14 children (13 of them adopted), and her crack grandkids and all this stuff. It was very interesting. Also crazy story: on Sunday the other sisters asked this member about the Saucier family in a different ward in the stake and she told them how the Sauciers have stolen tons of money from the missionaries' families by convincing them they need it and all this other crazy stuff. So basically to not visit them and be cautious. Now fast-forward to being at Bishop's Storehouse and we were filling out the order for the Saucier family. Sister Saucier got there late but the whole time I was freaked out she was gonna steal all my information and embezzle money from my parents, even though she was super nice and seemed totally cool! But as we headed out she did invite us over for food and that's what the member said not to do so that was freaky. Then we got in the car and Sister Scrogham didn't know that she was that member and got WAY freaked out. Then we even got a call from her later that night inviting us to lunch...freaky! Anyways we got home, had lunch and then went to the pool in our apartment complex to do our weekly planning. Let's just say that there's this part at the end of weekly planning called companionship inventory where you talk about companion goals, how yall are doing and how you can both improve for next week. I think we were both anticipating this because things were pretty rough...the first question was about goals and then the next on was how we felt our relationship was. I asked her what she thought and she told me to go first. I decided to be honest and as nicely as possible told her that I thought it'd been rough, lots of miscommunication and misunderstandings but that since yesterday I felt we were improving. Then I looked at her and she went off about how she thought we had been "violently miscommunicating" and that she had "never wanted to go home more her whole mission" and stuff like that. If yall know me, I'm a pretty sensitive person and this was a lot to take in since I was trying so hard to make this a good last transfer and good transition for her getting a new area and companion during her training so I stepped away and asked her to give me a few minutes. Basically as we are out at the pool, I walk into the corner and just start crying, like full on balling my eyes out thinking about how I'm gonna fix this and make things right so she doesn't want to go home. So I'm basically standing in this corner with my back to her for what feels like forever as I try to compose myself. Then I go back over and she's on her phone...I sit down and start trying to talk but just start getting choked up again! I apologized like a billion times through my sobs and asked her what I could do to be better and more clear. I think she realized that I do actually care about everything, so we worked out a plan and made goals to better communicate. The rest of the day she kinda walked on needles around me and I definitely felt like I could just start crying at any moment. We did simple things the rest of the day like language study, cutting English class fliers and Facebook stuff.
Friday was a good day. I swear, Sister Scrogham and I didn't argue at all and actually had a good time together! We did some Facebook work to friend people and join groups to get the word out about our English class, I ate a quesadilla for lunch because doing all this Spanish stuff makes me want Mexican food and what not...kinda wack but yup, then we actually did language study so I was really feeling it jaja. Then the other sisters got home and drove us to tag along to their lesson with Sammy Garcia (a 10 year old girl who recently got baptized last month) so we could talk to her mom, Sister Garcia about Spanish stuff. We got there and started talking to the mom but then she just went into another room with all her other kids so we just sat in on Sammy's lesson until halfway through we decided to just knock on her room door and try again. She let us into the room and we were able to talk with her. Her parents are from Mexico so growing up she lived between there and L.A., California and then she served a Spanish speaking mission in New York. We invited her to our English class to help out but with all her kids she stays pretty busy. BUT THEN she told us about some of her friends she's invited to church and activities before who could be interested and even gave us some addresses! MIRACLE!! Then the sisters drove us to the church building so they could have a lesson while we printed our more fliers for English class...we lowkey had to break into the family history center to use the computers since the librarians were leaving when we got there but shhh, so we were able to print out some more English class fliers with the days were doing them on! Success! Then on the way home we stopped at Panda House to celebrate Sister Bailey's 6 month mark (great grandkids grow up so fast). But they had some good sweet and sour shrimp, we also had Sister Thelin's dad send some desserts over that we ate in celebration too. Then the rest of the night we just did some training stuff to figure out where Sister Scrogham was at, it was good and we were able to have a few nice conversations that made us feel like real friends!
On Saturday we had a nice morning and after personal study we loaded up our fliers and stuff for English class and headed out to hit up all the nearby tiendas (Latino stores). By the end of it we had put up all of our fliers in Mexican good stores/grocery stores/Mexican restaurants, handed out all of our English class cards MIRACLE and witnessed a drug deal for $600 (we walked into a tienda but only the man at the register was there when a woman came in and went straight to him and said "$600", there was an exchange and then she made sure to wipe off the counter before leaving, it was also in a pretty sketchy area so...idk). T'was an interesting day. Afterwards we came home, had lunch, contacted all the members about our English class this week and then posted it all over Facebook! We are really trying to get people to this thing! Then we felt too stuck inside so we went on a walk and started following this one dude playing Latino music cuz that's what missionary work looks like now I guess #thestruggleisreal as we try to find people who speak Spanish.
Sunday morning we went to the Biloxi ward building for sacrament meeting and got to meet the 5 Spanish members that came so that was hype! We kinda ran out of Spanish small talk so it got a little awkward but we'll learn and improve! Also the Bishop also let us introduce ourselves and bear our testimonies and then the Elders got a bunch of messages from the members inviting us over for dinner jaja so that was awesome! Then we drove over to the Gulfport building to attend their sacrament meeting too, sadly no Spanish members were there but we got to meet some nice ward members and talk with the Stake President about how the Spanish group should move forward. Basically we don't have much...so that's a fat oof. Then we came home, quickly had lunch and planned for our first lesson and headed out!! We were meeting this teenage girl named Sharon who was previously taught by the missionaries, but dropped when they found out she was 16...about 5 minutes before we got to her house, she texted us saying she was out of town! We decided to just knock on their door anyway. We pulled up a few minutes early so we reviewed our Spanish and saw a man come out of the house and then started going back in so we got out of the car but didn't catch him before he went back inside the house. So we knocked on the door like 2 seconds after the man went inside and no one answered...we knocked again and a woman opened the window curtain, made eye contact with me and I waved at her but she didn't open the door. I knocked and said "It's the missionaries" then tried "¡somos las misioneras, hola!" But still no answer...so we started writing a note when the door opened and a young girl answered. She spoke English and we asked if Sharon was home, but she wasn't. Asked if her parents were home and she was like "hmm…" but said yeah so we asked if we could meet them and she let us in! She brought her mom and we explained *in Spanish* how we were going to share a Jesus message with Sharon but could do it with them and the mom said yes. She is from Honduras and has lived here in Mississippi for 12 years and her daughter, Alex who is in 6th grade, is learning Spanish. We shared Mateo 11:28-30 with them, my mind kinda went blank on a few things but I was able to ask them a couple questions. Then we read the scripture in English for the daughter Alex since she didn't really understand Spanish. They both seemed to like it though. After we prayed the mom said something but I couldn't understand so I asked her to say it again and she said it slower "whenever you want to come back you can" (basically that's what she said in Spanish)!!!! So we set up a return appointment and they were just so sweet and helpful as we attempted to speak in Spanish. My first successful Spanish lesson on the mission!! We were so hype!! It was so good and they wanted to have us back! FAT MIRACLES! The rest of the day was less exciting, we studied, had a phone lesson with Jesus fall through and stewies with our roomies, the STL's.
Basically this was not how I envisioned my first week of my very last transfer as a missionary to be going at all but here I am. Definitely had some miracles happen this week nonetheless and I just wanted to share some of my feelings from our sacrament meeting on Sunday. We were singing something and it had the line “thy will be done” from when Jesus Christ was suffering and told the Father that He would put God first, above everything else that He was feeling. I guess even near the end of my mission, the Lord sometimes speaks to me in song lyrics (this is referencing my fake farwell talk when the Lord spoke to me through song lyrics before I entered the home MTC). But it helped me realize that I will get through these 5 weeks, now just 4 and that when I put God’s will above my own, things will work out for good.
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
September Bike Mileage: 6 miles…not doing so hot when your comp doesn’t really have a bike
Pictures!!!
Um so due to this being such a rollercoaster week…no pictures were taken during the making this week…sorry yall, there will definitely be some next week though!