Sister Hannah Johnson: In the Field!!

SOOOO! its incredible here! I finished up the MTC and headed out into the field. First, Thanksgiving was hard because i got really homesick and the food was awful, but we heard from Elder and Sister Nelson which was awesome and something i got out of it was the incredible impact missionaries actually have, not only on the current and future generations but past generations through genealogy work. WOW! anyways, morning we got on a bus to the train and got off in Murray, headed to the Mission Office and had the best food i'd had in two weeks! then we took a tour of temple square, came back and got area and comp assignments. I am in Centerville, UT with Sister Taylor (awesome trainer and companion!) We cover the Centerville South Stake, which is 11 wards. Before this transfer they were over 18 wards (2 stakes) but they split it because of everything going on. President and Sister Hanson are so nice. They are very spiritual and sometimes just funny too. But altogether hard working people who love what they do. Sister Taylor is awesome! She is from Edmonton, Oklahoma (although has moved around a lot and grew up in SLC), she has been out six months and i'm her second trainee. her first, Sister Blankenship is now Whitewash training (just finished her training), which means she is training a new comp in a whole new area! scary... hopefully i don't have to do that. O.o We had a baptism, a 9 year old girl who was baptized by her brother who had become activated and received the priesthood, and a family who was completely inactive is now completely active! I'm trying really hard not to get FAT. there was one day where we had three dinners the night before, three Christmas breakfasts and two huge lunches. and then a dinner. UG! but no seconds and i eat sparingly. we are fed WAY too well! So the day i left the MTC, it snowed. Sister Poutu had never seen snow and was slightly enthralled, but i was like, eh. its snow. but it was fun. and cold. over the last week it has slowly been getting colder and colder, lingering around 15-18 F all day, and today it was 7 degrees outside. FREEZING COLD!!! We have almost two feet of snow now and i have only worn my boots since leaving the MTC, but i am staying warm :) the only hard part is that i can't wear my wool socks with my boots because they are too thick, so i wear tights/leggings and socks. my toes get a little cold but we're not outside too much... because we have a CAR! We had the oldest car in the mission and it was over the mile limit, and the second day in the field we got a new one! we now drive a 2013 Subaru Legacy with AWD and its super nice! i'm just glad we don't have to walk or bike. We live with a member, we call her grandma, she is about 89 years old and the sweetest lady! so cute and funny. we only met her because she was gone visiting family but we live in her basement which is really warm. On Thursday we took one of our investigators to Temple Square, and it was awesome to see the lights and everything, but the lesson itself was awesome. She is an incredible woman who read the whole Book of Mormon while she was in jail and wants to turn her life around. She is on date for baptism and is just really awesome. Another sister we are teaching is trying to get re-baptized. she is amazing too! we went over to teach her a lesson and she had tried to light a fire to keep the house warm... but forgot to open the flue. so we spent the first 20 min trying to get all the smoke out :) she was embarrassed, but she is such a sweet lady and has such a good relationship with her heavenly father and Jesus christ. My first experience was interesting. (at the baptism) i talked on the holy ghost. i spoke in the centerville 3rd ward. my second "long talk" and i didn't write out the whole thing! haha i guess it worked out ok... But yes, we usually ward hop and try to get to as many as possible. our area we serve in is only about a mile wide. Sister taylor says the most she's ever been to in one day was 6. we went to two sacrament mtgs, one ward council, mtg with the stake presidency (President Hollingshead is AWESOME!) and then lessons etc. For missionary work, we don't proselyte. we rely a lot on members to give us referrals and set up dinner appts and following appts after dinner. MY first dinner i will ALWAYS remember. We went over and the family was so nice (everyone is super nice in Centerville :D) they had made us some delicious stew with a meat that tasted like beef (a little different) and made something like a buttery monkey bread. they sent us home with leftover stew, bread, and a jar of homemade strawberry jam (best i've ever had!) and on the way out, said "by the way, that was ELK stew!" well you know me. my eyes got wide and i was somewhat speechless, just thinking in my head, "i just ate elk. mom is going to be proud of me and dad is gonna go red in the face laughing." but i did like it. it made me realize that i have to try things and i'll probably like them if i do! :) I feel as though i've been here for weeks but its been less than a week. The people are amazing and everyone is so nice. Loren Bickley has served in this area before apparently and my comp knows him, i'll probably end up seeing him when we have our Christmas devotional up in keysville. It should be fun to see him! Anyways, my new mailing address is

310 S. Canyon Way Centerville, UT 84014, which is grandmas house. we have a cell phone (no iphones or ipads yet) but i'm working hard and staying busy!

Love you all and can't wait for Christmas! :D