A WONDERFUL Easter Week!

Everything is so beautiful right now, so many tulips popping up, which reminds me of home and the tulip fields in Mt. Vernon :) this week the weather has been fantastic and the missionary work is going great! And of course, EASTER WAS FANTASTIC!!! But we'll get to that in a bit :) 

Monday we had a good pday. We emailed then went to wallymart, then went home to RELAX and write and other stuff. I actually wasn't feeling too good, so I ended up taking a catnap, which was UBER nice because it NEVER happens. Then we went to our building to just hang out with the other Elders and Sisters in the zone, and I ended up watercoloring which was really relaxing. Then dinner with the lamberts and the first lesson with the V's. Don’t know if I’ve mentioned them yet cause they're new, but here goes! We went to visit a LA lady in the Benson Mill Ward named D* to invite her to church but only her daughter and her daughters friend were home. But they said that both of their moms were next door so they dragged us over. The mom we had never met before started talking to us (super friendly!). After talking for a while we found out that she is inactive and her husband is not a member and invited us to teach them the lessons! Super funny! So Monday night we taught her first lesson and it went well! Of course... we talked a BUNCH. So we were super late for our third lesson that night, we completely missed the one in the middle.  But we taught a FHE to a member family (he wife is from England :P) and the daughter was baptized on Saturday. Super fun! :) 

Tuesday we decided to do a fun Easter give away thing. We go a bunch of plastic eggs and put jellybeans in them along with a link to the video, Because of Him. Super Bien! :P We gave them out to bunches of people throughout the week. We had a lesson with K* who is an investigator and is 18. It was a pretty good lesson, but we are trying to get her to the point where she TRULY wants to know for herself... which means she just needs to READ the Book of Mormon. Then a lesson with D* and we taught the word of wisdom, and it went really well! He's a great kid (actually my same age) and is making a ton of great choices now and is trying to find a new job so he can come to church. 

Wednesday we had lunch at the Chamberlains and made homemade pizzas. We had a lesson with G* which was good, we talked about faith and more about the Book of Mormon and the Bible. One thing is that she tries to look for all her answers in the bible and we just have to get her to start looking for them in the Book of Mormon, reading with faith :) it’s going pretty well though. We had a lesson with R* (LA) and talked about Temples and church, and for a long term goal she wants to get to the Temple, but she only likes to live day by day which makes it hard to progress because you don't see that goal. We also had a really cute FHE with a LA family, we are teaching the 8yearold because he wants to get baptized. it was funny because at the end of the lesson we said, "OK, what did you learn?" and he said, "when I’m twelve I can get the priesthood and be a prophet!" needless to say, we had to clarify a few things :P haha we also saw C* and set up a time to go to the JS Memorial building with her and her daughter, which will be fun! Then we saw T* and then finally N*. It was a good night :) 

THURSDAY! We had an apartment inspection, then started off our day nice and early! Had lessons with N* and R*, dinner, lesson with G*... who is getting baptized this Saturday! WOWZA! We’re super excited and it’s gonna be super good for the family to be able to feel that :) We were gonna see J* but he cancelled because he's sick. Boo. We did see D* and D* though (both less active) and they gave us deer pepperoni sticks! It’s pretty good! :P I know, Sister Johnson trying new things? Crazy...

Fri we spent all day planning of course and then had a lesson with T*, a LA in the trailer park, dinner, and visited people at night. 

Saturday was Sister Latham’s 20th Birthday!!! We woke up and first thing we did was open presents! She loved the scarf and chapstick mom sent and he family and friends sent some things too, including about 15+ chocolate bars and candies to make a chocolate pizza. ERGH! gonna be sooo fat :P haha then we went out to lunch at Cafe Rio with Sister Pearson and Sister Tyler who also got he presents. Sister Pearson also stuck a bunch of balloons in the lawn for her, it was really cute! After lunch we had Coldstones and I think I’m STILL full from Saturday, we ate so much! good food though... then we correlated with a few people, tried to make some visits, ended up walking around to try and get contacts and visit people, ended up seeing the Tovar’s and then going over to see bro van Komen. We also had a lesson with opol, lesson with Gavin (where we dyed a few eggs) and correlated with Pearson's (where we ate fudge bday cake and dyed a few MORE eggs) :) it was a good day :)

 Then Sunday... was EASTER!!! Again, woke up first thing in the morning and opened the Easter package I have been itching to open! I got a Studio C t-shirt which I love and of course lots of treats and fun things because my momma loves me! :) The night before I had hidden Easter eggs for Sister Latham because she had never had an egg hunt, so I gave her her first one, and it was lots of fun! We had great Sunday meetings and had a really enjoyable day remembering Christ and his resurrection. I love this time of year because spring represents things being renewed and refreshed, just as Christ was brought back after his 3 days. I love my family and friends and this gospel and hope you all have the opportunity to continue to remember what is possible Because of Him! :) 

Love you and have a great week! :)

♥ Sister Johnson :)

LOTS of photos this week.... yay!

At Cafe Rio...

LOVE Cafe Rio

Coldstone's... one of Hannah's favorite things!

Thanks to the Pearson's for treating them to such a wonderful activity!

Hannah the Egg Master...

Sis. Latham's first colored egg 

Sporting Birthday wears!

Easter Treats... I think.

Looks like Sis. Johnson really did wait and opened her Easter Presents on Easter! Probably killed her. LOL!

Sporting her new Studio- C T-shirt that the Easter Bunny Brought her!

Miss this girl... boy... she looks happy though!

Another Great Week in the Life of Sister Johnson :)

This has yet again been another great week! I love my mission, the people, my area, and the missionary work we get to do!

Monday we had a fun last day with Sister Jamison, we went to Downeast Basics, Coldstones, and went bowling with part of the zone. It was a blast (my camera died, so sadly no pics yet :( sorry...) we also had another lesson with G* and the whole family is doing pretty good! We helped her pack that night and the next morning said goodbye! Sister Hathaway is here now with Sister Poitivint, and they are doing good! I had met Sister Hathaway while we were in Centerville because Sister Taylor was their STL :) sure does get you places :P haha I just love meeting new missionaries too :)

We helped do a bunch of service his week too, which was a complete blast! :D painting, yard work, we pulled out a tree, bunches of stuff! :) So much fun, and the weather here has been absolutely wonderfully amazingly FANTASTIC! It’s basically like June weather. SUMMER! It’s been up in the 70's, 75 on nice days. Crazy! And a little breezy, cloudy, perfect. SERIOUSLY! Reminds me of summer at home... I’m just not super excited for summer HERE, cause it’s gonna be blistering. O.o ermergersh.

I love doing missionary work because I see how people are making changes in their lives and they can see it and it makes them SO MUCH HAPPIER! It’s amazing. We have had such an incredible week, especially with Easter coming up. I saw something yesterday after church that really hit me. As Christians, we believe in Jesus Christ and everything He stands for. We know is our Savior   and redeemer, He atoned for our sins, transgressions and mistakes. also paid for and felt our pains, afflictions, infirmities, trials, EVERYTHING. Why? Because He loves. Because He did that, He knows exactly how to comfort us in ways no one else can. BECAUSE OF HIM. There is a video that is out for Easter about Jesus Christ, called "Because of Him". It’s an incredible video that stirred by heart and if you do ONE thing for Easter to remember Christ, watch THIS video. http://easter.mormon.org/ it’s incredible and touches to the very depths of my heart and soul. I know without a doubt in my mind, with every fiber of my entire being that Jesus is the Christ. That it is Because of Him we have this gospel on the earth. It’s Because of Him that we can return to live with God. I wouldn't give up over 18 months of my life for something I didn't fully believe in, and if I have nothing else, I have my solid and firm testimony that my Savior   lives. That He and our father in heaven appeared to the prophet joseph smith in the sacred grove to answer a 14 year old boy’s simple prayer. I know that is only though his gospel, THIS gospel that we can live with our families for Eternity. I love seeing how the hope of Christ brings light into people’s life and I’m so grateful for the opportunity I have to serve a mission in Utah and know the people I know. I'll have this experience with me forever and I can't say anything more that I haven’t already said :) I love JESUS CHRIST more than anything in the whole world because He did for me, for you, for us, the impossible. He did the thing no one else could do, because He loves us. Because of Him, everything is possible. I love you all and hope you have a fantastic week, a great Easter, and talk to you next week! :) LOVE YOU AND WATCH THE VIDEO! Seriously... just do it :)

LOVE SISTER JOHNSON :) ♥

Transfer 3, Week 6: Another Great Week!

Sorry, this letter will probably be shorter than last weeks...although that one was PRETTY long, comparatively... anyways!

It’s been great this week. each day of this week kinda had a theme. It started off with MONDAY: pday. We picked up some stuff to surprise Sister Jamison with for her birthday which was on Wednesday, had our zone activity (sports as usual) :) and had dinner with the Lamberts- pesto with pasta and chicken, at my request! it was great, tasted a little bit like home :) we had  lesson with the M*’s, the LA family we work with in the Trailer Park. long story short, we found out that G*, the youngest son is not baptized and turned 9 yesterday! so we put him on date as well! it’s awesome! Super bueno :) We also saw K* that night and she had brought down her David Tennant dr. cutout. made my day :) LIKE NONE OTHER!!! 

TUESDAY: April Fools Day! haha it was fun. we went and did some service with the District Leader and gave them April fools potatoes. they were just potatoes we wrote on :P it was good! Haha. We also had another lesson with D*, S*’s. son who is coming back into activity, and a first lesson with the Pearson’s cousin, D* who is in a similar situation as K*, they have been friends for FOREVER, so it’s cool they get to do this together :) 

WEDNESDAY: Sister Jamison’s Birthday! and the day we had appointments at EVERY HOUR! We got up and left early and decorated their car, which was bunches of fun! then we surprised her and had breakfast and morning study together. We went to lunch at the chamberlains with B*, Abby (ward missionary) and O* was there too! It was great to see how she enjoyed it all and was making new friends :) Then we had a lesson with B* at the Van Komen’s (he is a LA recent convert). He's a funny guy, we helped him to understand the atonement a bit better. Then we stopped by M* to see how she's doing, had a lesson at the T*’s with M*, dinner, saw C* (la recent convert as well!) and did personal progress as well, lesson with O* about the Book of Mormon, and were just completely BUSY all day! crazy... 

THURSDAY: MY 4 Month Mark! yes, it’s officially been 4 months since I entered the field (not the MTC) and its just flying by! We saw R* and N* on Thursday as well as the B*s, had a lesson on Obedience with J*, and it’s just been really great. Yup. We are planning on doing a Temple Square lesson with the B*’s soon :) 

FRIDAY: Weekly Planning, as usual. We also had another lesson with G* and something cool happened. We were talking with A* about how he needs to be reading the Book of Mormon and I had an impression that I needed to speak as a representative and servant of Jesus Christ and tell him the blessings he and his family will receive if he would read a little bit every day, or even if he just listened as his family read. the spirit was so strong and POWERFUL! Cool experience. 

Saturday morning, we went to SLC for General Conference! it was sooo cool to be there in the presence of prophets, seers and revelators! It was amazing to be there and hear the talks, I especially liked Elder Holland’s, Elder Ballard’s, Sister Reeves, Elder Uchtdorfs, and many more. just a few points I liked: We heard over and over and OVER again that the time is now to make a stand on our faith, it cannot be separate from the rest of our lives, he Gospel lives within us. Helaman 5:12 was quoted QUITE a few times, how we need to be cautious and tied to our Heavenly Father. Love and kindness and charity, how we need to spiritually prepare ourselves, and I loved the part where Elder Ballard said everyone should invite 4 people per year to take the missionary lessons! YES! It’s what we need, that little bit of a push to get the work moving more! And for every family to study from PMG, this week I’ll be studying in Finding People to Teach. I learned so much and can' wait to apply it to my life. One thing President Hansen says all the time is "if you go to a meeting like that and don't make changes in your life, it was a waste of time." Conference was incredible and I’m blessed that I was able to go and feel the spirit so strongly.

Have a great week and I love you lots! :) btw, again, I didn't get transferred. same place, same people! :) 

SISTER JOHNSON ♥ 

Didn't you know that Doctor Who lives in Stansbury Park?!

Bday car for Sis. Jamison

Elder Holmes one of the zl's

At the Saturday Morning session of General Conference

A view from where they sat

Salt Lake Temple

With K & T at conference!

Hannah was so glad I mailed her some spring clothes... snapped these while emailing!

What darling Sisters!

photos emailed from Sis. Lambert

Transfer 3, Week 5: Like a BOSS! :)

This week has been awesome. When you pray for opportunism to serve and ask everyone for service opportunities, you get them! :)

But first let’s start on Monday. I got highlights! Yay and my hair didn't turn orange like mom thought it would :P haha then we went and played games at the Tooele East Stake center, like we usually do. It’s so fun to hang out with other missionaries :) Then we went to the Lamberts for dinner, like we do every Monday and Sister Lambert cooked an English dinner for Sister Latham! We had meat pies (basically a chicken pot pie) and trifle. It was so good, and it helps she is such a fantastic cook :) after that we met K*, a less active girl who junior or senior in high school. And we are basically soul mates. Haha but seriously. we all like Doctor Who (of course Sister Latham does, she is from England!) :P haha and she has a David Tennant cutout in her room, she likes singing and choir and such and she is just awesome :)

 Tuesday we had a BUNCH of service to do! N*, one of the LA's we work with, had painting to do in her house so we went over and helped him out. It was so fun, I love painting :) Then we went and helped another lady do cleaning in her house (she's is getting over two kinds of cancer) and that was cool :) THEN we were going to help one of our new investigators tear out drywall in her basement but her parents put her on a break so we taught her the first lesson! It was great, the spirit was there and she asked questions and she committed to reading and praying. She is awesome! Then we had dinner, and then another lesson.

Earlier in the week we received a phone call from ** and he gave us a less active referral to teach... his son! D* left the church when he was 14 years old and got into a bunch of really bad stuff. He’s 19 now and ready to try to come back to church because he wants something better. It’s incredible to see, and even though he may have a bunch of tattoo's or gages, he is still an amazing child of God and has a heavenly father that loves him! :)

Wed was awesome. We had zone conference! We learned about the new way of teaching with pamphlets and shorter lessons and new ways to introduce the Book of Mormon, basically just how to better missionaries! It was great. We got a prize for one of the cleanest cars, which was great too. Except it was chocolate. We haven' hardly eaten any though, which is good! :) Cause my skirts are getting a little TOO tight. ERGH! I also did my piano/violin duet with Elder Baier, and it turned out pretty good! Not our BEST run through, but at least we played together and the spirit was there :)

We had a lesson with O* Wed night as well, and it was ABSOLUTELY incredible. We finally got her to come out of her room and taught about faith, repentance, BAPTISM, and receiving the Gift of the Holy Ghost. It was a powerful lesson and we learned why she has been so tentative to come out and have the lessons. At home she went to the Jehovah’s witness church with the rest of her family, and when she came out here to live with her Dad who is a member, they kind of mocked her, saying "you're going to come back a Mormon haha" :( Sad. She was also scared to read to Book of Mormon because she thought that the JW god was going to be mad at her or something. We established her concerns and clarified and helped her out... and put her on date for baptism! Yay! She is going to pray about it but we think she can be ready by April 19 to be baptized.. Which is cool because it's Sister Latham’s birthday that day! :D O* is amazing and has great faith and humility. 

After the lesson we ran home, I packed, and we had exchanges with Sister Harris and Sister Bennet. It’s been strange not being exchanges all the time like with Sister Taylor, and it was kinda nice to be able to leave the area for a day and get to know Sister Bennett. She is an amazing missionary.  :) Sister Latham stayed in the area and did amazing! I’m so lucky to have such a wonderful, intelligent, beautiful, hard-working, obedient companion! :)

Fri we had our weekly planning with took forever but it was very productive. Aaand in the middle of it one of the sets of Sisters pranked the district leaders car. it was hilarious! Over 1500 sticky notes ALL over, confetti in the A/C slots, and hid a frozen fish under the seat! haha so funny. then we locked them out of the building :) hahaha cause we have the keys and they don’t :P that night we saw m*, k*, g*, and a*. They are a less active family that lives in the trailer park. We read some of the Book of Mormon with them and committed them to family scriptures every night and to come to church on Sunday.

Saturday was busy as well, but definitely in a good way :) dumroll..... I got to go to Kathleen Knowlton's baptism in bountiful on Saturday! :D a few weeks ago we found out that she got permission to be re-baptized and I was able to go! It was so incredible and made me so happy! She was glowing, and another great part... Sister Weber was able to be there too! she is doing great up in Layton and loves her new companion. she was glowing too :) The spirit was SUPER strong :) We were able to see a broadcast of the woman’s conference as well. 

Sunday was busy as usual, O* came to church as well as the M*'s :) O* enjoyed It as well. We were on splits for the morning because Sister Latham got to go over to the Pearson's and skype home because it was England’s mother’s day on Sunday! :) It was great she got to see her family :) we also had another eventful sacrament meeting. Benson mill ward last week had the fire alarm go off and yesterday, the power went out because of the weather! :P haha so funny. Then we had dinner with the Steadman’s! So fun! :) And then we both weren't feeling good so we went home and rested before we got sick. 

Remember to be a member missionary every day and share this glorious news with everyone you love! :) 

Talk to you next week! :) Keep the Faith!

Sister Johnson ♥

In another email...

we have tickets for sat am session, possibly going :) (Keep an eye out for her if you are attending or watching!)

Sis. Johnson's new hair cut and highlights. Thanks to the generosity of a very kind member!

Looks darling straight too.

The big prank!

Post-it note special!

Shoulder Angel... get it? LOL!

Apparently Hannah LOVED the prank!

With Sis. K at her baptism!

Sis. Weber, Sis. Knowlton, and Sis. Johnson. What a special day!