A GREAT WEEK!

SORRY, GONNA BE A SHORT LETTER THIS WEEK!

ok, so before anything! Guess what? i dyed my hair this week! :D my highlights were way grown out and we had a Zone Conference yesterday with Elder Chidester and Elder Arnold of the 70. elders were told to fix their hair so we figured we should too... so me and sis pilling got dark brown hair with red undertones! she dyed mine and i dyed hers! it was fun, and i think it looks pretty good! :D

so quick about this week! 

Also the sisters we live with (Pearson and Tranchina) had to get their car fixed in layton so we were driving ALL week the Mission van- 15 seater! it looked so ghetto haha but everybody loved it!! :P

mon was a fun pday, we did a fhe with a fun family and played foot vollyball with balloons on a trampoline! so fun!

We had a meeting on tue at the bountiful tabernacle (super close to centerville) and that took up a chunk of tue morning, contact referrals, were uber busy! :)

Wed we met with the DL's and talked in prep for district meeting, then we (after a lot of communication and worries from mom) opened my hump day package! i'll consider myself after this week to be 9 months just because I count from when i went into the field and mom counts from MTC day :P haha i loved it all, especially the dress and frog cup! :)

Its kinda funny because as a missionary you are ALWAYS busy (at least we are, esp cause we're STL's) but we never remember everything we were busy with! I do remember sis pilling wasn't feeling good so we stayed in for some of the day on wed.

Thur we took the sisters to an appt, and went on exchanges! i was with sis Stratton and we were on bike! we had some really great experiences with talking to everyone and with listening to the spirit and praying. 

Fri we had district meeting and a bunch of meetings with people! we also got to go to the joseph smith movie with an investigator family we're teaching. it was awesome...and POURING RAIN!! :D

Saturday we did the hair dying thing, which was good :P planning, ward activities which were legit, did our progress record, and crashed.

Let me tell you: i have NEVER been more exhausted than i have been in Rose Park as an STL. SO EXHAUSTED!! 

SUNDAY WAS CRAZY BUSY!!! we both spoke in one of the wards on obedience to Gods Commandments: basically, DO IT :P haha i love the chapter in Gospel principles book on it :)

Yesterday we had the Zone Conference/Mission tour where we had a spiritual feast! i learned a lot about how to be a better missionary, find more people, help them keep commitments, etc. we also picked up the sisters car in layton and ate at a cute diner called Sills with delicious Scones that were as big as my face!! :P 

love you and hope everyone has a great week! keep loving God and always remember: he loves you too!

Question of the week: when was the first time you remember feeling the spirit?

♥ SISTER JOHNSON :)

Her "new" hair.. looks more like her old hair! 

Dr. Froggy helps

Some of the Hump Day package that the family sent. Silly girl... not counting her MTC time! LOL!

Sis. Pilling and the many treats of the week! 

WELCOME TO ROSE PARK!! ;P (Letter from Aug. 18, 2014)

Before i begin, just a few notes: 

Don't google Rose Park unless you want to see REAL sketchy stuff...

Send packages and mail to the mission office...

Don't worry about me cause its legit here, as sketchy as it is! :D

I do have to admit, Rose Park is PRETTY sketchy. Like, we saw 12 cop cars on the corner one night... but its amazing here! So many people are SO ready to hear the gospel and SO willing to listen and accept it! Its definitely ghetto, but definitely SHWEET!! My Week:

MONDAY- obviously found out that i was going to be transferred, so spent much of the day doing fun stuff, hanging out with other missionaries, making visits to all of the amazing people i knew i'd miss, and PACKING. So much PACKING O.o

I guess when you stay in an area for 6 months, it builds up... :) good thing i still have 9 1/2 months till i have to worry about packing up to go home!!

TUESDAY- We went to the Transfer Building (which actually happens to be the Rose Park Stake Center- one of our buildings!! :P) and met up with our new companions. It was sad to leave Sis Smith and Mason, but i know they will both do GREAT things in their areas with their new companions (if i didn't get to mention, sis smith stayed in the area and sis mason went up to kaysville). Sis Pilling is an AMAZING missionary and we have SO MUCH FUN together!! :D her companion, sis Bischoff was actually finishing her mission and going home, so she ended up spending the rest of the day with us, which was fun! we met with a few members because we are trying to work more with members and leadership in this area because both are great! we went to a Relief Society activity, some visits and phonecalls, checked on our wonderful sisters we are STL's over, and crashed for bed. 

WEDNESDAY- Here in Rose Park we cover 4 wards: 9th, 10th, Starcrest, and Center. Its awesome because we get to really focus on the members AND people we're working with! we also have three sets of missionaries in the stake: Us, the Zone Leaders, and one of the District Leaders and his Greenie (spanish elders). Wed we met with the Zl's and DL's to talk about the zone goals and such and prep for District Meeting. we met with a lot of people, made visits, got referrals, and street contacted. We had dinner with one of Bishops, B. Eubanks and had a correlation with the Andersons (one of the WML's.) All in all a packed day that was SUPER busy! :) One of our awesome experiences: We got LA referrals from one of the sisters and we were contacting them and stumbled across H*, a lady who is definitely going through a lot, but is ready for the gospel back in her life. It was amazing to be able to talk to her and also bear testimony of the saviors love for her and that there is always repentance. Hallelujah for the ATONEMENT!  

THURSDAY- we took the sisters to an appointment in the downtown salt lake (we technically live like 17 blocks from the temple, which is legit!), we live ALSO with two other STL's in an apartment (On the Green Appartments). Sister Taylor used to live in the same appartment but was transferred OUT the same time I was transferred IN!! man, we were SOOO bummed! but we'll see each other at lots of the meetings :P haha we had lunch with a few members, we did our weekly planning, had dinner with a LA named K* (super cool dude!), and had a super full night of appointments- one at every half-hour from 6-8:30! sooo crazy!! we had an awesome lesson with a few new investigators, C* and T*. C* lived in Provo and had almost gotten baptized but he moved to Cali. T* was raised Jewish but never went to church or was really religious, so is neutral about Jesus Christ- which means we get to help her gain an incredible testimony about her savior! it was cool because when we taught she could definitely feel the spirit and her eyes just lit up :) you can physically FEEL the love that Heavenly Father has for them both! 

FRIDAY- we had our district meeting and we both split and went to different ones in the zone so we could both give trainings. I definitely was nervous about my first official STL training. i'd given trainings before, but i feel like more is expected now. The spirit took over though and helped get the point across, whatever heavenly father needed them to hear :) its great! we went to the Spanish Sisters planning session and were able to help them out too, which was awesome! we had dinner, met with a new LA we are working with (Misty), and met with a member family. We offer any help to any and all who need it, especially members because they do so much for us... and this will be brought up in just a sec... :)

SATURDAY- another crazy busy day! we did some service for a member, helped her pack up her house because she is renovating. then we made brownies to give to two members who help us lots because they both had seemed like they weren't having a great day on thursday. we visited referrals and had dinner with the Clausens (10th ward mission leader) and went to a party, saw a LA family who are so sweet (we are trying to work with them), and met with M* again, with Bishop Eubanks :)

SUNDAY- SUPER BUSY CRAZY DAY!! we had our first meeting at 8am and had to do our progress record at 7, so we had to wake up extra early...boo O.o then we were asked to substitute in Singing time because the chorister's husband was in the hospital... and that was SOOO fun! :) then we also had a stake coordination and dinner with Melanie Romero, a returned member (she is super fun and legit!!), we went and also planned a FHE that we are doing tonight. 

I can honestly say i have NEVER been so exhausted in my life as i have been this last week, between STL stuff, hard work, spiritually draining stuff, and just EVERYTHING! This area is great! there is so much potential and so much we can do still, but we can already see miracles and can already see it growing. The faith of the members is growing and the trust they have for us as the lords representatives. I love Rose Park, as ghetto and crazy as it is. We DEFINITELY meet quite a few interesting people as we street contact and there are TONS of Hispanics… i just love it here and love the work! have a great week and talk to you soon! :)

Hannah's new companion

WHAT LEGIT EXCITING NEWS!!! (Letter from Aug 11, 2014)

sorry in advance for the short letter, 

:) SO NEWS!!! i am an STL. IN ROSE PARK!! im so excited, i get to be with an awesome companion down in da hood!! im super excited to be an STL too, nervous, feel inadequate, etc. but im happy. i feel like things are going to go super well, so SUPER EXCITING!!

MONDAY- did normal stuff, pday activity, tried to catch frogs at the lake (not so successful... but fun!), ate at lamberts, had a lesson with g*and m*, had a lesson with the O*, altogether a great day!

TUESDAY- we were able to have more rain! i love rain and we have had lots of it late, which is nice cause it keeps things REALLY cool! :P haha we made lots of visits, had a lesson with S*, dinner with the pearsons. I gave Jill a watercolor i made for her and she liked it, so i guess it didn't suck that bad!! then we walked dogs... in the pouring rain... and saw a DOUBLE RAINBOW!!! it was sooo amazing! loved it. 

WEDNESDAY- We got to have a lesson with M*in the morning and then we went to Temple Square again with the M*! it was great and they are going to talk to the bishop so that they can go and get sealed in the temple soon! i was a great experience, the spirit was definitely there. weird though cause on the way back from SLC we were caught in a freak rainstorm and i literally could not see the lines on I-80. kinda scary!! we also had a lesson with p* and saw lots of people. OH! and meet Stumpy, a three legged cat with no tail! she is soooo cute, and the nicest cat EVER!! loves people and just loves you... and bathes you... :) 

THUSDAY- had a lesson with m*, did some weekly planning cause we wouldn't have time on friday, saw n* with sister pearson, more visits, s* had her baptism interview and passed!! i was feeling ick all day though which was really sucky. went to bed and was up all night... next morning...

FRIDAY- I WAS TERIBLY SICK!!! i died. i had aches and hot cold flashes, a fever, and a lot of pain on my insides... which caused me to be sick to my stomach. NO FUN! i had to miss my Zone meeting AND Matt and Felicias wedding! i was so completely bummed. and in pain. felt like an awful missionay but i got a blessing which helped a bit and was hard to sleep so just laid in bed all day... watched "the testaments" like three times...

SATURDAY- It was tolerable (the sickness) so i pulled my butt out of bed and we did correlations, lesson with M* again, and S* got baptized! it was great to see sister latham and bennett as well, but the baptism WAS SO AWESOME!! still on the mend. I also got a call from president that night telling me i was gonna be an STL, so a little bit in shock too ;P haha

SUNDAY! my very last sunday in this area, so sad!! :( we got to go to Lakepoint ward and see investigators at church, see people in Stansbury ward, and go see Savannah's confirmation in the Benson Mill ward, it was a great day and i will forever love and cherish this area! i've been here almost 6 months and i'm so blessed to have been able to do so.

LOVE YOU ALL and have a great week! :)

Thanks to Sis. Pearson for all these photos!

TRANSFERS NEXT WEEK!

i'm super excited/bummed/sad/MIXED EMOTIONS about transfers next week! i'm pretty sure i'm going to be kicked out of this area come next monday, but i trust the lord that he will place me where he needs me, whether its whitewashing, training, or put into an awesome area with an awesome companion! who knows, but i'm excited... small chance i could stay in Stansbury Park though... :D probably not...

Ok, so we have like NO time for email today so i'll go through it really quickly! 

RECAP OF THE WEEK!!!

MONDAY- regular stuff, we had thunderstorms and rain all day long! (and its raining today which is REALLY nice :P) we went on a members tramp, zipline, and indoor rockwall for a bit then went to DI and Walmart and Roxberry (healthy smoothies), did fun pday stuff, played handball and while we were in the room...power went out! and its super dark (in a basement) so we freaked out for a second... then were fine :P haha we had sister callahan with us all day too which was fun! dinner at the lamberts, they made us delicious Ravioli and we had pizelle's (Italian cookies) for dessert! we also had a lesson with the o*s... 4 missionaries teaching one family, haha definitely a new experience!! 

TUESDAY- we were able to go down to temple square with sister pearson and N*! and it was raining buckets!! :P haha so fun! we went to the south visitors center where it has the diagram of the temple and she knows that that is where she wants to be and she WILL get there! we also were able to have a lesson with D* and he wasn't smiling, so i said, "do you smile? do i need to tell a joke?!" :P haha it was funny... and i got him to smile and laugh. he's a really quiet kid but an awesome family! they've all been through a lot. we also walked a members dogs (Akitas- HUGE!!) and that was fun! the 17-year-old daughter came with us and we all talked and had a good time. 

WEDNESDAY- We went and washed dishes and cleaned for M*, who is finishing up chemo and will start up radiation soon. that was nice :) Then we saw the t*s, had a lesson with the m*s, made visits in the afternoon, we saw B* in the trailer park and S* (one of our potential investigators!) we saw L*, help them pack up their trailer (going camping) and stopped by to see P* as well- he was going to be baptized on this last saturday but his mom wasn't ok with it so it was put off for now :( boooooo! i was also called a dusty q-tip by m*... thats a new one!! :P hahahahaha

THURSDAY- We had lunch with sis chamberlin, lesson with S*- she is getting baptized this saturday!!! yayayayayayay!! our lesson with Ginger cancelled, but i think we are going to take a break for a few weeks and see how she is after that. we saw n* and she was just glowing still and happy, even though she IS still sad she has to move. we had dinner, scripture class, and met with the High Councillor over YSA to talk about YSA stuff, the fireside on sunday and possibly TMNT and some other stuff too... :) haha he wrote for a bunch of stuff and people, including Smallville, TMNT, Orson Scott Card, Ben 10, Adventure Time, and TONS more! he works for the missionary department and is over mormon.org. LEGIT!!

FRIDAY- usual planning, district meeting, etc. lesson with l*, packed and cleaned because... i went to tooele on exchanges with sister Toutai!! :D so fun!

SATURDAY- I got to be in Tooele all day! started off good, went to a baptism where i met the tongan actor wo is in "the RM" and "Forever Strong", which was cool! we got roxberry (SOOOOO GOOD!!) took a sick Elder Anderson gatorade and kitty cat stickers, visited a lady named J*- who just happens to know B*, same one from the trailer park! :P haha! we did service from about 3-5ish, then went to a polynesian BBQ and were sent home with BUNCHES of delicious chicken, visited more people, laughted a ton, and exchanged back. we have waaaay too much fun together :P haha Sister Toutai is super fun and bubbly and hilarious and loveable. 

SUNDAY- FAST. AND. TESTIMONY. MEETINGS. i was sosososoooooooo hungry all day i was dying, started to get a bit dizzy and nauseous but i told myself NO! i have to go on. slightly dramatic ;P hehe we didn't have as many at church this week as we wanted, but still a successful week! went to Bro Blacks fireside about mormon.org and missionary work... USE SOCIAL MEDIA TO SHARE THE GOSPEL!! IT IS MANDATED FROM HEAVEN!! just sayin... :) hahaha

HAPPY BIRTHDAY AGAIN TO DAD! 

and guess what? aug 3rd marked by 8 months of being in the field... i can't believe its been that long! at least i'm not homesick or sick of missionary work or anything, cause i love it too much out here!

HAVE A GREAT WEEK AND LOVE YOU ALL SOOOO MUCH!
KEEP THE FAITH! ♥
SISTER HANNAH JOHNSON :)