August 28, 2012

My p-day is on Tues the 4th next week! Just a heads up! and I LOVE YOU ALL SO MUCH!  Thank you for all of the letters and emails and packages that you send. I know that that's what is keeping me out here. Thank you for all for the love and support! I couldn't do it without you! So there wasn't a hurricane here so I hope that you weren't worrying about me or anything. We had a tropical storm which is lots of rain and wind. We had to stay inside from noon on Sunday until five on Monday. We only had sacrament from 9-10. it  wasn't bad at all. we built a huge fort in our living room. it is pretty sweet! and we had a lot of time to study, ponder and just hang out! we had a baptism amidst the storm :) 

 

 So I have learned how to read in the dark... hatians don't have lights in their homes. its so weird. They just walk around in the dark all the time. I hate it to be honest. I love having all the lights on in the house all the time! its how it should be haha. Their homes are also hotter than outside. its the craziest thing ever! we went and taught antwan on tues. i cant believe that we have been teaching him sense june! hes making progress though and i am determined to see him be baptized. we taught about the spirit on tues and i shared with him about how i have received much strength from the spirit during the loss of grandma. (through tears of course) it was a powerful lesson and he accepted a date for baptism (sept 9) he said the closing prayer and asked the heavenly father would bless me and my family at this hard time of our loss. i wish you could meet him! his prayer was amazing and i was touched that he would think of my family. he came to church for the first time this Sunday! I was ecstatic! I was grinning from ear to ear! That is one of the rewards of missionary work! Yesterday was my comps birthday and we had a lot of fun. I ate way too many goodies! and we have all been crazy cuz we have been stuck in our fort for so long haha. well family, i love all of you with my whole heart! i cant wait to hear how your weekend went with visiting family and such! keep up the great work! love love love you!

 

love sister johnson

 

sorry no pics this week. i will send them in the mail.

 

love love love love you!

August 20, 2012

The more I learn about Jesus Christ, the more I love being out here. Learning the the gospel is helping me understand my purpose as a missionary and my purpose here on earth. Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ truly do love us and I know that everything we go through in this life is only helping us prepare to be with them again.

  We will make it through hard times. There is a wonderful talk a just read in the may 2012 conference ensign called "mountains to climb" by Pres Eyring.  It has really strengthened my testimony this past week.

Sister Andrus and I have been walking a lot because we got our miles cut back on the car. We walked 6 miles two days in a row. Which doesn't sound too bad, but in 98 degree weather and 100% humidity it is challenging. But I am still alive :)

 Sometimes I feel like I am in a different county.... the places people live in, the food they eat, their life styles, everything is so different here. Everyday I am reminded of all of the many many blessings that I have been given. I took so many small and big things for granted before i got out here. my eyes have been opened. that's for sure. We heard news about the Fort Lauderdale temple. They are thinking it will be done by next Aug. so i will still be here! I hope that that's the case because then I will be able to go a few times before I come home! I would love that! As I've told you before there are so many lizards here. but there is one that i don't like. they call it the cubin curly tail. they are just weird. and nasty. ha. they also have banana spiders here. they are huge and they are everywhere. also, i got attacked my mosquitoes the other day after a rain storm and i prob have 50 bites on each leg. I cant wait until they are gone.

We hope to have a handful of baptisms soon. The Lord blesses us indirectly sometimes. I haven't gotten Morgan's address yet.  Well, my time is gone, gone, totally gone. I love you all so much! I continue to pray for all of you and I hope that you are all well and happy! I cant wait to write you again in a week! take care!!

all my love, sister brooke johnson

Hello,

It is so good hearing from you each week. I literally can't wait for p-days. The break is always much needed! I want you to know that i am keeping all of you in my prayers and i hope that you are receiving the enormous amount of comfort that I have been receiving. We have the wonderful gift of the constant companionship of the Holy Ghost. It sounds like everyone has been busy getting ready for school! Tell the boys that I love and miss them! It sounds like Jordan and Jared have been able to go on a lot of fun camp outs this summer! I miss the valley!  I am glad that the garden turned out this year! I wish I was there to eat all the veggies and raspberries! haha. I love hearing what everyone has been up to! Thank you for all of the updates! It is what keeps me going everyday!

Things here are going so great! we had 141 in the month of July. The Lord pours out His blessings upon us here - there is no doubt. I am staying another transfer here in Nova YSA. I figured I would be because I am still being 'trained' i feel bad i havent even told you what my days are like.... on mondays we go to FHE from 8-9. on thursdays we go to institute from 7:30-9. and on sundays we have church from 9-12. we just got a new institute teacher and he is amazing. He when to Idaho Falls H.S. maybe you will know of him... his name is David Jankens? I am terrible at spelling. We normally don't leave the house until 12 everyday because we have studies and such. I enjoy getting investigators to come to all of the activities. it is really fun! the other night we were out harvesting and no one was letting us in.... then we got to the last house it was prob 7:45ish and it was a young couple. they let us in, we blessed them, they said they would be baptized, and then.... MIRACLE they offered us dinner. We hadn't had time for dinner earlier so we were pretty hungry but we knew we needed to keep working so we did, and the Lord literally blessed us with a meal. Complete strangers fed us dinner.

President Anderson is an inspired man. I am so grateful for him! He is an amazing mission president! I miss all of you and home everyday but I just think about how great its going to be when I get home :) the best! it will all be worth it! i already know it! well family, please let me know if there is anything i can do for you. i hope you can all feel my love for you! I know that we can all make it through this challenge and that we will overcome it with happiness! i cant wait to talk to you next week!!!!

love love love love love you! Sister Johnson

August 7, 2012

Brooke's beautiful grandmother Judy passed away on Friday, August 3, 2012.  This is a portion of her e-mail in response to the news.  

 

 The strengthening power of the atonement is amazing and he is freely offer it to us and this time of need. I know that grandma is happy as well. and i am so glad that you know it too mom. she has been "taken home to that God who gave her life" and she has been "received into a state of happiness... a state of rest, a state of peace, where she shall rest from all her troubles and from all care, and sorrow." (Alma 40:11,12) I can just see all of her loved who's who passed on before her rejoicing when she was received into heaven. What a blessing the plan of salvation is in our lives. I know now more than ever that "... the family is central to the creator's plan for the eternal destiny of us, his children." and that "the divine plan of happiness enables family relationships to be perpetuated beyond the grave." (The Family: A proclamation to the World) Death is only the beginning of the wonderful and happy life that Heavenly Father has planned for us. Yesterday we were at district training and because transfers are tomorrow, elders and sister from our district are going home. so of course we sang "God be with you til be meet again" I could just see grandma, clothed in pure white saying to all of us, "God be with you til be meet again." I know that as we call upon the Lord he will send his Spirit to be with us til we see all of our loved ones again. To give us relief of the sorrow and pain that we feel. God knows the thoughts of our hearts. He knows what we need and when we need it. He will, "ease the burdens which are put upon your shoulders that even you cannot feel them upon your backs.." the Lord will "strengthen you that you can bear up your burdens with ease ..." (Mosiah 24:12-15). I know all of these thing to be true. In the past few days, my testimony of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, has be strengthened in ways I never knew it could be. I have received more peace and comfort than I ever have before. I know that he is here with each one of us as we are now faced with a new challenge to overcome. 

with all of my love, Sister Brooke Johnson

July 30, 2012

My companion is a super hard worker and she loves sharing the gospel. She is also very knowledgable and so I am learning a lot from her. Our personalities are pretty much exactly the same and so we do have our clashes but I love her. We went to a place here last week that was just like the soup plantation in cali! I was in heaven! It was sooo yummy. and I also tried sushi this week. It wasn't too bad actually. There is a Korean in our branch that is a sushi chef and he moved here from Korea about 6 years ago. So that was a fun experience. I see all of the flowers/plants that I had to memorize my last semester at school. Its actually really cool because now I know I learned them for a reason! Its always fun to rack my brain and try to remember the 120 flowers/plants that I learned about. It is so hot here! The heat is what ever but the humidity is a killer! The other night it was 95 at 9:30pm. I am so glad that our apt has ac. I forgot to tell you that I went to Miami a few weeks ago. We had a special training there!

Sorry my emails are so scattered i just try to remember everything that happened this past week! I miss eating fresh raspberries! I wish there was a way you could send them to me haha. But I will live!  I am overwhelmed with happiness! The gospel is amazing and through Jesus Christ all things are made possible! Also I was thinking about the song come come ye saints there is a verse that goes like this "and should we die before our journeys through, happy day, all is well. We then are free from toil and sorrow too..." Blake is happy! All is well! He is free from pain and sorrow! He has entered into a place of rest. Rest from every worldly thing! What a lucky guy! and whats important is that he wants that for all of us. Sure we miss him a lot. soooo much. and yeah we all have our rough days and it feels like we aren't going to make it. but we are going to make it. The Savior has overcome the world! and because He has so will we! Every trial we are faced with is only there to help us apply the atonement and to be strengthened in the gospel! family I love you!  I love being a missionary and despite the hard hard days, it is so rewarding. and I am becoming a better person! I hope that you all have the best week ever!

love love love, sister johnson