September 24, 2013

 Cute!

 

Our ghetto kids. We work in a specific complex almost every day. Everyone there knows us(almost). We see these kids often and have prayed with their families. When they saw us walking the ran up to us yelling "its our church people" we were so happy! We just had to get a pic with them that day! I love everyone here!

 Random pic after a lesson- we needed to relieve some stress, so we took funny photos

Yesterday we biked and it was a lot of fun! It always helps me to relieve stress! We had stake conference on Sunday and President Anderson shared Sister Dougal and my e-mail with the whole stake! He shared the time that we had the whole bishopric come to a lesson with us! It was awesome and the bishopric loved it! brownie points....? I think yes :)

Transfers: well we all guessed correctly! I am staying here in Wellington with Sis Dougal and I will probably end my mission here! and I am happy with that! I love this area and the people here so much! Things are picking up for us. We've had a few slow weeks but God has blessed us with some awesome families and we can't wait to teach them! We had our first lesson with one of the last night and it was a powerful lesson! I'm so grateful for the opportunity that I have to share the gospel with others! This week we had exchanges back to back and that was pretty crazy I wasn't with my companion for two days! It was wild trying to update each other on what had happened each day! I went with Sis Sablan one of the days! She is such a fun time! We drove down some dirt roads, saw long horn bulls, pet some horses! She was loving it! It reminded me of home. That's the first time on my whole mission that I have been on a crappy dirt road! good times!

Sis Dougal and I were blessed with a lot of miracles this week! I'd like to share one of them with you. This week Sis Dougal and I were praying to ask God to know where to harvest (knock doors). Where His elect were who had been prepared. An apartment complex came to Sis Dougals mind so that's where we went. As we got there, we said another prayer to know which doors to knock. We felt prompted to go to the back of the complexes so we did. I started walking up to a home, we knocked and a women answered. She said she didn't have time then but would love for us to come back. I then quickly testified to her that it would take a brief moment and help her to feel of the Saviors love. She let us in (so grateful for that). We knelt down and said the prayer. With tears in her eyes she expressed that her husband had passed away a year ago and that she was looking for spiritual guidance. We then told her that we were sent straight to her and she couldn't believe it! We let her know that it was her faith and prayers that led us to her door that day. We have an apt with her tonight and can't wait to see her. I know that the Lord hears and answers the prayers of all of His children. This spiritual experience was made possible only because of prayer. It changes everything! I know that communication with our Father in Heaven is so important! As I was studying about prayer this week I thought of Enos and the mighty changes that were caused in his heart and others because of his prayer. He received an answer in his mind "And while I was thus struggling in the spirit, behold, the voice of the Lord came unto my mind saying...." (Enos 1:10) this also helped me to realize the importance of controlling our thoughts. We need to have clean thoughts so that God can guide us through our minds. Just as Sis Dougal pictured the complex we needed to go to! I know the power of prayer is real! God indeed hears and answers our cries.

Jake is going to love Mexico I cant wait for him to get there! I feel like he just got into the MTC! Time flies when you are serving the Lord and his children! That's for sure! it sounds like everyone is busy with work and school and that's a good thing! mom, I heard a song that I love and know you will love to! check it out and let me know what you think its "Every Shade of You" by Jim brickman.  I've had a great week here in Florida! Just loving life! I also had a tender heart moment in stake conference when I realized I don't have all the time in the world left here. I've been working really hard! I want to come home spent! give it all I've got!  

Well I hope you all have another fun week! I sure do love and miss you all! I keep you in my prayers daily! My heart goes out to you and I am so grateful for all you do for me! xoxoxo! i love you so so much! talk to you next week!

with all my love, sister johnson

September 17, 2013

 Stuart District

 Sis Holyan, I miss this girl

 Sis Sablons 9 month mark hahahahahahahahah I love this girl

Mario's baptism 

Family,

Well another week has come and gone and I can't believe it! Sis Dougal and I had our first baptism in Wellington on Saturday and it was amazing! We met Mario about 4 weeks ago outside of his sister apt. We left a prayer with him and he accepted baptism right off the bat. As we continued to teach him, there was something holding him back but we pressed forward. there are four principles that helped us share the gospel with Mario and I know you will recognize them dad. They are from the book you sent me at the beginning of my mission "drawing down the powers of heaven". 

1. Select righteous desire (we wanted Mario to be able to receive the blessings of the restored gospel and continue to prepare for eternal life through baptism)

2. Plead your case with God (we prayed every day all the time for Mario. that he would be able to resist temptation that he would continue to search the scriptures and continue to receive the strength that he needed!) we also put forth our best effort to help him in his learning process

3. Exert yourself mentally (all we thought about all the time was what more could we do to help Mario feel that he was prepared for baptism.) he came for three Sundays in a row and then he went out of town for a week! the real miracle came in the last step

4. Sustained effort. As we continued to trust in god and to exercise our faith, Mario got back on Sat morning and we went and saw him, got him interviewed, and he was baptized that night! 

From this my testimony of Christ and trusting in him has truly been strengthened! Mario is amazing! He has such a strong testimony and such a great desires to come closer to his Savior! He has changed my life! He's taught me that all things work out in Gods timing. He is such a happy man now too! In his confirmation it was mentioned that he would be a leader and also help him family learn of the gospel and that he would learn and grow much! What a blessing it is to me to have this opportunity to meet him and to share the more important thing to me, the gospel of Jesus Christ, with him. 

We had a pretty great week! Went on our two exchanges, ate Sunday dinner at a members home, went to a zone training and looked for those who are prepared for baptism! 

It sounds like Jake is doing good! I cant believe he is going to Vegas for a day! That will be fun for him! change it up a bit. Next week is transfers for us so I will be e-mailing on Tues. I'm pretty sure me and Sis Dougal are staying together and staying in our area! This might just be my last area! That is a crazy thought! The plant that you sent me is growing mom! its cute! all the girls love it haha. They want it to flower but.... I'm pretty sure I need to plant it outside for it do produce flowers! Jenny Lake looked like a good time! I haven't been there for years! 

I hope that you all have a fantastic week! I LOVE YOU SO SO SO MUCH! I look forward each week to hearing from you as well as seeing your smiling faces! Thank you mom for sending my that info I will get my application finished! talk to you next week!

all my love, sister brooke johnson

September 9, 2013

3. Sis Tuai and I - it was so fun seeing all of my old companions and all of the missionaries at mission conference this week! Sis Holyan is doing great her brother just got his call to Pocatello, ID haha he will have fun there.   Elder Soares of the Seventy was here! He gave a wonderful talk about why we were called to our specific missions and how we can better work with the members in our missionary efforts! We also all got flu shots right after his message! Only 5 dollars so that was a huge blessing! I'm getting so used to those things that I don't even feel it!

2. This is my companion and I at a gold mine... just kidding but we are looking for some gold right now. We are really trying to find people to teach and baptize! Its been some what challenging but we know that there are many many people here who have been waiting for us to find them! So we pray that they will be patient in the process while we strive to more fully understand the guidance of the spirit so that we can find them! It sounds like Jake is doing great in the MTC. He said he didn't get any mail last week which is really sad! I'm trying to stay on top of it because I know how hard it is to not get mail! He needs the love and support right now! He says he's doing awesome though, he loves life. I pray for him and our family every day! 

1. I'm still so happy that I got to feed a giraffe. I will be talking about it the rest of my life I'm sure!

I had the busiest week of my mission this past one as I expressed in my last letter. It went by so fast and we had so much to do. Sis Dougal and I also talked in church yesterday! I talked about the atonement of Christ and how as we learned more about it our desire to share the gospel will increase! There was so much that happened last week that I don't even know where to begin. It sounds like you all had a similar week! I will come more prepared next week to e-mailing so I can send a really good one! 

thank you for all you do! i hope you have a wonderful week family! i love you so much! keep doing what you're doing! :) until next week! xoxoxoxoxoxo

love always sis johnson  

September 3, 2013

Elder Jacob Johnson in the Provo MTC...........

OLAH MI AMORS! (hello my loves)

Its been a crazy fun p-day! It's my companions 23rd birthday! We went to a place called Lion Country Safari! it was the time of my life! I got to feed a giraffe! yep I said it - I did I did I did! It was so much fun their tongues are so long and they would wrap around my finger when I went to give them lettuce! I also got attacked by a bunch of birds.... it was still fun but started to freak me out haha I also made breakfast for my comp and all the elders today! So I've really just been going going going today! It's all been worth it though! Jake sounds like he is doing pretty good. I pray for that kid every night! He says he's happy and that his comp is awesome so that's a huge blessing. Thank you mom for sending me a fun little book that was a nice surprise :) I also got a long letter from Gina which I loved. Would you send me her e-mail its easier for me to respond that way. 

We had another wonderful meal at a members home Sunday night. mmmm am I grateful for awesome ward members or what?! Let me just tell you how awesome our ward is.... Thurs night Sis Doudal and I were going to appointments when we get a call from a member of the bishopric. He was calling to let us know that he had seen one of our investigators at the store and said hi to them and that it was a miracle that he saw her there. So in our minds we are thinking "how awesome is this, our members are calling to share miracles with us." Then he goes on to ask if we had any apts for the end of the night and we said that we were just getting ready to walk into one and then he says, "we would love to come with you, we will be there in just a min." So he hung up and as we were waiting we were like he said we....? who's he with? sure enough when the car pulled up, the whole bishopric jumps out of the car! We were so excited! We taught two POWERFUL POWERFUL lessons with them and the spirit was so strong! We felt like we were with the sons of Mosiah or with Alma and Amulek as the are walking out from the falling prison walls! IT WAS AMAZING! I'm so grateful for that experience and what I learned from it! It gets even better though... as we were walking back to our cars at the end of the night bishop gave us some money to go buy ice cream so... we did! What a perfect ending to our night!

This morning as I had mentioned I made breakfast for everyone and I asked the elders if they could bring over pancake mix. They said "sure no prob we have two boxes here" this morning I went to open one of them and there was a spider web and a LIVE spider just chilling in the box. They will never hear the end of that one.... elders.... haha. 

We got caught in a huge rain storm yesterday. We started knocking when it was light rain and said that before the storm hit (because we could see it coming) we would go back to the car. Well... it came faster than we expected and we got caught in it! It was huge! We didn't have to run too far back to our car but we were drenched. Then soaked for the rest of the day. It was a good time! I was on exchanges too so it made for a good little adventure. This week we have a packed schedule. Tomorrow we go on another exchange and have interviews with Pres. Thurs we have our weekly planning day Fri we have our leadership meeting with Pres and Sis Anderson and then Sat we are having a mission conference! Yes the whole mission is getting together. Its about 170 missionaries! There is a 70 coming so it will be a blast! 

I'm doing really well! I truly appreciate all of the love and support that all of you send my way! Especially you mom and dad! I brag about our family to everyone here! I LOVE YOU FOREVER! Next week will be a normal p-day for me I will be emailing on Mon at normal time! I hope all of you have a fantastic week! Enjoy my fun pics! love love love you!

xxoxoxoxoxoxoxo sis johnson