All,
Alyse is now home! What a great blessing to have her back and to feel of her wonderful spirit and love. What a great mission she fulfilled. We will all miss her exciting and inspiring letters!
Another reminder...
She will be speaking in our sacrament meeting tomorrow, June 27th at 9:00 am. Our building is located at 50 E 600 N in Lindon, UT. Hope that some of you can join us. We will also be having a little brunch at our house after our meeting block at 12:30 pm. Please join us if you can. Our address is 755 N 400 E, Lindon UT.
Saturday, June 26, 2010
Tuesday, June 22, 2010
hi
We had the coolest lesson last night!!!!! We found this guy named Jason and he is really neat. He randomly had a Book of Mormon on his bookshelf and said he had meant to start reading it. We brought over the gospel doctrine teacher with us last night and they really got along. Jason has a fiance and so we were assuming that we would have to help him move out or get married, but we found out last night that they are living separatly and fully intend to live apart until they are married! That is rare and awesome. He also told us that he was telling a co-worker about mormons at work and his boss overheard and was super excited and said, "hey! i'm Mormon! You're talking to the missionaries?!" And I guess they had a long discussion after that. Sweet!
We also miraculously found the fiance of a less active woman. She's a recent convert (the fiance), but went less active about a year after her baptism, but now she wants to come back and we're teaching her 9 year old daughter and her fiance. They are awesome.
Also, Sonya told us earlier last week that she couldn't come to church anymore because she got a job that had her work on Sunday. We prayed really hard for God's will to be done, and then on Friday she called us all distressed because the job fell through, "Can you get me a ride to church?" Wahoo. She'll find a job, don't worry. But apparently the lord wanted her to have another job. :)
We also were driving away from our apartment and we forgot something so we drove back and when we did we saw an investigator that we had been teaching but then she fell off the face of the earth. But there she was. I jumped out of the car and we have an appointment on Wednesday. She's just going through a lot.
And guess what else? sister Wesley is training even though she's only been out for 6 months! There are 6 new sisters coming in this transfer to replace the 4 sisters leaving. Crazy! Sister wesley will do a great job.
Sigh. Well...People keep asking me how I feel...I feel normal. I'm not really excited or afraid...I just feel like I always do out here because my days are the exact same as they were 18 months ago. I wake up, read scriptures, find and teach people, come home and plan, and then go to bed. It hasn't really hit yet. President said in my exit interview that feeling normal is normal. He said that missionary work keeps moving and you just jump on the conveyor belt and when it's over, it doesn't slow down, you just jump off. So I'm still on the conveyor belt.
This has been the greatest experience of my life. hopefully the mission is a launching pad. But actually i have more than hope. This experience will be a launching pad because i am choosing now to make it the launching pad of my life. It's not over...however I will no longer be giving weekly email/blog updates on my life, I'll just call you...or talk to you in person--even better :)
love,
sister johnson
We also miraculously found the fiance of a less active woman. She's a recent convert (the fiance), but went less active about a year after her baptism, but now she wants to come back and we're teaching her 9 year old daughter and her fiance. They are awesome.
Also, Sonya told us earlier last week that she couldn't come to church anymore because she got a job that had her work on Sunday. We prayed really hard for God's will to be done, and then on Friday she called us all distressed because the job fell through, "Can you get me a ride to church?" Wahoo. She'll find a job, don't worry. But apparently the lord wanted her to have another job. :)
We also were driving away from our apartment and we forgot something so we drove back and when we did we saw an investigator that we had been teaching but then she fell off the face of the earth. But there she was. I jumped out of the car and we have an appointment on Wednesday. She's just going through a lot.
And guess what else? sister Wesley is training even though she's only been out for 6 months! There are 6 new sisters coming in this transfer to replace the 4 sisters leaving. Crazy! Sister wesley will do a great job.
Sigh. Well...People keep asking me how I feel...I feel normal. I'm not really excited or afraid...I just feel like I always do out here because my days are the exact same as they were 18 months ago. I wake up, read scriptures, find and teach people, come home and plan, and then go to bed. It hasn't really hit yet. President said in my exit interview that feeling normal is normal. He said that missionary work keeps moving and you just jump on the conveyor belt and when it's over, it doesn't slow down, you just jump off. So I'm still on the conveyor belt.
This has been the greatest experience of my life. hopefully the mission is a launching pad. But actually i have more than hope. This experience will be a launching pad because i am choosing now to make it the launching pad of my life. It's not over...however I will no longer be giving weekly email/blog updates on my life, I'll just call you...or talk to you in person--even better :)
love,
sister johnson
Wednesday, June 16, 2010
I gave a talk in Sacrament and then Sister Wesley and I sang "Brightly Breams Our Father's Mercy." I love that song.
We met a girl named Sasha. She is the oldest daughter to one of our recent coverts. She's 18 and finishing up high school this summer, but she seems like she's 25...She's way more mature than me. Anyways, she's got a good head on her shoulders and she came to church and liked it. We'll see her again on Tuesday.
Oh.... this is funny and random:
I was telling Sister Wesley about Kirsten, but I accidently called Kirsten Sister Johnson. So then I said, "Yeah, Kirsten is another Sister Johnson...well, actually she's Sister Moody. She used to be Sister Johnson, but then she got mad.....I mean married."
Did I tell you I ate cow tongue? It's pretty moist and it doesn't have any fat or anything...but nevertheless...as soon as I found out I was eating cow tongue tacos I couldn't take another bite.
Linda Sue came to Church and everyone was so happy to see her! She's so cool! I love her a ton.
I have decided that I really like Jehovah's Witnesses. I was warned about them when I got here, but I have had really good experiences with them. They often give us water and treats when we come to the door expressing that, "We know how it is cause we're out there too." And anytime we ask for a referral they say, "Let us get to them first." :) But they are nice, plus they are the ones responsible for taking the issue of door to door proselyting to the Supreme court. Because of their efforts, our door to door proselyting is legally protected by the first amendment. We carry around documentation of this because some cities and home owners associations have made ordinances against religious proselyting, and we have to explain that the ordinance is unconstitutional. :0) But it's a different story on public property. Anyways, my thanks goes out to Jehovah's Witnesses for the kindness they've shown me on my mission.
In fact, most of the people here in Texas are pretty nice. Usually our worst door approaches are people sincerely warning us that we have been deceived. They are worried for us personally which I appreciate even if I don't agree. Now Elders have it different...people here are a little rough with the Elders.
For the past 2 and half months we having been working with a philipino woman from New York. Her name is Racquel. She's pretty intelligent so we have very interesting discussions, but for on reason or another she wont come to church and you can't really progress in the gospel unless you are willing to participate in covenants and ordinances. So we were going to drop her yesterday...a terrible term, but I define the term "drop" as the action of placing the invstigator back in the Lord's hands for further preparation. Anyways, that was our plan. We showed up and she wasn't there. It was blistering hot out so I was ready to leave and go some place else, but Sister Wesley said, let's go see if Jen's home (an investigator we have also been working with for several months who lives down the street). I looked down the street and Jen's car wasn't home... Then sister Wesley suggested that we walk instead of drive... mind you it was blistering hot and we could clearly see that Jen wasn't home, but Sister Wesley wanted to walk which is very very very very unlike her. She hates the heat and is always trying to find an excuse to get back into the car. So we walked and it was hot, but our characters were being built and as soon as we got to Jen's house it was clear that she wasn't home...but then there was Racquel walking around the corner of the street. she thought our appointment was earlier and that we had forgotten. So we walked back, taught her some more and she is understanding more and more. We decided not to drop her yet. We'll give her a little bit more time.
I love the Spirit and I love companions that listen to the Spirit!
love, sister johnson
We met a girl named Sasha. She is the oldest daughter to one of our recent coverts. She's 18 and finishing up high school this summer, but she seems like she's 25...She's way more mature than me. Anyways, she's got a good head on her shoulders and she came to church and liked it. We'll see her again on Tuesday.
Oh.... this is funny and random:
I was telling Sister Wesley about Kirsten, but I accidently called Kirsten Sister Johnson. So then I said, "Yeah, Kirsten is another Sister Johnson...well, actually she's Sister Moody. She used to be Sister Johnson, but then she got mad.....I mean married."
Did I tell you I ate cow tongue? It's pretty moist and it doesn't have any fat or anything...but nevertheless...as soon as I found out I was eating cow tongue tacos I couldn't take another bite.
Linda Sue came to Church and everyone was so happy to see her! She's so cool! I love her a ton.
I have decided that I really like Jehovah's Witnesses. I was warned about them when I got here, but I have had really good experiences with them. They often give us water and treats when we come to the door expressing that, "We know how it is cause we're out there too." And anytime we ask for a referral they say, "Let us get to them first." :) But they are nice, plus they are the ones responsible for taking the issue of door to door proselyting to the Supreme court. Because of their efforts, our door to door proselyting is legally protected by the first amendment. We carry around documentation of this because some cities and home owners associations have made ordinances against religious proselyting, and we have to explain that the ordinance is unconstitutional. :0) But it's a different story on public property. Anyways, my thanks goes out to Jehovah's Witnesses for the kindness they've shown me on my mission.
In fact, most of the people here in Texas are pretty nice. Usually our worst door approaches are people sincerely warning us that we have been deceived. They are worried for us personally which I appreciate even if I don't agree. Now Elders have it different...people here are a little rough with the Elders.
For the past 2 and half months we having been working with a philipino woman from New York. Her name is Racquel. She's pretty intelligent so we have very interesting discussions, but for on reason or another she wont come to church and you can't really progress in the gospel unless you are willing to participate in covenants and ordinances. So we were going to drop her yesterday...a terrible term, but I define the term "drop" as the action of placing the invstigator back in the Lord's hands for further preparation. Anyways, that was our plan. We showed up and she wasn't there. It was blistering hot out so I was ready to leave and go some place else, but Sister Wesley said, let's go see if Jen's home (an investigator we have also been working with for several months who lives down the street). I looked down the street and Jen's car wasn't home... Then sister Wesley suggested that we walk instead of drive... mind you it was blistering hot and we could clearly see that Jen wasn't home, but Sister Wesley wanted to walk which is very very very very unlike her. She hates the heat and is always trying to find an excuse to get back into the car. So we walked and it was hot, but our characters were being built and as soon as we got to Jen's house it was clear that she wasn't home...but then there was Racquel walking around the corner of the street. she thought our appointment was earlier and that we had forgotten. So we walked back, taught her some more and she is understanding more and more. We decided not to drop her yet. We'll give her a little bit more time.
I love the Spirit and I love companions that listen to the Spirit!
love, sister johnson
Monday, June 7, 2010
the devil in the red blouse
Miracles happen everyday. Dissappointments happen, too, but dissappointments are much more rare than the miracles which is why dissappointments seem to take the forefront of our thoughts. We are surrounded by miracles every second of every day. photosynthesis--a miracle, the growth of our fingernails--a miracle, the allignment of the solar system--a miracle. Miracles are everywhere, but our society defines miracles as phenomenons that we understand to a degree, but that we mostly don't understand, and the miracle is only a miracle if it doesn't happen very often and if it is clearly attached to a source (like a prayer or the wave of a magic wand) and must happen within a short amount of time otherwise it's not a miracle. To me, a miracle is any beneficial creation or action that exists or happens beyond my own efforts...but my favorite miracles are the decisions made by individuals to act in faith.
Anyways, last week we contacted a lot of people, talked to them about the gospel, and then most of them rejected the message for one reason or another. We met a man that was drunk, but coherent enough to understand a bit. He wondered why God made commandments that went against the natural man. He questioned whether we were from God or not, and then he started calling me the "devil in a red blouse"! it was weird because we felt strongly to go to this fellow, but he was not really interested at all, plus he was drunk so who knows what was actually sinking in. We feel strongly to go talk to a lot of people and usually we don't every see the fruits that explain why. So we left. We had a bunch of people lined up to come to church this week, but none of them came. however, one of our members randomly met a woman on her walk. They started talking about pologamy and then the conversation turned more to the gospel and then she invited her to church. The woman loved it! But we found out she lives in the neighboring ward which is good for her, sad for us, but we're just glad Sister Lambe invited her to church. Then we had a referral from the Eden elders. Her name was Sonya. We had a ride for her so she could go to church, but she told our ride she couldn't go to church because the maintenance guys were over putting in her AC. Well, after church we went to see her and the maintenance guys were still over. We invited her to go to 1pm Church, but she declined because the maintenance guys were still over. Well, suddenly the maintenance guys started leaving. "Where you going?" Sonya yelled at them. "We're going home! Today's the Lord's day." So they left and then we invited her again. "You really want me to go to church with you, don't you? Alright, i'll come." So then she came, and then she bore her testimony at sacrament meeting about how she feels comfortable and not judged at our church and then Sister Wesley bore her testimony about how that comfortable feeling comes from the Spirit. Going back, on the way to church we get a call from the 1pm ward elders. "Sisters, a guy you EBP'd (contacted) just walked in so he's sitting with us. His name is james." James? whose james. i went through the week and i thought about all the people we talked to. We had some really extensive conversations with some people and they were pretty interested. one guy told us about how he died, another one said he'd give us a call when he had time. We walked into the building and there stood the man who called me the "devil in the red blouse!" he stood next to the Elders weeping...and he's a tough guy! The elders put their arms around him and took him to the restroom to get some tissues. We don't know why he was sad, but after the meeting he said we wanted to come back because he liked what he saw. We're seeing him on Wednesday. Miracles happen. i used to look at moments like this and wonder about people's motives and their sincerity. but I've learned something: Every single person on this earth is a child of God. Every single person. When I understand this, my own motives become pure and I myself become more sincere. God answers my prayers, miracles surround even the spiritually blind, and because of Christ, the angels continue to strive with each one of us.
Anyways, last week we contacted a lot of people, talked to them about the gospel, and then most of them rejected the message for one reason or another. We met a man that was drunk, but coherent enough to understand a bit. He wondered why God made commandments that went against the natural man. He questioned whether we were from God or not, and then he started calling me the "devil in a red blouse"! it was weird because we felt strongly to go to this fellow, but he was not really interested at all, plus he was drunk so who knows what was actually sinking in. We feel strongly to go talk to a lot of people and usually we don't every see the fruits that explain why. So we left. We had a bunch of people lined up to come to church this week, but none of them came. however, one of our members randomly met a woman on her walk. They started talking about pologamy and then the conversation turned more to the gospel and then she invited her to church. The woman loved it! But we found out she lives in the neighboring ward which is good for her, sad for us, but we're just glad Sister Lambe invited her to church. Then we had a referral from the Eden elders. Her name was Sonya. We had a ride for her so she could go to church, but she told our ride she couldn't go to church because the maintenance guys were over putting in her AC. Well, after church we went to see her and the maintenance guys were still over. We invited her to go to 1pm Church, but she declined because the maintenance guys were still over. Well, suddenly the maintenance guys started leaving. "Where you going?" Sonya yelled at them. "We're going home! Today's the Lord's day." So they left and then we invited her again. "You really want me to go to church with you, don't you? Alright, i'll come." So then she came, and then she bore her testimony at sacrament meeting about how she feels comfortable and not judged at our church and then Sister Wesley bore her testimony about how that comfortable feeling comes from the Spirit. Going back, on the way to church we get a call from the 1pm ward elders. "Sisters, a guy you EBP'd (contacted) just walked in so he's sitting with us. His name is james." James? whose james. i went through the week and i thought about all the people we talked to. We had some really extensive conversations with some people and they were pretty interested. one guy told us about how he died, another one said he'd give us a call when he had time. We walked into the building and there stood the man who called me the "devil in the red blouse!" he stood next to the Elders weeping...and he's a tough guy! The elders put their arms around him and took him to the restroom to get some tissues. We don't know why he was sad, but after the meeting he said we wanted to come back because he liked what he saw. We're seeing him on Wednesday. Miracles happen. i used to look at moments like this and wonder about people's motives and their sincerity. but I've learned something: Every single person on this earth is a child of God. Every single person. When I understand this, my own motives become pure and I myself become more sincere. God answers my prayers, miracles surround even the spiritually blind, and because of Christ, the angels continue to strive with each one of us.
Sunday, June 6, 2010
The Return of Alyse
Hey everyone,
I am writing this to let you know that Alyse is returning from her mission on June 25th! Yea!! She arrives at the SLC airport on AA flight 604 at 2:00 pm. Anyone who would like to meet her at the airport is welcome to come.
Also, she will be giving a talk in our Sacrament mtg on June 27th at 9:00 am MDT. Again, everyone is invited. You are also welcome to hang out at our house after the meeting. We’ll be staying for the 3-hour block, but if it works best for you to leave after Sacrament mtg, please feel free to hang out at our house until we get home just after noon.
We will be having a potluck lunch at about 12:30. We will provide rolls and cold cuts and sandwich fixins. Please bring a salad of your choice.
Our Church: 50 E 600 N, Lindon UT
Our House: 755 N 400 E, Lindon UT
Y’all come by now, ya hear!
Lane
I am writing this to let you know that Alyse is returning from her mission on June 25th! Yea!! She arrives at the SLC airport on AA flight 604 at 2:00 pm. Anyone who would like to meet her at the airport is welcome to come.
Also, she will be giving a talk in our Sacrament mtg on June 27th at 9:00 am MDT. Again, everyone is invited. You are also welcome to hang out at our house after the meeting. We’ll be staying for the 3-hour block, but if it works best for you to leave after Sacrament mtg, please feel free to hang out at our house until we get home just after noon.
We will be having a potluck lunch at about 12:30. We will provide rolls and cold cuts and sandwich fixins. Please bring a salad of your choice.
Our Church: 50 E 600 N, Lindon UT
Our House: 755 N 400 E, Lindon UT
Y’all come by now, ya hear!
Lane
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