Mon, Mar 30, 2009
This week has been crazy. We were given a brand spanking new 2009 Chevy Malibu at the beginning of this transfer. It now sits in the parking lot outside with a plastic garbage bag taped down where the back windshield used to be. The car is also covered with dozens of little dimples. I never knew that hail could cause so much damage, but when they are the size of golf balls it makes a little more sense. Joshua was the one who warned of the upcoming storm so of course we thought we were going to die. He’s so dramatic. Haha. He thought he would have to bring a gun to stake conference to fight off all the mobbers who would try and attack the gathered mormons. He was slightly joking…but still.
Sigh. It has become extremely difficult to know what to write. I have one hour to sum up a week filled with so much stuff that it would take an entire book for me to really compile these events and my feelings into some plane of coherency. I can’t share the most significant stories and concepts that I’ve had to come to terms with because they are sacred moments and reserved only for those involved.
Bonnie and Blanca were baptized on Saturday and confirmed on Sunday. Those women have been through some of the hardest knocks life can inflict and they’ve endured it as gracefully as possible. Blanca is my age and has a cute 3 year old son who is out of control…seriously this kid is the smartest most energetic terror I’ve met and his life revolves around his mother. Blanca also has a two month old baby. We met her a month ago in a parking lot and accepted everything we taught her. She has a hard life. I feel like I’m back in my sociology classes being faced with an unanswerable social dilemma, only the statistics are replaced with three living and breathing souls. She has had the cruelest week and even after she was baptized we felt like the adversary gave her one last humiliating kick in the face to shatter her will. But amid her hardships and anguish she stands as a savior to her children because she has knelt before the Savior in tender humility.
Bonnie’s baptism was one of the most touching experiences I’ve had on the mission. In glowing excitement she entered the font and was baptized by water. It was just incredible the spirit that entered the room during the ordinance. And I just have to say that greeting my investigators/new converts as they exit the font is one of the most precious blessings I’ve been given. Their faces glow, their spirit sings and I thank the heavens for allowing me to play a part in their life.
I am so grateful for the Savior and for this opportunity we have to learn and grow. I’m so glad I’m here…not just on a mission but on this Earth. I want to serve him and give him everything I am and yet I am constrained by my own fear and inadequacies. I’ll pray for more opportunities to grow, but when they come I curse my bitter plight. The lyrics from a favorite song: “Sometimes I pray for a slap in the face, but then beg to be spared because I’m a coward.”
May we soar with the experiences set before us by turning to the Savior. He counts our every tear and sends angels to catch them.
Monday, March 30, 2009
Monday, March 23, 2009
transfers...
Tue, Mar 17, 2009
We had transfer calls last night and Sister Davenport is opening up a new area and she's training again! I'm staying in Cedar Park. I don't have a lot of time, but life is good. I hope you all have a fabulous day! Thanks for the prayers!
We had transfer calls last night and Sister Davenport is opening up a new area and she's training again! I'm staying in Cedar Park. I don't have a lot of time, but life is good. I hope you all have a fabulous day! Thanks for the prayers!
my heart’s plugged into your heart
Mon, Mar 23, 2009
Sister Denison is my new companion. I know her really well because she was one of the other sisters in my zone before the transfer. She’s really fun and throws her heart into everything that she pursues. I really respect her for her decision to go on a mission. She didn’t come because she had to, she didn’t go because she felt like the Lord asked her to, she came because the gospel changed her life and she wants to help spread the gospel so it can change others’ lives.
Last week Sister Davenport and I had an interesting experience. We met a man walking his dog and he invited us in for a lesson with his family. The spirit was extremely strong in that lesson. When I repeated the first vision the whole room just went quiet and we all just sat there for a couple seconds. That hardly ever happens in our lessons. It’s not for lack of trying, but most of the lessons I teach are mostly informative and interesting, not necessarily spiritually intense. I’m sure the Spirit is present during our lessons, but he was especially present during this lesson. That probably didn’t make sense, but oh well. Afterwards we were trying to figure out what was different about that lesson. Did we do something different? We had been trying to have better prayers so maybe that was part of it. But in the end I decided that the spirit was strong because someone in that room was super in tune with the Spirit and ready to hear the message. I forgot to mention that the parents were drinking alcohol as we taught…It could have been something else…but I’m pretty sure they were a little tipsy by the time we left. Maybe the parents were receptive to the Spirit even though they were drinking, but I felt really connected with kids and I believe that they were the reason we were there. The next day we had an appointment with the family, but they weren’t there so we decided to go and visit a referral given to us a while back. We knocked on the door and some kids answered. Some of the kids were the kids from that family we had just taught. We talked to an older sister there and she said we could come back the next day. We went to see her, she wasn’t there, so we went back over to the family we taught before hoping to see them again. We saw them at the door and the wife was laying on the couch looking really sick and then their “friend” saw us and asked us to come out on the front porch with him. He shut the door behind him, cracked open another beer (he was pretty drunk) and proceeding to tell us that we were crazy and that the bible was the only word of God. He made a complete fool of himself. We didn’t say much except that we wanted to talk to Amy and Jesse ourselves but he didn’t let us in. So we walked away. And that was it. Randomly the next day when we were back in the area we ran into the drunk friend and he apologized. That was nice, but we mostly just wanted to go and talk to Amy and Jesse and the kids again. We’ll try back later I suppose. I just have to say that after a while the looks and the comments start to wear you down…
This week started off with paintball and I got two massive bruises on my arms. I have no idea why the president allowed us to paintball, but it was super fun and I hit three elders!
Sister Davenport was saying goodbye to Jenny and her kids(a recent convert). Sister Davenport: “I’m going to be sad to leave you.” 5-yr-old Emily: “That’s okay cause my heart’s plugged into your heart.” Ahhhhhhh….cute. A 9-yr-old was hanging on Sister Davenport crying and said: “You can’t go!, I can’t have any more depression in my life!!!!” haha.
The first day Sister Denison and I were together we knocked the ginormous houses. Haha. They are huge. I’m in a very very wealthy area. Haha. At this one castle, four super spoiled lap dogs with diamond collars barked up at us through a huge glass door and fancy pool reflecting in the back. We just stood there awkwardly reminding ourselves that we were the higher species.
At church the primary sang us called to serve at their opening exercises. It was cute.
Blanca and Bonnie will be getting baptized this next Saturday. They have incredibly difficult lives and their lives of course are going crazy this next week so it’s going to be fun! Why can’t every baptism be like Joshua’s? His just flowed perfectly with no hang ups. Haha. I love Bonnie and Blanca and they need this now more than ever.
I love you all! Thanks for the prayers!
sister johnson
Sister Denison is my new companion. I know her really well because she was one of the other sisters in my zone before the transfer. She’s really fun and throws her heart into everything that she pursues. I really respect her for her decision to go on a mission. She didn’t come because she had to, she didn’t go because she felt like the Lord asked her to, she came because the gospel changed her life and she wants to help spread the gospel so it can change others’ lives.
Last week Sister Davenport and I had an interesting experience. We met a man walking his dog and he invited us in for a lesson with his family. The spirit was extremely strong in that lesson. When I repeated the first vision the whole room just went quiet and we all just sat there for a couple seconds. That hardly ever happens in our lessons. It’s not for lack of trying, but most of the lessons I teach are mostly informative and interesting, not necessarily spiritually intense. I’m sure the Spirit is present during our lessons, but he was especially present during this lesson. That probably didn’t make sense, but oh well. Afterwards we were trying to figure out what was different about that lesson. Did we do something different? We had been trying to have better prayers so maybe that was part of it. But in the end I decided that the spirit was strong because someone in that room was super in tune with the Spirit and ready to hear the message. I forgot to mention that the parents were drinking alcohol as we taught…It could have been something else…but I’m pretty sure they were a little tipsy by the time we left. Maybe the parents were receptive to the Spirit even though they were drinking, but I felt really connected with kids and I believe that they were the reason we were there. The next day we had an appointment with the family, but they weren’t there so we decided to go and visit a referral given to us a while back. We knocked on the door and some kids answered. Some of the kids were the kids from that family we had just taught. We talked to an older sister there and she said we could come back the next day. We went to see her, she wasn’t there, so we went back over to the family we taught before hoping to see them again. We saw them at the door and the wife was laying on the couch looking really sick and then their “friend” saw us and asked us to come out on the front porch with him. He shut the door behind him, cracked open another beer (he was pretty drunk) and proceeding to tell us that we were crazy and that the bible was the only word of God. He made a complete fool of himself. We didn’t say much except that we wanted to talk to Amy and Jesse ourselves but he didn’t let us in. So we walked away. And that was it. Randomly the next day when we were back in the area we ran into the drunk friend and he apologized. That was nice, but we mostly just wanted to go and talk to Amy and Jesse and the kids again. We’ll try back later I suppose. I just have to say that after a while the looks and the comments start to wear you down…
This week started off with paintball and I got two massive bruises on my arms. I have no idea why the president allowed us to paintball, but it was super fun and I hit three elders!
Sister Davenport was saying goodbye to Jenny and her kids(a recent convert). Sister Davenport: “I’m going to be sad to leave you.” 5-yr-old Emily: “That’s okay cause my heart’s plugged into your heart.” Ahhhhhhh….cute. A 9-yr-old was hanging on Sister Davenport crying and said: “You can’t go!, I can’t have any more depression in my life!!!!” haha.
The first day Sister Denison and I were together we knocked the ginormous houses. Haha. They are huge. I’m in a very very wealthy area. Haha. At this one castle, four super spoiled lap dogs with diamond collars barked up at us through a huge glass door and fancy pool reflecting in the back. We just stood there awkwardly reminding ourselves that we were the higher species.
At church the primary sang us called to serve at their opening exercises. It was cute.
Blanca and Bonnie will be getting baptized this next Saturday. They have incredibly difficult lives and their lives of course are going crazy this next week so it’s going to be fun! Why can’t every baptism be like Joshua’s? His just flowed perfectly with no hang ups. Haha. I love Bonnie and Blanca and they need this now more than ever.
I love you all! Thanks for the prayers!
sister johnson
Sunday, March 8, 2009
This week was...spaztasic.
Mon, Mar 2, 2009
Hello.
I just want to first start off by telling my family that Sister Davenport is a very big Stargate fan which obviously makes her very cool. She mostly has a crush on Jack, but who wouldn't, right?
This week was...spaztasic. First, the weather was crazy. Going from 90 degrees down to 35 degrees in one night is not normal. Inconsistency in weather is the only constant right now, but I love it. I love the weather!!!!!!!! I don't know how you did it Anna, but I am so glad I didn't get sent to North eastern Europe...or anywhere North for that matter. If it's warm I'm really good at going out of my way to talk to everyone I can see, but when it's cold I can only think about one thing: "get warm, get warm, must get warm NOW." You'd think that I'd be a little less whimpy here in Texas because I grew up in Idaho, but no. If it's below 60, I'm chilly.
Okay, missionary work: The other day we met a lady in the parking lot. We introduced ourselves and she immediately gave us the look that says, "Stay away."
"Oh, you're Mormons...Well, I'm going through a crisis right now and I don't want to talk." I don't remember what we said. All I could remember was how sad she looked. She told us that she had been a Jehovah's Witness for 20 years, but now she's decided that all organized religion is wrong. "I don't think anyone knows the truth and I don't think anyone can know the truth." We tried to offer comforting words, but what I remember most was how she looked at us. You could tell she was a kind person and that she meant nothing towards us personally, but as she looked at us, everything that we represented to her (organized religion, I guess) brought her so much pain and anger. All I wanted to do was give her a hug and tell her everything was going to be okay, but of course I couldn't then. The anger that people have had with religion is sometimes thrust on us because of who we are to them. I know I'm not the cause of their pain, but it hurts to have people look at you like that.
That whole day was bad. All the investigators we taught were having tough days. Unbeknown to us, one of our investigators was having a very difficult time financially and it all came to a head the day we decided to teach tithing. But you know what? That investigator is still getting baptized and is still going to pay tithing because they knelt down after we left and asked if it was what the Lord wanted them to do. They received the answer they needed and they are pressing forward. Very cool.
The day after the bad day was amazing...I'm telling you, these weeks are like rollercoasters. We met a lot of people that listened to us and want us to come back to teach. One lady in particular just shown so bright as we talked to her. I'm excited to see what happens with her and her family.
We met another lady getting out of her car. She smiled warmly and I said, "Hi! we're missionaries from the church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. I'm sister-" All of the sudden she stuck a huge cross in my face. "Um...yeah...I'm sister Johnson.........." Then Sister Davenport piped in, "And I'm Sister Davenport. What's that?" I was sure she was going to say it was her relic to ward off vampires, but she explained that she was a lay nun for some catholic order so she was showing us that she was a sister too. I started into our message, but she suddenly waved her hands to cut us off and then pulled us both into a big double hug. Sweet...But then she held us there and started praying out loud. It was a beautiful prayer... a little awkward :) Great lady
Hello.
I just want to first start off by telling my family that Sister Davenport is a very big Stargate fan which obviously makes her very cool. She mostly has a crush on Jack, but who wouldn't, right?
This week was...spaztasic. First, the weather was crazy. Going from 90 degrees down to 35 degrees in one night is not normal. Inconsistency in weather is the only constant right now, but I love it. I love the weather!!!!!!!! I don't know how you did it Anna, but I am so glad I didn't get sent to North eastern Europe...or anywhere North for that matter. If it's warm I'm really good at going out of my way to talk to everyone I can see, but when it's cold I can only think about one thing: "get warm, get warm, must get warm NOW." You'd think that I'd be a little less whimpy here in Texas because I grew up in Idaho, but no. If it's below 60, I'm chilly.
Okay, missionary work: The other day we met a lady in the parking lot. We introduced ourselves and she immediately gave us the look that says, "Stay away."
"Oh, you're Mormons...Well, I'm going through a crisis right now and I don't want to talk." I don't remember what we said. All I could remember was how sad she looked. She told us that she had been a Jehovah's Witness for 20 years, but now she's decided that all organized religion is wrong. "I don't think anyone knows the truth and I don't think anyone can know the truth." We tried to offer comforting words, but what I remember most was how she looked at us. You could tell she was a kind person and that she meant nothing towards us personally, but as she looked at us, everything that we represented to her (organized religion, I guess) brought her so much pain and anger. All I wanted to do was give her a hug and tell her everything was going to be okay, but of course I couldn't then. The anger that people have had with religion is sometimes thrust on us because of who we are to them. I know I'm not the cause of their pain, but it hurts to have people look at you like that.
That whole day was bad. All the investigators we taught were having tough days. Unbeknown to us, one of our investigators was having a very difficult time financially and it all came to a head the day we decided to teach tithing. But you know what? That investigator is still getting baptized and is still going to pay tithing because they knelt down after we left and asked if it was what the Lord wanted them to do. They received the answer they needed and they are pressing forward. Very cool.
The day after the bad day was amazing...I'm telling you, these weeks are like rollercoasters. We met a lot of people that listened to us and want us to come back to teach. One lady in particular just shown so bright as we talked to her. I'm excited to see what happens with her and her family.
We met another lady getting out of her car. She smiled warmly and I said, "Hi! we're missionaries from the church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. I'm sister-" All of the sudden she stuck a huge cross in my face. "Um...yeah...I'm sister Johnson.........." Then Sister Davenport piped in, "And I'm Sister Davenport. What's that?" I was sure she was going to say it was her relic to ward off vampires, but she explained that she was a lay nun for some catholic order so she was showing us that she was a sister too. I started into our message, but she suddenly waved her hands to cut us off and then pulled us both into a big double hug. Sweet...But then she held us there and started praying out loud. It was a beautiful prayer... a little awkward :) Great lady
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