Marci, you are awesome and I’m so proud of you for your decision. I’m also glad it worked out so well. Your rock. Andre, you have really been beat up this year. Holy moly. Hope everything calms down a bit for you. Michelle, I’m sorry your face hurts. I’ve had a lot of surgeries, but getting my wisdom teeth out was by far the worst one. Yucky, yucky, yucky, smelly. Mom, I’m sorry about your sickness and I’m glad you’re feeling better. Dad, it’ll get better and when it does it will have all been worth it. Kirsten, is mark back yet? How’s Jaron? Catherine and Adam, what’s up? Mike, please write me a song. Clint, please write me a song too. Kevin, write me a letter...I know I don’t deserve one because I only sent you like 3 letters your whole mission, but I’ve been out for a third of my mission, so it’s about time for my first letter from you :) Lauren, you should send me pictures from your wedding because I haven’t got any. Brian, congratulations on the play. Caleb, you’re awesome. Y'all are wonderful...okay, so I know I sound like a dork when I say y'all, but I love that word. Eventually I will refine my country speak'n and be able to say it so it doesn't sound like I'm a utah transplant.
So I‘ve transferred to a small town named Pleasanton and I love it!!!

701 Oakhaven #402
Pleasanton, Texas 78064

Its nick name is “the birthplace of the cowboy” and I believe it. I live in the place all the country songs sing about. It’s tiny town, population like 1500 or something. Our area is huge. The size of our area is bigger than the entire city of San Antonio so we cover a bunch of these po-dunk specs on the map. We are the most South our mission goes. Everyone waves as they drive by. There are a lot of trailer parks complete with the old couches and dirty toys scattered in the front lawn. There are also the sweet little country homes with real wood teas porches where you can sip pink lemonade and bask in the heat. It’s hot and humid! I love it!
We live in some apartments across from the church which makes things very nice. When I walked into church it was full of cowboys. Brother Chandler is the epitome of cowboy—he’s got a handle bar mustache with big curls at the ends, a leather vest and a cowboy hat. Grumpy would have fit in nicely here. Is this what Beeville was like? Speaking of, someone mentioned Beeville, but now I can’t remember who. We sang the National Anthem as our closing hymn at church...priceless. Some ward members have to drive about an hour to get to church. Most of the people in the ward are pretty quirky which is great for me because I’m pretty quirky so I feel like I fit right in.
Sister Kleisler is my new companion. She’s great and we get along really well. She’s from Mesa, Arizona and has been on her mission for 10 months. She’s a fantastic missionary and we teach really well together which is good because there are so many people here to teach. First there is Clarissa and Gary. Clarissa was referred to the other sisters by Vanessa, a recent convert. Clarissa is about 20 years old and lives with her boyfriend, Gary. She has completely embraced the gospel and has pretty much decided that she wants to get baptized. Sister Kleisler warned me that Gary was a jerk and she wanted Clarissa to break up with him, but our first lesson together Gary listened as we taught the word of wisdom and he even said he would try it for a week. He asked if wishing on stars was considered praying and we told him that even though we don’t remember God from before, part of us is always trying to connect with God and when we have an urge to tell our troubles to a heavenly orb in the sky, we really are reaching up to our Father in Heaven even though we don’t remember Him. Then we had another lesson where we taught Gary the restoration and at the end of it he said, “So I guess now what I need to do is pray to find out if this is true.” Wahoo! They both are pretty awesome and we’ll see if they decided to get married or separate, because one of the two has to happen.
The next person we are teaching is a 10-year-old boy named Toby. He and his two brothers just moved in with their father for the summer. His father, Shaun, was just baptized a month ago and asked the missionaries to teach his kids. Toby wants to get baptized, but his mom (they’re divorced) wants to make sure he knows everything before he makes the decision. So we are teaching him a lot. He’s only 10, but he is super smart and asks amazing questions and understands the significance of the things we are teaching. A very elect kid.
Yesterday Sister Kleisler had the feeling to visit this one couple, but they weren’t home so we decided to visit a less active member across the street. She said that her and her husband needed a spiritual kick to get them out of a rut. Her husband (a non member) let us know that he wants to eventually get baptized. Sister Kleisler said that this was a miracle because before he wouldn’t even talk to the missionaries, but now he’s decided to open up. It’s not because of anything we did. We just followed Sister K’s prompting and it happened to be just the right time. Cool. There is so much going on here.
The other day we were eating a member’s house. AS she was serving us she said, “most people hate this meal, but I love it so that’s why we’re going to eat it.” Oh great. Well, it was chicken with a peanut butter sauce. It wasn’t too bad for me because I ate chicken with peanut butter sauce in Thailand all the time, but Sister Kleisler thought she was going to gag. Usually when I’m served gross food I can wash it down with liquid so I was really excited to be served our drink. She pulls out this pitcher of brown juice. “What kind of juice is that?” I asked. “Try it first and guess. It’s a surprise.” So we sipped some and it was pretty good, but we couldn’t figure out what it was. “It’s green tea with tamerindo (sp?)” What!? Oh great, we had just taught the word of wisdom that morning and here were are breaking it. The situation was such that it would have been really awkward to ask for water instead, so I just went with out drinking and had to force the food down dry. Sister Kleisler I don’t think really understood that the drink was tea…the kind of tea we’re not supposed to have, because she was guzzling it and pouring more so she could get the food down. Hahaha. I tried making eye contact with her trying to let her know what she was drinking, but it was to no avail. Later she told me that she thinks the Lord will forgive us for breaking the word of wisdom unknowingly, but now I know. I’m in South Texas, and they drink tea instead of water here and I’m pretty sure tea comes out their sinks and shower heads as well, so I need to be extra cautious.
Whelp, its been a long week, but I’m so glad that I’m here. I feel so much more comfortable here than I ever did in the other wards, not that I didn’t like the other wards, but here is just more my style. Slow, personable. The other wards were also in an area that was very similar to the area I lived in Utah, so it was weird serving there because I felt like I was serving at home, with just different faces. Here in Pleasanton I feel like I’m back in Thailand—a completely different world that is easier for me to relate to. I feel like I’ve got enough room to spread my wings and unleash my ideas and personality.
Love you all,
Sister JOhnson



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