He Is Risen!

April 5

I have been transferred to East San Antonio to a ward called Windcrest. My new address is
6700 N. Vandiver #905
San Antonio, TX 78209

Hey! I saw Klark Brinkeroff on the screen singing in the institute choir! Crazy.

My new companion is Sister Green from St. George, Utah. She's very mellow and chill--and doesn't show a lot of emotion, so when she tells jokes it's really funny because either she will randomly throw out a dry-humor kind of comment that you'll miss unless you're listening closely or she will suddenly erupt into craziness and start speaking in a British accent. Very funny. She was adopted when she was 8 years old and afterwards she was baptized. At the baptism her dad told Sister Green's biological brother who had also just been adopted and baptized that someday he could go on a mission and help others to know about the gospel. Eight-year-old Sister Green piped in, "What about me? Can girls go on missions?" When he affirmed that girls could go on missions Sister Green decided right then that someday she would go on a mission and share the truths that she had found.

Windcrest is unlike any other area I've served in. It's an inner city area, so it's rough. Not too rough, but rough. the weird thing is that right next to the really rough areas is the nicest and ritziest neighborhood in San Antonio, Terrel Hills. this is a half bike area and half car area. We share the car with the elders who are in our same ward. We get the car for half of the week. Let me just tell you about riding a bike in a skirt...actually nevermind. Luckily I've put together the sister missionary version of a skort (skirt and short combination). I call it Skants.

On my first day went to visit an investigator, but she wasn't home. So we went to talk to two guys playing basketball at a near by court. We called to them and told them we had a message to share. One of them declined saying that he had had friends that were LDS and he wasn't interested. The other guy, though, came running up to talk to us. He was totally drenched with sweat, losing a bunch of teeth even though he's only in his late 20s, and he was wearing pretty worn clothes. We started with a prayer and taught him the restoration right there in the basketball court and it was one of the most profound moments of my life. His name is Derrick and ask we taught he listened intently and it was obvious that he was pretty well versed in the bible and the non-denominational religion. He listened to us like pearls were dropping out our mouths. As Sister Green recited the first vision she was overcome with emotion and we stood in silence enjoying the sweet spirit that was present. He was very touched and agreed that the Spirit was there confirming our words. We set up another appointment to meet him at the basketball court the nest day. We showed up and he wasn't there. It happens. Sometimes, well, alot a times we are ditched on return appointments. darn. we thought he'd be ther for sure. So the member we brought with us drove us around in her airconditioned car (it is so hot right now...it's beautiful!) and nothing happened so we drove back and lo and behold there was Derrick and his friend playing basketball. We ran up to him and he found out that he had pulled up as we were pulling out. We asked if he still wanted to learn more and he said he did. He ran to his car and got out his book of mormon and the pamphlets we left. He had read everything and we had another great lesson.

On Saturday night after conference we knocked and tried contacting people on one side of our area and nothing happened. I kept exclaiming, "Where is everyone! Does anybody live here?" It was prime time and it was a pretty busy section of town so we were wondering where the party was that we obviously weren't invited to. So we left after a couple hours, discouraged and trying to figure out what to do with the 30 minutes we had left. We walked past our apartment and crossed the street and saw a couple in thier late 30's walking their bikes. We went up to them and asked to share a message and the guy looked like something amazing had just happened by us talking to him, his girlfriend on the other hand looked like she was having a bad day. After talking to her a little the guy convinced her to listen to us and we started with a prayer in the parking lot and taught the restoration. After we were done we asked if he had any questions. "No, I don't have any questions, just a statement." Then he went on to tell us that he had been searching all types of religions within the last few months trying to find where God wanted him to be. He said that someone showed him the Mormon bible and he said to himself, "We already have a bible. Why do we need another bible." Then he told us he flipped open the book of mormon and landed on a phrase similar to his own and God answered saying he could give more scripture 2 Nephi 29. He then told us that he didn't think anything was a coincidence and he felt like God had sent us. We told him about conference and he said he'd try to make it. The next day it was crazy and it was two mintues before the morning session and I ran out to call Matt (the guy's name) to remind him of conference. Usually investigators have to be reminded a lot at first. So I called and to my despair, no one answered. I left a message inviting Matt and Nicki and hung up the phone. I turned to the Elders to show my disappointment when suddenly behind me I heard someone say, "Sorry, Nicki couldn't make it." I whipped around and there was Matt dressed to the nines in a very nice dark suit. I almost fell over. "Whoa!!! I didn't see you!" So he watched conference and it was amazing!

this was my best Easter ever! I'm so grateful for Christ's Sacrifice and fopr heaven's help!

sister johnson