August 18, 2014

Hola familia!
Primero quiro dicer "Feliz cumplisnos mama!"
Happy Tuesday! We changed our preparation day to Tuesday because this
morning we got to go to the Chicago temple! Man, this church is
awesome... And so true. Well, it's been a great week... I learned a
couple of very valuable lessons.
First, God is a master planner: we taught a lesson to our investigator
Maria and had brought a member with us. Maria's little 3 year old kept
turning the tv on and disrupting the lesson, our member wasn't too
happy about that. So she decided to take responsibility of the remote
control to counteract the distraction. That was helpful however after
we left the lesson and drove to our next appointment we received a
call from our member who apparently had walked out the door, still in
possession of the remote control - note to members present in lessons:
don't steal. Anyway, we decided to meet Hermana Ortega at the Cermax.
As we walked back to the car I saw a man and asked him if we could
give him a card. El se llama Rafael. And he said yes, and then I just
straight up asked him if we could come and share a message with him
and his family. He said, "ya, how about tomorrow at 12 then my wife
will be there too." They are awesome! Nothing is coincidence these
days.
Second, God tries your faith before the miracle. On Saturday we left
the apartment with high hopes and about 5 set appointments. However,
one by one ever appointment either fell through or was a no show. So
that day was spent knocking a lot of doors and we didn't get into one.
It was rough because after a while you just get a little tired of
people telling your their not interested... I mean this is the most
important thing you will ever hear and your telling me that your too
busy or love the bible. Guess what. The bibles not enough. Anyway, it
was about 7:00 and we were about ready to head back to go find some
dinner. We were in north Aurora so decided that we would just walk to
the closest members house to see if they were home. It was about a 15
min walk. As we walked we saw a women outside her house watering her
flowers. We began talking, her name is Cindy so that was a good
conversation starter. She eventually invited us in, and we taught a
restoration lesson and she is GOLDEN. It was a very powerful lesson,
she is so prepared. Unfortunately we have to transfer her to the
English missionaries. God works miracles according to our faith, but
most of the time he makes us wait after the trial of our faith. That
just makes it that much better.
And third, I have learned that my dream of baptizing a 80+ year old
Hispanic may be a pursuit of a lifetime... They are all just too
catholic.

Well I hope you all had an amazing week. I can't believe school is
starting again, I remember school getting out for the summer, it flew
by.
Good luck Melissa with your new job, good luck at school Alex! Les
quiero mucho! Espero que puedan tener muchas oportunidades a compartir
el evangelio con sus amigos. Feliz cumplianos mama y estoy emocionada
a ver potos del boda de Julia. Also I know cami is having her baby
soon, krystle and Melinda get married in the next few weeks... If you
get a chance to see any of them tell them hi for me!
Hasta luego!
Hermana Johnson

I was wondering if you could find the current address for Dana
Peterson for me pretty please :) muchas thanks.

August 11, 2014

Hola familia!
Como estan?! Those pictures look awesome! I hope you all had a blast
in California!! It's been extremely hot here the last few days... But
that's no surprise, we are in Illinois. Lots of humidity. It was a bit
of a rough week, but no worries, we are expecting a lot of miracles
this week.
I have had some time to really think about what we need to do
differently. Just like someone mentioned at zone conference, what
worked last week will not work this week, and what worked yesterday
won't work today. We are going back to the basics and trying to figure
out what God wants us to focus on these next couple weeks. I am really
grateful for the 12 week training because it is giving me a chance to
relearn the fundamentals.
The baptism for Hermana Erica (a family that just moved into our ward
the day of their confirmation from West Chester) was a great
experience. I hope they can make some great friends in this ward.
Obispo Monarrez (ward mission leader) is very good at that, he just
took all of our recent convert families on a camping trip. I know one
reason I was sent to this area was to learn from great examples like
him. He is one of the most selfless people and there are many things I
want to do when I am in a member position - lots of member missionary
work.
Hermana Richardson is doing great. She is very creative and outspoken.
She has a little fear talking with others but she has improved a lot.
Reminds me a lot of myself, and look how far I have come :) who would
have thought. Although she is still adjusting to the missionary
schedule, she is usually pretty happy. I know that my Heavenly Father
knows exactly what we need. One thing I love about my mission is
seeing the hand of The Lord involved in each persons life. I love
being a missionary more than anything else in this life. Thanks for
all you do. Have a great week!! I love you all a lot! Con mucho amor!!
La Hermana Johnson

August 4, 2014

Hola Familia! 

Soy Hermana Johnson, somos misioneras de la Iglesia de Los Santos de Los Ultimos Dias. Y compartimos un mensaje sobre las familias y como usted puede ser una familia eternal.
The 15 seconds a person takes to listen to our doorstep is the most important 15 seconds of their life. Unfortunately, most dont know that, and they mostly think think that we are 1 of 3 things... A Testigo de Jeovah, crazy, or representatives of Jesus Christ.
"Thou art my servant; and I am covenant with thee that thou shalt have eternal life; and thou shalt serve me and go forth in my name, and shalt gather together my sheep. And he that will hear my voice shall be my sheep; and him shall ye receive into the church, and him will I also receive." Mosiah 26:20-21.
There is nothing better than being recognized as a servant of Jesus Christ. Which leads me to our first miracle of the week!
Cristina. We met her son Anthony in the street Cristina. We met her son Anthony in the street and told him about the Book of Mormon, he told us that we should come back and teach his entire family. So we set an appointment and went back. As we taught this family we came to find that they have 8 children... first miracle. We continued teaching and I found myself teaching the restoration from a bit of a different perspective, we began teaching the Plan of Salvation and through the authority restored by Joseph Smith you can be sealed as a family for ever. Turns out, she had lost a child a few years ago and has been praying to know what happens after we die. We had a very powerful lesson and at the end she explained that she has been meeting with "other people that teach about the bible" and tries to avoid them. But when we called to confirm our appointment she actually felt excited and looked forward all day for us to come. She feels something different and very comfortable about us and our lesson. (Backing up to the day before, we were weekly planning, and hermana Richardson suggested that we plan to teach Christina every day that week. In my mind, I laughed and said "that would be the day." But we prayed for it specifically.) So when the end of the lesson came to ask Cristina when we could return she surprised us by asking "when can you come back?" we slowly suggested "well, everyday if you want." And she said... "That would be great." PRAYER WORKS. Dont ever doubt it!
Shes awesome, and we are excited to teach her again tomorrow!
So that being said, i love being a representative of Jesus Christ. Im taking advantage of His name on my tag every day... But to be honest, more often than not. People fail to realize who we represent. They assume us to be one of the first... and we dont get to share this extremely important message with them. That is where the members come in.
As members of the Church of Jesus Christ, we are all representatives of Jesus Christ. We all have a responsibility to share the gospel of Jesus Christ. And our friends feel it a little less weird by having you ask them to an activity or FHE then meeting some super awkward girls show up on their front porch.
So the challenge for the week is to SHARE THE GOSPEL.
And your in disneyland, so that should be easy to find people that dont know about the church. I promise you the God will put people in your path to meet and invite that are looking for the purpose and happiness that the gospel brings... which will make them even happier than Disneyland. Because its a lasting happiness.
I love you all!! Thanks for all you do! I hope you have an amazing trip! Con mucho amor! Ustedes siempre estan en mis oraciones! Les quieremos! 

La hermana Johnson

July 28, 2014

Hola familia!
Una semana lleno de milagros! Dios está bendiciéndonos! Well Hermana
Richardson has been here for a total of 6 days, and she is doing
awesome. She's adjusting back to the states and missionary life... I
think she likes the real Mexican food over the "imitation
mexicanized-American MTC food" I think were her words. But we get a
long very well. She is from Stansburry Park Ut, 19 years old, and love
ballroom dance. So she's awesome! And more than that, she has a great
desire to serve her savior and has a strong testimony of the Church. I
couldn't have asked for a better trainee... God knew I needed a
pre-trained one :)
Every night we come back she falls asleep on the couch before we
finish planning, she says she has never been so tired in her life...
So were trying to work hard. And God is blessing us with a lot of
miracles.
For example, we were leaving our favorite local toco shop TiaWannas
Mexican food/browns chicken and icecream (weirdest combination EVER -
inside decor includes Hispanic muñecas and clowns) but they make great
$3 burritos. As we got in the car we were about to close the door a
lady came up to me and said "I have been looking for someone to teach
me about the bible. You look like you could help me, and I felt like I
should talk to you." She preceded to tell us that her sister had died
and she wasn't prepared to meet god. This lady,
Tina, wants to learn more about god and the bible. MIRACLES.
Unfortunately she is english, but I love the feeling of being in the
right place at the right time. We also have started teaching a girl
named Gabriella. We met her a few days back and set a return
appointment. We asked "do you have any questions before we start the
lesson with a prayer?" To which she responded "um... Sólo quiero saber
que necesita hacer para bautizarme."- GOLDEN.
We had an awesome lesson and were able to set a baptism goal and get
her started reading in the Book of Mormon.
I know with all my heart that God is preparing so many people to
accept the gospel. We just need to find and invite them. That's your
job... All you members out there.
I had another cool experience, Tuesday we drove past a house that I
remembered knocking my first week in the area (way back in feb.) I
never once talked to the people inside but remember Hermana Trimble
saying they were interested. So I quickly saved the address in the
GPS. Yesterday we were driving to Galena and I felt like maybe we
could just stop by and knock the door. So we did. We met a man, we
will call him Jorge. He just recently returned home from a few years
of jail time. He proceeded to tell us that his time in jail completely
changed his life and he wants to make things right with god. He is
also having problems with his wife and just wants a happy family. We
were able to share a few scriptures with him and set a return
appointment to meet with the whole family. I know that god sent us
there at that exact time for a specific reason. I know that God is
aware of every single one of his children no matter who or where they
are. He is more involved in our lives than we will ever know.
Final experience was with Alejandra yesterday. We went to stop by to
see if she was coming to church. We started talking about how every
time she gets more involved in the church or remembers to read or
tries to pray, obstacles and trials enter into her life. She said,
everytime she tries to read something (a literal force) pulls her away
or keeps her from opening it. And sometimes when she tries to pray,
something binds her tongue. We opened up to Joseph Smith History vs.
15-17.

As Joseph Smith began to pray he said "I had scarcely done so, when
immediately I was aseized upon by some power which entirely overcame
me, and had such an astonishing influence over me as to bind my tongue
so that I could not speak. Thick bdarkness gathered around me, and it
seemed to me for a time as if I were doomed to sudden destruction."
ETERNAL TRUTH #1: wherever there is truth, satan attacks it.
And the closer you get to a spiritual, revelatory experience, the
stronger the opposition becomes.
ETERNAL TRUTH #2: god is more powerful than the adversary.
"Exerting all my powers to call upon god... just at this moment of
great alarm, I saw a pillar of clight exactly over my head, above the
brightness of the dsun, which descended gradually until it fell upon
me." And you know the rest.
I am eternally grateful for Joseph Smith and his dedication to know
the truth. What would have happened if Joseph smith would have given
in? What would have happened if he just said, "man, this is too hard,
there's too much opposition." I mean, he practically joined the
presbyterian church.... And where would that have left us all. I am
eternally grateful for his example of faith and endurance. I know that
the harder a trial becomes signifies that we are that much closer to
the breaking point. We are that much closer to the miracle...
Bruce R. McConkie said "great men climb mountains." Sometimes we climb
to what we think is the top just to find another peak, but I know that
if we endure, the reward will be that much gratifying. God never
withholds blessings.
I love you all! Thanks for your support and prayers!!!
Love you all!!! Have an amazing day!! Les quiero!! Let me know what
you need and how your doing! Keep praying for my investigators because
they need it! They are climbing big mountains but with God nothing is
impossible!
Con amor Hermana Johnson

July, 21, 2014

Wow, can you believe that it's already the end of July?! Time flies,
and after 3 short transfers with Hermana Sewell, she is being
transferred to Beloit Wisconsin... The farthest you can get still
being in mission boundaries. Man I'm going to miss her. She has don’t
great things for this area and the ward has really grown to love her.
That being said, I’m pretty excited... I get to train the only new
Hermana. She is flying in from the Mexico MTC as we speak. She will
get a little spoiled with the Aurora apartment, car, members, etc. Im
convinced this is the best ward in the mission. I am very nervous, but
we are going to be exactly obedient to qualify for the continual help
of the Holy Ghost. I’m going to need it A LOT!
Our investigators are doing alright. It was a bit of a rough week...
Nothing compared to a typhoons but the adversary just works in so many
ways. Neither Alejandra or Pricilla have been to church the last 2
weeks. Daniel had to work and Guadalupe has not answered any of our
calls. Some times free agency makes me mad... I just want to drag them
to church because there are so many blessings... however, we seen or
taught all of the between church yesterday and this morning and they
are all still committed to baptism... When is just the big question.
We are trying to help them understand what it means to be a disciple
of Christ. That no matter what comes up, we must always be obedient to
what we know is right… like church attendance.
This week We really want to focus on inviting everyone and teaching
families. Our investigators are amazing but none have family support
and that is an external factor that is working against us. And since
salvation is a family affair, if we work a little harder to involve
families, maybe that will help us to reach our goals and help our
investigators support each other.
Thanks for all the letters, the text was actually from a member... But
she is a convert and has been looking for a way to buy Pero. So
thanks. Also the scripture cases, you can buy the same ones in the MTC
in Provo. So maybe that could help. Thanks for looking so hard.
I hope everyone is doing alright! We have been teaching, cleaning and
packing all day and have to go to dinner, but I promise to send some
pictures and a better letter next week! Thanks for your prayers and
support! I love you all SO much!!!
Thanks for everything! Have a fantastic week! Let me know if there is
any advice for training. Im pretty nervous but I know God will help
us!
Con mucho amor!
La Hermana Johnson!

Ps: could you send me a copy of my patriarchal blessing? I lost mine
and I would love to have it again. Thanks a mission. Give everyone a
great big hug for me!

July 14, 2014

Hola!!
Sorry, we have had a crazy day and I dont have time to write an long letter! But here is a little bit about our super amazing week!!


Dear President Fenn,

God is blessing us so much. We have had some great experiences with the youth this week during our mini missions. We have taken out 3 youth and every day we just had straight lesson after lesson, and met so many people that wanted to learn about the restored gospel. The youth were able to bear their testimonies and even invite some to be baptized. They were really nervous but it was cool to them get out of their comfort zones.

I also had a great exchange with Hermana Trimble on Saturday. I feel so blessed to have such amazing leaders in this mission... Ha and she came to my area so it was just like old times! We saw so many miracles!!! I cant belive she leaves in a week!! She helped me a lot with some things I have been struggling with, and helped me understand that the Atonement covers basically everything that we fall short on. I set some great goals and cant wait to continue to study the enabling power of the atonement this week.

Another miracle we saw was our investigator. She has been living with an abusive man. And we stopped by for our lesson on Tuesday and the member told us that she had moved out. We were awed! And turns out that she decided she had had enough, he would let her go to church so she moved out. It was incredible to see how much the gospel is changing her life. She came to church and is progressing so much. Its like she is a different person.

Thanks for all you do! I love you all so much! I really appreciate your support and I pray for you all every night and I know Heavenly Father is personally involved in all of our lives. Of that I testify. He knows us perfectly and knows exactly what is best for us. He wants us to be happy and as long as we are always trying to keep our covenants, obey the commandments and turning out, everything will fall into place! Have a great day!

Con mucho amor!

Hermana Johnson

July 7, 2014

Hola Familia!! Como han estado?! Feliz Cuarto de Julio!

I hope you had a great independence day! We celebrated with fireworks (from the window of our apartment :) Hispanics love an excuse to party so they celebrated Americas independence day as well with a picnic full of rice, beans, and lots of tortillas; just the way i like it! (Im pretty sure every email includes something that I ate in the last week... I can’t help it, I’m in LOVE with Mexican food!)
Anyway, let’s get down to the nitty gritty... Life's great as a missionary.
Just a miracle to start things off. Lucky we haven't had to knock at all these last few transfers, Aurora is great in the sense that basically all you have to do is walk outside and we find new people to teach. Progressing on the other hand seems to be the hard part. They just don’t really want to give up their silly habits like working on Sundays and “si Dios quiere” waiting for Him to provide an easy way to follow the commandment. That’s a little harsh, most are just so busy trying to provide a better future that they have a hard time making time for God. However, we are being very blessed.

Saturday we felt a strong impression to knock this door. We met Lucy and her 2 kids. They were on their way out but we figured they had 5 minutes to listen to the most important message they will ever hear, so we began to give a brief restoration. As I began to recite the first vision we could feel the spirit testify very strongly. As I finished, Hermana Sewell asked Lucy how she felt about this message, she looked at us laughing and said, "Well you made me cry. I don't know why I'm crying or why I feel so happy but good job, you made me cry." We all laughed a little bit, and then proceeded to explain why she felt the way that she did. The first vision brings the spirit. Truth brings the spirit. It was a very powerful experience, and another testimony builder that the spirit is the teacher. I know Joseph smith was a prophet of God and this Church is true. I know he saw what he said he did and that the restored gospel makes us the best people we can be.
We are starting our mini missions today, we have one set up after another and then exchanges at the end of the week, we are excited to see some miracles and help the youth share their testimonies.
Another miracle, Priscilla came to church yesterday. Her little girls loved it and asked her if they could come back every day. (I wish everyone was that excited about church.) Pricilla really felt the spirit and is trying to get work off Sundays so she can set a baptism date.
As for me, I am working to control the spirit better in lessons and surprisingly this week I saw improvement. Before lessons I prayed to be better receptive to the spirit and focus on the investigator, and I was able to stay focused and not become frustrated. I'm thankful Heavenly Father is willing to help with even the little things.

Im reading a talk by Elder Ballard called “Rise to Your Call” (Oct. 2002). He gives a few tips for anyone serving in The Restored Church. He said, “It is by giving our whole hearts to the Master and keeping his commandments that we come to know Him. In time, the power of the atonement, our hearts are changed, and we become like Him. Our callings in the church have power beyond any other endeavor in which humans can engage. That power depends on the faith of those called to serve in it.” What a privileged it is to serve my Heavenly Father as a full-time missionary. I left on my mission thinking that I was going to repay my Savior for the continual blessings I have received throughout my life. After a year, I am well-aware that I will never even come close to giving back what I have received. I haven’t even made a dent. Because any sacrifice that I make, He repays me in double fold. However I am eternally grateful for the changes he has made in me. The gospel changes people, I know that to be true, because it has changed me and I am so thankful for that!
Thanks for everything you do, I hope you all have a great week. Te quiero mucho!! Gracias por su apoyo, cartas, y oraciones!

Con mucho amor,
Hermana Johnson