biking pros

September 30, 2019

hey yall!

busy busy here in Stugis

• so first off—our cute girl Alida is on date for baptism! we are so pumped for her and she is even more excited too! 

• we had trade-offs in Kalamazoo which was so fun! I got to be with my grandma (my trainer’s trainer) Sister Tupou and she is the funniest person alive. 

trade-offs!!

• we also had zone conference in Grand Rapids which was so awesome. there was so many awesome things taught and I definitely recognized a lot of things I could improve and apply to my work. 

love sister jacobs♥

the district lol

most importantly- we got chipotle

• something super cool we talked about at zone conference was the feast of the trumpets. in the Jewish community it is yearly holiday originating back to ancient times and they celebrate to await the day of the gathering of Israel. what is super cool is that in 1827, when Joseph Smith had finally received the gold plates, it took place was on September 22nd, the day of the Feast of the Trumpets. the Book of Mormon is the sign given that Israel is being gathered, and that the gospel has been restored. I know that was no coincidence, that Joseph Smith didn't fake finding the plates that day, but that God does fulfill his prophecies. I know undoubtedly that Joseph Smith DID translate the Book of Mormon, that no man could have written such a book but it is the word of God. it was given to us to add to our witness of Jesus Christ and gives us the fullness of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. I also know God is the same yesterday, today, and forever, so why would God not call a Prophet in our day to lead, guide and defend us.

• we got bikes at zone conference! 4 1/2 months of waiting we finally got them and we were so excited to ride them. we looked at the forecast, it said cloudy all day so we decided to bike to our service then to the church to do some planning. little did we know it started POURING and we had a 30 minute bike ride back home. that was a good time. me and sister Jacob's just laugh about it but you can bet we'll be more aware of the weather

bikes pre-rain

bikes post-rain

• our friends dave and debbie aren't progressing a whole lot so we are working with them to really focus on commitments and their purpose. we're sad too because they are snowbirds so they'll be leaving in a few weeks to South Carolina and we hope they will be willing to meet with missionaries there. 

• we also had an awesome meeting in Lansing with 3 stakes in our mission and the entire focus was member centered—missionary supported—missionary work. Elder DeVries, who is in our area seventy, spoke and gave a lot of good guidance on working with ward councils to truly love and welcome members and friends alike. even more fun, we got to go with our favorite family, the Wierschkies. 

this cute lake right by our apartment

This week I read about the brother of Jared. This story is so powerful in that he had more faith than anyone in years, enough that the veil was lifted. Because he needed light on his boat, and knew that the only way he could receive that light was the power of God, he prayed and asked God to light the stones. On one hand, he could have easily said "God, I want you to do the work and figure out how I can have light on this ship," but that isn't what he did. He went to an exceedingly high mountain to get special stones of molten rock. When we want to receive an answer to our prayers, we have to be willing to put forth the effort and act. Because of his faith, he saw the Lord, and he did light the stones. It says in Ether 3:19 "He could not be kept from beholding within the veil... and he had faith no longer, for he knew, nothing doubting." As we pray with faith, act, and live as God has asked, we cannot just have faith but have a true knowledge.

PLEASE WATCH CONFERENCE THIS WEEK! I can promise that if you seek earnestly to learn from the teachings, you will receive guidance that will strengthen and bless your life. The speakers, our Prophet, his Apostles, and the General Authorities have been prayerfully seeking what will help us in what we struggle with. 

Hope y'all have a great week!

Love,

Sister Johnson

195 Memorial Dr Apt B 21

Sturgis, MI 49091

sister jacob's mom sent us cute halloween hats