Ballard is my best friend

November 4, 2019

Hello friends! 

This week has been nuts filled with meetings and so we have been outside our area all week but some awesome stuff goin' on, let me tell ya...

• so at the beginning of this week, we had our new missionary follow up meeting in Lansing! I am still having a hard time believing Sister Nelson just came out. She is seriously so smart and it seems like she has been out for months. We learned so much though and bonus got one of God's greatest gifts- Chick-fil-a.

our (not) district pic at cfa

• then we drove straight to exchanges in Kalamazoo and that was tons of fun! I seriously love Sister Tate and it was so fun being with her and talking to people on campus.

exchanges!

• Halloween was so fun. A member had us over for dinner and invited a less active, who couldn't make it, so we just had a good time with them. And it even snowed outside! Hallelujah for my new coat- thanks mom. They cancelled Halloween in Sturgis till the 1st and we just went to be early. 

• then Friday, we had Zone Conference in Kalamazoo which was also a ton of fun. We got to see a lot of the new Light the World media and I could not be more pumped!! The Christ Child is such a beautiful video and Nov 24th can't come soon enough. And I really love the opportunity we have to help bring the focus of Christmas on what matters- Jesus Christ. Bonus pt. 2 we got Chipotle.

sister jacobs!! love her

the family back for a few hours

my mom♥ sister nuttall

zone conference wassup

yardy know

• we also had the AMAZING opportunity to meet with President Ballard, Elder DeVries, and Elder Haynie together with the Lansing and Detroit missions in Ann Arbor. I got to shake their hands and it was so cool! So many powerful messages but the one that really stuck in my mind is being fearless. Elder DeVries said that if someone had feared to invited him to church, he wouldn't be in the Area Seventy. Elder Haynie also talked about how we each are asked to leave behind our nets and come follow him. He said we need not fear because we will never be alone in our path of discipleship. President Ballard also spoke about being a fearless finder. The Lord is preparing more people than we could imagine for the gospel and we should never let our personal pride or fears keep them from having their life changed. 

• something also very moving that President Ballard spoke about was his wife. When he shared how he knows she is there waiting for him, there was no denying that he KNEW the Plan of Salvation was true. He said that when she passed, all the things he had been telling other people about was something he needed to hear. I am so grateful to be doing the Lord's work and bringing out the work of eternity. 

• Also, last week I got the best email with pictures of the Bushre's at the temple! Nothing warms my heart more than this cute family feeling the spirit and entering into that holy place. The love I have for this gospel has never grown more than when I was able to see the Bushre's grow in their faith and belief in Christ. God is so good. 

most important of all—the bushre's at the temple♥♥♥

• yesterday, as a mission, we fasted for our friends who we want to find, teach, and baptize, our friends being taught, and our friends who are set to be baptized. We had so many miracles because of that fast! Our friend Warren, whom we have only taught once, walked all the way to church in the cold! He said it felt good and he felt so welcome. We also were finally able to teach our friend Mayra! She is seriously my favorite person and we haven't been able to have an actual lesson with her until last night. Then we went to visit a couple, Arturo and Estephania, and they used to be taught a few years ago. They were still skeptical about learning themselves but wanted the gospel for their children! God really did prepare them to meet with us again and really wanted it for their family. 

Ok more about Ballard haha. Something he shared that I really loved was about the hard times we face. We each have different feelings sometimes, inadequacy, loneliness, homesickness, discouragement, and many other feelings. He said "when I begin to think about myself and what is going on with me, my mind always goes to Gethsemane." The thought of someone willing to go there, knowing he will bear the excruciating pain of each of our lives. It was so personal. I am sure the only thing that got him through that was seeing us and knowing that we can come home because of that. So when we get down and think about everything going wrong in our lives, we can think about Gethsemane and how much love and humility he had for us to face that. 

as always, i send my love♥♥

sister johnson

riana.johnson@missionary.org

Sister Johnson

195 Memorial Dr Apt B 21

Sturgis, MI 49091