Sister Riana Johnson: Life as a Michiganary: might be older but idk about wiser

May 18, 2020

HI HI!

another wonderful week here in the promised land. as you can tell by the title, i turned 20 this week?! so crazy. i still feel like a twelve year old. here are some of the highlights :)

• we had a really great lesson with our friend ryan this week. he has been struggling to feel and recognize the spirit so we had the abels join and our mission president and his wife. it was so powerful. we read and discussed moroni 7 and matthew 7. he shared how he feels the book of mormon has been the cause of so much struggle in his life. he on the other hand told us that he knows that those who choose to follow God will not have it easy. keep ryan in your prayers! i have a lot of hope for him.

• we also had a few first lessons with some new friends! we met with our friend walt and he is super cool. we also had a lesson with john, someone who was formerly taught. this area is so so great and we are teaching like crazy!!

• random miracle! we were calling people in our area book last night and had a long and confusing call with one of our friends named mike. during this call, we got a buzz for someone to come into our apartment and we were super confused, but let the guy in. sister nielsen was still on the phone, so i answered the door and he handed us a ton of food. we were super confused especially being that it was the sabbath so we didn’t order anything. the guy handed me a receipt to sign and after i told him we didn’t order it, he pointed at the receipt to sign. so being the 12 year old that i am, i signed it and he left. my companion was still talking to mike and we decided to run to get the guy, but he was already on his way out of the parking lot. there was no information on the receipt except a phone number, so we called it and the person who’s actual order it was answered, haha! she lived in D16 and we are B16. long story short we itl'd her and are hopeful for her!

• we had our mission leadership council on tuesday (my birthday) and so we had to be on a zoom meeting from 10am till almost 5pm. haha, i love technology, but i am excited to not be sitting in front of a screen!! the meeting was great and everyone sang to me with the mic's all unmuted. it was chaotic but a fun time!

me on the bday for fun

my homies- hannah and emily were so kind to send some yummy cookies. love them.

also sister brennan made me a little cake! she is the cutest and i am going to cry when they leave in july!

we had a special meeting last friday with elders gay, haynie, and devries of the seventy. it was all about how we can find hope in this time of isolation and especially in the work that we do. elder gay told the story of how president hinckley had felt like he wasn't accomplishing anything on his mission and that he was wasting his family's money. his dad responded with, "Forget yourself and go to work." elder hinkley at the time went in to their upper room and got on his knees and covenanted with Heavenly Father that he would forget himself and get to work. that event changed his mission and his life. then fast forward to several years ago, president hinckley's wife passed and he really struggled with that and if he could really handle all that he was dealing with. while on a trip to europe, he went back to the same apartment from when he was a missionary and made that same promise to Heavenly Father that he would forget himself and get to work. i know that even the prophet struggles like each of us do, but that there is hope in the promises we make to our Heavenly Father.

thank you for all your love and support!!! have a blessed week♡♡

sister johnson

also story for the ether 12:4 quote. we are working with the sweetest member who has been struggling with the virus a lot. we read ether 12 with her and she said that from that day on, she reads it every day and that verse 4 brings her so much peace. so we wanted to make her a cute little quote reminder :)