new squirrel friend

 

July 27, 2020

  

it’s been a week my friends and i am back to tell you about it. BIG NEWS! we are going into phase 1! also transfer week!

• phase 1! it is where we can meet with people in person on a very limited basis. honestly we haven't been super affected by it but nice to know we aren't in COMPLETE isolation. 

sister pontek!

district council with the lansing district

our technology meeting

• also we found out on saturday that sister nielsen is leaving. sad. but i am getting sister olson and i am so excited! she is the stinkin’ cutest and is coming from st. joseph :)))

• we had church in person again! it was so sweet that we could see erin for church. she is the sweetest and is going through a rough spot right now

erin!

• also we have tarps (to keep the birdseed from falling onto our neighbors porch hahaha) and we are on the third floor. BUT a squirrel made it all the way up and went ham with the seed. it was so fun and he comes every day at 3pm 

squirrel friend

• we also made cookies for a bunch of our friends and dropped them off! so sad, the elders dropped ryan on monday. we dropped off cookies with him and met him in person for the first time. we also saw a couple other people which was fun. 

• we haven't heard from kevin at alllllll which is super sad. we took cookies to him too and haven't heard anything. 

also a verse i have been thinking a lot about this week is alma 32:16. how often we have to be humbled by the Lord rather than simply humbling ourselves.

"Therefore, blessed are they who humble themselves without being compelled to be humble; or rather, in other words, blessed is he that believeth in the word of God, and is baptized without stubbornness of heart, yea, without being brought to know the word, or even compelled to know, before they will believe."

That’s about all we have goin’ on here. catch ya next week,

sister johnson

we got jipped on a watermelon :'(

 

riana.johnson@missionary.org

Sister Riana Johnson
5240 Madison Ave Apt A11
Okemos, MI 48864-5115

the solution is cookies

 

July 20, 2020

 

hello my friends. twas another week here in williamston. let me get to all the good stuff:

 

• we had the coolest lesson with our friend gabriel! he was a bible request and was really looking for how he can know what commandments to follow (law of moses vs. other commandments). we read from matthew 7 and ended up teaching him the restoration because he had so many great questions!! so excited for him.

 

• kevin has been really struggling. since we taught him one of the commandments, he has been off the grid. he didn't keep any of our appointments this week. we are definitely keeping him in our prayers!

 

• we met with erin this week too. she has been crazy busy with her new position at work and with some challenges her son is facing. it is so hard watching people struggle but she is so faithful. amidst all of this, she set a goal to read 3 chapters of the book of mormon and 3 chapters of the bible each day!! she is so inspiring.

 

• sister nielsen’s trainer came to michigan on saturday and we got permission to meet up with her! it was a ton of fun and we got some yummy mexican food. i forgot how much i love being out with people hahaha gotta love quarentine

also rip we didn't take like any pics so here is one of sister nielsen and her trainer
( i was there lol)

 

• we also received a ton of new missionaries being reassigned from other missions! it was so fun because we got to have sister brown come stay with us for a night! the poor girl missed a connecting flight and had to stay overnight by herself in chicago so she was happy to be with other people! now she is up in north muskegon. love her! ---- also if you want to know something funny, sister nielsen and i were messaging a missionary (sister kovach) who was returning back from a funeral and she said she was on the flight with some of the reassigned missionaries! we took a selfie to send to sister kovach to let the new missionaries know we were excited for them and mistakenly sent a selfie of ourselves to the entire mission. i was mortified. but oh well- people probably forgot right..? 

the selfie we accidentally sent to all of the missionaries in our mission

 

• we also dropped off the cookies to our neighbors who were affected by the bird seed falling from our porch to their’s. it was very positive and was nice to meet them! one of them isn’t as happy but good thing the atonement covers that!

 

this week we had a district council about how to recognize and feel the spirit. it was very powerful and it helped me reflect on my past spiritual experiences. each day that i have been studying since then, i have been able to record and remember spiritual experiences i have had. it was a really good exercise and helped me see the Lord's hand in my every day life. i invite you to ponder your experiences and record them! you never know when you will need to look back on them.  

 

love yas!!!!

sister johnson

 

riana.johnson@missionary.org

Sister Riana Johnson
5240 Madison Ave Apt A11
Okemos, MI 48864-5115

church in person??

 

July 13, 2020

 

hello hello!

 

* we had a busy week here. we had exchanges with each of the sisters and they are SO cute. i love each of them

sister hogge!

 

sister chibota!

sister duffin!

sister klusman!

* we also got approved to have church in person! it was so cool to be back in a church building, even if it was 20 people haha. we also got to be with erin in person for the second time! the last time was her baptism! so funny.

also church!

* we also got to spend some time with a sister who went home for a few days- sister kovach! my companion trained her so it was fun to teach with them

also we drove to kalamazoo to get sister kovach so big party group haha

* there was also approval for us to do community service so we have been calling organizations and hopefully can start this week!

i made cookies for our neighbors who had a ton of bird seed on their patio because of me.....

* kevin is doing good! we had a really exciting lesson with him the other day. he had told us he is still thinking about a date to be baptized but by the end of the lesson he said "i think i want to be baptized on the 17th!" we were freaking out haha because that would be this week. we decided the 25th with him and after teaching some commandments, we decided he might need a little more time! he is so great otherwise. 

this week i have thought a lot about salvation. sister heap, our new mission president's wife talked about how joseph smith had questions "regarding the salvation of his soul" rather than a church that fit his beliefs or his needs. he wanted to know what was Jesus Christ's church and how he could follow that, to live with God again. while thinking about this, i read about king lamoni in the book of alma. their people were SO grateful to have been taught the gospel and be convinced of their sins so they could receive salvation. i know that the church of Jesus Christ of latter day saints is not simple a good church with good people. this church is God's restored church- and through baptism and ordinances of the temple, and keeping those covenants, you can live with God again

us with sister kovach at 4am at the airport rip

some members from the lansing ward made us dinner and brought it to us!

love you all,

sister johnson

 

riana.johnson@missionary.org

Sister Riana Johnson
5240 Madison Ave Apt A11
Okemos, MI 48864-5115

the heaps!

July 6, 2020

this week was definitely a week! that's all i have to say, haha.  

• we said goodbye to president and sister brennan. so sad to see them go but grateful for all they have done! we got to meet the heaps through zoom on wednesday. they are great. we also got to have interviews with them in person which was really sweet! president heap actually grew up a few blocks away from me! small world. 

♥:'(

the heaps!

• we had a crazy party lesson with ryan this week. we were able to join with the elders who are now teaching him, our new mission president, the abel's, elder christofferson's brother, and ryan, the man. it was such a powerful and spirit led lesson. ryan was able to connect really well with brother christofferson and it was a huge blessing. it was so good! we are really hopeful for ryan.

• we also have been messaging people on facebook that live in the area (who we have never met or heard of) and have had some really cool experiences! i was able to talk to one of them about some powerful scriptures from the book of mormon and she wants to learn more! i also talked to a different girl who is facing some huge trials, but God allowed me to be an instrument in His hands in sharing the gospel with her. it is so neat making connections with people through Christ on facebook! 

went to lake lansing to take pictures for facebook post. haha, sorry no pics of the actual lake

sister cooooookkkkk♥♥♥

a scripture that i have been studying a lot lately is romans 5:1-5. in short it says, "but we glory in tribulations also: knowing that tribulation worketh patience." patience is a virtue i need to work on and cultivate. i know that the tribulations i face, and the ones you face, will bless you with patience to bear your burdens! God knows you. He loves you. follow Him. 

happy fourth of july! 

sister johnson

riana.johnson@missionary.org

Sister Riana Johnson

5240 Madison Ave Apt A11

Okemos, MI 48864-5115