service and exchanges!!

 September 28, 2020

all things good here in williamston. this week felt so fast but also so long idek. time is just flying!! here are some highlights

• we have done a ton of service and it has been SO SO GOOD. they encourage us to have 10 hours a week, and we haven't been able to do much at all until this week. we help out at a thrift shop with another set of missionaries, and we did some cleaning at the habitat for humanity restore. service just really heals the soul.

• we had our district pday which was a ton of fun! we mini golfed and got bdubs which is always a good time.

the district

we got bdubs

• we had exchanges with the jackson sisters and jonesville sisters!!! it was so fun. i got to be with sister pulsipher and she just got here two weeks ago. she is so sweet and so excited to work. i also got to be with sister paulsen and she is amazing. we got to teach one of their friends named john and it was one of the most spirit filled and spirit led lessons i’ve had in a while. 

exchanges!!!

 • we taught our good pal ozibo this week! he is seriously the busiest person i know. he is getting a phd in african history. we had an appointment and he was 40 minutes late, but it was still so good and i glad it worked out the way it did. he knows the gospel is true and wants to be a member but just has a hard time committing.

• also i’ve been messaging a cool guy named zach for the past few weeks. he has so many good questions and struggles with the idea of a loving God. he said he'd want to meet up so i am excited for that! 

• also general conference is this week and i am SO excited and hope you are too! it is such a good opportunity to hear what the Lord has been wanting us to know. check out churchofjesuschrist.org on saturday and sunday to see!

 

a quote that i’ve thought about a lot and studied is from this last conference. elder holland said, "we all need to believe that what we desire in righteousness can someday, someway, somehow yet be ours." God knows our righteous desires and we can hope that they will be ours in His way and timing.

have a blessed week:)
sister johnson

riana.johnson@missionary.org

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

exchanges and mission tour

September 21, 2020

busy week and we have our district pday today so i’ll make this one quick

• we had EXCHANGES! with my favorite people on the planet. i was able to be with my former companion, sister jacobs, and it has been a GOOD while since i have had that much fun. we got to teach together and i just loved it all.

pics from exchanges!!!

• we taught kevin this week!!!!!!! for all of you that read these, probably remember kevin was someone we were teaching for three solid tranfers and then he dropped off the face of the earth. he said he felt bad but is SO ready to get back going. i love him and i couldn't be happier for it.

• we did some more service gardening which was tons of fun. we will also start doing service at two thrift stores this week!

• we had our pass off lesson with christina and holt. sad to see her go but such a blessing to have taught her. she said she watches the live videos we do on facebook and that alone makes it all worth it

• we also had a mission tour with elder and sister basset! they are the coolest and i learned soooooo much. we had several mlc's with them and it was a hoot

here's a quote for the week, 

"If you were never presented with some advantage to be gained by dishonesty, such as recognition, or money, or a better grade on a test or avoidance of punishment or embarrassment, you could never develop integrity. If no one ever offended you, you could never learn to forgive or internalize mercy. Were you never wearied by the annoying behavior of another or the repeated failures of someone else you could never become patient. Were you never subjected to the appetites and passions of the physical body for food, for water and for sexual fulfillment you could not develop self-mastery. Without opposition the plan would be frustrated, you could not progress and the purpose of life would be unachievable."

sister jacobs and i hit 16 months!! we recreated our old pic with new brownies♡♡♡

us at 4 months

see y’all next week,
sister johnson

riana.johnson@missionary.org

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

transfa week

 September 14, 2020

i figured i better write y’all one of these haha.

• we had transfers this week so we had a few sisters stay with us while they waited for their companions! it was tons of fun and i love them. that took up like our whole day and then one companionship had to spend the night because they lived too far haha! it was a fun time

two pics of sisters who stayed with us (taken at 6:30am on both days, lol i def look like i just woke up)

sister jacobs and sister nelson!!!!!!!!!

sister olson and sister nelson:)

and sister nelson♡

• we had sister godwin stay with us! she stayed a day later before going home so she and her quadruplet sister could get home from their missions the same day. i feel like i learned SO much from her in the short day we had. 

• we got to do service!!!! we haven't been able to find service in our area this whole time, but we got approved to do service in lansing. SO. MUCH. FUN. i love serving.

service!

• we did some really fun live videos on facebook! we go live for our zone's page on wednesday at 7:30 and our personal page on fridays at 8. come watch!!

• we had a REALLY good lesson with our friend ozibo this week. he's had a real change of heart and i am so hopeful for him. 

• we had stake conference this past week and a member from our ward was called as the new stake president. he is awesome and we are so excited to serve with him. there were so many inspired thoughts shared and i was able to find some personal revelation from their words.

 

here is a quote from my personal study that has really been on my mind this week "Repentance is the key to avoiding misery inflicted by traps of the adversary. The Lord does not expect perfection from us at this point in our eternal progression. But He does expect us to become increasingly pure. Daily repentance is the pathway to purity, and purity brings power."

there were raccoons in the dumpster earlier this week. they were so cute.

love y’all,
sister johnson

riana.johnson@missionary.org

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

how has it been a week

 September 7, 2020

this week has seriously flown by and i feel like just yesterday i was writing my email to y’all. all good things tho haha. we did get our transfer news! sister olson and i are staying! she is great and i am excited to keep working with williamston. we are having 38 brand new missionaries coming in and we might have a change in two weeks but might not! we don’t know hahaha.

• we found this REALLY cute family this week! this mom and daughter are so sweet and are excited to learn more. jesse is probably 10 years old and loved reading the book of mormon and talked about her relationship with God. and lakita said the sweetest prayer at the end. we have only taught them over the phone but hopefully we can video call soon!

• we have been doing facebook lives every week and i have really started enjoying them haha. tune in to the facebook page, come unto christ south central michigan at 7:30pm (michigan time) on wednesdays for christlike attributes and my personal facebook at 8pm on fridays for miracles of christ! 

• we got to watch the baptism for jasmika (someone that sister olson taught in grand rapids) and it was so touching. she is so sweet and had the strongest testimony of the gosepl. 

jasmikas baptism!

• while waiting for a lesson to start the other night, sister olson and i were whistling and started harmonizing and it was actually so funny. we decided to make a video of us whistling if you could hie to kolob and put it to the background of galaxies, but idk that it will get posted....

• we also heart attacked some friends and members to help bring some light to their day! so fun. we haven't been able to do community service, but it was sweet to be able to serve others! 

heart attacks!

 a scripture that I have been thinking a lot about this week is 2 Corinthians 4:17 "For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory;"

an excerpt from a video we made

some cute pics that my bff cora sent incase you needed that today!

God loves you.
sister johnson

 

riana.johnson@missionary.org

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