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

JJ

September 23, 2019

hey y'all!

sturgis is doin’ good but it’s been a little uneventful here haha here’s my week

• we taught our friends Dave and Debbie again and they are a hoot. they really have a desire to grow closer to Jesus Christ and it has been awesome to help them do that!

• we did some service for our favorite family and got tons of raspberries out of it. fair deal if you ask me

• President Nelson gave a BYU devotional that was so bomb! go watch it!

• me and Sister Jacobs gave talks this sunday about Jesus Christ and it was so awesome. I love Jesus and talking to people about him. 

• i literally love sister jacobs- she is seriously the cutest and i am so grateful to be here with her. and everyone calls us JJ :)

• we also had this recent convert in our ward text us and tell us that her daughter wants to be baptized! we could not be more excited for her and that we teach the gospel to her! 

• we had a lesson over facebook messenger which was so cool! technology is such a blessing and is here to further God's work.

• there was a massive warning down here in Southwestern Michigan for EEE, a mosquito borne disease that has a 66% survival rate so that was scary. grateful that God is watching out for us and we were able to avoid that.

President Nelson's devotional was awesome. He talked about 5 truths—you are sons and daughters of God, truth is truth, God's loves us with a perfect love, Christ appoints Prophets and Apostles, and you can learn for yourself through the spirit. I won't spoil too much of it for you all—you should go and watch it.

But most importantly he asked us to do three things after his devotional. Pray and ask to know if he and the Apostles are appointed by the Lord, ask if they receive revelation on this or other matters, and ask if the 5 truths he talked about are true. We are not asked to blindly follow and accept. Our Prophet said not to take his word for it, but to seek to know if it is true for ourselves.

I am grateful for the witness I have that President Nelson is a Prophet of God. He leads and guides this church in the latter-day. I invite each of you to watch it and do as he has invited—pray and seek to know if it is true.  

Love ya’s

Sister Johnson

195 Memorial Dr Apt B 21

Sturgis, MI 49091

tornadoes and birthdays!

September 16, 2019

this week was awesome( and we didn't even get pulled over)

cute sister jacobs

• we had interviews with our president and it was so awesome! i was able to get a ton of direction for what i can do to be a better missionary. 

•me and sister jacobs hit our 4 month yesterday and we made some gluten free brownies which were bomb!

we turned 4 :)

• there was a tornado at 2am the other night that woke us up! it was crazy but so funny

• our cute friend Kaitlin gave her farewell this week and we are so sad! she has been the best to bring around with us! florida is so lucky!

kaitlin aka the cutest future missionary

• we also got to watch the face to face for young adults and it was so good! everyone needs to watch that. i am so grateful to have living prophets and apostles in our day to give us guidance. 

• we got to teach Rick this week which was so powerful! the spirit was so strong and he has been progressing so well!

• there are lakes literally everywhere and it is so cool 

lake

• quick shout out to my cute trainer who turned 20 this week! love you sister nuttall 

• we also got a referral from the Portland, Oregon Temple Visitors Center and he and his wife were so awesome! they really want to come closer to Jesus Christ and its been so exciting. 

• we also had our district p-day last monday which was lots of fun! we went bowling and played some tennis which was a good time! elder denison backed the car into a pole which was too funny.

our district

This week I was able to read 3 Nephi 11 and it was so powerful. There is so much power in knowing that Christ had each person in the multitude come and feel the palms of His hands so they can testify that He did died for us, and was risen again. I am SO grateful that although Christ didn't appear to me, He engraved me upon the palms of His hands. He bore MY sins, My sorrows, MY trials. He is my Savior, and my Redeemer. I am honored to be a representative of Him to share His gospel with His children. 

Love y’all and hope you have a great week!

♡Sister Johnson

195 Memorial Dr Apt B 21

Sturgis, MI 49091