Where the heck has the time gone!? Today I hit 9 months of being a missionary and I seriously feel like I just got here. These last 12 weeks, especially, with Sister Allphin have flown by! It has been a roller coaster in the best way and I have no clue what I am going to do without her!
We met the cutest couple last week and they literally moved to Raleigh this week, but we were able to have 2 lessons with them and they were probably the best lessons of my mission! They dove into the book of mormon and are so excited to get in contact with missionaries in Raleigh so that they can keep learning. We helped them pack up their moving truck and elder hunter was organizing it like he had been training for this moment His whole life and like his life depended on it.
We set up a salt lake city temple tour with Gideon and he did not stop saying wow! It was so spirit filled and I recommend trying it. Also speaking of gideon... that's not his name! It Gedeon! There is a French spelling and a English version. Anyway he kindly taught us how to actually pronounce his name and I am now basically fluent in Congonese french... after our tour he looked up to see if there was a temple in the Congo incase he ever moved back. Basically we are obsessed with him and he make our hearts so happy. Please keep praying for gedeon to have the desire to be baptized.
We had our last zone conferences this week and we got ice cream to celebrate (this is the first time sister allphin has had desert since January so it was a thrilling experience.) Elder McVea (our vehicle coordinator) sent us with new license plate to put on the cars. He taught us how to do it... news flash it is really hard I am not sure if any of yall would be able to figure it out. He gave us a wrench but he was using a drill to take the plates off and on. We were like "Elder McVea, where what is with the drill?" He literally said "oh sisters your not ready for this baby yet" That was a bit of a put down to be honest. Keep in mind the drill literally stops on its own when the bolt is tight. No worries though I will get drill privileges one day. But ya we are mechanics now.
I caught a frog. I swear I have only ever seen ones like this at froggy's bounce house ( the local boynce house place back home) i named im Glenn and he literally would leave once I caught him. Anyway we are now best friends for life and we have an irreplaceable bond.
The hermanas moved into our apartment till transfers! They were having neighbor problems but it has been an eventful week with them around. Our humor is really weird because we will be cracking the same joke forever and still think it is funny. Our poor district leader barely can get in a word sometimes. He is a trooper tho. Shout out to Elder hunter who I am basically cousins with. That is whole other thing tho. But ya, we are besties with the hermanas and it has been such a fun week.
This week church was so full! I wanted to share a quote that someone read from Elder Holland! "To which Jesus responded (and here again I acknowledge my nonscriptural elaboration), perhaps saying something like: “Then Peter, why are you here? Why are we back on this same shore, by these same nets, having this same conversation? Wasn’t it obvious then and isn’t it obvious now that if I want fish, I can get fish? What I need, Peter, are disciples—and I need them forever. I need someone to feed my sheep and save my lambs. I need someone to preach my gospel and defend my faith. I need someone who loves me, truly, truly loves me, and loves what our Father in Heaven has commissioned me to do. Ours is not a feeble message. It is not a fleeting task. It is not hapless; it is not hopeless; it is not to be consigned to the ash heap of history. It is the work of Almighty God, and it is to change the world. So, Peter, for the second and presumably the last time, I am asking you to leave all this and to go teach and testify, labor and serve loyally until the day in which they will do to you exactly what they did to me.” ... "So we have neighbors to bless, children to protect, the poor to lift up, and the truth to defend. We have wrongs to make right, truths to share, and good to do. In short, we have a life of devoted discipleship to give in demonstrating our love of the Lord. We can’t quit and we can’t go back. After an encounter with the living Son of the living God, nothing is ever again to be as it was before. The Crucifixion, Atonement, and Resurrection of Jesus Christ mark the beginning of a Christian life, not the end of it. It was this truth, this reality, that allowed a handful of Galilean fishermen-turned-again-Apostles without “a single synagogue or sword” to leave those nets a second time and go on to shape the history of the world in which we now live."
I know that this is the work of the Almight God. I know that Jesus Christ lives and that his atonement brings power! And honestly it would be a shame if we didn't open our mouths and tell people about it, because this message changes the world and it changes individual lives. We are disciples of christ and we are disciples for life. So always seek opportunities to stand for Christ because he surely stands for you.
I love you all so much! This gospel is so dang true and they way you can know is by reading the book of mormon and praying. It's almost too simple.
This week taking the sacrement made me so happy!
Sister Johnson