February 24, 2014
Dear Family and Friends,
Jackson is great. This week the elders double booked all their
appointments so they gave us some people to visit... unfortunately for
the elders Deshawn likes us better and now she is our investigator. She
is studying theology which could be a huge problem. But the elders gave
her a book of mormon and we explained it and challenged her to read it
and pray about it and when we came back she told us she knew the book of
mormon was true.... It just testified to me not to judge people.... the
spirit can touch anyone and you never know who the people are that the
Lord has prepared to hear the gospel. She came to church this week
and we are going to give her a baptismal date this week. We went and
visited an investigator, Miss Betty who was in the hospital... she lives
in an assisted living place near our apartment and every time we go to
visit her there is always a guy there that tries to kiss us.... he's
about 80 years old so we can easily escape him.
We were on bikes this
past week but thank goodness we didn't have to do much biking. We went
to go visit Miss Betty again and we tried to get out of there so we
could get to an appointment on time but we kept getting the feeling to
stay... so we did and when we got to the intersection of the street we
were biking on there was a huge accident, cars flipped. Pretty sure if
we didn't leave when we did we would have been caught in the middle of
that.... just proof that the Lord protects us when we are living our
lives worthily to recognize and follow the promptings of the spirit. We
had dinner with Ms. White and she pretty much has a colorful past. She
pretty much has had everything horrible that possibly could happen,
happen to her. I seriously started crying as she told me about her past.
It made me realize how grateful I am for the way I was raised. I have
so much to be grateful for and sometimes we forget that.
Thursday we
went to zone conference and they had to end it early because of the
tornado warnings. Thank goodness we missed the worst part of it. While
we were in Memphis the weather was ridiculous in Jackson. We were still
banned to our apartment for the night because of the tornado warnings so
we just studied. Friday we were on exchanges and went to Logan's
roadhouse (it's like a Texas roadhouse but not as good) and to popeyes.
Saturday we went and helped out the Ards. Sister Ard is having a rough
time with everything so sometimes we help clean her house and cook
dinner. I told her the Lord loves her and she started bawling.... It
came out of nowhere but I know she needed to hear that.
Sunday was
CRAZY. I have been fasting and praying since I got here to Jackson to
receive revelation of what to do to help this ward. Ward council meeting
was crazy!!! I learned alot but there is a lot of problems in the
branch and the bishop quieted everyone and asked what we can do to build
the ward because there is a serious problem. Right when he said that I
received revelation. We created a plan yesterday and we are going to
implement it. It is seriously going to take a lot of work and a lot of
people don't think we can do it but yall know how I get when people tell
me I can't achieve my goals.... I PROVE THEM WRONG.
I am so excited to
get started and help fix the ward so that the missionary work here can
blossom.... we CANNOT do it without the members... we can try but it is
ultimately so much more effective. I KNOW I am here for a reason. I KNOW
me and Elder Tammietti got put here because the Lord knows we have
something that Jackson needs. I LOVE this gospel and I am soooo blessed
to get to share that with people and to invite others to come unto
Christ through Faith, Repentance, Baptism, receiving the gift of the
holy ghost and enduring to the end. I LOVE the people here and I truly
believe they have so much more potential than even they recognize... one
thing I have learned is you can never force anyone to do anything...
you have to love people into it. If you want less actives to come back
into the church, if you want investigators to join the church you have
to love them into it.
Love,
~Hermana Larissa Johnson