Dear Family and Friends,
This week was interesting I went on exchanges with my MTC
companion Hermana Johnson in Horn Lake and it was...interesting. We saw
numerous confederate flags at people's houses. Me and my companions went
to Corkys which is apparently a very famous barbecue place her in
Memphis and it has pictures of all these famous people that ate there.
The food was delicious!!!! Best ribs I have ever had .... (sorry mom).
Word on the street is that I am going to be training a new spanish
speaking sister in 2 weeks. I am seriously panicking because my spanish
is not that good but I know the Lord qualifies whom he calls so I know I
will be able to do it. It will be hard but I know that through the Lord
miracles are possible.
An experience I had this week was when we were teaching the
spanish speakers on a specific street and I felt prompted to knock on
this specific door and I was looking for the Perez family but when this
black woman opened the door I knew that I had the wrong house. As soon
as she came outside she grabbed my arm and just started sobbing. She
told us this insane story of how she woke up this morning and the cops
were surrounding her house and were looking for the people that lived
there before she moved in and then she told us her life story pretty
much and said she had been seeing ghosts and later found out that
someone had been killed in her house. I didn't have any bad feelings and
I knew I was there for a reason. She said she told some other people
and they thought she was crazy. I listened to her tell her story and she
said she has been going through a really hard time and needed God in
her life and then I knock on the door and even though my name badge is
in spanish she recognized Jesucristo on my badge and knew I was sent to
her. She gave me a hug and I gave her a pamphlet and a book of mormon
and she almost ripped them from my hands she was so excited!!! I bore my
testimony to her and told her how much the gospel will change her life
and said a prayer with her and blessed her and her home. As we were
walking down the side walk we could hear her shouting Hallelujah and
thanking God that we came to her. It was an amazing experience and I was
glad I followed that prompting.
This week we were on bike week and I thought I was going to die!
Biking in 110 degrees and humidity uphill in Memphis was awful (plus
Memphis is not where you want to be biking and when we told people we
biked there people were astonished we were still alive). We made it
about 6 miles and Hermana Smith got a flat tire and her tire got
shredded in the chain, we were in a really sketchy part of Memphis and
stranded there and all of a sudden a car pulls to the side of the road
and it just so happened to be the moment after Hermana Hogan said that
some creep is gonna pull over and hurt us. We all started panicking for a
minute because he didn't look like the friendliest person. Turns out he
is a member and he noticed while he was driving by that Hermana Smith
had a flat tire. He worked at an auto shop nearby and offered to fix her
tire. We got to the auto shop and met the owners daughter. I gave her a
passalong card She gave us a ride to the church and they fixed our
bikes for free. Ian, the mechanic who fixed our bike told us his
conversion story and we almost started crying with him. He told us if we
gave Palmer (the owners daughter) a book of mormon she would read it.
She lives in Arkansas and that is out of our area so we referred her to
the elders and gave her the book of mormon. The elders later texted us
and thanked us for the referral and apparently she is a golden
investigator. She told them that there was something different about us
and she felt prompted to talk to us about our church. I know that the
Lord led us to her and I know that this was no coincidence. What could
have ruined our whole day ended up being an amazing experience and made
that 6 mile bike ride in the blistering heat worth it. I know that
nothing is coincidental, especially since serving a mission I can
recognize how much God has a hand in the work I am doing.
I know that nothing is coincidental and I know I was sent to those
two people this week to help them. I am just the instrument and the
spirit is what testifies to them that what I am saying is true. I am so
grateful to be a instrument in God's hands. It truly has been an amazing
experience.
Love,
~Hermana Larissa Johnson