Sister Emily A. Johnson's Mission Blog!: Week of Feb. 13th

Weekly Report:

Wednesday February 13th - Wednesday February 20th

Follow up:

Last week I ran out of time, but the miracle I got to be apart of last Saturday was because of some service. Since we were still grounded (not in our cars) from the blizzard the day before we got a text message from our zone leader telling all the missionaries to look for ways to serve and help with the snow. Our apartment decided to go outside and unshovel some cars. While we were outside we started working on a few cars. Mostly I was uncovering the windshield, door, and mirrors/windows. However, when I was working on one of the cars I had the thought come to me, "What if by doing this you'll be the answer to someones prayer? What if someone is really stressing out about having to unshovel their car for whatever reason... and then they discover it's already been done?" I thought "that would be really cool!" So I decided to pray and ask Heavenly Father to allow me be the answer to someones prayer. I was thinking it might be a mom who has a lot of kids or maybe it would be something entirely different. I simply prayed that I could be the answer to someones prayer. As I continued to clean the car I was working on more than I had the others I was looking around wondering how I was going to know which car it would be. I had the thought come to me, "assume it's this car" implying the one I was currently working on. I thought ok, and worked very hard to clear all of the snow off of this one car. When I had finally finished working on that car I moved on to one near by and a woman named Rena came out of the building. I saw how excited she looked as she approached the car I had assumed was the one that would be an answer to prayers.

We became friends and she kept saying, "Look at the beautiful Mormons" and "God sent us angles" to the other neighbors that were coming out and being surprised by the work we had done. Later I talked to her more one and one and I felt impressed to tell her about the thoughts that went through my head when I was clearing off her car. She got emotional and told me her story: She's older and alone and the snow really stresses her out. She gets very anxious about it and she doesn't have anyone she can call on and ask for help clearing off her car. She didn't want to get so anxious about it because it's her day off. She just prayed and told God how she trusts him. Later when she came outside she was able to find her car cleared off =D

Wednesday Feb. 13th:

The highlight of Wednesday was when Sister Awerkamp and I went to Young Womens and taught a lesson on missionary work. It was a lot of fun and I felt the spirit so strong when we taught. Tristan's package came.

Thursday Feb. 14th:

Happy Valentine's Day!

Weekly planning ran long because there was a lot to update now that we are getting our bearings on the area and branch.

We went out to eat with the Hermana's in our apartment at TGI Fridays. A woman was giving out free flowers and talking about Mary Kay makeup. I'm going to attach some of the pictures of Sister Awerkamp and I with the flowers. We had a lesson with the Simmons family. Then on the way home we went to Dunkin' Donuts to get some donuts to celebrate with the Hermanas. We had to go to two different ones, but finally we got some heart shaped ones =)

Friday Feb. 15th:

We had interviews with President Morgan. I got to share with him about the work we are doing in this area. He is a wonderful mission president and I love working under his direction. I always feel spiritually strengthened from him. We had a very productive day in our area. We looked up a few less active members President Fillmore, our branch president, asked us to check in on. Eventually, we had dinner with the Hippens family and the Van Beavers. We taught about the blessings that come from living the Gospel (of Jesus Christ). One of the individuals there has not been active in the church for quite sometime now. I felt a great sense of urgency and power as I shared my testimony that the commandments are what allow us to return to live with Heavenly Father, how he's not going to force us to do so, but shouldn't we want to? I felt the spirit so strong I started to tear up. Also, our investigator Mary quite smoking! She's been associated with the church since she was 18 and she's now 37. Her dad is a member and he baptized her two teenage daughters. She's been wanting to get baptized for years but always had a smoking problem. A week or two ago she had to go to the hospital for gal stones! However because she couldn't smoke there and enough time has passed when she went to smoke a cigarette at home she found the smell to be absolutely putrid! She didn't even take one puff, she was so disgusted!

Saturday Feb. 16th:

Brendan Hahn was baptized! He is someone I taught in Harlem and he is amazing! I am so thankful I was able to return to attend his baptism and give a talk about baptism. My whole talk was catered to him, so I'm not sure how much anyone else got from it, but what was important was that he understood :) It was so refreshing to go back to the city! It felt like home. On the train ride there a man named "Black Beaver" serenade us with his guitar and custom songs to Sister Awerkamp and I. It was pretty hilarious! I told her that she had the best introduction to the city one could hope for!

Brendan had about 30 people at his baptism and it was one of the best experiences I've ever had! Especially because I got to play such an active part in preparing him for baptism. It was a beautiful day. His girl friend Deb who has a beautiful singing voice did a duet and sang "If the Savior Stood Beside Me". It felt like heaven. The spirit touched my heart so strong as she was singing. I started to record it but my battery died, so I only caught part of it.

Sunday Feb. 17th:

We started off nice and early with branch council. It's a night and day difference from the last time we went (our first Sunday in the area).

Church was lovely. The talks shared where really profound. Our investigator Mary came to church with her two teenage daughters who are members.

Monday Feb. 18th:

We went on a trio split with the traveling sisters. One came with us and the other one we drove down to the Bronx to be in a trio with the sisters in our old area.

That night we went and looked up a potential investigator. We talked to him for an hour in the cold!

Tuesday Feb. 19th:

We taught our investigator Mary and set a baptismal date with her for March 23rd! That's also Seth's birthday =) What a wonderful day it'll be.

Wednesday Feb. 20th:

We cleaned our apartment really well so that'll be a great way to start this next week :)

I got to hear about Jill's baptismal experience so that was amazing! Congratulations Jill! I couldn't be happier for you.

Well we've got a few more things we need to get done today.

I am learning so much it's crazy!

I feel the spirit work through me everyday and I am grateful for the refining power of Jesus Christ my Lord and Savior.

I hope you can all feel the blessings of living the gospel of Jesus Christ on a daily basis.

Sincerely,

Sister Emily A. Johnson