March 21st - March 27th

This has been a crazy week!

We celebrated Hermana Keanini's birthday! There was a baptism! And I've been sick and waking up during the night with a burning sore throat.  It has been a busy week but one full of memories. Today we are going to the city! The Rockefellar Center to see some ice skating. Our Relief Society President's daughter is in it. We don't know that much about it except that we are excited to go!

NEWS: It has been announced that we are now allowed to email anyone outside of our mission boundaries. This is something the brethren of the church have announced. This means friends, family, extended family, neighbors, whoever, can now email me. So if there is anyone that you know that is dying to email me, their prayers have been answered lol.

Here are the HIGHLIGHTS:

Thursday March 21st:

Our investigator cleared her baptismal interview! We got the offical thumbs up/clear/green light. Whatever you would call it, we got it =)

Friday March 22nd:

Happy Birthday Annie!  Hermana Keanini, from Hawaii, lives in our apartment and it was her birthday as well. We surprised her! We celebrated Hermana Keanini's birthday that morning with a hideous homemade Mexican pinata! We bought it from a Mexi mart. It was totally authentic =) That thing was a solid rock! We didn't really have many options for where to tie it so we tied it next to the wall where there was a loop. It was funny because she would hit it one swing and the wall the next. What ended up happening was Sister Awerkamp and I each held one end while Nini beat it's back. We were all laughing pretty hard.

Also that night we had an appointment with one of our investigators who's the neighbor of our member (Johnson family). We hadn't been able to see him in a few weeks so it was nice to follow up with him on the commitments we extended. We changed his baptismal date to May 4th but he is still working towards it =)

Saturday March 23rd:

Happy Birthday Seth. My present to you is Mary getting baptized! haha ok maybe not. But at least I was fully engaged in missionary work when I couldn't be with you to celebrate. 

It was a hectic day! We had a lot to do, but when it was all said and done the baptism went great! Mary loved it  =) She had to go under three times! Her dad was the one baptizing her. After the second time she said, "Don't bring me back up until everything is under!" haha.  Saturday is when I first started getting sick.

Sunday March 24th:

Mary was confirmed a member of the church and received the gift of the Holy Ghost!

Later we had an appointment with Sandra Hurley. She is a member we are helping prepare to go to the temple! She's working towards April 20th for the day she goes through the temple =)

Then I rested for part of the day to fight off getting sick. The Denison's who I served with in Kingsbridge live in our building and they are so sweet! They came by to see if everything was ok (they knew I was sick) and they let us have some left overs. They had just fed the missionaries from Kingsbridge. It was Hawaiian haystacks! (one of my favorites!)

Monday March 25th:

We got Mary's baptism record submitted to the mission office. I ended up sleeping part of the afternoon, which unfortunately made it really hard for me to sleep that night. After District Meeting (which Sister Awerkamp did a great job on the training) I got a priesthood blessing from Elder Ordaz.

Tuesday March 26th:

ZONE CONFERENCE! It was awesome seeing some of the other missionaries that I love =)

I love getting together with other missionaries and the mission president. I always learn so much!

The things I took away from it include: using the teaching pamphlets in following up as well to rekindle the feelings and thoughts they had from the previous lesson (when we discussed the pictures the first time). Also, using the follow up as an opportunity to assess or discern their concerns. 

We had dinner at the Hippen home! They are the greatest! We have them every Tuesday night and I always love starting off P-day when we leave there. This time she made a truffle cake for dessert and it was simply divine!

Today Wednesday March 27th:

I slept through the night last night! It was so nice!

Well I've got to attach some pictures and head out, but I hope you know how much I love you.

My testimony of Christ is burning stronger each day. It's been kind of hard being sick because I haven't studied as much as I would have liked to or needed to. But I know the Lord is mindful of me and my situation. I am excited to dive in and study about his final week that represents so much this Easter season.

Love,

Sister Emily Johnson

Upcoming:

This Thursday and Friday Sister Awerkamp and I get to be office sisters! We're excited =) Mostly it's because the office couples will be at different zone conferences.

Sunday is EASTER! What a special time to be teaching about our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ

The April 6th and 7th is General Conference! This will be my third and last general conference on the mission.  It's surreal. I'm excited to hear them report on all that has happened since President Monson made the announcement of the age change this past October!

This is going to be short

I apologize that I can't write more today.

I love you All!

This has been a hectic week and it's still kind of crazy. I don't have much time to email but I want you to know that you have been such a blessing in my life. 

Thank you for your examples to me. I am fighting the good fight and I'm trying to do what the Lord would have me do.  We might be having a baptism this Saturday. We still haven't quite worked out the details. We have to wait on a few things so everything is up in the air right now.

Mom thank you for the packages to Sister Awerkamp and I.

Tristan thank you for your package!

Love,

Sister Emily Johnson

Sister Awerkamp and I made our own St. Patrick's Day meal! We made pork chops, (green) mash potatoes, pork gravy and salad! I cooked the pork chops and gravy and she made the mash potatoes...and I ate the mash potatoes! Are you proud of me?

 Monday night we had a freak snow storm that came out of nowhere! We were at Natasha's place and when we left the roads were crazy! We were able to drive home safely but I definitely had Sister Awerkamp say a prayer in the car.

Also Sister Awerkamp spotted this awesome sign while I was driving! He had seen it before so we made sure to stop and take pictures.

Thurs. March 7th - Wed. March 13th

Thursday March 7th:
The elders that we serve with started riding bikes on the days they don't have the car. It was snowing a lot on Thursday. We met Elder Aagard and Elder Rydalch at the church to discus some details for our branch. Since Elder McCullam went home we wanted to get on the same page. Elder Rydalch is a new missionary from Oakley UT.  We were suppose to have a dinner with them but the dinner canceled because of the bad weather. We all went to McDonalds. We did a lot of stop and go as the elders biked there. We'd go a certain amount in our car and then pull over until they past us. We have a lot more respect for the elders because of their ability to ride their bikes in bad weather.  We are kind of jealous we don't get to ride bikes because it'd be a great work out. Yonkers has a lot of hills and their breaks don't work very well.

Friday March 8th:
My 13th month mark was a snow day! haha well at least the first half of the day was. We watched Legacy and Together Forever as an apartment. When we got the all clear we went back to our scheduled day. Natasha, a recent convert, came with us to do some look ups in Tarrytown. The person we came to see wasn't home so we made our way up the street. I was able to help shovel the sidewalk for this guy who looked tired. A little ways into my time shoveling my lower back muscles really started to ache! haha so I had a good reminder that we should be in our best physical shape so we can serve anywhere and anyhow the opportunity is presented.  I pushed through and finished the job I started.
After we dropped Natasha off back in Elmsford where she lives and works (it's near to Tarrytown) we decided to tract a little further up her street. It was very cold, but I felt the warmth of the spirit burning within me. The sunset was magnificent and the colors seemed so vibrant as we went door to door. We mostly talked to Spanish people but I was able to get contact information for two of the Spanish individuals to give to the elders in that area.  I also saw a lawn that had flamingos in it and it reminded me of my mom being reminded of my Aunt Barb! haha even though her flamingo incident was a long time ago I know that my mom always thinks of her. So now I guess I do too! But it's funny to have a silly reminder of family members you love.
We went by the home of a less active woman from the Dominican Republic who lives in our branch.  Her siblings and mom are members but her husband and kids are not. She is such a sweet lady. She let us in and we visited for a while. We scheduled a time to come back Monday. She wants to feed us =)

Saturday March 9th:
We went to the church to work on some information for the branch and Sister Awerkamp practiced the piano. Later we went to pick up Bailey Fillmore. She is our branch president's daughter.  She came with us to the Nelson's apartment (the Nelson's are the branch mission leader and his wife from AZ!) We picked a song to practice to sing in sacrament on Easter Sunday. Following that we had dinner and correlation. Then Bailey came with us to our appointment with a funny black lady from the branch who we are helping to prepare to go to the temple. We visited her two weeks ago. It was a neat experience because we had some thoughts about potential concerns she might have or things that could come up, but the Lord had prepared her in between our visits because she was way ahead of what we had prepared. It was neat to see! She also kept making comments that we couldn't help but laugh at. For example she was talking about how she had seen the elders street contacting in Getty Square and there was also a person preaching on the other side of a square with a bull horn. She said how all the people were leaving the guy with the bull horn and coming to the Mormons! The Elders were "kicking it!" =) She was so funny! Also, she set a date to prepare for. She's going to the temple April 20th!

Sunday March 10th:
It was a hopping day at church! There were a lot of people there that we had been trying to work with at church. It was a beautiful sight! Our investigator Mary who is getting baptized next week was there as well. After church we had Linger Longer (2nd Sunday of every month). It's always a treat! (no pun intended)  As linger longer was wrapping up Mary had a seizure =( We found out though that she has seizures every two months or so and she takes medication for it. Her daughter knew what to do and we got an ambulance there asap. They took her to the hospital to check out her vitals. She was released later that night.  During the day we went with Natasha to visit a lot of people. We were able to visit a less active member (we read from the Book of Mormon with her). Then we saw Herbert and Shirley (potential investigators), the Simmons(Active members), and we visited Mary (investigator) right before she got released.

Monday March 11th:
As an apartment we are doing a sweets fast where we are off of sweets for one month. People here feed us so many treats and we hardly walk at all. In the city I could maintain it, but here, not so much haha. Anyways there are some rules we decided on. One of the rules is that you can have one sweet once a week (minimal serving). I got a weird ear ache on this day. It was kind of a boring day but we were able to help one of the less active young woman prepare a talk that she has been asked to give Sunday on the Young Women value Knowledge. All of the Young Women are speaking in sacrament meeting. 

Tuesday March 12th:
We were able to visit a lot of people. One of which we were able to talk the visiting teacher with us. It helped us out and it helped her as well. Highlight/embarrassing moment of the day:
We were visiting a less active woman and while we were there we were talking to her. She had been playing Monopoly with someone in the background. I asked, "Oh is that your son?" Her response, "My daughter..." The girl was right there and could definitely hear me and she just looked at me. I tried my best to repair the situation (even though the woman is already a little awkward) I said something about how I saw the short hair and assumed but then I realized I've had short hair before. We quickly moved forward in the conversation.  To give you a better idea of how awkward this situation is, the daughter although where what look like boy pajamas, was 20 yrs old!!! YIKES! She looked more like 17-18 though. hahah it was just so embarrassing. Regardless I think the mom is going to ride the bus with us to church this week! 
We rapped up the night at dinner with the Hippen family (as usual) and they are one of my favorite families! They are the best and are what I hope my family is like in the future!

Wednesday March 13th:
I love you! Today is kind of a crazy day. We need to go change our clothes into the dryer. Later we are meeting the zone at the Scarsdale chapel for zone activities! Volleyball, soccer and making Horchata.

I love you!!!
Sincerely,
Sister Emily Johnson

Transfer P-day

Thursday February 28th - Wednesday March 6th

With it being the last week of transfer we got fed quite a bit, especially since Elder McCullam is going home.

Thurs. Feb. 28th:

We met up with the Elders to work on somethings for the branch.  Elder McCullum told the Hippen family he would write a song on their ukulele that he would perform his last night.  He had the music of it put together but was stuck on the words.  Which is the exact opposite of my problem =) I wrote some sweet words!  We plan on collaborating on future songs =)

We had dinner with the Altom family. They are the cutest! Plus she made amazing dinner rolls. A funny moment from when we were teaching them about the doctrine of repentance, I asked the son Maddox, who's four, how he knew he needed to tell his mom he was sorry (previously we established that he had told his mom he was sorry). He said,  "Because Heavenly Father told me to."

We looked up a less active member who is very nice :) We had a good lesson with her.

Friday March 1st:

We had dinner with the Johnson family. They have three darling children ( 7yr, 4yrs, and 5months)

We were teaching his good friend Vasu who he met in dental school.  Vasu is doing general dentistry so at dinner it was pretty easy for me to build a good connection with him because we talked a lot about dentistry! I am so grateful I had the chance to work as a dental assistant. It is a fascinating field.  Vasu knows a lot about the church and has recently started reading the Book of Mormon from the beginning.  He was raised Hindu but he likes Joseph Smith's first vision.  By the end of our lesson he accepted an invitation to work towards receiving an answer and being baptized on April 6th.  We're seeing him again next Friday after another dinner with the Johnson's. 

Saturday March 2nd:

The elders have been teaching a girl named Natasha.  Despite serve opposition from friends and family, Natasha decided to be baptized. =)  Saturday was Natash's baptism!  It was absolutely wonderful.  We helped the elders get set up and fill up the font.  It was at the Scarsdale chapel. Our branch doesn't have a font.  It was luke warm. We wanted to make it hotter but the kitchen is under construction so there was no microwave, the stove wasn't connected and there were no working faucets. Unfortunately there's wasn't much we could do for the water.  Natasha shared a wonderful testimony afterwards.  I am so excited for her!  In preparing for the baptism we had some oreos and we practiced the song we were writing for the Hippen family.  I really want to take music lessons when I get home so it's easier for me to carry my own note without being influenced by others as I match the notes they sing lol. I pretty much ate sweets this day, which left me with a migraine that night. Oh and when we left the chapel from Natasha's baptism in the evening there was a beautiful snow that had fallen.  It sparkled under the amber parking lot lights 

Sunday March 3rd:
Sunday morning was hard because I still had a bad migraine from the previous night, except now it was fast Sunday.  I decided to pray to see whether or not I should fast this day.  The reason I considered not fasting is because one of the medicines I take makes my sick if I don't eat something first. I had thought about different options: taking some food and medication and then starting my fast or just waiting until I broke my fast to take my medicine with food then.  As I prayed my headache started to leave and I decided I should fast. 

Fast Sundays go pretty fast in our branch because we usually have branch counsel at 8:30am and then church starts at 10:30am. I was especially tired because I didn't sleep well and then Elders played a prank on us and set an alarm on our phone that went off at 2:30am! Not Cool! hah.

It was a struggle to stay focused during church. I felt pretty miserable. 

After church we had two dinner appointments! One with the Fillmore's (Branch president's family) and the Simmons. We were getting together with them to celebrate the Simmons going through the temple and being sealed together.  Sister Fillmore asked us about a month prior if we could help prepare them. Now they are an eternal family! What a blessing.

After eating and drinking again I started feeling better.  Every time I struggle physically fasting I think about how much Christ probably thirsted for a glass of water when he going going through the last few days of His life. Or how sick He must have felt or how He probably had a migraine.  Thinking about the Savior gives me the incentive to hang on a little longer.

The other was with the Johnson family and Natasha came. Sister Johnson is a great cook! She made cheesecake for dessert and it was legit! Afterwards we went to Natasha's apartment to watch the CES Fireside =)

Monday March 4th:

We went to district meeting/zone meeting. I was a little edgy and irritated at the start of this day. I was trying to be patient but I was loosing it. However, I was able to work through it and soften up. One of the things that helped me was reading Elder McCullam's mission experience.  I was proof reading it for him.  He served for a year in Albania but got quite sick and served the second half of his mission here in NY.  He has endured many hardship and trails during his mission service.  Reading his talk touched my heart and helped me reflect on the bigger picture of my mission. What have I experienced and how has that shaped my testimony and character of the person I am today.  It was interesting to think about.  I know the Lord has a plan for me and this service is helping me become everything he needs me to be. Even when it's hard and challenging, each trial is shaping me.  His talk helped me realize I should be grateful for hard days. Also, that if we really understood what people have gone through (because we all face trails-if we could openly read what others have experienced) we would much more willing to love and respect.  That was a good reminder for me because some people in our zone kind of irritate/annoy me a lot haha. However, I remembered that I needed to not look at what's on the outside or how they present themselves, but rather be loving and respectful no matter what. 
We had a dinner with Mary (our investigator) at 5pm and Natasha (recent convert) and 7:30p.m. We were soooo full!

Tuesday March 5th:

It was Elder McCullam's last night. When we were at the Hippen's home for dinner we performed two songs. I wrote the words to both and he wrote the music. I have a video of it, but it is too large to send through email.  I wish I could though, it turned out way good!  

Wednesday March 6th:

Today was transfers.  At the end of the meeting President asks all the missionaries leaving to stand in the front and we sing "Each Life that Touches ours for Good" as the closing hymn.  I couldn't even sing. I just started crying. So many of my wonderful friends were up there and they were all leaving.  It was a hard moment. Afterwards I talked to most of them and that cheered me up.  It was liking having part of my heart leave with them. I know I will be fine, but this is one of my least favorite things  about the mission. Although, I will get to see them all again very soon. :)

That's it for now.

I love you!

Sincerely,

Sister Emily Johnson

It was soooo WINDY today!

This is Elder Kerr (who's uncle we refer dental patients to)

Dinner with Mary =)

The Simmons and the Fillmores

Natasha and Elder McCullam

us

 the McAllisters (they are a senior couple serving here and they let us email on their computers)

 our apartment Hermanas and sisters!

hursday February 21st - Wednesday February 27th

Thursday February 21st - Wednesday February 27th

Tomorrow will be my one year mark in the field... so closer to my thirteen month mark of starting my mission. How bizarre!

This has been a pretty great week!

Last Wednesday after preparation day was over we went to the Simmon's place to celebrate their 40th anniversary.  That is the couple we've been teaching temple prep to.  We brought cornbread muffins (Brother Simmon's favorite), gluten free brownies and vanilla ice cream.  We watched Together Forever to celebrate them preparing for the temple!

Friday Feb. 22nd:

Our investigator Mary is such a joy to teach :) We taught her the Plan of Salvation and were able to answer her questions by turning to chapters in the Book of Mormon.  I love experiences like that!  Her daughters who are already members were going to do baptisms for the dead the following day so we helped her connect that her daughters would be performing ordinances for those who are in the spirit world.  Also she cracks us up! Mary is black and apparently can cook very well. She's feeding us sometime this next week so we'll see if that is true ;) She was asking us if we can eat food in heaven.  She wants to 'cook for Jesus!' We planned out her baptismal program and she wants a cake that says "Happy Baptismal!" I asked her if she wanted it to say Happy Baptismal or Happy Baptism and she said whichever one is right =P Later she realized which one it should be.

That night we drove around Yonkers looking up different members from the branch.  We were able to see all three of the sisters we were looking for,

Saturday Feb.23rd:

We went with the elders in our area to a nursing home near the church.  We wanted to meet two of the sisters in our branch who live there.  I loved it.  It reminded me of the days I would pick up my Grandma Campbell on Sundays to come have dinner at our home.  When I am home from the mission I want to try to visit a nursing home semi regularly to become friends with the regulars =)

Sunday Feb.24th:

Sundays in our branch are becoming one of my favorite days of the week!  After church we met with two of the Elders Quorum members to discuss in more depth the needs of our branch and how we, as sister missionaries, can be of the most help.  After that the Denison's invited us and their neighbor Rena (the one I was able to be an answer to her prayers when we were unshoveling cars after the blizzard) over for dinner.  Sister Denison is a wonderful cook.  Rena is funny.  She makes the best facial expressions when she tells stories.

Shortly after we left there we had another meal to get to.  It was with the Stilson family. I adore them :) Especially their four year old son Easton! He taught us a cool handshake when we first had dinner there. Double High five (both hands), double fist bump, and wiggle!  Natasha also came.  She is someone the Elders have been teaching and she's getting baptized this week, Saturday March 2nd!  

For dinner they fed us Navahoo tacos and scone desserts! Both were amazingly delicious! I'm going to have to get the recipes.

Monday Feb.25th:

We had an appointment Monday night with a family in our branch and they are great! The daughter has a toy doll and I got to hold it! haha it was a pretty big deal because I miss holding babies/children. It's a mission rule, for safety precautions in many ways to not hold kids because of increasing legal complexities. Thus, I was able to get my baby fix and still be obedient.

Tuesday Feb. 26th:

This was one of my favorite days so far!

We helped Elder McCullam create Natasha's baptism program and then went to eat.

Afterwards we went to do a look up in Tarrytown but turns out it was only the college address so there was no way for us to find her.  We decided to tract some homes near there.  It was a really cold day but the houses were all so cute!  We had pretty good success with yellow houses.  Most people weren't home. The first woman we talked to was really nice just busy but gave us her number and invited us to come back another time.  We met a guy who was pretty nice but his wife wasn't interested or comfortable with us there.

Finally we came to a house where a Jamaican lady answered the door.  She worked their as a home health attendant.  Anyhow the owner was fine with us coming in.  We spent about 45 minutes - hour in the home talking to Herbert (who's probably in his 90s) and Shirlee Louis (who is probably in her 50s).  Herbert served in World War Two as someone who flew and jumped out of airplanes.  He was also at Pearl Harbor when it was attacked. He didn't have too many details to tell us but I was so impressed just sitting there getting to know the both of them.

We taught an overview of the Plan of Salvation and focused a lot on the Restoration of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.  Shirlee was pretty receptive to the Restoration because of the things she had told us about her religious background.  We gave Herbert a copy of the restoration dvd to watch and he seemed excited.  I believe Shirlee said he has dementia. He seemed pretty with it, with the exception of forgetting a few details from his past (war experience).  He has a daughter who lives near by who called when we were there.  We heard hear voice when she was on the phone.  She wasn't totally sure about how she felt about us there. Mostly she didn't want us to bother her father.  Shirlee told her that he liked our company.  I've been praying that we can keep teaching Shirlee and Herbert and also teach Camille and her family.  That would be sweet!

Once we left there we went to the Hippen home for dinner.  We had Hawaiian Haystacks which are definitely some of my favorites now! It was absolutely delicious! I love having dinner there on Tuesday nights! After a wonderful time together we taught a fun lesson=) We assigned everyone a character and had a few props and we acted out 1 Nephi chapters 3-4. Sister Awerkamp and I narrated =) 

The work is picking up and we are building relationships with the branch =)

The Simmons are going through the temple today! We didn't get permission to go because it'll be after pday but we just stopped by there =)

I hope all is well with you!

Feel free to write me letters =P

Transfers are in one week (this is a five week transfer) and it's crazy! So many of my favorite missionaries that I've served with go home this next week.  Missionaries going home are, but not limited to, include: Elder Stratton, Elder Topham, Elder Mattai, Elder Head and Elder McCullam  WEIRD!

I love you! I am grateful for this time I have to serve the Lord and strengthen my own testimony. As I teach others and look at the eternal perspective things become clearer and more important. I invite you to increase your understanding and faith this week about a gospel truth.  Ponder and pray about what you would like to understand with more clarity and then put it into action!

Love,

Sister Emily Johnson

Week of Feb. 13th - Feb. 20th

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 

Pictures

Us going outside for service. That's what my miracle story is about. I'm sorry you'll have to wait a week to hear it.

Saturday, the day after the blizzard

when we went to do service-unshovel cars in our own parking lot

Saturday after service

spanish and english words!

flowers from valentine's day

last week when hermana Dalley did my hair!

sister awerkamp and i

Brendan, myself, Debra

curly hair

Sister Lavaki, Brendan, and myself

Weekly Report Thursday February 7th - Wednesday February 13th

Weekly Report 

Thursday February 7th - Wednesday February 13th

 

This has been a very odd week lol. I am happy to report that all is well. It's had it's ups and downs but that is life. I am grateful for the experiences I am having here in NY because they are teaching me how to turn to my loving Father in Heaven. The experiences and examples I have with me during these 18 months are going to have a strong influence on shaping the rest of my life.

 

Thursday Feb. 7th:

Thursday was one of the most spiritual days I've had my entirely life! I realize that is quite the statement but it's true.  We had the opportunity to go to a training where Brother Watson and Brother Donaldson would be teaching us.

Brother Watson oversees proselyting throughout the whole world! Bro. Donaldson was the mission president of the mission where they filmed The District 2 

I LOVE THE DISTRICT 2! Pretty much any of my companions can attest to that.  I've watched some of the clips of him teaching other missionaries or address mission presidents and I love his teaching style.  To be able to be taught by him in person was an absolute delight! He taught seminary and institute for years before getting called as a mission president so I'm pretty sure it's his teaching experience that makes him so effective in my eyes, given the fact that he strives to follow the spirit and build off of what each of us feel and think.

The training was basic but profound. The spirit was at the chapel so thick I felt it engulf me... it was the coolest experience I have ever had!  We learned about teach the doctrine of Christ and more specifically how to teach the doctrine of REPENTANCE.  It was profound to review on a deeper level the significance of how we access the Atonement of Jesus Christ in our lives.The only way we can and the only way we can be changed by Him is through Repentance, Baptism and continued repentance.

We also were taught a more effective way to involve the pamphlets when we teach.  I felt the spirit the entire time we were there and at the end when President Morgan was talking to us again and talking about the spirit we felt together that day I was so overcome with emotion that I started sobbing! haha I had no control. All I know is that I left there as a better individual.  I will never be able to deny what I felt when I was there. I know the atonement of Jesus Christ is a gift from our Heavenly Father for us to return to live with Him.  However, the only way we can access that gift is through repentance and the ordinance of baptism. Then continuing to repent, truly repent frequently to retain the remission of our sins and be edified and shaped into who the Lord wants us to be, so we can reach our full potential one day at a time. 

 

Friday Feb. 8th:

Lunch at the Martinez home

Blizzard-getting grounded (our zone leaders text us and told everyone we had to turn in)

I received a package from Mom with a mormon messages dvd and a funny baby toy that giggles-it made me so happy =D Everytime it giggles I can't help but chuckle.

we watched the mormon messages the majority of the afternoon since we weren't allowed to leave our apartment. It was awesome! I'm so grateful my mom sent that DVD because it gave us something to do for a few hours besides bonding with our hermanas!

My one year mark of starting the mission (entering the MTC) It's funny how on significant days I can never leave the apartment EX. my birthday was the day of Hurricane Sandy and we were instructed to stay inside. Now on my one year mark I stayed inside because of a blizzard.

 

Saturday Feb. 9th:

In the morning we were instructed to not drive yet but to get out and do service.  I got to experience a miracle and be an instrument in the Lord's hand! So I ran out of time emailing but i'm writing it in bold so I'll remember to tell this story next week lol

Brendan's baptism got rescheduled because of the blizzard. It'll be this next Saturday.

 

Sunday Feb. 10th:

I spoke in sacrament meeting!  I didn't formally write out my talk so I can't share it, but I think it went well. Sister Awerkamp and Elder Aagard spoke as well.

 

Monday Feb. 11th:

A stressful day for me.  We visited a family with less active individuals and it's not what I'm used to. I have experience in helping investigators see how the gospel will bless them. It's different though with individuals who have been baptized in the church because they don't always see the significance or they can loose focus on what the gospel is all about. So adjusting to that amoungst the many other changes of working in a completely different area (nothing remotely close to what the city was like) was compounding and starting to bother me.  I knew the Lord would guide me but I felt overwhelmed and disconnected from undestanding what I needed to do.  That night I talked to Sister Awerkamp and told her about some of the things I'd been feeling.  She was great and let me get it out. By the end of our conversation I felt pretty good.  Plus we taught the Simmons that night and I always leave there uplifted!

 

Tuesday Feb. 12th:

During personal study I pondered the things I was feeling the day before. As I spent time reflecting peace entered my heart and the spirit directed my mind to what of those concerns I needed to focus on and which I should not.  I love that through the Holy Ghost I can receive direction in the work and where I should focus my efforts.  One of the things that I felt was that I need to study and learn how to teach people to give their burdens to Christ. He's the only one strong enough to carry them.  I can't carry their burdens that's for sure! I know that the Savior can and will.

 

Wednesday Feb. 13th:  

Today Sister Dalley is going to color and cut my hair! She went to Paul Mitchell in Provo the same time as my sister Sam and they were in the same core class! Small world =P

 

I've got to run!

I love you!!!

 

Sincerely,

Sister Johnson