Christmas week eve. Racine 12/18/17

Hey all!
So I send a video this week. Hope it works!! Word on pictures. One is of our tree that we finally bought today. Super proud of it. :) Also our ward Christmas party was AMAZING. So thorough and fun. Wish you could've been there.

​To everyone who wants to be a little more festive...word of advice. Put up a tree with someone who hasn't yet. Or light your own and sit and read the Christmas story in Luke. Just take time to really think about WHY we put so much effort into Christmas celebrations. Then go out and do something kind. Smile at someone. Relax. Don't sweat the small things. ENJOY family and friends. And also blast Christmas songs--the good ones. :)

Here is our Prophet who directs us on how to be a little more Christlike:
President Thomas S. Monson has taught: “Our opportunities to give of ourselves are indeed limitless, but they are also perishable. There are hearts to gladden. There are kind words to say. There are gifts to be given.”

Anyways, I hope that you all have a very merry Christmas eve week!!
love,
sister Johns

Video

Lighting the world! Racine, 12/11/17

Dear lovely people.

Hello! IT's been another crazy week here in Racine! And as far as the weather report goes, it's finally winter here. It was around 60 degrees last week and now it's about 25. So that's been fun. It also snowed on Saturday! 

So funny story of the week. We talked to this old lady in our ward and she wanted us to come help her decorate her tree. She's so cute. She told us that we'd need around 3 hours. Yeah. We were surprised too haha. But we thought we could probably work harder and take less time than that. BUT with dinner and and everything it actually did take 3 hours....and we didn't actually have time to decorate the tree! haha. The tree wouldn't stand up straight, the stand was pretty old. So we put up a good fight but we lost in the end. 

So we've been teaching this awesome 9 year old in our ward, Tessa. She was going to get baptized this weekend, but some unexpected complications came up. So we had to tell everyone to not come. We then got a text from Bishop Tuesday evening saying that the baptism is still on! Maybe we were a bit overdramatic...but we freaked out. We had to arrange the speakers again and tell everyone to actually come! It all worked out well. But as we were freaking out sister Eadie had quite the encounter with an exercise ball. It bucked her off and pinned her in a corner. She fell backwards and her feet went flying haha! I had to laugh before I helped her up. It was so funny. But anyways! The baptism went very nicely. Tessa was beautiful and enjoyed it. Baptism is a time where covenants with God are made. Those promises will guide her throughout her life. It will help her on her path back to her Heavenly Father. 

Miracle of the week! So we were visiting with an awesome lady in our ward who is preparing to go to the temple. WE had some time afterwards before our next appointment and were trying to decide what we needed to do. We were just going to visit some people we didn't know in the ward, when sister Eadie said we needed to visit a lady who we had been teaching. She is going through cancer treatment and we lost contact with her. We have stopped by several times and weren't able to get a hold of her. But we thought we'd try again. We buzzed her apartment and--Miracle!--she was home and let us in! We love Wanda and are excited to start visiting her again. 

Other fun things...we had zone conference in Milwaukee! That was awesome. So many good things. 

Also, if you haven't heard of #Lighttheworld, please go to mormon.org and look it up! This Christmas time is a perfect time to reflect more on the example and life of Jesus Christ. He isn't here to help heal and serve those around us, but we can. We are His hands now on earth. So look up the video and do what you can to light the world! As we all do this I know that we will feel of His love for us and those we serve. What a blessing to be filled with that love this Christmas!

Love,

Sister Johns  

Video

December 4th. 12/4/17 Racine

Dear everyone,

We had an awesome week this week. There were so many miracles! Also it was still in the 50-60s this week. We got to wear cardigans in December in WISCONSIN! So cool. Highlight right there haha. But the real winter is supposed to be coming soooo that willl be even more fun.

So we had mutual with the young women this week! We went and talked about missionary work. It turned into a big Q and A with them. But it was amazing to see how many want to go on missions! 

 

So we haven't been able to have a lesson with Felicia for while. She canceled our appointment this week, but reshceduled for the next day. When we got there we realized she forgot about our appointment. But she let us in! It was a bit awkward for the first little bit. Her little boy was crying and fussy which made it really difficult for her to concentrate. Something seemed to be wrong. We decided to just start reading in the Book of Mormon. As we started to read her little boy calmed down and the Spirit was able to enter her home. We read in 3 Nephi 11, the account of Jesus Christ appearing to the Nephites after He was resurrected. Felicia relaxed and opened up. She told us that she just got back from an anniversary of a close family member's death. The rest of her family went out, but she went home because she didn't want to drink. She wanted to stay strong! By the end of our lesson she committed to be baptized at the start of the new year. We are so excited for her!

Sunday at church we had 3 students from a local college show up! They had to do a project in their class and study a religion. So they picked ours! We were so excited to have them there of course. They wanted to meet with several members. We got to meet with them and answer their questions. It was fun! 

We were able to watch the Christmas Devotional Sunday evening as well. If you haven't taken the time to watch it, I'd encourage you to do so this week! It was a great reminder of what the season is really about. I hope that we all will not let the opportunity of being a little more Christ-like pass us by. 

Have a blessed week!

Sister Johns

Turkey and Bibles :) Racine 11/27/17

Dear fam,

Happy belated Thanksgiving! I loved having the opportunity this week to remember all the blessings that I have been given. What a wonderful time to ponder on how good God is. Thanksgiving definitely needs it's own time--Christmas-lovers need to calm down just a bit. ;) Our Thanksgiving was wonderful! We had a fun day. I got to meet my twin who is only 9 years old--got to take family photos with her and her siblings haha. So funny. She's the granddaughter of a member here in our ward. The member everytime she saw me would tell me about Sophie and how we look so alike. We had some wonderful Thanksgiving dinners with members. So good! 

Funny story of the week! So we went to contact a lady we had met a few months before. We get to the house and the door is open, but the glass door is still shut. We could see a little black girl sitting on the couch. Then this little boy (5 or 6) sees us and starts coming to open the door. But we doesn't just walk he dances us to the door. At first we didn't realize what he was doing..then we see him dabbing and whipping to the door haha. He kept doing that even after he let us in! So funny. We were able to talk to his mom so that was good.

Also, I got to have my own personal Pilates (sp?) class...coached by brother Briggs. Man. Should've been there. But we were just exercising and he comes over and commands (he doesn't really ask) me to start doing these exercises. So funny! Sister Eadie was the supervisor haha. 

So we received several referrals from headquaters this week. One lady we've been trying to meet with wanted a Bible. We finally got to meet with her. While we were there her son showed up. Turns out he was the other Bible referral we received and talked to over the phone! They didn't know they had both requested Bibles. Coincidence? I think not.

We had an awesome lesson with Javier this week in a member's home. We discussed the importance of sacrament and baptism. We ended up also talking about Joseph Smith and telling his story. There is something special about talking and testifying of Joseph Smith. He really did take his question about which church to join to Heavenly Father. And he truly saw God and his Son Jesus Christ. What a powerful lesson. The Spirit was there as the member prayed and pleaded with Heavenly Father to help Javier receive his own witness that the Book of Mormon is true. I know that we all can receive that witness as we take Moroni's (the last prophet in the Book of Mormon) promise to heart. Take the chance to read and apply what you find in Moroni 10:3-5. 

I love being part of the Lord's work. It is truly amazing to see Him furthering His work here in Racine. Thank you for all your prayers and support. Have a blessed week!

Sister Johns

Oh also it was 60 degrees out on Thanksgiving! Woot WOOT!

Also, I hit my half way mark this week--9 months this week! Kinda scary. But I celebrated with ice cream. :)

Also, don't know if I told you or not. But in our last district we had an exercise challenge for the month of November--or at least until transfers. Sooo I won. Don't know how. But that explains the t-shirt. :)

White buffaloes and merry Christmas? Racine 11/20/17

Dear all,

So it was a suspenseful week waiting to hear what our future would be like for the next 6 weeks. Buuuuuut..sister Eadie and I are staying in Racine! Woot woot! So glad. This next transfer will be steller, I can feel it. Meanwhile however, this week we had some adventures. 

We had an interesting lesson with our investigator Javier. He has learned about several different religions. He loves to think and needs to know everything. He really wants to understand thoroughly The Book of Mormon. He also has a sincere desire to know the truth. This week we learned that he thought we didn't ever really do anything bad...haha NOT TRUE. So we set his mind as ease about that. He also said he's waiting for his answer...and thought that maybe it would come in the form of a white buffalo (he has some Native American background). We weren't sure if he was joking or not on that one haha. He's awesome. 

-So we have amazing people we are working with. Lindsey is one. She is making so many changes to her life right not, because of her future family. A sister in the ward has really taken her under her wing--which has been wonderful. We had a really sweet moment at church during Gospel Principles class. We were talking about the Lord's law of health/the word of wisdom. She opened up and realated how in her family there is a culture of breaking that law. She has started to break that line however. She is a very courageous woman! We are so excited to help her on her journey.

We had to take our car into the shop again for a bit this week. And when we went in the guy checking us in was like, Oh! Sister Jones! I remember you! Haha, it was pretty funny. We came in just last week too. So we talked to him for a bit and gave him our card. Haha, there are opportunities everywhere to do good. :) During our wait we made a trek to Panera for dinner. :) SOOO good.

We had exchanges this week! Only for the day though, because transfers are a day early. So we learned about our fate Saturday morning. Sister Wise is an amazing missionary! 

We also had dinner yesterday with a sweet lady in our ward. She invited us over to decorate her tree. So happy Christmas?

So scripture though of the week. For institute this week we read and discussed 2 Nephi 9. Is describes Resurrection and other things. One verse really stuck out to me though. 

14 Wherefore, we shall have a perfect knowledge of all our guilt, and our uncleanness, and our nakedness; and the righteous shall have a perfect knowledge of their enjoyment, and their righteousness, being clothed with purity, yea, even with the robe of righteousness.

Jacob is saying that after we are resurrected that we will have a perfect remembrance of our uncleanness and enjoyment. In order to remember our "enjoyment"  we need to actually enjoy this life! We know that we all make mistakes. And those mistake create feelings of guilt and shame. But through the Atonement of Jesus Christ we can be forgiven and become clean--our guilt can be swept away and we can have peace and joy. What a beautiful message and hope! This also means that we must forgive ourselves. If Heavenly Father can forgive us, then shouldn't we also forgive ourselves? I know that there is peace, hope, and joy that can be found as we repent daily. I am so thankful for the matchless give of God's Divine Son. I hope that this week we can remember that and be a little more kind to those around us. :)

Have a blessed and thankful week!

Sister Johns

First snow... Racine 11/13/17

Dear all,

What a week! 

SO this week we were trying to bring more members out with us to lessons. Something I was reminded of was how amazing members are! You can make a world of difference in the life of someone who is learning more about the church. It was great to see how members were able to friendship and help those we are teaching.

We met with this one lady this week who is newly married and starting a family. She is so wonderful! We brought a member with us and that made the visit so awesome. We  are trying to help families here see how easy it is to do missionary work. COming out with us to a lesson is so helpful! When you share your testimony at a lesson it is so powerful. Also praying for missionary experiences really does help. The Lord will bless you with them when He sees fit.

We  saw Felicia this week and she is still awesome. We talked about families. It was the smoothest Law of Chastity lesson I've ever taught haha. She loves it! 

We were able to help Jason (a recent convert who is married to a member)clean his house. His wife is in the hospital with a new baby. He has been super Dad and taken care of all the kids while going to work full time. He's awesome!

We went to a Christmad parade this weekend! A ton of people showed up! It was awesome. PRetty cold though.

Oh! it snowed this week too.

Thursday we had a CRAZY day. SO busy! Which is good. But we came to the end of our day and realized that we hadn't had a ton of time for personal study. So we called the member we were going to have dinner with and asked if we could come crash and have personal study before dinner. She was super nice and said yes of course. But lesson learned: never start the day without reading the scriptures. The scriptures light our path and guide us daily. Make time for them. :)

Have a blessed week!

Sister Johns

PS the white board picture was drawn by our 9 year old investigator Dieana. :)

And we found a ton f geese in the field by our house! SO many!

Tea with the queen. Racine 11/6/17

Hello dear lovely people!

This week was awesome. So many good things! So many crazy things! It's always an adventure as a missionary. :)

First off, we were asked by this sweet old British lady in our ward to help her with her garden. We did work last week for her. This week we planted bulbs for her. It waas so fun! It was a bit chilly, so when we went inside she said why don't we warm up with some tea! She is from England originally, so she collects tea cups. Sooo...we got to have tea (don't worry dad, it was herbal) with Pamela! It was the funnest thing. 

Felicia is awesome. Every time we get to teach her I leave so so happy! She loves what we have taught her so far. She is like a child, she absorbs everything and loves it. She told us that she is starting to make changes in her life--which she was surprised at! She told us she talks to her family a little bit nicer, things that usually bother her don't anymore, and she finds herself talking about what we've taught her a lot  more! She is sooo wonderful. Love her. 

So we met with a lady named Lindsey this week. She was on our ward list, but we found out that she hasn't been baptized. She is super nice. We chatted with her and she related to us her desire to start coming back to church--she remembered going when she was younger. So wonderful to find and meet with her! 

SO we had dinner with the craziest black family this week. They have a couple teenage daughters who are awesome. They give all the sisters "black girl names." So I have been christened Breniqua (sp??). 

We had stake conference this week! So on Saturday we drove up to Milwaukee with the Spanish sisters in the branch here in Racine. We went early and had dinner at Kopps--just about the best place to eat a burger. We were stuffed afterwards. Conference was very good! The stake president spoke about missionary work--so you can imagine how excited all the missionaries were. He felt very passionately about his message. We have an obligation to spread the gospel. This can happen as we exercise our faith. 

Ether 12:12 "For if there be no faith among the children of men God can do no miracle among them; wherefore, he showed not himself until after their faith."

God will do miracles among us as we exercise our faith. He gave us three things we can do to share the gospel as we live our lives. 1 live the gospel out loud. 2?. 3 invite people to come unto Christ (success is in invitations remember. And every small invitation counts!). I would invite you to ponder this and decided what you can do share the light and truth that you have. 

Also funny moment of the week. After conference we were all talking when sister Eadie started to act like she had had a bunch of sugar...we were both wonderful why when we saw the time--it was already 9:15! Conference ended a little later than we thought haha. So that was fun. 

Anyways, hope that your week is adventurous and blessed! 

Sister Johns

Happy Halloween! Racine 10/31/17

Dear fam,

Yes I am alive and well. No worries. :) We had interviews with President yesterday, so we rearranged our week. District meeting was yesterday and P-day is today! It was a great week! But we did have a freak snow/slush moment--it was JUST a moment--yesterday while we were driving. We both freaked out. But now sister Eadie is in full Christmas mode..she's already pulled out the Christmas music haha. 

-Tuesday we had exchanged with the STLs! I got to stay in Racine and take over. And guess what?? I didn't get lost at all. :) We visited with a part member family. Sister Byers is coming back to church and she is awesome. Her kids are soooo cute. Their little boy loves to sit by me and read the Book of Mormon. #sistermissionaryperks We also had dinner with the Davis' in our ward. We started teaching their granddaughter who is nine. She is awesome and knows her stuff! She's been coming to church, but hasn't been baptized yet. It was quite the day!

-Wednesday we got to help in the food pantry. It consisted of sorting food and also listening to the kind old lady in charge of the place. We learned that she used to be a college math teacher! It is so fun to meet so many fun and different people. We had an awesome dinner appointment with a returning less active couple. Sister Lee is awesome. We showed the video from lds.org Because of Him (if you haven't ever watched this, do! ). It brought the Spirit very strongly into their home. Brother Lee, who hasn't been very involved at church yet almost got emotional. It was amazing to see how remembering what Jesus Christ has done for us can soften heart and bring hope into lives.

-Thursday we had an awesome lesson with Felicia! She is wonderful. We invited her daughter to join us--she's 17. We taught them the Gospel of Jesus Christ. we loves what we have taught her and is even sharing it with her family! She hasn't quite yet come to that knowledge for herself yet though. She came to church this week though! It was the primary program and she loved it. :)

-We helped a couple of old ladies in our ward with their garden. One lady, sister Umhoefer, is originally from England and she said we were going to "put her garden to bed." It was fun to get my hands dirty for once! She lives in an apartment building but there are little garden boxes in the back...she has 5 of them and probably will take over another next year! Reminded me of you Dad haha. ;)

-Miracle of the week!! We were able to get in contact with Ethia! For some reason we have not been able to get in contact with her and her family for a long time. We stopped by on Friday and they told us we could have a lesson the next day. We were able to teach their whole family the restoration using the short Joseph Smith video. It was so fun! Their kids (they have 4) are so well behaved. We are so excited to have them come to church next week. 

-Funny Halloween moment: we were knocking doors on Sunday when we got mistook for trick or treaters! We weren't aware that the cities around here take turn for Halloween! 

-Oh and apparently I'm the "scariest" companion sister Eadie has had. We have been scaring people a lot recently. On accident! Today is was brother Briggs (whoom we live with). We came home and just about jumped off the couch haha. I guess we are just really quiet...or sneaky?

So yeah, it was a whirlwind of a week! It has been an awesome week. We are excited for the people we are working with. I've been reading the New Testiment recently and this week I read about the sermon on the mount in Luke. A couple verses stuck out to me:

27 ¶ But I say unto you which hear, Love your enemies, do good to them which hate you,

28 Bless them that curse you, and pray for them which despitefully use you.

I thought about how Christ is coming and teaching the people. The things he is saying are different than what they have been observing to do. He is helping them to become as He is--not just do good things. I also thought of the musical Les Mis. Because of the one kind act that the priest did (gave his silver away and let Jean Val Jean go free), Jean Val Jean turned his whole life around. You never know what a kind act will do. I hope that we can all remember Christ's love for each one of us and be a little more kind this week.

Love you!

Sister Johns

Fruit from home!

Tis the seasons...for pumpkins. Racine, 10/23/17

Dear all,

What a week! We have a lot going on in Racine. A few highlights:

-We had dinner on Tuesday with the craziest family ever haha. They have 3 crazy boys, an older sister, and a younger sister. There was also some cousins over who had some sass. So it was a party! We decorated sugar cookies with them. :) One of the sons just got baptized by his dad who is a recent convert. Awesome family. 

-Zone conference was this week! So all the missionaries in the area and surrounding areas got together and listened to trainings given by President and sister Williams, our zone leaders, sister training leaders, and the assistants to the president. All really good. 

-We got to go to YWs this week. They are so crazy and fun! We decorated pumpkins while we listened to Christmas music...tis the season I guess?

-We started teaching a guy named Javier this week. He came to our Halloween activity on Saturday! The activity was super fun. Even the adult dressed up! We had to content ourselves with switching name tags. :)

-We had an awesome lesson with a lady named Felicia. She is really trying to turn her life around. We got to teach her the Plan of Salvation. It was wonderful the Spirit that came as we were teaching. I felt that the Spirit came as she accepted our message. She kept saying "yeah, that makes so much sense!" She has real intent and is searching for the truth. It is neat to tell someone like her of the truth that I know. 

-Sunday we didn't really know what to do. It was raining and the Packers game was on. So we decided to stop by a few people we've been meaning to contact. One was a referral from our Bishop who was contacted by a bishop in Colorado. We had already stopped by the night before, but we did it anyways. As we were standing on the porch a girl came out and asked us what we wanted. We briefly introduced ourselves and told her who we were looking for and why. She went inside for a short while then came back out and said that Lynn was busy. So we started talking to her, Hailey. As we talked she related how crazy it was that we just showed up here at this time. She had had a pretty rough summer and in the process lost her faith in God. But she was looking to build her faith again. One thing that I learned from this was how much the Lord loves each and everyone of us. He is very aware of YOU. While we are here on earth we have trials and hard times, but those are a part of our earthly experience! They are meant to help us grow and become the person God wants us to become. I know that He listens to each prayer. From President Uchtdorf's talk in his most recent General Conference talk

"The sublime message of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is that God is our Father, that He cares about us, and that there is a way to return to Him...When you walk the path of discipleship—when you move toward Heavenly Father—there is something within you that will confirm that you have heard the call of the Savior and set your heart toward the light. It will tell you that you are on the right path and that you are returning home."

God loves you and wants to bless you with more light, knowledge, understanding, and joy.

It's true. And God is so good. :) 

Hope you have a blessed week! 

Love,

Sister Johns

I love fall!

Pumpkin painting :)

​Sister Eadie made Asian soup this week!​

Racine--the "nice" ghettos. Racine 10/16/17

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Hellooooo fam and friends!

So Racine is ma new home. We actually live in a smaller town called Sturnevant (sp?) outside Racine. And we live with some members! It's this nice couple, their kids are all grown and out of the house. We live upstairs. There's a bed room, a study room and a bath room. They both work so we don't see them a lot. But they are super nice! Brother Briggs makes fun of all the sisters too haha, so that's fun. We also drive a truck...which is good and bad. Good for the coming winter weather but bad for driving in the bigger-than-Kimberly city haha. 

So sister Eadies is awesome. She likes to cook... :) She has been super patient with me as I am trying to learn everything about all the new investigators here and how to get places. The ward here is a lot bigger than Oshkosh. I am excited to get to know everyone! 

So It's been rather a whirlwind of lessons and scrambling to find things to do when things fall through. But I am getting my bearings so there will be more next week. :) Some funny things that happened this week...

-So sister Stanger and I before I left Oshkosh had so say bye to the Taylors. We took a picture with sister Taylor and she made this face. Looking at the picture later we both died. Haha, love her. 

-In Racine we were tracting and talked to this one dude who gave us a bro hug to finish out conversation! Haha it was a bit surprising!

So that's about all for this week. But I've been thinking this week about the areas I've had the opportunity to serve in. And I am realizing how the Lord guides and furthers His work. This work of spreading the Gospel and helping souls come closer to Christ isn't furthered by me or anyone else. The Lord works through us. There are times like this week where we are at church and meet two people who are interested in learning more about the gospel. Complete miracle. It reminds me of this scripture...

Doctrine and Covenants 123:17 Therefore, dearly beloved brethren, let us cheerfully do all things that lie in our power; and then may we stand still, with the utmost assurance, to see the salvation of God, and for his arm to be revealed.

I am so thankful that Heavenly Father has given me the opportunity to be a part of this work. I love striving to be an instrument in His hands. It happens little by little. I hope that we can always be looking for ways to help and love those around us!

Love,

Sister Johns

SO this picture makes me laugh. You kinda have to know sister Taylor. But she just love to talk and always has this voice that could put you to sleep. She is really funny with out trying to be. 

Man. love her and her dog!

Oshkosh b' osh! Oshkosh 10/9/17

Dear lovely people,

So I'm getting transferred to Racine! I have come to love the people in Oshkosh so much. They are all such good people. SO it is hard to leave! But I know that I will come to love Racine as well. 

This week we had some interesting adventures!

-It was Oktoberfest this week. But we only got offered beer twice!

-We got to talk to this drunk guy one night. He was very fascinated by the Book of Mormon. He also thought that Trump was the anti-Christ....

-We got to take this guy and his 9 year old son on a church tour! He grew up Roman Catholic and was a monastic monk. But now is looking for a little more in his life. He really wants to be led by the Spirit as he looks for a church. Very neat guy!

-I was reminded of the importance of following the Spirit this week. One night we had a little bit of time before we had to go home. So we decided to stop by this one guy on the ward list that we didn't know. It was dark and had been sprinkling all day. Sister Stanger prayed before we left the car that we would be able to receive any promptings of the Spirit more clearly. As she said that I felt that we shouldn't go to this house. But I pushed off the feeling thinking that it was just me and that we needed to use this time wisely. As we walked up I just felt this creepy feeling--I don't know how else to describe it. Right as I hesitated to go any further sister Stanger asked if I felt like we shouldn't go knock on his door. And yes. I definitely felt that. So we both hurried back to the car and left. It was neat to realize how the Spirit speak to us--through small feelings. I know that God is aware of each of us individually. He will guide you and protect you because He loves you. 

Love you all! Have a blessed week. 

Sister Johns

District!

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Holli! She is awesome. She's the Bishop's daughter​

​Zulema--she's a Beehive and is also awesome.​

​The Minahros! They are wonderful and soo funny!​

Mirto! My adopted mother. I'm going to miss her!

Whirlwind! Oshkosh 10/2/17

Exchanges!

Hello dear lovely people!

Man! This week just flew by! We had a lot of random things happen which made it super exciting and fun. I am beginning to recognize more and more the hand of the Lord in His work. Some examples:

-Monday night we had some time, so we decided to stop by some less active families in the ward. We picked this one part member family that we have tried and tried to meet with before with no luck. What helped me to actually stop by them again? No clue. So we knock on the door and at first she doesn't hear us--we could see her watching TV. Then after our second attempt she yells and asks who it is. We tried to reply by still she couldn't hear us--the covered porches that people have here are sometimes very annoying. So then the light goes off and we thought we'd lost our chance. BUT she actually come to the door again and opened it! She let us in and we had a nice long chat with her. It didn't really avail to much, but we had contact. And she mentioned that she had seen the sisters in Appleton that day--the first time in a while. God works through small and simple ways. 

-Another little miracle: We have been trying to make contact with another part member family in Oshkosh for a while now. Thursdays is her day off, so we have been trying to meet with her every Thursday with no avail. But we decided to try to stop by again and we were finally able to have a lesson with her! She is a wonderful lady who is going through some rough family issues. As we got to know her we expressed some questions regarding the Plan of Salvation. She wondered if she would be able to see her family again after death if she didn't make it to the temple. This was the first time I have been asked something like this face to face. As we struggled to sufficiently and kindly answer her question it struck me how important temple covenants are. We can be with our families forever if we make those sacred covenants with God in the temple. I am so very thankful that I was blessed to be born into a family where my parents have made and honored their temple covenants!

Other adventures from this week:

-So I can't remember if I already related this or not...but we met a Lutheran Pastor at the Farmer's Market last Saturday. He texted us a couple days later (we gave him a card) and said that he would love to meet. We were both so surprised! We set up an appointment and it happened to be the same day we were exchanging with our sister training leaders. Thank goodness for that! I was with sister Jaeger and she is amazing. He was well versed in the scriptures and had learned quite a bit about our beliefs--he had even met with missionaries and gone through the discussions before. He had several questions that we were able to answer for the most part. We also asked him a lot of questions about his beliefs. He was very kind about his inquiries, but stood by his own beliefs. It was a very stressful and unique encounter! It has inspired me to study more thoroughly the doctrine we teach as missionaries. 

Random things that missionaries laugh at: Cat decorations that hint (as with the smell protruding from the door) that we have just disturbed a crazy cat lady. General Conference (when we listen to our church leaders speak) was absolutely wonderful! There is truly a treasure trove full of things to study and ponder for the next 6 months. One thing the Spirit testified to me as I listened to the church leaders was how God, our Heavenly Father, asks us to trust in Him and His Son, Jesus Christ. Proverbs 3:5-6

5 ¶ Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding.

6 In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths.

If we fully trust in our Heavenly Father then He will direct our paths. I know that is true. Hope you all listen and give place for their words in your heart. If you experiment on their words you can know for yourself that they are true.

Anyways, have a lovely week!

Sister Brianna Johns

Sunset from our apartment

Adventure is out there! Oshkosh 9/25/17

Hello all!

What a week! We had some great adventures this week here in the lovely town of Oshkosh and the surrounding towns. They're lovely too most of the time. But man, it was hot this week! Hot and humid. But I am soaking it in before the winter comes...But yeah! Here are the highlights!

-Last P-day we took the drive up to Appleton and played basketball, volleyball, and chair soccer with some other missionaries in our zone. It was fun! Fun to get out of Oshkosh and actually see other missionaries not in our district haha. Sister Stanger is reeeeeealy good at basketball. I am not. But it's okay. We also had a dinner appointment clear out in Winneconne with a cute couple. We helped them move, so they wanted to feed us dinner. They live right on the lake now, and it's so beautiful! We decided to do a quick picture shoot before. :)

-Tuesday we tried to have a lesson with the Hunsakers. But their cute little 1 1/2 year old boy provided an adequate distraction for everyone...LOVE little kids, buuuut...

-We are still teaching this Iranian guy named Mo. He is so funny, he told us that he had our birthday presents. A couple of weeks ago he asked us when our birthdays are. We had to explain to him that we might not be here by then. SO he brought us out both a clock and cards (which he wrote out in front of us). Haha, he was so cute about it. I guess he gives clocks to all the ladies in his apartment building. 

-We took part in the Young Womens modesty fashion show! The star of the show was brother Palmer...who quite literally tore things us. :P

-Word of caution...when tracting trailer parks be aware that not everyone will be fully functioning...or completely dressed. Including old men. 

-We drove out to Fremont to have lunch with some other members. They live clear out in the middle of nowhere. So our GPS takes us to this grill and bar...and there are only a couple of other houses near by. We were already a little late, so after driving around for a good while...we decided to march into the grill and bar to ask if anyone knew the members we were looking for. The lady just looked at us wide-eyed and said she's never heard of them. We were then smart enough to knock the nearby house...which somehow happened to be hers! Good news though we finally found their house. Took us a while though!

-The General Women's Session of conference was wonderful!! We thoroughly enjoyed it--along with the 3 other members that came to the church to watch it. :)

So this week we decided to try to work a lot with the members. The members out here are fantastic and dedicated. They are examples to me of being strong and courageous. The more I am out on my mission the more I realized that I don't know a lot. I am realizing my need to be completely dependent on the Lord. I can't do much by myself. But I am striving to be worthy of the Spirit and of God's love. I know that the Lord works through imperfect people to bring to pass His purposes here on earth. Just like Ammon said (Alma 26:12)

12 Yea, I know that I am nothing; as to my strength I am weak; therefore I will not boast of myself, but I will boast of my God, for in his strength I can do all things; yea, behold, many mighty miracles we have wrought in this land, for which we will praise his name forever.

Love,

Sister Brianna Johns

We tried to share the gospel with the turtle...but he wasn't interested either! 

Also, our P-day activity was decorating our apartment!