Sister Brianna Johns: Obedience brings blessings. Oshkosh 7/10/17

Sister Webb and I have matching shirts

Hello all!

This week flew by! It was a super good week though. It began with going to the little zoo here in Oshkosh with some other missionaries around here. They have some pretty exotic animals here...Llamas and sheep, how neat, right?! Haha, it was funny. Cute zoo. But this week I definitely saw how seeking to be obedient and just doing the things you're supposed to do brings blessings.

-For the Fourth of July we had a ward activity in the morning. We watched people canoe, kayak, and slackline haha. But the ward is awesome! Love them.

-We realized that there was one place people were going to be on the 4th--and that was at the festival, "sawdust days." basically a ton of vendors, food tents, and ride and about a million people. Perfect place for missionaries, right? So that was exciting.

-We had exchanges with our sister training leaders this week. They are awesome. I learned a lot from sister Oborn--she is an amazing missionary. It was after exchanges that I really tried to make obedience my quest. We have a quote that President likes, "When obedience ceases to be an irritant and becomes our quest, in that very moment God endows us with His power." So true.

-We had an awesome lesson with our investigator, Ed. He is a stubborn old man, who is actually super funny. It was amazing to be in unity with sister Webb and teach him the importance of the Book of Mormon. That Book really does have power. He ended up coming to church this week, so that was exciting!

-We finally had a sit down lesson with Angela this week. She is this wonderful black lady. When we got there she was super upset with her daughter. She couldn't go shopping for her meat for the 4th of July until late. So she vented to us. She was all like, "if I don't get my ribs..I'm gunna cut her up and put HER on the grill." Man. She's awesome.

-Saturday was the loooooongest day ever. We woke up super early to get to the farmers market and set up our family history booth. We spend a good majority of the evening the night before preparing. ANd it was a success! We talked to a LOT of people. Turns out people are super interested in their family history. They are being influenced by the Spirit of Elijah and don't even know it. So if you haven't looked at your family tree in a while...take a look at it today. :)

-Miracle on Sunday: SO we once got a headquarter referral for this Spanish speaking guy. We stopped by and he canceled our return appointment. But the Spanish Elders some how came across him and felt impressed to hand him over to us. We were confused, but thought we'd just stop by to see if he'd changed his mind or something. He hadn't. So we were walking back to our car and passed by this black guy who, in response to our approach, said something like yeah my day would be better if I quit drinking and smoking. We were both like WAIT! So we stopped him and started talking to him. It turned into a 15 minute long talk where we vented about how he wanted to find God and nurture his faith, but the world is so tempting. He wants to find a church who believes that God, Jesus Christ, and the Holy Ghost are 3 separate beings. He said a lot of things and we just couldn't believe it. I wanted to give him the fullness of the gospel so badly. I wanted to tell him that we have the truth and we are the answer to your prayers! He recognized that as we started talking and agreed to meet with us again. It was a miracle. All the things that happened to make that meeting possible...it was God progressing His work. Sister Webb and I freaked out the whole way home haha.

Anyways, it was a good week! We are excited to see what adventures this week brings. The Church is true, the book is blue. It is amazing to be a missionary--an instrument in the hand of the Lord. Alma 29:9-10

I do not glory of myself, but I glory in that which the Lord hath commanded me; yea, and this is my glory, that perhaps I may be an instrument in the hands of God to bring some soul to repentance; and this is my joy.

10 And behold, when I see many of my brethren truly penitent, and coming to the Lord their God, then is my soul filled with joy; then do I remember what the Lord has done for me, yea, even that he hath heard my prayer; yea, then do I remember his merciful arm which he extended towards me.

Don't forget to laugh today! Hope everyone has a blessed week.

love,

Sister Brianna Johns

PS We also got to go to a baseball game today! :)