First transfer down! Waukesha 4/24/17

Hello all!

Well, I am nearly done with my first transfer! It has probably been some of the longest 6 weeks of my life...but they have been wonderful, exciting, and a steep learning curve. Oh, and Wisconsin is blustery. It was quite windy this week. This week was also crazy...almost all of our appointments fell through. So that was sad and disappointing. It was the 'week from H' as sister Wright entitled it haha.  But we made it through! Now this next week will be super busy, so that's good. :) So highlights!

-At district meeting someone from each companionship gave a short training. So, of course, I was the sister who gave ours. It was on repentance so I got to study up on that. And it was kinda funny cause on Thursday we got a text from the Bishopric asking if I  could give a talk in sacrament meeting...on repentance. So I guess I need to remember what repentance is and how I can and should be repenting daily.

-Wednesday we had our one lesson of the week, with Nikki. We brought a sister from the ward who had fellow-shipped her before. She was awesome. And Nikki was really excited to see her. She respects her and listened to her a lot more than us--I guess I can't say I blame her. Who would really believe and trust a couple of 19 year olds who come in and teach that her religious beliefs aren't completely correct. Nikki is starting to take baby steps of progress--which is so exciting! Sister Loutensock basically taught the restoration for us and helped Nikki understand it better. She still didn't feel like she needed to be baptized however and declined my invitation to be baptized. We have another lesson with her tonight in sister Loutensock's home, so pray for us!

-Friday evening as we were tracting we found an entourage of kids following us to this door. One girl opened it--apparently it was her home--and yelled for her hermana. This happened for a couple of doors actually haha. It was fun to talk to a bunch of kids--at least they listened to us haha.

-We found quite a bit of time to visit less active this week and discovered that missionaries can often be used as therapists...because we are nice, quiet listeners. Whether we are able to get a word is edge wise is another matter.

-Saturday we didn't get to teach a lot, but we did get to do random service for people. We swept and mopped a lady's floor who just broke her arm, helped clean a birthday party up for a single sister in our ward who threw one for her 12 year old (they are the funniest family, the 12 year old kinda runs the house), and took dinner (left over pizza from the party) to Spring and her girls.

-So Sunday morning we got transfer texts. And yes...sister Wright is getting transferred! We were both so surprised! I am so sad. But honestly she is happy because she is going to be an STL is Green Bay area--a little less stress I guess. I feel bad for causing stress! But I am sad that she is leaving. My new trainer is sister Kowallis. I will meet her Wednesday!

So it's been a crazy week despite everything haha. I am nervous and excited to get a new trainer. I have to include a Mia-ism of the week (Spring's 8 year old).

"I am scared to watch the news now because of our president. Trump could've been a good guy, but he wasn't. I mean he could've been...but he isn't."

Every time we go over to their house it's a interpretive dance with words, as sister Wright called it. I know people usually don't send pictures home until they get transferred, but I had to take a picture with Spring and her girls because I love them. :) Anyways, since I have been thinking about repentance a lot I came across this scripture in Alma 17:

35 Nevertheless they did fast and pray oft, and did wax stronger and stronger in their humility, and firmer and firmer in the faith of Christ, unto the filling their souls with joy and consolation, yea, even to the purifying and the sanctification of their hearts, which sanctification cometh because of their yielding their hearts unto God.

As we repent and humble ourselves before God, we grow to trust the Lord more. We come to realize that we can and should depend wholly on Him. I am at least learning how I can. 

Have a blessed week!

Bre

Week 5, Waukesha 4/17/17

Dear wonderful people,

Wisconsin is springing! Everything is actually turning super green now and blossoming, its beautiful. :) This week felt super long haha, but good things happened. So highlights:

- Monday we had a miracle. We had about an hour to go finding after dinner. So we went to this one part of Waukesha to contact a former investigator. She wasn't at home sadly, so we just decided to knock a couple of doors. Within a half an hour we got three new investigators! And one was a family with the cutest little boy and girl! The little boy practically dragged sister Wright inside when they opened the door. We hadn't found anyone really willing to listen to us all week, so this was truly amazing to me. It showed me that the Lord can do whatever He wants with us, including give us people to teach--as long as we follow the Spirit.

-We found a Jamba Juice on Tuesday which made us both happy. I love Jamba Juice!

- We volunteered at the food pantry on Wednesday which was super fun! We got to talk to people about Easter and help them get some food. The people there might not have much, but they are very nice.
 

-We had exchanges on Friday. I went out with sister Naughton again, but stayed in my own area. She made me drive....which I wasn't super excited about. But I got away with one a scrape...someone backed into us while we were turning around. So at least it wasn't my fault! I realized how much I wasn't doing during exchanges...so I have a lot to work on. But we had a super productive day! We found two new investigators and a couple of solid potentials. Sister Naughton just felt like we should go into this one apartment complex and we found the sweetest lady! I hope that we can set at appointment up with her soon.

-We had stake conference this weekend which was so good. Easter we had a beautiful day! We didn't have a dinner appointment, so we had a lovely dinner of grilled cheese and veggies haha.

All in all it was a good week. I have been feeling a little overwhelmed with everything that I should be doing and am not and the things I shouldn't be doing but am. I feel like there is so much I need to do to be a good missionary! But something that I realized in my study this morning really helped me feel peace about my progress right now. I realize that we all need to be obedient to the commandments that the Lord has set. If we are obedient then we will be blessed. But we need to understand why we are following the commandments. Everything we do is to receive redemption through the power of Christ's Atonement. We can have hope that we will be able to live with our Heavenly Father again through Him. That hope is what we should focus on--not necessarily where we are on the path towards him. Just like walking on a slackline (haha, I miss my slackline), if we focus on the end we are able to walk more smoothly. Does that make sense? I hope that this is correct too, not just according to me haha. But it did remind me of a scripture in Ether:

4 Wherefore, whoso believeth in God might with surety hope for a better world, yea, even a place at the right hand of God, which hope cometh of faith, maketh an anchor to the souls of men, which would make them sure and steadfast, always abounding in good works, being led to glorify God.

Anyways, I felt like I actually understand hope a little better now. That is what should keep me going and wanting to share the gospel. Well, I hope you all have a fabulous week! Enjoy everyday and don't forget to laugh. :)

LOVE YOU!

Sister Johns

Waukesha 4/10/17

Hello wonderful people!

Wisconsin was very unpredictable this week. We had a variety of weather this week...my favorite was the rain and wind...just kidding haha. Today it's 70 out and sunny! This week was actually pretty unpredictable though, we had most of our lessons with our investigators fall through for one reason or another. So we got to do quite a bit more tracting than we've done since I've been here. There were not very many people who actually wanted to listen to us...or even answered the door. So that was a bit discouraging. But I did get more practice talking to people! I am still not very good at door approaches though...but I am working on it and trying not to make it an awkward experience of all people involved haha.

So Tuesday we had zone training, which was funny because we just had zone conference. But it was good! They discussed how to become a more consecrated missionary by sacrificing everything we have to the Lord--including our fears...which is something I really tried to work on this week. We went to mutual that night to meet some less actives and non members. And we made contact with Autumn! So that was wonderful. She is so cute and we were able to meet with her Thursday. :)

Wednesday was the disappointing day. Two of our three lessons canceled. So we had to do more tracting than we had planned...in  the rain. At first it was beautiful! I really do love the rain. But by the end of the day I was just cold and disappointed haha. We did have one pretty good lesson with Mike. But I still struggled with being bold enough to ask him to be baptized. There are so many things happening in his life that are pointing him towards being baptized! We just need to help him to see that.

Thursday we tried street contacting! It was an adventure let me tell you haha. We met some nice old people...but we couldn't talk to them a whole lot because they didn't speak English very well. There weren't a ton of people out, but we did give out several Easter cards.

Friday we It was a day for contacting less actives! We had a few lessons with several in our ward. So that was nice.

Saturday we helped at a rummage sale our stake put on. It was super fun to talk to everyone there and rummage through all the clothes and assorted items people brought--pretty much everything that people didn't want when they were spring cleaning haha. We did find a couple of old Cosby looking sweaters and one that resembles Joseph's amazing technical-colored dream coat...so that was fun! We also had interviews with President Williams which was so nice. He was so patient and encouraging when I asked him all my questions. It was so neat to be able to ask such a knowledgeable man any question I wanted.

Sunday. So just some friendly advice...when there's a metal gate around a house there is most likely going to be a camera and alarm involved. We went to this super beautiful house trying to find a sister Chappy. The gate was open but there were also several signs about being aware of dogs. The dogs were small and yappy...but we didn't want our toes to be bitten off. Right when we were about to give up some came out on the porch. Turns out she has MS and lives in her house. It was so fun to visit with her and I think she really appreciated the visit. Highlight of the week for sure.

So that was my week! I loved getting to share the new Easter video that is out. Please, if you haven't seen it yet, WATCH IT. It makes me so happy every time I see it! And just remember that there is hope in Christ. We can have hope if we exercise our faith in Him by repenting and turning towards Him.  
Ether 12:4 Wherefore, whoso believeth in God might with surety hope for a better world, yea, even a place at the right hand of God, which hope cometh of faith, maketh an anchor to the souls of men, which would make them sure and steadfast, always abounding in good works, being led to glorify God.

Have a wonderful week!! I love you all!!

Sister Johns

Week three!

Dearest family and friends,

Wisconsin was rather gray this week with all the clouds and light rain. But that did not dampen our spirits...much at least. How was your week? It was such a busy week for us! I feel like we have so many people we want to visit in our ward and who have taken the missionary discussions before that we have no time to visit them all. But we do our best. Hopefully our best will improve this week as we try to be better at time management.
 

Funny story of the week! We visited Spring and her girls again this week. But for our lesson we did a readers theater version of Alma 17--complete with a plastic knife, a burger king crown, a frying pan (again, so useful), and elbow noodles for props. So they all acted out the story of Ammon serving the Lamanite king by chopping off the arms of the robbers. It was a sight to see! Our King kept saying off with his head every 2-3 minutes and Ammon and the robber could stop fighting each other....but we made it to the end of the story! So, success!

Wednesday we met a man named Bob. He is a very deep thinker so we started calling him our philosopher haha. It was neat to see his progression from the moment we started talking to him to when we left. At first he told us he was very skeptical about religion and faith because none of it can be proven and stuff. But as we talked to him he slowly started to ask us questions about our beliefs. I think we noticed our beliefs are unique. So he agreed to meet with us again! It is just a beginning, but it was neat to see how basic teaching and testifying piqued his interest.

We had zone conference on Thursday. Basically we got trained by all the leaders in our zone. It was really good. I felt like I actually got to see what missionaries are supposed to do haha. President Williams spoke at the end--bless him! The theme was repenting. But he presented it in a way that changed my perspective of repentance. We need to repent so we can become like Christ. When we make Him our focus we will gradually become like Him--and repentance is a gradual process of baby steps.

Friday we had exchanges with the STLs. I went to Brookfield (just 20 or so minutes away) Thursday night with Sister Naughton. She is on her last transfer and is an amazing missionary. SO it was rather intimidating to be companions with her--not that Sister Wright isn't an amazing missionary, I just feel more comfortable with her that's all. She reminds me a little of you Kristen...so it was fun. We basically tracted and street contacted people since most of their appointments fell through. But I learned from Sister Naughton how to just go up  to people and start talking to them about our church. So for all of you who are intimidated by doing that...you just have to do it. There's no way around it...as far as I know. Which is not much right now haha!

Can we just take a moment to realize how amazing Conference was?? I loved it. I loved how hopeful all the talks were and how they related everything back to God's Plan for us--it's funny how being a missionary I can see that more readily. I especially loved the talk about Light in the first session on Saturday. If we do our best to turn toward the light of the Gospel and the positive things around us, we will be filled with light and love for those around us. And I loved how everything on Sunday seemed to come back to doing the simple daily habits of scripture study, prayer, and church attendance. So yeah, I loved conference. What did you all like?? Everyone should share something they loved with someone...it could just change their lives.

So that was my week! Sorry for the novel. Bless whoever reads it all!! I hope you all have a wonderful week!

Love you all!!

Bre

Week two!

Dear wonderful people,

Wisconsin is starting to look Shire-like! It was overcast these last couple of days and I have loved the rain and fog and mist. :) I can't believe that this is only week two! This week brought the adventure of the area book. We are in the process of going through and contacting people who have taken lessons from the missionaries before. Most people haven't been home though. So that was depressing and disappointing. It took FOREVER to go through it so hopefully our work will start to pay off sometime...but it's all in the Lord's time. I am honestly struggling with that concept. It is hard to have people decline to hear the message of the Gospel when you KNOW that it will help them overcome challenges in their lives and become happier. I also got frustrated with myself quite a bit. I want to do so many things but I just can't (as Marlin would say)!

Funny stuff from this week though.
-We taught the Activity Day girls about budgeting this week. It was an adventure! Just a tip for anyone who wants to keep control of 10-11 year old girls: don't give them jelly beans! It went well though. I'm not sure how much they retained...or even needed the message...but we did our best! One girls was telling us about how she had an action at her school. She used all her fake money to buy a can of Pringles. Now my teacher calls me homeless Clair, she informed us. Haha, I love those girls!

-We used a tiny pan from our kitchen and a random golf ball to teach a family about how commandments can keep us safe. Frying pans! Who knew, right?

-Sister Wright and I decided, after a near fatal experience (for the possum), that possums are the creatures that ROUSs  are based off of. 

We taught a neat lesson to an older gentlemen who is looking for a religion. He grew up Christian but lately studies eastern religions--specifically Buddhism. It was neat to be able to connect to him because I knew a little bit about Buddhism. He told us of many small things that we recognized as the Lord's gentle hand pushing him towards this Gospel. It is so neat to recognize the Lord's hand in our lives.

I hope you all watched the General Women's Broadcast this week! I loved Sister Burton's talk about being a disciple of Christ. I loved reading about the Son's of Helaman this week. They didn't fear death (or in a missionary sense rejection) because they knew that they couldn't fail. They were glad to give liberty to their fathers. In a sense that's what missionary work is. Just some thoughts from this week. 

I hope everyone is doing well! Be safe, enjoy the sunshine, and steer clear of possums. :)

Love you all!

Sister Johns

Green week

Hey all!!

So I am actually in the field this week! And I got called to serve...(drum roll please)...in Waukesha! Funny name, but awesome people. I absolutely love my trainer! It was so nerve racking when all of us from the MTC waited to meet our trainers...but no worries! Sister Wright is wonderful! It was a long day of traveling Wednesday...man it feels like forever ago! But we got to spend the night in the mission home with our wonderful, cute mission president and his wife. My first day in the field was interesting...we took another sister around for most of they day actually because she was going home the next day was wanted to see some people before she left. It was actually super nice because I got to see how a missionary companionship actually works. It has been quite a week! I have a LOT of learning to do. Some highlights:

-Very first place I stopped with my trainer was at a previously set appointment. The man that opened the door informed us that the stench that hit us was not a skunk...but weed. Yeah...delightful. Welcome to Wisconsin apparently!

-Also on my first day we let out a dog of a lady in our ward. Advice for people who take care of tiny dogs: do not try to pick them up when they are terrified and shaking under the bed! You risk getting bitten! So that was fun haha. What a day!

-We met a nice, very talkative old man tracting my very first time. He let us in and actually agreed to learn more about our church! How amazing!!

-We visited a less active family of girls one evening--and it was so much fun haha! As sister Wright explained them, they are a "rick-rawlin' house of sass!" All three girls are 1/2 black, and the mother is white (and very protective of her children). I love them so much! They kept me laughing the whole time! I really connected with the 8 year old daughter--so I am an 8 year old by heart I think. :)

-We had a dinner appointment on St. Patrick's day! I have never eaten so many green things in one sitting haha! Green cabbage, green butter, green juice, green salad, green cake--everything was green! (except the beef and potatoes)

-I had my first strange dinner appointment yesterday. We had a Mexican meal--beans, rice and enchiladas. It was all good until I tried the enchiladas. When we asked her what was in them she replied she had made it up and put fake lobster and cream cheese along with some other stuff--oh and it was topped with salsa. It was a very interesting combo of flavors...I was really just gagging it down. They were such a cute couple though!

I am excited for this transfer. My trainer is also really excited--she has great hopes. So I am hoping that we will have success. It is a little hard though when everyone seems to be in a good place and already comfortable with their own church. But, I have only been here a week! So we will see what next week brings! 1 Nephi 8:12 I think is kind of the "why" of missionary work. We know that the gospel bring us so much happiness and also keeps us safe. And we (hopefully) want to share it with others! So, maybe try to share a part of the gospel with someone this week. I know as you try to do so that the Lord will help and assist you.

Have a wonderful  week!!!

Love,

Sister Johns

Sister KoFord and I when we got to the airport in Wisconsin. We were sooo excited! I actually really miss her. :)

Sister Wright and I

Sister Wright and I. Sunday selfie.

Second week!

Dear people, 

This week was wonderful! I am adjusting to life here at the mtc. On Wednesday we got to welcome all the new missionaries! Telling them welcome to the mtc really does make you feel like you know exactly what you are doing...even if in reality you are still feeling it out haha. The sisters that we thought were coming to our zone didn't end up coming...somehow their report date got put back or something. So we just got to welcome 8 new elders...not as exciting. I am a sister training leader with my companion, if I didn't tell you already. We are getting four sisters this week so that is SO exciting! I had a huge craving for music this week...so that was fun. I had to content myself with singing Disney and Les Mis when I am getting ready for the day...it doesn't quite fill the gap, but I guess that's all I can do right now!

Highlights from the week!

-We found Sister KoFord's favorite ice cream flavor in the vending machines in our residence hall. She went crazy! Then, as a witness of God's tender mercies (1 Nephi 1:20) they served it for dessert one dinner after we had a particularly difficult lesson with an investigator. The Lord loves us!

-We get to keep teaching our favorite investigator, Linda this week! (usually we only get to teach TRCs for one week) She is the ideal investigator. yesterday we prepared a lesson on the commandments for her. We felt pretty prepared actually! But when we started talking to her, she told us about her brother who was involved in gangs and drugs. She had been reminded of him that day and didn't know how he was doing. So we threw our lesson out the window and talked about the peace we can receive through Jesus Christ (John 14:27). We then proceeded to read the Book of Mormon with her. We showed her how she can apply the stories directly to her. I know that the Book of Mormon is the word of God. I have seen how it can answer specific questions you have. Try it! Because it works!

-I have been learning the language of the Spirit more this week. I learned that you must trust yourself before you can truly follow the promptings of the Spirit. Many times this week a word or thought would come to my mind in my own words...if I didn't trust myself I wouldn't follow it. But the one time I decided to just DO IT, I realized that those thoughts were from the Holy Ghost. The lesson I started to do that went 10x better than the one previously. 

The MTC president talked to the whole MTC on Sunday. His message centered on the scripture Alma 23:5-8--please study those verses!

6 And as sure as the Lord liveth, so sure as many as believed, or as many as were brought to the knowledge of the truth, through the preaching of Ammon and his brethren, according to the spirit of revelation and of prophecy, and the power of God working miracles in them—yea, I say unto you, as the Lord liveth, as many of the Lamanites as believed in their preaching, and were converted unto the Lord, never did fall away.

 I know that what is taught in those verses is true. All I will say is that as members of the church, need to be converted TO THE LORD--or be constantly true to what we know or believe is true. A testimony is vital, but it will not keep us from never falling away.

Sorry for the preaching! I guess I am officially a missionary now! ;P I really got so excited this week during Tuesday’s devotional about being a missionary! I am part of His army now! I are His hands on the earth and I can help invite people to Christ. 

I hope you all have a wonderful week!! I am well and learning lots. Feel free to send me pictures of adventures you're having...it is the closest thing I have to going outside right now. ;)

LOVE YOU!!

Bre

PS the one picture I took this week was of me twirling in my skirt...it is my favorite pastime. :)