6/09/2014

--->SO THIS WEEK. It was crazy and weird and awesome and wonderful. 

So this morning all of us missionaries in our Zone went on a hike!! It was awesome. Except we didn't start till 9 am and it got real hot real fast. But there was a small waterfall at the end and we put our feet in and cooled off. (don't worry, we didn't swim). It was 3 miles long!! My tan line is pretty stinking awesome! #missionarytan It was really fun though! And we made it to the end safely and completely hydrated. ishhhh.

So apparently, once upon a time. There were apples growing here? I don't believe it. I think they call this place Apple Valley as a way to con people into thinking it's a beautiful and lush place so that they will move here. 

The three main towns up here in the Cali High Desert are Victorville, Apple Valley, and Hesperia. We call them Victimville, Snapple Valley, and Hysteria. Hahahahahhaa 

SOOOOO. Anyways. This week. It's hard to remember what happened. So yesterday at church we had TONS OF PEEPS THERE. We had our investigator Julia- who should be getting baptized soon-- she was there and is loving the Mormon life. The less actives that were there were Sis Kirchner, Ashley, Sister Bartok (she is a sassy Italian lady), The Dubiel family, and Brenda and her husband Bryant. 

So Ashley is loving life and the gospel. She randomly decided to follow the prompting of the spirit and finally has been coming to church after so many years of not coming. She brings her friend with her, Roxy, who is an investigator in another ward. They are awesome because they have crazy psycho young kids who run around, but they still hold strong and bring their kidddos.

The Dubiel family is a cool one-- we just stopped by their house a week or two ago and talked to their daughter (who was visiting from another state) and then they randomly text us a couple of days ago and asked what time church starts. Then they showed up and we had no idea what they looked like. But fortunately the spirit was able to help us out with that one and we found them :)

So usually I hate tracting, but we tracted a small random dirt road this week and found some solid people! I'm glad Heavenly Father has a hand in this work. We also have been less-active finding. We are trying to visit/meet all the women in the ward who aren't visit-taught. THERES A LOT OF THEM. We usually just talk to them at the door, just make sure they are alive and doing well. It's crazy when we find houses with the members who haven't lived there in years.. and I'm like how come their visiting teacher or home teacher didn't figure it out sooner. Anyways. Word to the world. DO YOUR HOME AND VISITING TEACHING.  

We also came across quite a few people with some crazy ideas about life and about religion and God. It makes me so grateful for the knowledge and stability that the gospel provides us. God is real, Christ is our Savior, and we are on Earth for a reason. We are here to learn, to grow, to make choices, to get a body, and to prepare ourselves and others to meet God. We aren't meant to do it alone, we are meant to do it along side our Christ, for through Him, all things are possible. I know that this church is true and I know that missionary work- whether it be in our home or in our ward or anywhere else in the world- is necessary. Christ wants to come! And we, as His disciples, get the privilege of preparing the world for His coming. What a glorious day!! 

"Far from eloquence, I'm not enough. My words are not unique...I'm a witness of His miracles, and how they've changed my life.... When my voice seems too quiet, and my words are not profound, He tells me not to doubt. It's a privilege that He gave me and I won't let my voice be still. I have something, someone needs to hear." 

These lyrics have been stuck in my head all week. and I love it! I can't remember all of it though.. that's why there are dot dot dots. But it's the truth. The gospel is true, otherwise God wouldn't allow psycho teenagers to go and preach it. 

This song is magic and I would kill for the sheet music. It's called Someone Needs to Hear on the Called to Serve CD by Jenny Phillips. We already looked online to find the sheet music. ahahahah and we can't find it. But it's beautiful. Actually Sister Nash's trainer in Ukraine wrote the song and it ended up on the CD. Cool huh? LISTEN TO IT. 

Anyways I love you all!!! 

I love the mish, love the people. I love the gospel and I love Christ!

Miss you!

Love love love Sister Johnson