It has been an AMAZING week! We hit the ground running again- full-force missionary work. We had 31 lessons this week and we got 8 less-actives out to church! It was incredible! The Spirit is amazing. Missionary work is amazing! There are so many miracles every single day. We also had interviews with President McKee this week. He is such an amazing person and leader. He follows the Spirit with love and that is such a blessing as a missionary.
Quick story: The first week I was here, Sister Thatcher brought up a name- C. As soon as she said her name, I knew she was ready to be baptized. It was so exciting! So that first Sunday, we extended the baptismal invitation. She did not commit. We still knew (and know) that she is ready. We have met with her a couple of times throughout the transfer, but she is always "too busy" to have regular meetings. Yesterday, however, we committed her to one more lesson before I was to be transferred. We have been teaching in her son's home with his family there. We knew we only had up to an hour to teach lesson two and bring the Spirit in full force. We walked in with purpose and the Spirit entered with great force. We powerfully taught the Plan of Salvation. We bore witness and C's family bore witness. She is stubborn (and openly says so) so she continues to not commit to a date. The Spirit directed me not to offer the baptismal invitation, but to suggest instead that she receive a priesthood blessing from her son. This would be her first experience with the priesthood. Her son, A, had tears in his eyes and said he would love to give her a blessing. As missionaries, we decided to let them have this experience as a family. We left. We know that C knows she will be baptized. Sister Thatcher will have a date and a baptism within the next transfer. :) What a miracle to see a family come together like that!
Thank you, as always for your emails! I am so happy that things are going so well for my amazing family! Jaron and Taryn getting married, dinner with Zach, Mel having blessings, and Mom and Dad just being amazing parents and loving and supporting all of us. :) GUESS WHAT!!! Mom! You have a birthday this week!!! Happy happy birthday! You are amazing Mom! Thank you so much for everything you do for all of us. Thank you for your support and love! I am going to send a birthday card out today (hopefully), but I just want you to know now that I love you so much :)
Dad, thanks for your email! I love hearing about your mission experiences. It is amazing how little moments like that remain with you. I feel the peace and love of God more than I ever have before. It is very present with me. And I determined exactly why I had been feeling so anxious- it boils down to exact obedience and repentance. When even just one little thing is off, it gives Satan more power and influence. As soon as I realized what I needed to change, I was able to repent. I studied repentance today and having been pondering about it for the past week. Repentance is one of the most beautiful gifts from God. And the sooner we make those changes to come closer to our Savior, the sooner we can heal. President McKee shared a story about Sister McKee with us. She has had a feeding tube in her stomach and in this past week they were able to remove it. It basically is like a cork that has to be pulled out of a hole that is smaller than the stopper. The easiest and best way to remove it, is to do it quickly with a lot of force. It causes A LOT of pain. When they removed it, the doctor did just that. He pulled quickly- and pulled it right out. She screamed in agony. It took her about two minutes to catch her breath- but after two minutes, the pain diminished and within a week, it was completely healed. That is how repentance is. We must remove any amount of sin as quickly as possible. It may cause a sharp pain- but it does not last. In fact, if we do it quickly, it heals much more rapidly as well. The alternative is having surgery, being numbed and allowing it to heal over several weeks. I have found in the last week, that as soon as I realize I have done something wrong, I must make amends immediately. Only then are our garments cleansed from all stain (Alma 5:21). Think about stains- it is the same way! The quicker we remove a stain, the less time is has to sit and our clothes are made more clean and spotless. No unclean thing can enter the kingdom of heaven. I challenge you this week to truly dig deep inside yourself. Uproot any amount of sin that could potentially be holding you back from further progression and know that you can have more peace and happiness by doing so. I love the gospel. I love my Savior. What a blessing it is to come to know Him more every single day.
Further thoughts and news- I keep forgetting but I really need some stuff sent my way :) I am almost out of vitamins from Advanced Health Clinic. They have helped me a ton- so more would be awesome. Also, those Airborne vitamin things are super great too! I think the combination of the two have helped me stay healthy and not get the flu. Also, I don't have a ton of time to cook but I don't have a real cookbook with like cookies and bread and things like that in it to give to people. I have a few out in the garage that might be good choices. I just need one though :) The memory card I got at Christmas didn't have music on it.... :( I would love more music! The Nashville Tribute stuff is awesome!! The only one I have right now is Joseph Smith. Trek is really great though and I would love to hear the missionary one. Also some variety of Mo-tab stuff- like their disney stuff maybe? :) Don't worry about it if it is too much to ask of course :) Vitamins are definitely more important.
OH! I am so happy Sister Latu is going to write me!! I have so much catching up to do on letters... so I apologize if you don't get any this week either... I would love to hear from Michael too! I should have sent something before I left. Anyways are you ready for the transfer news?!..... Yes? Here is it!! I am getting transferred to Princeton Kentucky!!!!
I am opening the area with Sister Hill! :) :) I am so excited!! I am not training, but President said to be prepared to train at the next transfer :) This transfer is shorter too. It is only 5 weeks! So it is quite possible I will be moved again very soon. Man it is crazy how quick everything moves! I have loved serving in Rock Springs though :) What an amazing place full of amazing people! Princeton is very rural- farming community extraordinaire! We have only a branch- but some of the Elders have already given me some referrals and a family that another Elder baptized moved there so I will know one family already :) They are full of missionary-fire (is the word on the street) because every branch wants to be a ward. So be expecting some big miracles in the next 5 weeks!
I am opening the area with Sister Hill! :) :) I am so excited!! I am not training, but President said to be prepared to train at the next transfer :) This transfer is shorter too. It is only 5 weeks! So it is quite possible I will be moved again very soon. Man it is crazy how quick everything moves! I have loved serving in Rock Springs though :) What an amazing place full of amazing people! Princeton is very rural- farming community extraordinaire! We have only a branch- but some of the Elders have already given me some referrals and a family that another Elder baptized moved there so I will know one family already :) They are full of missionary-fire (is the word on the street) because every branch wants to be a ward. So be expecting some big miracles in the next 5 weeks!
Well family (and all others who are reading this), I love you so much!! Thank you for your love, your support and your prayers. Missionary work is amazing!! I am getting more and more saturated in the work- and the blessings are incredible. I am so happy!!! LOL [lots of (insert word: love, letters, laughter, lettuce, ligers)]!
God is good!
Love,
The little Sister missionary in the Nashville Tennessee mission,
Sister Alicia Johnson (kittens, stars and rainbows!)
PS- I love you Dad! I love you Mom! I love you Zach! I love you Jaron! I love you Mel! I love you Grandparents!
PPS- I hope you have the happiest of birthdays, Mom!!
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