Alicia! 2-26-13 Bowling Green, KY

Hey Mom and Dad and Family!

Sorry I didn't email yesterday. So that flu strain that has been going on around the country finally got me. I was in bed all day yesterday and have been taking it easy today. Lots of fun!

 

I love your emails this week! Mom you look so pretty in your picture! And I love the funnies you sent :) Dad I am sorry it snowed again... bother! At least that meant you could watch the Oscars. Sounds lovely :) And Cameron's farewell sounds like it went great! I am glad so many people love that little guy. He is going to do the best ever!

 

Not gonna lie, this transfer has been and will be a challenging one.... Having an international companion sounded so exciting and like so much fun! But we are SO different. She does so many things that I have a hard time understanding and I'm sure she feels the same. There is so much adjusting to do- the Lord is really watching me stretch this time. He knew it would be this way or else I wouldn't be here, right? I am in a VERY challenging area on top of that. And now I have the flu :) Always the optimist ;) I find myself praying more than I ever have and praying more sincerely than I ever have. Sometimes it takes a ten minute prayer before my heart is soft enough to allow myself to not go crazy. Regardless of the challenges, I have become much better at talking to people. On Friday, I went on my first exchange with Sister Rativukivuki from Fiji (she just went home today... sniff...). It was THE BEST DAY EVER!!! We were talking to people every minute. We didn't even stay in for the full hour for lunch or for dinner. We just went and went and went. At one point we went to a former investigators apartment. A girl came to the door right as we arrived. We started talking to her and got her information. She said we could come back. We were talking about families when her neighbor's door opened. This little Nepalese girl invited us in. We started teaching lesson one. She doesn't speak English very fluently, but her ten year old daughter speaks great English and great Nepalese. After about 20 minutes, she asked if she could be baptized in our church! Crazy right?! Then she said that her cousins all needed to be baptized as well. The Spirit was awesome! There has already been some opposition, but they love having us over so we hope to see a lot of progress from this sweet little family. After we left that apartment, we went across to another apartment. Right then a man pulled up on his bike. He is from Burma. He said, "Come back and teach my family tomorrow!" They are the cutest little family too. There is this grandma that just loves us. In fact that is about all she can say ;) "I like Jesus. Love you two." And then she hugs us. It's cute :) They have four little kids. The six year old speaks the best English so he said that he would have a friend come over to translate. So we are teaching a family from Burma and a family from Nepal. There is a whole community of Nepalese people and they are all related. They are so humble too. And they want to learn more. Language seems to be the biggest barrier. And the New Life Baptist church with their big buses....

 

PLEASE keep praying for me.... I have to learn to love my companion and I have to learn to love this area and this ward. That will be the miracle for this transfer. It is so different. "In the strength of the Lord I can do all things."

 

I love you so much Mom, Dad and family. More than you know. The challenges of missionary work really just make me want to run up and let you give me a big hug for ten minutes. It feels like I have been out for a lifetime. I miss you and love you and pray for you. Keep being amazing.

 

Love you always,

Sister Alicia Johnson

Alicia! 2-18-13 Bowling Green, KY

Dear Family,

You are going to be shocked about the news of this week.... I know because I am still in shock about the situation. I got a call on Tuesday night at 9pm from President McKee. "You are getting transferred to Bowling Green Kentucky tomorrow at 9 in the morning."

Wow! Ok... Man alive! So I have been out on my mission for a grand total of 9 weeks. This is my third area, third companion, and third zone. I had three weeks with Sister Hill opening Princeton. Now I am whitewashing an area with Sister Thulasidass. Sister Thulasidass is- you will never guess- from India! She is a Temple Square missionary. She has been serving her mission for 11 months. As part of the Temple Square sister's missions, they proselyte for three to four months. So... Lo and behold, I am with a new companion, in an area that is SO different from my last.

Do you remember when I thought I was going to serve my mission in India? I had an experience at Utah State where the Spirit powerfully witnessed to me that I needed to serve a mission and it was connected with India. Well, I didn't get called to India, but now I have an Indian companion 9 weeks into my mission. Chance? I think not. The Lord has been preparing this companionship for years. I am now just learning to cope with cultural differences, but thanks to that witness that I had years back, I know that there is some great importance in this call. I can only imagine what President McKee felt when he received that revelation... but he is so trusting in the Lord and he has truly been an anchor in this entire situation. It is amazing how the adversary likes to creep in and try to make you believe you can't do it. It hits me every morning. But I have found that the areas where I lacked in my last two areas have been strengthened immensely. Talking to people? Not a big deal. I thought I would never like tracting. It's a breeze. Teaching? Still needs work, but it is progressively getting better. Missionary work is difficult- when you rely upon your own capabilities. I am giving it to the Lord. I am trusting that He knows much better than I do.

We have already had an incredible experience. We had NO investigators when we got here. Not a one. We went to the Walmart on our first day- since we also didn't have any food. While there, a woman approached us. She has been taught by missionaries before and she is ready to be baptized. Four hours in the area! The Lord works in mysterious ways. We just need to teach her all of the lessons and actually commit her to a date. She even came to church yesterday and witnessed a baptism and confirmation. Miracle!

So a little bit about this area. It is a very culturally diverse area. We have 5 sets of missionaries here now and two wards. There is a set of senior missionaries, another sister set, a spanish speaking elder set and a swahili speaking elder set. Yes! Swahili! We have large groups of people that have immigrated from Tanzania or Swahili or something. There is a Hispanic community, a black community, Southern Baptist white community, muslims, rednecks- you name it, it's here! It is a pretty large city and there are people EVERYWHERE! We went to a find a less-active member the other night in an apartment complex and ended up with two new investigators that were walking outside.

What else can I tell you about? I smell delightful! (But not really...) My companion cooked onions the other day and the whole apartment reeked of them. From my last area, all of everything I own was permeated with the delightful smell of smoke from the neighbors who lived below us. And then the other day we went to a less-active members trailer home that had a delightful smell that also permeated my clothes! So the other night, I smelled like the delicious smell of smoke, onions, and dirty trailer. What a thrill! I hope it doesn't scare new investigators away...

Oh boy! I love my family dearly. I am so happy that everyone is doing well. Mel! My companion likes Indian food! You totally work at an Indian restaurant! Cool :) We have things in common :) How are the mission papers going? Any news yet? PS- My companion used to be Hindu. She is a convert of 5 years. There are 10,000 members of the church in India out of 14 billion people that live there. You should convert your boss, Johnny! It can be done. :)

Dad, I love your emails. :) You are so silly! I try calling you everyday and you never answer! You need to come here. It already feels like spring. And not even a little bit of snow! Pretty great. I am so jealous you get to do taxes. Gosh golly that sounds like SO much fun! Guess what? I love you MORE!!! You didn't send me any Valentines cards... but a 6 year old gave me a lollipop with a rose on it. Aw.... my Valentine!

Mom, I love the picture of Joe! You should mail him to me so that he can visit Kentucky. Oh the places Joe'll go! I like the pics of Jaron and Taryn too... CUTE! They are getting married... and stuff! (for Melanie- that one kid with the flavr savr that I can't think of his name. Jenni loves him. Bleached hair. Oh! Dan Curtis!)

Jaron, I am excited for you and Taryn! I sure love you both!

Zach, same story kid. I sure love you :) You like Indian food too!

Grandma Janet, thank you for your emails! I have been getting them and I love hearing from you. In the strength of the Lord we can do ALL things. What a beautiful blessing! And what a wonderful blessing we have the gospel and our families to strengthen us. I sure love you!

Well, I am about out of things to say. I love you all. I am truly very blessed to have so much love and support from God's greatest blessing- my wonderful family. It is so wonderfuly that I can testify of the love of God because of the love I feel from you. Thanks for your emails!! Have a fantastic, fun-filled, muddy week! God is good. :)

LOL (lots of love),

Sister Alicia Johnson of the Bowling Green Kentucky 2nd Ward in the Tennessee Nashville Mission

Alicia! 2-11-13 Princeton, KY

Hello! I love you! The computers have been having difficulty today and it took me half an hour to get on. But here I am! I am grateful I have some time to write you briefly each week. I love the spiritual, mental and physical support that I gain from my family and wonderful friends. I love you all.

This week has been so fast again! I don't even know what to say haha :) We have been tracting and teaching as much as possible. Some days you walk into every door, other days, it isn't until 7:30pm that you finally find someone. It can be very difficult. And exhausting. I am so grateful for the strength of the Lord. 

So I wrote Melanie about the guy who thinks I am his daughter. He obviously has some brain damage and some wires that are not connected. He called us on Saturday again thinking the same thing. It is like he just creates these connections in very strange ways. Well, he called and started rambling his story again. He said he thought that Sister Hill was my mother... ok... And then she stopped him and asked him to read a chapter from the Book of Mormon and to call back after. We didn't answer. He has called four more times since then and left messages. The guy needs help- but we can't really be the ones to do that. We are going to work on getting his number blocked so he can't call anymore. 

Honestly though, I don't feel scared at all. This week I have done a lot of studying on exact obedience. In the 57th chapter of Alma there is this amazing story about 2000 young men who are sent to war. From verses 19-27 it tells about their experience and how they came to be preserved in a miraculous way. "Yea, and they did obey and observe to perform every word of command with exactness; yea, and even according to their faith it was done unto them.... Now this was the faith of these of whom I have spoken; they are young, and their minds are firm, and they do put their trust in God continually." While in the process of studying faith, I learned that really I needed to study obedience. You see, when you are exactly obedient to what the Lord commands, He promises that you will increase in faith, testimony, wisdom, protection and freedom. Obedience strengthens our faith. Obedience gives us protection. We follow and live strictly the mission rules and keep our covenants to receive those promised blessings and to show our love for God. 

Obedience applies to everyone and every situation that people are going through. The Lord has commanded that we put our trust in Him, that we pray, that we read our scriptures, attend church, etc, etc. Usually if there is a problem with someone's relationship with God or extra stress in life it is directly related to obedience. Do we all look to truly keep our covenants with God? Do we understand what God has commanded? And do we understand why we obey? With investigators we run into this problem all of the time. And teaching it can be incredibly difficult... I know that as we are obedient we are blessed with strength and with miracles. 

The work is moving along. It feels slow... but I have to remember that we just opened this area and we are still trying to even find people to teach. After the trial of our faith comes the miracles. 

I am glad that there are so many exciting things happening at home. :) It is good to stay busy with life and family. I love that this gospel is so family-oriented :) It is eternal! That is amazing! I did get your package too! I love it :) Especially the fuzzy poster calendar haha! I dunno if I will ever have a second to think about coloring it but I love it! Oh and the Thor tat :) sweet!! I haven't gotten a bike yet. Still working on that one. It is cold and warm- kinda feels like spring here all of the time. I like it :) I have no idea if I answered all of your questions again... I feel like that is not really one of my strengths. Plus I really can't remember everything that happens around here because it feels like 7 days packed into one. I am turning into an old woman I think. 

I love you all. Please have the most amazing week and know that I love you very much! And remember, God is good :)

LOL (lots of love),

Sister Alicia Johnson

Alicia! 2-4-13 Princeton, KY

Hello Family! 

As always I am incredibly grateful for your love and support and wonderful emails :) I love you all very much! Not going to lie- this past week feels like a blur. We have been working so hard! We have really been working on exact obedience- so to the minute of our schedule to be starting studies and getting out the door. We are out ALL of the time. Very rarely do we even take the full hour for lunch because we have so many other things to take care of. It is crazy because I hit the bed hard and fall asleep instantly because I am SO tired! But because we are working so hard I also have so much energy! It truly is the Lord strengthening me and my companion. She is awesome! So hard working. The poor thing hasn't been sleeping too well this week and yet you would never know because she won't stop working! We are definitely being blessed for our efforts too. 

So I think I told you last time, but our area is really huge. We tried to visit as many people and the different cities as we could these past couple of weeks and we drove 750 miles- in two weeks! We only get 1250 for the month so things are definitely going to change soon. We don't have bikes yet... hopefully really soon. But we do have a really nice car! It is a brand new 2013 Ford Cruze. Yep! Brand new! I don't know if they completely thought that one through though- it is white, and we drive on muddy, dirt roads all of the time. Haha! Needless to say, it is filthy now. We are truly blessed to have it though. 

As far as teaching goes, we have been working our tails off to find new investigators. We try everyone we can on the ward list. And we have tracted probably a good 10 plus hours this week. I am definitely not as nervous about knocking  on random doors or about being rejected. You just expect it. We have a really cool technique that we use to get in homes though- they call it the harvesting technique. You knock and introduce yourselves as representatives of Jesus Christ that have been sent to their home to pray with their family. For how many Christians there are, you still get a lot of rejections, but it is powerful. You bring the spirit very strongly and then you can teach about the Restoration and Book of Mormon. We sure love prayer!

Oh what else... Here is one y'all will like :) We visited a less-active/part member family. They were the greatest ever! She was this little thing with, again, no teeth. She just was super spacey acting. She had a long braid, round glasses, and a patterned dress. We walked in. In her quiet little voice "Do you want to see my house?" Sure! So she shows us around her house. They got the linoleum waxed! They told us that like 12 times... Then she points up to the ceiling "Look we've got satellites!" (it's really a little sun-window). Then her husband, "I can't read and write, but I've got degrees! I've got a stack this high!" (gesturing about four inches). "I'm a fireman!" Oh my goodness! They were the most adorable people! Then we asked what she thought James 1:5 meant. "Exciting!" was her response. And then we asked how she came to know that Joseph Smith was a prophet. "Relief Society" she answered. It was such a funny situation. We seem to be in a lot more funny situations in this area. I really love the people- they are just so different! It really is like I am in a different country all of a sudden. A lot of them come from really sad, humble situations. And yet, the hardest thing is that even in humble circumstances many don't even accept Jesus Christ as their Savior. And then there is the challenge of teaching to their understanding. Even within the branch, they seem to understand the gospel on such a different level than my companion and I do. 

Last night, we were in Cadiz. It is about 30 minutes away from Princeton and is where half of the active members live. We were looking up people on the less-active list. We stopped by a man who was born a member but now claims he is agnostic. We were able to talk about building a relationship with God and how to go about doing that. It is by small and simple means that something as "abstract" as God can be brought to a full understanding. Prayer and reading the scriptures. That is how it begins. We just have to trust and have hope that we will receive answers and feel that God is there. I know He manifests himself to those that ask through the power of the Holy Ghost. So many times I have felt the power of God wash over me and work through me because of the Book of Mormon and because of prayer. And amazingly enough, God is logical as well. He speaks to everyone in a way that each individual can understand. I know He is there. I love Him very much. We were able to share all this with this man, P, and we were able to pray with him. When we got back in the car, Sister Hill said that she felt that the Spirit restrained her from praying- that it needed to be me. I know I prayed that he and his family would be sealed together and that he would come to know that God is there for him. I am so grateful for opportunities like this everyday.

You know, life can be really, really hard. What a blessing it is to know that when we do as God commands that we will be much more able to handle whatever comes our way. God is bound by laws. We must be obedient to all He asks and the blessings are sure. I feel that everyday as I work to come closer to Him and work to serve His children. I love Princeton Kentucky. I love my mission. I love my family. I love the gospel. 

I pray that you all will have a wonderful week. God is good! 

I love you lots!

Sister Alicia Johnson

PS- The Assistants found my scriptures! I will be getting them back sometime this week :) Yay! Also, I remembered one more thing that I would love to have (the list is never-ending, I apologize). It is the gospel art book from the LDS distribution center. Thanks thanks! 

I am so excited that everything is going so well for everyone :) Jaron and Taryn! Getting married :) Sounds crazy busy to take care of all of that. Italy! YAY! Exercising! Work! Melanie working at the BART!! WHOOP WHOOP! I love y'all :)