My dearest family! Thanks for the birthday wishes!!!!!! I love you all so much!!! And Happy Birthday to you Daddy!!! I am going to send you a birthday card this week :) Which means it won't be there for your birthday... horrible planning.... But! Know that I love you so so so much and that my intentions were good!!
I figure I should just hold the suspense and let you know about what is happening with transfers..... I am actually STAYING in an area! Wow! That is a first ever! BUT I am getting a brand-spankin' new companion right outta the MTC! I am super excited! This will be my first full training from the beginning. And I just have such a peaceful feeling (or maybe I am just super hopeful) that I am going to just love this companion so much! I love my companion now, but it will be a relief to have a new companion. Man! You just learn so much about yourself and about people out here! I thought I was never going to make it with my Indian companion, but we handled that area in such a good way that by the end of the transfer, I would do anything for her. I LOVE her so much! And I miss her a lot. I have felt that way about all of my companions. They are all so different, and yet I can see the impact they have had on me. Especially my blessed trainer. We got to sing at the Nashville Sounds baseball game on Monday and I got to sit with my trainer Sister Thatcher and my MTC companion Sister Bauer. My heart was overflowing with joy! They are sooo incredible! And I got to see my dearest Sister Hill at the Trainer-Trainee meeting on Thursday two weeks ago. It has been great! This transfer and companionship has stretched me emotionally though... and like I said, it will be a relief to have a change.
Man! Time just flies around here! It seriously always feels like months have passed every time it is a new week. There are some cool things happening here in Green Hills. We are fighting a lot of opposition but we are always seeing some incredible progression. One of our members is incredible. Her name is Kathleen Flake. She is a religion specialist or something really academic that lives and works everyday in the life and mind of the early saints. She has represented the Church on PBS on several occasions and has written 3 or 4 very academic books on the priesthood, polygamy and other sorta controversial stuff. She is absolutely inspiring though! She served a mission and can see and feel the momentum of the hastening of the work. She has inspired many members of the ward to get involved and be a part of the work.
There is a new book out that is approved reading for us. It is called "The Power of Everyday Missionaries" by Clayton Christensen (I think). (Ps if you get a chance I would appreciate getting one sent to me ;) also a personal copy of the general conference ensign would be amazing). Missionary work is changing drastically. The Lord is calling everyone to lend a hand and be a part of this hastening. Missionaries cannot do it by themselves anymore- and the prophet, apostles and the Lord have made that even more apparent with things like budgets, miles, etc, etc. We HAVE to have members and they absolutely make the best missionaries. It is incredible the power of a member's testimony in the lessons we teach.
Good example: yesterday during church a member approached us with a favor. Will you come have dinner at our house tonight and teach a less-active member and her non-member boyfriend? He had arranged everything FOR us and we just had to be there. We not only had a meal provided for us but it was one of the most powerfully, spiritually uplifting lessons that I have seen in a long time. The power of the spirit in that home was absolutely tangible. Can you imagine what that would feel like to be on the members end of it? When this man, K, enters the waters of baptism and then is sealed for time and all eternity to his family, I can only imagine the feelings of knowing that they were instrumental in bringing these children of God back to their Father. "How great shall be your joy with him in the kingdom of your father!"
As I said, there is still a LOT of opposition. But miracles are happening all over the mission. In one area, a senior couple was sent to start a branch. 6 months later, there is a branch and the members are so fired up about missionary work that I guarantee within a year they will have a ward. The missionaries in that area went to the Dogwood Festival, which brings in thousands of people, and had people fill out a survey with four questions. The questions were about the book of mormon, eternal families, the restored church and about having missionaries over. From those surveys, they had 286 referrals! There are now 5 missionary sets in that area to handle all of the referrals. If that is not a hastening of the work, I don't know what is.
In our area, the progression has been slow, but the intensity is building. We had 15 member-present lessons with us this week. That is an enormous change from the 2 we had our first week! I am excited to see what this next transfer will bring. :)
This is the hardest thing I have ever done in my life. The responsibility is incredibly great. There is an enormous mantle on my shoulders for the many investigators that we are teaching, the new missionaries, training, leading.... And yet, I would never go back. The Savior walked the hardest walk, I want to look back and see that I walked a portion of that walk with Him. Because when all is said and done, that is what it will come to. Jesus Christ truly gave His life for us so that we could live again. What am I willing to give Him in return? "Salvation is not a cheap experience," but with His help, miracles will happen. They are happening everyday. They will happen in your life too if you trust in Him. The only way to truly experience the Atonement of Jesus Christ, is to apply the doctrine. Faith, Repentance, Keeping Covenants, Receiving the Gift of the Holy Ghost and Enduring to the End. Am I repenting daily? Do I truly understand what the Atonement means for me? I know that when we truly come to know what the Atonement means for us personally, that everything we do will change. Our vision will be raised. We will accomplish miracles.
I am so grateful for you all. I am really excited to see my package! I am really excited for transfer meeting too :) Those are my favorite meetings :) I know pretty much all the missionaries now.... so it is always good to see them again :). Daddy! I love you so much! I hope that you have the happiest birthday! You and Mom should go to Texas Roadhouse and get some ribs ;) that's what we'd be doing if I was there. Also, you should go on a motorcycle ride to Jackson Hole! I think that would make the best birthday ever.
I pray for you all and love you so much! Thank you for being so wonderful :)
Love you always,
Sister Alicia Johnson
PS I am still trying to figure out facebook... I might end up NOT being a facebook missionary. I haven't quite decided yet. It just gives me a headache. I will let you know though. Hopefully by next week I will have it figured out and if I am not then we can just reactivate my old account and you can keep posting stuff like you did before. I might do more by having you be my facebook missionary ;)
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