Alicia! 9-16-13 Bellevue, TN

To my dearest family:

It was fun to read your emails this week! Wow that cruise sounds like it was a blast and a half! Haha! Especially since Dad gained 8 lbs... Man alive! That is incredible haha! I also loved all the fun remarks about "beautiful Ensenada". Love that place! It smells delightful! The dolphins sound really cool! Maybe someday I will get to do that too :) That would be fun :)

I am glad that it was a safe, fun trip (even with the scary strangers at the dinner table haha. You know something funny, once you come out on a mission all the rules change. We talk to strangers ALL the time, we give away our phone number and we talk to EVERYONE. We even eat at strangers houses... my how life changes once you are a missionary). :) Now back to life... That can be really hard. It is like pdays! You try to do fun stuff but it doesn't last very long and throws off the groove of the everyday. And yet- if we didn't have pday we would probably go crazy!

We are having fun today :) We are in a trio! Did I tell you that last week? At first we weren't quite sure about a trio. You see, Sister Munafo and I have gotten very comfortable with our little way of life so we weren't sure what would happen with another sister. Great news! Sister Vandenberg is amazing! We have so much fun! She is an excellent teacher and brings such a sweet spirit and then when it is just us back in the apartment... well that is when the crazy gorilla fighting and lightsaber wars happen. It is entirely too much fun! I think everyone is only too aware of how much fun we have because we also have a LOT of energy. We are like this crazy force of energy and excitement and fun. And the gospel light of course :) We have at least another week together... And Saturday is when we find out about transfers.... :(

I already know that things are going to change and we have been a bit emotional about that (at least we were for a few minutes). But one of the greatest things that I have learned while on my mission is how to relax and let the Lord be in charge. Having anxiety isn't going to change anything. It just makes you unhappy. So, "I'll go where you want me to go dear Lord." It will be hard to leave if that is what I have to do, but I know that the Lord has a special plan for me and for all of his children. I can see what God sees in me and in those around me. "Ye are the light of the world. A city that is set on a hill cannot be hid." I know that the Lord has placed me in each of my areas with each of my companions for a very special reason. There are lives that can be influenced every where we go. So I look forward to finding out what the Lord requires of me now!

We had a bunch of exchanges this week (we never have a normal week anymore haha) and a miracle happened! M, who we found the first week in the area is back in the picture! He is working on overcoming some addictions and has slipped in and out of the picture the whole time we have been here. We think this time he may have better chances of getting back. Who knows? We are teaching him tonight so keep him in your prayers.

WE HAVE THE COOLEST INVESTIGATORS!!! I LOVE BELLEVUE!!! This area has really helped me grow and become so happy. The people we teach are absolutely incredible. While on exchanges, Sister Vandenberg and Sister Munafo were able to teach a Presbyterian minister and five of his congregation. They invited us to church and we went yesterday. It was really cool! I love going to different churches and seeing where people are coming from. They have SO much truth but there was a very tangible difference in the Spirit of the worship service.

(Maybe it was the eletric guitar. I don't know ;)) The pastor was great too! Definitely a man of God. Very humble and sincere. He taught about becoming like Christ and asked if we had truly looked at our hearts recently. What is in your heart? What is your intention and motivation when you do good? Is it Christ? The pastor pretty much runs the show and says all of the prayers. He does the interpreting of the scriptures and gives it to the people.

Now contrast that with what we have. We have a church that is run by the people, for the people. We all have a chance to speak. We all have a chance to teach. We are asked to study and learn for ourselves. We have reverence and respect. And we have the priesthood authority to administer the sacrament. I really prayed to know during each of the services and to become very aware of the Spirit in each meeting- and the Lord answered my prayers with such an uplifting, sweet, strong sense of the Spirit from the sacrament service at the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. I KNOW that the church is true- in every sense of the word. It helps us to change and become more like the Savior. It offers us the chance to really develop a relationship with our Heavenly Father. It gives us MORE. There is MORE in MORMONISM.

I love the gospel! It is true. It is amazing to be here and watch the light of Christ begin to work in the lives of the people I have come to love. After all this time, they are beginning to really love the Spirit that the missionaries bring to their homes. They desire it. I am incredibly blessed.

I am so happy! I love you all so much and pray that you have a wonderful week!

Love you always,

Sister Alicia Johnson - of the Tennessee Nashville Mission (the greatest in the world)

These are pictures from my comps camera so please please please make sure they get saved! Sure love ya! My camera deleted some of these good ones... 

James Shaw's baptism. I don't know if I said much about James. He is a young man that another young man invited to church. He came to our ward but is now in the YSA branch. He was baptized about a month ago. We were primarily the ones that taught him so he was half our investigator and half the YSA Elders... :) he is great! He has the priesthood now and is SO happy! Yay! Happy faces!

And us in the car last night driving home from our choir thing. We look SOO good!

 This was my last district of last transfer

These are from the Parthenon :)

So they are changing the music rules around here. We are no longer supposed to have any music players- just CDs. These are the approved CDs. And I don't really have any! So if you feel so inspired I wouldn't mind having one or two of them :) We can only have these specific albums. Which is ok by me :) I have been listening to a lot of conference talks which has been wonderful. I wouldn't mind having some of those burned if that is possible. I will be sending my music player and a memory card in a package home. We all have DVD players in our apartments and CD players in the cars so I don't need a CD player- just the CD. Thank you so so much! I love you!

Approved Music:

·         Jenny Oaks Baker

·         Alex Boyer: Sacred Hymns

·         James Conlee: Sunday

·         Lex De Azevedo: Variations on Sacred Hymns

·         Mormon Tabernacle Choir

·         Nashville Tribute Band

·         Reflections of Christ

·         Vocal Point: Lead Thou Me On

I have added to the list. New to the list are: Hilary Weeks, Lower Lights (Hymn Revival 1 and 2), Jenny Phillips, and Mindy Gledhill (The Sum of All Grace).

Yay! So if you want to send some of these you can! Sure love ya!!!