Wednesday, August 3, 2016

SISTER JOHNSON - Her Last P-Day in the MTC...



Wow! So this week was super weird! 

Friday was good except apparently our Elders pretended to snort Tide laundry detergent the night before, and our Branch President chastised them because another district told him they were really snorting it. Haha they're always into something, it's a wonder they've all made it this far sometimes. 
Pioneer day was really awesome! We had a concert devotional with the Nashville Tribute Band, and it was wonderful to actually hear loud, peppy music for a change. The MTC doesn't technically allow music besides opening and closing hymns, but here was this crazy night to make us all feel better. They sang really awesome songs, and I cried during "Hardest Thing I Ever Loved to Do", "American Dream" and "Candles". If you need some inspiration, those are good ones! After the devotional, there are all these movies you can go watch, like the Restoration or talks or whatever. We decided to watch Legacy because it was Pioneer Day, and Sis. Young had never seen it. It almost felt like being home watching movies on Sunday night, except 100 Elders laughed or cheered every time ANY flirting happened in the movie, haha.
Most of the week was kind of weird though, because one of our Elders has been seriously talking about going home all week, and it was really worrying us. He finally left on Tuesday, and we were very sad to see him go. That's our 2nd Elder from our district who's gone home. Wednesday was better though, because we all got back to work and weren't so focused on making him feel as comfortable as possible. We have been able to move forward and study harder knowing that this is important work and we need to put our whole hearts into it. 
Like I touched on last week, I've been trying super hard to learn how to love people even when I don't know them very well. It's been a struggle to feel pressure to help people, but to also not have time to really know their story so I can assess how to help. But during Tuesday Night's devotional, I had this impression that it doesn't matter what people's pasts are, because I'll never be able to understand all the varied and complicated stories people have. Instead, this work is about people's futures, and the hope that Christ can give each of them as they learn to apply it to their own pasts. It helped me to relax about sharing something so personal with people I don't even know, because I know Heavenly Father knows them, and if they're ready to change then the Spirit will help them understand. Still learning how to apply that impression to my teaching, it's a slow learning process. But I'm pumped to try! 
I also love one of our teachers, Sis. Mitchell. She's so good at helping us see where we can improve, but without treating us like highschool kids or like we're stupid. I want to be like her when I grow up, haha. She talked to us about how we can ask faith building questions instead of just yes or no, or one answer questions. It's challenging, but I've also seen really amazing results when I actually listen to people's answers and figure out how to build off of those with more thought provoking questions. 
Anyways! All is well here, we're excited to get out of the MTC and get out in our areas. We have to be ready to go by 3:30am on Monday, and then we'll all trek down to the airport where we'll fly to Spokane at like 8. There are 21 missionaries flying with us! 6 sisters and 15 Elders I believe. I've met some of them, and we're hoping we get to sit kind of near each other on the plane. We'll probably all sleep though, let's be honest. At least the mission president will let us stay at the mission home that night, so we can look presentable when we meet our trainers on Tuesday! Haha
I love you all! Thank you for all the prayers and the thoughts! :)
Love,
Sister Johnson






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