SISTER SARAH JOHNSON...One month down!

Hello again! :)

I survived my first whole month on my mission! We celebrated on Saturday with pizza with some of the other sisters in our zone. I'm grateful to be here! Sometimes it feels like just yesterday I was entering the MTC, and sometimes it feels like that was 27 years ago. But we've been busy finding people and teaching, which makes the days move by quickly :).

So funniest quote of the week goes to the guy with the family taking a walk who was raised Jehovah's Witness. He said his mom thought that "Dinosaurs were put here on Earth by demons to confuse us". Haha, we have definitely had a good laugh about that since then.

We've done a lot of "inspired tracting" this week, where we pray about certain sections in our area, and pick a quadrant based on both of our impressions. It's been amazing! Almost every time, Sis. Barnes and I get the same thought or quadrant. We found one potential investigator, Tim, who already has a Book of Mormon and is trying to quit alcohol. And we found a less active member, Lorie, who just moved to Spokane and has wanted to go to church, but is too shy to go without knowing anyone. She said she's been wanting the missionaries to stop by, but she was too shy to call them or talk to them first on the street. We're going to see her later today, and we're excited to get to know her and help her to meet some of the other members :). It's amazing how Heavenly Father directs us to those who are looking for something more! That's probably the biggest thing I've learned this week, is that He really does all the convincing and the preparing of these good people, and our job is simply to be guides so they know where to find more truth in the gospel of Jesus Christ. I realized that it's not my job to argue with anyone or prove how the gospel is true, because Heavenly Father is preparing people who are ready to learn and accept the gospel on their own, who aren't out to just argue or tear the missionaries down. I'm just here to help people find where they want to go for themselves, and it's awesome! :)

Oh! We got to go to the temple on Friday! It was so beautiful and peaceful, and I'm glad we got to go :). The Spokane temple is so tiny though! The church building next to it is probably bigger than the temple is (though I think Angel Moroni stands just a little taller than the steeple). I think it's cute :).

This week I was also made the "designated driver" in my companionship, so I get to drive us around on Sunday-Wednesday (until the other sisters take our car). It's really fun to be driving again. Except the mission cars have a little box on the window, it's like a prison bracelet. It basically yells at you whenever you go too fast, or accelerate too fast, or do anything too fast. And if you get yelled at too many times, you get "black dotted" and you don't get to drive the rest of your mission. SO! I'm definitely trying to stay within the rules of car usage here, haha. It's an adventure.

Anyways! I love you all! :)

Love,

Sister Johnson