SISTER SARAH JOHNSON...It's been another busy week...

Well, it's been another busy week, but I think that's how things go around here in general. Which is awesome! 

We had the Sisters from the area next to us sleeping over for a couple of nights after their apartment was broken into, which was fun! Except a little more stressful because our apartment isn't really built for 4 people, and one bathroom isn't really built for 4 girls. But it was fun to have more people. :) 

I went on another exchange this week with Sis. Sonenstahl - the sister from my MTC district. She's my favorite :) and we got to take over her area for the day. We met lots of nice people, and the member we met up with for dinner was awesome. And I taught Sis. Sonenstahl how to make pancakes for breakfast, which is probably the fanciest breakfast I've had since being out here. That was fun!

We're also coming down to the end of our Book of Mormon in a transfer challenge, and I'm right on track to finish on Sunday. It's been a really cool experience reading the Book of Mormon so quickly, because it's easier to understand the cycles the people go through, and the general story outline. Our mission president sent us some training to go over in our Zone training meeting on Friday about how we should approach the Book of Mormon. In reality, it's just a 500 page book full of action, victory, drama, advice, and new perspectives. If it were any other book, how long would it take you to read that? Like a month. So we've been asked to approach the Book of Mormon with investigators in that way, instead of as this really hard task that they can take years to finish. Not that it's bad to take your time reading too, but it's also just a book to read, and it's definitely doable to read it within a month or two. I know that as I've taken more time to read it, I understand the stories way better, and I've found way more inspiration and comfort within the pages of the Book of Mormon. Speaking of which, we have a new Book of Mormon challenge starting on September 14, and you're all invited to join us! 

We're actually going to be reading just 5 pages a day, and finishing on Christmas day (kind of our gift to our Savior :) ). But while we're reading, we're going to be highlighting all the different names of Christ, and all of his tender mercies in the lives of the Book of Mormon people. I think it'll be a new amazing experience to be able to see all the direct effects that Christ has in the lives of the Nephites and the Lamanites, and how central He really is in our lives as well. I'm really excited to start the Book of Mormon over next week. :)

As a side note, it's been really cold this week, and rainy. And while I really like the rain back home, it is a very cold rain here. Haha I use my rice bag almost every morning to stay comfortable. Everyone keeps telling me I'll be fine, but I'm pretty sure I'm gonna die this winter. RIP Sister Johnson. 

Oh and here are some pictures :). The top one should be me and Elder DeAndrade at the MTC! (That was Jacob's companion :)) )

Then there's the mandatory nametag temple pic. 

And then there's the sisters from my MTC district, plus the Elders from a neighboring district who liked us better than our own Elders, so we adopted them. Haha

Oh and here are some more pics from the leadership training my companion went to, haha. :) 

Also Rick's baptism and the night that the sister's apartment got broken into. Such adventure. haha

Ok! We went to Manito Park a couple of Pdays ago, and it was super pretty! The first pic is me and Sister Barnes :), then just me in the rose gardens, then our district sisters in front of this other cool garden, aaaaand me in the Japanese garden they had! It's a super pretty park. It's actually the one we're going to play soccer at today with our zone, so that'll be fun to go again :).

Love you all! 

Sister Johnson