SISTER SARAH JOHNSON...Hello cute people!

This week has been really good! 

And I'm super pumped to be a missionary, which is so great!

Ok so part of the reason this week was awesome is because there's a sister in my district, Sister Tyler, who is super awesome and met a missionary who was trained for the District 3 training (which is like the third season of missionary training, it's our "favorite tv show"). Well that missionary is now off her mission, and trained sister Tyler on how to better plan and teach the way the District 3 trains, and then Sister Tyler trained us. SO! We've been implementing all the new stuff into our area, and it just makes us really excited to see how it's going to change everything. It affects everything from planning to teaching, and emphasizes using members as a referral source and home base for lessons instead of tracting and wasting a lot of time bothering people. Because strong investigators and members have strong friends who need the gospel too! The one thing that I've seen be really effective so far is emphasizing the 5 points of the gospel in every lesson, for every point. So like, teaching the restoration might go something like this:

"God is our loving Heavenly Father, and we lived with him before we came to earth. While with Him there, He presented a plan for us to come to earth and follow the gospel of Jesus Christ, which is Faith, Repentance, Baptism, Receiving the Holy Ghost, and Enduring to the End so that we can have the Atonement in our lives. When we come to the earth, we're put in families where we can be supported as we learn about the gospel, which is faith, repentance, baptism, the holy ghost, and enduring. But to learn those things, God has called prophets who lead and guide the church, and who hold the priesthood authority to baptize and give the gift of the holy ghost, so we can fulfill the 5 points of the gospel..."

Ok so it takes a really long time to type out, but basically incorporating the gospel into every little thing has been really cool! And it helps our investigators know we're serious about baptism being essential to their salvation, because we literally bring it up every 15 seconds. Sometimes I feel obnoxious about it, but hey, if it'll get people excited and committed, I'll keep pestering them with the Gospel :). 

So that's what I'm pumped about! I'm excited to see the results of it, since it's a little slow going motivating members to talk about their friends who need the gospel. Statistics show that like 90% of the time when missionaries ask a member who they could teach, a name comes to mind and the member just doesn't share it for one reason or another. BUT THAT"S THE SPIRIT telling them who could accept it. So we're learning how to be more relentless when asking to teach people's friends or family or acquaintances, so that they can share their happiness with those people who don't know the fullness of the gospel and how it will completely improve their lives. It's slow going, but it's going to be awesome when we get to that point where the members are excited to share too. 

Moral of that story, share your friends with the missionaries! And go with the missionaries to share the gospel because your friend is less likely to say no to you! But probably would say no to 2 young people on their doorstep... haha. 

Today Sis. Peacock is letting us come make "kitchen sink" cookies again, and I'm super pumped about it. She takes good care of us on P-days :). Life is just so good right now, and I'm way happy about it. We're going to put Aaron on a baptismal date tonight too, if all goes well, so all in all there's lots of good things happening and the Church is true! 

I love you all! :) 

Sister Johnson