SISTER SARAH JOHNSON - 1/22 - Hello friend and family! :D

This week absolutely ROCKED and I'm really pumped about it. Here it goes. 

Monday we got to hang out with the whole zone. It was pretty sweet. We played some intense 4-square, and "Set me up" (which I played waaaay back in the Moscow days of my mission). I came home with bruises everywhere, but it's ok. Because at least it wasn't a marshmallow to the face this time. 

Tuesday.... well, Sister Sonenstahl got really sick, and I didn't feel so hot either. We ate some questionable Dairy Queen for lunch on Monday, and it was not a happy experience. So we stayed in all day, and napped, and read the Book of Mormon, and cleaned the house. 

Wednesday we got to go out visiting people with our brand new member, Sister Schellenburg! She and her new husband moved here for an internship, and she is super super bored, so she comes with us to stuff. Shout out goes to her for being the MVP this week. We went to the thrift store and she drove us all the way to Craigmont for a great lesson with our recent convert, Jeff. It was an adventurous day. 

Thursday was really chill and kind of boring. 

Friday we had a great district meeting, and the zone leaders even showed up as our special guests. I feel like the city missionaries have this air of class, and sophistication (well, as much sophistication as 19 year old boys can get I guess). And down here in the "up river district" we've all kind of lost it. Like we're straight up crazy. Elder McChesney even stuffed himself in the fridge. And while we all laughed, there was this slight fear in the zone leaders eyes.... like they're not really sure we're ok. Haha but it's all good, they can't really do anything about it. We also had exchanges on Friday, so Sister Nickle and Sister Hall came to hang out with us for the night. Sister Nickle and I found a new investigator!! His name is Michael, and he's 10, and from last Sunday to Friday he had read all the way to 1 Nephi 10. His grandma and mom are members, and it's been so fun to go over and talk to them and teach Michael. He asks such good questions, and he likes us so that's been awesome :). 

SATURDAY WAS THE BEST THOUGH BECAUSE WE FINALLY GOT TO GO TO ELK CITY!!! Wow it was awesome. The Pierces took us all the way out there. It's the furthest we can drive away from our mission home haha. I finally got to meet our investigators, Cowboy and Janet. And Janet invited  us to eat Chinese food where she works on February 2nd. Sister Schellenburg has offered to drive us, and I'm so excited about that. But we did get to talk to Cowboy at dinner with a whole group of our members out there. It was at the Doherty's house, and they basically live in a medieval castle. The outside looks like a cottage, but it's literally a medieval castle inside, complete with open fireplaces, no electric heat, candelabras, bear furs, gargoyles, you name it. It's there. It was awesome!! I'll have to send lots of pictures, but it still doesn't do that place justice. We got to stay the night and everything, and we almost froze haha. The dinner and the company were wonderful though :). And Cowboy asked us what the difference between prophets and disciples is, and we had the best conversation about it with him. He's reading the Book of Mormon and everything, and wants to come to church again this coming Sunday :). He's just one of the sweetest people ever, and I think he'll get baptized sooner than later. 

I just love Elk City, and all the people. I wish we could go live there. I finally felt like I belong in the Grangeville ward, but it's an hour and a half east of here..... haha. I'll definitely be going out there as often as we can find rides (because I'm not sure I trust myself to drive that scary road haha). 

Anyways, thank you all for the prayers!! It's working, and we're going to get this place hopping. I'm so excited to be a missionary!! :D 

Here are some fabulous pictures from the castle we slept at. The picture of the bed, is the bed I got to sleep in haha. I love that place. 

 

I also love you all! I hope you all get to have amazing weeks. Sister Sonenstahl goes home next week, so here starts the week of "last time she does ____" haha. We're getting excited about it :). 

Until next week! 

Sister Johnson

Here is a picture of the random abandoned toilet we always drive past on our way to district meeting.

And pictures of us at Mod pizza a couple weeks ago, feat. 

 Jay West, who I met back in Moscow YSA a long time ago! 

 

 

 Also my mama sent me an adorable llama sweater. Can't beat that. The baby llama is even fuzzy. :D 

 

 

Ok that's all! Adios! :)

 

Sorry I just can't resist sending more pictures. This week was awesome ok?

Sister Sonenstahl and I met the nicest cat ever named Leo. He lives with the Carey's, who are some of our really cool members :). 

 

Also some more pictures of the medieval house. The pictures of Sister Sonenestahl and the bearded man? That's Cowboy :D 

 

 

ELDER MATT LEBARON - 1/22 - Find Joy in the Journey

Hello friends and family!

I don’t mean to pat myself on the back, but this is the third email in a row that I’ve sent, so that’s pretty good. It’s better than ignoring you guys for a month at a time, sorry about that haha. 

This week has been kind of slow, but it was a pretty good week! We started it out with a zone activity last P-day. We had a BBQ and some fun games. It was the most fun zone activity I’ve had my entire mission I think. I’m probably in one of the coolest zones. Everybody is really relaxed and easy to get along with. The sisters are really low maintenance which makes my job as District leader a lot easier. We played a game called Wilson ball which is the missions rendition of dodgeball, it never ends, it’s pretty 

fun. 

 

 

Did you know we were going to have a baptism this week? No, well me either! Apparently the zone leaders were teaching someone in our area and didn’t tell us, typical, haha. The stake president found out and made them more wards so we had their baptism in our ward. We were scrambling for a few days trying to get everything set up. Their names a David and Shonna, they both recently came to America from China looking for better opportunities and freedom. David was recently baptized and had the privilege of baptizing his wife, it was a pretty spiritual experience that I was delighted to be apart of. I may have not been there for their lessons but I am grateful to know David and Shonna, and experience their great enthusiastic spirits. 

 

 

We haven’t done a very good job at finding this week, and it seems like everyone in our teaching pool has either dropped us, or is ignoring us. Eh oh well. I’m at a point in my mission where I’ve done a lot of reflection and you just gotta roll with the punches. Up to this point, 95 percent of my mission has been trying to find people, through long summer days, never ending contacting, and being willing to let someone slam the door in your face one more time. The other 5 percent I would say has been the pure joy of working with people that are prepared to receive the gospel. I have met and worked with people that have changed my life, and it’s been what has made my mission a pure bliss. That 5 percent is the most meaningful thing that I have ever experience thus far in my life, and for that I am grateful. The mission is about laughing when it’s hard, working through the tears, making friends with your companion and just cracking jokes through the rejection. I’ve been feeling really grateful for my mission lately, and even though I’m not home quite yet I’m excited to make the most of the next some odd 4 and a half months I have left. My sister Alyssa shared with me and reminded me of one of my favorite quotes by Thomas S. Monson and I wanted to share it with you as well. “Find joy in the journey now” this life we’re living is pretty short, so make the most of what you have now. Love the people that matter most to you a littler more, smile, laugh. Find happiness through the trial, find peace through our savior Jesus Christ, who bore all things for us. “Adam fell that men might be; and men are, that they might have joy.” 

tell the people you care most for that you are grateful for them and what they do for you, most of all, tell them they are loved by you.  

"Never let a problem to be solved become more important than a person to be loved."

-Thomas S. Monson 

I hope you all can find happiness and peace in your lives today, I hope you can feel gratitude for all the many blessings our Father in Heaven has bestowed upon you and your family. He loves us and will forever stretch his arms out to us. Thanks for the inspiration Alyssa.

Elder LeBaron 

The last picture is us having lunch with our ward mission leader, he’s Samoan and he is so much fun haha. 

SISTER SARAH JOHNSON - 1/15 - It was a great week guys!

Sister Sonenstahl and I have had so much fun talking and laughing all the time. Man I am going to miss her when she goes... but it's ok. Because we decided I'm going to live in her basement when I go off to college. So we'll be real roommates, and real friends, instead of assigned ones haha. 

We had a couple of FANTASTIC lessons this week! We got to read some of the Book of Mormon with a lady named B and her husband Cody. They are awesome, and ask a lot of good questions. We even got to tackle the polygamy thing, which is always an adventure. And we had a great Plan of Salvation lesson with Pebbles and her daughter Naomi. They are so sweet. After we finished, Naomi asked her mom a question about spirits, and we got to watch Pebbles explain the pre-earth life back to Naomi, and it just made my heart so full of happiness! The Plan of Salvation is all about families and finding joy, and in that one instant, I saw so much hope for that little family. I love them so much. 

Also this week, we got a smartphone! Sister Sonenstahl and I ordered our own, but neither of them came in. So since Sister Sonenstahl is going home soon, they gave her one of the mission phones to use. We've been updating all of our old records and information, and putting them into an online area book thing. It takes foreverrrrr but it's been so nice to have things to do when it's dark and cold and nobody wants to see us haha. And reading emails throughout the week is a huge bonus, and I'm super happy about it. 

We got to watch President Monson's funeral with our district this last week too. Again, the Plan of Salvation just brings so much peace. I didn't feel sad at all that he's passed on, mostly because I just know how happy he's got to be on the other side now. God's plan is just so good! 

I also decided that reading to the elderly people in the nursing home every Friday is one of my favorite parts of the week. They're all just so sweet to us, even if they only barely remember who we are. I love learning all their names and shaking their hands after we read. You can tell they just crave a little kindness and love, and that makes it so much more rewarding to give. One lady this week even asked me all about Joseph Smith, and asked how long I've been a Mormon. I got to bear the shortest, tiniest testimony ever to her, and just said "I've been a member my whole life, and I love it so much. It makes me so happy". Let me tell you, I haven't felt so strongly about anything in a long time, and I almost cried right there. Our testimonies don't have to be anything eloquent or detailed for the Holy Ghost to testify to our hearts that what we believe is so true. I love this Gospel and my Savior Jesus Christ so much, it just makes me so happy! 

Well, today we get to go to Lewiston for zone pday. Woo! We finally get to shop at Walmart! It should be fun. We never get to see the city missionaries, but half of them are legendary marshmallow dodgeball players, so hopefully I don't come home with bruises. 

Anyways, i love you all so much! 

Sister Sarah Johnson

ELDER MATT LEBARON - 1/15 - Winter Rain

Hello everyone!

It’s been another eventful week this week, all made possible again  by
East L.A. we started out the week with a ton of rain, luckily for us
the first day it rained was on Monday, so we got to be inside for the
most part, but on Tuesday it was still raining all day. We went to
East Los to try and teach some lessons, but no one was home. A lot of
the rain gear I had last year I wore a ton, and so I guess it’s not as
waterproof as it use to be. I thought I didn’t get wet, but I was
super cold the whole day. When I got home I realized that all my
clothes were soaked. I changed really quick and some members picked us
up for dinner and they had a fire place I sat in from of, that was
super nice.

I think we finally found someone to work with. There is a girl that we
picked up a week ago that is starting to progress, it’s refreshing to
be able to start teaching things other than the first lesson. Some
days we teach the first lesson on contact 5 to 15 times. Hopefully we
will get more people to teach, but things are pretty slow around here
even though there’s hundreds of people to talk to on the street.

This area is crazy man. We were riding the train back to Alhambra, and
guess who sat right next to us? A drunk Jehovas witness. That was
great. The guy technically wasn’t even a baptized member, but he was
looking for a fight. One thing that sucks about people a missionary is
people target you sometimes. I just want to ride the train back in
peace is that too much to ask? People always start out by saying “you
know I really respect you guys, don’t get me wrong... but!...” Most of
the time on my mission when stuff like that happens I can just walk
away, but we were literally cornered. He wanted me to say that Gods
name was Jehovah, haha. Like come on man, I’m not going to agree with
this silliness, But I kept telling him, “you know we just have to
agree to disagree” things escalated and he started screaming that we
were  the anti Christ. We didn’t even bash with him I was just trying
to ignore him. People on the train were super annoyed by this too, and
a guy finally called out after him “ Hey shut up! No one wants to hear
what you have to say!” That really pushed the drunk guy over the edge.
Before I knew it there were metro police dragging the guy off the
train. Thanks random citizen for taking the heat for that one, I
thought they were going to fight for sure. A lot of the times on my
mission I find myself asking, how did I get myself in this situation?
Weird stuff just always happens.

Boyle heights and East L.A definitely have the most action out of all
the places I’ve been before. It makes missionary work kind of
exciting, I wake up and think, “I wonder what crazy person I’m going
to run into today ?” It’s a cool area I like it.

This week I’ve been studying a lot about improving and always growing.
The Lord really does have a lot of expectations for us. I think as a
whole, most people run away from correction or chastisement. I know I
do. A scripture that I really like is found in Proverbs 3: 11-13,
which says:

11 My son, despise not the chastening of the Lord; neither be weary of
his correction:

12 For whom the Lord loveth he correcteth; even as a father the son in
whom he delighteth.
13 Happy is the man that findeth wisdom, and the man that getteth understanding.

I hope to better apply this scripture in my life, and I invite all of
you to do the same. I hope that you all enjoy your week, Happy Monday!

Elder LeBaron

SISTER SARAH JOHNSON - 1/8 - Hello my friends and family!!

It's been a pretty slow week here in Grangeville... but it's ok, we had some success and there are good things ahead of us! 

I finally got to meet one of our investigators, Ryan, who lives in the middle of nowhere. He seems like a really good kid, just unmotivated to read or come to church or commit to baptism.... so.... we're working on that. We have plans to finally go out to Elk City this week, and meet our other 2 investigators there. That should be an adventure too! 

We also got to go on exchanges to Lewiston last week, and hang out with Sister Nickle and Sister Hall. It was fun to be able to see some other missionaries for a change.  And we got to eat at Mod Pizza, which is like Subway, but for pizza. Best place ever. And the sisters were super nice to drive us around Lewiston and give us a pep talk about our area. 

We got to have district meeting as well, and see the other missionaries serving way out here in the boonies. Usually during district meeting, we do what we call "accountings" where we talk about the progress of our investigators and ask for any help resolving concerns and stuff. But in our meeting, we just have what we call "Sad Time", where we each stand up, write a sad face on the board, and sit back down. Because nobody is really teaching anyone.... except the Orofino elders. I have a story about that!

So yesterday was fast Sunday, and Sister Sonenstahl and I decided to fast for our district, specifically the elders because everyone is sad and we wanted them to find people to teach. And then last night, the Orofino elders called us to ask for our goals for the coming week (to report to the zone leaders), and then they said "WHAT DID YOU FAST FOR TODAY?? DID YOU FAST FOR A NEW INVESTIGATOR?" and we were like "No, actually. We fasted for you guys and the Kamiah elders, that you would find investigators?" and then they were all "Dangit sisters, you're poaching our investigator!"..... turns out their only investigator (who happens to be getting baptized this month) is moving to Grangeville of all places. So.... well..... I guess maybe this week we'll have someone to teach? It made us kind of sad because that was literally the only light in Orofino. But our ward is really good here, and maybe that's where Jeremiah needs to be? It'll be an adventure, stay tuned. 

Bishop Barela also gave us a pep talk yesterday. It was much needed, and we appreciated it. 

SO! Good things are going to happen, I just know it. We just have to put ourselves out there to find the good things. Zone conference is tomorrow, and we're getting SMARTPHONES!! :D So then I can read emails throughout the week. And we can show videos to people. And maybe skype our investigators out in Elk City. Things are looking up. 

I don't have a ton of pictures this week, but lots of scenery! The snow has been melting for a few weeks, it's been so nice. 

 

 

 

And a picture from district p-day last week :). We brought some of our members with us so we could actually play a good game of missionary basketball, and signs, and mafia :). They were awesome! 

 

Alright I love you all! I hope you have a fabulous week!! 

Sister Johnson

ELDER MATT LEBARON - 1/8 - East L.A

Happy P-day!

Not that that means much to many of you, haha, but it’s P-day again!
The week seemed to fly by.

We spent almost our whole week in East L.A and Boyle heights. Since
Alhambra is pretty wealthy and no one speaks English we figure it’s
probably better to go to East Los where people are poor and don’t
speak English. Here’s the thing though, it’s actually super expensive
to live in those areas! A lot of the houses up there start at 800
thousand, like why would anyone do that?

Something that I’m pretty excited for is not having to take public
transportation ever again after my mission. Trust me, Southern
California has probably one of the worst public transportation
systems, ugh it’s so terrible. The buses are never on time, and a lot
of the time bus schedules don’t line up so you’ll have to wait a long
time between lines.

We were heading up our usual route, about 10 minutes in a kid threw up
on the bus. You’re crammed between all these people with the
overwhelming scent of vomit. It’s what nightmares are made of. Just
stuck. I tried to convince my companion to get off and wait for
another bus but he wasn’t having it, so we stayed on the bus for
another 30 minutes. I was pretty relieved when we got to our
destination. Public transportation lost a couple more points in my
book that day.

A lot of the times it seems like we’re in a movie here are so many
people walking around and so many strange things to see in Boyle
heights and East Los, definitely going to have some stories from this
place. We were talking to literally everyone, if you time it right,
there are a lot of people to talk to on the neighborhoods, we picked
up a lot of investigators this week. Nothing makes the time go by
faster than preaching the Restored Gospel all day.

Elder Oaks came to our mission on Saturday. I was able to shake his
hand and listen to his wise words. It’s a pretty unique experience
being able to be in the same room as an apostle of Jesus Christ.
Something that stood out to me was how everything thought it was so
amazing and incredible, and seemed to pay extra attention to the words
he spoke, but when general conference comes around it seems people,
including myself don’t take it as seriously. What a blessing it is
that we have modern technology that we can hear from the prophets and
apostles frequently throughout the year,  of only that, but also be
able to review their words any time we want. We truly are blessed in
this Gospel dispensation. I invite all of you to fully take advantage
of these blessings the Lord has so generously given us. I am so
grateful for the ability to always have a large library of knowledge
at our fingertips.

Thanks for all the love and support!  Enjoy the start of the new year!

Elder LeBaron
Sent from my iPad

1) Me with this chromed our lambo
 

 2) my favorite church in East Los

 

 

 

3)Boyle heights

ELDER MATT LEBARON - 1/1/2018 - Happy New Years!

I hope everyone had fun welcoming the new year, and is ready for all the upcoming adventures, and challenges that will surely follow.

Things have been pretty old around here. The area that I’m serving in is really cool. We have a lot of diversity in the area, including people and places. Alhambra has a lot of cool things, it has a pretty cool downtown, it always seems like people are are up to so,etching around here. Most of the people don’t even speak English, because there is such a high population of Asian people here. It’s pretty fun. We also cover East L.A and Boyle heights which is all Spanish... so pretty much no one speaks English here. Me and Elder Hansen have been doing a lot of finding this week. We don’t have anyone really in our teaching pool so we have to build it all up. Ugh, mission life. It seems like my entire mission has been finding. I’m excited to see some results though. Something I’ve learned is that any time you work hard, you will always see results, always. Maybe it might take a little longer to see, but the results always come. 

All the sisters that came out with me are home! What the heck. They went home last transfer... and I’m still here! It’s just crazy. At the same time I’m happy to be able to have the opportunity to refine my missionary skills. 

Being district leader has been pretty fun too, I have a pretty cool district, and so we can have a lot of fun. Today we are going to get pedicures, next week we are going to go to the driving range. It’s fun to try different ways to motivate people. I’m also super grateful for the zone leaders in this zone, they are super cool, and it makes my job a lot easier. 

There was a guy we ran into the other day, we helped him move. When we were I. His house he told us that his dog was famous and had been in a lot of korean dramas. So that was super cool. Couldn’t deny that photo op.

 

 

 

 I also met the drummer from the band Red Bone, he’s a former in our teaching pool so that’s cool. If you guys have seen Guardians of the galaxy they are the first song “come and get your love” so I definitely got a picture with him. 

 

 

 

Another picture in here is me with all the Chinese missionaries I served with in a couple zones ago.

 

 

The mission life is good. It’s hard work, but I’m really enjoying myself. Hope all is well, and that you all enjoy this holiday season!

Elder LeBaron

SISTER SARAH JOHNSON - 1/1/2018 - HAPPY NEW YEAR! :D

It's so crazy to look back on 2017 and see how much happened! I've definitely learned a lot, and seen a lot, and put my whole heart and soul into a lot of things that I wouldn't have if I hadn't been on a mission. God knew what he was doing when He sent me out here to the Spokane mission. I'm so grateful I still have 10 weeks left. :) 

We had an alright week. There's not a lot going on here in Grangeville, so we're going to focus on finding some people who are looking for the Gospel. I still haven't met our most promising investigators, because it's just so darn hard to get out to where they live. But now that the holidays are over, and the snow is currently melting, we could have more chances at teaching them :). 

We did get to help sort clothes at the thrift store, and we read Chicken Soup stories to the elderly, and we got to help Lynn organize some of her garage! Those were my favorite things this week. But we also got to go to the ward game night.... even though we're not allowed to play boardgames. Haha but our neighbor, Ally came with us, so that was fun :). 

New Year's eve was pretty good too :). We got home from church and studied before we went to dinner with the Brunsons! They're the family that fed us breakfast on Christmas, and they're so cute. I love them. And then we decided to bring brownies to the Astle/Wannacot family, because their older son came to Gospel principles class  and made half a dozen of the best comments I've ever heard in a lesson on the sacrament. They played "Signs" with us because it's not a board game :) and it was fantastic! The two older boys might come play basketball with us and the elders later today, which will be super cool. We get to go all the way out to Kamiah for Pday (pronounced like Cami-eye haha). 

I'm really excited for the new year! I finished the Book of Mormon last night, and I'm ready to read it one more time before I go back home. I'm going to try to be more kind in what I say and do as well!! Somebody was talking on Sunday and said "Words have meanings, and meanings have results", and it made me think "Hm, Sistah J, you probs need to work on the words you use", so I'm going to do better! That's what the new year is for, little goals :). 

Also I attached some pictures of us at the park from sometime this week where we were just walking around. Families each pick a tree to decorate every year, it's pretty cute. :) 

 

 

 

 

 And here are a couple of pictures of Sister Sonenstahl and I walking home the other day in the snow. 

We decided to take a shovel with us so we didn't have to walk through 7+ inches of snow haha. Like human snow plows. 

 

 

 

Anyways I love you all!! Happy new year! Stay out of trouble, keep your chin up, and always been kind. See you all this year!! 

Love,

Sister Johnson 

SISTER SARAH JOHNSON - 12/26 - Hello friends! I hope you all had a very Merry Christmas! I sure did :)

Here are some highlights from the week here in Grangeville. We had some good times! 

Sister Sonenstahl and I were able to read to some elderly folks in this cute little home after a fabulous district meeting on Friday. We read this story about the meaning behind the gifts from the wisemen, but where as the wisemen entered the stable, each of their gifts turned into a "portion of themselves". So, the first wiseman's gold turned into a hammer, representing his greed because he hammered his wealth out of the poor. He worries that the hammer will hurt the child, it's too heavy to leave there. But the angel Gabriel tells him he must leave his gift, and leave it to heaven. So he leaves his hammer and goes out rejoicing. The second wiseman's bottle of frankincense turns into a bottle of vinegar, representing how bitter his education has made him, and how miserable comparison has made him. He too doesn't want to leave his gift for the child anymore, but is told by Gabriel that he must. So he does, and leaves the stable with a smile. The final wiseman brings his myrrh, which turns into a spear as he goes to give it to the Christ child. Gabriel explains to him that the spear represents the war in his heart. The wiseman has always fought and competed, and it's time for him to leave that portion of himself at the feet of the baby. The wiseman worries it'll hurt the child, but is also told he must let this go so he can be free of the war in his heart. He leaves it, and all 3 wisemen hug each other and feel great because their burdens have been lifted. All 3 of those gifts were tied to the future, at a time when the Savior would again have to bear a hammer, vinegar, and a spear, but the story also says that those are things we must leave to heaven, our duty is to remember.

This is a very long story when I read it out loud, so forgive me for not having all the details. But it really made me think about what gift I need to give to the Savior this year. New year's is coming up fast, and Sister Dymock challenged us all to write a "letter to Jesus" and give him a gift, or a portion of ourselves. I definitely have a lot of weaknesses that I need to give to the Savior.... but this year I've decided to give Him my warring heart too. I want to be able to love everyone simply because they are human beings too. So if you all get a moment to think this new year's eve, consider what you want to give to Jesus Christ as a gift this year. It's kind of a cool experience, and Heavenly Father always has a funny way of showing you just the area you need to work on. ;) 

ALSO THIS WEEK SISTER SONENSTAHL AND I TOTALLY GOT TO GO TO CHRISTMAS EVE MASS. Haha it was "midnight mass", only we did it at 7:30 because the little elderly nuns can't stay up that late. President Dymock is the best for letting us go! We got some weird looks, like "Hey, you're not on this team" kind of stuff. But we sang louder than most of the Catholics so..... whatever. Haha there was a lot of standing and sitting and chanting and singing and I was a little confused by the end of it all. But it made me feel really grateful that I get to be a part of the restored Gospel. That things in our church aren't just rituals passed down, but that we are actually lead by the priesthood authority of God. The contrast of our church in the morning, to mass at night was a really unique experience. 

Christmas was awesome! We got a 2 hour nap, and beautiful breakfast, lots of fun little gifts, dinner with the bishop, time to skype our families, and we even had time for the only Christmas movie we have; Joy to the World. Haha it was a good day. 

Well, that's about all. Here are some pictures of the Christmas festivities around here. I'll send more pics in another email. I have some pretty good ones this week haha. Sister Sonenstahl and I are already best friends, so it's a good time. 

LOVE YOU ALL! Happy New Year :) 

Sister Johnson

ELDER MATT LEBARON - 12/18 - Transfers

Hello friends and family!

I know I have been pretty bad about sending out a weekly email, but I’m going to try and be a lot better in the upcoming weeks to keep you guys updated. Sometimes it’s hard to write emails and explain what’s going on, it seems like everything has just meshed into one event. 

There have been some changes going on, it feels like time is just going so fast I can’t keep track of the days. It’s already been a transfer since I picked up Elder McDaniel. Unfortunately, I got transferred to another area today, and I am now serving in Alhambra. I just want to stay in an area for a little bit, it feels like my last two just flew. I definitely wasn’t expecting to get transferred this time around... I was only in this area for 2 transfers, 3 months just isn’t enough time I feel. I really started to love the ward and the people I was working with. All I have to say is, I’m really loving the mission. It’s hard, there are the ups and the downs, but it’s been the best thing I’ve ever done. I think when you start getting comfortable that’s when president transfers you, what a bummer haha.

The area that I’m serving in is very Asian. We also cover parts of East L.A and Boyle Heights, I’ve driven through before, so I’m pretty excited. It’s ghetto around these parts. I’m ready, bring it on. 

It was pretty hard saying goodbye to all the members, but it was especially hard to say goodbye to one of my recent converts, Steve. I got pretty close to that guy. He was so good to me and my companions. I also will miss Elder McDaniel, I couldn’t have gotten a better son! (Trainee) I’m sad I won’t be able to finish his training, it’s okay, because one of my previous comps in the field and also in MTC, Elder collings, will finish his training. So that’s okay with me, technically I think that means he’s getting trained by his uncle? I’m not sure how that works, but anyways...  it’s all good. Just starving and thriving out here.

The Lord has really been blessing me a lot. I have been so humbled with how things have been going for me lately. I’m especially grateful for serving a mission. It’s kind of funny, because I already feel like I’m being blessed for my service even though I’m still doing it. I’m excited to see what the Lord has in store for me in the latter part of my mission. I’m trying to become the man he needs me to become. I hope that when I come back it seems like I changed at least a little bit haha. I’m just getting adjusted to this area, but I’m expecting some good things from Alhambra! 

Elder LeBaron 

Sent from my iPad

SISTER SARAH JOHNSON - 12/18 - Hello again!

It's been a wonderful week here in Snowkane. I realized one benefit to snow, is that it doesn't seem quite so dark so fast, because the city lights reflect off the snow. So walking around is only dangerous because now the ground is ice, instead of because the streets are dark haha. 

Also today we got our transfer calls! And I'm headed to Grangeville, ID for Christmas! My new companion is Sister Sonenstahl, and she's literally one of my all time favorite people so this is going to be THE BEST. She'll go home in 6 weeks, so I'll probably take over the area and go home from Grangeville too. Cheers to the last area I'll have on my mission! (probably)

I loved this week though. Sister Lindsey is fantastic and we've had a lot of fun walking around in the snow to see everyone. We had a choir concert we got to sing a song in (there's a picture from the practice down there somewhere), we got to decorate sugar cookies and deliver them to a bunch of people, we got to bring Traci's 3 boys to their baptism interview and THEY ALL PASSED :D, and we've had lots of laughs and lots of good moments. Last year I hated the snow so much, but I think this year I'm learning to appreciate how pretty it makes everything. I uploaded a picture of our first snow, but on Friday we got something close to 8 inches. Most of it has melted now though. Hopefully we get some more for Christmas :). 

Oh and we got to go to the Addiction Recovery Program on Wednesday, and there was this quote on the wall that said "Risk: Winners don't wait for chances, they take them". I decided I want that to be my new life motto. I'm done waiting around, let's go take chances! 

Also on Wednesday, a lady talked about how all of us have "Christ-sized holes" in our lives and our hearts, and we have to decide whether we fill that hole with our Savior and his Atonement, or with all the other things the world will tell us to fill it with. Drugs, alcohol, sugar, sports, people, art, whatever..... it all won't fill that Christ sized hole, because it doesn't fit right. There's some food for thought, in case you were hungry ;). 

Anyways, I hope you all have a very Merry Christmas! I know I sure will. It's such a beautiful time of year to be a missionary, because everyone just feels a little closer to the Savior it seems. :) I'm so grateful to be a missionary again, guys. This is the best adventure I've gone on so far! 

I love you all! Feliz Navidad! :)

 

 

 

 

 

SISTER SARAH JOHNSON - 12/11 - Hello friends!!

I got to come back out to Spokane on December 4th, and man let me tell you, it has been one crazy week jumping back into the swing of things. I'm in kind of a quad-panionship right now with the 3 Spanish sisters, but since I don't actually know Spanish, I've been with Hermana Lindsey doing the work in their English ward for the most part. It's been so busy! We have 3 kids on date to be baptized December 23rd. They are the cutest family ever! They remind me a lot of Anastasia and her family back in Plummer, actually. It's been really cool :). And I got to go to the Spanish Branch on Sunday, and that was actually an eye-opening experience! I could catch about 5% of what was said.... which was enough to maybe write a thesis statement about the talks. Maybe next week I'll use a headset, but I kind of like trying to understand what's being said. It keeps me awake. 

Speaking of staying awake, I forgot how tired missionaries are all the time. Holy cow is it a long day of adventure todos los dias. I have gladly welcomed back my old friends, "bagsundermyeyes" haha. I do have the world's sketchiest top bunk though. Pretty sure if I sneezed too forcefully, it would fall down and smash Hermana Mallett.... so I try really hard not to have to roll over in the night. It's fantastic haha. 

There were some really great things that happened this week though! I ran into a couple of incredible insights that I want to share with you all!! 

The first one was while we were teaching our on-date family! The parents are Traci and Jeff. Jeff's not a member yet, and neither are their 3 sons, but they're all awesome and they pretty much believe everything and I'm certain they'll get baptized pretty quick here. Anyways, we were teaching a lesson about keeping the Sabbath day holy, and decided to read and dissect the Sacrament prayers with them. We talked about the word "sanctified" for a minute, about how it means to make holy or pure, and Jeff asked if it had anything to do with the word "sanctuary". But in the midst of all the kids and the chaos, his question got kind of lost in the lesson. BUT! I totally thought about it the rest of the lesson. How does "sanctified" and "sanctuary" go together? And apparently so did Jeff, because at the end of the lesson he asked if "sanctuary" could be applied? Like a sanctuary in a war zone (he's in the army). We then had a really good mini discussion on how when we are sanctified by the gift of the Holy Ghost, we become our own sanctuary. We become our own safe place to be, no matter what's going on around us or how hard life has become, because we are sanctified. I left the lesson feeling so excited about that connection! Because for Jeff, it really spoke to him, because it applied to his life outside of the church as well. Ah! The Lord is just so good at helping people make connections. It's amazing to be a part of again! :D 

And then the other fantastic insight I came across was while we were sharing the new #LighttheWorld Christmas video with a member couple after dinner. (Go watch it again. It's good every time!) We asked them what they liked about the video, and Sister Southwick said she liked how smoothly the pictures flowed into each other, the present things with Jesus' life. And I thought about that literally the rest of the night. That's the goal! To smoothly transition the life and character of Jesus Christ into ours. I thought about it a lot in context of going home soon (again), because who I am here on the mission, with all the great things to do and the desire to help and love others, needs to be who I am when I get back home too. 

The work is just SO GOOD! There's nothing like being a missionary. This is going to be a fabulous 3 months you guys. I'm so grateful to be here. :) 

Love you all!! 

Sister Johnson :)

ELDER MATT LEBARON - 11/23 - Training, thanksgiving, and meetings

Happy thanksgiving everyone!

Our P-Day got moved to Thursday for whatever reason. I guess it’s because president knows that it’s not a very productive day for missionary work. The problem with that is that a lot of places are closed, and it’s harder to get things done on a holiday. Other than not having a P-day in almost two weeks I’m doing great, the bonus here is that P-day is on Monday again so it’s coming up quick! What a blessing. I’m not sure if I will have a lot to report, but I’ll try and send out an email. 

First off I just want to say, training is pretty fun. We went to the training meeting last week and everyone was a little anxious to find out who their companion was going to be. I think it’s funny because when I first came into the mission I remember looking at the trainers and being nervous about who was going to train me, but it still happens when you are training. I kept looking around wondering, “am I going to train him, or maybe him? I don’t know” a lot of the older missionaries always look so confident and in control, I’m starting to find out that I still don’t know exactly what I’m doing. I think everyone always assumes the older missionaries know everything, but we don’t. 

Once you’ve been out for a little while, you get use to missionary life, with all its challenges and difficulties. Something that has been interesting is watching E. McDaniel go through the adjustment process, I think I’m his first companion for a reason because I struggled so hard when I first came in. It was a pretty hard transition, and I didn’t think I was going to make it. All I can say is that I’m glad the mission gets better the longer you’re out, training is always the hardest. E. McDaniel is a stud, we are the same age and he graduated the same year as me, but decided to do a year of college instead of going right out on the mission. We get along really well, and it’s really nice he has confidence when teaching or talking to people. I knew I was going to get him because he was the most handsome of all the trainees, and I knew my son was going to be handsome. 

We have had so many meetings this week, holy cow. Elder Allard is district leader, since he was training as well I was with him while we were waiting for the greenies to come in. I had to go with him the a district leader meeting, then the next day we went to the training meeting, the next day we had district meeting, then Friday we had weekly planning, Sunday church, and then yesterday we had a huge meeting at the office regarding technology. We have had no time to do missionary work, it’s terrible. 

I’m glad E. McDaniel is in shape because the first couple days we were together we probably biked a solid 40 miles, all our appointments just seemed to be on opposite sides of the area. He’s a good sport, and doesn’t complain about anything which is super awesome. If I was doing this at the beginning of my mission I would have been a big complainer. He’s still learning the right time to shift the gears, and sore as ever. He keeps asking me when the soreness stops, I keep telling him that I’m still sore from riding bikes for a year and a half. I don’t think he likes that answer. Learning how to bike around town and in the gutters is such a weird thing to do, I give him props for only crashing twice. I always know he’s behind me because I can hear him grinding his gears trying to peddle up those hills. Sometimes while we’re biking He’ll just jump off his bike so he doesn’t crash. People always have a bewildered look on their face as they see see this boy some acrobatics trying to stop in time. Anyways he’s doing great, a lot better than I did when I first came in. I love him.

Anyways thanks for all the love and support. The mission really is so amazing. I am starting to love this ward and the people I’m serving, there is always that transition stage when you get transferred, but I’m happy I’m in the hacienda heights first ward. They are so good to us. I love this church, and I love the Lord. Do everything you can to establish the church wherever you are, until Monday.

Elder LeBaron 

614 West Foothill Blvd, Arcadia, CA, 91006

1) me and my beautiful baby boy

 

 

 

2) some modeling pics (you can pick which one you want to hang up on your wall)