Called to Serve... California Rancho Cucamonga Mission: April 14

Happy Easter everyone!! Today is transfers and I didn't get transfered thank heavens! I am still here in Creekside ward in Ontario with Sister Dunford :) We did however get new ward mates which we are super sad about but we shall see how this next transfer goes with them.

April 14- Had a wonderful p-day. For zone sports we played ultimate ball again and I dominated!! I made so many shots and everyone was cheering me on! I never thought that day would come where I would be doing really well in the sports category haha That night for dinner we went to the Remingtons home where we had a meal with Lina and her son Craig (less actives we have been working with) and had FHE afterwords.That went really well. We taught about the commandments and went over those and just shared our testimonies of why we do have these commandments. They are here to guide us not restrict us. The lesson went really well. We also watched the call opening movie of Emma Remington my two week missionary! She is going to Brazil in Aug.

April 15- This moring we went over to Sister Salmons home to plan out young womens for this week. She wanted it to be a sister missionary theme and wanted our help! We were happy to help in any way :) We then went to district meeting. Our last one as a district super sad!! I will miss this district for sure. I tend to have a good one every other transfer so this transfer i think will be a little bit of a struggle but hey its okay cause I have got this!! We then went to go and see a less active we got as a referral cause his records aren't here in our ward yet, but he wasn't home. He felt so bad cause he got the days mixed up. We rescheduled :) We then went to service at the gym again and this time we had people from the zone to help so that was really fun! I got pics this time. For dinner we went to the Orantes family and we had a good time talking with the mom and their 15 yr old daughter Alicia. We love them and they are such a strong and great family. They have a family they want us to meet!! We love to hear the members wanting us to meet their friends and family :)

April 16- Exchange day! I was with Sister Ott again!! haha this is my thrid exchange with her that is more than okay cause i love her tons! Sister Shaw was suppose to be with me in my area but she cant ride a bike so she paniced and had Sister Ott come instead. The funny part is that we mostly walked cause Sister Ott didn't love the bike. It takes a few days to get use to so i dont blame her! We were able to meet with Irene a less active who moved into our area. We went in and I asked her how she was and how the moving was going and she bursted into tears. She told us her whole life story. We get that often we swear its cause of the name tags. We were able to help her out and commit her to come to church. the desire is there she just needs to get up and do it and we are going to help her over come that! We showed her the Because of Him video and that brought the spirit so strong and she knows Jesus Christ is here for her and wants her to come back to church. Our next appointment we had was with Ivan the less active referral we got. He was there today and let us in and so was Jasmine his girlfriend or wife we haven't figured that part out yet. she didn't stay for the message though but that is okay over the time i am sure she will. We were able to get to know him better and then shared the Because of Him message there as well. Pres Hobbs wanted us to share this with everyone we came in contact with. I loved it and I loved being able to hear the things that touched everyones hearts. God really knows us and our needs for sure! We then went and had lunch and then walked for the rest of the day since we didn't have any other set appointments for the afternoon. We passed out many easter egg hunt invites that the primary is putting on. We then had dinner at the Vondersaars and then went to young womens where we answered many questions about mission life that the girls had and then they did a cute sister missionary relay. I took pictures and video :) That was really fun and really connected us with the young women. It was sad that Sister Dunford wasnt there for that one. Jaden a former investigator was there!! We went home and exchanged back. We all had good days but we were happy to be back together as a companionship :)

April 17- We had a normal study morning and then went out and visited Sister Swart. We haven't talked with her for a long time so we wanted to see how she was. She is great just been busy so that was good to hear. After we went and visited with Sister Tirabasso or Sister T. She is the cutest!! She hurt her back four months ago and still has issues. she is crazy and loves to talk! She told us her amazing conversion story and other stories about her life. She is so neat :) she also gave us the missionary rules she wrote haha they are so funny! Its about how the Sr comp is always right and how the Jr comp is always wrong. It made us laugh so hard and is now hanging up in our apartment! After we had dinner with the Guerrero family. She fed us spicy mexican food and then we had a thought to share and her non member husband joined us which hasn't ever happened before!!! We watched the Because of Him video and had a hour discussion about the gospel. He opened up to us and he told us about his experience going to conference at the conference center this month and his faith in Jesus Christ. He knows that this church is true he is just nervous to take that step to join this church because he wasn't grown up with it and he doesn't want to disappoint his father. Sister Dunford shared the story of Peter letting go of the boat and that struck him and made him think about himself. It was amazing to feel the spirit so strong in that lesson. we have another lesson with him on tuesday night!! His wife was beaming to see this right before her eyes. I love moments like these, i feel so blessed to be apart of them.

April 18- We had our washer and drier taken away from us this morning. It was sad to see those go! The lady who use to live in the apartment was renting them from a company and just left them there but we soon realized we had to return them cause she wasn't making her payments on them. It was all good while it lasted :) We returned to our studies and then weekly planned for a long time. We then went out and invited more people to the activity on Saturday. After we went to dinner with the Coria family which was fun! On our way home we walked and talked with a lady named Jill. We thought we would walk with her in the dark cause she was by herself and we didn't feel right about leaving her all alone. We had a great conversation with her. She isn't in our area and has been meeting with the other sisters and so we talked with her about the plan of salvation.

April 19- This morning is our primary's Easter egg hunt! Our primary president came and picked us up and we went and helped set up. We then were told that we were going to do our little Easter activity with all the kids. It was about the true meaning of easter and it had scriptures. Mom you would have been proud of me cause I used my primary voice ;) haha it was hard to keep their attention but we did the best we could. We then went and took pictures with the Easter Bunny! after they had the big hunt. As we were saying hi to everyone we came across our neighbor Virgina who came with her two kids! we were so excited and the other families were so welcoming to her. She had a wonderful time and thanked us for inviting her. One of the families invited her over for dinner on Monday night and FHE!! this ward rocks!! We are so excited and hope it all works out :) After the activity we went and had a zone lunch and that was where we got our transfer doctrine, we also signed peoples journals there. We then went to Sister Vondersaars to learn about family history and sister Barton came over to help. We are super excited to learn more about it and use it in our finding efforts! After we had dinner with the Ramirez family and they were super friendly and had delicious food! That night we had ward coordination at the Swarts which was great.

April 20- This morning we had breakfast at the Swarts home and they got us our own easter baskets it was cute! We didn't have ward council so we were able to enjoy our meal before church. We went to church and everyone was sad to hear that the elders were leaving they all then looked at us in a panic and we said no worries they are stuck with us for another 6 weeks. They were happy to hear that. After church we went to Dawns home and had fun there. We were able to hang out and help with their easter egg hunt and have a yummy meal. We didn't have ham which was sad since that is my favorite but it was still good. After there we went and visited a few people who weren't able to make it to church and set up more appointments for the coming week! After we hung out with the sisters since they were leaving! :(

Having the Easter holiday out here was amazing. Yes I missed my family and loved ones but being out here serving is such a blessing. We have been sharing the video Because of Him and I am sure most of you have seen it but I would like to invite you all to watch it again and tell me your thoughts about it in the coming week and to share it with the people around you. This message brings the spirit so strong and is an easy way of sharing your testimony with others. I love this clip cause it brings me so much hope in life. I know that because of Him anything is possible and we can over come anything BECAUSE OF HIM. I love my Savior very much and I am so grateful to see others come unto Him. I love you all and hope you have a wonderful week!

Love Sister Johnson