May 19 - May 26

hey everyone!

 hope you all had a great holiday weekend. we sure did! this up coming week is the last week of the transfer. its crazy how fast it has gone. next week I will let you know my transfer doctrine :)

May 19- Normal pday. we did have zone activity which was fun. we played volleyball and ultimate dodgeball. I was scared for my life in dodgeball haha the elders get so intense! the sisters came over and we had dinner with them. our stomachs didn't feel so good after :/ we had the sisters drop us off at a Less actives home before they went home. it was Raquel and her family. they were home and let us in. her husband Chris isn't a member but is open to us visiting. They have two kids 11 and 5. we were able to share the Because of Him message with them. the little girl loved it so much that she played it 3 more times while we talked with the parents. they said that they are happy where they are right now but don't mind us stopping by. hey we will take it! at least we have our foot in the door.

May 20- Had an awkward district meeting. it was very depressing. Everyone in our district is struggling except for sister Dunford and I. It made me feel like I shouldn't be happy but then I realized that it was Satan trying to tear me down. We can be happy and have fun doing missionary work. Its the best work we can do!! After we went and helped Sister Buck pack her house up cause they are moving :( we are so sad about it but we are happy to help! Then we went and visited some less actives and was able to talk to a few of them. After we had dinner at the Remingtons home which was fun. it was just a girls night cause Pres Remington was sick. We then went and dropped off some flowers to the Swarts because Bro Swarts mom passed away and we wanted to do something for them. They appreciated it so much!

May 21- This morning we went and had a lesson with our investigator Jolie. She is so sweet but it is so hard to understand her cause she has broken English. So we are planning to pass her off to the Spanish sisters next week. Sad to do that but it will be the best for her to be able to understand 100 % what is going on haha After we went and visited Sister T!! we just love this lady so much! She just got back from Hawii and bought us both necklaces. it was too sweet of her! We chatted with her for a little bit and then headed off to the Bucks to help pack more boxes. I just love this family so much! Their kids are the cutest! After we went and had dinner with sister Espinoza. That was fun we had some really yummy Mexican food that I cant spell haha we ate chilies with cheese in it and some rice and beans. She said she will teach us how to make it which we are excited about! After we went and talked with the Lopez family and shared the Because of Him video with her husband who is less active and he enjoyed that.

May 22- We had a lesson with Ivan and Jazmin this morning. We were able to watch the Come Join with Us conference talk. That was really good but the spirit took awhile to come in cause you could tell there was a lot of tension between them. They have some issues in their marriage which is super sad to see and frustrating to work with cause I cant give them any advice. I haven't been married hahaha We then decided to weekly plan cause the next day we were full with appointments so we were able to get that done and call potentials. It was cool cause one of them actually set up an appointment with us and is interested! Sister Dunford is meeting with her and Sister Ott tomorrow cause we are going on exchanges. After that we went and had dinner at Sister Vondersaars home. that was fun. We then went biking around and ended up in area 10. We were just going by the spirit and ended up at the Dades party. we were invited to it but forgot about it and ended up going! it was so cool!! we had a lot of fun!!

May 23- we were able to have a lesson with the Mejia family and talk about loving our families and enjoying the time we have together. We shared the Mormon message Moments that matter most and they loved it. They then were able to let us know of a few families in the ward that were struggling and who needed visits from us. We were grateful for that insight. later we were able to stop by and visit with Jock and Olivia but they were busy and told us to come back but we had lessons so we were able to set up a time for Tuesday! we are super excited about it! Our appointment with Jazmin and Irene fell through so we stopped by sister Bartons home and visited with her. She is an older lady who has health issues she was diagnosed with stage 4 colon cancer a few years ago. She is so sweet and is fighting it off she spends her time doing a lot of family history work while she is at home. She was able to teach us more about it which was super exciting! After we went to dinner at Alicia and Miguels place. They made us some authentic Mexican soup that I didn't like and a bean and cheese burrito. Sister Espinoza came over as well. We had some great conversation and we were planning to teach a lesson but didn't feel like it was right so we just chatted with them. On our way home I totally crashed on my bike! it wasn't totally my fault cause a kid skateboarding in front of me fell off his skateboard and I tried to get out of the way so I wouldn't hit him and I lost control of my bike and totally crashed! He turned around and asked me if I was okay and I jumped right back up and stared walking home. Luckily we were right down the street to our place. I didn't get hurt too bad my knees were just cut up but my pride was a little bruised haha im honestly surprised it took me 3 months to crash hahaha  After we went over to Monique and Josephs place and watched Come Join with Us. That went so well! Monique was able to share her insights about her joining the church and how she doesn't want to wait much longer. it was really good for Joseph to hear these things. Joseph was quite we think he was taking it all in. She was able to say the opening prayer and Joseph closed. We were thrilled cause that was the first time Joseph was willing to pray. We think we is a bit hesitant to coming back cause church was a thing him and his mom use to do but she has passed away and we think it brings back memories for him that is really hard. We love them and I think that is what they need at this time!

May 24- Today we decided to work off the potentials list. We got out and headed to our first one Anthonys place. We stopped by and he was there and welcomed us in. He must have just graduated from highschool. He said that he went to church for a year with a Samoan family and seminary. He enjoyed it but likes to study all types of religion. His girl friend was there and wanted to know what we believe in so we were able to tell her and talk to her about the Plan of Salvation. She loved it so much! She is going to be a senior in high school and lives in Upland so hopefully we will be able to teach her either at his house or send other missionaries over there. It was a miracle lesson for sure! We were so happy how it turned out. We were walking away from that appointment when we ran into Sister T cause she lives right down the street. She invited us to lunch with her and her husband. We went to Brandons Diner. that was loads of fun! she told us that she will make our rings for us when our times come to get married cause she makes jewelry for a living haha We get all the hook ups out here on a mission haha After we went over to the Bucks to help them pack again.

May 25- We had our normal church meetings. Church went great other than we didn't have any of our investigators there or the Less actives we have been working with. It was sad but hey cant have it all. We texted them all and let them know we missed them so we hope they come next week! After we went to the Mejias home to have dinner/lunch. Their home teacher was able to come over and help the dad perform a blessing for Carlos their son. It was such a great blessing. that was only his second one he has ever given and he did great! after we went home and did our studies for the day.

May 26- Another p-day but this one wasn't the same cause we weren't able to email which I hated but to take our minds off of it we were able to go and do laser tag for zone activity!! it was so much fun! the best zone activity we have done yet! We then were able to go shopping and clean our place and even take a nap! that never happens haha it was good to not feel rushed and to take time to breath.

Well that was my busy crazy week! and I have another one coming up!! I am loving my mission! And am so grateful for your support back at home! I couldn't do it without you all! I am so thankful for my Savior and all that He has done for me. I know I can turn to Him at anytime! I am so blessed to be out here serving the people in the Creekside ward! I love them all so much and hope to do the very best I can! I hope you all have a wonderful week! Love you all so much and miss you like crazy!

Love Sister Johnson