Called to Serve... California Rancho Cucamonga Mission: October 20

This week has been a pretty good one! Here is the wonderful update :)

Oct 20- We woke up at 5:30 to get ready for a 6am hike with the zone. it was super fun and scary at times! Sister Shaw and Van Heel and I went with the elders and took the harder path. we were climbing on rocks! It was scary at times but super fun! And the best part was none of us got hurt! haha We then studied a little bit when we got up at the top. Some of the elders were having their own Sermon on the Mount haha the things we do as missionaries! We then went home and changed and grabbed lunch and did our normal things. We all were able to get our flu shots as well. We then had dinner with the Roberts family and a lesson at the Ridings home with our investigator Debbie. She was super tired so she wasn't really able to function all that well so we made it a short lesson.

Oct 21- We had district meeting this morning and i was able to give a training on How to Begin Teaching from PMG. it went well i think but who knows! haha we then had lunch and the elders dropped off the truck to us! i sure love the days we get the truck! We had a lesson with Ann which went super great! she was able to open up and we were able to get some of her concerns out of her. she is starting to open up to us which is helpful. We then had a lesson with Sister Wilcox about being of the world and not in the world. it ended up being a great lesson better than we thought it was going to be! After we went and taught the Copher kids about Christ's Ministry. They knew more than we thought they would have so that was fun to see! We then went to see Amy and Terry really fast which ended up not being super fast cause she can talk! but it was a good visit we had. We just wanted to see how they were doing. We then had dinner at the Moores home which was fun! I love being able to meet more of the members of the ward. After we went home and did our language study.

Oct 22- We were able to go do Mormon.org and work on our talks for sunday. and then went and visited with Amy since she just got back from the hospital again. they want her to go down the hill to another hospital to get her surgery done but she doesn't want to go without Terry so we will see what will happen. she really needs to go and get it done. We then had to fix my bike cause i got a flat tire! yay! the elders came over and fixed that well they thought they fixed it but they didn't cause it went flat again! so they took my bike home with them so they could fix it. Sister Biberston picked us up for dinner and then we went out for dessert at Sonic after! it was super fun! they are so sweet and have thee cutest kids! We then ended our evening with Language study.

Oct 23- We met with Amy and Terry that morning and had a great lesson with them. The elders were able to come over and give them both priesthood blessings. It was a great experience for them! Amy opened up more and told us about how she is so happy and that it is because of the gospel. It was a neat experience to hear her say all of this. And she was talking with me and just said how she really needed me at this time. I know i am suppose to be here right now for them! its so neat to have experiences like that. It helps me know that I did do the right thing in serving a mission and trusting my Mission president and the Lord on where i need to be. Anyway after we had a lesson with a recent convert who has become less active Raquel and sister Riding was able to come to that. We then had another great lesson with Ann and her husband Chris was there too! We invited them to church so hopefully the will come! We then went to the Cophers and taught them about temples. it went well especially cause their mom was listening and was involved more than usual! We then had the Warnocks come and pick us up for dinner and we had a nice evening with them. after we went and visited with Sonya who is a less active we have been working with!

Oct 24- We went and weekly planned at the Navajo building with the zone leaders and our ward mates so that was interesting! haha we then went home and had lunch and then finished weekly planning. We then went to the Tesch's who were home of course! and then went and had a great lesson with sister Pope who is a less active. She was able to open up to us and talk about how she knows she needs to go back to church. We committed her to come this sunday so our fingers are crossed! We then had sister Wilcox come and pick us up for dinner. That car ride felt like I was in Indiana Jones!! haha the ride cause she picked us up in her old Jeep that is falling apart and we had to drive a long way on dirt roads haha it was just really funny! We had an awesome visit and lesson with them! Bro Wilcox and Bro Sexton who are LA were there and participated in the lesson about baptism covenants. it was great! we invited them to church! After we had a lesson with the Dunbars. We finished the lesson we had when we had dinner with them.

Oct 25- We were able to do service from 10 to 2 at a squash farm! it was super fun! we were able to plant broccoli and cauliflower and we got a t-shirt! we were able to find this place through the just serve website that is starting up around here. so that was neat and they love our help! We then went to the library to write our talks and i was about done with mine and my computer shut off on me! i was not happy cause i lost it all :( its okay i was able to kind of remember what i wrote and finished it that night. We then went to the Tesch's to have a lesson but Amy wasn't feeling well so she asked to reschedule but we were able to have a short lesson with the little girl who is 9. Kaeley kept saying that she will listen! it was super cute! she loved church and wants to come so we hope we can start teaching her more often! after we got picked up by the Ridings to go to a baptism with Amy and Terry. Half way to the stake center the sisters told us it was tomorrow evening so we felt super dumb and told them so we ended up going to dinner with all of them. it turned out to be a great evening!

Oct 26- We had our normal meetings and then had church! Amy and terry were there and a few less actives! It ended up being a great sacrament meeting especially cause i didnt have time to speak! hahaha so i get the privilege to speak in two weeks yay! hahaha i stressed all week for nothing! if you all have any insights on Family Home Evening i would love to hear them and use some of your thoughts and experiences in my talk :) I have it all written out but i could add some of those in it since i might have to make it longer. We were also able to teach sharing time the 3rd hour and that went well. We then had dinner dropped off to us and then we went out to pass out some Halloween party flyers. We were able to set up an appointment with a potential family! they are super cute and we hope it will go well and that they will come to the party!

Well that was my week! I had some great experiences and will only have more in the coming weeks! I am looking forward to seeing Everett be baptized on Saturday and seeing my old friends there :) I love being a missionary and seeing these amazing people accept the gospel! I love you all and hope you have a great week :)

Love Sister Johnson