Sister Kelsi Denae Johnson: I Know That the Atonement is Real.

Alright Happy Birthday to my favorite sister ever! I love you Keeks. What are you going to do today? Also.... Kory, good luck on the mission. Have a safe flight to Mexico City today. You will be so great. :) E-mail me every week. Don't forget. And I need your e-mail address too.

So... it is transfer week. Which means... new address! Everyone kept trying to call what was going to happen, but no one was right. I am leaving :( They text and said I am being out-zoned. I have no idea where I am going, but I have to pack up today. I was sad when I found out, but it will be good to meet new people.

Guess what? I have been kinda teaching work outs... it is off and on. Lots of the sisters said it is too hard and so they stopped. But I got some new ones for when we go to Kirtland to work out with. :) I also got sick this weekend... I didn't even go to church :/ The Fourth didn't even seem like the 4th of July.... no one was outside! It was dead, so weird.

So I can't remember if I told you about the families we found and started teaching. One of the families, the mom's name is Tina. She is so sweet. We had a lesson about the Book of Mormon and it was just really hard to actually get through the lesson and all I kept thinking was to just establish more of a relationship. Then a video I had watched on Mormon channel called "My New Life" popped in my head... so I asked her to watch it when we left. Well, we did and then when we left, we were like, ahh man who knows what will happen :/ Then we get a text from her the next morning... It basically said, "This is Tina, I talked to my hubby- he said he stands by us in whatever decision we make and I downloaded the Book of Mormon, watched the video you said to watch and I haven't slept all night and I can't wait until I meet with you guys again!" It made us so happy! :)

Brother Lauck decided to go back to his old church... and I went on exchanges last night with Sister Christensen (from the Paxton's ward in UT) and we went and taught him. We were outside teaching him and it started raining, but we were all so focused on our conversation that no one even flinched. We also didn't get through that lesson... the adversary had definitely been working on him. All I could think was to bear testimony... the spirit was definitely there, I really hope he turns back around.

I was looking back on my journal yesterday and I wrote in my journal how I never knew how I was going to ever be able to teach without thinking so much. I am embarrassed to say this, but In the MTC, I definitely wrote out what I was going to say. haha. To think that was just a couple months ago. I am starting to see the changes and the atonement really working in my life. I know that we really can change. It is easy to change. It's just as easy to change as it is to change your mind. As we come to understand true doctrine, we can immediately change.

When I was little I thought that the atonement was just used to say, "sorry mom and dad for arguing". Now I know the savior suffered and died so he can relate to us, so he can feel our pain, so we can never say, "no one understands". I know it is part of the plan so that we can have eternal life, but it really is so much more. I don't think I will ever fully be able to understand the atonement.

From this last week, I have learned that it really is my choice to use it. I also learned that I can never think to myself... I can't change, I can't be that good, I can't be that good of a missionary... to say that is denying God's power and means you and I truly don't understand the atonement. We can ALWAYS change. When we are told that we have immense potential, it is so true. The prophet didn't just become the prophet, he had to study and work so hard and used that atonement daily, to learn, to grow, and to become like Christ. It takes some effort on our part.

I read something that says, "Be all that You Can Be" from the U.S Army. But I and the Army or we don't know all that we can be. The Lord says, "Let me make of you all that you can be." The ONLY way to have our amazing, best, true potential is only through the Lord and His atonement. It is up to us personally to use it . It's up to us to let Him mold us. I know I need to keep humbling myself and turning my desires, wishes, dreams all to Him and my full heart... not just my actions. If you surrender you heart to the Lord, He wins and you win. If you win, you both lose,. The only way to win is to lose. Lose ourselves to the will of the Lord.

I know that the atonement it real. I know that we can use it to let it change us. I know that this whole Plan of Salvation really has been designed in our favor to our success. I know that when we are changing we are humbling ourselves and becoming aware of our weaknesses and growing in faith. I know it's my responsibility to access this atonement and put my soul in His hands to let Him change me. I love this Gospel. It's simple and easy. Life is what is hard, the gospel makes it great.

Love you all. Good luck Kory. Happy Bday Kiki.

Love always,

Sister Johnson

ps~ I have pics I need to send, but keep forgetting. There is just a pic of Brad Roberts haha. In his suspenders, short shorts and opened button shirt... haha its just great. soooo country.

“There are two ways you can go with pain. You can let it destroy you... or you can use it as fuel to drive you to dream bigger, work harder”.

If we do not feel grateful for what we already have, what make us think we’d be happy with more?