Monday, December 9, 2013

I Want To Be Homesick for My Heavenly Home


Hello Family :)
 
We are sitting in the computer lab and Mariah Carey's, "All I Want For Christmas Is You" is playing in the other room.  One of my favorites.  haha   We are singing to it :)
 
This week was crazy!  There was a lot going on.  First of all, did you get the picture with my little cast on my hand?  We made a trip to the emergency room this week.  That was fun.  We were on exchanges, I went to Chardon (where the Amish are) and we went to a lady's house to do service.  Well, she wanted her windows cleaned... they were giant windows.  We pulled the window up and we had to work together on pulling it up because it was so heavy.  The lady got a stick to prop it up so that we could clean under it.  Well, as I was cleaning the stick fell and the window fell right on my hand.   I just sat there and looked at it... it looked like my hand was chopped in half.  I don't know why I just looked at it.  It all just happened so fast. ha.  They both saw and ran to lift the window up so I could take my hand out.   It hurt a little...:)  My hand was instantly swollen.  A physical therapist ran over and said I definitely fractured it and that there could have been some broken bones. So now I definitely can't do push ups or anything ha, but we went to the ER and it was honestly a miracle.  The doctor said it will feel like its broken, but no broken bones!  You should have seen it.  I love being on a mission.  I am so blessed.
 
Our zone leaders called and said "hey, we have a potential that is in your area and they said it would do better in our hands then in theirs". So we took this as a sign and went and stopped by immediately.  When we got there, the guy basically told us to go away.  I said, "maybe we came here for another reason...."  Then I pointed to a yellow house and said , "that looks like a pretty cute house."  Then that is when we found Bob!  He is GOLDEN.  He has so many questions.  His daughter just died and all he wants to know is that he will see her again.  We are stoked to go back to him :)
 
We met so many people this week.  Al and Loretta called US and said, "it's been too long, when are you coming back?"  We were unsure about them.  I am speaking in church this next Sunday... so we are going to invite EVERYONE and tell them all I am speaking so they have to come :)  Al, Loretta, Katherine and Drew will definitely come.
 
We have been working with the ward a lot and trying to encourage them to invite others to the Christmas Nativity in Kirtland.  There was a member who came to Kirtland (not from our ward) who brought their friend from work.  Oh my, it was so awesome.  We took the friend of the member (Marsha) into the Whitney Store and she kept saying, "there is something special about this room" as we sat in the Revelation room.  She said she felt calm and peaceful.  We told her that it was the spirit.  We asked her member friend (who was a convert) to bare testimony.  She bore a strong testimony to her friend and she told her why she knew this was all true.  Marsha said, "maybe, I met you for a reason.  Maybe this is what God is trying to tell me."  I looked at her and bore my testimony of why I was here on a mission.  She got emotional and then I invited her to be baptized.  She said yes when she knows for sure.  We are going to send the elders over and keep calling her at sites. How cool is that?  All it takes is an invite and it can change someone's life.  I LOVE Marsha.  I feel so blessed that I was able to take her on tour... I will forever remember her.  She said she will never ever forget this time in Kirtland.  The funny part is that she writes, "doggy raps" and she rapped for us.  She is like 70 haha.  It was seriously so hilarious.  I tried to record her but she was afraid someone will steal her rap.  She is a super cute lady.  We laughed a lot.
 
The other best part about this week was that we had our Christmas Mission Conference.  Not only did we have a mission conference with the whole mission, but we had it in the very first temple ever built.   Inside the Kirtland temple.  It was a historic moment.  There were 250 plus missionaries inside the Kirtland temple.  There have never been so many set-apart missionaries inside that temple before.

I wanted to try to describe the experience that I had there...
President Vellinga told us that Elder Ballard grabbed him by the coat jacket and said, "you need to bring more people to Kirtland".  So we, Sisters, were able to give all the Elders and Sisters in the mission a tour in Kirtland.  We were helping everyone see the importance of Kirtland and that we need to bring our investigators there.  Just like it did with Marsha, it can change lives.
 
As we were sitting in the Kirtland temple, I felt so overwhelmed.  It was hard to take it all in!  We all stood and sang, "The Spirit of God".  I really pictured what the words said and what it must have been like back then as they sang it during the dedication.  It says, "We will sing and we will shout with the armies of heaven."  I knew without a doubt that there were others who were there singing with us.   I KNEW Uncle Mike and Grandpa Diss were there...  
 
The Savior had appeared 7 recorded times right in the place where we were sitting.  We are so blessed to have the opportunity to gain a stronger understanding of our Heavenly Father and Savior.  I am SO grateful to serve in the place where Christ our Savior has shown His face.  It is such a unique opportunity and blessing.
 
President Packer told Elder Seldon (who is the area 70 who came) he said, "I Wish I could tell you everything I know, but I can't."  The Savior is no stranger to the 12 apostles.  Can you imagine if the veil was lifted from our eyes for just 5 minutes?
 
I want so badly to have an even stronger relationship with my Savior.  I want to be homesick.  Not for my earthly home, but for my Heavenly home.  I love this plan.  I love this gospel and I love the wonderful experiences that I am having out here. It is amazing.
 
I love you all so much. 
 
Sister Johnson 
 
"I love my Holy Ghost, Sister Vellinga. She's holy, but sometimes she's a little spooky." President Vellinga




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