What Do You Need To Do To Help in HIS Work?

Hey everyone.

It has been a big week.  We made another trip to the emergency room yesterday.  Sister Frankenberry had vertigo or something... it's been hard because we have had to cancel a few appointments and it's almost her last day in the area, she is about to go home.  Her parents are coming to pick her up Thursday and she is going to give them a tour as a missionary. 

Our area has been dying... Laura keeps canceling.  Jason has been "too busy".  Most of everyone else has dropped us and we haven't been able to pick many new people up... we just received transfer information last night and they are closing the other sisters area in our ward!  We are picking up all of SHN's area... they have a ton of people that they are working with... we are going to be so very busy!  I also know who my new companion is.  Her name is Sister Newren.  She is really cute :)  I prayed for her as a companion.... haha, so I am really happy.  Prayer works!

We were able to see Sabrina this week.  She is so cute... she always kisses me on the cheek.  I love her, but she is so hard to meet with.  Oh, so we had stake conference this last weekend.  It was amazing.  I loved it so much.  They had a presentation of how we can really work with each other and they brought up people from our ward. The person that they demonstrated with was actually in our area and miracle happened!  This lady only speaks Spanish, but her nonmember kids do not.  We have been trying so hard to meet with them, but the apartment complex was locked and so we random called a ton of people asking them to open the door. :)  One of them did!  Then we walk upstairs and Sister Hernandez was walking in with all of her kids (they are in their 20's).  We were able to talk to them and set up an appointment to teach them on Wednesday.  They announced it at stake conference in their "skit" about our little miracle.  I hope that made sense.  There were a ton of other little details.  It was a miracle that was acknowledged so we thought it was even cooler.... but any who. ha ha.

We went and visited bishop's wife this week.  We talked our the the atonement with her.   I have no idea how it happened, but she started talking about marriage and said, "BE SCARED.  Wait, etc. etc.  She freaked us out and now we don't ever want to get married. 

My favorite part about this week was stake conference.  It was so inspiring.  Sister Frankenberry and I were just talking about how the work truly is hastening.  It isn't just a "catch phrase."  It's real.  President Haymond read D&C 138: 53-56.  Then he said....do we understand the magnitude of this responsibility?  If there have been about 10 billion people who have lived on the earth... how many know about the gospel?  Such a select few and WE are one of them.  God expects us to reach out and do our part.  He needs you and me... and He trusts us.  Heavenly Father is really putting everything into place.  Faster than ever before.  The work is moving quicker and so we need to learn how to move quicker as well.  We don't need to worry about , "planting seeds." Those things have already been done.  People are ready.  The work is hastening and we were chosen before we were born to be here in the last days.  WE NEED to do our part. 

If a name of a friend ever comes in your mind, act on it.  Don't think, "nah, they aren't ready yet... Heavenly Father places that thought in your head for a reason.  We were all prepared before we came here.  Remember that.  This is a choice blessing that we have to share such a unique message to everyone.

President Haymond gave us something to do.  I want to give it to you to do. :)

Think about what you can do to help more.  Then get on your knees.  Pray.  Then be quiet after you finish your prayer.  Don't get off your knees.  An impression will come to you.  You will know what you need to do to help the Lord in His work.

If you want to be truly happy, then serve.  It will change everything.  I have seen that so many times. 

I know that the work truly is hastening.  Don't be afraid to open your mouths wherever you go!!! 

Love, Sister Kelsi Denae Johnson

We Have All Had Ancestors Who Were In Kirtland

Thanks for my flowers mom.  They are pretty... They are in the kitchen at the visitors center.  I am there more than I am home.  It was a great week this last week.  We were in Kirtland one day about to take my first bus tour of the summer and Elder Teh, of the Seventy, decided to hop on in and take a tour.  Do you remember him from General Conference?  He and his wife were really sweet.  Karl Anderson was also there and wanted to speak to the group.  He talked for an hour straight. 

He talked a lot about the temple and about all of Kirtland.  He asked everyone who had ancestors who were in Kirtland... only a select few raised their hands.  He then moved on from the subject and preceded to tell us how Heavenly Father and our Savior appeared 6 times in 4 locations in the Kirtland area.  He talked about how a seminary teacher (who taught for about 30 years) came to Kirtland on a youth group.  The seminary teacher said, "I have been teaching for over 30 years and I have never seen nor heard of any appearances other than the sacred grove.  Karl said, "how do you tell a kind man that three of those are listed in the D&C?"  Everyone laughed... Karl then preceded to tell him that we have the documentation and that it was in the D&C as well. The seminary teacher said, "ok, but those are visions.  Not appearances."  Karl laughed and said, "Do we call the first vision the first appearance or the first vision?"  He also said that Joseph Smith never knew if he was dreaming or not, but they had happened. 

Then he explained to us the 15 prophets have appeared in Kirtland.... if you turn to D&C 1:37, you will see that it talks about Father Adam.  Adam is definitely our ancestor as well as Elias, who was actually Noah.  We have ALL had ancestors who were in Kirtland. :)  He told us to always tell everyone from now on that we have all had ancestors who were in Kirtland. 

We had another lesson with the Barker's friends... it went really well this time and they all really enjoyed it.  They are excited to meet again.  We also met with Andrew.  He had the Book of Mormon open when we first got there and it was opened to 3rd Nephi.  It was highlighted so I decided to look through it to see what else he had highlighted.  There was nothing.... My companion and I looked at each other thinking that he had lied and didn't read.  Well, throughout the lesson he was bringing up all different parts of the Book of Mormon.  He really did read from the beginning to 3rd Nephi since we had met last!  We were shocked.  He is pretty awesome.

When we were on exchanges this last week, we had a really neat experience.  We went into Cleveland to teach our ward mission leader's friend.  On our way out, we saw a couple standing and talking so we went up to them and told them about the "Because of Him" video.  The girl had dark sunglasses on and the guy kept thanking us and said we were an answer to his prayers.  I then felt prompted to give them a temple card and tell them that we also share a special message about how are families are eternal. The girl began to cry... and the guy grabbed her and hugged her.  He said, "her mom just died."  I asked her if I could hug her and we told her that Heavenly Father has a plan.  They told us they were so appreciative and they were really excited to watch the video and get on the website.  They promised they would.  It was so tender.

This week was another great one.  I sang in church yesterday... it wasn't my best.  Bishop told me he cried though.  It felt very not rehearsed.  We did drills in the car on the way to Missionary Coordination.  Sister Frankenberry just kept laughing.  It was funny saying "gee gee gee and nay nay nay with the windows down."  But good news, we told everyone it was Sister Frankenberry's last Sunday before she goes home and that I was singing, so less-actives came.

I really love my ward.  It is the greatest.  I never want to leave it.  I wish I could tell you about everyone... all our investigators and the whole ward, but not enough time. :(

Have a wonderful weeekkkkk.

I love you.

Sister Johnson

Ps- I have been teaching so many people from India.  Another man from India came to sites... we gave him a 2 hour tour with a couple from Mexico, then the elders taught him.   A random lady showed up to church yesterday wanting to pray to Jesus from India.  So cool!

Kirtland Temple

Hello, hello!

How are you all doing? I hope you are doing great.  We don't have much time today.  SO much to do. 

I just got asked to sing on Easter in our ward.  Super nervous.  I'm leading the discussion tomorrow in District Meeting on the new video, "Because of Him".  You should check it out.  The missionary department e-mailed President and said to tell everyone. Millions will be watching it for Easter.  You can also type #BecauseofHim.  I forgot what hashtag was!  You can type it on any social media site and it will automatically pull up the church websites.  Youtube estimates that over 109 million will be watching it on Easter, but we know that it will be SO many more if we get the word out.  So put it on your facebook pages and all your social media pages. 

We had a ton of cancellations this week, but somehow we still made 4 1/2 hours of service with quite a few lessons.  We didn't make our 20, but we were so close.  As site sisters, we lose a lot of time in our area to make the 20 lessons.  We haven't been able to meet with any of our main investigators this last week.  EXCEPT Kia and Kayla.  Kia dropped us.  That was so sad.  She said, "My mind is not in this, so I am done. See ya".  It was really sad... Kayla is 11 and she said she wants this so much.

We met with Bob at President Stacey's home.  Bob taught the lesson and President Stacey's children and grand-children were there, so he asked us to teach a lesson for them.  We are going to teach his other grand-children this week.  Sister Frankenberry was nervous during the lesson.  It was very intimidating because he tells our mission president everything. haha   It was an intense lesson.  The spirit was so very strong.

We also had an amazing training meeting in the school house this week.  Everyone kept talking about how spiritual it was.  We decided to talk about our mission study on Friday and talk about all the things that have been restored in Kirtland.  The sisters last year made a time-capsule, so we wanted to make one for the 2015 sisters and seniors.  We read some of their testimonies and then we say a, Child's Prayer.  So many were crying because of the spirit that was there...... I loved it so much.  This next week we are going to do some kind of spiritual Easter egg hunt.  We haven't decided yet :)  We shall let you know!  If it's not snowing, because it is supposed to be snowing tomorrow.  :( 

We were asked to attend a meeting yesterday.  We weren't sure what the meeting was about and who was going to be there. Well, when we got there... it was basically just us and the zone leaders, President Vellinga (mission president), President Haymond (Stake President) and President Stacey (mission presidency).  It was so scary!   We felt so mature and in charge.  They asked us a lot of questions about how the bishops and ward mission leaders could change and do better.  They are now inviting us to this meeting every month.  We also helped with a Kirtland missionary Academy.  The Tanner girls were there and we were the investigators while the cute high school kids practiced.

My favorite part about this last week was Monday.  John came. (He asked me out on a date to a theme park haha).  He loved it.... we sent him off to the other elders now.  We took the Sacrament in the Kirtland temple.  Are you jealous that I get to see the 1st temple every day? :)  It was so powerful.  Karl Anderson spoke on the sacrament.  He read in D&C 110 when the Lord tells them that they are forgiven of their sins.  He said that he has been asked so many times, "Why does it say that they are forgiven of their sins?"  He said that he has a ton of answers for that, but for 1, he said that they had just taken the sacrament.  He said that we can all experience what they experienced after we partake of the sacrament.  Go back and read section 110.  It is so great.  We can be clean of our sins every week.  He also had us vision the Savior standing behind him.  He said, "We don't know which pulpit he was standing on, but why don't you all pick one and picture it.  Do you see him?" I tried so hard to picture it... again, there were angels in the Kirtland temple with us.  We are so blessed to be in such a great place . The Savior appeared 8 times just in the Kirtland temple....

I love Kirtland.  So many things were restored here.  It is a special place and is being build back up again.  I feel the spirit here everyday.  I love that I can see the Whitney Store and the School of the Prophets from the old home I live in.  This is a once and a life time chance.  I wouldn't trade it for anything.

I love you.

Sister Kelsi Denae Johnson

I Am Grateful

Wow, what a General Conference!  Wasn't it so great?

John and Jason came to the last session at our ward mission leaders house.  We had to make sure John was there.... he is so interesting- he is like 50 years old. He is the one that we met when we were helping him move and it was negative degrees outside, so he said, "whatever your message is about, I'll listen." 

Anyways, he has been texting us a lot... he has been saying inappropriate things.  He has a crush on me and keeps calling me, Miss American and beautiful, etc, etc.  He said he would come to Conference if I was going to be there.... the only reason we still went through with it was because he sincerely still has interest in the church.  So we made sure a lot of Priesthood holders were there.  The Zone Leaders came with their investigators as well.  I really think John can progress really quickly.  He asked us already what he needs to do to get baptized.  We will be transferring him to the Zone Leaders.

Jason- we are unsure how he felt, we will be calling him today. :)  Nitin was there and Nitin bore a powerful testimony and told them what they both needed to do to receive their answer.  He hasn't even received his own answer ha ha.  I love Nitin sooooo much!  I wish we were still teaching him.  He is the greeatest.  Elder Gates, our Zone Leader, told him that the words and phrases we taught him were used with 5 year old little girls ha ha.  So Nitin said, "you taught me little girl words!?"  It was really funny. 

We had such a miracle, busy week... I will tell you a little bit about what happen. 1st- I had the most lessons that I have ever had on my mission.  We worked so hard.  6 people still canceled, so we could have had more.  We had Mission Leadership council - which lasts most of the day, but so inspiring.  We had Zone Training (we had to lead discussions), A ton of preparing for all our meetings this week, We had 2 days of Kirtland (took a tour with non-members from Thailand), had an interview with President Vellinga, we had our Kirtland Training meeting (we made another video for the seniors on Christlike attributes), We planned two surprise parties (at the same time). It was Sister Sorenson's birthday and this Recent convert was planning a breakfast for another senior couple for their anniversary and we had another breakfast upstairs for Sister Sorenson.  A lot of secrets, but it eventually worked out. :)  We had a good plan.  We had exchanges, General Conference and a lesson every other minute!  We never finished weekly planning....but we are being so blessed!

We taught the Barkers friends again.... we hardly got a word in.  They had a recent convert come and she didn't want anyone else to talk.... so Sister Barker was really worried, but don't worry, her friends are still interested!  We also taught Jason... Jason is great and still progressing.  He went into General Conference thinking about if we need organized religion or not.  We aren't sure about Latasha.  She promised us she would go to conference.  She was texting us and said she would text us back.  Never did.

I really loved this last week.  I wish I could write about every moment.  To sum it up, the hardest working week of my whole mission.  Next week, hopefully I can work even harder.  I know how important this work is.  President Vellinga asked us as a mission to think about this question during conference, "How can i better fulfill my Purpose as a missionary to bring more people unto Christ?"  I really listened for answers to that during conference.  We are reporting to him this morning of our experience.  One that really popped out to me is the talk on being grateful.  No matter what we are going through, no matter how hard things are, etc, etc, there is always so much to be grateful for.  I know that if I were more grateful and not just try to "endure the day", hoping for a better tomorrow, I would be a better missionary.  I would be better at everything that I do.  I want to be more grateful.  I want to enjoy every moment and remember that tomorrow will come and right now I have so much that I am blessed with, even when it is really hard. 

I love my mission.  I am grateful to be here.  I am grateful for my family at home who is very supportive, as well as so many great friends.  I am grateful for what I know.  I am grateful that I have the opportunity and blessing to help others know about this gospel. I am grateful for the scriptures.  I am grateful for the wonderful General Conference we just had.

I love you all so much!

Sister Kelsi Denae Johnson

Ps~ Okay. Go to Lds.org. Type in "remembering Kirtland" and then after you watch that, type in "Kirtland a Holy Place." Those videos are new!  I know so many people in them and they were made when Elder Ballard was here, we were watching them film at times.  I didn't see myself though.  In, "Remember Kirtland" my stake president is in it.  Sherri Moss ( I was just at her house) and President and Sister Vellinga.  Then the other video, Sister Davis is in it.  I was at her house doing service when the window fell on my hand and now I have a cool scar on the top of my hand :)  Elder Seldon is also in that one and he was the one that we just asked to do a fireside for us in Kirtland.  So now you can see some of the people that I have been talking about.  Our bishop's kids are also that ones who are shaking Elder Ballard's hands. So cool! 

https://www.lds.org/prophets-and-apostles/unto-all-the-world/remembering-kirtland?cid=HPTH032714627&lang=eng

https://www.lds.org/prophets-and-apostles/unto-all-the-world/kirtland-a-holy-place?lang=eng

Pss~~ Another cool fact, My companions brother is serving in Oregon.  Me, Kory, her brother and Sister Frankenberry are all in O states :)

Psss~ picture is with Sister Mohler... she went home early this week.  Snow pics are with me and my companion, Sister Frankenberry.