Monday, July 28, 2014

John Bytheway and My Birthday!


Family,  

Well, another week has flown by.  Actually this was a longer week. haha.  I have had 2 different companions this week. Sister Tietjen has now gone home.  So crazy.  I keep sending missionaries home.  My new companion is cute.  Her name is Sister Heckert and she is from Orem Utah.  She is Italian and loves to be healthy... soooooo hopefully we can be a little healthy together.  I still can't run :(  I ran today and my knee didn't like it too much.  There still inflammation, so I am still just taking a lot of medication. 

So much happened this week.  First off... whoa such a great birthday.  I got sung to 100 times.  Maryanna (from our branch) talked to Sister Wygant, who talked to Mom and when I got back from a tour in Kirtland yesterday... there was Happy birthday signs and balloons and presents, confetti cake (with trick candles) frozen yogurt (cake batter) and she even went to the Disney store and got be a stuff animal of Goofy because I guess Sister Tietjen told her that I draw Goofy all the time. haha.... there was even more.  Sister Sorenson and Sister Wygant sent a little baggy of my favorite Dark choc acai berries from Costco.  Then I got the cute necklace from Mom and oh I just felt so spoiled.  Too much fun.  Sister Germaine (a less-active from our branch) drove a half hour to come give me a hug and say Happy Birthday.  I just loved it.  And at the end of the day, we were stuck at the sites. Alarms were sounding and there were tornado warnings and a big storm, so we just hung out at the Visitor center.  I LOVE thunder storms.  It was really fun.  Thank you to every one who wrote me... made my day.

We had some neat experiences this week.  We have a solid new investigator.  She is a member referral with two little girls.  She is so beautiful and loves God.  She has family prayer every day with her girls.  She kept saying, "I have an open mind.  I am searching for something in my life.... I need it, especially for my girls."  She is such a great mom and she told her friend that she really connected with me... she almost wasn't in our area, but a miracle happened and she is!  So we are teaching her again tonight and she will be at church this next week. 

We went to a pizza place with someone the other day in Chardon and we were listening to these people talk.  They seemed really cool and the guy looked like a guy off a movie, so I took it as an opportunity to talk.  I told him he looked familiar... then he said, "hmmm do you go to the YMCA?  I said no... then he asked a ton of other places and then he said, "well what church do you go to?"  It was the perfect way to start talking about the church :)  Turns out he and his wife lived in Kirtland and never went to the sites before.  We invited them to go and then he said, "I will never be a Mormon.  So don't try to convert me."  I told him not to worry... then he told us he went to Salt Lake and they did family history... well, the conversation kinda stopped, but then he turned back around and said, "I have to tell you something.  One time, I felt prompted to go to the Chardon library.  Then I felt prompted to go to the basement and I never go to the basement.  I walked down and saw two girls.  They looked Mormon, so I asked if they were Mormon.  We got talking and they were very nice."  Then he turned back around....  It was so cool that he said that he had a "prompting".  As we were leaving, I reached for my wallet and accidentally pulled out afamilysearch.org card instead.  I was like... well that is a sign, so I went back and gave the card to them and told them how I got called to a place where my ancestors were.  It really just felt sooooo inspired.  They are going to join the church one day :)

There was another really neat story.  This lady joined the church a couple weeks ago and she came to one of the missionary training meetings.  She walked in with a giant suitcase... it was heavy full of books... she said, "I have a ton more of these books at home."  She told us that she had read every single one of those books (and there was a ton!) and she was searching for answers and found nothing.  Then.... she held up the Book Of Mormon and said, "I read this book and I found...everything."  It was so powerful.  Never underestimate the Book of Mormon.  It really does help us find peace in this life. 

One more quick funny story.  We were talking to John Bytheway this week.  He came on tour with his family.  He's awesome.  We shook his hand and said bye and we were called straight on another tour.. then I asked the next tour if they saw him.  I told the tour that we were just talking with him and Sister Tietjen looks at me with the most shocking look.  She says, "YOU MET JOHN BYTHEWAY?" I said, "You did too hunny.  You even shook his hand." haha  She was freaking out and said, "why didn't you tell me?!"  It was so funny. 

Oh, and I got to drive a tractor this week as we were pulling weeds and stuff.  It was so fun, I really love doing service.  I wish I can finish telling you all the miracles we saw this week.  I guess there was a lady who hasn't talked with anyone from the church in a long time and didn't want anything to do with it.  We stopped by this week and she stepped out on the porch... wasn't going to let us in, but then I really had to go to the bathroom.... so I asked if I come in. haha  Then she let us in and we were able to teach her.  The spirit was so strong and by the end, she said she would think about going to church in the future.  It was so powerful.

I love being a missionary.  I love talking to anyone and every one.  Probably one of my favorite parts about the mission!  I just love people.  I just love missionary work... too much.  It will never end.

Love you all!

Sister Kelsi Denae Johnson









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