It is COLD!!!

ATTENTION FAMILY!

We do not have a ton of time today... we have been instructed to stay inside today and tomorrow, so this will be quick. I think :) I  t is going to be -37 DEGREES!  The only bummer is that we had AWESOME appointments scheduled for tonight!  I am way sad...

I forgot to tell you, I live on the Kirtland site.   I can see the room from our house of where the Savior appeared.   I live in an old historic home.  The man who lived there was John Boynton.  I don't know too much about him... I don't think he did the best things, but it is really awesome living here.   We also get to go on our runs around the Kirtland temple. :)

I have so much to talk about.  This week was AMAZING!  As far as investigators go.... almost everyone is starting to progress.  Bob received a Priesthood blessing.  All the men in the ward were amazed with Bob.  After the blessing, one of them said, "There is no doubt, you are going to be a bishop or a high leader in the church one day."  How cool is that?  Our investigator is amazing and I love him :)  He is all set to go to be baptized on the 25th :) And he is my new best friend.

I went on my first exchange with Sister Nance.  Remember she is my friend on Facebook?  haha.  And I saw her at the MTC?  She is way cute.  We had such a fun day.  It was so funny... we went to go help this guy get his car out of the snow and I stepped back into the snow on the side of the road and it was not just snow.  It was a stream and I fell way deep in the snow and was all wet.  It was not fun.  Then we just continued tracting. brrrrr.  Then our car got stuck in the snow.  It was awesome. 

We also met this really cool guy named Darell.  He is African American and about 6'8".  He is awesome.  So fun to talk to!  He was the one we were meeting with tonight :( 

Then KIA!  She is also African American.  We get along so well.  She likes basketball and x-box...so I said she can come to our house in California and hang with my brothers.  She is really excited. haha.  She said she has always wanted to come to California. ;) 

We also have Laura (who is doing awesome), Colleen, Jason, Latasha (A WHOLE CUTE FAMILY) , more I can't think of this second and now Speedy.  We met Speedy yesterday.  It was hilarious.. we went up to him and talked about the Book of Mormon.  He was so interested!  So was his friend.  While we were talking to his friend, Speedy was calling the number to get a free Book of Mormon! haha.  We were like, we have one right here!  He said, YES!  I will start reading tonight!  Then he said he was going to invite a lot of his friends over to listen to us and also give the other Book of Mormon to his daughter :)  He is SO COOL! 

We have seen so many miracles and we have found so many people within the last couple weeks.  I can't believe how many people we have found who are so ready to hear more.  I can't even remember all of the people.

I also learned so much this week.  I have probably learned more this week than ANY other week on my mission.  I wish I had more time to tell you everything... 

Do you remember in my setting apart blessing it said, I will have a clear sense of the role of the temple in my life and and a deep and abiding love for the temple or something like that?   Well, who knew I would have a leader/ sites director named Elder Sorensen.  I work alongside him.  He LOVES to teach.  He was a mission president twice, a temple sealer, a stake president and bishop multiple times and he is on his 6th mission with his wife.  HE has worked alongside the general authorities and he has a deep love and understanding of the temple.  He spent a few hours this week, even some one on one time teaching me. 

Brother Sorensen said that he can't see me just as a missionary and he can't see any of the sisters as missionaries.  He said that he sees all of us as what we are going to become in the next life.  I will share more next week... so many insights.  It was one of the BEST discussions.  The plan of Salvation came alive. 

Our Heavenly Father was in our spot at one time as well.  He had to go through life.  HE has a Heavenly Father.  We CAN become like Him. :) We were all with Him before this life... that thought has become so much more real this last week.

"At one time we were in the presence of our Eternal Father.  There is not a soul in this world, not one, that has not seen him.  You do not remember it, I do not remember it, but nevertheless there was a time before we ever came into this world when we dwelt in His presence.  We knew what kind of a being he is.  One thing we saw was how glorious He is.  Another thing, how great was his wisdom, His understanding, how wonderful was His power and His inspiration.  And we wanted to be like Him.  Because we wanted to be like him, we are here.  We could not be like him and stay in His presence, because we did not have glorious bodies of flesh and bones.  WE were just spirits, and the spirit does not have flesh and bones.  But we saw Him in his glory and it was made known to us that by keeping his commandments and observing every covenant that would be given to us on this earth, we could come back again into His presence, receiving our bodies in the resurrection --our spirits and bodies being united again, inseparably, never again to be divided." Elder Sorensen  D&C 132 18 and 19.

Well, we have to go now.  The storm is coming!  I love you so much!!  Always and forever.  Have a great week!!  Enjoy the warmth!

Sister Johnson

Happy Almost New Year

Feliz Navidad and Happy new year! 

It was fun to Skype!  I got an email saying they saw my picture on Instagram of us Skyping... hmmm. :)

The rest of Christmas was way fun.  We went to the visitor center and all the seniors were eating a big Christmas dinner.  We decided to have a little as our appetizer.  It was delicious, but we were on our way to a members home.  I am really glad we ate at the visitor center because it was a normal Christmas dinner, but we both felt so sick after the members home.  They didn't have a Christmas dinner, but they put all the food on our plate and were waiting for us to finish.... I tried so hard, but I could not finish the food.  Then we went back to the visitor center and had a talent show.  That was hilarious!  A lot of the sisters did some weird things for their talents... with singing really bad, interpretive dancing with shaving cream and all that.  So funny... Everyone told us that we HAD to do something...so Kolton, the joke you told me when we were Skyping... that was our talent.  About 30 people fell for it :)  So thanks bud :)  Then we watched Christmas for a Dollar, but it was 9:00, so we had to go home and did not finish it. :/

So me and Sister Wygant stopped by someone's house who wasn't home the day after Christmas, so we went to the neighbors home.  We heard him hustling to the door and he opened the door saying, "well hello there!".   He said it all flirty.... I definitely think he thought we were someone else.  After he saw it was 2 girls wearing skirts and tags, he was very embarrassed.  He was dripping wet and in a very tiny towel.  It was a little awkward.  I was trying really hard not to be rude and laugh.  He told us he was expecting someone and he started to slowly close the door... Sister Wygant didn't think it was that funny haha.  She didn't say a word.  I just told him he should come to Kirtland and that we were missionaries... he kept apologizing and his face was so red. ha ha.  Good times. 

Oh, I forgot to tell you.  We went to the bishop's house and we acted out the Nativity scene... and guess what?  I got to fulfill my role! I was Mary :)  There was a less-active there who said, "She needs a baby! "  And she put her cute, cute baby on my lap and we had to tell her I couldn't hold it.  I was so sad :( I miss holding babies.  But it was really fun. 

We also had a referral come in this week.  We went over to her house and she told us to come back in a little bit because she was on the phone, so we went and ate dinner and then went back to her house.  When we went back, she said "so how can I help you?"  We told her who we were and she said, "get in here. I have been expecting you."  So we go inside and she starts to cry!  She said, "My mom just died, I know who you are.  I used to meet with the missionaries in 2008.  I know this whole routine, but I feel like I need this more than ever.  I need the missionaries to teach me again."  We just looked at each other, so happy. I told her she would see her mom again and that her mom is in the Spirit World.  She said that that was what she needed to hear and she continued to cry.  We are going back tomorrow to teach her.  Her boyfriend also used to live in Laguna Hills.  He said that we can't convert him, but he might listen, so we will see :) haha

Bob is doing great.  He is still getting baptized on January 5th.  We had a powerful lesson with him at President Stacey's house (in the mission presidency). Bob is so ready to get baptized.  He agrees and understands everything.  We kept thinking that he was on a spiritual high though and that he needs to have a more solid foundation.  We can all have a testimony, but a testimony really isn't enough.  We explained this to him and how just like the primary song, we need to be built upon a rock and not the sand.  We do that with continuous effort. 

It's like a doctor. He/she goes to school and has to do a lot of prerequisites, then he has to qualify for med school, then he goes to med school and he doesn't stop and say, "Hey I'm done now.  I understand how to be a doctor."  Those are all prerequisites to help him while he is a doctor.  That is the same concept with our testimonies.  It is just a prerequisite.  It is not the destination.  As a doctor graduates and starts his practice, he is applying the things that he learned in medical school every day.  He is continuing to practice and gain more knowledge and strengthening his understanding. 

If he didn't practice, he would forget all the things he learned.  We need to constantly be applying the things that we have learned.  We need to renew our testimonies, so that when a trial or a hard time comes our way, we will be ready and prepared.  

There will always be trials in our lives... I know how important it is to strengthen our understanding of this gospel, so that when those trials come, our faith won't shake.  I still feel like I have such a long way to go.  I will never have a perfect understanding during this life, but we can all try our best to deepen our understanding. 

"Conversion is an offering of self, of love, and of loyalty we give to God in gratitude for the gift of testimony."

I know this gospel is true. A testimony is a gift of God. I am so grateful we can all have one and I am so grateful for my parents testimonies.  It has strengthen mine so much. :)

Love you and HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Sister Kelsi Denae Johnson

ps- guess what?  The Poulos are about to leave their missions.  They are taking us to Chick-fil-a and Gelato today.... dun dun dun

Merry Christmas

Hello family!

How are you doing? It is almost CHRISTMAS!!! I seriously cannot wait to see my family..... You will never believe... it was a high of 67 degrees yesterday. It lasted about 20 minutes and now it's back in the 20's and 30's and snowing :) But I kept saying, "California came to me!" It was awesome. Also Kory, the surgery looks like it went very well :) I am glad you get to get back out so soon. Love you... you should start writing me every week again.

So, I am in Shaker Heights East now, a CITY. We share a ward with the zone leaders (one of them was just released as AP) and a set of Kirtland sisters. We have a lot of new responsibilities. It's hard to remember all the things that need to get done, but we got it. We really are on the phone a lot communicating with a lot of different people and trying to make everyone happy with scheduling. We haven't done any training yet, but that will be fun. We have started to plan a little bit for our training meeting this next week.

I also miss Hiram so much :( I was on the verge of tears the first day when I left Hiram. I felt like it was my new home ward and just felt so close to everyone. It's okay, i'll be back to visit soon. This new area is way different. Most of the members in the ward are all newly weds and in medical, law or dental school (and from Utah). And we are also on the border of Cleveland and so there are a lot of black people. Which is awesome, I love them all so much! 

We had a hot chocolate stand this week with the Elder's. It was fun and we met a lot of people. The elders probably have a new investigator from it, so that was good. It was really cold and wet, but that just meant people wanted hot chocolate and were willing to listen because they felt bad haha

We went and visited Michael one last time this last week. He said he just wanted to talk about doctrine and a member said that they would love to come.   He has seen a lot of anti... and we ended on him saying, "I hope you will still talk to me again when you get home after the lessson we just had". I told him of course we would still be friends, but I felt so sick to my stomach from the things he was saying.  I know that whatever we said was completely by the spirit. The ward member text us when we got home and said he was so impressed by our lesson and how powerful it was. I didn't see it at the moment, but we were just pretty blunt with him.

So, in my new area we have a new investigator who kinda looks like Michael actually. His name is Bob and he is getting baptized in a few weeks. I guess he just showed up to church and said he wanted to be baptized. ha ha so he was a miracle. He is amazing, so prepared.

Then we have Jason who is also really prepared, Colleen (she used to work in LA at Disney). She is way cool and prepared as well. She is also a writer like Michael and a very deep thinker as well.

We really met a lot of amazing people this week and it was kinda overwhelming to take everything in and all the changes. Everyone at sites keeps calling me the Queen and trying to measure me for my tiara. It embarrasses me. ha, but it will just take a while to adjust to everything. I don't think I have gotten there yet :) I was way too comfortable where I was before coming here. My companion is from Provo and she went to BYU studying/ playing the flute before she came out. We are very very different, but it will be good :) I will learn lots, I am sure.

Well, since it is Christmas I have been reading a little bit about the Savior and His birth. Something that President Davis said really stuck out to me. In Luke 1 it talks about how Mary really wants to tell her cousin Elizabeth that she is going to have the Savior of the world. When she talks to Elizabeth about having the Savior it says, "The babe leaped for joy and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Ghost." I know that when we talk to others about the Savior, the same thing will happen. When we talk about the Restoration, the same exact thing will happen. It will bring joy to them, just like it did with Elizabeth and John the baptist (who she was pregnant with). 

Our Savior was the most wonderful gift that we could have received. I know that when we share with others our love for Him and what He has established here on the earth again, we will be showing our gratitude and love to him.

I love my Savior. I love the example that He was on earth, so I can have a little bit of an idea, of what it means to be Christlike. I know He atoned for our sins and because of that, we get to live for eternity in happiness. 

Let us all remember our Savior and the wonderful gift that He was to us:)

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!!!

I love you all so much and I can't wait to see you...

Sister Kelsi Denae Johnson

I'm Being Transferred and a New Calling

Hey family,

 

How is my family?  I feel like I haven't talked to anyone in forever.  HAPPY BIRTHDAY KOLTON!!!!!!  Doing anything fun today?  

We had a great week, especially considering we had three days out of our area.   We got a lot done and saw the most people I have ever seen since being out on my mission.   Which was very exciting.

 

Guess what is tomorrow?   Well, transfers.   I am singing... I was nervous because I guess the flute didn't go along well enough with the arrangement I had practiced, so we had to learn a new song. I grabbed another sister and making her sing with me.  We are going to harmonize... It is a Silent Night lullaby.  It is pretty.  

I also found out I am leaving Hiram for sure :(  I am leaving my trainee Sister Coontz and all our people :( and our awesome district. so sad....  We had our last district lunch yesterday.  Someone paid for all of us!  We have no idea who did it.  Such a nice person, whoever that was.

 

President Vellinga called us.  We didn't see that he called us until a lot later, but normally he doesn't call unless he has specific business to take care of.   We were in a snow storm and we saw he was calling again, so we pulled over and he said, "can I please talk to Sister Johnson alone?"   I was super nervous... he said, "Sister Johnson, I have an important question for you.   "Then he asked me to be a Sister Training Leader.  A Sister Training Leader is like a Zone Leader.   So, every week I will be going on exchanges with the sisters and then a normal sister training leader does a little workshop once every other month, but then there is a "Kirtland Sister Training leader".   Where that Sister Training Leader is in charge of Kirtland basically.   The rules, the example, the car schedules, site schedules, help and EVERYTHING.   They also teach the senior couple missionaries and all the sisters every Friday morning.   I have always said, "I feel bad for those sisters, I would never want to be the Kirtland Sister Training Leader."  They are kinda like the sister AP's. haha.   Well, I just found out I am out-zoned and in-stake, which means.......... 99.9% I am the Kirtland Sister Training Leader.... Sister Nelson, (who is beyond perfect and going to be translated one day) is the Sister Training Leader right now, but she is going home... I am so so nervous.

 

I might have already told this story before when Bishop Whitney was called to be the second bishop of this dispensation, he said, "Brother Joseph, I just don't see a bishop in myself".  Joseph said, "well, I am not the one who has asked you, go and ask the Lord."  So as Newel K. Whitney was praying, he received the answer that Heavenly Father's strength would be in him and not to worry.

 

I was up for hours.   There are so many wonderful sisters who are so qualified!   I really had in my head that I never wanted to do that. :)  But I know that Heavenly Father knows what is best and that He truly will help us with anything.   I know that I need to have a better attitude and learn something from this. ha ha

But I truly am humbled....

 

There was a lady who was talking a while ago about how she loves to do embroidery.  She was making a beautiful picture and someone was looking up at the back side while she was embroidering and they didn't think it was that pretty.  They thought it was a picture of a garden which, she was actually embroidering a river, with flowers, a sun and it was beautiful.  We talked about how this is the same with Heavenly Father.   He can see the bigger picture from where He is sitting.   From down here, we don't know exactly what He is trying to make of us.  But when we listen to the spirit and follow what He wants us to do, He can help us reach our full potential.

 

When the judgment day comes, we aren't going to be judged on what we have done in our lives, but we are going to be judged on what we have become!  We need to try our hardest to always be faithful and improving each and every day.  When we are moving forward and feel the spirit in our lives, we know that He is happy with the choices and decisions that we are making in our lives.

 

This week, I spoke in church, we also saw Sister Kindall.   She is a less-active.   She has completely changed since I have been here.   It is seriously amazing.  We went to an appointment with her and her two little girls and they weren't there.   We were about to leave when one of her daughters said, "come here!"  So we ran over to a neighbors home.  Well, Sister Kindall, asked her friend if we could teach her, and we taught her right on the spot.   What an amazing member missionary!   We love her and she even came teaching with us to Bob this week :)

 

Bob is doing well!   He is so funny, he wants me to add him on fb really bad.   I am going to go and say good-bye to the Stamm's tonight, Michael, McIntyres, we said bye to Al and Loretta last night, Kathy (she cried), Giang, Gerry, Hellen, Florence and Sister Busath.

 

Giang is so funny.   He always calls and says, "Sista Johnsun.   It's zang.  Call Zang, ok sista Johnson. bye."   We went and saw him and he told me he loved me, he asked if I was married and I told him Sister Coontz was married.   haha.   And then he said, "I need woman."   It was kinda weird.... he wants to paint my nails and bought me nail polish.   He is Vietnamese.

Hellen and Flourence ask everytime where my man is and ask where my ring is and that the next time I see them, I better have a wedding ring.   People don't understand that missionaries don't get married. haha

 

Oh and Sister Coontz is going to be in a trio in Hiram!!   2 sisters are replacing me!   She is nervous about that as well.  She is taking over the area.  She is going to be so great.  Her mom just e-mailed her and said she is sad, us girls are being split up.   Awww man.

 

Anyways, we have a lot of packing and things to do today.  I love you all, I hope you all have a wonderful week.   Be safe, happy and be good :)

 

I get to see you in 7 1/2 days!   YAY!

 

Love always,

 

Sister Kelsi Denae Johnson

Merry Christmas from Sister Johnson

Dear Family and Friends,

We haven't heard from Kelsi yet this morning so I am assuming we will get her email on Wednesday.  She is being transferred to a new area so we are anxious to hear where.  

We did receive a Christmas card from her to share.  We are excited to Skype with her on Christmas Day. :)

If you would like to send her a card her address is:

Historic Kirtland Visitor Center

Sister Kelsi Johnson

7800 Kirtland Chardon Rd.

Kirtland, OH 44094

or her email address is:

kelsij@myldsmail.net

Thanks so much for all your love and support.

sheri

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

Kirtland At Christmas (Nativity Display Photos)