Letter from Sister Tiffany Johnson, October 28, 2013

On Mon, Oct 28, 2013 at 11:22 AM, Tiffany Johnson <tiffanyj@myldsmail.net> wrote:

Hello Everyone,

    I am so pleased to announce that MARTY is officially a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. He was baptized Saturday afternoon. It was so amazing seeing him walk up to me all dressed in white with the biggest grin on his face. I felt the spirit instantly and it just overwhelmed me. I knew looking at him that he really is a son of God and that he was loved. I was so happy and giddy the entire meeting. I can't express the feelings I felt watching this sweet 28 year old man I have been teaching get baptized. I felt honored to have had the opportunity to work with him and help him learn of his Father in Heaven. I am humbled by the experience. After Marty's baptism I waited to congratulate him. When it was finally my turn I reached out my hand to shake his. He grabbed my hand and yanked me in for a big hug saying thank you. It happened so quick I couldn't stop it but it was really sweet. His girlfriend Aime than came up and gave me a big hug saying thank you as well. I truly love this family and pray that they can experience all the joys that come from being members. Aime will hopefully be baptized in late November by Marty :D. (She was excommunicated about a year ago. And its amazing to see that this has just strengthened her testimony.)

     This week I felt inspired to read the talk by Elder Holland from conference with Tonya. (A Less active we are working with who is struggling with depression, addictions to pain medicine, and social anxiety.) As we began to read the talk the entire fill of the room changed it. It was no longer hectic and dirty but silent. We were all able to feel the spirit. I than turned to her and bore testimony to her about a time when I allowed fear to run my life and when I wasn't happy with who I was. I told that it was only when I turned to my Father in Heaven for support was I able to change my outlook and feel happy again. I told her that she was loved and that her Father in Heaven will never give up on her so don't give up on him. She began crying. I know the spirit was testifying to her that night. I also know that it will be a long time until she can really over come the trial in her life. But slowly we are seeing progress and slowly is still progress to me.

    There is also an 18 year old girl named Ashley we are working with that really wants to join the church. She loves the how she feels at church. However, her family said they would disown her if she did.  We thought that was the worst of her problems. However, Sunday night we felt inspired to text her and see how she was doing. It turned out that she was really struggling. Earlier that day the Police showed up at there home handing them some papers. They also said that they will probably being coming this week to take her and her little sister away. My heart instantly sank for her. What am I supposed to say, I wish I could let her come live with us. But I am just a missionary. So I all we could say was "we are so sorry, know that we love you and your Father in Heaven loves you too." Please keep Ashley in your prayers. She is truly going through a hard time. She also is failing high school and might not graduate.  If you have any advice please let us know.

      I know that there are many times that we are inspired to reach out to people. It is always for a special reason. It maybe because they are going through tough times like Ahsley or just because they need to know someone is thinking about them. Sometimes we will have the chance to find out why we were inspired to talk to someone but most of the time we will never know why or how it helped someone. However, always follow the promptings of the spirit, he knows all things. You will be blessed for doing so and will also be able to receive more promptings and guidance from the spirit in the future. Listen closely to the things you are feeling and don't be afraid to act.   I can promise you one thing you will NEVER regret following the promptings you receive. So what do you have to loss?

NEWS in the mission field. I survived my first transfer. I can't believe I have been out in the field so long.  Time has just flown by. My companion and I will be together for the next 6 weeks serving in the same area. We are so thankful for this because there is so much work we have to do and so much we need to improve on together.

    I love all of you so much, Thank you for all the Birthday wishes and the prayers.

                  Love always,

                         Sister Johnson

On Sun, Oct 27, 2013 at 10:19 PM, Scott Johnson <Scott4599@sbcglobal.net> wrote:

Dear Sister Tippy,

We hope you had a nice week and a wonderful birthday serving your Heavenly Father.  I will be interesting to see what you were able to do.  We had Britney and Allison at our house.  Brenda also came to help at work.  Allison is the office mascot.  She is so cute:)  She took her naps under my desk swaddled in her chair.  That was the darkest place.  Britney took a picture and sent to Kevin with the statement "find Allison"  I'll have to see if we can get that to you.  This last week was crazy busy.  I picked the girls up on Monday-we went to my  office and cleaned for a while then went home to visit with Dad and Ashley.  Tuesday was my assistants first day-  We trained her, mainly Brit and Brenda trained and I had appointments.  Wed and Thursday were also jammed with work.  Britney and I went to Ashley's Waterpolo game.  We left Brenda working at the office and then returned to do a little work.  Friday we were up at 4:30 am to go to the airport.  We didn't have a lot of down time.  I got behind at work and I'm trying to get caught up and cleaned up so my new assistant can function.  That has been the story of my life this week ….work, work ,work:)  I need to get a life and some balance.

I'm getting ready to run to a meeting for Savior of the World.  I'm assisting some with that.  We are using it as a missionary tool for Christmas.  The production is going to be done at Hughson High school and we want to keep it free to the public.  We are promoting through the missionaries and ward mission leaders.  It will probably be a great success.

We pray daily for your guidance and protection.  Stay close to the Lord and always follow promptings.  We love hearing from you.

Keep up the awesome work.  did you get the package from your sisters?  I still haven't put yours in the mail.  We are also doing one in Relief Society on the 12th of November--YOu are loved--don't ever forget that!

Love MOM


Hello Sister Johnson,

Time seems to be moving so fast.  We always seem to keep busy.  Britney and Brenda were down for a few days helping your mom at work and Ashley is finishing up her water polo.  She has only one more game against Pitman this Wednesday.  I have been kept busy with school and I have about 100 tests that I need to correct.
I am re-commiting on my healthy life style choices this week.  I noticed that my weight was starting to go up again.  I glad to see that you have been doing well and you look thinner in your pictures.  Keep it up, you will feel healthier, look better and have more energy if you do.
One of the things that I challenged Tyler to do on his mission was to "Be Bold."  Be bold means to not be shy about the gospel or not be slow to follow the promptings of the spirit.   By the end of my mission, I was much better about talking to people and challenging them to make commitments.  If you stay focused on the work, and follow the spirit, the spirit will help you know what you should do and say.
We are going to be making some missionary goals as a family.  We will let you know next week what we plan do do.
I hope your birthday went well and you had a good week serving the Lord.  Tyler is seeing Bethany almost everyday.  Sounds like he is becoming serious.  We let you know if there is any progress.
Work hard and Be Bold and enjoy serving the Lord.  Love, DAD

Hi Sister Johnson

        Like mom and dad said our family has had a pretty busy week.  It was fun having Britney and Brenda over for a few days.  But I did not get to spend a lot of time with them because they were working at moms work and I was at school a lot.   I loved playing with Allison, she is very cute.
         On tuesday I had a choir performance.  It was a nice performance, but it kinda stinks that Madrigals ( the group I  am in) had only a 45 second piece to perform.  It is a five part accapella piece that I really like but it was just short.  We prepared to sing to songs but because of timing each group was allowed to sing only one song.  I also might be singing a solo for evening of excellence next week.  We will be singing a song called In that Holy Place, and the young women leaders opened up three solo opportunities in the song for Laurels.  It was nice that I was asked to do one of the solos.  Hopefully it will work out, which I am sure it will.
        Wednesday I went to the youth scavenger hunt for our ward.  It was a fun activity, you follow clues to different areas of Hughson.  However it lasted about two hours and luckily I did not have homework that night. I did lose my phone in the Weatherbee's dirt field while being chased by brother clark who had a chainsaw.  Dad was nice enough to take me back to the field at the end of the scavenger hunt and help me look for it.  He luckily found it in the dirt and it has no apparent damage to it.
        Friday Hannah came over and we worked on our halloween costumes together.  The plan is that we will be lollipops but we will see what it ends up as.  She has a been a really good friend to me and she is a nice girl.  Whenever one of our parents go to the temple, we usually tag along and do baptisms together. So far we have gone to three different temples together and we will be going to the Reno temple this friday as well.
        Well I have to go now. I love you!
Love, Ashley