Letter From Sister Tiffany Johnson January 20, 2014

From: Tiffany Johnson <tiffanyj@myldsmail.net>

Subject: Weekly letter

Date: January 20, 2014 3:28:54 PM PST

Hello everyone, sadly it's been another one of those hard weeks where
I am just glad it's over. To start on the high Monday, my relief
society president took me shoe shopping. She cried after my talk than
saw my shoes and said please let me buy you new shoes. I felt bad.
Because it's not like I am broke but she wouldn't take no for an
answer. So she bought me two new cute pairs of shoes and two pretty
dresses that actually fit (because I picked them out). I was touched
by the love she had shown for me and wore my shoes with pride. Tuesday
came with a crash. Literally I crashed my bike trying to prevent
myself from getting hit by a car. I banged up my knees and elbows
pretty bad. When I got up I heard my companion screaming and then
looked to my right to see 5 young construction workers running to my
aid. Embarrassed by what just happened I tried saying I was ok and
jumped on my bike to ride away. But as I tried to pedal away I
realized I wasn't moving and that my chain had fallen off. Turning
more red I pulled over and fixed my bike 2 of the construction workers
were looking at my now blackened hands and said for me to follow them
to there truck so they could help me clean up. They thought they had a
towel but didn't, so one man had a shirt in the car that he had been
wearing earlier and handed it to me. Of coarse it was white. I tried
telling him it's ok but he insisted so I whipped my hands and totally
ruined his white shirt with grease and blood. We had 2 more
appointments so I decides we would continue working and I would
bandage myself later. But the lady at the last appointment took one
look at me and said "sister Johnson what have you done to yourself"
she helped me clean my cuts and then I realized the worst thing that
had come from my crash. I had destroyed my brand new shoes. They had
tons of holes in them.
   So that night on the way home I sadly walked to the relief society
presidents home and showed her the shoes apologizing. She started
crying again and said "she didn't care about the shoes and was worried
about me." (If you couldn't tell she is pretty emotional) She took my
shoes and literally came back the next morning with not only a
replacement pair but also another more durable pair. She explained
what had happened to me to the workers at the store who remembered me.
so for free they exchanged my shoes and gave her a discount on another
pair. Blessings!
       Things started to cheer up. We had a new investigator and I
had new shoes. But Thursday changed that. When we went to Yuba skilled
nursing home we found out the lovely Sister Burton had passed away.
She was like our loving mother here. We visited her 2 times a week for
the last five months. I promised myself I wouldn't cry but when we
walked into the room to see an empty bed and her husband there alone
it was hard to take it all in. When we asked if we could do anything
he said "just say a prayer please Sister Johnson" as I started the
prayer I just lost it and started crying. I had tons of flash backs of
all the good times we have had. And I felt the love that she had for
me and the church. I felt that she had found peace and was finally
able to make it back home. I am so thankful for the knowledge we have
of where we go and that we know we can see our loved ones again. It
brings joy to my life to think that finally Sister Burton is no longer
in pain and one day I will see her again in a perfect state. Right
when we left the room I got a call our new investigator dropped us.
Just adding to the pain.
     Don't worry I am not depressed I realize this is just a test. I
have so many great people that we are still teaching and this weekend
we found a few new ones. I love this gospel and I love my mission.
Transfers came and I am staying in Yuba there is still work for me to
do :)
      Love you guys.
        Sister Johnson.
Sorry this letter seems depressing. Things are looking up.