Letter from Sister Tiffany Johnson September 20, 2014

 Well with p.day being changed to a later date I just feel like
their is so much to talk about and update all of you on. We had a
pretty eventful week. First I was invited by a sister in my area to go
to the Temple with her. She had family names to do. It was the first
time I have gone in almost a year. I loved it. The spirit is always so
strong there. My companion Sister Lunsford didn't come but said I
should read my patriotically blessing while inside the temple. So I
did just that, I felt the spirit so strong as I reread the familiar
words of my blessing. I want to invite all of you that has a blessing
and can go to the temple to do that.
   After last week with Gigi walking out of church, my companion and
I were nervous to see her again. Unsure what she was going to say or
what she would have told her family. We prayed for her and really did
whatever was in our power to help her come back. We talked to the
elders over the singles ward and got the to inform a few social
sisters in there ward to look out for Gigi. We all prayed for her.
Then we stopped by her home Tuesday. It was a bit awkward at first but
then she just opened up expressing how sorry she was for leaving
early. A wave of relief came over me when we realized she still liked
us, the teaching of the gospel, and still wanted our help. Best part
of all, I found out how mature she is for just being 18, she never
spoke badly of the church to those around her. She had the perfect
chance and didn't take it. I was impressed with her and her desires to
be better. Gigi came to ARP with us later in the week. It was a great
experience the testimonies shared there were heart felt and everyone
there felt the spirit. Gigi walked away telling the teacher she wants
to keep coming.
     Our plan with to the singles ward also worked perfectly because
as she was leaving she ran into the sisters we told to look out for
her. They fellowshipped her so perfectly. She was amazed at how nice
they were to her and wants to start attending there ward. She was out
of town this Sunday but plans on being at church next Sunday. What a
miracle.
      I don't believe I have told you about our most promising
investigator Katherine. She is the one we have been praying to find.
She is in her 30s with 2 boys. Her husband wants nothing to do with
the church but supportive in whatever she wants to do. She reads what
we leave her, studies Mormon.org to find her questions answered, and
is just so appreciative of our visits. We asked her how she has been
feeling about the things we have taught. She looked at us and said "it
just make sense. It's all simple and obvious. It's the same as in the
bible." I agreed with her that is does just simple make sense. When we
asked her to be baptized she said yes. We haven't been able to set a
date with her because at the moment she is unable to attend church.
She has to work Sundays, and when she asked for them off this last
week her boss said no they don't have someone else that can take her
place. She wants to be at church and bring her boys, but can't right
now. Please keep her in your prayers. She hates her job and wants to
be able to find a new job and for the chance to go to church.
Katherine has an amazing spirit, she's one I can see really doing well
and staying strong in the gospel.
      To report on the ward. People are really starting to like us.
It's so true that if you pray and the. Go out and work for what you
prayed for God will help make up the rest. I prayed for the ward and
area to start warming up to us. Then just this week, we have gotten
compliments from so many members and a few more people have offered to
come out with us. Then the biggest honor was when a member of the
stake presidency ran into us and said he has seen how we are moving
the work along in our area, his is really impressed with what we have
done. So much so that he wants to come out with us and asked our
thoughts on something like member missionaries etc. It was a great
confidence booster for my companion and I.
       Speaking of my companion I want to show you another way my
prayers have been answered. My companion is one that has had some
struggles getting along with her comps. She is quiet and grew up with
her grandparents. She has never had any type of leadership on her
mission. She in the beginning nit picked me a lot and seemed to not be
a fan of me. I prayed for companionship unity and for ways to help her
feel my love. as I was thinking of it I came up with a few things I
could do and change. I did them. It was a lot of fun as well. First
she isn't girly so I did her hair. She was amazed. Then I have made
her lunch because she eats cups of noodles. I also wrote her an email
because only two people write her. I don't say these things to show
all of you how awesome I am but to express to you that if you want
your prayers answered it takes action on your part. My prayers were
answered, one day as we were out riding our bikes my companion looks
and me and says "sister Johnson, I just love you." I want to to throw
down my bike and just pray to my father In heaven expressing my
gratitude. We laugh everyday now, are constantly talking to the point
where it's hard to get to sleep on time, and we express our love for
each other multiple times a day.  To me it's a miracle. We aren't
perfect but we both have a desire to get along, so we do. This week
she even made me dinner Haha which was cute because she doesn't know
how to cook. So I got to eat rice a roni and corn. It was simply
delicious. I am blessed with an adorable and misunderstood companion
whom I love.
        God sends tender mercies our way when we need them. Lately I
have been struggling with feeling positive with the work I did in Yuba
City because a few people have gone less active. Then randomly I
received an email that brought me literally to tears. It was from
Janeen. She was is a less active there who just got married to a non
member. I had the chance to be welcomed into there home and teach
them. Ethan hasn't been baptized or anything that number wise would
show I have done anything. However, I learned that it doesn't matter.
All I am working towards is helping people progress towards there
father in heaven.
                "Hi sister Johnson just wanted to touch base with you
Ethan has been working full time for a little while now and it has
been a huge change for us I think I didn't realize how hard I'm
working nights would be for all of us but we are making it through it
because of his schedule he is unable to attend church but he is
allowing me to take Emily. We were both surprised when emily's mother
threw a huge fit not wanting Emily to attend a Mormon church I was
very proud of Ethan he stood his ground and we are continuing to take
her I know that his experiences with you and sister woods gave him a
very good and high opinion of Mormons along with the exposure to other
members of the Church in the area in my family and now at his work yes
several coworkers whom he respects who are Mormons.We miss you all the
time but I hope you know how grateful I am for the time you spent in
Yuba City and I know you are doing the Lords work and I can see how
many other people are benefiting from you being there I guess I never
truly felt personally blessed by missionaries until I met you and
sister woods.I just want to make sure that you know dot line upon line
day by day month by month we are continuing to move forward sometimes
it seems other snails pace but always forward."
   I felt the spirit so strong because I knew it was God reassuring
me that my work is noticed and good in his eyes. I learned from our
zone conference yesterday that The Lord is preparing people for
specifically us. That includes each of you. I know that the people I
have met have been prepared. Don't be afraid or second guess yourself.
Get involved involved in this marvelous work so you to can feel the
love of your savior increased in your life. It doesn't have to be this
large thing. The first time I met Janeen all we did was laugh and
talk. It was easy and simple but made a lasting impression, enough to
let us as missionaries in to teach her family. And for the first time
in over many years she is going to church regularly.
     God is always looking out for us. He wants us to be successful
and be able to live with him again. He wants us happy. I know that any
opportunity he can bless us he will. We just need to be doing our
part, extending our hand to him. I have been trying to do that more
often in my life and it had changed me. The atonement is what we
studied for our conference. It's something you should all review. It's
so important that we know the atonement covers everything. He has
payed the price for all our sorrows, afflictions, short comings,
temptations, and sins. It is for all of us. Elder Nielsen of the
seventy shared with us "when the savior was paying the price for us,
he saw us individually and personally chose to save us." Don't allow
that personal sacrifice to go in vain. We don't need to carry these
burdens any longer. The savior wants to forgive us. Never allow
yourself to believe anything different. His love we can not fully
understand but it is there and it is real. I know it, I have felt it,
and because of that I keep his commandments to show my love for him in
return.

"Guess What.......I Crashed" Letter from Sister Tiffany Johnson

This week... Well it's been one of trials. I can't explain the
emotions I have felt over the week because they have been all over the
place. However, my lasting impression from the week is gratitude. I
realize, though I always knew that people are not perfect, we can not
control the things that are happening around us. But we can control
our attitude and the way we respond to what is happening. This week I
have really had to do that.
     To start we found an amazing new investigator. Her name is Gigi,
she is 18 and married to a man in prison. She has had a rough life and
gotten her self into some addictions. We found her while visiting
Neal. She has been living with Neal's family since she is all alone
now. The first thing she said to us was. "What church do you go to?"
We explained. She then replied. "I will be there on Sunday" and left
with a friend. It was so fast that we weren't able to get a phone
number or confirm how she was getting to church. So I felt like we
needed to still work on the street where she lived while I just prayed
that she would come back. Then as we began to leave I looked up and
there she was smiling and walking towards us. I basically ran to her
and got her contact information. We set up a return appointment for
Saturday and went on our way. It was an amazing experience and to top
it off Saturday was a great lesson with her as well. She was still
confident that she would be at church even if she had to walk and she
also wanted our help to live the word of wisdom. To me she was a
"golden investigator".
      Sunday came and there Gigi was at church ready and excited to
learn more about what we believe. She loved watching the deacons pass
the sacrament. But all missionaries fears came true. The Sunday she of
coarse came was fast and testimony meeting. And yep it was the kind
even members cringe to hear. This couple got up and shared how much
they love each other and have been together for 61 years and that they
went to Hawaii this year. It was the opposite of spiritual, I am
not even sure God was mentioned. Then the talks to follow were just as
disrupted. They, while on the stand, called out people, shared odd
stories and bore everything but a testimony. A little more than half
way through she walks out saying she has to go to the bathroom.
However, she never returned. We got a text message after the meeting
explaining how disconnected she felt, that it was so noisy in there
and she just couldn't feel the spirit or comfortable. I never have had
an investigator literally get scared off before like that. It was so
disheartening. My companion and I struggled to stay positive during
the rest of church. Then we went to ward council and they each picked
on each other. There was a lot of contention in the room about who's
doing who's calling and who's wasting time. Then when we explained
what happened to Gigi they thought she was just being sensitive. But I
totally agree with her. I would have been freaked out too.
          Don't worry we aren't giving up on Gigi we are going to
bend the rules and have her go to the singles ward though she is
married. We talked with the singles ward and hey were super excited to
fellowship her.
            To added to the emotional pains we were going through and
striving to stay positive and continue working I crashed. We were
riding home, it was about 9pm and we were going down a hill. I would
say we were going pretty fast, when I looked up and saw the light
quickly change to yellow I was so close to the intersection that it
scared me and I instinctively grabbed the brake. However, I squeezed
the front brake hard and threw myself over my bike. I landed head
first and my bike came crashing on me. I lost my shoes, scratched my
bike and got a few new bruises that are huge. However, the miracle is
that my helmet is a little big so when I fell it covered my face
perfectly were I hit. Leaving me with zero scares or pains on my head.
While my companion was screaming out for me. I jumped up. Grabbed my
bike and began riding again. A member saw and checked to see if I was
okay. I reassured him and continued riding. My companion and I laughed
the entire way home as we talked about how silly I must have looked
and how crazy our day was.
           Though I have what seems to be a baseball coming out of my
thigh which stings. I am fine. The funny part is that I have a scar
on my knee from surgery which looks like an elephant. Sadly from the
accident the road scrapped off one of the "eyes" of my elephant so now
I really do not have an elephant scary which makes me sad. :)
               The thing is, it's a tender mercy of The Lord that I
wasn't  more injured and that my companion and I can laugh about the
things that happened. Because the fact of the matter is I can't change
what happened today no matter how upset I could get over it. I can't
go back in time. But I can look back at the lessons learned and smile
because I know that God is still with me and still teaching me. The
mission is to try us. I will not give up nor allow things out of my
control to affect my work. I love this gospel too much and being a
missionary to stop now. Through everything, even though I haven't
mentioned we still made a record of most lessons taught in the week
for this area for the last few months. It's been what people like to
call a dry area. But my companion and I like to say an area ready to
grow.
                 The biggest tender mercy though was after all the
craziness I received an email from my recent convert Emily. She bore
an amazing testimony that almost brought me to tears. I want to share
it with you now so you can feel the same spirit. She plans on going on
her mission next year. She has been a member for about three months
but it sounds like a lot longer. Below is her own words.


I just would like to say that I know that this gospel is true it
brings a smile to my face when I write this, it brings so much joy to
my heart that I think I never have felt. It is so amazing to have this
gospel, to know that our Heavenly Father loves us so much that I can't
imagine it, to know that Jesus Christ loves us so much that he
suffered for us so we once again can be in Heavenly Father's kingdom.
To also know that the atonement is there for us when we mess up
because I am not perfect and I need the atonement, to know that we can
be clean once again we just have to repent and know that the atonement
is there for us. I know that this gospel blesses lives it has blessed
my life so much that  I am so grateful for everything that has
happened to me good or bad because I can always learn from it. I know
that when I am feeling down He will comfort me , when I am worried He
will give me peace and when I feel lonely He will let me feel His
love. I would be lost without these feelings of the Holy Ghost, and I
know that I can always feel theses things when I pray and read the
scriptures it is so essential to do these things because He has asked
us to do it. I know that Joseph Smith restored this gospel and with
out him and his curiosity I wouldn't be able to know what it is like
to have so much love and so much faith in our Father. I wouldn't give
up this gospel for anything in the world it means so much to me I love
it so much that I am forever grateful to those who have influenced my
life because of this gospel. I know that the Church of Jesus Christ of
Latter Day Saints is the true church, and that when we meet every
Sunday as brother and sisters to renew our covenants that we made with
our Heavenly father we will fill the spirit and have our testimony and
faith built stronger. And I hope that each of you are blessed with
these things and if not we can always work towards them with prayer
and scripture study and I say these things in the name of Jesus
Christ. Amen.

     I am so blessed to have been able to teach amazing people. I
love all of them and have learned so much from all of them. I love
this gospel can never deny it's truth.
         Love sister Johnson.