Shepherdsville 3/28/16

Greetings all,

Once upon a time, we had to drive to Louisville so many times in the

month, we ran almost completely out of miles and had to walk and bike

everywhere. Shepherdsville is a town that looks like Kimberly, but is

connected by busy, narrow, windy roads with no shoulders. Also, biking

in a dress is a ladylike skill equivalent to running in heels. Anne

Shirley makes it look easy! But it has been so much fun. Especially

when it starts pouring rain and we have to just laugh because we must

look so ridiculous!

Usually by the time we get to Saturday, we have most of the day filled

with appointments. This Saturday was an exception. We had nothing

planned whatsoever. And without a car, it's not like we could drive

around hunting down formers, potentials, and less actives. So Sister

Jarman and I geared up for an Annual Pilgrimage. We were going to trek

around some less explored parts of our area and find some people to

teach. Fortunately, Heavenly Father had other plans. We need up going

to a baptism in Louisville with Brother Elliott (several of his

homeless buddies in tow and rocking out to our head-banging EFY

music), having a lesson with him and Brother Aubrey, and going to

Women's Conference in a branch member's home. It was so nice!

I need to say something about Brother Elliott. He is more dedicated to

sharing the Gospel than anyone I know. And he's not even a member yet!

He'll call us to say "I just wanted to let y'all know there's a TON of

people at the park if you wanna talk to them." He has asked for

several Books of Mormon to give to people he knows. Sometimes we'll

approach someone on the street and they'll say, "you know, that's

funny, there was a guy telling me about this a few days ago." He

shares the gospel with literally every person he talks to: the guy at

he gas station, the lady in the dentist's office, anyone who says

"have a blessed day." I hope we all can be more like that and have

that childlike excitement to share the Gospel.

Brother Elliott has tickets to all five sessions of Conference! So if

you see a big, burly man with tattoos that's our lovely investigator!

Love you all!

Sister Johns

Sent from my iPad

Sisters Johns and Jarman

Shepherdsville 3/21/16

Our District

Our FaceTime lesson with brother Bell

Derby Hats

The baptism!

Hello everyone!

This week has been absolutely crazy! 

Thursday, we were doing weekly planning at the library when Sister Jarman said, "We need to go talk to that guy," indicating a man sitting on a couch in the corner. Normally, we don't approach people in the library, but we talked to him and he was interested! So we sat down right then and there and gave a lesson on the Restoration. He accepted the invitation to get baptized! It was so cool.

We were having a pretty heavy spiritual lesson with a less active in the library (again) when an investigator (who we were scheduled to meet with next) came bursting in the study room we were in saying "Y'all didn't answer your phone! LICE! Jordan found lice in her hair. We're on lock-down. Quarantine. So if y'all wanna have a lesson it's going to have to be outside on our porch." Then he exited the room as swiftly as he entered, taking the spirit with him. Haha!

Finally, Brother Bell's baptism! This whole week we've been pretty stressed out because he decided to go out of town and drive home the day of his baptism, then asked us to move the date to Sunday instead. We had our last lesson via FaceTime as he drove home from Florida. After he was baptized, he bore his testimony. "I now know three things. Joseph Smith was a prophet, the Book of Mormon is true, and Jesus Christ is my Lord and Savior." He's a kingdom builder! 

***

As Easter approaches, I've realized more deeply what this wonderful
holiday means. We celebrate the birth of Christ in Bethlehem and stand
in awe of the sacrifice he made for us in Gethsemane. The message of
Easter is greater than all--that He lives, currently. He lives to
"succor"--to run to us-- when we need His help and strength. His great
work of salvation continues, as I have a daily witness. As he promised
us, "for the Lord will go before you; and the God of Israel will be
your rearward" (Isaiah 52:12). I know that Jesus Christ lives.

Have an awesome week!

Sister Johns


See the video:

"The Kristen Show" Episode one

From a letter from Shepherdsville 3/11/16

....
Another lady in our branch is a therapist and she's so cool.  She had a really rough childhood and was homeless but had a super spiritual experience at a Billy Graham event (like Louis Z on Unbroken) and joined the Church!  I was sitting by her in RS and we were singing "I am a Child of God" and she muttered, "what if your parents aren't 'kind and dear?'"

So I automatically said, "I always just say 'kind of weird.'" She got a kick out of that!
....

Shepherdsville 3/7/16

Dear everyone,
Another crazy week!
We did quite a bit more tracting this week due to the warm weather. We
drove up the the hills in search of a less active the branch wanted us
to meet with and decided to find some hillbillies. No luck this time,
although we did meet some very vocal dogs, geese, and roosters. It's
beautiful up there.
Brother Elliott has an amazing ability to feel the Spirit. He's had a
really hard life and it's difficult for him to understand his worth
and God's love for him. He was at a low point this week and was on the
brink of dropping us and giving up. It's amazing to me how much he's
been embraced by our branch however. Multiple people spoke to him at
church and tried to help him see how much progress he's made. A sweet
older lady approached him after church and gave him a copy of a talk
she felt inspired to share with him and bore her testimony of how
valued he is. Another man who'd gone through similar issues invited
him to lunch.
It reminded me of a talk I studied this week--Why the Church by Elder
Christofferson. He talks about Christ's purpose--to help mankind have
faith, repent, be baptized, receive the gift of the Holy Ghost, and
endure to the end. Our purpose as members of Christ's church is an
extension of Christ's purpose. This purpose,  "requires more than
simply being nice or feeling spiritual," but serves to help all of us
receive a fullness of Christ's grace. And, as Elder Christofferson
said, "one cannot fully achieve this in isolation." The church is
established so that Christ can fulfill His purpose through us.
Have a lovely week!
Sister Johns