Kristen in Kentucky: Winchester 1/2/17

Dear people,

Happy 2017! We tried our best to stay up...but failed. Oh well;)

Firstly, our neighbor who moved here from Nigeria is doing amazingly! All of our lessons have been super spirit driven and his desire is increasing so much. He technically is YSA, so we skyped the Zone Leaders (who are over UK singles) into our lesson on Saturday. He'll most likely be taught by them during the week, and come to church with us on weekends. Its incredible to me how God literally prepared him for the past year until he was humble enough, then had him move in for a couple of weeks RIGHT NEXT DOOR to the sister missionaries! Ha!

We had a couple sisters in our zone who are struggling with some things, so Sis Iz and I felt like we should have another exchange with them. I went to Lexington this time. The sister expressed to me how hard it is to work the area because they get stuck in black hole areas (lots of return appointments, no commitment keeping) and they are in a car share so they walk a lot. I suggested we bike to the nicer neighborhoods and go exploring. So we packed a dinner, pumped up our bikes and set off on an adventure! I was on this super gimpy bike with very poor gears and weird brakes. It was kinda scary to ride in the city, but SO much fun. We found some prepared people who have cars and jobs! It was a really good exchange. Sis Iz and I talked all the way home on how we can help those sisters and our conclusion was they need to feel LOVED. I feel like that's the solution to a lot of problems.

Later that day, we found ourselves in a very sketchy part of town (for Winchester standards, so not that bad, don't worry) looking up a referral. We ran into a lady who told us we were sent here from God and ushered us in her house. She gave us her life story, tragedy after tragedy. We just listened. After she was done, we prayed with her and she gave us both hugs. Both of us got a little emotional too. It was a very sweet moment. At the end of the day, we both came home and collapsed. Missions are taxing...emotionally, physically, and spiritually. But its a manifestation of Christ's enabling power that He can work though little 18-21 year old young adults to perform His work.

New Years Eve, we ate food and played games at a member's house. I started to feel sick Saturday and all day yesterday was kinda feverish and nauseous. Sister Iz wasn't feeling very well either and so we actually left church early. Its my first time being legitimately sick on my mission, and thats a miracle ha! I feel loads better today.

Have a lovely week!!

Sister Johns