Winchester 2/20/17

Exchange with the Paris Hermanas

Wilford and Harold

The family we're teaching

Helping our librarian with book markers :)

Hi friends,

To make for up for the absolute novel last week, I'm going to title my entries so everyone doesn't fall asleep QUITE as fast haha jk;)

Tour de Paris, Polynesian Companions, and Wilford the Kentucky Rat

Happy moments this week:

• The hands down BEST part about going on lots of exchanges is spending quality time with incredible missionaries and helping them get excited about their area again. Went to Paris this week and we explored the town looking for volunteer opportunities and had so many little miracles happen. 
• We got the Zone Leaders back for pretending to cut us a ton of miles a few weeks ago. We told them we went on exchanges with some sisters not in our Zone and they freaked out haha! It was HILARIOUS. Sister Israelsen and I have been focusing on intent this transfer--analyzing everything we do and discerning what our intent is behind it. If our intent was to waste time out of laziness--pranking ZLs wouldn't be good. But Christ has been helping us purify our intent. In order to help the missionaries we need to work closely and have a good relationships with the leaders. And pranking has really helped us all to have a better relationship. It's amazing how if you focus on the doctrine of Christ, you don't have to question if something is "against the rules" or not. If you let Christ change your heart, your intent and therefore your actions will be pure. 
• Helped a lady in the ward rake leaves. She excitedly showed us some "crusty finds" from the local "antique shop" aka rubbish pile for Sister Israelsen as going away presents. Homemade toys she matter-of-factly named Wilford the Kentucky Rat and Herald the Kentucky Cow. She has an interesting sense of humor haha.
• Drove with our investigator to Lexington to get some help with family history! The consultant happened to be one of Sister Iz's recent converts and he showed our investigator pictures of the temple. She got sooo excited. She's amazing!!
• Despite Sister Israelsen's long-held belief that she's going to be a missionary all her life and despite our plans for her to live under my bed and eat cereal for at least another transfer...she's going home Wednesday. Going to miss her like crazy! My new comp is Sister Endemann! She grew up in Samoa and was actually trained by Sis Iz. She is absolutely crazy and so this will be a new adventure for sure!  #pasty 

Love you!

Sister Kristen Johns

Winchester 2/6/17

Hi!

So we somehow ended up with a TON of extra miles at the end of January. And if you don't use em you lose em. So for the last few days of the month, I drove allllll over kingdom come--we went to Morehead to go hiking on Pday, drove down to Clay City and Stanton and found some cool people (part of our area that we never get to work), and drove out to members that live out in the boonies. Almost got shot that time, cause the member's heard someone pull in their driveway and it was dark and they were freaking out. Haha.

Visiting with members is PAYING OFF! So many miracles! A sister in the ward told us to try her neighbors and now we are teaching their family. There's another family in the ward who are working with their friend--we've been over to their house to have lessons or Book of Mormon study with them. I've also noticed that the members feel like we care about them individually--our meal calendar is always full. 

Still helping our elementary school librarian. She is SO sweet. I didn't realize this, but she investigated the church pretty thoroughly many years ago. She invited us over for dinner with her friends the other night! Her home is gorgeous--tons of books (obviously) and artwork. I was very very happy haha. We shared the "Because of Him" video at dinner. 

I've been taking President Nelson's challenge of studying the Old and New Testaments and Book of Mormon, looking for the actions, words, laws, and doctrine of Christ. So far it's been really amazing, particularly the OT to see the attributes of the Savior. He gives, builds, creates, raises our sights to something better. 

Lately, I've been pondering on what it means to nurture. Sister Marriott's definition is my favorite, "to create space for." As woman, this is our primary responsibility. We create space in homes for the spirit and for learning. We create an environment so those around us can feel loved and safe. That's exactly what Christ does as the Lord of the Vineyard. He won't make the plants grow, but He'll water, dig, provide nourishment.   

Love you!

Sister Kristen Johns

Sent from my iPad

Winchester 2/13/17

MLC lunch!

Weirdos. ;)

Um so we have the best mission president ever.  Don't even argue ;)

Volunteering at the museum!

 Greetings! So I had the thought to just send excerpts from my journal
this week. My apologies to anyone who already feels obligated to read
fifteen other missionaries' weekly novels ha!

Monday
Normal Pday. Goodwill shopping with Jaycee, a YW in the ward who's
getting ready for a mission. We drove to Lexington with Katie, another
YW to drop off some keys Sister Israelsen stole from the Pioneer
sisters. We also splurged and got KY necklaces!

Tuesday
MLC day! I drove alllllll day it feels like ha. The meeting was crazy
because literally everything talked about I felt like Heavenly Father
has given given us a sneak peek of this last transfer! Working with
members, the doctrine of Christ, etc. Isn't God so good? Driving home,
there was an accident. So we were at a standstill for an hour.

Wednesday
Very muchie day. Worked at CC's Closet where we volunteer hanging
clothes to sell and they use the money to feed the hungry. We worked
on the sales floor this time so got to see more people so that's good.
Ran home and grabbed a quick lunch, then headed to a sister's house.
She wanted to say goodbye to Sister Iz before she leaves in a few
weeks. She owns an old house built in the 30s. Everything's is super
pretty and girly--beautiful tea sets, paintings, curtains. We had hot
chocolate and cake with her.She told us about how her now ex husband
and son barely missed being killed in an accident several years ago
and a few days later, all her teaset broke. She was sitting amidst
broken plates crying and a voice came to her, "I just saved your
husband and son. These are just dishes." Wow!
Went to a returning less active's  house for an appointment with our
investigator. They are best buds now and it makes me so happy! It was
a very spirit driven lesson. It was exhausting actually. I felt like
the best thing to do would be to lay on the floor ha. Not sure how
that would've gone down, but I was strongly tempted. Ran to a WILD
dinner with a family of boys in the ward! Left their home with no
trauma of dead hampsters like last time, whew.
Ran to another family in the ward who has been having scripture
studies and FHE with their neighbor the past month. They asked us to
help their girls make hearts to heart attack an older couple in the
ward. Ran to our BOM class. Still in Isaiah. Still want to lay on the
floor. My impression I keep having is this "turning outward instead of
inward" thing is the hardest thing I have ever done.

Thursday
Zone Conference!Twas quite nice. We got to Lexington early to practice
the musical number "where can I turn for peace" With Sis Iz, the
Morehead sisters, and Sis Makasini (who's from Tonga) on the uke. It
went pretty well actually!
Got to spend time with my homies, Sister Bogardus and Vaughn. Love
them. The trainings were really good as usual. Lunch was funny cause
the Paris Hermanas told us to save them a seat at lunch so they could
tell us a story. So we found an almost empty table by a sister who was
sitting by herself. The Hermanas must have forgotten cause they walked
right by ha! We ended up filling the table with Elders. Glad God led
us to help the one sister.
After the meeting, I was drained to the MAX. Had a bit of a minor
breakdown. I just feel like my spirit is expanding so much. Quality
love equals quality pain, right?

Friday
Today was a little less crazy than the last week has been! We went to
the Bluegrass Heritage Museum this morning to help the two cute ladies
from the African American society. Sis Iz helped scan pictures with
this wand thing while I taught them how to crop and edit pictures on
the computer. They are so bewildered with technology, its so cute!
Helped our librarian cover paper books! Learning all these library
SKILLS! She told us she and her husband investigated the church for a
while, but her husband is pretty set Methodist so it didn't work out.
I wonder if he'll ever change his mind.
Tonight we had dinner with a recent convert at the Golden Corral. For
the second and presumably the last time I ever go there. He loves God
SO MUCH and always says things like, "He howlds EVER soul in thuh
pawlm of Hees hand." Bless em.
*Eating cotton candy at the Golden Corral
Sis Iz: mm, doesnt this remind you of a carnival?
Recent convert: reminds me of insulation.

Saturday
Today was a bit of a slow finding day. We stopped by some members we
haven't seen in forever and they told us the low down on the double
wedding for their son and daughter they just had. Their daughter
married someone from his mission in Brazil who doesnt speak a lick of
English except "yes"and "thank you" and "Salt Lake Temple." Their
daughter married someone from her mission (she got home in December in
case you were wondering) who speaks Ukrainian, Russian, Chinese, and
thankfully English.
Our investigator met us at the church tonight. Best. Lesson. Everrr! I
guess her family has been giving her rubbish for meeting with "the
mercenaries" as they call us (funny, I've been calling us that for
months). She's really starting to feel and recognize the spirit! She
said, "Ive been pushing God away with a shovel because I thought He
would punish me. But He's been so gentle." God is SO GOOD. I realized
that is the theme of all the lessons--the goodness of God.

Sunday
Today was a miracle day! Both our investigators came to church! Of
course, it HAD to be the ONE sunday in the entire year where we talk
about the history and function of the scouting program all. Sacrament.
Long. haha oh well! At least it wasn't Kolob. makes me so happy when
gators come to church cause that's where they can be filled.
After studies, we visited with several different members who asked us
to come by because they had referrals for us. It's seriously
crazy--its taken us almost three months to gain a good relationship
with the ward and its paying off so much!
Had dinner with this cute little hipster family and we made little
nametags for the kids and acted out being missionaries for a day.
We had about ten minutes to stop by one of the member's houses. She
sat us down and rushed away to get us hot chocolate and cookies (even
though we just had dinner). We were running out of time, so we drank
the scalding chocolate as fast as possible. Sis Iz left for a minute
to use the restroom. Meanwhile the sister disappeared again. She came
back with two plates of cake. I knew that cake was the thing getting
in the way of our appointment in a few minutes, so I ate it as fast as
I could! Sister Iz came back in to see the increase of food we now had
to eat and my probably desperate face. We laughed really hard. Inside.
Had a first lesson with a lady tonight. The spirit was very strong and
she seems super prepared! We are being blessed so much!

If you read this whole thing, heaven bless you. Haha.

Love,
Sister Kristen Johns

Sent from my iPad