Monday, June 29, 2015

News from Nederland

Howdy Folks!

Nother week here in Assen. But, it's been good. :) I still love my companion, and she still seems to like me okay, so no matter what's goin on, we are pretty darn happy.

We got some "baptismal dates!" Those are in quotations ecuz they are not until October, and they are for two young girls (cousins) that we are teaching, and hopefully they can get parental consent. One of the moms is also an investigator, and has been for a while, and is basically a dry Mormon. However, personal circumstances are making it difficult for her to get baptized. But we were thrilled to at last get a lesson with them and talk some more about the awesomeness of baptism. We will be praying for some miracles for this family.

Miracle for me: Have I mentioned how piano music keeps coming my way? God is so good to me. Guess what I have. William Joseph's new Church piano book! :D :D I don't think I already told you guys that.. Anyway, you all know me, so you should know how just so so happy I am about this. Another sister just let me have it cuz her comp left it behind. Woo hoo! God loves me. :)

Finally gave my first talk yesterday! All I had to do was tell why Jesus Christ is important to me. Lucky me and everybody, cuz I love talking about that. I prayed a lot, and it went really well.

Ah Assen became Babylon this week. The TT - a huge world famous motor race - came to town, and we did not sleep much because we live by the centrum, and there was music and motorcycles and drunk people like crazy. Just walking through made me wanna throw up. I love the Holy Ghost. He makes awkward missionaries out of normal kids. :) But we did go to the carnival on pday for super quick funsies, so that was a good thing.

ALI IS A MISSIONARY. Wow, you guys have lots of missionaries to write. I pray for her every day, and am so happy that she made the choice to come join me out here on the battlefield. Ah, I love that kid. Miss her :'( But she will be super great!! (just like a special plate..) I know you are all praying for her too. Thanks pals. :)

Blessings from Assen!


Sister Johanson


1: Stroop wafels with Sisters Fleming and Young in Gouda
2: After we went on the scary ride (pic 3) 
3: Sister Harris riding "achter op" with Aswin (very Dutch thing)
4: We uh, ordered Chinese-Indonesian food. Don't really recommend it. (I miss American Chinese food) 
By the way, I got bangs :) Regrettably, both of these pictures are pretty dorky..










Monday, June 22, 2015

Why Europe

Goede morgen, frienden en friendinen!

Much rain and tears and laughter this week. :)

On Saturday, Sister Harris and I got to go to a "church night" in another city, and all the churches in the city have a sort of "open house" for their church and people just come and walk through. We were stationed at The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, and talked to people as they came through. This was a cool experience for me, because hearing about the other churches gave me perspective as to how wonderful this church really is. I felt the Spirit strongly for most of the night, as I just felt love for what we are and what we represent and what we offer people. It's simply the true church of God. It wouldn't be so perfectly put together if it wasn't His church. 

Also, I had a breakthrough this week and figured out why European missions are considered so hard. In many lands, people have never heard of God, so the Church is something revelatory for them. Here, in Europe, church and God and Jesus have been around for centuries; everybody has had some experience or another with church, and they're tired of talking about God. So they tend to think: Why do I need more church? This is just another church to them, nothing new. And, instead of turning to God while the world is spiralling like crazy into wickedness and despair, they blame Him for it. Every mission has it's challenges, and one of the European mission challenges is that you have to try to get people to understand why God is actually important and why this isn't just another church. And you have to catch their attention quick enough to be able to do so. 
So why am I in Europe? I guess because this is where the lessons are that I need to learn.

I am so incredibly grateful for my testimony of my Savior Jesus Christ. I cling to that with everything that I am. It is what gives my life purpose, and what gives me hope. I believe with my whole heart and soul that He lives and that He is our Redeemer.

Love you all. :)

Liefs,
Sister Jo


P.S. To my family: THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR THE PACKAGE!!! I finally got it, and man, was I thrilled. I just read your cards and weeped a bit and felt loved. I really needed some love, and you gave it to me. :) Also, you are all so funny with your cards. But really, it was perfect. So thanks, friends. :) And thanks Mom, for all the cute stuff!!!! Yay :D











Tuesday, June 16, 2015

HalfWay

Halfway through the transfer, halfway through the mission!
Somebody get me a snack, cuz that is just crazy.

Well, Assen is crazy. Love it, but what da heck is going on. Luckily, I got the best companion ever, and we are just slowly falling into weirdness together. It happens when you go through weird things together :)

Zone training was great! President and Sister Robinson leave in two weeks. I will miss them. :( They have done wonders for the mission. I love them, and am so grateful for everything they have done. We talked about...missionary work. Just keep moving forward.

Welp, look for the little things in life, for therein, you will find God. He's not in thunder or lightning He's in the small gentle whisper of peace. :) (that's in the bible somewhere) And know that I will be looking for the little things right along with you.

Love and stroop wafels,

Sister Johanson












Tuesday, June 9, 2015

Neverlands

Hello Friends, from the Neverlands.

It finally got warm this week! Sunny sun! But good heavens, what a ridiculous week.

We got locked out of our apartment for a good day or so. We spent most of the night awake, then went to Appeldoorn (another city) to sleep with some other sister missionaries, and ended up in our apartment with the help of a locksmith around 3:00 the next day.
Why on earth did that happen??
Maybe it's so we could meet our wonderful neighbors, who we are now friends with and brought brownies to. Maybe it's so that Sister Harris could have a good gospel discussion with a man from Dubais on the train on the way back from Appeldoorn. Maybe it's so we would just learn that we can't control everything and only God knows all. Maybe it's so we could spend time getting to know each other and learning to just laugh at everything, no matter our circumstances. Who knows :) We totally didn't even cry the whole time. But I have never loved an apartment more than I love being inside that apartment now.

Wonder of the week: We decided to bike contact one morning on our way home to lunch. The second person we talked to was a darker man walking with a young woman and an old woman in a wheelchair. He told us that his girlfriend (walking with him) is here visiting, but she's Muslim and has been wanting to become Christian, would it be okay if she came and sat in our church or something? And we said: Yes. Yes, that would be just fine. :) We also share a book about Jesus Christ... And inside, we said: HOLY CATS WHAT IS THIS LIFE THIS IS THE MOST AMAZING THING THAT HAS EVER HAPPENED TO US IN OUR WHOLE ENTIRE LIVES. Praying for a lesson with them this week. :)

Some Utahns came to church! Darling family, the mom was Dutch. Man, I just love Utahns. So glad to be here, but I really do love America, and Utah Mormons.

Sister Harris is a lot like Ali. :) I love Ali. So I love Sister Harris. :) We go running and eat weird meals and laugh a lot together. 

Welp, that's all folks. Enjoy your summer vacations. :)

Love from 

Sister Johanson



Tuesday, June 2, 2015

Back to the Neverlands

Welp. They kicked me out of Belgium. It's funny, cuz when I got to Belgium, I missed the Netherlands, but now I'm here and I miss Beligum. :( Ah emotionally-attached missionaries.

But! This seems like a great area. My new comp, Sister Harris, is very cute and fun and we get along swell. We are excited to really get the work here going. My first two days were some of the busiest on my mission; we had so many appointments! But I know not every day will be like that, and we will have plenty of time to find some new people. My favorite pastime. ;) The branch here is very friendly and welcoming, and very easy for me to love. They all think I sound Belgian, which is hilarious cuz everyone in Belgium thought I sounded Dutch. I'm taking it as a compliment. We got to go see the temple the other day! We went with a couple investigators, and it was incredible. It got me excited to go to the temple! So hopefully it got them a little more excited, too. One was a part-member family, so that was really neat. I really love them already.

I had a dream that we had to save The Book of Mormon from some bad guys on Christmas Eve, and then we would save the world. Kinda like missionary work, I thought.

That's the jist of my week. Hope you're all well, and enjoying summer! Loves from Neverlands!

Love,

Sister Dressa