No God, no peace. Know God, know peace.

Hello out there! Well what happened this week...? It's all a blur.

Well Shelley got baptized this weekend! That was really awesome. She was just ready for it. It's been so cool working with the Bass family for the past 2 months. What a change it's been. Shelley started out very skeptical of the church, brother Bass claimed to be a Wicken. (although he was a member of the church already) and Tyler was just very quiet and wouldn't really engage in any lessons. And now they are all members of the church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day saints and Shelley and Larry want to be sealed in the temple in a year from now. She got interviewed for her temple recommend yesterday so she can go do baptisms. They have already started on their family history and the ward has just welcomed them in. Shelley bore her testimony at the baptism and talked about how she was not interested when we first started coming over but as she listened and kept meeting with us, the spirit helped her know that the things we were teaching were true.

I just love the gospel. It's so true. I love being a missionary, getting to share the message of the restoration and bear my testimony every day. There is this article in the June 2016 ensign that talks about bearing our testimonies and there is a very bold statement that says that we can't expect our testimony to retain it's full value if we go over 3 months without bearing it. How about that for motivation to bear your testimony.

We had a lesson in Sunday school last week about obedience and we talked about the reasons for why we are obedient. And we know that the reason we should be obedient is because we love God. So I've been pondering that a lot this week and really evaluating how much I really love God. And as I've been praying about it, Heavenly Father has really been able to show me places where maybe I'm more selfish and how I can truly love Him more. And I think that that really improves our relationship with him. Because I was thinking about my own Dad. That I thinks he is the best dad out there, and he is just so wise. So if I want advice, I'll go to my Dad and I just trust that whatever he says is going to help me. And it's because I know he loves me, and I feel like I know that more because I love him. And so I just encourage you to ponder on your relationship with God and how much you love Him, but how much more you Could love him. He will help you and He will let you know. And I know that that will help us trust in God more fully.

I love you all! I hope you have a great week!!!

Sister Johanson