The way to God is a broken heart.

Hello hello everyone! 

I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving week! Ours was pretty swell. We ate 3 days worth of food so we're all stocked up for winter. Just getting some insulation you know. 

But it was really good, and we were able to still go out and teach people in spite of the holiday. It was pretty cool we have this one investigator named Marty who we have been teaching for a while. She didn't set an appt for this last week because her work schedule was so busy, but each week we pray about people we feel we need to go visit. On our list was a name that lived at a members house; we knew he didn't live there anymore but we felt we should go stop by. So we did, and guess who was there! Marty! So we were still able to have a lesson with her and a member could be there with us. So cool. Heavenly Father knows :)

As for Thanksgiving it was so good. We ended up not having a pie appt which turned out to be really good because I think I would've gone into a coma if I had inhaled any more food. Needless to say the next day I felt like I had Thanksgiving hangover. But yet missionary work goes on. 

I'm not sure much else happened this week. My scars are healing. Both emotional and physical ;) so the atonement must be real. 

But I love you all! I hope you are all getting into the Christmas spirit. Yay Christmas! 

I love you guys! Have a great week

Sister Johanson

Happy Thanksgiving!

Hey  yall! What a weird week it has been. Lot's of strange things. But it's been a good week too! Lot's of success! We finally got our less active friend to church this week and the entire ward rejoiced. Seriously, he was trying to stay inconspicuous which is hard to do in the Moncks Corner ward. So he got hugs from everyone. He hasn't been in over 30 years! Cool stuff :)  

We had a biking incident this week..it's not even been too long. It was dumb decisions on my part and the car. I was trying to not hit a trash can and then realized a car was coming. He almost hit me so I swerved to go back on the sidewalk but hit the curb and then splat when Sister Johanson. Well it was less of a splat and more of a skid. I will show fun pictures of my battle wounds. It's been pretty painful all week. I wish I would've taken a picture the night of because it looked so awful then. But the pictures I have will suffice. 

Poor Sister Goettsche is sick and so she curses me even more when we have to go bike. But alas we must do it, because we have no miles. (don't worry, we are still smart and I am not killing her) 

Our ward made sure to get us fed this Thanksgiving as they can feed us without less actives or investigators present on Thanksgiving and Christmas. So they took it upon them to fill our entire day up with food appts. Happy Thanksgiving. 

We also had interviews with president this week. That man is my favorite. When he came out after interviewing the person previous to me, he looked at me then he kind of staggered back against the door and yelled, "I've been waiting for this all day!" Haha, it was a good interview. 

Sad news of the day, an apostle is coming to our mission! Elder Stevenson, 2 days after I come home. And then they are having another mission tour the end of January. I told President I was just going to stick around for a little while and he said ok. 

But I'm just so grateful for so many things! I love Thanksgiving! Someone gave a talk yesterday and mentioned how we as humans have a tendency to take things for granted. I'm pretty sure Pres. Uchtdorf said that this last general conference too. The more often we have something in our life, the more casual we become towards it. I don't want to stop seeing the the magnificence of this gospel and the restoration. Think of the small things we take for granted! We taught gospel principles yesterday about temples and family history work. Just the fact that we are alive, we take for granted! We can participate in saving ordinances. Those beyond the veil have to wait for others to do them for them. I love thanksgiving, and I love all of you too. Thanks for emailing me and supporting me and praying for me. It makes such a big difference. Wouldn't be the missionary I am right now without each of you. Love you guys! Have a great week!

Sister Johanson

finally the head spin! This is Allen.

My battle wounds

Sisters at Mepkin abbey!

Work for Jesus, the retirement benefits are great.

Hello everybody!! 

Man what a week, it has been crazy.

Lot's of stuff fell through, which is always sad. But it's given us a chance to figure out our bikes. Which has been an adventure. We've biked almost everyday this last week. Oo wee. The first half of the week was a struggle, oh man. I just did not know what I was doing and how to plan with bikes and be effective. But, we are getting the hang of it and it's gotten a lot better. I think the biggest struggle was just figuring out how to get our bikes on our bike rack. We were out in the parking lot trying to figure it out, we called the elders and they said they would call us back (which they never did) and this guy pulled up and was trying to help us. None of us knew what we were doing, so it took a solid 30 minutes flipping the bikes this way and that trying to get them on the thing and then we finally got them on there. And the fasteners are like immovable. They are these rubber thingos and it takes the strength and stamina of 10 horses to get those buddies fastened down. Good thing we now have the strength and stamina of 10 horses so we can get those things on and off all day :) 

But other than that, the week has just flown by. We finally got a bout of coldness yesterday but it is wearing off. I don't remember if I told you guys about Brenda last week, the bible referrals relative that came to book of mormon? Well we met with her on Wednesday and she asked us what she needed to do to get baptized. So we were like, "oh well you know, we can teach you about that" and she is just awesome. And gave us referrals for all her family members and friends. 

I think one of my least favorite phrases people use in the church and other people use in general is "God doesn't give us anything we can't handle". I think that is false. I mean I guess it goes back to what you mean when you say handle. It's true that most of the trials we face in life, will not ultimately kill us or ruin us forever. But when I think of handling something I think of still having composure, having a sense of peace and control over yourself and the situation. There have been in a lot of times on my mission and lately where I do not feel like I have control over myself or my situation and are able to deal with it in a peaceful and calm way. But saying that, when those feelings of peace and stability and reassurance do come, it is always when I turn to the Lord and give Him my load. Because, maybe I'm just a lot weaker than the rest of mankind (which is highly likely and possible) but I just don't feel like I can handle everything God gives me. But when I take what He gives me and turn it over to Him and allow Him to become a part of "handling" it, then it turns into something manageable. Maybe still something uncomfortable, but something I can live peaceably with and continue on with trust, and hope in the future. So I'm grateful God gives me things that I can't handle, because it allows Him to become a bigger part of my life as I allow myself to be yoked alongside Him. 

I'm grateful for this gospel. It still is true, and I hope you guys all have a great week! You are in my prayers. Love yall! :)

Sister Johanson

Life is fragile; handle with prayer.

Hi there everyone! It's good to speak to you all again. 

This week has been so good! Things just keep getting better and better here in Moncks Corner, SC! Missionary work is still the best :) 

I forgot to tell yall last week about the service stuff we get to do each week! Every Thursday we go and serve at a Monk monastery! We work in the gardens, this last week we raked and hedged some trees and bushes and bamboo. It was pretty cool :) I'm becoming a master gardener. There is a lady named Ursula Wells that takes us each week and she is awesome. She gives each of the missionaries names to go by...for someone reason I guess they don't like us going by our last names. But my name is Charlotte! It makes me feel like a little kid where you play games and come up with what your name is. It's fun :) 

This week we had lots of cool things happen, and met lots of cool people! OH oh! Elizabeth and Alyssa got baptized in Spartanburg. Obviously I'm not there anymore, but just thought I'd let you know that the Hmongs are still going strong. I also have a video of Allen doing a headspin which I got before I left, so I'll have to send it to you guys. 

We are now biking sisters! Ha well not full fledged. Dressa prolly thinks I'm silly because she just biked her whole mission. But us weak sauce missionaries with cars..it's quite an adjustment. Especially cuz nobody is here to tell me how to do it. Luckily, it's pretty easy to pick up. Just like riding a bike...literally 😁 haha but yeah, we are working on biking more. And I like it lots! It's so fun! Woo hoo! Biking! 

We had one of our investigators...well we just met her once but she came to Book of Mormon class this week and she just loved it! At the end she told us that she was going to her sisters house to tell her about it and telling all of her family to come to church on Sunday. Unfortunately not all of them came, but she did with her daughter and a couple grands. so pretty kewl! 

This week I had a good little learning experience about repentance. Which is just change. And you know, change is really hard sometimes. It's crazy that what we are doing as missionaries is literally just asking people to change almost everything about their life! So much sacrifice! But God knows that it will only benefit us. And there have been some things this week that have required me to change, and at first it just made me feel guilty but as I finally just accepted it and said the Lord would help me and accept the small progress that I make each day, I finally was able to feel enabled and like the Lord could help me. And the change just ended up happening, and it was good and I felt and do feel great! It's all about small silly stuff, but even those kinds of things the Lord enables us to do. He asks us to change but provided the means to do it. I'm grateful for the gospel! I'm glad to be here sharing it! I love all you guys and hope you have a great week! 

Sister Johanson

Halloween party! 

(It's fine, just me and my comp dressed up. No hurt feelings, or egos) ;)

Ward BBQ and Cake Auction

Your attitude is your aroma of where your heart is at. If it stinks your hearts not right.

Well this email is gonna be lame, but I'm out of time. 

HAPPY HALLOWEEN tho everyone :) !!!!!

This week has been much better with adjusting and getting to know the area. My comp and I are good pals and have seen lots and lots of miracles. Today is Halloween so they put us on lockdown after 6, which means we basically have an all day p day. So exciting news of the day. 

We met some really cool people this week. I created my first road kill. I hit a raccoon this week in the night...poor guy. I think I freaked out for a solid 12 minutes afterward. Sister Goettsche just thought it was the funniest thing ever. But yeah, I saw him yesterday on the side of the road. It was pretty sad. 

Sorry none of this is missionary related at all. But I promise I'm doing good and the work is moving forward. Something that has helped me most this week is just trying to take away my own expectation of myself and realize what God expects of me. Because He knows perfectly well what we can do and what we are capable of. 

Haha I get really excited about key indicators and missionary work and stuff. But my GREENIE told me that sometimes I remind her of Elder Calhoun. So you know #missionarywin. 

Love yall! blessings from the South! 

Have a great week,

Sister Johanson