July 27th, 2020

Helloooo!!

It's been a good week. It's a little weird, a bit up and down, but I do enjoy it here in Central Park. It reminds me of home, but in a good way. The members here are so awesome and so willing to help. We have been working on involving them with our Facebook finding and they have been super supportive with that.

We are teaching a few people, which has been great. Teaching is one of my favorite parts of missionary work and I've loved having a couple of people to teach. We have someone on date right now, who has been taught for 3 years now! It's been amazing working with him these past 6-7 weeks and seeing how much progress he has made. We are basically just getting him to nail down the word of wisdom, but spiritually, he is ready to go. We just have to keep encouraging him and helping him get there, because he is doing everything he should be doing all on his own.

We also have someone we started teaching through a service referral from Facebook, and she is so sweet! We are currently transitioning her over to the Centerton sisters because she lives in her area (it's a whole complicated thing), but we can tell she feels the spirit when we teach her and that she feels it's true. It's so amazing!

We are working with a less active as well, and he is amazing! He is working on going back to the temple and is talking with the bishop. He's actually helped us do some music stuff for our Facebook page and he loves being involved with missionary work.

We had a good district Council this week that I really enjoyed on the Spirit and being in tune. I loved talking about prayer and how it's important to make it personal and intimate and how it's different for each person.

We were able to give out a Book of Mormon! We went and did service, digging mulch out in a ladies flowerbed for her. She was super open about talking about gospel things and loves people regardless of how they are. After we were done, she said she would be willing to take a copy!! That was exciting! That doesn't happen too much nowadays.

I learned about gratitude this week and how happiness is found by taking time and appreciating the things around us. Happiness isn't a state of being, it's a choice. Things can change, but you are going to feel exactly the same as you do now. So if you want to be happy, you have to find it yourself. Gratitude is a blessed way to look at life, as you realize things aren't as bad as they could be. I'm grateful that I have a good companion, who loves and helps me. I'm grateful that I live in a good apartment with good neighbors. I'm grateful that I'm in a good area with super nice people and ward members, with people to teach. I'm grateful I'm out on my mission, coming closer to God and helping others do the same. Inside, I am happy. I'm just working on realizing that.

I love you all so much!

Love, Sister Savannah Johanson