May 25th, 2020

Hey friends!

Sorry I haven't written for awhile. Honestly, we do a lot of the same stuff that I feel like there isn't much to talk about. But nonetheless, I should be doing it.

We are still doing what we can to stay busy. We are going through the ward list right now and calling them. We have a lot of people on there that don't come, but we have learned that is because most of them have moved. So, we have a dandy time doing that.

We also have been working with the Relief Society and delivering cookies to people in the ward. That's honestly kind of fun, as we get a little interaction with other people and it gives us something to do. This week, however was a little much for me as we were driving off into the wilderness in many places and it took a long time. Lots of driving.

We have started being able to see people, as long as we are outside and 6ft apart, so that has been nice. We have been able to do a couple member dinners with some people on their porches.

Finding is still the same, as we try Facebook and reaching out to people in our area book. We also will go out and write little quotes or scriptures on the sidewalk with chalk.

We are still sewing masks. Amazingly, they are still in high demand. It's a little boring to do, but I enjoy the part where we get to give it to the people who need them. They are always so appreciative.

We've gotten some referrals, but most of them have been no bueno. We had one guy who had referred himself, but when we called him, he said that he thought it had been a job application 😅 But that's okay! We keep going. We do have one potential person, so that's good!

I enjoy sacrament meeting, as we get together with the ward mission leader, his wife, and son and have a small one at church. Sometimes we invite someone we are working with to come with. I have come to appreciate the ordinance a lot more, especially as I have been reading the Old Testament. I'm reading about the sacrifices they would do and studying the symbolism of it, and how everything points to the Savior. The same is with the sacrament, as we are also making a sacrifice of a broken heart and a contrite spirit and the symbolism of it all also points to the Savior.

I hope things are going well for everyone and that you're all surviving okay. Love you!

Love,

Sister Savannah Johanson

April 27th, 2020

Hey friends!

I will be honest, it is rough. But one nice thing about these letters is that it makes me look back and find the good things about this week. Which is why I should probably be a little more vigilant with writing (yes, Mom I know). Anyway....

We are still sewing masks. I keep thinking we will stop having people to make them for, but then we get blessed with more, which is nice. It's the one thing we have that's consistent and going well. We have done it so much that I now dream about it (it's almost like a nightmare!😨)

We try and put stuff out there for people to read that's uplifting. We aren't seeing too many results but hopefully it will have helped some. We post stuff on Facebook, send inspirational quotes, we even will go out and chalk the sidewalk with some scripture messages and stuff. So....we are at least trying.

We don't have many people to teach. We really only have one, which is fine. Wish it was more, to be honest. We are calling members and giving them a little lesson.

I will be sharing my story later this week (hopefully) on my spiritual thoughts for the week, so keep an eye out for that.

Wish you all the best! Love you!

Love,

Sister Savannah Johanson

April 6th, 2020

Friends, foes, family, colleagues, and whatever else you would like to be identified as,

Well, here we are. Week #2, take one. Actions!

We still be homebound, for the most part. Lots of time spent in the apartment and the church. I don't have much to say, so I will give a highlight reel.

We drew the plan of Salvation for people to look at as they pass by. A guy across the street was watching us and came to look at our work once we were done. He made me kind of nervous and I wasn't sure what to say to him. He told he thought we were protestors or something and was going to douse the thing with water once we left. But he liked what we drew and said he would let it be. We were very appreciative of that. We headed back to the apartment after that and we decided to put some uplifting quotes around there for people. We had a lot of fun doing it.

For service, we are sewing masks. It's actually kind of a boring sewing project, as you are just sewing a square together. But, it's fun being there while Sister Fisher exclaims loudly at her machine. It's a fairly cheap machine she is using and it has issues. It took her and hour and a half to make one mask! Meanwhile, I'm just blazing through, getting through several fairly quickly. We finally switched machines, and now we both are going by with little problems. One thing we like to do is listen to podcasts that the church has released, so we started this one called Endure it well. Mistake! It was the saddest thing ever! Only listen to if you want to cry uncontrollably.

We actually had a busy day Wednesday, which was pretty nice. I was so tired though. We had gotten these Easter calendars to pass out, and we were supposed to have gotten them earlier, but it did not happen. So, we got them today at district Council and we realized that the calendar started today. So if we wanted people to participate, we would have to pass them all out today. #ChallengeAccepted

So, basically, we spent the entire day handing out these Easter calendars and pass alongs to members. Because we couldn't really be in contact with them, we decided to just leave them in the door and then text them afterwards, letting them know the stuff was there, as to avoid any contact. We weren't perfect, as there were a few times they were outside and we had some awkward interactions that way. But, that was how it was when I was the one handing stuff out when we delivered primary activities with Sister Vines. But, for the most part, we were pretty good about it.

At the end of the day, we had a cool concert on Zoom with this guy Garth Smith, who arranges and plays piano music. It was pretty cool. He played a lot of hymn arrangements and talked about the power and influence of hymns.

And, of course, Conference was amazing! It was so powerful and I loved it! It really was a tender mercy to have all this stuff going on around this time of year, so we could listen to the prophet and apostles and receive some spiritual upliftment.  I dont have the words to quite express my thoughts on it, other than I loved it! I hope you all got a chance to see it and enjoy its messages.

I hope you all are doing okay and staying safe. And same. Everything will work out!

I love you all!

Love,
Sister Savannah Johanson

March 30, 2020

Hello Brothers and Sisters!

I'm sure you all are wondering, how is she doing with this quarantine going on. It's a good question, and I ask myself that on occasion. It has been a total flip flop with everything going on and so many of my mission friends are headed home. Our mission seems to be changing in a matter of weeks! No changes with me and Sister Fisher (sort of). But our schedule is totally wack compared to what we did before. We have a lot of spare time on our hands, to which our mission President has allowed us to designate as time for some personal develop. We are still involved in missionary work, having some interesting times and experiences because of the "uniqueness" of our approach.

As far as what our schedule looks like, we wake up at 6:30 (per usual), we exercise for an hour, to keep ourselves fit and healthy. Sister Fisher and I have actually started doing these dance workouts, and they are pretty fun. We find ourselves having dance parties half way through the day to practice some of the moves. After exercise, we get ready for the day, have a personal Study, then we are off to do service.

We aren't allowed to be around people, so our service has contributed to us staying indoors. We have done some little projects for a member in the ward who puts together little entertainment kits for the primary kids. Our other service has mainly contributed of sewing, as we are currently making masks for the hospitals and nursing homes, as they are on short supply.

After service is lunch! Then we have an hour and a half of personal development to work on some of our goals. They asked us to make one for each of the categories: spiritual, intellectual, social, and physical. Some of mine have been memorizing Joseph Smith History 1:10-17, writing stories and practicing singing, improving on listening, and getting myself back into shape. It's been an interesting experience, and some days are better than others, but it has been fun to have some time to work on some new skills.

We then do some cleaning, to keep away the germs😁, then finding. We have different kinds of finding and we have had some interesting experiences with it. We do a lot of Facebook, such as posting some inspirational things out there. We even put a free Book of Mormon of marketplace (to which someone actually expressed some interest!) We also have been contacting people in area book who have previously been taught. We had some cool experiences. One of them, we asked if they needed any help, to which they responded that they were running low on food. To that, we weren't sure how we were going to get her food, but we were determined to do so. Thankfully, God performs miracles. Later that night, we received a call from a member, saying that she had a little care package to bring to us. When she came over, it turned out to be box of food. A local church had been giving out food to those who needed it. We were so grateful for the thoughtfulness of this member. As we looked at the contents, we found that most of the items in there were things we already had and didn't really need. But we knew you could use it. That night we ran it over to them, and they were ever so grateful to receive it!

Even during this times, I know that God still blesses us and helps each of that we may accomplish our purpose, whatever it may be. I've had my ups and downs these past few weeks, and sometimes the ups seems far and In between, but God is still there. We can still find joy.

I love you all and pray for you!

Love,

Sister Savannah Johanson

(Savannah hasn't sent new pictures lately. However, I (her mother), found some on the ABM mission facebook page. Some might be duplicates from earlier in her mission. So there is no social distancing in any of these pictures)