This last week has been a little slow cause we've had to do a bunch of training for our iPads and how they want us to keep records and planners and stuff on it. Tuesday we did breakfast at the Waffle Shop with the other Sisters, Loveday and Elana who was the other Sisters'
investigator. After breakfast we went and did family history with Loveday. It was so cool to get her started on her family tree. I've never seen an empty tree before. It was weird cause mine has always been filled out and it goes way back. She didn't know a whole lot about her family but from what she did enter she was able to request to take her grandmother as a name to take to the temple. The hard part though was the fact that Loveday's mom wouldn't give her permission to go to the temple. It was sad and hard for Loveday but we assured her that with time things would work out. It was cool though cause we were showing her our family trees afterwards to see what it could look like after it was all filled out and we were looking at where our families
come from. I was surprised to see that both the Wensel side and the Davis side came from Pennsylvania. That's SO cool! A lot of them were from parts of my mission like Bedford, Hanover and Lancaster. Maybe I was called here for a reason and will potentially be able to expound upon my family history with some of the records I can find here. I'm really excited to look more into it! I truly believe that the Pittsburgh, PA mission is where I'm supposed to be.
Wednesday was good. We taught a less active that we had never met before. He is engaged to someone who lives in DC so he spends most of his time with her when he's not traveling to and from State College to finish up his degree. She is of a different faith than him but it's cool to see her support him in being a Latter-day Saint. She's been trying to emphasize prayer and scripture study as a couple which is cool. They switch off going to each other's church when they can. He usually travels on Sunday's though so it's hard. But we taught him about faith, especially faith in Jesus Christ and His atonement. He said he'd commit to making scripture study more of a priority by listening to the scriptures or conference talks while traveling in his car. I'm excited for him and his graduation this summer and for their wedding this fall. It's a crazy busy time for him now so it was a miracle that we even got to meet him but I'm excited for him and his future.
That evening we taught Raisa about the importance of baptism and service within the church. We're really sad because she didn't come to church again yesterday. We haven't heard from her since Saturday and hope she's doing well. It's just hard cause we've done all that we can at this point in teaching her what she needs to do and why and it's in her hands right now to decide. Agency is frustrating sometimes. So as of right now she's not on date for baptism cause we're trying to figure out with her how's she's feeling about it and when she feels like a good day would be to work towards that. Until she comes to the branch though it'll never happen. We'll see what happens...
Institute was also Wednesday night. This summer we're studying the Pearl of Great Price which is super cool! We talked about Moses chapter 2 and the creation. A lot of people like to debate about howlong it took to create everything, whether it was 7 days, 7,000 years, or just a period from start to stop. Either way, it doesn't matter as long as we know that through Jesus Christ, Heavenly Father created the world with His power (also known to us as the Priesthood power). The time frame of it isn't important and with time we'll come to know all those little details like that. It was a cool perspective of the creation especially coming from our awesome institute teacher Brother Done who has so much scriptural knowledge.
Thursday was a crazy day! We haven't really had the best leadership in this area so far and this week has really confirmed that to us. We were supposed to have district meeting at 11 with the zone leaders (they were going to come to teach us more about how to use the iPads). They didn't tell us till right before we went to bed the night before that they wanted to change the meeting to 12. Then the next day we found out from other missionaries who are in the next district over
from us that the ZLs (zone leaders) weren't coming till 1 ( they found out cause they had the ZLs car) but they didn't communicate that to anyone else. By the time we finally started district meeting at 1:15 we were furious because there was no communication and then they treated district meeting and training as a joke. So ya hopefully this transfer will be better with our leadership and we'll be able to figure things out with them. After district meeting, we went to service at St. Andrews where we help prepare food for the community cafe. I always love doing service there. We're in the kitchen which I love and we're surrounded by a lot of cool people.
Friday we mostly weekly planned and got things ready for transfers like updating records and making sure our area book was put together. It was a long and boring day but we got a lot done. That evening we had dinner with the Liechty's. They such a cute family and we love going to their house. It's pretty chaotic cause they have a boys with lots of energy and craziness but it's always fun. We had grilled personal pizzas. I've done homemade pizza before but have never
grilled it so that was good.
Saturday was fun because one of our branch members, Sam, who is preparing to serve a mission did a mini mission with us so she spent the day with us. She's so awesome and is so prepared for a mission. She's a convert of about 4 years now and loves the church with all her
heart. She goes with us to lessons all the time so having her for the day with us was the best! We ran some errands that morning to get ready for dinner and a baptism that afternoon. We did a lesson with Loveday and made dessert with her. We made chocolate chip cookies and
she made a Chinese dessert to take to the baptism. She created the recipe and hasn't given it a name yet but she compares it to Chinese yams. It's not what I was expecting but it was good. Chinese people don't like sweet stuff so it was nothing like an American dessert.
Then we went to Elana's baptism. She was the other Sisters investigator but we've all become really good friends with her so it was cool to be there and support her in that. Lot of her family came from the Scranton area to come and support her too. None of them are members but they loved the service. Baptisms are the best. It makes me so grateful for my baptism and just for the opportunity I had to grow up in the church. I think I take that for granted a lot but I know that my life would be so different if I hadn't been raised in it. Thanks to the good examples of my family I am where I am today and am happier than ever.
That evening we did dinner again with all of the State College missionaries since it's our last time being all together. We were going to do fried chicken and waffles but then decided it was too much work and then we decided taco salad but it wasn't working out so we ended just doing German pancakes which was pretty good! It's so fun to do stuff with all the missionaries. We were all very nervous and on edge for transfer calls that night though. So then that night we got a call from the ZLs about transfers. They told us that Sister Jones was being transferred and I was staying in State College. It was expected but I was still sad to hear that it was real. I have really come to love and appreciate Sister Jones. I'm nervous for a new companion but I've been praying real hard that things will go well with my new comp.
Sunday was good. We found out that the ZLs didn't call the other sisters so they got a call that morning that said that Sister Peterson was being transferred too. Then we went to branch council. We love our branch and the support they give us! We then had church which was really good. I love the spirit that comes from church and the this that I get to learn and feel every week. Church is so important! It really sets the tone for the week!
Well here's the best and craziest news that happened this week...after church we got a call from President Johnson. He told us that Sister Jones was going to go be an STL for her last transfer (which doesn't ever happen) and then...he told me that I have been assigned to be a trainer! Agh! That's crazy! That's the highest calling anyone can receive on a mission. While I'm honored and blessed to have heard that news, I am definitely nervous for it. My trainee's mission is dependent on my training skills. Hopefully I'm ready haha. So ya we'll be heading to Pittsburgh tonight cause we have to go to meetings in the morning to learn more about training and how that all works out.
We'll meet all the new missionaries as well and then in the afternoon is our transfer meeting where I'll find out who my trainee and comp will be. Hopefully this goes well...pray for me and her haha
Well I hope ya'll are good! I love you all and will keep you posted on everything within the coming weeks. I don't have a whole lot of pics today cause my card reader doesn't work on my iPad but I'll send some on the computer probly next week.
Love you all,
Sister Kayla Johnson
#fakeittillyoumakeit
Pics: me writing in my journal after transfer calls. I may or may not
have been crying haha
And then Sister Jones putting Loveday's hair into a sock bun