Hello from Salt Lake City Utah. I am serving in the Rose Park area right near Redwood Road in the Riverside Stake. My mission president is President Winn and his wife (is amazing!). I don't know how long I will be here but I am grateful to be out in the field and getting experience. I got here last Tuesday December 13th so tomorrow will be a week. There are 8 sisters (including me) who are reassigned here waiting for their visas for Spain, plus 2 sisters waiting for their visas for Brazil, plus 10 elders waiting for their visas for Brazil. The Salt Lake City mission is very used to having "visa waiters." Because of the large amount of visa waiters (at least for the sisters) all the sisters in the Salt Lake City Mission North Zone are in companionships of 4! So Hermana Marshall (my comp from the MTC) and I were assigned to be with Hermana Linnea Harris from Vista, CA and Hermana Jennifer Picuasi from Ecuador.
We live near 500 N and 1400 W in a member's basement. We don't have a kitchen down there so she sometimes lets us come upstairs to use hers. We eat there for breakfast and lunch. The ceiling is low-I can't stretch my arms all the way up and I have to duck in the shower. There are 3 beds and 1 air mattress in one room-we kind of crawl over each other to get around. I do my morning study on my lap because there's not enough room on the table (and we can't do it on the floor or the beds). You can definitely tell the area would be ideal for one companionship.
The first 3 days Hermana Harris and I were companions and we tracted all day, while Hermana Marshall and Hermana Picuasi taught all of the progressing investigators. So, definitely didn't pack winter clothes...so the other day I wore 4 pairs of nylons, 3 sweaters and a scarf. Sister Winn gave me another pair of tights and some super nice gloves. It was a heaven inspired gift sent from my mom the day before I left the MTC-she sent me super tall boots. The first day I was here since the time I got off the bus to the mission home it was snowing. It snowed all that day.
Since our area (Rose Park, Spanish speaking) is the smallest area in the mission we don't have a car. We either walk or bike. We are the first sister missionaries to be serving here for some years now. It can be kind of dangerous at night because it's kind of a ghetto area. Sometimes I feel like I'm in Mexico and not in Utah (until I see a street sign that says, Redwood Road. So we have to be careful and on the lookout.
The members here are not very well off but they are super sweet and we are guaranteed a dinner in a home every single night-which is incredible. A lot of times already there haven't been enough food for us and the family or enough chairs for us and the family to sit at the dinner table. They are very sweet and they don't mind us being there. They just want to give and to help us. Every night home cooked dinner! I can't believe it. Members mostly from the English ward and sometimes from the Spanish ward (but not very often at all).
The first three days I was here, I knocked on doors a lot. Hermana Harris and I walked around to a lot of apartments and I have learned to somehow tolerate the smell of cigarette smoke. We are encouraged to invite people to be baptized the first time we talk to them!!! It's crazy to think about it, but it helps so much because the person knows our intent and our purpose as missionaries and there are no surprises, plus we will know that we are not wasting our time with people who don't want to get baptized.
It's definitely been a humbling experience being here. I am very grateful for my family and for my testimony and knowledge of the gospel. I know that God is watching over me and He knows my needs --- all of them.
So badly I want to be fluent in Spanish. I can teach lessons, I can ask questions, I can bear my testimony, I can give talks, I can pray, I can understand---uuuhmm 80% of the time...but I can't have normal conversations with people...this is what I am working on. I just want to be able to talk to them about their jobs about their family about their life, their trials their feelings and I want to be able to respond like a normal person. It's been great having a native speaker as a companion, (though she does like to talk a LOT and to talk fast). I have been working up more courage on butting in more and trying to ask more questions. Sometimes I think I understand but then once I understand one thing, the person will change the topic randomly and I will have to try and follow.
I have been humbled many times. I have been able to rely on the Spirit many times. I have been guided by the Spirit and directed. Last night was a very special experience. Joaquin is a progressing investigator. His whole family has been baptized (except for the young kids not yet 8 years old). He is trying to quit smoking. He is trying to be a better father. His wife, Elizabeth, recently got baptized. They don't have a lot of money. He is out of a job. He takes care of the kids. She works from 5pm-5am packing bottles of vitamins (?)... and her hands are swollen. She worked about 58 hours this week!!!!!! Hermana Picuasi and I had originally gone over to see how Joaquin was doing quitting smoking. We were reading together in Mosiah 24 about Alma's people having these afflictions and burdens on their backs, but the Lord lightened them. Joaquin applied this to his life in regards to smoking. Elizabeth was quiet. Finally she burst out saying, "I don't understand...I just don't understand." She says she has enough faith she has been working so hard and doing everything right. She doesn't understand why God lets bad things happen. They found their 2nd youngest son yesterday morning with throw up all over him and the bed and some blood; took him to the hospital and he has a virus. Hermana Marshall and Harris were walking one night and randomly found a $20 bill on the ground. Hermana Marshall got a prompting to slip it in the door of Joaquin and Elizabeth. They found it and said it was a miracle that they could buy pampers for their children. Then the hospital incident happened. The extra money turned out to be the perfect amount for the hospital costs. It was amazing --- a miracle in and of itself. Yet, now Elizabeth is worried about Pampers. She doesn't have money to buy more.
We taught them the law of tithing. She pays it. We promised blessings. I was quiet most of the time because of my lack of Spanish speaking skills. Hermana Picuasi forced me to speak. I was guided by the Spirit as I said with tears in my eyes that sometimes we get hard trials because God knows that we can handle them and He wants us to be stretched so we could reach our full potential. Sometimes we can't understand that or see God's hands in our lives during the hard moments-but He is always there. Always watching over us. He believes in us and is waiting for us to ask for His help. He wants to help us, so he puts trials in our path so we can grow and become better people.
I love this gospel. I am so grateful for the Plan of Salvation and for my testimony. I love you all. Merry Christmas!
Love,
Hermana Laura Johnson
P.S. We had a mission Christmas Devotional- Elder Dallin H. Oaks came with his wife. He spoke, then had dinner with us!! The Holladay North Stake served us wonderful dinners and we took a mission picture and we got a free engraved journal from President and Sister Winn saying "Merry Christmas to the Salt Lake City Mission." It's super nice.
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