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It's OK to Have Joy!




Good morning!!!
Being a missionary is awesome. You feel the Spirit a lot and are able to receive revelation on how to help people you're working with. You have such a strong purpose and guidance for your life so you can know that you are exactly where you're supposed to be. You are given power and authority from God to share the best news ever. You have a built in best friend in your companion. You get to teach and learn from the most incredible people. (We taught Katie and Maren this week. They are both so sweet and open and helped me to learn about God's love and my purpose here on earth.) AND you get to literally represent Jesus Christ. (His name is in all caps on the badge we wear always.) Being a missionary is AWESOME, and it brings me so much joy. 
Being a missionary, I feel that I have come closer to Christ. But, when we come close to Christ, we realize more than ever our weaknesses. (Ether 12:27) I have felt this, especially as I prepare to leave the MTC. (I fly to Arkansas on Wednesday!!!!!) I want to be better in so many ways so I can better help people. This week God has taught me that my shortcomings don't need to and really shouldn't detracted from my joy. 
I felt this once when I was stressing about not knowing how to be a missionary. I was praying and saying all this things that I will need to be able to do as a missionary, and then I was going to say "I'm just lil Liberty, I can't..." but I didn't even get through my name. I felt so strongly that I am NOT just lil Liberty. I am Sister Johnson, and I have power from God. It was really cool. :)
I also had a cool experience during devotional. Again I was thinking about my weakness, and the thought came to my mind that it's okay to have joy. There are so many things to have joy about as a missionary, and I shouldn't let anything get in the way of that. I'm still planning on improving, but I can do it joyfully. :)
Our choir director here is AMAZING. He tells the coolest stories. He said that, with Christ, we will never be in real trouble. We still have hard things we need to go through, but Christ has overcome all of it, so there is always hope. He told a story about a family whose son died on his mission. It was awful! But they weren't in real trouble. They had Jesus Christ, and they knew they'd be with their son again. He had written his testimony in his journal before he died. The family took his testimony and a picture of them and taped them into copies of the Book of Mormon. Then they went to his mission and told his story and passed them out. Isn't that cool? I can ALWAYS have joy because I'll never be in real trouble. I have Christ. 
I love you all so much! Have a lovely week. I'll email you from Arkansas next time!!
Love, 
Sister Johnson

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