Skip to main content

The Pearl

 

I watched a devotional this week by Elder Gong. In it, he told a parable that has taught me a lot-- the parable of the pearl and the box. The story is, a merchant travelled so far and came back with a perfect, beautiful pearl. He wanted everyone to see it, so he hired someone to make a beautiful box to put it in, and he set it on display. Lots of people came to see, but the merchant was sad. He realized that the people weren't looking at the pearl-- they were focused on the box. 

I've been pondering this parable a lot this week. I don't want to be guilty of paying more attention to the box than the pearl. I want to center my life on what matters most. 

My "box" has been changing a lot this week. It's been wild! Sister Maxfield got all packed up and flew home to Utah on Friday! Aw, I will miss her!!! Now I have Sister Barlow, and she is good. She has a lot to offer and will be just what this area needs. Also, it has been COLD. Right now it is 5°, feels like -8°. And it is snowing so, so much! Everything is canceled and members keep telling us that we have to stay home. People here spoil us-- we are so blessed. Also, we got to feed baby bunnies!

Let me tell you about my pearl! I LOVE Jesus Christ. Let me tell you about some experiences I had with Him this week. 

-Cindy is a spiritual giant! She taught us on Saturday about the restoration of Christ's gospel. Hearing her testimony and seeing how much she has changed and grown is amazing. It almost made me cry seeing her take the sacrament again. Christ loves her so much. 

-I met Carol this week, and it was all God's doing. We had pday on Wednesday and Sister Maxfield wanted her eyebrows waxed, but everything was closed because of the weather. We called this place, and they said they were closed, but then they called us back and said Carol would come in to help us out. We were meant to meet Carol! She really opened up to us and told us about hard things she's going through and that her only strength through it all is from God. Then she gave us her number! We had lunch on Saturday, and we're going to do a Bible study with her on Wednesday. 

-We visited Kari and her family again, and we were able to teach her and her grandma, Linda, about God's plan for them and how Christ can help them get through really hard things. Aw, it felt good. There was a lot of peace there. We explained that Christ makes it possible for families to be together forever. Linda said that that would mean everything to her. 

My brother, Hyrum, is going on a mission to Ghana in June!! I got to have dinner with some sisters who just started their missions, and on Tuesday, we helped with a training meeting for missionaries who have been here for 3 months. With all this, I've thought a lot about how wonderful missions are. They are incredible and life-changing. But it's not the box (where you're at, who you're with, crazy experiences you have), as great as it is, that makes it so wonderful. It's the pearl. It's Jesus Christ and His gospel. 

I love y'all a lot! Have a great week. 

LOVE,

Sister Liberty Johnson









 


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

It's Good to be Home

  Missions are hard. You give your whole self every single day for a long time. You have to do scary things like talk to people you don't really know and have major changes in your life every 6 weeks and tedious things like create workshops plan. Yesterday, Sister Maxfield and I were both hangry and trying to plan a lesson and just started laughing at ourselves cause we were struggling so hard! But there are also times of complete, full joy that I can't even describe that makes everything else so worth it.  Cindy got baptized Saturday morning, and it was one of the most wonderful things I've ever been a part of. She's gone through a lot to get to where she is now and has a lot of hard things yet to come, but she is truly converted to Jesus Christ and cares more about following Him then anything else. There is such a light about her! After the baptism, she said she felt this weight lifted off her that she didn't even know was there. In church, she bore her testim...
Post a Comment
Read more

Merry Christmas!

Hi everyone! I hope y'all had an incredible Christmas. I did. It was definitely weird not be home and for there to be no snow on Christmas, but this week was awesome. First, the funniest, strangest thing that I have ever experienced happened this week. On Christmas Eve, we were going around delivering Christmas cookies to some of our friends. About a month ago we met this dear old lady named Marcie, and we decided to take some cookies to her. Sister Johnson has incredibly good intentions, but she is also new to this whole driving in Harrison, AR thing and is terrible at directions. So, we go up to knock on the door, and this old man walks out. We ask if Marcie is there, and he looks really confused and says, "My wife?" We're like, yeah. So we go in, talk to this old guy we don't know. I'm confused at this point because I was pretty sure Marcie didn't have a husband. Then, this old lady (the guy's wife) comes in, and she is definitely  not  Marci...
Post a Comment
Read more

Merry Christmas! (Almost)

  MERRY CHRISTMAS (almost)! ❄❄❄ What a beautiful week. The highlight by far was our lesson with Cindy. Aww, I LOVE her! It's kinda crazy we've only known each other for a month-- I'm sure we'll be friends for life. Sister Beasley was visiting for the day, and we taught Cindy the plan of salvation. We asked her what she thinks her purpose in life is, and she said it is to know God and help others know God. Wow. It's amazing how simple the God's plan is-- all we need to do is bring Christ into our life through faith, repentance, baptism, the Holy Ghost, and enduring to the end, and we can do exactly that. I know God loves Cindy so much and wants her to live with Him forever. She wants that too. I asked if she wants to be baptized, and she said YES!!! WOOHOO!!! I am so excited for her.  I love celebrating Christ's birth this Christmas season. He is who makes second chances and knowing God and this whole plan possible.  Merry Christmas!! Have so much fun c...
Post a Comment
Read more