Sickness, Spiritual Enlightenment, Scratches, and Soaked (in a baptismal font)

This picture is of Elder Tui'namoala who was Star Ita's companion. Star is from Spring Creek and was in Pirates of Penzance with Clarissa!

Kia Ora,

Warning!  This email may or may not be very coherent! 

 I've had a really weird, crazy week.  It's been full of really good things and bad things.  There is opposition in all things!  I'll tell the bad things first. 

I have been sick all week and I'm just getting sicker.  I've had an awful headache every day for over a week.  And in the last three days I've gotten an AWFUL sore throat and my ears hurt and I'm coughing like crazy.  Of course it was also the busiest weekend ever.  We had about a million really important appointments and we got to watch conference!  Well I didn't want to miss out on any of that.  So I dragged myself out of bed and carried on.  I've been a little out of it, but I'm surviving.  All the other missionaries take such good care of me, especially Sister Urgel.  I still have to lead all the calling, organizing, planning, etc. because of her English, but she's been cooking for me and cleaning our flat and stuff.  She's really the best ever! 

Finally I told Sister Rudd how sick I was because I was up for two hours in the night because of my sore throat.  She told me to go the clinic, which I did.  They told me that I just have a virus.  He told me about some over the counter stuff I should get so I went to the pharmacy there and got all the smallest, cheapest choices of the four things he said to get.  Well it ended up being $51.  (New Zealand is expensive!!!!)  But I told Sister Rudd that'd I gotten in and she said that I could have the mission office reimburse it.  So I went to the mission office.  There's this really tricky little gate and it's right in the center of town and a really tight fit.  Well I was miserable and sick and turned into the only parking spot left.  I was on a really bad slant so I backed up and tried again.  Well I scraped our car really, really bad on the little gate.  I don't know if I told you I scraped our old car too and had to fill out an accident report.  Well, I just felt awful and went into Elder Marsden and just started to cry.  I felt like such a goose.  I'd just been being so responsible and trying to take care of myself and it felt like the last straw.  He was pretty hard on me, but not as hard as he would have been if I hadn't cried.  

So that experience successfully humbled me!  

But I still LOVED Conference!  Oh my goodness.  Even though I was sick, I just drank up every word.  Beforehand I wrote down seven specific questions from my life.  All seven were answered!  I took way too many notes and can't wait to keep rereading them and then read the talks in the Ensign.  We are just so blessed to have prophets and apostles that lead us today with so much love and authority from God.  I just can't express how great Conference was!  I LOVED Elder Holland's talk about mothers.  It made me cry.  I've decided that it's much more fun to be sick when you're a little kid.  You get completely taken care of, mostly by your mother.  When you're grown up you still have to do things even though you're sick.  It's the worst. :)  But really, I just love my mom so, so much!  You are amazing and I'd be completely good for nothing if it wasn't for you.  

Also, AUNTIE KEI is getting baptized on Saturday!  Jayde is not . . .yet.  She is just super stressed with her law school and is waiting for exams to be over.  But I'm so, so excited.

This week I've been kind of struggling to feel good about myself.  I think I'm just prideful and want everyone to think I'm such a great missionary.  I need to remind myself that it's ok if I make mistakes, if I'm not as perfect acting or looking as I might wish I was, or if I am still sick.  I just do the best I can and have faith in the Lord.  It's so true that faith is the opposite of discouragement.  The Lord doesn't want us to be discouraged.  He just wants us to have faith!  

Pretty much, life is a test and we can do it.  My mission seriously is wonderful!  I never want to leave.  I just want this virus to leave. :P  

LOVE,

Sister Johnson

P.S.  I want to leave a commitment with everyone.  (That's what we do as missionaries after all.)  I want you, the person reading this email, whoever you are, to go on lds.org and read a talk from General Conference.  They are all so, so amazing and I don't get the chance to read them until I get the magazine.  Well you can read them right now.  So will you, in the next 24 hours from when you read this, read one talk on lds.org?  

Yes?

Good.  I know you will be blessed and a question you've had in your mind will be answered in that talk.  The church is true! :)