Glenburn

What a week! well on Monday we ate at a members house and I got fed buffalo. I told them not to tell me what I was eating until it was all gone, but it was actually really really good. who knew?

We went on exchanges this week ( I went with a different Sister, and her companion went with mine) I had a blast! We had a lesson with a couple on the air force base and I got bit by their pet ferret. Then we went to this place called Glenburn, North Dakota. let me tell you about Glenburn, North Dakota. It's probably 3 miles wide, and there is one gas station with one gas pump. No stop lights. Three churches (catholic, Baptist, and Lutheran). The Lutheran church is a little white church with a bell. A BELL. It was a movie. Well we knocked doors in Glenburn for a good while, I'm pretty sure we met everyone who lived in the town. Then when we were driving back to Minot the sun was peaking through the clouds and I was the happiest human in all the land.

We got 5 new investigators this week and I LOVE THEM ALL! I love missionary work, I just get to love people, and serve them, and teach them about Jesus!

One lesson this week was with this adorable family named the Hardy's, I love them! We were about to say a prayer and the oldest boy who is 12 was about to pray and he took a long pause before he started and his little sister Ava who's 3 goes, "just go already!" I literally could not stop laughing through the whole prayers. oops. God has a sense of humor I'm sure of it!

Well I hope you all had a wonderful week and I miss you and I love you!!

love sister Barbie ❤ 

Weekly planning with Sister Hansen and Ben and Jerry

The only colorful leaves in the whole state

This is Glenburn :)

Exchanges with Sister Mikhail, by the cutie little church in Glenburn

Warming Up or Cooling Down?

another P day huh? 

well I'm warming up to Minot! (even though it's really cold) it snowed pretty hard on Tuesday, but it didn't stick. then it warmed up a bit, so that was a blessing! and just it case you're wondering how cold it really gets, the natives said it's supposed to be a rough winter so we're looking at -60. I'M LITERALLY IN THE ARCTIC! I'm serving with the best missionaries around so that makes me happy! 

you know those fire bugs that are usually in the mountains in Utah? I don't know what their real name is, but there are 1000000000 of them here. We were sitting in church, and they started coming in from the ceiling, it was a boarder line horror story. 

 

on Thursday every single one of our appointments fell through! I was so sad. so we put on our walking shoes and knocked on every door in Minot. okay maybe not every one, but it felt like it! That's how we met Carol! She invited us in and I could've cried tears of joy. In fact, I may have. she told me her whole life story and then we taught her about Joseph Smith, and she invited us back for tomorrow! I WAS SO HAPPY. Everyone up here is pretty religious, and they're all super friendly. I had a Minister say he would pray for me, and he appreciated what we were doing. such a cutie.

tomorrow me and Sister Hansen are teaching a bible study class... hmm this should be interesting! I'm pumped though, I invite everyone I see to come :)

Well I hope you all are doing amazing, and let me know if you need some love! you're all in my prayers, and I love you a whole ton.

p.s. I hope you all got my address change, I typed it wrong the last letter. oops.

also a late happy birthday to my best friend Taylor Reece who is in Ukraine, and my auntie Anali. LOVE YOU BOTH

love sister j

madi yeates, I bought this for you, should be there any day now

our zone training meeting

this is Katie Rosskelly, she comes teaching with us. I LOVE HER

some I forgot to send :)

Minot (MY-not)

​​a week and a half is way too long! I'm so happy to hear from all of you! I made it to the Dakotas. I'm currently serving in Minot, North Dakota.. listen up folks, this is supposed to be one of the bigger cities. I died.

#1 it's cold as sin

#2 there are more trailer parks than homes

#3 the people are SO KIND

well most of them anyway... I only had two doors slammed in my face mid sentence. but all is well. 

okay so last week was the last week at the MTC and I was surprisingly sad about it. I have moved A LOT in my life and every time I get somewhere I hate it, and then I end up loving it, so you would think I would learn my lesson by now! I'll do better :)

we left the MTC to go to the airport at 3:50 am. guess whose alarm didn't go off? ya, that would be ours. one of the sisters in my room woke up at 3:40 and yelled for us to wake up!! oh my, I literally have never moved so quick in my life! we took a bus to a train, a train the shuttle, and a shuttle to the airport. what a day. well we made it. I met a friend named Daniel in the airport who was 70 years old and I got to be a real missionary and talk to him about the gospel, it was awesome! He gave me his business card and said if I was ever in Denver and needed anything to give him a call. what a cutie. 

when we got to North Dakota it was 40 degrees with a wind chill and humidity... the 9 of us missionaries highly considered flying the plane back to Utah. but the warm welcoming committee of missionaries helped change our minds! MY MISSION PRESIDENT IS THE COOLEST MAN! when we were having our first interview, one of the members of the 70 called him and his ring tone was a motor cycle engine. I died. him and Sister Hess are treasures of the earth, I LOVE THEM. well the first night there we went and knocked doors. I was terrified. but it was actually really fun, and no one was mean :)

oh and also there are no bison to be seen, and I have driven into the boonies to get to Minot. so that was kind of disappointing. I was going to teach the plan of salvation to billy the buffalo. next time I guess.

oh ya and watching conference with 2000 missionaries is something else! It was literally one of the coolest things, I'm so happy I got to experience it.

my trainers name is Sister Hansen, she is from Syracuse and I will be her last companion. She's really nice, and we have a lot in common. we cheered against each other in HS so that's kind of cool.

I wish I could give you every detail of my life right now but we don't have a whole lot of time to email, but send me letters and I will write you back!!

heads up... my address is now 1635 11th Street SE #102 Minot, ND 58702. send letters to here :)

I love you all so much!! thanks for the support!! I'll send more pics :)

 last pics from the MTC

this is Minot everyone

One More Week Until North Dakota

happy thursday everyone! I never thought I would love thursday's so much! 
I can't believe I leave the MTC next week! I literally cannot wait, mostly because I'm so excited to get there and start being a real missionary, and partially because if I eat the MTC food for one more day I may not make it out... needless to say I have never eaten more bananas in my life. also what is the deal with putting out desserts for every meal?! like we really don't need a double chocolate cake with our oatmeal.. okay I'm not that mad about it, but I would like to fit through the doorway when I get to North Dakota.

so this week we were teaching one of our investigators and I started weeping to her about the Book of Mormon. I was sharing my testimony with her of why I have such a love for it, and then my allergies started acting up and my eyes got all watery.. don't you hate when that happens? me too. so all of my friends at home would make fun of how much I cry when it comes to spiritually uplifting things, and I thought I was getting better until we watched 17 Miracles on Sunday and I was a wreck! seriously if you haven't seen it you need to! I know it's a little corny at times, but I don't care who you are, you have to give credit to the faith and sacrifice that the pioneers had and went through. seriously, watch it. last weekend I was singing Whitney Houston's "I wanna dance with somebody", and one of the Elders was giving me grief.. so I whipped out D&C 136:28 and danced the whole way to lunch :) 

We do a lot of role playing to get us familiar with situations and help us to teach. well the other day we were teaching our companions and I look over and Elder Taysom had Elder Cook's face between his hands yelling "Open your heart!" I laughed so hard! they're some of my favorite human beings. 

update: i'm still the worst volleyball player ever. I've only been hit in the face twice, but I keep trying! the Elder's like to spike the ball on me when I'm in the front, so i've been working on trying to spike it on them. elders:7 bailey:0 

last week I mentioned how I've been singing in the MTC choir, it's one of my favorite times of the week. this last week we sang the Primary song Baptism. it's one of the songs that the MTC General Conference Choir will be singing, so we were singing it to help them practice. well they pulled up a video clip of the Savior's baptism in the river jordan, and they had us watch it once with the sound. then they muted it and had us sing the song Baptism while we watched it. I WAS A WRECK. I wish all of you could have been there.. maybe they'll show it at conference but I don't think so. 

every day after lunch or dinner Elder Findley looks at me & says "Sister Johnson... it's your favorite time of the day!" MAIL TIME. then elder Taysom tries to tell me there won't be any letters for me... he eats those words as he hands over my loot. 😘

after our sunday and tuesday devotionals we meet as a district and talk about what we liked and basically what we got out of it. well this tuesday we were talking about how we want to be as missionaries.Sister Gabler shared a story of how whenever she was going to try a new trick while she was wake boarding and she got scared her brother would yell, "are you gonna be a sheep or a lion?" then she shared this quote...

if we're gonna fly we fly like eagles

arms out wide

if we're gonna fear we fear no evil

we will rise

like our power, we will go

like our spirit, we are bold 

if we're gonna stand, we stand like giants 

if we're gonna walk, we walk as lions 

I hope that you can all find something from this that will apply to you, no matter where you're at in life. whenever I get nervous or stressed or discouraged I first think of my Savior and how much He loves me, but this quote has also helped me out. are we gonna be sheep or lions?

I love you all with my whole heart! I want to hear from all of you! I will be leaving the mtc this coming wednesday morning (at 3:50 am.. i count that as tuesday night but whatever) so if you check the very first post on this blog, the address for North Dakota is on here, and there is nothing more exciting than getting a letter!! let's be pen pals :) also my P day will be changing to Monday's. 

love, sister (barbie) johnson :) 

p.s. everyone watch general conference this weekend! because we all know Elder Holland is going to say something amazing! ( & everyone else of course ❤) I LOVE YOU SO MUCH 

p.s.s. watch this video! (i hope it works) https://www.lds.org/media-library/video/2014-01-002-come-unto-christ-2014-theme-song?lang=eng 

trying not to lose my brain

look my very own!

sister weaver is one of my soul mates 

cat nap

studying hard or hardly studying?

my love, Sister Lawrence

Sister Weaver

my teacher, Sister Robinson

The Start of The Best 18 Months

I'm alive! I miss you all so much & it's only been a week! I love it here at the MTC (missionary training center for those of you who haven't the slightest as to what MTC stands for) it's really hard, but I'm learning so much!! many people told me that this would be one of the hardest things I would ever do, and I kind of took offense to that because I feel like I've gone through some pretty tough things... but this really is one of the hardest things I have ever done, but one of the hardest things I have ever loved to do!! 

basically I wake up at 6:30 and learn and eat and learn and teach and learn until I can't see straight, then I go back to my room and pass out with my shoes on. kidding, not really that tired but pretty much. my companions name is Sister Lawrence. she's from Big Sandy Texas & is the sweetest thing in the whole land. we get along really well which is a blessing especially since the only time we are apart is when I'm in the bathroom! on the first day when we were eating dinner I spit out a mini M&M when I was talking to her, and she still loves me! we'll be bffs forever! 

I love my district so much!! there are 5 Elders and 6 Sisters, one Tri-panionship because one Elders companion got cold feet I guess. the first couple of days was kind of a rough transition, but we really helped each other out, and now we're a family. all of the Sisters in my district are going to North Dakota as well, but the Elders are going to Washington and I'm going to miss them soo much. three of the Elders remind me exactly of my 3 little brothers it's crazy! 

so the first day they threw us right in with the lions and made us teach... I was freakin terrified. but it was way fun, even though I probably taught false doctrine but it's okay cause she was my teacher so no one is going to fall away on account of my teaching skills :) but i'm getting better! the first day I got here my host was taking me to do all the stuff that I needed to and I saw one of my bffs Hermana McCall Andrus, and she switched my host so I got to hang out with her for awhile and I was soooo happy! my district always teases me that I have too many friends because I see someone I know every 5 minutes... folks that's what happens when you move more times than years of your life. 

so I went and sung in the MTC choir & they had us fill out a survey on our singing skills, well I should've lied (don't lie, lying is bad) and said I was a better singer because they chose the ones who said they were good at singing and they're going to SING AT CONFERENCE! I'm soooo mad, but happy because my companion is going and I'm way happy for her! so that means I get to go on a companion exchange and be companions with my friend Sister Gabler who I grew up dancing with! how cool is that?! 

well I love you all so much and I will try to write things down when they happen so I don't forget.. but don't worry about me I am so happy and I know this is where I am supposed to be! one of my favorite quotes from this week that really hit me to the core was... "Although we may settle for less, Heavenly Father won't settle because He sees us as glorious beings." how amazing is that?! God loves you, Jesus loves you, I love you! 

p.s. my new nickname is sister barbie... not sure if that's a good thing hahaha

love, sister johnson

hey all  

hello my darlings! i am going to be leaving in 8 days.. 8 DAYS is this even real?! well here are some things that you may or may not want to know but I'm going to tell you anyway!! I would love it oh so much to hear from you up in the arctic tundra so my email is bailey.johnson@myldsmail.net & if you want to send me a letter or some hand warmers my address for the mission home (which will be forwarded to me until i can let you know my first address) is

North Dakota Bismarck Mission,
Sister Bailey Marie Johnson
101 Slate Drive Suite 7
Bismarck North Dakota 58503

and the MTC mailing address is (only there for a few weeks)

Sister Bailey Marie Johnson
North Dakota Bismarck Mission
Provo Missionary Training Center
2005 N 900 East
Provo Utah 84602

okay well love you with my whole heart!