November 25, 2013

Family,

HAPPY THANKSGIVING! oh how I am grateful with all of my heart for all that you do individually and together for me. Your sacrifices for me have been many and I am forever in debt to you for them. Thank you, thank you, thank you! I have so many things to be grateful for each and every day. There is something that the people of South Florida have taught me and that's to thank God for waking me up each and every day. This is a line that a lot of people here say as they open their prayers and its something that I had taken for granted- the very breathe I use each and every day. I hope you all enjoy the holidays together! We have been offered two Thanksgiving dinners so... that will be interesting! One is at 12 and the other at 4... so we have some wiggle time? ha. I pray that Jake gets to eat something that he likes! This past week we saw many many miracles! We were able to have a baptism this past Sunday! Thank the heavens! :) he's Y.S.A (that's basically all I've baptized on my mission and I'm so okay with that) and from the time we met him, he was baptized 10 days later! This is proof that the Lord has many prepared to receive the restored gospel! We are also going to start teaching his twin brother which I am excited about! We were knocking doors and we saw him sitting out side. So we walked up to him, said a prayer with him, invited him to be baptized and he said yes. So then we started teaching him. He came to church and enjoyed it. Kept teaching him then he had his interview. Came to church for the second time and got baptized after service! yahoooo! I am so grateful for the tender mercies of the Lord! wow! He just sends miracles right to you after you have done all you can do! The dentist said he got your thank you note mom and that they really appreciated it because no one offers gratitude for their service. So thank you for making the time to do that!

Thank you dad for your inspiring e-mail! That is something I am still working on is being grateful for what I do get done in a day and working on things day by day! I am improving and that's what counts!

I am looking forward to seeing everyone in a few weeks! I'm finishing strong! I've been working hard I am delightfully exhausted when I get home each night! I love the work, I love the people and most of all I love the Lord. I hope you all enjoy your week with days off and Thanksgiving family time! I will talk to you next week!

with ALL my love,

sister johnson

November 18, 2013

  My Samoan companion, love her

  Cupcake turkeys with Sis Hartely her first week here

 Basketball with my buds


HEY,

I am so sorry if my e-mails seem to bore you now a days... I have a hard time sitting at a computer for an hour.... I'm just in go, go, go mode all the time! 

This past week was a long one for me. I haven't been feeling the best physically and I'm also emotionally worn out. I had to do some "me" time and reconnect. It got to the point that is was difficult for me to serve others the way the needed to be served because I wasn't taking care of what I needed to. I also got a priesthood blessing and that offered me a lot of comfort. 

We went to a RS activity all about cooking! It was nice to get to know the members better and I know my new companion appreciated that because she is feeling overwhelmed with having to take over when I leave. We also take out a lot of young women with us and I love seeing their lives change as they feel the joy that comes from missionary work! I've gained a lot of friends and loved ones in the time that have been out here! It will be hard to leave all of them! 

I've been making goals but its been some what challenging because there's a lot of things that I still don't know about. I'm trying to pick specific things to work toward but I feel like general things keep coming up.

If anything, I want all of you to know that I am doing well, I am happy, I am growing, and I am grateful for all that I have! We have to dinner apts for Thanksgiving Day. We will see how that works out! I am looking forward to a new week! It's going to be great! Well family I love you and pray for you always! I hope you can feel the love that I have for you! Enjoy your busy week and I will talk to you soon!

xoxo sis johnson  

November 11, 2013

 Sis Alio and I at transfers (make up gone from bawling).

 Sister Clayton and I at missionary leadership training (we go home together).

Working on the temple

Heyyyyyyy!

I know everyone is so excited to hear about my knew companion! ( I think after 17 months I've got the routine down. ha.) Sister Aloi is from Samoa. She is 24 and she finishes her mission a transfer (six weeks) after I do. I have been her sister training leader before and have gone on many exchanges with her! On my way to transfer meeting I got a feeling and I knew she was going to be my companion! We are having a lot of fun here in Wellington!

Last p-day (Tues) I got to go do work in the temple in Fort Lauderdale. I hung individual crystals on a chandelier.  We were there for 4 hours and didn't even get close to finishing it. I will never look at that chandelier or any other in any temple the same way again. There is such great detail that goes into the Lords house. It was a great experience for me! I felt the spirit and received a lot of peace. I also got to say good bye to Sis Tuai because she worked the shift before me. It's weird to think that she is at home now. That night was crazy busy because a lot of the members wanted to say good bye to Sis Dougal so we were doing a lot of running around p-day night. It turned out well though.

Transfer meeting was amazing. I was asked to say the opening prayer. It was the last transfer meeting I will attend here in the Florida Fort Lauderdale mission. It was a very emotional experience for me. At the end of every transfer meeting we sing "We'll Bring the World His Truth". With tears of gratitude streaming down my face I was unable to finish singing the song. My heart was full of so much love for the missionaries here and the people that I have met. It was a very tender transfer meeting for me.

We found a Haitian family of 7 that we have been teaching! They are great! I pray that they will continue to make the time to hear and receive the lessons!  We also went to Young Women in Excellence this week because Lovely got her integrity ribbon! We were so proud of her! It reminded me of my days in YW. I loved young women's! I hope I get to serve with them someday!  I also got to see an otter this week-it was huge! It was on a river bank and as soon as it saw us it slipped into the water. I was happy to receive the conference Ensign this week! I love studying from them and receiving additional revelation from servants of the Lord!

It looks like Jared had a fun birthday dinner/dessert! Every time I see a picture of Jordan it freaks me out. He doesn't even look the same!  He's changed the most since I have been gone! Thank you for the e-mails and updates! It's so nice to hear from all of you! I hope that you are able to feel of my love and the love that the Lord has for you as well! I'm excited for Brandon to join the missionaries and to serve in Paris! It will bring great blessings for their family! I hope that you all have a great week and I will talk to you soon! I LOVE YOU!

With all my love,

Sister Johnson

 

November 5, 2013

 

 Display for Lovely's YW night on Wednesday

 On our way to the temple



Family,

I'm sure you are all anxious, as am I, to find out about transfers! I found out that I will be staying in my area (which is awesome because I love it here) and I will be getting a new companion! I am excited to see who it will be! I will be helping her become a sister training leader which will be a good time! Sister Dougal is really sad that she is leaving.  I know that she will be great where ever she goes though! 

Dad I can't wait for you to meet my most recent convert. He's about your age and he's the funniest man ever! He has really just received the gospel and ran with it! He is almost finished with the Book of Alma! He studies all of the time! He is a wonderful example to me! Because of his desire to come closer to Christ he is being a great example to his sister and her kids (who he lives with) and his niece has been coming to church and taking the lessons! She so wants to be baptized but shes 10 so we have to get her mothers permission which is not so easy in this case! Keep them in your prayers please! 

Halloween was fantastic! Just a regular day of missionary work! I was hoping people would give us candy after we met with them but at the same time I am glad they didn't. ha. I don't need it! We got home at 8 (we had to come home early) and I turned off all the lights because we had forgotten to buy candy. We live in a good neighborhood so I knew kids would be going around. We beat the other sisters home and I thought I had heard them outside so I turned the light on for them. All of a sudden I get a ring at the door bell, then a knock, and then a "trick or treat" I figured it was the sisters just being silly so I swung open the door and all I see are 6 cute little kids.... mmm hmmm. So I told them to wait a sec and Sis Dougal and I started raiding our food closet. We had no candy. We ended up giving them pop corn and cake mix. I'm ashamed of myself haha. I didn't know what else to do. Lesson learned! It made for a great laugh though and I will never forget that either!

Also this week, Sis Dougal and I fulfilled the challenge that our bishop left with us. He told us to knock on a door and as soon as the opened to start singing "As I Have Loved You". He was challenged to do that in his mission (he served in Mexico) and saw great blessings from doing so. You could try it out Jake :) anyways... so there's Sister Dougal and I, we decided to sing on the last door we knocked on for the day. A nice white woman opened and we started singing! Before the door opened we were freaking out! I don't think I have sweat that much in my life! She received it really well and we were able to leave a prayer with her and her friends. On Sunday I bore my testimony about that experience! About the importance of having faith over fear! God is hastening His work and as member of the church we need to have faith that our friends will accept our invitations to draw closer to Christ! I hope our family is still working on fulfilling Elder Ballard's challenge of finding someone by Christmas! It's very humbling to hear others pray for our family. Whether it be at an investigators home, members home or any one we visit, they always pray for our families and thank God for the sacrifices you are making to allow us to be here. Just know all that you do never goes unnoticed! I'm so grateful for all that each one of you do for our family! I know that God has blessed us with so much. and where much is given much is required! 

Tomorrow Lovely will be getting a YW ribbon! We've been working so hard to help her finish integrity. For her display she is showing pics of us because her 10 hr project was to do missionary work with us! It's adorable! I used the stand you gave me mom (check out the pic). We are really proud of her she has come a long ways since we have been working with her! 

Today we are going to the temple to help clean! I am so excited! It will be my first time in the temple since I left and I am excited to be helping so that it can be finished! I will for sure have to come back when it's done! 

Well I think that's about it for the week! It's been a great one! We are headed down to Ft Laud to go to the temple from 1-5! I love all of you! so very much! Thank you for all you do for me! Talk to you soon!

xoxo sis johnson