STUNG BY A BEE

BUT SLEPT THROUGH THE EARTHQUAKE

Howdy doodles!!!

Don't worry, I'm alive!! I found out about the earthquake the morning after it happened! When we went in the VC one of the Senior sisters asked us if we felt it, because she says a lot of people felt it, but she didn't. I actually faintly remember waking up to something the night before, but didn't remember much. Then I thought maybe I didn't feel it, but the mom in the family we had dinner with last night said she woke up to it and it was really loud! So maybe I did wake up to it! It was in Napa, which is a few hours from where we are (I think?). I heard there was a lot of damage there in Napa, but none here that I know of. It was a 6.0 I think, which is big! So, that's my exciting earthquake experience :)

I am glad you get to spend some time with Granddaddy and everyone else, and so excited to hear about Cathy's wedding! It sounds like it's going to be really fun! And that is cute - I do remember her always loving mac and cheese! Send her my love and congratulations and that I hope it's a magical day for her! :) Be sure to send lots of pictures too!!

This past week was interesting! All the lessons we had went way over time because everyone we visited loooves to talk! Haha. Which isn't bad - everyone just likes to tell really long stories haha. But, it was neat to get to hear people's stories and experiences. I always love hearing those. We still haven't been able to meet with our newest investigator M****** (the one who works at S******) for a few weeks now, which is a big bummer, and he still hasn't come to church yet! We will hopefully see him this week though. He says he still wants to learn and meet with us, it's just his work schedule is all over the place and he lives far. He's not in our area actually, so technically we shouldn't be the ones teaching him haha, but he says he wants to meet with us in Moraga because he is here more during the day. We will see what happens though! Our other investigator L*** is continuing to do really well and we are going to re-set her baptismal date for mid-September this week when we see her. :) Other than that, we have just been focusing on ways to find new people to teach and have been meeting with the recent converts in the ward weekly to support them and help them continue to learn. :) We love all of the recent converts! All of them are awesome. I love seeing them have the desire to learn more and more. It makes me excited to learn! And I'm so lucky I get to learn, read the scriptures and study the Gospel each day. Sometimes I wish personal study was a couple hours longer because there is so much I want to read and dive into that I can't do in 1 hour haha. But, that's okay! I'll just have to do that when I get home!

Well, that's pretty much it for this week - sorry it's short and not the most exciting! Thank you for all your thoughts and prayers. We definitely need them out here! 

Oh yeah! I got stung by a bee the other day! My first bee sting ever! Haha.

Thanks for everything!!! Oh and I did get the GPS - thank you so much!!!!!! I love you and hope yours and everyone else's week is magical!!!

Love,

Sister Johnson

Earthquake!!!!

EARTHQUAKE!!!!

Hello, friends.  It appears that the 6.0 earthquake which occurred at 3:30 on Sunday morning was 45 miles north of Moraga, Lauren's current location.  Also, it is not in her mission or in the County that her mission is located in.  We did not receive a phone call from anyone in her mission so we are assuming that all in well in Moraga.  We should be hearing from her Monday and will know more about her experience in her e-mail.  Prayers and love go out to the people in Northern California who were in the earthquake zone!

LAUREN'S AUGUST 18, 2014 E-MAIL - A NEW COMPANION

HELLO SISTER WANG!

LAST PICTURE WITH SISTER HENDERSON

 NEW COMPANION - SISTER WANG!

 

Hello Mother!!

I forgot to tell you last week that today is our P-day because it was our temple day today! So we didn't have P-day yesterday which is why I didn't email. Sorry 'bout that! :-)

Yayyyyyy I'm so glad you're doing well and are recovering so quickly! Is Brad a better nurse than me? Or was I better? (Jk, I already know the answer to that... I am glad he is doing his best though :-) hehe) Oh and thank you for the GPS! We've been doing fine without it actually. And it's fun to use an actual real-live map!! Haha, how sad is that. A real-live map. This generation....I just don't know. But, the GPS will be a big help and will make things faster! So thank you!!!!

It has been an awesome first week to the transfer! Sister Wang is awesome!!! She is so much fun. She is so sweet, but also so blunt. Haha. She makes me laugh so hard!! So our first week together has been really fun!! As for people we are teaching - L*** (13 years old) will be getting baptized in September sometime! What an amazing girl she is! We visited her yesterday and she asked us a ton of questions about being a missionary and said she has been thinking about going on a mission some day!! I just love her. And she's so spiritually mature!! I can't believe how much she's grown since we first started teaching her and her dad. When I was 13, I was a doofus. (Well, I might still be one...let's not go there though) But not her! And her dad is just amazing. He was called to be a cub scout leader and is so excited for it! They're family is on fire I tell ya!!

So Moraga is Moraga! Beautiful, rich, quiet, polite people but not interested because they're content with their lives. We do meet some really neat people though. There are hidden gems in Moraga, I just know it. We just have to find them!!

The Visitor's Center has been fun like always!! And I'm glad that I get to keep being a part of Chinese tours! Haha. Maybe it's a sign from Heavenly Father that I need to learn Chinese since my last companion and current companion speak Chinese. Hmm..............

Well, that's all for this week. I hope you enjoy your week and the rest of summer!!! Love you all forever!!!

Love,

Sister Johnson

SISTER JOHNSON'S AUGUST 11, 2014 E-MAIL

GOODBYE SISTER HENDERSON

 Sisters who are leaving this week!

 Sister Henderson literally at the finish line in her mission!

 Sister Henderson, Corrine (a new member) and Sister Johnson

 23rd Birthday at Loard's Ice Cream Parlor with Bro and Sis Lavendar

 The District Hike

 Elder Eh found a stick that looks like a gun!

Mommy!!!

So sorry I didn't finish emailing you last week! It has been a great couple of weeks though! I am so proud of Brad! Tell him I say Congrats dude!!!! I don't know if I mentioned it before but there are a ton of investment bankers in my ward and I always tell them about Brad and they are always so impressed that he's with JP Morgan and such. I could never remember though what position he works under and one time I told one of the members at dinner that his position has to do something with the word "culture"...haha (because the word diversified makes me think of the word culture) and he was like "hmmm....that doesn't sound like something that would have to do with investment banking" haha, I felt dumb! Lol. Now I know though! It's Diversified Industries. :) I am glad he is home now though and that ya'll get to be movie buddies again! And yes he's lookin very sharp! Tell him to send me an email some time telling me about the fun adventures he had in NY!

I am so glad you're doing well by the way!! And thank you for the birthday gift and the tops! Did I tell you I needed some white tops? Because I don't remember doing that....but I must have because I did need some! So thank you :-) For my birthday, Elder and Sister Lavendar (Visitor's Center senior couple) took Sister Henderson and I out for lunch! We went to a yummy Mexican place and after got Sis. H's and my favorite ice cream called "Loard's" ice cream. Then at the VC that night some of the other Sisters brought me a cake! So I was spoiled that day :) 

You want to know where I go shopping and what I buy? Haha, well I go to this mystical grocery store called Safeway and I buy a bunch of weird alien food. Just kidding, lately I've been buying spinach, frozen chicken, carrots and honey mustard dressing and have been having salads at the VC for lunch and dinner! And they are super yummy! I also buy green apples and delicious peaches every week. I also buy some sort of frozen food that I can make for dinner, like frozen pasta and I like to buy those cheap but really good PastaRoni's or RiceARoni's and make those for dinner when we don't have dinner with members. I also buy really yummy ham and provolone cheese and make grilled ham and cheese sandwiches with a salad, or I'll make eggs and ham. I also have been obsessed with juice. I have to have some sort of juice every week! Like 100% Cranberry juice or Strawberry Orange Banana juice. So that's pretty much what I've been eating! 

Last week we went on a district hike and it was super fun! It was a super easy hike (basically walking on a dirt road the whole time) but it was really pretty and at the top we could see Moraga from where we were. At the end we had a pic-nic potluck (which you would think would be pretty lame since we're all poor missionaries) but everyone brought so much food so we stuffed our faces haha. It was so nice to go on a hike though; that was the first real hike I've been on in a while!

Another fun thing that we did last week was do a service project for homeless people called Homeless Connect. We did it in Richmond (about 30 minutes north of Oakland) at a convention center. It was so much fun!!! Most of our zone and another zone went so we had about 50 missionaries and some senior couples there. It was a community event so there were a lot of other people from the community as well, so there were a total of about 200 volunteers. But what it entailed were there were a bunch of booths and stations set up for the people to go through to get connected with resources such as housing/shelter, insurance, eye care, hair cuts, employment, the DMV, etc. They were also served breakfast and lunch. Sister Henderson and I were in charge of welcoming the guests after they filled out some paper work and taking them to their first station. We got to meet a lot of really neat, funny and humble people! There were some that were making us laugh a lot because they were dancing and being all crazy on one of the hallways. It was just so fun to help them and be a cheerful face. We also got to talk to some of them about religion and invited them to church. We had a neat conversation with one of the other volunteers at lunch and invited her to church and gave her information to learn more and she seemed really interested. :) The only sad part is I didn't bring my camera so I didn't get any pictures!!! Oh well!

Anywho, so this is Sister Henderson's last day as a normal missionary! Tomorrow she gets to have a fun day with all the other missionaries who are leaving and then goes home on Wednesday. I am going to miss her so much!!!!!! But I am so excited for her! So I will be staying in Moraga and my new companion is Sister Wang! She is from Taiwan and is super adorable and sweet!!! So I'm really excited I get to be with her and start a new adventure. :) 

Well, that's pretty much it for today! I love you all and love hearing about all the fun stuff going on at home! Thank you for everything!!

Love,

Sister Johnson