SISTER JOHNSON'S MONDAY, JANUARY 26, 2015 E-MAIL

 SUPER BUSY!

                             Hahah!  We still got a nice letter even though she had to rush off! 

Hello Mother!

Okay, sorry last week I was focusing on a lot of other things and didn't have much time to email.....and it will be the same with this week! Haha sorry, it's been a crazy last few days. Here are some updates though:

1) Transfer calls were Saturday - I'm staying in Berkeley and my new companion is Sister Smith!! She is an awesome missionary and I am so excited to be with her, even though I am so sad that I won't be companions with Sister Orantes anymore :( Sister Orantes will be going full-pros to San Fransisco, Spanish speaking!!!

2) On Thursday we decided to go out for dinner in Berkeley and for some reason really wanted Papa John's pizza (haha). So we drove around Berkeley trying to find the one location we knew of. We finally were able to find it and after getting pizza, we walked out a girl approached us and asked if we are the missionaries who serve in the Berkeley Ward and we told her that we serve in the YSA ward. Anyways, after talking to her we discovered she is a member who got baptized last year and who is currently homeless. She is a very sweet girl and we were able to buy her some food and later on call our Bishop for help. She has a cell phone so that we can give her more information on who she can call for help, but sadly we haven't been able to get a hold of her since. Hopefully we will soon. It is amazing though how the Lord leads us places to find certain people that he wants us to help!

3) Thais got confirmed yesterday!!!! It was amazing. She is always so touched by the spirit! She is simply wonderful.

4) There's a lot of other cool stuff that happened but I don't have time to write, so sorry!!!

I love you all though! The church is true and Heavenly Father loves us. It's as simple as that!

Love,
Sister Johnson

SISTER JOHNSON'S JANUARY 19, 2015 E-MAIL

YIPPEEE!! 

Thias and Sister Orantes

Hello Mother!

Sorry I don't have much time today so it will be a little short!!

This past week was amazing!! Thias' baptism was yesterday!!!!! It was soooo beautiful and she was so happy and overwhelmed. She is seriously a miracle and one of the greatest blessings I've seen on my mission, and no doubt one of the reasons I came on a mission. Geoff baptized her and said the baptism prayer in Portuguese!

Yayyyyyy Thais!!!!!!

On Friday Sister Orantes and I had to do apartment inspections for the sisters in the VC....so after a long hard day of inspecting and cleaning, we treated to ourselves to some yummy food! (Nations = delish burgers)

 Alicia is a member who helped teach Thais.  

She speaks was able to teach Thias in Portuguese.

 The Bezerkeley YSA Ward

We also were able to meet twice with our new investigator named J*** (who is amazing!!!) Overall a great week, and many blessings from the Lord! Love you all!!

Love,

Sister Johnson

SISTER JOHNSON'S JAN. 12, 2015 E-MAIL

"IN CONCLUSION ..."

 

50 YEARS AND 5 KIDS

CONGRATS TO 

JACK AND MAILE BECKMAN

GOLDEN ANNIVERSARY - 50 YEARS!

Hello Mother Deary!

I'm so glad grandma was able to have a surprise birthday party!!!! (ERM ... THAT WOULD BE A 50TH WEDDING ANNIVERSARY PARTY ... SHE'S NOT PAYING MUCH ATTENTION WHEN SHE READS MY EMAILS, HAHA!) You all are awesome for doing that for her! I know the trip was well worth it and glad you were able to see everyone! :D

This past week was awesome for us! We had MLC (Missionary Leadership Council) on Tuesday and talked about the results from last year and what we need to do this year to do better. We had wonderful trainings given by our assistants and President and Sister Meredith, and Sister Orantes and I gave our little spiel about Meet the Mormons being in the Visitor's Center and that it's a wonderful missionary tool. So bring people to see Meet the Mormons at the Mesa VC!!!!

We were also able to find 2 new investigators last week! Yay! One is a guy from China who visited Los Angeles a few weeks back and met missionaries there. They sent his info to us and he goes to UC Berkeley. He's very enthusiastic about learning! Another investigator we found is a miracle!! Sister Wang (who I served with in Moraga) and Sister Kwok found her in the Moraga ward on Sunday. She was sitting by herself and they didn't know who she was so they sat next to her. Lo and behold she is from Idaho, is here attending school and met with missionaries just recently before moving here. And since she's YSA aged we get to teach her! We met her last night and she is absolutely amazing. We saw many other blessings and miracles last week as well. We have 8 recent converts in our ward and soon to be 9 because T**** is getting baptized next week!!!!!! She is probably the biggest blessing we've had recently. She has so much faith, is so sweet and loving and is simply one of the most amazing people I've ever met!!! (Sister Orantes and I are going to take a trip to Brazil sometime in the future when she moves back to Brazil. Just fyi :-))

In conclusion, Heavenly Father never ceases to blow my mind. I love Him! And He loves me and you and everyone. Have a great week!!

Love,

Sister Johnson

SISTER JOHNSON'S JANUARY 5, 2015 E-MAIL - HAPPY NEW YEAR!

HAPPY NEW YEAR 2015!!!

Alicia (member), Th**** (investigator), Sister Orantes and me 

 Being goofy at the Berkeley Institute in front of the fire

 Pedro at the Brazil Cafe

 Our Roommates, Sister Hueffner, Sister Braithwaite, Sister Orantes and me

Practicing the flute for the Christmas Program

VC Sisters on the day of the Christmas Program ​

 Getting ready for the Christmas program

  Our Zone New Year's Eve party picture

 New Year's Eve watching movies!

Sister O vacuuming the gym after our New Year's Eve Party

Being really goofy

Look Everyone!  #ShareTheGift #He is the the Gift on the billboads behind Ryan's head on TV

all night on New Year's Eve!

He is the Gift

Happy New Year!!

It's 2015! Unbelievable! And yayyyy, it is really neat to see "He is the Gift" up in Times Square!!! :-)

Last week was a fun week- even though Sister Orantes was sick for most of the week! She had a really bad throat infection (apparently it was strep because she didn't have a fever, so we just called it a throat infection) and then got a cold after that. So we were in for a lot of the week. But by the end of the week we were out and made good use of the time we had. We also had our New Year's eve party with our zone on Wednesday night! We watched How to Train Your Dragon 2 and The Grinch. 'Twas a good time! We also got to watch Meet the Mormons again Thursday morning for our Visitor's Center training. I tell ya, that movie is so good!!! It's so inspiring and a perfect missionary tool. It will be at the Mesa Visitor's Center, so bring friends to see it!!!!! It will only be in Visitor's Centers for the next 6 months if you want to see it!

We also a few lessons last week with Th***, who is A-MAZ-ING. She's already read the Book of Mormon, Pearl of Great Price and Relief Society manual book thing?!?! What the heck?? And she already pays her tithing and fast offerings and is already wanting to prepare for the temple even though we haven't even taught her about temples yet!! So we are in heaven with her. She bore her testimony yesterday in church and told everyone she's getting baptized on January 18! Before she went up she gave us this dreaded look of death. She was nervous haha. It was so funny. 

Some other fun things last week - we went to a tiny Brazilian cafe in Berkeley and met the owner, Pedro! Super funny guy! He's had a lot of return missionaries from Brazil go there so he knows who missionaries are. We meet the coolest people in Berkeley and at the Visitor's Center from all over the world. It's so fun! Also, Sister Orantes and I for the new year are making goals to eat healthier. Today we bought a bunch of fruits and veggies to make green smoothies and have healthy, easy dinners. We are excited! Yay for a New Year to start fresh. It's also a great time to make spiritual goals! I'm still working on mine haha, but I am excited to figure out what I can do to be a better servant to the Lord. He seriously puts miracles right in front of us all the time and I'm so grateful for Him.

Love you all!!! Have a fabulous week!

Sister Johnson