Monday, May 26, 2014

Lauren's May 19, 2014 E-Mail - GETTING TRANSFERED!


Transfered to Moraga, California

 Map of the Moraga, California area, with a star centered on the location of Dan Dahlen's office.

Hello!

Wow, every one is almost out of the house now! Brad will be back before you know it though. 12 weeks is 2 transfers! :) 

Speaking of transfers.......so, Sister Henderson won't be in Berkeley anymore :((( We will be both be transferring to Moraga! It is bittersweet for us because we are sad to be leaving cute little Berkeley and our awesome YSA ward, but also excited for a new adventure! Although I've been told Moraga is a difficult area for baptisms (we won't let the rumors get to us), it is very affluent community and we will be replacing elders. I hear the leadership in the ward is very strong and that the Bishop is awesome and super nice! Also, it is a huge ward and on average there's about 300 members at church on Sunday! And actually the elders we are replacing have a baptism set with an investigator in June, so that will be exciting! We are mostly sad to be leaving our recent convert M****, and also our new investigator named B***** who is AMAZING and soooo sweet! We are also sad about leaving our neighbors down the street who we've helped a couple times move stuff out of their house. They were so awesome and wanted really badly to feed us dinner but we never got the chance and now it's too late :( That's okay though :) We've met so many awesome people and Berkeley and won't forget our experiences there! Also, Sister Kim my first companion is going back to Berkeley (she is a Sister trainer now :))

So I just want to tell you a little bit about B****! We met with her the first time last week and got to know her, and she's amazing. We met her the first time a couple of weeks ago at church (her friend brought her) and she came up to us after church and said she was really interested in learning more because the lesson in class that day was something she had been thinking a lot about recently (it was on our gifts and talents). We met with her last week for the first time to get to know her and she told us that lately she's been feeling like there is something more she needs to be doing in life, like she has a higher potential and great purpose that she needs to reach (she has a Lutheran background by the way). She also says she wants to serve others more and help people more. We were ecstatic because that is everything the Gospel will provide for her!!!! She also came into the Visitor's Center last Thursday and it was an amazing experience for all of us!! We showed her our God's Plan for His Family presentation and talked a lot about family's. She told us that recently she had an experience that made her very interested in doing family history work, and it's something she's felt urged to research more!! When she told us that we were like WHAT?!?! That is one what our church is all about!!! We told her we have a Family History Center downstairs and that it's one of the biggest in the nation and we took her down there! She was so excited and it was just amazing!!! While we were giving her a tour of the Visitor's Center we were all tearing up and I could just feel the love Heavenly Father has for her and I know He has sent her to us at this time. He has been preparing her for the Gospel! Unfortunately we won't be able to continue teaching her since we are transferring, but we are so excited for her to keep learning about the Gospel. She is one of the sweetest, Christ-like people I've met, even though I haven't known her for very long. I am just beyond excited for her.

Also, yesterday Sister Henderson and I had a really neat experience in the Visitor's Center. A woman came in who said she just went to one of the church meetings across the street for the first time (across the VC is a huge chapel where a lot of wards meet) and was interested in learning more. She said she had talked to missionaries on mormon.org chat and that's how she found out about the church. She says she feels very lonely at the church she currently goes to. As we started talking to her more, she became very emotional and told us how burdened she feels from being so lonely and feeling like she is going to hell for her sins. As we were talking to her, trying to comfort her, she started weeping. I put my arm around her and told her she isn't going to hell and that Heavenly Father loves her more than she can imagine, and that Christ knows exactly how she's feeling. We shared some scriptures with her from the Book of Mormon in Alma 7 about Christ's Atonement and the verse in Matthew that says "Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest." It was a very touching, spiritual moment. She is going to be meeting with missionaries and we are excited to hear about how it goes with her. :) It is just amazing how Heavenly Father is so aware of all of His children. I told her I know that Heavenly Father lead her there that day. I am so grateful for that experience because I was so full of love for her. Heavenly Father truly does love all of His children so much.

Overall, we had a great last week in Berkeley. We are excited to move to Moraga and help whoever Heavenly Father has prepared for us there! We get to see so many miracles happen all the time. I wish I could tell you all the ways that Heavenly Father answers our prayers and make miracles happen during the week but there are too many to write! Heavenly Father blows my mind every day. He is hastening His work! I love you all and thank you for all your support and love!

Love,
Sister Johnson 


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