MOTHER'S DAY 2014!!!!
VIDEO CHAT WITH SISTER JOHNSON!
We're all in the shot together.
Alex and Britt in the corner, Steve, Donna, Brad and Chandler and Lauren all talking! The screen would change depending on who was talking ... wow... technology!
PLUS.....
the first baptism!
Greetings!!
It was so good to see ya'lls faces yesterday!!! Everyone
looks smashing as always! And yes it did work out good! Yesterday was an
amazing day!! We had dinner at the Lavender's house (Senior Couple at
the VC) with Sister Oa and Sister Lindsay (who serve in the Berkeley
University Ward with us). It was so fun and we were dying of laughter
(to give you an idea of how fun it was). I just love all of them. So
I'll tell you about yesterday and past week real quick (since we didn't
really talk about it yesterday!)
So yesterday was M****'s baptism and it was
amazing!!!!!!!!!!!! M**** was sooo happy and her best friend came who we
are starting to teach now also!!! Our ward is seriously the best - they
are so welcoming and loving and funny!! The talks were amazing and
everyone in that ward is just WONDERFUL. That's just all I can say. We
had a couple mishaps haha, but it made the experience all the more fun.
First we were rushing around because there was another baptism right
before ours but they left the doors open to the font, so weren't able to
go in to get her suit or else everyone in the congregation would be
able to see us (if that makes sense; hard to explain). So we had to wait
a little, but then we finally were able to go in to get her suit (and
we were serving at the VC right before this so that's why we didn't go
in earlier). Then, when we did go in to get her suit, we had a hard time
trying to find one for her that was her size! We eventually did find
one but it was a really old weird-looking one with a collar and a belt,
but she tried it on anyway and ended up liking it and wanted to wear it!
Haha, which was good, because right before the baptism started Sister
Henderson found where all the extra women's suits were. Haha it was
great. We also forgot to tell M**** to bring a towel haha. When she got
out of the font Sister Henderson was like "You brought a towel right?"
So she dried off with some extra baptismal suits hahaha.
It was just such a spiritual, happy experience.
Everyone that was involved has been such a blessing and a miracle to us
these past months with M****! I just wish you all could know the
amazingness of the people in the Berkeley University Ward. I'm just so
grateful to everyone. And I will have to send you all a copy of her
baptismal program that we made. :) Oh and Sister Henderson and I sang!
We sang "I Stand All Amazed" (P.S. Sister Henderson has a amazing voice
(she sings like Snow White) :)) It made M**** cry! Mission accomplished.
:-) We were going to get someone from the ward to do a musical number,
but no one got back to us in time, but we were glad to sing because
M**** loves it when we sing haha. She always asks us to sing for her!
She's so funny. It was just so great, and Sister Kim and Sister Cooper
were there and helped out a lot too!
Last week we met with M*****'s best friend (who came
to the baptism) who is as awesome as M****! We are 99.9% sure she'll be
getting baptized soon as well, but unfortunately she's moving back home
for the summer so we won't get to finish teaching her (we will get in
contact with missionaries over where she lives). We are going to meet
with her again this week though and teach her more! Oh and also, last
week I forgot to tell you in my email last week about an awesome family
we met who lives on our street! It is a grandmother, mom and her
daughter (who is 24). Actually I think I did tell you about them.
Anyways, on Wednesday we went and helped them move stuff out of one of
the rooms in their house because the daughter is going to move into that
room. It is a really old house (like 115 years old or something). They
are the sweetest people and it was so much fun helping them! The mom
actually reminds me of you mom (hehe) she has a little bit of a Southern
accent and is bubbly and talkative and animated like you. And has that
good ol' Southern hospitality (she's actually never lived in the South
though haha). The grandma lives in the house right behind theirs, and
her house is FULL OF PIGS!!! She collects pigs. Everything is pigs.
Everything. Pigs. Everywhere I look. I told her I used to collect piggy
banks and that pigs were mine and my best friend's favorite animal
growing up (Lauren H. :)) so she gave me one of her piggy banks! AND her
last name is Hamm! Haha. So funny. They are Catholic and say they
aren't going to convert (we'll see about that ;-)) but love
missionaries. We are going back over there this week to help more and
they are going to feed us dinner! Yay! Haha. They are awesome.
Oh yeah! We went to the Temple last week. It was just great. I just really really love the Temple. Like really.
Anywho,
those are some of the highlights of last week. We are continuing to be
so blessed here. This past week Sister Henderson and I kept saying to
each other, "Is M**** really getting baptized? Is this really
happening?" And it did! The funny and crazy thing is, we feel like we
haven't even done anything. M**** is just amazing and Heavenly Father
has been preparing her for this time in her life. What I've realized
even more lately is that this is this is truly Heavenly Father's work. I
am literally just a tool that he uses. I am a hammer and he is the one
hammering and using me to create miracles and masterpieces. I just have
the privilege of being a part of it somehow. Which is amazing. I see
miracles here every day! Prayer works. Having faith works. Heavenly
Father is so aware of us! It's amazing. It's all true!! And It is crazy
that this week is that last week of this transfer. It has been an
amazing transfer and the joy that I get from being a missionary grows
everyday. We meet so many amazing people each day. I just love meeting
people and learning about their lives and backgrounds. That's basically
what my job is - to get to know people, love them, teach them the
Gospel, be their cheerleader and support, pray for them, have faith and
then see how amazing Heavenly Father is at making miracles happen. And
being a representative of Jesus Christ. No big deal. (Just kidding, huge
deal and huge blessing.) Being a missionary is just honestly the
coolest thing ever. Soo, yeah. :)
I love you all and thank you for all your love and everything!!!! Talk to you next week!
Love,
Sister Johnson
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