LAUREN'S PRE-THANKSGIVING POST

GETTING READY FOR TURKEY DAY!!!

"This is how your Dad likes to eat pumpkin pie!"

Happy Turkey Week!

Yes I did get the packages! Thank you!! And yes I will be getting a Thanksgiving dinner at a members home - but, the food you sent me will be great for when I'm craving leftovers :) So thank you again for sending them to me!! You da bomb!

Woohoo, I'm excited for Chandler High! I hope they win! That's so cute about Missy and Fuzzell. I miss those furr balls! Everytime I see a kitty I just wanna go up a squeeze it! But I don't so that I don't get a disease.

Another great week over here though! Went on two more exchanges this week. The Lord really helps me a lot on exchanges. Well He has to, or else I will fail haha. It is so cool to see all the other sisters in their own areas and elements though. On Tuesday Sister Wang (the one who I live with) came with me to Berkeley and we have a lot of great lessons. She is super fun, cute and a ray of sunshine! We had a lot of fun in Berkeley. On Thursday I went to Lafayette with Sister Hsu, who is also from Arizona! We sang for some elderly people, which was really fun and such a spiritual boost. They have really tender hearts and cried at every song we sang. I just love those people! We also had an awesome first lesson with a woman and her husband who have been searching for the right church for years. They came to a members home - an awesome couple in the Lafayette ward, and another member came as well. I was intimidated at first because all these people are old and wise, but it ended up being great and they are the nicest, most loving people ever. And every lesson is a million times better with members there. I just love members. Without them, missionary work is really not much. Members are the key to everything! So that was a great experience and they are really interested in learning more. :)

On Saturday we had Elder Nielson, who is in the missionary department, come to our MLC meeting on Saturday (Missionary Leadership Counsel). It was an awesomeeee meeting - right up there with Elder Bednar's from the weekend before. His theme echoed Elder Bednar's, which was to be an agent who acts. He gave us great advice when we talked to him about what we feel we are doing well in our mission and what our challenges are. He also explained to us the organization of the Twelve Apostles and all the Quorums of the Seventies, which was super interesting!!! So we got to learn a lot of awesome stuff. I was taking notes like a crazy person. 

He also introduced to us a new video and Christmas initiative coming out THIS WEEKEND. It's called 'He is the Gift.' This is going to be a big thing, but only if everyone shares it!!! The church has paid a lot of money for this initiative, so it's every members job to share this with everyone! It is simply a 30 second video about the Savior and that He is the true gift of Christmas. If you go to lds.org, it will be on there this weekend. Be sure to watch the video and then share it with everyone. It will be on Youtube's homepage (on December 7th I think) and also featured in New York Times Square. In the December Ensign there will be 10 pass along cards for members to hand out to friends to share the video. This is a great missionary tool, but again we need everyone's help! So spread the word, and share the real gift of Christmas so that it can touch people's hearts who are ready to learn about Jesus Christ and His Gospel. :)

That's it for this week! Have a Happy Thanksgiving, think about what you're grateful for and keep being happy. The Gospel is so true!!!!

Love,

Sister Johnson 

SISTER JOHNSON'S NOVEMBER 18, 2014 E-MAIL

BACK IN OAKLAND AGAIN!

Lauren's new place is just 2 minutes from the Oakland Temple and the Visitor's Center!
Her area is Berkeley Campus in the Single's Ward but she lives in Oakland.

Howdy doodlers!

Well it's been a fun and crazy week, full of miracles! And yes! The temple is super super busy during the holidays. The weekend after Thanksgiving is going to be really busy because that's when we turn on all the Christmas lights and have a performance to celebrate. Then starting December 5th we have two to three different performances going on each night. There will be performances in the Visitor's Center, in the auditorium and other parts of the temple grounds. So thousands of people come through each day and we are stationed in different parts of the VC and outside to welcome and talk to people. I'm told it's exhausting but really fun!! So I'm definitely excited :-D

I'm totally jelly that you got to watch the temple dedication! What a treat. :) We also had a really special treat this past weekend because Elder Bednar came for the 50th Anniversary of the Oakland Temple! He spoke on Sunday night for the celebration, which we couldn't go to unfortunately, but that's quite okay, because we got to see him for almost 6 hours on Saturday!! We and the San Jose mission got to have a special conference with him, then later that evening he spoke at the YSA fireside and Sister Orantes and I also got to go to that since we are serving in a YSA ward. :) It was an incredible day!!! To put it simply, Elder Bednar is a wild man. He's so funny! I haven't ever seen him like that before. It was really cool to see him let his hair down and at both the missionary meeting and the fireside we were able to ask him a lot of questions. It was pretty amazing and by the end of the day my head was spinning from the awesomeness of it all. The theme of both meetings, for us and the young single adults, was about being an agent and not an object. Objects are acted upon, but agents act. He also told some amazing stories. Someone at the YSA fireside asked him a question (can't remember what it was) but it had to do something with what he does as an apostle. So he told us what apostles "really" do. He said "most people think apostles go all around the world and just speak and go to meetings. Yes, that's what we do when we go places, but those aren't the reasons why we go. We go because there is someone in every place that needs us. We go to find the "one." " I loved that, and there was a lot more he said about it but that's the gist of it. I think overall what I took from seeing him speak all day was an even stronger conviction and testimony that he is truly and apostle of the Lord. Without a doubt he is!! So, GREAT day. :)

Also! We had neat miracles. Last week we had two exchanges and they both went awesome! Miracles really do happen on exchanges. On Tuesday Sister Zhao from the VC came with me to Berkeley and both our lessons went awesome, especially with with our investigator from Brazil! For the second exchange I went with Sister Smith to her area (Spanish speaking) and although I wasn't able to really teach with her, in the lesson we had with an investigator I could feel the spirit so strong as she taught. It was crazy awesome. Also, we got a new investigator last week! He's a freshman at UC Berkeley (a friend of someone from the ward). He is Korean and super sweet. Has zero religious background but had friends back in Korea who were members so he's familiar with the church. Additionally, last night, we extended a baptismal date to our investigator from Brazil and she accepted!!! She's amazing!!! I was a little nervous all day about it but the lesson went awesome and the spirit was just right. So, that was another huge miracle.

Well I'm out of time, but I love you all and thanks for your prayers. So much happens that I can't write it all, but just know that you're prayers work because throughout the day the Lord creates miracles and helps me to do things that in the past I would have thought to be impossible for me. So thank you. I love you all!!!

Love,

Sister Johnson

LAUREN'S NOVEMBER 10, 2014 E-MAIL

PLANNING FOR THE HOLIDAYS AT THE VISITOR'S CENTER

 ITS GONNA BE NUTS !!!

 Nutty Lauren doing deep cleaning

Hello Mother!

This is going to be a quick email! My new companion Sister Orantes is awesome!!! We've served at the VC together so I already know her really well. :) We have so much fun together; probably too much fun. She is from Houston Texas, 22, really fun and outgoing, sporty but also really girly, loves Disney princesses and pandas. She reminds me of Ella actually. Hehe. She is half Mexican, half, El Salvadorian, so she speaks Spanish. Being back in Berkeley is strange but fun!! It's good to see all the faces I first met when I came out on my mission. :) I don't know the address of our apartment but it's right next to the temple and we live with two other sisters, Sister Wang from Tawaiin (a different one than my last companion) and Sister Vaiangina (from Tonga). So it's been super fun because I've never lived with other sistas before! Our apartment is huge also. It's basically like a little house.

So this past week has been tiring but a lot of fun! We've been creating the VC schedule for the rest of this transfer and getting ready for the Christmas stuff coming up, which is going to be nuts. Basically during the month of December we are at the VC all day every day so we only have like 3 hours in our area a week. We have multiple performances and events going on every day so the VC is going to be suuuper busy. But it is going to be so much fun!

Oh yeah! We also found a new investigator this past week! She is from Brazil and is dating one of the members in the BerkeleyYSA ward. He's taught her a little already and she's already read a lot of the Book of Mormon. She is so sweet! So we are really excited about her :) We also have another investigator who is awesome and are working with a lot of recent converts and less actives in the ward. So the transfer is off to a great start!

Oh yeah, and Brother G***** got baptized on Saturday! I wasn't able to go, but there were over 60 people there and he was super happy. Hopefully I will get pics from Sister Wang soon so I can send them. I really wish I could have been there! But that's okay. Such is life!

That's it for now, sorry this email is short but we don't have very much time today (we are going to deep clean and rearrange stuff in our apartment today, which I'm super excited about haha). Tonight we are going on exchanges, so it's the first exchange of the transfer!

Thank you for all the updates and everything! Love you all so much!!

Love,

Sister Johnson

LAURENS NOVEMBER 3, 2014 E-MAIL

TRAINING A NEW SISTER

AND TRANSFERRING BACK TO BERKELEY!

Hello!

Sorry, this e-mail is going to be a little bit short! Sounds like a fun Halloween!! Last week was fun for us too! We had our Trunk or Treat Tuesday evening. We taped candy to temple-cards and decorated our trunk with a sign that said "Happy Halloween! Invite a friend to the Oakland Temple!" (Super creative huh? ;) Jk) So that was fun! We took pictures of some of the kids and their creative costumes. It was fun to mingle with everyone. :) Wednesday morning we had a Visitor's Center breakfast and the four sisters who are leaving this week gave their departing testimonies (Sister Kim, Sister Leung, Sister Bayot and Sister De Aquino). I'm so sad they are all leaving!! Wahh! It is especially crazy that Sister Kim (my trainer) is already going home! When I came out, she was out as long as I am now. Weird!! 

For Halloween, we did our weekly planning that day, then went to a member's home for dinner and went home by 6 to deep clean. We moved the fridge and cleaned underneath and on the walls and the stove. There was a a lot of grime and grease stains so it was exhilarating to clean! Haha. So that was a fun night! Saturday, Brother G***** had his baptismal interview! He's getting baptized this Saturday!! Everyone is so excited for him! His conversion has taken 5 years. So it's about time!

So transfers are this week, and sadly I will be leaving Moraga. Guess where I'm going? Back to the Berkeley University Ward!! I will be a sister trainer with Sister Orantes. A sister trainer goes on exchanges, gives trainings and works with the other leaders in the mission. I'm excited but also don't feel qualified to be a sister trainer. But, the Lord qualifies those who He calls right? Let's hope so. :) What I'm most excited about though is 1) I get to be with Sister Orantes- whom I love and is awesome!!!! And 2) I get to go on exchanges with all the other VC sisters and learn from all of them. :) I think that's what I'm most excited about, is I'll get to learn a lot from the other sisters. Hopefully that's not selfish haha. Of course I am excited too that I get to help them and support them in whatever way the Lord needs me to. :) So, there's that. I'm really going to need a lot of prayers so please pray for me.

I have learned a lot though since being in Moraga. When I first got here I was told it is a really slow and a difficult area for missionary work. But, I saw the opposite. Although it may not historically produce baptisms like other areas, I saw many miracles- some big and some smaller that have the potential to be big. If we believe that an area is slow, it will be. If we believe and have faith that miracles will happen, and act on that faith by working hard and being obedient, miracles will happen. It's all about faith and nothing happens without it. This past week as I studied faith, the principle that Ether chapter 12 and the good ol' Bible Dictionary teaches about faith stood out a lot, which is that faith produces miracles- miracles do not produce faith. It is only until after we exercise our faith that Heavenly Father is going to show us a miracle or give us a witness. :)

That's pretty much it for today. I didn't have as much time today so sorry it was short! Thanks for your prayers and love! Have a fantastic week!

Love,

Sister Johnson

PICTURES - MONDAY, OCTOBER 27, 2014 E-MAIL

P- DAY IS FUN DAY

 During Chinese food buffet

 After Chinese food buffet

 All the mail that Lauren isn't getting from us - except for e-mails (which we are good at)

 Getting everyone in on the selfie

Oakland Temple Sisters on P-day

Hey we're twins!! We also had our primary program on Sunday, and we went to a member's home for dinner and also had pot roast! Yipee!

This past week was good! We had some neat things happen. We were able to visit (finally) a former investigator who we haven't seen in a long time. He is still waiting for permission to be baptized. So it was so good to see him! We shared a simple thought with him on hope. As I've studied hope, I've learned that hope is as important as faith. Hope is not only the wish, or the desire, but having optimism - especially when the immediate future is foggy. Faith is action, and hope is the attitude! We can have faith, but if we aren't hopeful, we're not going to be as happy. Hope also teaches us patience, and that we know that in the end, everything will work out together for our good. It talks about this in Romans 8. It's a great chapter in the scriptures about hope!

We also had a neat experience stopping by another former investigator's home (he investigated back in 2009). He actually moved a few years back, but his grandma still lives there so we decided to stop by and meet her. She was super nice and let us in, and T*** (the former investigator) was there! So we ended up talking for like 45 minutes in their living room. He investigated for a year and loved coming to church. What is sad is he said it was a sacrifice for him to stop going to church because he enjoyed it so much but with the feelings of pressure and doubts, he stopped going. Anyways, we had a great discussion. He asked a lot of questions and even though he said he will never convert, we were grateful we stopped by and got to know him. And he doesn't even live there - he lives about 2 hours away but just happened to be there when we stopped by. We invited him to come to church with us and he said he would consider it. So there is hope! Heavenly Father definitely led us there that night. :) 

We also decided to call another former investigator who we stopped by a few weeks back but wasn't home. He answered and was super nice! We invited him to some upcoming events and asked if we could visit him - and he accepted! It was a bit of a surprise because that doesn't happen a lot haha, especially over the phone (for our area at least). We also were able to get in contact with a member who sent us a referral a few months back. We visited his friend, but at the time he said it wasn't a good time and he wasn't interested. When we talked to the member though the other night, he said that he told him we stopped by and is interested in having us visit again. So that was also a surprise! Some other neat things: M***** came to church yesterday!! He has finally been getting back to us and said he needs to come to church. So he did and he said he really needed it.  We just want to do all we can to help and support him. He's such a great guy!

We are also getting everything ready for Brother G******'s baptism! Everyone in the ward is so excited for him. He is awesome and has become so enthusiastic with such a strong desire to learn. It's amazing to see!!!

There are a lot of fun things happening this week: tomorrow we have our ward Trunk or Treat, Wednesday we have a Visitor's Center breakfast at Elder and Sister Poulsen's home, then Friday is Halloween (which means deep cleaning!) And then Saturday is Brother G's baptism interview and transfer calls! Unbelievable that it's the last week of the transfer!! This next transfer is going to be awesome also because Elder Bednar is coming! Yay! I am so excited for the Holiday season!!!

Also I'd just like to add how awesome all the families are in our ward. Every time we drive home from visiting members or having dinner with them, we are in awe by their kindness and love for us! It is so inspiring to be able to be around so many wonderful people. And the awesome thing is all of these wonderful families are not only here, but everywhere! All over the world! The Gospel is spreading more each day. And, even though things in the world are getting worse, the Gospel is growing stronger. I can feel it and see it, especially being at the Visitor's Center. I love seeing people of all different backgrounds and cultures come in and have an interest in the Gospel. The work is progressing and it's our duty to share it. This is what we're all here for! Invite friends to activities and to church. Share thoughts with them. Miracles will happen as you do!!!

Love you all and have a Happy Halloween week! :-)

Sister Johnson

A SPECIAL POST FOR THE HUMP DAY!

OPENING THE MISSION CALL

See the video that started Lauren's journey to the 

California Oakland/San Francisco Mission

Lauren informed me that she is at the midpoint of her mission, her "Hump Day". 

She said "Guess what, isn't it weird that I only have 9 months left of my mission?? That's crazy huh!  Actually tomorrow, October 22nd is my exact half-way mark because my mission is 17 1/2 months.  I come home July 15th just so you know!  I have to figure out eventually what I'm gonna do with my life!"

SISTER JOHNSON'S OCTOBER 20, 2014 E-MAIL

"It felt like my spirit got jumped by a gang of angels."

Hello Mother!

Last week, we had a conference with Elder Hamula of the Seventy! He came to our stake conference and he also spoke at General Conference (his talk was about the Sacrament and it was SOO good!!!!!!! Do you remember that one?!?) Well anyway, basically, it was the coolest conference of my life!!!!!! Seriously though- he said things that blew my mind. I wish I could share it all with you but I can't type out the 10 pages of notes I took. He talked first about how to receive revelation. Now it may not seem like that great, but the way he explained everything and the steps to receive revelation he told us completely opened my eyes. He said that what he told us is how the General authorities receive revelation. Here are the points he made:

We receive revelation by these 3 steps:

1) All revelation starts with a specific question.

2) The question has to come from a deep desire to know the truth.

3) The sincerity of the desire is determined by your willingness to act on what you receive.

Then, Heavenly Father answers back in 3 main ways:

1) Through His servants.

2) Through the scriptures.

3) Directly by His spirit.

Again, seems so simple and obvious, right? But there is so much more to it than just that! He dove into the scriptures and took us on a doctrinal journey like no other. He also gave us the opportunity to ask whatever questions we wanted and the answers he gave were even more mind-blowing! He also talked about in order to really talk with people, we must be focused on asking inspired questions. I have learned about inspired questions my whole mission but the way he explained it just helped to solidify it all in my mind better. It's not enough to just throw doctrine at people and hope something sticks, but instead we need to ask them questions that will help them search their souls. And then we respond with doctrinal truths. When you ask an inspired question, something is revealed about them to you, then them to them. President Meredith also gave an amazing talk on how to become a more consecrated missionary and the steps we need to take; that it's a continual process and used a lot of great examples from the scriptures. I just wish I could tell you everything I learned!!! Also Sister Meredith and Sister Hamula spoke. They spoke about diligence and becoming a disciple of Christ. All of their talks were amazing and the spirit was almost tangible because of truths they bore and how they unfolded the truths in such deep yet clear as crystal ways. By the end it felt like my spirit got jumped by a gang of angels- it was that good! 

What is also cool, even though it didn't end up happening haha, is that we were asked by our zone leaders if Elder and Sister Hamula could come with us the evening after the conference to a lesson! We were like, sure! That would be amazing! So we were told Monday night that both of them would come. Then the next day we were told that only Sister Hamula would be coming and Elder Hamula would be going with another set of missionaries. So we had planned on this all week, right? Well 30 minutes before the lesson the ZL's called and said Sister Hamula couldn't come! So we were bummed, but also a little relieved because some pressure was taken off haha (although it would have been awesome for her to have come with us). We ended up having a great lesson though with Brother and Sister Graves about the Priesthood and Brother Hilton from our ward came. So, that was Thursday! Great day. :)

We've also had some neat miracles in the Visitor's Center! A few weeks ago, a guy named R*** (from India) came in with his member friend who lives in Colorado. He recently moved to Texas to finish a pilot program. Long story short, his friend felt like she should take him here. He ended up having a great experience a the VC and is really interested in learning!!  We are all spiritually connected! 

Also, a few weeks back we met a Chinese couple at the VC. Sister Wang taught them a little at the Visitor's Center and the woman was really interested. The man had to go back to China shortly after but she is staying until Christmas. So Sister Wang got her information and has been teaching her over the phone ever since! At first she only wanted Sister Wang to teach her over the phone but has accepted to have other sisters come and teacher her where she is living. But, Sister Wang has done amazing at teaching her and she wants to be baptized! She has no Christian background but has such a strong desire to know if God exists and which church is His church. Sister Wang taught her how to pray and she said she gave a beautiful perfect prayer over the phone!!

And also another miracle! While on the phones the other day I received a call from a man who lives in Nashville. He said he found a card in his mailbox about the Book of Mormon and decided to call the number because he is really interested in receiving one. I talked to him for a bit and he is the sweetest old man on the planet!!!! I asked him some questions and got to know him. He says he just wants to have a purpose in life because he has no family and is all alone. I testified to him that he does have a purpose!!! A purpose greater than he could ever imagine! I didn't have a lot of time to talk so I couldn't teach him right then, but I am going to keep in touch and teach him until the missionaries come. What a neat experience though! Such a miracle! He thanked me for my sweet spirit and said he could feel God in my spirit. 

These are the moments that make everything worth it! I tell ya, I'm so darn lucky to be a missionary.

So, those are some highlights of last week. Also had interviews last week with President Meredith. Let me just say what an incredible man he is and how lucky I am to be a missionary under his leadership. He is one of the most loving, faithful and humble men I've ever met. All mission presidents are amazing, but I gotta say that President Meredith is the best! :)

Love you all and thank you for your prayers. If you have a question in your life, follow those steps listed above! Haha :) Heavenly Father, Jesus Christ and the Holy Ghost are real. Work hard every day because you're going to meet them again one day!

Love you all,

Sister Johnson