SISTER JOHNSON'S LAST E-MAIL!!!

RETURNING WITH HONOR

COMING HOME!!!

WEDNESDAY, JULY 15, 2015

1:39 p.m.

DELTA AIRLINES 4794

TERMINAL 3

Hi mom!

Well, last week was crazy and emotional, but fun. I gave my testimony at our Visitor's Center training and balled my eyes out! Then Saturday we went and helped a member of our ward who cooks a ton of food for homeless people a few times a month and gives it out at a park. It was crazy day - some of the people were getting really riled up (some were on drugs and were getting impatient because they were really hungry and it took longer to set up than normal) but everything worked out hahaha. Then we were rushing around and one of our members spilled spaghetti in our car. So, twas a crazy, but overall exciting day! It's my last Monday on the mission and it's weird! It's been good though, really good. :)

I've taken a lot of pics with people. I am going to miss the Oakland 9th ward so much, and my district. But, I am suuuupeerrrr excited to see everyone!!!!! :)

That's really all I have to say today. My favorite scripture in the Book of Mormon lately is Alma 32:42. This verse is talking about faith but I applied it to being a missionary and it describes my feelings about my mission very well! It's been the best adventure ever. Being a missionary is the coolest job in the whole world. I've learned SO much on my mission. I thought I had an understanding of the Gospel before my mission, but I've learned I didn't know every much about it at all. I still don't know everything but what I do know is so precious and important to me and I can't wait to keep learning. The Gospel of Jesus Christ is perfect and simple, and is what brings true happiness in life.

I'll see you all on Wednesday!! Thank you for all your love and support for me while I've been out :) Love you all!!!!!

Love,

Sister Johnson 

  Alma 32:42 And because of your diligence and your faith and your patience with the word in nourishing it, that it may take root in you, behold, by and by ye shall pluck the fruit thereof, which is most precious, which is sweet above all that is sweet, and which is white above all that is white, yea, and pure above all that is pure; and ye shall feast upon this fruit even until ye are filled, that ye hunger not, neither shall ye thirst.

E-mailing with my Homies

SISTER JOHNSON'S JULY 6, 2015 E-MAIL!!!

 COMING HOME!!!

WEDNESDAY, JULY 15, 2015

1:39 p.m.

DELTA AIRLINES 4794

TERMINAL 3

JUST ONE MORE E-MAIL TO GO

AND SHE'S STILL

"DOING SWELL AND ENJOYING LIFE!"

 

Marianne

Dorothy! Adorable 87 year-old and is in awesome shape. Grew up in New York. She made us a feast for lunch (a ham, a chicken, mash potatoes, peas, corn bread, macaroni, rolls, and cake and ice cream for desert.)

​We thought this was cool. Our yams that we forgot about grew little trees. :)

Hello!

Well, I really can't comprehend that it's the last week of my mission. It's going to be a great week. We have a lot of dinner and lunch appointments (yeehaw!) and are going to see many miracles. :) We are doing the district meeting training this week and are going to be doing Preach My Gospel Jeopardy, so that should be fun. :)

Last week some awesome things happened - we added a new investigator, a man named Ron who is homeless. He is soooooo cool!! And he is very put-together, professional, intelligent and very nice. So we are excited for him and he was a miracle and will be getting baptized as soon as he gets a job and a place to live. :)

Also, last week we met President and Sister Frandsen! Sister Frandsen came with us Tuesday to observe our studies (which we were really nervous about). It ended up being so much fun and Sister Frandsen is literally the sweetest, most humble and amazing woman on the planet. We had so much fun that morning, which was such a relief because I was nervous for it haha. She came to district meeting with us after our studies as well, which was also a lot of fun. On Friday we had a meeting with President and Sister Frandsen, and they are both wonderful speakers. President Frandsen is very passionate, humble and taught us a lot of neat things. He's all about teaching doctrine, which I love. He showed us a lot of neat scriptures that made cool connections. :) I'm so excited for both of them. They will be amazing!!!! And they have already made a huge impact on me.

For the 4th of July, we went with a member (Dorothy, 87 years old and soooooo sweet and cute) to her daughter's home. We had a high-class barbeque! Then at night Sister Houskeeper and I watched some fireworks from a balcony in our apartment.

Anywho, don't have much more time but it was a fun week. I love you all!

Love,

Sister Johnson

Sorry no time for pictures this week!

SISTER JOHNSON'S

JUNE 29, 2015 E-MAIL 

Hello mother!

Wow, what a week! We had a lot of lessons with less-active members this week. All of them elderly, single women that are awesome. We also had a lesson with a recent convert named Eagle who is from Mongolia and speaks very little English (but is getting better!) We had someone come who speaks Mongolian who translated for us (they met randomly at the Visitors' Center one time which was a miracle) and were able to figure out how we can best teach him without having a translator all the time (because he also wants to practice English) so it was just an awesome visit and Eagle is awesome and is a miracle and has such a strong testimony. So that was cool. And he gave us some Mongolian treat that made me choke and die because it was so gross haha. I thought it was going to be sweet but its like a dried milk ball and tasted like rotten cheese. Anyways, it was special!

Also, today the new mission president arrived! When Sister Houskeeper and I were walking to the mission home to get some stuff, we saw the former President and Sister Meredith walking to their car to leave. They were dressed in normal clothes and we asked if he already got released. He says the second the new mission president arrives, he is released. Then he introduced himself as Jerry! What in the world!!!! That was a weird and cool yet sad moment. Then they drove off into the sunset forever. It was crazy. But, I am excited to meet the new mission president and his wife. :) President and Sister Frandsen now reign over the Oakland California San Francisco mission. Which reminds me - tomorrow Sister Frandsen is coming to observe Sister Houskeeper and I's (correct grammar?) companionship study tomorrow. Scary!! We're going to have to actually act normal....darn...just kidding. :)

Well, that's it for this past week...here are some pics. I'm doing swell and am enjoying life!

Love you all!

Sister Johnson

SISTER JOHNSON'S JUNE 22, 2015 E-MAIL

GOODBYE

PRESIDENT AND SISTER MEREDITH!!

​San Leandro Zone singing to President and Sister Meredith. So sad. :(

 I love the people who work at the Visitor's Center

Nutty Missionaries

Me and Antonia and their kitten! She's playing with clay. :

 Just and Day on the Lake

 ​Lake Merritt in Oakland! We live nearby. This is the nice part of Oakland.

 ​Candy made by Sister Bookman who lives across the hall from us :)

 Candy!!!

 

Well, all's good over here in Oakland. Last week we found ourselves amongst more crazy people than normal. Makes for a lot of good memories! A few of the people we ran into were really cool. We went to visit a referral on a particular street and met a few women who were super nice. One of them was a stripper and the other two we think were prostitutes. They were really interested in what we had to say and two of them want to come to church with us. :)  

And like always, we had a few miracles! First, our investigator D*** who is scared to come to church came to family home evening last Monday! We invited him and he said he would come (but we didn't think he'd actually come, lack of faith on our part). But he came! And he loved it. We had Filipino night and someone played the piano and sang and he just loved it so much haha. We also found a new investigator last week who is amazing and had a great first lesson with him. He will be going to the Berkeley ward because he's YSA aged but we're happy because he will fit right in with the Berkeley ward. :)

Yesterday I gave a talk in sacrament. At the beginning I gave a shout out to dad, saying how he's an amazing dad and a few of the things I've learned from him. :) I felt really bad though because my talk went over and the last person didn't have time to give theirs. There were four speakers total though and I didn't know because I didn't have a program and we came into sacrament late. Oopsie!

We also had Zone Conference, which was my last one. Since President and Sister Meredith are leaving in a week, they gave their goodbye talks and I was balling. They are amazing. And I was also crying thinking about coming home because I am going to miss this so much. But, that's okay, I still have three weeks left. :-)

Well I love you all. Thanks for all you do for me!!!!

Sister Johnson

p.s.  only three more weeks until 

Lauren comes home!!!

SISTER JOHNSON'S JUNE 15, 2015 E-MAIL

As Jesse would say,
"KEEP YOUR EYE ON THE SPARROW"

​Giant Burger. This place is GOOD

Okay, I'm not even kidding you. I keep seeing 11:11 EVERYWHERE. It's super weird and freaking me out. I need to write down all the times we've seen it. Even ask Sister Houskeeper. She's my second witness!

 ​<3 Oakland

​Sister Houskeeper and I!!

​Looks like I need a lesson on the Word of Wisdom....just kidding, we found this right outside the VC.

 CUTE!!!

  Oakland

More Oakland

Hello there!

Well, everything here is swell and Oakland is the best. We're seeing miracles all the time! One that I will share is that yesterday we met with an amazing part-member family. The husband is less active and is starting to come back to church and he wants his wife to learn, so he asked us to come and start teaching her the lessons. They are amazing and are such a sweet, fun family with the CUTEST kids. We had an awesome lesson with them as well. And the husband, although he hasn't been coming to church, has such a strong testimony. We're excited about this family and will keep you updated!!

Love,

Sister Johnson

SISTER JOHNSON'S JUNE 8 E-MAIL

PIXAR!!!

 Hello Mother!

Wow that's so fun to hear about how everything went! It sounds like it was a rockin' wedding reception. Lauren Horne sent me a few videos of Brad and Tatum dancing with the fireworks! So happy and awesome!!!

Well I don't have much time left to email because I was emailing other people (hehe), but I'll just tell you a few highlights of this past week. Last Monday we went to PIXAR! A member from the Oakland 1st ward showed us around (fyi the only way you can go is if you know someone because it's not open to the public. So we got the hook-ups :-) ). It was really neat! We got an inside look at the new movie coming out called Inside Out. It looks like it's going to be cool so ya'll should go check it out when it comes out. The member who took us has worked on a lot of the Pixar films, including Toy Story 3 and Up. So it was pretty neat to hear about how they do things there. And it's kind of like a big kid's playground. It's a huge, really nice facility with couches and life-size models of the characters from pixar movies. And there is free cereal and he rode his scooter around when he gave us the tour. So anywho - that's my worldly update!

In other news, yesterday Jesse was confirmed in sacrament meeting! Yay! He also bore his testimony which was hilarious and wonderful. After everyone else's testimonies he clapped. Haha. We love Jesse! 

We also had a lot of fun last week visiting some less-active members. One of them is named Sister BL*****. She is wiiiiild! We took a bunch of her old clothes to a members' home with about 12 kids. And we also did some service last week for another member, Sister B****** (who is also hilarious). For her we grated some nuts by so she can make us some candy. Haha. It took us a while but we are almost finished. We realized half way through that we could grate the nuts in 10 seconds with a magic bullet or something. Hahah.... oh well, it made for good memories. 

Anyways, my time is running out - I don't have time to send pictures but will send them next week! Love you!!!!

Love,

Sister Johnson

SISTER JOHNSON'S JUNE 1, 2015 E-MAIL

AND IT'S BACK TO THE

WORK IN THE OAKLAND 9TH WARD!!!

 Jesse!

 Jesse's Baptism

 Bishop and Sister Cain!!!

 Our District -  Temple Day

 Goofy Missionaries!!!

HELLO!

OH MY GOODNESS I'M SO HAPPY FOR BRAD AND TATUM!!!! They're little family is so cute and they look amazing!!!!!!! Especially Tatum, she is stunning!!! Awwwwwww!!!!!!!!!!!!! Thank you for those pictures! What a beautiful wedding!!! :D 

Wowzers, well, this past week was AWESOME. Yesterday was a historic day for the Oakland 9th ward for a few reasons. Reason 1 - a man named Jesse who has been learning about the church for 4 years and who has had many baptismal dates that have never happened got baptized! A few weeks ago when we met with him, he told us he is ready to be baptized. Before going we planned on extending a date to him to be baptized and we decided May 31st. So, when we went and when he told us he wants to be baptized, we told him, how about May 31st? And he accepted. So, now the thing we had to make sure happen was that he would show up and actually be baptized! (Because a few of his baptisms didn't happen because something came up and he couldn't even come.) So we prayed hard all week, called him everyday, visited a few times, and he had his interview. Then the day came! We asked him to meet us at church early so he could try on his suit and everything (because the baptism was right after church), and he did!! He came right on time!!! So after that, it was all down hill and it was a great day. He was so happy and when he came out of the water he repeated "hallelujah" and "praise the Lord" multiple times, which was super funny. Jesse is so great. He is such a sweet man with such a great spirit. It took him a while but he finally got baptized. We love Jesse!!! His famous phrase is "Keep your eye on the sparrow." Hahaha!

Reason 2 - Our Bishop, Bishop Cain (who is AMAZING) got released yesterday. He and his wife don't live in the Oakland 9 boundaries so they were called in as service missionaries when he was called to be Bishop. Oakland 9 has never had a Bishop who lives in the ward boundaries, fyi. Well yesterday, someone who actually lives in the Oakland 9 ward boundaries was called to be the bishop!! He was Bishop Cain's 2nd counselor. His name is Bishop King and he is going to be amazing. Bishop King is the first black Bishop to serve in this ward and he is also one of the first single Bishop's in the world (I think). So anywho, it was a really special day for everyone - bittersweet because Bishop Cain is leaving but also a new beginning for the Oakland 9 ward. This ward really is so special. Yesterday when I was sitting there in sacrament, I looked around and for probably the first time ever, I understood what it means to have a true ward family because everyone works so hard to help this ward succeed. There are so many special people in this ward and so much love there. And everyone is just so much fun! I don't know how I got lucky enough to serve in this ward! And good news - we got transfer calls on Saturday and we are staying! So, I will stay in Oakland 9th for the last 6 weeks of my mission. :) I couldn't be happier!!!!

I love the Lord and His work. I've seen so many miracles the last 6 weeks and am ready for more! I love you all!!!

Love,

Sister Johnson