Blog : Happy Birthday
So this week was kind of crazy! I turned 20!?!?!?!?!?!? What!? I am
very weirded out by this! But today we get to skype and I'm very
excited! So I will try and keep it short. But this week was fun! Got
to see the lords hand a lot this week! Although things don't usually
happen the way I want them to, it's not my work so I just gotta try
and understand the Lords will. WHICH CAN BE SO VERY HARD AT TIMES!!!
But I know that with the Lord all will all work out! And we also had a
way cool reactivation! When I first came to taniyama she seemed not so
interested in the church, but now her testimony is so strong! She said
the opening prayer for sacrament meeting this week and it was awesome!
Never thought she would get there to be honest, but oh me of little
faith. When she was talking with us this lesson she told us that she
told her mom she got baptized and now she is a Mormon. She said it
with so much pride that it almost brought a train to my eye. It was
the greatest! Anyways that's all I really want to say this week. Gonna
keep working my hardest for my ward, family, friends, and THE LORD!!!!
Love ya! BYE!

ジョンソン姉妹！

Us dendouing (tracking) at an apartment at night in taniyama. This is where I do
all my work!

A long candy we got from an investigator. It was very long.

Blog: Bike vs Auto

Well this week was kind of crazy! So on Tuesday we were riding our bikes in the rain to catch a train to district meeting. And while I was passing McDonalds I got hit by a car! So there is this wall that goes right up to the sidewalk so you can`t see the cars driving out of the drive through. And when I finally did see the car I pulled on my brakes, but my bike slipped on the tile sidewalk and the car hit the front part of my bike and I tipped over into the rain. I really sustained no injuries other than like a bruise on my leg. But the crazy part was that one of the policeman that came was someone who we had taught a little bit before, and he really helped out. And the guy that hit me with his car had met the elders before! So many miracles, and the angels were watching over me!

Then the next day we had a huge sports festival with the whole district. And Taniyama came in second! I got to run some of the relays and participate in the huge group activities. It was way fun! I was so sore the next day. I mean as a missionary you ride your bike everyday but running works a whole different set of muscles and waking up the next morning was hard. It was really fun though and it was good to see a lot of unity amongst the taniyama branch. I`ll send you pictures since explaining with words is really hard, but it was super fun I hope you can see that through the pictures!

Then Thursday we celebrated one of our investigators birthdays by making her a cake and she was so surprised! She said nobody had ever done something like for her before. And it just made me think how blessed I am to have good friends and family. Because for me, I would expect something like that on my birthday and this investigator was just beyond happy when we came in with her cake, it was so fun!

Then we had another lesson with a new investigator who made a baptismal date! Yay! And he wanted to come to church. Unfortunately he called us on Saturday morning telling us that he didn`t want to come anymore because of some stuff his friends told him and he had read on the internet. NOOOO! We were way bummed out, but we know God has a plan for all of us and sometimes it feels like Satan is winning the war, but it was just a small battle. And I know that all things eventually will work out for my good (D&C 122). That`s definitely a promise from God and He is mightier than all. I know this church is true and if anything during a mission this testimony has only been strengthened. Satan will try and work against us during our times of strength, but if we overcome we will be stronger than we have ever been before! So keep at it ya`ll. I know the Lord will bless you for it, and I love you so much, and so does the Lord!

Anyways have an awesome week!

Sister Johnson

Bruised knee post accident

missionaries at the games

Whole District at the games

Taniyama Branch takes second

Eating with member and district

 

 Blog: iPad is Here!

So this week was both crazy an pretty uneventful. The crazy news is, WE GOT OUR IPADS! It`s official! Now that I have one though I have no idea how to use it. Really I didn`t even know how to turn it on. One of the elders sitting next to me had to help me. It`s been really weird having one, but now that`s it has been a couple of days I am kind of getting used to it. I watch I`m a Mormons almost all the time. We had two days in a row of training on Tuesday ans Wednesday which was crazy and fun. Glad we finally have iPads, it`s really crazy to see how the Lord is hastening his work. Also on the second day of training we got street contact training. And it was way awesome, and also super weird because I went on splits with an elder and another companionship of elder and sister. It was waaay weird! But fun, I learned a lot :)

This week was also pretty hard as well though. Recently we made goals as a zone to find a lot more new investigators. And my companion and I haven`t been able to find at all in the last couple of weeks. I was getting very frustrated and feeling lots of inadequacies. I was praying everyday trying to go out with the faith, hope, and expectation that we would find a new investigator. But it never seemed to work out. And when your on a mission these small times of trial get blown out of proportion in your mind, so of course my next thought was that I would have no success as a missionary. Haha, maybe not that far, but it was trying indeed. And I felt like no matter how hard I tried I was seeing no results in return. My prayers always seemed to be said out of frustration. Then I talked with my companion and she told me that God is preparing us for something better. Then the same day I read a talk about weakness vs. sin out of the April liahona. And it made me realize that although my prayers started out in frustration, they slowly started becoming prayers of humility. Realizing that in no way could I do this on my own and I needed my Savior`s help. And I also realized that without these trails I would not progress and not be prepared for the better things the Lord had in store for me. So I followed President Monson's advice and prayed for strength to match my trials not trials to match my strength. And have I seen miracles, yes. Are they of the magnitude of what I expected, no. Are they better though, yes. If I saw crazy miracles everyday then I can almost guarantee that my faith would weaken and I would depend on my own abilities. And I also probably needed a nap, which I will take today. Yay, P-day! Anyways that is what I learned today. Missions are hard, but I am being prepared for something bigger which IS something bigger than just this mission. And that is building the kingdom of God. And serving here in Japan is just the beginning. Sometimes it will have to be taken hour by hour, but I know with help and direction from the Lord I will come out victorious in the end!

So yep this week consisted of trials and iPads. It was crazy! I still can`t believe they are here. I know that this church is true and that the work is being hastened. I know that through our trials we are strengthened when we find our weakness to overcome, and that we don`t have to do it alone. I love you all, have a good last week of April!

Love,

Sister Johnson

 Us on splits when the sisters came to stay at our apartment between
trainings!

New iPads!!!