Dear everyone,
Okay so this week was honestly a lot of dendouing because the area
split and we only have one investigator right now who wasn't able to
meet this week. But it was pretty fun and we got to talk to a lot of
nice people! There was one really sweet miracle though and that was
this girl we met on the street and when we said hello to her she was
like "just speak to me in English". We were very surprised. Apparently
she studied English on her own and is very, very good at it. So we
talked with her and asked if she could come thirty minutes early
before English class to chat with us. And we didn't realize that we
had ZTM so far away and that it would take up so much time so we
weren't sure if we were going to make it. So we got on the train and
thinking maybe we wouldn't be able to make it and called a member to
be at the church just in case she came. And by some miracle we did
make it!! It was awesome! And she showed up and we got to talk to her
in English which was awesome! And she likes to game and wants to go
into programming like I do, so I told her about the University of Utah
being a really good program for that and she just lit up and we just
talked about that and she seemed way awesome. Unfortunately right now
she is way busy, but she seems like such a sweet girl ready to learn
about this gospel! It was awesome!

But yes, we also had a great ZTM in Nagasaki and some really awesome
members bring us food and things. We have some AWESOME members here in
Kurume. We also had stake conference this last Sunday which was way
fun! Got to see some elders and sisters from previous areas and some
members from Fujisaki (my bean area) and surprisingly quite a few of
them remembered me!! Which was way cool to see them again. However, I
was terrible at taking pictures, so sorry about that. I will do what I
can! Anyways LOVE YOU ALL, CHURCH IS TRUE!!! Have a fantastic week!!!!

Love,
Johnson 姉妹

Us at sushi roll after zone meeting with all the sisters in our
zone. We had to split off because elders and sisters are the same
amount. (me, sister crump, sister parmley, sister akahori, sister
kawahara, sister healey, sister clements, and sister anderson)

Us playing with the photo booth on our camera.

Us after trying to film a skit for district meeting. I was the man and I look like a hun from mulan, haha!

 Blog: Transferring

It has been a CRAZY week!!!!!! As far as like change and stuff. But
yes, so I was pretty sure I was going to transfer because I had been
in my beloved taniyama for five transfers and I was done training my
bean-chan. So I planned accordingly. I asked to speak on Sunday and it
was fun to see their faces when I told them I had been there for 8
months! Then on Monday we went on splits with a sister and became a
 trio-companionship because her companion had to go to honbu to get
training to be a trainer. It was way fun! I learned so much from her!
Then we had p-day on Tuesday which started out with lunch at a members
house. They fed us sushi and we all ate until we were about to
explode! They were the nicest ever!! Then we went and hung out with
Mayu-shimai our recent convert who recently went to the temple. We
went to a showcase about Hiroshima and got to see a lot of cool things
and make origami cranes! And we talked to all the little old ladies
there that were volunteering and making cranes. They were way funny
and thought we were amazing for giving up our time to come volunteer.
Sweet little old ladies! Then after that I got my transfer call:
I got called to- Kurume!
Which is in the same stake as my first area (fujisaki) but is further
south so it is actually in the Nagasaki zone! And my companion is
sister Healey from American Fork :) She is way awesome and I am
excited to work with her! The ward is great too, lots of strong
members!
But yes, then after my transfer call we had another shoukuji (meal) with some
members at the church. And we also stuffed ourselves until we were
about to die. And I ate more goya than I hope I ever have to in my
life!! Haha, oh our funny okinawan members! Then the next day I spent
mostly packing, writing meishi's (cards) and at eikaiwa (English class).
Oh, and we also had to go to the hospital twice to make sure my companion
didn't have tuberculosis, she is clean! yaya! Then we got to eat yakiniku at a
members shop, and it was SO DELICIOUS! The meat just melted in my
mouth. It was fantastic!! I will definitely go there again! Then the
next day I got on a bus and transferred over to kurume. I left at 8:00
on a bus and got to Kurume around 3:00. It was a long trip! But worth
it! Since then we have had English class, an open house in another
area that we helped with, and church. And it all just zoomed by. The
members are fantastic and I am so excited to get to work! Missionary
work is the best!!!!
Also a funny story is that on our way back from the open house we got
on the first train and had to change trains towards the end. So we
were on the train and the two sisters who have been here for a while
noticed we were going the wrong way. So we got off on the next station
and got on the train going back and asked which one was the right
train and got on that one. And then we missed our stop and had to get
off on the next station and finally we got home! Needless to say we
were late... and tired! But, haha it was a good ONE TIME experience,
hopefully :)
Anyways that was pretty much my week. It seems all over the place, but
that is pretty much how this week went :) But the church is still true
and moving forward! Love it here!!!
Love,
Sister Johnson

Crump, Parmley, Healey, and me. The Kurume shimai!

Us at the open house we helped with in another area. The people were so cute and nice!! (healey, parmley, saga members and their friends (I don't remember names  the littlest girl is hono-chan and the girl next to me is sayaka) then me and crump shimai) It was way fun!

Us at the bus station before I left (ratzlaff chourou, sherman chourou, matsuura-san(investigator), kajiya-kyoudai, hashiguchi-kyoudai, vance-chourou, row chourou and shimai, then me and kozaki in the middle)

Us at our last Taniyama english class. Students were fantastic and we had a party afterwards!!! It was too short!!!!!!

Us eating yakiniku (ushio-shimai's shop. Pretty famous and made it on TV... or so I heard)... I feel like a lot of pictures will be of us just eating. We ate a lot the few days before I left... I t'was fantastic.

Me with our investigator who came by the church to say goodbye to me! Ikeue-san, love this lady and hope to see her at the temple someday!

Us at the Oota's (their great nephew was my kouhai at the MTC) Love
this family!! (Sister kozaki, me, kemp chourou, ratzlaff chourou, oota
shimai and kyoudai)

Blog: Cicadas

Well today I don't have a lot of time because it is transfer day and I
think I will be transferring so we have like three meal appointments
today! Basically crazy to the max!
But yes it is very hot here in Japan. I just sweat, and sweat in
places I never even knew I could sweat from. It is a very exciting
experience. And the cicadas are waaaaaay loud!! Like defeaning!
But this week was altogether a very good week. To be honest weeks are
going by so fast and we have been quite busy this week that I don't
remember most of it. But one exciting thing that happened is one of
our investigators came to church on Sunday to see me speak! And she
has a baptismal date for two weeks from now! She was a previous
investigator of mine and through a very awesome experience came back
to church on her own and is now excited and nervous to receive
baptism. But she really wants those blessings from God and wants
guidance to help her daughter as well. She is seriously such a nice
and sincere lady. And so ready to enter into the fold of God and
receive all the blessings He has in store for her. Seriously change in
people creates a feeling inside of you that you can't explain with
words.
We also had a summer festival party at the church. It was a big crazy
since we ended up doing most of the preparation, but it worked out and
all is well! We had a great time and I will post some pictures below!
Sorry this week was short, but the Lords is moving His work forward
rapidly, so no time to stop! This work is true, and EVERY person can
have the opportunity to contribute! So glad that I am a Mormon!

Love,
Sister Johnson

The ghetto ring toss we made, haha but the kids loved it!

The pinata we made taniyama chourou. He was indestructable.

The summer festival!!

Taniyama chourou, stealing hearts of sister missionaries everywhere ;)

(I lost count) me, kozaki shimai, recent convert Mayu shimai and our investigator ikeuesan at what might've been our last lesson together. She is way awesome and unique lady! Love her so much. Just gotta get her to church!

 Blog: Time Flying By

Dear friends and family, it has been a crazy and awesome week! Time
just flies, it just flies on by. I can't believe I have been in
Taniyama for almost 8 months. IT IS THE BEST!!!! I love it here! The
members are so great and we always have such a fun time!
But yes, anyway moving onto this week. It was a pretty normal week I
think. We did start to initialize this thing called 5 minute totsuzen
lessons. So we start off with briefly explaining our message and then
asking them if they have 5 minutes to hear more. And a lot of people
say no, but a lot of people say YES as well!! So we usually just start
off with a prayer, teach them a brief principle and usually ask them
to end us with a prayer. They have all prayed thus far. It is so crazy
how awesome people are sometimes. I was also thinking one day before I
went to bed what the pre-mortal life was like. Who I knew. And maybe
what favors they asked me for. It was just a really profound night of
thinking and I felt the spirit so strong. I probably knew a lot of
these people if not all before I came to Earth, some maybe pleading
with me to find them and help them come back to their Father in
Heaven, I can imagine probably all of them did do that. So sometimes
it is hard when people reject such a great message that can make them
so happy. But that is just a time when I can appreciate better that I
am a Mormon. And love being one.
And with time flying by so fast when I think of the time when I will
have to take off my name tag for good just fear comes into my heart.
But luckily I have still got quite a bit of time! Don't count me out
yet, it just makes me want to try even harder!
We also have been trying to get some activities going this summer to
help strengthen the branch, the new branch president is awesome and I
can really tell he loves the branch members.
This last Sunday we also saw a great miracle! One of our investigators
has a blind daughter who doesn't live with her but has breaks on
Wednesday and Sunday so she can't come to church. But she came all of
a sudden yesterday saying that her daughter moved the time back! It
was awesome! She came just in time for sacrament! And then after that
she talked with some of the members about how excited she was to get
baptized. We had to push her date back a little but she is an awesome
lady! Very funny!
We have also been able to recently meet with a family. The Mom is
sometimes hard to flag down, but we talk with the 80 year old grandma
and 5 year old daughter who are just awesome! The grandma really wants
to come to church so we are going to try and help her find a way, and
hopefully get the Mom more involved as well. Overall this week was
just awesome. I love, love the mission field and can just tell that
this is the Lords work and that sharing His gospel is just so
important. I don't always realize what He has done for me, but each
day I feel that I at least become a tiny bit more aware and that just
brings me closer to Him. A grateful heart will never fail that's for
sure. It's not Thanksgiving or anything, but I hope you all take some
time to be grateful for all that you have. Especially this gospel, I
never realized how happy it has made me, but as my testimony grows and
I search the scriptures and really pray for guidance I feel my Saviors
love and the love He has for all His children. The church is true!!
Don't forget to love being a Mormon!!!

Love,
Sister Johnson

First is our weird faces, this is our normal picture of the dinner appointment we went to with the kaneko family (Mom has seven children and they are all grown up, it's a big family to say the least :) The girl with the while hair clip and I were in the MTC at the same time, crazy, right?!

Left up to down (Yui, saori, shunichirou, hiroki daigo, manami, mari, sayuri's daughter, me, Sayuri, Sayuri's daughter, tappi, aishi, nana, kaneko okaa-san, Sayuri's sons, kempchourou, kozakishimai, akira-chan, ratzlaffchourou)

2. Our investigator Hamada-san who after the lesson said that it would be a lot less hot if we had our hair up, so then she did it up all fancy. I felt very fancy that day.

3. Kodomo eikaiwa!! (English Class)(oota-shimai, natsu-san, me, kozaki-shimai, kemp-chourou, ratzlaff-chourou, kajiya-kyoudai, masao-san, mitsuki-chan, kenta and kouta-kun, yuito and ibuki-kun)

4. a picture of a picture of our temple trip. Look how awesome we all look! It was the best!!

5. Some pucho we got from an Eikaiwa student. It is from kansai. (This had a picture of the big buddha and deer from Nara shout to my mama!) It s pudding flavored, like a pudding flavored haichew. It was weird, but oddly delicious :)