Blog: P-Day Outing

This week was crazy amazing and busy!!! So very very busy! So to start
off the week wonderfully an eikaiwa student and her friend took us on
a road trip to a beach about an hour away. Basically went to heaven
and back on p-day! We ate at this ocean side Thai restaurant (not as
good as your Thai cooking dad, or real Thailand), then hung out at the
beach, then went to a cute little bread shop, then took this crazy
road up to the mountains where we saw this waterfall, which was way
cool!! Then hung out at some aeon mall afterwards. Apparently the
biggest one in Kyushu... or so they tell me. Ya it was pretty big I
think. Anyways, so that was amazing! Then on Tuesday we had 4 sisters
come down for junkais and that was crazy! We covered our whole tatami
room with blankets and futons and just slept wherever we had room.
Needless to say, did not get much sleep! But had an awesome time
junkai-ing  with a Japanese companion and meeting a lot of awesome
people! Then on Wednesday we had mensetsu's (interviews), which I loved. Absolutely
love kaicho! Then on Thursday and Friday consisted mostly of planning
for our musical number at district meeting, weekly planning, and
planning with the ward mission leaders for the Halloween party. Our
heads were spinning by the end, but it was great! The Halloween party
actually looks like it can take a step forward!! Yay!
This week unfortunately our investigator cancelled because she was
going to Tokyo to visit her kids, so not a lot of lessons this week.
Which is sad, but just let the Holy Spirit guide and do what I can,
right? But we have started doing a lot of lessons with members talking
about member missionary work. And it is awesome to see how much they
are already doing and where they want to improve. So we will have to
work hard and see what God has in store.
Then on Saturday we had the opportunity to go to the temple. Which was
amazing!!!!! Something that i realized during the two sessions is that
other than the love of God and Christ. The love between Adam and Eve
was probably the strongest in history! Adam literally gave up the
perfect life to cleave unto Eve. What a guy! So to all the single
people out there if there are any that read my blog (this can apply to
all the married ladies in my ward that are probably the majority of my
readers) go find your Adam!!! Settle for nothing less, but be an Eve
that deserves him!!! And although you will have to labor hard in the
toil of the world, God will bless you!!! I love this church and
learning things everyday!!! Have a great week!!
Sister Johnson

Blog: Love Conference
 So this week was pretty crazy. Pretty crazy. Yes, yes indeed. And
you're probably thinking, what week isn't for a missionary. I say this
is true. But this week a lot of unexpected things happened. So
scheduled crazy is good, unscheduled is also good. So on P-day we went
and window shopped at this HUGE mall which was way fun, then we had
like an apartment meeting to try and organize who will visit which
member for this member missionary message we were asked to share and
we were able to share it with the bishop which was so amazing! It was
so spiritual. The video is called I'll go where you want me to go. Go
watch it it is amazing!! Then on Tuesday we had some lessons planned
but they fell through. Unfortunate, but the member that came to joint
called like 10 people on the phone and I got to talk to her friends
and invite them to church which was way cool! Then on Wednesday we
went waaaaaaaay down to visit a member in like the middle of the
darkness with both our headlights broken and no sidewalk on the road,
so that was pretty wild, but with prayers and some directions from
nice bar owners we were able to make it and wake them up and share a
small message. Haha! Didn't think they would be asleep so early, but
they were so nice to us! Then on Thursday was mostly just weekly
planning and eikaiwa (English class). Then on Friday we went up to go look at some
colleges to see if we could do some volunteer and one of the sisters
tires popped so we changed it, and the new one popped so we had to
look for a bike shop and got the college by like 7 so nobody was there
at the front desk and all the students kept saying hi to us and asked
if we had boyfriends. Haha, crazy kids! So we handed them some
chidashi's (pamphlets)  and left and went home to finish planning.
Then we had conference! OH the sweet joy of conference!!!! Wasn't is
just the best! I especially loved the talk from Larry R. Lawrence what
lack I yet. And also the general woman's session from President
Uchtdorf. This conference really spoke to me as trying to look at
things in an eternal perspective. Like sometimes the mission requires
me to speak kinder words and have patience. Which as all mothers,
especially my own, probably know is a skill required for parenting.
The Lord has taught and humbled me in so many ways and I love it...
afterwards, haha! But yes, on Saturday we went to a BBQ from one of
our EKW students which was great! Then we went to the only American
members apartment and watched conference the American way, a bunch of
friends with a bunch of food, basically in the dark sprawled on the
floor. It was the best. Yay American conference. Then on Sunday we
watched it at the church in a separate room from the members. But a
crazy miracle was that this girl we had met on the street last week
just came to conference on her own. She thought it was regular church
and that it was really strange walking into a dark room with a
projector and probably very confused at all the gospel words. But she
handled it like a champ and it was amazing! We were able to teach her
a little, but because she is so busy with work wasn't able to make a
return appointment, but will call her again this week :)
Then that night we had an amazing dinner appointment with a member!
Her husband is less active and her two kids are the cutest! On our way
there though we found a dog about to get hit by cars, so we called it
over and it came and we put it in a bag and rode with it to the
members house. Then another member that came over put it in her car,
so that was a miracle. She said she would bring it to the police to
see if anyone was looking for it. Then one of the members that kind of
needs strengthening surprisingly came over as well. And she was so
kind to Bair shimai and really took a liking to her, which was just a
miracle because usually she is quite stand offish. It was so heart
warming to see her open up to Bair shimai, bean-chan miracles!!!
That was basically the week. Love you all and hope you are doing so
good!!!! Apply something from conference. I already have my ponderize
scripture!! Church is true!
Love,
Sister Johnson
 

We bought some death sauce for the apartment :)

A selfie we took with a store clerk who carried our bike to the bike shop. He's so nice. And we're so rude. Haha! (me, parmley, and store clerk man)

We went out to eat wit a recent convert and we ad some fun with the photo booth (yamaguchi)

The shokuji we went to, love these sisters!!! (me, Ali, Bair-shimai, wataru-kun, riyo, crump-shimai, kamakura-shimai, Parmley, itsuki-kun, ushijima-shimai)

Had to send this picture! It's her son (wataru) that literally ate his weight in food. But as he was stuffing down some chicken he got distracted by the onigiri and obviously all his thoughts were on that rice ball. Haha he was the cutest!

Blog: Being Fed

 So, this week everybody cancelled on us. Fiddlesticks. But, God never
leaves the starving hungry for long to say the least. And I mean that
in both the literal, missionarial, and spiritual terms. So at the
beginning of this week we basically did planning, dendou, and
studying. We did get to teach a recent convert to get him ready for
endowments because is year mark is coming in the next couple of
months. So SUPER excited for that. Hopefully I will still be here!
Then we had an awesome zone meeting. Where they talked about our
mission not being a zero baptismal goal mission. So Bair shimai and I
talked and moved that goal zero up to a 1. Aaaaaaand, no baptism this
week, sorry folks. But still lots of crazy miracles. So let me start
out with literal starvation. I don't know if you know but food on a
mission is both the enemy and the rescue. This week was fast Sunday,
and oh how Bair shimai and I were dying. We had about 3 hours of just
straight dendou before we could eat. And a member invited us over,
which was the best. So we went out to visit a P.I. wasn't there. Then
housed around, no luck. Walked through a Japanese forest and got eaten
alive by mosquitoes. Visited another P.I. still no luck. Then here
comes the spiritual food. So we were basically on our last breath of
spiritual strength looking out at the sunset after knocking on a door
and nobody came. Then our phone started to ring. And lo and behold a
girl who didn't show up to the lesson that day who I called called us
back and told us she was sorry and forgot and made a new
appointment!!!! Fed. Then after that we crawled back home and put on
some ointment to calm our itching and went to the meal appointment.
Where they fed us just the most amazing food (ex: apple pie mochi,
spicy fried rice, curry chicken, pasta) Fed. Then they showed us
pictures of their wedding (35 years ago) and it was the cutest thing
ever!! Made me really feel the atmosphere of love and the spirit in
their home. Fed.
Then we also had the women's general session of conference. Which was
AMAZING! Conference has marked a special place in my heart since I
watched it the first week in the MTC, at my 6 month, and now.... Well
we don't need to say. I look forward to this next conference so much.
I was so sad to hear about those apostles who had passed away. But I
was reading a comment Elder Nelson gave to the newspaper that said how
these spiritual monsters have passed on, who had such an influence in
the church, and yet the church continues on as if nothing has
happened. And THAT is how you know that the front of this church is
the Lord. And I know that is true. The Lord will never leave us in
times of darkness, nor in times of light. And this is His work, and we
are only limited by our own lack of faith. Have ye sufficiently
retained in remembrance that he has delivered their souls from hell?
(Alma 5) Everything is centered on this gospel and Christ's atonement.
Even if we lived a perfect life, it would still not be enough. We need
Him, and He needs us to trust Him. In an all loving, almighty God who
has and will give us all that He has if we just choose to accept it.
Though sometimes it seems hard, but we can notice even in the bad
times the bright fervent colors of the gospel along our glowing path
to eternal happiness. Now is part of eternity, or so Aunt Rose told me.
Love this church, love this gospel, so excited to watch conference,
love you all and hope you are appreciating the fall weather! Have an
awesome week! Don't forget what you learned at conference!!!
Love,
ジョンソン姉妹

Supermoon

Her first black thunder ice cream. Yep, I'm a good Mom.

This guy next to the flower shop of a lady we befriended, he gave us free, piping hot salt water from his special salt, and miso soup, and oranges. So we bought a onigiri from him :)

The beautiful sunset of Japan!

Us at the super delicious shoukuji, Thanks Nihara Mom and Dad! (me, bair-shimai, nihara-shimai, nihara-kyoudai, crump-shimai, akiyama-kyoudai, kinjo-kyoudai, and parmley-shimai)

My new homescreen :)

 Blog:Pear Picking


So this week was kind of crazy to say the least. And I still feel like
I am all over the place but here it goes. So on Tuesday we had the
most wonderful P-day. After I emailed we went pear picking in this
giant grove. It was crazy, the pears were the size of baby heads!!!!!!
And oh, the mosquitoes, they ate us up!!! But we got a couple of giant
pears, so that was fun! Then she took us to all these miscellaneous
places. Like she took us to meet her friend who was a tofu skin shop
owner. We had soy milk frozen ice cream, actually pretty good. Then we
went to her friends who own  Buddhist temple and we went inside and
got to play the drums, and talk about the book of Mormon, and eat some
expensive oranges. Then we went and ate sushi with her and she took us
to thrift shop. Basically we just ran around town and met all of her
friends that own all these random shops. It was SO COOL! So ya, now I
have the strongest testimony ever of member missionary work. If
everyone did it like this, then the work would take off beyond our
ability to keep up. It would be the best ever. So basically after that
Healey shimai was packing and stuff to go to.... (drum roll) Fujisaki,
my bean area!!! It was way cool! So then we said goodbye's and she
left.
And I got a new missionary from West Valley Utah! Her name is sister
Bair, and she is SO amazing!!!!! She is way nice and loves to read,
and is braving all this new stuff like a champion. It was great! Her
first day was like a regular first day. Then I feel like Satan took
over our week, haha! So on Friday we went to go find a bike for her
and walked all the way down to this store which I really like, and we
found her an awesome bike, but... they couldn't put a basket on it.
And we were there for like 4 hours while they tried to figure it all
out. It was terrible! We ended up not figuring it out anyways. Then we
came to the church because we thought we were meeting with a recent
convert, but then we get a phone call that one of the sisters got in a
bike accident and they were at home and a member who is a nurse was
coming over. So we go home and we see her open wound and they said she
had to go to the hospital to get stitches. So they left for that, but
they came home that night and all was good. Then our investigator
cancelled on us. Then the next day when we had to go visit a less
active we found out my bike wasn't really working so basically I had
to ride my bike with the breaks on the whole time. Then on Sunday my
new missionary got sick. But through all this she handled it like a
champ, and that is a miracle in and of itself.
Also because one sister got stitches and my comp was sick we went on
splits and found this really amazing girl who said she would come next
Sunday, and we get to teach one of the recent converts about
endowments, so we are way excited!!!! Love this work, and if I have
learned anything this week is that no matter what we face we can
always come out smiling at the end. And that is why I love this gospel
SO much!!!!!!! We also got to meet with that lady who invited us into
her house that one time and she took us to a rose garden place, after
they cut all the roses down for winter, haha! Then we got to share
some scriptures with her which was nice :)
Anyways love you all!!!!!!!!!! Have a fantastic week, and remember
there is always a light at the end of the tunnel it still lights the
whole tunnel!!!

Love,
ジョンソン姉妹

$B!# (Bus at te pear picking grove

Healey shimai and I on the train to yannagawa to meet the american member who was helping us burn some videos

The giant pear!!!!!

Us in te grove with the member we all have towels because the mosquitos were so bad!

 Blog: Training Again
This week was full of craziness and fun times. Again I don't really
remember the first half of this week. It mostly had to do with finding
because almost all our investigators cancelled on us. Rough, but at
the same time it gave me some time to really think about these people
and their needs. We have two investigators right now who are
struggling, but during the trainers meeting I was able to receive some
awesome revelation for them and am very excited to try that out this
week. Today I don't have a ton of time to email because we are going
to go pear picking with a member, and maybe eat out with a recent
convert. Because it's transfer week! And we are pretty sure that my
companion is out. Also I am training again, which I am very excited
and extremely nervous for. I don't think she will be Japanese this
time around so I am really going to have to step it up, haha. Another
thing that I am so thankful for is this last DCS was the best DCS I
have ever had on my mission! We really got to see some trust from the
members and how much they truly love us and this work. We are very
excited to help strengthen this ward and bring in new souls! I know
once this ward is prepared the people will start flooding in!! Anyways
love you lots, sorry didn't write so much this week. But I hope you
all have a fantastic September, it's almost coming to an end! SO
FAST!! The church is true and I know that Christ is our Savior and
advocate. Sometimes the work no matter where you are, seems like you
are not up to the challenge. But as I was reading online today, on my
iPad, about missionaries all over the world. I realized how MUCH God
is preparing this generation to bring His gospel worldwide to all who
will hearken unto His voice. Sometime it feels overwhelming and we're
just trying to strengthen one or two people, including keeping our
families in the gospel. But I know God blesses those who work in His
efforts, and no effort is wasted. God loves us all and wants us to be
happy. I truly do believe that. I know the church is true. It's here
for us to strengthen those, and we have all made the sacred covenant
to do so. Love you all and hope you have a great week!!

Love,
Sister Johnson

Blog: Multilingual

 I swear I have memory loss because I don't even remember which
miracles happened when or what year it even is. But this week we had
district P-day it was SO FUN!!! We went to this sports center and just
like tried every single thing out. Batting cages, basketball, soccer,
rollerblading, darts, and of course the massage chairs. It was way
fun! And our investigator came too, which was way great because he got
some exposure to members his age, which were the elders.
This week we also had junkai's which is the third time on my mission,
ever! So it was way nice. Everyday is just a miracle party in Kurume.
We talked to so many people and got to do a lot of baptismal invites
and BRT which helped me out a lot! Something way cool that happened
was that we don't have any Japanese book of Mormons right now. So we
grabbed and English, Chinese, and Vietnamese book of Mormons and
prayed asking God if He would lead us to people we could give these
out to. So we set off on our adventure. There came one point where we
prayed and asked which street we should go down. We both felt this one
street and ran into this Chinese girl who took some convincing, but
she did take the Book of Mormon! Then we went down to this other area
to visit a P.I. no luck. But as we were walking we saw this girl pass
by on her bike who didn't look Japanese... probably Vietnamese??? So
we turned around and started to follow her, creepily. But then the
light turned green for her, then red for us. So we were devastated.
But then we saw that she parked at the p.i.'s apartment. Crossed the
street and talked to her, she was.... Filipino, so close! But we
made a time to give her one in Tagalog, so that is cool! Then as were
were going to go house some more we were standing at a stoplight when
a voice came up to us and said, "Hey, where are you from?" We turn
around and it is like this burly Filipino dude who speaks perfect
  Englishstanding next to us on his bike. So we walk and talk with Him.
Apparently lived in Seattle for a long time, came to Japan, and married
a Japanese lady. He was going to go drinking with some friends who
also have Japanese wives (an American and an Englishman) So we told
him about the Book of Mormon gave him an English one, he seemed way
excited and rode off into the dark. It was CRAZY!!! So that was
junkai's (splits) So cool!!
Then we had our activity on Saturday which went super well!!!! A ton
of people came!
Then on Sunday we had our two investigators come to church, and our
mission president. Wait, what?! Ya our mission president called us the
day before and said he had a Sunday off and was just going to come and
be in our ward. So yep, that was exciting. He intimidated one of our
investigators into lying that he reads the Book of Mormon everyday.
Don't think he even knows where his BoM is, haha! But we were able to
make a return appointment which was way cool!!!! Then a previous
missionary from the area came and visited so we actually got to go
visit some less actives with her, which was awesome, because we were
able to make a relationship. Then we went to a concert of a member who
is a professional singer and afterwards she took us around this like
street with a bunch of clubs and bars and introduced us to all her
friends and we invited them all to church! It was way fun, and so odd,
haha! But seriously the best!
Missions are the best!!!! I know God loves each and every one of us
and will always guide us to His truth!! So let's have faith!!! This
church is not only true, but also the only pathway to true happiness.
I hope you all have a lot of happy moments this week!

Love,
Sister Johnson

District p-day! (back left: elder connet, elder miyanishi, elder
fukuda, elder seable, sister crump, healey, parmley, inamasu-san
(investigator), sister kawahara, me!) LOVE YOU!!!

Us at the shokuji with these fantastic members!! (right to left: Nihara-kyoudai, me, Healey, Inamasu-san, kinjou, the Mori family, Nihara-shimai, Parmley) Seriously the greatest!

 Blog: Jelly Fish and Chicken Parts

So this week was just nuts. But what is new.
So first I am going to talk about our dinner appointments, because
food is very important to me. And I have to tell you what I ate! So we
had a recent convert and an eternal investigator take us out to eat
this week. We went to a fancy Chinese restaurant and I ate jelly
fish!! It was actually quite good. Then we went to a yakitori place
(it's like a place that just grills all kinds of meat and puts them on
a stick) and I had chicken cartilage, skin, and liver. I was not
really a fan of those ones. But he fed us regular meet as well, which
was just so good!
So this week for miracles. So basically it was miracle Sunday. There
were like new people walking in every 10 minutes. And I know because
everyone would turn their head right when someone walked in. So at
first our investigator did not show up, but then when I texted him he
said he'd be right over! Then this family that the other sisters met
came! It was SO amazing! Then a lady they met housing came as well!
Then a members wife's non-member's mom came too! It was just a way
weird experience! A fantastically weirdly spiritual experience! So
basically Kurume is going to explode into a million members, so I hope
you're all prepared! Let's get this show on the road!! But yes, I also
wanted to share this seemingly small miracle but my mind is still
blown as to how it all happened. So, some background, when I take off
my name tag at the end of the day I always put it on my desk. So this
last week we rode to the church and unbeknownst to me I had left the
apartment without my name tag on. But when we were getting into the
building I stuck my hand in my pocket and felt something and it was my
name tag!!! WHAT?! My mind was blown! So basically it was like Jesus
turning water into wine, like such a small thing but you just can't
figure out how it happened because it is like basically impossible!
But that's the thing I guess, nothing is impossible with God! It was
sweet.
We got to meet some awesome people this week, we meet some really
weird ones as well. Like this guy who tried to tell us he was a
prophet. Asked us to write something on a piece of paper outside so
that he couldn't see. So i write "Jesus is the Christ" and crumpled it
up. Then we went back in and he went into his house and prayed and
then came out and basically almost got it. Still don't know how.
Because first he doesn't speak English, and I don't think he knows
Jesus is the Christ. So yep, still trying to figure out that black
magic, but it wasn't really as scary as it was weird. Then we went and
talked to this grandma who invited us to her bar on fast Sunday. So we
told her we don't drink alcohol, coffee, or water (at the time) she
was very surprised to say the least. But a very nice lady :). I am not
sure why we keep meeting this random nice, and weird strangers who
aren't really all that interested in the gospel. But maybe God is
preparing us for some crazy strangers who ARE ready to hear the
gospel! It's gonna be great, stay tuned.
Our investigators Inamasu and Yamamoto are doing quite good.
Yamamoto-san's husband is still opposed, so if you could keep her in
your prayers that both their hearts will be softened that would be
great! Inamasu will be starting the lessons this week, so we are very
excited :)! Let's see some miracles!!! It's going to be awesome! I am
way excited and love missionary work! The church is SO true and it
helps me through all hard and awesome experiences. I am so glad we can
feel joy in it's purest form because of our Savior who loves us,
sacrificed for us, and continues to strengthen us. This week I really
want to focus on my Savior more! Hope you all keep a thoughtful prayer
of thanks towards Him as well! LOVE YOU ALL!!!
Sister Johnson

This lady we met, while looking at my photo album asked if she
could put some of them in her homemade shrine. So Maddie and Hannah!
Congrats! You made the wall of nakamichi-san's shrine!!

Me, Healey, Crump, Parmley, and Yamaguchi-san eating at the fancy 12 course chinese restaurant, eating jellyfish!!

Us at the shokuji with these fantastic members!! (right to left: Nihara-kyoudai, me, Healey, Inamasu-san, kinjou, the Mori family, Nihara-shimai, Parmley) Seriously the greatest!