A week well worth Remembering

 She's from Australia! And this is the hand of Elder Anderson, our senior couple here. Hahahaha~

 so we got these phones that are CRAZY nice, like iPhones, and they take pictures, 

so these are all from the phone camera!

 blue skies and open roads. just so grateful that there IS a road. 

just one...that's all I need.

 These palm trees are like huge dandelions...and they are everywhere!!!!!!!!!! 

some elder told me that in the 1960's people came and inhabited the island, and planted every one of them...but I think he's pulling my leg.

•  This is our cute little investigator. Her name means MERMAID in Kiribati! 
• Baptism date of April 12.

• 

• we live behind this chapel. We're just headed home 
• from a day of lessons and this beautiful sight! Tropical paradise!

Sometimes as a missionary you get really down. Sometimes you feel that you are not worthy to carry this important message, and teach as a representative of Jesus Christ...I know this responsibility has been one that has felt heavy at times, and that I was not worthy to do this great work. Anyway - I'm sure you can imagine that feeling, especially if you have been on a mission. I was having one of those days on Sunday..Most people get really excited about hitting their half way mark..but to think I was halfway only made me sad. I just felt I didn't  know the language well enough, haven't done enough good, haven't tracked more, taught more..just feeling a little sad. I got to church and a miracle happened. The Bishop is temporarily located here from one of the wards I served in back in Tarawa. He was asked to speak in church, and spoke about our ward in Bikibeu.


He spoke on "PART TWO" of the miracle family.Here is a quick update on part one if you can't remember.  This family we came in contact with through the efforts of the rescue. (One night a week we visit Less Actives) We arrived at Brother M's house, but he politely told us his faith was in the Catholic church. We left, but his son wanted lessons. His son was taught and baptized. Then the mother started taking lessons and she was baptized. We invited him to hear the lessons. On the first lesson he cried, and expressed how his faith was always in this church..that he had temporarily forgotten how wonderful this church was..but how his testimony was always in this church. He became less active because he couldn't read, and sometimes in class they would ask him to read in church and he felt ashamed, and left the church. (And only the pastor reads the bible in the catholic church..so that's why he went there)
 
Well fast forward to March 2014...three months later Brother M has continued to faithfully come to church every week. He has received a calling: the second counselor in the Elder Quorum's Presidency. He now holds the Melchedizek Priesthood and will soon baptize his 7 turning 8 year old daughter with the authority and power from Jesus Christ. 

What a miracle. 

This work..oh family, this work. I was so grateful to hear how much Brother M has progressed..and how far he has come. Their family has plans to be sealed in the Fiji temple in December 20...the week I finish my mission. 


I sure love this gospel of Jesus Christ. I know that it is true, that it blesses our life in every aspect. I love YOU GUYS more than any fish in the sea, more than any money can buy..my family, we are eternal.


Until next week,sister johnson

KIRIMATI!!

And she arrived! Kiritimati Island!

WOW! You guys are going to laugh...guess where I am serving...guess!

THE VILLAGE OF LONDON

Seriously! Which makes me laugh because before I got my mission call, guess where I secretly really really REALLY wanted to go? ENGLAND, LONDON to serve my heritage..and now I am serving in London...KIRITIMATI, LONDON. Hahahaha, I had a little moment when I just smiled and said, "Heavenly Father sure answers prayers."

Here I am at Kiritimati Island! And get this..it literally is a tropical Torrey. EXACTLY like torrey..a small town, everyone knows everyone...just exactly exactly like Torrey..but it's tropical! AND I HAVE A LITTLE CRUISER BIKE Dad!!! It's just the exact shade of the lagoon..this beautiful teal color...this place is incredibly, breathtakingly, quietly BEAUTIFUL. It's really really weird though and quite the change coming from Betio -- one of the dirtiest, most crowded, smelliest cities in the world..to here..wide open..no cars on the road..SUPER DIFFERENT. The first day I was here, I asked Sister Lavulavu..where are all the people?? Haha. The food here is incredible too..and ask me how many servings of ice cream I've had in the past six days? Probably twenty because they have ICE CREAM HERE. WHA WHA WHAAAAAAT! 

And speaking of dessert. Get this. 

Saturday was the Relief Society's birthday so there was this big party for it. I was sooo excited, I love these kinds of things..so anyway...we get there and it's going and going..and THEN the dancing starts...now dancing is a HUGE part of the culture..and so is making fun of the dancing..so I took the liberty of doing it myself...this is what happened..they were dancing and dancing..and little WHITE NEW GIRL gets up and starts imitating them dancing being really animated and goofy...and it was the best day of my life. This one old lady almost fell into the food she was laughing so hard. Cause usually there is always someone who goes and makes fun of the dancing..but never a WHITE person..and never ever a WHITE person who is NEW. So I danced maybe 45 seconds with them, going along with whatever they were doing..and when it was done sat down..but it was SO FUN. After that they had a dance where everyone danced just free syle..just back and forth kinda movements..and little did I know I started dancing next to the Mayor of Kiribati...and then I started doing the same thing..just copying him, laughing my  head of, and pretty soon all the people were laughing too and watching us dance..making fun of this old guy and this white girl copying each other and dancing...after I sat down Sister Lavulavu said, "Sister Johnson, that was the mayor..." Hahahahahahahaha! But we are the best of friends now, so it's all good. We were having a blast. Anyway. That's a long story, but I'm pretty sure it was the highlight of my mission. 

After the dancing there was cake -- back to the dessert -- but get this..instead of eating it, they started a FOOD FIGHT with these huge cakes! All these Relief Society ladies -- some old, some young just started a food fight with cake! AREN'T THESE PEOPLE FUN? Man alive...anyway, it was a pretty adventrous way to start the week here in Kiritimati. Hahahaha.

That's all for now, 

sister johnson.

We pray to a King

Dear Family,

I just gotta send a quick one out to you all to tell you about Fiji. Adventures and missionary work always happen here. I've kept that statement true.

 

On the plane ride here I sat next to a Kiribati woman. We started talking, and I asked her where she was going. She's going to Australia. I asked her why. She tells me she has a conference in Australia because she is a member of the BAHAI faith. I know I have told you about this religion before, but just a refresher..they believe in almost everything we do..but they don't believe that Jesus was the Christ, the One who Atoned for our sins..they believe that He was a good man, a prophet, just like Moses and Abraham. 

 

So I started a conversation about religion with her. And as it always seems to happen, I ended up doing a lot of listening. She told me doctrine after doctrine, fed by all the questions I had about their beliefs. At the end of my questions, I asked her if I could share a little bit about my faith. So we started with prayer. In the Bahai faith there are three prayers that you memorize: the short one, medium one, and long one. You have to choose one of them and recite it once a day. So I opened up my bible Dictionary and read about our definition of prayer. And I proposed the idea that we don't have to have a memorized prayer, that we can speak to our Father in Heaven the thoughts and words of our heart. She then told me this: "We say recited prayers because we believe in the Divinity of God. It's like we are talking to a King..if I were to talk to a King now, I wouldn't have the elloquence, the worthiness, to talk to a King..my words would be simple and I would stumble so I use the words of the memorized prayers written by prophets who act like the King's Counsel Man --  so I have a shortcut -- to feel closer to God.

 

And it hit me.

I have the privilege of believing that a poor, simple, nobody, can talk to a King.

 

We do believe in the divinity of God. We believe in His power, His mercy, His love, and that the earth is his footstool...and we do believe we can talk to Him. God, stands as our Father. As our provider and safe haven. And how grateful I have been for prayer.

 

I know this church is true.

I feel the truth of it as I share my Father's message.

 

Sure love you guys!

sister johnson

Nothing is mine and everything is mine...

We had a huge breakthrough...the son and wife of the family I told you 
about last week came to church!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  It was seriously a miracle!!!!!!!! 
and i made sure to tell everyone to go tell them hello and fellowship 
the heart out of them...

When I transfer next week, I found out that i will be companions with sister 
lavulavu (the tongan who trained me) because Tarie got her visa to go and 
work in Australia. 

The thought for this week is about the people:

One of the beauties of the islands is the people's abilities to share.
Share, share, share. Nothing is mine, and everything is mine here on
the islands. I remember specifically one day we headed out with two
pieces of beef jerky..we made it literally two steps out of our house,
and someone said, hey, what's your food? so my companion gave the
person both pieces of jerky...we kept walking and saw a ward member 
we knew. My companion asked her, hey, what's your food? and she gave 
us her noodles. You'd love that part of the island here - it's this big
"give and take" kinda feel. and it was shown again yesterday, we were
talking our less actives to a relief society activity and we stopped
at our house to grab some food. we grabbed a little box of cereal for
her son and as we were walking two little kids joined us..the mom told
her son, "share your food with your brother!" surprized i asked if
those kids were her relitives..she looked at me, shrugged, and said
no. But i just like them and their attitude. Those islanders..the one big 
family kinda feel.

Sure love our family, and the farmington fifth ward. i gotta run, but i'll email 
you all from FIJI next week!
love you!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!little liz

Christmas Island

Fam-oh-wham!


#1. Happy EIGHT MONTHS to me.


#2. Breaking news! I AM TRANSFERRING TO KIRITIMAS ISLAND!

Wahooooooooo! Which means a ton of things. Number one: I will be going
to Fiji (cause you can't go anywhere from here, only from Fiji) so
that's way fun. It means that (most likely) I will stay there for five
to six months..and it is the biggest transfer in mission history!
across the south pacific blue! and it means that i don't get packages
out there..and i can't skype home for mothers day...but it means that
i will be riding a bike! I will be companion with Sister Tarie
(remember her, i've already been companions with her once before..but
there are only 10 sisters on the island, so that's gonna happen)
and..that's about all I know, but it sure is exciting! I will fly out the sixteenth 
of this month. i CAN email out there, and mostly likely will be there for five months..
but there is an elder who's been out there for seven..so you never quite 
know with this mission.

I am WAY EXCITED! I am so excited...oh my wordy word. I'm sad cause I finally
learned all our investigators names..hahaha..truth? I am teriible at
remembering everyone's name out here! Mostly cause I've worked in four
area's already..and trying to remember all the ward members, and
investigators, and recent converts...that is seriously SO MANY NAMES.
But anywhooo. Just feeling a little hyper sitting in this little
internet place talking to you-who-who. Hahaha.

Iai au bubuti! I have a favor to ask!
There is this family we are teaching. Well it all started with one 11
year old girl investigator, the missionaries started teaching her, and
her father wanted the lessons. This is when I came into the area, and
so we starting teaching her father..and then his two adult sons wanted
lessons, so we started teaching them..who wanted their wives to hear
the message..who then told their kids to listen. Lo and behold we have
THIRTEEN INVESTIGATORS all with baptismal dates from that family.
Which is incredible, but their whole family is super stuggling with
word of wisdom problems. The last six times we came to their home,
the grandpa - head of the house - has been drunk. His life has
consisted of drinking everyday for months at a time, then he'll have
no money, and then he'll get money and be drunk for a couple
months..every day...and really struggles to keep word of wisdom. we've
made calendars, fasted, prayed, taught a hundred times on Word of
Wisdom..but nothing really has changed..the whitehandbook tells me not
to ask you to fast..but I feel obedient in asking you all to pray.


Pray that their faith can be stronger than their desire to drink. Pray
that they will remember what it feels like to have the Spirit..pray
for hearts to be changed. We visit this family everyday..and seriously
these three families we are teaching could lead generations! They just
need a miracle to help them get there. I would be so grateful if you wanted
to pray for them. Anyway, I love that family will all of my heart, and I know i won't
see their miracle in my time here, but I pray pray pray that one day they 
can all find the truth.

Lastly a little story from this week. in district meeting we talked
about a quote from President Bednar I believe (and i am
totally paraphrasing, don't quote me) when he said something along the
lines of: We will come to find that we are all toddlers before the
Lord who trip and fall..but just as we don't make fun of our toddlers
who fall, we applaud them, and tell them to keep trying, and learn how
to walk...anyway, just thinking a lot about that.

well, gotta run and get on with this lovely pday, but I sure love you
guys with ALL OF MY HEART! 

love
sister j