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

this week in pictures...

Our baptism! and my new companion Sister Itioa! She is a DREAM!
And doesn't speak english, so it's always an adventure! Hahah! 

This picture is important because IT MARKS OUR FIRST COMPLETED FAMILY
IN OUR 5, 10, 15 game plan goal! Wahoo!

This is a picture with my and my little child from Kiriabati.:) Honest. He calls me mom.

If you can see it...that little tiny point is the tip of one of the chapels here on island!
And isn't it beautiful?! AHHH!

get this..me and my companion have the same first name! Her's is Kiribati style..but still,
I thought that was pretty funny, we are a lot a like which is awesome!
In Kiribati my name is Tabeta Tiaontin! Weird! But fun!


looong hair!!

love this group...

this is one of our new investigators..and i am really bad at gang faces..

sure love my family, and love black and white photographs too..i kinda really miss photography, but no worries, I got all these pictures right in my head..

Hard.

I feel like I get a real good spiritual email out to you all every..maybe once every month or so, but here comes some good learning moments I just wanna take thirty minutes out of my pday to share with my fammmmmy. 

I don't know if I've told you all, but sometimes missionary work is real HARD. Called to SERVE literally means you are called to go work. Sometimes I still get all surprised when I have to actually work hard for things. Well. Anyway. This week was an adventure -- as promised, it is Betio...

This week I was sick with a fever. It's not a big deal or anything, but the house that I moved into doesn't currently have power. Or water. Every time I needed water, I'd have to go outside to our little well, lay on the coral filled ground, and bucket what little water we had left. Because the power was out, I layed on the cement floor in our house (cause it was colder than laying on the bed) and I had a good cry. Not a pity cry, or a sad cry..just a "fetch, this is hard" kinda cry. I had a good talk with Heavenly Father as I told him all the things that were, "hard" about this mission. The list was pretty lengthy, but after the emotions and the tears a little voice came that said, "Yes, this is hard but your strong enough to handle it." 

A little while later the zone leaders called randomly to ask about baptism clothes, and I asked if they were in the area..they said no, but they would be soon. So I asked if they could come give me a blessing, and they were happy to. The blessing was really good but the thing that stuck out was this. Elder Klatt said, "You Father in Heaven is mindful of your hard work and is mindful of the hard work you will continue to do." It sure made me laugh..and I know that Father in Heaven heard my prayer. My prayer of, "hard work sometimes stinks." and reminded me that I'm going to continue to do hard work. So thanks Father, for listening. I know you did.

Speaking of hard work, after prayer and fasting we have changed our goals. It's called, "The 5, 10, 15 Plan of Happiness"

-5 families completed (meaning preparing a family to go to the temple, or baptizing every eligible member in the family.)

-10 less actives rescued (coming to church regularly)

-15 Melchizedek priesthood holders (a lot of members are baptized but don't have the Priesthood - so we are finding members, or taking the less actives and getting them active to receive the Priesthood)

The goal is working from the Priesthood up. Most of our investigators fall into all three of the categories..but as we work with the heads of the households we feel it will be most effective to grow the ward and grow the amounts of completed families.

Anyway. So there is my summary of the week. Hard work. But you know what I know? I know that suffering for Christ's sake is a privilege.

If I could say anything else, it really would be just my gratitude to Heavenly Father for listening to my prayers. Sometimes my prayers are so scattered, so frustrated, so imperfect..but the miracle that in the blessing the words were used "Hard work" just the thing I was tearing up about a couple hours earlier means everything to me. It keeps the tag on my chest..just knowing He listens. So thanks to my Heavenly Father.

Power should be coming on today, so the story ends well. Every story always does if we live the gospel, right?

Sure love you,
Sister Johnson.

Betio!

FAMILY! I have seven minutes left because I waited for FORTY MINUTES
for the SLOW computer to load, and after emailing president..ah man. I will try and find a way to get back online today..but I don't have time to reply back..         so just a quick update from me: 

Moved to BETIO. Companions with the sweetest, Sister Itioa...

THERE IS AC IN OUR SMALL BEDROOM! And we had four baptisms
yesterday (three from my old area, one from my new area). Please know how much I think about you everyday. My new goal is this area:

- Complete five families.

- Reactivate/Find TEACH and baptize TWENTY MELCHEDIZEK Holders.

- Lots of work ahead.

Love you!
Sister Johnson