Monday, April 7, 2014

About that last picture: "I LOVE this owl that Iver made! I accidently ripped her leg when I opened the package, so I had to patch her up. But she is so cute!

On Monday, April 8, 2014 Sister Johnson wrote:

This week was good! We had lots of effective appointments and got to love lots of people! With the celebration of less-active members' birthdays, talking to crazy old Japanese men who have lots of questions about Christianity, baking cookies with four super-genki 11-year-old girls who are potential investigators, heart attacking people, cleaning up tsunami damage that was still around, teaching English, and finding new potential investigators! Something that I have learned throughout my mission is that it is NOT about the numbers that I write down at the end of the day, but it is about whether or not I showed love to every person with whom I came in contact. This has been a week full to bursting with love, my own love, and the love of my Savior. I have felt it a lot this week.

This week was pretty intense, as far as the elements go. The wind has been blowing at a solid blow-you-off-your-bicycle-into-a-fence rate since last Monday. Ouch. But! I'm okay. Only some bruises. There has also been some crazy earthquakes this week. First, there was the HUGE earthquake in Chile (what is the latest news on that, by the way?), and it caused a tsunami to come all the way up here! There were sirens going off all night long and speaker announcements telling people to stay away from the coast and from the rivers in town. The rivers got CRAZY FULL! It was insane! None of them overflowed, but it was scary to see that much water moving that fast. I was watching the river (we were driving by it in a bus to Sendai), and in my head, I could picture perfectly the day of the disaster three years ago, and it was utterly terrifying. I am so glad that the tsunami that came this week was just a mini one. We have had lots of little earthquakes this week, and two big ones. It's been pretty crazy. But! We are all safe and sound, so don't worry.

So this last week was April Fools Day! Here in Ishinomaki among the missionaries, there were A LOT of jokes played, and it was super fun! Every Tuesday night, we have Institute with the branch, and it is taught by our branch president, President Onuma! Well, I decided that I was going to play a joke on him and the rest of the branch, so after Institute ended, I told him that I was being emergency transferred to another area, and that I was leaving at 7:00 the next morning. Everyone was so sad! It was so nice! (haha). They were giving me all sorts of compliments and thanking me for my service, and we all took pictures together. It was so funny and SO hard to keep a straight face! So then we left, and all said goodbye! The next day, I decided that I should probably call President Onuma and let him know that it was a joke, and when I called, he laughed so hard! It was wonderful. Then, as the week went on, I saw more and more of the members that were at Institute and all of them were super surprised to see me! It was hilarious, and super fun. It was a really great way to bond with the members of the branch! I think it is a good thing that they all know I like to have fun and be a missionary at the same time.

Well, that is about it for this week, really. It was a great week, but really uneventful at the same time, as far as investigators go. We didn't really teach this week, sadly. Everyone is busy. But! We did lots of other good things.

Please keep me in your prayers! I could use some extra boosting-blessings this week.

I'm grateful for my Savior. He is real. He is Truth. He is Light. He is MY Light.

I love you! Have a happy week!

Love, Shak