May 26, 2014

On Monday, May 26, 2014 Sister Johnson wrote:

So, this has been a great week on the revelation front! First of all, I will not be transferring from Ishinomaki!!! I will be here for another 6 weeks at least! WOOHOOOOOOO!!! And yes, Sister Alcazar will be my companion. BEST EVER. So, that is exciting!

Also! We had interviews with President Rasmussen this week. As you know, I have had the whole To-Go-To-BYU-or-To-Not-Go-To-BYU-That-Is-The-Question ping pong battle going on in my head for a while now. I had been praying for a few weeks that my interview with President Rasmussen would be a time of revelation through the Spirit, so that I could make a decision about my future and not look back. So, I went in for my interview, and the room was immediately filled with the Spirit as Rasmussen Kaicho and I talked about how unified Alcazar Shimai and I are, and about how unified we are with the Elders in the district. President Rasmussen told me that he has never seen six missionaries more unified as a district than the six of us here in Ishinomaki. That was so wonderful to hear because it is really true! We are all so close! We all have the same vision and goals for Ishinomaki, and we all have become such good friends that you can feel the love! It is so wonderful! So, that started the interview off on a good foot. Then, we started talking about the future, and I voiced my concerns about transferring to BYU. I talked for a little bit, weighing the pros and cons, and the whole time President Rasmussen just sat and listened intently. I detailed about how this has been a matter of very fervent prayer on my part, and that I was seeking his counsel and direction as my mission president. President Rasmussen paused and listened for a minute, and then said "I feel very prompted to discourage you from transferring to BYU." He proceeded to advise and counsel me to go where I have a name, go where I am known, and that the Lord will provide a way for me to finish my education at Colorado State University. The Spirit at that moment testified to me that the advice I was receiving from President Rasmussen is the will of the Lord, and that this was the answer and the revelation that I was so earnestly seeking. What an amazing thing! So, I will not be transferring to BYU! I will finish my Bachelors degree at CSU, and then we will see about grad school. But! I know that this is the will of Heavenly Father for me in the future. I also have faith that as I remember to serve him first, that He will help me to achieve all of the goals that I have in life. So, I have made my decision, and I will not look back!

I am so grateful that President Rasmussen was in tune with the Spirit to be the vehicle of the Spirit in answering my prayers. I learned a lot about that from this experience; if we live worthy of the Spirit, not only will we receive guidance and direction for our own lives, but the Lord will trust us to be the answer to other people's prayers. I really hope that I can be that way, especially for my investigators. All of the beautiful women that we are teaching are in the very beginning stages of establishing their relationships with deity, and so my role as the missionary is to create an environment in which they can have their own spiritual experiences. We can create this atmosphere as missionaries when we share our love unconditionally and frequently. We share our love, and then bear testimony of the truthfulness of the Love of God and the Love of the Savior. This allows those we meet with to feel the Spirit touch their hearts. What a wonderful and divine process this is! I am so blessed to be a part of it.

This week was really slow on the investigator front. We were not able to teach! But, we did meet with Yuki San. We went to lunch with her. She seemed very down about something. She has been having a lot of issues with her teeth lately, and so she hasn't really been able to eat. She is really low-energy and hasn't been able to do the things she normally does because she is exhausted all the time. We then explained to her that she could get a priesthood blessing. We explained what it is, what it looks like, and why they are so powerful and wonderful. She was concerned because she hasn't been coming to Church lately and she is not a member, so she said that she feels like she is unworthy to get a blessing. But! We assured her otherwise. She still hasn't gotten back to us about it, so we are planning on giving her a call here pretty quick. I really think that that would be a beneficial experience for her.

Other than those things, this week has been a little bit rough on me. I have been having lots of moments of "wow, I am the worst missionary ever," and I have felt Satan sitting on my shoulder telling me that I am worthless. But! I have prevailed! My Savior Jesus Christ has been outpouring His love into my heart, and I have felt great peace in the face of great discouragement. I am so grateful for the Atonement, and for the enabling power it gives me to keep going everyday. I am a witness of my Savior. I know that He lives and that He is aware of all humankind. He is my Light.

So, that is about it for me, Momma! I am glad to hear that you are all safe in the crazy weather!! Dad said that he got nailed with a hailstone. But, I am glad that you are all okay! I am also glad to hear that you are going to Grandby with Meghan and others! How many women will be at the retreat? That will be so wonderful for you, Momma. Let the Spirit speak truth to you.

I love you!

Have a happy day!!!
Love, Shak

Monday, May 19, 2014

On Monday, May 19, 2014 Sister Johnson wrote:

Hey Momma! I am sorry that I am late in emailing; we had zone p-day today in a beautiful place called Matsushima! It is one of the top three must-see most-beautiful-sites in all of Japan! It was very beautiful and so rich in religious history! It was absolutely incredible, and I loved every minute of it, except perhaps the sunburn that I now have. That won't be fun tomorrow. But, Matsushima means something along the lines of "group of many islands," which is exactly what it is! Matsushima is a town right on the beach of a beautiful bay that has hundreds of little islands (and lots of big ones too), and they are all so beautiful! The city also has many shrines that date back as much as 2000 years ago. There were so many statues of different Gods and different people, and there were so many temples! I went to a dera (temple) that was right on the coast and I prayed there. It was a beautiful experience! I needed to do that. We also rode on a ferry that took us on an hour long tour of the islands in Matsushima, and it was beautiful! A lot of the Elders were feeding the seagulls, and it was hilarious. At one point, they were putting peanuts in their mouths and the seagulls would fly up and basically kiss them to get the peanuts. It was pretty hilarious until they got yelled at by the ferry staff, haha. Fun times! But, I am really glad that I got some time to commune. I needed that. This has been a pretty exhausting week, mentally.

This week, we had a great lesson with Yuka Chan! She read the passage in the children's Book of Mormon that we gave her, 3 Nephi 17. She didn't really understand it, so we read it with her again, and talked about Christ and who He is. We talked about how loving He is and that He performed many miracles. We then talked again about prayer. We are really focusing on her building a relationship with God. I felt inspired to ask her if she thought that prayer was scary, and she immediately said yes. When we asked her what was scary about it, she had a hard time expressing her feelings and she couldn't really figure out why it is scary to her. There are lots of reasons for that though; she has never really even thought about God, let alone prayed before. She might be afraid of the result of praying, or she might just be embarrassed. She could even be afraid of God Himself, or maybe she feels like if there really is a God, her life would have to change? Maybe. We are not sure. But! I love her from the very bottom of my heart, and I hope that as I love her, the Lord will help me understand how to help her. She has become such a great friend to me, and I love her so much! I will miss her when she goes to Canada!

We were finally able to contact Yuki San again! She has been pretty AWOL lately, and we haven't had much contact with her. But, we called her this week, and she wants to meet with us next week! So, we have an appointment with her on Wednesday, and we are so excited!

A really wonderful cool Wow-this-is-totally-a-prompting-that-I-am-glad-I-followed moment happened just a little bit ago when we got back from Matsushima! We were biking from the station to the Church to email and I all-of-a-sudden remembered that I had NO money to buy groceries, and the ATM closes at 5 (it was about 4 at this point), and so I asked Alcazar Shimai if she had money, and she said no, so we turned around and headed to the ATM. When we got there, guess who was standing outside the ATM? My old investigator and long-lost friend Kato San! She is the woman that I found in my first transfer here in Ishinomaki when I was on splits with Sister Smith! We were doing some Christmas Caroling and she gave me an umbrella as we left! We ended up teaching her, but she eventually dropped us, which was absolutely heartbreaking because she is SO prepared to hear the Gospel. But! We were able to see her and talk to her for a little bit, which was great! She still likes us, and I can tell that she is a little bit apprehensive still about us and what we are doing, but I was able to tell her that I still love her and care about her, and that I think and pray about her often. I hope that she was able to feel some of Heavenly Father's love through me today. I think that she did because she told me, ONCE AGAIN, that it wasn't a coincidence that we ran in to her today, that Ten no Otosama (Heavenly Father) guided us to make us meet. It was really wonderful to see her though, and I am so glad that the Spirit reminded me to get money to buy food.

So, this transfer has gone by remarkably fast! It has been the most fun transfer of my mission, and I am so loving this district. I am loving Alcazar Shimai. She is my favorite. We have become so close and we are seeing lots of miracles together. One thing that I love about her is that she is so full of love for EVERYONE. She talks with everyone and loves them and helps them know that someone is interested in their lives. It is so inspiring to see her talk with and bond with people. She is so great, and I am so blessed to be her companion.

I am grateful for the guidance of the Spirit. I have been really sensitive to it this week, and the Lord is blessing me with the recognition of so many beautiful tender mercies. Like trees. Have you ever taken the time to feel the soul and wisdom of an old tree? Or the lively energy of a young tree? It is truly amazing, and I have felt my Savior in the trees this last week. What a beautiful thing.

I love you Momma! Please keep me in your prayers. Please pray that I will have the knowledge and the wisdom I need to make the right decision for what I need to do after my mission! Also, please pray for me that I will be able to focus.

I love you and pray for you!!!!! I hope that you can feel the miles shrink!
Love, Shak

Monday, May 12, 2014

On Monday, May 12 Sister Johnson wrote:

Skype was definitely the highlight of my week! I love talking to you all. I can't want to see you in six months.

This week was also good on the work front! We were able to teach a woman named Michiru San this week, and she became a new investigator!!! Michiru San is the girlfriend of a YSA in our branch. She is 23 years old, and doesn't really have a religious background. She hasn't really ever thought about God before, but she is definitely willing to learn. Her and her boyfriend are thinking about marriage, and so her boyfriend wants her to at least understand somewhat about the church, if not become a member! So, we received the referral, and we were able to have our first lesson with her this week. She is super shy, but very cute. She always relaxes into the meeting by the end, so we were able to build a really good relationship with her this time around (we had dinner with them a couple of times before now). We had decided that we wanted to go into the lesson with a "Plan of Salvation" kind of mindset, and focus purely on what she needs. So we began by talking about God and who He is, and what His nature is. She seemed to understand well, and her boyfriend was really great at helping us explain to her the basic attributes of Heavenly Father. We talked about the pre-earth life and what we did there. When we asked her if she could remember it, she laughed and said "not even a little bit!" It was cute. But then we talked about how in this life, we are to walk by faith and not by sight. She then asked us what faith is, which was an awesome question! Her boyfriend gave a really wonderful explanation, and then introduced the Book of Mormon for us! So then we read together in Alma what faith is, and we invited Michiru San to reread the verse later that night and to think about faith and also about God. She said that she would! We invited her to come to church, but she didn't want to come by herself (her boyfriend had to go to Fukushima for the weekend), but she will come with him next time. We were then able to set up a next appointment with them for next Thursday. It was a great appointment, and it was amazing to see the way the Spirit led the discussion. I am so grateful that we decided beforehand to just trust to be guided, because we were in exactly the right ways.

That is about it for this week. It was a good one. I am looking forward to another good one! I love you Momma. And I love my Savior. He is my light and He leads me along.

Monday, May 5, 2014

On May 5, 2014 Sister Johnson wrote:

This week in Ishinomaki was a good one!! I am absolutely LOVING this district! The Elders that we are working with have such a great vision for how they want to do missionary work. Our vision as a district is something along the lines of ALL YOU NEED IS LOVE! We are focusing on helping our investigators and all of the members here feel a spirit of love and of unity. We hope that through us, they will be able to feel the love of Heavenly Father and the Savior. So, with this great focus in mind, we are having so many activities that allow us to spend time loving them.

This week, we played ultimate frisbee with a bunch of our investigators and it was so much fun!! I definitely tackled Alcazar Shimai and banged up my shoulder a little bit, but it is 100 percent back to normal now, so that is good. I was a little worried. At the activity, we were able to have a great time with our little friend Yuka Chan. I love her so much! She is so happy, and is so fun. This week, we were able to have two lessons with her! The first one was last Monday night, and her Dad, who is a less-active member of the Church, joined in the lesson with us. We were teaching Yuka Chan about the Fall of Adam and Eve (which is ridiculously hard to teach to people without a Christian background; you have NO idea). She had a really hard time understanding what we were trying to say, but Brother Motomura really helped. He explained it to her very simply, and he also helped answer her questions about science and evolution. It was a really great lesson. Then, at frisbee and Eikaiwa, she asked a lot of questions about Adam and Eve, and why they were so important. Then, in our other lesson with her, we had planned to talk about Christ. She has no idea who He is or why He is important, so we wanted to introduce her to Him. But, in the lesson, Yuka Chan mentioned that she has a hard time believing what we are teaching because she can't see God. She has no idea if He is actually there. So, we ended up teaching again about prayer, and about how she can know if God is really there if she asks Him, and sincerely wants to know. She can really learn for herself if she is His beloved daughter. Which she is!! I feel that love fill my heart every single time I see her! I love her so much.

This weekend in Japan is a very long holiday called Golden Week. Everyone has four days off and gets together with their families and parties! So, we have been spending a lot of time with members and friends this weekend. In fact, we are just about to leave for a BBQ with the branch president and lots of other people! A BBQ at 9:30 in the morning... Weird! But, I like it!

Last P-Day, Alcazar Shimai found out that her Dad had an anurysm, and had to have brain surgery. He is doing better, but is still in a lot of pain. We had an opportunity to fast for him yesterday, and it was a very great bonding moment for us as a companionship. She was feeling a lot of stress, but we were able to pray and fast for her Dad. He is on his way to a speedy recovery! Please keep him in your prayers!

Well, that is about all. We have to head out for the BBQ. But! I love you! I hope that you have a good day!

LOVE YOU!

Monday, April 28, 2014

About the pictures: These are pictures from last week when we went to see sakura with the genki old woman, Goto San! I left my camera at a soba restaurant, and have just recently gotten it back so I don't have any pictures from this week really.

On Monday, April 28, 2014 Sister Johnson wrote:

So, this was a pretty weird week. Last P-Day, we went to the beach with the Elders to play frisbee, and it was terrible weather! It was cold and raining like crazy, and the wind was blowing super hard, but it was really fun! Unfortunately, as a result of being out in the rain, both Alcazar Shimai and I got very sick! We have been sick all week with colds, and so that hasn't been fun! But, we are on the tail-end. I'm still pretty stuffed up, and Alcazar Shimai doesn't really have a voice, but we are feeling genki.

Despite being sick, this was a very good week! We have the most adorable little friend, Yuka Chan. She is 16 and we are doing the Family English Program with her. This week we were able to have two lessons with her, and she came to the big Easter Festival that we had at the Church! Recently, we have been talking a lot about prayer with her. This past lesson, she gave her first prayer! She didn't really know what to say, so she simply said "Heavenly Father, I am grateful that I have a lot of food to eat. In the name of Jesus Christ, amen." It was so cute, and so simple, and so perfect! She was very happy afterward. I have had such a wonderful time becoming Yuka Chan's friend. I love Yuka Chan because she is so full of light. You can see the big light that is in her soul whenever you look into her eyes. She is so happy, and has such a zest for life. I really believe that as she comes to realize that she is a divine daughter of loving Heavenly Parents that the light that is in her countenence will grow even bigger. I can feel so much love from her. And I am so glad to have met her.

This week, we had a big Easter festival at the Church! It was like an open house type thing, and a lot of non-members came! It was really great, and we had a wonderful time introducing people to Christ.

That is about it with this week; because we were sick, we didn't have anything super interesting happen. But! We are looking forward to another great week! I absolutely LOVE Sister Alcazar. She is very quickly becoming one of my greatest friends. I am so happy to be serving with her here in this incredible place that is Ishinomaki. I never want to leave.

I love my Savior. I love how I have His authority to cast out darkness and sadness and shed His light on all those with whom I come in contact. My authority is real. It is His authority. I am His hands here in Ishinomaki.

I love you Momma!! I cannot wait to talk to you soon! I will have specifics for the call next week! Have a happy week!

Love, Shak

Monday, April 21, 2014

On Monday, April 21, 2014 Sister Johnson wrote:

I LOVE SISTER ALCAZAR!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I really really REALLY do. This week has been FANTASTIC! We have had a lot of firsts happen to us this week! First of all, we went to visit one of my favorite less-active members, Kimura Shimai. She is a riot. I love her so much; she is so genki (which I finally figured out a good English translation for: chipper!) and loves to talk. While we were there, she told us a funny story that after the tsunami, some random person gave her three big bags all full of bras! So she ran upstairs and grabbed one of the bags and gave them to us! So now, we have a giant bag full of bras (there's about 50 of them, I think) and nothing to do with them. They are all TINY. Well, they're probably normal-sized, but you know me. Haha. So we are going to try and find a women's shelter to donate them to. It was hilarious.

Then, we were biking alongside the Kitakami river that runs through town, and there was a BEAUTIFUL Sakura tree that was in full bloom, so we stopped to take a picture, and we started talking to these little old ladies that were standing by us. We told them that Alcazar Shimai just got here, and one of them asked if we had been to Hiyoriyama yet, which is a big sakura park in Ishinomaki. Alcazar Shimai said no, and the little old lady said "Let's go!" So we were super excited and asked her when would be good, and she said "Let's go right now!" So, that is just what we did! We got to learn all about this little old lady. Her name is Goto Chieko San, she is 83 years old, and she had a super hard time in the earthquake and tsunami. As she drove us to Hiyoriyama, she was telling us all about her life, her children and her grandchildren, and about how they all live far away and that she misses them. She seemed very lonely. But when we got to Hiyoriyama, it was about 6:00 in the evening, and so the sun was just getting ready to set. That day, the paper factory in Ishinomaki had made the town super smoky because it wasn't very windy, and as a result, the sun turned blood red and was a HUGE and PERFECT sphere in the sky. Everything was glowing red, and the light reflected off the sakura blossoms. It was absolutely incredible. I have some pictures, but there is no way to capture the beauty of that in a picture. I have never seen something so beautiful in my life. I was overwhelmed with the love of Heavenly Father, with His love for Japan, and with His love for Goto San. It was a wonderfully beautiful experience. After that, Goto San took us out to soba because I had mentioned that I like soba, and it was so fun. That night, we exchanged contact information, and we are going to visit her again soon!!! She was really appreciative of the fact that we are Christian volunteers, and so we want to go back and share the Gospel with her. There is no way that us biking down the side of that river was an accident. I had just simply thought that I would take Alcazar Shimai the scenic route to where we had planned on going, and we were able to meet one of Heavenly Father's beloved daughters. It was definitely divine guidance, and I am thankful for the experience.

Then, later on in the week, we were going with a member and a friend to a park outside of Ishinomaki that is famous for sakura. Before we stopped there, Usui Shimai wanted to stop at a flower shop to buy some flowers for a less-active member for her birthday. So, she took us to this giant greenhouse, and when we got inside, it was a gerbera daisy farm! There were MILLIONS of daisies, rows upon rows, of all different colors! It was so beautiful! Then, the woman that owned the greenhouse had about three huge buckets full of daisies that she had cut because they "were not perfect daisies" and she told us that she wanted to give us ALL OF THEM! It was about 300 flowers, I'm guessing. At this point, we had been talking a lot, and she could probably see the look of pure bliss that was on my face, so she told me that I could go out into the flowers and pick two that I wanted to take home with me, as a present! She had already given us all of these flowers, but she was so nice, and so I went and picked a bright sunshine yellow one that was PERFECTLY round and absolutely gorgeous, and all a hot pink one that was the same. She then cut them for me, and added two more perfect ones. There are no words to describe the feeling I had that day. It is amazing the joy that comes from gerbera daisies. I am pretty convinced that Heavenly Father created them JUST for ME! So now Alcazar Shimai and I have a big arrangement of daisies on our table, and we were able to give a bunch away to investigators and members for Easter presents yesterday! It was wonderful.

Then, this last Saturday, all of the new missionaries in Ishinomaki, the assistants, President and Sister Rasmussen and their family that was visiting from Arizona, and Elder Palmer and his Mom, and us had a really unique service opportunity! We went to a port right next to the ocean, and harvested seaweed that they turn into wakame for miso soup! It was smelly, dirty, and absolutely FANTASTIC work! It was so much fun! We spent all day cutting seaweed. By the end of the day, my rubber apron was covered with slimy baby shrimps, and it was super gross! But also really cool. After that experience, I think that aliens actually come out of the ocean, and not from outerspace.

Now for this week's miracle! We have one investigator named Sugiyama San! We have been meeting with him since last December and this time, we went with Elder Whittle and Elder Aono to teach him, and to pass him to the Elders. We have been inviting Sugiyama San to pray for about four months now, and he never has. But! Yesterday in the lesson, Sugiyama San made such a natural connection with Elder Aono, who is a brand-new green-bean missionary! The Spirit was so strong as we talked about how the Plan of Salvation helps us to understand our purpose in life, and that Sugiyama San can experience all of those blessings for himself through prayer! And so when we invited him to pray, he did! And it was perfect! It was full of thanks for his blessings, for his life, and for his family. He was also thankful for us coming to help him be closer to God. He laughed a little bit in the middle and was super embarrassed when he finished, but it was so sincere and so wonderful. The Spirit was very strong, and Sugiyama San definitely felt something different. I have been waiting for the right person to pass Sugiyama San to, and I am so happy that Aono Choro is finally here! It was a joy-filled lesson, and I am so grateful.

What a week! I love Ishinomaki! I love my companion! I love Japan! And, I love my Savior! He lived, died, and lives again just for me! There is pure light, pure joy, and pure hope in His atonement. I know that though Him, we can discover what it means to be truly happy. I am so grateful!

Well Momma, I love you! So much! I hope that you have a good week and a very happy birthday! Oh, and yes, we can Skype for Mother's Day! It will all be the same as last time! The time might be different though. I'll work it out with the Elders and let you know! I LOVE YOU!
Love, Shak

Monday, April 14, 2014

On Monday, April 14 Sister Johnson wrote:

No cherry blossoms yet in Ishinomaki! It is still a little bit too cold. But! Come next week, they will be popping out all over the place! Speaking of Ishinomaki, I will be here for at least another 6 weeks! Luk Shimai is transferring to Akita (way up north) and will be companions with my bean chan, Robertson Shimai! My new companion will be a girl from Utah named Alcazar Shimai, who is in her 6th transfer! Three of the Elders are transferring, so that means this district in Ishinomaki is going to be WAY different. But, it will be good! The new district leader is a good friend of mine, Elder Whittle. He knows the way that I like to do things, so I'm hoping that it will be a pretty smooth transition. Yay, Ishinomaki! I really do love this place. The end of this next six weeks will mark my 6 months being here! Woohoo!

This was a really good week! We finally were able to find a new investigator! Her name is Yuka Chan, and she is ADORABLE! She is 16, and is the daughter of a less-active member, Brother Motomura. We are doing the family English program with Yuka Chan, and we are hoping that through her, her Dad will want to come back to Church and that we can see lots of miracles within the Motomura family! I have lots of hope! Our other investigators are doing well; everyone is sad that Luk Shimai is transferring. Me, too. We have become very good friends. But! I know that there are people waiting for her in Akita.

Well, another General Conference has come and gone! I feel at peace about most of the messages that were presented. I especially loved President Monson's talk. All you need is love! I also loved Elder Scott's talk. All you need is love! And simplicity! And I also loved Elder Christofferson's talk. Christ is real! Elder Bednar's talk was also wonderful, all about the Atonement. I also loved President Utchdorf's talks from both the Priesthood session and the General Session. Don't sleep through the Restoration! And the Revolution! Be grateful! Even when you are suffering! Such great messages about the love and peace of the Savior. I am excited for the Liahona to come in the mail so that I can read them again.

I am so grateful that we have leaders in this Church, particularly the First Presidency, that really understand who the Savior is. They understand His perfect love, His perfect empathy, His perfect grace. They understand His Atonement. They understand that ALL who come unto Him will receive the gift of Life and Light. It is reassuring to know that our leaders know the pure simple doctrine of Christ, and that they teach accordingly. This is my goal as a missionary: to teach according to the knowledge I have that Jesus is my Savior. His love is perfect. His love is for EVERYONE. This is my mission, to love as He would love.

Last P-Day, we went as a district to a museum here in Ishinomaki called the Sant Juan Bautista museum. It is an old Japanese/Spanish Pirate ship! It was so COOL! And so much fun!!!! I am convinced that I am a pirate and that I was born into the incorrect time. Piracy is in my genes though, so I guess that is why I felt right at home on that ship. It was very fun.

Well, that is about it for this week! I am excited to stay here in Ishinomaki! I hope that the Lord will assist me and lead me to those whom He has prepared to receive the Gospel.

Please give everyone my love!

Love, Shak