MELBOURNE - Week 71 - March 6, 2018

g'day g'day mates!

你好我的朋友s

wow this week has been awesome.. and very busy!

This past week I had my LAST EVER zone conference. It is still soo crazy and surreal to me that this is my last transfer. The weeks are honestly flying by and I don't like it. 

Also, President Vidmar makes all the missionaries that are leaving share their testimonies in their last zone conference, so Sister Cahoon and I had to do that this week. :( It was soo hard to get up in front of everyone and talk about how much my testimony has grown and how much I have learned on my mission. I was smashed with the Spirit and couldn't hold back the tears (in other words, I was a mess haha)

Sister Cahoon and I got our flight plans this week.. which makes me want to throw up. They sent us what they call, our "death letter". This is just our flight plans and information on the next couple weeks. ewwwwww. I don't want this to end soo soon. 

BUT, we have been teaching heaps lately!! We have some solid investos right now which is such a blessing. Also most of our lessons this week have been SO powerful and some of the best lessons of my entire mission. The Spirit has been soo strong in our lessons recently and it is such an incredible feeling to have the Holy Ghost working through us to help these people.

This past week has been awesome in the branch as well! All the members just came back, which means there were finally people at church again! We had 80 people at church this week, which is the most we have ever had!!! Not to mention all the members that come right now are soo solid and are doing great. The branch is finally coming alive again!!

We also ate rabbit head this week...uhhh? One of the Chinese elders had a rabbit head and made us try it! haha nothing better than eating a rabbit head, the tongue, the eyeball and the brain ;):)):).. yum?

I have been having some bomb personal studies this week too! This week I read in the Book of Mormon in Jacob 5, where it talks about the vineyard. It let me reflect on my mission and what I have done here in this vineyard (Melbourne) and what I have done to change myself. I love the chapter, but verse 71 hit me pretty hard.

71.And the Lord of the vineyard said unto them: Go to, and labor in the vineyard, with your might. For behold, this is the last time that I shall nourish my vineyard; for the end is nigh at hand, and the season speedily cometh; and if ye labor with your might with me ye shall have joy in the fruit which I shall lay up unto myself against the time which will soon come.

This hit me hard this week, and even though my time as a missionary is coming to a close.. I am so beyond grateful for the opportunity to represent my Saviour Jesus Christ and to serve Him with all my heart, might, mind and strength.

There are no words to express how grateful I am and how much I have learned about Christ (and also about myself) through thismission experience. I know Him in such a personal way and for that, I am forever grateful. I am soo blessed.

I am soo happy where I am. I am soo happy to be a missionary. I am so completely exhausted.. but so excited to get out and smash the work. :)

xoxo,

张姐妹
Sister Johnson

MELBOURNE CENTRAL CHINESE ZONE (MCC)

Zone Leaders and STL's (and Elder Blackhurst, a new missionary)

A chinese zone lead by Americans ;)

Dinner at our investos home with Evonne (a member)

"Death Letters" - just information they get from 

mission office before heading home

Alyssa eating more weird food - This week it was a Rabbit Head 

Why I ask????

The rabbit tongue and rabbit eye 

MELBOURNE - Week 70 - February 27, 2018

Honestly not much to report on this week..

& my motivation to write weekly emails is getting pretty close to zero. (help)

this email will be lame (sorry mum)

We had a Chinese New Year activity this week out in Glen Waverley and it was awesome! It was so much fun to go out to Waverley and see all the members, investos and missionaries there.

Not many of our investigators have been able to meet with us. They are all too "busy" or just been dodging us so that is a bummer.  However, we have been able to set up a few appointments with people for this upcoming week! Hopefully we can start teaching them and maybe set a few baptismal dates. 

Being with Sister Cahoon and Sister Fong is just great. I love them both soo much and we are closer than ever. We have been having so much fun and also smashing the work. pretty impressive that we can have so much fun together while still managing to work hard get things done!! haha

I love where I am and I love being a missionary.

I have been having some of the best personal studies this past week and it honestly changes my entire day. I had one of the BEST personal studies yesterday all about God and His love. I read 1 John chapter 4 (everyone go read it!!!!) and it was soo powerful. I was overwhelmed with His love and ever since then have been telling everyone "God is love" (lol I am sure Cahoon and Fong are sick of me saying it) BUT IT IS TRUE.

Remember GOD IS LOVE.

I love you all.

xoxo,

张姐妹

Sister Johnson

Triple Threat - Sister Fong, Sister Cahoon and Sister Johnson

CHINESE NEW YEAR'S CELEBRATION

Good ol' Johnson Street

pass this everyday :)

MELBOURNE CITY - Week 69 - February 20, 2018

g'day g'day

This has been a very busy week and I am not sure if I can remember everything that has happened..

But, this week I officially started my last transfer and I can't (and don't want to) believe it. I have soo many mixed feelings about it, but I know that this last transfer is going to be great, so I am excited!

BIG NEWS!! This week was transfers and I am now in the city as an STL. Best news yet, I am in a trio with my 2 best mates, Sister Cahoon (for the 3rd time hahah) AND Sister Fong. I have already served with both of them and I love them soo much. I AM SO EXCITED. This is honestly a dream come true and this will be an awesome transfer.

I did have to say goodbye to Sister Chen yesterday, which was really hard. I loved serving with her and getting to know her soo well the past 12 weeks. We got really close so it was a sad goodbye, but I am excited for her (and I know she is excited too) to see her family again and head home to Taiwan. 

This past week was also the Chinese New Year! It was so fun to celebrate with Sister Chen but oh my gosh we ate soo much food. The members were awesome and we had 2 feeds that day and more this past weekend. We just had the usual rice with chicken, beef, duck feet, vegetables and fish heads.  haha so crazy...but SO many memories.

There was also a massive Chinese New Year festival in our area, and our stake had a booth at it! They paid for a spot in the festival to have a booth all about Family History. We had members and missionaries there (wearing shirts or stickers that said "I love family history" written in Chinese on them haha) to talk to people and help them get started on their own family history.  They had all the Chinese speaking missionaries in the area take a "shift" at the booth to be there to talk to all the Chinese people (there were soo many--pretty sure it was like a small China). It was a great turn out and was a very successful day. We gave out heaps of pass along cards, pamphlets, family history charts, and a few Book of Mormons AND ended up getting 60+ referrals of people who want to learn more. It was so cool!!

Other than that, this week was pretty much just saying goodbye to all the members that I love soo much. I have met some AMAZING people in Waverley that have really become like family over the past 8.5 months here. I loved loved the chance to serve in Waverley (twice) and I learned SO much. Waverley will ALWAYS have a piece of my heart.

I am soooo excited for the next 6 weeks with my best mates back in the city that I love.  I am even more excited to have 6 more weeks to tell everyone about our Saviour Jesus Christ and what He has done for them.

The past couple days I have had such a rush of energy, excitement and love to go out and smash the work with the little time I have left. I love the message we share and I have come to know my Saviour in such a personal way, that it makes me want to talk to literally everyone! 

lets gooooo!

That was pretty much my week. 

thanks for the constant love and support. love you all

xoxo

张姐妹

Sister Johnson

CHINESE NEW YEAR'S 

The Family History Booth at the New Year's Festival

YUMMY DINNER WITH MEMBERS

I'm not even sure what to say about this picture - although Adam

has informed us that he isn't going to Australia with us now.

Duck Feet, do you see the toenail on the foot??

Yes Alyssa is eating that Duck Foot 

ok This looks better - Hot Pot Lunch

Dear Sister Brotherton - reminds Alyssa of her sweet 

Grandma Johnson

Turns out Alyssa is a bit allergic to the Mozzie

(Australian mosquito)  bites. 40+ bites on each leg.. :/

wrapped up in a wet cloth seemed to help the most
and the medicine the doctors gave her

The Mentos over there have pictures on them.  Here are just a

couple of the SEVERAL pictures Alyssa sent me of

her and Sister Chen acting them out.

Good-bye to Sister Chen as she heads home to Taiwan

GLEN WAVERLEY - Week 68 - February 13, 2018

Happy Valentines Day My Loves,

I bought my Valentine (Sister Chen) flowers today, so it has been a good day! lol

This week has been a good one! (haha I think I start every week saying that) We are finishing up yet another transfer in a few days, which is just crazy to me. Time is flying and it is starting to freak me out!!

This is Sister Chen's last week and I don't know what I am going to do without her. It has been so fun serving with her for the past 12 weeks and she has helped me heaps. Sister Chen is such a great example to me of working hard and finishing strong. It may be her last week, but she has the fire and passion for missionary work that new missionaries have. She is incredible, and I am so blessed.

We haven't been able to meet with many investos this week because they are all busy with (or back in China for) the Chinese New Year. BUT we were able to meet 2 cute new investos, which was a miracle! They are both pretty keen to learn more and I am excited to keep meeting with them.

We have been able to do service for a couple members and less actives this week which is always great. I love getting to know people better through serving them. There is no better way to be happy and feel God's love than through serving those around us. (straight from Mosiah 2:17) This week we have done some weeding/yard work, went to the store to buy cat food for someone who is too old/sick to go herself, sitting with and talking to a member who is lonely, and everything in-between.

I also had exchanges with my buddy and best mate Sister Cahoon!! It was so fun to spend the day together and work with her again. She has been by my side since day one of my mission and I am so blessed that we have been able to go through this crazy adventure together. I am forever grateful for her and how much she has helped me the past 16 months! <3  It was so great to talk to Cahoon, as we have been going through the same feelings and emotions about being so close to the end of our missions. 

I love being a missionary and more importantly, I love my Saviour Jesus Christ.

Also, our washing machine flooded our laundry room and the carpet in our hall way this week.. :( what is even worse is that it happened not once, but twice in one day. 

one washer + 4 girls = a mess.  

But hey, at least I am learning something new everyday, right?

well that is about it.

thanks for the love and support. 

love you all!!!

go out and spread the love <3

xoxo,

张姐妹

Sister Johnson

Cute red lipstick on 

Bright pink lipstick on Sister Brotherson and two cute sister missionaries

Yummy ice cream on a hot summer day

Dinkum is a common phrase in Australia <3

Elder Lesa up in the - crazy Samoan

Recent convert Mio

Flooded the laundry room

Saying Goodbye to Elder Ching - first District Leader

GLEN WAVERLEY - Week 67 - February 6, 2018

g'day g'day. 你好

it has been another solid week!

to be honest, everything kinda blends together now and I can't even remember what we did. 

BUT I will try and give you some highlights.

Every Saturday they have a free 5K park run. President Vidmar said that he wants the people in the community to see the missionaries more, so he wants our zone to do it every Saturday. There are about 200 people that run it every week and then we have the 20ish missionaries that serve around our area there as well, getting to know people. We aren't technically there to proselyte, but we just get to talk to heaps of people and let them see that missionaries are human too. haha SO fun!! (and it is helping me get into shape...so win-win!).

Mio got confirmed on Sunday and she is just glowing now! She also had her interview with our Bishop to get a temple recommend. Sister Chen and I went to the interview with her and Bishop to help translate, and it was so cool. We were able to hear her share her testimony of the simple truths of the gospel and how much this has already changed her life for the better. She is incredible!

We also had interviews with President this week! I love (love love) meeting with him and talking to him about my mission, my life and everything in between. He is the most amazing person and has helped me heaps. Him and Sister Vidmar are the biggest blessing!! <3

OH! We had dinner at the Wilson's this week and can I just say, that I NEVER know what is in store when we go over to their house?! Some of you may remember the stories I have shared about their feeds (cat hair in the food, the chickens running around the house pooping everywhere, and the cake that I am pretty sure was actually dirt??) haha so this Sunday.. we had another crazy experience!!

So we went over on Sunday night and when I walked in the door, I saw that the table was already set for dinner (how nice) and just smiled when I noticed that the cat was also ON the table. It isn't unusual to see the cats in the house because they (the cats) usually eat dinner with us. :):):)):) (Sister Wilson shares her food with them.) As I walk to the table to sit down, I see that THE CAT is LICKING the food that was on MY PLATE. yum. Cat hair in my food was one thing.. now I have to eat slobbery cat licked food?? I'm pretty sure I will get rabies from this lol. RIP me.

As we were finishing dinner Sister Wilson told us that she had prepared the spiritual thought and we could tell she was SO excited. We were so scared.

She shared 1 Samuel 16:7 and starts talking about how we can't judge something by what it looks like. Instead, we need to look on the inside and see that it really can and will help us. She had a "special surprise" for us as a part of her lesson, and went to the fridge to get it. She comes over to the table holding a plate of food(?) and her exact words were, "this looks disgusting.. but it is really good for your body and you have to eat it".. (are you kidding me?!?!?!). How am I supposed to respond?

The mystery food was kind of like deviled eggs? The inside mixture was the egg with some weird mustard, chia seeds, heaps of different herbs, spices and sauces and then a layer of charcoal power on top. (side note- I was looking on the charcoal powder container while we were cleaning up and the directions specifically say that it needs to be mixed with water and used on an empty stomach or 2 hours after you eat...? uhh it is safe to say I thought we were going to die that night. Haha but we didn't...yet) And on top of all that were nice, yellow dandelions picked right from the front yard! (can you even eat those?).

We all had to eat one and I couldn't help but laugh as I watched Brother Wilson (who was sitting right across from me) eat this nasty egg. hahaha safe to say it was really gross and Sister Wilson was the only one that could eat it without gagging. But Sister Wilson insured me that this surprise helped my kidneys, bones and cleaned out my blood? So it is true, you really can't judge something by what it looks like. haha

We also went over to the Wilson's another day to do some service with the elders in our ward and it was hilarious. They really do care about the missionaries soo much and try their best to take care of us, so we wanted to try and give back/show our appreciation. We did some yard work for them and it was all good. Right as we were finishing up, Sister Wilson told us that she made us all lunch and to come in and eat before we left. Well I must have been EXTRA hungry or something because spaghetti mixed with baked beans on toast has never tasted so good before. It was unreal! haha 

Well, that is about it because all of our investos are either back in China right now or are too busy to meet with us. :/:/://:/ 

So we have had heaps of time to GQ this week which is always good. Except for the fact that it has been super hot this week.
But I love being outside so I can't complain.

Thanks for the love and support.

I love being a missionary.

and I love you all!!

xoxo,

张姐妹

Sister Johnson

                                                             

"The Dinner I 'shared' with the Wilson's cat"

The scripture Sister Wilson shared to before we ate

the "yummy" deviled eggs

Mystery Eggs

Poor Elder Tolman is not too sure about lunch -

Spaghetti with pork and beans over toast

"Found a MASSIVE cockroach in my drawer 

and destroyed our study room trying to kill it

 (those little buggers are sooo fast!!!!)"

Nice tan line Sister Johnson