Bab's place with 500 Cadbury Chocolate putting them in baggies for gifts.

Waiting in line at the Garda station at 4 am

Hey Everyone!

This week has been awesome! Sister Stein and I invited 5 people to be baptized and they all accepted! I'm so excited for the many awesome new friends we are getting to know and taught this week. We have a two Brazilian women, a guy from Bangladesh, another from Malawi, another from somewhere else in Africa and meet many other awesome people as well. It's so funny that  in Dublin we teach more foreigners than Irish, maybe perhaps I think I've only taught foreigners since I got here. It seems as though Ireland is easier to do international study and work visas than any other European country from what I get speaking to the people in the street. Yes, I know the UK has left the EU, it was a surprise to everyone it seems. I think this will get Wales and Scotland to finally break way because I don't think they wanted to leave the EU, we'll see what happens I guess. Anyway back to the mission, We have so many recent converts who are Brazilian in the ward and a lot of them don't speak English well, in the ward in general there is quite a variety of people but the Brazilians are the friendliest and nicest group of people I've ever meet so far. We had some pretty great meals with the members this week, and I'm so happy to have such kind and helpful members to teach with. Back home I would definitely encourage you to offer to help teach with the missionaries, having a member present in a lesson is so important. We sisters especially need another woman present in a lesson in  order to teach a man, and it's great for the investigator to have a friend in the ward. I know for some this is news you already know, but investigators that came from a referral from a member is more likely to be baptized, I think an important reason for this is because they know what the members are like and feel more comfortable going to church if they know some one there. 

I'm so grateful for the Brazilian members who teach with us because one of the new investigators we are teaching, Veri (shortened), she can't speak English and so we had a return missionary from Brazil, Giselle teach with us. We couldn't teach without out her, I know Veri is so prepared and ready to hear the gospel. When Giselle bore her testimony in Portuguese the Spirit was so strong in the room. Even though I don't know exactly what she was saying, Sister Stein and I were getting teared up. Teaching this week I've felt the Spirits presence so strong during the lessons with a lot of these people. Teaching the other Brazilian, Magli was an awesome experience too. When I asked about what she thought about the Book of Mormon she said that it made so much sense that Christ visited and taught other people. She says that she knows that Christ loves everyone so why wouldn't he visit everyone else that wasn't in the Middle East. I feel like these two women has such a personal connection with the Book of Mormon because it's about their people, I'm so excited for them to read the moment in the Book of Mormon when Christ comes down and speaks to the ancient Americans. I know that they'll both find out for themselves that the Book of Mormon is true if they read, ponder and pray about it.

I've meet other awesome people to besides Brazilians, but they are the first women that I've taught and feel pretty good about.

The weather in Dublin has been rainy, every day it rains... I don't like the rain. There has also been a lot of excitement about the LGBT parade on Saturday, Literally the whole city was along the main road cheering at the parade. We went into the center to meet up with the Elders for lunch at Boogums (a fast food burrito place, it's okay but I don't want to eat there everyday like the Elders 🌯) And they were way to excited about it. I don't think it's smart for us missionaries to be anywhere near the parade, some of the Elders had people take photos with them. And I'm thinking it's really dumb... but whatever it's their decision. The Parade was kinda respectful, but really weird and crazy with men dressed as women and rainbow every where and just strangeness all around. It make our day entirely unproductive because the buses didn't run properly and no one wanted to talk to us, I personally didn't want to talk to someone about religion, then have them ask questions or immediately come to conclusions and start arguing with me.  Sister Stein and I had a dinner appointment with Giselle and Paulo the next day and they told us the LGBT parade is super sketchy, with some inappropriate things, so I respected that this parade wasn't that bad. 

Another disturbance to the peace of finding is the Football game, every time Ireland plays the Pubs are full and the streets are empty. It's hilarious how important sports is to a culture, I personally don't know what the excitement is ever for. 

My mum asked about the Elders in the district so now that I know all their names I can finally talk about them without being embarrassed. Elder Matthews came the same day I did from New Zealand, he's super tall and quiet but has a interesting personality. His companion is the beloved Elder Forward from Whales, he's kinda short so it's funny seeing the tall dark skinned Quiet Elder next to the loud short white Elder. Elder Forward has quiet the confident personality but kinda immature, all of the Elders are like that though...

Elder Peterson is the District Leader and he's from Idaho. He's really short and looks young, his companion Elder Trease is from Ogden Utah. All of the Elders text and call Sister Stein way too much and about the dumbest things. Even though they are "Flappers" it's nice to have other Missionaries near by, I love running into them in the street because it gives me confidence and makes me feel like I'm not alone.

We went to Babs and did some service for her, putting a bunch of chocolate bars in baggies for her friends in Utah that she's visiting soon. She used to work for Cadbury so she has a thing for chocolate. She literally has 500 chocolate bars I feel like in her house. Or more. I'll send a picture.

Anyway LOVE YOU ALL!! And have a wonderful week 

Sister Johnson

Miranda with her rain jacket.  Might be a bit short and Mum has to get her a longer one.

Streets of South Dublin, Ireland

Hey Everyone!

I'm having a day where I just don't want to write so I'm just going to try my best, okay?

So this week was up and down, but better than last week. We have a few more investigators and I'm really excited about them! We finally got to teach some women which is AWESOME! We meet up with a Romanian and a Brazilian, on Friday I think... and they both don't speak or understand English very well. I wish I could speak 3 billion languages as usual. We have so many Book of Mormons in different languages, it's really cool to see that no matter where you come from the Gospel is forever one and we make it easier for people to learn it in their own language so they can understand. But it's still important that they understand and know what we are saying as Missionaries. The Elders type Preach My Gospel into Google Translate to teach some of their investigators, I feel like it's super awkward to do that. And I don't know how they get people to come if they don't even understand what they are coming for... it's funny. :P 

It's been getting to be real Irish 'summer' now. Before this week it's been kinda sunny and warm, they called in a heat wave. But now it rains everyday and my hair looks like puff, I wash going to try and find a straightener but I don't think there is any point with this humidity. The Irish had a Football game this week so on the day of the game there was, zero point in finding because every one was heading to the bar to get drunk and watch the game. It started at 2 o'clock so it was especially early for that to begin. And I'm sorry to say that Ireland lost. I believe that was the day where we had the first lessons with the investigators, so we were productive. 

All in all, today wasn't that bad of a week. I got to have some fun along the way.

I hope everyone has a good week.

Love you,

Sister Johnson

Tracking Northern Dublin

My American Companion for the Day

Tracking in Northern Dublin

Hello Everyone!

So this P-day they stole it! Some leaders I don't know who, decided that having a Blitz (don't know exactly what that its) would be awesome to do it on the one day of the week that we have time to go shopping, cleaning, resting and doing what we need to do to have energy and things we need for the rest of the week. It made our day so stressful and we couldn't get everything we needed in the little time they gave us. We are Blitzing from 12-9pm. Sorry I just had to do a little bit of complaining at the beginning.

This week was slightly better than last week in terms of missionary work. We have two new investigators now!! One is Aqeel from Iraq and Owen from Malawi. I don't like how most of the people we talk to and make appointments with are men, it makes this really complicated because we need to have another women who is a member to teach with us if we meet in the chapel to teach. I think we get a lot of men because Sister Stein is really pretty and they want to talk to a pretty girl. The Elders seem to have a good mix of men and women though, so maybe men are just more friendlier in general and women need the incentive of an attractive man to stop and talk. 

Aqeel is pretty awesome he isn't a practicing Muslim, but his parents are both Muslim, and his mum used to be a Christian. Since he's been to Ireland he feels distant from God so he was interested in learning more about Christianity. He knows some weird things about Christianity which isn't in our Church such as nuns, praying to strange prophets and Mary, and other things, that the LDS Church doesn't do. He's really into meeting with us and wants to know more. Aqeel even went to Sacrament Meeting this Sunday! We just need to get him an Arabic Book of Mormon and I think he'll just get really into reading it. Rebecca you need to teach me some words in Arabic!

Owen is Christian already and just wants to hear more about Jesus Christ which is awesome. It's just been hard to schedule time to meet with him.

Hopefully Adam (an investigator before I came here) will be able to be baptized in the next week or two. He's Polish and has come so far from where he was before. I can really tell that he has a powerful testimony of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. We had 9 Baptisms this week in the whole missions! Our goal this month is to have 40 Baptisms total.

I gave a talk in Sacrament meeting and only had 5 minutes to give it, so I didn't really talk about myself, (sorry mum) Because I felt a little scared, and I really thought that I wasn't more important than the message I wanted to share. When I've been talking to Christians on the street or when people are like, you are just another Christian church I wanted to really think about and be able to strongly identify what makes our Church different from any other churches on the earth. What answer came to my mind first was the Book of Mormon of course and then the Priesthood. The Power and Authority of God. We are the only church on earth that has the Priesthood keys given  to us from God to Christ, Christ to the apostles, Apostles to Joseph Smith and then to every worthy male in the Church. Our Prophet is the only one on earth that holds all the priesthood keys. The Priesthood is the authority to make ordinances with God, and the ability to give blessings. The Priesthood isn't about only men being able to hold it, it's not a right but a privilege. A priesthood holder uses the priesthood to help others, such as healing, comfort, allowing others to make covenants and aiding in the setting apart of members to accomplish callings. The priesthood has blessed my life in so many ways, even now the power of the priesthood is helping me serve a mission. Since being a missionary I feel like my capabilities to focus, find comfort, study, and also to love others has grown enormously, and that's all given to me because of the power of the Priesthood. No other church on earth has this power, we must use the Priesthood whenever possible and help others know the blessings having the priesthood in their lives can bring. I also have a testimony in Home Teachers, if it wasn't for Home Teachers my family wouldn't have as easy access to the priesthood. When I moved out for a few months I really noticed the difference not having Home Teachers around made me feel. The singles ward and every ward must express how important and essential having home teachers visit families and homes that don't have a Melchizedek Priesthood holder. 

We had Exchanges with the STLS (sister training leaders) I went to the North side of Dublin with Sister Peterson and it's so different! Sister Peterson is from Seattle USA, so we had an American sister day out. She's so funny and cute! We spent a whole day together trying to do finding but in the area the STLs live most people drive and it's not so much a city but like a suburb. The homes around the flat are huge! And really pretty. It was interesting when you try to stop a lot of people and talk about religion they bring up evolution, which I never got on the South Side of Dublin. It makes me frustrated when people say they believe in Evolution when I think I know more about evolution than they do and I also 'believe' in it. Science and Religion are two different things it's like comparing a Dessert Food to a Meal Food. They are separate and work together. The people think they are so smart when they talk about evolution, but in my head I'm just thinking. How can you be so ignorant. Sorry I'm mean... Don't get me wrong I'm starting to love people no matter what, and I love how talkative Irish people are. It makes it easier to listen and understand people when they are speaking. I love the South side of Dublin because of all the different cultures and how everyone is from different places all around the world. North side, is really pretty though. I'm excited to see what the rest of the mission is like. Sis Peterson and I, were bad and ate sandwiches for lunch and had dessert for dinner. So having a Tart really topped off my day. Sister Peterson though accidentally locked us out, it was hilarious because right before she did it she was telling me that she's really forgetful and then right after she left the keys in the flat! HAHAHA we waited FOREVER for the landlord to get someone to get the flat open. The STLs had a baptism on Saturday so congrats to them, Sister Stein had a small role to play in finding that investigator too. They did a baptism in the river, but apparently it was raining and they had to dunk him under a few times to get full immersion, but that's how the guy wanted it done. I'm excited to have my own investigator in the water!

Anyway I better go! I hope everyone had a fantastic week.

Love you,

Sister Johnson.