delicious in Italian
hand stands monday night
apples to apples
Saturday, November 17, 2012
Weekly email Oct. 25-Oct 31 & My 22nd Birthday!
I am alive!
I am safe, I am healthy, and I am happy!
As many of you have commented, you believe this will be a memorable birthday!
It will be, but maybe not in the same way your thinking... but then again you've probably seen more pictures than I have of the worst parts of the storm.
The pictures I sent of the storm is pretty much the worst I've seen of it. Based off of what I've heard though the rest of the island is pretty bad.
Friday October 26th
We had the Area Proselyting Focus (previously known as a blitz) and we decided to train contact =) Most of the other missionaries couldn't make it. It was just our district leader and his companion. Sister Maldarizzi and I loved it though because it's pretty easy for us to strike up conversations with people and the young adults were approachable and easy to talk to. However, whenever we street contact them they do not give you the time of day! haha
That evening we went to the grocery store. We were broke but had just enough money to buy ingredients to make Pizza!
This was the first we heard of the storm and we started to prepare. We were really worried it was going to interfere with the baptism but we found it wasn't really going to hit until Sunday evening.
Saturday October 27th
Jose was baptized! I am so grateful I had the opportunity to teach him =)
Later that day we printed pictures from the baptism to give to Jose at church. We also bought a photo album to hold the pictures and a journal (composition notebook) to record spiritual thoughts. Both the photo album and composition notebook Sis. M. covered with pictures of Christ. They turned out so good.
Sunday October 28th
They anticipated the storm and thankfully shut down the MTA travel services Sunday evening. Currently the subways are flooded and going to be closed down for a while. That is probably what is going to affect our work right now. Sister Maldarizzi and I talked about the horrific events that could have happened if they didn't shut it down before the storm. I was picturing a titanic like moment and it made me really sad! Thank goodness they are smart and shut it down before the storm!
Church was really good! They made a lot of announcements about the storm and being prepared. Jose was confirmed a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and received the gift of the Holy Ghost! When we gave Jose his gifts he was so grateful =)
Later we were going to take the train home but the wait was 17 minutes! I told Sister Maldarizzi we should go. We could walk home in that time. Coming out of the steps we were going to cross the street when someone grabbed both my arms from behind. My heart stopped and I was like "what in the world?!" I shook free and I turned around to see Joe! One of my investigators from the Bronx who I met with for six months! I was relieved to see him. I told him he should not grab people from behind like that! =P
Regardless it was very nice to see him. I told him that was my birthday present from Heavenly Father-the fact that he helped me run into Joe lol. Apparently his cousin lives near there.
Monday October 29th!
Let me tell you about my birthday =) The mission was directed to stay in Sunday evening and stay in until further notice. We were advised (or told) last week to stalk up on water, batteries, flash lights, food, etc. It was kind of exciting Sunday because we didn't know what to expect but we got to stay inside lol. I realize that should be something we were excited about, but if not excited perhaps we had heightened feelings lol.
Monday morning when I woke up (early/on time) I slightly ruined the sister's surprise. As I walked out of my room and into the bathroom I saw them putting stuff up and a latter out. Once in the bathroom I thought, "oh nooo I ruined their surprise!" I debated whether I should go back to bed and pretend to be asleep or go in our office and write in my journal. I was going to decide once I walked out. As I opened the door whipped cream, silly string, and early morning cheers of HAPPY BIRTHDAY came my way!
I have never had whip cream to the face/hair until now lol but it was actually pretty delicious!
Moving out to the family room there was a home made pinata waiting for me! I didn't know recognize it as a pinata at first. I thought it was some Chinese center piece haha. Anyways I became very happy when I found out 1. It was a pinata 2. It was for me!
It was a cow that had been made from a cereal box and had toilet paper roll legs. It was attached to the light fixture in the center of the room for height. My bat was an umbrella! After the first hit and the lights flickered we realized it wasn't a very good place to hang it. Sister Woo has a pull up bar because she is buff and is staying fit to rock climb. We used that in the door frame to hold the pinata =) I beat the cow into the ground. Inside were delicious hershey's candy (milk chocolate and cookies & cream), chips ahoy, and a muffin mix I pointed out to sister maldarizzi at the store the week before.
We had pancakes and ice cream for breakfast. After that I passed out on the couch for a three hour nap.
I made a death by chocolate cake (my mom was awesome and sent me the ingredients needed through the mail)
Unfortunately I didn't mix it very well. So it didn't cook very well. It turned out good still. It just wasn't the traditional death by chocolate cake. It was more like chocolate cake with chocolate pudding inside...which was interesting.
I showered and got dressed up in my new sweater and we took pictures outside =)
The remainder of the day I was pretty bored! haha But I can't complain because I was safe and got to lounge around. Our apartment is not very big so it's easy to run out of things to do. Meanwhile, Sister Maldarizzi was composing a portrait of me for my birthday! I had asked her to and it turned out so good! I have a very talented companion.
We ended the evening playing Apples to Apples as an apartment. Every time I play that game I think of Ethan Kirkpatrick and Wendy (Johnson). haha
Tuesday October 30th
Tuesday was much better and more eventful.
We planned out our day and what we wanted to do with our time.
Sister Woo and Sister Lee joined us for most of it.
A good portion of the morning I spent studying the illustrated Book of Mormon. It is so good. My goal was to read it all in one sitting. I settled with reading a third of it (because that took me four hours). Part of why it took so long is because I was examine the pictures and allowing questions and thoughts to come to my mind so I could write them down in a notebook.
As my brother with down syndrome says sometimes "my butt hurt" haha
Later we went on a walk/exploration with our camera and a soccer ball. We had heard it was officially clear to go outside, but not to proselyte. We were encouraged to see if there was anything we could help our fellow men with. There weren't too many opportunities to serve where we live because we were too affected. It felt great to get out and stretch!
We took a lot of pictures over by central park. We couldn't go in because the park was closed.
I discovered some more cool settings on my camera =D I love my camera!
We eventually came back, had dinner (pizza) and played monopoly!
The Elders made me a Red velvet cake for my birthday but had trouble getting it to me earlier because of the storm. They also had COLORED candles!
Wednesday Oct. 31st
Happy Halloween! Happy Birthday Sam!
We walked to the 87th chapel since the trains are closed. It wasn't too bad since we live on 110th.
When reading my emails today I found out President Morgan had emailed families. As I was sharing this with the other Sisters Sister Lee told me her mom got the email but could understand it since she speaks Mandarin! I thought that was funny!
Well we're going to be having a Halloween party with other missionaries here pretty soon. Tonight we have to be in our apartments at 6p.m. because it's Halloween and they don't want us out.
I love you all! Thank you for your prayers. I am sorry Hurricane Sandy worried you.
Just think of Sandy the dog from the movie Annie. Maybe someone on the east coast yelled, "Sannnnndy! Come here Sandy!" haha
I pray that the Lord will bless each and everyone of you, and that if you sincerely seek Him you shall find Him.
Sincerely,
Sister Emily Johnson
I am alive!
I am safe, I am healthy, and I am happy!
As many of you have commented, you believe this will be a memorable birthday!
It will be, but maybe not in the same way your thinking... but then again you've probably seen more pictures than I have of the worst parts of the storm.
The pictures I sent of the storm is pretty much the worst I've seen of it. Based off of what I've heard though the rest of the island is pretty bad.
Friday October 26th
We had the Area Proselyting Focus (previously known as a blitz) and we decided to train contact =) Most of the other missionaries couldn't make it. It was just our district leader and his companion. Sister Maldarizzi and I loved it though because it's pretty easy for us to strike up conversations with people and the young adults were approachable and easy to talk to. However, whenever we street contact them they do not give you the time of day! haha
That evening we went to the grocery store. We were broke but had just enough money to buy ingredients to make Pizza!
This was the first we heard of the storm and we started to prepare. We were really worried it was going to interfere with the baptism but we found it wasn't really going to hit until Sunday evening.
Saturday October 27th
Jose was baptized! I am so grateful I had the opportunity to teach him =)
Later that day we printed pictures from the baptism to give to Jose at church. We also bought a photo album to hold the pictures and a journal (composition notebook) to record spiritual thoughts. Both the photo album and composition notebook Sis. M. covered with pictures of Christ. They turned out so good.
Sunday October 28th
They anticipated the storm and thankfully shut down the MTA travel services Sunday evening. Currently the subways are flooded and going to be closed down for a while. That is probably what is going to affect our work right now. Sister Maldarizzi and I talked about the horrific events that could have happened if they didn't shut it down before the storm. I was picturing a titanic like moment and it made me really sad! Thank goodness they are smart and shut it down before the storm!
Church was really good! They made a lot of announcements about the storm and being prepared. Jose was confirmed a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and received the gift of the Holy Ghost! When we gave Jose his gifts he was so grateful =)
Later we were going to take the train home but the wait was 17 minutes! I told Sister Maldarizzi we should go. We could walk home in that time. Coming out of the steps we were going to cross the street when someone grabbed both my arms from behind. My heart stopped and I was like "what in the world?!" I shook free and I turned around to see Joe! One of my investigators from the Bronx who I met with for six months! I was relieved to see him. I told him he should not grab people from behind like that! =P
Regardless it was very nice to see him. I told him that was my birthday present from Heavenly Father-the fact that he helped me run into Joe lol. Apparently his cousin lives near there.
Monday October 29th!
Let me tell you about my birthday =) The mission was directed to stay in Sunday evening and stay in until further notice. We were advised (or told) last week to stalk up on water, batteries, flash lights, food, etc. It was kind of exciting Sunday because we didn't know what to expect but we got to stay inside lol. I realize that should be something we were excited about, but if not excited perhaps we had heightened feelings lol.
Monday morning when I woke up (early/on time) I slightly ruined the sister's surprise. As I walked out of my room and into the bathroom I saw them putting stuff up and a latter out. Once in the bathroom I thought, "oh nooo I ruined their surprise!" I debated whether I should go back to bed and pretend to be asleep or go in our office and write in my journal. I was going to decide once I walked out. As I opened the door whipped cream, silly string, and early morning cheers of HAPPY BIRTHDAY came my way!
I have never had whip cream to the face/hair until now lol but it was actually pretty delicious!
Moving out to the family room there was a home made pinata waiting for me! I didn't know recognize it as a pinata at first. I thought it was some Chinese center piece haha. Anyways I became very happy when I found out 1. It was a pinata 2. It was for me!
It was a cow that had been made from a cereal box and had toilet paper roll legs. It was attached to the light fixture in the center of the room for height. My bat was an umbrella! After the first hit and the lights flickered we realized it wasn't a very good place to hang it. Sister Woo has a pull up bar because she is buff and is staying fit to rock climb. We used that in the door frame to hold the pinata =) I beat the cow into the ground. Inside were delicious hershey's candy (milk chocolate and cookies & cream), chips ahoy, and a muffin mix I pointed out to sister maldarizzi at the store the week before.
We had pancakes and ice cream for breakfast. After that I passed out on the couch for a three hour nap.
I made a death by chocolate cake (my mom was awesome and sent me the ingredients needed through the mail)
Unfortunately I didn't mix it very well. So it didn't cook very well. It turned out good still. It just wasn't the traditional death by chocolate cake. It was more like chocolate cake with chocolate pudding inside...which was interesting.
I showered and got dressed up in my new sweater and we took pictures outside =)
The remainder of the day I was pretty bored! haha But I can't complain because I was safe and got to lounge around. Our apartment is not very big so it's easy to run out of things to do. Meanwhile, Sister Maldarizzi was composing a portrait of me for my birthday! I had asked her to and it turned out so good! I have a very talented companion.
We ended the evening playing Apples to Apples as an apartment. Every time I play that game I think of Ethan Kirkpatrick and Wendy (Johnson). haha
Tuesday October 30th
Tuesday was much better and more eventful.
We planned out our day and what we wanted to do with our time.
Sister Woo and Sister Lee joined us for most of it.
A good portion of the morning I spent studying the illustrated Book of Mormon. It is so good. My goal was to read it all in one sitting. I settled with reading a third of it (because that took me four hours). Part of why it took so long is because I was examine the pictures and allowing questions and thoughts to come to my mind so I could write them down in a notebook.
As my brother with down syndrome says sometimes "my butt hurt" haha
Later we went on a walk/exploration with our camera and a soccer ball. We had heard it was officially clear to go outside, but not to proselyte. We were encouraged to see if there was anything we could help our fellow men with. There weren't too many opportunities to serve where we live because we were too affected. It felt great to get out and stretch!
We took a lot of pictures over by central park. We couldn't go in because the park was closed.
I discovered some more cool settings on my camera =D I love my camera!
We eventually came back, had dinner (pizza) and played monopoly!
The Elders made me a Red velvet cake for my birthday but had trouble getting it to me earlier because of the storm. They also had COLORED candles!
Wednesday Oct. 31st
Happy Halloween! Happy Birthday Sam!
We walked to the 87th chapel since the trains are closed. It wasn't too bad since we live on 110th.
When reading my emails today I found out President Morgan had emailed families. As I was sharing this with the other Sisters Sister Lee told me her mom got the email but could understand it since she speaks Mandarin! I thought that was funny!
Well we're going to be having a Halloween party with other missionaries here pretty soon. Tonight we have to be in our apartments at 6p.m. because it's Halloween and they don't want us out.
I love you all! Thank you for your prayers. I am sorry Hurricane Sandy worried you.
Just think of Sandy the dog from the movie Annie. Maybe someone on the east coast yelled, "Sannnnndy! Come here Sandy!" haha
I pray that the Lord will bless each and everyone of you, and that if you sincerely seek Him you shall find Him.
Sincerely,
Sister Emily Johnson
Hurricane Sandy destruction
Honestly we were very lucky in Central Manhattan that the hurricane did not have a very strong effect on us or our surroundings. We never lost power, most trees are still standing, etc. However, I know a lot of Manhattan was indeed effected. Some places got hit hard. As for us this is the most destruction we found when it was finally clear to leave.
Honestly we were very lucky in Central Manhattan that the hurricane did not have a very strong effect on us or our surroundings. We never lost power, most trees are still standing, etc. However, I know a lot of Manhattan was indeed effected. Some places got hit hard. As for us this is the most destruction we found when it was finally clear to leave.
Thursday October 18th - Wednesday the 24th
I love writing each week =)
It's something I look forward to!
Thursday Oct. 18th
Interviews with our mission president at the church. I like having one on one time with President Morgan! He is super legit and I feel uplifted everytime.
Training session with the assistants to the president while we waited for our interview.
It was awesome because to further emphasize one of the points they wanted to cover we all got to watch part of the movie Remember the Titans =) It was the last game where the coaches aren't working together and they are loosing, yet when they work together they kick butt! The analogy was to help us further think about the way we are working together with the members.
The training was framed within the context of becoming converted to the doctrine of Christ.
We also focused on specific areas to further our goals of working with members:
Courage to ask for referrals from members
Obedience to effective planning
Reverence for leadership that we serve with that hold the priesthood keys
Effort to follow up
In addition to interviews our mission president talked to us about growth they are anticipating in our mission.
The church is anticipating a huge surge in missionaries ever since they made the announcement about the age change during this last session of General Conference.
A lot of those missionaries will serve state side because of visa limitations. Furthermore our mission is expecting a high increase in numbers because of the amount of people living here and the geography we cover.
Right now there are 143 young adult missionaries in our mission. The surrounding missions like Ny NY South and the Utica mission have 208-211 missionaries. With senior missionaries we have 173 missionaries to our mission.
The leaders of the church told our mission president to expect the numbers to double within the next 6-12 months, but starting as soon as January! That means that every single one of us could be training! Currently all the missionaries time in the MTC is now being cut one third. English missionaries will be there for two weeks.
Furthermore, to meet the demands of the missionaries that could come in it is very likely that those not learning a language will not even go to the MTC, but rather come strait into the mission. It will be our job to wrap our arm around the new missionaries with love and teach them how to be great missionaries! This will increase our personal responsibility thus there is a greater need to personally become converted to the doctrine of Christ so we can teach them.
Our mission president is giving us the heads up now because he wants us to be prepared!
This shows me how inspired the brethren are because ever since I've been in the mission they've introduced a thing called the 12 week infield training that you do with your companion the first three months you're in the field. The major complaint with that was you were repeating the things you did in the MTC. However, now realizing the MTC could be done away for English speakers it is crazy how we could truly be their MTC experience!
I am super excited I am serving while these changes are taking place. I look forward to riding the wave of missionary work in a season of change! I would be thrilled to train. Even though I hear it is challenging I think it would be very rewarding :)
That night we had dinner with a member downtown at a resturant called Dig In that was delicious! It's seasonal and very healthy. Not to mention delicious. There was no sacraficing flavor for health =)
Friday Oct. 19th
We had our last appointment with Jose! We confirmed everything for his upcoming baptism. The only thing left is his interview and then the baptism. It has been such a lovely experience teaching Jose. His receptiveness to the gospel has really meant a lot to me.
We went next to have a lesson with a woman the elders are teaching who is getting baptized this week. The elders had a conflict that they couldn't resolve so we were able to help them out. She is an awesome woman ans I am grateful I had the opportunity to meet her.
That night we had a dinner appointment which turned out to be a miracle of the Lord!
We had dinner scheduled with an investigator and two members, one of which is a recent convert.
When we were at their place the member told us a friend text her and asked if he could get a copy of the Book of Mormon. I gave her the one I had and he said he'd come pick it up. When he got there we sat down at the table with us and we ended up teaching him for like 15-20 minutes! He is so open and prepared. He said he's been open to the church and wanting to learn more ever since he started at Columbia (for the past four years). We set up an appointment with him for the upcoming Wednesday (Oct. 24th!)
It was such a great faith building experience for everyone who was there. It also showed me that there are people that we know, Kasey (the member) had know him for the past four years, who are ready to learn about the restored Gospel. It is our job to extend them the invitation. If we don't they might just end up having to approach us! lol.
Anyhow he realized his time here at Columbia was coming to a close and he wanted to look into it before he moved for medical school. He found it hard to believe that the bible was the end of the story. He didn't know why God would stop talking to man. It was awesome to be able to tell him that God still call men to be prophets today!
After he left we watched the restoration dvd with our investigator and the two members. We had taught him the restoration before but we hadn't had a chance to watch the movie. He really liked it. We went on the read 2 Nephi chapter 11 in the Book of Mormon which is all about the doctrine of Christ. The spirit was present and we were able to talk to him about baptism and choosing a specific date. He had already expressed to us before that he was open to being baptized at home. He has a lot of lds friends and he wanted his family to be there. He accepted a date for January 5th, 2013. We left there so grateful for all the ways we have seen the Lord bless this area since we've been serving together!
When we left there we ran into a member Chase that we've been working a lot with and his jewish friend who we'd met before. Somehow we got on the subject of ice cream bars and Sister Maldarizzi had never heard of them before! So Chase decided we were going to have some! It was great =) We went into the store right next to us and he bought a box of ice cream bars. It was such a fabulous way to end the night!!!
Saturday Oct. 20th
We woke up way too early! haha but it's worth it because it was to see an apostle of the Lord!
We had to leave our apartment at 6:15am to take the train to Fordham (my old area in the Bronx) to take the cheapest Metro North up to Scarsdale. It all worked out though and we had a chance to come together with the entire mission and hear Elder D. Todd Christofferson. It was a wonderful experience! I will try to tell more soon. Basically my spirit was nourished and I felt God's love!
Later, we had an awesome lesson with a refferal from the Elders. He is a journalist major at Columbia. It was a great lesson. He had a lot of questions and took some notes, which is new for me lol
Sunday Oct. 21st
Sunday was long! However, I enjoyed it =)
We went to the family ward at 9am with our investigator Shannon because she couldn't make it to our YSA ward at 1pm because of work. It was an awesome sacrament meeting focused on Gratitude. There we also met another journalist student who came to church to check it out. He actually knows the guy we taught the day before! We set up a time to meet with him this Thursday.
While my companion was setting that up I was talking to a family who was visiting from Gilbert Arizona. Turns out it was the Barlow Family!!! Not only did this woman know my family, but as a little girl I have been to her house! haha. Her daughter dated my brother throughout high school. Another one of her sons is friends with another brother of mine. It was such a funny connection to make!
We went to our church meeting at 1pm and it's so nice now that I'm familiar with multiple faces. I really love our ward. They are all very talented individuals.
We eneded the night with a dinner appointment with one of the apartments in our ward.
I love how much we get fed here. It's really nice and it's really the only way I can get to know the ward since it's so big.
Monday Oct. 22nd
We traveled to North Man. for District meeting.
Afterwards we left to go to our appointment with Shannon. She showed us pictures from her trip to NM to see the Hot Air Balloon Festival! She brought up that Plan of Salvation and we went through it with Sister Maldarizzi's visual aid that she drew (it is super adorable!) I was able to really feel the spirit when we talked about pre-earth life and earth life.
Next we went to the chapel to meet Jose so he could have his baptismal interview with our District Leader.
Later we had dinner with a lovely member of our ward named Abby. It was nice to have REAL food. Prior to that we had only eaten cookies and candy corn! We did not intend for that to be our meals for the day, but we forgot to pack snacks lol.
Tuesday Oct. 23rd
Happy Wedding Anniversary Brad and Monica!
After my personal studies that morning my objective of the day was to
1. Make people feel loved
2. As appropriate bare my testimony that I have felt Christ's love through reading the Book of Mormon
3. Invite them to read the Book of Mormon to feel Christ's love as well.
Service at the food pantry where I was able to have a wonderful conversation with a woman named Dori. We talked about many things. One of her friends joined the church and has had a lot of support from the members in Oklahoma. She was really impressed by the churchs efforts to reach out to those around them. We were able to share with her about our experiences as missionaries and I shared my testimony about how I have come to feel the Savior's love and have come to know him through reading the Book off Mormon. Any many other things did I say unto her.
We contacted a lot of people on the street and throughout our day.
We ended the night at a dinner appointment with two members who are superb! Sister M and I worked out our approach to our spiritual thought. The past two nights it was a little off. However, the analyzing we did about why exactly they weren't working as well as we wanted really paid off because the spiritual lesson Tuesday night at dinner was very powerful! One member is a dancer her in the city. The other is an opera singer. They are both very talented!
Today, Wednesday Oct. 24th
We were pretty relaxed earlier in the day. We went shopping because I had received a care package from a loved one in Az. My other Mom =)
I got a really cute sweater from Old Navy that will do wonders as it starts to cool off. I am really grateful for her love and support!
As the weather shifts there are a few things I want to get, but missionary budgets are not exactly for clothes shopping haha.
After I finish emailing we are having a lesson with the guy we met last Thursday night who is friends with one of the members. We're prepared to teach and we think it's very possible he could accept a baptismal inviation tonight! So that is definitely exciting!
I love you!!!
Sincerely,
Sister Emily Johnson
who is almost 22! haha
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