Sunday, December 23, 2012

For Unto You is Born A Savior Which is Christ the Lord





Merry Christmas...and may God Bless us; Everyone!


December 31, 2012

Dear Family,

It was so good talking to you all on Christmas!!! It almost felt as if we had just talked yesterday. I miss you all tons, and it was so fun to see all your faces and hear about how things are going.  

This week was pretty good, not a lot to report after talking to you all. We had a wonderful Christmas. Christmas Eve we spent with one of the member families here. They are the best! They fed us lunch, and then we played games and decorated cookies together that we later took with us caroling. We went to midnight mass at St. István's Bazilika. I'll try and send a picture of my comp. and I. Don't worry- President gave us permission. :) Now, we are just getting adjusted back into the everyday working schedule. We had a lot of good programs, but also it's hard to meet with people during this time of year., most of them are busy or out of town. But we did have an awesome miracle happen on Friday! We set up to meet with one of our investigators, and he forgot to call and cancel- so we were dogged. But as we were sitting there trying to decide how to fill that time, a lady, Kata, walked in and asked us what she needed to do to be baptized. I thought she must be kidding at first. But after a few minutes, when I realized she was serious, and we were like- let's go talk upstairs and talk! So we met with her, and talked about the restoration. Turns out she met with some missionaries once in London where she works when a friend invited her over. She really liked them, and felt they had a great spirit. From that she decided she wanted to look up the church when she got back to Hungary. So she wants to be baptized! So crazy. We still have a lot to teach her, but she came to church on Sunday, and really liked it! :)  We're going to start meeting with her as much as we can. :)  I've heard stories like this where people just walk right in and say they want to be baptized... but this is the first time I've actually experienced it. God is so awesome!! He's always willing to give tender mercies :)

Well, everything else is going really good. It's still freezing, but we're staying pretty warm tabling in tunnels and trying to have as many programs as possible. I wear my sleeping bag of a coat everywhere i go, so that keeps me warm too. So all is well. We don't have new year's off so we'll probably just wake up at 11:58 and countdown or something. New Years is sure a party here in the mission field. haha

Well, I better get going. But I love you all tons!! HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

Sok Szeretettel,

Sister Tiffany Johnson 




December 17, 2012

Dear Family, 

Thanks so much for all your emails! I always love getting pictures and seeing how much everyone is growing and things are changing! I can't wait to Skype with you all next week! Sister Hardy and I are planning to skype the evening of Christmas day, probably around 4:30pm our time. I haven't looked up what time that's going to be in Boston or Japan, but in Utah I think it should be around 8:30am. :) We should still get to email again on Monday (Christmas Eve), so let me know if that will work for all of you. :) I'm not really sure if there is anyway we could all talk at the same time... I haven't really used skype for a while- but that would be super awesome if we can. 
Well, It's been a good week. We have a huge choir concert coming up this Tuesday that we've been practicing a lot for. We are going to be singing 18 songs!! Our choir director is pretty crazy. haha But she's awesome. We might have a 3 hour concert though... we'll see. We also had our Christmas party this weekend. It was a really great turn out. Lots of members brought family members and friends that aren't members yet. So it was fun getting to meet a lot of new people. Maybe we will be able to meet with a couple of them! :) We probably have one of the coolest wards of all time here. We met with a lot of really great people too. We have a couple really solid investigators, who really seem to be progressing. But they seem to be having a hard time making the jump to baptism. It's hard to watch people who have a testimony, that they see the Lord's hand in their lives, and yet- they don't feel ready to make the commitment. I know that if they knew how many amazing blessing await them, they would want to jump in the water right now! haha But for now we have to be patient, and encourage them that they are on the right path. There is a lot to learn in the gospel. Because I was born in the church I've never had to experience all these things that adult converts feel. I'm sure it is a big change for them, and quite a daunting commitment. But I really admire all of them for their faith and willingness to act. 
Well, I really love you all. Sorry I don't have a lot of time to write today. The concert should be fun. I will try and record some of it for you. There's a song we are doing from the sound of music- the "DO RE MI" song. I'm going to play the part of Maria, and all the other missionaries are going to be the "children". haha When Réka first asked me to do it, I thought it sounded ridiculous. But actually it's going to be really hilarious. There's going to be interaction in the audience. It should be funny. haha 
Anyway, I hope you all have a wonderful week! Mom, I did get your package!! I set the "tree" up on the wall. :) It looks so great! You are so crafty!! I'll try and send a picture of it. Also thanks for your email. :) You always have such insightful thoughts. Diane, Your girls are so adorable!! Sophie is getting so big!! She is going to be gorgeous when she grows up! :) I totally remember that Christmas! That was probably one of my most favorite childhood memories! :) We had a lot of fun together. Princess- the pictures look so great! I love Tala's outfit! haha she doesn't really like getting her picture taken... she doesn't look very happy in some of them. But she's super cute. I can't wait to see all my nieces in person!!
K, I really should go. Love you all tons! Talk to you next week!
Lots of love, 

Sister Tiffany L. Johnson 



Sister Hardy, Betti and Sister Johnson




December 10, 2012

Dearest Family,

This week has been busy, but incredible. My new companion is great! Sister Hardy and I already get along so well!- It feels as if we have been friends for forever. :) 

Let me tell you about this amazing thing that happened to us this week! So, maybe you remember me telling you about Szani. He is a member here in Buda, who was baptized back in March. His son was baptized just a few months ago, but his wife Betti has been a little more hesitant about accepting everything... or at least a little slower. I've been hoping and praying to be able to meet with her since I came to the city. Szani is one of my favorite people, and I thought it would be so neat to be able to meet with her as well. They are really busy, so we haven't been able to schedule any times to meet with them. Well, finally last Sunday, Betti (Szani's wife) came up and asked if we were free to meet this week! I said of course! We scheduled and met on Tuesday. We talked with her about the Book of Mormon, and Sunday we gave her a reading assignment before we came over. She kept her commitment and had read everything we asked her to. We talked a lot about her experience and thoughts about the church. She had all positive things to say about it, and when we asked if she had ever thought about being baptized, she said that she was thinking a lot about it. :) We then asked if she had ever prayed about the Book of Mormon. She told us she had never tried. So together we read the promise from Moroni in the last chapter of the book, and she committed to pray about it before we met again on Friday. 

Well, when we came back to visit with her on Friday, and followed up on her commitment to pray, she told us that she had. She expressed to us the feelings that she had, and the answer she felt like she received that is was true. :) We asked her again if she was willing to be baptized. This time she gave a resounding yes!! :) We asked if she had thought or prayed about a specific date. This is when we were both caught completely off guard... A baptism had been scheduled for another family on December 8th, she said she knew it was short notice, but asked if there was any way she could possibly be baptized the following day!! "TOMORROW?!" we were completely blown away. haha I had a bajillion thoughts running through my mind in that moment- my first was that she has only met with the missionaries twice, my second was that she has been going to church every week since March. So, I pulled out the baptismal questions and we went through them together one by one. She seemed to have a great understanding already of all the lessons. We taught her in that hour basically all the lessons, and reviewed the things that maybe she hadn't learned or had a hard time understanding. By the end, we both felt like maybe she could actually be ready. I spent a good part of the rest of the day, making a thousand phone calls- to the bishop, the A.P.s, the ward mission leader, the district leader, and back to Betti. Eventually, we found out the 2pm baptism would not work for her family, so we scheduled it for 5pm and prepared a whole new program. Somehow, with the help of the ward mission leader and everyone else, we were able to pull everything together. Betti of course "passed" the interview, and the baptism went through the following day. :) It was a miracle. It's humbling to know that the Lord really prepared her. We did very little, but simply help make it possible. She was confirmed yesterday in Sacrament meeting, and her husband Szani was able to perform all the ordinances. I felt so happy for her! And you could see that she was just glowing. :) Now they will be able to prepare to go to the temple and be sealed as an eternal family!! We are going over this week to meet with her again. We will review all of the lessons with her from the beginning. I feel so blessed that the Lord allowed us to be a part in her conversion. 

Well, all is going well here. I'm SO excited for Christmas!! It is starting to get pretty chilly here. Last week in English class, we taught all of our students Christmas words in English and then sang silent night together. :) It made me so happy! I love this time of year! I'm not even sure that the exact day of Christmas is my favorite... I just love all the days leading up to it! The music, the snow, the lights, the friendly people, the love in the air! haha It's just great. I miss you all tons! It will be so fun to talk with you and see all my new nieces on skype! 

Anyways, I love this work. I know this church is true. I'm so grateful for this time of year, when we get to remember and celebrate our Savior. I know Him. And I know He knows me personally. I know He lives, and I know that he lived. I'm so grateful for His life, for His example, and for His love. I am so grateful that I have had this time, and have this time, to come to know Him better. My mission has brought me closer to Him than any other singular event I have been through in my life. I know we are the happiest when we have His spirit with us. 

Take care! Thank you for all of your support and prayers in my behalf. Hope to hear from you all soon!!

Sok Szeretettel,
Sister Tiffany Johnson 






December 3, 2012

Kedves családom,

Well, it's already another transfer. Sister Hudspeth seems pretty excited to be going home, and we've had a pretty good last week to celebrate. We have some of the coolest investigators probably of all time. OH!- but before I start talking about that, I should probably tell you what's happening with transfers. Well-- you guessed it... I'm staying here in Buda. My new companion will be Sister Hardy. She was actually companions with my greeny, Sister Fox, in the MTC. It should be really fun. I've heard a lot of really great things about her, and she is adorable- so I'm guessing we'll have a lot of fun together. :) Sister Kramer trained her, and I love Sister Kramer! So i'm really excited for her to get here. I'll be breaking her into Budapest right away, with 4 programs in a row on transfer day! haha Hope she's excited. :)

I don't know if you remember me telling you about Rozália... but her baptism was actually this weekend! :) It was really great. 2 other people were baptized as well. She asked me to sing at the baptism. :) So I sang "Savior, Redeemer of My Soul," and Elder Decker played the piano for me. It was so great to see her make the commitment to be baptized, she was so excited about it too. She's going to be an awesome member. Her Husband and daughter came also. When I asked her husband what he felt about the experience, he told me that he cried. :) He's come to church a couple times with her now, maybe he will become interested in taking the lessons as well. 

Lajos came to church for the first time! I think it was all really new for him- but hopefully he had a great time. Andrea is the coolest! She came as well with her friend Judit. We are actually having lunch with both of them today, for Sister Hudspeth's goodbye lunch. We are also teaching a new investigator named István, he is a referral from one of the members. He's one of the nicest guys ever, and seems really accepting of everything. Detti- his member friend, is so awesome at bearing testimony and helping in our lessons. Members really are the best, and we have some of the coolest members here in Buda. The sacrament room is beginning to be a tight squeeze. I'm interested to see what they will do in the next few months with the ward. I guess they could split it, or find a new building? But it's really exciting to see that the work is really progressing! Zsolt has a bap. date now!- January 26th! So hopefully we can help him feel ready by that date. :) 

Well, Sorry this email is super boring. I just read back through it and almost fell asleep. But writing these emails every week can be exhausting! I really wish I could fill you in on every detail... but my journal will do that for you later. :) I love you all lots! Grandma and Grandpa, I got your package with the peanut butter and chocolate!! Thank you so much! My companion was really grateful too. :) Alan, congratulations of finishing the iron man! That is awesome! I'm really proud of you! Maybe one day I will be that cool. Also, Holly I hope you are feeling better soon. And Kassie, if you are reading this, I love your face!!! Please write me if you have some time! I want to hear what is happening with you! Anyways, Take care! Talk to you next Monday. 

Lots of Love,

Johnson T. Nővér 

2 comments:

  1. Thanks so much for sharing Sister Johnson's mission story! It's so fun to read. I have been called to the same mission as Tiffany and am grateful for the preparation and insight her blog gives me. Thanks! I do have some questions about specifics of the Hungary Budapest mission. If you get a chance to e-mail me, that would be awesome! Thanks! kristiehinckley@adelphia.net

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  2. I just have to say I'm really impressed and a little jealous at how much you use your musical talents in the work! Way to consecrate them! Sounds like you're doing a great job. That's all:) -Brian Baer

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