Good Things

Dear family,

thank you so much for all of the birthday emails- I could definitley feel your love and am grateful for you all. Last night my comp and I had to come into Málaga to do residency, and President Deere invited us to join us in family scriptures and prayer- I may have teared up just a little bit remembering all the family home evenings and family prayers as a family. I´m so grateful for you all and am excited to see you again.

Here are a few good things that happened this past week. We were able to meet with Marcos´s wife- for the time being, she´s still very catholic, but as she expressed a difficult situation she´s found herself in this past week, the scripture Ether 12:37 came to mind, and I shared it with her- it was one that helped me through a really difficult time, and she said it comforted her a lot, that it was just what she needed to hear. I realized that one reason we pass through trials is to be able to succor others in the same place. I´m glad that I have had difficult moments that help me understand others better.

There´s also good news with Tania- she´s just blossomed this last week. Things we thought would impede her progress haven´t, and we couldn´t be happier with the change within her. I was remembering the first time we taught her- she was a bit distracted, and didn´t seem very interested or committed... and now she shares the scriptures with her family, and reads past the assignments we leave her and she says she wants her family to feel the same way she does. It broke my heart in one lesson- she´d just read the pamphlet for one of the lessons, and mentioned a picture she´d seen in the back of a family kneeling to pray. She said she wished she could have that. (Her family doesn´t want to participate for now).

Another important aspect of the work that was highlighted this week was follow up. We´d just had a prayer with Tania, followed up on her reading assignment, and the conversation was leading us perfectly into the lesson we´d planned, but even after my companion had started the first point of the lesson, I felt we had to follow up on whether she´d prayed about the chapter we´d left her (3 Nephi 11) and about whether she should be baptized or not. I changed the subject and asked her. She went quiet and began to smile. She said she´d pondered the chapter, read about the necessity of authority and immersion, and felt at peace when she´d prayed about it. She said she told her family that she´s ready to take this first step. It was one of the most spiritually enriching lessons I´ve had- I felt the spirit so strongly in the room and within myself.

I know that this church is true, and that the Spirit changes people- those who come to know the gospel for the first time, and those of us who´ve had it all our lives. I only hope to be changed enough to please my God.

I love you all, and know that I will enjoy my 21st birthday here in the mission field.

Love, Hna. Johnson

Cáceres

Dear family,

last week we had intercambios with Cáceres and Badajoz- I went to Cáceres and found out by chance that a missionary there, Hna. Camacho, knows cousin Bedda- I love how the gospel creates connections all over the world.  

I also love seeing how God puts us in the right place at the right time. We´d mentioned to a less active woman we were going to Badajoz, and as always, told her to call us if she ever needed anything. Her son that lives in Badajoz called us during intercambios to ask if he could meet up with us to give us an important medical document that the woman needed beforeSunday- it couldn´t be mailed fast enough, and we were able to get it to her- she was so grateful. 

Tania is progressing. She really recognizes the difference when we teach her, and when she comes to church. She likes all that she´s learning and will hopefully figure out a few kinks in her life so she can be baptized. Listening is so important- I´m grateful for the Spirit that indicates when there is something someone wants to say, but holds back. We had a good experience with her that way this week.

One more thought. We visited a less active recent convert last night. He received a phone call, and when he came back, he was in tears. He has a 15 year old daughter he´s never met, who looked him up and called him a week ago to say she wanted to meet him. She called while we were there to say that she couldn´t come after all and gave a weak excuse. Emilio was deeply hurt, and couldn´t understand why she would say she wanted to come see him, and in the end not make the effort. The parallel to our life hit me hard. We so often come to God, our Father, saying we´re willing to leave our mistakes behind and give ourselves to Him... and then we don´t make the necessary sacrifices to do so. When God only wants to love and bless us, we hold back. 

I´m still learning so much on my mission and am so grateful I´m here to serve. 

Love, Hna. Johnson

Here Comes the Sun

Dear family,

the heat hit with a vengeance this week. It was nice and cool Tuesday, then on Wednesday, Spain turned on the oven. They say it´s worse here than Málaga... but for now, I´m still alive. We´ll see what happens in the worst months, July and August.

First the pictures. We went to the pueblo Arcos last Monday- it´s beautiful, but the best part for me was the falconer at the top that let us hold whichever bird we wanted. Hey, Dad, can I have a barn owl? I promise I´ll take care of it. Oh, by the way, I¨ve already ordered one that should fly in any day now.

The recent convert Marcos is doing well- he received the Aaronic priesthood yesterday and is going strong. 

We FINALLY got to do service this week! We´re always looking for it, but people don´t often give us the chance. We helped paint the home of a part member family. They in turn gave our number to a non member who needed help in her house. She´s a promising new investigator named Inma.

I can´t believe how fast the time is going- I´m excited to see everyone again, especially the kids, but I´m going to miss Spain and being a missionary. There´s nothing quite like it, and I know I´ll never be the same, or see the world the same. 

You´re in my prayers. 

Love, Hna. Johnson

Blanca

Dear family,

 

another good week. We are teaching Tania and her family more often (the ones that came to church two weeks ago), and they all came to church again this Sunday. I fall a bit more in love with the family the more we´re with them. Ricardo, 7, is so patient and sweet with his little sister, and Blanca, 4, has me wrapped around her finger. When we come, she sits me down in front of her, and without waiting for permission, sets a kitten on my lap, asks me to draw her a picture, and then paints my nails. For a four year old she does a pretty good job. The best is that Tania and her sister Marlen are feeling the difference hearing our message makes in their lives. Once when we asked Tania if she´d read from the Book of Mormon as we´d asked, she said that she´d come home from work, and Ricardo was waiting in his room with the Book of Mormon open, ready to read with her. Keep them in your prayers.

 

I did intercambios in Cádiz with Hna. Moreno and Hna. Fumero, who are comps right now with Hna. Thompson from the MTC. They´re doing really well- I love learning from other missionaries... and riding bikes at dawn by the bay in Cádiz for exercise in the morning. Our biggest accomplishment was fitting all three of us with all three bikes in the elevator at once. Europe teaches you how to conserve space.

 

I got some letters from the office this week (it´s faster if you send them to me in Jerez), so for those who wrote me, I´ll hopefully get a letter in the mail for you today.

 

I´m doing well- not feeling at all ready to finish my mission. Fortunately I still have the rest of the summer. I´m glad to hear you´re all doing well, and will be happy to see you again.

 

Love, Hna. Johnson

 

pictures- me and four of my companions at the mission home, dawn in Cádiz, Blanca and I

Old Faces

Dear family,

I´ve had an interesting week since I was able to go back to Huelva to do intercambios. Some people weren´t as strong as they were when I left, so I encouraged them as much as I could in the short time I had, but was sad they´d slipped back. The best part of my time was seeing Sandra and her family again. They drove all the way from Valverde del Camino just to see me for a few minutes. Gustavo has grown up a ton- you can´t tell in the pictures, but he´s taller than me, and really strong in the church- he does his home teaching and everything. Natacha and Sandra are as strong as ever, and so so sweet. Even Juan Carlos (Sandra´s husband) came- he tells me he´s going to church whenever he can (2 or 3 times a month), but with his work schedule hasn´t had time for the charlas yet.

I´ve also been spending my P day with Bishop Padilla and his wife from my area in Málaga- they heard I was coming and offered to take us around Málaga. Right now Magdalena is making us lunch- they are seriously so kind, and I´ve loved being around them again. Bishop Padilla can now talk at normal neck-break pace and I understand him- he finds this very amusing.

Hna. Nielsen tells me Jose Angel got a calling as a counselor in the young men´s presidency and that he´s doing well.

Marcos was baptized last Saturday- the baptism went well, and his wife and kids all came- we´re hoping we can begin teaching the whole family.

Things are going well- I´ve been blessed a lot. It´s a miracle that I can make it back to see the people I love so much. I hope you all have a great week, and that someone sends me at least one pictures of Mark and Amanda´s wedding. Jon, I´m assigning you, since when I say things like this everyone waits for someone else to do it :)

Take care!

Love, Hna. Johnson