Homeward Bound

Dear family,

it´s been a full week, and a good week. I´m just breathing in everything about Spain and the mission because I already know I´ll miss them both. At the moment I feel more Spanish than American and more missionary than... civilian?

Vicenta was baptized, and everything went well- she seems really happy, and her family is excited to follow her and be baptized too. 

Tania is doing well- her husband Javi almost forbade her from bringing Ricardo and Blanca to church (saying we were going to "brainwash them"), but they all showed up Sunday morning, and I was so happy to see them. Tania is just a wonder. I´m so grateful I got to know her, and I hope more than anything that she can have a gospel centered/united family someday.

We keep finding new investigators, so I´m happy to see that Jerez is growing and will continue to grow. I´m still working hard, I´m still loving every minute. 

I´m so grateful for the mission and for everything I´ve learned from it. I know I´ve grown in ways I needed to by coming here- more than anything in my love for the gospel and everyone around me. I think that´s what I´ll miss more than anything- being able to set aside personal decisions and worries and focus more entirely on the Lord and others. 

I know that this is the Lord´s work- He can do it Himself, but He lets us experience and learn from it as well, and grow together as members of the same celestial family. I know that He knows us personally and guides our lives. I know that Jesus Christ is the Savior of the world, and that He restored His church to the Earth so we can know the way back to His presence.

I´ll see you all soon.

Love, Hna. Johnson

Another Companion

Dear family, 

I was very neglectful and completely forgot to mention my new companion- I´ll only be with her 2 weeks in total, but I love her- her name is Hna. Camacho, she´s got Mexican parents, but she´s American. She´s bold and outgoing and loving- just a great addition to our companionship. I know she´ll take care of the people when I´m gone. Oh, and she was an fhe sister of cousin Bedda, so that´s cool.

This week was pretty miraculous- we taught a lot of lessons, found a lot of new investigators, and even more potential investigators. One of my favorite stories from this week was chasing down a beautiful flamenco voice in a gypsy neighborhood and teaching the family when we found them. 

Tania is doing so well- one of my favorite things about her is that even though most of her family has rejected her invitations to hear about or come to church, she continues to invite them. After a relief society lesson about eternal marriage and exaltation, she sat her husband down and talked about how she wanted to save the whole family,and not just herself. He still might not take her seriously, but she takes this seriously. Her daughter in Ecuador said we could send the missionaries to her house to teach her. Tania is so converted.

I´ve also been neglectful in not mentioning Vicenta for weeks- she´s preparing for baptism for this Saturday- has been preparing for a while- I guess I´m just so enamored with Tania´s family I haven´t mentioned Vicenta nearly enough. She´s changed a lot since we first taught her. She always showed interest, but bluffed about the reading assignments and didn´t seem truly committed, but now everything has changed- she teaches us what she learns from the Book of Mormon, comes to church on Sundays, came to a ward baptism and loved it. Things are going really well with her- she says she´ll teach me to dance the Sevillana (flamenco) before I leave, and make me a big jug of gazpacho- she´s as spanish as they get. She is a sweetheart, and her family is sad I´m leaving too- she´s used to us coming and going on intercambios and asked "so when you leave in two weeks, you´re coming back, right?" I shook my head and they all went wide eyed- I think everyone´s intent on breaking my heart. The daughters are planning on being baptized my first Saturday home- I´m happy for them and hope they continue strong- I´ll send pictures with them when I have some- or I´ll just show you when I´m home.

I can´t believe it´s coming so fast- I wish I could slow it down. Be patient with me if I have emotional breakdowns- especially since i¨ll be jetlagged. I love you all, and am so grateful for the mission. I wouldn´t trade this time for anything. I know that the message I share is true, and I´m determined to share it the best I can in the time I have left and throughout my life. 

Love, Hna. Johnson

New Investigators

Dear family,

it´s been a really good week, as has been the case lately. Tania is doing really well- she´s really studying the scriptures on her own, and Ricardo is reading the illustrated Book of Mormon by himself too. The members find ways to serve her- Nery, one very kind member, is teaching her 20 year old son to read (he has some form of autism). Tania is dreading my departure, as am I. A normal evening teaching to her family is this: Ricardo in the chair to my right, trying to show me where he´s read, fighting with Blanca to say the prayer, Minino the adolescent kitten purring in my lap, Luna the runt dog sitting on my foot, Kipper the babe-size dog standing beneath my chair, resting against my legs, Blanca painting my lips with lip gloss, or my polishing my nails, or trying to climb up me as if I were a tree (I remember being that little girl), and Tania with her sincere questions and earnest desires to do what´s right, scolding her kids for bothering me while I laugh and tell her not to worry, and remind her for the hundredth time that I have 24 nieces and nephews and love kids- then she patiently laughs too. Tell me how I can ever be the same after a mission.

We´ve started receiving more referrals from members- several have brought their friends to church and ask us afterward when we can come by and teach them. The area really is picking up and I´m so glad that I can leave it like this, although I´d rather not leave at all. 

I honestly am not excited to stop being a missionary- I dread it. I love dedicating my time to the Lord and to the people around me, and being guided by the spirit so constantly. My one consolation as that I´ll soon be with the family again... and that I won´t have to ration out my peanut butter so carefully, I suppose :) 

Please try mending my heart when I come home (perhaps with coonsie cat, mom and dad´s cooking, time with the nephews and siblings), because leaving Spain is going to break it without a doubt.

Thank you all for your love and support- just two more emails and I´ll be home!

Love, Hna. Johnson

Tania's Baptism

Dear family,

I´ll save the best for last and talk about trivial things first. Gibraltar last Pday was fun- I got to step from Spanish to British soil, see the coast of Africa, and watch a gang of monkeys steal my companion´s sandwich. It was a great time.

I got to see my trainer, Hna. Cano. She came home to visit for the weekend, and I only saw her for a few moments at the baptism and at church, and was so busy with Tania and all of our other recent converts and investigators, we only had time to snap a picture and say hello. She´s taller now that she can wear high heels.

We have a lizard named Guillermo living in our piso- we´ve only seen him twice now- once running across my feet, once at night in Hna. Cameron´s hair. We have yet to catch him, but I´m determined to do it. Any ideas? I´m sure the nephews will have some.

Tania was baptized this Saturday, and it was beautiful. Well, she was unfortunately baptized 5 times (a recent convert´s first time baptizing... he was a little nervous), but that´s a story for another day- remind me to tell you when I get home. We were so worried that she would feel alone because a lot of the ward members said they couldn´t make it after we called and invited them one by one, and most of her family refused or made other plans for the day- in the end though, there were more people at her baptism than anyone expected (and at the last moment her sister, nephew, and 2 of her kids came). The best moment by far was her testimony- at the last minute, they asked her if she´d like to share it, and even though she´s shy, she accepted. She talked about how she met us, and how much she changed, and how she felt about all that she learned. She´s so strong and we are so happy for her. 

That´s my favorite thing about this gospel- that it changes us and makes us new people- more Christlike. I can´t forget it or deny it because I never cease to see it here in the mission and in my own life. 

I love you all and will see you soon. 

Love, Hna. Johnson

Pictures: Us and Tania, us and a monkey... well, I´m  not sure which one is the real monkey, british phone booths, Cano and my district, me with gibraltar (coast of Africa in the back), us with Tania again, and Ricardo, her son with a missionary tag they made in primary.

Short

Dear family,

I only have time to send a picture of the letter I wrote you as we print off these train tickets- had a great time at Gibraltar- you´re in my prayers.

Seeds

Dear family,

 I won´t write much- I wrote a handwritten letter thinking we´d go to gibraltar and I wouldn´t have time. 

Tania is doing well. She wants to wait two more weeks for her baptism (it was supposed to be this coming Saturday), but she wants a little more time to prepare herself- it´s incredible how well she understands what baptism entails and what´s expected of her. Knowing how she wants to prepare herself just shows us how prepared and converted she really is.

I¨ve heard a bit from Alicante- Jose Angel´s niece Lola has been baptized now and Jose Angel is still strong. One of my investigators from Huelva was baptized too- Ana- I don´t know if you´ll remember her. I´m so happy to hear that the people I loved so much are receiving the blessings of the gospel.

I´m grateful for the mission every day. The time I have left is going by so fast, but I assure you I´m putting forth my very best, which is still imperfect, but I know that the Lord makes up for my weaknesses with His grace, and I´m so grateful for it. 

Thank you for your prayers and love- right back at ya.

Love, Hna. Johnson

Week Long Birthday

Dear family,

I just had the best birthday week of my life. On my actual birthday, after travelling home from Málaga, we took cake to a recent convert family- it was also the birthday of Soraya (the one holding the cake with me). We´re trying really hard to help her come back to the church, but she hasn´t been there one Sunday. We took the rest of the cake to Tania´s house- then a day later found out it was her birthday later in the week, so we had two birthday parties with her. All the missionaries in my zone gave me a surprise birthday party on the train from Sevilla to Jerez after zone conference, and throughout the week, missionaries called me to wish me a happy birthday. Oh, and Hna. Nielsen brought me a poem that Jose Angel wrote and dedicated to the two of us- it´s really beautiful, and talks about his conversion. 

Other great birthday presents: we were finally able to teach all of Tania´s family. Her husband actually watched the restoration video with us, and even though he hasn´t committed anything, he says that what we taught is beautiful. 

We also taught a woman named Vicenta- she was the reference of recent convert named Amor. We invited her and her daughters to listen, and now Vicenta and Samara are preparing to be baptized on August 9. Her daughter Estefania told her mom (when we weren´t there) that she wants to be baptized too. They´ve all come to church and are reading the Book of Mormon.

We were also able to teach Marcos´s family, which has been a battle- he´s been embarrassed before to let us teach them (hate to think about what that says about us :) but there is so much potential. His wife insists she´s very catholic, but she likes us a lot and always tries to feed us. His 22 year old daughter Cissy has a lot of potential- so does her boyfriend, Alejandro. They are those in the world but not of the world kind of people. 

Honestly, there is nothing I would have done differently this week. Keep my investigators in your prayers if you remember to. They are my world and my family out here, and I love them even more than I expected I would... and I did expect to. 

I love you all and have you in my prayers. 

Love, Hna. Johnson