Natacha's Baptism

Dear family,

this week really was a week of miracles. We were still in rest mode with Hna. Brown´s knee, but the good news is, the doctor thinks the problem can be fixed immediately with a shoe insert. We were still able to teach a good number of lessons, and so many people came to church this week- including many of the less active families we´re working with. The best surprise was seeing Cristiani in church- a woman who hasn´t come to church since nearly a year ago. She´s making huge changes in her life for her son Nikolas, and I´m just as excited for her as I am for Natacha.

Gustavo wasn´t quite prepared for baptism the past week, and likely won´t be ready this week, but I have faith he will be in the weeks to come. Natacha, on the other hand, was more prepared than anyone I¨ve seen so far. 

When we passed over the baptismal interview questions, instead of answering simply yes or no, as the questions require, she would say, "I believe so, because..." and proceed to explain in great detail the doctrine behind the questions. Her responses were impressive and deeply heartfelt. One of my favorites, though, had to be the response to the question, "Have you ever committed a serious crime?" She paused for a moment and said, "Well, yes, once." When our jaws dropped open she finished. "When I was six, I stole a piece of gum." I explained through my laughter that maybe, just maybe with the help of the bishop she can even be cleansed from that sin.

Funny reprise: when a member gave a talk on faith, repentance and baptism at the service, she mentioned that before being baptized, we need to repent of our past sins. Sandra, Natacha´s mom, leaned back in her chair to make eye contact with me and we both mouthed, "Chicle" (gum). 

She was so sweet about the baptism before and after. In her prayers before, she prayed that the day would come quickly. Afterward, she gave a prayer in the principles of the gospel class, and thanked Heavenly Father for providing a way for us to be cleansed from sin in a matter of moments. 

The work is going so well, and it makes me really sad that I´ll likely be leaving this transfer. And on that note, make sure that if you send letters for the next week or so to send them to the mission office. 

Thank you all for your love and support. Make sure to reach out to less active members in your wards- the rescue is just as important as the search. 

Love, Hna. Johnson

Us with Natacha

With Gabriel who served with Mark

Angelica, a ward member

With Gonzalo

With Angelica, one of the elders' investigators

This Week

Dear family,

It´s back to the piso with the knee problem- a little Hna. Coloma replay. Hna. Brown got an MRI this week for her knee, but we won´t know what the problem is until the next Dr. appt., which the mission nurse needs to set up, hopefully this week. Until we know, the Dr. said she should be resting, so we´ve only been able to go out to fixed citas- no tracting for us, which is hard on both of us, especially now that we´re really in the swing of contacting.

I had one funny contacting experience. There was an Ecuadorian woman I wanted to contact on the bus, but she had her back to me. I prayed for a chance to talk with her, and just then saw a spider in her hair. I reached forward to tap her shoulder just as she started talking on the phone. I waited, thinking it´d be a short call, but no, and our bus stop came and went, and she was still talking. As she stepped off on the next bus stop, I got off with her and said, "Um... you have a spider in your hair, do you mind if I take it out?" She nodded, and I caught it, but then she walked away still talking on the phone. I was super disappointed, but then the next day, we saw her in a completely different part of the city and were able to contact her. Whether she becomes an investigator or not, I´m so glad that God answers prayers.

Things are going well with Natacha and Gustavo. We found out Natacha´s dad, who´s also an investigator (although it´s hard to ever see him), couldn´t come yesterday, so we rescheduled her baptism for the 16th with her brother Gustavo. They´re such good kids. We finally got members to take us out and stay for the lesson in Valverde, which is what Sandra needs especially- she´s shy like her kids and really needs some love as a returning member. The members were enchanted with them. We taught tithing this week, using a huge bag of candy to teach it. After we´d finished, I asked them what they thought about the principle. Gustavo, without hesitation said, "Es muy rico." (It´s delicious). What a kid.

We had a miraculous day yesterday- we worked with some less active parents last week, and three less active families came (or at least brought their kids) to church yesterday, after months (or years) of inactivity. Galicia, the primary president, went into happy fits each time we opened the door to bring another kid into the primary, and kissed our cheeks liberally afterward. Also, a really cool Ecuadorian woman (from Guayaquil, Jon!) came from the Elders´area. She´s been to the church in Ecuador before over ten years ago, and has friends that were baptized, but never committed herself. She´s going back to Ecuador this month, but she kept talking about how good she felt in the church- that it was just what she needed, that she was going to follow with it when she went home, and bring her family with her. I´m so happy for her, and for the missionaries who will work with her.

I´m very happy right now, even if we´re not out as much as we´d like. It will be even better when we can really get back to the street and finding. Please reach out to less active members- they need more fellowshipping than investigators, and it´s hard to come back. So, that´s you´re homework.

This church is true- and there isn´t any small part of me that doubts it, or that doubts the existence and divinity of Jesus Christ.

I love you all, and hope all is well with you- thank you for all you do for me.

Love, Hna. Johnson

November

Dear family,

things are going well. Natacha is preparing to be baptized this Saturday, and grins as pleased as punch whenever we bring it up. Gustavo is really progressing- he´s finally reading the Book of Mormon on his own (it´s better when we give him interesting reading assignments instead of expecting start to finish, like Natacha, who´s a reader like me), and praying on his own. Following up on commitments is so important. We´d pretty much grown to expect Natacha to say she´d done her part, and Gustavo to duck behind his Book of Mormon with an embarrassed smile and say he hadn´t. But we asked how their prayers were going and Gustavo surprised us by saying bashfully, "Actually, something interesting happened on Monday." He told us that he was sick and prayed to feel better, and almost immediately, the pain went away. His faith still isn´t quite as strong as Natacha´s, but it´s incredible to watch it grow.

I don´t know if I mentioned it or not, but it´s getting cold here in Spain- who knew? The good news is, they sell freshly roasted chestnuts on nearly every street corner. Have you ever had them? If not, I suggest you have some this Christmas season. Even though Hna. Brown and I still haven´t figured out if you´re supposed to eat the ashy outside or not. We eat it anyway.

There´s not much else to say for this week- we´re working and looking for more investigators, as always. Keep praying for my companion´s knees- they´re getting worse, and we´ll probably have to go to the doctor this week for her. Deja vu! 

Oh, I might be in love with the 3 1/2 year old son of one of the members. His name is Gonzalo, and not only have he and his sister created a theme song for Hna. Brown and I, he calls me "guapa" about every day I see him. The other day he spat in the chapel during a ward activity and I knelt down to tell him that we don´t do that in the Lord´s house. His eyes got big and he held my face very seriously as he said, "But God doesn´t live here. He lives in heaven." I told him God has a lot of houses- in heaven, and on earth, like the chapels and the temples. He looked at me thoughtfully and asked, "Conoces a Dios?" (Do you know God?) I said yes, and he nodded approvingly. "Sí. Eres muy guapa." As if that summed it all up. I´ll attach a picture of him and his sister with the beetle we caught.

I love the mission, even the hard days, and love working with all my heart. I love reading the Book of Mormon, and learn something from nearly every phrase I find. Take care, everyone. Love you all!

Love, Hna. Johnson

Good Morning Huelva

Dear family,

I don´t feel so well just now, so I don´t know that this will be a very long email, but no worries, I´m sure it´ll pass.

Things are going well here. I feel like every day we live our potential a little more fully as a companionship. We talk to people all day and invite everyone to learn about Christ. We´ve definitely been led to some incredible people this week, and I´m pretty excited to see where it will go with them.

Sandra´s family is going well- we´re in a tiny bit of a rut with them, but I think we figured out the problem last night during some companion study, so hopefully we´ll get some more direction on how to address it and help them progress and develop a more personal relationship with Christ. 

The most exciting thing happening right now is the changing attitude of the ward in Huelva. When we first arrived, the members told us lightly that the missionary work was a bit "dormida" (asleep) in Huelva, and it was pretty true. Now that Hna. Brown and I are putting our whole hearts in though, we´ve been seeing more miracles, finding more investigators, including more members in the lessons, and helping the investigators attend church. When we ask members to pray for our investigators, or add more to their already existing lists, they begin to become excited, and talk about how they´ve seen a change in the work here. They´re more interested in us as missionaries, and in our investigators. We couldn´t be more pleased with this change, which makes us just want to work harder.

I´m so glad I´m on the mission right now. Once in a while I´ll think of a song I like, or a book I enjoyed reading, or how nice it is to be with the family, but it never makes me sad, because I know this time is short, and I´m enjoying every instant of it.

Thank you for your prayers and your love. I wouldn´t be who or where I am without you. 

Love, Hna. Johnson

Sunday Will Come

Dear Family,

when I wrote last week, Hna. Brown and I were pretty discouraged. No matter how hard we worked, it didn´t seem like anything pulled through- our progressing investigators had fallen through on coming to church. And as for other investigators... we didn´t have any.

We´re still luchando/tirando, as they say, but we´ve received so many blessings this week. I´m not sure if I ever made mention of it, but a few weeks ago we had to stop teaching the little boy named Samuel (with the less active parents) for some potentially hostile circumstances, and we were so disappointed- he loves the gospel, reads the Book of Mormon on his own and cries when his parents don´t take him to church. Anyway, we met his dad on the street by accident, and he apologized to us and asked us to come back and teach his son. Furthermore, the whole family came to church on Sunday.

We also found a new investigator who has the pinta of being a faithful investigator. He has a pretty sad past, and can´t even get in contact with his wife who left him, or his three adult children. He says he´s really been waiting for something like this. 

Things are going really well with Sandra´s family. We´ve been able to meet with them about three times this week, thanks to a little more help from the members. Natacha is preparing to be baptised November 2, and Gustavo... well, he´s reading from the Book of Mormon at least :)  and really has real intent. They are like a member family already- honestly, when they came to church this Sunday (back to that in a minute), they looked neater and more modest than many of the members, and definitely more reverent. Both Gustavo and Natacha have a really good understanding of what being baptised involves- they recognize that it´s a lifelong commitment, and they want to be sure of their decision before taking it. We have high hopes for them.

Sunday with them was good- we advised everyone that they were coming, so each group (YM/YW/RS) gave them a warm welcome. Despite the normal arguments in Relief Society and the lengthy talk on the evils of pornography during sacrament meeting, they all were happy- they said they felt very accepted- it brought back good memories to Sandra, and both Natacha and Gustavo said it wasn´t as boring as they´d anticipated. 

Just one more thing I want to share from this week. The mission involves such an intense sort of love. It´s the kind of love President Hinckley described when he said that love is an "anxious concern for the well being of another". It´s this anxious concern that drives me out into the street in the morning, and leaves me either exhausted and spent at the end of the day, or awake for hours worrying about these people. When Sandra´s family fell through last week, Hna Brown and I hit a slump that was hard to recover from, and when they came, our joy was so intense it left us breathless. I think so often of how easy missionary work would be if we only sought for numbers and a quantity of baptisms- if we protected ourselves from disappointment by not allowing ourselves to love so deeply. But if we didn´t feel this way, this work would have no heart, and no real purpose.

I have hard days, I have hard weeks, but I would embrace a hard 18 months if I can love and help just one family like this.

I know this is the work of the Lord, and that my love for the people around me is nothing compared with His. "[The Lord] doeth nothing save it be for the benefit of the world; for he loveth the world, even that he layeth down his own life that he may draw all men unto him. Wherefore, he commandeth none that they shall not partake of his salvation. Behold, doth he cry unto any saying: depart from me? Behold, I say unto you, Nay; but he saith: Come unto me all ye ends of the earth..." (2 Nephi 26:24-25) I know Christ lives, and I love Him more than I can say.

Love, Hna. Johnson

P.S. Sorry for such a long letter- just making up for last week :)

Finally Finishing

Dear family,

the big news of the week is that I´m staying with Hna. Brown here in Huelva this transfer, which means that after nearly 7 months as a missionary, I¨m finally going to finish my own training.

Things are... going. This might be a shorter letter home because there isn´t much happening. The Chilean family out in Valverde is progressing a little slowly- partially because we can´t get out to see them much, since it´s 2 hours of travel total, and because the bus schedule is really unreliable. We were stuck there for three hours the other day waiting for a bus that never came- some members had to drive all the way out from Huelva to save us. Hna. Brown and I were pretty disappointed when they didn´t come to church- the night before we´d called them and they assured us they would.

We received what looked like a golden reference from an investigator- a young spanish woman who´d heard about us and really wanted to meet with us. Like we always do when we first teach someone, we asked her what her expectations were from meeting with us. Her response? Learning English. 

Apparently there was also a woman that showed up to the church on a Saturday during a YSA activity, and told them she needed to fill her life spiritually and would come on Sunday. She didn´t show up, and no one asked her for her phone number or address.

On the bright side, Hna. Brown and I receive marriage proposals on a regular basis, so it would appear that I don´t have to worry about being an old maid.

Really though, we are contacting more and trying as best we can to set up appointments. Hna. Brown´s Spanish is improving. We´re reading the Book of Mormon as a mission, and I love what I learn from it every day- I know that it is the most correct book on earth, and that it is the evidence of the restoration of the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Keep us in your prayers.

Love, Hna. Johnson

Your Dad is so Cute!

Dear family,

I just had a wonderful conference weekend with my district. Our timetable was a bit different than yours because of the time difference. We started watching the morning sessions at 6 in the afternoon, and the night sessions from 10 to midnight. (No worries, we had permission to do so). I loved all the conference talks, and in particular Elder Ballard´s about missionary work (giving me courage to open my mouth more) and Elder Scott´s (or was it the other way around? Don´t have my notes with me) about the differences between weakness and rebellion. I´m not too rebellious, so that´s a relief, but I recognize my weaknesses more poignantly each day.

It was also nice to hear and see Dad this weekend (I mean... I had my eyes closed the whole prayer...), and to hear him pray for the missionaries, each one. After the prayer, Hna. Brown blurted out, "Your dad is so cute!" Yes, yes he is.

We began teaching Sandra´s children out in Valverde del Camino, and because of the way our schedule has been, have only taught them once this last week, but hope to visit them 3 times the coming week. The kids are so good- very respectful and interested in what we have to say- particularly the 15 year old daughter. She´s a reader like me, and was so excited when we handed her the Book of Mormon and explained the blessings she´d receive from reading it. I can´t wait to see their faces in church this coming Sunday.

We´ve also started a mission wide goal of reading the Book of Mormon cover to cover before the end of the year, starting today. In just the first few pages, I was taught so much from my study today. I really do love that book. The story of how it came to be revealed and translated by Joseph Smith is incredible- so much so that only the Spirit can truly testify of it´s veracity. One miracle of the Book of Mormon is that just that happens to so many people. In a world of skepticism, we all still have the spark of the light of Christ, and can know good from evil, and people are learning each day that the Book of Mormon comes from God.

Just maybe not too quickly here in Huelva- but we are trying, and it´s amazing how we see the blessings that fall into our hands from obedience and from effort. Hna. Brown and I were marvelling the other day that we honestly don´t see many of the fruits that come directly from our own efforts, but that when we do put our best foot forward, the Lord blesses us indirectly.

Thank you all for your encouragement, love and support. I´m doing well, and don´t need anything right now, but I would ask you all to get to know the missionaries in your area, to pray for opportunities to share the gospel, and then do it. I know you´ll see blessings in your lives and the lives of others as you do so- I see it every day, and there´s nothing more beautiful.

All my love, 

Hna. Johnson

With Sara, a young adult so willing to help