Que Ojazos!

Dear family,

It´s been a good week- I was hardly in our area because I did two consecutive intercambios in other hna´s areas- Murcia and Cartagena. I was with my MTC companion Hna. Thompson in Murcia- it was strange reminiscing with her- it´s been a year now since we first entered the MTC.

Hna. Nielsen and I have had some interesting contacting experiences this week. From a Muslim man that wants to invite us to dinner, to some door slams, to women who have family in other countries that are members of the church and are willing to hear more. The best had to be knocking a building in the more "chungo" part of town. On the third floor, this 20 something year old gypsy man opened the door in a tanktop, pointing a harpoon gun in our general direction. We probably looked a bit like deer in headlights (or missionaries in the sights of a harpoon gun) as we presented our message briefly, eyeing all the while his finger above the trigger. He told us he wasn´t interested in such things (se nota), and as we descended, we heard the door close above us and the fwoomp! of the harpoon being fired and making its mark on who knows what. Fortunately not us.

This week Jose Angel came to church with two of his nieces- Miriam and Lola. Everyone that met them commented on their huge blue eyes- "Que ojazos!", and the girls loved church. Miriam wanted us to stay with her in primary, and it was so fun to see her participate in the class (I hope someday i can be a primary teacher). They asked for our help in sharing time- asked me to tell the story of Christ´s resurrection from Mary Magdaline´s point of view. Besides a short protest when I presented myself ("You´re not María Magdalena! You´re Hna. Johnson!") they were all very reverent when I told the story. You could tell we all felt the significance of it- that it wasn´t just a story. That Christ really lived on this earth, paid our ransom, gave His life, and resurrected, and because of Him, we can have real hope.

It´s true, and I know it´s true because I´ve studied it out and thought of it time after time, and each time I feel its truthfulness in the light I feel throughout my being. I´m grateful for Him, and grateful to be teaching His doctrine and inviting everyone to come unto Him.

All my love,
Hna. Johnson

Cruz Roja

Dear family,

I realize I never explained why the last email was titled the light blue bus. Ha. I told Hna. Nielsen last week that to solve the problem of getting investigators to church was to buy a light blue bus and drive them there ourselves, then there was that miracle of having the ward mission leader´s big car, and now it´s not even funny anymore because you had to wait a week for the punch line. This is why I don´t tell jokes.

Anyway, it´s been an interesting week. Hna. Nielsen and I were half dead from traveling 16 hours in 2 days, then doing intercambios, so we worked a bit like zombies the rest of the week, but even so we got blessings. Jose Angel and Adrieli are both still progressing- it´s incredible to me that in such a lost world, there are people like them with such pure hearts. It´s such a blessing to serve a mission and get to meet them.

We asked an older member if she knew of any service projects we could do for the community, and without warning she pushed the emergency call button on her necklace- the red cross answered on the machine, asking what the emergency was. "I´ve got 2 american girls here who want to know if they can volunteer there." Pepita responded. Hna. Nielsen and I looked at each other white faced as the woman said, "Are they there? Let me talk to them." We were ready to get ripped apart, but she was really nice and told us where the office was and when to pass by. We decided that it only makes sense she wasn´t upset for a non-emergency emergency call since people go to the emergency room here about once a week on average.

Miracle of the week- when Hna. Nielsen and I were dead tired, we still tried to push through and keep working and contacting- no luck for two days straight- not one future, and at the end of one long day, we contacted one woman, who asked us immediately after where the church was. We talked with her a minute more- turns out when she was 12 in Colombia, she´d attended church for about a year, but never joined it. She says she´d be happy to hear us again.

Things are going well- pray for Hna. Nielsen, who´ll be doing intercambios on her own here in Alicante two days straight as I go to Murcia and Cartagena- she´s stressed. Thank you for all your love and support. I´m so grateful I get to serve the Lord Jesus Christ here in Spain. He lives and wants us all to know how to return to Him. I love the scripture, "Will ye not return and repent, that I may heal you?" I hope to love as Christ does someday.

Love, Hna. Johnson

The Light Blue Bus

Dear family,

it´s been another miraculous week. We had two intercambios with Elche, my first intercambios on my own in my own area (read, without Hna. Cano), and they went well. I could not believe how exhausted I was when we finished- Hna. Nielsen came home in similar condition, but we really felt we were able to help the other missionaries.

The spirit really guided us this week. In one home of a less active, we found out they weren´t living the word of wisdom and retaught it to them- they really softened and committed to living it completely. We taught Leo for the first time in a week, and as we talked, I felt something was different about him and commented on it. He asked me what I thought had changed. Reflecting just a moment, I answered, "I feel you´re distancing yourself from God. You aren´t reading the scriptures or praying. You´ve stopped keeping the commandments. You´ve fallen into old habits, haven´t you?" He leaned back, a bit surprised and answered that it was all correct. I told him that when he started doing those things, the rest would fall into place. It was one of the most direct and specific inspirations I¨ve received from the Holy Ghost- it´s incredible to feel it work through you. Hopefully he´ll take this decision now- we´ve taught him everything- it´s up to him to live according to his knowledge or not.

Adrieli´s doing well- probably won´t baptized this week, but she´s doing well- she´s committed to live all the commandments, just wants to be more sure before her baptism because she doesn´t want to fall away.

Jose Angel and our miracle family are doing really well. They all love what we´ve taught and one of our huge concerns this past week was how we were going to help them get to church, because they haven´t got the money for the bus and it´s an hour walk to the chapel (bit tough on little feet), and we prayed and prayed for a solution. At our ward council, we brought up the problem, knowing that everyone with cars already had their spots filled, but hoping for a miracle- we got one! Our ward mission leader told us that he´d just gotten their other vehicle repaired and he could take the entire family with him! In the end, a lot of them didn´t come because family came to visit, but said they´d come next week, and now we have the means. Lola and Jose Angel came- Lola LOVED it- said she´d bring everyone next time.

Everything is going well- Hna. Nielsen is a great missionary and so many good things are happening for us right now. I´m so happy to be a missionary, and will definitely miss it once I go home, even if I will be happy to see the family again. Take care- don´t let Anne and Nate move to Tokyo before I get back, and make sure I at least get a wedding announcement in the mail.

Love you all!

Love, Hna. Johnson

Here Come the Miracles

Dear family,

I forgot to thank you for the Valentine´s day package- the heart attack was wonderful, and I appreciated every note I received. I hope you got my valentine´s envelope with the I owe you´s. I´ll try to respond to the people who I received letters from recently- Anne, Kari and their families. James, I´m still waiting for those months of letters you´ve been promising me :)

This week has been incredible- even more so than preaching the everlasting gospel of Christ to a Muslim hut village in the middle of a Spanish forest. I didn´t think it was possible either.

Hna. Nielsen is awesome. A little bit hippy in a good way- we get along really well- we were friends since the MTC and have wanted to be companions since then. She´s a hard worker and teaches well. And is just really cool.

Anyway, 2 weeks ago, we still didn´t see much fruit from our efforts, but we kept working because we knew the miracles would come. Most people rejected me contacting, and a lot of times I wondered what good it was, but at the end of that week, I contacted a middle aged spaniard and almost immediately began teaching about the plan of salvation- we set up an appointment for the 21st. Incredibly, he didn´t fail us- moreover, he was waiting outside the door for us- we taught him and his sister with her 4 children, and they all want us to continue teaching- they love us already, and we love them. They´re too poor to take the bus, and the church is an hour away, so only JoseAngel could come to church, but he loved it and I´m hoping we can miraculously find more members to help us take them to church. As we taught him the plan of salvation more in depth in our second lesson with him, and we testified of the Atonement of Jesus Christ, he began to cry, and told us that our words touched his heart. He has a baptismal date for the 22 of March.

A lot of our investigators accepted baptismal dates this week- two others are women we found through that 14 year old boy Kevin that contacted us a while ago. They are friends of the family, and were reluctant to let us in at first, but once we started teaching, we invited the Spirit, and they both love the message and also are preparing to be baptized the 22. Their names are Juliet and Cristina. Juliet is really intelligent- knows the scriptures and really listens and comprehends all we teach, but a little slow... it´s hard to explain, you´d have to know her. Cristina is so prepared- she asks all the right questions in the lessons and keeps her commitments.

Adrieli is doing well. Leo less so.

We´ve seen many more miracles than that, but this letter is already waxing long, so I´ll leave it at this for now. I have simply loved being a missionary this week- I love it more and more as time goes on. When I read in the new testament about Paul and all of the early saints´ missionary efforts, as well as those in the times of the restoration, I¨m astounded that I have been given the blessing of running the same race, fighting for the same cause, preaching the same salvation. I don´t want it to end. Shall we not go on in so great a cause?

I know that this is the work of the Lord. That Joseph Smith restored the full truths of the gospel as a prophet of God. That Christ is our Savior, and suffered for, knows, and loves each person on this earth. He alone has the power to save each of us and wants us to return to live with Him. I know it, and I will not deny it. I testify of this in the name of my Savior, Jesus Christ, Amen.

Love, Hna. Johnson

Besos

Dear family,

I´ll just leave you hanging on that title for a while. It´s been a good week. We´ve been contacting like locas, and it feels so good to just give everyone a chance to listen, whether they decide to or not. We went to a resort town called Benidorm to help the Hermanas there find future investigators- it´s a really tough area. We contacted one man who at first seemed a bit standoffish, but when I found out he was from Chile and started talking about my time there, he opened right up. It´s kind of cheap- I have so many connections with South America that I can say to pretty much anyone I meet, "Ah, I have a sister/brother/friend who lived there!" And then I´ve got them.

Adrieli is progressing a lot. She´s going to stop drinking tea this week, and she committed to do it after her baptism- she´s just so good.

Leo is still holding back- every time we talk with him he has another explanation for why he´s not ready, even though he´s keeping all of his other commitments. Keep him in your prayers.

Had some fun moments at church- one woman gave a Pollyanna-style "Death comes unexpectedly" sort of sermon in sacrament meeting. Drowsy monotone and then "BROTHERS AND SISTERS- THE LORD IS WARNING US!" Fortunately Adrieli didn´t seem scared away- but she did say after that she´s got some repenting to do :)

So, about the besos. It´s custom here to kiss first the right cheek then the left cheek of a person when you greet them. The Elders can´t do it at all, and the sisters only can with women. I met a new investigator family of the zone leaders just before church, standing in a line. I introduced myself and went down the line giving besos to the teenage daughters (soft cheek 1 and 2, soft cheek 1 and 2) and just kept going down the line, and between beardy cheek 1 and 2 I realized something had gone terribly wrong. I jumped back with a yell, hands on my face, and started blubbering about how I shouldn´t do that to this poor investigator father who looked VERY confused, and Elder Rojas had to calmly explain the situation while I repeated "Que vergüenza, que vergüenza!" ("How embarrassing, how embarrassing!") over and over again like a shell shocked missionary. I guess I am.

Everything, is going well. I´m sure I´ll have miracles to tell next week, and hopefully no more moments of breaking basic mission rules.

Love you all!

Love, Hna. Johnson

P.S. Dreamt in Spanish again last night.

English Lessons

Dear family,

President Deere responded to my last weekly letter to him (which is uncommon with how busy he is), and told me I´m going to need to brush up on my English when I go home- Spanish phrases keep sneaking into my vocabulary. I take this as a good sign.

Things went much better this week- Leo younger has another baptismal goal, and yesterday he told us "I want to get baptized" for the first time- he says he first has to change his friendships, because he wants a lasting change- honestly I¨m so much more pleased with that than with a rushed baptism. There is so much pressure in the mission from our leaders to baptize and to do it quickly, but whenever I listen to them and not the spirit, things don´t turn out very well. I´m really learning to trust the spirit more, and for now, I¨m happy where Leo is heading.

Adrieli came to church and really loved it- the young single adults were really kind to her, and she said she felt really good there. She also accepted a baptismal date this week- she is taking in all the teaching well and recognizes the spirit. She believes it´s all true. Still, she wants to wait until March. Her mom is also interested, but we can never teach her because she´s so busy. Adrieli really impresses me- she´s just a really good kid, like Gustavo and Natacha.

The other day we were writing up reports from our exchanges with the sisters in the locutorio, and I heard a portuguese man a few computers over saying a few words in English to a younger boy next to him- we told him about our English classes, to which he responded, "Thank you. I´m an English teacher." which... was a little awkward, but then he asked us what we were here for, and we explained a little bit, and then taught him about the Book of Mormon right there- he says he wants to learn more, and he´s particularly interested in learning about the Plan of Salvation.

We´re looking forward to more miracles like that this week. I´ll miss some of it though- I´ve got exchanges with the Hnas. in Murcia and Cartegena (other companionship) this week. Thanks for everything- I haven´t read through the newsletters yet- but I¨ve printed them and will enjoy them this afternoon.

Have a happy Valentine´s Day! Love you!

Love, Hna. Johnson

P.S. One of my other investigators in Huelva, Rocio, just got baptized- I´m so happy for her!

UPDATE!  Just found out that Hna. Brown is training this transfer (she´s SOOO ready) and that Hna. Nielsen, her current companion who´s from my group, will be my new COMPY!!! If you can´t tell, I¨m excited about this news- Hna. Nielsen is awesome, and I know she´ll help me where I fall short. I´m so happy, but I know I´ll miss Hna. Flanders- she´s been a really good companion. Anyway, that´s all. Have a good week! 

Concilio

Dear family,

sorry for not writing yesterday- we had concilio with the other SHE´s and zone leaders in Málaga, so we had to travel there by bus (7 hours) stay for meetings overnight, and after meetings in the morning, take the bus back (7 hours) to Alicante. We lose our pday, but have permission to write home today. 

We found Pedro again, but he´s really offended about the word of wisdom, and I don´t think we´ll see much progress with him before he leaves for Ecuador. 

Leo is doing pretty well- we´ve had to push back his baptismal date because he´s not ready yet. 

Adrieli (not sure if I´ve mentioned her... 19 year old Brazilian girl) almost came to church this week- at the last minute her mother´s boyfriend took the car and she couldn´t make it. She´s a really spiritual girl- I have faith that she really can progress soon. 

Exchanges with Elche this week went well- I really felt like I was able to contribute, and that I learned from the other missionaries as well. Elche is beautiful- it´s all palm trees- the chapel is in the middle of a forest of them. 

The missionary council was good. I liked being around the other missionaries and sharing stories and testimonies and ideas with them. Also, Hna. Deere gave us Reeses. That´s a plus. 

Speaking of healthy eating, running with Hna. Flanders has been great- I feel a lot better health and confidence wise starting that. 

Contacting is picking up again- it´s always in waves of habit, and we´re getting back into the habit and seeing success. I´ll keep you all updated. 

Well, we have to rescue Hna. Brown and Nielsen right now- their lock is broken to their apartment, so they´re staying the night with us.

I´m doing well, and the work is picking up a bit. Glad to hear good news from home- keep it coming :) 

Love, Hna. Johnson