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

Gazpacho en ze Head

Dear family,

I´m doing well, although we still don´t have too much work. We set a plan for every hour, with at least two back up plans, sometimes three, and we go through nearly every hour and plan without too much success. I´m surprised that I´m not more discouraged right now- I know the Lord is helping me with that.

Another thing that helps is that we know that we´re working our hardest. Before, I was a little shy to talk to people in the streets, (which is weird, because I loved it in Málaga), but we had a great zone conference that boosted my courage and faith, and I´ve been loving it again. My favorite contact by far was this thin, older German man named Tobias that looked like he´d just woken up after falling asleep in the 70´s. He speaks German (obviously), Spanish (he´s lived here for 30 years or so) and English (lived in America for 5 years), but all with a thick German accent. He told us, "I am a mess vith oll uf tees languages. You know gazpacho? Es unt gazpacho en ze head!"

Speaking of great quotes, when we visited an old investigator family this week, the little 11 year old girl, Ramona got excited when she heard we were from America- she told us she could say something in English. After a moment of mental preparation she asked, " Do you like... sausages?"

We had a pretty cool miracle this week. The office called us with a media reference- a woman named Sandra had asked for a copy of the Book of Mormon and finding faith in Christ- we called her and set up an appointment to visit her in a pueblo about an hour out from Huelva. She seemed surprised but pleased that we were coming out to deliver the order. Upon meeting her, we found out that she was a (Chilean!) member that hadn´t been to church in many years, and that didn´t know there was a chapel in Huelva. When I asked her to offer the opening prayer, she started to cry, and told us that she´d tried to get in contact with the church again because she´d had a dream of two sister missionaries visiting her, but she hadn´t thought it would really happen- it´s a miracle because we´re the first sister missionaries in Huelva in 10 years. She wants us to start teaching her 14 and 15 year old children the missionary lessons this week (neither they nor her husband are members).

Other little things- it finally began raining in Huelva, and hasn´t really stopped being cloudy and drizzly. The problem is that Spain shuts down at any "extreme" weather- too hot? Everyone´s inside sleeping. Raining? Everyone´s inside sleeping. No one came to English class this week because it was raining. They need to take a lesson from me and just love the rain... and the gospel.

Cool fact- Hna. Sara Brown played against cousins McKale and Alyssa in volleyball and softball- she says she was always jealous of the Blanding teams :)

I heard great news from my old companion Hna. Folsom- the daughters in the part member family we were teaching were baptized on Saturday, and so was Kingsley- don´t remember if you´ll remember that. I have a feeling my whole mission will just be planting seeds and hopefully seeing other people pluck the fruit. As long as it gets plucked, I suppose :)

I hear there are finally sister missionaries in Sandy- I hope when I get home I can go on splits with them- I know I´ll miss being a missionary.

I got the letters and cards from the Paul Johnson reunion and loved every one of them, and got a kick out of the far sider dash. And don´t worry, Mom, I´ll try to get home for the next reunion :)

Everything´s going well- still slow, but like I said, we´re doing our best. Hna. Brown is really frustrated with Spanish- please keep her in your prayers- remember her before me.

I love you all, and I love this work. I know that it is in the Lord´s hands, and that we are only His instruments. We just have to stay in tune so that he can conduct us. Take care!

Love, Hna. Johnson 

PS  Super excited to hear Dad pray in the Saturday session of conference- I miss that man!

Aliens

Dear family,

it´s been a more productive week than the last- I think the work is slowly picking up. We´re teaching Matthew and Joy´s son, who is nine and hasn´t been baptized yet, but he´s accepted a baptismal date for October. He´s a really sweet boy- good to his mom and his little sister, and very bright. It´s a joy to teach him because he really thinks about what we say and it sticks with him... even if he gets distracted when my companion is struggling to find a word in Spanish.

Things are great with Hna. Brown. She´s still frustrated by the language, but we find better ways to help her practice and prepare every day, and the people love her. She really is such a wonderful person, and we find reasons to laugh every day, particularly when people talk about- you guessed it- ALIENS.

We went to visit one of our investigators in her store (where she lives) and met her friend Osa, who sometimes helps in the store. He said he´d met missionaries before, and we clarified a few things that he didn´t know, and taught him more about the Book of Mormon. Then he went off on an alien theory he´d heard about- it was a little blurry, but it involved ancient instructions on how to build WW2 weapons that the Germans used that had been left by the aliens, and how the pyramids were constructed by the aliens, and that Adam and Eve were put here by, yup, aliens, and that outstanding people are aliens and that when the Savior ascended into heaven...

That´s where I had to draw the line and tell him it was not by a tractor beam, and no, He was not an alien. Hna. Brown had a hard time keeping a straight face, I think.

We had a really powerful lesson with the woman who owns the store- Lexi- about the Book of Mormon. It was incredible the way we felt the spirit testifying through us and bearing witness that what we said was true. I know the words we used were given to us, because after the lesson we discussed how we´d each said things the other felt impressed to say. I hope I never forget that feeling.

We have a few new investigators- probably the most promising is Fabiola, a friend of a less active member. We went to visit Cristiani, and she was there. We taught a short lesson because she didn´t have time, but she says she just wants to know what to believe in. She accepted a copy of the Book of Mormon and we´re meeting with her again today.

We´ve had some miracles with people approaching us in the street this last week- we greeted one man and he nodded at us thoughtfully- I was torn between talking with him and walking on, since we were late to an appointment. I did the stupid thing and kept walking, but he showed up behind us at the door while we waited for the family to buzz us in and asked who we were and what our church was. He gave us his number and told us he was interested- I´m excited to follow up with him, and the other people we met this week.

Some days are long, and can only be survived with a cup of ice cream, but I love this work, and I testify that it is the work of the Lord, and that I see His hand in each life we meet and know that He loves His children and prepares them to come home to Him. I love Him and couldn´t be happier to serve.

I love you all and have you in my prayers. 

Love, Hna. Johnson

Doing Well in Huel...va

This week I complete 6 months in the mission- I can´t believe it. I remember when my trainer, Hna. Cano told me she´d been out for 9 months, and I thought she was so mature and wise. (She was). Things are a little slow here still. The few investigators we had don´t really want anything at all, but there are a lot of less active members and part member families to work with, and I think that´s where Hna. Brown and I will focus our efforts.

I think it´s felt slower and harder here because I don´t have so many investigators to love, but I´ve decided to focus on the people I do love. To name a few:

There´s Cristal, a single member that begged the bishop to let us come live with her as soon as she knew we were coming, and who invites us to eat each week. She makes a large meal that she can´t eat, being diabetic, and sends what we don´t finish home with us.

Matthew and Joy are a less active Nigerian couple, who are only less active because they don´t have money for the bus to get them to church, but are now getting the help from the ward they need. Matthew speaks like Sir Percy from the Scarlet Pimpernel, but with a Nigerian accent, if that´s possible.

Galicia, Gabriel and Alina are a family from Colombia- and the son served in the same mission as Mark. They´re all very willing to help with missionary work, and all are very kind to us.

Our ward mission leader, Antonio, made sure we had the help we needed to get our gas line working so we didn´t have to take cold showers in the morning, and helps us in finding work and in our confidence.

And of course I love my companion. I feel like I´m being forced to face one of my demons this transfer- envy. Hna. Brown is everything I was jealous of growing up- a cute 4.0 student, who plays every sport, dances, and is a social butterfly. Really, the only solution I¨ve found to envy, surprisingly, is praising her, noting all of her good qualities and building her up in the one area she seems to be lacking (Spanish). Let´s see if I can keep my demons at bay.

Another thing that´s really helped me is focusing on what I have been blessed with- not talents, but the life I¨ve been given. Whenever I start pitying myself, I think of all of your faces and know that I could not have been blessed with a stronger or more loving family. I wouldn´t trade that for any other blessing- what good would any other blessing do me if I didn´t belong with each of you?

I thank you all for your letters and prayers- I love you and appreciate you all more than ever before. Give the kids a hug and a kiss from me and tell them I love them.

Love, Hna. Johnson