28 March 2012

So this week has been pretty fun. We got 4 more investigators that might just be golden and we also have a golden family that we have been teaching, the mom is actually the first person that I taught when I arrived here. The names of the members of the family are Martha (cubed because we have three), Giovani, Christopher and Giovana (Though she is only about 6ish years old so I don't really know if she counts as an investigator). They are all from South America or have been born in Spain, but they are a great family, the only member that is hesitant right now is the son Christopher, because he loves his grandma so much, and she is Catholic, so he is a little hesitant about being converted. But, in our last lesson with the family we asked if they would all be baptized when they found out this was true and they said yes, which was really exciting.

Next there is an unmarried couple (Jonathan and Melissa) with a son that´s about 4 months old(Santiago). They are a really young family and are really interested in the church, the only problem is that they are unmarried and we talked with Melissa and she doesn´t have any desire to do so. The last ones that are really great (That I have met) are a couple (Jessica and --something-- ) from Nicaragua with a daughter that is about 1.5 years old. They have looked into a lot of religions and are looking for a church to join, but they don´t know which one. Also, last week we had an appointment with a Filipino lady, but they ended up not being there, so we taught four of her relatives in the doorway of the piso, my companion thinks that there are about 4 or 5 families in the piso, so that will be really exciting to be able to teach all those people if we can. So basically all our investigators are from South America I think. There are almost no Spaniards that are interested in hearing what we have to say, which is rather unfortunate.

So there is a less active member that we have that we visited yesterday, he is from Africa, moved to Portugal, and is now here. I feel really bad for him because he is jobless and all the people that he is around do drugs and drink. So he is having a really hard time because he can´t get away from it because he doesn´t have the money to do so. However, he is an awesome person, He is really nice and he wants to change, the only problem is that he can´t do so. I wish we could help him, but I do not know if there is any way that we can except through prayers for a miracle.

So Wednesdays are our p-days, since you wanted to know. Today we went to the Plaza Del Sol and to the Royal Palace and a huge Catholic cathedral also. They were pretty cool.

So for letters and packages, I haven´t received any yet, though I am expecting some from Papa. I would assume that the best way to do it would be through the mission home, but if that doesn´t work then I will just give you my address and try to remind you whenever I change so that it doesn´t go to the wrong place.

It would be very nice to receive some recipes to cook, the ingredients here are a little different though, so I don´t know if I will have everything, and it would also have to be something fast, because we don´t often have a lot of time to cook. Also, the only things that we have to cook with are 2-3 small pots (about the size of the smallest ones that you have when I left) and a small pan, and an oven and microwave. However, you can´t exactly make everything with those. So, I would love to have something to eat besides the ¨fast food¨ that we have here, however, I don't know if I will be able to cook a lot.

So on the note of food, they treat their food very differently here. They do not refrigerate their milk or eggs. However, their milk is chemical milk and can survive on the counter four about 4 months. Also, they have an amazing juice here which consists of fruit juice and milk. Which does not sound appetizing at all, but is pretty delicious. I think that is the strangest thing here, though it might also be surprising when you see the pig legs hanging in the windows of some butcher shops. The fruit is pretty good here. In the MTC cafeteria here, I had some pears that were more juicy than the bosc pears, so I was excited about those, I had about 3 in a meal before I decided that I should stop eating them all. Also, all the food here is really cheap. I bought 7 pears today for about 2 euros which is equivalent to about 3 dollars.

I believe that I will receive a copy of the general conference talks in English, but if I don´t I can always let you know.

So , I don´t know what else to say right now... I´ll continue the letters for you guys, but I don´t know if I will finish it today.

Until next week,

Love,

Elder Johnson

21 March 2012

So I am serving in Madrid! I am in the 3rd Ward of the West Stake which is one of the best areas in the mission for baptisms, or so I hear. It´s probably because it is like the South America of Madrid.

Almost everyone here is from a different country and therefore I get to live in Madrid and have the unique food of each of those countries. So this week I had cow tongue on Saturday ( it was surprisingly delicious and tender, I would definitely recommend it). Monday I had some mixture of spices and other things that was basically the spitting image of vomit. ( That too was very good). Then later I had a soup that had the basic potatoes, carrots, chicken, except for some reason the bones were still included. So the food here is pretty good, except I hear the milk is not desirable in any way, probably because Madrid is a huge city in the middle of a desert. But they do have this mixture of fruit juice and milk that's amazing. My companion says that if Spain got anything right it is the juice.

 

So once you get into the field you realize that people have different accents and talk quite a bit faster than expected. So there are quite a few times, especially with the thick accents, that I have to turn to my companion and ask him what they just said. The language is coming, but rather slow unfortunately. But if I follow the schedule that I have been given, I should be able to be a trainer in 12 weeks, hopefully.

So my companion´s name is Elder Wilson, he has 9 months, almost 10 in the mission and he is from Utah. His Spanish is pretty good, at least significantly greater than mine. We live in an apartment at an intersection just above the metro and bus station. ( if you are unfamiliar with the buildings in Spain, there are stores at the first floor and then apartments on all the floors above it). The only problem about Spain is that EVERYONE smokes, so almost every time you pass someone you can smell their cigarette. You can actually basically always smell it, one of my resource teachers in Provo said that Spain smells old, but to me it just smells like old cigarette smoke.

 

Anyway, we have somewhere around 20 to 25 investigators right now, none of them have a baptismal date at this moment, but some of them are getting pretty close. Right now we have two families, relatively new, that are amazing. One has already started coming to church and all the other activities and if I didn´t know better I could almost believe that they are a Mormon family. The other we have only taught once, but they already believed some of the same things that we believe and it appears that the teachings of the restoration make sense to them. Of course we need a prophet because ... for an example. At one point the husband started completing our sentence about what we were teaching, it is awesome. Also, they have great questions which basically show that we have the true gospel, it´s awesome. The work is awesome and it makes me so excited and happy to see other people progressing and coming to the truth. The only annoying thing is when we contact someone that seems amazing and then they end up being in another companionship´s area, or they end up having a problem that could be very difficult for them to overcome. I wish we could help them all. Also, surprisingly, it is the young people that are interested in the gospel, the old people won´t even talk to you usually. It´s kind of weird because to me it seems like the exact opposite of the US.

So I don´t know what else to say, I am in the same apartment with my companion from the Madrid MTC, so that is interesting, at least it isn´t one of the people that I don´t know. The ward is great, they help out a lot and we have been fed by someone almost every single day this past week, it´s awesome, so I hope you guys are taking care of the missionaries there, because basically the only times that we get dinner is when we are fed by someone ( we basically don´t have time until about 9:30 at night).

 

Well, I don´t know what else to say, I have started writing letters to all of you guys, but I don´t know if I will finish this week, so they may not come for awhile. Also, I gave some people at the Provo MTC the address to the house, so would you be able to forward those to me every once in awhile please? Also, I might include some letters to other people in a group of letters to you, would you be able to pass those along as well?

Well, I think that´s about it. Hasta la proxima semana.

Love,

Elder Johnson

Letter from Talon's Mission President and First Pics

(Emailed to us March 20, 2012)

Dear Johnson Family,

We are pleased to tell you that we met with your missionary yesterday in the MTC Madrid. After a short orientation, he was introduced to his new companion, Elder Wilson and they went right to work in their new area, Madrid Barrio 3.

Attached is a photo of the group of new missionaries.  We also have a mission blog which can be found at spainmadridmission.blogspot.com.

We suggest that you avoid sending expensive items through the mail to your missionary. Such items are often sent through customs and additional “Import Tax” is assessed, which can often be 40-60 euros. All clothing items can be purchased here more cheaply than at home, factoring in shipping and import taxes. Thank you for sharing your son with us. We will do all we can to make sure he is healthy, happy and successful in his missionary efforts.

Sincerely,

Pres. and Sister Watkins

March 15th

So tomorrow I am going out into the field!! I am really excited to go there and see what it is like and what the people are like. Also, I am excited to go and teach someone, I love being able to bring the spirit to someone´s home and help them. I don´t yet know where I am going, but I do know that I am not going to the Canary Islands, since the president met with those people today and I wasn´t one of them. It´s going to be weird leaving the MTC, I have been here for so long and know some of the people so well, that it will be a little dissapointing to leave them all and possibly never see them again. However, I also don´t feel like I am learning a lot while I am here, in fact I almost feel like my Spanish has decreased here, just because I am in the lower class, and becasue of the time spent in the park I am not learning much more Spanish.

So this week on Sunday we had a talk by the stake president that called up a talk that was given in the past about missionary work in Europe finally taking off. In it he stated that the work will begin in the Iberian Peninsula ( Spain and Portugal) and will then spread across Europe, and in the past four years the amount of baptisms has increased from an everage of about 200 a year to around 1000 a year. And the president said that he expects an increase to that rate with the missionaries heading out to the field. So, the time for Europe may finally be upon us, which will be really exciting.

Also, so today we got our residencies at a government building that I first mistook for a circus. The weather isn´t too bad here but it is rather hot, The other day I got red and tan just from sitting out in the sun for a hour playing soccer. It would be nice if they had a spring, but it seems like it turned strait to summer.

So I don´t know what much else to say... The park is pretty exciting and I do get to talk with quite a bit of people, and I can surprisingly understand them, after they start talking a little bit slower. But I still love the languages, actually at this moment I want to learn a lot of languages , so maybe when I get back I will study that, but we will see. My companion's name is Elder Laubaugh. Though it may be a little late now since tomorrow I should be getting a new companion. That´s awesome about Bremen (starting soccer and playing pokemon), it makes me laugh because I know that that is exactly what I did when I was younger, and I had a lot of fun doing it too.

 Oh and just to say it, Spainiards do not drive on the opposite side of the road. Their cars and roads are normal. But their cars do look a little funny

Well, I need to get to emailing Papa, I finally got his letter this week. And hopefully next week I will have some time to write letters to you guys.... Hopefully.

So until next week,

Elder Johnson.

*Note from mom - if you are going to send a letter this week, just send it through his email address until we get his new mailing address.  You could also send it to the mission office.

March 8th

So this week has flown by, as usual. The Spain MTC is a lot more fun than the one in Provo though. We got a new group of missionaries this week from the U.S., Chile, Mexico, France and one from England and Italy. It´s pretty cool how there are a bunch of languages here. We have filled up the MTC though, they had to put an extra bed in all the rooms. Luckily the Italians and Russians left this week so it´s not as crowded as it could be though. So I am not sure about my mailing address, but I heard that they will mail dear elders to me if you send it through there. Also, I will be staying in the mtc here until next Thursday or Friday, we have to establish our residence here before we can go into the field. We get to go proselyte in the park every Saturday, and because we are visa waiters we have chosen to go on Tuesdays and Fridays also. It´s pretty cool at the park because there are actually people that want to or are mildly interested in hearing what we have to say. However, about half the people that we talk to are tourists and so we usually have to speak with them through the few English words that they know. It seems like everyone knows at least a few words in English.

 

So the accent here is pretty cool. They have the theta, the jota, and a little bit of the ja too. So when I come back, those who speak American or Mexican Spanish probably won´t be able to understand what I am saying at all. So I don´t feel like my Spanish is all that great, but I can basically understand what people are trying to say to me, for the most part. When I come back I´ll be using those, so good luck to you too.

 

So I have a new companion here at this MTC. I actually met him on the first day at the Provo MTC. He is from Ohio and plays football. He also likes to talk with everybody. though that could just be because he made a promise that he would do so. He is a pretty good guy though, and he tries with the language and tries to help people.

 

The food here is a lot different. The ingredients are much better, because all the food is real.  The most occurring food is carrot soup and french fries with varying meat.

 

So yesterday we watched a talk of Elder Holland when he was speaking at the Provo MTC in August. What was pretty cool was the fact the there was quite a bit of the same material in this talk as there was in the talk that he gave right before he left. However, regardless of the repetition I still enjoyed it and felt the spirit.

 

So I have gone to the temple and they have the session in English and all the Spanish speakers have to wear headphones so they can understand.

 

I have not yet gone to Madrid. I could today, but I don´t quite feel like it, and the district leaders feel the same way, so I probably won´t be going until next week, or maybe in two weeks.

 

I didn´t get a letter from Papa this week, so could you just forward him this one? I don´t know if there are other questions that he might want answered.

 

P.S. You can write long letters if you want and I can print them out here, so that way I won't use up all my time reading them. Just if it interests you.

 

Well, I'm pretty much out of time, so until next week,

 

Elder Johnson

March 1st

Dear Family,

So I am now in Spain! Everything went well with the flight. I am not super tired... yet, but since I have only slept for about 2 hours last night and I won´t get to until this evening it could be a little difficult later on today. So it is a lot different here, there is a lot of freedom and we get to go visit Madrid on p days and then we can also go proselyting on Saturdays. I don´t have the same companion here. The food is also pretty good here. There are some Russians and Italians that are also here learning. There are some Italians in our room and we can talk with them with Spanish, so that is pretty nice, but I can´t understand the Russians, except I believe that one of them can speak a little bit of English. Well, the temple is pretty cool and the city is pretty nice, it feels kind of weird to be in a city that can´t speak English though. Well, I don´t know if there is much more to say...

So until next week,

Elder Johnson