22 August 2012

Hello!!

So, I am staying in barrio 3! Elder Wilson went to be an AP. And I am now with Elder Berthon. He is from Bolivia (technically). But he has been living in Barcelona (Spain) for about 12 years now. He has the same amount of time as i do in the mission, and i think that he has spent all of his mission in the Canary Islands. He is the exact opposite of me. He had his trainer for only one transfer, and about the same amount of time with all of his other companions. He came in at a weird time-. We were expecting him at about 10 or 10:30 at night and he came at 9:30, which of course was exactly right after we said the prayer on the food at the bishops house. So we ran over to the piso. Found the Presidente and his wife and my companion. We ran inside, dropped off his luggage and then ran back to eat with the bishop. So it was a night that was rather occupied.

so unfortunately I haven´t been able to take a whole lot of pictures, i was going to try to buy one today, but i don't think that i am going to have enough time. Sooo, we´ll see when it gets done. I would have really preferred if i had it two weeks ago, but i didn´t think about it then nor did i have a lot of time to buy one. I asked elder Wilson to send me some pictures of this past week so i should receive most of the ones that I would have taken.

So the pictures I have here are of our district at our last district meeting.Now the only one that is left is Elder Raiano, and he lives a different piso ahora. The transfers were pretty crazy. The president put some hermanas outside of Madrid ( which hadn´t been seen for a long time) and he put some in the Canary Islands. So all of the hermanas have disappeared from barrio 3 and 9. Elder Rodriguez, who we picked up last Wednesday is one of the elders that has taken the spot of the hermanas that were in our ward. the other elder in our ward is Elder Perkins. The elders in b9 are Elder Raiano, Elder Cardoso, Elder Veintimilla and Elder Strand. Elder Laubaugh ( my companion that i met my first day in Provo and my companion in the Madrid mtc has gone up to the north east corner of Spain. Now he is in the rain and cold there.

So this past Saturday we went on the ward trip. We drove a 40 minute drive (that took and hour and a half) up to a park north of Spain. It wasn´t too bad to begin with. One of our investigators came with three of her friends and so we spent a lot of the day with them. Once it started getting hot out a lot of the ward went to go swim and a ton more people came. To be honest it was somewhat disappointing because it felt a little bit like the ward was in separate groups. Because for the morning we set up blankets that were a descent distance apart, and then later a bunch of random people came and filled in the gaps. But, other than that it was pretty well. We got to spend some more time with the members, and Elder Rodriquez got to know them as well, and we also got to know our investigator(s) a little bit better and spend some time with them, so now they know that we aren´t just crazy religious fanatics...

Well, i don´t know what much else to say, today we went to a park and hung out with some other missionaries and we also played a little bit of American football. Other than that, i would just say that i think that this piso for these three weeks is going to be great. Elder Rodriquez is really funny, Elder Perkins is just an awesome Christlike person, and i don´t know elder Berthon really well yet, but he seems like he is a pretty good person too. Also, i think that my Spanish may improve quite a bit with a native companion and also because we have 5 native companions in our district, out of the 8.

vacations in general end at the beginning of next month, but i think that some people will still be in vacations until October or so. But most of the people are or will be starting to arrive or come back in the semanas que vienen.

So that´s basically all that i have for today, Hopefully i can send a mountain load of pictures next week.... or sometime at least. And hopefully everyone at home is doing well too.Good luck to all. I have to write to Papa now...

So hasta luego.

Elder Johnson

15 August 2012

Hello!!

Well, I still don´t know if I am staying or leaving. Though we did get a surprise today, and now we are in a trio. We had an activity at the mission home and there we played some soccer, some basketball, and some tennis (I am really terrible at playing anything, though I was better at tennis this time than I was the last time). So after that we were going to leave because we had an eating appointment with an investigator at 5 and it takes an hour and a half to get to or from the mission home. However, they hadn´t started cooking the food yet, so we waited another hour and a half ( and i played some volleyball with a ball that was flat every 10 hits, it took a fall on a cactus during a serve and wasn´t quite the same afterwards). So then we ate, and were about to leave when we were told that an Elder Rodriguez will be accompanying us. (he was in the north and came down for his papers and the president said that it wasn´t worth sending him back up with transfers next week)(so maybe he will be staying in b3). We actually forgot a little after that and started walking to the bus station when i remembered, and then we had to go back to pick him up. So then we ended up taking 2 hours to travel and wait, and then we changed, ran to our appointment, got cancelled on by our other one, and now i am here, so the letter is kind of late. Sorry about that.

So i bought a new memory card, however, my camera is a little too old to use the new memory card. So now i am going to buy a new camera so that i can remember everything. Hopefully i can do it really soon.

Well ¡Feliz Cumpleaños! espero que es uno que no olvidará. Por lo menos creo que no olvidará a dar comida a noventa misioneros. Sé que los misioneros la encantará esa comida y actividad. Yo también me gusta mucho para tener actividades así. Esta muy bien su servicio.

Well, hopefully having 4 at home isn´t too bad. It will actually be the norm in about 5 years or so. Hopefully the kids don´t miss me too much because i still have about 17 months, a little less. I´ll try to get send something to them ... one day. By the way, would i need to buy boxes or can i use the ones you sent me?

Pues Padre, cómo va el español. ¿Ya sabe muchas palabras o todavía esta en los básicos? espero que puede preguntar por el baño sin ofender a nadie. No es tan difícil, el más difícil sería que tiene que hablar con un acento que ellos entienden. Porque muchas personas aquí no han escuchado la acento americano. Y también el acento americano es tan raro que casi nadie entiende nada de lo que digamos. Tenemos una converso reciente que dijo que en el principio ella no me entendió para nada. No obstante hay algunas personas que hablan el ingles o podrían entenderle. Espero que puede aprender muy rapido el castellano. La unica cosa que diría que le ayudará mucho sería que debe leer en voz alta un poco español cada día; debe aprender nuevas palabra; y tambien debe conjugar verbos cada día. Son reglas que nos fue dado en el mtc de Madrid. También tengo un libro que estudio pero en esta momento no recuerdo cómo se llama. los siento. Si habla solo en español com mamá le ayudará también y para que la gente pueden entenderle mejor, ser seguro que pronuncia sus vocales bien y también que hace el "r" correctamente, porque no son igual en español cómo en ingles. Mamá debe poder ayudarle con eso. Creo que estas cosas le ayudará más que cualquier otra cosa. También recibí avisas de un ex-misionero en el mtc que debo aprender los verbos antes de los nouns. Quizas eso le ayudará mucho también.

Well, we have some pretty good investigators right now that are progressing pretty well. Unfortunately they are all working in the place of the people that are on vacations. So they won´t be able to get baptized until next month/transfer because they can´t come to church. However, in just a few more weeks some of our other investigators will be coming back and hopefully we will be able to resume teaching them when they return.

Well, martha is still in the hospital with the baby, at first the baby was trembling so they kept her there to figure out what was the problem. But they have no idea. But now Martha is having a reaction to the anesthetic, so the have to stay there for a little bit longer. She actually might be coming home tonight though...

Well, Melissa, one of our recent converts is going to move to bolivia with her family. Its kind of sad. But at the same time it is really good that she can do it, because it would really help her to leave some things/people behind. It will be a good change for her, but its bitter sweet.

Well, I don´t know what else to write right now. The week has been pretty normal, other than the fact that you could fry an egg on the road outside, it has been really hot this past week. But other than that, it has been pretty good/normal. I am kind of excited for these transfers, i really like changes, so i think that this could be pretty good for me, that, and the fact that i have heard that there are going to be a lot of changes, so it will be really interesting to see everything that happens.

Well, that´s all that i have for today, enjoy the evening and make sure that those rebelious missionaries behave themselves.

Well. tell the kids i´ll be home when i can.

os amo

Hasta luego,

Elder Talon Johnson

8 August 2012

Helloo!

So this week we had a baptism of Martha (not the one that is pregnant, but the other one) So it was pretty good, she was somewhat upset because none of the people that live with her came to support her, and they basically just called her crazy, but the service was good and she wasn´t nearly as nervous as she was for the baptismal interview (she was almost freaking out for that, not sure why). Anyway, Elder Wilson baptized her and I confirmed. It was pretty nice, now we are thinking that we are going to get her active in the missionary work here, just like we got the family started with helping us.

So Martha (the one that was pregnant) also had her baby this Monday. I haven´t seen her yet, nor do I remember what they are going to call her. But Martha is doing fine, last week she couldn´t even leave the house because her belly was so huge and it gave her problems to walk around. But hopefully we´ll get to see the baby somewhat soon. They had to move it to a different hospital because it was having tremors. They don´t know what it is, but it shouldn´t be anything serious.

Well, also we have lost quite a few baptismal dates lately, because of vacations, work, even though they know that what we teach is true. Hopefully at a later date they´ll be more willing to listen or accept.

May I suggest that you don't send any snail mail letters next week because of transfers. I don´t really want any letters laying around if I leave because I don´t know when they´ll come to me. Transfers are in a week and a half, and there have been hints (that are not so subtle) that one of us are going to be leaving. Soo, we´ll see who stays and who goes. It´s going to be a really different to have a new companion, hopefully they are willing to work like Elder Wilson has been. They better be, or they are going to be...

Well, as for your letters, i think that i would just mostly like to know how everyone is doing, maybe what they are up to, something exciting or funny that has happened through the week, and any other news that may come in. I have been pretty happy with the content of the letters so far. So if you want you could just keep writing them the same way that you have been. But, that´s mostly just what I would like to hear: just how well everyone is doing and what they are up to. And anything else you put in works great for me too.

So i am sending some pictures of our baptism and also some of the tye dye shirts that we did as a district activity the last p-day. I am going to be buying a new memory card soon so that i can take some more pictures, because the one that I have is almost completely full. So once i get that i can start sending a lot more pictures to you guys too, because i´ll be taking quite a few more.

 

 

Well, i am afraid that nothing else is on my mind to write right now, and also we don´t have a ton of time because we went to the temple and played soccer earlier today, and our next appointment is in an hour. So, maybe i can find some more things to write about this next week and hopefully then my letters will be a little bit more exciting.

Sorry about the short letter this week, maybe next week ...

Well, os amo

 

Elder Johnson

1 August 2012

Helloo!!

SO I got my package!! We had a zone conference yesterday and they brought all the mail that had been sitting in the office and also some of the things that we asked for. So thank you for the food. We will definitely enjoy the candy and food that you sent ( though i´ll have to punish the culprit who opened up the bag before you sent it....) SO I have yet to read all of the letters (sorry). I should be able to read them tonight or tomorrow maybe. Also, thanks for the pictures, I really enjoyed seeing those. Well, I can honestly say that Aragorn was completely unexpected. Though I could have called Maya G. One of them might disappear when Elder Wilson and I part. Though it may cause nightmares....

So that´s great that Bremen has hit the great outdoors with his new bike, and also that Miriam is enjoying her new earrings. hopefully Breanna and Ellie are also enjoying the birthday presents they got. (when did you get the trampoline??).

So this Saturday we have the baptism of Martha! and on the 6 of the month Martha (of the family that we baptized) is going to have her baby.So it could be a pretty exciting week/weekend/next week. So also, we have been finding a lot more new people that we can teach that look like they can be really good. They all have potential, and hopefully we can have second/third lessons with all of them so that we can help them more.

So I got Dad´s letters today and on Monday (though I was at interchanges, so I actually didn´t receive it until Tuesday). So thank you for those.

The interchanges were good, and interesting. It´s always a little weird to be working in an area that isn´t you own. I felt like I almost didn´t know what was going on the entire time or what we should do, because I don´t know what would be best in their area. But anyway, i had to teach pretty well because the missionary only has 4 weeks in the field. Sooo, his Spanish is a little rough still. But it was fine, it was kind of funny though to hear him speak because his voice completely changed because all of the missionaries sound like their trainers, at least at the beginning they do. But it´s fine. We had a decent day there. Though if it was in our area, i don´t think that i could have exactly called that a good day. My area is actually really good. We only have to contact for about an hour or so and we will most likely have a new investigator. Other areas can contact all day and receive only 15 references. So I am really glad to be where i am and i hope that I can stay here for a while. though it would be really cool to be able to go and see some of these other areas of Spain.

So also, we have been having quite a few people come up to us and ask us where the church is or if they can get a Book of Mormon, lately. It´s pretty cool to have all these miracles here, and it´s really exciting to be able to have them all.

Well, hopefully all is well in Massachusetts. Breanna should have a good time at EFY. I would at least, and i did. I think it would be pretty cool to be an instructor for EFY some day, but we´ll see what happens.

So, from the pictures it appeared that the swamp has disappeared. So hopefully that means that the hideous swamp rats have decide to take their business elsewhere. But if they are lemmings, there may not be a whole lot that can stop them. Well, hopefully the kids enjoy another year of school.

Well, I need to go now, maybe next time i´ll send some more pictures. We are going to tye-dye some shirts with the hermanas and some of the other members of our district, i think.

Well good luck, and until next week,

Love,

Your Elder Johnson