28 November 2012

Hello!

 

 

The rabbit wasn´t too bad. In the end it looked like a baby Rottweiler or some little demon animal because it was pink/tan with black from the spices. The part that I had didn´t have too much flavor. Anyway, the chicken turned out really well, it turned out that only we brought chicken, (someone else brought hot dogs, and there was the rabbit). But it turned out alright.

So, for thanksgiving day, we almost had a turkey bowl, but it turned out that we wouldn´t have had enough people, so we played basketball instead, then afterwards, we joined some other missionaries and members in playing soccer, and while we waited we had our quick turkey bowl. Then we quickly ran to eat our thanksgiving dinner. Then afterwards, about eight of us ran to the nearest missionary piso and showered and got ready in the ten minutes that we had before the talent show. So then we had the talent show. It was really good, and there were some skits that were really funny. It turned out that we didn´t do anything because our only idea was drinking water that everyone else had gargled and brushed their teeth in, and me and my companion convinced everyone else that it was nasty and not that funny.

So Sunday, our bishop invited us over (by the way, he is from Germany, his family speaks English perfectly, he also knows some Japanese and is doing very well economically). So they told us that they were going to make us a Thanksgiving dinner, and they did well. It was rather delicious, and they even somehow got a whole turkey there! To say the least, it was a satisfying Thanksgiving dinner.

The baptism last Saturday was really good! Miguel got baptized, and I had the opportunity to be able to baptize him. So that makes him the seventh baptism that I´ve been able to have so far.
 

So I do get to see the new people coming in, I don´t know for sure the arrival dates, because the people that are waiting for their visas come randomly the day after or two days after they get it.

Well, we need to get going here pretty quickly, so thanks for the letters and until next week!

Elder Johnson

22 November 2012

Hello,

 

So I forgot to tell you last week, but this week our p-day has moved to Thursday for Thanksgiving.

 

So this week hasn´t been nearly as hectic, we didn´t have to do to much after the transfers were over. Yesterday, though, we had to drive to a small suburb to look at some pisos for the Elders that are living there. Unfortunately the building has a large roach infestation, and the piso is starting to smell really bad. So we are looking for a new place for them. We went by two pisos yesterday, and a chalet. So far one of the pisos has been the best option, an older couple wanted to live there, so everything is new, then they decided not to for some reason, and now they are willing to rent it to us. So we´ll probably have to drive down there a few more times this week to look at more and to decide on which one to rent.

 

So today is going to be a pretty weird day. We have a normal p-day, but then afterwards, we are going to have a talent show at 7 tonight, so we actually may not have very much time to do proselyting work today. Though it should be a pretty fun and festive day. We are also going to have our own turkey bowl at 2, this afternoon, so hopefully we´ll get a good group of people coming to that too. Also, we´ve each been told to bring something for the thanksgiving dinner that we are all going to have later today, and it´s rather funny because all the Elderes in our apartment were told to bring chicken, however, last week one of the Elders (who is rather funny) bought a rabbit ( skinned, without guts, and without feet, though still with the eyeballs and teeth for some reason, and it also has it´s head, and the heart is in a separate package.) so instead of buying some chicken, they cooked the rabbit. So this could be an interesting Thanksgiving day.

 

So this last week we got to teach about 17 lessons, even with all the person trafficking (which is really good considering that it´s about the average for the mission).  * I'm inserting a monther note here - the missionaries are not involved in human trafficking.  He meant driving all the people around during the transfers. * 

 

 

Unfortunately we didn´t have a whole lot of time to find new people, but as of right now we are trying to inspire the one couple to get separated (the first problem is that if you are lucky it would take at least 3 months to get married, so you can assume that it would probably take about 6 months, but they are also having some legal issues, so they have to wait for some papers to come in from Colombia, but the lawyer is doing it really slowly to get more money, so it is probably going to take awhile), the Romanian that we are teaching is basically done with smoking, he´s just trying to not smoke anymore for his baptism this Saturday.

 

One day i´ll drive, i haven´t practiced for awhile, but I really need to get some more practice, in, the main problem though is that I need to set a time to do it, because all our p-days are really busy.

 

Well, i hope that the herd of missionaries coming in can be in by this December/January, but we´ll see. Something weird that I saw the other day though is that one of the Hermanas that just got her mission call is only 7 days older than me! (that´s weird, for me at least). It´s going to be a completely different mission seeing how all of us that are in right now are going to be the oldest in the mission.

 

Well, for Christmas, I´ll also look for something to send to you guys. I thought about sending a leg of jamón, but that´s actually illegal to get out of the country, so maybe i´ll just send a rabbit instead. But anything else, I think that I am good for right now, maybe some American candy or something small.

 

Well, that´s about all the time I have right now, I really wish that I had a spare hour or two, there are a lot of letters that need to get sent/read. I´ll try to do better with sending letters though.

 

Well, it´s weird to think that Dillon has already come home, I didn´t think that he had been out that long. But hopefully he can help out with the family in AZ and inspire them all to get out in the mission field.

 

Well, until next week,

 

Elder Johnson

14 November 2012

Hello!

 

So these past few days have been pretty crazy with transfers, we have had to get up early every day so far and drive or pick up missionaries. On Monday we got up early to go to the train station to pick up 8 missionaries that were coming from the north (including Elder Levorsen, my companion in Madrid), then we ran over to the stake center to drop them off and wait for the transfer meeting to start. I passed out all the materials that the missionaries asked for while we waited. We had a good transfer meeting, it mostly focused on fulfilling your calling and to be faithful in the work, and President inspired us to focus on families again and to think about how joyful it will be to find, teach, baptize, and see a family get sealed. (it´s completely true though, when a united family gets baptized and converted, it´s one of the happiest moments that one can get. I can accurately assume that to be together in Heaven, for any family, will be the happiest moment that any person can have. So after the meeting, we went to drop off some luggage of some Hermanas in their apartment, and we picked up some more luggage there for two Hermanas that were going north. Then after that we took a former AP and his new companion to their new apartment in a suburb outside of Madrid, we got lost there for about 15 min or half an hour, and then we went to the office. By then it was about 2 in the afternoon. So we were in the office for about five minutes or so, and then we went over to a missionary apartment to take down a bunk bed, in order to take it to another apartment where an extra companionship was moving in. After that, we went to an appointment that we had with a member couple, that finally got their papers to get married which is really exciting for them. After that appointment, we picked up some missionaries that had been visiting some people around our area because they were waiting for their plane flights, and we took them home to stay the night.

 

So Tuesday we got up early and went to the mission home in order to pick up a Portuguese sister that had a flight for that morning, she ended up taking a tad bit longer than expected, so we enjoyed some pancakes and syrup for a second. Then we hustled over to the airport to drop her off. After the airport, we ran home for a second, and then we quickly went to the office. We stayed in the office for a little bit. Later, we had two lessons with some investigators that are doing pretty well.

 

Well, we haven´t had much time to do anything today either because we had to go to the airport twice in the morning, drop off an Elder and an Hermana after President interviewed them, and then we went shopping, and now i´m here.

 

Also sometime during the past few days we went to an appliance store and a furniture store to buy a few things for a piso that is getting another companionship, so we also set up a bunk bet, two chairs, a desk, and put a mattress in there as well.

 

 So basically we haven´t had a whole lot of time to be doing anything unfortunately. Though the constant being in a car makes me rather glad that I am not going to be in the office forever. Eventually, I will be able to be a normal proselyting missionary again, which makes me rather grateful. One day, I´ll be able to be in the street all day long. Also, i am pretty excited to be able to train, we have about 60 people or so that are waiting for visas or that are in the mtc, and we are expecting a huge increase in the amount of missionaries in the next few months. So my opportunity to train will probably be coming pretty quickly. Hopefully.

 

Well, last Saturday we also took away all the cigarettes and machines that an investigator had. So far, he has smoked one cigarette, which is still too much, but he is almost  down enough to be ready for baptism.

 

Well, unfortunately we rather need to leave now, so until next week.

 

Elder Johnson

 

also, the pictures are of a transfer trip we made, and almost all the missionaries in Madrid at the mission home last Wednesday.

 

 

7 November 2012

¡¡Hola!!

So we´ve had a decent week, we had as much lessons as a normal companionship in the field which is really good. We´re usually always pretty busy here in the office, which is good, and bad. It´s always nice to have something good to do, but then for all the things that don´t or can´t get done, it´s rather annoying to have to answer to those complaints. Overall, it´s pretty nice to be working in the office. (the perks are pretty nice too)

 

So my companion has been getting a lot of letters from his family and friends, and they´re basically saying that the nation is doomed. I suppose that they aren´t too happy with what Obama has done.  Well, hopefully Obama can be led to do what is right. While getting to know other parts of the world, you really come to know how great things are in the US. So as long as we can continue to keep good standards and personalities the States will be a great place to be.

 

Well, we are teaching several people right now. Firstly, we are teaching a Romanian, who is the boyfriend of a member that was less active. They are an investigator from the Elders that were here before us, they actually stopped working with them. However, when we got here we found out that they were going to get separated in order to obey the law of chastity and to allow him to get baptized. He is progressing pretty well, we have a date for him for the end of November. right now.

 

We also are teaching a couple that wants to get baptized, however, they are just waiting for some papers from Colombia that would allow the wife to get married legally. Yesterday they were saying that they were thinking about separating because the papers could take up from 6 months to a year in coming. So they could get baptized pretty soon if they are able to do that.

 

We are also teaching the ten year old daughter of an inactive. She started going to church, but then she got divorced and the husband took the car. And that means that she would have to take her three young daughters through the subway to church, which she is not willing to do right now. So hopefully when her daughter starts getting close to baptism, she´ll think more about the importance of coming to church and the blessings of her life when she does. Or at least we hope that she´ll think about her daughter and the blessing that the church will have in her life.

 

We are also teaching an Ecuadorian lady. She has been coming to English classes for quite some time now, and finally she started accepting missionary visits. The other elders here said that they had tried teaching her earlier, but that she wasn´t ready for the gospel at that time. However, as of now she seems to be rather receptive of the message that we have. Her biggest problem is going to be her testimony, because she is somewhat doubtful of the story of Joseph Smith ( mostly because it goes against her prior teaching and it is somewhat incredible).

 

That´s basically our teaching pool as of right now, we´re trying to find more, and we have found some really good potential investigators, however, it is somewhat difficult for us to be able to get in touch or meet with them. So hopefully we´ll be able to correct that soon.

 

So I think that the best part about being a missionary is the opportunity that we have to become friends with a lot of people and we can also see them progress as they accept Jesus Christ in their lives. It´s amazing what the gospel of Jesus Christ will do to people as they learn and practice it´s teachings. SO that would have to be my favorite part about the mission.

 

My favorite part of the office... would have to be the opportunity to get to know all the missionaries, and the ability to see all the new missionaries that are coming in. Also, I rather enjoy how I feel like I help a lot of people throughout the day.

 

As for driving, other than the fact that they all drive European diesel cars, it´s pretty much the exact same as in the states. The people are also a lot more aggressive on the road, and their hands are glued to the horn. There are also a lot more roundabouts here in Spain. But other than that, it´s basically all like home.

 

We get fed by three families. The Romanian that we are teaching, a boyfriend and girlfriend that are also waiting to get married, and the investigator couple that is also waiting to get married. Unfortunately it kind of seems like the ward here doesn´t have a whole lot to do with the missionaries unless the missionaries ask them to do something. It´s definitely not the same as in B3, I was spoiled in B3, and regrettably I didn´t know it until the end of my time there.

 

And yes we do have daylight savings time here.

 

Well, unfortunately that´s all the time that I have for today.

 

The pictures are of an old building in Toledo, the temple, and all the office elders one night.

(*I think all his pictures didn't come through in the email since there were none of the temple and only three elders in the other picture.

 

Thanks for everything and until next week!

 

Elder Johnson

 

 

31 October 2012

Happy Halloween!

 

So this week has basically been the same as most, though now, the temperature is dropping, significantly, it´s starting to rain some more, and the leaves are all starting to change color. Also, today we saw snow on the mountains for the first time today. It´s definitely good that you all stayed safe. (*This was right after Hurricane Sandy)  I heard yesterday, before I read your message, that the New York subways were all underwater, so I got a little worried for a day, but it´s great that we only lost a tree.

 

So we are still moving along in the office, running around a lot for other missionaries, helping the assistants when they forget their zone conference video, helping President and basically just doing the random assortment of material that is given to us.

 

We had a basketball tournament today, right after we all went to the temple. we had a bunch of 3v3 teams going against each other in the stake center. It was pretty fun, we actually got there late because the President needed two copies of the Book of Mormon. It was rather urgent, because there are some area authorities that are here in Spain to look at the mission, and today they also had the mission president conference for Europe, so there were about 45 mission presidents there too. Anyway, we were able to play a little bit, near the end of the Tournament. I won one game, and lost the other but that´s alright.

 

 

So I finally brought my camera and cord, soo you have some pictures today. There is one of an old cathedral in Toledo. Also, there is a picture of the Madrid temple at night, and there is the baptism of someone I taught in B3 named Vanessa. And I think that´s about it.

 

Well, I don´t know what else to say... we haven´t really had that exciting of a week, and the most spiritual experience that we had this week of course was the temple. But I can´t really think of anything else to say.

 

Just remember that God answers prayers and that he is always willing to help, pray with faith, and all (righteous) questions and needs will be provided and answered. Don´t be lazy, and make sure that you do a good turn daily (outside of what you normally do). Learn something new from the scriptures every day (yes, it is possible). Try to feel God´s spirit in your life every day too. Enjoy the moments now.

Thanks for everything!

Until next week,

Elder Johnson