10 June 2013

Hello!

So today at 3 I am going to Vigo!! I got transferred, so today is my last half day here in B1. We had quite a few changes this time. I am leaving, so Elder Berthon is going to get a new companion, Elder Nunez. I am going to be Zone Leaders with Elder Miner. Who also has the same amount of time as I do. He is awesome, so I am really excited to be able to be his companion. The Elders that share the piso with us, Elder De Los Santos and Elder Kinghorn are staying the same. The Hermanas in our ward are changing, one is going east of Madrid, so the other one is going to be companions with one of the Sisters that shares the piso with her, they are whitewashing the other companionship of Hermanas, and the other two companionships of Elders are staying the same. This morning we dropped off two of the Hermanas because they needed help with their luggage. One, who is going to Gijon almost missed her train, and the Hermana that is going with her was even closer to missing it. I was kind of tired from hauling the suitcases, because the one that I was assigned to weighed about 100 pounds or so. Another Elder lost his train, so right now he is with us because we found him at the train station, his new train leaves two hours after mine. So today I am finally going to be able to catch up in my journal, I'll be on the train for a good 7 hours, so I have plenty of time to kill. I really hate goodbyes, though you would think that I would be used to them by now after having had to do so many.

So our two baptisms that we had a few weeks ago were of a father and his son, they are from Bolivia. We are also teaching a family (I won't be anymore...) where the father is from Romania, the wife is from Peru, they met in Japan, and their first 3 children were born there, and the rest were born in Peru. Only the oldest two sons can be baptized and the wife is already a member, but their baptism is going to be great. We talked to them last Saturday and they seem really excited to get baptized. 

I am kind of nervous and excited, and at the same time also kind of sad. It is goodbye to B1, and all the missionaries here, but the worst part is that with the time that I have, it isn't very likely that I will be seeing many of them again. It is rather sad, but at least with technology these days we can stay in contact. Sometimes I wish that life would just pass by in an instant, and that after saying goodbye we were saying hello to each other in heaven. There are a lot of good people here and sometimes I am scared that through the ages of life that I will lose track, and lose memory of all of them. I wish that the mission didn't end.... The First Presidency has sent out an official letter stating that mission extensions are no longer accepted, and there are no exceptions.... It's very disappointing, I wish the mission was longer than two years. If I didn't have to get married I would love to stay on a mission for all of my life.

Well, I finally found something to say.  It's really nice.

I haven't received your package yet......... I hope it got sent to the office because if not then I don't know when I will get it.....

Heavenly Father is amazing, don't ever forget it, he is incredible and has done so much for all of us, he loves us so much and I can't wait to be able to be with him again. I wish that I could get to know him a little bit better right now. He has done so much for me.

Thanks for everything Mom and Dad, you're great, you've made me who I am and have helped me a ton. Though you may never be able to know completely my gratitud, at least know that I am very thankful for all that you have done for me. I hope that I can be as good of a parent as you.

Well, that's all for now, Thanks again and good luck,

Elder Johnson

PS   Vigo is right above Portugal, in the north western coast of Spain.

 

3 June 2013

Hello,

So I don´t have much time right now, but today we went to the mission home with most of the missionaries from the Madrid area. It was pretty fun, but we ended up leaving half an hour after I had originally wanted to leave, and we got a phone call from some of our investigators that sounded kind of urgent so we are also going to take out another half and our of our p-day to be able to reorganize our appointments. And of course, being the genius that I am, we don´t know where my camera cord is, so I can´t send pictures just yet.....

So we have transfers this Saturday. We are struggling a little bit with the work, but at least all our investigators are awesome. I am pretty sure that all of them are going to get baptized in the next month or two.So we are doing all right. We´re working on a few things. We have three more baptisms scheduled for the end of this month. 

I don´t really know what to say right now, I am kind of tired from playing soccer for most of the afternoon so.... that....

It sounds like you guys are doing great there in Boston. In Madrid it is starting to heat up but it jumps down to being cold again every now and then. One day the summer here will start.

Well I need to go now, thanks for everything, sorry about so little information....

How do you make french toast??

Until next week.

Elder Johnson.

27 May 2013

Caleb graduated!! That´s awesome!! We are all getting a little bit older now. Sooner than later we are going to all be married with kids.

So right now it is raining quite a bit. I don´t know where it came from because this morning it was hardly cloudy. We actually went to a large park here in Madrid and we played soccer and ate a quick lunch with some other missionaries. I thought that there were actually going to be quite a bit more, however, only four companionships turned up. It was still really fun though, I had a great time.

So we had two baptisms this last Saturday, unfortunately I couldn´t find my camera, so I don´t have any photos yet. Hopefully I can get a few. 

Today I almost got the sword, we were really close to the store, but we ended up not having enough time, so it will have to wait another week or so. 

So things are going well, we have the zone leader council tomorrow, and the day after we have the zone training meeting. We are also going to start having coordinating sisters (I think that´s what they are called), one for every zone, I am excited for it, I really think that it is going to help out a lot.

Well, I am regrettably out of time now, thanks for everything. I was going to send photos today, but the computer doesn´t read my card..... maybe next time.

thanks again,

I love you,

Elder Johnson.

20 May 2013

Hello,

So on Thursday I figured out how to work out my card. So that was me that took out money. So there are no problems there. Don´t worry.

So this week was exciting in the aspect that this Saturday we are going to have two baptisms!! It is going to be a son and a father, the mother is already a member. But I am really excited for them!! Among other things... It was alright. It was kind of rough because we couldn´t exactly met with all the people that we had hoped to meet with but this week will go better. We have started planning for the zone training again since we have it in a week. We are trying to have a really spiritual and powerful meeting to help get all the missionaries excited again.

I need to take more pictures, I have only taken about five in all of my time here in B1.

So today we probably aren´t going to be doing much. We were invited to go play volleyball, but we had a lesson and we have a few other things that we need to do today. So it will be a nice productive p-day.

Well, I´m not really sure what more to say, this week has been alright. But I really hope that everyone does a lot better. I think that everyone can probably do twice as much as what they are doing right now...

Well, I think that that´s about all for right now. I hope you all have a great week. I hope you can all learn something new this week and can go forward in all things. Good Luck!

Until next week.

Elder Johnson

13 May 2013

Hello,

 

Well I don´t have much time right now, but that´s okay since we just talked yesterday. So today we are in B3 for p-day, and we are visiting some of the people that we knew from our time here. Hopefully I´ll be able to send you some pictures next week.

 

I just had one concern, I have tried using my debit card recently and it hasn´t been working, I don´t know if you might be able to resolve the problem, because I can´t buy the sword at all if I can´t even use my card.

 

We thanks for everything, it was great to be able to see all of you yesterday. I see the family now as the perfect family, I have yet to find another one that is close to being as good as ours.

 

I forgot to mention: Happy Mother´s Day!!

 

Elder Johnson

12 May 2013 - Skype Call

Today was the long awaited Mother's Day Skype Call!!

We worked out the details of when it would work for both time zones and church schedules and he called at 11am our time - 5pm for him.

We got to spend one wonderful hour with our son and wave at his companion.

Such good times!

This was the best shot that our designated photographer got.

Better than nothing, for sure.

6 May 2013

Hola,

So this week was kind of a rough week, we had a lot of investigators stop wanting to listen to us, so it gives us more time to find the Lord´s chosen, but it´s still rather disappointing when it happens.

So we were going to have a few baptisms this week, but after talking with them on Friday, they still aren´t quite ready, the father still needs a testimony about the church.

So happy Birthday Shaylie!! I remembered yesterday that I forgot to mention Happy Birthday last week!

As for the package, I think that maybe some of those packets to make fettuccine would be stupendous. And if you know any easy recipes for sauce for noodles, it would be stupendous. I am kind of bored of having spaghetti.

So for the first time ever, last week I made arepas. (corn cakes) It´s a Colombian and Venezuelan food that they eat. But mine turned out tasting a little bit more like tostadas.They were delicious.

I found out the other week that the do sell sour cream here (for some reason they call it unflavored yogurt here... We were actually given it to eat the other day.... delicious....).

Well, the other day I ate pig ear again. (delicious as usual, and chock full of cartilage), and I also ate cow foot (it was good but rather fatty).

Also, I ate a Peruvian Chinese rice which included shrimp, mussels, fish, and chorizo. It was delicious, and the first time that I had eaten mussels. I think I also accidentally ate part of the crawfish claw.... oops...

Well, I think that that´s about it for right now, I´ll be seeing you this Sunday at 5(11).

Have a great week!

Elder Johnson

29 April 2013

Hello,

So this past week was rather rough in the missionary work, there were very few that wanted to talk with us in the streets and we basically met with new investigators all week.

Last week was also the last week of the transfer, so today are the changes. Elder Berthon and I are staying together. But some of the other missionaries in our zone are changing. Elder Wilson is going to be training again and is going to be opening a new island in the Canary Islands, as of right now the island doesn´t have any missionaries. Also, 26 missionaries are entering the field tomorrow! The mission has really changed. 

Also, two missionaries in our ward are leaving, and so they left their baptismal dates ( or most of them) with us, so all of this month we are going to be having baptisms, and hopefully we can find a few more to be able to continue afterwards. 

Well, I don´t really know what to say, we´re both pretty tired right now. Hopefully we´ll get a small rest today.

I need to take more pictures, I haven´t taken any since I have been here in B1. 

Well, I´ll be cooking a lot this week, I´m low on money right now.

Everyone keeps saying that I only have a little bit of time left in the mission. It´s annoying... I still have 8 months left, silly kids.

Well, Thanks for everything, I don´t know what else to say.

Elder Johnson

22 April 2013

Hello

So this past week was pretty decent. We are doing a lot of work right now looking for investigators and trying to maintain those that we have. It has been a great experience, and I feel like I have been able to learn a ton.

So we watched one session of general conference Saturday afternoon (the Saturday morning session). and then Sunday morning we watched the Priesthood Session, and then at 2 we watched the Saturday evening session, and then we watched the Sunday morning session for the afternoon. We missed the Sunday evening session because it started at 10 at night. 

I had heard that there was a bombing in Boston, some people had mentioned it the other day.

So I don´t know what is going to happen this transfer, it is going to be crazy. We are going to have 28 missionaries enter the field, and we are also working on getting all the missionaries into pisos of just one companionship. So this transfer is going to be a surprise for everyone. 

Elder Wilson still has 7 weeks left in the mission. It will be sad when he leaves. 

Our area includes Madrid and 3 suburbs right outside. We don´t go there very much, but it´s about a 30 to 40 minute trip, depending on which one you go to.

So today we went to play sports with a lot of other missionaries in Madrid, since there are a lot of missionaries going home they decided to do that. I was hoping to say goodbye to someone, but they weren´t there. I was able to talk with some missionaries that are in B3 right now and they said the Martha and Giovany are doing awesome. They almost have a year of membership but Giovany is already ward secretary, and Christopher (the son) is the teachers quorum president. Both of the Elders told me that the family is the best in the ward. It made me really happy to have been able to be such a great part in their lives, I can only thank God for that opportunity that I had.

Well, I think that´s about it for now. Next week I need to set aside time to do all of my college things. I haven´t really had time yet.

I haven´t eaten anything weird lately, sorry.

Well, I think that´s about all for now, Thanks for everything

Elder Johnson