26 August 2013

Bo día,

So this week was a really good week. We had the baptism of a Venezuelan man on Saturday and at the baptism the Lord touched the hearts of one of our investigators and they have just had a complete turn around. Before they were really skeptical about everything and now they absolutely love everything. It is really amazing. We are also going to be having another baptism this Saturday, it is going to be really cool. We have some really awesome investigators right now.

So in our district we have a missionary that is going home next week, so today we are going to be having an activity with some ward members to say farewell to him today. 

So the college stuff sounds excellent, I really like that idea and that´s probably what I am going to end up doing, I really like that.

So I don´t have much more time right now,

Thanks for everything, 

Elder Johnson

 

 Blessings of missionary work.

 The missionaries of Vigo.

19 August 2013

Feliz Cumpleaños!!

So this past week was pretty cool, we were able to set a baptism for this Saturday and one for the 31st. It´s pretty cool to be able to see the fruits of our labors at the end of the transfer. The wife of the man who got injured should finally be getting baptized too. They both came to church last week, so they are both doing alright.

So I don´t really know what to say right now, things are going well with the work, the zone is doing better. I, however am very tired and could probably use a good nap or two, or three... 

So the weather got hotter, but it is hardly as hot as it is in Madrid and in other parts of Spain. It is pretty hot, but it is still nice compared to other places.

So we have transfers in two weeks, we´ll see what happens.

It is weird to see the pictures, the last that I remember of Rachel and Emma Pitts is that they were still really young. They look all grown up in the pictures there... Time really flies by a lot.

Well, I think that´s about all for now. Sorry about the lack of meat in the letter...

Thanks for everything,

Elder Johnson

PS  The November date was an error.  It's still January.  (And there is the answer!)

Proposed Itinerary for Elder Johnson

*From Amy:

We received an email this week from the Missionary Travel Department letting us know that our missionary would be returning home at the end of November.  We had always thought it would be the end of December or early January so this was a surprise.  (Always a good surprise for the mom!)

The next day we received an email from Talon's mission telling us he would be home in early January.  ?????

In our letter this week we asked Talon what this means and which date is correct.  We shall see what he says.............................

12 August 2013

Hello,

 

 

So this week we had a decent week. We had quite a few people come to church this past week and we have quite a few investigators that are trying to gain a testimony about the Church and about the Book of Mormon. It is really cool to be able to see people with and without faith search for God to know if he is there and to try to follow him and his commandments. At least a few of our investigators right now should probably be getting baptized pretty soon. The wife of the man who got baptized the other week is kind of struggling right now, we haven´t been able to have face to face contact for two weeks now, and it is somewhat worrysome now. We hope that she is still doing alright and that she can still get baptized once her husband recovers and they are able to come to church. Overall this past week has been pretty cool, we are still seeing miracles and amazing changes in the people that we teach, and many times now they happen in the same lesson.

  

So that´s really cool that you found a Spanish pastry shop. One thing that I really like are napolitanos. I haven´t tried the tarta Santiago yet, but if it is what I am thinking of then it has its origins here in Galicia, from the city of Santiago. If you have ever heard of the trail or pilgrimage to Santiago, it is talking about Santiago, Galicia, Spain. It´s really famous and supossedly has the remains of the apostol Santiago. I should probably still try the tarta Santiago before I leave.

So my end date was moved (by President) to the 3rd of January, which means that I will land in the US on the 4th. He did it to allow some missionaries to be able to jump straight from the mission to college without missing any days. So that will be my returning date for now.

So I am going to jump onto the college application now, I hope to be able to finish most, if not all the rest of the essays that I need to finish.

Thanks for everything,

Elder Johnson

 

This is a picture of Talon's zone.  President and Sister Taylor (mission president) are in the front (yellow skirt and blue tie).

5 August 2013

Hello,

So we´ve had another amazing week this past week. It´s really cool to be able to see so many amazing things happen and to see so many miracles. 

So we did not end up having the baptism. The problem with was that the husband of the lady who was supposed to get baptized ended up cutting his toes with an electric saw two days before the baptism. So she got completely unfocused on the baptism, and she also still has to stop smoking. She is really struggling with it right now. We are going to talk to her this week to see when she can get baptized, but it´s really starting to take awhile now so I hope that she doesn´t lose sight of the goal. 

So we have another awesome investigator that we found while helping some members that are here for vacations, he´s the owner of a small hotel here in Vigo. He´s a really remarkable person and he is a big example for me of charity. Everything he does is to help other people. He often gives discounts to people in his hotel to help them out if the don´t have a lot of money. He also is planning on establishing three other businesses to help out people in South America, and he has plans to make buildings dedicated to helping others as well. He is really remarkable because everything that he does is focused on helping people. I hope that one day I can also devote all my time and efforts to helping out people.

So, our meetings were all really good. I hope that the zone was inspired at the end though. I don´t really know how things were from their point of view. Afterwards I went on exchanges to Ourense, which is a city pretty close to Vigo, however it is quite a bit hotter.

The prettiest part of Spain that I have seen so far would actually have to be a picture of the city of Oviedo (actually the surrounding mountains, not the city itself). After that, the prettiest part of Spain that I have seen would have to be Vigo, There is a gorgeous view sometimes, because it is situated right inside of a bay, with a few islands at the mouth of the bay, and there are mountains surrounding everything. It is really cool.

I honestly wasn´t nervous about the train, in fact right after an accident might be the safest time to travel because everyone is being a little bit more careful.

Well, that´s my time for today, thanks for everything!

Elder Johnson

 Here is a picture of the man who was baptized on July 20th!