402 Days Left

this week has been kinda of a week of ups and downs mostly ups but a couple downs.

Tuesday was one of the best days of my life! Noting to exciting happened during the day. the exciting parts are. 1). on the way to the church we saw Fermin standing outside, so we were like we have to stop, so we stopped went to his house and he was gone. so then we saw some people speaking Spanish. so we were like lets talk to them.. they weren't interested.

 BUTTT THEN we were driving and i saw Ricardo!!! pushing his little cart (in the hottttt sun) so we pulled over got out of the car and went and talked to him. it is so insane because this was the fourth time we have seen him in totally different place, and its so crazy because if we wouldn't have done all those things first we wouldn't have seen him. god has a perfect plan, even if it doesn't make sense and it is crazy he knows what is happening. then after that we continued on our way to the church, to fill up the baptismal font! So we got there and filled it up, set up everything and planned for our missionary moment. Hermana cappillo-montes got to come, there were so many people at the baptism, there were like 25-30 non-members at the baptism it was insane. the baptism went perfectly. it was for sure the best baptism i have been to in my whole life. the spirit was so strong.for our missionary moment we showed the 20 minute restoration video and each bore our testimonies after we explained what happened. then Fabi bore her testimony, it was the most beautiful, sincere testimony ever, she cried the whole time and said that this was one of the hardest choice she has had to make but she knows that it was right. she thanked us missionaries for teaching her and said how it was just the thing she needed in her life. it was so beautiful, and the spirit was so strong. the baptismal service was 1 hour and 40 minutes way long but so perfect, we wouldn't have changed a thing!

then Wednesday we visited our friend Maria and she came to the baptism.   she can't see good  when she drives at night so she was telling us how when she left she way nervous to drive home because it was like 9, so she prayed and she said it was crazy because she could see perfectly the whole drive home. then that night we had the opportunity to serve Seder (part of the pass-over) at a Jewish Synagogue. it was a really cool experience. we also got to participate in everything to. we just had to pretty much give people food and then get ourselves food (also blessings all the food was vegan and wayyyyyyyyyyyyyyy good). it was a really neat thing to experience and to experience while being a missionary. it was so different. it was really cool to talk to people of all faiths and races and just be friends, and to not have that barrier between us but to just love each other and serve each other. 

then on Thursday we had district meeting i gave a training on the importance of the book of Mormon. Then we had a lesson with one of my favorite people Salvador (he is a recent convert). he shared with us his story again about how he found out about the church and its so crazy. so he moved here to the united states July 28.then for his work a couple years latter he could go to Washington or Idaho and the other guy choose Washington so he went to Idaho. he was in a park and saw the temple. he saw the Angel Moroni on the top and he said that it was like flashing and the sun was shining right on the Angel and he was like what is that place. this was also on July 28. then the missionaries found him he was taught and he wanted to be baptized he said that he knew it was true and his life changed for the better after he made this choice. so 1 year later after he saw the temple he was baptized on July 28! it is so crazy again to see god perfect plan and his hand working in each of our lives. 

then on Friday we had a lesson with Manuel this is where it is sad! so his mom has not been very supportive of him learning more, and she has been showing him Anti now. so the lesson we had with him before he was like baptize me right now in this pool he was so excited, and ready then this lesson it was a complete 180. he said that Jesus established the catholic church and that Jesus was catholic and that when Joseph smith saw god and his son Jesus Christ that was the devil. and he said that the book of Mormon was not true, but he hasn't prayed about it yet. so we are going to keep working with him. its just hard to see how much Satan does not want people to be baptized because  he knows the power we get when we are baptized and he doesn't want us to gain that. so it was a rough lesson 

then on Saturday not to much happened maria said that she wants to get married to her "husband" of 20 years so fingers crossed. then we got to go to a baby shower for the cutest family in the entire world. also funny story so on our way to the baby shower we were siting at a light, and it turned green but then we saw this man creeping in front of our car so we stopped, then he ran to the middle of the road, like the divider thing, and he pulled this rod out of his pants that was wrapped around his hand with caution tape and tried to hit the car driving by with his "sword", then he like put it back in his pants like a sword, it was so funny. 

Sunday was pretty good the other day we had this random person call us and was like i want to go to church so we gave him all the info and reminded him on Saturday then he showed up to church. he said he was taught by missionaries 3 years ago and he is so prepared so fingers crossed here. 

but anyway this week was pretty good i hope that you have a great week love you and miss you! 

hermana johnson 

Another Crazy week

Tuesday we got blessings (Me and hermana Williams, because she has a cold and I have been sick with pneumonia ) so we met the elders at the church and they asked do you have keys to this building and we were like no, so they tried opening the door and they were all locked, so they went to look in their car to see if they have a key, and they didn't. so one of the elders was like pray that this door opens and he pulled on it and it opened! It was insane so we were able to get our blessing. when we left we closed the door and it just locked. It was a crazy miracle and it proved to me that god is aware of each of us and our needs and that he has a desire to help and bless each of us . we just need to have faith in him. 

then that night we had a lesson with Manuel about tithing and he accepted to pay tithing, because he said god has given him all that he has and the money isn't his anyway. then we had a lesson with recent converts adi and Jose (the were the people who were baptized when we had to fill up the font with buckets) we talked to them about the priesthood  and how important it is and he was telling us how he feels like he needs to be more responsible because he has this. then we had a lesson with Elias and we taught him how to pray and he prayed to help all those who are sick and in the hospital and all those who are drugs and are struggling. then he prayed to help those who don't know the truth to be able to find it so we were like he already knows this church is true. 

then on Wednesday we went to visit this referral and he had a gate which was locked so we weren't able to knock on the door. so we deiced to write a note saying we stopped by so we wrote the note and were getting ready to leave and then we deiced to write something about Easter so we started writing that and then he walked out of the house but it was really cool how gods timing worked because if we didn't following the prompting to invite to church Easter Sunday then we wouldn't have got to meet him. then Manuel had his baptismal interview with the elders and we were praying and Hermana Miller paused and we all remembered at the same time that we forgot the paper work. so the elders interviewed him while we drove home to get the paper work which was like a 30 minute trip, and we were like rushing because the elders had more lessons that they had to be at way soon. so instead of freaking out we just had hermana miller tell us the tangled movie because she has the whole thing memorize word for word and you can ask her to start any where and she will just start saying the movie. then we had a lesson with Elias and he told us how he knows this church is true. 

then on Friday we had exchanges so we slept over at our STL house and the went with a sister in the English work for the day. not to much happened, we saved a lizard that got ran over which was way cool. then we had a lesson with this amazing member family. they have be married for 59 years and are just so happy to be alive. and they were telling us they know they are going to die soon so they have started to prepare for their missions on the other side, by reading preach my gospel and the missionary handbook. 

then on Saturday we had a Easter activity at the church that we got to help with we got to hide the eggs it was way cute. then we got to have a temple tour with Manuel and Fabi. they both loved the temple and Manuel was saying one day when he finds his soulmate he wants to get married at the temple. it was way cool. 

then yesterday we had our meeting in the morning and hermano chavez brought us 2 party sized oreos again. 

we had a lot of lesson active people and friends come to church. then we were able to go visit a lot of people. we were able to go to the hospital and visit a member and share a scripture with her. then we went to visit one of our friends and when we were getting out of the car i thought to grab an English book of Mormon but then i was like no its to heavy and we are just going to see him and then going to another person house. but then i thought again to just grab one so i got one and we were walking to this house and this guy stopped us and said he used to live in salt lake and that he wanted to learn more and he wanted a book of Mormon so we ended up giving him that English book of Mormon. 

then had dinner with a couple, the wife is active but the husband hasn't been to church in 2 years because he was offended. we were so bold in the lesson it was crazy i felt promoted to say so many things and the word that i need to say in Spanish came to me. it was a really amazing experience. a lot of the thing i felt prompted to say and had the words come to my mind i was like i do not want to say that he is going to get way mad, but he didn't and we shared with him what he needed and the message god needed him to hear. the we had a lesson with fabi and the had non member over at there house we ended up teaching 11 people it was crazy! 

One thing i read recently was this and i want to invite each of you to do this for the next 40 days 

"Easter honors the events of Gethsemane, what transpired on the cross, the Savior rising from the dead on the third day, and then His ministering for 40 days before ascending to heaven.

Additionally, not long after ascending to heaven, Jesus Christ appeared to the Nephites and ministered to them (see 3 Nephi 11–28). That’s a lot to celebrate!

Why not expand your Easter season? Let your soul delight longer in the miracles of Easter. Make a conscious effort to be more Christlike during the 40 days after Easter. For inspiration, consider the following invitation from President Russell M. Nelson: “Consecrate a portion of your time each week to studying everything Jesus said and did as recorded in the Old Testament, for He is the Jehovah of the Old Testament. Study His laws as recorded in the New Testament, for He is its Christ. Study His doctrine as recorded in the Book of Mormon, for there is no book of scripture in which His mission and His ministry are more clearly revealed. And study His words as recorded in the Doctrine and Covenants, for He continues to teach His people in this dispensation.”

i hope you all had a good week and a good Easter i love you

Crazzzzzyyyyy weeekkkkkk!!!!!

Tuesday was the first day of the transfer. I am now companions with Hermana Miller and Williams. 

so in the morning our branch president called us and asked so who is teaching Fernando?  and we were like no one is.
he is going back to chile in a few days. and then he said  well he is getting baptized on Tuesday so you need to teach him everything.
and we were like what??? 

so anyway we went to his house that day taught him everything made sure he understood everything and asked him about his testimony. and got him ready to be baptized that Thursday. so that was pretty much our whole day on Tuesday. 

on Wednesday we made the baptismal program figured out who was talking and made all the plans for the baptism.
 then we had a lesson with Maria a lady the other Hermana's have been teaching for a while. her life has been so crazy, i have had a few lesson with her before this so she knows all of us and she was telling us about her life in this lesson, and how now her life is so much better since she has started coming to church, and learning more about Jesus Christ. then she sang us a song that she learned about Jesus being our refuge. it was such a sweet moment.
then that night I went to a lesson with Manuel and with a return missionary hermana Allen. we taught him about the word of wisdom. At first he had a hard time understanding and then we were like god created out bodies and he knows what is best for them and he was like yeahhh and he said  like if we need to smoke our bodies would have chimneys, it was so funny but he's not wrong. it was such a good lesson with him. and he said that he will live the word of wisdom not for him but because he loves god and he wants to make him happy. then we went to the church for Fernando interview for baptism. everything went good and he was way excited to be baptize the next day. 

then on Thursday we had zone kickoff where we met everyone in our zone and set goals for the transfer.. then we went to set up for Fernando's baptism. we filled the font and planned for our missionary moment and the baptism only started 10 minutes late which is like a record for our branch. we had 5 of our friends come to the baptism, Fabi, Manuel and his mom Maria, Macro and Elias. it was way good. I sat by Fabi and i told her that i liked this bracelet that she was wearing and she took it off and put it on my arm, it melted my heart it was so sweet. Fernando had to get dunked 5 times because something kept coming out of the water. then we had our missionary moment it went really good. then we got to talk to all our friends that came to the baptism macro and Elias were like we like that you don't baptize babies in this church and that you have to be older to be baptized and we were way excited that they said that. 

Then Friday morning we got up at 5 to go teach seminary.we helped the students plan a missionary lesson to teach, it was really fun. that day to i started coughing up blood i have been sick for like 3 weeks so i was like i probably need to go to the doctors. so i went and he had me to this breathing test and he was like you have 75% lung function. then i had to get blood taken and a x-ray and i only have pneumonia which i was way happy about because its not contagious so i can still go out and do stuff. then that night we had a lesson with Manuel and the perez family it was so good and Manuel is so excited for his baptism. then we went tracting for a while and made some new friends.

then on Saturday our branch had a relief society commemoration thing. and maria came and she was so happy to be there. and she was thanking us for being her babies (she calls us her little babies) and she was like i don't want to cry but i am just so happy. then we had a lesson with manuel about the commandments, it went way good. i am so excited for his baptism, he is so funny, he is like our best friend. then we had a lesson with marco and elias and they said they like what they have been learning at general conference and they want to keep learning more. then we had a lesson with Fabi and her family about the commandments, the spirit was so strong and she was telling us how ready and excited she is for her baptism. 

then on Sunday we had a meeting at 7;30 and hermano chavez our favorite person in the whole world brought us 2 party size pack of Oreo. we also had 4 friends at church Fabi. Manuel, marco and Elias. then that night we went to a baptism of a person granddaughter in our branch. then we went to visit people. 

but yeah that was our week it was crazy but so good 

love you and miss you all

English fast this week

 on Tuesday we had a lesson with Manuel and he is so amazing. we asked him to pray about the book of Mormon and he was like oh i know its true and he bore like a 5 minute testimony to us about the book of Mormon and how he knows that it comes from god! 

then that night we had a lesson with some of my favorite people in the world angel and Victoria, they have been married since he was 19 and she was 16, and they have 15 kids! 

they are so sweet and during the lesson angel was like i know that god has sent his angles to us to teach us about him, and then Victoria said the prayer and she asked for god to bless us

her angels . 

it was the cutest thing to ever happen to me! they are also reading the book of Mormon, and learning so much.

Then on Wednesday we had another lesson with Manuel and his Mom Maria, we talked about the Plan of salvation, and Manuel was talking about how we he was younger he always used to think of his life with god before this earth so that was way good. 

then later in the night we had a lesson with jose, he was working for this doctor who is a member, and he started asking him questions about why he was so calm and happy, and he told him it was because he was a member. he invited him to come to church and he came even though he doesn't speak Spanish. he is very excited to learn more and has already made so many changes and loves so much about our church it was way cool to talk to him. 

then on Thursday we had another lesson with Manuel ! 

we also got transfer calls this day! I am now in a trio in 2 areas they combined two areas together so now our area is longer than an hour. so it is going to be crazy!

then Saturday we had conference and it was amazing I got so many answers to my questions the first talk answered 3/4  of my questions. also Manuel and Fabi came to conference. 

Then on Sunday we had conference and we invited 2 of our friends to come and they came and they liked it and learned a lot! Manuel and Fabi also came. that night we had cena with la familia Sanchez and Fabi and we were talking about conference and Fabi said that her question was to know if she should be baptized and she received an answer that she should during conference so that was way cool

i hope that you have a great week love you and miss you 

Best day ever

Subject: April 27 the best day of my life

this week has been a crazy week!

 so many amazing things happened this week .

on Tuesday I went on exchanges with Hermana Williams so I was the senior companion and I had to help her. I was also the one who knew Spanish the best so I had to do all the talking. but it wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. It was kinda cool actually because I realized that I know more Spanish than I think I know. 

then on Wednesday we went tracting for most of the day. Nothing to exciting happened. but as the night was ending their was this guy outside and he was like sisters how are you. so we walked up and talked to him, he was from the Tonga islands he served his mission in the pacific islands and he knows Tongan, Samoan and English.  and before were leaving he gave us each 20 dollars and we were like no it okay, and he said no I know what its like to be a missionary you need this and he like made us take it. then he said if you ever need anything come here and we will help you. we are your family. he said come here when ever you are hungry and we will make you food. he was the sweetest person ever.

Then on Thursday we had a lesson with Manuel my best friend ( he is the man in the photos holding a plate of food ) the lesson was way good. he was said that everything we are teaching him makes so much sense and that he likes what he is learning. then that night we had a lesson with Fabi! and we asked her to be baptized! and she said yes! everyone was crying. so background on her, she is from mexico and she is here now living with a family that are members in the branch we are serving in. anyway the family was saying how they have been praying for years that other members of their family would accept the Gospel and now their prayer has been answered. she is getting baptized on April 27.

then on Friday we had another lesson with Manuel, and we asked him to be baptized to!!!! and he said yes!!! he said that he has actually been thinking that he wanted to be baptized. he is way excited !!!thennnnn that night we were on our way to a lesson, and we ran into Ricardo, the cute lil man that we got snow cones from one day and we gave the picture of Jesus to. He was way far away from the place we first met him, so it was way crazy that we saw him, but he still has the picture of Jesus hanging up in his cart, and he is doing so good. 

then on Saturday we went to a lesson with angel, he is the one who saw the Book of Mormon in my hand and said how much does it cost I want one. anyway we went to his house and we met his wife and she is the sweetest thing, she let us right in and we talked to her all about the book of Mormon, and angel is reading it !! then angel came home and we got to talk to both of them about how great the book of Mormon is. they are excited to keep learning more. 

then this night was the baptism of adi and jose . friends of the other hermanas, me and hermana cappillo-montes have both got to teach them a few times. so it takes 2 hours to fill up the baptismal font, and we forgot to tell the Hermana that.  so we get there at 6;30 and the baptism starts at 7 and the water is not even to the first step, so we literally had to fill the font. we got buckets and filled the font and it was a miracle because we filled the font by 7. because we prayed and god helped us. We were so happy !manuel and fabi and another friend jose all came to the baptism and they loved it. manuel and fabi are both excited to be baptized the are both getting baptized on april 27 so get ready for that day! 

have a good week love you