Como El Ejercito de Helaman

Well this has been one eventful week!

First, we were finally allowed to leave on Tuesday to go about our
regular proselyting, but a lot of the roads were still really bad, so
we spent the day checking on our members and the people we are
teaching to see if they needed any help digging themselves out and so
forth. By Wednesday everything was back to normal except for the
mountains of snow that still remain on the sides of all the roads. The
phrase, "where the lanes are made up and the lines don't matter"
applies very literally hahaha.

In other big news, I'm getting transferred!!!! I still don't know
where I'll be going, but I'm leaving this area which is very
bittersweet. I'm excited for all the new people I will get the chance
to work with, and for the opportunity to get to know another part of
Maryland, but I am going to really miss these people and this city.
It's funny how very quickly a place can become home to you, and that's
definitely how I feel about the Glenmont ward. Even more surprisingly
though is that my companion, Hna Pacheco is also leaving the area. She
has only been here three transfers and this is her third area, so we
were sure that she was staying here for a while (there's only 4-5
Hermanas areas in the first place) so needless to say, it was a huge
shock. I'm also praying very hard for all of the people we are working
with since there will be two new missionaries in the area, and change
is always something difficult, but I have faith that transfers are
always inspired, and whatever happens will be what is best for the
area. So I've starting saying goodbye to a few families that I was
really close to and its quite depressing. Definitely not one of my
favorite things. But like Winnie the Pooh says, "How lucky I am to
have something that makes saying goodbye so hard."

So spiritual experience for this week. Wow there have been so many!
Yesterday was probably one of those days that I think I'll always
remember. I was asked to speak in sacrament meeting. Since it was the
fifth Sunday, and they asked a few of us missionaries to speak and do
a musical number. So of course, public speaking is not my favorite
activity, and now we must add that it needs to be in understandable
Spanish. Man I was so nervous. I had my talk all ready and had Hna
Minguito, one of my roommates read through it, and then I prayed real
hard. I spoke, and didn't struggle for words the entire time. It just
flowed. Afterwords, my trainer, Hna Acosts told me that was the best
Spanish she has ever heard me speak. She understood every word and I
barely had an accent. Let me just testify that the gift of tongues is
real! But even cooler was right after I spoke we did a musical number.
We sang llevaremos Su verdad al mundo, we'll bring the world his
truth, we sang the first verse in Spanish, second in English, and
third mixed. I could barely mouth the words of the second verse. The
spirit was so strong and I could barely keep from crying right there.
It was such an awesome experience.

Well I'll keep you all posted on what happens to me this next week,
it'll definitely be interesting to see where I end up, but I'm pumped
for wherever it is!

And now some photos:

 

 One of the families I've worked a lot with, Hna. K from Peru and one of her sons.

They are so sweet!

 The Criders!  They are my family away from family!  Cynthia returned from her mission in December and they have all been such an amazing example to me of Christ-like love.

 Zone picture.  We have English, Spanish, ASL and French all in one zone!!

 

Let it snow, let it snow.......

Well we have so far survived Blizzard 2016! We haven't been allowed to
leave since Friday at noon, so we've had some very nice
roommate/companion bonding time! We've watched a lot of Mormon
Messages, and I'm pretty sure I've seen Johnny Lingo more times than I
can count. And we spent all day yesterday shoveling out cars for
people and my back is definitely feeling it today haha. But it was
awesome to get outside and help out some people. I still have no idea
what the final count is for snow, but I would guess around 2 to 2.5
feet. It reminded of the good times back in Mass (my heart goes out to
you, keep shoveling strong). So that has been our weekend. The rest of
the week was just pretty normal other than the fact that all the
shopping centers were nuts because people were preparing for
Snomageddon We had a world-wide mission conference that got broadcast
from Salt Lake City on Wednesday, and it was really great to hear from
the apostles and other leaders that spoke. Those kind of conferences
are always just the biggest motivation for us as missionaries. You
always walk out of that feeling like you can conquer the world, so I
am grateful for that.


This week we also had a family who we are teaching, the familia
Gaitan, commit to baptism! They just moved here from El Salvador and
have an crazy story, but they are living with the friends, the familia
Hernandez, who are members of the church and have been coming with
them to church for the past month. They are so great and I am so
excited for them to prepare to make than essential step in their
lives, and begin changing through the Atonement of Jesus Christ.
This week I have also realized even more (if that's possible) how
grateful I am for the Book of Mormon. I have been reading it a lot
this weekend with all the down time we have, and I feel like every
time I pick up that book my testimony of it grows. I know it is true,
I know it was writing just for our days. It has been one of the
biggest sources of comfort in my life. If you ever need a reminder of
who you are and how our Savior feels about you, just pick up the Book
of Mormon and start reading. I promise you will feel it! He loves us
each individually and I am so blessed to have the opportunity to share
that with the people here.

Les quiero a todos y tengan una buena semana! Vayan bien!

Hna Johnson

Unfortunately I took most the photos
on my camera, and will not have access to a computer today :/

The Week it Snowed!!

Buenos días familia!

This has been a really good week and I can't believe it went by so
fast! It seems like I was just writing people yesterday. But this week
we've seen a lot of progression in the people we are working with, and
we found 4 new people who would like to learn more and who we have
starting teaching! I absolutely love each one of them, and I am so
excited for their future progress in the gospel, and pray that they
will have to hearts open to the gospel of Jesus Christ.

I guess one cool example from this week is we were visiting a family,
and the padre almost never comes to church, but we were teaching the
Restoration to them (the story about the Church of Jesus Christ was
restored). And the Hermana's brother in law was there, and after we
had taught the whole lesson, I felt like I should ask him if he would
like a Book of Mormon and he said yes! He even came out to the car
with us to grab one! I hope he really takes the chance to read it and
pray about it.

Something cool I learned this week was from last night. Every month we
have an event called Why I Believe at the Visitor's Center where
recent converts and a special guest are all invited to share why they
believe. This month it was a man named Terryl Givens who is the author
of a couple different religious books. But he said something that
really struck me. He was talking about the story of Jonah and the
whale, and he said that this story invited us each to ask ourselves
the question, "How do we respond when others are seemingly blessed or
appreciated more than we think they deserve?" I really thought about
this and realized how often I fail to feel joy when Heavenly Father is
merciful towards others. We need to recognize that in His eyes, we are
all on the same playing field, no one of us better than the other.
Much easier said than done right? But hey, there is hope through the
Atonement of Jesus Christ!

I know that this is the only true church on the face of the earth and
that Jesus Christ is at the head of this church. I pray that you all
have a wonderful week filled with testimony building experiences! I
know I will :) until next week!

Hermana Johnson

We Found New People!

Well this week kind of came and went. Vino y se fue. But it has been a
really good week. We found a lot of new people to teach the past week
and we've been able to get back in touch with a lot of them and start
teaching them. We have 2 wonderful new families that are really
excited about the gospel, and I was am just praying that I'll get the
opportunity to stay here long enough to help them make those first
steps with Heavenly Father and be baptized. But we'll see what the
Lord has planned for me :) I don't have too many funny stories for
this week, but there was one night when we were out knocking doors,
and it is in this huge apartment complex. There are buildings
everywhere, it almost feels like a different country (also because
almost everyone is Hispanic or African) but a lot of people had their
windows open and you could just see them going around their usual life
and I remember thinking, wow I am so lucky that I get to be doing
this. Everyone is just going around doing their usual nightly routine,
and I am here looking for people who want to learn more about Jesus
Christ. I am so blessed!

Well missionary work continues to go well here in Washington. My Spanish
 is growing little by little, and I can't believe that next week I'll have been
out for 5 months. The time really flies.

Something I learned from my studies this week was in Jacob chapter 3.
Jacob is talking to the people about why they are writing the
scriptures. And it amazes me that the most important thing to him was
that anyone who read these records, the Book of Mormon, knows that
Jacob and his people believed in Christ. What better testimony can we
have other than that He is our Savior, who loves us and suffered for
us individually. I know that He lives. No tengo ninguna duda de eso.
El vive. Hoy y siempre y El nos ama. Well I love you all, and I hope
you all have a wonderful week! I know I Will! Keep doing good! Sorry
no pictures this week :(

Hermana Johnson

Feliz Ano Nuevo!

Happy 2016 lovely people!!

I hope all of your winter breaks consisted
of a lot of resting and sugar. Mine had a lot of the latter haha. But
New Years was fun. We went to bed like normal, and then woke up at 12
to say happy new year and went right back to bed! Haha yes very
exciting. But I really can't believe it's already 2016. This week has
left me reflecting on the past year. For me, 2015 was a year of a lot
of changes. I was at school, received a mission call, and now am here
back on the East Coast serving a mission! But the thing that really
made me feel grateful was for the number of amazing people I have met
this past year that have changed my life (yes that's you Adams). I
feel incredibly blessed to have met all of these people, and I
continue to meet people that change my life everyday! I think one of
the most heartbreaking things for me on a mission is to see people who
so deeply and permanently want to change their lives but don't have
the family support to do it. That is something I see a lot being on a
mission. The majority of the people that we help and teach have
families who do not support their actions and it makes me realize how
blessed I have been to have such an amazing family, both biological
and emotional, my entire life who have always encouraged me to do
good. I know that the plan that God has for each of us is exactly what
we need, and our experiences not only strengthen ourselves, but others
as well. I encourage you all to count your blessings this year! We are
all so incredibly blessed, but sometimes we just need to take a step
back and look at them to recognize it. Well, les quiero muchísimo y
espero que todos tienen una linda semana! Vayan bien!

Hermana Johnson

 Our Sister party earlier this morning at the mission home.

Warmest Winter I've Ever Had

First Christmas on the mission, check! I loved it and I loved being
able to see your faces through skype, and I wish I could have seen all
of you, but unfortunately time does not allow for that. But it was
wonderful to get to talk to you...only 5 more months till the next
time! 

So Christmas Eve is big for Hispanics, they don't really
celebrate on Christmas Day, but Christmas Eve is an all night fiesta.
Unfortunately as missionaries our fiesta only lasts till 9:30, but it
was still awesome. We went over to the Flores's house, a family in our
ward that is amazing. Hna. Flores is like an adopted mother to me. So
she had us come over early to help her cook, which is not very often
that she'll let you help her cook, and she is an amazing chef so that was
fun, and then we just ate these amazing sandwiches con pollo, way
better than your normal sandwich, and just talked with people up until
we went. It was so much fun just because of the spirit of family and
festivities that was there. 

Then Christmas Day we were with the mission most of the day.  We watched 

Inside Out as a mission, and funny story about that, so there had been a rumor 

going around that we would watch Star Wars, but President had put an end to that. 

Then as we're all sitting there in the theater room in the Visitors Center, the Star
Wars theme music comes on, and the opening credits start rolling. I
almost started crying I was so excited, but then the screen came on
saying "just kidding" and I don't think I've been so let down before
in my life hahaha.

But I've had so many wonderful experiences this week, and I'll share
one with you really quick. On Christmas Eve. I was lying there in bed
just thinking, and I thought about the night, over 2000 years ago,
that a star appeared. I can not imagine the amount of excitement that
surrounded that sign. Or for the Nephites who had suffered persecution
for years, the night was as bright as day. Finally, the sign of the
Savior of the world came. I wondered how I would have felt on that
night. How excited, grateful, amazed, etc, I would have felt. I know
that our Savior did come, and that He came and was crucified so that
we can live again with our families and with Him for eternity. I am
grateful everyday for Him and all that He did and does for me
everyday. Sé que El vive. I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas,
and have an amazing new year! Set some nice goals for yourself!

Les quiero mucho,

Hna. Johnson

 Hna Pacheco, yo and Hna Flores on Christmas Eve

 Skype call with the family on Christmas Day!

Christmas is Full of Surprises

Man this week I've learned that Heavenly Father has a sense of humor.
So we're sitting there in transfer meeting and they're announcing all
the companionships in my zone and they get to Glenmont, and they
announce, "Hna. Luna-Chico and Hna. Minguito...and they will be
receiving Hna. Acosta" I'm very certain my "what?!?" was audible to
the entire room. So backtracking a little bit. Hna. Acosta and I were
told by president that we would be staying together for a while, at
least another transfer (6 weeks). We knew we were moving apartments
cause that's what they had told us when we got the phone call on
Saturday night. "Hna Acosta and Johnson you will be moving but staying
in the same ward." No big deal. So we have all our stuff packed and
ready, but no major changes. Literally everyone thought we were
staying together, the ward, the missionaries, ourselves. So needless
to say, we were both incredibly shocked. But...long story short, I
have a new companion!! Her name is Hna. Pacheco and we both came out
together so we are definitely struggling making it through right now.
She and I both finished training, so it's kind of like being a really
nice warm cocoon and then being thrown into Arctic Ocean without a
life vest. A little intimidating, but we'll make it through. She's an
awesome teacher, so I have so much to learn from her.
So I am still in the same area, and funny enough, Hna. Acosta is one of my roommates.
The ward is very confused because we're still both there but not
companions anymore. I hope they catch on soon.


So this week has been a little crazy with moving, and transfers and
all that, but I guess one of my favorite experiences happened
yesterday. Cynthia is the daughter of one of our members and she just
got home this week from her mission. She is amazing, and such an
example to me of being committed to the work. So yesterday she had a
fireside and asked me to bear my testimony. I was sitting there
listening to her as she bore her testimony of this work and it really
hit me in that moment, that this is it. This is the only chance I get
to be a missionary, at least in this sort of way. It was probably the
most motivating thought and experience I've ever had. I want to be
able to stand at that pulpit at the end of these amazing 18 months and
say I tried as hard as I could. I'll be working hard to get there.


Something I loved from my studies this week was a scripture in 1 Nephi
15:11. It says, "if ye will harden not your hearts, and ask me in
faith, believing that ye shall receive, with diligence in keeping my
commandments, surely these things shall be made known unto you." This
applies to so many aspects of our lives, whether it's growing our own
testimony, answering doubts, learning where we need to go next in
life, or simply who to help that day, I know that if we have anything
that we wish to know, and we have the faith that God will answer us,
He will. He listens to and answers every prayer. So this week I
challenge you to take your concerns to the Lord first. He is the one
who can guide us in the direction we need to go, and He is more than
happy to, we simply need to ask first.


Les quiero muchísimo! Tengan una buena semana y Feliz Navidad!

Hna. Johnson