The End of an Era

Well transfer calls came...

And I am saying goodbye to my beloved Landover Hills. I really think
the goodbyes keep getting harder and harder. I'm not quite sure where
I will be going or who I will be with yet, so you'll all have to stay
tuned for next week to learn that. But this week has been a great one.
Obviously with lots of challenges, but I have learned so much and had
so many wonderful experiences as well. We got a new ward mission
leader and he is amazing. He is a returned missionary himself from
many years ago, and when he met with us on Wednesday he continually
expressed his love for us and the work we are doing. Then he said
something that I'm pretty sure I will make my motto for the rest of my
mission. He was holding our progress record and said, "Ahora, su
felicidad es esto." Or your happiness is this now. It really struck a
chord with me. It's true, my happiness is this, these people, this
area, their progression towards conversion. It's what I do and love
every single day. I feel so grateful for that opportunity to have this
happiness. It really is a greater joy than I have ever known. And
although I am so sad to be leaving this area, it has definitely been
my favorite so far, and I know no where else will be quite the same
(partially because I don't feel like I'm in America haha) but I know
Heavenly Father has other things for me to learn elsewhere, and I know
that I will find even more people to love and teach! I don't know that
I have too much else to say and I know if I start going into specific
experiences this email will take about 3 years to read, but I know
that the Lord has blessed me immensely, both in this area and in this
week. I have been able to feel the spirit working through me and
testifying to these people of the truthfulness and simplicity of the
gospel. I am so sad to be leaving Sister Rivas, but also so excited
that she will be taking over the area. I know it's in good hands :)
sorry this is kinda short mom. I'm sure I'll have a lot more to say
next week. But until then, espero que tengan una linda semana! Yo sé
que todavía tengo mucho de aprender, pero no hay una feliz andas más
grande que está que tengo ahora. Mi felicidad ES esto! Sé que cuando
realmente vivimos el evangelio con todo nuestro corazón, tenemos un
gozo natural. Jesucristo vino para que tengamos gozo! Les quiero mucho
y les invito que agradezca al Señor por el gozo que tienen en sus
vidas! Hasta la próxima semana y por favor oren por este área!

Hermana Yonson

Why I Believe with Judy! And lots of sisters

 We went to DC for the sunrise

 DC

Death by Cake

Thank you all for the happy birthday wishes, whoever said birthdays on
the mission aren't fun, never served Spanish speaking haha. No worries
mom, I ate about 5x more cake and food than I would on any normal
birthday haha. But we'll come back to that. First, I feel like I say
this every time, but time is going by SO quickly. I can't believe it's
been a year since I turned 19. I feel like the past year has just been
a time warp, but I have easily grown and learned more in this past
year than in any other, especially about our Savior, Jesus Christ. I
remember my MTC branch president saying that these next 18 months
would be my chance to become closer to the Lord than every before, I
just had to use them wisely. I am now very grateful for that counsel
and the progress that I have been able to make, and even more exciting
is the number of people that I have been able to help in their own
journey as well. As it is said, happiness isn't complete unless it's
shared with someone else!

So birthday........I hate my companion. Hahaha.

So she has the brilliant idea that in Relief Society last week, when
they sing to all the hermanas with birthdays, to announce that mine is
on Saturday as well. Well, any of you who know Spanish culture a
little, birthdays are often a big deal, and they love their
missionaries. Saturday also happens to be the day of a RS activity, so
they all make sure I am coming, and I thought I was going to get away
with just that, but no. Saturday rolls around, and every single
activity we did included a meal and cake. My comp has videos of all of
them. The final cake count: 5. My companion had made sure to inform
all of the people we were seeing it was my birthday ahead of time. But
she got her payback because she had to eat just as much as I did haha!
I have only felt that full before once in my mission, and I really
don't plan on it again. But all that said, I felt so incredibly
blessed to be loved by the members and investigators we saw that day.
I didn't feel far from family, because I had family all around me. I
love these people so much!

On another note, one of my favorite moments this week was church the
next day. We had 3 of our investigators show up, and two less active
families who had promised to come, but often tend to find excuses last
minute. We were so happy to see them! Also, one of our investigators
who we've had trouble integrating in the ward (she's a little
stand-offish) made friends! We had to go help with translations here
and there because it was ward conference and a lot of the stake
leaders only speak English and kept asking us to translate for them,
so our investigator went with some of the hermanas and was even asking
them some of the questions and concerns she has about the church and
Book of Mormon! Yes!

This is turning into a really long letter so I'll keep it to that
story, but this week really has been a wonderful one. There are
miracles everyday, we just have to be looking for them! Oh and I got
to interview with President and Sister Johnson, they're just the best.
Super pumped to serve with them. I love you all and hope you have a
wonderful week! Look for the little miracles in you life and I promise
you will find them. God is in the details.

Cake 1

I really was excited!

*Note from mom.  She also sent videos of blowing out candles on ALL the cakes that day and the traditional face shove into a cake!  Happy birthday!

Last Week as a Teenager

Buenas tardes!

I'm not quite sure where to start this email. I guess the biggest news
is that we got to meet President Johnson this week! So that was
exciting. We haven't had interviews yet, so not too much one on one,
but he trained us at our zone conference, and I am pretty excited to
see where he takes things in this mission. He speaks with such a strong
spirit and I am super excited for our interviews on Wednesday. He also
is hilarious and loves the Red Sox and we have the same last name, so
we obviously got along pretty well for the couple minutes I got to
talk with him haha. And Sister Johnson is awesome. She is here to work
and I know they are both going to be such a blessing to the mission.
Other than that, I feel like not too much happened this week. We are
struggling to keep our people progressing. Agency man! Hahha. If there
is one thing I have learned on my mission, it would be how much our
Heavenly Father respects our agency, or our ability to chose. I cannot
imagine how much it must sorrow him when he watches us make choices
that He knows will not make us happy, and yet he lets us make them. We
as human beings truly are free to choose, but we must accept the
consequences of our choices. He loves us enough to allow us to pick
our consequences. As our dear prophet, Thomas S. Monson says,
"decisions do determine destiny". We decide who we are one day at a
time.
One of my favorite lessons this week was with Oneyda and Alex. We went
over for lunch, and the last time we had seen her she told us she was
afraid of reading the Book of Mormon because she was afraid she might
like it (insert face palming and groans of frustration). Haha people
crack me up. So this week we decided we would help her along and read
with them. So we read about the story of Christ coming to the people
in the America's. One of the greatest events of the Book of Mormon.
The spirit was so strong and then we were able to testify of the
truthfulness of the Book of Mormon and our Savior. Now the ball's in
her court again.
We had zone activity today outside and played a bunch of water games
outside, so this email is coming a little later than usual and I don't
have too much time to write a ton. Time is flying and I can't believe
I'm about to turn 20. When did that happen?? But I hope you all have a
fantastic week and I hope your all use your agency to choose good
things! Les quiero!

Hermana Yonson

President and Sister Johnson! And the zone!

 We got to eat birthday cake

America, America

HAPPY FOURTH OF JULY!! To answer the question I'm sure many of you
have, because I had it, yes, Hispanics in the states do celebrate the
Fourth of July. They'll take any excuse to get everyone together and
eat food. It's the best. We went hiking this morning in this place
called Great Falls. It's gorgeous and we enjoyed looking at the
Virginia side of the Potomac, since that's out of our mission and we
never get to go there. But as far as missionary work goes...
This week has had its ups and downs, and for whatever reason the ups
seemed super high and the downs pretty low. But I'll focus on this ups
cause it was really a good week overall. The best news is that we have
not one, but TWO people who have chosen to follow the example of Jesus
Christ and be baptized! The first one is George, Ingrid's son, who was
previously on baptismal date, but due to the problems they were having
fell off, but now he is back on for being baptized at the end of this
month! I swear that 10 year old has the gospel way more figured out
than I ever did. The second one is Mario. Now, we have known Mario
forever, but due to his crazy work schedule, he is never available. So
it has been slow progress with him. The amazing thing is that Heavenly
Father led us to him right in the middle of a very large trial in his
life. So this guy is sufficiently humbled. But we were still feeling
pretty hesitant about inviting him to be baptized because we were
afraid he would see it as just one more thing to stress him out in his
already very stressed out life. But we invited him, and he accepted!
He said he has been wanting the chance to change his life around for a
while, and here it is! Prayers were answered. Other than that, not too
much exciting has happened. The week started off awesome, and then
slowly and slowly our appointments starting cancelling. So the week
kind of ended off really slow and long, but hey, now we can appreciate
the good moments even more! I love being a missionary and feel so
incredibly blessed every single day. I love being able to share with
people the hope that comes through the atonement of Jesus Christ.
Speaking of which, I want to invite you all to go to the Mental Health
section of LDS.org. The church has just come out with some incredible
videos on understanding mental illness and how the power of the
atonement can touch even those who feel their struggling can never
end. I encourage you to watch one or two, regardless of whether or not
you struggle with it yourself. You may be able to help someone else
down the road.

Well that all for this week! Les quiero y espero que tengan una buena semana!

Hna Yonson

Fotos!

I found Zion on exchanges

This Hermana fed us WELL

 Great Falls, MD

"Eva Was Venezuelan"

I am currently writing this from the National Gallery of Art and I feel
so fancy haha. But this week has just flown by! I was so surprised
when I realized yesterday was Sunday. It seems like I just wrote you
all. But thankfully this week has been a great one. We saw so many
blessings which has reminded me of a scripture in the Book of Mormon
in Ether 12:12 "For if there be no faith among the children of men God
can do no miracle among them; wherefore, he showed not himself until
after their faith." I have definitely learned that as we stay firm in
our faith throughout our challenges and setbacks, we will always see
the blessings in the end. There are always good things to come!
Some of those miracles have been going to the Visitors Center with
Oneyda and Alex who have been some pretty difficult people to teach.
But both of them felt the spirit so strongly there as we talked about
the blessings of the temple. Oneyda kept thanking us profusely after
for inviting them there. Still not on a baptismal date, but they are
slowly preparing their way there. We also got to see Ingrid and George
even if it was just for a moment in the doorway, but we have been
praying to make contact, and we did!
We also had some awesome lessons this week. And through those lessons,
we managed to meet almost all of our goals! We picked up a new family
that hasn't really been to church since coming to the States, and have
another señora who committed to be baptized! Overall my testimony of
the fact that Heavenly Father hears and answers prayers, even about
the littlest things, has grown significantly. Sometimes it is easy for
us to pray and pray, but never look for the answers, or forget to
recognize them when they come, but I know that as we look for the
answers to our prayers, we will always find them. I love being a
missionary and feel so privileged to be doing this great work. Sister
Case, my roommate, just hit her year mark and we were talking about
how incredibly fast it all goes by. The time really just flies! I'm
not sure how it happens! That's about all I can think of for this
week. It's been a fantastic one. Les quiero mucho y ojalá que tengan
una buena semana!

Oh! To explain the title, we were checking up on this less active lady
and some random guy was outside her house lifting weights, which we
kept telling him we couldn't do in skirts despite him telling us
exercise is good for you (haha). But then Hna Rivas said her family
was from Venezuela and he starts going off about how beautiful the
women from Venezuela are (slightly weird) and tells us that Eve was
Venezuelan. I was dying and Hna Rivas felt really uncomfortable. Gotta
love days like that.

Hna Yonson

All the Spanish Missionaries in the zone

 Us at the VC with Oneyda and her boys.

I need one

Atheists, Opposition and Goodbyes

It's weird to think transfers were just this past Wednesday since not
much has changed on our front. We have a new roommate, since Sister
Maire went home and Sis. Cooper came in. Our new apartment is still
treating us well.

Our week itself has been pretty rough. We decided to finally talk to
Oneyda and Alex about baptism again, hoping to get Alex excited about
something since they are now coming to church every Sunday. And Alex
said he's never once thought about baptism before (not true) and it's
not something he wants to do. Stab wound number one to the heart.
Number two and three occurred on Saturday when we hadn't heard from
Ingrid and George for a few days, which was getting us kind of worried
since they are preparing for their baptism in July. So we stop by and
Ingrid answers the door and says she cannot see us today tells us
everything is fine and closes the door. She also told our member she
couldn't come to church. Needless to say we are racking our brains
trying to figure out how to help her which is difficult when you don't
know what's going on. And number three happened just a few hours later
when Erik, who we were planning on inviting to be baptized on July 23
texted us out of the blue saying that he doesn't want to keep learning
more because he really feels like atheism just makes more sense.
Despite our best efforts to convince him to just come to church, he
said he wasn't interested anymore. Needless to say, it has been a bit
of a difficult week but amidst all of it we still have been able to
see little miracles such as sharing a message of eternal families with
an elderly man who's wife recently passed away, receiving a giant bag
of chocolate covered mangoes from the nicest atheist man I've ever
met, and having 4 investigators at church. It's an amazing testimony
to me that even in the middle of opposition, the Lord still shows us
that He is at the head of this work. We will be praying for the people
we have been working with, and to find some new people this next week.
We have some appointments set up for this next week that I am pretty
excited about.

We also got to hear President and Sister Cooke speak last night and it
was great. I feel so blessed to have had the opportunity I've had to
serve under their guidance and direction. I am both sad to see them
leave and excited for President and Sister Johnson to come in. It will
be a very interesting transition. Well that's all for this week. I
hope you all have wonderful weeks and see the blessings of your own
missionary efforts. Les quiero mucho!

Hna Yonson

I Speak Hispanic and Happy Fathers Day!

I can't believe it's Monday again! I swear some weeks just fly and
this was one of them, and so much happened in just one week. The
biggest pressing news is that the Lord heard and answered the many,
many prayers of His servant, and I am staying in Silver Spring! We got
the call on Saturday night, and all day Saturday I was a ball of
nerves. Hermana Rivas had just finished training and I have been in
the zone my whole mission and my area for 3 transfers, which isn't a
ton of time but enough that President will move you. So needless to
say the entire zone was telling me I was out of here, and I was so
nervous that that would be the case. I've felt like there is still
work here for me to do, and apparently the Lord did too!! I am so
excited, and much to our surprise, Hna Rivas and I are staying
together as well! We're both pretty pumped.

In other news, we moved this week, so Tuesday was just a bunch of back
and forth from our old apartment to the new one. But we managed to get
it all done in one day like we had hoped, and the new apartment is in a
really central location, so I can't complain.

And...Ingrid and George officially have a baptismal date! We went to
go teach them on Tuesday and George told us he wanted to get baptized,
which Ingrid said is the first time he's said anything about that. We
ended up teaching about modern day prophets and Thomas S. Monson, our
prophet today. As we were talking Ingrid told us she had listening to
one of His testimonies just earlier that morning without having any
idea of who he was. We started talking a little more about her
baptism, and she started to cry and bore the most sincere testimony
that she knew the Book of Mormon was true because it had given her the
desire to change her life, and she said that she will get baptized in
July 15! Needless to say we are really excited that it's finally set
in stone.

And to explain the I speak Hispanic. I ended up translating for the
adult session of Stake Conference this weekend....I desperately pray
that the spirit somehow adjusted my words because simultaneous
translation is just not my forte haha. But the guy I was translating
with served his mission in "Barthelona" and so he told me that he
spoke Spanish and I spoke Hispanic. Only slightly offended jajaja.

But overall, it has been an awesome week and I continue to feel more
and more blessed every single day by Heavenly Father. There is no
greater joy than losing yourself in the service of others. So serve
those around you, and President Hinckley said, I know no greater cure
for the troubles in life than to help someone in greater distress than
you. Paraphrasing. But it's true. I love the opportunity I have to be
a missionary and serve others and God every day. Les quiero mucho! Y
espero que tengan una buena semana! Hasta luego!

Hermana Yonson

El distrito!

 La zona

 El area

Let Us All Press On

I'm really not sure how this week came and went, but it's Monday
again! I feel like not too much has happened this past week, but it's
been a good one that's for sure! I guess I'll just give a highlight real
for the week...
We are still working a lot with Ingrid and George. They are both
progressing SO MUCH. Ingrid now texts us randomly out of the blue to
thank us for helping her and her family find the gospel. She is still
concerned about her baptism, she was baptized in another church and
wants to make sure it is completely right for her before she makes
that step. So she is still praying for that, and we are as well. This
past week though we had an awesome lesson about temples and how
because of the temple ordinances, those who passed away without a
knowledge of the gospel have the opportunity to accept it later on.
She started crying and then told us about how her dad and brother had
both passed away and this had always been a big question of hers. She
had always heard that those who didn't accept in this life were just
lost souls until now. It made me incredibly grateful for the message
of the Restored Gospel that allows us to have precious truths such as
the Plan of Salvation in our lives.
We also got to go to the temple not once, but twice this past week!!
(man we are so spoiled haha). It was an awesome uplifting experience
just as always, and makes me even more excited for the many members we
have that are preparing to enter the temple with their families to be
sealed for time and all eternity.
Lastly, we had some awesome meal appointments with members this past
week and have been giving them all a challenge. We have been giving
them a Book of Mormon and asking them to prayerfully select someone
with whom they can share that Book of Mormon and then set a date by
which they can be taught by the missionaries. A little confusing, but
it's what President has asked us to do, and we have seen so many
miracles from it! We normally don't get too many member referrals
(people members refer to be taught by the missionaries) and every
single one of the members we have given this challenge has either had
a referral that same day, or a few days later! It is incredible to see
how the work of the Lord progresses when we all work together. I know
that this gospel is true. I wouldn't give up a year and a half of my
life for something that I thought was just beneficial. It is true,
100%. Estoy tan agradecida por la oportunidad que tengo de ser
misionera y compartirlo con mis hermanos y hermanas. Yo sé que
Jesucristo vive. I hope you all have a wonderful week! I look forward
to hearing from you! Les quiero!

Hermana Yonson


A member told us to just show up at the restaurant and they would have food ready.  We weren't hungry the rest of the day haha.

 

"Knock and it shall be opened unto you"

Temple trip #1

There Can be Miracles and Taylor Swift

¡Hola Gente! It has been a fantastic week. It's funny how regardless
of how long or difficult a week may have felt, by the time P-day rolls
around, I can't help but count my blessings and realize how much the
Lord has helped us in the past week. But that being said, this week
flew by! Not to mention the month of Mayo. I can't believe it's about
to be June! So, now for the week:

Lesson # 1: the scriptures have the answers to everything.
We have seen many miracles from using the words of God rather than our
own. I'll just give one example. Tuesday we met with out investigator
Ingrid who has been praying about a baptismal date. She is still
praying and hasn't officially decided yet, but we talked all about the
Plan of Salvation. She has a good Biblical background so she had some
questions about our stance on the Fall of Adan and Eva. We went to 2
Nefi 2 and she was amazed at how well the scriptures explained it and
answered a lot of questions she has had. This week in general we've
been focusing a lot on using the scriptures to answer our
investigators and members questions.

Lesson # 2: "Where two or three are gathered in my name, behold I will
be in the midst of them"
For whatever reason this scripture has come up multiple times this
past week, and it has been proved very true. We had Zone Conference on
Thursday. It was our last one with the Cooke's and we learned so much.
Ingrid and her son Jorge also came to church! They loved it! She said
she just felt the difference of being in a church, and we testified
yet again of the feelings of the Holy Ghost. It also has proven true
for many of the lessons we have had. It's funny how we normally meet
people in groups of three, us two and them. And this week it has been
proven again and again, that the spirit is always there. We found an
awesome new investigator last night named Erik who was referred to us
by a member in one of the English wards. He is a really intelligent
guy and was asking all the right questions, which thankfully we were
able to answer for him. We are really excited to meet with him later
this week.

Lesson # 3: I apparently look like Taylor Swift.
The ward clerk and his girlfriend spent all of 3rd hour last Sunday
pulling up pictures of T-Swift and telling me I looked just like her.
I am convinced that a large number of Hispanics think any white girl
with curly hair is identical to Taylor Swift.

Other cool miracles that don't quite fit in a category but are worth
mentioning:
Oneyda is doing awesome! She wants to learn how to have FHE with her
family. Also we got to meet with her younger brother who is a member
of the church and is now coming to church again! Her husband was also
there for both lessons, and she told him how much she loves this
church. Neat.
Christian is also doing great. He has been able to overcome his
challenges with drinking and is now doing even better than before. He
 attributes it to prayer and scripture study.
Our investigator Carmen, who told us she didn't want to meet anymore,
is now letting us come over tonight to answer some of her questions.
We are praying all goes well.

Well this is a much longer email than I anticipated, so I don't blame
you for not reading it all. I hope you all have had a great week, and
continue to do so this coming week. Les quiero y les invito que pueden
encontrar los Milagros en su vida diaria esta semana. Yo sé que esta
iglesia es la iglesia de Jesucristo restaurada en la tierra hoy y que
somos dirigidos por un profeta viviente que fue llamado por Dios.
Testificó de esto en el nombre de Jesucristo. Amen.

Hermana Yonson

Grab Your Shovel

I'm not really sure where this week has gone, or the past nine months
really. Time does fly when you are having fun, and when you add on
that being extremely busy, the time goes by real quick! I'm still not
really sure what happened this week. It wasn't one of the best weeks
we've had,  but it was definitely an improvement from last week
because we were able to work in our area every single day of the week!
On another note, it has been raining here for about the past month,
but not the fun down-pouring kind of rain, just the drizzling kind
that makes everything wet and cold but not too exciting. So that has
been fun, thankfully I love the rain and I've always thought the East
looks gorgeous in weather like this because of all the trees. There's
always a positive side, but I will not be upset when the warm weather
starts again and people are outside.
As far as miracles go for this past week, C came to church!
After a long struggle with drinking, he finally got his footing and is
returning slowly but surely. You can already see such a difference in
his face, and his attitude. We've also been trying to work with his
sister in law to help her return back to church. It's been over 10
years since she has been, but she came to the Visitors Center last
night, so we're working with her little by little.
We also got a lot of difficult questions this week, mostly about
church history and things that our investigators had read online. A
word of caution to everyone, never search for things about the church
on random websites. It will always leave you confused and with a very
skewed perspective. But thankfully we were able to focus their efforts
on the Book of Mormon, and that when we have that testimony in place,
we cannot fall.
And for a very interesting thing I learned this week from this less
active hermano we are working with. We were talking about faith with
their family, and he was talking about how faith is one of those
things that everyone will claim they have, but very few will take
action on it. As a missionary, I can testify that is true, but what he
said after is what really stuck out to me. He said that he has often
heard the phrase from others that if we have faith we can move mountains.
But so many of us will just stand there next to the mountain, tell it
to move, and then be horribly disappointed when nothing happens.
Perhaps the example of moving mountains with our faith does not imply
that the mountain will do whatever we want. Roughly translated, he
said, "how do we move mountains? Shovel by shovel. The faith part is
that we don't give up shoveling because we know that with our
diligence, and the help of Lord to give us the strength and energy,
that mountain will move." This gave me an entirely new perspective on
faith. If we want to move mountains, let us roll up our sleeves, grab
a shovel, and get to work, trusting that God will give us the capacity
to accomplish the impossible.
Yo quiero testificar que yo sé que este evangelio es verdadero. Que
esta es la única iglesia con la plenitud del evangelio de Jesucristo.
Que no vas a encontrar la felicidad eterna en ninguna otra lugar o
doctrina. Testifico que Jesucristo vive, que tenemos un Padre
Celestial quien nos ama. Le agradezco a El que tengo la oportunidad de
retirar de El y Su evangelio perfecto cada día a las personas que lo
necesitan. Les quiero a cada uno de ustedes y yo sé que esta obra es
la obra de la salvación. Sigan adelante mis amigos.

Hermana Johnson

We went and saw Einstein in DC last Pday

 Ladders

Probably the Busiest Week of My Mission

Well this has been one eventful week. Sometimes I wish Heavenly Father
could give me a warning before weeks like this so I can prepare
myself. On Tuesday we got a call from President saying that we are
moving apartments...in 2 hours. So pack up all of our things and get ready
to head out. I think I can now empathize just a little more with the
pioneras. So all day Tuesday and all day Wednesday we spent packing,
moving, and then moving some more. Missionary apartments are always a
lot of work to move out of and into, because they have the weirdest
arrangement of furniture and so you have to take out the old broken
stuff and move in the new stuff. Needless to say, I now know exactly
how much can fit in the back of a Corolla. So we are now in a
temporary apartment in Langley Park (the elders area that president
doesn't let us proselyte in) for 2.5 weeks and will be moving back to
our area at the end of this transfer. Lots of fun haha! The hardest
part about moving is that Tuesdays and Wednesdays are our busiest
days and the days that our investigators normally meet with us so we
were only able to see one of them this week. We definitely saw the
affects of that when none of them came to church this Sunday. It just
goes to show how important frequent contact is with these people who
are at such a pivotal stage in their conversion to the gospel.
Thankfully our phone has helped us quite a bit to at least touch base
with them a couple times throughout the week. Thank you technology!
On a brighter side, we got to meet with a less active family that had
kind of dropped us a few months ago, and the mom, who we thought was
done hearing from us, kept talking about how badly she has been
wanting to come back to church! Now we just need to get her husband on
the same page.
Balmore also got to go to the temple to participate in baptisms for
the dead for the first time, an ordinance where we are baptized as
proxies and in the name of those who have passed away without the
chance to accept the gospel. He loved it and it was so exciting to see
him get to experience the temple and the peace that you feel that.
Another happy note is that our recent convert, is doing a
lot better. He has been struggling a lot lately and hasn't been to
church in almost 2 months. He had told us about 2 weeks ago that he
just didn't anticipate seeing any changes in his situation soon so we
should stop trying, but this week he has finally come around! He has
starting putting in his part of praying and reading the scriptures.
It's awesome to see not just the forgiveness part of the atonement,
but the eternally important power it gives us to change our thoughts,
behaviors and actions. While he still did not come to church this
week, he came to an event called Why I Believe at the Visitors Center
last night. Baby steps!
Other than that, not too much new. I've had a nice cold the past
couple days which have made me sound like a man, so that's been
exciting. I hope everything is going well at home. I'm thankful that
Heavenly Father has really put me out of my comfort zone this past
week. It helps me to stretch and grow in way that I really would not
have had to previously. The gospel is all about helping us change for
the better, and I know every trial we have in this life is intended to
help us do exactly that. Yo sé que este evangelio es la verdad. Que
tenemos un amoroso Padre Celestial y un hermano quien sufrió y murió
para nosotros. Estoy tan agredecida por ser misionera aquí. Hasta la
próxima semana!

Hermana Yonson

Balmore at the temple

 Cool rainbow we saw going down the freeway.

Happy Mother's Day: We Chopped our Hair

 Feliz día mamá to all the mothers out there! Both to my physical
mother and all of you who have adopted me throughout the years, you
are all the greatest. Little did I know, Mother's Day is about the
second biggest holiday in the Hispanic community complete with your
entire extended family and a good carne asada. Needless to say I ate
way more than I should have yesterday. All in all this week has been
awesome. Obviously I got to Skype home, so I would definitely list
that as one of the highlights from this week! I loved seeing your
faces, and am glad to know that all is going well. You are all still
complete goons.
Other events from this week include getting our hair chopped by our
relief society president. My thin, dry hair is a mystery to these
Latina beauties haha. I'm still getting used to it. We also have seen
a bunch of little miracles, if there is such a thing, this past week.
I think one of my favorite moments from this week was with Oneyda. She
is still my favorite human being and now makes fun of me relentlessly.
But we taught a solid lesson about keeping the Sabbath day holy this
week and she and Alex agreed to keep it despite this Sunday being
Mother's Day. Then Saturday night, her brother who is a member who
doesn't come to church very often asked us for the time for church and
then told us he didn't think Oneyda wasn't coming to church. We then
couldn't get a hold of her that morning, so we had kind of lost hope
of her coming. Then about half way through sacrament meeting, I turn
around and she just smiles at me from a couple rows back. I have to
say seeing people make the decision coming to church brings the
happiest joy because I know that's just the beginning step. When we
are willing to act in faith to do the little things, the bigger things
just come naturally. I love you all and hope you have had a wonderful
week and continue doing so. Yo sé que está iglesia trae una felicidad
que ninguna otra cosa puede traer. Estoy muy feliz ser miembro de esta
iglesia y les invito que si se sienten que hacen falta de algo en su
vida, de hablar con los misioneros. Su mensaje puede cambiar su vida
completamente. Les quiero muchísimo! Hasta la próxima semana mi gente,

Hermana Johnson

And now some photos!

I found a kitty!

Carne Asada!!  New favorite food.

Skype: you weirdos

My comp and I

Paz os Doy

I feel that the time p-day comes around I feel so overwhelmingly
blessed. There is no greater joy and peace than that that comes from
filling your life with the needs of others. Hna Rivas and I have seen
so many blessings from the Lord this past week, it really just isn't
even fair jaja. Starting off with just basic info, we have transfers
this week! Thankfully, Hna Rivas and I are staying together!! She is
an incredible missionary and I am so excited to be able to work with
her in an area I love for at least another 6 weeks. But now onto cool
stories (well cool to me) from this past week!
Carmen, one of our newer investigators, came to church!  She always asked good questions and was actually reading the Book of
Mormon so we kept up with her. This past weekend we taught her about
the Plan of Salvation, and it was the most amazing lesson. I feel like
everyone has that one thing that just clicks with them when they are
learning about the gospel and that's how this lesson went. There were
tears, it all just made sense to her, it was awesome. Than she came to
church!
Then on our way home from church yesterday we were driving past
Oneyda's apartment and I just felt like we should go to see her. She
wasn't at church and had canceled our appointment this week, so it had
been a week since we'd seen her last. I tried to talk myself out of it
since she's not a fan of surprise visits and told myself we could just
call her when we got home. Thankfully, Heavenly Father is extremely
patient and so yet again I felt like we needed to go. So we took a
U-turn and headed over. We caught them right in the middle of heading
out to Alex's soccer game, but Oneyda was SO happy to see us! It's
honestly the happiest I've ever seen her to see us, including lessons.
She thanked us repeatedly for coming and even offered to give us
lasagna (real love right there). Plus she texted us later on, which
never happens, thanking us for coming by and being so persistent. It
is absolutely amazing to see the difference in her. Just a few months
ago she wanted nothing to do with the gospel, and now she is reading
the Book of Mormon and looking for an answer for herself. I love her
so much.
Oh also quickly, Maria committed to being baptized in June! We are so
excited to be working with her towards that goal!
This week I have gotten to be able to really see this difference in
myself since being on a mission. Sometimes I think we need a little
help to be able to see those kinds of things, and so I feel blessed
that the Holy Ghost kind of opened up my mind a little. I think the
most substantial difference has been evident in my prayers. I realized
this past week that my prayers are about 90% about other people. I
feel like I can't even focus on myself anymore because I have so many
people that I love that need so much. I know that true happiness
really is looking outside of yourself and letting others have a place
in your heart. I love being a missionary. I go to bed smiling every
night just knowing how much our Heavenly Father loves each one of us.
Les quiero mucho y espero que tengan una buena semana! Sigan adelante
mi familia!

Hna Jonnson

Zone photo

 One of my favorite babies, Biseida!

Una Semana Llena de Milagros

When it comes time to write these things I'm always at a loss of what
to say. The whole week goes by and then when Monday comes I realize so
much has happened I don't know what to write about, but all in all
this has been a great, and insanely busy, week. In summary: we had
some awesome lessons with some awesome investigators and saw some
awesome results. I am one happy missionary.
One of these awesome lessons was with our investigator Mario. He is
going through some really hard stuff right now with his family and was
referred by a friend to check out the gospel. So we met him a couple
months ago, but he hasn't been able to meet until now. So we went over
and ended up teaching him and his 2 roommates! We brought one of my
favorite members, Rosie, with us, and it was one of the best lessons
I've ever had. He was asking all the right questions, and things just
seemed to click with him! Then a couple days later when we called to
follow up on him, he said he's been reading the Book of Mormon! As a
missionary there a few things that make us happier haha. The Libro de
Mormon really is the key to everything.
We also finally we able to get in touch with Maria again. She picked
up a second job for a while, and so quite literally had no time, but
she felt the impact that was taking on her family and decided to quit
the second one. We've been taking Brisa with us to go visit her, and
it's so cool to see just how deeply she wants to help Maria. She was
telling us yesterday that she remembers being in the exact same
position as her, a single mom renting out a room in a packed house and
struggling to make ends meet, and she just has the strongest desire to
do everything she can. That right there is the pure love of Christ!
Other miracle for the week is that Oneyda came to church! We had a dry
spell last week in the Barrio de Silver Spring. Between all 3 sets of
missionaries, none of us had people at church. It's always a little
difficult to have a great week of lessons and then not see the turn
out, literally, when Sunday comes around. So we worked our little pies
off to get people to church this Sunday, and we ended up having 4
people come to church from our area! I was so happy to see Oneyda
come! I've seen so much progress in her just in the past month. It's
crazy how you can see people's hearts softening little by little, and
her coming to church again is such a huge step for her.
I am so incredibly blessed as a missionary and just as a daughter of
God. I know He loves me, and each one of His children. This week I
have really been able to see how much of a difference members have in
missionary work. Our purpose to help others on their way in this life,
and so that's my challenge for all of you. Find some time this week,
or in the very near future, to go out with the missionaries. I promise
they need your help.
Yo sé que nuestro Señor, Jesucristo, vive. Sé que El nos ama y que El
sufrió para nosotros individualmente para que podamos tener esta vida
tan maravillosa. El evangelio de Jesucristo es perfecto y la iglesia
es la verdad! Les quiero mucho y espero que tengan una buena semana!
Hasta la próxima,

Hermana Johnson

Found this funny house with Winnie the Pooh statues everywhere. My
family knows I appreciated it.

I Had a Title for This and T hen I Forgot It

 Hola gente!

Man this has been another crazy week. Hna Rivas and I have been able
to see so many miracles these past couple weeks, we're so incredibly
blessed. We have sooo much work in this area that I really am not sure
how we'll be able to fit it all in. Heavenly Father has blessed us
with a large handful of new investigators and then we have the usual
families that we work with on a regular basis. I never thought on my
mission I would have the problem of having too much to do! So we are
continually praying that we'll be able to have the wisdom to use our
time wisely and effectively. But all in all this week has been
awesome. Sister Rivas got her iPad so she is super happy haha. As far
as exciting things that have happened, we had an awesome lesson with
our investigator O. She is one tough cookie, but I've always
thought she was awesome. She has been having some serious doubts about
the church. I asked if she had been reading from the Book of Mormon or
praying and she admitted that no, she hadn't, but she wanted to start
trying again. It was cool because it started out as one of those
lessons that could go so horribly wrong, but by the time we left, the
whole situation just felt peaceful and happy. I'm glad that she is
wiling to take that step to really find out for herself if the church
is true. I love moments like that, when it all just kind of clicks to
people, that all they have to do is ask in faith, doing the little
things such as reading he scriptures and praying. I love that Heavenly
Father cares about us enough that He wants to make sure that each one
of us knows He is there and this is what is true. I feel so blessed to
be a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and
have the fullness of the restored gospel.
Also fun fact of the week! All of the missionaries from the DC North
Mission got to be ushers or balloon carriers for the National Cherry
Blossom Parade so if you find that on YouTube I'm in a green shirt
right off of the camera helping people in their seats. It was actually
really fun! Well sorry this is a shorter email, we've been at the
National Zoo and then National Cathedral all day! I'll include some
pictures. But I love you all and wish you all the best! Les quiero y
que tengan una buena semana!

Hna. Johnson


We went to the zoo today!

We made arrepas with our recent converts and their niece!

The grounds of the National Cathedral

All of us at the Cherry Blossom Parade.  I'm not looking...

These Weeks Keep Getting Faster

Buen día! I have a feeling this email is going to be all over the
place because I frankly just don't know what to say jaja. I guess
we're slowing coming down from the Conferencia General high, but
honestly this week was so great that it hardly even seems like it.
It's been a crazy busy week. Like one of those weeks where you really
don't know how you'll fit everything in, and just do your best going
from place to place. One of the coolest blessings this week is that we
got to be the answers to a lot of people's prayers. It seemed like
almost every lesson or message we shared was followed by a, "this was
exactly what I needed." It was so cool. We got 3 new, really solid
people to teach this week, and we decided to really spend our first
lesson getting to know them before we started testifying of the
restoration. It's one of the things that Preach my Gospel teaches us
to do, but I really haven't used until now, and we saw so many
blessings because of it. Each of these people are going through such
difficult things in their lives right now, but it's amazing to see how
the gospel, not only relates, but provides peace, comfort and refuge
from the troubles of the world. The gospel of Jesus Christ truly is an
individual process.
One example is from Mario. We had been trying to get an appointment
with him for a little while, but they always fell through for some
reason or another, but finally got one, and so we stopped by only to
realize there was no third female inside, so we talked with him in the
doorway. He is currently going through a very messy divorce with the
woman we was married to for 10 years and expressed to us multiple
times just how much he needs the Book of Mormon. It was really
humbling to be able to testify of the peace the Book of Mormon will
bring to someone who so desperately needs it.
So funny story for the week. Sis Castaneyra came back to visit this
week so I got to see her a couple times and she was even our member
present in a lesson! Weird seeing her in pants but when we were at
Hna. Alvarez's (Judy's mom) birthday and I took one for the team and
finished Casty's sandwich for her cause she was too full. Some things
never change haha. Well I hope you all have a wonderful week and take
a moment to count your blessings, because we really have so many. I
love you all! Sigan adelante!

Hna. Yonson

Oh J (Judy's son) got baptized yesterday! I'm so proud of him!

Personal Conference Weekend

Man this week has been so crazy but also so full of blessings! Since
it was Sister Rivas first full week we had a ton of meetings and stuff
like that to take care of, and then of course General
Conference this weekend! So it felt like our time in our area was
very shortened. We knew ahead of time it would be a bit of a more
difficult week as far as lessons go, so we tried to get as many as we
could on the days that were more open and we definitely saw the
blessings of it. Wednesday was one of those days that we knew we were
going to be a little short on time, but we had a goal to try and teach
3 lessons if we could that day to help us reach our weekly goal of 20
lessons which has been a big push in the mission this transfer. So we
had an hour and a half to visit these two people, but decided to talk
to every person we saw on our way and Heavenly Father really helped us
out. Neither of the people were home, but we taught 2 awesome street
lessons to some people who seemed genuinely interested! Then we were
walking back to the car and I saw this one apartment and just felt
like we really needed to go knock on their door. We did and they let
us right in! They'd met with missionaries in the past but it had been
years since they'd seen a missionary. They weren't super interested in
learning more now, but I've learned that Heavenly Father is always
preparing His children to hear the gospel, and our visit was probably
just a friendly reminder to help out the missionaries who knock on
their door a few years down the road.

I have to say though, that General Conference was easily the highlight
of my week. For those who aren't familiar with conference, every six
months, the prophet of the Church and his apostles and other church
leaders address the entire church in a conference that is broadcast
throughout the world. It is one of the greatest times of the year in
my opinion. So this year to try and get a little more our to it, I
came up with 5 questions that I really wanted to focus on, and it
seemed that every session of conference answered each question
perfectly and individually! It's amazing how the Spirit both inspires
the speaker and the listener that even though it was a conference to
the entire world, I can receive answers to my personal question. Hence
the title of the email, it's not a very "general" conference at all!
The Spirit inspires our minds to allow us to have a personal and
individual experience with the words of the prophets. Siento muy
agradecida por ser miembro de esta iglesia. Yo sé sin ninguna duda que
está es la única iglesia verdadera en el mundo hoy. Jesucristo es el
Salvador del mundo y de ti. Nuestro Padre Celestial nos ama tanto que
el mando a Su Hijo para efectuar la expiación para nosotros para que
podamos vivir con Ellos y nuestras familias para siempre y llegar a
ser más como El cada día. Venimos de una familia celestial! Les invito
que puedan fortalecer sus propios testimonios por medio de orar y
preguntar otra vez que esa es la verdad. Yo sé que él siempre nos
contesta. En el nombre de Jesucristo. Amen.

Les quiero mucho! Y que tengan una buena semana mis amigos!

Hermana Yonson

My comp made me arrepas one night. They're like Venezuelan sandwiches
and delicious!

I Never Know What to Title These Things......

 

Happy Monday gente!!

Wow this week has definitely felt a little longer. Last Monday feels
like so long ago! I don't have a ton of time, so I'll cover just the
major things that have happened this week.

In general I feel like I got super nostalgic this week because my
comp, who I love and miss dearly (yeah check out that shout out
Casty), went home this Wednesday. Still in denial. But that means we
spent Tuesday visiting all of the greatest members in the universe. It
was amazing to see what an impact she had had on each of these people's
lives. It just goes to show what an obedient, and Christ-like
missionary can do for the work of the Lord. She has been an incredible
example to me and I have learned so much. I honestly still can't
believe that the last transfer went by so fast. Definitely one for the
books.

 So Wednesday I went to drop her off at the DC Stake Center and
a few minutes later got to pick up my new greenie! She is awesome and
really going to be such a great missionary. I feel so incredibly
blessed by my Heavenly Father. He must love me like crazy to send me
such an awesome trainee. It definitely has been a bit of a transition
going from having a companion who is going home to one who just came
from home, and let's just say the learning curve is fast. I feel like
I've learned just as much from her these past few days as she says she
has from me! I have definitely seen how when we give the Lord all we
have, He makes up for the rest. We are by no means perfect teachers,
and definitely not perfect at speaking the language, but if we do all
we know how to, He will help the Spirit carry the message and the
truthfulness into their hearts.

 One cool experience from this week
happened yesterday. Easter really wasn't anything too special here,
just a pretty nice Sunday, but last night we were driving to visit
Balmore and Christian, and we were about 15 minutes, and I felt
strongly that we should go stop by this potentials house around the
corner. We had taught her the first lesson last transfer, but had the
wrong phone number and so we haven't seen her since then, but we went
by and sure enough, she was there! She thanked us like 10 times for
coming and even asked us if we could end with a prayer before we left!
Of course Maria! I love this work and am so excited for all the things
I will learn this new transfer. I know my Savior lives and love having
the chance to testify of Him every single day. He lives!

Hna. Johnson

Dropping Hna. Castaneyra off

 New greenie!  Hermana Rivas

 Cherry Blossom Festival

Febrero Showers Bring March Flowers

Happy Spring everyone!!

It felt like spring last week but we got a
little bit of snow flurries yesterday so no one is really sure what nature
is doing right now, but the cherry blossoms are all blooming! We're
going into the city next P-day to check them out cause they'll
actually probably all be gone by the time the actual festival comes
around. But I'll include a picture of some neat trees.

I feel like this week has been very symbolic of spring time in many
ways, the biggest one is that my current companion who I love to
pieces is going home in 2 days. I'm still in denial. She is an amazing
missionary and I have learned so much from being with her for just one
transfer. It'll definitely be more than a little sad to see her go.
But, as one missionary dies, another one is born! This transfer I will
be....training! Lots of mixed feelings there. Mostly I feel like I
just got out here myself, but Heavenly Father knows what's up so I'm
just gonna have to trust him on that one. I'll go pick her up on
Wednesday so I'll have a lot more to say next Monday, but overall I'm
really excited and feel really humbled to be trusted with the
opportunity to introduce a new missionary into the field.

Cool things from this week: Christian got confirmed yesterday in
sacrament and he was so ready! We went over to teach him on Friday and
I swear the guy was glowing with the Spirit. I have seen such a change
in him because of his decision to live the gospel. Also, Balmore received the Aaronic priesthood! (The authority to act in the name of
God. The Aaronic is the first priesthood and the Melchizedek is the
second). It's just so cool to know that just a few months ago, he
didn't know anything about the gospel and Jesus Christ, and now he is
receiving these sacred ordinances that will help him return to live
with our Savior again.

I am so incredibly blessed to be here on a mission. Every once in a
while I just sit and wonder what I ever did to be so blessed to have
this opportunity, and the wonderful answer is simply that Jesucristo
loves me. He loves each one of us, and has given us the greatest gift
of all, His own life, so that if we love Him and let Him, we too can
receive all the blessings that He has. Yo sé que El vive! Y tenemos
esa oportunidad para celebrar Su resurrección. Tome un poquito tiempo
para pensar en esto esa semana. Les quiero mucho! Que tengan una buena
semana!

Hermana Johnson

Hna Castaneyra's death picture

 The District

Pretty trees and our car