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

Call Me the Ward Translator

This has been an awesome and also really comical week. I'll start off with the funnier
side.

So on Wednesday we got a call from the office saying they were going
to take our car in and to drive down to pick up our new car. We now
have a beautiful Ford Fusion and everyone is really jealous. It was
the old assistants' car so we are completely hyped. We drove our
beautiful car all day and didn't get back until later so the next
morning we go out with our roommates to go get our parking passes and
show off our beautiful new vehicle that is no longer in the spot it
was parked in. Yes, we got towed.... So about an hour and $175 later
we got our car back and went to meetings! It's funny now in hindsight
haha.

In other big news, Christian got baptized!! He called us on Wednesday
night and was really concerned and down on himself and not too sure
about his baptism, so we went over on Thursday praying and a little
worried about what was going to happen. We start talking to him and he
expressed how he just doesn't feel worthy or ready. So we decided to
go through the baptism interview questions with him again. He answered
perfectly to every single question! Better than I even expected!! By
the time we left he was excited and felt so much better on his
baptism! It's amazing what an hour of the spirit can do! The baptism
went great and I am so happy and excited for him! It's been a bit of a
challenge for him, but he worked through it with the Lord and made
that first step of baptism! Also cool, Balmore was confirmed yesterday
and recieved the gift of the Holy Ghost! He was emotional during the ordinance
and it was just super cool to see how deeply he understood and
appreciated the step he was taking.




Oh I also translated in Sacrament for a little girl that got brought
to church by her friend. She told me I should try out for American
idol after.

I love being a missionary and am so incredibly blessed every single
day to have the experiences I do. Jesucristo lives and this gospel is
true. Take a moment this week to recognize all the incredible
blessings that come from living such a wonderful gospel. Les quiero
mucho! Gracias por su ayuda y oraciones! Tengan una buena semana y
sigan adelante!

Hermana Johnson

Christian's Baptism

He's a buff guy so we all flexed.  Haha!

The only time in my life I'll look forward to Mondays

This week I was a...wedding photographer, music conductor, English
translator x2, missionary (of course), and one of those kids that is
way to big to be using that playground.

So it's been another good week. As usual, ups and downs, but good
overall. We had another wedding and they asked me to be the
photographer so that was fun. As usual we had a ton of food and it was
delicious. I love Hispanics so much haha.

Super cool experience, Sunday I was sitting in sacrament meeting (the
first hour of church), and this African man walks in who very
obviously does not speak Spanish and sits down by me. I ask him what
brought him there and he said he was looking for the French branch
(the group that meets right after us). So he asked me to translate for
him, and I did! Simultaneous translation on a fast and testimony
meeting is definitely not one of the easiest tasks, but I definitely
saw the truthfulness of the gift of tongues. Every time I realized I
hadn't quite caught what the speaker had said, a sentence just came
into my mind. It was such an amazing experience, I knew exactly what
to say every time. The spirit really does fill our mouths with the
words we need in the moment we need them.

Most exciting news!! Balmore chose to follow the example of Jesus
Christ and be baptized this Sunday!! It's so great the see the baptism
of someone I have actually spent some time teaching and helping. I
know we didn't do anything, the Spirit was the teacher from day one.
Awesome miracles, he only had to baptized once! (YES) and he bore the
greatest testimony afterwards. I feel so blessed to have been a first
hand witness to his conversion to this gospel and more importantly to
Jesus Christ. Man this guy has the strongest testimony and he barely
has been learning about this. I'm so excited for him in the future.

But that's about all the big news for this week! I hope you all do
amazing things wherever you are and siguen adelante!

Hermana Johnson

Balmore! And Christian is getting baptized next week!

Wedding Pictures

"I Like Birds and Flowers"

Well, this week has been a solid week, like most weeks. We taught a
lot of lessons, we went to find some people, basically your usual
missionary work. Some of the more exciting stories from the week are
that Balmore and Christian are getting baptized next week! We have
just seen miracles working right and left through them. We were a
little concerned because last week we learned the Christian hasn't
been reading the Book of Mormon or living some of the commandments,
and Hna Castaneyra and I fasted for them, and they have read every
night since and haven't had a single problem with anything!! I have
developed such a strong testimony of fasting from being on my mission.
It really does bring about milagros. They are so incredibly prepared
for the gospel and I feel so blessed to be a part of it. Another cool
thing is that Jain and Brisa got married! Brisa is the relief society
president and Jain just got baptized a year ago. It was an awesome
night and I wish them the best of luck. They'll be getting sealed in
the temple in May.

On a funnier note, I learned how to make tortillas yesterday from
Rosie, one of the hermanas that always picks on me. She's hilarious,
and kept telling me my future Latina mother in law would  never approve
because my tortillas are too ugly. The struggle of not being Hispanic
hahah.

We went into the city today, so I have some cool pictures from that! I
hope everyone had and continues to have a wonderful week! Look for
opportunities to serve those around you every day!

Hermana Johnson

The boda!!

Gorgeous DC

Hna Castaneyra y yo

Here Comes the Sol

Happy Lunes gente!

It's been an awesome week here in DC, and the weather has been crazy!
So last Monday we were snowed in for the day and then Saturday was 70
degrees, so it's been super nice all weekend and I'm pretty pumped. It
means a lot more people are outside and people are just generally in a
better mood. The sol is good for you!

So we've had so many awesome things happen this week! First off, Judy,
the amazing human being that chose to be baptized last week got a
calling! She will be working with the primary kids which is perfect
for her. I love seeing her progress, it really is just uphill from
here! We also did a ton of finding this week so we knocked on a lot of
doors, and as always, got met some cool people, got some funny
comments, and got a lot of rejections. But the best was on Saturday.
We go to knock on a door and this kid, J..., answers. He says his mom
is sleeping right now, so we ask if he knows if any of his neighbors
are Spanish, he says yeah and then comes and knocks on all of their
doors for us and stands there with us in the door! Haha he was awesome
and will be the greatest future missionary :)

We are still working with Balmore and Christian to help them
prepararse to be baptized in March. I know they can do it, but they
have a few more things to work on before then, so any prayers are
welcome. Balmore is just so prepared for the gospel, and he is being
an amazing example to his brother.

We have a lot of new people to meet with this week, so that is really
exciting! And we are continually praying and fasting for Balmore and
Christian so they can keep going. I love being a missionary and
knowing that the truths that I am teaching can change these people's
lives forever. I am really so blessed! Thank you all for all the
support y siguen adelante!! Él vive!

Hermana Johnson

J... the kid who knocked puertas with us!

Bautismo! Bautismo!

Buenos lunes gente!

As usual this week went by insanely fast, and I'm struggling to
remember what all happened. In our area, the ward asks us to visit a
lot of families that haven't been coming to church in a long time, so
we spend most of our time working on helping them. It's fun but also a
little difficult, because you know how much really living this gospel
will really bless their lives, but it's up to them to really make that
decision. And it's a much slower progression than teaching people who
know nothing about the church, but it really is just as important.

But the coolest news for the week....Judy was baptized!! So a little
bit on Judy, she's the older sister of an RM, who came home from his
mission about 5 months ago, and she has been investigating the church
since right before he came home. So she finally made that first step
with her Heavenly Father and Carlos, her brother, was the one who got
to baptize her! It was such a cool moment to be a part of. On the
funnier side, we got there 2 hours early to start filling the font,
right? And after about 30 minutes the hot water runs out. Like
completely gone. So Bishop tells us to turn it off and wait for a
while to see if it comes back. Well in the meantime, since the font is
very old and the drain isn't the greatest, the water starts draining
slowly. So the baptism was supposed to start at 5 and it is now 4:30
and we test the water again and it is still the equivalent of a frozen
creek. But the font must be filled so we start filling again. But it
still doesn't fill in time for the baptism, so Judy and Carlos had to
kneel, because when we are baptized, our entire body must be under the
water just like our Savior was baptized. So we felt so bad for her and
her freezing cold baptism experience, but the Spirit was still crazy
strong and I am so happy for her!!

Other than that, all is pretty quiet here in Maryland. It's
exceptionally cold, which makes finding people very hard, but we are
working as best as we can to find those who are preparing to hear the
gospel! I hope you all have a wonderful week and look for missionary
opportunities around you, they are everywhere! I know that there are
so many people looking for the happiness that the restored gospel of
Jesucristo can bring! I love being a missionary, and wouldn't want to
be anywhere else right now! I know my Savior lives and I testify that
the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is the true church on
the earth. Les quiero y tengan una buena semana!

Hermana Johnson

The wonderful Judy!