Shout-Outs, Warriors, and Mosquitoes

May 26, 2014

Shout-Outs, Warriors, and Mosquitoes

Elder Grow came this week.  And changed my mission.  The only annoying thing is that he didn’t come and give this talk at the beginning of my mission!  But it is really cool to see the mission change.  We felt a little stuck. And that helped me feel like, I have a way to have the faith I have always wanted to have. I’ll let you know how it goes.

So he asked for people to share thoughts, and when we were talking about personal revelation, I shared what my daddy told me when I was a teenager, figuring out how to follow the Spirit.  I said it in English, because it really doesn’t translate well.  “A thought is inspiration until proven otherwise” [now-famous quote that Joe came up with] with the scripture Alma 31:5, and how thoughts should be assumed as something to be followed immediately before something to be shoved away.  Innocent until proven guilty, not guilty until proven innocent.  (Something probably less makey sensey than that.)  And then he stopped, and was like, “Hermana, you need to thank your dad for me.”  And then winked at me like three times after that during the meeting.  What up, Daddy!  How cool is that?  You seriously are a GA.  People always think I am cool just because my family is so cool.  That happened in high school all the time with Dalt.

And Mommy, just so you don’t think that I only talk about Daddy, when other missionaries try to be all noble and say, I never really missed my family that much, I say something about how I still haven’t gotten over not being able to talk to my mom every day on the way home.  Also, when people see the pic of you and dad making out in my fam book, people take pictures of it.  Literally.  All of the sisters that I am with. They’re like, that is THE most romantic thing I have ever seen.  And start crying.  And ask if y’all are still like that.  And I am like, they are worse.  

Also, there was this kid Joao this week.  This less active 22 year old.  He always has a million questions, but then doesn’t listen to the answers.  So I was kind of like “Look, Holmes” with him.  Because he just wanted to argue.  So yea.  I was like, you can’t ask us then.  You have to ask God.  And he was arguing with that, and I may or may not have just driven the point home a little fiercely.  But then, his mom started telling us about these crazy experiences he has had.  And I was like, oh my gosh.  And I felt embarrassed.  Like, I had just told off my superior.  And I saw him for a second, who he really was.  This warrior.  And then I talked to him a little differently.  And the next day, he listened to us.  It was really cool. He was like, “But I know you know.  That’s why I am asking you these things.”  And I was like, yea, but I am going to use the Book of Mormon and DyC to respond, so you have to believe in those first.  And then we can get into the deeper stuff.  And he was like, but you’re leaving next week!  Ha—it was darling.   [Davi asked me to take out that last part for the blog because she thought it would sound too cocky, but I really like it.  Sorry, Dave!]

  

Anyway, it has been a fabulous week opening an area here in Tumbes [see photo].  I will go back on Wednesday we think. But I have loved it.  Legs all mosquitoed up, but happy.  That’s how life should be, right? 

Love you guys!

Hermana J

The Classic

May 26, 2014

The Classic

Someone forgot to bring his camera today.  The baptismal photos will come later.

Wait, did someone say baptism?  Jorge Astete and his son Alan got baptized on Saturday.  Thank you, Hebert Silva!  We always hear about how important the members are and everything, and you just need to do it to really find out how important they are.  After Jorge had already had his interview, we had a lesson the Tuesday before his baptism, along with Hebert Silva, the pensionist's husband and Elders Quorum President.  Jorge told us that he wasn't sure he wanted to get baptized anymore, but fortunately we had Brother Silva there to talk about his conversion and his experience of when he got sealed.  Sealed the deal!  We also had him there twice with the Risco family this week.  Carlos is doing great.  He is ready for Saturday.  The weird thing is that his wife is not. That is almost always the opposite, but Carlos has his answer and said that he won't ever let things that he hears from others stray him from what he knows.  But boy, we are really praying for his wife.  If there wasn't anything in the way with the people we teach, then I guess the mission wouldn't be that memorable.  We are expecting a miracle this week with them.

Oh, right.  Baptism.  The service was actually a "noche blanca" with three wards and about 10 baptisms. President Archibald and his wife were there to support the stake.  Alan, the 11-year-old son, bore his testimony after the ordinance.  He was actually the spiritual highlight of the meeting.  He mentioned his experience of reading the Book of Mormon and praying to know if it’s true, saying that the Holy Ghost had made him feel that the words were true.  It was so out of the ordinary for someone his age to say something like that.  Great service.

Elder Waddell has really made retention the main point of his visit to the mission, telling us that every convert's first calling in the church should be doing their family history work in the temple, so we will be working with all of them with that.

Also, on a less serious note, I ate brownies yesterday.  It wasn't so much a thing of eating, but more of that thing that Scooby Doo does when he sees food and then his mouth turns into a vacuum.

Well, ththththhthat's all, folks!  Love you and hope everything’s going well!

Elder Johnson

Trusting

May 19, 2014

Trusting

So, little harder of a week.  As it turns out, the parents of the fam Condoy aren’t married, and the mom refuses to be.  

BUT, we always still have tons of blessings.  Like we were walking out of this especially frustrating lesson, and walking to another—the sister of a member, who comes to church, but we felt like didn’t really have real interest.  And then, we get there, and she was like, yea, I am in chapter 19 of Nefi.  And even though people are really confusing me, and I don’t know what’s right, I am asking God.  And I am going to keep going to church, and keep reading, and keep asking.  And we were like, Teodora!  You are so amazing!!!  And her husband recently got back from Lima, so they can hopefully get married civilly.  (You can get married in a church, and that doesn’t count.  That’s how it is here.)  Anyway, I think they are awesome.  
We have like three killer families that need to get married, but are actually willing to do it, and there’s this cheap massive wedding in June.  We are banking on that.

My comp is so sweet, and I love her.  Please keep her in your prayers too.  La Hna Harrison.

I got this in the mail. [See adorable drawing.]  Without anything else.  Doesn’t even have a name on the return address.  Could you just die?  I absolutely love it.  I laughed so hard, and felt so loved at the same time.  So thank you, anonymous five-year-old and mother.  It is up on my motivational things wall.  

This week, I will be in Tumbes, the city that’s on the Ecuador border.  Week-long intercambio.  I am excited!  :)   Wish me luck, and now just include Tumbes and Hna Cisneros in your prayers, please.

Love you guys!  God really does.  I just learn more and more about that.  Even when He has to destroy, it is out of love.  (See 3 Nefi 8 to 11.)  Trusting it is the smartest thing to do.

Love,

Hermana J

Photos of Dalton

I hadn't noticed until recently that these photos of Dalton had been up on his Facebook page.  So thank you, Mirella Trujillo, for the great pictures of my darling son!

Explanation:  For Dalton's birthday back in December, I had sent a cake mix with frosting, sprinkles, party hats, and favors.  So I'm glad he managed to bake the cake, but I don't see the hats and streamers.  Oh well. All you  need is cake, I guess.  I'll include the captions that were posted with the photos, along with translations.

El dia que le preparamos su torta.....

Day you prepare your cake... (Translated by Bing)

Una buena experiencia tenerlos en casa. La Fam Cano siempre los recordara.....

A good experience having them at home. The Cano Family always remember them... (Translated by Bing)

Con su compañero Elder Rubi

With companion Elder Rubi

En una reunion de consejo de barrio. Se le extraña a Elder Johnson y Elder Rubi.

At a meeting of the District Council. Strange you Elder Johnson and Elder Rubi. (Translated by Bing)

 — with Richard Bravo Ascasibe and Dalton Johnson

Despues de un dia de servicio almorzando en casa.

After a day of service at lunch at home.(Translated by Bing)

The New MPLO

May 19, 2014

The New MPLO  (Misión Perú Lima Oeste)

Hey, tell Brandon Leyva congrats for getting so close to the best mission in the world!  [Awesome kid in our ward who was just called to the Peru Lima South Mission.]  But, in his defense, he does have the Nazca lines in his mission.  [Ancient geoglyphs in the Nazca Desert in Peru.  Pretty cool-looking.  See Google.]

Hey, a pretty good week that we just finished up.  Jorge Astete and his son Alan passed their baptismal interviews, though he'll have to get baptized next week because he was on his shift in the Marines on Sunday. They are super great.  We also found a miracle on Saturday, or at least it's a miracle to me: Carlos Risco has temporarily lost his job.  I came into the area and he had just started working with a business that took him to the far end of the country for 3 weeks at a time, just to be back for his resting days.  He walked past us on Saturday, and we gave him a look as though to say "Hey, did you forget where Iquitos is?"  So, he came to church and we had a lesson with the bishop present.  Seriously, a miracle.

Something we've learned with Elder Waddell is that we need to 100% read the Book of Mormon with our investigators every single time that they don't read.  They also need to pray in every single lesson.  He told us that we need to think of it more along the lines of a life-or-death situation, because it is that serious.  So, if we don't want to get our heads chopped off, we read the Book of Mormon with them. Carlos Risco had been wondering for a long time whether or not he should get baptized, but we have found out that he hasn't been reading.

It's great to see how our mission is changing.  It's the best to feel like a part of it.  That's one of the best parts of it all for me, is seeing transformation.

Love you all!  Bye!

Elder Johnson

Lamoni et al

May 12, 2014

Lamoni et al

Miracles!

Dani.  She is someone who has suffered from depression for years.  The one I followed up to her room, knowing it was a trap.  Well, wasn’t a trap.  She came to church!  All three hours!  And even though they talked about modesty in SS* (one of the WORST topics for investigators), she survived, Hna Chapillaquen saved the day, and she is progressing.  And is getting happier.

Juan is progressing toward his baptismal date.  He walked in to the front room on Saturday, looking like a different person.  He said he had been praying for angels when we came along, and there we were.  I love being a sister!

  

Wily is so sweet!  I just love these sweet people who, like King Lamoni, just treat you like, I know you are of Christ, so whatever you say I will believe.  He is trying to fight the things around him to get baptized with his four kids here soon.  

I don’t want to make Dalt jealous, but in this area, there are so many young families, that I can’t follow the talk to everyone rule.  It’s actually really fun.  On weekdays.  

One fun thing here is something called Señor Cautivo.  He is a saint, or something, and is from Ayavaca, which is over here in Peru.  Some people don’t convert because of their devotion to him.  Anyways...

I forgot to tell Grannie (younger brother Grant) how awesome it is that he got into the choir stuff!  High five, lil bud!

I love being the Lord’s.  He is the best maker I know of.  I would encourage all to let Him make you more.

Love Hna J

*[Not sure here if SS stands for Sunday School or for Sociedad

 de Socorro, which is Relief Society, the women’s group.]

With His Wee, Beady Eyes

May 12, 2014

With His Wee, Beady Eyes

Well, I'm sure you're all sick of hearing from me by now, but I have nothing else to do right now, so buckle up.

I would just like to explain that if it seemed like I was getting emotional [during the Mothers Day Skype], that was, believe it or not, actually just the overwhelming fish smell that sometimes comes out of nowhere here.  

Something I was trying to explain yesterday, though it may not have come out right, is that in spite of the living-together problem here, we are praying as a mission every single morning at 8 am to find a married family.  The result has been very quiet, but surprising.  We are slowly finding more and more married families to teach, and not necessarily by extraordinary ways.  We seem to be finding them by: (1) Trying to talk to every single family we find—kind of a panning for gold thing, and (2)  A higher discernment for knowing who is married.  It's not like they have it stamped on their heads or anything, but we can now oftentimes tell.  There is a certain respectful way to dress and act, a certain way they walk with their spouse and children that just shows that they care enough to really prove that they are in it for the long run.  The fun part about that is the striking difference in their comprehension of the eternal families concept.  They inherently understand the importance of authority in order to have a valid family, and understand the sadness in the phrase "til death do you part."  There's a light that enters their eyes when you explain to them the eternal family concept that I simply never remember seeing with other couples. So that's fun.

We talked to Jorge right after the Skype call.  He says that he's still willing to get baptized on Saturday if he gets his answer, but he just hasn't asked on his own.

Carlitos Mejia got baptized on Saturday.  His family is now active in the church and has had an interview with the bishop to set a temple goal.  Woohoo!

The world cup is coming up, so we are going to go to town on finding some more people.  Let's go!  Also, I will just say right now how grateful I am that Peru didn’t make it in.

Anyway, my companion is probably going to have the worst day of his life today.  He needs to get a wisdom tooth pulled, and it will only cost him 50 soles.  Yes, that is less than 20 dollars.  But, talking to some members, we found out that it's not totally uncommon to have that cost 20 soles, which is, according to my calculations, enough money to tie your wisdom tooth to a string which is then in turn tied to a door.  Just kidding.  He'll be all right, and as a bonus, I will get to catch up on Jesus the Christ.

Love you all.  Make good choices.

Elder Johnson

PS - Whoops.  The title didn't make sense without a picture of Hermano Rojas.  So there's a picture of him and a picture of the baptism on Saturday.

Dalton - THE DOUBLE-STUFFED OREO IN ACTION

THE DOUBLE-STUFFED OREO IN ACTION

Dalton sent his sister an email that included a really cute picture that I wanted to post.  Here is what he said in his email:

"If you want to see a spicy picture of two kids from Ecuador and a gringo that has giant pants,here you go."

And here is what Jamie said when she posted it on FB:

"Feast your eyes upon my smoking hot brother! I sure do miss this boy. If he's even half as good of a missionary as he is a brother, then he must be amazing!  (And if you are interested in marrying him upon his return, take a number and we'll get back to you.)"

Teamwork, Yo!

May 5, 2014

Teamwork, Yo!

Man, I just have so much to say, and so little ganas [desire, according to Google Translate] in my fingers to say all of it.  Why?  Because everything is so awesome that it is just too hard to try to describe it!  We have the coolest people who are progressing so beautifully.  Yesterday we had more people at Church than ever before in my mission.  It just so felt like a team.  The members were all sitting with them, and helping them, and getting so excited. They all mentioned them in the prayers, and the Bishop made it a point to welcome all of them.  Well, really, all of the members made it a point to welcome all of them.  It was so cool.  Like a lot of them already knew them, so it was just so natural, and too, it felt like it was their success.  And when I was thinking about that, our cool team, I thought about all the angels that are on the Ramon Castilla team too. They are some powerhouses, I will tell you that much.  I just know that we are all this cool team, you know?  That they were there, helping those people get there, helping the members help them get there, helping the missionaries help them get there.  It’s awesome.  

Our mission is one of the six missions in the whole world that has been chosen to be a pilot for this family history program.  It is INCREDIBLE.  We had a training on it yesterday, and the people over it are amazing. These people here just have so much undone family history, and so I know that is why we are having the success too.  Because we are including the angels on it.  We are committed to help them, so they are committed to help us.  I love this WORK!!!!!  I just love being here so much!!!  

Unfortunately no time to tell you about all the miracles with these people, but if you could pray for all of these people:  La familia Condoy, Juan Peña, Antonio Lopez, Josue Lama, Dani Guerrero, Jhenzof, la Familia Navarro, Camilo, and Sijan.  Oh, I wish I could!!!  There were miracles this week!  pk [don’t know what “pk” stands for, but Grant votes for penalty kick), better luck next week.  

LOVE YOU!!!! 

Hermana J

Thanks for the pre-Skype repentance, siblings.

May 5, 2014

Thanks for the pre-Skype repentance, siblings.

Oh, I see how it is.  You all write me right in time for Mother's Day.  It's as though you are related to me or something.  I applaud you all.

Ok, Elder Brito is officially in his house [in America we say "at home"], so now I'm with just Elder Rivera.  Some incredible things, some big disappointments.  At the very least, it was definitely not a boring week.

One of the highlights of the week was with Giancarlos and Evelyn, who we were committing to come to church and being baptized.  He was telling us with the Sabbath day commandment that he wasn't sure if he would be able to follow through and that he doesn't want to commit to something that he can't follow through with.  I felt the nagging feeling to tell him to pray if he should get baptized, even though we hardly had brought up the subject of baptism.  I didn't know if it was just me or the Spirit prompting me, but I knew that there is only one way to find out.  He started to pray, but then almost couldn't finish because he was crying like a child.  It was a very sweet experience, and they are going to get married in June.

I'm very happy here.  Here are just some pictures from Paramonga.  The baptisms and the pensionist, I think.

Love you all.

Elder Johnson

At the Border

April 28, 2014

At the Border

Dalton is so funny!  And I don’t know what he was talking about, that the drinking wasn’t a problem [during Semana Santa, or Holy Week]. Castilla was OUT OF HAND.  Isn’t Castilla the cutest?  

I went to Ecuador this week.  That was a fun little surprise!  We had to go try to be a little more legal than we were before.  I realized a quality of mine that hasn’t changed.  I am a really good sport, when I have food in me. Those sweet in-charge elders forgot to plan meal time.  Uh oh.  But, it was a blast.  Twelve hours driving and a lot more time waiting at the border like illegals, but all talking in English with the awesome white sisters.  Here is the after-trip picture. 

[Quick!  Someone feed the two on the right!  The sisters on the left look okay.]

This week was terrific.  I LOVE my companion.  I just feel like I am starting to realize how missionary work should be, you know?

Fatima, this rebellious teenager, has started coming to church whether or not the rest of the investigating family comes.  And she is all smiley and stuff now.  It is so cool what happens when the Gospel gets to people.  We all need it, and we will know it when we let ourselves embrace it.

Everyone watch easter.mormon.org

Keep being strong. 

Also, can you tell Rachel Freund I love her?  And I want to know about her baby?  And I wear her bows all the time?

Also, Sonny needs to email me!  I don’t have his email!!  Thanks, love you :)

And Xiomi and Fernando and Kris and Guiselle and Yuli.  Love you guys.  

Sorry, no time this week, but I sure do love you!!!!

Hermana J

The Double-Stuffed Oreo

April 28, 2014

The Double-Stuffed Oreo

Well, I was not expecting to get transferred, but there it is.  I am now in the Olivar stake, which, yes, includes the Lima airport, though it's not in my area.  It is definitely the strongest stake in the mission. The ward is called 200 millas.  Man, I feel like I just have so much to say.  Ok, let's start.  If you want to be weirdos on Google Earth, I live in Urbanizacion San Juan Masias, which is just about where the Av. Carlos Izaguirre and the Av. Japon intersect.

Did you know that Colonel Sanders is a member?  Because he teaches seminary and gospel principles here, and he goes by the name Hermano Rojas.  We live in his house, and he is apparently a legend. The first Peruvian missionary as well as the first seminary teacher in Peru.  He also has great Garfield ties.

Oh, and I'm in a trio.  My companions are Elder Brito and Elder Rivera, and they are both from Guayaquil [the largest city in Ecuador]. We joke that the three of us look like a big Oreo.  Elder Brito is going home in a week for medical reasons, but that gives those two enough time to speak in a language that only those from Guayaquil can understand.  I'm getting the hang of it.

A great thing from this week was going home from a ward activity where investigators didn't show up.  We were walking home from the activity, thinking that we wasted the whole day preparing it, but then we contacted a family whose father said that they were just talking about going to a church for their daughter. It was a lot of preparation just to find those people right at that time of night in that particular spot of the area, but I guess we should never question how inspired things work.

I'm having a great time here.  I know that some of what I'm saying deserves pictures, but tranquilo! [like calm down, I think.]  I mean, you've all been waiting only like 4 months, right?  Ok, next week.  Love you!

Elder Johnson