Busy, busy.....

WOW! the 24th. Just ask Harmana Torres, I couldnt stop talking about it. I am so glad you all had fun, and that the reunion was a SUCCESS!!

Ok, our investigators. . . . We actually have TWO BAPTIZMS THIS SATURDAY!!! :D

Ezequel, who is an amazing 16 year old, and is very strong in the faith for having encountered it for only a month. His mom, Marisol wants so badly to be baptized but needs to be married first. They investigated about five years ago or so, and had no interest then. Now Ezequel is progressing so much so fast! He´s an example to his friends and is attending the activities por los Jovenes. I hope and pray con todo mi corazon que he keeps growing this way and continues till he serves a mission . . . and beyond! He´s so excited. I had the worst dream about him last night though, scared me half to death, but it´s all ok. No preocupe.

Our other baptism is a man of 26 años  Horacio. He is the cousin of our recent convert Martin. Horacio told us Sunday before last that he didn't want to meet with us for a while and that if he decided to be baptized it would be a matter of time. We had a lesson about missionary work with Martin the following Thursday  and Horacio happened to be there. He told us that kpas he would come to church on Sunday so we could announce his baptism for the following Saturday . . . . . needless to say this blew our minds! And then to see him in the Gospel Principals class on Sunday  . . . . :D AH!!!! Turns out that after he had turned the gospel away that last Sunday he felt empty, and wanted to have the gospel back in his life and never let it leave. He made the decision to be baptized and will be baptized by the Bishop this Saturday.

Hermana. Torres served in Barrio 4!! Mike that´s so COOL!! The son of our mission president served there for a time as well. Would you happen to know an Elder Heyman?

Hermana. Torres will be leaving in about two weeks at our next transfer. This next transfer will be a nerve wracking one to say the least. There is a strong chance that I will be taking over the area and possibly . . . training and ah... I am not entirely sure I´m ready for that. . . I know so little of the language and the area that I feel very inadequate but I shouldn't feel this way cause if the Lord needs me to do something there´s no way I won't succeed. I was not called to Argentina to fail!!!

Love you all!! Quidence! Chao!!

Hermana A. Johansen

So little time.....

OH man, so little time!

Everything sounds great at home!   S and K, way to choose the temple over practice!! So PROUD OF YOU!!!! There are blessings for sure that come from choosing what is eternal over what is temporary, and those you did work for will be FOREVER grateful to you for it. That is one of the things my heart aches for the most when we teach people and we talk about the temple, I miss doing service there, but it is ok! :D Doing work for the living so they can do work for the dead. After all it is part of the goal, to have the next temple announced to be built in Resistencia! :D tee hee.

Our investigators ROCK!! We are going to have two weddings very soon and a baptism on the 3 of August! (Happy Birthday Brittney, you get a baptism in Argentina :D )

We are working hard and trying our very best. I love you all, sorry I don't have much time to wright today.

Keep Safe! Stay Strong! Muchisimo Amor!
  
Hermana A. Johansen

A rough week.....

Hola mi familia y amigos! :D

Man what can I say, this week was rough! But that is the way missions go and when it gets super tough I pull my cry once and get it over with card and move on. Hermana Torres is the best at accepting that missions are stressful  she should know, I am her last companion. She is simply the best and is so good at being personable and realizing the needs of those we teach.

We meet so many people! We have a couple investigators and we are so excited for them. We have a family that is progressing rapidly. We had family home evening with them last night and watched "Finding Faith in Christ". After that I was in charge of the activities . . . . . I could not think of a game or one that I could explain clearly. You will never guess what game I thought of first . . . oh girls camp what would I ever do with out you? I thought of the Oink/animal/car game. I had no clue how to explain them!! They got a good kick out of it from me trying to explain the oink game. I resorted to showing them tricks like how I can pretend to sew my lip, ya know? and tie their fingers together, little things like that.

We had three investigators and two less actives at church this week! :D We went on divisions to go get them Sunday morning and all of them that I went to go get came with me so cool! And they were all ready to go! Nothing better!

So I have a nifty little thing that helps to teach the 'Plan of Salvation' and show people that baptism is really only the beginning. I took a 13 articles of faith card that folds in half when it is in Spanish and a SLC Temple pass a long card, my families are eternal stickers from Marci and made a little picture booklet out of them showing what we believe, why and how we can be together forever. Eternal Perspective . . . I think so!

Man I love being a missionary  It is hard sometimes and difficult to keep your mind entirely focused especially when you do not understand everything, but that comes in time, and I am only a rookie. That is wonderful about Taylor and Colton. What happened to Colton to make him feel like his old self again? Was he sick? Haha Oh Taylor. There is not a ton of time to write all you would like to everyone. An hour goes by so fast.

Have fun with the reunion!! I call being assigned to the Chips! I am practically camping everyday. We have tile floors so not exactly camping but most of our streets are mud because of all the rain and such. I have killed some spiders but they are not huge. probably cause it is winter and I am not in Formosa. I am in the city of Resistencia serving in Barrio 3 (which is amazing in itself cause I never thought I would be serving in a ward. . . cool)

I will send pictures soon!

That is amazing that Grandma got to visit my Ohio!! OH MY KIRTLAND!

I love you all and hope you are having the best summer ever! Keep strong, be diligent  The Church is true, and guess what . . . . Our Savior lives!
 ¡HURA PARA ISRAEL! ¡YIJA!

Hermana A Johansen

Week 1 in Argentina.....

Hola mi familia y amigos!! ¿Que tal?

Oh where to start. At the beginning should work just fine don´t ya think?
I traveled for practically two days to get to Resistencia. The missionaries that we met in Buenos Aries that just came from their MTCs are awesome, we all became quick friends.
I honestly don´t think I can tell you where I am in relation to Resistencia, not because I wouldn't be allowed to, but because I don´t understand when towns change or when people say the names of places or people enough to distinguish it from any other word.
The weather here is very bipolar like Ohio, hot and sunny one moment then cold and rainy the next. My boots were the wrong kind for sure, so I got some boutas de agua. At least my other boots will be in good condition for when I get to go home.
I do believe this has been the hardest week of my mission so far simply because I can´t understand those we teach and when I try to say something my wonderful comp ends up saying everything over again cause they didn´t understand me very well. BUT! the Spirit is AMAZING! There have been moments when people have told me that my Spanish is very clear and they understood me! Ah! :D
My comp is the best! Hermana Torres is from Peru, and is very patient. She wants to learn English the best she can, sometimes that´s hard for me because I need to learn Spanish. We communicate well. She´s the same height as mom. I would send pictures, but I don´t have time today.

I´ve got to go. I love you all and will have to say more later. Keep safe! 

Thanks for the letters,

Hermana, A Johansen

She has arrived....

 Sister Johansen arrived in La Gran Misión Argentina Resistencia. Her new companion is, Sister Torres and they headed off for their area called Barrio III in the province of Chaco.    

          
  

Memories from Ohio...

Catching fireflies :) 

service...

Waiting out the Tornado watch with good books to read,

Good friends,

and good thoughts.

Cousin(Alisea),Aunt(Hansen),Grandma(Mayard),Mom(Staddard)&Me

Happy Mother's day Mom :)

Our Yard....

A little fence sitting.....

Goodbye Ohio! Hello......Argentina!

Hello family back home!

Yesterday was heartbreaking  I had to say goodbye to my Chardon branch and to my Sisters and Seniors at the Kirtland Sites. They've changed my life and I will be forever grateful for it. Saying goodbye to Sisters Neslen and Stoddard is going to kill me I'm pretty sure. If this is how I feel leaving Ohio after 2 1/2 months leaving Argentina is going to suck!! Oh well :) I am going to enjoy the journey.

This week the Sposito family that I had taught with Sisters Johnson and Smith GOT BAPTIZED ON SATURDAY! I was in Chardon and had to miss it. My little heart was broken. The Sisters came to my rescue and let me come teach them last night for the last time. They showed me the pictures of their baptism and I cried like a baby. Their home felt different! I had to keep reminding myself that they were actually members now and you could tell! I felt super legit too cause Randy's a cop and I got to fill out his Baptismal Record. They're a wonderful family.

We also had to say goodbye to Heidi in Chardon and her sweet girls, they said that she'd send me pictures of the baby when he comes and that whenever I come back to Ohio that I have a place visit for sure! Ha, I love their family so much. Also bid farewell to Perry's cute investigator Leandra. I'm so proud of her, she's making such amazing progress. Brother Lavin (whom we like to call Rabi because he used to be Jewish!) came up to me yesterday after Sacrament meeting to say good bye and told me "Somos amigos para siempre" I nearly cried! Our sweet Relief Society President cried when I left, she's so tender hearted, we love our Sister Gould.

Along with saying good bye we had dinner with an AMISH FAMILY!  I have a pen pal named Sarah. Kevin and Sabrina, I told her about you, she's 13 and loves to write to people. I told her that since I'll be harder to get a hold of that she's absolutely welcome to write to you too. I showed her your pictures and everything. There's something even more amazing, they knew the song "I am a child of God!" They have dinners for people who come to Ohio, and they'd previously hosted a few other senior couples who had taught them the song. We were going to sing it for them as a thank you and were entirely surprised! They were even mouthing the words to the song with us. I couldn't get a picture with our primary kids, so hopefully pictures of our Amish friends will work alright :)

I leave for Argentina today. Going to do some contacting in the Airport and such. I fly to Atlanta then on to Buenos Aires then up to Resistencia. This is going to be a very exciting couple weeks :)

 That's cool how you got to spend so much time with Astrid and people from Steven's mission. I got an announcement from the Chase family about Jordan, I'm so excited for him, this is so cool! Thank you for the pictures and the journal and the letters, I loved them so much!

Bueno suerte con todos!!
Hermana A. Johansen