This week was soooooo fast!!!

This week went by so fast I had to really think hard to try to remember what there was to tell you. there have been some pretty dandy milagros going on here.
First off; The Familia Malagas: mom and dad, Ya.... (15) Se.... (14) Lo..... AKA Luna (12) Cat (9) Ma.. (5) La.. (2) and Bri... (2 meses). Last Sunday, to clarify we walked 30 minutes to go to get them and they were waiting outside their house to walk to the church with us. It´s a 45 minute walk from Barrio Epan to the church. This week they all came again ¡by themselves! and Ya.... and Se... actually came inside this time. Cool thing that happened though was on Wednesday they came to Noche de Rama (our branch´s spin on family night) We had a lesson with them that day, invited them, they weren't sure if they could make it AND THEY ALL CAME! Surprised us like none other but they made it! But funny story, the 5 year old Ma...kind of likes me. He´s a cute little trouble maker. He ran up to me on Wednesday night surprised me with a hug and later held my hand for two seconds and is trying to remember my name. He´s gotten better at understanding the limits and good thing is he minds me when I tell him it´s time to pray, be reverent, or to sing in Sacrament meeting. La. is so cute too, she just looks at you and steals your heart. Be.. would be so baptized next Saturday if only she were married! and if her man wasn't so Catholic! he helps bring then to church which is a blessing for sure for Cat......

We´re to the point of counting down until Christmas. We all forget what month it really is until we pass a store full of Christmas stuff. We found one that is adorable and feels like America. It´s interesting to think of how much God loves me and has sent me down here in a time when I will only miss snow and deal with intense heat once.

We have been looking for service projects and begging our members to let us help with things all the time! They keep telling us that we can´t do things cause we´re sisters. We just tell them that we can do more than they think we can, just let us go get our pants! We haven´t given up, but we have been looking more for small ways to serve people. 

Next Monday I have consejo de los lideres and so I´ll be writing on Tuesday, but I will most likely be printing off on Monday before we head back to Bella Vista.

Love you all!! Stay safe, talk to ya next week.

Hermana A. Johansen

Translados.....

So last week we had transfers. AND . . . . . Wait for it . . . . . We´re still in Bella Vista 2!

In-fact there were no changes in Bella Vista, and Hermana Healey was sure she would be sent to Formosa. So if there´s not a mini transfer like there usually could be this'll be the area I've been in the longest. 

We were visiting a reactivated menos activa and as we were sharing a scripture, her drunk nephew and her son come to ask us some "gospel related questions" and her nephew sets his chair down between Hermana Lund and I (we were outside with espacio suficiente, no se preocupe) and we were not happy about that. You DO NOT sit between a companionship!  

Aside from that awkward story we had a milagro happen this week!

We had the Familia Malagas come to church! As a result we had a very rowdy primary and a almost had to teach all of it. Anyway, this family lives the farthest away from the church  in our area, she has 7 kids and one of them is a baby of two months and we all walked to church! We got to their house and they were all ready and waiting for us at 8:15 and we got to the church at 9:00! How would you like to walk for an hour to get to church with 7 kids? I will never complain about living two blocks away from the church. But they were amazing, and for their first time having been in the primary the kids did very well.

El.... didn't come to church this week and we were all pretty bummed. We´re going to have to move her date to the 23, but it'll be alright. The extra week will be good for her. She's a sweet girl and so awesome. I think if Sabrina were down here we´d be taking her to every one of our lessons with El....., She´s a shy one but they would be pretty good friends I´m sure.

Wow! Give Grandma a HUGE hug for me and tell her how much I love her. If she wants 
she's welcome to email me and I could write to her. Gonna miss Grandpa Morgan. 

I got a letter from Sarah!! Made my week and I started crying when the Elders gave her Dear Elders to me. Ya´ll have no idea how much letters from friends really help us out here unless you´ve been out here.

I´m glad the play went well and that Steven had a good birthday . . . Entonces . . . HAPPY BIRTHDAY STEVEN!!! 23, Wow, that´s crazy.

Love you all! Talk to ya next week.

Hermana A Johansen

Bella Vista pictures......

Primary in Bella Vista

Elder Buenos Aries and Elder Ecuador

This week in Argentina.....

I love the halloween pictures! Mom, the pumpkin picture was ridiculous,  I didn't know if I should be shocked or laugh so I choose both. WOW! A friend of mine did something really gnarly as a zombie with a zipper on his face. Dad we should try it next year, it should be fun.

The rama drama is just what happens when the branch is still very young and family pride gets in the way of the Lord's work and people have issues with the leaders. I won't go into detail because it's too much and I don't have that kind of time. It makes a tough environment to bring investigators into. El..... couldn't come to church yesterday, she went to el Campo with her family and left before church started. We set a fecha in the primera charla and she has a date for the 16 de Novembre.

Pa...´s doing well, and she really wants to come to church, but she has a tough time because she could have her baby any day now and it´s really difficult to travel. We also found out that she is not married and she can´t read either. We´re still looking for a bed.
We discovered that Argentina has FIREFLIES! We also had the craziest rainstorm on Friday, it was like I took a shower with my clothes on! 
If we saw any miracles they were all little. Our less active, Li..... came to church by herself this week! 
Oh!! and my planner got murdered from the rain storm too. 

We had our first service project!! Vicki was trying to put a fan together and was having a hard time, so she let us help her put it together.
The branch is having a Family Night every week and so we have a constant activity. We were all talking about Halloween and the Elders got us candy and had us ¨dulce o trico.¨
The Prez is great and the elders are wonderful!

¡FELIZ CUMPLEAÑOS STEVEN!

love you always

Hermana A. Johansen