That was kinda tough to do in English :D
Signing off for the last time
Hermana A. Johansen
My mission shoes. We walked many miles together in service to our Savior Jesus Christ.
Sunday, September 7, 2014
My Testimony .....
Alright, and for the good part. If anyone asked me if I felt like I was crazy to go on a mission I would look at them like they needed to think just a little bit harder. Serving a mission has not only been the best decision of my life, but the best for my life. I know I've learned so much from the people here and the experiences that have strengthened my faith in our Savior. I don't want to know who I would be without having served a full time mission. I know even more now the blessings we can receive from LIVING the gospel, not only believing it, from STUDYING the Book of Mormon, not just reading it over, I've learned about patience, diligence and perseverance. You've got to give it your all. The gospel isn't just something you have to put on your wall or to put a skirt on once a week and say you believe it, you've got to DO it, it's a way of life, it's who you are, and what we stand for. I know that Joseph Smith is the prophet of the restoration, and that Pres. Monson is a living prophet who can receive revelation from God to lead us and guide us in the trials we face today. I know God loves me, not only cause it snowed in Utah!, but because he has made me worthy enough to feel the love he feels for the people here and in Ohio. I know families are eternal. I know la Iglesia de Jesucristo de los Santos de los Ultimos Dias is the one and only true chruch on the face of the earth! Search, ponder, and pray about it and I promise you as a representative of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ that you will receive an answer through the promptings of the Holy Ghost. I know, because it happened to me.
That was kinda tough to do in English :D
Signing off for the last time
Hermana A. Johansen
That was kinda tough to do in English :D
Signing off for the last time
Hermana A. Johansen
Friday, August 29, 2014
Going home......
OH!! What to say what to say what to say . . . . Well, I don't feel like I´m going home. I packed last night feeling like it was just another transfer. The Rama had a farewell for me last night, it was a big old testimony meeting and I absolutely loved it! the Duarte, and Godoy families and Jorge came to say goodbye to me this morning at the bus station at 6:00 am. And I got stung by a bee yesterday!
We really had a good week. We have been talking to EVERYONE! I wasn't gonna chance it, if I felt like I needed to talk to ANYONE we talked to them. It was so cool and I've been happy all week. It hasn't hit me at all that I'm going to see all of you soo super soon! I loved the pictures! There's a kid in a few of them I don't know who he is some tall big red headed thing ;) Anyway, we found some new investigators and I did push ups with their little boy Saturday when we found them in the park. They're great, and have tons of questions, mostly to do with where we{re from but also have a lot of desire to learn about the gospel, but not enough to get up earlier than 11 am to go to church. Oh well Hay que tener fe, good things will come if it. :D AND we found a lady that is simply amazing. We were walking by and just felt like we had to talk to her, and I have never felt so strongly to put a baptismal date! She accepted, the only thing is that her husband is so against it. I wish her luck.
I love you all and I am so excited to see you all so very soon! I got to go to the Buenos Aries Temple first ;) then I'll tell you all about it.
See you soon,
Hermana A Johansen
We really had a good week. We have been talking to EVERYONE! I wasn't gonna chance it, if I felt like I needed to talk to ANYONE we talked to them. It was so cool and I've been happy all week. It hasn't hit me at all that I'm going to see all of you soo super soon! I loved the pictures! There's a kid in a few of them I don't know who he is some tall big red headed thing ;) Anyway, we found some new investigators and I did push ups with their little boy Saturday when we found them in the park. They're great, and have tons of questions, mostly to do with where we{re from but also have a lot of desire to learn about the gospel, but not enough to get up earlier than 11 am to go to church. Oh well Hay que tener fe, good things will come if it. :D AND we found a lady that is simply amazing. We were walking by and just felt like we had to talk to her, and I have never felt so strongly to put a baptismal date! She accepted, the only thing is that her husband is so against it. I wish her luck.
I love you all and I am so excited to see you all so very soon! I got to go to the Buenos Aries Temple first ;) then I'll tell you all about it.
See you soon,
Hermana A Johansen
Wednesday, August 20, 2014
Monday, August 18, 2014
WOOO HOOO!!! SEE YOU NEXT WEEK :D
So this week was completely crazy! I got emotionally thrown to the ground, but thanks to what I know of the gospel and the fact that I know where to turn when hard things come my way have allowed me to keep moving on and feel as much joy as great as was what ever it was that I felt. Funny thing is that during weekly planning the goals I made for the week were loof for spiritual experiences, write in my journal, accept the will of the Lord, and forget myself. The Lord has a funny way of making things work and helping us become stronger disciples of Christ. It´s true when they say that your last transfer is the hardest, but that´s when you learn the most. I know that the Lord is only preparing me for what is to come and what he needs me to do at home. I´m not look'n back or too far forward, we´re gonna work off what ever tails we have! :D Hermana Riquelme doesn't wanna say good bye, I don´t either, I´m gonna miss my Chilenita.
That´s cool that Elder Birch gets home so soon! Tell his family hi for me please? I´m so excited to see them! That´s great about Tyler/Sabrina and about his family too! :D
I´ll keep whatever type of tissue I have with me. This is gonna be fun.
Jorge won´t be able to be baptized for a while. We´re getting him the 12 step program to complete before his baptism so he can be baptized and do it for real.
Happy Birthday Issac and Abuelo Steve!! Love you both so much! Hey, Steve, I´ll have to bring you some Mate to drink with your big ol´ mate cup.
I´m glad you´re all happy :) Nothing makes me happier than to know you´re all doing well and staying safe.
Love you all! The church is true and you are de gran valor y importancia! Please don´t ever forget that. SEE YOU NEXT WEEK!
Hermana Amanda Lee Johansen.
That´s cool that Elder Birch gets home so soon! Tell his family hi for me please? I´m so excited to see them! That´s great about Tyler/Sabrina and about his family too! :D
I´ll keep whatever type of tissue I have with me. This is gonna be fun.
Jorge won´t be able to be baptized for a while. We´re getting him the 12 step program to complete before his baptism so he can be baptized and do it for real.
Happy Birthday Issac and Abuelo Steve!! Love you both so much! Hey, Steve, I´ll have to bring you some Mate to drink with your big ol´ mate cup.
I´m glad you´re all happy :) Nothing makes me happier than to know you´re all doing well and staying safe.
Love you all! The church is true and you are de gran valor y importancia! Please don´t ever forget that. SEE YOU NEXT WEEK!
Hermana Amanda Lee Johansen.
Sunday, August 17, 2014
HAPPY BIRTHDAY, MOM!!!!!!
Mom, I´m so happy that you had a great birthday! Your SMORE cake looked really good! Don´t worry about saving me some, for one I don´t think it would last that long with the siblings I have, and two, I´m sure it just wouldn't taste the same. Your date sounded really fun, I´m really proud to have parents who love each other, it´s really a huge blessing.
We had an interesting week this week. Hermana Riquelme´s been struck by a fever and we had Zone conference. Both took a lot of time out of working, but I learned so much from both experiences.
We taught our 80 year old man in a wheel chair, Hermano Torres, he´s pretty great and he wants to come to church. The recent convert Gabriel came with us and they got a long really well. They have a huge age difference, but it could work out, Gabi´s great and Hermano Torres needs help getting places. Jorge could help him get to church, he lives a lot closer and always goes anyway.
We also have Rosana, she´s great, has good questions, but doesn't wanna go too far without her ´husband,´ which is great that she wants that and loves him enough to do that, but he could really be an obstacle if he doesn´t take it well. Her son Axel loves us and made us a turtle.
Have fun getting ready for school! Enjoy it, and don´t forget to keep living. Accept what the Lord puts in your way, and enjoy the day you have while you have it and live it to it´s fullest.
Love you all!! Please be safe and Keep on keep'n on! The gospel teaches us to be good at that :)
Hermana A Johansen
We had an interesting week this week. Hermana Riquelme´s been struck by a fever and we had Zone conference. Both took a lot of time out of working, but I learned so much from both experiences.
We taught our 80 year old man in a wheel chair, Hermano Torres, he´s pretty great and he wants to come to church. The recent convert Gabriel came with us and they got a long really well. They have a huge age difference, but it could work out, Gabi´s great and Hermano Torres needs help getting places. Jorge could help him get to church, he lives a lot closer and always goes anyway.
We also have Rosana, she´s great, has good questions, but doesn't wanna go too far without her ´husband,´ which is great that she wants that and loves him enough to do that, but he could really be an obstacle if he doesn´t take it well. Her son Axel loves us and made us a turtle.
Have fun getting ready for school! Enjoy it, and don´t forget to keep living. Accept what the Lord puts in your way, and enjoy the day you have while you have it and live it to it´s fullest.
Love you all!! Please be safe and Keep on keep'n on! The gospel teaches us to be good at that :)
Hermana A Johansen
Sunday, August 10, 2014
P-DAY...
Personally I love p-days, but they go by really fast and the hour of writing goes by a lot faster.
This last week has been interesting. Jorge decided that he wanted to listen to us, but for real this time. As in real intentions to change. We´re gonna see how it works out this time. His date is the Saturday before they ship me out of this country.
Ter--- killed us off this week. She´s the lady that goes to the Universal church and couldn't meet with us on any other day but Saturdays. She said that the pastor de su iglesia le dijo that she would have to choose between us and them right now . . . and guess who she choose.
Mariela a new lady this week came with us to church. She´s catholic and has the cutest little boy, I don´t know if I wrote about her or not. She came to church and it´s always interesting when investigators come on Fast and Testimony meeting. She liked it, but she was focusing A LOT on the members (importance of being a good example) We had a lesson with her about the book of Mormon and all with Hernana Sallago, it was really cool, good lesson. She has a ton of questions that have to do with the apostasy. Hopefully she reads, prays and recognizes her answer.
Hermana Riquelme's been hit with the sick bug real hard this last week. Her stomach´s been bugging her and she´s had a fever for the last two days. I've never been super sick on the mission, and she´s my first and only comp that suffers so chronically. I´m not entirely sure what to do . . . Other than that we've had a good week. We've seen a lot of milagros and wonderful things like that. We gave a book of Mormon to a really cool guy last night, sad thing is he´s not usually home.
Alright, Home stuff. OLIVIA! I´m so proud of you hun! And you look so pretty in your pictures. Livi and Korri are getting so big! I can´t wait to see you, babe! I´m gonna give all of you the biggest hugs you've ever gotten in your lives. :) Give me one more normal Monday and then you can do all the ¨when you get home writing you want.
I got an Email from Laura Honey this week!! How great is that to hear from two of your best friends two weeks in a row? I think it´s pretty fantastic.
Kevin plays on the 28th! Woo hoo! I´m really excited to watch you play bud, you have no idea. Mom that´s really cool about the primary, I´m glad I could help :) We were in charge of the primary this week. We watched some of the videos they use for the new program in yw/ym about the Plan of Salvation. It worked out perdy well.
Love you all,
Hermana A. Johansen
This last week has been interesting. Jorge decided that he wanted to listen to us, but for real this time. As in real intentions to change. We´re gonna see how it works out this time. His date is the Saturday before they ship me out of this country.
Ter--- killed us off this week. She´s the lady that goes to the Universal church and couldn't meet with us on any other day but Saturdays. She said that the pastor de su iglesia le dijo that she would have to choose between us and them right now . . . and guess who she choose.
Mariela a new lady this week came with us to church. She´s catholic and has the cutest little boy, I don´t know if I wrote about her or not. She came to church and it´s always interesting when investigators come on Fast and Testimony meeting. She liked it, but she was focusing A LOT on the members (importance of being a good example) We had a lesson with her about the book of Mormon and all with Hernana Sallago, it was really cool, good lesson. She has a ton of questions that have to do with the apostasy. Hopefully she reads, prays and recognizes her answer.
Hermana Riquelme's been hit with the sick bug real hard this last week. Her stomach´s been bugging her and she´s had a fever for the last two days. I've never been super sick on the mission, and she´s my first and only comp that suffers so chronically. I´m not entirely sure what to do . . . Other than that we've had a good week. We've seen a lot of milagros and wonderful things like that. We gave a book of Mormon to a really cool guy last night, sad thing is he´s not usually home.
Alright, Home stuff. OLIVIA! I´m so proud of you hun! And you look so pretty in your pictures. Livi and Korri are getting so big! I can´t wait to see you, babe! I´m gonna give all of you the biggest hugs you've ever gotten in your lives. :) Give me one more normal Monday and then you can do all the ¨when you get home writing you want.
I got an Email from Laura Honey this week!! How great is that to hear from two of your best friends two weeks in a row? I think it´s pretty fantastic.
Kevin plays on the 28th! Woo hoo! I´m really excited to watch you play bud, you have no idea. Mom that´s really cool about the primary, I´m glad I could help :) We were in charge of the primary this week. We watched some of the videos they use for the new program in yw/ym about the Plan of Salvation. It worked out perdy well.
Love you all,
Hermana A. Johansen
Wednesday, July 30, 2014
HOLA FAMILIA!!
To explain what we had to do yesterday. I had to go to Corrientes Capital (one of my favorite places in the world! I love Corrientes) to work with my immigration documents. We woke up at 2 in the morning, rode a bus for 4 hours and took a taxi to the registro Civil to be there at 8 am, we were there at 7:30. We waited and waited and waited. We got to see Hermnas Young, Stone, Quick, Levitt and so many more. It was like a mini mission reunion. And President was there. While we were waiting to do nothing more than take a picture or sign a paper he took us out for breakfast! Hermana Riquelme went with another group of sisters cause I had to stay and wait a little longer. Then he took us senior missionaries out to have hot chocolate, chipas and medio lunas, I´ll send pictures later. We went back to the registro and waited some more. All of a sudden it was time to go. Nothing happened with my documents and we came all the way and woke up so early for nothing! Well I had been wishing for an opportunidad to go back to Corrientes one last time, and Hermana Riquelme wanted a moment to sleep. And we both got what we wanted in a bit of a complicated way. :)
We've had a tough week. We've been doing the best we think that we can (there´s always room to improve and do better, but we´re trying really hard) to be able to find, teach and baptize. We've been talking to as many people as we can coming back when we say we´ll come back . . . . and they´re not there or they can only meet with us once a week . . .
We went to a farewell of a kid in the branch named David Simonini last night and Jorge went. He said that he wants to try again, which is great, but he has to realize that we have to be strictly obedient to the mission rules, and he gets to be baptized according to what the Lord says, not just cause his baptismal date is really close. Anyway we went to David´s farewell and everything I felt at the beginning of my mission hit me all over again. All I want to do is help someone be baptized and feel the joy that I do thanks to the restored Gospel of Jesus Christ (almost forgot how to spell that in English), and it hit me again this morning. What if I don´t try hard enough, or rely on the Lord enough and I just barely miss someone that I promised that I would bring the gospel to or help get baptized? What if I miss this chance and someone doesn't receive these blessings because of something I didn't do? Then the thought came, I have a desire to serve, I have been called to the work, set apart to be a missionary, God will make sure I am where I´m supposed to be and say what he needs me to, I just need to keep letting myself go, and keep going.
I love the 24th fotos! They almost made me kinda trunky, I´m glad I´ll be there for it next year. I love the 24th! and I really like the Derby . . . and I think when I go it´ll remind me a lot of Argentina and their stupid broken engines that ruin lessons when they pass by . . but in a good way :) sounds like you all had a great time!
Sarah wrote to me! Finally. Did the letter I wrote to Laura get to her? I haven´t heard from her since I sent it.
Welp. I love you all!! Stay safe, don´t get burnt, and pray for the rain.
Hermana Yojansen ;)
We've had a tough week. We've been doing the best we think that we can (there´s always room to improve and do better, but we´re trying really hard) to be able to find, teach and baptize. We've been talking to as many people as we can coming back when we say we´ll come back . . . . and they´re not there or they can only meet with us once a week . . .
We went to a farewell of a kid in the branch named David Simonini last night and Jorge went. He said that he wants to try again, which is great, but he has to realize that we have to be strictly obedient to the mission rules, and he gets to be baptized according to what the Lord says, not just cause his baptismal date is really close. Anyway we went to David´s farewell and everything I felt at the beginning of my mission hit me all over again. All I want to do is help someone be baptized and feel the joy that I do thanks to the restored Gospel of Jesus Christ (almost forgot how to spell that in English), and it hit me again this morning. What if I don´t try hard enough, or rely on the Lord enough and I just barely miss someone that I promised that I would bring the gospel to or help get baptized? What if I miss this chance and someone doesn't receive these blessings because of something I didn't do? Then the thought came, I have a desire to serve, I have been called to the work, set apart to be a missionary, God will make sure I am where I´m supposed to be and say what he needs me to, I just need to keep letting myself go, and keep going.
I love the 24th fotos! They almost made me kinda trunky, I´m glad I´ll be there for it next year. I love the 24th! and I really like the Derby . . . and I think when I go it´ll remind me a lot of Argentina and their stupid broken engines that ruin lessons when they pass by . . but in a good way :) sounds like you all had a great time!
Sarah wrote to me! Finally. Did the letter I wrote to Laura get to her? I haven´t heard from her since I sent it.
Welp. I love you all!! Stay safe, don´t get burnt, and pray for the rain.
Hermana Yojansen ;)
Sunday, July 27, 2014
and back on the farm . . . field . . . campo . . . or what ever you wanna call it.....
I´ve just hit the classic brick wall of not knowing what to write! Love it.
Ok, Here we go. TRASLADOS! Hermana Lund is in Clorinda! I never made it there, but my daughter did! I forgot that we even had transfers. I always forget when things in my companionship don´t change. Hermana Riquelme´s gonna kill me off, and that´s really weird for the both of us! I´m trying so hard not to be trunky, I tell her everyday not to let me be trunky, and when I have my moments I let her know and she tells me everything we know about our investigators to help me get my mind back on track. Mom, you asked me on mother´s day if I´m still drawing . . . at the end of the day that´s all I wanna do, that and go boarding. Then I realize that I really need a job. I figured the other day that I could get a job and make a website to try to sell a bit of art at the same time when I get back . . . . That´s really hard not to think about sometimes . . . but we keep on keepin on all the same.
Jorge didn´t make it to his date, thanks for your prayers and all. Keep them comin they´ll help our investigators more than we realize. He´s been meeting with missionaries for the last six months and we don´t know what to do with him. He reads, prays and goes to the activities and baptisms, but he hasn´t made all that much progress to not drink, and he gets upset if we bring it up too much. We´re going to make an addiction recovery plan with him and change his date.
We also have Daiana who is super cute, and loves the gosple. She wants it in her life and realizes the blessings it can come from it. Her only obstacle is that she´s not married and believe it or not her boyfriend doesn't think much about marriage BUT he told her that if she got a date to go sign the papers, they could do it! AHH! I sure hope that works out! and that she comes to church too, that´d be good.
Speaking of marriage! First off Natalia and Luis are GETTING HITCHED!! AND BAPTIZED THIS WEEKEND!! :D
We had interviews with the Francos this week. They´re amazing and we love them a lot! Hermana Franco is an artist as well, we had fun talking about that. They´re great and it´s their first mission. Look out Dad and Mom, you could very well be mission presidents for your first mission too. :)
Oh what else was there . . . um . . .thanks for the missionary news letter! that was fun. it´s crazy, we´re all slowly coming back.
Love you all! The pictures and stories are great! Nos vemos!
Hermana A Johansen
Ok, Here we go. TRASLADOS! Hermana Lund is in Clorinda! I never made it there, but my daughter did! I forgot that we even had transfers. I always forget when things in my companionship don´t change. Hermana Riquelme´s gonna kill me off, and that´s really weird for the both of us! I´m trying so hard not to be trunky, I tell her everyday not to let me be trunky, and when I have my moments I let her know and she tells me everything we know about our investigators to help me get my mind back on track. Mom, you asked me on mother´s day if I´m still drawing . . . at the end of the day that´s all I wanna do, that and go boarding. Then I realize that I really need a job. I figured the other day that I could get a job and make a website to try to sell a bit of art at the same time when I get back . . . . That´s really hard not to think about sometimes . . . but we keep on keepin on all the same.
Jorge didn´t make it to his date, thanks for your prayers and all. Keep them comin they´ll help our investigators more than we realize. He´s been meeting with missionaries for the last six months and we don´t know what to do with him. He reads, prays and goes to the activities and baptisms, but he hasn´t made all that much progress to not drink, and he gets upset if we bring it up too much. We´re going to make an addiction recovery plan with him and change his date.
We also have Daiana who is super cute, and loves the gosple. She wants it in her life and realizes the blessings it can come from it. Her only obstacle is that she´s not married and believe it or not her boyfriend doesn't think much about marriage BUT he told her that if she got a date to go sign the papers, they could do it! AHH! I sure hope that works out! and that she comes to church too, that´d be good.
Speaking of marriage! First off Natalia and Luis are GETTING HITCHED!! AND BAPTIZED THIS WEEKEND!! :D
We had interviews with the Francos this week. They´re amazing and we love them a lot! Hermana Franco is an artist as well, we had fun talking about that. They´re great and it´s their first mission. Look out Dad and Mom, you could very well be mission presidents for your first mission too. :)
Oh what else was there . . . um . . .thanks for the missionary news letter! that was fun. it´s crazy, we´re all slowly coming back.
Love you all! The pictures and stories are great! Nos vemos!
Hermana A Johansen
Thursday, July 17, 2014
FOTOS.....
Hermana Riquelme,Hermana Johansen, Elder Coates
Elder Coates and Hermana Johansen are both from the Sanpete Valley. Two missionaries from the same area, in the same mission, at the same time half a world away, who would have thought!
Elders Leon, Fabani, (ex Elder) Kevin Medrano
farewell to President Heyman
Vamos Argentina!!!!
MTC district missionaries.
Por Fin!
I finally finished the drawings for the super hero zone shirt! I forgot my thing to connect the camera to the computer this week . . . sorry :)
Those Scottish Festival pictures are super cool!! The masks are pretty trippy! and I´d swear that espada es 3 veces mas grande que Korri!
Hopefully next week the email works so I can read about what ya´ll did this week. Mal functions happen, it´s alright.
MMMk . . . so what happened this week. I got to go to Resistencia on Thursday to work with my documents so that I´m legal for the next 8 months, and Hermana Riquelme was sick on Tuesday after district meeting and so we lost quite a bit of time. I got to see Hermana Seeley one more time before she left which made me super happy. I've never felt so old before in my life, everyone is dying! I´m the last Hna en my MTC district still here! And I don´t know when Hermanas Lake and Goodrich go home.
Jorge let his pride get to him again this weekend. We invited him to a baptism of the other branch and Hermana Riquelme asked one of the recent converts to go talk to Jorge, and be his friend and a spiritual support. Didn't go as well as we´d hopped . . . that was a little too much for Jorge and it made him uncomfortable and he took it out on my cute little comp. And that didn't make anyone very happy. None the less these are moments when it´s important to act in humility and think more of what your investigator needs than what happens to us. Honestly you can talk to me however, I don´t care, but no one makes my comp cry, I don´t care who you are, that´s not ok.
None the less, he came to church yesterday with out us going to get him! ¡That´s huge!! For his family, that´s really hard. If he can go to church after having a bit of a tiff he can do anything, that really shows his progress. Things have cooled down and we´re going to try to talk to him today. He´s supposed to be baptized this weekend and we´ll have to see him everyday. Pray hard for this guy, he needs the strength to keep it up. Satan´s going to be working on him really hard this week, We´re looking for a milagro here :) and we need your faith, prayers and all that jazz.
We found a cool little family on Saturday. They go to the Iglesia Universal . . . don´t know what that would be in English. We met their son Thomas who looks exactly like his dad José. The mom Patricia was really impressed by the fact that we felt like we needed to ´clap their house¨ (Argentine knocking). We´re really excited to see what will happen with them. And we´re hoping to be able to stick out transfers together to see.
Transfers are this weekend! I´m pretty sure I´m staying here. I´ve been to all the provinces, I can't think of anywhere else The Lord would send me, but ya never know. We´re hoping we stay together. :)
Welp, I love you all! I know this church is true, and where ever your treasure is your hearts there too.
Hermana A. Johasnen
Wednesday, July 9, 2014
We had a decent week. I got on the computer this morning to find out that no one but my family, Hermana Allred and the assistants are the only ones who love me this week, Aleen wrote me later, but hey, at least someone loves me right?? I got some dear Elders this week! That always makes one very happy, Thanks Mike and Jacob!! Yeah, I haven´t met President Franco yet, I'm sure we all will soon. It's his first p-day and there are a few things to get use to. There are changes for all of us and we will all be adjusting.
We've found a few good people to teach, and a few we've been working with for a while we finally have a good foot in the door. We have Jorge who finally accepted a date to be baptized!! All because his friend in the church said that he wanted to baptize him!! It was the kick that he needed and now he´s all excited for it. Juan´s perfect to help him too, cause he´s gotten over his work of wisdom issues and he can help Jorge. We also have Marina, was talking to elders about six years ago, right after she met them she got hit by a motorcycle that left her badly injured, now we´re here when she is in good enough of condition to teach her. We have Karen and her mom. Karen is 18 . . . i think and her mom teaches Catholic classes. Their life is super difficult, and the whole block judges them except for the two member families that they just love to pieces. Karen is more interested than her mom but has an illness and they have no idea what it is but it leaves her with depression and she´s supper skinny, their great, and very kind and smart people, they just need to understand that when you need a change you've got to change what you´re doing or things will just stay the same. We´re trying to see what we can do to help people realize that the world has authority issues and the other churches want the authority that they don´t have, and they just don´t get it.
Hermana Riquelme´s been sick this week and we had to stay in for a few hours. We´re hoping that we can get her in for a check up so we can know exactly what it is that she has. We´ll see what President Franco has to say about it, the Area Doc´s supposed to call him and have him call us.
THANK YOU FOR ALL THE PHOTOS!! I love them. It´s weird for me to be here in the cold again while it´s hot and the 4th of July over there. Way to keep YCC alive! I feel like it´s October here. Have fun with the Play! looks like you´re doing well. Kevin, my comp says you´re a stud and that I¨m gonna have to protect you with a stick from all the girls who´re running after ya. Heidi had a baby! That´s so crazy! You´re right, definitely like Hermana Bateman, next p-day´s her last and then she´ll be able to hold her siblings.
NO! Taylor hasn't sent me anything, I wanna see! The t-shirt´s coming along, Elder Mendoza´s going to kill me cause I don´t have them done yet, they take a while and I haven´t drawn super heroes in a long time and there´s no time here.
I´m glad you´re all safe, and doing well. Keep those testimonies strong, I pray for them and your safety every night, family and friends. Keep safe!
Love you all!
Hermana A Johansen
We've found a few good people to teach, and a few we've been working with for a while we finally have a good foot in the door. We have Jorge who finally accepted a date to be baptized!! All because his friend in the church said that he wanted to baptize him!! It was the kick that he needed and now he´s all excited for it. Juan´s perfect to help him too, cause he´s gotten over his work of wisdom issues and he can help Jorge. We also have Marina, was talking to elders about six years ago, right after she met them she got hit by a motorcycle that left her badly injured, now we´re here when she is in good enough of condition to teach her. We have Karen and her mom. Karen is 18 . . . i think and her mom teaches Catholic classes. Their life is super difficult, and the whole block judges them except for the two member families that they just love to pieces. Karen is more interested than her mom but has an illness and they have no idea what it is but it leaves her with depression and she´s supper skinny, their great, and very kind and smart people, they just need to understand that when you need a change you've got to change what you´re doing or things will just stay the same. We´re trying to see what we can do to help people realize that the world has authority issues and the other churches want the authority that they don´t have, and they just don´t get it.
Hermana Riquelme´s been sick this week and we had to stay in for a few hours. We´re hoping that we can get her in for a check up so we can know exactly what it is that she has. We´ll see what President Franco has to say about it, the Area Doc´s supposed to call him and have him call us.
THANK YOU FOR ALL THE PHOTOS!! I love them. It´s weird for me to be here in the cold again while it´s hot and the 4th of July over there. Way to keep YCC alive! I feel like it´s October here. Have fun with the Play! looks like you´re doing well. Kevin, my comp says you´re a stud and that I¨m gonna have to protect you with a stick from all the girls who´re running after ya. Heidi had a baby! That´s so crazy! You´re right, definitely like Hermana Bateman, next p-day´s her last and then she´ll be able to hold her siblings.
NO! Taylor hasn't sent me anything, I wanna see! The t-shirt´s coming along, Elder Mendoza´s going to kill me cause I don´t have them done yet, they take a while and I haven´t drawn super heroes in a long time and there´s no time here.
I´m glad you´re all safe, and doing well. Keep those testimonies strong, I pray for them and your safety every night, family and friends. Keep safe!
Love you all!
Hermana A Johansen
Saturday, July 5, 2014
HAPPY 4TH OF JULY!!
HAPPY BIRTHDAY USA!!!!
This is the third year that I will have spent this celebration of MY country outside of my country . . The last time I was here, and I was in Scotland the time before that. Que crazy, no?
Alright an update and answer to your questions from this weeks email. I did get to see Elder Coats this last week, he is alive and well. We laughed a lot about our cute moms and how so many things have changed in such little time. Marcos gave up on us. His parents said no, we met his mom the other day and she didn't sound too interested. We tried to find our cute little couple and they weren't home when we told them we would stop by. We´re working with our investigator Jorge. He wants to be baptized and is trying so hard to be active before being baptized so he doesn't end up like some of his family members who were baptized and then became inactive. We got him a friend so that´s good.
I've been drawing like crazy! Or at least I should be. Our Zone wants a shirt with everyone as Super Heroes. My district leader and I split the job and are each drawing 8 people. It´s a tough job when there is no time here, but it´s coming along.
Presidente y Hermana Franco go to work tomorrow, today is the last day of Presidente y Hermana Heyman . . . wrote my last letter to Presidente today, it was like the last letter to President Vallinga . . . but worse, cause I actually knew it would be the last one.
JUSTIN! I´m so excited for you to write to me! The MTC´s fun ;) I promise. KEVIN YOU´RE HUGE! The pictures are cute! Dad have a wonderful few days off with the fam. Take the boat out :) . . . I will try not to be jealous, it´ll be hard to be cause I can´t think of being warm and playing in the water right now cause it´s kinda chilly here.
Well, I love you all!! Stay safe, and have a good one!!
Hermana A. Johansen
This is the third year that I will have spent this celebration of MY country outside of my country . . The last time I was here, and I was in Scotland the time before that. Que crazy, no?
Alright an update and answer to your questions from this weeks email. I did get to see Elder Coats this last week, he is alive and well. We laughed a lot about our cute moms and how so many things have changed in such little time. Marcos gave up on us. His parents said no, we met his mom the other day and she didn't sound too interested. We tried to find our cute little couple and they weren't home when we told them we would stop by. We´re working with our investigator Jorge. He wants to be baptized and is trying so hard to be active before being baptized so he doesn't end up like some of his family members who were baptized and then became inactive. We got him a friend so that´s good.
I've been drawing like crazy! Or at least I should be. Our Zone wants a shirt with everyone as Super Heroes. My district leader and I split the job and are each drawing 8 people. It´s a tough job when there is no time here, but it´s coming along.
Presidente y Hermana Franco go to work tomorrow, today is the last day of Presidente y Hermana Heyman . . . wrote my last letter to Presidente today, it was like the last letter to President Vallinga . . . but worse, cause I actually knew it would be the last one.
JUSTIN! I´m so excited for you to write to me! The MTC´s fun ;) I promise. KEVIN YOU´RE HUGE! The pictures are cute! Dad have a wonderful few days off with the fam. Take the boat out :) . . . I will try not to be jealous, it´ll be hard to be cause I can´t think of being warm and playing in the water right now cause it´s kinda chilly here.
Well, I love you all!! Stay safe, and have a good one!!
Hermana A. Johansen
Sunday, June 29, 2014
¡Al mundo llevaremos!
We had a fantastic week and I'm sure I've never cried so much in my life. We had the farewell of the Heymans yesterday and we got to meet their son who just finished his mission in Chili. We sang the As Sisters in Zion/Sons of Helaman song in Spanish as a surprise for them and we all cried our eyes out. I´m so happy I've never been asked to participate in a special musical number cause if I was I wouldn't be able to do it. Hermana Heyman gives one of the best hugs in the world, strong and as long as you need it to be. It´s as close to a mom hug as you can get here. Saying goodbye to them has to be one of the hardest things I've ever had to do. Their example and the things they have taught me have changed my life forever, and I am eternally grateful for it. They've helped me strengthen what is most important to me in my life which is my testimony that my Savior lives and that we CAN become like him through acting like him and becoming better than we were yesterday. I talked to Hermna Young about when we had to say goodbye to the Vallingas' and how that almost killed us in the airport. I´m really excited to get to know the Francos, more people to love! Remember when I said something about the leather covers that they have here for scriptures? The Heymans gave us leather protectors for our planers!! To every 230 somethin de nosotros!! I´m so glad that I´m going to have it in the mission for so little time so it can stay in good condition. I´ll send pictures soon. Sorry I´m not sending some this week, there wasn't much time today.
We had the craziest experience this week! We found a little old couple who are actually married. The cute little grandpa had to have his legs amputated about 4 years ago due to his smoking habits, he hasn't touched it in years but his wife still has the habit and you can tell she wants to stop cause she knows the consequences. I asked Thomas (the grandpa) if he could still feel his legs sometimes. He said that he still feels like his leg itches every once in a while, and that it´s really weird. I asked him if he knew that his spirit still had his legs. Simple question, but it made them think. His wife began to silently cry and he had the deepest expression on his face. We testified that through the resurrección de Cristo he will be able to have his legs again. We testified of the message we have to share and tried to set up another time to see them, but they´re hard to catch. We´ll see what happens. The Spirit was SO THICK! and we still felt it tan fuerte after we left. We knew there was a reason why we were there.
We had the craziest experience this week! We found a little old couple who are actually married. The cute little grandpa had to have his legs amputated about 4 years ago due to his smoking habits, he hasn't touched it in years but his wife still has the habit and you can tell she wants to stop cause she knows the consequences. I asked Thomas (the grandpa) if he could still feel his legs sometimes. He said that he still feels like his leg itches every once in a while, and that it´s really weird. I asked him if he knew that his spirit still had his legs. Simple question, but it made them think. His wife began to silently cry and he had the deepest expression on his face. We testified that through the resurrección de Cristo he will be able to have his legs again. We testified of the message we have to share and tried to set up another time to see them, but they´re hard to catch. We´ll see what happens. The Spirit was SO THICK! and we still felt it tan fuerte after we left. We knew there was a reason why we were there.
Hey, I´m out of time, I´m glad you all had a great week! Thank you for the pictures! Tell Jackson hi for me, and you can show him the glasses I used.
I love you all, thank you for the stories. Please stay safe and keep the Spirit with you. CONGRATS JUSTIN!! You can email me too, ya know :)
Hermama A. Johansen
Monday, June 16, 2014
Father´s day, mundial, Chili-dogs and Philly Cheese Stakes
There was a little girl watching Disney´s Robin Hood in the other room during one of our lessons and it almost killed me. :)
This week was kinda fun! We got to fix 2 bikes! We were looking for service opportunities this week and there were two girls two different times completely different places and their bike chains were giving them a hard time. So we went up to them and we fixed them for them. . . . Well I fixed them :) My comp just laughed and gave me suggestions as I fixed them. I loved it. I miss fixing things and getting my hands dirty like that. I wish we could say that we got a meeting with them later and they accepted to be baptized, but they didn't want to listen much after their bikes were fixed, they had other places to be.
There was a baptism this weekend from the Elder´s area. Our investigator Marcos went. He came with a member who is amazing! (Hna Sallago, she´s adorable and takes good care of us.) It really was a little milagro that he could come. At first it looked like he couldn't make it and that there were too many complications, BUT he made it anyway :) Hopefully he keeps progressing and that we get a good foot in with his family, that part´s key. We meet with him at the Sallago´s and we haven´t been able to meet his family yet. We´ll get there.
Just a thought in the moment . . . I can´t wait to work on my computer with my own music and can email or do what ever without having to listen to stupid video games and ridiculous music. Just saying, Cibers are great, but they have their downfalls.
My comp is amazing and is so incredibly humble and full of faith. It´s so easy to work with her, or at least it has been. She gets so excited when she feels like something will help us in the work and it only helps me out a lot and allows us to work harder. I didn't spell Chili-dogs wrong it says exactly what I mean. We were talking about what we wanted to eat for lunch today and she asked me if I wanted to try a Hot dog Chili style (una Chilena Poncha) I agreed and found out later that all it was, was a PHILLI CHEESE STAKE! I was so very happy. We made tacos last week and i made pancakes i think yesterday . . . yeah. Mom! When I read that you were all eating PB&Js an Smores I almost cried, told my comp and she almost killed me cause it sounded too good. :) Love pb&js. And by the way, I feel like I´m in Utah sometimes in certain parts of Reconquista, it looks like Provo and Moroni put together. There are a lot more trees here and I´m loving it. It´s loads different than Formosa. I didn't know Santa Fe wasn't in Mike´s mission.
I´m glad you all had a good week! HAPPY FATHER´S DAY DAD! It was father´s day here too, AND Argentina played! AND Won! We didn't even have to talk to anyone, you could hear it in the streets. They made us go in early so it´s all good. Thanks for the support Steve! I hope they don´t loose . . . We want the work to go good. They are super passionate about football. and HAPPY BIRTHDAY GRANDMA!!
Hope you all have a fantastic week again, make some more stories to tell me. Tell everyone hi and give them a hug for me. LOVE YOU ALL!!!
Hermana A Johansen
This week was kinda fun! We got to fix 2 bikes! We were looking for service opportunities this week and there were two girls two different times completely different places and their bike chains were giving them a hard time. So we went up to them and we fixed them for them. . . . Well I fixed them :) My comp just laughed and gave me suggestions as I fixed them. I loved it. I miss fixing things and getting my hands dirty like that. I wish we could say that we got a meeting with them later and they accepted to be baptized, but they didn't want to listen much after their bikes were fixed, they had other places to be.
There was a baptism this weekend from the Elder´s area. Our investigator Marcos went. He came with a member who is amazing! (Hna Sallago, she´s adorable and takes good care of us.) It really was a little milagro that he could come. At first it looked like he couldn't make it and that there were too many complications, BUT he made it anyway :) Hopefully he keeps progressing and that we get a good foot in with his family, that part´s key. We meet with him at the Sallago´s and we haven´t been able to meet his family yet. We´ll get there.
Just a thought in the moment . . . I can´t wait to work on my computer with my own music and can email or do what ever without having to listen to stupid video games and ridiculous music. Just saying, Cibers are great, but they have their downfalls.
My comp is amazing and is so incredibly humble and full of faith. It´s so easy to work with her, or at least it has been. She gets so excited when she feels like something will help us in the work and it only helps me out a lot and allows us to work harder. I didn't spell Chili-dogs wrong it says exactly what I mean. We were talking about what we wanted to eat for lunch today and she asked me if I wanted to try a Hot dog Chili style (una Chilena Poncha) I agreed and found out later that all it was, was a PHILLI CHEESE STAKE! I was so very happy. We made tacos last week and i made pancakes i think yesterday . . . yeah. Mom! When I read that you were all eating PB&Js an Smores I almost cried, told my comp and she almost killed me cause it sounded too good. :) Love pb&js. And by the way, I feel like I´m in Utah sometimes in certain parts of Reconquista, it looks like Provo and Moroni put together. There are a lot more trees here and I´m loving it. It´s loads different than Formosa. I didn't know Santa Fe wasn't in Mike´s mission.
I´m glad you all had a good week! HAPPY FATHER´S DAY DAD! It was father´s day here too, AND Argentina played! AND Won! We didn't even have to talk to anyone, you could hear it in the streets. They made us go in early so it´s all good. Thanks for the support Steve! I hope they don´t loose . . . We want the work to go good. They are super passionate about football. and HAPPY BIRTHDAY GRANDMA!!
Hope you all have a fantastic week again, make some more stories to tell me. Tell everyone hi and give them a hug for me. LOVE YOU ALL!!!
Hermana A Johansen
Sunday, June 15, 2014
Reconquista, Santa Fe.....
WOOOOHOOOOO!!!! I sure hope the date´s not until September! I want to be there so bad! Nice work Dave! Mikyla you´re a lucky girl :) He´s a good one.
As for this last week there is quite a bit that´s happened. I have officially worked in every province in the mission! and everyone thinks I´m gonna die (end my mission) in Santa Fe. I have a cute companion from Chile, Hermana Ruth Riquelme. She´s a sweetheart and loves everyone. The first day that I got here was Hermana Allred´s last day! She got to spend her last day with me and I got to help kill (send her home) her off :) It was a lot of fun, I spazzed out when I saw her from the window on the bus, Huge surprise for me! and Hermana Lund is my HLC, I feel like when your parents get old and their kids take care of them, ya know? We have really great Zone leaders, I was so excited to know that I would be working with them this transfer.
We have a cute little branch full of mostly women and an elder is the branch pres. Poor kid had 8 months in the mission, and had a really bad cold this week. You really can´t afford to be a missionary, Branch President and be sick.
Little milagro of this week: We´re working a lot with the recent converts and went to go start the lessons with one of the boys and his mom. When we got there the Augostin´s friend Marcos was there and he sat in on the lesson. We focused a lot on him too. We taught them the Restoration and Follow the Prophet, and in the end invited Marcos to be baptized. HE ACCEPTED! and was excited about it!! Later when we came back to pick up Augostin´s mom to go with us to a lesson they told us all about how they were talking about what the Book of Mormon was and how things were at church. Really cool experience and high light of the week.
WE HAVE A WASHING MACHINE!!! so much easier to do laundry and we don´t have to ask anyone else to do it for us!! So happy! :D OH and we have hot water! It lasts through four girls taking 10 minute showers (even though a girl taking a ten minute shower seems impossible I managed to do it in 8 minutes once :)
Well, I´m glad you all had a great week! and that you´re all safe and happy :) Have another good one so you can have stories to tell me next week.
Love you all!
Hermana A. Johansen
Tuesday, June 3, 2014
Transfers tomorrow! and . . . I think I´m gonna be staying here
We had a decent week, WE HAD SOMEONE AT CHURCH!! Finally! he´s 24 years old, and asked his pastor if he could come to church with us. As you may already know, yesterday was
Fast and Testimony meeting. He didn't take the sacrament, but the got up to share his testimony. It was alright up until he said that he could receive revelation for other people. We just taught him once and I wan´t even there thanks to exchanges. We have a meeting with him on Wednesday so if we´re both still here that should be fun.
Yeah transfers are this week, and I think I´m going to be here in Formosa for a while. Hermana Bedoya thinks I´m gonna die as an HLC, and I personally think I´m about done. I love it, I just think my time´s up . . . Which wouldn't be the case if I stayed, cause the area is the
HLC area. Oh well.
This week . . . what else happened this week? . . . OH! I finally made those brownies that you sent me for my birthday! We had an amazing Zone Conference. The Heyman´s LAST! It´s the craziest thing! AND it´s Hermana Allred´s LAST pday, and I bet her and Hermana Lund are spazzing out right now, I can just see it.
We found a cute girl named Florencia this week. She wasn't able to come to church this week, but we´ll get her. She´s super cute, I think she´s 16 and really relates to Joseph Smith´s story. She has a special little spirit and we love her. We also met a lady who´s been listening
to missionaries for about 9 or so years! She knows it´s true, and just has these silly obstetrical. We´re gonna see if we can help her out with that. As for the Portaño family, they couldn't make it to church either, but it´s kinda tough when the only days we get to see them is on Sunday. They were thinking about us all week and actually drove by the church. So that shows something. Sadly they didn't read the pamphlet, but they will :) We hope so.
We had a good week anyway.
LEXI! Hunny, I´m so proud of you! You´re so pretty in the picture mom sent me! Thank you for smiling for me :) Mike, that´s one cool story! Crazy what the Lord can do, and pays such good attention to the little details.
Hey kids! (Steven, Sabrina, and Kevin) I know it´s vacation time, but don´t slack :) Keep yourselves busy, well Steve you have work so have fun with that. Make some mischief for me would ya? Have a fun summer with out me, cause I´ll be there for the next one, muahahaha.
Love you all, please stay safe at work, Dad. Thanks for the fotos mom!
I need to charge my camera before I can send more pictures.
LOVE YOU ALL!!!
Hermana A Johansen
Fast and Testimony meeting. He didn't take the sacrament, but the got up to share his testimony. It was alright up until he said that he could receive revelation for other people. We just taught him once and I wan´t even there thanks to exchanges. We have a meeting with him on Wednesday so if we´re both still here that should be fun.
Yeah transfers are this week, and I think I´m going to be here in Formosa for a while. Hermana Bedoya thinks I´m gonna die as an HLC, and I personally think I´m about done. I love it, I just think my time´s up . . . Which wouldn't be the case if I stayed, cause the area is the
HLC area. Oh well.
This week . . . what else happened this week? . . . OH! I finally made those brownies that you sent me for my birthday! We had an amazing Zone Conference. The Heyman´s LAST! It´s the craziest thing! AND it´s Hermana Allred´s LAST pday, and I bet her and Hermana Lund are spazzing out right now, I can just see it.
We found a cute girl named Florencia this week. She wasn't able to come to church this week, but we´ll get her. She´s super cute, I think she´s 16 and really relates to Joseph Smith´s story. She has a special little spirit and we love her. We also met a lady who´s been listening
to missionaries for about 9 or so years! She knows it´s true, and just has these silly obstetrical. We´re gonna see if we can help her out with that. As for the Portaño family, they couldn't make it to church either, but it´s kinda tough when the only days we get to see them is on Sunday. They were thinking about us all week and actually drove by the church. So that shows something. Sadly they didn't read the pamphlet, but they will :) We hope so.
We had a good week anyway.
LEXI! Hunny, I´m so proud of you! You´re so pretty in the picture mom sent me! Thank you for smiling for me :) Mike, that´s one cool story! Crazy what the Lord can do, and pays such good attention to the little details.
Hey kids! (Steven, Sabrina, and Kevin) I know it´s vacation time, but don´t slack :) Keep yourselves busy, well Steve you have work so have fun with that. Make some mischief for me would ya? Have a fun summer with out me, cause I´ll be there for the next one, muahahaha.
Love you all, please stay safe at work, Dad. Thanks for the fotos mom!
I need to charge my camera before I can send more pictures.
LOVE YOU ALL!!!
Hermana A Johansen
Sunday, June 1, 2014
IT´S BEEN SOOOO COOOLLLDDD!!!!!!
It has suddenly decided to freeze over down here in Formosa. It really
does get cold down here, and it´s a different kinda cold. It´s the
kind that likes to sneak up on you, get you wet and seep into your
bones. One day we were dying of heat and now for the past three days
we've been shivering in our rain boots. I've been sleeping in at least
five long sleeve shirts, a sweater, two pairs of pants, the thin thing
I call a blanket, and my coat. We've been looking for good prices for
a blanket, we found a sweater and some gloves so we´re good there, and
we´re working on getting a heater. (I also ran out of lotion and the
weather change is making my exima act up . . .on my face . . .so I
bought some stuff for that) Luckily our stove works. Just our shower
busted again and we don´t have hot water so we´re pros at taking
bucket baths.
We had better luck finding people this week, but sadly none of them
came to church, and due to the weather hardly even any of the members
came. We went from about 150 people in the ward to most of us being
missionaries. We got a new ward Mission leader, he´s the ex stake
president and we still go without a bishop.
We have Conferencia Multi Zona tomorrow so that should be fun. I love
being able to see pres so often.
As for the experiment that I had of trying to help people feel the
spitit when we meet them I hope it´s going well, I´m going to keep
working on it. I think the harder thing is to help make sure that your
comp is having spiritual experiences and can always feel the spirit. I
think that might be the key.
We met a family yesterday, they seem pretty great, the only thing is
that they like coffee and tea, and they´re not married . . . but they
want to try to go to church! That´s something!
You´ll never guess who I did divisions with this week!! HERMANA BATEMAN!
it was so cool and so much fun to be able to work with my first
comp ever. She´s great and it was crazy to be there working and
thinking of how we had no idea we would be doing what we are or if
we´d ever be able to. She goes home before I do so that´s weird but oh
well.
Sounds like you've all had a fun week! Thanks for telling me all about
it! We have a lot of travelers in our family, and that´s so cute about
Mia! I was thinking about them the other day and wondering if they
even remembered me, cute! Kevin! You are freak'n awesome! So much
better than I am, no lie. Allred's going to love you! When I get back
I really got to get my game on so you don´t keep being better than me ;)
Sully´s going to France! Congrats to him.
Tell everyone hi, Family and friends.
As far as I know this is all I've got for ya this week, I hope you
enjoy. I am actually working on another t-shirt for our ´Sistrito´
I´ll do what I can to show you how it ends up, picture or showing you
at home, either way you´ll see them.
Love you all! Stay safe, stay happy, stay healthy, and may the Spirit
be with you!
Hermana A Johansen
does get cold down here, and it´s a different kinda cold. It´s the
kind that likes to sneak up on you, get you wet and seep into your
bones. One day we were dying of heat and now for the past three days
we've been shivering in our rain boots. I've been sleeping in at least
five long sleeve shirts, a sweater, two pairs of pants, the thin thing
I call a blanket, and my coat. We've been looking for good prices for
a blanket, we found a sweater and some gloves so we´re good there, and
we´re working on getting a heater. (I also ran out of lotion and the
weather change is making my exima act up . . .on my face . . .so I
bought some stuff for that) Luckily our stove works. Just our shower
busted again and we don´t have hot water so we´re pros at taking
bucket baths.
We had better luck finding people this week, but sadly none of them
came to church, and due to the weather hardly even any of the members
came. We went from about 150 people in the ward to most of us being
missionaries. We got a new ward Mission leader, he´s the ex stake
president and we still go without a bishop.
We have Conferencia Multi Zona tomorrow so that should be fun. I love
being able to see pres so often.
As for the experiment that I had of trying to help people feel the
spitit when we meet them I hope it´s going well, I´m going to keep
working on it. I think the harder thing is to help make sure that your
comp is having spiritual experiences and can always feel the spirit. I
think that might be the key.
We met a family yesterday, they seem pretty great, the only thing is
that they like coffee and tea, and they´re not married . . . but they
want to try to go to church! That´s something!
You´ll never guess who I did divisions with this week!! HERMANA BATEMAN!
it was so cool and so much fun to be able to work with my first
comp ever. She´s great and it was crazy to be there working and
thinking of how we had no idea we would be doing what we are or if
we´d ever be able to. She goes home before I do so that´s weird but oh
well.
Sounds like you've all had a fun week! Thanks for telling me all about
it! We have a lot of travelers in our family, and that´s so cute about
Mia! I was thinking about them the other day and wondering if they
even remembered me, cute! Kevin! You are freak'n awesome! So much
better than I am, no lie. Allred's going to love you! When I get back
I really got to get my game on so you don´t keep being better than me ;)
Sully´s going to France! Congrats to him.
Tell everyone hi, Family and friends.
As far as I know this is all I've got for ya this week, I hope you
enjoy. I am actually working on another t-shirt for our ´Sistrito´
I´ll do what I can to show you how it ends up, picture or showing you
at home, either way you´ll see them.
Love you all! Stay safe, stay happy, stay healthy, and may the Spirit
be with you!
Hermana A Johansen
Sunday, May 25, 2014
President is crazy about Instagram.....
I had consejo yesterday and didn't get to write until today. I´m sure President may have already posted the pictures on his Instagram, and if it wasn't him it was his cute daughters and Hermana Heyman.
We had a good meeting yesterday, we learned a lot, and for the FIRST TIME EVER the Hermanas had to chance to take part in Rendir Cuentas, and it´s a good thing we did. When our leader talked about why we had our numbers he made it sound really bad and said that the Hermanas were waiting for Transfers and that´s why our numbers were really bad,
and pres said that we were going to get what we (supposedly) wanted. . . as you can image working with the Hermanas and knowing their situations I was not at all happy with what happened, and Hermanas Allred, Healey and Lund all knew it. Thankfully we had the chance to rebuild that burned bridge (phew!). The Zone has been having a tough time and we've been burning through plans to fix it for a good while. We are working hard, and really I don´t want to leave this area until a difference has been made, that´s what happened in Bella Vista. I think when I said that the last few weeks were the hardest of my mission I forgot how hard it was to start in Bella Vista, we got there with a lot of things to fix. I think the Lord likes to send me on rescue missions . . . or I really am just having a hard time. I like the first one, makes me feel better about what it is I´m doing. We had a tough week, but at least I´m happy this time :)
We still don´t have much of a teaching pool, we´re searching and praying for people in our ward directory for people to visit so we can find some prepared people. There are ways of doing things that we´re going to have to change, just little things like how we present ourselves, or if in the moment we´re actually sincere about what we´re doing (in other words: exercising faith to have success at all times. Which is some moments easier said than done but possible). I'm trying to be sure this week that the people we meet have a spiritual experience especially in the first few moments, and always leave them with a testimony. This should be fun. Also to find more reasons to love the people here, I could always love them a little more.
The world cup starts soon, and it's already fun here when the local football teams play each other. People will get ready for them all day with huge flags, jerseys, their motorcycles, and every once in a while a truck. The two biggest teams here are River and Boca,
you can always tell when they´re playing and at about 8:00 you know who won.
Oh! the music went well in Stake conference. Elder Viñez of the 70 came and spoke and Presidente y Hermana Heyman were there too. Elder Viñez is so AMAZING! Learned so much from him. They also changed the Stake Presidency. The Stake President is in our area. He´s a cool guy with a wonderful family.
All the people we found the other week choose to not listen to us any more.
Maria came to conference so that was great!
I´m glad ya´ll had a good week! I tried to explain exactly what it is that dad does for work to my Zone Leader on the bus last night after consejo, lucky he´s from Cali so I got to use Spanglish. Congrats on your graduations Kevin and Justin on your graduations.
Love you all!!!
Hermana A. Johansen
We had a good meeting yesterday, we learned a lot, and for the FIRST TIME EVER the Hermanas had to chance to take part in Rendir Cuentas, and it´s a good thing we did. When our leader talked about why we had our numbers he made it sound really bad and said that the Hermanas were waiting for Transfers and that´s why our numbers were really bad,
and pres said that we were going to get what we (supposedly) wanted. . . as you can image working with the Hermanas and knowing their situations I was not at all happy with what happened, and Hermanas Allred, Healey and Lund all knew it. Thankfully we had the chance to rebuild that burned bridge (phew!). The Zone has been having a tough time and we've been burning through plans to fix it for a good while. We are working hard, and really I don´t want to leave this area until a difference has been made, that´s what happened in Bella Vista. I think when I said that the last few weeks were the hardest of my mission I forgot how hard it was to start in Bella Vista, we got there with a lot of things to fix. I think the Lord likes to send me on rescue missions . . . or I really am just having a hard time. I like the first one, makes me feel better about what it is I´m doing. We had a tough week, but at least I´m happy this time :)
We still don´t have much of a teaching pool, we´re searching and praying for people in our ward directory for people to visit so we can find some prepared people. There are ways of doing things that we´re going to have to change, just little things like how we present ourselves, or if in the moment we´re actually sincere about what we´re doing (in other words: exercising faith to have success at all times. Which is some moments easier said than done but possible). I'm trying to be sure this week that the people we meet have a spiritual experience especially in the first few moments, and always leave them with a testimony. This should be fun. Also to find more reasons to love the people here, I could always love them a little more.
The world cup starts soon, and it's already fun here when the local football teams play each other. People will get ready for them all day with huge flags, jerseys, their motorcycles, and every once in a while a truck. The two biggest teams here are River and Boca,
you can always tell when they´re playing and at about 8:00 you know who won.
Oh! the music went well in Stake conference. Elder Viñez of the 70 came and spoke and Presidente y Hermana Heyman were there too. Elder Viñez is so AMAZING! Learned so much from him. They also changed the Stake Presidency. The Stake President is in our area. He´s a cool guy with a wonderful family.
All the people we found the other week choose to not listen to us any more.
Maria came to conference so that was great!
I´m glad ya´ll had a good week! I tried to explain exactly what it is that dad does for work to my Zone Leader on the bus last night after consejo, lucky he´s from Cali so I got to use Spanglish. Congrats on your graduations Kevin and Justin on your graduations.
Love you all!!!
Hermana A. Johansen
Sunday, May 18, 2014
Skype on Mothers day.....
HEY!! It was good to talk to all of you yesterday! We were all on a mother´s day hi for forever after. I feel like I've been revived for another good four months.
I saw the picture of Kevin´s mask, GOOD JOB KID!! I wanna make one. When I get back I´m going to be drawing so much! There is no time here! I doodle a little bit in Sunday school in my planner .
This week has been a lot better! We actually found people! We´re happier, and the last two weeks have actually helped us grow closer as a companionship, district and a zone. When you´re at what seems to be the lowest of lows the gospel is what really picks you up. Apply the principles and they help you out of what ever rut you´re in. I think when you´re always teaching people about the gospel you´re put through trials a lot of the time just so you know that what you´re teaching really works.
Sofia ´Fe´ is so cute!! she looks just like Brit and her eyes are HUGE! I love that picture, it´s adorable. Lexi's 8! Oh my goodness! She´s so big! and another baptism in the family that I´m missing, it´s alright, I´ll be there for other things. Joel´s a babe ;)
I´m glad ya´ll had a wonderful mother´s day! and I can´t wait . . . well I can . . . rephrase . . . I´m very patiently excited to talk to all of you again!
Love you! and I´ll talk to you again next week with pictures.
Hermana. Amanda Johansen (the original :)
I saw the picture of Kevin´s mask, GOOD JOB KID!! I wanna make one. When I get back I´m going to be drawing so much! There is no time here! I doodle a little bit in Sunday school in my planner .
This week has been a lot better! We actually found people! We´re happier, and the last two weeks have actually helped us grow closer as a companionship, district and a zone. When you´re at what seems to be the lowest of lows the gospel is what really picks you up. Apply the principles and they help you out of what ever rut you´re in. I think when you´re always teaching people about the gospel you´re put through trials a lot of the time just so you know that what you´re teaching really works.
Sofia ´Fe´ is so cute!! she looks just like Brit and her eyes are HUGE! I love that picture, it´s adorable. Lexi's 8! Oh my goodness! She´s so big! and another baptism in the family that I´m missing, it´s alright, I´ll be there for other things. Joel´s a babe ;)
I´m glad ya´ll had a wonderful mother´s day! and I can´t wait . . . well I can . . . rephrase . . . I´m very patiently excited to talk to all of you again!
Love you! and I´ll talk to you again next week with pictures.
Hermana. Amanda Johansen (the original :)
Wednesday, April 30, 2014
I'm still here :D
So, as for transfers this last week. there were almost no changes in the Zone, in companionship's anyway. Hermana Medina and I are still together, and HLCs. But you will never guess who moved in with us! I killed the biggest ant hill last night that just so happened to be in my closet!! Our closets are little cupboards that even I can pick up and move. We've been having a little bit of a fight with ants lately and I decided that I wanted it to stop so I solved the problem and abolished the biggest hill of ants I have ever seen in my life.
As for investigators, we need some. We don´t know what´s up with us or Formosa. We're contacting, and inviting them to be baptized, but we´re having a hard time finding and keeping people. We're staying positive though! :) Can´t get us down.
I've been focusing this week more on what kind of missionary I am, and if I have the faith I need to help us succeed, it's hard! But it´s good for me. I've been reading in Alma about the sons of Mosiah and praying really hard to know what it feels like to have that kind of faith so that I can recognize it and put it into practice and it´s really hard to mantener paciencia when there are little kids in the Ciber playing loud video games when I want to be able to focus and enjoy the hour I have to talk to my family. Little do they know. Oh well, beggars can´t be choosers.
I´m kinda jealous of your week! How cool is that! HAPPY BIRTHDAY GRANDMA AND KEVIN!
Marci, Neal and Joel you are such a cute little family!
Life´s great! I love being a missionary, and I cannot believe I have 4 MONTHS LEFT!!
Alright trunky thought over with.
Love you all!!
Hermana A. Johansen
As for investigators, we need some. We don´t know what´s up with us or Formosa. We're contacting, and inviting them to be baptized, but we´re having a hard time finding and keeping people. We're staying positive though! :) Can´t get us down.
I've been focusing this week more on what kind of missionary I am, and if I have the faith I need to help us succeed, it's hard! But it´s good for me. I've been reading in Alma about the sons of Mosiah and praying really hard to know what it feels like to have that kind of faith so that I can recognize it and put it into practice and it´s really hard to mantener paciencia when there are little kids in the Ciber playing loud video games when I want to be able to focus and enjoy the hour I have to talk to my family. Little do they know. Oh well, beggars can´t be choosers.
I´m kinda jealous of your week! How cool is that! HAPPY BIRTHDAY GRANDMA AND KEVIN!
Marci, Neal and Joel you are such a cute little family!
Life´s great! I love being a missionary, and I cannot believe I have 4 MONTHS LEFT!!
Alright trunky thought over with.
Love you all!!
Hermana A. Johansen
Saturday, April 26, 2014
News..... You are not going to LIKE!!!
The Heyman's Mission
Parents and loved ones of missionaries: Please do not send any more packages to your missionaries from outside of Argentina.
The Church has instructed us to discontinue to pick up packages from Argentine Customs Offices. This is mainly due to the increased and still increasing cost of retrieving the packages which has been paid by the Church up to this point and has become prohibitive. This does not apply to packages that are sent from within Argentina as they do not go through Customs.
We will continue to retrieve packages from Customs for the next several weeks. However, if you have not sent a package, please do not as there is a considerable delay in the time it takes for a package that you send to be released by customs. (For example, last week I received a small package of pen refills that my daughter sent to me in November.)
I know that loved ones want to send their missionaries packages. We enjoy receiving them as well as sending them to our son who is currently serving in Chile. But, for now please do not send them from outside of Argentina to missionaries in the mission. I am sure that some creative loved ones will find alternative ways to show their love and support for their missionaries. A few suggestions that have been passed along are to put some funds in the missionary's personal account or wire funds through Western Union for the missionary to buy what would otherwise have been sent in a package, etc. I am sure there are other suggestions.
The missionaries will be fine. You will be fine. My wife and I will be fine. We all hope that this restriction is temporary. Thank you for understanding...???!!!
YOU CAN SEE THROUGH MY SHOE!!!!!!
As you may see from the title this week, I can finally see through one of my shoes, there is a little hole right through it, and I´m wearing them right now.
Also this week we had Consejo. It was a bit of a harder hitting one, last month we hit our goal and record of 163 BAPTISMS in the month of March, but in April we've been having a tough time, we went from the highest of highs to the lowest of lows. Almost NO ONE in the mission really has anyone that´s ready to be baptized this month, and that´s not a happy thing to hear, and Pres was not happy about that . . . neither were we. So we have our focus for our next millions of divisions. Hermana Heyman had an amazing message as usual. It´s always as if Presidte. Heyman has the what we do and Hermana. Heyman reminds us of why we do it. I got to see Hermanas Lund, Allred and Healey so that was a ton of fun and they´re doing well. Hermana Allred is kinda freaking out, this coming transfer is her last . . . yeah it´s weird.
Last night we had a little adventure. We went to Joaquin´s house with our ward mission leader and his wife to help out his mom and family. Thing is it´s really dark . . . and the way to their house is really muddy . . . . and they all have those crazy makeshift houses with thrown on tin roofs. I was helping Hermana Flores step in not so muddy places took a step forward and almost lost my face. I was going to send pictures but the computer wouldn't accept my camera today, looks like I´ll be sending it next week. It´s just a scratch, but it was crazy swollen last night and we had to go home a good half hour early cause my comp wanted to take good care of me. I thought I was going to have a gnarly bruise, but no, that didn't happen, and I'm bummed, cause it really hurt! It´s not as bad as it sounds.
As for the work. We are teaching a young man, he´s 26 and has epilepsy. He loves the church and wants to learn more, be baptized and quit smoking really bad, but something about his family isn't letting him. He´s got the mentality of a 9 year old and will give into peer pressure really easy and we can tell when he´s been smoking cause he´ll act all guilty and sad in contrary to his happy loving the gospel self. But he´s great and will be baptized someday soon.
We also found a family of 10, they've had previous exposure to the church and even have family who are members. There´s promise there. I love families of 7+ someone always has the tendency of listening.
Joel´s so cute! And I can´t wait to go Rock Climbing again with all of you! Don´t worry I can wait a little longer, I´m not trunky. Mom your dreams are crazy, you´d be amazed with all the crazy dreams I have.
Transfers are this Tuesday and that will finalize if I am going to Skype or not and where, so that should be a lot of fun. If we stay here we´re gonna do it at Gabby´s house, she´s great and we love her lots.
Anyway, tell everyone hi for me! Love you all! and I´ll talk to ya soon.
by the way, the foto with my blue legs is not that I´m bruised, its cause we bought new wet socks and the dye made my legs go blue.
Also this week we had Consejo. It was a bit of a harder hitting one, last month we hit our goal and record of 163 BAPTISMS in the month of March, but in April we've been having a tough time, we went from the highest of highs to the lowest of lows. Almost NO ONE in the mission really has anyone that´s ready to be baptized this month, and that´s not a happy thing to hear, and Pres was not happy about that . . . neither were we. So we have our focus for our next millions of divisions. Hermana Heyman had an amazing message as usual. It´s always as if Presidte. Heyman has the what we do and Hermana. Heyman reminds us of why we do it. I got to see Hermanas Lund, Allred and Healey so that was a ton of fun and they´re doing well. Hermana Allred is kinda freaking out, this coming transfer is her last . . . yeah it´s weird.
Last night we had a little adventure. We went to Joaquin´s house with our ward mission leader and his wife to help out his mom and family. Thing is it´s really dark . . . and the way to their house is really muddy . . . . and they all have those crazy makeshift houses with thrown on tin roofs. I was helping Hermana Flores step in not so muddy places took a step forward and almost lost my face. I was going to send pictures but the computer wouldn't accept my camera today, looks like I´ll be sending it next week. It´s just a scratch, but it was crazy swollen last night and we had to go home a good half hour early cause my comp wanted to take good care of me. I thought I was going to have a gnarly bruise, but no, that didn't happen, and I'm bummed, cause it really hurt! It´s not as bad as it sounds.
As for the work. We are teaching a young man, he´s 26 and has epilepsy. He loves the church and wants to learn more, be baptized and quit smoking really bad, but something about his family isn't letting him. He´s got the mentality of a 9 year old and will give into peer pressure really easy and we can tell when he´s been smoking cause he´ll act all guilty and sad in contrary to his happy loving the gospel self. But he´s great and will be baptized someday soon.
We also found a family of 10, they've had previous exposure to the church and even have family who are members. There´s promise there. I love families of 7+ someone always has the tendency of listening.
Joel´s so cute! And I can´t wait to go Rock Climbing again with all of you! Don´t worry I can wait a little longer, I´m not trunky. Mom your dreams are crazy, you´d be amazed with all the crazy dreams I have.
Transfers are this Tuesday and that will finalize if I am going to Skype or not and where, so that should be a lot of fun. If we stay here we´re gonna do it at Gabby´s house, she´s great and we love her lots.
Anyway, tell everyone hi for me! Love you all! and I´ll talk to ya soon.
by the way, the foto with my blue legs is not that I´m bruised, its cause we bought new wet socks and the dye made my legs go blue.
Love you all!!!!
Hermana A Johansen
Monday, April 14, 2014
things that happened this week.......
This week also wasn't that eventful to be honest. Just doing the same thing as we do everyday. Honestly it´s like one big day and all we do is take naps in between. It has had it´s interesting moments though.
We didn't have intercambios this week cause a national strike with the buses and the supermarkets and it threw everything off. But ya know it´s just going to make next week go by really fast. We have Consejo and probably two intercambios next week. And then we have transfers the next week so we´ll see what´s gonna happen.
So I was thinking about this the other day, and don´t worry I´m not trunky, I just think it´s funny that my planners are starting to over lap and I can start to see exactly what I was doing a year ago, but it´s been about a year since I went to Ohio! How crazy is that!!
Sorry this email is so short. I've got a lot of pictures to send ya and it always takes a good portion of my time on the computer.
Hey, love you all! I´ll talk to ya´ll soon.
Hermana A Johansen
We didn't have intercambios this week cause a national strike with the buses and the supermarkets and it threw everything off. But ya know it´s just going to make next week go by really fast. We have Consejo and probably two intercambios next week. And then we have transfers the next week so we´ll see what´s gonna happen.
So I was thinking about this the other day, and don´t worry I´m not trunky, I just think it´s funny that my planners are starting to over lap and I can start to see exactly what I was doing a year ago, but it´s been about a year since I went to Ohio! How crazy is that!!
Sorry this email is so short. I've got a lot of pictures to send ya and it always takes a good portion of my time on the computer.
Joaquin's baptism
favorite Hermanas
:D more tan lines...
Hermana A Johansen
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