Wednesday, July 30, 2014

how may weeks left? COUNT DOWN 8,7,6,5...




 
WEEKS TO GO...


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 ;)

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

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

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