extra pictures Valencia

Christmas in the Mission!

Feliz navidaaaadddd!!!!!! That song has been stuck in my head for the past week. Good times.

Well this has just been the biggest party week of my whole life!!! Christmas hadn't quite hit me until Sunday haha when we had the fun Christmas program during church with lots of singing and short little talks. I loved it. And then the worst part was the closing prayer where she asked that all the missionaries throughout the world who are far from home would be blessed. And then the prayer ended and we were all (the missionaries) just cryyying. The worst. 

BUT not to worry it got fun after that haha. The people here just take such good care of us. We did what we call "member house hopping" all day on Sunday and yesterday and we just literally went from house to house and they fed us and we got to sit and talk about all the happy things. LOVE.

And then I got to talk to my cute family who I LOVE!!!!! As you all know, we only get to talk face to face (or even voice to voice) with our families 2 times a year-mothers day and Christmas. So yesterday was just the happiest time! I love those people!!!

Hm what else. As far as missionary work over here it's going super well. We met with a lot of new people this week and are actually teaching someone from Nigeria Africa! She's the cutest person EVER and I just love all the people from that country. It's interesting how many people in Spain are Africans. I'm a big fan. 

Well life is so good! So many happy things are happening and I just love Christmas and I love our Savior and I'm so grateful that we celebrate him during this time of year:) Also read the Book of Mormon and for those of you who don't have one, go to your friendly Mormon friends and ask for one! :) Just thought I'd throw that in hahaha. I love you people!

So much love and Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!!!!

Love,

Hermana Johnson

Christmas in Amalia and Pablo's home:))) 

Bon Nadal is Valenciano for Feliz Navidad:)

Well let's see. I'm trying to think of all the things that went down this week.

Oh so we had the christmas party and it was just aamzing and so fun and more investigators came than we've ever had come to church (funny how that happens) and Angela (the pink hair convert) gave a book of mormon to her friend! And she wrote a cute little note saying that she hopes he finds Christ through this book. And then we met with him! His name's Juan. He didn't have a lot of time so we just explained the book of mormon and Moroni's promise and he siad he'll read and pray! So that's good. He seems really good.

So this week mostly it seems like we did a lot of knocking doors and a lot of rehearsing for the christmas party. They did a big talent show and we were in 4 of the 8 talents. The missionaries do everything haha we're just the stars. But then the day of, they decided to cut one of our acts because it was too much of the missionary show. Probably a good thing. 

Yeah wow I'm trying  to think of some good details and I don't have anything. Today was fun!!!! We dedicated this day to figuring out christmas presents and things. Which was perfect. So we got a lot done today. We also made sugar cookies with frosting. Very fun. Yeah. That's about all I've got. Man. But it's been a good week! My companion is the cutest human ever and I love her! She's scared to skype home. But it'll be fun.

And yes 7 my time! So exciting!!!!!!!

Setting up Christmas

Well cute parents y sib. It's been a good week.

Lets see. To answer questions. Packages! I got the heater that you sent lil mama!!!! Thank you so much. It was so funny haha everyone was jealous that I got sent a heater since we're all just freezing to death. So thank you thank you thank you you save me. Also I got a letter that says that another package is stuck in customs. So I'll fill out the form and figure that whole thing out. One of the Hermanas said that on the part where you write what you're sending, just say things like "books, noteboooks, pens, etc." and avoid putting that you're sending food or even clothes. :) You're just the greatest lil mama in the whole world I'm so excited to get all these fun things!!! I love you!

Aw fun you're going to go see ICE??? I never did get to see it. But wow that'll be so fun. You fun party people.

And wow lil mama look at you famous. I love it. And wow you're rich too! That's the funnest thing ever! 

Well on Saturday we had a stake christmas choir concert and interviews with president at the stake center and all the ward choirs performed and other small groups that prepared things. So really the missionaries we did everything. But it was SO fun. I loved loved loved it. I miss choir. which is weird. Who knew that would be a thing. But real life when we practiced it took me back and I felt so happy! And I LOVE Christmas music ah. Best time.

Then onSunday we watched the christmas devotional and it was great. Love Christmas.

And then on Monday (yesterday) we had zone conference!!!! The BEST zone conference I have literally EVER had. I LOVED it. President talked about the Atonement and answered questions that I had been thinking about. And Hermana Dayton talked about faith which was literally perfect. And then the ayudantes taught about how confidence is the key to humility which was literally EXACTLY something that the spirit had taught me like 2 weeks ago when I was thinking about humiility. Ah it was just so perfect. And then we had fun Christmas things like we read the nativity scene thing and sang all the hymns. Just like we do at home. So that was special. And they gave us Christmas presents. Which was just a big picture of all the missionaries and a health book. And chocolate. So cute. 

And then today we had the happiest preparation day ever and we went ice skating in the middle of Valencia! SOOOO fun. 

And as far as the work, Roxana is perfect. We skyped in (with permission from presdient) her friend Claudia. as you know lil mama. And we taught the word of wisdom and it was so perfect that Claudia was there for that because now she's like PUMPED to stop smoking. So good. Bautismo! Literally she's perfect. She did have a lil issue with the law of chastity. Which was surprising Inever expect that to be an issue but it always is here. Ugh. But ya know she'll be fine. She said she'll do it. So that's good.

Mari Carmen is good, she's been sick so she didn't come to churhc. But she's still on fecha for the 23rd as well as Roxana. And we taught Byron who's perfect and all good with him.

Life is so good! I love serving! And Christmas time is the best! We've got citas LINED up for Christmas with members. Oh. Speaking of whihc. What time do you want to skype? At like 7 my time? WOuld that work? Or we can at 8 my time? Night would be best for me.

Also I'm perfectly happy to have grandma and grandpa there in fact I'd love to see them those cute people:))) And also we could do it like how we did last time where I talk to everyone individually for a lil bit, but it might be easier and more fun and we'd get more things talked about if we did just the whole group all at once. I dunno. Up to you all. But I'm so excited it's going to be such a happy time!!!!

Well I think that's it! I love you!

Valencia

Well this has been a happy week. Valencia is FAMOUS for its oranges and we're in good orange season right now. So literally everyone gives us oranges. We have an entire bag FULL of oranges in our piso and they're delicious. So that's a happy Spain thing, big fan.

Yesterday we had a fun time with Maria and Freddy. They're a couple that we're teaching who aren't married, but are living together. And they can't get baptized until they're living the commandment of marriage. So yesterday we did a scary thing where we decided to tell them straight up that they need to get over whatever is stopping them from getting married (because they both want to) and just do it. And it actually went SO well. We promised them blessings and they joked and were like "you just want to see our wedding" (which like, duh, I love weddings hahaha) but then we said "no, more than that we want you to see miracles." The spirit was STRONG and I think it just clicked for them. So things are finally moving! Yay!!!

Also Enrique is someone new that we've started teaching. Colombiano. He literally has the same questions as Joseph Smith. And we taught him a powerful lesson about the restoration of the gospel and it was literally PERFECT. He's been searching for the true church because he believes that God did put one church on the earth. So he's been meeting with a lot of people, trying to figure out which one is God's church and I just can't even believe how open and prepared he is. It's starting to click for him. He's a miracle.

So life is good. We're teaching a lot of really amazing people. Trying to stay warm. 

The church is true and I love you all!

Have the best week ever!

Love,

Hermana Johnson

pictures: our friend Roxana!!!

my cute companion and I in the elevator of our piso!

Valencia

Hola familia y amigos!!!!

It's starting to get cold (NOOOOO) and I wore a cardigan for the first time today! Sad sad sad:(( It is fun to see the Spain winter style though. These people are so dang beautiful I LOVE seeing their outfits and the way they put themselves together. Spaniards know their stuff. 

Speaking of which, today was such a fun preparation day. We were going to meet up with all the Hermanas in our zone and do a girls day but the valencia metro and bus system was super slow today so we didn't make it. So we ended up just walking around and exploring. Took pretty pictures. Bought winter dresses at zara (HAPPY:)))) A member bought us sandwiches (because we saw them in the sandwich shop), and we found gelato! It was a super fun, relaxing, we felt like tourists day. Those are my favorite.

The work is also super happy. I love that we're meeting so many different kinds of people. It's fun to be in the kind of situation where I can just go into people's houses and talk to them, teach them, get to know them. You feel really one with the culture. And make tons of friends. I love it:)) 

So this week we met with Claudia (remember the woman I told you about last week whose friend brought her to church?? yeah her!!! She's so great!!) and taught what was one of the best 1st lessons I've ever taught in my whole life. Hermana Vance is so good, she's making us better. She's got tons of good ideas. So for this lesson we planned out questions to ask Claudia after every single point of the lesson. And it flowed BEAUTIFULLY and she answered our questions, and asked us questions when she didn't understand something. It was beautiful. And then we invited her to be baptized and she was all for it. And she wanted to know everything she has to do to prepare and everything. So she's gold. But then she moved to Valencia. So maybe we won't be able to teach her, but I feel blessed that we got to see her introduction to the church.

We're also still teaching Denisse (the Brazillian who wants to get baptized but can't because her boyfriend won't marry her unless she gets baptized into the Catholic church and they get married into the catholic church). Pray for her. She's had this recent fire desire to get baptized so we're really thinking things might start happening and the wedding plans will get rolling. We fasted with her this week on Wednesday. And she said the cutest prayer to start the fast and was like "please bless me with a way to get baptized". Love her. It's incredible to me to see that the desires to act in faith and be baptized come so naturally once someone has put in the work to really know if the church is true or not. I love it.

So that's my week for ya!!!!! It's so good. I love love love the work and I love my companion and I love Catarroja and I love the gospel and the Book of Mormon and I know it's true!!!

Love you all!

Love,

Hermana Johnson

LOOK AT HOW PRETTY VALENCIA IS!!!!!!!

More details and pictures

 From Dad
Hi beautiful daughter,

I hope you had a great week!  And that some of your many contacts are turning into investigators.  That’s always a challenge.  I remember my mission president telling us that we had too many contacts and not enough investigators, and that we needed to somehow move people from our contact pool into our investigator pool.  He said we must be the friendliest missionaries in the world because we had so many contacts.  Ha. 

Yesterday was quite a day.  We had stake conference which usually means a day off for the bishops.  In this case however, it seemed like a long, long day.  We started off with the High Priest quorum meeting at 8am.  The high priest quorum meets together one time a year.  As I’m sure you know, this is the stake quorum, and the stake president is the president of the quorum.  Then I had interviews, and then we had stake conference from 11 to 1.  It was pretty good, but not as good as I had hoped.  Maybe my mind wasn’t quite in the right frame of mind.  I suppose I should be ready to be taught by the Spirit regardless of the messages. 

Then I held our high school senior meeting about missionary work and ecclesiastical endorsements.  I gave them a few conference talks to start with, along with the new standardized questions for missionaries, and then gave them some homework.  I asked them to identify a few more conference talks on missionary preparation, to study those as well as the materials that I gave them, and then to meet with me again in 6 to 8 weeks with a proposed missionary preparation plan that they develop with their parents.  I hope they do it.  I’m a little concerned that they will resent it.  But I just feel like our young people, and sometimes even our parents, think that the missionary can just show up when he’s old enough and go on a mission.  In some ways, it’s largely true, but I would sure like to prepare themselves.  Sarah helped put together a missionary video of everybody opening their mission calls.  It was very very cool.  I’ll send it to you and maybe you’ll be able to watch it, but maybe not.  Some of these people were not the most prepared, but others went and did great.  And of course some are still serving and doing amazing.  Especially those ones serving in the Barcelona Spain mission.  The missionaries in Barcelona Spain are my favorites.

After that, I had a stake priesthood leadership meeting, and then finish the day off at a young women in excellence meeting.  I like our young women.  They are good people.  Audrey will be 12 in April.  I can’t hardly believe it.

Well, that’s the news on my day yesterday.  Sarah texted me and said she shared her testimony for fast Sunday yesterday.  She said she also went to the temple.  She cracks me up.  I’ll send a screenshot if it will work.  I hope she decides to serve a mission.  I think it would be a blessing to her for her whole life.  I look at you, knowing that things have not always been easy.  But the lessons you’ve learned and the wisdom that you obtain through these experiences, including hard companions, can help you better handle the challenges of life.  It also helps you understand just a little more perhaps, what you should be looking for in a future husband.  You need someone with ambition and drive and desire and passion.  Oh yeah, and handsome.  And humble.  No pressure.  The Lord will provide.  J  That’s way down the road for you.  We can discuss this further when you’re 26.

The primary is having a bit of a dilemma.  We don’t have enough Cub Scouts or leaders to have a very effective Cub Scout program, so everybody wanted to combine with the Southlake 1^st Ward.  But the primary president there, Sis. Dayle Eliason, does not want to combine.  So that’s that.  We’re looking for some better solutions.  Our primary president sister Ord is considering cutting cub scouts back to twice a month, which I think is a wonderful idea.

I’m excited for the Church’s light the world Christmas campaign.  We are having a combined third hour meeting about it this week.  It should be good.  It’s a worldwide push, so I’m sure it will be there in Spain as well.  Christmas time is simply the most wonderful time of the year.  And a great time to be a missionary.

Anything I can do for you?  You are the most amazing person I know and I love you and am proud of you in every way!!!

Love dad

From Mandi

Yeah that's our problem right now actually. We've found 38 people in the past 3 weeks who have all agreed to meet with us to hear about the gospel. And of those 38, 7 have actually met with us and of those 7, 1 has a baptismal date. So that's our struggle. And the person with the baptismal date is Claudia (the friend that a members brought to church last week). And she just moved to Valencia to stay in a womens shelter thing because the reason she came to Spain was becuase her husband beat her in Peru. So. There goes what was literally our PERFECT, SO prepared investigator.

And in the training meeting (in Barcelona with President), we were promised that every single companionship that was training would see a baptism this transfer. So we're getting to the point where we've got to start making that promise happen. And I'm not quite sure how. So if you do have any ideas on that one, PLEASE let me know because we're kinda dyin over here. 

Life is good good good. We're not actually dying. But we literally spend so much time just hanging out in buildings knocking doors or on the streets. Which is fun I love it, but it's hard because all that work isn't quite turning into anything yet. Like we literally had visits planned for every hour of this week, and only 3 of them happened. Like whaaaat??? It's good. I know it just means we'll see a miracle, but I feel like I'm not doing enough or something. I don't know. There's got to be a better, more effective way to get the work rolling.

But anyways this week was good. We met with Claudia and taught what was one of the best 1st lessons I've ever taught in my whole life. Hermana Vance is so good, she's making us better. She's got tons of good ideas. So for this lesson we planned out questions to ask Claudia after every single point. And it flowed BEAUTIFULLY and she answered our questions, and asked us questions when she didn't understand something. It was beautiful. And then we invited her to be baptized and she was all for it. And she wanted to know everything she has to do to prepare and everything. So she's gold. But then she moved to Valencia. So. Adios:(((((( Well we'll see. We're still talking to her. Not sure how that's gonna work out fully yet. 

Also we're STILL teaching Hassan. We're gonna try to put him on fecha again and if he's not feeling it, we'll probably just drop him. Because he's gotta go somewhere. 

We're also still teaching Denisse (the Brazillian who wants to get baptized but can't because her boyfriend won't marry her unless she gets baptized into the Catholic church and they get married into the catholic church). Pray for her. She's had this recent fire desire to get baptized so we're really thinking things might start happening and the wedding plans will get rolling. We fasted with her this week on Wednesday. And she said the cutest prayer to start the fast and was like "please bless me with a way to get baptized". Love her. I always think about you when we meet Brazillians, mama. They have the cutest accents when they speak spanish. It makes me wonder if you'll have a portuguese accent in your spanish or an american accent. Fun thoughts. And dad you might just have a crazy japanese accent! 

What else did we do this week. Today was the BEST preparation day in a long time. We were going to meet up with all the Hermanas in our zone and do a girls day but the valencia metro and bus system was super slow today so we didn't make it. So we ended up just walking around and exploring. Took pretty pictures. Bought winter dresses at zara (HAPPY:)))) A member bought us sandwiches (because we saw them in the sandwich shop), and we found gelato! It was a super fun, relaxing, we felt like tourists day. Those are my favorite.

Yeah I don't know what other details there are from this week. We played futbol on Saturday. Fun fun.

Oh Maria Jose has a fecha for Dec 2, but she's being really iffy. Not sure exactly what her problem is. So pray that that happens and she'll let us prepare her. She's in Palma right now actually. That lucky lil girl. 

 

From Dad

I'm so glad today was such a great day!  Sometimes unstructured time on the streets to wander and eat ice cream and decompress is a good thing - just hanging out in Spain.  Ice cream helps me a lot.

You are doing amazing and I'm so impressed with your desire and faith!!!  I would love for you to see more people make covenants.  Don't worry and no dying.  You do your part and the Lord will do His.  This is His work.  Mom had good advice there.  By the way, you were already blessed to be a part of pink-lady's baptism.  That was amazing.  And what a great introduction for Hermana Vance.  You are an amazing missionary.  But I understand the desire to serve and find someone new where Hermana Vance can be a part for the whole cycle. 

Mom's contacts ideas are great.  You might also consider a special fast one day as a sign to Heavenly Father that you are ready and waiting and all you need is the right person to come along and would He please take care of that for you.  You got this.  But there is no need for guilt or second-guessing in the Lord's work.  We strive and stretch and reach.  It's all He asks.  The blessings will manifest themselves in any of lots of different ways.  I LOVE that you try to stay busy.  Even if knocking doors.  What an amazing missionary.  I love this all and your example and leadership and desire.  Hermana Vance is so blessed to have you.  I'm glad you two seem to be working well together.  Keep up the great work.  You're crushing it!!!

I love you!

 

From Mom

I married such a good man. This is a great letter Dustin. Mandi, you've got one amazing dad. 

love you both.

Mom

 

 

Yeah that's all I have for you two for now. I'll try to think of more things. If it comes to mind I'll write again.

HOLAAAA, never want to leave

holaaa!

So something fun about the Spain Barcelona Mission is that we take the "speak with dignified language" part of the white handbook (the book of all the missionary rules that we have to follow) very seriously. There is actually a list of words that we have to take out of our vocabulary: cool, awesome, you guys (I'm literally cringing just writing it haha). So it's fun having a new missionary as my companion because she's working on taking all those words out of her vocab. It's funny. Good times. 

So the ideal in the mission is that the members of the church bring their interested friends to church and that the friends come to us with desires to learn more. That's kinda tricky in Spain, we're not quite to that point yet, BUT this week it happened!!! A member brought her friend to church and she's so excited to learn more!!! So we're teaching her this week and we're SUUUUPER PUMPED. That's probably the happiest thing ever. So more updates to come on that one.

We've been doing a lot of finding this week and we've got appointments with people set up for every single hour of every day of this week. THAT is the happiest feeling ever in missionary work. So ya know. I'm happy over here:)

Also today we went to Valencia for preparation day and my companion tried Valenciano horchata for the first time! It's not as yummy as central/south american horchata, but ya know. Gotta have the experience. 

I love the mission! Happy halloweeeeen!!!!!

Love you all!

Love,

Hermana Johnson

Also this week the Rohde's came over. They're the senior couple here in Valencia and their calling is to fix all the pisos of the missionaries. So they come 3 times to each piso and help us deep clean, fix things that are broken, buy us things that we don't have that we're supposed to have, stuff like that. So Friday they came and were literally at our piso from 9:30 am to 11:00pm. We moved stuff around, put up pictures, cleaned like CRAZY, it was exhausting. But now our piso is beautiful so that's fun.

Hm what else. My companion is doing so well. Everyone is amazed at how well she speaks Spanish.she LOVES missionary work. And she works hard. It's so fun

So yeah life is good. Couldn't be better actually. Mostly I just never want to leave here and I want Hermana Vance to be my companion forever!

Happy HAlloween

holaaa!

So something fun about the Spain Barcelona Mission is that we take the "speak with dignified language" part of the white handbook (the book of all the missionary rules that we have to follow) very seriously. There is actually a list of words that we have to take out of our vocabulary: cool, awesome, you guys (I'm literally cringing just writing it haha). So it's fun having a new missionary as my companion because she's working on taking all those words out of her vocab. It's funny. Good times. 

So the ideal in the mission is that the members of the church bring their friends to church and that the friends come to us with desires to learn more. That's kinda tricky in Spain, we're not quite to that point yet, BUT this week it happened!!! A member brought her friend to church and she's so excited to learn more!!! So we're teaching her this week and we're SUUUUPER PUMPED. That's probably the happiest thing ever. So more updates to come on that one.

We've been doing a lot of finding this week and we've got appointments with people set up for every single hour of every day of this week. THAT is the happiest feeling ever in missionary work. So ya know. I'm happy over here:)

Also today we went to Valencia for preparation day and my companion tried Valenciano horchata for the first time! It's not as yummy as central/south american horchata, but ya know. Gotta have the experience. 

I love the mission! Happy halloweeeeen!!!!!

Love you all!

Love,

Hermana Johnson

This has probably been the craziest week of my entire life oh my goodness. To start, I went to Barcelona for two days and got to hang out with Hermana Barlow and Hermana Clark! So it was a super happy reunion time for us:)) And I saw the sagrada familia which is like my dream of my mission so ya know, happy times haha

AND THEN I GOT MY CUTE TRAINEE!!!! Her name's Hermana Vance, she's from Utah, and she's the cutest ever. I love her so much. So that's been super fun. Since I'm training, we have 30 extra minutes to study together and I speak a lot of Spanish haha. But I will say, it's been such a blessing that I have had no problems with the language. I understand everything that people tell me and can carry on a conversation without any problem. How fun is that!!!

ALSO MIRACLE OF THE WEEK WAS THE BAPTISM OF ANGELA!!!!!! Her story: She actually contacted the elders on the street and they met with her the first couple of times. And then they realized she lives in our area so we got to teach her! And in our first lesson with her she told us that she was never going to live the law of chastity. And then we lost contact with her for about a month. And then Hermana Clark came and Angela showed back up! We saw her on the street and one of the first things she told us was that she had read the entire Book of Mormon from the last time we met with her till then, and that she was living the law of chastity. That is someone who is SUPER prepared. She's a miracle. She's given up smoking, drinking, everything. She's had a VERY difficult life and was actually diagnosed with cancer recently. But she has so much faith and does what she knows God wants. I love her to death. So that was the happiest thing ever. :))

Also I decided that someone needs to build a panaderia in Utah or something. Really anywhere. But it's a good idea. They're all over Spain and I'm OBSESSED. It's just like a little bakery type thing where you can buy bread, napolitanas (most yummy things ever), and whatever you want. Spain is so good. 

The mission is the greatest thing EVER!!!! I am loving life and my companion and the work and the members and the people we're teaching! Serve missions! and be happy!

I love you all!!

Love,

Hermana Johnson

I'm a MOM!

Well crazy things. First off, I'M TRAINING!!!!!!!! I got called to train a brand new baby missionary! (in mission language, I'm a mom!). So today I go to Barcelona to pick her up! I'll be there all day tomorrow as well and they do this huge ceremony thing where we all eat together (the trainers and trainees) and then they announce who is training who. So we will see! I'll let you know next week! But I'm SUPER excited. Super sad that Hermana Clark is leaving me:(( But it's going to be so fun.

So that's probably the craziest news. Spain is great. I'm loving my time here. This week I had the realization that I can now pick out different accents from different Spanish speaking countries. Obviously the Spaniard accent is the best ;) but that's kinda fun! I've been trying to work on my accent. That's my language goal lately-to speak more like a Spaniard. Good times.

MIRACLE OF THIS WEEK IS MARIA JOSE!!!!!!!!!!! Madre mia she is INCREDIBLE I cannot even BELIEVE this child. She's 13 years old and on Saturday she was up at 1 in the morning not able to sleep so she started the Book of Mormon. And kept reading. And kept reading. AND FINISHED THE BOOK OF MORMON IN 1 DAY. And oh my goodness. She said that when she finished she just started crying and felt so much warmth, like someone was giving her a hug. And then she heard the words "ya tu sabes que El Libro de Mormon es verdadero" (you know that the Book of Mormon is true). And she told us that now she has a huge desire to get baptized. That is a miracle. That is one of those things missionaries LIVE to hear. And I am just on cloud 9 over here with so much joy that I get to be part of her experience:)))

Lets see what else can I share. Oh I finished the Book of Mormon again this week! Actually the same day that Maria Jose read the whole book. And I LOVE THAT BOOK. It is the word of God. Written by Prophets at the same time as the Bible, but on the other side of the world. It has so many beautiful things about Christ and His teachings. I wish the whole world would just read the Book of Mormon. Even if it's just out of curiousity. It's powerful and beautiful and I know it's true. :)

I love all you people so much! You're the greatest ever! Have the best week!

Love,

Hermana Johnson

1. my companion is leaving me:(((

2. last district meeting with all my favorite Latino friends

3. Last week when we went to Valencia. Colombia, Domican Republic, and Panama (and the US) are all represented in this picture (Spain is so fun because look at all these countries I'm learning about and loving!!!!!)