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!!!!!)

Hi cute family! I'm writing early because I've got to take a train to Barce at 3 and won't be able to write once we get there. But YEAH CRAZY THINGS I'M GOING TO TRAIN!!!!! I cannot even TELL you how excited I am. Just dying of excitement:)) I keep having feelings that I'm going to get a native. Which scares me a lil bit I'm not really sure that I want that. But. We will see. It'll be a blessing for my Spanish that's for sure.

So on Saturday night we sat down to write in our journals just DYING waiting for our district leader to call us and the phone started ringing, AND IT WAS PRESIDENT! Which means one of us was getting a calling. So. We answered and he said "can I speak to Hermana Johnson?" And then he said "hermana Johnson, would you be willing to accept a leadership position in the mission?" I said yes and he said "we would like to call you to train a brand new missionary" and then he talked about how it's the most important calling in the mission and that he'll see me on Wednesday!

I was SHOCKED. Both Hermana Clark and I were 100% positive that we were both going to stay together another transfer. And it's super weird that she was only in Catarroja for 1 transfer and then she gone. So that was a crazy surprise. But I'm excited:)

So this weekend (well, Sunday and yesterday), we have just been running from member to investigator to more members so she can say goodbye to everyone. It was really sad. They love her. It's weird too because Elder Astorga is also training! So his companion who was also only here for 1 transfer is outta here as well. All the members were like "what?? the newbies are leaving and we're stuck with the old ones?" (kidding of course, they were so happy that I'm staying-I was SO happy that I'm staying). But it was funny.

Oh also a YSA in our ward left on his mission today! To Belgium! And he had his farewell on Sunday and oh my goodness they do it very differently here. The setting apart is a really big deal. They do it in the sacrament meeting room and everyone goes. But it's like a big service. His parents talked, he talked, and THE FUNNIEST THING hahaha, in the middlehis dad went up and was like "okay, all the chicas and mujeres can now come up and give your last hugs and kisses!" so literally all the girls made a LINE and they gave him hugs and kisses. The funniest thign I've literally ever seen. I love it.

Also remember Angela? So she's on fecha for this sunday. But I'm trying to talk her into waiting another week so that she can be baptized on Saturday and then have the confirmation the next day. But she's INSISTENT that she gets baptized this Sunday. I guess that's a good thing. She's really great I love her. She wanted to come to Barcelona with us today hahaha. She's a funny one. The poor thing has a tumor right now so she'll be getting surgery on November 11. Prayers for her would be good.

And then Maria Jose is just a miracle and a half. The 28th at 4:00 she's going down!!!!!

Hm what else. Well pops about the mutual thing, I vote no cutting down on mutual. Yes there's seminary, but only the 14 and up people go to seminary AND it's a different thing than mutual. Combining with another ward would probably be the best move-I like that idea. Because even if there is only 1 person who can go to mutual every week, it's worth it for that one person to keep it going. And she'll just get to be really good friends with the other wards haha. Those are my thoughts. You've got the calling though so I trust your inspiration and leadership:)))

AND MOM YOUR BOOK!!!!!!! I'm just so impressed by your famousness. I think that's the funnest thing in the entire world. Did you change your signature or is it the same? I want to see a picture of a book you signed!!! I want a signed book!

And about my tablet cover, I have not yet found it. But actually I worked it out because the keyboard is magnetic so I can just take it in and out! Which works perfectly. Thank you so much you're the best!!!!

Well I love you people!!!!! I'm sure you're sleeping right now. But look on the mission blog and I'm sure Hermana Dayton will post pictures from the training meeting:) 

I love you all SOOOO much. So so much. I think about you all the time! Have so much fun in DC pops! I'M 100% DOWN TO GO TO DC WHEN I GET BACK!!!!!!! Wanna hear the craziest saddest thing ever? I'm halfway done with my mission (in 2 weeks). I refuse to let that sink in. That's a sad thought. Not really sure how that's possible. But ya know. 

If I think of any more details to share I will let you know! 

I love you all tons and tons and miss you like crazy! have the best week ever!!!!

Love,

Mandi

Hurt my heels

Maria Jose's mom gave me shoes and we ended up having to run home and I was wearing the new shoes and they completely destroyed my heels. I'm wearing bandaids and it's okay-doesn't hurt to walk around. But I'm a little concerned at how red they are. I don't want them to get infected. I'll call the mission nurse as well, but if you know of anything I can buy or do to fix this lil dilemma, let me know:)

Ilove you!!!!

 

With Hermana Clark

I gave up on trying to figure out what week I´m on so here ya go hahah.

Oh also my email is mandi.johnson@myldsmail.net solo para que sepais:))

So this week. Well wanna hear a crazy happy thing? We´re teaching Hassan! And he´s from Pakistan! Former Muslim! And he´s quitting smoking! He used to smoke 20 cigarrettes a day. And now is down to 3 and will quit completely on October 1. It´s amazing to me. He´s going through horrible withdrawals right now, but he´s pushing through strong! And he wants to get baptized! It´s amazing. Right now it´s kinda funny because he believes that the Book of Mormon is true...and the Kuran. So. We gotta get him to believe in the Bible now. Which is kinda funny because normally we try to help people gain a testimony of the Book of Mormon. But now it´s the other way around. Fun times! But he´s super great. He has a lot of questions and believes that Christ suffered for his sins. I don´t know if he fully understands yet, but he´s got tons of faith! So he´s a miracle.

Hm what else. Oh! Our ward had a dance! And we went! But didn´t dance because that´s not very missionarylike. But it was so cute. I think one of my favorite things ever is watching people Latin dance. They have so much fun and they all know all the dances it´s so fun! I wish the US had something fun like that But ya know. We stick to jumping up and down and it works hahahaha

Life is good. The mission is good. I think I say that in all my emails haha but it´s so true! I´m loving it! 

Love you all tons!!!

Love,

Hermana Johnson

My companion Hermana Clark and I because we hit 7 months!

A HUGE tortilla de patata (very typical Spaniard food)

The Latest

(some snippets of her notes to us. No time for a letter today, but I love all the work she is doing and how she is super focused and caught up in helping other people.)

Well life is good over here! This week we tried SO hard to lograr pautas (the goals of excellence) which is 3 people on fecha, 4 people in church, 8 news, and 4 second visits (the first time you meet with someone after the initial contact). We got 3 fechas, 9 news, and 6 second visits and then tried SO hard this weekend to get people to conference but al final, we only had 2. So we just BARELY didn't hit pautas. It's super hard. Normally only 1 or 2 companionships in all the mission hit pautas. It's still one of our goals though so we'll get it! 

But yeah as you can see we had an amazing week. Everyone's so amazed at us. But yeah we've found a lot of really great people. One lady from Brazil mom! Her name's Denisse and she had actually taken lessons from the missionaries before, and knows the church is true! Her problem is just that she isn't married and is living with her boyfriend and he didn't want to get married. So the missionaries that were teaching her dropped her. But we picked her back up and now he actually wants to get married! So miracles!!!! And she watch general conference at home!!! So great.

Also we re-fecha-ed Hassan! He's gonna get baptized It's his plan. But he's completely quit smoking (yesterday actually was his first day of not smoking anything!) and we've asked him very specifically if he sees a difference in his life or not, (he said yes) and we asked him why and he had all the right answers (like he's happier, he feels the spirit, people are asking him why he's changed, he doesn't have bad thoughts anymore). So it's back and forth with him. But for now he's got his fecha for October 19! We'll see!

And then miracle of Jalindy and Consuelo! They're actually references from members! And we met with them (Consuelo is the mom and Jalindy is the 12 yr old daughter) and taught an AMAZING lesson 1. The spirit was sooo strong. And then we invited them to be baptized and they both said yes! Which was fun because then we talked to the members who gave us the referral and they were shocked. It was funny. But yep October 21! Ben's birthday! :))) The dad loves us as well, but he has no interest in listening. We're trying though! 

Also I have a new love for empanadas. LOVE. THEM. We ate a lot this week haha it seems like the whole world wanted to make us empanadas. All good with me they're delicious. So good times.

Also remember Angela? Who had a baptismal date in my first couple weeks in Catarroja? We found her again and are going to meet with her on Tuesday. She's read the entire Book of Mormon from the last time that we met with her to now. So. There's that she's great.