Villafranca With Her. Turner

 Wowowow first day in my last area in my last transfer! I got transferred to Vilafranca! This is my 4th area, my 10th companion...wow crazy stuff.

But oh my goodness I'm PUMPED to be with Hermana Turner (from Utah!). And I LOVE love love my area. Honestly I couldn't be in a better situation. And I'm excited to work and use every SECOND that I have left. Such a blessing to be a missionary.

This week was amazing! And crazy! We saw the baptism of Shirley which was such a miracle. Her story:

She's a lil 10 yr old who we've been teaching ever since I got here. Months ago, she was ready to be baptized but the week of her baptism, her parents didn't give her permission. So the elders started teaching her parents and we kept meeting with her and Rita (her grandma) who will also be baptized very soon. She's so smart and so mature. She read the Book of Mormon every single day. Came to church alone most weeks. She was so prepared. So finally a couple weeks ago my companion and I decided to go over the baptism interview questions with her to show her that she's ready. She knew EVERYTHING and shared her sweet testimony. The spirit was so strong. And it was perfect because she was able to show her parents that she met the qualifications set by God for baptism. And they gave her permission! She was baptized on Saturday June 23 with 6 other people who had been preparing and were ready to enter into the waters of baptism. Such a blessing.

Also this week I said goodbye to a lot of people in preparation to leave Hospitalet.:( it's the worst. We get "the call" telling us if we leave or not and who our companion will be on Saturday night and then on the following Sunday and Monday we set things up with people back to back to say goodbye. I have so much love for these people. 

Also this weekend was San Juan! Basically it's where everyone in Spain goes crazy and goes to the beach and does a lantern thing and fireworks and just has a great time. So that was fun. There's also little popper firework things that kids throw at the ground. They pop really really really loudly when they hit. It's like a gunshot. The worst. So I'm glad that's over haha 

So yeah life is soooo good. The mission is the greatest thing EVER! I love sharing the gospel. It just makes so much sense and it gives me so much joy seeing other people learn and recognize the truths of the restored church. Such a blessing.

I love you all!

Love,

Hermana Johnson

1. Bautismo!

2. Shirley and Rita

3. Last lunch with the district!

4. I love my companion I'm going to miss her!

Some interesting details

So this transfer is crazy because we officially have 2 new zones from the Malaga mission, but no one moves around and they don't start to mix us until August 7. Except for 2 zone leaders who trade places and one hermana from Malaga is coming to be hermana Read's companion! So she's very excited about that. 

WE SAW SHIRLEY GET BAPTIZED! On Saturday 7 people got baptized. Night of white! So beautiful. And she was so cute and after she got baptized she had so much energy and was running around and being so lovey dovey and holding our hands and hugging us and it was just so cute. It was obvious that she felt the spirit and she was feeling the love. I loved seeing it. She's the cutest lil bby. And she wants to serve a mission! It's still 9 years away but she's very mature and very smart. And strong. She'll do it!

My new district is so fun. It's us 4 missionaries serving in Vilafranca and then a companionship of elders serving in Martorell. They just closed the hermana area in Martorell so we're the only hermanas. We've got an elder from Colombia, one from Ecuador, and one from Austria. And then the other one's from California. And my companion's from Utah! Super fun

I had my exit interview with president! It wasn't quite what I thought it would be. It was still amazing, but I imagined a discussion type thing where we talk about plans and set goals. He didn't do that (which now that I think about it it could be because I still have so much time left) and instead just kind of gave me an hour long lecture thing with a lot of advice. About half of it was spent on marriage and finding a husband. He went through a list of 13 things that my husband has to be or have otherwise i cant marry him. Very good haha. But yeah i enjoyed it. Everyone was worried I'd leave trunky but I didn't so that's good!

Hi Lil Missionary Sister

AWWWW my cute lil sister cutie. Wow I browsed the pics and first of all, yOU'RE GORGEOUS HOLY GOODNESS

and second of all, your camera is AMAZING!!! Dang girl!

Wow Sarah bby you're my favorite. Are you having so much fun?? I've been reading over your emails to the padres and things. Sounds like you're having a blast, the language is a lil tough (but coming), and a Somoan companion is a blast (and a lil different). Wow you're so perfect. I bet the MTC is so fun with all the BYU friends. You'll probably be friends forever. They're officially off limits for future marriage prospects cause...mission...lock your heart...BUT they'll be friends for life. That's one of my favorite thigns. You just make your best friends ever on the mission.

What are preparation days like? What do you do?

Well it's been a great week over here. We had zone conference which was heaven (and sad because it's the Daytons last one (my mission president and wife)) and then also MIRACLE!!!!!!!!!!!! A 9 yr old girl we've been teaching IS GETTING BAPTIZED THIS WEEK!!!!!!!!!! Her Grandma would get baptized with her but the grandma (Rita) is waiting to find an apartment so she can move out and not live with her boyfriend. The classic. I hope that won't be a huge problem in the Philippines but ay ay ay here in Spain no one gets married. Law of chastity out the window. Geez. But anyways. IT'S A HUGE MIRACLE!!!!!!

Other reason is because transfers are this next week! So we'll get the call this Saturday and then I'm outta here next Tuesday! I have NO IDEA where I'll be going but at that point I'll have 6 weeks left of my mission. 1 transfer left. Crazy. But it's such a blessing that Shirley's getting baptized because that means that after 6 whole months of working and working and working I get to see a baptism before I go. :))) Such a blessing. Heavenly Father loves us. :)

And today preparation day was so fun. We woke up at 4 AM (HA I WIN!;)) and went to the bunkers which has a beautiful view of all of Barcelona (and Hospitalet). And we went to Montjuic and took tons of pics. Happy happy day.

The mission's the best. I just love you so much Sarah bby I'm so exciting that you're having so much fun and just loving it. You're so amazing. Do you feel like your english is getting worse? I remember thinking that. I feel like I learned Spanglish and now can't speak english or spanish really, but what comes out the most naturally is straight up spanglish haha. it's a fun time.

Well Sarah bby I love you so much!!!! 

I hope you have the best week ever and eat yummy american food for me. :)))

I love you and am so amazed by how incredible you are. The best missionary in the entire world. Also you make me laugh and I appreciate that. You've got funny stories ha :))

Love you
Love,

Mandi

1. montjuic

2. bunkers with the gang (we all 4 live together. one of them is from Chile!)

3. chapa pics sabes

4. Shirley!

5. at zone conference we took a "wow we were all in the same district 6 months ago let's take a picture!" picture. :)

Jamon Logs

Hola amigos y familia!!!

Ha my favorite thiing is reading the letters from my lil Sarah sister bby and the things she write in Hiligaynon just make absolutely no sense...too good hahaha. 

But wow this week has been CRAAAZY!!!! Lot's of happy things have happened.

So here in Hospitalet, it's kind of the more poor outskirts of Barcelona and there are a lot of people who live over here who just have the WORST jobs in the entire world. They work 14 hours a day and don't get a day off. Or they go into work and never know when they'll get to leave to come home. Or they have to constantly be on call to go to work whenever someone needs them. So that makes it VERY difficult for us to find time to meet with these people haha. And it messes with their Sunday schedules to be able to come to church. So lately that's been our focus, trying to help people put their trust that God will prepare a way for them to have Sunday's free and be able to come to church. Poco a poco. 

BUT there are a lot of really good things happening. Just yesterday we got TWO REFERALLS from members! (that's when a member of the church tells us to meet with their friends or family). We were at one family's house and we were helping them learn how to give out a Book of Mormon and Elvira (the mom) was like "I'm going to give it to Miriam." And then she called Miriam right there and set up a time for us to go see her! That NEVER happens. We were so pumped. 

ALSO a super sweet thing happened with another member family that will inspire all of you to be member missionaries. :) Omar and Mirta are an AMAZING couple who always let us come over with investigators to do FHEs in their house. On Friday we were going to do one, so we texted them both individually and these were their responses (keep in mind, Omar has cancer and is pushing through, but not doing very well):

Mirta: Hermanas, I don't think we'll be able to. Omar is feeling really really sick. He had to go to the hospital and he's been in bed all day. It's going to have to be another time.

Omar: Of course!! Con gusto!!!

We were just so touched by the response of Omar. After seeing MIrta's response, we were feeling sad and trying to think of something we could to do help them, and then we saw Omar's response and just wanted to cry. He is so driven and loves the work so much. He is incredible. I hope to be like him when I'm home-so missionary minded and so willing to serve.

Also I'm gonna attach some pics from last week! We went to the sagrada familia again! So amazing. And then we got some ice cream (claro) and just partied. We also saw an FC Barc museum thing. Go futbol!

So yeah really good things happening. We're working on trying to motivate the members lately so that's why this is kind of a member themed email. But we're seeing a lot of miracles and working hard and I absolutely LOVE my companion. There is literally nothing better than missionary work. I love every second. :))

I love you all so much! Have a great week!

Love,
Hermana Johnson

1. Sagrada familia!! In the metro station!

2. This is the most Spain thing you'll ever see. Jamon legs...yep it's real life pig legs and they love this stuff

3. LENA AND NACHO! They're fun

4. This is what we ate with them. HUGE plate. Very Ecuadorian.

4. Gelato :) ya sabes

Hi Cute Family!!

Wow this week has just been INSANE so I've got a long email planned for you cute people with a lot of crazy details. So here goes.

First. SARAH JANE YOU'RE ON A MISSION OH MY GOODNESS YOU'RE IN THE MTC HOW DOES IT FEEL HOW ARE YOU???? YOU HAVE A SAMOAN COMPANION WHAT ON EARTH??? That's pretty amazing. Wow. I've been freaking out for literally this entire week. And here I am fINALLY having preparation day and it turns out the be the day you hit exactly one week in the mission life. Crazy.

But let's see. On Monday we had concilio (the meeting we have in Barcelona with all the zone leaders and sister training leaders of the mission). It was our very last one with the Daytons and it was so sad. We all pitched in and got them Spain soccer jerseys with their names on it. They cried and cried. It was so sad. But also the best because they did a special thing where they did a QandA panel and we could ask them any question ever. Of course, it got to marriage talk pretty quickly...but they didi give good advice about how to be successful and smart with money and how to keep priorities straight and things. Also we sang our mission song (brightly beams our fathers mercy) and all got in a circle and held hands (not elders and hermanas though. there was a gap no worries hahaha) and it was just so special. I love that group of people. 

And then YESTERDAY we had a womens conference!!!! Half the zones in the mission (only the hermanas) came in and we all met togehter and had a whole day of learning. Hermana Dayton taught us how to shop and what cut and colors of cloths bring out our best selves. And then senior couple wives talked as well. It was so cute and so fun I loved it. 

AND we also had interviews last week! CRAZY THING! President Dayton is going to do the exit interviews of the people in my group (all of us that leave on August 7) BUT since he leaves on June 30 to go home, he's doing our exit interviews a transfer early. As in, I'll get my going home interview in 2 weeks. So I didn't have my normal interview with him this time, but I did have it with Hermana Dayton.

Wow. She's THE BEST. We just talked and talked and talked for like an hour I think. Which was really nice of her haha. But story!

So. I've been thinking and thinking and thinking about what I want to do with my life. My patriarchal blessing promises that throughout my mission the decision of what to major in will get easier. And it hasn't been. So I had been thinking and thinking and I started getting little thoughts. They started off as "hm maybe I want to be a teacher" "but no I want to do something BIG" "but being a teacher is big, you impact a lot of lives" "but I wonder if my potential is greater than just that..if there are even more lives I could touch" and then after a couple weeks of thinking about that, I started getting VERY CLEAR thoughts that I have to run for BYU student president. And after weeks of that just pressing my mind (especially when I read my patriarchal blessing) I decided that it's definitely the spirit and I talked to Hermana Dayton about it. She was like 'DO IT" and gave me lots of advice (she was president of the womens organization thing). So. Here I am. Maybe not BYU student president but at least some kind of office. And then it's been soooo interesting how a lot of the lessons in concilio and womens conference were about things like "finding and reaching your potential" "the power of one" "you are all AMAZING with the power to change the world" and "leaving your comfort zone is how you progress" type of things that just confirmed that I have something greater to do and I need to leave all parts of my comfort zone to do it. 

So. That's crazy and I still think it's crazy and it still makes me very scared and nervous and I have NO idea how to do anything that has to do with that (thnak goodness I have you lil mama). But that's been my latest revelation. It's been a month long process probably.

Also Sarah bby I keep thinking about you. You pop into my head at random times in the day and I always imagine what time it is over there and what you're probably doing. And EVERY TIME that happens, I always say a lil prayer for you. I know you're killing it and (yep the days are 10 years long it's the worst) but also the best and the spirit's so strong. So happy for your cute lil self. Also LOVE the haircut.

Also this week we found 18 YR OLD TWINS!!!! They're both girls and they're so cute. They're dominicanas and they're so getting baptized. My companion accidentally rang their doorbell looking for the lightswitch in the apartment building. So we waiting thinking "ah well perfect there's gotta be a reason" and turns out they're amazing! We talked a lot about baptism and they're both very down. So good.

Also we're teaching a man named Alonso still. I've talked about him. Wow. His situation is REALLY tough. He's here with his girlfriend Natalia (they live together...muy mal) BUT turns out he's married and he has a wife in El Salvador. So. We talked to him yesterday about all the things he has to fix in his life and he was feeling pretty hopeless about the whole thing. And he kept telling us "I know what Ihave to do, I just don't think I can" and we were like "well what do you have to do?" And he said "I need to be baptized" and BOOM so we focused everything on his preparation to be baptized. It's going to be hard for him to leave Natalia since they both came to Spain together 4 weeks ago and don't have a single other soul. And Natalia is not a fan of the church. So. Little by little. But he's a miracle. He'll work it out. He just needs a lot of strength.

Also question for you lil parents

What's the process with the 16 credit spanish test thing at BYU?

Also how do I get a job at the MTC?

Also we talked to President after the womens conference and he was so nice and just went on and on telling me and Hermana Read how amazing we are. He said that in the transfer meeting (where he and the ayudantes decide transfers) when they felt like putting us together they were like "are we sure we want to put that much power in one area?" which is so funny. But wow I am just in heaven with Hermana Read. We talk about how there's so much synergy. We're LOVING our time together. And Heavenly Father's blessing us with miracles.

Okay wow so this is long. Sorry sarah bby if you odn't have time to read the whole thing. At least you can read every day. Menos mal. 

But I just love you all so muhc. You're the greatests in the entire world<333

I love you!!!!