Hurrah for Israel!

My goodness what a week it's been! Where do I start....?

So last p-day I got to play volleyball with my district and I was great! I totally kicked all their butts ;) suckers. And they thought I wasn't sporty. I showed them! Also, I think over the last week I've been bitten by mosquitos at least 40 different times. I'm not kidding. In the CCM they call mosquitos Mexico's state bird. I understand why now. The darn things are everywhere and I'm apparently delicious because they keep biting me. How rude.

Wednesday was good. I had the elders give me a blessing because I was feeling super down and just didn't think I could do it. It was amazing to see the difference that blessing made. Almost immediately every negative feeling like that was gone and I felt so great! I'm really so grateful that I can have the blessings that come from the Priesthood in my life :)

It's getting a lot colder here which is lame. I didn't bring any warm clothes since I thought Mexico would be warm. I thought wrong. This morning was like 50 degrees, which I know isn't that cold, but having a cute jacket would super help. Also we've been hearing gunshots a lot lately. We asked me teacher and she said that for Mexico City it's very normal to hear gigantic booms all hours of the day and night. Being as jumpy as I am, I don't particularly like them. Oh well. In two weeks I won't have to listen to people exploding mortars or whatever they're doing at 3 AM.

Thursday morning it was only me and my compañera in class. All our Elders had to go figure out visa stuff because they're all staying in Mexico. It was really nice. We actually got everything done for once ;) I also met this super cool guy, Elder Preciado. He has the coolest conversion story I've ever heard. He speaks 5 languages including Hebrew, and I think he's one of the nicest guys I've ever met. He left yesterday morning, but it was awesome getting to know him and hear how strong his testimony is.

Friday started out great. My compañera plugged in my straightener, thinking it was her curling iron, and proceeded to freak out when the curling iron didn't work. It was pretty great ;) we have a lot of laughs together. She also ended up laughing so hard she peed her pants. Twice. I think it's hilarious ;) We also got a new district in our zone and they have 2 more hermanas!!! Me and Hna Garner talked to them for a while during lunch and they're both so sweet. I love them already :)

Saturday I woke up with "Seize the Day" from Newsies stuck in my head. It was great :) haha. We also had to teach a lesson without having time to plan it. That was less great, but it was a good learning experience. Planning's important kids.

Sunday was lovely :) I absolutely love Sundays here. It's a nice break from the stress of everyday stuff. I did have to speak in sacrament meeting though (in Spanish of course) which was kinda scary, but not too bad :) I kind of enjoyed it actually. Then Sunday night we got to watch the Testaments and we had a sweet testimony meeting with our zone afterwards. I cried a lot--"enough for the whole district" according to Elder Jimenez. 

Yesterday was purty good too :) we got to watch Elder Scott's funeral services which was sad, but really cool too. Very spiritual. It made me wonder what people will say about me when I die... Probably that my jokes are lame and my sense of humor needs help ;) no one here appreciates that I laugh at my own jokes. My jokes are genuinely funny though. They're missing out. Also during lunch we had alphabet soup! I spelled my name in it and it was awesome.

Anywho, that's all for now! It's been another great week in the CCM and I'm doing well :)

Love you all so many,

Hermana Johnson :)

Sweet is the Work

My goodness it's been a great week!! :) I stayed up far too late and slept through most of Wednesday morning, but that's okay. I'm getting better at staying awake without unexpected naps ;)

I'm getting better at the español, though I keep speaking Italian on accident... Whoopsies! Lessons are hard because I'm not quite good enough yet. People speak waaaay too fast... My brain can't keep up with what's going on. It's quite the struggle.

Our "investigators" (they're our teachers) are great :) they speak slowly for us so I actually know what's happening. Es good. Lessons with them tend to be better in general now and I love it. It just feels good.

We've been having insanely awful storms this week and I would just like to say that I hate it. They're far worse thunder-and-lightning-wise than they ever were at home. At least I'm getting better at not being so scared of them all the time :) 

Friday was a super fantastic day :) for starters, it was my district leader's birthday! Me and Hna Garner drew a pretty card and it was awesome. Then we had a "demonstrate teaching" lesson, where basically I had to pretend to be the investigator while my teacher showed more or less how a lesson should go. Even though I was pretending to be "Ingrid", that lesson was meant for me, not some made up investigator. It was one of the neatest things. For part of it they asked one of our elders to pick a scripture to share and he ended up choosing my favorite ever: Romans 8:38-39. And I am absolutely convinced that was no coincidence. It was awesome :)

The weather here is a blessing now (minus the storms) :) it reminds me of early May back at home. It's really nice and makes being here easier.

Sundays are a blessing too :) it's such a spiritual day, but it's a good break from the constant work as well. Our sacrament meeting was really great and I loved it, and so was relief society :) everything here is just great! Then for our devotional we got to listen to a REALLY good talk by Elder Holland. I think it's called Hope of Israel, but I'm not sure. It was very inspiring. Y'all should look it up sometime :)

Anyway, the food's fine and the work is good :) I'm always exhausted but I love it anyway :) I hope you all at home are doing just as well!

Con todo el amor,

Hna. Johnson :)

¡¡Viva México!!

Today's Mexico's independence day! So we've been hearing explosions (which I presume are fireworks) all day and night for a few days now. It's great.

So this week's highlights! On Sunday we got to watch the rededication of the Mexico City temple! It was super neato and both Elder Holland and President Eyring spoke. They were great :) it was super early in the morning though, so at one point or another, everyone in my district was asleep... Whoopsies ;)

Then this morning we got to go outside "The Wall." It's this like 20 foot wall that surrounds the CCM. Anyway, we got to go through the Mexico City temple!!! WHAT!!! Yeah it was freakin awesome and even though I understood next to nothing (as it was, obviously, in Spanish) it was amazing. And I only cried a little. Go me!

Things aren't quite as stressful anymore, though it's still frustrating at times. I'm getting better at staying positive and finding reasons to smile :) It's not as hard as I thought it was at first, and now I'm just happy I'm here. Also the more I get to know my district and my compañera, the more I love them all! They're easily the funniest bunch of people I've ever met. They make it easy to laugh and be happy when I'm not in such a great mood. I absolutely love helping all of them with Spanish and I've decided if I ever need to get a job, it's gonna be as a teacher :)

I shared my Halloween Oreos with everyone the other day. They told me I was a dork for bringing them, but then they all seemed to think it was brilliant once I started sharing ;) thanks Mommy for packin' treats!

To finish, there's this quote I found that goes "There is no such thing in anyone's life as an unimportant day." -Alexander Woollcott. Make the most of every day, because each one is important and there's soooo much good you can do!!!

Lots of love, Hermana Johnson :)

¡Hola del CCM!

Oh my goodness!!! Holy Hannah Montana this week has been absolutely insane! I've only cried twice so far: at the airport and after watching Meet the Mormons Sunday night (the bit about the missionary mom made me super homesick, but that's okay).

So mi compañera! Her name's Hermana Garner from Rapid City, South Dakota and she's going to California too! San Jose though, not Arcadia. She's super cool and I love her already :) We're getting along quite fantastically and I've been able to help her out with Spanish quite a bit so far. Actually I help my entire district with Spanish. I'm the best by far--no surprise there ;) just kidding. Nah I love my district though. They're a bunch of goofs. In my district there's me and Hna. Garner, and then 6 elders. I've become the mom of our district family already. 

I got here safe and sound Wednesday night. It was pouring rain and there was crazy thunder and lightning. Apparently this is the rainy season. Maybe it will help me get over my fear of storms? Who knows. It was really rough at first and suuuuper overwhelming, but that's okay. In my journal I wrote "God is good. These last few days have been hard, with all the goodbyes and anticipating leaving today. There have been a lot of tears and sadness and anxiety. But God is good :) I can feel His love and His strength with me now as I head to the Mexico City MTC. Without Him I'd be a mess, I wouldn't be able to do this. But now I feel at peace :)"

Thursday was the hardest so far, although it was better emotionally than Wednesday. I woke up with 5 mosquito bites, for starters, and I swear it was the longest day of my life. They work us so hard I find myself begging for sleep at 8:30. I don't think I'll be staying up till 1 again for the next 18 months.

Friday we got to teach our first investigator. In Spanish. Goodnight that was stressful. I could really feel the Spirit though, which was neat. I'm really starting to love it here :)

Saturday was fairly uneventful, lots of classes and new missionary meetings. I'm getting the hang of it.

Sunday was muy bien though :) I bore my testimony since it's fast Sunday and our relief society was awesome! Also it was sunny for the first time, which I LOVED. The sunny weather reminds me a tiny bit of home :) I'm starting to write in my journal in Spanglish (basically throwing in every Spanish word I know). Yeah it's odd to go back and read... Oh whale. We also got to listen to a talk by Elder Scott for our devotional and I feel like it was meant for me :) it helped me a whole lot. And then we watched Meet the Mormons which, like I said, is the only other time I've cried so far (aside from spiritual reasons anyway).

Monday was a little rough again, but not too bad. Our elders are very good at brightening the mood whenever one of us gets a little down. I think I'm going to survive here :)

So yeah! I'm every bit the happy, healthy Fern I was before, just a tad bit happier than before :) Estoy muy bendecida aquí en el CCM, y lo amo mucho mucho mucho!!! Me gusta todo que hacemos cada día.

Love you all so many!

--Crin :)