Get that Corn Out of My Face!

What a loooooong week! Phew!
First off, I conquered the I5 freeway! I had to drive on it this week on our way to Pasadena. I'd heard it was pretty sketchy, but it wasn't too much worse than driving in Utah! haha we also drove on the Arroyo Seco Parkway, which was like one of the first freeways here in Cali. Neat!
On Wednesday we had a world-wide missionary training broadcast and it was awesome! My goodness I learned so much. It made me want to be a much better missionary. Thankfully I still have a good 13 months to keep improving and learning :)
Thursday's district meeting was super good as well. Later I tried one of those corn things that they eat on Nacho Libre--they're called elote. Basically it's corn covered in mayo, butter, crumbled up parmesan cheese, and chile powder. Looks nasty, but it's surprisingly good :)
We met some cool people on Friday: Victorino and Ubaldo. They're both really interested in learning about the Gospel, and Ubaldo even came to church! It was so cool
Then Sunday Hno Gonzalez told me my Spanish is basically perfect! #youknowit! Haha nah, I have a loooong way to go still. Spanish is hard kids. Takes lots of practice. But compliments así are always super appreciated.

Anywho, this Gospel is beautiful and missionary work is a blessing. In Ether 12:27 it tells us that God gives us weakness so we humble ourselves. Being here I've seen just how weak I am and how much I truly need Him. But I've also seen how He's helped me be able to this. I'm not a good teacher--I never have been. And I'm still not. I don't have the perfect words, I can't speak Spanish fluently or even as well as the 6 years old kids here. I'm just not a good teacher on my own. But in spite of that, I've seen how the Lord is able to make my efforts enough so those we're teaching can understand and feel the Spirit. It's comforting to know that He'll help me do all I need to, but it also makes me remember and realize that none of this is because of me. I'm not converting anyone, I'm not the driving force behind these people choosing to change their lives. It's the Gospel and the Lord.
But like I said, missionary work is a blessing :) It's such a privilege to be able to see these people recognize the Spirit and understand the Gospel. It's so beautiful to see them learn for themselves the power of prayer or realize that the Book of Mormon is true and it helps them feel better after a bad day at work. I feel so, so blessed to just be able to see these amazing children of God grow in their relationship with Him and in their faith and testimony. I can never really express how grateful I am, but I want you all to know that I know that being out on a mission is worth it. This Gospel is worth it. Every trial, sorrow, pain, and affliction is worth it. Because if we endure life well, if we make the sacrifices to live the Gospel, how sweet will be our reward :)

-Hermanita Johnson

Aliens Are Real!!

This week, thanks to one of our investigators, we found out aliens exist, so that was neat. We were talking to this guy, Anthony, about faith and all of a sudden he starts talking about having faith in aliens because he's seen them...
Tuesday we got to go to the library to use the computers. I forgot how much I love libraries... But we saw an investigator named Domingo and she's rally great :) also our hot water stopped working, so that was a bummer.... Wednesday we found this super awesome investigator named Tonya! She's so cute. She was an investigator like 4 years ago and never got baptized. But she told us she's realized how much better life was and how much better she was when she was coming to church and stuff. She's basically golden :) I found a leaf the size of 2 of my faces. That was neat. I also found out there's such a thing as "sweet limes." The look like lemons, but they're sweet and weird. Mind blown!! People also fed us vegetables and it was a miracle. So yeah... that was about the most exciting stuff that happened this week.... But also shoutout to my mum, Hna Evanson, whose birthday was on Saturday!

And so something I learned this week is in Alma 5:26. It's fairly short, but we talked in district meeting about it. "If ye have experience a change of heart, and if ye have felt to sing the song of redeeming love, I would ask, can ye feel so now?" We all have entered onto the straight and narrow path, and we've experienced these things, but something we need to always ask ourselves is, can we feel so now? Sometimes we get distracted by life and stuff and we've forgotten about these things that are really the most important. So we need to always live in a way that we don't forget :)

-Hermanita Johnson

Ay Ay Ay!

Hold on to your hats friends, this week was amazing!
Tuesday it POURED. It rained and rained and rained. It was freezing and we to soaked to the bones. We had to walk lots and basically it was not fun. But! We went to see a less active who LOVES us and we totally love her! She gave us this yummy drink that's sort of like hot chocolate (not really) called atole that warmed us up real good. She's so sweet and so nice :) and we got to have a yummy dinner with another member.
Wednesday rained even more AND it was really windy. It was soooo cold. But as we were walking back to the house (a lesson fell through) Rafael saw us and stopped us and took us to get hot chocolate :) it was super nice and really helped a bunch! And he told us "no pueden predicar la palabra del Señor si están enfermas" (we can't preach the word of the Lord if we're sick) and tried to buy us scarves and gloves too. He's, like, our adopted grandpa :) But we also got to have a yummy dinner with Hna Landaverde (bless her) and the elders. Hna Hernandez was too full, so she hid the rest of her food in her boot! Silly girl.
Thursday didn't rain! MIRACLES.
Friday we had a sweet zone meeting :) and we had 3 investigators accept baptismal dates, which was awesome and way cool for us!
Saturday we helped clean the church and we got to see our investigator Nora :) she is suuuuper awesome and we love her :) after that we had pupusas!! I LOVE pupusas <3

Sunday was RAFAEL'S BAPTISM!!!!! It was so amazing and we're so so happy for him!! He'll get confirmed next week :) and Hernandez and I sang for part of the program, so that was fun. We're just so super happy for him! And after that we met a cute funny family from Honduras :) it was a good day.

It was such a good week though! :) it's amazing to see the changes people are willing to make in their lives for the Gospel. I'm so happy to be able to be out here helping people learn about the church :) even with all the cold, wet, stressful days, it's definitely worth it :)

-Hermanita Johnson

FELIZ AÑO NUEVO

Happy New Year all!! This week was good, though semi uneventful. So here's lo que pasó:
Tuesday I found out my Aunt Melissa is in my "Adjusting to Missionary Life" book!! That was kinda neat (and also weird that I didn't notice the first 5 times I read it??) I also learned that flat, crunch churros are a thing--they're called buñuelos. Also our security guard friend at the Nike store is back! (He disappeared for a while.) But yeah, it's awesome. Wednesday Hnas Cook and Evanson came for studies and it was fun :) New Years was a little crazy--lots of big fireworks and crazy people partying. But it was good :) we wet to bed at like 10, so nothing to crazy for us ;) On Saturday we drove to the office and then the elders made us cookies! They're so sweet :) We also made up some really great poetry. It's super artistic ;) Then we had transfers! Amazingly, my whole district is staying the same :) I'm super happy about that because this coming Sunday is Rafael's baptism!!!! We're way excited for him!

Anyways, something I learned this week is the importance of having charity. The scriptures tell us that without charity, we are nothing. Kinda strong words, but it's true. Charity leads us to serve, to be obedient, to grow in the Gospel and become closer to Christ. Charity is basically the best. So I don't know about y'all, but I know this week, month, year, etc. I'll be working on having more charity :)

I hope you're all doing well and have made New Years resolutions :) goals are good!

-Hermanita Johnson