I'm Not Playing Pokemon Go!

We had a really good, really HOT week!
Tuesday we got to do a zone blitz of one of the other hermana's areas! So all like 10 of us in the zone headed over there to contact/teach/find/whatever to help them out. So we were wandering hills of Highland Park (I think that's where we were...?) consulting the iPads for the addresses of where we were supposed to go and some guys yell "there's a pikachu back there!" We are NOT playing Pokemon Go, alright??? Geez. We're searching for souls to save #gottacatchemall

Also this week our mountains lit on fire because of the excessive heat and it snowed ashes for a few days!! Closest thing to snow ;) but the smoke at least blocked some of the sunlight so it wasn't quite as hot. I'll take what I can get out here ;)

We've also been working a lot with less actives recently and we had some huge wins this week!!! One hermana who supposedly said that she wants nothing to do with the church/the missionaries came to our branch activity of pupusas and karaoke!! We'd visited her a few times with mixed results, so this was huge! :) (This is the hermana we taught fractions to, btw!) And then another menos activo came to church AND brought her grandson who we've been trying to teach forever!! MIRACLES EXIST GUYS.

So speaking of the branch activity, that was one of the best activities ever!!! It was a fundraiser for girls camp, so they were selling pupusas and churros--both were delicious! And then they had like open mic karaoke and it was just so fun :) We had like 4 investigators come too! So so cool. And then we had 4 investigators at church as well! Ahhh it makes me so happy😊

A neat thing we've realized this week came rom being rejected multiple times. We had a few people who'd talked to missionaries before forever ago and when we went back, they were completely uninterested and didn't want anything to do with the church. HOWEVER. Not one of them contested us on the fact that the Book of Mormon is the word of God. You know why, because they KNOW it too. They've received the confirmation from the Holy Ghost because EVERYONE who reads it will receive it. And whether or not they want to listen to us, I think it just goes to show how powerful that the BoM is true when no one we've encountered who's actually read nay of it will try to tell us it's wrong.

-Hermanita Johnson

Wedding Season

Buenas tardes a todos!! Cómo están? Espero que todo esté bien con ustedes.
This week was awesome! We got to do a lot of service which was fun because it was for a wedding!!! The elder's investigator had to get married before he could be baptized, so we made sure we got to help put together everything so we could be a part of it too! It was a whole lot of fun and they were so happy! :) It made us really happy too. And everything was really pretty. Plus, we had a taquero come and dang it I love tacos. So yummy.

Then the next day was his baptism!!! That was awesome. A lot of his non member family came and so did one of our investigators, which was sweet! Then we were given the opportunity to teach the message of the restoration in the time when he was changing (though we were only told we'd be doing that like 2 minutes before the baptism started. Thanks elders). But it turned out really well actually! For one, the Spirit was so strong. I don't remember much of what we said, but I remember feeling the Spirit working through us--and side note from the future, a few months after this 2 of the family members there were baptized! It was really neat because a lot of the nonmember family actually mentioned to us how they loved how they felt and everything :) it was a great experience for all of us. AND a lot of them told us our Spanish sounded basically perfect too!! That's like, lo mejor compliment EVER.

More service included teaching a menos activo how to do math! You would not even believe how impossibly difficult it is to explain how to multiply and divide fractions in Spanish. Quite the challenge. B ut she figured out how to do it by the time we left!! And she gave us like 3 boxes of cereal :) haha. Our members, even the less active ones, take good care of us ;) pero de verdad, I feel like these people are mi familia, that they love me, and that I belong here. I think that's one of the miracles of the Gospel :) that no matter where you are, what you're doing, who you are, whatever--you can feel at home because of the Gospel. It's cool stuff :)

-Hermanita Johnson

STAY BEAUTIFUL MY QUEENS

I'd just like to start by saying that I don't know if I've ever been happier in my life!! Life is still hard and poquito loquito, but I LOVE it.
For starters, last Monday we got to watch the Rose Bowl fireworks for the 4th because we had to go in early (safety reasons). They were great fireworks and it reminded me just enough of him :) it was fun. And I got to play my favorite game "Was the Loud Bang Fireworks of a Gunshot?" Played that one a lot in the Mexico MTC...

We've also been working a lot on finding people lately. We're going by less actives, tracting, talking to EVERYONE, etc. There are a ton of people in our area, but it's hard to find those who are prepared. Sometime we'll find people who we think are just GOLDEN and are gonna be one of those 3 week baptisms (they have to come to church at least 3 times first), but they either A) fall off the face of the earth or B) ignore us?? It's a real bummer when that happens. We had a really neat investigator (Victor) who was like that, but we know he'll come around :) at least he knows the Book of Mormon is true.

Also this week we've been on this weird iron kick. I mean, for real. WHERE IS THE IRON??? Is it even possible to NOT be iron deficient?? I don't think so. Especially when the most iron-ful (?) food I've eaten all week was, according to the nutrition facts, my Marshmallow Mateys. 😐 It's a conspiracy. (Don't worry though mom I have vitamins).

We have an "etenagator" (eternal investigator) who's been receiving the lessons for 10 YEARS now. His name's Wilbert. Long story short, he's FINALLY starting to come around and he's so gonna be baptized soon! When I first got to El Molino here like 5 months ago, he'd basically ignore us and leave when we came over for lessons (to teach his recent convert daughter Stacy). This week we were sharing a scripture after dinner and he was doing something on his phone, right? In my head I was like "dang it Wilbert c'mon!" BUT. Actually he was downloading Gospel Library and looking up the scripture! #milagros am I right? We're way excited for him and his family!!!

Also, Julianna is still here!?!?! So that's a plus! We saw her little sister on the street walking home one night and she told us (upon seeing the Libro de Mormón in my hand) "Juli has a book like that, she reads it all the time!!" That made my heart happy :) You go, Julianna, you're a queen.

And that brings me to my next point... There's always this group of individuals (who I'm pretty sure are homeless) who hang out on our street and smoke weed. We always have to pass them to get to our bus stop, so it's interesting talking to them. Anyway, we said hi to this lady this morning and as we walked away she goes "STAY BEAUTIFUL. YOU DA QUEENS." (Yes, she yelled it at us.) Haha day made though.

Other highlights include seeing elephant and llama (giraffe?) shaped shrubberies, learning all the flat of the Spanish-speaking countries during language study, exchanges with Hna Murdock, and then today!! Today we went to the Glendale Galleria and Americana, aka the 2 coolest/classiest malls I have ever been to. AND MOM THEY HAVE GALAXY BARS, aka the best chocolate bars ever??? I couldn't help it, I bought like 4. So it's been a really lovely day/week for us :)

And to top it off, we taught 23 lessons this week which is AMAZING for us! Things are getting better here in Pasadena :)

-Hermanita Johnson

New Transfer is a Petting Zoo

HELLO ONE AND ALL FROM GOOD OL' CALI, USA! HAPPY 4TH!!! 🎆🎉🇺🇸Hope y'all are enjoying ribs and BBQ and whatnot. I'll be here eating tortillas ;) ✌🏼

So we had a lovely week full of lots of random things!! I got to hold a parrot and a turtle and a couple of not annoying dogs! That was fun :) haha

So cool things: we found this former investigator who's super cool! We had like 3 lessons with him this week and then he came to church!!! So great :) his name's Victor and he's a kinda loquito but he's cool. We're thinking he'll be able to be baptized pretty soon here! We also met this referral named Marlin. We had a sweet Book of Mormon lesson with her when we first me here and we threw it DOWN!! It was so good, but then at the end she goes "wait... How did you find me?" Hahahahaha awkward.... That sometimes happens with referrals, especially when they come from, say, Texas and have been in Pasadena for like 2 whole weeks and you show up asking for them by name... Yep. Good stuff. But anyway, we've been looking for a lot of new people this week and haven't had tons of luck, but it's been alright :) there are fun things every day that keep us happy even when all our plans fall through and people reject us hardcore.

Living with the English sisters is a hoot and we love them :) Sister Newman is from Ethiopia and Sister Christiansen is from Florida and is basically a twig. They're both a lot of fun and they're adorable :)

And of course, this week was full of more yummy food, including (but not limited to) the BEST chocolate ice cream of my LIFE, pupusas, and a black roll made of squid ink from a Taiwanese bakery?! Haha tasted like garlic bread though! Haha we et lots of great stuff out here ;)

Love y'all!

-Hermanita Johnson