#LIGHTtheWORLD

Hello friendsies!! (As Sister Oh would say) What a week! I'm so excited to tell you all about it!
First off, Thanksgiving was wonderful :) we were only able to make it to 2 of the 5 dinner invites we received--one with a family in the English ward we share a building with (they like having us around since they only have elders and no sisters), and one with the branch president and his family :) it was so fun and so yummy! With the English members we got to have turkey, apple pie, all the good traditional stuff. We even got to eat outside because it was so warm!! I was honestly sweating! I've never been so warm on Thanksgiving before ;) back at home it's always freezing. But then with the Tehuitzil's we had tamales and tres leches. Far from you typical Thanksgiving meal, but delicious nonetheless :) it was awesome and all of that helped me realize just how much I have to be thankful for!

It's funny cuz Zohner forgot her tag and is wearing Christensen's extra ;)

Also this week we got POURED on. I haven't seen such crazy rain since my time in Mexico during the rainy season! (¡Viva Mexico!) It was interesting though because just when the rain was coming down the hardest and the wind was the strongest and we were considering stopping and finding something else to do until it let up, we decided to knock on one more door. And there we found some former investigators who seem really interested in learning about the Gospel (well again I guess)! Coincidence? Absolutely not! It was interesting though that the rain both enabled and also almost ruined that whole encounter. They were going to leave and go to his mom's house but then they rain started, so they stayed home--thus making it possible for us to find them there! But can you imagine if we'd given in and waited for the storm to die down? We never would've met them. But yeah, it's always after the trial of our faith (which for me is rain and the prospect of getting soaked) that we see miracles.

Then we had two baptisms this weekend, both for 8-year-olds! One was Marianna, a sweet little girl who's mom is our favorite member's sister. And then the other baptism was a MILAGRO. So Saturday night we called Kristian's dad. Kristian's the kid from last week who can't get baptized. So yeah, we call his dad and he basically yelled at us because we want to baptize his kid--very much a no still. But then Sunday morning Elizabeth (they boys' mom) walks in and is SO happy because, surprise, Kristian's dad changed his mind and said yes!?!?! And se we had the most BEAUTIFUL baptism for Kristian and his cousin Juanito and they were both so happy 😊 WE were so happy. Everyone was just so happy!

Kristian on the left, Juanito on the right :)

Anyways, then we're also excited because of the Church's new Christmas initiative: #LIGHTtheWORLD. The idea is that WE can bring the light of Christ to others this Christmas season through service. I. Am. STOKED. They made a beautiful little video (link included al fondo, you're welcome) and really just like, serving people is the best :) I would encourage you all to check out the video along with the Church's initiative on Mormon.org.

And here's that link to the video! https://www.mormon.org/christmas/light-the-world?play=hero

-Hermanita Johnson

We Put the "Laughter" in "Slaughter..."

....BECAUSE WE'RE KILLIN IT!!! And we have SO much fun while we're at it ;) (sorry, I know it's a pretty bad joke, but that's my sense of humor for ya...)
Nah, but for reals, we had a really great week :) lee share some of the highlights!

1. We've taught SO many more lessons than we've been able to lately, which is awesome! It feels so good to have investigators who are truly progressing, who you can SEE change. It's been amazing teaching Roger and seen how well he just understand and loves and accepts what we've taught him. He loves all the commandments we've taught him about and he's so excited to live them. Enthusiasm like that is AWESOME <3 he's golden. He really is.

2. We got a new car!! That's just been so fun :D we used to have the oldest car in the mission, which stunk. So it's been a nice change! They're letting us drive one of the new fancy-pants 2017 Chevy Malibu's and I don't think I've ever driven a car this nice... She's our baby.

3. CONSEGUÍ UN WAFFLE MAKER!!! ETERNAL shoutout to one Elder Nielsen serving in Bel 1--my homeland! Having served there, I happened to know that the elder's apartment there has a waffle maker--one of only two in the mission. Elder Nielsen is also training a new missionary, so he's been at the same training meetings we've had to go to. And SO, we asked if he'd be willing to part with it and send it across the mission to us. He didn't even know they had a waffle maker... But let me just tell you, he is a gem and also homemade waffles are the best. I haven't been so happy in a long time!! (Okay, slight exaggeration, but whatever).

4. Carne asada at the branch president's house. 'Nuff said. You can't go wrong with carne asada.

5. Receiving no less than 5 invites to different Thanksgiving dinners. I am so excited ;) we will FEAST.

6. Our ward's pre-Thanksgiving celebration dinner extravaganza...thing. All you need in life is good food (preferably tamales) and good music ;) and these people always have both!! Probably the best party I've even been to.. Like ever. I wish y'all could see how we party here in Los Altos ;)

And then it got funky on Saturday morning because we had to drive out elders to the hospital, which was super stressful. We didn't know what was going on or anything, so it was kinda scary. But everything is okay now. It was just a stressful day... But, small blessing that was huge at the time: we went to Panda Express to grab lunch for us and the elders, and some sweet member came up to us in line and handed up $40 and said "Sisters! Let me buy you lunch!!" It was just enough to pay for food for the 4 of us and it was such a tender mercy. That sweet sister couldn't have had a clue what we were going through at the moment.
Anyways. Then yesterday was really hard too. We found out that both Roger and a sweet 8-year-old boy we've been teaching (Kristian) won't be able to get baptized this week :( Kristian can't because his dad is being a jerk and won't give him permission to be baptized (to get back at his mom who he's no longer with and is mad at). And we're not entirely sure what happened with Roger... his dad's not really for it either though. It was so sad finding that all out (within about 10 minutes) and I ended up crying through most of sacrament meeting because it just made me so sad. It reminds me of this scripture in 1 Thessalonians 2:8 that says "So being affectionately desirous of you, we were willing to have imparted unto you, not the gospel of God only, but also our own souls, because ye were dear unto us." Because really we give so much to these people to help them and they become so dear to us. So when outside circumstances prevent them from receiving the blessings of the Gospel, it's heartbreaking.

But I'm doing better now and I've realized I just gotta have faith in the Lord that He'll make it work out, since we've done everything we can.

So yes :) in light of Thanksgiving, I'm so so grateful for so many things. I'm grateful I get to be a missionary during this holiday season again; for the chance to serve here in Los Altos and meet all these AMAZING people; for the Gospel and the indescribable impact it's had on my life; for my family and friends--both home and here (because these people ARE my family now <3); for good waffles..... and so many other things!! Living in a spirit of Thanksgiving is the best, happiest way to live. No doubt about it :)

-Hermanita Johnson

Miracles Are Everywhere to be Found

Hellos! What a week we had!! It's been a good one and we saw quite a few little miracles :)
The biggest one we saw this week was with our investigator Roger!! Roger is a champ. He showed up in church two weeks ago and knows basically everything he needs to already to be baptized because he's been taught a lot before (kind of a crazy back story actually), and he told us he really wants to be baptized now!!! And then we went by for a lesson last week, only to find out he was in the hospital.... :( But! Yesterday he showed back up in church (wearing a suit even! Last time it was sweats and everyone thought he was homeless) and he's as excited as ever to get baptized!!! We are SO excited for him!! :)
Something he said to us really stuck with me though. He mentioned how he loves this because all the puzzle pieces just fall together when we teach him new things. That's because it's all true! Bah!! It's beautiful :') makes me excited.

Also we sang in church which was fun :) aaaaand honestly I don't remember what else we did... Somewhere in there we had Krispy Kreme donuts, had an AMAZING church tour with our sweet investigator Alondra, and ate some REALLY good pupusas (can you tell I love pupusas?). Oh and today we took the kid to the buddhist temple :) So yeah.... we're happy here :) the work is good, the field is white and ready for us to harvest. Hope y'all are happy and loving life!

-Hermanita Johnson

Two is Better Than One, but Three is Better Than Two

Hi friends!! So the highlight of this week was getting our new companion!!! Now it's Christensen and I and Hermana Zohner! She's from Idaho Falls and she's adorable :) we get along really well and we've already taken her to get pupusas because we'd be terrible parents if we didn't ;) she's doing really well though (in spite of being entirely exhausted--I know how that is. First week kills ya.) and she's really a great missionary already! She's gonna do so well :)

Other highlights of the week include our investigator Luis tying all of our bikes to the top of his car because we (well, just me actually) got a flat tire....again.... it was awesome. It was sketchy as heck and I've never trusted so heavily in a couple of little bungee cords. Twas some fine engineering though ;) so that was fun. We all made it back to the house alive (us and the bikes).

Also I want to share with y'all a thing. Here in Southern California people don't have screen doors. Well, they do, but they're like annoying metal screen doors that are usually impossible to see through from the outside, but you can see perfectly out of them from the inside. People use that a lot to ignore us when they see that it's us at the door.... Anyways, we typically refer to these annoying metal screen doors as "cheese graters" and we as missionaries hate them. So then this morning I found this beauty, brought to you by Hna Christensen.

We got a pretty good laugh out of it ;) and it sparked a secret sticky note war between the 3 of us. It's been fun.

-Hermanita Johnson

And this is our new kiddo!