Week 22- Corn and Tulips and Miracles

This week has definitely been an interesting one for sure! But it has also been so so so good.

Hermana Villalobos and I have been having real problems just feeling like we couldnt really bring the Spirit as much as we wanted to in our lessons. We knew that we had so many teaching opportunities but we weren't really seeing investigator progression and that was killing us because we just love these people. So we were trying to figure out what we could do to step it up- there were lots of things that we needed to do (exact obedience is real people!) but there is that saying that there is always people prepared for this message and sometimes the hardest thing is saying "hey i dont think these people are really ready right now, we gotta move on for now." But we came to the conclusion that that was probably true. So we "dropped" most of our investigators that we had that hadn't been progressing which was just a little scary because that meant that we had to do the unspeakable...TRACT. hahaha but we had been given a list from our district leaders from 2003. We still arent quite sure what the list is of but it is about 100 names and addresses in the area. So we started going down the list and contacting and.... BAM MIRACLES. No joke it has been so amazing. We met the nicest girl named Dulce (sweet in spanish lol) and it was her birthday and she told us that we had a really nice spirit and that we could totally come back. That was only one example of how amazing that list has been. #blessings

The other day we were on our way to a dinner apppointment and we had about 20 minutes before we needed to be there. And we saw some people standing outside their house and so we decided to go talk to them. Well we tried to talk to them but she was selling fruits and mexican delicacies out of her trunk! So she tricked us and we ended up buying corn with mayo, cheese, and chili powder on it! lol but then the real shame was walking into our dinner appointment with food in our hands becuase we had nothing else to do with it and we didnt want to waste it! lol but we ate it later and it was some good corn.

Today we went to the tulip festival which was so amazing! I sent some pictures to Aunt Pam but it was absolutely beautiful- just fields and fields of tulips.

Well other than that, Happy Easter. I love you and I hope conference is good. Go with a specific question and pray for an answer and I KNOW you will recieve. Love you.

Hermana Johnson

Week 21- No Clever Titles Coming To Mind

This week was good.

It has definitely been a week circled around prayer. We have felt so much that that is something we need to be teaching. It is crucial in the conversion process- for an investigator or those of us who have had the Gospel in our lives for years and years- the need for conversion never stops. We had a Zone Training Meeting this week and one of the Sister's talked about how our faith is like a tree. We have to nourish it and let it grow but the bigger and bigger it gets the MORE nourishment it needs- not less. That nourishment, at least in huge part, we get from prayer. We have many people to teach and all of them are so amazing but we have really felt like something has been missing in our teaching and their learning. We have definitely felt so much that wejust need to teach more seriously about prayer and emphasize it because that is the only way that when the "Devil shall send forth his mighty winds, yea, his shafts in the whirlwind..." he will not prevail. We will stand firm no matter the situation and we can have confidence that we know who we are and where we stand.

Well I wish I had more but I dont remember too much from this week to be honest!

Se que mi salvador vive y que tenemos muchas bendiciones porque sabemos sobre la iglesia de Jesucristo en la tierra hoy en dia.

con amor

Hermana Johnson

Week 20- Lesson After Lesson

This week was so crazy and so interesting! 

We had a lot of people to teach and luckily kind of just went from lesson to lesson all week. It is pretty exhausting but awesome at the same time. This week we had a lesson with a family who is the cousin of our ward mission leader. The family seems really interested and they have two little girls- one who is 9 and can be baptized and the other who is 7 so she will have to wait but the best thing is that when we were teaching the mom, Rayna was just listening so intently and like she just had this spark in her eye and she made it feel like the message was so important- like she was hanging onto every word. It was really awesome. Funny thing #1 is that we brought their cousins son and they all didnt know eachother so we basically hosted a family reunion! Pretty funny. And funny thing #2 is when we were saying the closing prayer I just opened my eyes just a peek (i know, bad missionary) but all four of them were looking RIGHT at me and so then I closed my eyes really fast and was trying so hard not to laugh but i hardly knew what to do! 

Let's see, what else? A member gave us a referall- her son is a less active who is married to a non-member and she told us to go ahead and stop by. So we went to his house and we pretended like we had no idea anything about him (haha) and then we asked him if he had ever talked to missionaries before and that kind of stuff but he basically just said that he only had for a few minutes and that he wasn't interested so we were like oh OK. And left. Well the next day we were eating dinner at his Aunt's house and he walked in the door and we all made eye contact and just were like uhhhh hey! hahah talk about the greatest awkward moment in the world but geez it was so funny. I think Hermana Villalobos and I both wanted to kinda disappear.

Saturday was pretty brutal- 8 appointments canceled and so we literally ran around getting rained on begging people to let us in to their house. Keeps us humble, its good for us haha. Sometimes Missionary Work is as hard as nailing jello to a tree. (stole that from mom)

Something that I definitely learned this week is that we have to teach people and not just lessons. It is sometimes hard to imagine what learning about our religion would be like if we had never heard anything about it before but it can sound kinda crazy. Joseph Smith himself said that maybe if someone else had told him and he hadn't experienced it himself, he might not even believe it. But he had experienced it, and he could not deny it. Well we had the opportunity to be reconnected with two different investigators last week who had chosen to stop the lessons. In both cases when we began to talk to them again they struggled with the Book of Mormon. And now looking back on the first time that we had taught them we just taught the Restoration and we get to the part of the First Vision the feeling is so strong- I get warm from the inside out- and so we assume that the lesson was awesome but sometimes that one good feeling doesnt soothe all the questions and concerns and doubts. I believe that we have these two investigators back because the Lord is super merciful and like in Ether even though we are weak in words those that are truly meek will see around that to the truth  - and I couldn't be more grateful. I hope that they can be directed a little better to answers this time (which only comes through personal prayer and reading, for reals.) 

Well I guess that's about it. You're the best. Loves! 

Hermana J

Week 19- Natives

Drumroll pleaseeeeeee..... 

The new comp IS HERMANNNNAAA.................. Villalobos. She is super amazing. She was born in D.F. (Mexico City North)- so Ryan you definitely know her home! And she moved to America when she was 11. She is super pretty and it has been so fun wearing all her clothes haha and she is switching things up here in McMinnville and pushing me and the area to grow and be better which I just love. 

We have a lesson in literally three minutes so I will have to keep this so short- I am sorry but I just wanted to share this experience. 

We had the Stake Presidents daughter with us and we were driving to a lesson and we saw two women walking with some little children riding around on some bikes. And I was like I dont know why but we have to talk to them. So we pulled over and jumped out really quick and when one of the kids saw me she started to run towards me and gave me the biggest hug and I didnt see her face so I wasnt sure who it was but then I realized that it was the youngest daughter of a father we had been teaching who we had lost contact with. This fmaily had been taught by Elders years ago but the mother passed away from cancer- she was diagnosed right after they had set a baptismal date. She left behind 4 kids and the family chose to stop investigating. They were just being taught again about 6 months ago. I was so grateful in that moment that God asked us to stop and talk to those people because there is no doubt that every soul is precious in the sight of God and that he loves his Children.  We were able to make an appointment and I hope with all my heart that the members of this family will decide to be wrapped in the arms of Christ which offer comfort and happiness. May we all be a little more willing to go where he wants us to go and do what he wants us to do.

All my love,

Hermana J

Week 18- Breaking Up The Dream Team

Well everyone they are taking my mom away, again. Hermana Barrios is leaving McMinnville and I am going to try and fill in her VERY big footsteps. We find out tomorrow where she is going and who our new companions are. Its basically the worst because she has been in MAC for 9 months and I love her more than anything so basically everybody in the whole town has been crying for three days straight. Man but all's well. This is part of missionary life. 

This week was a good week. We have been trying to work hard and we are pretty lucky to be in just about the best area ever. Our Ward Mission Leader, Brother Alba, has been the leader for a lot of years now and I think we are pretty blessed to have him because he is willing to do whatever he can to help and sometimes he is like oh you havent met this investigator? sorry, i have only taught him a little. haha well ok then. thats definitely a problem that we dont mind having. But some things that Brother Alba has taught me is that every person has strengths and all though they might not do it the way you would- they are going to be able to do it in a way that is good. 

The West family took us to dinner at this really awesome place called McMinnimins. It was a roof top restraunt and so you could see the view all the way over MAC- it was so awesome. 

Yesterday we had a very good lesson with a young couple who were baptized a few weeks before I came- they moved to Portland right after they were baptized and moved back just a few weeks ago. This couple was taught by the Newberg Spanish Elders and the way that they started was that the guy- Mario who is only 22 decided that he wanted God in his life so he went up to the elder in the car and asked for a bible. After that him and his 18 year old girlfriend Andrea were married and baptized within a few months. Crazy show of faith. And both were struggling a little bit with the Plan of Salvation so we had alesson at the church with the Elders to help clear up their minds. I have never, ever felt the Spirit so strong as I did in that room. They are two very special people and they will do amazing things. But definitely something I learned was that how merciful and kind and loving must God be to love all his Children so much to each give them an opportunity to be comfortable and happy no matter what our choices are.  It must have seemed somewhat appealing the plan that Satan presented- that everyone could return but it just wasnt right. How beautiful the gift of agency is- and it is such a responsibility! 

Welcome home Derrick! 

Love, Hermana Johnson