Sept. 27, 2011

Hey mom,

Oh my goodness!!! I was excited to hear about Ryan. I showed everyone those pictures and I think he's so handsome. I'm planning on setting him up with all of the other sister's younger sisters. There are quite a few 16 year olds and they are all so beautiful. I'm glad he had a good time and went to the game! That's awesome. I have to admit, I'm having some serious fall withdrawls. Everyone keeps saying how great the weather is here, but the thing is, fall is my favorite season so this constant summer thing may or may not be hard for me. That's great news for Annette too! About her house and the marathon. Man, our family is so cool! We do some great things.

Ok, so things have been a little bit slow this week. And actually really hard. Not hard because I'm always working and it's a different schedule, but hard emotionally. None of our investigators are really progressing and I can't figure out how to help any of them. We always get such promising people and lessons, and then they fall apart. So right now I'm just working on getting people to baptism. The Spanish is frustrating. I sometimes get very tired of not being able to understand. I went on an exchange last week to an english area and I was so excited that I forgot to teach simply and ran off the deep end. Oops. I guess that's part of why I've been called Spanish speaking; to humble me and force me to teach simple doctrine.

We have had some very fun things this week though. We got the tour in Mandarin last Monday, so that's not new. The new part is that I took my first Mandarin tour! I took three ladies from Beijing and they were so cute! The word has spread really fast. Yesterday a group of 13 Asians who reserved a tour and we've only been offering that for a week! So people are telling their friends, and they all love it. It's great to see their faces through out the whole thing and how they laugh and really get into it. It's more fun for us too.

We did get to see the RS Broadcast and it was incredible! We watched it on a laptop in our break room at the Battalion, but it was fun because there were several of us, some in pioneer dresses, just hanging in the small room and listening intently to the talks. I swear that Pres. Uchtdorf's talk was directed at me specifically, but all the other sisters say the same for themselves, so we've agreed that he's inspired. But seriously, it was a much needed blessing for all of us and we're all stoked for General Conference this weekend. Sister Adams and I were working at the temple that morning and they closed early, to many member's dismay, but we still got to talk to a lot of visitors. Some day (maybe in three years) the temple will get an actual visitors center instead of the two chair set up we have now. But it's definitely more fun to chase people down who try to avoid you.

Being on a mission is a lot funnier than I realize sometimes. I never before thought I'd be learning the ins and outs of people being deported, or sitting in some homes where there are more bugs than square footage and grinning through it all to prevent screaming, or using hand sanitizer on my legs after dogs and cats lick me. And people will often full on avoid us. It's just a funny experience if you look at it from an outside perspective.

And serving at the Battalion has given me a very different experience of what a mission is like. Today for Pday, we've been approved to watch 17 Miracles so all the sisters are going to get together in one of our theater rooms and watch it. Regular missionaries don't get those kind of experiences, but we do. I'm again very grateful for the Battalion and the diversity is gives me. It keeps things interesting every day and I can see how blessed I am to be allowed to serve there.

Transfers are tomorrow. I can't believe I'm already through my first 6 weeks in the field! Most missionaries find out today if they're getting transfered, but we don't find out until tomorrow morning. We have a few sisters coming to the Battalion, and we're excited to see how they fit in to the flow of things. We'll have a few extra Spanish sisters so there will either be a couple of trios or two sisters will be temporarily moved to full area for a transfer. Hopefully it's the trio option. Sister Adams leaves after this next transfer and is super sad to be going. But she's getting things worked out and we're working on coming to terms with it.

Anyway, that's the week. I'm glad you're all alive, if not entirely well. Dad, I really hope you feel better soon. I'm excited to hear from you again. I love you all family!

Love, Hna. Johnson

Sept. 20, 2011

Well, it's been a crazy week for me too so here is the recap. Mom, do you remember Nate Neagle from Beaver? He's the crazy one with the beard who talked about med school as we rode home in Erik's car. Well, I think he plays a role in the Battalion tour film. Not a big on, he's only in one scene, but it's crazy to see him. Speaking of random connections: Matt VanUitert's uncle, Tony, has been here the past few days. He's one of our tech guys. It was so funny to meet him and have that friend in common. He's been here because we just got the tour in Mandarin!!! It's awesome! The first time we ran it through we had a cute little Chinese couple and then 12 or so of us sitting there watching it. We cheered and had a good time and they really enjoyed it. They appreciated how excited we were for their culture to be here. They referred and loved the tour. This week has been really good in the Battalion. I've taken a few tours with Turkish/ Instanbul-ish people. They're awesome! They've taught me some Turkish phrases and they're so much fun. One lady insisted that whenever I go to Instanbul that I need to look her up and come visit her. I may just take her up on that. I'm also working on learning Mandarin phrases, Russian phrases and hopefully some Italian. It means a lot more to people when someone takes the time to learn a little bit about their culture. The lady from Instanbul didn't really want to say, but I asked her how to say somethings in Turkish (because I really wanted to know) and told her how beautiful I've heard her country is. She was so nice after that. And she said my pronunciation is really good and asked if I have a Turkish boyfriend.

 Outside of the Battalion things have been pretty busy too. Last Thursday we had a Noche de Hogar por la rama, at which Presidente Clayton spoke. It was good, but we didn't have very many people show up and that was kind of disappointing. Elder Clement and I sang a duet, Divina Luz, and I thought I'd be super nervous but I wasn't. It was actually really fun. We had refreshments after, but here's how Mexican my area was. We didn't have brownies or anything like that. We had bread, lunch meat, mayo and jalapeno peppers. It was good, just very atypical. I went on exchanges last Wednesday and it was a growing experience. I didn't have a very good attitude and that made it hard. But we made it through and I relearned how I need to be more open minded to other people, even if I don't always get along with them very well right off the bat. My favorite part of last week was the time we got to spend at the Temple. We spend one of our days at the Temple talking to people and letting them know a little bit about it. We met so many cool people from all over the world. We also met a lot of Asians who were interested in receiving copies of the Book of Mormon. And we met a lady who knew a lot about Mormons. She is so ready! But she didn't want to meet the missionaries, so we told her about mormon.org and to check it out. I'm afraid I didn't do a very good job at explaining things to her, but the Lord knows what He's doing and is really good at making up for my faults. It was such a beautiful day.

We've had some fun parties at the Battalion this week. One was only for a few minutes. The 16th was Mexican Independance day and we have one sister from Mexico. We watched last year's party, tried jalapeno jelly beans, and shouted "Viva!!!" after the President of Mexico called, "Viva Mexico!" It was fun. Our other party was last night. We have 4 birthdays this month so we had a celebration. We had eclaire cake, fruit pizza, yummy treats, and an incredible spinach dip. But the thing that stood out to me was how blessed I am to be here. I'm serving with 21 other incredible sisters and 8 senior missionaries. The senior couples watch out for us, they feed us, they sew for us, they protect us... they're just amazing! And I'm so blessed to be serving with them. This is a unique place and it's so fun to be here.

Ok, a few random things before I go. I found out I'm allergic to walnuts kind of like mom and dad. It's only an irritant if I eat too many... like half a pan of brownies with walnuts.... :) I was wondering if we had any pictures of William Lance other than his head stone? And also, I'm really curious what has been happening with Sam Weiss. Are they waiting until December? And Sister Adams says hi. But mostly I'm alive and well. Hopefully I'm becoming more like the Savior and doing the right things. I'm just so grateful for the Atonement and the feelings of forgiveness that come with this.

I love you all! And I hope your week is great.

Love, Hna. Johnson

Sept. 13, 2011

 

Ok, so story time. I'm sure you heard on the news about the huge blackout in southern California, Arizona and New Mexico. Well, we get hit by it but luckily we were in the Battalion so we were safe and able to get some studying in. It was really fun. All the sisters brought random food and we had a dinner with all of us. Kind of like Thanksgiving. Since it got dark pretty early we planned, watch Legacy on our little DVD player and were in bed at 9:30. There wasn't much we could do during that time and President told us all to be in our apartments. We had running water, which was super lucky, but to be prepared we filled up several bowls with water to have for hand washing. It was fun, but I can see how much a disaster will affect people. So many people weren't prepared and even though the whole thing lasted less than a day, a lot of people would have been in trouble if it had been worse. It was a good reminder from the Lord to prepare. It was nice to not worry because we knew we'd be ok. My testimony of food storage has grown a little bit this week.

This week in our Rama is going to be pretty fun for the members. They're having a party for Mexican Independence Day tomorrow with great food and dancing and the works. I wish we could go, but we'll be at the Battalion. But on Thursday night we're having a Noche de Hogar por todos en nuestra rama. El Presidente Clayton will be speaking sobre las familias, y otras cosas tambien. Estoy un pequito nervoso por que yo y un elder, elder Clement, will be singing. It's going to be fine, but I'm not a performer so it's pretty scary.

We had a couple of really funny run ins with a few people as we were on our way to lessons. One was a little girl. She's probably 10 years old and I'm not quite sure who she belongs to. We went up to a house and she followed us so I assumed she lived there. The answer was nope. We had to reschedule that appointment and then this little girl followed us to another house we were trying to contact. We closed the gate before she got into the yard and she opened it and followed us in. That house fell through, which is probably good because she would have walked right in with us to teach. As we were trying to leave she asked us to come over so we could see her house, to which we responded that we had to go. So she walked up to our car and put her hand on the door. We locked it and drove away, but I'm sure she would have tried to come with us if we had hesitated. It was so funny! Chances are good that we'll see her again, so we'll see what plays out. The other funny story of the week is: we were walking to a potential investigators house and we passed a lady who was in running clothes. We greeted her and said, "How're you doing?" to which she responded, "How art thou?" What?! Who talks like that? We passed each other then Sis. Adams and I just chuckled to ourselves because this nice lady just talked to us in Biblical terms. It made our day.

This week has been good. We've had some really good lessons which was a huge blessing from the Lord. After last week with all of our top investigators falling through we were feeling kind of frustrated and like we weren't doing very well. The elders in our district have been very supportive and encouraging. Things started picking up again and we were able to teach a lady who has been taught for a really long time, but won't commit. She likes learning, she knows the Book of Mormon is true, but her excuse was that the people are weird. And granted, she does know one of the weirder members, but it was still a lame excuse. We found out however, that she has some other concerns about leadership. So we've decided to work with her husband a little bit more and maybe he can be the one to push her better. He's surprised us. He has been reading, he stands up for the church and he has been learning. We haven't even really taught him before, but he's taking the steps himself which is awesome! And their daughter reads the Book of Mormon too. She's 9, and wants to get baptized! The family is so close! The mom just needs a nudge to get going. I always feel so stressed teaching her though because I don't understand what she says most of the time and when I speak, I ask questions that make her cry. Which is apparently a good thing? but I always feel dumb when I walk away from their house. But I'll take feeling dumb if that's what is needed to get her a testimony.

Yesterday we had some great lessons. One is a man who is living here to support his daughters. But he wants to learn and come closer to Christ. He has been blessed with a job, but now he works too much to come to church, so we're praying that something will work out. When we got to his place he saw us, came out to chat then ran back inside to put on his shoes and shirt so he could come be taught in this little corner park. We didn't even ask him to, he just knew the routine and jumped on it. He is so ready!!! He just needs to accept the answer he'll receive and act. But he's ready and he would be solid. I just need to work on having faith that he'll do the right thing. It's hard. People's agency keeps getting in the way! Kidding! But only kind of. I want them to choose, I just want them to choose correctly.

Our other lesson was with a less active girl. She's facing some hard things and has lost sight of goals she had. So we talked with her about remembering who she is and where she's going. There was a point when the Spirit was so strong that I felt like my molecules were vibrating. Sis. Adams felt it too and I'm pretty sure so did this girl. It was incredible. The elders gave her a blessing to help her have strength and I wondered to myself if that's what it feels like to give a blessing. The Spirit was strong and my gratitude to have a loving Father in Heaven was reiterated. He has blessed us so much this week. I'm in awe of how much He loves us.

I just want people to understand that key point. That's the thing that is so hard for me right now. I know it's true! And I know it will help them and that they will be so incredibly blessed, but they don't understand that. That's my job here. I'm here to help people figure that out, but I'm such a weak creature and I have so many faults. I don't have any idea how to help people and I don't know why the Lord has picked me to come here to teach these people because I mess it up more often than get it right. I'm not getting this point across and that is something I need to fix right now because people need to come to Christ. They NEED His saving Atonement in their lives, now. Being a warrior for God is hard stuff, but I can only imagine how much more difficult it is without his Hand guiding and supporting every step of the way. Life must be awful for people who don't understand how to accept the Atonement. We just need to teach them how and then they can be happier. The less active girl we taught said this: "It was hard before I was baptized, but it's harder now. And the thing is, it's worth it! I'd rather be facing my challenges now than before." I have so much hope for her. I just need to remember that.

Anyway, that's our week so far. We just keep plugging along.   Thanks for everything family. I'm glad things are happening and progressing, even if it's overwhelming. I love you.

Love, Hna. Johnson

Ups and Downs - September 5, 2011

Pues, San Diego is definitely sunny. I have a farmers tan from last week , but that's ok. I'm glad Ryan is happy! I can't believe he is a jr. WEIRD!!! How are his classes? And it's about time he is getting his Eagle done. Didn't he start that last May? As in when I was home? But I bet he's super excited to get it done so he can drive. And that means he can get his license next month, right? WEIRD!!! I saw that picture of him and dad and he is just growing right up. He's going to be a hombre-ito when I get home. And some of the sisters remember elder Allen. They thought it was funny that dad and Ryan ran into him. Speaking of 4 wheelers....? Did you all buy some or were they rented? It sounds like dad and Ryan had a lot of fun. (Note-Kelly and Ryan drove to Logan Peak in the Expedition where they met an elder who left SD the day Camille arrived.)

It sounds like Faye is the perfect child. She's so stinkin cute! Hannah sent me some pictures and I had to brag. She's so adorable. And mom, you're riding LOTOJA?!?!?! That's awesome! Good luck! Sounds like everything has been so fun at home, but I bet you're excited for it to settle down.

Ok, mission talk. So literally last Tuesday night everything I had told you about fell apart. Connie and Jesus moved. Catalina dropped us (during which I cried), we dropped any of our investigators who aren't progressing and we're still going to drop more. Everything I had hoped for fell through. I can't even believe how much had changed so fast. But I'm holding out for the Lord because He has promised His help when nothing seems to be making sense, so I'm following what He has to say. Or at least I'm trying to. But our elders are so supportive and helpful. They don't condemn us or judge us and we all share referrals. If one of us aren't having success, we'll pass the invs. off so maybe someone else can do the job. Apparently this isn't common. But I truly am so grateful for the help our elders have given to us. We're a team, and we all know that's my favorite.

The Spanish is coming. I'm understanding more, I speak more in lessons and even when I absolutely slaughter what I'm trying to say, my comp. is there to help me and they seem to get it (for the most part). This week we've had MTE which is Missionary Training Exchanges. We had two days of meetings to learn how to be better then everyone went on exchanges. We didn't, because we're Battalion and we just do exchanges between ourselves, but we've learned some good things. Meetings are hard for me because it's so much information to receive, but I had a good chat with President Clayton. He helped me see that the thing I need to focus on is bringing others to Christ. Everything else are tools and ways to acheive that, but the important thing is to help people learn their relationship with Heavenly Father. It's good to be reminded to simplify because it is so easy to get caught up on all the little details and become too stressed to actually be effective.

I'm grateful for the little ways the Lord blesses me. I'm grateful to see even a 100th part of the tender mercies He gives me. I am so unworthy for the help He gives me, but I'm so glad to know that He loves me inspite of all the and helps me anyway. I would fail entirely without His hand in my life and I'm comforted to have the understanding that He is always with me. I would not be here if it weren't for Him. He is my Savior. And that concept is so complex, but so simple. I love Him so much and I am excited to continue learning of His love for me. As a missionary, I see my weaknesses so clearly and it is hard to face that. But through Him, I'm able to learn to move past those.

The work is moving and I'm glad for all the help I receive from all the other missionaries. Everyone is so kind and uplifting. This is what the Church is about. We meet together oft to pray and fast, and to discuss the welfare of our souls. But more than our souls- the souls of others. We meet as a church to care for one another. There cannot be service if there isn't humility to accept that service and help. Alma 34 has become one of my favorite chapters. I love reading the Book of Mormon. It's more complex than I realized, but it is beautiful. There are incredible truths that can be applied to every situation of life in every single chapter. One of the sisters who serves in the Battalion has this habit of reading a random verse and then applying it's teachings in her tours. That is so cool! I love to do that with her. The scriptures are full of true stories, but they're also parables that are meant to be applied to our lives. It's so amazing that we have been blessed with this book! And I'm excited for the day when the saints are living well enough to receive more records and revelations. A marvelous work is going forth. So much truth is being brought to every man, woman and child! The war is intensifying and Satan is striving so hard to destroy God's plan, but simply put, he can not. The light and truth is being spread and it is miraculous to see. I'm just glad I'm on the winning team.

As for my mission address: the sisters all live in the same apartment complex and we change apartments depending on the area we're serving in. But we use the mission office address because it's distracting to receive mail on days other than Pdays so 7404 Armstrong Pl. is the address to use to send me things. We have cars so I don't worry about a bike or anything. That may change towards the end of my mission if I get transfered to an area out of the Battalion, but for now, we just use cars. I'm doing ok. I don't need anything that I can't get. I'm sick of my clothes, but there are other things to worry about. Like not having enough time to study, but we make do.

I love you all and I'm glad to hear from you. It sounds like things are super fun. Have a great week!
Love, Hna. Johnson

Settling In, Aug. 30,2011

Wow, sounds like a super fun week of getting all the last minute summer activites in. When does your class start? That'll be so fun for you to take. It's good to hear about all the family happenings.

 I do get to use my Spanish quite a bit, the area we are in is basically Mexico. I've started speaking more in lessons and even though I speak poorly, people seem to understand the point I'm trying to get across and are hopefully touched that I'm trying so hard to bear my testimony in their language. When people ask me if I speak Spanish I tell them yes, because I can speak it pretty ok. My problem is that I can't understand when people talk to me. It's actually really funny to teach people for the first time because they assume I speak Spanish as well as Sis. Adams so they look at both of us while they speak, but as the lesson progresses they realize that I don't understand most of what they say so they stop looking at me and speak only to Sis. Adams. But I'm not super worried. It's coming along and I know I'll be fine. I did give my first Spanish tour yesterday. It was super fun. Sis. Ortez, whom I knew in the MTC, took it with me. I learned a few phrases so I could contribute and then she did the rest of the talking. Our visitors were super understanding and didn't seem put off that I struggled. They were very nice about it. I was wearing my YW medallion yesterday and one of the ladies in the tour came up to me after, with tears in her eyes, and told me how proud she was of me for living those commitments I had made and that I was applying everything I had learned in YW. It was so touching to have her that emotional about it.

I'm getting better at taking tours by myself. My first solo tour was absolutely awful. But it has only improved since and I'm getting more comfortable with the script. My favorite is when other missionaries bring in their investigators and I can bear testimony to them about what the Mormon Battalion faced and how they grew. I don't know if the other missionaries like me jumping in like that, but hopefully it all turns out ok.

We had a baptism scheduled for last Saturday, but we found out that she doesn't have a testimony of Joseph Smith so we decided to reschedule and work on that. She is a funny lady and she is never afraid to say what's on her mind. For example, the first time I met her she told me that I didn't match Sis. Adams and that Sis. Mendoza was better with Sis. Adams than me. And she told me I look like I'm 17. But at least we don't have to guess what she is thinking and we know what direction to take with her.

We have another baptism scheduled for the 10th. I can't explain how much I love her and her beautiful daughters. I want more than anything for her to find her testimony before her date. She has been meeting with the Jehovah's Witness missionaries too, which could be bad or I like to think that she is really looking for the truth, which she is, and that means she'll find it when she reads the Book of Mormon. We made a deal with her that if she reads every day she will find the truth and then she'll get baptised. I know that if she puts in her part, she will get her answer. She is such an amazing lady and she could bless her family so much if she had the fullness of the gospel in her life. We're meeting with a lot of interesting people. But it's good to see their progression and humility. I keep wondering at how complete strangers will just open their homes to us and let us come talk to them. I would never be that willing, but they are.

Another family that I love with my whole heart is the Garcia family. They have the most beautiful little boy! They're such a precious family and we've been teaching them about temples and eternal families. It's something they really want and we want it for them too. The thing about this family is that if for any reason they chose to not continue aiming for that goal, I think my heart would literally break. They're incredible and I know that they could be so much happier with the knowledge that they were sealed forever. Their living conditions are humble, but they keep their home so clean. It's a relief to walk into a clean home after being on the streets.

That's basically it. We teach and give tours and have meetings and set goals and then do it all again the next day. It feels like I've been out here for a month instead of two weeks. The time is short, but long and that's been the pattern this entire summer. I'm learning more about being humble and teachable, which is like rubbing sandpaper on my arm, but it'll be worth it. I'm excited to hear back about Nat and Greg. I am so excited for them both!! They're making great steps. It's crazy to think that out of all the Laurels, 4 of us are/will be missionaries. That is so many! And 3 have been married in the temple, while the others are doing great things with their lives. It's incredible how strong we've all been and I'm grateful for all of their examples to me.

Oh, and quick story. Last night a group of temple workers from Ogden came through and I got to meet a few of them. I don't remember their names, but I told them to find Grandma and give her a hug for me.

I love you all so much. Thanks for helping me. Love, Hna. Johnson