Thanksgiving Zone Conference

Hey,

What a week.. We had zone conference on Thursday, interviews on Friday, and #lighttheworld chaos Saturday and Sunday. It was not only a busy week, but one full of spiritual highs and exciting announcements. 

To start, we had zone conference in Sevilla on Thursday. Elder Rogers and his greenie, Elder Toro, spent the night in our piso the night before since they are a few hours away. It was fun to hang out with Elder Rogers again. He's changed a bunch, he speaks Spanish now. 😂 Then since Thursday was Thanksgiving, we ate Thanksgiving dinner.... Almost. A member from Perú made it. It was meat (maybe pork) with mashed potatoes. It was good, but next year I will enjoy turkey and stuffing. 

The conference was amazing though. We covered a lot of different topics. I took so many notes, I am still reviewing them trying to make sense of everything. They announced the details for #LightTheWorld, as well as changes the first presidency and the area presidency have made. I think one of the biggest things I took away from the conference was actually during the testimonies of the missionaries that go home this transfer. The hermanas I came into the mission with are going home in December, so they shared their testimonies this conference. It made me realize how quickly time is going, and I have felt a new commitment to consecrate every last second I have left in the mission. It doesn't seem that special, but it hit me hard this week. 

Unfortunately, the packages did not make it. 🙁 The next zone conference will be January 8, so that is when I will probably get them. At some point I will need to go to Madrid to sort out my residency card. I have been illegal for 2 months now. So hopefully I can do that this month and grab the packages then.

Friday night bishop invited us over to eat Costco pizza and talk about the #LightTheWorld initiative. He asked us to take the second hour of the meeting on Sunday and present the initiative to the Ward. He also asked us to plan and carry out the service project on Saturday. So all day Saturday we were going around town looking for service opportunities. We talked to the city hall, the police station, the local hospital, red cross, a local charity program, and a program called ONG. in the end we were able to organize something with ONG. I'm still not exactly sure what we will be helping with, but it's something. The presentación went really well. We set up Christmas lights and connected my tablet to the TV to show the calendar and the videos. It was a big hit with the ward. 

I can't believe it's snowing already. Do you think it's gonna snow a lot this winter? I know it's not gonna snow here. The last time Sevilla had snow was over 70 years ago. Thanksgiving looked fun. We were looking forward to the pictures all weekend so elder Zúñiga could see what turkey dinner looked like. Today we are having a chill day. We're gonna meet up in Sevilla, play some card games, and go to Costco to buy American milk. 

Love you, 

Elder Johnson

It's All About the People

Hey,

This week was awesome. To start, I've got to tell you about adilia. I told you a bit about her a few weeks ago, but since then I have gotten to know her better and there is more progress in her story. Her 16 year old son, Jorge, was baptized in July. She started listening to the missionaries the week before his baptism. She came to the baptism, but because she works on Sundays she's never been to church. She started reading the book of Mormon though, and quickly gained a testimony of what we teach. Before I arrived in Dos Hermanas, she had 2 baptismal dates planned that fell through because of her job. She wanted to keep her job, and just take a Sunday off work when possible. That never worked though. So a few weeks ago we promised her that by November 24 she would be able to get baptized and come to church every Sunday if she was willing to sacrifice a few things. We fasted together and started looking for new jobs. We got the ward involved as well. This Tuesday she called us and said she had quit her job. Even though she has to support 4 kids, she wanted to be baptized. So she quit her job and had faith that it would all work out in the end. She invited us over to eat on Thursday. Right before we got there she got a call from a place she had applied at 3 times. The first 2 times they told her she needed a training that she didn't have to be able to work there, but she applied again this month just in case. She now has a job that is Monday through Friday. She can come to church every Sunday and her baptism is scheduled for December 8. Jorge will baptize her. So that was a pretty cool answer to a lot of prayers.

I spoke in sacrament meeting again yesterday. I am actually starting to enjoy it now. I spoke about the talk "It is all about the people" from the april 2018 conference. It has become one of my favorite conference talks. But more specifically, I talked about this part of the talk, "Have you ever asked yourself what it would be like if the Savior visited your ward or branch next Sunday? What would He do? Would He be worried to know if the visual aids were good enough or if the chairs were positioned properly in the classroom? Or would He find someone He could love, teach, and bless? Perhaps He would seek out a new member or a friend to welcome, a sick brother or sister in need of comfort, or a wavering young person who needed to be lifted and encouraged." A lot of times we complicate things in the church, but what really matters is our effort to become like Christ. The talk was good, I went into it with this quote and 3 verses from Moroni 6, and I talked for 26 minutes. The bishop got up and tapped my shoulder so I would finish. I don't really know what happened because talking is not my thing. 

They gave us access to a new application this week. It's called QualityTime. I think I will use it when I get home from the mission as well. It tracks how much time I am on my tablet and phone. At the end of the day I can see how long I was on the device, what apps I used, and at what time I used them. I realized this week that even though I have improved a lot in the mission, I still use technology when I don't need to. 

Today we are doing a tour of the Real Betís Balompíe Stadium. I am super excited! This is my new favorite Spanish team. Until now, I always liked Atlético because they aren't Real Madrid and I like a few of their players, but Betis is awesome. The fans are seriously crazy. There are 2 big teams here in sevilla, Sevilla FC and Betís. Even though Sevilla FC has the name, the real team of the people here is Betís. I love it. I am a little excited for the tour. I also miss soccer a little, but that's never gonna go away. We are also gonna try to see the tower of gold. I've heard it's pretty famous. 

Love you, 

Elder Johnson

Costco Pizza, Volleyball and Keeping Busy...

Hey,

We have been super busy lately. The work is really picking up lately. We are booked 10 days out right now. We are still working towards the baptisms of 3 of friends in the coming weeks and months. I'm really excited for adilia right now. All she needs to be baptized is a new job that allows her to come to church in Sundays. She applied for a job last week and will find out if she got it on Thursday of this week. If she did, we will have a baptism in 3 weeks. Maria and Alejandro are also progressing, slowly, but progressing.

I started a new project this week. I am reading all of the conference talks from president Nelson. He has given 79 talks since 1984, so I will need to read a lot. So far it has been a good study though. President Nelson is a really funny guy, and it's easy to see that from the beginning he has been prepared for this calling. If you want to read an example of how funny he is, the first three paragraphs of his first talk are pretty good. 

I'm speaking in sacrament meeting again next week. My topic will be a talk from the April conference this year, "It's all about the people" given by Bishop Gérald Caussé. They asked me to speak for about 20 minutes this time. I like the opportunity to speak so often, I learn a lot every time I prepare a talk. But it's kinda funny that we have 60 active members and this will be my 3rd time speaking in 2 months. I'll let you know how it goes next week. 

That's awesome that you got a bracelet from Mallorca. Our ward mission leader is working there right now. Also, that's a good day for Emma's surgery. It's a pday. I mean, if she has to do it, that's a good day. 

We have zone conference next week. It's on Thanksgiving, so I'm really hoping that we will eat Thanksgiving dinner. They have a Costco close that carries pumpkin pie and turkey, so I think they will do it. I'm also excited because I talked the zone leaders into letting Elder Roger's and his greenie stay with us the night before. They're coming up from Cádiz. That will be fun to hang out with him for a minute. 

We have a zone pday today. We are all in sevilla for a volleyball tournament. We came out early this morning so we could have lots of time to play. So far we are in the semis, we're doing pretty well. We also sent the companionship that has a car to get pizza at Costco. But yeah, that's our week. Love you. 

Elder Johnson

Halloween, Christmas and Costco

Hey,

This week was full of stories. We had a lot happen here, and you guys had a lot happen there. This week I received more emails from the family before Sunday than I have in months. To start off, I have to tell you about my Halloween. It wasn't quite as good as yours, but it was still an adventure. We went to the hermanas' area to set up a stand and a table to talk to people about the Book of Mormon. We realized just in time that the bus schedule was different that morning, so we ran and made the bus just on time. That's the good part, the bad news is that we forgot the table and the stand. We still went out to talk to people, but when we arrived to our normal place, the Jehova's witnesses were there with their stand. We left and found a side street instead of the main square. We were there for a few hours, and then we had to catch our bus to head back to our area. We have a prepaid bus card that we use for travel between the two cities. Since we started the day poorly, everything had to go bad, right? We came up 20¢ short and couldn't get back to our area. We couldn't pay in card, and the atms were closed for mediodía (yeah, even the machines take a nap.) So we got back to our area at 6:30 and ate and studied to finish the day. It was pretty lame. 

I'm hoping Thanksgiving will be better, but I'm not sure how it will turn out. An American companion would make it a lot easier. They don't celebrate Thanksgiving in Argentina. So far we don't have any plans. We are already starting Christmas though. They gave us the videos and all of the materials this week for #lighttheworld. I'm pretty excited for it this year. There are a lot of fun things we can do with it. 

The work was good this week. We started using Facebook a lot more. We are using an idea from a new jersey mission. We basically add 3000 friends on Facebook every week, and then we send a message to everyone that accepts the request. We have pre-written messages that we send that basically weed out the people that don't have interest, then we teach the people that have potential. It's super weird, but it's working. We also started teaching a guy named Alejandro on Friday. He's pretty cool. We set a baptismal date with him for January. He already knows a lot about the church and has come pretty regularly on Sundays, he just needs to live the word of wisdom to be baptized. 

So I uploaded a few pictures to the drive. They are pictures of our soccer activity on Saturday, me at the church in dos Hermanas, my lunches, Costco, and the Real Betís stadium. We couldn't go in the stadium because there is a uefa match this week, but we're planning on doing it in a few weeks. Costco was awesome today. It made me realize how awesome the united States really are. I didn't go crazy, but I'll be going back. 

I didn't buy any Reeses but I found American milk so I bought 5 liters! And I got pancake mix and syrup.

Love you, 

Elder Johnson