Hey guys,
Sorry I couldn't write more last week. I really wish I could have. We eventually made it to Cuenca at 11:30 Monday night.
I can't remember a time in my life that has been as busy as the last 2 weeks. Like I said last week, I loved training. I learned a ton. Elder Rogers was an awesome companion.
I miss that ward a lot. I will tell you more about my new area in a minute, but since I skipped last week I want to go back a little. Our time with the members was great. I have a lot of their email addresses and Facebooks so I can stay in contact, but it was still hard to leave. From our district of 6 missionaries, 3 left. Both hermanas were taken out so now there are only elders in that ward. Sunday was pretty depressing at church. All of the members were mad at church because we were all leaving and the hermanas felt about about the area being closed. That was a weird goodbye. The lesson with Jonathan was cool on Sunday night. Beforehand I knew I wanted to give him something, and he's always loved my CTR rings. One was a gift from grandma, so I would never give that away, but I gave him the one I found at work. I was surprised by what that meant to him. I gave it to him at the end of the lesson and he hugged me and cried for more than 5 minutes. I don't if it was the ring, or the fact that I was leaving and probably won't see him for a long time, or what. Either way, it was a special moment. He gave me a mate mug that Melania brought back from Uraguay. It's pretty cool. I am so glad I got to know Jonathan.
The other interesting thing from last week is that they sold the car on Thursday and didn't tell us. All of the sudden we got a message that said, "from this moment on you cannot drive the car." That sucked. We missed 3 citas because of it. We did make it to the ward activity though. Thinking back on this it seems like a lifetime a go. We had some fun games, the trivia went well, and the pancakes were awesome.
I was so happy to go back to the temple this week! It's been like 10 months since the last time I was there. A lot of memories came back when we were on the temple grounds. And right as I walked out, guess who was out front taking pictures... Elder Jäger! We talked for a good hour. It was fun because it brought back memories, and we're both still the same, but we've both changed too. We stayed in his piso Friday night too, so we talked a lot then.
We had to take a bus ride, train ride, and the metro to get to zone conference in Madrid on Saturday. We went in the night before because it took us 4.5 hours to get there. Since last Sunday, I have traveled about 35 hours. That's only in one week. The conference was good though. We met the busseys there, they are going to be great. I will miss the Packs though. We talked a lot about combining the missions in the conference. President Bussey talked about adversity. He said that every time something great is happening, there will be equal opposition. I was thinking about that, and it really is true. The mission hasn't been easy, in fact it's been the hardest thing I've done, but it's also been the greatest thing I've done. I thought of changes Ive seen investigators make, and it's the same. There is always opposition. It always gets harder for them to live the commandments the closer we get to baptism. I also thought about you guys. From what I can see from here, the family seems a lot more centered on the gospel, and I think we have all seen blessings from that. But it makes sense that things aren't always the easiest. Since I have been gone each of you have gone through some sort of trial, or maybe you still are, but it's because something great is about to happen. I liked that zone conference. President Bussey is awesome.
So, here is the big news. I kinda left you guys hanging on the new area last week. Cuenca seems pretty, but we don't really leave our end of town to get over to the old town. It's mostly just tourism. This area is very similar to Zamora. We have a small branch. There were 11 people in church yesterday. The branch president is really cool. He is like 25 years old and a return missionary. The weird part is that he was completely inactive when he was called in January, but he's all the priesthood we have soooo.... He's good now though. He is very involved in the work and this calling has changed his life. I am super excited to work here! I can't wait to see this branch change.
I saw a miracle this week. We baptized Ana on Saturday. She is the mother of a recent convert. She's so cool. I will send pictures. I wasn't expecting that. She really was a miracle because we don't really have much else as far as work here.
Elder Jordan is really funny. He is from Mesa, Arizona. His mom is from Tahiti. He is probably the funniest kid I've ever met. He has super dry humor, but at the same time he is outgoing and outright obnoxious. We get along really well. He has one transfer less than me, so we're pretty close on experience in the mission.
Your questions that I haven't already answered:
How is the apartment?
Big, gross, old. It's huge, so that's nice. But we cleaned the entire day today and we still have a ton to do.
Do I have wifi?
Yes, at the church and McDonald's
How often are we in Madrid?
3 times this week and we probably won't be back this transfer
Am I dying of heat?
Nah, I'm always in the water with all these baptisms.... Jk I'm dead. It's so hot and we're ALWAYS in the street here.
I hope this email made up for last week. Love you guys.
Elder Johnson
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