My 3rd General Conference

Hey, 

This was an awesome week! I have time today, so I'm gonna write a novel. I'm gonna start with zone conference. I learned a lot and definitely left on a spiritual high. I don't know that that has worn off yet since we had general conference this weekend. The Busseys are great. They are focusing on one principle from lesson 3, which is The Gospel of Jesus Christ, each zone conference. This time we discussed the Holy Ghost. We focused a lot on how God directs his work through the spirit, and what role we have in that process. We saw some great examples of that this week. I'll share them in a minute. A large part of our role is being worthy to be God's instrument, so we talked a lot about obedience. That was something we needed to hear as a companionship, so that's cool. 

The next day was one of the times we saw an example of what we learned, like I mentioned earlier. We were contacting in a pueblo about 20 minutes south of Dos Hermanas and we passed by an old investigator. We knocked on the gate outside his yard and waited for 3 or 4 minutes but he didn't answer. As we were walking away he came running outside wearing only a towel. He was in the shower and wasn't planning on getting the door, but he got a strong impression that he should answer it. It's a good thing he followed the impression. He let us in and told us he was glad to see us. His wife had left him over the weekend and he needed our help. We shared a short message with him and then invited him to come see general conference. It was really cool to see how we were used to answer his prayers. (Also, that man will be baptized. Just saying...)

Saturday was amazing. We got up early and grabbed the train to go to Sevilla for our interviews with President Bussey. It was a great interview. Then we had studies, and general conference. I wasn't surprised when President Nelson announced something new, we all knew that was coming, I just wasn't sure what it would be. I think the new change sounds great. 

I don't know if you guys have heard much about the new book the church released, "Saints." I started it last Saturday. I got hooked pretty quickly. By Monday I was reading every spare moment I had. I finished it yesterday morning. The book is about the history of the church, and covers the time that Joseph Smith was prophet. It was an awesome prep for conference. It helped me see the real purpose of the church. The changes we're seeing now are only helping fulfill what was started almost 200 years ago with Joseph Smith. This week my testimony grew a lot. I have no doubt this is the true church. This is the last dispensation, and we are being prepared for the things to come. This new schedule gives us more responsibility. A few members here have already been concerned about it, but as we strengthen our testimonies and get on the covenant path, I don't think it will be an issue. I don't know if anyone will have time since you're already reading the Book of Mormon, but I would recommend Saints. It is a great book. 

Thanks for the update on everyone. That was fun to read. So I actually started this email a few hours ago and have been writing every chance I get. I thought I would have more time, but I just found out we have to catch a bus really soon. Today was fun. We saw the cathedral. It was beautiful and I have a ton of pictures I'll upload a few today and the rest next week. Love you guys, 

Elder Johnson

Dos Hermanas - Week 2

Hey,

Everyday Sevilla feels a little more like what I expected Spain to be like. I think it's because it's a bigger city so it's not as poor. We had a good, Spanish week. Last night we ate a Spanish tortilla and paella. Some members cooked food for us and gave it to us in Tupperware at church. Saturday we put on our soccer shoes and went to a few soccer courts to find people to play. That's still my favorite way of finding people to teach. The group we ended up playing with were cool. We're going back this Saturday to play again. They are probably the most talented group I've played with so far. I've got to step up my game.

My Spanish is improving quite a bit. Being surrounded 24/7 by it makes a difference. Elder Birnbaumer doesn't speak a lick of English, so obviously we only speak in Spanish together, but even with other missionaries we only speak Spanish. I'm to the point now where I only think in Spanish and all of my dreams are in Spanish. I even wrote the first 2 sentences of this email in Spanish.

Friday and Saturday we helped some less active members move houses. It reminded me of moving right before the mission. It was pretty fun seeing the difference having a ward can make. In my last areas we were the only ones available to help since we only had like 10 members, but this weekend we had 14 guys from the Elders Quorum show up to help. It was pretty cool. This ward is really cool.

My talk went well yesterday. Since I became district leader I never have as much time to study as I would like. On top of the normal studies I have to plan meetings and write reports, lots of boring stuff, so I completely forgot to write my talk. I took 10 minutes before church and marked a few scriptures and it went well. I think this has happened so many times in the mission that I'm getting better at it. Next time I'll write it out though. I already know when I have to speak again.

That's awesome that the Busseys sent that email. They're super cool. We definitely are the happiest missionaries in the world. And dude.. That's a super cool story about elder Tiebing. I hadn't heard about that. I'm not super surprised though, he's a great missionary.

I'm uploading the pictures from last week, I don't have much from this week. Elder Birnbaumer hates pictures and we didn't do anything for pday again. I'll make sure I have something next Monday.

Love you guys, 

Elder Johnson

Dos Hermanas... Week 1

(about 11:00am Spain time, 3:00am here)

Hey,

Well, things are always changing in the mission. My first week in this new area has been very different from my other areas. Like I said last week, we have a ward. It's not like I expected though. This area has been changing a lot recently. Until a few months ago it was 2 good sized wards. They just combined them into one and closed one of the buildings. I guess some people weren't excited about the changes, yesterday we only had 35ish people in church. We have a bunch of work to do getting the members back. The other big change is the area boundaries. The space that I will be working with Elder Birnbaumer had 6 elders last transfer. Now it's just the two of us. We have spent a lot of time this week combining all of the info we have from both areas.

The city is beautiful though. It feels like a big beach town. It's super hot again, and insanely humid. I think I'm gonna go 2 years without winter. That's pretty crazy to think about. This week I will try to take lots of pictures so you guys can see how cool it is here. This is more like what I had pictured Spain looking like. 

I met a bunch of the members this week. I have a goal to have an appointment with all of them by next week. I think they can help us a ton here. The ward is doing a "missionary Sunday" every month. Until now the only difference is that the Elders speak in sacrement meeting, but I talked to the ward mission leader and we're gonna make this thing bomb. We're trying to organize a few ways members can help us with it, and then he asked me to speak in sacrement meeting on Sunday so I can introduce myself and then present the activities. I'm super excited.

Our district is cool. It's kinda weird cause it's so small. I have had big districts for the last year. The hermanas are in Alcalá de Guadaíra, another pueblo outside of Sevilla. Today we are with them and the district from Sevilla for pday. We're going to see the cathedral and other stuff around there. I had less time in Cuenca than I expected and I missed out on seeing some stuff. I'm not making the same mistake again. We're gonna go see it all as soon as possible. I'll upload pictures of today in the drive. I don't have very many from this week though. 

Elder Johnson

later ... (about 6:30pm Spain time, 10:30am here)

The day was not planned very well, so we didn't really do much. Im gonna plan the next one so we dont miss out again. Today we only went to plaza España. It was super cool though. 

A Message from a friend

I received a message on FB from Maria Brenes this week and thought I would share it here. It's always a wonderful surprise when I hear from someone in Spain that has been touched by Josh and his testimony.  Thank you, Maria!

"Greetings and blessing, has a spectacular son, very good boy.

"I sent some photos of Elder Johnson on the basin branch, and I miss him, he's also my son."

Cuenca...

Hey guys,

This last few days were full of surprises. To start, I was transferred. I mentioned last email that I thought it might happen, but I was still super surprised. We hadn't prepared for that, so I didn't say goodbye to anybody. We found out Saturday afternoon, i stayed up all night packing, and then I left Sunday after church. I'm on a train right now headed towards Sevilla. I'll be serving in Dos Hermanas. It's a little area just outside of Sevilla. I'm pretty pumped because I've heard there is a small ward there. That will be cool. 

My new companion is named Elder Birnbaumer. He's from Bolivia. Goodbye English. He has 1 transfer less than me in the mission. I met him a year ago, but I don't really know him. I'm excited though. Our district will be small. Just us and 2 hermanas. I'll be district leader. 

Elder Batty was great. We'll hang out after the mission. We saw a ton of miracles in the last 6 weeks. We both felt like we got jipped with transfers. We were sure we would be together for 2 or 3 transfers. 

I'm not ready to leave Cuenca. 3 months is not enough time for 1 area. I got to know everyone, and then I left. I'm really excited for the new area, but I will definitely miss out on a few things in Cuenca. We had quite a few baptisms lined up for the next 2 months. I'm expecting about 7 or 8. 

My birthday was awesome. We were super busy. We did some service in the morning, then we had 2 lunch citas. Afterwards we helped with the self reliance class and then we had weekly planning. It was pretty chill, but we were still frunning all day. I got lots of emails and facebook notifications. That was awesome. Thanks guys. 

Let me know if you have questions and I might be on again. 

Love you, 

Elder Johnson

Temple Day

Hey, 

This week was great! We have been seeing some crazy miracles this last little while! In the last 2 weeks we have had 4 less active members that we didn't even know before call us to give them blessings. Three of the times they invited non-member friends. We are currently teaching all of the friends and things are looking great for them.

Susi and Steven are doing well, but we will probably push back the date by a week or two. That always happens. Oh well. They are progressing and have huge desires to be baptized. We are also teaching a lady named Vicky. She's got 3 kids that we're teaching as well. I could see her being baptized next transfer. She's learning really fast and is doing well with the Book of Mormon and prayers. We'll see how it goes with her. The big surprise is Valentin and his brother Daniel. I found them on intercambios with Elder Bodhaine 2 months ago. We didn't hear anything forever, but then they just showed up and we were with them 3 days straight. We played soccer with them on Friday and taught them the Restoration, then Saturday they came to the Bday party and we taught the plan of salvation, and then Sunday they came for all 3 hours of church. They will be baptized. They're awesome for the branch too. Two 14 year old troublemakers. 

We have transfers this next Monday, but we'll find out details on my Bday. You asked what my gut feeling is.. Me and Elder Batty both think there is a good chance I'll leave. Idk why, it's just what we're thinking. I hope not though. We're doing really well together. We would be fine if we stayed together until Christmas, which is possible. We're seeing some great miracles in the work together too.

We celebrated my birthday a little this week. The branch threw a party on Saturday. It was a ton of fun. We had pizza, karaoke, and Ping pong. I was forced to sing, so I sang a hyped up version of "Hark, all ye nations." It was pretty nasty. I can't sing. They also sang happy birthday to me in zone conference a few weeks ago. I'll upload pictures of both. 

I have no idea what I want for my birthday. Probably a soccer game.. We found a sushi place that looks good, so we're probably gonna go splurge and get a good lunch on Saturday. The zone leaders will be out here for intercambios so it'll be a party. The only other exciting thing will be finding out transfers Saturday night.

Today we went to the temple at 7:30 am. It was amazing. I wish we could go more often. After that we went bowling with our district and then grabbed subway for lunch. We played 4 games, I played horrible in 3 of them. I bowled a 156 in my third game though, that was fun. At least I never dropped below 100. I wish we had a bowling alley closer to Cuenca. I would be there every Monday. 

Love you guys, 

Elder Johnson

We found grass... Almost, it's turf.

Hey,

This week was awesome. We had intercambios Monday and Tuesday with the elders in the sixth ward. I was with Elder Curtis and we saw some crazy miracles. We ran into a few members in the street that haven't been active in years. That was cool. Then we had a lesson with Susi and her son. They are going to be baptized either next week or on the 22. I'm super excited for them and the branch. They will help a lot.

District meeting was weird this week. The zone leaders couldn't come, we have to Skype from Cuenca, and the hermanas were sick and couldn't leave piso. We worked it out though and did a conference video call from 4 different locations. The meeting went pretty smooth. Technology is pretty nice sometimes.

I got a haircut this week. It's pretty bad though. I went to a cheap place we found. It turns out it's a school though. She basically gave me a 3 on top and a 1 on the sides. It's the shortest my hair has been in a long time. Maybe ever. She tried to do my sideburns with the blade looking thing, and she cut me pretty bad like 6 times. She had to use a hot stick thing and burn it to make it stop bleeding. We were laughing pretty hard afterwards. I'm not going cheap ever again though.

Today was the best pday of the mission. Easy.... The game 2 weeks ago got me in the mood, so last week I called up everyone in the surrounding zones that plays, and we put together a good game. We rented out an 11 v 11 turf field by the temple. In the end we had 32 elders show up. I had so much fun. I wore my pumas and I had a few good slide tackles. Don't worry though, I was smart and I came out with zero injuries. I think it helps that I'm getting in better shape with elder Batty. Elder Curtis took a good hit within the first 2 minutes and dislocated his shoulder. He went to the doctor pretty quick so he'll be fine. I uploaded a picture to the drive.

Next pday were going to the temple, so it will be Wednesday. I'm not looking forward to the long gap there, but I am looking forward to the temple. This will be the first time since Provo for elder Batty. He's pretty pumped.

Love you guys, 

Elder Johnson