Tacos. Nice.

this week i learned:

1 How to make 200 honduran tacos in less than a day

2 How to replicate the most amazing drink on the planet

3 the lyrics to Let it go. Which i sang at a talent show and wowed everyone with my backflips and singing skills. #wutwut

no but really. I had a great week. There were a few disappointments but we're still goin strong! 

So, before, there were two zones in Quevedo. Quevedo North and Quevedo South. Buuuut missionaries arent arriving and about 20 missionaries went home last week so the combined the 2 zones and we  have to have our Zone meetings in Quevedo South. Which is fine. Buuuut we have to take 3 different buses to get there and we got lost on our way there this weeek. AND i left the cellphone on one of the buses. so we were stressing out lottttttts

We got to our zone meeting an hour late and phoneless. We walked all day without a phone and we were praying for a miracle. well, i had the idea to do a real specific prayer with tons of faith, asking god that a good person would be able to find the phone and want to return it. 

Lender, is one of our investigators who is the most receptive to the spirit. Well he called our phone. Not knowing why he needed to talk to us, and a girl who studies in Quevedo heard the phone ring and answered it. They arranged a meeting and We got our phone back within 2 days. It was an absolute miracle. (it probably helped that our background picture is of Jesus hahahh) 

we love jesus

Encebollado

                                              my lyfe is walking down dirt streets.  and i love it

There is a man that passes all day outside his house watering the street with a hose. the road he lives on is a dirt road in a semi jungley part. and i dont undestand why he is always out side doing that. But we decided to ask him why he does it. and he looked at us and said "I dont like dust" (No me gusta el polvo)

and he went back to work. I thought about that and there are alot of times in our lives where we focus on the things we dont like. the things we want. the things we wish we had, and we dont see the precious things were missing out on. That mans children were playing catch outside alone. Without their dad. That taught me a lesson about Gratitude and showing it through our words and actions. I have lots of things to be grateful for, as do all of us.

i wanna share a quote from a talk by thomas S Monson concerning this:

 “Both abundance and lack of abundance exist simultaneously in our lives, as parallel realities. It is always our conscious choice which secret garden we will tend … when we choose not to focus on what is missing from our lives but are grateful for the abundance that’s presentlove, health, family, friends, work, the joys of nature, and personal pursuits that bring us happiness the wasteland of illusion falls away andwe experience heaven on earth.”

https://www.lds.org/general-conference/2008/10/finding-joy-in-the-journey?lang=eng

Look up the talk. Its way good. i hope you guys give your thanks for the little things and take advantage of the chances you get as you get them. and not when its too late. Love you all! Have a great week :)

Hermana Johnson

yay for paraceptomol

It was Hna Cuevas and our favorite ward mission leader Juan Carbos birthdayyyyyy so we bought them both cakes and surprised them:) 

This week was crazyyyy. Lots of spiritual experiences that strengthen my testimony daily.

We have an investigator and we usually have our lessons on his front porch, so sometimes its a little breezy and our papers fly everywhere. Well we were going to teach The Restoration and we use cups and pictures to explain it really clearly and simply. But it was windy this day so the cups werent going to be able to work. Well. in the opening prayer, i prayed that the weather would calm so we could have a clear understanding of how god restored his gospel. Guys, as soon as i said Amen there wasnt a hint of a breeze. and We explained the Apostasy so he could understand and as soon as my companion moved on to the life of joseph smith, the cups fell over and the wind started blowing again. It was such a miracle. 

This week, despite recieving: Food Poisoning, A Stomach Infection. And a very painful arm infection that continues making me burst out in tears in the street at random moments, We worked really hard All day, everyday. But the infection in my arm is getting worse and i dont know how effective ill be able to be if it continues spreading.

We had our first zone activity and went to the church and played games and shareed snacks and got to know each other. My zone leaders are great. And the gave me a blessing cause the mission nurses said my infection could be a tumor, but dont worryyyy cause its not and ill live. Just.. In pain for a few weeks.

One of the recient convert families lost their house so we get to build a house this week in the jungle, woooooot! 

Theres a gross drink that the members love to give us and its this fruit called Achontia mixed with grains, and it smells like feet and gives you diareah. Ugh. Where am i?

Well. other than Infections, and Earthquakes, i love being a missionary! Im stoked to lead the sector next week. And im wishing the best for my companion whos heading home this sunday!

Damage Done

So im sure alot of you heard about the 7.8 earthquake that happened saturday night in my beloved Ecuador :( From what i heard last 255 people died, and over 2500 were injured... But the numbers keep rising... And maybe im not as well informed as you guys. 

I dont know if its possible for more to happen in a week. 

Tuesday was a sad day. A member of our ward was killed while she was working. She was pregnant.. And the guy who killed her was a coworker who was obsessed with her. She was going to complete a year as a member and was working towards being sealed with her husband and her son. There was a "death march" for her and hundreds of people joined us. The coworker still hasnt been caught. 

Wednesday we went on a little roadtrip to the farthest part of our sector called "Patricia Pilar" Its about 40 minutes away, but its still in our ward boundaries so we spent the afternoon meeting inactive members and exploring our sector and eating real coconut popsicles :) (Jorges dog attacked me and bit me. but dont worry IM FINE.) but likeeee i probably have rabies. 

jokeeee. lets hope not.

Thursday... JOANNA AND ALEXIS GOT MARRIED. We're so excited for them. Alexis is gonna get baptised next week and they couldnt be more excited :)

now.. The moment youve all been waiting for...

SATURDAY. (the longest freaking day of my life)

They day started normal, we woke up, exrecised, studied, and did our weekly planning session. We went to lunch, ate RICE (Suprising, i know) in a members house. We visited a teenager name Gabriel, and he was pretty chill. Trying to get back to church so we arranged an interview with the bishop, Thennn we took a bus to Nueva Esperanza and visited our Ward mision leader for his daughters 4th birthday party. She was adorable, It was based of of the princess Sofia. She had a dress, there was a clown, They fed us cakeee, and RICE. then we visited a few members in Nueva Esperanza and took a bus to the Nueva Buena  Fe to visit our newly weds...

We got inside their house and we were talking to joanna about her pregnancy. (shes got 2 months) Shes super excited. (shes the one who lost her 8 yr old daughter bc she got electrocuted.) Whennnnn ALL OF THE SUDDEN... Alexis's mom runs in and screams "Temblor Temblor!" 

The walls started shaking, everything was falling of the walls and shelves; picture frames, Toy, books, dishes...Tiny cracks started apperaring in the walls and we all stood up to get outside or in the doorway, and Joanna fainted. The cars were rocking back and forth. I felt like i was trying to stand up on a swinging hammock. We all fell to the floor, and Alexis was trying to wake up Joanna. Alexis' mom was crying and it STILL didint stop. It mightve been 2 minutes but it felt like 20. neighbors were leaving the houses to kneel in the street to screaming and praying and repenting. The powerlines were swaying, Tiny cracks started appearing in the side walk. Even after it stopped shaking hard, It felt like we were rocking. ME and hermana alacama just hugged eachother the whole time. Alllll i wantedd to do was call my family to tell them i love them. I thought we were gonna die. the power lines were whipping back and forth. It was raining and the power went out. and after it all calmed down, alll i could hear was people crying. 

Joanna has a car so they drove us to our house. Everyone was panicing all the stores lost their power. We met up with the other hermanas and went into our house to pack some things and grab some flashlights. We live on the third story. We have little cracks in the walls and floor all over the house. so we walked to the church house. I had my ipod so we played some calming music, locked ourselves in and said a prayer. We didnt have blankets or pillows, i only brought my sweatpants and a hoodie. But we arranged the benches in the sacrament meeting room for beds and we had a rough night. There were lots of crazy noises and voices, car sounds, people crying. And a few blocks away there was loud loud music playing. Jorge says thet they threw a party. Nephi was right when he said some people have the perspective of " Eat drink and be merry, for tomorrow we die" 

There were two more smaller earthquakes during the night. But not near as strong. One at 2:15 and one around 5am. 

Longggg night. 

Yesterday we spent most the day driving around with the bishop to members houses picking up food and clothes to send to the people in manabi. There are so many who lost everything they have. One of our investigators lost 2 nieces, an aunt and a sister in law in the earthquaake. These people are really hurting. 

We'll do what we can . Keep Ecuador in your prayers.

Hollaaaa to Ecuador.

Hermana Johnson here.

General Conference was great. Wouldve been better in English though :) But im downloading the talks as we speak so i can listen to them en la casa! There were some Super powerful talks. 

Ecuador is getting another temple!!! So excited for these humble people. There was a huge gasp in the room when it was announced. Finally another temple! That means the church has to be growing in Ecuador, :) Hey, looks like us, missionaries might actually be making a difference!

well, hope you all havent forgotten about me. and hope you are all rockin at this life thing. 

Chao,

Hermana Johnson

Jungle Jungle.

ps. ive been having super weird dreams lately

Buena Fe Semana 7

Buenooooos Diasss, 

Como le va?

This week was transfers! None of my roommates left, buuut there were big changes in our zone! They closed a sector in Valencia and called some new liderezas! Time is ticking away for my comp. Shes got 6 weeks left in the mission! She leaves the day after mothers day! So she can choose to skype her fam.. the day before shell see them.. But she keeps saying she doesnt want to  hahah 

The womans conference was this saturday! We broadcasted it from the church and invited two wards to it and only 12 people came! (4 of us being missionaries) But i loved the conference. Talked alot about service and becoming "Gods hands here on earth"

We went to the temple for a zone conference and i learned a toooon from prez Riggins.

 me and my dying companion

 guayaquil

We had an easter devotional yesterday and it was planned in one day. :)  Guys, like, im getting pretty skilled at planning last minute activities. #RepresentBuenaFE It was really goood and everyone left totes edified

Alexis isnt progressing so we had to DTR...  We had a frank convo with him and he was like "woah, i gotta go to church" And then sunday, it rained, so he didnt go. We're gonna drop him until he pays his debts, cause until then hes planning to work erry sunday.

Doris Diaz, is a gem. She is such a funny person, and is living with her boyfriend and 5 kids. 4 of her kids are members, and she has huge desires to be more united with her fam, and her boyfriend wants to change as well. Soooo we'll see if they progress. they have to get married before obviously. 

Well, hope you all have a great semana :) Pray for me that they dont give me as much rice as last week, okay? Thankssss:)

Chaaao.

Keep Rockin it

Hermana Johnson

ya got me trippinn ohh stumblin

Holaaaaaa

so me and my roomate have been going running most mornings and since most the roads are dirt, there are lot of rock (heeey like hiking:)) annnnd we were running and i tripped and sprained my ankle. That was last thursday, and its stillllll swollen. Buuuut i called the mission nurse andd you know what she saidd :):) nothing. Cause she wont answer our calls. so ive just been limping aroud our sector for the past four days :)

My roommate thinks its torn cause she was the previous mission nurse, buuuut who knows.. The swelling is going down but it still hurts. Bueno.

Theres a part of our sector called the Nogales, and its super dangerous, and there are lots of stories about evil spirits over there so we usually only go in the day time, buuut our recent converts just moved over there and they can only meet with us after 6. Their baby girl loves to say hola, and they live in the middle of the jungle. So we have to take a super long dirt road with thick forestry to get to their house, (THEY DONT HAVE ANY NEIGHBORS) and we taught a lesson and they went to walk us to the road, and my companion swears she saw a dark blur outside their house, and as we walked to the road, the little girl says "Hola!" in her cute little voice, and i swear i hear in a raspy, deep voice "Holaaa" in reply. WE WERE WITH A WOMAN AND HER BABY

So scaryyyy. So scary.  I prayed my guts out.

We also were visiting a less active family and she was locked out of her house with four of her grandchildren and noone was inside, so we decided to share a scripture with her outside her house and exactly when we asked "Is it alright if we share something with you" The radio inside her house started blasting, superrr loud, And right when we stopped, it stopped. The radio, was visible from the window.. and noone was inside. Freaking bad spirits in Buena Fe.

We had our stake conference, and president riggins came to talk to our Stake, and it was sooo powerful. Hes the bomb. 

Other than the ankle, and weird spirits, this week was good.

The guy with us with the cake is an english teacher, and always tries to speak english with me. It was his birthday. Hes alright, pretty receptive, very intellegent buuuut He always says hes gonna leave his wife and move to the USA with his daughter so he can get baptised. (Because she wont marry him and they have to be married to get baptized) The struggle.Were here to seal families!... not to convice people to leave their spouse and migrate to Utah. ayyy, We're working with her. Patienceee :)

Hope all is well back home, and that everyone elsees spring break was better than my families' hahahah. 

Luh yuh allz

Keep Chuggin,

Hermana Johnson Baby

True Homieeee

 The scríptures. Artsy photo, i know. 

 The exact seat where i ate chicken heart.

 E C U A D O R 

Hola Hola, camreon con cola. 

So, we've been planning a talent show for the last month, and we put the name "Chocotalentazo" for it. We asked all the organizations to prepare a talent for it a month ago... (YM YW ,Primary, Bishopric, relief society, elders Quorum...) and as of wednesday, not a single organization had practiced... I getting pretty stressed  out with how casual, and lazy they were being... cause we had handed out over a hundred invitations to people all over buena fe..

 I may have had a panic attack because of all the stress of investigators that arent progressing,  the lack of support from our ward and all the challenges piling up for this area... But... I prayed bunches and bunches and put all my trust in god, and we reached almost all our goals for this week, and out of nowhere the  organizations put little skits together and the Talent show was a Hugeee success, We had more people attend than any other activity or reunion for the church in years. :) We were super happy with how it turned out.

I dont know guys, im just really grateful for my Heavenly Father and all the help hes given me this week. True homie. 

This scripture is the bomb and helped me lots. Ive been reading about the 2000 strippling warriors this week, and i pulled sooo much strength out of these chapters...

Alma 58

 10 Therefore we did pour out our souls in prayer to God, that he would strengthen us and deliver us out of the hands of our enemies, yea, and also give us strength that we might retain our cities, and our lands, and our possessions, for the support of our people.

 11 Yea, and it came to pass that the Lord our God did visit us with assurances that he would deliver us; yea, insomuch that he did speak peace to our souls, and did grant unto us great faith, and did cause us that we should hope for our deliverance in him.

 12 And we did take courage with our small force which we had received, and were fixed with a determination to conquer our enemies, and to maintain our lands, and our possessions, and our wives, and our children, and the cause of our liberty.

 40 But behold, they have received many wounds; nevertheless they stand fast in that liberty wherewith God has made them free; and they are strict to remember the Lord their God from day to day; yea, they do observe to keep his statutes, and his judgments, and his commandments continually; and their faith is strong in the prophecies concerning that which is to come.

We visited River Bahana today! This is part of my sector, And its a little jungley town, and i love it, cause they gave us pineapple smoothies, and I was just oober happy :)

Alexis is having alot more random challenges come up to stop him from getting married. There is just sooo much opposition.. But were gonna figure it out cause We got god on our side! He forgot to pay some debts in a different city and left them there for years and now his name doesnt have credibility to sign important documents? idk I dont understand ecuador.

Miracles are happening! Random people who just want to know about the church have been showing up in sacrament meeting and miracles like that make me realize how important it is to be obedient so god can bless us in such incredible ways. 

Thats alll i got 

Chaoooo

Keep Kickin

Hermana Johnson

 My Bolivian comp thats going to die in 7 weeks. 

(aka shes going  home)

Rio Bahaña

Bomberos and Ballerinas

Mah frenz 

Hello! Still killin it in buena fe. and seeing things get killed too. We had a lesson with a less active kid named Mauro. Hes a ballerina and doesnt go to church cause he has dance practice.. interesting kid. but his mom grabbed chicken after chiken, right in front of us, anddd *slashing noise* killed like 6 chickens. put them in funnels and cut off their heads. no biggie we´re just over here talking about how to be truly converted to the *slash* gospel *slash of jesus christ *slash* 

sorry if thats a little too much imagery. Im imune to like everything now.. doesnt even affect me.

We had a baptism and we bought a cake and did all the preparations.. and the water stopped working while it was filling up the font! *shoot, hermana Johnson, What did you do? I HAVE TO KNOW* im getting there, patience. 

Well, we called the firefighters! In spanish theyre called the Bomberos, and i like that name more cause it sounds cooler. But the bomberos came and filled up the font for us, and they were super great, and way funny. So, we invited them to church :) They didnt come.... but its the thought that counts?

It rained allllllll day wednesday and thursday. Seriously. SO MUCH RAIN. Its killin me. cause we dont wanna carry our jackets so we just walk and walk and walk. I may have tripped in the mud 17 times.... but thats just an estimate. its not like im counting or anything.. hahh *awkward laugh*

What ammm i missing... 

The members are working with us a little more, so thats nice :)

Alexis and Joanna are stoked about getting married. They bought their rings and everything. 

We met a guy on the street, and he happened to be the old young mens president in our ward! But he went inactive cause he moved in with a girl.. So we went and visited them (Angel, y Natalie) and we were talking, (if i wouldve guessed their ages before, id say that she was around 21 and he was about 28) (which is normal for here) buuuuuut when we got talking, we fount out that shes 7 months prego, and she has a 10 month old living in the house too. andddd she told us that she is 15........ 15!!!!! and shes about to have her second kid! and Angel, told us that he is 35... 20 years difference. But i totes controlled my face and didnt show how freaking surprised i was... Well we also found out that people under the age of 18 cant get married here in buena fe, so we are looking in all the surrounding towns to see if theres a place they can get married at. The Ecuadorian struggle, ya feel?

I am good. Im used to eating rice erry day. Im used to the spanish, the random rain storms, the mud, and the sweating.  LIfe is good :)

Hope youre guyses lives are great as well!

Keep Kickin.

Hermana Johnson Baby <- i really think thatll stick my whole mission. Everyone calls me thatt.

I dont like Chicken anymore

Another week, in the promised land.

Jk, this is the land of sin. 

Jk jk, but these people really could be making alot better decisions. They know better.

A recient convert that weve been teaching, who wanted to go on a mission... RAN AWAY, with the bishops nephew. and now theyre living together in a city called La Tronkal and the sad part is that her mom isnt even worried. They got as note. Just a note. She didnt say goodbye or anything! And her mom is super calm. relieved, even that she doesnt have to feed another mouth. 

A preganant girl named Carla came to church, Shes adorable, and super sweet. shes less active, annnnnnnd shes 15 years old and when we went to visit her house we found out that shes been living with a 20 yearold... for 2 YEARS. She was 13 when they moved in together. Freakinnnngggg. Children having children. 

Alot of people call us Elderes... because theyre used to having Elders in Buena fe, so i guess anyone with a plaque they call Elders. Cool. It happens way too often.

I am distraught, and scarred  for life, Our lunch on friday was the worst lunch ive had here, I didnt know what it was... so i just ate it. and asked after,,, I ate chicken heart, let me repeat, I  ATE CHICKEN HEART. and this soup didnt only have a whoe heart in it, it also had the feet, i had to eat a freaking chicken foot. and i almost cried doing so.

At 6:30 pm, theres a street, and every single day hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of bats fly down this street. I thought it was the end of the world. I thought they were about to just turn into vampires and start attacking everybody. well, everybody but us, cause gods got our back.

People here drive really old trucks and cars, but to make them seem cooler they put in sticker letters the names of fancy cars on their windows, so here you always see cars with the word "Lamborghini" or "Ferrari" on super old cars. it makes me laugh. hahah

Its not as hot here as it is in Babahoyo so thats really good, In the morning you could even describe the air as "fresco" But thats only in the morning. and it makes showering in freezing cold water every morning a chore. I dread showering. But i do it every day. but i hate it, The struggle.

Other than that, nothing much happened. Things are good here. People are very uneducated and sometimes that can be hard, cause they dont think about their actions. But were here to help inform them, right? That theres a peerfect plan that Gods got for them. And how this plan is gonna change their whole life, and perspective on life. Here to help, 

Anyways, :) Keep Chuggin.

Hermana Johnson Baby. (como el shampoo)

Buena Fe Week 2

Buena Fe is Adorable. 

Already in love with it. Its this cute little jungly town

The ward is so different. In my last area, there were about 400 members and 200 were active. here there are 600 members and 90 of them are active. ITS SO SAD. all of the leaders, like the relief society, and elders quorum presidency are single. cause there are like 3 familes where there parents are sealed. But the members help alot!

My comp is trunky hahah. but that just makes it so i have to keep us in line. 

People are so weird here hahah. They have so many stories about elves. YES I SAID ELVES. Theyre are lots of elf sightings, and stories where elves have kidnapped children and everytime they tell a story, i cant help but laughing cause they say these little men run around in green outfits causing mischeif. and they say it with the utmost sicerity. hahhah i cant take them seriously. Its a struggle.

Theres this family that were helping get married! The woman is inactive cause she has a restraunt and always works on sundays. but theyre deciding to close down their restraunt! Woooot! And Alexis, the husband is gettin baptised. The reason theyre changing everything after working with the missionaries for so long is because theyre 8 year old daughter, who was preparring to get baptised, got electrecuted and died about three weeks ago. 

Sadly, there are aloooot of cases like this. This town has really sketchy electricity and there are wires hanging down, and this little girl was walking one day and stepped on one of thesse wires and got electrecuted. Super scary stuff. So dont worry, cause im being careful.

IT RAINS SO HARD. freak rainstorms. everyday. They just come out of nowhere. and the problem is that all the roofs are tin and when we want to teach a really awesome lesson, it always rains and we cant hear the people were teaching cause the rain slams against the roofs so hard.  The struggle

Thats the jist of buena fe. 

Keep Chuggin,

Hermana Johnson Baby (como el shampoo) They call me that here as well... *sigh*