Elder Beltran is super awesome!

My new companion Elder Beltran! He is super awesome!

Happy October!

 

Hey hey hey! Another week flew by super duper fast! My new companion arrived last monday and his name is Elder Beltran! He is super awesome and we have had an absolutely wonderful time together this past week. He will have a year in the mission this friday! He is also from the same generation of missionarys as my trainer which is kinda cool. At night we were wondering who we were supposed to call to check in (we have to call the District Leader every night once we get to the house) becasue the District Leader left the zone. We called the Zone Leader and to my companions suprise, he was the new District Leader! It is kinda cool to have a District Leader as a companion because I can see all the stuff he has to do and it is good preparation if I  ever will be a District LEader someday. It looks like a lot of work. This week he is going to be doing a lot of exchanges with our District of 3 other companionships so that means I will be doing a lot of exchanges as well.

 

We have been working pretty hard this week and we found 7 new investigators! we had the goal of 5 and we had been contacting forever and tons of appointments kept falling through, but in our last appointment Sunday night we found 4 new investigators that are all interested in learning more about the church!

 

Guadelupe is progressing well. We taught her about keeping the Sabbath Day holy last week and she understood it and wanted to do her best to obey it which I thought was awesome. We want to have her baptisimal interview this Saturday, but seh still doesnt have a very firm testimony of the Book of Mormon because we havent been able to get her to pray about it or read very much in it. We are going to be focusing on that this week.

 

Unfortunately we didnt get to see Dulce this week becasue conflicts kept coming up for her during the times of our appointments.

 

I think I already told you about how everyone makes delicious fruit drinks here that are fresh. I bought some limes, sugar, and cantelope to practice making my very own agua de limón and agua de melón. I´ll let you know how it goes.

 

I would very much love to hug and kiss you too mom but that time is just around the corner. I just completed nine months on the mission last friday and time feels like it is flying by. Ever since I got 6 months in the mission time has just kept accelerating. It is so crazy to think that it was a whole year ago that I went to the temple for the first time.

 

I love you all and I wish you success in your current endevours. ¡Tengan una buena semana y nos vemos el próximo lunes!

 

con amor,

 

Elder Johns

Another fast week!

Elder Johns and Elder Girot

¡Hola familia!

 

Hey! its been another really fast weeek! This week was nuts! We had exchanges with the District leader and teh Zone LEader. I got to be on ANOTHER exchange wiht Elder Girot because he is currently the ZL's comp. Elder Girot is my comp from the MTC that I was a little worried about, and it is always fun to go on exchanges with him becasue I can see how much he is growing. He is a lot stronger than I thought from the MTC. I also got to go on  an exchange with Elder Olsen, he only has about 4 months in the mission so his Spanish isnt the best, but he really knows how to teach. Being with himn reminded me alot of how I used to be when I had just left the MTC, I really have grown and learned a lot, but I still need to learn and grow alot.

 

Guadelupe is really progressing well! she really likes the Plan of Salvation and how she can be withher family for the eternitys. She committed to be baptized on teh 13th of OCT and I am really excited. She even cried a little when she was saying the closing prayer. Dulce is progressing, but slowly. She knows the church is true but she just has a fear that she cant describe concerning getting baptized.  We will figure it out here soon.

 

Pres also said to me that he was going to have me train this new exchange, but because there were problems with visas, not all of the new missionaries came so he ended up not having me train. When he told me that I was shocked. I dont feel ready to train haha! That would have been nuts if I had been a trainer this next exchange. I guess we will see what will happen.

 

Sorry this letter is badly typed and a little messy, I dont ahve alot of time and I am writing really fast.  Sounds like it was a fun bikeride! I remember that tunnel, it was really creepy and it felt really wierd to be in it becasue it was so dark. happy anniversary mom and dad!

 

I love you alll alot and I hope you have a great week!

con amor,

Elder Johns

¡Soy Mexicano!

 ¡Soy Mexicano!

There were tons of people at the stake event for Sep. 15th!

Hey Hey Hey!

This week flew by really fast! It is hard to believe that it is already the last week of the transfer, I feel like I just left my first area not that long ago, but ive already been here for 5 weeks!

In our last District meeting I planned and directed it and it was kinda fun. We practiced How to Start Teaching. It reminded me a little bit of the MTC because I had to plan our District Meetings when I was the District Leader.

We were passing by where Dulce lives early this week and there she was! It turns out thatshe wasnt able to get enough money to make the trip and so she is going to be staying her indefinately until she figures out what she is going to do. It is a little sad because it means she wasnt able to get her pension,but it also means that we have the opportunity to keep teaching her. She is progressing but fairly slowly. We set the date of her baptism for the 22nd of September, but she still isnt at the point where she is really converted and keeps making small excuses. She is really great and I am sure that as we can help her to grow her faith in Jesus Christ she will be more ready.

We did exchanges this week which is when the District Leader does a swap with one of us. He came here to our area and Elder Soto, my companion, went to the District Leaders area. It was kinda fun to be with the District Leader in my area because I got to be more in charge and it was a good test to see if I really knew the area or not. afterwards we got together and went to a nice taco stand and I ate the most delicious taco, and it was only $14!!! I had to get two.

The 15th of September is Mexican Independance day which is alot like our 4th of July. The ward had a large stake activity on Friday night with dancing and singing and alot of foodto celeberate. Tamales are pretty popular here. A tamale is like a little burrito but you make it by putting corn stuff around whatever type of tamale you want to make (you can put vegetables, different meats, and chiles) and you fold it in a corn husk or in a banana leaf and heat it up for a long time. They are fairly good, but it depends alot on what type it is. But yeah there were tons of people and Guadelupe came! It was really great to see her there becasue it was a really good atmosphere for her to get to know some of the members better. Then on Saturday, the actual 15th of September, we had to return to our apartment at 7:30 because aparrently there is a lot of drinking that goes on. To celebrate, the people do lots of partys and we heard about a fireworks show somewhere. and at 11:00 everyone was supposed to shout ¡Viva Mexico! We went to bed at 10:30, but the fireworks in the distance woke me up at 11 so I did a little Mexican shout, but not loud enough to wake up my companion.

It has been an interesting week. We still havent been seeing alot of progression with our investigators. They are progressing but very slowly. My companion has been having a really hard time this past week as well. He is really feeling stressed out that we havent been having a ton of success with our investigators and he has been here for almost 4.5 months and he is ready to leave. If you could maybe mention him in your prayers tonight that he will be able to feel a little happier it would be much appreciated.

Sounds like Abby had a splendid birthday! That MOD pizza place sounds pretty delicious. I am also glad that Kelsey is enjoying college but she didnt reply to my email so hopefully she will soon. Is Kaitlyn getting my emails? I have been sending some to her but she doesnt respond so I dont know if they are appearing in her junk or if she just never checks (I have been sending them to kaitlynjohns(at)hotmail.com).

That is so awesome that you guys are getting involved in la obra misional! (missionary work)

Members have a really important role in helping investigators feel welcome in the church and become a part of the social aspect of the church so that they can have  help reamining active after baptism.

Well this is the last week of the exchange which is always the most difficult. I hope you all have a wonderful week and that you are all reading your scriptures!

con amor,

Elder Johns