Two steps forward, one step back

Mi familia amada,

Hey! so I`ve got some news for y`all about getting to call you guys for Mothers Day. Good news: We will get to use skype. Bad news: We have rather limited options about when we can do it. President told us that we can either do it on the 10th (friday) or on Sunday BUT we have to be all done with our calls by 12pm (Tampico time) so that we can head out to work. Pretty lame but at least we get to use skype. So those are the two options that I have and we can find a way to get either to work so just let me know when works best for you guys. It is sounding like Sunday might be a little tough for you guys so I really hope you all can on friday. It is possible that we would need to do it as early as 10ish if my comp has to do it friday as well, but he believes that he will be doing it on sunday. so please let me know after you have figured out what to do.

Its going to be my last call home! That is soooo crazy. Time is literally flying by and I feel a little scared that its all of a sudden just going to end and I will have to wait until all my future children have grown up and moved out so that I can serve a mission with my future wife. I have had dreams before where my mission has ended and I am back home and I always feel really sad.

It was a tougher week this week because we were trying to find new investigators but we havent had much success with that. But somehow we ended up with a fairly big number of lessons with a member presente and the assistants were wanting to know if our ward could support another companionship so I am a little scared that they are going to split our area and we are going to have to share this promised land with others which would be kinda lame becasue then we wouldnt be able to visit the elders in the other part of the area but it would be fun to work close to another companionship-

Training hasnt been very difficult after having been in the offices with my last companion. I had never been so exhausted in all of my life as I was during those few changes because I was getting sick alot and my companion wasnt helping out alot with the responsibiliteis in the area. Elder Martinez is really awesome as well. He is learning everything pretty fast but a lot of everything is still on my shoulders because there is still alot that he hasnt learned yet. I actually have had the problem of not putting enough responsibility on him so that he can learn, but I have made some plans that will help me to put more of the load on him so that he can learn. I really enjoy training him because he is humble, wants to be obedient, and works hard. He speaks English really well but I am helping him to learn it even better. He is also helping me to better my spanish because he tells me when I say stuff incorrectly. I can feel that my English is getting worse because it is harder for me to put sentences together when I am speaking in english. 

Mari, who we have been teaching along with jorge and rosario (she is the hermana of Jorge), didnt go to church last week or this week and it seems like she is slowly backtracking a little which has been a little upsetting o see. we have determined that it is because her husband isnt really excited about her wanting to join the church and he doesnt really support her very much. We taught a very direct and straightforward lesson to all of them about sanctify el dia de reposo and go to church but she didnt go to church so that was a little frusterating. Rosario and jorge are doing really well but they still havent made any solid plans about their marriage but we cant really tell them to just get married already but we will talk a little more about it this week

Vicente made some progress but also backtracked a little bit. At the beginning he told us that he didnt really believe in God but has started to since we`ve started teaching him. We taught them the law of chastity a week ago and she and her less active girlfriend finally split up but it was more of her choice to do it because she wants to prepare to get sealed to her family. They didnt want to get married so splitting up was what they decided to do. The parents of his girlfriend detest him so we cant continue to teach him there, and apparently vicentes mom is mad at his girlfriend and the church becasue they split up so we probs cant teach him there either. He now he is saying that he doesnt believe in God again but he keeps reading, praying, and going to church (even after they  broke up) so there is still hope for him to develop more faith.

ahhh there is never enough time to write but that is what i have for yall this week. Super cool to hear that Anna got a mission call. I heard that Bonnie also got a call to Brasil and on of my friends from college just sent me a letter that said she is in brazil serving a mission. Now kaitlyn and Kelsey..........

Thats cool that you all ran a 5k, I remember running 5k`s when I did cross country. They were pretty tough but I rember that after finishing your body just feels uber awesome.

Have a great week everyone!

con amor,

Elder Johns

A day late because of the zoo

Aloha,

Sorry for writing a day late, Elder Girot got permission from President to change our P-day to today so that we could go to the zoo this morning. The zoo was pretty cool, it was fun to see all the animals and do something different. We went as a district so I got to go with Elder Girot. The coolest thing we got to see was  tiger. The bears were fun to see as well becasue they were really active and playing around with each other and fighting.

The zone conference we had was good, we talked alot about setting goals and then making plans to accomplish those goals. It was fun to get to see President and Sister Jordan. Things have been pretty crazy in the offices these past couple weeks and Elder Allen (the new secretary) has been calling me like every other day so that I can help him figure out what to do. Glad I am not there to have to deal with it haha!

This past week was just a blur, we taught alot of people and walked alot. We had the baptisimal interviews for Rosario and Mari last week to help Rosario to realize that she and Jorge need to get married here pretty soon. They should be getting married in a week or two. 

There were 133 people in the sacrament meeting today which is the most members I have ever had in a normal sacrament meeting. The week before we had 103 people. Rosario, Jorge, and Vicente came which was good, but Mari didnt come. We dont know waht her reason was for not going but we are hoping that it is legit because she might not be able to get baptized on her baptisimal date becasue you need to go 4 times in a row and now there are only 3 more sundays before the baptisimal date, and the other elders who were here before us didnt leave good enough records to be able to tell if she has been 4 times in a row to church before we came.

We also had to change the baptisimal dates of Mari, Rosario, and Jorge to teh 18th of may because there is a temple trip the saturday and so there wont be any members here to go to the baptism.

I have had alot of trouble getting good uninterrupted sleep lately and it is starting to take its toll a little bit. I am pretty sure that I have a sleeping disorder because I dont think I have ever slept a whole night through without waking up at least once. Sometimes I will roll ontop of my arm and cut off the circulation until I wake up and can barely move it. I dont know if that is a serious problem. The Lord has been really blessing me to not die from exhaustion but I feel like I would probably have more energy if I had better sleep. Mom, you would be proud of me for all of the fruits and vegetables I have been eating. I have really gotten into eating Jicima.

Hey we have to run to our district meeting now so I will see yall in a week!

paz!

Elder Johns

Nos Vemos!

Buen día,

It was a good week, we had a lot of success in being able to teach a lot of lessons, and we even had 5 investigators in church on sunday which was AWESOME.

Rosario, Jorge, and Mari are progressing really well. Jorge still needs to ask Rosario to get married but we dont want to put too much pressure seeing as how it is their business and not ours. They always want to give us delicious food after every appointment and get upset when we dont have time. I reeeeeaaally love going over there to teach them and their other family members because everyone listens so well and they love learing about the gospel.

Vicente also came to church which is good progress. He said that he rpayed about the BOM and sayed he felt good about it. He started out being really sarcastic about everything but now he seems to  be changing and taking it all a little more seriously.

We are teaching alot of less active members and not all of them came to church which was kinda lame, but they will after we help them a little bit more.

Tomorrow we are going to have a zone conference and I am excited to see PResident and Sister Jordan again. 

Sounds like you all had a good time in Utah during Spring Break. It is so wierd to think that during this week as I was teaching and doing all this missionary stuff that you guys were all doing stuff at the same time but way far away. Sometimes it feels like everything should be on pause back home and that when I come back you should all still be sitting on the couch like when I was set apart. 
ahh  the conmputer is kicking me off, nos vemos!

Elder Johns

First week in Victoria

My office replacement, Elder Allen. He is awesome.

Elder Martinez! He is the new missionary that I am training.

The most comfortable form of transportation I have had in a long time.

A spider waiting to welcome us when we got home one night.

Konichiwa,

¿Còmo andan mi querida familia? Things are are going well, it is really crazy going to an area with a new missionary and neither of you know the area or the members. We have had a lot of blessings though and a 20 year old member preparing for his mission has accompanied us almost every day to help us find people and teach. The people here are AWESOME. I mentioned that people seem to have a little more success in Victoria because the baptisimal numbers on average are pretty high here compared to the other zones. And I can see why, we didnt have many days to work this week due to getting here tuesday and going to general conference, but we were able to recieve 10 referrals and teach 12 lessons as well as get to know many of the members. We also placed 4 baptisimal dates within our first 3 days here which was pretty cool. we only cover one ward.

My companion Elder Martinez is awesome, he is a new missionary so I still need to teach him alot of stuff but he wants to be obedient and be a good missionary. He doesn`t ever complain and is doing really well. He also played guitar in a band before the mission. He is from a branch in Nayarit. We get along pretty well, especially becasue he is willing to go running with me in the mornings.

We are teaching some pretty awesome people. Rosario, Jorge and Mari are 3 of the people that we put a baptisimal date with. Rosario and Jorge are going to be getting married soon, we are just waiting for some document to arrive in the mail. There are a ton of people that live in this house, I still dont know how they are all related but it is alot of fun to go there and teach becasue they always listen really well and do the stuff we teach them. And they usually make some delicious dinner for us haha.

We are also teaching vincent, the boyfriend of a member in our ward. He isnt really taking what we are teaching him very seriously, and he hasnt showed much true intent, but he accepted a baptisimal date. We are working with him and we will see where it goes.

We had an awesome lesson with another investigator that the Elders were teaching before we got here, but we just found out that she doesnt live in our area, so she can´t get baptized in our ward. I dont know why the other Elders havent already passed the referall but I really wish she lived in our area because she is really prepared to get baptized. The reason the elders have been teaching her here is becasue she works in the salon that is owned by a member.

Conference was pretty awesome, I really enjoyed getting to see it in English. I really enjoyed the talk aboutobedience that President Monson gave.

Thats cool that you guys all got to go to some of the sessions! I probably saw you guys when it showed everyone singing. 

I dont think Easter is very big here because I almost didnt even notice that it passed.

It was really aweome to see everything just kinds fall into place this week, to see that everything turned out fine and we were always able to find our way to where we needed to go and that we were able to do well even though we dont know the area, members, or investigators. I know that the Lord is helping us and will continue to do so as we serve him with all of our might mind and strength. I love being here and being able to do this work.

Have a great week!

Con amor,

Elder Johns

First email from Victoria

HEY!

Quick update! I am in  VICTORIA!!!!!!! My new companero is named Elder Martinez, he is from Nayarit Mexico! He is also a new missionary so I am training him. But that also means that neither of us know the area or any of the members, but alsot have been helping us out to get to know the area. I have run out of time so I have to go but I love y{all. We just barely had time right now to pass by for like 15 minutes becasue my comp didnt get to write his family on monday and we didnt have time yesterday. I will hear from y{all on monday!

con amor,

Elder Johns

Last Day in the Office!

Carlos Vasquez and Carlos Vasquez Jr. Two of my favorite people I have ever met.

Ward Mission leader named Ladislao and his girlfriend (they are getting married in July)

 

Nefi and Angel Moroni: two kids in a less active family we have taught alot

 

Socorro (right), Hna. Toni and her kid Jared.

 

I don´t know if there are tazos in the states, but they are these little toys that you get when you buy bags of chips or cookies. Ive been collecting them because they are angry birds and I love angry birds. I have like 130 now, and lots of people all over the mission have been giving them to me.

HEY!

WE PLACED A BAPTISIMAL DATE WITH PABLO! We brought our Ward mission leader and his girlfriend and his girlfriend is a convert and she knew just what to tell Pablo to help him understand the process of conversion. He is excited.

I also started training the new secretary this week. His name is Elder Allen. He is really cool and will do a good job. I have a TON of stuff to teach and show him still so i will probably be here for a while training him because today is my last day to do it.  He is pretty smart though and is picking it up really fast. He is also from my generation (started on the 28th of December) but he was in an advanced Spanish class during the MTC so he left earlier than Me and my companion. He even was at Fall semester at BYU the same time that I was, but he stayed in Heritage Halls so I never got to meet him.

I still dont know where I am going to be sent but I am guessing that it is going to be Victoria. I have always wanted to go to Victoria because the areas over there seem to have a little more success than others. But wherever I go is where the Lord needs me and is where I want to go. I am going to really miss the people in this area, alot. It has been a tough ward to work with but they are great people. I am really really really going to miss the families that we have been teaching. I guess I didnt really tell you guys about everyone that weve been working with but it would be hard to talke about everyone that we interact with but I think I will try to talk more about that in future emails. I kinda realize that I have been talking alot about what goes on in the offices, but now I am not going to be in the offices so ill talk more about the people we are teaching.

I will really miss the offices, it was an awesome expierience that taught me alot and helped me to grow in so many different ways. I am going to miss the excitment and the variety that you find working in the offices, but I am also excited to leave behind the stress and not have everyhting be so crazy and changing all the time. I am a little afraid of adjusting back to working in the field full time, but as soon as I get used to it again it will be great. If I have time on Monday i´ll write a quick email and say where I am going.

I dont use a wallet, but I have a little missionary handbook with a white plastic case that it goes in. I put my identification and money in that. Thats cool that Colin is looking for a job. I really enjoyed my first job at the YMCA, it was perfect except that the chlorine was slowly killing me and turning my hair green.

I almost went to the Bridge of Promise one year to volunteer because Savanah told me about it. I think it would be great for Abby.

Thanks for sending me Kembers blog posts.

I only have less than 9 months left! only 6 changes! I am a little sad that it is going by so fast, just when you finally know waht you are doing as a missionary and truly learn to enjoy it time starts to just shoot by.

My pdays are going to change to Monday. I will be writing each monday instead of saturday because i wont be in the offices anymore.

I love you all, have a goooooood week!

con amor,

Elder Johns

Training next Transfer!

Buen día,

Sounds like you guys had a terribly unlucky week with your wallets. One Elder that stayed at our house this week also lost his wallet and we couldnt find it. Thank goodness I dont use a wallet or I would have probably lost it as well. I hope that Abby is ok and that the absence seizure that Abby had isnt a sign of something more serious developing.

We had a pretty good week. It was a little slower as far as visiting lots of people goes, but we had some good lessons. We FINALLY got an appointment with Socorro after not having seen her for over two weeks. She read but she didn´t pray again. She also wont commit to going to church on Sunday because she says that it will cause problems between her and her mother. It is a little frusterating becasue she says that she wants to find out if the church is true but she is not willing to make the sacrifices in order to do so. We are hoping that if she prays about the book of mormon then she will recieve a answer and have more of a desire to make sacrifices in order to come to church.

I think I already told you about how we are teaching Emmanuel, the 9 year old son of a recently activated member. Emmanuel is the coolest 9 year old Ive ever met. He acts more like he is 13 and he is really smart. He always has disliked going to church becasue he doesnt like singing the primary songs in primary, but we gave him a book of mormon in our last appointment and says that he is already on page 40 and that he wants to come to church this Sunday so that is pretty cool.

We saw Pablo again and he said that he hadnt prayed, but he was able to understand what he read in the book of mormon really well. We talked about faith, repentance, and baptism and we committed him to get baptized. He didnt say yes because he says he was already baptized when he was a baby, but he also said he wasnt very sure if his baptism was valid from what he is now learning. He is progressing and went to church last sunday and really liked it. 

We went to have a lesson with a less active family and we were going to talk about the temple and the importance of going to the temple and having a temple recommend. We were going to invite her to talk to the bishop to get one and then go and do vicarious work in the temple BUT she said that she already done talked to the Bishop last Sunday and that she was going to go to the temple that friday. That was kind of cool and we are really excited that she is progressing well and becoming more active.

Guess what! I am going to be training next transfer!!! I think it is for real this time. President had told me two different times earlier in my mission that I was going to train but then I never ended up training. Yesterday we had a training for the people who are going to be training next transfer. It is going to be a big responsibilty training someone, but I am really excited to do it becasue I know that I will learn alot. That means that this next week is offically my last week in the offices as Secretary to the President. Thank goodness because I think it is slowly killing me haha. I am not sure if training will be much of a break, but it will be easier in some ways and more difficult in others. I am going to miss the offices though. President and Hermana Jordan have become my substitute parents and I will miss seeing them so often.

I tried making arroz con leche (rice and milk) but it didnt turn out super good. The rice was still a little hard, but it tasted good. I didnt really have a recipe and just kind threw milk and rice in a pot and boiled it until I thought it was done and threw in alot of suger and some cinnamon.

I would love to get a package! If you can get your hands on an EFY disc for the year 2012 then that would be awesome. I have heard some of the songs on it and it is one of the best. A few AA batteries would also be nice because I am running out for my toothbrush and batteries seem overly expensive here. Whatever else you want to throw in would be awesome as well. I really like chocolate.

Hey I have to go now, I love y´all. Oh and I can call on either Mothers day I think, whatever is best for you guys.

con amor,

Elder Johns