Hermana Laura Johnson: Barcelona Mission: (Zaragoza) Week-07 2012

Dear President,

What a week we had last week and this week, both very eventful here in Zaragoza. Hermana Reeder and I haven´t had time the last couple of days to get on the internet because we have been running around the city getting things taken care of, so we apologize that this letter is a couple days late.
Zaragoza is booming. Hermana Stephenson and I had a lot of success last week, which was quite exciting. We were just starting the new week as a companionship with one large area here without the other two Sisters until the most recent change of companionship happened. We had several lessons last week with several people from "our" area and the "other Hermanas" area. It has been wonderful getting to know the north half of Zaragoza and the members that live there. We have had comida appointments to get to know them and we have just stopped by to say "hi" and share a quick message. Hermana Stephenson and I were really focusing on our relationships with the members. The members need to know who we are and we need to know them. This is what, in my opinion, is the most important thing we need to be working on here at this time.

We had an unexpected miracle happen on Sunday with 12 investigators showing up at Church! We attended both the Branches here in Zaragoza and the majority of the investigators showed up in the morning at the first Branch. The Elders introduced Hermana Stephenson and I to all of these new people who just so happened to live in our area. It´s incredible because each of them has an individual story of what got them to the Church that day. It was so exciting to see so many new faces and the chapel was so crowded that there were not enough seats for everyone! We got a lot of names, addresses, and phone numbers that Hermana Reeder and I are working hard on to contact. We are so excited and I am so excited now to have Hermana Reeder here to help me. We have a plan to meet with President Gomez ASAP as we have quite a lot of things to discuss. I have high hopes and I know that the Lord will bless us. We will see miracles and we are working on obedience now more than ever before and we owe it to the Lord, the Branches, ourselves, and the people we are working with to receive the blessings that come from being obedient Missionaries. It's great to be in Zaragoza and I feel very blessed to be a part of the work here right now. I am very happy and have a lot of faith for the future. Every action we make as Missionaries will make a difference for the better, I'm sure.
Thank you for your encouragement always.

Love,
Hermana Johnson.

So first of all I am sorry that I am writing to you right now today (Tuesday) instead of on preparation day (Monday). Life just keeps getting crazier!! Family! Since Day 1 in the mission things have been crazy with all the changes and with all the moves in my life! I know that the Lord is SO aware of us and our needs.

So I actually don´t have a lot of time because I have been traveling like crazy and have been to that train station here in Zaragoza so many times in the last little while. I don´t have a lot of time because I just got back into town and we have a dinner appointment in a half an hour with the amazing Wolfart family.
HERE´s the low down...

Last week: …best week of my mission life so far here in Spain!!!! Monday we shopped some with Hermanas: Moulton and Wilson before they left Zaragoza. Hermana Stephenson and I dropped them off at the train station early Tuesday morning and said good bye to them and to our dear district mate, Elder Manotas. Then we met the new elder in our district Elder Reeder from Bountiful, Utah (he has about a year on the mission). Then Hermana Stephenson and I left back to our piso. We were sad and kind of nervous to be here in Zaragoza by ourselves, but I was secretly super excited because no more other distractions and we can just really get down to work. Tuesday was our preparation day (when I e-mailed you). The rest of the week is history. AMAZING HISTORY. It was almost like a week being back in Salt Lake City!!! We had over 20 lessons that week and we have so many investigators now. We are getting to know the members now. We had meals with some members. We had amazing lessons. The reason for the change is because now we are in all of Zaragoza. The Zaragoza 2nd branch just has us now. Now we can visit all the members and all the less actives and all the investigators in all of our one big area. IT¨S WONDERFUL!!! I was loving life!!! Not to mention...we had to go to the 1st branch meetings in the morning on Sunday and the 1st branch members love us and Sacrament meeting was packed and we had 12 investigators at church!!!!!!!!! That´s even better than Salt Lake! Just random people that we had never met before came to the church and the elders were running us around to make sure we met all of them. We have so many addresses and new contacts and citas (appointments) this last week and now this week. The work is booming!!! It´s INCREDIBLE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! So exciting. Hermana Stephenson was so overwhelmed. I was loving life. We were literally running around the city getting on buses like crazy just trying to get to all the appointments we had. I LOVE BEING BUSY!!!!!!!!!!! It was sooooo great. FAMILY!!! It was so great.
Then we got a phone call...Sunday night the Hospitalet Hermanas were trying to call us and then we got a phone call from President Hinckley while we were sitting outside on a park bench (and my leg got eaten alive..I have crazy big bug bites just on one leg :( ). President Hinckley then informed us that there was an emergency transfer and that our companionship was going to be affected. So less than 12 hours later Hermana Stephenson and I went back to the train station and got on the train and went to Barcelona so I could drop her off with her new companion Hermana Eyre (who was my comp in the Madrid MTC and those two are now serving in Hospitalet), and so I could meet my new companion, Hermana Reeder (she´s from Utah, has 1 year on the mission is going home in Oct.)....what a wild change right!!! Then 20 minutes after the switch Hermana Reeder and I got right back on that train and came back to Zaragoza...

A little side note, it was kind of neat because in the train station, a guy around our age approached us and started speaking English to us. Turns out he´s a leader of a study abroad group from UVU!!! It was so neat to see him and talk to him. They were studying abroad in Europe doing art history museums and such. Then they just finished and now they are backpacking around Europe in the cities they didn´t hit on their art history adventures. How neat is that! It was so great talking to someone from the states...
So Hermana Reeder is 24 years old from Utah graduated from BYU-I and she is gorgeous! At first, I was SO sad to have Hermana Stephenson leave...we were just figuring stuff out and we just had the BEST WEEK EVER. But the Lord knows best and I know Pres. Hinckley receives the revelation. So here is Hermana Reeder and I (included the picture...more to come). She is great! Our Spanish level is about the same and we had a blast in the 2 lessons that we have had together. It was a big change and a big shock. (…will tell you about the emergency transfer later). WE contact on the buses now and we are working hard. We get along so well so far (it´s only day 2). I love her already and I am SO happy she is here to contribute to the work here in Zaragoza. Everyone in the mission is looking to Zaragoza right now because of all this commotion. Everyone wants to be serving here (all the sisters-the sisters all call each other and tell each other the news). I am SO happy. Even more happy than before!!!!!! She will be able to help me save and restore the reputation of the sister missionaries in this branch-in this area. We are going to baptize all of Zaragoza just wait and see!!! :)

So then this morning we got on another train and went to Lleida for a zone "enfoque" (unofficial, without Pres. Hinckley, mini conference). Finally met our zone leaders (been talking to them on the phone often nowadays). Met our zone-so fun!!! WE have great elders and we are the only sisters. It was so good to be with all of them and to feel the Spirit and to receive instruction. Then we went to Domino´s Pizza.
Wow...I have sooo much to say and not enough time to say it....I neeeeed to write in my journal all of this information.

Anyway, got back on the train and now back in Zaragoza. FYI I found out the train was going about 300 km/h which is about 186 mph and the weather during the train ride outside was 25 degrees Celsius which was about 77 degrees Fahrenheit. (the other night it got over 40 degrees Celsius!!!!!!!!!!!) SOOOOO HOT here.
SO that´s my life for now. So grateful for the dueno...our hot water broke this morning and he is installing an air conditioner and the fridge door handle broke!! Wow what a life. He is great and we LOVE him SO much.

This week is going to be exciting. We are going to a pueblo tomorrow for dinner-which will be an adventure for sure). We are going to eat dinner now. Our branch has the first party that they´ve had in a while this Friday night!!! SO excited. Teaching English class is going well. WE have a blood drive at the church this Saturday and we are expecting a lot of nonmembers to come. We love the elders in our district. I love Hermana Reeder. I love getting mail. I am just now having the time of my life. Keep praying for me.

Love,

Hermana Johnson