Hey everyone and Family! Well this week was an alright week for LPE, we didn´t receive many good references but we did complete with our goal of 140. Everywhere we did our LPE, the people wouldn't listen to us or they always said that they have their faith, so this week we are going to come up with a better plan on how we can locate the chosen. We were able to however bring two investigators to church, its been like a long time since that happened, but we were very excited to have had them with us. The first one we had with us was Marielos, I´ve already explained a little bit about her, but all we really have to do now is to get her married to Hno. Rodrigo Carmen, and yes he already is a member. Once we get them married she should be able to get baptized by the end of this month, we´re super excited and working hard to get that done. Our other investigator is really special, we contacted her doing LPE, we had already visited her once before about the restoration of the gospel, and she was a little uncertain about it because she has visited a bunch of didn´t churches and has been baptized in a few them. So we left her with the promise that if she would pray with a sincere heart to really know that what we have taught her is true, she would receive her answer. So the next time we went back and asked her if she had prayed to find out the truth, she told us yes but hasn´t received her answer. We followed the promptings of the spirit and asked her what was she expecting to receive and asked her how she felt after the prayer, and after that she told us that she felt peace and comfort. I thought of two scriptures, John 16:7-13, and Galatians 5:22-23, we talked about when Jesus Christ was resurrected and said that he would send the Holy Spirit to guide us, and then we talked about how the holy spirit works. After talking about those principals, she told us and said that she knows that she received her answer and that what we were telling her was true and that she would attend church. That´s just a testimony builder for me of why it is important to follow the promptings of the spirit. All in all we are working hard to find those who are chosen, we know there are some out here we just have to keep digging harder to find them. So I heard dad was sick, well yea I would get sick to if I ate almost 2 pounds of pure salt! Sounds good that Steven was able to skype you from Afghanistan. Tell him to write me if he has the chance, it doesn´t need to be a big letter, just a couple of words would be nice! I wrote him all the time when he would write back! Oh and tell him that he´s the Devil, just say it and he will understand. :D Oh I found out I might be here another three more months because my companion leaves for Mexico August 13th. President told me he might send me a miny missionary, a miny missionary is when someone from this country is getting ready to be a missionary and they have the opportunity to serve for a month and half with the Elders before they leave to go on their mission. So I will be training another greenie and it is not easy to train a greenie, more stress for me. Oh and mom just remember, I´m never going have the opportunity again to shower with warm water, at least until I get home. I can´t believe a lot of my friends will be coming home from their missions soon! I bet that´s something they are hating right now. Well I must be going, we have to go get the visa papers for Elder Vargas. You are all in my prayers and I love you. Send my love to Grandma and Grandpa (all of them). Till next week!

Love Elder Johnson

Dear Everyone,

How´s it going? This week we weren´t able to finish with our LPE goal, we thought about why, and sure enough it´s when we get to our Mondays, we always seem to fall short on Mondays, we end up always saying we will finish during the week then we procrastinated. It never works thinking that we could finish it another day and then before we know it, its Sunday. Yup we will not do that anymore, it doesn´t feel good not completing a goal! We talked about it for a long time, and decided to always do LPE even on Mondays. We always thought since it´s after six we didn´t need to talk anybody, but that never works, and that´s not who we are supposed to be. I was thinking about my calling, we are MTC, which means, we are missionaries all the time, including Mondays, so we´ve put that in practice and I'm sure it will help. We were able to get one of our investigators to come to church, she is progressing very well, all we need to do with her is get her married and then we can baptize her, she has talked to her boyfriend and he agrees that they should get married because baptism for her is really important. Hno Marciano and his family didn´t show up to church. We even passed by their house to bring them but they weren't there. Hno really wants to get baptized, but I told him if he really does and loves the Savior then he needs to show Him. We defiantly can´t do that for them, so I think I´m going to leave after we have one more visit with him. Everything else here is going great, we are striving to improve our weaknesses every day, still praying and trying to search for the chosen. We try to set goals that we know are possible to achieve. So I enjoyed the picture that you sent, I really enjoyed seeing my two Nephews, I can´t believe how fast they´ve grown, time defiantly flies by too fast. It will be weird getting home because they will have no idea who I am. So I heard Steven left, I never thought it would be that hard to hear that he left, but when I read the letter it was really hard. I know that God will protect him, maybe teach him something's he needs to learn out there. If we are both lucky we will come home at the same time and wouldn´t that be nice for mom. :) I speak spanish basically all the time dad, my companion is Latino after all and probably the only time I speak English is when I´m with the Zone Leaders who are Gringos. My spanish is not perfect, nor do I think it will be after my mission, there is still lots of times were people can´t understand me but it´s been way better than it ever was. I just need to fix the grammar up a bit! So we have interviews with President this week, interviews with president are so good, he´s defiantly an inspired man. He was called to be my mission president for lots of reasons and I´m thankful for him. Well that's all I have for the week, you are all in my prayers. Tell my grandparents that I love them. Till next week!

Love you all,

Elder Johnson

This week was a good week for LPE, oh and LPE is when we talk to people off the street or knock on their door and talk to them for 2 min. about the gospel. We were able to finish with 140, I can honestly say I see the blessings from it, it all makes sense to me now, if we don´t do our LPE, we won´t find people who are chosen and are willing to hear the lessons, so really our focus right now is to complete every single week with 140 LPE's. So this week we were able to get one of our investigators to church, her name is Hna Carmen, really all we need to do is get her married to her boyfriend who is a member, we talked about it with them Sunday and they agree that they need to get married because she really feels that she needs to get baptized. We have a family that we are working with right now, they have five in their family, one of them is a member already. They say they want to get baptized and learn more about the gospel but they didn´t show up to church on Sunday. We went by their house on Saturday and they told us they would like to come, we even told them that we would stop by to pick them up, so we did, and they weren´t home. So the next time we pass their house we are going to be stern with them, we can´t do everything for them and they need to make their own decisions! But I will still continue to pray for them. I learn something new every week, this week has been another learning experience for me. There are things I need to improve on, I know I´m not the best missionary and that I will never be perfect, but as long as I keep on trying to improve, I believe that God will help me. We have been a little more successful in getting our ward members active in our activities, they have helped with the missionary work and we had a little better attendance. It just goes to show that activities in the ward can really help with those who are less active. So that was my week. It was really good to hear about the dream Aaron had, it just goes to show that Heavenly Father is very aware of our thoughts and prayers and He works in mysterious ways. Gods work is mysterious, He even uses other people to answer ours prayers sometimes. I know that grandma is in a better place, and really we are not to far away from her, we just need to finish our purposes here on earth then we can be with her again. Ok about this allergy thing, I´ve already told you once at the beginning of the mission, but I know how there is a certain point in life where we start forgetting things and stuff with age. HAHAHAHA! I developed an allergic reaction in Provo, but the thing is they don´t know what causes it, it just shows up very randomly. We will figure it out after the mission, it´s not deadly or anything like that! We don´t have changes until Aug. 1st dad since you asked. Well tell everyone hello and that I love them. Thank you for all your prayers, I love you all.

Love Elder Johnson

This was a good week, we were able to finally complete with 140 LPE, it feels so good to complete a goal, I´ve never my entire mission completed this goal. I know it´s sad! It defiantly feels good that we did it, nothing is impossible if we can complete a goal like this. We weren´t able to bring our investigators to church, we tried calling them and even passed by their house, but it just didn´t seem like they wanted to go, so we are just going to look for those who are ready to listen and that are chosen. We are having problems getting members to lessons with us, it only seems like four members want to work with us, but a lot of their problem is that they have families to take care of and we can´t always take them out with us. I don´t know but we will be having a meeting with Bishop about it. We actually have a meeting with the Bishop and the Ward Mission leader today, we will have our plan Mission ready by the end of that day. We are striving to study hard every day on how we can better ourselves as missionaries and help serve our ward better. We were able to see Wilmer at Church today, that was awesome to see him, we talked to him and he told us that he talked to his boss about getting Sundays off, he works every other Sunday. It´s just so good to see that he is applying the commandments of God in his life and he is willing to change. Sounds like everyone is doing great. I´m having some problems with an allergic reaction again, the nurse says it might not even be an allergic reaction, I guess we will find out. So it is really Hot here, and it rains a lot, but other than it´s really going good. I love you all and you are all in my prayers.

Love Elder Johnson

Hi friends, please forgive my lack of posting! Ive been super busy. I added 3 of Gavin's past letters, starting with June 4th. That should catch us up. Enjoy!

Kristen :)

Hello everyone,

 

This week was a good week and a bad week for us, we were able to get Wilber baptized and it definitely was a neat experience for him.  He seemed so happy after the baptism, he told me before he was a little bit nervous because he didn´t know what to expect.  But right after, he told me he felt great and how happy he was, it´s just so awesome the way people want to change their lives, and they get to receive that change, it´s great how happy they feel after baptism. So we were so focused in figuring out how we were going to get our investigators to church, we missed out on  opportunities to teach others.  I have put a lot of thought into focusing on how we are going to find the chosen, we have a really good plan of how we are going to do that this week. We were able to have two investigator show up to church and they are two families, we are also going to focus on helping them. I also enjoyed the talk by Elder Maynes, I have thought a lot about what he said and it has helped me want to be a better missionary. Well I heard that mom got released from her calling!  Just remember mom, God will have a different calling for you, you will still have a different purpose to perform, Bishop will just have to figure out what that is. :)  The only thing I don´t like about my ward, I don´t like to say it but, they don´t like to work!  So having members bring investigators to church is almost impossible!  But we and the presidency of the ward have a plan of how we can help, we will try it out and find out how it will work. Oh I almost forgot to say Happy Fathers day to dad, and that´s fine that you took $700 out of my account, but it looks like it will be paid back to me when I return home! haha! Make sure you tell grandpa Williams and grandpa Johnson Happy Fathers Day also and that I love them!  I have been taking a lot of pictures, matter of fact, I actually bought a 16gb flash drive to store all of my pictures and I have filled a lot of it up, it should be full by the time I return home. Well I love you all, you are all in my prayers, keep strong and remember to have faith in God.  Till next week!

Love Elder Johnson

This week was a good week on lessons, we are improving little by little. And no we weren´t able to get Wilber baptized, he had to work a lot this last week, so there was no interview.  But next week we have everything planned, we will be able to get him interviewed and baptized. We are having so much difficulty getting our investigators to come to church!  I´ve seriously done almost everything I can do to get them to come, they always say that there going to, we even go by their house´s before church to bring them, but it never works.  I guess we will just keep trying till we get them there. We are still striving every day to focus on the needs of our investigators in our studies, also on how we can become better in meeting our goals every week. We were able to have counsel meeting with the ward and we have some pretty good goals in how we can be better missionaries and how the ward can help us in this work.  I´m hoping we will see some good progress. Oh about the girl JaKell that died, I really didn't know her too much, but it just goes to show that this life is fragile. We can never know what to expect, but God does!  That´s why we have His promise that if we are doing everything we´re supposed to do, we are promised eternal life, that´s why He says prepare now and don´t wait, because we don´t know when it will be our time to go home.  It can be a long life or a short one, but God does love us and wants us to be happy while we are here, we all have a purpose, we all have our callings to be fulfill, whether it be here or in the spirit world. Oh and about the marriage you told me about, Wow!  I don´t know why but that would be terrible if someone backed out of a temple marriage or didn't show up, I think that´s a hundred times worse than someone standing up there fiance at a normal wedding! I seriously can´t believe Jake and John are almost home, the time is going by way too fast!  I only have one more change until I have 1 year in the mission, and I keep hearing that it just gets faster and faster by the other missionaries, just when you don´t want it to. Our ward here in Arce is actually very small right now, we have a lot of less actives.  But we are working with the leaders in the ward to change all of that, we hope that these goals will work. Well I love you all, you are all in my prayers, keep strong in your faith of Christ.  And remember we never know when its are time to be called home so we should be preparing now!  Till next week,

Love Elder Johnson

Hey everyone!

 

How are you all doing? So this week was actually a really good week for us, we were able to get two investigators to church, one of them is Wilber, the investigator I told you about that we were working with, (I accidentally said that his name was William but its not), so we will hopefully get him baptized this week.  We will get him interviewed this week for sure.  I have seen him grow a lot since we started teaching him, he has opened up to us a lot more especially with questions about the gospel. All in all, this was a good week, we were also able to get Romeo at the church, he seemed to enjoy it very much. One thing I would like to say is that, being bold is super important, that's one thing I have learned!  He and his family are members of the Tabernaculos, and they have been attending that church for 12 years, he received a Book of Mormon and has actually read half of it, he believes it´s another Book of God.  But before they still thought their church was true and I didn´t take a stand to show them why our church is true, I told them to pray about it but they never took that step.  When Elder Harvey came on division in our area, he talked to them boldly but in a loving way, he pulled out scriptures of how we could know what a true church contains.  They listened and understood and came to church.  So I know that it is really important that we are bold in bearing our testimony, but in a loving way so we can help our brothers and sisters come unto Christ.  Every thing is going great here, we are working hard and still searching for people who are willing to listen to our message. It´s been raining a lot here, and been super humid, but what's new I´ve lived in the heat my whole life.  So we only have 2 weeks until we have changes and we don´t know anything yet, I will have to wait and see what happens!  My companion hasn´t left for Mexico yet, but anyways, that´s all I have for this week, I love you all, thanks for your prayers. Till next week,

Love Elder Johnson

Dear Family, So how are things going? Everything is going pretty good here, things are starting to pick up a little, no baptism yet, but we have a commitment from one investigator for baptism. His name is William, and no he is not American, he is 100% Latino. We are excited for that, he believes that what we are telling him is true, so we are hoping he will partake of the fruits of baptism. Everything else this week was ok, my companion was sick for three days with the flu, I was lucky I didn´t catch it, but sitting in the house for those days was terrible, to tell you the truth I don´t know how I´m going to handle it when I get home, I´m going to lose my mind! So we have had a lot of success searching outside of the city, we are going to continue our work there. We had the opportunity to attend the temple this week and boy that was a neat experience! I wish we could attend more often, but that's ok, I will have all the time in the world when I return home. Its so great to go there and feel the Spirit of the Lord, the Temple really is the house of the Lord, you could never have a bad day if you just attended the temple, if anything it turns you into a better person. So I can´t believe that the Bowden's, Homewood's, and the Hancock's are leaving the ward, the ward is going to be a lot different when I get home. Other than that I heard about Bro. Thomas and he is in my prayers. Well I´m sorry but I don't really have too much more to say. I don´t know why, but nothing really interesting happened this week, but I will continue to work hard this week, hopefully without any more sickness. Tell everyone hello and that I love them, I keep them all in my prayers!

Love,

Elder Johnson

 

 

Dear Family
Everything is super great here, there is a lot of new investigators coming out the wood work, we were able to challenge one of our investigators for baptism and he has accepted! We believe he will get baptized because he believes that what we are telling him is true and he has even prayed about it and felt that he has received an answer, so we are pretty excited! We really haven´t seen a baptism in 3 months, and that is a real long time for me at least. We have been able to find new investigators, we hope that we will see some progress with them. We are still striving hard to find those who are chosen and are ready to here about the gospel. Anyways, I can´t believe the Gilbert Temple is almost done, that was super quick, it will be nice once it´s dedicated. I also can´t believe everyone else is coming close to the end of their missions! I can tell you what right now, I know for a fact that they are not ready to come back, or don´t feel ready because this is best thing that you can be doing right now. For me, I only have 9 months, but just thinking that I will be home in 15 months doesn´t make me feel good, this is the best thing I have ever done and I wouldn't take it back for anything. Yes I do write Elder Bishop all the time, we even write in Spanish to help each other learn the language better. He will be home next January, he is coming close to end his mission. We have the opportunity to attend the Temple this week, so that will nice to do, we are going Wednesday. I can´t believe the Bowden's are moving away, where are they moving to? You need to send me a picture of Brother Bowden so I can show the Elders how big he is, they want to see, they are blown away that he can bench that much. Well the rainy seasons here are starting to kick in, it´s starting to rain here and there but it should get worse soon. Well that's all I have for this week, remember God gives us weaknesses and trials for a reason, but He wants us to be happy. I love you all, till next week!

Love Elder Johnson

 

Hello every one,

 

How is everything going? I did receive the call about grandma, I didn´t take to well at first, but then I remembered all about the Plan of Salvation, How great this plan is that we have, it really does bring us joy to know that this isn´t the only life, in fact that there is a better life waiting for us, and that we can share it with our families forever. I really do know that God loves us enough that He has given us this plan so that we can be happy. So I received word that we can skype for mothers day, so I´m going to tell you this now, I will be calling around 12:30PM -1:00PM Sunday El SALVADOR TIME, I don´t know what time it will be over there but I know you can figure it out, because I don´t have time for that, but let me know if that works or doesn´t work for you all. Everything here is going great, still don´t have hardly any one to teach because they don´t want to hear us, but we still continue to work hard and continue to use different ideas to get them interested. One of the ideas that we have been using is teaching an English class. So far we have had 8 non members signed up, we teach things about the gospel in English, and believe it or not, they are learning quick, for example we learned the song "I hope they call me on mission" in English, they already have it memorized, they are also reading The Book of Mormon in English. We´ve already had one person finish it! He understood it a little bit, but we will work with him on that. It´s really great to see that they want to learn English, and they will do anything to learn it. My companion and I are doing great, but there is still so much he needs to learn. He seems to quarrel with me about things that are supposed to done the right way, he likes to do things his way, but I told that´s not how the mission works and that's not how the Lord works either. I have really kept my patience and I will continue to try and work with him, hopefully we will see some improvement soon. Well I don´t have to much more to say that I can think of right at the moment, but I love you all. Tell Grandpa Johnson that I love him a lot, I know that Grandma Johnson is with Uncle Sandy, and that they are in the hands of Lord. I know that he will see her again, and will be with her forever. Send Grandma and Grandpa Williams my love also.

 

Love you all,

Elder Johnson

So things went pretty good this week, we weren´t able to get any baptisms or the wedding done, We talked to them about getting married but they need to receive a call from the lawyer saying they can. So that really doesn't do us any good until they can get baptized. So we have new investigators, but the problem is that they have their religion or obligations with their church, so they can never come to church, but we are still working with them in finding the the truth, hopefully we will see some progress. We also have plans to leave the city of Arce to search outside of the city, maybe we will find people who don´t have a religion or who are just prepared by the Lord to listen to our message, because we have already searched most of the city. So I guess Steven is leaving to Afghanistan soon, he will be gone a long time, but if you think about, if he really is gone 15 months, and then comes back, we will both almost come home at the same time, and what is better than both of your boys coming home at the same time? I already knew the Hancock's were moving, we write through letters all the time, so every thing is ok with us, we keep in contact, really I haven´t seen more faith in anyone than Sister Hancock, just because of all that she is going through right now, not once have I heard her complain about something that hasn´t been going right in her life, if only we all could have that kind of faith. My companion Elder Vargas is doing great there are a few up and downs, but he´s learning quick, and I'm also learning quick too. Oh and mother I have been answering every question that you send me, so chill. I love you mother :D. Anyways so I hear that Grandma's not doing so well, tell her that I love her, she will be a lot happier in the other life, she won´t have to feel anymore pain, and that´s what we all want is for her not feel pain anymore. So I love you all, and your all in my prayers. God does have a plan for us, and it is The Plan of Happiness, this is our time to prepare to meet God, so prepare wisely.

Elder Johnson

Hello everyone!!

So I heard that Tyler got his call, I can´t hardly believe it, everyone is growing up so fast and it´s also cool that he´s going to Mexico, when he returns nobody is going to understand either of us. So my area is getting a little bit better, we have found a lot of new investigators, we will also keep looking for more because I'm not sure these families will stay with us. We really have a big area, so we still need to search from top to bottom. We will hopefully have a baptism this week, the family we have been working with is getting married this week, so then we can get them baptized. So I have received a new companion and his name is Elder Vargas, he is from here, and yes I am training him. He is also waiting for his visa to go to Mexico but he is not going to the same mission as Tyler. So I heard that the Hermosillo mission is a really cool place to be, it is not as hot over there like it is here, LUCKY!! So I heard Ethan is getting surgery, doesn´t sound like much fun, but if he endures through these trials, God will bless him more than he can imagine. I have been really seeing the blessing in my life, if you just do what the Lord asks, even through trials, He promises that His love and watch over us will never cease, so count your blessings! So it looks like Dad and Daniel didn´t get drawn this year, they wouldn´t have gotten anything anyways because I mean without me, their luck wouldn't be any good anyways! hahaha!! So that´s all I really have for this week. You are all in my prayers, please send my love to everyone. Till next week! :)

Love Elder Johnson

Dear Family

Hey, how are things going? Everything here is going ok. My area is kind of dead right now, we don`t have anybody! No body really wants to talk to us, we are constantly searching for new investigators but no one has the desire to learn more about the gospel. I`m pretty sure it is a trial of my faith, but I can defiantly let you know right now that with out a doubt I will not stop searching this area until I find every person that the Lord wants me to find, because the Lord defiantly prepares his people, we just need to do our job and find those people. I constantly pray everyday to find those individuals or find someone that is prepared, I know that one day that will happen! I will just continue to keep searching until it does. So we are still working on one family, they just need to get married so we can baptize them, that`s basically who we have, we will just keep our heads up and keep looking. Elder Moran is doing great, he is great example to me. He speaks to the people in a great way, but it seems like we are constantly having to improve our self's in some way, but what missionary doesn`t. He hasn´t left let, we were fixing things today for his visa so he could leave this week or next week. There is a chance he wont leave until the end of the change. We won`t really know until we get a call letting us know when his date is. So I read a letter by President Glazier today and one of the missionary wrote in this particular letter. I liked everything he talked about, he talked about skills and abilities, and how they are not important in the mission. He even expressed to us that he wasn`t skillful at all, but how he was called to do the very best he could do and not to worry about who is better at what or who is better at something than you! Something he said has really struck me, he quoted from Elder Amado, "We all know that the Lord could be a way better missionary than we can, so really why did the Lord call me on a mission?" I thought about it, and I thought about the words of that missionary! I was called to do my very best and to invite people to come unto Christ, regardless of my talents or abilities! I have faith that we will find those who are looking for us. Maybe you can take this talk and apply it to your self's in a way that you may be struggling. Well I`m going to close for now, I send my love and prayers out to everyone, till next week.

Love Elder Johnson

Dear Family,

How is everything going at home? It´s going super great here, the training is definitely difficult, my companion Elder Moran will actually leave this Wednesday to his real mission. His visa came in so we will see what the president will do with me. So I think I'm definitely going through a trail right now, in my area there is nobody that wants to talk to us. We hardly had any lessons this week, but yet we are on our feet everyday hitting the roads and knocking on doors, but it´s ok, as long as I'm doing everything I'm supposed to, Heavenly Father won´t leave me. So I heard Chile had a 8.8 earthquake there, so we are stepping up really hard on our kits and what not because you never know who is next. That´s good to here that grandma is doing a little better, we never know what the Lord ahs in store for us. So this last week we had what is called "semana santa", it´s a week where everybody remembers what Jesus did for us in his life, they watch movies about the life of Christ, they even did something on Saturday which was cool. They closed off most of the streets in our city Arce so they could draw designs in the streets about Jesus, they had a ton of groups doing it, it was kind of cool. Then right at 6:30 all of sudden it started to storm and rain super hard, but there was no cloud in sight before. Just thinking about the storm made me think of how powerful the storm must have been when Jesus died, we know that a lot of things were destroyed. It´s kind of funny what dad said about training someone, because it´s true! What the greenies learn from their trainer, they LEARN EVERYTHING, they basically become you, so just think of another latino Gavin running around here! hahahaha! Oh and I received a letter from my mission president saying DO NOT update my FACEBOOK any more because they´re having a lot of problems with Elders in the mission using them, and they can´t tell which ones are doing it, so really don´t worry about it, it will be there after my mission. So what is Misha doing for mesa public schools? How's the weather there, oh wait I know that questioned, Hot!!!! hahaah! It´s ok, it´s hot here all year, so I have 16 more months left of hot weather! Well I'm glad everybody is doing good, I love you all, remember that God has given us weaknesses for a reason, to come closer to Him. Send my love to the Grandparents.

Love Elder Johnson

Dear FAM.
So how are things going? This week has been a good week for me, we are working really hard over here. Well it looks like I will be here in the city Arce for 3 more months, because the Lord and President Glazier feel that I should train one of the new missionaries coming in to El Salvador. They promise me that it will be a learning and growing experience, and so far I believe that to be true, because of the many things I have already learned and how the Lord really does bless lives. I´m super excited and can´t wait for this experience, as it starts to dawn on me, my training went by so fast, I believe this training will go by even faster, as I´ve been told. After this training I will almost have a year, Wow!! Only when the time starts quickly moving is when you don´t want it to. This mission is seriously passing too fast, but man I have seen the blessings that have come with it. Well all is well here in my area, we are working with 3 families right now, one of them we are actually still working on marriage papers. I actually thought we were done, this paper thing will never end! Another family we´re working on, we just talked to them yesterday about families being sealed in the temple, and they really loved the idea of that. One of them is already a member, but the husband is not, we are starting to prepare him for baptism. The last family we´re working on is a super great family. They have so much faith, especially after the trail that they have had in their lives. Right before the wife was baptized she had a baby, along with that, the husband almost lost his finger, the baby that they have gets sick a lot, but they still want to be baptized when everything settles down. What a blessing it is to see the great faith that they have. That´s really good to hear that everything going great over there, sounds like Bishop Ellsworth and his wife are excited to leave on their mission. Well I love you all, I have a lot to do and a lot ahead of me. Remember to say your prayers and read the scriptures. I will see the new missionary Wednesday, I will make sure that he feels welcome in the mission, hahhahaa! Seriously though, please keep me in your prayers, because really I have never ever trained anyone in my life, well except at Nielsen's, but that´s different! :)

Love Elder Johnson

Hello everyone, what´s happening? So everything is going great here, we are working with a few families. With one of the families we are just getting all of the paper work done for a divorce and then to get them married, that has been super hard to accomplish. That kind of paper work takes forever to get because there is always something that seems to go wrong, but in the end it is all worth it. We are also working with another family, they are all members of the church except the father, he seems really interested, his wife is an active member of the church, so that will help us out a lot with him and his need to understand the church. The cookies I received were super good, they were actually still fresh to my surprise, and they weren´t even smashed or nothing. It sounds like everyone is doing super good. It has been super hot here, but I guess I´m already used to it in a way. The only problem is here A/C doesn´t exist, when it´s hot everyone is killing to have even the smallest fan, oh well I will be fine I guess. So I don´t know if it´s true yet, but president Glazier wants me to train this next change, my companion told me, but it doesn´t mean that it will come true, I´m excited and nervous at the same time. I´ve never led an area or train any one so it will be a neat experience and also a growing experience for me. I can´t believe conference is almost here, it really just seemed like it wasn´t to long ago, but I´m super excited for it! I always love hearing what the talks are about, you always will learn something new and the best thing is actually applying those things we hear to our life. We always see the promised blessings if we do so. So I can´t believe mom seems to want to watch over me, it does seem kind of creepy! :) I´ve been out on my mission for almost 8 months mother, how can you still be worrying about me? I hope that when I get home you don´t kill me with your hugs and kisses! hahaha. So this week we have the privilege of hearing a talk by Elder Amado, one of the Seventy's, we will be getting pictures and get to greet him personally, so that will be a cool experience. I can´t wait to hear what he has to say. Well you are all in my prayers. Pray always and read the scriptures, always seek to receive revelations to help you endure to the end. I love you all.

Love Elder Johnson

Hey!!!! I'm glad to here everything is going good. I HAVE RECEIVED THE PACKAGE, You may send the ACTIVATION CODE!!!!! Yea I really did enjoy all of the food you sent. Me and my companion have already eaten all of the cookies, they were super good, my companion really loved them, he couldn´t stop eating them. So everything here is going super great, not much has really happened this past week because we are dealing with people trying to get divorce papers, and trying to get marriage papers, so we´ve been practically all over El Salvador. I'm still climbing hills all over the place! There getting much easier for me, everyone that I'm with seems to have a hard time with the hills, thanks to all of those hikes I did in Young men's. :) So for the past couple of days I've had an infection in my stomach, its because of the food I had at a members house! That's the only unfortunate thing about being here in El Salvador, you never know if you are eating bad food! Yet its strange, I can say it´s one of the best things I have ever eaten in my entire life! That stinks that Arizona is getting hot again, but that´s not news to me. Here in El Salvador it´s been the same, hot all of the time, but yet sometimes it can be nice. I haven´t seen rain in a real long time, maybe that will change. My Spanish is going alright, I really need to fix my grammar, it is super bad, but some say it takes a long time for that to come. Well I love you all, nothing has really happened this week. Tell Grandma Johnson that I love her and I pray that she will get better. Tell Grandpa J. and Grandma and Grandpa W. that I love them, and that they are in my prayers also. Till next week,

Love Elder Johnson

Hello everyone, how are things going for you all? Everything here is going great, we were supposed to have a baptism this week, but it just didn´t seem to happen, don´t worry, we will work with him. So far I´m loving my companion a lot, he the same personality like me, so you can just imagine how our companionship is, hahaha, but we are working very hard, we have to really work over time now, because we have a lot of less actives, and I mean a lot, our count for people who attend is super low, so we are working super hard to visit less actives along with teaching our investigators, so this area will be a challenge for me, but I believe I can handle it, I love working anyway, nothing is better than doing missionary work. So I´m still on my first pair of shoes, hahaha, I have already had them repaired once, it only cost about three dollars to repair here, I plan to keep these shoes going for at least until I have one year in the mission, but I don´t think they will make it, they are already looking pretty ugly. Oh and one thing, I didn´t say that your old enough yet to serve a mission, I just asked how your preparing, one thing I suggest is "preach my gospel", because believe it or not, every mission uses it, and besides, that´s a really good way to help develop your teaching skills, etc. and the list goes on! Well I´m glad to hear everyone is doing good, I wish everyone could realize how much happiness they would have if they just forget everything from the world, and I´m not saying that to make anyone mad or say it to be smart, I´m saying it because of the joy I feel, and how much happier I have felt, by putting the things of the world away, it reminds me of a scripture in the Book of Mormon, Dad and Steven should know this one, I will say the short version because I only know it in Spanish, "Wickedness was never happiness". My spanish is getting better, but I need to fix my grammar because it is terrible, I never really noticed it before, but I guess that´s the learning part. Well I love you all, I want to hear how everyone is doing?

Love Elder Johnson

Hello everyone!
How´s it going? So I'm in my new area, and it´s called Arce, it´s really big area with basically mountains for hills, I have never walked so many hills in my life, but I'm actually enjoying it, I get in exercise every day. So my new companions name is Elder Rodriguez, he is a super hard worker, he has 20 months in the mission, he is really good at what he does, we are planning to hopefully baptize three families this month, so we are working hard to achieve that goal. Elder Rodriguez is from El Salvador, we actually live one hour away from his home. That must be so weird to work in your own country, and live one hour away from your house, but that´s not worrying him, he loves this work, he knows why he is here. So far this companionship is going great, we speak spanish all of the time, because that´s the only language he speaks, so this will be super good for my Spanish. I'm loving the ward we have here, I have already developed a relationship with the whole ward, that's what I really love about El Salvador, I can be myself, and have a good relationship with everyone here, because they all have the same sense of humor as me, I couldn´t ask for a better mission. Speaking of missions, you haven´t told me how you and Dad are preparing for missions, that's what I want to here this next letter, and if I don´t get it, I won´t write any of you until I do, hahah just kidding. :D Well that´s how everything is going here so far, not much but we will see how this week goes. I'm excited to work in this area, I will strive to work hard by bringing the people in El Salvador the truth. I haven´t received a package yet, it will probably be a little bit before I do, but I will keep my eyes peeled for it. I don´t have parasites any more, or at least I think I do, I was sick for a little bit last week, and that was only because of the sickness that´s been going around in El Salvador, but I'm healthy right now. I weighed myself the other day, and I have lost almost 10 pounds, but the funny thing is I still eat the way I did at home, I will just try harder.

Love Elder Johnson

Dear Everyone!
So this week went by fast again, it was my last week here in Rosalinda, Wednesday I will be leaving, I have been here in Rosalinda for 4 months, nothing is harder than saying goodbye to every one here. I bore my testimony in Sacrament meeting Sunday, and that was super good, everyone seemed a little sad, but I think they were just saying that, haha, just kidding. So I have no idea where I`m going, or who my new companion is, I won`t find out until Wednesday. So believe it or not, I did learn something from my companion, we grew closer to each other, it was better than when we started. So if Heavenly Father put me with him to learn something, I defiantly did. I`m kind of hoping for a latino companion so I can get better with my Spanish, but I will be with who ever the Lord wants me to be with. I`m excited that we have changes though, it will be nice to make more friends and teach different investigators, basically to learn different things. So it`s really exciting that Brother and Sister Ellsworth are serving missions, they`re going to love it so much! Speaking of missions, Mom and Dad, if you haven`t started preparing for a mission, start now, because your time is very soon, and nothing is a greater blessing than serving a mission for your Lord, I can testify of that, dad can testify of that, and so can Steven. A mission is absolutely indescribable, and a huge blessing, so hurry up! :) It`s super great that Brother Beagley is Bishop now, he will love what he`s doing, even the councilors will love what their doing. So I will answer the question about the truck, I changed the spark plugs, the spark boots, and the ignition coil, even the fuel filter, so really nothing should be wrong, if anything, take it to Tim to have the system checked, he will scan the computer to see if it has any problems. Well I better go, I have to do a survey for President, I will let you know more about the changes next monday.

Love Elder Johnson

Hello! So this week went by super fast, it`s always a wonder were all of the weeks go. So it`s week six of the change, and we`re already almost done. I seriously can`t believe that this time is going that fast, only when you don`t want to go fast, it goes fast. So everything is going great here, I couldn`t ask for more. I`m starting to get a lot better with my Spanish, or at least comfortable, I still have a long way to go, but I believe that the Lord will help me, and yes dad, this beats 40 hours a week of work by a long shot. I had an in grown toe nail removed, and that was super fun, :\ considering that was my first one, but I also got my feet messaged, it was the best. So this week we are sure to have a baptism, I`m excited for that. That's one thing I always love seeing, is when we go and find people and teach them, you notice the change in them, and how much happiness they have when they realize that they have found what was missing in their lives, it just brings me joy because I feel happy all the time, but that`s because we have what people are looking for, they just don`t know where to start or look, there is nothing better than missionary work, it is our duty here on earth. Now I want you all to think about this, in Lehi dream, there are the people who partake of the fruit, and the people lost in mist of darkness, if you think about it, we, as in the people who partook of the fruit, are the people who find people in the in mist of darkness and guide them to the tree of life, I love thinking about it this, because we have been given a sacred opportunity to find our brothers and sisters lost in the darkness and bring to the tree of life. Well that`s all I have for this week, I`m glad everyone is doing great, my love goes out to everyone.

Love Elder Johnson

Hola todos los personas en el mundo!
¿Que nos cuenta? Esta Semana, yo quiero escribir en Español, jaja! chiste! So I'm glad that Bro. Yates funeral was really good, he was really good person, he had much faith in the Lord, I was really sad when I found out he died but in a way relieved. He had suffered so much, and according to his faith, he never cursed God, or felt that what he was going through was unfair, basically the opposite, he just increased his love to our Heavenly Father, he accepted his trail, and that's the best any body can do. So this week was pretty good, we baptized one of our investigators, that was really neat. We almost weren't able to because our church didn't have any water. So we had to go to a different area to do the baptism, overall it was super great. So we are all in the 5th week of the change, we only have 2 1/2 weeks left, time basically doesn't exist anymore. Now to answer moms questions that she desperately needs answered! I use my boots a lot, and I'm having my other shoes repaired because of how destroyed they are. It hasn't rained here in a little while. My Spanish is getting a little better, but very slowly. But I really don't expect to learn it over night, Its a new language and its going to take some time. I'm glad everybody is doing good, I bet Daniel felt sooooo nervous doing that, now all he needs to do is try it in Spanish! Sometimes I will get those moments where I have to help with a lesson, or bear my testimony and I get nervous, but it's all good, nothing is better than right here, right now on the mission. Tell Grandma and Grandpa I said hi and that I love them all. Always keep your faith in the Lord, he knows exactly what we need in our lives to be happy and to progress.
Love Elder Johnson

Hello!
So I have some exciting news, this week Elder Russell M. Nelson (click his name for more info) is coming to speak with us and we get the opportunity to shake his hand and greet him personally, I am really excited for that! So we've had a good week, we baptized this week, I have had 10 investigators baptized so far. I am so glad that I had the opportunity to teach them and for them to choose to be baptized. My spanish is still improving little by little. Me and Elder Nelson get along good. It's just like Dad said, I think of the companions I've had, and I think of why I was put with that particular person, and what I have learned and what I must still learn. I'm always happy no matter what comes my way because the Lord gives us trials for a reason and that is to help us grow. I'm already finished with training, I`m just a normal missionary now. I'm glad to hear when people come back to church again, it is a really good thing. It makes you think and know how God works his mighty miracles. You probably need to change the oil in the truck, because one it's been more than 5 months, and I'm positive you have traveled a bit sense then! I don`t have to worry about it, :D I'm doing something better and that is serving the Lord. Speaking of serving the Lord, I hope you all are preparing to serve the Lord, because believe or not your time is right around the corner, and once again nothing is better than serving the Lord. Well I love you all very much, I want to leave you all with a challenge, if you can find someone that needs the gospel, find ways to ether invite them to church or just an activity, anything small, because you`ll be planting seeds in there lives.

Love Elder Johnson

Hello every one!

So this last week we had changes, and I have my new companion, his name is Elder Nelson, he`s really good at teaching. We were able to do two baptisms this last week, it was really nice, our President showed up and that was a huge surprise, it almost scared me. We hope to have two more baptism this week as well, and I`m still in my same area. Elder Horton went into a different area in San Salvador. Elder Horton only has 8 months in the mission, he was a really good companion, we loved to joke and to teach. The President said at our change meeting that he did the most baptismal challenges out of any other missionary, I will miss him! Anyways everything here is super great I`m loving every second of it. This is something I`m always going to remember for the rest of my life, I also feel the spiritual benefits from it. My spanish is still not good, I wish president would have stuck me with a latino, but there is nothing I can do about it, but I`m pretty sure President will have one to train the next change and believe it or not these changes come super quick. Well tell grandma and grandpa (all of them) that I love them, and that they are in my prayers. I`m going to see if President will let me go see someone for my back because it still hurts, not knowing why, it even hurt at the beginning of my mission, it might just be out of place. I love you all, and you need to tell me if you want anything from El Salvador to send home, I know Steven did that from Germany!

Love Elder Johnson

Well this week was a good week, it was super crazy for New Years Eve. Because of all the fireworks going off, there were so many people drunk and using fireworks. It was nuts! We might have 4 baptisms this week, we also have changes. Elder Horton is leaving and I'm staying in my area. The president called and asked Elder Horton if I was ready to train someone, but we both had talked about it ahead of time and I think I need to be junior companion one more time. It's so I can become better with my Spanish. I don`t feel ready enough to train anyone just yet. I'm also finishing up my training, which will be nice. I'm really hoping this change that I have a latino companion that just speaks Spanish, that would help me soooo much! One thing that I have realized in this mission, there are a lot of Elders and Sisters that are from Arizona, but I don`t know or haven't met them yet. A lot are from Mesa and Gilbert. Lately here my back has been killing me for some reason, I stretch it every day so I'm not sure what it is. We had a really good testimony meeting this Sunday, it actually lasted for about 2 hours! The meeting was only supposed to be 1 hour because of being Jan. 1st. I can`t believe how old everyone is getting, time does fly way to fast. I still can`t believe that next week I will have 5 months into my mission, but nothing is better than serving the Lord and seeing the joy on people`s faces when they realize who they are and what there purpose is here on earth. Well I love you all, sorry that didn`t have much to say, but this next week will be better.

Love Elder Johnson