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