11 March 2013

Hello,

So this past week was a pretty good week, we did great in the lessons until Friday, and then we realized that we had gotten behind in the office work, so then we spent a lot of Saturday in the office catching back up.

So one thing really exciting that happened this week is that our Brazilian investigator finally came to church! He had a good experience, so we are hoping that he will keep coming to church, and be able to be baptized at the end of the month.

Another thing is that at church yesterday, the husband (nonmember) came to church, and while he was introducing himself he said that as of today(yesterday) that he was a member of the Church. He was evangelistic before, so he still has to get baptized and everything, but it was really cool to see the desire that he had.

So transfers are in a week. (I would assume that I am leaving this time, but we´ll see what happens in the end). I still have to train though, so i´ll be here probably for another four weeks or so.

This transfer we are only getting 8 missionaries, and 5 are leaving, but next transfer (may) about 40 missionaries will be coming in, soo that will be fun for those in the office. I´ll probably end up training, hopefully. We are buying 5 new pisos this week though. That´ll be exciting since it pretty much all has to be done on Thursday and Friday.

So I don´t really know what much else to say. Were not going to be doing much today, just a day of relaxing.

I´ll see you next week,

Elder Johnson

4 March 2013

Hello,

 

Caleb got his mission call!!!! That´s absolutely awesome, Chile is going to be great, he´s going to love it! Chile is sweet!! He is going to do awesome!

 

So this week has been pretty weird. It´s a lot different since p-day is on Monday, but I still think that it´s a great idea. It´s going to be different but great.

 

So last week we went to a park that had a bunch of famous buildings from different European countries. It was pretty cool, here are a few famous monuments that i´m sure you´ll recognize. 

 

 

 

I am super tired today. It´s terrible.

 

So we had an awesome lesson last week with a lady from Ecuador, miraculously we had a lot of members there to help with the lesson. So they were able to inspire and help her to have a greater desire to get baptized. So she has a baptismal date for the end of the month, hopefully we can also help her to help her daughters make the same day. Her husband might even be open to listening after she gets baptized, he sees a great difference in her after she comes back home from coming to church.

 

Also, we still have the Brazilian young man, he should be getting baptized near the end of the month too, he´s awesome. His only problem would be coming to church...

 

Well, we´re getting another missionary tomorrow, and it looks like all the visas for Spain are finally caught up, so we shouldn't have any big visa problems for a little while now.

 

Well, out of things to share for right now, I hope that everything is going well.

 

Have a great week,

 

Elder Johnson

 

Also, here is a great story that I read this week.

 

A number of years ago a baby boy was born into a Mormon family in Japan, after a few years, the boy and his family moved to New York City. When he turned his mission papers in, he was certain that he would be called to a Japanese mission to teach his own people, just like his father had done. However, when the call came, it was to Colombia. Believing that there must have been a mistake, he called the mission board and asked them to call President Kimball, to find out if there had been some mistake. President Kimball reviewed the call, said that there was no mistakes, that he was called to go to Colombia. The young man spent 8 long weeks in the MTC trying to learn Spanish. At the end of the eighth week he contacted President Kimball´s office again. “I do not wish to be a bother, but as hard as I try I cannot Learn Spanish. Please send me to Japan” President Kimball said “young man, you are to serve in Colombia, this missionary spent 22 months in Colombia as a junior companion, always following, never saying much, and never really learning the language. Then one day, a few weeks before he was to go home, while he and his companion were waiting for a train, an elderly gentleman tapped him on his shoulder, and asked in broken Spanish if they were the Mormon missionaries. The old man talked to the missionary and said in Japanese, that he looked like a person of Japanese descent. The two talked in Japanese for quite a while. After the old man left, the Japanese Elder turned to his companion and said they had an appointment at six forty that evening, and the older man had given him directions to his house. He had also asked if the Elders would talk to some of his family and friends. Upon arriving at the address, the Japanese gentlemen invited them inside with 64 Japanese people who couldn´t speak any English or Spanish waiting for them. Finally the Elder had the opportunity to teach in Japanese, how strange he thought that he had Colombia to do it. He worked furiously teaching the group of investigators. And helping them understand the gospel. The missionary baptized all 64 of these people before he finished his mission including the gentleman from the train station. The old man had been teaching this group about the gospel out of an old Japanese copy of the Book of Mormon. They had had no one to explain the gospel to them before they met the Elders. Thus they had readily accepted the message because they had been well prepared for it. Before the missionary left Colombia they asked him to write his testimony in the Japanese Book of Mormon. After writing his testimony the missionary turned the page of the well-worn book and read one of the deepest and strongest testimonies he had ever read. 25 years earlier another missionary had recorded his testimony in this book while serving in Japan. The inspiring words had been penned by the young Elder´s father.

27 February 2013

Hello,

 

So it´s sounds like you guys are having a blast in Massachusetts with all that snow. We´ve gotten a little bit of snow here too, but it hasn´t been sticking, or if it has, it melted five minutes later.

 

So I got dad´s letter with my patriarchal blessing, thank you very much. It´s absolutely great!

 

I can´t wait to hear where Caleb is going to go. It´s going to be soo exciting!

 

So on a normal day we get up at 7 (we´ve been getting up early at 6:30 lately) at about 8:30 we head over to the mission office, and we start our studies around 9:00 until 11:30. Afterwards, we are in the office until around 6:00 at night, and then we have lessons and sometimes a run back to the office for an emergency or urgent work that we have to get done. We work until 9:30 or 10:00 at night, plan, eat if we have time, and go to bed at 11:00. We usually eat in the morning around 7:45 or 8:00, and then around 2:00, and then with members or around 10:30, if we have time. But that´s our basic schedule for now.

 

Did I ever tell you that Elder Levorsen (my companion from Provo) is in the office now? It´s really cool to have him around, He was an awesome companion.

 

Also, an important announcement: our p-days will now be on Mondays. So I will be writing to you next Monday

 

 

 

Love,

Elder Johnson

20 February 2013

Hello,

 

So today we finally have a p-day to relax. We aren´t going anywhere else, other than to go shopping. So we´ve got a few hours to sit in our piso and take some time to relax... hopefully.

 

So today I bought some new shoes. They were kind of expensive, so I didn´t really want to do it, but the other ones I had had expanded, so they were too big, and being too big they were starting to rip in a weaker part. I´ll see if I can get those fixed so I can use them in the future. I really like the shoes, so I am absolutely not going to leave them behind or throw them out.

 

So far we´ve been struggling in between the office and  proselyting hours. We´ve spent a long time sitting in the office this past transfer, and I would really like to be able to work more. But as of right now Elder Winkelkotter has too many things to do in the office to allow us to be in the street for a long time.

 

I´m sending some pictures of our outing last week because I don´t remember sending any.

 

Thanks for my patriarchal blessing I´ll look forward to receiving it.

 

Thanks for all the Valentine cards.

 

That´s awesome that Hannah is going. I can´t wait to hear where Caleb will go to.

 

Well, I think that I´m pretty much out of words for right now. I hope to be able to make the most of my time, the mission is going by way too fast.

 

Did I tell you that last week we had another mission tour, and Elder Kearon from the area presidency came. It was an amazing experience! I love the mission tours because if the amazing Spirit that each of the people bring to us. The mission is still trying to reach the goal for the year, but we really need to step things up again.

 

Keep reading the scriptures and pray before you do it every time. There are some amazing things in there that you can find if you have the Spirit with you.

 

This is the city of Ávila.

 

 

 

13 February 2013

Hello,

 

So yesterday we received four more missionaries to the mission! So we spent a few hours picking them up from the airport and having a brief overview of important things, and then we dropped them off in their areas, or in the areas they would be working in for the next couple of days.

 

Today we are probably going to a city named Ávila, which is a city still surrounded by an ancient wall.

 

Thursday we are going to have another mission tour. Elder Kearon of the Area Presidency will be coming to talk with the mission and to give them guidance, etc. So that is going to be really exciting. 

 

 

So recently we went to a less active recent convert´s house and we were talking to him about miracles, answers to prayers and I was talking about how the Lord, in many scriptures, tells us that we can ask, and we shall receive. Their is no doubt or option to question, that the Lord Will answer every single one of our prayers. He will not leave our prayers unheard. And because he loves us he has made us that promise. And he is therefore bound by the promise that he has made us to fulfill every prayer that we ask of him, when we pray with faith and when we have a good intention in mind. I didn´t use those exact words, but as I was testifying of this to him, I almost stuttered as I felt the Spirit testifying to me of the truth of that statement.

 

So I don´t know if I ever told you, but, when Melissa was baptized (the second baptism on my mission) She told us how she found us. So her story pretty much is that she decided that she wanted to go walking that night (something not that normal) in the cold (something that she NEVER did), on a street that they don´t usually walk on. And she did all that because she felt like it. That was a testimony to me that when the missionaries are ready, that he will guide his children that are ready into the path of the missionaries so that they will be able to bring his children to him.

 

So thanks for everything!

 

Hasta Luego

 

Elder Johnson.