Holly Hills
Hello all, how are you? I am doing really well here in San Antonio! this week was really good. i had a ton of splits!!! i was on splits 3 days this week. it was really good and i loved to get to visit other sectors but i really like being with my companion in my sector. i get along really well with elder despain. we have a lot of fun here. we do work hard though and we are seeing results =)
so this area(the coast) is all hills. my sector is small and relatively flat in comparrison to other areas i was in this week. im gonna loose sooo much weight wlkingup and down these things!
Thank you everyone that wrote me a christmas letter ive been loving reacing them all! they make me so happy when i read them =) i hope you all can send some more every once and a while!
so i finish my first 6 onths this week =) woohoO!!!! its flying!
i hope you all have amazing weeks!!!
Sunday, December 21, 2014
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December 9, 2014
oh, well hello there!
hi everyone =) i hope that you had a really good week! i did =)
i dont really have much time to say anything but this week was really awesome. i love my new sector and i love all of the people that we are working with! elder despain is also really awesome! he is a little more quiet than my other companions but we get along really weell and we laugh a lot! so yeah its really good here =) i love you all and hope that you are having an amazing week thus far!
elder johnson
hi everyone =) i hope that you had a really good week! i did =)
i dont really have much time to say anything but this week was really awesome. i love my new sector and i love all of the people that we are working with! elder despain is also really awesome! he is a little more quiet than my other companions but we get along really weell and we laugh a lot! so yeah its really good here =) i love you all and hope that you are having an amazing week thus far!
elder johnson
December 2, 2014
¡bienvenidos a paraíso!
hello everyone! this week i had transfers!!! i now live and prosolite in...................... San Antonio aka the coast!!! im so happy to be here =) my new companion is elder despain and he is from utah! so yes i have my first gringo companion but dont worry we basically only have talked in spanish =P so yeah i now live in the coast. it is so beautiful. the weather is so nice too. right now in my old sector it is about 33 degrees celcius but here it is about 23 =) it is sooo nice. i love it! im not dying from the heat =p so yeah i am super excited to be here and help the people here. the church in this sector is a lot more organized. we have a lot more help here than we did in my old sector. there is a lot of potencial and i can already tell that we are going to find and help amazing people here =) the people in the streets here a lot more friendly too =P
so yesterday was super cfrazy and it took us almost all of pday to get here so that is why im writing now. we didnt change pday or anything, it was just impossible to write yesterday so i get the chance to do it today. so yeah that is my life right now =) i love my mission and i am excited to writew more about here and let you all in on paradise here in san antonio =) i love you all and hope that you all have blessed weeks =) ill send pics next week!
love elder johnson
hello everyone! this week i had transfers!!! i now live and prosolite in...................... San Antonio aka the coast!!! im so happy to be here =) my new companion is elder despain and he is from utah! so yes i have my first gringo companion but dont worry we basically only have talked in spanish =P so yeah i now live in the coast. it is so beautiful. the weather is so nice too. right now in my old sector it is about 33 degrees celcius but here it is about 23 =) it is sooo nice. i love it! im not dying from the heat =p so yeah i am super excited to be here and help the people here. the church in this sector is a lot more organized. we have a lot more help here than we did in my old sector. there is a lot of potencial and i can already tell that we are going to find and help amazing people here =) the people in the streets here a lot more friendly too =P
so yesterday was super cfrazy and it took us almost all of pday to get here so that is why im writing now. we didnt change pday or anything, it was just impossible to write yesterday so i get the chance to do it today. so yeah that is my life right now =) i love my mission and i am excited to writew more about here and let you all in on paradise here in san antonio =) i love you all and hope that you all have blessed weeks =) ill send pics next week!
love elder johnson
November 24, 2014
This is the last week of the transfer!!!!!
so yeah this week flew bye! it was definitely a harder week. i had a lot of fun though =)
this week i had splits with elder ballard again =) I learned how to have more fun when im out and about teaching =P it really is a good skill to learn and here in the mission it is super important. we basically go out every day and do the same thing but there are ways to have fun too and not be a rule breaker =)
this week was a harder week for me. i have been working really hard here and because of that i have been soooo tired. but i had sufficient energy to get everything done that i needed to =) i know that with gods help we can do everything that we need to do =) he will always give us sufficient of everything that we need to get everything done.
I love my mission and i am so thankful for the oppertunity i have to serve =) i hope you all have blessed weeks =) sorry this is so short but i really dont have much else to say =P i promise in 2 weeks my email will be a lot better =) i cant promise next week will be because cambios =p but yeah i will do my best!
Love elder johnson!
so yeah this week flew bye! it was definitely a harder week. i had a lot of fun though =)
this week i had splits with elder ballard again =) I learned how to have more fun when im out and about teaching =P it really is a good skill to learn and here in the mission it is super important. we basically go out every day and do the same thing but there are ways to have fun too and not be a rule breaker =)
this week was a harder week for me. i have been working really hard here and because of that i have been soooo tired. but i had sufficient energy to get everything done that i needed to =) i know that with gods help we can do everything that we need to do =) he will always give us sufficient of everything that we need to get everything done.
I love my mission and i am so thankful for the oppertunity i have to serve =) i hope you all have blessed weeks =) sorry this is so short but i really dont have much else to say =P i promise in 2 weeks my email will be a lot better =) i cant promise next week will be because cambios =p but yeah i will do my best!
Love elder johnson!
Thursday, November 20, 2014
November 17, 2014
well there is another week gone =) what an amazing and dificult week it was!
So this week was so awesome =) we worked so so so so so hard and we definitly saw blessings for the work! we had 2 baptisms yesterday =) an let me tell you we sure worked for them =p i think this week i walked and ran more than any other week in my life! we were going back and forth from house to house in totally different part of the ward bounderies to prepare everything for these baptisms. it was sop worth it though =) the 2 young women who were baptised are really awesome! and the the grandpa who baptised them too =) i have really enjoyed working with this family and i am really happoy that in this mission i get the chance to work with them after their baptism to help them prepare for the temple too =) we get the chance to work a lot with our retencion and i love it =)
this week was so amazing. i studied a lot in the book Jesus the christ this week for personal study. i love that book i learned so much about our savior this week. he was just a person like us. he wasnt born with the knowledge of his destiny or role in life. Through his own personal study and through revelation he found out what his destiny was. we all have role in this world and with studies and through revelation we can find out what our roles are. i would like to change you all this week to pray and ask what your role in life is. i know and promise that if you all do that you will learn about why you are here. you wont recieve all the information but you will find out something new about yourself and why you are here.
i know that i am here to serve this mission. i know that i am in the right placew and that this is part of my destiney here on the earth. i hope that you all know how much i love you and i hope you know how much god loves you too because it is way more than any of us canj even imagine =)
i hope you all have blessed weeks!
elder johnson =)
So this week was so awesome =) we worked so so so so so hard and we definitly saw blessings for the work! we had 2 baptisms yesterday =) an let me tell you we sure worked for them =p i think this week i walked and ran more than any other week in my life! we were going back and forth from house to house in totally different part of the ward bounderies to prepare everything for these baptisms. it was sop worth it though =) the 2 young women who were baptised are really awesome! and the the grandpa who baptised them too =) i have really enjoyed working with this family and i am really happoy that in this mission i get the chance to work with them after their baptism to help them prepare for the temple too =) we get the chance to work a lot with our retencion and i love it =)
this week was so amazing. i studied a lot in the book Jesus the christ this week for personal study. i love that book i learned so much about our savior this week. he was just a person like us. he wasnt born with the knowledge of his destiny or role in life. Through his own personal study and through revelation he found out what his destiny was. we all have role in this world and with studies and through revelation we can find out what our roles are. i would like to change you all this week to pray and ask what your role in life is. i know and promise that if you all do that you will learn about why you are here. you wont recieve all the information but you will find out something new about yourself and why you are here.
i know that i am here to serve this mission. i know that i am in the right placew and that this is part of my destiney here on the earth. i hope that you all know how much i love you and i hope you know how much god loves you too because it is way more than any of us canj even imagine =)
i hope you all have blessed weeks!
elder johnson =)
November 10, 2014
Week unknown
so this week was really good!!! we got to listen to an apostle speek (elder Nelson) =) i loved his message so much. well actually him and his wifes messages. they were both really awesome. sister Nelson talked about our premortal selfs and about earthly potential. we all lived together with god before this life and we made covenants with god and with a ton of other people. well when we passed through the vail we somehow forgot all of that =p our job right now is to remember that stuff. that is a lot easier said than done =P But as week search for guidens through the spirit and ask for help to rember these things through prayer we will remember. all the things we do in this life are just distractions from the things that we promisssed to do before this life. we just need to linit distractions and the lord will help us =) elder nelso talked about the abrahamic covenant. most of us are from the tribe of joseph. our job is to help the other tribes gather. it is a life long goal, not just a goal for a missikonary. i am going to do my best to dedicate my life to the gathering of isreal. ypu dont have to be a missionary to help in the conversion of people. i challenge you all to do your best to help others come into the light of chridt too.
so this week we also started a new plan of accion for our sector. more info on what it is and how it is working will come next week. right now i would just ask for you all to pray for me and pray for our plan =)
i know that when we need help we can go to the lord in prayer and he will give us all we need to m,ake things work =)
i love you all and i hope that you have amazing weeks =)
elder johnson
So russel m nelson came to talk to us this week. i wasnt allowed to take a picture of him but i think this is a pretty good pic too =p hahaha so the story with these eggs is the night before we went to the conference with elder nelson i cooked hard boild eggs to eat the next morning. ( we needed to leave super early so i wouldnt have time to cook food) so i cooked the eggs and peeled them and then put them in the fridge. well over night they froze solid. these are te eggs that morning frozen solid =P
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| Hno barrueto gave me a Chile jersey! =))) it is game standard and i love it =) |
so this week we also started a new plan of accion for our sector. more info on what it is and how it is working will come next week. right now i would just ask for you all to pray for me and pray for our plan =)
i know that when we need help we can go to the lord in prayer and he will give us all we need to m,ake things work =)
i love you all and i hope that you have amazing weeks =)
elder johnson
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| Study time at ( am on pday =) |
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| elder chavez isa ready to cut our grass otside of our house =p i dont think it has been cut in a year. it is seriously a jungle out there |
Wednesday, November 5, 2014
November 3, 2014
Being a missionary is awesome!!!!
Well wow there went another week! and it was sure awesome! i seriously love it here. i love my mission so much and it is going by so fast. in 2 weeks i finish 5 months and before i know it i will be at 6. i dont know if it as fast for you all as it is for me but santa vaca timeis flying!
so this week was much better than last week! we were both really healthy anmd we had the chance to really work hard! we met a lot of really cool people and we had a lot of chances to give service. we worked outside doing yard work 2 days this week. it was really nice to get out and do physical labor like that =)
So elder Fernandez is from chile but really far south. tjis week i got to try some of the food that he eats down there. it was so good! i liked it so much that i bought stuff to make it today =p its called ulpo (oolpoe in english) basically it is toated wheat (harina tostada) with powder milk, sugar, and hot water. it is like oatmeal and i eat it for breakfast every week =)
so i really like toys here. i play a lot with tops (trompos) and Volentines (kites) but this week i found another awesome toy that is by far my favorite. here it is called a diabolo but in english it is a chinese yoyo. i am obsessed with it. i play with it every night to calm myself down before bed. i am getting pretty good with it if i do say so myself ;) haha so yeah if anyone knows cool tricks you can do with a chinese yoyo please send like a foto guide about how to do it becaus ei am trying to learn new tricks with it!
we taught a lot of really awesoem people this week. orlando is by far my favorite person to teach right now. he is 82 and i felt a super strong connection with him as soon as we started teaching him. i think he is one of those people that i knew after this life. i know that before this life we all connected with people in heaven. i know that we can find these people herew on the earth. seriously it is the craziest feeling. its like i knew a ton about him when i had just met him. ive had so many wonderful experiences liek that here. the spirit is so strong here. it is amazing. i never want to lose the spirit of the lord ever because i know that he is a guide that is always here for us. he wants us to do our best and he will always help us do exactly that. this week i would like to invite you all too take the time and listen to the spirit a little more and follow its promptings with all of your heart. i know that if we do that our lives can and will be better than we ever imagined was possible =)
i hope you all have blessed weeks! remember that the lord is always her for you when you need him
Elder Johnson
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| me and elder fernandez the day of transfers! |
so this week was much better than last week! we were both really healthy anmd we had the chance to really work hard! we met a lot of really cool people and we had a lot of chances to give service. we worked outside doing yard work 2 days this week. it was really nice to get out and do physical labor like that =)
So elder Fernandez is from chile but really far south. tjis week i got to try some of the food that he eats down there. it was so good! i liked it so much that i bought stuff to make it today =p its called ulpo (oolpoe in english) basically it is toated wheat (harina tostada) with powder milk, sugar, and hot water. it is like oatmeal and i eat it for breakfast every week =)
so i really like toys here. i play a lot with tops (trompos) and Volentines (kites) but this week i found another awesome toy that is by far my favorite. here it is called a diabolo but in english it is a chinese yoyo. i am obsessed with it. i play with it every night to calm myself down before bed. i am getting pretty good with it if i do say so myself ;) haha so yeah if anyone knows cool tricks you can do with a chinese yoyo please send like a foto guide about how to do it becaus ei am trying to learn new tricks with it!
we taught a lot of really awesoem people this week. orlando is by far my favorite person to teach right now. he is 82 and i felt a super strong connection with him as soon as we started teaching him. i think he is one of those people that i knew after this life. i know that before this life we all connected with people in heaven. i know that we can find these people herew on the earth. seriously it is the craziest feeling. its like i knew a ton about him when i had just met him. ive had so many wonderful experiences liek that here. the spirit is so strong here. it is amazing. i never want to lose the spirit of the lord ever because i know that he is a guide that is always here for us. he wants us to do our best and he will always help us do exactly that. this week i would like to invite you all too take the time and listen to the spirit a little more and follow its promptings with all of your heart. i know that if we do that our lives can and will be better than we ever imagined was possible =)
i hope you all have blessed weeks! remember that the lord is always her for you when you need him
Elder Johnson
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| We made a ping pong table today to play on p day =) |
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| haircuts on the mission are fun =P Elder Chavez did a really good job =) |
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| we like to play with toys a lot when we get the chance =P haha this is a diabolo |
| this is a trompo |
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| And this is a trompo |
Tuesday, October 28, 2014
October 27, 2014
Well another week past and gone!
I don´t thint that i will ever stop commenting about how fast these weeks go because they seriously fly.....
so this week i got really sick... i had my first sick day. let me tell ya... they are terrible =p and then my companion got the same virus so we had another sick day... i really like to be out working =p but i did get the chance to listen to some really good church talks!!!! once again if you havent listened to the conference talk from this last conference i recomend it =p also if you have never gone back and listened to old talks i recomend that too!! ytou can find all of the talks since 1975 on the church website!
correctrion 1971!!! im starting there this week and im gonna try and listen to them all in 1 week! (P.S. If you have favorite conference talks from history let me know. ill have my mom send me the replies, or you can send me the talk names and ill listen to them! my email is declan.johnson(at)myldsmail.net)
I don´t thint that i will ever stop commenting about how fast these weeks go because they seriously fly.....
so this week i got really sick... i had my first sick day. let me tell ya... they are terrible =p and then my companion got the same virus so we had another sick day... i really like to be out working =p but i did get the chance to listen to some really good church talks!!!! once again if you havent listened to the conference talk from this last conference i recomend it =p also if you have never gone back and listened to old talks i recomend that too!! ytou can find all of the talks since 1975 on the church website!
correctrion 1971!!! im starting there this week and im gonna try and listen to them all in 1 week! (P.S. If you have favorite conference talks from history let me know. ill have my mom send me the replies, or you can send me the talk names and ill listen to them! my email is declan.johnson(at)myldsmail.net)
so this week i also started to pray for the oppertunity to see miricales in my life every day. ill tell you about 2:
1) the wife of our missionary leader in the ward went to church for the first time since ive been here. i honestly didnt think that shed ever go... but she did =) this was one of the happiest parts of my mission =)
2) we have met somany people this week that are so ready to be baptised. my work here is to find the people who are preparedand we really havce been doing that this week!
so I really love elder fernandez. he is so awesome! he is very funny and we have been having a lot of fun together.
i seriously am so happy right now! i hope you guys can find happiness in your lives no matter what the situation! i know that we can do that throught the gospel of christ. the gospel can make us so happy. it will actually make us happier than anything else on this earth!!! i promise that =) and the best part is that it will last us eternity.
I know that this church is true and that throughthis church we have the oppertunity to recieve so much, most importantly an eternal family!
I hope you all have blessed weeks =)
Elder johnson =)
Monday, October 20, 2014
October 20, 2014
Transfers
so today my companion got transfered!!! i dont have a ton of time to write! we ave to go teach soon. we basically just got him to the house, unpacked, and went shopping for foood and stuff for him for the week. today was awesome though. i am really sad to see elder balarezo go but im excited to start woring with elder fernandez. he is really cool. he is from chile and he is going to teach me how to speak chilean =p (honestly their spanish here is a lot different than normal spanish =p they conjugate things a litle wird =p) i am really excited to be living with a chilean. its gonna be a blast!
this week was really good. we taught a lot of really good lessons. we only got 2 new investigators but they are way awesome. we are working a lot with the ward right now to strengthen the ward an its members. that is our main focus. but things are going really well here and we will continue to work reeally hard =)
i hope you all have blessed week! Enjoy my pictures =)
so today my companion got transfered!!! i dont have a ton of time to write! we ave to go teach soon. we basically just got him to the house, unpacked, and went shopping for foood and stuff for him for the week. today was awesome though. i am really sad to see elder balarezo go but im excited to start woring with elder fernandez. he is really cool. he is from chile and he is going to teach me how to speak chilean =p (honestly their spanish here is a lot different than normal spanish =p they conjugate things a litle wird =p) i am really excited to be living with a chilean. its gonna be a blast!
this week was really good. we taught a lot of really good lessons. we only got 2 new investigators but they are way awesome. we are working a lot with the ward right now to strengthen the ward an its members. that is our main focus. but things are going really well here and we will continue to work reeally hard =)
i hope you all have blessed week! Enjoy my pictures =)
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| I have a mate problem... |
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| and a paisly problem p.s. if you want to send me a tie this christmas please send paisly =p im crazy for paisly! |
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| my last day with my papá... transfers maña!!!! |
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| mirror selfie with one of our youth in the ward! his name is alen and he is 15. he helps us a ton! his family is like my mission family. |
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| elder balarezo alen and me |
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| the barueto family on elder balarezo´s last day |
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| elder balarezo is a pretty girl |
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| elder balarexo and i with the celis family and javiera and may! |
Friday, October 17, 2014
October 17, 2014 A Mother's Mission Blues
This is a post written by mom. I know I said I was turning the story over to Declan, but today I need to throw in an entry by me. Today has been a little bit of a rough one, this week has been a little shaky, tonight, well tonight has just plain stunk. I haven't really know what my problem has been. Honestly, I've kind of been a little bit upset with myself for being so childish. I guess I've felt a bit sad, and maybe even a little irritated that Declan's letters on Mondays seem so impersonal sometimes. I guess sometimes it seems like I wait around all week like it is Christmas waiting on a letter, and then I feel like I don't really even know what he did all week. It isn't that he isn't trying to tell me, it is just that there isn't enough time, and email is so hard, and he has so many more people to write- it is just so hard not being able to pick up the phone and talk to him or send him a text and ask him my questions and get answers right away; instead I'm just left hanging. I'm very blessed that Katie thinks to write me and fill me in on things that he tells her that she knows he has forgotten to tell me, like his poop story, at least I'm not missing out on everything! He has been asking for a lot of things from home the last few emails, so I had decided it was time to start thinking about getting a care package together. His old roomate from college, Garrett, contacted me and let me know he had asked him to send some things also. I figured if he was asking other people to send stuff I needed to get on the ball and get something out quick. I had Garrett send me his stuff so I could include it in our package. Rodney and I curiously waited all week to see what Declan would have asked his friend to send him. Yesterday we received Garrett's package and were cracking up when we saw 3 Kendamas in the box.
Mind you, they have been well used and loved. They are worn, chiped, scraped, and you can tell they have entertained many a boy for hours upon hours. I remember Declan telling me about them in college. Rodney and I decided he must be going through some major video game withdrawls. I told Garrett that I had received them and mentioned that Declan also wanted a trick yoyo, and he offered to help me pick one out. It was so nice to be able to text him back and forth, and it also made me miss my Declan too. I have also been sitting around getting Christmas ideas pulled together for Declan as I will have to get them put in the mail at the beginning of November. I think that is playing trick on my heart this week also. Then tonight Rodney and I were watching a movie. It was a war movie where the boy was a sweet little innocent all American boy going off to fight in an ugly, horrible war. I sat and bawled. I cried and cried and cried. I could not get it together and it was just the beginning of the movie. I thought I was going to have to stop watching it. All I could think about was how scary the state of the world is right now, how sad I am that Joey (Decota's sweet, innocent boyfriend) is enlisted as a Marine, of all things, with all that is going on right now, and how much I miss Declan. Rodney kept saying "let's just not watch this", but I knew I needed to pull it together so about 20 minutes later I wiped the last tear away and made it almost through the rest of the movie. All night it bugged me that I felt so emotional, and like I could burst out crying at any moment, And then it dawned on me and I knew why today was such a hard day- today is Decaln's 4 month mark of being out on his mission. 4 months ago today I put my baby on a plane and sent him to a country I've never seen to speak a language I don't speak and love people he's never met, and I did it because I have faith that he is doing what God has asked him to do and that he will be watched over and protected, and that he will learn and grow into an even more wonderful version of the person I knew before. I am one sixth of the way done. Time is flying. He is happy. He is loving what he is doing. He is learning, he is growing. He is becoming the man that God is shaping him into. My head knows that I would not want him anywhere else at this moment, sometimes it just takes my heart a minute to catch up and remember that.
Oh how I love that boy!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Tuesday, October 14, 2014
October 13, 2014
Another Week!
so i really dont have a ton of time. this is the last week in the transfer so we are rushing to do a bunch of stuff because it is very likely my companion will be transfered. but just a fast recap of the week, we didnt have any baptisms, we postponed the dates for another 2 weeks just to get them prepared fully. it is a lot better this way. umm we are teaching like 50 people right now, less actives and investigators but we are about to drop a bunch of people who arent preogressing. i hate this part of the mision but it has to be done... we have 8people with baptism dates right now. it is pretty awesome. we are working really hard with all of them! It is a lot of fun but challenging at the same time because each fam has their own needs. we are figuring it out though =)
so i really have to hurry so i am going to just tell you all my testimoney. i know that this is the true church. it is an amazing thruth. we have the oppertunity to recieve all that god has for us if we choose it. god is amazing and he loves every one of us so much. we are all so special to him. i can feel that about everyone of my investigators. i know it is true for all of you too.
i love you all too and i hope that you have a really good week!!!
love elder johnson!
( I have been giving Declan a hard time for not sending me any pictures. Here is his response to my harassment:
{ haha i know i need to send more... i will try to take more. im just scarded i will get robbed or somethig but ill do more.
the next week i will do better about pics! ill actualy take some in the week =p }
You heard it from the horse's mouth, we will see if we get some ;) If next week is transfers I have a feeling it could be a short email week so it could be a couple weeks before we get a good letter and/or pictures though. This week marked the one year mark for one of Declan's best friends, Nic Mower, in the mission field in Spain, so I thought I would post a picture of him that he sent me this week. We love our Texas missionaries <3 )
so i really dont have a ton of time. this is the last week in the transfer so we are rushing to do a bunch of stuff because it is very likely my companion will be transfered. but just a fast recap of the week, we didnt have any baptisms, we postponed the dates for another 2 weeks just to get them prepared fully. it is a lot better this way. umm we are teaching like 50 people right now, less actives and investigators but we are about to drop a bunch of people who arent preogressing. i hate this part of the mision but it has to be done... we have 8people with baptism dates right now. it is pretty awesome. we are working really hard with all of them! It is a lot of fun but challenging at the same time because each fam has their own needs. we are figuring it out though =)
so i really have to hurry so i am going to just tell you all my testimoney. i know that this is the true church. it is an amazing thruth. we have the oppertunity to recieve all that god has for us if we choose it. god is amazing and he loves every one of us so much. we are all so special to him. i can feel that about everyone of my investigators. i know it is true for all of you too.
i love you all too and i hope that you have a really good week!!!
love elder johnson!
( I have been giving Declan a hard time for not sending me any pictures. Here is his response to my harassment:
{ haha i know i need to send more... i will try to take more. im just scarded i will get robbed or somethig but ill do more.
the next week i will do better about pics! ill actualy take some in the week =p }
You heard it from the horse's mouth, we will see if we get some ;) If next week is transfers I have a feeling it could be a short email week so it could be a couple weeks before we get a good letter and/or pictures though. This week marked the one year mark for one of Declan's best friends, Nic Mower, in the mission field in Spain, so I thought I would post a picture of him that he sent me this week. We love our Texas missionaries <3 )
Monday, October 6, 2014
October 6, 2014
Wow what an amazing weekend!!!
Does everyone feel spíritually recharged this week? i sure do!!!
Conference was sooo amazing! seriously that was a huge blessing in my life. i hope you all recieved answers to your prayers. i sure did. this week i would like to share some of my impressions from conference. i hope that is ok =)
1) Jesus died so we can forget our past guilt, mistakes and pain. The atonement is the greatest act of love that we will ever know. he SUFFERED so that we dont have to. Give him your sins because he has his arms wide open and he is ready to accept not only them but you as well.
2) it takes extreme courage to take on trials but an infinite amount more to turn down men. We need to get on our knees and ask for help because only god can give us the courage that we need to take on the world. he wants to help us. all we have to do is ask.
3) prayer is not something that we should do only 1 or 2 times a day. we should pray constantly. god wants to hear everything about our lives. the boring and the eventful. we should pray to him always and tell him everything. our doubts, our fears, and what we pray for will be made strong.
4) god is the same today yesterday and forever. His standards will never change. we experience apostacy when we lower his standards to the standards of men
5) Our faith will affect others more than we will ever know. through our faith others will find the inspiration that they need to keep on going.
6) Christ died not to save us but to offer us repentence. it is our job to take him up on that offer and repent.
7) God will never force us to do something. we will always have our gift of choice. we recieve blessings when we choose to follow him.
8) All of us have the oppertunity to recieve personal revelation. if we have faith, the intent to follow up on our answers and a pure heart then we will recieve reveltion through prayer, scriptures and church. its impotrtant we pray read scripturtes and go to church because we never know where the revelation will come from. the first step to revelation is to pray and ask for it.
9) Thomas S. Monson is a prophet called of god. He will never mislead us. he is here for us. it is our choice if we will listen to his words and improve our lives.
10) Jesus is the christ and redemer of the world. his death for us is the most important event in history. without him we have no hope or fuure. we have him though. that means that the world is ours. we just have to choose to take it.
I love you all. i hope my thoughts about the first session of conference help you out and make you feel like they make me feel. i love you all and i hope you have blessed weeks.
Love Elder Johnson
Does everyone feel spíritually recharged this week? i sure do!!!
Conference was sooo amazing! seriously that was a huge blessing in my life. i hope you all recieved answers to your prayers. i sure did. this week i would like to share some of my impressions from conference. i hope that is ok =)
1) Jesus died so we can forget our past guilt, mistakes and pain. The atonement is the greatest act of love that we will ever know. he SUFFERED so that we dont have to. Give him your sins because he has his arms wide open and he is ready to accept not only them but you as well.
2) it takes extreme courage to take on trials but an infinite amount more to turn down men. We need to get on our knees and ask for help because only god can give us the courage that we need to take on the world. he wants to help us. all we have to do is ask.
3) prayer is not something that we should do only 1 or 2 times a day. we should pray constantly. god wants to hear everything about our lives. the boring and the eventful. we should pray to him always and tell him everything. our doubts, our fears, and what we pray for will be made strong.
4) god is the same today yesterday and forever. His standards will never change. we experience apostacy when we lower his standards to the standards of men
5) Our faith will affect others more than we will ever know. through our faith others will find the inspiration that they need to keep on going.
6) Christ died not to save us but to offer us repentence. it is our job to take him up on that offer and repent.
7) God will never force us to do something. we will always have our gift of choice. we recieve blessings when we choose to follow him.
8) All of us have the oppertunity to recieve personal revelation. if we have faith, the intent to follow up on our answers and a pure heart then we will recieve reveltion through prayer, scriptures and church. its impotrtant we pray read scripturtes and go to church because we never know where the revelation will come from. the first step to revelation is to pray and ask for it.
9) Thomas S. Monson is a prophet called of god. He will never mislead us. he is here for us. it is our choice if we will listen to his words and improve our lives.
10) Jesus is the christ and redemer of the world. his death for us is the most important event in history. without him we have no hope or fuure. we have him though. that means that the world is ours. we just have to choose to take it.
I love you all. i hope my thoughts about the first session of conference help you out and make you feel like they make me feel. i love you all and i hope you have blessed weeks.
Love Elder Johnson
Thursday, October 2, 2014
September 29, 2014
Another week gone bye!!!
wow its already this time again!
So this week was good! We had a lot of really good lessons. We also got 2 new investigators! Our focus here isnt really finding a bunch of new people. well ok in this point in time it isnt. right now we work really hard to get our less active families to go to church. im gonna be a reall good home teacher when i get home =p i also know a bunch of really good slap in the face scriptures if anyone feels like they need to be humbled a little bit ;) haha dont worry they are slaps in the face for me too =p they are really motivating. we use a lot of them to teach because they are really blunt and they get the point across. christ didnt sugar coat anything when he taught so why should we? we do everything out of love though. i cant even describe how much these families mean to me. i just want them all to go to church and be happy and have eternal families. i get so sad when we have to drop people because they arent progressing... we had to do that a lot this week. we dropped a lot of people and contacted new people. it was a good week. we also started working with people who we had dropped 6 weeks ago. a lot of them could feel a big difference in their lives when we didnt go to their house. they are really motivated to make the changes that they need to in their lives!
I know that this church is true and that it really does have the power to change lives completely. ive seen it in a couple of people here. i know that only with this gospel we can be truly happy for eternity. the possessions we have in this life really dont matter. our families matter. and only through this gospel we can have eternal families. life is not easy. the enemy we have is very strong and he knows us really well. i know that god knows us better though. when we learn to rely on him our lives become better. way better. we can avoid so much pain and missery by reading scriptures, praying, and going to church. god wants us to be happy and when we make the effort to be closer to him that definitely happens.
i want to invite everyone to watch conference this weekend. i am so excited to listen to the only real living proffet of god on this earth. he recieves revelation specificaly for us. he knows what we need and he knows what god needs us to here. it is so important we listen to him becuase when we do we can have so much more peace and joy in our lives!!! He is here for us. and i promise you all that if you listen to conference this weekend you will find answers to your prayers.
i love you all a ton! have a good week =)
Elder Johnson!
wow its already this time again!
So this week was good! We had a lot of really good lessons. We also got 2 new investigators! Our focus here isnt really finding a bunch of new people. well ok in this point in time it isnt. right now we work really hard to get our less active families to go to church. im gonna be a reall good home teacher when i get home =p i also know a bunch of really good slap in the face scriptures if anyone feels like they need to be humbled a little bit ;) haha dont worry they are slaps in the face for me too =p they are really motivating. we use a lot of them to teach because they are really blunt and they get the point across. christ didnt sugar coat anything when he taught so why should we? we do everything out of love though. i cant even describe how much these families mean to me. i just want them all to go to church and be happy and have eternal families. i get so sad when we have to drop people because they arent progressing... we had to do that a lot this week. we dropped a lot of people and contacted new people. it was a good week. we also started working with people who we had dropped 6 weeks ago. a lot of them could feel a big difference in their lives when we didnt go to their house. they are really motivated to make the changes that they need to in their lives!
I know that this church is true and that it really does have the power to change lives completely. ive seen it in a couple of people here. i know that only with this gospel we can be truly happy for eternity. the possessions we have in this life really dont matter. our families matter. and only through this gospel we can have eternal families. life is not easy. the enemy we have is very strong and he knows us really well. i know that god knows us better though. when we learn to rely on him our lives become better. way better. we can avoid so much pain and missery by reading scriptures, praying, and going to church. god wants us to be happy and when we make the effort to be closer to him that definitely happens.
i want to invite everyone to watch conference this weekend. i am so excited to listen to the only real living proffet of god on this earth. he recieves revelation specificaly for us. he knows what we need and he knows what god needs us to here. it is so important we listen to him becuase when we do we can have so much more peace and joy in our lives!!! He is here for us. and i promise you all that if you listen to conference this weekend you will find answers to your prayers.
i love you all a ton! have a good week =)
Elder Johnson!
Monday, September 22, 2014
September 22, 2014 Q&A Session
1) what type of housing do the people in your area mainly live in? And what are they made of?
2) What type of housing do you live in?
the people here live in houses i think they are classified as houses) and apartments. what they are made out of depends on how much money they have =p there are wood and cemnent houses and possibly a cinder block or two. a lot of families share houses so i really am not sure what the average size livng space is for 1 family.... i live in a really nice neighborhood about 30 minutes outside of my area so my house is big and nice.
3) What type of food do you eat? do you have a cook? Do you eat with members? Do you cook? Do you eat at restaurants?i eat a lot of beans and rice and potatoes. very little meat ( except for hot dogs. we get that more frequently) we have to cook breakfast and dinner ( if you want it). lunch is the really big meal here so we eat a ton fpr lunch and we never have to make that. people love to feed us lunch =p
4) Are there a lot of stray animals?
there are a lot of dogs and some cats. usually when you see a cat though it got caught by a dog and isnt living =p 4) Are there a lot of stray animals?
5) Do people sell food on the street?
yes people sell food on the streets but they are usually things like wrapped candy and sopapillas they deep fry so i enjoy to eat this food =p
6) Does everyone have electricity? Running water? Gas? Sewer?
everyone has gas and running watter and sewers. there is one company that sells the gas. our gas is just a prpane tank that we hook up =p
7) How do you do your laundry?
i have a washing machine
8) How many missionaries live with you?
i live with one other companionship so 3 other missionaries
9) How far is the church from your home?
umm the church is like a 30 min walk. it takes us about 20 minutes to get to our zone and then 10 more to get to the church
10) Is it starting to get warmer? Is it starting to seem like spring?
chile is a lot like texas... you never know how the weather is going to be. it will be hot one day and then freezing the next!
11) What is the biggest difference you see between the way people live there and the way people live in the us?
there are a lot of huge differences... the economy is one thing. the coutry is basically owned by 4 families. everyone else is pretty poor but they are all have and content with what they have. they dont always need the newest things. they make what they have work.
12) What is the biggest similarity you see between the way the people live there and the way people live in the us?
haha people are still people so i guess the similarities are just natural in people =p there are a lot of similarities. boys will always be boys and girls will always be girls =p
13) what is the strangest thing you have eaten so far?
13) what is the strangest thing you have eaten so far?
ummm the strangest thing was chicken hearts. they arent bad... just weird
14) what food do you miss the most?
14) what food do you miss the most?
i miss a lot of food =p candy. i really actualy dont miss meat much... its weird =p
15) Have you worn all of your ties ;) ? (Declan to about 40 ties on his mission with him)
15) Have you worn all of your ties ;) ? (Declan to about 40 ties on his mission with him)
hahah yes i have =p
September 22,2014
Fiesta!
hello everyone! i hope you are all doing really well!!!!
i had a really good week. 9/18 is chilean independence day and it is also their biggest holiday. it was a lot of fun! we had a party in the chyrch with the people in our ward. i got to fly my kites =) of... i dont know if ive told you all about kites... well here in chile they have a tradition of flying kites. it is huge! almost everyone here knows how to do it and about 75% of ther people who are at home during the day are outside flying these things all day. it is huge. so me (being the person that i am) decided that i really wanted to fly these things and i was going to like it and do it no matter what. i have like 8 kites ( their are about 50 cents each) and i have basically a giant fly fishing real of string i can use to fly them. the kites are called volentines and people fight them in the streets. you can try and cut another persons line with your line. its a little competition =p so yeah i have a bunch and i really like flying them.
i also ate a ton of empenadas. empenadas are the fiest food of choice here. so i ate about 9 on the 18th and almost every house we went to that day gave us some to take home . it was awesome.
i am doing really well. elder balarezo has helped me a lot. this was a super tough week for me for some reason. he is helping me to see what really matters in a mission though and he is helping me make every week better. the lord knows who we need in our lives and he will put those people there when we need them.
i love you all and i hope you have blessed weeks!!!
(*I had asked Declan several weeks ago to be thinking of some Christmas ideas as I would have to be sending Christams out early in order to get it to him on time. He has taken a couple weeks to think about it and I thought his response was a little humerous. As you can see, he is the same old Declan:)
{i have been thinking about this a little because it takes about a month to send stuff... but i dont really need anything. i would like a few things though.
1 a small nice just book of mormon in english
2 a small nice just new testimate in english
3 the approved missionary library books
4 sudoku or other puzzles i can do to keep my brain more active
5 a more advanced algebra work book and other math books i can use too
thanks!!!! i love you!}
Seriously- who else asks for a math book????? I love it!!!!!!)
hello everyone! i hope you are all doing really well!!!!
i had a really good week. 9/18 is chilean independence day and it is also their biggest holiday. it was a lot of fun! we had a party in the chyrch with the people in our ward. i got to fly my kites =) of... i dont know if ive told you all about kites... well here in chile they have a tradition of flying kites. it is huge! almost everyone here knows how to do it and about 75% of ther people who are at home during the day are outside flying these things all day. it is huge. so me (being the person that i am) decided that i really wanted to fly these things and i was going to like it and do it no matter what. i have like 8 kites ( their are about 50 cents each) and i have basically a giant fly fishing real of string i can use to fly them. the kites are called volentines and people fight them in the streets. you can try and cut another persons line with your line. its a little competition =p so yeah i have a bunch and i really like flying them.
i also ate a ton of empenadas. empenadas are the fiest food of choice here. so i ate about 9 on the 18th and almost every house we went to that day gave us some to take home . it was awesome.
i am doing really well. elder balarezo has helped me a lot. this was a super tough week for me for some reason. he is helping me to see what really matters in a mission though and he is helping me make every week better. the lord knows who we need in our lives and he will put those people there when we need them.
i love you all and i hope you have blessed weeks!!!
(*I had asked Declan several weeks ago to be thinking of some Christmas ideas as I would have to be sending Christams out early in order to get it to him on time. He has taken a couple weeks to think about it and I thought his response was a little humerous. As you can see, he is the same old Declan:)
{i have been thinking about this a little because it takes about a month to send stuff... but i dont really need anything. i would like a few things though.
1 a small nice just book of mormon in english
2 a small nice just new testimate in english
3 the approved missionary library books
4 sudoku or other puzzles i can do to keep my brain more active
5 a more advanced algebra work book and other math books i can use too
thanks!!!! i love you!}
Tuesday, September 16, 2014
September 15, 2014
These weeks go bye so fast...
well another week has flown bye here in chile! this is going bye so fast!!! like seriously so so so so fast!!! but this week was another really good one!!!!
So i dont know if you all know much about my mission. My mission is a pilot for a new type of missionary work. we are testing out something for the church called Plan Piloto. My mission and the santiago south mission are the only 2 missionms in the world right now who use it. basically what it is is we work really hard with less active family}ies as well as investigators. we visit less actives just as often as we visit investigators. we have about 1000 less actives in my sector. a lot people who were baptized when they were really young. but we have a book with all of the adresses of the members and we basically go to try and reactivate them. we teach them lessons and try aned respark their interest in the church. we also work really hard with their families. it is really awesome because i have gotten to work with a lot of part member families and i get to help make their families eternal. we have a baptism next week or the week after with one ofr those families. the mom was a member and she knows the church is true but just doesnt go so we are worrking wioth her kids and they really want to be baptized. yesterday she wentr to church for the first time in years. it was amazing.
so in chile 9/11 is a really dangerous day. i had my first complete day in my apartment. all of the companionships in my area were not aloud to leave their apartrments that day. i had a really good day though. i read a ton. i started reading the new testimate this last week. i really love it. i also read the book our search for happyness by elder ballard ( Not my old compoanion ;p). it is amazing. if you want to learn more about our faith and whaty we believe in i highly recomend it. it is very small and i would recomend it to anyone.
so yesterday i was sick for the first time out here in the field... the morning was very very very unpleasent. i felt terrible but i pushed through it and went to church. yester4day ended up being one of my best days out here. we tought 4 great lessons, gave blessings to a whole family of investigators who have been really sick, worked a lot with the youth, and felt the spirit extremely strongly. it was definitely a testimoney building kind of day!!!! i kjnow that if we pray for help god will help us through every situation we need helpo in. i know that god does answer prayers, i know that if we work through adversity for the things we believe our minds, bodies, and sould will be strengthened. i know that if we work hard and do what god wants us to do we will be greatly rewarded.
i love this church and i love this mission.
i hope you all have an amazing day
Elder Johnson
{ A little extra info about his referencing him being sick, which I though his uncles in particular would enjoy ;)
If you get queezy or offended about the reality of monazumas revenge on missionaries in foreign lands just skip over this last part; however, this is a reality of his mission I want him to be able to remember he endured through and still kept on smiling and loving what he was doing:
soooo yesterday i had my first almost poop your pants day. i can now say i have a testimoney of imodium ad =p hahaha elder balarezo and i were both sick =p we were fighting over the toilet when we were at our house. it was bad. then we had to go out into the streets... i seriopusly spent 90% of my mental power just making sure i kept everything that was inside of me inside of me =p when we got to church i went to the bathroom... 9 times =p yeah and finally after church the meds started working. so after that i was good!!! i really didnt feel like eating though =P so yeah, i have my first poop story on my missionm =p hahaha. }
well another week has flown bye here in chile! this is going bye so fast!!! like seriously so so so so fast!!! but this week was another really good one!!!!
So i dont know if you all know much about my mission. My mission is a pilot for a new type of missionary work. we are testing out something for the church called Plan Piloto. My mission and the santiago south mission are the only 2 missionms in the world right now who use it. basically what it is is we work really hard with less active family}ies as well as investigators. we visit less actives just as often as we visit investigators. we have about 1000 less actives in my sector. a lot people who were baptized when they were really young. but we have a book with all of the adresses of the members and we basically go to try and reactivate them. we teach them lessons and try aned respark their interest in the church. we also work really hard with their families. it is really awesome because i have gotten to work with a lot of part member families and i get to help make their families eternal. we have a baptism next week or the week after with one ofr those families. the mom was a member and she knows the church is true but just doesnt go so we are worrking wioth her kids and they really want to be baptized. yesterday she wentr to church for the first time in years. it was amazing.
so in chile 9/11 is a really dangerous day. i had my first complete day in my apartment. all of the companionships in my area were not aloud to leave their apartrments that day. i had a really good day though. i read a ton. i started reading the new testimate this last week. i really love it. i also read the book our search for happyness by elder ballard ( Not my old compoanion ;p). it is amazing. if you want to learn more about our faith and whaty we believe in i highly recomend it. it is very small and i would recomend it to anyone.
so yesterday i was sick for the first time out here in the field... the morning was very very very unpleasent. i felt terrible but i pushed through it and went to church. yester4day ended up being one of my best days out here. we tought 4 great lessons, gave blessings to a whole family of investigators who have been really sick, worked a lot with the youth, and felt the spirit extremely strongly. it was definitely a testimoney building kind of day!!!! i kjnow that if we pray for help god will help us through every situation we need helpo in. i know that god does answer prayers, i know that if we work through adversity for the things we believe our minds, bodies, and sould will be strengthened. i know that if we work hard and do what god wants us to do we will be greatly rewarded.
i love this church and i love this mission.
i hope you all have an amazing day
Elder Johnson
{ A little extra info about his referencing him being sick, which I though his uncles in particular would enjoy ;)
If you get queezy or offended about the reality of monazumas revenge on missionaries in foreign lands just skip over this last part; however, this is a reality of his mission I want him to be able to remember he endured through and still kept on smiling and loving what he was doing:
soooo yesterday i had my first almost poop your pants day. i can now say i have a testimoney of imodium ad =p hahaha elder balarezo and i were both sick =p we were fighting over the toilet when we were at our house. it was bad. then we had to go out into the streets... i seriopusly spent 90% of my mental power just making sure i kept everything that was inside of me inside of me =p when we got to church i went to the bathroom... 9 times =p yeah and finally after church the meds started working. so after that i was good!!! i really didnt feel like eating though =P so yeah, i have my first poop story on my missionm =p hahaha. }
Monday, September 8, 2014
September 8, 2014
Cambio week
hey everyone just so you know thiis is going to be really short... today we had transfers so i have no time to write. but this week was really good. not much changed here. im in the same place with the same people and same companion! so i didnt get effected too much =p
I had a baptism last week!!! ill send ics next week i promise =) but i got to baptize again =) it was awesome. he was the first person i tought when i got here. his name is francisco and he is 13. ill send pics later!
i love you all!!! have good weeks =)
hey everyone just so you know thiis is going to be really short... today we had transfers so i have no time to write. but this week was really good. not much changed here. im in the same place with the same people and same companion! so i didnt get effected too much =p
I had a baptism last week!!! ill send ics next week i promise =) but i got to baptize again =) it was awesome. he was the first person i tought when i got here. his name is francisco and he is 13. ill send pics later!
i love you all!!! have good weeks =)
September 1, 2014
Que Volà?
Hello everyone! how are you?
i had an amazing week. i seriously have never worked harder in my life and i was so rewarded for it too.
this week we had 7 new investigators added to our list. and 4 of them are super super super prepared to be baptized. im so excited to work with them. we also have another baptism this week. it is for the first person i taught here in chile. his name is francisco. he is 14 years old and he really wants to be baptised. something really cool about this baptism is the other guy i baptised (Gilbert) will be able to baptise him because he is a priest! so yeah that is way cool! that will be exciting!
well... the lady whose shop we write at is kicking us out because she has to eat.... ummm i love you all!!! i know this church is true! work hard and i know the lord will bless you!!
Hello everyone! how are you?
i had an amazing week. i seriously have never worked harder in my life and i was so rewarded for it too.
this week we had 7 new investigators added to our list. and 4 of them are super super super prepared to be baptized. im so excited to work with them. we also have another baptism this week. it is for the first person i taught here in chile. his name is francisco. he is 14 years old and he really wants to be baptised. something really cool about this baptism is the other guy i baptised (Gilbert) will be able to baptise him because he is a priest! so yeah that is way cool! that will be exciting!
well... the lady whose shop we write at is kicking us out because she has to eat.... ummm i love you all!!! i know this church is true! work hard and i know the lord will bless you!!
Tuesday, August 26, 2014
August 25, 2014
Week.... something =p
Hello everyone!!!!! i hope you all have had amazing weeks!
This week was really good!!! it wasnt as eventful as others but it was still really good!!!! i dont really have much time to write today though so this is going to be brief.
so this week i had devisions again! i get to go on deevisions a lot because my companion is the district leader. i really liked where i went and i love divisions. i get to see how other groups of missionaries teach and steal there good teaching techniques and use them in my lessons =p we didnt really teach a bunch, most of the day was contacting, but we did teach a brand new investigator and i commited her to read the BOM, go to church, pray, and be baptised all in one lesson so that was cool!
yesterday we had about 51 people at church. that might not seem like a lot bot my first week here we had about 34. we are finding a lot of people that are interested in the church. we are also working with a lot of less actives and helping them assist the church.
today i had my first transfer meeting... kind of. we really just said goodbye to a bunch of people that are going home in a special change to get home in time for school... i think thats what it was. but it was cool seeing them. we watched videos of them from the first couple weeks here and the last. its crazy how much people change!!! it was way cool though!
I love you all!!!! im sorry i dont have more time. the transfer meeting took a long time. i just want you to all know im doing really well and i love the work! i love this church and i love the gospel!!! I know this church is true. i know that joseph smith was and is a prophet. i love you all! please have blessed weeks!!!
elder johnson =)
Hello everyone!!!!! i hope you all have had amazing weeks!
This week was really good!!! it wasnt as eventful as others but it was still really good!!!! i dont really have much time to write today though so this is going to be brief.
so this week i had devisions again! i get to go on deevisions a lot because my companion is the district leader. i really liked where i went and i love divisions. i get to see how other groups of missionaries teach and steal there good teaching techniques and use them in my lessons =p we didnt really teach a bunch, most of the day was contacting, but we did teach a brand new investigator and i commited her to read the BOM, go to church, pray, and be baptised all in one lesson so that was cool!
yesterday we had about 51 people at church. that might not seem like a lot bot my first week here we had about 34. we are finding a lot of people that are interested in the church. we are also working with a lot of less actives and helping them assist the church.
today i had my first transfer meeting... kind of. we really just said goodbye to a bunch of people that are going home in a special change to get home in time for school... i think thats what it was. but it was cool seeing them. we watched videos of them from the first couple weeks here and the last. its crazy how much people change!!! it was way cool though!
I love you all!!!! im sorry i dont have more time. the transfer meeting took a long time. i just want you to all know im doing really well and i love the work! i love this church and i love the gospel!!! I know this church is true. i know that joseph smith was and is a prophet. i love you all! please have blessed weeks!!!
elder johnson =)
Monday, August 18, 2014
July 18, 2014
| what a week!!! |
| my trainer me and the other person my trainer trained ( dad and brother) |
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| my trainer me and the other person my trainer trained ( dad and brother) |
Hello everyone!!! this week has been so amazing. seriously the best week ever. here is why:
the first reason is i truly felt like a tool in the hands of god. i went on splits this week (friday) with the leaders of the zone. their area is really interesting. if you ever get a chance look up the history of La Victoria in chile. but anyway the moment i felt like a tool in the lords hands was when i was teaching a retension family (a family who was baptized pretty recently). from what i understand this family really has been having problems. the 2 year old boy has asburgers (?) and has a lot of emotional problems. well he was fighing with his mom. she was at one point married to a really bad guy and he beat the little boy. they had no idea he had a mental illness then and were really hard him. and the 10 year old boy has a hard time forgetting that. well he was mad at her and he kept bringing up the past and sh ewas trying to tell him that she was changing her life. she has since then joined the church and comnpletely changed her life. but the boy couldnt see that. the house was in complete diserray. the elder i was with was trying really hard to calm everyoner down. he was teaching them out of the scrips but nothing seemed to work. then i opened my mouth and promptings from the spirit just started pouring out. i talked about charity and forgivness and how when we show these attributers we are acting like christ. well they were instantly calmed and i challenged them to serve eachother when they are upset with one another. we left after that and while we left they werte hugging and crying and apologizing. it was awesome- so that was one thing.
another was the service project we did earlier that morning. we rebuilt a house for a new convert. he was living like a dog. seriously he as living with dead rats all over the place. his family was making him live in basically a shed so we fixed up a new place for him to live. that was cool.
and then the next day i had my first baptism in the field. i was lucky enough to baptize gilbert isais diaz toro. it was amazing. i was kind of nervouse but when it all went down the spirit was so strong. that being said, that is not why i will rember that event for forever.. the events before that are why i wil remebr it =p so we were filling up the faunt and it was going by really slowly. seiously in about 3 hours we had filled up about 1.5 feet of the faunt... so we had to use the fire hose to fill up the faunt. well.... the hose had holes in it. so when we turned it on the church flooded. yes we flooded the church so for about an hour we swept water out of the building. it was so crazy. it was hilarious!!! there was watert everywhere. everyone was freaking out but i couldnt help but crack up. i felt bad because our bishop looked so stressed but i thought it was funny. we got everything cleaned up though so it was all good. and the baptism was awesome!!
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| elder balarezo, gilbert, rosa and i!! |
it was such a good week!!! i know that this gospel is true and that the worth of every soul is great in the sight of god. i felt that this week. seriously he loves us so much!! i know that this is the only true church in the world. i know that we have the priesthood and the ability to make covenants with god. i know go loves everyone and is so happy when we repent and come to him.
thank you for all of your messages of encouragment. they have helped so much. i love you all and hope you have blessed weeks.
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| lunch on my 2 moth aniversery!!! 8/18/2014 |
love elder johnson
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| my new haircut and mission photo |
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