January 9, 2015

Hey everyone!

im not gonna be able to write very much today i got all of my pics downloaded so i am going to use most of my time to get those all sent. i also wrote really late last week so not much has changed. we did have a baptism though =) so ill send those pics first!




i just want to share a quick testimoney though. i know that the role of member in missionary work is really important. the daughter of the lady we baptized was a reference of a member of another ward. if we hadnt have recieved that reference than we would have never had the chance to know sandra ( the lady we baptised.) so i know that these references and this help makes a big difference. through your help we are able to get into a lot of places that otherwise would be impossible to get into. we really can help your friends change their lifes for the better we just need your help to do it.

My first converts

last day in diagonal with the old comp/ house mat

last day in diagonal with the old comp/ house mates

side effects of the mission

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January 2, 2015

Better late than never =)


Hey everyone! i hope you all had really good weeks =) mine was really awesome. Happy 2015 =)




so sorry this is coming so late this week. let me explain why =p so monday we had to go to santiago. that is like a 2 hour trip there and a 2 hour trip back. we left my houseat 4:50 because we had to be in santiago in one of the churches at 7:30. we had the chance to do what the mission callls the Visa run. when i got to the church they gave me a list of dirctions and just told me to go... so we went. I had to go all over the part of santiago Called Republica to find all of aply far and recieve all of the government documents that i needed to get my visa. so we were there all day. we got back to our sector at 6:30. we were a little late but we got back as quickly as we could. so yeah that was moneday.




on the way hjome from santiago monday night we got a phone call from our zone leaders and they said that we were going to have a conference with all of the mission and our president the next day guess where it was. yup in santiago again... but it was in a part about 2.5 hours away. we didnt have to be there until 9 30 though so we gat to sleep in another hour =p haha but the meeting was very good. if anyone felt homesick after there skype calls before the skype calls they sure didnt after because we recieved a beating (with love) in the reunion. it was really good though. the bad part was that we dfidnt get back until really late so we didnt have much time to work. the next 2 days we couldnt write again because of the new years parties. almost everywhere was closed. so that brings us to today.




so yeah i had a really good week this week and i had an amazing christmas too =) i hope you all did too!




2014 was the best year of my life. i had the oppertunity to make the best desision of my life and i am living the consequences of that decisin right now and i couldnt be more happy. the amout of growth that i have experienced this year was crazy. that all being said though i know for a fact that tjis next year is going to be even better. it will be difficult at times and there will be many trials but i know that through these trials we will have the chance to be humbled and get to know god. i am, very greatful for all of the trials that i have had in my life. withought these trials i would never be the man i am today and without the trials ive had i would never be able to help these people here know god. thank you for all of your support and the love that you have all sent me this year, it really does help.




I hope that you all remeber that if we truly are converted this year it will be the best year we have ever had no matter what happens. i love you ALL! Have a good new year =)




Elder Johnson

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Bad Mission Mom

I have been very bad about posting Declan's letters. He went through a phase for quite a while after Christmas where I barely got more than a couple lines from him, and I felt like there was nothing worth posting in his letters. To be completely honest, I was even a bit irritated with him because while I was hearing absolutely nothing of any worth from him about how he was doing, what he was doing, or about his mission, his girlfriend, Katie, was getting all kinds of stories and information and seemed to know all about his companions and what he was doing. She was sweet enough to pass information to me so I could enjoy some of it, but I was irritated with Declan that he wasn't including his family in that way. That seems to be when I fell off the blogging wagon. In April, actually on Declan's birthday, Katie ended hers and Declan's relationship. I had a feeling that I might start to get a little more Information in my emails once again. At first they contained a few more personal things about his feelings about the breakup, but then he started to try to do a better of a job telling us more information about what he is doing. He still is Declan, and there is not a wealth of information, but some weeks are great.I have save his letters and will play catch now.

 

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January 2, 2015

Better late than never :)

Hey everyone! i hope you all had really good weeks =) mine was really awesome. Happy 2015 =)




so sorry this is coming so late this week. let me explain why =p so monday we had to go to santiago. that is like a 2 hour trip there and a 2 hour trip back. we left my houseat 4:50 because we had to be in santiago in one of the churches at 7:30. we had the chance to do what the mission callls the Visa run. when i got to the church they gave me a list of dirctions and just told me to go... so we went. I had to go all over the part of santiago Called Republica to find all of aply far and recieve all of the government documents that i needed to get my visa. so we were there all day. we got back to our sector at 6:30. we were a little late but we got back as quickly as we could. so yeah that was moneday.




on the way hjome from santiago monday night we got a phone call from our zone leaders and they said that we were going to have a conference with all of the mission and our president the next day guess where it was. yup in santiago again... but it was in a part about 2.5 hours away. we didnt have to be there until 9 30 though so we gat to sleep in another hour =p haha but the meeting was very good. if anyone felt homesick after there skype calls before the skype calls they sure didnt after because we recieved a beating (with love) in the reunion. it was really good though. the bad part was that we dfidnt get back until really late so we didnt have much time to work. the next 2 days we couldnt write again because of the new years parties. almost everywhere was closed. so that brings us to today.




so yeah i had a really good week this week and i had an amazing christmas too =) i hope you all did too!




2014 was the best year of my life. i had the oppertunity to make the best desision of my life and i am living the consequences of that decisin right now and i couldnt be more happy. the amout of growth that i have experienced this year was crazy. that all being said though i know for a fact that tjis next year is going to be even better. it will be difficult at times and there will be many trials but i know that through these trials we will have the chance to be humbled and get to know god. i am, very greatful for all of the trials that i have had in my life. withought these trials i would never be the man i am today and without the trials ive had i would never be able to help these people here know god. thank you for all of your support and the love that you have all sent me this year, it really does help.




I hope that you all remeber that if we truly are converted this year it will be the best year we have ever had no matter what happens. i love you ALL! Have a good new year =)




Elder Johnson



(Declan's friend Katie had a girl named Monica reach out to her on Instagram from San Antonio, Chile. She spent Christmas with Declan (she is to the right of him in the first picture) and sent her a bunch of pictures of Declan's Christmas. I love them! Here they are:)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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December 22, 2014

Merry Christmas!

Hello all! i hope that you all had a fantastic week this week and i hope that you all have a fantastic week planned. needless too say i am super exited for my week. it will be awesome here =) from what i understand the christmas traditions are really pretty much the same here and in the states. i havent heard anyhing else.




so i have a ton of pics to send but still don thave a card reader to send pics so i cant send them... sorry im workig on it =p

This week was really good. it was a really spiritual week. i felt the spirit really strongly in a good amount of the lessons we had this week. ill ave my mom post on my blog what she did for us this cambio with the 25 days of christmas but i can honestly say that from that great idea she had we saw all kinds of miracles. it was so awesome. the peoples hearts here are really softening at this point in time. christmas is a time for miracles and we are sure seeing them here in santiago west mission. we had over 660 baptisms tis year and we saw an increase of more than 1000 people going to church every sunday in the asistance of the wards this year too. its been crazy.

i know that we are doing the lord work here and he really is blessing us so much. i hope that you all have amazing weeks this week and i hope you all have the chance to see christmas miracles




merry christmas!




elder johnson.

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December 21, 2014- Mom's Christmas Notes

This is Declan's first Christmas away from us. Declan loves Christmas. He still gets us up at 4 in the morning to see what Santa has brought. We can't set the presents out too early because curiosity finally gets the best of him and he will eventually break down and open them and then rewrap them. I have had to resort to hiding things at friends because he finds hidden presents, even in the attic. So when I thought about Declan being away for Christmas I must admit that at first I was a little worried. How on earth would he get any excitement out of the season? How would I spoil him or make him feel special? Would he be homesick? But the more and more I thought about it the more excited I became for him to have a Christmas that centered on the real reason for the season and the opportunity for him to give of himself. The more I though about it the more I knew that he would be just as excited to serve this season as he had been to open gifts every other Christmas, and I knew it would be ok. I did, however, want to be able to send him a few things, so I decided to continue a tradition I started few years back that we call the Christmas elf. Every day in December leading up to Christmas the Christmas elf leaves my kids a little treat. I decided that I would send him a box with some treats for his companion and him to enjoy. As I started putting it together, however, I really felt strongly that what Declan would enjoy even more would be things he could share with the people he was serving there. I decided to scale my treats for him and his companion back to little ziplock bags of treats each day, and include something special that they could seek out and share with someone. It was a lot of fun to come up with some ideas and enlist the help of others to help me get creative. When I sent off the box I told Declan that the gifts were marked with which day they were to be opened and that they were only opened on that day. I also reminded him that he was a missionary so not only was Santa watching, but God was watching closely also. Well, I learned through his friend Katie that when he got his package his companion and him ended up opening ALL of the packages in one night! I guess even a mission doesn't change some things! I hope that this package has been a fun way for him to share something with others as he has been able to celebrate the birth of the Savior during the holiday season. It was fun for me to get to dedicate that much time to thinking about Declan and what he is doing, during the holiday.

 

 

 

 

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December15, 2014

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!!!

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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

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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

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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!

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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 =)

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November 10, 2014

Week unknown

Hno barrueto gave me a Chile jersey! =))) it is game standard and i love it =)

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

Study time at ( am on pday =)

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

 

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November 3, 2014

Being a missionary is awesome!!!!

me and elder fernandez the day of transfers!

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

We made a ping pong table today to play on p day =)

haircuts on the mission are fun =P Elder Chavez did a really good job =)

we like to play with toys a lot when we get the chance =P haha this is a diabolo

this is a trompo

And this is a trompo

 

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