Dear Family,
Okay guys, I must apologize for not writing a whole lot and not informing you on things here. I have had some life-changing experiences this past month. I live in downtown Guayaquil. It really is a nice city. They keep the streets nice and clean and the huge trash trucks play a song that's just full of whistling and not to bad on the ears. You can hear it coming from a couple blocks away so you know when it's coming and you can take out the trash. It'd be a good idea to bring the the US.
My sector is pretty big. It includes a huge chunk of downtown and also these two communities on these two hills. At the bottom of the hills there is a Catholic Church and at the top of one of them is a lighthouse. I am having great experiences with teaching the gospel to people. I like talking to taxi drivers and inviting them to be baptized on the ride home or to the office. Half the time they say yes and we take down their information and give it as a reference to missionaries that live by them. That's a cool part about working in the office. I get to meet all the other missionaries and also serve them.
On one of the hills we are teaching a few families that all live right next to eachother. There is a couple, Enrique and Johana, and their two kids, Alessandro and Milena. They are the same ages as Jonathan and Jenna so that's cool. We are helping this couple so that they can get married and baptized with their kids.
I don't have a lot of time in the sector since I also have to work in the office so we really need the Lord's help when it comes to using our time to teach. We are teaching them about forgiving and repenting and having faith in the future. The gospel solves all problems. It's hard when you can get a person to realize the truth but then they don't have the faith or the will to apply it. I think that is part of moving mountains by faith. These mountains of problems in front of their hearts.
Please pray for them.
I love you all,
Elder Johnson
Saturday, April 14, 2012
Saturday, April 7, 2012
Short & Sweet
Dear Family,
Today we really have to secure some baptisms for the next week. David Lucio, 18 years old, and Reynaldo Ceballos, 28 years. Which means I have no time to write today. We don't really have P-Day here in the office. Just a short time to write if we find it. I love you all and appreciate your prayers. I will be giving a talk in the new ward tomorrow about the life of Christ. Pray for me!
Love,
Elder Johnson
Today we really have to secure some baptisms for the next week. David Lucio, 18 years old, and Reynaldo Ceballos, 28 years. Which means I have no time to write today. We don't really have P-Day here in the office. Just a short time to write if we find it. I love you all and appreciate your prayers. I will be giving a talk in the new ward tomorrow about the life of Christ. Pray for me!
Love,
Elder Johnson
Saturday, March 31, 2012
Crazy Turn of Events
Dear Family,
Key Updates:
One goes through everything on the mission. I didn't understand what people meant when they said that to me before but now I understand. I can't wait to share everything with you guys when I get back. Yeah, I really don't have a ton of time to share everything. I do have a little time to write in my journal and I am able to write things there. I can't use this as a journal becuase of some rules. Gotta keep the rules to have the spirit :)
I just wanted to invite you guys to go watch conference. I'm excited for priesthood session. Pray that we can bring a lot of people to tomorrow morning's session. I will be writing some hand written letters to be more personal with you guys. I'm really excited to be in the office as secretary. I like telling people that my older brother was also secretary. So I'll write some letters. Love you all!
Elder Johnson
Key Updates:
- I was in Machala for 1 week.
- I was pulled out and returned to Guayaquil because I have a new responsibility.
- I am President Montalti's new secretary.
- I am companions with Elder Carnese again and he's training me as secretary.
One goes through everything on the mission. I didn't understand what people meant when they said that to me before but now I understand. I can't wait to share everything with you guys when I get back. Yeah, I really don't have a ton of time to share everything. I do have a little time to write in my journal and I am able to write things there. I can't use this as a journal becuase of some rules. Gotta keep the rules to have the spirit :)
I just wanted to invite you guys to go watch conference. I'm excited for priesthood session. Pray that we can bring a lot of people to tomorrow morning's session. I will be writing some hand written letters to be more personal with you guys. I'm really excited to be in the office as secretary. I like telling people that my older brother was also secretary. So I'll write some letters. Love you all!
Elder Johnson
Monday, March 19, 2012
Bye Guayaquil
Dear Family,
I am in a city called Machala. I finally left Guayaquil, I'm kinda gonna miss it but this new city is awesome. It's a lot cleaner too and I hear it might be a little safer. The weather is also awesome. Really hot, but the sky is so blue with lots of clouds and it's just so great. We live on the fourth floor and the view is great. There are mountains in the distance that look like California mountains. Gosh, I'm just so happy. I was a little sad to be leaving Elder Carnese. He reminds me of Christian and we were great friends. It's amazing how much stuff you can go through and learn in 2 weeks. Sunday night was really special too. So we had ward council and were talking about a big plan to bring a lot of people to general conference and after we were just talking to the Bishop. His mom lives with him and she's not a member. I had a special feeling about her when I first met her. Anyway, I guess she's gone through a few pairs of missionaries. So that night I was like "Hey Bishop, can we teach your mom?" Then Elder Carnese said "Yeah, we still owe you a spiritual thought." He agreed and we went. Man, this lady was a little rough, but everyone bore testimony. The Bishop told her that she had already been taught by a few pairs of Elders and was worried she wouldn't be getting any more chances. The problem is that she is Catholic by tradition, and the family would make fun of her like they did to her son when he got baptized. We talked nicely and shared scriptures from the Bible and BoM. Man, it was special. I asked her if she would be baptized finally on April 7th and she said no. Then we talked more and more and then....Yes! She is going to be baptized! She started crying and so did the Bishop. It was his birthday. That night the call came that I was leaving. Guess I did what I needed to there. They are really nice people.
My new sector is called La Aurora. I don't know anything about it yet but I am with an Elder Savage. He's from Utah. It's nice because he says he'll be able to eat what I can't. You know I have a small apetite. They just eat so much rice here! Everyone makes fun of how slow I eat. I imagine it's the healthier way to eat, or that's what I tell myself.
Those who can adapt the fastest to changes are those who progress most. This life is short. And it's a test. How long will we wait to adapt to the will of the Lord? God loves all of his children equally, but he trusts some more than others. What are we willing to give up in order to gain the trust of God? That's the only thing that matters. We can learn his will as we seek it. I have had a change of heart. Before I wanted to know the plan. My plan. I wanted to just know what it was that God wanted to me to do. See the expectation and reach it. In my two weeks in the city part of Guayaqil I learned that I can be thinking bigger than that. I think that God wants me to reach my potential, but he won't tell me what my potential is. What does that mean to me now? Well, before, I wanted to know my potential so I could reach it. Like knowing that I wanted to jump just high enough to dunk a volleyball. That was the goal. But it's different now. I haven't been told what the potential is. It's like an open slate. The sky is the limit. Which means my faith has grown so much. The change of heart is that the barrier was taken out of my mind. The barrier of reaching a certain limit or potential. I'm ready to fly!
I love you all so much. I'll try and send pictures next week. Oh, so the zone is called "El Oro". I'm leading the Gold zone with Elder Savage! Oh, and Elder Whitney is here with me living in my house. He's from my group. It's cool.
Love,
Elder Johnson
I am in a city called Machala. I finally left Guayaquil, I'm kinda gonna miss it but this new city is awesome. It's a lot cleaner too and I hear it might be a little safer. The weather is also awesome. Really hot, but the sky is so blue with lots of clouds and it's just so great. We live on the fourth floor and the view is great. There are mountains in the distance that look like California mountains. Gosh, I'm just so happy. I was a little sad to be leaving Elder Carnese. He reminds me of Christian and we were great friends. It's amazing how much stuff you can go through and learn in 2 weeks. Sunday night was really special too. So we had ward council and were talking about a big plan to bring a lot of people to general conference and after we were just talking to the Bishop. His mom lives with him and she's not a member. I had a special feeling about her when I first met her. Anyway, I guess she's gone through a few pairs of missionaries. So that night I was like "Hey Bishop, can we teach your mom?" Then Elder Carnese said "Yeah, we still owe you a spiritual thought." He agreed and we went. Man, this lady was a little rough, but everyone bore testimony. The Bishop told her that she had already been taught by a few pairs of Elders and was worried she wouldn't be getting any more chances. The problem is that she is Catholic by tradition, and the family would make fun of her like they did to her son when he got baptized. We talked nicely and shared scriptures from the Bible and BoM. Man, it was special. I asked her if she would be baptized finally on April 7th and she said no. Then we talked more and more and then....Yes! She is going to be baptized! She started crying and so did the Bishop. It was his birthday. That night the call came that I was leaving. Guess I did what I needed to there. They are really nice people.
My new sector is called La Aurora. I don't know anything about it yet but I am with an Elder Savage. He's from Utah. It's nice because he says he'll be able to eat what I can't. You know I have a small apetite. They just eat so much rice here! Everyone makes fun of how slow I eat. I imagine it's the healthier way to eat, or that's what I tell myself.
Those who can adapt the fastest to changes are those who progress most. This life is short. And it's a test. How long will we wait to adapt to the will of the Lord? God loves all of his children equally, but he trusts some more than others. What are we willing to give up in order to gain the trust of God? That's the only thing that matters. We can learn his will as we seek it. I have had a change of heart. Before I wanted to know the plan. My plan. I wanted to just know what it was that God wanted to me to do. See the expectation and reach it. In my two weeks in the city part of Guayaqil I learned that I can be thinking bigger than that. I think that God wants me to reach my potential, but he won't tell me what my potential is. What does that mean to me now? Well, before, I wanted to know my potential so I could reach it. Like knowing that I wanted to jump just high enough to dunk a volleyball. That was the goal. But it's different now. I haven't been told what the potential is. It's like an open slate. The sky is the limit. Which means my faith has grown so much. The change of heart is that the barrier was taken out of my mind. The barrier of reaching a certain limit or potential. I'm ready to fly!
I love you all so much. I'll try and send pictures next week. Oh, so the zone is called "El Oro". I'm leading the Gold zone with Elder Savage! Oh, and Elder Whitney is here with me living in my house. He's from my group. It's cool.
Love,
Elder Johnson
Monday, March 5, 2012
New Area, Zone, and Responsibility
Dear Family,
My dear family. I love you guys so much. Thanks for those birthday and Valentine cards. They were cool. I like singing to the one from you, mommy. May the peace of the Lord be with you with the death of Tia Elsa. I know she's happy.
So we had 3 baptisms this last week of Arly, Ariel, and Eddy Zambrano. They are three brothers and are super excited and cool. They have no fear about sharing the gospel or walking around with us in the street. Even when everyone is laughing and pointing. It's exactly what the people do in the great and spacious building, haha. So we had the 3 confirmations and I had to call my zone leader after. He verified that we had the confirmations and then said "Good job, be in your house at 2:30pm to pack your bags!" I said, "What!" Haha, we had just finished the fourth week of the transfer. There were two more left! And I had some really nice baptisms lined up. But it's totally fine. It was cool because I just felt at peace. I've been happy to not have to get mad or angry like others, haha. But I did almost cry while saying goodbye to my Branch President. He's such a humble guy.
So we get to the house and I start packing. My "son" (that's what you call someone you are training) was complaining and laughing saying how he barely has a month in the field and how are they going to take his dad away. It was funny. He only knows how to shout "shut up" in english with a really funny accent. So Elder Pavon arrives at the house with Elder Carnese. Elder Pavon is from the sierra of Argentina and he was the Assistant and Elder Carnese is a zone leader who was the Secretary before. Turns out that Elder Pavon took my place as district leader to finish the mission and I left to be a Zone Leader with Elder Carnese in the Garcia Moreno zone. It's the zone that has the downtown city of Guayaquil so that's really cool. We are ready to lift this zone up. I met Elder Carnese in my first change and he's always been a cool guy and really smart so it's a great companionship. I had deja vu like 3 times yesterday too so I know this was supposed to happen, haha. No but really I had a cool experience. Two nights ago as I was planning with Elder Olaya for Sunday, my mind kept going blank. I couldn't really plan. So I told him to plan saying that he had to learn. I couldn't plan past 4pm and that's when we left the house to go to my new sector. I live by a hill that looks like the Burbank hills. Reminds me of home.
Until next week! Thank you for all the prayers. They give me strength.
Love,
Elder Johnson
My dear family. I love you guys so much. Thanks for those birthday and Valentine cards. They were cool. I like singing to the one from you, mommy. May the peace of the Lord be with you with the death of Tia Elsa. I know she's happy.
So we had 3 baptisms this last week of Arly, Ariel, and Eddy Zambrano. They are three brothers and are super excited and cool. They have no fear about sharing the gospel or walking around with us in the street. Even when everyone is laughing and pointing. It's exactly what the people do in the great and spacious building, haha. So we had the 3 confirmations and I had to call my zone leader after. He verified that we had the confirmations and then said "Good job, be in your house at 2:30pm to pack your bags!" I said, "What!" Haha, we had just finished the fourth week of the transfer. There were two more left! And I had some really nice baptisms lined up. But it's totally fine. It was cool because I just felt at peace. I've been happy to not have to get mad or angry like others, haha. But I did almost cry while saying goodbye to my Branch President. He's such a humble guy.
So we get to the house and I start packing. My "son" (that's what you call someone you are training) was complaining and laughing saying how he barely has a month in the field and how are they going to take his dad away. It was funny. He only knows how to shout "shut up" in english with a really funny accent. So Elder Pavon arrives at the house with Elder Carnese. Elder Pavon is from the sierra of Argentina and he was the Assistant and Elder Carnese is a zone leader who was the Secretary before. Turns out that Elder Pavon took my place as district leader to finish the mission and I left to be a Zone Leader with Elder Carnese in the Garcia Moreno zone. It's the zone that has the downtown city of Guayaquil so that's really cool. We are ready to lift this zone up. I met Elder Carnese in my first change and he's always been a cool guy and really smart so it's a great companionship. I had deja vu like 3 times yesterday too so I know this was supposed to happen, haha. No but really I had a cool experience. Two nights ago as I was planning with Elder Olaya for Sunday, my mind kept going blank. I couldn't really plan. So I told him to plan saying that he had to learn. I couldn't plan past 4pm and that's when we left the house to go to my new sector. I live by a hill that looks like the Burbank hills. Reminds me of home.
Until next week! Thank you for all the prayers. They give me strength.
Love,
Elder Johnson
Monday, February 27, 2012
Quicky
Dear Family,
I've got to go. I think I will be able to send some handwritten letters next week. I hear they take two weeks to arrive. I hope everyone is reading their scriptures, especially the Book of Mormon. Man, did you guys know how much the Bible testifies of the Restoration and the true church? It just can't be denied. I've been thinking about praying for a flood so everyone here would be humbled to repent, haha. The sun will come out tomorrow.
BYE!
P.S. We should have 4 baptisms this week. 3 are all brothers that kind of remind me of us. One is an old Catholic guy who finally saw the light. Pray for everything to go well! Arly, Ariel, y Eddy Zambrano. 18, 16, and 14. And Cesar Caruha, 61years.
I've got to go. I think I will be able to send some handwritten letters next week. I hear they take two weeks to arrive. I hope everyone is reading their scriptures, especially the Book of Mormon. Man, did you guys know how much the Bible testifies of the Restoration and the true church? It just can't be denied. I've been thinking about praying for a flood so everyone here would be humbled to repent, haha. The sun will come out tomorrow.
BYE!
P.S. We should have 4 baptisms this week. 3 are all brothers that kind of remind me of us. One is an old Catholic guy who finally saw the light. Pray for everything to go well! Arly, Ariel, y Eddy Zambrano. 18, 16, and 14. And Cesar Caruha, 61years.
Monday, February 20, 2012
Yellow brick road to baptism/Dungeons & Dragons
Dear Family,
I have had some good realizations this week, and a great baptism and confirmation :)
So Thannyat Gabriela Lopez was baptized and confirmed a member of the church this last weekend. She's 21 and we met her the day of her birthday, Jan 14 of this year. This last week we had her baptismal interview and she said some cool things to the zone leader that he told me later on. She said that on her birthday she had been praying to find the truth, that she wanted to be doing what was right, what God wanted for her. That same day we showed up at her house following her little brother Moses who we had met and taught in the street with a bunch of other little street kids, haha. Everything I had studied to counter Jehovas Witness' doctrine came in handy as I taught her the Restoration of the Gospel and the Plan of Salvation. It really is the Plan of Salvation that all the other religions just get so mixed up. But she read and prayed and received a testimony and was baptized within a month of meeting her. It is incredible seeing how God works and nothing makes me happier than to know that I was in the right place at the right time. I think I am really learning to recognize the Spirit better and follow it. All you have to do is seek the will of the Lord and He puts us where we need to be. I also have to be willing to be wrong. As I have done that I have been shown my weaknesses, and been given the tools to make them strengths.
I am trying to be better at lifting others up. Como dijo Jesucristo en Lucas 22 "Una vez vuelto, fortalece a tus hermanos." Once you're converted, strengthen your brethren. I am converted to this Gospel. I want to be able to say what Paul said in Efesios 3:1 about being a prisoner a Christ. There is a good talk in the May Liahona of 2011 about what it means to "Remember Him always" like it says in the sacrament prayer. My companion and I gave talks in Sacrament meeting. We had about 20 people there I think. But I really think we are just going to hit a point and have a ton of people, haha. Patience. The Elder's Quorum President asked us to go out with him this Friday and help him get people to church. We'll do that and keep our eyes peeled for new investigators. March should be a really successful month. Right now in Guayaquil is whats called Carnaval. 3 days where no one works and everyone stays home partying, which means drinking and getting everyone wet. We heard some horror stories of how they soaked the missionaries last year with paint, but we'll see what happens. We are staying away from the more sketchy parts of the neighborhood.
Oh yeah, so something I realized this week, well yesterday. A false idea I used to have was that the mission was going to get easier with time. Haha, I mean, with my investigators and their challenges and the challenge of leading them to baptism. It was really hard my first few months and I thought that it would eventually just get easier, that Satan would kind of give up once he realized I couldn't be discouraged and it would be like "follow the yellow brick road to baptism" for everyone I talked to. Well, I learned, just as Dorothy that the yellow brick road to baptism has trials. And the trials are specific and difficult for each person that takes the road. The tin man, the lion, and the scarecrow each had to overcome their personal trials. Every person I help on the road to baptism has to overcome their personal trials too. I don't know why I thought Satan would give up on trying to beat me. I now know for a surety that he won't, but I have to tools to make him powerless.
I had a dream here on the mission where it was like I was in a really cool looking video game of knights and dragons and stuff. I was a knight with this cool armour and I was fighting this mean looking dragon. I had like a magical guide that told me where to hit the dragon to beat him. So I got the dragon chained up and I kept giving him blows with my cool sword. But then my magical guide told me that if I stopped fighting him he would break out of the chains and destroy more things. He told me I had to keep fighting constantly until the King came and killed him. Then iI woke up. The significance of this dream has changed the way I go about my day. I have a new focus. We just can't get comfortable.
Going back to the house to grab the baptismal clothes before going for Thannyat with some members was just going to be an in-and-out of the house kind of thing. But we always pray before leaving the house. In that prayer I usually remember everything I had forgotten to grab. So we went in and out and I had the second thought of praying and thought "Nah, we were here for 2 seconds and they are waiting for us." and we went out. The door shut. We live upstairs and there is a second door downstairs that leads outside. You need the key to leave the house. I forgot the keys. We were stuck and the landlords family wasn't home. We can't get comfortable. Prayer, scripture study, every day, all day. I said a prayer in my heart and climbed up and through the window and got in the house in like 10 seconds. All that parkour training came in handy, haha. And the baptism was great.
We can't afford to think ever that Satan had forgotten about us because we are in the Church. On the contrary it is us who he wants to get most. He already has everyone else. We must keep striking blows against that dragon until the King comes and puts him in his place for a good thousand years of peace. I hope this email is of use to you. I hope you are all reading. I won't hear that someone went inactive while i was gone. I love you all so much.
Until the King comes again,
Elder Johnson
I have had some good realizations this week, and a great baptism and confirmation :)
So Thannyat Gabriela Lopez was baptized and confirmed a member of the church this last weekend. She's 21 and we met her the day of her birthday, Jan 14 of this year. This last week we had her baptismal interview and she said some cool things to the zone leader that he told me later on. She said that on her birthday she had been praying to find the truth, that she wanted to be doing what was right, what God wanted for her. That same day we showed up at her house following her little brother Moses who we had met and taught in the street with a bunch of other little street kids, haha. Everything I had studied to counter Jehovas Witness' doctrine came in handy as I taught her the Restoration of the Gospel and the Plan of Salvation. It really is the Plan of Salvation that all the other religions just get so mixed up. But she read and prayed and received a testimony and was baptized within a month of meeting her. It is incredible seeing how God works and nothing makes me happier than to know that I was in the right place at the right time. I think I am really learning to recognize the Spirit better and follow it. All you have to do is seek the will of the Lord and He puts us where we need to be. I also have to be willing to be wrong. As I have done that I have been shown my weaknesses, and been given the tools to make them strengths.
I am trying to be better at lifting others up. Como dijo Jesucristo en Lucas 22 "Una vez vuelto, fortalece a tus hermanos." Once you're converted, strengthen your brethren. I am converted to this Gospel. I want to be able to say what Paul said in Efesios 3:1 about being a prisoner a Christ. There is a good talk in the May Liahona of 2011 about what it means to "Remember Him always" like it says in the sacrament prayer. My companion and I gave talks in Sacrament meeting. We had about 20 people there I think. But I really think we are just going to hit a point and have a ton of people, haha. Patience. The Elder's Quorum President asked us to go out with him this Friday and help him get people to church. We'll do that and keep our eyes peeled for new investigators. March should be a really successful month. Right now in Guayaquil is whats called Carnaval. 3 days where no one works and everyone stays home partying, which means drinking and getting everyone wet. We heard some horror stories of how they soaked the missionaries last year with paint, but we'll see what happens. We are staying away from the more sketchy parts of the neighborhood.
Oh yeah, so something I realized this week, well yesterday. A false idea I used to have was that the mission was going to get easier with time. Haha, I mean, with my investigators and their challenges and the challenge of leading them to baptism. It was really hard my first few months and I thought that it would eventually just get easier, that Satan would kind of give up once he realized I couldn't be discouraged and it would be like "follow the yellow brick road to baptism" for everyone I talked to. Well, I learned, just as Dorothy that the yellow brick road to baptism has trials. And the trials are specific and difficult for each person that takes the road. The tin man, the lion, and the scarecrow each had to overcome their personal trials. Every person I help on the road to baptism has to overcome their personal trials too. I don't know why I thought Satan would give up on trying to beat me. I now know for a surety that he won't, but I have to tools to make him powerless.
I had a dream here on the mission where it was like I was in a really cool looking video game of knights and dragons and stuff. I was a knight with this cool armour and I was fighting this mean looking dragon. I had like a magical guide that told me where to hit the dragon to beat him. So I got the dragon chained up and I kept giving him blows with my cool sword. But then my magical guide told me that if I stopped fighting him he would break out of the chains and destroy more things. He told me I had to keep fighting constantly until the King came and killed him. Then iI woke up. The significance of this dream has changed the way I go about my day. I have a new focus. We just can't get comfortable.
Going back to the house to grab the baptismal clothes before going for Thannyat with some members was just going to be an in-and-out of the house kind of thing. But we always pray before leaving the house. In that prayer I usually remember everything I had forgotten to grab. So we went in and out and I had the second thought of praying and thought "Nah, we were here for 2 seconds and they are waiting for us." and we went out. The door shut. We live upstairs and there is a second door downstairs that leads outside. You need the key to leave the house. I forgot the keys. We were stuck and the landlords family wasn't home. We can't get comfortable. Prayer, scripture study, every day, all day. I said a prayer in my heart and climbed up and through the window and got in the house in like 10 seconds. All that parkour training came in handy, haha. And the baptism was great.
We can't afford to think ever that Satan had forgotten about us because we are in the Church. On the contrary it is us who he wants to get most. He already has everyone else. We must keep striking blows against that dragon until the King comes and puts him in his place for a good thousand years of peace. I hope this email is of use to you. I hope you are all reading. I won't hear that someone went inactive while i was gone. I love you all so much.
Until the King comes again,
Elder Johnson
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