This has been a geat week. Last Sunday people showed up to church. They became our investigators that same day, haha. It's a big family, but most of them are members. A mom, the dad, two older daughters with their novios, and one wayward son, and 3 little ones. Everyone is a member except the two husbands to the daughters and the wayward son, but they all went to church. We've been teaching them the whole week.
The daughters aren't married, but we were able to commit them to getting married and that the men get baptized. We had some really nice lessons with members and broke down barriers. It was interesting and a blessing to see how the Lord blessed my companion and I. We don't have a lot of time in the sector. Which means we don't have a lot of time to find new people to teach. We rely a lot on the members. We were blessed to have these people dropped into our lives. The mom commented last night, "I feel like God is giving us another chance to return to church and the gospel and to live it the way it should be lived. I fear that if we don't take this chance we won't have another one. I want to do this right and with my family." It was really special. We stopped by a couple nights ago to teach the Word of Wisdom and Law of Chastity to Ricardo, the husband to one of the daughters. He accepted. It was also the birthday of one of the little ones but he was suffering and miserable on the couch with a fever. One of the members who was there said we should give a blessing and I asked the boy if he desired one. He nodded weakly. I annointed and my companion gave the blessing.
My companion is great. He just turned 22 on Thursday. I bought him some ice cream. He is from northern Mexico, close to Texas. He was baptized less than 2 years ago! He has a great testimony and is the only member of his family. I know the Lord has many blessing in store for him.
He gave a great blessing and the boy was healed. He was happy and running around and the next day. They said he was perfectly fine.
I love this work. I will pray for all of you to be able to reach your personal goals and family goals. Don't lose hope and don't become complacent. Let's keep progressing together as a family.
Love,
Elder Johnson
Saturday, April 28, 2012
Saturday, April 21, 2012
Free Agency
Dear Family,
Do you feel time go by as fast as I do? Time goes by a lot faster working here as secretary. I wonder sometimes if that is a good thing or a bad thing. I've come to think that it means that I must learn to use my time better. At least, I will be learning how to get full use of my time without wasting any. That would be the ideal.
So the last week I asked you all to pray for the family of that guy Enrique. I thank you for your prayers. I will relate the miracle, and then the sadness of the truth. I've learned something about prayer. So in my prayers about Enrique and his family, I asked for some kind of miracle that would allow Enrique to go to church with his family. That Saturday night we found out that he would have to work early in the morning and wouldn't be back until late. Which means he wouldn´t go to church. Elder Carnese and I walked home thinking of some way to get him to church in the morning. By the time we got to the house we figured the only thing we could do was pray for a miracle. We prayed fervently that something would happen, acknowledging that God knew best what should happen, that would allow Enrique to not have to work and be able to go to church in the morning. We also did our part. We woke up earlier and got ready fast to get to his house and see if our prayer was answered. Arriving to the house, we walked to the window and called for someone to come. Johana, the wife came. We asked if Enrique was still there and hadn't left to work yet.
"No va a trabajar, está con vómito." Apparently, something he had eaten the night before left him sick and vomiting. Prayer answered. He came out after a little while and said he was still feeling sick. (Earlier that morning I had had a second thought about bringing my oil and at the last second clipped it on my belt loop)
We administered the blessing and the man was healed. Great experience. Proof that God is attentive to our needs and our prayers. Then I learned a lesson about agency. With Enrique feeling better he decided to use his new strength to take his son to buy the new school uniform since he was starting classes the next day.
¿What? I was heart-broken. You can imagine me there trying to convince the guy but in the end he used his agency to not go to church. None of them went.
Walking away and going to church we pondered on what had just happened. Our prayers were answered, a miracle occured that allowed him to go to church IF HE CHOSE TO. That's the sad truth. But really it's a happy truth. It's called the great plan of happiness. Agency. "God will punish him." We both thought. We found out yesterday that he had been in a car accident that next week and hurt his knee and shoulder pretty bad. Some day he will get his life straight. Maybe I'll be there to see it and help him along the way.
2 days ago one of the secretaries that was training another one finished his extension and went back to Colombia. This meant that Elder Carnese and I were split up and are only together in the office. We were only a little sad. He is a great missionary. Oh and by the way, the bishop's mom was baptized and confirmed, the one we got to accept baptism. We were already in the office for her baptism though. I am really happy in my new sector. But Elder Carnese will be leaving the office soon with his companion as soon as this change ends.
I love you all. I'm working on a letter to send to you. Happy Birthday Christian! I finally figured out the birthday song in Spanish that we always sang while we clapped hahahahhaha. So funny.
Elder Johnson
Do you feel time go by as fast as I do? Time goes by a lot faster working here as secretary. I wonder sometimes if that is a good thing or a bad thing. I've come to think that it means that I must learn to use my time better. At least, I will be learning how to get full use of my time without wasting any. That would be the ideal.
So the last week I asked you all to pray for the family of that guy Enrique. I thank you for your prayers. I will relate the miracle, and then the sadness of the truth. I've learned something about prayer. So in my prayers about Enrique and his family, I asked for some kind of miracle that would allow Enrique to go to church with his family. That Saturday night we found out that he would have to work early in the morning and wouldn't be back until late. Which means he wouldn´t go to church. Elder Carnese and I walked home thinking of some way to get him to church in the morning. By the time we got to the house we figured the only thing we could do was pray for a miracle. We prayed fervently that something would happen, acknowledging that God knew best what should happen, that would allow Enrique to not have to work and be able to go to church in the morning. We also did our part. We woke up earlier and got ready fast to get to his house and see if our prayer was answered. Arriving to the house, we walked to the window and called for someone to come. Johana, the wife came. We asked if Enrique was still there and hadn't left to work yet.
"No va a trabajar, está con vómito." Apparently, something he had eaten the night before left him sick and vomiting. Prayer answered. He came out after a little while and said he was still feeling sick. (Earlier that morning I had had a second thought about bringing my oil and at the last second clipped it on my belt loop)
We administered the blessing and the man was healed. Great experience. Proof that God is attentive to our needs and our prayers. Then I learned a lesson about agency. With Enrique feeling better he decided to use his new strength to take his son to buy the new school uniform since he was starting classes the next day.
¿What? I was heart-broken. You can imagine me there trying to convince the guy but in the end he used his agency to not go to church. None of them went.
Walking away and going to church we pondered on what had just happened. Our prayers were answered, a miracle occured that allowed him to go to church IF HE CHOSE TO. That's the sad truth. But really it's a happy truth. It's called the great plan of happiness. Agency. "God will punish him." We both thought. We found out yesterday that he had been in a car accident that next week and hurt his knee and shoulder pretty bad. Some day he will get his life straight. Maybe I'll be there to see it and help him along the way.
2 days ago one of the secretaries that was training another one finished his extension and went back to Colombia. This meant that Elder Carnese and I were split up and are only together in the office. We were only a little sad. He is a great missionary. Oh and by the way, the bishop's mom was baptized and confirmed, the one we got to accept baptism. We were already in the office for her baptism though. I am really happy in my new sector. But Elder Carnese will be leaving the office soon with his companion as soon as this change ends.
I love you all. I'm working on a letter to send to you. Happy Birthday Christian! I finally figured out the birthday song in Spanish that we always sang while we clapped hahahahhaha. So funny.
Elder Johnson
Saturday, April 14, 2012
Moving Mountains
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
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 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
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