14 October 2013

Paul OYM'ing with a parrot

. . . a little peck

 Dear Family and Friends,

 

This week we set a Mesa zone record for total teaching lessons at 225. That led the mission. We set a companionship record at 56 lessons taught. Which was a miracle since 30 lessons cancelled this week.

We have a ridiculous amount of work going right now. 

We had a pretty cool teaching opportunity this week. It was on Tuesday, the day after every single lesson on Monday fell through. We OYM'd him in the parking lot. He was in his 20s and the first thing he said was, "I have a MMJ card." Haha, ok. He was smoking but very interested in what he said. He told us his concern was when Christians or Jews or whatever told him that what he did was bad when they would turn around and do bad things as well. He said he didn't like to be told he was wrong.

Who does? We slowly built up the conversation around his faith and how he lives his faith. We eventually introduced prophets to him and he said, "well yeah, if a prophet told me to smoke I probably wouldn't!" We told him, "One has." His eyes got wide and he inhaled the last breath of the joint until it went out. We set up a return appointment with him but he wasn't there. Hopefully we can find him this week - he got really excited about the idea of living prophets. 

Unfortunately the Skype lessons this week with Tracy Watson failed. There was a technical problem on his end and apparently the power in Pakistan was out. Devastating.

Well, it finally happened. I officially had my driving privileges temporarily revoked. Apparently it was supposed to start on September 1st but no one told me until October 5th. As I drove into the mission office the vehicle coordinator said, "whatcha doin drivin?" So, President Toone told me to take a break for the next 1-5 days as he figures out what to do. Hopefully he figures it out soon! Tiwi, the GPS unit that is put into our cars that measures speed and G's pulled in turns, made me "yellow-lighted." I had a good case as I argued my way out of the longer suspension ha. I had been "green lighted," meaning a safe driver, just a few weeks before and the only "aggressive driving violations" that I had gotten in that time were accidentally turning too quick or going over a bump too fast. Nothing purposefully aggressive...

Anyway, that has been fun.

My letter is going to be shorter this week - we've been asked to review everyone's Facebook profiles to make sure they follow the guidelines and we're already short on time as is. 

The highlight of the week was eating Menudo - cow stomach lining soup. We were invited over for dinner and told that we would be eating carne aasada! It was with a single sister so the sister missionaries had to be there for us going inside. 30 minutes before dinner we found out they were sick but they decided to come anyway. We were all excited for carne asada!

As we walked in the door, something spelled...different. It wasn't the smell of grilling steak or lettuce or salsa. No. It was something far different. A smelly smell that I had smelled before. I could never forget that smelly smell that smelled...smelly.

It was menudo.

We all looked at each other in silent fear, knowing what was to come. A prayer to bless the food was said with all of us adding our own silent prayer that the food would stay down. From bowl to mouth went each spoonful of broth, hominy, and cow stomach. The mixture of stomach in my own stomach was not a pleasant one. The battle continued. I attacked the bits of stomach first, thinking that if I could get that down I could get the rest down easier. The first spoonful in and it almost came right back out. In a stroke of ingenuity, I reached for the Coke. Hmm, coke. I don't like coke that much. But that night it was my best friend. Spoon in mouth, fake chew, pour coke, swallow everything. Repeat.

When half the bowl was gone I looked around. Everyone was pale in the face. Full, yet not sure how. All of the sudden we hear, "THE RICE IS READY! How much meat do you want??"

What had we just heard? Not that. Noo, not that! MORE FOOD?? Another plate of rice was delivered to the table and put in the middle. And then pork mixed with egg was put on the table. I don't like eggs. 

Nevertheless between the coke and the rice I won. I left that house victorious. Five minutes later I realized the Menudo had won. Recognizing an emergency, we raced home for some menudicine (toothpaste.) It worked miracles. 

That night reflecting on that day we all agreed that that would be a good experience to look back on. In 50 years.

____

Hahah good times...Mexicans love that stuff, we just can't do it for some reason.

Also, last Monday we went to a member owned bird shop last Monday. I found a new friend then he attacked me and cut my arm!

Yesterday Elder Lanier, I mean Lanier, returned from home to visit us! It was way fun to see him. We had served together for 4.5 months in Yuma. He and I both looked back on those days with a smile on. Good times were had. 

Anyway, I'm about out of time! Thanks so much for the letters John and Aunt Andra and Anika [and Mom and William]! Hope everyone is having a great week!

Love,

eJ

 

 

7 October 2013

If you all remember, a couple of months ago I went to a leadership meeting where Tracy Watson, the Global Director of Proselyting for the Missionary Department spoke. It was to this date one of the best 8 hour meetings I've ever been to.

Anyway, imagine my surprise when I opened my Facebook inbox today and saw this message in it.

"Elder Johnson,
I am training a group of young men and women this wednesday evening on using social media to share the gospel. Is there any chance you could set up a lesson at that time that we could join? I am looking at around 6:20 p.m. your time (7:20 Utah time)? What do you think? I don't want to do anything to distract from your work, but this would be really powerful for them to assist in some real live teaching.
Brother Watson"

 

 Okokokok! I was surprised, then excited, then nervous, the humbled! Of all the missionaries in the world he asked me to help him out with that! 

I said yes. Hopefully the people I'm teaching in England, Pakistan, New Zealand, and the Philippines will be awake that early (for them)! To say I'm excited is an understatement. The work is soaring on Facebook right now and to say I have a testimony of sharing the gospel online is probably the understatement of the century. Amazing things are happening and I can't even begin to explain them well enough.

But I'll try. I am teaching an amazing man in England. He reached out to me, if I remember right, through a hashtag he found that I used. It was that or a christian page, I can't remember. Anyway, I taught him the basics and focused on the articles of faith. I shared with him a link to mormon.org and some talks from the apostles and he went to town there. He referred himself. However, it has been a week and still no missionary contact. He is "anxiously awaiting the book!" I contacted the London mission office and they'll be visiting him today.

Another update on the Pakistani man I'm teaching. The mission president told me that he is actually going to be the one making initial contact with him! How cool is that! The mission president is going to visit and teach him! 

It has been fun to be in contact with mission presidents all over the world and watch them get excited as I hand people off to them. What a cool world we live in.

This week started off to a great start. We found an amazing woman outside her home sitting alone and smoking. We were with a member and decided to talk with her. She was smoking and looked exhausted. After a couple of minutes talking about her move to Arizona, her work, and her family, we connected it to the gospel and we are going over this week to visit her and her husband and two young kids.

I can't emphasize enough how much of a difference it makes when we approach people as "people" and not just the "HEY, COME TO CHURCH?" They see and feel our concern and care and open up more. Miracles.

One of the things that we've been working on is connecting with the people we meet in the street over Facebook. We are always making posts on Facebook and people comment on how they have helped them in whatever way get through a hard day. So our goals is to give them a mormon.org pass along card with our Facebook URLs and get their accounts and bam, be friends. We did that this past week with a very faithful man in his own church and he said, "we ran into each other for a reason!" Maybe baptism isn't on his radar (yet) but he will be touched, no doubt, by the restored gospel.

That was one of my realizations this week. We're invited to talk to everyone. But not everyone is going to be receptive and open and excited about God. So we talk to them about them! Sometimes the best OYMs (or street contacts) never even mention the church or God. We teach and speak to their needs.

We are moving. Probably just send letters to the mission office for now (1871 E. Del Rio Dr, Tempe Arizona 85282) until we know when and where we're moving. It could be as soon as tomorrow or next week. We were supposed to move today but it wasn't ready. 

The brief and willing invitation. What is that? President Toone went to a training with Elder Neil Anderson and came back excited to share it. It is a way for members to invite and is not intimidating and is very simple.

The idea? Have a normal conversation! That's not hard, is it? That's it! Talk normally! But the key is that when someone (this is them prompting the invitation, not you) mentions something like, "why are you so happy?" or "why do mormons have such big families" or "what are those big temples?" or "what is that blue book?" you respond with, simply, "would you be willing to hear a brief message happiness/families/temples/the book of mormon? We have two great ____ that would be more than willing to talk about that for ten minutes!" 

When I heard him train on that I smiled. This is exactly what we are doing in our OYMs! Connect their interests and comments to the gospel! That way, they have already expressed an interest and all you're doing is allowing the means for it to be addressed! If the person says no, just continue with the conversation. As easy as that!

The Dallas Mission President and his wife tried it for a week. In everyday life, in everyday conversation, and in everyday actions, they were able to use it FOURTEEN times! And only ONE person said no!

They said that since introducing it in one stake over there, new investigators have increased over 150%, referrals received more than 250% and lessons taught over 100%. 

It is easy, simple, brief, and effective! Will you try it this week? 

This last week was zone conference. We played violin, a duet, of Nearer, my God to Thee. It was a lot of fun and wasn't as smooth as it would have been three years ago but it was a good time. The members here were nice enough to lend us two!

OHMYGOODNESSWASNTCONFERENCEAMAZING? I got so many answers to questions it isn't even funny!

Can I remind you all one thing? Elder Ballard committed all of you to invite one person to come unto Christ before Christmas. Are you willing to live up to the promises of an Apostle! DO ITTTTT!!! HE PROMISED BLESSINGS!

And guess what else? This week was a good week for nice cars driving through Mesa! We saw a Fisker Karma, an LP640 Lamborghini Murcielago, AND two of the BRANDNEW Corvette Stingrays! Sweeeeeeeeet! 

We met an amazing man this week. He said he was a devout atheist and while he cooked his hotdogs we taught him a lesson. The next day we returned, and, long story short, committed him to baptism! Aren't miracles awesome? More on this to come :)

Last night I almost died. We went to the church at 8pm to grab something and as I walked around a corner the building security guy walked around it and we almost died together. That would have been an awesome story on the other side of the veil. 

Attached is Mesa District 1! Represent! 

Thanks for the letters this week Eric, Will, and Mom! You're all awesome!

Love you all,

EJ

16 September 2013

This week was the most amazing week until Sunday. 

We found 11 new investigators, more than we found all of last transfer combined, and 7 of them had accepted a baptismal date for Sep 28. But 5 of them fell off date for various reasons last night which was way unfortunate...more on that in a bit.

Last week I said goodbye to Elder Harder. I was sad to see him go but I'm excited for what's ahead of him.

This past week started off perfectly. I got bit by a pitbull. I was on exchanges with Elder Mack (since his companion went home as well) and we saw this guy that we decided we'd talk to. I should have taken more notice of how the dog's leash was tied around the man's waist. Anyway, we talked to him and I asked if I could pet his dog. "Make sure you're sure of yourself!" Whatever that meant I walked toward the dog and all the sudden in a thrash of teeth, blood, gore, and pain the pitbull was dragging me behind it to what I thought was my sure death.

Ok, maybe it didn't happen like that but it did jump up and grab my knee and bite my knee! I stepped backwards in shock and the guy said, "well, you should have been more sure!" and then walked away. KSJDFLAKJSDFAKSJDFKALSDFA. I could have gotten his dog taken away if I wasn't so nice! Oh well. 

We had an awesome experience finding a family to teach this week. We OYM'd into a woman outside an apartment complex and we talked with her a bit and had a nice conversation. We asked her if we could return the next day at a certain time and she accepted! When we went over we were surprised to see 7 people inside the house! We sat down and had an awesome conversation with them and they all accepted a baptismal invitation. They're doing really well and a wedding and a baptism are in the mix for the future. A really faithful, open, and genuine family. 

That has been my goal in OYMs. I want to leave every OYM having gained a new friend. I talked about that last week but people need to see us as people not just, "HEY WE'RE THE MISSIONARIES FROM THE CHURCH OF JESUS CHRIST OF LATTER-DAY SAINTS, WOULD YOU LIKE TO HEAR MORE?" And then if the answer is no, "OK, DO YOU KNOW ANYONE..." etc. There's so much more to these street contacts than that!

On Wednesday I picked up my new companion! His name is Elder Gaspar and he was in the Phoenix mission before! He's great and guess where he's from? Stafford, VA! Small world! I've had two companions in a row from the East Coast! His family is from Peru so he's 100% Peruvian blood and fluent in both english and spanish. Obviously I'm supposed to learn spanish or something since I've had three native speaker companions which I've never heard of happening before. And he plays violin too! AND HE HAS SEEN KUNG POW ENTERS THE FIST AS WELL! He's super humble and a powerful missionary so we're going to have a lot of fun together. 

Another small world story. For the Dewey family in Washington...Renee Taylor, your babysitter, is in the Arizona Tempe mission! I met her this past Wednesday. The one who babysat your kids? Craaazzzyyyy.

One of our recent converts is really struggling right now. I don't want to go into too many details but the state has picked her up to keep her safe from herself and they won't tell us where she is. no one knows where she is and they won't let us contact her. She needs the ward now more than ever and we can't do anything. Super frustrating.

We're really excited for a different investigator who has accepted a baptismal date for two weeks from now! She is so prepared but her health problems are going to present a challenge. She has had some amazing experiences getting her to where she is now and she is more ready than ever! 

It's hard to see people struggle. Whether it be spiritual, financial, physical, whatever. And it is even worse when people say, "they brought that on themselves, I'm not going to help." This past week we got to spend some time with an amazing person who is struggling with one of those three things. This person commented to us about all the judgement he has received and how it is really making him question things. Just be aware that little acts of kindness make a world of a difference. Do something good for someone today. Help someone in need. You never know who's hurting and you never will unless you try. 

Oh my goodness this last week I saw a Fisker Karma! If you don't know what it is then google it. It drove right through Mesa (of course) and on probably to Scottsdale but it was sweeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeet. 

One of the stakes in our zone is tiny. Four square miles by four square miles. An entire stake! They're on the Gilbert side, quite a ways away, but we had an awesome meeting with the stake presidency the other day. It is always really humbling and inspiring to see these powerful men make time at 7am to meet with us and listen to the work we're doing. This particular stake president comes very prepared to these meetings, complete with an agenda and both his counselors. The missionaries in that stake are working very closely with their leadership and miracles are around the corner.

And that's something that we're working on - a smooth connection from the top down. Facebook is making that possible as more and more stake presidents, counselors, and bishops get on Facebook. It makes the connection and the correlation between all levels seamless and easy. 

We had our correlation meeting this week over Skype. Information was shared via email and text and video conferencing provided all other interaction needed. The wards and members are getting really reallly excited about this new technology as are we.

We just need to help the mission be effective. Our teaching opportunities almost trippled this past week because of an hour a day on Facebook. We just had a conference call with President Toone addressing some of his concerns and talking about some success we've had as a companionship over Facebook.

This past week I committed someone to baptism over Facebook. This person lives in Texas and I was able to teach her twice: once with my first companion Tanner Sawyer and the second time, yesterday, with Mark, my brother. She brought a lot of concerns up yesterday and kind of fell away from the commitment she had made to baptism but it was a special experience to be able to teach and testify with both of them, especially considering I haven't even seen Mark in three years and won't for one more. I'm in contact with the mission president where the person we're teaching over Facebook lives and he is super excited for this. Their mission isn't on Facebook until February. Apparently President Toone brought this experience up at the conference all the missionaries had in Texas this past weekend with Elder Neil L. Anderson! Wooo!

It was also really cool this morning to see Tracy Watson, the director of proselyting for the world (for the church) comment and testify on my status in response to a nonmembers comment. Everything is so connected! It's cool to have a connection to leadership of the church through Facebook since we're testing out this new stuff. Fun fun fun fun fun.

Thanks Eric, Will, Dallin (In France!), and Grandpa J for the letter this week!

Thank you all for your support, for liking and sharing posts on Facebook, for sharing your own testimonies on Facebook, for being great friends and for being great family!

Con amor,

EJ