19 May 2014

Transfer calls came at 11:00pm last night. I will be staying in South Phoenix and Elder Myler will be leaving for his last transfer elsewhere. The phone call was devastating and a shock - I really believed we would finish together for reasons that I will clarify later. But I know that President Toone is inspired and whatever happens happens for a reason. 

Today begins my last six weeks as a full time missionary. That's a humbling thought. But it's also one that I am determined not to forget about. 

I have served around a lot of missionaries. For almost 23 months I have watched them in their final months, weeks, and days. Some have prepared for the next step, others have not. The idea of "work hard until the end and then think about the next step" has been lived by many. They worked hard until the end but I've seen them have hard transitions at the end. Other missionaries couldn't stop thinking about going home and burned out before that day came. They also had a hard transition.

I'm going to work hard until the end and think about the next step the whole way. Not in a distracting way but in a way that allows me to set real goals for what is to come. President Toone confirmed that inspiration last week. Having done so, I feel like I can focus more in the moment as I know where I want my long term goals to take me. 

We had an eventful week. But outside of our area our zone had an eventful week as well. I can't really explain it but conversion is happening here with these great missionaries. Four weeks straight with almost every stat doubled. What a great way for Elder Myler to finish his time here. 

Facebook success is exploding. However, with that, there are also challenges. I am teaching a man who lives in a small village in India. I 'know' the mission president there; he is one of my favorites. This last week I emailed him the referral and he informed me that this man lived 2-3 days away from the nearest church building. There were no missionaries in his area and so contact and teaching would be impossible.

Sad.

I asked him what he wanted me to do. He advised me to give the man access to the church websites and then allow him to learn from there on his own until that part of India is ready for the church to be established. I knew he was right but that was a hard moment. The man who disappointed but understood. I told the mission President that we'll send them enough referrals for that entire city to justify a stake there :)

You see, these are neat experiences that would be impossible without online proselyting  What a unique situation for a missionary in Phoenix, AZ to have. 

This was another week of "dropping" people. When they're not willing to do their part, we can't do our part so we "drop" them until an undetermined future date when they are ready to act. It's never fun but you know when it is right. There is a reassurance amidst the sorrow.

We had a tough day last week. We ended up dropping a family, three lessons in a row fell through, and our member had cancelled. We thought back to why we are still not baptizing in our area and it was a discouraging moment. As we headed to our next appointment, Elder Myler took a wrong turn and brought us down a street that a family that is never home lives on. We did not plan to be there or visit them but I had a strong impression to stop and knock their door. Surprise! They were not home. But across the street was a man sitting under a tree drinking a 40 oz. We determined to talk to him and seconds later he yelled at us to come over. 

So we did! He stood up and met us at the gate, clearly drunk, but clearly wanting to change. He had experienced some hard things in his life. Right from the start we were very direct and bold with him. We wanted him to know what we do as missionaries and that we would not waste time with people who did not want to act. I asked him, "what are you willing to change?" He quickly responded, "I need to get baptized."

If you insist! We talked for a while and asked him how he could prepare. He said, "church, scriptures." I looked at his 40 oz and said, "are you willing to give up drinking?"

"Yes."

"Then pour that out."

"But, I'm not ready yet."

"If you're willing to change, you need to show God your faith."

"You know what, you're right!" And then he poured out the entire bottle. 

Those are the best moments on a mission. He had a big smile as soon as he finished pouring it out. He knew it was right. 

It was one of those moments when we knew that God was watching out for us. If our lessons had not fallen through, we never would have had time to visit this man. If our member had not cancelled, we likely never would have turned down that street. If we had not taken a wrong turn in our car, we likely never would have met this man. 

But all things happen for a reason. All we can do is make sure we're doing "what we ought to do, when we ought to be doing it."

This week included a great success story from the Philippines. I am teaching woman who has distraught when I first found her on Facebook. She wanted to abort her unborn child and felt lost. We taught her the gospel of Jesus Christ, about the importance of families, and about God's love. She decided to keep the baby and practice her faith. We sent missionaries to visit her but they could not find her home. They emailed me back (through their mission president) reporting that the address was a blank lot.

Devastated I contacted her again. She said she had watched the two missionaries go by but was unsure about how to approach them. So she didn't. She gave me her address again, I sent it, and the next day I got the most wonderful message to her about how much she loved their visit, how excited she was that they spoke Tagalog, and how their ENTIRE FAMILY had been in the meeting. They have all accepted baptism. The husband is taking the Book of Mormon to work to share it. The mission president excitedly emailed me saying that the missionaries were also reporting great things about the family.

You see, these are neat experiences that would be impossible without online proselyting  What a unique situation for a missionary in Phoenix, AZ to have. 

We visited a beautiful family this last week. The husband is progressing much slower than the mother who is ready. We talked to her about it and invited her to be baptized before him. In the past she has rejected that because she wants to make this decision with him. We invited her to pray about it. When we returned she said that she felt like she shuold go ahead with it first. We read 1 Ne 8 about Lehi's vision or the iron rod and how she can lead her family. She, being an amazing wife to her husband, said that she needed to counsel with him about it first before she set a date. She wanted to respect him as her husband and make sure it was ok with him.

This family is one of my favorites. They teach me so much everytime we visit them. And what a humbling experience it was to see her get the answer to the prayer that she initially was unsure about! And so quickly, at that! 

This past week Elder Myler and I exchanged with our roommates, Elder Hardy and Olsen. Elder Olsen got sick so we came in and I died of boredom. I managed to read dozens and dozens of pages of old Ensigns, practice the violin for an hour for an upcoming opportunity that we will have to play, and clean the house. I don't like being inside.

Saturday and Sunday was stake conference in the Phoenix, AZ stake. President and Sister Toone spoke at both sessions. 

After the Saturday night session, Elder Myler and I had our temple recommend interviews since ours expire at the end of this month. I've never felt more prepared for an interview - it was a great experience. I took the opportunity to ask President Toone some doctrinal questions that I had and was blown away, like everytime, by his answers. I have learned so much from him.

Before the interview ended he asked me how I would feel if our companionship was affected by the transfers the following day. For 5 minutes I told him that we should stay together. It didn't work. 

He asked how Facebook was going. I told him some of the miracles we have experienced recently. He was touched. I showed him this map (attached). It is a sacred evidence to me that this is the Lord's work. It shows where all of our Facebook investigators live.

We are teaching people in:

the USA, including: Washington, Oregon, California, Idaho, Utah, Arizona, Colorado, Texas, Missouri, Kentucky, North Carolina, Virginia, Pennsylvania, New York

Canada: Alberta

Mexico: Quintana Roo

South America: Ecuador, Peru, Brazil

Europe: England, the Ukraine

Africa: Kenya, Nigeria, Ghana, Tanzania, South Africa

Asia/Middle East: Kuwait, Pakistan, India, Jordan, Sri Lanka, Japan, Malaysia, Philippines, Indonesia 

Pacific: Australia, New Zealand.

Over 20 countries. Over 10 languages, connected over google translate and broken English. 

President Toone was touched and asked if he could share that in the Sunday session of stake conference. We didn't expect him to cite our names but he definitely did and told everyone that we had six weeks left haha. It was a little embarrassing; President Toone is a king of making you feel special. 

We had people come up to us afterwards and offer to help us teach people in languages where they had served their missions. 

You see, these are neat experiences that would be impossible without online proselyting  What a unique situation for a missionary in Phoenix, AZ to have.

Do you remember last week when I wrote about that Iraqi family? Apparently they told the man that brought them that they saw "coronas" around our heads when they talked to us. I told the  man that we saw them around them as well. What a special family.

Last night was the Mission President's Fireside. We translated. It wasn't the best job we have ever done but it was sufficient. Afterwards I was overjoyed to hear that the last three members of a family that I taught and baptized would be getting baptized next week in Mesa! I'm making plans to go. I love that family. The mother pulled me aside and said, "You will always be our missionaries. We will never forget you and everything you have done for us."

That was a tender experience.

I also saw another wonderful family that I taught in Mesa! They went to the Mesa temple for the first time last week. They're doing so strong. So well. :) :) :)

Life continues to move on here. Miracles happen everyday. This transfer has made me sad but we move on in faith and trust in God :)

PS: I made some calculations today...there's a chance that I go back with Elder Diaz again for my last six weeks. I'm 40% sure that will happen. Start praying! 

Love you all!

Elder Johnson

FB sotory

12 May 2014

THERE IS NOTHING MORE DISGUSTING IN THE ENTIRE WORLD THAN BED BUGS.

Good thing they haven't found my bed yet. Poor Elder Myler is getting eaten alive. We tore the house apart this morning and somehow did not find them. Three apartments in the Phoenix South zone are infested now.

...South Phoenix is under attack! 

This was a week of success on Facebook. I committed two people to get baptized in Africa, sent three referrals to local missions, two were contacted, two have a Book of Mormon, two are reading it, and one is meeting with missionaries later in the week.

The people of Africa are prepared.

This past week I was able to go on an exchange with Elder Nelson  He, totally by chance, was traveling through the Arlington 2 ward when I gave my farewell talk. He entered the field six weeks after me and is a wonderful missionary. We had a lot of fun and saw a lot of success in those few 24 hours. He will be living in the same apartment building as Elder Myler and I and we hope the three of us are in the same ward! 

This week was also a week of continued miracles in the South Phoenix zone. Things are exploding. We've seen our average lessons double for two weeks straight now. This week was particularly exciting as the success was spread very evenly across the entire zone. Every Sunday night we meet at 8:30 to report stats and send them to SLC (via wifi sync) and it was so exciting to watch companionship walk through the door at random intervals and shout for joy as they reached a goal they set and run around and give everyone high fives. There is a special family feeling in this zone right now that is drawing everyone together. It's amazing how happiness is the best medicine for anything. 

With that success so evenly spread, we often wonder what makes it so hard to put people on date in our own area. We've never done more than we are now but the people just aren't saying yes to the invitations. We extend invitations literally in every single lesson. But joy is abundant in the face of opposition because this is the Lord's work and we know who wins at the end of the day.

Montana del Sur is a ward that never ceases to amaze me. The Bishop has been a member for 16 years, three of which in the Mission Presidency and three of which as a Bishop. He is a saint of a man and a living example of love, consecration, and service. Nothing makes us happier than when we get a call during the week from Bishop saying, "Elders...I've been thinking and praying about _____ (investigator.) How is he/she? How can I help?"

This ward has the missionary spirit because the Bishop has the missionary spirit. It's amazing!

The temperature has been uncharacteristically nice in Phoenix this past week.

One of the things that never gets old about missionary work is talking to the most interesting people. This past week we visited a home that was listed on the membership list. As we got closer three men approached us, obviously drunk, and when we asked if a woman lived there they said, slurred voice and all, "SHE'S DEAD..." Ok..."Wait, she lives down there, by that red truck!" 

We thanked them and walked away.

There was no red truck on the entire street. There was a red bush.

Alcohol...

DID I MENTIONED THAT WE HAVE BED BUGS?!?!?

On Friday afternoon during my spanish study I finished my reading of the Book of Mormon in Spanish. It took me 10 months to read the first 100 pages and two months to read the last 500 haha. I guess I wasn't really trying for those first 100. 

That book is true! Before I read it I would pray. After I read it I would pray. And every time I read it I knew that it was true. Read it. It will change your life! Reading it has brought me closer to God and has helped me make even the smallest of decisions. I set a goal to finish it in a certain amount of time and I made it. It was an enlightening experience. I'm currently reading through the New Testament and set a goal of four weeks to read the entire thing. The scriptures are the best.

Spanish wards are exciting in ways that English wards can never be. For the Mothers day party on Saturday the ward had a dinner that was prepared entirely by the men. Guess what we ate? Spaghetti with meat sauce and salad haha. Then there was a night of talents. The Elders Quorum did the best mariachi that I have ever seen. Except none of them sang or played an instrument. They made instruments out of cardboard and danced to Mariachi music and pretended to sing and play it. It was absolutely the funniest thing that I have ever seen before. They did a great job and it made everyone laugh. 

Next week I'll have the pictures.

There's just a different air in Spanish wards. In the face of so many trials there is so much joy! True joy comes from faith.

Happy Mothers day Mom! It was fun to Skype home yesterday and talk to you. Did my letter get to you this week? Thank you for everything you have done for me! You'll find more in that letter :)

I have had the best timing to go on a mission ever. In the past two years: missionary age has changed, my mission has been split, I've experienced two mission presidents (each for a year), online proselyting has rolled out, we have received iPads, AreaBooks have gone electronic, a temple open house has happened. Can you imagine more exciting things happening!?!? 

Yesterday at church I saw something very unique. I saw a family of 5 Muslims walk through the door and sit down! I went over and introduced myself and quickly learned that they came with their friend, a retired Air Force officer. He had served for years in Iraq and this man was his translator. I don't know how much detail I should go into for safety reasons but it was an amazing experience to meet this humble, humble family. I tried to shake his wife's hand and was politely denied: Muslim women do not shake hands of foreigners. They were very scared that they would offend me with that. They are an angelic family.

The man that brought them was sent by the First Presidency to be the first mission president in Afghanistan. He organized the church there, was the first branch/mission president,, baptized the first convert in Afghanistan. During his service he had zero proselyting missionaries with which to work. And do you know what is cool? I'M TEACHING PEOPLE IN AFGHANISTAN OVER FACEBOOK! 

Good things are happening. Next week is transfers. If you would like to send a letter (which you should) and cannot do so by Thursday, you will have better luck sending it to the Mission Office. I hope and pray that Elder Myler and I stay together. This is our last transfer. If this was ever likely to happen, the timing is perfect for it now. I'm going to remind the Office that we have bed bugs and we wouldn't want to spread them around the mission with a transfer :)

Have a fantastic week!

Love,

EJ

24 March 2014

I've officially heard my first six gunshots in South Phoenix! pop-pop-pop...-pop-pop-pop.

 

President Toone told me this last week that he was considering calling SLC and requesting that Facebook be withdrawn from the mission. Luckily I was in front of him when he told me that and was able to show him some of the miracles that I am seeing on Facebook.

 

One of my investigators went to church in London. Twice now! Another wants to get baptized. Another wants to go to the temple. Another is receiving missionaries. Another is returning to church activity after being on the no-visit-list.

 

And it goes on. Facebook is a direct fulfillment of many promises in my patriarchal blessing.

 

We have used Facebook to connect with one family in particular that lives here in our area. They. Are. Amazing. The wife is totally ready to get baptized after the three weeks that we have been visiting her. She loves it all. In fact, in three weeks, she has read almost to Jacob. And comprehends everything. She reads to her husband and children every night. She is nothing but respect and love for her husband who isn't progressing as quickly though. It is inspiring to watch them interact. You learn something from everyone...

 

Anyway, our lessons with them in person are usually focused around him. We use Facebook as a means to teach her and help her specifically. It is so good for her, she loves sharing what she is learning.

 

We love that family so much.

 

Wednesday from 6-9 I felt very sick. Elder Myler, being the super diligent and awesome missionary that he is, called and coordinated members for the rest of the week. Que hubole!

 

We invited that very family to a family home evening with our Bishop last Monday night. It was amazing. They built a great relationship. Tonight they're coming to another family home evening with anther family in the ward.

 

We LOVE that family so much!

 

On Thursday we are having a meeting with President Toone to determine how we are going to solve the Facebook problems that have sprouted up. Here are some of my thoughts:

 

Facebook is being treated as a separate proselyting tool. Actually, it's not being treated like anything at all. There is no emphasis on it on a mission level. There is no training. It is a directionless hour. The "what-not-to-do" has been illustrated but we are lacking  a "what-to-do." It has fallen off the radar and as it has fallen away missionaries have fallen into the "scroll" trap where they just flick through the news feed and do nothing. This is a tool that can change everything, if we let it. There are many things the mission needs to focus on but this one has been neglected for six months. It is hard to train on because it cannot be done in a group setting, I feel. In those six months I've met with every single Zone Leader and talked a little about being productive but that training didn't get anywhere - it never made it to their zones. Frustrating.

 

Solution? I am not entirely sure. I had a very strong impression to offer to not have a proselyting area for my last three months and just train missionaries. But I don't know how feasible that is. I think I would run out of things to do. My nightmare is that Facebook dies when I die.

 

So we'll discuss these ideas/concerns/thoughts more on Thursday. We'll see whazzup.

 

Crazy story time. Our Bishop is THE MAN. This ward loves missionary work because he loves missionary work. He is a missionary 24/7.

 

THIS WEEK I ATE THE MOST DISGUSTING ICE CREAM I HAVE EVER HAD IN MY LIFE. CUCUMBER FLAVOR WITH CHILE. I've never almost thrown up from ice cream before that moment.

 

The people in South Phoenix are so humble. On an exchange this last week I had a humbling experience. One of the members really wanted to go out with the missionaries. So they scheduled him and I went out with him and another missionary. He drove an ice cream truck. Seriously. We sat in the aisle behind the drivers seat on coolers full of drinks and in a truck surrounded by candy and ice cream. He insisted that we eat some. It was a fun experience but one that really made me reflect on how much members sacrifice to come out with us. I asked him what hours were the best. He replied, "right now." At one stop some children ran up to the truck, money in hand, and he turned him down because he was, "with the missionaries!" We told him he should sell and he said no.

 

These people sacrifice so much for their faith. Are you?

 

This last week we taught almost 30 lessons with members present! We met many of our goals.

 

Things are going great here. We are praying for another transfer together. Praying. You should too!

 

Thanks for the letters, family! It was great to hear from you!

 

With love,

EJ

3 February 2014

Elder Diaz and I have been thinking a lot about deepening the conversion of missionaries, members, and people. We have had a series of events in the last month or so that has made us reflect a lot on why individuals serve missions and why they act the way they do or don't act. I'm not going to write specifics or probably even details here, but it has been a unique experience. I'll probably be thankful for it in 10 years. Things have been...exciting.

This last week we had MLC (Mission Leadership Council.) We focused on making it more of a council rather than just a "here's the direction of the mission, apply it to your zone and make it work." It was an exciting experience as we all learned from each other and shared things that do and do not work. Elder Diaz and I went into it with the idea to destroy zone baptismal goals. I've been thinking a lot about effective missionary work and a zone baptismal goal doesn't fit into it.

From a business point of view or a leadership point of view, to get someone "onboard" for something you need to sell it to them. Well, there isn't time to sell ideas to missionaries whose areas need something else. So, what we are focusing on this month, is sustaining the ideas and direction that the individual missionary has. Sustain their area baptismal goals. Sustain their district baptismal goals. And then do everything we can to help them learn how to achieve those goals. Zone goals just happen. We don't control those, it is the result of the efforts of an individual companionship. 

So I presented the idea and it sparked an hour long debate. No official conclusion was made but everyone left with something to think about. 

This last week I heard someone say, "I can be just as experienced living in ____ for my whole life than someone who travels the world. Everything they experience I can find in a book."

No. No. Noinonononononono. Nonononononononoonononononoo.

I was able to see some exciting miracles this past week through Facebook proselyting. I haven't had time to use it much for three weeks due to the...things that have been happening around us, but this past week I was able to get back to speed. Three people came out of nowhere and asked me how they could meet with missionaries in their countries (Tanzania, Ghana, and Pakistan.) Referrals were sent and missionaries were contacted. 

Just because I haven't written much about Facebook efforts in the last weeks doesn't mean it is slowing down :) Great things are happening. I've been talking to missionaries a lot about getting out of the habit of looking at the News Feed. Nothing destroys time and productivity faster than that page. Put your line in the water? Nah, I'll drop the net.

This past weekend we were able to go to the Gilbert Temple Open House again! President said that missionaries in Mesa are allowed to go since we're close. WORD! The very day he announced that was the very day that we went. It was a marvelous experience. We went in a Spanish tour which was much smaller. The family we took loved it and left with an increased desire to get sealed. This is the second family that we have brought.

Mesa zone interviews were this past week. The planned time was from 8:00am to 12:00pm but it went until 3:30. President always does us last. 

I was readmitted to BYU this last week.

At MLC President told us a crazy story about the new Stake President in the Tempe Stake. The stake is 50 years old and last week they called a new president.

He is 27 years old. Home from his mission for 6 years, never a bishop. WOWOWOWOOWOW. Part of me thinks, "Poor guy. His secular life will be stagnant for 10 years. No more school, no more work, no moving, no vacations..." The other side of me said, "This is a great man being prepared for great things." I haven't been able to stop thinking about him all week. During MLC, President said some pretty intense things about the future.

Spanish wards, Spanish wards, Spanish wards. Sometimes it is hard to be patient in Spanish wards. Yesterday during church someone got up and said, "And I am grateful for a living prophet, President Ezra Taft Monson!" [should have been President Thomas S. Monson, not Ezra Taft Benson-a previous latter-day prophet]

NONONONONONONONONONON THAT IS NOT HOW THAT WORKS.

Hahaha. Goodness. I need to be patient with them since they're all recent converts. But even our investigators at church were like, "Wait, what? Did I miss something?"

No, you didn't miss anything...That person did though!

This was a tiring week. We went to WORK since we were sick two weeks ago. We finished with twenty lessons with members present - the third best week of my mission. It was exciting but it was exhausting.

Girl scout cookies are the worst. Well, they're the best and that's the problem. I bought two boxes from a family in the ward and 12 hours later the first box was gone. I felt so disgusting but so good....

This past Saturday we went to the visitors center with a family. I had forgotten about a lesson we set up for that night and totally missed it. Later that day it hit me! We called her and said, "We are so sorry!" She was a referral that we had called and she waited for an hour in the "cold" for us and we never showed up.

I felt so bad...

We set up another appointment for Sunday night and she was there. She is amazing. Super prepared. And I am 100% sure that that miracle came from our fast. 

Anther fasting miracle was a man showing up to church saying, "I want to get reactivated and I want my wife to come with me! She isn't a member!" 

We taught both yesterday and found them to be a great couple with a great future. 

We have been worried as things have been slowing down and the fast yesterday is what qualified us for more blessings and those two people were exactly that! 

I discovered a website this last week that I apparently wasn't supposed to discover. SLC is working on developing a website that missionaries access to manage referrals and their status. It is designed to replace the IVR system, the telephone based system that is currently in place. Well, I found it and told the entire mission about it.

The next day after MLC I looked at the phone and we had five missed calls from SLC.

....

....

RUN! was my first thought.

I called them back and they told me to get off of it since we weren't part of the beta testing. I never told them that I told the entire mission about it.

Later that day the guy in charge called and authorized us to be in the beta test. Hahah woops....

As a mission right now we are putting a focus on the Book of Mormon. President has given every zone space on how we do that. We will be dedicating all District Meetings in Feb as a get-together-and-read-the-BookofMormon-privately-for-three-hours. We will be learning from the great prophets of the Book of Mormon on how to teach effectively and how they taught using the fundamentals of preach my gospel.

The last month of President Howes' mission we did that and that was the month that the Arizona Tempe mission set a record for the most baptisms in a month. Lesson learned. President Benson's time as prophet was the time of the highest convert baptisms. What was his message? "Flood the Earth with the Book of Mormon." Lesson learned.

That is our plan on deepening the conversion of the missionaries, members, and others. It's what we need and it's what we'll do! 

Speaking of fundamentals, we are starting a weekly workshop with the Spanish ward members where we teach them how to use the fundamentals of preach my gospel to be effective member missionaries. Expecting miracles.

Miracles, miracles, and more miracles. Life is good!

Thanks for the letters this last week family! Love you all!

Elder Johnson

17 December 2013

Time. They say time flies. That isn't true. Time doesn't fly. Time doesn't even exist. I was sitting in my chair this week and realized that I hit 18 months really soon.

Whatonearthhappened. 

From 10 months to 16.8 months, I honestly thought that the mission would be the rest of my life. That was all that I thought about. Nothing else even mattered to me. Well, nothing else DOES matter to me, but something weird happened yesterday and that's why I'm talking like this.

Yesterday was our mission's Christmas Party. It was awesome. More on that later. During the testimony meeting, all I could think about was college. No matter what I did, all the thoughts that came to mind were about college. 

This was not timely. We had just finished the most ridiculous week of my mission with over 60 lessons taught and 30 of them with members present. Ridiculous. So many. We worked so hard. Everyday we were doing everything we could to make everything possible happen. And we saw it. We have four people with a baptismal date and four progressing towards baptism and nine at church and seven new investigators and 15 referrals received. Obscenely good week! I was so in the zone!

And then that testimony meeting hit. Gah. Afterwards I went up to President Toone and asked him what I should do. He looked at me, grabbed my shoulders, smiling, and said, "Elder Johnson...the spirit is telling you that it is time to start planning for the future."

NO. NO NONONONONONONONO.

I'm not "trunky" at all, not distracted, but the idea of planning for myself rather than other people is shocking me. 

And then Elder Oscarson told me today that he and I are the ninth oldest missionaries in the mission. 

And that the sisters that came out with me are going home in three weeks. Today we went to the temple as mission and got the following pictures of the original District 38D from the MTC. 

Anyway, other things happened than me going into shock. 

The Gilbert Temple open house is approaching. The pass along cards have arrived. They're nice. They don't want us handing them out on the street; rather, praying over those that we are teaching and sharing a few. They're not giving us the 700 per companionship that I requested (surprise!) but rather more like 100 </3

We aren't allowed to go to the open house. We are expected to send our investigators to the temple with members. Not all that said considering that the very first sessions after dedication are reserved for missionaries. Hopefully I won't be too far from it for that.

It is a unique experience to meet on a monthly basis with the Stake Presidents in our zone. I don't know why they trust us as much as they do, but they do. I'm twenty and they're 50+ and very experienced. But these meetings are so inspiring. I learn about humility, patience, love, boldness, honesty with oneself and others, and effectiveness. I look forward to those meetings. They meet with us to discuss the state of the work and how the wards are doing, any concerns or miracles we're seeing, and offer us some guidance. It's awesome. They reach out to us warmly. 

It was especially cool to be in the temple this morning doing some initiatory work and find the high councilor over missionary work in one of the quadrants. That was also a special moment. Really, they're such powerful people and great examples.

Today has brought the first three trainings that I've been assigned to do on effective use of Facebook. Mom, I bragged about you again. I talked with President Toone last week about how I felt the mission has lost focus on Facebook as it has appropriately shifted focuses to help the younger missionaries. But I felt it was an important topic and as I sat talking with him he told me that he wanted me to meet one on one with every zone leader companionship and train them on how to train their stewardship. It has been highly effective so far and I've already figured out a ton about the state of the mission in regards to Facebook. Doubling every zones total teaching opportunities per week is my vision.

Speaking of vision, I want to comment on how inspired this has all been. The APs put together the zone conference and made "Vision" the focus. At the same time and without knowing, I put together the Facebook training and had vision as my focus! INSPIRED!

It is reasonable to say that between 60-80% of our mission is yet to teach their first lesson on Facebook. A missionary who isn't busy is a homesick missionary. And that's the big struggle of the mission right now. So we're expecting miracles out of this.

Ok, now I can talk about the christmas conference. It all started on Sunday night with a Mission President's Devotional. All the missionaries and as many investigators as possible were invited. Elder Gaspar, Anderson, and I played a special musical number on, respectively, Viola, Violin, Violin. We played, "Silent Night/Still, Still, Still" arranged by Sally DeFord and had someone on Piano. That was a lot of fun - wish I had recorded it.

The christmas conference continued all day on Monday, starting at 7:00am with a breakfast. Yum. That day consisted of some AMAZING talks by President Laney (one of the amazing Stake Presidents I previously mentioned in this letter) on how Jesus Christ is a healer and the difference between being cured and healed. He's a doctor and spent the time noting how doctors cure but don't heal. He used the parable of the 10 lepers and how it uses cured/healed interchangeably to refer to the nine and to the one. Amazing. If you want my notes just let me know.

The Mesa Arizona Temple President and wife also spoke to us. That was phenomenal and they gave us some great pointers for how to get a lot out of a temple visit. 

The rest of the day was full of some fun activities, lots of musical numbers, a visit from Santa (nice and naughty list for missionaries and the funny stories that landed them on each list). It was a fun experience.

The conference culminated in a temple trip this morning. We went extra early to do some initiatories -that was fun. Elder Gaspar missed the temple session so went through alone afterwards haha. And then he missed the mission picture because he went through a later session...

We went to the temple twice in two weeks since we were sneaky and planned the temple trip the first week of the transfer and got to go again. Genius! Normally we just go once a transfer. Inspired! 

The trip last week was super insane. We forgot about it. No, really, we did. We go to the 7:30 session and at 6:52, while exercising, we realized that we had a temple session in 40 minutes. So we RACED home, changed SUPER fast, met our ride 10 minutes late, and got into the session as they shut the door. That. was. Intense. I hate being rushed through the temple haha.

Anyway, MERRY CHRISTMAS to everyone! I hope everyone has a GREAT week! 

With love,

Elder Johnson

11 November 2013

Dear everyone!

This is the first full week that the mission has had iPads. I've felt it from all the phone calls and Facebook messages...

The big problem this past week was making sure that stats are accurately added up (lessons with members present, others, etc). It's too complicated to explain right now but we spent a lot of time typing tutorials to go on the mission Facebook page on "How to do ____" and had to make sure everything worked before hand. That occupied way more time than I wish it had.

Having the Facebook page has proven to be super useful for getting news across the mission quickly.

This past week we set really intense goals to help us be more effective than ever on Facebook. One of our plans is to involve local members more with teaching appointments and helping encourage them to make statuses (stati?) about the gospel. It really isn't hard. We've been sharing the statistic that we were given by SLC (how only 2% of wards worldwide do missionary work) and it seems to be motivating people. Guilt is the best motivator :) haha

We've set daily goals for referrals received on Facebook, lessons taught, and more. This should be a good week.

Which would be nice since last week was kind of heart-wrenching. We're teaching a part member family. The husband was supposed to get baptized on the 9th. The day of he cancelled and then dropped us and asked us never to come over again. That was a surprise.

What had happened is that they were in a tough financial setting. They asked for help so we gave them the Bishop's executive secretary's phone number. They got offended since their last missionaries set everything up for them and we weren't caring enough about the situation. He never even called the guy.

Garbage. This is what happens when missionaries or members overstep their boundaries.

Nevertheless we're maintaining contact over Facebook and maybe he'll give the number a call and call us back.

But not all was sad! We had some really really cool OYM experiences this past week with inviting people to get baptized on the street. We picked up some great people that we are now teaching and got an amazing referral from the Mesa mission who's now on date for November 30th.

We fasted together as a zone yesterday and as a result we had someone who had disappeared on us show up to church, and other missionaries found amazingly prepared people. I totally have a testimony of fasting.

For two months I've been thinking about how I could fit Formula 1 into a status and tie it into missionary work. I did it this past week hahaha. Success! 

I also saw a B24 flying over Mesa. That was a surprise. It did a couple of giant circles and then flew off into the sunset.

And the new 2014 Corvette Stingray. Thhaaattttt's a car. That was a fun OYM to do. 460 horsepower, his was $76,000. So I creepily snapped this picture. #Never4get

I was in an interesting scenario this past week. I'm teaching people in the Philippines and it was way unique to be able to communicate with them as the storm passed and share the gospel with them in such a hard time. Luckily everyone I'm teaching is safe.

Mesa zone had three bikes stolen in two days and all in one district. One missionary locked the bike tire to the frame and walked inside and two hid theirs behind a car. Both of those thefts in two days! Unbelievable.

Last night we got a funny phone call from President Toone. He called me and asked me what the rules were for using YouTube haha. That was a weird phone call haha. 

We are so excited to be teaching one of the new people we found this week. She was investigating the church in the Mesa mission for four months and then moved here. She LOVED church yesterday and ran into a bunch of her coworkers. She has a young son and they are super super prepared. We're working hard to make a support group of people to reach out to here - that's really what makes the difference in a lasting conversion.

Thanks to those that have been sharing missionary stories with me on Facebook! Keep that up!

Thanks Mom, Mark, and Will for the letters! You're the best!

Con amor,

Elder Johnson