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

31 March 2014

That was the fastest 6 weeks of my LIFE. How is it already week 6? Next Sunday are transfer calls. I am pretty sure we are both staying here together. But to be safe, if you can't send a letter by Wednesday or Thursday, send it to the mission office!

Mexican Spanish kills me. I've mentioned 'words' like yarda, shinear the zapatos, etc before. This week I learned how to say "sprinklers" in Mexican. "esprinklers." GENIUS!

There have been a number of times on my mission where I have gone somewhere and just knew that we were not supposed to be there. Elder Myler and I both experienced that this past week. It was around 8:00pm and we drove into "the Box" to visit some former investigators. As soon as we crossed the "line" into it, we both had this terrible terrible terrible feeling. I told him we needed to leave and he said that he felt the same way. We gunned it out of there and felt inspired to go to the church...

But the church was 5 miles away and out of our area. But, we followed the prompting.

When we arrived at the church we had another impression to drive to a missionaries house. We quickly found out why we were not supposed to be where we were.

One of the missionaries opened up to us a little later about some concerns he had with obedience with his roommates. We made a mental list and left to think about how we were going to solve it. We set a time to visit them the next day to talk about the things but that got interrupted by a phone call from President Toone.

President asked us to present at MLC about Facebook and iPad effectivity. We counseled together and came up with three things that we were going to focus on:

1) Standardization/uniformity of rules

2) Break down the rule book paragraph by paragraph

3) Motivate

The next day we set up a time to visit him and share our ideas with him.

But bad things happened that day...

Dinners are usually pretty great. But not dinner that night. I do not know what I ate but I know that crushed up shrimp was in it somewhere. Oh man. Just thinking about it makes me sick. I ate 2/3 of it and then had to throw in the towel. Every time I have eaten seafood on my mission I have gotten sick.

This was no exception.

I left dinner feeling weak. We worked the rest of the night. At 8:30pm we visited President and ran our ideas by him for our presentation the next day. He loved them. Feeling queezy, we drove home.

Seconds after walking into the house, dinner came up again.

And then it did five more times that night. I couldn't sleep. I couldn't think. I couldn't move. It was one of the worst nights of my life. At 4:00am I woke up Elder Myler and the other ZLs that we staying with us from Yuma to travel with us to MLC the next day and asked them to give me a blessing. Still I did not improve.

At 7:30am I stood up off the couch to get ready for the presentation. I still was very very sick and worried that I wouldn't be able to present. I could barely stand.

As we drove to the mission office for MLC I honestly contemplated just turning back around and sleeping at the house all day. But how could I? I've been praying for an opportunity to share what I've come to learn about Facebook with the mission for months. We had prayerfully prepared inspired plans. There was no way that that sickness was giong to stop me!

I can honestly say that I suffered through the first hour of MLC as we waited for our turn. Sister Toone graciously brought me some medicine but it didn't help. I stepped out a number of times to close my eyes and drink water. I had been praying all night and all morning that I would be healed.

But 15 minutes before our presentation I changed my prayer and asked that I could be healed just long enough to present.

Specific prayers yield specific answers. When it was our time to go up, I felt 100% better. I felt fine. I felt healthy. We stood up there and nitpicked every single rule and then we took the rules that had been outlined and motivated the MLC about how to be effective. We were up there for over 1.5 hours.

Afterwards, many of the missionaries approached us and thanked us! They said they had never been more motivated to use Facebook before. It was rewarding.

But as soon as we finished, I felt sick to my stomach again. I felt terrible. I asked Elder Myler if he would be willing to sit in the door to the room on a chair so that I could go into the hallway and sleep on a chair. Like a boss he said yes.

A chair has never been more comfortable before. I was out for two hours.

When MLC ended, a bunch of people came up to me and thanked me and said they hoped that I would feel better. I wasn't sure why so many were until later...

Apparently while I slept President Toone talked about me for 30 minutes. He trained on diligence and used me as an example. I was glad I was in the hallway asleep for it and didn't have to hear it. He was far too kind. I left embarrassed, humbled, and grateful.

There's something I don't understand: Men. Men are so stubborn haha. It seems like every family we teach struggles because of the husbands/boyfriends. We visited a man this last week who just gave excuse after excuse after excuse about why he cannot change and that God made him how he was for a reason. We were so bold with him that I was surprised he didn't throw us out of his house.

While learning Mexican slang, I'm also learning Mexican English slang. Apparently intense music is called, "Juice" here in the south side.

Someone I taught in Mesa got baptized this last weekend. We were planning to go until the day of. We had not had very much time to proselyte all week and three hours before I told Elder Myler that we would skip it so that we could work our area. That was a hard sacrifice to make but it was worth it. I had taught this women for two months and loved her and her family.

Two days ago we finally had time to go and talk with the missionaries about their obedience problems. I have hesitated to write much about experiences with correcting on my mission because they're problems I wish that no one had. But this experience was very unique.

Some background first: every transfer we have been invited by President to do iPad checks. One missionary accidentally left theirs in our car and we took that moment to make sure he was following mission rules. We were shocked to find videos of two missionaries dancing in their home to techno and rap. It broke our hearts.

That night we visited with each companionship in that house and showed them the video. We took a different approach. Instead of the "guns blazing" approach, we went in with the "we're so disappointed, you broke our hearts," approach. It worked. So well. The whole house was humbled. We left the house with six CDs with classic rock and a vinyl record.

From what we've heard, they have taken it well. The two in the video were broken after we talked to them about it. They've committed to doing better and we have seen night and day difference in just one day.

I'm convinced that the best leaders do not lead by fear or terror. The best leaders lead by love, example, and boldness. Who are the best leaders? A mother and a father. Why? They are genuinely interested in the success of those they lead: their families. And they love them enough to fix problems when they arise. Thanks, Mom and Dad. Luckily you didn't have any problems to fix with me, right? :) Haha

Anyway, thanks for the letters Tanan, Simmons, family, and Natalia!

I hope that everyone has a brilliant week!

With love,

Elder Johnson

PS: Big dust storm hit!

13 January 2014

Well the big news is in!!

I'm staying in Mesa for another 6 weeks! At the end of that time I will have been here for 7.5 months. That's fine with me! Right now we have two families getting baptized within two weeks. We're pretty excited.

We will be moving apartments though. I do not know the address. We are expecting a zone of 28 missionaries this transfer - the biggest in the mission by 4 companionships. We're ready for that. President Toone needs to split a zone and we've been on his radar as the top producing one so this is the first step in the split. We are going to spend the next 6 weeks pumping everybody up for what is going to come. #mesapride.

I'm proud of our area. Six months ago there were no investigators, the ward was unexcited and slow, and there were some problems. Gradually through that time things have picked up dramatically. I can safely say that if I were to leave tomorrow, I would have left it better than I found it. And I don't say that pridefully, but rather as Dad said it. "I know that it was not because of our abilities but because the Lord enhanced our capabilities." 

I am excited to stay with Elder Diaz for at least 6 more weeks. On the transfer recommendation form we wrote, for us, "DEJENOS TRABAJAR" (Let us work!) It clearly worked :)

Transfer call night works like this: we get in at 9:00pm, plan till 9:30, and then lounge around and wait for either a leadership call or the call telling us who is leaving or staying. For the past 6 months, the "who-is-leaving-call" has come between 11-12:00am - super late. Last night it was done by 10:10pm. 

My normal tradition is to sit and lounge around while sharing cookie dough with everyone. Last night we were still working on weekly stats when the call came! So disappointing! Oh well, next time.

The big news of this past week was going to be how our instrumental and vocal performance for Elder Holland went! It was a week of stress for me as I worked on refining the parts that needed refinement. Many hours were spent on just a few notes. We practiced twice a week for two weeks as a group to prepare. Our last rehearsal was at the building we would be performing at. We quickly realized that we would have problems with speakers in the gym being broken. There was also not enough space. But we practiced anyway.

On our last two practice run throughs, the pianist, who had memorized the music, skipped the second page. Twice. We were nervous that would happen during the performance but we trusted him and he is an amazing pianist. As we were talking, one of the audio technicians who was setting up for Elder Holland (on Friday, the day before the devotional), had his phone go off. He said, "Uh oh."

We said, "What?!"

"Elder Holland will not be coming. He is on an emergency reassignment from the first presidency."

WHAT. NO. NO WAY. ARE YOU KIDDNG.

Those were our first reactions. Elder Myler screamed haha and my heart just sank. Three missions were going to come together for this - over 800 people. We had spent hours and hours practicing. 

And Elder Holland wasn't going to come. Elder Myler jokingly said, "My eternal bragging rights are gone!"

And he never did come. Instead, the area 70 filled in for him. The devotional was kept on the program and three missions came together to listen to three mission presidents and their wives and a Seventy speak.

It was a great program. Powerful.

Our performance went alright as well. I was terrified haha. I haven't performed in front of 800 people before I don't think. My leg was shaking and my bowing was a little shaky at the start but it came together and I was miraculously able to hit my last few notes which were a challenge the whole time for me. We prayed a lot. And it worked!

As I was sitting in that front row listening and watching the mission presidents and their wives speak and sit and interact, I was super impressed. I guess I had never really looked closely at them before to the degree that I had then. These were people of power. But also, equally people of humility. They knew their purpose and they weren't afraid to help others know their purpose. I was blown away by their professionalism but also the pure love that they showed. It was a tender moment and one I hope I never forget.

Sunday was one of the happiest days I've had in a long time. And that says something because I've been happy for a very long time. I was able to watch the members and the families that we brought interact and mesh perfectly. I was all smiles. Members, your examples and love make a huge difference!! You don't even know! Even little things make big differences!

The families that we are teaching will forever be special to me. All of them are, but these ones, I don't know, there is just something special about them. They are two families that are already looking to the temple. Two families of future leaders on the ward and stake level. Two families that have been prepared by members and by the spirit for where they are now. And it is so exciting to see.

Speaking of being prepared by members, we were pleasantly surprised when two women and a man walked into church yesterday. The benefit of being in an area for 6 months is that you know everyone. I didn't recognize them so said hi. One said, "This is my friend. I work with her and we are in a different stake but this is her ward and we came with her. She is ready." 

She loved church.

We had a sad moment yesterday when we handed off another investigator family to the sisters. It's a long and complicated story but it's never fun to say goodbye to someone who you have grown to love.

We are teaching a lot of families. This is awesome.

This week I repented and became more bold. I've been pretty straight with people for my whole mission but I don't feel as if I've been as bold as the prophets in the Bible or the Book of Mormon. We were standing outside a man's home and he was explaining how his life was and how hard it was. He was a gangster and it was very, very, very clear. The impression came to be super bold with him. I was scared but I did. The words came out, "Hey ____, your life is not good right now. If you don't make changes, your kids will come out like you and you just told us that that is not what you want."

He got really offended. He did not like that. But we testified powerfully to him that this was his moment. Five minutes later he said he would be baptized.

How cool that was for me! He has unfortunately moved since then but I was grateful to know that because I acted on an impression from the spirit, he was able to recognize and start making some changes that he should have made years ago. I was grateful to know that I had done my job.

I don't ever want to be the reason that someone is not able to repent as soon as they can.

On a completely different note, I want to share with everyone some new slang I've learned this past week. It's almost a completely different language.

Here goes:

What's up:

Que rollo?

Que cho?

Que jais?

Que cucas?

Que cuento?

Que cuarenta?

Que transita?

Que once doce?

Que tramas?

Que chorizo?

Que pasion?

Que hubole?

Cool down/relax!

Alivianate!

Send me money!

Mandame billuyo!

Boss! Send me money because I'm super hungry!

Jeffa! Mandame un billuyo porque esta gruesa la jaria!

See you later!:

Alli se ven

Alli las bisagras

Alli los vidrios

Hahahhaha. These people are awesome. We had a member - the most Mexican man you'll ever imagine - and he knows the best slang. So awesome.

This past week we had a zone meeting and a zone conference. For my training in the zone meeting, to teach the importance of obedience I did a fun little game. I took all of the missionaries to the gym and set up 12 chairs. There are 12 companionships. One of each companionship was blindfolded and sat down. The other companion stood nearby. They were given 60 seconds to guide their blindfolded companion to four separate chairs - but the unblindfolded companion was not allowed to move. So the room became very loud, very quick. I put obstacles like tables in the gym for them to get around.

Only the listener who followed exactly what his companion said got to win.

It was a fun way to teach obedience and also the difficulty of choosing the right in a world with so many distractions. I had a good laugh and no one died which was nice :)

For zone conference the next day I did a training on unity. I took "the most unified companionship" and tied them up from their fingertips to their shoulders, made them sit down, then lay down on their side, take off their shoes, and try to stand up together. They were tied back to back. It was pretty hard but they eventually got it. I then tied it into how, as missionary companionships, we need to be able to stand up in difficult situations and succeed. 

Thank you so much for the letters, Doug, Scott, and family! You're all the best!

Con mucho amor,

Elder Johnson

2 December 2013

Transfer calls were last night!!

Annnnnnnnndddddddddddddddddddddddd

I'm not leaving. Elder Gaspar and I are staying together here in Mesa. By the end of this transfer it'll be six months here. I'm ok with that. It's a little weird though since Elder Gaspar goes home in three weeks. We're suspecting we get a third missionary on Wednesday but it's all up in the air. President Toone has been asking a lot of zone leaders to change assignments to provide more support at other areas in the mission. We're not sure who changed but a bunch did.

Well I've officially finished the book of Job in the Old Testament! I'm working on reading the standard works in my last seven (SEVEN?!) months of my mission and it's about 6 pages a day. Easy. Job was a pretty cool book. It reads differently than the other ones in the Old Testament do. It was different than I had expected - I've read parts of it through the years, but I didn't expect Job to talk so much about his trials. For some reason I thought he had endured them all silently. Nevertheless it was a good experience and I gained some good insights on keeping an eternal perspective things while going through trials. On to Psalms! 

This past week I went on exchanges with a missionary in the zone. Their area, and district, had been struggling with teaching people and getting their OYMs. I put my Queen Creek OYM hat back on and went at it. In one hour we trippled their week's worth of OYMs and doubled their lessons taught. So much of the success of an OYM and a lesson on the street has to deal with those first thirty seconds.

So many missionaries start those contacts with, "Have you ever talked with LDS missionaries before?" Not even a hi. We talked about that and set some goals together. As the quality went up, so did the number. It was pretty cool to see.

After a while we were heading back to our car to move on to another area. We had a really cool experience. Here is what I wrote about it on my Facebook page:

Two days ago we were walking in an apartment complex. We were talking with as many people as possible and inviting all who would listen to come to the Christmas Lights at the Mesa Arizona Temple and Mesa Arizona Temple Visitors' Center!

As we were walking across the parking complex, I looked across a field and saw someone 150 yards away. Immediately I felt that we needed to talk to him. My first thought was, "Move on, that's too far. He'll be gone if you go that way. There's no reason to waste that time."

But again, the prompting to talk to him came back.

So we power walked 150 yards across the grass, hoping we would get to him before he got in his car.

"Hi, how's your day going?" He quickly replied, "Terribly."

Three minutes later we were sitting on a bench with him and teaching the message of the #restoration of the #gospel of #Jesus #Christ and he loved everything he heard.

God puts people in our paths for a reason. I also believe He puts us in their paths for a reason as well!

You can touch someone's life and all you have to do is cross your personal "150 yard field" to get to them. He will provide the words for you and He will prepare the hearts of those that you speak with.

I know that we can be instrument's in #God's hands. I know He loves us all and wants us ALL to be happy! If you're not happy, drop down on your knees and ask if He loves you.

I promise you He does.

~~~~

The story took an interesting twist. Yesterday as we were at the Mesa temple lights, I got a text from those Elders. It read, "

Good thing we stopped ____. He was planning on taking his life.

I read that and thought for a moment, "God let me take a part in saving someone's life." If I hadn't followed that impression from the spirit, this man may or may not have taken his life. He is on a different path now; a better path. That was a humbling moment in my life.

We were seriously 150 yards away. And we had been a little more lazy, things could have gone completely different. Wow.

Yesterday I saw another miracle on Facebook. I posted it on the mission Facebook page since some people are losing faith in it as a proselyting tool. This is what happened:

I posted a status a week ago about someone's baptism. She liked it and shared it on a Christian page for me (someone who isn't a member.) Yesterday I got a message from someone saying she has loved what I've been posting. Within five minutes she said, "We need this in my country." The process to get her in contact with local missionaries has begun. She is prepared for the gospel. I wrote this on the mission Facebook page:

Next time you think what you're doing on Facebook isn't working, remember that people are reading what you type even if they don't "like," comment, or, "share," it right away!

Sometimes it takes time for your fruits to come forward. This person was touched by a post I made a week ago and initiated a conversation with me about it today! 

She is in the process of being referred to local missionaries. She's prepared for the gospel. There are tons of people on Facebook just like her for you to find them! Be proactive and productive and you'll see miracles!

It's also great idea to start Facebook hour with a prayer :)

 Fun stuff is happening. Everywhere.

We have a recent tradition here of having people send "Oh Yeah Moments" in via text of miracles that they see. We then send them out to everyone so we can all enjoy miracles we see daily. Yesterday, as a zone, we fasted for a miracle. Or two. Or three. For an hour straight we were getting text messages every few minutes from people seeing miracles. From one homeless man that was OYM'd, "I'm sorry I couldn't make it today! I will next week and can we meet this week?" From a set of missionaries, "Someone jogging past the church felt inspired to come inside and loved it!" From our own area, a whole FAMILY just showed up to church and loved it. 

Miracles are happening everywhere! President Toone told us to prepare for a spiritual Pentecost as the Christmas lights open and the Gilbert temple open house goes on. I'm glad I'm here for that! 

So yeah.

Yesterday we went to the Mesa temple lights. Super cool! You know what's cooler? I saw someone from EVERY area that I have served in! Even Yuma! The picture is of a very special man that I taught. I can't write all the details about it, but when I left he was working on baptism but had some things to work around. In the past 6 months he has gotten married, baptized, and the priesthood. He is amazing. He is proof that you can change and that your past doesn't need to hold you back.

We also found out that there are grapefruit trees around the property of the temple and they're free game! I had one this morning. "A holy grapefruit" for breakfast. Yum.

Anyway, all is well! Thanks for the letter family! I'll write back today!

Love you all!

Elder Johnson

24 June 2013

Dear Family and Friends,

This week was awesome. The best week since February. Why?

We taught her for the first time on Monday and she was on date for July 6th. On Thursday we invited her to move it to June 29th. She said no since they would be out of town and suggested....that Saturday! So in two days we organized the entire baptism and invited everyone. She had been to church before for quite some time. It was a great turnout and the first in the ward for 10 months. The work is picking up with the Hermanas having one next week (who lives in our area...), and us in two weeks again with someone else. 

So that was definitely the highlite. But there were other things that made the week great as well! 

A dog bit me this week. We were walking over to someone and this dog got loose and ran straight at me. It was a 1 year old chihuahua that couldn't get its mouth around my shoelace if it had wanted to so no damage was done. Regardless it made talking to the person a little difficult since I was busy kicking it off me with my foot... In that same conversation her 13 year old daughter came out and said, "I LOVE your eyes Elder....Johnson!" It was a really weird OYM.

We moved this week. The night before transfers at 10pm they called us and said, "Pack your bags, you're moving down near Queen Creek!" I sat there for a second in silence thinking to the Queen Creek zone and Gilbert mission but he clarified and said Queen Creek Road. So we stayed up till 12am packing our bags and moved everything that next morning. They said we'd stay in the Chandler zone.

But that didn't happen either. At transfers they split all the zones and opened 4 or 5 new zones as well as made all the new zones for the Gilbert mission. We are now in the "Gilbert West" zone despite the fact that we live in a different part of Chandler still. They're going to rename the zone on July 1st when the mission split takes affect to either the Gilbert zone or the Ray Zone. I'm hoping for the latter. We still cover the same ward and same area (thank goodness) so we cover two zones now. 

Transfers was CRAAAAZZZYYYYYY. 240 missionaries in that room all singing Called to Serve was pretty sweet. It was the last chance I had to see some of the great people I've met as the Tempe mission gets split into the Scottsdale, Gilbert, and Mesa missions. Bittersweet. Luckily my whole MTC district is staying together in the Tempe Mission. We thought we'd take a picture to commemorate. 

Happy as always.

The mission actually got Jeep Compasses, not Grand Cherokees, for the missionaries in the mountains. They're pretty cool.

Speaking of cool, I got to see some of the old members from Yuma at transfers! It was awesome! Brother Borgerson and Brother Allen were both there giving rides and it was great to see and talk to them again. I told them I'd be back there next February. Apparently the work has slowed quite a bit down there.

Does anyone in the DC South mission know Elder Payne? He's best friends with Elder Janis, our roommate.

I ripped my first shirt this week. We walked up some steps to visit someone and my shirt caught on the window. It ripped about a 7" hole along the left sleeve. I was pretty bummed at first then I went back to look at the corner and realized that if my arm had been 1/2" closer it would have cut my arm open pretty deep. That window was super sharp. Blessings in disguise...

The apartment we live in right now has one room. There are four of us there. There was some miss communication somewhere and now we're sleeping on the worst beds in the world. We're moving next week on July 1st... So, after June 26th you can send letters to this address:1889 W Queen Creek Rd #1115, Chandler AZ 85248. We have a private lake we can't use. 

Anyway, because our apartment is so small (we have two chairs) we put our desks outside on the patio and study there. It's miserable since it's so hot. I'm not unpacking. We've moved 3 times now since May and once more next week. 4 times in 7 weeks... Ridiculous. We joke about how they just move us to clean up the apartments.

We got some time to spend with the missionaries in the Mesa zone at transfers to talk about iPads and iPhones in missionary work. As we saw in that stellar broadcast last night they're upping the amount of technology in missionary work. In Mesa zone, every missionary has a personal iPad Mini and each companionship has an iPhone 5. It's super sleek. They're also given permission on Faceboook to "proselyte on Facebook." They are even allowed to be friends with family. 

This week someone asked us what we were doing there. I felt the situation was right so I quoted Paul (more or less) and said, "we're here to help you repent and be baptized!" I was a little nervous about what they would say but they just said, "hm, ok" and walked away. 

I was reflecting on the last year I've had here with President Howes. I was also thinking about my first interview with him that I wrote about in my first few weeks. I remember not liking what he told me. But I realized that that first interview changed my entire mission for the better. Looking back on it that was the single most trans formative event in my entire mission and all I had to do to realize it was humble myself. I'm so grateful for the time I've had to learn from President and Sister Howes and will miss them both dearly. They have less than a week left.

I found an Ensign from the June 1976 issue and read an awesome section in the "I Have a Question" section about rebellions. Informative.

I'm approaching 3rd Nephi in the Book of Mormon. We have a week left to finish it. From the last 300 or so pages what has struck out to me is the major difference between the Lamanites and the Nephites. I think it's obviously connected to their faith in God but it's a bit deeper than that answer. I've come to see that the principle difference between the two is the capacity to forgive. The lamanites hold grudges for centuries and it consumes them whereas, for the most part, the Nephites learn to forgive and forget and as a result they're, for the most part, blessed. Good life lesson there.

I've filled my first journal!

And now for the elephant in the room...the broadcast last night! I hope everyone watched it. And for those who didn't, go to lds.org right now and watch it. I was hoping for some huge announcement which never came but nonetheless it was awesome! They re-stated what has always been said but also showed how to do it. I think my favorite part was Elder Anderson's. Unfortunately not many in the spanish ward went and we're pretty sad about that but we'll take what we learned and teach the members. If any ward can implement it, the Ray 5th ward can!

We love that ward. Last night we had dinner with the Bishop and his family. Ahhhh, they're the best. They made a chocolate cake for me and a Key Lime pie for Elder Diaz. They have such great love for the gospel and last night it felt like we were home again. Such a great family and such great leadership for the ward. We're so blessed to serve with them.

Last night someone threatened to call the cops on me. Some people just ignore us when we speak to them and pretend we're not there. I don't like that so I usually stand there in silence with them waiting for them to tell me something. This person said nothing and then when I stood there in silence for a bit she said, "I'm going to call the cops on you if you don't leave!" 

We also talked with someone last night who told us right away that she wasn't interested. I said, "do you know what we share with people?" She said no and I asked her, "How can you not be interested if we don't know what we do?" She laughed and we invited her to visit mormon.org then headed off when she said she had to go.

We set our baptismal goal for 3 in the month of July. Bring it on.

Thanks Susie, Tanan, Eric, Will, Mom, and Sister Hines for the great letters!

Thank you all so much for being so supportive! 

Con mucho amor,

Elder Johnson