I'm A Different Person!

BUENOS TARDES!

 

so it looks like im just writing to my loving Mother whom is home alone at the moment! haha. Thats gonna be super weird when all of us are gone out of the house doing our own thing...obviously still around...but not in the house with you anymore! ha. anyway, i dont want to make you think about that too much...being a grandma and errrthing....zssahh.

 

Anyway, thats way cool that Court is up at EFY right now in utah...i wish i would have gone to EFY more when i was younger! you grow a lot spiritually at EFY. Its so wierd how all my priorities have just completely changed...ha. Its just that i look back on all the things i did before my mission (involving the church) and i just wish i would have done so much more and done a lot less of what i was doing (which wasnt ever anything bad)....ha. I just feel like all i want to do is be involved in the church and help it grow anywhere i am! it really is tough to explain, but its cool!

 

One thing i have really been amazed about here in the mission is how the Lord can literally just shape you...no joke...my thoughts have changed, i think in spanish all the time, i even dream all the time in spanish....my priorities are different like i said, all i think about is what can i do better do better help the people im teaching...and i dont say this to make it sound like im such a great missionary who only thinks about his investigators all the time and is completely devoted to his mission....but the Lord has literally just made me a different person, he has shaped me in a way that i cant even explain! its like when i sleep he is just doing something to my brain to make it think differently! haha. that was a wierd analogy...but its true! we recieved a new gringo missionary in the house who is struggling with spanish just like i did and we were talking about how its impossible how much i've improved in spanish in just 1 change in the mission, but somehow the Lord is able to just change everything about you to make you into the missionary he needs! we just have to have a willing heart and a desire to do His will and he just takes care of the rest! I can speak in spanish really well right now, i have absolutely no trouble understanding my companion and i can speak to him like hes just about anyone else....i cant explain how blessed i feel and how grateful to the Lord i am for what He has made me! so for all of you who are wondering how im doing with the spanish, i say to you....the Lord has blessed me A LOT with my spanish! i know that its not me, i couldnt do this on my own...i want you to know that i KNOW of a surety that my ability to speak spanish did not come because of me, its because the Lord knows that i need to teach people here in Mexico and guess what....the only language here is spanish! haha.

 

My comp is way cool, hes a native from the state of Mexico and hes a great teacher! i have already learned a lot from him and am continuing to learn every day. he teaches with a lot of power, just like has a lot of conidence in what hes saying and doesnt try to make it sound all flowery and stuff to make the people accept it, he just teaches it and knows that it is true. its really cool! he wants to be a teacher when he gets back from his mission (which is in 2 months) so he really enjoys teaching a lot. hes a great missionary and im excited to work with him more.

 

i dont know whats going on with these pics...i want you to see what im doing here in Rosario and what it looks like and everything but i dont know whats going on. ill try to send more. but hey, i really want a voice recorder, sounds wierd i know, but like record a little voice message on it from whoever wants to and send it to me and then ill record whats going on in the mission on it! and also a head shaver thing...i dont know the word in english....ha. by the way, at times, i totally forget some frases and words in english....its really wierd...ha. also, a cool study journal (something just simple). oh and i lost my ipod....i have been looking for it for a while, so i dont know if you have another ipod mini or something just laying around not being used just send it on south....ha.

 

We are hoping to baptize 2 people this week Adolfo and Vikki, they are so cool (neighbors of ours) and im way excited for them....well see...were working really hard with them and with a lot of others. the problem here is getting to people to come to church....its tough but i know the Lord will bless us for our hard work and our faith in Him. pray for them profis (por favor...ha). oh and for jess...before we got here, the average number of people in sacrament meeting was around 10-15....now we have had over 40 people 4 times!! the Lord wants this place to grow! but we are still struggling with getting ivestogators to church! but we have a computer and a keyboard now (both absolute MIRACLES)!

 

send my lovin to all!

 

oh and p.s. tell Jenna, Jessica and Dallin and Dallas that i miss them and want to hear from them! haha. I love you guys so much, you have not the slightest of clues!

 

con amor,

 

Elder Johnson

 

by they way, i want to write everyone and tell them how much i love them...but i cant so if you read my letters and you are reading this right now, just know that i really do love you!

New Companion

hey hey hey!

 

so this week has been super good! we worked super hard (as always of course! ha) and the Lord really blessed us a lot! we had 48 people in Church yesterday...the most there has ever been in the history of Rosario! so stoked!

 

my trainer Elder Ball left yesterday to go to Culiacan to visit his converts because he leaves on Wednesday....cuhhhrazzy! I honestly cried super hard when he left...it was really hard to say goodbye to my "dad" haha. he really taught me so much and helped me become the missionary that i want to be! im seriously about to cry just writing about it again! haha. lets just say say that he was a SUPER good missionary! no joke, ill never forget him. and I also just barely got my new companion Elder Mendez, he´s a Mexicano so i wont be speaking too much english for the next 6 weeks! haha. im a little nervous but honestly, Elder Ball prepared me for anything so im not too worried!

 

anyway, thats super crazy about the fires and stuff...i hope everything turns out ok!

 

we have 2 baptisms planned for this week...Jaudolfo and Vikki! they are awesome, they are brother and sister and Vikki has a little girl! we have been really helping Vikki progress and i can see the biggest change in her, its unbelievable how much just a simple prayer of faith can help so much with coping with the difficulties of life! it really is true that if we come to the Lord in faith, He will make our burdens light and help us through anything!

 

I love you all and i hope that you all stay close to the Lord! He truly is our Father in Heaven! i have gained such a great realtionship with my Heavenly Father since ive been here and i desire the same thing of all of you, because i am happier than i have been in my entire life! although i was pretty sad when you told me about the LP trip with the Glausers.....haha. but really, stay close to the Lord and pray with with "all the energy of heart" Moroni 7:48.

 

I love you so much

 

con amor,

 

Elder Johnson

One Of The Coolest Experiences I've Ever Had

Dear family,

 

Hey so i dont have much time to write today so im just gonna get straight into one of the coolest experiences ive ever had!

 

So on thursday we were needing some new people to teach so that we could baptize more...cuz if your not finding, your not baptizing! anyway, we were thinking of where we could go work today to find someone new to teach...so we pulled out the map of our area and we were looking at it and i felt that we needed to go to a certain colonia (dont know the word in english) but we wanted to know specifically where to go...so we decided to kneel down and ask the lord where he wanted us to go! so we knelt down and we asked specifically where to go. We looked at the map again and i pointed to a small block on the map and i knew thats exactly where we needed to be. so we got ready and went to work, we walked over to this area...and we turned up this one street and saw a house on the corner and went and knocked on the door....nothing....we knocked again...nothing...we waited for a while and we usually would leave after knocking twice, but something kept us there. finally, someone cracked open the window just enough to say something out and said "que quiere" what do you want? and we just said can we talk to you at your door? and she said...im coming. she came to the door and let us in immediately without us saying anything! We started to talk to her and she asked us who we were and what we do so we explained to her everything. then we started to teach and it went really well, the lesson was super good and so we commited her to be baptized and she accepted! then we had a prayer and we knelt down to pray and she offered the prayer...during the prayer she prayed for her baptism! then after the prayer she looked at us and began to smile and said..."i just felt something! ive never felt this before" she recieved her answer right there! then she told us that she had something for us and she left and came back with 50 pesos and tried to give it to us because we gave her this message that she has needed in her life for so long! obviously we accepted the money..................nahhhhhh. no cierto. but honestly, it was so cool to watch her whole life change just from this one simple message! supes gnars! this message truly blesses and changes people, its so cool to be teaching that message to people every single day!

 

by the way, there is a missionary in my same area who is from Gilbert...his name is Elder Palmer and he is giving his mom the number to the house so that you two can talk and read other emails from someone else in the mission!

 

i love you all, no joke!

 

con amor,

 

Elder Johnson

I Was Chosen To Do The "Spraying"

Yo suppy hey hey famzill-e
 
So im sending only a few pics through the cyber-space world cuz they take a while to download but thats alright, im gonna buy a USB card here and put them all on there and send that home then your job is to put them all on the computer and then send it right on back my way! ¿bien? muy bien.
 
Fam its the wierdest thing....while im writing you, i have a bunch of spanish phrases running through my head that i would normally say and i write it by accident but erase it so you will understand! haha. i guess that means that the language is coming super well! no joke, the Lord is just pouring out blessings upon me so fast and its the greatest thing ive ever experienced, its not me at all....the Lord just needs me to speak spanish and teach His children! But this one is for Jess...I am actually teaching about half the lesson and being able to say just about anything i want to express myself and share my feelings on everything! its way way cool, i thought i would be just trying to throw a quick testimony in at the end of every lesson but its not like that at all, i can actually speak! ha. obviously its tough at some parts and i have trouble teaching a few of the more difficult parts of the lessons, but hey thats alright...patience is key in this work!
 
Anyway, Clayra got baptized this week!!! WHHAAATTT! super cool verdad?! i was so excited for her, and Elder Cruz baptized her...he's a missionary in the other companionship! were pretty sure she has a crush on him...watch out Elder Cruz! ha. but there is a picture of her baptism (she is in white and Melissa and Gladis are both in the picture also, top row...the girl on the bottom is Lupita...she got baptized last week also) GNarS bArS. oh and i forgot top tell you that we baptize in a sack like the one we saw before i left in the pics...i sent pics also! ha. But yeah, the baptism went super well! Roberto is still ballin' as always except for the fact that him and his not quite so wifey arent married yet...errrr. we gotta find his birth certificate (which were having a hard time with) for them to be married...may be a long process...well see! but its fine, were on the Lords time! All other investigators are still SICK WIDIT as ever and im stoked for all of them! ha. 
 
So funny story of the week!! ok, so we have this couple that we pass every single day and they are homeless and a little older but they are in the same place errday. We invited them to church and we found out that the wife was a member...SICK! so they came to church like 30 minutes early and were just chillin in the back. oh by the way, since ive been here, i have not seen them wear a different pair of clothes...ever! and i see them every day...bottom line, they smell super super bad!! haha. one day, we walked up to them to talk to them and she said "estoy horinando"....."im peeing" hahaha. right there chillin on the side of the street! haha. anyway, these people are chillin in church and the chapel just starts to smell SUPER bad! we had to do something about it but we werent sure what we could do! We decided to go back top the house to get some cologne...so we grabbed my cologne real quick and went back to the church and it smelled so much worse when we got back! But we were trying to figure out a way that we could spray the cologne without it being super obvious...bascially, i was chosen to do the spraying...so i went and sat right in front of them and had the cologne in my suitcoat. during the hymn i snuck it into the side pocket of my backpack and made it look like i was looking for something in my backpack...i had to made a coughing sound while i sprayed it so nobody could here it! i did this 4 times throughout sacrament meeting! haha. it was like a secret agent mission where nobody could find out or see...it was super gnarly but i pulled it off and it helpèd a little bit! ha. 
 
anyway, this week has been super good and im way excited for everyone back at home! sorry i dont wirte any personal emails back, its just that we dont have very much time to do everything and were not really supposed to write anyone else besides the main letter to the fam! but keep them coming i really love to read them all! no joke. 
 
The pics are just a few of our area and one is with Roberto and his family! enjoy dem.
 
I love you all, and keep doing what your doing!
 
oh and what is my dads email because i dont think the one im using is right...! important stuffz.
 
con amor,
Elder Johnson