So what up fam!
How's everyone doing?? I sure hope that everything is going well with all the new changes! I never thought that I would return to a different house! That's so wild to me! haha. But just so you know, I'm happy with it and I'm excited for you all! and thanks for sending the pics, I wanted to see it super bad!
So this week has been a busy but good week! We are seeing a lot of progression with Wilian so we are super super stoked for him! We actually had a small but really cool experience with him just yesterday....we had an appointment with him at 6:30 at night so we were headed over there. He lives on a super super big hill that we have to climb every time we go there, it really is one of the steepest hills I've ever seen! Anyway, we get to the hill and my companion just starts to run up the hill as fast as he can....so I follow....so we're running up this hill just dead tired and we get to the top and we see him and his cousin Jorge about to turn the corner and head off to hang out with their friends, but we got there just in time to talk with him! We started to ask him a couple things about if he has been reading and if he was still excited to go to church on Sunday, and he told us that he is reading every day and that he really knows that it is true!!! But the cool part is, is that if we hadn't run up the hill, we wouldn't have seen them and we would have missed an awesome opportunity to help him progress and excite him more to keep praying and go to church! We invited him to Mutual and he says he wants to go super bad...because he doesn't know too many people in the church so he still feels a little uncomfartable when he goes. So my companion and I were thinking of something we could do to help him, so we prayed and were thinking....and the name of Luis came to my mind (he is a priest who has the same age as Wilian)...he is kind of a quiet kid who doesnt talk too much, but I knew we needed to talk to him and get his help with Wilian!! So we went to his house the other night and started talking with him...and then I told him "the Lord needs you right now" and he asks me why. So I told him that we we're teaching a kid with the same age as him and that we needed his help to teach and to help Wilian go to church! And the first thing he says to us is "I don't think I'm the best person to help you guys.....there are a lot more priests that can help you".....so I looked him in the eye ball and testified to him that this is the work of the Lord and that He needs his help right now! The next thing he says to us was "ok, I'm gonna do it...I'll help!" We were so excited for him and for Wilian! I just know that he is going to be able to help Wilian so much...just by inviting him to church and helping him to get there! I really have a big testimony of the need for the members in this work...they make all the difference in just a BAPTISM, and an actual CONVERT to the gospel of Jesus Christ! They really are necessary in the process of conversion! This work is pretty cool!!
Also, we had SEMINARIO this week....it's basically like a meeting for leaders and future leaders in the mission and I got invited to go and it was so awesome! I got to learn so many things on how to be an effective leader and help others to be the best that they can be! I learned something super interesting that Presidente Cantú said....he told us "you as a leader are only as good as your district is...or zone...or children" he said that a leader is someone that helps others to be the best that they can be and in the process we become better ourselves! "this is my work and my GLORY....to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man" Moses 3:19....Gods glory comes through our progression....or God progresses as we progress! Cool stuff! God really does want us to progress and that is why he has given us all the material we need to do it....scriptures, manuals, prophets etc....but he doesn't give us all the answers laid out perfect for us....it is our job to read and study and recieve the revelation necessary for us to progress! love it.
But bascically things are going well right now, we are going to be starting off March super well so we are really excited for that! But basically thats all for this week....I love you all more than you know, and I'm super happy for each and every one of you! Always remember to pray and seek guidance from the Lord!
love you all,
Elder Johnson
Family that I love so dearly!!
Sorry for the delay on the letter...sometimes we get bombed with other stuff we need to do on p-days, but it's aight.
But CONGRATS on cheer Court! WHOOO, that's so awesome that you got 3rd place! stuhhoked! haha. And congrats everyone else for being the awesome people that I love so very much! ha. Thanks for being awesome, no joke. I'm so glad to hear that things are going SUPER well back home, just remember that we can always be better!!! That's the beauty of Gods plan....is that we can ALWAYS be better! We need to constantly be kneeling in prayer asking for guidance on what MORE can we do! "Wake up, and do something more than dream of your mansions above"....I really love that hymn a lot...it always reminds that when I'm feeling tired, worn out, or even lazy sometimes....I try to remember that phrase...."WAKE UP!!" haha.
Anyway, the work is going super well right now!! We are super excited for all of our investigators and we are starting to work a lot more with the ward and I feel like we are going to be seeing a lot more progression in these upcoming weeks! We just got to keep working hard, and constantly be finding the people that are ready to hear this gospel....then help them to feel and recognize the sprit, be baptized by someone who really does have the authority of God here on the earth....and then they will have the spirit with them to help others come unto Christ!! WHOO, this work is awesome! It's just like a lot of happiness, true happiness...something that you can't find anywhere else!
We had a super cool experience this week with someone named Emeterio! The name first off is awesome, but moving past that....haha. We were teaching an inactive family as part of the plan 5 5 5...don't know if you've heard of it...or are doing it? But it's cool, and it's inspired! haha. But we were teaching this family, and they have family members that are non-members that we didnt know about at first...but then we were talking with one of the members afterward and they mentioned that there were 2 people living in the house that weren't members, and said that they were interested in the church! This one member had talked with them a little bit and had invited them to talk with us (the missionaries) and they said OK! We went over the next day and they were there and we had an awesome lesson with everyone! We invited them to come to church and they said they would come....then we invited them to be baptized and they said that they will if they read and pray and feel that it is true! It was super cool to see the success that comes from working with the members! We just hope that they will make the choice to read and pray!! haha.
Also, we found an AWESOME investigator who just moved into the area a couple weeks ago! He moved here from a place that is right on the border of Mexico and Arizona to right here in our area to go to school here! He is living with his family (cousins and aunts) who are members of the church, but at the time aren't super super active. But we went with them and taught a lesson...also part of the plan 555....solid plan right?? But we went and taught and they came to church and brought along with them Wilian! He is 16 years old and just a super awesome kid. We went back to teach him and he was super stoked to talk with us....we taught an awesome lesson and invited him to be baptized and HE ACCEPTED! At the end of the lesson...we invited him to say the final prayer and he accepted to do it, we kneeled down and he began to pray.....at the end of the prayer the spirit was so strong in that room it was unbelievable....then he says to us.....can you feel that?? And we said what? He said, I feel really happy and good!! WHATTT!!!! We felt the spirit so strong! Then we talked with his cousin (Jorge) who is a convert of about a year who has the priesthood and is a priest, and asked him if he would like to baptize his cousin and he was SO STOKED to do it, and we got the permission of the bishop! So that's going to help Wilian out a ton, just always having that support with him in the house! So we are really excited for the both of them! He will be getting baptized on March 3rd! Then Claire on March 5th! Also, we are hoping that Consuelo and her daughters will be getting baptized this next Saturday! So we need some serious prayers out here in Culiacan! The Lord is blessing us a lot right now, and I feel like I need to show my gratitude to Him by working even harder!
The Lord loves us, we are all His sons and daughters! We need to always pray to Him and ask Him to strengthen us in our trials....and if we do, He will always come through! This work is awesome...I wish I could describe it better, but it truly is just cool! haha.
I love you all a lot! It's wierd that even though I'm further away from you all than I've ever been and for the longest period of time...I feel like my love has grown so much for each and every single one of you! Keep grindin it out err day! Love you.
Elder Johnson
FAMILY!!
Hello everyone....so this week was SUPER AWESOME! Elder Vazquez left the offices and my new companion is Elder Morales! He is the new Elder that just came into the offices, he has about 3 months in the mission so he is pretty new...but he is super cool! We were talking the other night and we realized that we have a lot in common so it's really fun to be able to talk with him about all the things that we like to do! We have been working super hard this week so that we can start to see miracles in the area...and WE SAW MIRACLES! Cool stuff. We went with our new investigator Mari and planned out a sweet lesson where we were going to read a chapter in the Book of Mormon with her, so we were super excited to go teach her. We got there and started to teach and we could feel the spirit...we had planned beforehand that we were going to challenge her to be baptized....and so we were at the end of the chapter and we started to talk a little bit about baptism and we could tell that she still was a little timid on the subject of baptism, but we didn't lose our faith, we knew that we had planned ahead of time to challenge her and that it was inspired of the Lord...so Elder Morales started to talk about the atonement of Jesus Christ and that it is through Him that we can be made clean of our sins....and the only thing that He asks of us in return is that we 1. have faith in Him 2. repent of our sins 3. be BAPTISED by immersion 4. recieve the Holy Ghost and 5. keep His commandmets FOREVER! The spirit just filled the room and we knew the we needed to challenge her in that moment....so we challenged her and she accepted to be baptized on the 18 of February! We are super excited for her! She just needs to keep reading in the Book of Mormon and gain a stronger testimony of the gospel...and if she does, she is going to be soo awesome in the church! I know that she really will recieve the most happiness she has ever felt if she will do the simple things that God asks us to do!!
Also, I'm pretty sure the coolest thing ever happened yesterday!! We went to go visit Claire at her house and she wasn't there...but her dad was across the street unloading a couple things from his work car so we went over and offered our help....and he says to us...."Elders, I want Claire to get baptised, we want her baptismal date to be the 11th of this month.................................................................................................. WHATTTTTT!!!!!!!!!! no way!!! I can't even tell you how happy I was when he said that to us!! Do you remember when my call came in the mail?? It was something like that, but even happier!! I couldn't believe that the Lord just blessed us with that tender mercy in that moment! I am soooo happy for Claire it's unbelievable! We have been really working super hard with her on her goals and making sure that she is doing everything she can to do them....and look what happened!! I really can't even believe it! Elder Morales and I are super happy right now and super grateful to the Lord that he has blessed us with the opportunity that we have to teach this AWESOME girl! I'm dead serious when I say that she is going to be a SICK sister missionary someday! STOKED! haha.
Anyway, that's the Miracle of the week...even though there are so many more but I don't have time to tell them all! Just know that the Lord really does bless us when we love his children and do all that we can to help them progress in this life! "If we do not lose oursleves in the service of others, there is no purpose to this life." Thomas S. Monson. love love love it!
I love you all so much and am so glad to hear that everything is doing so awesome! Wish Court good luck for me at State....and tell Dillon to get off the couch and go read Preach My Gospel or something!! haha. I love you all so much!
Elder Johnson
