COSTA RICA......

Family.

HELLO everyone! So it was kind of weird when I was reading your email and you were talking about Oceanside....because this week I was talking to my companion about how we always go to Oceanside Beach as a family every year and I was telling him everything that we do there, but I had totally forgot that it was in this week that we always go! haha.  But it seems as if everyone had a ton of fun!  By the way, the pic with grandma and grandpa and the cousins......I don't recognize a couple of people......I feel so bad, but everyone has changed A TON!!!  Maggie is SUPER tall and everyone else has changed a bunch! haha.  I can't wait to be able to see everyone in person again, that will be exciting. 

So by the way, I have news......I'm in a new area!  WHOOO!  Right now I'm here sitting next to Elder Larkin because I am going to be in the area that he was just in....it's called Costa Rica!  My new companion is Elder Aylesworth, he is from Chandler Arizona and is an awesome missionary so I'm super excited to work with him!  I was kind of sad to have to leave all of my investigators that I came to love so much in my old ward, but I know that I'm supposed to be here for a reason...so we're gonna work work work and see miracles!  I know that Elder Perez will take good care of all the people that I left behind, so I'm not too worried! ha. 

JESSICA IS PREGNANT AGAIN???? WHAT!!! that's so awesome, I'm so excited....the baby will be born right when I'm getting home!  That's so cool. CONGRATULATIONS JESS AND CAM! 

(((((((From Shawna...so, when I saw this on Tyler's email today I figured that Jess had written to him to tell him.  Wasn't sure if I should edit this out, but when I asked Jessica about it, she said this is how she wants to announce her wonderful news!!  This way Tyler can be a part of it : ) )))))))))

So I thought I'd fill you in a little bit on how my week went....we had a great week! ha.  We actually had an awesome experience with one of our investigators Monserrat.  She has been an investigator for a while now in that area and we had actually stopped teaching her for a little while, but somehow we found ourselves in her path again. Right now, she has A LOT of problems going on in her life and she was almost to the point where she couldn't handle it any more......scary.  But anyway, we have been visiting her and trying to help her out, and it has been going well! She actually has a few friends that are members of the ward, so they have been visiting her also, which is super good!  But the coolest part is that right now she is out of work and her son is in dental school and it's super hard for her to help her son get through school and feed the family at the same time....so we promised her blessings that if she went to church with us and started to read and pray, that she will be blessed to find work and be able to be calm in all of her challenges.  At the end of the lesson, she said the prayer and she was crying super hard during the prayer and just asking Father in Heaven to help her find work and to bless her family....the spirit was super strong and it was really special to see her say a real sincere prayer to our Father in Heaven!  Well guess what, she came to church. and guess what, she went to the center of employees, the program that the church has, and now she has 3 or 4 appoinments with different places that would love to hire her!  And guess what, a family in the ward had just recently moved to live in the house of one of their moms in the ward, and told her that she could live in their previous house...(she has been praying to find a house for about a year now)!  And guess what......SHE IS HAPPY!!  WHOOO!  It was really special to see her prayers be answered and see her faith grow.  She is happy even though the problems are still there, she knows that she can trust in God, and everything will be OK!   Miracles are real, we just need to look for them! 

I love my family quite a lot.  I'm happy here in the mission, and I'm grateful for all the support that you are for me.  stay fly.

Elder Johnson

.......I got this pic of Elder Johnson from his former companion (Elder Larkin's) mom.  He told her they took it on a day that it was 125 degrees!!  Notice him holding tight to his camelbak!