WHITE CHRISTMAS!

FAM'LY!

Hey everyone, I'm not sure how long this one is going to be because I guess I am just a little more focused on the phone call! haha.  But I'm soo glad to see that everyone is doing well. Also, I was soo stoked to see the pics of Dallin with the whole family!  By the way, I'm pretty sure that Dallin was wearing boots?  If he was, you totally stoll my idea man!  I guess thats what happens when your such good friends for so long! haha.  But I was soo excited to see those pics it was unbelievable!  Also, I forgot to mention in my last metter that I think that its so cool that your are now in the church choir!!  I'm excited to see you singing when I get back! haha.  Thats also way cool that quite a few people went....I miss having a choir in the ward, I never realized how awesome of a blessing it really is to have a choir that sings so well and can bring the spirit so strong to the meeting!  Anyway, I hope that everyone is ready for Christmas because I'm pretty stoked!  We aren't really going to be doing anything very special....obviously except for the phone call....but other than that it should be a pretty normal day! haha.  That's the life of a missionary I guess!  Maybe we will be able to go around and do some Christmas carroling (sp?) just my companion and I!  That would be fun...but I'm hoping that we can teach a few people about why we really celebrate Christmas and help them to feel the spirit of Christ!

Soo, this week we literally had a "WHITE" Christmas!  Guadalupe got baptized on friday!!!! WHOOOO!  It was such an awesome baptismal service....even though it was super to get everything ready, because we baptized in one of those bag things again and so the water as you can imagine was SUPER cold!  haha.  So we had to do everything we could to heat up the water as much as we could, but in the end...everything went really well and Guadalupe was super happy!  She has been waiting for this day for a quite a long time and it finally came....on the day that the "end of the world" was supposed to be!  haha.  Good stuff.  What happened with that anyway??  We don't hear or see much about what is really happening....was it somewhat crazy there or not really?  Because here, it was basically just like any other day...I honestly thought that more people would be talking about it...but who knows! 

Also, we had our Christmas activity in the branch and it was.......ok. haha.  Honestly there was hardly anyone there, but we made the best of it and tried to have some fun!  We are planning to have another one in a different place of the branch....so we'll see what happens with that!  But basically that was our week, we are really hoping to continue to see some progression in the branch!  Just got to keep working hard! 

Well, I'm SUPER STOKED to get to talk to you all tomorrow!  Come with a bunch of questions!  I'll try to talk the best I can in english but we'll see how it goes....it's been a little while since I talked a lot in english so we'll see!  haha.  Pues les hablo mañana a las 4 de la tarde, no puedo esperar!!  LES AMO MUCHISIMO!! 

Elder Johnson

 Guadalupe get's married!

 and then.....baptized!

THAT WAS.........PERFECT!

hheeeLLOOO FAMILY!

Hey everyone, thank you so much for the letter...it's good to hear that the ward there is doing so many activities for the temple and really taking advantage of it!  I have really realized how much of a blessing it is to have a temple so close to where we live...here, the closest temple is a 7 hour bus ride away and they only can go every 6 months...and that's if they have enough money to go.  That's why I love to hear that the people that can go, are going!  I miss the temple....it's a cool place.  Anyway, IT'S ALMOST CHRISTMAS!!  I have been listening to christmas music for like 2 months now....I'm pretty sure Elder Larson would be happy to hear that.....SHOUT OUT! haha.  I am super excited to talk to all of you, it's gonna be the last phone call.....da da da....WIERD!   By the way, I will be calling on Christmas day at 4:00 p.m.....tell me if there is any problem with that or if we need to change it.  But that would be the best time for our schedule here in me-he-co.  SO STOKED! 

Also, I'm pretty sure that was the wierdest thing to see a pic of my friends that have already returned from their missions....I was SUPER stoked to see them, but it did kind of make everything a little more real!  haha.  It's super crazy that our generation is already returning from the mish and on to the other part of life!  CUHRAZY! 

This week was super cool!  We have an investigator right now named Guadalupe...she has been wanting to get baptized for a while now, but she isn't married and doesn't have the money to get married, so she hasn't been able to.....but the other week, as a branch, we decided that we were going to do an activity to raise money to help her out so that she could get married to her "future husband" and then be baptized!  So on Saturday, we made a BUNCH of tamales and sold them to members, non-members, strangers, workers, neighbours, or whoever else was craving tamales and it went PERFECTLY!  I was really happy to see the branch really come together to help someone in need....including Guadalupe, which was one of the coolest parts....we all worked together and it really united the members and helped Guadalupe feel like she was loved!  It honestly turned out perfect and I was super happy.  Also, we had the Primary Program.....talk about STRESS!!!  haha.  It was seriously one of the craziest things I've ever done and I'm not even the primary president! haha.  Now I know how you felt all those times when you had the primary program mom!  haha.  But that also went SUPER WELL!  There were around 15 kids that showed up for the presentation and it was super awesome to see them bear their testimonies and sing the classic primary songs.  We could really feel the spirit and I think we all learned something new! 

We also had a SUPER cool experience this week with someone that we just found named Angel!  We were going to go visit a recent convert at her house, but when we got there, she wasn't there.....but there was Angel, sitting outside of the house also waiting for the family to get home, so we ask him if he knew when they were going to get home and he said that in just a little longer, but that we could come in and wait if we wanted....so we went and started to talk with him and he had a bunch of questions about what we do, who we are and what not, so we start talking about the church a little and then all of a sudden were teaching a lesson and we could really feel the spirit!  Then all of a sudden, Nadia (the recent convert) gets home and sits down with us and starts to teach with us and gave a SUPER powerful testimony of the restoration!  We all felt the spirit and we felt like we should invite him to be baptized and so we did and he accepted to be baptized in the month of January!  WHOO!  We were super excited and he was also.  We are hoping to see good progress with him...which we think we will because Nadia is his cousin that lives super close to him so she is going to be able to help out with reading and what not!  STOKED!  We are seeing good progress and we are hoping that we can continue to work efficiently and continue finding new people who are ready to hear the gospel!

You all really do help me every single week to be better and to strive to work my hardest and for that, I am grateful!  I truly do love each and every one of you more than you know!  Keep doing the small and simple things and you will always have a sure foundation.  I LOVE YOU SO MUCH!

Elder Johnson

IT'S REAL...He Answers!

FAMILY! 

Hello everyone, thank you soo much for this last email that you sent!  I am so amazed at how awesome my family is and how much the Lord has blessed us in these past couple of years!  I always knew that the mission would bring a lot of great experiences, but I would have never imagined the change that it has made in my personal life and in the lives of those whom I most love!!  I LOVE THIS WORK!  Thank you for everything that you have done for me and all the inspiring words that you have wrote to me to lift me up and make me better...I appreciate it more than you know!! 

Time is going by soo fast it's unbelievable!  With so many things to do, we truly almost don't have time to sleep or eat or anything and it makes the time fly!  This 5-6 weeks have been some of the best weeks of my whole mission, I am learning so much and having the time of my life while doing it!  Sure, I'm stressed like all the time, but I have learned pretty well how to deal with it and to put a smile on and just get to work and enjoy what I am doing!  Also, my companion Elder Hernandez is progressing a TON!  He is so happy all the time..and not to mention tired also...but we are really loving serving together and it has been a really great experience to be together!  He is also helping me a ton in the branch so thats also been really helpful! 

 PLEASE PRAY FOR THEM!! 

There is an experience that I want to share with you,  we are seeing so many awesome miracles happen in this branch and it has been amazing to have these experiences that I'm sure will stay with me for the rest of my life!  One of the experiences we had was with one of our investigators David...don't remember if I told you about him, but he is around 30 years old and his wifes name is Maribel...they have 2 young kids and are just trying to get by right now in life.  They have been struggling these past few months with finding work and everything but somehow, David still seems to be so happy.  Anyway, we found him about a month ago and have taught him just a couple of times, but always saw a great potential in him.  These past couple weeks we have been super busy and he has also, so we hadn't seen each other in about 2 weeks, so we have really been asking our Father in Heaven that when we can't work in the area and when we can't visit with our investigators, that he would take care of them and make sure that they didn't fall off the map.  So this week we finally had time to go visit with David and his family and when we got there he was SUPER stoked to see us!  We sit down and start talking and he goes on to tell us that during this time that we hadn't seen him that he had been doing some reading (we had left the pamphlet of the restoration and the plan of salvation with him).  Then he goes on to basically teach us the restoration and the WHOLE plan of salvation (without peeking at the pamphlets...haha)!  He also said that a couple days before we had got there, he felt the necessity to pray to our Heavenly Father and really make a promise with him that he was going to change his life around and that he was going to do it for his family and for love of God!  WHAT!!!!  I seriously could not believe what I was hearing, I was sooo happy to see that God really did respond to our specific prayer and that he had been helping David this whole time that we hadn't seen him!  IT'S REAL!!

Also, about a week ago, we had a family home evening in the house of some members and we had invited some investigators to come (Lluvia and Martha) and they went and we gave them a Book of Mormon and explained to them a little bit about what it was and why it was soo important...then invited them to read it.  We went back to their house this last week and Martha told us that she hasn't been able to read in the Book of Mormon because Lluvia wouldn't let it out of her hands!!!!!!  hahaha.  Martha had the BIGGEST desire to read in the Book of Mormon it was unbelieveable so we asked her if she would like a copy of her own to read and she could hardly believe that she could have her own....she took that Book of Mormon in her hands with so much carefulness and with so much respect it was awesome!!!  I'm POSITIVE that she is going to read and that she is going to feel the spirit SUPER strong when she does!  We are super stoked for the both of them and for their families!i  Don't have time right now....REMIND ME IN THE PHONE CALL!

Basically, I am loving this time of my mission and I am progressing a ton!  I love being here on the mission and love learning so much about the Gospel of Jesus Christ!  Also, I love my family sooo much, I am grateful every single moment for each and every one of you!  Keep being awesome and never forget to do the simple things....those are what matter most!  I love you all so much!

Oh and about the call, the reason I want to call instead of skype is because I want to be able to call my dad also and I want to have a little more time with the both!  I'll let you know more details later on.

Elder Johnson

p.s. I LOVE YOU!!

PICS!!

4 packages...all on the same day!

Feliz Navidad!

BUSY, BUSY, BUSY...HAPPY, HAPPY, HAPPY!

FAM!

 

Hello to everyone!  I'm soooo stoked to hear that you are officially the new ward missionaries!  When I was in the ward with Hno. Camacho we worked a TON with the ward missionaries and it was GREAT to have their support!  And it was also great because in the short time that I was there, I saw the testimonies of every member that was a ward missionary grow SOO much!  It is such a great experience to be able to preach the gospel and help people to strengthen theirs...and in the process, ours is strengthened beyond belief!  I can't wait to get back and just totally change places! You guys are going to be the missionaries and I'll be the normal member!  haha.  I'm glad to hear that you got to know the neighbors a little better...just remember that by small and simple things the great things are brought to pass!  I'm sorry to hear about Gma and Gpa Peralta...but I know that they are strong and they will get through and be right back up on their feet doing their Gma and Gpa Peralta thing!   Also, I was super stoked to see that Kyla is out hunting with Nate!  That's so GNARLY!!  CONGRATS KYLA!!  Also, thanks for the pics...I love to see how much everyone is changing and how grown up everyone is....now I'm starting to sound like a little old GMA....I guess I know a little more of where they're coming from now!  hahaha.  Anyway, I'm glad to hear that everything is going well!

 

This week for us has super wild!  We are having quite a bit of problems with the CPU that we have in the "chapel" (I say chapel, because it is literally just a little house...but it's great! haha)...it hasn't been functioning and we have been needing it BIG time with the end of the year coming up...we have to do things like tithing settlement and fill out information and good stuff like that, but we haven't had a CPU, so we have been trying to get that all fixed while trying to mantain the investigators that we have and help the members out with what they need....so yeah, it has been a busy week!  But I'm learning a little better of how to plan my time more to be more efficient in what we need to get done.  I think I mentioned this in the beginning of my mission but it has come to my mind again and it is: before my mission I didn't have very much to do...or maybe I just didn't make myself do very much ha, but the point is, I always thought that there was SOO much time in the day and it felt soo long....but now here in the mission, there is not enough time in the day to get all that we need to do done!!  haha.  But it has been great, I feel a lot more respect for all the bishops that I have had or that are bishops right now....because I'm just taking care of a little branch, but they have a huge ward to take care of!!  LOVE YOUR BISHOPS AND PLEASE SUSTAIN THEM!  They do all they can and have quite a bit of work to do, it's amazing the work that gets done in this church!  Honestly I feel like we work as if we were getting payed for what we do in our callings and in our normal work, we work as if they weren't paying us....funny how that works out!  But right now, we are continuing to see progression in the branch...the members are supporting big time and we are seeing that the conversion of the members is accelerating a TON right now!  We are actually going to be having a primary program this month on the 16th so we are SUPER stoked about that and so are all the primary kids!  I remember when I was teaching primary before my mission, I loved being with those kids and hearing their testimonies...so I'm super excited for this primary program that we are going to have.  Also, we are going to be doing a pretty cool activity with the branch to support some of our investigators that are wanting to get married but are struggling with getting the money together to do it.  We are going to make empanadas and some tamales to sell so that we can raise money to help them get married!  The members are really excited about it and I can really see it bringing the branch together to all work as one to help the people that we love!  SUPER STOKED!

 

I'm learning soo much being in this position and I am loving it soo much!  I hope that I can continue to progress and help the branch to be what God wants it to be!  The work is accelerating and we also need to!  The church is true and I love to be a part of it!  I love you all, keep being gnarly!

 

Elder Johnson

I almost forgot to thank you SOOOOOO much for the christmas packages!!!  I totally opened them before and I'm sorry for that.....but I didn't have very much food at the end of the week and I knew that I was going to find food in the packages...so yeahhhhh, that's how that happened!  but I defintiely enjoyed them a TON!!  thank you!!