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!!