HELLO!

HELLO EVERYONE!

WOW.  It is so much different being in the field full time! haha.  I love having the whole day to work and be able to focus on the area and on the zone.  This week went pretty well, my new companion is super awesome and we get along super well so that's always a solid +! ha.  But the area is really big with a lot of hills, my last area was all hills so I'm pretty used to that.  But the members here are super cool, the assistance here is around 80 so thats a pretty big difference for me....this is definitely the biggest ward I've been in my whole mission!  By the way, what's the normal assitance in a ward there in Mesa??  Anyway, I'm really enjoying it here and I hope that I will be able to help wherever I am needed! 

We had a pretty cool experience yesterday in church during the gospel principles class. We brought a few investigators to church along with a couple of sister missionaries who brought a couple investigators to our ward who came a little late. So we were all in gospel principles class and the teacher didn't show up because he went to Mesa Az!!  But that's a different story.  So we ended up being able to teach the class, and this week it was on REPENTANCE!  My companion and I had no clue that we were going to teach so that was a little bit of a shock, but it was all good because we teach about repentance every single day! haha.  So we started to teach and the lesson was going super well, we had around 20-25 people in the class and every single person was participating and paying attention....even the investigators were participating! haha. Anyway, the sister missionaries were also in the class and they were running late for a food appointment that they had so they told their investogator that they needed to leave and the investigator told them that she didn't want to leave because she felt super good and was really enjoying what she was learning! haha.  The spirit really was so strong during this lesson and I was so glad that we were able to teach with the spirit and help others to feel of the love that our Father in Heaven has for them!  After the class, we all left edified and uplifted and everyone had a smile on their faces, it was a super cool experience that I'll never forget!

Oh, about the teacher who went to Mesa.....Court, do you know a foreign exchange student from Mexico that was going to mountain view named Maelsi?? Her family is in our ward and when they asked me where I was from and told them Mesa....they told me that they had a daughter who was studying there and so I asked her in what high school and she told me mountain view and I couldn't believe it!! haha.  So I wanted to know if you knew her.  Let me know. ha.

And about your questions of the zone. we have 10 companionships in our zone, but that is the biggest of the zones in the whole mission.  We have 3 districts with 20 missionaries, 4 of those being sister missionaries who are all SUPER awesome and work super hard!  This zone is honestly super awesome, along with all the other zones in the mission!  I don't know if I told you this before but the name of the zone is TAMAZULA!  All the zones are named after the stakes where they are at.  Also the areas are the same with their ward or branch. 

Anyway, I'm super jealous that you're all at the beach right now! haha. I hope that you are all having a good time and getting some good boogie boarding in!  Say hi to the beach for me.....I think it misses me.......haha. 

Love you all. stay strong, be safe at the beach, and get a good tan! 

Elder Johnson