Mi Familia Amado,
Well, as always, it was good to hear from home. I´m glad to hear that everything is going alright. It is too bad that you didn´t make it to any parades though...
Another week has gone by, and with it many experiences and memories. This week, probably the biggest thing that happened is that my compañero went to Culiacán for a big meeting with President Cantu because he is a district leader. Because of this I worked with the other Elders in my district from Tuesday through Friday. It was quite a fun time. Our area is suffering a little bit though, because we weren´t working in it for three days. All is okay though. This coming Wednesday we are going to have interviews with the President. I really am so excited. I do not think that I have told you, but my mission President is the best in the whole world. He is a spiritual powerhouse. And to think he only has 38 years.
Well, as always, I am learning new things every day. Through experiences that have passed in this transfer, I have come to realize how important it is for us to really be a representative of Jesus Christ at all times and in all places. You never know how others are going to perceive your actions. By developing those attributes that He has, we can personally come closer and understand our Savior better.
Also a little tidbit of information that I have been learning, is the fact that I do not know anything. There is always something new to learn, and always a different perspective. An EXTREMELY inactive member told us the other day, that the reason why he does not attend sacrament meeting is because everything is the same. All the talks are the same. All the testimonies also. We had a very powerful lesson trying to help him understand that we never stop learning.
Well, I apologize for the brevity of my letter, but I must be going. I love you all. I think of you often and pray for you more.
Con Amor,
Elder Johnson
Tuesday, August 2, 2011
Saturday, July 2, 2011
June 27, 2011
Dear Family,
It was great to hear from you all. I can´t believe all of the things that have happened in this past week. It really is so crazy. First off, I took a flight (in a tiny airplane (I´m not joking, I think we had a total of ten people in the plane including the pilot)) from a little airport in Los Mochis, and we flew directly to Los Cabos San Lucas. From there, we drove to San Jose.
The ward is really great, and it is split up between 2 sets of missionaries; Elder Toledo and I, and Elder Tingly and Elder Servera. That is our whole district! Probably the biggest and most important thing that I have learned so far from my time in this ward, is how important it is to not spread gossip. This ward is riddled with "who said this", and "who did that". It really has opened my eyes to the fact that nothing god comes from this, and it really can hurt people. All of us are children of our Father in Heaven, and he loves us all. Nobody deserves to be at either end of a rumor or a false accusation. This really is something that I can improve upon in my life.
So yeah, I have realized something quite intriguing. Whenever I start to develop pride in certain areas of my life, the Lord sees fit for me to be brought low into humility, until I remember He from whom all blessings flow. This has happened twice with me getting sick. I start to take a little pride in myself saying "look at me, I have been in a new country, living a different lifestyle, and eating strange food, and I have yet to be sick" and then what do you think?!... Yeah, it is almost scary how fast it works, but right after I start to think these thoughts, I fall sick. You´d think I´d learn, but hey! I have been in Mexico for 3 months, and I have only been sick twice! Yay haha
Well, It sure is good to hear from home. I love you all so much. I know that this gospel is the Gospel of Christ, and if we strive to live these principles we will realize grand blessings in our lives. I know that Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ love me. They love you. And they will never leave our side no matter where we are and what we are doing as we strive to do the things that they have asked of us.
Con Amorisimo,
Elder Johnson
It was great to hear from you all. I can´t believe all of the things that have happened in this past week. It really is so crazy. First off, I took a flight (in a tiny airplane (I´m not joking, I think we had a total of ten people in the plane including the pilot)) from a little airport in Los Mochis, and we flew directly to Los Cabos San Lucas. From there, we drove to San Jose.
The ward is really great, and it is split up between 2 sets of missionaries; Elder Toledo and I, and Elder Tingly and Elder Servera. That is our whole district! Probably the biggest and most important thing that I have learned so far from my time in this ward, is how important it is to not spread gossip. This ward is riddled with "who said this", and "who did that". It really has opened my eyes to the fact that nothing god comes from this, and it really can hurt people. All of us are children of our Father in Heaven, and he loves us all. Nobody deserves to be at either end of a rumor or a false accusation. This really is something that I can improve upon in my life.
So yeah, I have realized something quite intriguing. Whenever I start to develop pride in certain areas of my life, the Lord sees fit for me to be brought low into humility, until I remember He from whom all blessings flow. This has happened twice with me getting sick. I start to take a little pride in myself saying "look at me, I have been in a new country, living a different lifestyle, and eating strange food, and I have yet to be sick" and then what do you think?!... Yeah, it is almost scary how fast it works, but right after I start to think these thoughts, I fall sick. You´d think I´d learn, but hey! I have been in Mexico for 3 months, and I have only been sick twice! Yay haha
Well, It sure is good to hear from home. I love you all so much. I know that this gospel is the Gospel of Christ, and if we strive to live these principles we will realize grand blessings in our lives. I know that Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ love me. They love you. And they will never leave our side no matter where we are and what we are doing as we strive to do the things that they have asked of us.
Con Amorisimo,
Elder Johnson
June 21, 2011
Dear Family,
How is the family? Now before you all start to think that I am apostatizing and writing on the internet on Tuesday, I´d like to say that I have special permission from the Presidente.
I am officially in Los Cabos de San Jose and life is good. You can sleep easy for the next 6 months, or for however long I am here, because this place is completely different from Sinaloa. No violence, and no killings. Pure tourists. Almost everyone knows at least a little English. (Which won´t really help me learn Spanish...) And best of all ........(building suspense)........ there is no heat! Not really anyways, because we are right on the beach, and so the breeze from the ocean really cools this place down. I think that Los Cabos and I are going to fall well together.
My last week in Los Mochis was a really sad week. We had been preparing this lady named Lupita for baptism for the whole transfer, and everything was ready for last Saturday. We arrived at Saturday, and she was there at the chapel waiting for us, ready to be baptized. She had brought her granddaughter, Danae, to be baptized too, but we couldn´t do it. We didn´t have permission from the mother. When Danae found out this, she became really depressed and began to say that she wasn´t going to be baptized ever, and the whole situation was really difficult. We finally came up with the solution that we would wait to baptize both of them together until after we received the permission.
I was also really sick this week. In fact, I think that I lost weight for the first time since I have started my mission.
I love you all so much. I hope that everything is good at home.
Love, Elder Johnson
How is the family? Now before you all start to think that I am apostatizing and writing on the internet on Tuesday, I´d like to say that I have special permission from the Presidente.
I am officially in Los Cabos de San Jose and life is good. You can sleep easy for the next 6 months, or for however long I am here, because this place is completely different from Sinaloa. No violence, and no killings. Pure tourists. Almost everyone knows at least a little English. (Which won´t really help me learn Spanish...) And best of all ........(building suspense)........ there is no heat! Not really anyways, because we are right on the beach, and so the breeze from the ocean really cools this place down. I think that Los Cabos and I are going to fall well together.
My last week in Los Mochis was a really sad week. We had been preparing this lady named Lupita for baptism for the whole transfer, and everything was ready for last Saturday. We arrived at Saturday, and she was there at the chapel waiting for us, ready to be baptized. She had brought her granddaughter, Danae, to be baptized too, but we couldn´t do it. We didn´t have permission from the mother. When Danae found out this, she became really depressed and began to say that she wasn´t going to be baptized ever, and the whole situation was really difficult. We finally came up with the solution that we would wait to baptize both of them together until after we received the permission.
I was also really sick this week. In fact, I think that I lost weight for the first time since I have started my mission.
I love you all so much. I hope that everything is good at home.
Love, Elder Johnson
June 20, 2011
Querido Familia,
Yeah, I´m going to be transferred this week! So I thought instead of writing a big long letter, I´ll send some pictures so they can see their beautiful son. I am going to be transferred to Los Cabos in Baja Cali South. The area is in San Jose. I am really excited because I think there will be beaches!
Love you all much.
Con Amor, Elder Johnson
Yeah, I´m going to be transferred this week! So I thought instead of writing a big long letter, I´ll send some pictures so they can see their beautiful son. I am going to be transferred to Los Cabos in Baja Cali South. The area is in San Jose. I am really excited because I think there will be beaches!
Love you all much.
Con Amor, Elder Johnson
Saturday, June 11, 2011
May 30, 2011
Querido Familia,
Well, this week has been quite something. This Tuesday, Elder Romero was sick. Because of this, we took a trip to down town Mochis, to the hospital. It was quite the experience. The Bishop of one of the neighboring wards is a doctor, so the missionaries get treated for free. This is a bendicion (blessing). After getting a shot,.... my companion is starting to get better. Wednesday, we had a big meeting with the Mission President, and a member of the Seventy, President de Hoyos. It was very spiritually uplifting and powerful. They taught us many important and useful things on how to be more effective as a missionary. One of the things that I learned, and have been trying to apply in my work is the fact that I am a representative of Jesus Christ, and with this comes the ability to have confidence in my calling. At times this means being very blunt, because it will not help people change their lives by "beating around the bush". This is definitely a new thing for me, because I don´t like to be that confrontational, and at times it is like that. This also means that I have to be a lot more outgoing. There is a part in Preach My Gospel that talks about Talk with Everyone, and I really have been trying to apply this. Sometimes it is so easy to get caught up in the routine of things, places to go and people to see, that I forget to do this.
I had a really awesome experience this week. Thursday, I was doing splits with Elder Castillo, and this was the day after the conference with President. We were trying to apply the principles that they had taught into our teaching while we were contacting. We were trying to see who could be more outgoing. We saw this man sitting on the sidewalk smoking, while we were knocking doors. I decided to go and try something that Pres. de Hoyos had said, so I went right up to this man, and sat down next to him. I then told him that I had a question for him, and that question was "¿Usted es un escogido?". Basically it means are you a chosen? (Doesn´t really make sense in English) Well, I didn´t really get the response I was hoping for. He gave me a blank look and said "what does that mean?" I was stumped. After a little pause I said "It means that you are ready to take some changes in your life for the better." Really, we could feel the spirit so strong at this moment. After that we taught him a brief lesson. This mission is not about me, this is the Lords work.(Moses 1:39) We are bringing the means of Salvation to His people. When we realize this, and strive to do the things that He would do, He will work Miracles through us.
I love you all so much, and pray for you always.
Con mucho MUCHO amor,
Elder Johnson
Well, this week has been quite something. This Tuesday, Elder Romero was sick. Because of this, we took a trip to down town Mochis, to the hospital. It was quite the experience. The Bishop of one of the neighboring wards is a doctor, so the missionaries get treated for free. This is a bendicion (blessing). After getting a shot,.... my companion is starting to get better. Wednesday, we had a big meeting with the Mission President, and a member of the Seventy, President de Hoyos. It was very spiritually uplifting and powerful. They taught us many important and useful things on how to be more effective as a missionary. One of the things that I learned, and have been trying to apply in my work is the fact that I am a representative of Jesus Christ, and with this comes the ability to have confidence in my calling. At times this means being very blunt, because it will not help people change their lives by "beating around the bush". This is definitely a new thing for me, because I don´t like to be that confrontational, and at times it is like that. This also means that I have to be a lot more outgoing. There is a part in Preach My Gospel that talks about Talk with Everyone, and I really have been trying to apply this. Sometimes it is so easy to get caught up in the routine of things, places to go and people to see, that I forget to do this.
I had a really awesome experience this week. Thursday, I was doing splits with Elder Castillo, and this was the day after the conference with President. We were trying to apply the principles that they had taught into our teaching while we were contacting. We were trying to see who could be more outgoing. We saw this man sitting on the sidewalk smoking, while we were knocking doors. I decided to go and try something that Pres. de Hoyos had said, so I went right up to this man, and sat down next to him. I then told him that I had a question for him, and that question was "¿Usted es un escogido?". Basically it means are you a chosen? (Doesn´t really make sense in English) Well, I didn´t really get the response I was hoping for. He gave me a blank look and said "what does that mean?" I was stumped. After a little pause I said "It means that you are ready to take some changes in your life for the better." Really, we could feel the spirit so strong at this moment. After that we taught him a brief lesson. This mission is not about me, this is the Lords work.(Moses 1:39) We are bringing the means of Salvation to His people. When we realize this, and strive to do the things that He would do, He will work Miracles through us.
I love you all so much, and pray for you always.
Con mucho MUCHO amor,
Elder Johnson
May 23, 2011
How are you all doing. Me? I´m great! You know I really love the cold (snow, ice, freezing, sledding, etc. you get the point) I have never been a big fan of the heat, and so where am I.... You can´t tell me God doesn´t have a sense of humor! It´s okay though, because just about everybody tells me that it is just starting, and it doesn´t get bad until June, July, and August.
It is really crazy how fast the weeks fly by here. We are already starting the middle week of this transfer. Literally, the days are starting to mesh together. I have a hard time singling out what happened yesterday. I have realized how important it is that I write things down in my planner and journal or they will be lost together with all the other experiences.
This week was great, we found some new investigators who really have potential. Se llaman Lupita, Anna, y Ivan. They are really bright, and have been accepting the teachings well. Our Presidente de Misión has told us that nothing happens here in the mission by coincidence. I know that this is true, because yesterday, I had an experience that really reaffirmed this point. We passed by the house of one of our investigators to give them a ride to the church, and they weren´t home. Then, we were in the church, waiting, hoping that the others would arrive. None came. (We found out later in our meeting with the Ward Mission Leader that there actually was an investigator, but we had never met him. Yayyyy) I will not lie though, I was a little desanimado (discouraged). We then left because that is the rule, and we went to work contacting.
After chatting with some drunks, we found this man, Alejandro, who is ready to change his life. He told us that he drinks, and he doesn´t know how to stop, but that he wants help. He invited us to his house to teach him and his family! We never would have found him if we had been at church, because he lives out on a little ranch, and was only in the city for work. God was preparing a way for him to receive this opportunity. We really can see miracles daily.
Have you ever read Jesus the Christ? I never tried to read it before, but it really is such a good book. Literally it was inspired. I think that someone told me that James E. Talmage wrote it while in the temple. All I know is that I really enjoy reading it, because of all the references. I started looking up the scriptures and found myself really intently studying of the scriptures. I really NEVER thought that I would say it, but studying the scriptures really is a lot of fun. I find daily, that I never have enough time to study. Weird huh? Yeah, I know.. I´m a nerd.
With lots of Love,
Elder Johnson
It is really crazy how fast the weeks fly by here. We are already starting the middle week of this transfer. Literally, the days are starting to mesh together. I have a hard time singling out what happened yesterday. I have realized how important it is that I write things down in my planner and journal or they will be lost together with all the other experiences.
This week was great, we found some new investigators who really have potential. Se llaman Lupita, Anna, y Ivan. They are really bright, and have been accepting the teachings well. Our Presidente de Misión has told us that nothing happens here in the mission by coincidence. I know that this is true, because yesterday, I had an experience that really reaffirmed this point. We passed by the house of one of our investigators to give them a ride to the church, and they weren´t home. Then, we were in the church, waiting, hoping that the others would arrive. None came. (We found out later in our meeting with the Ward Mission Leader that there actually was an investigator, but we had never met him. Yayyyy) I will not lie though, I was a little desanimado (discouraged). We then left because that is the rule, and we went to work contacting.
After chatting with some drunks, we found this man, Alejandro, who is ready to change his life. He told us that he drinks, and he doesn´t know how to stop, but that he wants help. He invited us to his house to teach him and his family! We never would have found him if we had been at church, because he lives out on a little ranch, and was only in the city for work. God was preparing a way for him to receive this opportunity. We really can see miracles daily.
Have you ever read Jesus the Christ? I never tried to read it before, but it really is such a good book. Literally it was inspired. I think that someone told me that James E. Talmage wrote it while in the temple. All I know is that I really enjoy reading it, because of all the references. I started looking up the scriptures and found myself really intently studying of the scriptures. I really NEVER thought that I would say it, but studying the scriptures really is a lot of fun. I find daily, that I never have enough time to study. Weird huh? Yeah, I know.. I´m a nerd.
With lots of Love,
Elder Johnson
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