There's always tomorrow

So you know how Peter Pan was never supposed to grow up? Well I have felt like Peter Pan for the past two years. I've been living in Never Land. And it has been the most amazing adventure of my life! And it is really hard to come to terms with the fact that the end has come.

If any of you remember the play I was in during High School, the last song was There's Always Tomorrow. And that is my huge desire. I wish that there were always going to be another tomorrow in North Carolina.

But, there's only a few left.

So today what I would like to do is simply let you know what I've learned here in Never Land. 

I have learned to love. I have learned to love the Lord, my family, my friends, my peers, my neighbors, strangers, those who have poor feelings towards me, and those who are 100% different from me. Here from North Carolina, and soon in Utah, I want y'all to know that I truly love you.

I look forward to seeing y'all!

Have a great few days

Elder Johnson

Mothers Day!

Happy Mothers day to everyone! Well all you mothers I should say. It was super awesome to get to talk to y'all. I am sooooo excited to meet all the kids!! And a sincere apology to Lily for my poor English and lack of ability to understand 3/4 of what she told me. :)

This last week we had miracles! Well that is literally every week haha.

1. We totally ate at an Irish Pub this week. That was a little weird, but it was free! Leticia and Oscar work there, and they invited us. And speaking of them, they came to our 5 de Mayo party! She told us right before that she wasn't going to be able to come anymore, but in the end she and Oscar both showed up! And then she invited her sister! Things like that make our week. The party was a great success.

2. We had two great lessons with Euly and Andres. They went super well! The first one Elder Cantwell (I was on exchanges) got super excited and was headed to the fridge to dump out the beer. Euly didn't take to it, and said he'd just let someone else have it or something like that. Well, the next time we were there we followed up. And he told us that the single beer that he had in the fridge had exploded the next day! The Lord has his ways of making a point haha.

Well, the thing that I pray for more and more each week is that these people can come to church!

I love y'all so much! I know that the Gospel is true! It's changed my life in these two years!

Con muchísimo cariño,

Élder Johnson

Bonus Round

So in the Hispanic culture, everyone loves boxing! As many probably know, and as many most definitely don't, Mayweather and Paquiao fought this last Saturday. Mayweather won to everyone's dispite.

I mention that, because Brother Hansen gave me a great term for these last few weeks out here in North Carolina. The bonus round.

I have truly been seeing that as Elder Cantwell and I have been working harder and harder each day. We have been blessed with so many miracles in the past weeks. It is amazing!

The biggest of miracles is that the Lord has been blessing us with people to teach. We have been constantly going, without stopping. And the people that we are teaching are all progressing towards baptism. Almost all of them have that as the expectation in the end. It is amazing! And it is going to be a great blessing to continue to teach them, and their friends, until the day I leave. :)

One lesson we taught this week was with Euly. We were finally able to evaluate his commitment and his understanding. He is simply scared of committing to things he doesn't know he will be able to do. I am so grateful for the many experiences I have had to know that as we increase our faith in Christ and put our trust in him, we can truly do whatever he asks us to do.

We handed off Felipa and her kids to the sisters yesterday. :/ I love that family so much!

Last of all, we love Oscar and Leticia! We haven't had many teaching opportunities yet, but it is amazing how the spirit can touch someone's life and change them so quickly.

I love y'all! And I hope you enjoy the Spring as much as I do!

Love,
Elder Johnson

Reloj!

So I literally had nothing come to mind for what to put as the subject, so I wrote the first thing that I saw! :D

This week was a rollercoaster! It started off with a lot of sports. Preparation day and then the next day our annual activity zone conference. It was great!

Then some tough tough days came. Things just didn't work out for us.

And then miracles. :) The biggest miracles for me this week are that we were able to meet with Felipa and her kids, and Euly. Oh, and then another! We found two new investigators this week named Oscar and Leticia. They are sooo amazing! He is a chef at the hibernian (an irish pub) so he is super busy, but they both love us so much, and we love them more. Her son is mormon, and it has completely changed her. They already want to be members, but just want to learn about what they actually have to do to meet the requirements you could say.

We have super limited time today, so sorry that this is so short!

I love y'all a ton! Everything that I hear about y'all makes me so happy! I'm so glad that y'all are doing so well, and keep on keeping on! :D

With tons of love,

Elder Johnson

All the Spanish missionaries in the northern zones

With the Mission Pres

Pics

Jeaneth Rivas, our recent convert, feeds us lunch every time that we are there. And it is always a huge meal!

Elder Coca the great envisioning the Angel Moroni) One day you'll meet this fella... :D

¡¡Elder Nopuedebien!!

Transfers have come and gone and I am now with the Elder that can't well! Elder Cantwell is super fun, and we have been tearing it up together! :D And that's kind of literally. He's popped two tires already, and neither of the bikes are his. So instead he had to use a bike that has been sitting outside of our apartment that was left by our neighbors when they moved. Needless to say it's not the greatest haha. I feel bad for him. But now we're in the car so it's all good. Which is a miracle, since today we had a series of unfortunate events! I failed to get a picture, but we went mountain biking with President Bernhisel today! (Almost) When we were on our way, the bike rack tipped over (a pin popped out) and two of the three bikes fell off, and the third bent the front rim. Well one of those bikes was mine. :( So in one week we have put five bikes out of service!! Mine is in the repair shop right now.

Investigators!! I love these people!!

This week we ALMOST lost Lionel and Felipa. But we prayed a lot, went to the Temple (Man I love that place!), and fasted for them and we were able to work things out to continue to teach them. It broke my heart when Lionel said they wouldn't have time to meet with us. But it was a flooding feeling of relief when we set up twenty minute lessons.

We never got to meet with Eleuterio this week, so we are working hard to get back in touch with him to help him to reach his baptismal date which we will be moving to the beginning of May.

We a two new investigators this week! Well maybe including last week. One is Clay, the husband of a less active. He is awesome, and we are super excited to teach him, especially since we love his wife's family. The other investigator is Angel. He is awesome! He was a strict 7th day Adventist, and he never held his wife's hand till they were married! Holy cow! But when we met with him he was able to recognize the spirit soo well and that it was something he never had felt in his church.

Along with Angel and Clay, we have met some great people that we know will soon be investigating! Miracles happen!

I love y'all a ton! Family and friends! Elder Cantwell and I pray for y'all. Have an amazing week!

Oh, and if you don't have something on you to give to a nonmember such as your personal mormon.org profile card, then find something and keep it with you! :D Such as mine, mormon.org/me/bv68 or mormon.org/spa/me/bv68.

With much love,

Élder Johnson

Perros

So, before I forget, Elder Teeples is the man!! He got bit by a dog this week! So you hear about all these stories from missionaries getting attacked by dogs and such, but really I have not had many experiences with that on my mission. And here of all places I would never have expected it! Maybe in Henderson where all the dogs are trained to fight. So what happened though is that we went to go help a member move, and they had their dog chained up outside. Normally he's not a dog to be chained up. When we got to the house there were several people outside already moving things into the truck. All in the reach of the dog. So we started to go inside past the dog, and he randomly jumped at elder Teeples and bit his hand! What the?? I'm terrible at kinds of dogs, but it was big!

So other than that, this week has been really good! We did a lot of service, had many great miracles through Because He lives, ate a TON, and really enjoyed the whole week.

The biggest thing that we had happen this week was that we had a great lesson and visit with Eleuterio. We went to help him move and the other family members who are as well investigating, just not as deeply as him right now. We had a great lesson afterwards about Prophets, and then we invited them to watch general conference! We watched the first session in Jeans at their house, and it was awesome! We all loved it! That whole family is leaning on Eleuterio right now. And he's progressing towards the 18th for Baptism! We are trying to work hard for it!

Last thing. Elder Teeples is getting transferred tomorrow. Sad sad day! He is an amazing Elder. But he is going to have an amazing time in Durham! What I did find out as well is that my next companion should be Elder Cantwell. Man, that elder CAN really do things well. It's going to be a blast! And we're going to baptize this family we are teaching! :D

I love y'all a ton! I LOVED conference!! I know that Jesus Christ is our Savior! And there is nothing more fun that I have ever done than talk to people about him!

Spread the joy. :)

Élder Johnson