Henderson...

Well another week flew by! :D It is incredible how fast they go! We were blessed with some great weather this week! Some of it was a little extreme and had some pretty crazy wind, including two fallen trees behind our apartment. That was pretty sweet! I was standing outside our balcony watching them both start to finish!

The weather that followed the storm was the blessing. We were back to 70 degrees! That meant that everyone was outside just relaxing. We made some of the best contacts ever! One of the great things that happened was that we ran into a less active who has been inactive since he moved here from puerto rico. He has two sisters here and a Mom as well. We are sooo excited to contact them this week to be able to get them active again! The Henderson ward needs some spanish members!
That is probably the biggest change of all. The fact that I am only speaking about 30% spanish right now. Elder Swinney and I are trying to change that to help out, but hey! Who knew I would ever get to teach an English investigator!

The main thing that happened this week was that we got to work quite a bit with two investigators Angela and Pedro. They are both progressing fairly well but are going through some pretty tough decisions to be able to live the law of chastity. They are definitely going to need prayers! We built some very good super trust with Pedro on Saturday when we helped him move to his new trailer.

The members here in Henderson are great! I pray for the gift of the English tongue to be able to talk to them haha. But boy do I like the southern attitude. Everyone is so crazy! :D Have to love them. :)

I'm running low on time, but I love you all so much! The work is picking up here and I'm excited to help it out! Don't forget to put on the gloves and get to work! :)

Elder Johnson

Country!

Hey y'all! I am a true southerner out here 'n Henderson! Henderson has only been open for two transfers to the Spanish work, so we are working with two active Spanish members! The Henderson Ward is great! Elder Sullivan, my trainer, just finished being here in this area after training Elder Swinney. So I am with my "brother" in the mission! Elder Sullivan went Zone leader in Raleigh. That's basically our Spanish Assistant to the President spot haha.

I have to say that being in Henderson is going to be sooo much different than Cary. I have such a hard time communicating in English! Not to mention the new language of southern I have to learn haha. The drive up to Henderson with Brother Owens was one of the hardest conversations I have ever had.

I really have not gotten to know a whole lot about this area yet, but one thing that I really have been able to learn, is that we are all children of God. It is incredible to me how the exact same love that I have felt in Cary, is exactly how I feel right now with those we are teaching. It can only grow from here, and I cannot imagine where it will be after two years!
I know that missionary work is the work of the Lord. I have come to truly love it. I feel like the attitude of Alma is beginning to settle in, "And now it came to pass that the sons of Alma did go forth among the people, to declare the word unto them. And Alma, also, himself, could not rest, and he also went forth." We get so stuffed up in the apartment! There is nothing better than to get out and go talk to people!

I love y'all so much and I hope that you have a great week!
Élder Johnson

 

Tomorrow I get transferred

Tomorrow I get transferred, so next week I will get yall my new address. In the mean time you can just send stuff to the office and they will get it to me.

Transfers are so weird! I feel so strange! I have been here for so long now! And honestly I am soooo excited to move on! Cary has been sooo amazing! But I personally cannot grow without change! It is so important! It gives you the opportunity to create new and refined goals, and I am super excited to be able to work towards them! There are sooo many attributes of Christ and a consecrated missionary that I can still improve. And will always be able to improve haha.

This last week was super good. We were able to finish off strong and have some good lessons to be able to make progression with our investigators. I am super sad to not get to keep working with them, but the thing is, is that I do! :D I can still support them through Facebook and help them to resolve their doubts. It won't be the main focus, but it is so amazing that it is possible. The nets are being strengthened!

One miracle that we saw this week came most definitely through the lord's plan. A while back Elder Sullivan and I had an amazing lesson with a referral from a member. But then she started to work two jobs with only one hour of break in between the two, and during that time she slept. We had to discontinue her because there wasn't any time. She just had an accident at work however that took her out of work for a week. Our member informed us and we stopped by to see how she was doing! We had a super great lesson and she accepted baptism! The spirit was so strong! The Lord knows that she is ready and has put her into a situation to hear, and act. She lost the second job sadly, but gratefully at the same time. :D It truly was a blessing to her, and we hope to be able to bring the spirit to her to testify!

This last week I have been studying hard to prepare myself to be transferred to a new area. And I have learned some amazing things about our purpose as missionaries and followers of the Gospel of Christ. He taught not by chastising him, but by giving him the responsibility to teach by example where to find Christ and rest.

Alma 37:33-34
"Preach unto them repentance, and faith on the Lord Jesus Christ; teach them to humble themselves and to be meek and lowly in heart; teach them to withstand every temptation of the devil, with their faith on the Lord Jesus Christ."

"Teach them to never be weary of good works, but to be meek and lowly in heart; for such shall find rest to their souls."

I love the scriptures! I bare firm testimony that The Book of Mormon changes people's lives. I can guarantee you that without the strength from The Book of Mormon we will not be able to find rest in our lives sufficient to enjoy the peace of God. We will not be prepared to accept the spirit into our lives. We will not be prepared to learn what the Lord is trying to teach us through the different trials we go through.

I love yall so much! Espero que tengan una semana excelentísimo y que se aferren al Libro de Mormón!

Con mucho cariño,
Élder Johnson

Me, Elder Tingey, President Mortensen, Elder Graham, Elder Coca

 

 

Weather? Delighful!

Hey y'all! While the weather out there is frightful, the weather out here's delightful! One thing I quite enjoyed this last week was that it snowed! :D Not a super common experience that you get out here haha. Everyone went crazy! For 1 inch of snow, school was canceled for four days! What luck! What luck it was for us as well! We were able to have some super great lessons over Facebook with some investigators that are normally at school. Obviously being teenagers and on break, they were stuck to their Facebook :D One of those miracles was with a friend of Tony, a member! We have talked to her a lot when we have seen her, but never really been able to sit down and talk to her about the gospel. We don't worry, since that's all Tony talks about! :D She has asked us for a blessing before, and has had great experiences with missionaries, and we were finally able to powerfully bare testimony of the church and prayer. God inspires us through simple actions to be the means of a great work! The simple question of "How do you know that the Mormon church is true?" opened up a world where the spirit could reside and testify!

Another miracle that we saw this week was that we finally had a lesson with a potential investigator we found two transfers ago from knocking on a door. We taught five very elect people! They even turned off the Super Bowl for us! Which we had noooo idea it was on last night till then. Thanks hispanic culture! :D The names are Sandra, Gabi, Lorena, Maria, and Gilberto. We are super excited to work meet with them!

Well it's official! We got a call from President Bernhisel this week, and I'm leaving the area! And Elder Tingey is training!! :D Ah that's going to be so good! I'm super excited for an amazing last week here!

I hope and pray that everyone is having an amazing week and that miracles will happen!
Élder Johnson

Helamán 3:35
No obstante, ayunaron y oraron frecuentemente, y se volvieron más y más fuertes en su humildad, y más y más firmes en la fe de Cristo, hasta henchir sus almas de gozo y de consolación; sí, hasta la purificación y santificación de sus corazones, santificación que viene de entregar el corazón a Dios.

:D