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

Agradecimiento

Well the first thing that comes to mind for me as I write today, is simply how thankful I am to be here on a mission, and how thankful I am that God is aware of each one of his children. This last week has continued to teach me so much about the need for the Spirit in our lives as children of God. We had two really great meetings this last week, first a district meeting and then a CMLC (leadership meeting). A quote from Ralph Waldo Emerson in our room at home says, "Let us be silent that we may hear the whisper of God." 

Well, we have had some really great experiences as we have tried to follow the Spirit better in our lessons and through our days. We had a few great lessons with our investigator Eleuterio to help him to recognize the importance of gaining a testimony of Joseph Smith. And then as well we had a really great lesson with Lionel to help him recognize the importance of reading the Book of Mormon. Something really stuck out to me in Gospel Principles on Sunday. “… The Book of Mormon teaches us truth [and] bears testimony of Christ. … But there is something more. There is a power in the book which will begin to flow into your lives the moment you begin a serious study of the book. You will find greater power to resist temptation. You will find the power to avoid deception. You will find the power to stay on the strait and narrow path." This is true!! 

Hey guess what! It was my birthday! Woot woot!! I am so not ever going to be a teenager ever again! LIKE NEVER EVER AGAIN!! That is a super good feeling haha. Especially since people still think I look like I'm 17. That's depressing sometimes when they think you're still in high school. :)

Thank you to everyone that contributed to my package! And the letters and emails as well! We have thoroughly enjoyed the amazing food, and fantastic action figures! They are our pride and joy. 

I made it the whole day without cake in my face, which we were not expecting, but Elder Teeples made sure there was some by the end of the night. :D

What actually ended up happening was we ate at Buffalo Wild Wings with our recent converts! They are super nice, and we love them soo much.

I hope y'all had an amazing week! And have another one this week! :D

The one year older and hopefully a little bit wiser,

Élder Johnson

St. Patty

Happy St. Patty's day! I sincerely hope you enjoyed it as much as we did. Because we had a great time!

Well. This week was a fantastic week! We had some really hard experiences as well, but as we have been learning, opposition in all things is necessary. 

So we went to go talk to Nelson and Caridad. They are terrible at keeping appointments, so we just stop by when they would most likely be home. So... we stopped by. We knocked, and waited a little bit. Right before we were going to knock again, Carlos, their son, answered the door. Well kind of. He opened the door with a cigarette in his mouth getting ready to go out and smoke. But he was facing backwards talking to a friend. Then having changed his mind to go talk something out, he shut the door without ever looking out! What?? We knocked again and it all went silent. So, no luck. But I have to say, it was one of the funniest things that happened this week. :D

Other than them though, we have had some great things happen with other investigators. We had some good lessons with Eleuterio, but he still didn't come to church. He is definitely changing though. It's awesome to see it every time that we come by.

We had a great lesson as well with the Viñuelo family. We really have not taught them much, or had much success, so you haven't heard about them yet. But we had a great lesson where we could really get down to some of their doubts and we were able to see a big change in their faith. There's more work to do, but we know that if they read and pray their faith can keep growing.

I'm turning twenty this week! WOOT! Hispanics like to party, so I'm getting prepared... I've never had my face smashed into a cake, and it's bound to happen. More than once probably. 

Whoever sent the licorice is officially my favorite! That stuff was suuuuper good.

On Saturday of stake conference a recent rescue that happened was told in first person. He told of his decision as a family to return to the church after a member in Henderson and missionaries helped him and his family to move. Well, I was able to be there to help him move about 10 months ago. And what touched me the most was that he told me on Saturday that it was when we decided to vacuum out the couches that his wife's heart was softened, and went to him to say they had to return.

Mom, thank you for always teaching us to give it our all, even when serving. Who knew it would make such a big difference.

I love the Gospel! I love the Savior! And I am so grateful for the chances that we have to lift the lives of the people around us through his light.

Have an amazing week! Get ready for Spring! ¡Preparados! ¡Listos! ¡Ya!

Love, 

Elder Brian Johnson

Picture of the Sealing

Templo!!!

Hey y'all!!! So I can't remember if I even mentioned this in my last letter or not, but I had one of the most amazing experiences of my life this past week!! ELI AND DEAN GOT SEALED!!!!!!!!! On Saturday I went to the temple with Elder Tingey to go to Eli and Dean's sealing!! And probably the best part of the whole thing was getting to meet Sophia their daughter who turned one on the 13th! I couldn't believe it. When I baptized her she was pregnant with Sophia! That was the first sealing that I have ever gone to, and it was definitely worth waiting until theirs.

But what I learned most of all in all of this week was what patience really means. The ability to face trials, disappointments, and delays with calm and with hope. Well, we had a ride to the temple until less than twenty four hours before we went to the temple. Who in the world could come to the temple on the spot??? Well thankfully we got one. But in all the craziness in my mind, I realized that the most important thing was to live the Gospel! To have faith, hope, and to act as Christ would have acted. And what do you know. I felt so good! That made such an impression on my life that day, and in the work that we have done here.

We had an amazing lesson with Eleuterio at the church! Sadly he didn't come to church. But we moved his baptismal date to the 18th of April. Pray for him!

Pray as well for Nelson and Caridad. They have a date for the 28th, and they can make it! We just have to teach them!! :D They are a little ways away (30 mins on bike) and we have a hard time setting appointments with them. They are super great though!

I love y'all a ton! Everyone go to the temple! I am so grateful for the wonderful blessing it is to go to the temple!!

(elder maximiliano coca was here :) )

Families are forever! :D

Élder Johnson

Las Mañanitas

Hey there all y'all!! I guess when you're in a Spanish area that not many people actually say that. It was super common to here it back in Wallace. But nonetheless! Saludos from Raleigh!!

This has been an absolutely fantastic week! The best part about it is that we reset  baptismal date for Nelson and Caridad from the 14th to the 28th, and they came to church! Wahoo!!! Best birthday present ever! And what's greater is that we get to teach them from now until then! :D They are super great people. And super funny! Honestly I feel like hispanics in general just have a great sense of humor.

So Elder Teeples had his birthday on February 28th, but so far he has had at least 3 parties for it. And at each of them they sang Las Mañanitas! And then just yesterday Elder Niko had his birthday as well! I remember Marci sending me the lyrics to the song but I had never heard the song until this last week. It's great! Now I just need to see if I can't find the lyrics again! :D

The other people that we are working with right now are, Eleuterio (Baptismal date for the 28th of March), Ana and Felipe (awesome cuban and columbian family), Amilcar and Julisa, and probably other names that I just can't remember right now. I promise they're important to me and that we work with them. That just has no influence on whether or not my mind will allow me to remember their names on the spot. :D

I love this area! I love the people here in North Carolina! And most of all I really do love the Savior Jesus Christ! I have been so grateful these last few months of my mission to gain such a greater love for the Savior and an excitement to share my testimony of Him and His Atonement.

Last night I was reading in Colossians 3, and I highly suggest reading it. 

Some verses I loved say, "And whatsoever ye do, do it heartily, as to the Lord, and not unto men; knowing that of the Lord ye shall receive the reward of the inheritance: for ye serve the Lord Christ.

I know that Christ is our Savior and our Master! I am so grateful for Him and I love Him!

I hope yall have a great week! I send y'all my love and prayers!

Élder Johnson

This is the Place!

Raleigh!!!!! I am in the absolute best place in the world! I wasn't able to really meet the ward at church yesterday because there was freezing rain that morning, so we pushed sacrament back to 3:30 and only did that. But the people here are amazing! I really don't even know where to start to describe everything here. That's how I've been even in my journal haha. But I guess I'll start out with who my companion is. Elder Teeples is from Alaska. So he is most definitely enjoying this cold spell we've been having. We've had a whole lot of snow. He has cystic fibrosis which requires him to run for an hour each morning (I don't understand the whole medical nature behind the running). That helps keep something in check with everything he has. I have noooo problem with running for an hour. :) It has been wonderful! (Besides the snow. That's made it difficult.) Today I am going to buy some new running shoes though because the ones I brought out are, well let's just say, worn out. :D
Elder Teeples and I get along super duper well. It is the greatest thing ever! He is simply a solid missionary, and hilarious! We are super similar in a whole lot of things, but different enough to be two distinct individuals. So he loves Spanish, and took 4 yrs before his mission. I did too, and it is sooooo nice to have someone who understands where I come from! Best of all he has the greatest attitude about everything I have ever seen! I feel so so comfortable here to work work work and not have to worry about ever overstressing because we have such a good time doing the hard things together. I'm going to have to get some good pictures this transfer and video as well so you can see him for real.

The other great part about Raleigh is that we are all sooo close to each other. We are constantly helping each other out with rides, information, having fun, working together, and whatever else it might be.

Saturday was Elder Teeples birthday. It has been a crazy weekend. He has had quite the experiences with cake in his face! Elder Tingey (The Elder Tingey who I was companions with) got him twice! Once with the cake on Saturday where it was expected, and twice the next day when he shoved his plate into his face! There's good old Elder Tingey and Elder Teeples for you! As you can tell, we simply have way to much fun here together. There are six elders and two sisters in the ward. Woot! :D

So far the main people we have been teaching are the Rivera family (Recent Converts of Elder Teeples) and someone named Eleuterio (Eleu for short). We had a solid lesson with Eleu and bishop Larkin and we set a baptismal date with him for the 28th of March! Best birthday present ever! We are working hard to help him to make it!

We have a few others as well who I've not met yet, but they have a baptismal date for the 14th, that we'll be pushing back to the 28th as well! Their names are Nelson and Caridad. Pray for them all! :D

I love y'all so much!! I hope that you have a great week! Missionary work is too fun to let it pass by!

Élder Johnson

Me and Elder Teeples

Raleigh!!!!!

All of my dreams have come true!! I'm going to Raleigh to be a district leader!! After being in the country for the past 6 months, this is going to be weird! And one of the things I am most excited about is the fact that I will be in an area with half bikes. I have been driving ever since my third transfer in the mission, and I am ready to get on the bikes again! And I am not going to miss the hour drives to any meeting we go to out here in the country. :)

But! I am going to miss it here in Wallace! The people in the country are great! I didn't even realize how much I love them all until I had to say goodbye to most of them on Sunday. What I also don't want to leave behind is simply all the people we have been able to work with here. We and the Sisters each had four investigators at church!! :D 

The big news is that the Verdin's got married on Saturday! They didn't tell us till the day before. They will still have a big reception on the 28th of March though. And what's better is that they set a baptismal date for the 11th of April! Wahoo!!! Man I wish I were able to be here for that.

Yuni is still doing really well, and I really hope that she can work things out to get baptized soon. I'll miss her and Elvis a lot as well.

Another thing that happened this last week while I was on exchanges with Elder Wilkinson, an assistant to the president, is we found four new investigators who all accepted baptism!! Holy Cow!! I am super excited for Elder Swinney and Elder Bowie to teach them!

I am so grateful for the Spirit. When we are doing the best we can to follow the Lord's will, and to invite the spirit into our lives, he will guide us and he will allow us to be part of the many tender mercies that surround us. We were able to see so many this last week. I am amazed every time that someone seeks counsel from a 19 and 20 year old, when they themselves have grandchildren our age. And even more amazed and grateful for the words that the spirit gives us to bless their lives. 

Here are some great pictures from this last week! If you have never experienced freezing rain, it is soooo gorgeous! And these pictures don't do it justice!

I love y'all a ton!

Élder Johnson

Freezing Rain

 

Snowing!

 The District!

Vaquero

So how does a cowboy (vaquero) call to his little girl? ¡Hija! Those without spanish experience, ask for assistance. :)

So for the past six months I have been not a cowboy, but rather a chicken, hog, dog, and log boy. Country boy! And I have loved it to death here! The people here are totally different than any other area I've served in. And I am going to miss them a lot. That's right, I'm getting transferred next week probably to Raleigh where I will be the district leader. I do not know how I am going to get along in the city again! Traffic here is called log-trucks! 

Things have been going really well though here in Wallace. We have been proselyting a lot in the southern part of the area, but we are now realizing that with a decrease in the missionary force we might not have the Sister Missionaries here in Wallace for that long. So we are adjusting our game plan for the future. 

Yuni is doing really well. She seems to have opened up to us quite a bit more these past two weeks and is working really hard. She still has not been able to move out, nor has Elvis gotten his passport. We are working hard to keep her working faithfully forward.

Bill Buckley! Man I am going to miss him! But he continues to love us, listen to us, and work his hardest to understand us. If the computer will allow me, I will put up a great picture of him.

Elder Swinney and I have had a great week this week as we have brought a strong message of faith and of hope to the members we have visited. We have both learned a lot about those principles as we have served in this area. We have learned that without faith and hope we never learn to climb the mountain and to reach the top, but instead we continue to go through the tunnels without light, and only holding onto the hope of the light at the end of the tunnel. We grow with faith and hope. We get through the tunnels through time. 

I challenge y'all to not let time bring the light to you, but to climb the mountain and grow from the experiences that the Lord provides for you!

I love y'all a ton! And it is the most incredible feeling how that love grows each week, and even more after 20 months!

Love,

Élder Johnson

p.s. If I really do go to Raleigh, I will be soooooo happy. It is the dream land! A Spanish Ward!! I'll have to ask the Assistants for sure when we go on exchanges this Friday. :D

Bill Buckley

Soul Food :)

Bautismo!!!

The biggest miracle of all is coming to pass here in Wallace!!!!!!!!!!!! A couple who's investigated for 10 years is finally getting married March 28th!!!!!!!!! Happy Birthday me!!!!! Well I won't actually be there to be part of it, but it's still a huge huge deal!! They are faithful members already, just not baptized or married. Their daughter has already served a mission! So we are super duper excited for them! This is the Verdín Family.

Yuni as well is doing really well. She is pushing forward to let the Gospel change who she is. Right now she is running into the struggle of her boyfriend Elvis who is a less active member. Please pray that we can receive the guidance on how to continue forward with her to help her make it to the temple!

Bill Buckley is as old and crazy as ever. :) We have really reached a point where he knows what it is that we teach about the restoration and the plan of salvation, and is nervous to pray. He's afraid to find out that what he has learned all his life isn't right and that he'd have to change, now. We love him so much!

Brandon is working like a horse! We are doing our best to maintain contact and spiritually uplift him in a super difficult time of his life. It's all to get Sunday's off! We're praying hard for him!

One of the highlights of my week was being able to play a part in the answering of someone's prayers and fasting. This week we decided to do an extended exchange to accommodate for a meeting we would have. So I went to Hampstead on Monday night until Wednesday morning. I was with Elder Garn. On Monday night we went to Bishop Smith's family home evening. It was a blast! When we got there a spanish member was leaving their home, and Sister Smith found out I spoke Spanish. Well she had been asking all of her native friends for help on a college spanish class, and wasn't getting anywhere. Without any questions asked about dinner or fhe or anything, we were at their table doing homework for the next 20 minutes! :D Things she had been stressing over for the past week I was able to help her with that night, and to finish the homework she had.

What really made me smile though was that she told us later that she had been fasting and praying the day before for help to be able to get help with her class, and boom, there I was able to be! It was a great feeling!

I love you all a ton! I hope that y'all have a great week!

Love,

Élder Johnson

Yonder Place

This week we had some crazy long drives! And we can literally say that we went to Yonder Place and back! There is a store in a little place called Ivanhoe that is called Yonder Place, and we drove for about an hour there, and then an hour back! :D We drove around our area, and it took about two and a half hours. Holy Cow! But we had a really good time with our Branch President and we were able to get to know all the places we've never been before.

I also had CMLC this last week which went super well! But it included 7 hours of driving in the space of 24 hours. And then 6 hours of sitting in a meeting. Holy smokes. And I thought driving to six mile was too long!

Brandon is super duper busy. We still didn't get to meet with him. :( But we are praying hard and doing all we can to maintain connection and pull through it all.

Yuni came to church!!! :D It has been a while because of work, and she was able to make it this time! That was a big tender mercy for us. That put a huge smile on my face. :)

Well Elvis is supposed to be going to get his passport on the 9th, so pray for him. They've decided to marry rather than separate again. She's sooo close!

This week we had a really neat miracle. We completely lost track of an investigator. Alex. Well, he moved. We found out though by knocking on his door and someone else answering. As we talked to him for a second we realized that we knew someone in the background, and they saw us too!
We have been serving at probably the best thrift store/food bank ever. Kippie and Jayson, the main people there, were at the house! No way! They immediately brought us inside to meet the people! We didn't get to teach, but it was a huge trust building experience with both of them. Awesome!

BUT! it doesn't stop there. They told us that Alex had moved to another trailer park, but didn't know which one. So we went looking for his car! And lo and behold, we go and find it the first trailer that we knock on. And we had a great first lesson with the family about the book of mormon! Woop!

Life is wonderful. And miracles are all around us.

I love y'all a ton! Happy February!

Élder Johnson

Invitation Sunday

This was one of the most amazing weeks here in Wallace!!! This last week we had what we called Invitation Super Sunday. It was a mission-wide event where the meeting was geared towards inviting anyone to come see what our services are like, and what we're all about. The focus of everything was on Jesus Christ. The spirit was soooooo strong the whole time! And the feeling during Sacrament meeting was even more strong. So we normally use two trays of water for the sacrament, and we don't use it all. Well we used it all. And then we had to fill about 15 more cups after that! After the sacrament, what was supposed to be a trio ended up being a solo because Elder Swinney and Sister Sonksen were both sick. So I sang a solo. :) I sang Savior Redeemer of my Soul, by Rob Garner. I have never seen the song go before the talks, but it started out the meeting with such a stong spirit.

After church we had a linger longer! So all these people that came got to stay and visit as we ate tacos! I am so excited to keep going with this spirit of missionary work in the branch. Our numbers have been dropping slowly, and to go from about 30 people in attendance to about 70 was a huge difference!

Investigators!

Brandon needs your prayers! We have been doing our best to stay in contact and to send him supporting scriptures, but he has gotten really really busy recently. And he is still getting anti/conflicting material/scriptures from a family member.

He's busy because he is getting set up for a job that he doesn't have to work Sundays. So that is good. We are going to be meeting with him on Wednesday at 8:00 a.m. before district meeting. We're going to be shooting to move his baptismal date for february 21st!

Yuni needs your prayers!! She has decided to be baptized on February 14th! I don't know if she realizes that that is Valentine's day... but what better day to have separated from your boyfriend to get baptized??..... Ouch. But, that is what Yuni has come to the realization of. She needs to separate from Elvis until they can get married, and be baptized without delay. We are so proud of her decision to do so. Elvis doesn't understand as well as she the need for it, but she needs to be out of the house by february 1st do make the 14th like she wants. So pray that she finds the way to live elsewhere. We had a great lesson with her where we reviewed D&C 20:37 and the baptismal interview. It finally sunk in that she needs to be worthy and ready to make it all happen. And it finally started to sink into Elvis that he isn't living the commandments either, and that he needs to change. Especially since he's already been baptized.

Felicia! Wow what a lesson this week! It was going sooo well, and finished off dry of the Spirit. We boldly testified of Jesus Christ and of the Restoration of the Priesthood and of the Church of Jesus Christ. We boldly testified of Joseph Smith as a prophet, and the need to know that for yourself. Sadly there were too many people in the room for the questions they were asking. Any question they would ask us, someone else would answer as if from us. Everyone got confused, and ended off with a lack of understanding what we really believe.

It was a lesson that was needed though. One thing did come clear. That the Priesthood is only found in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. They didn't like that...

With the relationship that we've been able to build with them, we are hoping to keep inviting them to pray and know for themselves.

I love missionary work! The Spirit is the master at it! Without him, we're pretty weak with what we can do.

I love y'all a ton! Have a fantabulous week!

Elder Brian Johnson

Hey Y'all!

Hey! Life is good! Don't you love the rain? Especially in the winter, because it warms the air up so much, and then there's usually a gorgeous day after with a beautiful sun!

Well, that's how it was yesterday for us on a great holiday, which also means that we couldn't email yesterday very easily. So we are scurrying trying to do it before our zone conference this morning! :D

So, this may be brief. But I'm so glad that I can email y'all!

This week we have been trying to get down into Burgaw. It's 15 miles away, but there are so many people there. I've hardly ever proselyted it. But, we have already seen miracles as we have gone down there!

So there's this place called the Durham Village Apartments. They are super ghetto. Now Wallace is nice. Small town and there really is never any sort of problems in town. It's great! But we were going to go contact a referral and when we got out of the car immediately we were hit with the smell of weed. Boom! I haven't smelt that for a long time. Not really since Henderson! So all of the sudden we just really didn't feel very comfortable. In Henderson I got sooo used to being in the ghetto and talking to gangsters and scary people. But all of the sudden I was really scared again. It was soooo awkward because there were so many people outside in the cold. Well, we went and knocked on the door, and no one answered. So we knocked the next door. It was Felicia's sister!!!! No way!!! And she totally wants us to come back! Cast aside all fear, and the Lord will take you to who he needs you to see.

Everyone we are seeing is doing well. No huge progress though. Brandon however is doing great! We will be moving his date, but he's going solid! He may have even gotten a job to come on sundays already!

Well anyway, I love y'all a ton!!!!!!!!

Elder Johnson

#Fivetransfers!!!

Breaking news! Elder Swinney and I are both staying here in Wallace another transfer together! This means that we'll have spent over 1/4 of our missions together! Holy cow! But we have been talking a whole lot about it and how awesome this next transfer will be. We are both really trying to make a difference here in Wallace and we are both really trying to make a difference in ourselves. We are super excited! (We were definitely not expecting it though :D)

This week has been a fantastic week. We have been able to get out of the house and do a lot of work this week. We have been building up our investigator pool, and that has been making a huge difference. Yesterday we once again needed to find two investigators to meet our goals for the week, and we went where Elder Swinney thought would be a good place, and we found practically three! One isn't quite an investigator yet, but will be! Probably the nicest testigo de jehova (jehova witness) that we've ever met.

This week we had a really great lesson with Brandon. The best part about it all was that he went to church!! He went with his friend Rachel in Albertson (outside the mission) but he said that it was awesome! He is really ambitious and really wants to do this! He says he still hasn't received his answer, but he's working on it. Pray that he'll recognize the answers that the Lord has been giving him! Even still he's set on being baptized, so he knows the answer will come. Woot!

Yuni hasn't been able to come to church so much lately because of work, but she is still thinking of being baptized by the end of January! So pray pray pray that she and Elvis can work things out to get married this month!! 

We finally taught Felicia this week!!! She was sick though, so we did it over facebook and by phone! :D It was a lesson that we have been needing for a long time. We were finally able to really get across our purpose and the restoration. She wants to learn more specifically about Joseph Smith and the Book of Mormon before she'll pray to know if it's true. So we're trying to help her to learn what she needs to know. She believes the Book of Mormon is true because of the witness it is of Christ, but she still doesn't understand how involved it is with the fact that Joseph Smith was a prophet.

Bill Buckley!! We love him to death! We have been working hard this week to prepare a good lesson on the Plan of Salvation so that he could understand it, and so we could leave a good drawing of it to be able to contemplate it after discussing it. The lesson went super duper well!! We have invited him to pray about things before, but we've never had any luck really getting him to understand why, or what to pray for. But this settled in well enough that he said he'd think about it this week and possibly pray once he feels he understands. His desire to know has changed so much since I first met him. But just as promised, once we finished the lesson, we had to go eat icecream and talk. :) Can't complain pops :)

This week I learned one of the most important things yet on my mission. We live the gospel not because we love ourselves or because we love someone else. Rather we live the Gospel, we preach the Gospel, and we keep the commandments because we love God. "No more me. Just the Lord. I love Him."

This work is the Lord's work, and it is such a great blessing to be a part of it, not only these two years, but our whole lives. To bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of all men.

I wrote a haiku yesterday. 

To serve a mission

The greatest reward ever

Never regret it 

I love y'all a ton! I miss you and hope that you have an amazing week filled with love for the Lord!

Élder Johnson

This is the district that I love like crazy! All minus Elder Cantwell in front... He's in Wilmington. But I love him too!

Me, Elder Swinney, Elder Boekweg, Elder Evans, Elder Stockton, Elder Garn, Hermana Cardenas, Hermana Sonksen, Sister Hanson, and Sister East.

Faringitis estreptocócica

Well this last week has been a blast! And it has blasted us with a lot too! So you know how Elder Swinney and I were both sick the last few weeks? Well we thought that we were better. Or at least I thought that I was better... But, alas. The little bugger arose once again. On Wednesday during district meeting things were going really well. It was a great meeting! But as we got to the last 20 minutes of the meeting I started to feel really week and getting feverish. I was leaning on the podium just holding myself up as I listened to the elders and sisters role-play. Well turns out that I got Strep Throat! What in the world! I'm the third one in the district! So I don't doubt that others will get it sadly.

But here's the part that I really wanted to share with you. The tender mercies of the Lord are soooo great. I was coming down with a fever and felt super bad. But I knew that there were things that Elder Garn and I (on exchanges) had to get done that day.

Before the Elders left from district meeting I asked for a blessing. I didn't really expect to feel better necessarily. Really I asked for the blessing because I knew that we were going to have to help the Coffey's move and I didn't want them to get sick. They had to be out that night at midnight, and we were about their only help being new years eve.

We got home and I went to sleep. I needed it. And right as I woke up the phone started to ring and buzz, and everything was canceling on us! Tender mercies! And I was able to keep resting before we went at 4:00 to help the Coffey's move. Well being New Years eve we aren't supposed to be out after dark. But nonetheless we were at the Coffey's until 9:15 helping them move. FIVE full hours of moving!! But we got it done! And even though sometimes I really couldn't lift the boxes, we still got it done. And I have made such a quick recovery since then.

I could go on and on with all of the Tender Mercies that I saw that night and the following days, but I'll spare you the unorganized list of thoughts that are spilling out of my brain. :)

So in short, I've been sick once again. And I still am not 100%. But the work has continued on. 

Last time we got sick, we mentally shut down. And I did not want to do that again! I have been praying and working hard to make sure that we kept getting the work done. And we have been blessed for it. Four new investigators and a baptismal date!!!!!!!! WOOT!! 

Brandon!!!! HE IS AMAZING!! We had a great lesson this week on the Plan of Salvation, and he got it so well! He gets it all so well. And then the best thing about it is that whenever we talk to him he asks us if there's anything we'd like him to read to prepare for the next time. Ah it feels good to be teaching him :) We set a baptismal date with him for the 31st of January. And he readily accepted. Though what we are working hard to do now is help him to come to church. Please pray for him to find the way to do so!

Elvis and Yuni have been having a hard time getting to church as well which is worrying us. It makes it hard to help them see the importance of all the things they need to be doing.

We are making headway with some great people! We've got an appointment with Felicia again! We're really excited!

If we are willing to work hard and be truly loyal to the Lord in all things then we will be granted so much confidence and success in the things that matter most!

I love yall so much! Have an absolutely fantastic 2015 focused on our Savior Jesus Christ!!!!

Élder Johnson