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