Weekly Letter

Well I honestly do not know how to describe this week. It was quite the crazy week and stuffed with things to do. Even if the day before we had no plans set out for the next day. We were running all over the place this week.

Well the highlights of this week I would have to say was that we have a really firm date for Gricelda and Mia on the 28th of September. They are so amazing! We are so excited for them and the progress that they have been making in their lives. The blessing of Baptism and the Gift of the Holy Ghost is going to bless there lives in so many ways.

I don't have much time to write, but I wanted to share a quick story from the week.

We had pretty much run completely out of backups on saturday, and needed to make one more stop that night, so we decided to contact a less active that we had received information for just a few days earlier. When we stopped by she was sitting out on her porch. Turns out though that she is not a less active, but a nonmember! She and her daughter have received lessons from missionaries for a while, but never stayed in one place to truly get the message. And they know the missionaries, because she has several family members who are members!

The lord led us to Giovanna that night because she has been waiting for a long time.

Well my time is up. One scripture that I loved this week was Proverbs 3:5-7,11-13. We can truly do all things through Christ.

I love you all so much! Have a wonderful week!

Elder Johnson

Elided Ruiz-Uriostegui

Ellie is baptized!! :D The fruits of the labor come forth and they are sweet to the taste. Ellie's baptism went super well. We made sure to get there very early to get the font filling up, and to write the talks we would be giving haha. She is so happy and so much more confident. Her confirmation went super well the next day as well. Dean's family is amazing, and supported them very well. It so happens that elder Sullivan and I also gave talks the day of her confirmation! So she got to hear a lot from us. That was my first talk in spanish, and I hope it went well! But I am very grateful for the preparation that I had in school to prepare myself for spanish. I am definitely working on the comprehension of some very difficult people, but i feel very comfortable with conversing with people now. Though, I still have a long way to go with it.

Other than Ellie's baptism we had a slower week, but still a great one. We are continuing to find more elect people, who will be getting baptized in the future. Once again, I know that this is because of the member work that is happening here.

I don't have a whole lot of time today, but I would like to share a thought real quick. It comes from Elder Scott in the October 2011 conference, but I can't remember word for word. But the thought is that our character does not grow because of hard trials. Rather, our faith beforehand on correct principles and doctrine builds our character, which then carries us through our trials. We must always be acting on correct principles of faith and obedience so we can be prepared for the trials of life.
I know that this church is true. I know that the prophets have been called of God. They hold the authority and power of God.

Thank you all so much for your love and prayers! I love you all a ton!
Elder Johnson

Facebook!!!

Well this is going to have to be short, but oh well!

Facebook is here!! Elder Sullivan was just made district leader this last transfer, if I didn't say already, and because of that he as a leader is rolling out Facebook to our area. And so it begins. He is doing it while I have to watch him and make sure he's staying safe. And he's ironing out the wrinkles. But it's here! We have to start out by cleaning up our facebook profiles. We have to go back and hide basically everything before the mission. We are super excited!

But even more exciting than that is that Ellie is getting baptized on Saturday!!! WOOT! Clint, Andre, and Caleb that's for you haha. We are so excited for her! If you can pray for her and her husband Dean that would be excellent. And even more important than that, pray for our other investigators to make it to the baptism.

This week was an outstanding week. We set a baptismal date with Magdalena and Jesús for the 28th, and they basically said, "well you're going to have to come over a lot more then!" So we hope to meet with them 2-3 times a week!

Gricelda and Mia are still doing great! Love them to death!

I love the work here. It is amazing to see people's lives change. I miss y'all at home! You are all amazing! Be the best missionaries you can! Be the missionaries best friends! Have a great week :)

Elder Johnson

1st transfer gone

Well it is super hard to believe it, but it has already been a full transfer. I am amazed when I look back at coming out to Cary and how little I knew, and how few people I knew. I was really nervous that I wouldn't make very good relationships with the members for a long time, because of the language block. For a long time I guess, that was true. It is amazing how through the power of the priesthood and priesthood blessings great things can come to pass. People who used to be impossible to talk to and to understand, are some of my favorite people in the world. I have so many friends here in Cary now! My favorite people however are my investigators. Ellie and her husband Dean are awesome!

The other cary spanish elders just had a baptism on the 24th, and Ellie came to it. When we met with her afterwards she said she knows that that is what she has to do. Still no firm date yet, but she is sooo ready. We have a super fun time with them. And we can't wait to see her in the font (we're saying she'll get baptized the 7th or the 14th).

Gricelda and her kids Mia and Oscar (12, 6) are my favorite. And you can't forget their fellowshipper Alejandrina. They are some of the funniest people I've met! The greatest thing is Gricelda wants to move to Utah after watching mobsters and mormons, and already talks about Oscar serving a mission! Truly they are some of our best friends.

Well that is really what I wanted to talk about. How friendly the gospel is. The gospel is the strongest bond you can have with someone. That does not mean that they have to be a member though. But because we know who we are as children of God, we know how important they are. And we love them. I am so grateful for that :)

So here we go, into the second transfer. The middle of my mission :) I am super excited.
Oh and real quick, one of my favorite scriptures that I just read. 3 Ne 19. I love our savior :) his words are so comforting.

Have an absolutely wonderful week! :)

Elder Johnson

P.S. We finally got soaked in the rain :)

Milagros!

This week was a fantastic week! We put in a whole lot of work, like always really, but the thing that made this work different was that it was with members. We taught some great lessons this week that turned into great progress. We had five investigators at church yesterday! And two less actives that we did not expect at all! This week was an absolute miracle!

Well now let me organize my thoughts cause they're all over the place right now haha. I really haven't given too much detail on investigators yet, so I'm going to try and fill in some detail real quick.

Judit is an investigator that we have been teaching for a while. Elder Sullivan started teaching her in the first month of his time here in our area. The miracle with her was that she got a new job! And very shortly will be able to come to church again! Then she will be able to be baptized! We are so excited for her. We just pray that we can work out her schedule to come every time. Recently we got a new investigator named Griselda. She and her daughter Mia are golden. They basically talk like their members! So they are a miracle.

Gloria is from el Salvador and is holding something back, but has the desire to change her work or even where she lives to come to church. But she is scared. We love her a lot. Magdalena and Jesus her son, are amazing people. Magdalena is such a fun person and loves to laugh. She has doubts that only the lord can answer. Her brother is an endowed member and through working with them together we have seen a huge change in them. They came to church! I am excited to meet with them again. Ellie just got back from vacations and technically has a baptismal date this saturday. We'll see if she's comfortable with that. But she is ready. We love her to death. She is being converted deeply.

Please pray for our investigators. Pray that they will be able to have the strength to change their work situations to come to church. They are missing such grand blessings in their lives right now.
Please pray for the less actives as well. They are missing the blessings of heaven they once received. I truly wish they knew that we all love them so much.

As you all know, member missionary work is being stressed a lot. One thing that we have been realizing, is that it doesn't just happen. We must actually put into practice the counsel from the prophets. This week as we have served our ward mission leader, and moved the focus even more to him, and what he is doing with the branch, we saw the miracle of having five investigators at church, with six from the other spanish elders as well.

I am so grateful for the work of the Lord. It is not a burden. It truly is a life all about people. The only true way to become a missionary is to care about people. Get to know them. Look at them as the lord would see them. I am so grateful that we have a loving heavenly father that sees us as who we are. I am so grateful for the blessings that he gives us so freely. I hope you are all having as amazing of a week as ours! Ours has been a rainy one, so you might not be able to beat it. :) Just remember that the lord sends the sun and the rain on us and our neighbors. We're all in this together :)

Love Elder Johnson

Referrals!

This week was a great week!! I definitely have to say that the highlight of the week was that we received an amazing referral! It is so simple as this: A member was doing whatever she was doing and overheard someone talking about their situation in life and how difficult it is to go through. She approached her and got to know her and told her that she knew of something that could help her. Ask the missionaries! :D I have definitely never been married or separated or any such thing, but hey, we're missionaries! The lesson with her this week was great! Perhaps we had a few members who loved to talk, yet she is super interested. She came to church yesterday with her two kids, and we have two more appointments set up! Plus, she signed up to feed all four of the Spanish missionaries! Oh I am excited for her. Oh and her name is Griselda. But! We cannot take any credit. She has an amazing member missionary. Members are key. It is practically all we talk about! We are working so hard to change the work to align with the broadcast. It's slowly happening, and it is definitely making a difference.

We have really good potential in our area right now. The members are working hard, though they are few. But slowly we are growing. The key is conversion. That is the only way for the church to grow. That is the only way that the world will receive the blessings of the Gospel. And that is what we are trying to figure out how to do with our investigators. They know and believe what we teach is true. But they are not converted to the true faith. Their faith is not leading them to action. It is their belief that it is good. Not their faith in the Atonement. 3 Ne 6:14 describes a true convert really well. They are unshaken and unmovable. They are willing to keep the commandments with all diligence. True conversion requires our will.

Ellie is super close! She'll be getting baptized hopefully on the 24th, but it looks like based on her personality she'll wait to decide till later. She is such a humble person. She has been a great addition to our branch already.

The work is hastening. Baptisms are coming. And the fold is growing. I am so grateful to be here in this branch working with so many wonderful members who are trying their best to catch the wave. They may be clueless about what to do, but they are trying. :) I can't say that I know how to catch the wave, but boy is it fun to try.

I know that this is the church of Jesus Christ. He is at the head of this church. God is a god of order and his order is perfect. His order is loving. It makes sense. It all makes sense.

I love you all! I hope you have a perfect week! You've just got to pray for it!
Elder Johnson

Apresurar la obra!

Hastening the work!

I don't know how much you have been using this website yet, but it is awesome! You could simply use it as a way to watch more videos about good stuff, OR, you could actually use it! The information is all there for what we need to be doing to hasten the work. But the thing that needs to happen, is we need to do it. Simply do it. We aren't going to be guided in all things, so we may have to get a little bit creative. Why not start by getting a little bit creative with how we can share the gospel. Elder Sullivan and I taught priesthood yesterday, and we talked about the talk catch the wave. I don't know about you, but when I get back from my mission, I want to be best friends with the ward mission leader. The work is so amazing! Join in everyone! I am so grateful for the opportunity that I have right now to serve for two years in such a wonderful place. Something big is coming (bro taggart...).

The work here is definitely hastening. As far as I know there has only been one baptism this year in our branch. But, we hope that by the end of this month that there will be around 6 more! And I know that we can do it. It is super disappointing when your investigator doesn't make it to church and you have to postpone things, but when they make the change, they make the change. Our job is to help them be converted at that point. It is so amazing to see the people being converted to the lord.
This week ended up being a really great week. We were able to find some great exchanges with members to teach some great lessons. A new investigator that we have is Myra. Sadly I was on exchanges with Elder Young so I wasn't there, but they set a baptismal date with her on the first lesson. She has been reading in the Book of Mormon and seems pretty solid right now. I am super excited to teach her this week! We'll see how it goes! We're going to have some awkward talks however haha, seeing that she's a 20 yr old girl in school... There will definitely be changes in her life. But she seems so open to it. I am so excited!

One thing that I have noticed is that the youth are so receptive to the message we have. All the Hispanics believe in God just about, and love to talk about him. Their youth are the same. The difference is that the youth recognize that there's something missing with what their parents are teaching them. They are open to asking questions about their own beliefs. I love love love the youth. I know that they are key to success in families. Through the youth we will touch the lives of the parents.

Oh funny story real quick! So basically it's pretty hard to understand people's names. I'm picking up on it, but it's just hard haha. So one of our investigators that we already had when I came is named Maria. Or so we thought. She is the sister of Hermano Regulez, and we were talking to him about his sister Maria, and he got really really confused. Turns out her name is Magdalena! And her son Jesus has been wondering every time that we come over why we call her Maria, and she just shrugs haha! The people are so weird! But I love them so much!

Something just came to my mind. As we pray for the hearts of the people and nations to be opened, I think that it is just as equally important to be praying for the areas of the missionaries. Pray for the church in those areas. Pray that they may take strength and grow in their organization. Pray for the ward mission leaders. They have one of the most important callings I would say. It is through the love and strength of the members that the church will grow.

I know that this gospel is true. I know that as we love one another, we will want to do all we can to help them receive the blessings of the gospel. I love you all so much and I am so thankful for the support that you all give me through your prayers. I have a testimony of prayer and of fasting. Through such God works miracles.

Les quiero mucho!
Elder Johnson

Picture of Elder Young and I after doing a 20 mile plus bike ride! :D

 

And gorgeous North Carolina :)

 

 

Raleigh Temple!

Oh yeah, and I am pretty sure that I've gained 15 lbs...