06-22-15 This is it!

Two Scriptures:

2 Timoteo 4:7- He peleado la buena batalla, he acabado la carrera, he guardado la feI

(I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith:)

 

3 Juan 13-14: yo tenia muchas cosas que escribirte, pero no quiero escribirtelas con tinta y pluma, porque espero verte en breve, y hablaremos cara a cara.
(I had many things to write, but I will not with ink and pen write unto thee: but I trust I shall shortly see thee, and we shall speak face to face...)

 

 

Amor y paz

6-15-15 I hope to keep the Lord close in my life.

Well... I had my last interview with my mission president today. It´s the famous last interview and it was really good. I feel like he trusts me a lot and he told me that he has always trusted me a lot. He said that he had always sent me so far away so that I could take care of everyone really far away and that I was an excellent missionary. President Fortuna hasn´t been very known to give a lot of compliments but geez, I felt like he sure was sugaring me up. haha When really I was pretty much a normal missionary who tried my best and did what I was told. 

Other than that this week has been a flurry of trying to help disobedient missionaries and rebellious investigators who don't seem to be letting the spirit into their lives. We are trying to help them.

My companion is probably the quietest companion that I have ever had and at first he doesn't seem very funny but.... he really is in his own quiet way.. haha It´s always a good time in the mission. 

I really love the mission and well I love feeling close to the Lord. I hope to enjoy that closeness for the rest of my life.

06-08-15 Christ is the Savior and Redeemer of the world

I testify that Jesus is the Christ. The Savior and Redeemer of the world. He lives. Sometimes I take these truths for granted, a lot of the time I don't  appreciate just how important that is. 

What would have happened if Christ had failed? Just a theoretical question. I suppose we say that all of humanity would be lost for forever... But I often forget to apply that to me. That means I would be lost without hope to recover or fix my mistakes, to be stained over and over and over again and never to be washed. But not just me but my parents, my sisters, my cousins, my aunts and uncles and even my grandparents who are nearly perfect would all be lost. My future children would enter this world without hope. Because we learn that Christ's atonement pays for the sins of the innocent, but if he had never been able to realize that atonement they would be lost, yet we do have a hope, and it is a possible option that God has given us. He only asked the impossible of THE BEST, the One who fulfilled the Impossible. Isn't that awesome?

 

Christ did the Impossible, He was PERFECT, and this allowed him to make the great sacrifice of himself for me. He had success, He won this game, and all I have to do to be a winner as well is meet his requirements to be part of his team. Basically, obey for the love that we have towards him.

Those are the kinds of things that have been passing through my mind these days. We learn that this is the heart of the gospel, and everything else in the church is an appendage to the truth that my older brother and Savior has beaten sin and death. When we learn more about this extraordinary event, the more we love God, the more we love God the more we learn to love His children, our brothers and sisters.

I would say the best part about the gospel for me is that we are allowed to fix our mistakes. God wants me  to repent always. I'm allowed to be a 'work in progress' and I must continue to progress. 

Well yeah, idk where that came from but just typed what I felt. Um, this week was a good week. My companion is great, we had a baptism this week of a young women who needs help from God and is already healing. 

This ward is awesome, they give us a lot of food. I have now eaten the traditional mondongo soup like 8 or 9 times, (it's cow stomach soup) so that's cool. emm

I love this work. And I hope to be an instrument in the hands of the Lord.

sorry for my spelling, I only speak spanglish.

em yeah, great to hear from you guys and I love you a lot.

Hope you have a good week.

Paz y amor, 

Elder Johnson

06-01-15 Music for the soul

Well, there goes another week. It´s crazy how fast the time is going by. Today I´m stoked because we get to play soccer.... so just letting you guys know, I´ve only played soccer 22 times on in my mission. This will be my last time..... it's things like that, that just keep hitting me. The bad part is my companion doesn´t like soccer.... oh well haha I gotta play so I don´t go crazy. I never got to play last month, so it´s overdue.

 

 

Now that that´s been said, thanks everyone for letting me vent.

Anyways this week we  had a baptism of a young women who had a very traumatic dealing with abuse from older cousins. She's only 14 years but she looks like she could be 18 or 19. It really is surprising how common that is here. The bad thing is yesterday she was going to be confirmed but her aunt died, so she had to go to the funeral. They have like some crazy law here where the family has to be buried in less than 12 hours and usually the faster the better. So they did the long march and cries and then she couldn´t come to church.... so bummer. We´ll keep working with her. she´s had a tough life and is ready for the gospel.
 

Other than that I have come to acknowledge I cannot eat the amount that I used to. I get full really fast with very little food and well the members are so nice and give a lot of food. When I started the mission I wouldn't have had any problem downing all of the food and soups and all the little juices they buy us, but now, I suffer trying to eat everything they give us and my companion is no help, eating even less than me. haha kinda sad. It sure makes me feel old. haha but I look at it positive. That means I don´t have to use a lot of money on food, or.. it means I use the same amount of food but higher quality. haha.
 

Also this week we sang alot and I´m realizing just how powerful the hymns are. There was a fireside with a 70 and we had the opportunity to be in the choir. And later I was part of a quartet where we sang "Nearer my God to thee", And emmm idk the translation "brillan rayos de clemencia.") I sang bass on "Nearer my God to thee", and tenor on "Brillan rayos"... I do enjoy music and I love how fast and strong the spirit comes when you sing them.
 

I've been studying the Sacrament. and prayer..... Two very important privileges that God has given us.

Well I love you all. Wishing you the best.
 

 Amor y paz,

Elder Johnson

5-18-15 I'm not in a Pueblo anymore

Well this week flew by. Yes, I had changes. I am now in the city really close to the airport, as well as the temple. It´s really weird to hear so much noise like all the time. The other night I couldn't{t sleep at like 3 in the morning. I got up and we have a deck in our apartment outside, we live on top of a restaurant, so I went out to go look at the stars and from so much light pollution I couldn't see the stars, and there were people outside and cars honking already, and I watched an airplane land instead. I think that´s when it really hit me that I am not in a peublo anymore.

My new apartment

 My new area is like 4 neighborhoods, called los laureles, my new companion is Elder Huanca from la paz Bolivia, he has 20 months in the mission, and is excited to go home. I´m in a WARD. Yeah, and like a functional ward. It´s super weird. With like a bishop and high priest and they don´t like depend on us, so that's something I´m not used to. haha

We have great investigators, two of them are teaching really interesting dialects from different Honduran indian tribes and cultures. One is called Misquito and the other is called Garifona. Which is pretty legit, I hope to be able to communicate before I leave. I sure won't be fluent but shoot, it sure is interesting.

Right now we have one baptism this weekend and 3 for next week and from there we only have 4 right now for June, we are working to find a family before I leave.

I feel rather limited in freedom. Before I was like doing my own thing how I wanted and I feel like the Lord partly sent me to the city to learn how to work with others and more than anything to humble me. haha Ironic right, but wellll God s perfect. I´m really excited for this weekends baptism. Also on Wednesday we´re going to the temple so... thats cool too. haha

I don't really know what else to say so with that I´ll be closing

Elder Johnson

Paz y amor

5-11-15 Musho Esfuerzo

Well I have transfers, I'm leaving my beloved Epseranza Zone. I've been here for over a year and I feel like I know it really well. I've given it a lot of effort and dedicated many hours of walking, sweating, praying, and thinking. A few tears have been shed, I have repented several times, and learned a great amount of lessons. The people here are so great, I can honestly without reserve say that I love them, even the poor drunk guys on the street that always seem to know English. From the hot to the cold, the dry to the extremely wet, I am so so grateful that God saw it fit to send me here and learn a thing or two.

Well now I'm going to a new area with a new companion, I'm gonna miss Elder Luquez, the monkey who punched me in  the nose and who I admire very much for his humility. I hope I may be like him in that way.

Really this week it was great to talk to the mother for mother's day, and well, I love those guys.

This week I was in our areas technically  3 days, Monday, Tuesday and Sunday. On Tuesday we had some baptisms and then I left Wednesday to do interchanges and just went from town to town after that. Elder Luquez doesn't like to travel a lot so I always seem to do the interchanges that are far away. hahaha funny kid.

 

We also had a conference with president with just  zones. He talked about Faith. He shared the scripture Alma :10 and talked about the musho esfuerzo... I think it's like much striving...??? idk but it was really good. I love President Fortuna, I think I would like to get to know him better but idk how or when but I really admire him. 

All in all, this week was really good, really busy, and really motivating. I want to give the Lord my all. I hope to be better each day.

amor y paz

Elder Johnson

5-4-15 We are like the wind...

Welcome May. I feel like this month came like a punch in the face. All of the sudden. haha

My favorite tacos in the world! Cow's Tongue.

This week passed by really fast. Changes are coming on the 12 of April and it's pretty probable that I'm going to be leaving the Esperanza.

 

The Zone

 

Other than that we have a baptism of two chavalos (guys) tomorrow at 2 and then we have a family that's programmed for the 24 so, really we've had quite a bit of success here in the Esperanza. Well at least in baptisms. It's really interesting what role we play in the mission. We come and we go, really thinking in the worldly sense it doesn't really make sense to send workers to the same places but always rotating. Because if they always stayed in one place they would have more relation and more trust in that place and thinking logically, doesn't that mean that they would be able to make a larger impact?? welll no. We act like the wind or the storms that come and go. Sometimes we bring a lot of dust and make a large impact on one place and other times we simply change little things that allow the missionaries that follow us to make that difference. I used to think that it depended on one type of missionary. But really I realize that if an area is having success it is thanks to the 4 or 5 missionaries who were there before. I always used to think, I want to be that difference maker, I want to be the impact." But now I know that really it's not us. It's something  that I knew in word but I didn't understand in deeds. 

Well enough of that, this week we made another house, it rained a ton, and we had a zone meeting that was kinda like without faith, and well, we are just trying so hard to help our missoinaries. I feel like I'm learning a little what it's like to be a parent. In that you can counsel, punish, uplift in a thousand ways, but in the end the "kids"make their own decisions and you can't do anything but stand on the sidelines and always be ready to help when they ask. It's tough, I sure hope my parents forgive me for all that stress I must have given. Because  honestly, I feel like the worst part is after you say all that you say, waiting to see what they DO. haha it's suspenseful and stressful. This week we have a full schedule traveling to the 3 districts to make sure all is well and well, Jesus de Otoro, my second home, is dead right now and we're going to go on Wednesday to see why, and see if we can help. 

 

Building houses

Thanks for everything my friends.

Paz y amor, Elder johnson

4-27-15 Evidence of God's love

Well this week was pretty normal, except we had a water pipe burst in our house and came home to our suitcases floating. At the time I wasn`t thinking to take a pic so everything was clean before I took a pic so well I just let it go.

 

 

Anyways, I really am just so GRATEFUL for all that has happened to me. I`ve been finding myself really just enjoying being outside and I`ve been getting up early to train (because apparently my sisters have signed me up for some running) And I really just love the sun. Like honestly, I just love it, it`s one of the burning evidences of the love of God for me.

Other than that I went to do some interchanges and the more I do them the more I realize that the mission is really just one big circle of God CHANGING His servants. I am so grateful for that.

Well not a lot to say, I find that pictures speak a lot better for me these days and they are easier.

paz y amor, love you guys!

p.s. if you don´t want to keep recieving this letter let me know thanks guys!!!

4-20-15 Always learning

I am so grateful that my body works right. haha

 

The caves

 

This week I have been reminded of how extremely blessed I am. As a Zone leader I have the privilege to have interchanges with my district leaders and this week I spent traveling and sleeping on beds that were not my own and honestly, I loved it. We have such good missionaries here.I am so blessed to work with them.

 

I submitted his papers and he just got his call to El Salvador

 

Someone who made an impact on me was an Elder Thorn who really just encouraged me to be better by his example. I remember when I started the mission I looked at the older missionaries like the knew and had seen everything. I Look now and realize that they didn´t I feel like that. In my mission I have learned the most in the beginning, and now I see that I have the opportunity to learn even more in these last months of my mission. I´m not being baggy or trunky but I learned something. A good misssionary doesn´t count the time just to count, he or she counts to make the time count. That was what an older missionary told me awhile ago, but now I understand it a little better now.

Elder Grant Thorn inspired me with his great animo and fire that he works. I feel like I want to work with the passion that he showed me. 

 

 

Other than that, we had some baptisms that basically fell from the sky. Miracles do exist. We didn't have anyone and this sister came and told us to our face that she wanted to get baptized this day at this time. We kinda had our mouths open and managed to stuttter that that was ok.. I am continually reminded that this is not our work, it is the Lord's.

Love you guys 

paz y amor

4-13-15 Mountains of dirt

This week I was sick some more, but the good thing is that on Sunday we had a great day.

 

The Zone

 





Our branch president had a family emergency and 9 hours of traveling so who had to direct the meeting and preside... you guessed it. haha no but it was cool. But man, this branch is a toughy. Also our branch president made a facebook and well he´s pretty thrilled to see all the missionaries who had been here before, it's kinda funny to find him so excited when we pass by. ¨¨So and so is getting married!!!¨ Then ¨Elder Luckis will be next!!¨ Which is what he calls my companion ( Elder Luquez) haha pretty good time. 

 

WAWA hill

 

Other than that I´m just focused on giving my all. This week we also had interveiws with president... he got his car stuck on a mountain of dirt he thought he could cross. I believe he was a little embarrassed, but man he sure has guts. If I would have seen the mountain of dirt I would have just left the car where it was and walked. But not my fearless mission president. He was like ¨eh.. I can make it." super legit. Spiritually speaking, it was a good interview. Life in the mission continues normal, and I did have the ten scriptures about the atonement memorized all for that interveiw and in the end the presidnet just asks for one.... bummer. haha but it´s all good.

 

My legit lenca poncho



I didn't get wet, cool right?

 



A legit pizza corner - Hallelujah!

 

Well Love you guys hope you had a good week.

Paz y amor

Elder Johnson

4-6-15 Humility and Wisdom

 Well can I just say that this conference was great!

 

 

One thing that my companion made me notice was that marriage and family was mentioned in 10 different talks, everytime someone mentioned it he would look at me and in poor english would say "three monts..." freaking monkey.

 

This week I passed alot of my time sick and in the chapel. Here we are pretty far from help, so we had to work out all the tech problems and do the tithing and we did a workshop on family history which was pretty cool. I'm grateful to whoever it is that has been working so diligently on my family tree. They are doing a great job. haha

 

My companion is a riot, and well, we get along great. The zone is having succes with quite a few people in church.

 

 

One of my favorite things to see as a missionary is someone who is so humble that their humility allows them to understand the gospel. Now understanding is not just comprehension. It is a depth of knowledge that one can only achieve through application. Someone can have 100% knowledge and comprehension of a princple such as tithing, but you cannot understand it nor experience it's blessings until you have acted upon this knowledge to receive understanding.... What is the Gift of Understanding? The gift of applying knowledge, Wisdom. And it is such a blessing to meet those specially humbled people. It is also the most sad to meet some with knowledge and without understanding.... It's the saddest. Wasting thier potential and this not only applies to investigators but members and missionaries as well.

Really I just love everyone!!! I love you guys and hope that you had a great week and a great conference. I continue trying to improve in all that I do. Have fun and don't do anything that I wouldn't.

Paz y amor

Elder Johnson

03/30/15 Love Life

Well this week I don't have a lot of time, but it was a good week. Two of the family got baptized without problems, I get to stay at least 6 more weeks here in this area, attendance is going up and all the missionaries in the zone basically have changes. And the 3 that are supposed to go home all finished this change without any big problems.

President Fortuna came to the branch to give a training on branch counsel. I learned alot and now I have a lot more responsibility as a secretary than what I´ve been doing.... hahaha, yeah, that's kind of embarassing. I´m repenting and improving everyday. 

 

Other than that...... idk life is super busy and super good. Love life, there´s not any time to be sad or baggy. The work goes on. Whether or not I´m involved depends on me, but the work is not mine. It´s of the Lord and IT WILL GO FORWARD.

me and my companion.... he likes the camera