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

 

3-23-15 Party!

Another week has come and gone and wow I feel like I just wrote. The days seem like weeks and the weeks seem like days. Wierd how time works.

This week was full of laughter and happiness, and jokes. The bad part is that the zone is having problems. In other districts... I would like to just go and do everything for the new district leader, but.... well he wouldn´t progress number 1 and 2, well honestly I just can´t leave my area and do everything in the district for a week. It´s painful, but I imagine that I was very much the same in effeciency as a district leader. So we´ll let him hang out and do his thing. Some people (like me) only learn through personal pain.

Other than that, we had a birhtday party for our beloved erratic branch president. I honestly love him so much. He has won my respect time and time again. I don´t think I know a man humbler, or with motives as pure as Beloved President Lemus.

 

In that same party, my companion pulled a great prank on one of the sister missionaries. As secretaries of the Branch we have to make sure the mail that comes from SLC gets to presidents house. Also, our packages come through the same route, so we decided to throw in a package that we made for one of the sisters, We put her name on it, and some directions from some chapel in Peru, and popped some popcorn and threw it in the box with a special foto of us, On the Back we wrote something like "hahaha Elder Johnson, and Elder Luquez" Then we "sent" the package and gave it to president, in the same party we were celebrating his birthday. He mentions that there´s a package for one of the sisters. They both get excited, we take our cameras out and chant "open it, open it!" The poor sister is sooooo excited to open it that she uses her teeth to open it. When she gets it open she sees our pic and at first is mad.. but then she calmed down and admitted it was a great joke. We were like "we know" haha good time and unforgettable moment on camera. 

After that there was a fathers day activity where a bunch of old guys attacked a pinata like kids again, kinda dangerous but hilarious to watch. I just stayed out of the way. haha

We also had a record breaking attendance of 115 people in church. Our little chapel was packed and we had to stand, but there really isn't a better feeling than seeing the people you love and visit come to church. It´s great.

Other than that... We had two weddings of two families. One is going to get baptized this week and one will be in April. It´s always good to have the baptisms in your area in the beginning of the month so you can focus on helping others in the zone, kind of relieving.

 

Family P is doing awesome, I love listening and watching them recognize the blessings and the influence of the Holy Ghost, or in other words Gods hand, in their lives. I love them so much. haha

well.... not much else to say,

Have a good week,

paz y amor

Elder Johnson  

03-16-15 Miracles

Well, this week was just Excellent. We have three families who are preparing diligently to get baptized in the only true church on earth. Very excited. One should be getting baptized this week and the other two will be getting baptized next week. And on Sunday another miracle happened, a family just showed up to church again by themselves, they accepted the challenge to get baptized and well, they came to church by themselves.... I don´t understand why God is blessing us soo much right now, but I am very very grateful.

Other than that we had our interchanges with our missionaries in a place called Siguatepeque which is about 2-3 hours from our area, made sure everything was good that there was no wickedness and that everyone was ready to work. In this pueblo there are two companionships of elders and two of sisters so my companion went with the district leader and I went with the two other elders. They both are new  in the mission, one with 5 months and the other with 3 who just finished his training, and are well new. You can feel the newness when you´re around them, which is a Good thing. I get so pumped when I work with new missionaries, they have their whole mission ahead of them.

 

 

We had an experience when we went to go visit one of their investigators. He is an older gentleman with white hair and a twinkle in his eye. We went to teach about the restoration of the Gospel, and the church and he basically taught us the lesson. We were so surprised that he was talking about priesthood and prophets and that Joseph Smith had seen God, that well, we all just kind of stopped at once with our mouth open... I was the first one to snap out of it and I asked him, ¨Do you believe Joseph Smith was a prophet of God" and he said, "Well of course I do!!! He was a prophet! " I asked with amazment, "How do you know?" He looked at me with that twinkle in his eye and he said "Well God has always needed his prophets, God told me." I asked him if he wanted to be baptized. He said yes, but he wants to prepare. I told him he had to come to church two more times to get baptized he said, "well I´ll come to church tomorrow" (it was a Friday) My companions still a little bewildered by such power from a truly wise man, explained what the Day of rest is. And he said "Good. I´ll be ready then..." He´s getting baptized the 28th.

 

I rerealize that God does this work. I can´t count how many baptisms I´ve seen that have just shown up. Really I am soo amazed and touched that God cares for me enough to let me experience such miracles... I don´t think that there is any greater miracle than the miracle that causes one to repent. The miracle of Conversion. The Healing of the soul that causes a true change.

We ended the week super good with 11 people in church, and the zone is looking at baptizing 24 more people this week so we´re doing alright. We are expecting miracles.

Well love you guys

paz y amor

Elder Johnson

3-9-15 Sickies

This week I was sick a good three days and then we went to a conference one day. But miraculously 12 people got to church on their own...... God really does just want to see our faithfulness to bless us. I am super excited.

Basically the week wasn't so good until Sunday, when we received the blessing that one family asked us when they could get baptized and people just came to church by themselves..... I really don´t understand it.. haha LOVE MERCY

Other than that, I'm really pumped to work. Staying in the house is really killer when you have people you love that you always are thinking about and trying to help and then to not be able to see them or know if they are reading and praying is just terrible. I was in bed just thinking about all the people I should be helping but couldn't... it was kinda frustrating.

The zone is also kinda really sick, like half the zone is sick. Apparently there is some kind a bug that is hitting the pueblos around here and half of our missionaries in our zone have gotten it. I had a kind of strep I´m pretty sure, but it wasn't anything serious. It was, however, contagious cause when I recoverd my companion got sick...

I was really just praying to get better, and now I am. Thanks to God, it´s how things work out.

Remember everything will be alright :)

Paz y amor, love you guys

Elder Johnson

03-02-15 Potential

Well another week has flown by and I find myself wondering where it went. 

 

We spent, as usual, a large part of our time traveling with several meetings of training and leadership and then the zone meeting we presented. I talked about our potential. I really love talking about it. I see missionaries hopes rise as the realize that they can give even more and they can accomplish what God wants of them.

 

Other than that, we continue finding amazing investigators and we are really striving to be worthy of them. There's a slogan that has really taken root in our mission, God doesn't give Golden Investigators to bronze missionaries. Or basically we have to be doing our all and God blesses us. This is a principle that does not only apply to the mission.

We continue seeing miracles. Our Branch president it a bit evangelic and well, sometimes it shows but this week... it was like normal. He has come so far. He really is one of the most sincerely good people that I know.

Talking of his goodness, idk if I told you all about a family that we baptized that got kicked off their land by the government. Well, they are a family of 9 and they have been having problems. So they went and made a tent shack in this area of tent shacks and they have been suffering. They have no water, electricity, and the house is very cold. So anyways, the story is the branch president saw their need and made a plan. Today we built them a house out of frame work and laminas, of which is actually a pretty quality house in Honduras. Well I learned a lot, but the best part was to see a semi stable Elders quorum form up and work the way it should. The family was speechless but I think the people who were really effected were the grown men who saw the poor conditions of the family and were touched as they labored. I haven't seen so many adult Hondurans cry. The spirit was very strong. 

 

 

Other than that I am now the color of a tomatoe but it was totally worth it.

hope you all have a good week.

 

Paz y amor

Elder Johnson