3-17-14 Wisdom is learning from others mistakes

This week was good, very good, I am content.

Let me tell ya something about my companion. He is the model missionary, he does everything with exactness he strives to follow the spirit, he plans like a beast, and basically, is the example of a hard working, confident, missionary. And he has not baptized very much.

Sometimes he feels bad about that and wonders why, like what is he doing wrong, but he´s not doing anything wrong. Basically suffice it to say that he has had alot of bad luck with a few of his companions.

The good news, we baptized someone! It´s an amazing story, this investigator is famous around here for singing, he is the president of blind people of Honduras, he was a Jehovah Witness and he had his own church. But Elder Valencia found him and didn´t give up.

This Wednesday is changes so we don´t know if we are going to leave our areas. It´s probable that Elder Valencia will be leaving, it's just so cool to have the opprotunity to have success like that with him. He is a huge example to me.

Other news um.. this week we got pretty muddy, and I learned what wisdom is... learning from others mistakes hahaha I escaped the mud pretty much and my companion lost a shoe. It was fun.... um... but that's another story which I don´t seem to have time to write. haha oh well it´s in my journal.

This week I was studying in Jacob 4, man I really liked how he described blindness. I don´t know the exact translation but its definition has like overpassing the mark in like verse 12 I think, I don´t remember exactly, but it struck me that if we aren't focused on what we should be, don´t have our priorities, we will not see the thing we should. In other words we are blind.

Liked that alot. We just need to stay focused.

Also this week we had the opprotunity to listen to Elder Scott and Elder Oaks.  Who know Elder Scott speaks spanish?  But the other speaker didn´t so the missionaries had to take turns simultaenously (yes it is spelled wrong... I think) translating. What fun.... but yeah.

Today we´re going to some cave that the president just barely reopened kinda stoked..

That's it for this week,

Paz y amor

Elder Johnson

3-10-14 8 months! The best two years for my life

Welp.. another week has passed and we have a little more time in the mission, and a little less time with our privilege of a calling. (don´t judge the spelling. I´m walking lost around here. haha)

Anyways so remember how I talked about how we put boundries well yeah, it is so fun opening an area. Seriously.. :)

We have like one investigator right now. It´s sweet we decided to start doing a ton of activities and to begin to teach English. Just trying to involve the branch more and animate them so that they WANT to help. 

One thing that my very wise companion has taught me is about leadership. Basically if you were to look at Elder Valencia you wouldn´t think that he is a leader. But honestly he is the best leader I have ever known. He is very humble, and very knowledgable. He has like 10 months being a District Leader basically he has it down to the T. Everyone loves him! How does he do it? well He told me the other day, "a good leader doesn´t push, a good leader pulls".

If we each are members of this church, basically it means we are leaders, yeah maybe we don´t all have the characteristics of leaders but when we became part of this church that means we separated ourselves from the world, we have a different standard. We are in fact leading. 

As a missionary I shouldn´t push investigators I should pull them until they in turn push me (hopefully in the form of referrals). haha I love this work.

I don´t remember who said this but another thing my companion quotes to me all the time. "the mission wasn´t the best two year OF my life, but it was the best two years FOR my life. I know I´m here to be formed and tried in a way that God wants me to do. Like it says in the scripture from last week 2 Nephi 25:23 I have to do all I can and God will do the rest. 

Love you guys, Hope you are all doing well.

Peace out, love people!

3-3-14 Honduran directions

Another week has passed by and more adventures have happened. But honestly I dont remember much. Bad sign for when I'm old.

Basically the biggest news is we have decided to put new boundries in our area, we have alot of investigators but no one is progressing, and we realized nobody was working the other side of the area. So... well we are going to pass all of our investigators to the other elders in our area, do a bunch of interchanges (when you switch companions for a day) and introduce the new elders to our old investigators while basically just looking for less actives and contacting.

 

 

Here are directions to a reference: 

"ok so you know the 18 (a school) well on the street on the right of this you follow that street going down, like for or five streets then turn left. youll be going towards the stadium, then youll see like 4 big palm trees go to that house, in front of that house take the little way in front and youll arrive to a big area open, than look for a dog that is always laying in the shade to your left, the house behind this dog is the family."..... yeah thank you sooo much president. But thats how the missiion is and such an adventure love it!!!!!

Basically, we did find the reference by the way but usually, geez, we find less than half of our references.

 

My Companion is in a evangelical mood, he is always saying like, "so says the word, "yes or no", "We are the church!!!!" I played along falling on the ground and shouting hallelujuah, but after a while.. man what are our investigators gonna think? Thank goodness he hasn't said that to any investigators yet. I have been telling him that he embarrasses me alot, and well, he's happy about it.. hahaha Its pretty funny. 

 

 

Other than that just excited to start clean in this area. we are going to work. Jacob 4. Last verse really hit me this week. as well as 2 Nephi 25:23 just do all we can do.

God will do the rest.

2-24-14 Locked out

WWWAHHHHOOOO!!!!!

Ok this computer keyboard is kinda hard to work so please forgive all the bad grammar, spelling and notations or yeah whatever.

But hey this week was ... much better. We didn't have more people in church, but hey we found like basically 4 families who actually want to listen to us. This is a new feeling for my companion,  we start little but yeah super happy about that.

Other than that the work is good, surprisingly the zone has been selected zone of the month... why how and for what we don't know.... but hey I will take the blessings.

The adventure happened when  we locked our keys in our house so what did we do.... pretty much just stayed cool and then we took out two panels to the window next to the door, and used a broom stick to open the door (this is possible because they don't have door knobs here, they just have like a lever you push, and there is no door knob outside.) so we pushed it with a broomstick, at first we couldn't do it cause we couldn't see so I went to the other window and was like trying to direct my companion about how to use the broom handle. In the end we got it. 

Kind of how the prophet gives us instructions to open the door to heaven..... yeah it's a stretch but hey, everything is spiritual right? hahaa

Well have a good week

God bless you everyone. :) see ya all in like two years haha

2-17-14 I am 19!

so this week was hard..

I got your package guys, thanks for remembering me. It pulled me out

My companion and I are working super hard and we have a fecha here and it's sweet.

This date or fecha that we have is of a blind man that was a jehova witness... yeah how often does that happen? Not a ton right? Super sweet guy who knows how to live here in Honduras and is basically freaking awesome, but yeah he couldn´t arrive to church yet because no one has brought him. 

Other news I am 19 and feel older.  Its weird, I feel tired in this dry dusty place. 

Other news... um.... I can´t remember anything else. We´re struggling in finding people and everthing and we have to go home early because well.... I´m not gonna lie, this is probably one of the sketchiest areas in the mission.

Don´t have much to say, sorry guys, and we have less time today because we had to go to a juticalpa or a different city. 

Hope things improve, not that they're like that bad, the Lord is always with us :) see ya guys have  good luck guys!!! God loves us.

2-10-14 Transfers have come and gone and I've gone with them.

So I´m in a new area... Yeah it´s like leaving home again, for real. I am so lost and everything looks the same. This area is kind of almost dead missionary work wise, or I feel like it is. We need to higher our expectations of ourselves here and God will help us more... or thats how I feel. idk haha

Anyways I left my Dominican son in Comayagua, and left to a new area called Catacamas which will be the best area ever!!!! (its all psychological) haha My new companion is Elder Valencia from Ecuador, super cool guy and super good missionary. He´s the district leader here in a district of 8 missionaries... one of the larger districts I´ve been in. hahaha pretty crazy because my last district was half this size.

I´m in "training" again, the president is kinda short on leaders cause like half the zoneleaders left this last change and now he´s kinda short on district leaders and  is planing for the next change where we will lose some more Zone leaders... I bet Valencia is going to be one of the next greats of zone leaders. super obedient.

Catacamas is basically well.... like texas. Same music, same slow small town feel, cowboy hats, dust, cows and really spread out, one of the other big areas in the mission, but here we don´t take the bus. 

I gave a take in our branch of 90 people and still am missing something on my spanish. Here we have a blind investigator who is like the bomb and I had my first experience with a die hard catholic, but in the end we convinced him to just read the book of mormon the lord will do the rest.

well.... that's it, the house is really big compared to my apartment and, well my suitcases were super heavy. (if I was a poet I would have said "to match my heart" but I'm not so I didn't.)

It´s gonna be fun, the Lord is with us.

Love you guys and hope your doing good.  It was super good to hear from you guys. LOVE YOU ALL!!! :)

2-4-14 This ward has become my family

Why  did I  start using the dates as subject... cause I can never think of anything clever to say... hahaha

This week we had the largest baptism yet because we had our district combined. All in all we baptized 7 people and confirmed  7 people the next Sunday. The Bishop baptized the three from us and the other elders baptized a family of  4. The  thing is we´re all in the same ward so we  had like confirmation Sunday.... kinda awkward when the microphone doesn´t work...   just bow your head and.... well pray that the congregration can be reverent  that long...

Other than that I´m facing changes...  it sucks, I reall y really really don´t want to leave. When you put all your love, studies, thoughts, sweat and more love  into a people your bound to love them. And this ward was the ward  with which I learned spanish, they´re the people that make fun of me for being red all the time. I  have  given blessings and just man... it´s like having to leave home all over again but worse cause I may never see these guys again...

With all this sadness, me and my companion are still doing great thanks to the Lord.  He´s going to finish his training and one day  I´ll have a grandkid or two, I hope. .. hgaha never thought I?´d say that sentence. Changes are on Wednesday so you guys will know next Monday if I had changes..

I pray that we all recognize the great worth of the gospel.  That we recognize  the great worth of ourselves, and that we recognize the great worth of our brothers here on earth. 

God loves us. Christ lives. 

What else do we need to know?

Con amor, Elder Johnson