FELIZ NAVIDAD!

Hey everyone! Hope your Christmas went well! Mine was great! gotta talk to my fam and said nothing I wanted to say but it was awesome! Sure do love them! We also ate so much stinkin food I wanted to DIE! They eat good here during Christmas! 
BRIGHAM IS IN THE FIELD! THAT MADE ME SO PUMPED TO HEAR FROM HIM!! I LOVE MY BROTHER! Um not a lot of people like to hear messages about Christ on Christmas so that was hard but we met a man that is really interested so we will see what happens!

Mr. Gustavo..

 "..now you can tell everybody, go ahead and tell everybody, hes the man, hes the man, hes the mannnn..

No but for real! This guy is real! He reads the BOM likes its a novel and believes everything!! He's just having a real hard time with quitting smoking because its been a part of his life for 30 years! But hes only smoking one a day and the plan is to quit this week for his baptism! HE'S AMAZING!! Pray for him please! We had our Christmas program where our zone sang in front of like 6 zones and stakes for nuevos conversos y investigators! Real cool.! We are trying to find a lot of people and have found a lot of menos activos that are now coming back to church which is real awesome! Elder Garcia and I have made this plan for a lesson about the authority of God that is, if I do say so myself, pretty dang good..! But the thing is, we could convince the President with what we have (all in the bible as well), but if someone doesnt feel the Spirit they're not going to be convinced para nada! That's why its SOOOOO AND THE MOST IMPORTANT to work and serve and be worthy to recieve the Spirit! Because THAT'S when you can help people come to Christ! SOOO this week try to be worthy and feel and recognize the spirit in your life! it will change everything! SURE DO LOVE YOU ALL!!

-Elder Johnson

This week im thankful for technology, a clean house, the Temple, CHRISTMAS, my friends, my family, my barrio, chapstick, and pictures!

p.s we had chicken feet this week... if you guys have the chance to try it.. probably don't do it:)

My gratitude list in pictures...

Beautiful families to teach

Speed Reunions

Elder Hale

Christmas countdown calendar from Mom

Free haircuts from Elder Garcia

Christmas lights up on the house!

Christmas!

My district and that I talked at District mtg by myself for 14 min. about the BOM, so hard and so cool!

Taking Gustavo to see the Temple

One of the most beautiful choirs I've ever heard and it looked like Disneyland!

New and Old friends

Elder Garcia's laugh

Family is Everything.

December 15th 2014

Week of 8-14 de Dec.

Wow! This was the greatest week yet, not sure where to start!
Monday had a great P-day where we played basketball and to be honest, a lot of stuff happened but I don't remember anything and didn't write Monday. haha. Oh wait! Got Mimi's and Papa's package with the P.J.'s and candy! Thanks so much for that! My comp is always telling me to say thanks for all of that! oh and CTR rings!? Genius Mimi and Papa!! ESO!!
Tues- such a fun hard-working day! Wanted to talk a little about our new investigor Gu**! He's 65, a smoker, lived in the same house for 30 years, never talked to missionaries, now reads the Book of Mormon like a novel, loves the church, trying super duper hard to quit smoking, although his wife is Catolica and doesn't really like us, he loves the message. He's been baptized in 2 different churches an is ready to be baptized by the proper authority, and man, this guy is a stud. Elder Woodland and I contacted him 2 weeks ago (speaking of which, we have the best District and District Leader in the world) But that night it was the daughter of our ward mission leader b-day. So we bought a Piñata and put all this weird stuff in it (semitas, cheese, doritos, etc) and the young women thought it was hilarious! Ha! I had to hold it up and they kept hitting me!
Wed. - Christmas! (Por Nosotros!) way fun activity where I got to see Elder Borge and we exchanged gifts and I bought a Santa head piñata (ok we really like piñata's ok?) and all the missionaries thought it was the best idea! We got to watch Frozen and it was actually super weird, I thought I was home for a while! Then went back to work!
Fri.- Had District meeting and I learned a lot and my district is THE BEST! Also, talked on the bus with this guy and he's totally going to get baptized one day.
Sat.!!! Ok, ok! So 1st we had another car wash, then we ate at our favorite Chinese restaurant and then I'm just going to fast forward to the Baptism of Ma**! Soooo spiritual. Not a lot of people came because there was an activity at the Stake but it was like the most spiritual one. Mr. Gu** sat with us for 2 hours! He is THE MAN! But I don't know if you guys know about Maria, but she was a Jehova's Witness when we first were teaching her and her son is a member here in La Vega, but they weren't super close because something happened in the past. I'm not sure. But one day Alex (the son) told us his mom lived there, so we went and the rest is history! All you guys have to do is share the Gospel with one person and look what could happen! But it was so amazing, the baptism by her son, really humbling. And Elder Garcia and I sang How Great Thou Art in Spanish, but I sang the chorus in English. Was pretty cool. But every one of our recent converts has this 'SHINE' in their eyes now! Like I cannot explain it! Every one of them is different! It's amazing (Matt. 5:14, 3 Nephi 13:22)

Ok but I just wanted to say some other things! Ok my companion. I have never been so grateful, been so happy, had this much fun, and worked this hard before. I can't explain or express my love and gratefulness for this man. It's like we've known each other for years. We have so much stinkin' fun and just serve these people. It's amazing. I've been learning so much from him. He is a perfect example of service. Like we had McDonalds today (1st time in 5 months) and he gave half his sandwich and his fries to this guy who was definitely on drugs but needed food. He does stuff like that all the time! I love it. He is filled with the pure love of Christ. Just like Christ focused on people and not numbers, so does he. Never met someone as humble as him. President Eyring talked about that in the Christmas Devotional. I love him like my brother and am so glad I am being humbled and learning how important REAL service is, because there's a difference between "service" and service - the PURE LOVE OF CHRIST. Also wanted to say I learned a lot from Elder Jake Sollis and took his challenge to show Christ like love OUTWARDLY no matter the circumstance and let me tell ya how different, just COMPLETELY DIFFERENT, my week was. So thanks my brother Elder Sollis for teaching me and changing my mission for me. :) I love my barrio and I really never wanna change areas or companions. But Im gonna enjoy it and I know this Church is true. I know it with all my heart. If one wants to be happy- repent, obey the commandments and SERVE! I promise you if you do that, you will be happy! Life will still be hard, things will be tough, you'll still have trials, but there will be a different way of looking at life and you'll always go to bed with a reason to be happy because you helped someone else and forgot about yourself. :)

This week I'm grateful for my companion, scrips, Christmas, music, comers, that our house is done being remodeled and so stinkin' beautiful, D&C 31, Gu**, F. Himenez-Reyez, menus actives that we found and they went to church!, The Santa Cerm. Love ya all!
-Elder Alec Johnson

p.s. I got the music ma! It works now! :) Also what's up with SVU and NBA? And my boys!? Go Herriman!

"YE ARE THE LIGHT OF THE WORLD!"

December 8th, 2014

well..!

If this week wasn't miracle week, I don't know what is! Absolutely amazing. Don't really know where to start but we got a call Tuesday night that the daughter of V** that has listened to all of our lessons and gone to church but doesn't want to get baptized called us and wanted to be baptized with her mom this Saturday! We lost it! Hna. Ev**! There's absolutely no way to describe what happened because the Lord has worked miracles in those 2 lives. To be honest 12 weeks ago when I first met them, I thought it'd be years and years before they accepted the Gospel. Its amazing. Hna Mar** is in El Salvador this weekend so she wasn't baptized, but this week yes! 

We had a car wash for a service activity and it was sooo genius. We had tons of contacts and put a fecha por 10 de Enero! SUPER FUN!

We also went to an area that I only visited once with Elder Borge and we found like a whole barrio of menos activos and new families. The work here is crazy. I thought about it and the emails I've sent and the pictures I've sent, does not do justice to what's going on here. You really do have to experience for yourself the miracles and blessings of a mission. Just know that I will never deny the truthfulness of this Gospel. For those that are having a hard time holding on, take heed to Elder Holland's advice and just stick to that little belief you have and keep going! It´s all worth it! 

This week I'm grateful that Hno. Mario bought us a water heater because its amazing and warm water is a blessing for eternity, for new families, for repentance, service, and Conference talks! 

LOVE YA ALL!

-Elder Johnson 

 

 

A suprise email from a Honduran family...

~This email, and pictures came in last week, from a beautiful Honduran family. ~

12/2/14
Hola, me llamo Cinthya, soy de Honduras, estaca toncontin, barrio la vega, su hijo, Elder Jhonson, es misionero de barrio la vega, y le escribo para contarle que tiene un excelente hijo misionero, es una bendición el poder conocerle a él. Gracias por educarlo y hacerlo crecer en el evangelio de esa manera. El jueves hicimos thanksgiving day , y elder Jhonson y su compañero nos acompañaron. Estas fotos son para usted y su familia. Gracias por todo lo que ha hecho con Elder Jhonson, es un gran misionero y tiene mucho amor por la obra y por las personas. Les felicito por el maravilloso hijo que tienen️.
 Con mucho amor Cinthya

 

Dec. 1st 2014

Man oh man is it great to be a missionary in Honduras Comayaguela or what? Where do I start.. well my son! oh my son! THIS ELDER IS AMAZING. Elder Garcia from Ecuador! Ah I just cant stop smiling because how lucky I am to have him as a companion...! He is PODEROSO. Like.. he's the most humble loving hard working Elder.. just man! But the week this week.. man oh man! We baptized M**!! YAAA!! It was so wonderful! And a family in our ward threw this thanksgiving party for us and they had turkey and sweet potatoes and almost everything! I am so grateful for this barrio! It's such a privilege to serve these people. But guess whatttt!! WE FOUND A FAMILY AND PUT A DATE FOR THE 27TH!! AHHAHHWOWOWOOWOWOWOWWOOWHFSHADFIIUWQEFUBIBUIF!! it was such a miracle and we have found even more investigadores! it is amazing what's happening here in the area! and V** is going to be baptized this week with M**!! I don't know.. I'm just real happy and real tired:) No where else I'd rather be. 

Ok my little note this week is about prophets! First I have a testimony that will never die of living day prophets. God is the same yesterday, today, and forever. He calls prophets to guide us in these days. And we learn in Matthew that you can know for yourself if it's a prophet by their fruits. Like Moses and the 10 commandments, Noah and the ark, etc. Well I was thinking of latter day prophets and it hit me all the fruits of them! for example. Gordon B Hinckley's fruits were the Temples! How many were built with him as prophet? And then I was thinking of Pres. Monson now and one of his fruits is the age change for missionaries! if that's not a good fruit then IDK what is! That he recieved revelation from God to change the mission age so more people in the world would hear of this great message..! Just amazing!

And as missionaries we ALWAYS verificar! Did you guys read the Conference talks and pray every morning?? BE HONEST.

This week I'm thankful for Thanksgiving, cheap clothes, food, water (we didn't have water for 6 days haha), my new comp, my old comp, new families, Christmas music, and My Savior!

Love ya all!

-Elder Johnson



Elder Bingham is here!!!

Dec. 1st, Two handwritten letters for you all...

Just writing a letter because my companion is sleeping! He's sick and took the medicine that makes you go to sleep on accident! Poor guy! He almost fell asleep while practicing with me! Hahaha But OH MAN! This Elder is POWERFUL!! Elder Garcia!! Love this man! Like I'm so happy there's just no way to describe it! HE is from Ecuador, he's 21 years old, and he is the reason why I fasted when I had for my future companions. He is AMAZING. He's just full of excitememnt and he knows his stuff, but doesn't know a lot of the lessons. I actually know a lot I found out! It's crazy! But he was a mission ward leader for a year before! Kinda freaked out about that because he probably knows more how to work with the ward than me, haha.
OK it's Friday the 28th now and wow just wow. These past two days have been amazing. I love my companion so much. Oh my gosh I'm just so... HAPPY! Like I don't even know. OK I'll start with today. So today was like no other day ever. Had District meeting with our new District Leader and he's real awesome. Then ate balliadas and we taught J** and are trying real hard to help with his doubts about the Book of Mormon, but it's hard because he's 13 and he know it's true, wants to believe, but has family and friends that don't talk good about the church and say all these things. Just pray for him please!! Well at 5:00 we found out the Papa de Eduardo signed the paper for him to go on a mission!! He's one of the F** brothers and like my best friend in the ward here! He was almost crying because how happy he was! And so he went with us and we finally went on this street that for THE longest time I've wanted to go on but never went. And miracles happened. Found 2 families. 3 accepted baptismos. 1 Hermana tiene un fech ya! Por el 27 de Dec.! AH!! Today was nuts, we're not the best teachers, I can't say a lot but have the points down, Elder Garcia can say a lot but doesn't have the points down yet. And that's what makes it beautiful. That the Spirit is using us both to teach those children of God. I've never been so humbled in my life. I'm so tired. So tired, but I am completely happy. When I wake up, I first want to die because it's so early but then I just feel this hope and it's awesome! Oh how great it is to be a missionary! Ah, Like, I don't know if it's too good to be true. But I finally am just forgetting about myself. I just want my companion to learn and want these people to come to Christ and know how we can help them! Everything is just clicking now! So grateful.

Well it's Sunday the 30th and I'm sitting in Pres. Ordonez house waiting for the greatest comida in the world! This Hermana makes THE BEST balliadas in the world. So one of these new investigators I was talking about is a family and accepted baptism and the date for the 27th! SOO PUMPED! Oh and one of the Hermana's in our district gave me 'Insanity' so I can't feel my legs. Speaking of which can you send P90X with the cologne and sound recorder with Tyler?
M** baptism yesterday, was it special or what!? She asked me to do it and I wanted my son to do it, but she was pretty nervous and didn't want to change. We also have 2 baptisms this week. V** and M**! Pray for them because Satan is going to work hard on them. Have I told you how much I love my companion? And training? and being so tired but so happy every night? Can't believe it's Dec.! Sometime when I read your letters and emails, it all seems like a story that isn't real. Haha! Weird huh? Nana! I've gotten your letters and I've responded! I promise! Well love you my peeps! Until next week!
This week I'm THANKFUL FOR MY SAVIOR! Oh snap! I forgot to talk about Thanksgiving! Haha!
Oh my goodness. Mom,  you need to accept C** R** on your Insta! She has photos! And I think M** sent them to you on Facebook. He is seriously Greg Eades. He's our ward mission leader and flippin awesome. But anyway, this Barrio should be nominated for the best ward ever. I love them so much! OK so they did this huge Thanksgiving feast for me with turkey, sweet potatoes, and everything! But then get this. We watched this little video on Thanksgiving and then Hma. R** passed around this paper to write what we are grateful for and for everyone to share what they wrote! And I totally freaked because it's just like you MA! But that night I was one happy Gringo in Honduras. :)

And so with that, I'm thankful for Thanksgiving in Honduras. New Inv., candy, that I found out I weigh 187!, MY NEW COMPANION!!, this area, The Spirit, my new Jazz Stockton old jersey, cheap clothes, that bananas here are 1 lempira (20 limps is 1 dollar), that awesome shirts here cost 20 limps, haha!, F. Flores, Sunday's, New District, piñatas, and the mission!
LOVE YA ALL!
~Elder Johnson