12 de Abril 2015

So basically, this week rocked, but to start, I need to say something to all the missionaries I know that are in the field, and those that are going to leave...(D-May in less than a month BABAYYY!!) SERVICE IS KEY TO SUCCESS. Service is key to success. Service brings miracles and really is the pure love of Christ. We've been giving so much service to our investigators and less actives., it's crazy! For Gl** we've been, no joke, digging and picking the side of a huge hill next to her house, and with one less active we've been building a house out of mud-cement and it's been one of the most tiring things I've done. It's so exhausting. But it works! Faith brings miracles. Faith = Works. And we saw our faith work this week. We had 13/4 at church on Sunday!! 13 PEOPLE!! And although two are moving, we had 6 that came that we found and invited the night before and they came!! That never happens! And it was in Talanga for the meeting which is like 45 minutes away! And we have a FHE Monday night! But Pres. Fortuna gave his last talk in the district because he leaves in 2 months (ya, 2 months!) And it was just awesome. I love that man so much and am going to miss him so much. But anyway, he said something that hit me just because of the trials and difficulty that's been going on here these last 7 weeks. He said, "sometimes the Lord asks us to push the boulder, not move it. And when we ask why the boulder hasn't moved after pushing it so long, or what's the point in doing it if it's not moving? The Lord shows us how much stronger we are, physically, mentally, and spiritually. Sometimes we can't move the boulder for others because the Lord wants us to grow personally." He's wise.

I love Family Ma** with all my heart. He's the less active ward mission leader and his family and we are going to baptize his girlfriend! Ya ya! I hope and pray they are the family we marry. They live with like 10 and they were all less active until we found them and now Al** has a girlfriend and another family that lives there, is listening and went to church and boom! So excited! I'm asking Pres. Fortuna if I can stay for like 2 more changes because I love this place. Greatest pueblo in Honduras. What else... a guy almost chopped my legs off with a machete because he thought I was robbing his bamboo when I was trying to help him move it...hahaha geezer. Oh, and Gl** is progressing like crazy so we'll see if she gets baptized this week! Had a crazy powerful lesson with her this week after we did service and that's when she started reading the Book of Mormon a lot. Have I told you all how much I love Familia Ma**? They remind me of my Uribe family so much! AH! we play games all the time with the kids and man we are going to Marry Al** and Ma**! Also, found my favorite quote ever about the spirit, that answered a life long question of mine. Listen to this.
"Whenever darkness fills our minds, we may know that we are not possessed of the spirit of God. When we are filled with the spirit of God we are filled with joy, with peace, and with happiness, no matter what our circumstances may be; for it is a spirit of cheerfulness and happiness the Lord has given unto us, the gift of the Holy Ghost. It is our privilege to have the Holy Ghost reign within us, so that from night till morning we shall have the Joy, the Light, and Revelation thereof."
*drops mic*
Let me tell you how that answered my prayers and how true it is.

Well I love you guys and hope you have a great, hard-working, week full of love and service towards all. Thanks for all the prayers and messages and I love all of you! "Never, never, never give up."

This week I'm thankful for running water in the states, going without a warm shower in who knows how long hahaha, SERVICE, church, my fam, this beautiful area of mine, Familia Ma**, plan b´s, listening to the spirit, miracles, 13/4, zone conference, Elder Dunn, soccer, working out, andddddd beautiful music:)

-Elder Johnson

¨And above all, watch with glittering eyes the whole world around you because the greatest secrets are always hidden in the most unlikely places. Those who don´t believe in magic will never find it.¨-Roald Dahl

MATEO 5:14 SOIS LA LUZ DEL MUNDO!!!

Beautiful campa

April 6th 2015

This week was nuts. Just nuts haha. 1st off you guys are soo lucky. We saw only the conference yesterday morning.. and that's because the internet wasn't working good in the church so at 9 at night on Saturday President Mejias called us and told us we had to go on a bus to Guiamaca to watch it 20 min away, and so we had to call all the members and it was crazy. But the messages were so amazing. Prodigal son my fav. We'll get the Liahona here in a month and I cant wait to see what else was said.

But ya! GOT MY NEW COMP YAYAYAYA! ELDER GONZALEZ!! He's soooo awesome! He's new, he came with Elder Garcia and it's great! From Panama and we are great buds. Sooo they extended my district.. so now we have 4 companionships.. and one is the zone leaders.. and one of those zone leaders is my dad.. Elder Borge.. hahah sooo ya! great guy and works hard but man he's crazy.

But on Wednesday Hermana Gonzalez got bit by a stinkin scorpion in the morn so we ran over there and took her to a clinic and she's all good now and Hermana Rojas killed it but it was pretty carazyyy ha.

Then the next day we moved houses.. Elder Montejo does the contract, wants to move, and then leaves the area and we do everything and the house is... well it's a house at least! stinkin montejo... I like it but I dont like at 5 in the morn when a million roosters go crazy like a million alarm clocks. I sleep with earplugs now, haha but the view is nice! Also, that same day I got my 1st kiss 2 years ago so there's that gossip if you guys wanna talk about it. hahaha 

But this has been one of the hardest times of my life. Haven't had baptisms in like 2 months and we are trying to clean up the mess that the missionaries made before. Ok when Elder Montero (my old ZL and hes just the greatest) was here he just killed it! Baptized like crazy and got the number of people at church to 100! That was like 8 months ago. The missionaries after stopped working and visiting a lot, and now we have a buttload of less actives and my comp and I have just been going crazy this week. Finding, walking, and walking, and walking and we do so much but then nobody comes to church.. 

Yesterday I was just pretty down, and I kept thinking how much we are working and how hard we are working and nobody takes it for what it is.. and then that made me think of the Savior and I learned a lot about the Atonement in that split second. Does our Savior feel the same with us sometimes? That he gave his life for us and atoned for us and the majority of us don´t appreciate the beauty of the Atonement for what it is? We say we´ll repent later or that we don´t need His divine help. And not only that but like Elder Bednar always talks about, is that the Atonement is there to give us strength and help us become even more better. I learned a lot last night and challenge you guys to see the Atonement in a different way. Because Christ did his part. Now he waits for us to use it to the fulness! He wants us happy! and We are happy when we rely on the Atonement of Christ. He lives. He loves us. Gracias a El tenemos esperanza. Tenemos fe. Y podemos ser feliz. I love you guys and hope you see and use the Atonement for what it is this week!

This week I'm thankful for Easter, semana santa, day of service in Utah, my new comp, my new friends the chickens, cold showers, the general authorities, and the Atonement.

Love ya all! oh and heres the greatest quote from my fav author since childhood the Mr Roald Dahl! this guy KNOWS

--

-Elder Alec Johnson

¨And above all, watch with glittering eyes the whole world around you because the greatest secrets are always hidden in the most unlikely places. Those who don´t believe in magic will never find it.¨-Roald Dahl

MATEO 5:14 SOIS LA LUZ DEL MUNDO!!!

March 30th 2015

Wellll I wanted to do a seperate email with a april fools joke butttt naaa... haha 

Soo just found out my comp is leaving so I'll be getting a new one tomorrow! I dont know what to think..! good but way nervous and stressed ha. I had a lot to say but now we have a ton of stuff to do and have to go. 

I just wanna say, do we realize what we have this week?? CONFERENCE!! WHO ELSE HAS A LIVING PROPHET ON THE EARTH AND 12 APOSTLES LIKE IN THE TIME OF CHRIST WHERE WE CAN LISTEN TO THEM!?!? EVERYONE JUST TRY TO PUT IN PERSPECTIVE HOW AMAZING THAT IS. Be grateful for it and enjoy it! Love ya guys!

-Elder Johnson

This week I'm thankful tough times, the gospel, prophets, teaching lessons, scriptures, new testament, pablo, my family, and my Savior.

oh also, this is Hermana Ol**! She's the convert of the hermanas but she asked me to baptize her and she's AWESOME!! 

March 23rd, 2015

Not gonna lie.. forgot it was St Patricks day this week... well there's that! Hope all is good out in the home front! First off gotta give a shout-out to my main man CARTJO for representing the Johnson name starting VARSITY as a FRESHMAN this week..! atta kid. I've come to love soccer on a whole 'nother level here.. #teambarca #teamchelsea love ya kiddo. Also a big shoutout to my papa Trace his bday was this week! If you guys want someone to look up to, he's the man. Looked up to him and his service since I was a little kid and continue to do. He knows what the pure love of Christ is. And even more, he shows it without drawing attention to himself. Love ya paps!~

Ok so this week.. well I learned a lot. So thats cool! Familia Ga** is just beating us up because they love the lessons and then don't come to church.. after we teach dia de reposo.. but when one door closes another opens, and a cousin of them is now gonna be baptized the 4th of April! so that was really cool and sudden. She came to church and wants to get baptized before she leaves. She lives in San Pedro. It's been hard here with the success rate of finding people like that, but we keep on keepin' on.

Cool thing I learned this week was that if you would like a long life there are 2 commandments that promise you such. Honor thy father and mother and the word of wisdom. Look up what it says and you'll see the promise. 

Well the summer is coming so basically I echo the words of Elder Sharp about the whole dying thing. Probably not as bad as San Pedro o Brazil but man. It's hot. 

Oh another thing! can someone get me the information about Elder Holland and his mission pretty please? because I was reading some old general conf talks and studying them and Elder Holland said there was no man that loved or will ever love the mission like he did. I was like.. "DANG" 

Also learned a whole lot about pride and being humble from the conf talk in 2010 November from Elder Uchtdorf. Man I challenge all to read it and look in what ways you can forget about what's going on in your life to help someone else's.

This week I'm thankful for water, LUNES, my journal, patience, planamiento semanal, the prophet, GENERAL CONFERENCE, the Sacred Sacrament and the time we have to think about what Christ did for us, our ward, that 55 people went to church whoooo!, clothes, Dr Scholls, coconut popcorn, letters from nana and papa, the U.S., a bed.

Love ya guys

-Elder Johnson

Mateo 5:14

our district:) with hermana nichols

we got Hermana Gonzalez goooodddd on her bday! eggs and flour baby!

this is Hermano Ca**.. hes going to heaven no doubt. he is just a "pan de Dios" wakes up early every Sunday and prepares the sacrament and man. He can barely hear but he's just a hoot! We cut down coconuts from his tree this week and it was.. crazy hahah 

March 16th

PUES! How's everybody doing? good.. thats good.. haha 1st off gotta give a shoutout to ONLY THE GREATEST WOMAN ON THIS PLANET AKA MY MOTHER (mazza, madre, mama, robyn, mama J, etc) WHO IS GOING TO BE 29 THIS WEEK!! (29..? ya 29..;) SHE ONLY TAUGHT ME HOW TO LIVE FOR CRYING OUT LOUD! ok story time about my mom about the earliest memory I can remember. when I was like 3 I was sick and my parents basically tried choking me half to death making me drink ugly disgusting cherry cough medicine (or was it grape?) and while they were doing this and I was crying and screaming I only thought of one thing to do.. so I said "Jesus wouldn't like this!!" and that got em to stop real quick. hahaha SO point is if your parents do that, just say "Jesus wouldn't like this" and that'll get em to stop! So there's the 1st memory of my mom! pretty great huh!? But man. How great is my mom. She taught me the way to eternal life and there's nothing I can say to express my gratitude for her. She really is the most amazing woman on this planet. Thanks for teaching me the Gospel my sweet mother. And not just teaching, but living. I love you mama J.

Ok so this week was super tough. For a lot of a reasons. But shout out to the 2 packages..! WHOO WHOO! THANKS EVERYONE!! you guys rock!! but ya. tough week. So tough. My comp is thinking about home a little early so thats taken it's toll definitely. And I was thinking because familia Ga** didn't go to church and just a lot of things were happening and I thought about all the 88,000 missionaries around the world on the front line. Then I realized we are on the front line against a third of the hosts of heaven who want nothing but to bring sadness and misery to all of Gods divine children. Sometimes I feel like the most stressed person on the face of the planet but I take courage when I realize that all around the world people are praying for those 88,000 to be ok. To succeed against those 1/3 hosts of heaven. In humble families and homes, in child's prayers, in the Temple, the prophets and apostles, all around the world they are helping those at the front of the battlefront. But this week will be better.

Just wanted to bear my testimony that Christ lives. He loves us. So much. I am so glad I know He is my Savior and Redeemer. I love my Father in Heaven. I love the power of prayer and fast. I love our beloved prophet who really does guide us. I love the scriptures and the power they contain. I love my family here in Honduras and my family back in Utah. This church is true. It is Christ's church on the earth today. There is no doubt in my being. Yes this life is hard and sometimes it's hard to make it till the next day but I bear witness as a representative of Jesus Christ that He knows you. He knows you and invites all to come unto Him. And every tongue will confess that He is the Christ and every knee will bow when He comes again. I make a promise to you that if you start today to come unto Him, you will feel his power immediately. We all know what we need to do to become more close to Him. So I invite you to do it. And watch the miracles and power come into your life.

This week I'm thankful for the Liahona, Christ, fasting, my packages, my district, american food, bug spray, ability to cry and laugh, that I have 2 legs and 2 arms, that I have Mondays to calm down and remember why I'm here haha, my friends, my fam, and MY BEAUTIFUL SWEET MAMA!!

-Elder Johnson 

Mateo 5:14

March 9th, 2015

Well hey everyone! Thanks for all the b-day wishes first!

This week was really awesome and hardddd haha I'm going to start with something that happened that reminded me when my mom and I almost died trying to jumpstart the car... rememebr that mom? hahahah I thought we were gonna blow up the car and then it shocked us.. there was fire... oh too good.. love ya mom! Just had to say that because I laugh every time I think about it because there's wires everywhere here and I'm super tall and if I'm not careful I'm going to get shocked pretty good haha! 

But HOW WEIRD IS IT SINCE I GOT MY EAGLE A YEAR AGO!? 3 HOURS BEFORE I TURNED 18! haha ok down with all the worldly stuff..;) 

So that family I was talking about? Family Ga**? Welllll we gave the lesson of the law of chastity and it was super crazy... cuz THEY WANNA GET MARRIED YAYAYAYAYA!! I never have gotten to this point before! haha every time we ask them to get married they always say no! So this was a surprise! We were pumped. That was Tuesday.. and then something happened this week because Se** (the husband) didn't want to go to church and something's up with him. So we have to talk to him tonight.. the wife loves everything and wants all of it so bad and she talked to him last night so we'll see what happens..pray for them please! And the wedding will be in 2 weeks and we have to pay for it so they have to go to get their papers so start praying now pleaseeeeeee! 

Also, we did intercambios with the ZL's this week and it showed me a lot of things. One, I love my comp haha! 2 and the most important, is that it really doesn't matter how much you know if you dont have the spirit and the person isn't ready for the Gospel. Our ZL basically taught every point of doctrine in 30 min of the church and it all just makes sense, but it didn't matter because that man wasnt ready for the Gospel. He just didn't accept it. And it was kinda a slap in the face because we really are here to find those that are thirsty and looking for THE TRUTH. And we do it by having the Spirit. That is THE MOST IMPORTANT thing in this work. To have the Spirit. That's why I love chapter 4 pf PMG and encourage all to read it. well I love this work and we're finding lots of people! just no one wants to go to stinkin church va... I love all of ya and hope all is well back home. All in my prayers.

-Elder Johnson

This week I'm thankful for american food, honduran food, lots of emails haha, sleep, las hermanas, Zone Conference, working through trials, our smelly house, our ward, our president, that I lost all the pounds I gained haha, chocolate milk, shoes, shirts, an iron, my fam, cartjo, lukejo, savvyjo, jeremyjo, robynjo, elder piel!!, the prayers of the righteous, that my tummy doesn't hurt anymore, that this church is true, District meeting, andddd the love God has for his children in Honduras:)

Zone Conference March 3rd 2015

March 2nd 2015

also been studying Elder Holland's, "we are all beggars" talk and I think I found one of my favorite quotes ever by Mother Teresa "what we do is nothing but a drop in the ocean.. but if we didnt do it, the ocean would be one drop less." As missionaries it's hard to see what your work or fruits will be or if you're doing anything for that matter, but as long as you're giving your best and working your hardest, then you will impact lives. Maybe we can't change the world, but we sure can change the way people look at it with the Restored Gospel of Jesus Christ. To end I love a quote from Parley P Pratt after serving 25 years of missions. "and when the spirit of the Lord is upon me, I think it matters very little what I suffer, what I sacrificed-WHETHER I SECURE THE HONOR OR DISHONOR OF MEN, or where I die, if it so be that I can keep the faith, fight the good fight, and finish my course with joy. I have all eternity before me, in which to enjoy myself." God wants me to serve for my life with all my heart. So that's what I'm gonna do. I'm gonna do what God wants me to do because that's better than what I want to do. Even if it's really hard:) LOVE YOU ALL!!

This week I'm thankful for American medicine, new families, soccer, my zone, my comp, that my comp can teach like a beast and a half, that our church has only 40 people in it and they dont really do classes after sacrament haha, dishwashers that I took for granted, my yoyo, the ability to smile, and a living prophet who guides us today:)

-Elder Alec Johnson

IT'S STINKIN PARK CITY!!.... with houses made out of mud.... and people speaking Spanish... and naked babies EVERYWHERE running around...