May 4th, 2015

WHATS UP ERRYONEEE! SORRY ITS BEEN 2 WEEKS WITHOUT AN EMAIL! carazy stufff. 

But 1ST just wanted to thank Mama McMullin for the CHOCOLATE and the Barker's for the package.. I LOVE YOU GUYS!!

AND THANK YOU TO THE GREATEST BDAY PACKAGE EVERRRR MS ABBY ANDERSON!!! A FLIPN UKE!! YOU KIDDING ME!?!!? YOU'RE THE GREATESTTTT!!!! SO PUMPED. 

OK FUNNY THINGS 1ST..

It's so hot.

So hot.

The lights have gone out every day this week.

It's rained.. and rained.. and rained.

It's still hot.

Ok this one is funny, Bishop Welch told me to wait a couple months to say this but it was too good. I got bit by a freakin dog AGAIN and it was like the weirdest, randomest thing in the whole world. Like, I thought it was gonna come and rub up against me but then it jumped and bit my thigh! hahaha! It hurt but I'm all good!

Talking about dogs, the Deacons were passing in the sacrament and a huge dog appeared out of nowhere in the chapel, so my comp and I had to take care of that. hahaha 

Ok other stuff! We're basically establishing a ward in a part of Olancho called Concordia that's 30 min away from Campamento that we take on bus, and it's a really nice town, and there are so many people there ready for the gospel. But we can only go on Saturday's. But we found soooo many people that accepted baptism and the Book of Mormon and love it all. BUT they cant go to church because it's pricey and there's no church over there. Going to talk to President Fortuna to see what we can do. Like no joke we could baptize 20 in 5 weeks but we'll see what happens... super cool though. Concordia will be famous one day.

So I've wanted to share all the things I've been reading out of conf talks from like 2 years ago but I stinkin keep forgetting the Liahona to give quotes! So wait for that. But just saying, the church of Jesus Christ has a prophet and has apostles. And when one reads conference talks and see's what they say, it makes perfect sense why we have them. If you feel down or need something more to your studies.. READ A CONF TALK. So much power.

I read one every day before I study what I need to study and it's soo amazing.

But ok. I've been thinking about this a while. Listen up- haha. I've been thinking about what makes a person likeable, or say, what I like to be around and what I look for in someone, because I've been around hundreds of different people in 9 months and talked to thousands and I put it into 3 categories.

1) EXCITEMENT AND BEING POSITIVE

if you have that you have FAITH AND HOPE ALWAYS, you like to laugh and are funny, you never give up, and are always determined to be better and work harder.

2) HUMILITY (THE OPPOSITE OF PRIDE!!)

this one.. is big in the life of missionaries because there are sooo many prideful missionaries. if you are humble you listen to OTHERS instead of talking about yourself, you realize that nobodys perfect and instead of giving everyone around you a hard time, youre PATIENT and ¨take the beam out of thy own eye first¨, you always want to learn and increase in knowledge, and you are THANKFULLLL!!! (nothing bugs me more than not being thankful so I say sorry to my family and friends all the times i wasnt thankful)

3) CHARITY (PURE LOVE OF CHRIST) 

you obey the commandments because you love God, you want to help others and think about them more than yourself, you are kind and understanding, you're slow to get mad, and have patience with all. 

There are more subcategories to these 3 points, but I truly believe these 3 make one Christ-like person. What do you guys think? I'd love to hear your input.

This week I'm thankful for soo much. The rain, my uke and Ms. Abby Anderson, letters, my fam, the rose in midst of thorns, the scrips, gen conf talks, MOTHERS DAY THIS WEEK, my life, the mission, Concordia, people who love other people, my journal, bus rides, Elder Borge, planning, my friends on the mission, all the good days and all the bad, stupid dogs from Honduras, andddd OUR BROWN WATER WE SHOWER IN NOW HAHAHAH

LOVE YA ALL!

--

-Elder Alec Johnson

CONCORDIA WITH THE CASTLE

This is the house we are doing!

My papa and I and Nevi taking pics

do you shower and wash your plates in this water? #yaYA

April 27th, 2015

Well I don't have a lot of time because the lights went out but here's some pics! This week was crazy hard and we're working like crazies, but not a lot of success. But we keep on keepin on!

-- 

-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!!!

The District!

This is my main man Wi**!! We're gonna get him on the mission! He's only 11

April 20, 2015

This week was crazy.. ha I'll write a group email next week! love ya all!

--

-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!!!

had the opportunity to baptize We** and An**.. they are super awesome

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