14 Dec 2015

11 more days. Boo ya. This week was fun..really good actually! Oh flip! Changes were this week I just realized! Ha! We didn't have changes thank goodness but guess WHAT!? Elder Thorn is opening TAULABE!!!! Taulabe! The place I kept talking about about, 30 minutes away from Siguatepeque! When I heard that, I jumped up and started freaking out in the middle of changes. Do you even understand!? 1st (well we were 1st haha) time missionaries will live and work there! So stinking cool. So excited to see what happens there.
Also had our zone mtg. It was super good. I talked about the importance of having power when we teach and how we need to always work on that, and how in chapter 10 the first 4 things it mentions in there can make it possible. 1- Develop Christ-like attributes 2- Study the lessons 3- improve language 4- depend on spirit. Then we did a fun exercise where the missionaries had to stand on a table and preach to a booing "crowd". It was so funny. The hermana's went ham and the zone went crazy because it was so powerful haha. Then talked about the importance of working with members. It's so important people. And the 3 things to gain the confidence of members is:
1) loving them 2) giving service and 3) teaching them!
Ledrin is awesome as ever. Love that man more than anything. We are teaching 2 young men who are soooo awesome. Alex and Bryan. They're probably going to be baptized in January.
Also got the package! That's a fun story... That book is the greatest. Love it and it's perfect for Christmas. It's almost Christmas. I love Christmas and the spirit of it. Maybe it's not really the same here with the whole 90 degrees thing every day but I'm so thankful for this Christmas and to be able to give all I am to my Savior and King as a gift. You only get 2 Christmas's to say that. One thing I would like to invite you all this Christmas is before opening presents in the morning, to have prayer as a family...I think that'd be a great first present for Christ the 25th. A simple prayer of gratitude as a family. Right before opening presents.:)

This week I'm thankful for Christ, rejoicing, shepherds, miracles, charity, stars, family, inspiration, memories, angels, happiness, andddd Hope.
-Elder Alec Johnson

Scrip of the week - Isaiah 9:6

We found a gringo!

Elder Thorn!

Speed

Dec. 7th 2015

Welp. Great week. Start off saying thanks to the greatest parents in the world! Got the 2 packages and easily the best package everrrrr! It even smelt like home for Pete's sake! Ya Man! Also! Great news! Well 1st great news. We can listen to Christmas music now!!! So if any of you can send the She-Daisy Christmas song over email, I would love you forever! Also we get to listen to talks! I've been so pumped up this week! But ya. Shoes fit perfect and the pants are classic! Stuff from the Sates is really good I kinda realized...ha. But it's still hotter than Hades here in Teguc! I don't believe we're in December. We can't be.
Well my main man Ledrin is still the coolest guy ever! Just a little bad news though because he couldn't go to church on Sunday (because he's a security guard and someone made him take his turn) he can't get baptized on Christmas..:/ Real bummer but he feels terrible about not being able to go so that's true repentance! Don't have a photo with him but I'll send one this week. Also can't wait to tell you about Familia Rodriquez haha, they're a recent convert/less active family that we're working with and they're the greatest. Honestly don't know what happened this week but spiritual thought found in Alma 9:28...every man shall reap their reward of their works. The time is near where we will be held accounted for for those works. Have our works been good lately? Also I said that I gave a little theme for the zone meeting this month and thought I'd like to echo it here. I called it "What is a Name?" Why do we have names? To identify us right? If you think of a name, feelings and thoughts come into you just like that. When you think of Hitler? Think of Moroni? Think of Christ? They are just names but THE NAME OF SOMEONE CAN IDENTIFY THE HEART OF THAT SOMEONE. In Mosiah 5:2-15 and chapter 6 talks about taking the name of Christ upon ourselves FIRST and by doing that our names are reflected in His. And if we take His name upon us, we have a change of heart. Soooo what are we doing to take upon the NAME of Christ in our hearts? Good question for the week.
In other news Olympia lost to Motagua in the semi's. #hijole

This week I'm thankful for a back brace, a ROLLER STICK!!!, Reese's, chocolate, new shoes and pants, interchanges, Ledrin, ties, the Book of Mormon, General Conference, thankful list, fish oil, the office, humble missionaries, Joseph Smith, Conf talks, Christmas, laughter, reverence, hymns, the Atonement, and good burgers.:)

Scrip of da week D&C 50:24
-Elder Alec Johnson

this is it

this is a Mexican ice cream parlor.. it's amazaing and im putting one in Utah. cactus ice cream! and they put hot sauce on it!! 

we had a videochat lesson with people from Honduras that live in my comps old ward.. way cool!

Nov 30th 2015

This week was awesome. Just sweet. Start off with saying we got the Ensigns babayyyy!!! Soo my favorite speaker (elder Uchtdorf) gave a killer talk/parable/story in the womens general conference where I invite everyone to read it! Its called "A summer with great aunt Rose" JUST AWESOME. part that stook (how do you spell stook?) out to me was this quote..

"NOW is part of eternity. IT doesnt only begin after we die! Faith and hope will open your eyes to the happiness that is placed before you"

Love that. Sometimes we think that the part of eternity will finally get there where we dont die and have perfect bodies and all that, and we will be just so happy but no hombre! NOW is part of eternity! I was like "oh ya. duh." hahah So we've got to learn to have joy here or how in the world are we going to have joy in the next life!? That's what I'm talking about Willis.

OKKKKKKKKKKKKK SO HIS NAME IS LEDRIN!! HES 37! HES FROM THE MESQUITIA. HE SPEAKS 5 LANGUAGES. AND IS GETTTING BAPTIZED ON CHRISTMAS PEOPLE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! HE'S PROBABLY ONE OF THE GREATEST PERSONS I KNOW. SO HUMBLE SO AWESOME. I LOVE HIM! WE FOUND HIM DOING THAT ACTIVITY WITH THE YOUNG MEN IN THAT PICTURE THE OTHER DAY! ah man he's so awesome!

Also had Joshua's baptism this week and it was SHWEET.!

andddddd thanksgiving! definitely was the best thanksgiving I've had in my entire life. Nothing like a Thanksgiving on a mission:) 

good stuff this week.

I'm thankful for chicken that tastes like turkey, my fam, elder blake, elder garrido, xmas musis, THAT WE ARE IN DECEMBER PEOPLE, Ledrin, the work here, conf talks, hope, prayer, the Sabbath, email times, my Savior, Alma, the blessings of sacrifice, little notes, candy, anddddd math. 

LOVE YOU ALL.

--

-Elder Alec Johnson

the church is true.

this was what we did for thanksgiving! play ball, eat mashed potatoes and chicken (turkey), had the best view everrr, went to a family in the night where they made us steak and platanos babayyyy!!

This is a story for another day.

Nov 23, 2015

So. 2 things to start off. Thanks to Elder Bingham and him having p-day on Saturday's found out the flipn Herriman High Football team won the STATE CHAMPIONSHIP!!!! HHS BABY!!! #gorandall #pforpierce #frontrowshmows
When I heard that I was so pumped but so upset not to see it! But atta baby H-town. And against Lone Peak! Good thing I'm serving a mission because I would be going crazy if I was there haha! AND THEN! MY BROTHA, MY BROTHA! IS A MUSTANG!!! YES.YES.YES! I get to see him play ball! Nobody knows how pumped I am to see Cart-man playing the sport of the gods... no just kidding, that's kinda apostasy haha! But proud of ya Cart! Herriman basketball baby. Man this was one good week at my favorite school. #hhs #herrimantakeshonduras

But speaking of apostasy! Come on people. So on the mission a lot of people around you kinda do what the pharisees did with exaggerating the commandments and rules...now I know, and we all know obedience is the first law of heaven and we're trying to become perfect and I kinda had an inner battle within myself this week about this because something happened that made me upset and made me think "if we're all gonna be perfect, aren't we all just going to be robots with no fun?" And so I studied and have been praying about it and now I understand. I don't understand/know what happens when we enter into the Father's presence and become perfect, but here, we are trying to show God we want it by our obedience. And yes, we need to be obedient. If not, then we are not convincing the Lord we want eternal life. But then comes the comment/tip that my aunt/uncle Kasey gave me before the mission... "Lose yourself in the work, but don't lose yourself. Be your self." That's so important I think because so many missionaries are crazy with the rules and become almost robots, losing love for the people and the work. And then replacing it with a programed frame of mind when Heavenly Father doesn't want that! We need to show we are willing to obey but also willing to shine that light that he has given us instead of hiding it beneath a wall of rules that don't exist. So just remember that future missionaries. Be yourself, but be your best self.

But ya! Me** and An** who we baptized are doing great. We had a stake conf. and I think my new favorite song is "Have I Done Any Good in the World Today?"

Alsoooo because this week is Thanksgiving I'm gonna do a list of what I'm thankful for.:)
Our Savior Jesus Christ, Heavenly Parents, Earthly Parents, blankets, icy hot, water, High School, My fam, Christmas, platanos, music, paintings of Christ, da uke, Mama J, Papa J, Carter J, Savvy J, Luke J, Mimi, Papa, Nana, Papa, Ricky, Lee, Dawn, Cyndy, Lee, Kasey, Taygin, Knox, Vanilla Rafer, Jason, Ashton, Aurora, Tritan, Adam, Indy, Nick, Lauren, Mikey, Little Ricky, Aiden, Alliyah, Audrey, Ambree, Jaren, Oaks, Kimmy, Dan, Maddie, Matt, Sissa, Addi, Emery, Hals, Ry, G-pa Bean, G-ma Bean, G-pa and G-ma Johnson, G-pa and G-ma Uribe, G-pa and G-ma Sroka, Bevaly Smith, Cessia Smith, Fam. Jimenez-Reyes, Gustavo, Mario and F.Flores, Fam. Raudales, Fernando, and Esteffani, Valentina, Brittany, Tiffany, Ingris, Miguel, Maria, Vanessa, Pres. Mejia, Fam Martinez, Denis, Danieca, Mama, David, Fam. Treso, Modesto, Kevin, Jessica, Celeste, Tuki, Jean Carlos, Pres Zunica, Fam. Mendoza, Fam. Mesa, German, Jacki, Melvin, David, Bryan, Victor, Andrea, Eda, Joshua, Rubia, Elder Borge, Elder Garcia, Elder Montejo, Elder Gonazales, Elder Montero, Elder Paiz, Elder Hale, Elder De la Rosa, Elder Terrazas, and many more people I can't fit on the list.:)

Also interesting thing that I learned this week. I think I always knew this but not in the way that I learned this week! So in D&C 6:16 we learn that God is the only being who knows what we think... so Satan has no idea what we are thinking! Awesome. Joseph Smith taught that "the devil has no power over us only as we permit him." Soooo remember that so we can have good thoughts! Go agency!
Love this work. Love the Gospel.
-Elder Alec Johnson

Scrip of da week Alma 37:6

We were signed by Honduras!

The church has the greatest youth!

Best district and district leader!

Nov. 16th 2015

Que Pedo everyone. All in favor of being tired say "I." "I." This week was good/interesting. My comp got Denge for half the week so we were shut in for like 3 days. That stunk. But we had 2 baptisms babayyy! Man baptisms are so different in the city from the pueblos...like people come to baptisms in the city! Um did all of you do what you had to do with the less-active?! If not, well you just rejected an invitation from the Lord to do his will and will suffer the consequences.! Was that a little rough? But I bet you didn't think it like that! We need to change and it's not going to happen over night. But we change with the little things like invitations/challenges like that. That will help build our faith. But man! 6 weeks till Christmas! say whaaa!? That's unbelievable..and on Sunday I saw tons of people from La Vega because there was  a multi-stake choir thing and it was the greatest/weirdest thing ever! The mission is soooo fast! A little more than 7 months is all I have! Saw all my fam from there and these last weeks, more than ever, I've just thought how genius and unbelievable the mission is. Sending 18 year old kids out in the world to bring it the truth and then the millions of consequences it brings. Just pure amazement. This is His church people. If you don't know that it's because you haven't read the Book of Mormon and prayed. That's the spiritual confirmation that it's true.
But have a cool story wanted to share. Knocked on a door in the afternoon and there's not many men home at this hour but a guy let us come in and he is pretty Catholic. We got to know him a little bit and started testifying of prophets and how Thomas S. Monson is the living prophet today and he was like, "I'm Catholic and they say we have prophets but I still don't know who they are, so props to you guys!" And we just shared a simple message with testimony and promises and connected with him and put a day to come back because he's a security guard and we asked him to say the closing prayer and in the middle he paused and started to cry and then out of nowhere said "thank you for sending these 2 angels to my house." and closed. And wow...that was new. First visit with someone who's pretty Catholic, and that happened. My heart was full of love for Mr. Freddy. Just show we're not here to change the beliefs of people. Just here to share a simple message and increase their faith and let the spirit testify to them of the truthfulness of this great message. Had a lot of time to think this week and it's true. Everything you are starts with your thoughts. So have good thoughts this week.:)

I'm thankful for families, Christmas, La Vega, rest, our zone meeting, the importance of a name (I'll share next week about it!), that my shoes have lasted, $5 pizza, coco baleadas, hamburgers, the area with all the restaurants, my first Fast Break in 16 months!, Jesus the Christ, and our prophet Thomas S. Monson.
Scrip of da week: Mosiah 4:30
-Elder Alec Johnson

9 Nov 2015 Dan Smith/BYU

"I hope you enjoy my letter more than the cookies the young women made." Wise words from Dan Smith whom I don't know...hahaha Thanks adopted ward for the package! Great stuff! Want to know what else is great? Hot water. Hot water is a blessing from the heavens.
But anyways! So it was a life changer week. Elder Kevin R. Duncan, pres. of the Area de Central America, came and I got to have 2 mtgs with him. Wow! He made me feel like what I've done in 16 months was nothing. But 1st he said that I don't care why you're here on the mission, we all have our reason. BUT, he said, YOU must obtain an unbreakable testimony of the Book of Mormon and this restored Gospel. Then he said, we need to change! Because the Lord is accelerating His work. Then he talked about how we're going to change...holy smokes, did he teach us what we need to do. Honestly this guy is amazing. One of my favorite General Authorities. He talked about how to plan for every 30 minutes, how to teach, and focusing on the priesthood in Central America. Then he talked about having 3,300 missionaries serving in CentroAmerica and there are 3,200 FROM CentroAmerica and President Spencer W. Kimball made a prophesy when Central America has the same amount of missionaries that are serving from CentroAmerica that are IN Central America, they will start sending more and more Latinos to countries on the other part of the World! 100 more! Then he talked about teaching the law of justice and mercy and whoo! We did it this week and have a way of doing it in 10 min. and it's worked soooo well! The spirit is so strong and the investigators are so intrigued and we're in and out in 20 min with them wanting more! Alma 42:22-23! Then he blew my mind with the meeting with the zone leaders, talking about ministers for our zone and doing divisiones and just tons of things we need to do as zone leaders.
Andddd what he talked about more than anything was the less actives. Hoy si papa. My invitation to all at home is that you can go up to the Bishop BEFORE SUNDAY and ask him for one person or family that is less active that you can go visit. Then on Friday you're gonna make cookies or do whatever us Utah Mormons do and go to their house and talk with them, deliver the goodies, be their friends, sing a hymn, and say a prayer, ok? Y'all are gonna report back the next Monday oyó? Perfect! :)

Well this week I've thought a lot about change. Change is so good. I'm so glad Elder Duncan taught us how we can change and help this great work hasten. From the 4th Missionary..."one way that you are immediately blessed is that you are changed, and change may be the greatest blessing of all. You are the sum total of all that you have thought, done, said, seen, heard and felt in this life and before. You change immediately with each good thought, each good act, every good word changes you for the better. When you willingly obey the principles of the Gospel, you are changed by the Spirit of God to become incrementally more like Him. The degree of change with each small act of obedience may be small, but it is real and immediate." :)
Love it. Love the change in me. Love looking back a year ago and my dreams and desires then and the dreams, desires, and visions I have now. They've changed! Change is good! We're always changing! I love repentance. It's so tough to look back on things you did wrong and know you should've done something else, but it's so glorious to know Christ's mercy is there for things like that if we just come to Him and are willing to change. Where is your heart? :)

This week I'm thankful for hot water, my awesome companion, when he talks like a gringo, our area, the baptisms we are going to have this week!!!, Elder Duncan, Pres. Ferman, the package from Sandy UT, justice, mercy, tithing, obedience, my sweet tender mercy from the Lord-my mission, this area! (becoming one of my fav areas ever), that I'm not in places in the world where nobody talks to missionaries (props to all in Europe haha), chastity, soccer jerseys, juice, my fam, the '3 tips' to have a good companionship, SVU, the Utah Jazz, church, candyyyyy, funny videos, the church's growth, andddd my Savior Jesus Christ and His Atonement.
-Elder Alec Johnson

Scrip of the week 1 Nephi 15:11