Ola!

This week flew by so fast. I feel like last p-day was yesterday. Time flies when you have things to do. Sometimes on the mission it feels like you have nothing to do. No appointments, no investigators, no one on the streets. The time passes very slowly when you have not as many things planned. This week was not like that. We had too many things to do and not enough time. We were able to find a lot of new people to teach this week. We just would knock on doors that we felt like we should, or if there was someone outside their house we would start talking with them and then ask if we could leave a message with them. Just about everyone invited us in and we were able to teach a lot.

I will talk about a few of our new investigators. The first one is Daphne. She is 29 years old and lives with her parents who we teach as well. She is extremely interested in the church. She goes to institute, reads the scriptures, and her and her mom went to church this past Sunday. She has been to church a few times and is ready for baptism. The only complicated thing is that she might be moving a little far away. She is deciding if she wants to take a job or not. She does 3D design and art which she is extremely good at. She will decide and then we will figure out the last details about when the baptism will be.

Our other main investigator is Joco. He will be a bishop one day. Haha. He is the owner of a couple local businesses and is extremely interested in the church. He actually went to church when he was very young, but never was baptized and lost contact with the church. He approached us wanting to learn more and we have been teaching him a lot. He has a wife who is pregnant and we hope to teach her as well. He is super busy and almost never in his house which makes it a little complicated, but I feel like this week will be a great week with him.

We are working with a lot of other people, but those two seem like currently they have the most potential and drive to learn more. It is really cool when you teach someone who is truly interested, asking questions, reading the scriptures, going to church, etc. The field is white and ready to harvest. I am grateful for the opportunity to help find the lost sons and daughters of our Heavenly Father. Thank you all for your love and support.

Tchao!

Elder Johnson

Ola!

I hope you all had a wonderful Easter. It was an amazing time to be sharing the hope-filled message about Jesus Christ, especially focusing on the atonement and the resurrection. We had a great week full of miracles and a lot of walking.

Firstly, I will focus on the miracles. On Tuesday we were walking to an appointment with someone but had a little bit of time so we went down a street to knock on some doors. As we were walking we both felt impressed to knock on one door. (In reality, you actually clap your hands and yell the name of the person.) We clapped our hands and an elderly woman came to the door. She said we could enter and talk with her. We talked with her for a little while. She has a huge family, around 30 grandchildren and 30 great-grandchildren and one great-great-grandchild. We taught her about the restoration which she received well and then invited us to talk to some more family members. One of her granddaughters has some struggles in life as her husband left and she feels alone. She had talked with missionaries in the past and was even baptised but hasn’t been active and we haven’t even seen her name or address anywhere. It was amazing that we could find her and help her. She went to church with us and seems to be improving every day. We are also working with her family (specifically her sister) and inviting them all to church together.

We have been helping another family return to church also. The father has had a lot of challenges in life. He opened up and shared a lot of parts of his life. It is very humbling and shocking some of the stories I have heard here. Not just with him, but with many people. The stories of their lives are very different and make you think about how blessed you are and how Jesus Christ truly changes people and brings peace and happiness into everyone’s life.

This week we had interviews with President Thomas. They went well. It is a lot of fun to just talk with him. We talked about everything from the gospel to golf. It is just nice to have a leader that truly cares about you and that you can talk to openly and have a good time with. We also had a conference of a couple zones in the mission. It was great. It was focused on how we can find people to teach. Some of the parts I liked most were when Sister Thomas talked about finding joy in the work which is extremely important. We shouldn’t just endure to the end, whether it be to the end of a trial or end of the mission or even the end of our mortal life here. We should enjoy all moments of our lives not endure. It can be hard at times, but if we put our trust in God, act on our faith, and truly try to be happy, the hardest, as well as the easiest times in life, can be full of joy. We also talked about how we should try to make friends, not just contacts. We always talk to people on the street, but at times we become robots saying the same things over and over again. We are trying to focus more on actually interacting with people. Becoming friends with them is much more effective than just trying to get a phone number and address. And if a person is not interested, we at least have made a new friend and showed the church and missionary work in a good light, not as just people looking to convert without thought of who the other person is. I am still trying to get better at not being so robotic. It happens especially as you feel uncomfortable speaking a different language sometimes. Starting right after the conference I started trying more and it was great. One of the bus rides home I sat next to a guy and for a few minutes, I didn’t say anything. I was trying to get myself to say something. To start is always the hardest part. After a few minutes of psyching myself up, I started a conversation with him. We just talked about simple things like where he works, where he was going, family, etc. He enjoyed talking and we just were able to have a conversation and get to know each other. It is easy and natural to talk about how you are a missionary so the message of Jesus Christ just comes up naturally in the conversation. He was interested in learning more. I got his address, gave him a pass-along card, and gave him our phone number. Don’t know exactly if he will continue talking to other missionaries as he lives in a different area than where I am, but it was just nice to make a friend and share my testimony. I am gonna keep working on truly engaging with people and making a lot of friends.

As for the walking this week, we have been walking a lot. I have a little pedometer that says we walked 13.1 miles on Saturday. It gets tiring, but I truly feel strength and support to always keep going.

That is about it for this week. It was a fantastic week that strengthened my testimony and helped me become a better missionary and a better man. I am so grateful for this opportunity I have and I know that this is truly the work of the Lord. Thank you all for your support.

Amo voces

Tchau!

Elder Johnson

A Mighty Pancake

Ola!

This week was very interesting and exciting. The first part of the week was pretty normal. We were able to find some great new investigators. One man we met on the road and he told us to go to his house the next day. When we went he was so grateful and invited us in. We had a great lesson with him. Some other investigators we found when we went with Everton and Jose (two of our investigators who are 15 years old) to some of their friend’s houses. They helped us teach and it was really great. Everton still doesn’t feel quite ready for baptism, but we are working with him. Jose is really wanting to go to church and be baptized, but his dad still won’t let him. Jose is still following everything we teach him and studying the scriptures. He won’t even date a girl because she isn’t 16 years old, so that just shows how dedicated he is to what we have taught.  

This week was going normally until we received a call on Friday morning. President Thomas called because there was an emergency transfer happening and I was going to be transferred to another area. I still don’t exactly know why some elders needed to be moved around, but I told him I would go. Now I am in an area called Campo Limpo. I came here on Saturday night. It was a fast transition and was a little crazy to get packed up and leave. I was able to say goodbye to a lot of people which was nice. I also got to teach Emerson’s family one last time. I hope that they can continue growing in their faith and receive all the blessings God has for them.

I know that this is the work of the Lord. We are just His hands here on the earth to help others as He would. Of course being transferred so quickly is hard. When you grow to love the Ward and the people, it is always hard and sad to leave. I have faith in the Lord that He guides this work. The Mission President receives revelation to guide the missionaries and we should follow willingly and with faith like Nephi always did in the Book of Mormon. I liked Elder Bednar’s talk during the Priesthood Session this last General Conference. He talked about the difference of being called and designated. On our mission call we are called to serve and then designated to an area. The distinction may seem very small but there is a difference that makes a big deal when changes happen (as they do happen.)

Sometimes we think that it isn’t right because we were called to serve in a certain place, but in all reality, we are just designated there to fulfil our true calling which is to serve. No matter where we are designated our calling remains the same. We can always serve with all our heart, might, mind and strength. In all callings in our life, we should have faith in the Lord and know that He has a plan for us. We should receive any change with gratitude and respond as the hymn states, “I’ll go where you want me to go, dear Lord.” When we always live with thankfulness and willingness in our hearts, we will have more faith and be happier. I am grateful for the opportunity to serve. Wherever it may be, I will try to help people all that I can. I love this work and I love you all!

Tchau!

Elder Johnson

Ola!

This week was fantastic. I hope you all had an amazing General Conference experience as I did. I loved hearing all the inspired talks of guidance, love, hope, faith and all Godly things centralized of course on our Savior and Redeemer, Jesus Christ. I felt the spirit so strongly and am excited to review the notes I took and truly apply what I learned from the teaching and from the Spirit. We truly need to now apply what we learned this Conference weekend. We need to push on in faith, relying on Jesus Christ, trying to become more like Him through listening to the Holy Ghost and daily prayer and scripture study, especially study of the Book of Mormon as our prophet so inspiredly talked about. The Book of Mormon truly does have power and if the prophet of the Lord only has a few short minutes to talk, what he says is truly important. Let us all (myself included) study the Book of Mormon everyday starting with today. If we promise to read today, and we keep our promise today, we can keep our promise two days, like the Primary president talked about. What matters most is to start today and to examine what we need to do better. Make goals and plans to achieve this and then rely on the Lord to help us through. I truly did love conference and can’t wait to study and ponder on the talks over and over again.

The rest of the week was pretty normal. We are working with Emerson’s family a lot. I thought I would explain a little bit about each of them. The main people we are working with are Emerson who is 18 years old and his nephew Everton who is 14 years old. They both like the church and have been a few times on Sunday. Everton is also studying in Seminary every morning. Their friend Jose is 16 years old and wants to be baptized and go to church but his dad won’t let him. He has a strong testimony though and will continue to build it until he is allowed to frequent church and be baptized. Emerson has five sisters who all like when we teach them, but I think the most interested is Eliana. She always loves our messages and wants us to come over to teach. She has a boyfriend who also really likes us. He has a lot of questions and doubts but is truly interested in learning more. They have one little girl who is one year old and they are more like husband and wife, just not legally, which is a huge problem here in Brazil. Emerson’s other sisters are interested in the church and love our lessons, but feel like they haven’t yet received an answer if this truly is the church of Jesus Christ. We will keep working with all of them as they truly are a special family.

We are teaching another family now also. They were at a Family Night we had with someone and now we are beginning to teach them. They are married and have two little boys. The dad’s name is De and the mom’s name is Joelma. The two kids are Mateus, who is eight and Gabrielle, who is two. They are a sweet family. The two little kids are cute and have a special spirit about them. We left a Book of Mormon with them and they have all started reading. Their only problem is that they work a lot, but they should be able to go to church and hopefully will fill the spirit in their lives and see that this is the true church of Jesus Christ.

We keep looking for more and more people to teach and help. I love seeing the light of the gospel illuminate the lives of many who choose to accept and seek for the truth. Conference gave me yet another testimony that this is truly the Lord’s church and that he has called prophets and apostles who speak for him. Let us continue to review the words which have been spoken and I know that we will all be blessed. I love you all!

Elder Johnson

Trying my hand at drawing!