Ola!

These past couple of weeks have passed so fast I honestly was so busy that last week that I didn’t really have time to write up a letter. It has been a crazy couple of weeks so I will try to write up a few things now.

We have been teaching Joco a lot. He is the guy that owns a couple of stores. He is super interested and loves seeing everything about the church. We show him the temples, family history work, videos, and music and he loves it all. We usually teach him in his store so we also sometimes help out in the store. It is fun. I even ran the cash register one time. We have also started talking to his employees there, so it has opened up a lot of opportunities to teach.

One fun thing about two weeks ago. On Star Wars Day (May the 4th) we bought a pizza. One of the traditions on the mission is that with any special days (birthdays, exciting experiences, or anything really) we buy a pizza. One tradition of this area is that we also draw something on the pizza box about our day and put it on the wall. We have about 1000 of pizza on our wall. Star Wars Day was especially fun as we drew some awesome Star War designs. It was an awesome day.

The other family we are teaching is Clarisse’s family. Clarisse is the less active member we found. She is now going to church every week and is bringing her whole family to church now. We started teaching Clarisse’s sister (Claudia) and she is extremely interested. We had a chance to help her feel more peace also as one of her friends passed away. We taught about the plan of salvation and went to the funeral with her. After she said she felt at peace. It is amazing that the knowledge we have of our eternal potential and destiny.

One other fun day these past couple of weeks was the p-day we had. We went to the center of Sao Paulo. We left our apartment and took a bus until the metro station. From there we took two above ground trains and then descended into the depths of the earth to take an underground subway until the paulista, which is basically the center and largest road in Sao Paulo. The area is a lot like New York. There are a lot of huge buildings. There is a really cool art museum. A lot of cars and a lot of people. All the trains and subways were packed. We walked a little while on the paulista until we entered a little park which is like Sao Paulo’s version of Central Park in New York. It is a lot more closed though. Central Park has open fields and a zoo and is pretty large. This park has a lot more trees, just paths to walk around, a few playgrounds and a whole lot of spiders. So it is more like if the Forbidden Forest from Harry Potter was in the center of New York. After we walked through the park we went to a street where we heard that there are a lot of cars. We heard correctly. This road had so many car dealerships. From Ferrari to Lamborghini to Audi to BMW to Jaguar and so much more. One even had a bunch of American imported cars including the new Mustang, Corvette, and Camaro. It was awesome. We then went to eat lunch and we found one of the best places to eat. Taco Bell! Taco Bell is extremely new here and me and another American elder were super excited to try it. It was basically the same, which means it was extremely good. Their nachos were the only disappointing thing as it was just tortilla chips sprinkled with Dorito dust. But overall it was great. As we were leaving we saw a band playing on the street. I told them I played the drums and they said I could play with them. It was a lot of fun. I just played one song with them, but they seemed to like it and it was a super cool experience to have. After we made the reverse journey back home. It was an extremely fun and memorable p-day.

This past week we just kept working hard. We are working with a lot of people and as a mission we have a goal of baptizing 70 people on the 10th of June. We are praying and working hard for that day and I think it will be an extremely special day.

This week I also had the opportunity to speak with my family which was so much fun. It was so good to see them all and hear their voices. I am so grateful for all of them, and I love them all so much. This Mother’s Day I was especially grateful for my magnificent mother. She is such an example of strength and faith to me. She has taught me so well and I am where I am because of her. On the mission you begin to realize all the things your mom did for you that you didn’t even notice. I love you Mom. Thank you for everything you have ever done for me and everything you still do for me. Happy Mother’s Day to all other mothers as well. You all are amazing. I hope you all had an amazing day also.

I love you all. Thank you for your love and support. Tchau!

Elder Johnson

Ola!

First off, this week we had transfers, but I will be staying here in this area with my same companion. It will be good as we are working with some great people and I also really like the ward here.

This week I had to get two ingrown toenails removed. Both of my big toes were having problems so I went to a member who is a foot doctor and she cut the nail out. It was a little painful as she really had to cut in and dig out some pieces of toenail in my feet, but after I have been feeling a lot better. The days after I got them cut, I really wasn’t able to do much. She wrapped up my toes and I had to keep the wrap on for three days and I couldn’t let it get wet. To take showers I put grocery bags on my feet. The days were also very rainy, so I wasn’t able to walk a lot as it was pouring and water could enter my shoes and ruin the bandages. We still were able to visit some people and after the bandages were removed everything went back to normal.

One cool experience this week happened on Sunday. We were walking down the street and saw a girl and guy carrying some large pieces of wood. We offered to help and we carried these planks of wood a few streets to their house. The girl is about 23 and the guy also. They are dating and were carrying the wood to help her fix her house. She was extremely talkative, opening up about her humble circumstance, family, life, and even dreams she has. She lives with about 12 other people and many dogs in a small house. She doesn’t have a job yet and her boyfriend doesn’t make that much, but still helps her a lot. When we got to her house we talked to her more and she showed what she wanted to use the wood for. She was going to fix the door into the house and build a little area for the dogs as well. We offered our help and will go back next week to help them with the building. We were also able to teach a little bit which they received well. It just shows how the Lord directs our paths and how through simple service we can make new friends, help them and their families, and share our testimonies.

Another thing we have been doing a lot is family history. We had been helping someone with family history as he was planning to give a presentation at a ward family night activity. I showed some of my family tree and some of the cool memories and records that are stored on Family Search. One of the coolest things I found was an autobiography my grandpa wrote. I had read parts of it before, but not the whole thing. He let me print it out so now I have a copy that I have read and re-read. I love seeing all the similarities between me and him and learning new things about him that I never knew. I never had the opportunity to meet him here on this earth, but I know one day I will see him and that for now, through family history, I can feel him close and get to know him a little better. The tools we have nowadays are amazing. I wish I had more time to research and learn more about my ancestors, as well as finding names to take to the temple which is an incredibly important part of family history. One thing that the member said at the family history activity I really liked. He was saying that even if we don’t have a huge amount of records of the past, we can make our family history now. We should all write journals, take pictures, and save stories so that in the future our descendants can see who we are and what we did. Family history is amazing. Malachi’s promise of the turning the hearts of the children to their fathers is truly coming to pass. President Eyring had a fantastic talk this last Conference about family history which I really enjoyed. All of us can do family history. There is an amazing spirit as we research and find out more about loved ones in the past, and even a greater spirit as we take their names to the temple to truly give them a chance at eternal life with their families.

Thank you all for your love and support!

Tchao!

Elder Johnson

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!

Ola!

This week passed by extremely fast. I don’t have a whole lot to write as not a whole lot happened. I spent most of the week resting as I have had a few health problems. It is nothing too serious and I am beginning to feel better. I went to the doctor and he gave me some medicine that seems to be helping. I do not like sitting on the bench. I would much rather be playing in the game. I am hoping this week will be better and that I can be out there working more.

We still were able to visit and teach some people. Emerson, Everton and their family are all doing well. They still don’t feel quite ready for baptism, but they are progressing and hopefully will receive the desire to be baptized. The lessons with them are really great and spiritual. We are always so welcome in their house and we will keep working with them.

I did have a lot of time this week and study the scriptures. That part was really nice this week. I love the scriptures and always want more time to read. It is crazy because before the mission one hour of scripture study seemed like a lot but the one hour we have here on the mission seems like so little. I just want more time to study. It’s amazing how much we can learn through study and prayer. Even just a few minutes can strengthen us and give us answers to all our questions. Take a few minutes or a few hours a day, study, and ponder the scriptures. You will feel a true difference in your life.

Another thing I am extremely excited for this week is General Conference! This will be my first General Conference in the field as I spent the last one in the MTC. I love Conference. In my house it is one of the biggest holidays of the year. As we are filled with the sweet words of the prophet, we are also filled with sweet candy in my family. More than just the candy and food of Conference, there is truly nothing more satisfying than hearing the words of God through his chosen servants. They are inspired and have the authority to literally speak for God to the whole earth. They are more than just good speakers or leaders of a church. They are literal representation of Jesus Christ speaking not just to his church, but to the world, leading and guiding us through the tribulations of our days while also lifting and inspiring us to have more hope and faith in a world so full of doubt and unbelief.

Conference is a time to literally raise ourselves up and be edified and filled with the most precious truths the gospel of Jesus Christ has to offer. We must do all we can to prepare ourselves for this opportunity we have. We must pitch our tents as in the time of King Benjamin in the Book of Mormon. When King Benjamin gave their version of General Conference everyone pitched their tents with the opening towards the prophet. In my family we literally would make tents and stay in them to watch Conference, but more than literal tents that we sometime build, we need to make sure that our spiritual and mental tents are ready. Our minds need to be ready to hear and understand the words and our hearts need to be opened to feel the promptings of the Spirit as he will testify of the truthfulness of all that is spoken and will place in our hearts and minds all that we must do. This week in preparation, read the scriptures, pray to our Heavenly Father and think about questions that you have. Write the questions down and I promise that if you’ve pitched your tents and are open and ready the words of God, you will receive answers through their words and through the Holy Ghost.

I hope you all have an amazing week. I love you all!

Tchau
Elder Johnson.