Olá!

This week we did more exchanged which was a lot of fun. The first couple of days I was with Elder Garcia who is from Argentina. I stayed in my area and we had a couple of great days. We met a lot of new people which was nice because when you are in an area for a long time you sometimes start to lose faith and think that you already have spoken with everyone, but that is not the case. There are still a lot of people here. We also went to district meeting together. President showed up as a suprise and it was the day that I gave a training to the district. I wasn't nervous as I usually have to give training in front of the mission and president and I enjoyed that it was a smaller group. I felt that it was a great meeting. President also brought chocalate covered strawberries which was a bonus.

After the first division we spent a day together in the area. It was nice. We made a cake for the girl who was baptized last Sunday since it was her birthday. She was confirmed yesterday which was special to see also. On Friday we decided to do a division with Elder Benedito who was my trainer! I went to his area and it was awesome. It was so much fun to be with him again. He is a great person and taught me so much so I felt like I was being trained again. We remembered a lot of old stories from the beggining of the mission and the day was full of things to do. He will go home in about a month so it was great to be able to be with him before he leaves.

On Saturday we were together again in the area and usually we use Saturday to invite everyone to go to church, so we were running around that day. It was great. On Sunday we had many investigators there and it was a fantastic meeting. Kimberly has been learning a lot. She gets so excited every time we give her a new pamphlet. She has been studying a lot and will be baptized next week!

I am having a great time on the mission. It has been raining a lot. There was a huge storm a couple of days ago that even destroyed some houses because of how strong it was. We are safe and happy though and I am excited for another week here in São Paulo! Thank you all for your love and support!

Amo vocês!

Elder Johnson

Cake for new baptism.

Just soda!!!

My trainer! (middle)

Olá!

This week went great. I may or may not have accidentally flooded the church. We were filling up the baptismal font and I forgot to turn of the water. Luckily I remembered before anyone came up and told us that it was overflowing. It wasn't a lot of water, so we were able to clean it up fast. I guess I wanted to be like Noah in the days of old, just without the ark. The baptism went great. It was a young girl named Lismaeli. Her family was baptized a few months ago and we started teaching her a couple of weeks ago. It was also her birthday so it was an incredibly special day.

The rest of the week was pretty normal. There was one day that was the day of rejection. Everyone rejected us. Everything fell through and it was a rough day. We were able to teach a few people, but the first person didn't even want us to pray, the second didn't want us to come back, and the rest were already going to different churches. There was even a person on the street who, when we said "Olá!", started yelling swear words at us and said "don't you have anything better to do??". We laughed it off, but it shows you that missionary work is not easy. It is hard to walk everyday in the sun and sometimes not have results. I am grateful for these days because I know that Jesus Christ suffered a lot more for me and so many people rejected Him. If He was rejected, we will also sometimes be rejected. I hope to follow His example and never give up and always forgive. I know that there are still so many people out there that need our message and we will keep working so that they can hear what we have to say. Through the difficulties, Christ will be with us always and I know that He is preparing so many people here in our area. I hope to be worthy to find them. Thank you all for your love and prayers!

Amo vocês!

Elder Johnson

We really do have plenty of food!

SEE!!!!

Olá!

Yet again another week has flown by. This week was fantastic. The highlight of the week is that we had two baptisms on Saturday. Both Mateus and Rafaela were baptized. It was an incredibly special day and we had a lot of support from everyone in the ward. Mateus was a referral that we received a couple of weeks ago. Rafaela had been taught for two years and finally was able to be baptized when her mom let her. Rafaela bore her testimony in church and it was very special. You can tell the love that she has to be a member of the Church now. Sometimes we can take for granted the blessings we receive when we are baptized. She is super excited to go to the temple and participate there. Mateus is also doing great. We had a family night after the baptism at his house. His mom went to the baptism and to the confirmation. He has also expressed desire of serving a mission. He is a great person and will do great things in his life.

The rest of the week we were working with a lot of other people. Fabrícia has now gone to church a couple of times. She will be baptized this week or next week. She still has a couple of doubts, but I think everything will work out soon. She is reading The Book of Mormon which helps a lot.

For a few days, I was with President at a couple of meetings. I translated for Sister Thomas. Translating is a very tiring process, but I really enjoyed it. You have to think on the spot and learn a lot of new words. There are times when you just have to make it work with what you know. This week is going to be a lot more normal. We will not have as many meetings. I am super excited to keep working here. I have seen so many miracles and hope to be worthy to see more. Thank you all for your love and support!

Amo vocês!

Elder Johnson

Olá!

This week we had a lot and a lot of meetings. The week was completely full. On Monday we had our normal meeting with President and then took the rest of the day preparing for the week. On Tuesday we had a meeting with the new missionaries. The group that just got here is great. They are super excited and look like they will do great things while they are here.

Wednesday we had our leadership council. This is usually the meeting that takes the most planning. We give training to the zone leaders and now this week they will give the same training to everyone else. We are talking a lot about The Book of Mormon. It was a fantastic meeting and everyone is very excited. It is very satisfying when the meeting goes well. Friday was our last meeting of the week. We had a meeting with all of the District Leaders in the mission. It was a lot of fun also. With all the meeting we did not have a lot of time this week, but we still were able to work for a couple of days. We usually end up running to get everywhere, but that is a lot of fun.

We had Felipe's confirmation at church on Sunday and we are going to have two more baptisms this week. Mateus and Rafaela would have been baptized two weeks ago, but they wanted to wait a little bit. They now feel ready and this week we will have both of their baptisms. They are super excited, and we are as well.

I don't have a whole lot more to say this week. I have now been out 1 year and 6 months. It is crazy how the time flies. Now that there are only 6 months left it feels like it is the 4th quarter or the last game of the state tournament. I want to work the hardest I can these last months I have so that I can "leave it all on the court". I am so grateful for the mission. It has changed my life. I hope to help as many people as I can. That is what Christ did. He endured until the end. We all have to work hard and it is not always easy, but I know that He will help us and when we work hard, we grow and become stronger. Thank you all for your love and support!

Amo vocês!

Elder Johnson

Olá!

This week went by extremely fast. I feel like I always say that, but it is always true. Yet again we were in exchanges with other missionaries this week. This week was a lot of divisions with other Americans which was different and fun. The first division of the week was with Elder Bartschi which is the Elder that I saw as I was returning to the mission. I don't know if I told this story, but as I was returning to the mission I was in the airport. There I saw another missionary who was coming down to our same mission. We even sat next to each other on the plane which was awesome! It was cool to spend a couple days with him.

The second exchange was with Elder Jones who is our district leader. That division was a lot of fun as well. He did a baptismal interview with one of our investigators who was baptized on Sunday. The rest of the time was really enjoyable with him as we were able to teach quite a few people. We taught one woman who even went to church this week! Exchanges are awesome!

Felipe, who is a member's brother, was baptized this week. His mom didn't allow him to be for a while, but she finally let him this week. I think she finally let him be baptized after we went there because she was sick. Her daughter who is also a member asked her if she wanted a blessing and she said yes. After the blessing, we talked to her and while she said that she still didn't want to be baptized, she said that Felipe could be if he wanted to. He wanted to be baptized and so on Sunday we had his baptism! It was a fantastic day for him and his family.

We were hoping to have two other baptisms this week, but they fell through. They will be baptized here in a couple weeks but didn't feel ready yet. We are working with them and I know that they will make the decision to be baptized soon. They are reading The Book of Mormon and going to church and I have seen that whenever people do that, they will always stay firmly on the path. We are talking a lot about The Book of Mormon here in the mission. An Apostle talked about the scripture that talks about the harvest and how we need to "thrust in the sickle with all our might". He said that the sickle is The Book of Mormon. I know that we need to always use The Book of Mormon in our lives. It doesn't matter where we are on the path. Whether we have a small testimony or a large one, The Book of Mormon will always help us grow our testimony to be stronger and stronger. It is the "iron rod" as Lehi stated. I know that we should all read The Book of Mormon every day. Doing so will help us stay on the path and be more like our Savior Jesus Christ. I am so grateful for the things I am learning here.

Thank you all for your love and prayers!

Amo vocês!

Elder Johnson

Olá!

This week went by super fast. I was again on exchanges in another area. I was there from Tuesday until Friday. It was a lot of fun. We were able to learn a lot of things together and I really enjoyed the other area. That is one of the best parts about all these exchanges is that I get to know a lot of different people and areas. The other area did not have as many hills as the week before, but it did have a lot of huge staircases. I don't know if I have ever explained the stairs here, but because lots of the cities are built on hills, they build stairs in between the houses going from one street to another. Sometimes there are even doors for more houses on the stairs. I don't know if I prefer stairs or hills. Haha.

The rest of the week was super normal. On Saturday we went to a lot of different people just to invite them to go to church because as a mission we had a goal to take a lot of people to sacrament meeting. We also ate pizza with Mateus on Saturday. He is an investigator who is awesome. He is the one who went to the church site and asked for the missionaries to go there. We had a small family night with him and his mom. She goes to another church but really likes that we are teaching him.

Sunday we had a meeting in the afternoon with President Thomas. We have been planning things for the next transfer as we have a lot of meetings with each new transfer. I think it will be great. We are super excited for what we are planning and I can't wait to keep working in this marvelous work. We are hoping to have three baptisms this week so we are extremely excited and will be very busy. God truly prepares people and changes their lives. I am so grateful for all the miracles that happen here. Thank you all for your love and support!

Amo vocês!

Elder Johnson

Olá!

This week went extremely well! I am super tired as we have spent the last 4 days in an exchange with other missionaries. It was a lot of fun to be able to experience a new area and new companion for a little bit longer time than just a normal exchange. The biggest problem with the other area is that there are a lot of hills. A lot and a lot of hills. The area is also a lot bigger than ours so we spent a lot of time walking. It was tiring, but still really enjoyed it. We were able to teach a lot of people and will continue doing longer exchanges so I will be able to meet a lot of new people and have a lot of new experiences.

As I was not in my area a lot I do not have a whole lot of information about our investigators, but the biggest news from the week is that Juciano was baptized!!! I am so happy for him. I was not at the baptism, but it went well. His cousin who we also baptized was able to baptize him. It is awesome to see that his family is starting to enter the church. We are now working with his parents as well. It was really amazing as well when Juciano said that he would leave his job to be able to go to church on Sundays and keep the Sabbath day holy. He had just gotten a new job, but after the confirmation, he said that he will talk to his boss or leave. He said that he has faith that God will provide a way for him to work. It shows that he truly was converted and I am so happy for him.

We continue to work with a lot of other people. I am excited for all these opportunities that I have to meet people, teach them and help them be baptized. I see that it truly does make a huge difference in their lives. I am so grateful for the mission. With each experience I have I see myself grow and become a new person. I know that it is because of Jesus Christ that these changes happen. Without Him, life would be more difficult and change would be impossible. Thank you all for your love and support!

Amo vocês!

Elder Johnson

The Christmas package finally arrives!