12/29

Hey everyone!! Soo..crazy story..The day after Christmas we got 8 inches of snow!! It literally came out of nowhere..like we woke up the next morning and looked outside..and everything was white!! It was so nuts!..i'm pretty sure it's the most snow i've ever been in! Unfortunately it wasn't a day earlier..i've never had a white Christmas before. =( Oh well..At least we had time to play in it. I'ts almost all gone now, but it was fun while it lasted! Well it was great being able to talk to y'all on Christmas! This has been a great week! We were able to set a baptismal date last night with a 10 year old girl named Brianna Stewart! She is so smart for a 10 year old! She read 2 Nephi 31 all by herself before we came over! (if only all of our investigators had the dedication of a 10 year old..) But yeah..she's way excited for the baptism, so we are too! =) Well..not a whole lot else happened this past week..it's just been a usual week i guess..I hope y'all have a good week with everything that's going on! I love/miss y'all! And thank y'all for all of the presents! I really appreciate it!

Elder Johnson

12/20

Hey everyone! So..i don't know what it is..but for some reason i'm finding this Christmas season to be a little bit harder than last year. Not harder as in discouraging..but harder as in..i miss y'all a little more this year. Christmas really didn't even phase me at all last year..I guess it's because of all the talk about going fishing and dove hunting, and it makes me a little jealous! =) haha.. Or it could be the fact that all of our investigators have gone on their Christmas leave and noone is in town anymore!! haha..that's a little frustrating, but i know things will work out! So..a miracle happened..Ryan Dudash was able to get some money and fly home to see his family..which is great because he hasn't seen his family since before his deployment to Afghanastan over a year ago. However..he doesn't get back until the 29th..and his baptism is scheduled for the first..so we're just hoping for another miracle to happen so that he can be baptized before he leaves for Fort Stewart, Georgia on the 10th. But yeah..this week has been really good..we had our Christmas Zone Conference on Tuesday..there's supposedly some really embarrassing videos of us singing on youtube if y'all wanna look them up. =)

Well..i'm truly grateful for the Christmas season. Something that we're doing as a mission is giving the Savior the gift of perfect obedience. It has really helped me to spend a little bit more time pondering about the Savior and all of the great stories of his life! It has made me a lot more grateful for the things that i have. I am grateful for these 2 short years that i have been given to represent the Savior full time as His servant. There's a man in the singles branch named Brother Brack who goes out with us quite a bit. But he can't serve a mission because of a back injury he incurred while deployed in Iraq, and he really wishes that he could be out here on the mission serving the Lord. He has helped me to truly be grateful for the ability to be able to do this, and has helped me realize the importance of the Christmas story, because without Christ, i wouldn't have the ability to do anything. I know that's true. Well..i hope y'all are doing great! I miss/love y'all a ton! I can't wait to speak to y'all on Saturday! Merry Christmas! =)

Elder Johnson

Brother Coleman's Baptism

12/13

haha..soo i didn't even realize it until i just put the date into the title..but i've been out for 19 months today..crazy. This has been a great week! I am truly grateful for the sacredness of baptisms! Last week at Brother Coleman's baptism, some members in the Fort Bragg Ward came and brought a non member friend with them! I was blessed with the opporotunity to present the message of the restoration to the congregation while Brother Coleman and Elder Hughes got dressed, and the Spirit was soo strong! Well..the next day at church, Ryan Dudash, (the nonmember) came to church and we got to teach the lesson in the Gospel Principles class, which he really enjoyed as well! Then on Thursday, we were able to go over and have a formal lesson with him inside of the member's home that brought him to church. Their names are the Farr's and they are amazing member missionaries! They've recently been re activated a couple of months ago, and they're leaving late this week for Mesa, AZ where they're gonna go be sealed for time and all eternity! But anyways..during our lesson with Brother Dudash, he had some great "questions of the soul" and was looking for more purpose to his life, as well as life in general. We had originally planned on reviewing the Restoration with him because we never got to actually go into full depth with him, but we barely talked about the restoration at all untill the very end! The Spirit ended up directing the conversation towards obedience, and happiness, and prayer, the plan of salvation, and even the gospel of Christ! (faith, repentance, baptism, gift of The Holy Ghost, and enduring to the end.) He was willing to give up smoking before we even brought it up! He then accepted the invitation to be baptized on January 1st! =) (talk about new year's resolutions..) Well..then we went over on Saturday night and he was...quite enthused about our visit..haha. He was so eager to let us know that he had not smoked a cigarrette the whole time in between our visits, even though the day before was the most stressful day of work he had had in a LONG time!! =) We are so excited for him! We knew that setting the date for January 1st was a big leap of faith because he is being transfered to Ft. Stewart, Georgia on January 10th..so he had to stop smoking fast! I'm so proud of him and that he was able to pull through! At the end of our lesson on Saturday night, he took the last pack of cigarrettes that he owned and proudly went into the back yard and destroyed them! That was a lot of fun! =)

Well..Christmas is coming up, and these are the rules for the call. I can only talk for about 40 minutes, so you're all probably gonna have to be around the phone when i call and we can do speaker phone, or something. I'll probably call around 1:00 pm here, so 12:00 back in Houston..if that changes, i'll let y'all know!

Well i love/miss y'all and i hope y'all are doing great!! I'm attaching a picture of Brother Coleman's baptism for y'all! Merry Christmas!!

Elder Johnson

Brother Coleman's Baptism

12/6

Hey everyone!! How's it going!? This has been a great week! My companion and I were asked to sing at the relief society activity on Saturday..haha..i received another confirmation that i am definitely not the singer in our family. =) Soo..Brother Coleman decided to get baptized this week instead of waiting to do it later on in the month so that his father in law could do it! He just decided that it would be too hard to do all of that traveling so he just decided to do it now! The baptism went great! There was a very good turn out and it was exactly what that ward needed to get excited about missionary work! We were able to teach Brianna Stewart last night (the 10 year old girl) and her baptism will probably be sometime in January so that her family can make it to the baptism! But other than that, not a whole lot has happened with our investigators. We're in a state of rebuilding now. Luckily, there was a non member at the baptism on Saturday who got to hear the restoration of the Gospel for the first time at the baptism, and we'll be teaching him this week! Hopefully that goes well!

It's starting to get cold here! It's in like the 30's right now!! December just completely snuck up on me, i totally wasn't ready for it! Well i love y'all and i hope y'all are doing well! Take Care!

Elder Johnson

11/29

Hey everyone! How's it going!? Soo..i've decided on my list of things that i want for Christmas.. i need a nice brown belt, about 2 longsleeve white shirts, a loofah sponge =), oh..and ties wouldn't hurt! I don't need much this year..but if y'all could correlate your efforts to help me obtain those items, it would be very helpful! Well..Kris' baptism went amazing! He is super excited to be a member! He was confirmed, and also received the Aaronic Priesthood yesterday, and he was also went in and asked the Bishop about receiving a Patriarchal Blessing..without any prompting from us! He is so solid! I'm excited to be able to watch him grow and become more and more converted! We were also able to teach a really great family named the "Barnetts." They have a ton of great potential to progress, so we are really excited for them! They are what Elder Packer would call, "Seekers". =) Elder Packer's visit was amazing! We learned a ton and the Spirit was very strong! Sister Packer was actually, fairly equal with him! She was just as amazing and spiritual as he was! Thanksgiving went really well! We had about 4 meal appointments and had a bunch of turkey! =) but other than that..this was kind've a fairly average week! Not too much to report on. It was kind've hard to get up with a bunch of our investigators this week because they are in the Army and were out of town for thanksgiving break. Well..i love y'all and i hope y'all are doing well! Take care!

Elder Johnson

Kris' Baptism!

Etch a' Sketch Skills

Messing around on an old gun

11/22

Hey y'all! How's everyone doing? This has been an interesting week! Soo..we had a miracle, disguised as a tragedy this week..haha. Soo..Kris' fiance...dumped him this week..right after he got back from his trip out to Utah to see her..Yeah..pretty lame. He doesn't even fully understand why, yet. So we were pretty crushed for him..however..inspite of that happening..Kris is still solid as a rock for his baptism this Saturday!! I am truly impressed at his faith and how much he has grown. It is definitely very apparent now that Kris has been investigating and reading the Book of Mormon for the right reasons!! So yeah..i'm definitely cheering him on right now! He's come so far, and he'll make a great member! But honestly..what i think was the entire reason for his progression was just because he is reading the Book of Mormon..(he's in Alma 16 already!!) and the fact that we are teaching him in a member's home where the Spirit is just SO strong everytime we go over there!! Brother Coleman is still doing fantastic!! We had dinner and a lesson with him on Saturday and invited him to live the Word of Wisdom! Later on Saturday night, we got a phone call from a man named Scott Wallis, whom had been talking to a friend about the church and he called us wanting to set up a time when we can come together and meet with him! Then on Sunday..a lady whom i had never met before came up to us and told us that she had just got stationed here in Fort Bragg about a month ago, and that her 11 year old daughter had not been baptized. Then her daughter came up to us and asked us, "what do i have to do to get baptized!?" it was so cute! =) So we will be meeting with them this week and helping them out with that! The Lord is continuing to bless us with miracles, and i am loving it! I am so grateful for it too, because it really feels like we didn't do anything to obtain these blessings! Also, last night i was priveleged to be able to meet with all of the other zone leaders, the assistants, President and Sister Cotterell, and Elder Alan F. Packer (Pres. Packer's son) and his wife! We had a counsel meeting where we discussed the needs of the mission. The Spirit was so strong there and i learned a lot from it all! That is one thing that i definitely love about being a zone leader, is the opporotunity that i have to be amongst the bretheren of the mission and being able to feel the spirit, knowing that i am surrounded by such great missionaries! Elder Packer is here for our mission tour, which we will be having tomorrow. Well..i love y'all and miss y'all and i hope you are doing well!

Love, Elder Johnson

From the Field

The following email came from a sister in the area where Elder Johnson is serving right now:

Dear Missionary Moms,

We had your sons over for dinner tonight, it was delightful. You should be very proud of them! They are doing really well, and seemed happy. We had a non member friend (who is in the military as well) over for dinner. I was impressed by how your sons were both able to articulate, and share their testimonies of the gospel. And the spirit that they brought, and shared with us was amazing. I also was impressed by how they were able to engage/include my husband into the conversation. They asked him questions that promoted him to share how the gospel was an aid in his life, especially during his recent deployment. This was a common ground for our non member friend to relate to. But more so a great setting (with the missionaries) to hear my husbands testimony and how it correlated with being in the military. Which im not sure had been shared before with his friend. Not only did we feed your sons, but they blessed our lives just by having them over for dinner. Thank you for raising and supporting such fine men. We sure enjoyed them.

love,

the T family

11/15

Hey everyone! How's it going!? This has been an amazing week! Stake Conference was this week, and it was amazing! Our Mission President and his wife came and spoke at it and both did an amazing job! The random guy that showed up at church last week was named Michael Everett. He lives in a group home with a few other kids, and everytime we have seen him this week, he has had someone new with him from his group home, all seem pretty interested! He came to the Adult session of Stake Conference with us on Saturday and enjoyed it, and he has even expressed his desire to be baptized! We are going to be meeting with him tomorrow and discuss baptism and the things he has to do and understand before he's baptized. He's got a great heart, but it may take a little longer than usual with him. We just want to make sure that he thoroughly understands everything before he commits. Also, we were able to invite a former investigator to Stake Conference, and she came! That was exciting! But even more exciting was another one of our investigators having a very special and spiritual experience at stake conference! Brother Coleman has been coming to church for the past few months just to make his wife happy..he really didn't like church, and we found out just last night that he really didn't like meeting with the missionaries..haha.. But recently he says he's had a change of heart. He's not going to church for the same reasons anymore. Usually his wife has to get his clothes ready for him every Sunday, this past Sunday he was ready for church before she was! And Stake Conference really sealed the deal for him! He has committed to being baptized on Dec 4th, so we're really excited for that! Kris Parkins is still doing amazing! He was at church in Utah yesterday with his fiance and her family. Her brother gave his farewell talk yesterday, he's going on his mission to Hungary! Plus, the military had a 4 day weekend because of Veteran's day, so Kris just decided to spend it with his new family! But he's still reading the Book of Mormon..in fact, last time we checked he was almost through the book of Mosiah!! Needless to say..I'm impressed! haha.. Well the zone is doing well..it's looking like we're going to fall a little short of our goal for 13 baptisms this month, but things are looking terrific for the month of December!! I just know that as we continue to be grateful for the success we have had, we will continue to be blessed with more! I love the example that President Monson gave in his last talk on gratitude. When the multitude followed Christ into the wilderness without food, Christ was concerned about them. He asked his disciples how much food they had, and they told him that they only had a few loaves of bread and a few small fishes. They fell into the trap of focusing on the lack, instead of what they had. Then Jesus took what they had, gave thanks, and then he blessed the bread and fed the multitude and had left overs. I love how President Monson pointed out how he gave thanks, and then a miracle followed. He was grateful for the things He had, and so he was given more!

Well..i love y'all and i hope everyone is doing great!

Elder Johnson

11/8

Why is it November already!?..crazy..This has been a great week! We've been teaching Kris in a member's home and he has progressed tremendously! Kris is engaged to a member who told him that she would like to be sealed in the temple one day..so Kris told her that he wasn't going to do anything that he didn't know to be true, so he decided to investigate the church. While deployed in Afghanastan, Kris had a pretty tragic event that pretty much eliminated his faith in God. While he was a group leader, he had decided to go into town one day by himself, but 3 other soldiers in his group wanted to go with him. At first he was hesitant to allow them, but then he decided it would be okay. Before they left, he prayed for safety and protection. On the way into town, they were hit by a bomb and Kris was the only one who survived. I can only imagine how much pain and confusion that must have caused him. However, y'all should see him now! He's reading the Book of Mormon..infact..he made it through 2 Nephi and is well into Jacob!! He had a great experience the other night when he prayed..it was the first time he had prayed since the event. He prayed to know if the Book of Mormon was true..and it brought him to tears. Then he decided to go watch some TV..and the next 3 shows he saw, all involved Mormon families in them! So he knew that this wasn't just by chance anymore. He has accepted the invitation to be baptized on November 27th! =) It truly has been so much fun watching him progress! He had a great time at church yesterday and he's going to be at church in Utah this Sunday to see his fiance's brother's farewell talk! I truly do feel a sincere love for Kris and i'm really excited for him!

We were also blessed with another tender mercy of the Lord when a man named Michael, whom noone had ever seen before, just randomly showed up for Sacrament meeting yesterday! He said that he was at a point where he knew that he needed God in his life and he was looking for a church. This church "just so happened" to be really close to his house, so he decided to come to this one! We have a return appointment with him on Tuesday! =)

Well..i hope everything is going great for y'all! I love/miss y'all!

Elder Johnson

11/1

Happy late Halloween!! I really love the south..you know why!? Because when Halloween is on Sunday..they have enough respect for the Sabbath to go trick or treating on Saturday! Well..this week has been great! The zone is doing amazing, we are the smallest zone number wise, but we can still compete with the other zones! The Lord is blessing us tremendously! I think the highlight of my week though was last Monday when i was walking through the ice cream isle at Wal-Mart and guess what i saw...BLUE BELL ICE CREAM!!!! Ahhh..i was so excited!! So of course, i had to buy a half gallon of cookies n' cream and now my companion is hooked on it, as well! We had a miracle yesterday after church..some guy named Kris walked into the building and he asked someone if the missionaries were here, so someone came and got us. It turns out that he has a fiance that is a member and he had been checking out the church's website and really likes what he saw! He said that he completely lost all of his faith in his last deployment to Aphghanastan..but he's really open now to learning more...we've got a return appointment with him on Tuesday..so we'll keep you posted on him! Well..i love/miss y'all! I hope y'all are doing well!

Elder Johnson

10/25

Greetings from Fayetteville, NC! My companion and I are in the Fayetteville West zone and we cover 3 wards..The Fayetteville 3rd Ward, The Fort Bragg Military Ward, and the Singles Adult Branch..which i am giving a talk in this Sunday. My new companion's name is Elder Hughes..he's from Mesquite, NV..and he's pretty much a stud because he's been out a transfer less than i have, but he's been a Zone Leader for over 6 months now! I'm learning a lot from him! Right now..most of the work is in the Fort Bragg Ward because we are not allowed to proselyte on Base..so the members are forced to do missionary work..haha..So..crazy story..I get picked up for dinner last night and we go to eat with Jon and Linda Vashaw, members in the Fort Bragg ward. They saw my drivers license when we drove through the inspection and they were like.."Oh Texas? what part?" So i told them Houston...then they were like "what part!?" and i told them Spring..then they were like "oh..well we used to live kind've near there about 10 years ago.." and i was like.."well..where at?" and they said.."kind've near where I-45 meets 1960" so i was like "wow..that's pretty close to where i used to live..do you remember which ward you were in?" and they didn't..so then i was like.."could it have possibly been the Westfield Ward!?" and they were like "YES!!" haha..how crazy is that! They were only in the ward for about 6 months but that was 10 years ago so they couldn't really remember anyone except for Bishop Shurtliff. Plus they spent the entire time teaching Primary, so they never really got to meet anyone. But i told them i would take a picture of Mom and Dad next time we saw them to see if it sparked any memories! haha..weird, huh? Well..the only investigator that i've been able to meet with is named Jermell Coleman, who is in the Military and is trying to decide if he feels like he can be ready pretty soon to be baptized. He's really great, i really like him a lot. But yeah..being a Zone Leader is stressful..i haven't gotten to bed on time once this entire week..but we're gonna try to do better this week. Well..i love y'all and i hope y'all are doin well!

Elder Johnson

Blackbeard the Pirate's House in Beaufort

Piracy. Brandon Struyk's Dad's 3.2 Million Dollar Yacht

British Soldier buried standing up

10/18

I'm getting transfered. =( This time tomorrow, i'll be on my way to Raleigh for transfer meeting. Jeeze..that came so unexpectedly..i've only been in this area for 3 transfers..usually you go 4-5 in an area. I only had one transfer with my greenie..It just feels really weird to leave..almost like i'm leaving home again. I really am going to miss the great people here in Morehead City, but they're in great hands! Elder Crezee really knows what he's doing and he should have no problem continuing to build up the momentum here in this area! Today is my last P-day here..so my companion and i got up early and biked to the dock (which is nowhere near the beach, i might add) and watched the sun come up, and we had our personal study out on the dock. It was a lot of fun..we even saw some dolphins come up and swim about 20 yards away from us! We talked a lot about the mission and about his expectations/fears of the mission and taking over the area..so yeah..it was pretty great. Well..i'm being called as a Zone Leader. I'm kind've nervous about it..President Cotterell told me that my new companion will have a polar opposite personality as me, but we should fit together nicely. That makes me a little nervous because the last time i had a polar opposite as a companion..we didn't get along at all..haha. Oh well..all things come together for our good.

So..great news! Brandon Struyk still hasn't smoked for over a month now! And we found out that his concern wasn't as scary as we thought it was! We were able to meet with him really briefly and discovered that he just didn't wanna get baptized yet because he felt that he didn't know enough and that he wasn't ready. We informed him that he was right, that he didn't know enough and that he wasn't ready yet because we had only taught him 1 and a half of the lessons..haha..But we reassured him that that doesn't mean he can't be ready in the near future. So hopefully the next time the Elders go over there, they can invite him to be baptized on a specific date! Well..i hope y'all are doing great! I love/miss y'all! Take care!

Elder Johnson

Jeremy's Baptism
Rufus (the dog we live with)
Boat ride across our lawn

Struyk Family

The Pace Family

View from the top of a bridge we biked over

Watching the Sunrise

Just before the sun came up

Nametags

10/11

Q. What's the difference between a golfer and a hang glider!?......A. A Golfer goes "whack...dang it!" and a hang glider goes "dang it!...whack!" hahaha..probably the best joke in the world. =) Well..on a slightly more spiritual note..we had a pretty good week! We had 3 investigators at church with literally no help at all from us..haha. One of them was a guy named Robert E. Lee (awesome name!! haha..) whom we haven't taught since the first week i've been here in Morehead City..and he just randomly showed up to sacrament meeting yesterday! The other one was Brandon Struyk, whom we haven't heard from in about a month! So he is finally back from his boat trip for about 2 and a half more weeks, then he has to head out again. But..i've got some really bad news..Brandon has decided that he doesn't want to be baptized just yet..=( We haven't had a chance to meet with him yet..but hopefull we'll be able to meet with him this week and find out if there's any way we can help. Poor guy..he probably faced a bunch of opposition on the boat. =( Oh..i'm gonna be out of town for 3 days this week. My companion and i are going to be in leadership training meetings Tuesday-Thursday from 9am-4pm in Kinston. (about an hour and a half away) should be great! This will be my 2nd time going through these meetings, and they are very helpful! I'm excited that Elder Crezee gets to go through these meetings his first transfer, i really wish i would've had this my first transfer! Elder Crezee is doing great, by the way. Him and I really get along great and we have a lot of fun! Well..i hope y'all are doing great! I love/miss y'all!

Elder Johnson

10/4

Hey everyone! How's it going!? Not a whole lot to report on this week..Jeremy Huffman's baptism went really well! My greenie had to present the message of the Restoration after the ordinance while i was getting dressed and apparently he did a really great job, which doesn't surprise me much! Elder Crezee is progressing very rapidly and he definitely has a great drive and motivation to be diligent and work hard! He doesn't even complain about how much biking we do! =) Well..Brandon Struyk should be coming home this week so we're really excited for that! Hopefully we'll be able to meet with him soon and help him continue to progress towards baptism!

As far as the rain went, we were out there biking in it! It was so much fun! haha..We biked through streets where the water was literally above the chain and gears on our bikes! haha..But yeah..there was some minor flooding in certain areas..our yard had a puddle about 7 inches deep in it..so we got the Palmer's little 6ft boat out and got in the middle of this puddle! haha..it was fun. Some of my most memorable days as a missionary have been while working in the rain..Those 2 days were the type of days when you get home and you have to dump all of the water out of your shoes! haha..gotta love it! =) Well..i hope everyone is doing well! i love/miss y'all!

Elder Johnson

9/27

Hey everyone!! Thanks for all of the "happy birthdays!" It's rediculous how fast time goes! I can't beleive i'm already 21! Crazy..But yeah..this week went really well! We had a baptism this past Saturday! Ethan is a 16 year old that we've been working with and he finally decided to get baptized! haha..but yeah, i got to confirm him on my birthday!! =) Oh..cool miracle..so do y'all remember that family that got baptized back in July? Well there was another son of Yvonne Laveck that did not live with her at the time. His name is Jeremy and he's 31 years old. Well he just moved in with the rest of the family and has been coming to church these past couple of weeks! His first Sunday at church, he noticed that he was the only one that was not wearing a white shirt, so that week, all by himself, he went out and bought a white shirt so that he could wear it to church! Then we went over to teach him and, again all by himself, had already begun reading the gospel principles manual and was about 10 chapters into it! Jeremy will be getting baptized this Friday, so we are really excited for that! That was a very welcomed miracle! =) Also, Brandon Struyk still has not smoked a cigarette and it's been about 3 weeks now! He'll be back on the 7th of October, which means we'll probably have to move his date back a week so that we can make sure he's prepared, because right now his date is set for the 9th. The district is also doing really well! The Havelock Elders just had a baptism, and they have another one scheduled for the 9th! Well..i hope everyone is doing great! I love/miss everyone! Take Care!

Elder Johnson

Ethan's Baptism

My "boy" Elder Crezee

The Catfish i caught

The Black Racer

Elder Crezee's first fish ever!!

9/20

Dear Family! How's it going? Not much happened this week..the weather is cooling off a little bit! Elder Crezee is doing amazing! Him and I get along great! Brandon Struyk is gone on the boat now, and David Starnes just left to go back to New York..so now we're doing a ton of finding. We've got a baptism this Saturday with Ethan Waycott, a 16 year old boy who is the son of a recent convert here in the ward. I caught a catfish last week in our pond! haha..also a 3 foot black racer, which is a fairly popular snake around here, that one was fun to catch! We're taking Ethan and his older brother Tim fishing today, so hopefully we'll have some fun! OH MY GOSH...i seriously saw the biggest snapping turtle i have ever seen!! The only other time i've seen them get that big was on the Jeff Corwin experience! We almost caught it, too..but it got away. =( We did get a really nice video of it though, i'll have to show y'all when i get home! Well..i love y'all and hope y'all are doin well!

Elder Johnson

9/13

Hey everyone! How's it goin! We did a little bit of fishing this morning but all we caught were little bluegill..no bass. =( This week has gone pretty well! My new companion's name is Elder Crezee and he's from Ogden, Utah. The work is going well..Brandon Struyk is leaving tomorrow to go back on his boat, but he'll be back on October 2nd. We bought him about 5 pounds of candy to help him while he quits smoking! =) David Starnes is doing well, and so is Ethan Waycott. Please pray for all of them! But that's about it for this week..we're going to be doing a ton of finding this week, hopefully we will be blessed with some success! Well, i love/miss y'all!

Elder Johnson

9/6

Hey everyone!! How's it going? This week was okay..we didn't get a hurricane, though.. =( I was way dissappointed about that..we were looking forward to it all week..then at the last minute it turns away from us! My companion and i are blaming it on the "prayers of the righteous." Maybe next time.. Well i got some fishing done this morning! haha..I was bored so i decided to go out real fast and catch some bluegill. I was using a small, 3 foot "Superman" pole and grasshoppers as bait..and i caught about 8 of them! Then at the end i decided i was gonna go for a bass. I hooked one..but then it broke my line.. =( oh well..I think next week my new companion and i are just gonna grab some worms at the pet store..those work really well!

Soo..i've got some news for everyone..I'm District Leader again..and i'm training again, as well! But the thing that i am most excited about is..ELDER PETERSEN IS COMING BACK!!! Do y'all remember the Elder that I trained earlier that went home because of his leg injury? Well he gets back tomorrow!!! I'm so excited about that!! That was the BEST news that President gave me! President Cotterell is gonna let me send him a voicemail on Thursday to welcome him back to the mission! Well..Brandon Struyk is doing really well! He quit smoking on Thursday!!! He came to church on Sunday, and when he found out that Elder Thatcher and i needed a ride to Raleigh..which is a 3 hour drive, he volunteered to take us! We're both pretty excited for him! Transfer meeting should be great for him and will help him out a lot! He's still pretty excited about his date for October 9th..and that date may even be moved closer, depending on how he feels!

Well..i hope everyone is doing great! I love/miss y'all! Take care!

Elder Johnson

8/30

Yikes..my birthday is less than a month away..i still don't even know what i want yet! haha..maybe one of those 12 dollar watches from Wal-Mart..mine just broke. =( Well..this week has been amazing! We've been in Goldsboro from Tuesday-Thursday for leadership training meetings from 9 in the morning, to 4 in the afternoon all 3 days. It was a lot of great stuff! Supposedly the greatest thing that's happened to the missionary program since "Preach My Gospel." It wasn't anything new..it was just an entirely different view of how we are to teach..and i like it a lot! While in Goldsboro..i got to stay with Elder Tibbitts..whom is one of my past companions! He's actually my mostest favoritest companion in the whole wide world! And guess what!! Tuesday night..i got to work with him, as well as my Trainer, Elder Condie, who is an Assistant to the President right now and he decided to come with us in a 3 some..so it was pretty cool being able to work with 2 of my past companions and seeing how much we've all grown since we were together! But the training went really well..infact..we now have 2 baptismal dates! One is with a 16 year old named Ethan Waycott..his brother Tim got baptized in July, and now he's back in town and wants to get baptized. Then on Friday, we were able to meet with Brandon Struyk again and he accepted the invitation to be baptized on October 9th..which is funny because his wife was baptized on October 10th! Unfortunately..Brandon was not able to make it to church yesterday, and we still don't know why yet. =( keep praying for him! Then we were able to meet with a man named David Starnes, who is dating a member here. David is in the Army and is stationed up in Fort Drum, NY..which is funny because my companion's real dad is the 1st counselor in the branch presidency up in Fort Drum..coincidence? I think not. =) But we taught him on Friday for the first time..and then at the end of the lesson, he told us that he beleived EVERYTHING! He wants to get baptized..but he might be headed back to Fort Drum here pretty soon..so we are gonna keep working with him and the Lord's will shall be done! =)

Well..i hope everyone is doing great! I love/miss y'all!

Elder Johnson

8/23

Hey Fam! How's everyone doing!? We had a pretty great week! The boatride was lots of fun! We got to check out the Cape Lookout lighthouse and got some great pictures of that! The fishing was kind've weaksauce, though..my companion foul hooked a dinky 14 in. spanish mackerel, and we caught a lizard fish, which is a trash fish, on one of the handlines. That was my first time ever trolling before..apparently that's what a lot of people do out here and it works pretty well..just not for us, i guess! haha.. But it was still a ton of fun!! Hopefully we'll do a better job at fishing today in the pond behind our house! =)

But as far as the work goes, we had a pretty great miracle this week! We had stopped by an active part member sister, Sister Struyk, on an exchange last week, and during this visit, she expressed a deep desire for her husband Brandon, who works on a boat for 3 weeks at a time, to get baptized. She told us of how Brandon has taken the lessons before, but really wasn't interested, and that he's probably afraid of committment. We shared a few scriptures with her and suggested prayer at the end of our visit. Well..we stopped by Sister Struyk to see how she was doing, and she gave us a report on what happened during the past week. She said that after we left the night before, she went into her room and prayed harder than she has ever prayed before. The next morning, she gets a call from her husband who is on a boat somewhere, telling her that he's coming home early due to a knee injury..but then he told her that due to a couple of "chance" happenings..he wanted to go to church with her when he gets back! So when we get there this past Friday, he's there and we have a really good talk about fishing and boating..then he asked us if we wanted some dinner..which we happily accepted. After dinner, we all go and sit down in the living room..and he allowed us to teach him the first lesson. At the end of the lesson, he expressed his desire to grow closer to God and told us that he would be at church this Sunday. Sure enough, Brandon came with his wife and stayed the entire 3 hours! We're really looking forward to meeting with him again this week! Hopefully he will keep his committment to read from The Book of Mormon!

Well..i hope everyone is doing well! I love/miss y'all! Keep me updated on the Little League World Series..i hear a team from Texas is still in it! =)

Elder Johnson

Me and Elder Thatcher

Cape Lookout Lighthouse

The Charter Boat we were on

The Sandbars

My Rooster!!

Goin to work!

8/16

Hey everyone! Sorry i didn't get an email out last week..the computer wasn't really working, plus i was kind've in a rush to get out and hit some golf balls with Brother Pace! =) This week has been great! So as far as who we're teaching..there is Robert Green who is amazing! He is a really funny/nice old guy that is extremely smart..especially about money! He's got lots of it..haha. But a long time ago..him and his wife went to hawaii for their honeymoon, and while there..got invited into the Polynesian Cultural Center! =) Robert ordered a book of mormon from there and when they got home, Sister missionaries were already calling them to try to bring it by. So they did..and robert read it..but didn't join the church! He did, however, gain a testimony of the book of mormon and said quote "no person on this earth could have ever written that book..let alone someone with a 3rd grade education and do it in less than 70 days. There's no way!" haha..so now we're just trying to help him beleive in the Apostasy. He finally understands it..but doesn't fully beleive it..yet. =) So he started reading the Book of Mormon over again and is now about half way through 1st Nephi. There's also a couple from Scottland, (they have the accent and everything!!) that we tracted into this week. Their names are Richard and Janet. They're 7th day adventist, but are pretty open. They've had missionaries before back in Scottland, as well as Delaware, in fact, Janet even watches the BYU Channel every Friday! Richard is really picky with what you say, so you have to be careful! haha..but they're really great! We have a return appointment with them this Tuesday so hopefully we'll be able to make some progress with them!

Soo..on Thursday, there were some Recent Converts in the ward that needed help butchering their chickens..so we got to help out! haha..it was pretty fun! We got to catch 'em, than kill 'em using some hedge clippers, than pluck 'em, then gut 'em! haha..Needless to say..it was a messy job..but we got free eggs out of it! =) Today's going to be pretty exciting!! A member from the Harker's Island ward owns a charter boat..so he's taking our district out on it to go and see the Cape Lookout lighthouse, and to go fishing off the coast! Apparently because it's a charter boat..we have permission to do it! So yeah..this will be great! I haven't been salt water fishing in forever! I'll take lots of pictures! =) Well..i hope y'all are doin well! i love/miss y'all!

Elder Johnson

8/2

Wow..it's August already..Well this week has been kinda slow, yet somewhat eventful. On Tuesday i went on my first split! haha..Usually when we go on exchanges, both of us go together..but on Tuesday i went with Brother King to a dinner appointment with the Willis family and a part member family was there, while Elder Thatcher went out with Anthony Rios, who is a recent convert here from Harlengen Texas. That night went really well! We got a lot of great things accomplished that day..so we're gonna try to split more often. Josh, who is our 16 year old recent convert, got interviewed on Sunday and he's going to be receiving the priesthood this Sunday! We're all very excited! I was also blessed with a very special moment yesterday during sacrament meeting as both Shirley and Yvonne, our recent converts, got up and bore their testimonies in front of everyone, and Brittany bore hers in front of all the young women! That family truly is very special and a lot of great things will come from their decision accept the gospel! Josh told us the other day that he really wants to go on a mission someday! =) We watched mountain of the lord the other day after we taught them about temples and they were really impressed with the pioneers, it was really fun telling them how they too, were pioneers for the rest of their family, being the first to accept the gospel! =) The gospel is true. Just thought i'd let y'all know that! =) Where else besides the Lord's work are you going to see miracles like this family?

Well i love y'all! Hope you're having fun! I hope the beach house reunion goes well! I still think the beaches here are much nicer and better for a reunion than there, though.. =)

Elder Johnson

7/26

Hey everyone! How's it goin? This week went great! The baptisms were amazing! The Spirit was soo strong! There were so many people there, that we had to move the baptism from the releif society room, to the chapel! There were also bunches of non members there, so it went really well!! =) Then after the baptism, the ward had pioneer day festivities. Yvonne, Josh, and Brittany all really enjoyed themselves and seemed to have a really great time! It was so amazing to be able to have that experience, and to be able to take part in that great story! It's very humbling..especially because Elder Bednar taught that all baptisms simply are, is a gift from the Savior. I think that was the best gift i have ever been given! =) Well the transfer just ended..and my companion and i found out that we're staying together here in Morehead for at least another transfer! We're both way excited, and we're looking forward to witnessing more miracles together as we work hard! We're also both pretty excited to be staying here because he's got a membership at Gold's Gym, and i've been given a free 30 day trial, so we've been waking up at 5:20 in the morning and going there to work out lately! It's pretty embarrassing how out of shape i'm in..haha..

Well i love/miss y'all! I hope y'all are doin well!

Elder Johnson

7/12 & 7/19

7/12/10

Hey fam! How's it goin? Well..i hope y'all like to read because this letter is gonna be pretty long! haha..but it's worth reading, i promise! =) God has blessed us a lot this week!

So do y'all remember Shirley? The extremely nice lady that we baptized last week? Well she also lives in her trailer with her daughter Yvonne, and Yvonne's 3 children. Yvonne and the kids have had a really tough life. She used to be married and had a job working for Doctor Bloomfield, (who..turns out..is actually a very active member in our ward!) But as time passed, her husband got worse and worse. He would come home drunk and would abuse the family, and it got pretty bad, so Yvonne and her family were forced to move out and start living with Shirley, however, because of the father, it caused a lot of pain in that family and a lot of sorrow. The kids were never the same, especially the oldest named Josh. He built up a lot of anger and would lock himself up in his room, yell at everyone including his grandma and mother, and completely lost his faith in God. Things for this family only got worse as last October, Yvonne got in a major car accident and suffered some horrible injuries as a result. The most devestating injury was the damage done to the nerves in her head, and she now suffers from memory loss. Because of her brain injury, she had to be let go as a nurse, so she lost her job. Slowly this family was falling apart, understandably because of the trials they were facing. When i first met Yvonne, it was in the hospital because she still suffers from neck pains from the accident. Shirley had asked us to go to the hospital to give her a blessing, and even then, Yvonne's faith in God was weak. The next Monday, we had a lesson with Shirley, and because of how greatful Yvonne was, she came in and listened to us! She seemed to really enjoy the lesson because she accepted a return appointment for us to come back and teach her! The next time we came back to teach her, she expressed to us her concerns about life and trials and was really depressed from them. At the end of the lesson, she requested another blessing, and so while we blessed her, Heavenly Father promised that if she would keep the commitments that we give her and come to church, than she would be the example for her children and that her children would receive the gospel as well. Knowing the condition of her children, especially her oldest, Josh, who is 16..this seemed like it would take a miracle. Everytime we would be over there, Josh would be locked up in his room and would never come out, and never really wanted to talk to anyone. Well the next day, Yvonne had to go to court to face some things that she had been charged of from her accident back in October. While there, Yvonne had a tremendous experience that boosted her faith in God! She said right before the hearing, she had prayed that God would help her through this trial. Then at the end of the trial, all of the charges were dropped and she was free to go! =) She then accepted a baptismal date for the 24th! Well, that Saturday was Shirley's baptism, and Yvonne ended up coming to that, and then to church the next day! Then we went back on Tuesday to teach her and a miracle happened! We were able to invite Britney, her 12 year old daughter, to listen to the message! At the end of the message, she told us that she really really liked the story of Joseph Smith and that she felt really good while we shared that message with her! She then accepted the 24th as a baptismal date, to be baptized with her mom! =) Well..then on Friday, Shirley called us up and asked us to come over because Yvonne just found out that her friend had died. So we rushed over there and tried our best to comfort her in anyway that we could, but i feel that the most comfort came from the Holy Ghost as we shared true doctrine with her. Her countenance took a dramatic change from the beginning of that lesson, to the end of that lesson, and i feel that she has grown closer to God most from that lesson, out of any of the other ones! Then on Saturday, we came over for our appointment with Yvonne and Britney and taught them both the plan of salvation, which went really, really well! However, we had promised them some pictures from Shirley's baptism, but we forgot them at home, so we told them that we would bring them over later on that day. So later on in the afternoon, we swing by to drop them off, and while we were sitting down, out of nowhere, Yvonne's son Jake comes in and sits down and starts talking to us. (Jake is 14) We were able to teach him with Shirley and Britney there, then towards the end of the lesson, Yvonne comes in after waking up from her nap and is really excited to see Jake listening to us! Jake, too, felt really good as we explained the message and said that he beleived it all! We were able to set a date with him as well, to be baptized with both his sister Britney, and his mom, Yvonne. When Jake accepted that date, Shirley began to cry and was so happy to see her family coming together again! She said that "now there's only one more..Josh is a great kid, but i really worry about him. He's got so much anger built up and he said he didn't want to listen to y'all, but i just know he'll come around." About 30 seconds later, Josh walks out of that room and sits down on the couch next to his mom and his brother, and tells us that he's been listening to us. In fact, everytime we came over, he turned off the TV in his room so that he could hear us, and he really liked what we said. He expressed to us that he was tired of being angry all the time. He really didn't want to yell at his mom. He recognized that he was angry with his Dad, and that he had just been taking his anger out on his mom because that was the only way he could take it out, but he's ready to let go. He then told us, with a big smile on his face, that he wanted to be baptized with his brother and his family on the 24th. =) After we shared the message of the restoration with him, we invited him to pray. He said that he didn't know how to pray, so we taught him and he was willing to do it. I don't think i have ever felt a more sincere prayer in my life. It brought almost everysingle one of us in that room to tears, including Josh. Then i looked over at Shirley, and she looked happier than she did at her own baptism! With tears in her eyes, she expressed how happy she was that her family had all come together like this! She never thought it would be possible! The Spirit was so strong in that room. The next day, all of them came to church and really enjoyed it! Soo..now i'm looking forward to the best Pioneer day ever! =) I am truly grateful for the tender mercies of the Lord. I know the Lord fulfills all of His promises and i know that miracles DO happen! I am humbled by the opporotunity that i had to be a part of this great miracle! Well..we are also having a baptism this Saturday with Tim Libby. Tim is 19 years old and he's the son of a recent convert in our ward. Missionaries have worked with him for a long time, and now he's decided that he wants to get baptized, so we're pretty excited for it!

Well..i'm truly grateful for the love and support that y'all send me! =) I love/miss y'all and hope y'all are doin well!

Elder Johnson

7/19/10

Hey everyone! This week went pretty well. We had a few dissappointments, a few missed appointments, but a few miracles as well, so it works out alright i guess! Morehead City is great! Tim's baptism went really well and it was very exciting to be there and feel the Spirit! His mother is a recent convert, and she was very excited to watch Tim get baptized! I'm also really excited for the baptisms this Saturday! However, we went over for our lesson on Friday and they 14 year old boy expressed to us that he did not want to get baptized yet, because he felt like he wasn't ready and that he would be getting baptized for the wrong reasons, so that broke my heart pretty bad..but, if God be willing, Yvonne, Brittany, and Josh will still be getting baptized this Saturday right before Pioneer Day..so we're very excited about that! Hopefully we'll be able to work with Jake more, and i know that as he continues to feel the Spirit and watch the change that takes place in his family, he'll have a desire again to be baptized! Brittany also brought 2 of her cousins to church yesterday, and they seemed to really enjoy it! So we're way excited for that as well!

We had the chance to go down to an old Civil War fort this past P-Day and take some pretty cool pictures..it was so much fun! There is a lot of rich history here in North Carolina and it's really fun to learn about it all!

Last night, we were able to attend a really great fireside! There was a missionary that served in this ward about 12 years ago, named Elder Johnson! (his initials are JJJ, as well which is really cool!) Well he's at the head of an organization called the "More Good Foundation" and pretty much all he does is try to drown out all of the anti websites out there with postives concerning the church! Well he came and spoke to the members of the ward here and talk all about sharing the gospel by using the internet! He used the scriptures that talk about how in the last days, the gospel shall be "taught from the rooftops", then he pointed out that we've got satelite dishes on top of our roofs that can bring us General Conference, as well as internet access! This organization has been able to do a lot of good! Look at YouTube..4 years ago, when you typed in "mormon", 80% of the results were anti. Now when you perform the same search, almost 90% is positive!! pretty cool! but yeah..y'all should check out the organization's website and learn a little bit more about it..i think its like moregoodfoundation.com or something like that..but yeah..i'm sure y'all can find it!

Well..all is going well here! I love/miss y'all! Take care!

Elder Johnson

1. Tim's Baptism
2. Fort Macon

3. Overview of Fort Macon4. Texas will rise again!

5. Cannon w/Battle ship in the background

6. More of Fort Macon

7/6

Hey everyone! So..just so everyone knows, Shirley's baptism went great!! It was so exciting to see how happy she was! We're also working with her daughter, Yvonne, who is just as amazing as Shirley is! She has a baptismal date for July 24th, so keep her in your prayers! Well..the longer i'm in this ward..the more i'm growing to love it! Dad, you might like this..we have a retired golf pro named Charles Pace who lives in our ward, and him and his wife are amazing! But he says that we can go golfing with him for free on Mondays, so we might have to take him up on that pretty soon! His wife, Sister Pace, is amazing, too! She just cut my hair yesterday and did a really great job with it! =) haha..she's also one of the most missionary minded members i've ever met!

Well..last week went pretty well..we got a lot of work done, that's for sure! Right now we're just trying to do a bunch of finding, because that's what really needs to get done right now. We've been receiving a bunch of help teaching wise from a recent convert in the ward named Anthony Rios. He's a marine and he's actually from Harlingen, TX..which is right next to you Jamie! But he just got deployed for a month yesterday, so we won't be able to use him for a while, so we're going to be using the time finding now!

Well i hope y'all are doing great! I love/miss y'all! Take care!!

Elder Johnson

Shirley's Baptism

Working in the rain

Dolphin Ride

6/28

Hey Fam! Things here in Morehead City are still going really well! We've got a baptism this Saturday with Shirley, which we are way excited about! She came to church yesterday, and really enjoyed it! She says she's never felt more loved at any place on the earth, than at our church! It's very exciting to watch her progress, and she'll be a great member! Well..this past week has been pretty great! We were able to go with a recent convert named Anthony to a really cool pageant that our stake does once a year in a town called "Bath." Bath is actually the oldest town in North Carolina..i even got to take a picture next to the first church building in North Carolina..it's an Episcopal church named "St. Thomas", and we even got to go inside of the building! But the pageant was really neat..it's called "The Promised Land" and it connects the American Revolution with the Restoration and the Book of Mormon stories. It was a really cool pageant and i'm glad i was able to go! I also saw a few members from Garner there as well, so that was really exciting to be able to talk to them! We also had a few miracles this week, just little things that truly testify of the divinity of this work and i'm really glad to be a part of it! Well, i hope everyone is doing great! I miss/love y'all! Take care!

Elder Josh Johnson

The Bass I Caught

Oldest Church in NC

Really Blurry Picture of the Pageant

6/21

Greetings from Morehead City, NC! =) Oh my gosh..it's so gorgeous here, i love it! I'm literally less than a mile from the beach! (just in time for hurricane season, too!) The water here is amazing, the people are friendly, the ward is fantastic, and we've got a lot going on right now! Well i've been having a lot of fun while working hard here in Morehead. My companion's name is Elder Thatcher and he's from St. George, Utah. He's been out for about 6 months now, so i'm the senior companion. He really loves to work out, and we live with members here that have a shed with workout equipment in it..so it's a lot of fun! There's also a pond in their backyard that's great for fishing! I caught a largemouth bass this morning! =) haha..But speaking about fish..(Dad, you'll love this part!) the Big Rock Blue Marlin tournament was here in Morehead this past week, so there were a lot of people there! Well we decided to go contacting there, and while we were there..this boat brought in a Marlin that weighed 460 pounds..which looked like it was really big..but earlier that week..someone brought in a 860 pounder! That broke the tournament record, and it's been goin on for about 50 years now! I really wish i would have been able to see that fish! I'll bet it was huge!! As far as the work goes, we've got a couple of really solid investigators! We're teaching a lady named Shirley right now who is in her 70's, but is probably one of the sweetest ladies i've ever met! She's got a baptismal date for July 10th and is very excited for that date! We've got another appointment with her this Wednesday night, as well as with her daughter and her daughter's boyfriend who just recently became investigators as well! =) I'm very excited to be here and i'm looking forward to working with this great ward!

So..just before i got here, tragedy struck the ward. The Sister Holmes in our ward is the daughter of our Bishop, Bishop Reese. Well on Tuesday morning, all of the Holmes kids were at the Reese's home while Brother and Sister Reese were going to be gone all day. Well while they were gone, their 2 year old son fell into the pool and drowned. It was really rough on a lot of the members of the ward here, and especially the Reese and Holmes families. The funeral for little Danny was yesterday after church, and it was a great blessing to have had the presence of the Spirit there in such great abundance. I feel that the Spirit was the strongest when at Danny's graveside, we all sang "Families Can Be Together Forever"..and then just the family sang "Love At Home" which was tradition to sing in their family at the end of every single one of their family home evenings. Now, i don't know the Reese family or the Holmes family that well, however after just meeting them twice, i truly have grown to love them as if they were literally part of my family, and i think that is just another testimony on how true this gospel is. Where else besides the Lord's work are you going to see such friendship and such brotherly love during such times of trial and heartache. I know the gospel of Jesus Christ is true, and i am eternally grateful for the opporotunity that i have to live together with my family for forever one day! =) Well i miss/love y'all! I hope y'all are doing well!

Love

Elder Johnson

My fish!

Elder Thatcher and me!

460 pound Blue Marlin!

Atlantic Beach!

The Ocean

I never realized how much i missed swimming before..

Elder Thatcher and I on the dock

Hill Family