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

6/14

Well..this is my last e-mail from Garner, i get transfered tomorrow. =( It was really hard saying goodbye to the members yesterday, i grew really attached to them over these past 8 months! I'm going to miss Garner a lot, but i'm looking forward to serving in my next area, as well and having more great experiences like the ones that i've had here in Garner. So, i found out that i'm getting released from District Leader, which i guess is pretty bitter sweet. I loved being able to serve with, learn from, and get to know my district very well as District Leader. It was a lot of fun! On the flipside though..i've been planning District Meetings almost every week for 11 months now, and a little break might be refreshing! However, President Cotterell said that my days as a leader are nowhere near being finished, so i'll probably be back to being a District Leader sooner or later, which will be fun again! =) Well, not much to report on this week. We had an investigator named Eric Banks that came to church yesterday, unfortunately he might be shipping back into the military in a couple of weeks. =( bummer..

Well i love/miss y'all! I hope y'all are doing well..i really hate packing by the way..it's the worst! I've got so much stuff now, that i don't even know where to begin! It'll be a miracle if i can get all packed by tomorrow! Take care y'all!

Elder Johnson

Anderson Family
Bailey FamilyHeaberlin Family
Holmes FamilyNewbry Family
Quiller FamilyRiggleman Family
Sister Lugo
Sister WilliamsDistrict 2
Garner District

6/7

I have a testimony of latter day prophets. =) Our meeting with Elder David A. Bednar was truly a once in a lifetime experience. It was a 4 hour, question and answer session, where he would ask us questions, and we would answer them. Then we were able to ask him questions, and he answered them. I am absolutely amazed with how profoundly, how swiftly, he answered and responed to each question. I'm amazed at the questions that he asked us. I am humbled by an experience that i was priveleged to have during this meeting. Just the day before, we met with an investigator named Eric Heyberlin, who is married to a member. He accepts Joseph Smith as a prophet, he accepts the Book of Mormon as scripture, he does not however accept the way that we call prophets now, and honestly i didn't know too much about how we call prophets now except for the senior apostle always takes over, so i didn't know exactly what to tell him. Then when Elder Bednar was introducing the question session, he gave an example of a bad question to ask him, than he gave an example of a good question to ask him. The bad example was asking him where the sword of laban was..haha..But then for the example of a good question, he "just so happened" to use the example of asking him how prophets are called today! He did not answer that question immediately, but i knew that it was inspired. So i raised my hand and asked him that question, and as he looked me in the eye, and explained to me this God inspired process of the selection of the next prophet, i felt the Spirit probably stronger than i've ever felt it before, as i sat there and held a brief conversation with an apostle of the Lord. I know, and i witness that there truly are apostles and prophets of God that walk the earth. I know that President Monson has truly been called on by God. I just hope that one day, i'll be able to have another experience like this some other time in my life!

Well i'm really grateful to be out here on my mission! Elder Wilding is doing great, he's got a great spirit! He reminds me of the greenie on "the best two years" haha..(i just hope i'm not as trunky as his trainer was!) Oh yeah..i found out that i'm getting transfered next tuesday! =( It's sad..i'm going to miss garner. Well i love/miss y'all!

Elder Johnson

6/1

Soo..i arrived here in North Carolina exactly a year from today! It's so weird thinking back to that day and the state of confusion and shock that i was in! haha.. i hope i've improved a lot since then! Well..so a lot has happened..i had a really good week over in Cary, working with Elder Handy and Elder Waite. During the week, i found out that i was going to have a new companion on Tuesday! A new greenie! His name is Elder Wilding and he's from Loveland, Colorado! (my first companion that grew up with early morning seminary!!) He was originally called to the Sacramento California mission Spanish speaking, but then they switched his call and he came here to speak english with me! Then yesterday i was invited to go to the Zone Leader Council meeting up in Raleigh, and i learned a TON!! After the meeting, i got home and was trying to finish up some planning and then i get a call from the assistants telling me that my new boy was actually already at the airport waiting to be picked up! (we all thought he was coming in the next day) He also told us that President Cotterell would be at our place in about an hour and then we'd go out to dinner together with my new greenie! Soo..yeah! A lot happened really fast, so now i have a new companion and am back in my area!! Only for about 2 more weeks though..President Cotterell told me that i'm still going to be transfered this next transfer..=(

So we had a miracle happen! Our investigator Adam Guillen had been praying for an opporotunity to come to church..then an hour before our appointment on Tuesday, he got a call saying that he didn't have to work this weekend..so he was able to come to church and he enjoyed it! We set a baptismal date with him for July 10th..but we told him that we could move that forward if he felt like he was ready! We're really excited for him..we see him again tonight! Pray for him!

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

Elder Johnson