9/14

Greetings from one of the smelliest counties in the country! Haha..so yeah..Duplin County (which is where Wallace is) is notorious for all the pig/turkey/chicken farms there are all around here..I'm not sure if I have already told you this or not..but the best part about being a missionary is when you are riding on your bike down the highway..and a turkey or hog truck passes you..(which happens WAY too often..) but yeah..those are the experiences that make everything worth it, right? Haha.. but yeah..the house of Raeford chicken plant is up the highway..I don't know if y'all have ever had raeford chicken or not but it's a big chicken company that is all over the nation..but yeah..just wanted to describe a little bit more of my area for y'all! =)

So this week we have been emphasising on teaching a bunch of lessons! The zone leaders told me that Elder Kearsley and I had the record for the most lessons taught in the entire zone, so that was really great! We've been working really hard! But we have had a ton of let downs this week..I think Saturday was one of the hardest days for me as a missionary..but those are the days when you have to just keep pushing through and show the Lord that you are willing to work hard on the good days AND the bad! But yeah..do y'all remember me telling y'all about Ray? I've got some good news and some bad news about him..the good news is that we talked to his roommate and he really did want to come to church..the bad news is that..Ray is now in jail for about 4 years..for not paying child support..yeah..it was pretty ridiculous..but oh well..I know that as we remain diligent and obedient, the Lord will bless us and we will continue to see many miracles! Well I love y'all and hope y'all are doin great!

9/8

Hey! How was everyone's labor day weekend!? We went golfing for our p-day again! My swing is getting SO much better! I only lost 5 balls this time! Haha..but yeah..the work here in Wallace is going SO great! I'm having so much fun teaching these great people and I am seeing so many little miracles, as well as a few big ones! We have definitely been working really hard and being as obedient as possible! My new companion reminds me SO much of our cousin Joe Giles..haha..he looks just like him! But we've been getting along great! He's been out 9 and a half months and I've been out 3 and a half..but we're still learning so much from each other and having so much fun! So..I bought a little computer that keeps track of how many miles I ride each day so I can record it in my journal..guess how many miles I've ridden in 2 weeks..193.22! Haha..that's pretty amazing! My legs are in pretty decent shape! Especially now that Elder Kearsley and I have been waking up an extra 30 minutes earlier to go run..we just stay in front of the house and he jogs around the street, while I run sprints up and down it! It's been going great!

Well I love/miss y'all! Hope all is well!

8/31

So this week has been really great! I got my new companion..his name is Elder Kearsley. He's from a very small town in Idaho..right off of the Teton Mtns. So my first week as DL has definitely been a ton of work, but it's been goin great! I have grown SO much..just in the past week! My teaching has improved dramatically and so has my ability to plan out each day and making sure that we're staying busy and overplanning for the day! I have definitely seen some pretty amazing things this past week and times where the Lord has definitely had his hand in the work that we are doing! So..the mission president has prayed really hard..and has come up with an inspired Standard of Excellence for the entire mission for this transfer. Part of that standard, is each companionship baptises! We're excited for the opporotunity that we have to exercise our faith and accomplish this standard! In fact..Elder Kearsley and I are pushing for 2 baptisms a day and we've been praying really hard for the guidance and direction needed to help us accomplish this!

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

8/24

Hey everyone! This week has been so sweet! On monday..we got to go to the Serpentarium down in Wilmington and we got some great pictures! Then we walked along the river walk for a little bit and saw the battleship! Then on Wednesday..we got to go to the Raleigh NC temple! (the SMALLEST temple in the world..haha..)but it is so sweet! I enjoyed it so much! Then the rest of the week was full of hard work and lots of fun!

So last night..we were driving to an appointment..and we were out in the middle of NOWHERE..on some dirt road..then in the middle of the road..there was a live water moccossin! I jumped out to grab a stick so that I could catch it..but Elder Condie wouldn't let me..=( I was kinda bummed..but at the same time I'm so thankful..because I would have definitely gotten bit..murphy's law definitely would have gone into effect..haha.. so instead we got some pretty good videos of me seeing how close to the snake I could get..haha..

Soo...we found out this week that Elder Condie and I are going to be separated tomorrow =( We're both moving on to better things..he's getting transfered somewhere to be a Zone Leader..and then I got the shock of my life..I was called to be the District Leader..I totally wasn't expecting that..I think I'm the youngest District Leader I have ever even heard of..I've only been out 3 months! I just barely graduated from being a greenie! I haven't even been follow up trained yet! Haha..so yeah..needless to say..I'm pretty nervous! But I know that by working as hard as I can and striving for 100% obedience..the Lord will help me out so much! I'm looking forward to seeing how much I'm going to grow from this! Well I love y'all and I miss y'all!

The Battleship!

Black Mamba

Forest Cobra

Mexican Rattler

8/17

This week has flown by way too fast! We're down to our last week of the transfer..so this very well could be the last week that Elder Condie and I have together! Last week was really great! We had zone conference on Tuesday..which was really great! I learned a lot about teaching for understanding and about the junior keystone of our religion, the apostacy. It is important that all of our investigators develop a testimony on the apostacy because if there was never an apostacy, than there was never really a need for a restoration in the first place! Then..I got to go on an exchange with the zone leaders..and I was with Elder Robertson, who is way sweet! He's from California..and he's totally a Calli boy! Haha..but I learned a lot from him and we definitely had a great time in Wilmington! We even got to see the house that Michael Jordan lived in while he was going to high school! Haha..we had a couple of pretty hillarious experiences while we were out contacting and knocking doors..haha..one of the guys that we contacted..tried to tell us that Jesus had a large tattoo on his upper thigh..and that it was in the Bible..he just didn't know where! Haha..that was pretty great..so yeah..I got to find out a lot about Wilmington..like the fact that the shows "One Tree Hill" and "Dawsons Creek" were filmed there! Maybe one day I'll "accidentally" walk through the set of One Tree Hill and contact them while they're filming! ;) haha..

Well I'm having the time of my life and there is honestly no place else I'd rather be! I love/miss y'all!

Elder Johnson

Goin down a steep ladder on the bike trails!

8/10

Hey everyone! Things are going really great! We had an amazing week! The work is really beginning to pick up!

It's pretty amazing how good of shape I'm in! Haha..it seems like all the missionaries around me are gaining more and more weight..and the only weight I'm gaining is from muscle! I weigh a little over 175 now! My companion and I have been waking up at 6 every morning and been running..and then when we get home..I do tons of sit ups..we've also got a little bench press so that helps out a ton, as well!

So the bananna spiders here get HUGE!! So elder Condie and I had an idea on how to make a little souvineer..we decided we were gonna catch one of these spiders and turn it into a big paperweight by sealing it in epoxy! Soo..we did that..we each caught one of these giant spiders by putting them in a jar and drowning them in this bug killer stuff..haha..so after we had them in there for about 30 minutes..we left them out to dry so that their legs would be out and the spider would be in a sweet position..so then when we got the epoxy ready..we poured it into the mold..and then we dropped the spider in it..but unfortunately..the spider was still alive!! It started moving and squirming around in the epoxy..and then it just folded its legs in..and the epoxy dried like super fast so now my little souvineer isn't nearly as cool as i thought it would be. =( oh well..

So yesterday's church was really great!! We had 2 investigators at church! One was a man..about 30 years old that has a wife and 4 kids..and he was really looking for answers in his life..we've been teaching him for a while now and he's been studying the Book of Mormon and he's really beginning to feel like this is true! So he came to church and during our gospel principles class..he was answering tons of our questions and they were all very intelligent answers as well!

Then there was Mona! Mona is the sweetest lady you will ever meet! She's got a baptismal date for the 12th of September and she is SO excited for it! She was taking notes like crazy during our gospel principles class! Haha..we talked to her afterwards and she felt like she was learning so much and really enjoying every minute of it! So i'm way excited for those 2!

Then after church..we were able to teach a man by the name of Ed Boney...we began teaching him this week and he is SO prepared, it's not even funny! During the first time we taught him..he began teaching us about the importance of the High Order of Melchezedik! He knew more about it than I did! Haha..so it was really great to teach him about how the Melchezedik priesthood has been restored back onto this earth! We assigned him a couple of chapters in the Book of Mormon to answer some of his questions..and then when we came back..he had read all of those chapters and more! He had even read all of Jacob 5 and had some really intellectual questions about it that we were able to answer! It was so exciting! He even told us that he prayed about the Book of Mormon and had a vision about it..and us coming that second day..un announced fulfilled his vision! So yeah..I'm way excited about Ed and I love teaching him!

I understand that Houston is going through a little drought right now..that sucks..because it rained here like everyday for an entire week last week haha..well I miss/love y'all!

Elder Johnson

The LARGEST frying pan in the world!

Stormy Wallace

8/3

Hey everyone!

I've had such an amazing week! I have seen so many things this past week that have definitely strengthened my testimony in the work that we're doing! There was one instance in perticular..I was on an exchange on Wednesday. It was my first time driving out here on the mission and on the way back from Wilmington, I got lost while trying to find my way to an appointment and ended up in some deep country area..haha..so I had no idea where to go and we weren't quite in our area yet so we didn't have any maps..so we pulled over on the side of the road and prayed for the Lord to direct us and help us to get back to town. So then..I just started driving..and somehow we immediately found our way back to town! Haha..It was pretty sweet! I was so grateful for the guidance of the spirit there!

Well..things are going really great..this letter is gonna have to be short too because I spent most of my 45 minutes writing my letter to the mission president today..but yeah..this week we were focusing on doing work with less actives. We asked the branch president for a short little list of less actives that we should focus on this week..and he handed us a list of about 15 names! Haha..but yeah..it's been lots of fun!

So I got to teach the gospel principles class in church yesterday! Elder Condie and I started up a gospel principles class because this branch hasn't had one in years! I can only imagine how hard it would have been to be baptised and then to just dive into the gospel doctrine class! That would have been really hard! Haha..but yeah..we were able to teach the plan of salvation to a couple of recent converts and they learned a lot! It was really great! I feel that this class is gonna help out a ton!

Well I miss/love y'all!

Elder Johnson