12/7

Soo..i love being in "The Triangle" the triangle pretty much consists of the area within the perimiter of the cities chapel hill, raleigh, and durham. There are so many people here and its a lot more fun to do missionary work because there's always people to contact and doors to knock! We went to the christmas parade the other day and were able to contact a ton of people! we even got to see Santa!! =D

but yeah..the Hills came to church yesterday! They even came to the chilli cookoff the night before and they brought chilli! I was a judge and i was trying to figure out which chilli was their so that i could choose it..but i couldn't figure out which one it was. =( haha..
But we also had a girl named Lee at church too. Her parents are way less active members and we've been trying to get them to church..but finally lee's mom was able to bring her to church yesterday! but yeah..lee usually won't be able to come to church because every 2 weeks, she's with her real father in Clayton, then on the 3rd week she's with her mother in garner..so it's kinda hard to help her progress..

well i can't wait for christmas!! i'm way excited for it! Well i love y'all and hope y'all are doin well! I heard it snowed in Houston! i'm kind've bummed i missed it!! they said we were supposed to have "frozen percipitation" last Saturday..but of course it didn't happen. =( well can't wait to talk to y'all on x-mas!

love Elder J

11/30

Happy late Thanksgiving! hope y'alls went well! mine did! The ward here is great and they are very friendly! soo..our investigators Eddie and Jessica Hill came to church again! They absolutely loved it! in fact, they even told us that all their kids have been talking about the past week was wanting to go back to church! The ward has also been doing an amazing job of fellowshipping them and making them feel comfortable! We should be setting a baptismal date with them this week, so i'm way excited for that! =) So things are going pretty well with me..i'm still trying to learn the area, but i guess i'm doing pretty well so far. So i love the car we get to drive in this area! We get to drive an '09 chevy malibu! =) they're pretty sweet! But yeah..the work in this area is still pretty slow..it's only been open for 8 weeks now so there's a ton of work to do, so i'm way excited to be here kuz i love working hard! =)

Well i love y'all so much!
Elder Johnson

Sister Jeffers & her grandchildren! (Michael Jordan's aunt)

Me and JJ!

Victor, me, and Peter

My Thanksgiving Turkey! =)

11/23

Greetings from Garner, NC!!

I am now in Garner, which is pretty much south of Raleigh! It's pretty exciting to be here in the city and I'm excited for my new district! Except I have sisters in my district now and I've never been in charge of sisters..haha..yeah it's a little awkward..but they're amazing missionaries! But yeah..Garner is so amazing! My new companion is named Elder Tibbits, and I'm actually follow up training him! He's only been out for one transfer and he's pretty amazing! We've been working hard this past week and we are having a really great time together! He's from a very small town named Panaca..it's somewhere in Nevada near the Utah border..but yeah..I'm way excited for this transfer! We're going to see so many great things!

This past week we were able to teach a couple named Eddie and Jessica Hill. It was amazing to see how they had been prepared for our message and for our church, so we invited them to come to church and they came with both of their kids! They had a really great experience, the members were great with the fellowshipping and Eddie is going to be coming to the turkey bowl this Thursday! But yeah..there's a lot going on here in Garner and I'm excited to be a part of it!

Soo..I've been thinking about winning the lottery so that I can go to the BUY Jeruselem Center! =) haha..that would be SO amazing..just even for a transfer..but it would also be WAY expensive..even for just a transfer..haha.. Well I'm excited for this upcoming week and being able to work with the Hills and some other golden investigators!

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

11/16

Soo..I've got some bad news..I'm getting transfered =( I'm kind've bummed about it kuz I've really grown to love this place so much! It was really hard to say goodbye to everyone yesterday, I'm gonna miss them! So other than that, this past week went okay..I got to go to the temple, which was pretty sweet! I really enjoyed that! I also got to go on an exchange with the Zone Leaders, and I ended up being with my trainer Elder Condie over in Iilmington..it was so amazing seeing how much we've both grown since we split up! We taught one of the most spiritual lessons that we've ever taught together on that exchange! It was so awesome! Soo..I just found out that missionaries are gonna be allowed to play in turkey bowls, which is way exciting! =) The only bad news is that we aren't allowed to wear cleats =( so I am kinda bummed about that..but hey..at least I get to play football! =)

So..even though I'm getting transfered..I am kind've excited about meeting my new district! I get to be a district leader somewhere else, which means I get to work with a whole new set of missionaries, which will be way sweet! I'm looking forward to it!

Well I love y'all and hope y'all are doing great!

Elder Johnson

The Cavenaughs!

My Wallace district

Wallace Train Station

Hampstead Waterway

Sun Shot! (me & Elder Bentley)

11/9

Hey! How are y'all!? We had an amazing week and an amazing experience! It started at zone conference, where our mission president told us that there are dozens of people prepared to hear the gospel in EVERY SINGLE area. That really struck me because our teaching pool has been pretty bland lately..but Elder Kearsley and I knew that if we fasted and prayed for it, than the Lord would lead us to one of those whom He had prepared for us..so we did so. We then scheduled an appointment to contact a media referral..out in the middle of nowhere..so we arrive to the appointment last night, and our appointment wasn't there..but then we saw her neighbor outside so we went over and talked to him. We got to talking and he allowed us to share a brief message with him..at first, I didn't think too much about it..but as we prayed to start off the lesson, something told me that he was the answer to our prayers..and sure enough..we were right! I don't think I've ever seen anyone so prepared in my entire mission! We started off teaching the restoration, but we followed the Spirit and started talking about other things..and eventually he opened up to us and told us about a life changing experience involving his friend getting killed..so we were able to help him understand a little more about the purpose of life and he really enjoyed us! Then the more and more we talked to him, the more and more obvious it became that he was elect! He had been prepared by our Heavenly Father and we had been led to him as an answer to our prayers! At the end of the lesson, he was so in love with our message that he invited us to go and talk to some guys that don't know too much about GOD over at the fire station that he volunteered at..he also accepted a return appointment with great excitement for later on this week, so we'll get to invite him to church and hopefully to be baptised, which I know he will be because I know that he has truly been prepared to hear our message and is ready to accept the gospel of Jesus Christ. I know that we were truly led there, whether we knew it at the time or not, because this place was out in the middle of no where and we never would have found him by our own efforts! This experience has truly strengthened my faith and my testimony and I'm excited to be out here on my mission where I get to have so many great experiences like that!

Well i miss y'all! I hope y'all are doin well! We get to go to the temple this Wednesday, then transfers are next Tuesday. Please pray I don't get transfered! I love it here..haha!

Love y'all!

10/26

Hey Fam!!
How's it goin!? How did Jess's wedding go!? I guess I kind've gotta good excuse for not being there, huh? =) Well..this week was pretty great I guess! We got to teach Carey, who is the 12 year old girl that wants to get baptised, and we're going to be teaching both her and her mom this week so that'll be great! Hopefully, we'll be able to set a baptismal date for both of them!! Please pray hard for the both of them!!

But my district is doing well! There is a lady named Brenda getting baptised this Saturday (Halloween) and she's got a really great story! Apparently her car had broken down on the side of the road and noone was helping her, then the 2 elders pulled up to her and helped her out and invited her to church! So that was really great! There is so much more to that story too, but it's a really great one!

So probably the only other eventful thing that happened this week was my hand getting engulfed by fire from another missionary's object lesson and receiving a couple of 2nd degree burns from it..haha..but other than that, it was a pretty mellow week..

Well I love y'all and miss y'all! Hope y'all are doing well and I can't wait to hear from y'all! Stay on the "scraight" and narrow and "scrive" to get "scronger" every day! =) love y'all!

10/19

Hey everyone!! Soo..I've already decided everything that I want for Christmas..and these are things of necessity..haha..
I NEED:
2 longsleeve white shirts
2 shortsleeve white shirts
1 pair of black warm and waterproof gloves
a couple pairs of wool socks

I would really really really love to have:
An electric razor! haha..(it could even be a really cheap one, I don't care..I'm just really tired of shaving with razor blades everyday!)

But yeah..I would actually prefer to get these things long before x-mas..like as soon as possible!! Haha..Im just now getting to see how cold NC can get!! I am freezing! I don't like my companion right now because this is summer to him, he being from Idaho, and he won't let me wear a coat!! Haha.. but yeah..I am totally not prepared for winter and those are the things I am going to NEED!! This is the first week we've actually used the heater in our house! The cold just came out of nowhere! It dropped about 20 degrees in about 2 days! Haha..I was TOTALLY not ready for it..plus it was raining like crazy..it kinda made it a little miserable being on a bike haha..

But yeah..the 2 most important things out of that list are the gloves and the socks!! If I get nothing else for Christmas..please make sure I get those! (plus maybe some ties! haha..)

Well Elder Kearsley and I have seen some really great stuff this past week! Yesterday, we just got permission to teach a 12 year old girl who is on the cheerleading team with one of our members! Her name is Carey and she's been coming to church and mutual for the past couple of weeks and she has already told us that she wants to be baptised! We are way excited and are looking forward to helping her out! But yeah..this just helps me to know a little more how honestly and truly..all success comes from the members! I love what L. Tom Perry said.."Members are full time FINDERS..missionaries are full time TEACHERS" honestly to me..that just means that if missionaries are out tracting, than the members aren't doing their job. Now tracting is still way important..it shows the Lord how hard you are willing to work hard to have people to teach..but truly all success comes from the members. I've had so many great lessons and investigators by finding with my own efforts..but getting those type of people to church is another story. It is SO much easier if they have a friendshipper!

Well I love y'all so much! Wish I could be at Jess's wedding! I'm sure it'll be great!

Elder Johnson