1/25

I totally had my heart broken this week! soo..we talked to the Hills this week..and they said that they've been praying and they don't feel like they're ready to be baptised on the 30th of January.. =( way sad..especially kuz we ran through the baptismal interview questions and they were perfectly fine with all of them!! But they said that they still definitely wanna get baptised..just not yet. But we had an amazing experience with the bishop.. the Hills came to church and while we were in our Gospel Principles class..the Bishop came in and shared with us his conversion story..and encouraged the Hills not to wait. The spirit was soo strong! There was even another sister in there who was a recent convert and she told the hills her story after class too! it was way exciting! I just hope that they don't feel pushed..we haven't talked to them about it yet..but yeah..hopefully they'll be resetting a date here pretty soon! I mean..they're pretty much already members..they've got visiting teachers already assigned..Jessica is like..way involved with the relief society..Eddy is really enjoying priesthood..so yeah..they're doing amazing! They just need to commit..haha..please pray for them!!! soo..i'm excited..we saved up our miles so that we've got enough miles to go to the stake center today for p-day..which is always way exciting kuz the stake center is in the same parking lot as the temple! It's so weird being near the temple now after being on the complete opposite side of the mission while i was in wallace! so yeah..i'm gonna enjoy it! =D

Well i'm really enjoying my time here on my mission and i have grown SOO much!! I hope y'all are doin well and i'm lookin forward to hearing from y'all! I love/miss y'all!

Elder Johnson

1/19

This has been a pretty good week! We were blessed so much this week and saw so many miracles! So our investigators, the Hills haven't been to church in a while because of illness and death in their family. Then earlier this week, we found out that there was another close death in their family and that they weren't sure if they were going to be able to make it to church this week. But then we taught them again on Saturday and at the end of the lesson, Jessica Hill said that even if they have to drag their kids in a cart, they were going to be at church. And so Sunday comes around and we're in Sacrament meeting..but they didn't show up..so we were pretty devestated the entire meeting. Then after sacrament meeting, we went out and they were in the foyer..and their son had a cast on his arm! They apologized for being late and they told us the reason for it was because the day before, their son fell off his bike and broke his arm..so they had to put a cast on it. haha..so yeah..it was pretty amazing that in spite of all of the recent trials, they stood to their word and made it to church! The adversary is obviously hard at work, but they still overcame and had a really great time at church! It made Elder Tibbitts and i pretty dang happy! =) haha..
Soo..another cool..yet sad story. We were doing service for one of our member's neighbor, and this guy was really cool! His name was Carl and he breeds and raises exotic birds for a living! WAY fun guy to talk to! Well..so while we were stacking wood for him, he pointed to his other neighbor across the street that was sitting on his porch and told us that his name was Danny something..(i can't remember his last name) and that he used to be a guitarist for the band Leanard Skynard! Apparently he's still really good! He's got his own little studio in his back yard where he plays..but the reason he didn't last too long in the band was because he was an extreme alcoholic and had some major addictions to drugs...so that is way sad to see how someone can just throw everything away like that for something as stupid as drugs and alcohol..what a bummer. =(
well..i hope y'all are doin well!! I miss/love y'all and i pray for y'all! Talk to y'all next week!

Elder Johnson

1/11

This week was pretty amazing! We've had a lot of fun and my companion and i are getting along great! District meeting last wednesday was a pretty great one! Probably the best i've had in this district! They were a lot more reverent this time, than they had been in the past, so that helped out a lot! haha..We've seen so many miracles this week as well! It's truly amazing how much the Lord has been blessing us! We've found some pretty amazing people lately that have definitely been prepared by the Lord and it's been way exciting being able to teach these people! Last night we were able to teach Cecil Mcbride again and he has shown a lot of interest and he told us that he knows the Book of Mormon is true!! So that was WAY exciting! He says he'll be coming to church this week..so we'll be looking out for him and his wife! The Hills are sick..=( they weren't able to make it to church again..so we're not completely sure on if they'll still be ready to be baptised on the 30th..but they will be baptised soon! They still have that goal in their hearts, so that's way exciting!

Well i love y'all and i hope y'all are doin well! I'll talk to y'all later!

Elder Johnson

1/4

Hey everyone! How's it goin? This past week hasn't been too eventful..we have found a few more pretty amazing investigators this week..and someone else in my district set another baptismal date..but other than that..not too much happened. This upcoming week though is going to be amazing! We're gonna go see all of our investigators that have asked us to come back after the holidays, so we should be picking up this week! Also, we committed the Hills to live the Word of Wisdom this past week and they were more than willing to get rid of all of their coffee!! They said "really..it's giving up something so small..for something SO BIG!!" They're way excited as well for ther baptismal date of January 30th! We're also way excited! =) I'm really looking forward to this upcoming year! I get to spend the entire year of 2010 on my mission! oh..and i just found out that our mission president does extensions! =) that's something that i'm definitely going to be praying about! unfortunately..the max you can extend is 30 days..any further than that then it has to get approved by the first presidency. Well i hope y'all are doing great! i love and miss y'all!

Elder Johnson

12/28

Hey everyone!! How was y'alls Christmas!? It was great being able to talk to everyone! I think the thing i missed the most was not being able to make Jared and Jake look bad on the football field..oh well..but that's okay kuz they would have made me look horrible in whiffle ball! ;) Well teaching wise, this week was pretty slow..pretty much all of our investigators have asked us to come back after the holidays! haha..but yeah..we were still able to bake some cookies for some people and we got some really good feedback..so that was pretty exciting! The ward here is amazing! they keep giving us lots of food and candy! i'm probably gonna weigh more than Justin by the time i get out of this area! ;) haha..jk. The Hills are still doin great, and so is Chris Williams! We're sstill looking forward to continuing to teach them! Well i love y'all and miss y'all so much!
Elder Johnson

12/21 Merry Christmas Y'all!! =)

Hey everyone!! How's it goin!? Soo this past week has been pretty amazing! First we had our x-mas zone conference in knightdale and that was an amazing experience!! We learned a lot and the Spirit was way strong!! Then on Thursday, we got to wake up early in the morning and teach the seminary class!! haha..that was so much fun! The lesson was on Alma chapters 1 and 2..so i taught chapter 1 and Elder Tibbitts taught chapter 2..I really enjoyed teaching chapter 1 because it was all about Nehor and the evils of priestcraft haha..We discussed why his doctrine spread so fast and why it was VERY wrong! haha..we also discussed the differences between Nehor's church and Christ's church and about how we see all the same stuff today! haha..But yeah..after the lesson we left about 10 minutes time for questions and we had a really great discussion on the importance of missions and how amazing they are! =) i had a lot of fun! haha..so then on friday..it snowed!! haha..for a grand total of about 15 minutes..which was lame..it was like God was teasing me..haha..i wanted snow SO bad!! oh well..there's still time left in winter! =) Then on Saturday..we tracted into a lady named Debbie who lived all by herself. She was way lonely and she said the only people that she ever talks to are her parents. She had no friends and was so desperate to talk to someone that she went inside real fast and got all bundled up so that she could come outside and listen to us teach her. While teaching her, we found out some major concerns of her..she felt like God is there and that she wants Him to help her, but she didn't feel worthy of His help and she felt like He didn't want to help her..So we shared some powerful truths about the love of God and focused on that for the rest of the lesson..which brought her to tears..it was a WAY spiritual lesson! Then on Sunday we had an investigator named Chis Williams at church! Chris is the man! He already has a strong testimony of the Book of Mormon and he wants to get baptised really bad! so hopefully we'll be setting a date with him soon!

Soo..our district is doing AMAZING!! Every single companionship in my district has 2 baptismal dates..except for the zone leaders..they only have 1..haha..but yeah..the Lord is definitely blessing us big time in this month of December and we're seeing a TON of miracles!!

Well i love y'all and i'm looking forward to talking to y'all on Friday!! Merry Christmas!! hope y'all are doin well!

Love Elder Johnson

Our X-mas Tree! =)

Snow!

12/14

Hey everyone! Exciting news! The Hills accepted a baptismal date! WOO!! =D they're date is for Jan 30th!! We're way excited! They're doin so well and learning so much! So they brought up the word of wisdom before we taught it because they drink a lot of coffee and tea and they had heard that we can't do that..but then Jessica said quote "it really all comes down to do i want the Holy Ghost..or do i want coffee..and the answer to that is very obvious!" it was amazing! It's so great to see how prepared they have been by the Lord and i'm really looking forward to helping them get baptised and make it to the Temple! We also had a few other miracles this week while finding people, and we now have a "right good amount" of solid investigators! =) only problem is that a lot of them are hard to get to because they live so far away..haha..oh well..we're just way excited to be here and we're definitely being blessed in our efforts and the Lord is consecrating our sacrifices! =) Soo..the Hills gave us a christmas tree and we decorated it and it looks REALLY nice! haha..the top of the tree is the best part! The tree was too big for our apartment, so we just took the top off and instead of having a star on top..we've got a UNC hat!! =) haha..well hey..i'm looking forward to being able to talk to y'all on x-mas! Love y'all and i miss y'all! Take care!

Elder Johnson

Raleigh Temple!
Johnson St.
Top of our tree!