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