5/16

haha..apparently this is it? wow..it still has not hit yet...like at all. I don't know why but it still feels like Wednesday is forever away! It's so weird whenever people ask me about how i feel..i honestly don't know! Like..part of me is excited..but then again it's weird thinking that i'm gonna be something different on Wednesday than what i've been for the past 2 years. I'm no longer gonna be that creepy guy that chases you down in the street in the middle of the pouring rain, dressed in a suit and riding on a bicycle and wanting to talk about Jesus! haha.. Well..one thing that is for certain..even though i'm not going to be the "same thing" i'm still going to be the "same person." I may not chase people down anymore, but i know that i'm still going to be a missionary! Tag or no tag! =) The way i see it..this is really just another transfer and i guess i'm just as excited for this transfer as i am for any other transfer! haha.. I am definitely going to miss "the field" though..Maybe i'm a little crazy..but i actually think that chasing people down in the street is fun and i'm going to miss doing that! I'm going to miss talking to random strangers about the gospel on the daily! I'm going to miss the meetings and the conferences and the other missionaries and the organization. However, i can honestly say that i am excited to come home because i feel that i have done exactly what the Lord has asked me and has expected of me to do, and that is a great feeling! =) I've worked hard and have been diligent and obedient! I've accomplished everything i wanted to on my mission! Now it's time for me to go and get married! ;) hahaha.. (i threw that one in there just for you, Mom!) But yeah..words honestly cannot describe the impact my mission has had on my life! But if i had to narrow it down to one thing..i would say that the greatest thing i've learned on my mission is how great of a blessing it is to ENJOY the constant companionship of the Holy Ghost! I've got the Spirit! I'm happy! What more could i ask for? =) I am grateful for all of your examples for me! I really am indebted to y'all! If i hadn't gone on a mission..i really don't know what i'd be doing right now..but i know that it would have amounted to nothing. Well i love y'all so much. Thanks for supporting me throughout my entire mission! I'll talk to y'all soon! =)

love..

Elder Johnson

5/9

Hey everyone! It was great being able to speak to y'all yesterday! I have to admit..it was pretty weird talking to y'all..knowing that we're all going to see each other in like a week and a half! haha.. So yeah..this was a pretty good week! Not necessarily number wise..but we got a ton accomplished this week considering how busy of a week it was! We had a great zone leader council meeting last week, as well as a great training meeting! Pretty much the only 2 regular days last week were Tuesday and Saturday..every other day we had various things going on which made it a little tricky to go out and talk to people, but we were able to manage! Sister Hunter was able to make it to church for the 2nd time and hopefully she will be getting work off soon so she will be able to come every sunday! If that is the case, we may set her date for when i come back to North Carolina, so that i can be there! =) Today should be fun..we're gonna go fish for a little bit..maybe this time i'll catch that catfish..i swear that thing's head was as big as Justin's! =) haha..but then after fishing we're having our zone preparation day and i'll get to say goodbye to everyone in the zone! Well..this should be a great week coming up! I'm looking forward to going out with a bang! I love y'all and i'll see y'all soon!

Elder Johnson

5/4

Sorry this e-mail is kind've late..I had a zlc meeting on Monday so our P-day is today. Well..i got to go to the temple today..for the last time as a missionary. It was such a great experience! So was our meeting last Saturday with Elder Richard G. Scott and Elder Cornish, a member of the 2nd quorum of the 70. I got to shake their hands!! haha..But yeah..they are both just really delightful, happy, loving people! We learned a ton about missionary work, things that i feel will definitely help me to have a very strong finish! =) But yeah..I guess Elder Scott was still dwelling on the same topic as his General Conference talk..he talked a TON about marriage!! haha..it was very un expected! It seemed like every single answer to any question about staying strong and improving was "get married in the temple. It is your first priority when you get home." haha..So OF COURSE..everyone has been giving me a ton of grief about it. Even President Cotterell at our zone leader council meeting was calling me out on it the entire time! So of course..i had to let everyone know that i applied to BYU Idaho in my departing testimony! haha..it was pretty funny.. Well jeeze..I'm getting down to my last few emails home here..that's so weird! We had a great experience at church on sunday! There is a guy named Eric that comes to church every week with his girlfriend, who has met with the missionaries before. We invited him to meet with the missionaries again about a month and a half ago, but he declined. But Sunday before church, we both felt that it was time to invite him again, so we wrote it down in our planners. Well..right after Sacrament was over, before we could go find him..he found us! And told us "hey elders guess what! I've finally made the decision that i want to be baptized!".....You could only imagine the state of shock that we were in! =) haha..it was pretty crazy because that is exactly what happened with Tara! The Lord moves in mysterious ways, that's for sure! Also..our zone is doing really well! We had 6 baptisms last month, and 5 the month before! The last time this zone has had 5 baptisms in a month was well over a year ago..and there is no telling when the last time this zone had more than 5 baptisms in a month..it was at least over 2 years ago! So we're really excited for our zone! We're grateful for how hard and how well they work and follow the spirit!

So for mother's day this Sunday..same rules apply as they did for Christmas..I'm only gonna have about 45 minutes to talk so we'll all probably have to conference call again. Probably won't matter too much because in a couple more weeks i'll have a lot more than 45 minutes to talk to y'all. =) I'll be calling around 5:30-6:00ish..so hopefully that works out with everyone!

Well i love y'all and i hope y'all are doing well! Can't wait to talk to y'all this Sunday!

Elder Johnson

4/25

Hey everyone! This has been just an average week..nothing too exciting happened. We did find a bunch of new investigators, so that was pretty exciting! Yesterday was Stake conference for our Stake, and we really enjoyed it! It was a great way to celebrate Easter! The zone is picking back up, a little. We had a great month of April and hopefully we will have another fantastic month of May! We are going to be meeting with Elder Scott this Saturday! I'm so excited for it! He is definitely one of my favorites! =) Elder Moreno and I are getting along really well! We both work hard together and we teach really well together, and we have a lot of fun together! He's definitely turning out to be one of my favorite companions! He's really big into skate boarding and other extreme sports, infact he got invited to some skate competition and took like..6th place in the entire state of Utah! But yeah..we were riding our bikes and he saw a jump, so he went off of it..and went face first into a bush! We got it on video! It was priceless! haha.. Well i love y'all and i'll talk to y'all later!

Elder Johnson

4/18

Soo..talk about a crazy week! First we had activity zone conference over in Chapel Hill..The lesson was really good and it was on "Revelation through Prayer" Then afterwards..we played ultimate Frisbee, volleyball, capture the flag, and soccer, followed by the final relay race..which my team actually won! =) My part in the relay race was to spin around 10 times really fast, and then sprint down the field..i ended up about 3 lanes over from where i should have been! haha.. But..the best part about the zone conference was the announcement that on April 30th, Elder Richard G. Scott is coming to our mission and we're going to have a mission conference! I'm so excited for that! Well..in case you haven't heard..about 62 tornadoes touched down in the state of North Carolina on Saturday, 6 of which were actually in our area. A few people died, and a lot of people were left powerless. We, fortunately, were safe the entire time and we never lost power. Unfortunately..we did not actually get to see any of the tornadoes..=( But on Sunday morning, we went out with a bunch of other brethren from the singles ward, and swiftcreek ward, and cleared out a bunch of trees. It was so weird because we would be driving through a neighborhood and everything would seem perfectly fine, but then we would turn down a street and there was utter chaos everywhere! I have never seen anything like it. It was a lot of fun being able to help others out, and a lot of people were very grateful for our service! We worked all morning until it was time to go to church..and then we ended up having to go to church in blue jeans and t-shirts! haha..weirdest experience ever has a missionary.. Someone asked us (jokingly..i hope..) if they switched our p-days to Sundays! haha.. But yeah..it turned out to be a great experience and an effective finding activity! (which is exactly what our zone needs right now...) Well..i love y'all and i pray for y'all every night! Take care and good luck with everything!

Elder Johnson

4/11

Hey everyone! Sorry if this is short, i don't have much time..had to do a bunch of other stuff on the computer today. Soo..we had a baptism..randomly. haha..One of our dates named Tara called us up on Monday night and was like.."hey is it possible for my baptism to be moved up to a sooner day?" Tara has been coming to church and keeping all of the commandments since about December..so the answer was yes. =) But it turned out to be a great spiritual experience! Just before the ordinance, her and a friend went into the changing room and she was about to come out, but she felt really nervous. Suddenly she just fell to her knees and pleaded with the Lord for strength to go through with it! The Lord answers prayers. =) We've got another date for the 23rd of April with someone named Kelsey. She is amazing! She is pretty much a dry Mormon..haha..But she's been reading the Book of Mormon and she finally is pretty confident that it is true! =) Well i love y'all! I hope y'all are doing well!

Elder Johnson

4/4

Well..today is officially the first day of my last transfer in the field..That is so weird..Elder Farrer is getting transferred to be a senior zone leader elsewhere, and i get to train a new zone leader again! I really LOVED General Conference! It was all exactly what i needed to hear to help me accomplish goals that i have for this last transfer. It is definitely my new favorite General Conference! =) This has been a pretty good week! We are teaching someone named Sister Hunter who is SO solid..she's got a testimony of the Book of Mormon, understands the apostasy and the importance of baptism and everything! But unfortunately she works every sunday.. She knows for sure she'll be off Easter Sunday and she plans on coming to church then..but it would be so great if she could come EVERY Sunday. She's already asked her boss for work off on Sundays, but it got denied. =( Hopefully we will see a miracle this week! We plan on teaching her this week of the potential she has as a child of God to have great faith and obedience! (teach "be" rather than "do") Hopefully through her faith, something will happen! =) The zone had a couple more baptisms this past week, but also dropped in a lot of numbers. We had a great zone leader council meeting last week where we learned of the importance of finding new investigators and hopefully we can improve on that number as a zone, because that is where we struggle the most. Kelsey Souza is doing great! So is Tara! They both went to conference and enjoyed it! Hopefully things will pick up in our area so that we can be a model area for the zone. Well i love y'all and i hope y'all are doing well!

Elder Johnson