3/1

Hey everyone! How's it goin!? My week has been pretty good..except for a pretty stressful exchange with some missionaries in my district..but other than that, it's been great! So we found out that Phil, whom we have been teaching and has a baptismal date, does not live in our area..so we're going to have to give him to the elders in north Raleigh. haha..oh well..i'm still way excited for him getting baptised!

Soo..i also found out some pretty exciting news..i'm going to be training at the end of this transfer! I am WAY excited for that! And what's really cool is that his great grandpa Elder Henley,(which is my grandpa) is actually the other district leader in my zone! He just dropped from being an assistant and now i'm really close to him! And Elder Condie, (which is my dad) is a zone leader in the raleigh zone, so he's pretty close! But i think we're going to be the longest line of posterity in the mission..which is pretty exciting! I never got to meet my great grandpa..he died soon after i was born, but i heard he was a great missionary! My companion right now, Elder Tibbits whom i am follow up training, is going to be a district leader somewhere else! So i'm way excited for him!

But other than that..not too much has happened this week..the Hills are still doing great..we're just waiting for them to let us know they're ready and then they'll get baptised! Well i love y'all and hope y'all are doin well!

Elder Johnson

Shootin' up my companion!

2/22

Hey everyone! Soo..exciting news! We have been teaching this man named Phil Hess, who has been dating one of the members in our ward and he has been praying about joining our church. Well yesterday at church, he came up to me and told me that he had gotten an answer, and it came in a dream! So we were able to set a return appointment after church, where we went and taught him. The first counselor in the bishopric was there and we were able to set a baptismal date for Thursday the 11th of march! We're way excited for him and we are really looking forward to teaching him more, and he's way excited to learn more! But other than that, not too much happened this week. The Hills are still coming to church..Jess really loves the releif society! She said that she had a little run in with one of the sisters, but that she would never let that keep her from coming to church..which was way exciting! Eddy is kind've struggling though..but we'll keep praying for him and working hard! Well i love y'all and i hope y'all are doin well!

Elder Johnson

Scariest sign .. EVER!!
You cant serve a mission without eating octopus
My best haircut yet!

2/16

A few things have begun to pick back up here in Garner! We had a pretty amazing experience with our investigator Chris Williams. Chris came to church a while back ago, but had slipped a little since then. He was sick, he had to work a lot, his family was sick, and we haven't seen him in about 3 weeks. When we came over last Tuesday to check up on him, he was ready to throw both his Book of Mormon and the Bible in the trash. He said he was pretty much done with God..but when he saw us that morning, he said he felt like there was someone else there with us and that he couldn't turn us away again. We've taught him twice since then and his door has always been open before we get there because he has been waiting for us! He came with us to church again this past Sunday and had an amazing reveletory experience! He has told us that he wants to "become mormon" but part of his contract with his work is that he has to work on Sundays, and he had gotten in trouble for missing last sunday. Fortunately his boss is his younger brother and he's already expressed his desires to attend church to him, but as for now he still has to work. We are sure though that the Lord provides a way for us to accomplish all of His commandments and so we are continuing to encourage him to continue to read about the Book of Mormon and to pray for a way to come to church. We didn't get to really meet with the Hills this week because Jess Hill was in the UK for business. We had dinner with Eddy, but he didn't really want to go any further without Jess there, which was a bummer because all we wanted to do was review..but she should be back in town now so we should be seeing them this week!
Soo..i got my second round of snow last week! =) About 3 inches of it and it was like..perfect snow, too! There was like..no ice at all so it was lots of fun to throw! =D
Oh yeah..i almost forgot..Elder Walter F. Gonzalez, which is a member of the presidency of the first quorum of the seventy wanted to have a surprise meeting with a group of missionaries in our mission, and my companion and i were selected to go! It was so amazing! We learned tons and had a way spiritual experience!
Well..i love y'all and hope y'all are doin well!

Love Elder Johnson

2/8

So transfers were this week..and i just found out that my companion and i are staying together for one more transfer! haha..we're both way excited, we're having tons of fun/success together! He's definitely the hardest working companion i've had, and probably the funniest too! Well this week went pretty well! We got to go to the temple, and that's always a great experience! It snowed again on Saturday!! but it was just a few flurries for about 10 minutes..nothing stuck or anything =( haha..so the funniest thing happened Saturday morning..we were in a teaching appointment with this man named Shon, and in the middle of the lesson, some Jehovah's witnesses knock on the door and come in for a sec, and start talking about the end of the world! It was so classic! haha..but they wouldn't take a Book of Mormon..=( So we just started teaching this guy named Phil, who has already been to church about 3 times! His girlfriend is a member and he says he's been praying to know if this church is true and he feels like he's close to his answer! But yeah..he's already talked about how he wants to be sealed forever with his family and how he wants to hold the priesthood! haha..so yeah..he's pretty golden! =)

I'm excited to hear about the Saints, thanks mom! =) haha..but yeah..luckily we were able to get into someones house last night! It was soo hard kuz everyone was watching the game, but luckily..we found someone! Well i love y'all and hope y'all are doin well!

Elder Johnson

2/1

Hey! How is everyone doing!? Guess what!! I got my SNOW!! =D I got to make my first snowman on Saturday! It was so amazing!! But yeah..we weren't allowed to go out and proselyte on Saturday because of the condition of the roads..because when it snows here..it ices like crazy!! Like..there's almost an inch of ice on the roads..even the missionaries that i live with from out west are scared of this stuff! haha..yeah it's pretty bad! But we went out yesterday and we pretty much skated in our shoes to our appointments..so that was fun! The snow is still outside so we're probably gonna spend some time today playing in it! =) Then last wednesday we had our zone conference in Chapel Hill..and our ride was going to be an hour and a half late..so we got to go campus contacting on the UNC campus! It was pretty amazing being able to talk to people my own age about what means the most to me! So yeah..lots of fun! I got some good pictures too! =)

Soo..i learned a valuable lesson today. Never trust Elder Rodruigez with a pair of hair clippers. There's a possibility he might forget that he took the guard off of the clippers and cut anyways..haha..yeah..i've got a GIANT bald spot on the back of my head..and we're goin to the temple tomorrow..haha..so yeah..this'll be fun! =)

Well..i hope y'all are doin well! I miss/love y'all and i really appreciate reading your mail and seeing how y'all are doin! Hope y'all have a good week!

Elder Johnson

Oops
My first snowman =D

Garner Snow!

Texas is best! =)

5 inches of snow!!

Snow Angel!

UNC Clocktower

UNC baseball field

UNC football stadium

NC State Bell Tower

Snowball fight!

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