28 Dec—Houston

Family and friends,

Ok, who is ready for the news? I am going to be transfered to nowhere. I am staying in Barrio 8 for another transfer. There is sad news that comes with this good news. Elder Richards is going to be leaving me :( sad day. He taught me a lot of good things, especially with how to be a good leader, and his be a winner attitude rubbed off on me. So, the Houston West zone is full of winners. I will be getting a new companion, and I don't know who it is yet, but hopefully he will be a good companion.

This last weekend we had two baptisms and two confirmations, and this weekend we should be seeing some more of our friends get baptized. This area is really good, and I am really glad for all the things I am learning here. It is going to be another great transfer, and I am really excited to see what happens in the future.

Sad news, I forgot to bring my camera cord this week; it is because we are in Sugar Land, because we just dropped off a missionary who is going home! That is crazy!

Christmas was really good. It was nice to talk with the family and to hear them and some stories. It sounds like every one is doing great. Thank you everybody for the letters and the packages. It really felt a lot like Christmas, and I had a blast with Elder Richards playing with all the goofy toys. For Christmas, we had a zone activity and we made the zone eggs, hash browns, and pancakes. Yummy! Then we played a white elephant game. We split into three groups, sat in a circle, and put all the presents in the middle. Then you rolled a dice, and if you rolled a 6; you get to take a gift from the middle, or you can steal someone else's gift. It was a lot of fun, and I really enjoyed it.

Well, I guess that is all until next week!

-Elder Johnson

Dec 20—Houston, Texas

Hey Family!

Merry Christmas! I hope you all are having a great time with Christmas break. Elder Richards and I had two baptisms this weekend. We baptized two little boys named Jacob and Niko. They are the brothers of Jackie, our last baptism that we had. It went very smoothly. So, we baptized on the mission's "weekend in white", which was our goal! We hope to have two more this coming weekend; we will see what happens. As a zone, we are sitting at eight baptized, and zero confirmed. We had a goal for this month to have 29 baptized and 29 confirmed; we need a miracle this next weekend.

Anyway time for a story. We were getting ready for our baptism, and we were in our white clothes, and we needed to get some more white clothes out of the car for Jacob and Niko. So, we threw on our shoes and headed out to the car. On the way out, we ran into Sister Saylin! It was shocking, because we were planning on having a small baptism, with just Niko and Jacob and their family. So, we started talking with Sister Saylin, and she introduces us to her sister, her mom and her dad. Her dad happens to be a member of the 70; his name is Elder Hilburg. So, we start talking to them all, and they ask us how long we had been in the mission, and about our baptisms that night. Elder Hilburg says that we look like very experienced missionaries. They asked us how many we were planning to have in our zone that weekend, and then here comes the embarrassing part. I am standing in my white shirt, tie, pants and my black shoes. These black shoes used to be my proselyting shoes, and need a really good shoe shine. So, they stood out like crazy, and the only reason why I had them on right before the baptism was because I stepped in dog poop.

So, we are standing there and Sister Saylin says "Elder Johnson, it looks like you could use a good shoe shine." And so I said, "Well, Sister Sayin, I am sorry that you saw me in these. I haven't worn these shoes for about three months, and the reason why is because I stepped in some stinky stuff earlier today and didn't have time to clean them." So, then everyone just laughed, and it was a great experience/way to break the ice in front of a 70 and the Mission President's wife. We just kept talking from there.

Well, also we had a cool Christmas fireside for the whole mission this week. President needed translation for all the Spanish investigators that would come, and he doesn't have any Spanish A.P's right now, so the A.P's asked Elder Richards and I to call the Stake President and figure out a way to get all the equipment and translators to the building. That was a very stressful thing to do, because if it didn't get put together well the president's fireside would be a bust for the Spanish investigators. The good news is that we were able to get it done and everything went well.

I would like to give a quick thank you to the members of the ward for all the letters that you have all sent me. They were great, and I will do my best to get some thank you cards out for y'all. Merry Christmas!

Love you all,

Elder Johnson

13 Dec—Houston

Family and friends,

Well, I am trying to think of what to say this about the week. It was a really good week for us. The sad thing was peoples' baptisms got pushed back again. We have two for sure for sure this Saturday and maybe two on Sunday also. And then another family wants to be baptized on Christmas. So it should be a good stretch for us and if we get eight, then that is going to be an awesome miracle/Christmas gift from God.

This week were were really blessed. Felix, one of our passed investigators that moved, ran into us at a complex, and he gave us his address and we went to go visit him and his girlfriend. They are awesome, and are doing great. Then he invited us to go and visit his sister. The big test. If the family likes us, he will really start progressing a lot. We had a lesson with his sister and boyfriend on Saturday with Felix, and she just threw question after question at us, and it was a great lesson because we were able to answer them. Then she wanted us to come over the next day, so we did. We watched the restoration movie with her, and she had some more questions about the Book of Mormon. We answered them, and she told us she is going to have to go to church to see if its true, so hopefully this coming week or on Christmas she will come. She wanted to read a lot in the Book of Mormon, and asked us to give her five chapters that we would recommend to start reading. We gave her 2nd Nephi 29, Mosiah 3, 3rd Nephi 11, Alma 46 or 43 (one about a war because she wanted a war chapter, and also the last big war chapter in the book of Mormon because she wanted a couple of war chapters). We are really excited.

Then we went to go visit a member that we had never visited, and we got there and this lady opened the door who we didn't know. We asked for the member and he came out, and we sat down to teach them. We asked the lady if she had ever talked to missionaries before, and she said she was a inactive member of about eight years. She has been living with the member with her family, and her husband for a while. The husband came in later, and we had a good lesson with them. We left with a prayer, and we asked the member who he wanted to say it and he picked me. Then I was about to say it, and the less active husband said no, I want to say it. So he did. Then after we were getting up and the wife said, I want to say a prayer as well. So she did, and she just started crying saying that it was an answer to her prayers, and we got a return appointment and met the whole family. They have 3 awesome kids who are totally getting baptized one day not far off in the future.

So, it has been a blessing and our teaching pool keeps growing and it's a good thing because we should be having some baptisms coming soon. I really love this place and I hope we get to stay together another transfer. Transfer calls are 2 days after Christmas. The 27 of December, so we will see what happens. It is getting excited. And to answer questions about pictures for Christmas. Hard copies would be cooler than just pictures on the computer. Well anyway, I love you all and thank you for the prayers and all the letters. They are great!

Love you all!
-Elder Johnson

6 Dec—Houston

Hey family!

Well, let's see, this week was intense! I guess we can start with the ZLC (Zone leader Council). In this meeting, we get to set goals for how many baptisms and confirmations we will have as a mission, and also as a zone. We have a mission goal of 500 confirmations this year, and we need 81 this month to hit it. Usually, we around 40 per month. So, we need a ton of miracles this month in order to do it. As a zone, the highest we have gotten since I have been here is 8 confirmations; maybe it was 7.

But Man, God has been preparing the zone for this month. Elder Richards and I sat down and prayed as we decided on our goals, and we went through the areas and felt the Lord tell us that he wanted us to have 29 baptisms and 29 confirmations. That is 7 a week, plus 1 week of 8. It was a very high number, so we kept praying about it and kept having the spirit tell us that this is what he wanted for our zone. We finally came to the conclusion that we better stop asking for the answer when he had already given it to us, or he would get mad. So, then we made the rest of the goals.

Our mission right now has a mission goal for the weekend in white (On the 18 and 19th, the mission has a goal for every companionship to baptize; so that everyone will have a white Christmas). If we as a zone hit the weekend in white, we should be in reach to hit our zone goal. Right now, we are sitting at 4 baptisms for this weekend; and next week we should have 7. With the weekend in white, we should have 11 plus some. Then, the final week with the rest. There is going to be a blizzard down here in the Houston West zone!

Elder Richards and I realized that in order for us to make this goal possible we would have to go back and put some more things on the sacrifice list. And I decided that it was time to get rid of the basketball cards. Man oooooooooohhhhhh man that was a hard one. I went outside and gave them to a kid playing basketball. OOOOOOO man it is worth it though. We are going to see the miracles in the area. We have already ween them. We have had 7 investigators at church three weeks in a row! It is awesome!

On Friday night, we couldn't get a hold of the sisters up in Houston one. They live in the city city, and so we were a little worried for them. 10:30 came around and still nothing, so the A.Ps told us to go and drive over there. It was awesome! We got to go on the freeway and drive through some cool parts of Houston, and see some of the big buildings. Right when we got to the sisters' apartments, they called us and told us there phone is broken and they had been trying to call us for the past 40 mins. So, they were safe and it was fun! And we got to see some of downtown.

Other big news. We got texting! Woohoo. We can text investigators and other missionaries. So it is very exciting. And makes the work a lot easier. You jealous Greg, Jeremy and Tyler? Hahahah. I guess that one of the pros to being a missionary in the states. Right now only the zone leaders and assistants can text. They are testing it out to see how we do. So, hopefully it will spread out to all the missionaries in the mission.

As far as pictures go, sorry Dad, I forgot my camera.... Next week I will bring it. We get to call home for Christmas, and I was wondering what time is a good time for you for the phone calls. As far as Christmas goes, I can't really think of anything that I really need. Maybe some pens and that is about it. I think it would be cool to have a set of scriptures that isn't a quad. But a separate Bible and a separate Book of Mormon. Other than that pictures are always super cool.

Well, I think that is about it for the week. The area is going great and we are hoping for six baptisms this weekend, because two of ours got pushed back a week. So, it is going to be awesome and I hope it all works out!

Love you!

Elder Johnson

29 Nov—Houston

Well this week was a great week here in Houston.

I guess we will cut the fluff and get to the good stuff. Thanksgiving. We started off eating a Thanksgiving lunch at our bishops home. He loves Elder Richards and me and we all get a long really well. The lunch was your typical Thanksgiving lunch with turkey, mashed potatoes and stuffing, and cranberry stuff. It was really good and we ate a lot! So that was at 1:00pm.

Then after that, we went to a lunch at a less actives home at 4:00pm and watched a movie with them (To this End was I Born) and ate some empanadas and turkey and mashed potatoes again. It was really good as well. This is when we started to get full.

Then we went over to the Vanegas family's home and they cooked a huge turkey and some mashed potatoes and green beans and that was really yummy as well. They invited the Lopez family over and it was a really fun time. I started to look at the big turkey leg and they started chanting pierna pierna peirna! and so I took it and sister vanegas freaked out and pulled out her camera and started to take pictures of me with this huge turkey leg. Then she was like bite bite bite and so I bit it and she took more pictures. It was great. They were really funny. They had us cut the turkey also and I tried so hard to get this nice piece and every one was watching and I cut a tiny sliver and it was just embarassing. haha.

Then after that, we went over to an investigators place and I was super full. We walk in and the table was set and everyone was eating and there was two chairs just waiting for us and she goes Oh Elders thank you for coming. Would you like to eat some pasole (the soup with like corn and stuff). I was so full and so was my companion, but I said man I am pretty full and then Elder Richards says, yeah sure un pocito. But un pocito (a little) is really a lot in the Spanish language. So, we got to go and eat a big bowl of pasole. I could barley get it down. Our member that was with us over there says, Elder, when you finish the bowl of soup I'll give you a prize. And I say ok what is it. He says, another bowl of soup! It was funny.

So that was my Thanksgiving. It was a lot of fun. Well, that was my week! Well thanksgiving.

Also a funny thing about the people down here. They started putting up Christmas lights on Thanksgiving! Hahah I can't remember if a lot of people do that, but I thought it was weird.

I guess the other new news is that the night of Thanksgiving a cold front came in. So it is now officially cold again here in Houston.

Well, that is about it I hope you enjoy the rest of a good week and Happy Thanksgiving!

Elder Johnson

22 Nov—Houston

Ok, who is ready for the best story ever.

So, I was at the gas station and my companion was filling up the gas, and I was just standing by the car and this Mexican guy comes up to me and says, "Hey are you from the Mormon club?" I said I am a missionary for the Mormon church, and he was like oh great! Can you help a brother out and give me some gas money. And I said I can't help you with money. And he points at my tag and says man what does that tag say! And then he took my tag off my chest. Shoved it in my face, and said, what the bleep does that tag say mother bleeper. And I said man give me my tag back. He goes give me gas money. And I say man give me the tag this is stupid. And he walks over to his car puts the tag down and says come and get it Bleeper. (meanwhile, all the people at the gas station are looking at this guy thinking he is super dumb.) So then my companion calls the mission president to tell him what is going on and everyone thinks that we are calling the cops. Then the crazy man says man you bleeper you worship, get this, John Adams. And I just started laughing at him and said man who in the world is john Adams! hahahaha Then he goes John Smith and I said Joseph smith, and he was like yea you worship Joseph Smith. And then he starts saying how he wants to fight me and I just turn my back. (so my companion is on the phone and he is like president some guy just took Elder Johnson's name tag off his chest and now he wants to fight Elder Johnson. And president just says hmm can you get it back? and he says nope not unless we fight him. And so he tells us to go into the gas station and to have the people in the gas station call the cops.

So meanwhile the crazy guy has walked into the street and this guy named Jay comes up to me and says man why didn't you punch that guy? I said I am a missionary man, and he said well you should have punched first and repent later. Haha so then we ask Jay if he knows him and he said he had seen him around a few times, and we asked him if he could get the tag back and he said man I would have to fight him. Mean while Jay calls over one of his "brothers" who had a bike and tells him what happens and the guy on the bike got really mad and him and Jay ran across the street and found the guy. They were too far away from us so we couldn't see what happened, but about 5 minutes later Jay came running back with my name tag! Man it was soo legit! I love this place. The people here have our back.

As far as investigators go everything is going smoothly! We had 7 at church!

As far as the zone goes we try to get 11 baptized and 11 confirmed a month. As a mission we try to get 50 baptisms a month. December is going to be a big month for our zone. President Saylin challenged our mission to have a weekend in white and on the 18th to have every companionship in the mission baptize. We will see how it goes. The zone is down for it and so we will see what happens!

Well I love you all and have a great day!

-Elder Johnson

15 Nov—Houston, TX

Well, I am very excited to say that Elder Richards and I are staying together for another transfer! YEA BABY! I am super stoked! We are going to have a crazy transfer.

It sounds like everyone in the family is doing great! I will try to write a couple of small ones to you all and we will probably write some letters after so hopefully I can get one out to all of you! Well thank you for asking me some good questions in your emails and I have some stuff to write about this time.

My companion is Elder Richards and he is from Sandy, Utah. The best thing that I have learned from him is, to be a confident missionary. Right now, I took a quiz in Preach my Gospel about the Christlike attributes, and I need to still work on my charity. We definitely push each other to be better and more obedient missionaries.

Man, we have a lot of interesting investigators. We are working with the members a lot, and they have given us some sweet referrals; the bishop even gave us his brother as a referral! Right now we have 4 families that we just started working with, and I have a feeling most of them will probably be baptized. This are the reasons why: 1) they were member referrals or part-member families, so they already have that support system; 2) we are doing a good job at teaching to the needs of the investigators, instead of just teaching lessons; and 3) almost all of them were at our ward activity. WOOHOO!

I guess we had a miracle in the zone last month. Elder Greenwood left the zone and we were at 26 dates in the zone, our goal was to have 40. Then by the end of the month, our dates went from 26 in the zone to 54! By the end of October, we were at our goal for almost all of our key indicators and it was just awesome!

Ummm, another blessing happened last night. Well, we got home from a great investigator fireside, there was about 50 people there (Missionaries and investigators) and we got home and there was tons and tons of fire trucks around our complex, and guess what?!? The apartments from the building right next to us caught on fire! Only two apartment rooms were destroyed but none-the-less the fire was about 40 to 50 feet away. It was close!!

Hmm, which of my companions would I want Kimmy to date. MY trainer Elder Roberts would be awesome! Or Elder Cole or Elder Greenwood, or Elder Richards. yup any of those guys.

The hardest rule to keep. Working out in the mornings, because I wake up and feel suuuper tired, and all I want to do is go to the pink couch we have and sit there and take a little nap. Hahahaha But I threw the pink couch on my sacrifice list, so no more pink couch in the morning for me.

My favorite principle to teach. I really like teaching agency and telling people the choices they have and then guiding them through the decisions that will make them happy in their lives, like faith in Jesus Christ, repentance, baptism, following the spirit, and keeping the commandments. Then I also like to invite people to be baptized. Because if they say yes then it's awesome! If they say no, then you can get doubts out of them. It's a win-win situation.

To answer Kelly's question, if I could only pick one fruit to eat for the rest of my life from the choice of a banana or a mango, I would pick banana, because you can make a lot of stuff from it. You can fry it, you can blend it up with milk and sugar and make banana milk, you can make banana bread, you can make a banana split, you can squish it while it's in the banana peel and make a banana bomb. It reminds me of Mario kart and dropping a banana at the last second to make my enemy lose the race! Yea bananas rock.

Well, sorry to burst everyone's bubbles. I am probably the same height. The picture I sent was me in a trailer so I am not 6'9 hahahahahah that was an awesome letter dad!!!

I love you all!

-Elder Johnson

8 Nov—Houston

HEY!

This week has been great! I don't really know what to say besides that I am alive and well. The zone is killing it! My companion and I get along great, it is cooling off now and I have actually gotten cold for once! Transfers are in a week and I really don't want to leave! I think we might get a baptism this week. We just need to go see if our investigator got an answer to his prayer, and if he did, he will be baptized on Sunday.

Things have been busy, but I do like to be busy, it makes me feel like I am not being lazy and stuff like that. I forgot my camera, because I would be putting some more pics in this email if I had brought it, but I didn't, sorry!

Well I love you and I need to go!

-Elder Johnson

1 Nov—Houston

Hey fam!

Well, this week has been a good week. Our dates in the zone keep climbing and were are at 58 right now. Also, we had a baptism on Saturday. We baptized a 10 year old girl named Jackie! It was super. Let's get to the good stuff; I decided to try to upload some photos so here it goes!

The zone

Espinosa family(family that was baptized last transfer

Jackie

Espitia family baptized the transfer after I left Manvel

Hey check it out! Dad was in the Liahona. We are Latino!

Alright now thats done I will talk a little bit more. hmmmm I dont know what to say. next week we should have another baptism and the week after that as well. I dont knmow why Elder Richards and I are getting so many blessings but its happening! I love the mission life right now! The work is really taking off!
I love you!

-Elder Johnson

27 Oct—Houston

Hey fam!

This week has been another good week. Actually, it has been busy. The reason why I couldn't email on Monday was because we had four days of leadership training. The meetings went from 7:30am to about 6:30pm. They were Tuesday and Wednesday last week, and Monday and Tuesday this week. We had to learn a lot. All the Zone leaders were there, and all the district leaders, and all the trainers too. It was awesome, and a great experience to learn from President Saylin, and all the other missionaries.

This area is really taking off, last Friday we had eight investigators with a baptismal date, and last night we were visiting two families that we had taught for a little while and tried to give them dates, but they always said no for some reason. But we applied some of the training which we received, and were able to teach to their needs and really get to them then; and they let us know their concerns, and we got to resolve them and now they all have dates. So now we have 13 with a date for baptism, and we are all excited about it. We are teaching some cool people and a couple of good families.

The area around here is a pretty rough one, but with that comes humble people. I really like it here a lot, and I hope I get to stay longer. This weekend we should be having three little kids get baptized. They are 10, 9, and 8. They really like church a lot. And their parents are willing to let their kids be baptized. We are still working with the parents, but with time they should be able to one day make the decision. It is really cool, their daughter prays that her daddy will one day want to be baptized, and I know that must really touch his heart when he hears that.

Well I am really enjoying the mission. I guess the new news about the zone is that we ended the week with 52 with a baptismal date, and that was really awesome! I think it was the most that the zone has ever had with a date! Elder Richards and I were super pumped up, and really excited for the missionaries in the zone!

Well, I really love you all a lot, and I hope you have a great day!

-Elder Johnson

18 Oct—Houston

Everyone,

MAN I AM LOVING IT HERE! Elder Richards and I are pumped up and had a week of miracles. I really feel it's because we are a very unified companionship. First, we are unified in our quest for obedience and desires to work hard.

Second, we are unified in friendship with one another. It all started during our second night together when Elder Richards realized that he couldn't find his GPS anywhere. It was in a plastic bag, and and we threw out the trash earlier that day. We finally decided that it was in the dumpster with all of our other Wal-Mart trash bags. We knew what we had to do. We had to go outside and dig through the dumpster together. We got there, and man the dumpster was full and STINKY! We started to dig and we couldn't find that GPS anywhere. Then we decided to pray, and before we knew it we found one of our Wal-Mart trash bags and we kept digging and found the bag with the GPS inside! We went back to the apartment, and just started to laugh, and we decided if you can dig through a dumpster together you instantly become a united companionship.

But that was just the start. I love our companionship studies together. We just talk and talk about the gospel and before you know it, BOOM! The Spirit is in the home and ends up sticking with us throughout the day. It's just awesome. You really can feel just a peace, and I guess the way to explain it would be as having a power with you. Ideas come into our minds of whom we need to go visit and what they need to hear. Just yesterday it was 8:00pm, and the day was done. We were done with our OYMs, and past our goals on sit-downs, and we didn't know what to do. We decided to head over to a member's home to visit their family, and boom we had the impression that we needed to turn around and visit Hermano Benitez, and so we did. We got to his house, and his son's friend was over (he came to church earlier that day), and we taught a lesson and now he has a baptismal date. I have had some good companionships, but this one is awesome! We are loving it and see miracles everyday.

The zone is doing well, and we continue to have momentum. I am just concerned that we are still having these pockets of baptisms. We should have three again in our area this month, Houston 4 South should have five more this month, and Houston 1 NE will probably have another baptism this month. These are the same companionship's that baptized last month and we need to figure out a way to help every companionship baptize during the month so there will be more balance in the zone. OYM's are coming back up as well as the sit-down lessons. We are doing great with our goals this month, and it's a great time for the Houston West Zone.

--Elder Johnson

11 Oct—Houston

Family!

I got some good news. My buddy Elder Richards, from my MTC group, is my new comp! YEA BOY! We are destroying this place! People here are pumped, because we are pumped. We try to call two companionships every night to get them pumped up! I am excited all of a sudden.

This week we received four baptismal dates; so that is really exciting. This Sunday we should have two baptisms. I really enjoy the mission right now. I don't feel stressed out anymore and it is really fun.

Today we are going to go and hit up some cool shops and see what's going on; to see if there is any cool things that we can buy.

Things are going well and I am excited. We want to plan a zone activity to carve some pumpkins and play some fun games.

Well I love you all, and thank you so much for all your prayers, support and letters. Have a great day!

-Elder Johnson

4 Oct—Houston

Family and friends,

To tell you the truth, I don't even know what to write these days. I guess I'll start with the new news. I will be getting a new companion. Elder Greenwood went home and he was a good missionary. He finished out his mission strong and work hard all the way until he stepped into the mission home this morning.

Our mission is very young now. This transfer we lost more older missionaries and will be welcoming newer missionaries. In the zone this transfer, every companionship is going to have a new companion and 5 missionaries will be training new missionaries. That is crazy, but exciting at the same time. When you train it's a make or break it time in the mission, because your good and bad habits rub off on the missionary you train. But we have some great trainers and they will do awesome.

Conference was awesome. I always enjoy all the good talks and feelings I get when I watch it. I only have one more conference to watch as a missionary! CRAZY! I liked the prophet's talk during priesthood session about choices, and how each choice we make will keep us on the straight and narrow path, or take us away from that path. It was cool, because I was studying about the gift of agency and the Holy Ghost a few weeks ago, and they talked a ton about that during conference.

Well, I need to go. I love you!

-Elder Johnson

27 Sept—Houston

Hello,

This week was a really busy. We went on an exchange and a missionary blitz with some missionaries that needed a push this week. Things are busy busy and I am sleepy sleepy. We did really good this month with our zone goals for baptism and confirmations. I am really tired and can't think, sorry.

This morning was cold like 65 degrees. We have a zone activity today. We are going to play some soccer, and run around; so that will be fun. My companion is going home in a week and that is really weird.

Umm... 4 investigators came to church and that was good. Well, that's all I can think of right now. It was just another good week serving in the field. Last sunday the Espitia family was baptized (the family I was teaching in Manvel), and that was super awesome news that I heard. It made me really happy; well bye!

-Elder Johnson

ps. Thank you and I love you

20 Sept—Houston

Hey Family,

This week was good. I am tired, and its P-day and I want to sleep, but that's a waste of time. My companion and I right now have been working out and trying to get big muscles again. He is near the end of the mission and wants to look good for when he goes home. It has been fun, we have been doing some perfect push-ups in the morning and been doing sit-ups and stuff like that. We even have a pull up bar. Yea, if I keep this up, in 10 months, I'll be in the best shape of my life.

Other than that it has just been busy. I got to confirm someone this week. That was cool. That was the first one that I had done in Spanish. I still have a lot to learn to be fluent fluent. I can talk to people, and keep a conversation going, but I would like to not have to think about what I am saying, and how to say it, if that makes any sense to you. Yea, other than that things are going well.

We had a special zone conference with President Saylin. He came and talked to us about how we can use the Book of Mormon more effectively as we teach and things like that. Something that was interesting was that he told us that if our investigators don't keep their reading commitment we should not teach the next lesson, but instead read out of the Book of Mormon with them. Well I need to get going I will see you later!

-Elder Johnson

13 Sept—Houston

Alrighty family!

So here are the updates! This week was really awesome, and I think I am going to spend most of my time talking about Sunday night. On Sunday night, we had three of our investigators get baptized. Our baptism was held in the chapel and there was another ward that was having two people get baptized, so we combined the baptisms into one meeting. There where so many people there! More than I have ever seen in any baptism on my mission! It was awesome!

During the first talk it started to rain and thunder, and guess what happened! The power went out! Hahaa it was crazy! Then the power came back on and the baptism kept on going. Anna was baptized by Elder Greenwood, I got to baptize Jaime, and Elder Scavo got to baptize Juan.

As zone leaders every transfer we have to plan an investigator fireside and call 2 recent converts to give a talk about their conversion story; how they found the gospel, and how it has helped them. We also find a member that has been a convert for a while to share how he has been blessed throughout his life. It is a lot of work. So, we got that done and had that meeting right after the baptism. Anna spoke and talked about how it helped her and her family grow closer together and how she has been blessed. It was awesome, and then a lady that Elder Cole and I found back in Houston 1 spoke about us and how she was baptized with her family it was super awesome, and I got to take a picture with them and everything it was great.

But the thing that I wanted to share today was that Anna and Jaime and Juan changed their family life. Their parents have been less active for like 12 years, and last Sunday they came to church. After the fireside, due to the parents seeing their daughter speak, the dad came up to us and called us his angles. It was awesome, and a very humbling experience. The Gospel really does bless families and through it all mankind may be saved. I am glad to be serving as a missionary for Gods church, and I may be busy, but it is definitely worth it.

As far as everything else, sorry for being a bad letter writer. I just have no more time any more to get them out. We have like 20 mins of nothing time on mondays. I hope all of you can understand. Well I love you all.

-Elder Johnson

7 Sept—Houston

Hello family!

This week has been crazy, and I have 12 minutes to write about it. So let's see how I do. I am serving in a area called Houston 8; the cross streets of my apartment are cooperate and beachnut. It is by one of my old areas in Houston 1. It is cool. There are a lot of apartments and people everywhere! The people here are really nice and it is a neat experience to see people really change their lives. Some of them really do have to give up their way of life. They have to stop a lot of bad habits that they are in and change through their faith in Jesus Christ.

Our zone consists of 11 companionships and they are hard workers everyone of them. I had the chance to go on exchanges with one missionary named Elder Collins and he is the man! We had a lot of fun working with each other and helping people learn about the Gospel. This new assignment has been really cool, and I am learning a lot from it. Like how to work with people, how to help people have the same goal, and how to have responsibility for important paper work.

It has been fun being with Elder Greenwood again. We had 4 baptisms in our last area and we will be having 3 or maybe even for this Sunday! It seems like we will be having a lot of rain this week, woohoo! hahaha maybe it will help this place cool done a bit.

Well I love you all and it was great to hear from you again. I don't know my address but Dad does. So, if you want it call him. I don't really know what else to say so I love you.

-Elder Johnson

30 Aug—Houston

Hey family!

So well where to start do you want the big news now or at the end. We will see.... I guess now will be better so I can just get it off my chest. Well, as you all know I got transferred. It was sad to leave my last area, there was a lot of good people who where going to enter into the waters of baptism soon. I enjoyed my time with my past companion and I enjoyed working with the district and learning a lot of new things. However, the Lord has a lot of new plans for me. I am now in an area that is called Houston 8 South, and I am with one of my old companions Elder Greenwood. I served with him in Houston 1 and we had a blast and a lot of success. Right now, he is training me on how to be a zone leader.

Last Thursday, I got a call from the mission office that President Saylin wanted to have an interview with me. So, I went in and he gave me a tough soul searching interview, and we talk for a little while. Then he told me that the Lord has called me to serve as a zone leader, and he told me not to tell anyone until Wednesday. So, that's why I didn't say anything on Monday. But yea, I am a zone leader now for the Houston West Zone. It is a big responsibility and I need to always rely on the Lord, because once I start trusting all in me and my abilities, I will fall and the zone will crash. So please keep me in your prayers so I can do this calling well and help the Lord's work go forth in the Houston West Zone. The Field is ripe and all ready to harvest.

This week I went to exchanges with the APs to get my training for zone leader stuff, and I was with Elder Roberts, who is the twin brother of my trainer, Elder Roberts. It was awesome to be with him. It felt like the good old days with my trainer, and we got to talk a lot about memories, and also how to be a good zone leader. So, that was a lot of fun.

My area is a Spanish area still, and I still need to keep on studying hard. We have a family that is getting ready for baptism on the 12th of September. So, hopefully everything will go well for them. The members here are very nice people, and the ones that I have met so far are really cool. On Sunday, we had stake conference, and Elder Greenwood and I saw people from Houston 1 there, and they were shocked to hear that we are companions again. The Bishop in Houston 1 said Elder Johnson, what did you do for that the happen (in a joking tone of voice)... it was great.

The zone is doing well right now, we have a lot of awesome missionaries in the zone and they work very hard. It is going to be a good experience and I will be growing a lot. I guess what is interesting about this whole thing is that three other missionaries from my MTC group are zone leaders. So, I might have a chance to serve with one of them some time. That would be super cool. I remember I thought the first year of my mission was tough. Well, things got a little tougher.

It sounds like the family is doing good. Kim is in college now!? Dang things sure change! I am going to have 2 new nieces and a nephew... Cheryl I am guessing that you will have a boy ;) new home and new friends when I get back. And there is going to be a bunch of more new changes in the next coming year.

Well I love you all!

-Elder Johnson

23 Aug—Manvel, TX

Hello family.

This week... let's just put it this way. I am tired and all I want to do today is take a nap.

The end

But seriously, I am really tired. I get more sleep than I ever did in college, and I am way more tired. Way, way, more tired. Anyway, the new news. Let's see, I am going to be transferred, which means a new area and new people to see. Hopefully, I won't go to an English speaking area, my Spanish is finally getting good. I feel bad for my companion, because we have used a lot of miles, so he is going to have to ride the bike a lot. I was planning on doing that with him so that we could both suffer the wrath of the hot sun and the bike together.

Our investigators are doing good. Last Sunday, we knocked on a door of a guy named Rusty, and he told us that he had a lot of Mormon friends growing up, and he told us to come back next week. So, yesterday we came back and had an awesome lesson with him. We started talking, and he talked about all of his friends that were Mormon, and he told us how he had gone to young mens' activities and even to church a few times. Then he told us out of nowhere that he wanted a Book of Mormon. So, we gave him one, and he said alright, let's get started, what do you have to share with me. So, we started talking about the restoration, he asked some good questions, and we gave some good answers. I really felt that we taught to his needs this time, and not so much the usual lesson, if you catch my drift.

So, we got the the first vision and taught him more about where the Book of Mormon came from, and he told us he was already baptized. The thought that went in my head was, ok it seems like he didn't understand the authority part of the lesson, but then he said yea I am just a really inactive member. He was 29 and hadn't been to church for about 6 years. We got talking some more, and it was just pretty interesting stuff. It kind of hit me hard though, because I thought about myself and growing up, and who knows if I didnt go to BYU or go on a mission, I could have been the 29 year old who was an inactive looking for the truth again. The good thing is that he is excited to have us come over and teach him the lessons. He grew up in Panama, or something like that, so he knows Spanish and English; he is way cool. Well, the other missionaries will have an awesome experience working with him, because I won't be here anymore. I will be in some other place, it will be really really interesting; a new place and a new companion. Once again, I get to work hard and change even more, woohoo!

-Elder Johnson

p.s Just keep me in you prayers, because I will need them.

16 Aug—Manvel, Texas

HEY!

Well, things here are still going. I have noticed some of the great missionary tan lines I have been getting. Newest being the watch tan. I don't know if we can go to the beach when I get back... I am going to look all goofy. Oh well.

Anyway, this week we have been trying to find more people to teach again, which means a lot of knocking on doors. I don't mind knocking though, you get to meet a lot of cool people; as well as hear some funny excuses as to why they don't want to listen to us. My favorite of the week is, "It's too hot outside to listen." We were able to make contact with Mauricio who was an investigator who was almost baptised. So we will see how he goes.

The weird thing about over here is it will say it's 95 degrees at like 2:00; then later in the day at like 5:00, it will be 100 or more degrees. I think I have lost some weight from sweating so much!

Lately, I have been studying about the sacrament and also about the High Priestly prayer that Jesus said right after the last supper. It is awesome and it says a lot of interesting things there. Like, being one with the will of the Father and being one with the will of Jesus Christ. Being out of the world but not being in the world. If we could do that we would be given great spiritual power.

I am sorry this is short, but I don't have a ton of time. I love you and congrats on the baby, Kelly! Wooooo!

-Elder Johnson

9 Aug—Manvel, Texas

Hello!

Well this week has been pretty crazy! We have been knocking a lot of doors getting a lot of rejections, but still enjoying the mission like never before. We have some great people we are working with. The family that was shooting for the 15 probably won't happen just yet but they should be good to go by the end of the month. And also we have been working with a part member family recently (the wife is a member and the husband is not), but the husband has been progressing really well and he came to church on Sunday! He hadn't been for 4 or 5 months. He really like me and Elder Henrie.

We were knocking doors on Sunday and we came up to this one trailer, and we heard some people inside, so we knocked on it. Then we waited and it got real quiet. So we just started walking back. As we walked back we heard a noise and there was this HUGE DOG running towards us! I am talking big! We whipped off our backpacks and stuck them in front of us and he stopped right in front of Elder Henrie. Like no joke, 2 feet in front of him, and he just barked and barked and we slowly walked away. Elder Henrie was breathing really loud it was funny; after it was over we had a good laugh. The tricks for dogs... if one is coming at you; bend down and grab a rock if there is one near you, or you can take your backpack off and hold it out in front of you, or also if you are on a bike you can put the bike in front of you, and be safe. yay!

Hmmmm speaking of dogs. I don't know if i have already told you all, but we have members with dogs from the canary islands. These big old Dogs. They have these stripes that look like tigers. But they are super cool, friendly and huge! They have one for dog shows with them and stuff, and if you want to buy one let me know. I think they are super cool.

Lately, I have been reading the book Jesus The Christ. There is a section that I like a lot about pleasure versus happiness. I really like this part in page 247 and it says happiness leaves no bad after taste, it is followed by no depressing reaction, it calls for no repentance, brings no regret, entails no remorse; pleasure too often makes necessary repentance, contrition, and suffering and if indulged to the extreme, it brings degradation and destruction!

Well I love you all see ya later!

-Elder Johnson

2 Aug—Manvel, TX

Hello everyone!

This week was a pretty good week. Maria was confirmed a member of the church and received the gift of the Holy Ghost. It was really great.

So kind of weird/funny story. Every fast and testimony meeting here is pretty interesting. Well, that's an understatement. It is very, very interesting. This month some old guy told us how he taught his grand daughter how to use the toilet paper, and not to use a whole role every time they go to the bathroom. Why would you talk about that? I mean, not to bag on his testimony or anything, but come on. Every testimony, I just say a prayer that it will go by smoothly, and that our investigators will enjoy it. Once again, I am a fan when the little kids go up to share their testimonies with people. It is always super good.

What else what else... This week it rained a bunch. I got soaked and so did Elder Henrie. It was pretty funny. We were walking in parking lots giving people cards for a Finding Faith in Christ DVD and a lady rolled down her car window, gave us an umbrella and drove away. So, then we were standing there with an umbrella that we couldn't really use because we had our bikes. It was very nice of here though. :)

We went on exchanges with the zone leaders, and they went over some things that I need to know when I am a district leader, and about how I can help the district better. That was fun, I was with Elder Adams and he is a cool guy. He actually has more time as a missionary than he does a member of the church. Pretty cool! He was atheist before, and then he met some missionaries and his whole life changed.

So, my new companion Elder Henrie likes to do two things a lot. One is ride his bike, and the other is run. I haven't ran for over a year, but on Saturday, I told Elder Henrie to set the clock a little early one of these days and we would go running. Today, I got woken up at 5:30am by Elder Henrie poking me and he said, wake up man we're going running! I asked what time is it and he told me a little bit before 6. I looked at the clock and it said 5:30am; I told him what?! I am totally going back to bed. So, then he set the alarm at 6:00 and we went running. And we ran, and we ran, and we ran. For 3 miles we ran, and when I got back I just sat down. And sat... and I felt like my legs were going to fall off. I got owned. I guess it's alright because I haven't really ran a lot the past year.

Other than that it sounds like everything is going well! Thanks for the package mom! Kelly that is exciting that you are having your baby soon. Things here are looking good. We should have another 3 baptisms on the 15th so we will see what happens!

Keep on keeping on family and I see ya next week.

-Elder Johnson

26 July—Manvel, TX

Hey y'all,

Another week has come and gone. This week was a crazy, crazy week. Stress level was up there, and there was just tons of stuff. Tuesday and Wednesday, I had a leadership training meeting at 7:15 in the morning, and it ended at around 5:30pm. I got back to my area around 6:15pm. The mission just got some new training from the apostles and everyone else. It was interesting to see that nothing was really new, but all the training was about things that helped us focus and improve different skills that our mission has already been working on. I enjoyed the meetings a lot, and I got to learn a lot too. Thursday, we had another leadership training meeting, but this one ended at about 3:00pm, because I had a interview afterward.

So, while I was at my meetings, my companion Elder Henrie was in our area with another missionary. He was leading this guy around the area, which he had only been in for 4 days. The good news is that they didn't get lost and they did really well. We had a good week and Elder Henrie did great. He is pretty funny guy and we get along well.

The other reason why this week was stressful was because we had a baptism. A lady named Maria was baptized by her good friend Brother Roberts, and she is a really nice lady. She is somewhere in her 70s, and really had to give up a lot to be baptized. Her family wasn't to thrilled of her being baptized, but She just knew with her heart that it was true and was able to push on. The great thing about it was that there were tons of people at the baptism. And the branch is really another family to her now. I asked her how she felt, and she said siento contento. She is happy and feels clean. I was also happy that I could give Elder Henrie the experience of a baptism. That was something that my trainer was able to provide for me.

We also have an awesome ward mission leader, and he did everything for us. He filled up the font, asked people to give talks, and it was all wonderful. I have had some stressful baptisms in the past, but this one was nice. I saw one of Pearland's investigators outside the chapel, because she was taking care of her baby. I invited her in to see the baptism, and I did my best to translate for her. I think it went really well. She said that she really enjoyed seeing someone get baptized. And she liked to see it in Spanish.

This week, I also had the chance to interview someone for baptism, and let me tell you that was a real treat. The spirit there was so strong and I got to hear how happy Jenny was to be baptized. I read her Mosiah 26:21-24(I think that's it), but it talks about baptism and how we will be forgiven of our sins. When I looked up after reading it, she was crying but it was tears of joy. Man, I know last week I said I didn't know if I liked being a district leader or not. Well, I like it. I like helping and encouraging the missionaries in my district and helping other people as well.

Another thing, we have a couple of new people that we are working with this week and it is going to be great. They are two families, and we are going to try to set them for baptismal dates. I am exited to work with them, and help them come closer to Jesus Christ.

It is interesting how so many people think such crazy stuff about the Mormon religion and I enjoy talking with them about their questions. Then when they tell me something, I get to resolve their concern, which usually means I say something like no, that isn't true, we believe........ And then they go, oooooooohhhhhh. That's great, and they suddenly have a good opinion about what we believe. The big thing down here in Texas is that everyone thinks we have 5 wives or whatever. Apparently, there was something on the news a while back about this guy who was caught having 5 wives, and he said he was Mormon, but he wasn't actually Mormon. So, now everyone things we have 5 wives. I am proud to tell them I have 1 mom. :) hahaha.

Anyway, I haven't really written any letters to anyone besides emailing for about 4 months, and I got some hate mail this week. So, I think I am going to write some letters and just have a chill p-day with my companion. We are going to make some banana bread and it is going to be good. I also need to clean, so that will be good too. Well, other than that thanks for everything! Keep on praying for us!

Elder Johnson

19 July—Manvel, Texas

Hello everyone!

Well things here are going. We have been working hard and working some more. I guess I just hit my hump mark. Well, at least I will in 3 days (July 22). I feel like I am, and forever will be a missionary. I like being a missionary, but I am stuck right in the middle. I have been out for a while, and I still have a while to go. I don't hate the feeling, but I don't love it either. I think it is understandable haha.

My new companion is Elder Henrie. He grew up in Colorado; he then lived in Idaho for 2 years and moved to Utah to go to Utah State for 2 years. If I could sum him up in comparison to some other person I have known before it would be Zach Wetzel. He likes to run, and likes to ride his bike for fun. He likes to read, and is tall and has blond hair. He is pretty funny.

I guess a funny thing that happened to us was last night. He was saying a prayer and at the end of the prayer he said en el nombre de tu hijo amado (In the name of thy beloved son)... escuchalo (Hear him) ....... amen. I started busting up laughing and it was a great memory, and one I will remember forever. The reason why it was so funny is because in the 1st vision it goes este es mi hijo amado escuchalo (This is my beloved son, hear him), and so I started busting up laughing.

He actually speaks Spanish well for a greenie and it's pretty awesome. The only thing that is real hard is he can't understand Spanish very well yet. But he does get about 33 percent of what people say. So, go greenie!

My new role as district leader is pretty tough. I don't know how much I like it or dislike it right now. We just watched some new training movies this week and its called the district 2 and it is about some missionaries in the San Diego mission, and man that made me want to go home! Man, the beach was there they had the San Diego temple. It was just great! The weirdest part of the whole district thing is that there are my companionship and one other companionship in my district. There is a grand total of 4 missionaries woohoo! Hahah smallest district I have been in on my mission.

I have been surviving with the Spanish. On Sunday, I had another funny thing happen. I was sitting next to a member and he started talking to me and asked me something and I didn't get exactly everything he was saying and he is like come on Elder let's go. Your a Mexican. You should be speaking this language easy; it's in your blood. I was like what are you talking about? Then he said, you have the face of a Mexican, and then he holds out his arm and I was almost as tan as he was. He is like, don't lie to me. I know your mom is Mexican. I said my mom is white hermano. Then he tells me, so is mine; my mom is whiter than you are, and she is from Mexico. Then he said maybe your just adopted and we started laughing. I said, I think you could be right, I mean I can already grow the mustache. It was a funny time at church.

Another cool thing that happened this week. We were driving home and my companion was driving and we had to slow down, because the street has a bunch of speed bumps and there was a dog in the road and suddenly this Mexican lady from Monterey waved us down, and asked us if we were missionaries from The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and we said we were. Suddenly, she got a little teary eyed and told us her name was hermana Cruz and she had been here in America for 12 days and had been looking for the church and had praying for the Elders or members to come by and she expressed how she wanted to go to church this week and everything. It was really great. She got to church on Sunday and it was awesome!

This Sunday, we should have a baptism! Please pray for Maria Cruz that everything will go smoothly this week. We can use all the help we can get. I love you all and thank you for the letters. They were great.

-Elder Johnson

12 July—Manvel

Hello everyone!

This week has been a little slow, last week we had 6 investigators at church and this week we had 0, and I believe it was because of the world cup. There was like no one even at the branch on Sunday...

Anyway, we got transfer calls last night, and if you have been praying for me, I ask you to pray a little harder now because I can use all the help I can get. I got a call from President Saylin last night, and he told me that he wants me to do two new things this next transfer. First thing was he said he will be dividing our district up and splitting it up into two districts and that he wants me to be the district leader in the new Manvel district. He said it is a big responsibility. The second thing that he told me was that he had been praying earnestly to find out who the new missionaries trainers should be, and he strongly feels that I need to train and give the new missionary a good experience and teach him the principles of following the standards of excellence and being 100 percent obedient. So, I have a lot on my plate this next transfer with training and being a district leader.

This week has been a good week, actually a tough week. I think Satan was in my head a bunch with Spanish because I kept on getting these negative thoughts about my Spanish and I was very unconfident about my Spanish this week. My companion said I still spoke it well, and he didn't know why I was worried about it all. However, on Sunday we were driving in the car and it was one of those open random and read the scriptures things and I opened to Ether 12 and just starting reading. I read verses 24 through 29 and it talks about Moroni's weakness in his writing and how he felt that the people would mock the words he wrote, and God tells him that fools will mock but the humble in heart would listen to what he had to say, and that as long as he has faith in Jesus Christ; he will be able to overcome any challenge, and as he humbled himself his weakness will become a strength. It made me feel a lot better because sometimes its tough to speak or people "mock you," but I know that as I continue to put my faith in Christ he will help me. I know my Spanish is fine; I can communicate with the people. I just need to step it up to the next level, especially because I will be training a missionary and I need to give him a good experience.

The past week, I have been studying about the spirit. I don't remember if I talked about this last Monday. But, it is a very important topic, and I feel like I should talk about it. I had always known the the Holy Ghost was a comforter and testifier of truth, and a constant companion if we are living worthy, but I don't think I realized the importance of really having the spirit as your constant companion. It is very important, he will teach us all things that we need to know and guide us in all aspects of our lives. I guess the new question is, how can we receive the Holy Ghost, or what can we do to always have the spirit to be with us?

I guess first we can look to the sacrament. In the prayer, it talks about our covenants; that we are making when we take the sacrament. First, it is to take upon the name of thy son Jesus Christ. What do you think that means? 2nd, to always remember him. How can we always remember the Savior? And third, to keep his commandment. a.k.a. obedience. Are we obedient to the unenforceable? Are we obedient to the things that only you and God will know about. For example are our thoughts clean, do we tell the truth, or do we judge others? Our quest to have the spirit, I feel, is always moving we are never at a stand still we are either growing closer to the spirit or we are drifting away from the spirit.

With that idea in mind, what are some things that we can do to keep the spirit with us? To keep our change of heart? And how can we give ourselves a spiritual check up?

Well, I think the first things are the simple things. Like reading your scriptures, praying every morning and night and going to church. But ask yourself these question. When I study am I reading or am I spiritually feasting? When I pray, is it me me me or am I giving thanks for the things I have and praying for others? When I go to church, am I going because I have to or am I going to renew my baptismal covenants though the sacrament? And am I fulfilling my calling and learning new things as I listen to the spirit?

One thing I like to do to give my self a spiritual checkup is to read Alma 5. Alma asks us a lot of good questions and when you read those questions, answer them in you head and change things if you need to. We can also go and think about the temple recommend questions and see how we are doing with those.

The more and more I am out here on my mission, the more and more I realize that this life isn't a game, but that this life really is the time that we have to prepare to meet God and to do the things that we need to do to make sure when we are at the judgment bar we won't have regrets. It is important, I think, to realize that just because we have been baptized or just because we went to the temple that it doesn't mean that we are going to be saved. We need to constantly give ourselves these check ups and constantly repent. Continual repentance doesn't just mean repent of the things we are doing wrong, but it also could mean doing the things that we are doing better. Trying our best to stretch ourselves. It is also important while we are doing all these things to make sure we have our family time. Spend time with the family and make your family your best friends.

Anyway I will keep working hard as long as you all keep praying hard :) and I love you and I will talk to you in another week.

Love,

Elder Johnson

5 July—Manvel

Hello Family and Friends,

This week was a hard week because of a lot of rain from Hurricane Alex. The end results for the week were great! We had 6 investigators come to church! Do you know what the secret was? To have member lessons. We had 5 this week and it helped so much. I think sometimes our investigators think that we are scripture robots and I think that sometimes they think that we can't relate to them at all. When we bring a member, I let the member go for it and say what they want to say and man it is great suddenly you see the investigator and the member relate and become friends and then the member invites the investigator to church and they come; it is wonderful! Yay for members!

We had 2 families and a 75 year-old lady come to church today. Man this lady is great! She came to church with some members and she came in the chapel with her cane and looked super happy to be here. Testimony meeting was awesome!

The reason why it was awesome was..........Youth bearing their testimonies! Yes, you the youth bring a special spirit to the testimony meetings. One young boy got up there and he said "I had a test in school and was scared, I asked my dad for a blessing and I think I did good on the test." That was awesome! to me this boy shared a great testimony of the priesthood. I was studying for my test and I was really scared and nervous. I know my dad has the priesthood power of God so I put my faith in God and asked him for a blessing. I know the Priesthood power that my dad holds is real because I did well on my test.

Later, this boy's older sister came up and shared her testimony about serving others and she is 13 and was up there just crying because she felt the spirit so strongly through serving others. Then one other 9 year-old girl went up there and shared how she loves Jesus and her family and she knows that we will live with them again one day. These simple testimonies of truth are so strong! So I challenge any youth who reads this to go and share his or her testimony next testimony meeting.

We have transfers again next Monday. I don't think I will be leaving but you never know. We will see. My companion probably will be transferred because he has been here for 6 months already, so we will see what happens. Either way it will be great; we have been working hard out here and it's been great. This place has a ton of potential and I am excited to keep on trying my best to share this special message that Jesus Christ Church is back on the earth again.

Thank you for your prayers.

-Elder Johnson

28 June—Manvel

Hello Family and Friends,

Man this week was a busy week. We had a bunch a bunch of new investigators. 14 to be exact and 3 of them are families. Things here in Manvel are going well. We are getting our goal of 20 sitdowns and 70 oyms every week, and this week we had 25 sitdowns and 15 of them were investigator lessons. It was awesome!

The thing that I have learned this week is the importance of the members in the work. We had a great week for teaching but none of the people we taught this week came to church. You want to know why? We had 1 member lesson. Yes, I know it takes two to tango, and we need to do better with the inviting members part. But I have learned the importance of members in the work. When you invite a member to come and teach with you, the investigator gets to see that people of our religion are normal. They get to hear of the wonderful testimonies and experiences that the members have and they will feel more comfortable coming to church. So, my challenge to anyone who reads this letter this week is to call the missionaries and tell them a day that you want to come out with them. It will be awesome and the members always say that they always feel like its a hassle to come out but when its done they feel good and enjoy the experiences that they had with the investigators.

We got a call from our district leader that there is a hurricane warning. Pretty crazy! I hope another one does not hit Galveston again. That wouldn't be good. We ate dinner at a member's house the other day and they asked how long I had been out and I told them 11 months. Pretty crazy! Almost over the hill. It doesn't feel like it has been that long, but when I look back at all the people and places I have met, I realize that it really has been a long time.

We had zone meeting this week and our mission president gave a really neat talk on discipleship at the end of the zone conference, and he said some really neat things. He said that the path to discipleship is a path that you cannot stay still on. You are always moving forward or backwards. He said that there are ways to know how you are doing on your path to discipleship. I didn't bring my notes with me but I will do my best to remember the key points.

First he said consider your personal study of the scriptures. Is it the time of the day where you feast on the words of Christ or is it a time where you merely read through the scriptures. Personal study should be when we dive deeply in the principles of the gospel and it should be a time of the day when the spirit is teaching us.

The second was to consider your obedience. And he talked about be obedient to the inforcible. Meaning, being obedient to the things that people won't always notice. But the things and promises that you have made with God. For instance, some examples I can think of are your thoughts, or lying. Just submitting everything to the Lord, submitting your will to the Lord because that is really the only thing we can truly give.

The third that I can remember is consecration (or perfect use of the Lord's time). He said that how are you using the Lord's time, how are your conversations with your companions; are they conversations that will bring the spirit or are they the opposite.

I know there is one more but I can't thing of it right now.

President has been talking a lot with me about my studies and has been trying to get me to take my studies to a new level and he has been giving me topics to study. One is taking on the name of Christ and he gave me Mosiah 5 and Alma 5 to read. Another topic was about D&C 11:30; I'm pretty sure that's the scripture. It's about becoming a son or daughter of God. So those are topics that I have been running with the past couple of months and it has helped me to have a great experience while studying.

Have a good week everyone. Next week, I think I will touch on the importance of sacrament meeting.

-Elder Johnson

21 June—Manvel, TX

Hello everyone!

This week was a pretty good week. We have been trying to get some of our investigators to make the commitment to be baptized. We have people that have been coming to church every week for over a month. One of them is a family of 5 and the other is a single guy and they are all awesome. The family of 5 is super cool; the parents just need to get married. They need to talk to our branch president but something comes up every Sunday so it hasn't happened yet. We found a solution, I think, this week. We are going to take the branch president out with us this week to go to their house and they can talk about it with him in their home instead of at church.

The other man we have been working with and he said he loves the church and he feels like it is true, but the there is something that he still needs an answer to and he said he needs to figure it out on his own. We are praying for him.

So, stories for the week. Something exciting, something new hmmm. O0o0o, the member we lived with is cool, her name is sister Allison and she is really good at quilting. She is really nice and she gave us some fire extinguishers that had expired and told us to go and use them outside. It was pretty sweet. So we got to play with fire extinguishers.

Also this last week I got a chance to go on exchanges with the zone leaders and it was a lot of fun. The weird thing was that we taught everyone in English. I hadn't said a prayer in English for a long time and it was hard haha. That's alright though. It was a lot of fun. We taught a really cool lesson with a lady's husband who is in the army fighting right now and she is living with his mom and dad right now and they are super star members. They are great. We had a lesson with them and she was crying and she said she was excited to learn more about the gospel and it was just great!

So, super star member status. What is the definition? Well hmm, members that like to do missionary work! If you want to be a super star member:

1. Talk with you friends and invite them over for a family home evening

2. Go out with the missionaries

3. Be friends with you neighbors

4. When you talk to nonmembers about your weekend tell them you went to church.

5. Last but not least :) feeding the missionaries is good too haha

This things will invite the spirit of missionary work in your home and I promise there will be a lot more joy in your life.

Have you ever thought of the blessings of the plan of salvation? How we know where we came from, what we need to do while we are here on the earth and where we are going? Or maybe repentance? The knowledge that we have about the atonement of Jesus Christ? How we know how to truly repent? Maybe that after this life we will see our families again and our families will be eternal, or forever? This little bits of truth we have a lot of people don't know. When people hear these things they will start to think and start to want to learn and grow and progress. It is awesome!

So, open your mouths and share these things with your friends! They will thank you for it.

Another thing that I have learned on my mission is the importance of home teaching. Thank you Dad for being a good example to me of home teaching. If everyone in the ward would do their home teaching every week, the wards would become stronger and there would be less less-active members. Fellowship each other. When there is a new member or investigators that come to church go and talk to them. Invite them over for pizza and to watch the NBA playoffs (Go Lakers) and talk to them. They need your help just as much as we need theirs. It makes me sick when people say, well they need to get out of their shell also. They can come talk to us. I have to admit that's how I felt before my mission. But man it takes faith and courage to come to church and be baptized. Lets not make it harder by not fellowshipping.

Lately, I have been loving reading the scriptures. My Mission President has been working with me and with studying. He said there is 2 different types of studying. The first one is kind of like studying for school. You get the information, you know the stories of the scriptures and know the basic principles. The second one, he said, is the spiritual side of study. When the spirit is teaching you. I have realized there is more to scriptures then just the stories. A lot more. I am not talking about studying deep doctrine like Kolob and other stuff like that. I am talking about studying a doctrine or principle deeply; there is a difference. Take faith for instance; we can all go to Alma 32 and read it and say ok I know what faith is; faith is having hope for things which are not seen which are true. But then you can go and search the footnotes find more scriptures and pray for guidance, ponder about what you are reading and let the spirit teach you and guide you. Try it out sometime its cool.

Well thank you for everything you have done to help me on my mission everyone! You guys are great! and I heard the Lakers won the NBA playoffs. WOOOOOOOO

-Elder Johnson

Mail Notice

Note to all:

Elder Steven Johnson sent a request that all mail (more especially from non family members) be sent to the mission office, at least for the time being, to ensure that he will receive it, since he is likely to be moving from his current mission address in the coming week. Thanks!

24 May - Houston

Hi all!

I guess topic number one is no, we don't have to wear a suit everyday, but when I was in my bike area in Galveston we wore suits because it was a cold winter. And yes it is hot, but I think that the summers here are over rated. People here always say man it's sooo hot, you go outside and suddenly you are sweating. Blah blah blah. It hasn't been to bad.

This whole month we have been trying to use our bikes as much as we can. In our car area we get to use 1200 miles a month, and so far we are at about 600 and it's the last week. So, we have been using our bikes a lot.

Transfers are coming up and I am guessing I will be heading to a new area. Houston 1 has been awesome. I have been learning a lot about how to be a better missionary, and the language is coming along nicely also. But I know that there is more work to be done in another area, people to teach, people to help reactivate and people to help grow.

It is crazy, I feel like I have been growing a lot on my mission, and that I am understanding the importance of church and the restored gospel like I never have before. But there is soooo much more to learn. So much more to learn in the simple stuff like faith and charity and hope; you know, all the Christlike attributes. Study, study, study... Oh how I am loving to learn how to study. I have been studying about a change of heart with my mission president and it has been a good experience. I am not just going to be an active member of the church when I am older, because there is more to it to have salvation, time to take it to the next level. It's game time!
Elder Johnson

May 17 - Houston

Hey family and friends,

This week has been a good week. I don't know if I told you about the bike challenge that we are on for this month. But we were challenged to park the cars for a month and to take the bikes out. Well it was going good and I was enjoying riding the bikes, but this week was a little harder to do it because it dumped rain. I don't know if you have seen it rain in Texas before, but it is crazy, but cool at the same time. For example, the thunder was so loud that it made car alarms go off. :)

Anyway, Elder Cole and I are having a good time working hard. We had a great week with 24 sitdown lessons (Kobe, go lakers) and it was a great week. We are seeing the blessings of the Lord through obedience and diligence.

I would like to give a public apology for not writing anyone letters for the past month or two. things have been really busy and there is barely enough time to get the laundry done on P-days. So all my friends at BYU you are all still awesome! Also, family I hope you understand.

Well I have to get going!

Love ya all!

-Elder Johnson

May 10 - Houston

Hello family and friends,

This week has been great. We have been working hard and visiting a lot of people. Sunday was awesome because 14 people that we have been working with came to church. Only one of them was an investigator, but 13 others were all less actives. Three less active families came and it was great! It really made a difference in the ward. Less active work is so important because the ward needs everyone. Every member of the church has different strengths and weaknesses, for this reason we need everyone so we can have everyone's strengths. Nothing makes me more happy then seeing a less active person that hasn't been to church for a few years walk through those doors and feel the spirit again.

It was nice to talk with the family yesterday, and it was great to hear that everything is going well. I hope that everything is going well. If you need extra help in your life look over the commandments and think of one that you can do better with, one that you can be more obedient with and if you do that I promise that you will receive more blessings from our heavenly father.

-Elder Johnson

May 3rd - Houston

Hey!

this week has been really good I have working by hardest. This week was one of my favorite weeks. No, we didn't get baptismal dates. No, none of our investigators came to church, and yes, a lot of our appointments fell through. But I will tell you something, I know that I did everything I was supposed to do as a missionary this last week and I was very happy last night when I pondered about the week. The mission isn't always a cake walk, it's not always easy. But I have been changing a lot.

I'll tell you something it is hard; it is very hard; it is physically hard, and mentally hard; BUT it is worth it. The mission is not supposed to be easy. We are in a war, and Satan is trying his hardest to stop the work from progressing, but through exact obedience we can gain help and blessings to carry on. Something I have learned on the mission is that you can still be happy during the tough times. It is during the tough times when we get a good opportunity to grow. So, yes the mission is awesome, it is a time were we get to dedicate 100 percent to the Lord. Do all missionaries do this, nope not all of them. I am learning a lot about that.

If you want a fun study to do, read Alma chapter 5 and Mosiah Chapter 5 and dig deep. Study about a change of heart. I was shocked about what it did for me.

I hope that everything is going well for y'all. I am pooped. That is why we have a p-day to get our energy back again. I am super tired, and I think that I am going to go an sit in the cool egg swivel chairs that are here in the library.

Have a good day.

-Elder Johnson

April 26 - Houston

Hey y'all-

Right now we are trying to work with part members and we are asking them were all the people are that live in homes and not apartments and I guess there are not that many here. We are going to teach a family tonight. It is going to be really cool if they all accept baptismal dates.

The mission is great and I love it. I got a new companion. His name is Elder Cole and he is a great missionary. He is from Arcadia, California. He has been out for 21 months and he is my companion and is really good at Spanish. He used to be a zone leader and president likes to have zone leaders train new missionaries right before they leave, so I am probably going to a new area next transfer.

My last companion just became a zone leader. It is cool and he will be good at it. This will be the 2nd companion that I have had out of 4 that have been zone leaders. I am learning a lot from him. We are being exactly obedient. Mosiah 5 is awesome. You should read it again. That and also Alma 5. It's about a mighty change of heart and I am learning a lot from it. Obedience is key. Well, I don't think I am going to be able to write much more.

~Elder Johnson

19 April - Houston

Hello all,

So you want to know about the mission mission.

How do I like my mission?

Well to tell you the truth, I love it. Sometimes it is hard when you kind of do the same thing every day. But a cool scripture I like is in Alma 5:7; it talks about when you have a change of heart it is like waking up from a deep sleep and waking up unto God. That is kind of like how a mission is. You don't really remember the pre-mission life very well and you kind of feel like you woke up from a sleep. I think that is because my heart has been changing a lot out here.

The longer I am out here the more I realize that the most important thing we can do is be obedient and to show our love to our father in heaven. And we show our love to him through obeying the commandments. So I am loving the mission. BYU changed me a lot but the Mission is changing me even more. I like learning a new language, and serving in the ghetto. You kind of get the feel of a new culture. You learn to care for people and you learn that true happiness comes from the gospel.

What is happening so far?

Well this transfer, we have baptized all of our main teaching pool (Benjamin, Brayan, Maria, and Victoria). So, right now, we are working on finding. That means talking with everyone. This is sometimes hard, because you talk with someone, and set up a time with them and they are not even there. For example, on Saturday we talked with someone and he invited us over for a lesson for Sunday. We told them we would bring him a piece of cake, because I made a cake and he was like alright. So, Sunday comes around, we bring him the piece of cake and he takes it. Then he tells us, oh I am watching the kids so I don't have anytime to talk with you see ya, and closed the door. So as you can see I got robbed of a piece of cake :(

Also my companion is getting transferred, so I will be getting a new companion and taking over the area. This will be interesting because we don't have any real solid progressing investigators. So, what is the plan to fix that? Rely on the Lord, fast, pray, and talk with everyone. Also be diligent. So, we will see how that goes.

Our ward is very funny; at the start of sacrament meeting there are probably 40 people there and then after the sacrament has been passed and the doors open, a giant stampede comes in and then all of the sudden there are 145 people sitting in the seats. It is pretty nuts. Last Sunday, we had 2 confirmations and everything is going really great.

I think almost all of my pants has some kind of rip in them and a few socks have holes in them, but I guess that is the mission life huh.

O yeah we have the coolest mission president ever. I think that this guy is going to be a general authority or something crazy. He is so awesome. I had the annual transfer interview with him on Wednesday, and he told me about grandma and stuff. It was good she finally passed away because every time I visited her she would say take me home Joe. Well, anyway I got another angel on my side so that is pretty good. Other than that things are going great. People to teach; people to baptize

-Elder Johnson

12 April - Houston

Hello everyone!

To tell you the truth I don't know what to type. Another week in Houston has come and gone. Things are going good here; we had another baptism. Her name is Victoria, and she is 11 and she is awesome!

Let's see, transfers are next Monday. Elder Greenwood is awesome, so I hope we have another 6 weeks together. Spanish is coming a long well and I can pretty much understand most of the conversations now and say most of the things that I want to say.

Ummm, I like the food here. It isn't that hot and I like reading and studying the scriptures in the morning. We are going to have a zone activity after this at the park and there is going to be some BBQ and I am hungry. We are going to eat fajitas and it is going to be delicious!

Well, I gots to go c ya!

-Elder Johnson

5 April - Houston

Hey family/friends-

Well, to tell you the truth, this week was kind of the same as every other week. That is the funny thing about missionary work. At first, it is very exciting and you get to talk about all these things you do everyday and then after a while you realize, wow, I do the same thing every day, but just with different people. But hey, I am not complaining, I love it out here and I enjoy making people happy and teaching them about Jesus Christ.

I really liked conference and all the messages we got to hear from the prophet and apostles and other church leaders. Conference messages are really good. It is interesting how every year they talk about basically the same things, but just put tweaks in it. That is because the path to salvation hasn't changed and will never change. God made the Ten Commandments many, many years ago and we still need to follow them today. Times are worse now I would say, and that is why it is important to have a prophet on the earth today. We have received additional commandments such as the word of wisdom, and law of chastity from latter-day prophets to help us stay above the filth and sin of the world. I am grateful for the commandments in my life, I used to think they were restrictions, but I know that they lead us to freedom. Hold on to the Iron Rod, keep on striving for perfect obedience, and I know that we will one day see each other and live with our families together forever after this life. Well I love all of you so much.

-Elder Johnson

29 March - Houston

Hey fam!

This week has been good. The new cool thing that happened this week was we got to go to the Houston Temple this week as a mission! wooo. All 150 of us missionaries got to go. It was funny we were taking out mission picture with 75 of the missionaries and there was a wedding going on. The groomsman came over and asked if after we were done with our pictures if he and his bride could take a picture with us. President said it was ok and so after the picture the bride and groom came in the middle of everyone. So, we were taking pictures and the picture guy said ok everyone look at the bride and groom. so we looked and all of the sudden they kissed! and everyone was like WOOOOOOOOOOOOO hahahahaa it was funny! It is a pretty cool looking temple and it was nice to go to the temple.

The other elders in my district had 2 baptisms, so our district is doing very well this transfer with 4 total baptisms. I am already a third of the way done with my mission meaning that I am a third of the way fluent in spanish and a third of the way "trunky" hahah the other day a member asked me how long I had been out and I told him 8 months and he freaked out because he thought I had been out for over a year hahaha. It was so funny. He was like No CREO NO CREO hahahahah.

I like this place more than Galveston, the city ROCKS WOOO. They got cool live bands at restaurants and the other day the little kids were dancing in front of the band hahaha

Besides that things are great! The other Elders in our district had 2 baptisms this week so things are going very well for our district. I am excited to be a missionary and I like it out here.

We have been running out of miles this week (on their weekly allowance of miles for the car) so we have had to go out on the bikes again! yay! The bikes are fun I think we are going to go out on them more next month!

Well have a good week everyone!

-Elder Johnson

Thanks for everything!

22 March - Houston

What up my fam!

This week was awesome! Benjamen was confirmed a member of the church this Sunday and we had another baptism! It was Maria and it was awesome! She is super tight and it was a awesome baptism! I sang a song with Brother Romero and then we helped her into the water and she was baptized. It was a very neat experience and probably one that I will never forget.

Things are great here and I love it! Elder Greenwood and I are getting along great and the members here are great. I don't really know what to say besides everything here is good!

Umm, this weekend we are hoping for two of our friends Brayan and Elizabeth to be baptized also. We will see how that goes. Also the other Elders in our district are going to be baptizing two kids so it will be a neat baptism of four kids on Sunday!

Love y'all!

Elder Johnson

15 March - Houston

Hey family and friends!

Things here are great. We had a baptism on Sunday! It was great! our buddy Benjamen was baptized. His mom is a member of the church and he has been going to church a lot. The funny thing was we thought he was already a member of the church, but then last week bishop told us that he wanted to be baptized next Sunday; so, we had to go and teach him the lessons this week. He is an awesome guy!

Next week we have 4 baptism lined up. A family from Cuba and our friend Maria! They are all ready and excited! Elder Greenwood and I are really being blessed by being obedient and keeping all the rules. Other than that, this week I am celebrating my birthday at a cool member's home. I will soon no longer be a teenager haha.

I want to give a special shout out to my buddy Austin M.! Congrats on you mission call to Roseville California that it awesome!

Well that's what has been going on here. I love it out here and the Spanish is coming along great!
Peace and love,

Elder Johnson

Houston - Feb 8, 2010

Hey y'all!

This week has been good. We have been working hard and nothing is really new. We had transfer calls today and Elder Greenwood and I will be in the city for another 6 weeks together. It is going to be good!

It is pretty funny, the people here think I am 23 or 24. When I tell them that I am 19 they freak out haha. Well next week I won't be a teenager anymore, pretty weird!

My trainer Elder Roberts is going home today he has been a missionary for 2 years and 1 month. It is pretty crazy to see him go home. He says that it is going to be weird. I don't really know what to say for this week. So, I love ya and keep on keeping on everyone!

-Elder Johnson