28 March—Brazos

Hey family and friends!

Well, I am now serving in an area called Brazos. It is in the town named Rosenberg, and I am back to trailer parks and homes. No more city life for me. I am here with my companion Elder Bunch. He is 6'6 and is from California just like me. He is from up north though. The Zone leader area has moved to Brazos. It is a little branch with a new branch president who is a fire ball. I think it is going to be a good experience here.

As far as the old area. George and Jose and Josselyn all came to church, and George has a date for the 9th, so that should go down for sure! It was tough to say goodbye, and it was sad because Josselyn cried for like 15 minutes, and that was sad. But I gave them a little picture book with the pictures of the birthday party that the threw me. They are awesome, and I am really happy that the old area is working out well.

As far as the new area, I am still learning it, and the people here are relatively nice. The Spanish is pretty good here. We have a lot of potential in the area, and we hope to see some success here soon. I am glad for the opportunity that I have to still be a zone leader in the Houston west zone. This is transfer #6 here in the zone. Pretty wild! But the change up in area will be a good thing. I think I needed it so I would be able to shake off routines, and really refocus on the little things.

The week went by fast; I needed to train Elder Bunch in the zone leader stuff, and he needed to train me in the area. He has a good focus, and wants to really work well with the district leaders, which is a good thing. We had a good District leader council meeting where we got to talk about the goals and plans for the zone. The zone is doing great with 71 with a date, and we hope to baptize a lot of people this next transfer! We are going to see miracles for sure! I really love all the district leaders; they are awesome and great hardworking missionaries, and have a great vision for the zone.

I guess you would probably like more detail about the area. Well, I would say the best thing would be to go to Google Earth and check it out. But it is definitely a country area; some trailer parks and some homes. Small town kind of feel. I have never really been to a place like this. Well, Manvel was kind of similar. There are tons of churches in this town. I can't believe it! It is funny when you ask people have you ever wondered why there are so many churches? They can really relate to that question a lot. So, the restoration is a great thing for this place.

Our branch is pretty cool. It was the branch conference this past Sunday, and with all the stake leader coming to the branch I am not sure how many people are actually in it. But we are excited to work, and hopefully it will become a ward soon. I think that is the vision that the leaders of the stake, and the vision that President Saylin have for this branch. It is going to be a lot of hard work, but it will definitely be worth it!

I love you all a lot, and I hope everything keeps going well!

-Elder Johnson

21 March—Houston

Hello Friends and Family!

I really appreciated all the e-mails that you all sent me. There are too many for me to respond to, so I decided to just write a really good email this week. The big news first. I am getting transferred. Elder Scavo is training a brand new missionary, so that means I am staying in the zone but in a different area. The zone leader area is moving. I have have a feeling that I am staying in the ward, but just in the other Houston 8 area and that Elder Kump will be called to be a zone leader. It will be an interesting transfer meeting.

News #2. George wasn't ready to be baptized, but that is ok, he still wants to make a goal for a little later. So, I will be able to go and see him get baptized.

News #3. Jose and Josselyn are doing awesome! I gave Jose one of my favorite green ties, because that is his favorite color. We also gave him a white shirt, and he bought some Sunday shoes, and he looked so good at church on Sunday! Josselyn is a sweetie, and is just loving the church. She went to Relief Society, she is making a lot of friends there, and had a really spiritual experience on Sunday. Hermana Richards is going home, and they asked her to sing a song to say goodbye. She sang Yo Se que Vive mi Senor (I Know that my Redeemer Lives) and she cried during the last verse; the whole relief society was bawling, and Josselyn was crying a lot too. Man they are so awesome. I forgot my camera but I will bring it for next week. Also, Jose brought his younger sister to church on Sunday, Jasmine, and she is 14 and went to the Young Womens and made some friends! I am really happy about them, and I know they will keep on progressing. We had a lesson with them, and we talked to them about the temples and temple marriage, and then we challenged them to drive to the Houston temple and have a picnic there. They said they will do it, and mentioned I would let them use my GPS so that they won't get lost!

My birthday was great! I appreciate all the gifts and letters I got! Jose and Josselyn invited us over for a birthday lunch! They are so nice! She made some yummy fajitas and other good stuff. Then they bought a really fancy tres leches cake (a cake with 3 milks) It is really goooood. We sang happy birthday, and they gave me a couple of funny cards. They are so nice. Jose was telling me how he was trying to find a gift and how he was going to buy me a tie, and then he heard my voice saying I have sooo many ties. Then he said I was going to buy you jersey, but I realized that I didn't know you favorite team. So, then I bought you this card. They are super awesome, and so nice especially, because I have only known them for about 2 weeks.

Well, I am running out of time. Thank you for all you all do for me and I love you a lot!

-Elder Johnson

14 March—Houston

Hey family!

Man this week was crazy! I don't even know where to begin. I guess I am just going to start with Saturday and Sunday. On Saturday, the day started off great. We had two awesome church tours, with two different investigators. The first one was with Jocelyn and Jose. They are 20 years old and super cool. We showed them around the church and explained to them what their church experience would be like on Sunday. We start in the chapel and then talk about the sacrament, and what happens during the sacrament meeting. Then we took them to the Sunday school room, and we explained to them what happens in Sunday school. Then, we showed them the relief society room, primary room, and the nursery and explained whats happens during those meetings. Then we took them to the best part of all. The baptismal font. We walked into the font an taught them baptisms right there, in the font. It is always the most powerful part of the church tour.

Then we took them outside, and we talked about how they liked the tour. Jocelyn said "I cant wait to get into that font." They are super cool.

We did the same thing with our boy George. We brought two priests quorum members with us (Two of his friends that he made at church), and we had a tour. We did the same thing, and talked abut the sacrament and baptism. He said he had a good vibe, and is excited for the baptism. Man they are so great.

Then we went to Panda Express to celebrate for lunch. And then we got a crazy phone call; it was from a member, and they said that their daughter was missing. She was outside, and suddenly disappeared. To make a long/more private story short the ward stepped it up, and we were able to find her. She is now home safe. But that took most of the day because we were helping this family. The mother and father of this family are just studs. In the morning, they knew they just needed to do all they could to serve God. So, they went and cleaned the chapel, and then they went to the bishop's store house to do service there. They fasted and prayed, and with the ward's help, they were able to get their daughter back! It was awesome! So, that was a very High and a very low for all of us all in one Saturday!

Then on Sunday, we went to church and Jose and Jocelyn were there! They had a great experience, and and really liked church a lot. I really love that family. They are so nice. Jose works at a country club, and he asked us if we wanted to go golfing with him on Monday. I said yes and we would love to. So, next Monday were golfing woohoo!

That night we had the investigator fireside, and Jose and Jocelyn came! Man it was awesome! And Presidente del Aguala was able to talk with them and they just loved it! They are so awesome. They are people that I feel complete my mission. Because of the teaching experiences with them, I can go home happy and accomplished. I just think they are the best.

So, when we got home from the fireside I was just pumped. I was so excited. We fill out the number for the zone, I lay down to go to bed and then it happened. I felt a sharp pain in my eyeball. I was like aaahhh, and then I couldn't get it out. Elder Scavo flips over my eyelid and rubs it with a q-tip and still I couldn't get the thing out. I look in the bathroom with my red eyes (when I have red eyes my eyes turn really green like the hulk) and the hulk green eyes and I see it. I had an eyelash stuck in my eyeball, right by the tear duct and I could only see part of it the other part was like in my eye if the makes any sense. So, I tried to lay down force my eye open and Elder Scavo came with the Q-tip and tried to get it out. After 30 mns of failed attempts, we called the mission nurse. She told me to try to rinse it out in the shower, and then if that didn't work to go to bed. Well, that didn't work either. So, I went to bed. Woke up, and the eyelash still was stuck in my eye. And Elder Scavo said I had a dream and I know how to get it out. We need to go to the other elders. So, we went. I got pinned down by one elder. The other held my right eye open, and then elder scavo put this eye drop in my eye which stung a lot. Then I cried. Still nothing. Eyelash still stuck in the eyeball. Then they go back to pinning me on the ground. With my eye held open, and elder scavo goes in with the q-tip pushes the eyelash so it pops up a little bit in a U shape, and then with tweezers was able to grab it and pull the eyelash out! Success! WOOOHOO no more pain in the eyeball, and man it felt so good.

Moral of the story. Use others to get annoying things out of your life. With the help of other we can be free of sin! yay!

Well that's all folks. O yea, the mission office is moving. Don't send m anything after march 25 because it will just get sent back to you. I will give you the address next week because we forgot what it was.

Love you all!

-Elder Johnson!

7 March—Houston

Hello family and friends!

The good news is that I brought the camera this week, so I can send some fun pictures.

But holy cow this week was so awesome! We had so many cool things! We had our zone leader council, our mission conference, and our Sister Training meeting where we trained the Sister Missionaries in the zone.

At ZLC we were urged to be even more obedient. Because of this Elder Scavo and I went through the white handbook, and we are reading it and underlining the things that we need to change. The big sacrifice of the week was that we went through each others ties and put the ties that were not appropriate or to flashy in our suitcases. Man just from that one little thing that we did the blessings came. We were able to hit our goals! Not only that we met some new awesome investigators this week.

I want to talk about George. George is 17 and we OYMed him (talked to him on the street), and he told us to go and visit him on Saturday. So we went and we taught him the restoration, and it was so cool because he totally feels that it is true. He learned in his world history class that the first christian church was started 300 years after Christ died, and he was always confused about that. So we go to teach him the great apostasy and the restoration of the Church of Jesus Christ once again on the earth. He was so pumped! Other things that make him super cool. He is a skater, and he has the same birthday as me. He wants to get baptized on his birthday, so it's going to be really cool.

We also have been starting up a new training from President Saylin, which is the Church tours. We have been trying them out for the past 2 weeks and they work out great. President Saylin wanted us to train the Sisters in the zone on how to do the church tours and we did that, and it was awesome! We are excited to see how this will help the mission grow even more.

The mission right now is just on fire, people are working hard and it is just great to see how when people follow the trainings and have desires to change and be better, how the Lord will pour down his blessing upon all the missionaries.

Well I am going to stick on a few pictures now. Well that is it for the week! I love you!

-Elder Johnson

Back in the MTC

Fire for our tin foil dinners

Preparing the dinners

Tin foil dinner

Bowling

Sister Training meeting (the serious look)