14 June—Rosenberg

Hey Family!

This week I am pleased to announce that I will be staying in Rosenberg with Elder Garrido for the next six weeks. The cool/crazy/exciting/intense thing is that the sisters' missionary area for the branch was closed down this transfer; so we have doubled the size of our area, moved to a new apartment in Richmond,(sorry I don't know the address yet), and now we get to work with all the members in the branch! We are very excited about this, because we can really focus on getting member referrals and building up our relationships with them.

We also had our investigator fireside this last Sunday, and it went really well. I think it was the first time that the Houston West Zone was able to get every companionship to come to the fireside. We had a total of ten people there and it was just a very spiritual meeting. It was super cool.

As far as transfers go, only two missionaries from the zone were transferred, and we are excited because we will be able to grow more in unity and see good things happen in the areas. But it is the calm before the storm, because there is a huge group coming and a huge group leaving next month, so many missionaries are going to train and that means many people will be getting transferred.

I forgot my camera again, but I hope to bring it next week so I can show you the picture of Richard getting baptized. And what my companion Elder Garrido looks like.

Good news for the week is that we had our dear friend Abel come to church! He is a less-active member who is missing both of his legs. He came to church, and it was the first time that he has been in about three months, so we are very excited about it. It is great to see the branch go serve and help him.

I guess this one goes to the friends, just to let you know I have really wanted to stay completely focused on the work the last few weeks of my mission so that is why I haven't responded to a lot of the letters. We will catch up soon! I hope you understand.

I am not really sure what to say to you this week besides the fact that everything in my life is going great, and I am still loving to study the scriptures. I hope everything goes well, and just so you know we email now on Tuesdays instead of Mondays.

I love you!

-Elder Johnson

7 June, 20011—Brazos, TX

Family!

Richard is now a member of the church! He is so awesome! His baptism was super cool, and it just showed the kind of man he is! We got to the baptism, and began to fill up the font and some brown rusty-looking water came out. It was dirty! There was some road work going on outside, and some how it affected the water in the fount. Anyway, while this was going on we were frantically thinking of other solutions to fix the problem, like going down to the Brazos river, or using someone's swimming pool. When Richard heard this he said, no I want to be baptized right here. He said President Puig, you're a holy man right? Then let's get this baptism started!

Then we started the baptism, and Richard was baptized. He was so happy afterwards, and it was a cool sight to see. His life has completely changed and it was nothing any of us did. The change all came from the spirit, and Richard's open heart. Sunday, he received the Holy Ghost and it is so cool to see the fire he has. All he wants to do know is share the gospel with his friends and his family. He swallowed a little bit of the water, and he got sick from it. We gave him a blessing, and he just about had tears in his eyes and he said that's some powerful stuff. The priesthood of God is back on the earth, and with this authority all of God's ordinances can be performed once again. So awesome.

Right now in the branch out efforts have now switched from our own efforts to involving more of the members. We knock and talk, and knock and talk, and have a hard time getting any where. The other day a young women from the branch invited her boyfriend over for dinner, and he accepted a baptismal date. The family is pumped. This guy's life is about to change for the better. The gospel is true.

We got in our first Bible bash the other day. It wasn't even intentional. A man looked like he was interested, we start teaching, and he tried to back us into a corner, which didn't work. He showed us his Bible, and in the back it has a section about how "Mormonism" is a cult. And all this other garbage. I think that is so lame! Who puts that in the back of a bible??? It wasn't just about our church, but about tons of other churches as well. I was grateful that I had the chance to realize that this was a testimony builder, not a destroyer because I know the church is true! There is nothing anyone can say that will prove the Book of Mormon false, or prove that Joseph Smith was not a Prophet of God.

The church is true! That is all I have to say today. We will see what happens with me next week. Transfer calls come Tuesday, and I will let you know what happens!

Love y'all

-Elder Johnson

31 May—Brazos

Hello family!

Things here in Rosenberg are going well! Elder Garrido and I continue to work, find and teach. The thing that I have loved more than anything from my mission is learning to study the scriptures. I love doing topic studies, and they say we need to follow the spirit while we teach people, but I truly feel we can apply that to our own personal studies. That while we study we listen to our hearts, and we ask the question of what would God have me learn today. Or what would God have me do to be a better person, and we study it. This is a personal example of what I mean. About a month and a half ago, I really felt in my soul that I needed to re-study the mighty change of heart, and while I studied that, it took me to different topics, like the sacrament, our covenants, the spirit, and pride. And I just enjoyed linking them all together, trying to figure out how they apply to each other and running with it. Just this week, I moved on to something different. But this is the key to it all. You need to write what you are learning down in a study journal. Otherwise the Lord will not reveal things as easily, and I feel it is because we will end up forgetting it all. There is a scripture in D&C that says in times past your mind has been darkened because you have taken lightly the things you have received (something like that). I know that a study journal will help us receive more light.

Right now I am studying the priesthood and it has just been awesome. I have realized that pride and the priesthood really go together. That if we have pride, we will not have priesthood power. I still have a lot to learn and I am excited to study it for a few more weeks.

I hope that everything is going well with the family, and congrats on the baby blessing Cheryl and Tyler!

Have a great week!

-Elder Johnson

16 May—Brazos

Hi family and friends-

This week was a good week for Elder Garrido and I. We had a chance to find some new people. We have a companionship goal to find a new investigator who has desires to really change, someone with real intent, every week. That way by the end of the transfer, we will have a lot of people to work with who are really progressing.

I really don't know what to say about what's going on. Elder Garrido and I hope to have a big week at church this next Sunday. We have five potential people who are just super awesome who we have been working with, and we really hope to see them get baptized one day.

The Sister missionaries in the branch had two baptisms last week. The first one that the branch has had in a few months, and the branch was really happy and excited about it. I was asked to sing a solo at the baptism. I did, and it was the first one I have ever done. It turns out that I actually really liked it. I am thinking about telling President Puig (Branch President) that if he ever wants me to sing during sacrament that I would be happy to do it.

I have really been enjoying the change of heart study again, to help me weed out any laziness and to help me refocus on everything. That study is so cool. Mosiah 5 is so awesome! I really love studying the scriptures and starting my day with reading. So, if you are not studying them you better blow the dust off your scriptures and dive in deep.

Oh, my I almost forgot about the biggest news in history. My trainer, Elder Roberts, he has been home for over a year, and it turns out he is getting married on August 5, and he wrote me a letter and wants to to be a groomsmen!! So, that is only nine days after I get home and I told him that I am going to go!! So, I don't know if that changes any of my family's plans, but I love Elder Roberts, so I have got to go to his wedding. I have to be there to support him. I am going to have him call you (Mom and Dad) this week so that he can give you some details. He lives in Northern California.

I love you all!

Elder Johnson

Mother's Day 2011, Last Phone Call Home

Hey family!

It was really great to be able to talk with you on the phone! I don't really know what to say today, besides I love you all! We have a great family and I am really grateful for each and everyone of you. Mom Dad, sisters and brothers. Man, I got the coolest brothers-in-law, and the coolest sisters that anyone could ever want!

I love you and have a great day!

-Elder Johnson

2 May—Brazos

Hey Family and Friends!

Things here in Rosenburg, Texas have been going great! We had transfer calls this morning, and it looks like I am staying in Brazos. That means that I will probably end up spending the rest of my mission here. I have really liked the challenge. The mission is to get some baptisms here in Rosenburg, and hopefully this will be the month it happens. We are really excited because the Sister Missionaries should be baptizing two or three people this month. I really hope that our buddy Richard will decide to be baptized as well!

My companion Elder Bunch is getting transfered so we will see who I get next. He has been a good companion, and has helped me get back into the groove of planning well. He is a great missionary and isn't afraid to talk to anyone. It was great to be with him. I think we cancelled out each others' weaknesses with our strengths. So, that was a cool experience.

I think it is really funny how at the end of your mission all of your stuff falls apart. I have had to get new shoes, because both of my shoes have holes in the bottom of them. I need a new backpack, because there are two big holes in the bottom of it, and the strap is halfway torn off. And my bike, there are only three gears that work (Gears 12, 21 and 24). It is fine though, because that is all I need to get around. I guess that's what happens when you get a used bike at the beginning of your mission.

I was writing in my journal the other night, and I realized how cool it is to be a missionary! It is a once in a lifetime opportunity to serve the Lord! This is probably going to be one of the few times in my life when I will be able to do this everyday. And I love it. I love getting shut down; I love getting let in by someone; I love teaching the gospel, and I love seeing people get baptized. This is awesome! I decided to study the mighty change of heart again, so I can be on the spiritual boom at the end of the mission and not go down the drain.

Thanks for the great letters, and I hope that everyone of you is enjoying life!

-Elder Johnson

25 April—Brazos

Hello Family and Friends!

Well, the great news about Rosenberg. We have been riding around on the bikes all week, and this is good because we have been able to filter through a lot of different people as we continue to try and find the elect. Funny story of the week. We go and we teach this guy named Angle, and we knocked on his door; he answered. He goes inside to get the pamphlet we left him, and hear his wife saying, WHAT ARE YOU DOING YOU? ALREADY HAVE YOUR FAITH. We told Angle that if he didn't want to hear, he could go inside. It was alright, we didn't want to mess up his relationship with his wife. But he said he has always wondered what the message we shared was, and he wanted to hear so we told him that we would share it and invite him to pray about it at the end.

We taught him and he liked it a lot; he had questions about why there are so many churches and which church was true, and he felt like he got an answer. Right when we were about to give him a baptismal date, his wife came out and we asked her if she wanted to hear. She told us to come inside. We taught her. Totally opposite effect. She disagreed about everything. It was really amazing to see the difference of someone with an open heart, and someone without one. They said they would call us once they have prayed. I think the husband got kick out of it. We will see what happens.

Richard is doing great. He came to church again, and we were able to get his son to go to primary. We had to sit with him through it though, and boy it was great to get to learn with the six-year old, and then draw a picture. Richard drew a picture of Elder Bunch and me knocking on his door for the first time, it was cool.

Then Sunday night, we got to go to a broadcast from Salt Lake City; a musical called El Salvador Del Mundo (The Savior of the World). It was great! Well, a little long, but it was great because we invited a family of five. We have been working with them this month and they came! They got to meet some of the members, and hopefully they will want to come to the actual church services next week. I like this little town, it's a good place.

Thanks for the cards and packages for Easter, I really appreciated them! They made Easter really special! It was a great time to read in the Bible about the Atonement of Jesus Christ. I really like a movie "Called to this End was I Born" (about the Savior's Atonement made by the Church). It was very great, and we got to watch it with some of the members here.

Well I love you and have a great week!

-Elder Johnson