April 29, 2013

Hello again, This past week was pretty fun. We started helping the father of a member build his house. We have been helping a little with that every day, and I havge been learning quite a bit of carpentry skills. I´m pretty much a craftsman now. It was also a really good week cuz we had a conference with out mission president and I got to go back to Ushuaia for the conference. I stayed in my apartment from my last area, it was really weird to have to sleep on the ground and not in the bed that I once slept in, but it was still really fun. I felt like I was back where I belonged. We also learned something that hit me really hard. He talked about how everything we do in life should be looked at like this... What is the Vision we have for the subject. What is the goal we want to set. What is the plan to reach that goal. and what is the action we must do to fulfill the plan. for example, If you have the vision to make a delicious chocolate cake, your goal would be to make the perfect batter, the plan to do that would be to get all the best ingredients, and following that the action would be buying them and mixing them together. No idea if that makes any sense like that., That was the best example that came into my head super quickly, it makes a lot of sesne to me when I think of it with my investigators haha. Anyway, it was a super good way to plan things in our lives and the apostles and prophets said if we plan things like this, and also using chapter 8 of preach my gospel, we´ll never have problems acheiving our goals in our lives. Thomas S. Monson also said something like this once. " Discipline is the bridge between goals and acheivments." So as we set these goals and are determined to really acheive them, we really will be able to see the success in our lives. I think an Apostle said, "Imagine the nicest care you want, if you follow these simple steps and this chapter of preach my gospel in everything you do in your life, you will be able to buy that car at some time in your life time." So just a heads up, at some time in my life I WILL be driving a corvette :). Anyway, 2 weeks from now I´ll be calling home. So prepare some questions and I´ll be ready to answer! I hope you all have a great week, don´t forget to read and pray every day! I have come to grow a great love for the Book of Mormon in these past couple of weeks! I plan on finishing both the English and Spanish Book of Mormon within the next two months. It´s so great to see that we have the way prepared for us and all the things we need to know inside a book with 532 pages! All we have to do is sincerely read it with a pray always in our heart! God does answer prayers! I love you all so much! Until next week! Rohacha chû! I don´t know if I spelled it right, but that is see you again in the language Guaraní! LOVE YOU!!! Elder Johnson

April 22-Pictures

April 22, 2013

Dear family, It´s been quite a weird week. I feel like we are inviting everyone to listen, and so many people say yes, but then something comes up and either we cant go by them, or they are gone when we get there. We have been having quite a few baptisms, but we still need to continue to find more and more so this area can have its on branch, and the first Mormon chapel in this city. This sunday was pretty weird. We have our lessons in the house of a member, and she was out of town this week. Supposedly when I called her I told her that we would be by her house at 11 in the morning (during our studies) to pick up the key from the person watching her house. So when we showed up at 2 for church, no one was there and the doors were locked. We didn´t have any way to get it, but we had to have a sacrament meeting, in order to confrim the kid who got baptized the night before. But the man that runs the meeting decided to just suspend church until next week haha. Yeah it sounds really weird, but thats what he decided to do. So we called our mission president and he told us to have a song, do the confirmation, take the sacrament and closing prayer haha. So thats just what we did. We went to someone elses house, all cramped up and huddled around the fire stove and started chucrh about 2:30 and ended at about 2:50... I could get used to that.. haha, also because I was supposed to teach sunday school and I got out of that as well. But we´re still working on getting this area turned into a branch. We just need a few more priesthood holders and then they can make it a branch, and also find us a place to rent to have our meetings so its a little more secure every week. Other than that, its just such a different place down here. Everyone knows everyone, there is only like 1 of everything. We have to cut a lot of firewood cuz not very many people have gas heaters down here (luckily we do) But we help a lot of people cut their fire wood. It´s tiring. Anyway, that seems like all the news I have for this week. I know that our Heavenly Father loves each and every one of us! I know that he sent His Son to atone for every one of our sins so that we can have the opportunity to live with them again one day. I know that families can be together forever, we just need to do what the Lord has commanded us to do. I know that the Book of Mormon is the word of God and that every human being will get closer to Jesus Christ through reading it. I know that we can pray to our Heavenly Father and that He really does hear us and WILL answer our prayers. I know that God gives us prophets so that we can know which way to go in our lives in order to fulfill the comandments of God. I love all of you and thank you for your prayers for me! En el nombre de Jesucristo, Amen!! Love, Elder Johnson

April 15, 2013

Hello, This week was a crazy one. I don´t have much time to type either, but just a quick review. We had a baptism in a portable font about 3 feet tall. The kid had to be baptized 3 times cuz he did´nt go completely under the frist two and he was so cold he almost said no to doing it a third time haha. Then he had to kneel so it was easier to do it. We have our meetings in the kitchen of a member and there are about 18 people who go to church. This week we are starting to help a new member build the temporary meeting house in his back yard until we get permission to have a chapel built here. It´s going to be a lot of work, but its going to be really fun to see the church grow here in this little city at the end of the world. Right now we actually only have about 8 members, the rest come from another city to help us run things, but anyway. I´ll have a more updated report next week. Love you all! Don´t forget to read and praye every day! As we do so, we come closer to the Lord! Love lots, Elder Johnson

April 8, 2013 Elder Johnson's Transfer

Well... I think I have arrived in Benson, Arizona... Transfers came aroud and to my suprise, I was going north.. But not too far north. I got the transfer call and was told I would be going to Tolhuin which is only about 100 miles north of my other area. I know that souds like a lot, but when youre already... i dont know 7000 miles away from home, 100 miles doesnt change to much haha. The area im in now is not even a branch. There are 5 members and its called a family group. We have the meetings in the house of one of the members. Apparently 2 men received the priesthood yesterday and in a few weeks will become the first ever church leaders in this area and it will become a branch. I¨M pretty excited to get to work here and see what I can do to help this area grow. I was so excited to be able to hear general conference this week. It has officially become my favorite time of the year. I already look forward to the next conference. I really enjoyed the talk by Elder Bednar, the way he compared guilt is to our soul as pain is to our body. It made me think of how important it is to never make mistakes, and when we do make a mistake to repent as quickly as possible so that it heals and we lose the pain as quickly as possible. I hope everything is going good for everyone else, I´m really sorry, but I don´t konw what to write at times, so ifa nyone has some sort of question feel free to ask me and I will answer it. It´ll make writing a bit easier too. I just feel like you guys hear the same thing every week haha. Love you guys lots! Don´t forget to read and pray every day! With love, from the south still, Elder Johnson