Hello Family,
Well to be honest we still dont know whats up with transfers....which will be making buying food today really tough since we do law of consecration in our apartment. But we'll see i guess. I got a lil awesome box from grandma and a lil package from Nicole and Darren....could you please send them my thanks? Time is really short today and I wont be able to.
The Amazing Race is coming along quite well....its really been fun making it all work and seeing the benefits.
Well yes i am in the USA but still everyone around here is NOT from the USA lol.... Thanksgiving is an excuse to party so the hispanic culture is more than down but so far we have 1 appointment on thurs. for some sure to be food from the Bautista family (from Venezuela.). They always have real good food. Our schedule will basically be weekly planning then a few appointments in which there will most certainly be food. Prolly gonna get a ton of rice, beans, chicken.
So it has been another good week. We ended the week fairly strong.... well like miraculously strong actually with an awesome sunday finding quite a few new investigators attending :)
I must admit that it is truly weird to think that 2 transfers are now gone. It is kinda just crazy, cuz i swear it hasn't been 5 months since i bid farewell to friends and family.
Well first off, we had a sweet ward activity to celebrate thanksgiving. It was quite awesome cuz 1. the elders didn't have to do any of the leg work 2. There was food 3. there were less active members 4. there were investigators. ....basically 4 ways to a sweet activity in our eyes =D It was quite effective, and the best part is that the Amazing Race challenge for this last week was to invite 3 friends to the activity. So there was a sweet turn out due to that. One interesting lil factoid: There was an investigator that showed up who is Cuban (so crazy basically) and a democrat (not that either of those really matter for the story but im guessing that they help paint a mental personality picture lol) who did that kissy cheeky (and no not your kinda cheeky Hna. Lambson) greety thing to me. Ill admit it was quite awkward lol. I held out my hand for a hand shake and she just went write into it =S there was like nothing I could do.
.....speaking of cubans we met another crazy one this week. Her name is Mirtaj. She called and left a message that is possibly the funniest message i have ever heard in which there was a long pause broken by an "I love you, mucho" ...weirdest part is at the time of these messages (there were three all pretty crazy) we had never met her and didn't know how she got our number. We still dont know how she got our number but we went and visited her one day this week and boy was it a doozy. She is crazy for sure. There was crying, shouting, her life story and even a monologue about the power of love with Celine Deon (SP???) in the background over the 2 hours we were there. And we hardly got a word in. I just think her and Alfredo (the guy who hexxed me) need to become best friends and keep each other company.
But all in all it was a sweet week... A good end to another transfer. And now is a good time to start anew... Hope everyone is doing great =D ...I got a lot of mail this last week too. Seriously, HUGE thanks to everyone (you know who you are) for that. It really means a lot.
Elder Johnson
Sunday, November 29, 2009
Monday, November 23, 2009
"THE AMAZING RACE"
Hey Everybody,
Well this week was pretty crazy....way intense. We recently started a new activity for missionary work in the ward called "The Amazing Race", in which the ward will travel all over the world by completing certain missionary-work tasks and receiving rewards for doing so. It should be awesome and the ward seems really excited for it, although i do not believe any of them have really seen the TV show it is parallelling *shrug* ...it seems like it'll be a nice success even though it just recently started (friday we had the kick off ward FHE for it). Which was way fun and involved some crazy stuff just to get em excited. We had a sweet race to "the waters of baptism" where someone was laying on a mattress and had to get from one side of the room to the other (but you couldn't just pick it up and walk). And it just showed how the members helping the missionaries made things go so much faster. We also made an awesome board in the church to keep everyone reminded of the race week to week. We are all really excited to see how it works out.
Elder Davis and I also made some pumpkin pies with a couple investigators the other day as well. it was aweseom but a bit of an adventure....mainly because they didn't have ground spices, only whole and on top of that-- no grinder....so we basically just used a big rock and a bowl to grind it all up to put in the pie puree. We made a ton though so 7 tsp. of both clove and allspice took forever but was well worth it. they were way good pies. it was a bit of a crazy adventure getting it all done, but it was fun. The cleaning was a ton though. There's the up- and down-sides to everything i guess.
The week was great in the sense of the work too.... yesterday Elder Davis and I set 2.5 new baptismal dates (the half being contingent on prayer and getting back to us but i've got the faith she'll commit). One with Ricardo and Jose who are just so ready for the blessing of baptism due to their situation with crazy kids and single parenting. And the half for Jessica, who we have been working so hard with basically since I got here....kinda like a do or die time.
anyways everything here is absolutely amazing....hope the same amazingness is how things are off in utah, arizone, california, texas or wherever you may be reading this from =D
Elder Johnson
Well this week was pretty crazy....way intense. We recently started a new activity for missionary work in the ward called "The Amazing Race", in which the ward will travel all over the world by completing certain missionary-work tasks and receiving rewards for doing so. It should be awesome and the ward seems really excited for it, although i do not believe any of them have really seen the TV show it is parallelling *shrug* ...it seems like it'll be a nice success even though it just recently started (friday we had the kick off ward FHE for it). Which was way fun and involved some crazy stuff just to get em excited. We had a sweet race to "the waters of baptism" where someone was laying on a mattress and had to get from one side of the room to the other (but you couldn't just pick it up and walk). And it just showed how the members helping the missionaries made things go so much faster. We also made an awesome board in the church to keep everyone reminded of the race week to week. We are all really excited to see how it works out.
Elder Davis and I also made some pumpkin pies with a couple investigators the other day as well. it was aweseom but a bit of an adventure....mainly because they didn't have ground spices, only whole and on top of that-- no grinder....so we basically just used a big rock and a bowl to grind it all up to put in the pie puree. We made a ton though so 7 tsp. of both clove and allspice took forever but was well worth it. they were way good pies. it was a bit of a crazy adventure getting it all done, but it was fun. The cleaning was a ton though. There's the up- and down-sides to everything i guess.
The week was great in the sense of the work too.... yesterday Elder Davis and I set 2.5 new baptismal dates (the half being contingent on prayer and getting back to us but i've got the faith she'll commit). One with Ricardo and Jose who are just so ready for the blessing of baptism due to their situation with crazy kids and single parenting. And the half for Jessica, who we have been working so hard with basically since I got here....kinda like a do or die time.
anyways everything here is absolutely amazing....hope the same amazingness is how things are off in utah, arizone, california, texas or wherever you may be reading this from =D
Elder Johnson
Sunday, November 15, 2009
Midway Through Transfers
11.9.09
Well this week was a bit of a doozey (ya I have know idea how that'd be spelled)....
First the coolest part, we found an awesome new investigator named Jose. He is incredibly humble and has a lot of faith. He also has 4 kids under the age of 5 and is basically a single parent. There is a hommaker that is supposed to help him but she basically just stands there its rather frustrating to see, but that's not the point.... Lessons, althought fairly interrupted by the small war going on in his apartment, have been great and he is extremely willing to study and learn more about the gospel. We are planning on setting him with a date for baptism on Tues. ....Its pretty exciting. On top of that we had an English class graduation this past week. And while there we made some awesome new contacts and got some addresses and numbers of some aquaintences (ya my spelling has probably been ruined by spanish =S) that we've met before. It was great. We did try to visit one of the families we met there and the address they gave us doesn't exist and it seems like the number is bogus as well.... which just kinda makes me laugh...why go through the trouble when you could just say your not interested? lol oh well.
Now for the craziness of the week... First off, our refridgerator broke. It was no good. We had some senior, office missionaries come out and try to fix it like the 2nd day it wasn't working (thursday) but no dice with that. So we hurried over with all the food to the church kitchen that night and stuffed it in the fridge there. Thinking that we'd be able to get a new refridgerator the next day. But it ended up being saturday that we finally got it. It was way weird not having a working fridge...Never really realized how awesome they are ya know? Or how awesome it is having food in the kitchen. We lost a decent bit of food though =/ ....but we've basically gotten everything we need back from our shopping today. Just kinda a bummer and an adventure eating without like any food lol.
Anyways I also experienced by far the worst stubbed toe ever seen by mankind this week... And now I feel as if what masculinity I may have had is now gone after that last statement, but I swear it was terrible. It killed to walk on for like a day and a half. And I will spare all the gorey details, but there may have been blood, paper towels and 409 involved.
So yeah, kinda an exhausting week in terms of just random stuff that we had to do... But still a good week nonetheless. I'm lovin the work and lovin seeing people move closer and closer to what I know to be the true Gospel of Jesus Christ.
Hope everyone is doing absolutely amazing :)
Till next week,
Elder Johnson
Well this week was a bit of a doozey (ya I have know idea how that'd be spelled)....
First the coolest part, we found an awesome new investigator named Jose. He is incredibly humble and has a lot of faith. He also has 4 kids under the age of 5 and is basically a single parent. There is a hommaker that is supposed to help him but she basically just stands there its rather frustrating to see, but that's not the point.... Lessons, althought fairly interrupted by the small war going on in his apartment, have been great and he is extremely willing to study and learn more about the gospel. We are planning on setting him with a date for baptism on Tues. ....Its pretty exciting. On top of that we had an English class graduation this past week. And while there we made some awesome new contacts and got some addresses and numbers of some aquaintences (ya my spelling has probably been ruined by spanish =S) that we've met before. It was great. We did try to visit one of the families we met there and the address they gave us doesn't exist and it seems like the number is bogus as well.... which just kinda makes me laugh...why go through the trouble when you could just say your not interested? lol oh well.
Now for the craziness of the week... First off, our refridgerator broke. It was no good. We had some senior, office missionaries come out and try to fix it like the 2nd day it wasn't working (thursday) but no dice with that. So we hurried over with all the food to the church kitchen that night and stuffed it in the fridge there. Thinking that we'd be able to get a new refridgerator the next day. But it ended up being saturday that we finally got it. It was way weird not having a working fridge...Never really realized how awesome they are ya know? Or how awesome it is having food in the kitchen. We lost a decent bit of food though =/ ....but we've basically gotten everything we need back from our shopping today. Just kinda a bummer and an adventure eating without like any food lol.
Anyways I also experienced by far the worst stubbed toe ever seen by mankind this week... And now I feel as if what masculinity I may have had is now gone after that last statement, but I swear it was terrible. It killed to walk on for like a day and a half. And I will spare all the gorey details, but there may have been blood, paper towels and 409 involved.
So yeah, kinda an exhausting week in terms of just random stuff that we had to do... But still a good week nonetheless. I'm lovin the work and lovin seeing people move closer and closer to what I know to be the true Gospel of Jesus Christ.
Hope everyone is doing absolutely amazing :)
Till next week,
Elder Johnson
Monday, November 2, 2009
Halloween - JerZ style
Hey everybody!
Well I hope everyone's week has gone absolutely great... As with every week serving as a missionary, mine has been quite splendid. It was kinda a short week in terms of actual missionary work because of Zone meeting, Zone conference, Interviews with the president and having to come home early from working both on Halloween night and the night before.
All of the interviews and meetings were awesome and insightful though. The only thing is I feel like I hardly know any missionaries in the mission. Like everyone gets to reunite with old friends at these big events. Then there's me and the other new missionaries who are left adjusting our ties, glasses and pocket protectors in a corner.... But with time I'll be just like the big kids *fingers crossed* It is awesome to have soooo much awesome advice and information to soak in though, I loved it.
As for the holiday and the night before though, that just kinda felt like a waste of time in a way =/ I mean we were able to stay semi-productive by doing some in depth weekly planning and area book updating but it was just a lot of time to have on our hands. Bright side is that last week I e-mailed Preston and got his salsa ingredients and took a whack at it. I will be honest I am very pleased with the outcome. It was way spicy and way flavorful and just downright delightful. We made some awesome burritos with chicken beans and rice (cuz its not like we ever get fed any of that ...ha ha...lol) and threw some of the salsa on there. It was an exquisite treat. We were fasting on Halloween though so we didn't really do anything special that night but get like 2 extra hours of sleep (one because we got to bed early and the other becuase of the time change) it was pretty sweet =D
Today we had an awesome mission hike too. I really enjoyed it. It was a really fun to get outa the Concrete Jungle and experience a bit of the garden state. I took some pictures and maybe someday i'll finally get around to mailing home my pictures to my mom so everyone can see what i've been doing for the last 2 months....sorry I feel kinda bad.
On sunday we got some awesome food from Ecuador and Peru... They were both way good....food is awesome and some of the stuff out here is just plain crazy delish. Peruvians definitely know whats goin on when it comes to cooking.
The mission life is great and we have high hopes for the second half of this transfer...we've picked up some new investigators and some of our old ones are moving right along...it is truly exciting.
Anyways, not much time today, gotta run. I hope everyone is doing fabulous! ...Its crazy to think that i've been in the field for 2 months now...
Elder Johnson
****
~SPECIAL REPORT~ from Karlyn
Ben's awesome trainer is Elder Davis. Recently, I was able to connect with Elder Davis' mom. Her name is Kathy Davis and she and her family live in Roy, Utah. Long story short, Kathy and I are now Besties and thoroughly love swapping stories about our mish-boys. She sent me a covert copy of Elder Davis' letter to President Bahr written this week. Ben has sent us his letters to Pres. Bahr from time to time and I've totally thrived on his precious insights, as well as getting a small glimpse of 'his' developing relationship with Pres. Bahr. Anyway, I'm sharing a portion of Elder Davis' letter. He speaks so highly of Ben and I just had to share =D Enjoy and thanks for supporting Benny! No cryin now....
WNY.... where to begin, the miraculous time change, the obedience of my companion, the many changes that we had due to the schedule but yet were able to do as many lessons and all of that. It was an amzing and inspiring week. This week more than any other on my mission has been the most full of just meetings and what not, but also the most busiest due to the time restrictions we had. We were definitely blessed due to the fact that we had to be in this week early a couple of days but yet are hitting the goals or getting close to them. As we went through out this week we had 2 big breakthroughs. One was with Jessica, our soon to be baptized 18 year old was atheist investigator. The other with Miraim whose family is almost all members and also going to be baptized soon. With Jessica she is so close to being baptized yet she doesnt give thought at all to the many blessing she has recieved and it is so hard coming from an atheist background to just give that kind of thought. But slowly and surely she is changing around and she told us, on more than one occasion,that she is seeing things different and talking more about God. So from going to nothing to now, has been a massive contrast in her life. Miriam, who, brought her friend and neighbor to church yesterday is also really close to baptism she has a testimony and just needs to make those final few steps to conversion. I love the area and the members that we have in this area. they are so very supportive in this work and make it alot easier!
My companion Elder Johnson, is the main man of the week. We did a fast a couple of weeks ago for the goals we set for the trasnfer and i know for a fact that it was through that fast and the faith of my compnaion that we saw the miracles we did. I know that in no other week with all the things that we had going on that we would be able to do what we did. Nothing short of miraculous... we are also working this week with a goal of painting the town red, by getting out and contacting more and setting a goal of 50 pass along cards by the end of the week, well 70 really -- 5 a day, but to make this all more effective and to be able to share this amazing gift of the gospel that we have been given. Elder Davis
Well I hope everyone's week has gone absolutely great... As with every week serving as a missionary, mine has been quite splendid. It was kinda a short week in terms of actual missionary work because of Zone meeting, Zone conference, Interviews with the president and having to come home early from working both on Halloween night and the night before.
All of the interviews and meetings were awesome and insightful though. The only thing is I feel like I hardly know any missionaries in the mission. Like everyone gets to reunite with old friends at these big events. Then there's me and the other new missionaries who are left adjusting our ties, glasses and pocket protectors in a corner.... But with time I'll be just like the big kids *fingers crossed* It is awesome to have soooo much awesome advice and information to soak in though, I loved it.
As for the holiday and the night before though, that just kinda felt like a waste of time in a way =/ I mean we were able to stay semi-productive by doing some in depth weekly planning and area book updating but it was just a lot of time to have on our hands. Bright side is that last week I e-mailed Preston and got his salsa ingredients and took a whack at it. I will be honest I am very pleased with the outcome. It was way spicy and way flavorful and just downright delightful. We made some awesome burritos with chicken beans and rice (cuz its not like we ever get fed any of that ...ha ha...lol) and threw some of the salsa on there. It was an exquisite treat. We were fasting on Halloween though so we didn't really do anything special that night but get like 2 extra hours of sleep (one because we got to bed early and the other becuase of the time change) it was pretty sweet =D
Today we had an awesome mission hike too. I really enjoyed it. It was a really fun to get outa the Concrete Jungle and experience a bit of the garden state. I took some pictures and maybe someday i'll finally get around to mailing home my pictures to my mom so everyone can see what i've been doing for the last 2 months....sorry I feel kinda bad.
On sunday we got some awesome food from Ecuador and Peru... They were both way good....food is awesome and some of the stuff out here is just plain crazy delish. Peruvians definitely know whats goin on when it comes to cooking.
The mission life is great and we have high hopes for the second half of this transfer...we've picked up some new investigators and some of our old ones are moving right along...it is truly exciting.
Anyways, not much time today, gotta run. I hope everyone is doing fabulous! ...Its crazy to think that i've been in the field for 2 months now...
Elder Johnson
****
~SPECIAL REPORT~ from Karlyn
Ben's awesome trainer is Elder Davis. Recently, I was able to connect with Elder Davis' mom. Her name is Kathy Davis and she and her family live in Roy, Utah. Long story short, Kathy and I are now Besties and thoroughly love swapping stories about our mish-boys. She sent me a covert copy of Elder Davis' letter to President Bahr written this week. Ben has sent us his letters to Pres. Bahr from time to time and I've totally thrived on his precious insights, as well as getting a small glimpse of 'his' developing relationship with Pres. Bahr. Anyway, I'm sharing a portion of Elder Davis' letter. He speaks so highly of Ben and I just had to share =D Enjoy and thanks for supporting Benny! No cryin now....
WNY.... where to begin, the miraculous time change, the obedience of my companion, the many changes that we had due to the schedule but yet were able to do as many lessons and all of that. It was an amzing and inspiring week. This week more than any other on my mission has been the most full of just meetings and what not, but also the most busiest due to the time restrictions we had. We were definitely blessed due to the fact that we had to be in this week early a couple of days but yet are hitting the goals or getting close to them. As we went through out this week we had 2 big breakthroughs. One was with Jessica, our soon to be baptized 18 year old was atheist investigator. The other with Miraim whose family is almost all members and also going to be baptized soon. With Jessica she is so close to being baptized yet she doesnt give thought at all to the many blessing she has recieved and it is so hard coming from an atheist background to just give that kind of thought. But slowly and surely she is changing around and she told us, on more than one occasion,that she is seeing things different and talking more about God. So from going to nothing to now, has been a massive contrast in her life. Miriam, who, brought her friend and neighbor to church yesterday is also really close to baptism she has a testimony and just needs to make those final few steps to conversion. I love the area and the members that we have in this area. they are so very supportive in this work and make it alot easier!
My companion Elder Johnson, is the main man of the week. We did a fast a couple of weeks ago for the goals we set for the trasnfer and i know for a fact that it was through that fast and the faith of my compnaion that we saw the miracles we did. I know that in no other week with all the things that we had going on that we would be able to do what we did. Nothing short of miraculous... we are also working this week with a goal of painting the town red, by getting out and contacting more and setting a goal of 50 pass along cards by the end of the week, well 70 really -- 5 a day, but to make this all more effective and to be able to share this amazing gift of the gospel that we have been given. Elder Davis
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