Ben's Report in Sacrament Meeting will take place on
~July 17th, 2011~
You are invited to join us!
Our meeting begins at 1:00 p.m.
McBean Parkway Church
This date supersedes any previous date given.
Sunday, April 17, 2011
Updates: April 4th and April 11th
April 11th, 2011
Hi Fam:
Well it sounds like general conference went well back at home. We watched it in English on Saturday and Spanish on Sunday. For our Saturday English sessions we went to Elizabeth so that was fun to see a bunch of people in that area again. I was also in North Newark on an exchange the day before and got to see some old friends--including a lady we helped move in like 1 year ago. She's not a member and we were in that building and I thought, Wait! we have to go try this lady. We walked up to the already open door--very Dominican, and knocked. They, all like 10 people shouted, come on in, which is also very dominican. I love it. We walked in and I asked her if she remembered me... she paused and then said, "You're the one that helped me move in last year! Its been forever, where have you been? Sit down!" We then talked with her and she really is looking for how to help her kids stay on good paths. We gave her a copy of the book of mormon and taught her about how it is the story of a family in her situation and how this father helped his kids to follow God. it was sweet :) So a week of visiting old areas and it was pretty cool stuff. Also Elder Zierenberg is still in Elizabeth so it was cool to hang out with him again. One cool thing about conference that I loved is that both 70's that have recently visited the New Jersey Mission--Elders Paul V. Johnson (talk) and Elder Kevin Pearson (prayer) participated during the sessions. I really liked all the talks too. Gotta admit I was a little bummed that some of my favorite speakers were on Sunday and we watched that session in Spanish. It was good, but it just isn't the same. If only I had DVR...ironically I hated when we'd pause and rewind during conference, but now I'd give anything to do that! LOL. But the Ensign will come out soon enough. A very cool thing is that 8 of our investigators saw at least one session of conference :) Soooo nice. I'm excited to see what they took out of it what they will share with us this week.
We recently started up a new set of zone goals. The program is called Flour - Power. Its spring time so it fits but its a pun because we're gonna have a "Flour" fight/Capture the Flag Zone activity at the end of the month. It basically just has to do with opening your mouth and talking with everyone we see. We really felt like our zone needed to dominate at finding new investigators here in the Newark Zone and as of now, its working really well. Elder Simmons and I found 7 additional investigators this last week alone. I'm super excited to see how it grows throughout the month. The zone is pumped and miracles are comin :)
Much love,
Elder Johnson
*******************************************************************
Hi Fam:
Well it sounds like general conference went well back at home. We watched it in English on Saturday and Spanish on Sunday. For our Saturday English sessions we went to Elizabeth so that was fun to see a bunch of people in that area again. I was also in North Newark on an exchange the day before and got to see some old friends--including a lady we helped move in like 1 year ago. She's not a member and we were in that building and I thought, Wait! we have to go try this lady. We walked up to the already open door--very Dominican, and knocked. They, all like 10 people shouted, come on in, which is also very dominican. I love it. We walked in and I asked her if she remembered me... she paused and then said, "You're the one that helped me move in last year! Its been forever, where have you been? Sit down!" We then talked with her and she really is looking for how to help her kids stay on good paths. We gave her a copy of the book of mormon and taught her about how it is the story of a family in her situation and how this father helped his kids to follow God. it was sweet :) So a week of visiting old areas and it was pretty cool stuff. Also Elder Zierenberg is still in Elizabeth so it was cool to hang out with him again. One cool thing about conference that I loved is that both 70's that have recently visited the New Jersey Mission--Elders Paul V. Johnson (talk) and Elder Kevin Pearson (prayer) participated during the sessions. I really liked all the talks too. Gotta admit I was a little bummed that some of my favorite speakers were on Sunday and we watched that session in Spanish. It was good, but it just isn't the same. If only I had DVR...ironically I hated when we'd pause and rewind during conference, but now I'd give anything to do that! LOL. But the Ensign will come out soon enough. A very cool thing is that 8 of our investigators saw at least one session of conference :) Soooo nice. I'm excited to see what they took out of it what they will share with us this week.
We recently started up a new set of zone goals. The program is called Flour - Power. Its spring time so it fits but its a pun because we're gonna have a "Flour" fight/Capture the Flag Zone activity at the end of the month. It basically just has to do with opening your mouth and talking with everyone we see. We really felt like our zone needed to dominate at finding new investigators here in the Newark Zone and as of now, its working really well. Elder Simmons and I found 7 additional investigators this last week alone. I'm super excited to see how it grows throughout the month. The zone is pumped and miracles are comin :)
Much love,
Elder Johnson
*******************************************************************
April 4th, 2011
This week was great. ...mainly because we had a meeting with Elder David A Bednar of the 12. ...simply amazing. Huge Spirit, tons of awesome things taught and learned. Just a great meeting. What was super awesome about it all too is the fact that he was just himself--very comfortable, lots of casual discussion with tons of little jokes and "ice breakers" ...i feel as if I would get along with him great and he would simply be like an "Uncle David." It was interesting and very cool. I remember that when we heard there would be a member of the 12 coming I had a secret wish that it'd be him.....I sure got lucky right? It felt very intense when he mentioned that as someone with the apostalic mantle, he truly can see things when he looks into people's eyes. That those that have things to hide don't like making eye contact with their leaders (be it mission presidents, stake presidents, and bishops as well). The room was motionless. Naturally he would mention this just before our zone goes to shake President Bahr's hand (our mission president), Elder Whitney L. Clayton's (from the presidency of the 70), and Elder Bednar's hands! I could see I passed "judgement" so to speak because I felt like I could confidently look into their eyes when I shook their hands. It was a profoundly spiritual experience.
This week was great. ...mainly because we had a meeting with Elder David A Bednar of the 12. ...simply amazing. Huge Spirit, tons of awesome things taught and learned. Just a great meeting. What was super awesome about it all too is the fact that he was just himself--very comfortable, lots of casual discussion with tons of little jokes and "ice breakers" ...i feel as if I would get along with him great and he would simply be like an "Uncle David." It was interesting and very cool. I remember that when we heard there would be a member of the 12 coming I had a secret wish that it'd be him.....I sure got lucky right? It felt very intense when he mentioned that as someone with the apostalic mantle, he truly can see things when he looks into people's eyes. That those that have things to hide don't like making eye contact with their leaders (be it mission presidents, stake presidents, and bishops as well). The room was motionless. Naturally he would mention this just before our zone goes to shake President Bahr's hand (our mission president), Elder Whitney L. Clayton's (from the presidency of the 70), and Elder Bednar's hands! I could see I passed "judgement" so to speak because I felt like I could confidently look into their eyes when I shook their hands. It was a profoundly spiritual experience.
The area is going well... we've got some good stuff on the horizon for this month. Planning on a few baptisms...and we have the people lined up for it, thats for sure. We have a sweet family of like 8 people that we're teaching... they are from Ecuador, and they are making us some Cuy tonight. Its basically guinea pig lol. I'll be sure to take pictures. We had a crazy experience over there this last week though. A had couple really good break-throughs in the lesson with 7 adults and 1 child of baptismal age. They were all asking questions and opening up a ton, it was great. Near the end of the lesson though, Ana, one of the adults in the group got up and left the room, obviously with discomfort and clutching the left side her chest. It was a little odd, but she was discreet about it so I didn't think to much of it. After we finished the lesson, she came back out to say good-by, but she was obviously not in good shape. I was about to ask her if everything was alright, but then a ward member attending the lesson did. I then heard Hna Alcivar (the member) quietly tell Ana to ask us for a blessing. Soon Ana is literally in tears because of the pain in her chest and her left arm is asleep. Not good. Then after she shreiked out in pain all decided that it was a big deal. We gave her a blessing, in which I performed the sealing. I felt inspired, amidst her groans and whimpers of pain, to bless her that she would be healed. Afterwards they rushed off to the hospital and of course we went home. I couldn't help but constantly think of Ana and the promise I had made during the blessing. I heartily prayed that I had spoken the Lord's will. All signs pointed to heart attack. Friday we didn't really hear what had gone on or how Ana was...though we tried to find out. We only knew that she was still in the hospital and recovering from a heart issue, thats about it. Then Saturday we found out she back at her home, going about normal life! Then, she and a bunch of her family were at church on sunday...quite miraculous! The power of the priesthood is real. I hope Ana and her family can feel and then acknowledge that....plus the fact that they can be baptized by that same authority and be eternally happy! We continue to pray for Ana and her family.
Hope everyone is well,
Elder Johnson
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