9 April 2012

Haha still? Eric did it [the Easter egg hunt] with the brace and crutches?

Dear Family,

This week we worked so hard. Well better said, we worked better.

Monday and Tuesday was the council of zone leaders. We talked about a bunch of things. Among them were the themes of standing on the Lord’s side of the line (a theme from the conference) and making sure we are able to receive the inspiration we need to be able to teach by the Spirit. We talked about the power and authority that has been given us, and we talked about focusing on all our missionary purpose and not just focusing on baptizing, but really the invitation to all to follow Christ. That’s what everyone needs to hear, and they all need to make a decision. We hope that those who choose (usually just by their actions not words) to not [follow Christ], can feel the Spirit while we teach them so that later they can make the right decisions by their actions.

Wednesday we went to do companion interchanges with Palacio (Elder Child y Elder Bastidas) and we realized that we would have interviews with the President in the night. The assistants had called us at 11 p.m. the night right before, but we were so asleep that we didn’t remember until studying with the Elders in Palacio (Palacio is spanish for Palace- their area has some of the biggest areas in the whole world-- well, in all of Arequipa)

In our interview with the president we both went in first, Elder Stewart y yo [I]. We talked a little about the zone and what the zone is facing and doing, the plans. Next he looked at our goal for April. He had us sign and commit ourselves to really do it. We ARE GOING TO. Well... I am. There were changes and sadly Elder Stewart was changed to the Umacollo zone in the same city of Arequipa.

In that moment, he asked if we can do the goal we put ourselves. We basically said, help us have the faith so big that we can do it, and he said, it isn’t the faith that you need, rather power in the teaching. We have been set apart and given divine authority to preach. This authority gives us the right to have power, but it doesn’t come automatically. We read DyC 11:21. Emphasis in if you desire.

 21 Seek not to ^adeclare my word, but first seek to ^bobtain my ^cword, and then shall your tongue be loosed; then, if you desire, you shall have my ^dSpirit and my word, yea, the power of God unto the ^econvincing of men.

Then we talked about DyC 33:1 

. . .open ye your ears and hearken to the voice of the Lord your God . . . [who] is a discerner of the thoughts and ^cintents of the heart.

Then Alma 8:18.

 Now it came to pass that after Alma had received his message from the angel of the Lord he returned speedily to the land of Ammonihah. And he entered the city by another way, yea, by the way which is on the south of the city of Ammonihah.

He opened his cuad that he has in English (the church instructs all members of the church here to learn English and he knows English pretty well!) and he talked about what Alma did. Speedily, and, through another way.

So he charged us to go speedily and just do it.

We focused and prayed so much every time we could teach in the week, and we taught all our investigators.  We found 21 new investigators and ran basically everywhere. In the contacts we focused on following the spirit to know what doors to knock and it worked!

A little bit of a disappointment Sunday when the tons and tons that we had committed to come didn’t come to sacrament meeting! But Mari Diaz and her daughter Helen came to church! Teaching Mari Diaz, who has come a while, we talked about how is the eternal life. We talked about how to be able to have it. The class Elder Stewart taught on Gospel Principles was on the covenant people and the church. She was thinking about all this. The Spirit prompted us to open DyC 76:50-52. 

 50 And again we bear record—for we ^asaw and heard, and this is the ^btestimony of the ^cgospel of Christ concerning them who shall come forth in the resurrection of the ^djust—

 51 They are they who received the ^atestimony of Jesus, and ^bbelieved on his name and were ^cbaptized after the ^dmanner of his burial, being ^eburied in the water in his name, and this according to the commandment which he has given—

She read it and we analyzed a little. She had my triple combination in hand and kept reading a little as we explained a little. She read 53 and 54. She told us: And here it says that to go there, we have to conquer by faith (is that correctly translated?). I have to conquer by the faith and be baptized.

Wow that was a moment where she listened to and followed the dictates of the Spirit.

She told us that she will be baptized next week (after this Saturday that’s coming). She said she doesn’t know that everything is perfect, but she feels like she needs to do it so she will (Alma 32:16). 

16 Therefore, blessed are they who ^ahumble themselves without being ^bcompelled to be humble; or rather, in other words, blessed is he that believeth in the word of God, and is baptized without ^cstubbornness of heart, yea, without being brought to know the word, or even compelled to know, before they will believe.

We shall work with her so she can feel certainty in these days but that is so awesome!!!

Sunday, we got the changes. Elder Stewart went to Umacollo :(.

Elder Erhard came from the same area and is the same with which I was in Tacna! This will be great.

Love Elder Johnson

Anyway, we started to work and work and concentrar. [concentrate]

21 November 2011

Les mando un foto de la ultima semana que me olvidè enviar Lo siento! [I am sending you the photo from last week that I forgot to sent.  I’m sorry!]

Family Como [How] are you all?

Paul, send me some pictures of your crew time for my companion! He wants to know how it is.

My companion said one day as he was talking with a person who said that the church was fine with prophets, revelation, the Book of Mormon and all, but that it can’t be true because when we receive the spirit, we can talk in tongues. My companion asked him if he could, and the guy said of course!, Elder Ortiz asked him which, and he responded something to the effect of, “mmm... I dunno but I talk some language. Bueno [Well]... there is only to read Acts 2 [referring to the Day of Pentacost and the speaking in tongues which allowed each person to hear the message in their own language and understand it.].

This week.... this week I think will possibly mark a turning point in the life of this youngster that I am. Let’s see if I can relate a few things that suceded [happened].

So great, we started the week and we did a companion interchange with Elder McNeil and Elder Ramires again. I was with Elder Ramires this time and it was great. I got to interview two people for baptism and they both expressed their testimonies. They are preparing to have 3 baptisms this weekend. In all in the district, there are 6 baptisms on Saturday! We are going to work so hard so that it happens. The other district unfortunately has none for now.

In a Dear Elder letter someone mentioned the daylight savings time. That doesn’t exist here, and it’s pretty weird, but cool. It pretty much just changes from nice weather, to really, really hot weather. And that’s spring. There aren’t really flowers or yellow trees in fall. But oh well. The sun is bright and our faith is increasing.

I read a little of Genesis, and learned that we should not kill animals unless we need to eat them, and that animals are there for the need to eat as are plants. I was meditating on the Word of Wisdom recently.. in the meat part. I will seek understanding today.

Also in the Bible we learned that those who are ordained to the priesthood like Melchezidek come into a powerful relation with Dios [God] by faith. I was thinking a little about the Gifts of God that we should seek like Moroni 10:30 says and about perfecting ourselves as it says in Moroni 10:34 and inviting all to meditate these things. Especially Paul [I imagine he’s talking about Paul, the apostle and referring to 1 Corinthians chapter 12 where we are instructed to seek the best gifts]. That relationship with God is the singular goal of my companion and I in this week.

I was thinking about the responsibilidades [responsibilities] that I answered a while ago and here is a better answer. A lider [leader] in the mission has these responsibilities.

• Representan al presidente de mission al llevar a cabo los planes que el tiene para la mision [Represent the Mission President in implementing the plans he has for the mission]
• transmiten la informacion y las directrices del presidente de mision de manera oportuna y clara [Pass along information and direction from the Mission President clearly and in a timely manner]
• inspiran a otros a tener un espititu de amor, unidad, obediencia, y trabajor arduo [Inspire other to have a spirit of love, unity, obedience and hard work]
• animan a los misioner a vivir un alto nivel de obediencia, especialmente mediante la aplicacion en su vida de los primerso principios del evangelio [Encourage the missionaries to live at a high level of obedience, espcially through applying the first principles of the gospel in their lives]
• ayuden a los misioneros a ser poderosos y fructiferos en cada fase de la obra misional, incluso en encontrar y enseñar a investigadores, asi como a trabajar con los misioneros. [Help the missionaries to be powerful and fruitful in every phase of missionary work including finding and teaching investigators, as well as working with the missionaries]
• Enseñan a otros misioneros en el estudio entre compañeros, en intercambios, en reunuoines de distrito y en otros marcos de enseñanza [Teach other missionaries about companionship study, exchanges, district meetings, and other teaching opportunities]
• Analizan el progreso de los investigadores [Analyze the progress of the investigators]
• compartir informacion con el presidente de mision de (una lista de cosas que no me da ganas de trascribir) [Share information with the Mission President--and there’s a whole list a things that I don’t feel like writing here]
• Corrigen la conducta de los misioneros cuando sea necesario (vease dyc 121:41-44) [Correct the conduct of the missionaries when it is necessary--he refers to D&C 121:41-44 which teaches us to make corrections right away for the person we are responsible for and then show an increased amount of love toward the other person]

Sorry it’s in spanish but it’s a little hard for me to translate into English and I’d rather write than translate right now.

So now, after that companion interchange [exchange] so cool, we got back to the room and the next day we went up to a special meeting with the President the next day. He taught us so much. We were in the church between 7:40 in the morning and 6:30 in the night. But wow was it so awesome. We talked about faith for a few hours. we all realized we know about nothing, but if we start to work with real faith, all the things the Lord wants will be made possible unto us. If I can do it, I will be able to make a huge effect in all the others, like the effect the President has every time we talk with him. He is a person who has obtained many spiritual gifts and for something was called to direct us.

So in that reunion [meeting], he told us about his mission, his vision for our mission, and so much more. He has been asked 2 times more from the area presidency, and meditating in this, saw that we can preach at the level of 600 per month. 6 per companionship per month. We all need to change so much to be able to [do that] and he is dedicated to work really really hard to help us change ourselves. This meeting definitely helped us a lot. My companion and I felt that personally if we work with perfect faith these weeks, we will baptize 25 December [I’m not sure if he meant they’ll baptize 25 people in December or if he meant they’ll baptize 6 on the 25th of December] and I am so completely dedicated to do so.

It takes expelling the natural Elder Johnson and becoming an Elder Johnson who can walk with the Lord. Part is being more bold. On the bus the other day we asked the driver to put on The Restoration! He did! and we taught a few people on the bus about the message of the restoration. We passed a funeral yesterday and got permission to address a few words to all. We taught about the Plan of Salvation, the Gospel of Christ, and invited all to pray to know if what we had taught was true, and consult with God if they should prepare to be baptized by the restored authority of God to prepare now to have an eternal family forever.

In another companion interchange [exchange] we contacted everybody, testifying like crazies and found some people who told us how they really want to change their life. We are understanding better our purpose and the Doctrine of Christ in these days. We are working together to walk with the Lord and purifying ourselves of all ungodliness that could make us unworthy of His company.

Love Elder Johnson.

14 November 2011

Dear Family,

14 November 2011

I did get shoes from Tacna.  But what would be GREAT would be some Doctor Scholes gellin inserts. Elder Davey from the zone is currently gelling and when I put those shoes on, I am not gelling. They hurt mas bien [quite a bit] after a few hours walking, but nothing I can’t handle until Christmas. I also obtained glue to keep re-gluing the rubber they put on my soles every time they come off-- as a temporary thing.

That’s pretty awesome about Hamid [a young convert in the Arlington 1st Ward who is serving a mission in the Denver Colorado North mission]. I don’t know who he is... but yea! The mission will be the best for him.

Thanks in advance for the packages!!!!!!!!!!

Finishing this week we feel pretty good! We upped the record of church assistance [meaning, attendance at church meetings by converts] from the past few weeks. In the morning of Sunday we did splits with President Vilca (I’m not exactly sure if the first counselor of the Elders Quorum is called president too... si no?) and with Yimmy, our neighbor.

I went with Yimmy and after making some calls we ran up the mountain to Paraiso working up a nice little sweatcito [this made me laugh---”ito” is added to the end of the word to mean “a little”]. We got up there and a friend of Joel, the kid who was baptized in the second week of October was waiting for us outside his house with collectivo [taxi] fare ready. We looked for Nelly and her daughter, but they weren’t there (She called us at lunch time to say sorry, which is WAY AWESOME) and then went to Ruth Chuima, who said she couldn’t come. But I did not want to take no for an answer. After trying to see if there was something I could do so she could go, like wash the clothes, she said the kids would have to change and so much stuff, so I asked where they were and went off running to call them back and to animate them [get them excited] to go to church. When they came back we were almost all ready but something happened and anyway Sister Chuima couldn’t.... so worried we went a little down the mountain with Joel, his friend Omar, and his mom Sujei. We passed Davíd Molina who had gone to a neighbor to invitar  [invite] her. Yimmy and I talked a little bit with her and we took out an appointment to come back.  She seems pretty great, and now late [for the meeting], we sprinted down the east face to get in a collectivo [a little taxi] and make it to the chapel and finish the splits.In the meeting Brother Chamana (someone for whom Elder Ortiz went) with his two kids came.  Ruth Chuima actually DID show up with her two kids, and we were already there with Omar!  Pretty awesome.

That was my Sunday morning. I wish every member could take at least one friend to church. I’ve heard they do that in Colombia in some wards, and the people in the Sacrament Meeting are about half members with mountains of baptisms every week.

This week we went to the Zone Leaders Council, which was AWESOME. I learned a ton. We worked out a bunch of issues in the mission. The president taught us about the Doctrine of Christ in a way that kind of blew my mind and we learned a bunch from Sister Fernandez including some things that will help the mission be able to have powerful companionship relationships, something that I have recently realized is very, very important. Elder Stewart and I were almost there with the powerful relationship thing, and se notaba [and you could notice it].

The President talked about the Doctrine of Christ, and the order of the Church of Christ. He talked about the significance and importance of ordinances. And how of course and ordinance has to be [done] Christ’s way.  And how when people tell us that they could be baptized, but don’t really want to change religion it’s because we didn’t really teach the thing well enough. We aren’t talking about a change of religion, we are talking about a change of heart. The humility to live our life in the Lord’s way and be on His errand. It was awesome.

I think one problem we are having is that we assume that people know what baptism is.

Anyway, we are going to have a great next week! nd we are going to work soo sooo hard with the zone.

Love Elder Johnson.

14 August 2011 Mission President, "We did everything"

Dear Family. Currently freaking out a little about being more than a year in the mission. Elder Ortiz and I are doing well as companions. He is a lively Colombian who right now happened to run into another Colombian in this internet cafe. So funny, they are speaking but [only] Columbian. Its a little different and a little hard to understand since this person speaks heavy slang.. I think that's a Colombian thing. Last night I was laughing so hard reading a letter from Elder Ortiz's sister because she was speaking so much like a Columbian, and I could recognize it from my time with Elder Mateus. Mom, you mentioned visiting teaching. Do you use Preach My Gospel? It's the best. Maybe chapter 10 could be the best for y'all. Preach my gospel is so good. We are working right now to get a copy for all the leaders at least in our branch. Just the other day, we were looking for an appointment in the area Juan Pablo and we couldn't find it. We went up the sand dune up into the highest part where the houses almost stop and still couldn't find them. They don't have addresses but told us to ask around. We met a man and went in their home to visit them. Their home amazed me. It is 2 by 3 meters, and has a little car camping type stove and a little bench and a bed and that's about it. The walls [are made] of a type of tall grass like plant and the roof of the same with bamboo support beams. Two strings hung between the walls to hang their clothes on.  They made me sad when he asked: "Who doesn't want the life of happiness?"  We taught them briefly.  They both don't know how to read.  He was abandoned as a baby and she had something of the same history. In the counsel of zone leaders we were stunned again as always by the president. He shared the history of two months of his mission. One in which he had planned [They had] thirty people to baptize but [they] only baptized 32 of them. Praying and asking, "But why? We did EVERYTHING."  He realized that there was more he could have done and what to do better.  Another month he had ready 32 but only baptized 18. The room went silent and he almost began to cry.  After a moment he said, "Pride killed us that month.  I hope that when I present myself in front of God in the last day it won't be as hard as what I have passed for not having been able to bless those 14 people's lives.  Wow! We met with the zone and talked 2 hours Thursday about all we learned to be able to put ourselves in order as a zone. We cleaned our  room; we are beginning to work better. Well, a particular religious sect knocked our door Sunday. After being very obviously shocked and unsure what to say, they asked us what we would like to discuss. We gave them the floor, hoping for something that would inspire, but they tried to prove the Church of Jesus Christ

of Latter Day Saints to be false. [We weren't] very happy. Their arguments were the result of reading the Bible from one point of view and no other,  were conflicting and confusing, but what frustrated me, was that when I explained why I am a member of said church, they told me  that prayer can not be a trusted means to find the truth. To everyone who reads this and hasn't done so before, seek guidance in James 1:5 and 6.  [If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God that giveth to all men liberally and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him. But let him ask in faith, nothing wavering. For he that wavereth is like a wave of the sea driven and tossed." James 1:5-6] Don't forget to ask with faith and the Lord will give unto you liberally and it will be given to you to know this mystery of God.  Ask and you will receive. Love, Elder Johnson

11 July 2011

Dear Family,

Jaja la fecha de regreso no hará tanto como tener un compañero con 23.5 meses en la mision. Pero Elder Hunsaker es lo maximo. Solo a veces dice, De a qui tres semanas voy a buscar este cancion. [Ha Ha, having the return date for my mission is nothing like having a companion who's been in the mission for 23.5 months (missionaries serve for 24 months).  But, Elder Hunsaker is at the very end.  Sometimes he says, "Three weeks from now, I'm going to look for this song.]

Well just this week [we have] seen some divisions [missionary splits where companionships are switched around temporarily] with a District leader and my anterior [earlier] companion Elder Hernandez (see picture)

We went to Arequipa like I said last week for the meeting with the President of the mission. It was the maximum. [the best] We talked with him in the night of Monday about a lot of things, and then way more Tuesday [about how] to help out the Zones. The zone we are in is one of the two zones of the mission that is suffering a little. More than anything for the attitude of the missionaries. The church here is a District and Branches so there aren't so many members. I think they all get used to more help from the members and get a little disanimated [discouraged] and then tell their new companions that nothing passes [they're not having missionary success] and the tradition gets passed on. We are working big time to kill that off before the next transfers. Last month in all the Zone Camaná, there were 2 baptisms, but this month we have already had 4! So something is changing...

I think there are some religious groups really trying to preach against the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints... because we talk to a bunch of people who when they see us, say oohh but I dont believe in Adam Smith. We say.. that's great, us neither! Haha but really... what is up with that?

We had a lesson with an almost priest, or rather, he was about to take up being a priest but realized he didn't want that to be his job. So he knows a ton about the scriptures and really suprised me a few times by his insights about the sacrament and the premortal life. Never have I talked to any other person who understood so much from just the Bible. Modern day scripture really clarifies these doctrines well.

Today I really want to be able to take those pictures I have been planning to take since I got here. It's just we have quite limited time on Monday sometimes. Very pretty. But imaging those desert mountain shots I sent when I came to the valley of fields... Camaná is like that. Green surrounded by huge sandy mountains. The housing areas are pushed up into the starts of the mountains by the farm land.

We talked with Nancy this week. The first time we talked to her we talked about the Restoration and asked if she believed it. She said of course and that she has wanted to be baptized, but since her husband doesn't want to get married, she is in a situation. Also Bety has the same problem. She really feels it is true and is so animated [excited] to receive the remission of her sins, but her husband doesn't want to get married either. We will be trying to help them with their honest desires to live the Law of Chastity and if they really have that desire, they will be blessed with solutions.

Sunday one of the speakers didn't come and the other two spoke about 7 minutes combined. The Branch President asked me to fill up that time leaving me almost 30 minutes to spontaneously talk. I talked about some teachings of President Uchtdorf, of the Plan of Salvation and the blessings of living the gospel.

Now I have to relinquish the typing time to my companion. Well, see ya next week.

Love

Elder Johnson

8 November 2010

Q- How are you? 

A- Really good even though it is really hard!

Q- How about a picture of your apartment/house? 

A- O.k. Coming next week.

Q- A typical meal?

A- Sadly there are no tacos here.

Soup and a fruit followed by lots of rice and usually some part of chicken. The other day we had chicken heart, which adds to the normal parts: throat, feet... Oh and I had clam for the first time in the dinner soup on Friday I think. I am learning to tolerate seafood, as fish is not uncommon. Luckily I started being more open before my mission. There are areas where you only eat fish... hopefully I can not go there haha.

Oh and there is this thing called matagringo, which is from the verb matar (to kill) and the noun gringo. They are kind of like olives... and a really sour and basically terrible. At least for us gringos. The Latinos like them. Hence the name.

Q- Who makes your food?  (a picture!) 

A- Oh, coming next week. Sorry only 2 pictures of my surroundings today. One is the son of Clelia, who was baptized my first Saturday. The other is the steeple of one of our two chapels. The chapels are tile floored, hard walls. This makes for a lot of noise reflection, but luckily both have speaker systems to conquer the children´s noises. This chapel is comparatively pretty, the other is a little more reserved.

O.k., some anecdotes.

I got a haircut Wednesday for 3 sol, a little more than a dollar.

I am searching for the best way to mark my scriptures, if there are any suggestions I'd love to hear them!

This week we talked to an investigator who had been taking discussions from missionaries a while ago. She like many people has a child but isn't married. Lots of people here are convivientes, which means living together more or less, without being married. They feel like it is mas o menos the same but as they are unmarried, they are violating the commandment given to us to be chaste, having no sexual relations other than to our legal spouse. She wants to get married. We talked about how the commandments are in reality a blessing. The scriptures say that God does nothing save it is to help his children gain eternal life. Commandments are part of this. They are how we know what we need to do anyway. We receive blessings when we follow the commandments in addition to the eternal reward for being righteous, and avoiding the sadness and despair that can take us when we live contrary to the commandments.

I think she really understood this, and she has a goal to be baptized on the 20th of November.

On Friday, I believe, we had our interview with the mission president.

He interviews us every 3 months I think. His first question was plainly, are you worthy. It is very gratifying to be able to answer this question in the affirmative without any reserve. We talked about how I am doing, how Elder Orihuela and me are doing, what we need to do. In the end, he gave me a spectrum 1 to 10 where 1 is a very bad person and 10 is Christ. I am thinking it must be a logarithmic scale or something. Anyway I am around a 4. He responded, ok, you have a year to be a 10. This is quite a high goal, but I believe I can do it. Today I have a personal goal to work towards realizing this, and tomorrow, and the next I will too. Actually I want to keep having these daily goals basically for the rest of my life, and hopefully I can reach a 10.

We don’t have any flea problems, in answer to your question.

Eric! Sounds like marching band and soccer are being a blast!! Very cool! Your letter made me laugh haha. I was amazed by the blog stats... if each hit was only a second long; it was viewed for a solid hour in October! I shall try to write valuable things. I really do miss trees.. greenery... autumn. 

Sounds like the bike ride to Mount Vernon and the backpacking has been great! I really liked that trail, and that bike ride too!

All right I gotta go. Later we shall play basketball.

Love. 

Elder Johnson