Merry Christmas

Quote of the week by Elder Hamblin "If I got a tatoo, I would Get a full body tatoo. Of myself, just taller. " So this week we got a polar Vortex from the North, just getting us to -31 with windchill! We were knocking at that time, and saw a lady walking her dog. We walked with her for a bit and she said "What church are you from? Oh, Of course. Your the Mormons, the only ones crazy enough to be out in this weather!" Heck ya we are! Because it's true you see. I love it. I'll keep it simple this week. While I've been studying I found two things. 1. the gospel is super simple. 2. The gospel is simply the love of Jesus Christ. Remember the simple things this Christmas season! Merry Christmas! Elder Johnson

Nova Scotia, Eh?

Well this has been a crazy couple of weeks, but I'm sitting here in a library in Cole Harbor Nova Scotia (part of the metro of Halifax) I feel a bit of a culture shock as I traveled from a far away finger of the mission to the very heart! It's pretty awesome. Nova Scotia hasn't had a white Christmas in Years. Lo and behold, we've had snow coming down since this morning, and we've got to be near at least a foot! The windchill is insane, and it cuts right through a man. And I LOVE IT! It was so funny to watch cars slowly moving around the city today, their tires were spinning fast as they could, but they were only going about 30 KMH. There are so many missionaries here, and it's wonderful! There is another set of elders in our apartment, and we have a set of sisters in our ward. There are so many missionaries!! and yes I said Ward. This is like a good sized ward. We had the opportunity to help a sweet woman named Janet shovel out a horse stall full of sand and Horse Poop, It was wonderful, and it had been packed tight after years of having horses on it! That was last week and it was a beautiful day! before the snow. This new ward is just full of Jokers, Everyone is so funny. This guy he wore his globe shirt and went to every table at the Christmas party to tell the same joke. He also pointed out to us that we are serving in the armpit of the world. The other guy pointing at his shirt is My new companion Elder Hamblin! He's a stud, I love him, and He's just a good old Idaho boy. They are kicking us out now so bye! Love Elder Johnson

Christmas Begins Nov. 1st

So due to the fact that Canada has no Holidays in November to hold back the Joyous spirit of Christmas, Nov 1st we set up the Christmas trees at the church, and Yesterday in church all of the priesthood were called up for a spontaneous musical Number. "Far Far away on Judea's plains". I love the Christmas spirit in the air already, it truly is a wonderful Celebration of the birth of our Savior, Jesus Christ. This week we had The opportunity to Re teach the restoration to a woman named Judy Whalen. Judy is cool, She love's to garden, and love's to share her wisdom. This time when we shared the message of the Restoration Judy listened intently, and asked questions, aside from previous visits in which it seemed to be more of a social activity to her. After helping Judy pick apples, stack wood, taking the opportunity to learn from her, Judy's heart was softened. It is such a blessing to serve, and as we choose to serve those around us they will feel our love for them. I have to give an amen to Matthew 10:39, " He that findeth his Life shall lose it: and he that loseth his life shall find it" It's pretty simple, and I can testify that I'm seeing this in my life Daily I love you all! Have a happy American Thanksgiving Elder Johnson P.S. The Turkey I was sent with all of the Hand notes is honest to goodness so AWESOME! It was pretty fun to read all of the little notes I was sent. Thanks for the support!

Out of Time!!!!

I'm soooo sorry,. I tried to plan a day in st. john, but in the end we lost our e-mail time..... I have just enough time to email you though!!! So this week we had an exchange and Zone Conference, so it was crazy, my life is now just so crazy compared to my secluded Hampton life of before! I was able to spend a day with Elder Maughan, and he is an awesome guy, i love him, he's from Idaho, and it fits him real swell. We normally go to this Indoor market, that is set up inside an old abandoned grocery store, for lunch when we have a day up in sussex. Saturday we went to the market, because we really wanted baked potatoes, there is a british guy there who makes them dang good. We got caught by the guy next to him who sells Snitchzel though, and at first i tried to make the conversation fast so we might get our food in peace. This man, who we came to know as brother Stew, was totally interested in meeting with us and reading the book of mormon though! He Was a little bit of a conspiracy theorist, but many of the things he said weren't too far out of line with what we believe. We talked with him for ! 1 whole hour! he was pretty cool, and we will work to meet with him this thursday. The gospel of jesus christ (the process of Faith, Repentance, Baptism, Recieving the Gift of The Holy Ghost, and Enduring to the End) is truly the core of anything ever taught in our church, we must be founded on the Rock of christ our Redeemer to stand in these latter days, and really Jesus Christ is the way!

Hippies Unite!

In reflecting upon the investigators(and people in general) Elder Nelson and I have been teaching I have seen a common thread of Unity. They are literally all hippies. This week a less-active member named Jasmine moved into our area, and contacted us, since she really does want to get back to church. We met her at the church, and She is definitely a hippie, it shows in the hair. Somehow, Jasmine has achieved the perfect "half Dreadlocks". It's pretty impressive. Jasmine expressed to us her desire to learn about God and Jesus Christ more, It is such a blessing to be able to help others come to know our Heavenly Father and His son Jesus Christ for themselves. We had 2 service opportunities this week, One of them being with a man named Michael, the other with one of our investigators, Judy. At Michael's, He has been rushing to get his yard landscaped before the winter. Michael is a Yoga Instructor, Artist (of all sorts), and lives with his mother. He has also travelled the world 7 times, and has some pretty awesome stories. Michael is a very chillax guy, and I love talking with him. As we helped him last Friday he shared with us His Gospel Experience, and many of the sad reasons of why he no longer follows a religion, but chooses to worship in his own. Way. It is Truly amazing to see that his Faith Continued to burn strong through manipulative pastors, Death, and many other sad experiences. He Centered his Faith in Jesus Christ, just like it says in Helaman 5:12, and Satan had no power to drag him down. Judy wanted us to help her load firewood at her property in bellisle (yes that is one syllable by the way, I would love to hear recordings of you attempting to say it😋) we showed up, and Judy was no where to be seen, we heard the sounds of people making their way through the wood towards us, and so we shouted for her, assuming she must have parked at another location. Soon after Two people whom i had never seen walked out, The girl had some sweet dreadlocks, and her boyfriend had some luscious locks as well. Just some hippies wandering out of the woods! It was a good thing they looked like nice hippies, because one was carrying an axe, and the other a large saw (we found out later that this was Judy's granddaughter and her boyfriend, they are building a log cabin in the middle of the woods) they slowly made their way across the field to a ghetto 80's van completely lined with orange carpet. Yes, this van is their home. Last but not least is Lisa, she isn't a practicing hippie, simply a philosophical hippie. Her entire ideology seems to pivot on self love, which is admirable. Lisa is a former Psychiatric Nurse, so as we have taught her she will take a moment to look into our eyes, ask us a few simple questions, and suddenly she knows everything about my childhood. Kind of cool, Kind Of scary. These are the main hippies we have been working with, but ever since Elder Nelson Came here, they seem to be coming out of the woods left and right. I love speaking with people of this mindset though, they are very receptive to the gospel! This week I have been blessed to see the spirit working in my life. It has been in the small happenings, and the larger ones. One thing that occured, some may label "coincidence", but I testify to you that there is no such thing as a coincidence! We have lost contact with a couple we had been teaching, Tom and Meaghan. I love Tom and Meaghan, and sadly it has been so long that Elder Nelson hasn't met them yet. Anyways, we were stopping by their house, and Since we had lost contact we were unsure if they were mad at us and didn't want us to contact them anymore, or if it had simply been a crazy 6 weeks. I was fearful that they might sick their dog on us, which in most cases would not scare me, but their dog is quite frightening. We said a prayer in the car, that we might be safe in our contact with them. Lo and behold just as we say amen, we see that Tom is grabbing something out of his Car! This was a miracle, something small, but we were able to speak with Tom Briefly, asking for his number so we could call him before coming over next time. He was extremely chill about it, and Though in the written word this may not sound as miraculous, this experience was a simple testimony to me that God is in all of the dealings of our lives. I love you guys! Elder Johnson Ps: the pic in the car is Elder Nelson and I meditating in the car - Second pic is me with elder Sulzen, and our Doterra products, he uses the same toothpaste as me, but he didn't have it at that time. -Third pic, the bellisle countryside

Busy Week

These past couple of weeks have been pretty chop, chop, chop. In translation, they've been really crazy, but Amazing Our Investigator Lisa, who I may or may not have mentioned, is super awesome, and actually going to Arizona in January! therefore Ya'll need to meet Lisa. Lisa is a former Psychiatric Nurse, and here view of religion is Centered on love. Bingo! so is our Gospel! Lisa continues to amaze me at how simply she may understand the gospel, she understands in different words than we do though, and it is such a blessing to teach her. As i leave every lesson with her, (which are normally at the park, with a bunch of giggling children) I feel as though I've come to understand the gospel better. Lisa has jumped right in and is coming to volleyball and Family Home Evening, She Is so AWESOME! And she is very good at asking questions. Questions built the gospel, look at Adam and Eve! they get kicked out of the garden "What do we Do now?" look at Lehi "What can I do to Help my People" Look at Joseph smith "Which church is True?" President Bednar, as I've heard, goes to the temple not to find the answer, but to find the right question. I would invite each of you to ask Heavenly Father for help, in finding a question that may help you understand more, and build your Faith. I promise you as you Ask Heavenly Father for help, Ponder in your mind and in your Hearts the great questions you may have, and as you seek out answers, YOU will. I repeat You will see god helping you so long as you follow these simple steps and keep your eyes open to his help. Heavenly Father Promises you this! I love you all have a fantastic Day Love Elder Johnson

Tim! Tim! Tim!

Ok so the time got away from me and I have like no time to write! Basically this week we had the opportunity to go to Sussex, the most amazing little farm town in all of New Brunswick! Everyone there is so nice and actually speaks with us! A man we teach, who i will refer to as Tim, is a less active. He used to be in the Bishopric, the High Council, And was a super Strong Member! He really Has an amazing Testimony, and has shared it with me on multiple occasions. Tim loves Cigarettes though.... this has made him less active for a good 20 years. We met with him on saturday, and spoke with him simply and boldly "Tim, we know you want to be back to church, what's holding you back?" and since we had just watched him down a full pint of beer, he was very open with us and poured out his concerns. The spirit was so strong in our meeting, though Tim may have been intoxicated (I think it didn't effect him that Much). This week was stake conference the topic for the whole thing was "faith precedes the Miracle" and as part of this we must understand that our faith does not change other's agency, or god's will. But truly miracles happen as we Do all we can (2nephi25;23) and we allign our will with heavenly father's. The Gospel of Jesus Christ is a Blessing, and so is the Grace He offers us! I know that Through the Grace of Jesus Christ all things are possible! Love Elder Johnson​

Happy Thanksgiving!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Yes, Today is Thanksgiving. If any of you don't like it, you can bring that up with the Canadian Government. I enjoyed it though! It's great as a missionary in the Hampton Area. Since Elder Nelson and I are in one of the few wards, and People here like feeding the missionaries, Thanksgiving meals were offered by many people. Thanksgiving is technically just today, but most Canadians Celebrate it all weekened, so we had a Meal at Bishops today, and we will be going to Kevin and Melanie Graef's tonight (some of my favorite people!) This week we were finally able to meet with a lady named Lisa. FLASHBACK! Elder Smith loved knocking apartment buildings, it was my 3rd week or so in the mission, and he decided to take me through a couple. We walked into the entryway, and were going to try to buzz our way into it, when a guy walked out. We started talking to this guy, and wandered back outside with him, he said he had to go but he punched in his code and gave us his apartment number to meet with him at another time. We knocked the whole apartment and eventually came to his apartment. We Knew he wasn't home, but we knocked anyways. Suddenly! a women opened the door, and gleefully cheered "Missionaries!!!" after which she proceeded to say she would be able to meet the next teusday, and as i took out my planner to write this down, she grabbed it and wrote her number, as well as her husband Randy's (who we had just previously met). She talked on for a little longer and then said she had to go finish cooking or something. and so Elder smith and I got our First words in "Goodbye". The appointment for Tuesday fell through, and following this we simply couldn't catch them at home, and they never answered their phones. This week, we had a little extra time after visiting Gary, and suddenly i remembered this experience with Lisa. Prompting? I think Yes! Lisa lived a few apartments down the road from Gary so we drove on over, and we knocked on her door. KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK. awkward long pause.... a guy walks past, he mutters under his breath "don't go to apartment 20, we ain't interested"... KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK.... another long pause, and just as we were about to leave Lisa opened the door. She was sick at the moment, but once again set up an appointment for Saturday at 11:30! We show up at 11:30, our member just cancelled on us, because his kid had thrown up everywhere. Lisa answered the door! we ended up walking to the park, because we couldn't meet with her alone in her apartment (Randy was at work). So, there we were at this little park, Lisa, Elder Nelson, and Me. Sitting on a bench. Scaring away any child who may have liked to play on the playground. The Lesson was awesome! I had Challenged Elder Nelson to lead out, and he dived right in! he was so gung-ho to teach the restoration, I had to slow him down, so that we could speak with Lisa First, and get to know her. This led us into an amazing conversation, in which Lisa Told us that when she was taking the missionary lessons in the 90's, she was nearly baptized, and she told us all of the concerns she had which stopped her. She told us a lot of her ideologies, which was totally the Character Of Christ! She had Come to find that we must not sympathize for our fellow men, but rather Empathize, and focus our all (energies and efforts) outward (like a Fire, rather than the black whole's people often are now). We Identified the one concern she really has is that she want's to know Heavenly Father is a real man for herself (in extension). In the end, Elder Nelson gave her the Book of Mormon, and we were able to give here the section of Alma 32, which is on faith, to study. This is the true church. God has a plan for each of us, and in the Moment we may not enjoy it, but that's why we're here. Our ability to experience sorrow, and pain were limited in the premortal existence, and therefore, so was our ability to experience Joy! (2 Nephi 2:11, "There must needs be an opposition in all things). Part of Faith now is trusting God, that though he will take us through some crazy wilderness of afflictions for now, this is simply the pathway to the promised land! (and don't worry, he'll take care of you along the way, you may even get to spend a while in the land Bountiful) I love you guys Elder Johnson

Time Flies When You Are Serving the Lord!

Here we are starting week 3 of my 3rd transfer, pretty sure it's going to be a great week! especially Wednesday, being the 3rd day. Looking back to last week though, I'm trying to still process what Happened! On Thursday, I was calling members to see if we could get one to come to a lesson with us in Sussex, which is 30 minutes away from everyone. After calling the people who I knew would be more open to come in the middle of the day, I realized that we had not yet asked Sister F (who happens to live in sussex). Sister Friars had work, but before she hung up the phone I blurted Out "What about Walter" She passed Walter the phone, and Walter agreed to come to the lesson! After I hung up I realized what i had just done. I asked Walter, Who has been Inactive since before I was born, to come to a lesson with us. At first I was really nervous. I love Walter, He is one of my favorite people Honestly. I was just so uncertain about How this would all work out in a lesson! After thinking more about it I came to the conclusion that this was a Prompting from God to ask him, and though I may be uncertain, God was certain. And I took Comfort In that! We Dropped by to pick Walter up, and Dang! He had dressed up in his White shirt and a sweater for Us! Once we got into the Lesson, Walter being Raised in the Same small town as Dawn new many of the same people, and they were able to gab on about the good old days, It came to the point where we had to Stop them for the lesson! The lesson was great though, and Elder Nelson invited Dawn to be baptized. Thanks to this Dawn finally brought forth her concerns!(Dawn has read the Book of Mormon 3 times, and we've extended dozens of invitations) This is where Walter was a blessing, he spoke with Dawn about them, and shared his own experience in conversion. He simply tied her concerns to the Book of Mormon, since what does anything matter, if you know the Book of Mormon to be from God. Driving Walter home, He shared with us how he had prepared himself for the lesson by studying the scriptures. His Preparation gave him power, and He was able to share his experience with the spirit. I love Walter, and Heavenly Father knew what he needed. Love Elder Johnson ​​P.S. Last Sunday Harley, (a member here who is super awesome and works a lot with us) Challenged my Nose. He said His was bigger, I said there was No way, and thus we had Elder Nelson settle it with a nasty old tape measure. Sadly, the glory of my nose was overcome by the size of his. His was 1/8" longer and 1/16" further out from his face. !

Forget Yourself and go to Work! Eh?

So this week wasn't very eventful, we did a lot of driving though! We had Zone training on Tuesday, which took like 3 hours. We drove to Dartmouth for a 5 minute doctors appointment, which took 7 hours. With all of this driving though, we were able to listen to almost all of last conference! and Oh my gosh, I'm so excited, the gospels true, and I love me some modern day revelation! A couple of weeks back I heard a talk, either in church or one we got online to listen to in the car, It was about Growth. The talk detailed that to Grow we must be put through trials, and "stressed" (like the Mormon message on trials), because we are either in a Comfort zone or a Growth zone. I realized at that time, that I was pretty dang comfortable with Elder Smith and this great area. So I prayed for a growth zone, and now here I am! (Last time I prayed for a Growth Zone we ended up moving twice) and so if we want to progress, that is what God want's as well, and He will definitely answer these prayers. I'm learning a lot. I've been reading a talk by Elder Holland on "the miracle of the Mission", and I'm really coming to Understand that this is the lord's work and He can do it with or without me. But as I strive to be obedient, and bring others unto Christ, God Will Bless My Efforts! I am reminded of something i heard not too long ago. God never answers our prayers with a no, He answers "Yes", "Not Now", and "I've got Something Better". I've been taking a look at how God answers my prayers, and so far I have found this definitely applies Though one exciting thing happened, we just started doing Family Home Evening at the church every week with investigators, and less-actives, and this week for the activity we played "do you love your neighbor" lets just say, I always loved my neighbor when it was sister Graef (a 6 month pregnant Filipino women) man, it was scary going for the same chair, I wouldn't go for it if i saw her going for it because i have respect for women (especially pregnant women) but let's just say, some other people learned to respect her the hard way😁

Well Not much has happened since I emailed last Wednesday.....oh wait! my Whole life is actually different. I'm in the Same area, and the same district, but I have a new companion, and I'm suddenly in charge of imparting all i know too him! Oh, and we may have baptized Gary (Blind Gary) on Saturday😉 So Long story short, I love Gary so Much! He's the funniest dude like ever, and such a blessing in my life

, add him and he will make your gaming reach a whole new level of fun. Specifically Cole, ADD GARY!) About 3 months back, when i had just arrived into the mission field, Elder Smith Shared the Joy of Knocking apartment buildings with me. They're pretty fun, because you find all sorts of people in them! Not your typical middle class New Brunswick Roman Catholic. One day we were knocking and ended up talking with a lady for about a half hour, during this time here neighbor wandered out checked his mail, and grunted a greeting at us. We knocked the other apartments on that floor, except for the neighbor who grunted at us, and then knocked the rest of the building. On our way out of the building, both Elder Smith and I were prompted to go knock that guys apartment. So, we knocked on this guy's door, without saying a word he opened the door and invited us in. This was Gary. Gary was depressed, and in that first month i knew him i wouldn't have seen him getting baptized so soon, because he wouldn't even pray. But Prayer was the key, one lesson we focused on prayer, and crammed a couple of awesome members into his apartment with us. He asked us to prove where in the bible it said we need to pray, and as i went through the scriptures to find a good one for him, he proved it too himself! Gary Prayed that night, and the spirit was definitely there. From that point on Gary was Hooked. Gary's life was changed, he finally got his apartment subsidized, which he had been waiting years for, and as a requirement of the subsidy, they had to upgrade him to a larger top level apartment! Due to these subsidies Gary has excess money now, which is a huge change from the $50 a month he's used too. I Baptized Gary on Saturday and the first words out of his mouth were "I'm still here." He was Joking, but had such a grin on his face. After he and I changed we walked into the chapel where the Mormon Message "lift" was being shown. By the end, Gary was in tears. It's so amazing to see how God has Blessed Him. The Next Day He told Us he seriously couldn't sleep because he was so excited to "get the ghost from Smith". When We called Gary on Teusday to tell him which one of us was being transferred he was with one of the members. The Member sent us the text below while we were talking with Gary. I love you all, and I want each one of you to share your testimony of Jesus Christ with someone this week. You never know how it might effect them. Love Elder Johnson

It's a Boy!

Well I'm going to be a dad (as mission lingo puts it) I'll be picking up a fresh little Greenie tomorrow at 10, and Elder Smith Gets to hang out with us for the rest of the weekend so that will be cool. It's going to be so awesome to Train a new guy! I still pretty much am a new guy, so hopefully i don't confuse the kid. It's going to be weird losing Elder Smith, I love the dude, he's a stud. Cool Story! So Saint John is the "Huge City" next to our area, and Elders Hoole and Maughn were knocking on the Eastside. They are about to knock on a door, when an overly excited hippy lady grabs them and says some stuff, they are so caught off guard they can't comprehend. Long story short this is Megan, She is a less-active, who was driving to her brothers and Having a rough day/life. She started Praying to God for a sign of what to do in her life! it could even be that dead fly on her dashboard, she didn't care. As she pulled up to her brothers, she saw to handsome young bucks knocking on his door, and she had found her answer! Unfortunately for these two young bucks she had moved into my area, and out of theirs. Megan is so Cool though! she's been less active for a while and has a super cool non-member husband named Tom. They are both totally ready for the Gospel! They both keep reiterating, over and over that they want to come to church and want God in their lives now! They both Have been down some rough paths, and have found for themselves that they truly need God in their lives, and all of these material things are a joke. Sounds kind of hippy right? I love it! It's so fun to have lessons with them (though not as fun as having a lesson with Blind Gary) They are just searching for truth, and light in their lives. It's amazing to see the potential happiness and peace the gospel is going to bring the both of them. Pics 1. We found a ridiculously large church, and guess what? It was Catholic! because there are a lot of Catholics in the Maritimes. We spoke with the Matron and it was interesting to learn there are more similarities than i had previously thought, such as the repentance process (or at least how it was explained to me). 2.Sunrise 3. I Forgot the keys inside the house, and got stuck in a tiny window 4. epic fog Well I'm grateful to be here, helping others come unto Christ. I love you all, and hope you are getting pumped for Conference! it's going to be da bomb Elder Johnson

Tea? Really??

So i would like to start by saying, the Canadians are really concerned about you guys! Probably more concerned about you than you are about yourselves. Why? Because Politics. Canadians know more about our Country than we know about it. A large majority of them wish Bernie was president and Love Barrack Obama, they're just concerned about this election, they all tell me once they find out I'm American. This week we really focused on Gary Tingley, we lovingly refer to him as Blind Gary, because 50% of Canadians seem to be named Gary, and this Gary just happens to be blind (legally that is). So Elder Smith and i have Prayed real hard to know the date that we should invite Gary to be baptised, and we came to the answer of September 10th. So Wednesday we re-invited Gary to be baptised and he totally accepted! We went through the Baptismal questions and he was on fire! To 'Do you Believe in Jesus Christ' he yelled "Heck Yes!", and to 'Do you believe Joseph Smith and Thomas s. Monson as prophets of God?' he said "too easy next" (because he Loves President Monson). We get to the word of wisdom, and Gary stumbled "I don't see anything wrong with tea, at all, why would i stop drinking it?" he said. "I'll keep the other 98% of it" but that's not good enough, and Gary was offended. His fire died. We had 2 other lessons with him, and he had re-committed to be baptised September 10th, but come sunday morning we found him drinking tea, ignoring our calls, and not coming to church. Well that stinks. It really does. But Gary knows the truth, it'll just take him time, and personal prayer. So on another topic, yesterday Elder Smith and I were volunteered to teach Elder's Quorum since the teacher had to bail. We decided just to have an open discussion/Q and A. I was totally prompted to ask about Scripture study, something i need to improve, and this set off an awesome discussion. One simple system that one guy used in reading/studying the scriptures was... 1. What's going on (background of what you're reading) 2. What principles are being taught 3. What are YOU Learning My Challenge to Ya'll is to try this tonight, i tried it this morning and i like it 👌 FUN Story. Nature abounds here and i almost hit a raccoon the other night. Elder smith and I may or may not have a points system set up 😉 just kidding... Elder smith has arachnophobia, not really but he really doesn't like spiders. Here in New Brunswick, they probably don't spray for spiders, because they are everywhere, it's crazy. Every house we go too has at least a dog, a cat, and Front door covered in huge spiders. Blessedly, spiders haven't landed on him while we are knocking yet, because I've found His tongue is definitely loosed I know Jesus Christ is our Savior and He loves everyone of us individually! Love Elder Johnson P.S. Totally saw the fourth largest passenger ship in the world, driving through St. John on Wednesday. it was cool.

The Government Deports my Companion

So like, the government didn't actually deport him, i just said that so you'd open this email and read it, so there! I hope you didn't actually think that a Canadian would deport anybody, they are all too nice. But last night our GPS led us down a forbidden trail. It wasn't actually forbidden, but we were driving down a dirt road on the way to a dinner appointment, and the road narrowed a little at a time till we were on this super tiny four wheeling trail! so we stuck it out, thinking "hey, it'll open up to the road soon enough" but then we came to the impassible river of mud, and figured we were better off not attempting that. Estelle the Chevy Equinox handled it well, and were able to back up to a y in the trail where we had room to turn around. So in short, we took our mission vehicle mudding. on accident. This week was sweet we were able to teach a lot about God's priesthood authority here on the Earth, and The importance of learning for oneself the truthfulness of the Book of Mormon. We have an investigator named Sharan (shuh-ron), he's from India, and a pastry chef! So Sharan is very easy to teach because he is very smart, but as we've taught him he kept emphasising his belief that all religion is good, and he wants to pull the good out of all of it. Now I agree in one sense all religion can be good, but not all religion has the exact truth, how could they? they disagree in their teachings. Now please don't let me offend anyone, i do respect your beliefs and I am just sharing mine. So, we taught Sharan that our church teaches that it is the only church that is 100% true. This is a Bold Statement, and we told him that these are our beliefs and we challenged him to read the Book of Mormon and pray daily so that he can learn for himself whether what we are sharing with him is true or false. It was great because later in the evening Sharan was at what we call a "cottage meeting" where our investigators come and meet at a members home and we discuss a gospel topic. The topic was the Book of Mormon. Bishop Russell led the discussion, and shared all sorts of convincing facts that tell us the Book of Mormon is true. "But in the end" he said, "none of these matter, to know for yourself you will need to study the Book of Mormon; through reading, pondering, and praying, you can know for yourself." God totally inspired that topic so as to better help Sharan understand. so.... challenge time 😉 i challenge you to study the Book of Mormon for at least 5 minutes every night for the next week. ok? can you handle this? Study defined as searching, pondering, and Praying. take the challenge as a family, make sure someone is holding you responsible to read each night. YOU GOT IT! Love Elder Johnson

3 Minutes

Canadians 65% think i look like someone they know (Its super weird, apparently i have one of those faces) 25% don't believe I'm white, and assume i'm either native or Mexican (too far from the other border) The rest- assume i work at whatever store i'm grocery shopping in So this week was Gary week. The guy in the picture down there, ya that"s Gary. Gary is legally blind, and so dang funny, we've had him with us like half of the week. When we first met Gary, He was really closed off to people, and just sad, stuck in the rut of disabled unemployment. That was one month ago. We met Gary by knocking an apartment. We talked to his neighbour forever at her door, and in the mean time Gary "scoped us out" and "pretended to check his mail, even though he'd already done it that day". We actually skipped his door for some reason though, and knocked the rest of the building. On our way out of the apartment both Elder Smith and I got hit with the prompting to go back to him. It wasn't like a crazy burning of the bosom, just being slapped by a thought. We knocked on his door, and he let us in without us saying anything. Yesterday, we brought Gary to church. He told us he wasn't going to last 3 hours of church, but we ended up spending 5 hours with Gary! We taught him about the Sabbath and priesthood before church, then we had church (which was revitalised by him, the discussions were great, and funny. Converts are the life blood of the church), and we had a lesson after with the bishop and a couple of guys who had hung around. Gary totally felt the spirit, he was just grinning, and he was actually dancing in the parking lot! He is a seeker of truth though. I previously thought we might have a concern of converting him to the sociality of the church, rather than the principles. We were telling him how one of us could be transferred in a month though, and he was totally disappointed. But, He said we needed to stop wasting time talking about other stuff, and spend as much time in the lessons as possible. Gary has definitely felt the spirit, and is hooked. This is the true church, and for those of you reading who are non-members or less-actives please ask yourselves why the heck I'm choosing to give 2 years of my life to it.Take 3 minutes tonight, to think about these things and your life, and ask God if it would be good to talk with the Mormon Missionaries. I promise you will receive an answer, just be open and look. Love Elder Johnson "In the end, it's not the years in your life that count. It's the life in your years." -Abraham Lincoln

Inner Hippie

​This week was fast and furious, but I had the some opportunities to let my inner hippie out. We had Zone Conference on Tuesday, which was super legit, because in this mission we are so spread that we Elder Smith and I barely see other missionaries. On Thursday we had a lesson with Gary. Now Gary is one of the funniest people I know, but his life is sad because he is legally blind, and stuck on welfare in a basement apartment. We took Harley Westerman, One of the goofiest members in our ward to his lesson to meet him. Man! that was one of the funniest lessons I've ever been in. Though the spirit was there, for sure. After so many weeks Gary is truly understanding God's love for him. At the end of the Lesson we asked him to give the closing prayer, and he Gave it! Gary was beaming after the prayer, he just leaned forward and gave us high fives it was so cool! We had another lesson with Gary yesterday, and he is coming along so great. We gave him a simple lesson on commandments, and challenged him never to swear again. "Oh....." he said "That's it? give me more!" and he then basically taught himself that prayer and scripture study are commandments, and gained a simple testimony as I raced him through the scriptures to find a scripture that gives us prayer as a commandment, He found it first😁 My hippie came out this week as we met Judy, who is a gardener and green living kind of lady. She gave us a tour of her garden (that was just gorgeous) for a good two hours, which led us to teaching her Sunday and finding her husband needs help this week chopping fire wood. Judy's whole property was described best by Elder Smith when he said "I feel like we're in Fablehaven!" It's way sweet and has an electric fence all the way around it. Judy gave us each a little cactus as well, so 'm basically at home now. We taught a less-active on Friday morning, Sue Watson. She's just a greenlife hippie, running triathlon's and Iron man's. We were teaching her on he back deck, and we heard a baby bird out in the grass. The next thing we know, a crow swoops down and carries it away to eat it. Sue was not Pleased "The world is so cruel!" she stated in distress. Elder Smith and I are so blessed with the investigator's we have, and I can see that God really prepares people who we can connect with, Testifying to me personally that he knows us. No matter what, God knows where you are in your life, and he has a plan for you. There really aren't coincidences. Elder Johnson PS it's berry season, they are everywhere. And its always foggy, I feel like I'm in Twilight when we go through these backroads.

Following Promptings

It's been like 4 days since i last emailed, but it's been good. So Elder Smith and I helped a less active family move on Friday morning, and so we rescheduled our studies to that night. As we were leaving the church to go do studies that night, i was thinking of a member and felt prompted to knock their street. "Elder Smith" I said, "I don't know if this is a prompting or if I'm Crazy" and I turned the car around, and we Knocked the street. About 3 houses in I was doubting whether I had a prompting or not, and Elder Smith pointed out that we weren't even on the Members Street! Shortly after this mini conversation, Kellie opened the Door, and SHE was why we were there. Kellie is a truth seeker who has recently started searching the Bible and praying, she has an amazing testimony of Prayer. We had a great lesson with her, and She wanted her daughter to meet with us as well, because her daughter lost a friend 2 years back, and her daughter is angry at God and the World. Promptings of the spirit aren't always overwhelming feelings, and at times aren't even discernible as promptings. But as we do our best, we can ask ourselves "Is this the Best thing?", and that can help. I love you guys, and I know Jesus Christ is my Savior, I know that I am Imperfect and without Jesus I couldn't live with God again. He is such a blessing. Love ya! Elder Johnson

Transfer 1

Soooo. This week be Crazy. Elder Smith and i were assigned Talks, and a Zone Conference Training this week, on top of that we have 9 investigators in our teaching pool, and a bunch of other people we are working with, so we got hit hard this week, but the Lord DEFINITELY Blessed our efforts. So I was looking through the Area Book on the way to Sussex, I found one Former in there who had no contact info, just address, and he sounded like a promising guy to visit. This guys name is Garnet. So we went to garnet's house and He Wasn't There. So we came back again and again throughout the week. We finally contacted him and he said he wanted nothing to do with us and he had lost faith, the spirit was with us though and Elder Smith and I we asked questions which were inspired, because instead of kicking us off his porch he grudgingly let us in to talk. We had a lesson basically talking about his beliefs, I think this Really helped because he shared beliefs which sounded like he might have some faith in god still, and this helped him recognize the faith he still had. We had a follow up lesson on Friday, in which we invited him to be baptized August 27th and he Accepted! God really does have a plan for His children, and i testify that He loves and blesses his children as well, to the level that they allow Him to bless them. In Other news Friday was weekly planning, and after giving the training on Thursday, we were Sapped! so Elder Smith and I played Hide and go Seek in our apartment, and it was so dang fun. I didn't think that it would be possible to first off play hide and go seek in an apartment, and second have so much fun doing that, but Brothers and Sisters, I TESTIFY That Hide and Go seek is super fun, and instead of being hooked to this dang pokemon go ya'll need to get together and play some real games in real life. I saw My First Moose, it was roadkill, and we didn't see the car that hit it, so either the moose ate them, or after hitting such a majestic creature they just ceased to exist. Kind of Glad i didn't see it though because that was a large animal, and i don't think that car could have come through in any good shape. I love You all, And so Does Jesus Christ, And It is by his grace that we are saved, so long as we exercise faith in him. 💞 Elder Johnson

P.S. For those of you who said you'd write me (*cough *cough *grunt Merril Gary) I'm sorry i can't write you because I only have the emails of people who write me first. crazy stuff

week 7

So to start off, people have been praying for me to be fed well. we started with only 2 dinner appointments this week, and by the end we had actually had like 7. So i guess i must have sounded to desperate last week about the food, but thank you for the prayers! Strawberry season has definitely hit! I was fed Strawberry shortcake so many times this week, one day we were fed it 3 times! it was so good though, i think that i might have to start eating this for breakfast because it's pretty easy to make. One cool story. This week we were in a town called Quispamsis. My comp was flipping through the area book and i was calling people. He saw one persons record a couple times, and felt prompted to visit them, though they were technically out of our area. We got it cleared, and headed off to visit this part member family. We were in the backwoods and found the address. Elder Smith confidently walked up, introduced himself and boldly asked if we could teach him (the non-member) he said no and excused us. as we left i realized we were at the wrong Place! now this probably doesn't sound that funny, but like it was flippin hilarious. we tried the place next door (because the house number was on a rock in between three houses), and like the same thing happened, the last house didn't answer, so we assumed it was them. We started driving up the road and decided to knock. We stopped by this sweet lake, and took pictures. While doing so a guy walked up to us and started talking to us. This is all in the spread out backwoods of Canada by the way. This guy ended up being the non-member we were looking for and we had pulled over next to his house, that backed up to this lake! God totally sent us to see the Shipley Family in a roundabout way, and he wanted us there at the right time. looking back i can see where the spirit prompted us in small ways, that we didn't notice at the time. Life is crazy, so love it. Love Elder Johnson P.S. There is a cool website linked to familyserch called RelativeFinder.org and it shows how you're related to lots of cool people, and you can make groups to see how you're related to your Hombre's. My District Leader Is my 3rd Cousin 😁