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 😁

week 6

This week i met a dreamer named Kevin, an 80 year old man taught me to make fudge, and i haven't seen the sun since last Monday! (I guess Annie was wrong) Wednesday we did about 30 minutes of proselyting at a car show, which was cool, and totally effective as we had just finished learning to make fudge with Chester, the Local Fudge wizard. We had so much fudge i don't think i'll be able to eat more for a month. it was basically the best food you can think of except better. This week we went on exchanges in the city St. John, please look up pics it's soooo cool, and its on the ocean/river. This is where i met kevin, the dreamer. So in St. John these people are called dreamers, i don't really know what was up with them they are just barely special needs i suppose. Kevin was around 60 and he liked sitting in the rain. We met him in King's Square where we were holding a free lemonade stand so we could talk to people. unfortunately it was raining so the park was mostly empty. This was good though because it led us to a woman on the edge of the park who we learned had been inactive for over 20 years. When we first talked with her she was about ready to beat us with her book, but after listening to her life's story she she said she'd love to talk with us again, and thus again God Loves His Children! and i'm grateful that God prepared us that day so that we would meet her. After this we talked with a guy the local missionaries call "180 proof" he's a little mixed up in the head. But in genesis it says something like "the son's of god married the daughters of men" and 180 proof explained to me that actually this means Aliens came together with earth creatures, and we came from this; "Obviously because we are the only animals on earth with 2 legs!" so basically the gospel is true, and you can know for yourself. If you ask God with a sincere heart, and real intent to act on the answer you may know the truth of anything you ask him. So I invite you to study out what you would ask god, and when you have a sincere question ask him! I love you guys Elder Johnson

Week 5

So I`ve been fed really good here, and one lady even steals the food bank items to give to us (which is horrible) but by saturday I had come to the point where i ate campbells soup, and that`s when I knew it was time to go to the store and get some actual food. I`m struggling with what to eat because everything seems expensive because of the exchange rate. I`m not starving though, and i have learned from my comp that i could survive very easily on eggs and rice at a very low cost, i just pair it with some salsa and it`s good. Mission wise in my area we have like 12 investigators with 3 progressing to baptism (slowly but surely) and this week we got about 6 more potentials. P-Day is almost a pain right now because i just want to work rather than do things like going to stores or getting our car`s oil changed. God really does know each of his children though, he loves us all and has a plan for us! He can bless our lives so much if we will simply let him ( by keeping our covenants and the commandments), and he is reaching out to us! This week we were the answer to a woman`s prayers. Her name is Linda, she is 62 and has cancer. she was super spunky and did was super smiley but her mask kept slipping and we could see the pain in her eyes. She told us about her whole life, everything that weighed down on her. How one of her kids who she loved so much dealt drugs, and the other disrespected and ignored her, but she kept saying she loved them so much and how she wished they could know god! She went on to tell us of her brother who died of smoke inhalation from volunteering at 9-11. She told us about her dad dying in her arms, and her mom committing suicide, of the 6 babies she lost. She told us about her divorced husband and how she tried so hard not to talk bad about him. She then told us That she had lost everything this month, as she had tried to help counsel a drug addict (she`s a psychologist) and the druggie in turn stole all of her money and ID`s We said a prayer with her, and the spirit was so strong. She said part of it and i said the other part, man the spirit was there, and i tell you that God Truly knows this daughter of his and the struggles he has put her through. He Loves her so much. After the prayer She grabbed Elder Smith and I in hugs, and we just went for it, awkwardly remembering the mission rules. I love you all so much And thank you for your prayers, Miracles do happen and i see them everyday in the work of the lord. PS Here in the Kenebacasis Valley it`s so Flippin beautiful, There are literally lakes and rivers all around me anywhere i drive PPS Elder smith (my comp) is basically from the best two years, He uses the word ``freak`` more than he breathes, I just laugh, but it`s starting to rub off on me!

week 4

So basically between the female immigration officers, old man fudge, bearded dragons, and Road rage investigator's it's been a good Week! I love it here so much. Honest to goodness, no sarcasm. So on Tuesday at 6 in the morning we got sent out to the airport from the MTC, and after a long flight (with the tender mercy of Cafe Rio, from the overly attached mother of my ZL's) to JFK then Halifax we arrived at 1 in the morning Wednesday. I was the first one to go through Immigration, and it was super smooth. I was chillin with President pratt outside immigration when they sucked me back in for another 4 hours, and so we got to the mission home about 5:30. That day was awesome with food and sleep. FLASHBACK: so the day before i went into the MTC, i went into a distribution center in Lehi with Grandma Johnson and we met dean smith. He overheard me talking about halifax and said that he had sent his son off to that mission just 3 months previous, and i was like "cool" we had a great chat and he was honestly one of the nicest guys. Thursday we had to drive forever to get transfer. I met my Trainer in Moncton. His Name....Elder Smith! He just finished his training, and now he's training me. I love the crap out of him. He's super chill, from lehi, and a redneck by lehi standards, but not Marana or Montrose standards, We went back to our area of Hampton, New Brunswick and did service for Dessa and Alden, two old less active members. They were both so cool though, and Dessa was straight up crazy but that's what made her awesome. I just hope that we can help them get back to church. After that we taught institute, and played volleyball with a non-member, Sharon (Shuh-rone) a middle eastern pastry chef). On Friday we had a lesson fall through and ended up knocking doors. We got lots of rejection, but thats awesome! and it led us to Chester. Chester has met with the missionaries before and new a decent chunk about our church, especially since his daughter's a member. He's just stubborn as i'll get out! we hope the spirit will touch him though, he said we could come to visit again. Chester also has mastered Fudge, and has his own recipe of 40 years. He gave us each a little box of it, and yes Old Man Fudge is basically amazing. Saturday's are Sussex days (a town President directed us to teach in) and it is just a beautiful town. Elder smith suggested we pray to be directed to someone to teach, and we did. We pulled up to the stop sign and i got the prompting we needed to go to this house plastered with Canada flags and stuff. The man who answered was super nice and french Canadian, and we were able to talk to him about our beliefs and his beliefs and they were like the same! The man wasn't interested in organised religion though, but he asked us to pray for his brother who had lost a kid recently. The rest of the street was just alive and open with us, though we only got two investigators at the end there were some great contacts. The two investigators are Shannon and Andrew. Shannon's daughter directed us to talk to her mom in the backyard, and as we walk back we find she has an orange bearded dragon chillin on her chest, it was weird and Shannon seemed less interested but we're going to do our best with her. Andrew is her Cousin-in-law, an ex Jehovah's Witness who has been searching for the truth and love's god. He's so cool, he was showing me how the bible is an app now and he was so excited by that. We're going to meet with him this week hopefully. Later once we were driving to knock a new area, we almost hit a baby bird. So we stopped and caught it, and gave it to some little boys who were playing nearby. Sunday was nice, and i love this ward. It was small today with only 80 people, but in gospel doctrine it was like so cool! everyone was shouting their two cents and it wasn't quite an argument just a hot discussion. We Had President straight from the stake today, and he's so cool, he really understands the plan of salvation and he was applying that like everywhere. Ive been fed really well here. One sister gives us food from the food donation basket even though we asked her to stop, and the ward feeds us a lot. I've already had 2 dinner appointments, and it's a tiny ward. I love you all so much, feel free to email me, mail me or whatever else Love Elder Johnson

week 2

Elder Wynder and I started T.R.C.'s today, which is basically where we teach people in the MTC who are paid actors. Some are non-members, and occasionally the non-members aren't paid actors but actually investigators. We taught a super cool college student named rachel, and it was a good learning experience. She had grown up in the church and knew all of the doctrine but didn't know if she believed it. Our other Investigator was a guy named Dylan who had a nearly identical experience, and so we were able to practice teaching about Christ, and focusing on our purpose as missionaries. I'm so grateful for the missionary purpose, it has taught me so much, and has really refocused my faith on Christ. I started reading some of "Believing Christ" and i highly suggest it. It has brought a very simple definition and understanding to the atonement in my life. Today I went to the BYU Bookstore, because i needed to go to the distribution center, i felt like a convict freed from prison. Don't get me wrong, the MTC is great, but when you're locked in the same classroom for 9 hours a day for 2 weeks straight the real world is fantastic! PS I would love a hand drawing of Christ from one of my great artistic friends, and i need some fun spanish words, because elder umahi and i are having a blast pretending we know spanish. PPS -I was also convinced this week that I'm going to join my district leader in raising a pack of Tibetan tigers to hunt and thin out the overwhelming Timberwolf population in Idaho. Its going to be so much cool beans. and i will probably raise a russian mastiff as well to ride at the head of this pack of tigers. Much Love Elder Johnson

week 1

This week was like a day looking back, but each day felt like a week as i went through it. I bear testimony that I was assigned at the right time, because the zone and district I'm in are all older than me and they all have amazing stories. I have 3 other missionaries in my District, my companion Elder Wynder (like winding a clock), my DL Elder Christman, and his Companion Elder Umahi. My companion Elder Wynder is from Alberta Canada, and he is going to Halifax also, Though he lived there only two years ago and he's afraid of running into his Ex-Girlfriend. Elder Christman is a good old Idaho Boy, and we lovingly call him Grandpa because he's always got a story, and he is able to teach us so much. Also after working out everyday he walks like a 90 year old. Elder Umahi is from Nigeria, after graduating high school at 16 he played semi-pro soccer, and came to college at UVU last semester, and he is barely younger than me. We have laughed so hard this week together, and have grown our testimonies together as well. Today we got to go to the Provo temple and me and my 3 hombres did initiatories for a sisters family names. On the way out Elder Umahi and I were Joking around and we passed by a girl who "looked Distressed", we both got the prompting to talk to her so we did. she poured out her frustrations with a boyfriend and we were able to listen and allow to to let it all out. Elder Umahi shared his testimony of god's love and we left her with a prayer that she would be guided by the spirit, know god's love for her, and see the blessings in her life. The spirit was definitely there, and this is one of many experiences I've had this week.