mi madre / transfered

I Am being transferred!!!! after 4 1/2 months in Newfoundland, they are shipping me off "the rock". I am grateful for the opportunity I have had to serve here, it has taught me a lot about church leadership, and the struggles that sometimes accompany it. I can honestly say that Dealing with the mentally ill as a church leader is a hard thing! Brandon, the hobo 21 year old guy that we helped get out of the woods and into a home in my time here, has a host of these illnesses, The most leading among them being ASPD, which leads him to being very manipulative. It has worn me out. I felt like a king who'd been checkmated. As a typical missionary I could have just dropped him and not talked to him, as a church leader I wouldn't have started work with him, or done anything till he made the efforts necessary to move. So E. Fairbanks and I have had an exhausting transfer. It was fun! don't get me wrong, I didn't pity myself really, i just got work done. But Our mission President noticed in us that we had "exhausted ourselves in the service of the lord", and so he whitewashed our area (meaning he took both me and E. Fairbanks out at the same time) . I'm now going to serve in New Glasgow, Nova Scotia. and E. Fairbanks was telling me there is a sweet knife shop there! so as far as christmas goes, I might just want a sweet homemade knife from there for christmas. We shall see once I get there though. anyways. In hindsight, I'm sitting here realizing that I am spiritually and emotionally exhausted. I'm grateful that I was able to serve my God, and P. Pratt is sending me to be in a great area surrounded by great missionaries who I hope to help support, uplift encourage and inspire 😊 We went to a Pentecostal service on sunday, and the other week we went to the salvation army. I couldn't help but think that you and I need to visit some other churches once we get home, because its like a 2 hour singing time! its gospel karaoke!! pretty fun eh? I told one of the members that you and I would have to go visit his old church, he said once the band gets going and the spirit starts moving all the people get up and going! most of these people being over the age of 55, and getting going means dancing, singing, marching, speaking in tongues, and all sorts of other good stuff. Our investigator Crystal fed us Fish'n'brews. It was good! it was basically fresh cod, and salt cad, with some "brews" which is basically boiled bread, like hardtack, and some boiled taters. Cover that all in butter and it's "best kind" 👌 I got some Newfie pickled beets that I'll have to send to dad while I was there. I didn't like beets before my mission, but i don't mind them much now! Newfoundland is all over it's pickled foods. Here's a whole load of pics! some of us at the playground, others of us at our Final FHE, here in grand Falls. They're a unique bunch of people I've grown to love! Elder Johnson ​

One of the Most Intense Lessons of my Life

Well this week I was on a companion exchange with one of my favorite missionaries, Elder Ablett (He's British, and is quite smart :). So we had a lesson scheduled with one of our investigators who was homeless, but has since started staying with one of the members here in grand falls. Due to the bad things that he got into around the age of 14 he has since had a lot of the problems that usually come when we pass thorugh a lot of sin, and all that nasty stuff. Well as he has tried to leave sin, it has been kind of like trying to get bubble gum out of his hair. It hurts. And it takes time to get it all out,. Well when Elder ablett and I went to teach him, he had theoretically been wrestling with one of these chunks of bubble gum (something that Elder Fairbanks and I pointed out to him that he really needed to work on). Well after trying to get it out, with minimal effort he decided it would be better to get ignore it. So when elder ablett and I went to teach him it was an awkward, intense lesson where he basically demanded I apologize for telling him he had gum in his hair, but at the end of the day that would accomplish nothing! I held true to my guns, and told him that he could do better, and that this should give him hope! I shared with him my love for him, and that we would be there to help him get it out if he was willing to let us help him. We've all got a little bit of bubble gum in our hair, for many of us its our pride, for others it's our unkind judgements of others, and many of the other sins that keep us from perfection. I love ya'll lots! Elder Johnson This is CornerBrook, NL! it's beautiful

Living Viva La Loca

Life has been great this week! a lot has been going on, but it's been good. last week we had a missionary meeting which they asked us to prepare for by reading a talk called Be 100% responsible. It has been changing my view on things. This week i saw firsthand how it affects people as they are not. I was going to talk about that, but this is a heavy subject I don't feel like getting in on today! totally look at the talk though, it's not heavy, it's just real life advice that everyone needs https://speeches.byu.edu/talks/lynn-g-robbins_be-100-percent-responsible/ Story time! One our members is named Walter, he's 52, but he's just such a simple loving guy he reminds me of a child at times. The last 3 weeks satan has been working pretty hard on him, as happens with recent converts often after their baptisms. We had been doing all that we could to help him, but he stopped reading his scriptures, and satan was having a Hay day with his feelings, and walter has been on the fence about leaving the church. Saturday he decided he would leave, and didn't attend church on Sunday. the first time he's missed in months. and he really didn't want to meet with us. well, we convinced him to finally meet with us on monday. We sat down to meet with him and he told us "so an hour ago i went to open youtube, and a movie queued itself up without me putting anything in! it was a sign from god" and the video was of moses and his experience after seeing god in a vision. Often in our lives, just before, or just after we have awesome spiritual experiences satan tries to overthrow us. But, holding to the fact that we are children of a loving heavenly father, we can receive the help from on high to perservere. So long story short, God works miracles in our lives as well as in the lives of those we love today. In this case only god could help Walter! I love ya'll! Have a stellar week. Elder Johnson

Thanksgiving Eh?

Well all of my american Friends, I've been blessed to enjoy Two thanksgiving dinners this week, as Thanksgiving here is in the beginning of October! fun fact, now you know. that, and it's always on a monday, instead of a thursday. I can say that not too much exciting happened this week, though we did have an exchange in cornerbrook, and that was Gorgeous! it was real pretty out there. We were able to teach a dude named Greg, he was a chill young fisherman, who sadly didn't get enough hours this year for his EI (the social service most fisherman get on as soon as their fishing season is done, pretty interesting) There really isn't any great story I can share so I'll just share a bunch of pics!

In the ER the last session of Conference

So I'm sadly missed the last session of conference this Sunday. We had an awesome experience with our investigator Brandon throughout all other previous 4 sessions (including priesthood), I could see in his eyes that this was feeding the spiritual hunger he didn't know that he had! We had all met as a group here at the church to watch the Sunday sessions of conference, and had a potluck in between sessions. after the potluck, I laid down joking that I'd need a nap so i didn't sleep through the next session. Brandon our investigator followed suit, and the next thing I knew he had fallen asleep, though intriguingly his head slowly curled up and to the right. I walked into the next room with my comp, and a member named cathy ran to us "Elders! he's having a seizure." We ran in to find his fellowshipper Dennis holding him in recovery position, and he grabbed our keys and were off to the hospital. Well, after getting a tylenol and a pat on the back we were sent back out with brandon. Worried about him staying alone in his tent that night (He's currently homeless, and a recovering addict so we didn't want him do any more harm to him in the tent) we sought out our options to help him that night. We didn't have much to work with, with such few members here, but after approval from our mission president, Brandon stayed in the apartment we use for the church, along with His Fellowhsipper Dennis. In Helping Brandon this time, among many smaller incidences, I've leaned that Love and charity truly effect the hearts of those who we apply them too. Our actions are truly the strongest testimony out there, as the saying goes "Action's speak louder than words" and I'm grateful for awesome parents who taught me this with their examples simply enough from my birth 😁 I love you guys! have an awesome week! Elder Johnson

Faith is Awesome

"There is a power to make things happen that need to Happen" "Faith is a principle of Action and Power" "Faith comes by choice, not by chance" "Faith is in the power of your words" I love FAITH!!!! without faith we would do nothing, it is the hope for a good day that helps us get out of bed, as well as the hope for perfection and Eternal life that keeps us on the Strait and Narrow path of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. This week one simple act of faith allowed a miracle to happen! Elder Fairbanks and I had extra 15 minutes while waiting for a member, and we could have easily wasted it by waiting in the house with him. But no! there was a less-active member next door, and we were going to use God's time in the best way. So we went to talk with her, and she just talked with us through her window. Next thing I know, a brand new Nissan Rouge with a well dressed man pulls over next to us and rolls down his window, staring at us. I walked over, assuming the stare meant he wanted to talk with me! and all he said was "I met with missionaries in the past, come over and talk to me, here's my name, number, and address" Awesome!!!!!! God is great. Love Elder Johnson

Hank Williams Sr. (or at least his newfie look alike!)

This week has been quite a blessed week, our travels have taken us near and far to do exchanges. We went from one end of the island to the other, with a lot of travel in between totaling a 17 hour road trip! My companion and I were so exhausted by the end of the week! it was good though, We were blessed enough to help out the other missionaries here on the rock of Newfoundland. One of the days I was on an exchange with Elder Ellis, From B.C. I love this guy, and he and I were stuck walking it, as my comp and his comp took our car an hour away to another town. Neither Elder Ellis or I knew this place that well, elder Ellis was pretty new to corner brook, but we had two lessons set up, one at any time in the afternoon, and one at 7, and we were determined to make it to them! So we set out from our apartment at two to make it to our afternoon lesson. Well 4:30 hits and we're still walking, there is no public transport in the city of Cornerbrook, so this had been quite a hike (though we were talking with people along the way too). We got a call from our companions and they reminded us that our afternoon lesson was pretty flexible, but she couldn't meet at four... Dang it! so we set off for our next lesson. This is where i got really lost, and so did Elder Ellis. We Went in one big loop around the whole city and ended up back at where our afternoon lesson was supposed to be, but it was 8, so once again we missed our lesson. we decided we should probably just set out for home at this point and made it home by 9:30. That was quite an interesting day my friends, but an awesome adventure! The miracle of the week came in the name of Jim. Jim is a neighbor of our recent convert Rosie, so we see him quite often. We have talked with him a lot, about the gospel, and about random other stuff as well. He never has taken our invitation though to check out what we are teaching as missionaries, and has been pretty stand offish about that whole bit. We were walking past rosies apartment earlier this week and I saw Jim standing out, getting ready to take a smoke, so i called out to him, and started chatting with him. as I got closer I saw a blue hardcover book in his hands. I was quite confused as I realized this was the Book of Mormon! Jim, with a book of Mormon!?! well the story goes like this...Elder Fairbanks was talking with Jim last week and said "have you ever even read the book of mormon?" in the moment jim shrugged off the comment, and said something along the lines of "no, and i really never want too." Well those words weighed heavy on Jim's soul throughout the week. He decided one day he needed to take out the trash, as he lifted the dumpster lid he saw a blue book cover out of the corner of his eye on top of the trash. he grabbed it and it was a perfectly new, and unused copy of the book of mormon. In his eyes, it was a sign from God to Read the dang book! and he's been reading it ever since. We talked to him on Sunday, and through withstanding many invites to our Family Home Evening on Mondays, he finally gave in when he learned we do Gospel Karaoke! and He loved It. Jim is an awesome guy.😁

Love Someone this week!

It has been a busy week here in GFW, lot's of meetings and exchanges and such. We even got to work with President pratt for a day! I love that man, and he is an example of such great love. So Fun story of the week. I'm with a man I love a lot named Elder Ellis. We're out knocking doors, and He's a little bit of a bible thumper, so I was picking up on that and trying it out. I gradually found that as I talked with people that I was mostly arguing and not loving at all! So god's promise of guiding me by the spirit was no longer able to take place, and I was left to myself. Well, it was at this point we knocked on a door, and we had a very confusing conversation with a women, that ended with me inviting her to be baptized, and her slamming the door... As we walked away Elder Ellis casually said "That was a really bad contact" and I realized what Had happened. From then I recomitted to stop that and just love the Heck out of the people that I was talking to. Soon we met a man who reminded me so much of my father it was crazy, I felt as if i was actually sharing the Gospel of Jesus Christ with my dad. It was here that God helped me realize how I should view "Preaching the gospel"! I just need to love everyone as much as I love my dad, take time to listen to their stories, and share what will bless them when appropriate. I hope you all take time to love someone this week! One of my favorite quotes is from thomas S. Monson "Never let a problem to be solved, become more important than a person to be loved.' I invite you all to keep that in mind this week and love someone! Elder Johnson

Priesthood

I love God so much, It's pretty sweet that he's literally our heavenly father Eh? well He has given us such an awesome gift, He wants us to find the most happiness in life so he made it possible for us to access his power here on earth, and have all the blessings he wants us to have!! I know that God loves each and every one of us, and I know that Priesthood blessings are simply amazing. When we act in Faith and ask a priesthood holder for a blessing of healing or comfort we are unlocking the blessings that God has in store for us!!! I would invite you to keep this in mind, and if you are at a point in your life where you would like some more of god's blessings in your life, go find a priesthood holder and ask!!! Elder Johnson

A lot of Travel Eh?

So we did a lot of travel this week. We went for grand falls to gander, from gander to Halifax, from halifax to Moncton, and then reversed that whole Journey, we did that in about 3 days, with lots of meetings and missionary work squished in between. I had an awesome experience with one of my favorite missionaries of all Time, Elder Derek Larson. So we were going Around Halifax, teaching Repentance. We went to a meeting we had with this guy named Brandon, but we showed up and he wasn't home. It was ok though, we were going to find someone else to teach! so we said a prayer and off we went a walking. We saw this lady pacing around a parking lot, so we stopped and talked with her, she had been having a rough day and we talked a lot with her about God and Repentance. We will call her Sarah. So we were talking with Sarah, and in passing she said, "Man, it's weird! the last 4 times I've seriously prayed to God for help you Mormon Missionaries show up" that blew my mind, and was awesome. We continued talking, and we taught her more about the nature of God, and How god is not Hateful, or grudging, he is simply our Heavenly Father! Well she said "That's funny, today i felt really bad for a lot of the things I've done in my life, and God told me 'go on a walk until you know that you love me' and then I met you guys" We were able to testify to sarah that She has a loving Heavenly Father, and we invited her to follow the path to learn this for herself. She accepted! and asked if we could get her a ride to church, we said Absolutely. that was my sweet experience this week 😁 Also I got to fly in a plane, I love flying in planes!

The Weekly

​So I don't have too much time today! we went out to Twillingate, which is the norths side of the Rock (newfoundland) We got to see some legit Icebergs, and earlier this week i met this nice old woman who told us to go check out a remote fishing village that had an iceberg stuck in the bay, so we did, and we met this super sweet guy named sherman! WE would have probably been able to teach him, he sadly lives 2 hours away from our apartment, #myareaistobigtocover Also! wlater Leaned up to me after the sacrament, and said " i get a really good feeling when I eat that" that's the spirit walter!! Elder Johnson

Yesh me B'Y

Well It's safe to say that I only understand half of what people are saying around here, this little island of Rednecks sure has an interesting sense of what english is. Blessedly my new comp can understand them better than I can, though it's pretty funny because he's from Belgium and I can't always understand his English. I love him so much though! He's such a goofy goober. Anyways he understands the newfies better than I do and english is his second language. So we Have a nice little group here in grand falls. We're a group, rather than a twig or a branch! and so I already know all of the members real well! even the less-active ones. There are 8 on our records, and 4 are active. our church here is just a typical apartment, we are actually moving into the apartment above it later this week. So Church on sunday was a unique experience. it was awesome! Every person was fully engaged in church, and we had a nice service. The spirit was there and I learned a lot. I said goodbye to Jeff and Terrilynn last week, and I sure am going to miss them. I'm going to miss hearing his Prison stories every time I come over, and even his hellfire and damnation prayers. We also Got to ride in a plane over here! that was awesome! Not much to say this week, Love you all! Elder Johnson Here's a whole slew of video's and pictures, Some of my favourite missionaries went home this week, Elder Breinholt from Mesa, Az is the dude i'm awkwardly standing next too in one Sister Richardson is a sister I've served like 9 months of my mission around, so we had a super awkward handshake picture. And then our plane adventure And Me with Jeff and Terrilynn, posing like the punks we is. 😁