Has the Day of Miracles Ceased?

Tue, May 22, 12:47 PM I love that phrase! whenever anything awesome happens, that's what come to mind! and I'll say it, and Elder Henstra will say "Nay, it has not". Serving God full-time is pretty great :) This week we had a couple of pretty sweet little miracles. There is one person who we are working with who Elder Henstra and I were very close to dropping (where we no longer work with a person), instead we persisted, and blessedly we have started working with the rest of his family now! we also got to have a sweet BBQ with them this past week, and that was just a blessing, especially because we'd been trying to figure out how to get to know the rest of his family better. The lord Provided a way! Also, we had the task this week of figuring out how to seek out and find new people to teach through Technology this week. Elder Henstra and I were struggling with this, as we would prefer to just be out an about talking to people in their faces. But, because we were obedient God totally blessed us! We got out of a lesson with RJ the profit, I checked my phone and a random person I'd been talking with had messaged me and said "hey, could we meet up tonight so you can teach my friend and I more about the Mormon church?" and I was like "Heck ya!" So honestly, as we keep the commandments God blesses us. We recieve the automatic reward of doing whatever we did, and then God pours out extra blessings on top of that for being obedient to him! I know that it is through our Faith in Jesus christ that we are Healed spiritually, and can be healed physically. Check out Enos 1:4-8 :) Elder Johnson

RJ the Profit

Tue, May 1, 6:39 AM So, Elder Henstra and I are driving around Newcastle on one of the most beautiful clear sunny days we've had thus far this year! and we can't find a house that we are looking for, because he have a lesson coming up with this guy, and we don't know where his house is at. So, We were driving past a nice, clean, rowdy little house, just messy enough to know that a young family lives there. And I was like "Hey let's knock it!" so we stopped and got out, and a cool young mom answered the door, but she had a baby on the hip, and her kids as well as all the neighborhood kids in the back yard playing, so she didn't have time to talk. She told us to come back later, and we turned to go back to our car, just in time to see this dude walking down the road away from us, and without a word to Elder Henstra we both started in Hot pursuit after this dude! blessedly elder Henstra has long legs, so he walked in big long strides till he caught up to the dude, who turned around right as elder Henstra was about to talk to him, and he introduced himself first. We got to talking and found that this guy's name was Rory, and he loves Jesus! and when he saw us, he really wanted to talk to us, but he saw we were busy so he started walking away. Well, as we kept talking he brought up how he raps about God, and how that's his release in life. I'll include a couple videos below, they were pretty good 😁. Man, but long story short, we are now teaching Rory (aka RJ the Profit) and he's loving the message of the Restoration of the Gospel of Jesus Christ! I think it so cool how god was able to lead us to Rory, There's a lot more little details that led to us even being in newcastle to talk to that other dude, that put us in a place where we could find and help Rory. One principle I learned from this is, "If it's good, simply do it!" there's a lot of stuff in this world today, and we can easily overthink things "should i do it?" and then we can of a million reasons not to "oh it might offend them, what will so and so think.." on and on. In order for us to be trusted by God enough to receive a steady flow of revelation and promptings into our lives we need to act! 9 times out of 10, it it is a good thing and you act on it it's acting on a prompting, that's from and apostle of the lord (Ronald A Rasband), and as we act on what may seem to be little promptings, big cool things happen in our lives! "by small and simple things are great things brought to pass" I love you all! Ask god for some opportunities to act on promptings this week, and if needed ask him to teach you the way to recognize how he will speak to you :) -Elder Johnson Ps, fog is way cool, and the big ole' miramichi river finally broke this week! so there is actually a river here now, and there are ton's of ice chunks floating down it, way cool. we saw this one person just chillin in a kayak on one of these chunks floating down river... i was amazed :)

Love Power!

Wed, Apr 25, 12:34 PM Ya know, this week I was reading in Alma, and the spirit helped me see how these missionaries in the Book of Mormon had a righteous frustration as they worked among the people. As we went out to work the next day, we had a full day of just getting out and talking to people! leave at 10 home by 9. So we went to it, and honestly I was frustrated that some of these people just didn't care about God Really at all! it kind of made me sad. But as I talked things out with my companion he said, "you know, it really is their choice, they have agency, all we do is invite!" and that is so true. That's exactly how christ looks at us I think, and today as I was thinking about this God helped me see that Christ's love for us is the thing that really helps us stubborn people change! and I'd say that is a true principle in whatever situation you may be in. If one person is hardhearted and stubborn, whether at work, at school, it's your best friend, or your siblings, you being heardhearted and harping at them isn't gonna do much. So just take the time to love the Heck out of them! :) Well, thankfully spring is finally here, the ice on the river is almost cracked, and our 4 feet of snow is down to one. So thanks for those of you who may have prayed for me to get some sunshine! Vitamin D happy pills just can't replace quality sunshine :) Elder Johnson​​​​​​

Spring!

Tue, Apr 17, 1:25 PM Hey guys! so I finally saw Grass the other day! we drove 5 hours to halifax, and it was so warm. There was so much grass! it was 14 degrees Celsius. But, the following day we drove all the way back to our district leaders area, which is very similar to ours. It was about -10, and there was still snow in all of the yards taller than I am! so, here we are.... winter is still upon us up in Miramichi, New Brunswick. We had the opportunity to learn some stellar stuff about scripture study this week at a missionary conference! there are 3 main reasons people study the scriptures 1.To feel good/feel the spirit 2.To learn the doctrines taught by the church. 3. To receive revelation. 1 and 2 are ok reasons to read, but as these become our focus, we lose the end goal in mind. "Start with the end in mind" as President Russel M. Nelson always says. So our end goal when we study should be receiving revelation in our minds and in our hearts. God's desire is for us to receive eternal life, and the only way we can understand, appreciate, or fulfill this is by receiving revelation by means of the Holy Ghost. I challenge each of you to change your focus in reading the scriptures, and come with a desire to receive revelation/personal understanding in your studies this week. :)

The weekly-Smartphones make us dumber!

Wed, Feb 21, 2:14 PM So this week we got smartphones.....As missionaries here in the CHM it was announced and looked forw​ard to by many! (I personally didn't really care either way). After we got our smartphones, we went out with another set of missionaries to visit a past investigator named Jeff (sidenote: I love jeff so much! he's a such a good dude, and it's a miracle to see how much his life has changed from reading the book of mormon, and accepting the help of Jesus Christ!). So we were sitting in their car (and they got a new car that day as well, the church sells their cars once they hit a certain mileage limitation, and theirs was up), and this missionary said "this is the best zone conference I've ever been too! and the best day of my life" as he continued to dilly dally with his smart phone. Now, for all of you who are concerned about missionaries having these things, don't worry, it was just the novelty of it all that these missionaries have been basking in, give it a week, and we will be implementing these tools into our daily proselyting with skill to become even more efficient servants of the lord. The reason why I Bring this up is that I didn't feel any different! I was sitting there thinking about why, and I came to the conclusion that through experiences in my life, and just with me being who I am, I've learned that Joy doesn't come from the world and never will! Buying things will never fulfill our existences purpose of Joy! neither does hype music, or partying, or drugs. And no my friends, sadly neither do chocolate chip cookies. Happyness is a choice! and we gain deep abiding Joy as we serve our fellow men and Women, and is not something that can be purchased, it is something only earned by obedience to God's commandments. This isn't necessarily something that we do to please god so he will pour the happy dust on us though, It is "living after the manner of Happiness". What we do refines us into what we are! and when we do things that happy people do we are able to become more happy. More than that though, we have the grace of Jesus Christ to lean on the whole way to working out furthering our Joy! and we do this by repentance (Becoming more obedient to God's commandments, through the help of Jesus christ and his grace, as well as being spiritually purified and forgiven for not being obedient to those commandments in the past.) I love ya'll lots and hope you enjoy my spontaneous rant about happiness. I know that God is there, and he knows each and everyone of us personally, and that he's awesome! like seriously, He's way cool. and I bet you he's the happiest guy out there! so take the time tonight or right now to ask him "what can i do, or should I do to be more happy?" Love Elder Johnson PS. here are some pics of me with two way cool members here in Miramichi, Patrick Wait, and Ricky! Also one of the members has way cool lord of the rings stuff, and let us take some pictures with it!

Marshmallows, Persecution, and the tears of a Hardened Criminal

Well, for Marshmallows, very simply this week we rebuked our investigator (lovingly) for believing false doctrine. We have been working to help him get baptized (and he really wants to) but due to some things that he believes currently it would be bring him condemnation rather than blessings if he were baptized. So we were teaching him, and he's a very somber man. Things can get serious pretty fast, and they were extremely tense right after I rebuked him with scripture for missing the mark (missing the point) of the gospel of Jesus Christ. We sat in silence for about 3 minutes while He looked at the ground (and hopefully contemplated what I said). He then looked up at Elder Cox, and asked "can I share with you my version of the Garden of Eden?" up to this point we had been considering whether or not this man was a false prophet, and I was extremely worried about what he was going to say. "sure!" elder Cox said. And so this man commenced "In God's living room a long time ago was a boy named adam, and in the living room with adam god placed 2 marshmallow's. One was the marshmallow of life, the other the marshmallow of the knowledge of good and Evil..." This man's fellowshipper who was in the lesson with us during this tense moment busted out laughing, and couldn't stop! the man stopped and looked at his fellowshipper for a second, but then continued. He continued for another 10 minutes, meanwhile my companion and the fellowshipper and I were working so hard not to bust up laughing! it was one of those moments that was so ridiculous you had to be there. The Persecution. Simply enough, we knocked a door and a lady opened and said "Oh, the mormons. You have no respect for women." and she went off. I sat there with my righteous pride, waiting till I could lovingly correct her, because my mamma taught me to treat women the best! and this lady was just way off in left field about us. Well, we know from the scriptures that "contention is not of God" and so we just did our best to love the heck out of this lady! we found out that this random outlash was due to a lot of challenges in her life at that time, and since we acted out of love, and didn't argue (or contend) with her we parted ways with her having a better day. In another experience this week we were able to teach one of our investigators who is just a bro! we read 3 nephi 12 with him, and at the end of it he just poured his heart out to us. He told us about the guilt and shame he's struggled with a lot of his life for the decisions that have taken him in and out of Jail since the age of 11, and he was tearing up hard (tear like crying)! we were able to testify that god loves him and that through repentance he would be able to find the relief that he's looking for. We invited him to seek forgiveness and make reconciliation with those who he has harmed. The atonement of Jesus Christ is real, and through the sacrifice of our savior we can and will find healing in our lives, for all of the hurt and short comings in our lives. Elder Johnson Have a Merry Christmas! Feliz Navidad :)

"So is your official title like Mormon Catholic?"

We were blessed to meet a man that I've grown a great love for in this past week. His name is Mike Macneil, and He's cleaning up his life! He's 23 and after a rough past he found God about a year or 2 ago. He's got 3 pit bulls, the biggest being 140 lbs of pure muscle, and skull (it's head is the size of a boulder). We've been able to teach him multiple times in the past week, and he's just ready to "come unto christ". We were able to teach him yesterday, and he asked us "So is your official title like Mormon Catholic?" we were just like "What?" "You guys aren't a part of the catholic church?" *Cue lesson The Restoration of the Gospel Of Jesus Christ* Afterwards he was like "Oh ok, makes sense. Book of Mormon, Cool stuff!" he looked over at his girlfriend, and said Stephany! I'm gonna be a mor-man! you can be a mor-woman" His girlfriend wasn't as excited, but that'll change once we teach her more this Friday :) so that's mike! This is a thought that's been playing on my mind this week. Jesus Said "Ye are the light of the world" I've pondered on that throughout my life since i first memorized that way back sophomore year. This week, I've been thinking about the real meaning of Christmas, and how the world these days is just so focused on stuff! But as a missionary, where we are basically traveling hermits, we don't really worry about stuff. Occasionally we find a cool knick nack and we go for it, but It has taught me to find that true joy comes in our interactions with our fellow men and women. We are the Light of the world! Joy comes in being with family! With Friends! with talking with the random punk kid at school, or the old lady next to you in the shopping line! I challenge you to reach out to someone today and have a great conversation with them, face to face. I promise you that you will find true joy! as you are do this you will find the light in your lives! Also fun thing. This week, we had a parade here in New glasgow. Our challenge bring christ back into christmas, how we did it. we took the only trailer we could find, and we filled it with hay. I suddenly was Joseph, and Sister Nowlon (one of the sister missionaries here) was mary. My companion elder cox, became the purple wiseman, and sister osborn was the angel. Well, it was awesome :) Elder Johnson

Old fella, Big fella, and the Young fella's

This week I had the opportunity to drive up to Cape Breton to Go on an exchange with some missionaries way up there! We were able to help one of the members move out an older woman who is moving into a nursing home. We showed up, and due to the woman's recent poor health we put on face masks and Latex Gloves in prep to enter her home. Once we entered, we found it wasn't as bad as the member had supposed it might be, and got to the work. The Member, Bro Demeer, Brought one of his Workers. "Big Fella" A big ole first nationer (for you americans that means indian in Canada). Well, big fella grabbed a deep freeze and started dragging it straight out of the house, he was banging it side to side to move it little by little forward, and It was one of the most violent moves I've ever been a part of. "hey young fella" he said, gesturing to me. "grab the other side of this and help me out" so I did, and he had me walk and wiggle it out with him. Well, my hand and fingers were destroyed by that 😊 as they hit the walls, and the ground. But we got it out! with less damage done to the apartment than I had originally thought might occur. We continued to move out this old womans stuff, and time and time again Bro demeer ("old Fella") would look to Big fella, to get this stuff out of the house. There were a couple of specialty items, such as a $10,000 bed, and $5,000 chair. both with hydraulics and stuff. This big old native guy would just rip it right out of the house! I'm sorry, this email isn't very spiritual. but It was the event of the week! the most violent move I've ever been a part of (with perhaps the most expensive items). As a thank you for the help, Old fella gave Elder cox an I some moose steaks On a more spiritual note, yesterday the lords promises were fulfilled, as I taught our investigator Carmen about Jesus Christ. He has some strange beliefs, as he self-taught himself religion from the bible from an early age. But as we were reviewing who our savior Jesus Christ is we dove into really what he is saving us from. The lord Unloosed my mouth as we were able to review Alma 7:10-13, and we helped Carmen understand very plainly that Jesus Christ saved us from Eternal Physical Death, and from Eternal Spiritual Death as well. We helped him understand how Jesus did this through his atonement, the suffering in the garden of Gethsemane, as well as his death and resurrection. I am grateful for our savior Jesus Christ, and I know through his grace we can overcome sin as we act in faith. I know simply because I've experienced the change of heart that comes as we exercise Faith unto repentance in Christ. I love Ya'll lots! Elder Johnson​

Light The World

Alright, alright, alright! So, Christmas is rolling in for all of you americans now (its' been rolling in since the beginning of november for us here, since thanksgiving is in October here) but I am so excited! I love Christmas, I love serving others, and I love Jesus! So as a missionary I've been working hard to help roll out the "Light the World" Challenge issued by the Church. Its simply serve others in 25 ways for the 25 days leading up to christmas. I'm stoked for it! Many people we talk to in an average day, are quick to say "I've got my religion! have a nice day..*SLAM*(door now in my face)" but now it has been going "I have my relgion!" but before they slam to door "Oh, yes? you Love jesus? I love Jesus! Here's a challenge Jesus issued to us..." Mat 5- Ye are the light of the world, a city that is set on the hill cannot be hid neither do man light a candle, and put it under a bushel, but on a candelstick! that it giveth light unto all that are in the house "So here we see that Jesus Challenged us to be lights to the world. We are inviting you to take that challenge! and be a light to the world!" "oh how wonderful" they say, "how can I do that?" "Well, we are inviting people to serve 25 ways in the 25 days leading up to Christmas. What better gift could we give to Jesus?" And so many people have been accepting the challenge up here in Nova Scotia! It's too legit to quit my friends. I want to throw down the same challenge to all of you! Will you follow the example of Jesus christ, and serve your fellow men this christmas season? Love Elder Johnson

The Power of Faith and the Book of Mormon

Hello! I'm not sure when the last weekly email i sent out was. Maybe last week, maybe a couple of weeks ago. Either way, To update Ya'll, I'm here in New Glasgow Nova Scotia Now! My companion is Elder Cox, and he's just a fun guy with a lot of heart. We walk and drive through the streets of new Glasgow singing constantly! The wise Elder Cox said "It's not a joyful heart that leads to singing, but singing that leads to a Joyful heart!" So we sing a lot, people look at us funny but its' awesome. I've been able to do this a lot of my mission as I followed the example of my uncle Kyle in some mission stories he's sent me, and its' so true! singing leads to happiness. (We'll have to send our mixtape out sometime) The past two weeks have been awesome! God has been rewarding our acts of faith, and we have been able to pick up four new investigators! and we hope to pick up their familiies soon as well. One of them is a man named Glen. He is a recovering drug addict, and was raised without the idea of God in his life. He's recently been attending the Christian Fellowship church! So he's working to draw closer to Christ. We were able to meet him and share with him the message of the Restoration of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. He told us that he's a very logical and well thought man, and after we explained the apostasy and first vision, we shared that the "Straight" and "Narrow" way that Jesus Christ taught in the new testament has been restored through the prophet Joseph Smith. I asked him "how can you know glen, if what we are sharing with you is really from god, and not just another false pathway?" "Well," He said. "I just believe it, I struggle with just believing things, but for some reason it just makes sense" and in my head I was just like "Thank you so much Heavenly father!" Because god is awesome, and it's the spirit that confirms truth to people's hearts. That is why it's so important to seek out the spirit in our search of truth. I can help confirm truth to us 😁 Elder Johnson

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.😁