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