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​