Bienvenidos a la mejor oficina del MUNDO!‏

Family and Friends!

  

So tranfers passed! I got a call from President Heyman to let me know that I will be the financial secretary for the mission! The financial secretaries stay in the office for a long time-- usually 9 months or so. Therefore, I am guessing I will gain back at least a little of the 25 pounds I have lost since I left the MTC. It is so different to be here, but I love the work just the same!

  

This past week has been such a mind spinner. I was praying so hard to know who should be the hermanamiento of Eugenio, our iluminado. When we got to his house, Hermano Ferrau, who had been an active member for 20 years, but hasn´t been to church for three years passed by and began chatting with us. We got him to pass with us, and he basically taught the whole Book of Mormon for us. Our role in that lesson was just to testify; Hermano Ferrau was so excited and was teaching with his whole heart. Prayer Answered. The Lord is the head of this work.

Financial secretary is a LITTLE bit different than working in Mercedes. I miss Elder Santana—I just love my companions too much I suppose. I just felt like Mercedes was the best area in the world; despite all of the things I had heard from other missionaries. Nevertheless, I am so excited to start my work handling the sacred funds of the mission. My responsibilities put me a in a somewhat nervous state, for it is the Lord´s money that I will be handling. Preach my Gospel promises us that the spirit will help us in every phase of missionary work; therefore, I know that I will need help of the spirit in this phase Sí o Sí!

  

The Elders in the office are just immaculate! I look up to them so much and I feel like I have already learned so much in the couple of days I have been here. Elder Howlett is a great teacher, and it is a blast to learn the ropes from him on a daily basis. The assistants are so fun, and just so willing to help with any given issue that I might face. Last but not least, let´s be honest: the house that we live in, and PAZOOKIES and CAKE from Sister Heyman are more than my dreams could dream!

  

I am learning an incredible amount from Moroni in the war chapters of the Book of Mormon. There is no way that book could ever be false. I have seen miracles happen in my life because of the teachings in that book. I know it is true. I love that Moroni, although he is so young, has true love for his people! He follows the spirit in the way he leads his band of warriors, and leads them in the way Christ would.

  

I love you all! Thanks so much for everything!

 Elder Johnson

                                          Goodbyes with Elder Santana and the Montiel Family

Elder Johnson

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Co siervos en la obra!‏ week 18

HOLAS!!!

I need help making my mission goals. I have the rough draft written out and everything, but spiritual goals are a lot different than athletic goals, music goals, school goals, etc. I cant play scales to improve my tone quality of my testimony, neither can I work on my under water off the wall to shave time off of the way I listen to the spirit. Do I make sense? I know there are steps: develop faith in Christ and attributes of him, study the scriptures, etc. But spiritual goals are difficult for me to MEASURE. It would please me so much if I could receive some help with this topic. 

We found a family that came to church and are just so excited to learn about the gospel! The mother is in her late 70s, and it put her sick to sit in the church for three hours straight. I feel so bad, because she could not move or eat the rest of  the day. But she loved the church so much that she had no desire to leave while she was in the church!

We also found a new investigator named Lorena, and we taught her how to pray after teaching her about the restauration. What a neat experience it was to share that moment with her. After she was done praying, she told us that before she was filled with temor, but she told us that the temor left once she started talking with God, and that after, she was filled with peace. Isnt that so true? God has promised us his peace if we just pray to him and utilize the loving atonement of Jesus Christ. 

Also, the A___ family. We thought we were going to have to quit passing by their house. The last two times we passed by they were beyond drunk, and just kept complimenting us on how handsome we are and that they want to keep drinking. It broke my heart. We prayed so hard for them, and decided that we should pass once more time. They are excited to change! J___ is smoking a cigar a day, and they don'thave any more wine in their house! The restored gospel of Jesus Christ is a gospel of CHANGE.

I love the mission. I am so grateful to have the opportunity to be a servant in the work of the Lord!

Elder Johnson

have any more wine in their house! The restored gospel of Jesus Christ is a gospel of CHANGE. 

I love the mission. I am so grateful to have the opportunity to be a servant in the work of the Lord!

Elder Johnson

trabajando, Trabajando, y TRABAJANDO!‏ week 17

FAMILIA!!!!!

Gordon B. Hinckley was so right when he said that the greatest antidote for discouragement is work. The Lord is the head of this work. Once we forget ourselves and remember this, that is when the miracles arrive, and the discouragement flees. There really is no substitute for hard, smart, spirit guided work.

Hermano Omar, one of the members in the branch noted something incredible in his lesson yesterday in church. He pointed out the difference between happiness and joy. Sure, when discussions, and baptismal services fall through, when we have to stop visiting investigators because they have yet to been prepared by the Lord to receive the Gospel, or they just do not have the desire to listen anymore, this has no way of sparking happiness in me. However, when I reflect during my morning and nightly prayers and in my journal writing, I have the most joy right now than I have ever had in my life. I am still working on my mission goals. One thing I definitely want to overcome during this time is my indecisiveness... I just have a hard time deciding everything!

The work is incredible. The spirit is real and I have seen our daily prayers to God, where we ask for the spirit to guide us, aswered on a regular basis. I have been studying so much on revelation and the Holy Ghost this week. I want to be able to help myself and my investigators to recognize their answers to their prayers so that they can take the counsel of God, follow it, so that they may finally follow their Savior Jesus Christ and start a new life through baptism. It is crucial that we are LISTENING to the spirit. I am learning this a little more every single day.

I love you all so much! Best wishes from Mercedes, Corrientes, ARGENTINA!!!!

Elder Johnson

OREOS (they taste so much different)

preaching the gospel to EVERY creature

• toad in the apartment‏

hahahhaah i scared Elder Santana SO BAD with this little guy!

Mejor Semana en el Mundo! week 16

Familia and Friends!

This last week has been fantastic and filled with miracles as always.

We had a lot of success, and a lot of ´´downfalls´´. O_____ and H___´s

baptism fell through Saturday morning because their parents got into a

fight and somehow that led to the Mom wanting nothing to do with the church.

That was devistating. Not in a sense so much that I was devistated for myself,

but I just was put sad for Osvaldo. He was so excited to be baptized that morning

when we were walking together, and his excitement shattered when he received

the news. We are working so hard to give him excitement so that he doesn´t get

discouraged. That is what Satan really wants in this situation. The same day, we had

9 investigators tell us that they didn´t want to follow learning about the gospel. It is

hard not to be sad when people reject the message, ESPECIALLY after they have

listened and begun progressing and have come closer to their Savior Jesus Christ. We

passed by the church to take a quick water break, and I felt such a strong impression to

pray. Knowing that we would be praying in a couple hours because of nightly planning, I

pushed it off. I kept feeling that we should pray, so I kneeled and invited Elder Santana

to pray with me. We prayed, and asked for hardly anything. We just gave thanks mostly.

I felt a strength pushing me as we finished out the night. I know that the spirit was

testifying to us that we have done a great work.

We had two torments this week. So strong that the Zone Leaders, who live an hour away,

us, and the other Elders in the district who live an hour and a half the other direction didn´t

have power all night. I felt that we should visit an investigator that we have been having

troubles finding, who lives 45 minutes from the pension. Half way through the lesson, the

wind picked up and the power went out. We ran home, and about half an hour away, it

started to hail. We were right by the ice cream store (how convenient, right?) so we took

coverage. It got worse. We ended up running home with a kilo of icecream, only seeing by

the light of the lightning. In certain parts of the road, the water was almost up to my knees!

The moral of the story-- sometimes when you have torments, all God is trying to show you
is that you should go by two pounds of icecream for 4 bucks!

I am gaining a stronger and stronger testimony of the importance and divinity of this work.

I am seeing more and more that the Lord is the head of it and the work is hastening! The next

day, we had to drop 6 more investigators because they really just weren´t progressing and we

felt that they weren´t prepared for the gospel. We put our noses to the grindstone and the Lord

showed us the way. We found 8 amazing people who are all excited about the gospel! The Lord

is the head of this work!

Elder Johnson

pics: Post torment and our favorite supermarket!

     

Soy Llamado al Servicio!‏ week 15

This week was fantastic! It was harder than usual, especially with having

a little bit of illness. I read the parts about Alma and the sons of Mosiah,

and how they went through everything up until being bound in prison

probably five times this week-- that humbled me a little bit to not complain

or feel sorry for myself with a little Argentine bug. Now that Hermana

Heyman has me all drugged up, I am slowly but surely improving little by little.

This week I focused every day on studying an attribute of Christ during my

personal studies. This helped so much during the past week, especially with

our struggles with getting investigators to church and struggling with sickness.

The capacitation for new missionaries helped me remember that I have incredible

authority as a representative of Christ in this work, and that really, this is the work

of the Lord. It is so incredible how a little bit of faith and a lot of work can bring about

miracles. The field is white right now. Not later, not in a few years, or when it is a little

cooler and less humid outside. Not once I feel better and have more strength brought

 back to my body. It is so important to remember that the Lord is the head of this work,

the head of this harvest, and the head of his restored church in this Earth.

This transfer I am really trying to set my mission goals. I love setting goals-- they drive me

to work harder and get things done. On the same note, setting spiritually centered goals is

tough for me-- they are a little complicated to measure the progress. Does that make sense?

If I could get a little help with this, that would be incredibly appreciated.