This year has gone by way too fast!

 It was such a great Christmas! Christmas eve we took people plates of random desserts. We stopped by to give one to the Tucker family. she opened the door and had us come right in and took our jackets and just went in the kitchen and started making us food! hahaha the Lockhart family had us over for Christmas breakfast and skype! they are a great family, made us feel right at home! we were well taken care of.  Talking with the family was the best Christmas present ever!! its funny how much my siblings have changed, especially Cadence! my parents didnt change much, looking 10 years younger than they are as usual haha. 

     We stopped by to see Darce hayes again, and my favorite part of that visit was her telling us how church should be. We need to be making joyful noises and yelling "Praise Jesus!!" and clapping our hands! haha. Shes awesome. 

      Tim came to church yesterday!!!!! i wondered how he would react to the service because its really different to what hes used to. i said a prayer in hopes that he'd enjoy it. before and after the 3rd hour he was going on about how comfortable, calm and welcomed he felt! he said he felt warm and like he was meant to be there. After he said that 6-7 people told him they were glad to see him and to come back haha. i explained that he was feeling the spirit and he smiled and agreed and said he wants to bring his family. As we (a member drove him with us ) were taking him home he started asking about baptism and how it works! How cool is that!? 

    New years comin up, and so is my hump day! (year mark). this year has gone by way to fast! Ive grown soo much this year. ive learned a lot about myself and even more importantly about my Savior Jesus Christ. I love yall!! have a happy new year! 

                              Love, Elder Johnson 

MeRrY ChRiStMaS!

MERRY CHRISTMAS !!!! 

man, what a time of year! Everyone is so happy and excited and nice! it should be like this all year round! its so great being a missionary and talk about the true meaning of Christmas with people! especially being able to represent Him who the Christmas season is all about! Using the #HeTheGift pass along card has been soo helpful, AND successful! 

Well things have been going good with Jodie and Logan. She is really working to be baptized and i know it is gunna happen. Satan is working hard but he wont win! 

We had a GREAT lesson with Timothy! we brought Bro Wilkins with us and they were able to connect so well! Bro Wilkns used to be baptist and have the same concerns that tim has, before he got baptized! tims wife sat in with us, which she didnt do before! theyre both excited to come to church. Tim was saying that "something" inside him is telling him that this is the right path for him! Ahh, gotta love the when the spirit works with people like that. 

had my first district meeting as a district leader on Wednesday! i think it went well! there is a senior couple in the district, theyre awesome! the whole district is great! its not as scary as i made my self think it was. i love being able to serve others and learn more about myself and how to be a better Preach My Gospel missionary. 

The branch president has this huge mansion that they made a bed and breakfast. they had a high priest party there on this past week, it was a lot of fun! i was scared that i was gunna mess up or break something haha. We  went over again this weekend to help them rake up leaves. there were soooo ,many, but we had a good time! 

have a merry Christmas! I appreciate the packages, letters and emails! love yall so much!! 

Elder Johnson 

Get to wear his name over my heart

What a week of AMAZING miracles! We have been having some really awesome things happen here in Covington. Its a great place filled with even greater people. The main highlight of this week was with Jodie and Logan. She has been working really hard to quit smoking so she can be baptized, and this past weekend she and Logan had some powerful experiences.

We had the stop smoking workshop lesson with her and brother Kevin Milburn. Kevin has recently (6 months ago) come home from a mission. We set her on date for January 31. she was hesitant so we asked her to pray about it and let us know the next morning how she felt. She called us in the morning and told us that she had a dream and was told by her father (who has passed on) that she needed to be baptized!! Were so pumped! At church she was having some pain and craving and asked for a blessing. After the blessing she looked at us and was like " what vudo did you do to me?!" she was joking hahaha, but she got a teary eyed and said i feel tingly inside, a good feeling. We explained that it was the Spirit. It was amazing. AND  Logan who dosent ever wanna pray because he is shy, asked to say the closing prayer in class at church!!! it was such a pure prayer. 

    We went over last night cuz she wanted us to take the rest of the cigs that she had and all her coffee and stuff to make it. So we crushed everything and tossed it! #NoRegrets. She also told us that she has no desire to smoke anymore, cleaned her house and Logan is nagging her about not smoking s we're excited! She wants to be baptized on Jan. 1 now! its possible if she quits!   

    In other exciting news, i got to meet Darce Hayes, one of our Sassy, soul filled gators. She loves Jesus and loves to let us know! hahaha i love her, shes probably 75, black. We gave her a large print Book of Mormon so she can read it. 

    Its weird being away from home and not doing all the Christmas traditions with the family and friends, but i love it here. Its special to be able to represent Christ, who the season is all about. Get to wear his name over my heart. I cant wait to skype the family! I hope all yall with missionaries out have a most wonderful Christmas and enjoy talking with them. Love yall so much and truly appreciate all yall do. Have a great week!! 

   Elder Johnson 

Where have you guys been!?

Fresh new start here in Covington with Elder Anderton. the change was hard, a lot of very hard goodbyes BUT i know that the Lord has a plan in store for me here. We live in an older 2 story home. small but i like it a lot. The first members from the branch that i met were the tuckers. They asked us to help them clean  the church, in turn they would take us out to dinner! so what Elder would say no to that?! they are great people! really funny to. They also had us over for the First Presidency devotional. That was very powerful, the spirit was very strong. 

The covington area has soo much potential and such great things are happening here! We already found 4 new investigators and 2 families who said we could come back! Rob and Kim were moving and previous missionaries had helped them. We stopped by to see how they settled in. we got to talking and they are interested in learning! we never know the ripple effect that we have! simple service could go a long way! The other night we were pondering on who needed a visit from us. Looked in the area book and found a Regina and Justin close by. They opened the door and she was like "Where have you guys been!? " invited us in! we watched the Hes the Gift video and they love it! it touched my heart to see the young family gathered around watching it and could see that they felt " something". 

We have a gator who is solid! Jody and her son Logan, who is 11. They are ready for baptism but Jody is trying to quit smoking and is close! the branch is helping her out. Shes such a great lady, had been through a lot but dosent let it get her down. Shes also a fireball! she wont take no crap, to put it bluntly haha. Theyve been comin to church, and know the church is true! sometimes agency just sucks! i just want people to realize how much this can bless their lives! but satan comes along and ruins it -_- BUT we know what the winning team is so what jersey are you wearing? 

I cant wait for Christmas! itll be hard to be away from family and friends but 2 years away from my family, so others can have theirs for eternity; makes it worth it. i love being a missionary so much. Please, if you  havent watched Hes The Girft, watch it! dont be fraid to share the gospel.  Thanks for all the support and prayers! they mean the world to me. love yall! 

Elder Johnson

A week full of miracles and grey hairs

HEY! 

what a week full of miracles and grey hairs! We had a ward turkey bowl, which turned into a mud bowl haha. it was so much fun! Elder Brenchley and i had practiced well and it showed. we each scored a couple touchdowns. Sister Heller and Young were our cheer leaders. So on the way to zone meeting i get a call from the assistance. it was my MTC companion Elder Zazueta!! him and his companion were staying with the assistants so he was able to call me! it was soo awesome to be able to talk to him and catch up! Thanksgiving was amazing! We had it at the youngs house with the Hellers. We had a delicious feast of goodness. It felt like being at home, i love those families so much. it will be hard to leave them and this area! 

So we found our former investigator Civi and her less active mom Kay! they had moved unexpectedly its crazy how we found them we were walking in a parking lot and we saw her X boyfriend who just got out of jail! so we started talking to him and he told us where she moved! so we stopped by and they were excited to see us! Our bishop and his wife happened to be in our area and said they could go with us to a lesson so we took them to see Civi and her mom! it was amazing how it all worked out. That was all the Lord. We also met with our investigator Sister Cline. We took bro Brooks, the ward mission leader. She has really been struggling with thinking about baptism. she even told us before that she would never join the church but we didn't give up on her.  This week, randomly in the lesson she asked " Yall want to be baptized dont you? " We told her that its the Lord is the one who wants it for you, aswell as us cuz we know the happiness itll bring her. she said "we'll after the holidays id like to be baptized"  #PlotChange!!! it was so amazing to see how the spirit works with people! 

got a really thoughtful, awesome package from the YW in the pleasent view ward! shout out to the best YW in the land! made my day! 

If yall havent heard of Hes The Gift, go check it out on Christmas.mormon.org! its such a powerful video! its only 2 min. Share it with EVERYONE! on Dec 7 there will be a YouTube take over where this video will be the ONLY advertisement on YouTube that day! Anywho, hope yall  have a great week! Ill be transfered to Covington Virginia.I was asked by president Salisbury to be the district leader there so please keep me ion your prayers haha,

Love yall! 

Elder Johnson

Thanksgiving 2014 Turkey Bowl  2014 A "feast of goodness" at the Hellers

Do something fun and enjoy life!

What a wonderful week it has been! We've been working on finding more investigators and we found some really awesome people!  We had a cool experience meeting a man name Dave Cook. We knocked on his door and he asked if we were preachers or Jehovah Witnesses. we explained who we are and talked a little about families. He said he wasn't interested and started closing the door but paused and said would you like a drink? we said yes cause we knew that would most likely get us in the door and allow us more time to talk. So he let us in and told us to have a seat! turned out he's good friends with a Less Active member who has been wanting to come back to church! so we have plans to take them over and have a lesson with him! what a blessing!  We were also able to meet with Doyle and Shirley. . We watched the Joseph Smith movie with them and they really felt the spirit, they even told us they did. It was a powerful lesson. We also we blessed to finally get a hold of Melissa and Emily! they both are praying to know if baptism is for them.    

    The beginning of the week was freezing! our car was frozen shut haha. We also found this lake that was frozen over! i had never walked on a frozen body of water so, why not!? it was cool! The wind the past 2 days have been 55 mph! i love the wind so its been fun!

Elder Baxter of the 70 came and spoke at our stake conference! We got to ride up with the Young's, man was that a blast! Elder Baxter is such a powerful speaker. one thing that was really powerful was what he said about temples. Every cornerstone that's placed weakens satans power. something else that he said, which made me wanna do temple work so bad was thinking of the people we're doing the work for. picturing them rejoicing when we go to the temple exclaiming "todays my day!" It really

brought the spirit putting it in that perspective.

Well I love yall and hope this week is a good one! Do something fun and enjoy life!

Elder Johnson

Beautiful West Virginia Fall

Walking on a frozen pond

You've been notified!

this week was awesome! 

The other night we tried this new BBQ joint in town called Dickeys. Man was it good!! the waitress and cashier lady REALLY wanted me to get some pie, it was very tempting. what tipped the scale was that they offered me a piece of cheese cake for free if i get a piece of pie! anyone who knows me knows that sweets are my weakness so i gave in! haha it was worth it cuz we invited them to learn about the church! 

We had some really great experiences this week, especially with member coming out with us! We have been trying to figure out how we could help "sister" Cline understand the gospel and what would be beneficial for her to have a spiritual experience. The members who we took over were the people who were meant to be there and share their testimony. Members have such an impact on investigators. Missionaries get transferred all the time, members are long term and establish that immediate support system that is soo crucial for an investigator. Sister Clines progression really has gone way faster with the member support! 

The Spirit is so great!  I had a lot of times where i felt the Holy Ghost speak through me in lessons. We gotta just open our mouths and talk to people and the Spirit WILL give you the words to say. thats a  promise from the Lord to missionaries AND members!! how awesome is that! If you have someone thats been on your mind, that youve wanted to share the gospel with, pray about it and go for it! 

We have been having a god time "notifying" members in the ward. Its where we take a bunch of sticky notes and write a bunch of nice things, post them, ring the door and knock, then RUN! its so much fun! i love seeing peoples reactions to it, especially less actives :) 

These past 9 1/2 months have just flown by! im excited to keep serving! i love this work so much! take care and happy early thanksgiving! 

Love Elder Johnson

Knocking on the door like you're the cops

what a week! We had some interesting things happen! 

We went to see one of our investigators, "Ms.W". shes this energetic, spicy African American women. Elder Brenchley knocked on her door with his loud knock but she didnt answer so we were walking back to our car when we heard " and WHERE do you boys think your going? knocking on my door like your the cops then take off! get over here!" hahahahaha it was hilarious; thats Ms W for ya. We had a great lesson with her, helping her figure out her purpose here on earth through the plan of salvation lesson. 

We were stopping by to see our investigator Loukas, they needed to reschedule. as we were leaving we heard someone from down the street yell "Elders!!!"  It was Sister Young, so we drove over and she invited us over to dinner that night! She had already feed us once! I love the young family so much. they make me feel so loved and support us a lot. We had dinner with the Heller family, who i also love a lot. Sister young and her son Ryan came over when were finishing up and sharing a spiritual thought. before we left sister Heller wanted to sing a few hyms with us. It brought the spirit very strongly. 

Tom Wood and Charla Cline came to church this sunday! President and sister Salisbury came to our ward Sunday also!! The talks were great, classes went well! Was a great day!! President interviewed us during sunday school. we walked around the building a few times as we talked. i love the Salisburys so very much. During priesthood Tom spoke up and complimented Elder Brenchley and i very kindly and said we were "his missionaries"; "his guys". its really awesome and makes a missionary feel really good to have their investigator call them their missionary. ahh being a missionary is the best!! i love serving other people and sharing the sacred restored truths with them. honk and wave at the next missionaries you see while driving! maybe even stop and say hi. love yall so much!

Love, Elder Johnson

This Sunday was the best Sunday I've ever had on my mission!

Well this week it got a lot colder! I dont think 8 months here has gotten me used to the weather haha. 

Where do i start? Well we got a referral from some other missionaries off mormon.org. they wanted us to go see this man, Tom Wood. He used to meet with them but he moved. So we looked and looked for this guy but couldnt find him, We asked some people in the area where he should be and they directed us to him! He said he was really glad we found him and was calling the church building and looking in book stores to get a Book of Mormon. Im glad we found him. 

   We met with David Lilly this week. Hes been investigating for a while now and has been hesitant about baptism. We didnt wanna push him, and i didnt want to stop teaching him cuz i see so much potential in him. This week when we met with him it was gunna be a make or break lesson to see if he really was interested in still meeting. We talked about baptism and the proper authority. He understood and asked if he could be baptized!!!!! so hes now on date which i didnt think would happen anytime soon. It was a testimony builder for sure! 

   This sunday was the best sunday ive ever had on my mission!! We had 4 at church! Charla Cline came!! she brought her friend kevin, who we've never met before. it was testimony meeting so the spirit was really strong. they both said they wanna come back next week! and Kevin wants us to come over and teach him!! We also had the 10 yr old twins at church!!!! Mackenzie and Lindsey!! They really enjoyed it. They fit right in in primary and had a great time! Sister Heller invited us, them and Sister Blackburn (theyre grandma) over for dinner! So after church we went over and had a great meal then a family home evening. that really brought the spirit for when we watched the Joseph Smith movie. I love that movie so much. It is really powerful. The twins liked it and after the movie, Elder Brenchley and i bore our testimonies and invited them to be baptized and they said yes! It was really great and the Hellers connected really well with them. 

    What an amazing time to be a missionary! The work is moving right along! Especially in this area! Im so grateful that i chose to be a missionary and serve my Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ.If you havent had the chance to see meet the mormons then go see it! im so excited that its playing in Bella Terra!! I hope all yalls week is great. Love you and am grateful for the prayers and support! I can feel it. Love you

Love Elder Johnson

A Miracle in the rain

Conference was inspiring, uplifting and just all around wonderful. From the angelic music of the Mormon Tabernacle Choir, to the talks inspired from men called of God. If you didnt watch it, you have time to repent! Its on LDS.ORG !! check it out haha. 

   Well this past week was great! We were walking to go see one of our potential investigators and this women said hi to us from her porch, so we stopped and talked with her. She ended up letting us in and said she used to meet with missionaries before and in VERY interested in family history!! So we have a return appointment with her and a couple in our ward who are very good with family history, tomorrow! It was a blessing to meet her.We also got to preview the Meet the Mormons movie! It was such a powerful film!!! I love it so much!!! Yall gotta go on MeettheMormons.com and fill out the stuff to have it played near you!!! It has such a great message and shows that us Latter Day Saints arent extra terrestrial crazys! haha 

It has been getting a lot colder around here! The other morning it was hailing!!!! time to get out what i call my sleeping bag jacket. haha. Last night it was pouring rain! Our appointment for the night cancelled so we went over to Kroger and helped people out to their cars and load their groceries in the car without getting wet. It was a great way to meet people and see if they want to learn! There was this one lady who asked for some "literature" so we gave her a Book of Mormon and she gave us her address without us asking and told us to stop by! miracle! 

  Yesterday as we were getting our food for the week at wal-mart we ran into a lady from our ward, Sister Heller. she talked with us for a little while then she said, " finish up your shopping and ill buy your stuff"! she said when they lived in California, they would run into the Elders and buy their groceries for them! it was really kind of her! 

  Well thanks for all the prayers and love. it means a lot! Dont forget to spread the word about Meet The Mormons! its a powerful missionary tool. Love yall! 

Elder Johnson 

Wild wonderful West Virginia!

Wild wonderful West Virginia! home of the mountaineers! Theres no place like it. Maybe thats why my cool cousin Ethan is on a team named after this place! 

well today, 8 months ago i embarked on this mission! its gone by really fast! We had a wild and wonderful week this week. Met a lot of really nice, and some not so receptive people. There was a man that talked to us at the beginning of this week. He went off talking about our sacred doctrine and mocking it. he didnt give us a chance to talk so we walked away when he was done. the spirit was gone and i felt really angry, and confused at how someone could be so inconsiderate. As i thought about it and prayed, i was able to feel calm. it really strengthened my testimony. i know that what we believe is true and no angry old man, nobody can take away that i know this gospel is true. 

  We went to this buffet called Ryans. Its an awesome place! as we were eating a manager guy comes up to us and starts asking where we're from. at first i was thinking we were getting in trouble. but he started talking with mormon lingo so we understood. He ended up giving us each 2 free meal passes!! so we can go back and eat 2 times for free!!!!! pretty cool. Something else cool that happened, that my Father will probably will be proud/happy about; we were tracting a street and there were these teenagers playing basketball. Elder Brenchley made a deal with them. If we beat them then they had to go on mormon.org. We ended up beating them (i scoring the winning basket ) It was really fun to be able to play some basketball and share the gospel while doing it. 

  Saturday, Shady Spring High had their homecoming parade. We went to that and sat with the Mcgradys. It was a lot of fun sitting with Sister Mcgrady and her daughter cuz everyone knows them and they made it a lot of fun cheering and such. All the float were throwing out candy! it was great! talked to some people and even got someones number so we could meet with them. We met up with the Young family after. They are such an awesome family! Love them so much. They take really good care of me and my companion. We consider Sister Young our mission mom haha. Yesterday was a big faith builder, not only cuz of church but of an experience we had. We got a call from the  other Elders saying that Steven Snuffer ( a man in our ward and our area) was found unconscious in his home and is now in the hospital. We figured something was wrong when he didnt answer our phone calls the other day. He always answers. We found out he had fallen at 5 am Saturday morning and couldnt get to the phone. he might have had another stroke. he wasent sound until after  church at 2pm the next day. his dog laid on him all night to keep him warm and alerted the people that went to go see him. We saw him with the hellers (his home teacher) to give him a blessing. When we walked in his hospital room he asked if we were there to play pool. We got over to his house and play pool with him sometimes, its awesome. we said we were there to give a blessing and he was very thankful. It was hard to understand him but the spirit was defiantly there. Elder Brenchley annointed the oil, it was his first time. it was a powerful experience. Im grateful for the power of the priesthood and know its real. Thanks for the support! Love yall very much.until next week  

Elder Johnson 

Never regret or forget

Ahh, what a great time to be a missionary! I love it!

Boy was this week a winner! We had an excellent week! We were able to teach a lot of people and find more to teach! thats key; to find more people to teach even when your teaching a lot.  we had a lot of fun doing some service for a lady in our ward. her patio roof was rotten and caving in so we tore it down last week. this weekend we build up a new one. We had a good time doing that. She was very grateful. 

we had a very uplifting and inspiring meeting with President Salisbury  this last thursday. The theme was "ponder the possibilities". Something that i really enjoyed was he pointed out that EVERY decision and action either brings us closer to Christ or dosent. And how we should ponder the possibilities with every decision. This weekend we also had darrel and Jennifer come to church!!!!!!!!!!!!!! It was such a miracle and blessing!! Jennifer is on date to be baptized on oct. 11!! Im confident shell make it! They stayed for the 3 hour block and said they had a great time! Sister Sandy Mcrady really took Jennifer under her wing and helped her feel very welcome in relief society! It was great. 

We were walking a lot this week cause we are low on miles. As we were walking, a lot of people honked and waved at us. Its always nice to have people support us in that little way. As we were walking a less active lady in our ward pulled over and was talking to us. She invited us to join their family at dinner at this good Mexican restaurant! it was awesome! it was karaoke night at the bar upstairs so we got a good laugh out of that. Last night for dinner we had Venice! (Deer). The Heller family gave us some, we cooked it up and it wasent bad! 

If you havent heard about the Meet The Mormons movie, look it up on  MeetTheMormons.com! It should be a really good one! It will get a lot of people asking questions and see that we as mormons are normal people. It should be coming to theaters if it gets enough popularity so spread the word! 

Love yall! I love being a missionary. If you are questioning going on a mission, stop, and just go. its something youll never regret or forget.

Love Elder Johnson

We have what they're looking for

got my new missionary!! his name is Elder Brenchley! hes a fireball, ready to work! had a great first few days with him. We had, yet again, people come to us and ask us what we're all about. its really cool because you can tell these people have a sincere desire, looking for truth. And we have what they are looking for! Well i took Elder Brenchley tracting and the coolest thing happened! the very first door we knock on is this women who asked who were were, told her and she let us right in! She was really nice and kept telling us that we were godly men and that women like that. She said "next time yall come over, we will eat, praise Jesus and glory in His word. We will sup together!" hahahah she was a great. she wants to come to church! her name is Ms. W Johnson.

  We were able to go out to the Shresberys home and the Johnsons home for dinner this weekend!! they live about an hour out from our house so we havent been able to get out. We went to the Shrewsberys for a cook out for their sons birthday. That was a lot of fun! got to talk to some non-members! Dinner at sister Johnsons home was so much fun! sister Mcgrady (Sister Johnsons sister) drove us out with Ryan young. Sister young and Allison came along to. We were all laughing, and having a good time! "supping together" as Ms W would say hahaha. The members are so good to us. I enjoy the Beckley ward very much. Our investigators are doing well. Jennifer wasent able to make it to church :(   We're going to see them tonight. 

  We have specialized training this week! that should be fun! Go up to Charleston. Its always a nice drive. I sure love this work. Being a missionary is so rewarding. This is Gods work and i have the honor of representing His Son, Jesus Christ. How great is my calling! thanks for the support and prayers, yall are the best and i love you.

Love Elder Johnson

Happy in beautiful West, Virginia

Elder Johnson and his companion 

Elder Johnson and the Elders in his distrct

Behold a Royal Army

The hymns in the hymn book are filled with sooo much that we can learn from!! as a missionary i love "Behold a Royal Army". I like to think of me and my fellow missionaries (shout out to all the Pleasent View missionaries from Huntington Beach) Being the ranks filled with Soldiers. Its so motivating. I love hymns! 

Well the first part of the week we took our car in to get the brakes checked. sears wasent able to find any problems. so the mission office told us to go to the chevy dealership. drove over and waited a good 2 hours. the man checking the car comes and says "your car is unsafe to drive, we'll give ya a rental for the next day or so". so we fill outr some paper work and he walks us out and hands us the keys to a 2014 CHEVY SILVERADO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  4 door full, 10 foot bed!!!1 it was a full sized truck!!! best day ever. drove that around. 

       Well i got a call from the mission President the other day and he asked me if i would train a new missionary! Im  a little nervous cuz this will set the stage for the rest of his mission. I know itll be an adventure, im excited. We were able to se a man that has been less active for 20 years. hes a so son of a member of our ward. Really nice guy. Miracle he even talked to us cuz hes been pretty against the church. He wants us to come back and teach him and his wife! that should be awesome! 

We've been able to see Jennifer and Derrel a lot more! and jennifer quit smoking!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!1 we're so happy! shes so close to baptism!!! i love going to theyre home. they always offer us drinks and are very kind. love them. Yesterday we were handing out the pass along card pictures of Jesus and some guy ran up to us and asked what we were doing. we talked to him and explained what we do as missionaries, We have an appointment with him tonight! he said he'd bring his Girl friend to!! the work is moving right along. I LOVE being a missionary. thanks for the support and love. yall are the best from the west! 

Love Elder Johnson 

Once an Eagle always an Eagle

Im grateful for musinex  and benadrell! this week started off with bad cold. Got over that and went on with life. Lots of way cool stuff happened again this week. We were walking around Beaver lake to find people to talk to and came across some people on the bridge. We stopped and talked with them. It was a young man and his family preparing for his Eagle project! So Elder Mcmullin and i, being eagle scouts offered to help. They were excited and confused at strangers offering but told us to come back at the end of the week to build the mini pier. So we went back and had a great time helping them and answering questions they had about the church. It was awesome being able to help him. It reminded me of my days in scouting with  Elder Baugh,  Elder Burden, Elder McCarthy and Elder Myers. all of us being missionaries now! thats awesome!    We had really good times. 

We were in Sheetz ( a gas station ) and we went inside and this guy comes up to us and talked to us about how hes seen us walking around doing our "pilgrimage". He told us to pick out some things to buy! he bought us stuff to eat cuz he knew we were doing the Lords work! that was pretty awesome!  

Yesterday was an adrenaline kicker! we were driving down the road and Elder Mcmllin notices that the breaks arent working very well. we checked the break fluid and we had plenty. so we switched and i drove to see if i felt it to.As we were driving the breaks would completely go out for a few seconds, then come right back. We decided to drive home and walk so we wouldnt crash. on the way back they went out  completely and a car in front of us stopped and we almost hit it but turned out of the way in time. We're getting them fixed today! 

Had a great lesson with our investigator Buford! He  told us he was 16 he was baptized!!!!  so no longer an investigator hahah. 

Sister charla cline should be coming to church sunday! Shes such a nice lady! we have been talking about the plan of salvation with her cuz of her grandsons passing and it has helped her a lot. David lilly has been doing better. We had a really strong lesson with him. he was crying after cuz the spirit was so strong. 

Thanks for all the support and letters! its really encouraging! Love yall! 

Elder Johnson

e

I've picked my jersey!

this week was awesome!!!! the coolest part is that 3 times during the week people came up to us and asked us if we could teach them!!! President Salisubury said if we're doing what we're supposed to then people will come to us! guess we're going ok then ;) haha. ill tell the story of one of them, Richard Green. We were at lunch as a district in taco bell on friday. We were getting ready to leave and this guy, looks really shy and asks me if we're mormons. he then said hes been looking for a church and was wondering if we could help! so we exchanges info and met with saturday! he agreed with all the points of the restoration and accepted baptism!! hes a really awesome guy and cant wait to watch him come closer to Christ and eternal life! 
Zone meeting this past week was very inspiring! it started at 9am and we got home at 530pm! one of my favorite parts was how president described how we do things as missionaries. if we are just doing an action or accomplishing something. He would walk in place for the action, then walk a few steps for the accomplishment. heres an example that has really helped me. when going to church, are we just attending. just doing the action of attending church? or are we going to church and participating, worshiping, and trying to get something out of what we hear even when we can tell someone hasent prepared? are we accomplishing anything? that was really helpful as i applied that to going to church and all aspects of missionary work. even as non full-time missionaries, we can apply this.
we had a cool ward party this weekend. really fun games and music. had some non members come! it was a great missionary opportunity. nothing like a good ol BBQ. 
 I saw (my trainer)  Elder prince at zone conference!!!!!!!!! it was so awesome to see him!! we were laughing and reminiscing of my greeny days haha. its really weird to think that ive been out 7 months. it has flown by soo fast. It motivates me to work hard cuz i know when i look back i dont want to have any regrets. no wishing i did this or didnt do that. 
check out   meetthemormons.com   its a movie about mormons!! if it gets popluar enough theyll play it in theaters near you! What a wonderful tool we can use to share the gospel. The Lord is hastinging His work. We need to do it His way. I love being able to share the gospel in such an exciting time for missionary work! work with the local missionaries!!! Help them share the gospel. Dont be afraid to share it with friends. dont let them be denied eternal happiness. I love this work with all my heart. Its hard at times but i know this is the winning team. ive picked my jersey. Love yall. Hope all continues to be well! 
Love Elder Johnson

Day of Hope

this week was pretty good. we went to the day of hope in beckley. Its a huge event for poor people. We were put in the prayer tent. They have to go through it to get out haha. So we prayed with people for a while and invited them to learn and a lot of people said we could come over! we werent allowed to wear pros cuz they wanted all the churches to blend in so we all wore blue shirts.We went out to Wyoming county to help a member fix up this old house that had been broken into and the yard hadent been kept for at least 5 years. weeds were as tall, if not taller than me ahah. i used this cool 2 handle, metal weed waker. I got hit in the face and arm with poison ivy!! but somehow i wasent effected!! 

Kay went to church yesturday!!! she hasent been to church sense 2001!! it was a major blessing to have her there, She brough her mother who is less active and 2 of her granddaughters! We sat behind them and they seemed to really enjoy it.  

We taught Darrel and Jennifer the stop smoking workshop. It is a very intense thing to teach. Jennifer had some trouble but she went through with it. i noticed as we were teaching she looked at the ground and said a silent prayer for help so i said one to and she agreed to do the things we asked! spirit was strong! Darrel had a harder time but he agreed to "try"

Elder Johnsons mormon.org profile. Its a great site check it out!

I was born and raised in Huntington Beach, California. I got the best parents in the world, 3 older brothers and a little sister. My family means a lot to me and id do anything for them. I love being outside, being active. I love going to the beach, camping, playing sports, anything where I can be with friends and do something other than sit. I was in marching band, I'm an Eagle Scout and now am serving as a full time missionary in the West Virginia, Charleston mission. Being a missionary is the best decision Ive ever made. It has blessed not only my life but also my family.

Why I am a Mormon

I grew up in the church. I loved going to primary, singing the songs and having a blast. I always had a desire to serve a mission because it seemed like such an adventure. Everyone I knew that went on a mission said how much fun it was and how much they matured and came closer to Christ. As I got closer to the age to serve, I made the necessary preparations to serve. Being on a mission has been the most rewarding experience. I feel like Im growing close to my Savior everyday. More important than that is seeing the change in the people I meet. Seeing the Spirit touch their hearts and them changing their lives for the better is a powerful experience. This gospel blesses lives. Im a Mormon because its Christs church restored back to the earth, and I know that is true.

How I live my faith

Being raised in the church has given me a solid foundation and standards that not all people have while growing up. The world is becoming a scarier place everyday with the adversary attacking us everyday. Having that Christ centered foundation helped me resist temptation and stand up for my beliefs. I love being with my friends. I saw through examples in my life that the friends we choose have a big affect on the things we do and the decisions we make. I decided young that I was going to obey the commandments that Heavenly Father gave us. I try to be an example for good to the people I have in my life. Serving a mission is a way I have been able to strengthen my own faith and to help others strengthen theirs.

I love being a missionary sooo much !

What a crazy week! its been raining a lot this week. In fact its raining still right now, the trees are blowing wild in the wind! Last p day we went to play mini golf! that was fun, almost got a hole in 1 once! Reba and Riley baught us dinner tuesday. They saw us and gave us $20 and said "dont but non of that there kid meal crap. get ya a big meal" hahaha theyre so funny. theyre friend Fred baught us some breakfast the next day after helping him move a pourch! We met with Sister Cline yesturday! shes the sweetest old lady. Her grandson got shot and killed last week. We taught her the plan of salvation and she said it brought her a lot of comfort. We met with Richard and Mary ann! they fed us and had a lot of great questions!!!! theyr just dry mormons ;) We met a lady named Chesney. We knocked on the door and she let us in and told us that she had just prayed for help and then we knocked on her door! super aweosom!! i love being answers to prayers like that. We meetWednesday and she said shes bringing her friend haha. I love being a missionary sooo much. It has blessed my live so much. Ive come to know my Savior so much better! 

Love yall!! 

Elder Johnson

A tornado, a hurricane, and an overturned van, But, we still taught some great people!

This week was a wild one! We set two of our investigators on date!!!!! darrel and jennifer! daddy daughter! We taught the plan of salvation and they really liked that one cuz they lost their mother and one of the brothers. Then we watched prophet of the restoration. The spirit was very strong and after they kept saying that they loved it and jennifer stopped and said. she felt good. So i asked her to be baptized and she said yes and so did darrel! They are excited to be baptized together! 

    We have been getting fed a lot more now! These sisters in relief society were at lunch together last week and were talking about us and figured out that we werent getting fed so they diviyed it up and each picked a day in the week that theyed feed us annually hahah. We went to the Hellers last night and they gave us some deer meat to take home! pretty awesome! We went to brother snuffers house and he always wants to play pool with the missionaries so we played for  little. i won 3 times :) We were at the youngs house and we had dinner and as we were about to leave a typhoon came and it came down so hard that sister young wouldnt let us leave till it passed. So we stayed and watched mormon messages haha. Sister mcgrady called us this morning and toild us to come over for dinner wednesday for duinner cuz shes "worried about us " haha. shes so awesome.  

    Wednesday night we were walking home and we hear screaming and loud sounds, a puase then louder screams and a loud crash sound. So we ran over and saw that a van had flipped over and hit a tree!! we were gunna help but they jumped out and some lady told us we needed to go. Probably wasent safe anyways cuz we were in down town beckley and its a lot like LA... There was a tornado the other day! it touched down in Huntington and heade our way but it barley missed it. The huge dark scray cloud went over though. 

     After emailing we have to take our car in cuz it has a recall.. if it has the defect then we get a rental car! im excited! 

Hope all is well in the OC! i sure miss everyone and appreciate the prayers and support. They can be felt when things get rough. Love yall!!

Elder Johnson

43 YEARS!!!!!!

This week was good. We found more investigators! One lady in our ward has two 9 yer old grandaughters that want to be baptized so we stared teaching them! The grandma is less active so that will be good for her! We also helped teach a cub scout camp how to tie knots! probably 40 kids! it was so much fun! The leaders gave us a camp patch for helping. I got to talk with the parents and teach them about what missionaries do ! One parent invited us over for dinner! 

Brother Mcgrady got baptized on saturday!!!!!!!! hes been investigating for 43 years!!! we ate dinner at their home last night! they are the best! she feeds us so well.  

Short on time today but this was a good week. I can feel the prayers and support from home and greatly appreciate it. Hope everyone is doing well. Take care of the HB missionaries for me!! Love yall!! 

Elder JohnsonMORMON.ORG

I wanna go!

Evidence of the remodel

This week we found sooo many families to teach!!! thyer all so nice and have kids that are baptism age! 

We were walking up one of the West Virginia hills the other day and we talked to this guy who was sitting on his pouch reading. We ITLd him (Invited To Learn) and he said "ill give ya 10 minutes"   I was sop excited! we talked about the Book of Mormon and answered some questions he had about the doctrine and things hes wondered his whole life. He said he really enjoyed the visit and if we ever wanted a drink or a ride down the hill to please knock on the door and ask. It was a cool experiance! 

  I didnt really give a run down on the area. Im in Beaver West Virginia haha. Thats right, Beaver haha. Good little town. Its really green and pretty with lots of nice people. the big news in the town is that the mcdonalds is remodled and opening in a week hahaha. Gotta love dem burgers. anywho, love this work soooo much. Being a missionary is the best thing anyone could do. Grateful for the privilege to be one!   

Love yall!!

Elder Johnson

New River Gorge Beaver West Virgina.  It hardly looks real!

Ahhh so cute

Yikes!

One stop shopping

A beaver dam

Little Beaver State Park

I had to do it

New River Gorge Bridge.  Its the highest bridge of its kind in the world!