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