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!

Settiling in...Beckly West Virginia

Hills around Beckly West Virginia

Downtown Beckly West Virgina

New companion is Elder Mcmullin from boise Idaho. Hes a nice guy! we've been getting along really well!! President and sister Salisbury are soooo awesome!! The cellulitus is doing a lot better. still looks gross but its not spreading. Sister Palmer (mission nurse here) has been keeping tabs on me.  The Beckley area is no HB... but its what the Lord wants me to serve in. We moved the apartments right after i got there. neighbors were pot heads and the apartment wasent nice, hard to feel the Spirit in so the mission prez told us to move immidiatly. So we moved in with the other Beckley Elders. 4 elders in a house! yes a house! we live in the basement! its really nice. 

Two Trips to the ER and I'm Charleston Bound

this week has been really crazy plus it got even more crazy just todayi went to the ER  twice this week cuz i got cellulitus on my leg pretty bad. i talked to the mission nurse and mission dr. They are both taking really good care of me and making sure im ok. NOO NEED TO WORRY    Ive been taking meds that should get rid of it. It started as poison ivy/oak and just spread really fast. it just itches, other than that im totally fine so please dont be worried or stress. The mission nurse calls me everyday to make sure im good.  more insane news! im leaving Lexington on thursday. President Salisbury called me about 2 hours ago and told me they really needed an Elder in Charleston and prayed and thought a  lot about it and he said that they need me. Not sure why i was picked but him and his wife and daughter are coming to get me on thursday and ill be driving with them the next day or so. Im excited and nervous. ill miss Lexington so much. again please dont freak out, im ok  It would be best to send any mail to the mission office for now   West Virginia Charleston Mission  888 Oakwood Road suite 310 Charleston West Virginia 25314-2071

Pooped on by a parrot but the work is going GREAT!

Well i had a great week!!!!! i had a wonderful birthday!!! see ya teenage years!!  i got 3 packages!!! and letters of celebration! Elder Hollembeak baught me lunch cake! We were able to meet with steve, which was a blessing. At first he tried to get us to leave but his heart was softened and we were able to talk to him and have a great lesson and he asked a whole bunch of questions that hes always had. i went on exchanges with the zone leaders this week. I went with Elder Blakely. Hes sooo awesome, love that Elder so much. We were up in Buena Vista. We were able ti find a family of 4 that was interested in learning!!! and they set up a time for us to come back!! blessings! We went and taught a less active family and they had a perit. It came on my shoulder and sat there the whole lesson hahah, and at the end he pooped on me but it was funny.

    President Salisbury is officially our new president! The Pitts are home now, they will be missed a lot but im excited for the new kids on the block. 

 We met with Rebecca and Salvidor this week! they are doing so great! shes really excited to be baptized and is progressing really well. We talked to Salvidor about baptism and asked him if he wants to be baptized on the same day as her. he said he really loves the church and the bishop and doctrine and everything, hes just waiting to get an answer from prayer if its what he should do. 

    Lee is slowly progressing, hes still nervous about being baptized but we're still working with him. We have been working really hard this week and we saw miracles. being a missionary is the best decision ive made in my life. Being able to see people come closer to Christ and help them feel the Spirit is such a joy. im so grateful for all the people that have prepared me to be who i am and gave me the experiences ive had. Even down to my sunbeam days haha. 

 Well it was such an amazing week and so much has happened. i wish i had time to talk about everything!!! i write in my journal so ill just read that to yall when i get home! 

 I love my companions. Elder Wagstaff is hilarious!! hes always cracking a joke and hes so blunt!! haha hes great. Elder Hollembeak is super funny aswell. Hes very smart and has a good understanding of the gospel. The work here in Lexington is going REALLY well. Thanks for all the prayers and support! And thanks for all the Birthday wishes!!!

   Love Elder Johnson

some sights in Lexington

Lexingtgon 

 

Three's Company

New mission president this week!!! Excited to meet him and his wife! This week i got my reinforcements!! Elder Hollembeak and Elder Wagstaff. They are awesome!!!! Elder Wagstaff is a little sheltered but says the most random funniest things. hes a tiny guy. Elder Hollembeak is a funny guy, determined  about the work. We all work together so wonderfully. we got along from the second we met eachother! Elder Wagstaff has been out 21 months, Elder Hollembeak 6 months. I love how motivated to work they are and the spirit they have. We've been working really hard and seen many miracles, even in the short amount of time together.
     We have been praying to find specific people. For example, we prayed on thursday to find a man that has been searching for a new church and who wonders if God is aware of him; and that Moroni 10:3-5 would touch his heart. Later that day we met that man we prayed for while tracting!!!! It was amazing!! We've also found people who are really willing to learn. It is coming from our obedience. Waking up at 630, Leaving the apt at 10, taking only 1 hr for lunch, all these things effect our day and how intune we are with the spirit. 

        We tracted in the rain! it was a really fun experience!! We were walking down the street knocking doors and this clou8d pulls up and just starts raining on us like no other! poring rain! We were soaked to the bone but we didnt stop!! We knock more doors and people were so impressed with our diligence! If we went inside we wouldnt have met the man we prayed for. Tracting with 3 people is so much fun! 

     We talked to this one 97 yr old guy yesterday! he was hilarious!! He opened the door and said to me "You must be a football player" he called Elder Hollembeak a lover and Elder Wagstaff a fighter. hahaha

     Well i only have 3 more days of being a teenager! crazy!!! anyway, hope all is well and love ya!

 Love Elder Johnson