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