YOU AREN'T INTERESTED IN SALVATION? cool.

Hi everyone!! We had a great week this week! First...something dumb/funny I did. I was leading the music at church and could see the deacons waiting to pass the sacrament. They were all on their phones! They were all, but one, smart enough to put them away right before the sacrament started. When I passed them to go to my seat the sacrament prayer was about to start and one was still texting...so as i walked by I flicked him in the head. HAHA i think I scared him good. 

We watched the General Women's Session (SHOUT OUT TO KATIE FOR BEING ON SCREEN) at Mayra's (RC) house. Right before her niece texted to see if Mayra could do her hair for a party. Mayra was a little annoyed but said yes. Then during the conference one of the speakers talked about how sometimes little acts of service, like brushing someones hair, can bring holiness. Mayra was sitting RIGHT THERE brushing her nieces hair. Afterward Mayra told us that it struck her so hard and that she wants to be more holy. Then Angel comes in the door. He was supposed to be getting us snacks but he came back to tell us that he saw someone who's car broke down so he helped them. Then he ran into the elders who were racing home for something so he put their bikes in the truck and drove them home. He couldn't WAIT to come and tell us about his service. I have never seen him look so HAPPY. We were so proud of him!

We have been focusing a ton on families. Teaching a family is just TOO GOOD, so we are looking for more. We have been using this approach where we meet a mom or something and we tell them that we are out here trying to teach people about how Jesus can unite their family. Ususally that alone gets a return appointment! If they aren't interested we offer to do a FHE which has worked every time. And if they don't have a family we teach them about family history so they can find their family. It has been AWESOME. 

I decided to try out a new door technique this week. It might be a little too manipulative, but so far it is working. When people open the door and immediately say "Sorry we aren't interested" I say, acting really confused, "Not interested in what?" Then they get confused and say something like "What you are doing." And then I say "Wait, have you met us before? How did you know what we do?" And then they say "No....i'm just not interested." and then I say "in what?" and then they get awkward because they realize they have no idea....and then I act confused. Then I say "Well that makes sense if we haven't met, cause if you knew why we were here you would be VERY interested." I did it a couple times and it worked! People open right up and ask us what we are doing and we have great conversations. Plus it's funny....I'll keep you posted on if it is effective or not. 

Finally, stay tuned THIS FRIDAY for the new Easter Initiative to launch! The church made an AWESOME video that we got to see! It is so beautiful! Can you imagine if all 16 million members shared the video this friday? And if each of us referred a friend who liked the video to the missionaries? That probably wont happen...unless the members GET ON IT! I promise that if  you take advantage of this opportunities you could be part of a MIRACLE! Lets invite EVERYONE to learn about Jesus! #PrinceOfPeace

We are so excited about General Conference. We want to bike around the neighborhoods yelling "THE PROPHET IS SPEAKING" haha. Don't worry we won't. Hope you have a great week! xo

Hermana Johnson

"Our gps broke so we are rocking the paper maps now"

Exchanges 

THE WEDDING

This week was AWESOME! I'm gonna skip right to the highlight:THE WEDDING.

So we have been teaching Angel and Mayra for about a month. The first time we met Mayra she was not down to listen. Actually her 3 year old invited us in...and she tried to say no but we listened to the 3 year old and walked in! She told her mom when we left "Mom don't keep inviting them back. they are gonna make you quit coffee and who knows what else!"

But pretty soon Mayra felt the spirit so strong that by the end of the week she had quit her coffee addiction and her and her AWESOME husband had a baptismal date.

They are the coolest family. Their little kid Angelo always calls me "Johnson" or "Mr. Johnson". HAHA this kid is the funniest human alive. Every time he sees us he gives us a fist bump and says "Whats up dude!" 

We have been at their house almost every day for the past month. We have gotten to know them so well. They have crazy pasts. He was a big time DJ/Dancer...and she was a party girl. And they never got married cause they never had money to do something fancy. Partying was wrecking their relationship and jobs and everything like that. So once they understood the gospel it was pretty clear the living the commandments would solve their problems. 

We were planning their baptism one day and we started teaching about being sealed in the temple. Angel says "That's perfect, in one year we can finally be married!" I was like YOU AREN'T MARRIED?! 

haha. SO we taught the law of chastity and they told us they can't get married because all of their finances and insurrance for their kids. They said it would cost thousands of dollars to change to a legal marriage. yikes. 

Within two days they decided that it doesn't matter. If God wants married couples then they would get married ASAP no matter the cost. Their faith is INSANE. 

So we planned the wedding! Pablo brought all the decorations, we set up ALLLLLL DAY, the family and some members did food...it was awesome. And Mayra was BLOWN AWAY. She said she has never been so happy in her whole life. 

The ceremony was PERFECT. The bishop did the ring exchange, I sang I Stand All Amazed, and then there were a few talks. They looked SO HAPPY. Then they got baptized in front of like 40 non member family members. After we had toasts, dinner, and the family danced for hours. It was so funny and fun. Everyone was line dancing and swinging each other around...mean while us and the elders were just awkwardly watching haha. Everyone kept coming up to us and telling us to marry Mexicans so we can have a wedding like this.

I just couldn't be more honored and happy to know Mayra and Angel. My heart was SO FULL. Their whole life changed over night. They both can't wait to be able to serve in their church and for their two kids to serve missions. In my toast I talked about how they are going to be together forever and it hit me so hard that IT'S TRUE. They are on the road to the Celestial Kingdom! And they are going as a FAMILY! I couldn't have been happier in that moment. 

Well, That's the week! We found 6 new people to teach in the last week, so hopefully we get the ball rolling with a few of these awesome new families!a

6 MONTHS

Sorry to my missionary friends....this is long and just a gospel rant. Maybe just skip to the pics lol

Wow, can I just say that serving a mission is the BEST DECISION OF MY LIFE? I often think about who I was before my mission and give thanks that Heavenly Father saved me and brought me to El Paso. People write me all the time and ask for advice on whether or not they should go on a mission and for me, the answer is YES. We can try to pick our own paths, fill our lives with things that seem good (which I was so guilty of), but if you give it all to the Lord for just a few short months you would be so surprised at how much better His plans are. His plans are filled with HAPPINESS and JOY and PURPOSE!!! I don't even think I knew how much he LOVES his children until now! And if you aren't at the age to serve a mission, that's okay you can put your trust in God and have the same incredible happiness. Make sacrifices, keep the commandments, do His will, pray to him always, study His words, serve those around you. Then you will find that He takes your dreams and makes them 10x better. Every thing you have ever wanted goes away cause you know that everything He wants for you is beyond your wildest dreams. 

Someone in our ward shared this with me: A mission is like walking through a field of roses for 18-24 months. It is really scratchy, sometimes its even painful. You might be crying and cringing. Your legs are bleeding, your eyes are watering, and sometimes you just want to get out. Then when you are out of the field you look back and all you see is a beautiful ocean of roses. The thorns are completely forgotten and all you can talk about is that beautiful field of roses you spent so much time in. 

There are definitely hard times on a mission. But at the end of a hard day you learn the most valuable lessons. I have learned that Heavenly Father loves me. How many times do we say that and think we know what it means? It's not until I got out here, and the only person who is taking care of me is God, that I actually realized that He LOVES ME. He love ME. I am the worst! I've messed up, I've complained, I'm lazy, I've been rude to people, I've made mistakes, I've bailed on people, I've told lies.... and the supreme ruler over the whole universe personally loves ME. 

If you don't know how much love He has for you, I would recommend doing all it takes to find out. Cause once you know you will never be the same. 

There is a sure way to feel His love, and it actually is not a mission. For me, a mission just helped me realize, but this formula applies to anyone. Ready? 

The Formula:

Faith + Repent + Covenant 

That right there is the Doctrine of Christ. It is the Atonement!  I have seen those three steps change lives over night. I know it saved me from taking a completely different road, and I know it can save anyone who is willing to really apply it. 

Here are some solid scriptures that are all about the doctrine of Christ, and there are so many more than just these. 

"Know ye not that ye are in the hands of God? Know ye not that he hath all power, and at his great command the earth shall be rolled together as a scroll? Therefore, repent ye, and humble yourselves before him, lest his shall come out in justice against you." -Mormon 5:23-24

"And also that ye might know of the coming of Jesus Christ, the Son of God, the Father of heaven and of earth, the Creator of all things from the beginning; and that ye might know of the signs of his coming, to the intent that ye might believe on his name. And if ye believe on his name ye will repent of all your sins, that thereby ye may have a remission of them through his merits." -Heleman 14: 12-13

In Alma 22:15 Lamoni's father, a king, asks Aaron (a super awesome missionary who went through a crazy repentance process) what he should do to have eternal life and joy in this life. Aaron says in 16, "If thou desirest this thing, if thou wilt bow down before God, yea, if thou wilt repent of all thy sins, and will bow down before God, and call on his name in faith, believing that ye shall receive, then shalt thou receive the hope which thou desirest."

Some people think that repentance is a bad thing. That if they repent that they will just be trapped in shame and guilt. But it is just the opposite! Repentance is the best feeling in the world! You can do it every day! There are so many people in the Book of Mormon (Enos 1, Alma 36, 2 Nephi 4) who had to repent. Most of the stories are of people repenting from serious stuff, but because they repent God makes them into WARRIORS and PROPHETS and SEERS and MIRACLE WORKERS. And guess what, the moment we get on our knees, give up a bad habit, walk into the bishops office, pick up our scriptures again... those prophets, seers, and warriors  are right there with us. Guess who else is right there with you? Jesus Christ. He's been there, he's felt what you feel, and he's just been desperately waiting to chose to make the change and come to Him. Just believe that He is waiting to take you into His arms, and He will. 

"Yea, verily I say unto you, if ye will come unto me ye shall have eternal life. Behold, mine arm of mercy is extended towards you, and whosoever will come, him will I receive; and blessed are those who come unto me." 3 nephi 9:14

Then the last step is covenant. That is baptism, taking the sacrament, going to the temple, personal promises (like the Anti-Lehi-Nephis). That's why the people we meet who have faith and repent, practically beg to be baptized! How cool is it to make a promise with God. He is the best person to make a promise with because we promise to keep the commandments and in return he gives us HAPPINESS, PEACE, JOY, and ETERNAL LIFE. That's not even a fair trade for Him! But it works, I've seen it and I've experienced it. 

Wow, this next year is going to be so incredible. I can't believe time is flying so quickly! I wish it would slow down. Thank you for all of the support, and for all those who pushed me to get out here! I am so in debt to all of you! THANK YOU!

Hermana Johnson xoxoxoxox

Baptisms, Birthday, Blessin's

We started out the week without a car so we had to bike everywhere. The problem was that El Paso was having a crazy sand-storm, and we had a baptism to get to and our church is way far out of our area. Well, it wasn't really a problem...just a set back. I just threw all of the food and baptism stuff in my backpack and put everything that didn't fit in plastic bags on my handle bars. It was cool until the sand blasts ripped the bag open! I wish someone could have seen us biking up hill, one handed, in the wind with a bunch of white clothes in my arms haha!

Jose and Blanca

The baptism was SO BEAUTIFUL. Jose had fasted all day to be ready, and Blanca has been waiting for the day that she could be clean since we first went to her house. They were so nervous and excited. Blanca wore her heels all the way to the font haha. Then when she got baptized she came out of the font, with tears running down her cheecks, and gave me the biggest hug. Then Jose got dunked! He said he felt at peace for the first time. It was such a beautiful experience. All of their non-member family was their to support them and afterward Jose told me that it was the anniversary of his mother's death and that he knows she was there. 

Holy cow I'm running low on time. I'm probably just going to send like 25 photos and let you look through those haha. 

Joel

Joel's baptism was so so great! When he went into the water he yelled "DANG THIS IS COLD!" it was so funny. We took a bunch of flexing pics because pretty much all he does is flexes and talks about his muscles. We thought we would play along. 

20!

My birthday was INSANE. Thank you to everyone who did something!!!! It was such an awesome day! Nora (one of our members) did a cake and a bunch of Mexican traditions for me. Our investigator Myra gave me a locket with a note from her inside and the sweetest letter in the world. Joel gave me a present that was kinda flirty so we actually have to pass him off to the elders now (he sprayed the card with cologne hahahahha) and I came home to the COOLEST presents from the COOLEST family. My zone leaders even tried to get me a present! They called Hna Garcia and asked her what my favorite drink was and she was like....ummm water? So they got me a case of water HAHA.  It really was one of my favorite days of my whole mission!!! I felt so loved through the simplest tiniest things. 

The Temple

We got to go to the temple yesterday!!!! SO incredible. I missed the temple a ton. It is such a beautiful place. It makes me so excited to go with Mayra, Angel, Joel, Blanca, Jose, and Pablo. I can't wait for them to go in for themselves!!! We are already planning a road trip to do baptisms with Jose and Blanca! They are so excited to baptize their parents and her brother. 

Man, the church is so true. In Alma it talks about how our joy will be so great if we just bring one soul to the fold of God. When we look at it through the eternal perspective, I can see why! Each soul has hundreds on the other side waiting for their work to be done. One convert could mean a whole family tree of converts who have already passed on! I know because I have felt it. I know that the angles that are "on our right and left bearing us up" are the family of the people we are teaching. I know it without a doubt. I have felt it! Mayra even told us the other day that she heard the voice of her daughter before she was born, and waaayyy before she knew us, saying "mom, we have to follow HIM and then we can be a family.". Now she knows what that means and her little baby is going to grow up with married, sealed parents. 

Well thank you again for all of the love. I have no idea how I got such great friends and family. I feel so humbled and blessed to have you all. Getting so spoiled on the 4th made me want to work 100x harder so that maybe I can deserve a FRACTION of all the love I have received. You people are AMAZING. I don't know what I would do without you. 

LOVE,

Hermana Johnson xoxoxox

There's a cute pic of my cat in this email

Just a quick update and some pics!

We set a record this week with our investigators at church! We had 8!!! And all of our less actives that we have been working with forever FINALLY came to church! It was awesome! And then one of our awesome couple's that we are teaching came to us after church and was like "So....we feel like this is our home. Let's get baptized on Tuesday".

Soooo stay tuned!!

The best part of church was when Pablo got called on to say something about prayer in Gospel Principles. He said something like this:

"When the sisters found me I was mad at God and only ever asked him 'why do you make me suffer so much?' But now I can really open up to God and I don't have a for sure answer, but I don't need one. Now that I pray I know that God loves me and all I want to do is say thank you."

The picture with the big group is our 4 investigators, their kids, and their family who introduced us to them. We had the most INCREDIBLE lesson with all of them. At the beginning the member shared an email that her son who is on a mission wrote to our investigators (his cousins) it was so powerful. Then we taught them about repentance and baptism and EVERYONE was crying. They just want to get rid of all of the baggage from their past through Jesus Christ! It was so beautiful. Then, their cousin gave them all blessings. The cousin didn't even know what we had been working with each of them on (Word of Wisdom, Marriage, Praying...they each have their own struggle) but the blessings were PERFECT for each of them. So everyone was crying even more. It was so awesome. 11/10 lesson for sure. I will never forget it. 

Hope you all have a great week!!! Love you mucho!!

xoxoxo

The pics (not in this order)

-My cat Galleto (Hermana Garcia kicks him out of the house but I bought cat nip at walmart so I can rebuild his trust. He's about as skiddish as an investigator!)

-Us standing with the elders in our ward and OUR investigator Joel. But Joel is huge and he loves us too much so I guess I got weird and stood like 100 feet too far away. HAHA I for sure wrecked the pic. So awkward. Oh and elder Sutton is trying to flex to be as big as Joel cause Joel is like a pro body builder or something... he started training all the young men for free HAH 

-The one with the tree is a throw back from Christmas with the best district ever

-The one with the houses is what we see when we drive to the edge of our area. That's Mexico folks! Like a suppppeeerrr sketchy part of Mexico. Our members that are from there have STORIES

"To the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, Thanks but no"

This has been such an awesome week!!! I can't really even put it all to words, and I don't really have time anyway. But here it goes.

Here are the updates:

-Joel is still waiting to hear if he can get baptized. He's so excited. We meet at the park like every other day, but lately he hasn't had time cause he is too busy training the young men from the ward at the gym. HAHA. 

-Maria called us saying that she didn't sleep all night and that we need to go over. We went by and she handed us 3 letters. The envelopes were printed out and addressed to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. One for me, Garcia, and our Bishop lol. Freak I should have taken a picture. Inside she wrote the most formal letter saying she won't be getting baptized this weekend. She wrote like 3 paragraphs assuring the church that we have done our work well, and then she said she wants to go to her sisters church so she can build a relationship with her sister. WHAT. 

Pretty sure she is stressing about other things...so we will keep working on it. But it's a bummer. We picked out her white jumpsuit and everything :'(

-Blanca Jose Mayra and Angel!!!!

Okay so long story short, we got a referral from a member for her aunt Blanca. We went by and invited her to Pablo's baptism. She and her husband Jose came. They told us they want to be members so we were like...COOL you are talking to the right people!

We tried by Blanca's house a bunch but she was never there. We finally got her to come to a dinner with her niece's family (members) and their shared their coolest most POWERFUL conversion story. Blanca was like "cool lets do the baptism next week!" haha

We still could never find Blanca at home, but we got another referral for a girl named Mayra. We went by and Blanca, Jose, Mayra and her husband Angel were all there! Turns out they are always all together! So we have been going over every day to eat with them and teach. They all sit down on the couch together and listen so closely. I LOVE THEM . They were all struggling to pray, but the other day Angel was brave and got on his knees to say his first prayer. He sobbed through the whole thing. Then in the middle he stopped and looked up "is this normal?" I was like "yes shhhh keep going!" haha. Then after the prayer his CUTEST 3 year old son threw his arm's around Angels neck and said "it's okay daddy!"

-I had to give a talk in church yesterday...in Spanish...but it went okay! I am growing to love this ward SO MUCH! I feel as comfortable and at home with them as I did with the Eagle 9th ward!!! 

-We got invited to a special leadership conference up in Albequerque! It was so awesome. I learned soooo much and can't wait to take the work to the next level. But for real, the best part of all of it was seeing HERMANA MADDI THOMPSON!!!!! Oh my goodness it was like being reunited with my sister. ANNNDDD I saw elder SPECER SMITH! He's doing so awesome! Eagle represent!

-We are biking sooooo much! These pics are from biking to meetings at the church with the elders haha. Elder Sutton's head rarely makes the pic cause he's so tall.

-I sang at the funeral of one of my FAVORITE members. It was such a sweet service. Then after, another member (this crazy old lady who basically kidnapped us once...that's another story) asked me to sing at her funeral! HAHA she's like "I'll tell my son your info so someday he can find you and you can come back and sing at my funeral." 

lol....hopefully I don't bail on her. 

-That's about it!!! Life is good! The weather is warming up! And I'm still getting chubby on Mexican food!!! :) 

xoxoxoxxo

Hermana Johnson

"Look who I ran into at leadership conference!"

Spencer Smith, a friend from Eagle

"I found a pineapple bush"

"This is my favorite person in El Paso. He's basically Molly but brown and a boy. HE"S SO CHILL AND HE LET ME WEAR HIS HAT <3"

Bikes!

Hey Family!!

This week has been AWESOME! Just a few highlights:

Menos Activo- Misonero

So remember or recent convert Ruben? He was so awesome...and then withing 3 weeks went less active. We had been trying to meet with him like every day and then finally he told me and Hermana Thompson that we "Annoy him" and that the church annoys him too. WHAT! We were so bummed. 

THEN last week I got THE BEST PHONE CALL OF MY MISSION!!! Ruben was on the phone (in spanish) "Hermanita Johnson!!! Let's schedule a session!" 

I'm like...."WHAT? Okay for sure! What's the occasion?"

"I WANT TO GO ON A MISSION!!!" -Ruben. 

I was jumping up and down and freaking out! We met up with him the next day and he filled us in on his 180 change. He told us that he had been in Juarez Mexico staying with family for the past two months. Turns out, all of his cousins are returned missionaries! He had no idea!! They got him all pumped up about the gospel and a mission and everything! Ruben told us that as he thought and prayed about a mission, something came into his heart so strong. He said it was so warm and powerful in his chest! He was so eager to learn everything he could in a one hour appointment haha. He was asking, "How do I find people to teach? Where do I get the pamphlets? How do I know what to say?" 

He still needs to get the priesthood and go to the temple and stuff, but in the mean time he is a ward missionary! We were helping him practice for lessons and we said, "What would you say to someone who doesn't come to church, but has already been baptized?" 

He replied, "That's easy! Bro, I got baptized and was SOOOO LAZY. Don't be lazy. Just get out of bed and come to church!" hahahah

Milagros!

I had the craziest experience with Joel. He is the guy we found living above Pablo's house! He is so cool and ready to be baptized, so stay tuned for that. But we were teaching him about temples and baptisms for the dead. You could tell he was really pondering the whole concept of being able to help those who have already passed on receive a baptism. I had a paper in front of me so I drew a box, trying to illustrate what the little piece of paper that has the name of the person being baptized on it looks like. You know, the blue/pink slip that says the name and the birthdate and the bar code and stuff. Anyway, I drew the box and said "For example, you will get a piece of paper like this. It will have a random name like....." A name popped into my head and I wrote it. Gorge Neria. Joel freaked out. "How do you know Gorge!?" 

Turns out, Gorge Neria is his cousin who got murdured. He already had told us that he wanted to to a baptism for this cousin of his, but he never had told us the name. He had been thinking of Gorge the whole time we were talking, and somehow the spirit put the name onto the paper! 

Tell me the church isn't true! 

More Updates

We had so many other awesome lessons this week! We have a handfull of AMAZING children of God preparing to be baptized this month and next. I can't even express how amazing it feels to see lives change. It makes every minute worth it. 

Biking is super fun! That makes mission life SO MUCH better. I feel like I'm at home cruising around Hillsdale with my friends haha. Me and my comp are doing great! We got invited to a special leadership conference this week so we will go up to a few other missionaries and spend the night in Albuquerque this week for the conference. Super pumped!

Again Haha

Also, It happened again! A different ward asked me to come to their relief society where they were teaching a lesson about "Turning lemons to sweet lemonade" (mom's article). I sang Grande Eres Tu (how great thou art) again and the spirit was so strong. They asked me to share my testimony and then passed lemons and limes to certain ladies in the room and the came up and shared their stories on how they used the gospel to turn "lemons to lemonade". I thought the relief society room was going to get water damage from all of the tears! Such a powerful meeting. Thanks again mom!

Sure love ya! xoxox