Tuesday, October 28, 2014

The spirit of Elijah!!!

Hello my family and friends!
I hope you've all been doing super well!
This last week was JAM PACKED with service. We cut a ton of trees down for Sis Lamson. It took forever! But it was so fun!!!

Do you remember Brother Punjack? He was the one that had a 1,000 lbs door crush his foot. He came and helped us do some service! It was pretty unwise to let him come and use a chainsaw.......buuuut Agency I guess!
I'm just kidding, we set up a little station of chairs so he could sit with his leg properly elevated. It was safe!

Anywho, so that was definitely a high light of the week. We all had so much fun serving our sister. Here's some pics!
Lately I've felt so much peace while trying to update and work on my Family History. I truly know that Heavenly Father is inspiring more and more of His Children to receive the Gospel. And Family history is becoming a brilliant tool in doing so. I've definitely felt the Spirit of Elijah while trying to work on it. 

I haven't done anything miraculous, and my progress in finding my ancestors hasn't been flying through the roof, but I can assure you, and testify from my soul, that my capacity to Love my Brothers and Sisters has grown immensely. I know that God wants all of His Children to have an opportunity to receive the Gospel, and can because of the ordinance done in the Temple.
I love you all! :)
Elder Johnson


Monday, October 20, 2014

What did you have to do in order to prepare to get patriarchal blessing?

Hello family and friends! 
This week sure was neat!
We found out a former investigator wants to be baptized in 2 weeks!!!! I hope everything works out so that can happen!!!!!! His name's JJ.
It'll be so neat!

This last week we had a really neat experience! We were out seeing a member named Sis Murphy, she's pretty great! But she has some health problems so she's in an electric wheelchair. Anywho! We were out seeing her, and another younger woman Alexis (who is a less active) often comes to take care of the house. To my knowledge I don't think she remembers very much about the Gospel at all, but it was neat that she was there too! 

For some reason we started talking about patriarchal blessings. I tried to involve Alexis as much as possible. As we were talking the Spirit filled the room. It was so powerful. I felt like I was going to explode! We were kind of indirectly teaching Alexis, while talking about the blessings. Sis Murphy asked me "What did you have to do in order to prepare to get one?"

My thoughts, Why yes I'd love to testify my guts out while another person who fell from our faith is here. So I did! I talked about my preparation to receive it. I explained that the Blessing is a map of your life, and can guide us to the happiness that God has prepared for us, both now, and in the eternities. I felt the Holy Ghost so strongly. There's no way Alexis didn't feel it. There was so much peace there. Elder Klima and I both knew that Heavenly Father was working on Alexis and trying to lead her back to the truth. 

Later we saw Sis Murphy again and told us about Alexis' reaction after we had left. Alexis started asking questions about how to get one. It was beautiful. 

I testify that God loves us, and is so happy and ready to answer all of our prayers and dreams. I know He Lives and loves us so much. I truly have felt so much love while serving the Lord. I have never felt closer to God. I testify Christ does live, and His Atonement is real too. In the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.

Elder Johnson


In seminary we had the "March Madness"challenge, which was to read the entire Book of Mormon in a month.

Hello Everyone!
Well this week was great!!!!!
Remember Sister Payne? She's a less active I talk about a lot. She's so amazinggg!!! We saw her a few days ago, and the lesson went SOOOOOOOOOWELL.
I think she's one of my favorite people! Anywho, we went to go see her, and we were very close to doing something else instead, but we figured it would be best to go and see her. It was definitely the correct choice. 

We followed up to see if she was reading her scriptures, and she said she was so swamped with homework that she couldn't.  I started telling her about an experience I had while in seminary. In seminary we had the "March Madness" challenge, which was to read the entire Book of Mormon in a month. I was very determined to do it! I read and read, but I got very busy, and things didn't work out as I hoped. I would do my homework, and then never had time at the end of the day. Before I knew it there was only a week left. Feeling over exhausted I gave up. When I went to seminary a few days later, the other students talked about the neat experiences that they had. I felt a fire in my soul, and I determined to finish it.
 I knew God could help me do it. I prayed very hard that I would be able to finish reading. I then asked my mom if I could set aside my chores for a time to be able to finish my goal. She agreed wholeheartedly and was proud of me for trying to hard.

I rearranged my thinking and decided that I would start reading my scriptures FIRST, instead of last. I found that every time I did that, no matter what, I ALWAYS had enough time for everything else. Without fail it happened again and again. Before I knew it I had completed the Book of Mormon. When i stopped I was only a third in. I had read 2/3's of the Book of Mormon in a week.

I shared this with Sister Payne, and she felt immense love from Heavenly Father. I told her she could do it too. I expressed our love for her, and she was beaming from ear to ear. I then told her that this expression of love is a fraction of what her Father in Heaven feels for her. She later told us that earlier that day, she was thinking about us and wondered "I wonder when the Elders are coming by" When we knocked she already knew it was us and wasn't surprised to see us arrive.


I testify that God loves us perfectly. I really know that He not only loves us, but He expects us to be obedient, and HELPS us do so! :) The commandments are guiderails on the highway of life. Which guide us to Happiness
Pretty much God says "Hey you! Be happy!" and yet sometimes we say "NO! and immaturely run away like a little kid who stole a cookie from the counter" No no no my brothers and sisters! :) hahaha, obedience is much more simple, and easier :) Not to mention much, much, MUCH more HAPPIER!!!

Monday, October 6, 2014

Word of wisdom either comes from God, or does not. God would confirm to him!

WOW. Conference was SO amazing!
But anywho. STORY TIME!!!
This week was beautiful listening to conference. We met a nonmember named Helena, she was moving on saturday and really needed our help. We, and a family from the branch came and helped her move. It took forever. She didn't pack very much, so we did A LOT. We started at 8 am on sat, and ended around 7 pm. It was so much work, and we barely scratched the surface of what she needed done. We missed the 12 and 4 o clock sessions of conference. We were very sad. But all worked out, we went to the Esteps house (their an AMAZING family here. I love them!!!) and we watched conference with them in the morning to catch up. Then we went to the church and watched the 12 and 4 o clock sessions. 
We're going to the Esteps tonight to watch 2 more hours. By then we would've watched every session. yayyy!!!!!!

We enjoyed a lot of conference and even got to teach a lesson! It was a pretty busy day, but the Lord sent us over to a less active man named Terry. We pulled up to his house, not sure if he was asleep. The lights were off, and it didn't look like he'd be very happy if we knocked. We've met with Terry a few times and had very powerful and loving lessons with him. He's a very special man. Here's a little bit about him.

(he investigated many many years ago, but didn't get baptized. The Elder that taught him back then said, "If you ever decide to get baptized, I don't care where I am in the world, I will come and baptize you" Terry joined the church last year, and sure enough, this much older former missionary drove over multiple states and baptized him. Terry has since struggled with some word of wisdom issues and coming to church, but the lessons we've had with him have nourished his soul, and he has slowly been coming unto Christ once again.)

Anywho. So we were at the door, and Elder Klima knocked, No one came to answer. We were going to leave, but I knew that he was in there and needed something we were going to say. I knew it, because only a few minutes earlier, I prayed in the car. In this prayer I asked specifically, that Terry would not be frustrated or angry, even though it was late, and that we'd be able to teach him something he needed to hear. I was a billion percent confident that God would answer me. So I boldly opened the door and pounded at it very loudly. Immediately the lights inside flipped on and sure enough, Terry came to the door. He was very very glad to see us and immediately let us in.  We talked about Conference, and how the words of God can guide us to safety. 
He brought up concerns of why he needed to give up coffee. He admitted he didn't believe it was necessary. We told him simply that the Word of Wisdom either comes from God, or does not. We said "If the commandment truly came from God, then God would confirm to him if that's really what He wants."

We both boldly testified of the truthfulness of the Book of Mormon, The Spirit touched his heart. We promised him that God would answer his sincere question if he worked for it. 
I love this Church, I love the Savior. I love my Heavenly Father very much. I'm sooo grateful that we have funny Prophets. But more importantly, I'm glad we have them.
In the name of Jesus Christ.  Amen. 

 Elder Johnson