RUSIA 2018

What's up everybody?  I hope that you all had a good week.  I had a good week.  Not too much went down.  we focused a lot on working with the members this week.  I am serving in a branch and for the past month there have been about 15-20 people going to Sacrament meeting.  It has been pretty stressful so we are focusing a lot on the members and strengthening them.  The mission leader and the two counselors to the Branch President are less active so it makes things kind of stressful.  I know I am here for a reason and my companion and I are going to make things happen.

The atmosphere here for the Peru game was unreal.  The people here are absolutely crazy!  Because they won they had a holiday basically and nobody went to work (because they were too drunk ha ha), it was awesome.  It will be good to see my boys in the World Cup in Russia.

Aside from that, this week was super chill.  I was able to learn a lot and reflect on all of the things that I have learned in my mission.  I am grateful for the change that has taken place in me and in my life.  I love the gospel and the light and joy it brings into my life.  I love you guys and hope you have a good week.

Elder Johnson

How Do You Know You Know?

Hey everybody, I hope you all had a good week.  My week was awesome.  I got my new companion, his name is Elder Chova and is from Bolivia Santa Cruz.  He is 25 years old and we are out here mobbing.  There is definitely a difference between a 18 and a 25 year old ha ha!  He is super mature and I have found that it helps us work a lot more diligently.  He is a stud though.  I feel bad though, while he was in the MTC, his mom passed away so straight out of the gate he has to rely so firmly on the Atonement of Christ.  It is difficult, but I admire him and am learning a lot.

Unfortunately, I don't have pictures today.  I don't have a cord for my camera but next week, I will hit it up!  Anyways, I actually had an awesome experience on Tuesday when I went to Trujillo to pick up my new companion.  In the morning, we had a little training with Presidente Rios and the assistants and after we went and ate lunch in this rich part of town in Californa.  To my surprise, I found two GRINGAZOS!  I found two American dudes eating there and so I took advantage of the opportunity and contacted them.  I can honestly say that I sounded absolutely ridiculous trying to testify and teach in English, ha ha, but I am confident that the Spirit was there.  I talked to these two guys, Spencer and Joe and they happened to be missionaries for a Christian church.  I testified to them about the Book of Mormon.  I just explained what the Book of Mormon is and testified of its truth and how it would bless their lives.  They seemed to be super interested and had a bunch of basic questions that the church and Book of Mormon has answers to.  So, long story short, I was able to answer all of their questions and before I had to go, Joe said to me, "I don't want to offend you, but I know that the Book of Mormon isn't true and that all that we need to know is the Bible, but I would like to say a prayer right now and ask God to manifest it's truth to us....so he offered a prayer and I left but after that I just thought about that experience---I thought to myself, how could he possibly say that the Book of Mormon isn't true, if he hasn't ever attempted to read it?  How could he say that HE KNOWS!  I learned a great lesson that day.  We have a gift and that gift is the spirit that can manifest ALL truth.  We can have an experience with a celestial being that manifests all truth known to mankind.  I know the Book of Mormon is true.  I KNOW because the Spirit has manifested it to me.  I invite you all to read the Book of Mormon and act on the celestial invitation in the introduction.  I know if we apply the steps to obtain a testimony and if we humble ourselves we WILL receive a testimony.

My testimony is the biggest blessing and will bless my life forever.  I love the gospel and the blessing I have to invite others to come unto Christ.

I love you guys and hope that you have a good week and remember PORQUE YO CREO EN TI, VAMOS VAMOS PERU! (Peru is playing to go to the World Cup this week)

Elder Johnson

Still Small Voice

Hey everybody!  I hope and pray that you all had a good week  I had a good week, it was honestly pretty slow, not too much went down.  I said goodbye to Elder Hernandez the other day.  He was a stud.  I had so much fun with him and he taught me so much.  It really prepared me for this next change and I am super motivated to continue working.  I am super motivated to give everything I have in this training and help others come unto Christ.  I feel really confident and ready to put into practice all that I have learned on my mission.  I honestly am super excited and humbled to be able to train starting this week.  I will pick up my new companion tomorrow.

So, this week, I learned one of the most valuable lessons of my whole mission.  I had an experience, I'm not going to go into too much detail, but all I can say is that I KNOW that God communicates to us if we are worthy and willing to HEAR Him.  I had an experience on Friday, where I felt a prompting that was so subtle but so clear at the same time.  I was able to witness one of the greatest miracles, tender mercies of my life.

That experience reminded me of Amulek in the Book of Mormon when he said that he had been called a lot of times, but he didn't want to hear.  I have set a goal to act on every prompting that I feel because I know through obedience to those whisperings--some of the greatest miracles happen.  I invite you all to HEAR our Father in Heaven and act according to the heavenly guidance that He gives us.

I love you all and pray that you have a good week.

Elder Johnson