"He Trieth Their Patience"

Buenos tardes PE!  I hope that you all had a good week.  My week was awesome!  I want to start out with a scripture that has been on my mind.....Mosiah 23 and it says, "Nevertheless the Lord seeth fit to chasten his people, yea he trieth their patience and their faith."  This verse is talking about the people who followed Alma and had repented of their sins and had been faithful to the Lord, and the Lord allowed them to be oppressed by the Lamanites in fulfillment of a prophecy from Abinadi earlier in Mosiah and to test their patience and faith through trials.

I have been thinking a lot about the importance of patience and faith in the Lord in our lives.  My whole life I have always been super impatient.  It has always been a weakness of mine but I learned a valuable lesson this week.  These past couple weeks it has been super difficult to find new people to teach.  We pray to have the guidance of the Lord to be led to people who have been prepared for the gospel, and we haven't had too much success, I felt stressed, I felt like our work has been unproductive in the aspect of finding, but we have been diligent and have done everything we can to find these people who have been prepared.  Yesterday, we had Stake Conference and while we were sitting in the meeting this guy came up to me and said that there was an investigator from Laureles who wanted to talk to us.  We went to see who it was and it was a guy I had never seen in my life.  He started to talk to us and said that he is going through some hard trials and is looking for God in his lif.e.  He said he felt far away from God and right when he entered the church the Area Seventy gave a talk and talked about what the Jairo was going through. At the end of the meeting he came up to us and said he felt a peace that he has never felt before and that he wants to learn more about our church.

After that experience, it really made me think. There is no way that that was coincidence that he showed up right in time to listen to this general authority to talk about everything that he was going through. I know that  we came in contact with him as a blessing of our PATIENCE and FAITH in the Lord. For not stopping when we felt discouraged and for continuing in prayer and faith.

 I know that God knows us perfectly and that He is with us in everything that we go through. It is up to us to except Him. God is a God that possesses all knowledge, understanding, love and compassion. Counsel with Him daily and ask for His guidance, be patient and faithful and it is my testimony you will see the hand of the Lord more fully in your lives.

Elder Johnson

Feliz Ano Nuevo

What's up everybody!  I hope that you all had a good week and a good new year.  It's pretty weird being here where it is blazing hot for the holidays...it's cooler when there is snow.  Anyways, first things first, I gotta give a birthday shout out to my beautiful mother today!  I'm so thankful for my mom and all that she does for me and the Christlike example that she has always set for me.  The best way to teach is by example and that is something that I have always had from my mom.  I love you, Mom, and hope you have a good day! (From Denise's personal email:  Happy Birthday, Mom!  I have been wondering what you guys did today since the temple closed --we typically go and do baptisms as a family on my birthday--I hope you know that I love you so much.  I'm so blessed to have you and your example in my life.  I always reflect on the times I would see you reading your scriptures and always magnifying your calling.  You are amazing!)

This week was pretty slow.  All of the kids just got out to school so they're on vacation and stuff.  They are either gone or drunk out of their minds so we didn't have much success this week.  The people here go HAM with "grandpa's old cough medicine"--it's pretty funny, but I still had a good week.  Something I love about the mission is there is always something to learn no matter the circumstances of the week.

This week, I have been thinking a lot about something the man, Benny Weese, said in one of his emails when he was on the mish.  He said, "God has the ability to move mountains, but He chooses to move us."  I know that is true.  I know that when we give ourselves to God, He will help us through our challenges and everything that we go through.  In this new year, I want to invite all of you to make the Lord a bigger part of your lives.  I know that God knows you perfectly.  Make Him a part of all of your New Year's resolutions and as you work for all of your goals you will be blessed.  In this new year, I have a goal to be more Christlike and apply the atonement of Jesus Christ in every aspect of my life.

Anyways, I don't have much this week, I want to let you all know that I love you so much.  I know that Jesus Christ lives.  I know that we have two witnesses of His life in the Bible and the Book of Mormon and through the scriptures we can find the mysteries of God to help us along the way in this crazy life that we live.  I love you guys and hope that you all have a good spiritual filled week and year.

Familia Azabache with Elder Johnson and Elder Luna

Elder Johnson, Elder Rodriguez and Elder Cruz at Incan ruins

Elder Rodriguez and Elder Johnson-Incan Ruins

Elder Johnson

Merry Christmas!

We got to Skype with Elder Johnson on Christmas Day!  It was so great to see him and talk with him.  He was able to talk with us for an hour.  We all talked together for a few minutes and then we had our individual time for about 5 minutes in a separate room with the iPad.  He is doing so great--he loves his mission and is so humbled.  He recognizes daily his many blessings.  It's always hard to say goodbye when we are done----here's to 5 more months!

On the 26th, he didn't write a big email to everyone.  He did write us all brief emails...we are looking forward to hearing from him today!

Pictures from our visit:

Elder Johnson and Brother Blas

Ho, Ho, HOOOOH MY GOSH!

Ho, ho, come forth, and flee from the land of the north, saith the Lord, for I have spread you abroad as the four winds of the heaven, saith the Lord.  Zechariah 2:6

Ho, ho, hOOOH MY GOSH!  Santa Claus is coming to town!  WHOOOOO!  I can't believe that this Sunday is Christmas.  This Christmas season has definitely been different because I went from going penguin status in tons of snow straight into el horno de afliccion ha ha ha.  It's super hot here and the Peruvian people don't get too hyped about the holidays, but aside from the atmosphere, this Christmas season has been super special.  I have really been able to focus on our Savior, Jesus Christ.  Not only His birth, but His infinite atonement, which is the greatest gift that any of us will ever receive in our lives.

I have really learned as we come to understand the atonement, we find ourselves more focused on other people and serving them.  I'm so thankful for the atonement and the change that has taken place in me as I have been here on my mission.  I have a testimony of the atonement and of Jesus Christ that I could never deny.  To me that is the greatest gift I will ever receive.

I want to share my favorite quote with you which has been my main focus this Christmas season:

"The key to our greatness is to remember our nothingness without Christ and His atonement."

I hope that this quote has the same impact on you as it has on me.  I know I am nothing without Christ and His atonement. I know that through humility and recognizing our nothingness without Christ, we will more fully understand the atonement and be greater instruments in the hands of the Lord to bring others unto the Lord, Jesus Christ.

Anyways, this is all I've got for today!  I am so excited to talk to you guys on Sunday.  I can't even imagine talking to my family and hearing their voices, ha!  I'm so thankful for my family.  I know that this experience being away from them has really made me recognize how blessed I am to have the family I have.  I'm soooo hyped to talk to you guys on Skype.  NOS VEMOS EN DOMINGO! LOS AMO BASTANTE!

Feliz Navidad

Elder Johnson

I Had a Really Good Week

Hello everybody!  I hope and pray that all of you had a good week.  I had a really good week this week.  I had some really spiritual experiences that I want to share with you.  To start out, last change, I remember I started to pray for the opportunity to train a new missionary.  I began to pray for the missionaries in the CCM and I was trying to make changes in the way I do things so that I could be prepared.  Anyways, I got the call on Sunday to be a trainer and on Tuesday before we went to meet the new missionaries, we had a training with President Rios and the assistants.  In this training, President explained to us the process of how he makes changes and assignments in the mission.  He said about three weeks before the change ends, he looks at all of the missionaries and where they are at on the map of the mission and starts to make changes.  He then kneels down and asks for the guidance of the Lord.  As he explained this process to us, I felt the spirit so strongly.  The spirit confirmed to me again, that the Lord truly guides this work, that the Lord truly listens and answers our prayers and He knows all of us so individually and perfectly.

After that training, we went and met our new companions.  My companion is Elder Luna from Argentina.  I'm super pumped to be with him and to learn from this experience.  This week has been a little stressful because before there were four missionaries here but President closed the other area so now we're alone in this enormous area and I still don't know it that well!  It has been a humbling experience.  I know that through faith and diligence we will get the job done.

In closing, I want to tell you about one of our investigators named Karina Reyes.  She is from Piura and five years ago while she was there, she took the discussions from the missionaries.  She has family members and friends who are members and has always looked up to their examples.  About a month ago, we received a reference to contact her and have been teaching her and she is starting to gain a testimony.  She has told us that when she listens to this message she feels peace and happy.  I know she has received a witness and a testimony that these things are true.  We have her to be baptized on the 7th of January, but the problema is that she is a single mother of three boys and she works on Sundays and can't go to church.  My invitation to all of you is that you could keep her in your prayers that she can make the decision to be baptized!

That's all I have for this week.  I love and miss all of you so much.  I pray that you all have a good and safe week!  I love you!

Elder Johnson

Elder Johnson is Training

We found these pictures on the mission blog.

Elder Stroud (one of Elder Johnson's faves) and Elder Johnson

Elder Johnson and his new Trainee Elder Luna?

The new trainees and their trainers

"I'm so happy, Mom"

Good afternoon, everybody!  I hope that all of you had a good week.  I hope you are finding ways to serve others during this Christmas season.  It is amazing what service does to us if we do it with love and with all of our heart.  We constantly progress spiritually as we are in the service of our fellow men.  What a great opportunity we have this Christmas season to reflect on the selfless life of Jesus Christ and to forget about ourselves and serve/give to others.

Something I have recognized since I have been on my mission is how caught up I was in worldly things and how temporal and insignificant they truly are.  Worldly things are such strong tools that Satan uses to distract us from things that have eternal blessings-consequences.  Don't focus this year on getting and receiving, focus on serving and helping others out because that is what this time of year is all about.

I had a good week.  We have been focusing on working with the members and gaining their trust so that we can involve them more in the work.  It has been a good learning experience for me to see how important every member of the church is in the missionary work.  They have strong testimonies that can help other people in so many ways, but sometimes they put limitations on themselves and don't take advantage of what they're capable of.  We had a lesson this week with a lady named Karina Reyes.  Our mission leader who has been a member for about two years came with us and shared his testimony about the church.  He said that at one point in his life he was going through a hard time and he prayed to get help.  He prayed to have the guidance of the Savior as he was going through this challenge.  The next day he was walking and came in contact with two missionaries and told him that they had a message about Jesus Christ that could bless his life.  He took the discussions and was later baptized because he received a confirmation from the spirit that this message was true.  After he shared his testimony, Karina said to us that there is no way that we are teaching her by coincidence.  She was able to recognize that she has had some of the same feelings that our mission leader, Victor, had and every time she talks with us she tells us that she feels a peace and tranquilidad.

I have learned so much from that experience.  I know that this work is the work of the Lord and He works through every single member.  Trust in the Lord.  Trust in your own testimonies and share them often.

Anyways, this change here with Elder Juarez has come to an end.  I have been called by the Lord to train a new missionary.  I know that I have been prepared for this assignment to learn and grow spiritually.  I'm thankful for the experience I had to be here with Elder Juarez.  I learned a lot from him and that has made me a better person.  He has been a huge example to me of humility, working diligently and patience.  I know that from his example I have become a better missionary.

I hope and pray that you all have a good week and pray for and look for opportunities to serve others.  Share your testimony often and I promise you all that you will grow spiritually, you will find answers to questions in your life and you will be more receptive to the promptings of the spirit.  I love you all and pray you have a safe week.

Elder Johnson's "Hood"

Elder Johnson