Si Te Vas Yo Tamien Me Voy

Hey everybody!  I had a good week this week.  I was able to learn a lot and strengthen my testimony, which I am really grateful for.  To start out, Manuel didn't get baptized this week.  We were looking for him every single day and he wouldn't answer phone calls, his door or anything.  We were pretty sad thinking that he just bailed on everything and didn't want to continue in this process.  Finally, on Saturday, we were able to contact him and have a really spiritual experience.  He first thanked us for the patience that we showed throughout this week and not giving up on him.  He still isn't 100 percent sure on everything so he told us he wasn't ready....which is good because with more time he will be able to become more converted and stay active in the church, which is the whole purpose.

In the lesson, he and his girlfriend, Sara, were there and we gave them some things to read.  They did and we asked them what they learned and what thoughts had come to their mind.  Sara brought up a topic that had nothing to do with what they read and we weren't able to continue with what we had planned.  She grew up in a house learning about the bible so she has a lot of knowledge of the bible and questions everything we teach her.  When we were about to start, she told us she still wasn't sure why we keep the Sabbath Day holy on Sunday and not Saturday.  We explained to her why and then for the next half hour, Manuel's family and everyone started trying to explain why with scriptures and everything.  I just remember I was chilling there in silence and I didn't feel the spirit at all.  I know the spirit was not there at that time and while I sat there in silence, I felt the impression to talk about the apostasy.  I acted on that impression and changed what seemed to be a political debate, into a really spiritual experience that I know had an impact on them.

It doesn't matter how much knowledge anybody has, or how good somebody is at explaining themselves, if the spirit isn't present, we are nothing.  I learned a lot from that experience and I'm thankful for the strength that I received.

So changes were yesterday and I'm bouncing to Viru with my new companion, Elder Ochoa!  I'm super pumped to go to Viru and fulfill what the Lord has called me to do.  I'm sad to leave my area.  I met some people that have been such a big impact on my life.  I learned a lot from Elder Luna that has allowed me to progress and become a better person and missionary.

I love you all so much.  I hope you have a good week.

Con mucho amor,

Elder Johnson

Email to Mom (he writes her in Spanish because she can understand it!):

Hola mama!  Estoy bien agradecido para poder hablar con usted hoy dia!  Siempre me alegra cuando leo las cartas de mi familia los lunes.  Me siento tranquilo por la familia Broadbent, se que el plan de salvacion es real y que nuestro padre celestial tiene  un plan para ellos.  Tambien se que son preparados espiritualmente para enfrontar esa prueba.

Bueno, manana me voy a mi area nuevo, Viru, con el Elder Ochoa.  Le conozco entonces estoy animado.  Voy a aprender mucho de el y estoy agradecido con mi Padre Celestial para permitirme servir con el en este momento.  Tambien voy como lider de distrito.  Estoy preparado y se que voy a progresar espiritualmente.

Espero que tenga una buena semana.  Busca el gozo en todas las cosas.  La vida es maravillosa y mucho mas maravillosa cuando vivimos los principios del evangelio.  Le amo bastante mama.

Un abrazo

Elder Johnsoncito

The Blessings of the Temple

Hey everybody!  I had a really good week this week.  On Wednesday, I had the blessing to enter into the house of the Lord and be spiritually uplifted.  I truly know that the temple is the house of the Lord and that it is a house of order, of prayer, of faith and of love.  We are so blessed to have the temple in our lives.  The temple has power to make a mortal being into a celestial being.  Only in the temple can we make covenants with our Father in Heaven that will allow us to return and live in His presence in the Celestial Kingdom.  I was able to strengthen my testimony of the temple and I'm so thankful for that.  I invite all of you to make the temple part of your weekly life.  There is a quote from President Monson that I love, and he says:

"Cuan lejos queda el cielo? Yo testifico que en los santos templos muy cerca se encuentra, puesto que es en esos lugares sagrados que los cielos y la tierra se tocan y que nuestro Padre Celestial da a sus hijos sus mayores bendiciones."

I know that is true because I could feel it!

As for the work, we are working really hard with Lorenzo Manuel.  He accepted a baptismal date for this Saturday.  We are praying and working super hard so that he will have the strength and faith to act on his testimony this week.  I know that if it is the Lord's will, it will go through.  I know that the Lord trusts Elder Luna and I to get the job done.  I have a strong testimony of that.  It is really interesting working with investigators and trying to help the different needs of everyone.  It has made me realize that the Lord truly knows all of us.  As His servants, I have been able to feel the love that He has for them, because I feel so much love for them and I know it is because the spirit is working through me.  I am confident that everything will go through, but I invite all of you to pray for him so that he will get baptized.

So, I had a cool experience on Saturday.  We had this zone activity called Open Chapel.  It is a plan that the mission has to get more people in the doors of the church.  We teach about what we do in the chapel, why we go and the importance of it.  We teach about baptism and the organizations of the church share testimonies and talk a little bit about what they do in the church.  I was in my old area, Alto Moche, in the chapel and I went to the door and saw my trainer, Elder Miller, get out of a taxi!  I got to talk to him for a little while.  I was so happy to see him.  It brought a lot of great memories back and I was able to share some stories of my mission with him.  I was thankful for that experience.

Elder Miller (RM) and Elder Johnson

That was my week!  I love you all so much.  I hope and pray that you all have a good week.

Con Mucho Amor,

Elder Johnson

Spiritual First Responder

What's up everybody?  I had a pretty solid week.  I felt a strong influence of the spirit that I am so thankful for.  To start out the week, I was hyped to get to work after being spiritually filled in General Conference.  I really took the talk that Elder Rasband gave and was a Spiritual First Responder in all things this week. On Tuesday, I went on an interchange with Elder Cruz.   Before we left to get to work, I remember I offered a prayer and felt the spirit so strongly as I was asking to have the companionship of the spirit to be with us.  We were going out with a kid who is preparing to go on a mission and I asked that we could be humbler and obedient enough to have a successful day and set a good example to him of how the mission life is.  We got out to work and we found 10 new people to teach and two families.  I was humbled by that experience.  I know that truly as we pay attention to the guidance of the spirit and are humble enough to act on the impressions, the Lord takes over.  I have a strong testimony of that.

Not only on Tuesday did we have success, but throughout the whole week!  I felt like we gave our all and I'm so thankful for the experiences that I had.

So this weekend, after a lot of fasting and prayer, a lot of studies and work, Pamela got baptized and confirmed.  At the baptism service, I just felt so much love and peace.  There isn't a better think than seeing somebody make changes in their life and choose to repent and accept Jesus Christ in their lives.  On Sunday, I had the privilege to confirm her a member of the Church in Sacrament meeting.  It was a really special experience to me.

That was my week.  We didn't have changes this week because there is no way to get to other places in the mission yet because the bridges fell down.  They have said that changes will be in two more weeks.  I'm happy through because we should be having another baptism on the 22nd.  Pray for Lorenzo Manuel so that he will be able to receive his answer and for the humility to be baptized.

I know that Christ lives and that He loves us.  I know that He is a resurrected being and continues speaking through His prophets.

Trujillo Zone Conference

I love you guys!  Have a good week!

Elder Johnson

General Conference

Hey everybody!  I had a pretty solid week.  I had a lot of good experiences that strengthened my faith and made me realize how truly blessed I am to be a full time missionary for the Church of Jesus Christ.  I love my Savior.  I have been on a spiritual high all week, there truly is no better feeling.

One of the big lessons that I learned this week is how important the members are in this work.  Without members, the missionaries are nothing.  There is no way we could possibly work effectively without the members and their strong testimonies.  On Friday, we had a prime example of that.  We had a lesson with our investigator, Lorenzo Manuel and his girlfriend.  We taught the Plan of Salvation.  I remember in this lesson I felt the presence of the spirit so strongly and I know that they did, too.  As we finished the lesson, Elder Luna ended with his testimony and after he shared his testimony, Lorenzo's girlfriend said that she didn't believe all of what we said.  As she said that, honestly, I sat in unbelief because the spirit that was there was undeniable.  After she said that, Lorenzo Manual's dad, who is a recent convert, stepped up and shared a simple but powerful testimony about the truths that we taught.  I was humbled by that experience.  I truly know that by the mouth of two or three witnesses, God's words are established and the witness that Lorenzo's dad gave to testify of our words brought power that was missing into that room.  Lorenzo Manuel will be getting baptized later in April.  I know all of you as members have a great role and have great potential as you consecrate your time and your faith to this amazing work.

This weekend listening to Conference, there was a lot of  things going through my mind.  I had a lot of questions that I needed answered.  As I was listening to the talks in General Conference, I thought of Matthew 7, that says:

"Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheeps clothing but inwardly they are ravening wolves.
Ye shall know them by their fruits.  Do men gather grapes of thorns or figs of thistles
Even so every good tree bringeth forth good fruit, but a corrupt tree bringeth forth evil fruit.
A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit.
Every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast into the fire.
Wherefore by their fruits ye shall know them

I know that the words of the prophets we heard in Conference were of good fruit, because the feelings and fruits of the spirit explained in Galations were present. There was nothing but feelings of love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness and temperance present.  I know the prophets are truly called of God.  I sustain them and love them.

As I listened to the prophets and received answers to questions that I have in my life, these words from Nephi came into my mind:

Behold they were manifest unto the prophet by the voice of the Spirit, for by the Spirit are all things made known unto the prophets.

I know that God knows us each perfectly.  He knows our needs, our struggles and is aware of absolutely everything going on in our lives.  By the power of the spirit He revealed to the prophets what we need in these times that we live.

I invite you all to rewatch some of the talks and look for answers to questions you have in your life if you didn't already have them answered.  I know by the same power of the spirit that was made known unto the prophets, will be made known unto you all as well.

I am ready to work and lay everything that I have on the field.  I am humbled by the experiences that I have had with the spirit this week.  I hope you, too, were able to get a lot out of this conference and are willing to make the necessary changes to have experiences with the spirit.

I love all of you guys so much.  I hope and pray you will have a good week.  Pamela will be getting baptized this Saturday.  Keep her in your prayers that everything will go well and that her work schedule will allow her to be baptized this Saturday.  Next week we have changes.  I'm probably bouncing this change, but I will let you all know next week.  I love you guys!

Elder Johnson

A Week of Service

What's up everybody!  I don't have that much to say today.  We just mobbed doing service this whole week.  Everything is a lot more chill so that is pretty good.  It honestly has been a super humbling experience helping people and doing what Jesus Christ would do if He were here.  We got to proselyte in normal clothes this week so that we could just do service, it was weird!  I will hit all of you up with pictures and a bigger letter next week.  I don't have a lot of time today.  We are super busy today.

Love you guys and hope that you all have a good week!

Elder Tanner Johnson

From his email to Mom:
I'm glad you had a good week.  I'm doing good and I had a pretty solid week.  I'm doing good health wise.  I haven't had any problems, honestly and I'm confident that I won't have any problems.  I'm loving the mission.  I can't believe that Conference is already here.  These past six months have passed so fast!  I can't believe it, times goes by so fast!  I hope you enjoy it and take advantage of listening to the prophets who hold the keys to the kingdom of God here on the Earth.  I love you and I'm thankful for the example you have always set for me.  I hope that you have a good week.

If You're Scared, Go to Church!

This afternoon we got a message on Facebook to call Elder Johnson.  They did not have internet access and were told to stay in their homes.  President Rios gave the missionaries permission to call home for a few minutes.  It was so great to hear his voice---for the third time this month!  (We have been spoiled!)  He is doing great and gave us a run down on the situation in Peru.  He didn't think he would be able to email until next week.  Then at 5:00 this evening, we received this email and pictures from him.

This week, Peru Trujillo South Mission became the newest Mormon Hands that Help squad.  We did straight up service all week.  This has honestly been one of the craziest weeks of my life.  I have seen and experienced some things that have really humbled me.  Trujillo, on average, gets about 1 to 3 cm of rain every year.  In the 13 months of my mission, I have seen it rain twice and if we were in Utah, it wouldn't even be considered rain.  It just sprinkles for 10 minutes and then it stops so whenever it's overcast or if it looks like it's going to rain, nobody gets fazed because nothing ever happens.  As a result, there is no drainage system here because there has never been a need for it in the past.  That came to a quick change on Tuesday.

Tuesday was a pretty crazy day.  To start out, after we ate lunch at the pension, there was a drive by shooting in front of pensionista's house.  Some guy got popped because he supposedly jacked a bunch of stuff.  It made me feel like a thug though because this white boy walks these streets every day!!  That was the start to this crazy week.  After all that went down, we left to proselyte and it was overcast and off and on rainy throughout the day.  We had a really busy day and we finished with our last lesson and got home at about 9:30 that night.  Usually when we get home, we talk to the owner of the house, Hermana Neyra, for a little bit.  While we were talking to her it started POURING!  In like 10 minutes, the road turned into a river and everyone's houses were flooding.  We were up until almost 11 helping Hermana Neyra push the water out of the house and cleaning everything up.

The next day we were going around to all of the members' and investigators' houses making sure that they were all good.  We helped them throw all of the water out of their houses and built barriers so that if it rained again, no water would get in the houses.  Supposedly, the news said that it was going to rain all week like it did on Tuesday, so everyone was rattled and panicking all week.  People were stealing stuff from the markets because everything got super expensive and it has just been super crazy, honestly.  I have never seen anything like this in my life.  Luckily, throughout the week, it didn't rain that much in the city, but in the mountains it has been raining non stop and rivers have overflown and have completely flooded the city of Trujillo.  Rivers and mudslides that are hours away from Trujillo have absolutely wrecked us all this week.  I actually had a pretty spiritual experience though.  There has been a bunch of water but it hasn't gotten in our house or anything.  I remember on Saturday, we finished our studies in the afternoon and we left to go proselyte.  We were about four blocks from our house and out of nowhere, I had an impression to call the Zone Leaders because they have money that they need to give my companion because we need to buy some food storage stuff and they were going to stay at their house and we were going to go over there to get the money.  They felt like they needed to come to our house to bring the money to us.  So, they told us to go back to the house and wait for them to get there.  At this point, we had no idea another river had overflown.  We were waiting for them and about five minutes after they got to our house, the water from the river got to our street.  It was more water than the other days.  If all four of us weren't at the house, Hermana Neyra's house and water tank would have gotten owned!  Luckily, we were about to push all of the water out and nothing happened.  I know we were guided by the Spirit so that we could be there to help Hermana Neyra.

Everything is pretty crazy here.  Supposedly, the mountains are still getting destroyed with rain so the rivers are going to continue to overflow until the 25th they have said.  They have cut the water from everyone because mud has gotten into the pipes and the water is contaminated.  Luckily, our house has a back up tank full of water so we should be good for about a week or two with water.  We have been instructed by the area that we won't be able to leave for a couple of days because it is too dangerous with all of these huaycos (mudslides).

That was my week!  Keep Peru in your prayers because the whole country is getting absolutely owned.  I know God protects His missionaries so I'm not worried about anything.  Mom, I know you are going to be worried about this situation, but the only thing I've gotta say is.....they don't call me Johnny Tsunami for no reason.  Everything will be fine.  I will keep all of you updated about what goes down this week.  I love you guys and pray that you all have a good week!

They helped to clean up this family's home

Elder Johnson

Despacito Suave Suavecito nos Vamos Juntando Poquito Poquito

"For behold, I am God, and I am a God of miracles, and I will show unto the world that I am the same yesterday, today and forever, and I work not among the children of men sabe it be according to their faith"  (ha ha sabe means "knows")

I have witnessed a miracle and the greatness of my God this week.  I know He lives.

Here is a little more information from my appointment with Dr. Moreno last Thursday when everything went down.  He looked at everything and told me that the scar from the surgery that I had already had was opened up and that it was pretty deep and he could see the infected cyst in there which caused everything to open up.  As he saw that, he told me that there was nothing we could do but operate on it and remove everything.

So, on Monday evening I had to go back to the doctor to have another check up and to schedule the surgery for a different day.  We got there and the doctor was talking to me and asking me how I was feeling and everything and I told him I felt solid and made the decision that the Lord needed me to make.  He then took a look at everything and in amazement told me that there was nothing there and that the scar was almost all the way healed up and that I wouldn't need to have surgery.  As he told me that, I felt so much peace in my heart.  Instantly, I thought of the scripture that I shared with you guys.  I know God is a God of miracles and works according to the faith that we have in Him.

Aside from all of that, we had a pretty good week in the work.  We are preparing two people for baptism on the 8th of April.  Their names are Pamela and Lorenzo.  Remember them in your prayers.

Sorry, I don't have much time today and I'm emailing in the morning instead of the afternoon.  Things have changed in the mish so I'm going to be pretty inconsistent at what time I will be emailing.  It will just depend on what we do for p day!  I hope you all have a good week!  I love you guys!

Elder Johnson