December 28, 2015

I loved skyping you guys! It was amazing, I enjoyed it!  Well this will be a short one. We taught a lot but nothing new as of yet! We did baptize Ashley! She is still doing great! And Kim is still doing great! She will be interviewed this week and baptized this Saturday! I did fine on the confirmation, but I was super nervous. haha But I didn't mess up! And the spirit was speaking! We have a few lessons set up this week.  The big ones that you should know about would be the Webbers! They're doing great! Nothing seems to be stopping them! So that's good to see. We're excited for them as well. They are doing great in lessons and love having us over for dinner and a lesson! Otherwise not too bad of a week. Anyway, I love you guys! 

Elder Johnsen

December 21, 2015

Well this week has been a really good one! We have had some really great miracles! We got two new investigators from a member referral and we got 3 new investigators total! We have been killing it this week! We got 4 investigators at church! If you watch the video journals it will explain a lot more about the people and what goes on during the day! I promise it is worth it! So download them! I'll explain a bunch on Skype! So have some questions ready for me so we don't get only through a few then get cut off! That would suck! But we are hoping to have 10 investigators at church next week! Which will be so killer! We have a baptism this weekend! And I will be confirming her in church on Sunday!  I'm so nervous! This will be my first time ever doing something like this! So I have been reading the prayer over and over again in personal study to try and get it down pact! I should be fine though! But you never know! It will be great! We will take lots of pictures! I'm super excited! It will be my first baptism all the way from finding her to baptizing her! I love it!  Kim we didn't meet with last week.. things came up on our end and hers... Which sucks.. But oh well. We picked up two new solid investigators this week! Heather and Craig, they're both member referrals! And then we also got 3 unbaptized youth were hoping to set for the 9th of January today! So that will be exciting! Heather will have to be set later out because she needs to get married, but she came to church and loved it! So she said she is going to bring her kids and her fiance! Anyway my new companion is pretty awesome! I told dad some things about him, but he's pretty sweet otherwise! Another really good companion! I'm happy that I don't have any crappy companions anymore.. The work goes so much better and it goes by way faster too! But anyway! I will see you on Christmas day!! With love,

Elder Johnsen! 

 

I received another surprise text with this picture!  Love it!!

Text said: 'Lovely Elders at Church.  Love to your family.'

 

December 14, 2015

Well this week has been fun! We have been having tons of success! And it feels great!!!! My new companions name is Elder Pitts! He is from Provo, Utah! But he is one country boy! haha We have been getting along to say the least! haha This will be one fun transfer! haha But this week we had a pretty cool miracle! We have been trying to track down this less active part member family for quiet some time and it hasn't worked out the other 1000 times we have stopped by.. But Sunday we felt inspired to stop by so we did, but we tried a different address! And guess what! They were home! And after getting to know her we told her about us teaching Landon and she told us, 'Well I guess it's time that I get back into church and have you guys teach my kids!' So we set up an appointment to teach her two unbaptized youth!!! We are so happy and so excited!!!!!!!!!!!!!! And the dad isn't a member but I found out he likes cars.. So I was like 'nice, game on.' Then I found out he races. So I was like 'ok, thats pretty cool!' Then I found out he has a race car. So I was like 'even better...' Then he showed me and I was like 'good gracias, this thing is beautiful!!!!!!!!!'  It's another near pro-mod built camaro!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! He told me about it.. It's a 72 camaro with a Chevy 355 (lame) and all the hook ups, trans brake, Hurst shifter, co2 shiftnoid, msd ignition, lexan windows, Ford 9inch, Goodyear slicks, it was sweet!!!!!!!!!!! Only problem is... He only runs 1/8 mile... and its slow... He said it's about... 6-7 seconds in the 1/8... But, the chassis is soo set up for something bigger!! I would have a 400 Chevy small block with a set of twins on it:) She would run 7-8 in the quarter!!! :) But he said he doesn't race it because he has kids and so that made sense! haha Anyway! Kim is still Kim and is doing so great!! We are happy for her! She's progressing well! And Ashley is so solid! It's amazing! Her husband got the Priesthood in his ward in Georgia! (He is at Military Basic training) So he can now baptize her! haha So that's exciting! And he will be here on the 15th to take the final lessons with her! Then she will be baptized on the 26th!!! We're so happy!! Anyway! I love you guys!

Love,

Elder Johnsen! 

December 7, 2015

Well this week was AH-mazing! We have been having so much success!!!! We love it out here! It is sad to say though that... Elder Unutoa will be leaving and I will be staying... But I'm excited to carry out the work here! It's been very fun! I'm excited to be here for 6 months! haha This is the longest I have been in an area! Well this week we had 2 investigators at church which was great! And we have 4 set with a date! It's so exciting! We had a miracle this week! We got a head quarter referral and she basically said 'I want to be baptized, when can I get in the water?!' So we met up with her and set her with a date! Then gave her a church tour and taught her another lesson a few days later and then she showed up to church!!!! I was so happy!!!! Her name is Ashley! Her husband was just baptized so she wants to be baptized! So we're excited about that!! :) Then we met with Kim twice this last week! It was so nice! She is so ready to get baptized! She has already picked out who she wants to baptize her! Which will be her husband, of course! But we are so happy for her! While we were at her house we also got to get an in depth lesson of how to skin a deer! Her husband had a deer to gut and clean so I recorded the whole thing! haha So if you stumble across that video.. I'm sorry. haha It was really cool though! haha But we have been having fun! We also got to finally teach Chris's wife! She might be a very solid investigator, if we can get Chris to be a little more motivated... So hopefully we can see the progress in that area! :) Otherwise, this area is really about to take off! I hope to have so many appointments that we need a car to get to all of them! haha Maybe that will convince President to get us a car! :) Anyway! I love you all and hope you guys have a good week! :)

Love,

Elder Johnsen! :) 

 

 

Just a few pictures that were sent to me via text this week.  I love getting these little random texts from people in North Carolina!!  They make me so happy!!

 Michael and his companion, Elder Unutoa, helping someone with Christmas Decorations.  They must have fed them.  It looks like he is eating in the top picture.

 I got this one today from the member that fed these handsome Missionaries.  I know Michael is really going to miss this companion.  They get along so well!

I never would have thought to take a picture of a Missionary we had over for dinner and send it to their moms, until I sent my kiddo on his mission.  Now I send text pictures to Mom's whenever I can.  So make a Missionary Mom's day!  When you see a Missionary, at the grocery store, at a restaurant, shopping at Walmart, anywhere!, take a picture and send it to the mom that is missing her kiddo.

 

 

November 30, 2015

Today is just about ten months!!! That's so exciting!!!!!!!!!! Time is flying out here!  Before you know it I will be skyping you, then I will be celebrating New Years, then my one year and then I'm on the down hill slope!!! Thats so crazy!!!!!!!!!!

Well this week has been a good one! We didn't get to go to Kim's for Thanksgiving because she ended up getting sick. but she did reschedule on the spot and we will be going over on Wednesday for some dinner as well! So we're excited! And she came to church this week! It was so exciting!!!!!!!!! We are so happy for her and how she is starting to progress so well! I love seeing progression!!! It's amazing! We have a big problem with trying to meet with people.. It sucks.. Like we are crappy at trying to get return appointments.. We haven't met with Jennifer in two weeks! But yet she comes to church? Super weird.. So we're working on that as well.. We need to be meeting more with our investigators.. and try to set more people with a baptismal date. So I will keep you informed on how that's going! Otherwise not much happened this week. Nothing super cool or rad. But we did visit and set up lots of appointments with less actives and perspective Elders! So we're hoping to see a high number in how many less actives we teach this week! We have a goal of teaching ten lessons this week! So I hope we can get it!! I want it so bad! haha I also got to meet a 32nd degree Scottish Mason this week! He's less active for some, I guess, big reasons to him.. But to us, we feel like he just didn't have a firm testimony in Joseph Smith. Which is too bad.. So maybe we can work with him, but he made it pretty clear that he wasn't coming back.. Said he loves the church, but can't get over this thing. So hopefully he can figure it out! haha! Anyway I love you guys and hope you guys have a good week!

Love,

Elder Johnsen

November 23, 2015

Well this week we have finally been seeing the success coming from long weeks of just visiting less actives. I DON'T WANT TO LEAVE THIS AREA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! We have picked up a NIMR each week now and we have started setting people for baptism. We have started to have people at church! This area is starting to take off! We have been loaded with referrals from active, less active, and recent converts! It has been a great past few weeks! We have visited every less active and part member family in our area! And so many of them have told us to come back and we have set up so many appointments this week! We are going to be doing lots of teaching this week! I'm very excited and we, as a companionship, are very happy about all the success we have been having!


We taught one of our new investigators, Kim, this week and she is doing soo well!!!! She is married to a less active and the father is an extremely active member. So we had a really great first lesson with them and then we came back on Sunday to teach her again and she told us that out of all the missionary's that have taught her, we were the only ones that have the Spirit so strong in our lessons! It was crazy! I have never loved an investigator sooo much!! Usually I just know they probably won't progress, but with her I know that this time she will be baptized! She was previously taught by a few sets of missionaries, but when we went over the first time we taught her the new way we are teaching and they just felt the spirit so strong! They were both crying and it was just a good lesson! I just can't contain how excited I am for her! We then extended a baptismal date for her. We set her for January 2nd! And she said that she feels very prepared for this date! And I know she will be! She was very excited to hear about a date for her! Next lesson I'm going to tell her that if she gets baptized on that date, than in a year I will come back out and go to the temple when they are sealed! And the best part about us meeting with them is she then invited us over for Thanksgiving dinner with her whole family, who are non members! So we are super excited to hopefully teach them a lesson about what we believe!


We also had an investigator at church! She was also a member referral from a recent convert! She has a lot to do before she can get baptized, but we are hoping we can set her with a date as well! haha So as you may know, this has been an exciting week! I am so happy right now!!! haha Anyway! I love being out here and I'm having so much fun in this area! haha Well I love you and I miss you a bunch! 

Love,
Elder Johnsen

More fun pictures I found on his photo storage.  I have no idea what they are doing or where they are.  But, he and his companion seem to get along very well.  :) 

 

November 16, 2015

So this week nothing really happened. Nothing as impressive as last week, but we did finally go out to the far ends of our ward boundaries. It's a place called Howbucken. It's an hour+ drive from our apartment. And there is one member that lives out there.. and she is so nice! She had some bad experiences with people in the church in previous areas. But the best part is, she still knows the church is true! She said that without a doubt she knows its true! But, since she lives so far and has two autistic kids, she doesn't come out very often.. Which is sad, but she has legitimate reasons. We told her that if we were ever out that way again we would make a special visit to see her out there!

Otherwise, we did have a little miracle happen to us! Our recent convert, Leamon, gave us a referral to a lady he knows and we went out to see her.  Man! She is super prepared! She has a few things to work on, like most people we meet, but she should be able to over come it! So we were super excited about that! We did have exchanges this week! It was awesome! I got to go with one of the Elders I came out with! So, Elder Alexander and I got to be companions for a day! It was fun! We talked a lot about the MTC and a lot about companions we have had! It was just an overall good time! haha It was actually my first time packing for an exchange in over 6 months! So it was a little different! But I enjoyed it! haha! Anyway that's it for my week! I love you and miss you guys a bunch!

Love, 

Elder Johnsen

November 9, 2015

Well this week was an interesting one.. I almost got shot, we didn't baptize anyone, and we still don't have a car. haha We have been having pretty good success with trying to find people that don't come to church! Except for last night.. that's when we almost got shot. So it starts getting dark around here at about 6, so we went out to find people like usual. We brought one of the kids from the ward who is leaving for his mission in a week, and we get to a house and the garage is open so we're happy because we're thinking 'Man we will be able to talk to them!' So we're all excited. We're walking up to the front door and the guy comes in from the backyard and I'm like 'Hey! How's it going!' And he goes 'Woah! You guys kinda scared me!' And I was like 'Oh I'm sorry man! I didn't mean to.' And he was like 'Well it's all right, we can't do it tonight!' And we're like 'OK, well does Jessica (I'll change her name for protection) live here?'  He then turns to us and starts walking towards us and he just starts yelling! 'Get the F*** off my driveway!' And we're like 'Yes sir! We are going!' He then said 'You know what, actually I'm just going to kill you guys because you keep coming over!!!!!!' So we're like 'Umm we want no part of this!' So he starts running inside! And while he's running inside he's yelling 'Jessica! I'm going to kill the F***in Mormons!' So as we're walking fast back to the car, I look back and see him running through his house to his room, so I'm like 'Oh snap he was serious!' So I start bookin it to the car! And Josh (the youth) had the car locked and was looking for the keys, so I'm freaking out because there's a guy with a 12 gauge running through the house trying to get me! So I'm yelling at Josh and finally we get in the car and we start that car so fast and we got out of there sooo fast!!!!! Needless to say we will not be going back to try and see Jessica... haha So that was a great experience.. I have decided that I'm going to now turn my gopro on when we do less active contacts at night... Just in case it's the last video of me.. haha Because if I could have gotten that on film, it would have been sweet to show people!! Maybe we'll go back just so we can film it... No, I'm kidding mom. We won't be doing that! haha Otherwise contacting the less actives has been good! They usually just say 'Umm yeah I don't want to talk to ya!' So we just verify that they are the person that the records say lives there and then we just tell Bishop that they would prefer not to be contacted at that time.

We actually stopped by an old lady's house who can't come to church because she has health problems. She's 82.. I mean, that's old. And she was an unknown less active. And we were the first people to visit her in probably over a year and she was so happy to see us! And to see people from the church! She couldn't stop saying how much she loved us! We had a great lesson with her! :) It was a bittersweet moment! :) So there's a success story and a funny/bad story! haha! Besides that, we have gotten back in contact with Jamilah and have a lesson with her today and a lesson with Tony. We have gotten a little more support from the ward so we are able to hopefully bring these people to Baptism! We'll see how the lesson goes. We did stop by Landon's last night and his dad informed us he will probably be wearing the brace for the next 3 months... So we can cross him off our list.. So we told him when he feels like he is ready, to give us a call. So we dropped him, but we'll continue to pop in every now and then. But that was pretty much our week! I love you all and miss you a bunch!

Love, 

Elder Johnsen

 

I have no idea what these pictures are of or who is in them.  I just found them in his My Cloud account and thought I would post them.  His current companion is in the picture with him at the Dr. Office and the bottom picture.  I do recognize some of the other missionaries in some of the pics, but not all of them.

 

November 2, 2015

Well this week people think I'm either too skinny or that it must be Halloween time... I'm going to go with that they think I'm too skinny.. Man we have gotten so much food and candy this week!!! A lady in the ward found out I really love smarties, so when we went over to her house (funny story actually) looking for someone else, she said 'oh I have something for you!' I was like huh? And she was like 'I'll be right back!' So she left and we were talking with her family and she comes back with a gallon size zip lock bag full of Smarties!! I was like no way! haha So I now have that, plus all the candy and Oreo's you sent me in my package.. haha So its been fun!

But this week we have been doing a lot less investigator work.. and doing more less actives and un-knowns in the ward! So we have had great success with that! We have actually contacted almost half the ward (the ward has 600+ records) trying to find out who is who, what addresses are right or wrong, who wants to come back, who hates us, and so forth! So we have spent tons of our time making a new ward roster with notes on how each of our visits went and what we talked about and details about the person. Including, if there house was hard to find, what dirt road you have to turn on and so forth. So we have been cleaning up a bunch of the records which has made Bishop very happy! So we keep pressing forward. The reason behind us doing this instead of investigator work is because with investigators you need daily contact, and you need to see them a lot!!!! And we just don't have a car to be doing that right now.. We do have some investigators, but it's slim that we see them and they arn't really progressing currently.. Now you may ask how are we seeing all these less actives then? Well we have a member, Brother Rose, which I think I told you about earlier.  He is a returning INACTIVE member and he loves missionary work so he would rather go out with us than just sit at home, so he is always willing! So we go out with him a bunch! We have lots of fun! So that's been nice to have him in this time of need! haha But a little update on the investigators, Landon will not be baptized until at least the 24th. His dad is going in for back surgery this week and will be in a brace for 3 weeks. So we probably won't be seeing him baptized until next year.. We really wanted him to be baptized before the surgery but his dad skipped a bunch of appointments and they haven't been to church in like 4 weeks.  So we are really trying to stress that this is Landon's baptism and not his, so that kinda stinks.. Tony seems set in his ways so we don't see him changing, but we do meet with him whenever he is not committing crime.. So hopefully we can see a change in him. We're staying positive. Otherwise that's all the investigators that have any promise at being baptized at this point...  Love you all.

Elder Johnsen

October 26, 2015

Well I wasn't transferred! So I'm going to finally have a companion longer than one transfer! haha This is exciting! haha But we get along so well, so it's been a fast and great past 6 weeks! I'm excited for the next 6 weeks! We still don't have a car.. which sucks, but we're working hard. I did go to the doctor and he said it's just chronic muscle pain from the car accidents. He basically said any time it hurts just take a bunch of pain pills... So I guess I'm just going to go with it umtil something worse happens, or I'm not sure. Just until something happens haha! They did x-rays and said the bones are spaced out where they need to be and everything looks fine, so he said it's probably just muscle. So we press on! haha This week was a pretty cool week! So, since we split the areas we have had problems with the other missionary's poaching our area for investigators and less actives. Since they have a car they can cover more area/people.. It makes us mad... So on Friday night we were out with Brother Rose, who usually takes us to visit lots of people! So we were out with him visiting people that Bishop gave us to go see and while we were out, we came to the Weidmans (pronounced weed-mans) and they were like 'Whoa! Hey more missionaries!' and we were like crap... So they told us that the other set had scheduled an appointment on Saturday at 7:30 so I had the great idea of saying 'Well hey, we will teach you a much more powerful lesson at 7:15 the same night.' And they were like 'Sure, we would love that!' So my intent was for them to show up and see us teaching a family in their area.. so that maybe they could learn their lesson about poaching! Well it went better than planned!! We took a very powerful member that was previously excommunicated, and went over to their house! And we made sure we were on time! (of course we were because this guy has some very fast cars... we went in his Audi s8)  We show up and we start having our lesson and 7:30 comes and no knock... then 7:35.. no knock yet... then 7:40 comes and still no knock.. So I'm thinking they must have told them that we were coming.. And I mean we prepared a short lesson so I'm trying to drag out this short lesson with this family, and to say the least, it's not quite working out... So 7:45 comes and still no knock... I'm like man we're about to say a prayer and leave! But at few minutes later there's a knock, and the dad gets it and the look on their faces was so priceless!! We were dying laughing once we saw their faces!! hahahahaha I was tickled quite a bit by it! :) haha  Needless to say, the next day at church they were very upset! So I hope they got the point about coming to our area and stealing our less actives and our investigators!! haha

Another funny thing that happened was while we were out finding people on the DO NOT CONTACT list, less active list, and part member family list, we ran into this old guy. We knocked on his screen door (everyone here has screen rooms.. no idea why...) and he yells 'I'm coming.'  So we wait and he gets to the door and opens it and doesn't see anyone, and hes like 'Are ya there?'  And we yell 'Yes, were at the screen door.' And he peeks out and yells 'MORMONS! Are you Mormons?' And we say 'Yes we are!' and he was like 'Well goodbye!' haha And so we yell and ask if he is Brother Nelson (that's not his name) and he quickly opens the door and yells 'Yes!' and then slams it! hahah We were cracking up just laughing! haha So it's been fun and scary trying to contact these people... haha

But otherwise, we didn't teach any of our investigators this week and Landon's dad keeps prolonging his baptism so we are being patient with that.. Hopefully something happens... Hopefully someone will be baptized in this area before I leave.. I want one really bad... so I'm determined to get one!! haha But that was pretty much our week! :)

Elder Johnsen 

 

 

So happy to have received these pics of these two handsome missionaries in my email yesterday!

I love these little surprises. 

 

October 19, 2015

Hello! Yes I got the package! I love the hat! I have been wearing it non stop!!! haha I don't think I need anything as of yet! I'm doing pretty good otherwise! I hope all is well back home! I think it would be cool to do the St George thing every year! Maybe one day I will go! haha I still want to go to a big family reunion! haha Otherwise this was our week!

So this week we had a pretty good week! We dropped all our baptism dates because none of them were progressing.. So that sucks but sometimes you have to do that! So hopefully we can reset them! The one is just that his dad has commitment problems so we are really trying to meet with him but the dad seems to always have an excuse. So that kinda stinks!!! So we need some commitment out of him! Otherwise we picked up 6 new investigators. Which isn't bad. I doubt any of them will progress! But I guess we will see what's going to happen! We were able to contact 32 people on the wards do not contact list.. So sometimes that can be a little scary... Sometimes they're not always nice!! But most of them were really nice and we are going to go back and try and teach them! haha So my companion is named Elder Unutoa. He is from Lehi, Utah, and he has been out for 19 months! He is super cool! This is week 6 of this transfer so we will be getting transfer calls this Saturday.. I'm not sure if I'm excited or not... Guess we will see! And yes, the weather has officially gotten cold! I'm freezing right now as we speak!! So I have been wearing long sleeves these past few days.. Hopefully it warms up because this sucks! I miss Arizona winters... but there's really not that much that is new or going on.. I wish there was more to report... We stayed dry through the flooding that happened last week! So that's good! I'm coming up on nine months! So that will be fun! That's all for this week. 

Love,
Elder Johnsen

October 12, 2015

Well this week has been alright! haha We haven't been having luck with finding people to teach so we have kinda shifted our efforts more to the less actives and part members in the ward. It's been really fun! We have a member who was completely inactive and now he is super active and he comes out with us all the time! And he loves coming out with us! He is the assistant ward mission leader and just loves being out with us! And he is that member that is like super active and follows all the rules to a T! It's great! He wants to magnify his calling so much! It's great! So we now have 3 people set with a date! We set our unbaptized youth kid with a date! So hopefully he can be ready and I can have a baptism in the area! haha So Tony, we actually found out he is not doing too hot.. He was involved in a shooting in the area.. and we're not sure if it's good or bad that we know who the suspect is.. Since the authority's don't have any suspects yet.. So the statement that "the cops can't find them, the FBI can't find them, but our missionary's can!" stands true! haha So we're not sure if his date will still be standing at the end of this week.. haha So I'll keep you posted on that one.. haha Otherwise, we were yelled at by a girl that wanted her name removed, we saw the creepiest house ever! And we have just been having a blast!! Well that's all for this week! :)

Love, 

Elder Johnsen

 

 

October 5, 2015

Well it has been a good week! We have been inside most the week because of the rain.. So that has put a damper on the work here... We are still working as hard as we can, but that can be hard.. We didn't meet with any of our investigators this week. We only taught two lessons.. So we kinda sucked.. So I can't report on how our investigators are doing since we didn't see them.. Sad day.. So this week the storm is supposed to actually hit so hopefully we can get out sometime this week and meet with everyone and see how they're doing! Otherwise, this week the highlight would have been Conference! We had so much fun! It was really a great experience! I loved all the talks! They were all great! I loved how the Apostles talked about the failures they had and how they over came them and the success that came from them not giving up! It was great to see that some failures can be really hard to overcome.. But they did it! Their example is great!! Anyway that's all from the amazing Elder Johnsen!

Love,

Elder Johnsen 

September 28, 2015

Well this week has been good! We have been having a struggle on bikes, but we're still pushing forward... Hopefully we can work through it! We taught 8 total lessons, we have 2 people set for baptism, we had one at Sacrament meeting and 0 new this week.. So we're trying our best. We also had 2 days where we got nothing but zeros because of the rain.. So we're trying..Wish us luck... haha Tony is a guy that we have set for baptism.  He is doing great so far! He came to Book of Mormon class and we have been teaching him almost twice a week! So we're super excited for him! We should have 4 people set for baptism by the end of this week! :) We're super excited!! My favorite scripture story is probably the story about Moroni in the Alma chapters! He's is an awesome guy! It's crazy that his people are blessed when they have God in their life! So that's a good story to read about! Well I would say my favorite area so far has been New Kent, but I'm starting to like this area too! haha It's legit! Lots of people.. Just not as country as New Kent! And my favorite companion is probably the one I have now! He is super funny! It makes the work go by super fast!! I can't believe we are already in week 3 of this transfer! And no I have not seen a doctor yet... And I have figured out why... I'm scared they will send me home when I go see them... So I'm just roughin' it and will figure things out later! :) Well that's been pretty much our week! We got to see the blood moon last night! It was crazy!! haha Not as red as they said it would be, but we still got to see it! And yes I recorded it! So you can see that video when ever I upload it! haha Well I love you guys and miss you much! :)

Love, 

Elder Johnsen

September 21, 2015

Well this week has been good! I have an awesome companion! We get along really well! We are having lots of fun! haha We are a biking area... I'm a little upset about that.. I am getting my back looked at here in the next couple of days.. because I can't do this. But I'm getting through it. We did pretty good for only 4 days! We got 3 new investigators! We had one at sacrament meeting and we taught 6 total lessons.. It's super hard not having a car because we had to cancel and not go to a lot of appointments... So lots of missed opportunity's... oh well.. But we are making due. We have been trying to use the members as best as possible! But sometimes that doesn't always work out... But we are trying our best! :) Well the hardest thing to tell an investigator is that their baptism was invalid because it wasn't done with the right Priesthood authority... Sometimes it can be hard.. But if you explain it nicely and how important the Priesthood is, then they usually get it haha My favorite thing about being on my mission is being able to see people change. But also how much I learn each day about the gospel, as well as with just learning things for myself. My favorite scripture... That would be a hard one but I did read in Alma 32 the other day and I love how much it talks about faith! :) Sorry this is so short this week... Nothing really special has happened... haha

Love,

Elder Johnsen

Another Transfer! September 14, 2015

Well I am getting transferred!!! kinda. I'm actually opening the new area, like I thought, but I'm getting a companion that has been out for some time. So will see how this goes.. I'm supposedly senior companion which means, (hopefully) I get to drive, which will be nice because it's been almost 8 months of no driving and I swear I'm going to flip out if I don't drive a car... haha So we'll see how this week goes! I am also getting an orthopedic doctor to look at my back. It has been hurting quite a bit this last week, but the past two days I have felt fine.  But I'm still going to get it checked out anyway because there has to be something wrong with it. So I'm determined to finally figure it out. I'm not going to destroy my back just so I can get home and become lazy because I can't do anything. So I'm going to figure it out. But this week has been great! We taught 19 total lessons! We also got 6 new investigators! So that was nice! We have also been dividing up the area for the two companionship's! So we have been staying busy! I'm excited to see how it goes with just two of us now... it will be so different.  We can't teach single ladies anymore, unless we have a member or there's a third male.. so that kinda stinks.  But we will get over it! The strangest experience I have had has either been when a guy told us that we shouldn't be preaching to him because he would school us. He was being nice about saying don't come talk to him. Or the time we knocked on a lady's door and she said 'come in' and she and about 5 others were all sitting around the coffee table smoking weed... haha I don't think she thought it was us.  And the look on their faces was priceless! Those would have to be the strangest experiences.. haha! :) I think the most spiritual experience has been just seeing people start to understand how much sense the gospel makes! It's great for them to see how simple it is and how it just makes plain sense! I think it was cool the other day we were telling a guy about how the spirit feels.  He was like 'oh, well I talked to a Pastor and he said I'm not allowed to feel the spirit unless he puts his hands on me' and we were like 'nawh bro! you can feel the spirit.' So that was pretty cool to explain! Anyway, that has been our week! It's been fun! I'm excited for next week! I love you guys! And miss you a lot!

Love, 

Elder Johnsen

Letter from September 7, 2015

This week we did really good! We had a meeting up in Virginia so we had to drive up Tuesday afternoon and stay the night there for our meeting on Wednesday. It's a little over a 3 hour drive so that was kinda fun. So for two days we didn't really get much done.. But we still did teach 18 total lessons and got 6 new investigators, with 61 invite others. So we didn't hit the standard but we still did a pretty good job. If we had those two days we could have gotten the invite others for the standard. We had exchanges with the Assistance's which went pretty well! I found this quote in this lady's house that I wrote down during the lesson.  I didn't get it at first but it makes a lot of sense! 'It's better to suffer wrong than to do it, and happier to be sometimes cheated than not to trust'. I didn't get it but I do now and it's a really great quote! I love it haha. Also, if you remember last week me talking about our investigator Lucy..? Well great news!!! No I'm kidding, this is actually really funny! So we took the Spanish Missionary's over there to talk to her about the Book of Mormon. Well it went pretty good! We found out she is a Pentecostal Minister and only went to church so she could try and steal some of our church members to go to her church! It was crazy!!! We were stunned, but we had to laugh about it! haha Alright... So to get away form my companions... I do like dad does... "pretend to go to the bathroom."  But mainly I just stay quite and don't really engage in conversation... Because then I say something stupid, and it lets me think about other things.  I haven't really learned how to cook any new meals. We have mainly just suffered through eating the basics... Pasta for lunch, bagel for breakfast... Whatever the members feed us for dinner. I did learn how to cook ranch marinated chicken while on my mission.... and I would say the reason I have gained weight is just by eating so much.. And being in a car all day, instead of me walking around an auto shop all day and working on cars. Instead I'm sitting at a desk and riding around in a car.... Very different. But I do plan to just work it all off when I get back on the wake board back home. That will really kill me and get me into shape. If my back allows me... so we will see! That's pretty much it for our week! I hope everything goes well for you guys back home! :) I love you guys and miss you! 

Elder Johnsen

 

A little P-Day fun at the golf course.  He also sent a few pics of his blistered hands from swinging the clubs.

Pretty cool looking night sky!

 

 

 

Letter from August 31, 2015

This week we went above the standard of excellence again! We raked in 18 total lessons, 100 I/O's and 4 new investigators. So, like always we killed it again. We're going to try for 20 total lessons this next week! So that will be super cool to have happen! We have 5 planned tonight so that would be a great kick start to our week if we could do that! This new teaching way has been helping us a bunch and we have been able to teach way more powerful lessons in 1/4 of the time! The sucky part is that we probably teach upwards of 25 lessons a week, but in order for them to count we have to have a return appointment. So we teach lots of lessons but sometimes the people don't want us to come back.. haha Alright, so the hardest part of any companionship is probably deciding whether to buy separately or together on Monday... Some missionary's spend $60+ on food a week! It's crazy! But then there are others, like me, that spend at most... $15-$20 a week. The people that spend less are the ones you want to buy together with, since it will be cheaper! But the ones that buy a lot, you tell them to go buy it on their own! haha Getting along with companions... hmm... For me I try to make things funny. If your not having fun then your going to have a crappy time and probably won't have a smile on your face. If your happy then everyone is getting along, and there's companionship unity. So I always try to keep things funny in the companionship.  But once I cross a line I have to apologize and make things right, otherwise you won't teach good lessons. I prefer trios! They're the best because you can teach single ladies and less active single wives! You don't have to worry about getting a third male all the time! It is so nice!!! We love it! Well the thing that I think that has changed the most with me is patience... I was honest before I left, I was a hard worker, you know this from what I worked in high school and how many jobs I have had, none of which were easy jobs. Reliability, I was very reliable, but my car was not. But I love my car so I will take the blame for that one.. ;) But I have learned a lot about patience.  I don't get mad instantly after someone does something.  I wait and figure things out. I'm not quick to jump to conclusions and I have learned it a lot, also through waiting to email every week! haha And waiting for letters that don't come!!! haha That's basically it! haha I hope all is well back home! I'm doing great out here! I love it! I miss you guys!

Love,

Elder Johnsen

Michael with his companions, Elder Egbert and Elder Rogers.

 

Enjoying a Sonic Milkshake!

 

We were at the eye doctor for Elder Egbert, he needed to get an eye exam haha

And yes, Elder Rogers is very tall... a staggering 6ft 6inches.  He makes me look small. 

He's pretty funny though! I poke fun at him since he has to duck under everything!

 

District Meeting.

 

 

Letter from August 24, 2015

This week has been good! We taught 19 lessons this week, found 7 new investigators and got 78 I/O's, so we didn't get the standard because we didn't get 100 I/O's which sucks but it's fine, we were teaching lots of people! Cool little miracle thing that happened this week, we were on our way to a lesson and while walking up to the house we stopped and talked to a guy to get a little I/O before the lesson.  He was like 'yeah I'm going through some family problems' and wants to help his family out so we told him our message blesses families.  He was like 'Well, come on in right now!'  We told him 'We have a lesson right now but after we can try.'  He was cool with it so we went in and taught this lesson and then came out and went to another lesson, and then went to a third lesson before we came back and said 'Hey we have some time! are you available for a lesson?'  He was, so we taught him outside of his house and it was a great lesson! He invited us back over and said he is really looking for some direction in his life! He really loved the part about the apostasy! He said he sees alot of the end result of that! So that was cool! His name is Sam and he even said he would be baptized if he came to know that it was true! So that was super cool!

Alright, so the hardest question we have gotten is usually if Jesus is black or white or that they were already baptized and don't want to get baptized again. 

The question we really hate getting is if Jesus is black, because the person is usually really racist and will dwell on trying to proove to us that Jesus is black.. I don't really care what color he is, his teachings are what matter most. 

And the easiest question that we have been asked is 'when can I get baptized?' haha Those ones are super easy! 

This week we were told something pretty far fetched, he clearly doesn't understand scriptures.. but he told us we worship pagan gods because we celebrate Christmas and Easter.. Super lame. But I wanted to ask why he was wearing a cross, because that would mean that he is worshipping the cross and not Jesus, therefore meaning he worships pagan gods as well.. I thought it was funny. haha That was pretty much our week! :) I miss you all and can't wait to see you again soon! 

Elder Johnsen

Letter from August 17, 2015

This week we went above and beyond the Standard of Excellence, which is 15 total lessons, 2 new investigators, and 100 invite others. We got 19 total lessons, 4 new investigators, and 110 invite others. We killed it this last week. We had an investigator at Sacrament Meeting as well and have two people set for baptism, with 3 more we're going to set by the end of this next week. The Mission numbers were through the roof as well. I included them here as well: 

Our performance as a mission this week was:
- Baptisms for the Week: 4; Total Baptisms and Confirmations for the year: 156
- Total Lessons taught for the Week: 818; Average lessons per Companionship: 9.2
- I/Os for the Week: 6,054; Average per Companionship: 68.0
- New Investigators for the Week: 239; New Investigators pwe Companionship: 2.7

"The Mission performance for the week was remarkable -- more I/Os and new investigators than ever before.  You didn't just get back to work after transfer week -- you raised the bar (again)."

That was our week.  I wish I had more time.  These new companions are really quick at emailing, so I have to be quick too.  I love you guys.

Love,
Elder Johnsen

Letter from August 10, 2015

Well, I was Transferred! Thus far I have had 9 companions and have served in 4 trios and have served in 3 areas in 6 months! I'm now in New Bern, North Carolina! I'm with another set of zone leaders! I Love my New companions! They're both from Idaho, and they're both freaking awesome to be around! This week we taught upwards of about 25 lessons, which is killer but we can't count some of them because we didn't set up a return appointment. So they don't count. But we did teach 12 lessons with a return appointment. And picked up 2 new investigators! The new way of teaching is so much better! We can get upwards of 10+ investigators a week but we would rather not waste our time with people that are not as prepared as others. So we limit our self to the mission standard of excellence of two new investigators a week. We have about 9 lessons set up a day, but only about 4-5 go through.. But we keep our heads high! We will teach everyone in this city in no time! :) And something funny... I am learning how to solve a Rubik's cube...  I cant think of anything super funny that has happened... Something super cool did happen though! This isn't spiritual at all so don't be expecting some miracle or something cute that happened... So while Elder Thurgood and I were out tracting we saw the back end of a brand new Dodge Challenger Hellcat, and I heard it start up and I was like 'Elder Thurgood, watch this', so as he was backing out I hurried over and flagged him down and told him to wait and stop. So he pulled up to us and rolled down the window and said 'What's up?' and I was like 'sweet car man!' And he said 'Thanks!  I then asked the greatest, most spiritually inspired question ever! I asked 'Would you be baptized?' No, I'm kidding I actually asked 'So does this thing do some nice burn outs?' And he just got the biggest smile on his face and was like 'Oh does it do burn outs!' and he put that thing in first and just let her rip!  He lit those tires up so fast!!! And he had a dope burnout goin on! And after hitting the limiter for a minute he took off down the road leaving some fat stripes down the road!!! It was beautiful! I was mad I didnt get a video of it.. But I did get pictures, so I have proof that it did happen!! haha We also got to go explore a huge mud truck! Well thats about it! haha I miss you guys! 25% complete! Time is flying! :) 

Love,

Elder Johnsen 

Transferred Again! (From August 3, 2015)

This week we have been doing missionary work. I think that's a good thing. haha But seriously, we got transfer calls and I am being transferred to New Burn, North Carolina! I go on Thursday.  I'm super excited! I get to be with Elder Rogers and Elder Egbert! Elder Egbert was my Zone Leader in Norfolk so we will get along great! I'm super excited! He's a great missionary! So that's been exciting. Otherwise this week we had MLC which was pretty cool. I got to see my trainer one last time before he goes home! He's a great guy! It's been a much better relationship now that we are not companions! haha I will miss him, he is a great guy!

This week has been full of lessons and we have been teaching quite a bit which has been nice! And we currently have 4 people set with a date, but that could change at any point. So hopefully they can all go through! I won't talk too much about them since this is no longer my area haha! But they are great people! This week we have a mission wide meeting where everyone in the mission is coming up for a specialized training and it will be super cool to see our whole MTC district again! I will make sure that we get pictures! I think that's about it for the week..? Maybe I'm just not remembering because I'm old... not sure.. haha well I love you guys and miss you guys a bunch! Only 18months left!

Love,

Elder Johnsen

A new Investigator and a Barn find Galore!

This week has been a good one! We found some new investigators, as well as taught a bunch of less actives! We have been coming really close to the standard of excellence which is 100 I/O's a week and 15 total lessons with 2 new investigators. We always hit two of those things but can never get all three! So we're trying hard to hit it before the end of the transfer! We don't really have many investigators that are progressing super duper fast.. But they seem to be doing well. We did have a guy call us Saturday saying he was meeting with Missionary's before and wanted to meet with us at 5pm.  He also wanted to come to church the next day! So we went over and were starting to teach a little bit about the restoration and he was like 'Guys I already know the Book of Mormon is true.' And we were like 'Well would you like to be baptized?' and he said 'Yeah! Can we do that tomorrow? Do you guys do it during services? Or how does it work?' So we set him with a date of August 22nd and the next day at church he was there! And he even participated in Sunday School! It was so great to see that! So he's a really great investigator we got this week! Other than that.. nothing too much happening! This next week is jammed packed with things we need to do! So we will be going and going all day! And then we get transfer calls this Saturday which is exciting! Anyway! I love you all! :)

Love,

Elder Johnsen

 

 

For those of you who know Michael really well, we don't get many pictures of him sent to us.  What we do get are lots of pictures of cars!  In this weeks email, he sent over 20 pictures, all of which were of cars.  I mean, 19 of them were cars, 1 was a motorcycle.  Ha ha...  Here are a few pics he sent.

 

This is a Members Truck.  He was quite impressed and gave all the specs on it as far as engine size, tire size, etc. 

I'm not sure if this is a Member's home or not.  But he came across someone with a large garage, a large barn and a very large yard filled with old cars.  I'm sure he spent most of his day there with the guy talking cars.  I'm sure he would love to restore a few of these as well. 

We do get more pictures of cars than we do of him.  But, that is Michael.  It is who he is and he LOVES cars.  It must be a guy thing.  :)

 

 

Wow, sounds like a lot has been going on in the 480! I have been great! I have been trying to have fun but still working just as hard. It can be difficult when you have a companion that doesn't want anything to do with the word F.U.N. I feel bad. I bet he has had a miserable mission. I hope I'm not like that.. so remember if your not having fun then you probably hate what your doing. So anyway I have been good. We didn't teach anyone really this past week. Lots and lots of lessons that fell through.. So this next week we have already packed it full of lessons to teach! We have set up over 15 lessons for this week and counting, so hopefully we can meet with all of them! We have also been slaking in I/O's, so we have been trying to get back up in the triple digits. We have been doing lots of tracting in this area since there isn't any store bigger than a farmers market. So there are no malls to go talk to people at. And also tracting is more exercise, since each house is like a half mile from their neighbor, and their driveways are forever long too. So lots of time walking! In about 6 hours we talk to about 25 people.. so its hard getting I/O's out here but were trying! The members here are awesome! They always help us out and it really makes a big difference being in a ward/branch where members help you! We go on three way splits all the time! Since we sometimes have 3-5 lessons all at the same time! haha I also think I will be shotgun training. Meaning I will open an area that's closed or my trainee and I will both go to a new area. I'm actually really excited if I get to train! The 2 transfers spent training will go by so fast! I'm really excited! :) The down side to training is if you do a crappy job or you slack off, then your trainee becomes a mirror of you. So you have to do a good job so that way they do a good job too and become a good missionary! So I'm excited to do that! Anyway that's about it! I miss you guys and I'm almost 6 months into my mission!

Love,

Elder Johnsen

THE Elder Johnsen in New Kent (July 13, 2015)

This week has been a great week! We picked up 9 new investigators! Which is the most I have ever gotten in a week so far on the mission! So hopefully we can see them progress really well! So being on my mission for a solid 5 months, I know way more than what I knew back home! Before I came out I knew zero about the church. I could just tell you that we don't do harmful things to our body's and we have the book of Mormon. That's about the extent of my knowledge before my mission. Now I know everything! You could ask me anything about the gospel and I will tell you and could even use scriptures to back it up! It's amazing! I study the scriptures differently than most. During the hour of personal study I read just the Book of Mormon. I can read the Book of Mormon in about 60-70 days. Averaging about 7-14 pages a day. I have never actually read the whole book of Mormon so I want to read it multiple times before I get home. So I'm on my second time going through it! The best way I would say for you to study it would be to think of a question you have. Could be anything. And think of that question and read the book of Mormon and highlight anything and everything that answers or helps you with that specific question. Be sure to write your question in the first few blank pages in the book so you don't forget it. And once you finish the Book of Mormon, you should have your question answered and at the end of the books we hand out there's about 14 blank pages. And on those pages you can write the summary and answer of your question. That's the best way I would say anything can do it. We are not required to study the Bible, but I kinda like bashing so I study it every now and then. I use the bible dictionary if there's a word I don't understand. And I have a dictionary to define different parts of the word as well. The topical guide is also huge as well! I have used it so much! before my mission I probably couldn't tell you what a topical guide was or where it was at, same with the bible dictionary. I studied what the word pillar meant in the Book of Mormon. So I highlighted every verse in the BofM and the Bible that said it, and I cross referenced everything and defined it. I also did the same for the word pit. Such a small word, but there are so many things that tie into it. It basically means that if your digging a pit, causing people to do wicked, you will fall into the pit that you dig. So it will come back to bite ya! It's pretty cool! But I would say just to get you studying something, ask a question and highlight the answer to it. I'll send you a couple Book of Mormons and you can all do the same. And I usually say a prayer before getting out of bed, for breakfast, personal study, companionship study, before leaving the house, before going into an investigators house, any time I am talking with someone who is grilling us or bashing I pray to know what to do, for lunch, for dinner, and probably another 5 random times. So a bunch! haha! And yes I'm a much different person! I have changed a bunch! I'm nowhere near the person I was before I left! And I don't think I could ever become that person again!
Anyway, I love you and miss you guys! Enjoy your vacation because I'm enjoying mine more than you guys are! :)

Love,
Elder Johnsen

Letter from July 6th

Well this week has been interesting. What started as what I thought would be a pretty cool companionship didn't end that way.. You always have two companions you don't like on your mission. So here's number one.. I just don't like being micro managed and being told what I HAVE to do all the time, so that has gotten quite annoying. I might deck him in a few weeks if it gets bad.. But I'm keeping my cool and excercising every ounce of patience I have... so hopefully this transfer can go by quickly so I can get out of this companionship. They think I will either be transferred out to go open an area and train or they will both leave and I will train in this area and they will be zone leaders in another area and open that area as well. Guess we will see in a few weeks!  But this week we have not been doing too much teaching because Zone Leaders have so many meetings and stuff. We had missionary leadership council, weekly planning, zone meeting planning, zone meeting, and exchanges! It was alot to do in a week. So we didn't get alot of time to proselyte, which isn't a bad thing I guess, but we really wanted to teach more lessons. We did have one day on exchanges where we tracked for 6 hours, because it's the country out here and every house is like a football field away from their neighbor. haha So we did that and met a really great family! His name is Dean and we told him we were coming around offering service and he was like 'nawh guys I should be good.' But for some reason I felt like I should keep prying and keep asking. So I just laid into him with questions and basically told him we would be there on Wednesday in our service clothes and will start pulling weeds whether he likes it or not! haha And he then started to ease up a bit and said he would be okay with us coming over and stuff, so I told him to have a list ready and we will bust it out! haha He is a great guy so hopefully we can also teach him as well and be able to see something come of it! Otherwise we haven't done too much that would be worthy of explaining in my letter.. hah For the 4th of July it was a proselyting day so we went out and saw some potentials! It went pretty well. Then that night we were bored, so I started catching frogs! Then the other two wanted to join so we went on a frog hunt! We ended up catching 3 total. Which is lame compared to my usual catching ability's... and I also tried to catch a deer.. but it didn't work.. We also had a sweet daddy long leg spider as a pet! We kept him for 4 days. With his legs fully extended he was about 6-7 inches in diameter. They look funny when you put them in water.. haha We fed him other spiders and bugs from the garage and a brownie.. :) He was pretty cool but we finally got rid of him haha He was gross. Not as cool as the frogs.. We also see lots of road kill. The other day we passed by a deer that had been hit with 4 vultures just devouring the thing. haha Just another day in the life of living in New Kent! Anyway I think that's all I got for now! I miss you guys and will be home in a year and a few months!

Love,

Elder Johnsen

I. LOVE. NEW. KENT!!

Wow! Only 4 days in my new area and I'm already in love. They just put a fat boy in a cake factory! This area is amazing! I may hate Virginia weather but... this style and type of area would be the only reason I move out here! :) Will talk more bout that la'r own. (thats some redneck country slang right der) I'm happy to be in a trio again because we can teach anyone! We don't need to find a third male to teach a single lady! It's great! And this will be my third trio haha! Once in the MTC, once in Norfolk, and now here! My two companions are Elder Coltrine, he's from Cali, loves country music and did construction stuff back home and is a pretty cool guy. Elder Thurgood is your typical missionary from good ole UTAH! So you can already guess what he is like. We do already have investigators we are teaching. We have about 8 people we are teaching currently, which is a good size number! We do about 2 hours of tracting each day, which is how we have found most all of our investigators so far! So this area I'm serving in is very country style. When you think of a farm, this is the place. The law here is that you can't buy a house without AT LEAST 3-5 acres. AT THE LEAST 5 ACRES!!!!!! They do that because they don't want to over populate the county. So everyone has horse property and everyone has a cute little barn on their property! The place is just awesome! haha I love it here! The downside is it's only a Branch (maybe because your neighbor lives a quarter of a mile down the street!) But that's not a bad thing! Everyone here is full of love and has that southern hospitality! It;s great! The thing with Norfolk was that I was there for one purpose. I was there to get Sister Fredricks husband to be baptized! And I got him going on the right track so swoop I'm done there! Now I'm here and I think I already know my purpose for this area! There's a guy in the branch who's son has stopped coming to church, because the President of the branch kept bombarding him with questions about going on a mission! (kinda sounds like my bishop) And so he said screw it I'm just done with it. (kinda sounds more like me and not serving a mission) And the best part about this whole story is he just graduated and all he wants to do is work on his cars... (yes this is basically the same thing that happened to me) So when talking with his dad (who has a awesome beard BTW!) He said I think your purpose here is to re-activate my son and get him on a mission. I was like well, I don't know my purpose here, but I would love to go work on some cars with your son though! He told me that me and his son have basically the same exact mindset! So, hopefully I can help out his son and maybe find other people I'm here for in this area! Did I say that I love it here yet? Well I do just in case you didn't know! The main difference between here and Norfolk is that this branch is full of love and every member loves you, they all want to help you out as much as possible! And everyone here is just awesome! haha Well that's pretty much been our week! I hope you guys are enjoying Lake Powell without me... :/ But don't worry and don't fear... POWELL 2K17 IS IN FULL SWING! Me and Garrett have both invited our whole missions to come to Lake Powell with us in the summer of 2017. So there will be a big time party going on the summer I get home! ;) Might want to start making plans for that ;) But I'm doing great and can't wait to hear from you guys! I will include pictures in the following few emails!

Love, 

Elder Johnsen

 

Lightning Storm.

Elder Wood and I.

 

Helicopter Tour.  We got to go inside this bad boy!

Sister Fredricks Family.  They are Navy and took us to see the Helicopters.

Stone age typewriter, right here...

My Zone in Norfolk.

I'm a Missionary Warrior!

My new Area, New Kent.  So much space.  I love it here!