Hey!

May 20, 2019

How's it going everyone?

This week was pretty good!  not too much went down but it was still a pretty good week!  The Oregon coast is the best place on the planet, I freaking love it!  Today we went to the coast again and it was amazing!

We had lots of lessons this week which is always good.  Two of those lessons were with Charity.  She still doing awesome and is on track for June 15.  She has been reading the Book of Mormon like crazy.  She started reading like last week and is already on Mosiah 12.  She also went to all of the sessions of Stake Conference this week and she loved it!  We also had a lesson with Malaki this week and it went well again.  It is super hard teaching kids!!!

On Friday, we had a missionary fireside type thing where we had a potluck type dinner, some games, and then we shared a message at the end.  It was awesome.  We invited a guy we talked to on the street a couple days before and he ended up coming and we are going to start teaching him this week.  It was a great time!  The Tillamook Ward is amazing!

We talked to lots of people this week and got a few return appointments so hopefully some good things will happen this week!  There was probably a lot more that happened this week, but I just can't remember, ha ha!

Well, that's about it from me.  Hope you guys have a great week.  I love you all!

Love,
Elder Johnson
3416 Domingo Ct Apt C
Tillamook, OR

Happy Mother's Day!

May 13, 2019

What's up everyone?

Happy Mother's Day to all of you amazing moms out there, especially my amazing mom!!  I don't know what I would do without her in my life!  I was blessed with the best momma!  Also, to my two wonderful grandmas.  They are amazing as well.

Well, this week was amazing.  We have seen good things happen with the people we are teaching so I will just get right into it.

Sherron is progressing really nice.  She is continuing to read the Book of Mormon and has been able to recognize the Spirit as she has been reading.  She hasn't come to church the past two weeks but she has had some legit excuses so hopefully she will be there for sure this Sunday.  We had alesson with her this week and it went very well.  She really wants to change her life and live her life more in harmony with Christ's teachings.  She wants to be baptized but has some work to do to kick some WoW habits.

We taught Malaki again this week and this time it went a ton better ha ha.  It was actually really cool.  We had a plan to teach the Plan of Salvation to him but literally as we were getting out of the car, the Spirit told us we needed to do something else.  Instead, we read Chapter 1 out of the Book of Mormon stories book (which talks about Joseph Smith) and it went insanely well!  We set a date for baptism for him for July 13th.  He is a pretty slow learner so we are taking it at a slower pace with him.

We began teaching Charity and wow it has been going so well!  The first time we taught her I was on exchanges with Elder Green.  We taught the Restoration and she knew that everything we were teaching her was true.  She accepted baptism without hesitation and will be baptized on June 15th.  She started reading the Book of Mormon last week and is up to 2 Nephi 2 already.  The member family who referred her to us (the Mitchells) are following up with her daily so basically all we have to do is teach.  It is amazing! ha ha  We taught her the Plan of Salvation the very next night and that one went even better.  Everything is making sense to her.

We stopped teaching a few people who we had high hopes for but they weren't keeping any commitments.  They just need a little bit of time.

We had interviews this week with President and Sister Tateoka.  They went pretty well.  President said it would be my last interview with him which was super sad.  I am gonna miss them a ton.  They have helped me so much and I was blessed to have them as my mission president!

Well, I love you all and hope you have a great week.  Oh and tell my dad happy birthday tomorrow because IT'S HIS BIRTHDAY TOMORROW!

Here's some pics from this week and last week.  I'm not gonna describe them, just enjoy!

Love,
Elder Johnson
3416 Domingo Ct Apt C
Tillamook, OR 97141

Pictures and Text From Member

May 12, 2019

We received a text from Brother Mitchell in Tillamook on Friday, May 10:

Elder Johnson and Elder Green were at our home tonight to teach a first discussion and committed this great girl to baptism.  They did a wonderful job and we thank you for sharing your sons with us.  Happy Mother's Day!  Brother Mitchell (Tillamook, Oregon)

We don't know her name yet, but maybe she is Charity who Kaden wrote home about last week??

Then this text and picture on Saturday, May 11th

Lesson 2

New Companion

May 6, 2019

How's it going?

This week was so good!  We had transfers this week.  Said bye to my man Elder Alofipo way early on Tuesday morning.  I went and hung out with Brother Frogley for about 4 hours waiting for Elder Bloomfield to get here.  That was awesome ha ha!  He made me breakfast and he works from home so I got to chill with him in his office for a bit.  Elder Bloomfield and I got right to work and hit the streets of Tillamook!  Elder Bloomfield is from Monument, CO.  My third out of twelve companions that are not from Utah ha ha!

This week we did a lot of contacting formers and we found lots of success.  We plan routes to go contact a bunch and just talk to people along the way.  We have found a few new people to teach from doing it.  Elder Bloomfield has a true desire to work hard so I like that!

So, we are going to start teaching this insanely solid member referral named Charity.  She has come to church three weeks in a row and has loved it so far.  The members who referred her to us have been doing amazing member missionary work.  They have been giving her reading assignments in the Book of Mormon and also took her to the temple and she loved it.  They texted us yesterday saying that we're up this Friday so we're super pumped to teach her. 

We also started teaching this 8 year old kid named Malachi.  He's a crazy kid so it has been ROUGH trying to teach this kid the Restoration.  We tried using Jenga to teach him but even that didn't get him too engaged.  Haha all good.  He's a stud.  Sherron has been progressing really nice.  We showed her the Gospel Library app and she loves it!  She has read every single day since we showed her and she showed us all the markings she has made.  Good stuff is happening.

Today we got the Spanish elders with us so we are planning on hitting up a hike later today.  I'm all good here.  we celebrated Cinco de Mayo with some members yesterday--gotta love white Mexican food!

Love,
Elder Johnson
3416 Domingo Ct Apt C
Tillamook, OR 97141

Another Transfer Down

April 29, 2019

What up everyone?

This week was really good.  We got transfer calls on Saturday and Elder Alofipo is dipping to Lebanon and I will be getting a new companion named Elder Bloomfield!  I'm super pumped but sad at the same time.  I love Elder Alofipo and will definitely miss him out here.  I'm excited to get to work with Elder Bloomfield.

We did quite a bit of service this week.  We went and helped move some furniture for some members.  It sucked though because we packed all the stuff in their van and they pulled a classic Kaden move and locked the keys in the car on accident.  Ha ha oops.  Then we went and did some yard work for a member who was sick.  He has thousands of bees in his backyard so we had to wear a beekeeper suit while we were back there!  I was freaking out--bees were everywhere and I was just trying to weed whack.

The work was a little slower this week.  We had a bunch of lessons fall through which was alright.  Progress has kinda stalled with most of our people but hopefully good things will start to happen this week!  We are pretty excited about a couple of the referrals we have gotten from members.

That's honestly about it from me this week.  I love you all.  Have a great week this week!  Only two more transfers left for me so I'm gonna go hard!

District Meeting

Weed whacking

Dinner with the Frogleys

Love,
Elder Johnson
3416 Domingo Ct Apt C
Tillamook, OR 97141

21 Months and Happy Easter!

April 22, 2019

What up?

So I hit my 21 month mark on Friday.  How crazy is that?  Only three more months in the great state of Oregon!  I'm ready to go hard these last 3 months though!

So this week started off with a mission-wide car fast on Tuesday.  It was weird not using the car but we saw some cool blessings.  We busted out the bikes and went to work.  We found a new person named Sherron.  She had met with missionaries before and was actually almost baptized but some stuff came up and her main fellowshipper moved so she just kinda fizzed out.  She seems super solid though.

Wednesday we had a day full of lessons.  One was in Garibaldi with Jackie and DeLinda.  They both aren't really progressing that much which sucks but hopefully they will start coming around and start keeping commitments.  Another was with a guy named Terry.  He loves the church but has like 5 concerns that are keeping him from being baptized and they are all church history/doctrinal issues.  We have just been trying to help him gain a testimony of the Book of Mormon because once that happens, all of his concerns won't really matter.

Thursday and Friday were a bit slower.  On Friday, we did a service project for a sister in our ward.  there was a lady who passed away and she lived out in the middle of nowhere in this super old house.  the lady who died said that people could take whatever they wanted form her house and so the member works for a women's shelter and they went over to check it out to see what they could take to the shelter and we were their arms ha ha.  It was fun.  She works with some non-members so we had some good interactions with them!

Ken and Hester are out of town this week and next so that's sad.  They brought their Book of Mormon thous so they should be reading it ha ha!  Samara has been super sick this week so not much happened with her.  We got a new referral on Sunday!  Some members brought her to church on Sunday and we invited her to learn more and she said yes so that will be cool.  President and Sister Tateoka made a surprise visit to our Sacrament Meeting so that was cool.  They hooked us up big with some goodies.  I love them!

Well that was the week.  It was awesome to celebrate and remember the Atonement of Jesus Christ this weekend.  I am so grateful for the Savior and His perfect example and sacrifice.  Without the Atonement, God's plan would not be able to happen.  We would not be able to return to His presence.  Because of the Savior, we can all be resurrected and we can all be cleansed if we repent!  I know that is true!

A cloudy sunset and some COWS!

Have a great week, sorry for the super long email this week!

Love,
Elder Johnson
3416 Domingo Ct Apt C
Tillamook, OR 97141