Hola from under the equator!!!

Well there will be a few changes!!!

I am going to stay here in Wiesse, and Elder Calle is going to Pucallpa!!! In the same area where I was!!! Centenario-Primavera!!!

Also I am going to have another son!!! I am Training again! It is going to be great!!!

I will stay as District Leader and they are dividing the zone, so it will only be Wiesse zone and Wiesse district jajaja. It’s going to be a great change!

Also this week I baptized Bertha!!!  She has changed a ton. At first she told us that she wasn’t going to get baptized on Monday, and we talked and invited her to pray about what she should do, and when we passed again on Tuesday she was crying while reading in the Book of Mormon when we knocked on her door.  She told us that she would be baptized and that she was ready to change her life!!!

Also, well lots more has passed too, I am great, and I wish you all a great week!!!

I love you all and am learning the importance of reading the scriptures and following their counsel. READ the scriptures!!!  They will change your life!!!

I love you all tons!!!

Fidelidad Hasta el Fin!!!

Elder Joe Johnson

Hola from under the equator!!!

These two weeks have been really good and I have learned and progressed in many ways. On Sunday we had Stake Conference and two families went to the conference!!!!

It was great and they did it in two sessions because there are lots of members and the building is a little small, we got to assist both of the sessions and they were great, the Spirit was there with us. This week I have been working with many different comps, because my comp and some other Elders had a capacitation in the mission offices. It’s the same one that I had a little while ago about the 8 Simplified lessons. It is great, and uses a lot of Preach My Gospel and the scriptures.  Putting in practice the things we learned there has helped in the lessons that we teach, and more investigators are gaining better and stronger testimonies with the 8 things we learned.  

Also this Saturday Bertha is getting baptized!!!!!!!

I am really good and I love the work, and the Scriptures!!! I love you all!!!

Have an amazing weekend, I will write on Monday!!!

Elder Joe Johnson

Hola!

This week we had a baptism on Saturday that completed the Salgado Family, Elder Calle baptized Jesus Granda at 5:45 on Saturday and it went well!!!

I have felt the Spirit this week and I am soooo excited for tomorrow because we are going to the Temple!!!!!!!!!!!!

I like my area because lots of members assist church every week, and the ward mission leader is great and really animated.

Sunday we were in church and the Stake President taught the Gospel Principles class about faith. It rocked!!! He had some really good examples that he shared, and then at the end he invited me to the front and asked an investigator, that was there for his first time, if he saw something different in my eyes that he didn’t see in other youth of the street. He said “si” and then he explained that the more faith that we have and the more we follow the Savior, the more we look like him, it reminded me of the song, “Have you received His image in your countenance…”  and the Scripture Alma 5:14.  

Answers to a few questions:

How big is your area?  — It is big, about twenty blocks by forty! It is only half of the Weisse Ward.   

How many missionaries in your district? — 10;  Your Zone? — We were 18, but two got taken out so now we are 16.

How often do you have district meeting and zone conferences?  — District Meeting every Wednesday, and as a Zone once every month and a half.

I know the work is true!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Elder Johnson

Buenos Dias!!!!!!! Hola!!! From under the equator!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Well I am doing amazing!!!!!!!! I have seen miracles this week.

On Monday we taught Bertha about the Book of Mormon for the second time and invited her to read and to pray about it (which we had done before, but she hadn’t done it). When we passed on Tuesday she told us that she hadn’t read because she didn’t have time, so we invited her again to read and pray, and we passed on Wednesday to see how she was and we got there and sat down on the couch and she told us all excited that she had to tell us something.  So she started by telling us that she had read in the morning, and that she had gotten up early and had read all of the introduction and the testimony of Joseph Smith and that she had gotten to 1 Nephi and didn’t have too much time left, so she decided to open the book and to read what she found. When she opened the book (she opened to 3 Nephi 11) she started to read how Jesus came down in the middle of some people and started to let them touch His wounds in His hands and His side and that he taught about baptism and how we should be baptized in lots of water and in the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Ghost. She told us “Jesus is talking right here and He talks about baptism and I want to be baptized like it says here”.  She also explained that he was teaching his “doctrine.”   Elder Calle and I just looked at her and smiled saying yeah it’s true and testifying that it is true and the Spirit was so strong there. I am so grateful for the moments when I can be a tool in the Lord’s hands to bring His children to know the truth. I love this work and know that it is true.  
I also love all of you!  Hope you have a great week and take luck!!!!!

Elder Joe Johnson

Hola From under the EQUATOR!!!!!

Well I’m doing great!!!!! We had a baptism on Saturday!!!! I baptized Carlos Salgado and it was crazy good!!!!!  His wife passed away a couple of months ago and he is great!!!!! His daughter got baptized a while ago, and his son will soon be baptized. We got to the chapel at 3:30.  The baptism was at four, so we were getting the water ready and it was dirty.  We had to drain the font, and it took a long time, so we got out buckets and started to bail the water and dump it in the member closet. We worked for about 45 minutes doing that, and I said a little prayer that we could get the water out and that the font would fill quick, and it did!!!!! By the time we went to his house and returned, the font was half full and so we started the service and by the time we were going to enter, the water was full!!!!! The only thing I forgot to ask for was hot water, it was ice cold. jajaja But we entered and it went good and everything. Then afterwards we asked him how he felt and he told us that he had asked God to help him do it so that he could enter the water and not feel the cold and he said that he only felt the cold water when he entered and then it was warm!!!! It was cool!!!!!!

We also had service on Friday and we were moving sand (for cement) up a steep hill, and we also moved giant steel doors up the hill and it was fun, I love service. Then to get down the hill 14 Elders got on a little motor taxi and we went down the mountain!!!!! It was worse than a can of sardines!!!!

I love the work and I know that God loves each and every one of his children, He loves us and we can ask for His help any time we need it.

I love you all!!!!

Elder Joe Johnson

WOOOOTTTTTTTTTT!!!!!!!!!! An uncle again!!!!!!!!!!!!

Hola!!!! from under the equator!!!!!

Well my new comp is Elder Geovanny Leonel Calle Sanchez from Quevedo, Ecuador!!!!!!!!

He is lo maximo!!!!!!! He has six months in the mission, and has been in the same area the whole time. Well, my new area is different from my last area, I no longer have a  branch and a ward,  I have half of a ward!!!!! jajaja The reason why we are sharing is because the ward is gigantic!!!!!! It is about the size of all of North Ogden and Pleasant View, and  it also has part of the Cerro or mountain where there are houses.  The difference here is that the rich people live in the city and the poor live on the Cerro.   The area is split though and we have more of the pavement in my area than the other area, so it’s a little bit easier to get around. Also, our apartment is one room and the bath room is teeny-tiny. IT ROCKS!!!!!!!   Our pension lives a block away, and the Stake Center is around the corner, so it is very convenient to go to church and everything. :)  

This week we also have helped four people to put dates for their baptisms!!! Two are going to be baptized this Saturday!!!!  A father and son named Carlos and Jesus.                

Also yesterday we were teaching a family about the restoration and Elder Calle taught about Joseph Smith and the Spirit was really strong, I love this gospel and say that the things that I am teaching are true and necessary for the Salvation of every person. The Gospel is the only bridge to the presence of God and we only have this Gospel because Christ suffered for our sins and errors in the garden of Gethsemane.  I am so thankful for Him and the role he plays in the  eternal plan of God. 

Happy Birthday Annalyn!!!!!!

I love you Moms!!!!!!! I love you Dads!!!!!! and FAMILY!!!!!

Love Elder Joe Johnson

LO MAXIMO!!!!!!!!!!!!

Well, this week has been so great, Yoela got baptized on Saturday and confirmed yesterday, but the story of what passed with her is really special.

We taught her on Tuesday about the Sabbath day, and about how we shouldn’t work on Sunday, and her face went a little sour and she told us that she had a job where she had to work on Sundays. We were a little surprised though by what she said after, “but if it’s a commandment I won’t work on Sunday”.  We were way happy with the decision that she made, but before we could offer the closing prayer she left to go to the bathroom, and before she came back we heard her talking on the phone. She then entered in the room and said that her boss from work had called and told her that she had to work Sunday and that she had told him “no,” and that he hung up. We got caught off guard by the faith that she has already, and all of the changes that she has made.

Also we saw trials on Saturday because a young woman of the Branch died and so they were using the chapel for her funeral, and at first we thought that it would have been better to have her (Yoela’s) baptism on Sunday. But she told us that she needed to be baptized Saturday, so we went to another chapel and I got to baptize her there.

Also, we talked in church on Sunday and I talked about how God exists and how we need to raise the “voice of warning” to every people as members of the church.  Elder Peña talked about charity and many people from the ward said that these talks were needed on Sunday.

I am also going to BAYOVAR!!!!!!!!!!  My change is as a District Leader in Wiesse with Elder Calle!!!!!!

I have had sooo much fun in this change and have learned to really love the people that we teach and also Elder Peña.

Also.... HAPPY B-DAY GWYN!!!!!!!

I know these things are true, and I love all of you!!!!!!!!!!!

Elder JOE Johnson