Hola from the selva!!!

My new companion is Elder Manuel Moises Sanchez Sanchez from Chiclayo, Peru.  He is a great companion.  Our new area is Moronacocha Iquitos.  It is hot, but it is great!!!

Well, this week was great and I have seen miracles. My companion twisted his knee and he asked me for a blessing and he told me after that his leg didn’t hurt at all. Also on Friday we had an appointment and it was raining really hard so we prayed and the rain stopped so that we could continue with the Lord's work. We are teaching some great people and have found some great families. We also have a baptism on Saturday. She is 73 years and is the bishops grandma. She rocks.

The season of Christ....

I love you tons. Merry Christmas.

Love Joe

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

Well this past week has been good and we have been able to invite a lot of people to be baptized and some of them have accepted!!!! Maximo will be baptized on the 25th of December, and Antony and Jonatan have accepted, but couldn’t attend on Sunday so they will be waiting to be baptized on the 1st of January.  We have also been teaching Liseth and the Paredes family and they are progressing.  BUT there is a little problem, I won’t be here to teach them because I am leaving the area! Elder Sanez also is leaving, he will be going to Pucallpa as señor comp!!! COOL! and I am going to Iquitos!!!! And I get to train again!!!!!

On the night before we received changes, I had been thinking if I would leave or not and I said a prayer, and told the Lord that it didn’t matter where I went, but that I would work hard in this new change and that I would accept His will. I feel privileged to be able to train another Elder, again, and I know that this change is going to be great! WOOOOO HOOOOOOOO

Well, this week we have been teaching Karen Paredes and last week she told us that she didn’t believe in God and that she respected what we taught but that she didn’t believe it. So we invited her to read the BOOK OF MORMON!!!!! Woo Hoooo, I love that book!!!!  She read in it and then last night when we were teaching her family, she offered the closing prayer and thanked God that we had helped her to know that he does exist and she thanked Him for the Book of Mormon. It was Incredible!!!!

Well, also this week has been good and we have worked hard and we’ll see how everything goes this week. Thanks for everything!!!! Love you all!!!!!!

I know that Joseph Smith was a prophet of God and that Thomas Monson is a prophet in our days. God lives and Loves us!!!!

Love Elder Joe Johnson

Fidelidad Hasta el Fin!!!!

Kia Kaha!!!!!  Selva!!!!

I’m good! Well this week has been ok and we found a family that came to church with us on Sunday, that was way cool to see them enter in the chapel! The work is moving forward every day. My comp is good and we are working at being more united in all that we do every day.

Concerning Christmas traditions, Peruvians don’t go around singing and caroling but they do listen to Christmas music (some in English) and they do give presents, and some put up lights. Also, almost everyone has a manger scene, but they put it in the corner of a room and then they put a box under it and cover the box with green paper with drips of paint on it, I don’t know what it means but they always have drips of paint on their paper. They also give gifts and everything as usual in the U.S.

I don’t think that we are going to have a tree but maybe a manger, that is miniature. :) I bought one on Saturday. :)

Well, the Stake President here said last week that God does send angels but a lot of the time they are the people that surround us. The gospel has been restored!!! The church is true. God loves you.

Love Joe

Hola!!!!! From Under The Equator!!!!! woooohoooooohoooohooooohooooooo!!!!

Your emails are great! This past week was great for Elder Sanez and I!

On Thanksgiving day I ate aji de gallina [Peruvian chicken stew in a spicy, nutty cheese sauce - Spanish for chili pepper chicken and is a traditional Peruvian dish which has its roots in the social upheaval of the French Revolution in 1789], it was really good, and we worked hard. :)

One thought for my missionary friends and family is to work HARD!!!! and to be OBEDIENT, it is worth it!!!! Also, “Good, Better, Best, NEVER let it rest, until the Good is Better and the Better is Best.” 

Hey, this week was good. The temple was great and we got to be part of some sealings, and I got to be one of the witnesses! So cool!!!! We also went to eat pizza!!!! at Dominoes jajaja

Thanksgiving went well, we worked like normal and in the night I ate graham crackers with chocolate frosting from my b-day package... it was just like home….. almost...jajaja

I love the Sacrament, and I love the gospel. I would love to understand it all, in the scriptures it says that we won’t be able to as humans, but it is necessary that we learn and progress. Thanks for all of your great examples. 

I love you all. Elder Johnson

Hola!!! From UNDER the Equator!!!! And Proud of it!!!! I love Peru!!! I love the mission!!!!

WOOO HOOOOO!!!

It IS getting hotter here, it’s summer!

This week we played soccer for p-day in the church by the zone leader’s apartment, and then we went to eat pollo ala brasa! It is a really good chicken that they make here, similar to the oven-roasted chicken from Costco or Sam’s Club, but a whole lot better!!!!!

Tuesday we had a training with three Zones; Wiesse, Magnolias and Las Flores. It was mainly about working with the members and what we should be doing in our meetings with the ward and stake, and what part we should be taking. I had to give a training on the Ward Council and what we should do there. It went ok, I was nervous and they could all tell, but that's ok.

On Wednesday we started a three day training on the 8 Simple Lessons, it is something that has come through the First Presidency and the Twelve, and is 8 things that we need to do better at in the missionary work. They are great things that PMG (Preach My Gospel) talks about but that not very many missionaries were using. The three days passed quickly and I learned a lot from them, we also learned that Hermana Blunck makes good cookies!! For every reference that we gave, they gave us cookies, and I tried not to focus on the cookies, but they were a nice help to ask for references, jajaja :)

On Saturday I was with an Elder from my district and on Sunday we had church (I love going to church!!!)

Today isn’t p-day because tomorrow we are going to the TEMPLE!!!  I love the temple!!!!

I love the gospel, it is soooo!!!! true!!!!

We have a living prophet and I am thankful for all of you!!!!

Happy Thanksgiving!!!  TURKEY DAY!!!  Eat some good apple pie for me!

Love you all and I’m praying for ya!!!!!

Elder Joe Johnson

Hola!!!! From under the Equator!!!!

Well I’m doing good!!!

I have seen the hand of God this week. I am writing in my journal, sometimes there isn’t time in the night, but I write the day after. :)  My companion was born in Puerto Rico. He is Roberto Carlos Sanez Olmos, and lived in the center of San Juan.

I like to sing in every lesson that we have, but Elder Sanez doesn’t, so sometimes we sing and sometimes not.

This week Willian and Mary got baptized!!!! It went well and the Spirit of the Lord was there with us. Willians Dad and brother got there too, and we are going to visit them on Wednesday to teach them. Willian and Mary both got confirmed on Sunday, and it went well.  Neida, one of our investigators, was there to see the confirming and she told us after, ''good job, you did the laying on of hands!'' which we had taught her about the day before.  It was cool that she recognized it.

I love the gospel and the Book of Mormon!!!! 

Love, Elder Johnson!

Querida (Beloved) Familia!!!!!
Hola from under the Equator!!!!
Well this week a lot of things have changed, I am with a latin companion (he grew up in Puerto Rico), I live in a new room, I have a district of 6 not 12, I am seven days older, 3 investigators accepted to be baptized this Saturday, etc...
This week has been good, and our new apartment is cool, it’s bigger!!! It has a patio and two rooms and when you go in the bathroom you can’t touch the walls at all with arms outstretched!!! (In my last room the bathroom was itsy bitsy!!) Also, there is room to put up my hammock from Pucallpa, and it’s the third level of a house.
We are teaching Willian and Mary right now, they are dating and are both going to be baptized this Friday, and Joel will be baptized this Saturday!!
I love the gospel, it is soooooo true!!!
I wish you all a great week!! Kia Kaha!! Fidelidad Hasta el Fin!!!!!
Love Elder Johnson!!!!