Hola everyone!!!

This week has been great.  We have found some new people to teach.  One of them will be baptized on April Fools day!!! One of them works for a drilling company in Alaska!!!! He comes home for 28 days, and then works for 28 days.  He has some great questions, he reminds me a TON of Dad.  The first time that we taught him, I felt the Spirit so strong there.  We taught him about “The Family, A Proclamation to the World”, it was cool.  We also were going to have a talent show on Friday, but it didn’t go through because of a power outage that we had.  We are doing good and I am way ready to rock this week!!!!  The gospel is sooooooo true!!!!! I love  it!!!! and I love you toooo!!!!

Elder Joe

Well!!!

Good week!!!!

We now have a new rule that we can send three photos every week to you, so here are three!!!!  The first is from the massive wedding, then the baptism of Jhonny and Emilio and then with Elder Blas right now in the internet.  My new companion is Hector Paul Blas Gastañadui.  He is from Trujillo Perú.  I’m not training this transfer, but am serving as Lider de Distrito (District Leader).  Our new area is great!  Similar to our last area.  We eat a lot of chicken here.

One of the members here said something that I liked a lot.  He said that life is a gift from God, but what we do with it is our gift to God.

On Sunday we had a Fireside with Elder Nash from the Area, it was POWERFUL!!!!  He explained sooo many things to the youth.  One of the things that I liked most was that he said, and explained, that there isn’t a difference between when God talks and when one of His servants talks, it is the same. He let some of the youth ask questions.  He explained that, in order to ask something, they needed to remember that he was God’s representative and that they should ask things that were of real importance. Soooo great.  I got to be in the choir with the other missionaries that wanted to sing.

We also have some great investigators and we are looking for some new ones this week.  Also yesterday we had a capacitation with President Blunck.  They gave us donuts after that were sooo goood!  Well, the church is true!!!! I love you!!!!

Happy St. Paddy’s day!!!!

Love Elder Joe!!!!!!

From under the equator!!!!

Well this week Gilmer Zevallos got baptized!!!!

It went well and he has changed many habits. Yesterday we passed by to teach him, normally in his house when his brother in law drank he did too, but now he was outside waiting for us because inside they were drinking.  Also they passed Carnival here and almost everyone put up a Yunza or Humisha, it is a tree with prizes in it, then they get drunk and cut it down and everyone runs to get a prize. Pretty interesting.  

I am great!!!! We have changed this week, I am going to a different zone here in Iquitos called Punchana with Elder Blas, he is Peruvian. I am thankful for all of my blessings and especially for yesterday in the fast and testimony meeting, I got to bare my testimony and I felt the Spirit soooooo strong and I am just so grateful for our Savior, I know that he lives, the Spirit testifies to me of that fact and I know it with all of my soul. I love you all and am thankful for your prayers. 
I love you all, love Elder Joe

Note: Peruvian Carnival - During the latter half of February and the first weeks of March, Peru is alive with carnivals, as the communities prepare for Lent. Lent is a quiet and sober time, but the Carnival period preceding Lent is a very festive time. Parades, dancing, street festivals and huge water fights can be found across the country as people celebrate with abandoned joy.  Although each region has its own variations, they each share the ritual of the Yunza. Yunza is also known as Umisha and Caramonte. Yunza is a tree filled with gifts which is danced around. While participants dance around it, they take a chop at it with an axe or machete. The dance continues until the tree is chopped down and the gifts are shared. The couple that brings the tree down is in charge of organizing the Yunza gifts and feast for the following year.

The Iquitos adaptation of the Carnival season starts with water-balloon fights and concludes in the locally unique tradition of dancing around the Humisha tree on the final night.  As early as four weeks before Carnival you will encounter young people in the streets tossing buckets of water or water balloons at passing cars and motorcycles.  These "water wars" are really a battle of the sexes, with groups of males throwing water at groups of females and visa versa.  In addition to water, they can incorporate flour, talcum powder, achiote (a natural dye), paint, or oil, and you can never be quite sure what exactly was in that balloon! Although these activities are officially against the law, the law is generally ignored by officials. Another Carnival tradition that is peculiar to Iquitos is the Humisha tree.  The Humisha is a palm tree that is placed in a pot, with the leaves being tied together at the top, and the tree is hung with gifts.  The tradition of the Humisha tree is a ritual that has been handed down for many generations in Iquitos.

HOLA FROM UNDER THE EQUATOR!!!

WOW!!!  An uncle again!!!  CONGRATS JARED AND SHEILA!!!! YEAH BABY!!!!!!

I am doing GREAT!!  My testimony is growing and I see the hand of God in many, many ways!

  

Well, this week things have been great!!!!! On Monday we went to play with water again in the Stake Center and someone brought their monkey and we were playing with it.  It whistles when it is happy and it was cool!!!!  We worked all week and on Tuesday we had eight lessons!!!!!  On Wednesday I taught the District meeting and had a work visit in the ZL´s area that went well! On Thursday we had weekly planning and a good day, and on Friday Emilio and Jhonny had their interviews for their baptisms. They passed!!  On Saturday they got baptized!!!! Elder Sanchez got to baptize both of them, and it was awesome!!! There were a lot of members there to support them! On Sunday they both got confirmed and everything is great!!! This Saturday two more, Santiago and Gilmer, will be baptized!!!

Also I got pooped on by a pigeon in the street on Saturday.  I never thought I would be so lucky to have that happen to me..... jajaja  I thought someone had thrown dirt, but it wasn’t dirt. jajaja

Well the book is blue and the church is true!!!! Jesus Christ is the Holy One and our Savior and Redeemer. He Lives!!!!  I love the Gospel!!!!

Hurrah for Israel!  Kia Kaha!  Fidelidad hasta el Fin! 

Love Elder Joe!!!!!

Well this week has gone great! We have been working to find new investigators that will progress to get baptized. We are working hard and I am feeling the Spirit in our lessons. Yesterday was a weird day and we taught a lady that said that she was Catholic, but didn’t know that Jesus had died for our sins.  When she told us that she didn’t remember that He died on the cross, we just looked at each other really surprised... I am sooo thankful for the Gospel and the sure knowledge that I have that Jesus is the Christ and that He paid for my sins. I love you all a ton.  The church is true!!!!

Love Elder Joe Johnson!!!! and proud to be a Johnson 

Also, I’m praying for you!!!

Hola from under the equator!!!

Well, this week three couples got married!!! de verdad!!! WWWOWOOOHHHOOO!!!!! We have worked for about two months with this and it finally passed!!!

On Monday we played Futbol and on Tuesday we had a normal day of work, on Wednesday we had a Zone Conference with the three Zones in Iquitos with Presidente Blunck, and I had to do a Capacitation.....it went well and a couple Elders told me that they felt the Spirit during it, COOL because I was way way way WAY nervous, I don’t know why, but I was, so I was happy when it was over. :)

On Thursday we had planning and on Friday I went to the area of Elder Charca to do a work visit with him. It went well! On Saturday we had the wedding!!!

First, we went to the stake center and no one was there! So we went to their houses to tell them to go to the chapel fast because they were starting. One of the couples had already gone, but the other that we passed by said that their witnesses couldn’t get there to the chapel. This is a BIG problem because it they don’t go then you can’t get married here.

So we went to the house of the witnesses, praying all the way, and when we got there we explained what would happen if they didn’t go and they said that they would go!!!  When we got to the chapel again, everything was good and they were all there!!  WOOT!!! The Lord helped us sooo much with this!!! 

The Gospel of our Savior has been Restored!!! Joseph Smith was called of God and Thomas Monson is the Lord’s mouthpiece on the earth today.

Jesus Christ is the Savior, he is the Light and the Life of the World!!! HE LIVES, I KNOW IT!!!! Entienden? HE lives.

Well, great week, miracles happen.  I love you all!!! A ton!!!

Love Elder Joe!!!!

This week passed well, and we have been inviting a lot of people to be baptized.  Normally they turn us down, but we always teach them and try to help them understand the necessity of being baptized and the blessings that they will receive when they make this important step in their lives. This past week for p-day we played Futbol and messed around a little, then we went home and slept and then worked. On Tuesday we had our District Conference and on Thursday the ZL got back from Lima and I got letters from Grandma-J, Josh and a package from Emily. WOOT Thanks for all of the love. I loved the picture from Josh and Amberly with the little guys.

On Saturday Elder Samayoa visited me and we invited three people to be baptized. They all said yes to be baptized, but not on specific dates.

So we will keep working with them and finding new people to teach.

One of the things that passed this week is that we taught John Pastor and he told us that he had prayed and had received his answer. Yeah!!!

The church is SOOO true.The Gospel of Jesus Christ gives our lives purpose and helps us to return to our Fathers presence. I love you soooo much. 

Elder Joe

P.S. It is hot right now, and we are going to the stadium of Iquitos to play Futbol.