SICK :(

So this week has been a sick week!! I caught a nasty bug that has been going around down here and I was out for the whole week with a flu. I got over it though and I am now doing better!! It has been a real interesting week to say the least. I was sick and so I was in bed most of the week. At church last week we saw that the church got shot up by some kid and his bb-gun...haha!! Don't fret too much about it, that is just normal life here in the ghetto!! LOL!

So our investigators are doing somewhat fine. We got a really disheartening text message this morning from one of our solid investigators, Eric, who was supposed to be baptized this weekend and said that he is moving back to Indiana, and doesn't want to be baptized anymore!! So that kind of was a horrible thing, he was so solid, but me and Elder Bennett suspect that he might of been it for his girlfriend who is member and then she broke up with him and now he doesn't care. So that was an unfortunate turn of events this week...but it is going to be better. We are going to the Mesa Temple Easter pageant with a real solid investigator named Robert, he is a way cool dude who just needs to realize that he is really ready for baptism!! So he is someone that we will be focusing on to get baptized, and he is awesome!! Another pair of investigators is Tiffani and Sam who are pretty awesome!! They live in an apartment complex that a few recent converts live in, and they are wanting to learn more and be baptized so that is really cool!! That apartment complex is just booming with missionary work!! Some others include the two boys who we are teaching. They are really awesome! Christian is a 9 year old kid who's parents were less-active, but have recently come back and now they are wanting him to be baptized! The other one, AJ is the son of a lady who is really wanting to be a member, but because she isn't married to her member boyfriend she is living with, so she can't get baptized. But she is wanting her son to, and that is really good because his "step-dad" needs to start getting on the right path and hopefully that family will make it to the temple some day. The Irish guy that we are teaching is super funny!! He likes to talk a lot, and so we don't get much in, but he has read a lot and is really smart he just needs to get past the intellectual side of things and have faith. He is a great guy and funny!! Those are the people that we had a chance to meet with this week. The work is going good here the wards. We got a ton of referrals from the Spanish missionaries that sound really promising and we are going to be contacting them asap!! :)

This week was a sick week, but other than that things are going good here.

Hope all is well back home!!!

Love,

Elder Johnson

Time is flying by!!!

So this week has flown by!!! I can't believe how fast this mission thing is going by!!! Every time another week goes by, it is like really crazy to think about. I am already on the 5th week of the transfer here and if feels like I just got here!!! Crazy how fast it goes!! When you are doing the work of the Lord, all time seems to just fly by!! So we had a lot of teaching appointments this week and a lot of good ones too!! :)

So a little update on everyone. There was an investigator that moved from the Aqua Fria Ward into the Independence Ward and we helped with that, and then we taught them this last Friday. Their names are Lisa and Kyle, and last time we taught them we read the last two paragraphs of the introduction to the Book of Mormon. Kyle said that he had never really done that before and so we challenged him to really pray and ask if it was true. He later told us that he had an experience where he was sitting in his sisters church that he went to and was sitting there and had a strong spiritual impression that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints was the church that he should belong to! He then started inviting everyone at the church to learn and that was so amazing!!! He pulled a complete 180 from not really liking Joseph Smith and all that to know that it is true!! It was soooo cool!!! :) Some others are Val she is a fiance to a less active guy who is coming back and she is really progressing she is starting to act on faith, rather that knowledge and that is really good progress. Chris the Scottish guy is doing great!! He is starting to grow in faith and that is good!! We read Elder Oaks talk in last general conference about the teaching of Christ and and that seemed to help him a lot!! Robert is doing good and progressing which is super cool, he just needs to know it is true, and he will get baptized!! There are a few with a date, AJ who is 8 and is getting baptized on April 14 and he is a pretty cool kid. The other one is Eric who was super ready from the start and is getting baptized on conference weekend!! The other one is a 9 year old named Christian who had a less active family for a while, but is coming back and he is getting baptized on the 16th of April. So that is the update of our week and it was a really good week!! :) The work is going really good here in the Independence and Aqua Fria Wards!! :)

So the Cardinals stadium was so awesome!!! I will send pics!! This area has a lot of tourist attractions so when I come back to this Area there is going to be a lot to do :)

Hope all is well back home!!

Love,

Elder Johnson

Inside the Arizona Cardinals Locker Room!!

 

This week in Glendale...

This week went really great!! We are still teaching a lot of people and that is good. We are teaching the same people that we were last week. Robert is doing really good and we are going to challenge him to baptism today and see how that goes. Eric is doing good he passed his baptismal interview and that was awesome!! He is going to get baptized conference weekend so that is great!! Val is doing great and she is starting to think about the gospel on a more spiritual side than a intellectual side so that is really good! We focused primarily on faith in Jesus Christ and she is starting to understand why we need faith and not just knowledge. There are some part member families that we are trying to complete. There is one family where the dad is not a member and he is super cool, and ready to hear the gospel. He is from Chicago and so he knows how to make a mean deep dish pizza!! That brought back some memories of Chicago!! :) Other than that the work is going forward!!! We had a district meeting this week and it was a debriefing on a new technique that the head of proselyting of the church gave the mission this week and he taught us a new way to do "door knocking". We state that we are representatives of Jesus Christ, and then we ask if we can leave a blessing on people's houses and pray with them. Because Phoenix is SOOO Christian populated it is a good technique to use. Once we get in the house and say the prayer, they are able to feel of that spirit right away and they want us to come back!! So this week I was on exchanges with our district leader, Elder Mendenhall (yes, he is related to Bronco Mendenhall...but he is still cool!) and we tried this out and surprisingly it worked. It felt a little weird at first, but it worked and a lot of people invited us back! One lady even invited us in and it worked and we got a return appointment out of it. That was so cool to see how that worked!! I looked back on that and realized that i don't think that she would have let us in with the other way, by saying that we are missionaries and what not. So that was really cool to see and a lot of people were friendlier to us and it was cool. So that is an update this week :)

Hope your week goes great!!

Love,

Elder Johnson

Luke's first DIY Haircut!!! (I sent him clippers! Good for him!) Funny picture, but I sure do miss that face!

The car they get to drive only a few miles a month, but still...it's a car!! 2012 Toyota Corolla!! 

The Stadium where the Fiesta Bowl was played!! It is in Luke's Mission!!!