August 15, 2011 - Pescando en los rios!

 My new area in Valle Hermoso is right by the ocean I can see it from my window! It’s pretty cool. We can hear the fog horn going off at night, because there is a port right next to our city where they do all of the big cargo ships. We live in a little two story house. We study and sleep on the top floor, and we have a little kitchen and bathroom. The ceilings are low and I’ve already hit my head a couple of times haha. I thought I was short! My companion Elder Wixom is from Salt Lake. He has a little bit more time than me in the mission, so we are both pretty new at this thing. It’s good though because we will learn a lot. We taught a lot of lessons this last week, and we found a lot of new people. So we are real excited. Elder Wixom likes to work hard, and he tries to get into every house, so that’s pretty good. We have 2 baptisms set up for this Saturday, so I guess I came at the right time! We had 4 investigators that came to church so that was real cool, it was a big change from my last sector. O and I had to give a talk in Sacrament meeting. I chose to talk about prayer. It went pretty good. I shared a scripture about the people of Alma and how they were being taken advantage of by King Laman, and how they prayed, and the Lord lifted their burdens, and I applied it to our lives. It’s in Mosiah 24. Sometimes I think that we forget the significance of prayer and what a great blessing it is. When we pray we are growing closer to God and the plan that he has made for us. We get on the same page, you could say. I’m thankful for prayer in my life, and it has helped me in times when I have needed it the most.

  So after my 5 hour bus ride, I got to Concepcion, and we took another little bus out to our sector. We dropped my bags off and we went and got our lunch that she put in a box for us. After we went straight to work. It was raining off and on. We taught a couple of lessons, it was pretty good. The rest of the week it was the same way. I guess it always rains down here near Concepcion. So I found these huge rain boots that I wear and these rain pants that are too big for me, but they work good! I stayed dry! We taught a bunch of lessons, and found 13 new investigators. The sector that I’m in is all hills. So there’s is just a bunch of houses crammed on to the hills. And it’s pretty muddy.

  On Saturday when we went out to work we went and tracked this housing track right on the edge of the beach, and the sun came out, and I tracked in just a shirt and tie for the first time in a while! It was pretty cool.

 I’m hoping that I pass the summer here because I have heard that it is a lot cooler since we are by the ocean. So that will be cool if that happens.

  In our ward here we have a lot of help from the members. There is this one guy named Nestor that recently got off his mission in Ecuador. He has gone out with us a lot, so that’s pretty cool, because if you have an investigator with you there is a bigger chance for the investigator to progress. And there is a couple sisters that come with us. One just got baptized 2 months ago, and she was really Catholic. So she helps out in lessons when people are Catholic, because she can tell her story about her conversion process.

 And when we go to District class, we take a bus for about a half an hour to a city called Tome. And that is where we have district class. I heard that when there was the big earth quake here, that the tsunami came in, and there was a bunch of water on the floor of the church, but it didn’t fall over! My district leader is Elder McNeil, he’s really cool, he gave us cookies after class! haha And our Zone Leaders are Elder King, and Elder Parks. So there is a lot of work to be done here in the Zone of Penco, and I look forward to it!

  So it has been a pretty stellar first week! I hope we can keep up the good work here in Valle Hermoso, there is a lot of potential, and I’m excited to find those people and help them enter the waters of baptism!

 Choa for now, thanks for everything all of you guys!

              les quiero,

                             Elder Johnson

August 8, 2011 - Que pasa calabazas!

I leave early tomorrow morning at about 8 to leave for Concepcion, then for a little bus to Valle hermosa. I’m excited to start out new, and put all of the things that I have learned these past 3 combios to the test! My companion is named Elder Wixom. He’s from Utah and he has a little bit less than a year in the mission. So it will be a good time for both of us to learn and grow as missionaries of The Restored Gospel.

 This week was great. It was still tough because we weren’t able to teach a lot of lessons. We are still in the finding stage here. On Wednesday we went on divisions Elder Keller and I. I went with a youth in the ward and we did some contacts, and we found 2 new investigators. In the lesson with the two people, the grandma of this girl that the member new was a little uneasy about talking to us. I said a couple things to her, then I said is it alright if we share a scripture and a little message. And she said no. But then I just started talking to her and explained about how missionaries get on a mission and about what we do, and she loosened up. Then she asked a question about how the church started. So in my gringo Spanish I explained how it started and how the Restoration happened. It was a little rocky but she understood the just of it. So hopefully Elder Abbott can go back and talk to them.  Then later on we contacted a lady who had seen a baptism, and knows someone in our ward. We talked to her for a little bit.   She was a nice lady so hopefully Elder Abbott can go back to her.

  Elder Abbott was Elder Pulvers comp this exchange. Now this new exchange they are gonna only have 2 missionaries in our ward. And Elder Abbottt is finishing an Elder from Mexico’s training. Elder Abbott only has an exchange more than me and he is already training! He’s a good missionary and speaks good Spanish.

     President Humphrey has made a lot of changes in the mission. Because in the next couple of combios a lot of the older experienced missionaries of the mission are going to leave. So now he has made younger missionaries District Leaders and he just moved 3 younger missionaries to Zone Leader it is really cool. A lot of younger missionaries will have the chance to step up and be leaders and learn a lot. Elder Daines was our District Leader last exchange and he got moved to Zone Leader in Talca. He only has about 7 or 8 exchanges in the mission. So there’s a lot to look forward to in the mission coming up in the next couple of changes!

 But this week we have done a lot of looking for new investigators. We found 9 new people our goal was 10. But we tried our best. And a lot of people here are really closed off. They are really Catholic or Evangelical. So it is hard to get into people’s houses. We have been trying real heard to get the ward activated in the missionary work. And a couple of families have started doing Family Nights with their neighbors. It’s cool to see people get a love for the Gospel and want to share it with their close acquaintances. We have one of the biggest wards in the mission of 140 people who regularly assist church. So there is a lot of potential. Hopefully they can keep their love for the Gospel growing and pretty soon we will see temples of the Lord pop up all over Chile.

  It has rained the last couple of days on and off. This morning for last P Day as a Zone we played basketball and soccer. The court was all wet from the rain, and it had puddles but we swept it all off with brooms. A couple Elders slipped but we were safe. It was way fun. There was 9 of us Elders who played. It was a real fun time. Then we went to Top Dog. It is like a fast food joint in the States, but in Chile. But they sell Completos and french fries, it was pretty good!

  Our new house is sweet. The room we sleep in is big enough for 2 bunk beds and a little walk way in between them. So we sleep warm haha! Then we have 2 study rooms that are about the same size with a table and chairs and then each room has a closet. But just as we moved in I gotta leave. But it’s good, I know the Lord needs me somewhere else.

  Last night I fried some Platanos. They are like the big huge bananas that are green. You have to peel them then you cut them up into little discs and throw them in hot oil, then sprinkle some salt on them after. They are really good. Elder Gil showed me how to make them. I’ll have to make some when I come back I’m sure you guys will love them because everyone here does!

  O and you can tell Tyler that they just had like a little Rally race in our town it was sweet. We were walking to an appointment and they were racing down the street and flying up the hill that is in the city. They are super loud! And the pits were in the parking lot of a super market on the other side of town.

  Elder Keller is staying in this zone but he got moved to Bombero Garrido, which is the sector that touches ours. So he has like a 15 minute walk down the street to his new house. He’s gonna be Zone Leader there with Elder Miller who is also kind of new.

  Thanks for your prayers and your letters. You guys are the best, and I love you guys!

                  les quiero mucho!

                                            Elder Johnson

August 1, 2011 - Food Poisoning

To start off I had my first South American food poisoning experience. It was gnarly.  I’m pretty sure it was some eggs that I ate that made me sick. The Chileans don’t cook their eggs all the way because they like to spread it on bread.  But right now I’m alright, haha but it’s all good.

  On Thursday we left early in the morning to get a bus down to Talca because we had Zone Conference. It was sweet. We learned how to find with faith. The assistants taught that and to not just do contacts just to do contacts. President Humphrey taught us about obedience and being obedient with exactness. It was great. And he taught us a little bit about the new training program we are having for all of the new missionaries. Because we are getting 25 new missionaries, and there are already a bunch being trained. So the Leadership in the mission is going to become real young real quick. So there are a lot of good changes to look forward to. So after the conference Elder Keller had to do an interview.

    But besides that we had a tough week. We spent all week looking for people to teach. We ended up teaching 7 total lessons. We are hurting bad for investigators. All the investigators that we had have dropped out. Something has happened that changed them so it stinks. And me being sick didn’t really help out either. We are really hoping that this next week something happens.

   Miguel is our only hope. We have been trying to get him to read and pray more on his own. We have been on top of his parents trying to get them to help him. And we have tried to help them read more themselves. So hopefully he can get baptized this Sunday! It would be great because I think I am leaving this sector this exchange. So hopefully I can end this exchange on a good note.

  It’s just been a real tough time. We do all this knocking on doors , working with families for references, and searching the part member families and less active families. But nothing has turned up. This week we are going to go out with a new different energy to find people, and to help them come unto Christ. I don’t want to be that person that leaves the sector and leaves the new companionship left with nothing to work with. We are just going to find with Faith, and find because we want to find people to help!

  It’s just like the Brother of Jared. He had to figure his own way out to light the barges. And the Lord knew he could do it himself because he was already tested, when he had to figure out how to get air into them first. So we are going to go to the Lord with Solutions, not problems, and He will bless us for our work.

  Yesterday right after church Elder Keller and Elder pulver had to go down to Concepcion for a Leader Activity, and Training for all of the Zone Leaders. So they left right after church, and Elder Abbott and I worked together yesterday.

  And today we had to put all of the stuff in the truck and pack everything to move houses. We are pretty excited to move houses. Our old one was growing mold and stuff and had cats fighting in the roof. There is a whole in the roof so cats go in during the middle of the night and fight and make noises and walk around. It’s crazy! But our new house is bigger, and we just painted all the walls white this week. So it is looking pretty sweet. But they still have pink ceilings! hahah

  But otherwise it’s all going good, it rained a little on Saturday but not much. That’s all I got for now Fam Bam! It’s good to hear from you all!

  Espero que su verano es bacan, Y ustedes pueden tener un buen tiempo en el calor!

                les quiero,

                                Elder Johnson