Nov. 26, 2008

hey everyone
yeah this week has been intesrting and frustrating. that family i told you about last week fluffed off. they weren't there so we both were pretty bummed. then i got sick monday. more of a cold like flu. mostly my stomach been alittle upset, and i've been exhausted. yesterday i woke up and were suppossed to exersice thirty minutes each morning, all i did was stretch. i was exhausted. so it wasn't to fun. well i'm glad your feeling better. i'm feeling much better today as well, just a sore throat now.
well wensday we had a lesson with a investigator who has the nickname mad-dog hersey. she in her 60's, and she a retired police officer, from washington d.c. she also was on survior, so that was intersting. the lesson went fairly well, she seems very intersted. she has took lessons before and last time she was running for sheriff, then she found out that basically all the members lived in the other county and so she stopped taking the lessons. she really does seem intersted, so no worries this time.
friday we had a zone meeting and that was pretty fun. theres a funny story with that. it's elder neilson's last transfer, so i waned to make a joke to him. when he walked in i said, hi elder neilson, you trunky yet. he said in a fast, annoyed voice, no! trunky means basically your packed and ready to go home, no longer care about missionary work. so it was pretty fun.
satyrday we did some service and raked up some leaves. made me wonder if jill is helping dad with them this year.
heres a cool story we tracted into this older woman a while back and as were were talking with her she kept taking about her neice that lived with here. she has two kids and so we decided to go back, felt like we needed to talk to her neice. it was cold that day and we started to talk with her. we tried to make it brief but she was very intersted. and we talk with her for a while. we set up a time to come back and that lesson was amazing. we committed her to read the book of mormon and to pray to know if it's true. she said, i already feel it ius true. it was amazing.
well that basically we had this week. hope you keep feeling better. tomorrow we have one place were going, with a part member. wife's the member but the husband just got back from being on a ship for a month. he's in the navy. they also have a two year old son that for some reason reminds me of the stories i herad when i was that age. he also loves trains. so i talk with you later. have fun tommorrow.
Elder S. Johnson

Nov. 19, 2008

yeah i can understand with being sick. no i'm not sick but my companion is, was, is. back and forth. we stopped by the branch president saturday night and we were there for a bit and then the next morning him and his son who lives in the branch, who was there as well, they both got sick. so we considered ourselves a little lucky. he's been sick twice in the past week. last wensday and yesterday. luckily it's been off and on so it's not been bad. we had a an intesting week to say the least. doesn't sound like you've had to fun of a week for us we had it intestring. i can't believ rebecca is getting married. the last time i heard anything about marraige she was totally turned off by the idea. but i guess that was about a year and a half ago.
so your probably wondering why i said from the cold son, it is very cold here right now. when we left the apartment it was in the thrities this morning. the biggest problem about the cold here is its a wet cold. so it makes it more miserable. yesterday we drove through snow. wasn't sticking but it was cold. and it's funny because last saturday it was high seventies. so it changed fast.
oh yes, i found out that elder salisbury is related to some peterson's, up near the blackffot area of idaho. so i asked him if there from denmark and he said yes. so we might be related somehow. just thought that was intesting.
saturday we had this person we tracted into invite us to his church. basically he said this, if you want me to come to ours come to mine. so we went to a bible study sunday night. it was intesrting. never turned into a bash or anything but it was differnt. he never came though, but the pastor there knew we were coming. we were kind of nervous about what might happen, i know some have anti mormon classes around here. so it turned out okay.
but the cool story happened yesterday. it started out bad. elder slaisbury was sick and we were in the morning. then we had an appointment at three that fell through. the road we chose to tract had no houses on it. so it wasn't going well. so we prayed to know where to go. i looked at our map and say a street not to far from us and felt like thats were we should go. so we found a house and found a parking spot, said a prayer and was getting ready to leave a school bus just pulled up behind us. two young girls got off and so we started towards the house, nrevous because the other day we scared two young girld and there dad wasn't to friendly. we asked if we could give them something and one of them went inside and the mom came out. she said, now is not good time. so we were going to leave her with a card for a book of mormon. as soon as she saw the card. the mom said, we were wondering how to get in hold of you. we found a family. so it was a really cool. so that was the highlight yesterday.

well i hope you get better. and not much else i know to say, but get well. and how is dad's back doing? i hope it's better.
well talk to you later.

Elder S. Johnson

Nov. 12, 2008

hey everyone.
this week sure has been an adventure. so it turns out with transfers, that we had an intersting time. there was two elders getting transferred and 5 coming in. becuase three went home. so it was intersting. so we got everything arranged so that three elders stayed behind and then they picked up everyone else. with a senior missionary couples help. the peterson's, there from orem, i don't know if were related though. yes i just got my line of autority today. i was really excited when i saw it. well my mouth is doing just fine, no pain so far. knock on wood. but i have a return appointment saturday. my companion hopelly doesnt have it too bad. he going in after me to have his tooth checked out. it's been really bugging him. well from the smallville thing you asked doomsday is somesort of genetic monster from kyrpton. don't know much about him. yes i also got my package as well. don't worry i shared.

well this week was intesting. sunday we had a branch confernce. so we had a lot of people from the stake there. then this branch has this thing called a lingerlonger every second sunday. basically it's just a big get together that has a lot of food. so it was fun. they couldn't last month becuase of general confernence, stake confernce, and fast sunday, so it was pretty busy.
my new companion elder salisbury grew up in long beach california, and then moved to logan, utah four years ago. he'll be out a year this friday. he is also thinking about playing football in collage as well, he's thinking of utah state.
on monday we had a big group family home evening again. that was pretty intersting, theres this one little kid named eban, and i think he reminds me of myself. i don't know what i was like but he's usually bouncing off walls. me i had a cat jump onto my lap and fall asleep so it was pretty funny, the lint roller came in handy.
yesterday we had interiews with president millburn, and it went pretty good, we also now have elder salisbury's bike which makes country tracting a lot better. don't have to use as many miles, and don't take as long walking in between houses.
one thing about the ensign magazines, the missionaries always get them last. they give them to us at a meeting, sometimes we get it a week before the end of the month. this one i think might be sooner, but don't know. well that's about it. this week. it was great to hear from all of you. later
Elder S. Johnson

Nov 5, 2008

yeah i've heard about elections. not to excited about either of it. obama kind of scares me though. i'm up in hopewell staying till my new companion elder salisbury arrives. which will be tommorrrow. i'm stil junior though, but elder peterson has it pretty crazy. he's going senior, and district leader. he is also step-training, and training. so he's got it crazy. no the cookies were fine. they were still good. i'm feeling okay after the dentist. bad night for it though. man i hope dad's back get better. i also thought it was cute how kate says goodbye to all her toys and such. at chucrh sunday before sacrament meeting a little boy at 1 years old was walking around. i smiled and said, hello james. well he then walked up to me smiling and started wanting to pick me up. now i'm not allowed to as a missionary, so because i didn't he walked off and began to cry. it was so sad. i felt so bad. thats a cool story from chad. right now we have someone set for the 29 of this month. an eleven year old girl. still can only seem to only baptize kids. but oh well. i don't know if you remember about elder martz and elder taylor. they both are zone leaders now. so that's some good news.

sunday we had an awesome branch fireside. there we started a book of mormon reading that will take place the next year. so that's pretty exciting. everything is pretty crazy. though. last night i've been with a zoneleader and we went to fort lee to visit some members. there is senior missionary couple that serve there as well. we did a little fmaily home evening and that was pretty fun. i also get to play zone leader tonight. we have a meeting with the stake president so that is a fairly strange feeling.

well that all i really have. i still haven't got that halloween one but i'm sure it will be there by tomorrow. so that all for this week.
Elder S. Johnson

Oct 29, 2008

hey everyone.
this week has been intersting. i still haven't recieved the package, dont know where it is. so elder brockman said, you mihht be able to track it, but don't know. it's hopefully at the post office now, didn't go by it this morning. wow, i can't belive josh is back now. but it sounds like he had a good time there. yeah, i heard byu was humilated. so i have some exciting news this week.
so friday we had our baptism. we did it up in petersburg. elder brockman baptized aidan. heres the funny thing. it was suppossed to start at 6:00 and bro. johnson our mission leader made the goal that we were going to start on time. the problem was, the local highschool had a parade for homecoming and people struggled to get around it. so byt the time it got started it was 30 minutes late. not our fault. besides the person doing the opening prayer was in the caravan running late. but it went very good. then on sunday i confirmed him, so that was pretty exciting. but thats the most exciting thing for this week. today is elder brockman last p-day and then next wendsday he's flying home. i'll be staying up in hopewell. where there will be only one zoneleader, because the other one is going home as well.
we have to be in by six on halloween and i've already heard plans by memebers planning to come by, so we have to get some candy, kid probably wouldn't like pass along cards to well. oh yes yesterday we were out tracting and sometimes a dog will start foling you, this time we had a cat. it was funny, never pet it, never fedd it or anything, but it just followed us everywhere. it was funny walking down the street and having it walk along the side of us. it was pretty odd. it acted a bit like a dog. whenever a dog follows us we call it a disiple dog, this time it was a disiciple cat. well that's it for this week.
i'll talk to you in less than two months. later

Elder S. Johnson

Oct 22, 2008

wow, that good that dad got himself another deer. that sounds great. this week has been intersting. i just got that card from grandma today, elder brockman is already liking grandma's idea of taking him out for lunch. yes i've been to the diner a few times. the first time was the day we arrived here. so this week was amazing, i got to shake elder cooks hand, twice. second time was on accident but i talk about that in a minute.on friday we did twenty fours with the zone leaders. that was an intersting exprience. i was with elder brockman's mtc companion. so that was intersting. then monday i went on exchanges with the petersburg elders. petersburg is differnt. for example saw a drug deal as we drove by. so that was differnt. also talked with this one guy who was really bent out of shape because two of his neighbor houses were broken into that day. so petersburg is differnt. but for some good news, we made it to stake confernce and we herad from some elder where elder cook was. so we styaed around that area waiting till he came out. so he came out and he said, hello elders. shook our hands and pres. millburn was coming out of the room with him and he placed his hand on my shoulder and said, good work elders. and then walked off. so we both looked at each other and chuckled abit. it was a really good meeting. pres millburn spoke at ours as well as elder cook, and it was a very good meeting. then afterwards we were trying to find some members really quickly and accidently ended up at the door right when he was walking through. so second time was on accident. then we had zone confernce yesterday, but no special quests were there. the richmond area had two apostles sunday, and three seventy's. so it was unusual, no news was revealed like a temple or anything, but i think alot of people were hoping. zone confernce was amazing. it was very good. well i still havent recived the package yet, i think there somthing wrong with the post office near us our something. but who knows. we have a baptism on friday. for a 9 year old named Aidan fosser. it's been differnt teaching him mostly because of his younger siblings. there a set of twins, that are both six, and another one that is 4. so it's been intersting. well that's it for today. next time you here from me i'll been twenty. elder johnson

October 15, 2008

wow, i can't belive it's deer hunting season allready. wow is time flying by. were now in what's called suit season, so we wear them everyday, for the most part. we can remove them if it gets over 70 degrees. so it okay. we take them off within an hour of going out in the morning. well so far i haven't done to much. our first sunday they asked us to each give a short talk and then last sunday elder brockman gave the lesson in priesthood. so that went very well. oh yes and quess what our furnace is like. basically we flip a switch and oil will fill up and then we light it with a piece of paper. it gets pretty toasty in there but it's still good. that doesn't sound to fun, there but it might get better. so the big news for this week is, we have a stake confernce on sunday, and Elder Quentin L. Cook is coming. Boyd K. Packer is going to another one though, but it's still exciting. well i bought myself some porkchops this week and i cooked them. they turned out allright. so i cooked my first porkchop. then friday we were out tracting and we had a phone call from the brnach president wife, sis. gruber. she had a referal for us. it's a cool story. his name is chuck. he just moved into surry and was going through a rough time. the first box he unpacked had a book of mormon in it. he recieved a year ago and he started reading. he starting cross referncing it between the bible and saw other referances from the D&c and covenats and pearl of great price so he found pres. gruber's phone number anc called seeing if he could get them. so we talked with him for an hour and he's intersted in the lesson's. so that's pretty exciting. then on monday we are starting up a joint family home evening. it went very well. elder brockman loves to cook and made this taco soup. it was very good. i'm going to ask him for the recipe. this week has had it's up and downs. but it's been a pretty good week. this area is defiantely challenging i will give it that. but it's very fun fun here. belive it or not there are 14 chuches in the town of wakefield alone. and it's smaller than blanding. it crazy. well that's it for this week. talk with you later.

Oct 8, 2008

sounds like you had a great week. things have been great here. we just opened up a P.O. box so we can get mail now. it's
P.O. box 964
Wakefield, VA 23888

so there you go. so right now it's been going great here. yeah, confernce was kind of scary me and elder brockman have been talking about. a lot of talks seemed to be get prepared, the second coming is coming. it just seemed to have a lot of focus on it, so the probably the biggest message. also found out president monson like showtunes. i'm not sure what my favorite talk was but elder worthlin defiantly had the best joke. so saturday morning we were going out to go tracting and quess what, we had a parade here. elder brockman was tempted to call elder martz, the distict leader and tell him the world was ending, cause there was a large number of sirens going off. so we ended up going to the church early, because we couldn't do anything else. so it was intersting. theres something i want to tell you about elder martz. he been in the same area for almost a year now. it will be a year at the end of this transfer. it's crazy. but he loves the area. he is up in petersburg. then yeterday we had a zone meeting. that was fun. elder peterson and neilson are both in my zone now. it's werid tough, elder neilson is going home next transfer.

well tell jordan congradulations. i'm excited for him. we actually already had an apartment. we had it when we got here. the landlord told us that missionaries have moved in and out of that same one many times. yes we do have a grocery store. here's the funny thing. every area with a car is allowed fourty p-day miles. here's the sad part, we can walk to the libary, to the grocery store, and back to the apartment. we are that close to everything. there are a few fast food places, we have a subway and then we can go to th north and find a hardee's(carl's junior) and a mcdonalds. so there are places, but not much. we actually cover two counties here. sussex, and surry. we made it to the james river this week. but that's about it. oh and we also can walk to the church. it's pretty much across the street. well that's about it for this week. everything is going well here.
elder johnson

Oct 1, 2008

so i guess you already now a bit about this place. i have more to share though. it has an airport, last area didn't. it also has many peanut fields around us. alos micheal Vick's house is in our area. the one with the dogfighting thing. but the biggest thing is, that me and elder brockman are reopening this area. it's been crazy. we arrived basically with nothing. but the branch is very supportive. all of them are thrilled that were back. it's very exciting. i've learned a lot. so the first night we arrived, we unpacked bought our food, and evrything else. then we went out with a bro. holle. he toured us around, helped us go up to the zone leaders apartment and get some more supplies. so that was pretty intersting. we already have someone set for baptism, belive it or not, and another were planning to set on sunday, there unbaptized youths but still something. i have already seen so many miracles here. one day we were looking up potental investigators and we knocked on the door, no one. elder brockman then felt inspired to go to another door, and we ended up tracting everything and nothing happened, as were getting into the car, the potientails wife pulled in. so we talked with her and she's always been interseted in learning more. it's been great here. and quess how big the branch is... make sure you sitting down for this. in my last ward there was about 40 active young men, here there is about that many active members. it is very small. but it's great.
so my companion, elder brockman was a zone leader and now were reopening this area. he has only six weeks left though, so we are really moving to get this area going. he's great, he's really been helping me learn. i've already leanred alot from him. right now we are working on getting a p.o. box because they don't have mailboxes in the town limits. so it's been intersting. we ont be biking here, mostly because elder brockman doesn't have one, and it's not worth it to buy one for six weeks. so it will be different. congradulations on your calling that sounds great. yes, wealso get the ensigns but usually later in the months so we get sneak peaks from members often. well that's about it, i don't know when i can sned pitcures though, mostly because of there's no place here to do it. but i will sometime. well that's it for now. talk to you later.
elder johnson

Sept. 24, 2008

i am getting transferred. i'm going to wakefield. don't know much about it other than its kind of country. if you wonder where it is on the map it southeast of Petersberg. i'm am going to be working with an elder brockman. don't know much about him, so i'm excited. transfers were very exciting this time. elder beames, and elder Peacock, two that i came out with are training. so i can't wait to tell them congradulations. there was alot of big news. we had interviews this week and wensday after were were coming home from the holocaust museam we heard that all the zone leaders had an emergency meeting with the mission president. it turns out that there making some changes. there now having the ap's are going out into the field, and they have called to traveling assiantants that are sister's. and now zone confernces will be just our zone and then they have missionwide confernces three times a year. so it's been intersting. they also announced this leadership training for the stakes here, and elder cook, and president packer, as well as some seventies are coming. everyone is wondering what's going on. ward council was joking around about annoucing a richmond temple, but probably not.
well this week was definately interesting, wensday we went to the holocaust museum and it was pretty depressing. then thursday was pretty fun with interviews. but that's really about all that's really exciting this week. i alos had a bike crash in goochland saturday. i'm fine, knee is a little brusied but doesn't hurt, my wrist is a little sprained so it's been differnt trying to type. so sorry if it bad, and a bunch of mispelling. but other than that it's fine.
so i quess that john beck has been playing, or is someone else. i heard brett frave is doing good. still can't pitcure him as a Jet. sounds like kate is getting into airplanes now. she's defiantly got johnson blood in her. i have't had the chance to make the cookies yet, but i have brownies. but i'm excited for this next week. so next week i'll have the address for you. well that's it for this week, but i am very excited to go to wakefield, nervous, but excited.
elder johnson

Sept 17, 2008

well so far virginia is starting to cool down, had some rain yesterday but other than that not to much. i've heard quite a few things this week. one about the big bankrupty this week, the hurricane, and about gas going up again. so basically the big stuff. hopefully you all get better soon. it's not to fun being sick. our disrtict leader hasn't been sick, just sore. he had a really bad bike wreck monday. we come in for lunch and they called us and said, how they were out for fifteen minutes and then they have to be in all day. but they're excited anyways, they got a car out off it, because he got stiches in his leg, and hurts to much to bike. haven't had a companion yet you has slept walk, but i heard one of the old aps did. but he also talked in his sleep. i keep forgetting to tell you this, but make sure you don't jump, or scream, but i cut my hair, all by myself. it's looks great, i have pitcures of it. so when i send them you can see them.
i can't remeber if i ever have told anyone this, but one of the pitcures of me and kate. in the Mtc on the first days there, everyone was showing pictures of ther girlfriends, just showing off mostly. i grabbed out that pitcure and said, you want to see a pitcure of my girlfriend. everyone said, sure and i showed them and they all just started laughing, it was really funny. but that's it for now.
last wensday we had an apppointment that fell through, so we head to go see someone else and after we got out of the car, we heard this hissing sound. our tire was deflating. so we drove back to our appartment and then changed it there. then the next day we went and got a new tire. so it was intersting. we don't know exactly what it was but were quessing a nail, not as bad a louisa, a while back. they pierced there tire with a key. sunday we had an appointment with an investigator named terrance. we taught him a few times now, and we set him for baptism. it went great. we are so excited right now. he is a body builder, has a job, as well as a fulltime student. it's great. he is great. he's set right now for the 18th of october.
well not much else i know of to say right now. but i heard from tiff that she's pregant again. i'm excited. well thats all for this week. next week at this time i know if i'm getting transferred or not. so i'm getting nervous. and thanks for the card. that's great the ward/stake is trying to do missionary work. thats something there really pushing in this mission is getting members excited about doing it. well thats it. talk to you later.
elder johnson

Sept 10, 2008

hey everyone
this week has been intesting. we got quite a lot of rain last weekend, i'll tell a bit more in a bit. i don't now him right off but, i'll be sure to meet him when he comes in. i have heard that Byu and Utah have done pretty good, i heard that utah beat Michigan. but other than that not much. i heard from someone that Tom brady left the game on sunday, and that he's out for the season. don't know if it's true or not. wow, so pam and roger have a bird now. that's intesting.
so last wensday we huung out with Glen allen again, and we went to a place called Carytown. it was pretty cool, just a bunch of hole in the wall shops. we went by a lot of antique shops and went tie shopping. missionaries here like to look for the older 70's polyester ties. it was pretty fun done there. i got a black tie with pink circles. it's cool looking. then i'm not sure if you heard about it or not but wensday night we get a call from our district leader telling everyone to get our 72 hour kits together because a hurricane is coming. it was a weak one but they still wanted everyone to be prepared. it was a tropical storm when it hit though. everyone in the mission was praying that it would hit, a lot of missionaries were wanting to experince it. it hit friday night and then we went tracting out in it saturday morning. it just rained, that was it, not much wind, but just a lot of water.

but other than that not to much exciting things happened this week. i'll talk with you later.
elder johnson

Sept 3, 2008

hey everyone
this week has been really good. we had an AMAZING zone confernce. i talk about that in abit. just to let you know, i did just get the package. i got it yesterday. thanks a bunch. the shrew we decided to try to keep for a bit but it got loose and we tried to catch it but i accidently killed it. so it's dead now. i was telling people about it a zone confernce, and one elder named elder Moa, he was there a few months before me and he said, what are you doing to that apartment. i told him, just trying to keep it from falling apart. it's much nicer than that, just probelms come up every now and then. well we had a big rainstorm on thursday, so that may be part of it. i heard new orleans had another hurricane get close. i have also heard there is quite a few of them out there from people. that is one of the reasons the whole mission has cell phones now. we got ours just two weeks ago. it used to be all sister missionaries and thosewho live with a member, now it is everyone. my bike is brand new, and it's a yellowish color. when i send pitcures home soon youll see it.

now for the stroies this week. last wensday we went up to glen allen, and we hanged out up there for the day, and then they decided they all wanted to get slurpees, so we get a ride with a member and eventually we ended up in Innercity of Richmond and went to Belle Island, it has a bridge that go underneath the freeway over the James river. there we walked around and saw some old civil war prisions and other things. it was pretty fun, but i did not have my camera at the time, so i'll have to go there again sometime. then on thursday we had Elder Zwich come and speak with us and he talked to us for about three hours. it was amazing. he talked about all sorts of stuff like how mission calls are made, then about preach my gospel how it got made, and many more things. he told us how preach my gospel was written on the other side of the veil, so like what you said in email, and he told us about how elder maxwell wrote chapter six on christlike attributes, after he was diagnosed with cancer. and how he finished it and then passes away a few months later. it was incredible, the spirit in there was so strong. it was great.

other than that i cant think of much more to tell you. tell jill sorry her card is a little late. but it's in the mail. yeah we talked with many people on monday who told us yeah, labor day is for labor. i answered quite often, to me it was always my sisters birthday. but it was good day. elder wangemann sent me an email that told me that he is now an uncle. perfect timing. he's back home now. i can understand going without sugar, a less active meber had us for dinner on friday. she's greek. very intersting food, but it's good. she gave us a sugar free chocolate cake. so it's very bland. i'm not sure to much for birthday right now, but i'll let you know. but right now a shirt and a tie sounds good. just make sure it's not one of those shirts that you tried to iron and wouldn't, there still bad. well thats it for this week, i think it's quite a bit more than normal, but i'm sure you wont complain.
elder johnson

Aug 27, 2008

the last two days have been a little rainy. just to answer you few questions, no i haven't got my package yet. haven't done any sight seeing, not to much in my area of richmond. we are talking about heading up to Glen allen and hang out, but it depends on the weather. i am right now reading jesus the christ, slowly, but reading it. it's very good, but he's got a big vocabulary. usually i have a dictionary next to me when reading it. then i have alos read our heritage. last week i also finished the Doctrine and covenants.
well now for some good news. we had an interesting week. on friday we had a district meeting. we had the high councilor over missionary work there and talked to us about a new program the stake is doing to help move the work along. it sounds great. so they aksed us to help memebrs start it up. then afterwords we went to whats called, hardee's(or carl's junior back west.) it was pretty good. then i bought myself a bike. so thats were the money went if you were wondering. then staurday we were having personal study in the morning and elder meyers heard something moving near the door. he looks over and saw something stick it head out from under our closet and then went back in. he said, we have a mouse. he then got some peanut butter and sat next to the closet with a stick waiting for it to get the peanut butter. he took a couple of whacks at it, but didn't get it. monday we see it again. and we take everything out of the closet and caught it. it turned out to be a shrew. then we doubled checked for a nest and everything else and there wasn't one. so we were lucky.
other than that's that's the most exciting stuff for this week. but it was great hearing from everyone. tommorrow should be fun. we have zone confernce again. and elder zwich for the sevnty is coming as well. everyone is looking forward to it. well that's it for now.
elder johnson

Aug 20, 2008

this week has been intesrting to say the least. it was on the slow side but still fun. I still haven't recived the packge yet, but it should arrive here. yeah, i was just reazling it's been five months as well. it doesn't feel like it. but then i think about all i have done and it makes sense. well my companion elder meyers is from Oregon. a small town named Cottage grove. in school he was on the school swim team. he's been out about 6 months. or a transfer ahead of me. he's a good missionary as well. now for the other person you were asking about, belinda. she is thirteen, and she was born in ghana. then they moved to new york. her mom converted there, and her dad i think was already a member. they move around alot, and went less active. the sister missionaries in the area next to us went over, and taught them a bit and found out she and her little brother hadn't been baptized. so they began to work with them. derrick mostly thinks it's a game when were over there so his mom wnated him to wait. so they ended up moving into our ward boundries, and thats the story.
so thurday we normally would head down to the meadowbrook chapel to pick up my new companion, but i was already with him, and so i didn't get to go down. so we were both sad about that. on friday the ward a a barbaque so we went and was good to introduce him to alot of members. thn saturday we ended up having to take bikes up to scotchtown. it turns out that the schotown elders didn't tie there bikes down and one fell off and was in desprate need of repairs. so they take to a shop, and then we had to take it back up there. so we went into a very country area. it was very beautiful, and alot of been fields. then sunday we had a dinner appointment with the high councilor over missionary work, bro. anderson. and it was a very good meal. i enjoyed it alot. i alos got to met elder wangemann's family. all excpet his older brother whose wife is expecting any day. he flying home i think today. his family came out to pick him up. so that was fun to meet them. then monday we went on exchanges with glen allen. so i met elder amlone greenie. his name is elder holly, and he reminded me alot of spencer nish. that was very fun, we had a great time. then yesterday was my funny story for the week. we had a return appointment with someone we met off of tracting and she said, she would have goodies over there for us as well. i figured it meant snack foods. we ended up having a dinner appointment that night, and we head straight fro, there to see her. she had a fried chicken meal. luckly i saved some room.
it was a very interesting week this week. not much else i know to say, but i will email you next week. i also have herad micheal phelps is tearing it up in china right now. but I haven't heard much else other than about him.

well this week has been very intesting. we had a baptism, said goodbye to elder wangemann, and found out who my new companion is. sister goodhue on sunday asked for our families email, she wanted to email them, so that's the basic story behind it. your going to have to let me know who it is that coming to virginia, i'm sure i know him. yeah, we been hearing alot about the olympics from people here. so brett farve is jet now, that werid, just thinking about it. yes, Glen allen is in richmond, in fact it is just to the east of us, in fact our boundries meet. here's a funny story last night. i was staying with elder malone, and elder meyers. elder malone gets a call from president millburn saying that he is training in glen allen, so elder meyer was depressed that he is going. at 11:15 transfers come in over the fax and they had it first, and then found elder meyer and his companion is elder S. Johnson, area gayton. so i'm already with my new companion. he's just going across the street. so that was very unusual.
so on wensday we went to the cheesecake factory. mmm, that was good. that was a very fun day. then on thursday we had inetrviews with the mission president. it went well, and then we went straight to an appointment at three, and we then went to one at 4, 5, 6, 7, 8. we were running all over that night. but it was fun. then saturday was awesome, belinda was baptized, and everything went well. it started alittle late though, about thirty minutes. but everything went good, other than that. it was because her oldest sister whose not amemebr was coming, and she got lost. so we waited for that. then that night me and elder wangemann went to maggie moos to celebrate that, and it was his two year mark. then sunday was intersting, we were getting gray hairs because belinda came very late. and for converts they have them confirmed in sacrament meeting.
man this week flew by. last transfer flew by. i was also wondering if you might be able to get zack's and nicks email address. well thats it for this week
elder johnson

Aug 6, 2008

wow. sounds like you going to have a fun trip. elder neilson wanted to go there really bad. tell spencer congratualtions. the bishop's wife had a son who is tempe, arizona mission. so tell him to keep an eye out for an elder weber. yesterday we were lucky it was supposed to be mierable. humity in the nineties and tempeture over a hundred. lucky we had cloud cover and it was cool, but still humid. but not as bad. i remember hearing about kim and shawn moving to michigan for school. there is also a person here who is going to SUU this year as well. he is also preparing for a mission as well. who knows they may meet. i was also wondering about whether the gopher was around or not. i cook every now and then, but recipes could be fun, so you could send some. i'm still adjusting to wensday as well. oh yeah, let wendels know i got the pitcures and note from the primary. thanks. oh yeah, last week we had a new family move into the ward. kelli black's older brother. i talked with there dad and he said, he knows dad. his name is lyle black.
well this week has been intesting. it's starting to heat up here. tempture. yesterday we had one of our invetsigators take us to brewsters. it's an ice cream shop, very popular here. it was good. it's seems alot like maggie moos, but they already have stuff mixed in. it's still good. she has a son that's a member who is one mission in uraguay. he's a zone leader down there and just loves it. so she loves to have us come by. he comes home in october, so i may not be able to meet him, before he goes back out to BYU.
we also have a baptism this weekend. it's for belinda. so i'm looking forward to that. tomorrow is going to be very busy. we have interviews in the morning, then we head there to an appointment with an invetsigator, then, we have one at four, five, six, seven, and eight. so it's going to fly bye, it's between less actives and active members.
yesterday i found a rechargable battery charger so i bought that for my camera, that will quickly pay it's self off. but that's mostly it for this week. well maybe try to wait for my package, because tuesday i will be staying with the glen allen elders, and there is still a chance that i will be transfered. so just to give you a heads up. but that's it for this week. i am also headed to the cheesecake factory today. elder wangemann is throwing a last p-day party. so it should be fun.


i just remebered something we did on saturday. the elder quorum in our ward did a pig roast and invited us to come. it was great. we had a less active meber arrive and he has an almost three year old that is always getting into trouble. he thinks everything is his and doesn't like to share. but he is fun. there was alot of little kids there running around, checking out the chickens, pigs, peacocks, goats, and even there dog. i was thinking the whole time, kate would of had a blast there. they even were letting the kids feed the goats. i wish i would have brought my camera though, but that's it. hope to hear from you.

July 29, 2008

well i'm glad you got that letter, i'm sure quite a few parents were wondering what was going on yesterday, when they didn't get an email. this week was definately intertesting, a little bit longer than normal. well transfers are coming up in two weeks. so it's coming up, i'm probably going to stay here but there is still a chance of leaving. sounds like kate is learning a lot of things since i've been gone. prayer even. i started using my debit card mostly because i got a little low on money this month. so i used it a bit. but you don't need to worry about replacing it yet. i already have a helmet but not a bike. (elder yelton gave me his.) well let grandma know i say hi as well.
well in our zone there is about ten areas. then about 3 districts with about 3-4 companions in that area. which covers a stake. there is 8 zones in our mission but one is spanish. so at zone confernce, ours has elders from the chesterfeild, midlothian, waynesboro, and richmond. pembroke is the spanish. then the other one which is for the newport news, virginia beach, and cheasepeake. zone confernce a more learning oprunties from the mission president, and the other senior missionaries. then they have departing testimonies for those who are going home that transfer. then usually the A.P.'s make some sort of game to break it up. so thats the normal zone confernce.
the past ftwo days have been tiring, weve been doing service for an older lady in the ward. she's from greece and has problems with her lawn mover. so we go over monday just planning on mowing her lawn and it turns out she was us to take out two of her small trees and plant them some where else. we agreed and now were are stiff and sore from it. she also a little crazy, but the good kind.
our zone confernce was just amzing. it was about the Book of Mormon. then they had recent converts who came and bore there testimonies of the Book of Mormon. it was really good. it was long because the testimonies went a little longer than planned, so they ended up cutting out the game. many missionaries were not happy. but it was still good. elder wangemann had a really funny departing testimony. he made quite a few jokes during it. like sorry if this isn't too good, i've never done this before. but my favorite, he said, my companion is really nervous about who is next companion is going to be. then he turns to President milburn and said, will you let me know who my next one will be. let me tell you, it took people a little bit to get it. but once they did everyone laughed. he really woke everyone up.
then on friday i went on exchanges with our zone leaders. i went with Elder Baird. he was amazing. it was a great learning experince. elder wangemann wen to the inner city of richmond. very ghetto. that area is always on fire and about 70 percent of the crazy stories come from there. elder wangemann was talking to someone and asks this lady if she ever knew that christ came to america. and she said, i know that, i am Jesus. that's just a little why missionaries love that place, it is full of crazies. Elder yelton served there once and met a person who believed he was god. it's very intersting.
well thats about it this week. today we are having a zone get together and playing basketball and stuff. talk to you later.
elder Johnson

July 22, 2008

Just me being silly. The pastor tag is Elder Wangemann's. Below is a funny road out in Goochland.

well everything is dried up now. we now are having quiet nights of sleep. so no more insomnia. the carpet was to be fixed on last wensday but it turns out that it was still alittle wet so on friday, everything was good. everything is mostly fixed now, other than the hole in the wall they made to fix the pipe, but other than that it good. well i should be getting mail anyways. on wensday i sent to letters, one that said, elder johnson, the other said steven johnson, i got them both, so everything is fine now. so send everything you got for me here now. so this week has been interesting, between trying to sleep with five loud blowers on.
on wensday we had a district meeting and i did a little training on the missionary handbook, it went good for my first one. elder wangemann did one as well. he started out saying this week was been werid. first our apartment flooded and then i got my going home papers. i then said, woohoo. everyone just started laughing. one of the sisters that loves to give people a hard time really enjoyed it. elder wangemann got a kick out of it as well, then said he would get me back for it. but the meeting went great. on saturday i went on exchanges with elder taylor. i got burned pretty good there, but it was good, we got to talk quite a bit. there was aslo a baptism on saturday for one of the sisters investigators. it was amazing from what i heard from elder Wangemann and Elder Green. the nioght before the sisters were just frantic because they could not get a hold of her. she ends up calling them at about ten o'clock that evening and told them they shoul;d not have been worrying and such. then after she was baptsied she gave a heart tocuhing testimony about the Savior. that brought the whole room into tears. elder green came out of there so ready to go find someone to teach. he's an incredible missionary and he's only been out three weeks, it's crazy.
it's been a great week. we've been teaching a person named Jim who is very solid. he hasn't started reading the book of mormon yet but he just sucks everything in. so he is doing very well, we both think, once he starts reading everything is going to move fast with him.
well i'm glad to hear that grandma is doing better. i also heard from elder neilson a while ago that he has met the lady who wrote popcorn popping on the appricot tree. she lives somewhere in virginia. man that's annoying with brett farve. but everything has been going well here. it sounds like it next week is going to be very hot. yesterday it reached a hundred, but many people offer water here though. but thats it for this week.
elder johnson

July 15, 2008

thanks for letting me know about grandma. i'm glad she's doing better. that letter was from me, i was just checking to see if my change of address worked or not, two weeks ago. i'm going to try to send something else to see if it works now or not. so hopefully, but it should be fixed.
this week there's not to much exciting news. on thursday we had an appointment with a less active member we have been working with. he called us earlier and told us he would be a few minutes late, so just hang around. so we did, five minutes passed, and then ten minutes, next thing we knew it was over thirty. so we knew something must of happened. we go back to the apartment and theres a message on on our answering machine. it's the person we were heading to go see, and it turns out he was at the checkout stand and his two year-old son was in the shopping cart and dropped his truck. he bent over to pick it up and the cart fell over and he busted his lip open. so he had to take him to the emergency room. so it was the most intesrting story this week until last night.
it was normal, we go to bed nothing unusual. i wake up about one thirty needed to use the restroom, i placed my feet on the ground and my feet got wet. i told elder wangemann get up, but he is a very deep sleeper. he slept through his alarm eariler this week. i turne on the lights pick up my glasses and it was bad. i yelled, get up now. he heard now, wakes up. and as soon as he stood up he said oh, shoot. we quickly found out that the main pipe for the water heater broke. so we call a plumber and they said they cant help us because we live in an apartment, so we have to call the landlords. so we call them and it just rang, and about the time elder wangemann didn't think they were going to answerthey did. a person came turned off the water, and called someone one else to to come a suck it all up. so elder wangemann calls President Millburn to let him know whats going on. he said, president we have an emergency. we wondered what the look on his face would be when we said that. but everything ended up turning out allright. we getting new carpet and we also don't have any water at the moment. but i'm sure glad it's p-day, so we can catch up on sleep. but we had almost two hundred gallons of water in our apartment by the time the water was shut off. our neighbors woke up because that vacuum they use is loud. so that's my crazy story for the week.

other than that everything has been fine. we had a really good week. i met a baptist pastor that was very much telling us we are being mislead, but were doing good, but were mislead. so it was crazy. we also found out the jehovah witness had tracted that street earlier that day. so people weren't exactly thrilled. we had a zone meeting this week and it sounds like p-day is going to be moved to monday soon. we think he's going to have a vote at zone confernce and probably start next transfer. after our zone meeting this week, we went to a resturant, called five guys. it had very good burgers as well as french fries. i've been there twice now and they are just amazing, but that's it for this week.
elder johnson

July 8, 2008

well so far it hasn't been to hot. so far, knock on wood. there has been thunderstorms the last couple of nights and been raining alot here. but Virginia is needing it. this week was very interesting. on wensday we went to a golden corral before elder neilson transfered. it was very good. elder neilson had found four five dollar gift cards in an old area so we used them that day. i tried these things called hushpuppies. they were very good. there like these scones, but more of sticks, but there more like bread. they were delicious. that was supposed to be elder neilson's last day. we arrived back at the apartment that evening, and there was a message from the zone leaders. transfers were postponed a day. it turns out that the new group of missionaries plane broke down before they left salt lake. so they were stuck at the mtc another day. so we had another day together. so it was strange. i'm now elder neilson longest companion, three months and a day. so after we dropped elder neilson off we had a lesson with a new family that just moved into our ward. it was in another ward with sisters, now they passed them to us. the parents are members but the kids have not been baptized. right now the oldest is set for baptism but the youngest the mom wants to wait on, because he thinks of it more like a game. so we know have someone set for baptism. then we had a barbque with the ward mission leader. it was good and fun. so that day we didn't get much missionary work in except for the lesson. yesterday we helped someone move in. there an older couple, one is dutch, and the other is german. they are very friendly. one is an art teacher and his wife is a designer. they mostly had some things they needed help with, like a marble slab that was ridiciously heavy. so we are still alittle tired from it. so far i have met three of the new elders that have come out. the first one is Elder Green, and he is from bountiful. but he's just north of the temple. so opposite end. then i met an elder simmons. he said, i flew farther to go to the MTC, then to my mission. he's from new york. then the last one i've just heard his name. his anme is elder lovelady. he's going to get jokes about his name for two years. well thats it for this week. it looks like my address cancelltion didn't work, so i'm going to have to try it a third time. so hopefully it will get fixed soon. but that's it for today.

July 1, 2008

howdy yall
well this week was intersting. this whole week elder neilson was saying he was going to get transfered, he just had a good feeling he was, and he did. he's going just south of us. the end of this transfer is going to be an experince. me and elder wangemann will remain here and at the end of his transfer he goes home. so i will have a day without a companion. so i will either be here 4 and half months and the area will get shotgunned(me leave, two new ones come in) or i will be here six months. either way i'll enjoy it. i love this area. so i'm going to have to stay with someone else till transfers. so it will be intersting. elder beames is going to newport news, so i want see him any more in distirct meetings, so i pretty bummed out about that.
well hopefully mail will be better now, i asked to cancel the change of address form, and the person helping me didn't fully understand so instead i've been sending everything home. so i went by there this week and this time i am fairly certain i did it right. it was different form anways, so hopefully letters will work now. well i'm not sure what will be going on, but it sounds like it will be like any normal day. but most likely someone will have us over for dinner. so it should be fine.
nothing really exciting happened much this week, other than we had another lesson with ashley, and that went very well. i've enjoyed teaching her because you have to try teaching it to someone younger than you. so i we usually draw a lot of pitcures. so it works well. on friday i went to Louisa on exchanges and it went very well. we met a really hypocritical lady there, so that was to much fun. but i still enjoyed it. sunday we had dinner with a family in our ward and it went very well. they have an almost eight year old that was very picky. cant believe i was that way. i've tried many new things here. i've tried broccoli. not the best, i like the stems but not the tops. i hear it's usually the other way around.
everything has been going well here. but sorry about the whole mail screwup, i kept forgetting to ask if it caused any problems at all or not, but at least i know now. so thats it for this week. jill, i'm sorry but i can't remember your email. i remeber you changed it and i can't remember to what. but i'll email you next week. have fun.

June 25, 2008

hey everyone.
this week has gone by fast to me. jill got herself a hamster, that was a suprise when i read that. last tuesday was amazing. the game we went to was fun, a missionary nearly caught a ball. it was in his hand one second, and gone the next. what was intesting the most about it, i saw clifford the big red dog, and cursious george. they had a PBS kids day there. it was very fun, unfornately i forgot my camera. so i was sad about that, but i still enjoyed it.
then that night we had a dinner appointment with a lady that cuts hair. she is very intersting and she's fairly crazy, and gets scary at times. she's greek. so the meal was intersting anyways. she very hard to describe.
on wensday we went to a farewell party for A.J. it was great. it was a fun and good barbaque. we also had a lesson with someone we met off of tracting a while back. don't worry we still have our heads(the roads name is sleepy hollow). the lesson went very well and he had a lot of questions concering baptism. such as infants, when people are baptised, and if it's done by immersion. it went very good.
we have alos been seeing a less active member as well, he understands what we talk to him about, he just doesn't come very often. the scary thing is he reminds me to much of Robby, he doesnt get hurt like robby, but everything else reminds me of robby. how is Robby doing by the way?
on sunday we had a dinner with a nonmember family. they have a son who is a member, he's in uraguay. so she loves to have us stop by, and also enjoys feeding the missionaries.
this week has been great. on monday i'll find out if i will be transferred or not. so i will let you know on tuesday. i dont have much else to say, but i have created an intersting meal though. a cheese tortilla with ramen inside. it very good. my companions think it werid but i like it. reminds me off enchaldas a bit. well thats it for now.
elder johnson

Virginia Pictures

MTC Pictures

June 17, 2008

hey everyone this week was awesome. not only did i have a baptism, but the heat has gone down. (knock on wood) i heard from people it was record heat for this month. so not to fun, now it has cooled down a bit, feels much nicer.
i forgot a very funny story last week, we were teaching a members friend in his home, the lesson went well, answered all of his questions, and then at the end he said, i only have one problem with the book of mormon. i was excpeting somethinmg really bad, and then he said, "i can't read it, the prints to small." so the member happend to have another copy of the book of mormon, large print. so that was good.
on wensday we had a zone confernce. it was fun. i got to see my old MTC buddies, and it had quite alot of speakers. were losing quite a few good missionaries though. elder Callahan, our zone leader is finishing up his last transfer, along with an assiastant. so that was fun to hear there departing testimonies.
the lady me and elder beames tratced into a while back, she has know been set for baptism, and she is very excited. it was very exciting to hear.
sunday, they had four men speak about there dads, all of them were amazing, one of them, was A.J. who i talked about last time. he spoke about his dad, and it was very touching. his dad and mom were both there to hear it. his talk was really amazing. he talked about the islamic belives on families and fathers, and then shared our views. it was very good, then he ended with the faith of our fathers talk by president Uctordf. it was very good, but all of them were. then we had a baptism. it went very well, they had some primary kids there, and after she was baptized, a little kid as they came back said in an excited voice, wow. me and elder wangemann laughed quietly to ourselves.
yesterday we finished up some service we have been doing for a less active member in our ward. he's cuts down trees for a living, and he's been spliting wood, to use in a firplace. so we been helping him, load into a truck, and then unload it. it was fairly fun. he competes in compition shooting events as well. so he aalways is telling stories about that, or when he was in the miltary. he's one who is hard to leave at times. he also had this small cat, that loves to play fetch with twisties ties. it's really funny.
well thats my life right now, today we are having a tri-zone p-day and are going to a baseball game. sounds fun to me. but thats my life this week. school here ended last friday, or on friday the 13th. i liked that story with Kate pushing her stroller to the door and then sitting in it waiting for a ride. i laughed when i read it, well quietly. transfers are coming up as well. on the thrityth i'll find out if i'm going somewhere else or not. but i'll let you know. that's it for this week.
elder johnson

June 10, 2008

the heat has started to hit. we have had hit the 100 everday since about friday. it's bad. yesterday the district leader called us and told everyone to have banannas and salty foods with us when we go tracting. sounds like quite a few missionaries are getting in trouble from the heat. yesterday it really got me. a lot of people have been much more nice. most of them offer water but there not interseted. so that part sad. last tuesday night, we got rained on really hard, and we also had a tornado warning for our area, but nothing happened, just rain, rain, and more rain. then the heat came. sounds like it usually doesn't get this warm this fast, unfornately the humity still hasn't reached it's july, and august levels from what i've heard.
this week has been great though. i'm having my first baptism this week. her name is Ashlee Vosper. she's an unbaptized youth. so we've been teaching her like crazy. we also have been meeting with a less active memebr whose husband is not a member. but her husband is a proffesional chef, so far all our appointments have been dinner appointments, so it's been fun. we also have zone confernce this week. so that's going to be interesting. no quest speaker this time, elder Wangeman's told me i'm very lucky to have that on my fisrt zone confernce. it was Elder Marriot.(his family own marriot hotels). we tracted into this guy this week that has been fighting cigarettes in court, he trying to to make them unconsitutional, so that good. hope he succeeds, but we kind of doubt it.
we've also met this little kid a few weeks ago that told us that were with the church that lied to them. it turns out some missionaries a while back tracted into there family, and they wanted them to come back. they never did. so we were able to set up an appointment with them and came back on saturday. he was not expecting us to come back. we ended up giving them a book of mormon because that was what he really wanted. it was a very sad experince.
we then went tracting somewhere else and we finish the street with no sucess. it was very disappointing and then as were heading back to the car, another car starts going very slow behind us. the ended up stopping next to us and it was a spanish family. the girl was trying to translate for them but the mom asked us if we had a stamp. the girl gets a very confused look on on her face and said, no, no, a card. we talk with them for a while and luckily elder Wangemann knows spanish fairly well. that family is a family we like to call golden. they were very much wanting to get involved with a church, in fact our church. so it was a very fun experince. we have sent the spanish missionaries to them and there very excited.
there is also this recent convert in our ward, who joined the church a few months ago. he is very amazing. his name is Aujeng Abadi. everyone just calls him A.J. though. his whole family is muslim, and he converted over. well he's going for to Iran for six weeks to visit his family members. he's very nervous about going over there, but he's going. he's very amazing though, he had an incredible testimony and he feels like he didn't betray Islam, he just builded upon it, and thats the highest focus of his testimony. he very amazing, hopefully he makes it back safely.
that was the highlights for this week though. so i'm glad it's p-day today, and that we have many appointments later on so we can stay out of this heat. with the music we can listen to, it's tradintaion hymn music, Motab, and efy music. so anything that is included in that is fine. i asked elder Wangemann and he said that i can email friends as well. so that is on the plus side, but i only have an hour to email though. well i'm glad that earthquake wasn't to bad. i've heard about that one in China a while back. thats it for this week.
elder Johnson

June 3, 2008

hey everyone.
i'm glad i read the one from mom before i read jill's and wonder what happened to Robbie. elder neilson told me about one of his friends who broke his leg and had to come home this week and i told him about Robbie, now i have something new to say. not trying to be mean or anything, but tell robbie to stop trying to hurt himself. there's this less active memebr in the ward that to me makes robbie accident look like nothing. i heard the story last week and his wife does a paper route. well she was in a car ahead of them and she said she looked back and saw two cars racing down the road, one of them lost control and nailed her husbands car. he is a mess. almsot all he does is sleeps. his vison was blurry and now there is some black spots in his eyesight. he also is having a hard time with short term memory and he has some spinal cord damage. his wife says he should have died, but some reason he didn't. but he is slowly getting worse. it's very sad to here, his neighbors, whom we are teaching, said he used to be a very outgoing guy, and he hardly can do anything now. it very sad. the accident happend in january.
i am glad you got my pitcures,now for a better story. the reason we had a hannah montana cake is that elder malone bought a cake and brought it to our district meeting.
it been really great this week. we finally got an appointment withh an unbaptized youth. we have her set for the fifteenth. then there family is getting sealed on that saturday. so we kind of in a rush to teach the six lessons. but its been going well. we have had a lot of dinner appointments this week. it had been slow for a while and then we get alot. we had one on friday, with bishop barbee and his family, porkchops off the grill. then on saturday we had a dinner and it was hamburgers off the grill. now these were the biggest ones i have ever seen. they were about an inch thick. they were very good. so far i have had only two meals i haven't liked.then yesterday we had [pizza for lunch and it turns out we had pizza from pizza hut for dinner that night. so it was pretty intesting day. on saturday we did exhnges with the elders in louisa. they're having quite alot of babptisms down there, it's incredible. they already have had three this month with more to come. elder wangeman made a joke the night before about sending me and elder beames out to louisa by ourselves. elder taylor ended up thinking it was a great idea. the first street we go tracting on was gravel road. the first house we knock on and no one answered. we walk up the street and every one told us were not intersted and slammed the door. we walk back down and then as we get in view of the first house a lady walks out and flags us over. it turns out that her husband is a member and she intersted in the church. she told us a story about how bad her life was and how she was not supposed to get pregant. she ends up getting pregant and it changed her life around, and now she wants that to kid to grow up in the church and she wants to join. it was amazing, elder beames said as went went back to the car and said, that is our next baptism. he was very excited to tell his companion.
everything has been going great here. i'm loving it here. it's starting to get warm here and everyone is telling me just you wait, this is nothing. wait till august. so i'm not too excited about that coming up. but everything is going great.
Elder Johnson

May 27, 2008

sounds like you have had a lot of fun. i actually mispelled my new companions name last week his name is elder Wingemann. he's an amzing guy. he's from Lindon, Utah.
this week was intersting. wensday was just tracting. we had no appointments that day and couldn't set anything up. so we knocked on quite a few doors that day. we found this one street that looked like you should have belonged out in Goochland. there was just a house and then a big space. but by the end it was fairly normal. it was werid anyways just being with Elder Neilson. he had a fairly embarrasing story this week. he called up a sister in the ward and it turns out she was converted by another elder neilson. he still calls her up everynow and then. the funny story is, that she thought it was the one who converted her. she asked, how's your baby. elder neilson said in a really confused voice, okay, i guess. it was pretty intersting.
on thursday we picked up Elder Wangemann, and he's pretty amazing. i'm glad to have him as my steptrainer. he's also has very good sense of humor.
on saturday we have been working with a member. it's a funny story, we had a lesson with him to pray about finding missionary oppritunties. the next day he gets a call from jehovah witness's missionaries. so he has been taking lesson's from them and is trying to introduce them to the gospel. he's invited us over a couple of times. we've gone twice now, the first time we just sat there, and it was werid. this time we tried to teach them. we even handed out a Book of Mormon to them. it's been very intesting so far. unforunately he's just accepted a job offer and is moving outside our mission boundries. so who knows what might happen.
on sunday we had talks by former servicemen and it went very good. it was a very amazing sacrament meeting. i had a hard time staying awkae after that though. i slept really bad the night before and then slept bad again. so it wasn't very good. but i have slept fine ever since.
this week has been intersting to say the least, but i've enjoyed it. elder yelton i think is going to be around bountiful this week for a wedding. a former compaion is getting married in the bountiful temple. he made a comment about dropping by, but it sounded like he was joking around. so you may just have a visitor this week. my allegies have been doing better, i bought some pills to try and they've been doing pretty good. gas is about four dollars here at places. it's insane. sorry i wasn't able to send pitcures home last week, but i will try this week. so soon you will have some visual proof that i'm allright.
Elder Johnson

May 20, 2008

everythingt has been going well here, we haven't had any bad storms for a while. the pollen is starting to get me however. that heat doesn't sound fun, but i heard this summer it gets bad. humity goes up and summer heat. so i'm not to excited for that. elder yelton is leaving for the mission home today and he flies home tomorrow. i am also getting transfered. i'm going to Innercity richmond. from what i've heard it's very scary at night but it's supposed to be amazing. it's the most coveted area in the mission and it's been having alot of sucess there. i have alos heard there's been some murders there lately. just kidding, i'm staying here. but we recived transfer call yesterday. so thursday, me and elder Neilson will pick up our new companion. his name is elder wingson or something like that.
thats cool that jill got to see Andrei kirlenko. that's cool. one friday we had to go on exhanges with the zone leaders, so i got to see intercity richmond. the main road there is called moneument ave, mostly because there are many statues there, like general lee. so we were will elder ord, not elder ford. elder yelton stayed there and we stayed here at gayton. so it was a very intersting experince, elder ord was amazing. we also had dinner that night and it was good. we get to his street and it turns out we didn't have his address. we see some kids and roll down the window, and one of them told us were itb was, turns out it was there son. his firneds were screaming at him saying get away, it's church people. so it was a little werid. he explained later that his friends think missionaries are spies for the church. the diiner was great and we had a good lesson.
then i went on exhanges the next day and went to Louisa again. it was pretty fun. it's very country and they live in a members home. i also found out they they to donot have a church building, so they hold it at the high school. that was a very foriegn idea to me.
on sunday we had a meeting with Jack again. it was more of an interview you could say. he just asked elder yelton many questions and it was mostly his testimony. jack is a very amazing guy. he knows we have amde a differnce in his life and he feels the spirit, he just doesn't gain the spiritual apsect of it. but he very nice, he even gave us a very delicous chocolate pie. so it was good experince.
a few weeks ago we were looking up a less active member and we met someone else, who had just moved in with him. he speaks french, and creole, but he's not very good at english, and he wants to know english. so we have been working with him, trying to teach him english. so that's been an expeince. he is also a memeber as well. then we had a dinner appointment with a some non members. they are very nice. they have a son who converted to the church, and is on a mission in urguway. so she is always happy to see us, and any other missionaries. we think one day they are going to join.
everything has been going great here. yesterday we gave some cd's to memeber and he burned some copies. so if you would like, could you please send me my cd player. i already have some speakers. but other than that everything. i'll try to send some pitcures home this week as well.
elder Johnson

May 13, 2008

well this week has been going well here in Virginia. that's awesome that Spencer is going to Arizona. there a missionary from the Gayton ward(the ward were in) who is there. the girl we were going to baptize this saturday has decided to postpone it. she wants her grandpa to do it and he couldn't make it out here, or someone she wanted here would not. so she is going to be staying with them in the summer and will get baptized then. so it's good, just wont include us.
the bishops soon was baptized on sunday and there was no room in the inn(well the room the font was in). we ended up sitting outside and then after he was babtized, they had us teach the restoration. it went fairly well. then the bishop's wife invited us over for dinner. we had homemade fried chicken. it was good.
i have a funny story that happened last week. we were talking with a member and she asked if we could help her take some stuff over to her best friends house(not a member). we heard some sort of muttering behind the door. her friend answers it and it turns out her husband came to the door looked out the peephole and said in a panicked voice, "it's louise, and she brought the mormon's." we all thought it was funny.
we also had this meeting with a member in our ward who lives in the same apartment complex as us. it turns out he has the Jehovah witnesses coming to his door and trying to teach him. he's told us he going to try to convert them instead. he was missionary at one point and he's says the biggest difference between us and them, is we have the spirit when we teach, and they try to convince everyone through there bible, unlike us who ask everyone to pray and ask if it's true. a way he discribed it is black and white.
the program we had was four older sisters and they talked about there mothers and i believe all of them were converts. it was really amazing. i haven't told you this yet, but some intersting history for the chucrh in virginia is, that it was all started by two families, the powers, and the amos's. one of them had 21 kids and they all tned to live in the same place. i met the powers awhile back and there's this long street and most of them live on it.
on friday we were tratcing and we were not being very successful. i knock on a door and someone answers it. i then gained the impression to talk about the book of mormon, and it turns out he's very intested in studying about different religions and he had never heard of it before and he wanted to read it. it was amazing.
well that's all for this week and i think it would be fine for grandma to email me. i always have spare time waiting for everyone else. i laos just realized i forgot my camera so no pitcures this week. hoepfully i can next week.
Elder Johnson

May 6, 2008

hey everyone
this week was amazing and i got it yesterday. so everything is fine. it sounds like i'll be calling sometime around 8:00 in the morning. (your time). tell Chad congradatulations on his call. how did Jill's test go? everything has been fine here. weathers been nice. it was so rainy that week. the missionary that was assualted was a spanish missionary, and i haven't heard much other than the person walked up to him and struck him. the good news is he's not going home, the bad news is, he has to stay inside for two weeks.
we have a had an amzing week here. we started a goal to get two babtisms by the end of this transfer. one sunday we taught a family with an unbaptized youth. we've been teaching her for a while and sunday invited her to be baptized. she wants to she's just not sure she will stay active, so she's nervous. before that this person came up and asked about if a child is over nine and not baptized, they need to have the lessons before theyv can be baptized. elder yelton said yes and said, that his daughter wants to be baptized, and was talking about sunday. so it may not work and it may, we don't know yet.
last friday we were going tracting on a road. i start up a driveway and heared someone yell get back here. i turn around and there's this black lab running towards us wanting to play. we ended up talking with her for a while. it was great. she's known quite a few members of the church but not exactly intersted, but it went effectively i think.
yesterday we went on echanges with the Louisa elders. so i went to Louisa county for the first time. it was very spread out there. buty nothing really intestring happened out there. i'm going to try sending home some pitcures soon. so far every meal i have had i've liked, except for two. the first night here, and a dinner we had last week. it was meatloaf, but everything else was good.
Elder yelton right now has been making alot of jokes about being trunky, he even wrote a poem about it. but he's still working hard and effectively and he wants to stay. one intersting story is that when he got out here, he found out he had a cousin live here. he never met them or anything. his first area he met them and he sent some sisters there later. they opened the door and said there not intertsed and then the sisters said, that Elder yelton sent them and they invited them in. last tuesday, his cousin called and said he had something important he wanted to tell him. he said, he wants to be baptized and wants him to baptize him. he feels like thats the reason he was sent here. it's a really cool story. we can see the Lord's work in so many places, and it's so amazing.
i can't remeber if i've told you about elder neilson or not. he is very allergic to pollen and he's a very nice guy. he's from Carey idaho. most maps from what i have heard don't have it. it's about two hours away from other civilization. elder yelton makes jokes saying that he just pitched a tent in the middle of nowhere and called it his home. his high school from the sounds of it is small. he said he graduated out of a class of eighteen.
well i'll talk with you this sunday. i can't think about much more to write. and thank you for all the letters i have recieved the past two weeks. the one from jacob was forwarded three times till it got to me, and the one from Aunt pam was nice as well. tell kim and Shawn congrats.
Elder Johnson

April 29, 2008

hey everyone.
i quess i don't need to tell you about the tornadoes. we heard about them last night, we just got drenched. luckily my coat is good in the rain, the water just runs off. however elder neilson got soaked and he was drenched. he was freezing. so that didn't make it very fun. we were out tracting in very heavy rain and we meet a really mean lady. no only did she not want to listen to us, she said, your getting wet, and slammed the door. but oh well, it's her agency.
we have ahd some problems lately though but some amazing referals. most of our appointments fall through and two of our investigators asked us to drop them. one of them is the one that was committed to being baptized, but we think she's being pushed away by outside forces. the other is really busy and he asked for a thrity day break. but he told us he has felt a change since he met us. so theres stillhope for both of them.
on saturday we did exhanges with some elders in Louisa, one of which is elder beames, my companion from the MTC. We went to Goochland, it's in our area but about thirty minutes away, so it doesn't get done very often, and started tracting. the second house we got to was an older lady and she was excited to see us. it's turns out that the missionaries came by about a year and hlaf ago and watched the Lamb of God with her. they gave her a copy of the Book of Mormon and never came back. she has read it and prayed about it. she knows it is true. we made a retrun appointment so well be heading by on mondya. then we came into a less active member and turns out she wants to come back it's just to far. she also has a brother, who is in intensive care. he had a brain annorism. he had surgery but it's still been very hard on her faimly. but what was amzing about it was that she just got there we arrived near her home. then she had to leave soon. it was an incredible experience.
we also recieved a referal gfor this lady, it's turns out she's not in our boundries, but the zone office wasn't sure. so we stopped by and she just said how much of a hard time she's been going through. she has tried to kill herself twice, and she has no income. she's in a bad mess and wants help, but can't find it. we can tell she's prepared.
sunday was amazing. we talked in church. i was the third speaker out of four. the last speaker was President Bria, the first cousilour in the mission presidency, and he was amazing. he told some amazing stories about missionary work. he talked about how he joined the church. he was in high shcool and a group a girls just kept saying hi to him. he had no idea who they were but somehow they knew him. he finnaly asks them and a girl invited him to seminary and wanted him to take her. he went the first day and did not want to go back. he ends up taking her and her firends to school and the whole day people were asking him how he got his car full of beautiful girls. well after school the girl he took to seminary asks him if he wants to go again. he said, the rest is history.
i heard another story about him from my companions. he went to France on his mission and they had a memebr of the first presdiency come. he said at France you were considered lucky to get one baptism your whole mission at france. but the general authority said, you ll can get one baptism each month, lack of appliciation is the only deturnant. (not sure if it's spelled right.) he amkes it his goal for the rest of the mission to do that. each companionship had intervies with him and he extends the goal to president Bria. he accepts his companion later tells him it can't happen. then they get called in again and he said, you can get two babtism each month. the first couple of months they had no baptisms but then he was praying in a park and a girl tapps him on the houlder and says she's been coming to church for a while and wants to be babtized. the next month he had two, then foyur, then 8. he had many babtisms there and i thought it was ana amazing story.
thats all i have for right now, but i was going to try getting a phone card,, but i quess you can send it to me, just let me know where to call if it turns out to be at grandmas. elder yelton will have it rough on mothers day though. he will call and then he goes home the next week. i also do need my birth certificate for my lisence. a copy will not work.
well thats it. no more probelms with emailing, i hope. (knock on wood.)
Elder Johnson

April 22, 2008

Dear Family,

Sorry, I'm not able to e-mail home today. They did not allow my companion's letter for a library card for proof that I live here, even though they allowed me to have a day pass last week. So I'm a little frustrated. So I have to write this time.

Well, this week has been amazing. We had many AMI's, which is a lesson to invite members to invite their friends into their home to teach them. It's very effective from what little I've seen. But basicly everything else fell through. Like Eloise, last week wanted to be baptized, now she has changed her mind. But the good news is she still wants the lessons. On Sunday, they held a program called the Mormon Chorale. It was amazing, it was about the Book of Mormon and how it's another testament of Christ. It was incredible.

It's been very rainy the past few days here. Yesterday we went tracting for a few hours in it. It was fun though. Elder Nielson been loving it, the pollen is no longer killing him. So far it hasn't been bugging me. Knock on wood.

Well I've really enjoyed it here so far. A lot of different faiths here. We ran into mostly Baptists, but also Presbyterians, Methodist, a Greek Orthodox, some Hindus, Jews, and Muslims. In fact on Sunday we talked with a member who converted last year from Islam and told us he a conversation with his father. His father doesn't like how he joined the church and how he betrayed Islam. But he said the church just built upon what he knew as a muslim. It was really interesting how he thinks all the different religions are actually stepping stones to prepare for this church. I'm also giving a talk on Sunday. So that's exciting news. Well that's all for today. Next week hopefully, I can type. No promises, though.

Elder Johnson

PS. What are gas prices like there? It's $3.50 in places, One day we drove by in the morning and that night it had gone up by 5 cents.

April 15, 2008

hey everyone,
it turns out that my p-day is actually on tuesday. so here i am. it is so amazing here. it is so green and yellow.(pollen) you can see it all over the car. so no i'm not in a bike area right now but its been great here so far. my companions name is Elder Yelton and Elder Neilson. Elder Yelton leaves in a month. he tells me he is very jealous. he is from Denver Colorado. my other companion is from idaho(i cant remember where). it been great here, the fisrt day the heat really got me but it's been fine since. i alsop have had two meals with members. one was a hispanic family and they were very nice. i liked the meal they had, chicken, rice, and salad. that was the second, the first was my first day here. it was an older sister, she was incredibly nice, the meal i'm still suprised it sayed down. it was sweet and sour macroni with meatballs, something that was supposed to be chicken, and canned fruit, all in a cassorale. it tasted much worse than it sounds, but i ate it. so be proud. there has been very many investigators were teeaching, so far evry lesson has fallen through sense i've been here but, i've meet most of them. one person's name is Jack. he is a retired lawyer, who is now selling realistate and cars. he is very friendly and is very intersted in the gospel. we also have been teaching a sister's friend in her home. her name is elouise and last saturday and her friend committed her to be baptized. she accepted. there another family that sounds very close to wanting to be baptized. it's been amazing here. oh yeah the area i'm in is called Gayton, it's still considered Richmond. it's just north of Richmond. i have also seen a Papa Johns here and i have also seen a Maggie Moo's. so it's got both my old jobs here. i'm really loving it here. the ward is very nice and many are trying to get friends intesrted in the gospel. my address here right now is
2532 Potomac Hunt Lane #1a
Richmond VA 23233
A few days ago we were tracting and turned out we were in a spanish area. so we had our jackets on and knocked on a door. we saw a light in a peephole and it goes dark and the lights turn off as we heard some scampering. so later we think they thought we were border patrol or something. we thought it was a little funny. we also served a nonmember on saturday. they had some friends who were members and asked if we could help them out. we filled up about thrity bags of leaves and rainign off and on. it started wehen we arrived but quit miost of the time we were working. she was very appreciative. she asked how many times we call home and we told her and she couldn't believe it. she said she would be praying that our mothers could handle it. she was very nice. so thats all that's really happened so far. i don't know if i need a phone card or not but i'll let you know. so for now that's all.

Letter from Pres. Millburn

Dear Brother and Sister Johnson:

We were pleased to welcome your son, Elder Steven Roy Johnson, to the Virginia Richmond Mission. We love him already and are aware of his great potential to be an excellent missionary. He spent one day with us receiving orientation, and he is in good health and good spirits. His drive and determination will be of tremendous help as he joins a wonderful group of missionaries already serving the Lord in this area. Elder Johnson has been assigned to the Richmond Zone. His first companions, Elders Benjamin Lars Neilson and Andrew James Yelton are excellent missionaries who will do an outstanding job training your son for his service to the Lord.

All mail and parcels should be sent directly to your missionary. His new address is:
2532 Potomac Hunt Lane Apt 1A
Richmond, VA 23233

We invite you and your family members to read The Book of Mormon: Another Testament of Jesus Christ, while your missionary is in the field. As you prayerfully and earnestly read this book, you will increase your understanding and faith in the plan of our Heavenly Father.

We are thankful for the part you played inpreparing Elder Johnson to serve this mission, and we are honored to serve with him. Enclosed is a photo we took upon his arrival at the Mission Home. May the Lord abundantly bless you as you support him in this call.
Sincerely,
President Mark B. Millburn

Steve and Pres and Sis Millburn

April 9, 2008

Hey everyone,
Last week was incredible. On thursday we had a huge number of referrals in the RC and I also taught with my two companions thi third lesson. It went very well. Then we had conference. Did you all think it was just amazing? Saturday night after Priesthood I started having ice cream withdrawls, but I was able to convince my companions to get some. Then monday and tuesday was the last time with my teachers, Bro Pomlowski and Sis Smith. I also had to get a haircut, mine was too long. So I'm not liking my new haircut too well, but I'm over it. Then tuesday we had our last devotional. The speaker was Robert S. Wood. He talked about truth. it was incredible. It was amazing. he talked about how to gain truth and explained the difference between knowledge and truth. He also showed us two graphs made by a non-member, one was about world population and the other was world capita. Both looked almost identical. Both were low until near the end and shot straight upward. He said it all started about 1820. (First Vision). It was very interesting. Also last Wednesday we had some new elders come into our zone that are going to Australia. That night our zone leaders and my companions planned an initiation test. It was really funny they recorded themselves singing My Girl. Now my companions sing it all of the time, but it was funny. (I wasn't in it.)
I just arrived at Richmond and it's airport was small compared to the one in Georgia. It is so different here. There a lot of trees and is really green. Before we even got off the plane, we felt the humidity. So far I think this place looks great.
Elder Johnson

April 8, 2008

i will get to call tomorrow, about 6:45 to about 8:30 o'clock in the morning at Salt Lake. so just to let you know. but i will right to you tommorrow tell you about virginia.
we also will be able to call at 4:30 in georgia. so i'll probably call then. and i thought confernce was just amazing. i loved each session. i have a very cool story to tell you. my companion elder Peterson was in the referal center and he calls this lady who was excommunicated from the Catholic chuch because she was abused and divorced her husband. she told him how she just wanted the best for her kids and he beras his testimony and says just how important families are to the church and how she is held respossible because she was abused. then he committed her to watch confernce and she seemed very excited to see it. the teacher was listening on her computer and tears were in her eyes. so saturday morning confernce was all about families and one was about abuse. we all know she was suppossed to her that message. it was an amazing experince and he know wants to know if she watched it or not. but we are certain he did and that the speakers were inspired to speak about that. that's the cooloest story for right now. well i'll write you later. Elder Johnson

Guess you didn't get week one...

hey everyonegreetings from the MTC. sorry my letter was little short, i just hadn't had much happen yet. my companion name is Elder Justin Monzingo from Pheonix. well he was my companion. he went home yesterday. it was really sad. but i gained so much respect for him because of it. he was forced to go and he just wanted to make his own decison before he came and he had some things he needed to take care of first. he had an amazing testimony too. my two roommates and new companions are, elder Peterson from wellsville, Utah, and the other is Elder Beames from Idaho. we all are going to richmond, along with four others. Elder Burmeister, Elder Meier, Elder Barr, and Elder, Peacock. there are all great. Oh yeah, Dan, Elder Burmiester was a secrututy guard before coming here. i have learned so much here and the spirit is just amazing. i love it here. yesterday we went to the referal center. there we called people upon the phone and checked on orders for dvd, or scriptures. it was fun but really slow, because we mostly had busy or answering machines. i did manage to talk to to people, one person had moved and no longer was there, and the other turned out she ordered something a few years ago and panicked when i asked if she recived the movie. there we also try to refer the missionaries there, but so far my whole district has just one and no clue how many attempts.i also have taught the first lesson to some volunteers here. it went so great and it also happened to be Elder Monzingo's last day. we did a great job and I knew Elder Monzingo had a strong testimony and i know he will do great, I can't remember what day it was but i placed one of grandpa's hankerchiefs in my suitpocket and i felt just so great. such a strong spirit entered the room and i felt so at peace. another great experience happened when elder monzingo was calling home. i was sitting in the secrataries office when i felt this presence walkin, but no one was there. then i felt a hand on my shoulder but no one was there. then over a speaker the music to God be with you till we meet again began to play. it was such an amzing experince. it was increbilble.Just to repeat, i love it here. the food is great, they've rarely had something i haven't liked. only once i didn't try anything they cooked. so i'm doing good. so i'm doinmg great here and can't wait to get to the Virginia Richmond Mission.Elder Steven Johnson

April 2, 2008

this week has been intersting. it was tough at first trying to get used to my new companionship. atleast i knew them already but it was still a challenge. Elder Riley Peterson, from Wellsville, Utah, was a soccer player for Mountain Crest, but he blew out both his knees early in the season. he said he was having a great year at the time. he thinks he could hav made all-state. then my other Companion, Elder Jarvis Beames, from Peoria, Idaho, was a wrestler and an allstate runningback. howver he can no longer play, he injured himself really bad and he told a story how when he entered the field that game, he just felt like it was his last game. he said if it is, i't's going to be one of my greatest. he said he had his best game ever in the first three quaters but then he went down in the fourth. it was very sad stroy but he said how it nevr hurt and how he stayed at the game. then he had surgery to repair it and it ended up not healing right. but he says how much it's strengthened him though. then this week as flown compared to the last one. the first week was dreadfully slow, but now your wondering where it's gone. yetserday we had Marcus b. Nash of the seventy speak to us. it was excellent. but nothing really bi is standing our right now. other than we taught a lesson on monday. we taught the Plan of Salvation and we were supposed to extend a baptismal commitment. the person we had however was incredibly stubborn and was supossed to believe in the Book of Mormon. he did think so, so it made it quite difficult.
> i also got my first referal at the RC. i called him up and it was a business so i though great no way anyone is going to talk. it turns out that he was just so thrilled that i called. he wanted to know so much more after watching the Lamb of God, and it was so amazing. another intesrting story there was from elder Burmiester. he had a person call him and just said that man found this card on the ground with that phone number and just felt like he needed to call it. they ended up talking for about an hour. he taught him pretty the whole first lesson. then my companion elder Peterson called someone up and said how they were praying for someone. it was so cool. it's just amazing there.
> now for a funny story. one of the Elders in our disrtict, Elder Barr(also going to Richmond) talks very loud in his sleep. i have also heard he's yelled a couple of times. wakes everyone up except him. so his Comapaion yesterday bought earplugs and ended up sleeping through the alarm clock. it was funny but i'm so glad i don't share the room with them lucky i never have heard him yell, yet.
> last thurdays we all got our plane information. i have a two hour layover in Atlanta, Georgia. so i will be in Richmond next wensday about 6:00 PM. just one week left here at the MTc before i make it to the missionfield.
> so everything is going great here, i can't wait to see confernce this weekend and who the new apostle will be.
> steven