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

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