day after mission conference

hey everyone. this week went very well. the week before nothing happened and now quite a bit happened. so it was great. i also got the package monday, so thanks. wow, thats crazy, that the new ward mission leader served here and trained todd that shows how small of a world it is. okay so to tell you more about Elder Hinds, he is from pleasington, Kansas. he been alot just a little bit less than me, and he enjoys playing games. so today we have been playing rook. it's been fun.

yesterday we had mission confernce, so all the northern zones got together. i was able to see alot of missionaries i haven't seen for a while, it was great. found out how my past areas have been going and so forth. it was great. pres. millburn has also starting up a book of mormon reading, i'm so pumped for it. it's called a 146 days to remember. basically were given different gospel principles to look for as we read so that we can use them to become better and more powerful teachers. i'm really excited for that. we also were able to hear from siter millburn yesterday as well. she been having some health problems, that she just hasn't been getting alot of energy. she got up and bore her testimony to all of us, it was really powerful. in fact what was really special is that when she walked in everyone stood up for her. it seemed to hit her pretty hard. but she is doing better, sounds like it's been slow but she been improving.

we had a really cool miracle as well the first day with elder hinds, we had a lesson with a less active part member family and we got there and they hadn't got home yet, so we worked for a little bit and then decided to go back. they were they and in fact they had a friend there and he wanted a book of mormon. so we gave him a copy and now were teaching him as well as them. so you can call it two birds with one stone. that was a miracle. but other than that, thats been the most intersting stories for the week.well thats basically our week, we had some pretty bad stroms earlier in the week, an ac that broke down, and now it's been nice so far this week, knock on wood. well take care. have fun.

June 17, 2009

well i have some news for everyone. i'm staying here with elder Hall. but i'm also getting another elder with us. his name is elder Hines. i've met him a few times, but i don't know much more to say. but ill let you know next week. i was not too suprised with grandma going to the nursing home, i was kind of expecting it. but i think it sounds good that she'll move in with pam though. that way she has someone there to help her.

well it's still cloudy here, probably will get some rain today again. we've been getting rain alot as it is. monday during study it was a downpour outside and luckily by the time we got out it was good. well this week was very discouraging, we would go out and come in and nothing happened all day. we just couldn't get appointments to keep. it was very annoying. on sunday me and elder hall spoke on missionary work. and then the stake mission leader spoke as well. he's a character. i spoke on fear and faith tied into missionary work, it went all right, didn't go the way i wanted. but i think i got the point acrossed. saturday, notoway county did this thing called relay for life and it was a fundraiser to stop cancer, the church had a booth there so we went there and helped out for a bit. it went fairly well. then later that day we had a lesson with a media referal. she was awesome. she asked us a lot of questions about the church, and she is geniunely intersted. it was great.

there was also this older man we met he was outised and told us he had a stroke three year ago and it was really bad and barely survived. he was from puerto rico and as we finished the street we walked back and he was sitting underneath the tree. it turned out his leg gave out from under him and he couldn't get back up. so we helped him up and helped him walk back to his house and then his wife showed up and after that he expressed his thanks and it reminded me alot of bro. thompson. but it was so amazing because he said he was praying that we would come back by and help him, and we did. I know we were suppossed t be there, because his wife would have needed help to get him up and yet we were there to help. well i'll be sure to write grandma and give her some good news. i don't know much else to say right off but take care. and have a good day.

June 10, 2009

well it's been intestring here so far. i thought i told you but my new companion is elder Hall. he's going home next month. but whether ill be with him one week or six i don't know, but it will be known tuesday. sunday there was a baby blessing here and it was reminding me that grace was going to get blessed so it was a little discouraging but at the same time i got over it. i'll see her when i get home. sounds like you got a lot of rain this week. we did as well. there was one day i think it was friday we tracted all day out in the rain and most people acted like were nuts going out. but it was fun. the other day we tracted outside a small town and came by an airfield, it reminded me of dad. well burkville is basically country, lots and lots of country. in fact its one of the biggest areas. i cover most of amelia, all of nottoway and lunenburg, counties. and a corner of two others. so it's big. well this week has been pretty crazy. it's been alot of finding, goes from hot, to wet, pretty much every other day. but it's been fun. the branch here is about the saem size as farmville, but more priesthood holders. but is still difficult because the area is so big. well it was good to here from you. yeah i'll be excited to get those confernce talks once they come. but things have been going very well. i'm loving it right now. well take care

June 3, 2009

well this week was intersting, monday we got a phone call and found out transfers are being postponed two weeks. but the missionaries going home need to be replaced, so i got moved, not to far but to burkville. in fact the burkville branch was a ward but was split and made into two branches. one of which is farmville. so i'm not to far, but i'll be here atleast till transfers. my new address is 620 south main street apt 8b, Blackstone, Va 23824. just leeting you know.

well i've gone a week without any ticks now, so it's good, but i've heard there really bad this summer. so hopefully it can keep going. i hope dad gets feeling better, i don't think it's fun getting sick though. well that exciting news for robby.

well the most intersting stories this week was that the jones family are praying about a baptismal date, but we think theyre lacking that spiritual conversion, right now, we think its more they know it mentally. but they've been doing really well. but i can't think of any other good stories though, i forgot my planner to make a brief look over. well it's good to hear from you again. things are going very well. well take care.

a few things

hey evryone. things have been going fairly well here. we've been getting rain as well. yesterday we sat down in someones garage and a minute later it was downpouring. we were glad about that. well sounds like you had a fun trip i bet it was great toget away from everything for a while.

so heres a story foryou.last monday were near the end of the month and miles are getting tight.we had a media referal and so we biked five miles to it. we get there and found out that we had the wrong street. and it was 2 miles from were we parked the car. so we weren'tto happy. the way down was fine,but the back had a very large hill. so we finally get back and then we had a great lesson with her. she just had a son shot, wasn't killed but, is prepared. it was really awesome. for the week, we had a lesson with bobby and sam, they know finally have a marraige date. so there getting closer than they have been for a while. he feed us chili. now to tell you about. he warned us, as long as you keep scooping it down,your fine, but once you stop, that when the heat gets you. he makes spicy chili. it wasn't actaully to bad, i was expecting it to be bad but it wasn't.


then firday we went on 24's with the zoneleaders. i went out with elder burmiester and we had a great time. then saturday we had a special meeting with the assainsts to the president.it was a really good meeting, and we learned about the vision of the mission more, and things they want to get acrossed to everyone. making sure we are all on the same page. it was a very powerful meeting. we left there pumped. then we meet with a less active lady yesterday and found out that she wants to come back, she just can't drive but all she needs is a ride. so it was really awesome, she bore a powerful testimony to us and now we are going to work on having her get out to church. so that was pretty much our week. haven't had tomuch happen yet. edmund is still trying to find a job, and once he moves out,he'llbe baptized. he'slooking so forward to it, but he just hasn't been able to get a job yet. hows your friend doing mom, have you hsared your testimony with her yet? you need to,she doesn't realize the happiness she could have in her life. thank you for the prayers, and for the support you allhave continued to give me. i love you all. take care.

May 20, 2009

well to answer the question about the letter, i got it monday, so thanks. thats so exciting the matt got his mission call. tell him congradulations. tell him he's going to love it. i belive that the mission one of pres. millburns daughters served. she got home about a year ago. but wow, i can't believe that almost all of the priest quorum is going on missions now. time is just going to fast. well last year memorial day was just another day, so it will probably be the same. sorry if spacing is bad,the spacebar isn't working well today. so just apologizing ahead of time. wellthis week has been intersting,we have seen alot ofmiracles and just alot of good things are happening. it started out rough, we had one of our top investigators drop us, jay b. but still left on good measures, he'll be back. monday we met a really awesome lady who just had a baby, and now she is wondering where to take her to church. so we gave her a book ofmormon and she had a lot of questions about infant baptism.sowe shared with her that and going to see here again sometime. then we found someone later that day who is going through a rough time and she had seen commercials for a free video from the church, keep feeling like she should order it but she never did. so we left her with it and she accpeted a return appointment. it was amazing. then yesterday we had a coolexperience as well. we recieved a media referal and we went out to contact her and she had lost a son recently. and she is very depressed about it, but she was really drunk at the time so we told her to call us when she's sober. then we went and talkedto her neighbors. the next door neighbor has been struggling with whether God really does love her and if he truly answers prayer. we bore a powerful testimony and left her with a book of mormon.the funny thing is is that where she lived we planned nowhere around, never gone that way, but becasue of her neighbor we found her.it was really awesome. last week we were struggling and now after the trial of our faith were having miracles. it's great. welli don't know to much more of what to say. well take care, have fun at blanding. Elder S. Johnson

Day after Cinco De Mayo

well to answer your question about the tacos or mexican food, welll i did, we went to taco bell yesterday. so i quess so. allright i made some arrangemnts and i am going to be calling about 7:00. or five oclock there. if it's not good let me know. yes i got the recipes. i got them after i emailed. i loved it. still haven't been able to try anything yet, but i can't wait to try some. we've had a lot of rain lately. its been good because we can breathe now, but we are getting tried of getting wet. but other than that it's been good here. so for our week it was pretty intersting. we had quite a few meetings, six plus hours of driving time with it. so we are very glad theres no meetings this week. last wensday we went to instiute and it was the last one till next fall and we had a pizza party there. so it was good and then they played the Testaments. we got quite a few investigators to it and they all loved it. it was really fun. then on friday we ha our first meeting and it was an allright one but was still good. they also passed on information about the swine flu and stuff like that. so we know know what it is and what to do if we get it. then on saturday we had zone confernce and that was very good. we learned alot there and got a lot of things we were very excited to implementy but then it left us as we drove back but we turned things around and are doing better now. then sunday we had another really good meeting. elder pace and pres millburn both gave really good talks. pres millburn talked on oppistion and how it strengthens us and elder pace talked alot about "do you know?" and he challenged everyone to pray and read the jsh. it was really good, we've now been taking that and giving it to some of our invetsigators. and so far most of them have enjoyed it. then that night we had a lesson with brenda and her family and it was so amazing we saw a change that had come over them from the time before. then we as we shared the first vison there was a peace in her home and it was great. so thats was our big news for the week. i'm not sure on much else to tell you right now, but i quess i'll talk to you on sunday. well hope everything goes well. take care

Email to Tiffany

sounds like dan has got a pretty good job now, i think he'll enjoy it. from what is sounds like kate has gotten over her phone shyness, so maybe she say something more to me this time than bye. so i'm not sure if i shared this story or not, but i think you'll like it, one day me and elder brockman were teaching a 4 kids about faith and how it leads you to act. elder brockman for an object lesson picked up a small bear and placed it on the table, and talks about how faith the size of a mustard seed you can move mountains. he points to the beard and says this is much smaller than a mounatin move it with your faith, go. the oldest was 9, then a set of twins that were 6, and a four year old. i kind you not, there faces were turning red as they were starring at it trying to move it. i think they were trying to use the force or something to that effect. but then he showed them that faith leads to you to act, that means pick it and move it. everytime we came back and reviewed, we would ask what faith is and they would pick up whatever it was move it across the table. it was pretty funny. well there your funny story for the week.
> well take care, it was good to hear from you.

April 29, 2009

hey everyonethings have been an intersting week, we all have been battling allegies. it's been pretty bad this week, but atleast it been nice and sunny, and in the nineties. so it's been nice here, but we might be getting some rain today, i heard it suppossed to be thunderstorms. well right now, i have a phone card still. so i don't need one. right now the most i've heard is sometime in the evening for calling. so i let you know if its the case. and if i call grandma's house i'll need her phone number. so send it. thanks. well with the new stake president none of the names are ringing a bell. but i guess i'll meet them sooner or later. but we are having a stake confernce this week as well. elder pace is going to be there. so here something intersting to tell you, friday we have a zone mtg, saturday, zone confernce with elder Pace, and stake confernce sunday, all at the same place. pretty crazy huh. so we have alot of meeting this week. not to excited, but oh well. tanks for sending the recipes, i was really wanting that tuna fish cassorale again. so thats one reason i asked. plus weve been doing a lot of cooking, i even made goop this week, but we didn't have eggs, so it was in there but it was till good. oh yes, and now to tell you about elder Peterson. he is from Enoch, Utah. likes trucks, and has been out a transfer less than me, so he's hitting his year mark tommorrow. so thats who he is. so last wensday we were down tracting in a town called keysville. we ended up seeing a truck outside some ones house with a flashing yellow light, we walked up, no one there, so we knocked on the door and said the light drew us here like a lighthouse, and he invvited us in. his wife ended up talking to use and found out that she used to live with an abusive, alcholic husband, and that she has been struggling in here life now, the chucrh she went to basically left her behind and she hasn't been to church in years, but her daughter a few days before had attempted suicide and know she is wanting to come back to chucrh. it was an awesome experince it was so cool. she was so prepared and it was amazing. we taught her monday and talked alot about family and strengthing it, she loved it. i also now have a new food i can say i've ate. on firday a memebr made us squirell barbque. it was actually really good. i enjoyed it. so i added that to foods i've eaten list. so thats the news for the week. everything has been going pretty well. well it's a shame that dad is going to have to hunt up north this year, but it change, i'm sure he'll like it. well i'll talk to you later. take careElder S. Johnson

April 22, 2009

well i have some news for ya. i'm staying in farmville at least another six weeks. but elder Malone is leaving, he's headed to Norfolk. we are getting a missinory named elder Peterson. not one i came out with but another one. all i know is that he's coming from Nags Head, North Carolina. another intersting thing is that elder Neugebauer, trained elder Burmiester who is now our new zone leader. thats about the only news i know of really well. well to your news, i'm glad that grandma is doing much better. i'm glad to know that. so quess well be finding out sooner who are new stake president is. well make sure to let me know. welll thats pretty funny what happened with the crockpot. we went on exchanges this week and we were going out to eat. i'm about to order and thats when i realized i forgot my wallet. it was sad, at least i figured it out before then. the worst time that happend is we finished shopping and went to go pay and thats when i realized i didn't have it. it was pretty sad. well just to let you know, my bloddy noses are doing much better. not having them as frequently, i bought some nose spray and that did the trick. well theres been alot of storms here this week. had a tornado watch out oon monday and heard there was quite a few powerful storms that blew through, but thats about all i know. but a cool story from yesterday, is that we had to go up to the mission office so that elder malone needed to speak with the mediacl officer, so we tried to get the office elders to try giving us some hints about transfers but they didn't. but we found out a few things though. mostly because of a new elder there. one of the Ap's is now a zone leader for his last two transfers. so we soon figured out who the new one was and who the new Training assiasant was. his name was elder craig, but the thing that was funny, is me and elder neugebauer left and tracted for a little bit and as we were headed back to the mission office asomeone pulled over and was wanting missionaries to visit him. it was really awesome how everything lined up. so thats about all i can think of right now. but thanks for the updates about grandma and for everything else. take care. i love all of you. Elder S. Johnson

April 15, 2009

hey everyonethis transfer is going way to fast, next week is already transfers. it's crazy. time is flying by. it's been an intersting week, i've been having alot of bloody noses, but right now vasoline is seeming to do the trick, as long as i don't sneeze, or it doesn't get to dry at night. so it's been crazy, my pilllowcase is getting washed almost daily. but don't worry everything is going well now. yes i did get my package in fact theres a funny story with it as well. we were on exhnages and elder neugebauer has been expecting a package, and as were driving up he sees it on the porch. he's really excited, takes a look at it, and sees my name. he was very depressed, but he got his the next day. so it was fine. wow, it hard to belive miles is coming home now. time is going way to fast. were teaching this family named the jones, and the grandma has all her grandkids sit in so we teach them. it's really funny trying to teach them, there this one kid whose answers usually have something to do with food. then they came to chucrh on sunday and loved it. the branch pres has been out twon for almost a month and at the time time there wasn't to many investigators coming well last sunday we had 9. so it was a big suprise to him. edmund, is now set for baptism and is trying to get back on track again. so hoepfully he stays on this time. then sunday we went an easter play that this person we met invited us to, she was in it, so we wnet for here. it was good but differnt. so it was an intersting epxerince. now we went by this lessactive memebr and we quickly found out why. her health isn't the best and she has altimers really bad. she kept asking who we were every minute or so. so it made it tough. so thats the big news here, not o much exciting, but we had interviews on monday and had pres millburn do a compaion study with us. so basically like zone confernce but more one on one. i'm not sure on much else to say, but take care, have fun, and hope that tiff gets feeling better. Elder S. Johnson

April 8, 2009

yeah i did notice pres. McConkie, when they announced the name at first it made me wonder, then i thought i saw him. so after that i was keeping an eye out. but that defiantly confirms that, i was planning to ask you anyways. so thats really cool. sounds like it's a good car. it's a missionary car as well. most cars are either corollas or malibu's what year is it. so that's really cool. on sunday between confernce while we were having lunch i found something really cool. i saw a book that said doctrine and covenants commenatry. so i picked it up and found a story that had to do with simeon Carter. it had his conversion story. it was really cool. it said that Parley P. Pratt was reading with him, and then got arrested and left the Book Of Mormon behind. parley P. pratt got away and simeon read it and was baptized. then it contiued to say he was made an elder and organized a brach of sixty members. it was pretty cool. well i thought confernce was amazing, i loved alot of it. i was thinking it would be elder anderson as well, i aslo loved elder Hollands, and pres. monson's. i also liked pres. utcorfs talk at priesthood, had proabably the best joke. he went on saying how he was trying to find a story to relate it with, and he went on these things the other apostles were good at, and then he said, he made his desicion, i would share something i knew really well, aviation. it was pretty funny how he brought it up. i still can't choose a favorite. hey i was wondering, when it gomes out on cd if you could get me one. i'd really appreciate it. the last two day we had some really amazing miracles. on monday we had plans to go around the collage talking to everyone we could see but before we got there elder Neugebauer reconzinged one of his investigator he was teaching in the Innercity of Richmond. he was set for baptism and then elder Neuegbauer got transfered here. then edmund(his name) just vanished. so the elders there were seacrhing every hopsital, calling prisions, everything trying to find him. so it was really cool. it's funny, because they thought he had dropped off the face of the earth. it was so crazy what happened. then yetserday we were driving to an appointment got about 5 minutes away and they cancelled it. we were pretty annoyed, so we go to the members house who was going to come with us and that's when the phone rang a minute later. it was someone that missionaries had taught in january, and had to postpone there appointment. so they called us wnated us to come by again. it was really cool what happened. it was neat.i liked that story with grace and kate that sounded really funny. i thought it was pretty good. well take care, have fun with the new car. i also loved the pitcures, i got the letter yesterday. well take care.

p.s.
oh yes one last thing. when simeon was called on a mission in the Doctrine & covenants, Jacob Scott, one of elder Salisbury's ansectors was called as well. so six genratiions later we sevred together and they may have traveled together at one point. just was really intersting when we thought about that. well take care

April fool's

don't worry no joke, but maybe i get one in, who knows. snicker, snicker. this week was really fun, we had alot of miracles. on sunday we had 6 investigators at chucrh. it was amazing. i'm glad that your doing better. i'm glad that everything is fine there, well youll have to send me pitcures of the new car when you get it. i'm so glad that Grace is home as well. i'm really excited about that. i thought it was cute they were holding hands in the back. this weekend is going to be excitiong, i'm looking forward to confernce. it's going to be great. i'm getting along pretty well with elder Neugebauer, and elder Malone. Elder Malone does alot of cooking, one thing i learned from him is how to make mozarella sticks. so Jill will love that. well the only sister missionaries i know of that were in a group of three were best friends, so haven't seen anything bad. well i have alot more stories this week for you, we had some really amazing blessings this week. there was this one lesson we had where we got incredibly bold with this one person. one thing thats getting pushed in the mission is teaching more clearly, and refining our shortcomings. it's been really amazing how much improvement is happening in the mission. another cool story is we had a lesson with someone named Jay b. he's been going trhough a hard time and we taught him the restoration and he loved it, the spirit was very strong there, he was one of them that came to church, and then church had the answer he needed at the time. then monday we are working with a couple, the kids are members, but they both are not married but both have strong testimonies of the gospel. so we went into the lesson to teach the restoration, but before we started we asked, do you believ that Jospeh Smith is a prophet, and they both suprsied us with a powerful testimony. so there went or plan on what to teach them, because they didn't need it, so we taught about God, and how he is a merciful but a just God, and used alma 42. the really cool thing is we ended it with obedience, and we had bobby read 1 nephi 3:7 but swap his name for nephi. he read it and it was powerful. it really hit him, and now we have them set for baptism with plans to get married. it was really cool. then the last coo,l story is that we had zone confernce yesterday and they stressed with calling people to repentance, not being afraid to do it. and to teach with passion. it was an amazing zone confernce. a lot of things are happneing here, i'm really excited. farmville is great, i love it here, i'm not sure what else to say though, but everything is going well. take care, have a good april fools day. okay not really but have a good day Elder S. Johnson

March 25,2009

I'm so excited, i hope Grace will come home soon, and i'm glad that grandma is doing better as well. now for an intesrting story, so last night we went to a member house and had dinner with her. she has alot of pitcures of ther of missionaries she has met. i looked at one and thought, he looks familar, and it was a wedding announcement, and i read, the name Todd Low! it turns out that he was one of the first missionaries that taught her. pretty exciting huh. i'm not sure he served in Farmville, because the branch was made about two years ago, but still small world, so you probably should ask him about Sis. Shelly Justice. i really love the pitcures of kate chasing those bubbles, there really amazing looking. thats sad to hear about sis. jensen though, hope the elder Hunter is doing good though. wow, kate sure has grown, i jjust realized she's almost two and half now, man thats crazy. she's grown up so much. sorry i thought i gave you the whole address, it's 912 B longwood Ave Farmville, Va 23901, oh yes the missionary from here thats is chad's mission got ther in december, so they may have meet. i told elder Malone you found her blog, he was suprised. well im sorry that this email is really short, i don't know much else of what to say. but take care, have fun, and i hope that Grace comes home soon. talk to you later. Elder S. Johnson

March 18, 2009

hey everyone.this week been pretty intersting. i arrived in farmville and its a city compared to wakefield. it's still considered country but it seems more like a city. there alot of food places, alot of stores, including walmart. there is two small unvinsities there. so thats most of the exciting things i know of here. the branch is small like wakefield, we meet in an old store, werid huh. but it's alot of older people here. oh yes there is someone from the branch that is serving in chad's mission. so could ask ask chad if he reconizes the name Elder Zeledon. so exciting news. oh yes, i keep forgetting, i haven't heard yet what areas Todd served in, so maybe you could ask them again. thanks.so now for my companions, Elder Nuegebauer, is a convert. his parents joined when he was ten. he's from Billings, Montana. Elder Malone is from mesa, arizona. so you already know about him. yes he is the one, the likes Hannah Montana. so thats the brief of them. its kind of funny, we served in the same zone for 4 and 1/2 months. so its kind of funny were together now. well i hope that Grace gets to come home soon. Can't wait to meet her when i get home. but i can wait. don't worry. oh yes, we also replaced the missionaries that were here. so all three of us are brand new. on thursday we arrived at transfers, we had to wait till the evening until Elder Malone came up from cheasepeake. i also found out that three of my district from the MTC are zone leaders now. elder Peacock, Elder Beames, and Elder Peterson. so pretty crazy. then we had a ride with President Nyce to farmville. we border two different missions. there is a memebr hear who is a modern-day Job. he was involved in a very serious accident and he is on bedrest. they had to reattach his legs, and has lost alot of use of his limbs. but he has a powerful testimony and is an amazing guy. it was such a spiritual time when we were there. alot of this week, we've been trying to find investigators and the ones they were working with. most of them have been annoying trying to find. because there addresses have been wrong. so not to much fun. on monday we had a lesson with a pentecostal preacher. he understood alot of it, but just has a hard time beliving in the church. but were going to help him. okay now for the important thing. my address is 912 #B, Farmville, 23901.i'm going to miss wakefield, i was almost in tears when i left. but i'm going to give it my all here as well. well the first year has flown buy. it's been alot of fun here. i have seen alot of miracles and seen the Lord Hand in this work. i'm loving this. well take care

March 11, 2009

so transfer were last night and i found out that i'm headed to another Branch. I'm headed to Farmville. it's a small town, in the country that has two collages. so i'm headed to a collage town. so that the news here. elder slaibury served there for six weeks and told me a lot about it. then there are also two new missionaries coming here. one of them is a spanish speaking elder. so thats the news here, there replacing me with two elders. my new companions names are Elder Neugabauer, and Elder Malone. so some pretty cool news. well tell grandma to get feeling better, i was feeling a little sick this week, but that was mostly the drastic change in the weather. it went from snow on monday to the 80's by friday. only a little change. sounds like Grace is doing great, hope she gets to come home soon. well now for the other news for the week. all last week again nothing happened. we would have rather had everything fall apart than that. elder salsibury described it to our district leader, it's like a hmaster running around in a wheel, you don't go anywhere. but we had a baptism so we were really excited about that. it was pretty awesome. on thursday chelsea got broncitis so we were not to happy, so we went by and gave her a blessing and she on saturday felt good enough to be baptized. it was awesome. then this week alot of great things happened. so far this week we had more going on then anything else. it's been great. well i'll let you know about the area when i write next week, or you'll probably look it up. i also border the mission boundry. but take care. take to you later and tell everyone hi for me.

We have Snow

yeah, all of virginia has snow. just to let you know how bad it was, they had all missionaries go in early sunday night. mostly it rained all day, alot of standing water and then it changed to snow. we got about two inches though. but heard richmond had 6 or more. they had us stay in till the storm passed the next day, mostly because people in virginia have no idea how to drive in it, so it was just percaution. school was cancelled all over the state. but hey I got to shovel snow to this year. we did that as we went out that day. pretty fun. well next time you see Chad tell him hi for me. wow, Grace sounds like she's getting big, pretty cool. no i didn't know that charnelle was getting married, thats great. well just to let you know, mostly everything is good right now, the only problem right know are my shoes. so probably the best thing to do is put some money on my debit card for it and then i'll wait tell i can get to a place that has shoes. right know we don't hvae anything here. but transfers are next week so hopefully soon. well this week has been a trial filled week. we had almost nothing happen for most of the week. the best news is that we have a baptism on saturday for Chelsea. my first one that is not an unbaptized youth. so i'm excited. but the other highlight was sunday, we had three investigators at church. chelsea, and the stewarts. fast and testimony meeting was powerful, alot of conversion stories, and such, then at the end bro. stewart got up and bore his as well. it was amazing. it was so cool. now for a funny story, i forgot to tell you this last week. we had just turned left on a street and then we saw flashing red and blue lights. we pulled over and we thought oh no, i start going for the registraion, and elder salisbury rolled down the window. he asked the normal and then he said, eyes forward, hands on steering wheel. we give him the stuff and he then aks, how much have you had to drink tonight. elder salisbury, said none. the officer responded, why do i then smell alcohol . we both looked at each and he said say what. then the officer starts laughing and that's when elder salisbury noticed who it was. it was a member in one of his old areas. he said as soon as he saw us he knew he had to. thinking back nowit was funny, but elder salisbury didn't like it to well. just a funny story for youwell i hope that everything goes well at the doctors. well i'll talk to you later, i'll let you know next week about transfers.

February 25, 2009

well i just finsihed writing a big email and lost it. so i'll try again, so sorry if it's small. thanks for the pitcures and i sure got laughs form kate. do you know if Jacob has to go the MTC or will he go straight there? i can't belive that the larry milller passed away, that's going to be rough on the Jazz, but cool story with it though. well i'm no longer feeling sick now, so that's some good news. we luckily had it very brief, and wasn't bad. hope you all get feeling better, and why is jill's knee sore? well the biggest things that happened this week is we had on staurday 7 appointmnest scheduled. we did not even know when we would have lunch. we ended up only have one go through. it was not fun. but we had a very powerful lesson with a man named stewart and his wife. they both loved it as well. then sunday we set chelsea for baptism. apparently the guardian ship is not an issue and she was asked by one of the young women in the branch when she was going to be baptized. she answered, no one's asked me yet. so when we heard that we asked her. and she accepted. so that was pretty cool.well sorry about all that happend but this is about all i remember i had down. but i know it was much longer earlier, but oh well it happens. well take care. Elder S. Johnson

February 18, 2009

yeah, as you can tell were getting rain today. it's cooled off a bit now and getting cold again. i've heard febuary is really like that here. i loved the pitcures from last week i just wasn't able to print them off, i didn't have change on me but that's fine. just so you don't worry, my shoulder is fine now. still not sure what i did to it but it's fine, unfornately we think we got that flu bug going around. we had zone confernce yesterday and we were both sick during it, and when we got back we both just went to bed. but were doing better today so thats good. i'm glad that things are improving with Grace. sounds like she's already growing up. well tell Jamie congradulation on her new girl. yeah, i hadn't heard that at all. well i had a pretty odd week and werid at times. friday we had a pretty fun district mtg and as we were heading up there, the memebr who was giving us a ride up there, bro. henry saw an amublence and a police car at another's memebrs house. she is pregnant and it's going to be her first child, she keeps getting panic attacks and so we stopped by to see if there was anything we could do. we gave her a blessing and it really helped her out. it was awesome. they should of known what sex it is by now, but everytime they try the ultrasound, the baby looks right at it so they can't. i kind of think it funny. then i went on exchanges with an elder horsley. we had a good time had some pretty good lessons. he's from reno, neveda. then on sunday we visited some members that are less active because of health. i have a pretty funny story there involving ther cat. they have this one cat that is very fat. but it is very freindly as well. at one point bro. gibbs said, if your ever in the area come over and we'll feed you. at the time the cat was purring very loud and then he said, we've been fattening the cat for ya. the cat instantly stopped, turned at looked at him, and then he turned and looked at me and the expression on his face was your not going to eat me right. we all started laughing, it was pretty funny. then zone confernce yesterday was really powerful, it was amazing. i learned alot there. well the people i told you about last week, one of them got sick, and the rest we keep missing them. so it's been a little aggravating. well I hope that everything keeps going well. i'll continue keep grace in my prayers. well take care

February 10

hey everyone. thanks for the pitcures you sent me. i really apprecatied it. she defiantly is looking pretty good. things have been good on this end we had some really good things happen the last few days. oh yes, i heard the elder scott was out in viginia not to long ago. he was there for there stake confernce. he also held a special class for all new members and elder Salisbury had several recent converts meet him. we both thought that was exciting. unfornatley we wished we were serving over there because elder scott went to the zone confernce there for the missionaries there. so we were kind of bummed when we heard that. I can't remember if i told you about one of our new investigators. her name is chelsea. she is a foster child whom the Terri's have taken in. she is right now loving the church and is undertsnading alot of waht we teach her. then we had another really awesome lesson with someone named william Vaughn. he's an older man and he is very freindly and last monday we watched the restoration with him. he loved it, he really felt the spirit it was really powerful. were really getting excited with him, and we also met this new lady yesterday. we met her husband a while back whose from Guatemala. he wanted a spanish book of mormon and we kind of forgot about him. so yesterday we decided to go back. we talked to his wife and found out he had to go back to guatemala because his visa expired while they were trying to get him to be a us citizen. and found out he was more intersted than we thought. so she is going to ship him it. so it was a big testimony booster. last week we were having a rough week and so far we had a good one, but we know it's the Lord why things are happening that way so were very thankful. i don't really know to much more to say right now. but some more good news it's been in the seventies lately. so it's no longer the wet cold. but it's fine. well it's fine that you didn't send me a package. i'm fine with just having the pitcures. well take care. i'm glad things are going well on that end. keep up the good work.