Transferred to the Kentlands Ward with Elder Crandall, General Conference, and April Fools Pranks - 04/07/2016

April Fools Prank

Another April Fool's Prank

Nice Picture or the Temple with Elder Crandall

Another Nice Picture or the Temple with Elder Crandall

Video Update in Two Parts: Moral of the Story for the Week - Don't Sprain Your Ankle Playing Football!!! - 03/21/2016

Video Update - Part 1

Video Update - Part 2

Silver Springs Zone Picture

Fear Factor, Igor Has a Baptism Date, and a New iPad for FREEEEE - 03/14/2016

Hey everyone! I hope you all had a great week! This week has been pretty exciting. 

Monday we had our zone activity. The Zone leaders thought it would be a good idea for us to have a fear factor. Most of the stuff was not too bad but there was a couple of things that were kinda gross. One of the the actives was so one from each team had to drink a McDonald's meal that was all blended up. Another thing was someone had to eat baby food. I had to eat this gross purple oat meal. Overall it actually turned out to be pretty fun. After this I Zone activity we chill the rest of the rest of our P-Day. 

This week we were able to meet with Igor. He is doing well with everything. He was able to come to church this week and he really enjoyed it. He is planning on being baptized on the 26th of this month. 

This week we were able to get a hold of a recent convert who has gone less active. We were able to meet with him and have an awesome lesson on family's. He told us that he wants to come to church, but his work has scheduled him to work on Sunday's. We are going to continue to work with him. 

This past week we were also suppose to go on exchange with President Cooke, but he got really busy so he was not able to make it. His mission is winding towards the end and he has never been more busy. 

Other exciting news my iPad started acting all funky. With battery would drain super fast and sometimes my iPad would randomly die when the battery was around 40%. So I took it into the Apple Store and they said that my battery had gone bad and it was still under warranty so I was able to get a brand new iPad for freeeee. The craziest part was I only had 9 days left on that contract #blessings.

Other then that nothing super exciting this week. We are still trying to get to know the ward and trying to fined more people to teach. Thanks for all the support! Hope everyone has a great week! 

Bye  

Interview with President Cooke, Family History Work with a New Convert, Free Burrito Coupons, Have You Seen Our Phone? Igor Makes it to Church!!! - 03/07/2016

Hey everyone! This week has been a pretty good week. It was very slow for the first half of the week. We have been checking up on potential investigators that are in our area books. The only problem it has been really hard getting a hold of them. 

Tuesday we had interview with President Cooke. It went really well. We had a good conversation about him moving out here after he gets released and a little bit about how I would love to end my mission in the Kentlands ward. 

On Wednesday we had a lesson at the temple visitor center with a recent convert from the ward. She was planning on doing baptisms for the dead and she said she wanted to learn more about how it all happens. We set up the lesson, so it would be focused on the plan of salvation, eternal families, and temple work. Everything went really smoothly tell she told us that she just wanted help with the logistical things, like getting a name off family search and printing it off to take to the temple. We tried helping her out with that at the visitor center, but she didn't have any of the information that she needed. We will probably helping her out with that this week.

On Thursday we had our district/zone meeting and after that we spent some time setting up the rest of the week, with appointments. 

Friday we spent almost the whole day checking on a list of potential investigators again. We were not able to get a hold of a single one. On the positive while we were checking one someone, we found 2 free burrito coupons for Chipotle! That made things a little better. 

On Saturday the low-light was that we lost our phone. When you are a missionary you have to have your phone on you. We searched high and low and we could not fined it anywhere. Finally after a while for looking for the phone we tried calling it. We walked into our roommate's room and we heard our phone ringing. We found it in the gym shorts of Elder Smith. He felt pretty bad that he had totally forgot about picking up our phone. The highlight was meet no with Igor. We.

Decided to go check up on him at the end of the night and it turned out that he was home! We talked to him about what has beefing going on in his life. Apparently he had been having a crazy schedule with his work, but now he got hired as a electrician, so he now has a more stable and predictable schedule. 

Sunday Igor made it to church! He really enjoyed the service! In Priesthood opening exercises he introduced him self and then told everyone that he is preparing to be baptized! We thought that was pretty awesome.  And in other news Bryce (formally known as Elder Paul) came to visit the ward! It was awesome being able to see him again. He hasn't changed at all. After church, one of our investigators invited us to come over the her house. When we got there we were surprised to see that our investigators daughter and her friends were having rehearsals for a dance. One of the reasons why she wanted us to come over was because they didn't have enough boys for girls to dance with. We had to explain to her that we have rules as missionaries. She was very understanding and she still wanted us to stay, so we socialized with with a bunch of 15 and 16 year old's. It was a good missionary opportunity. That was pretty much my week! Thanks for all you do! Have a great week!

Progress with Scott and Sonia, Scotch Bonnet Peppers, More Bad Weather, Exchanges with the Spanish Elders, and Josh's Farewell - 02/29/2016

What is up everyone! This week has been a pretty entertaining week. 

On Monday we got together with a bunch of missionaries and played some basketball after that it was the normal P-Day routine with shopping and what not. Once P-Day ended, we had an appointment with our investigator's Scott, Sonia, and Sonia's kids. It ended up to be us trying to teach a 9 and an 11 year old because both Sonia and Scott were busy working on different projects around the house. It didn't go so well.

     

On Tuesday we were invited over for lunch with the Legendary Sister Mayes. She is famous in this mission for feeding the missionaries and having them eat Scotch Bonnet peppers. It was a lot of fun and I even survived the pepper, kinda. My stomach pretty was bad for a good chunk of the day. After the lunch we spent time finding and trying to get a hold of referrals.

    

Wednesday I woke up not feeling well. So we spent the day inside trying to get a hold of people and trying to set up appointments. Later on in the day the DC area was hit with a massive wind/rain storm. We were told that everyone must get inside as soon as possible.

It wasn't till later we found out that there was a tornado warning for parts of Virginia, DC and Maryland.

      

Thursday we had our zone conference and it turned out really well. All the workshops were excellent. Sister Cooke gave an awesome lesson about how important it is to set up a scripture in a lesson and how you must give it context because it gives it so much more meaning. After the Zone conference I  went on exchange with one of the Spanish elders in our zone. That was probably the least meaningful exchange I have ever been on. All the lessons and the dinner appointment were in nothing, but Spanish. Every single person we met with did not speak English at all. It was kinda funny I tried so hard to look like I was interested in what they were saying, but it was so hard haha. Other than that is was a fun exchange.

     

Friday we spent the entire day helping an older lady move her stuff into a storage shed. We all had a fun time helping out this member in need. When we finally finished we had a meal appointment with some members in the ward. The family was really cool! The dad of the family had retired recently so has picked up the hobby of building harps. He took us all over his house and showed us all the harps that he had made and repaired. He played a little rendition of "If You Could Hie to Kolob" and it sounded sweet! This guy is also really into a type of bike. I can't remember what they are called for the life of me. They are the bikes with the huge front wheel and a small back wheel. They were really popular back in the day. Anyway this guy has a whole collection of them and he said we could give them a try as the weather warms up.

     

Saturday we helped some other people move some things into their house for awhile. After we had finished that we checked on some former investigators and other people that the past missionaries were teaching, but we had no luck.

    

Sunday we had our normal church service. We ended up with quite a few people. Sonia and Scott were able to make it. A recent convert came with her non-member kids that we are trying to work with and a few other non-members showed up because one of the young men in the ward had his farewell talk. He is being shipped off to the Salt Lake West Mission. Scott and Sonia are really enjoying church and we are hoping to put them on date next time we meet with them. We also spent some time talking with some of Josh's (he's the one going on the mission) non-member friends, getting to know them. After church we tried checking up on Igor because we haven't heard from him in a while. I guess he has picked up another job so it will be hard to get a hold of him. Hopefully we will be able to track him down this week and straighten a few things up with him. Later that day we headed over to Josh's for his farewell party. It was really fun getting to know Josh and his friends. Hopefully we will be able to stay in contact with them after Josh leaves.

Well That was my week! Hope all of you are having a good time! Take care!

Snowed in Again, Scott and Sonya Come to Church, and Missing Igor - 02/23/2016

Hello Everyone! 

I hope you all had a great week! Last week was little bit of a struggle:

Monday we did not do much we. We ended up getting snowed in again, so we really didn't do too much. We finally broke out and ended up walking to the church to play some basketball and that is what we did for the rest of the day. 

Tuesday we were able to meet with a part-member family that the past missionary's had been working with. The lesson went pretty well, the father of the family is a member that has not been to church in a little while because of his work and his wife is not a member. 

Wednesday we were able to meet with Igor and the lesson went really well. He has opened up to us a lot. 

Thursday we met with our ward mission leader and his family for dinner and we talked about some thing that the ward mission needs help with. It was a good talk! Elder Lee and I are getting s better hang of the area, but we are still meeting with members to be able to get to know them. I feel as we do that we will be able to have a better grasp on where the ward needs help and where the ward can help us. Later that night we had a lesson with a couple of our investigators, Scott and Sonia. The lesson went really well and they said that they would come to church! 

Friday we met with a less active guy in ward named Ghee Hall. We met a Ghee in a Starbucks coffee shop. We started off introducing ourselves and got to know Ghee for a little while and it was really fun. Ghee is a very funny man who likes to joke around. Sometimes it was hard to tell if he was joking or not. He told Elder Lee that he could order a coffee and we weren't sure if he was serious or not. It was a fun lesson. 

Saturday was the day where it started to get a little frustrating. We had an appointment with Igor for sometime in the afternoon. We went and checked up on his house but his housemates told us that he had gone on a walk. Elder Lee and I decided to go and try to find him. We started driving down the streets looking on both sides see if we could find any signs of Igor.  We finally found him, probably about a mile from his house. He was on a super busy road so there was no way for us to pull over and talk to him so we drove around the block and parked on a side street. We gave him a call and he said that he would still like to meet after he had finished his walk. So while we waited for him to finish his walk we drove around checking on potentials, less active's,  and former members. After little while we checked back in on him. He told us that he was no longer able to meet because he had another appointment that he had to attend. 

Sunday we had our normal services. Igor was supposed to come but we were unable to get a hold of him. After our early-morning ward council meeting we went and checked up at his house to see if we could get in contact with him but we were unable to. Fortunately, Sonya, Scott, and Scott's daughter all came to church. It was good to see them, they had not been to church since we have been in the area. During second hour Elder Lee and I gave him a lesson on Jesus Christ. After the second hour Sonia and Scott and Scott's kid had to leave. While they were at church the ward did a great job of fellowshipping.  It was really great to see. After church we had a lesson with a less active man whose wife is investigating the church. It was supposed to be both of them, but his wife was busy at work, so we were not able to meet with her, but we still had a good time teaching and getting to know the husband. And later on the day we were able to attend the "Why I Believe" fireside. We were supposed to bring Igor, but we were not able to contact him, so it did not work out. The fireside was awesome! Betsy Perez was supposed to be giving her testimony but her mother-in-law had an emergency operation performed so she did not speak. She will be speaking at next months fire side. The keynote speaker was Sister Givens the wife of the man who spoke last month. She gave a really good talk about why she believes.  I'm so very sorry about this late email I will try to get it out sooner next week. Have a fantastic week and I hope to hear from all of you again thanks again!

Love,

Elder Johnson

Football on the National Mall, Loudest Lesson Ever, Senior Missionary Cupids, and a Baptism that Started Off Cold, but Ended HOT - 02/15/2016

Hey everybody what's up!

It's time for another weekly email. This week has been pretty great. We are finally kinda getting the hang of our area. 

On Monday we went down to The national mall and played football with lots of elders. It was great to see everyone especially because we are not able to meet as a mission anymore. After football we went to the mall to get lunch and then we chill the rest the day until it was Time to go to a member meal. During this member meal Elder Lee, my companion, started getting super bad hiccups. He then ran to the restroom. When he came out he told me that we should probably go. It turned out that he got sick so we went home. That was our Monday night.

      

On Tuesday we met with a recent convert from the ward. His name is R****z and he is from Jordan. He is really cool guy and he is preparing to go to the temple. After we have finished up with him we spent pretty much the rest of the day checking on referrals and contacting. A little bit later in the day we had an appointment with a less active man by the name of Brother S*****k. He is an older man with some health problems, so he is not able to make it to church. The missionaries had been meeting with him for a while now so we kept up the tradition. Brother S*****k is pretty much deaf, which made the lesson pretty interesting. We literally had to yell at him the entire time. When we thought we were talking loud enough he would stare at us like he had no idea what we said. There were a few times during the lesson that I had to stop myself from laughing. I had to say the prayer at the end of the lesson. It was so hard not to laugh. I am pretty sure the neighbors two houses down heard everything we said. We should have counted that as a member present. When we finished up with him it was time to go ward correlation with our ward mission leader and the other missionaries in the ward.

     

Wednesday we had our weekly planning session which consisted of mostly calling people trying to set up appointments. After we finished weekly planning we went finding for a little while then we headed to dinner with the family in the ward.

Thursday we had our district meetings. Probably the most entertaining part of that was one of the senior elders dressed up like Cupid and handed all the missionaries valentines candy. It was pretty funny, but I also felt very uncomfortable ha ha. The worst part of the day was that we had almost all of our appointments cancel on us so we had to go about finding. When it came to dinnertime we walked over to the member who is feeding us. Turned out he was still at work and the only person who is home was his son-in-law. Elder Lee and I talked had an awesome conversation with him. He is a really cool guy, he is from Florida and right now he is doing an internship. He is a convert of only few years so it was really cool here how the Gospel has blessed his life. After we finished talking with him we walked back to our apartment. As soon as we walked through the door we got a call from the member who was supposed to feed us. He told us that he just had gotten home and that we could come back over and eat dinner with him. It was a pretty funny dinner, everything was just thrown together and it was actually really good. The member's name is Brother S*****n. He works for the United States Army and I am guessing he does some pretty crazy stuff because he would not talk about his job at all.

     

Friday was a pretty good day. We had a referral given to us by another missionary. He set up an appointment for us. We taught this lady the first lesson and it went pretty well. She seemed kind of interested and she said she would come to church when she got a day off, but she is generally pretty busy. Hopefully we will be able to meet with her again. After we had finished with her we are headed over to a member who had just recently moved into the ward. She Asked us to come over and give her a blessing because of some hardships of her life. It was awesome to be able to use the priesthood to help her. Later that day we spend time checking on referrals again. I wish so bad that they would pick up their phones and answer their doors. Later that night we had an appointment with some investigators. Their names are S***t and S***a. The missionaries have been working with them for quite some time now and it was great to be able to introduce ourselves and get to know them. S***t had a baptismal date, but an issue came up in one of the lessons. We found out that he still wants to work towards baptism which is great! We hope everything works out with him.

On Saturday we had a few appointments. We were checking on this lady who had requested missionaries to come over and give her a book of Mormon. We had given her a Book of Mormon about a week ago, but we were not able to teacher. So Elder Lee and I dropped in to see if she was home. Her husband answered the door and he invited us in. The lady who had requested the missionaries was asleep so we talked with her husband. He's a really cool guy with some struggles in his life right now. We talked to him about the restoration briefly and he said that it was very interesting and he would like to learn more, but not at this time because of some things that are going on in his life right now. After we had finished talking with him. We decided we would drop in on the Igor. We had not been able to get a hold of Igor the entire week and it was kind of frustrating because he is our main guy right now. We knocked on the door and it turned out he was home and he was really excited to see us. He told us that his phone had not been working properly so it has been hard for people to get a hold of him. We taught him a few of the Commandments and he says that he does not have any problems except for coffee. He hasn't had coffee for a few weeks now, but he is having a hard time ignoring the temptation.

Sunday was pretty exciting. We had our normal church services and then we had a ward baptism right after church. The ward mission leader had put Elder Lee and I in charge of filling the font. While we start to fill the font we noticed that the water was really cold. We talked to the ward mission leader about it and he told us that there was a hot water heater in the basement that we may have to adjust. So Elder Lee, myself, and the ward mission leader went down to the basement to turn up the water heater. We went to the baptismal font and the water was heating up. When it came to the baptism I guess it wasn't enough. The water was still really cold. During the confirmation the fire alarm started going off. As soon as the blessing is over everybody evacuated the church building. Couple minutes later about four fire trucks pulled into the church parking lot and started to investigate the building. It turns out that the hot water heater overheated and it started to produce a lot of steam which set off the fire alarms. It brings a whole new meaning to baptism by fire.

Well that was pretty much our week. 

Have a fantastic week and I hope to hear from you soon

Byeeee