I'm never going down, I'm never giving up

Aloha! 

I hope you all had happy Easter! We had a pretty great one down here in the desert! In a lot of ways, it was just like any other Sunday, but it was really nice putting an extra effort to focus on Jesus Christ and the sacrifice he made for us. 

We've had a pretty interesting week. The other night we accidentally locked our keys inside the apartment.. That was a real bummer, but after a lot of time and effort and with them help of a nice man in the parking lot, we were finally able to get inside in and get the keys :)

Our new investigator, George, that we found while going to check the mail has been doing fairly well. We were able to start teaching his wife as well, who was a little hesitant on meeting us. She had heard to stay away from the Mormon missionaries because they "never leave you alone" XD, so we've been trying not to be too pushy. She has actually been really friendly and interested in what we teach. George always has the best questions. Things are looking good for them!

It turns out that the Victor Valley Mall has a Menchies in the food court! We stopped there today and I had my first frozen yogurt in several months. They had the Dole Pineapple flavor in today, so yeah, it was a pretty awesome experience :)

Stay Positive and love your life!

Aloha ke akua

-Elder Johnson 

Easter package...new Hawaiian tie

311 Day shirt

Eddie Went shirt

"Time is like a leaf in the wind; either it's time well spent or time I've wasted" - Cage the Elephant

Aloha!

Man, time goes by so fast. It's already week 5 of the transfer, and it feels like I just got here. It makes me realize how important it is to make the most of my time out here. "Time is like a leaf in the wind; either it's time well spent or time I've wasted" -Cage the Elephant

This has been a pretty awesome week. Elder Whitelock and I have been focusing a lot on finding people, and it's finally starting to pay off. We started teaching Sandra, who is the mother of the lady we baptized last week. We found a nice lady while tractng, who is interested in what we teach. We are going to see her later this week and will hopefully be able to teach her family. The other night we were walking through our apartment complex to check our mail and we said hi to a man standing out on his porch. He asked us if we worked in the office and we explained to him that we're missionaries. This guys was like the definition of a golden contact. He said he's heard things about Mormons, but says you can't know for sure until you try it out. He was just asking all the right questions He says, "I drink, smoke, and curse.. can I still come to church?" We said yes, as like as you don't smoke in the building :) Super cool guy

Hope you all have a fantastic week!

Happy Easter!!

Stay Positive!

-Elder Johnson

St Patrick's Day loot

Desert Life

Aloha!

This has been a pretty crazy week. A lot going on, but so much to be grateful for! 

First of all, this week we had the opportunity to have a mission conference with David A Bednar. That was a pretty incredible experience. The conference was really neat because it wasn't just a talk that he was giving, but it was more like a group discussion with all the missionaries involved. There was a lot that I got out of the meeting, but one of the biggest things that stuck out to me was the importance of loving the people we teach. There was someone who asked, "how do we love people that we just barely met?" Elder Bednar answered, "because you know who they are." We know that everyone is a son or daughter of our Heavenly Father, and everyone deserves to be loved, just as Jesus Christ loves each and every one of us. That not only applies to us as teacher, but it also applies to how we should treat people in general. 

This week we Baptized our investigator, Yvette. She has prepared herself and was so ready for baptism. She has already made close friends in the ward, and we know that she's going to continue to do great things. 

Something I've learned while out on my mission is that there are so many things that we take for granted. There are so many beautiful things in this world and it's easy to miss them. Find joy in the journey!

Stay positive and love your life!

-Elder Johnson

drinking "Windex" for zone meeting

Redlands Temple

"I'm going back to the earth; I'm not gonna waste life being hateful" -311

Aloha! 

It's been another great week here in the high desert. We just got back from the Redlands temple earlier today. The drive down the Cajon Pass is always beautiful, and then the temple is magnificent.We had a pretty awesome zone meeting this week. Elder Whitelock and I have a planner thought that may or may not have involved me drinking a bottle of Windex (filled with blue powerade) haha

Saturday is going to be a pretty big day. David A Bednar is coming to speak to the mission earlier in the day, and then we will be having the baptism of our investigator, Yvette. She had been taught by missionaries before she lived in Victorville, and she has been super solid as we've been teaching her. She's super ready and super excited! 

Stay positive and love your life!! Happy 311 day!!

-Elder Johnson