Merry Christmas!!!

There's people of Walmart.. and then there's people of Barstow Walmart.

Ah, but things are going great here in the Promised land of Barstow!  A lot of cool things are happening. The other day we brought a guy from the ward to help teach our new investigator, JJ. Turns out him and JJ are friends and used to play music together! That was a pretty cool reunion when we came in the door. We were able to have a really awesome lesson. 

I was reading a talk the other day from Thomas S. Monson titled, Finding Joy in the Journey. Often times we find ourselves looking for tomorrow and thinking that's when we'll be happy. He quotes the music man and says “You pile up enough tomorrows, and you’ll find you’ve collected a lot of empty yesterdays.” Life is pretty cool and it's easy to take for granted all the little things that we have. Don't wait for tomorrow to be happy.. Be happy now!

I hope you all have a very merry Christmas! Remember to share your love with all your family and friends! Remember that Jesus always has and always will love you. It's really quite remarkable. 

Stay Positive and love your life!!

The Sights and Sounds

This has been a pretty great week. Elder Coombs and I are kickin' some Barstow butt! (meaning bringing people unto Christ) We have been doing quite a bit of finding. We've been doing a lot of door to door and a bit of street contacting. We met a lady who called us over from the other side of Main street. She was going through a really tough time and asked us to pray with her. Her husband had just beat her up on the street that morning and was hiding out with a friend in an old Motel. We prayed with her and told her we'd come and check on her the next day. She was doing a lot better when we came back and we met her friend, JJ. JJ is a strong Christian and loves the Bible. He's pretty interested in our message, so we've started teaching him this week. 

Saturday was the 18th annual Sights and Sounds Christmas program. People have been talking about it since I first arrived to Barstow and holy cow, it was really cool. It's a big event that takes place in the chapel of our church, but people from all over the community come participate. A lot of musicians come and perform and different choirs from different churches come and sing. The absolute coolest part of the program was when the Church of God in Christ went up. They had the whole chappel clapping along and yelling "hallelujah!!!" 

Stay positive and love your life!

-Elder Johnson

Christmas tree from home

California Bear