Wednesday, July 13, 2016

July 12 - Home

And he is home!



Mike will be speaking in the Davis Creek 2nd Ward located at 1395 S 200 W, Farmington at 9am on Sunday, July 17th.  All are welcome to attend.

Monday, July 4, 2016

July 4 - Pisco

Hello All,

This will be the last time that we are communicating with each other with email! I can't wait to be home this next Tuesday [July 12].  I will be leaving Lima at 12:45 [am] and then I will be arriving at 12:45 [pm] on Tuesday. From what I have heard it is going to be like extreme [home] makeover, coming home with my eyes closed and then seeing all of the changes that you have done to the house!  New carpet, new appliances, etc.. haha I can't wait!

I love you guys soo much and a lot!

Elder Johnson Baby

Monday, June 27, 2016

June 27 - Pisco

Hello All,

This week we had the baptisms of Jorge, Fiorela, and Daniel! It was great to see them finally make the decision to be baptized. Now we are looking forward to helping them go to the temple in August to do baptisms for the dead allowing them to keep going in the path of retention. Like Gordon B. Hinckley said, What does it profit a missionary to baptize the whole world if they don't stay active. That baptism was number 29 for me and it looks like it was the last one that I will have in the mission. I am really proud of the work and know that I was just an instrument in His hands and am very blessed. I look forward to stay in contact with them to help them stay in the path that will bring them eternal life. Also, when we come back here to Peru we will have free meals, and free housing, and tour guides! haha It is already a plan! :)

It is weird to think that this is my second to last p day in the mission. I am so grateful for the time that I have had here and I wouldnt trade it for any other experience. I will be seeing you guys in 2 weeks! Granny has been telling me that you guys are doing quite the home makeover. haha I can't wait to see IT, and more importantly to see YOU ALL.

Hopefully i will be able to send you the fotos to the baptism next Monday!!

I love you guys sooo much and a lot!

Elder Johnson Baby

Monday, June 20, 2016

June 20 - Pisco

Hello All,

This week has been great! The past week we went to Paracas (a nature reserve that is located in Pisco). The rocks that we found there were awesome. It was great to spend some time on the beach and forget about some of the stresses of missionary work. I can't imagine what I would do without p-day. The foam on the beach was from the salt that is in the water. Me and another elder made foam beards but they didn't last too long.. haha and the rest of the day my face was itching .. not the best idea that I have ever had! :)

This Saturday we are going to have three baptisms. Jorge Perales and his daughter Fiorela, as well as a kid that is named Daniel. They all had their interviews and are ready to go. We are looking forward to this day!! Ending the mission well and with baptisms. After this week, we will be having another baptism of Maria Aguilar. Good things are happening here in San Clemente!!

Tell Sara happy birthday from me!! I will try and get something here in Pisco and bring it for a late birthday gift. It will be a surprise! I already told Granny that I want the pretzel [jello] dessert as well as tacos for when I come back. I want a burrito like the ones that we would buy at La Beaus too and a banana cream pie shake. :)

I love you guys sooo much and a lot!

Elder Johnson Baby












Monday, June 13, 2016

June 13 - Pisco

Hello All,

This week has been pretty good! We have been working really hard and seeing the results. The visit from Elder Rasband was amazing! The spirit was so strong and it was truly uplifting. Elder Godoy (Of the seventy) also talked to us.

Elder Godoy talked about his conversion story. He was baptized when he was 16. He told us that through the years he kept in contact with the sisters that taught him. One of the them was present at his set apart to be a mission president. And the same one that was there asked Elder Godoy to perform her sealing. Even now, they keep in contact and are great friends. He said that the sisters were his angels and is so grateful for their spirit and help. It impacted me a lot because it helps me with the motivation to be the angel of my converts. As we leave the area we still have the responsibility to help them in the gospel. What a privilege it is to have the connection like that with the people here. That is what has been the most special to me. Is making connects with people through the gospel.

I will definitely make the most of these last few weeks that I do have and will be looking forward to seeing you in a month!

I love you sooo much and a lot!

Elder Johnson Baby





Monday, June 6, 2016

June 6 - Pisco

Hello All,

This week was awesome! We had a wedding on Friday of Jorge and Ester! Jorge now is planning on getting baptized on the 25th with his two children Fiorela and Mauro. We are looking forward to baptisms in these coming weeks.

President McGinn sent out a letter to all of the missionaries that will be ending the mission in these two transfers. He said that in the next two transfers they will be changing out 30 percent of the mission!! There are a ton of us and so we are trying to help the mission prepare for the big change. Lots of new faces, but I am positive that the work will continue and many people will be blessed by these new missionaries coming in the following months.

This past week for service we mixed cement and made a floor for our Branch President. He also invited us to eat and we ate something that is called Carapulcra. It is like potatoes in a type of chili sauce with noodles like you can see it in the picture. That is something that you guys can look up on the internet and we will have to make it when I get home. Carapulcra and Causa. Start preparing haha.

We will be having a training with Elder Rasband of the Quorum of the Twelve and so that is also exciting this week. I will let you know how it goes!

I love you guys sooo much and a lot!!

Elder Johnson Baby






Monday, May 23, 2016

May 23 - Pisco

Hello All,

This week we have been working really hard to visit as many people as possible. We have standards of excellence in the mission that help us be able to measure our area and how we are working. We have been able to reach the standards of excellence in lessons with investigators with a member present, recent converts, and less actives! And so we are helping the people in our area to be able to participate in the gospel. They are progressing and now we have three investigators with a baptism date. They are Daniel, Maria, and Gumercinda. They were all able to come to church this past Sunday and we hope that they will continue towards their dates.

I have been talking to Dalton, and a couple of the elders that have been in the mission and they have told me that they are also going to be able to attend UVU. One of them told me that they were looking at the apartment that is called Crestwood Apartments. Maybe you could start looking around so that we can start planning on all of this.

This next week are transfers and then we will be heading in to the last transfer and then we will be home! Until then, I hope that all is well and that you are continuing to do well.

I love you soo much and a lot!

Elder Johnson





Monday, May 16, 2016

May 16 - Pisco

Hello All.

This week has been great! That is awesome that Nick Anderson got his mission call. I was hoping that he would go to South America, but England would be great!!  And with his date for the 7th of September I will be able to see him again before I go. It is so weird to think that when I get home the majority of the people my age are gone haha. What Matt said will be true, however, it will be nice to get home early and go to all of the homecomings of the boys!

This week was interesting. On Sunday, we had a less active member come to church with his wife who is not a member. He had an accident a couple weeks ago when he fell off the third level of his house! He opened up one elbow, broke his other arm, and had stitches on his head among other things. It was terrible, but it seems that that experience prepared him to be humble to go to church again. We hope to commit his wife to baptism today and we will see if they continue to progress. The Lord works in strange ways but he sure provides the way so that his children can come back to his presence.

I love you guys sooo much and a lot!!

Elder Johnson Baby

Monday, May 9, 2016

May 9 - Pisco

Hello All,

This week was great! It was such a blessing to be able to talk to you guys. [We had our Mother's Day skype call]  [Mike's host thought Dad looked like John Goodman from The Flintstones movie] John Goodman hahah. And Sara will have to send me a picture of Ivan to see how he is... to see if he passes the test haha

We are still working with the Perales Family. They were going to be baptized last week but with problems in their marriage papers they were not able to make it to that date. We are now working with them to see if they can be baptized on the 11 of June.. They would be married on the 8th or so and then baptized that saturday. It is funny because the mother in the family is a less active, but her husband has more desires to go to church and participate in the activities. It just goes to show that being a member does not garantie (I know that is spelled wrong) haha [guarantee] that they will have a testimony. We will be having a lot of contact to help them be able to experience the conversion.

It was so great to talk to you guys and I can't believe that I will see ya in 2 months :)

I love you soooo much and a lot!!

Elder Johnson



Monday, May 2, 2016

May 2 - Pisco

Hello All,

This week has been great! We are planning on having a wedding this coming week of the Family Perales. They will be married and then baptized. The wife is less active and her husband will be baptized with their two kids. It has been great to see their progress and I hope that all works out this week!

I can't wait to see you guys on skype! I will be calling you on the phone on Friday and then the call of skype will be on Sunday. Be thinking of a good time to be able to talk and we will be able to coordinate everything on Friday.

I love you guys sooo much and a lot!!

Elder Johnson Baby










Monday, April 25, 2016

Apr 25 - Pisco

Hello All,

The baptism of Christian was awesome! We were able to help him have a great experience! He also had a lot of his cousins there present who arent members of the church and we got some good referrals. We will see in these days if they can become investigators or no.

We are working with a family that is named the Family Perales. The wife is less active and her husband and 2 children are investigators. In Pisco, they are going to have a massive marriage ceremony. So the family will get married in May and then they will be baptized together. Pray so that they will all be good and be able to get to this day! We recently had a training with Elder Godoy of the Seventy and he told us that if we worked more with less actives, our baptisms would double. We have been able to see all of the blessings of this promise from him, being able to find more and more people who are willing to progress and be able to be baptized.

I am continuing to read the Book of Mormon every day and it is helping me a lot! I am on the 4th time cover to cover in the mission. That is one thing that I am going to miss about being in the mission, is having so much time to study the scriptures. I  know that when I get back no matter what I will not have the time that I have here.

I love you guys soo much and we will be able to see each other for SKYPE again! Until then, keep doing well in everything that you do.

Elder Johnson Baby