October 22, 2018

This week we got wrecked, near absolute rejection. We had two trade-offs planned which went well but the result was Elder Wiseman's week was a lot better than mine. Elder Wiseman picked up 4 new people to teach (which is really good) and had a few teaching opportunities but I only taught one lesson this entire week. It also didn't help that zone conference was this week but still. So many lessons fell through, a few people dropped us, and nearly everyone we spoke with was super not interested. 

The week wasn't all that bad though. Some really important things happened. Bertha, the old lady who was baptized my first few weeks (March 2017) was endowed on Friday in the temple. This is huge for more than just one reason. The first reason is that the temple endowment is a saving ordinance. Second, it represents the progress that has been made in the branch the last two or three years. There has been substantially progress in the few months I've spent here. I'm not even sure who the last convert to be endowed was. The Olguin family may have been the most recent, having taken place around 9 years ago. A lot of work has gone into this progress, thankfully we've had nothing but great missionaries the last three years. 

Darylle our friend we taught last week had a very successful pass off to the English Sisters in Grand Rapids. It's a little painful passing off someone as funny and prepared as Darylle seems. Hopefully December 15 will be his baptism! I'll definitely be attending if it happens. 

October 15, 2018

fam,

Welcome to Michigan where the typical weather this time of year ranges from 90 degrees on Wednesday to 40 degrees on Thursday. 

Thursday we had a hilarious lesson with someone named Darryle. I found him a few weeks ago when I was on trade-offs with Elder Wilkins. I didn't even see him in his car but he rolled down the window as we walked by and yelled out to us. He made me jump pretty badly but thankfully we were able to set up an appointment. After some scheduling issues we were finally able to meet with him. We taught a decent lesson on the restoration and he received it hilariously well. We taught about the apostasy of truth that followed the death of Jesus Christ and his apostles and then shared how after the first vision of Jesus Christ angelic messengers restored the priesthood authority by the laying on of hands by those in authority to Joseph Smith. After briefly outlining the priesthood he asked energetically about all the other churches that baptize. We told him that none had the necessary authority. You could say that blew his mind.   

Saturday we had the great opportunity to participate in the baptism of Mercedes. Road work has clogged the entrance to the chapel for the last few months and apparently the workers had temporarily shut off the gas line but it hadn't been put back on. Elder Magalei performed the baptism and said the baptismal font was so terribly cold. During the actual baptism, the doors to the font were shut waiting for them to get in the water. I could hear a slight whimpering and figured it was either a good moment where the spirit was very strong or else  she had some last minute doubts. After the baptism I approached Elder Magalei and asked what had happened. He responded explaining that she was not crying or having last minute doubts but trying very hard not to scream as she very slowly entered the water. Aside from no heat, the service was nice and we had a good turn out. 

Are there prints available of the painting, "The Savior with a lamb" or "the Good Shepherd with His sheep" in the talk "Becoming a shepherd" by Bonnie H Cordon and "Our campfire of Faith" by Elder Gerrit W. Gong? They're fantastic.  

-eric 

October 8, 2018

Fam, 

One thing I've begun to notice recently is that the people we are working with seem more prepared and willing to even just hear us than ever before. Discussing this with Elder Wiseman I think it has to do in part with my own level of conversion  to the Gospel of Jesus Christ between now and when I started the mission. I think as I've striven to dedicate each day to the service of others and spiritually preparing for each day I've been able to grow the trust the Savior has in me allowing me to be guided to people who we could influence for good. 

Carlos, our friend in Lansing, met with us on Tuesday. We hadn't really involved the sisters in the area very much, due to the obvious language barrier, but we've had consistent contact with the members who speak Spanish there. Much to our surprise as we started our video call the sisters were present with the members we had invited to join. What I first thought was weird actually turned out into a really positive moment. We involved the sisters and translated their responses and that really invited the spirit into the lesson. Language is a small barrier which the spirit can cross. In 2 Nephi 31:4 I like when it says that, "For the Lord God giveth light unto the understanding; for he speaketh unto men according to their language, unto their understanding." The spirit brings an understandable force or enlightenment that can be felt regardless of someone's language because the spirit always speaks according to our understanding. Though the sisters testimonies were shared in English it was their testimonies that invited the spirit and not directly from my translation. 

Wednesday we had Trade-offs with the Zone-Leaders. It was enjoyable. I went with Elder Cloward. He was a blast to be with, just a ball of energy. 

Thursday was filled with two miracles. We have not been meeting with David as much due to lack of progression but we decided to stop by him after a short absence of visits. Before the visit I had explained to Elder Wiseman a portion the situation, one of the issues being his aversion to prayer. During the visit we invited him to attend General conference and shared a talk we had felt he might like. It was a good visit and we even ended the visit with him offering the final prayer. As we walked out I smiled knowing that that was a big step for David and that Elder Wiseman wouldn't appreciate it, only due to not having known the entire situation. It was slightly funny to watch the visit unfold differently than expected after outlining what I thought would most likely happen. 

The story continues. 

Later on that same evening I felt we needed to stop by a specific family that has faced some challenges with the church and because of that has shown some animosity towards us. In the dark we sat in the car and I gave him a warning that we've never really had a positive contact with this specific family and that he should be aware. We knocked the door and were very warmly welcomed in to their home. It was late already so we didn't get to stay as long as we might have liked but we had a very good conversation with them, shared a brief message and planned a return appointment. We walked out and I explained the extent of that miracle to Elder Wiseman. I'm grateful that the spirit was able inspired us at the opportune moment to be able to meet on good terms with the people.

Friday nights we've started an activity night for the branch. It's been an great success. It's not a super formal activity, but we share a spiritual thought and then have some form of activity. This week we opted to play volleyball again. We were happily surprised to have two completely inactive members join us, and a few less active members come out, some even brought friends. The late President Hinckley said once that, "activity is the genius of this church." Growing in fellowship and unity comes by these activities, they also allow people to serve in capacities within the church which then lead to deeper and stronger conversion to the Gospel. Activity helps congregations have their, "hearts knit together in unity" (Mosiah 18:21).

General Conference was great. Not sure how I feel about two hour church but the new "Come Follow Me"  curriculum looks fantastic. I skimmed through the entire booklet on Gospel Library and am impressed. I'm excited to go through it starting in January. 

Here's an introduction video if you'd like to know more:
Video

October 1, 2018

(no letter last week)

Fam, 

After 9 months, it's really weird not being Elder Magalei's companion. Outside of that change this week was awesome. 

Tuesday was our last P-day together. We drove to one of the bridges on the Grand River to take some pictures that turned out pretty good. We drove over the bridge on Anne Street (Near the corner of Ann St NW and Monroe Ave NW) and stopped at the red. It's a fairly busy intersection and I noticed a small kitten stroll across the crosswalk as I was stopped at the red. It came by our car and got spooked by on-coming traffic and chose to hide under the relative safety of our car. Jumping out to grab the kitten to insure it didn't die, I glimpsed its tail as it climbed under the hood of the car into a small nook. Definitely out of reach and only slightly in view Elder Magalei I moved the wheels while I stood outside to make sure the movement wouldn't harm the cat. Once we were sure we could move slowly without causing harm we pulled into a nearby gas station. Once safely out of traffic we popped the hood and a kind stranger helped pull the kitten out from behind the engine. Definitely a first for me. 

That darn kitten

Thursday Elder Magalei and I drove in the morning to Lansing to pick up our promised trainees. Elder Wiseman and Elder Tilley are the two new members of the Grandville Spanish Mission. The training meeting was so fun. When I trained Elder Magalei there were 25 other trainers, the group was massive. This time there were only 3 other trainers. We met our new companions, had lunch, and immediately President sent us out onto MSU campus to proselyte. They gave us 45 minutes to make a few contacts and it was insane. We struggled a little bit only because we got dropped off 15 minutes away from the mission office and everyone we talked with was walking in the opposite direction. As the time we needed to be back in the mission office grew closer we found ourselves further and further away. We were easily the last ones back, but we made a bunch of good contacts. Thankfully I grabbed more copies of the Book of Mormon on the way out because the Assistants only gave us two but we passed out four. 

Grand  Rapids

Elder Magalei and yo

On our way home our 6pm appointment canceled and we got approval to stop by our friend Carlos who lives in Lansing. We met his whole family and shared a short message on family history. In-person teaching is so much better than video conferences.

Training is pretty fun. Elder Wiseman has a lot of enthusiasm and is talented. The last few days have been exceedingly filled to capacity. Last transfer likely was our most productive transfer yet, at least numerically and our daily schedule is feeling the heat because of it. As part of the consequences of that, we haven't had complete study times yet but we've been running around like crazy. Truly there just isn't enough time to do what we want. For the most part it's a decent impression to lead off with, though it leaves him exhausted. It takes a few weeks to adjust to the missionary schedule. 

Saturday was spent running around as well. We had a successful branch picnic which was our only "down time." We had by far the best carne-asada I have ever had. I ate so much carne-asada. It was so good. I do not think there are words that can describe how good it was. 

Picnic and games

Sunday we had a very very good lesson with Edin in the afternoon. We brought our new branch mission leader and his wife over. We made a few ministering visits with them and ended with Edin. We read a few scriptures on the atonement of Jesus Christ and shared our testimonies of Jesus. The Spirit was strong and it was a great moment for everyone involved. In the traditional manner, we couldn't leave the Duran home without food. They gave us two plates of delicious pupusas. 

Elder Wiseman and Elder Johnson

This week flew by so fast. 

-eric

September 17, 2018

Fam, 

The mission was visited by Elder Kapischke of the Seventy this week. I truly love when the senior brethren of the church visit. They bring a powerful spirit and energy. He instructed us for about an hour and a half before lunch which was fantastic then four straight hours after lunch - it was fantastic, long, but fantastic. 

He told a bunch of funny stories about his time as a mission president in Berlin. He also spent a significant portion of time expounding the scriptures with us. President Brennan does extremely well and is always the highlight in zone conferences, but the assistant and zone leader trainings in zone conference for the last 6 months to a year really have decreased in quality, with the exception of our current zone leaders. 

We left conference with a new energy to go out and help the people we teach. There was one moment that really stuck out. Very expertly taking from the instruction in D&C 121:43 Elder Kapischke rebuked one of the Elders who mentioned something he was doing that wasn't strictly bad but wasn't in accordance to one of the rules in the missionary handbook. It was not grandiose but was very simple and direct. Elder Kapischke seemed very happy. He was an incredible and effective teacher, really pretty awe inspiring. It's a pretty close tie between when President Nelson came to visit the mission. The only thing I didn't appreciate were the questions he would extend which were not really PMG questions, namely non-specific questions looking for specific answers. All in all, a great visit. 

Good news for the week is that Patricia is getting baptized this Sunday. We briefly stopped teaching her but Elder Guerrero and Elder Berry have picked the teaching back up and have been doing great. We anticipate a great service this next Sunday. Our friend Carlos in Lansing is also doing well. He works Sundays which would be the only delay on his baptism but beyond that he is doing great. We ran through the baptismal questions with him during our last lesson and he is pretty ready. It's really nice when people just read the Book of Mormon and pray sincerely about if it's true or not. 

Two other notable events that passed this week were our lessons with a woman named Nuvia and a man named Jorge. 

Nuvia we met about a week or two ago. Despite seemingly everything fighting against our progress, she is doing pretty good. We teach her and her 8 year old son, normally outside on their porch. Our past lesson we drove up and she is outside like normal. As we walked up it was apparent that something had just gone down. Their house was beaten up and their windows were smashed in. We spoke with her and figured out what had happened and basically were with her waiting for the police to arrive. About 20 minutes into our visit this guy parked his car on their lawn and with his meanest face on strolled up to us looking very angry. I remember thinking, "Wow, we are about to get beaten up." Luckily the guy pretty much walked up to us and seeing who we were turned and left. I think it wasn't an accident that our appointment was at the moment it was. Whatever would have happened wasn't going to happen with us there. It reminded me of a moment we had with an investigator named Carmen about 14 or so months ago. Miracle. 

Jorge's lesson was also great. We taught a few principles out of the Restoration and focused on the necessity of prayer a little more directly. The last few lessons with him have been pretty intense, but I think he has made some progress.

The Book of Mormon more than the Bible really helps us discern things that are good and true. While the Bible explains "ask and ye shall receive" (James 1:5) and later explains the fruits of the Spirit (Galatians 5:22-25) but the Book of Mormon takes the cake. To name a few, these scriptures outline one or more ways that we can know for our selves if something is true. 

1 Nephi 15:11
2 Nephi 31:3
2 Nephi 32:3-5
2 Nephi 33:1,10
Jacob 4:13
Mosiah 5:2
Alma 5:45-46
Alma 32:27-29
Moroni 7:13, 19
Moroni 10:3-5

The Book of Mormon really speaks for itself, challenging any and all readers to find out for themselves. I really know it to be true. There really isn't anything we can do to convince someone aside from allowing the spirit to confirm what we teach. Endlessly we are bashed and that is terribly annoying and it's exceedingly unfortunately because those people have hardened their hearts and refuse to think or test things out beyond the words of their pastor. The Restoration of the Gospel truly is a miracle. 

God has not changed, revelation does not have some prescribed ending after the revelation of John. If that were to be true then everything after Deuteronomy 4:2 is void and if their Bibles are anything like mine there can't be prophets after the old testament because it says "the end of the prophets." Lastly, if there weren't going to be prophets in the lasts days why did Jesus take time give instruction on how to figure out if someone is a false prophet instead of saying, sorry guys I'm the last one! 

Being a missionary is pretty great. The Gospel is true. 

-eric

September 10, 2018

Eric Henry Johnson
12:24 PM (2 hours ago)

Tuesday Elder Rencher and I went on trade-offs. I've literally served my entire mission with Elder Rencher in the same district. It's a little weird watching him die (in missionary lingo, that means finishing the mission) and go home. 

Wednesday was a pretty good day. Last Friday I got the scriptures dad and mom sent me. Elder Magalei and I added our testimonies to both the Book of Mormon (triple combination) and to the Bible. We printed off a few pictures of his baptism and glued them right in. When we met with him we talked about some longer term discipleship goals. He wrote them into his triple combination. He really, really appreciated the gift.  

Our mission is striving to "flood the world" with the Book of Mormon. We use the Book of Mormon simply because it's the keystone that establishes the truthfulness of the Restoration of the Gospel. In the words of Bruce R McConkie, "Either the Book of Mormon is true, or it is false; either it came from God, or it was spawned in the infernal realms." Trying to use the Book of Mormon more in our finding efforts we've had some fun experiences. 

The first was with this one lady on Saturday. We spoke with her and briefly explained the Book of Mormon and read with her Moroni 10:4-5 and 3 Nephi 11:3-7. Moroni explains that one has to pray to gain a testimony by the power of the spirit, and 3 Nephi 11 contains the moment when Jesus appears in the Americas. Truly powerful scriptures. As we read with the lady we all could feel the spirit testify that the record was true. She asked for a copy which we happily supplied her with along with a return appointment. 

The other cool moment happened yesterday. We pulled up to the home of someone we are teaching. Outside was a hispanic family of 10 or so people so we walked right up to them and started talking with them. We introduced the Book of Mormon to them. Unfortunately people began to slowly filter away until we were left with just one person. We spoke with him and testified of how the Book of Mormon was written for our days and contains the fulness of the gospel. You could tell something clicked and he was extremely interested, he wanted to make changes in his life and we promised that through the gospel of Jesus Christ and the authority of the priesthood that has been restored he could receive the ordinances of the gospel that help in that process. 

The Book of Mormon truly speaks for itself. Occasionally we get people who try to be faith shakers but without exception they haven't really done that with the Book of Mormon. No argument stands up against truth. The spirit I feel reading the stories of Jesus in the Bible is the same which permeates the pages of the Book of Mormon. Though there are a bunch of cool things which have been learned after the printing of the Book of Mormon that support the veracity of the truth of the record, my testimony is founded in the power of the Holy Ghost. Truly, it is by the power of the Holy Ghost by which we may know the truth of all things. 

On the same train of thought we had a lesson with Jorge this week. He is very intelectual, which isn't bad (2 Nephi 9:29), but has given up in part on the Book of Mormon. He has allowed, or pins an unexpressed concern, on one small insignificant detail which has eclipsed the magnificence and miraculousness of the Book of Mormon. We planned out a lesson which if it carried a title, would be, "seek learning by study and by faith," using the principle found on D&C 88:118. We used a bunch of scriptures and it was pretty direct. We outlined how truth is the knowledge of how things are, were, and will be (D&C 93:24) and that while study is necessary it is incomplete without the spirit of truth to accompany any finding. Jorge seeks out to prove or disprove the Book of Mormon by the current understanding of the American continent between 600 BC - 400 Ad (the time period of the Book of Mormon with the exception of the book of Ether), but shies away from trying to accompany that study by seeking the spirit of truth. Moroni 10:5 is pretty clear, we can know the truth of all things by the power of the Holy Ghost. "All things" is a lot of things, and it's not going to be until he accepts that principle that he will find the answer that satisfies him. 

We watched the face-to-face yesterday and it was really impressive up to one point. They seemed to have practiced their responses significantly. The point I referred to was when poor Elder Quintin L Cook misspoke when he said that "the Savior was martyred in Carthage jail." Surely someone has already taken advantage of taking this out of context. It's comforting to know that God will still work with imperfect people. 

-eric

September 3, 2018

Fam,

Turns out this never got sent! 

Today marks twenty months of missionary service. 2.7 months were spent with Elder Guerrero, 1.5 with Elder Waters, 9.3 of those months have been spent with Elder Magalei, and 8.2 of those months have been spent with Elder Rencher. It's crazy to think how young the district was when I first got here. Elder Waters, the district leader had 6 months. Elder Guerrero had about 4 months and Elder Rencher had just finished training with about 3 months. Elder Rencher and Elder Guerrero will also be finishing their missions together at the end of this transfer. Time really does fly. 

Monday evening we had a great lesson with Wilfred and William. They really are two amazing guys. They are humble and a joy to teach. We brought our new Branch missionary leader and his wife with us and we had planned to teach the Plan of Savation. We knocked the door and could see Wilfred was reading and after we walked in we had asked what he was reading. He described the first few verses of Alma 32 and the spirit made a clear impression that we should continue reading with him. We did so and had a stellar lesson with them. Alma 32 is just full of goodness. We read that and the spirit was very strong. Outside of the quality of how the lesson turned out, something that struck me was the fluency and proficiency of the members who came out with us. Obviously they know Spanish and grew up speaking it, but for whatever reason that night the separation of my own Spanish abilities and that of theirs really stuck out in my mind. It was pretty awe inspiring, language learning really is the process of a life time to be able to dominate a language like a native speaker. 

We've slowly been working through the new member lessons with Edin. He is doing great. We taught a lesson on tithing this last Wednesday. The presence of the spirit is dependent on all parties involved. If there is unity the spirit much more capable of being able to testify of truth. Edin's teaching has exemplified this truth. Every lesson we have with him is a spiritual highlight of the day. He is so receptive to truth that it really is a joy to teach him. 

We had another good lesson with him where we reviewed the gospel of Jesus Christ. We hadn't really covered why we don't baptized infants so we decided to use Moroni 8 to cover the topic. Moroni 8 really is a pretty great chapter on baptism, specifically verse 25-26. He explained that he had always thought what the chapter teaches was right but found no support on that idea in his previous church. It reminded me of when we taught the 10 commandments and how he was blown away by the first commandment, "Thou shalt have no other gods before me." He explained that he had always prayed to other people and never realized that that was blatantly against the very first of the 10 commandments. 

Friday we were stopping by a person we had lost contact with. Their neighbor was home so we talked with her for a few minutes on her porch. We were able to share with her a shortened restoration lesson. As we taught about the first vision I was watching her reaction. Joseph Smith had a question about which of all the sects of his time was right and which he should join. He brought his question to a grove of trees and asked God in sincere prayer that he would reveal to him what he should do. He was answered by a personal visitation from God the father and Jesus Christ. They instructed him in what to do. Nuvia was surprised. She said, in reference to the painting depicting the first vision, "but there are two people in the photo?" We smiled and explained that the first revealed truth in the process of the Restoration of the Gospel Jesus Christ is that the non-biblical doctrine of the trinity was false. God is a personal God who knows his children and cares for them, he has a body of Flesh and bone, only glorified. Jesus Christ is his son, the Savior of the world. Previously she was left confused by the doctrine of the trinity and didn't really know how to pray because of that. Thankfully, first and foremost, the restoration just makes sense (Deut 32:17). 

We also have pictures of the two elders coming in next transfer! We also heard that the transfer after that there will be another Spanish Elder. Another! There is the danger of me leaving the branch before I finish my mission............ I really don't want to. I'd rather train two greenies at once. 

- Eric