What a week! It has been insanely busy, but not necessarily with prostlyting. We had two and a half whole days this week where we were out of commission. But first and foremost, the big news. I'm being transferred!!! I don't know where yet, but I get a new companion and a new area this Thursday (yes Thanksgiving). So my next letters will be from a completeally different area. This week has been one of dramatic change, both for me and for the mission.

   It all started last Wednesday. We had the incredible opportunity to hear from Elder Golden, a member of the Quorum of the Seventy. We drove down to Austin with the zone leaders, and spent 5 hours being taught by one of God's servants. He was awesome! He led more of a discussion rather than a lecture by having a question and answer session! It was fascinating as he helped expound some confusing or misguided doctrines. The material he taught was pretty deep stuff, and there's no way I could explain it well, so I'll just say that we talked a lot about the identities of both Christ and his opposite in every way, Satan. On the way back from this conference, we got stuck in awful traffic, and didn't get back to our apartment until really late. It was sad to miss out on a day of prostlyting, but I learned a lot.

   Thursday was our day set aside to move to our new apartment. So, we spent the entire day packing, cleaning, organizing, moving, and then cleaning some more. There were a number of complications, and as a result, we had a lot we still needed to do on Friday. We spent most of Friday finishing the moving and cleaning. Friday night we finially had a chance to get out and do some real missionary work! But, there was one unfortunate factor...it was 38 degrees and raining hard. Within the first few minutes, we were soaked, and freezing. It was so totally miserable we just had to laugh at our situation. That night I literally couldn't feel the whole bottom half of my body. It was GREAT! I felt like such a sweet missionary!

    The biggest changes occurred on Sunday. The Round Rock Stake split into 2 Stakes, and a new Ward was formed! The Walsh Ranch Ward lost a chunk of our area, but we only lost a few families. That night we got our transfer notifications, and I found out that I was getting transferred! I havn't even unpacked from the move yet!! Which leads to my thought of the week...

    Being uncomfortable stinks. It just does. We all love to be in our ideal environments, where we feel safe, secure, with a bare minimum of worries and concerns. But, we all face uncomfortable things. Why? Now for a story. In our Ward Mission Conference this week, one of the Ward Missionaries was expressing concern about being uncomfortable. They said that they just wouldn't be comfortable inviting the Missionaries to talk with their friends (by the way- ALWAYS invite the missionaries to talk with your friends, I promise we'll try not to freak them out or scare them off). Another Ward Missionary responded, "if your not uncomfortable, you're not growing." At the time I was like, "preach it brother!!!" Of course, later that night I got the call that I was being transferred, and my first thought was, "darn, I was just getting comfortable here." Immediately, I thought of that previous statement. If you're not uncomfortable, you're not growing. As much as that reality stinks, it's so true. My mission so far has been one uncomfortable moment after another, but I've learned and grown SO MUCH. So my advice this week is don't shy away from those uncomfortable moments. See them as opportunities to grow!! I know that God uses hard times, and changes to teach us and ultimetaly help us, because he loves us! He is our father, and he always has our ultimate and eternal happiness in mind.

    I love this mission. I love this work. I love and am learning to love my fellow men. I love you all, and am so grateful for your prayers and your support.

Elder Johnson

I dub this week the week of exchanges because I feel like

half the week was spent on exchanges. It started on Tuesday, when I went to Vista Ridge with Elder O. He's a fairly new missionary (6 months or so). We spent the morning putting up Christmas lights for a member in his ward...not exactly the best use of time, but we ended up going with him to give a blessing for a young boy going to the hospital. That was a neat experience, but it was costly for time. We didn't get back to our apartment until 4:00 and we had dinner and an teaching appointment right after. We taught an Indian (as in from India) guy named VJ in the home of some members. He was super sweet, and was remarkably open to the
message of the restoration, but he feels devoted to his Hindu beliefs. Thursday, we went on splits with the priests. Unfortunately the priests were 50 mins late, and that threw a wrench into our plans, so we had to improvise. Everything worked out though, and Joseph (one of the priests) and I went and had dinner and taught a quick lesson to a part-member family. Saturday, I went on exchanges again! This time I stayed in Walsh Ranch with Elder O. We had a pretty busy day. We talked to a bunch of people, and even helped wash someone's car, but only got one return appointment out of the day.
 One family actually tried to give us this anti-Mormon book, written by a former member of course.

They were SOOOOO sure that the LDS church is completely wrong. That night we had a lesson with M and A. We had high hopes, but they didn't want to come to church the next day. I don't think we've found a single seeker of truth here yet. So many people are content. Which leads to my thought for the week...

I've heard a few times the quote, "my 'good' is the enemy of my 'best'". I don't think I've ever bought into that principle until now. Complacency and satisfaction are enemies to progression. When you are "fine" with who you are, how you are living, and your life in general, you loose the desire to improve. Without a constant effort of self-improvement, you stagnate and end up regressing. I've seen this in others and myself here. Everyone says, "I'm happy with my religion" and occasionally I say, "well of course you're satisfied, because you don't know how much more happiness is in store for you!! What we offer is a way to grow that happiness that you've already found." I know that that way to find increased happiness and joy is through the true restored gospel of Jesus Christ, and the blessings it offers. This week, I had to step back, and recognize the complacency that was setting in myself. I had to realize that my desires were lessening, and I was becoming more at ease with the lack of success in our work here.
That complacency/satisfaction is unacceptable!! Especially in missionary work! I had to rekindle in myself those high hopes and aspirations that accompanied me at the very beginning of my mission. I invite all of you to watch out for that complacency in your own lives. Never get stuck being "satisfied". There is always more to do, and more to become! Don't lose hope, and just keep trying! I promise our Heavenly Father and Christ are there to help us in our efforts and growth. Turn to them if you feel weak, or if you start to despair. They love you, and I love you. Thank you for your prayers and support!

Elder Johnson

Pictures: Justus with companion Elder C and splits missionaries Elder O and others.  Justus in his apartment and Justus with Texas sized doughnut!

To everyone-

Hey everyone! What a week! Things are finally getting rolling here. The big news of the week is that we had our first investigators at church. YAY!!! For the first time this week we had back to back appointments! It was thrilling to be able to feel busy in that way. However, there is serious opposition to the work. I've got some pretty crazy stories this week.

Last Tuesday started it all. We were biking around, and a guy pulled up next to us, said he had a Book of Mormon and wanted to talk about it. Of course, we were excited to talk to him, and we headed over to his house. When we sat down with him, things were wierd from the start. All of his answers were perfect. I thought he might be a member messing with us. Afterwards, Elder C. and I decided that he was either a perfect investigator or a prankster. I of course was hoping with all my heart that he was sincere. Now for a back story.

We had been made aware of an infamous investigator by previous missionaries called "the moocher". Apparently he took lessons for months on end, attended church four times, and was going to be baptized years ago. Then he found a bunch of anti-mormon info online. He called up the missionaries and told them he had found "his answer" and pretended to be super excited about it. He told the missionaries to bring pizza and soda. Of course the missionaries were thrilled and rushed over, stopping to buy pizza and soda. They sat down with him, ate, chatted, and then asked about his answer. "The moocher" told them he knew the Book of Mormon was false. He then proceeded to bash the missionaries and tried to anti them. Since then, he has consistantly messed with missionaries. He fakes interest for a while, and then will turn the tables and do and say hateful things. On our phone he is listed as "John, liar, do not answer"

Turns out, this "miracle" investigator was in fact "the moocher". What a dissapointment. Our next appointment we told him that we knew who he was and about his past involvement with missionaries. He made a bunch of excuses, and tried to keep lying to us. We invited him to church, and we decided that we won't teach him again until he starts demonstrating sincerity.

The next crazy story occurred over the weekend. We street contacted a mother named J. She has endured so much, and is in the middle of another incredible struggle. She has had cancer three times, and had just found out (for her fourth time) that she once again had cancer. She was clearly on a lot of medication when we talked to her, but she seemed lucid. We set up a time to come back and teach. We planned on teaching the Plan of Salvation and we arranged to bring bro. P. from the ward with us. We got to the lesson, and it went fine! J. had two young girls who were super excited about church and religion. In fact they answered most of the questions, and ended up dominating the discussion. We invited the family to church and they gladly accepted. Sunday came around and they didn't show up. We gave them a call, but couldn't figure out what happened. Later that night, we got a call from the bishop of the neighboring ward. Apparently J.'s mom was a recent convert! She had talked to J., but J. told her some crazy things. J. told her mom that missionaries came by, without a third man, and were teaching some truly blasphemous things (I'd rather not repeat them). Of course the mother was shocked and concerned, and she called her bishop. Elder C. and I were blown away! We had no Idea what to think, there's no way we taught anything close to the things she said. We called the mother. In the discussion we discovered that J. reported many visits by missionaries over the past few days. We had only been by once. We determined that either J. was seriously confused (perhaps because of the medication) or that there were imposter missionaries going around!

Just goes to show that there is opposition in ALL things.

Anyway. There are many stories from this week but those two are the most dramatic! In fact, it's actually been an incredibly successful week, we've found a couple of great potential investigators, and we look forward to meeting with them. I'm going on exchanges over to Vista Ridge tonight, and It'll be interesting to be in yet another part of Round Rock!

I love you all!

Elder Johnson

To everyone-

First off, I'll tell a quick story. Monday last week, I got a fortune cookie that said "Wednesday is your lucky day". Needless to say, I was looking forward to Wednesday. Wednesday came, and Elder C. and I headed out. It was sprinkling a little bit, and the roads were slick. Everything went fine until early in the afternoon. We took a turn , and the front tire of my bike skidded out! I fell off, and took a sweet slide along the road on my side. I gashed up my arm a little, and my pants were torn up, but it was all good. I hopped right up and we just carried on. Then a little later, I got my THIRD flat tire. Me and my companion were stuck with a 40 min walk home. Halfway there, it POURED. I'm talking about a classic, heavy duty, Texas-sized thunderstorm. This, on top of a day with NO lessons, and NO new investigators, make for quite the unlucky Wednesday. Once again, the lesson of humility was taught, and I, the wet, tired, dirty, disappointed, bleeding student had to bow by head and learn.

As for Halloween, as a missionary, it's not the greatest holiday. It just means that you can't do any work all night. The good thing is that, tons of people have leftover candy, so any member you go by offers you a bunch!

This week has been one of those learning and growing weeks. All but one of our lessons fell through. The couple that I was so excited to teach ( K. & A.) dropped us, and that was sad. The excuse you hear all the time here (and I suppose everywhere) is that people are "super busy" and never seem to know when they do or don't have work. I've learned that satisfaction is the enemy to growth and change. So many people are "satisfied" or "happy" with their lives and religion. They feel no desire to change if it means stepping out of their comfort zone. The hardest thing is teaching part member or less-active families who are, or have been exposed to the happiness that the gospel of Jesus Christ brings, and choose to ignore it because it means they have to change. I want to just shake them and say "don't you realize what you're missing! You are fathers who have the opportunity to bless your families with the Priesthood. You are mothers who have the chance to rear your children in the gospel, you have so many blessings that are sitting there for you, waiting for you to get up and come get them!!!"

Anyway, we did get a chance to teach a couple of interesting lessons. One was with P.  He sat through an entire lesson, and then refused to commit to anything! I kinda wanted to laugh, just because he was being so stubborn. Another lesson was with T. She is an incredible woman, who already lives the life of a disciple. But, she likes to talk, and she has lots to say.

I went on splits with Elder W., another "greenie", on Saturday. It was scary because both of us were super inexperienced. No one listened to us all day long! But at the end of the day we taught M. & A., a couple referred to us by the C."s It was the second lesson, and we discussed the Spirit, and read from the Book of Mormon about why we have tragedies and trials in our lives (2 Nephi, Chapter 2). The lesson was less than spectacular. Elder W. and I struggled to really teach with purpose, but the Spirit was there, and Elder C. and I teach them the Plan of Salvation on Sunday, so there is still hope!

We have yet to get anyone to church, but I have faith that that day will come!

Elder Johnson 

Oct. 28, 2013

Howdy all y'all!

Just kidding. no-one really says howdy here. But everyone does say y'all. I think it's weird, but give me another week or two and I'll be saying it too.

This week has been busy and humbling. But, despite hardships, I am enjoying the work, and have found that sometimes you just have to laugh at all the crummy things that are happening!

This week me and Elder C. have run into a lot of...firm opposition to the church and it's principles to put it mildly. So many people are totally convinced that the church is a cult! One of the families we stopped by actually gave us some material that their "non-denominational church" had distributed to them. It went something like...

"WARNING there two cults going door to door preaching their falsehoods.

They are the Mormons and Jehovah witnesses. They will try to deceive you into thinking that they are christian believers in the bible, but this is false. They each have a set of 'higher doctrine' that they don't tell you until after you join their church." The paper proceeded to list a mixture of things that we do believe (but that we teach openly with no secrecy), along with a number of completely obscure and false "beliefs" that are either purely wrong or misrepresented. It was so sad that people could be so convinced of lies, but we just had to laugh about it because it was so far-fetched!

This week we taught a couple of really...interesting lessons, along with a couple good ones. We taught Bro. W. who is the father of an LDS family and has been investigating the church on and off for 22 years.

It was just sad to see such a lack of a desire to change! We also taught K. and A. the first lesson this week. The member we had present, Bro. S.. got really into it. He was just really excited to share ALL of the stuff he knew.  It helped me realize though that simplicity is beautiful.

We also taught this really goofy guy, J. I feel bad calling him goofy because he has some serious problems, but he's just goofy! I think he's just really desperate for attention. He's in his early twenties and has a bunch of drug problems. When we went to teach him, he asked us about our position on alcohol, and then proceeded to pour himself and his friend a glass of wine. Despite being drunk and high, he said that he felt the book of Mormon was inspired. Then, the next day, while we were talking with a guy on his street, and he came up to us and gave us back the Book of Mormon. But, like I said, I think the whole reason he even talked to us is because he wants attention.

We (or rather my companion) taught two more Spanish lessons this week, and I smiled and nodded! As always those were tons of fun. BUT to cap it all off we actually had a decent lesson yesterday! YAY! We taught a young family, M. and A., who are good friends of a family in the ward. We were able to help M., the father, pray with his family for the first time! It was so great! Little things like that make everything worth it.

In other news, I had two flat tires this week! Getting a flat when you're out in the middle of your area can be just a little bit distressing, but it's one of those things you can't control, so you just deal with it. I also got my mission bike this week. It's super old, creaky, and WAY harder to ride. So basically, it's what I'm used to! The lesson learned from this week, and the lesson I am continuing to learn is humility. This week was nothing if not humbling. The one thing that I felt confident with, bike riding, was taken from me, first by the flat tires, and then by the "new" old bike. The Lord works by simple means, and although it seems weird, the lord humbled me this week by making biking hard. What I learned is to always beware of pride. As soon as I developed pride in my biking prowess, the lord stripped that away. It is so much better to remain humble by your own choice than to be "compelled to be humble" as Alma states.

Anyway, I'm loving the work, hardships and all.

Elder Johnson

The following comments and pictures are from a friend that knew us in Burke, VA!  Here's what she wrote!

These are a couple more pictures I thought you would enjoy.  We had several missionaries come to our home because one of them hurt his knee, no worries not your Justus!  While Aaron was treating this missionary they were talking about the "new" elders assigned to our ward.  They couldn't have had more kind words for Justus and his companion. 

We were asked to have them over for lunch since they didn't have a place to eat today so we brought Elder C. and Johnson home with us.  I always knew what a wonderful family you are but I thought I would tell you what a wonderful missionary and son you have.  They brought a wonderful spirit into our home and Justus jumped right in to help prepare lunch.  You have done a wonderful job and he has an amazing spirit about him.  He is so well prepared and I hope that you never worry about that aspect of his being out here.  We had some other Elders right out of High School here before Justus and his companion, your son is leaps and bounds more prepared and mature to handle the work that they will be doing.  He is being exposed to a lot of questioning that I am sure he will not encounter in Brazil.  A great opportunity and so amazing he will get to experience such different types of missionary work serving one mission & from what the grapevine has said he is doing a stellar job!!!  I thought I would just pass that along as I am sure it isn't news to you but sometimes it is nice to hear.

Tuesday, October 1, 2013  (I forgot to post this blog a few weeks ago sorry)

Oi! To all those wondering how I doing, I'm Great! Really, I'm loving this experience. The language is coming right along. Every day my capacity to communicate increases. In case anyone really wants to know, I've covered the present, preterite, imperfect, two-word and one-word tenses of verbs so far, and my vocabulary and grammar is coming along as well. I'm able to use bits and pieces of Portuguese in everyday conversation. In fact, tomorrow my district is attempting a Portuguese-only day, which should be interesting because we're hosting for newcoming missionaries as well. It's so weird being a now "senior" MTC attendee. My entire district is looking forward to getting their reassignments/visas next week ( Thursday/Friday). Rumor has it that visas are starting to come through a little bit easier, so many of us (including me) have high hopes of going straight to Brazil! 

Speaking of Brazil, in case anyone wasn't aware, my mission is going to be HOT! Every returned missionary that has come back from Brazil says that the Motto Grosso region of my mission in one of the hottest, most rural places in Brazil. Every day this week the temperature has been over 100 degrees, so wish me luck!

This past week has been a long one. Mostly because the same old routine of the MTC is getting more and more burdensome every day. BUT it's all ok! I still love it here because every day, the spirit touches me and I learn something new! This past fast sunday was especially neat. We had a big MTC mission conference instead of regular meetings, and that was a super cool experience. The meeting was two hours long, and missionaries were falling asleep left and right, but I was learning way to much to be tired! Unfortunately, yesterday I seem to have misplaced my notebook i which I keep most of my notes (typical me) and so I can't necessarily relay specific thoughts.

more to come, gotta go get my clothes into the dryer!

alright I'm back

As for my pescisadores progradindo (progressing investigators) Both Bernac and Tomás are coming along quite well. In fact, the past two lessons with each investigator went really really well. Last week, my companion and I decided to put more of an emphasis on the Book of Mormon in our teaching. What we discovered though was even though planning is super important, sometimes you end up teaching something entirely different. That's the way these lessons went. We planned to teach something, and then when we got in there to actually teach the lesson, we end up teaching something else. The neat thing was that both times, me and my companion were on the same page about it! It just goes to show how absolutally necessary the presence of the spirit is when you teach. A lesson without the spirit is not really a lesson at all. Noone really gets anything from it. For those of you unfamiliar with this term "the spirit" it refers to the feelings you get from god when you are being taught truth. In essence, what it means is that if we can't help people feel the love and power of god we are not fulfilling our purpose as missionaries. That is why I am out here, learning Portuguese, preparing to spend the next 23 months in a 100+ degree swampland. I want to bring people closer to Christ, and help them find the way to perfect happiness. At the same time, I myself am drawing closer to Christ and finding happiness! What a great, incredible opportunity! I love this work, and I love this Gospel. My love and best wishes to all back home!

Elder Johnson

October 21, 2013

Hola Everyone!! Elder Johnson reporting from his first mission area!! I've been assigned to the Round Rock area (northeast of Austin, TX) in the Walsh Ranch ward and district! My new mailing address: 515 east palm valley Blvd #536 Round Rock, TX 78664.

Where to start! It's been a really long week, and it feels like a month since the MTC. However, I'm finally doing real missionary work, and I love it! I can't believe that less than a week ago I was on a plane headed to Texas. The flights (we stopped in Phoenix, AZ) were great. I sat next to a neat guy named either Rob or Ray. He was a native Alaskan, and grew up way in Northern Alaska. He spent the entire plane ride telling us stories about hunting, bears, hunting bears and all sorts of other crazy things! He was a neat guy and we left him with a Mormon.org card. Our stay in San Antonio was pretty great as well. We had lunch at the Mission home, and then went to the Alamo for the "initiation" of passing out copies of the Book of Mormon on the street. I was super nervous at first, but ended up having a great time and gave a Book of Mormon to a really sweet Hispanic gal, but I think she listened to us just 'cause she thought my companion was cute :) That night we had a great Texan dinner and slept at the Zone leader's apartments.

The next day I received my new area assignment and companion. We drove up to Austin for transfer meeting and I met my new companion and trainer, Elder Campbell. He's a great missionary, but I get to that in more detail later. We checked into our apartment with another trio of elders who just happen to be the zone leaders. Our room was a little bit of a disaster, so we had to spend the first half an hour getting everything in order. Then, we sat down and got to work! The first day was hard because the area is a 100% biking area, and I didn't have a bike! We had to call around to get a ride to dinner, which we then had to cram down because we have a rule where we don't eat dinner with members past 6:00 (and the dinner started at 5:30). Afterwards the ward mission leader, Bro. Ovt. came by and drove us around to ward to meet the bishop and other ward leaders. The members we met were all way friendly, and I'm super excited to get to know them better and work with them.  (Picture with Kati Williams from Burke Ward in Virginia!!!!  Justus will be working in Sister Williams in the Walsh Ranch Ward in Austin, TX  What a small world!!!  Thanks Kati for sending us the pictures!!!)

The next day, we finally figured out the bike situation. I'll be riding one of the zone leader's bikes till I get a mission bike of my own! It felt sooooooooo good to ride a bike again!! It just puts a smile on my face to be cruisin' around as a missionary on a bike!! But, the area is a tough one. The previous missionaries had a hard time, and couldn't really get much done, so Elder Campbell and I are starting fresh!! One thing that is different is that door knocking is no longer part of missionary work here. That's right, no tracting. When President Slaughter came in as the new mission president, he encouraged the complete abandonment of tracting as a missionary endeavor. Instead, we are to meet people and find lessons only through referrals or street contacts. Not gonna lie, I was disappointed. Door knocking is the part of missionary work that every return missionary talks about, complains about, and experiences miracles through. But, I'm doing my best to put my trust in this new system, even if that means I won't get that part of the missionary experience. One part of the missionary experience that I did get to enjoy though is the wonderful feeling of bewilderment when you're part of a lesson where you don't understand a thing that's being said! This area is "English speaking" but there is a little part that is super Hispanic. My companion is Spanish speaking and is fairly fluent, so when we were invited into a home with a very animated Spanish speaker, things got confusing really quickly. I understood about 50% of what my companion was saying and about 20% of what the other guy was saying. He was talking SO FAST! After the 45 minute lesson in Spanish, I just had to laugh out loud at my own bewilderment!

Finally, I'd like to relate just one of the little miracles that I've been able to experience so far. Yesterday, we were contacting some less active members, and we ran into a member on the street. We talked with him for a bit, and he invited us to talk to a couple of families on his street. One of his neighbors was working in his garage, so we stopped by to talk for a little bit. We chatted for a while, and really struck up a great conversation!  Eventually, we offered to share a quick scripture and prayer with him. He consented, and we invited his wife out. Sitting there in the garage we talked about their efforts to grow closer to god and Jesus Christ. The wife asked for advice for her study of the bible. I suggested that she see watch some of the bible videos that the church makes along with her New Testament study. My companion shared Ether 12:27 and we talked a little bit about how and why god gives us weaknesses and trials. To close the wife offered a closing prayer, and in it mentioned some struggles that their family was having, and that me and my companion were an answer to prayer! It felt wonderful to be able to touch their life in that way, and they invited us back for a second lesson!

I'm excited for the hastening of god's work, and I'm thrilled to be a part of it. My love to all!

Elder Johnson