Might Be My Last Area; Let's Make It Good

 Hello friends! Welcome back to my life.

I've been sunburning a lot these past few weeks despite the sunblock I AM applying every day. I'm pretty sure I just sweat it all off so probably need to start carrying more around for reapplication.

I talked a lot in Ocoa, teaching anyone who would listen to me and helping the members of our branch reach out to their less-active friends. Elder West helped me kind of learn some new basketball technique and we ate a lot of sandwiches at the local diner "Baco". I made friends with really awesome people including the Añascos, Mateos and a cool guy named Julio. And Wilson. And Carlos. Then I finished training Elder West and left him in charge of the area. Then I got transferred.

Now I'm in Las Caobas, a Santo Domingo-an suburb about 10 minutes away from my first area in the capital! My new companion Elder Perron lives up to his legendary name. He is a very focused worker and an excellent leader. A lot of the members of the church in this area are about as dedicated to missionary work as we are so that's been about the coolest thing ever! I mean you should see the way these people are reaching out to their friends and family, inviting the closest people in their lives to come and see what's so special about the restored gospel of Jesus Christ.

In church yesterday, a young man shared his experience coming to a church youth camp which his friend had invited him to. He talked excitedly about how close he had come to his Savior during that week and to end his thoughts he paused, then said, "I learned that even though I don't see Jesus with my eyes, I can feel him. I want to follow Him. If my parents allow it, I want to be baptized." 

I was just blown away. We found him after the meeting and made arrangements with his parents for him to be taught and baptized.

But the coolest part for me is that we didn't even do anything. His friend, the one who invited him to that activity, just gave him the opportunity for God to change this kid's life.

Today I played basketball, ping-pong and Uno with Yerkin and his buddies. Every time they destroyed me with a draw 4 card they'd make loud monkey noises and pound the table. Those guys are hilarious! 😐

Yup I'm sure having a blast out here and I guess I'm learning a few things too. Some days man it was pretty tough back in Ocoa though and I'm sure I'll still have hard days coming up here. Here's an entire journal entry from about 2 weeks ago:

A good attitude, even in times when it doesn't come naturally, will go a long way towards a long and happy life. Life is as valuable as you're willing to pay to live it.

I have no idea what else happened that day but I'm sure glad it got me depressed enough to say something wise like that!

In case you didn't know it, you're awesome and if you just look at your eyes in the mirror long enough you'll see your Creator in them. There's this life and light that just doesn't show up anywhere else so if you were looking for a starting point in your faith there ya go just go stare at your or your friend's eyes until you figure out that God exists and after that I'd strongly encourage you to do whatever it takes to get to know Him. He is your Father. He has some important things for you to do with yourself so you better start figuring out what that is right now. I may not know much but I was called by a prophet of God to help you out so just let me know when you want to talk. ;)

With much love and stuff,

Elder Johnson

Miracles

 

 

There are about a million different things that I love about Ocoa. It's got cool mountains, delicious fruit, huge avocados and a lot of really nice people. And I LOVE talking to nice people.

Elder West and I had a fun moment the other day where I talked him through some ways to start a conversation with anyone in Spanish, and we hit the streets so he could try talking to people on his own. Before leaving, I warmed him up by playing out what I imagined a pretty typical conversation would be pretending to be an old lady with an elaborate backstory (moved from the capital to live with son, got 2 daughters in the states, favorite food is spaghetti, etc). Then the first person he talked to wound up saying verbatim all the same things my imaginary old lady said, right down to the invitation to come to the house for spaghetti at the end. We freaked out! I guess I've done this a few times haha.

We made a lot of new friends right by our house, including a young family whose dad passed away just a week before we met them. Their mom was still pretty shaken up, so we just talked to them and played some games with the kids (they loved my hackysack). After we got to know them a bit we had the incredible privilege to explain to them exactly where their father/husband was according to the plan of salvation that was revealed to us through the restored gospel of Jesus Christ. We testified of a loving Heavenly Father, who prepared the way for us to live with our families again.

Beyond that special experience not too many things particularly extraordinary happened this week, but I have noticed that I've been finding more joy in the regular miracles of my life.

I love waking up early so I can start my day with exercise that gets me sweaty enough to enjoy the cold shower. I find a lot of enjoyment in brewing and eating cinnamon-apple oatmeal in the morning with Elder West, Bruick and Simmons. I love deciding which tie I'm going to wear today. I love finding a pair of clean socks I didn't know I had at the back of my drawer and re-committing to not forget to wash my clothes tonight. I love learning spanish. I actually get such a kick out of walking around all day talking to strangers. I love reading the scriptures and discovering new ideas in old stories.

More than anything, I love living worthy to have the Holy Spirit with me! It is so awesome.

What are some of your favorite regular miracles?

Enjoy your week everybody! Keep up the good work and stuff 😎

18 Month Special!

 

A Good Pee Story

  I drank some juice that I watched a little 9 year old prepare by smashing the fruit and picking out all the seeds in a bowl with his bare hands. Then I got suuuper sick and I wanted to throw up but I didn't want to be rude so I just held all the puke juice in and shared an uplifting message with the family as best I could until we walked away and by then the nausea had mostly passed so everything wound up being okay anyway!

That's a pretty good analogy for life. Sometimes you just gotta beat the pukey times with a little patience and hope that it'll work out in the end.

I ate a lot of "avichuelas con dulce" this week which is just cold beans and sugar — an Easter classic in the Dominican republic. By my 8th bowl of the day I had gotten used to the texture/flavor and now I kinda like it!

I walked off the path en route to a visit in the jungle so I could pee in an abandoned building. Plans quickly changed when I walked into a hornet's nest. I only got stung once, on the ear, and we found help at a nearby house where an experienced mom took control of my ear's health by lathering it with a clove of garlic. My ear stopped swelling and the pain actually gradually went away for the rest of the day! I had no idea garlic was so useful.

Oh yeah our friend Yenifer was baptized! After we finished teaching her, her older brother got to baptize her and another brother gave her the gift of the holy ghost. It was a very special baptism with lots of happy family to support her! 

I found a goat friend. He is a very happy goat who loves me and jumps up on his fence every time he sees me. I never knew goats could be so loving and happy.

I learned from the ancient prophet Alma in the Book of Mormon to humble myself and pray a lot so that I can become a naturally more loving and hopeful person.

"humble yourselves before the Lord, and call on his holy name... and thus be led by the Holy Spirit, becoming humble, meek, submissive, patient, full of love and all long-suffering.

" Having faith on the Lord; having a hope that ye shall receive eternal life; having the love of God always in your hearts, that ye may be lifted up at the last day and enter into his rest."

(Alma 13:28-29)

I think this Alma guy is right because I keep finding that life is more vibrant when I try to set down my pride, ask for help from my Heavenly Father and do selfless things.

That's all for this week folks I love you tons! I hope everyone enjoyed this special time when we remember the best miracle of all, the atoning sacrifice and resurrection of Jesus Christ.

1. Goat!!

2. Santa and her cute Lil son!! She's a recent member we're following up with, an actual Saint.

3. I got really sick and passed out. Ft paper towel I was blowing my nose with.

5. Yenifer!!!

6. Yenifer's fam and friends!!!

7. A massive dog named Amora!! More like I need a more o this! 

8. Journey to capital, snagged bread, PB and guava jam for lunch. Snagged paper straws from fancy breakfast Cafe to spread condiments.

Bienvenidos a Ocoa

 I moved to the mountains! The city of Ocoa is super pretty and small so everyone knows each other. That's a good thing because whenever I get lost I just have to tell anyone on the street where I'm trying to go or who I'm trying to find and they're quick to help the clueless American dweeb out. ("oh yeah they live straight past the yellow house, down the bad road and left at the sick dog...") 

We had a fun activity on Saturday for all the men in the little church out here. Our mission president brought his grill and cooked hamburgers for us, which everyone absolutely loved. Afterwards, he gave an awesome devotional about using the priesthood to bless others and rising up to be the men God needs us to be. He invited everyone to come to church so they could serve their families and friends and learn how to use the priesthood. It was very powerful. We played pool, dominoes and chess, classics from the dominican republic. I taught a little kid a few chords on my ukelele and he took it home to practice. The next day, on Sunday, every single person who was at that activity showed up to church and a few of them even brought their friends!

I'm pretty sure our house out here is the only one in the mission with a water heater so that's way nice. Although the water wasn't actually working when I first showed up so it was kind of a useless perk but then we all prayed as a house for the water to work and the next morning we all took hot showers. Crazy how prayer works like that!

I have a new companion who's cool AND he's cousins with Dwaine the rock Johnson. At least that's what he tells everyone.

On Wednesdays and Saturdays we take an hour hike way up into the jungle mountains to a village called "Parra" to teach English classes and preach the gospel of Jesus Christ. I've made a lot of cool friends up there!

I met a Menenite family from the states out here, we started speaking in English to each other and I found out they were missionaries too! They were a younger family with two little kids and were out here serving 3 year missions for their church, building homes, digging wells and ministering to people in need. They were so awesome. It is so inspiring for me to see people like them serve God with all their heart, might, mind and strength. Seeing their faith fortified my own.

The locals are all so loving in general, they almost always invite us in to make us a fruit drink or something even if we were only stopping to ask for directions or offer a blessing. There's a fruit here they call the "Gwanavana" or however you spell it, it's green on the outside and white on the inside and the juice it makes is SO Good!

I believe a big part of what makes these people so kind is that the majority of them believe in Jesus Christ. They are happy and positive. The locals of Ocoa are awesome examples of Christlike love and service.

Love you all! Hasta la próxima, 

Elder Johnson

Being Happy Makes Me Sleepy

 I'll just sum it all up by telling you that God is absolutely real and I have had too many reminders that God actually listens to the prayers of every single one of His children to put up with somebody else who tells me that God doesn't have time to hear everyone. He is God. He has all the time literally in the world, is super patient, and loves us. He loves you. A lot.

I find some of the purest joy in the things I do which I guess is actually super exhausting because I've never been more tired in my life. I just walk around literally all freaking day and the sun just drains my energy but also enough cool spiritual things happen that it keeps things way interesting. Lunchtime is different tho. I really want to help my companion cook someday but first I gotta learn how to quit my couch-sleeping addiction.

I taught some kids on our street that "que lo que" in english is "what's poppin dawg." Now every morning on me way out the door I'm greeted by an enthusiastic army of children shouting "what's poppin dawg" and it is absolutely legendary makes my day every time.

I was informed that I'm deceived and part of an evil cult lead by Satan once in an online facebook call and again on the street by a guy from New Jersey. Idk why Satan told me to serve a 2 year mission just to invite others to follow Christ and be good people but hey who am I to judge my evil leader's tactics.

I read the Book of Mormon again and felt the Spirit confirm it's true. I learned a lot of new cool stuff and my faith in Jesus Christ grew.

I'm seeing real miracles happen in the lives of the people I teach and there is nothing cooler than seeing someone change as they take on the joy that comes from following the example of Jesus Christ!

Yo if you're still reading this do yourself a HUGE favor and read Alma chapter 5 in the Book of Mormon right HERE:

https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/scriptures/bofm/alma/5?lang=eng

I back these powerful words from an ancient prophet, I know that Jesus Christ has come in order to take away the guilt and sorrow of our mistakes. He teaches us how to become the best we can be. 

God is our loving Heavenly Father and He created us to have joy! If we follow the plan He made for us and do what we're supposed to with the life he gave us we can find the best kind of real happiness in this life and experience even more when we finally return to live with Him and our families again someday.

Love you all,

Elder Johnson

1. Helping Elder Gray cook a delicious lunch of pork marinated in a dangerous mixture of coke, oregano, crushed red pepper, and other assorted seasonings I can't remember.

2. Dinner with De Flete and his awesome family

3. Elevator shot

4. Jacqueline was baptized!! 🥳

5. English classes!

6. Fun story: we were about to cook rice. Bag of rice was full of bugs. We had no money, and were hungry. So we poured the whole bag out in a dish and played a fun game Elder Ashby and I made up called "pick every single freaking bug out of rice so we can eat rice today". Then when we were done we found out these bugs also lay all their eggs inside of the rice kernals so a bunch of the rice kernals we sorted out to eat still had bug maggots inside of them. We gave up and ate them anyway.

7. Found a CRAB BOIS we be eatin good tonight!!

8. Elder Ashby likes leaving me kind notes every now and then 🥰

9.  The family 💪💪💪

10. The disappointed look I give when my friends don't come to church

What would you give to know Him?

Hello family and friends! I felt like writing a simple email this week so I will do that.

- One of our very good friends was baptized this week! It was a very happy experience for everyone who knows her.

- I am experiencing the gift of tongues as I memorize and teach phrases at a time in the Haitian language of Creole.

- I am feeling the love of my Savior for myself and others as I try to do what He would've done with the life He gave me.

The Book of Mormon is true, it is exactly what it says it is.

Families are sacred, and can be eternal.

Jesus Christ lives. You can know Him, if you want to. To follow Him is to find happiness in this life and in the life to come.

My favorite question this week is, What would you give to know Jesus Christ?

Love,

Elder Johnson