Hey

So not too much happened this week, it was pretty much a normal office-elder week except we have been able to get like 4 lessons a day lately which is way awesome compared to the usual. Its been awesome and they all are awesome and they are really counting too. Which is good because we really need to change our area for the better, which is starting to happen. It's awesome, on NOV 2 its what they call here all saints or souls day and apparently on this day is when everyone goes to the graveyards to like pray for and visit all their dead loved ones or just to celebrate the life of some of their saints. So that'll be interesting. But i just cant believe in like 2 weeks i hit my year mark....like where did it all go? i cant believe ive been on my mission for ONE WHOLE YEAR in 2 weeks. That's 365 days! that means i have only 365 left and i know itll fly by all too fast. Im very much in between right now, and im amazed how there are days and parts of the mission that are soooo hard because you think it might just get a little easier but it never does. The language has, however, there are still so many other challenges though, but no biggie, im really growing. On the mission its almost as if you never stop being stretched, although thats not a bad thing because it the only the Lord can help us grow. So i honestly welcome the stretching because its the Lord way of refining me and it's the way He helps me learn, and become who He wants me and who i need to become. So im not afraid because i know that God knows my purpose and what i can become and He knows who i want to become after my mission, so i trust whatever He throws at me and try to take it the best i can. Sometimes it takes me a little longer than i would hope, but i know that God understands and He's soooo very patient towards me. I feel His help quite a lot. I honestly feel like my growth has been a lot since ive been here in the office and just out on the mission. In a way the mission makes you grow up fast, you have to, you teach to so many people, some very old and experienced, some just starting out, and some right in between. Also, you have to like really see things as adults do. Its crazy. Like no matter how frustrated you are with people you have to think of other ways to help them, how would the Lord help them, and its really hard sometimes to just get a simple understanding of these people and get inside their head, however, if you think of solutions and not problems through prayer, its awesome what happens, and all the times you have to just reteach the simple lessons and finding each new way to teach it for each new person, it really makes you think like an adult i feel. I think that might be one of the ways we can grow up on a mission, even if youre not ready to grow up, you grow up anyway. Through much prayer and diligent seeking for change, you really do grow up. The mission has been a crazy experience for me and still continues, both bad and good, but still a great experience nonetheless. 

 Today we played flag football, because of of the Elders got a football in his package and so that was fun because that was a few of the Filipino Elders first time, and they werent bad either. :)   It was actually really fun, because it wasnt basketball, which is like the ONLY sport they play here. So that was really fun, despite the getting up at 530 AM, it was good. 

I hope all is well with you all down in cold Washington :) I do kinda miss the green beauty of Washington, there still plenty green here, but its not quite the same. Oh well, 

No regrets, 

The joys of a mission 

Elder Johnson    

Hey

   Hey, so this week was ok. I wanna share with y'all a cool experience with prayer. So like yesterday me and E. Christian were wondering how we might be able to help our area and what we should do with the things that have happened lately. So he just stares at the area book and is like " i have no idea what to do" just very disheartened. So then i say "hey before we continue, lets pray" and then we say a prayer and like within a few minutes we have this awesome outline unfolded out and then we just start going through this awesome plan like all these new people we now have to contact and where to contact them and its nice and organized so we know where to look and what their names are. It was awesome. I actually have to like admit, this is the most excited ive been to be in this area and like get to work. Its awesome  and im so excited to work and start to really do some different work, like i feel itll really help a lot with how things are going right now, so its awesome. I was amazed at how quickly revelation flooded into our minds once we said that prayer. There was a remarkable difference in the way without praying as we planned and hen once we prayed, everything fell into place. It was sweet :) I really do love prayer. 

 Also, heres a sweet thing that happens here in the Philippines when it rains. There's like a low humming and then its kinda windy...then it turns into like a low sound of a jet or a rocket...then as the rain gets closer and closer to arriving...it gets louder and louder until you start to run because you know itll hit in like a few seconds. Its so cool. It literally sounds like a low sounding rocket. Its one of the coolest things. So theres good things happening :) And the work will be moving better now. 

Halong kamo (take care you all)

Elder Johnson 

Hey

Hey! 

So this week was conference and it was awesome!!! there were awesome talks. And thats way exciting about Pres. Monson's announcement of the new missionary ages. 18 for men and 19 for woman...like thats crazy!!! that is truly some new revelation that will change the work of the Lord...truly crazy. So when i heard that i thought "how close is the end?" and Elder Holland wasnt kidding when he said "In the next upcoming months to years we need 10s of 1000s of missionaries" The Lord truly does need missionaries...President Monson affirmed how important that is. The end really is near and the harvest is great, but there truly are so few. Some thing i really liked was what Elder Cook said. He said his dad stated that "God will hold a man accountable for every tear he causes to his wife"  This i have learned and know to be true. There was so many new things that were awesome and i was very enlightened by many things. So that was nice. This week was transfers and it came and went and it was actually much easier than the last and for some reason less stressful...but i have really been using my new choosing options and its way nice.  Not much has been happening here just that its been a pretty big blur and everything like just melts together here in the office. But we've given a baptism date and so thats exciting and way cool and we're excited for that :) Um i got my first package in the mission field which is awesome too :) Um sorry but not much has really happened, just normal normal stuff, but my new companion is Elder Christian who has about 9 months left. Hes my 8th companion here in the field...idk why but for reason God has given like more companions than most missionaries...including the MTC ive had 11...thats more than most missionaries in this mission. Most of the time by the time they're dont they have abut 10 -12...so its pretty weird but oh well..im not complaining im grateful for it because....im really benefiting from it :) So im just continuing to learn new things and progress in this language and also this batch of missionaries that left like made me really me really sad because i got pretty close to some of em and jsut knew many of them more than any other batch and so thats been kinda hard because it makes me think like how much little time i actually might have left here in the mission...i have 13 months left...but 11 months has already gone by this fast...like who knows...and i can still remember everything so vividly...but it just made me think when they left...like my batch, or the missionaries that came in to the field with me, is one of the oldest now in the mission which is crazy because we're supposed to be young still. So its way weird....but yah. So im sorry if its not more specific for you all back home but not much changes here to much in the Philippines. It either sunny and hot or rainy and hot..sometimes its cold when it rains...or sometimes its overcast and really hot...so it doesnt change too much. But im also getting to know my area a lot better and really being able to find my way around because thats like way hard in this area because its like being in a labyrinth just full of houses and narrow roads...but im getting it figured out. My confidence has also gone up a lot since ive been here in the office and so its nice too because i just feel like ive been changing so much and i just hope it continues :) 

I hope all is well with you and i do really miss the cold and the US sometimes. So be grateful for all your carpet, nice leather couches, nice clean streets and tables, and the never ending supply of food. Its way nice. Like ive gotten so used to having resturants say that they dont have a certain order of a food...like its crazy or like they ask you for change because they dont have any...it truly is a different world. But its good because im becoming who God wants me to be. So its all good...its just funny how used to it ive gotten. 

Elder Johnson        

Hey

Hey everyone, 

I cant say too much this week, however,  i will tell you that i am learning about about choices and just how easy it is to be happy no matter what happens to us. Every morning and through out the day, if we say todays gonna be a good day...no matter what happens to us..itll always be a good day. Its crazy. Ive been learning that i have the choice to decide what i will care about and what i wont. So i can choose to get stressed or not, i can choose  to get angry or not. I can choose if im choose to be happy or not. Its so simple, but yet i never really understood it. Its just crazy once that realization happens..like no joke. My life has been a lot happier lately and a lot less stressful in the office :) Um Im still not perfect and i still struggle but i have learned a lot about that. So choices are seriously given to us each and every day, like every second, from the moment we arise to the moment we go to bed. I never really understood how many simple, not even complicated decisions we get to make daily that i constantly over thought. Just like if today isnt turning out to be a good day...just say or think today is gonna be a good day and take a deep breath and its just awesome what happens :) Also, ive been out for 11 months now which is even crazier now because like next month is one year!!!! like what the heck?!! paano na? (hows that?) So yah. I hope you are all enjoying your autum right now and i hope its not too cold down in Washington...but its still pretty much hot here. Never really changes unless its raining, then it can get a little cold. Like no joke. But i cant talk to long right now because well...its really busy in the office right now. So this is really all for now. Hope your all doing good and thanks for all your prayers. 

Elder Johnson