hey Everyone

Hey everyone i hope your 2013 has started off as a good year for this january, and i hope your february will be just as good :) Not too much has happened these few weeks but we have found a few awesome investigators which have some awesome potential and so thats nice. Also, i continue to be inspired everyday and really have gained a desire to learn and aquire knowledge both spiritually and wordly...but right now i cant gain too much worldly so im working on spiritual :) and theres still so much to learn...but its been way good just to learn by the spirit and get an understanding according to the spirit, it really makes learning fly and become so much better. So im excited about that also, im learning a lot of new recipes to cook so when i go back home ill have some awesome filippino food to bring with me :) 

Ill share with you all though something i am really grateful on my mission. My mission has been really hard, of course, but the hardest thing for me has been the having to face any problem head on. There is no mom to help me out, everything i figure out has to be with God and through prayer, and its been tough but i am so grateful for it, because it has been a motivater to me to continue to progress always forced me to grow up, but its cool because as i pray about about the problem and trust in the Lord, He always helps me overcome it and then he also heals me and gives me the strength to continue on, its been crazy, every bad belief ive ever had every like "bad trait" ive had that i didnt like   and i hid, ive had to face whether with companions or just with certain experiences and its had to be me and God only, so it was hard, but He always helped me and strengthened me and healed me of that bad thing that i didnt like, which is so cool and idont understand how. My confidence has gone up so very much since ive been out and its awesome. I feel so good all the time and happy. How blessed we are to be in the true restored church of Jesus Christ, with all the blessings, gifts and true contineous knowledge that come with it. 

This church is so very true and wonderful. 

Elder Johnson     

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God is good.

Hey Everyone out there, 

How is all that cold weather? imiss it, but thanks fully in my new area, its been nice and really windy, so we havent had too much heat. :) its been wayyyyyy nice :) 

I just want to let you know how good God really is. I have felt His love so much lately i cant even express it, for others and myself, it has been truly awesome. All the new people weve been meeting, all the new lives weve been helping, all the new desires i have been getting and been really treasuring. I am truly on fire here more than i have ever been in any area :) and loving it more too. I feel so happy all the time and im glad that i choose to be happy. That is what is important , choosing to be happy, every day no matter what comes our way, "come what may and love it" i have learned the power of choice on my mission and i never want to forget it. I also know that we are loved by a truly loving Heavenly Father and a loving older Brother, Jesus Christ who can change literally change our heart if we will but let him and he can truly transform us. He is aware of my goals that i have as a person for when i come back from my mission, but im also glad that i am willing to change and morph to the plan he has for me to be a better person, because he wants my goals to happen with his. So i have been so grateful for His help with me and the change i have felt in my life through him. 

He truly is so very good. May we always be thankful to God for the wonderful blessing of His son, Jesus Christ, through which we can change. 

Sorry its short, 

The church is sooo very true. 

Elder Johnson   

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HAPPY NEW YEARS and Miag-ao

HAPPY NEW YEARS!!!!! 2013 now crazy  So im out of the office now :) finally, and my new area is WAY cool, WAY pretty...its called Miag-ao (me-ug-ow) to help you with pronunciation and its actually got a little bit of a different dialect here called Karaya, but its only a little bit, and i understand most of what people say to me so no worries mom. But our house is right next to the beach, and its awesome because when you go to the CR (bathroom) you can her the waves, its way cool :)....also here the church is not a ward, its not even a branch, here its a group, which every sunday we meet in this members house that has a "The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints" SIGN on the side of the house lol. Then its a tiny tiny room. like maybe the size of a very small one room apartment kitchen. With about 10- 13 people that came including us missionaries and two fans. But its still pretty cool though, just because its so small, there is lots and lots of potential and the actual church building they have too in Tiloas (cho-loss) for the branch is about the size of an american chapel gym, just the gym...maybe a little bigger. So its crazy how small the buildings are here, but thats ok, cause its cool. They have no men to pass the sacrament in our group or at least no YM so the missionaries do it, and it brings me back to the time when i was a priest. and then they have this little tiny electric keyboard where they play hymns. Then the primary room is outside as a little bamboo hut with straw for a roof and maybe like 2 or 3 kids in the class and four teachers. Church is only two hours simply because we dont have enough people for relief society and Priesthood, so i hope i explained this well enough for you to understand the humbling situation and the craziness of whats happening here. Its crazy humbling, but also a very unique experience that im grateful for because ill never experience this, being in a group again, but im excited to be here and really help, because there is A LOT needed :) and so far the members i know are way cool :) they are very nice. 

Ive already seen how the people here need me, one man who looks very much like my dad, but much thinner, that ive met, is paralyzed and has to pee in a bag, his wife is a member but hes not, but only because he cant walk and maybe just a few more things i havent figured out yet. But, as we were teaching this man, he would randomly start to cry, and push in his side during the lesson, due to the pain he felt, and wed be silent, but then wed have to continue to not make it not be super awkward, and as i watched this man, i almost started crying because of the pain you could tell he was in, which i had never experienced, but you could tell it really, really hurt, i was very impacted by this man, and he has been getting better like i guess his legs are coming back. So it was good to hear. Also, another lady started crying too because of the trials she had gone through with her husband and so we were comforting her, but i am amazed how already ive seen so many deeply humble or lost people that are on the way back to God, and im excited to be able to be an instrument in helping them. My last area really 100% percent prepared me to come to this area, i have the confidence and everything i could possibly need to help this area. I am really driven and im very excited to be here. And have this brand new area to add to the things i learned in my last area, and really build the church here. its a way good way to start out the new year, i have a whole new belief system, new goals, new area, new chance to become an even better person than i was, also a better chance to serve. The Lord really gave me the desires that He knew i would need to be in this area. Im so grateful to Him for that. 

I hope your new years was good and happy. The Lord is so very, very good. 

Elder Johnson  

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