I'm staying in Pasig!

It was so wonderful seeing all your beautiful faces over Skype! I miss y'all so much and I thank y'all for the support and prayers. You all motivate me to be the best missionary that I can be. I loved talking to y'all, and I'm so grateful to have such an amazing family. It makes me so happy :) 

Guess what? I'm staying another transfer in Pasig pala! Crazy no? I wasn't expecting that, but the Lord needs me here, so I will go and do what He has commanded! 

Love,

Elder Johnson

Maligayang Pasko

Maligayang Pasko!
 

I hope y'all are doing as well as I am here!! 

We are busy today so I just wanted to let everyone know that I'm still alive and loving every single day of my mission. :) We had a successful baptism on Saturday with kuya Aljon and Dave Borja Espinas! They're cute, and we're happy for them. We know one day they'll grow up and serve the Lord as a missionary and become leaders in the church.

We sang at Eastwood mall on Friday. It was awesome. We all sounded really good! It was a cool experience for sure, a different way to shine the light! 

I love my companionship with Elder Montera. We work really well together and are constantly striving to follow the Spirit. That's one thing I've been constantly trying to work on, always being worthy of the companionship of the Holy Ghost. It's been a goal of mine that I've set since Elder Bowen's visit last week.

We are being helped by our Young Men President who continues to give us referrals. As of now most of our progressing investigators are young men. It's been a blast working with them and relating to them as well. We already seen a change in their attitude and the way they act. It's awesome. I testify that the Gospel changes people. Through Christ's Atonement we can be made perfect.

I love y'all so much! Talk to y'all in a week!! :)

Love,

Elder Johnson

Pasig Week 15

Family,

We just came from the  Manila Temple, so we're feelin' good right now! Nothing better than being in the House of the Lord. 

This week was nice, it really was. The past few days, I've seen the miracles that the Lord has blessed us with. As a missionary, I've realized that God works in small and simple ways. He loves us and is aware of all His children.

We had a week full of meetings! The first was on Tuesday with our New Leaders Training meeting, then on Wednesday we had our zone training! Saturday we had our ward Christmas party. Mission tour yesterday was awesome! Elder and Sister Bowen visited our mission. He is the President of the Area Seventy here in the Philippines. Many, many things learned and spirit felt, but I'll share the highlight. Elder Bowen focused on helping us understand who we are. Because of the things he talked about - Abrahamic covenant, covenants in general, I came to a better understanding of who I am as a child of God and how blessed I am to be a member of the church. It was so amazing, because of yesterday, because I now am reminded of who I am, the covenants I've made, and I am a different person. Like Elder Bowen said, "We as Priesthood holders know that there are certain things that we cannot do." This meeting (if you remembered last year with Elder Andersen) has changed me as a missionary, and the way I will continue to act. 

Elder Montera and I are filling up our 4 month projection, although we lost a few projections for January. Heavenly Father has blessed us with many people to teach. It's been crazy noticing the small miracles with our work this week.  It's so cool, I love it. 

We have a baptism on Saturday so we're excited. It's the baptism of part member kids, kuya Dale and Aljon :)

Love y'all,

Elder Johnson

Pasig Week 14

Magandang December family!

It's been another great week for us here in Pasig!!

On Tuesday I went on exchanges with the new missionary from Idaho (we are kabahays) and guess what- he knows very well the Crofts family! haha. His name is Elder Moffett, and he's doing well, adjusting to the mission life etc. But we had an awesome time together. It was a blast to work with a new American who had the same struggles as I did last year haha. I was able to teach him and help him on how to be a successful missionary. The cool thing is that he already has it down. He knows the most important thing is to have the Spirit and serve God the best we can :). My goal before I leave my mission/hopefully I'll have the opportunity to train an American!

On Wednesday we got the zone together and did some service for a Barangay. It went well. It was good bonding time with the missionaries here in Pasig.  We're looking to also do another service at an Elderly person's home later this month.

So, on Thursday began the wonderful new Christmas initiative of..#LIGHTTHEWORLD!!  It's been awesome these past 5 days introducing this to members, less actives, and recent converts. It's such a perfect finding tool that we must take advantage of in order to spread this Gospel to the world. It's been fun getting the people excited to do the things like Jesus Christ did. It feels good to serve others, no? I hope you all are doing this! Light the world! If you haven't started, get started today! 

We had MLC on Friday. It was a little different, but still okay. We just felt a lack of power/strong spirit from the workshops and from the other leaders, but it's okay because Elder Montera and I are excited to help our zone at zone training tomorrow by explaining the 4 month projection- the way to baptize weekly! (This is something that was introduced dati, but hasn't been explained on how to use it effectively)

It's been a huge improvement since my new companion has arrived. Our baptism projections have spiraled up! We are looking at weekly baptisms starting in January. It's been a miracle to see what's been happening with our area. Now, from the things we learned from the AP's, we are excited to teach our zone and continue to be an "example of the believers."

We are excited for our baptism on December 17, and for the baptisms in January. Just continue to pray for our progressing investigators! (Ryan Gutierrez, Angelica, Borja kids, Wendy Santos)

Elder Montera and I are learning together. It's been so fun working with him. He's so magaling. We really have recognized when the Spirit is present with us during our lessons, or not. But the times that it has this week, man it's powerful! I testify that missionary work can only be done God's way!

P.s. My pday is next Wednesday so talk to y'all then :).. temple trip kasi!! 

Love y'all,

Elder Johnson