Undas

Happy Halloween!

It's been a busy Preparation day and a pretty normal week family, so I'll keep this letter short :)

On Tuesday I really strove to have a successful and effective exchange with one of the district leaders in my zone (Elder Almasin). With the guidance of the Spirit we had such an awesome day of work and we both became better missionaries. As a leader in the Pasig zone and representative of Jesus Christ I've really been focusing personally on leading like the Savior. I felt the Lord's hand during my exchange as I truly felt love towards Elder Almasin and wanted to him to succeed. It made me so happy when I learned in my follow-up call a few days later that he had applied the things he learned from our exchange and how he thanked me for the things I inspired him with. I'm grateful for my mission.  There's no other place where we can just focus on developing Christlike attributes and help these wonderful people live His Gospel.

I had a spiritual experience with the Priesthood this week where I had the opportunity to bless one of the sisters in my zone. She's suffering with depression so I didn't know what I was supposed to say. But the blessing was from Heavenly Father, I testify it was.

Nothing much has changed with the area of me and my companion Elder Vergara. Leonila will be baptized in November, most likely the 12th. She's so awesome. It's been incredible to be a part of her conversion. Her testimony is so strong! It's the best feeling when an investigator expresses to you how grateful she is for us and the Gospel of Jesus Christ we helped bring to her life. She's so happy, she glows for real haha. The trial is, she has bleeding problems so we need your prayers family!

It's been nice this week getting new potential investigators from the members! We are staying faithful here in Pasig and still visiting the members, introducing Preach My Gospel with them. It's been effective, just a little process. But success will come!

Until next week.. ingat! Have a fun Halloween over there in the states.. I'll be celebrating Day of the Dead here in the Philippines! 

P.S. I joined the mission choir!! We are performing on December 4 and we practice weekly. It's so fun! I got the tenor part..I gotta share my talents kasi ;)

Love,

Elder Johnson

Pasig Week 8

Dear family,

Its been an unique week, full of service! :)

I don't know if I've told y'all about the Manuel family (recent converts here in Pasig). They're so awesome and literally the nicest and most humble people I've ever met! We have FHE (Family Home Evening) at their house every week and it's such a wonderful activity that we as members get to participate in.  It brings the family together and strengthens testimonies. For us as missionaries it's a perfect opportunity to invite non member friends to hear our message of Jesus Christ and His restored gospel. I've seen the blessings come from FHE and we've gained new investigators because of it.  So I challenge y'all to have FHE weekly! and invite your friends!

On Tuesday I had an exchange with one of our District Leaders, Elder Binhaon. The day was interesting to say the least.  It started out well, the lessons were on and off, but then he got sick and threw up so the rest of the night was not as planned and we weren't able to have a successful evaluation. I wish I could just redo the day haha. But oh well, it's time to just move on. Heavenly Father keeps testing how I will respond to delays and things not going my way, because this week I got a little frustrated at my other DL who is having a difficult time with his district and with leading. So I've been working real hard on being patient and loving him like Christ. I continue to have the question come into my mind, "Do the missionaries in my bahay, and zone feel my love?" This is something I'm really striving to improve because I'm far from perfect.

Unexpectedly we found ourselves at Aurora chapel doing service most of Wednesday and Thursday. It was cool though, I really enjoyed serving in a different way than just teaching. We carried heavy boxes of food and packed canned goods for the parts of the Philippines that have been hit by the typhoons. It was definitely a successful service project :)

Saturday was a throwback day for me haha. We had the opportunity to do MTC exchanges! So if y'all remember last year at this time when I was in Manila MTC for a few days I went out and worked with one of the missionaries in the Manila mission. Ya well that's what I got to participate in again! This time, I was the old guy in the mission draggin around 2 new white boys from Utah serving in the Bacolod mission haha. Our experience was awesome!! At first I asked them what they wanted to accomplish and what were their goals for the quick 2 hour exchange. Their response was one I'll never forget.."I just want to help these people and help them feel the Spirit." What a simple yet amazing response from an excited missionary ready to serve the Lord. It brought back memories of what I felt last year and my excitement to just go out and help these wonderful people! I really felt the spirit and I learned so much from these 2 Elders. All I desire is to help the people come unto Christ and help them feel the Holy Ghost! 

Our area is struggling pa rin.. it's starting to get really frustrating looking up our board of baptisms and seeing no projection for October and a weak 1 lang for November. The Lord expects more from us here. Elder Vergara and I are just figuring out what else we can do to reach weekly baptisms.  For now it's just prayer and fasting for miracles. 

Ingat po kayo palagi! 

Mahal ko kayo,

Elder Johnson 

Pasig Week 8

Kumusta!

Oh how great this work is! 

My companion and I Elder Vergara prepared our workshop on Monday night and really relied on the Spirit to guide us the whole way. We prayed with more faith and felt confident in the Lords promise that "if you are prepared, ye shall not fear!" 

Zone training came and we were so excited! The Sister Training Leaders in our zone gave a little workshop first about teaching repentance to our investigators.  It was awesome and set the stage for our workshop to our Pasig zone! We focused on one of the steps of the inspired teaching cycle: listening, observing, and discerning. The focus was to help the missionaries become effective teachers. How? By LOVING our investigators. It's all about love and charity. Anyway, we believe that the zone felt the spirit and I'm just so grateful for the promise of Heavenly Father gives in the sacrament prayer.."the spirit shall always be with you."

On Wednesday we had a "new leaders training meeting." This was the first time PQCM has done this, and it was absolutely amazing! The objective was to train us as the leaders how to be successful in our callings. I'll share with you the thoughts given from President and Sister Koster to us:

*In order to achieve a new goal, we need to change what we're doing, do something new! *

*Be a spiritual blessing to the missionaries in my zone- how should they feel after they talk with me?*

*Leave my calling better than I found it, be a better person, train those DL's to become a better ZL than I ever was! *

 

The spirit taught me many more things as well, in order to become an effective leader. One thing that I'll never forget is just what I mentioned kanina. Do I really love every missionary in my zone? Do I love my investigators? How do the missionaries in Pasig feel after they talk with me? Am I inspiring, blessing and uplifting them? I've reflected on that and I know that charity is an attribute that can only be obtained just like Moroni said, through prayer and through the mercy and grace of Jesus Christ.

Elder Vergara and I are doing well.  We are still constantly striving to make our area the model area. Heavenly Father is testing us with patience for sure. He's also trying our faith.

The Apid family (one of our progressing investigators who really understood the doctrine) just told us yesterday that they are moving out of our area. The Sta. Ana family was progressing but now we are seeing no progression at all. Rolly has problems with his sins and keeps telling us that he can't turn away from it because he wont survive.

 

So that's the frustrating part haha. But we have so much positive coming our way! Leonila came to church so her baptism will be on November 5! And yesterday we had 3 miracle investigators come to church so we are excited!

It really all comes down to faith. I've really come to know that on my mission...have faith!

Well, I love y'all and thanks for your prayers. Have a great week!

Love,

Elder Johnson

Pasig Week 7

Family! :)

I'm so grateful for this week that I had talaga. It's been such a spiritual, motivational, and inspiring week here for me. Because of the Missionary Leadership Council, and General Conference, I'm back on track ready to conquer anything the Lord places before me.

I'm also so grateful for my companionship that I have with Elder Vergara. As missionaries, and companionships, we must have the spirit to be with us. If it's nonexistent, we cannot do this work.  With both of us noticing our need to change, we were able to communicate and discuss what we must do in order to be powerful and unified. We are so excited for this transfer and it's already off to a hot start!

On Friday we had the monthly MLC with President Koster and all the leaders in the mission. This was my second one so I knew what to expect and how to prepare.  Man this meeting was powerful let me tell ya! The spirit is undeniable and it wouldn't be the same without our wonderful mission President and his wife. From the start, they bring a sense of fire and excitement that gets us (as the leaders) pumped up and ready to inspire our zone. President Koster wants changes in this mission, not just the usual average baptisms every month. Heavenly Father has high expectations and it is our responsibility to carry out the work! Our zone training workshop tomorrow is gonna be sick.  The zone will feel the spirit and hopefully catch the desire and vision of what we can accomplish. Please pray for me and my companion as we prepare our workshop! salamat :)

Quotes i loved from MLC from our leaders: "There's nothing better than what I am doing which is 'Declaring Repentance!'" (D&C 15 and 16)

"Be excited, go out to teach and baptize!"

"I am successful when I feel the spirit in my work and desire the salvation of others."

"Keep going, don't stop, don't ever give up"

"Listen differently, with my heart, not just my ears"

" Gods plan is eternal, not everything will be accomplished in these 2 years."

I couldn't have been more excited to watch General conference! It was awesome! 

I bear testimony that Thomas S. Monson is our living and true prophet on this earth and that this church is Christ's true church. I felt it, and I know it to be true.  How lucky we are to have this Gospel that brings us JOY! Do we feel that joy now?

I could write for days about the things that I loved from conference, but I'll just share a few:

"Pray with your heart, not just your lips."

"Have Faith in Jesus Christ!"

"If we read the Book of Mormon every day, we will never go astray...it's impossible!! We will be converted to the Restored Gospel."

Are y'all reading the Book of Mormon daily? Do you exercise your faith in your Savior Jesus Christ? Do you have joy even in the midst of your trials? Are you praying with your heart?

Ponder those questions :)...because I did! 

I love y'all and I'll talk to y'all next week!

Love,

Elder Johnson

Pasig Week 6

Update on my life changing mission in the PQCM:

Well family this week was pretty rough for me. Not much has happened this week in our area or in our zone. It's transfer week and Elder Vergara and I are looking forward to continuing to lead the Pasig zone.

Our week was okay with the work. I think we lacked something and I'm not sure yet what it is. I feel like things need to change; I must change. For some reason I've gotten frustrated this week with little things that have happened and I haven't found happiness in this week's work. It's been a lot of personal pondering and self reflecting for the past few days. But although it's been hard for me, I know things are going to get better as long as I lose myself again in the work. The Spirit is constantly telling me to remember that again, not focusing on myself, but on others. I look forward to bouncing back and getting back on the road to conversion. 

We Baptized Ramon Del Gallego on Friday!! haha It went so well, he's the funniest old man. I wish y'all could meet him... hes awesome. You'll see in the pics that I'll send :) 

We've had a set back with our investigators which has been a little discouraging, especially for our October baptism goals. We just need y'all to pray for Leonila, Rolly, and the Sta. Ana family!

I'm excited to lead the Pasig zone again this transfer. We've got some new District Leaders who are coming in which will really help. Also, we met and had a meeting with the stake leaders here and discussed what we need to do to hasten the work of salvation. Only positive on the horizon!!

Sorry this letter is short, but I love and miss you all! I hope y'all are keeping the commandments because you love the Lord. I love my Savior, I know Heavenly Father lives, and loves all of His children.

ingat po kayo palagi, mahal ko kayo!

Love,

Elder Johnson

Oliver baptized his wife!

Pasig Week 5

Hoy Kumusta kayo?

It was a successful birthday and week here in the Philippines! So much progress this week. A lot of good things are happening. It's exciting! 

On Tuesday I worked with my older brother in the mission - Elder Tokanang (his tatay/trainer is also Elder Santiago). We had such a fun exchange. He's from Kiribati so he's super makulit and he's going home in 2 weeks so I tried my best to help him not get trunky and finish the mission strong. (especially because he's one of our District Leaders). He has a different spirit with him...it's contagious and powerful, and made me strive to have that same type of strong spirit with me.

Elder Vergara and I have been blessed with many new investigators these past weeks...the miracle has been that we have found the ones that are willing to commit and now we have 6 solid progressing investigators. The Sta. Ana family came to church on Sunday! They are really recognizing the spirit in their lives and are starting to gain a testimony. Now we are just helping them understand the Restoration, but they're doing so well! Oh and also they came to a baptism on Saturday, and were greeted by the members with love. I've realized that's one of the most important things we must do as missionaries is to help the members learn to fellowship and friend the investigators. We've been striving to have a couple the same age join us in the lessons, and in my experience, the lessons are much more powerful and effective because the investigator has someone to relate to and share their feelings, instead of 2 20 year old boys haha.

We are also super excited about brother Rolly! We just met him last week and he came to church on Sunday! He reminds me a little bit of brother Oliver- super nice and has been prepared by the Lord for the Gospel. He is preparing to be baptized on October 29.

Ramon (old tatay that we've been teaching) will be baptized on Friday September 30! He's been a long time investigator who has a testimony talaga that this is the only true church.

My birthday on Friday was great, it really was :) We celebrated with some pizza. My kabahays are awesome.

But I want to share with you all the best news I have ever received since being a missionary.

Ok...so on Friday we had a language test so I saw all my Provo batch at Aurora chapel. Anyway I talked with Elder Huish! (who by the way is my anak's - Elder Garcia's follow up trainer in Cogeo) so it was so sweet catching up with him about Cogeo, the investigators, my RC's etc...GUESS WHAT?!! Oliver Palomares is going to baptize his wife Viviet on October 1 !!!! When Elder Huish told me that I wanted to cry I was so happy. That's the best thing that has happened to me talaga. I felt just complete joy. That family is so incredible!!  To think that I was used as an instrument to find, teach, and baptize Oliver and now he has the priesthood and will baptize his wife, pure joy talaga.  This is what it's all about!!

Our zone is doing well.  We're trying to finish the transfer strong and keep up the momentum.  We feel an improvement with the work of our missionaries here in Pasig which is a positive. To be honest it's still weird being a zone leader.  I'm still trying to figure things out and doing my best to fulfill my calling.

Thank y'all for the prayers and all the birthday wishes. There's no other place I'd rather be than here in the beautiful Philippines helping these people come unto Christ.

Love,

Elder Johnson

 Happy birthday, Brandon!

Almost 20 years old :)

Kumusta fam?,

I can't believe it...I'm almost 20 years old! Weird, huh? I'm no more a teenager :( haha. I'm getting old, but I love that one scripture verse in the Bible (I forgot where) that says when I grew up I left my childish things behind! So true! Anyway, we plan on partying this week for my birthday... for me that means helping my investigators receive the restored gospel!

On Tuesday I gave my first workshop as a Zone Leader at our Zone training.  Elder Vergara's and my calling is to relay the information, plans, and vision of President Koster and help our zone catch that vision. We gave a workshop about the importance of the members and where each Ward needs to be in order to baptize 4 people every month = weekly baptisms. We talked about the stages of missionary work with the members. Stage 1: missionaries doing all the work. Stage 2: members helping the missionaries. Stage 3: missionaries helping the members. The workshop went pretty well. Elder Vergara and I felt like there was something missing (may kulang). We are somewhat pleased, but not even close to satisfied. We feel that we needed to do more. Hopefully next zone training we can improve. The commitment to the zone was to help each member in their ward become PMG (Preach My Gospel) members. That's our focus right now. Because of the lack of support and leadership here in the Philippines, we as missionaries must take initiative and help the members understand their role and how they can help share the gospel. The ideas that we have is to share PMG with the members and help them apply the principles that the Lord has set so that we can achieve the expectations in this mission of one family baptism every month. We can do it! The hard part is helping the zone feel they can do it as well- putting faith into action!

Thursday we had zone conference with President Koster. It was great, I always love the conferences. They are like a boost of excitement and eagerness to succeed in this work. The spirit taught me a lot; many things that I need to repent of. I'm grateful for the verse that President read Alma 26:12 about not boasting of ourselves but of our God. I've realized the importance of teaching by the Spirit and the things I need to do to feel the spirit every lesson. This week in our work we really worked on that and we noticed a huge difference the past few days. Every lesson was powerful. Not just 1 or 2. The faith that we have is either growing or it is weakening. I especially feel the need of increasing my faith, purifying my heart, and relying on the Lord to succeed in my area and calling here in Pasig.

Our work in the Pasig 4th ward is improving. One family is progressing - the Sta Ana family! They have really felt the spirit and the blessings of us sharing the Gospel to them. Last night we taught them the correct way to pray to our Heavenly Father and we're excited for them to come to church on Sunday. We just need your prayers family that we can achieve our goals and have a baptism this month (brother Ramon).

It's a little frustrating coming into this area and expecting to have success right away, but it's just the opposite. I would have thought that the zone leaders' area would be on fire, but again, it was just the opposite. My whole mission I have felt the responsibility of like starting over and helping the area get going. It's okay though, I must stay positive and happy :)

i love you all and miss y'all! Have a great week !

Commitment ko sa inyo : help the missionaries in your ward by giving them a referral and working with them! Our friends need the Gospel!!

Love,

Elder Johnson

P.S. I worked with a new missionary this week who's from Utah. It was cool, 2 white guys in the Pines! Also, I struggle with English now! Tagalog all the way now! haha