Wow what a crazy two weeks. I feel like time couldn't go any faster. Time is just flying by way too fast. Well at least faster than i want it to. I feel like I am always playing catch up. We have been really busy with investigators but most of the craziness is coming from meetings, service, and spending time with the missionaries in our zone. in a nutshell here is my last 2 weeks in no particular order.

We went to a muslim mosque and it was super cool and the people were friendly and the speaker said some good stuff about living your religion but there was something lacking, besides the AC haha, but no, it was alot of fun. Its always good to learn about different religions and i feel like i learned something from the sermon... or whatever you call it. You can always find good things in other religions.

The BYU Idaho dance team came here and stayed with members of our ward and then performed in Providence and alot of us missionaries got to go watch. It was pretty fun, I didn't know anyone in the dance team.

A, our 10 yr old recent convert, was such a great example to me and everyone yesterday at  church. He came, dressed very nicely as always (cuff links included) and he was fasting and he brought money to pay tithing so i helped him fill out a slip, and then he said he wanted to bear his testimony so i helped him prepare and he was the 2nd one to go up and he did great! our Bishop had the biggest smile on his face as A walked up to the stand and i was so proud!

The other day for lunch we were in our apartment and we had tons of food but I got the prompting to go get a big mac at the Mcdonalds across the street. I was like, No way! Im not wasting money today.but then i felt it again- at this point i didn't think it was a prompting, just a crave. So we went anyway. What helped was that we had a coupon for buy one get one free. So we go and while we are in line ordering, this dominican lady calls us over. (thankfully i was on exchanges with elder Jones from mexico) We talked to her and she said that she was a member of our church and had joined down in the DR (domincan Repulic) and that her daughter is super active. She had moved here and never learned where the church was and so she has been looking for the past bit and then we showed up in McDonalds! So we were able to give her the spanish sisters number and get her info and things are set for her to go back to church! Cool, Huh? Moral of the story, its not always a bad thing when you get prompted to eat a big Mac :)

I gave a talk last week on missionary service (of course- what else are we missionaries good for with talks?) and it went really well. It was for the YSA branch and so there were only like 15 people there but what can you do... Anyway i spoke about how "We only live once, but if we live right, once is enough"(a quote i heard from a CES talk or something) We have only got one shot at this thing we call life. What are we gonna do with it. We gotta prepare ourselves for whats to come and then we've gotta get everyone else prepared too! Also in my talk was a point about how "We don't realize what we have." If You stop and think about what we have because of the things that we know in the gospel and you really understand those things, then you will know how important it is for us to share those things! And it doesn't have to be all about getting people into our church and baptized. First start with helping your friends and family and associates be their best selves that they can be. Find out their needs and be the ones to meet them. Some people are ready for church and the book of Mormon but some people aren't and just need a friend that will push them to be their best. That is missionary  work, bringing people closer to Christ in ways that they are ready for. I hope that makes sense.

Went to the Beach for a ward party and it was super cold and cloudy...but fun none the less. One of our recent converts of about 1 year, W, who is this 50 yr old guy from Alabama who thinks he is still 20, challenged me to a 400yd race in front of the whole ward and so i raced him... backwards, haha. He is alot of talk and is hilarious.

I went on an exchange with an elder Lemon from bountiful, Utah who used to sing in choir with my cousin cody :) He is way cool and it will be fun to visit him when i'm up there with all the family members who live up there now. And yes i know elder Bushnell who is coming into my mission this month, we actually were in seminary together during my senior year.

Ok im out of time and my mind is blank... But lastly, we went to a funeral of someone in the ward who died this last week in a car wreck. It was all very sudden and it got me thinking once again how short this life is. We don't have time to be mad at others or to hold grudges or to hate. We have to take advantage of what we have. I love you all! Have a wonderful week and always Choose The Right!

Love,
Elder Brady Johnson
PS J is doing really well! she came to church again this week and is making lots of friends. She will be baptized on the 19th of August.  J and S are back and they will hopefully get baptized on the 26th of this month. Things are going really well here. I love this place and these people.