99

Now i don't want this to sound Trunkie but in our mission, it is tradition to go the the 99 Restaurant when we have 99 days til we go home.... So yup today is my 99. Its unreal i know.

Every week/every day just blends together in my head at this point. But it was a really good week. Wednesday we had Zone Leader Council and it was powerful. President loves teaching us these deep/intense lessons from the Book of Mormon whenever a group is assembled with him. He talked about prayer this time and counseled us to not do prayers like we are doctors giving a diagnosis and telling Heavenly Father what we need him to do for us, but rather to have "what would thou have me do?" prayers. Its exactly what i needed to hear. So every night before bed I say a prayer and say the usuals like bless my family and friends and what not but then I just ask, "what can i do?" "what would thou have me do" for such and such case. And then I wait. I keep a notebook close by so i can write down the promptings that i get and it is amazing the inspiration i receive and the specific action items i need to do. Or I will remember something that i need to do tomorrow or whatever it may be. My prayers now are alot more meaningful and fulfilling and its more like a two way conversation. I encourage you all to try doing the same.

Thursday we went to Springfield MA for a zone meeting and it is way out in western mass. And i bet dad knows this, but That is the birthplace of Basketball. We drove by the Basketball Hall of Fame but thats all we did- drive by, cuz we had no time. We also took an elder to the airport who is flying home to Brazil. Its so weird doing that ha. I don't think i will ever get used to it.

Friday we went to Revere to a different Zone meeting and it was so fun being "home" ha. I got to talk to the Khmae elders there and it let me know that i have made progress in the language on my mission thus far, so that was comforting. Saturday we were in the office from 10-5pm like usual reporting with all the zone leaders on the people who were baptized or are preparing for baptism plus the majority being talking with the ZL's about each missionary and how they are doing. Its crazy how much changes in just one week. Things can be going just fine and then BAM there's a problem (but nothing too big).

Sunday was the best day by far. As church was starting i was half thinking to myself half praying and I said, "you know, we haven't had alot of time this week to do anything in our area to find people to teach and i really want to start teaching someone. If it be thy will, can we please have someone come to church or get someone to teach by the end of today?" I didn't really think much of it because I wasn't desparate or anything, just thought it would be nice to have an investigator. (cuz currently we don't have any.) After church, we had ward council and towards the end, a 12 yr old girl was brought up whose sisters have been baptized and all 3 of them come to church regularly but the 12 yr old just never got baptized because the parents aren't members and arent' on top of things like that. So the Young Women's pres asked if the missionaries had to teach her first before she can get baptized we answered yes (cuz that is the answer :)) and so now we are going to go meet her tomorrow and most likely she will be baptized at the end of this month! How awesome is that? God answers prayers. He hears each one of us. Plus i also learned that it NEVER hurts to ask. God wants us to pray to him. Don't forget that.

Besides that, most of our work done in our area is going to dinner appointments with members. And our members are sooooo awesome! I love them all and we are working with them in their missionary efforts they already are doing/want to do. All we do is encourage and support them in their efforts and then be the accountability factor and follow up with them to keep em honest, you know. And they love it. The members here are very missionary minded so within the next 2 months, I have a feeling that we will have alot of people to teach. I feel like this area is so under-utilized because we are the only elders that cover this ward and we are super busy and gone most of the time. But Elder M and I have alot of plans to really take advantage of this area and the solid members that we have. There hasn't been a baptism in this ward in over a year and a half i believe and we are going to change that. Things are great, life is so wonderful, fall is here and God is good.

I love you all! Thanks for everything! Yes, a package sounds really good right now mom and anyone else who feels so inclined :) haha you guys are the BEST!

ps i just have to give a shout out to my cuz's Amber and Emilee Johnson for their letters they wrote me forever ago that i never responded to. but just know, I love getting your letters. and Emilee, i think you are my best writer/most consistent for my whole mission So thanks a bunch! Sorry I can't write back but feel free to keep writing me and i promise i will write back a few more times before I go home.

Love,

Elder Brady Johnson

Hello from Yale!

Yup you heard that right, i am currently writing to you as I am on exchanges for the day with my good friend from Richfield, Elder M in the lovely city of New Haven, CT Home of Yale University. Man, New England has a lot of prestigious schools Like Yale, Harvard, MIT and Brown and I've now been to them all. The picture I sent is of me on a big hill overlooking New Haven. Pretty epic, huh?

This week has been pretty busy like the last one. I think this is how its going to be for the rest of my mission which is awesome! I love being on the go a hundred percent of the time. Last week I went to a district meeting in Hartford, CT and one in Keene, New Hampshire (that place is forever away! And we saw a mountain while we were up there and that is my first time seeing one in 20 months!) I love traveling all over the mission and meeting all of the missionaries. I think i have most of the missionaries names memorized from looking at their cards in the mission office or at the mission home but it helps alot to actually meet the missionaries for me to remember them. Oh and we went to Revere, MA to drop something off the the Cam elders there and I was driving and it was like I was coming home! I definitely went on a trip down memory lane when i went in that apartment again. I can't believe its already been 9 months since i was last there. Good times.

Things are going great with Elder M as a companion. We go running at Harvard Stadium almost every morning- well, how we decide is if we are home and in bed before 11pm we will wake up at 6am to go running, cuz its just 5 mins away. The times we are out past 10:30 is when we are with President doing something or other or traveling to do exchanges with the zone leaders in Hartford or something. But its awesome because Elder M is super athletic so he is going to help me get in really good shape and get me ready for soccer tryouts in a couple months.

We currently have no investigators but we are working on that. We only get a few hours a day in our area and maybe one or two whole days and with that time we are mostly focusing on the Less Actives that the bishop wants us to be visiting or finding. But we did have an incredible experience while at dinner at the Packard's home. We had been at the office all saturday long because we were reporting with all the zone leaders (9 of them. I report with 5 one week and then 4 the next) President randomly called us and invited to dinner. Ha I love being at the mission home because it is just that, a home. Its so cool having kids there. Its different tho, coming over and seeing one watching tv, one dancing around singing some song, and one telling us all about their adventures of that day. Its like being at home. Dinner was delicious and as we were finishing up, a salesman came to the door and President welcomed him in and let him give us all his spiel and it turns out that he is a 21yr old father with a 1yr old boy and a girlfriend who has lived on the streets his whole life but he finally decided he wanted to make something of himself and had to start somewhere so now he is selling magazines. Pres said, 'Im not going to buy your magazines but i will feed you." so we fed him a giant meal. N played a song on the piano for us all and then we taught a lesson about happiness and purpose that is found through the gospel and the book of Mormon. The spirit touched all of our hearts that night and the guy left with a book of mormon in hand and my phone number. I hope he calls. The kids LOVED it! they kept saying, "that was soo cool! I could totally feel the spirit." Lesson that i learned was, have the missionaries in your home no matter how "righteous or spiritual or all-set" you think you might be.

I love being on a mission! I love you all! Just know that, as President often says, "I'm finer than frog's hair." so don't worry about me :) (you gotta love those texans)


So cool that Adam is home! Thanks for taking "me" down to see him.

Love,
Elder Brady Johnson

The office life

So I'm here in Natick in the Mission office. This is where i will spend at least 2 days a week doing reporting and what not. But anyway let me tell you a bit about whats new.

I now live in Brighton MA which is right outside of Boston proper, very close to Cambridge (where harvard and MIT is). I am indeed in the city, in the middle of all the busy and crazy and hustle and bustle and i love it. We do have our own area to work in when we aren't out traveling around the mission or doing different assignments for President Packard. We attend the Cambridge 2nd ward and it is mostly young families. We are always around a lot of missionaries because of being in the city. We live with the Boston Zone Leaders and they are super tight. Elder M is my companion as I told you and its a lot of fun reminiscing with him about high school basketball days and what not. Its fun when people ask us where we are from and we get to say that we are both from St. George Utah, and yes we knew each other. That doesn't happen very often.

Another cool thing (one of many) is that we spend so much time with President Packard. I love that man. And he really takes our assignment seriously. He chose us to be his assistants and he definitely uses us as such and he tells us everything that is going on in the mission and often asks us for advice even tho he probably knows way better than us what he should do ha. Along those lines its weird to know about everything that is going on in the mission and all the upcoming plans that president has for the mission and really get to see first hand who he is. Its really a privilege and I'm humbled greatly at this assignment. There is much to do, a lot of people to get to know and help, and fun to be had.

If you can't tell, I'm psyched for this transfer. Life is good. There is so much more that I want to tell you about these last few days but if i did, I wouldnt get lunch and have a decent P day. So I love you all! Thanks for everything :)

Love,

Elder Brady Johnson

Big news from transfer week

As you have probably figured, this week is transfers. And after 5 transfers here in the wonderful land of Providence, I am sad to say that i will be leaving. But it is not to a place i was expecting. But i will get to that later....(oooo i bet the suspense is killing you :) )

This last week and a half was insane! One of my goals that i set for the week was to just survive. And we did, barely. We had exchanges with the newport elders, zone conference (had to drive an hour in a crazy rainstorm to get there)-tangent- while there we found out that Clayton Christensen is now the 1st counselor in the mission presidency. i don't know if you all back home know that when a mission president comes out, they choose to counselors from people that live in the mission to help him out. So we will be seeing alot more of C.C.

We also had a few district meetings to go visit and then on friday we met up with Elder B and Elder W who are serving in Connecticut and drove together up to Lowell, MA in preparation for WATER FESTIVAL! Yes its already here and gone again! We ate dinner at some members house that we knew from the last time we were there and then slept over at the elders place. Saturday we were with all 9 Cambodian Elders along the Merrimack River and we set up our booth and Book Of Mormon display and got to work contacting everyone ;) It was a lot of fun and the weather was nice and so were the people. I didn't talk to nearly as many people as i did last year but i feel like I had way better and longer conversations about the gospel with them. I spoke alot of khmae and bought some cool things (but not much because there weren't as many booths this year). There were Thousands of Asians tho and I loved it. Plus i got to see some old friends from Lynn and Lowell and even got to see M one of my recent converts! She is now almost 16 and such a different person. She is super outgoing and there is this glow about her countenance and she is happy. The gospel really does change lives! It was so fun being with Elder G again and elder A and the other khmae missionaries. One of the newbies is Elder C and he actually helped coach at Bountiful High with Marty in Lacrosse! Crazy small world huh? It seems as tho that day is already like a dream to me.

Oh ya and in the middle of the day i receive a phone call from President Packard (so keep in mind that day was the day for the transfer texts to come out and so if president calls, you know something is special is happening to you like becoming a zone leader or a trainer.) So my first thought is that, oh i will finally get to be a trainer, seeing as i have gone my whole mission without being one. But then he said, "Elder Johnson, the Lord has called you to be the next..... Assistant to the President." i was completely shocked. I of course said yes that i would fulfill that assignment and then ended the call. So i will be replacing my very dear friend Elder P as he is going home and i will be serving with Elder M who also happens to be from St. George, and we will be serving in the Cambridge, MA area! You wanna know whats super crazy? Elder M and I have been on opposing teams in basketball since rec league bball all the way to Varsity B-ball in high school (he went to Snow Canyon). And now we are joining forces as the Assistants to the President. Its gonna be such a blast! We are already such good friends and im stoked to get to spend alot of time and work closely with President Packard. The hard part was that i couldn't tell anyone until they saw it on the "T-texts" that night.

Now the past few days I have been saying my goodbyes. I love this area and this ward so much. It is like home to me. I know i say that as i leave all my areas but this place has been the very best by far. The people and the experiences here have changed my life in a way I can't even begin to describe. I love it. I love being a missionary. Saying goodbye however, is not fun. I felt alot of love as i stopped by different members and recent converts and investigators houses. As a missionary you always hope that you will be able to help change peoples lives and help them be better and sometimes you even think you are doing so, but its such a humbling thing and special thing when those people tell you what you have done for them. Its at those times that you really feel like you have fulfilled your purpose as a missionary.

It was especially hard to say goodbye to A, C and V-my 3 Liberian little brothers. Im gonna miss those kids so much. They have so much potential. Its gonna take alot of support but in roughly 10 years, i could see all 3 of them out serving missions. I will never be able to forget them. Our good ward member friend D was hard to say bye to too. i can't wait for you guys to meet him.

Well thats about it. Tonight i will be leaving Providence for the last time (well i might be back cuz we do alot of traveling as the AP's. but...) Its really sad having to leave this all behind but i was reading in the Conference Ensign of this year and David Baxter said the following, "As you move forward in patience and in faith, Providence will move with you." Isn't that cool, and timely? The memories will always move with me.

So things are going to get pretty busy as an assistant and so i can't promise that i will write big emails any more but thats ok cuz the next 4 months are going to fly by.(i will finish my mission in cambridge im almost 100% positive.) Thanks for everything, your love, letters, prayers, and support. I love you!

Love,
Elder Brady Johnson

I'll be home for Christmas!

ALOHA! Ya i don't really know why i said that but too late now i guess... oh by the way this is totally random but i haven't seen a Polynesian/ tongan/ samoan/ islander since i've been out here on my mission except for 2 sister missionaries.  I wonder why none of them come out this way. I miss them.

Holy Tuna in a can Batman!  anyway.... Holy smokers this week went fast. I know i say that every week but its true ok.  I don't remember if i told you but M and H, the young couple we were working with for the past few months, well they are getting married in January! And then in a year they will get sealed in the temple! Hurray! Its finally gonna happen. Too bad its after i leave :( But they are legit and we have built a great repore with them and we go over each week and read the book of mormon together. Speaking of the book of mormon, Elder M  and I started listening to it on cd's this week and in one day, i kid you not, we finished the whole first book of Nephi! Ya it was a long driving day but its cool cuz i feel like we are really maximizing our time.

D is set for baptism this week but its hard to meet with him lately so it might be pushed back one more week. Jand S are back and we are teaching them and they are working towards baptism really soon.  They are good kids.

Wanna hear a random story? of course you do.  So the other day we get a referral from HQ(SLC) saying that we need to go visit this man asap to give him a blessing. We go that very day and a lady lets us in and she is from Laos (very close to Cambodia) she lets us in and takes us to a man who is literally on his death bed-dying from Cancer. We find out that one of their daughters live in Las Vegas and is a member and she was the one to request us to visit.  However no one there spoke very good english so we were struggling. Then another woman came in and still, we couldn't communicate and then i just said in cambodian, "does anyone speak Cambodian?" and one of them did. So i would speak in cambodian then the woman would say it in laotian and thats how it went. Pretty cool. I actually got to use my khmae like 4 different times this week. Thats probably a new record since being in Providence.

Oh monday i received the greatest text in my life! It was from the Revere Elders saying that R, one of my converts from there, was going through the temple on Wednesday to get her endowments! That totally made my day!  I was kinda ticked that i didn't know sooner but oh well.  Wednesday rolls around and one of our members was planning to come out with us from 6-9 to teach people but we asked him to instead drive us the hour distance and come to the temple with us.  He was all for it.  He said that he had the prompting to go to the temple this week but didn't think he could cuz his only free night was going to be taken up by teaching with us but now it all works!  MIRACLE!  We go to the temple and almost miss the session cuz we are late... we are late alot ha.  And we didn't tell R that we were coming and so we walk into the chapel and see her sitting up front with 2 of my favorite members from Revere. They looked dumbfounded that i was there haha they later told me they thought I had just happened to go to the temple tonight without knowing about what was going on.  Needless to say the session was wonderful and then we had a good time catching up a bit in the temple. I can't believe its already been 8 months since i saw them last.  R was so happy in the temple.  It was amazing to get to be there.  We took some cool pics outside the temple and then departed.  It was an unforgettable experience. I can't wait to go back and visit again. R says that her daughters have been praying that Me and Elder G get transferred back to Revere. Awwwe :)

Also yesterday, we had a special stake conference and Sister Elaine S. Dalton, the young Women's general president, and Elder Matthew Eyring, our Area 70(and also Pres. Eyring's son) came and spoke!  It was fantastic. And we got to meet them briefly and talk to them.  Sis Dalton is the nicest lady on the earth, im pretty sure. My favorite thing i learned was 1, to smile. and 2, "the Lord cannot steer a parked car."

Well I could go on and on about this week but what i have thus written doth suffice.  But, Wowzers this week was just flippin awesome wasn't it? Oh and you want to know what else? I received a phone call from my very good friend, who also happens to be the AP, Elder P and you know what he told me?   "You'll Be Home for Christmas!" Yup you got it. Mission office is sending the new missionaries sooner so Pres wants to send us home sooner. So I will now be coming home on December 18th :) See ya. Love ya bye!

Love,

     Elder Brady Johnson

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.

Sorry, no time today

Well, the computers are all filled up and its super busy today for some reason, so i have no time to write. I apologize and will write a ton next week!

Just one thing: J, our new investigator, has read thru mosiah already in the Bof M! and she had her daughter come to a lesson with us and She testified how the Book of Mormon helps her mentally, physically, and spiritually and how she knows it is a true book.

I, like J, know the Book of mormon is true. There is real power in that book. Take advantage of what we have and READ IT! I promise that life will be better and that you will be happier. Love ya! bye!

Love,
Elder Brady Johnson