New Area: Lynn

Wow sounds like alot has gone on at home just like a whole bunch has happened this week.  I think this will be a long email.  First off my new address:

207 Ocean St. #2

Lynn, MA 01902

Im am so proud of/excited for All my friends that are going on missions!  that is so cool.  It makes me so happy to know that they are making good decisions and going out to serve the lord.  They will become apart  of a brethren of missionaries that are united in one cause.  I can't wait to hear about their successes and experiences.  Satan is just gonna get dominated by all of these amazing guys going on missions. Hoorah for Israel!  

Ok i think i covered everything now to my life. So i will start with thursday, the day of transfers.  There were about half of the missionary companionships in our mission at transfer meeting.  A ton of people got transfered.  So how it works is that we are all in a chapel and then they read us off one by one where we are getting transferred to and who will be our companion.  I was thinking that me and Elder W would be going to Lynn with Elder G (my mtc companion for 3 months)  Well it turns out that I am companions to Elder G and elder W got transferred some where completely random and now english speaking.  Ya talk about huge shocker.  Crazy.  Elder G is the driver because my license was stolen a few weeks ago as you all know but if i get it back then i can be the driver, and i really really really want to be the driver for 3 reasons.  One i love driving.  Two Elder G is a little sketchy and three, i don't want to die, which has almost happened multiple times in the last few days haha.  So Mom i hope you are on top of that and will get my new license to me asap! :)

As you can see by my address i am very close to the ocean.  actually it is like 200 yards away from our apartment.  It is really cool.  I love driving down the coast every day.  We live in an apartment on the 2nd floor with the Zone Leaders that speak spanish:  Elder D and Elder T both from Utah.  They are both way awesome and all four of us get along really well and have lots of funny moments and lots of laughs already.  It is so much fun living with more elders.  the people that live below us are a less active hispanic couple with some kids that love soccer. We play soccer with the kids and the parents feed us often or just give us random food.  There are also alot of hispanic kids in the apartment right next door that love soccer so you can bet that we play alot of soccer.  I feel welcomed here already :)  I'm actually really stoked about this transfer because of all the soccer we are going to play, living with Elder D and Elder T is gonna be awesome, and E. Greer and I are working with the Sisters in our ward to make our ward a missionary minded ward.  Not gonna lie i wasn't too happy at first especially cuz i had to leave Lowell, my birthplace.  But now i see that The Lord is giving me some help in adjusting to the new place.  The hardest part is that Elder G and i don't know cambodian all that well....

The teaching pool is alot more shallow here and none are cambodian.  There is only one active cambodian family but they know english really well so we don't translate.  But they are awesome... well at least the  woman, S.  She is so solid in the gospel.  She feeds us every single friday and goes to the temple every single saturday.  And she has been doing that every week since forever! or something like that :)  She is cool and she helps us with khmae cuz we can ask her in english how to say a word and she will tell us how to say it in Khmae. 

Along with having no cambodian investigators, President E has told us to pretty much ignore the english people for awhile and only focus on Cambodians.  Its way hard cuz we spend all day finding/tracting and just go to doors that have a khmae name on the mailbox and nothing really comes out of it cuz the cambodians are spread all over the area.  (oh by the way we cover Lynn, Revere, Malden, and some other cities that i forgot)  So pretty much we do lots of work but don't have much to report as in numbers.  But it will be worth it in the future if we keep working hard now and can get a good pool of cambos to teach. 

In the mean time we have a whole family of Hatians that we are teaching.  They are so golden!  They are actually getting baptized this upcoming sunday, all except one cuz she is too young.  So pray for them that they will meet that date!  I'm way excited for them. 

We also taught this guy from Albania (speaks perfect english) just yesterday.  He came to church last week with a member friend and wanted to learn more.  So we taught him in Bro. B's home and taught lesson 1 and he just soaked it all in!  He was asking questions to be clear and he was taking tons of notes!  It was so cool. haha.  I extended a baptismal date and he accepted!  He will be baptized in june.  Awesome huh?  Pray for him.  He is super golden and he kept saying that he has been confused on what church to join for so long and never felt like he belonged to any church but now he feels like God led him to us and he feels like he belongs.  He said he has never felt so welcomed and loved before.  Im so excited for him as well. 

So ya don't worry about me.  I'll be fine and i fit in well here.  I love you all and am so grateful for your good influences and for all that you do and have ever done for me.  I love my family so much! they are the best!

Peace

Love,

     Elder Brady Johnson

Transferred

   

         Boston on P-day, finish line of Boston marathon

           3 Elders share the apartment in Lowell. 

                     Easter fun in Lowell

First off i just want to thank everyone for their letters/emails.  You have no idea how much they strengthen me and help me be a better missionary.  Thanks so much!

Second i found out that i am getting TRANSFERRED!  Crazy huh?  Im pretty sad about it.  I mean i've only been here one transfer and i had just gotten the hang of things here, the members know me now and i know the members and now im leaving.  It was a big shock to all of us sitting around waiting for the "T-texts" (transfer texts).  We were all thinking that Elder W. was going to leave which he is, but no one expected me to go.  We think that we are both going to Lynn and will be with Elder G. again (my comp from the MTC.)  Transfers are tomorrow so that is when i'll find out for sure.  So send mail to the mission home i guess.  I'm a bit confused with this transfer.  It just goes to show that you NEVER know what God has in store for you.  Im gonna miss Elder A. so much!  I just unpacked 8 weeks ago and now i have to pack everything back up today.  

The thing that adds to the bummer of being transferred is that we finally have some solid investigators.  D.  loves having us over and expects us each week.  Hasn't come to church yet.  N.  loves learning from us and always welcomes us in but is not to willing to make any commitments yet, but she is reading the BOM.  Then there is R. who we found just last week.  We met him while tracting a street and he happened to be looking at some houses there and told us to come to his house and we can talk more.  So we went the next day and shared a really spiritual first lesson about the Restoration.  He said that the way we were explaining things that it just made sense.  He also said he can totally relate to Joseph Smith.  We committed him to be baptized on June 12th and he said he would.  He told us that he was getting the chills when we were talking to him and that he is going to read the BOM and come to church.  Im sad i won't be here to see him continue to grow and get baptized.

I'm way sad that D-Hills lost their soccer game.  I feel for them.  It sounds like a tough loss but i've learned from experience that life goes on.  There is no point dwelling on it.  Its just a good way to make you work harder for next year. 

Mom im glad you got a little taste of missionary work last week with the sister missionaries.  Now take those 2 1/2  hours and extend it for all day every day and that is what i do.  And we usually get that one good person probably once every two days or so.  But we do get dinner with the members which i am so grateful for.  But ya, its hard going to appointments and drop-bys and meeting no one huh?  haha Thats how it goes tho.  No worries we keep on keepin on and find those good things, however small they may be.  Elder A. is so good at just being positive and happy about everything.  I've learned a ton from him.  He always says "Don't worry! the Gospel is still true!" 

I got the package of music you sent and love the cd's already.  Music is such a wonderful thing!  Oh speaking of music. A sister here gave us a cd with tons of cambodian music that i can't wait to listen to after the mission.  Brock you are going to love this stuff! maybe i'll send it home for you so you can use it.  

Lastly i just want to ask for some advice from all you returned Missionaries on how we can work with members to get them more involved in missionary work.  We've tried some things but we can do more.   So if you have any ideas or suggestions that helped in your mission, i'd love to hear them and try them out here.  Thanks!

Alright i have to go pack and do some last things in Lowell before I go tomorrow.  Hopefully my leaving so early in the mission means that I will be coming back to Lowell sometime later.  Who knows?  I sure don't, ha.  I love you all so very much!  Keep being the best you can be.  Remember that "Missionaries are the full time teachers, and Members are the full time finders"(Preach My Gospel)

Love,

     Elder Brady Johnson

ps it is still cold here, like 45 degrees!  Its May and i haven't seen the sun for like a whole week cuz of rain.  I miss the STG sun and heat!

Mother's Day

Hey Everyone!

This email will be pretty short since i talked to the fam yesterday.  Yesterday was so awesome!  I love my FAMILY!!!!!!  Thanks for all that you do for me and for all the prayers.  I can feel them daily.  You guys are the best!  I don't know what i'd do without my wonderful family.  I LOVE YOU ALL!  Mom, once again, you are the best! thanks for everything you have taught me and thanks for making me who i am today.  I love you! 

Just some stuff I forgot to tell you about:  I continue to translate more in sacrament meeting.  I even said the sacrament prayer for the bread which is super hard and fast ha, and I translated a talk.  Now you must realize that when i translate talks I probably miss 50% of it,  but the point is I'm trying. And plus only like two people use the translation.  We have committed a 21 yr old guy to get baptized once he knows these things are true and he accepted.  We have no date yet tho.  We met with Y., our Thai friend and had a good review of lesson 1 and he remembered everything and even prayed for us!  He invited us back next Sunday and said he'd try to come to church.  Good stuff!  N. is a middle aged cambodian women that we've met with 3 times and she is progressing and likes learning from us but has no desire to go to church.  Hopefully that will change as she continues to feel the spirit. 

We had an awesome lesson in Elders Quorum in the Heritage Park YSA ward about thinking on the positive side and having a good attitude.  It really made me want to be better at being positive in all situations.  Ya alot of the days are rough but i learned from Elder A, my companion, that no matter what we deal with, "don't worry, just do it".  We just keep going and find the good.  If we are looking for the good, that is what we are going to find.  My goal is that whenever I start to think bad about an event or about another person is to stop and think of the good things about them or it.  I've already started to do so and i've noticed how much more happy I am.  I also try to always have a smile on my face. Smile more everyone!

Lastly, good luck D-Hills soccer DO WORK!  Take State!

I love you all and hope your week is filled with joy.  Keep a smile on your face.  I promise that it affects the mood of yourself and those around you.  Love life, it is such a precious gift! Talk to you later!

Love,

     Elder Brady Johnson

What a Week!

I guess i should start with the big news of the week..... We had a BAPTISM....just kidding, i wish that was the big news.  But nope the big news is that we got ROBBED on Wednesday.... sooooo what happened was that we got back from a dinner appointment and went to our apartment to go to the bathroom and then head out for our next appointment.   Elder W didn't lock the car cuz we would only be a little while in the house.  We were in the house for 15mins and came out and got in our car and i realized that our gps, and all of our backpacks were gone.  Yup stolen.  Just splendid.  For me my back pack was stolen which had my wallet (which includes debit card, missionary credit card, temple reccomend, drivers license, cash, gift cards, etc.) my nice Khmae triple combination was in there too along with pamphlets and what not.  Kinda a bummer huh?  We called the cops and of course they showed up an hour later.  Elder A was ticked at having to wait for them cuz he wanted to go out searching for the theives cuz if you didn't know he was on the SWAT team in Cambodia.  Eventually we did go walking around and searching with Team Portugal (Elders P and S) but no luck.  I did however get to call home and talk to mom for a bit so she could cancel my cards.  So that was nice haha.  Talk about fun, right? Elder W felt so bad the whole night and was pretty distraught, but for me I was just like, well, thats too bad.  I guess we should lock the car huh? Looks like i should find a new back pack and wallet.  haha I guess you could say i took it quite nicely.  It really wasn't a big deal to me.  More of just an inconvenience.  But hey, maybe the robber reads the pamphlets or book of mormon and becomes converted and his story will be told in General Conference in 20 years or something haha :)

Well besides that good news we had quite the successful week with tracting/handing out copies of the BOM.  Our total was, if you count the 4 BOMs that were stolen, we gave out 16 BOMs.  Not too shabby  haha.  Ironically enough, Tuesday, the day before Wednesday (as you know) which was the day of the robbery, was probably the best day of the month.  It was just an all around good day.  We met tons of new people that were interested in learning more, people who we have trying to meet were actually home, and people we had lost contact with finally answered their phones.  It was way cool.  We were just on a roll!  It was a very sweet feeling.  Im excited for the next few weeks when we will meet with these new people more and help them on their road to salvation. 

So about M...Well lets just say things have got yet again more complicated.  But he still loves having us over and letting him teach him.  I know eventually he will be baptized, but just don't know if it will be this year or 5 years ha.  But we'll keep trying cuz thats what we do.  He complimented me on my khmae this week too so that was really nice.  Still nothing from C.  There was so much potential there.  I just don't know what went wrong. 

We had some awesome dinner appointments this week with members.  Good news, when i was at one of their houses I found out that I can still do standing back flips on the ground.  After like 8 months i did 2 backflips and landed perfectly.  That was cool.  Elder A jumped on the tramp for the first time and it was the scariest thing ever cuz he is super uncordinated and fell off the tramp once ha.   If Trevor Thompson is reading this, it was just like watching Palm on the tramp.

We taught N on Friday who is a new investigator that we met while tracting on Tuesday. He recently moved here from Cambodia so he mostly speaks Khmae.  He is awesome.  He is so friendly and we were able to teach all of lesson one (the restoration) and he just soaked it in.  He wants us to come back.  He didn't come to church but he told us beforehand cuz he was busy.  I feel like he will be the first guy to get baptized out of all our investigators. im really excited for him.  

Hmmm what else? Oh ya next week is Mother's day and i can skype!  Im excited to see/talk to you all!

Just an fyi, a women in my ward here went to St. George a few weeks ago and brought me back some red dirt.  haha.

Yesterday, like most Sundays, we were at the church from 7:30am to 5pm.  We had ward council for Lowell, church, ward council for Heritage Park, church, then a break-the-fast dinner.  Thats a long time to be in one place.  

I hope this email finds you all doing well.  Have a lovely week and here's an early Happy Mother's Day to all you wonderful mothers! Especially mine who i love very much and am so grateful for all that she does! Thanks Ma I love you!

There you have it folks.  Have a good one!
Love,

     Elder Brady Johnson

Easter Week 2011

This week was a long one.  Not alot got done.  We did however find a Cambodian family and get a return appointment, get inside and have a lesson.  We talked to the mom in cambodian for awhile and then their young daughter came in and we talked in english to her.  Let me tell you, that girl knows way too much for how young she is.  She goes to 2 different churches and has just about a million questions that she tried to ask all at the same time.  Her main question is which church is true becuase she goes to the other churches and they bash on each other and so she is confused.  We gave her a Book of Mormon and said that we would come back and help her answer all of her questions.  I feel like I'm teaching a Joseph Smith type person.  Its really cool.  When we were leaving she went to turn on the tv but turned to us and asked, "should I read 'the book' or watch tv?"  Obviously we said if it were us, we'd read the book and so she flopped onto the couch and started reading.  I can't wait to go back to her house!

We met a less active member that was a referral from a ward member. Her name is M. She lived somewhere else and was baptized and loved the missionaries and always had them over.  Then they moved to Lowell and didn't know where the church was so they stopped going to church.  When we met them they were so nice and friendly and i feel like all they needed was an invite to church and thats all it took.  They came on sunday-the whole fam- and had a great time. It was way cool.  and now we have dinner with them tonight so that is another bonus.

We had tours this week with our zone leaders.  So Elder W, who is a Cambodian speaking missionary who moved out of the program because of leadership, came to Lowell and Elder A. went to Nashua for a day.  Elder W. is the "father" of Elder W. who is the "Father" of me (father=trainer) so we had 3 generations, kinda cool.  He is hilarious and we had a good time and had to go to court with him cuz a few months ago he got a traffic ticket that he wanted to fight.  Ha, just imagine 3 missionaries waiting to go to the court room.  Awesome.

The last highlight of this week was on Thursday we had Zone Conference with 2 other zones.  Elder Zwick of the 70 came and pretty much spoke to us for 7hrs with a 1 hour lunch break.  It was awesome.  Pres and Sis. Evans also spoke along with sister Zwick.  I forgot to bring my notes with me to the library so i can't tell you very much about what i learned but i was definitely spiritually edified and uplifted.  He told us that he had just spoken with President Monson before coming out and Pres Monson said that the missionaries out right now are the best we've had.  And so Elder Zwick loves to say "therefore what?"... and his answer was that if the prophet thinks so highly of you, you better meet up to the expectations.  It was really powerful.  he had so many cool stories about all the apostles and his mission pres was Elder Scott.  He also talked alot of the consolidation of the Connecticut mission.  President Evans said that the plan is to have a HUGE transfer in june/july when the missions combine and switch half of the people from connecticut to massachusetts and the other way around.  So alot of changes going on here and im excited for them.  Elder Zwick said that we need miracles to happen here in this area so "therefore what?"... go out there and make them happen.  This place is just ripe for miracles.  I also saw my friend A H from Pine View High School who is also serving here in Mass. english speaking.  Pretty cool stuff and such a small world we live in.

Speaking of which, get this: I got a letter from J J (cousin) this week that said that she had a roommate at college that goes to the Hyde Park YSA ward in the summers here in Lowell.  On Sunday i met her and she told me she was just in St. George visiting family last week.  Weird huh? Roommates with my cousin, in the ward im serving in, and was just barely in my home town.  I don't know about you but i think that is crazy.

On Saturday we went to a member's house and decorated easter eggs along with other families in the ward.  That was fun.  And on Sunday we had a great meal. Not your normal easter meal but actually a traditional Italian 3 course meal provided by some italian members in our ward.  It was way good.  We get to experience all types of food here in this widely diverse city.  Alright thats enough writing.  No luck with C.  Haven't seen him for a week :( but we keep going.  Thats all we can do, is keep moving forward.

I love you all so much!  thanks for being so wonderful!-

Love,

     Elder Brady Johnson

Patriots Day April 19, 2011

OH man, so much to say and so little time.  Sorry about not writing first off.  Monday(yesterday) was Patriots Day, only celebrated in Massachusetts.  It is in memory of the start of the Revolutionary war.  But i will get to that in a bit.

So last monday night we did meet with a one of Paul Gooch's friend.  He is awesome.  I don't have time to tell about his history but he was a huge part in getting the cambodian mission started here in Lowell with Brother Gooch.  You can read more about him on LDS.org in the June 1989 Ensign or new era titled Never Too Young. And you should read it cuz It is an amazing story.  Sadly, he has been innactive for awhile. But anyways we met him and his wife and they were so very nice.  His wife doesn't speak as much english so the whole time we were switching between english and Khmae.  We had such a good visit and me and him made such a connection between each other because i know the Goochs.  He just an awesome guy.  We had him tell us the whole story of how he met Paul and all of his experiences and he told us some cool stories.  He showed us a picture of him and Paul and Chantra's wedding when he was like 12. haha that was cool.  He has been to St George alot and loves it there so that was another thing to talk about.  We stayed for 2 hours! A bit long but it wasn't our fault, he wanted to keep talking.  His wife was very nice and liked talking to us in Khmae.   They have cute kids too. We shared a spiritual thought and he shared his favorite scripture with us.  And the best part was that he insisted on having us over for dinner on friday and of course we accepted. 

Friday at dinner with them, we sat on the ground like traditional Cambodians do it and it was the first time for me doing it cuz most cambodians are more Americanized and just use chairs and a table.  So that was cool, and painful for my legs ha. I was sore after.  Our hosts made fun of me for being in so much pain sitting with my legs crossed ha.  We ate soooooo much food!  It was great.  We also talked alot about different things and shared a spiritual message about familes and the importance of the gospel.  We are planning on teaching them some more the lessons.  it was another 2 hour visit but so fun and worthwhile.  we got another return appointment with them so that is good.  I love that family so much already and i just want them to have the blessings of the gospel in their lives soooo bad.  They are such good people.

Back to Tuesday, we had a zone meeting plus interviews with President Evans and it was great.  My zone is way cool and our leaders are awesome.  Oh and Elder M. from Snow Canyon basketball team is in my zone.  Which reminds me, Elder P in my district is from Delta and played soccer and he remembers our match last year haha.  Small world.  He was on the all state team with me i think.  Cool kid even if he is from Delta ha. President Evans is a good guy.  Love him already.  We had a good talk and I got some good guidance from him.  His job is stressful at the moment tho cuz in July we are absorbing the Connecticut mission.  So that will be huge.

M is not progressing but he still likes to meet with us and tells us he will come to church but then he doesn't show.  kinda frustrating.

I had my first run in with some real verbal opposition this week.  we met a man sitting on his porch and he started telling us to get out of our "parallel christian religion, throw away our books and find a real church and that Jesus was speaking through him warning us to repent and find a real church!" What a sad old man.  We were very polite to him but said you are very confused and good luck.  I felt so bad for him after we left. 

Yes mom i got your packages and they were fantastic! Thanks a bunch! i love you and so do my companions.  My goal now(especially cuz of all the food) is to get to 200 lbs and then i'll work it off haha.  ok so not really, but if i get to 200lbs it will be kinda cool. 

Oh ya something crazy happened!  We pulled into a street that we were gonna tract and we see two companionships of Jehovah's witnesses!  ya we were out numbered 4 - 3.  We almost decided to call in back-up from Team Portugal (the portugese/spanish elders) but then decided that it would probably be best to just find a different street.  we watched them for a bit and they can't get inside doors either ha.  That was pretty exciting haha

ok so Now to monday/Patriots day.  the whole mission got permission to take part in the events which for us included: waking up at 3:30 to drive to Lexington to watch a reinactment of the battle of Lexington where the first shot of the Revolutionary war aka "the shot heard around the world" took place.  There were tons of people surrounding a small grass field at 6:00am when Paul Revere came riding in on a horse and American soldiers in their blue coats were waiting for the "lobster backs" to come.  Great Britain came in huge numbers and then one shot was fired and the Revolutionary war began.  The americans got worked and had to retreat so that was a bummer but it was way cool seeing the guns and people dressed up and what not.  afterwards we and about 20missionaries had breakfast at a members house in Lexington and then went to the Boston Temple.  I LOVE THE TEMPLE! We got to do a session and it was so nice.  Next we drove to Boston, cuz the temple is in nearby Belmont.... and me and my companions played some soccer at a park with the ball that mom sent and then went down town via subway and got to watch the Boston Marathon!  We were right by the finish line and got to be there cheering and watching people complete an amazing feat.  I loved the atmosphere there at the finish line.  It was awe-inspiring.  A couple of elders got in and ran the last mile of the race and no one noticed haha.  We also walked around the wonderful city of Boston for a while.  I don't know what it is but i love that city.  It is just a great place.  Its just so beautiful and just has a good feel to it.  Now i understand Butch when he told me about Boston and just said it is just awesome.  It really is.

Quite exciting huh?  I sure thought so but was so tired by the end of the day.  We came back and did some major cleaning cuz we are getting our appartment inspected this week and it was a mess to say the least.  The last 4 weeks i have been cleaning a little bit at a time cuz i just couldn't stand how dirty everything was.  So yup im known as the clean one here.  But im ok with that and enjoy a nice clean place to live. Mom you should be proud :)

So besides those few but wonderful moments, last week was rough and not too successful but Some good always is found.  That is such a wonderful blessing from the Lord is continually providing just enough hope.  He really is always there.  the Khmae learning is going slow and is hard.  but i can feel myself improving just a tiny bit every week.  

Dad, way to go with all the mission efforts!  that is so cool that you are having mission experiences back home.  Keep telling me about them and share advice when you see something work really well. Keep up the good work!

Ok i got to go.  Dhills soccer keep tearing it up!  Brock score a goal :) 

Well i love you all so much!  Thanks for all your incredible examples!  Blake, congrats with graduating!   remember that you are always missionaries.  All of you are.  Don't be afraid to share the gospel.  And help the full time missionaries with referrals please!  That is one thing that members here are terrible at.  We get zero referrals most weeks.  ok bye!

ps. mom can you buy a book and send it to me please? its for learing cambodian and it is called "Cambodian System of Writing and Beginning Reading" by Franklin E. Huffman.  Thanks a bunch! 

HAPPY EASTER!

Love,

     Elder Brady Johnson

April 11, 2011

K just to answer your questions right off, There are currently 6 Elders that speak Cambodian.  2 are in Lynn 3 are in Lowell and 1 is in Nashua as a zone leader and he goes home at the end of this transfer.  There is usually always one cambodian elder in leadership at a time and they usually speak english when in different cities other than Lynn and Lowell.  Today for P-day we are just taking it easy- writing letters, doing some shopping, and what not.  I did a relaxing p day to catch up ha.  Oh and last p day we went to Boston and it was sweet!  we were right down town and i just love it.  It is so awesome there.  I wish i could serve right in the city.  We didn't do much but walk around and eat at a place called Al Capone's where i ate a 20 inch sub! Don't ask me how cuz i don't know haha.

Mom a package would be greatly appreciated!  haha make sure there are candy bars in there.  I've been craving those.  Just so you know, I am finally eating like a growing boy should be eating haha.  I eat so much here!  I don't know whats gotten into to me, but i just put food away.  It kind of worries me cuz i've gained weight.  i now weigh 187!  Im not too worried... i kinda want to get to 200lbs just to say i did it haha but don't worry i exercise every morning and i even got my companions to go out running... even if it was only for 10 mins and they both thought they were gonna die ha.  The weather here has been so beautiful the last 3 days.  Almost time for no suit jackets when tracting. 

Now for some updates.  We haven't seen our investigator very often this last week and he didn't come to church even tho he said he was, so that was a bummer.  He is still having a hard time but he keeps trying.  He is actually being a missionary himself by telling some friends about the gospel and giving us refferals. 

As for M, we still pass by every day and there he is standing outside his house just looking around.  We always give him a wave and he gets so excited.  He is always there to give us a nice pick me up and get a smile on our faces, but we dropped him as an investigator. 

I don't know if i told you about this guy that we met for the 2nd time and we watched the restoration movie and had a good lesson.  He is so awesome.  He loves going from church to church looking for the good things that he can add to his life.  He loves learning from every single person.  He told us that he loves when we come cuz we bring "good energy" (the Holy Ghost once again).  We only get to meet him on Sunday nights each week but he says he will try to come to church next week! I know that once he gets into the church and feels all the "good energy" in there, that he will be converted.  He is also reading the book of mormon.  This guy could not be more golden. I can't wait til he goes to church.

We finally met this lady again that we tracted into about 2 weeks ago.  She is a single mother.  When we taught her the first lesson about the restoration, she was all ears and really soaking it up and asking questions.  She said she could feel something good when we were talking (the HG obviously) and we could feel it too.  We did see her again and teach her about the plan of salvation.  Her son was there too and he was constantly saying, "mom, can we go to church?" The lesson went well so we challenged her to do a few things.  She didn't show up to church... as a matter of fact we had none of our investigators at church.  And we thought it was gonna be a big turnout too so that was a bummer. 

Speaking of church, i spoke in church Ha. I got called on friday to speak in the HP (heritage Park) ward(YSA)  about being converted.  So i prepared the talk and then on Sunday morning 10 mins before the Lowell Ward started, i got called to give my talk in that ward too.  So it worked out quite nicely.  I thought my talk went well especially the second time i gave it.  Here are some highlights of my talk:
-Being fully converted is a lifelong process.  We have to be constantly strengthening our conversion everyday to stay fully converted. 
-Alma the Younger after his "conversion" he spent the rest of his days laboring to bring salvation to others (Alma 36:24) and he could not rest (Alma 43:1)
-The lamanites that the sons of mosiah converted were fully converted.  In Alma chapters 22-27 there are characteristics of these people who are fully converted and we can compare ourselves to see if we are fully converted.  (minister unto others, willing to give all, you would suffer even unto death rather than commit sin, You keep all the commandments, You look unto Christ, You have patience in afflictions, you have love towards your brethren, you inquire of the lord, you fear to commit sin, and my favorite part is that THEY NEVER DID FALL AWAY!)  If we are like the converted lamanites and follow their example, we will never fall away.
-I ended with the challenge of being converted.  And i said that some of you might think you are converted.  I think that is awesome, PROVE IT.  Prove it to God that you are fully converted. In EVERYTHING you do and at ALL times.

So other than that, alot of this week was spent tracting/ trying to meet investigators and not having too much success, but we keep pressing forward.  I love my companionship because we never get down.  We are always keeping each others spirits lifted.  I learned this from my friend Adam but i love it: each door we knock we are one door closer to finding someone who is prepared.  For me, once i start tracting it is so hard to stop because i keep thinking, oh its gonna be the next house.  Or, what if its that house and i didn't knock it.  i don't want to miss the right person so i knock  each door.  I always feel bad stopping cuz i am constantly thinking, what if its that house? Ha so ya as you can see tracting is something that i can do.  Sure its annoying when door after door people say they aren't interested.  I just want to say back to them, "Are you interested in your everlasting salvation???!!!!"

Well thats all i got in me this week.  I hope you enjoyed it.  This is hard work, im not gonna lie.  But there are those few moments each day, sometimes very very small, that just lets you know that this church is true, that God is in this work, and that He knows me.  This is what im supposed to do. 
I love you all very much and look forward to hearing from you again next week.  Keep being so amazing and worthy of all the blessings the Lord bestows upon you.  Don't forget about conference! watch/read a talk or two per week.  Have a good one!

Love,
Elder Brady Johnson