Update from Elder Johnson–March 2017

Wednesday, March 8th

Hi everyone...  It has been a while. This last week and a half was AMAZING!    So we have had some great lessons with Dorian, Astrid, Albert, Eris, Denis and Jurgen. That along with a great Thursday fireside with the previous mission president, President Kinghorn, made for a great week, not to mention Stake Conference on Saturday and Sunday and Mission Conference on Monday. 

So Stake Conference and Mission Conference were amazing! Such great spiritual experiences. There were two different sessions of Stake Conference, but Tirana missionaries went to both sessions because we were in the choir. It was amazing. Elder Moriera of the Area Seventy came to both the stake conference and the mission conference. He was so cool and super funny. It was great. I learned so many amazing things. I wish I could share them all with you. The spirit was so strong and I love feeling the spirit. I know that this is God's church and His work. I love being here. 

The Skopje Macedonia Elders (Elder Wright and Elder Halverson) stayed at our house Sunday night, and the Vlore Albania Elders (Elder Lords and Elder Gardiner) stayed at our house Monday night and Tuesday night. So that was fun. There are some amazing missionaries in this mission. Elder Gardiner (from my MTC district) and I went on a short exchange to go to FHE with Përparim and Dorian while Elder Ingram and Elder Lords went to Denis' house. It was great to be with Elder Gardiner. He is awesome.

We having been finding and teaching more people, which has been great. One of our lessons was with a guy named Albert. He stands around waiting for work and does little jobs around Tirana. But, he tells us to go up to the place where he stands and teach him there, because he is literally there all day every day.  Yesterday we went to have a lesson with Albert and he was there at a lokale and it was pouring rain. We were about to start a lesson, when Përparim pulled up in his truck and saved the day. He drove us all to the church and we had a solid lesson and now Albert has accepted a baptismal date for the 15th. He thinks it will be hard to give up smoking, but that is his biggest concern. He is willing to meet and to try. We also had a solid lesson with Jurgen. He is Muslim. We had Kurs Anglisht afterwards. We meant to have a 5 minute spiritual thought before we started teaching English, but it ended up being a 50 minute spiritual thought, so that was awesome. They were happy to talk about the gospel and how we know what is true. We invited them to read and pray about the Book of Mormon. Then, we walked to Bujars house, had a quick discussion with him. He is less active because he works all the time. Then, on the way home, we talked to an awesome old man, who has lived and worked in Germany and Finland, and knew how to say a few cool things in German and Finnish. It was sweet. Then, we barely got home by 9:30.  It was close. It was a solid day.  The Hand of the Lord was evident.

Other random info... 

• It has gotten a lot warmer this week -- but cold enough to still wear my heavy coat. 
• We work out for 30 minutes in the morning. Usually, we wake up early and run down to the park in the center of Tirana with all the other Tirana missionaries and play Frisbee for an hour. It is fun and since I run hard, it's great exercise!
• Today we  went to the Tregu i Madh (The Big Market) ...a very Albanian place with many (like hundreds) of little tiny stores with clothes or shoes or ties or anything you could want.  We shop at SPAR or Big Market for our groceries. 
• For breakfast I usually have Raspberry Muesli (like a grain cereal) with milk and a Banana. 
• For lunch we have pilaf and fascule OR pasta of some kind OR peanut butter and honey on delicious Albanian bukë fshati i verdhë (yellow village bread?)
• We don't have dinner, normally we have some bread with jam or honey once we get home at 9.

Well, I know the church is true. God directs His work. I love the Book of Mormon and the truths it contains. It is amazing to be able to show people this great book. Read it! I love you all!  Elder Johnson

Monday, March 13th

Hi Everyone,   So first things first, I am being transferred to Berat, where Elder Benson was serving (MTC companion). Elder Benson is going to be transferred here as Zone Leader with Elder Samuel, and I am going to Berat with Elder Harris (from the other district of our MTC group) I am so excited. Elder Harris is a stud and it will be awesome to serve with him. We will work hard. I am so excited, honestly! But I will miss Tirana. It has been sweet to serve here. I have learned so much and made so many great friends. Elder Larsen and Elder Ingram were both amazing to serve with here in Tirana, and I imagine Elder Harris in Berat will be even better than I can imagine. (Fun fact: Elder Harris was trained by Elder Larsen) Berat basically sounds like an perfect little town in the midst of mountains and rivers and it is going to be beautiful. I am so excited. Also, Elder Ingram will be staying here and training. Elder Larsen is still in Lushnjë.

This week, the best teaching experience was going to Jurgen's house. He is an amazing member who was baptized a year ago, but missionaries have never been to his house, because his family is all muslim and they did not want to hear anything about Jesus Christ. (Jurgen's conversion story is amazing too.) But, we talked to Jurgen on Friday night and he said that he felt like he should talk to his family about us coming over for lunch the next day, and they said yes. He convinced his mom by pointing out that he himself would be leaving on a mission pretty soon, and she should know what we are like and what we do. So, we went and it was so great. It was so fun to talk to them. They were so nice. Jurgen's mom and 19-year-old sister were there. We had an amazing traditional Albanian lunch and talked about missionary life and Albanian traditions. It was awesome. She told us how hard it would be to not talk to her son for two years except by email. Mentioning that she would get to skype him four times did not help matters. ("Four times in two years?") But, I think she understands how important this is to him. Then, we closed with an invitation for them to pray to God that night. It was so great. Hopefully, at some point, maybe during Jurgen's mission, they will be touched and want to look further into the church. They are a great family. The spirit was so strong. 

I guess this must be pretty hard for you as well, mom. Thanks for letting me leave you to have the best experience for my life. It truly is an amazing blessing. I love it so much. I love studying the scriptures, and my patriarchal blessing, and finding scriptures related to my patriarchal blessing. Elder Moriera also suggested that one good study idea is to divide your patriarchal blessing into four: 1. Counsel, 2. Promises or Blessings, 3. Advice, 4. Correction. So I will be doing that this week.

I know that Jesus is the Christ and I love to testify of this. In Albania, many people believe he was just a prophet, but his mission was so much more than that. He suffered and died for us. So that he would understand us and be able to help us, So that we will be able to be resurrected and could be able to have eternal life. I testify this He lives and love us.  Love, Elder Johnson

Monday, March 20th

Hi everyone… I am doing SO GREAT. I love Berat.  It was actually hard to leave Tirana. I was ready to leave, but I was a little overwhelmed the first few days in Berat, probably just because it was so different. But, I got over it quick. Berat is the best. The members are sweet. The city is beautiful (if I can even call it a city) It is little, but it is amazing. It is as gorgeous as it looks in the pictures. 

It is a branch here. About 33 members total, active and less-active. Yesterday, we had 30 people in sacrament meeting, including investigators and missionaries. In Berat, there are two Elders (Elder Harris and I), two sisters (Motra Fullop and Motra Godfree (from my MTC group)), and a senior couple (The Dabells - the ones that are related to Brother Patterson - They finish their mission less than 3 weeks from now) And, that is our district. 

I took over for Elder Benson. They just baptized Neri right before I got here and he is awesome. Not a lot of investigators here now, but we are going to be working a lot with the branch, helping and strengthening them. Berat is very small, so I will get to know everyone really quick. It is so different from Tirana. It has been open for less time than Shkodër, (my first area) but is growing way faster. It is exciting stuff. 

Berat is a different place than Tirana, but I am loving it.  Less people, fewer stores, but more beautiful mountains and views everywhere you look.  And a lot more dust!  Elder Harris is a great companion. Everything is great. I love working with the branch members and all the great people of Berat.   I have been loving walking on street contacting on the boulevard. Beautiful.

Today we visited the Berat castle, and I loved it! I took about 80 pictures. It was so awesome. I always love seeing new castles. So cool. I think I am finally settled into this new environment and ready to really get down to business! 

I am really grateful for the opportunity I have to share the message of the Restoration. Elder Harris and I have been sharing the Restoration in 4 minutes, with EVERYONE. Every time we do it, the spirit is so strong. I love this message. Because of God's love for His children, He appeared with His Son, Jesus Christ, to Joseph Smith, to restore the true gospel and true church to the Earth. What a message! What a blessing! What a great opportunity I have to share this message with the people of Berat.

Love, Elder Johnson 

(I told Ryan that we had done a '100 Favorite Things' List in Beehives so he sent me his -- which is so fun to read so I thought I'd send it on...    --Lisa)

So here is my top 90 or so things because I couldn't think of any more (without listing every extended family member, every Book of Mormon character, every Christlike Attribute, and every Avengers movie... the list goes on)

FAVORITE THINGS: The Book of Mormon, Testifying, Jesus Christ, The Gospel of Jesus Christ, Përparim, Berat, Elder Harris, Tirana, Elder Ingram, Elder Larsen, Elder Samuel, Elder Benson, The Doctrine and Covenants, The Pearl of Great Price, The Bible, P-Day, After Eights, The Restoration, Joseph Smith Jr., Hyrum Smith (I am totally naming one of my son's Hyrum; wouldn't that be so sweet?), Walking, Albania, Albanian, Albanians, Personal Study, Peshkopi Dervishi, Heavenly Father, The Holy Ghost, Bukë, Bilardo and Ping-pong (Billiards and Ping-pong), Email, Neri (Baptized in Berat last Saturday; Awesome guy!), The Berat Castle (See the 100 pictures I sent you; you are welcome), Byrek (especially Bean Byrek in Tirana), Hymns, Praise to the Man, Tani Le të Gëzojmë (Now Let Us Rejoice), Waking up at 6, The Lamb of God (an amazing play that we listen to about the life of the Savior; it is amazing), Companion Study, Language Study, Dad, Mom, Katie, Emily, Megan, Luke, Matthew, Besimi, Shpresa, dhe Dashuria Hynjore (Faith, Hope, and Charity), The Atonement, Sight and Sound, my nametag, my life, My family, MTC, BYU, Captain America, Elder Moriera (The seventy that spoke to us the other week), Prayers, Praying for my family, Praying for my companion in every prayer (a mission rule), Praying for convert baptisms in every prayer (a mission rule for 2017), Unplanned Opportunities, Boldly Promising Blessings, Baptisms and Confirmations, President Weidmann (Mission President), Mysteak (awesome guy in Berat branch), President Xhindi (Branch president of Berat), Rigers (he is a stud in Berat), New Investigators, Pass-along cards, Whitney and Cash (newest niece and nephew), Shqiponja, Mini-restoration (Elder Harris and I have been working on sharing the Restoration message in 3 or 4 minutes and we call it the mini-restoration. It is always so powerful and does not take long. I love it.), The Power of the Priesthood, Muesli, 'Xhaxhi', 'Nëna's, Fasule, Sacrament Meeting, Sacrament, Listening to Albanian, Speaking Albanian, Understanding Albanian, Tomi and Ani (Two recent convert friends who are awesome), Football (The European kind), General Conference (I am so excited), President Thomas S. Monson, The hand of the Lord, Adventuring, Lord of the Rings, Egzon, Kaq (that's it)

I hope you enjoy that. I love you. Thanks for the email. Sounds like you had a great week. I love you and dad and all my siblings SO MUCH!

New Companion – Elder Harris

Views of the area as they drove from Tirana to Berat…

New apartment pictures…

View from his Berat apartment…

Berat and the Castle…

The University of Berat

Monday, March 27th

This was a great week.     We have had some sweet lessons with members, including home teaching, this week. Our home teaching companion is Ramazan Kanani. We just started a home teaching program in Berat this month, so we are included in the home teaching. We teach four individuals (we only have one family in Berat so far).

We had Kurs Anglisht on Tuesday and Thursday. We are thinking about stopping it though, because it is pretty rowdy. We might start a Bible Study Class or a Prince of Peace Class. We will see. 

We did a lot of tracting this week. We shared the Restoration dozens of times and hope that it will pay off soon. We knocked on all the doors on the beautiful Berat hillside, and I felt like I was just walking through a European Dreamland. The view, the cobblestone, the houses, the people, It was amazing!

The real fun stuff was Saturday and Sunday, when President Weimann visited Berat. We had our interviews, which are always great spiritual experiences. We also had a little fireside, where President introduced us to the new Easter Initiative. It is focused on Jesus Christ as the Prince of Peace, and it is so amazing. There will be an amazing video coming out on Friday. We got new pass-along cards and everything. We are looking forward to using it in EVERYTHING. Another fun thing was, in church yesterday, I got to translate for President yesterday as he taught the Youth about being reverent in church and respecting their leaders. 

Today, we did some solid house cleaning, visited some cool ruins (on the same mountain as the castle from last week, but not connected to it.) It was fun. We walked up a cool path and talked to some old Albanians, who led us through their yards to help us to get their. It was awesome! I bet no one else ever visits those ruins. I love exploring this amazing old small city!

Well, I love you all! I read this scripture that describes perfectly how we should try to be.    Mosiah 5:2 - And they all cried with one voice, saying: Yea, we believe all the words which thou hast spoken unto us; and also, we know of their surety and truth, because of the Spirit of the Lord Omnipotent, which has wrought a mighty change in us, or in our hearts, that we have no more disposition to do evil, but to do good continually.

The people of King Benjamin were so faithful. This mighty change is a gift from God. We need to ask Heavenly Father for this blessing. I testify that God will grant us this mighty change of heart. As we approach Conference Weekend, listen like the people of King Benjamin listened. Have an open heart, so that it can be changed. Write down ways you can improve yourself, and have more peace in your live through the Savior, through obedience to His laws, and through His love. I love my Savior, my Prince of Peace. In the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.           Elder Johnson