Update from Elder Johnson–April 2017
Monday, April 3rd
Hi everyone -- This week was a great week. This week was focused on our branch members. On Friday, We had a special Easter Feast to watch the Prince of Peace video and get excited to experience (and hopefully share with others) peace. With that, we made some amazing invitations for everyone in the branch and took them to everyone's house. It was very well-organized and such a fun time with the members. On Saturday, we had a branch activity going up to the canyon about 2 hours from Berat. Both of those were amazing and successful experiences. It was a pleasure to be a part of it. I think we especially saw the reward on Sunday, when many of our less active members and the sister's investigators came to church. The Branch is surely doing good, and we hope that they will be happy to share this gospel with others. This Friday, we will be having a fireside and inviting everyone we meet to come. Though we are short on investigators currently, (why does it seem like that is always the case?) we are working hard to find more investigators, and help them experience the peace and happiness we have every day here serving the Lord. I love my life.
I am so excited to watch General Conference and to feast on the words of the living prophets, seers, and revelators of God. We are going to be using Lunch and Comp Study time to watch General Conference in English throughout this week, and then, on Saturday and Sunday, we will be watching it with the branch në Shqip. I am so excited!
Elder Harris is doing really great. I love serving with him. He cracks me up. We have some good times, and we work hard. I can tell success is just around the corner. Avash, Avash.
Mexico sounds awesome. Keep doing fun things. You are all in my prayers. I love you.
Well, I sure love reading the Book of Mormon. I have recently been reading Mosiah and Alma, and I love all the epic war, missionary, and adventure stories found therein. Missionaries meeting up. God leading people out of bondage and lightening their burdens. People falling to the earth for joy. People falling to the earth for real. People contending with Anti-christs and speaking with new investigators. I love every verse! Not only are they amazing stories, but I know that they are true. That they actually happened, and that we can learn so much about the mercy and love of God, and the sacrifice of His Son, Jesus Christ. I echo the promise of President Monson of the need and the many benefits of daily sincere study of the Book of Mormon. I love our prophet and know that he is the prophet, and that his words are inspired for our needs. What blessings await us as we follow our prophet's counsel. I love the Lord and I love working in His vineyard! Love, Elder Johnson
The Easter Feast – Prince of Peace
Branch Activity to the Canyons…
Monday, April 10th
Well, first things first. I am so happy that Mark got his mission call. He is an amazing young man, and will be an even better missionary. Latvia will never be the same.
This was a great week. Highlights of the week were definitely watching General Conference in Shqip Saturday and Sunday, and doing a special Easter fireside on Friday. The spirit was incredible in both. I loved hearing from the prophets of God. I was so glad to be able to understand it, at least compared to our first General Conference on our second Sunday in Albania. The Easter Fireside was a complete success. Only members came. One Less Active came, Leo, one of the first members in Berat. It was amazing to see him come back and he felt the spirit strongly. I hope he comes to church again. He needs the sanctifying influence of the Sacrament in his life, which influence comes from Christ.
Elder Harris and I will also be using any free time we have this week (meaning between 9 and 10 at night) to watch it again in English. I love hearing the prophets speak. They truly are inspired and I learn from every talk. It is incredible.
Today, we went to the castle for a bit to find a gift for the Dabells, the Senior couple who are leaving on Tuesday and flying back to America. That is crazy. They have been such a support for Berat and we will miss them a lot, until the next senior couple gets here next month to replace them. Then, we played some Monopoly and Motra Godfrey killed us. Fun stuff.
Jesus Christ is The God of Nature (1 Nephi 19: ) This is so powerful to me because, while He is my Savior, He is also the Creator of the earth and all things that in them are. He did it for us. I find a lot of peace thinking about Christ's love for us. We live in a beautiful world. Berat is especially beautiful, and I will be endlessly grateful for the opportunity I have to serve here. I know that Jesus Christ, the God of Nature, knows your personal situations, and will help you find peace IN your situations, not necessarily FROM your situations. God is so powerful and wise. and So loving! In the name of Jesus Christ Amen. Love, Elder Johnson
I love these pictures! Taken from the Sister missionaries who saw Elder Johnson and Elder Harris on the streets below their apartment.
Monday, April 17th
Hi everyone. Jesus Christ truly is the Prince of Peace. I hope you are feeling His peace. It is incredible. I love my life. The work is going great. Yesterday especially was a great day. I love the feeling of peace that comes from doing your best and truly being guided by the spirit. We got 2 new investigators this week, and 1 today. Such a blessing. The first two (Lavdimirë and Haxhi) are in their 50's, but are open to learn and thinking about faith. They are also free often, we think. The one from today (Edmond) is younger, 45. This was our second lesson with him. He had some great questions for us today, that we were able to answer. My favorite question was when he asked sincerely, 'I don't do anything bad. Is that enough or is there a better way?' We explained that yes, there is a better way. There are ordinances such as baptism, that we must do to come closer to God and Christ. The Book of Mormon explains the road and God will provide a way to keep the commandments he has given.
The Prince of Peace activities were incredible. Yesterday, I spoke in church and it was incredible to be able to testify of Christ. I focused on Christ's conversation with Peter, "Pjetër, A më do ti mua?" (Peter, do you love me?) I took inspiration from my favorite talk of all time. Elder Holland's The First Great Commandment. It hits me with the spirit every time. It is powerful and listening to it makes me want to leave my fishes and serve my God. It is incredible. I have been blessed with so many moments of incredible peace this month. How blessed are we to live in this incredible world.
On Tuesday, we had a Zone Conference. What a blessing. The AP's invited us to rely on Christ to go the extra mile. I thought of Coach Corley from my High School soccer. He said '3 inches.' In soccer, 3 inches makes all the difference. Between a goal and a miss, out of bounds and in bounds, win or loss. I know that when we make that little extra effort, 3 inches, and then rely on Christ, He will take us the extra mile. What a blessing.
On Friday, Adiol, a member who has been living in Gjirokaster moved back here, and we met with him yesterday. Great guy. Hope to see him in church. Kismet. On Saturday, we had another Branch activity playing soccer. So fun. Leo, less active, came. It was so great.
Today, we didn't do much. Just haircuts and walking around beautiful Berat and a few chores. And talking about our amazing families.
Well, Jesus Christ is the Prince of Peace. May you all search for and be blessed by His peace. We will all be resurrected and can be perfected in Christ. What amazing knowledge. I will one day meet my incredible grandfather again. And my perfect Savior, Jesus Christ. I love you all. Elder Xhansën
South Mission Conference
Branch Activity playing soccer
Love this one Elder Harris took and sent. Elder Johnson tracting in Albania.
Monday, April 24th
So good to hear from you. I love you. Thank you for your emails and for reminding dad.
Classic Megan. I am so glad she loves soccer.
Classic Katie. Thanks for keeping me updated. Landon?... I don't know about that one. None of the guys I know are worthy of Katie.
Saturday hail snow sounds like classic Colorado.
Classic Emily. I am so glad she is finding joy doing some of those simple things.
Temple is SUPER IMPORTANT. I have really seen that especially because we don't have one really close. The closest one is in Switzerland, until Rome is done. Three of our youth just left on a temple trip. They left yesterday and will get back next week. Such a blessing. We are always praying that members will be able to go get their endowments and sealings. That is a huge and important step. And, of course it is important to go back. I have also made a personal goal to go to the temple at the very least once every calendar month. (By the way, we have been planning that after my mission, we have to go to Berat for a few days, and then stop in Rome, Italy on the way home.)
I love you so much. Thank you for being awesome Oh one other thing. I showed the sisters some family pictures. They loved them and also, They told me to tell you that you look like you are 25. When they first looked at the first one, they said, "Where is the mom in this picture?" When I pointed you out, they were shocked. On a later occasion, I showed them the instagram book. Motra Godfrey read the note in the front and said "her handwriting is as cute as she is." So, You are amazing, and I have an amazing family. I love you all, and I love showing you to others because they all love you too.
I am doing so great. I am loving life and feel so blessed to be able to serve as a missionary. I see the blessings coming my way, and I hope I am also having a great impact on the lives of others. The branch is doing incredible. They are such amazing people. In fact, three of the youth (Irini, Aglent, and Ambra) left yesterday on a trip to the temple in Switzerland. That was exciting for us. I miss the temple. President Xhindi is the most amazing person I have ever met. He has had quite a hard Albanian life. But, I respect him so much. He is a great leader and just a fun guy. I love all the members here so much. We really help them a lot. Our recent converts, Tomi, Ani, Albrit, Mario, and Neri all need our support and help. They are ages 16-23. We are trying to meet with each at least once a week. They all have their quirks, but are all great kids. We also help the branch with home teaching. We are comps with Ramazan, an older villager in the ward, and home teach 4 different people, including Tomi and his sister Stela.
One day, President Xhindi told us his life story and conversion story. President lived in Italy for 6 years and found the church there. Now, he is back and leading the young church in Berat. It gave some insights into him and Albanian history. These people have had it hard. They have suffered a lot. He kept telling us how privileged we are to be serving here. He said we wil will be blessed exceedingly because we are helping these people who have gone through more than any other people. They honestly probably have had the hardest lives of anyone in the world. They had faith banned during their time, a long time, under communism. They were cut off completely. Their history and culture makes missionary work a lot harder. But, they need this hope and joy more than anyone else.
We have had lots of rain recently. But it is short-sleeve season. We haven't really been able to take advantage of that until today. It is so beautiful all the time in Berat. Such a blessing.
As for investigators, President Xhindi came with us and we met with Gazmet on the road. We had a great conversation. He has potential, but only if he will read the Book of Mormon and pray. We are no longer teaching him, but I hope that he reads it sometime. We will probably check up on him. We don't have a lot of investigators right now, but Edmond said he will read the Book of Mormon and call us when he has time. and we have one investigator who is in Durrës right now.
We had a sweet volleyball activity on Saturday and today, we saw some cool mosques.
Also, I saw fireflies yesterday. That was awesome. They are starting to come out with the warm weather.
Jesus Christ is the Savior. I know it is true. Well, I am out of time, so Love you all. Until next week. Elder Johnson
