Wednesday, January 29, 2014

"Now Is the Time" - Hastening the Lord's work.

January 27, 2014 ----(Jeremy) Hi ----(Mom) Good Morning. What is your day like? I'm going to try and get to go to the dump today, for that is what our garbage service is. Meaning we do not have garbage pickup. And it is time, so we borrowed Jared's little truck "The Sexy Mex". ----(Jeremy) oh, that sounds like fun..... . So far our day has been pretty good, did some shopping and cleaning and now just relaxing by the computer, talking to my amazing parents ----(Mom) Great. It sounds like a good day and it is half over for you, and our day has barely begun. Are you going to go play some ball? So, is my amazing missionary son going to tell me more about face-book? ----(Jeremy) Na, today we are just going to relax and enjoy ourselves, we did have a pretty good workout today. And yes i will tell you more about facebook, i'm putting it into my weekly letter. But right now my companion is complaining that he is hungry so we are going to go get some food and come back, i'll let you know when i'm back. I love ya mommy ----(Jeremy) Well, Well looky here mom actually got on facebook, that's a first, never thought that would happen. Na i'm just messing with you. Facebooking for missionaries is pretty sweet, a lot of what we get to do is really amazing, we do post a lot of things on our pages so people can see, but we also do a lot of other things to. Right now i am teaching a couple people on facebook, i've joined some christians groups on facebook and have been posting and talking to people there, we also talk to our investigators on facebook to, and yes of course my wonderful mother is able to comment on things, i just can't talk to you, thats all. Oh and a couple of exciting things that are going on, on facebook right now, is that i have started talking to Whitney, and Justin(justin hall), haven't started teaching any major gospel stuff but that will come. Thought i have bore my testimony to Whitney and So how has my week gone, well like always it has just flown by so so fast. 2 weeks ago only 8 missionaries got ipads, and just this past week all the leaders got ipads, soon on the first of febuary all the missionaries in our mission will have then, kinda exciting but i here that right now they are a pain. As for the weather there is has been interesting. For the past 2-3 weeks it has been going for hot to cold, there will be a couple days where the temp. is in the 70s 80s and then there will be a couple days where it's in the 30s 40s, no inbetweens and when it's cold i mean it is freezing, with the humidity out here the cold gets to the bone and hurts like no other. But right now it is once again warm and i am rocking my shorts and flip flops, oh ya. Now as for missionary work, things have been going pretty good, we have our good days and our slow days but all in all it is going well. Chelsie our investigator with a batismal date is getting baptized on the 15th, and her whole family is going to be there, it is going to be really exciting. Lately we have been getting a lot of media referrals where people go onto lds.org or something and ask for missionaries to visit. Normally your lucky to get one a months but we have been gotten 4 or 5 in just these past 2 weeks, the Lord is really hastening his work, this area which was once dead, in now starting to pick up, not just for missionaries but for members also. Members in our ward have really picked things up and are talking to others, they are reading the book "Power of the everyday Missionary"( which you should really read, it's really good) and they are doing what it says, we are having less-actives start coming back, members inviting their friends, it's just amazing to see. The Church right now is really focusing on "NOW IS THE TIME" and i really believe it, things are happening and the lords words is being spread like no other. We just need to hop on the ban wagon and do our part in helping others come closer to our Heavenly Father. Our stake has set a goal to double it's size in order to get a jacksonville temple which is highly likely. Members are praying for a missionary opportunity and they are getting them. I strongly encourage you to do the same, to read the Power of the Everyday Missionary and to pray for opportunities and i promise that they will happen. It is just so easy. Members aren't there to help the missionaries, Missionaries are there to help the members, and it is such a beautiful sight to see. I am so glade to be out here serving a mission right now, and just seeing so many miracles happen, it is truly an amazing thing. I love you all so much and am so grateful for all that you do for me. Enjoy the cold weather, Love, Elder Jeremy Johnson ----(Mom) "I love you to, Jeremy."

Working Hard & Having Fun

January 20, 2013 So this past week has just flown by, it feels like it was just pday yesterday. So much has happened. We have been working hard and having a lot of fun at the same time. This week has just been full of service. One day we had district meeting and afterwards the whole distrtict all went to a members house and painted their house for them, lately we have been doing a lot so service and for some reason i get stuck doing all the cutting in which sucks. Also this week we have help a guy move a piano which was a little hard to do but we got it done. Then also this past week we have had a huge blessing happened. I already told you about how we are teaching this girl who already has a testimony of the book of mormon. Well we wen't back and taught her the plan of salvation last night and had an amazing lesson with her. She is one who has been prepared her whole life for this moment, she has accepted a baptismal date for the 9th of febuary. She has been attending the singles ward for this past month and will continue going there. Yesterday for church our mission president and the stake president were both there and they taught 3rd hour really hitting on missionary work. This ward is already starting to kick it into action and they are all ready to go out and be member missionaries. As for P-day today, we had a huge district breakfast and then afterwards meet up with the rest of the zone and had a big zone p-day at the stake center. We played a lot of basketball and did some volleyball there to. I have to say that i enjoy playing in sand pits better than in the church. Well thats all folks, love reading your letters and hearing whats going on. I love you all so much.

Painting

Januaru 13,2013 Well, not much to say this week. It has flown by once again, but for some reason when mondays come around i can't remember what all happened. So lets see for the whole week we had the sisters car because Greenlaw had injured himself and i have to say it felt so good to be driving again, we gave back their can yesterday, and now we are on bikes again which sucks. Oh and also this week we did a lot of service, we helped a food pantry down here paint their walls, ended being there for a lot longer than we thought, but it was still fun, i got paint all over myself and by the end my arms were so sore, they had me do all the trim work and Greenlaw got to use the roller the whole time. As for missionary work we were able to go out with a members and see some really interesting people, one just wanted to bash with us the whole time but was holding back because she wants us to come back again. It will be interesting to see how that goes. Oh and one of the families out here has a friend that they want us to start teaching, she already has a testimony of the book of mormon so things will go really good with her. Well i really can't think of much else to say, today we are going to St. Augustine and playing some volleyball again, so that will be fun. We'll i love ya all so much. Love, Jeremy

A Car Again

January 7,2014 We'll i'm not quite sure what to really say this week. I feel like lots has happened but i can't think of anything. This past week has been kinda tough, not much really went our way, appointments got canceled things fell through, it was just one of those weeks. But some interesting things have happened. Earlier this week We were playing some basketball with a couple of kids and of course Elder Greenlaw ended up hurting himself, he tried to pull some fancy moves and twisted his ankle, got a pretty bad sprain. He had to use crutches for a couple of days. Now he is off them but still has a really good limp. Oh Sunday the sister missionaries gave us a ride to church because he was on crutches and then they even offered to let us use their car for a week, we tried saying no at first but then they kept insisting so we took their car. The sisters have really changed and are really nice now, don't know what happened but these past couple weeks we have been getting along really good. Anyway so now I get to drive a car which i haven't done in like 6 months, it felt so wierd at first but now it feels so right. It's going to stink having to give it back at the end of the week. Now the other exciting news that happened this week was transfers. Elder Greenlaw and i both thought that i would probably be getting transferred, but last night we had the big mission wide conference call and we are both staying in this area. Pretty exciting!!! This is going to be an awesome transfer we feel like we have so much going for us here in this area. I am excited to see what happens. Well that about it for this week. I love you all so much.

The Work Progresses Onward

December 30, 2013 Well this week has really been exciting. Not quite sure what to say seeing as i already talked to y'all on christmas. Christmas was sure wonderful, i loved talking to my amazing family and hearing how things are going. After i finished talking to y'all we went over to the Mullins for christmas dinner. It was pretty good, we had a ton of mexican food and they did a good job on it. As for the rest of the week not much really happened. Elder Greenlaw was pretty sick for most of the time so we couldn't do much but we did get out a bit. The sisters in our ward had a baptism on saturday, they baptized an 11 year old girl, oh and on a side note, Brannon the one we baptized earlier his girlfriend who at first didn't wanted anything to do with the church at all surprised him and meet with sister missionaries and now has a baptismal date and Brannon is going to baptize her. Pretty cool. Oh and on sunday we had a miracle. One of our investigators Daphne who is pretty solid about two weeks ago we had to give her over to the sisters because her fiance was getting really jealous and giving her a hard time, so we decided that it would be best for the sisters to start seeing her. Well they haven't been able to go over yet and on sunday Daphne came to church and stayed for all 3 hours, she said that she loved it and was for sure going to come back next sunday. She also told us that she broke things off with her fiance because he was just giving her to much of a hard time and she didn't like it. She is so ready to get baptized, this week we are going to set a date with her and her kids. Well thats about it for the week. I loved talking to you all on christmas. Love Elder Jeremy Johnson P.S. The reason why were are late in writting is because we were hanging out with some others earlier playing ping pong and what not. But now i here. Greenlaw is getting better, i haven't got sick yet but he has gotten lots of others sick. There is a really bad virus going around right now. Sounds like loki is just following in jareds footsteps in being a little trouble maker. P.S.S. Hey i'm not sick yet!!!! And as for ping pong, members heard that we had that minny one that Laura gave me, so they gave us a actually net and paddle and we made our own geto table which actually looks pretty sweet. And sad to say no i'm not the best at it. I'm still far from it, my companion woops me every time

Packages Arrived

December 23, 2013 Well I thought that i should write you a letter even though i will be talking to you in two days. So it will be a short letter as i also don't have much time. We are going to st. Augustine to play some volleyball with some other elders and will be there all day. First off i am not sure yet when i will be able to talk to you on christmas. We have breakfast with a family at 8 and will be there for a while but they're leaving before lunch to go see their relatives, and we also have a family for dinner. We are trying to find someone for during the day. So i will be able to talk during one of those times. It might have to be in the morning though. But i will figure it out and might message anna-marie on facebook and let her or someone know tomorrow. Well as for how this season has been going so far, it has been going pretty good. These past two weeks have flown by so fast, it's crazy to think christmas is in a couple days. I have gotten two packages so far. One from clifton with a couple gifts and a ton of salt water taffy which is just amazing. Everyone is in love with it. And i also got the package from Laura and it is so amazing i love her for it, 12 days of christmas, brings excitement to me every night when i get to open a new gift, and each one is awesome. Now as for having christmas in florida, it's not all it's cracked up to be. I'm still rocking shorts and flip flops and we are playing sand volleyball today in 80 degree weather. I miss the snow so bad, it's just not the same without it. Well thats about it i will tell you more on christmas and can't wait until i get to talk to my family. I am so excited. Hopefully you get skype worked out otherwise i will be happy just to talk to you. Love you so much Elder Jeremy Johnson

Gator Head

December 16, 2013 Gators

"A bunch of Gator Heads"
Elder Greenlaw, Elder Jeremy J with their gators.


"Saw a gator while biking today."

Gator Sighting



"My Gator Head"
Bought in St. Augustine


Brannon Baptism

December 16, 2013 Brannon's Baptism, Christmas Party
Baptism
Elder Johnson, Brannon, Elder Greenlaw

Baptism.  Brannon and his parents and us.

Ward Christmas Party 2013
Us with Santa and the Sisters


Monday, January 27, 2014

Brannon - Baptism

December 16, 2013 So how has my week been you might ask. Well it has been really crazy. It flew by so fast, by far the fastest week we have had in a long time. I feel like i was just barely writting you. Well lets see what has happened. Lets start all the way back on last p-day. That night we ended up playing some basketball at the church with Marcus an 14 year old boy we have been teaching we also had the Todds a family in the ward that are really good friends with him come. It was a lot of fun, been a while since i played some ball, didn't think i still had it in me, guess i do. I can even some what dunk. By in high school i use to be able to dunk a nerf ball, but once i gratuated that all stopped, but now i can almost dunk a real basketball. I touch rim and all and bring the ball up, just cant get it into the hoop, tonight we are playing again so i will make sure i still got it in me. Then Tuesday, tuesday was a busy day we taught a total of 5 investigator lessons which is really hard for us to do in one day. Most of it happened when we went out with member on splits that night, It was an all around good day, and lots happened. Then Wednesday came around and we went on trade off with the district leader. I went to St. Johns with his companion Elder Lewis and not much really happened that night, the only funny thing that happened was that he got hit on by a couple 13 year old girls. Other than that, that was about it. Now for the exciting part of the week. When thursday rolled around we had our mission Christmas party, which was a lot of fun. Every zone was told to do a talent and needless to say ours was the worst, some elder in our zone wanted to sing O come o come emmanuel, which went really bad, and all the others zones did funny skits, after that we had dinner and had a musical devotional with scripture readings it was very nice. At the end before we left we got a bunch of little christmas gifts, and a mission pin that you pin on your suite, except we are suppose to wear them until we get home. I even magically got some letters from my lovely family back home and if i remember right i believe that there was one from Laura in there. I really did love them and there were wonderful to read. After that Friday came around, that night a family took us to St. Augustine to see the Christmas lights. We took a trolley around town and got to wear 3D glasses on the was, pretty cool, but not as amazing as Salt Lake. While we were there we walked around the main street and ended up getting some gator heads. There pretty cool. Only $10, not bad. Then after all that the big day finally came. Saturday was a completely fun day. We were at the church all day long. Having to fill the font for the baptism. So Brannon Mullins finally got baptized, it was so wonderful to see a blessing like that happen. Elder Greenlaw did that baptism and i witnessed with Bro. Barker. Greenlaw almost dropped him to, seeing as how the man is 6'3" and 320 pounds, and it was the first time he preformed the baptism. But it all went well. And on sunday i gave him the Holy Ghost and i have to say i was scared, i have never done it before and especially in front of a whole congregation. But it went really good and was wonderful. Oh and also that day we got a new bishopbric so things will be kinda interesting to see how they go. Oh and i almost forgot Saturday night after the baptism we had to stay at the church for a wedding to. The wedding was for Rick and Sarah. Rick was the man we baptized when i first came into the area. The wedding was really nice and the reception was done really good. The only hard part was when they started playing music and dancing. We wanted so bad to go up there and join them but couldn't. We felt like those akward kids that stand on the side and watch. But oh well it was still a lot of fun and it was an amazing week. Well Thats about it i hope you are all having a fun holiday season and things are going good. Try not to get into to much trouble. Love Elder Jeremy Johnson

I Made Shrimp

December 9, 2013 Hey Hey Hey, hows it going. Sounds like the Northwest is going to be having a cold snowy year. After the last couple years of warm weather. I hear that Utah got a ton of snow and you all have a little going on to. That's one of the big things that i am missing this winter. And hey mom you made popcorn balls. Don't you know the rules about that you are suppose to send me some too, What's up with that? Well as my parents are freezing there little bums off typing me i am in a nice 80 degree weather here writing them back. And to my surprise i got on to my emails with a ton of letters from mom sitting there. I'm surprised that she actually loves me enough to write me that much . It really is good to hear from you all. I just can't wait to hear from Laura. If there is one thing that i want for christmas it is to have my big sister finally write me a letter out here. And hey i think that might actually happen. Now as for my week. This week has really flown by, it feels like it was just Pday the other day and now it is back again. Now as for what i did. Well it included a lot of teaching and a lot and a lot of missionary work. This week we also did a lot of service. On monday night we were with a family and helped them decorate there christmas tree. And hey while we were there i even made shrimp all by myself, okay i was told what to do the whole time what to do. But it was still cool. Then this week we helped one of our investigators Daphne paint here garage and we also helped the Taylors put up christmas lights onto there house. Now you can see pictures of this if you go on facebook and look at my pictures they might not be up right away put soon will be. I'm not the one putting them there others are. We had our ward christmas party this week also, which was really good. We took pictures with santa which are going to be on facebook also. Hey i actually don't think i am friends with mom on facebook what is up with that? So exciting news Brannons baptism is this saturday and it is going to be so amazing. I get to give him the Holy ghost the following sunday, which i am kinda nervous about and that same sunday the whole stake presidency will be there also. We are getting a new bishopbric and i am in the choir and we will be singing that sunday to. It is going to be so crazy. Well thats about it, i have been writting in my journal this week 4 days in a row, which i have never done before. I am trying to get better at it but its hard to write in your journal. Well i love you all.

Memories, Miracles, Testimonies

December 2, 2013 Alright then lets see what has been going on. It sounds like you all are having a lot of fun. For some reason though i thought Mom would be writing me longer letters than Dad, but oh well i see how it is. So you have your christmas tree up, we do to, except ours is only a foot and a half with hardly anything on it. But it's weird out here they say it's winter but it doesn't feel like it, there isn't any snow out so there's no way it can be winter. Right now i am wearing shorts and sandals and it is December. There is something wrong with that. All the Floridians are wearing jackets and sweaters and all the missionaries are still wearing short sleeve shirts. Well this past week has been pretty interesting, we had an amazing thanksgiving. We played turkey bowl in the morning and got beat up a little then we hung out with families and had a couple dinners. I have to say though while we were at our bishops place it was all of his family and the Sister missionaries and us and all of us missionaries did get a little homesick, they were going around saying what they are thankful for and it just overloaded us with memories. But all in all it was a good thanksgiving. Then We also had a couple miracles happen. On Saturday we were riding our bikes down to Green Cove to do some work and on the way down there Greenlaw got a flat tire. So we were going to have to walk 2 miles to a members place that could help us, but a guy in a truck pulled over and helped us out, he took us to Wallmart and on the drive there we got talking. Turns out he has been around mormons his whole live and right now he was getting a little interested in what we were all about. just a little while ago he started looking through the book of mormon. So needless to say that was a big miracle, we got his address and and going to go see him some time soon. As for our other miracle is was yesterday at church. We had an amazing church service. We had 3 investigators there. But the best part was the testimony meeting. During it Elder Greenlaw and i both went up and bore our testimonies and then after that our investigator Brannon who is going to be getting baptized soon went up and bore his testimony. It was so powerful and amazing. He is deathly afraid of public speaking and his testimony was so powerful. Then on top of that we had a guy just show up to church come over to us and told us he wanted to know more. It was truly an amazing day. So that is pretty much how our week went. The sister missionaries are getting on our nerves though. Brannon our most solid investigator they are trying to teach now also for some reason. He has already had all the lessons so they are just going over there and reading. And they are going over there all the time. This past week we have been over to his place 3 time and they have been over there 5. It crazy what there doing and if we try to say something to them they get all upset. It's just frustrating some of the things that they do. But all is well, so i guess there isn't much we can do about it. I love you all. Elder Jeremy Johnson

I'm loving it here.

November 26, 2013 Another week has yet gone by and you would believe it but i am loving it here. Who knew a mission could be so much fun. Na we really are having a good time though and the work is going really good to. It sounds like things are going good back home to. Anna-Marie is still having sleep overs just like a little kid and Laura is still ignoring me. Same old same old. I really am glad though to see that you all are having a good time. But i do feel sorry for Dad, you all just shove him in the back corner of the house where there is no heat. What is up with that? But enough about you. What about me? Everything is always about me right!!!! Now what has Elder Johnson been up to. Well he has been doing alot and alot of missionary work. And things have been going really good. Brannon this week accept a baptism date for the 14th of December. He is so ready he came to church the other day and fit in so well. It was like he was already a member, cracking jokes with everyone in elders quorum. He asked Elder Greenlaw to baptize him and me to give him the Holy Ghost, which i've never done before, it's going to be exciting. We have seen him almost every day this past week and they are even going to have us over for Thanksgiving dinner. Thanksgiving is going to be pretty good out here. we have a couple dinners and turkey bowl in the morning. It's going to be fun. Oh and we have transfers this week found out last night that Greenlaw and i are going to be staying together. And i get to stay in this area for thanksgiving and christmas. Oh YA. Well thats about it. For some reason i can't think of anything else. I know we did a lot more this past week. But you know me you have to ask questions to get anything out. Remember I love you all

Sunday, January 26, 2014

Serving

November 2013 A Day of Serving  




The Elders are Ready to Serve
Let us Shine
Elder Johnson on far right.


That is one tall tree to prune.


The Elders giving service.  Lots of pruning.


All Done

Elder Jeremy Johnson
"Wylie Coyote makes another appearance."

Story Time

November 18, 2013 Where to start, Where to start. Well first mom had asked about that picture. It was just down by the St. Johns river. The bike trail that we take a lot has a little off branch that leads down to the river and that is what we found down by it. Not much wildlife though. There are tons of squirrels all around on the bike path. They like to jump at our tires and fly backwards, kinda funny to watch. We even say a gator this week. In was in a ditch between the road and sidewalk as we were biking, but we weren't able to get a picture because it hurried away into a drain pipe. But as for my week here it has been alright. Not much has really happened. We have had our ups and downs, but are still chug chugging along. On Wednesday we had another zone conference for some reason. But it was good, and really long at the same time. We had to show up at the building at 8 in the morning and didn't leave until almost 5. President and Sister Craig for the past couple of weeks have been telling all of us to get flu shoots, but no one has really been doing that. So they got a deal with someone to get us all free flu shots. So when we got to zone conference that had those who wanted to get flu shots, they encouraged every one to get one, and most did. I was talking with some friends while they were in line waiting to get there shots, and Sister Craig (our mission mom) was walking by and of course someone and to say something to here that i wasn't going to get one. So she pulled me aside and did what moms are best at and quilt tripped me into getting a shot, so needless to say i got one. As for the rest of zone conference it was pretty good. The same old, same old. As for the rest of the week not much really happened to be completely honest. I found out that i have bad luck with bikes. I got to flat tires this week. One on my companions bike, and one on mine. My whole mission i have just had bad luck with them. They just need to put me in a car and then there will be no more problems. As for our investigators, the one that we worked the most with this week was Brannon Mullins. I have already told you a little about him. At first he just wanted us to read the Book of Mormon with me and answer his questions. But this week he asked us to start teaching him the lessons. He even committed to come to church yesterday. But satan has really been working hard on him. He was unable to make it to church and ended up going to the E.R. for chest pains. That night we were able to visit him and give him a blessing. This week we have given a lot of Blessings, it is suck a neat experience to be apart of. So now i think that is about it. I love you all so much. have fun with loki and bonfires and mountain biking and whatever else it is you do.