Mom, I love you! This last week was spectacular. Later at night we tracted into this 45 year old lady. She was disabled (b/c her spine had not been connected to her tailbone and her top half was separating from her bottom and she had surgery to fix it, but now she can't really work) and said she'd spoken with missionaries before but had stopped because they wouldn't give her a straight answer about anything, so she was a little hesitant to sit down with us. Turned out she just had simple questions like, is there any evidence at all of Book of Mormon times and people, and where the gold plates are now. So we discussed it for a minute and then spent some time discussing faith and the restoration. The other missionaries (way back in 2002) had never taught her the restoration! We went over it briefly and discussed the apostasy and emailed her the timing of the restoration talk. She's going to get baptized. I know it. We also taught Edward! We Tracted into him a few weeks ago and after talking for a bit and he said he wasn't really interested til the spirit convinced him to meet with us. It fell through and weeks later, now, we randomly swung by and they let us in! Turns out his girlfriend is a less active member that wants to start going back to church. And she's been trying to get him to come for a while. We talked with them about what life would be like as members of the church and tried to teach the restoration. It was really frustrating. The spirit wasn't there for a number of reasons. Ah well. I have a testimony of tracting! The Lord is ready and willing to put his prepared children in the path of his prepared servants, that are out doing their best to find the Lords elect! I love this church! IT!!! IS!!!! TRUE!!!!! The only true church on the whole earth. I love the gospel. It is the only way we can return to our Father in Heaven. I love you all!

Elder H. Johnson

So, this will be my last time writing everyone as a full time missionary and representative of Jesus Christ. I'm sorry I haven't emailed everyone as much as I should've. Time just flies. Let me just leave you with my simple testimony. Jesus Christ is the Savior and Redeemer of the world. He is a glorified and resurrected being, and stands at the head of His church. Joseph Smith was the prophet foreordained before the creation of the world to restore the gospel to the earth. I know these things for myself, independent from any other person. I love you all!

Elder Johnson

Sounds like a good last fast and testimony meeting! That's awesome K got her patriarchal blessing, I'm sure she enjoyed it thoroughly! One of the greatest blessings on my mission has been seeing all the miracles on your guys's end! Being with elder R is very much like parenting I imagine. I think you did an excellent job dad, I've applied many of your tactics. :) I know the house thing will work out. All there's got to do is trust the lord and move forward with faith! How much is left to be paid off on the house in Virginia, just out of curiosity?

Do you know if the Bishop wants to speak on anything in particular? I've got plenty of things I'd like to say, but I know mission farewells and homecomings aren't supposed to be monopolized by the missionary kind of thing. If he's fine with me talking about whatever, fantastic, but if he's got something he wants me to speak on let me know! Thanks for the heads up in case you're not able to write. Elder R is not making any progress at all. It is very frustrating. I told President he needs to go home. I'm glad you enjoyed the talk! It's one of my favorites. Your hair is turning all white! What's up with that?!

 

This week we talked to a couple of girls arguing outside one of their houses. They were fighting because one had been strangling the other one. One went inside and we talked with the other one outside, then some loud banging a inside made the one we were talking to run inside and there were lots of screams and fighting from which we learned they were......a couple. And we almost broke the door down and ran inside to break them up, we thought someone was going to die. There was also a corn festival and a parade. So much corn! To polish it off, a lady ran out after us Saturday night after we knocked on her door and yelled at us about how horrible we were. It was pretty funny! Good stuff! Love you tons!

Elder Johnson

top picture Elder Johnson and Elder D

Bottom picture Elder R and Elder K.  (R is one of Hunter's companions)

I wrote this up two days ago for one of our investigators that tried to find the Book of Mormon on spark notes website. So I wrote one up for them!

Spark Notes on the Book of Mormon!

1 Nephi - 600 B.C. - 570 B.C.

Nephi and his family live in Jerusalem. Nephi has 3 brothers, Laman, Lemuel, and Sam. He also has at least 2 sisters. Nephi's father, Lehi, is a prophet (along with Jeremiah at the time) and the people want to kill him because he said they were wrong, they needed to repent, and God would destroy them if they didn't. Because they wanted to kill him God told them to leave. They left, and Nephi and his brothers went back 2 different times. The first time, to get the plates of brass which was basically a bunch of the Old Testament, and the second time, to bring another family with them so they could have wives. Laman and Lemuel try to kill him a few times. After a while, they come to the Ocean. Nephi builds a ship and they cross the ocean and come to 'the promised land'........the Americas! Significant events in this book are the vision of the tree of life and a sermon by Nephi explaining it to his brothers. Lehi also has 2 more sons while they are traveling.

2 Nephi - 588 B.C. - 545 B.C

Lehi is dying, so he blesses his children and gives them Admonitions and warnings. After he dies, Lamanand Lemuel plan to kill Nephi, so Nephi and everyone else that obeys the Lord run away! Nephi and those with him are called Nephites (the righteous ones). Laman, Lemuel, and everyone that followed them are called Lamanites (the wicked ones). There aren't many significant events in this book. Most of it is many doctrinally rich sermons given by both Nephi and his younger brother Jacob about the coming and mission of Jesus Christ, the Atonement, and Plan of Salvation. 

Jacob - 544 B.C. - 421 B.C.

Jacob is mostly a bunch of sermons Jacob gives. He gives a sermon on chastity, keeping the commandments of God and living righteously, and gives the allegory of the olive tree, which is comparison/allusion between an olive tree and the house of Israel. It is very good. A man comes denying the Christ, and is smitten by the power of God.

Enos - 420 B.C.

Enos is Jacobs son. He's out hunting and decides he needs to pray. He spends a day and a night praying, is forgiven of his sins and obtains a promise from the lord that he will bring the gospel to the Lamanites in due time.

Jarom 399 B.C. - 361 B.C.

The Nephites keep and obey the law of Moses. The Lamanites attack them from time to time. He purpose of the Lamanites is to be a scourge to the Nephites to keep them remembering the Lord

Omni 323 B.C. - 130 B.C.

A number of people keep the records. Mosiah, a Nephite King, is warned to leave the land of Nephi (that's where they live), so they take a hike and come over to a place called Zarahemla where they discover a group of people known as the Mulekites, who came over to the Americas around the same time as Lehi from Jerusalem. The join together and Mosiah is king over them all. A group of people go back to the land of Nephi to see if they can still live there. King Mosiah dies, and his son King Benjamin becomes the new king.

Words of Mormon - 385 A.D.

Mormon, who is abridging the whole Nephite record puts in this little insert. At his time the Nephites have almost all been killed. He talks about how King Benjamin has a war with the Lamanites, and works really hard to teach his people to be righteous and keep the commandments.

Mosiah - Mosiah 8 - 130 B.C. - 121 B.C.

King Benjamin is dying, so he gives a sermon to his people. He teaches them to love one another, keep the commandments of God, and serve each other. He dies, and his son Mosiah is the new king. A guy named Ammon leads a search and rescue party out to find the group of people that had left to go to the land of Nephi (from the book of Omni). 

Mosiah 9 - Mosiah 29 - 200 B.C. - 91 B.C.

Zeniff was the leader of the people that went over to the land of Nephi. He makes a deal with the Lamanite King and he lets them live in the land. Zen if is the King over his people. After about 12 years the Lamanites come and attack them to bring them into slavery. They are repulsed. These battles carry on for some time. Senior dies, and his son Noah becomes the king. King Noah is wicked and his people follow his example. A prophet, Abinadi comes and tells him and his wicked priests to repent, and teaches them the Ten Commandments. One of the Priests, Alma, believes, and runs away before Noah can kill him. They burn Abinadi to death. Alma, the priest that believed and ran away, teaches the people in secret. King Noah finds out and goes to kill him, but he is warned by the Lord and he and the 450 people that he has taught run away into the wilderness and start their own little city. The Lamanites come to attack Noah's people again and because they are wicked, the Lord allows the Lamanites it's to take them captive. King Noah runs from them with many of the men. A lot of them are ticked that they left their families, so they burn Noah to death and are going to kill his wicked priests, but they run away. Noah's son, Limhi, rules over his people as a tributary monarch to the Lamanite King. They have to pay 50% of everything to the Lamanites or else they will be killed. They try to fight them off a few times but don't do too hot when they try that. When all hope seems lost, Ammon and the rescue party comes and they make a plan to escape. They get all the Lamanite guards drunk and go join Mosiah and his people in Zarahemla. Meanwhile, Alma and his little group of people get found by the Lamanite army that ran after Limhi. They're lost, so Alma tells them how to get back home and they enslave Alma and his people. After a while, the Lord delivers them and they also join King Mosiah's people. Mosiah translates an ancient record found by Limhi's people that gave a record of a people that came from the Tower of Babel to the Americas and were destroyed. Alma has a son named Alma and Mosiah has 4 sons named Ammon, Aaron, Omner, and Himni. The five of them go around causing trouble and destroying the church. An angel appears and shocks them. Alma is catatonic for 3 days and then gets up and tells everyone he's sorry and teaches about the Atonement. The 4 sons of Mosiah leave to go teach the gospel to the Lamanites. King Mosiah proposes that they have judges and Alma the younger is chosen as the first chief judge. Mosiah and Alma the elder die.

Alma 1 - Alma 16 - 91 B.C. - 77 B.C.

There's a guy named Nehor that tries to introduce priestcraft. He is executed. Alma gives up the judgement seat to a righteous guy named Nephihah and devotes himself to teaching the people. Most of these chapters are him teaching people. In the city of Ammonihah, he finds Amulek as a companion and they teach together. The people are very wicked and burn to death those that repent and believe Alma and Amulek. The Lamanites come and wipe out the city. There are many significant and doctrinally rich sermons and teachings in this section.

Alma 17 - Alma 63 - 91 B.C. - 52 B.C.

Ammon and his brothers go to teach the Lamanites. Ammon makes like a banana and splits, and becomes a servant of the Lamanite King, Lamoni. He defends the Kings flocks and singlehandedly repels a band of robbers, chopping off many of their arms in the process. He earns the trust and respect of the king and teaches him, his household, and the people. Almost all of them are converted and baptized. Meanwhile, Ammon's brothers don't have such great success and are thrown in prison. Ammon goes with Lamoni to talk with the king of that land and get them out, and along the way, run into Lamoni's father who is the King over all the land. King Lamoni's father try's to kill his son because he's now friends with the Nephites and Ammon takes him down because he's a boss and tells him he'll kill him unless he lets Lamoni do what he wants. The king agrees and Ammon lets him go. He goes and rescues his brothers. His brothers teach Lamoni's father and convert him, his family and many of the people. In all, the inhabitants of 7 lands and cities are baptized. They all come together and call themselves the people of Anti-Nephi-Lehi. The Lamanites that didn't convert are mad at them, so they start to kill them. The righteous Lamanites made a covenant to never fight again, so they allow themselves to be killed. The Lamanites killing them feel bad and some of them stop, repent, and join the Anti-Nephi-Lehi's. The rest of them are mad and go to attack the Nephites all of a sudden. They attack and wipe out the city of Ammonihah, and are then repelled by the Nephites. The persecution among the Anti-Nephi-Lehi's becomes so great that they decide to go and join the Nephites. The Nephites give them land and promise to protect them and the Anti-Nephi-Lehi's give them food and support. They are called by the Nephites the people of Ammon, or Ammonites. Alma the younger the whole while devotes his time to the ministry. He has personal interviews with his three sons, and then disappears. A huge war starts between the Nephites and Lamanites. The Lamanites are led by a wicked Nephite that dissented. There are internal dissensions among the Nephites and at those times the Lamanites have more success. A Nephite assassin kills the Lamanite king who is a Nephite. Ultimately, the Nephites are victorious when the Nephite assassin kills the 2nd king (who is the first's brother). 

Helaman - 52 B.C. - 1 B.C.

Alma's sone Helaman, then Helaman's son Helaman, then that Helaman's son Nephi keep the records. There is war between the Nephites and Lamanites. Nephi and his brother, Lehi, devote themselves to preaching the gospel. The Nephites become wicked, and the Lamanites become righteous. A Lamanite prophet named Samuel teaches the wicked Nephites and prophesies of Christ's coming, and the sign of a star at his birth. A group known as the Gadianton robbers infiltrate the Nephite government and grow in power. The Nephites repent after Nephi asks the Lord to send a devastating famine.

3 Nephi - 0 A.D. - 35 A.D.

Nephi's son, Nephi takes stewardship over the records. All the Nephites and Lamanites are righteous. They all unite to fight against the Gaddianton robbers who infest the land. They gather together in one body and the Gaddianton robbers attempt to lay siege, but end up starving to death while they are attacked from time to time by the righteous Nephites and Lamanites. The Gaddianton leaders are put to death, and they are defeated. E people are righteous, but over time, pride, class distinctions, and contention arise. The chief judge is murdered, the government is destroyed, and the people divide into tribes. There are earthquakes, tempests, hurricanes, and fire. Many cities are burned, drowned in the sea, covered by earth, and the inhabitants of them are killed. There is three days of darkness. Out of the Darkness, the voice of Jesus Christ speaks to the people. The darkness disperses, and as the people are gathered around the temple, the voice of the Father introduces His son, Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ invites the people to feel the nail marks in his hands, his feet, and side. He calls Nephi forward and gives him authority to baptize. He calls twelve others, and gives them authority as well. Jesus teaches the people the same things he taught his people in Jerusalem. He gives them commandments and announces that the law of Moses has been fulfilled. 

4 Nephi 35 A.D. - 321 A.D.

All the Nephites and Lamanites are converted. For 200 years they have peace and prosperity. Eventually divisions, evils, false churches, and persecutions arise and after 300 years, all the people are wicked. The prophet Ammaron hides up the sacred records.

Mormon - 321 A.D. - 421 A.D.

War and carnage cover the land. The prophet Mormon leads the Nephite armies in battle. He teaches them and exhorts them to repent, but they refuse to change. Mormon prophesies of the final days, the bringing forth of the gospel to the Lamanites by the Gentiles, and the coming forth of the Book of Mormon. The Nephites are all destroyed in a tremendous battle. Moroni, Mormon's son, admonishes those who don't believe in Christ to repent, and testifies of the signs of spiritual gifts that follow those that are true followers of Christ.

Ether - about 2500 B.C. - 450 B.C.

The Lord confounds the languages of the people at the Tower of Babel. The brother of Jared pleads wi the Lord to not confound his and his families and their friends languages. The Lord blesses them and guides them to the promised land. A kingdom is established. The people follow a pattern of righteousness and happiness, followed by extreme wickedness and sin. The lord sends prophets to tell them to repent. Sometimes they obey, sometimes hey don't. The 200 year period is plagued by constant secret combinations, lying, and wicked men conspiring to take the kingdom. Eventually the people all divide into 2 groups, fighting for 2 different kings. They have a tremendous war in which well over 2 million people are killed. Coriantumr, one of the Kings, and Ether are the only ones to survive. Ether disappears after hiding the sacred records so that the people of Limhi found them, and Coriantumr is found by the Mulekites and dies after living with them for 9 months.

Moroni - 401 A.D. - 421 A.D.

Moroni, the son of Mormon wanders around for about 20 years, trying to not get killed by the Lamanites. He sets for the manner in which someone is to be ordained, gives the sacramental prayers as given by the savior, and speaks about church meetings. Moroni writes some of the teachings of his father Mormon, and includes a couple letters from him during the war. Moroni testifies of the power of the Holy Ghost, gifts of the Spirit, and faith, and invites all men to come unto Christ.

Hunter shared his testimony with his brother Kumen who is leaving for Brazil in 6 days.  They will miss each other by 10 days.  it will be 4 years before they will see one another again :(  It will be like the sons of Mosiah meeting up after many years of missions rejoicing because they are still their faith in the Savior is strong!

Kumen, I so excited for your mission! You leave on the 9th though, right? I'm so proud of you, you're going to be an incredible missionary. The Lord needs you down there in Brazil for many reasons, and all of those reasons are people, including yourself. I can't wait to see how fast and how much you grow! A mission is a priceless experience for $10,000!!! You have two years that is an opportunity to receive more education and experience than any university in the world can offer. Make the most of it. Work like there's no tomorrow, because eventually there won't be. I love you so much! The church is true. Joseph Smith told the truth. This is the greatest message in the history of eternity, right up there with our Father announcing to us his Plan of Happiness, and the Angels announcing the coming and birth of our Savior! He lives and He stands at the head of this church! It's not up for debate or questioning. All you've got to do is go and tell it to people! To quote Richard G. Scott......."Don't just have a good mission, have a blast!!"

Elder Johnson

He also shared birthday wishes for his mom:

Happy birthday mommy!!! How did you enjoy your watermelon cake this year? I love you so much! You're one year older and wiser too, but you still look the same! Incredible how that works, huh? You are the best mom in the world and I'm so glad I got to learn from you and have you lay the foundation for everything I know! I love you I love you I love you!!

Elder Johnson

:) thank you so very much for your constructive feedback! We read the white handbook every morning when we start our comp study around 9:10/9:15  Companionship study is our biggest struggle. It is so hard to do with three people. I promise you I am doing my best to be obedient.  Elder D is realizing things are going to go downhill when I leave and he's not excited about it at all. I really need your prayers right now. That's the only reason I've been up late this week, is because I've been praying and praying and praying. 

I'm sorry to hear working on the shed was a pain, but at least it's fixed! Maybe that's why the house wasn't selling! Just kidding, I'm sure it will sell still. Thanks for all the updates, doesn't Kumen have 1 more Monday though? R is from Idaho and he is on a mission because his GF told him she wouldn't marry someone that wasn't an RM. he's been out 9 transfers, this is his 10th. Love you tons!

Elder Johnson

Hunter wrote this last week but we were in Colorado:

Can't wait to enjoy Colorado for an entire day or two! I'm glad Ranger likes it. That's awesome that it's right near the Kehls. This week was really slow. And super duper hot. So hot. So so so hot. The guy only answered his phone once. We've been trying to contact him but it's been a pain. We are just knock g on lots of doors and talking to the people inside regardless of weather or not they open it! One door we knocked on, this guy came out and he said he wasn't too interested, but he had a Book of Mormon and did we want to see it? He went in and came out with a quad! We talked for a minute or two longer and (at some point we asked him what kinds of questions he had that pastors weren't able to answer. We told him we had the answer to the one he asked! It has to do with baptisms for the dead) were able to get his number and he said he wasn't working this week and we could call him and set up a time to come back. He had to leave and go shopping, but when he came back (we were still knocking doors) he said hey! Come on Tuesday. Text me and I'll give you a time, but Tuesday works! We are pretty stoked. :) This week, we just.....Tracted. For so long. We taught two lessons. One of them was ridiculous. It's not worth talking about. But have you read 'the timing of the restoration'? By Hyrum W. Smith? I'll email it to you. It's absolutely fantastic and has a couple quality jokes in it as well. 

 Just keep us in your prayers like always please!

In my studies this week, I looked up all the GC talks given by Elder Groberg. They were all incredible, but I loved an overarching theme. In every single one of his talks but one, he talked about his mission. I thought that was really cool. Love you tons!

Elder H. Johnson

We had our temple trip on Thursday. On Monday the 4th we party hopped to a few different bbq's the ward members were having. It's always hard to write on p-day because I can only send emails when I have wifi. And I can't write in the car because I'm driving. The firework show was at a local high school, and we were on the pyro crew! Although we couldn't actually help set them up, but it was cool anyways! Both the exams were pretty much the same exact thing. The eye doctor was his very nice Asian lady! It was the best eye exam I've ever had! Those burritos sound like California! Everything here has hot sauce and spices in it, it's crazy! I'm pretty used to it by now......Hispanic people put hot sauce on everything and deep fry everything, it's crazy! Your description of not knowing what you were doing is how some of my days and weeks feel. We're not really teaching anyone solid, but we may have someone that was referred by a recent convert in the ward above us whose baptism I was able to play at! We're meeting with her tomorrow, so hopefully it goes well! 

I was able to go to Hamilton pools with the family! It was pretty fun, but I think things like Priest lake in Idaho was more fun. I'm glad Talmage's court of Honor went well, it's too bad the young men didn't really participate. I heard a story recently about one of the apostles a number of years ago at a fireside for priesthood holders I think. He invited them to come closer. Then he did again, and the second time a couple came closer. He waited for a bit, then announced that the meeting was cancelled and if they wondered why their children didn't obey, it was because of the examples of their parents that they had to look to. Then he walked away. Epic!! Maybe obedience isn't in the question, but devoting time and energy to something good absolutely is. Could you try to find that story for me and email it to me when you do? I will keep praying that someone will make a good offer on the house. The ward I'm serving in is about 2.5x1.5 miles and has regular ward membership, but a lot of less actives. We never really get referrals, so we just find by our lonesomes! I love it! We tract a ton and talk to everyone and don't waste a second talking to people that don't want anything to do with it. Today my comp wanted to play soccer with some other missionaries, so when we were walking onto the field, there was a small group of people with a bunch of dogs and I stopped to talk with them all and without realizing it ended up talking about how we were all missionaries and it was great! They weren't interested but it left a good impression on them and it boosted myself knowing that I really am doing my best to talk with everyone.please keep praying for us to find someone to teach! I got the pants from Elder S. Thank you so much for the quote, I'll probably use it in a lesson!

The most exciting thing this week was finally being able to teach some of that family (the family of S) that we've been trying to for so long. The spirit was there and it was awesome!

 Love you tons!

Elder Johnson

So what classes have I been signed up for? And how many credits are they all worth? Do you think I'll be able to handle that load? I don't want to crash and burn......what kind of job opportunities are available in Provo? How much are utilities?!?! That is all a super amount t of stuff going on! I had no idea the V family was getting baptized, thats awesome!! 

Haha, the hike/camping thing makes me think of the mission! I look at all the ridiculous things new missionaries do and I'm like, why are you doing that?! And then I realized I used to do or not do that thing. Life is just such a learning process! Let me tell you about some of the miracles that have happened! We found this awesome lady named J. Just knocked into her right before dinner and she'd just gotten home and she said come back tomorrow at 5:00, so we did! She's looking for a Christian church and wants to raise her two kids to learn about Christ. And she is so solid! She said no to the baptismal invitation, but she doesn't understand the priesthood or anything yet. We also found this guy named C

  He said we could try back on Sunday and we Tracted into him on Saturday. We went back and said come on in! Usually they aren't there or say to try back another time. We taught the restoration and he believes it but thinks any church is fine. Things are hopping! We're going to bring that other family cookies this week! A talk I read this week that I really liked was 'Love takes time' from October 1975 I think. I thought of you and mom. :)  thanks for your thoughts on testimony, as well as your testimony! Love you tons!
Hunter
pictures:
making one of the stories in the Book of Mormon more visual (Ammon)
A Hot Day 112 degrees
Bag of cold cereal at the bottom of a pole (typical crazy thing to see in 
aneheim
boy at church who looks like Hunter's brother Talmage
Zone at the temple

They ended up texting us and basically saying they weren't interested. :/ it was sad, but we left them with a good impression and the Book of Mormon. I hope they read it! We found another family though! They had been taught by the elders in one Ward, then moved, and we found them in their new place and they asked, how did you find us? And we were like, what are you talking about? Then we talked with them for 30 minutes. It was fantastic! 

I can't wait to help everyone pack, and I'll definitely keep all of you in my prayers, but should I pray that we'll find someone to rent the house or buy it? Also, do you think maybe you could find someone for me to teach and then we can just eat after we visit President Freckleton? 

I'm glad the car didn't get towed at Kumens graduation, I started reading that part and the first thought that came to my head was, "I wonder if the car got towed...." 

Thank you for sharing those quotes with me dad, I really like them! I think that's a good way to describe one of the things I've learned. Not to toss the importance of planning a lesson, but lessons I've taught have gone much better when I've been spiritually prepared and been doing well with the 'righteous routines' and not prepared an actual lesson plan than when I have prepared a lesson plan and haven't been spiritually prepared. Spiritual preparation doesn't just come during the personal study in the morning either! It's in the weeks and months you spend constantly striving to do what you're supposed to. 

My personal opinion on why the Lord wants us to move to Colorado is this. There is a person or persons there that are ready for the gospel, or ready to come back to it, and our family is the Lords way of making it happen. I think it's interesting that you found out you were leaving practically immediately after Sarah and Kate got baptized. There's a Sarah and a Kate and maybe even a Rachel or Mallory or Makenna in Colorado waiting for our family!

News for the week......everything fell through and almost no one was home the whole week. But we did find a lady that when we asked her if she was religious and she said no and we asked why and she said I don't know! Then we gave her a Book of Mormon, explained a little of the restoration, and she asked us if we were going to co e back to pick it up and we were like no, and she got super excited and asked if we were going to come follow up with her to see if she'd been able to read and we were like, uh, yeaaaahhhhhh!!! That was really awesome. In other news.........Thursday night, President called to release me as a Zone Leader, and Saturday night I got the call to go to La Habra, Love you Dad!

Hunter

P.S. Can you ask the family to please not write anything about me going home in their letters? I know it's probably hard, but in these last few weeks, I don't want it to be any harder than it needs to be. :)

Wow, that's nuts! Why were you selected? Do you know why yet? Weren't you going to be there for 4-5 years? Well this was quite a surprise! We can totally drive 4 vehicles up and then have three people drive back down that would be a blast! It is sad to be leaving Texas when we were expecting to be there a while. The thought that I had is that the Lord wants our family in Colorado Springs! I love our family so much, and I know the Lords hand has been in all of our moves. I can't wait to help you pack up! I guess I can joke with President that I'm getting transferred to Colorado! Will you find some non-members for me to teach when I get back before I get released? That would be fantastic. I'll be more careful on my bike, I was just taking a golden opportunity! I'm the first person to stop and talk to people, but these hills were so steep that not even people were walking on them! It was crazy! I love the lyrics to the song, I think that's one of the simplest ways to be a missionary! 

So the family!! Not yesterday, but last Sunday, we were visiting a former, and they weren't there so we knocked on 2 doors around them in a complex. The mom came to the door and said they were Catholic and one of the daughters yelled that from behind as well. Then we said something and they ended up accepting a Book of Mormon and inviting us in and giving us brownies and we set up a return appointment for yesterday! Woohoooooo!!!!! So we went back yesterday with some brownies we had made and just talked with them about a mission and prophets and revelation, and ended up teaching a big part of the restoration and it was awesome and they had awesome questions and they brought up stuff like they have problems with some of the doctrines of the Catholic Church  and it was just incredible!!! We spent a lot of time emphasizing the Book of Mormon and invited them to is presentation called Christ in the Americas where brother Linford presents all this artifact y'all and historical evidences that support the things that the Book of Mormon talks about and he has the most powerful testimony of the savior and its incredible. And ye said ye would come to it!!! So I am super duper excited for that. I'm so excited for where that is going to go. :) 

Love you so much!

Hunter

So glad you enjoyed Sarah's baptism, that sounds like an absolutely incredible experience. I did read the talk by Packer, and I'm still reading it over again, there's so much in it, I love it! Thank you so much! The one standing around wasn't watching it, it had been his companion. He just said, well, I'm not even going to bother trying to hide it." He's such a good guy, but good guys do dumb things. We didn't really even reprimand them. We told them they knew what they were doing was wrong and talked about being on a mission and how it's the only chance we have to serve the Lord like this. The one elder that was standing brushing his teeth has had a bunch of bad comp and is just completely unmotivated. He has a rough background and is basically the only active member in his family and he just wants to be done. We just talked to him about how he was doing and then helped them take their tv out to the dump. In southern Cali, everyone gets rid of everything by putting it by the dump. Couches, tv's, fridges, cabinets, beds, bikes, you name it. All the kids would love it! It's so easy to be disobedient here. Everything is just given to you. I told president, not the details, and told him we had taken care of it. 

Hahaha, this week we got Quran bashed! It was funny. We Tracted a lot, and are just trying as hard as we can to find people. Lots of tracting. Yay! I love it! It's so much fun. Last night we knocked on a door and the mom pulled the 'we're Catholic' card and was about to shut the door, then we said something and we ended up giving her a Book of Mormon and went in and talked with their family for 15 minutes or so and they gave us brownies (not weed brownies) and said we could come back on Sunday. It was awesome! That's about all that happened this week. I'll try to think of some other things. Love you!

Hunter 

PS  Ooh! On Tuesday we went on bike again. We went 46 miles including some of the steepest hills in the mission! I was accelerating super fast down a hill and when I hit 45 mph I chickened out and hit my brakes because it was really fast. I would've gone 60 easy. It was really fun!

This week was alright. We continued to have crazy bible bashers everywhere.  All the prom stuff and concerts sound fun and exciting! You're looking good dad! And mom just looks the same as always! Thanks for the talk! I can't wait to read through it and all the things you outlined and stuff! The rest of my week was basically exchanges. We went on three and this week we're doing three. It's pretty exhausting. We dropped nearly everyone in our teaching pool. We have 6 investigators now. C, who is going to Denmark for 9 weeks, S who we haven't met, but have an appointment for next Friday, C and L, two sisters we are going to pass to the family Ward b/c one has a kid and it just makes sense for them to be together, D who is a nut case, and M

who we are pretty sure has problems with his, um, orientation, and isn't interested in our view on the law of chastity. So we are working hard to just find people! I love finding people! I'll send you a video of a finding method we tried out a couple days ago. I've also started talking in an Australian accent in door approaches and 2/2 times I've been invited into the house and left after having given them book of Mormons! Someone driving a truck tried to run me over. Also we walked into a missionaries apartment to drop off cookies and found them watching Rocky on a big TV at 11:30 in the morning. One elder was in the shower and the other was half dressed brushing his teeth and both their beds were in front of the tv. So we had a talk with them, it was actually very spiritually uplifting and helped them to remove the tv. So that's all the fun and exciting stuff that happened this week! Love you!

Hunter

Hey all, this week was pretty hum drum except that we had people wanting to bible bash with us all the live long day, it was ridiculous. It's all well and fine to disagree with someone else's beliefs but jeez, please. Stoooooooop! So if anyone has any questions about what Mormons believe or think that something we believe is freaky or something, please ask me about it! Most things are twisted or blown out of proportion and I love clarifying things. Here's some pictures for the week!

We biked a lot. :) There was this one hill (that's the last picture) I hit 40 mph going down, it was great! Talk about a thrill.......

Elder P is 25 and is a champ! We get along really great, he's hilarious. He is very motivated, maybe not super excited motivated, but he wants to go out and work and he makes it fun. He's been out for ten months. It's a miracle in and of itself that C has a date. A few months ago he said the Book of Mormon was of the devil and he wouldn't even touch it. He's just Catholic, so he's literally breaking the tradition of his fathers. :)   Hyrum Smith said that "Character is the ability to make a decision after the emotion of the decision has passed" and it's easy to say, oh, well I would do this and that, but then the time actually comes and I hate how often the time has come for me and I've failed to show the kind of character I should have. All you can do is respect his agency and he will realize you respect his agency to make the right choice whatever that is. Way to finish the 5k in under 30! That's great! You're looking really slim dad, give yourself a pat on the back and a five second break! Tsk tsk, Ammon and Zenock and even Talmage are SLACKING!!!

Dad, if you've done anything right it's that. I couldn't have asked for a better dad here on earth and whenever I imagine how heavenly mom and dad feel and think about me I think of you and mom. I love you and mom and the rest of the family tons. 

Hunter
Hunter sent us a link to his favorite talk for mother's dayby Elder Holland
“Behold Thy Mother”

I love you mommy! Happy happy Mother's Day! I'm sorry I didn't have more time to share my testimony it was a little lame.

I had some proselyting to go do! We went back up the huge hill I biked up, but in a car, and gave the same lady a Book of Mormon and she has a son named Hunter that runs. :) So we were able to set a return appointment, it was great! Ain't no way I can sell Julliet! (his bike) I'll have a member keep her for me until I can bring her home. Maybe I can bike home over a summer or something, that would be fun!! Is M the one we gave our grey couch to? That's to bad that he's less active. I would've been even more blunt probably. After we skyped we were tracting some later in the evening and I sad this to a older YSA girl that wasn't really caring about what we were saying. "You know, just about everything we've said has gone over your head or in one ear and out the other, and I can't blame you. Most people don't really appreciate the significance of what we have for them until they try it out." I wasn't meaning it in a mean way, but she thought I called her stupid, and we ended up just walking away. What do you do? I love the council of Alma to Helaman in Alma 38. I do  feel like I was overbearing though, she just didn't want what we had to offer. :/ anyway, I love you mom! You are the best mom in the whole world and don't ever beat yourself up about 'not being good enough.' None of us are! But you did your best, and that's all I needed. :) I love you so much and I'll see you in three months!

Hunter 

Happy Mother's Day to all you mothers and future mothers! I want to share a short excerpt with all of you from the words of the Prophet of God on earth today, as he related a story from The Civil War about Mothers.

"Men turn from evil and yield to their better natures when mother is remembered. A famed officer from the Civil War period, Colonel Higgenson, when asked to name the incident of the Civil War that he considered the most remarkable for bravery, said that there was in his regiment a man whom everybody liked, a man who was brave and noble, who was pure in his daily life, absolutely free from dissipations in which most of the other men indulged.

One night at a champagne supper, when many were becoming intoxicated, someone in jest called for a toast from this young man. Colonel Higgenson said that he arose, pale but with perfect self-control, and declared: “Gentlemen, I will give you a toast which you may drink as you will, but which I will drink in water. The toast that I have to give is, ‘Our mothers.’” Instantly a strange spell seemed to come over all the tipsy men. They drank the toast in silence. There was no laughter, no more song, and one by one they left the room. The lamp of memory had begun to burn, and the name of “Mother” touched every man’s heart."

I want to share my brief testimony with you all of the power and influence of mothers in the lives of others, mainly their children.

The Book of Mormon tells of the powerful influence that mothers have in a letter from a prophet and commander named Helaman to his commander in chief, Moroni. Helaman was the leader of 2000 young men, in a war between their people and another group of people called Lamanites that wanted to kill them. During an operation to take back a city, things went wrong, and they were going to have to fight when they weren't supposed to.

"And now I say unto you, my beloved brother Moroni, that never had I seen so great courage, nay, not amongst all the Nephites. For as I had ever called them my sons (for they were all of them very young) even so they said unto me: Father, behold our God is with us, and he will not suffer that we should fall; then let us go forth; we would not slay our brethren if they would let us alone; therefore let us go, lest they should overpower the army of Antipus. Now they never had fought, yet they did not fear death; and they did think more upon the liberty of their fathers than they did upon their lives; yea, they had been taught by their mothers, that if they did not doubt, God would deliver them. And they rehearsed unto me the words of their mothers,

saying: We do not doubt our mothers knew it.......fast forward to after the battle.......And now it came to pass that when they had surrendered themselves up unto us, behold, I numbered those young men who had fought with me, fearing lest there were many of them slain.

But behold, to my great joy, there had not one soul of them fallen to the earth; yea, and they had fought as if with the strength of God; yea, never were men known to have fought with such miraculous strength; and with such mighty power did they fall upon the Lamanites, that they did frighten them; and for this cause did the Lamanites deliver themselves up as prisoners of war."

There is no greater calling in the world than that of a mother. I love all of you and especially all of you mothers, and if anyone hasn't told their mother that they love them in the past 24 hours, go and do it. :) Elder Johnson

1. I climbed that pole three times. That pic was the third so I was too tired to do pull ups at the top.

2. A service we did.

To dad and family: 

I need to tell you about C! He came to sacrament meeting up here in my new Ward yesterday and got up to bear his testimony to a bunch of people that he didn't know! He's a Hispanic and Catholic, and to Hispanics here, to be Catholic is to be Hispanic and anything different is like saying you're not Hispanic. It is literally a completely cultural thing. Even if a family never goes to church, and someone decides to join another church, everyone freaks out and loses their minds. So C got up and told everyone about how he hadn't agreed with so much of the things we taught him because they were directly contrary to what he grew up believing. Then he said "I've been reading three pages from the Book of Mormon every day (like I asked him to when I left) and I know the Book of Mormon is true. I know this gospel is true. And I'll be getting baptized on August 6th." If C can do it anyone can do it! I was so happy, I can't wait for that day to come! It's three months away, but that's nothing really. 

As far as my companion goes, I talked to him about setting goals and set some goals for both of us for comp study one morning. When hair becomes more important than someone's soul, cut it all off! In any case, he is getting transferred.  He is going to the Orange Hills YSA, so he knows C! The other Elder there, C really doesn't like. I'm glad at least he'll know elder S. Elder P is coming here! He was a medic in the army and has served two tours in Afghanistan. He's pretty awesome, and probably the most respected missionary in the mission.

 I do still have my bike! It's a super good one! I need to figure out how to get it home! I payed a bunch for it, I'm not going to just leave it! Is anyone from the Ward taking a trip out here anytime soon? That's too bad that A doesn't come anymore, but great that you're getting to know H more! I'm glad S and K enjoyed Kumens call letter, that's awesome! I'm not surprised that you guessed it right. What made you guess that I was coming to California? Sometimes I feel like you call up church headquarters or you're secretly friends with elder Bednar or something and just call and ask. A guy from the Ward here that just went up to BYU knows the B's! He was best friends with N growing up, that's so cool that he's in Austin now! I can't believe he has a kid.....that's weird. How do I get an ecclesiastical endorsement from P. Taggart? Do I just get him to sign a piece of paper or what? 

We just dropped most of our teaching pool because none of them were really interrested. If you would like to pray for K, that would be great. She's basically a dry Mormon but she just needs to be able to recognize the spirit and know that it's God telling her that it's all true! Love you!

Hunter 

Picture:  K got baptized on Saturday! He's awesome. He's going to Missouri next Sunday for boot camp. He's going into the army. I got to spend an awesome 5 weeks teaching him.

Parts of a letter to Dwight,

I'm glad Justus was able to spend some quality time with the family.

 I wake up at 6:15 every morning now though. I woke up at 6:00 this morning so I could go run and still meet up with elder R on time to bike the mission.  Elder R and I biked down from Yorba Linda to Tustin and back, a 40 mile bike ride, so it was a good stress reliever. And we are now basically legends in the mission, so wooptydoo! I'll read Elder Hollands talk on the Godhead, thanks for suggesting it! Thanks for the BY quote and your testimony.....love you!

Letter to all.

This week was basically the same as all the other ones! Except that today elder R and I biked the height of the mission, it was a blast, we went from Yorba Linda to Tustin and all in all it was about

40 miles.

K got baptized on Saturday! He's awesome. He's going to Missouri next Sunday for boot camp. He's going into the army. I got to spend an awesome 5 weeks teaching him.

Hunter

Sorry, things just.....happen, and then somehow I don't have time! My favorite conference talk was probably Mervyn Arnold's about not waiting to go and rescue 'the one.' I loved that real life story, and it's a good lesson for missionaries and members alike. There's some missionaries that spend all their time planning, so they have all these great ideas, but don't actually do anything. It's frustrating to say the least. 

 Elder F Sister B and I

Well, you'll also be interested to know that last night elder K I were stranded on foot in Super Sketchy Downtown Anaheim! (SSDA) I'm so glad you like all the music! There are some neat pieces. The hair thing was just some 'harmless fun' I thought. That's one of the reasons I've been so stressed out lately with my companion being so slow, I can't stand it that I'm wasting time because I've already wasted enough! still don't get up at 6:30 though.....I get up at 6:15! Please pray for Elder S!

Remember Elder D? Look through some of my pictures. He's the thin guy with glasses. He was an AP for 6 months. He used to sleep waaaayyyyyyy in. He changed into something amazing. Please don't judge me, because I know you and dad are prone to doing that, for something that is no longer relevant to me. To quote Shakespeare, "'Twas I, but 'it's not I!" You can't really tell that much from my letters, when I bother to send them (sorry) but I've changed so much on my mission, it's unbelievable. To quote the best two years.......... 

🎶"don't you know? Can't you see? What the Lord has made of me?🎶 

Love you!

Hunter

1. P, me, and Y, two of my favorite buds!

2. Me and R

3. Me and L. She is the relief society president.

1-2. Model status

3. J falling asleep on my arm

pulling cattails from the swamp for a service project  Super nasty. I do not recommend. See the stuff floating around on the top of the water? Try not to imagine what it is.....

Mom, well, let me tell you! Last night, we were trying to visit a potential on this one street, and we saw this lady in a tiny laundry room (we're talking like, you could fit a single bed in the whole thing if the washer and dryer weren't there.) right next to their apartment, so we went up and knocked on the door to the laundry room, just to be funny, and said hi! Do you live here? This is an interesting place.......she thought we were funny enough to invite us inside on the spot and we sat and talked to her for a bit while 3 of her brothers/relatives (25 years +) played call of duty. She turned out to be 29! So she's YSA! They're a Samoan family. Or half Samoan. Finally they stopped and went away, and we were able to hear better and the spirit was able to come in. Turns out they just had a funeral for their uncle, so we taught the restoration, testified of the importance of families, gave her a Book of Mormon, invited her to watch conference with us on the weekend, and sang God be with you till we meet again. Wow! The spirit was so strong! That's only the second time in my mission that I've been invited in and been able to teach on the spot! She felt the spirit, and we set an appointment to come back on Wednesday.

Our sacrament meeting was just a bunch of musical numbers. It was very pretty, and just full of the spirit, it was wonderful! This is an interesting Ward....half of them just dipped out after sacrament meeting. Thank you so much for the talks! I can't wait to read them! I already talked with President about it. When we were discussing my release date he was the one that brought it up. He said he would give me an endorsement for sure. :) I think now that I'm just about done with my mission I've finally gotten the work thing figured out.....took me long enough.....I'm just going to tell you about C now. When we first started teaching him about 5 months ago now, he thought the Book of Mormon was of the devil, would not touch it, and sad to not ever ask him to be baptized because there was no way he would do it. When we had dinner with him last Sunday, as we were explaining stuff to his sister, who was in town, he basically bore his testimony in the prayer he said, saying "Lord, please give me the desire to be baptized into the church of the Latter Day Saint," and "please give my family the desire to learn about the church, and to have an open heart." Since I was leaving, I challenged both of them to read 3 pages in the Book of Mormon every day with me until the end of my mission. We've never been able to get C to read. I followed up with him on Saturday on the iMessage app we can use, and this is what I wrote, and what he wrote back.

"How's the reading three pages a day coming?! Here's a couple things that I really really liked over the past few that I want to share with you! 

1. In 1 Nephi 2:16, Nephi has great desires to know the mysteries of God. A mystery is something God has revealed through his prophets. So Nephi prayed, and the Lord 'visited him' and softened his heart so that he believed. Verse 17 explains that it was the Holy Spirit that made the things known!

2. 1 Nephi 4:31-37. Oaths (promises) are made, and when these VERBAL contracts are made they are recognized as binding! Pretty cool how people's promises didn't need to be written down and signed. They just lived up to their word.

3. 1 Nephi 5:4-6 explains the method of comforting and consoling people when they are angry or mad. Be humble, jus say yeah, you're right, and then share your testimony of the things the lord has blessed you with as well as what you have faith that he CAN do!

4. 1 Nephi 7:17-18, when Nephis brothers tie him up and leave him to die, he doesn't pray to the Lord and ask him to take him out of the situation he's in, he asks for the strength to change his circumstances. He is accessing THE ENABLING POWER OF THE ATONEMENT!

5. 1 Nephi 8:33, when in Lehi's vision, he and everyone at the tree of life is being mocked by those in the tower, his attitude is just incredible, as demonstrated by the last 5 words of that verse.....BUT WE HEEDED THEM NOT!! This should be our attitude towards anyone that looks down on the good values we have. 

6. 1 Nephi 10:17-19 Nephi explains that he wants to 'see, and hear, and know' the same things, and wants to do so by the power of the Holy Ghost, which is he way God has always worked. What have you liked?"

"Hey bro I am actually caught up with the reading, the book of morman is starting to be my favorite. Am in Washington is their anyway you can get me in touch with any missionaries here?"

Imagine how I reacted to that!!! I was trying not to jump up and down and scream! 

Love,

Hunter

Well everyone, the past week has been crazy, full of ups and downs and forwards and backwards! Fun stuff. I got transferred! I have left the Orange Hills You g Single Adult Ward and have moved to the Placentia YSA Ward. Im really sad to be leaving Orange Hills, but c'est la vie!

That zone was tired of me anyways. It's exciting to be back in the homeland of Placentia! My new companion is Elder S. He's great, and it'll be interesting to see how long we're together for.......the thing of most notable mention this last week....is that A and R are both planning on serving missions! I AM SO EXCITED!!! Like I can't even express how excited I am. :) I also got to wade in a nasty smelling swamp out in the canyon pulling up cat tails. It was disgusting. It was full of nasty stinky mud made up of mud, poop, dead and decomposed animals, and other things of an unspeakable nature. I took a shower with my clothes on and then washed everything twice to get the smell out. My hands and feet were stained from the mud for 2 or 3 days. It was gross. Really gross. So that's the week for you chumps! Love y'all!

Elder Hunter Johnson

I'll be sending a few boxes of music home in the next few weeks. Brother Cannon is sending them for me. Elder Cromar (the one on the run with me) is my grandson! We usually go running on p-day together, and yes, the rain was quite exquisite! I'm glad you've been able to share that story with a few people, and if they want to do that, that would be really cool I guess! Love you all! Where was dads letter this week? This week we met with Elder Hamula, that was really cool. It was just what our mission needs. 




Pictures at the bottom are from a recent preparation day.   OOOH goats!

Wow! Right now it's Friday morning and I was reading this talk by Bishop Victor L. Brown about the Aaronic Priesthood Quorums and it is just fantastic! It's October 1975, you've probably read it dad, but this part I really liked.

"Although there is usually nothing inherently wrong with athletics, super-activities or parties, a self-serving diet of entertainment fails because it aims in the wrong direction. Instead of setting out to accomplish the work of the ministry which the Lord has assigned to the Aaronic Priesthood quorums, this approach largely ignores service and personal sacrifice and seeks to compete in a worldly way for the attention of our youth. When this happens, the youth may begin to think that the Church exists to indulge their whims and wishes and that they should evaluate the Church by the yardstick of self-indulgence. And if they think this way, they may find the world’s enticements more daring and exciting than any we can properly provide. Then, because we have imitated the world, we lose them to the world. There is a far better approach. We must focus on the priesthood quorum and how it accomplishes the work the Lord has given it. The quorum then makes a vital contribution to the exaltation of its members. When an Aaronic Priesthood leader takes the work of the quorum seriously, he is not afraid to call upon quorum members to inconvenience themselves and sacrifice. When these members experience the sweetness and joy of self-sacrifice, which the world at best can only partially give, they begin to regard the priesthood with solemnity, appreciation, and respect. May I reiterate this. If doing the work of the priesthood is the aim of an Aaronic Priesthood quorum, its members will become active and remain active. Members invariably lose interest if the quorum presidency or adult leadership ignores the work of the Lord and attempts to devise entertainment programs to entice activity. It is a law of life: “Only if you sacrifice for a cause will you love it.” So true!!! It's no surprise that youth programs that only do fun activities for mutual are so weak!

The week in general was pretty good. Just a lot of finding. Pray for us to find someone to teach that's ready! We had to drop a lot of people, so our lessons were super low. Earlier this week I found something cool, so I wrote up an email about that, but here's something that was revelatory to me today in church! In the setting apart of the 2nd councilor in the EQP today, President Peters said, "Offer your opinions, but when the one that holds the keys makes the final decision, uphold it as if it were your own." I really liked it, and I think it was meant for me just as much as it was for the 2nd councilor. We had the baptism on Saturday, A was ordained to the office of a priest today!! We are going on splits with him on Thursday and he wants to serve a mission!!! What a swell guy! I love him to death. Please keep C, one of our investigators in your prayers! He's been taking it pretty hard from Satan. His 'brothers' from his church are pretty anti-Mormon and basically plan activities in all his free time so he can't meet with us. I WANT HIM TO GET BAPTIZED!!!!! 

Hunter 

When a young man or woman heads out on his or her mission, they leave their lives behind, often ready and willing to give up everything that makes them who they are. Some of them, like me, have a harder time letting go. Throughout my mission I've wondered if I should just give up playing my violin completely while on my mission, under the pretense that it would simply be a distraction and hinderance to the work of the Lord! I borrowed violins to play in Ward meetings, baptisms, etc....and enjoyed the spirit I was able to bring on all the occasions, all the while wondering, 'Am I just wasting the Lords time?' Eventually, by sheer luck, I was able to obtain a beautifully sounding violin from an obscure antique shop, for a mere $60! I thanked God for the find, and went about my mission as usual. Fast forward 8 months, and one p-day while on a hike, our car was broken into. My prized violin was stolen, along with all my music (it was in my backpack and they just took that). I thought, 'Well, I guess this is God telling me I'm done.....,' although I didn't really want to believe that. The following Sunday, I was to play in one of my former wards, so I salvaged a violin with 3 G strings to do it! After I had played, the Ward mission leader who was speaking, explained that I hadn't sounded up to par because I was playing on a borrowed violin with three G strings! After the meeting a number of people came up to me asking what they could do to help me find another violin. I told them not to worry about it, but they asserted themselves and explained to me that they were going to find me a violin and asked me to tell them if I found a violin I would like. I said, yes, of course I will, but I didn't really mean it. I didn't want to say, 'Here! Buy this violin for me!' Two weeks later I got a call from the brother that was the head of the 'find a violin for elder Johnson committee' asking me to come over to pick up the violin they had ordered for me. Long story short, he had contacted someone he had gotten a violin from in the past, and with the contributions of Ward members, had bought a $$$$ violin. I of course, thanked him profusely, and asked him if there was anything I could possibly do to repay him and the Ward. He said, 'Just play it.' He and everyone that had contributed just wanted to hear it.

The spirit witnessed to me that this gift was something I could use throughout my life to bless others to be able to feel the spirit. I knew as long as I could stay focussed on the real work, the Lord wanted me to use the gifts he'd blessed me with in order to bless others......but a little bit of doubt still remained. A month and a half later, after playing at someone's baptism, I was walking out when a man walked up to me and asked, 'Is that a violin?' I said, 'Yeah!'

To which he replied, 'Do you want a bunch of music? I have boxes of music, you can have it all.' Of course I wanted music! So the following Monday, we took a short trip over to his house and he explained the importance of the music. It had been his mothers, who had been a famous concert violinist, playing an original Stradivarius.

Her violin was stolen, and a car accident left her heavily impaired, and she was never able to play the same. Eventually she died, and for nine years, Brother Cannon had kept his mothers music, thinking that he needed to just throw it out, or donate it to BYU, but never getting around to it. As he told us this story, he told of how he had ended up at the baptism. Some sisters had asked him to give an investigator a ride, and had showed up near the end due to the investigator sleeping in. He was walking down the hall of the church at the exact time I was, and as he saw me, he heard his mother say, 'Give it to him.' As he concluded telling the story he said, 'I've been waiting nine years for the right person, and you are the one my mother wants to have her music.' If the first witness I had had wasn't enough, this left no doubt in my mind off things hat God gives us special talents and abilities to use in his service. My knowledge of this is sure.

"Behold, do men light a candle and put it under a bushel? Nay, but on a candlestick, and it giveth light to all that are in the house." - Jesus Christ

1. - 2. Service at 'stop hunger now'

3. Random photo we had taken of us after church last week.

1. Elder F and I with R. She's the one that opened the door when we knocked and not only said we could come back, but remembered!

She and her whole family got baptized on Saturday.

2. This is the whole family! Except for all the missionaries in it.

And the grandpa and grandma (far left and right) and the dad (guy with beard, but he hasn't been coming to church in years) were already members. The youngest boy by grandpa is to young to get baptized, and the older boy next to him is going to get baptized at the end of this month!

3. The missionaries with R and E.

 Last two are random pictures of missionaries on Pday