A New Zone Leader

HELLO,

Wow craziness. I am super happy to hear that everything went smoothly with the wedding and to hear that I have a new sister. I really wish I could have been there but I had some other stuff I had to do. Oh you were listening to my piano music? Have I gotten famous yet?

The baptism for Nayla was great. It wasnt as spiritual we were hoping but she really enjoyed it and is very happy. The reason it wasnt as spiritual  is because the bishop and the ward mission leader changed at the last moment all the plans we had origionally made. It was still very good but I was a little dissapointed to be honest.

oooo Friday was a tough day, it was hard to stay focused and work hard, but having the baptism helped me to keep things together.

The transmission they showed yesterday was phenominal. I thoroughly enjoyed it andam hoping to see the members here more fully step up to the plate. I enjoyed it so much because it taught me that altough there is an end to my mission, there is never an end to the missionary work and I will always, no matter what my calling, be able to share the gospel with those around me, whether they be non member friends, less active members, and even active members.

I also got changed out of my area :( I was really hoping for at least one more change over in teh ward Villas but President never listens to me haha. Now I am in Zona Chairel in an area named Tancol with a companion named Elder Fernandez. He has one more change than I do in the mission so we both know how to get work done. I will also have the opportunity to serve as a zone leader so that will be fun and challenging. I am really excited to be honest and I know that I will learn a lot of stuff.

haha you read my mormon.org account? I wrote that so long ago haha. I thought about changing it while I was in the offices but I´ll have to update it after the mission. mormon.org is a super cool website.

thanks a ton for sending the pictures, Ryan and Angela look very happy as well as the rest of you.

I love you all and miss y´all like the dickens!

con amor,

Elder Johns

Important Stuff I've Gotta Get Done in Mexico

Dear family,

First off, I am really excited for Ryan and Angela. I am really happy knowing that they are going to get sealed together this Friday. I really wish I could be there but I have some important stuff Ive gotta get done down here in Mexico.  I look forward to hearing all about it next week and I cant wait until I can finally meet and get to know Angela this December.

Secondly, Happy Fathers day dad! I sent you a kiss on the cheek but I dont know if it made it all the way to Washington.

Thirdly, WE ARE GOING TO HAVE A BAPTISM!!!!!!!!! Im pretty sure i have been telling you guys a little about Nayla. She has been progressing really well and she passed her baptisimal interview last weekend so she will be getting baptized on Friday. I am happy because it is something that makes up a little for not being able to be there for Ryans sealing. Nayla is super excited and so are we. It is going to be Elder Martinez´s first baptism!

Elder Martinez and I only have one more week together which makes me sad because he has been a great companion and we have gotten along really well. I have really enjoyed the opportunity to train him and serve with him.

Rosario and Jorge are still getting the divorce paper thing worked out, but they are progressing well still. By now they are basically members of the ward just without the baptism.

Vicente, an invesetigator that we started teaching 2 months ago (and later stopped teaching becasue he wasnt progressing or taking it seriously) has been progressing really well in the past couple weeks that we started to  teach him again. He has really had a change of heart and honestly feels a desire to develop faith in God.

We had 6 investigators in church on Sunday which is more than I have had on a single sunday in all of my mission.

I am trying to think of stuff that is interesting but I cant really think of anything else... This past week I ate my cereal with fresh cut strawberries and mango... It also rained super hard on Tuesday afternoon and we got sooooooaked... Today we got the zone together to play volleyball and basketball which was really fun.

thats all I got for ya this week,

con amor,

Elder Johns

The Weeks are Rolling like Days

The twin daughters of Nayla

Evolution of man...

tacos del TROMPO

HEY

Wow the weeks are just rolling by like days now, I hope this isnt a wont be a trend for the rest of my life or I will super old really soon.

I really dont have much time becasue we need to go and do our studies. We went to a super cool musuem about stars and planets and stuff. We got Presidents permission to change our pday to tesday so that we could go and it was suuuuper awesome. I learned a ton about astronomy in my senior year of highschool but I kinda never thought about it agian afterwards. going through th emusuem reminded me of just how cool stars and galaxy formations and stuff like that is. It really is amazing all that our Heavenly Father has made for us and the power that he has.

After we went and ate some tacos del trompo (my favorite mexican food) and it was super good. Some places arent good to eat at but if it looks safe then it usually is. opening up food stands infront of houses is pretty usual here, I am thinking about taking that tradition to teh states but the governemnt will probably take me out.

On wednesday I had a division with the one of the zone leaders, Elder Rodas, which was fun. unfortunately Rosario and jorge ran into another problem with obtaining the divorce paper so we had to put off their baptism date again. They were getting kinda frusterated and kinds started to go off track but we had a good lesson with them and they are committed again. WE NEED TO GET THEM MARRIED ALREADY! It will happen, they are for sure going to be very faithful members after their baptism

Nayla prayed about the book of mormon and said she knows its true because right after she prayed, a couple stopped by to buy some food to eat and then they started talking and the man testified to her that he knows the church is true. She is progressing really well but she dlept in and didnt go to church on Sunday so we might wait a litttle more just to make sure she is really ready.

Thanks for sending the package! I am sure that it will come this time. I just got a letter from Joav and it was good to hear that he is doing fine and enjoying the mission. aw man, I am sad I wont be there at the wedding. If you could make a paper cut out of my head or something like that to be there that would be awesome, serisously.

I did get the email from Kaitlyn, That is soooo awesome! I am really excited for her! I am running out of time so I will make sure to write here a really good letter next week!

I love you all,

Elder Johns

Looking forward to a baptism

Hello,

This past week was pretty good, we had interviews with President Jordan on Tuesday. It was great to get to see him and get to talk to him. He was pretty tired when it was finally my turn because I was one of the last three after interviewing two whole zones. While we were waiting we saw some videos by Elder Bednar about the Spirit and it was pretty cool. We also saw a bunch of videos from the church leadership training about using preisthood to bless families. We also got to eat peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and it tasted sooo good because it has been a long time since I have eaten a god PB and J.

I did an exchange with Elder Martinez this week. Although his name and appearance seem otherwise, he is actually from Oklahoma, but his dad is Mexican. He is pretty cool and we had a good time working together. He only has 8 months on the mission (He has the most time in our district besides me which means we have a really young district).

Jorge and Rosario have attained their divorce paper and should be getting married sometime this week! They are really excited and are already sharing the gospel with their relatives. Some realtives of theirs that we know are going to be getting baptized on the 22 but they live in a different ward.

Nayla is progressing really well, I dont remember if I said or not last time that she moved into her own place now and is getting it all fixed up really nice. She is going to start a buisniss in which she will sell tamales, snow cones, and stuff like that infront of her house. We have aslo been teacher Naylas mom, but she isnt as gung hoe about getting baptized but she likes to listen and learn.

Sounds like things have been pretty busy for you guys over there. ahh thats crazy that the wedding is soo close. good job colin on getting his seminary pin! If I remember correctly I got my pin every year as well, but I only memorized the scriptures long enough to pass them off and now I dont remember alot of them.

I gotta go!

I love you!

Elder Johns

Noche de Barrio

Buen dìa,

Sounds like you had a pretty good vacation and could do some amazing hikes and see some amazing sights. I could use a vacation like that, I am getting pretty worn out down here.

This week I did my first exchange. An exchange is where we change companions for a day and I go to the area of the missionary and we work in their area for the day. I was with Elder Macias. He is pretty knew (is on his third change = less than 6 months) so he is still learning alot about how to teach well. He is mexican and I am pretty sure he is from the city of Chiuahuah. It was fun to get to see their area and get to know Elder Macias better. It was also good for my companion to get the chance to be completely in charge of our area for a day without me there to be able to back him up.

On friday night we had a Noche de Barrio which is when our ward has an activity to meet up at the church and bring food, listen to a message, and then eat food and talk one to another. IT was cool because it was all planned and put together by us, the ward mission leader, and the ward missionaries. We are going to be doing one every two weeks so that less active members and investigators can get to know the members better. IT is hard for them to really get to know the mebmers on sunday because there really isnt time between the classes. It should help us out alot in finding new investigators as well because we encourage the members to bring their friends.

Jorge and Rosario are progressing really well still. They should be getting the divorce paper they have been waiting for for so long and finally be able to get married this week. Their baptisimal date is on teh 15th of June. We are really excited for them and it has been really fun to get to teach them.

We also have another progressing investigator that is doing really well and her name is Nayla. Origionally she lived in another ward so we couldnt teach her but she just recently moved into our ward bounderies so we can teach her. Her story is a little sad because her husband was killed recently and now she is a widow with two twin toddler girls. She has been coming to church alot and she really likes it. We should be setting a baptisimal date with her this week.

Um just whatever you want to send is fine. I like sweets and AA batteries. If you can get your hands on an EFY disc for 2012 I would love love love to have it!

thanks for the great email and for all the support you give me!

con amor,

Elder Johns

Mordida, mordida, mordida!

¡Feliz cumpliaños!

Happy birthday Dad, Kaitlyn, and Kelsey! If you were here in Mexico, they would sing a really long dull song that is their equivalent to the happy birthday song and then they would all shout ¡Mordida, mordida, mordida! and then shove your face in the cake. It is a tradition that they always do here to celebrate birthdays. (mordida means bite so they are telling you to take a bite of the cake with just your mouth).

It was a pretty good week, alot of plans still fell through but we still had fairly good success. I got to give the district meeting class on wednesday which was a lot of fun.

On friday night I I and all the other district leaders and zone leaders in Victoria went to Tampico to stay the night because we had a trainning in the morning on Saturday. It is way more humid in Tampico so I am really glad that I am in Victoria. The training was really nice, it was really focused on teaching with the spirit and we learned about alot of things that we need to do before and during the lessons that will invite the spirit to be there with us.

There werent any packages for me so I guess the package you sent me got eaten by the mail man.

Nothing really new has happened, I have to do calls every night to check how my district is doing and so they can tell me that they are safe in their houses. Our district is pretty cool jbut we have alot of new missionaries taht dont have alot of experience. Its only me, my comp, and 4 other missionaries. I think they are going to put another 2 missionaries in my ward though becasue we need to find another apartment in our area.

Thats so awesome that your company is doing so well Dad. I hope you and mom are enjoying your time in Hawaii. Dont forget to put on sunscreen or youll get sunburned.

Nos vemos!

Elder Johns

The curse of week 6

Hey!

I really enjoyed getting to talk with all of you on Friday (Mexican Mothers Day) over skype! I forgot how beautiful my family is. Colin is getting too tall and should slouch a little more so that we can keep things in their proper order of me being the tallest. Thanks for getting everything set up for the call and doing face time with Kaitlyn, Ryan, and Angela so that I could talk to them as well. sorry if I spoke poor english, it is hard to switch right to english after talking in Spanish for so long.

This week was a little slower than normal as far as work goes but that is the curse of week 6, and it was also because everyone was visiting their mothers so we couldnt find them in their homes. We are starting a new change today and I am really excited because it is going to be a really good change. I also get to be the District Leader which is exciting. I havent been a district leader before but I am excited to learn how to do it well and serve my district. I will be in charge of planning and giving teh district meetings according to the needs of my district, all them every night to see how their day went, reporting to the Zone Leaders, and reporting numbers and stuff like that. I am excited!

We didnt see Rosario or Jorge very much this week, but they are progressing well. They should be getting married this week and then baptized on the 25th! They are super excited and I am really happy for them. Before they knew the gospel their relationship wasnt the happiest and they argued alot, but as soon as they started putting in practice the gospel they noticed a huge difference in their quality of life and happiness and so they are really on their way to becoming converted. They are going to be the example to their families and we are hoping that their families will follow their example as well.

This is going to be my second change with Elder MArtinez and it should be my last so I will probably be making him take the lead more to the point where for the last week or two he is taking the lead in everything and I can relax and let him do all the work (haha not really but I am supposed to prepare him so that he is capable of trainning directly after this change but that doesnt mean that he will train but its possible).

We havent had very much success with getting alot of less active members to go to church, it might be time that we make more of an effort to find less active members that are more ready to become active again.

Have fun in Hawaii, I get weather like that every day (except its not as enjoyable walking around in a dress shirt and tie)

con amor,

Elder Johns