Service Week!

Hello everyone! Another week is gone by and here we are again! Time is running out (for me at least)! Usually on Sunday night I'll write on a little sticky not what I did the past week that I want to talk about in this letter, so as to make it more meaningful and better, but it completely slipped my mind last night, so if this letter is jumbled, that is why. Forgive me!

Obviously, according to the title of the email, the major events of the week have been service! Let's get started!

On Wednesday we went out with M. L. to help him put some fence posts and electric fence wire up! It was a fun time, and we got to talk about the gospel to a couple of the people that were helping us, and that's what's most important in the end!

That night, we headed over to R. and J.'s house to help them out with some things around their yard! That was an even better visit! Not only did I get to run a weed eater for a while (always a fun time) but we got to teach R. a great lesson about the church and bible and how they connect! It was great! They also fed us some great food from The Italian Garden, so that's always nice of people. R. and J. are some great people. 

Thursday was a great day! We headed to Radford, about 40 minutes away, for interviews with President Salisbury! That is always an awesome time. I had a great interview, and left feeling pumped up and ready to preach to the world! He is a cool guy. Love him!

Friday we were back with M. L. to help him hang cattle guards under a bridge! (Gotta make sure those cows don't escape by swimming!) That was a fun time. The Hillsville elders also came down to help us do it faster. We had a good time.

After that, a sister in our ward called us asking us to give her a blessing. Would it have just been Elder Bean and I, we wouldn't have been able to go into her house, so we would have had to figure out someone else to bring with us. Because our Heavenly Father knows everything and is awesome, he knew we'd need another male, and lined it up just right to have the Hillsville elders there! So we went over there and gave her a blessing, all four of us. God is always watching over us! I testify of that.

The next day, Saturday, we were with J. again, this time at her store on Main street, helping her boss move stuff into the new store she will be opening up soon. The Lord knew that we wouldn't have a whole lot of time to go see people and get a lesson after service and before dinner, He gave us an opportunity to teach during service! We met a nice Wicken lady who was also helping move, and after some questions about who we were, we were able to teach her the Restoration! It went well, and although it wasn't some great revelatory experience, it did definitely give her something to think about.

Sunday was an awesome day! We had a Regional Conference, and Elder Kacher, Sister Reeves, Elder Andersen, and Elder Hales all spoke. It was awesome! 

Church ended, and we headed out with Brother Wh.! Two highlights of Sunday:

The first was with a couple named R. and M. We've been going over and seeing them for a while now, but this is the first time we've actually sat down to teach them something. We taught them the Restoration, and it was awesome! They both have some learning disabilities, but I know The Lord loves them just the same and has been preparing them for this time to hear the gospel. We had a great lesson with them and invited them out to church, and they accepted! Woo hoo! We'll be praying like no other this week, that's for sure.

Our last lesson of the day was with D. and D.! D. is the most elect investigator it has ever been my privilege to teach. What an amazing guy. He quit smoking all on his own! With no help except some encouragement from us. Just put them down. What a guy! We really didn't get to teach them a whole lot last night, but I just wanted to brag about him for a little while. :)

Anyway, those are the highlights of the week! I hope you all have a great week and make it the best one ever! 

Much love!

Elder Brax Johnson

Spring is here and it's green and beautiful.

My hipster n' oh so suave look.

It's been raining a lot here this week.

Pink is the new black.

Service rocks.

Dirty and sunburned.

Dig Elder dig.

A man of the land. :)

Highlights from this week!

Hello family and friends! Another week is gone again! How time is flying by. 

Last P-day, after emailing we went up to Bluefield for Zone P-day! Had a great time, played Rugby and Football (two hand touch of course) and partied with the cool guys in our zone!

The highlights of the week start on Tuesday with District Meeting that morning! There is only four of us, us and the Hillsville elders, so it's a bit of a smaller meeting, but it's still awesome to be with all of those guys. They are some pretty sweet elders! We came up with some companionship/area goals for the week for teaching lessons, and we hit our goals! How cool is that!? So cool, that's how cool. Working hard and becoming unified are the best way to hit your goals and see success in whatever you are doing! Works for us anyway!

After that, Elder Garrett and I headed back to Wytheville for exchanges! We had a blast. We also had some cool experiences during the day that we were together! We went to lunch with the District after our meeting, and while we are getting our food our Relief Society President texts us and tells us that J., our investigator who is getting baptized soon, had her baby (we knew that) and that her fiance was there with her and it would be a great opportunity to go teach him! So Elder Garrett and I rush over there (legally of course) where J., her mom, and G., her fiance all are! (And little E. of course. Can't forget about him!) We get to talking and get to know him a little bit better, and we start sharing scriptures and teaching a lesson. Well, I get a prompting, and I know I'm supposed to follow it, so I go for it, and invite him (G.) to think about making the same commitment that his fiancee is making in a couple weeks of baptism! And he said he would think and ponder about it! What an experience! He is coming to church next week, and hopefully going to have an amazing experience!

After exchanging back on Wednesday, Elder Bean and I had the opportunity to teach D., D., P. (D.'s son) and his friend R. the Plan of Salvation! Funnily enough, as we are teaching, D. starts to teach with us! I've never met someone so prepared as he has been. He is ready. If you all would say a prayer for him to be able to beat his habit of smoking, that would be great. I know that through our combined faith he can stop. R. also listened attentively throughout the meeting and I gave him his very own Book of Mormon and Restoration pamphlet, and testified that I know that the book I gave him can change his life if he reads it, and he seemed grateful and thankful! What a cool kid.

On Thursday, after an awesome Weekly Planning session, Elder Bean and I went over to Main street to help our investigator and her boss move some stuff into a new store they are opening up down from their old one. It was a great time! I don't think her boss really knew what to make of us at first, and she asked us a couple of the normal mormon questions (mainly polygamy). We established a pretty good and open relationship with her that day and answered all the questions that she had. 

On Friday we headed back to the store to finish up moving stuff, and the boss was a lot more open to us, and started asking us questions about our beliefs! She had a question about our view of heaven, so we got to teach her the last half of the Plan of Salvation right there in the store. The Lord can use any situation to teach one of his children, I testify of that. 

The next day, Saturday, we were walking down Main street and I felt like I should go in there and give her a card. So I did! She didn't outwardly seem too interested in the rest of our message, but I know that she was thinking about what we told her. We planted a seed, if nothing else!

Also on Saturday, we got to pick up a new investigator, T.! He is the boyfriend of Sister B., who returned from being less active about a year ago. He's a big, funny guy from the county over who likes to joke around. I like him already! We gave him a Book of Mormon and Restoration pamphlet, and he told us that he'd read it. Sweet!

Lo and behold, the next day at church, in walks Sister B. towing T. right behind her! She brought him to church! Members are awesome. He looked like he had a good time and hopefully we'll be seeing him this week so that we can build on the experience that he had at church! So cool.

After church, Brother Wh. took us out to see some people! We got to see D., his first cousin who has been coming to church, and teach her the Restoration! The message seems to have sunk to her heart, and hopefully we will be able to invite her to be baptized in the coming weeks! Pray for her too. She is an awesome girl, has overcome a LOT in her life.

Those were the highlights for the week! Thank you everyone for reading this email. I hope my experiences can strengthen you as they've strengthened me! Have a great week everyone, and make it the best ever!

Love,

Elder Brax Johnson

Elder Bean and I at the library.

My cute note from my favorite Secret Service agent

First Week of Training!

Hello friends and family! I don't have a whole lot of time to write today, we are headed up to Bluefield for Zone Pday and we have to leave pretty soon. Let's get started!

After emailing on Wed., we went back to the apartment so that Elder Larson could pack! The Hillsville elders came down to hang out with us and keep us company. They made Cinnabons, and we all got sick off of eating them, haha.

The fun part of Wed. was later that night! We got invited to go to mutual! They were playing Human Foosball and needed all the help they could get. We got to play around there for a while and had a lot of fun. It's no Songkran, but hey, we have fun too!

Thursday was transfers day! We got to Princeton about 7:30, and hung around there until 8:30. Played around with the Zone Leaders, watched to guys load 3 .50 cals into the back of their truck, etc, all in a days work in West Virginia! 

The transfer train (two 15 passenger vans and a huge moving van) picked us up at 8:30, and we started out trek to Charleston! I got to see some former companions and friends of mine, and we got to have some fun. Transfers are always an exciting time.

The way transfer meeting works, is the first thing they do (after a prayer and song) is have the trainees line up and the Assistants call out their name, where they are being trained, and by who! I was the first one of the elders to be called! I almost bowled him over when I hugged him. I was so excited!

Elder Bean is from Sequim, Washington! A smaller town on the peninsula of Washington. As very Northwest as you can go. He says you can see Canada from his window! How cool is that! Super cool. He is learning really quickly. He is an awesome elder.

We got started right away! We rode in the transfer train from Charleston to Princeton, where we jumped in our car and headed back! We didn't even have enough time to stop to drop off Elder Bean's stuff, we just went right to our dinner appointment with the V's! They made us some awesome steak, and stuff, and then Brother V. drove us to D&D's house!

We had a great Restoration lesson with them. D. is rapidly progressing, and it is awesome to see it happen! He is on 2 Nephi after a week and a half of listening The Book of Mormon, and can tell me all about what he listened to in previous chapters. It's awesome. He's awesome. It's all awesome. People like D. are what make missions worth it. If he was my only convert on my entire mission, it would be worth it, just because of the change I see him making. In a year and a half, he has come so far. In his words, "Before, I couldn't WAIT for them to leave, now I can't wait for them to come back and teach." WHAT A GUY! 

The highlight of Friday was being able to introduce Elder Bean to the F.s, who immediately liked him, and taking A., Sister F.'s son, to go see J. with us! We also had a great Restoration lesson with her! Sister B. and her daughter S. also happened to be there by some divine intervention, and they were able to help J. understand all about our church. She is really progressing too and wants to be baptized! May 10th is still her date.

Sunday was also a really awesome day! Church was amazing, the speakers were inspired, and we got to go out with Brother Wh. and see tons of people! I am really running out of time, so I'll just do the highlights.

We were able to see some less actives, R. and V. They needed a good visit, but just live too far out for us to go see them on a consistent basis. Luckily Brother Wh. knows him really well, and felt inspired to go see him. We had a great conversation with them and encouraged them to return to church and stay strong. I think they will. I really do.

We saw Sister B., Sh., and J. AGAIN this week too! Along with Ch. and S.! They had offered to feed us, and we brought Brother Wh. along! We had a REALLY good lesson with them, J. and S. (who are sisters). It was.... revelatory. :D

Our final visit was to D. and D. (Again :D) with Brother Wh.! Didn't teach an official Preach My Gospel lesson, but had an awesome talk about eternal marriage with them. They really want to be sealed, and that should happen next year! It's going to be great. We are excited (as always) about them.

Thanks for taking the time to read my email! I hope it inspired and uplifted you, as I was uplifted by experiencing it! Make this week the BEST EVER!

Love,

Elder Brax Johnson

Nope. Dishwashing soap does not work in the dishwasher. On the bright side, the floor is clean.

Dish soap beard

Saying goodbye to our Bluefield sisters: Sister Lytle and Sister Reed. :(

Elder Larsen is on his way to Kentucky

I have an amazing Zone Leader - Elder Bingham!

One of my greatest friends, Elder Davis!

Saying goodbye to Elder Mortenson :( Best district leader in the history of District Leaders!

Saying goodbye to Elder Maloy! :(

Saying goodbye to Elder McGraff! :(

Saying goodbye to Elder Olsen :(

Flowers for mom. :)

New companion! Welcome Elder Bean!

Transfer Week!!!

Hello everyone! We've had a busy week, and I don't have a lot of time, so let's get started!

We started the week on Monday by having some fun with the elders in Hillsville! We hung out with them for the day and had a good time. Didn't get too much done after we came home, but having a good P-day sets the tone for the rest of the week, so we knew a good week was coming!

Wednesday is where it started to kick off! We started the day at the Genealogical center, helping them out with the aftermath of their conference. It was a good time, and I got to try some fancy Irish cheese! Mmm.

We also were able to see a guy named W., and his wife and daughter. He's about as rural as it gets, and we love it! His house is guarded by three enormous German Shepherds, and barbed wire fence. "To scare anybody I don't want up here off." He says. He is great! We had a great conversation about religion with him, and he gave us a couple of referrals! Woo hoo! 

We were also able to see the Ke's. on Wednesday too! We knew transfers was coming up, and we aren't able to see the  Ke's  very often because of where they live, so we went to say goodbye and to take some pictures with them. L.K. has the coolest mustache, doesn't he? 

Thursday we had Zone Meeting! It was an awesome meeting. We had some good training on planning vs. scheduling and just being more effective in general. We were down a LOT on our statistics, and we really need to step our game up. Stepping up! 

I also went on exchanges with Elder Tebbs in Hillsville! We had a great time, and got to see a couple people. We had some really good talks, and it was good for him as well as me, I think. We both learned some things. I hope I helped him too!

We met back up on Friday to start painting S. & J.s mom's apartment! J. is getting induced on Sunday (say a prayer) and the house really needed to be repainted, so we did that before the baby comes! It was exciting! The Hillsville elders were helping us, thankfully. We probably couldn't do it ourselves alone. Thank goodness for an awesome district!

General Conference started on Saturday! WOOOO HOOOO! It was amazing! Wasn't it amazing? It was amazing! You obviously can't pick a favorite in a conference amazing as that, but here are some of the ones that stood out in particular to me:

Elder Kevin W. Pearson

Elder Wilford W Andersen

Elder Brent H Nielson

Elder Jeffrey R Holland

Elder D Todd Christofferson

Elder Dallin H Oaks

But they were all amazing! Don't let the Spirit that you felt fade! Keep listening and studying these talks. They aren't just for Easter weekend, they are for our LIVES! All of it! As I heard it said once about the scriptures, "They must keep rewriting The Book of Mormon, because I always find something new every time I read it!" The same applies to these sermons! There is always something you can get out of them, every time you listen to it. I promise!

Sunday morning we got a call from our Ward Mission Leader, asking us to give a blessing to someone he home teaches. He recently had gall-bladder surgery, and wasn't up and moving like normal quite then. We were able to give her an awesome blessing, offered by Elder Larson. She had had a "mini-stroke" a couple days before, meaning all the symptoms of a stroke, but none of the complications and injuries normally associated with strokes. She is a very lucky girl! Say a quick prayer if you would. She's a bit of a struggling soul. Knows the gospel is true, won't really change. She's the one that asked for the blessing, so that's something! Her name is A.

In between sessions of Conference, we ran over to the M.s house, a part member family. J., was SO excited to see us, because her church had a Sunrise Service a couple hours before, and there was LOADS of food to be consumed. Much fun was had. It was an answer to a prayer! We didn't have the miles to go back to our house because the church is so far away to eat lunch, so we were planning on just not eating. The Lord provided for us, and we got to rub shoulders with some more wonderful non-members! It was great!

After conference ended we were able to see a few more people, and we ended the day with the Gr. family, recent converts. That was great fun. They are a great couple. I love A.'s beard. They were baptized in August and haven't missed a single Sunday yet! How cool is that? So cool. They are awesome.

Monday was an interesting day, and definitely the biggest news of the week came from Monday. Elder Larson and I were using our hour allowed per week to look up answers to questions our investigators have, learn more about what we will be teaching, etc. Well, sitting there all quiet, the phone starts vibrating. Who could it be? President Salisbury!

Here we go.

I answer, and he's as nice and awesome as ever. we chat about General Conference and he gives me some advice on continuing the Spirit that I felt, and then he drops the bombshell!

"Elder Johnson, I'd like you to continue to serve as a District Leader, but I have an additional assignment for you. To train a brand new missionary."

...

... 

...

Oh.

I'm going to be a trainer everyone! OH MY GOSH! I guess the Lord knows best.

8 ¶For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the Lord.

That scripture seems especially applicable right now. Who knows! I meet this brand new elder tomorrow, and I'm so excited for him. Absolutely petrified, but excited. Here we go on this new adventure!

Tuesday was filled with goodbyes from Elder Larson. Our best visit was where we ended the night, with Sister B. and a host of her friends. It was awesome! We took many pictures, I got to wear a beard, and we showed them "He Lives," the video put out by the church, and were able to teach a great lesson about the Resurrection and what it means for us! It was a great night.

That night the Zone Leaders called to give us what we call "transfer doctrine" or rather, who is leaving and where, and who is coming in.

Elder Larson is headed to Martin, Kentucky with an awesome Elder that he knows! He's excited, but also a little sad. He loves it here in Wytheville, and after 18 weeks, I've grown to love him too! We're sad to see him go, but he has new adventures on the horizon, just ahead.

I love you all! I hope you make this the best week ever. Have a great day, and I will talk to you on Monday!

Love,

Elder Brax Johnson

Mom sent April's calendar! Celebrate national cheese day!!!

Easter Dinner. Yum Yum.

Even when there are dark clouds, the light is still there.

This place was amazing.

Hanging out with the Hillville Elders!

My thank you's. :) I love all these people. :)