It's Been a Build Week!

Hello everyone! Yup, it was a week this past week. We saw some cool things happen, which is always good, but we are still being diligent and looking for those people that we need to find! They are apparently hiding from us. We'll find them! I do have a quick rundown of how our week went:

On Monday we had a District P-day, affectionately called our Popcorn, Pop, Pork, Punch, and Pizza P-day (See pictures last week for invitations to said event, see pictures this week for pictures of the event)! We had a lot of fun. Played some games. It was a good time. We also got to teach C. that evening! We taught him about our life here on Earth and the Atonement of Jesus Christ (which is the best topic to teach about). 

After our lesson, we got a call from President Salisbury! :O So we hurriedly took it and he asked us about a man in our area that he grew up in the same neighborhood with back home, who is unfortunately not attending very regularly anymore. President asked us to set up a dinner with Brother B. and his wife (who isn't a member), us, and President and Sister Salisbury. So cool!! Unfortunately it didn't end up going through, the B.'s couldn't meet so we postponed it until the Salisbury's are up here again. Woo hoo though! That was a cool experience.

On Tuesday we went with Bishop B. and Brother K. to a funeral of a man who indicated that he was LDS, but wasn't on the records anywhere. He hadn't been active for 50+ years, but apparently he had an impact because 100+ people showed up at the mausoleum to pay their respects to him. That was pretty cool to see. I hope I have an impact on that many lives during my lifetime! He must've been a remarkable guy. We also were able to teach L. and Sister D.! They are both doing well. D.'s lesson went especially well! We brought her home and visiting teachers with us, the S.'s, and as D. is trying to quit smoking, it just so happened Brother S. was a smoker for like 40+ years until he converted the church in 2000! It was a perfect match up. Plus Sister S.'s is the Relief Society President and she is just perfect for every sister ever haha.

Not a ton happened on Wednesday, we did service at the Soup Opera Food Kitchen and actually met a cool guy who might want to learn more! Unfortunately he is living at the mission right now and doesn't have a phone, so we'll just have to rely on the Lord to guide us back to him or him back to us. Maybe we'll see him this Wednesday? You never know! 

Thursday was Specialized Training with all the missionaries in the Clarksburg Stake and President & Sister Salisbury! That was really fun. I learned a lot about being diligent and working even when it is hard. Seemed kinda fitting for what is going on right now in this area. We were also able to teach L. about the singularity of this church compared with every other church on the Earth and why it is important that there is only one church on the Earth with the fullness of the gospel. We also were able to teach Sister V. about Scripture Study. We are working with her! 

Really nothing happened on Friday except Brother M. took us out to Cracker Barrel which was super cool of him. :D Had to give a shout-out to him. He's an awesome guy.

Saturday was just an awesome day - weather wise. It was like 65 degrees at 7:30 as night was falling and it was just beautiful. Goodbye winter! Hello warm weather! Also as we were walking along the main road Brother C. randomly pulled over and gave us a full Little Caesars pizza! That was awesome. Little tender mercies like that are amazing. It shows that the Lord is always watching out for those engaged in his work. :) I love it out here!

Sunday was Easter! I think I'll end this email here with my testimony of the Resurrected Savior Jesus Christ. I was asked a couple months ago what would happen if I died and learned that this wasn't all true. It was an interesting question and I can't really remember how I responded. I was thinking about that question a day or two ago with the Easter season and all and I realized that I know the Savior lives. There's no room for, "what if it's false?" because there is no room in my heart for such a question. I'm not quite at the perfect knowledge step yet, but I know that Jesus Christ is my Savior and Redeemer. I know of the wonder of his birth and the miracle of his suffering, death, and resurrection. I know that, "I can do all things through Christ [who] strengthens me." "God be thanked for the matchless gift of His Divine Son!"

I love you all! Have a great week!

Love,

Elder Brax Johnson

Mom sent me a "build your own basket". :)

Hi. :)

It's Popcorn Fiesta time! :)

Mmmmmm. We don't know how the DP got there. :/

Slow Week and a Fireside!

Hello everyone! I don't have a ton of time, so we'll just jump right into this!

On Monday we were able to teach C. again, our top investigator! He will be baptized in Early/Mid June, so I hope I'm here to see the baptism! Adoption takes a while apparently, especially here in WV.

Tuesday we were able to teach L. about the Priesthood, on request of Bishop in preparation for his ordination on Sunday! That lesson went well, and he was really excited to receive the priesthood! We also saw the T.'s and taught them about Christ-like Attributes. Finished the night off with The C.s'. Good meeting. C. is coming along! Little C. I think still has some doubts/concerns we're trying to figure out, but they are just great. It's such a blessing to teach them! We also had a good Ward Coordination with President Hunter, our acting WML while Brother H. was in Utah. We got a lot of good information passed around. Oh yeah! Elder Casey had his first anti experience! That was funny. Just some weird guy in the Genealogy Center of the Public Library who wasn't a fan of FamilySearch. Apparently EVERYONE in FamilySearch is incorrect. Who'dda thought?

Wednesday we did a lot of tracting and walking around. At least it was warm! We came home real quick for a drink break, and I got a package of Popcorn! So much popcorn in all its variety! Thanks mom! :D We also got a REFERRAL from the sisters! And then ANOTHER one! That was awesome. Tender mercies are real! Neither of them really went anywhere, but it was a nice reminder that the Lord is in charge of his work here.

On Thursday we had our District Meeting! Elder Carter did a really great job about helping us understand how to resolve concerns of people using different sections of Preach My Gospel. THAT is an inspired book! We also taught Brother L. again and Sister D. with Brother C.! We committed Sister D. to be temple worthy (or at least living all the commandments) by May 1st. Kinda like we give people a baptismal date, we gave her a temple date. :P She is the most solid less-active member I've ever taught on my mission.

Not much happened the rest of the week. Sunday was a great day though! Older C. and C. came to church, which was AWESOME! We also had 3 less-active members at church! It was a good turnout. Also a really powerful baby blessing by Brother H. to his great-grandson. He is a great man. I could feel the power in his words and his hope for what his little grandson could become. We also had the fireside Sunday evening! It was great. I had the opportunity to conduct it, and I don't think I did too bad of a job. Brother L. from Mannington, Sister D., and Sister F. from the Fairmont sister's area all bore their testimonies. Brother L.'s was AWESOME. So powerful. He was baptized back in June with his wife, and they waited until March to baptize their 3 sons (twins, aged 9, and an 8 year old, all boys), so that he could baptized AND confirm them. HOW COOL IS THAT? He's the man. He choked up during his testimony, and his 9 year olds just started sobbing. It was powerful. The videos were also really great. We ate an impromptu dinner with the B.s, our Bishop and his wife. We had ran over to grab something and they invited us to stay for Crepes! They were delicious. We also got to hear fun mission stories from Bishop. He served in Haiti! #Crazyness.

That was our week! Pray for us! Pray for the people here! They are all good people. I love you all! Have a GREAT WEEK!

Love,

Elder Brax Johnson

Because everyone loves Elder Carter!

Popcorn Fiesta time! (Thanks Mom) <3

Selfie for Mom. :)

Short Week and a New Companion!

Hello everyone! I am here in Fairmont with Elder Carson Casey from Layton, Utah! He is a great guy who is ready to work, and work hard! We are having a ton of fun together. Here's what went down since last Wednesday:

Wednesday evening we said goodbye to a few people! President H. took us out to dinner and I ate a HUGE burger and TONS of fries and it was DELICIOUS but I felt AWFUL afterward. :D He then went with us to see Sister C. so Elder Jolley could say goodbye, and after that we taught Sister D. and did the goodbye thing there. To end the night we saw the N. family, Brother N. being an awesome man from Africa who works for NASA because he's awesome. Really sweet accent too! 

Thursday was transfers! We headed out of Fairmont at 7:30ish, and headed out of Clarksburg at 8:30. I got to drive the Morgantown Zone Leader's Toyota Sienna because we didn't have enough room in the 15 passenger van and Ford Expedition for all the luggage, haha. It was a fun drive. Down in Charleston I got to see all my friends!! Elder Malin was there, as was Elder Sawyer (who is home now!!!) Elder Bingham is training again, so I got to see him, and Elder Nelson gave me a full-body hug when I saw him. I love this mission and everyone in it. We had so much fun! I met Elder Casey that morning in our training meeting. It was great. We all got to bear our testimony and hear instruction from President for a little while. I know almost no one anymore, haha. I do have a lot of friends though. That night, back in Fairmont, we had dinner with C., a non-member whose daughter is a returned missionary, currently living in Logan, Utah going to school at USU. We had a good little visit with him, unfortunately he really isn't too open to changing right now. He is comfortable where he is at!

On Friday we taught Brother L. about Patriarchal Blessings! How's that for a first lesson, eh Elder Casey? ;D It was a little weird, but it went well I think. L. wants to get his patriarchal blessing now. We also asked him for a referral and now he's actually going to ask his friends to learn and we are going to meet them at his house this week hopefully!

For Saturday we were able to see R. and help him out with moving some things in his apartment. Later that evening we taught Sister V. with Brother H. That was a really scattered lesson, but we think it went well! Hey, she went to church, so that's gotta count for something, right? :D

Church was wonderful! There weren't a whole lot of people there, which I don't really understand "because of the time change," but whatever. Maybe it's because we went to bed at like 9:30 so we weren't super tired haha. After church L. had his priesthood interview! Bishop wants us to review what the priesthood is with him, but I think everything went well! He is on his way to the temple! Woo hoo! We also brought L. to T.'s house with us. That actually went really well! We taught her about overcoming trials through faith and coming to the true church and being a part of it. We committed her to read the Plan of Salvation pamphlet and the Book of Mormon. That evening we taught Sister D. with D. She committed to read the Book of Mormon daily! She is a golden less-active. On her way to coming back! That night, while we were doing training, I gave Elder Casey some assignments in Preach My Gospel and I #supersecretly went and made a cake because it was his birthday. It actually turned out alright! :D We have a lot of fun.

Thank you all for your support and kind words! I love you all! Have a great week! Make it the best ever!

Love,

Elder Brax Johnson

Happy Birthday Elder Casey!

New companions!

 The cake!

Transfer time! On our way to Charleston. Next to me is Elder Kropushek, my new Zone Leader, and Elder Christensen, whom he trained

A Baptism and Goodbyes!

No, don't worry, I'm staying, I'll explain more in a bit. 

Hello everyone! :D This week has been a great one. We've seen some pretty cool things happen. After emailing and Preparation Day last Monday, we headed over to the D. house!for dinner and to start teaching their foster son (soon to be adopted) C.! He's an awesome little kid, so we started teaching him! Once the adoption goes through (hopefully the end of the school-year) he will be able to get baptized. 

On Tuesday we were able to teach L.! The lesson before we had left him Mosiah 18 and this Tuesday we asked him to teach us! He did a great job. It's amazing to talk about the gospel with different people and get their view on what they see in a scripture that you may not see. He also showed us his jumping stilts! That was awesome. I might have to get a pair of those someday. I was also able to meet a member of the church who doesn't come anymore, J.! He loves the Elders even though he doesn't come to church. He's a very energetic, hyper guy. He took us out to dinner at an awesome pizza place named Colasessannos which was really nice of him.

On Wednesday not a whole lot happened, but we did get a new car!! That was awesome. It's a brand new 2016 Toyota Corolla. #blessed.

Thursday we were able to see M., a man who has been investigating the gospel for a long while now, but has been so busy these last few weeks we haven't been able to see him. He is a Methodist Minister who starting meeting with the missionaries probably 4 or so years ago. He knows more about the church than most members do, and he's been through pretty much EVERY MANUAL EVER. He gets the Ensign every month (and sometimes preaches about it), he has the Howard W Hunter book, he has the Sunday School Manual, Preach My Gospel, his own Quad, etc etc. He wants to join the church, eventually though. We're working on that. We brought President Hunter with us and after that we went over to see a less-active brother, R., who is now a Baptist Minister (Protestant turned Mormon and then a Mormon turned Protestant, haha). We had a nice visit with him, but unfortunately there are just some people that aren't willing to change their views. Later that day, L. texted us asking us to come over and read some scriptures with him. We quickly called Brother C. and he came with us. He was just having a hard day, but it helped my testimony of missionary work, that L. can recognize the Spirit that we take with us and knows when he needs it for his own life.

Friday we were on exchanges! Our District Leader Elder Carter came down to Fairmont with me! That morning we had Zone Meeting up in Morgantown, and that was a really great meeting. Learned a lot about prayer and how to teach it. It's also a lot more fun to be on the sitting side of the table in Zone Meeting. :) We taught L. AGAIN on Friday and just wrapped everything up on the teaching side. That was a good meeting. We were also at the end of the day taken out to Cracker Barrel by Brother M.! That was fun. It was very nice of him to take us out there. We invited him to the fireside on March 20th and invited him to invite someone else, too!

On Saturday we had a BAPTISM!! WOO HOO! L. entered the waters of baptism on the 5th of March, 2016! What a great day it was. It was still awesome. Brother H., our Ward Mission Leader, baptized him. While he was getting changed, we had everyone write a congrats/testimony on a little white card and we're going to put it in a photo album today and give it to him when we see him on Friday. Also the pictures of his baptism. :) We also saw two less-active families, the P.'s (who came to church on Sunday!) and M., who said she'd come this week. We also saw and taught the C.'s' about the importance of reading and praying about the Book of Mormon. That night, we got the 1st half of transfer calls! Elder Jolley is leaving Fairmont! We kinda expected it. More on that later!

The Glorious Sabbath! We had 4 Less-actives, 3 investigators, and 1 Recent Convert at church!! L. was also confirmed by Elder Jolley and it was an awesome blessing. It was a great church meeting. We were very blessed. Sister F. also invited us over to their house for Sunday dinner which was wonderfully awesome. They are from Gunnison, Utah, but Brother F. is a miner who came out here for mining. They made an awesome Utah meal of Baked Honey Ham and Funeral Potatoes. It was so good. That night, as we were walking back to our apartment, President Salisbury gave us a call! He asked me to train a brand-new missionary. I'm pretty excited! I hope I do a good job, the way Heavenly Father and the Lord wants me to do it.

So, this week now. I'm running out of time so I'm going to run through everyone we saw real quick. Mostly (every time actually haha) it was Elder Jolley saying goodbye. If I don't spend a lot of time on their names, just know that we were still teaching them even if it was a quick visit and we aren't THAT bad of a missionaries. ;D Here we go!

Monday we saw Brother M., the L.'s, whom we invited to prepare for the temple; that was a good visit. After that we saw the H.'s and had dinner with the C.'s. We also had a 2nd dinner with the D.'s and taught C. the 2nd half of the Restoration! We ended the night by inviting Brother K. to the fireside and Elder Jolley said goodbye to D.

On Tuesday we had a District Meeting! The last district meeting in this district with these people. Elder Jolley and Sister Kirkby will be moving on. We said goodbye and taught the Th.s, L., R., and the H.'s who made an awesome dinner. We also saw L., an awesome investigator who works for the FBI. We haven't seen him in a while, and we honestly aren't sure what to do with him. He said he wants to know if the church is true and he's willing to get baptized once he has his "Ah-ha" Moment. We're just not sure how to help him have that. We ended the night with the C.'s and D.! That was a fun lesson. They are some absolutely amazing people. We also found out that Elder Jolley will be going to Roanoke Walk with Elder Brenchley, my former companion! Woo hoo! Lucky guy.

I love you all! Thank you so much for all your prayers and support. Have a wonderful day! Make this week the best ever!

Love,

Elder Brax Johnson

The missionaries and the members and a baptism. Amazing day!

I love my calendar! Thanks, Mom

A Sweet Reunion and Tender Mercy!

Hello everyone! We'll see how long this one is. Kind of a slower week, so we'll see! 

This week we'll be having a baptism! L. will be entering the waters of the covenant on Saturday of this week! He is awesome. We were able to see him a couple times this week. We went by on Tuesday for a little lesson, having committed him the lesson before to study 2 Nephi 2 (we're going through beginning to end with him) and tell us about what he learned. He pulled out this scripture in verse 3 about how families are important! It was awesome! I would have never gotten that out of that verse had he not showed it to me. We were also able to teach The C.s' that night! That was great.

We saw D. on Wednesday and taught her about the law of Tithing and Fast Offerings, which she calls, "her dues." It was funny. She is awesome though! 

On Thursday we had the opportunity to teach L. again, as well as two of our less-active friends, the T.'s and the L.'s! We finished up teaching L. everything, so now we are just asking him questions about his understanding and reading the Book of Mormon with him to show how important it is in conversion. The T.'s are an interesting case! They act active, say they will be at church, and then just don't show up. :'(

The L.'s are great though! Brother L. comes pretty much every Sunday, but Sister L. is a nurse, so she is only able to come every other or something every other other week. 

Friday was District Meeting! Elder Carter did a great job with an object lesson about testimony and it's converting power (and everyone wanted chocolate I think, haha). We also planned for our fireside that is coming up on March 20th! That was a lot of fun. I like planning events. We also met with Sister D. again and taught her the Word of Wisdom! She had apparently forgotten that Tea and Coffee (I wish God would just wipe that crap away. It would make my job so much easier) are against the Lord's Law of Health, but she committed to give them up! She is also working toward giving smoking up too! We are praying mightily for her.

Sunday was a WONDERFUL day! It was Stake Conference! That meant that everyone in the stake was there, including EVERYONE FROM BUCKHANNON!!! :D :D :D I got to see them all. I wish I would've gotten pictures. I figured it wasn't appropriate in the chapel, haha. I gave Roy (who I daresay is the best member of the church in this mission) a HUGE hug. It was awesome to see him. I also got to see the Loudin's, the Lingers, Brock Howe, and a few others that didn't remember me. Tender mercies were real that day! We also had a REALLY awesome Stake Conference. Some seriously good speakers. President Haws is a really funny guy, too. He's really bubbly and energetic up on the stand. We also had Elder Bennett, our Area Seventy, there! He gave us some instruction at the beginning meeting and it was pretty cool. All about weaving ourselves together with the ward members and working hand in hand with them. 

Thank you all for your support! Sorry this one is so short. I love you all! Have a wonderful week!

Love,

Elder Brax Johnson

My awesome breakfast!

Elder Jolley!

Hi Mom!