A Short Week and Baptism!

Hello hello! It was a short week this week, but ended with a BAPTISM! Sister B. was baptized yesterday on Sunday, November 8th, 2015! What a special day it was. It was awesome. But we'll get there! That was at the end.

On Wednesday, we had the district come down to the institute building and we played some basketball! Not too exciting, but it was fun. That night we had a lesson with B. and D! We taught Family History and Temples. It went well at the beginning, but there was some confusion at the end that we had to clear up, but after we left (had another appointment), apparently B. was able to find a couple people on some census' on FamilySearch! You gotta love modern-day technology, don't ya? It makes things so much easier!

Friday was interesting! Some stuff went down that just made the day crazy. Missions are crazy! We did get to eat at The Original Italian Restaurant, where we had a HUGE Stromboli, and it was DELICIOUS. Nothing better than a pizza sandwich. Mmm. Anyway! We got to give a blessing to Sister H., who wanted to go to the temple that next day (Saturday), but wasn't feeling super well. Hopefully she's feeling better today! Brother T., our Ward Mission Leader, came with us for that meeting.

Saturday we touched base with B. and got everything ready for her baptism! Due to some crazy circumstances, we weren't able to get anything ready for the baptism until today, so it was a mad rush to get everything ready! I sent a picture of the baptismal program. I think it turned out pretty well! The hymns were per her request. We also had an awesome dinner appointment with the Anderson family and their family friends, J. and C. Brother A. used to work at The Italian Place in St. George, so he made some awesome Garlic Bread. I ate WAY to much, but it was so good. We had a really good conversation about conversion and staying true to the gospel you know. It was really great!

SUNDAY WAS THE BAPTISM! She was just glowing. She was really nervous leading up to it, but I think it was all dispelled because of the support she had. Elder Brenchley was able to be a part of the Sacrament Meeting and he gave a great talk centered on Elder James B. Martino's talk from this past conference. It was great! He did a great job. The whole sacrament meeting was just fantastic! The 3 speakers just did wonderfully. All the talks were focused on finding answers to gospel questions. 

After church was the baptismal service! 54 people came to support B. on her big day, including her grandson, N! It was great that he came to support his grandma. We were really grateful that he came and showed her support. 

After that we went over to The B.'s house for a quick dinner that they invited B. to, and then we had to run to get down to Lynchburg for a baptismal interview! Elder Vai and Elder Malin are rocking it down in the Lynchburg 2nd Ward! M. will be baptized next week! I got to chat with her member husband, M., for a bit while Elder Brenchley interviewed her. The work is so exciting! I'm so blessed to be here and be apart of this wonderful work. It is truly hastening!

Thank you all for reading! Sorry it's a little shorter! I love all of you tons! Have a great week, make it the best one ever!

Love,

Elder Brax Johnson

The glowing missionaries with the glowing Sister B.

Firesides, Testimonies, and Transfers!

Hello hello everyone! It's been a week and a half since this last email, so I have TONS to tell you about! This week really was a good week, especially for the zone. We were very blessed! 10 people in the zone in the past 2 weeks were baptized! What a blessing it is to see the fruits of all the missionaries' hard work over these last couple transfers.

Monday was a bunch of fun! After getting a free haircut by one of the members of our ward (Thank you Sister C!) we headed down to Lynchburg! We had a baptismal interview down there at 6:30, so we decided to go down early and play around in a "big city" (like 70,000 people, which is HUGE for me). We got to go to Ross, where I learned how wonderful cheap stuff actually is, and also got to eat at PANDA EXPRESS! #tendermerciesarereal

Like I mentioned before, I had the chance to interview J. for baptism, one of the Amherst elder's investigators. My first interview! That was so awesome. He was ready, and was baptized just this past Sunday! I'm so thankful I had the chance to hear his testimony of the Gospel. It was a wonderful testimony and reminder of why we do this work! Bringing people unto Christ, and let them earn their testimony too.

Tuesday was awesome as well! We had MLC, which meant a 3:15 alarm and a 4 hour drive up to Charleston! The meeting was really really good. We focused on teaching the doctrine simply and on teaching the Book of Mormon. I feel like I gained quite a bit out of it. It's so fun to be that meeting, as a mission council, being able to discuss the needs of the mission openly. We have another MLC coming up, a special one, with Elder Erich W Kopishke of the Seventy! That will be awesome. On the drive back from MLC, we stopped in Princeton, WV to drop some stuff off to the elders there, and we went to dinner! All 10 missionaries! (BV, Roanoke, and Pembroke Zone Leaders, as well as the Roanoke and Christiansburg Sister Training Leaders) It was a ton of fun to be able to sit down and just chat with President and Sister Salisbury over dinner. Got back just before midnight, almost got sprayed by a skunk, and barely even got my clothes off and sweats on before I was asleep, haha. Total time awake: 21 hours. I haven't done that in 18 months!

Wednesday we had the Ward Chili Cookoff! That was a ton of fun. Brother F. brought his crazy hot and homemade salsa that I'm pretty sure burns calories because it's so hot. We got to meet a few non members that people had brought, and so that made it all worth it!

Friday we got to teach Zone Meeting! I think it was received well and that people who contributed got a lot out of it. I certainly did! I had the chance to conduct, and so that is always really fun. We went out to lunch afterward and I had a HUGE Pulled Pork Sandwich Burger monstrosity. I saved some for the next day, haha. (See Picture)

We got to teach B. and D. again on Halloween afternoon! We went over the baptismal interview questions, and apparently D. is DEATHLY afraid of interviews. We talked about it and she seemed pretty resigned to the fact that the interview was going to happen, haha. But she was very animated and bold about her dislike for the interview and expressed her displeasure in a most forward way. She's so funny sometimes. Transfer info also came in on Halloween. Elder Brenchley and I will both be staying in Buena Vista for another 6 weeks! Woo hoo! What a tender mercy. We BOTH get to see their baptism.

Sunday was the fireside day! B. came to church that day! Woooooo! Not only that, but she got up, and with the help of President B., her amazing member friend, she BORE HER TESTIMONY AT THE PULPIT!!! I don't think I've ever been so proud to teach someone. That was amazing. She told us afterward, "I didn't tell you I was going to do it because I didn't know myself!" haha. Man, that was a blessing.

But anyway! Back to the fireside. All the weeks of planning, preparing, advertising, scheduling, etc etc ALL CAME TOGETHER! President J., our Stake President, conducted the meeting. What a powerful meeting it was! The Spirit was so strong. It was amazing! There was a musical number, Nearer My God To Thee, sung by a YSA girl that was incredible. The testimonies were awesome, just everything was perfect! I will definitely be hosting some more on my mission before it's over.

Monday was really fun for dinner! The L.'s had us over and we ate Cow Tongue! "Tongue Tacos" to be exact. Mmmmm. Elder Brenchley was very thankful they showed him the picture AFTER he ate. Apparently they bought it fresh! Haha, but after that we got to go help Brother L. with his Elders Quorum visits (He's in the Elders Quorum Presidency), and that was fun. Got to see some really good people. B. and D.'s baptismal interview was also Monday night! They both passed, which was awesome. They are ready and we are excited.

Tuesday morning we had a lesson with Brother W. He is a gung-ho returning less-active and recently moved into the BV ward with family. He has some problems that he is overcoming, and he is one of the sweetest, most tender-hearted people I know. We are teaching him the lessons, and then having him teach us next time. That will be really fun! Hopefully it will help him too.

We also, as we were tracting, asked this nice older lady, B., if we could rake her leaves. She let us, and we had a blast! We invited the W. boys to come help us, too! I got to use the big leaf blower, and that was awesome. If there were trees in Utah, I would totally get one for awesome easy blowing access. But what was funny is that her husband rolled up after a little while and gave us a $100 bill! HOLY CRAP! Who just rolls around with a Franklin in their pocket? AND HE WOULDN'T TAKE IT BACK. It will definitely going into Fast Offerings if he still wont take it. Not our pocket!

We also had a great lesson with B. and D. on service and the Priesthood. Seeing them again tonight for the family history lesson. That will be a good one!

That is my week! Thank you all for taking the time to read it. I love each of you and hope you have the best week ever! Let me bear my testimony before I go that I know the Book of Mormon is the Word of God. I know it! And I thank my God that I know it, and have the chance to declare to the world what I know. Have a great day!

Love,

Elder Brax Johnson

Stopped at a lookout. It's all dead now and there are 6 BILLION+ leaves everywhere.

Me and the amazing Elder Numbers!

#partybus

From left to right: Elder Bingham, Myself, Elder Wilkinson, Elder Poyfair, Elder Brenchley, Elder Millard

Our wonderful Buena Vista ZONE!

Elder H. Rasmussen

Elder Goold

Elder Anderton

Elder Fidel

Elder Kitchen

Elder Kelly

Elder Whiting

Elder French

Elder Malin

Elder Hugentobler

Myself

Elder Brenchley

Elder M. Rasmussen

Elder Tunell

Elder Ward

Elder Underhill

Elder Moser

Elder Hallewell

Elder Tupou

Elder Vai

Elder Hill

Elder Ostler

Elder Thompson

Sister Lively

Sister Pugh

Sister Moeai

Sister Ford

Sister Banks

Sister Harrison

Sister Flake

Sister Skanchy

So much food!

Mmmmmmmm....

All beautiful roads lead to Lynchburg!

Ready for an Awesome Week!

Hello everyone! I have negative 20 minutes left, so I'm just going to type and not stop until this email is done.

Last Monday was really awesome! We had met this awesome family, the S. Family, a couple weeks ago when their member neighbor gave us the referral. We decided to try and get to know them a little bit. We knew the Mom/Wife, B., had ties to the church, her parents and sisters being active members. Her husband E. grew up Methodist. During the lesson, it actually came out that she is a member! They are an awesome, basically already Mormon, Part-Member family that almost went unnoticed, right under our noses! I can hardly believe it.

Tuesday was WAY busy! We had an appointment at 7:30 that night with J. and B., and we brought Sister W. with us, because she is the Activity Days person and they have a little daughter named M. She came to activity days! How awesome is that!!?? 

Right after that we ran over to Lexington to see D. in the hospital! She has Congestive Heart Failure, and she had 40 lbs of fluid drained from her body! She sounded much better. Hopefully that will mean she's that much closer to baptism! Keep her in your prayers!

Friday we had District Meeting and exchanges! I went with Elder Moser to the Rockbridge area, and had a total blast! He is a great missionary and he's not even done with training yet! I'm excited to see where his mission will take him!

Sunday was great! Church was absolutely fantastic! It was the primary program, so we all got to partake of the awesome Spirit that was there that the Lord's little children bring with them. What a blessing!

Sorry this is so short. I really have no time. I love you all though and thank you for the support you offer me! Thanks for reading this!

Love,

Elder Brax Johnson

Myself and Elder Moser

District meeting with the amazing Rockbridge district!

Hello Friends and Family!

Hello friends and everyone! Not a whole lot of time or a whole lot to report on, so lets jump into it!

On Tuesday we had a fun Mission Conference Call with all of the Zone Leaders, Sister Training Leaders, and President Salisbury! We talked about the mission and it's needs, answered questions, and gave our thoughts. We've been talking a lot lately about how to continue to work effectively even when it gets super cold and dark really fast (Gotta love the winter).

We also had a really awesome district meeting that Elder Kelly taught! All about not getting discouraged as we work to continue to keep up the amazing things that we have been doing, and to continue to go even higher! It was a very spiritual meeting and I think the district was really pumped up to do awesome work.

That night we had the chance to teach B. and D. We went in with the intent to teach them about the law of tithing and fast offerings, but the Lord had something else in mind (He often does). We ended up spending the whole time resolving their concerns with baptism, and this time they set their OWN goal of November 8th for their baptism! WE ARE SO EXCITED! Unfortunately that may be after transfers, so I don't know if I'll be here, but that's okay. As long as they get baptized, that's all that matters! Success for one is success for all.

Wednesday was a slower day, but we were able to pick up a new investigator named S. Elder Numbers and I had found him EONS ago but never were able to catch him at home until now. Previously he had been a little closed with us, but in the lesson we were able to have he really opened up and asked some questions that concerned him. Hopefully we did a good job resolving them! We have a meeting with him tomorrow. 

Thursday night we were finally able to see J. and K. again! Not sure if I've talked about them before in the past, but they are living together and have 2 little kids. We started talking to them as we were walking down the street and they expressed some interest in family history! This time we were able to go back and teach J. about the Plan of Salvation and why we do family history work. We eventually got to how the Book of Mormon is the keystone of everything we teach, and asked that when he came to know it was true, would he be baptized by authority on December 12th! He accepted! How cool. It was a great experience.

On Friday we headed down to Timberlake (Lynchburg) to attend the Timberlake and Gretna Elder's district meeting! Elder Ward, their district leader, did a great job talking about Our Purpose and Chapter 1 of Preach My Gospel. It was sweet. After that, Elder Underhill and Elder Kitchen (Elder Ward's two companions), and I headed back up to BV for an exchange! It was a lot of fun, especially to be in a tripanionship. Never a dull moment! While on exchanges, we were able to teach B. and D. again! This time we finally got around to Tithing and Fast Offerings, and it was a really great meeting. They both committed to live it and are excited to help build the kingdom! 

Sunday we had a really good day! It was a really good end to the week. Speaking just briefly, we were able to pick up two new investigators! We met J. at our booth for family history, and we met his wife B. when we went over to his house! We were able to have a really good talk about Family History and the Plan of Salvation, and they committed to read the Plan of Salvation pamphlet! That's pretty cool. We're excited! I was also able to put my programming knowledge to use and give their daughter, who wants to be a game designer, some websites and programs to get that will help get her started. They seemed to really appreciate that.

That was my week! Thank you all for your support and for reading this! I LOVE YOU ALL!

Love,

Elder Brax Johnson

A flyer I made. :)

A selfie for mom since I forgot to take pictures!

Exchange Miracles and Family History Booths!

Hello one and all, family and friends!

This week has been a lot of fun! I don't have a lot of time, so let's jump into it!

Tuesday we had a district meeting, taught by our district leader Elder Kelly (whom I've known for some years now). It was a really spiritually powerful meeting about how we don't need to get stressed or overwork ourselves to put out good numbers. Our district has been #rockingit the past few weeks. We've really been doing fantastic, but Elder Kelly was concerned that if our huge jump dips a little bit, we're going to get discouraged, have no faith, etc, etc and make that dip even bigger. Luckily it seems that the areas have really stepped their game up and realized it's not about the numbers, but the people that we teach. We've really started to see great success because of that attitude.

I had the opportunity also on Tuesday to go on exchanges with Elder Malin down in the Lynchburg/Amherst area! He is getting trained by Elder Vai, who is one of our district leaders, and he is just FANTASTIC. I really was impressed with him. For only being out 2 months (which in reality is quite a while) he was able to take stewardship and leadership of the area and show me the ropes. I learned a lot about humility and obedience from just watching his example. What a blessing! We were able to find them a new investigator, a girl named D. We went and knocked on the door (she had expressed interest before) and she answered! We talked outside for a little while, taught her the Restoration, and committed her to read the Book of Mormon. Woo! They set up an appointment for Monday (today) so they could bring a male and have a longer lesson. She's pretty awesome!

On Wednesday, after exchanging back, Elder Brenchley and I went and did some service with one of our Ward Missionary friends, Brother F.! We went to a nice lady's house (J.) who E. and his wife have been helping and fellowshipping for a couple months now. After mowing her lawn, we sat down and had a great Restoration lesson with her! She committed to read the Book of Mormon and pray about it! She didn't fully understand the importance of baptism, but we did invite her to be baptized when she found out the message was true! We'll get there, just a slower mover. That was a great blessing to be able to talk with, get to know, and teach her!

Friday was WAY fun! We met the Assistants at a restaurant called JJ's (best BBQ you'll ever have. Pulled pork eat your heart out!) and Elder William's and I headed up to Charleston for exchanges! That was so much fun. I really look up to Elder William's a lot. He was Elder Brenchley's MTC companion, so that's a lot of fun! I got to hear on both ends all the funny stories from the MTC. At one point on our exchange, we went to contact a media referral who requested a Book of Mormon. She was eh on the interest level, so we were like alrighty, here's your Book of Mormon and we'll stop by sometime later. We knocked a few doors around her house and eventually tracted into this lady, S., who is SO PREPARED. It was awesome. She has had missionaries stop by before, and she told us she read their "little blue book" (The Book of Mormon!) and really liked it. She invited us back and invited herself to church! It was sweet.

Saturday was a really great day as well. Elder Williams and I came back down to BV just before noon. Elder Brenchley and I had been setting up and getting ready for a festival called Mountain Days before I left for this exchange, and what a success it was! We had the chance to set up a booth in the street where TONS of people walked by. We also had a "Who Wants to be a Millionaire - Mormon Edition" set up on the other side of the booth. Its a trivia like game meant to get people interested in the various topic that we teach about, Book of Mormon, Joseph Smith, Temples, Eternal families, etc. It was a BLAST! We actually were able to teach a new investigator, A., while we were doing the game with her about temples, and we set up a return appointment were we can come talk about temples some more with her! #miracles.

Saturday was also great because we got to spend a lot of it with President Salisbury, our Mission President, who is one of the most amazing men I know. We had interviews that morning right after I returned from Charleston, and we also were able to attend the Priesthood Leadership Session of Stake Conference with him, as we were invited by him and President Jones (our Stake President). That was great!

Sunday was Stake Conference! B. CAME!! WOO HOOOOOOO!! D. was ill that day, but it was a HUGE milestone for B. to come without D. Usually you'll only get them there if you get both of them, but she came, and LOVED IT! I'm so thankful for all the awesome talks that were given. One on the enabling power of the Atonement of Jesus Christ was just A+ material. So great. President Salisbury also spoke on how we have all been given various talents to serve the Lord and preach the gospel. He encouraged us all, but especially the youth, to ponder for 30 seconds about how they can use their talents to spread the message of the Restoration and the Atonement. What a great day. 

We were also able to pick up two new investigators, J. and K. , on Sunday. We had met them before, but were finally able to teach them on their porch! They were VERY interested to learn about eternal families and temples, and we were happy to oblige. 

That was my week! Thank you all for reading this! I love you all! Talk to you next week!

Love,

Elder Brax Johnson

Who are your ancestors? Find out here and ask these cute elders. :)

Elder French. One of my favorite Elders. Great friend!

Elder French.  The super Elder.

The amazing Elder Malin!

Elder Rueda's scary carnivorous plant. :)

Em - leaves for you!

The drive back from Charleston - I64 - it's beautiful

Our AMAZING infographic!!!

Seriously. AMAZING - Infographic!

The Elders :)

The wonderful Rockbridge district!

The Family History Booth - at the Mountain Festival

Check out our infographic

This place is rather pretty mom. :) 

The AMAZING Elder Williams!

Our Festival!

Find your ancestor! with Elder Kelly and Elder Moser

This was taken when it was almost over.
There were 100x more people earlier!!!