December 22, 2014

Hey family, this week was great.  We were able to work really well, I went on interchanges with Elder Serpa in Villas Del Rey, it was good.  I was able to visit some converts and old investigators.  But they don't have a boiler so I had to take a cold shower!  It's starting to get a little colder but not too cold!  We were able to find some chosen people this week, we brought 5 to the church on Sunday.  This week we contacted a 18 year old kid and his brother one day and when we returned we taught him the restoration, it was a very powerful lesson and when we finished he said that the day we found him he had been praying and he knew that something of someone was going to come and that's when we showed up.  He came the next day with us to church!  The Lord has blessed us for our diligence and obedience these last couple weeks!!  Anyways I'll talk to you all on Thursday!  Have a great Christmas season!

Love Elder Jacob Johnson

December 15, 2014 (2)

December 15, 2014

Hey family, everything is going great down here! This week was good!  We had a zone conference this week, it was good, we were there almost all day.  We ate a little Christmas dinner and everything, it was alright.  This week was good, we were able to find some chosen ones and get some references from members.  The patriarch of the stake is in our ward and we went out with him one day and he introduced us to a few people!  We went with one of his friends that he has had since grade school more that 50 years ago and we went with him and he came to church on Sunday.   It was kind of cool!  We have been fasting to be able to find the chosen ones and we had found lots of people during the week but nobody that was really chosen until Saturday night.  We went to a member's house and they gave us a reference of their neighbors that had just moved in and they are awesome.  They came to church with us the next morning, it was a trial of faith but I knew that is we did our part God would lead us to the people that He has prepared!   We put on the activity this week for the ward night, it was a missionary activity, it went well!  They want us to use that video of 'He Is The Gift' a lot so we are just talking about that with everyone!  I got your package mom and one from Grandma!  Thanks so much! Anyways thanks for everything, have a great week!

December 8, 2014

Hey family!  This week was good, I went on interchanges with Elder Cram on Tuesday to my fist sector of the mission, it was pretty good, but a little weird.  I was able to find some converts so that was really cool! We were riding on bikes and I looked over to the other side of the street and recognized a man we had baptized so we stopped and I took a picture with him, I'll send it to you guys. Then later on in the day I was able to find my first baptism, we had looked for her house, but I had forgotten which one it was, so we gave up and when we were leaving the colony, I saw somebody walking from far off and I thought it was her and sure enough it was! It was great to talk to her for a little bit, I could actually understand everything they were saying this go around haha.   I was able to talk to a few members I knew also, it was good!  There was a concert this week that we went to in the church, I was hoping some people from Pedregal were going to come but nobody did. Anyways everything is going great here in Bella Vista.  We are finding lots of new people but not very many are progressing. We find lots of people but we also drop a lot of people! Sounds like everything is going good at home. Today we went to eat at a meat buffet, I ate a few raw steaks, it was great, I haven't eaten meat like that for more than a year, I really enjoyed it! Anyways thanks for everything, Can't wait to skype with you all in a couple weeks, enjoy the Christmas Season!

Love Elder Jacob Johnson

December 1, 2014

Hey family, this week was great!! So I'm back in Mexicali for the third time, I'm in the ward Bella Vista!  It is in the zone of my first area!  I found some members that I knew in my first area that had moved over to here! Tomorrow I'm going on interchanges with the elder in my first area so I'm going to be able to visit some converts and members, I'm looking forward to it!! My comp is from Grainsville, Idaho.   His name is Elder Laufenberg, he's a really cool kid, we get along good! The ward here in Mexicali is a lot wealthier than any of my other areas! But I like it!  I almost feel like I'm in the US sometimes! Thanks for the pictures mom! The next conference is on the 10th of December and then the next one in January.   Yes my last comp went with Elder Zundel in San Louis haha I saw them the other day there was a conference! and no mom we don't live with anyone else, just us!! Anyways everything is going good here, I'm exited for Christmas down here.  I think I will enjoy it alot more this year than last year!  Anyways thanks for everything! Have a great week!

 

Love,     Elder Jacob Johnson

 

November 24, 2014

Hey family, this week was good.  Well I just got changed to Mexicali again. I'm here in Bella Vista with Elder Laughenberg, he is from Idaho. I was kinda disappointed because I thought I was going to stay and we had a few people that were going to get baptized soon. They took us all out of the ward and are putting 2 new elders in. This week we were going to baptize Lupita and Marcos and in a couple weeks Luis and Santa.  The changes were really weird, but its alright.  Some of our investigators were pretty devastated,  I thought for sure I was going to stay.  No mom, they don't celebrate Thanksgiving here!  Bri's hair looks really short!! and no mom I haven't gotten your package yet, and I wouldn't wait til next week to send the package because they only go over the border every once in a while so if you don't send it now it probably won't get here before the zone conference in December...anyways thanks for everything family, hope you have a good week!

Love Elder Jacob Johnson

November 10, 2014

Hey family, I'm doing great down here in Ensenada, I love it here!!  This week was good, it's getting a little bit colder now and the sun goes down at about 5. On Thursday we went and helped paint the house of a member out in Roble for a little bit and also we did some service for our neighbor, our land lord.  She is an older lady that is really wealthy and she had a lot of her friends over at her house.  She told us about some of them and I'm pretty sure I met some of the richest women in Baja California...  On Saturday we went  out to a colony clear out in the middle of nowhere, we just rode a little bus on a dirt road out to there, but it was good.  We found a few people that are really cool that we are going to start teaching. Then on Sunday I was able to stand in of the confirmation from the baptism last week!  Anyways hope everything went great in the wedding!! The pictures look great! I'm doing good down here!! Anyways have a great week!!   Thanks for everything!

Love Elder Jacob Johnson

November 3, 2014

Hey family, This week was good and bad, it's been a pretty crazy week, the weather has been pretty nice, its cooling down a bit, I can't believe it is snowing up there.  I have forgotten what snow is like.  Sounds like Halloween was normal, we had to be in our house by 6 and we were told the buses are pretty dangerous on Halloween.  Can't believe the wedding is this week, I hope everything turns out great, wish I could be there!! We had a baptism on Saturday and we had to bail all the water out of the font with a 5 gallon bucket that morning because they hadn't taken it out the last time they baptized and the pump broke, it was great haha.   I felt like I was working for dad again...then turns out they shut the water off here every day in the afternoon so the font was barely filling up, drop by drop but I finally filled up by the time of the baptism but everything went fine.  But there were some problems that happened and they ended up not getting confirmed on Sunday, so we have to make sure they get confirmed next Sunday.  It's been pretty stressful these last couple days. But I've been doing great!! Anyways have fun in the wedding!!!

Love Elder Jacob Johnson

October 20, 2014

Hey family, this week was good.   It's getting a little cooler now down here, its perfect weather!!  This week we had a conference with President on Wednesday and I went to work with Elder Lindley on Tuesday in his sector!  It was good, we've been able to find various new people these last couple weeks!  This Sunday we brought 8 investigators to the church, it was great. We have a new elder in the house with us, he is from the District Federal( the capital of Mexico) he seems pretty cool, he knows a little bit of English so that's good! Anyways I'm doing great down here just loving Ensenada.  Thanks for all the support and the e-mails every week!!  Don't stress out too much about the wedding!  Just enjoy the moments!  Have a great week everyone!!

Love Elder Johnson

October 13, 2014

Hermana Juanita with some cactus fruit

The beach from the bus ride

The sunset
Hey family, this week was great, I'm staying here with my same companion again Elder Molano, nothing too exciting happened this week.  I was able to go on interchanges with Elder Lindley, it was good.  I'm doing great down here, just living it up here in Ensenada.  The ride to Tijuana was good but really curvy, anyways thanks for everything!! Have a great week!!

 We haven't had too many experiences this week. We got some people to come to church with us, Marcos walked from his house to the church about 2 or 3 miles, and we passed by Israel and his daughter and we walked to church about 1 or 2 miles so we were able to bring 5 people to church with us, it was good.  We also have a new investigator from another sector that just moved here that she is trying to get baptized but is trying to stop drinking and smoking but I went there to meet her with Elder Lindley and we helped her and  I shared her the story about Juan in Mexicali and we gave her a blessing! It was a pretty spiritual experience, there was a man in the room that wasn't a member and he asked us to give him a blessing too because he was going through some problems and we gave him a blessing and afterwards he just asks us what he has to do to get baptized. It was pretty cool, but besides that, nothing too exiting!! Elder Lindley came on interchanges with me, I just walked him until he was ready to die haha.

 I think being down here in Mexico you start to be more thankful for everything we have in the USA, there are so many things we take for granted everyday that these people will never have in their lives.

 I never realized until I came here that we live in a mansion... anyways I have to go now mom, but thanks for everything.  By the way thanks a lot for the packages, the calendar is great I love it, especially the pic with dad and his mustache with the grandparents.

Love Elder Jacob Johnson

October 6, 2014

Hey family, this week was great.  Right now I'm in Tijuana because we had to come to renew our visas.  So I came up with my companion and Elder Lindley, it was a pretty rough ride, its a super curvy road, the conference went well.  We listened to it in Spanish but it was fine, I understood everything. Yes mom I still have my jacket and blanket, no we haven't had any fun experiences on p-day, they haven't given us permission to leave our sector lately so we just rest in the house and go eat somewhere.  Thanks for the pictures, they look great! The weather has been good, its not too hot and it gets pretty cool in the nights, I'm really liking Ensenada.  I went on interchanges with an Elder in Chaputlepec, its a really awesome sector, its right by the beach. Yes mom we were able to bring some people with us to the conference! I liked the talk given by Henry B Eyring in the priesthood session.  Sounds like you guys are doing great! I got your packages mom, thanks alot!! Well hope you all are doing great! I'm having the time of my life!! Have a great week! Love you all!

I'm actually in Tijuana right now for visa stuff.

The weather has been great! No it hasn't rained, were going back right after this! I got your packages, thanks mom!
 
(Mom)  I see a lot of hills and big dogs in your photos.  Do you have any good dog stories lately?


Ya that's how my sector is, ya I've almost get eaten like every day... The other day a dog almost got me, I kept getting closer to the house to greet at our investigator and there was a big dog barking but I didn't think he was going to do anything til I got a little closer and he just came at me so I just turned and started booking it.   He tried biting my companion but missed, he didn't get us luckily haha.   I've had a lot of close calls here haha.

Love Elder Jacob Johnson

September 29, 2014

found this guy in our house....


Hey family, this week was good.  We've just been working hard, the weather is cooling off a little bit. We were going to baptize a lady and her son this week but she ended up not being able to and her son didn't want to get baptized without his mom so they ended up not getting baptized. But I had an spiritual experience, Saturday night when they had canceled the baptism we were feeling pretty down and we didn't know who we could visit or what to do.  So I decided to say a prayer with my companion in the street there and about 3 seconds after we ended the prayer my phone rang and it was Elder Algeria in Mexicali telling me that Alfonzo and Emily were getting baptized right then and they wanted to talk with me. They were some investigators that we had been teaching before I left. So I was able to talk with them and some other members from Mexicali too that were at the baptism. It was really great to be able to talk with them, it was a reminder that we are an influence to everyone we teach and talk to, even though they don't get baptized in the moment we are putting the foundation so that they will later on, it reminded me of the scripture in D&C 64:33,34.  Anyways this week was good, found some huge spiders in our house... I'll send some pictures, have a great week!!

Love Elder Jacob Johnson

September 22, 2014

 Sunset in Ensenada from my sector.....

 Climbed up a big hill, always cruise ships in the bay

 
Hey family,  this week was good, on Monday night I stayed the night at the hospital with Elder G.  for about 18 hours.  It was hard for me to be caged in that room for so much time. He ended up going home this Saturday, his head never stopped hurting I guess. So we've been going to the hospital all week taking turns staying with him. No we weren't affected by the hurricane, it hit just the southern tip of the baja. No mom I still haven't gotten your package, we had the conference with Elder Valenzuela but they didn't bring the packages down so I wont be getting it for a while...the pics look great.  Can't believe its already fall up there. I'm loving Ensenada, its definitely the favorite place I've served so far.  From my sector you can always see the bay and feel the breeze from the ocean. Anyways that was pretty much my week, spent some time in the hospital. Anyways looks and sounds like you're doing good, enjoy the weather before winter gets there, thanks for the pictures, I love seeing how you're doing!! Have a great week, hope you like my pics!

Love Elder Jacob Johnson

September 15, 2014

Hey family, this week was good.   I'm just loving it here in Ensenada.  Can't believe its already so cold at home, its still pretty hot here but nothing compared to Mexicali, it's just more humid, so I'm sweating a ton. Sorry to hear you are sick mom. I actually got sick too on Saturday night.  I didn't sleep cause my stomach hurt so bad, I had eaten something that had given me an infection or something.  And then we went to church and the bishop asked me 20 minutes before the sacrament meeting if I would give a talk. I thought he was just joking but turns out he wasn't.  So I ended giving a talk haha but this week was great.  We had a conference with Elder Valenzuela from the area seventy, it was really good.  I was able to see Elder Mejia again.  He talked about how we can edify the church where we are serving by reactivating families and finding baptisms through them, it was really good. Elder Garcia that lives with us has been in the hospital since Saturday, he had a head ache and I guess it hasn't gotten better so he is still in the hospital.  We have been taking turns staying with him, I haven't stayed with him yet so I'm pretty sure I will stay the night with him tonight in the hospital. It's pretty crazy here in Ensenada, one thing I've noticed is that you can go from one house that is made from scrap wood eating beans and rice and the next hour you're in a super nice house eating with a gold spoon. But anyways I'm doing great here in Ensenada, hope you are all doing good. thanks for everything, have a great week!

Love Elder Jacob Johnson

September 8, 2014

That's the bay behind me, you can see a cruise ship


Hey family, I'm doing great here in Ensenada, just loving it.  I can't believe I finally got taken out of Mexicali! This week was good, my new sector is pretty good, it's just all big hills that we climb up and down.  My legs will be getting big. You can see the bay from my sector but not from my house.   I actually went on interchanges with Elder Lindley in his sector and his sector is all along the shore so we got pretty close to the ocean.   It was pretty sweet.  My companion is from Pennsylvania and the other Elder Phair is from Mesa Arizona, and the other Elder Garcia is from Chiapas.   It's kinda weird living with other Americans and having an American companion, we just talk in English all the time, its kinda cool.  It's good to hear Brooke and Keith came up for the weekend.  Anyways I am having a great time, and hope everything is going good at home.  I miss you all but I'm loving Ensenada.  I'll send you some pics! Have a great week!

Can you see the ocean?  You can't see it from where I live but you can see it from almost every part of my sector.   I will send you some pics.   I will probably see President this Thursday, we have a conference with Elder Venesuala from the Seventy.  We walk to the church but its in the sector of other elders, it takes us like 10 minutes to walk there. The ward is like 100 people, its pretty good the ward.

Love Elder Jacob Johnson

September 1, 2014

Hey family, this week was good.   I got transferred today to Ensenada!!!!!!!!!  My companion is Elder Molano, he is American. He has about 7 months in the mission think. This last week in Mexicali was pretty hot but now I can say I lived through the whole summer of Mexicali. Ensenada is pretty sweet, on the bus ride over here there is a part where we are just driving next to the ocean for a little bit but my sector isn't touching the ocean.  I hope you like the pictures I sent you.  Looks like you all had a good time at the family reunion, looks like Jordan and dad were able to kill some geese this week, Jordan looks taller than dad.  I was super sick this morning,...it was probably from the cow foot that I ate yesterday...I'm gonna miss the ward and everything in Mexicali but it sure feels good to not be in the extreme heat. Anyways, I hope everything is going good at home, have a great week!

How long was the bus ride?  It was like 3 and a half hours.

What is your new house like?  the house is a lot better than the house I was in in Mexicali, its two stories and there is four of us living there, there is 3 Americans and 1 Mexican, I'm looking forward to it.   I have never had an American companion or lived with any.

Love Elder Jacob Johnson

August 25, 2014

Hey family, this week was great.  My companion and I are doing great.  It's been hot as usual.   I hope you all like my pictures.  We had a baptism this week.  It's been sweet seeing her and her dad progress.  We were definitely guided by God in finding this family. I think I already told you how we found them but a little 3 year old kid came walking up to us in the street one day and his mom came over to pick him up and we contacted her and turns out she was a member but doesn't live here.  I asked her if we could go visit her grandma that she was visiting there.  She didn't want to let us, but I insisted so she took us to the house of her grandma and they were visitng.   We started teaching them and he was reactivated and she got baptized yesterday.   It's been real rough here this summer but the Lord has blessed us for our diligence and obedience. Transfers are this next Monday, I will probably get shipped out this time.   I went on interchanges with Elder Watts, we bought a pizza and mountain dew to celebrate our one year mark.   I took some videos but it won't let me send them.   There was a super bad rain storm one day this week, it was great! We got soaked, it was a pretty strong storm!  Anyways thanks for everything fam, have a great week.  I love you all.

Love Elder Jacob Johnson

August 18, 2014

Elder Watts

 Our new dog......

Hey family, this week was good.  Thanks for the pics mom, looks like you had a good time at Bear Lake. It's been pretty hot this week, I'm pretty sure these are the hottest weeks of the year and in a couple weeks it will start getting  a little bit cooler. We had a zone conference this week with President, it was good I also went on exchanges with Elder Watts again so he could do the interview for Abraham.  Abraham got baptized on Thursday, it was great, he got really sick on Monday Tuesday and Wednesday from bronchitis and he wasn't feeling up to it but we helped him and prayed a lot for him and he was able to be baptized. He is the one we found from the story I told you a few weeks ago.  It's crazy sometimes the way the Lord leads us to the people that are ready and prepared to receive the gospel. This week we are going to baptize a joven named Arleth. We found her dad and her a few weeks ago and have been progressing alot, her dad was a member less active for many years and now is preparing to go to the temple. Anyways everything is good here, just trying to endure the extreme heat, my body is fried and my feet always have problems but I'm doing fine! In 2 weeks its transfers.  This last week I ate some cow stomach soup. It's the only thing I really don't like haha it smells the same as when you're gutting an elk.  To think I was eating it almost made me sick haha anyways have a great week!!!

Ya we eat with members everyday, no they usually aren't very clean but I always bless it twice in my head before it eat it haha nah its not too bad, I'm actually a little surprised that I haven't gotten sick for a while cause with so much heat its hard to preserve the food. We walk almost everywhere!

 

Sounds fun, I hope Grandpa is doing good,  tell him hi for me, and tell him that nobody has stabbed me yet like he told my when I opened my call haha how is Bri doing?? Are you getting everything ready for the wedding? I still get psyched out when I think Brooke is getting married.

 

Love Elder Jacob Johnson

August 11, 2014

Hey family, this week was good.  This morning we went and played soccer with the zone, it was good but it was so hot we only lasted about 30 minutes. It's been hotter than ever, my nose is just peeling off completely haha but I'm doing great! This week we found a family one night and we invited them to a baptism the next day and they went.  Then afterwards he told me that he had seen me before in Tijuana, he is family of some members that I know in Tijuana.  It wasn't causality that we were able to find them, he came to church with us on Sunday too, it was a cool experience. We've been working good my companion and I, just enduring the heat, its sometimes intolerable. But anyways hope everything is going good at home!!! Have a great week!!

Love,   Elder Johnson

August 4, 2014

Hey family,

Thanks for the e-mail and the pictures mom.   Looks like you've had a good week! Congratulations Brooke, I cant believe you're getting married, seems like just the other day we were running around in diapers together. It's crazy how the time flies by. In exactly one year from today I'll be home!!! This week was good, it's been super hot, but Saturday it started to rain and it wasn't as hot, it's a miracle that it rained here in Mexicali but we enjoyed it. Nothing too exciting happened this week, we had interviews with President this week it was good! Sounds like you'll have a busy week being fair week!! Everything here is going good, this week I went on interchanges with Elder Watts, it was good, I hadn't been with him since the MTC, its crazy how much has changed since then. Anyways my companion and I are doing good together!! The heat is starting to get to me a little bit but I'm thinking I'll be leaving here in a couple weeks!! Anyways have a great week fam!!

Love Elder Jacob Johnson

July 21, 2014

Hey family, thanks mom for the email. It's good to hear Beau is still alive and is walking good. Jared sent me a picture of him and he looks super old now. That's pretty crazy the tree fell down! It's good to hear you were able to go boating with grandpa on the river!! This week has been good. It's been hotter than ever, we are almost getting to the hottest time of the year here.  Transfers were today, I'm staying here with my same companion Elder Algeria again.  I'm good with it. I don't know if my  body will be able to handle the heat but I get along good with my companion and we work good together.   We have a few people that are going to get baptized here soon. Yesterday we had a cool experience.   We were walking in the street at about 4 in the afternoon, it was so hot I thought I was going to get heatstroke.  I was just trying to stay alive until the sun went down hhaha ( just to let you know there isn't anyone in the street from about 11 until 4 other than missionaries and dogs haha) but a man came out of his house and yelled at us to go over to him and we went to his house and he started telling us about the trials he was going through and we taught him for about 10 minutes and he wanted to be baptized. I know that especially here in Mexicali if we work diligently the Lord will bless us abundantly. We also found a family yesterday that is super awesome that we are going to teach tonight. It's been going good here, Elder McCracken got changed to Tijuana and Elder Watts is coming in his spot, he was in my district in the MTC.  Anyways thanks for everything fam, hope you have a fantastic week!

Love Elder Jacob Johnson

July 14, 2014

Hey family, this week has been good! We were able to baptize Ramona!! We are witnessing miracles every week down here. The Lord is definitely looking over us and is involved in our lives every day. The baptism of Ramona was awesome, we had various investigators at the baptism too. We have various people preparing to be baptized. This last week we had a cool experience, we were walking and a little kid that is like 2 or 3 years old came walking  up to us when we were walking in the street and so his mom came over to pick him up so we started talking with her and she let us in the house of her family that she was visiting.  It turns out that her cousin that lives there is a member of the church from Sonora  but his daughter  isn't a member and we started teaching them and they went to the baptism and to church on Sunday. We also found a family that were just waiting to have the gospel in their lives, they went to the baptism too. I know the Lord is blessing us for our diligence, sometimes my body just can't keep going because of all the heat and walking but we are seeing the fruits of our labors. I hope you all are having a great summer. I can't believe you ran over beau mom.....poor guy. We met our new president this week, he came with everything. he is really powerful  and I am looking forward to serving with him. Anyways have a great week!!

Love Elder Jacob Johnson