Leadership Training Meeting

Batter up!

It is outta here!!!

Ahhh...what is for lunch?!

Elder Johnson and Elder Machado

Zone Meeting: Teaching how to teach

Everyone is in Brazil!

Family,

Sounds like you guys have had a crazy week with Dad gone and Cullen leaving and Cameron giving boss talks! But another week has passed and now everything is back to normal! Normality is good... sometimes.

My letter wont be super long today. This week went by without anything super notable. Though we did have one day with the Assistants. We went to this one neighboorhood out in the boondocks and we built a house. Pretty impressive right? not really, this house was pretty sketchy but it was better than a lot of the houses I have been in. But way out there we ate sugar cane. Yeah it was pretty cool. It was like chewing on a massive sweetened toothpick. I had never tried it but you actually cant eat it. You have to chew it up and suck the sugar juice out of it. 

Yesterday was the primary program here in the branch. We only have 8 kids and one has special needs. They sang a ton of songs, or at least they tried to. They had to sing to tape recordings of the songs and it was angelic. I never would have thought that a choir of out-of-tune and out-of-time kids could bring such a powerful spirit. Almost everyone was in tears! What faith, what joy, and what a heavenly experience! 

Last night we had a mission wide emergency transfer and almost all the problem missionaries were taken out and we got absolute all-stars! I am really excited for the rest of this transfer and we will see some great success!

Also, two of the elders that were in the MTC with me and were reassigned to Tucson with me finally got their visas and will be here tomorrow! All Elders from my MTC district are now in Brazil! Took almost a year, but it happened! We truly have to work on God's time, not ours!

we had an activity and I was in charge of the treat... Banana, strawberry, and 3 plates of brigaderio. It was celestial. Look what you have to look forward to when I get back ;)

Also, this other pic was taken close to where we built a house for a service project.

Austin - How will you live without Cullen for the next 2 years??? I am super stoked for him and only have one thing to say.... YOU'RE NEXT. I would encourage you to start preparing in the non-gospel things now like laundry, COOKING, and playing the piano. Try to learn the hymns. Even when missionaries only know a little bit, the members prefer that than a recording that the piano has downloaded on it. Sooooo sounds like you have some talents to develop :D Good luck and have an awesome week!

Cam - email.

Lexi - SIS! I miss you! I hope you are doing well and that school is going well. Are you making new friends? Is the work harder? Are you too smart?? I hope you have a good week and keep being a stud! :D

Love you all,

Elder Zac Johnson

10/06/2014

Family!

How did you like conference?? I thought it was pretty fantastic myself! Hearing the talk in portuguese was pretty insane, not gonna lie, and that talk was one of my favorites. Though I really enjoyed the talks by D. Todd, Uchtdorf (about the testimony), and Jörg Klebingat. So many answers and blessings were received on those two days.

So, this week has been kind of crazy. I got to meet all of the investigators here and we have quite severe cases of laziness and lack of physical ability. One is in a wheel-chair, the other has a prosthetic leg, and the other has had a broken leg for the past 6 months. We aren't exactly hitting home-runs in the physical department and they all have a lack of motivation to learn more about the church. So, we will be focusing on finding new investigators that dont have so many physical disablilities. These disabilities wouldnt be a problem if they were spiritual giants, but the lack of effort they put in to the appointments and reading really limit the spiritual progress. 

A MIRACLE HAPPENED LAST NIGHT. President Monson 's final comments really touched me. His blessing at the very end rang in my ears long after he finished. "For those of you who are far from home, I invoke Heaven's blessings so that when you return home, you will find everything in order." I was confused at why I felt the Spirit so strong when he pronouced that blessing. But I knew that I would benefit from it soon. Soon? 13 months is a long time!

Well, the District President asked us to lock up the chapel for him. We decided to stack all the chairs and clean up the chapel a little bit. Since this was a last minute decision, I left my bag on the floor in the lobby. This lobby is a small room with a front and back entrance. Both were wide open. I leaned my umbrella against the bag and got to work. We finished quickly and I decided to go get my bag. Before I turned the corner of the lobby, I heared my umbrella hit the floor. Turning the corner, I saw that my bag was gone and the umbrella was on the floor. My first thought was that one of the youth must have returned to the chapel and was trying to be funny, so I walked out the back entrance. Seeing a male-figure in the dark behind a wire fence (still thinking it was a member), I let out a laugh and said "I caught you!" This random man I had never seen before walked out from behind the fence and asked about the church and with a smile and a handshake, I invited him to the ward activity on wednesday night. He accepted the invitation, walked back behind the fence and, getting on his bike, left the chapel. I returned inside and asked Elder Machado if he had seen my bag. He hadn't and the Sisters gave me the same answer. I felt the need to go look behind the fence. When I got there, I found my bag on the ground, unopened and with nothing missing (i only had my scriptures in there). I had literally caught the guy before he had a chance to search it. 

As I shared my discovery and put the puzzle together about what had happened, President Monson's promise echoed in my head. Oh how I am grateful for a prophet and the Celestial protection that I have.

I know that Conference can answer any question that we may have. Remember the promised blessings and commandments that we received! That is God speaking to us today!

Austin - Powerful essay. Really made me think! Just do better with Cameron than I did with you.

Cam - email

Lexi - Congrats on your project and with Irish dance! Keep doing your best, and you'll be happy!

Love you all,

Elder Zac Johnson