Howdy!

On October 24, 2011 Elder Johnson wrote:

Well, this week we had some adventures, going out to Ixcuinquitlapilco and teaching Roque with his uncle who was so drunk. We had a good time talking to him, and had to use a lot of patience, but I definitely love that guy. I hope he will someday come to church with Roque. Poor Roque can't get baptized for a little while because he has some personal problems. However, he said that the girl he is dating wants to meet us and learn about the church.

We are having a great time teaching Mariana also. She is so motivated to go to the temple, and goes to every church activity, sometimes she is there more than the 'active members". As soon as we can get her (almost) husband's papers ready, we will get them married and her baptized. her suegros (parents-in-law) are really supportive. They are coming back to church and becoming active again, hopefully they continue on that path.

We helped a lady in our branch get reactivated this week! We found her knocking doors and the Lord told Elder Hille to go to a different house, so we went, not knowing anyone lived there from the church. She has two daughters who are jimilas (twins) and are 15, Noemi and Magali, a son who is 4ish, Gustavo, and a little daughter, Mayrenne. Oh, and her name is Adriana. Her husband died a few years ago, and she kind of felt overwhelmed and went inactive. We helped her to get her garden into shape and we taught her and helped her to feel the spirit again. She offered a wonderful closing prayer at one of our visits, and thanked Heavenly Father for sending "angels" to help her get back on the right path. Lots and lots of missionaries have gone there to visit her with no success, but she came to church! We were sooooooooooo happy and the rama (branch) was thrilled to see her there again. Please keep them in your prayers.

This week will be a busy week of finding more people (we always have trouble with that) and getting them to come to church. I hope we will be able to do that!! I love you all and am so thankful for all your support!

Love:

Elder Johnson

From Michelle:

I was unable to post last week, so the following is Iver's letter from last Monday...great things have happened since then, as you have just read!

On October 17, 2011 Elder Johnson wrote:

Friends and Family:

Well, this week was good. We were not able to get anyone to go to church (not one!) but please continue to pray for our investigators, they really reALLY REALLY benefit from your prayers there at home. We have been struggling to find new people to teach, but yesterday we had a miracle!!! We went to visit an investigator (her name is Mariana) she told us two weeks ago that she was NOT going to get baptized because she did not want to get married. When we were in her house she told us "we have been talking a lot and, we want to get married so I can be baptized." We had a family home evening with the branch I am in, and our relief society president talked about eternal marriage, and how we can be together as a family forever through going to the temple.

Espero que puedo ayudarla a tomar la decision a ser bautizado. Seria muy bueno.

Les quiero mucho!

Elder Johsnon

Howdy!

On October 10, 2011 Elder Johnson wrote:

Friends and Family and All Those Other Wonderful People:

Hello, greetings from Mexico! I hope you are all well!

This week we were able to bring a man named Roque to church. He loves church and loves the feeling that there is there. He is passing through some hard times because he left the U.S. and he can't go back because he doesn't have papers. He is sad because he can't see his kids that live in Ohio. He is struggling but will keep going to church. There he knows he can find peace and the guidance he needs. Please pray for him.

This week we will be working really hard trying to find people to teach so we can have a baptism this month. I hope we can find the people God has prepared.

I loved hearing the prophet announce new temples, what a blessing they are in our life! I hope I get back in time to go to the dedication of the Fort Collins temple, and it would be cool to go the the new Star Valley, WY temple. I heard that there is great fishing up there (which is another thing I really miss right now). President Call has announced that we are going to go to the temple as a mission the first week in November! I hope I get to go on the 5th, that would be an excellent way to celebrate my dad's birthday.

This past week I have been trying really hard to be motivated. Sometimes that is hard in the mission, but I think I am succeeding. Trying to find new people to go to church is hard, but here we go!! I think that bringing Roque to church really helped. I hope we can find the people that God has prepared. Elder Hille and I read in the Book of Mormon that God sends angels to prepare the hearts of the children of men so that they will be able to recognize the truth of what we teach.

I hope you all receive the Ensign or Liahona. This month's issue is super special. It is all about the Book of Mormon. I hope you read the issue, and take the Prophet of the Living God's challenge of reading or rereading the Book of Mormon. Heaven knows I will.

I love you all!!

Elder Iver Johnson

Howdy!

On October 3, 2011 Elder Johnson wrote:

?Que honda mis cuates?

What a weekend! Wow! What a conference! I hope you all study all of these talks and put their precepts to practice!

This week we are having changes, and my companero has been moved up to a district leader. That's right, Elder Hille is a district leader. It is always fun to be with a leader in the mission. He is now responsible for making our district meetings and for reporting all of our numbers to the zone leaders. We are excited about his new responsibilities.

We were unable to bring anyone to conference this weekend :( and we are sad about that. We found a few new people last week, Georgina and Mari Luisa. They each accepted the first lesson really well, and we are going to go back to visit them very soon. We hope they won't be busy this next week so they can go to church with us.

I love you all!

Elder Iver Johnson

From Michelle: If any of Iver's friends are interested in reading or watching the general conference talks he is referring to, you can do that at lds.org.