Hallå allihoppa!

I deeply thank and appreciate you for the many prayers you have given to me and the mission through this trying time. I truly have been strengthened by you and things are getting better. With time, more understanding comes as well as acceptance. I think about a quote that goes along the lines of "Lord, give me the patience to deal with the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to tell the difference." This quote has helped me a lot throughout my mission. This week has been quite wonderful, to say the least. Words don't give justice to the many amazing experiences and blessings that God has given to me.

Mån: Most of the day we spent walking around Eskilstuna trying to find museums and domkyrkans (cathedrals) to visit. Unfortunately they were all closed and or were not opened on mondays:( However, we took the time to look at the beauty along the way and capture the fun moments. Eskilstuna is one of the prettiest cities in Sweden during the summer time, and even now it looks amazing! We finished up our day with a practice teach with some members. They asked random questions they thought investigators would ask haha. It was nice, we had dinner and a good time.

Tis: We had the church watch and one of the branch's new converts came into the church and chatted with us. We renewed our bus cards and went out to go find this less active and ended up getting lost...for a little bit. Later we went out on exchanges with our home teaching companions. I went with the Stake President (now thats pressure.) We swungby 2 less actives who weren't home, so I was kind of nervous because i was leading the way tonight. A thought came to mind to go visit this other less active. So we drove out there, knocked on the door and chatted for a while. She wasn't too excited to see us but after President talked with her and connected with some interests she was eager to let us in!

We got talking and getting to know each other, her daughter is a olympic gymnast and will be competing in the next summer olympics!! Thats crazy! Her son and I connected with soccer and had a good chat about that. President pulls out his ipad and shows a mormon message and gave a little testimony about that. They liked it so much that we helped them download gospel library app on their ipads and pull up more mormon messages! It was amazing! At the beginning she was not wanting us to come in or anything, but as we continued and as the spirit worked came in, it opened her up to letting us in and connecting more! She said that we are welcome to come back!  Later that night my comp and I contacted someone in the similar fashion: first glance -not too interested, but as we continued, taught a little bit and bore testimony, the spirit was able to open up his heart and accept what we said and give us his number! The spirit was definitely in control this day!!

We seem to always be getting lost these days

Ons: We planned for a lesson in the morning, but ended up in the wrong place for our lesson, ha. Getting lost and confused has been happening a lot recently (that is a foreshadowing to future events). We met L and talked a lot about Agency. We really focused on right and wrong, happiness or misery: there is no middle ground. We taught that everything good comes from God. He is still unsure about the existance of a God and even an afterlife but we bore testimony to him that if he prayed about it he would receive his answer. 

We had our church watch and met up with a potential investigator -W.  We met him 4 weeks ago at the bus station -he actually talked to us first, but we left without getting his number or anything. Last week we saw him riding his bike and stopped him to get his number. Later that night, the other E-tuna elders came to our place for a sleepover-because torsdag we had zone conference and would head up together. We made some hamburgers and Elder B and I stayed up pretty late talking and having a bro sesh. We are very similar and it's pretty funny. He is excellent at quoting movies, so needless to say we get along great.

Tors: We left early in the morning for Västerhaninge for combined zone conference of Södertälje and Stockholm South zones. We had to go through Stockholm central and then go back down to Västerhaninge. As we were going in and out of STHLM, i was getting very nostalgic. I was back in my home! I loved being able to see all of my first area and point out things to the other elders. I miss it. 

The meeting started out with a memorial video of Elder Bailey. It was a bunch of pictures compiled together and I was in a lot of them, because we were in the mtc together. It made me cry a lot again; I had forgotten a lot of great times in the MTC with elder Bailey. However, through all of that, I think I really found peace. President Newell said something that really hit me. "Elder Bailey is fine. He just had a transfer. He is continuing the work with just as much vigor and enthusiasm as he had here, if not more. However, he cannot baptize there. He is counting on us to do that. What we do now, should be for the same cause that he died for. He needs us." That hit me. He is fine. We are not. We have bodies that are subject to disease and all sorts of things. He is fine. But he needs us -all of us. To baptize. That right there, has helped me comprehend what I need to do. That I need to keep going forward, go out and find, teach and baptize. We all need to do family history work to baptize. This has given me great peace to know all is well with my fellow brother, but also a sense of awakening and determination to go out and serve more fully.

Figuring out the I-phone and all the apps

Just before we left, the secretaries announced that we were all getting IPHONES!!! Everyone was ecstatic. It will make things easier: never get lost, access to mormon messages for lessons, visual aids right there, etc. . So that was a big shock! We have iphones, and it's really cool ha!

We got back into Strängnäs and met up with N. She loved everything we talked about and the daily scriptures we have been sending her. She still has some concerns but we promised her that if she continues to read and pray about the book of mormon, she would get an answer that she should be baptized!! SO please pray for her!

Interesting doorknob

Fre: We met up with an older investigator. He is very knowledgable about the bible and knows that it has flaws. He has a lot of questions but he is very positive with us. We had our weekly planning and then headed to sports night. It was only us 4 missionaries, plus two others but we made it fun. 

Lör: We received the transfer call.  So my Elder S will be going and I will be receiving a new Elder S. hahahaha so I am going back to back S's! What are the odds?:) He just finished his 12 week greeny program, so i will be greeny busting, is what it is called in the mission slang. It'll be cool. I'm excited. We had a busy day today as well. Met with J and W and had great lessons with them. 

We met up with Y, the most respectful, coolest guy I've ever met. He has the strongest belief in his religion. I could feel how much it meant to him. He obviously doesn't agree with some things that we believe in, but he didn't shoot them down. He analyzed them and tried to accept it and see why and how we believe this way. He is very open and just a great guy. We gave him a book of mormon, and he is planning on giving us the koran (pretty cool right). Super cool guy! We had planned other lessons in the day, but they were cancelled. That actually helped us get some breathing room and focus more on our lessons with these 3 than worry about being late to the next appointment. God was watching out for us on that.

Sön: It was Elder S's last sunday here, so he gave his testimony. We had 4 investigators show up to church!!! I did the translating from swedish to english for my first time -so that was scary and fun ha. I dont think I did so well, but I made it through ok.:) After sacrament, we elders split up to teach them. One of them actually knows one of our members and so that was cool for him to have a friend already in church!! Miracle! We had a branch council afterwards then went to take the sacrament to a ward member and I used the peacock feather for an object lesson -went really great, thanks mom!

We went down to Strängnäs to teach A , gave a book of mormon to S and he accepted the soft baptismal invitiation!!, met up with N for a short time for E. Smith to say goodbye, and then we went to B's. We had a very busy, just fantastic day! Everything went according to plans, and the spirit was so strong, and it was top 5 best days of the mission. I wish I could explain more, but I don't have too much time!!! SOOOOO AWESOME!!!

We ended up having 20 lessons this week! We had 4 investigators in church! We have really just seen the Lord's hand in this work this week, and he has shown us the fruit of our labors. We have worked really long and hard with little happening, but this week was a testimony to me that the Lord holds onto his promise that he will bless us if we are but faithful, diligent, and obedient to Him always. I'm so happy right now, and things are just going really good. I can't even describe how much we have been blessed this week, and see so much success! Many people are making the steps closer to Christ. I am so blessed and grateful for this amazing opportunity I have to be a missionary here in Sweden. It is amazing. I love this work and know it is true. I love this people and desire their happiness just as Enos, and the Sons of Mosiah for the Lamanites. I love you all, and I especially love my Savior who has been there every step of the way with me. And has carried me when times have been hard. He is always there. He lives. It is my prayer that you all always remember that He is there for you. He waits to bless you if you but ask. Have a fantastic week!

Love, Elder Johnson

Hello family and friends,

It's great to hear from all of you and know you are doing well. I really appreciate all of your thoughts and prayers to help me and more importantly Elder Bailey's family. This week has been rough, to say the least. I am emotionally drained and just tired. I know because of you, that I receive the strength to carry out through the day-so thank you for that.

Mån: Last Monday I was in shock and couldn't really comprehend all that had taken place earlier. The Stake President invited our district to their place for dinner and comfort. He gave a very special prayer to bless us and comfort us through this time. I came home and for the first time that day (i had postponed it selfishly and pridefully) knelt down and prayed. And I wept. One, because of the loss of a close friend, and 2 because I knew I had waited too long to become comforted. I had postponed feeling better because of my pride. But I know now, that anytime I am in need, the first place I go is on my knees. God is waiting to comfort and bless you. Don't wait. That's selfish to hang on to your suffering. If you truly need help, that is the one place guaranteed, you will be safe-on your knees. Things may not get better immediately or ever, but there is peace that comes when you submit to the will of the father. That I know to be true.

Tis: I have kept my mind occupied working hard, being out and talking to people, putting aside all thoughts and feelings of what had happened. I didn't want to deal with it, and for a time it worked. We had a couple of lessons. One was with an investigator who wont come out and tell us he is not interested. However, we bore witness about book of mormon and how one could truly find the truth upon reading and praying about it. I know something stirred within him but later in the week he denied that feeling and has been hard to meet with again.

Ons: In my personal study, I wrote a special tribute about Elder Bailey and shared it with mom and others. We taught a person who is interested in religions but has no background of it himself. We had a successful, positive contact with a Chilean person on the street in which we all used 3 languages throughout the entire contact: Swedish, English, and Spanish, and we all understood every word of it! How cool is that! The other elders brought someone back to the church for us because they were off to another meeting, and so we ended up talking with Professor C for a while. He is 77 years old and still full of energy, life and going hard! It was inspiring just seeing how active he was for how old he is ha! He told us his life story and how he was in prison unjustly for 14 years. He taught us a little chinese, as well (Im learning common phrases and gestures in so many languages while im out, its amazing!!! I've met people from many countries throughout the world. And Im learning phrases in many of them!!!). Prof C is very interested in the book of mormon and what our difference is among other religions. He was just awesome! I loved it:) We met a couple of other people through contacting who were quite positive.

Tors: We got to our district meeting in Katrineholm a little early so us E-tuna elders walked through a park and took some pictures. District meeting was about turning potential investigators into investigators and investigators into progressing investigators. We have gone through so many people, and a lot have been dropping us, with not too many people progressing towards baptism and confirmation. So this helped us a lot.

We ate some pizza and headed to Strängnäs where we met with C and her family, and her husband was involved with our scripture discussion. She half jokingly, told him to read the Book of Mormon! Ha, that was cool! We then met up with M who has been heard to meet with. She knows that what we have to offer will help her life so much, and she said she needed to make time for us because it will help her find the truth she has been searching for!  I shared my experience and the tragedy of Elder Bailey, and she had a firm testimony that he is needed with God for a greater work. The spirit was so strong there, even in that pizza parlor (because we cant meet with single women alone unless we are in public). She asked us if we wanted to pray then and there, and of course we did! Wow! We are sending her daily scriptures to remind her about God, and so that she can share them with her friends at work!! She is awesome!

Fre: In the morning we got haircuts from a member, D -who is the backbone of the branch and very knowledgeable of missionary work. We then met up with K a Finnish guy who really wants to change his life, but is scared what will happen and what it will take to get there. He blåsted us once, but is really wanting to change but not really ha. So we'll see how that goes. We did some weekly planning and headed over to sports night. We had everyone put rocks in their shoes and walk around in them, and then take them out. The rocks represent sins that we personally put into our shoes-lives. The way the rocks are taken away is through sincere repentance and the Atonement. We then played innebandy (indoor hockey) which was really fun and frustrating ha. Im not too good at it, but it was a lot of fun.

Lör: We met back up with K and further explained the Book of Mormon, the Holy Ghost and Prayer. All of it was new to him, but he was open with all of it. He read and asked some questions, but he is content with his own knowledge of life -which is very little. A lot of people are like that, content with not knowing much about God or religion, or even a purpose in life, and dont really care for it even if they are given the opportunity. He is willing to meet with us and read the BoM, so hopefully... We came home a little early so we could shine our shoes, and iron our clothes to look nice and respectful for the memorial service.

Sön: We got to go toVästerås for the Memorial service of Elder Bailey. All of the missionaries in my Mtc group and their current companions, elder baileys former companions and their current companions, and stockholm and stockholm north zones all got to attend the memorial service. It was nice seeing everyone but it wasn't the same. This day the shock went away and reality hit me. It was a tough morning. Seeing his face on the program and knowing I will never see that face again in this life, it took its toll on me. The service was very beautiful, a lot of great music, and a lot of reverance towards elder bailey. Sometimes, I would be ok, and others I just cried and cried. I cried out in acceptance knowing that he is gone, and I cried out knowing that I will see him again. I am not one to let people comfort me, I prefer to be alone to solve my problems and or hard times. But there was no way I could this day. And that was good. I stood next to Elder O, and he held me and just let me cry and cry. No words. It wasn't needed. I just needed someone to be there and let me cry. 

Picture from Swedish newspaper of the Memorial.  (Brock in green tie.)

The missionaries all sung a swedish hymn, # 159 in the swedish hymn book "Blott en dag, ett ögonblick i sänder". This is a traditional and favorite passing away hymn, and more importantly it was elder bailey's favorite hymn. It is my mtc districts favorite hymn that we had truly taken as our own. We sang it when we had to say goodbye to sister D in the mtc, and we sang it today. I got through the first 2 verses just fine, but couldn't get through the last. Basically the message of the song is that in a moment, things can change so fast. But though we mourn for the loss of a loved one, we know that he is well with our Father in Heaven, and that we will see him in a moment not too long in the future. It is a song that is very near to my heart and I would love it to be sung at my homecoming. 

Some members from the stockholm ward were there including the G's, so that was very special for me to hug them, because I know they have had the similar experience when their son J died on his mission. I'm grateful for them, and that we are still so close though I am in a different area now. They are my biggest help and heros here in Sweden. Afterwards, we all took a picture together, had a lunch, and talked and caught up with each other.

At the train station.  We all missed our trains.

We all missed our train so we hung out at the station for awhile. Someone come up to me and asked for a lighter to smoke and realized I was a christian. He sat down next to me and we talked. I had seen him before in Linköping and there he was now. He wants to stop drinking and smoking and go to church more, and also wants to know what the difference our church is among others. He is really excited and happy to meet missionaries, so I gave his number to my brothers in Linköping and they are going to meet him! We got to have dinner with the Stake President and his wife again. I came home and stayed up pretty late praying and thinking and pretty much cried myself to sleep. I thought I was all cried out, but I guess not. No real overwhelming calm feeling has come to me, just a simple small "it'll be ok" thought. This is hard -life is hard, the mission is hard. No one ever said it wouldnt be. They only said it would be worth it. I'm not sure how I'm going to be this next week, this next month, this next year, in the future with dealing with this, but I do know where my strength lies -in my Savior and Redeemer. The greatest blessings from the Atonement is all that is unfair in life will be made right, whether in this life or the next. He has died so that I might live. It will not be easy, but I know it will be worth it. I know Elder Bailey knew that, he lived that. And I will see him again. My prayers continue to go out to his family, friends and all those who have been touched by him in any way. I love this gospel, and I love you.

Love Elder Johnson

Tough News

Elder Mason Bailey is to the right of Elder Johnson

Something tragic has happened that I need to tell you about. Sunday afternoon here in Sweden, Elder Mason Bailey, who was in my mtc district, was hit by a car and died. I am still in shock and don't know how to respond or what to do. He was the greatest guy I have ever known; full of love and life, always a friend to everyone, recognized his weaknesses and made them his strengths. I am deeply saddened by his loss, and can only imagine how hard this is for his family. Though sad this may be now, the message that the Gospel brings lets us know that we will see him again. What peace and joy to know that we will live forever with our families and loved ones for all eternity; that this life is not the end, but just one step in the process. Death does not separate us, if anything, it brings us closer together. I truly am grateful for this knowledge in my life and know that it is all part of God's Great Plan of Happiness.

This is hard but I will go ahead with my letter. I kind of seems trivial right now. I love and appreciate all of the love, support, updates, etc. you send to me -you are amazing!

The name of this fruit is pretty funny

Mån: I started doing the Insanity workout and it is definitely insane. I'm sweating so much from it and I haven't done that for a while. We taught our english class then headed over to a less actives place. We asked her to teach us spanish. Both my comp and I have a fairly decent background in spanish so it won't be completely new. She lit up at the suggestion and wants us to do it.. She even said that we can learn how to read scriptures and teach our missionary lessons in spanish to her! She said that this will help her desire to come back to church grow! We were very excited to see that! It's really cool to see that when we really take the time to listen and get to know someone, the Spirit can touch them in such a way that opens them up to the Gospel.

Breakfast of Champions!

Tis: We got up at 6 am to do laundry then had our church watch. Its interesting what sometimes happens with companions; we have a little spat, but right after that, we have the greatest spiritual experience ever by really getting to know each other and growing from that. A lot of people cancelled on us today so that also played a role in our frustrations. This week we had a lot of solid 0 days, which got us pretty down. But tuesday I got a package from the Lewis family and some letters that really helped me feel loved and appreciated in a time where I was feeling down. So thanks for that!

Ons: Our companionship study was very interesting. We talked about if we were the missionaries we saw ourselves being when we were younger. That's a very interesting thought. Am I the same missionary I dreamed about being? Am I doing the things I saw myself doing? Missionaries can get into the routine of teaching and talking that they are confident in what they say and know how to read certain people and ultimately not rely on the Spirit. But we want and need the spirit so much in everything we do. God directs us through His spirit and if we arent doing His work in His way, why are we doing it? On a funny note, we contacted an old man who only spoke Arabic. We gave him a pamphlet and he kissed it and touched it to his head and said "tack så mycket!" (thank you so much)

I am navigating, and no we're not lost.

Tors: This day was crazy! We called it the MEGA ULTRA EXCHANGES because the AP's and the ZLs came to Eskilstuna to be with us. The Assistants went with the senior companions and the Zone leaders went with the juniors. So 8 missionaries in Eskilstuna!!! Wow, that was crazy! I went to Strängnäs where no one was home and my appointments fell through. I had a good chat with Elder M about his mission and what I can do to improve -it really helped. I was getting pretty anxious because we didn't have anything to do, but luckily I called C and she said we could come by. That was a life saver for me. We had a great discussion and spiritual experience. We watched a mormon message "The Will of God" by D. Todd Christofferson. I started to tear up because this week God has been pruning me. He only does it out of love, He knows who and what we need to be, and in order to get there, we have to be cut back every now and again to grow in the right place. The night is always the darkest, just before the dawn. How true that is.  I'm lucky enough to try to keep a positive attitude through all of the hard times and know that something good is on the horizon. 

We ended on a teach with an investigator and his sister. We were able to bear testimony of the book of mormon and challenge them to find out for themselves if it is true. They seemed to grasp it very well. We came home and Elder M showed me all of the functions of the Area Book because I was never taught that. That book is priceless and irreplaceable. It was a cool day in Eskilstuna for sure.

Fre: Lots of cancels and drops... we need more people to teach so contacting, tracting, everything it takes to get more people. We had sports night and it was us 4 missionaries, plus two others. We taught them for a little bit and then played some indoor football (soccer.) Love to play!

Lör: Some swingbys, some cancels, some good contacts and all of that stuff. I made some good curry chicken:)

Sön: Fast sundays are the best!! We had a lot of people in church -investigators, less actives, members, us:), all were from the other elders' area, but we're all the same team so I was very happy for that. I shared my testimony about how Christ calls us his friends, and as such we should do our best to help him and His work. Just knowing he considers us friends, family, His own, really makes you feel comforted. You are never ever alone. He is always there for us if we allow Him to be. A member family invited us over for dinner and had a good time there. We did some swingbys and got cancelled again. We walked home during a snowstorm contacting people who were content with being ok. They didn't want to have eternal happiness. They just want to be ok. Not too good, not too bad, and thats sad. It was a very tough week and then our missionary brother gets killed. But we've just got to remain positive and keep moving on.

Reppin' the DH Thunder on a morning run in Sweden

Hope all is well and that life is good. And I realized that back home high school soccer started up. It made me kind of sad to think that I can't be there to suit up with my team, but very glad that I am here serving the Lord, right where I need to be. I miss my boys, but I'm so happy and proud that my fellow seniors with me last year are all out on missions or preparing for them. How great is that! Special shoutout to Dhills soccer! You guys are the best, work hard and do work. Get the toe poke, Brock style:)

Same shot as above: What a difference a few days make.

Love

Elder Johnson

This is a shout out picture to my friend Paco.

Howdy errbody!

Hope y'all had a great week! Thanks for all of the love and support and the updates and just everything -it really helps! The weather here has been absurd this week. In a matter of 5 days the weather went from sunny with snow melted, then cloudy and rainy, then snowed 10 cm, then cloudy and rainy, and now sunny with all of the snow melted again. CRAZY!! We have had a good week contacting and working hard, we got 17 lessons in on the week and sometimes in this area they've had only 3 lessons in the week! So things are progressing!

Mån: On pdays we now wake up and immediately run to the church to do our emailing, then run back. We play soccer as well, and its soooo much fun! AHH, i feel so good when I play. It really just takes all the stress away! I love it! We played a little 1 v 1 and I won 10-9:) Im still about the simple game, but I got away with some tricky sneaky stuff, and did some work ha. We also always clean on pdays to keep the place tidy. After pday was over, we did some less active swing bys and gave out cookies. With one of them -she has 2 jobs and is super busy but has a strong testimony- we were able to set up a meet for the next week! Cookies bring miracles:)

Tis: We met up with our investigator and walked with him to the church because we wanted him to see how great it is! We talked about his concerns. He has to go back to live with his brother in a couple of months so that doesn't help. He still hasn't come to church though he knows and has told us that he believes the book of mormon is true and that we have the only true church. Its been frustrating but we are continuing to work with him. We met up with some TU's-tänkbara undersökare (potential investigators) and gave out some copies of the book of mormon.

Ons: We went by a TU's music store and checked it out. We ended up buying harmonicas to be nice and because it was cool! We were able to teach him the plan of salvation, in which he was very intrigued and liked it! He wants to meet up again! (He definitely belongs to the viking clan:) ) We contacted a guy on the street and ended up teaching a lesson for 20 minutes. Its amazing that just walking up and talking to people about the gospel, you can find people who will talk to you and accept your message! We felt like we needed to swingby on an investigator. When we got in, he just broke down for a solid 5 minutes of crying. He was thinking about dying because no one cared about him. He told us if anybody else had knocked on the door, he wouldn't have answer. But he knew we cared about him and came at the time because God guided us. It was such a tender experience to be a part of, to be the means of God saving one of his children literally. Since then, he is doing a lot better. It really was just an amazing experience. I still can't believe it. How he first met missionaries was amazing. He was having similar things go on -very hard life, when he knelt down and cried "jesus help me." Not short after that, missionaries happened to knock on his door and offer the help of jesus. It was incredible!

Tors: We went on down to Katrineholm (this was the snow day) for district meeting. We made our own title of liberties for our companionship with a scripture. We decided to choose Alma 26:12 "in His strength, we can do all things!" Its helping us humble ourselves and realize that all we have and do comes from God. That if we get any success, it comes from Him. Through His help, we can accomplish a great work here. I then went on exchanges in Katrineholm with Elder J, a greeny. We taught some less actives and investigators and had a good time. It's a lot of fun going to areas that aren't mine and seeing how the work is going there. I shared some personal stories and just really connected with the people there. It was a lot of fun allowing Elder J the opportunity to take control of plans and lessons and see his testimony and courage grow. 

We met this awesome Persian family of recent converts and could see how much they loved the gospel with being members for only 2 months! We had some trouble with the trains and almost got stuck out in the middle of nowhere, which seems to happen a lot with me hmm, but we made it safe and sound back home.

Fre: Weekly planning session. Went to sports night. Not a lot of people showed up but we had a lot of fun reguardless. I shared Jacob 6:12 for the spiritual thought:) I love that one so much ha!

Lör: We headed out to Strängnäs for some swingbys and lessons. A lot of people blåsted us, so we did a lot of walking around. We did get a lot of returned appointments however, so that was good. We met up with a less active and her family and had some good cake. She is bundled up with all of this gospel knowledge and it all comes out when we meet with her, so we are spiritually fed to the extreme. Its pretty crazy and awesome all of the knowledge and thoughts she has about life and the gospel. We cleaned the church afterwards to finish up our hard, blåsty day.

Sön: No investigators came to church :( Our branch president had all of the missionaries over for dinner afterwards with his family. We had some chicken curry and chocolate cake that was oh so good:) That helped, ha. We then met up with B and met a lot of his friends, haha. Thats the best. When you meet with a group of African people there is almost always a guaranteed person there that likes the good word of God:) Such was the case. We tried a little bit of couscous and their special african peanut butter/broccoli sauce. 

We started teaching the 7 day stop smoking program the church offers to a new investigator. Its a 15 step course to cleanse the desire to smoke out of people and train the mind to not want it. It is very successful and is amazing! He soaked in everything in we were saying and is doing everything that we asked him and wants this so bad. It was really cool seeing him absorb it all and promise and commit to stopping. Im excited to see how it works!

I love you all and am so grateful for you. I love being a missionary and spreading the Good word of God to everyone:) I hope you all have a fantastic week, I know this is the work of God

Love Elder Johnson

Grattis på alla hjartans dag - Happy Valentines day!

Eskilstuna at night

Hej på er! Direct translation - hey on you all!

Wowee! Sounds like it has been a fun week! I would first like to give Pops a shoutout for tomorrow Happy 52nd Birthday! Hope You have a good time in Palm Springs! I am going to get into golfing when I get home. I need to work on my old man's game:) Anywho, hope y'all have had a great Valentines Day, because I sure didn't...Hahaha just kidding!  It is kind of hard being a missionary and seeing all the young birds in love. There were literally thousands of birds outside our apartment complex that were flying all over together on Valentines day! Well I guess I can start with my week. Nu kör vi (new, sure, vee) directly translated is now drive we, but it means lets do it!

Mån: After emailing, cleaning and laundry when 6pm hit it was time to go missionary mode. This was probably the craziest day ever in just such a short amount of time. We still needed to get our 10 contacts in for the day even though it was pday. We saw this port-coded building just barely open, so we immediately run to catch it before it closes. You can't ever pass up an opportunity when a port-coded door opens. Elder S wanted to swing by this family that had previously been tracted into. We knock on the door. Who's there? A nice Muslim family. Luckily they invited us in after hearing we had a special message that we would like to share. We were very shocked because no one invites us in! Already we were so happy!

We asked if we could start off with a prayer. I explained how our prayers usually go and when they heard God's son and Jesus they told us that Jesus was only a prophet, not Gods Son. Hmmm. so that got ruined...We listened to their beliefs and told what we believe in and tried to say something that would want them to learn more. I seriously have never prayed so hard in all of my life than I did at that point. My companion and I were saying prayers in our hearts, begging, pleading to know what we could say. When there was a pause, I got so scared and was like 'you (my comp) need to say something!' and then he did, and the same back to me. And once, neither of us said anything and luckily the dad spoke up. Whew! We kept praying and praying with all of our might that we could say something to help them. Finally, the Book of Mormon came up! Yes, the life saver!!! You can always rely on the BoM! They were very interested in it and said they would love to read it! Unfortunately we did not have an Arabic copy with us (the daughter was translating swedish to arabic with her father the whole time!), but that was also lucky because we could then set up a return appointment with them! We left and my comp and I just stared at eachother and were like "What just happened????" We were both freaking out and saying how hard we were praying in there and hoping that God would help us with that! And sure enough, He did! Wow, that was so intense. I can't breathe just thinking about that, ha! Awesome! But the day wasn't over yet...

We still needed 9 more contacts so we decided to go to Magbull and talk to everyone on the way. After reaching 10 people who weren't so positive, things just started happening. People were prepared and their hearts were just open to our message! We ended the night with 14 unplanned contacts, 4 of those people gave us their phone numbers, and 5 of them wanted a copy of the Book of Mormon!!! Unbelievable!! Elder Ballard promised us that if we contact 10 random people every day, numbers would go up and we will find the prepared who are willing to follow the Savior and be baptized. I have a very strong testimony of this. 

Tis: A guy walked into the church building while we were there. He had seen our church and wanted to know what we believed. We talked with him for an hour answering his questions and bearing testimony. Without us even asking he said he was going to come on church on sunday! How awesome! We next taught our investigator with a baptismal date and realized we need to go really slow with him. That means putting back the date but thats what it takes to help people enter in the gate and stay. He loves reading the Book of Mormon and can feel a difference in his life! It really has the power to change people! We also swung by a potential investigator who studied at NYU and is very intelligent. He told us all of his beliefs for a long time then said we could come back and talk about our church! Hopefully despite all of his logical thinking, he can accept our spiritual message.

Ons: We had the family history consultant come and teach us missionaries how to do family history. It made me even more confused. I really want to feel the Spirit of Elijah so Im hoping one day I will understand it. We are supposed to do it at least once a week for 2 hours. We met up with a potential investigator who is interested in the book of Mormon. Second hand smoke is killing me here. I know that God is blessing me and helping me to withstand that when I can't escape it.

Tors: We had a zone training in Södertälje. We missed the stop and had to backtrack but we made it. We talked about #102021. Numbers that President wants us to remember. 10-contacts daily. 20-lessons a week will lead to 2 (double the baptisms) and 1- baptism monthly with companions. It is such a big goal, but I know that we can do it. Although we are coming out with more and more electronic ways to preach the gospel, contacting and meeting people face to face is more personal and you truly develop a love so quickly for that person and can see how much potential they have and how the Gospel will help them.

You find the strangest things in missionary apartments

After eating kebab and walking in the rain we made it back home and we went on exchanges. I went with Elder S to his area. We taught a teenage girl. It was crazy but when I first saw her I had this distinct impression that she is going to be baptized. I don't know how or why or when it will happen, but I know it will. It was awesome! She is cool and her family is genuinely interested in the gospel. We then met up with some members who are preparing on going to the temple to be sealed. Elder S and I had a good time together just catching up on the past 6 months and talking about the good things in life and the mission. 

Some graffiti for Valentines Day

Fre: Grattis på alla hjartans dag-Happy Valentines day! I opened my valentines package from mom and loved it! We went on a walk with one of our eternal investigators and had the drop talk. She has been going to church for a long time and been taught everything by the missionaries, now she just needs to act. She needs to figure out for herself and trust in God. That was hard, dropping someone, but it is the best thing for her.

We made cookies today so we could distribute them out to our members and more especially the less actives, to break the ice with them. Triple batch man, that is a lot of cookies!! We then had our sports night and had a great time playing volleyball! (I miss those days back home getting together with my boys and going to the sand courts and challenging the college kids and beating them! Good times:) We saw lots of people going on dates and doing all that Valentines stuff - it was weird ha.

I live here, its called Gotham - Perfect for a Batman guy like me

Lör: We helped a family move some furniture then went to Strängnäs (an outskirt type of city part of our area). We met up with some less actives and had an exchange of treats. We gave them cookies and they had us come in and eat some cake. Dang good cake too! It was chocolate peanut butter middle inside of a banana bread cake with vanilla frosting on top! Mmmmm. 

We met up with our branch mission leader. He is a convert for 2 years and is from Iraq. (He fought AlQueda and helped the US a ton. He is an ex war general and has the craziest war stories!) He has a great conversion story and loves the church so much! We had a good time talking and figuring out what we can do together.

Sön: I gave a talk about how we can invite the Holy Ghost into our lives and what the blessings from that. I mentioned that the best way I invite the spirit is by singing a hymn in my head. I got emotional when I said that singing "I am a Child of God" helps me remember who I am and who I can become. Its simple to just sing a hymn, but it makes a huge difference. Think about what you are doing to invite the spirit into your home throughout the week. What can you improve on, what can be taken out. Fill your life with the Holy Ghost for He will teach you the truth of all things.

After church we did a lot of swingbys, then played some soccer with some teens we were walking by and got their numbers (that was awesome-balling up kids in our white shirts and ties:)) Then we walked home after getting 24 contacts on the day to reach our goal for the week. The last guy was Cambodian and I spoke a little bit of that with him! He loved the idea of living with his family for ever! People are prepared!

It has been a long week but a good week nonetheless. It is hard, but its worth it. I know that the Lord is preparing people all over the world. Even wherever you are. There is somebody in your path that needs your help, pray to be open to know what to do and what to say. I love you all and love being here! Have a fantastic week!

Love Elder Johnson

Eskilstuna

I successfully landed into the big tank-the tuna! Eskilstuna to be exact. It really isn't too big of a city, it's working up to 100,000 inhabitants. I already love it here a lot, though I'm not too sure where everything is yet, ha. Crazy thing, today marks exactly 7 months that I have been out on a mission! Holy cow! Slow down! Man, it's crazy how fast time flies when you're having fun serving the Lord.

Mån: We met up with the H family for my final visit with them. They are so awesome. They made us a nice steak dinner, made me a cake, and a painting/poem thing that is so amazing! It was really hard for me to say goodbye, as it was for them. They want to keep in contact, which I do too!, but they also said they want to

meet the family as well -they said that we are always welcome over there! Man, I hated leaving. That was hard. I know deep in my heart that one day they will be an eternal family. Later that night, we went to home evening where I learned how to knit from a member- I hope I still remember how to do it ha. I got started on a beanie, so hopefully it turns out ok!

Tis: Pretty much spent the day doing laundry, cleaning, and packing. Guess who stopped by? THE G'S!!!!!! (from Stockholm). Oh man, it was such a sweet reunion. They were passing through Linköping and wanted to stop by and say hi, as well as give me something that I left in Stockholm (anytime I pack up to go somewhere I forget 1 thing. That's it, just 1. It is the weirdest thing!). So they took me and Elder L out for some THAI food. J is already working on his mission papers and could be out by July! Hopefully he gets called to St. George and then we can have him over all the time!! That family, seriously is the best. Man, I have just met the best families ever! I want my family to be like that -where missionaries feel right at home, still do the work, but have a place and someone to look to for help, love, comfort, etc. That's my biggest desire in life.

Elders Smith and Johnson - easy to remember

Ons: We barely made it to the train station on time -there is so much unnecessary stress when it comes to travel, moving! ahh! haha. Nevertheless, I made it  and headed up to Eskilstuna alone. ...2 hours later I arrive and meet up with Elder Smith. Johnson and Smith. Hmmm, that doesn't sound too typical for missionary names...ha. He is from Sandy, Utah. He plays soccer; did ODP, club, highs chool -alta, etc. Needless to say, we have hit it off really well. He is one group younger than me, but is fearless. 

We immediately we went right to work. Rode our bikes, for my first time on my mission its a regular basis here, so Im stoked about that. I love riding bikes! We started by contacting everybody we pass by, which is interesting and fun, and thats how we get new people to teach. Seriously, I could not stop smiling the whole day here. Just everything was awesome! I don't even remember if we taught anyone, we have had a lot of people blåst us, but I couldn't even care, ha. We were both working hard together.

Tors: Our district contains some elders and sisters from my same mtc group! and one greeny who loves to quote movies!! finally!! Someone to quote with. Elder K is the DL and is a stud. I swear he could be an apostle, just the way he talks and his conviction when he bears his testimony. He used Elder Holland's talk from conference. Christ says " I need someone who will feed my sheep." Christ asks him 3 times, "peter, do you love me?" How are we showing Christ that we love him if we are not feeding his sheep? That's how we show our love to Him. When you see the eternal perspective of things, it makes it easier to contact people on the street because you want them to have the same joy and peace that we have.

Elder K said that sometime on our mission, there will come a time where the Atonement of Jesus Christ will become so personal and powerful that it will carry with you throughout the rest of your life into eternity. You will never forget it. That's why I take this time now to challenge all of those who are thinking about missions or not. Go on a mission. Even if you don't have a full testimony of the church, go. The atonement will become the greatest strength in your life. I know that it will mean so much to you personally as you go throughout your mission. It will stick with you throughout your life and in eternity. Go.

Later that day we headed to Strängnäs, an outlying city in our area, where we met up with E. It was the first teach with him and it went really well. He previously had a book of mormon given to him 10 years ago, he just lost it but found it when we met with him. He was very accepting and loved the restoration. Its so cool, being able to come into a new area and see something like this; see someone accept the invitation to find the truth. We met up with some members and less actives that we work with. One of the families we are helping prepare for the temple: He's American, shes swedish...they got married and got baptized later. Super cool story.

Fre: We got blåsted several times, and rode our bikes a lot- my rumpa (bum) hurts really bad ha. We had sports night, where our investigator B (who has a baptismal date) came. He is living here with a sibling for awhile. He absolutely loves the Book of Mormon and can already see a big difference in his life when he reads it!! He hasn't come to church yet, but he's super sick. He doesn't have papers here so he could leave soon, and if he were to get baptized and not stay here his life could be in danger back home. So hopefully he can stay and be saved, twice.

A much needed haircut

We had a great turnout for our sports night here which is put on by the branch members and anyone is invited. we had about 20 show up and we played some volleyball! It was pretty awesome, I blocked our Stake President who is 6'8"!!! I am not even joking even a little bit!:) That was legit.

Lör: So far I've been just going with the flow but I need to get familiarized with everything so I can share the load with my comp. We met up with member D, who has grown up in this branch and knows a lot about missionary work and all that good stuff. He fed us dinner and talked with us about how we can work smart, find the elect and strengthen the branch. He is the #1 fellow-shipper for the missionaries when they teach investigators so he knows lots of stuff. He's a really smart guy, and he likes talking deep doctrine with us as well ha. We also visited the Stake President and his family who live right next to us and they love to feed us! They have 3 young daughters: all are so cute, especially the youngest who loves the missionaries! I love it! SO many great people here, everywhere! I feel so blessed!

Sön: I shared my testimony and led the music in church. We only have 2 hours for church. The second hour I sat and talked with the member who is preparing his family to go to the temple. He has had some amazing spiritual experiences. Two investigators came to church. That was awesome.

Things are looking great here. We are doing a lot of finding, contacting, teaching, swingbys, you name it! I've really enjoyed it and I am excited for what the future brings! I'm not too worried about anything, just trying to be patient and have faith on the Lords timing. I am so grateful to be here and doing the Lord's work in His way. I love this work, and I am so happy! Only the true and living church could bring such happiness and peace to my soul. I love you all and hope you have a fantastisk alla hjärtans dag (all hearts day-valentines day)!

Med kärlek

Äldste Johnson

PS: I saw these two things in the mall.  Anyone want them for Christmas next year?

Hey family and friends! I need to make this snappy because I am being transferred!!

Tis: We met with some members and less actives who fed us and we got to know them. One of them, the wife is American and her family actually lives in St. George now!! Small world! They are way awesome! Our investigator cancelled on us because of school and then he had to go to a funeral-so I guess that's a good excuse ha:)

Ons: We missed a bus that goes to the outskirt area only 4 times in the day. We missed it twice, by exactly 30 seconds (remember that I HATE being late!) ...Needless to say, I was pretty upset, ha. We did some swing-by's and tried to find stuff to do-I ended up writing thank you notes to people. I have never felt so confused or lost for something to do after missing the bus twice like that. It was a very weird experience, but I did share my feelings with My Heavenly Father. He let me choose for myself what I should do. It was interesting, because He was putting a lot of trust in me to handle the situation on my own and it caused me to do some searching. I know God does this to us quite often to try us. He asks that we pray to Him for help and guidance so He can bless us. But it requires a lot of work on our part. We might have to go wandering in the darkness and make our own decisions before He will let us know if it is right or wrong. If it be wrong He will let us know, and if it is right, more likely than not He won't say anything to us until later. It shows a lot of trust He has in us to make our own choices and we trust that He will guide us back to the path if we go astray. 

Trying to stop nose bleed

Improvising to stop nose bleed

We later did our Branch Pres. ex-changes which went pretty good. I randomly got a bloody nose. I thought I was safe here in Sweden with a wet cold climate, but no, it just goes to show it can happen anywhere. I kind of laughed at the situation and had fun with it - hahaha. Oh well.

Tors:  I can't help but repeat that the best way for us missionaries to find people is through the members. We try to find people on our own and talk to EVERYONE!! To all you members, it really makes a huge difference.  We did swing-by's and then met up with a potential investigator at his church. He said he would come to our church if we came to his (which he didn't ha) -so we of course couldn't pass up an opportunity like that. I really enjoy seeing other peoples worship service to become better acquainted and understand other religions. It was a very interesting service -one I will not forget. Many churches are pretty similar to ours, but then there is one always something you see and you're like "ahhh, that's not right." I am just very grateful to know I have the knowledge of the restored gospel of Jesus Christ and that I am a member of His true church. I desperately want to share this message with everyone because they are so close to the truth. 

Fre: Not too much happened this day, sadly. We are near the end of our goal/plan of getting to meet all of the members on our list, so this week we have been dwindling with numbers. 

Lör: We got to meet up with L (the contact Dad gave me) and his family, they are sooooo awesome! We ended up just talking, getting to know everyone, clarifying and explaining what we missionaries do and all of that good stuff. His wife is Swedish, and came to the U of U to compete in cross country skiing, met her husband and got married. She would have been in the Salt Lake City Olympics if it weren't for blowing out her knee. We had a really good time together. L is still open to taking some things back to the states for me this summer and dropping them off to my family because his dad lives in St George. So I will be keeping in contact with him (and that's how the cheese slicers will come to you mom:)

So we were waiting all day to see what was going on with transfers because there were so many rumors going around. President called, and we found out that I am transferring to Eskilstuna- same zone but 2 hours north. I kind of felt it coming on even though I have only been here for one transfer. I get to serve with an Elder who is one group younger than me -my first comp that is younger than me! It'll be a good one. 

The Linköping branch

Sön: Fast Sunday! I bore my testimony for the last time here and the members were sad and told me they want me to come back before my mission is up, ha! They are so awesome; We had dinner with some members and got to walk across the frozen canal and kind of ice skate on our shoes haha. This time I didn't fall through the ice. Oh just det, the weather has been getting warmer and warmer:( so now we have perfect packing snow for snowballs.....4 missionaries......nuff said.

This transfer in Linköping is one I would never want to trade. I have grown a lot and struggled but it has been a good ride. I feel like a lot has been accomplished here in the short time and there is a good foundation to build from. I'm excited for a new adventure in Eskilstuna with Elder S.  Sometimes I still can't believe that I am actually serving a mission. I've grown up all my life waiting for and preparing myself for a mission, and now I am! I relish the fact that I am His servant in His blessed land of Sweden. No greater calling I can think of that would make my life more meaningful, and being able to tangibly wear my Saviors name on my heart everyday. I just can't even begin to describe the emotions and feelings I have for it. I love this gospel with all of my heart, and I am trying to give it my all and know that my efforts are not being wasted. I love my trials and tribulations that I go through, I love the opportunities to get torn down so I know how to continue to pick myself back up and be lifted up by His always outstretched hands. For when I am weak, than am I strong. I love you all and hope all is well, continue to be great and rely on the Savior for help.

Love Äldste Johnson