- Pictures from Arizona Christmas trip
- Sam's letter to the Family
- Christmas at Sarks
- District party
- Call home from bathroom
- Visit the Carols
- Brother Sarks sealed to family (long time coming - 12 years)
- Amazing Book of Mormon story with a lady named Margarite given to her by a co-worker
- Sam's letter to Dad
- Dad's letter to Sam
- Phone call from Sam
- Tanner and I taking Logan to the zoo
- BYU football lose Fight Hunger Bowl to Washington
- BYU basketball lose to Loyola Marymount
- Quad ride in Arizona
- Forgot to press send Week before Dad's letter to Sam
- Last weeks letter
- Kanab Creek horse ride
Pictures from Arizona Christmas Trip
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| From left to right, Cade, Tanner, Kameron, Dad |
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| From left to right. Caryn, Caleb, Conner, Cade, Kameron, Jeter, Katie, Bret, Tanner, Mom, Logan, Dad, Ethan, Natalie, Jacob |
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| Nice buck on skyline outside of Prescott Valley out toward Perkinsville |
Sam's letter to the Family
Wow this week went by super fast!! Well they all go by fast, but this one was extra fast! The Spirit of Christ must have really been working on people this week because we got to teach a lot of lessons which is always fun :)
Christmas was awesome! I got everything I could have wanted and more :) We got a TON of candy!!! I hate it because I love it! We're gonna get fat haha.
We got up at 6 and ran to the Sarks to watch their 13 kids open up their presents :) It was so fun! I have never seen so many presents in my life! Each kid got like 10!!
We had district meeting after that. It was really fun :) We watched mr krueger's Christmas and learned about Christ :) Then we came home and went back to the Sarks for dinner and to call our families :) It was hard to find a quiet place to do it so I took brother sarks wheel chair and rolled into the bathroom and talked in there :) He had his prosthetic leg on so he didn't need it :)
After dinner we went and visited some people that were alone on Christmas, that was nice. Then we went to the carols and had dessert and played some games :)
On Friday I got to go on exchange with Elder Grigg my district leader. It was super fun, he is a cool guy! We got to split some wood for this lady, that was fun :)
Oh they had a baptism on Thursday night, it was awesome!! On Saturday Elder Carter and I got to go to the temple with our ward. It was awesome because Brother Sark was going through for the first time! I love the temple so much!!!!! I wish I could go every day!! Poor Elder Carter was so excited to see the new temple video, but then there was someone in our session that needed to watch it in sign language so they showed the old one. It was still fantastic though :) The best part was seeing sister Sark! She was just glowing! She has been waiting for this day for 12 years!! Talk about a long time investigator! She never gave up on Brother Sark though and now they are getting sealed on February 14th.
We had a really cool experience last night with a lady named Margarite. We saw her taking out her trash and Elder Carter offered to help. She accepted and she asked us who we were. As we talked for a while she told us that she had a Book of Mormon that a co-worker had given her years ago. She asked us why he gave it to her and I told her because it really blessed his life and brought him joy and he obviously cared about you and wanted to share that joy and those blessings with you. She said she had never read it so I asked her if we could mark a place in it for her to read and she went and got it. When she opened it up she found that he had written his testimony inside and it basically said the same thing I told her about why he gave it to her. It was really cool and she seemed touched. Inside he had invited her to read the introduction and 3 Nephi 11 which is what I was going to leave for her to read. He had marked it and put his own comments in it. She said she would read it and that we could come back! It's so cool to see the fruit of someone being a member missionary and he will probably never know how much it had an effect on her. It was a real testimony builder for me that I should never get discouraged if all of my hard work seems to be in vain because I know that I am planting seeds.
Well there is a real life example of what can happen when you follow the promptings of the Spirit and open your mouth! So how about we all go out and try it!! I'll do it if you do :) I'll do it if you don't too, but why miss out on blessings and happiness? :)
I love you all and wish you good luck and a happy new year!!!
Love,
Elder Johnson
Sam's letter to Dad
Sounds like you had a pretty fun week! I wouldn't mind shooting that buck! I'm glad to hear you guys got my package :) I did get the jerky from brother Moosman, but I don't know his address because sister stuart sent me a package and it was in there. Have a good new year! And happy birthday on Thursday!!!!
Love,
Elder Johnson
Dad's letter to Sam
It was sure good to talk to you this week. Sounds like you had a great Christmas. We wish we could have talked longer, but obedience is better than sacrifice...
Christmas was fun, we went to Natalie’s as you know. We really spoil the grandchildren and now we are headed home.
Thursday, Tanner and I were put in charge of watching Logan while Natalie and your mom went shopping. We took him to the zoo. That was fun until Logan dropped his little truck into one of the animal dens. We couldn’t get it back. Logan threw a fit which lasted for about 2 hours. He really wanted that truck back. Well we were told they would retrieve it and it would be at the ranger station. It never showed up. Well we finally went home and Logan seemed to get over it. I guess Natalie went and bought a new truck the next day with the money Grandma Johnson sent to him.
Friday we went to Cottonwood and spend the day visiting old friends. Went and seen the Kitchens. I guess Brennen is the student body president. We also went to see Reeves. That was fun and he gave me a bag of jerky of course. We went and seen a few others and then went over to Cade and Caryns.
We watched BYU play Washington in the “Fight Hunger Bowl”. They were terrible. Lost 31-18 and looked bad in the process.
BYU basketball team played Loyola Marymount in basketball on Saturday. A game they should have won easily, but were beat soundly.
We didn’t really watch the game. We went out on a ride with Cade’s artacat and a ranger borrowed from a friend. That was cold, but fun. We seen a bunch of antelope and a heard of deer with two nice bucks in it. I have included some pictures.
We went to Golden Coral for dinner that was good as usual. Ate to much.
Everyone, except you of course, were in Prescott for the blessing of Caleb Mason Johnson. Cade did a nice job in the blessing.
Well that is about it. We are driving home and almost to Fredonia, the longest part of the trip.
I was thinking about the Sons of Mosiah. 17 verses 2-3 and 9-10 where it talks about their preparation before separating on their missions. That was important for them to be sensitive to the spirit. I think of what made Ammon so successful. As I read it, I realized that because of his loyalty and more importantly his service opened the door for his ability to teach the king. So strong was Ammon’s righteousness that he could discern the thoughts of the king. This further opened the door for him to teach the gospel. I am not saying that you will be able to read every investigators thoughts, but if you are in turn with the spirit, you will be led by it to know how to better serve, teach and know their needs. It will take effort on your part (Alma 17), but I believe if you will be diligent and really pray for inspiration for your investigators you will be able to touch their hearts beyond your own capability. Remember you are on the Lords errand, and are entitled to all the guidance of the spirit as any missionary throughout all history. Sometimes you will have an Arron (Ammon’s brother) experience , but if you are true and faithful you will see much success.
Take care,
Love Dad.
PS. Just opened your Christmas present to me, It is the best. Kameron will have to wait on his present. Who is the long round gift to? There was no name.
Dad's last week letter to Sam (Forgot to click send)
Only 3 days until Christmas.
We are wondering what your plans are for calling on Christmas day. We will be in Arizona for Christmas this year so not much chance of a white Christmas. Can you skype of will you just be calling on a phone?
Did you get Brother Moosmans jerkey? Make sure you write him. He is sure proud of you and Josh.
Hard to believe you have been out over six months now. Man time is flying by.
I did a really awesome thing this week. On Wedesday we took 6 boys down to Kanab Creek. Out by Pipe Springs and about 30 miles south on a dirt road. One of the guys that work out at our ranch with Mike has a family member that does overnight trail rides. He had us come down and help pack some of the stuff into his camp sites. It was about a 40 mile ride from what they said. We had pack mules and horses that we loaded and packed gear in to the camp sites. We had a lot of fun. I was sore when I got home though. It was an over night trip and the camping was a little cold at night, but not unbarable. The fun part was coming out it got dark on us and we were hearding 12 horses it was pitch black. We had to ride about 9 miles in the dark. I guess horses can see at night, but we couldn't see the person in front of us. You really had to trust the horses. We all made it out safe and sound.
Cade, Kameron, Conner and Jeter came this weekend. We have been doing a few things, but Jeter has a real bad cold and you know how that zaps you. We have had fun though.
We had an amazing Christmas program in church today. It was really focused on Christ. I really love that part of the Christmas season. It is so commercialized now so I have been working really hard to make it more focused on Christ. I realize that everything we do should be focused on Christ, all year long.
Well hope you are having a good Christ centered Christmas. We pray for you and all the missionaries daily.
Talk to you on Wednesday.
Love Dad.
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