Samuel Troy Johnson - Texas Fort Worth Mission 2013-2015

Sunday, January 26, 2014

Week Ending 1/20/2014

Sam's letter to the Family

Lakeisha's read the book of Mormon and it really touched her. She attended sacrament meeting.
Talk in church
Not moving on transfer
Going to baptize 1000's

Sam's letter to Sam

Chandry made district leader

Dad's letter to Sam

Brian Scott passed away
Picture and saying from Old Yeller

Dad's letter to Sam

Fixing Grandpa Ewell's fishing boat
Horse ride
No rain
Chapter 2 in Joseph Fielding Smith manual on Jesus Christ
Taking in Jimi Hodges from the school

Sam's Letter to the Family

This week was awesome!! We had so much fun preaching the gospel! It's the best thing ever!!!! We were working super hard all week long and nothing seem to be coming of it, but in the end the Lord blessed us as he always does :) As missionaries we set goals every week and this week we met almost every one of them! It was awesome :) We met so many awesome people it was great :)

I think the highlight of our week was on Saturday night though. We went to just stop by Lakeisha's because we hadn't been able to meet with her for a while because she is in the army and goes out of town a lot. We found her home and she let us right in and she was so excited to tell us that she read the chapter from the Book of Mormon we left her! She liked it so much she read it twice :D Her kids were there and they joined us for the lesson and we taught them about the Plan of Salvation and they loved it! The kids were really participating in the lesson so that was fantastic! Lakeisha really liked the kingdoms of glory :) I think that is my favorite part too :)

It really shows our Heavenly Father's love for his children by making it so almost everyone makes it to "heaven". We committed all three of them to baptism on the 15th :) They said they were coming to church yesterday so we were waiting for them yesterday and we waited... and waited... and waited.... then church started and we waited.... Then they started the sacrament and they closed the doors, but then when we saw out in the foyer when one of the deacons walked out there and her and her daughter were sitting out there :D She said her son got up too late and he took too long so they just left him hah and that's why they were late.

Oh I got to speak in sacrament meeting yesterday! That was pretty fun :) I got to speak on coming unto Christ :) I was the youth speaker though so I didn't get very much time, but I think it went good :)

Oh we got transfer calls this morning and Elder Carter and I get to serve another transfer together :D It's going to be awesome and we're going to baptize thousands :)

Well that's pretty much all of the excitement for the week. I hope everyone is doing well!

Love,

Elder Johnson

Sam's Letter to Dad

Oh my goodness I cant believe Brian passed away.. I remember I got to work with him once for uncle Dwayne on a roof. He was just getting ready for his mission then. He finally gets to be a missionary.

That's pretty cool that you are taking in Jimi. I think I remember him. He's been there for a while hasn't he? It will be fun to have someone back in the house I bet :)

I just got an email from Chandry he is doing awesome! He's already a district leader! I bet he's a fantastic missionary, he has always had really great people skills! It sounds like he is freezing to death though hah.

Hey can you get me brother moosmans address and also the Stuarts? And sorry about not sending pictures. I cant figure out these dumb computers.

I like your poster that is pretty cool :)

Well I hope you all get feeling better!

Love,
Elder Johnson

Dad's Second Letter to Sam

I noticed that some of my week ending dates have 2013 instead of 2014. Don't be confused.

I forgot to tell you Brian Scott passed away this week from cancer. I guess his mission was to some other far away place. Funeral was yesterday.

Actually the reason I am sending the second note is I forgot to attach my latest new saying that I like. I made the poster myself. Pretty talented huh???

See attached.

Love Dad.

Dad's Letter to Sam

Well, this was a pretty uneventful week. I can't think of anything that really happened that was interesting. I guess we have to have a slow week once in a while.

I did buy the plywood to put in the bottom of the boat. So that is something we will be working on shortly. I went on a horse ride with Bevin yesterday. It was a nice day and we rode up on the hill where they put their cows to check the grass. Not to much growing yet. It is real dry. We had that one huge storm and have had nothing since. Time to start praying for moisture.

We didn't get the boy from the gay couple. They liked our program best, but let the boy choose between our program and one up north. He took the up North.

I good study chapter is in the priesthood manual on Joseph Fielding Smith. Chapter 2 is on his testimony of Christ. It is really good.

Other than us being all a little sick this past week, all is well here.

I can't remember if I told you that we are looking to take Jimi in (from the school) after he graduates in April. We will probably have him until he is 18. So he could still be here when you get home. It will be interesting and we hope it works out. Never done it before so we are a little nervous. Jimi is one of the good kids at the school so it should work out ok.

Well that is about it. Work hard and stay close to the spirit. Have a great week.

Love Dad.

PS. Send pictures.

Week Ending 1/14/2014

Video of Dad ice skating
Sam's letter to the family

Lakeisha committed to baptism on January 25
Saw some deer
Gordon committed to baptism on January 25
New car 2014 Ford Fusion with Bluetooth
Cold front moved in
Commit to missionary work

Sam's Letter to Dad

Sam's response to proposing to Cierra Stratton
Hurrah for Israel

Dad's Letter to Sam

Grandma Johnson house robbed
Team sorting at the fair grounds
Rummer that Sam proposed to Cierra

Dad first time Ice Skating

Sam's Letter to the Family

Oh boy did we end the new year with a bang! We had an awesome week this week!! Tuesday was the best day ever!!!!

There was this lady named Lakeisha that we taught a little Christmas message to a while back and we went back to see her on Tuesday night. She is so awesome! I love her!! We taught her about the Restoration and she thought the Book of Mormon sounded like the coolest thing ever! She is so excited to read it :) We even set a baptismal date with her for the 25th of January! When we invited her she didn't even hesitate, she just said yeah I would like that and pulled out her phone and put it on her calendar :) She went out of town for the rest of the week though so unfortunately she wasn't able to come to church, but we are meeting with her on Wednesday and she wants us to teach her mom and her brother and she has two teenage kids that we hope to teach!

After we saw Lakeisha we went and met this guy named Gordon, who lives way out at the edge of our area we call it the boonies. Oh we saw a bunch of deer on the way out there too so that was cool :) Anyways Gordon is awesome too! We taught him about the Restoration too and then committed him to be baptized on the 25th :D We are so excited! He is such a nice humble guy. He doesn't ever want to do anything for himself he just wants to serve others. He said he feels like he closed the door on the Lord and we are opening it back up for him :)

The work is picking up here in Roanoke it's awesome! I love the people here in Texas! I never thought I could love so many people! Especially complete strangers!! It's the best :)

Oh we got a pretty sweet new years present on Thursday!!! We drove down to Euless on Friday afternoon to the mission office. We got a little lost but we eventually found it :) But we got a new car!!! Yaaaaaayyyy!!!!! A 2014 ford fusion :D It only had 27 miles on it when we got it! It is so cool! We hooked our phone up to the bluetooth so can just call people without even taking the phone out of my pocket :) I just wish I could drive it! I'm beginning to wonder if I'm ever going to get my driving privileges haha, but oh well :)

Oh man we had a huge cold front move in this weekend. We went running this morning and I thought we were gonna die haha We checked the temperature when we got back and it was only 17 degrees! Good thing I got some warm socks for Christmas :)

Well I hope everyone had a happy new year! I also hope you made some goals for you and your family to do missionary work. If you didn't you need to repent and make them :) The Lord will bless you as you exercise your faith by setting goals :) Our high priests quorum set a goal that everyone would have one person taught in their home by the end of the year :) It's going to happen! And we're going to see miracles as well as baptisms here in Roanoke!

You guys are awesome!

Love,

Elder Johnson

Sam's Letter to Dad

Haha getting married right when I get back huh? That's news to me too :) Honest you don't need to worry about where my heart is dad! I love serving the Lord and there is nothing that will keep me from doing it with all of my heart might MIND and strength!! I took your advice before I left on my mission about not having a girl wait for you so I asked Cierra not to wait. I'm glad I did too. Like you said if it is meant to be and it works out it works out, but that is not what is important to me right now. So I'm not sure who's spreading the rumors, but here's the words from the horses mouth or whatever the saying is :)

I love you dad!

Hurrah for Israel!!

Love,

Elder Johnson

Dad's Letter to Sam

Hi Sam,

Well we are into the new year and already had a problem. Grandma Johnson's house was broke into tonight. You mom probably got the details from mom. Pretty scary. They may get video from the school across the street. We are not sure how much their camera's can see. We'll keep you posted.

Yesterday we had a fun day. We took 7 of the boys from the school to a team sorting thing over a the fair ground. How it works is you have 10 calves in one round pen and you have to move them in order (they are numbered 0-9) into another round pen. You have 60 seconds to do it in. If you get the cow's out of order then you are disqualified. It was a lot of fun. It cost $20 dollars to enter and the 1-4 places won money. The boy I was working with and I were disqualified because one of the cows busted for the gate and I couldn't get him stopped before he went through and he was out of order.

Well not much else happened. Oh, there was one thing that concerned me. The rumor on the street is that you and Cierra??? will be getting married as soon as you get home and the plans are made. I may have got bad information, What is the most concerning is where your focus is. I think we talked about that before you left. Hey, if it works out when you come home that is great, but I hope you are not allowing it to be a distraction to you on your mission, it will be the one regret you will have when you come home.

Well, hope you have a good week and work hard so you and your Heavenly Father will be proud of your effort to bring his children back to him. (Moses 1:39)

Love Dad

Week Ending 1/6/2014

Video of Dad ice skating
Sam's letter to the family

Lakeisha committed to baptism on January 25
Saw some deer
Gordon committed to baptism on January 25
New car 2014 Ford Fusion with Bluetooth
Cold front moved in
Commit to missionary work

Sam's Letter to Dad

Sam's response to proposing to Cierra Stratton
Hurrah for Israel

Dad's Letter to Sam

Grandma Johnson house robbed
Team sorting at the fair grounds
Rummer that Sam proposed to Cierra

Dad first time Ice Skating

Sam's Letter to the Family

Oh boy did we end the new year with a bang! We had an awesome week this week!! Tuesday was the best day ever!!!!

The work is picking up here in Roanoke it's awesome! I love the people here in Texas! I never thought I could love so many people! Especially complete strangers!! It's the best :)

You guys are awesome!

Love,

Elder Johnson

Sam's Letter to Dad

I love you dad!

Hurrah for Israel!!

Love,

Elder Johnson

Sunday, January 19, 2014

Week Ending 12/29/2013

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

From left to right, Cade, Tanner, Kameron, Dad

From left to right. Caryn, Caleb, Conner, Cade, Kameron, Jeter, Katie, Bret, Tanner, Mom, Logan, Dad, Ethan, Natalie, Jacob

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.

I didn't click send on this from last week.

Week Ending 12/22/2013

Waiting for First phone call
Sam's letter to the Family

Christmas Devotional (seen old buddies)
Sam got sick
Blessing from companion
Christmas caroling
Testimony of Christ

Mom's letter to Sam

Trevor's graduation
Cade, Conner, Kameron and Jeter come to visit
Going to Phoenix for Christmas

Additional Note from Sam

ummmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm...... I think I'll call at like 3:30, but it might be anywhere between then and 5:30... I hope that's not inconvenient.

Sam's letter to the Family

Well my first full week in Roanoke was pretty great :) Elder Carter and I threw a baseball last pday which I haven't done in a long time! It was pretty fun :)

Oh we had a Christmas Devotional on Tuesday. It was fun because I got to see all my missionary buddies :) Elder Hew Len is doing good up in Denton so I was glad to hear that :) We had a big lunch then we watched a movie, I think it is called how rare a possession. It was a good one :) That was a really long day because we had interviews with president Ames before the devotional so we had to get up at like 5 to be there before 7 just to be told that we didn't have to be there until 9! This zone seems to have some communication issues haha oh well, we just did our studying at the church :)

Oh man on Friday I got so sick!!! It was terrible!! I did get a nice ab work out from throwing up so much so it wasn't all bad :)

something cool did happen that morning though! So I had been over the toilet since like two and at like 5 I decided to go ask elder Carter for a blessing and I guess he had slept through the whole thing (don't ask me how since our bathroom is connected to our bedroom) but right as I walked in the room he sat up and said he just had a dream that someone told him he needed to get up right now. So I told him what was going on so he gave me a blessing :) It's cool that the Lord loves me enough to show me that he really is aware and is looking out for me when I could have easily have walked over and woken Elder Carter up myself.

We went caroling that night with our district which was a lot of fun :) it was super cold though! This week's weather has been crazy. One day it's 80 and the next day it's 20.

We did something called living Christmas cards. We had people give us the names of friends and neighbors that we could go sing to and that's who we went to. We are usually pretty terrible singers but I guess the Lord was blessing us that night because we sounded pretty good :) We are going again tonight to the other missionaries areas so hopefully He will bless us again :)

Well I hope everyone is having a wonderful Christmas season! I hope you all have the opportunity to bear your testimony to someone about the Savior. There is nothing like it! I love Jesus Christ and I know that he lives! I know he loves us and that he is the Son of God. I know that he lived and died for each of us so that we can return to live with him and our Father in Heaven. I KNOW that this is his true church upon the earth today and that is always will be! I love this gospel with all my heart and I would do anything to help the kingdom of God progress on the earth! I love being a missionary and I love EVERYONE in Texas!!

Merry Christmas everyone!!!!!

Love,

Elder Johnson

Mom's Letter to Sam

Sam,

Are you ready for Christmas? Did you buy the lighter fluid? You also need to make sure you have 2 potatoes.

This has been a very busy week trying to finish up Christmas and we also had a parent weekend and Trevor graduated from our school. So we had a graduation ceremony for him.

We also had a boy run away. He made it to the super 8 motel in Hurricane and went in and used the Internet to facebook his mom and told her where he was. He made his bed look like he was sleeping in it and left at about 11pm and the staff didn't find out he wasn't in his room until the next morning. Not good. His mom called to tell us where he was around 9 am.

Kameron, Cade,Conner and Jeter came up on Friday night. Saturday we went out to gather the eggs from the chicken, ride the horse (just in the field because it was cold).While we were at the graduation the boys went 4 wheeling in Toquerville. I think the boys had just as much fun playing the Christmas train as anything.

Kameron and Cade are leaving tomorrow night and we are leaving after work on Tuesday to go to Natalie's for Christmas. We thought Kameron and Katie were going to come to Natalie's house like they did last year but they decided they were going to stay home this Christmas. I don't blame them we travel one Christmas day and it wasn't very fun. We are going to go to Cade's on Thursday and spend the rest of the weekend with them. They are blessing Caleb on Sunday.

When are you going to Call? I can't wait, that will be the best present ever. Well we'll talk to you then.

I Love You,

MOM

Week Ending 12/15/2013

Pictures

Rockville rock slide

Sam's letter to Family

New area, no investigators
Now have 4 investigators
Christmas Devotional and see Elder Hew Len

Sam's letter to Dad

Elder Carter (New companion)
Found left handed mitt

Dad's letter to Sam

Record cold weather
Rock slide in Rockville
Bringing horses off the range at Pipe Springs
BYU basketball - Lose to Utah
Got Christmas tree

Rockville Rock Slide

Sam's Letter to Family

Merry Christmas everyone!!!! Are you all so very excited!? I know I am!

We have a christmas tree and lights, all we need is some Christmas music :)

Roanoke is awesome! I love it! And my companion is even more awesome!! It's Elder Carter from Spanish Fork utah :) My first utah companion. We are having so much fun! He loves hunting and fishing and baseball and basketball hah sounds like someone I know :)

The ice is finally melting here it's pretty much all gone now. They just got a new church building here in Roanoke, so I wasn't the only one who was lost at church :) This ward is awesome! I didn't think anywhere could be as great as denton, but so far Roanoke is pretty great!

I was pretty worried when I first got here because we had 0 investigators, but since wednesday we have already found four solid ones!! The Lord is truly blessing us! We have taught so many lessons it's super fun! Elder Carter and I are learning to teach together so that is good :) I just need to work on not talking so much haha I'm getting better though :) Everything is just going dandy here in Texas! I still love being a missionary!!! It never gets old feeling the Spirit and preaching the gospel :)

I hope you guys are having lots of missionary opportunities and if you're not you need to pay closer attention :)

We have a Christmas Devotional tomorrow so I should get to see Elder Hew Len so that will be fun :)

Well we're going to go play some basketball :D I hope everyone has a wonderful week!

Love,

Elder Johnson

Sam's Letter to Dad

My new area is fantastic I love it!! Oh and I didn't get a package from Brother Moosman, did he send it to my old address or my new one?

When I first met my companion, Elder Carter, the first thing he said was "elder Johnson, I hear you have the best jump shot in the mission." haha I guess that is good :) I would of rather him said "elder johnson, I hear you are the best missionary in the mission." It looks like I've got some stuff to work on :) He is awesome though I love him! He loves fishing and hunting and sports, especially baseball. He has a glove and he said I should have you guys send me a glove but then I was exploring our apartment (which is huge by the way) and I found a left handed baseball glove! Hah imagine that! It's just like my old one, but not as old and worn out. So we were throwing the ball around today :)

Well that's too bad about the basketball team. Maybe I'll be the new coach for hurricane when I come home :)

Well I hope you have a good time camping! Stay safe! And I'll talk to ya next week!

Love,

Elder Johnson

Dad's Letter to Sam

Well I am chiseling the ice off my fingers to type this letter. Judging from the pictures you sent last week you may be doing the same. It was one cold week.

The most exciting (and sad) is this last week Bevin, Dale and I rode up to Grafton to break the ice on the pond for the cows to get a drink. As we drove into Rockville we could see this cloud over part of the town. At first we thought it was fog, but as we got closer we could tell it was something else. We thought it must be smoke from a fire. Then as we came into town we seen some a couple of cars pulled over in front of a house. Well I should say what was left of a house. What had happened was a big rock from the cliff's above Rockville had broke away and came down and smashed the house. There was hardly nothing left of the two story house. It had only happened about two or three minutes before we got there. As it turned out there was a couple in the house. They didn't make it out. I have attached a picture. I guess you never know when your time is up.

One of the fun things I did this week was go out by Pipe Springs with 5 of the boys from the school and we took horses and rode out and gathered about 50 horses off a range. It was pretty fun. It was a bit like the scene's from "The Man from Snow River". We were trying to cut off a heard of horses and we were all on a dead run. It was pretty exciting.

The bad news of the week was that BYU lost to Utah in basketball. It was so pathetic we finally quit watching. They lost by about 20. They shot 54% from the foul line, 31% from the field and 20% from three point line. Hurricane is 0-7. They even lost to Parowan this year. Todd Langston is the coach. I guess they have really got to a slow down game this year. They cross half court and hold the ball out until someone come's out and guards them. I guess they scored only 24 points in one game.

Well we are fast closing in on Christmas, great time of year. We got our tree up this week and we also have the nativity scene up. The snow is melting pretty fast, but it is still pretty cold. This week we are taking some boys at the school on a horse ride with pack mules down to the grand canyon. It will be an overnighter so pray for me that I don't freeze to death.

Well have a good week, don't freeze and keep a warm heart.

Love Dad.

PS. How is your new area? Did you get a package from Reeves Moosman? It probably came (or should come) from Josh's mom.

Sunday, December 15, 2013

Week Ending 12/8/2013

Pictures from Sam

He will have to fill in the details

Pictures From Home

Grafton
Snowman
Grandma's house
Sunday Morning at home

Sam's Letter to the Family

Huge ice storm
Teaching kid named Danny
Being transferred to Roanoke. New companion Elder Carter

Dad's Letter to Sam

Cold weather
Tina in Arizona to see new grand-baby
Got a Christmas tree
Temple trip
Grafton to get cows
BYU basketball looses to UConn
Florida State vs Auburn for football national championship
Snow and more snow

Pictures from Sam

Pictures from Home

Pictures taken out of Grandma Johnson's back door

One of the old cabins at Grafton during a snow storm

Our giant snowman at Grandma Johnson's house

Snow pictures on Sunday morning. So icy they canceled this church. Spent the day shoveling sidewalks

Sams Letter to the Family

Wow this week has been crazy awesome!!!!! We had so much fun!!!! We had a huge ice storm roll through this weekend and it has been crazy!! There has been a solid 2 inches of ice everywhere for 3 days! We were sliding around everywhere! Mostly on purpose but sometimes on accident haha.

On Thursday after planning we biked to the library and it was hailing a little bit but nothing too crazy, but after we came out of the library like an hour later it had rained and our bikes were frozen solid!!! So we were trying to break the ice off so our gears and brakes would work then we started the most freezing bike ride of my life! It was so fun :) My buns literally froze hahaha There was a layer of ice on pants when I got home and my pants could practically stand up on their own!

We got to help so many people on Friday and Saturday. People were sliding off the road left and right so we were trying to get them back on track :) People in Texas are awesome! There were so many people just driving around in their trucks just looking for people that needed a tow. It was cool :)

So we have been walking since Friday and my feet are so sore now! I haven't slipped and fallen yet so that is a blessing haha too bad Elder Hew Len cant say that :)

Church was cancelled on Sunday so that was sad. Yesterday we took cookie sheets and went out on the golf course and sledded down the hills :) I would send you a video but I don't know how.

Oh we started teaching this kid named Danny this week! His is so awesome I love him!! We set a baptismal date for the 11th of January :D He is only sixteen but he is super in tune with the spirit it's so cool!! On our second lesson with him he brought his best friend who is the star receiver for the high school here. They are hoping to repeat state championships which is a real feat here in texas! They are both super cool though! We are teaching him again tonight so it will be fun :)

I am getting transfered tomorrow! I'm going to Roanoke, and my new companion is Elder Carter. I hear he is pretty awesome so it should be fun :) I'm so sad to be leaving Denton though. I love the people here!! I feel like crying when I think about it... but I am also super excited to try something new and meet more awesome people in Roanoke :)

There is nothing like being a missionary I love it with all my heart!!!!!!!!! I just want to be a missionary forever!!! People always talk about how much you give up to serve a mission, but I think what they should talk about is how much you gain!!! I've gained a million times more than I ever gave up!! Really the only thing I'm giving up is time and that's the Lord's anyway :) Everything else will still be there when I get back :)

I found a verse in 2 Nephi the other day that I thought was cool. Its chapter 10 vs 20 I think. What I took from it was that the Lord may take us out of a good situation and put us through hard things so that we can obtain something so much better! That's the definition of a mission right there! I love this gospel and I love my Savior Jesus Christ! I know he loves me and he loves all of you too!!!!!

Have a wonderful week and let's show our gratitude to the Savior by serving his children :)

Love,

Elder Johnson

Dad's Letter to Sam
How is it going Sam?

Enjoyed your last letter. Sounded like you had a great Thanksgiving. We are already gearing up for Christmas. 1st Presidency Christmas program is tonight and only 3 weeks until Christmas. It will be here before I am ready.

This past week has been busy and very cold. It is getting down around 0 degrees at night and it was not getting above freezing during the day. We have had two snow storms in a week and the one yesterday was huge. We got almost a foot of snow. Unbelievable huh. I included some pictures for you to look at.

Your mom has gone to Arizona. Tammy was going down to see a step-daughter give her missionary farewell. She was going to stay in Cottonwood. that was a good excuse for Tina to go and see Cade and Caryns new baby. So she went with to Prescott and has been there since Friday. She is on her way home as I type.

On Friday Dale called to see if I had got a Christmas tree. I told him we had gone out over Thanksgiving, but had not found one. He said he knew where one was and if I could off early we could go and get it. It was up on Gooseberry. We ran out and cut it. After we got back I went with Dale to the temple to go through with one of the boys in his mission prep class. We got there late and missed it. Since we were there we did sealings. That was interesting as I had a new guy who was learning what to do and he must of had poor eye sight. He was reading the names wrong and I had to tell him what to do a few times. Anyway he got better. There were a couple of other funny things that happened. So it was an interesting experience.

After the temple Dale and I went to Paula's Mexican Restaurant. It was really good.

Saturday I went up to Grafton with Bevin, Dale, Randy and Tony to get some cows. I took Daisy. While we were there it started to snow. By the time we left there was about 2 inches of snow on the ground. We took the cows down to Hurricane. When I got out Daisy was not in the back of the truck. She either had jumped out or was standing on the tool box and fell out. By now it is snowing pretty hard and the roads are icy. Dale and I drove back to Grafton and talked to a few people to see if they had seen our dog. They hadn't. As we drove toward Grafton we say a lady jogging down the road and there was Daisy running with her like he belonged with her. The girl told us she found her at Grafton. We were just where the oil stops.

After getting back to Hurricane we went out to Grandma Johnson's to watch BYU basketball. We thought it started at 1:30, but it actually started at 11:30. We got there just for the last 4 minutes. They played UConn. They lost 105-96. UConn is ranked 21. BYU has lost 3 games this year to the 11 ranked team, lost by 2, to the 18th, lost by 12, but it was close until the last 45 seconds and they lost this game. I think they have potential to be pretty good if they can run. Not to good in half court.

It looks like Florida State and Auborn will be playing for the National Championship for football. Kameron is probably pretty happy about that.

Back to the snow, it snowed all day and we got almost a foot. It was amazing. I don't think it has snowed this much since I was a kid. We build some pretty big snowman's.

Today, because of the snow they canceled church. It was really icy and I guess they decided it would be a mess in the parking lots. I spent the morning shoveling peoples sidewalks.

Tanner and I went out to Grandma Johnson's for dinner. Of course that was really good. We had stake and funeral potatoes.

Well that is about a rap. Hope you are not freezing in Texas. I was reading it was really cold in Dallas. Work hard. You are about 1/4 the way through your mission it is going fast.

Take care,

Love Dad...