September 19, 2016

Holy Smokes this was a killer week here in the Zoo. Just all around! We got a ton done this week, and as we worked hard, we were blessed. A lot. hahaha :) We taught the most lessons in this week than I ever have before, and still got the most finding time and service time as well. That alone was awesome just to work that hard, but the end of the week was what made it the best. So, a few weeks ago we set a date with our recent convert, Maria Lino, to go to the temple and do baptisms for the dead. the date that we set was September 17. So this week we spent a few hours with her in the family history center, and helped her prepare just a few names. She was so excited though to find those ancestors, it was awesome to see. I feel like a lot of us in the Church take that for granted. Especially when we think that our family history is already being done by random Aunt Sue. There is still so much for us to do, and the joy that we get from bringing those names to the temple and performing these ordinances for them is like nothing else. GET THE SPIRIT OF ELIJAH! It is dope.

But anyways, I don't have a ton of time, cuz I have to do a survey from the AP's... but I wanted to share how amazing the temple was this weekend. Maria was so grateful that we could help her ancestors with that. The coolest part was Elder Graves and I got to baptize each other for her grandfathers. She told us that she felt them accept that ordinance, all accept one of her grandmas, but she still was so happy that she could give her grandma that opportunity! I have not felt the Spirit in such abundance in a long long time. The Temple really is the House of The Lord. I absolutely love it, and it is the reason that Heavenly Father's plan of salvation is possible. How crazy is that? GO TO THE TEMPLE MY FRIENDS!!


Love Elder Tyler Johnson

September 12, 2016

This was a weirddddddd week let me tell ya.  Like the weirdest of my mission probably.  It all began on a dark, windy Michigan night while all the gangsters were out bumping their bass in our apartment's parking lot... Just like every other night... But on this very specific night, Elder Johnson caught a fat cold.  A cold that would bind him to the apartment for approximately 24 hours because he couldn't breathe or hear because his head was so congested.  It was a party for Elder Graves I am sure.  He did all his training for the week that day on his own haahahahah, my bad.  But luckily, that only kept us down for one day, and the rest we were able to go out and do work!  One of my favorite things that happened this week was while knocking.  We were in a little Ghetto neighborhood, and there was a house with 3 apartments in it.  As we walked onto the porch of this house, one of the windows flew open and they said, "Who !@#!@%!@ are you?!"  So we told them who we were, and they immediatley calmed down and invited us to sit outside their window in some chairs and talk with them!  We popped a squat, and began to talk with him.  Right off the bat, this guy told us that he had 4 personalities and was a psychic, and this dude had a lot of weed in his house... But during our conversation with him, he asked Elder Graves and I to "please turn down [our] auras of love, it is blinding [him] because it is too bright."  He was crazy, but I thought it was still a sweet compliment. Probably the best that I have ever gotten.

Later in the week, we woke up to a text that was pretty nuts! And this is also why the week was weird, cuz this does not happen every day!  Our investigator Jason texted us right before we woke up, and the text said "Hi, I just got hit by a car. Heading to the hospital. I will keep you updated."  Then he never replied to our texts or calls.  There are a couple hospitals here in Kalamazoo, so we went to the one closest to us, and asked if he was there.  Luckily he was, and he hadn't gone in for surgery yet.  We talked to him in the ER, taught him about Priesthood blessings, and gave him one upon his request.  We went back and saw him the next day to see how he was doing after his surgery, and he was doing awesome.  His surgery was a success too.  He had broken the ball of his shoulder in half, and cracked his arm in 3 other spots, and dislocated his shoulder, and tore a bunch of cartilage, so it was pretty nasty! We did bring him a copy of the Book of Mormon to keep reading, and taught him about our favorite scripture stories and why.  He even had a favorite story which I thought was pretty cool.  His favorite one was about Joseph Smith having the First Vision. Jason loves that experience so much!  Now we are working on getting him baptized, but that will be a process.  He is a great guy though.

Okay, Running low on time so That is all I got this week :) 

Love Elder Tyler Johnson

August 27,2016

These last few days (since this is my second email this week)  have been decent.  Nothing too crazy going on, just the usual of a few lessons with Jason and a few with whoever else will let us in.  We made huge progress with Jason this week!! We have almost taught him all of the lessons, but one that we had not gotten to yet was Law of Chastity, and that is something that he has struggled with for 35 years.  So he has a way hard time we could say.  but he asked us to teach him something that we had not taught him yet, and Elder Graves had a LOC pamphlet in his bag!  So we pulled that out and decided that is what we were going to teach.  It wasn't what we had planned, but the Spirit directed that lesson more than I have ever before experienced.  And it all started with my studies and Elder Graves studies that morning.  I had planned on studying accountability, but ended up feeliing like I should study some of Genesis about Adam and Eve, so I did.  I wasn't really sure why, or what I needed to know that about, but it came in perfectly with our lesson.  I was able to use what I had studied and apply it to Jason perfectly for his needs and concerns, as well as keep it simple and help him understand the magnitude and importance of living the LOC.  At the very end of the lesson, we both were able to bear very powerful testimony of the blessings that come with living this Law, and asked Jason if he would commit to living it.  Holy that was a suspenseful few minutes while he sat and thought about it! But we let the Spirit work in him, and he said he knew that this is what he needed to do, so he committed to live a chaste life.  That was one of the highlights of my mission, because prior to this lesson, he had been telling us that he would never be able to give it up, that it was too hard.  but now, he is ready to truly apply the Atonement and begin to change his life forever.  We are so excited for him! 

That is all that was exciting from this week.  We did get some sad news though, Elder Graves Grandfather passed away yesterday so he and his family are having a really hard time. If you could keep them in your prayers, I am sure that they would appreciate that.  

Love Elder Tyler Johnson

August 22, 2016

AHH, I am running out of time so this will be a super fast weekly email, This week was a dang good one. Nothing over the top or spectacular, but we got a lot of work done! I had my birthday also which was a plus for sure! It was such a fun time.




On my birthday, we went over to teach Jason again too, which is such an awesome experience each time. But on my birthday he gave us a dang good reeses cake, and a ton of cookies and cream Ice cream! oh man it was good. I am gonna be one of the guys that comes home like 45 pounds fatter for sure! hahaha that's no bueno!
Anyways, along with that, we had one of the best district meetings that I have had as a District Leader this week, and I am so grateful for that. There is a companionship in my district that is not being obedient at all right now, and it is starting to get to some of the other companionships. So we had a great discussion during that meeting on faith and obedience and how they work hand in hand. In the end, it lead to me studying something, and I am going to continue to study it. The topic I have been studying is "Sacrifice brings forth the blessings of Heaven." Man that is a cool topic let me just tell ya. Give me another week to really study and ponder and pray and I will report on some cool stuff that I find and learn. Studying really is one of my favorite things in the world.
Also, I think that we hit monsoon season here in Michigan! We got slammed by some rainstorm that came up from Louisiana, and there were a couple tornadoes all around us. It was awesome, and luckily God provided that we had no time knocking that day because of service and lessons, so the only times that we had to walk, it was not raining. Definitely a tender mercy! The mornings are starting to get cold, and man that makes me excited. SEND THE SNOW AGAIN!!! Hahahah, but sorry I have such short time today, that's all I can write about! Thanks for all the b day wishes! :)

Love Elder Johnson

August 15, 2016 - Turning 20 years old this Week!!

Here in the K Zoo there was a lot of disappointment this week.  We had a lot of lessons planned this week that fell through one by one.. We ended up with only 3 lessons this week :/  Two with Jason, and one with our friend Missy.  I want to talk some about the lesson that we had with Jason just last night.  I can't begin to express my love for Jason.  Teaching him has been a time that I have truly been able to feel Heavenly Father's love for someone.  It's crazy.  But as we were talking with him yesterday, we got to ask him some really sweet questions.  Just simple questions actually, but what they led into was sweet.  We asked about  why he wants to know if the Book of Mormon was true.  He answered that his whole life he has just wanted to know the truth, and he has been searching for it for a really long time.  He wants to know if the Book of Mormon is true, because he knows that if it is, then he has finally found the truth he has always sought for.  We were then able to relate his story back to Joseph Smith's, and how he was on the same hunt for the truth.  from there, we went into what it takes on our part to find the truth, and read from Moroni 10:3-5.  As we read it with him, and discussed how he can find the truth, I was able to bear my testimony on how I found it, and how it had changed who I am today.  The Spirit was very powerful during that time, and Elder Graves was able to bear his testimony as well.  That just brought the Spirit more into the lesson, and Jason told us that he could feel from the Holy Spirit that what we are teaching him is true, and he wants to change his life from his old ways.  It will be a long rocky road with him, but he is awesome.  His faith is strong, and just continues to grow.  But that was most definitely a highlight from this week.  

We also had Half mission P Day! I almost forgot about that!!  Man that was fun.  WE got to go up to Grand Rapids and have a huge party on Thursday.  There were a few Elders that used to play rugby (they were all super good)  so we got a little game of rugby going on, played some water kickball, had tug o wars, and played football.  It was great.  I have rope burn all around my waist from being the anchor during tug o war against two offensive linemen,  bad idea.  Still fun though ;) sorry, I forgot my camera at the apartment again so I have no pictures again... But the Church is true!! Don't forget it :) 

Elder Johnson

August 8, 2016

Tell everyone that I love them!

As for my week, this one was a lot more eventful than last!  Thank goodness.  This week we taught more investigator lessons than I have on any other week of my mission, and we picked up 4 new investigators that are pretty solid!  The two that I want to bring up today are a couple named Stephanie and Don.  We were out door knocking last week, and they were sitting on their front porch so obviously we approached them to invite them to learn.  We struck up a casual conversation with them, and in the course of the conversation, a very vital concern came to light.  Stephanie told us that she felt like she didn't know her purpose on this earth, so we told her that is one of the many things that we help people come to understand.  She was intrigued and told us we could have one shot at teaching her, so we scheduled for later in the week.  We showed up, got to know them some more, and taught them the Plan of Salvation with an emphasis on the purpose of life.  It was SWEET.  Her and Don both continued to ask awesome questions that lead us straight to the rest of the lesson.  At the end we asked her if she felt like she understood her purpose now, and she told us she now understood why God had placed her here, and then came the money question: She asked, "so what do I need to do to prepare myself to meet God?"  And that lead us perfectly to explaining that we teach people the commandments that God has given us as revealed to prophets, and this "one time lesson" turned into a return appointment to continue teaching.  It was really cool to see how all of her concerns will be addressed through the revealed truths that we have.  It was another testament to me that everyone needs the Gospel, whether they know it now or not.  We just need to help them understand why they need it.

We picked up a couple other investigators like them, and will continue to teach them this coming week.  I will letcha know how those go next Monday!  One person that I do want to report on today is our investigator Jason.  HE is such a stud muffin.  He is fresh out of prison, I think I told you that earlier, but he has progressed so much in the few weeks that we have met with him.  I have never worked with someone who has applied the Atonement so much in just a few short weeks.  He has a lot of super hard struggles, but he has seen the Atonement already giving him strength to stand up and be better.  It's amazing honestly.  He has some of the best understanding of the Bible that I have ever seen as well, which has been super cool as well.  I prefer to do most of my teaching out of the Book of Mormon to help people recognize it as the word of God, and so they can find answers in it on their own after we leave,  but everything that we teach, he accepts as true because he can find evidence for a lot of it in the Bible!  That's been cool because most people use the Bible strictly  to bash with us.  Which btw is useless.  They only read the parts they want to.  But that is a story for another day.  Jason is just the coolest.  I love him to death.  He is even making me a birthday cake next week hahahah.  I took some pictures with him, but I left my USB and my camera in the car so I am going to send all my pics next week.  Sorry.

Finally, in news for the next few days, Thursday is half mission P Day in Grand Rapids.  That will be fun.  And I get to do trade off's with the Zone Leaders tonight so that is always a party.  That is a glimpse into next weeks email! Enjoy the Sneak Peak!  The Church is true.  And just like we were able to teach Stephanie this week, the whole purpose of this life is to prepare ourselves to meet God.  We don't have a long time to do it, so this is the time to learn and grow and change!  Always do your best to choose the right, because really that is all that matters.  Becoming as perfect as we can now is all that matters.  So go do it ;) 

Love

Elder Tyler Johnson

August 1, 2016

Sad to hear about my chickens tragic death.  Good thing we have the knowledge of the Plan of Salvation!  Joseph Smith said that animals go to the Celestial Kingdom, so they're golden.  We will see them again. lol.  

Anyways, I am running out of time!  For some reason everyone and their dog decided to email me this week, so here is the skinny!  Elder Graves is a stud.  He is learning and progressing way faster than I did as a new missionary, and being able to see him change has been so awesome.  It is so rewarding being a trainer!  A little stressful, but it's all worth it!  He and I are finally building up the teaching pool here in Kalamazoo again.  We are finally up to 6 investigators (which this area hasn't seen in a while!)  and all of them are pretty awesome.  The top investigators right now are Tiffany,  and a guy we knocked into named Jason.  Jason had us over for dinner and a lesson last night, and it was one of the best lessons that I have been a part of.  We went over the Plan of Salvation with him, and he loved it.  As we talked about our purpose here on earth, and how it is a time to prepare to meet God, he went on a rant about how grateful he was for modern prophets to help us be prepared.  He has only met with us twice, and his testimony is already growing and developing!  It was awesome to see.  And his food was bomb, even though he was a vegetarian.  No judgments though ;)  He is at a pretty low point in his life right now, and he repeatedly tells us how he is already seeing a difference in his life as he has read the Book of Mormon and prayed about the things that we teach.  He is letting himself be changed by the message of our Savior, which is the point of this whole Gospel!  I can't even explain how great it is to watch it change those around us.  We are blessed more than we sometimes realize.  

Oh Speaking of investigators, we are about to have 8.  Because (drum roll please).......... CAROL AND JESSIE ARE MOVING TO KALAMAZOO!!!!!!!  Carol showed up to church this Sunday and told me that she is moving here at the beginning of September!!!! She still hasn't been baptized, so I will get to work with her once again, and man am I excited to do that.  Those two are some of my favorite people in Michigan.  I was so happy when she told me this, and what a surprise it was to see her again!

In other News, Elder Graves and I went out to a little town called Galesburg (about 10 miles outside of Kzoo)  to work with some less active members and do some door knocking.  While we were out there,  all of our rides bailed on us.  two days in a row.  So we got to walk all the way home from Galesburg twice this week, so my feet are still a little sore hahahaha.  But we got some good ol pictures from it.  I will have to attach those on here too.  Memories amirite?

We also had a big ward bbq this week!  It was supposed to be at this park downtown, but this is monsoon season or something in Michigan, because we had flash floods like 3 times this week.  But back to my point, the bbq got moved to the stake center to get us all out of the rain.  Elder Graves and I went and helped do the cooking and we also made some pies for a pie contest.  Guess who won??!  NOT US!! hahahah we actually placed last and second to last.  Whatever, I liked my pie.

Anyways, I think that is the major events of the week.  I am sure I will have more for ya next week ;)  

Love Elder Tyler Johnson