My Mission Is A Real Growing Experience

Yo 'merica what is up

It was a surprise to me that Ghana actually somehow knows what Valentine's Day is. The sister missionaries kept reminding us for the last couple weeks that Valentines was coming up and they wanted chocolate. But money is tight soooo... sorry sisters!!

This week a lot of things went on and in all was a good week.

Me and some recent converts. Brother Forson and his son Kwesi

Elder Maumau and I have really focused on building the relationships with members in the ward so the missionary spirit can improve in the ward. After some time we are starting to see the fruits of our labors. This past week we got 7 referrals from members. We have just done small and simple things that can be overlooked, but really helped a lot to help us know the members more. Unlike America, addresses do not really exist, so you have to find other means or seeing where they live. We have learned where some more members have lived and stopped by to visit and say hello to them.

Weekly planning... have to make it fun before you fall asleep

Tuesday was a llllooonngggggg day. We had a combination of combined zone meeting + missionary broadcast that happened a few weeks ago. The broadcast was 2 hours, but I enjoyed every moment of it. There was a lot that I learned and I have a nice bunch of pages full of notes. The zone leaders were given money to buy lunch for the zone for the meeting. They were looking hard for a drink here known as Alvaroo. You can not find it here in Assin foso until Elder Maumau and I found some in Melcom!! I called the zone leaders on Monday night and they asked us to buy 20 of them. The nice thing was that we carried them in bags back to the apartment since we have no car. Luckily no bags or bottles broke!!!

Zone meeting lunch

My favorite day over the whole week was Friday because we did a companionship exchange with the zone leaders. Usually we do not do it with the zone leaders, just the district leader, but the zone is small enough that President has allowed it.  Elder Kano came with me in the area and my son got to go with Elder Blay to his area in the bush.  Elder Kano is a awesome guy and I really enjoyed the day learning from him. He is a really good teacher and has a lot of good advice when you need it.

Random picture

On Saturday Elder Maumau and I did what the President advised the mission to do, flood Ghana with the Book of Mormon! He said " hand them out like candy."  By the end of the day we handed out 30 total, each that we gave was given an explanation on the Book of Mormon. We went back to the apartment throughout the day to reload our Book of Mormon ammo. Saturday evening we had a baptisimal interview with Abduali.  He will be getting baptized this coming Sunday. With Sister Comfort following the next Sunday because President Stevenson is coming down to interview her next week. 

Handing out Books of Mormon like candy!

Known as "station."  People coming into Foso and going out around Ghana

My mission is a real growing experience for me and for everyone that embarks in the service of God.  Your weaknesses stick out like a soar thumb and you do what you can to make them strengths. Elder Maumau and I have had some long talks together that do not start out so nice.  After each of them we come out stronger as a companionship and know what we should do to get better. So mission prepares you for marriage just a little ;)

Have a wonderful week!!


Elder Johnson

"Is This What You Do Everyday?" "Yes."

Wo ho te sen?!

It is quite impressive how much Twi a missionary can learn by just hearing it from day to day.  It would be so sweet if it were a Twi speaking mission, but that is not the case :(   On the bright side, the members are more involved in missionary work because we need translators sometimes.  Elder Maumau and I have been meeting with a turtle investigator named Halena a few days during the week to read from the Twi Book of Mormon.  It helps Elder Maumau and I learn the language, but the reason we do it is for Halena to read from it!!  Since arriving in Assin Foso my Twi is to the point now were I know exactly what they say - just need to learn how to do the most important part.... respond!!!

This past week was quite interesting, long, tough, but that is where the fun comes from.

Starting out on Monday evening we went to the stake president's house as a combined zone Family Home Evening - mainly because his son left for his mission on Wednesday. While there, the zone leaders informed me that Elder Maumau is going to Takoradi (my sweet old zone) to get his ID card the next day. So, Tuesday I spent time with the zone leaders doing zone leader things and spent time in my area with them while Elder Maumau and those that came with him were in Takoradi.

Elder Maumau and I on Friday spent some time playing soccer and small other games with kids

Wednesday was a good and bad day all in one. We left to go proselyte and ended up coming back 20 minutes later to talk some things out.  If you want to know why, just ask when I am back home. But all that I will add is that the conversation really opened up both of our eyes to help us improve.

Telecom 2 area

Thursday we had weekly planning (yay) and then interviews with President Stevenson. I LOVE my mission president and his wife.  They are so cool, and I am really happy they will be leaving shortly before I go home.

That my friends is a brown recluse. Found it by my closet dead when we came back home Thursday night. Thing was HUGE my palm and finger size.

The rest of the week was the same awesome missionary work that we get the honor to do. Sunday was the best because most of our investigators came to church and some less actives!  Then after church my comp and I went on visits with Brother Addo (1st counselor in YM presidency.. preparing for mission) and some youth to see less actives.  We walked forever and the youth were dying. Then later a youth asked us.. "is this what you do everyday?"... I replied, "yes.". Elder Maumau and I gathered them at a certain point because one said "why do we have to do this, this is the missionaries job."  We corrected that really fast. Seeing less actives and visiting members is the ward's PRIVILEGE.  Somewhere in James 2.. talks about what pure religion is. 

Elder Maumau and I enjoyed Fried rice and coke on Wednesday to celebrate our stepping stone together

The work here is great. I am healthy, focused and dedicated. My companion is awesome. I LOVE my zone leaders. Mission is the BEST!!!!!!!!!!


Have a great week,


Elder Johnson

Serving A Mission Is The Greatest Decision I Have Ever Made

Maakye!

So, first I hope you are enjoying the snow and cold weather. It has gotten pretty cold here..... just kidding! The air is getting more dry and is getting hotter by the day.

It was another good week in the Telecom area with my "son."  The success was not much, but we worked hard and we know that we will see the fruits of our labors someday!

Elder MauMau and Johnson
Interviews with President Stevenson

Tuesday was the first meeting for the "Telecom zone" and in my own opinion it was very spiritually uplifting. We received instruction from a few sources, but my favorite was from one of our zone leaders, Elder Kanongata.  He had us share some reasons why we are out here. He put them in graphs from least important, like for our lady friends back home (joke that an Elder said), to the most important reason, which is because we LOVE our Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ.  Elder K shared a story the President Stevenson shared when he was a stake president back in Oregon... an Elder came home from his mission and did the usual go meet with the stake president to be released. When President Stevenson said for him to take off the tag, the Elder looked down at it and started to cry, and looked at the tag for 10 minutes. At the moment Elder K shared that story the spirit filled the room and some started to shed some tears.  It hit me that one day when I take off my tag it will be for good and not just when I get home at night then put it on again the next morning.  Serving a mission is the greatest decision I have ever made.  It has brought me closer to Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ. What a honor it is for me to wear His name on my chest everyday.

My son ate his first fufu on Tuesday and finished it!!!  No surprise, father like son!!! Just kidding, I did not finish my first one.  Shout out to my trainer Elder Hanson for helping a son out :P  Elder Hanson recently got called to go with other missionaries in March to open back up the Sierra Leone mission after the Ebola evacuation 18 months ago. I'm sad that I will not see him again til I get home :(

On Thursday we had the normal weekly planning session to talk about the remainder of the week and this coming week. Instead of sitting there and talking we kneeled in prayer and prayed for each person we teach, recent converts, and less actives.  Lets just say, it will be how weekly planning sessions are done with Elder Johnson from here on out.  My testimony grew that day that Heavenly Father is mindful of us all!!  We are His children and He LOVES us.  All He wants is for us to pray and ask for help. He will send the spirit to touch our heart to help us when we pray and ask with a sincere heart.

Time with Sister Stevenson

Sidenote--- Tuesday night a older man pulled up in his SUV and started saying some rude things to us. Saying the Mormons are polygamists and all that usual untrue stuff that people say about us... Elder Maumau was angry, I was thrown back since I have not heard that kind of rude stuff since I left home. Turns out he lived in New york for 25 years and just came back to Ghana. So everyone, spread the word and fix those false truths!!! 

On Friday we had a pretty hard day! No one really to teach and we both felt that something different needed to be done. So we went back to the apartment and prayed for help and guidance. This work can not be done by any missionaries own wisdom. It is not our work, it is God's.

Yesterday the Ward Council met together and my companion and I were invited to attend. The meeting lasted almost 3 hours, BUT there is a new plan in place to help us as missionaries with referrals!!! In the Cape coasC mission, 60% of our baptisms each year come from referrals from MEMBERS. Keep that one in mind.

This mission is so hard, but it is sooooo sweet.  And I would not trade this time to do anything else. From my 6 short months in the field I have grown to know more than ever that Heavenly Father loves each and every one of His children. That Jesus Christ is our Savior and Redeemer. Without Jesus Christ we would forever be lost and could not return to live with Heavenly father one day. The Book of Mormon is ANOTHER testament of Jesus Christ. It is given to us from God and I know that 100%.


Elder Johnson

Serve!

Hello once again,

So in case you are not all counting my days... I have now been out 6 months, but it has felt like 6 weeks HA!

On to the actual important things..... As of Wednesday I now have my "son" and he is totally awesome. His name is Elder MauMau (Said like now now but with an M instead of N) he is from Utah! His dad is from Tonga and his mom is from Hawaii. He is what all polynesian's are like in this mission... big, nice, giving, and really humble.  In my apartment we have Elder Havea who is from Tonga. The guy is SOOOOOO nice!

Elder MauMau and Johhson

Not much has been going on other than the usual awesome missionary work that is being done all over the world.

On Thursday we do our weekly planning sessions and this past Thursday has been my longest planning EVER. It took us 3 hours to plan for the coming week sooo that was a nice 3 hours for Elder Maumau!!!! Not really... he was about to fall asleep :)

Saturday a very nice lesson was learned by my companion and I. We went out at 12pm, just had lunch, feeling great with a wonderful day planned. Fast forward 3 hours, no lessons worked out, visited a lot of people with nothing! Being the trainer/ senior companion a lot of stress was on me and it got me in a "ehh" kind of mood. A little after 3 we went to the apartment to get a couple things and Elder Kenyah and Elder Havea were there because they just got back from a service project. I asked for some help because they both go home in the next 8 months and the advice was...
We do not have to go place to place to place to just sit down and teach. We can also visit members, have chats with them, visit investigators just to say hi. They said to make it fun and not to stress ourselves out because we have no lessons working.

Right now we have 4 investigators that have a baptism date in the next couple weeks. One of them, Comfort, that I mentioned last week wants us to teach her husband. His name is Andrews, pretty cool guy, but did not take to us very well the first couple times we had a chat with him. After some weeks of just becoming friends we were able to have a lesson with him yesterday evening. We were able to have the 2nd counselor to the Bishop with us in the lesson. Brother Ofori is his name and I found out he returned 1 year ago from mission! The lesson got kind of intense because Brother Ofori said after "Andrews was proving stubborn". I did not like how it was treated but it unstubbornized Andrews and the rest of the lesson was great! We meet with him again in a few days so it should be good!!!

Elder Maumau is very, very, very energetic and I feel like an old man being with him. But I am starting to "feel young again" haha. On Friday we were walking to a lesson and there was men loading bricks onto a flat bed truck. Elder Maumau said that we should help them.. my response.. sadly.. was.." But we will get dirty".... sad in my response but we ended up loading the bricks for them for the next 20 minutes. It was a very good workout. On Saturday there were people working on the side of the road putting in a new open gutter system and you guessed it.. we helped!  I was quick to help them this time when I remembered my terrible response the last situation we were in - and this time we got dirty :P

I am sooooo grateful that I have this opportunity to train a new missionary. In a chat with him on Wednesday I told him that we are both equal. Though he is new he has been set apart to be an Elder just like me. Elder Maumau is so loving to everyone and is always the first to help with anything. I can learn plenty of things from him! Maybe he is actually training me... :)

For our P-day activity today we played Rugby at the stake center. Lets just say that playing with 5 people that played in leagues (Tongans and a Samoans) it was very scary even though we just wrapped and did not tackle. My hands are rubbed raw from doing a lot of laundry early this morning. I want to buy a small wash machine, but I get one of those the rest of my life... on the good side, my shirts are really white.

Thought of the week: SERVE SERVE SERVE SERVE SERVE SERVE SERVE SERVE SERVE SERVE SERVE SERVE SERVE.

--Elder Johnson

Sadly my card got some how ruined because of a bad computer so I only have one of my son and I while my card is getting fixed.... I hope

Share Your Testimony

Hello!!!!!

My hope and wish is that you all had a wonderful week :)

This week went by pretty quick even though by Thursday my body wanted to shut down from exhaustion + the heat... the sun has been a killer.

There is nothing that I can remember from Tuesday other than the fact that I got a call from President Stevenson and have been called to TRAIN a new missionary! The call came at 9pm and by that time we had just switched companions from exchanges on Wednesday in my area with our Zone leader Elder Neilson.   Elder Swartbooi and everyone in the apartment has been saying that I will train the next two transfers and they were right.  I am happy and excited to have this opportunity to train :)

New Trainer meeting with President & Sister Stevenson

All the people that were called to train went to Cape Coast on Friday morning to meet with President Stevenson.  I was the only trainer from my zone so I had to travel the 90 minutes by myself  -_-  It was a scary thing to be the only white guy in the tro (jk I'm used to it). There was a man that sat up in the front seats with me that I had the chance to talk to about church.  We were about 20 minutes into the journey and Jackson (the guy that was next to me) asked why I was in Ghana and I explained to him that I am a missionary. The next 20 minutes he told me he did not go to church because most of the church leaders in Ghana preach on Sunday, but then set a bad example the rest of the week. I gave him the message of the "Restoration of the Gospel of Jesus Christ" and Jackson was really interested. Sadly where he lives is in the Kumasi mission so hopefully the missionaries there can talk to him!

New Trainer meeting at the mission home in Cape Coast

The meeting was only 2 hours long so I spent more time traveling than being in Cape Coast. The trainers meeting was great though and I re-connected with 3 of the people in my MTC group. Saturday was transfer news and that was interesting. Our Zone is split now, so I am part of Telecom Zone now. The 6 man apartment is now a 4 man, but the people that are coming I hear are pretty sweet. 

Meeting up with some Elders from the MTC at the new Trainer meetings in Cape Coast 

I love all of my investigators in this area!!  One of them is named Comfort. She was invited to church by a family in the ward and she has come every week since. Her baptism is planned for the 31st of January. She really wants her husband to join the church and take lessons with us!! Whenever we come, Comfort has asked if we will talk to her husband. When we see him we talk with him so we can establish a relationship with him. Actually, we had a lesson with Comfort late in the afternoon yesterday. Her husband came and stood near us as we were teaching. The lesson was on Baptism and confirmation.  After he stood there for 5 minutes and asked us, "If we are not baptized, but we are good people, can we still go to heaven?" Answering that question is really hard to do!  It clearly says in the Bible, no, if you are not baptized you won't go to heaven. You won't go to hell either. We had to do a quick Plan of Salvation explanation to him. Hopefully he will join us in future lessons.

The next one is Abduali, he was born in Ghana but lived in Nigeria most of his life. When I came to this area he was a former investigator.  He told us he wants us over every night at 7pm.  So, every night we are over at his compound.  His baptism date is the 14th of February. One new investigator is a 12 yar old boy named Nana Kwame! This kid is a SSSTUDDDD!!! He remembers everything and I hope he will attend church on Sunday with us!

Thought: Actually prepared myself last night for this one..... During my studies this week I found something in the Book of Mormon that I want to share.  In Alma 4:13 and Alma 31:5 it talks about sharing the word of God and the power of our testimonies.  Alma tells us that the only thing he could do to save his brothers, the Zoramites, was a testimony.  In the other it tells us that sharing the word of God is sharper than a two edged sword.  Study those scriptures!  Remember, share your testimony with everyone, it is our duty!!


-- Elder Johnson

Those Few Days Were A Learning Experience

Maaha!

I hope all is well across the world! Especially for those in Colorado taking the snow. FYI totally happy that I do not have to shovel the driveway. Ghana is hot, dry, and hopefully the rainy season will start soon.

As for the past week............

Tuesday-- In the morning we had our district meeting and Elder Swartbooi felt to instruct on extending commitments to those that we teach. It was good to discuss that and why it is soooooooo important to extend commitments. I always love district meeting because it is a good way to start out the week.

Making some biscuits with a recent convert

 At 6 o'clock the sister missionaries needed my companion to do a baptismal interview for them. They asked us to meet them at the stake center, which we did.  Then they called us at 6:15 and asked us to meet them at a store called Melcoms. We were not to happy seeing as it is right by our apartment and the stake center is a 10 minute taxi ride in the opposite direction. When we were walking out, SOMEONE LOCKED THE DOORS. The building entrances are not really the same as in America. They have a jailish looking door on the outside with a keypad lock and a wall with sharp posts (keep people from stealing at night). So the only way to get out was to climb and jump over the sharp posts. It was a 12 foot approx jump down one you get over the posts.

Wall of Awesome -
Thank you for those who sent me the Christmas notes and the pictures!!

Annoying moment-- Our shower shut off was not working so water would keep coming out the shower head. For 2 days I would wake up in the middle of the night and hear water flowing. Finally got it fixed.

Wednesday--- My companion went to Cape Coast for a meeting with the President, Zone Leaders, and District Leaders. Since I had to stay behind, I went on an exchange. I stayed in my area and got Elder Peterson from Utah. It was a GREAT day lesson wise. Annoying part is we had to wait in the apartment for the mail guy to come   -_-

We spent almost 2 hours taking the kernels off of corn for a recent convert. It was pretty legit

As for Thursday- Saturday were really good/terrible days mixed in one. Some lessons had the spirit so strong and others totally terrible. I felt like I did when I first came on mission and could not teach. Things I said did not make sense. Some hours were spent reflecting on myself and why some lessons were good and others weren't. Also, extra time in prayer and scripture study were spent to know why the spirit was not with me some days. I got my answer Saturday night after prayer and reading the Book of Mormon before I went to bed - thankfully,  Elder Swartbooi was really patient with me as this was happening.

Thursday morning was FREEZING.  We did not want to take cold showers. Only way to get hot shower.... boil it and put it in a bucket.

While Elder Swartbooi and I were reflecting together on the week last night, I look back and the bad day's do not matter. Those few days were a real learning experience, ones that I would not have had if I were not on a mission!



-- Elder Chandler Johnson

And "It" Happened.....

Afe nhyia paa!  Happy almost New Year!!!

It is so crazy that 2015 is almost over already. This time last year I was celebrating the fact that I will be graduating soon. Now 2015 is over :( at the same time :)

It is very foggy in the mornings and I love it!!

This past week was pretty good. Not many things that are too interesting for you to know happened...

On Thursday night we attended something the stake does called "Carols night."  We all got together and certain people got up and read scriptures pertaining to Jesus Christ. It was great from the parts that actually were in English. Something here that I am still not used to is the lack of communication. The Elders had to get up and sing 3 different times... it would have been great to know ahead of time but we still all sounded good ( I hope).

After we got back to the apartment we opened our packages from family and friends. A benefit of being away from home on Christmas is we don't have to wait to open gifts. I had a package from my parents that had some comforts from home inside. As well as a soccer jersey that I got to wear on Friday.

On Christmas morning we got together as a zone for a nice game of soccer.  It was Elders vs. men from the stake. The game went well after I figured out what I was supposed to do! They are very serious about their soccer here. Hopefully I can improve in soccer while I am out here. The stake president had 20 of us over for lunch after games. He fed us chicken and rice.

Post soccer game - Elders Johnson and Swatbooi

The soccer squad

That evening I was able to call and talk to my family!!!!  I am surprised at how well the phone call worked from 7,000 miles away.  It was a great phone call :)

When I came on my mission, the last thing I wanted to happen was for me to get sick. I have been out over 5 months and it finally happened to me. An investigator of ours kindly fed us on Christmas day. She fed us fufu with light soup. When we got the soup it was really cold, not a concern to people back home, but to us here it is a very big concern. Well, Saturday at 3 am it hit both my companion and I.  From 3am- 8am I was running to the restroom every 20-30 minutes.  So, Saturday not much happened. We got up pretty late and had to go to a baptism for the sister missionaries. Elder Swartbooi and I both felt like we were about to die. After the baptism we went to sleep around 1 and got up at 7pm. Our stomachs still do not feel fully right. We had a fufu yesterday and again today at the Stake President's house. Fufu is not enjoyable to eat now.

On a positive note, we had a baptism yesterday. His name is Edward and the missionaries have been teaching him for a couple months now. Really funny kid and very smart. He is the only member of the church in his family. And his parents are fully ok with him attending the church with us. Hopefully Edward's mom and dad attend with him at some future time!!!

Elder Johnson