Week 100 - June 20, 2016

Family!

This week was soooo crazy!

Elder Brown and I have been "out of our minds" busy!

This last week we moved from Cheonan back to Onyang and we had to get everything out of the house in like 5 hours.  We boxed up everything and literally had to take everything down the elevator, load it on to a truck, and then we drove with the moving guy to Onyang and Elder Brown and I unloaded everything..

Onyang has no elevator in its apartment so we had to carry everything up the stairs to the 4th floor!  We literally almost died!

It went really well, and now we are all situated in and the house is SPOTLESS.  We spent four hours cleaning it today and it looks super good!

We also went to Daejeon this week for MLC.  It went really well! 

Elder Brown and I moved so we weren't quite sure what time the bus left, so we woke up in the morning, called the terminal and they said the bus left at 6:40 am..... it was 6:32 am and we live 10 minutes away from the terminal by taxi!  We sprinted out the door.  Got in a taxi and he went full speed to the terminal!  As we got to the terminal, the bus was leaving the parking lot. 

It started heading down the street and we took off running as fast as I have ever run!  We made eye contact with the bus driver and miraculously he stopped and let us in!  Bus drivers are super strict, but this man was a very nice and humble man who let us ride his bus!  It was a miracle!  I was dripping with sweat and couldn't breathe!  Haha

Sister Hwang received baptism!

Our baptism yesterday was incredibly spiritual.  Elder Brown and I, as well as the Sister missionaries sang, "I am a Child of God" at the baptismal service.  The Spirit was stronger than ever. 

I felt the truthfulness of the lyrics.

(Elder Johnson stated:  Brother Kim Dam Yoon's family!  They are the greatest people!)

After the baptism, Elder Brown and I gave our member, Kim Dam Yoon, a hug and he started to cry.  Tears filled his eyes with happiness and joy!  We, through the Lord's help accomplished a big dream of his.  Sister Hwang is special and Brother Kim's family is changing my life!  Such good people and examples!

I saw Jake Westbrook this last week.

It was a great experience.  He is a stud and yes, he can speak Korean very well!

I love you so much.  Stay safe and follow Him in all you do. 

He will lead you!

Have the greatest week!

Elder Cole Thomas Johnson

PACE

Week 99 - June 12, 2016

Family,

Indeed again, it was a Glorious week.

Soooo much has happened and things are moving a million miles an hour.

So much good is happening, and I am grateful for all the fasting and prayers on my behalf.

I dont have much time this week but yesterday at church we had 2 new investigators out!

They are so great!

One of them is sooo prepared.

We met with him once this last week after Elder Brown followed a prompting to call him.

As we were meeting with him (for the first time), he all of a sudden expressed his desire to be baptized and to come to church.  He picked up the Book of Mormon and started telling us we needed to read somewhere in it.  We opened to 2 Nephi 31 and began to read!  Next thing we know... We were inviting him to be baptized on July 3rd!  He accepted.. Turned around and circled a big mark around that day on his calendar!  I couldn't believe it!  Elder Brown and I were stunned!

He is such a great man!  His name is Choi Byung Chore.

Choi Sang Oon's baptism was probably one of the most spiritual experiences of my mission.

Such a humble 18 year old kid who wants to follow the Savior and His gospel.

I love him and am blessed to be able to have met such a good kid on my mission!

The Spirit throughout the baptismal service was so strong!

I love you!

Have a great week!  You are in my prayers!

Elder Cole Thomas Johnson

PACE

My boy Connor is home this week!  I can't believe it!

SPECIAL PICTURE SENT TO ELDER JOHNSON'S FAMILY:

A good friend of Elder Johnson's mother sent this picture to his family.  The friend's son served in Seoul.  He is there now on an internship with Kia.  Elder Johnson baptized the aunt of his investigator, and so they saw each other.  This was such a happy occasion. 

 

Week 98 - June 5, 2016

My Family.

I just wanted to say thank you to everyone for all the countless fasts and prayers on my behalf.

I really appreciate it.  I can feel your love and and I am very grateful. 

This week was again very bright!

Lots happened. 

Our investigator, Sister Moon Jung Sook was baptized. 

The baptismal service was very special.  The Spirit was so strong and we were able to have a lot of investigators out to the baptismal service. 

 

 

We, missionaries, sang "Lead Kindly Light."  It was a great song and the members felt the Spirit so strongly as well. 

When I entered the font with Sister Moon, I closed my eyes and said the prayer.  After she was fully immersed in the water and came directly out, like her, I too, felt reborn again.  I felt cleansed from sin and I felt the Spirit of the Lord testify of the importance of baptism and of this message.  It was a great experience and one to remember. 

We, also, were able to set a baptismal date with our investigator Sister Hwang Su Yun.

During our lesson, we could see that something was on her mind and she seemed kind of frustrated and a little down, so in the middle of the lesson our member stood up, grabbed four hymn books and turned to, "I am a Child of God."  We all sang the song together and it brought the Spirit into the room!  We bore testimony to her that yes indeed, even if she doesn't know it yet, she is a "Child of God."  We are all children of a loving Heavenly Father. He loves us and knows us. 

The lesson before that, we met with another one of our investigators named Choi Sang Oon and he is such a stud!  The most humble 18 year old I have ever met.  He is solid and his desire to learn the gospel at age 18 is truly inspiring!  He participates in church and will be baptized this coming week!

Pray that all goes well!

I love you all.  Hope all is well.

Be safe and follow the Spirit in all things.  Create Environments for the Spirit to dwell with you.

Love you!

Elder Cole Thomas Johnson.

Elder Browns and my revelation for this last week was:  Pride Prohibits Progression.

PACE

Week 97 - May 30, 2016

Family,

This week was incredible.  So many miracles and so many cool experiences that I will remember for an eternity.

First of all, Shout out to my little brother Big LUKE J.  Happy Birthday you, stud.  I am looking forward more and more to seeing you and how much you have changed!  I can't believe how tall and big you look!  You're gonna be bigger than me!  I hope you had a great day!  I love you. 

I guess I will start this letter off with an amazing experience that Elder Brown and I had with one of our members, early on this week on Tuesday. 

On Tuesday, Elder Brown and I planned to go visit one of our investigators named Wang Su Yun that lives out by our member in the Country side.  It is about one hour from our house which is pretty far and so we have to take a bus for a while, which is fine, but just takes some time to get there and back.

(Wang Su Yun works at our member's restaurant where they prepare food for 300 people. She is the head cook and is seriously incredible.  Her smile is the greatest thing in the world and she is always so happy.  She has such a pure heart and is the most prepared person I have seen on my mission.  We are teaching her with our member every week and things are going really great!)

After we got off the bus, Elder Brown and I were just getting ready to pray when our member Brother Kim Dam Yoon came and passed us in his car.  He told us to get in and that she wasn't yet ready to do a lesson because she wasn't finished cooking for all the people. 

So he told us he was going to drive us to the very top of the highest mountain (next to his house which was only like 10 minutes to get to the top.. But it was super high) and that we would say a prayer and consecrate all of Cheonan.

As we go to the top of the big mountain, all three of us knelt down and we each said a prayer to consecrate every area in the Cheonan Zone (we could almost see every area in our Zone.  Our Zone is really big too!..)

The Spirit was so strong.  Elder Brown and I both prayed and our member Kim Dam Yoon said a very humble prayer as well.  It was such a cool experience. 

(Elder Johnson stated:  "The man in the red shirt above is 'the man.'  He is our dad here in Korea and is incredible!"  He is the brother who took the missionaries to the highest mountain and whose name is Brother Kim Dam Yoon.)

The Zone is doing better than it ever has!  We have 10 baptismal dates which is HUGE. Normally at one time we have about two to four.  So these are huge miracles. 

The baptismal service went really well. The Spirit filled the room with love and many members went out of their way to make it a great experience for 김용호 형제님.

His mother and younger brother made it out to the baptismal service and we have a great relationship with them, so we will continue looking for ways to teach them of the Restored Gospel.  I have a good feeling about the younger brother, but I feel as if the Mother will need some more time. 

Another quick miracle.
This was super cool!

Elder Brown and I just finished eating and we felt like we needed to go behind the building a pray.

As we prayed, we asked Heavenly Father to lead us and guide us and especially help us to remain focused for the rest of the night and to find His prepared children.

As we got done praying, we were walking and out of nowhere I had this feeling that we needed to hurry and go over to the train station area (which was completely the opposite way of where we were going.  As we went over that way, we got rejected a whole bunch. We started to ask each other why we came over this way.... After about five more minutes, this girl passed by and we said hello to her.  She started speaking really good English and started singing, "Count Your Blessings."   We asked her where she learned and she said that she went to Utah State on an exchange student trip!  She said she roomed with all return Mormon sister missionaries and she went to church and met with the missionaries.  She also told us that she had planned to be baptized but ended up not making the commitment.

Long story short, she wouldn't accept our message but was very respectful.  I learned again a powerful lesson.

The Lord will always lead you to His prepared people and well give you what we need to say, but because everyone has their own personal agency He will not accept the message for them.  He will give them the opportunity and chance but will not accept it for them. 

The Lord will always lead us to His prepared people!  

The next person we ran into after talking to that girl was our investigator who will be baptized in two weeks.  SOOOO many miracles!

(Elder Johnson reported:  "This is our other investigator Wang Su Yun.  She is the most pure investigator I have had on my mission.  I love her so much, and she is changing my life.  She was a referral from Kim Dam Yoon.)

(Elder Johnson:  "Our investigator who is getting baptized soon (Moon Jung Sook's son.)

Be safe! 

I love you!

Elder Cole Thomas Johnson

PACE