E-mail from Neal - Received 11/28/08

Hello everyone,

Well I hope that everyone had a great thanksgiving. I sure did!!! I actually got 2 thanksgiving dinners. The first was with the YSA for FHE, and that was really really great. One of our investigators Sean Reader came so that was really fun. We ate really well and got a great chance to talk to everyone of the YSA. That was on Monday, and yesterday we had a huge feast at our ward mission leaders house. His name is Bro. Bob McCallum, and he is so Scottish it's hilarious. They have 2 kids that live in Utah, so they did everyone American style. Turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, the whole 9. I seriously rolled out of that house, and I have trouble walking the rest of the night. Because it was thanksgiving we got special permission from president to eat at a members, and to eat for an hour and half, not just an hour. It was really good. This being my first Thanksgiving away from home it was a little sad. I missed watching the football game with the guys, and I really missed the endless amount of pies that we always had. No worries though, the lord is looking after me, and making sure that I am fed well and happy! Christmas is coming soon now, and I will have to go through the same thing, but oh well, again I will be ok.

Ok so this week has been a good one. Tough, but what else is new. No one ever said that a mission was going to be easy! It is really really cold now a days, and so I am bundling up all the time. We have been talking to so many people and trying to share the gospel with all of them, and we are seeing things happen. Its amazing to see the work move and progress, and I am loving every minute of it! All day, everyday, and there is no time to stop. Fits my personality well wouldn’t you say?!

So some cool things that I have studied these past few days….. I was reading in PMG about Christ like attributes (chap 6, highly recommended), and I read in the introduction this….. “On a mission, it’s more than what you do, its who you are.” That really hit me. We must be like Christ, we must follow his example, and we must live by his teachings. If we don’t then we are just coming and going in vain. We must always strive to do what is right, and we can know that we are doing things right, when we feel the spirit! I was also listening to a song the other night, and the lyrics were something like, “When he walked this path he walked it alone.” That struck me too. Christ has walked down every single road that we have, but when he did it, he did it by himself. When we do it we have him right next to us. That is so comforting to know that I am never walking alone in this dark and dreary world. I ALWAYS have Christ right next to me…. ALWAYS!!!!!! Missions are great, and I cannot believe that I have been out for 7 months already!!!!! Time flies when you are working hard!!!!!

I love you all! Stay strong, and work hard. Know that I am working hard, and that I am striving everyday to become better.

I LOVE EVERY ONE OF YOU!!!!!
Elder Johnson

E-mail from Neal - Received 11-19-08

Hello to All!!!!!!

Well, another week has flown by. Each week seems to be getting faster and faster! Christmas is coming, and you can tell. Piccadilly Gardens (Manchester Town Center) is full of lights and decorations and its really cool at night. It has nothing on Temple Square, but its still cool!

So this week has been crazy to say the least. Trying to talk to everyone, and to do these QGC’s is fun, but it can be tough. Is the QGC program a world wide thing???? I am quite curious? There have been some amazing things that have come from it! I have talked to so many more people, and shared so much more truth with them, and it is really really great. People are listening and wanting to know more. The Assistants have told us that the most popular comment by people after talking about the Book Of Mormon is…. “How much is this book, I WANT ONE!!!!!” How cool is that? The best part is, THE GOSPEL IS FREE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! HA HA HA I love it! So yea I am doing good in that respect, but on the flip side, the QGC has opened up another can of worms. I got into two “bible bashing” sessions on Saturday. That was rough…. Really rough! One was with a Hindu, and that really didn’t bother me because his views were so far out in left field that it really didn’t get to me. I just had to go home for lunch and cool off a bit. The second one however got to me. I got into war with a Born Again.

We were going to Piccadilly to GC for like 2 hours, and I was really excited. This was the first real chance to go hardcore with the QGC’s and to really have a large amount of time to hit it hard. Well guess what, I guess Satan caught wind of that plan and that desire, because the first guy that I talked to decided to talk to me for an hour! He would not let me go, and he was trying to indoctrinate me the whole time. I like the letter that you sent mom, cause it talked about contention and how it is of the devil. I CAN TESTIFY THAT IT IS!!!!!!!! Nothing came from that conversation, and what is worse is that I could not talk to all the people that I wanted to. It was tough and it kinda set my whole day in a bad cloud. I guess that’s what I get for being a worthy messenger of the lord. I am in the army of the stripling warriors and Satan knows that! I learned from that conversation, and I am not going to do that ever again. It was a tough day, but we got through it. I should have learned from my previous experiences with bad days, and known that there was something good coming.

Elder Davis’ opinion about hard days and weeks was that we must be doing something right if we are getting all the opposition. It proved itself last transfer when we had the worst week of my mission, followed by finding about 6 investigators in a week. This time, we had about the best Sunday of my mission. We had 3 investigators at church. One of them, we had virtually dropped, but he showed up on his own!!!! That night we went out with the assistants, and we taught some amazing lessons. Andrew (from Tanzania) has been struggling with the Book of Mormon (accepting it), and we taught him an amazing lesson, and I think that he will do much better now. John Glespen (middle age guy) now has a baptism date for Dec. 13th!!!!!!! The day was way cool, and totally made up for the previous one! The Lord does bless his servants, and I am so grateful for that! The hard day was there, but like E. Davis said, “We must have been doing something right!”

Elder Lloyd is really starting to come along well. He is talking with everyone, and has no fear about it. We are still struggling with bus contacting, but we are really starting to make goals on how to get over that! We are doing some really good things, and we are starting to see the blessings! He is getting sick right now, so I don’t know exactly what is going to happen in the next few days, but no worries, whatever happens happens.

Have a good week!!!!
I love you all!!!!!!
Elder Johnson

E-mail from Neal - Received 11/12/08

Well where to start……. I think that today I am going to talk to you all about how amazing this mission is about to become!!!! President Bullock is a rock star, and he really knows how to get things going!!!! He introduced something called a Quality Gospel Conversation (QGC) and it really is just a way that we can monitor our finding hours. The goal for the mission is 70 conversations with 12 appointments set (70/12), a week. That’s really quite steep. Now a QGC is….. a principle of the gospel taught, testifying of that principle, and at the very least an attempt to get contact info and an appointment (that’s often the hard part). It is really a test of being pure in heart, because you really have to make it a good conversation to count it, not just do the bare minimum. Anyways, that program has been going for a few weeks, and I have not been doing so well with it. I think I did like 13/2 the first week, 17/3 the next week, and then like 29/5 this past week. Well the stakes just got raised. Pres. Bullock just introduced the QGC POWER STATEMENTS!!!! Holy good gosh they are awesome. Preach My Gospel talks a lot about not doing rote lessons, but it says nothing about rote conversation approaches. Very simply “Hi, I’m a missionary from the Church of Jesus Christ” DOESN’T work anymore. So what are we doing now…. “Hello there, we are in the area today sharing a message about how after centuries of being lost, all of the Gospel of Jesus Christ has been restored to the Earth, by God, through his living Prophet. There is a book called the Book of Mormon that is evidence of this. You can hold this book in your hands, read it, ponder how the message can improve your life, and pray to know if it is true.” WHAM!!!!!!!! If you can’t feel the spirit off then Satan has a seriously huge grip on you. After that I hit them with a powerful testimony, something personal and sincere. Satan has nothing on my testimony!!!!!!!!! Power statements are amazing, and they are going to change the mission! I was doing them last night, and I felt an instant confidence in my words, and I could tell that the people that I talked to felt the spirit. Its so much fun sharing the gospel with people. We got a hand out that really explains all of this new program, and I am going to make copies and send them to Troy and Porter because I think that they are really going to love them too. When 70/12 came out, I was scared. I honestly had no idea about how I was going to do that, but now for the first time 70/12 looks easy and I have made it my personal goal to get more than that!!!!! This is an amazing time to be sharing the gospel, and I am so happy to be here! I have never had so much fun in my life!! It's hard, it's tiring, it's wet, it's cold. I have now pulled out the big jacket, scarf ( I had never worn one until 2 weeks ago), and gloves (thank you Craig and Robin, they are AWESOME), BUT the gospel is true and that’s what makes the difference!!!!!!! I am happy, and I am working hard. Time flies so fast when you lose yourself in the work. I have seen the days that I have done that, and really lost myself, and I have seen the days when I have not done that, and let me tell you, when I lose my self……. IT’S A BETTER DAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Elder Lloyd is doing good. He has had some struggles early on, but who hasn’t. We were all green once, but he is turning into a little superstar. Never backs away from a challenge, and always has his heart in the right place. We are getting along great, and really working hard! I am really excited to be training him, and really its not that hard once they become a real missionary. All they have to do is break out of their shell that “All is Well!”

I love you all so so much, and know that I pray for you all the time. Christmas is coming soon and my next zone conference is on either the 17th or the 18th. We are going to the Temple!!!! SCORE!!!!!!!!! Stay strong and NEVER stop studying!!!!!

Elder Johnson

E-mail from Neal - Received 11/5/08

Hello to the most amazing family on earth!!!!

Well you want to talk about a crazy week!!! I have learned more in this past week than I think that I have my whole mission. I have learned that I can really teach anything to anyone. I can really talk to anyone, and share the gospel to them without fear, and I have learned that example is everything!!!!! I remember when I was young and brand new, and it feels like it was just yesterday, can you believe that it has been over 6 months!! Elder Lloyd is doing great! He is so excited, and so full of faith its amazing. It have been really really great being the example and showing him how its done. There is so much that I just do naturally now, but that he hasn’t learned yet. Its rather insane, but its great at the same time! We have had some amazing experiences this week, and I am sure that they will continue as long as we are working our hardest! Keep praying though, I can feel your support everyday!!!! I have really found that I have a lot of skills that I didn’t know that I had before. I am not saying that E. Lloyd is bad cause he is the exact opposite, but its just that the mission changes you. How you act, talk, think, and carry yourself! I love this place. I love my mission, and I love the Gospel!!! There is nothing truer, and there is nothing more real than this!!!!! This is the real deal, and as Jeffery R. Holland (J. Holl according to me and E. MacIntosh) “THIS IS ETERNAL LIFE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!” Enough said really.

We have zone conference this next Tuesday so I am really excited! It will be great as always! I hope that you all have an amazing week and that all starts to smooth out. I think that your lives are almost as busy as mine!!!! I think that you may still have some distance to go though. Let me tell you 10:30 at night when I get to plop (and I mean literally PLOP) is one of my most favourite times!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Its hard work, but its worth every second of it!!!!!!

I love you all, and I think about you all the time!!!! Stay strong and keep studying!!!!!!!

Elder Johnson

P.s I was going to send pictures, but these computers are complete Rubbish!!!!!!!!!! I had some good ones too. I got a legacy picture of me, e. Lloyd, e. Garcia