June 30, 2012

June 30, 2012
Dear Mormony Peoples (as one of our YSA would say),
The question of the day is:  What is a Thunder Chicken? A clue is in a photo on our mission blog.
It was 108 degrees in our car yesterday morning when we went out to get some ice cream for the Sunday YSA Fireside.  The outside temp was 100.  We and everyone else just travel from air conditioned quarters to air conditioned car.  We made a mad dash to a home near the base to deliver the ice cream to their freezer. 
Our new mission president left a voicemessage on the phone saying "stay in if possible".  And this is only the beginning of the hot season here. 
Aside from that life is good.
The work continues in spite of us.  The YSA had a fun activity night Tuesday playing games and eating.  I made the food and one marine and 5 young women showed up.  Three of the young ladies are from Albertson west of here.  They are all Harper decendents.  They say everyone in Albertson are related to the Harpers but their ancestors came to the Americas  from England early on in settlement time.
The Resiliency class Sunday went really well and we had a lot of great discussions including some from a non member who attended and asked me why we wear white underclothes.  What would your answer be? 
Monday we had four elders over for supper, I cooked all day Tuesday for the YSA, took some fruit salad to our neighbor upstairs who just had surgery,  we fed all 10 missionaries in our district lunch Wednesday after meeting at the church, I took rocks to the Military Wives Support Group Thursday evening and was worrying about what to fix for Resiliency class treats and Fireside treats Sunday and was asked to do the refreshments for the baptism today.  I murmurred so someone else is taking care of today. 
You probably are so busy this 4th of July week you won't read this e-mail but it does me good to write it anyway.
Happy 4th Holiday.
 Love, Sister Grandma Johnson     

June 23, 2012

Dear Friends and Family,
I spoke too soon when I said we were getting along fine with the heat because of the air conditioning in the car, church and apartment.  We went to help the Young Single Adults get started building a shed at the Habitat for Humanity Re-Store in Jacksonville this morning and I about melted into the pavement.  We left them still working at 10:30 a.m. and came home to recover.  Rain brought some relief this afternoon.
They are harvesting beets, corn, peppers, tomatos, etc. here now and there are lots of farmer's markets around to buy good produce from. 
We are into teaching the second lesson of the Church's Military Resiliency Class series for families dealing with deployment this week.  Husbands continue to come and go from deployment and most of the spouses stay here while they are gone. The information is excellent and would be good for anyone but especially married couples.  It has helped us just to study the material. 
We continue to hunt for lost marines who haven't come to church but it is hard when you don't have telephone numbers or addresses or phones that no one will answer just worried parents.  We have got a lot of great LDS marines who are looking for good LDS wives if anyone knows of anyone who would be interested.  I am not kidding. 
Preparing lessons and talks take a goodly amount of our time as does making treats for the YSA, Resiliency classes, firesides, and families we visit.  It is all enjoyable and rewarding. Juggling rides for marines from 3 different camps on base to church also requires some organization.
Last Sunday was special because after attending the two Jacksonville Wards and teaching a class we had 5 young adults show up for services at Camp Geiger.  Only two were members of the church.  One of the investigators moved to another camp on base and wants a ride to church tomorrow.  When you have more investigators than members in a church service you have to make a lot of adjustments to what is taught. 
We made our weekly mistake by going to the grandstands of what we thought were the MCT graduation ceremonies only to find out after sitting there 20 minutes we were at the change of command for a unit of the base.  They thought we looked a little out of place and directed us to a gym where the ceremonies we wanted to attend were being held.  Ooops.  We can't wear our name tags on base so they thought we were grandparents of a graduate.  We were given good up front seats when we arrived the last minute at the Marine Training Graduation. 
The Gospel is true and it is a joy to teach pure doctirne.  Love,  

Elder and Sister Johnson

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June 23, 2012

The great elders and sisters from our Jacksonville/Hamstead Zone

June 19, 2012

***New Pictures***

A sign in front of a church in Half Moon

A Bogue Sound Pirate or a Pirate at Bogue Sound

June 10th, 2012

Dear Friends and Family,
I never thought I would see tar and feathers but Friday when we were driving in Richlands we saw turkey feathers all along all the sides of the road which they had just covered with a new layer of tar and gravel.  Therefore we had tarred feathers.  Since there are many turkey farms (Butterball) in this area I am sure the feathers came from hauling turkeys somewhere or hauling the feathers away.   
Last week's training by Apostle Holland to our mission is still resonating in my mind.  He didn't ask the mission president what his concerns were before the meeting and went by the spirit and the  mission president said Apostle Holland touched on all of his areas of concern in the training. Proof that the apostles do teach by the spirit.  Tuesday we had another day of mission training in Wilmington where we learned about the work of the Salvation of Man, reactivation, taking care of cars, bed bugs, other bugs, staying hydrated, teaching people not lessons and that righteous service can bring blessings vicariously.
We took a marine to the airport Friday and said a sad goodbye.  He is Aliya Nyoka from Oregon and is flying home before going to Hawaii and deployment to Afhganistan. He is the only member of the church in his family and arrived here just before we did and is gone already. 
We regularly see and hear Osprey MV22 rotary/tilt rotor helicopters come and go from the New River Marine Corps Air Station near here.  They fly like airplanes and take off and land like a helicopter.  Chris will post a photo of them on our blog. 

Our dear friend Reed Neilsen passed away last Monday in Logan after suffering from a disease of the spinal column.  He will be missed very much.  He was always so amiable, kind and told such good real life stories. We will miss him very much.   

Love the work.   Sincerely,   

Elder and Sister Johnson

These fly over our apartment all the time and land nearby at New River Harine Corps Air Station.

May 27, 2012

May 27, 2012
Dear Friends and Family
It was a great Sunday in church to see the Gospel in Action.  We received a call from a mother asking us to fellowship her son who had arrived at Camp LeJeune.  We called a church member working in the same area on base as he is to call him and invite him to church which he did.  Then Elder Johnson called him last night and offered a ride and while he was picking him up this morning I attended the ward council meeting where they coordinate missionary efforts.  I told the council he would be coming today and needed fellowship.  He was welcomed by many people in the ward the most important being other military members who he could relate to and also receive rides with to church.  The talks given in sacrament meeting were perfect for his situation and other military members took him to the Gospel Essentials class where the lesson seemed to be custom made for him.  Another single young adult then gave him a ride home from church.  I can truly say that if he decides not to participate in the Gospel while he is living at Camp Lejeune it won't be because he was not fellowshipped this week.

That same day at another condensed church meeting we hold for marines who can't leave Camp Geiger we had a former missionary companion for Jordan Byington come and bring a marine friend who he had been teaching the gospel discussions to on the artillery field. The investigator will stay on Camp Lejeune and Jordan's friend will go to 29 Palms in California for more training this week.   The sad part about this calling is the goings.  One young adult left last week for Afganistan and another got his orders to go to Hawaii and then go to Afganistan.  One marine is leaving his family and wife who is expecting in September to go to Africa for 6 months. 

Tuesday the other 6 younger missionaries, 2 YS adults and we two helped at the Re-Store- a D.I. type store that supports the Habitat for Humanity projects.

We returned Saturday  with 3 YSAs to do the same.  The muscled marines demolished unusable furniture, we cleaned windows and another young lady priced goods. One of the store supervisors is a 82 year old man who is the son of a slave. 

Those are just some of the happenings this week on our mission. Happy Memorial Day remembering those we love.   Love, Sister Johnson
 

Elder and Sister Johnson

June, 1, 2012