this week flew by.....

Hey Mom! ( and the rest, I guess you can be included too if you want 😆)

It's been quite a week here in Springfield! It's finally starting to warm up and right now it's 72 degrees! It's a great change from the -33 that I've had over here. This last winter was brutal and *knock on wood* thankfully it's over! There were way to many days when I was walking around in the -10's and it was a little bit difficult to want to save our miles by walking around!
But this weather is much more appreciated that's for sure.

This week we've had some funny experiences and the whole week basically went by in a blur. But as the end of the transfer closes in, I see the growth that I've had personally as someone who's been called to serve God and his children.
At the beginning of this last 3 month period where I've trained Elder Stafford, we've all been so dang confused that we really had no choice but to grow better than we both started. This has been a very important section of personal trial and it's been the best thing I could've asked for.
I've had the chance to be the District leader of the Springfield and Huber Heights missionaries and a trainer to Elder Stafford. Both these experiences have given me the opportunity to grow as a leader and as a Disciple of Jesus Christ.
I can say that I've never so thoroughly studied the words of God in my life, and I'm so blessed that I can have His guidance in this time.
I can also say that we all need it. So if you're not reading the Book of Mormon, or if you don't think it's a priority....
Repent and make it a priority!
Bring yourself closer to God and realize that the council given is just for you!
As someone from home always said " If everyone would just read the Book of Mormon, their lives would just be so much better!". I know that this marvelous old widow that said this statement really knows about what she's talking about!
The Book of Mormon is the best Self-help book out there, and can help us in more ways than we can possibly imagine.

I'm not a Biblical Scholar and I don't have a PHD in Religious Studies, but that's not what defines someone as knowing the truth. I know that this work is true, that the message that we teach is true, and if no one believes me, then I invite them to find out for themselves if it's true.
And how do we do that?
We take the Lord's council to study by knowledge and by faith.
And what do we do?

READ THE BOOK!!!
ASK GOD IF IT'S TRUE!!!
AND SEEK YOUR OWN CONFIRMATION THAT THIS IS TRUE!!!
ALSO STOP YELLING.....

that's generally a good thing BUT HEY 😆

We've also had the chance to celebrate Easter here in Springfield (oh my gosh, SPRING in SPRINGFIELD! I NEED TO GO STAND IN A GRASSY PIECE OF LAND) and it was a great experience. One of my favorite things was the new video that the church put out and if you haven't seen it, go look at my Facebook or go to Come Unto Christ

Today we helped someone move and that was actually a lot of fun. If your ever going to move somewhere, make sure to have things set up to where you're able to move, don't wait to pack things up till your help gets here.
That's stupid.
And no one wants to be stupid.

I also got an incredible compliment from one of the members, where he said that once my previous companion and I came into Springfield, missionary work has started to improve drastically and that they were all so glad to have had us there. That was awesome to hear.
I'm glad that Springfield was left for the better instead of worse. Hopefully it stays in the better. If not I'm gonna be stinkin' FURIOUS but I know it will and I'm glad :D

All in all this week flew by and I'm glad that we're staying busy. It's great to speak to you all, you all look great, I see you dressed for the occasion, and I don't think I've seen a better group!

Please take my advice, it's the best council I could ever give to anyone, and I promise it will change your lives for good.

Make good choices,

the Church is true,

Sure love ya!
~Elder Johansen

Side note:

Elder Johansen's Facebook page is for missionary use only. He is not allowed to respond to comments made on posts. You may email him at kevin.johansen@myldsmail.net. When time allows he will write back. Continue to reference his mission blog for updates.

Short and Sweet.........

Well good morning!

I hope that everything's been going just swell! Now that winter has started to be in the back of my mind I know that I am! Hopefully we don't have to worry about it nearly as much.
Honestly the main thing that we're worrying about right now is whether or not the most progressing and solid investigator that we have will be in jail, but other that that we're just dandy 😆

A couple things that happened:
We found a guy who's nickname was Panda, he was awesome and we talked on the porch for a while. While we were on the porch, there was a guy walking down the road with a little buggy and he yelled out to us " HEY. Are you guys Mormons??!!" we said yes and he immediately did a 180 and started walking to us telling us how happy he was that he found us. that was pretty fun. We see him this next Wednesday. Later Panda showed us around his house, his wife was sleeping so we weren't able to meet her, but we did leave with some Easter Treats and that was a highlight.
We were walking to the car from meeting with Panda, it was in the mid 50's and was really sunny that day which is very unusual, and we got yelled at from two different cars at the same time! One car, going east," Ya'll better get on outa here, or you're gonna get ZONKED"
the other car, going west, actually stopped
 "Hey, you wanna smoke?" said one girl.
"No thanks."
"You from the church"
"Yeah we are..."
driving away another girl puts her head out of the window and says with the other girl somehow in unison
"Awwwwww how cuuute!" 😂
That was pretty funny to us. We kind of just chuckled as we kept moving down the street. We've been stopped on the street by people in cars quite a lot. NEVER people wanting to learn, just people telling us we're going to die if we stay in the hood. Which we don't really worry about, i mean, worst case scenario we die and we know what happens if we die in the service. But either way, what are they going to take, my copy of the Book of Mormon! 😆 (we tell ourselves this very often because we're in the ghetto like, all the time. and we're okay with that. People are nicer to us there.)

On other notes, this general conference was a blast! I'm glad Elder Ballard pointed out that General Conference is not about the changes in the church, but receiving council from those who have been called of God. The theme from this last conference was definitely Repentance and Covenant keeping. Something everyone needs to know, but as we face our trials, what amazing council to be given. I've been doing my best to repent the best I can every day. In Doctrine and Covenants, you learn about repentance in both sections 18:10-13, and 58: 42-43. These scriptures tell of the joy that the savior has for every soul that repents. As we seek to find this joy not only for ourselves, but for the Lord, we can feel peace and happiness that doesn't come through anything else. Of course, we always make mistakes, either through our actions or our in-actions. But we can have joy in repentance, no matter who you are. The great opportunity to continuously strive for something better is such an amazing and incomprehensible gift that we've been given, and i hope that we find joy in it.

I love you! And I hope that all of you take joy in repentance, and hope in forgiveness.

Love,
Elder Johansen

Another week down........

Hey!
Another week down, a whole new week to look forward to.
It's been pretty busy. I think it's probably been one of the fastest weeks we've had.

We could never find Richard. Of course, that's because he's kind of..... gone. Like, from this side of the veil gone. It's not going to be the missionaries over here that will teach him the gospel 😬
J_____ is on spring break so he's out of town, but hopefully we get to him. We taught him the restoration and we asked him how he's felt about what we've taught him and he said that "the more that you explain it, the more it makes sense to me.". That's where we kind of started to freak out (in our heads) and kept on asking what he was feeling, and it was the feelings of the Holy Ghost, and we told him what it was, and what it was doing. We thought that was really cool.

I don't think that I've ever been more excited for general conference in, like, ever! I can't wait! I heard a nickname for President Nelson: HUSTLE M. Nelson! He's a powerhouse isn't he? It's going to be a very exciting conference.

This week was pretty quick!

Monday we met a young couple that found a Book of Mormon add on facebook and thought they would check it out. We're teaching them now. A bunch of kids had fun of Elder Stafford so that was pretty awesome too!

Tuesday we taught J______, and met a guy named J____ D_____.

Wednesday was the LAST PINEWOOD DERBY! How weird is that?

Thursday we went with a member to see a few single sisters that we weren't able to get to before. He took us out to dinner at a really good Mexican restaurant too so that was great!

Friday we went and taught the young couple with a member of the church. They had more of a thought that they were going to be leading a bible study instead of us teaching them about the gospel but that's okay! They've been asking a lot of questions and we've been able to refer it back to the Book of Mormon while answering their questions while we were at it.

Saturday was absolutely packed! We had two service projects in the morning, then booked it to a dual baptism. We were invited to help with the baptism of a boy that a member family asked us to help prepare for baptism. We filled the font, and presented a little Restoration + Music lesson. We would teach a point of the Restoration and then all of us would sing a Hymn. Went to teach Jordan's mom, but she was gone, picked up a new guy to teach while we were at it though, and then went up north to a dinner with an older couple. They've been members for a year finally and they're now getting ready to get married in the temple! We talked about that and we just had a grand ol time.

Sunday we were able to see a few people that the Sisters have been teaching who are just super cool! We're totally stealing the husband and we're already best friends (whether or not he knows that, it's true and it's gonna happen!) and we're going to see if we can bring him to a members house with his daughter (his wife is going to be working that weekend so we thought we'd snatch him) and we can all watch General Conference together which would be SWEET. We went and had dinner with a great family, we had a good time.

That's my week so far. Hopefully we can really start picking up the work since the weather's starting to get better, but we'll see what happens. Don't forget i love you all and hope for the best! Tell everyone in the family that i love them and sorry that i don't have a mass email for ya (that's what the blog is for 😆)

Love ya!
Elder Johansen

HELLO............

HELLO!
It's your favorite Elder Johansen! (i hope anyway... that'd be awkward)

It's been quite the week, not a whole lot, not a whole little, but just enough stress to remember "Hey, I'm alive".
From the beginning of the week, all I've really been doing for journaling is keeping a record of memorable moments during the week. Here's a summary:

Monday- Last P-day was not as extremely crazy as the past few Mondays have been. We made Muddy Buddies for district council on Wednesday and that was really fun. I really like making this type of stuff and the recipe is super easy and I already have it committed to memory so that's neat. We were able to have our regular District call that we do to set goals during the week for our Key Indicators. It's also pretty nice to see how much a call does to help the missionaries in the District.
We finished all of the Safety Zone videos and as useful and entertaining as those videos are, I'm really glad that we're done with them 😁 They're not to bad if you want to take a look.
BUT BE WARNED! They get really Real, really fast. So watch at your own risk.

Tuesday- We were able to stop by a few people, but a really important visit happened today. We had an appointment with a family, but the husband wasn't there so we weren't able to go in and teach the rest of the family, but we were able to talk to the wife for a while just outside on the porch. We had a really good conversation and we were able to tell her a few things about the Plan of Salvation and The Family: A Proclamation to the World. She told us that she's always been so confused whenever she's talked about religion before, and she still has a really difficult time understanding it, and she's just wanting direction because she doesn't know what to do, what's true, or what the purpose is of life. (So basically she's asking all the questions we can answer and we both thought "This is going to be the best porch conversation she's ever had") and she said that she was so happy that she was able to talk to us. We're excited to see how their family will progress. We'll hope for the best 😊
I was then given the opportunity to interview a young man, J____, for baptism. He's 8 years old and his grandma was baptized in October after meeting the Elders. And let me tell you, He. Is. A. Trip! What a crazy kid 😆 I think he jumps on me more than the little cousins do back home! But we made it through the interview and he's getting baptized this Saturday.

Wednesday- We had a really BOMB district council today and it was a stinkin' ball. We had really good training, ended on time, and then of course we spent half and hour or more trying to get the best picture of the district we could. I'll send that when I get them (the sisters have them and they haven't sent them to us yet)
Not much else happened that was to notable, until we went over to South Charleston, a little town on the south east side of the area. We went with one of the members here and went to a family there. They're a part member family and the member has gone totally inactive, but the nonmember really wants to learn more and go to church, but won't go unless he does. They both want a better life for their new son, and the father knows how to help him get it, he just needs to make that first step.
All fingers are crossed!

Thursday- We had weekly planning and a few appointments in between, but my favorite part of the day was dinner with an amazing family here, the M_____. They're another part member family and we love them So. Much. The wife has prayed for an opportunity for the husband to be able to learn more about the church and that way she could get back, and continue to receive the blessings that come from church activity. They're a young couple with a 6 month old son (who's just the cutest little guy. Super talkative, really likes the missionaries, lots of smiles) and we really like being around them. He let us hold his guns the last time that we were there and it was awesome. They really like to feed us venison and you know that makes me one happy camper!

Friday- We had some fun moments today lem'me tell ya some highlights:
1. We had a miracle where someone contacted US. We were walking down the street and this woman stopped us and said that she remembered when the missionaries visited her and her family in Kentucky when she was 14 (it's been a second is all I'm going to say) and that she loved when they were over. We asked if we could get her number and come by some time she said that she couldn't wait and to find a time to come see her and her family! HOW AWESOME IS THAT????

2.  We were looking for someone in an apartment and this happened-

Me: Does Richard live here?

Lady in the apartment: Oh he did

Me: Oh, well, I guess he definitely doesn't live here anymore

Lady: ........

Me: .......

Crickets: .....

Me * Panic* KAY HAVE A GOOD ONE BYE

3. We made Muddy Buddies again so we could drop them off to members and people that have been really good to us and have been really great while we've been in Springfield.

Saturday- Today was J____'s baptism! Again, he's a ball of fire. It was really awesome because one of the Elders that taught him, was able to come from Kentucky and baptize him. That was super cool.
We were able to see his grandma afterward with one of the members. That was a really good visit. We dropped of the muddy buddy packs that we made off with another member and were able to see some really great people. Then we went to help a member family prepare their son for his baptism this next Saturday. We went out, and we saw someone cleaning up their yard, and help him pick up some big ol sticks, and did the same for his neighbor. He said his wife has absolutely cut off the thought of us telling a message (he's seen the sisters before we went over to see him a few months ago), but he  accepted a card with our number and said he'll let us know if he could use a hand.
Then we went home and had transfer calls.....


I'm staying here don't worry.

Sunday- Today I confirmed J____ a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and was able to be the conduit of Priesthood power and authority for him to receive the Gift of the Holy Ghost. He was pretty happy about that.
After church we set out to talk to people. Not a lot happened but we were able to FIND A NEW PERSON TO TEACH! His name's J__ and he's really nice. He's seen the missionaries before and already has a Book of Mormon but they never explained it and he never saw them again! Time for that to change!

All in all, it's been a fun week with another dose of weird and awesome opportunities found nowhere else, doing nothing else but preaching what we know and helping others to "Come and see". We can always take solace in the scriptures, especially the scriptures of the restoration, which hold the knowledge of the fullness of the everlasting gospel. As the keystone of our religion, it proves prophecy, revelation, and all things in the church. If we come to know that the Book of Mormon is true, then we come to know that there is in fact a prophet on the earth today. His name, President Russell M. Nelson. The priesthood of God has been restored to the earth and It. Is. Real.
I've seen it in action. Many others have as well. But the only thing we can do is to take the invitation in Moroni 10: 3-5. That when we receive these things, we will study, learn and grow with faith to come to know that THESE THINGS ARE TRUE. As a disciple of Jesus Christ, called of him to declare his word among his people, that they might have everlasting life, I proclaim to the world, that this is true. Jesus is the Christ. His church is on the earth. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, is that church and it is led by Jesus Christ himself. Russell M. Nelson is the Lord's prophet today. And if you want to come to know that these things are true for yourself:
Come, and see.

I'm excited for you guys and I can't wait to see what happens! Love you!
Elder Johansen

Faith it Till You Make It.............

This last week has been a bit difficult. We're really struggling to find someone to teach and actually help progress. Right now it seems like we're helping people come back into the church, which is amazing and very important don't get me wrong, but when we report to the district or to the zone leaders, it seems like we're just being lazy. I hope that's not the case, but i feel like that's the impression you could get. People really don't like to make any commitments over here. BUT, i know that faith works and we fasted for the opportunity to meet people to teach this week. We all know the fasting stories so i hope that those are going to come into fruition.
Remember: Faith it till ya Make it 😆

We had a pretty crazy experience with someone we found back in November, M_____. M_____ is having a pretty hard time and we've really hoped that we could see him progress, but nothing has really been happening. So I thought that it'd be good to help him out a little bit more and get him a study journal, some highlighters and some sticky notes. it was a nice journal and we thought he'd like it a lot. We stopped by on Monday because we had an appointment on tuesday we weren't going to be able to make it to, and he invited us right in. We gave him the journal, and he was really on the verge of tears and he was very emotional. I didn't know it was going to be such a huge deal to him. We ended up talking for two hours at least and we actually went past the curfew to be inside (we called the zone leaders don't worry) and at the end I actually got on his case a bit! I told him to flip to a page, read a verse and tell me how long it took to read "like two seconds" and committed him to read one verse a day. We've told him many times how powerful the Book of Mormon is and we've told him why we need it several times, he just never gets up and reads it, even though he says it helps with his PTSD, which I don't doubt it does because it's only the best book in the world (kind of a big deal) We set up solid commitments for Tuesday appointments at 4, calls every Wednesdays and Saturdays and we expect him at church every Sunday unless he calls us to tell us otherwise. I kind of went a bit drill Sergeant on him and he responded really well, not surprisingly he's a Vet. Please send your prayers so we can help M_____ improve and find those who want to progress in their lives.
We could surely use a couple prayers for this work.
Not for us, but for those seeking the word of the Lord.

We've gotten much better at street contacting now that we've been doing our best to do what's call the Mission Training Plan. Basically we're learning 170 scriptures and a majority of the Preach my Gospel and the whole Living Christ. Elder Stafford and I decided we would try to do it every night and see how it helps, and it helps a lot. President says that Confidence comes from Competence, and we use those scriptures and lessons every day. But no matter how many scriptures you have memorized, nothing beats a solid testimony that you've gained for yourself, and there's no better teacher that the Holy Ghost. Something that we always say is that "We can tell you till we're just blue in the face and gasping for air, but the only way that you'll come to know that it's true is to take this invitation (Moroni 10:3-5) and see for yourself." I think that shocks a few people because whenever they say that they'll research the heck out of it, we get super excited and tell them to do just that and to tell us what they find. Of course we point them the right direction (lds.org) and give them context and tools, as we should, it's always up to them whether or not they want to improve.

We went to a member's home to visit and share a message and we just had a ball. They were converted in 1975, and they said that the funniest thing that they've seen after being members was a sign that they saw on a church that said; "Whenever the Mormon missionaries ask you to pray about their Book, don't do it, that's where they get ya!"
They told us that and we died!  You bet it's true! It's just that little act of faith to bring you to the knowledge of the truth! IT'S SO AWESOME!!!
Watch "Reach out to Him in Faith" on Mormon messages. We saw that this week and just felt incredible. I feel like there's quite a few people who need to see it and it helps with all types of situations.

Something else I would like to point to your attention is the charge made by President Nelson to Gather scattered Israel. Im sure you saw it on Facebook, but if you haven't give it a watch, but I posted a video of him stating basically the purpose of President Nelson's current ministry. I wouldn't be surprised if the Full time Missionaries came over to talk to you all and put you on date to share the gospel with someone in a " normal and natural way". I invite you all to council with the Lord in prayer to choose a date in which you're able to do that. If you're uncomfortable with the fact that we're all being called to serve in this work, even with the situations which all of us face, then all I have to say is: Good. There's no growth in the comfort zone and there's no comfort in the growth zone. We were also given a statistic by the President that 5:1 people that the members refer to the missionaries to teach are baptized, and 500:1 people are baptized by missionaries finding on their own efforts.

I've attached the letter from the stake presidency that's been released here, and a video of President Nelson if you haven't seen it. My commitment to you all is to pray for a date, and when you've chosen one, tell me what it is and I'll do my best to follow up.

I give you a Disciple's blessing and promise that as you do your best to apply the teaching of the Book of Mormon, the Prophet and all the Holy Scripture into your lives, you will be blessed beyond measure and I know that as you do your best to do what President Nelson has told us, you'll feel not only closer to me, but most importantly, closer to the Lord. I'll do my best to help, but Im sure you'll figure it out.

Sure love you!!!
Elder Johansen

 A message from President Nelson.

Reach Up to Him in Faith


The Greatest Charge

A message from Elder Johansen's Stake Presidency 

Fun pictures......

OCM Zone Conference.......

Elder Conrad, Elder Johansen and Duke. 

Courtesy of the Taylor Family

Elder Conrad and Elder Johansen

Courtesy of the Howell Family

Elder Johansen and Elder Conrad

Courtesy of the Haworth Family

WHAT THE?????

Hello hello!
I know that you guys have been sitting on the edge of your seats for so long to hear what the news is from Ohio

And man is there news.

First of all, I can already hear all of you saying: "What the heck Elder Johansen? What took you so long to email all of us?!"

I fully realize my mistakes but that's what repentance is for so WHAT'S UP I'M BACK!  Now let's hop on this shuttle bus and get a goin shall we?

This week has been an absolute trip. I won't bore you with all the details, but here's the highlights.


If there was a single word to explain this whole last week, I think I'll have to go with the classic Disney movie title;
Frozen

Starting Monday, the weather was at - 6, but we were locked into our apartments when it went to a freakish - 33 on Wednesday! It's a genuine Elsa freak out over here in Springfield and the cabin fever is real ya'll. This isn't the only time Elder Conrad and I have been locked out of the work, but it was definitely the coldest and there is NOTHING to block the wind in this place so I was a complete popsicle.
If I could tell you about all the shenanigans that me and Elder Conrad pulled you would die. But I care about you all so I won't do that.

We've been able to put a few member families on date to introduce someone to the missionaries which I think is so cool! We have some incredible members and we really need their help! I love that when members are put into the mix, everything is so much more effective than if we were just out there knocking doors. P. Welch gave us a 500:1 via missionaries and 5:1 via members baptism rate. That's a big chunk of change so it's no small deal, and I'm sure I'll be seeing a lot of Miracles here in Springfield.

The week ended with transfer calls. One of the more stress inducing calls that happens on the mission, though I've only been able to have two so far. They've been pretty full of crazy awesome doctrine from President Welch, and it's just a ball. But we all know what transfer calls meen. And man...

.... Did I get wrecked or what.
Once again, I'm a district leader. But I get to stay here in Springfield for 3 more months training a new companion! WHAT THE??? We'll be seeing who the victim is tomorrow. He's going to have a very confused trainer but YOU KNOW WHAT? It's all part of the experience.

 We had a great testimony meeting yesterday. I always love to see those who are still new to the church and see their reactions to testimony meeting. It's a good chance to basically have a trailer to the ward and see their own beliefs. We were able to sit next to a young part member family who's been trying out the church, and who've been coming to church regularly! As long as it's open that is. I've never seen church canceled before coming to Ohio so that's really weird.

All in all this last week has been another great week full of Miracles and memories. I know that as we all press forward in the work that we've been called to do, we'll bless our families and friends so much more than we ever could back home. I know this work is true and I'm so glad I'm in it!

Sure love ya!!!
Elder Johansen

There goes Elder Conrad.....

Transfer Sweaters......

Le District