ZLC!!!!!

So this week was....wow we did A LOT this week. Probably the highlight was a thing called ZLC! It stands for Zone leader council. It was a grueling 7:00am to 5:00pm all day affair. All the zone leaders in our mission (there's 9 zones so 18 people) gathered at President Young's house and we had a sweet meeting all about what we were going to do as a mission. It was a blast. We also had the incredible opportunity to go to the Autzen Stadium which is the Oregon Ducks stadium. It was pretty sweet. We also went to the basketball court which is pretty unique as you can see with the picture. I also attached a picture of me with a lightsaber. Ha ha try and figure out how I did that. Another picture I attached is a picture of me and my posterity. So on a mission they have certain lingo. When you train someone you are his "dad" and he is my "son." So I got a picture of me and my "sons" Elder Thomas and Elder Thompson. And they were also training two missionaries too so the other two are my "grandkids." So I have what you would call a rich posterity. 2 sons and 2 grandkids. Haha I'm so proud of my kids.

On Tuesday we put up this banner that President Young made for us that says Ducks go to mormon.org. It was so awesome. We put that banner up on the institute then we set up a table with a bunch of Book of Mormons and pamphlets and pass along cards. Then we talked to everybody who passed by. It was cool. We found a few people who were interested. Hah. I think its kinda funny how different proselyting is in a Young Single Adult  ward. There were people who commented on the banner as they passed by. One guy across the street said out loud, "Ducks go to mormon.org????......We do?" It was a blast. Next time we're going to try and find a guitar so I can play and that might attract more people.

Another idea we had in trying to find people to teach. So the cell phone we get stays in the same area and missionaries in the past have saved a lot of numbers in the phone. But we don't know at least 80% of the people. So we put each of their names in a huge group and we sent out a "mass" text. It said, "Hey it's the missionaries from the lds church. We just got to the area and we saw your name saved in the phone. How did you come in contact with the church?" Man the next couple hours were quite stressful. We were receiving text after text that was telling how people knew about the church. A lot of them were active members which was kinda embarrassing. but a lot of them were non members and were actually set up a bunch appointments. One of these Shane we saw and he seems really interested in coming to church. He is a less-active member but he has a non member friend who would be interested. We had many other people that were interested as well. It was sweet!

We taught this Indian guy named Abbie. He was really happy to see us. He doesn't have any Christian background so we have to explain everything in more detail. But he really seems to get it. Right as we were about to leave he said (imagine this with a thick Indian accent), "wait wait, I got you a cold drink." He bought us this 2 liter soda. He's cool.

I went on exchanges a couple more times which is always really fun. But I wish I could spend more time in my own area. Oh well I know that we are about to see a lot of success this week. I have faith that we will see miracles. This coming week we will be teaching my first district meeting. I'm really excited but a little nervous. It should be good because Elder Hackett will know what to do. My companion is the bomb!

Love you guys
Elder Johnson

P.S. hey we have a new mission blog. Check it out. Its oregoneugenemission.blogspot.com