Johnson, Ethan

Basically, I hate lawyers. Mine screwed me over and now I have to pay a fine and do some time (in driving school). Besides that, this week was filled to the brim with filming training videos, putting Venezuelans on date for this weekend (Juan Francisco, Victoria, Maria, and Alejandra), RICKY IS SO BACK, and living life. I love life and am sad with the realization that I do not have a ton of time left with my mission. Love you all. HOUSTON, WE HAVE A PROBLEM: https://photos.app.goo.gl/ 6VcLH45f4rX9Q26j7        If you want to see this week’s pictures go here.  WEEK 59:  https://photos.app.goo.gl/ ATxBzUGEcKHHcXMx6

Seal Team 6 created a training video for the mission and my mission president sent it to Elder Bednar and Elder Rasband, apostles of the Lord, and Elder Rasband gave it a thumbs up and really enjoyed it. So basically I will be making videos for the church for the rest of my life. We had an amazing experience with one of our media referrals, Juan Francisco, and his two daughters. We got his referral, visited him 30 minutes later, and fellowshipped him with the members the following day–only after he had been in the US for 18 days. He is elect. Victoria and Nathalia, too. He went as far as preaching the gospel to some people he just met in his apartment complex, sending us her number, and she is even more elect. Her daughter wants to serve a mission, too. Maria and Alejandra have been here for 14 days. We invited all of them to a farewell dinner for one of the sisters in the ward who was going on a mission and they LOVED IT. They came to church the next day with some other Venezuelan mem...

The week began with five inches of snow in Houston, Texas; it ended with four people in the waters of baptism.  We saw so many miracles this week. I had one of the most spiritual experiences ever with one of our part member families, ending with the goal of Angel getting baptized after he bore testimony of the afterlife and a life-altering dream/vision. We stayed inside all day and half of the day on Wednesday because of the snow and ended up putting Yureny, the sweetest woman ever, on date for baptism, too. Satan tried to stop Melissa and Josiah from getting baptized the night before Sunday by exploding their tire while on the freeway and they almost died. Satan stopped Ricky from getting baptized because of his parole officer who usually approves church on Sundays but for some reason–on the day he was getting baptized–he did not approve Ricky to leave his house, even after three calls and a text from me. I gave a 20 minute talk in Spanish and then was swarmed by members of the co...

I have fallen in love with that hymn over the past couple of weeks, and I don’t quite know why. That’s a lie. I do. I love the fact that it speaks of how Jesus’ gaze is upon the sparrow, so we know he watches over us, too. The small details in this life make me appreciate the glory of God and everyday I am fortunate enough to see those little details. The past three weeks have been insane. As of right now, we have three baptisms set up for this next Sunday. Ricky, who has been cleansed and changed through Jesus Christ and His Atonement and Josiah, the smartest ten year old I have ever met. Josiah’s mom also needs to be baptized, even though she is a member of the church. It turns out we could not find her records and when she was baptized, 20+ years ago, they never entered in her records correctly so we get the privilege and honor of officially baptizing her into the church that she’s been a part of her entire life. I love the Houston 8th ward with all of my heart. They are just the mo...

I swear I will write a real email for the next three weeks this coming P-Day, so I will have a big lengthy email this next P-Day BUT, here are some updates. -Ricky, who is on date is so excited to be baptized. He came to church 30 minutes early, not for "Johnson or for McArthur" but for himself.  -Elder McArthur is my new companion (that is why there was not an email). -Seal Team 6 Generation 3 is up and running which is crazy -Josiah is so ready for baptism and it turns out that we cannot find his family's records so we may be baptizing like 4 more people with him and the ward wants Ricky to be baptized that same day so we may be having a megs baptism on the 26th. -We have been seeing so many miracles including teaching a Colombian family of 8 -We simultaneously let the family of 8's dog out and lost it, but then also miraculously found it all within the span of 25 minutes and the family will never know they almost lost their dog forever because God is real -Bonnevil...

The past two weeks have been amazing. I have seen so many miracles. I have been in the midst of angels who have delivered me to those we needed to find, those we needed to teach, and those we are going to baptize. Let me break it down for you. The day after the Rudy event, Elder Phan and Elder Moss became AP’s. That meant I could no longer be companions with Elder Phan and Elder Hammond could no longer be companions with Elder Moss, so come Wednesday of that week, we did a straight swap of companionships. Elder Hammond is now my companion and we are opening an area in the Houston 8th ward. In this area, there are three different overlapping ward/branch boundaries and now I have served in all of them. First, the Memorial Ward, then, the Vietnamese Branch, and now the Spanish, Houston 8th Ward. That’s right. I’m back in Spanish. And I couldn’t be any more happier. Especially since I’m on bikes because of the cop who hit me. On our first day in the area, we looked at our areabook (where w...

To most, it may seem as if every single week brings a new benchmark of crazy into my life, but this past week was genuinely the craziest. I got hit by a car and now have to appear in court against a cop, Seal Team 6 became a theatre production company, Rudy came, the Christmas Campaign has started, I filmed four music videos, one of which involves half of the mission, and to top it all off it was my 21st birthday. So, thank you for the birthday wishes and thank you for the prayers during this onslaught from the Adversary. I’ve been studying about the will of God a lot. President Eyring (probably my favorite speaker/General Authority ever) gave a CES devotional in 2006 about the  Gifts of the Spirit for Hard Times  and addresses how when we are in tune with the Spirit, we are in tune with God’s will and should not ask for His will to change, but to ask for the ability to follow His guidance wherever we may go. So then, God gave me the opportunity to do that this week so that wa...