A Fireside, A Trout and an EKG

 We enjoyed another full week. From FHE with a less active family on Monday to a Stake Youth Missionary Preparation activity on Saturday we were quite busy. Then on Sunday two less active members attended church for the first time in 3 years and a recent convert taught the Gospel Principles class, these two events were then followed with a Book of Mormon fireside, "A Journey of Faith"  Sister Johnson and I had previously arranged. We told the branch that we would provide a quarterly fireside the fourth Sunday of the first month of every quarter. Our next one will be the 27^th of January. We hold these firesides after a potluck meal served on that day. That way people don't have to travel as much because of the distances involved. 

 We are enjoying the Spirit of Elder Trout who took the place of Elder Allen. We think he will be a good replacement serving along side Elder Young here in the Iron Mountain branch. He transferred  from within 10 miles of the Illinois border all the way to Michigan. It is easy for him to make friends and he seems genuinely concerned when you talk with him. Elder Trout is is a twin and one of seven children. He has two older siblings then he and his brother (who is also serving a mission in Montana) are next. They entered the MTC the same day. There is another sibling then the final birth was another set of twins, a boy and a girl. The family is from Las Vegas. 

 A real highlight of the local missionaries’ activities this last couple of months was the activation of the five member Watt family. Those family members that could, received temple recommends and those who are not yet  fully eligible are working towards theirs. Their goal is to be sealed as a family. It’s humbling and exciting. In fact they will all be in the Chicago Temple this Saturday doing baptisms for the dead.

 We had another excellent meeting with Bob Peters our forever investigator. We asked him what his objections really are to being baptized. Why he didn’t do it with his family 30 years ago? He referenced the hypocrisy in the branch but what he couldn’t understand was the reason his own wife divorced him when families are so important in the church. We testified that his becoming a member wouldn’t change some things but what it would do, because of Christ’s Atonement, was allow him to forgive and must importantly allow the Savior to heal his heart. Tears flowed and the Spirit was thick. We once again challenged him to be baptized and to experience this wonderful gift from God. Our faith was strengthened and we are even more hopeful.

 In addition to our visit with Bob last Thursday we participated in two quite different events. The first was my (Elder Johnson's) visit to my doctor to check up on the meds I am taking to see if they are actually doing any good (they might be). While there I mentioned that my two younger brothers, each living life in a riotous manner (they have been known to eat cheeseburgers and even an occasional Polish Dog), had some troubling heart problems. One, the youngest, with full-on bypass surgery and the other recently undergoing a stent procedure. My doctor, never one to ignore my idle chatter, suggested we might want to just see what my insides, especially my heart, were up to. An EKG was administered by two 12 year old nurses, one with hands she must refrigerate between patients. After the machine whirred and buzzed it spit out a slip of paper indicating an electrical disturbance in a lobe of my heart. According to the doctor all perfectly normalish. The result is I have a stress test and a carotid artery ultrasound both scheduled for next Thursday morning. I did get even however by giving her a Book of Mormon with encouragement to read it. I asked and she did say it was the first Book of Mormon she had ever touched. Prayers in my behalf are solicited, much appreciated and will be readily accepted. 

 Our other Thursday event was attending the annual Breen Senior Center dinner to honor its many volunteers. the food was great. We have grown quite fond of several of the volunteers that serve area seniors at that facility. We both commented on the caliber of the people present and their positive attitudes. It has been an honor to help this worthy cause.

Having “real” fun,

Elder and Sister Johnson

Mission Tour and a "New" Place

 We had a busy week last week with our appointments, pasties, the mission tour and a youth missionary preparedness event in Marquette on Saturday. We felt good about all of the activity even though we continually notice we are unable to do all the things we used to be able to do. When we run we actually do “get weary” and I am pretty sure it has nothing to do with ignoring the Word of Wisdom, because we don't.

 Our General Authority visitor at the mission tour was Elder Golden of the Seventy. It was a very inspirational meeting. He reminded us that as members of Christ's Kingdom and His Church we, as a group, have very low expectations for ourselves and of what we are capable by exercising faith in the Lord's ability to move the work forward. He then challenged us to double and even triple the number of baptisms in the mission. I am pretty sure most of those in attendance will be embracing the same low expectations they came to the meeting with. It's simple. We all have a comfort zone and we do not like to be moved out of it. Those that are willing and do move become our leaders here and forever.

 Our branch council members were excited on Sunday when we presented the idea of the “Mormon Next Door” presentation we have arranged for. It will be 3:00 P.M. on Saturday December 1^st at the Dickinson County Library. At this point we will select various branch members to read the script because, after all…these people are the Mormons next door. They could introduce themselves as, “Hello, my name is Myron Berry, I’m a Mormon and I am your neighbor”. Our plan is to have the missionaries and members bring people (friends, relatives, part members, former investigators, etc.) who we will be able to follow through with after the meeting. Sister Johnson and I have been appointed to spearhead this activity. We will oversee promotion, refreshments, and handle the actual presentation details. If any of you would like a copy of this presentation just request it via e-mail and we will send it.

 Our little house here in Kingsford experienced a mini-extreme makeover. So just in case anyone has plans to visit us and they are using Google Street Views, we have posted pictures of the the place with its updated exterior.

Here is how she looked when we arrived 13 months ago. No beauty but serviceable. 

Here she is under construction from the rarely seen "backside" of the house.
(The A/C doesn't work and, according to the landlord, won't be repaired)

Here is the first "after" photo taken from near the same spot as the "before" photo.

Cool looking, eh? Next spring they plan to paint the window frames white. That will make them pop.

 We feel totally blessed to have such a nice place to call our "temporary" home. If they move the next set of Senior Missionaries to another place in the mission, which is likely, our landlord will probably sell this place.

 We continue, with the Lord’s help, to make good progress with the less active members we visit. We are trying to add more families to our teaching pool including some they have given us to home and visit teach.

Happy in the U.P. part of Zion,

Elder and Sister Johnson

A Striped House and a Presentation

We have enjoyed quite a wonderful and varied week. We took our P-day and traveled to the westernmost part of the mission to visit a branch member, an Elder, who is currently incarcerated in the prison located about six miles south of Marenisco Michigan. This will be the third time we have visited since we have been here. I visit while sister Johnson waits in the car. (She watches a movie on the computer) This young man (he’s 35) has been doing a splendid job with his life in spite of his circumstances. We help him as an e-mail go-between. He is allowed only 15 minutes at a time up to one hour a day on dedicated, e-mail only, kiosks. He will send us an e-mail regarding the college course he is currently taking and asks us to then forward it to his professor, counselor, the bookstore, etc. We then return any responses to him. We were able to discuss his hopes and dreams for after his release sometime in 2014. He makes only $50 a month with his prison job.  After paying his tithing, paying tuition and buying texts is a challenge. He has friends and members who help him with these expenses. When he is released he will almost be in his junior year of college.

One morning this week we were startled by loud banging on the house. It was like the house was being ripped apart. It sorta was. Our landlord had begun the process of removing decorative strips from the house before the installation of new siding. This gave the house a kind of striped effect. 

Our house waiting its new raiment. 

We are excited to see the completed new look. The update should be finished by Friday of this week. We will include pictures with the next post. We are told that the siding will be much lighter. If so, that will completely change the appearance. We have also been told that if the mission decides not to maintain the presence of couple missionaries in Iron Mountain our landlord and his partner may sell the place after we leave.

On Wednesday we arrived at the senior center, as agreed, to make the request that would allow us to present “The Mormon Next Door” slide show. However, they had moved the meeting time up without telling us so we couldn’t make the hoped for request. We did, however, have an alternative idea. I am excited to say we requested the use of a large meeting room at our local library to be able to share the presentation. When they understood we were not holding religious services but that our presentation would be informational they were very willing to grant our request. I have called the Branch President and cleared the idea with him. He was also excited. We are hoping to make the presentation December 1^st.  Unless the branch council decides differently we will involve local members with the presentation. If Romney wins next month it could actually become a big opportunity. President Jones found an unused projector in the mission home and left it with us for our use with our laptop. We will use it with our presentation. After buying and attaching a mini DVI to VGA connector everything worked perfectly. 

It has been extremely satisfying to watch our less active brother return to activity. Yesterday after a wonderful sacrament meeting with talks by the Chicago Temple President and Sister Castleton, Br. Klingman was sustained as the second counselor in the new Elder’s Quorum presidency. After Priesthood meeting he turned to me and humbly commented how blessed he was feeling. Next month when he visits his family, including a child with heart problems; he plans, he said, to take consecrated oil to give her a priesthood blessing. During our visit previous he asked us for a copy of “The Miracle of Forgiveness” which we were able to procure. It is times like this we can easily see where our service as Sr. Missionaries is used by the Lord to bless His children and more precisely the members of His kingdom. We feel blessed and are grateful to just be a part.

In it for the duration,

Elder and Sister Johnson

Bonus picture:

After using my old phone for the last 5 years I finally
broke down and bought a new iPhone 5. Yep it is the
"Bomb" as my daughter is fond of saying.

Blessings, some Edible

Our attendance at Zone conference last week was a blessing, it always is. President Jones focused on Faith in his training. It was the most important thing we were “re-taught” that day. (repetition right!) The note I wrote to myself was that our investigators and less active members need less reasoning and more faith. It’s not that we don’t talk about or teach the importance of faith but we are to the point, with most of them, that the next step they need to take must be theirs. (I don't care where you are in your life, this truth about the function of faith applies to all people in all their good and positive endeavors. That next step into the unknown, relying solely on God, will be your next and most important step of all.) Thank the Lord for inspired leadership.

Our new Branch President, Les Nishida from Green Bay, is making quick progress in his ability to determine and meet the needs of the branch. We met with him and his counselors for over two hours where we commented on a list he requested from us of families and individuals in the branch we felt would benefit most from a visit. As we have gotten to know the less active members over the last year, a common complaint was the “perceived” uncaring attitude of the branch leaders. A charge that was not true. We also feel that some individuals need to be reminded of their covenants, which only their called leaders can effectively do. A change in leadership is often a very good thing.

It is wonderful to see the atonement work in the lives of the newly faithful and repentant members. It is one of the choicest blessings of a mission. Six months ago when we began visiting a less active brother he was still pretty bitter about his ex-wife whose mental illness, in his thinking, caused them to break up. A couple of months later he said he felt the need to forgive her and was working to do so as well as encouraging their children to do the same. Last week as we met with him, as we have done each of the previous twenty plus weeks, he said, “I’ve been such an ass!” (As Sister Johnson was right there he quickly turned to her and said, “donkey”) “I can’t imagine the stress and pain my wife was going through and I didn’t even stay by her side to help her” That is the blessing of the Lord’s atonement on full display. We are grateful to Him that, perhaps, we were a small catalyst in the process.

Conference was "awesome", to coin a phrase. And I am not just talking about the cinnamon rolls either. The rolls (pic) were assembled with love, flour, water, sugar, cinnamon, yeast and a few raisins; but mostly love.  How do I know that. These heavenly rolls were made from scratch by arthritic hands (no mixer was brought to the mission) plus when I tried to give some away I was sternly "advised" that they were for no one else but us. Oh, the sacrifices a mission requires.

In addition to deliciousness that never gets old this assemblage of goodness
would definitely qualify as art...culinary art. 

We especially enjoyed Elder Bednar's comments near the end of conference where he contrasted and compared Testimony and Conversion and explained beautifully the source of the challenges we face daily.

Never sick and tired of all of the beauty that surrounds us,

Fatter Grandpa and Grandma Johnson

More Fall Color

Sister Johnson prepared a lap blanket that the sisters tied during Women’s Conference and gave to Br. Berry yesterday to thank him for his service. He seemed surprised. We don’t think presentations like that happen very often in a small branch like this one. It is hard for members to get beyond their problems that seem to occupy their every thought. In fact, as I think about it, those problems, self-induced or from outside their control, often keep them and us from being able to feel totally charitable to each other. That is really all that Satan has to do is to whisper, “keep focused on your important problems, (real or imagined) those other people can take care of themselves” or “the government will do it” or “they should be helping me” or any other lie he thinks we will respond to. If all of us would think more of others and less of ourselves the Spirit would be more evident in our lives and the Kingdom would be more quickly advanced. (Service may also be a key to activation for some of the less active members we visit. We will have to think about that some more.)

We don’t know what it was about last week but most of our appointments canceled, not the people, just the appointments. We are sure it was coincidental because the excuses varied so much. We had everything from a double ear ache to I haven’t shot a bear yet and can’t see you again until I do. Even our investigator couldn’t visit with us for very long as he had to get his cat to the vet to have the bandages from its “toe-ectomy” removed. At least the individuals on whom we are currently focused seem to be reading the B of M with some consistency. We count our encouragement to get them to read as a small but important piece of inspiration. In fact when we asked our investigator about his feelings about the B of M, he said it is “probably true”. He keeps “painting himself into a corner” and we need to get to him before the paint dries.

We did in our travels, however, get blown away by the changing colors of the countryside. Note to self, remember to come to the U.P. during October conference for a special treat. What follows is a sampling of the flora and fauna observed during our travels last week.

God's own canopy.

Into the woods

Turkey Poults. The other 4 wandered out of the picture.

Seen about four blocks from church on our way home last Sunday.

In the Father Baraga state park just off the Keweenaw Bay on lake Superior.

Standing on the Houghton side looking across the Portage Ship Canal to Hancock its sister city.
The canal connects the Keweenaw Bay and Lake Superior through Portage Lake.

Chipmunk Creek

In the Nicolet National Forest

Having more fun than mature people ought too,

Elder and Sister Johnson