JOHNSON IN WISCONSIN

Hey ya'll,Another week has snuck by us. This past week me and Elder Anderson rode our bikes as we have the car 3 outta 4 weeks. It was a hot and humid week. I dont like sweating like it does out here, it all adds to the experience and also to my top 10 reaslons why i would never move back here. Bike riding was good exercise. Not a whole lot of excitement. Were doing a decent amount of teaching. Only have one real progressing investigator but she works alot and live a half hour out into the country so we done see her much but she's been to church a few times. Her name is Cynthia and she's 17 and she has been doing great. Her nephew Anthony, 9, was baptized here last transfer and she attended his baptism and confrimation and church a few more times and she told us that she has learned meore the past month than she has her whole life at the Catholic church. She pretty golden and will probably be baptized soon. As far as Steven is concrened, we had to move his date back a few weeks as he hasnt been progressing like he needs to to be baptized. Were not sure if its gonna happen. We'll see. Were working with a less active, Dave Timberlake who were trying to get ready to recieve the aaronic presthood and were working with a few more less active members and some other investigators as well. Its been pretty up and down lately. The mission certainly has not been a cake walk, some days its the greatest thing in the world and others i just wish it was finished..defenitly a roller coaster out here, the one thing i have noticed is that the lord has always lifted me and given me a boost when i need it. On Thursday morning we do weekly planning and i was pretty sick, my allergies have been killer the last few weeks and i was sick of being sick and we had no appointments all that day and i had no motivation to do anything, i just wanted to sleep all day. We finally left our apartment at 1:30 and i prayed that the lord would lead us to have a meaningful day and we did!! We taught 6 lessons and met a cool less active sister that hasnt liked missionaries for a long time but she let us in and by the end she was cool with us and we ended up going over to her house again the next day to paint out in the sweltering heat for 3 hours and she fed us dinner and we met her family, including a daughter that is interested and may soon take the lessons. The lord's hand is so present in the work and my testimony has been so strengthened these past 19 months. Its great to be here although tough at times. I just started reading in Isiah, its nice to have the Old testamen tstudy guide i scored for free in Madison to help me understand it. Ive also been studying the Law of Moses a lot recently and seeing how much symbolism is there. I intend to read books abotu the old testament when i get home as there is so much to learn in it. I really enjoy all of the study time i get on a mission. Did i mention that i gave a talk in sacrament meeting yesterday and I talked about Fathers and how important a role they play in the gospel. Read the first few verses of 1 Nephi 11 and Enos for examples. Im not counting down but i did start reading Psalms backwards yesterday. there are 150 of them and a lot of missionaries like to read the D&C backwards till they go home but that would be too long so i saved Psalms and i read 149 today. Its a lot a fun and worth while out here but id be a liar if i didnt say im really looking forward to finishing my mission and take what ive learned and progress through my next phases of life. I cant begin to express my gratitude for all the blessings ive recieved from my mission (even having to wear a smelly splint on my finger.) I love you and wish you a splendid week and hold to the rod!! Love Elder Benjamin!!

Thats what i have to say to everybody who wants to shake mt right hand, i have to makie it awkward by putting my left hand out and switching everything up. Thats been the most annoying part of having a finger in a splint. Ive been super busy as a zone leader but its all good. We had our last interviews with Pres. and Sis. Hunt and the new mission president, Pres. Barret begins his service on July 1st. Ill miss the Hunts, they have been awesome. Me and Elder Anderosn set the new mission record for invites in a week with 1,247 with the help of one of the nations biggest Flag day parades here in Appleton. People lined the streets and we handed out pass along cards and paphlets that were just collecting dust in our closet and were hoping it benefits somebody and produces so media referrals for us. Elder Anderson has also been doing magic card tricks for people as we like to go to parks and he uses that to break the ice with people as weve been experimenting with new ideas to proselyte. We have a baptism dat set for June 23rd with Steven Winters, 18, who is headed off to boot camp for the army national guard in July so were pretty excited for him. Well i gotta go. I love Dan and Josie Collins, and Uncle John and Ant Teresa and anybody else that reads my blog. Keep the faith and ill keep the gangrene away from my finger!!! Bueno, Love Elder Ben Johnson

Its been a few weeks, well i broke my finger on Memorial day and now its in a aplint for 6 weeks. Fun stuff. I just got transferred to Appleton about 45 minutes south of Green Bay kinda in the middle of the stateGreetings from Appleton Wisconsin. It sure is a different place than Madison. There are about 70, 000 people here and it’s a usual Midwest town I suppose. Houndini, the magician is from here and our area goes out into the farm country which is a nice change from my last area. We have quite a few copmpanionships here, 3 english a Spanish and a hmong companionship. Im excited to be here. The ward is different as the families are older and there is quite a bit of youth here. There are a few soon to be missionaries that are very active in helping us out. I bore my testimony in church yesterday to introduce myself here. This ward has had 8 baptisms this year already and they have a good ward mission plan that is helping the members. Our Bishop and Ward Mission Leader aer way gung ho about the work too so im excited to be here. There is already some baptism potentials that were teaching right now. E. Anderson and I are having fun although the first few days have been stressful with transfers and being a zl. Ive been pretty busy with phone calls and paper work and we have to prepare a training for the zone tomorrow at interviews. That’s the life of a zl and we haven’t been to bed on time one night so far. Its tough. We have a cell phone as they used to live with members but now we have our own place and we have to go over to the spanish elders apartment to fax stuff to the mission office and we get home late at nights, we need to get a land line at our apartment so that we can do everything from our place. I'll enjoy it here once i get settled in and get to know the area. It is nice to be serving with another friend making 2 great companions in a row and ill probably get hooked up till i go home. Im not sure if ill finish my mission here. Its possible but i could do 2 transfers here a 2 somwhere else. This is E. Anderson's last transfer and he'll go home in July so my guess is 3 and 3 but time will tell. The finger is doin ok. It doesnt hurt and ive gotten alot better with my left hand and using the other 3 fingers that i can with my right hand. Hasnt been a problem yet and im gonna get a blessing to make sure that it heals properly. I wont go to the doctor till the end of the transfer so that they can take off the splint and make sure it heaed right. Im missiong b ball a little bit but not too much. Alls i coiuld ask for is some sun as it has been raining since i got here. It is alos nice to have a car again. We get a car 3/4 weeks which is nice and convenient. Overall im well but tired, things will be so much better when we get a phone line at our house, we live in the upstairs apartment of a house, the guy renting it out to us lives downstairs so its nice not to live in an apartment complex too. One mre thing that happened is that we attended a wedding on saturday for one of the recent converts here. It was held at a baptist church and was a tradional wedding, the first i have ever attended. They used the words "till the end of your mortal life" as opposed to "for time and all eternity" which was odd but true. Im sure that the temple cermony will be a better experience. Well i have not much else to say. I love you guys and my testimony is strong. Im continuing to grow and learn each day that my mission goes by and im greateful for all the blessings iver recieved for my service. Its weired to see the day count in my journal keep on going up, i reached 573 today. Time flies when you are having fun. Keep the faith and let the good times roll. Love Elder Ben Johnson .