4/13/15 Just doing the work

Dear family and friends,

It's been a pretty awesome week actually. Our fast and testimony
meeting was yesterday and it was probably the best I've been too in
awhile. A little 9 year old kid Bennett got up and bore his testimony.
Oh my gosh it was hilarious. He told "a story" as he put it. He said
one time he was in the shower and the water wasn't hot enough so he
turned the knob just a little and it got really hot! Haha he related
it to just a small sin can "burn us" and make a big effect on us. Oh
my gosh it was awesome. So I got up a couple minutes later and bore my
testimony, part of it in which I expanded on his analogy and said that
our shower knob in our apartment is reversed, so the first time I used
it I couldn't get any hot water! I had to learn that it was opposite.
So I said sometimes the world makes good look evil, and evil look
good. I thought it was pretty clever :). It was such a good Sunday.

This week Elder Vang from Fairfield 1st ward came to my area on
exchanges. It was such a good one! We finally went to an area near the
Air Force base where I had never been for my whole time here and met a
referral we had there. And it rained for the first time in forever! It
never rains here, and there's a huge drought that's getting bad, I
call this place a desert. Anyways, after eating a bunch of Hmong food
with Elder Vang's member and the other two elders, we went to go see
some members. One of them is the Chanhsy's who actually were home and
let us in the give their kids a blessing. They rarely have been
available. Sis Chanhsy was so glad we could do that. Sometimes our
random visits make a difference!

Me and Elder Hastings had an amazing unexpected lesson one night this
week. It was with Gracie, a young mom who we can't get ahold of
easily. She happened to let us in her garage for awhile to talk. Then
unexpectedly her 20 year old niece drives up, named Mimi. She sits
downs and talks to us for awhile. And then her cousin Marco drives up,
who has been previously interested. Then her other cousin, and her
daughter's friend's mom! And then a couple they know! People just kept
coming and going and asking us the usual, "what are you guys!?"
questions. It was a pretty cool experience and we showed her and Marco
the "Because He Lives" video. They were super chill with us. At the
end of the lesson Gracie goes to me and says, "I do hugs!" Then she
just hugs me and I awkwardly hug/not really. Then Mimi, the 20 year
old comes and hugs me and Hastings. Hastings just stood really
awkwardly Hahahaha. They told us we need to work on our hugs, and of
course we explained the reasoning for our lousy hugs. They then
freaked out and high fives exclaiming, "we hugged Mormons!"

I'm excite to hear about Jaden's mission call to Boise, Idaho! Haha I
love it! Where's a map!? That's a singles ward reference by the way.
Good luck bro!

I finished Jesus the Christ by James E. Talmage this week. Wow. I have
never read a more comprehensive and unmistakable testimony of the
divinity of our savior. Reading those inspired words by a past apostle
can really help any of us strengthen our own knowledge and testimony
of why we really need a savior, and why Christ did what He did when He
was on the earth. I urge you all to check it out, and use it in your
study.

I just want to leave my testimony that two modern witnesses and
prophets have also proclaimed. That He lives! He is there to help us!
That is the sole reason he came to earth! I know that is true and I
hope you all do too.

I love you guys!

Elder Janson

Random P-day emailing picture.  We are so lame.

A member's cool 39 Chevy.

4/6/15 A sweet work

Hello people

I'm sure you can tell from our pictures we had quite a fun week. First
of all, conference this weekend was the bomb! It's never better than
that pretty much. I don't know if you all remember Elder Brent H.
Nielson, but he spoke on Sunday Morning and he was the one who came to
our mission for conferences here twice. He is so amazing and his talk
was definitely one I know can help so many people. I hope you all had
a good time watching conference, because I did!

So we taught Dominique on Wednesday again, and went through all of the
4th lesson on commandments. If you are not aware, that is a lot to
throw at someone all at once. But we did, and wow I've never seen
anyone more willing to follow what the lord wants. When we finally got
to tithing, she had questions except, "How do I pay it?" Were just
like, good question! Hahaha her baptism date will actually be April
19th because of building complications. So that's cool considering its
my birthday. But whatever. I'm not important! She is!

We went to chick-fil-a as you can see, the best place missionaries can
get some fast food :) we also did some service for Abel, the hilarious
guy who's wife is a member and we go over to see him a lot. He can't
help but make a joke or be sarcastic in some fashion every two
seconds. It makes lessons interesting, but always enjoyable. We did
yard work for them in the back, but they barely made us work at all.
Then we went to do service for Jerry, a guy we've been stopping by and
helping a lot who investigated years ago, but didn't join. He loves us
coming over and we helped set up a little play area for his grandkids
in his backyard. He constantly thinks of additional features he can
put back there, so we always have a good time.

Other than all that, life has been pretty normal. Walking and knockin
and talkin. But as Elder Andersen remarked about something Neal A.
Maxwell once said, "if everything is going perfect for you right now,
just wait." I thought that was pretty funny honestly, because we are
here for some hard things and good things. But we never have to be
unhappy and that's fortunate!
I've been constantly trying to evaluate myself and just get along with
others better, because, frankly, it's like the hardest thing ever! But
as Nelson Mandela said, "a saint is a sinner who keeps on trying."
Dale G. Renlund spoke of that in his talk, and boy is that relevant.

I hope you all took the opportunity to have a question at general
conference, because I did, and "the lord can only teach an inquiring
mind." (Sorry about all the conference quotes:) But I think that's
important to remember. The lord only gives if we are constantly
acknowledging him and asking for further light. We can't ever be
content with just staying how we are, though that is comfortable. I'm
not an expert at this, so don't take me wrong. It's like the hardest
thing ever to correct yourself and find what you need to do better.
But I know because of Christ, #BecauseHeLives, it is possible.
Remember that will ya? I know it is true.

Thank you everyone, I love you guys!

Elder Janson

Me and Abel, funniest guy to walk the planet.

Me and Elder Hastings doing that yardwork.

Guess where we are eating ...

Me holding the moon.

Remember, share this video!

Our district at General Conference.

3/30/15

Dear Family and friends,

It's been a pretty dang good week. Elder Hastings was sick for a
little though, so let's just say the book Jesus the Christ, I'm almost
done with it. Haha it's not too fun being sick on the mission.

Anyways, we are excited for Domonique, who has a baptismal date for
the 18th of April. She is going so well and even texts us questions
about the Book of Mormon! Haha not something too common. She is so
comfortable with the ward and her kids go to nursery and everythting!
Anyways, she's the one that brought up being baptized too. It was
pretty funny but cool.

We had a pretty interesting experience when a lady called us over to
talk to her. That is usually exciting but too good to be true. The
latter is true in this case because this lady was so drunk we couldn't
get away! Haha she said repeatedly I had a beautiful smile that "she
could see her reflection" in. Whatever that means! We thought she was
going to slap Elder Hastings too. Sometimes you talk to the most
peculiar people on a mission, but that's what brings excitement to our
life!

We've been doing good though and General Conference is coming soon!
Y'all better be stoked! Hopefully Domonique will come to that too,
which I'm sure she will.

We've showed the Because He Lives video a lot and it is the coolest!
Nothing brings the spirit more than Jesus Christ and what he did for
us. I know that is true. Our message as missionaries has multiple
facets, but it really is e pure and simple doctrine of Christ. When
you don't know what to say, speak of Christ!

I love all you guys and hope you can "Find Him" this Easter. Keep being awesome!

Elder Janson

Us focusing on the Easter season!

#BecauseHeLives

3/23/15 Because He Lives

Hey people,

This week is momentous!! The church is coming out with a new video
called "Because He Lives." It will be on the gospel library on March
28th I believe. Us missionaries have already seen it, because we're
awesome! Haha but it is for Easter of course. It is going to be all
over YouTube on April 5th. The church is literally buying YouTube for
that day. Let everyone know! The site is HeLives.mormon.org.

So soon we will be passing out hundreds of cards for this. It's gonna
be amazing, better than that "He is the Gift" video. Trust me!

So we have sisters in our district now! It's pretty cool. They are
super chill and help keep us sane and make us work harder. We
sometimes need that if you aren't aware.

This Sunday yesterday we had a guy give his farewell talk for his
mission. He's going to Anchorage, Alaska Spanish speaking. Pretty
crazy! He had a bunch of family there so it was full, and our ward is
already big. It's weird because he's like 22 and I'm still 18 on my
mission... I'm such a baby! But it was cool to see him and his
excitement for that.

Nothing really exciting has happened to be 100% honest! It's been just
a lot of walking and talking to people about sometimes random stuff.
One guy kept saying over and over that temptation is only a
"battlefield in yo mind!" We were like, alright then! A girl in the
passenger seat of a car we thought was twitching, but she was legit
winking at us. It was pretty hilarious. We've recently been getting a
lot of friendly honks and I don't know why, but also not so friendly
honks! But that's what we live for sometimes. It's fun.

Domonique is still on track for sure! We will set a date for her in
the next couple days and she has already been to church 8 times in a
row! That should make some kind of record for a nonmember who has no
large ties to anyone in the ward. She is so solid! Looking forward to
seeing her progress.

I just hope you all know the church is true! And get geared up for
general conference because it's gonna be amazing. I would invite you
guys to have questions going into it, just as we have been challenged
as missionaries.

Thanks for everything!

Elder Janson

My beautiful St. Patrick's Day tie!

A panorama of our amazing apartment.

3/16/15

Hey everybody,

So it's been a hectic week. I feel like I say that a lot, but I mean
it! It's transfers tomorrow and me and Elder Hastings are the only
companionship that isn't changing in our zone. And we didn't get a car
so life is pretty difficult! We thought we would get one but
apparently the mission is losing cars and missionaries. We gotta carry
the load now.

It was pretty cool this past Wednesday. We had the all mission
conference and Elder Nielsen was there, who spoke at an earlier
conference we had. He is so awesome!!!!! He knows doctrine for sure.
But he said he's speaking at general conference! So look for him! I
believe he said he would speak in one of the Sunday sessions. His name
is Brent H. Nielsen and he's the bomb. He is the one going around and
helping rollout iPads to missions all over the world. Our old iPads
are going to Europe which is funny. They get the old ones and we get
the new iPad 2s. These new iPads have the best screen and work so much
better. We are quite blessed to have them.

So we taught Dominique this week and she said she had read 4
things.cshe didn't know what they were called. So we were like oh 4
verses? Awesome! But we found out she had read 4 chapters in 1 Nephi!
She understood them so well and we were stoked! She is going really
well and is always at church. Just pray for her that she keeps going!

Thank all you guys for supporting me and happy st. Patrick's day! I
wish I had an adequate green tie but that's alright :)

Love you all!

Elder Janson

Abel, who we have been teaching, one of the most sarcastic, hilarious people I have ever been in the presence of!

A spider we found.

A beautiful bunny we walk by that sits in its owners yard.