FAITH
Nicholas Johnson, a young member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints in Gray, served his mission trip to spread the gospel of Jesus Christ and recently returned to Jones County with his faith stronger than ever.
Johnson said he’s lived in Jones County his entire life. He said he has lots of friends and said there have always been wonderful people in Jones County. He said he’s glad it’s home.
“I love the culture and the feel of Jones County,” he said. “It has those small-town vibes. Everyone seems happy here, so I love it. It’s a great place to be.”
He said his mission trip was in Missouri, and he gained experience while teaching others about Jesus Christ. He said he will never forget his mission.
“I did missionary training in October of 2020, and that was for three weeks. It was all online, and November is when I went to St. Louis, Missouri for my mission. I was there for two years and came back in October of 2022. This was something I knew I was supposed to do. It felt almost like a selfish motive, but that changed once I was on the mission. It became about the people I came in contact with,” Johnson said.
The missionary said some of the people enjoyed what he had to say about Jesus Christ and how they could become closer with Jesus. He said a lot of people already had a strong relationship with their faith, so he just wanted to help them with that connection. He said they hopefully learned even more.
Johnson said he was in Missouri during the height of COVID-19, when it was first beginning to spike. It was a difficult time that required a few changes to be able to get his message out to others about Jesus.
“During my time we couldn’t really eat with people. We couldn’t really meet as a congregation in south St. Louis, and we always had to wear a mask when we went out to teach a lesson,” the missionary said. “We had to do a lot of social distancing. It was a weird time, but we made it work the best we could.”
He said Missouri was a beautiful place to be, and the people were very nice. Johnson said adjusting to being back home has been a little different. He’s been focusing on golf, because he wants to play golf at Georgia Military College.
“I hope to get a business management degree at GMC, but right now I’m not too sure what I want to do with my life.
I was excited to be back home after the mission though. It was great to see my family, since I hadn’t seen them for two years,” he said.
The missionary said like most mission trips, he had a strict daily schedule. He said the routine was a little difficult, since they were going non-stop. But he said it wasn’t a huge adjustment, since he was used to having to wake up early for school.
Johnson said he’s happy to be back home in Jones County, and even though he isn’t sure what he wants to do in life right now, he’s happy he was able to help people with their connections to Jesus. He said Jesus Christ will remain the focus of everything for him.
“It was two years of many great things, but my favorite thing to see on my mission was the change in people’s lives as they would come even closer to Jesus Christ,” he said. “Jesus is at the center of everything, and with Jesus we can become better.”
