Monday, August 31, 2009
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5:45 PM
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Haha of course they all take everything you say seriously it's the first week of school and they're old enough to know how to suck up. Once they get more comfortable with you it won't be so easy to keep them focused I would imagine. Yeah I bet Austin is excited to go back to school and see everyone. Zac and Kevin emailed me last week and they had just moved back to Cedar City and everyone's coming back and I miss them all so I'm kinda jealous that Austin gets to go back. Oh my gosh tell Erica to tell Mrs. Cabellero that she is my sister and she will love her! I don't know what I did but that lady loved me! If she doesn't remember me just tell Erica to tell her that she has a brother who is on a Spanish Speaking mission and that should get her in pretty good too. I think Mrs. Cabellero used to be a Spanish teacher at the MTC so she'll love it. I'm so excited for Lauren that she is getting baptized on Saturday that is so cool! And that also makes me really happy that she wants to invite all her teachers.
Our branch members have been giving us a hard time for a little while about helping us, they complain when we ask them to give rides to investigators and we don't ever get any referrals from them, oh man and we told one guy about Latisha who we met on Tuesday and baptized on Sunday and he got mad at us because we did it too fast I guess. He said, "now Elders maybe I am the only one who is brave enough to ask this but do you care about retention? I know Elders only care about numbers but the members care about people's salvation." Oh I was so mad at him! I didn't say this (I should have) but I thought you know what, we are the ones who are supposed to find them, teach them, and baptize them, if they aren't coming anymore it's because your home teaching sucks and they don't feel welcome! We don't care about numbers, ugh I was so mad! So Elder Black and I gave talks yesterday in Sacrament meeting about every member a missionary and basically called them out on all flojos in the ward (sorry Spanish for lazy).
Hermano Noriega is being a little difficult. He's the nicest guy in the world and he loves it when we come and visit him at his house but he isn't coming to church with his family anymore, I'm not sure why but yeah it's kinda lame. We'll keep working with him and teaching him and hopefully he'll come around. Latisha is awesome we were at one of our investigators houses and she just happened to be over there and so we taught them both. She really loved the eternal families and wanted to get baptized. I'm not sure how she lost her son but about six years ago, her fiance died in a car crash but she still has her six year old daughter Ineesha. But she's doing great!Ugh my eyes are bugging me. I hate it I thought the humid place would help too but I guess not. I don't know maybe I'll have Sister Newman get me an appointment with an eye doctor here and see what we can do it's so stupid. Things are going great I love tracting and everything (probably because we have a car with ac) and my Spanish is coming slowly but surely. I even went to the Spanish Sunday school yesterday and learned with them. I didn't say much but I understood most of what was going on so that's good. I still feel like an idiot whenever we go tracting or contacting and we find Spanish people but I will get better, I've still only been out for almost one transfer so I will get better. Oh yeah transfer calls came in and Elder Black and I are both staying here for at least one more transfer. I was so happy everyone kept telling me that Black would probably be leaving and I was freaked out. If I had to be the one to show a new Elder where all our investigators lived and talk to all of them and all that stuff this area would have been screwed so I'm glad he's staying a little longer.
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Monday, August 24, 2009
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6:20 PM
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Oh my gosh this Sunday was so sweet! We had four baptisms! I took some pictures that I will try to send really soon. Hermano Noriega decided not to get baptized yet which made us really sad but his wife and his two kids all got baptized so I know that their example will push him to do the right thing. They are such an amazing family and I'm so happy for them. I'm sure that Hermano Noriega will want to be baptized this week or maybe the next at the latest. But they had us all come over for dinner, (Elder Black, me, Elder Gaisford the district leader and Elder Smith) and they made rice and beans and tortillas and the best pico de gallo I've ever had! It was really really good, I love serving with Mexican people, especially when they feed us haha. They are all so awesome. The other person who was baptized was a black girl named Latisha. We found her on Tuesday when we were teaching an investigator and Latisha just happened to be over at her house. She said that the missionaries had taught her before but every time she moved they would lose track of her but then new missionaries would find her. She has lost her fiance and her son so we taught her about eternal families in the temple and how you can only go to the temple if you are baptized so she was all over that. We met her Tuesday and she got baptized Sunday!
Haha ok horchata is not spicy. It's like a cinnamon rice milk drink they have. The next time you go to Costa Vida they have an horchata machine by the fountain drinks so just get a soda cup and get horchata it's really good. And I'm sure that there are people from all over up here but I think most of them are Mexican. I know Hermana Noriega is from Mexico City for sure and a lot of our ward is from Mexico.
You'll have to tell me all about Lauren's baptism and take pictures! Tell her I said that I know she is making a very good choice and that Heavenly Father loves her and that I love her! Tell everyone good luck with school starting, especially you. It will be awesome, you are living out your dream! Have so much fun!
Love,
Elder Johnson
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Monday, August 17, 2009
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4:49 PM
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As far as the storm goes we have had some little rain storms that were pretty cool but nothing too big. I've heard from members that a hurricane might be coming but I don't know. Nothing too serious right now. I'll let you know if I hear anything else.
Things here are going really great! We saw the Noriegas again and they came to church again this week and they even bought us some horchata because I said that I liked it so she just gave it to us. They really are the nicest people ever. So we taught them and as of right now, all four of them are getting baptized this Sunday! Oh we are so excited for them! They all seem really excited too, especially Hermana Noriega. She tries so hard to do what's best for her kids and I think she understands that this is it. So I'll take pictures and tell you all about the baptism next week.
Everything else is going really well. We're doing a lot of tracting to find some new investigators and we're finding some really cool people. We're finding a lot of weird people too. Like one guy we talked to was a pastor at another church. He said he'd read the Book of Mormon but I don't think he did because all he talked about was Joseph Smith and his magic glasses. We tried to explain that he translated with the power of god with the Urim and Thumum but he just called them magic glasses and said that he doesn't believe in any "land of moron" prophets (he said that and I thought how old are you? You can't come up with something more original than "mispronouncing" Mormon to sound like moron?) But we smoked him and he ended up just running away from us because he knew we were right. It was sweet. I'm able to speak a little bit more Spanish now. I talk to people about the first vision and the Book of Mormon a lot and I still mess up with some of the past tense stuff but it's getting better.
Oh zone conference was awesome! President Newman is such a great guy. He's very powerful and intimidating but very warm at the same time. You can just tell he loves this work. And he pushes us, oh man he's crazy! We got 117 baptisms last month as a mission and he just keeps pushing it higher and higher. We have a goal of 1050 this year and I don't doubt at all that we'll be able to reach it. We learned a lot of good things about what he calls gathering through the grove (our door approach) and how when we talk about the first vision it's not to teach about Joseph Smith but it's to show people that God wanted everyone to know that He, His Son, and the Holy Ghost are three separate people. He explained to us that he didn't need to come down and visit Joseph, Jesus could have done that by himself, but so many people kinda forgot about God or thought he and Jesus were the same that he came and showed himself to Joseph. It's really good to tell people, especially the Catholic Mexicans we talk to so much. We have another conference tomorrow for just the Spanish speaking missionaries tomorrow. I'm really looking forward to that. I just hope I don't make myself look like too much of an idiot if we do role plays or something. But things are going great and we're having a blast in little ol' Crescent City, Florida. I love you all and I miss you!
Love Elder Johnson
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Thursday, August 13, 2009
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8:03 PM
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 Elder Johnson's first Zone Conference! August 13, 2009 With Elder Taylor and Elder Endemano
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 New elders with their trainers:
Back Row: Elders Black, Webb, Tate, Taelor and Huff
Front Row: Elders Johnson, Murdock, Schroeder, Leavitt and McFarlandDon't you think the white shirt, tie and name badge look great on Elder Johnson?
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Monday, August 10, 2009
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9:53 AM
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I'm doing really well. The Spanish is coming ok i guess. Not as well as I would like it to but it's coming. I'm not very patient with myself. I want to just come out here running and speaking just like all of the other missionaries who have been out here for a while and then when I try and I can't do it I get upset with myself. I know it will come with time but like I said, I'm not patient. Angela dropped us. We went over to her house one day and she just said look guys I'm not really interested so I don't want to rude but don't come back anymore. Oh well, her loss. But the Noriegas are awesome! Two weeks ago the Mom and the daughter Venitia both came to church. So we went to teach them again that week and asked them how it was. They liked it a lot. This time when we taught them too we went over later so we could catch the Dad so we taught the whole family! Mom, Dad, Venitia who's I think 18 and then Brian who is 15. So we taught them about the Plan of Salvation which they loved and I think it made a lot of sense to them. They have really strong family values so they really liked the idea of eternal families. Then this week the whole family came to church together. Ah they loved it! Even the dad who we were kinda worried whether or not he would like it loved it. So that was great. Not only that but it also got Bro. Reyes from the ward excited about missionary work and he asked us if he could come with us the next time we teach the Noriegas because he really wants them to be baptized as well. So yeah they are awesome! I'll bet we get them baptized this Sunday or the next. I'll keep you posted.
I sent some pictures I took in the MTC through the snail mail today but there aren't a lot of me. I don't take pictures of myself like a girl, sorry. P day is good here but yeah I don't have a lot of time to write people and I would print it off like you said but P day is the only day when we're supposed to write home so this is basically all I've got. We get to wear our normal clothes on P day I hope it doesn't change. Last week we went to the YMCA almost all day and we met some people who play volleyball there every Monday so I think we're going back to play with them. Other than that we do mail and shopping and then play sports basically anywhere we can find them.
Tell Lauren I said happy birthday! That's so cool that she is getting baptized! To missionaries that's like the coolest thing in the world! I wish that I could be there so bad! But I'm proud of her and I know that she is making the right choice.
Congrats on the whole teacher thing. You'll have to let me know how that goes. That's so exciting that you are living your dream! I can't imagine being a teacher so you and Stacey will have to tell me all about it. I can't wait to hear stories about the little kids. Ah memories of elementary school.
Well tell everyone I love them and that I miss them all. I hope everything is going great with all of them. Especially Austin with his job. I told him before I left that the money is awesome but pretty soon it feels like you're working all the time so you can't even use the money. Just tell him it will be worth it and to hang in there. But also take some time for himself, I know you want him to work as much as he can you said the same thing to me but trust me he doesn't want to work ALL the time tell him to ask for a few weekend nights off every once in a while so he can go play. It's great to have money but he needs to party too ok? Ok well I'll mail you again next week I guess. Peace
Love,
Elder Johnson
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Monday, August 3, 2009
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3:55 PM
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Hey everyone!
Yeah Spanish speaking! It's so crazy! I feel bad for my companion because he ends up doing most of the work because I still can't talk to people very well. Oh by the way yes my companion is Navajo so yes he is a werewolf you Twilight weirdos haha jk. But he's teaching me a lot of Spanish and I've got a couple of books but I'm sure it wouldn't hurt to have more. My mission pres told me that if I can read the whole libro de mormon in one transfer that I would have it so I'm working really hard to do that too. Elder Black is awesome and we get along great. He's been out here almost a year so yeah he's an awesome missionary. I don't know if that lady is going to get baptized that I talked to. Her name is Angela and she's white and speaks English. She seemed really interested when we talked to her and she said she would be baptized but we went back over there a few times and she's still smoking her gross cigarettes even though she said she would stop and just kinda blowing us off. I don't know we'll see what happens. We did have another baptism though this Sunday. A gringa named Donna. Elder Black found her before I got here but I helped teach her the second and third lessons in preach my Gospel and she got baptized! It was so cool! She's such a great lady. We also found this way cool family, the Noriegas who seem very interested in the church. They speak Spanish and English. Anyway they came to church on Sunday and stayed and watched Donna's baptism. We haven't talked to them about it yet to see what they thought but I'll keep you posted.
Ok one thing I want to put on this blog you made is kinda cool but very nerdy at the same time. The mission president made us part our hair the first day we got out here so yeah my hair is parted. So one day I was getting dressed, I had on my black pants, long sleeved white shirt, no tie so the top was unbuttoned, and I had my glasses on. I looked EXACTLY like Peter Parker in Spiderman 2 when he decides he doesn't want to be spiderman anymore and he's walking down the street and that song is playing, "Rain Drops Keep Fallin on my Head" so yeah watch that and you'll know exactly what I look like. Things are going great! I can't wait to keep learning Spanish and keep teaching the Mexicans here. They are way cool and very humble. Except for the Pentecostals. They are impossibly stubborn and they just fight with us. But other than that everyone is pretty cool. I love it here I'm having a great time and I hope you all are too!
Love,
Elder Johnson
P.S. Keep writing me even if i don't write back sometimes I just don't have enough time on Pdays to write everyone so the blog is a great idea. Thanks mom :)
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