Sunday, May 2, 2010
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7:48 AM
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I'm so glad to hear that everyone is doing so good! That's so awesome that Lauren is playing soccer! In college and out here I played a lot but I'm really terrible, it's a lot of fun but I don't know what I'm doing. I wish I would have played when I was littler. Tell Lauren to keep it up! Erica's is awesome too! She's always been a really good dancer doesn't she win something like every time? She's going to High School next year? What the heck that just seems wrong I was just barely in high school. Everyone is growing so much.
It's way cool about your class too. We were just barely talking about Shakespeare this morning, I'm not sure why but hey that's cool. I can't imagine a bunch of little sixth graders putting on a Shakespeare play, you must be a really good teacher.
Things here are not getting any better. I'm getting really sick of Elder Toney. He just does really stupid things to us, he doesn't trust us with anything we do, he never says anything good about us, after we talk to him we are all depressed rather than uplifted and then he gets mad at us again when our numbers are bad. Every night we have call ins where the dl calls and asks us how the day was and makes sure we are in safe and everything. The other day he asked me, "How was your day?" I said it was really good! He asked, "How many dates did you set today?" I said, none. Then he said, "Well then it wasn't a very good day was it?" Then I told him how we met a really awesome lady who is really excited to learn and one of our old investigators had called us and asked if we could find him a ride to church which was a miracle! For me it was a really good day, I felt like I did everything I could to accomplish my purpose. He said something like well we're basing our days if they were good or not on whether or not we set dates. So because I didn't set any dates my really awesome good spiritual day was apparently a bad day.
Ugh I'm so sick of him! And it's not just me and Carty. All of the missionaries in the district except for the sisters don't like him because he loves and praises and worships the sisters and asks them for advice (which is completely inappropriate). I confronted him a little bit on Sunday since we're in the same ward and he just told me that I'm being hard hearted against him and how we need to sustain our leaders and we need to trust him because he knows exactly how to fix this district out of the slump we're all in. I don't think it's going to get any better any time soon, the APs have already come to a district meeting and gotten mad at us for not sustaining Elder Toney. They don't know what he's doing and why nobody likes him and wants to sustain him but if they got on our case again I'm going to say something. I'm really worried that I'm going to get in trouble with Toney (more than I already am), our Zone Leaders, the APs (again) and possibly President Newman, but this is ridiculous, he treats us like we can't do anything right and he's the one with all of the magic answers.
Ok I'm sorry, thanks for letting me vent a little. I don't know what to do. I guess all I can do is just pray to do what's right and have faith that the Lord will take care of it.
I'm really excited to talk to you all pretty soon. I can't believe it's already time to talk again though, time is ridiculous out here. I love you!
Elder Johnson
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Friday, April 23, 2010
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8:31 PM
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Well things are going a little bit better. I make Carty work. And we do, we go out and we work very hard all day. He's still a little slow to get out of the apt but it's getting better. We still haven't found anyone to teach though. We had a little bit of hope for a while with one guy. A member brought his brother to church last week and I mean he liked it but it's not like he came to investigate the church he just kinda came because his brother asked him to, but he came so it was sweet. We took one of the priests over to his house and taught him the first lesson and told him that if he wants to know if this message is true he needs to read and pray about the book of Mormon. He still hasn't done it, he also said that he and his parents were going to come to church tomorrow but when the member went to pick them up, they came up with a bunch of excuses about why they can't go. So yeah. But it's ok, something will happen soon.
This area has been really hard but I'm learning a lot about who I am as a missionary and a lot of little things that I probably wouldn't have learned if we were having a lot of baptisms so I'm sure the Lord is using this time right now to prepare me for something he needs me to do pretty soon, that's the way he works a lot of times.
Ugh Toney is really difficult. His companion Elder Taylor says that he's always calling people to check up on them and tell them what they're doing wrong including us which means that he doesn't trust us. If we're not doing it the way that he wants us to do it then we're doing it wrong and apparently we're never doing it the way he wants us to do it so we're always doing it wrong. That's actually ok too because he's continuing to teach me patience and I think a little about self-confidence too. A while ago I think I would have just been like, "oh well he's my leader so he must be right" but now I recognize a lot more when I'm doing it the best way I know how and he's just being ridiculous. I'm not like rebelling against him or anything I still sustain him and will sustain goals he sets for the district and stuff like that but I have a lot more trust in myself and what I'm doing now. I don't know if that makes any sense but it makes sense in my head.
I'm so glad to hear about your job!! That's so awesome that they got you back at Draper. You'll have to let me know if it's fourth or sixth. Fourth grade I think was my favorite grade in elementary school with Mrs. Kempiak (I think that's how you spell her name) Dang I still remember that pretty well and now Lauren is in fourth grade? Everyone is going to be so old and different when I get home. Weird! And now Mark is coming home!? What about Parker Beazer is he home yet? It seems like he's been out forever! Yeah he has to be home by now. I'm getting to the age of my mission where I know quite a few people but a bunch the ones who I knew when I first got here are leaving. Oh man we had a district meeting on the same day that people were going to the mission home to fly home and I guess they meet at our church. So after district meeting we saw the people who are leaving with all their suitcases and stuff. It was a very weird feeling to see them all and talk with all of them. Like, it made me excited to go home a little tiny bit trunky but at the same time it made me very glad that I am not going home for a while. I feel like there's still so much more for me to do. But I still have like 15 months left so I have plenty of time :)Yeah we get to talk again in a few weeks I think. And yeah I can call your cell phones so that will be fine if you guys are in Arizona, then maybe I could talk to Mark! That would be sweet! But yeah that will be fun. Man for me it still feels like I just barely talked to you guys at Christmas time. It's so scary how fast time goes by out here.
Well I'm so glad things are going so well at home. Things are feeling a little better out here, still not a lot happening but I feel better and I'm optimistic things will turn around. I love you all very much! I'll talk to you soon!
Elder Johnson
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Monday, April 12, 2010
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5:53 AM
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Hey I heard you were in California. That sounds fun, I hope you had a good time there. You guys watched General Conference though right? It was really good, I got a lot out of it. I can't wait until the Ensign comes out so I can read it and mark it up.
Um I'm out of money on my home card. I thought I had more but I guess I used it all on that GPS. But I should be good for now, it's the beginning of the month so we just got pross money.
Guess what, Elder Toney is my district leader now! Weird huh? I think it will be good because he already knows me really well so he trusts me and trusts what I'm doing and we will be able to help each other a lot which I really need. Carty is like a border-line lazy missionary. It takes him forever to do anything! Like he'll go out and work and he's a pretty good teacher it's just hard to get him motivated to get out the door and get him to find someone to teach. He's my senior companion but I end up making most of the decisions and pushing him to go and do and I told Toney that and he pretty much told me to just take charge and not worry about the "senior companion" title. I don't know we'll see what happens.
Well hope cali was fun. Tell me all about it! Love you
Elder Johnson
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Saturday, March 27, 2010
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8:54 AM
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Rama is branch in Spanish. Puedo escribir muchas cosas en espanol y tu no puedes entender. No puedo esperar hasta que yo rogreso y Dad y yo vamos a hablar mucho en espanol y nadie puede entender.
Man that really blows about Austin. I hate how girls have this much power over us. Before he's all in a good mood and doing nice things and then after he doesn't even go to church? I don't know what to tell you. I guess when this happened to me I just wanted everyone to leave me alone, maybe he just needs some time. He'll be ok, there's plenty of other girls out there and plenty of new experiences to have. But I do not EVER want to hear that he didn't go to church for something stupid like that EVER AGAIN! If he understood how hard we work to get people to come to church and the reason why it's so important we get them there he would never do that again. Church is not just a place we go to to hear the word of God and then talk to our friends like a lot of our investigators think, it is where we go to be spiritually strengthened! He needed it this week probably more than ever.
I'm really sorry about your job. I don't get it though they can just hire you for one year and that's it? Don't you get like a contract or something for a while or is it just every year anyone can get let go like that? It's ok though. Whatever happens is what is supposed to happen, maybe you're just not supposed to be in Draper anymore, maybe something will happen with the other teachers with district stuff. I'm sorry I don't really understand how any of that stuff works, but as long as you're keeping the commandments and doing everything you can, the Lord will put you wherever he needs you to be. I'm really proud that you stayed and called the sub off too. I'm sure father was too. That's showing him and the kids you're teaching (even though they may not realize it) that you won't just give up when things get hard, that you're willing to do whatever it takes to teach them. I wish I could say the same thing. I'll be honest a couple of days this week after one dropped investigator, missed appointment after another I started to loose that belief and I slowed down. I feel bad now that I slowed down, but I did... a lot. After one missed appointment we just sat on the ground for a little while thinking, "now what." Thank you for your example, hopefully I will be able to do my job with as much passion and belief and perseverance as you do yours.
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I'm getting to really like this area. The rama is really cool. Everyone speaks spanish! The only problem is that nobody has a car and everyone needs rides so getting people to church and taking people on tradeoffs is a joke! But it's good.
No the childish couple is still not married. They came to church again this week though so that's a good sign. This week we also had a homecoming for a missionary who served in Portland Oregon with Justin Kiser! Do you remember him? It's really weird to talk to the R.M. because he just barely got home so he's still like one of us but at the same time he's a "civilian" he goes to work and he's allowed to talk to girls and all that weird stuff haha :) And he knows Justin which is also weird for me haha. I don't really have much to say either. Just a lot of tracting and trying to find people who aren't too lazy to change their lives around. Tracting on weekends is really hard I'm finiding. It seems like all these guys do on the weekend when they don't have to work is drink. But it's ok, I know the Lord is preparing someone for us to find. I have to baptize someone this month!!!! It's my birthday month I just have to baptize someone!! We'll find him or her (or the family of seven from Columbia) that's ready. We just need to keep on working hard and not lose the belief and the faith that they're out there.
Same with you, don't worry about your job. I read a really good talk in the January Ensign the other day about having faith of the future. It was really good you should read it. It's kinda about Lot's wife and it's by Jeffery R. Holland. Read it and pray after and I know you'll feel ok, you'll know what to do. :)
Well, tell everyone I love them! Please pray for us here in Jacksonville! Not just me, but everyone here. The other missionaries, the people, President Newman, President Barry, everyone!
Elder Johnson
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Yes I did get the package Thank you so much for the pictures and stuff. I can't believe I left without any. And thank you for the letters too! And for my debit card. I finally had to break down and get a GPS by the way. I found a really good one at Target that was on sale normally like 179.99 and I got it for 99! We found them the last day of the sale so it was really lucky.
I have no idea why we had to change our email thing. I guess it's updating and we needed new ones. I don't know.
We had our president interviews this week and when I got to mine, President Newman said, "I feel like I'm meeting you for the first time! I'm President Newman by the way." I've finally arrived. I don't know if Dad had a similar experience like the first couple of months are really hard and then you finally "arrive" and it's like a night and day difference. I don't have to wonder about what I'm doing now or wait for my companion to show me what to do I just do it. I've even thrown down on a couple of people. Sometimes we have to tell them what they don't want to hear, but if they are ready and really want to change, they know that what we say is right and they will repent. Oh and the other day somebody asked Carty and I if we have been speaking Spanish since birth! That was such a good day, I felt pretty good after that. There's still a couple of words every now and then that i don't know and I have to take a second to think of some things before I say them but it's going really well.
Mrs. Caballero doesn't know what she's talking about Puerto Ricans say their r's a lot more than their s's. I like them though, their usually loud and fun, well most Hispanics are but I think they're a little louder. I don't know if she still remembers me but that would be pretty cool.
I don't really know a whole lot more about my companion. He's really cool though. He loves movies almost as much as I do, he loves skiing and mountain climbing too. He's a lot like me in a lot of ways. He even had one girlfriend in college for a really long time that broke his heart so yeah we've got that in common. But he's pretty cool. Still really quiet, but he's cool. The other guys are sweet too they're English so sometimes me and Carty just talk in Spanish and freak them out it's a lot of fun!
The branch is really cool. Especially for Spanish missionaries. We only teach and find and bring Spanish people to church so we're really happy when we have a lot of brown faces amidst all the white people, but in the branch everyone is brown! It's really cool for the members too. The only problem we have in a branch is getting people to church. I have no idea why but Hispanics are always late! Always!! Plus there are very few people that have a car so getting rides is a joke. Everyone needs a ride! Even members who have been going for years! It's really stupid.
Tracting is hard. We are in the South part of our branch area and the south area is a little bit nicer than the north. We have zero trailer parks and the neighborhoods are all white people so we have to go into a few apt complexes so it's really hard to find people.
We are teaching a few people right now. None of them are really progressing very well though. One couple needs to get married but every time we bring it up they start acting like little shy kids and just look at each other, whisper something, then giggle or something stupid. The last time we were with them I got really serious with them and made them act more mature. I asked them what are you willing to do to follow Jesus Christ. You can either get married right now, move out until you're ready to get married or keep living in sin! They're supposed to think about it and then let us know what they're going to do before we come back.
But I'm out of time sorry I have to go. I love you all very much! I'll keep praying for you! Do the same for me!
Elder Johnson
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Um I guess I had to do like a new Mylds mail thing so I guess my new email address is anjohnson@myldsmail.net whatever....
Anyway yeah things are going good here. It's really weird. I'm out here with people that have been out for a little over a year and they're still doing things that I was doing when I first got out here but I've learned better since then and I've stopped doing those things. I'm trying to lead by example but they've been out for a while so it will be hard to shake them of their habits. Oh well, I'm just going to try and keep doing what I know is right.
President Newman had to interview one of our guys who got baptized on Saturday because his ex-girlfriend had an abortion so he came and we talked to him for a while. He has this amazing ability to read people, he always seems to know exactly what I'm thinking right when he sees me. And this time he said, "You're doing good? I got a good vibe from you." I do feel good here. This is the first transfer where I've felt like I know what I'm doing enough that I don't have to watch and see what my companion does and learn from him. I feel like I know enough where I can just do it now and my Spanish is getting pretty good too. So yeah, even President was able to tell that I'm doing a lot better here. Haha and then he was showing off all the cool stuff his iphone can do while we were waiting for our guy. He loves that thing. He always shows it off to us. I think he wants all of us to go home and get an iphone so we can stay organized and busy and working all the time.
I heard about the earthquake. I'm glad Natalie's ok. How is she doing? Have you heard anything from Nan or Stacey?
Erica said you are going to Disneyland! Punks! Just kidding that will be fun :)
I haven't got my package yet but I really really need money. Elder Bishop I guess is out of town and so we still don't have any money. (I haven't had any for like a week and a half now except for a McDonalds gift card) It's stupid.
But things are going good. Love you!
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Thursday, February 25, 2010
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8:43 AM
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Yeah I got transferred. I am kinda excited about it just because it's a new fresh start but then at the same time I'm really sad. Our apt was awesome! Elder Toney and I got along really well and Elder Jackson and Elder Harding are really cool too. Toney and Harding are still there, I got moved to the rama in San Jose and Jackson got moved to Lake City. I got transfered to a different zone! I don't know ANYBODY! I know a ton of people in the west zone now becuase I've been there for almost six months but now I don't know anyone. I was really tight with the ward in Orange Park too. The bishopric loved me, a lot of the members loved me, and we had a huge group of recent converts that come every week to every meeting we have and almost every baptism we have. My new branch had a baptism on Saturday when I got here and it was the second counselor, the missionaries, one investigator, and the people getting baptized that came. It's very different than what I've been used to for the past six months. Very different. But it's ok something new for me to learn how to do right?
This is the first time in a long time that I've lived without a leadership in the apt. Me and Perez lived with the Zone Leaders and then me and Toney lived with Jackson who was the district leader. I can't tell if I'm just used to living with leaders or these guys are just lazy but my new apt doesn't seem to work quite as hard as my other ones. I'm used to everyone like racing to see who can get out of the apt first and trying to be the last ones in but here it seems like we take forever to do anything like lunch, shower, clean up, it's weird. I'm hoping that I can rub off on them and get them to work harder rather than they rub off on me and I get lazy. Ugh the last thing i want to do is get lazy.
My new companion is Elder Carty. He's from Colorado and he's been out for about 13 months. I can't really tell you much about him except he went to Utah State for school and he likes rock climbing. He's really quiet. Like quieter than I am. Ok so I have come out of my shell a lot I think on my mission but he's really quiet. Even when he does talk he speaks quietly. I'm kinda excited about that though because I think it will force me to step up and take charge in a lot of situations. That's something that President Newman talked to me about at my last interview is stepping up and taking charge so I think I'm going to be able to do that here. And I'm serving in a Spanish branch so all the members here speak spanish which will help me practice my spanish a lot more too. It's going to be a very different transfer for me but I'm excited I think I will learn a lot. I also live with Elder Fetty and Elder Preator and I still don't know very much about them either. Fetty has been out for a while I think and Preator has been out for five months. Oh but guess what. The car that I am in now is the same car that me and Black used in Crescent City! It's got the same air freshener that we bought and now every time the air comes on and I smell it I get flash backs of the very beginning of my mission. And then the other missionary in my ward got a greenie Elder Taylor which reminds me of how I was when I came out. It's kinda cool to think back and see how much I've grown since then. I just hope that it doesn't become a distraction and that I can continue to look forward rather than backward.
Ok I really really need my debit card. I promise I'm not being stupid with my money and eating out all the time or something dumb like that. But $140 a month is just not a lot. And then when stuff comes up like going to the doctor or needing new razor heads and shampoo the money leaves a lot faster.
Please send it soon, my new adress is;> > 10275 Old St. Augustine Rd apt 1010 Jacksonville FL 32257
I love you all! I hope everything is going good! Pray for me, and I will pray for you!Love,
Elder Johnson
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Wednesday, February 3, 2010
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5:55 PM
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We had a wedding yesterday!!! I figured I would baptize people here but I never thought that I would have people get married! But it happened. Yeah it is the same family whose son lived in Salt Lake for a while (which by the way makes me super trunky every time I talk to him about Salt Lake. He talks to me about how he used to ride Trax and go to the Gateway and all this fun stuff haha it's pretty funny) and they just showed up to church. We taught them, they know it's true and they knew that they needed to get married to stop living in sin. Oh man you should have seen them at the wedding. They were having relationship problems for a while before we met them. The bishop talked to them and we talked to them with the zone leaders and honestly I felt a little bit nervous if we were doing the right thing for this family. But during church I found an empty room and prayed to ask if it was right. I felt a confirmation from the holy ghost so we went ahead and did it. You should have seen them. The groom was so emotional, he was so happy! The bride was too, but the guy was on the verge of crying like three times. The baptism was immediately after the wedding. Their son who lived in Utah was ordained to be a priest, and then he got to baptize his mom and Elder Toney baptized the dad (who was his stepdad). It was probably one of the best baptisms I have seen so far. It was a wonderful wonderful day for us and for them.
We haven't had any more drama with the police (yet) so that's been nice. We usually have a few people who say they are going to call the police while we are tracting if we don't leave but nothing like that has happened to me yet. I haven't heard anything from the dad or grandma of Maria's kids either so that's good.
I'm glad that everyone is doing so well. Tell Erica that when a teacher tells you that you are so good that you don't need extra help and that you are the best in the class, it's a good thing. Just keep working and improving yourself the best way you know how. I've been thinking about the plan of salvation a lot. The more I think about that the more I realize how that is why we are here. I guess I just gave her some like eternal truth advice, weird. Everything that happens to us in this life is for us to learn. Our job here is to learn and improve ourselves in the best way we know how. I'm sorry this letter is kinda short but i love you all. Thanks for the news and the support.
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Tuesday, January 26, 2010
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5:36 AM
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Yeah, I got the picture of Stacey. That's so sweet, I'm so excited for her!
Yeah, it has been pretty cold here. Nothing like home but pretty dang cold. It's got down to like 30s at night and pretty cold during the day but no snow or anything cool like that. Like two days ago it started to warm up again a little bit. It feels really nice right now. Oh man a few days ago it was raining pretty bad and we were out tracting like all day which was really fun I love tracting in the rain so much! Anyway we were out tracting and we had like five people tell us that there was a tornado warning in for Orange Park. Nothing ever happened but I guess just a little bit south of us it was pretty bad and so there was a tornado watch. I was actually kinda bummed, I've never seen a tornado before I was hoping we would see one.
Did you get my pictures? I sent a CD with a bunch of pictures on it a while ago, I don't know how fast the mail is here though. What about my debit card has that come to the house yet? I've been out of money for a while so we just eat a lot of sandwiches and Ramen. We will get more money either on the 31st or on the first so we should be good. I probably could have done a better job budgeting this month but i had to buy more deodorant and soap and stuff that I don't have to buy every month so my money was gone faster. Oh and I had to go to the doctor and pay 10 for co pay and 10 for medicine. I just had an ear infection so the doctor gave me some drops and it's gone now.
Ah man Luis and Doris was super lame. We talked to Luis about giving up drinking and stuff a while ago and he basically told us straight up, no. So we were teaching Doris and hoping that he would come around by her example. They came to church and Luis really liked it but Doris didn't because her 17 month old kid was being bad the whole time. So we went back to teach them and Luis told us that he was ready to change. So we told him, "ok Doris is going to help you, if she finds any beer she is going to throw it out ok?" Yeah good that's good I need help. "Is there any beer in the house right now?" No, there's not we don't have any. We were super stoked for him and for her. Then we took the Zone Leaders over on a trade off one night and had a super sweet lesson with Doris. Just with Doris though because Luis straight up lied to us and there was beer in the fridge and when she went to throw it out, he got super mad and they got in a fight. But Doris was finally getting why she needs to change, why we ask her to read the Book of Mormon and she was really committed to changing. We left feeling pretty good about it but then when me and Elder Williams (the zone leader) got to the apt she texted us asking us not to come back because whenever we come over she and Luis get into a big fight right after we leave.
But it's ok, we baptized part of another family we're teaching yesterday. We baptized the two kids Antonio 19 and Ricardo 14. Their parents are going to get baptized next weekend because they were not married. So they're going to get their marriage license this week, have a wedding, and then get baptized! I'm so excited! I really hope everything works out, I'm still a little nervous just because I've heard weddings are really hard but they are pretty solid, I think it will happen. Especially since their kids got baptized and the spirit was there so strong and they felt it and they know this is what they need to do.
Oh man Maria, the lady we baptized last weekend, yes she does have her kids back! The other day we were over at her house teaching her and she told us that her baby's daddy's mom somehow got a hold of her number and had been calling a lot. The baby's daddy is crazy and I guess he's tried to kidnap the kids before so Maria was kinda freakin out. The Grandma said, "I want to see my grand kids we're going to be at the park at four you guys should come" which was just a ploy to get the kids out. So we called a member to come and pick them all up and get them out of their house before four. Just as we were pulling out of the trailer park, we saw the daddy's truck and he saw us! We booked it to the member's trailer and rushed all the kids inside and called the police. Me and Toney pulled our car around and watched them and made sure nothing happened. The truck pulled up with the dad, another man, another woman, the grandma, and two kids. The grandma got out of the car with one of the kids and knocked on the door. Then she started banging on their door and kicking it and shouting at Maria, "Donde esta Dios ahora, Maria?" They finally left and me and Toney stayed there until the cops got there in case they came back. It was pretty crazy! But everyone is safe and they got a restraining order put on the dad and everything. It's really sad, but I'm really glad that we could be there to help if we needed to.
So yeah crazy week! Police, crazy dads, planning a baptism, planning a wedding, tracting in a tornado watch... Man missionary work is so sweet! If I wasn't a missionary I would have been nervous, but the Lord is watching us and if he needs us to help his children here in Florida we do whatever we can.
I'm glad the house is going good except for the shower heads, that would suck if they have to rip the tile out again. Let me know how it goes and anything else cool that's going on.
Love,
Elder Johnson
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Monday, January 18, 2010
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9:54 AM
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Oh man that is so sweet that you got to go to Stacey's farewell, I'm way jealous. I'll bet she did awesome, she's just very in control and very prepared for just about anything. I know she's going to make a great missionary! The sister missionaries are always awesome and she's going to be one of the best sister missionaries. Haha tell her parents that of course I remember them I was only at their house like every day over the part of summer I was home. They're a great family, they're all way cool. I miss them a lot.
Nan is engaged!? What the heck? To who? So they are getting married before I get home huh? Holy crap! If I talk to her I would need her email too. Ah man this is so weird, I don't feel old enough to have married friends! That's so cool though I'm way excited for her. They are mad at me aren't they, Nan and Stacey? I wouldn't blame them if they are. I feel like I'm missing so much and they are my best friends. I want so bad to be able to be there and to be able to support them with everything that is going on, but I'm here. And if I want to do all that I can while I'm here I need to be here 100%. I can't be here 100% if I'm constantly thinking and worrying about them. I need to focus. I need to be here. So I'm really sorry if everyone is mad at me especially Nan and Stacey and like I said I wouldn't blame them, but it's something I need to do.
I'm really excited to see what's going on at the house. How long have people been there working? That will be really weird to come home and have my house be all different haha. So we had another baptism yesterday. One of our members has been watching like four kids for a lady for six months. Her kids were taken from her and she moved up to Delaware to try and like put her life in order. I guess she was mixed up in drugs and drinking and all kinds of crazy stuff and so her kids have been living with one of the members here for the past six months. She finally came home not too long ago and she's changed her life around and is working really hard to be able to keep her kids with her now. She's so fixed everything in her life 180 degrees and so the member really wanted us to teach her, so we did and she got baptized yesterday. Ah man I love being a missionary. This woman has a brand new start now and she will be sweet! We also got Luis and Doris to come to church (the ones who never kept appointments). I think Doris liked it except her 17 month old baby was being a pain. I don't know about Luis though, they just booked out of there right after sacrament meeting and we haven't talked to them about it yet. I guess we'll see. We're also working with a family from Mexico that just showed up to church last week. I guess the son was living in Utah for a while with his aunt and he went to temple square and talked with the sister missionaries there. He came back and told his family that they need to go to the Mormon church so they came and now we're teaching them. They seem way cool, the husband is a little skeptical I think still. They know it's good, they know the church teaches good things, but they haven't prayed to know if this is THE church. Once they do that, I know they will be good. Also, they need to get married which is weird, I've never done a wedding before but it looks like it's going to happen, I don't know when yet but we're working on it with the bishop. I'm way excited for them. Oh it's so sweet!
I still feel like I have no idea what I'm doing most of the time but somehow the Lord is still allowing us to have success. Every day I see more and more how this is his work and we only play a very small part. I can work and work and try to do all I can, but in the end, it's all up to Him. Ah I love it! It's like, it doesn't matter how short I fall or how much I don't speak Spanish :) but if the Lord is ready for them to be baptized, he makes it happen. We are just tools working in his hands. And it's like you said, as He uses us, we become better and better people at the same time and we progress and develop. Thank you for your prayers and your support. I love you guys.
Love,
Elder Johnson
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Monday, January 11, 2010
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9:45 PM
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Happy Birthday!!!!! I know it's late but yeah...
Oh man I'm sorry I forgot how much you don't know about missions. Doesn't Dad help? The white handbook says that we "must sleep in the same room but not in the same bed" (yes it really does say that). We are in a four man so Toney is my companion, and then Jackson and Zabriskie are our roommates too. We all just have our four mattresses on the floor in the front room and we use the bedrooms to do our studies and planning and stuff. But yeah Zabriskie is gone which is kinda sad, we all love Zabriskie he's way cool. Jackson's new companion is Elder Harding from Canada so that's fun. He asks me weird stuff like, "where's the washroom at?" haha we give him crap about Canada all the time but he's cool about it. He doesn't say eh but he does say aboot sometimes. He's been out for about a year I think he's the oldest out of all of us in the apt.
New Year's eve was lame, we just went to bed at like 10:30 just like any other night. Ugh I still haven't burned a tie, I know I'm lame but Black didn't burn his tie until after his year mark so I'm sure it will happen eventually. Oh my gosh that dang family is being weird. The husband is a dead beat. We dominated him with the spirit and he knows that he needs to change, the spirit told him that he needs to change and he knows it, but he still refused. I'm really worried for him. The Lord has a way of humbling us until we are ready to change, his wife has told us that she is thinking about leaving him, he'll lose his son, he's out of work, I just wonder how much he needs to be humbled until he will actually change. The wife and her three kids were going to come to church yesterday but her littlest kid 17months old fell and hit his head and had to go and get stitches. Ugh it's crazy with these people! It's ok though we'll get them baptized eventually. At least the wife and her 8 year old son. She also has a 6 year old, get this named Austin Cole Beavis, and then the 17 month old boy. But guess what happened! So there's this guy named Marcos who we met a long long time ago, ok maybe like a month and a half ago but we met him a while ago and taught him and he accepted a baptism date. We've tried to go back and visit him like a million times but he's always been gone or leaving to work. Finally we got to talk to him on Saturday night and we asked him if we could come back Sunday. We brought the Zone Leaders over on Sunday at 9 and he got interviewed and then he got baptized at 12. We didn't teach him anything accept a little about the restoration but he's been reading the Book of Mormon and he knew it was true and he wanted to get baptized! It was crazy!
Oh man this whole less active work is teaching me a lot. I've had to do a lot of repenting lately. We just had a meeting for the leadership in the ward with the bishop basically trying to fire up everybody to do their jobs and fellowship people and help us get the less actives active again. I didn't realize what a stewardship I had as just a member of the church over other people. I felt horrible! I was a home teacher and the Family Home Evening Group leader in my singles ward at school and I don't even know any of the girls names that I was over. I just thought ok this is something I have to do once a month or once a week and then it's over. I didn't realize what responsibility I had to help these people and I did a horrible job. I don't even know any body's name that I home taught and the only people I know from my FHE group is Kestri's apt. So yeah I had to do some serious repenting. I'm going to do much better when I get home.
Haha it sounds like you had an awesome birthday! I'm so glad I know how much you love your bday. Fossils, the Solar System, Bill Cosby, that's funny! Do they even know who Bill Cosby is? I'm so glad that you had a good day! I wish I could have been there to see what crazy things you did and watch dad just roll his eyes. haha good times. I'm sorry I didn't send anything, I know I suck. I'm going to do the CD picture thing today at Walmart I promise. Could you send me some pictures too? The house, the family, whatever. Grandma Nettie sent me this huge photo album and I was so excited and I flipped through it and there were only 7 pictures in it! Haha I loved it and I was really happy to get those pictures but it just faked me out a little bit.
Guess whose birthday it is tomorrow? Will you tell Natalie that I said happy birthday? Oh sweet thank you for the debit card. Yeah I should be fine for now with my pross money. But when you send some shirts do you think you could send some socks too? I've done so good all 6 months not losing any socks but all of a sudden I'm missing a ton, I have no idea what happened. Ugh also will you get Stacey's email address for me? I lost it I thought it was on this mail thing but it's gone now but I do want to write her before she goes to the MTC. You've been talking to her mom? She's way cool! She's really funny and really sarcastic just like Stacey it's really fun to talk to her. Yeah I know she's not LDS but her Dad is, I'm not sure about Shelby. So yeah every member a missionary you should get her baptized! I know you will feel the joy that Ammon felt when he brought his bretheren to the waters of baptism as you see her prepare herself for baptism. I'm going to ask you how she's doing and how she's progressing next week ok? By then I want her to have read a little bit out of the Book of Mormon and prayed and asked God if it's true. Will you make sure that happens before next week? haha commitment pattern in Preach my Gospel is sweet :) but seriously you really should that would be really awesome. I'm sure she has a lot of questions especially now that her daughter is giving up 18 months of her life for this cause. I love you all!
Elder Johnson
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Monday, January 4, 2010
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3:52 PM
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Happy New Year! Oh bump day like bump hump and slump. Bump day is cool I guess I need a good bump but hump and slump, that can't happen to me. I'm so scared that it will but I don't want it to. No, I didn't get to burn a tie on the 1st we were really busy but I think I'm going to try and do it tonight. I'll be sure to get a video of it. Um I don't need new shirts desperately I can wait until they get a new shipment. And short sleeve is fine I already have two long sleeves that are still good so yeah short sleeve is good.
As far as when the family goes to the temple I don't know if I can go with them. I guess it depends on where I'm at in a year. I think you have to get permission from President Newman to do stuff like that too. I don't know we'll see what happens I guess. But if we do go we go to the Orlando Temple where we went to do the baptisms for the dead. Did i tell you that happened? I sent a picture of it but I don't know if it got sent.
We are teaching a few other people. Nobody is really cooperating with us though haha. One family is pretty sweet, at least the wife is. The husband told us that he really wants to change and get baptized and all that stuff and he was really excited for our return appointment. His wife told us that all day he was like, " the missionaries are coming over today!" like a little kid but every time we have an appointment with them they aren't there. We come back like the next day and see them when we don't have an appointment with them. It's really weird, we need to be able to sit down and talk with them. Especially with the husband. He told us that he stopped drinking but his wife says otherwise. Like I guess he's really bad, like she thinks he has liver problems because he drinks all the time, passes out when he's supposed to be watching their 17 month old baby and he throws up all the time. It's a good thing that she told us because if she didn't we would have just thought that he was good. It's a really bad situation. He can change but he has to want to first and I'm not sure if he wants to.
So our new goal for the year is really weird. It's 3050 but it's broken up into two parts. 1300 baptisms and 1750 people reactivated. I'm down with the baptisms but the reactivation is weird. We've started doing some reactivation work and it is basically home teaching. We like go and teach them, kinda and it's more like a "oh hi you already got baptized, let's be friends!...so... you should come back to church." I guess I just don't understand why the missionaries are doing this. I need to change my attitude real quick because this is what the Lord told President Newman to do but as of right now, I'm not really converted to it, this seems like the ward's job, not ours. Another thing I'm struggling with is this next transfer coming up. My roommate Elder Zabriskie is getting transferred but Elder Jackson is staying. Also Elder Toney and I are staying together here. It will be good. I'm glad things are going good there. Sorry I'm running out of time but tell Natalie I said hi if you talk to her again and Nan. Have fun at school and stuff.
Love you,
Elder Johnson
Oh crap my debit card is not working. Could you have them send me a new one or something. I think the magnet strip is bad.
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