Feliz Navidad!!!

Hey family,

so i am not going to write that much this week because i will talk to you in two days, and if i tell you everything that happened now, i will have nothing to say on christmas. it was a good week, but still not very christmasy. it has rained three days straight here which has helped a lot with the temperature. things are going really well. we have a baptism scheduled this week for Joan but i will tell you more about that later. actually, i will tell you more about everything in two days so i am going to stop writing. i love you all and hope you have a great christmas eve and christmas.

Love, Elder Johnson


And an addendum written by Angeli, Mark's older sister...

Talking to Mark on Christmas was the highlight of my Christmas this year! I know that we all loved it - it made him seem not so far away. Our parents cried... they live for news from their baby boy (who am I kidding - we all do! Mark brings the party to our family)! Mark sounds like he is doing awesome. I could definitely hear the homesickness in his voice, but he sounded optimistic and grateful to be serving the people of the Dominican Republic. We called him at about 10am Vegas time, which I believe was about 2pm in the DR. He and three other missionaries were hanging out at the church building calling their families, and didn't have much of a time restriction. So... we ended up talking to Mark for nearly 3 1/2 hours! None of us knew that Mark could talk so long!!! Half way through the conversation, our phone card ran out, so we had to restock it and call him back. He talked about everything from his investigators,to daily life and culture in the Dominican Republic. To follow up with the French Haitian family that they "Santa Claused", it didn't go as they had planned. I guess no one was very grateful and it was kind of awkward. But they did pass on a Book of Mormon. And you never know. The gospel is all about planting seeds of truth and kindness. Mark is a wonderful example to me, and I could not be prouder of him and the choice that he has made to sacrifice two years of his life and serve the Lord for a cause that I know to be true. He is one amazing kid and we are all lucky to be a part of his life. Feliz Navidad Marky!