Hey Everyone,
This was such an amazing week, i don´t know where to start. i feel like i could write 10 pages and it still wouldn´t be enough. Well the first big news i have is that i got my christmas package today with my christmas music, thank you! it only took 2 months to get here, but like you said i will just have it for next christmas, and by that time i will only have 5 months left in the mission.
The conferences with Elder Bednar were amazing! it was such a spiritual and motivating experience. He is seriously a spiritual and gospel genious, but i guess that is what happens when you are constantly in the presence of prophets and apostles for 5 and a half years. On Saturday, we had the mission conference with him, and i got to sit on the 4th row. he doesn´t speak spanish so he used a translater, but it was really good for the Americans. He only knows 3 words in spanish, ¨Espiritu Santo, hola, and uno por uno¨. every now and then he would say one of those words and make a joke of how it is the gift of tongues is kicking in. He has a great personality, and basically just had a 3 hour conversation rather than give us a talk. right when he walked in, he commented about how hot it was and then took off his jacket and rolled up his sleeves and just started talking with us and asking our oppinions on things or what we thought about other things. we were given two of his talks to read before he came and he first asked what we liked about them and what we learned, he wasn´t intimidating at all. He told us that we shouldn´t write anything that he says, but what the Spirit tells us. it was pretty much a 3 hour demonstration of how we should talk and teach with people so that they feel the Spirit and receive revelations and confirmations. I know that every missionary there received revelation for themselves and for their investigators. it was truly an inspiring experience. One of my favorite topics that he talked about was the Atonement. He explained that there are two parts of the Atonement. the first is to be cleansed of our sins. the second is that it gives us strength and power to endure burdens, or problems and endure to the end (mosiah 24, v.13-15). Many people pray to have the Lord take away their burdens, when they should be praying for strength to carry them. He also talked alot about prayer and how everything is in the will of the Lord, not us. About 2 hours into the conference, he told us that we have an hour left and the time is now ours to ask him whatever question we wanted. 3 of the 70 and their wives also came with Elder Bednar: Martinez, Costa (who in the the presidency), and Coleman. He told us that we would never have this much time in a group so small as us, to ask whatever question we wanted to an apostle and three 70. of course we all wanted to ask him a question, but he was only able to answer about 7 before the time ran out. There were some great questions asked, like how has the Lord shaped him throughout his life to become an apostle, how has he grown closer to the Lord being an apostle, and what has he learned from prayer. it was a very spiritual experience for all of us.
side note: he made a comment of one of the ¨stupid games¨ Mormons play. one of these games is guess whats in my head during church or meetings or whenever. this is when we ask questions and look for someone to say the specific answer we are thinking of. instead, we should ask for their opinions because maybe they understood something else that we never thought of. So if you play whats in my head, the word from an apostle is to stop.
The next day, Sunday, we had the stake conference with Elder Bednar. once again, it was amazing. he talked alot about the same things that he talked about with us, such as the atonement. He also talked a little bit about the earthquake in Haiti. he said the best way to help is to pay fast offerings. the system is already established, we don´t have to do anything more, just pay fast offerings. we are going to do a special fast for them so that they will be able to receive more supplies. Right now, we have 3 families that we teaching where only one person in that family is a member. all 3 families came and a couple other investigators to the conference to hear to words of an apostle. they all really enjoyed it and felt the Spirit. We are going to put some baptismal dates with some of them this week.
This wasn´t the only good part about this week, we had a couple amazing experiences when we were guided by the Spirit. About a week ago, my comp and i were walking to the church for a meeting. on the way there, we felt impressed to contact a house. we contacted it and the lady said she didn´t have time then but we could come back another day, so we put a day and time to come back. a couple days later we returned for our appointment, but she wasn´t there, surprise surprise. we started walking away, when a member who lived right across the street called us over. This member is active, but she works all the time and i have never visited her because she is always at work. this day she got home a little early and was cleaning in front of her house. she said she had a friend who wants a book of mormon. we gladly got the information of her friend and visited him that night an hour later. he knew a lot about the church and wanted to learn more. we gave him the book of mormon and he was very excited to read it and told us he wants to go to church. Just by following the promptings of the Spirit to contact a house that wasn´t interested, we were guided to someone who really wanted to learn more. Another story is, about a week and a half ago, the bishop and his wife gave us a reference. we taught the reference and everything went great and she was excited about it all. she also works alot and is really hard to find at home. we have passed by her house about 6 times since that first lesson and she hasn´t been there once. the last time we went to see if she was home, we found her neighbor outside her house. he is a 20 year old kid with an open heart. he started talking with him and put a time to return to teach him. 2 days ago we taught him, and it was an amazing lesson. he was so excited about everything we said and was even more excited when we gave him a book of mormon that he could read. at the end of the lesson, he put a time that we could come back and told us that he would be waiting and that he would definitely read the book of mormon. I don´t know if these two guys will progress (i hope so), but i know that we were guided to them by the Lord because they were ready to hear the gospel. The best story about this week is about a family that i have only met for 30 minutes. i can´t remember if i told you, but right before the end of my 2nd transfer with my trainer, Elder Earl, a lady in the ward asked us if we could go to the hospital to give her neighbors 2 little kids a blessing who had gotten Dengue (the really bad illness carried by mosquitos). we went and gave them a blessing, not thinking much about it, and then a couple days later we were both transferred out of our area. at the stake conference, a family sat in front of me. i knew they looked familiar, but i could remember how i knew them. about half way through the conference, i realized it was that family. i talked to the elders in my old area to see if they were teaching them. they said, after elder earl and i gave them a blessing, they healed almost instantly. this sparked their interest in the church. shortly after, they started receiving lesson from the missionaries and assisting church. the elders said the mom and daughter are ready for baptism, they are just waiting for the dad who is pretty close. I know that it was the Lord guided us then too and it was His power that healed them, and hopefully another family will be brought into the gospel.
Well, as you can see, i had an amazing week. This is no doubt the work of the Lord. i love you all and hope you have a great week.
Elder Johnson
Thursday, January 21, 2010
Wednesday, January 13, 2010
Post Earthquake - I'm Okay and Joan got Baptized!
Hey Everyone,
so this was a very eventful week. first of all, about the earthquake, yes we did feel it. it has been really rainy and muddy here, so in the middle of the day we went home to change shoes, and when we walked out of our apartment, my comp turned to me and say, ¨hey is this an earthquake?¨ it was definitely an earthquake. where we were, it wasn´t big enough to knock us over, we just swayed back and forth for a couple of seconds. afterwards, everyone was outside talking about it. i don´t know too much about it, only that a hospital in Haiti fell and a lot of people died. i am not sure if we are going over to Haiti to help because it is a different country, but if they tell us anything i will be sure to let you know. it also caused a tsunami that is supposed to arrive friday, but i heard that by the time it gets here, it wont be that big. i feel bad for Haiti. they are already so poor and it seems like stuff is always happening over there. for right now, all we can do is pray for them.
The great news about this week is that we finally baptised Joan! that whole week we went over to his house everyday to make sure that he was still doing good, and on Friday he passed the interview. the district leader said that they had a really spirit talk during the interview and that he was definitely ready which made me happy. i also got to baptise him which was a great experience. you will have to wait until next week to see the pictures though because the USB on this computer doesn´t work and all of the other computers are taken. All of the other baptisms that the other missionaries had fell through so Joan was the only one. It was a very spritual experience that i hope he will always remember. he also brought his non-member mom to the baptism so i hope that she was able to feel the spirit as well. the next day on sunday, my comp confirmed him to the church and gave him the Holy Ghost, and during the 3rd hour he received the Aaronic Pristhood. he just seems so happy and excited to be a member. we had a lesson with him on monday, and after we tried to put an appointment with him on wednesday, but he told us he couln´t because there was an activity at the church that he wanted to go to. he has been making a lot of friends in the church, and i am sure that he will help the ward a lot.
Besides that, the only big news is that Elder Bednar is coming this weekend! He is talking with all of the missionaries in the mission for 3 hours saturday morning. they said that he will talk to us for a while, and then after we will have a question and answer period where we can ask him whatever we want. I am so excited to listen to what he has to say. He doesn´t speak spanish so i´m not sure if he is going to use a translater or just whip out the gift of tongues. The day after on sunday, we get to go to the stake center for conference where he will talk to everyone. the best part about this is that he wants all of the investigators to sit up front and then the members behind, so i am sure that the missionaries will get to sit with our investigators. we have about 7 of our investigators that are planning on going.
Well, as you can see, we had a great week (it could have been better for Haiti), and i hope you are all doing well. have a great week. love ya
Elder Johnson
so this was a very eventful week. first of all, about the earthquake, yes we did feel it. it has been really rainy and muddy here, so in the middle of the day we went home to change shoes, and when we walked out of our apartment, my comp turned to me and say, ¨hey is this an earthquake?¨ it was definitely an earthquake. where we were, it wasn´t big enough to knock us over, we just swayed back and forth for a couple of seconds. afterwards, everyone was outside talking about it. i don´t know too much about it, only that a hospital in Haiti fell and a lot of people died. i am not sure if we are going over to Haiti to help because it is a different country, but if they tell us anything i will be sure to let you know. it also caused a tsunami that is supposed to arrive friday, but i heard that by the time it gets here, it wont be that big. i feel bad for Haiti. they are already so poor and it seems like stuff is always happening over there. for right now, all we can do is pray for them.
The great news about this week is that we finally baptised Joan! that whole week we went over to his house everyday to make sure that he was still doing good, and on Friday he passed the interview. the district leader said that they had a really spirit talk during the interview and that he was definitely ready which made me happy. i also got to baptise him which was a great experience. you will have to wait until next week to see the pictures though because the USB on this computer doesn´t work and all of the other computers are taken. All of the other baptisms that the other missionaries had fell through so Joan was the only one. It was a very spritual experience that i hope he will always remember. he also brought his non-member mom to the baptism so i hope that she was able to feel the spirit as well. the next day on sunday, my comp confirmed him to the church and gave him the Holy Ghost, and during the 3rd hour he received the Aaronic Pristhood. he just seems so happy and excited to be a member. we had a lesson with him on monday, and after we tried to put an appointment with him on wednesday, but he told us he couln´t because there was an activity at the church that he wanted to go to. he has been making a lot of friends in the church, and i am sure that he will help the ward a lot.
Besides that, the only big news is that Elder Bednar is coming this weekend! He is talking with all of the missionaries in the mission for 3 hours saturday morning. they said that he will talk to us for a while, and then after we will have a question and answer period where we can ask him whatever we want. I am so excited to listen to what he has to say. He doesn´t speak spanish so i´m not sure if he is going to use a translater or just whip out the gift of tongues. The day after on sunday, we get to go to the stake center for conference where he will talk to everyone. the best part about this is that he wants all of the investigators to sit up front and then the members behind, so i am sure that the missionaries will get to sit with our investigators. we have about 7 of our investigators that are planning on going.
Well, as you can see, we had a great week (it could have been better for Haiti), and i hope you are all doing well. have a great week. love ya
Elder Johnson
Wednesday, January 6, 2010
The Word of Wisdom - makes ya or breaks ya
Hey Everyone,
So this week was a descent week. unfortunately, we didn´t baptise Joan because he drank coffee twice that week. he forgot that you can´t drink coffee and keep the word of wisdom and the same time, and he was really sad that he had to put off the baptism another week. we have been contacting him everyday to make sure he hasn´t drunken anything during the week and he has been really good so far. he is really excited about his baptism and talks about it with us and is even getting his nice clothes ready for this saturday. even his mom (who is not the best person on keeping the word of wisdom) is getting her nice clothes ready to support him on saturday. I was a little sad that we had to put it off another week, but the good news is that my comp and i are both staying here for the transfer so we will be able to baptize him. everything is going good so hopefully i will have baptism pics for you next week. on New years eve, we went by to see Joan to wish him a happy new years and he was dressed like a gangster ready to go out so we were really nervous and prayed a lot for him. we later found out that he didn´t go out at all, he just stayed at home and babysat his nephews. he really has a good testimony and we feel good about his baptism this saturday, i am just glad that we didn´t baptise him when he wasn´t ready.
For transfers, almost our whole district is staying the same. one of the dominicans is leaving and a new american straight from the mtc is coming, which will make me the 2nd oldest missionary in our district with 7.5 months.
We have this family that has been receiving lessons from the missionaries for over a year now. the father is an active member, but the mom smokes and is not a member, and they have a 12 year old daughter who isn´t a member and a 6 year old son. with my old comp, we would just always talk about the word of wisdom, but with my new comp we changed it up a little. we would teach them 2 or 3 times a week but for only about 15 min each, but we would have a really spiritual lesson. we hardly ever talked about the word of wisdom, but about topics that could help her quite, such as the Atonement, Faith, the Book of Mormon, etc. when i first got here, she was smoking 5-6 cigarettes a day, and now she is down to 1. she wants to quite before the 17th so she can go see Elder Bednar clean. We were so excited when she told us this because we really haven´t been asking her about it. she prayed during that lesson she told us, and it was the first time i have ever heard her pray for help, and really have that desire to quite and keep this commandment. we have a really good feeling that she will quite smoking and be baptized withing the next couple of months.
i don´t remember if i told you this other story, but i will tell you again. a couple of weeks ago, the other missionaries in our area gave us a reference for someone at the very end of our area (about a 40 min walk). one day we had a couple hours free so we went looking for him. we didn´t end up finding them, but we found this lady, Yanel, who is an active member, but goes to a different chapel. she has helped us so much these last couple of weeks, its amazing. she told us a couple days ago that she needs blessings, so she is helping us as much as she can. we will show up at her house 1-2 days in the weeks and she will just take us around to teach all of the people she knows (and some people who she has never met before), just because she knows how important the gospel is and wants everyone to hear it. one of the families she showed us is really progressing. the 22 year old daughter reads the Book of Mormon and goes to church with yanel, and the mom has a lot of questions and really likes talking to us. they are a really special family, and have a lot of potential. they also have two little boys who are physically and mentally handicapped. they can´t talk, walk, and have no control over their body. its really sad, but the family has a good attitude about it and have a lot of faith. i know that we received that reference, so that we could find these other people.
Well, the parties have died down a little bit here which is really good for us. we have a really good feeling about this transfer and about the investigators we have. We really didn´t do anything for new years. we went home about an hour early because it was getting a little dangerous outside with drunk people and guns. we were tired so we just went to bed and woke up the next morning. Really not much too it, just an average day. Hopefully you all had a great week. i love you..alot.
Elder Johnson
So this week was a descent week. unfortunately, we didn´t baptise Joan because he drank coffee twice that week. he forgot that you can´t drink coffee and keep the word of wisdom and the same time, and he was really sad that he had to put off the baptism another week. we have been contacting him everyday to make sure he hasn´t drunken anything during the week and he has been really good so far. he is really excited about his baptism and talks about it with us and is even getting his nice clothes ready for this saturday. even his mom (who is not the best person on keeping the word of wisdom) is getting her nice clothes ready to support him on saturday. I was a little sad that we had to put it off another week, but the good news is that my comp and i are both staying here for the transfer so we will be able to baptize him. everything is going good so hopefully i will have baptism pics for you next week. on New years eve, we went by to see Joan to wish him a happy new years and he was dressed like a gangster ready to go out so we were really nervous and prayed a lot for him. we later found out that he didn´t go out at all, he just stayed at home and babysat his nephews. he really has a good testimony and we feel good about his baptism this saturday, i am just glad that we didn´t baptise him when he wasn´t ready.
For transfers, almost our whole district is staying the same. one of the dominicans is leaving and a new american straight from the mtc is coming, which will make me the 2nd oldest missionary in our district with 7.5 months.
We have this family that has been receiving lessons from the missionaries for over a year now. the father is an active member, but the mom smokes and is not a member, and they have a 12 year old daughter who isn´t a member and a 6 year old son. with my old comp, we would just always talk about the word of wisdom, but with my new comp we changed it up a little. we would teach them 2 or 3 times a week but for only about 15 min each, but we would have a really spiritual lesson. we hardly ever talked about the word of wisdom, but about topics that could help her quite, such as the Atonement, Faith, the Book of Mormon, etc. when i first got here, she was smoking 5-6 cigarettes a day, and now she is down to 1. she wants to quite before the 17th so she can go see Elder Bednar clean. We were so excited when she told us this because we really haven´t been asking her about it. she prayed during that lesson she told us, and it was the first time i have ever heard her pray for help, and really have that desire to quite and keep this commandment. we have a really good feeling that she will quite smoking and be baptized withing the next couple of months.
i don´t remember if i told you this other story, but i will tell you again. a couple of weeks ago, the other missionaries in our area gave us a reference for someone at the very end of our area (about a 40 min walk). one day we had a couple hours free so we went looking for him. we didn´t end up finding them, but we found this lady, Yanel, who is an active member, but goes to a different chapel. she has helped us so much these last couple of weeks, its amazing. she told us a couple days ago that she needs blessings, so she is helping us as much as she can. we will show up at her house 1-2 days in the weeks and she will just take us around to teach all of the people she knows (and some people who she has never met before), just because she knows how important the gospel is and wants everyone to hear it. one of the families she showed us is really progressing. the 22 year old daughter reads the Book of Mormon and goes to church with yanel, and the mom has a lot of questions and really likes talking to us. they are a really special family, and have a lot of potential. they also have two little boys who are physically and mentally handicapped. they can´t talk, walk, and have no control over their body. its really sad, but the family has a good attitude about it and have a lot of faith. i know that we received that reference, so that we could find these other people.
Well, the parties have died down a little bit here which is really good for us. we have a really good feeling about this transfer and about the investigators we have. We really didn´t do anything for new years. we went home about an hour early because it was getting a little dangerous outside with drunk people and guns. we were tired so we just went to bed and woke up the next morning. Really not much too it, just an average day. Hopefully you all had a great week. i love you..alot.
Elder Johnson
Friday, December 25, 2009
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!
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!
Tuesday, December 15, 2009
French, Anyone?
Hey Everyone,
This was a good week, not too exciting but good. On Saturday, we had a couple of hours free without any appointments, so we decided to walk our entire area, because we have never done that before, and try to find a good family to teach. in the non-city party of our area we found this little dirt road that led into the forest so we decided to walk down it to see what was there. after a couple of minutes we found a ranch so we talked to the guys for a little while and then kept walking. After about 25 more minutes on this road without seeing anyone, we found a little clearing with about 5 houses in it. we walked in the middle and started looking around to see if anyone was there. we saw this little Haitian boy about 8 years old, so we waved to him and smiled. he immediately ran for his house and said something in french. we then started to see more heads poke out from behind some bushes. i think they thought two white men from the government had come to take away their houses. we walked closer to show them that we were friendly. we saw this old lady who had a really deformed left arm, one of the worst i have ever seen. we talked with her because she knew spanish and then one by one the other people started coming over to see what we had to say. the other family members just spoke french so we used the little french we know and then just talked to the old lady in spanish. it was just one big Haitian family that lived there. we talked for a few minutes and told them who we were, but we had to leave because the sun was setting and we wanted to see where we were going to get back home. while walking back, my comp and i had an idea to do something for them for christmas. we have been looking for a family to do something for and that was them. we are going to go back Christmas eve with candy and toys for all of the kids in our santa hats and bring a book of mormon in french and something else for the adults. i know it wont be much but we are excited to do it because we are pretty sure they havent ever had a christmas before seeing as how poor they were.
Yesterday, we had a big zone conference with 3 zones together. it was a great talk about the importance of Christmas and Christ and His Atonement. it lasted about 4 hours but it was good to bring the true spirit of christmas. after the conference, they gave all of us lunch and then our district put on a special musical number for everyone. the presidents wife asked us to do it just two days before so we didn´t have too much time to practice but it turned out really well. me and another guy played the guitar, another played the piano, and the others sang. Of course the last song we played was feliz navidad. i think one of the senior couples sent mom the pictures so ask her for them. we also had our interviews with the president this week which went really well as always. he always has a smile and advise to give us. it was a good spiritually boosting week for us.
besides that we just did a lot of teaching this week. Joan is still progressing really good and still has his baptismal date for the 26th. No one else really seems to be progressing, but we found a couple of new investigators this week that seem like they have potential.
well thats about it for this week. my first call home is just 9 days away. have a great week.
Love Elder Johnson
This was a good week, not too exciting but good. On Saturday, we had a couple of hours free without any appointments, so we decided to walk our entire area, because we have never done that before, and try to find a good family to teach. in the non-city party of our area we found this little dirt road that led into the forest so we decided to walk down it to see what was there. after a couple of minutes we found a ranch so we talked to the guys for a little while and then kept walking. After about 25 more minutes on this road without seeing anyone, we found a little clearing with about 5 houses in it. we walked in the middle and started looking around to see if anyone was there. we saw this little Haitian boy about 8 years old, so we waved to him and smiled. he immediately ran for his house and said something in french. we then started to see more heads poke out from behind some bushes. i think they thought two white men from the government had come to take away their houses. we walked closer to show them that we were friendly. we saw this old lady who had a really deformed left arm, one of the worst i have ever seen. we talked with her because she knew spanish and then one by one the other people started coming over to see what we had to say. the other family members just spoke french so we used the little french we know and then just talked to the old lady in spanish. it was just one big Haitian family that lived there. we talked for a few minutes and told them who we were, but we had to leave because the sun was setting and we wanted to see where we were going to get back home. while walking back, my comp and i had an idea to do something for them for christmas. we have been looking for a family to do something for and that was them. we are going to go back Christmas eve with candy and toys for all of the kids in our santa hats and bring a book of mormon in french and something else for the adults. i know it wont be much but we are excited to do it because we are pretty sure they havent ever had a christmas before seeing as how poor they were.
Yesterday, we had a big zone conference with 3 zones together. it was a great talk about the importance of Christmas and Christ and His Atonement. it lasted about 4 hours but it was good to bring the true spirit of christmas. after the conference, they gave all of us lunch and then our district put on a special musical number for everyone. the presidents wife asked us to do it just two days before so we didn´t have too much time to practice but it turned out really well. me and another guy played the guitar, another played the piano, and the others sang. Of course the last song we played was feliz navidad. i think one of the senior couples sent mom the pictures so ask her for them. we also had our interviews with the president this week which went really well as always. he always has a smile and advise to give us. it was a good spiritually boosting week for us.
besides that we just did a lot of teaching this week. Joan is still progressing really good and still has his baptismal date for the 26th. No one else really seems to be progressing, but we found a couple of new investigators this week that seem like they have potential.
well thats about it for this week. my first call home is just 9 days away. have a great week.
Love Elder Johnson
Wednesday, December 9, 2009
Banana Bread and Buckets
Dear Everyone,
Once again i had a very good week, although not much really happened. it just kind of went by and now its p-day again. The only rough part of the week was that we had to drop about 5 of our investigators because we have taught them everything and they still haven´t gone to church or kept the commitments. the only investigator that we really have progressing is Joan. He even went to us to the Christmas 1st presidency message because he wanted to hear the prophet. although, i am getting a little nervous as christmas gets closer because he baptismal date is the day after christmas and and christmas is a really big drinking day here and i know he will be around people (aka his mom) who will be drinking. But if he has a testimony, he should be able to get through the holidays and baptized.
The Christmas fireside was amazing. the prophet sounds so strong. that whole hour just flew by for our of all. I wish it would have kept going on forever. I really think Joan liked it too.
My comp and i are still getting along great. The best part about working with him is that we have the Spirit with us. A lot of times we will be in a lesson and just feel like we should teach something else than what we had planned and we are able to do it effectively. We just seem to click together. Also, we both have been missing some homemade cooking at this time of the year so we have been doing a lot of cooking, which has mainly just been banana bread, brownies, and cookies.
Its weird that it is Christmas time because it doesn´t seem like it at all. you will see some little lights here and there, and a little tree in some people´s houses but thats about it. i know we shouldn´t be focused on the material things of christmas, but it is nice when it actually feels like christmas though. We are doing good though, we are still healthy and alive.
Anyways, that is about all i can think of to write. like i said not a lot happened this week. The other day i got really scared because i dropped the mission cell phone in a bucket of water on accident but it still works...for now. Sorry that it was kind of a random email this week. hopefully i will have more to say next week. have a good week, i love you all.
Elder johnson
Wednesday, December 2, 2009
Thanksgiving in the DR
hey everyone,
This was a great week. There wasn´t too many exciting things that happened, it was just really good working hard with someone who wants to work and someone who i really get along with. the second day of this transfer we even got 9 lessons in one day which was a record for me. i know its not about numbers, but it was just nice to be busy. Right now, we are getting rid of some of our investigators that don´t seem to be progressing and getting a new batch of people to work with, especially less active members. in our area, there are about 500 members, and only about 100 of them are active, so we have a LOT of work to do.
We actually had an amazing thanksgiving feast. one of the other elders cooked a turkey, mashed potatoes, gravy, garlic bread, and a cheesecake. there were 8 of us there and we ate pretty much all of it. of course it wasn´t as good as yours, mom, but it was pretty close. This week, my comp and i bought a little Christmas tree and some lights, but that is pretty much all of the Christmas decorations we bought seeing as how neither of us have that much money. One of the best things about this companionship is that he knows how to bake and has a lot of recipes for cakes and brownies. i have learned how to do a lot (well not a lot but enough) of cooking here so i cook and he bakes. we have a feeling that we are going to get fat this transfer so we started running in the mornings too.
The best news that i have is that a couple of days ago we found out that Elder Bednar is coming to speak to us in January. This will be the second time that i will have heard him speak live in the mission, but the first time was with 2000 other missionaries. this time it will be with about 70 or less. I have heard some talks by him where he pretty much chewed some missionaries out for not being obedient, and i have also heard talks where he is really funny and just has a good time with the missionaries, hopefully it will be the latter in January.
Being Senior comp is cool, but not that much different. the only real change is that i get the cell phone and i get to set the pace, but my comp is on the same pace as me so it works out good. I thought i would have a little trouble with the Spanish without someone to rely on but i haven´t had any trouble with it so far.
As far as our investigators go that are really progressing, we just have the two. we had to drop the 11 year old girl because her mom didn´t give us permission to baptize her. we have an appointment to return and teach her mom so hopefully she can feel the spirit and change her mind. The other two are still progressing and we have two baptisms planned for them this transfer which should go through unless Satan tries to be a (fill in word here) and gets into their hearts.
Well that's about all i have to say for this week. it was a very good week and hopefully this next one will be better. have a great week. i love you... a lot!
Elder Johnson
This was a great week. There wasn´t too many exciting things that happened, it was just really good working hard with someone who wants to work and someone who i really get along with. the second day of this transfer we even got 9 lessons in one day which was a record for me. i know its not about numbers, but it was just nice to be busy. Right now, we are getting rid of some of our investigators that don´t seem to be progressing and getting a new batch of people to work with, especially less active members. in our area, there are about 500 members, and only about 100 of them are active, so we have a LOT of work to do.
We actually had an amazing thanksgiving feast. one of the other elders cooked a turkey, mashed potatoes, gravy, garlic bread, and a cheesecake. there were 8 of us there and we ate pretty much all of it. of course it wasn´t as good as yours, mom, but it was pretty close. This week, my comp and i bought a little Christmas tree and some lights, but that is pretty much all of the Christmas decorations we bought seeing as how neither of us have that much money. One of the best things about this companionship is that he knows how to bake and has a lot of recipes for cakes and brownies. i have learned how to do a lot (well not a lot but enough) of cooking here so i cook and he bakes. we have a feeling that we are going to get fat this transfer so we started running in the mornings too.
The best news that i have is that a couple of days ago we found out that Elder Bednar is coming to speak to us in January. This will be the second time that i will have heard him speak live in the mission, but the first time was with 2000 other missionaries. this time it will be with about 70 or less. I have heard some talks by him where he pretty much chewed some missionaries out for not being obedient, and i have also heard talks where he is really funny and just has a good time with the missionaries, hopefully it will be the latter in January.
Being Senior comp is cool, but not that much different. the only real change is that i get the cell phone and i get to set the pace, but my comp is on the same pace as me so it works out good. I thought i would have a little trouble with the Spanish without someone to rely on but i haven´t had any trouble with it so far.
As far as our investigators go that are really progressing, we just have the two. we had to drop the 11 year old girl because her mom didn´t give us permission to baptize her. we have an appointment to return and teach her mom so hopefully she can feel the spirit and change her mind. The other two are still progressing and we have two baptisms planned for them this transfer which should go through unless Satan tries to be a (fill in word here) and gets into their hearts.
Well that's about all i have to say for this week. it was a very good week and hopefully this next one will be better. have a great week. i love you... a lot!
Elder Johnson
Wednesday, November 25, 2009
Christmas Came Early - I Have a New Companion!
hey everyone,
This has been an amazing couple of days. at the end of last week i was getting really nervous that me and my comp would stay together for another transfer and we would be stuck together for thanksgiving, christmas, and new years. i did a lot of fasting and praying (not that he would go, but that the best thing for me would happen whether that be he stays or go and that i would be able to handle him if he stayed). Monday morning, the Lord answered my prayers. The monday before wednesday transfers in our district meeting we find out who stays and who goes. that morning morning before the meeting the president calls those people who are going up. i wasn´t expecting a call because i only have 6 months and my comp didn´t go up until he has a year and 1 in the mission. Lo and behold i got the call to go up to senior comp. i was really shocked and nervous because i am still really new but at the same time i was really happy because i knew i would get a different comp. in the meeting i found out that my comp is another american, Elder Holmes, who is in my zone. he is a really cool guy and i am so excited to work with him, especially during the holiday season. its a little weird because he is in the group behind me so i only have six more weeks than him in the mission so my spanish will really be put to the test. almost all of the americans in my group got moved to senior comp this transfer because we have all been learning spanish good and are ready for it. I really hope the Lord knows what he is doing on this one. Elder Holmes came this morning and we have gotton along great today. i have a feeling that this transfer is going to fly by.
Last sunday, me and another american in my group who is in the same ward sang in sacrament meeting. i know i can´t sing that good but it turned out really good. after, they asked us to be in the ward choir (mainly because there are only 3 men there and no one else wants too). As far as thanksgiving goes, i´m not sure what we are going to do. one of the Elders in our ward is an amazing cook and wants to cook a turkey and some potatoes this year so hopefully that will happen. besides that it will just be another working day.
Funny side note, out of the 8 people in our district, i am the 3rd oldest with 6 months. we have a VERY young district but we have a lot of desire to work so we will see what happens. Besides that i don´t have too much to say. my old comp is on the other side of the mission and i am still in cienfuegos with my new comp.
We were supposed to have a baptism this saturday with our 16 year old, but his mom said know because he wasn´t putting into practice the things we are teaching him. The kid says he is ready but the mom says no and since he is under 18 we have to go with the mom´s decision. of course i want to wait until he is ready too but we will keep working with him and hopefully baptise him sometime this transfer. Anyways, thats all i have to say for this week. i am still safe and healthy and i hope you all have a great thanksgiving.
Love Elder Johnson
This has been an amazing couple of days. at the end of last week i was getting really nervous that me and my comp would stay together for another transfer and we would be stuck together for thanksgiving, christmas, and new years. i did a lot of fasting and praying (not that he would go, but that the best thing for me would happen whether that be he stays or go and that i would be able to handle him if he stayed). Monday morning, the Lord answered my prayers. The monday before wednesday transfers in our district meeting we find out who stays and who goes. that morning morning before the meeting the president calls those people who are going up. i wasn´t expecting a call because i only have 6 months and my comp didn´t go up until he has a year and 1 in the mission. Lo and behold i got the call to go up to senior comp. i was really shocked and nervous because i am still really new but at the same time i was really happy because i knew i would get a different comp. in the meeting i found out that my comp is another american, Elder Holmes, who is in my zone. he is a really cool guy and i am so excited to work with him, especially during the holiday season. its a little weird because he is in the group behind me so i only have six more weeks than him in the mission so my spanish will really be put to the test. almost all of the americans in my group got moved to senior comp this transfer because we have all been learning spanish good and are ready for it. I really hope the Lord knows what he is doing on this one. Elder Holmes came this morning and we have gotton along great today. i have a feeling that this transfer is going to fly by.
Last sunday, me and another american in my group who is in the same ward sang in sacrament meeting. i know i can´t sing that good but it turned out really good. after, they asked us to be in the ward choir (mainly because there are only 3 men there and no one else wants too). As far as thanksgiving goes, i´m not sure what we are going to do. one of the Elders in our ward is an amazing cook and wants to cook a turkey and some potatoes this year so hopefully that will happen. besides that it will just be another working day.
Funny side note, out of the 8 people in our district, i am the 3rd oldest with 6 months. we have a VERY young district but we have a lot of desire to work so we will see what happens. Besides that i don´t have too much to say. my old comp is on the other side of the mission and i am still in cienfuegos with my new comp.
We were supposed to have a baptism this saturday with our 16 year old, but his mom said know because he wasn´t putting into practice the things we are teaching him. The kid says he is ready but the mom says no and since he is under 18 we have to go with the mom´s decision. of course i want to wait until he is ready too but we will keep working with him and hopefully baptise him sometime this transfer. Anyways, thats all i have to say for this week. i am still safe and healthy and i hope you all have a great thanksgiving.
Love Elder Johnson
Monday, November 23, 2009
Six Month Mark! I'm 1/4 There!
Hey everyone,
So i am sorry but this week wasn´t as interesting as last week. i did not get robbed, shot, stabbed, or hit by a car, so the rest of this letter will be pretty boring. Last Saturday, we had another flash flood. This time, however, we were on the other side of the area where there is only dirt roads and it is at the bottom of everything. we had to go home about an hour early because there was nothing we could do. we only had one more lesson of the day and it was even farther down the hill. The water wasn´t as deep but it was pretty much all mud. unfortunately, i wore my other shoes that i didn´t wear in the first flood so now both of them are kind of gross, but all is well. On the positive side of things, my comp and i put 3 baptismal dates for 3 different investigators we are teaching and put a marriage date with another couple we are teaching. our investigators with the baptismal date are a 27 year old guy named Joan that i talked about last week, a 16 year old kid named Jean Carlos, and a 12 year old girl named Trini. They all seem really interested so hopefully we everything will go as planned and they will be baptized next transer but i don´t want to jinx myself.
This is the last p day of the transfer. on Monday we find out who goes and who stays (if anyone does). I´m not going to lie, i want my comp to get transferred somewhere else, but if he stays i know that it is for the best and will help me in the long wrong.
I hit 6 months in 2 days which is exciting. i probably won´t do anything to celebrate, just go out and teach. the time has gone by super fast for me but at the same time it has been kind of long (mainly just this transfer has been long).
I know that i told you (mom) that i wanted a family baptised for christmas. there is a young woman in our ward who is the only member in her family and really wants her parents to be members so she can be part of an eternal family. we started teaching her parents a couple of weeks ago. the seem some what interested but i am not sure about how interested. the mom is Catholic, which is a big problem for us here because most of them have the motto "my grandparents were Catholic, my parents were Catholic, i am Catholic, and i will die a Catholic." we will see if we can break them though.
That is about all that i have to say for this week, so enjoy life and i love you all.
Elder Johnson
So i am sorry but this week wasn´t as interesting as last week. i did not get robbed, shot, stabbed, or hit by a car, so the rest of this letter will be pretty boring. Last Saturday, we had another flash flood. This time, however, we were on the other side of the area where there is only dirt roads and it is at the bottom of everything. we had to go home about an hour early because there was nothing we could do. we only had one more lesson of the day and it was even farther down the hill. The water wasn´t as deep but it was pretty much all mud. unfortunately, i wore my other shoes that i didn´t wear in the first flood so now both of them are kind of gross, but all is well. On the positive side of things, my comp and i put 3 baptismal dates for 3 different investigators we are teaching and put a marriage date with another couple we are teaching. our investigators with the baptismal date are a 27 year old guy named Joan that i talked about last week, a 16 year old kid named Jean Carlos, and a 12 year old girl named Trini. They all seem really interested so hopefully we everything will go as planned and they will be baptized next transer but i don´t want to jinx myself.
This is the last p day of the transfer. on Monday we find out who goes and who stays (if anyone does). I´m not going to lie, i want my comp to get transferred somewhere else, but if he stays i know that it is for the best and will help me in the long wrong.
I hit 6 months in 2 days which is exciting. i probably won´t do anything to celebrate, just go out and teach. the time has gone by super fast for me but at the same time it has been kind of long (mainly just this transfer has been long).
I know that i told you (mom) that i wanted a family baptised for christmas. there is a young woman in our ward who is the only member in her family and really wants her parents to be members so she can be part of an eternal family. we started teaching her parents a couple of weeks ago. the seem some what interested but i am not sure about how interested. the mom is Catholic, which is a big problem for us here because most of them have the motto "my grandparents were Catholic, my parents were Catholic, i am Catholic, and i will die a Catholic." we will see if we can break them though.
That is about all that i have to say for this week, so enjoy life and i love you all.
Elder Johnson
We got Robbed!!!
Hey everyone,
So this has been a crazy and difficult week. it all started last thursday, when someone broke into our house and stole my guitar, cd player, speakers, fan, my toiletry kit with my razor and everything, and some stuff of my comps. however, he did the leave the most important things that i have, my pictures and camera, my scriptures, and my glove. it was just really annoying and now its really quiet in the house without music. he did leave all of my church cds though so i just have to by a new cd player. We called the office and they came over but they couldn´t really do anything or reimburse anything that was stolen. they just bought a new more durable lock.
the next day, all of our appointments fired on us except for one so we only got one lesson all day which has been a first in the mission for me. we also found out that Etcel, our investigator that was practically mormon and just had to go to church one more time to be baptized, moved because he didn´t have money to pay rent and now we don´t know where he is. also, we are teaching this other investigator, but one of the guys in our ward told us that his mom is a witch. it has just been kind of a stressful week with all of that and then my comp is still crazy and was getting on my nerves. Although, i have learned to have a lot of patience this week. on the bright side of the week, we had a really good zone conference and we had 4 investigators at church (which has been the most this transfer). One of our investigators, Joan, has really seemed to like the gospel. he has already gone to church twice and always seems really interested in the lessons. the rule for us is that we have to teach him a couple of more lessons and he has to go to church one more time and then he can be baptised so hopefully we will be able to do that either this transfer or next.
Here in the city we don´t get to do as much service as i did in my first area which is kind of lame but it gives us more time to proselyte and teach lessons so it´s still a win win situation.
This morning for a zone activity we got to play basketball for a couple of hours. Dominicans may be good at baseball, but they are definitely lacking in their basketball skills. i was the only american playing so it was a little rough but still fun and good exercise.
Besides that, nothing i don´t have too much more to say. it has rained the past 3 days but really lightly so there weren´t any flash floods, just a LOT of smelly mud to walk through. It has also cooled down a little bit but not enough. everyone here thinks its so much colder though and i have seen a number of people in sweatshirts and jackets.
The work is still going good here, there is a lot of people to teach and a lot of people waiting to be taught. the ward is still going good as well, although i am pretty sure they are getting tired of my comp and want him to go next transfer as well, but i will find out in 12 what is going to happen. i hope everything is going well for all of you and you are enjoying the holiday season.
Love Elder Johnson
So this has been a crazy and difficult week. it all started last thursday, when someone broke into our house and stole my guitar, cd player, speakers, fan, my toiletry kit with my razor and everything, and some stuff of my comps. however, he did the leave the most important things that i have, my pictures and camera, my scriptures, and my glove. it was just really annoying and now its really quiet in the house without music. he did leave all of my church cds though so i just have to by a new cd player. We called the office and they came over but they couldn´t really do anything or reimburse anything that was stolen. they just bought a new more durable lock.
the next day, all of our appointments fired on us except for one so we only got one lesson all day which has been a first in the mission for me. we also found out that Etcel, our investigator that was practically mormon and just had to go to church one more time to be baptized, moved because he didn´t have money to pay rent and now we don´t know where he is. also, we are teaching this other investigator, but one of the guys in our ward told us that his mom is a witch. it has just been kind of a stressful week with all of that and then my comp is still crazy and was getting on my nerves. Although, i have learned to have a lot of patience this week. on the bright side of the week, we had a really good zone conference and we had 4 investigators at church (which has been the most this transfer). One of our investigators, Joan, has really seemed to like the gospel. he has already gone to church twice and always seems really interested in the lessons. the rule for us is that we have to teach him a couple of more lessons and he has to go to church one more time and then he can be baptised so hopefully we will be able to do that either this transfer or next.
Here in the city we don´t get to do as much service as i did in my first area which is kind of lame but it gives us more time to proselyte and teach lessons so it´s still a win win situation.
This morning for a zone activity we got to play basketball for a couple of hours. Dominicans may be good at baseball, but they are definitely lacking in their basketball skills. i was the only american playing so it was a little rough but still fun and good exercise.
Besides that, nothing i don´t have too much more to say. it has rained the past 3 days but really lightly so there weren´t any flash floods, just a LOT of smelly mud to walk through. It has also cooled down a little bit but not enough. everyone here thinks its so much colder though and i have seen a number of people in sweatshirts and jackets.
The work is still going good here, there is a lot of people to teach and a lot of people waiting to be taught. the ward is still going good as well, although i am pretty sure they are getting tired of my comp and want him to go next transfer as well, but i will find out in 12 what is going to happen. i hope everything is going well for all of you and you are enjoying the holiday season.
Love Elder Johnson
El Gigante Blanco Survives his first Flash Flood
Hey family,
So this week has been a little better but its still a struggle. i kind of took over this week because i didn´t want it to be a repeat of 7 lessons last week. this week we were able to get 22 lessons with 22 new investigators so we were definitely keeping busy. yesterday, my comp thanked me for pushing him harder this week because he has been really lethargic lately and hasn´t wanted to work. He still drives me crazy because he never stops talking (especially about his girlfriend) but i can get over that if we actually have work to do.
I am starting to get used to this new area. there are only two things that i really don´t like about it. the first is the river that runs through the area. it is definitely the worst smelling thing i have ever smelled in my life. everyone just throws their garbage in their because they are too lazy to walk to the dumpster. we have to walk by it about 5 times a day and every time i feel like i need to throw up. the other thing i can´t stand are the kids here. i love american kids but dominicans are a different story. whenever we walk down the street they just start walking by me and call me a giant. at first i didn´t mind but now its just annoying. i just let them know that i am normal size and they are all midgets, so now whenever i see them i walk by them and tell them how short they are.
Last Thursday we were in a lesson and it started to rain. when we finished the lesson it had only been raining for about 5 minutes and we had a meeting at the church so we thought we could make it to the church no problem and just be a little wet. once we left it started to rain a lot harder, and withing 5 more minutes of walking the dirt road turning into a really fast river with water up to my knees. the area we are in is all at the bottom of the hill so all the water comes our way. we knew we couldn´t make it to the church because it was at the top of the hill so we decided to go home because we were already drenched and it would be impossible to teach a lesson because everyone has tin roofs and when it rains hard its so loud that you can´t hear yourself talk. after 20 min or so we were almost home, we just had one more main road to cross. little did we know that this road was the biggest of all the rivers. there were abandoned cars turned sideways with water almost up to the windshield. we started hiking uphill a little bit to see if there was a calmer spot that we could cross. we finally found a spot that wasn´t too bad but we still need the help of a car, a pole, and a couple of men to help us cross. dominicans hate rain by the way so they just thought mormons are even more crazy.
On saturday morning we were doing service at an innactive members house. next door to them were a funeral service for someone who was killed by the police the day before. he was a really bad man that has robbed and killed people so the police decided to return the favor. aparently they have a 5 strike system. once someone has five strikes the police come and look for you... murder is an automatic 5 strikes.
right now we have a couple of interesting investigators. there is this guy named Etcel (who we actually haven´t taught yet). he contacted us on the street last friday and said he is looking for God and wants us to come teach him. he said he already had all of the missionary lessons before but now he needs to rethink his life and if he wants to get baptised in our church because he is Evangelical now. we put an appointment with him on saturday and invited him to church sunday. he wasn´t at his house on saturday but he showed up to church. he told us in church that he is reading the Book of Mormon, Jesus the Christ, the House of the Lord, the Articles of Faith, and the Miracle of Forgivness. he has a really interest for the church and loves reading about our faith. after church he said he really like it and he is going to tell his other church that he isn´t going there anymore. we just have to repass all the lessons and once he goes to church 2 more times we will baptize him. right now it seems a little too good to be true and that something is wrong but we will see. also, in church we were talking about the law of chastity. Etcel raised his hand to make a comment and actually said the F word in english (he knows perfect english) and explained it stands for fornicating under the something of the king. i don´t remember all of what he said, i guess it was just the first time that i heard that word in church and was a little shocked. another one of our investigators is named Manny who is this gangster kid the moved from the DR to New York when he was 3 and just moved back again, so he knows english better than spanish. we began teaching him the other day and we teach him in english but its too hard for us. we can only teach in spanish because thats how we learned and i haven´t taught in english for 5 months. it was probably the worst lesson i have had just because it was so choppy. we would teach in spanish in our minds and then translate to english when we spoke but it didn´t work. we might just have to switch to complete spanish. there is also this innactive member who we went to visit. when we went there, the husband said they decided to switch churches because ours doesn´t have any strength. when we asked him what he means, he said for a while there have been demons in his house and members of our church weren´t able to get rid of them, but then he went to another church and they came and got rid of them that day. even though he has been a member for 12 years he just wants to leave. my comp got a little defensive but after a while we left. we asked the president what to do and he told us to do nothing and leave him for the bishop to deal with because we shouldn´t waste our time with him when there are plenty of other people we could be teaching. the bishop also told us that he has never had a testimony of the church which makes sense.
anyways, thats about all i have to say for this week. i havent had to beat up my comp yet but we will see about next week. hope you all are doing good.
Love, Elder Johnson
So this week has been a little better but its still a struggle. i kind of took over this week because i didn´t want it to be a repeat of 7 lessons last week. this week we were able to get 22 lessons with 22 new investigators so we were definitely keeping busy. yesterday, my comp thanked me for pushing him harder this week because he has been really lethargic lately and hasn´t wanted to work. He still drives me crazy because he never stops talking (especially about his girlfriend) but i can get over that if we actually have work to do.
I am starting to get used to this new area. there are only two things that i really don´t like about it. the first is the river that runs through the area. it is definitely the worst smelling thing i have ever smelled in my life. everyone just throws their garbage in their because they are too lazy to walk to the dumpster. we have to walk by it about 5 times a day and every time i feel like i need to throw up. the other thing i can´t stand are the kids here. i love american kids but dominicans are a different story. whenever we walk down the street they just start walking by me and call me a giant. at first i didn´t mind but now its just annoying. i just let them know that i am normal size and they are all midgets, so now whenever i see them i walk by them and tell them how short they are.
Last Thursday we were in a lesson and it started to rain. when we finished the lesson it had only been raining for about 5 minutes and we had a meeting at the church so we thought we could make it to the church no problem and just be a little wet. once we left it started to rain a lot harder, and withing 5 more minutes of walking the dirt road turning into a really fast river with water up to my knees. the area we are in is all at the bottom of the hill so all the water comes our way. we knew we couldn´t make it to the church because it was at the top of the hill so we decided to go home because we were already drenched and it would be impossible to teach a lesson because everyone has tin roofs and when it rains hard its so loud that you can´t hear yourself talk. after 20 min or so we were almost home, we just had one more main road to cross. little did we know that this road was the biggest of all the rivers. there were abandoned cars turned sideways with water almost up to the windshield. we started hiking uphill a little bit to see if there was a calmer spot that we could cross. we finally found a spot that wasn´t too bad but we still need the help of a car, a pole, and a couple of men to help us cross. dominicans hate rain by the way so they just thought mormons are even more crazy.
On saturday morning we were doing service at an innactive members house. next door to them were a funeral service for someone who was killed by the police the day before. he was a really bad man that has robbed and killed people so the police decided to return the favor. aparently they have a 5 strike system. once someone has five strikes the police come and look for you... murder is an automatic 5 strikes.
right now we have a couple of interesting investigators. there is this guy named Etcel (who we actually haven´t taught yet). he contacted us on the street last friday and said he is looking for God and wants us to come teach him. he said he already had all of the missionary lessons before but now he needs to rethink his life and if he wants to get baptised in our church because he is Evangelical now. we put an appointment with him on saturday and invited him to church sunday. he wasn´t at his house on saturday but he showed up to church. he told us in church that he is reading the Book of Mormon, Jesus the Christ, the House of the Lord, the Articles of Faith, and the Miracle of Forgivness. he has a really interest for the church and loves reading about our faith. after church he said he really like it and he is going to tell his other church that he isn´t going there anymore. we just have to repass all the lessons and once he goes to church 2 more times we will baptize him. right now it seems a little too good to be true and that something is wrong but we will see. also, in church we were talking about the law of chastity. Etcel raised his hand to make a comment and actually said the F word in english (he knows perfect english) and explained it stands for fornicating under the something of the king. i don´t remember all of what he said, i guess it was just the first time that i heard that word in church and was a little shocked. another one of our investigators is named Manny who is this gangster kid the moved from the DR to New York when he was 3 and just moved back again, so he knows english better than spanish. we began teaching him the other day and we teach him in english but its too hard for us. we can only teach in spanish because thats how we learned and i haven´t taught in english for 5 months. it was probably the worst lesson i have had just because it was so choppy. we would teach in spanish in our minds and then translate to english when we spoke but it didn´t work. we might just have to switch to complete spanish. there is also this innactive member who we went to visit. when we went there, the husband said they decided to switch churches because ours doesn´t have any strength. when we asked him what he means, he said for a while there have been demons in his house and members of our church weren´t able to get rid of them, but then he went to another church and they came and got rid of them that day. even though he has been a member for 12 years he just wants to leave. my comp got a little defensive but after a while we left. we asked the president what to do and he told us to do nothing and leave him for the bishop to deal with because we shouldn´t waste our time with him when there are plenty of other people we could be teaching. the bishop also told us that he has never had a testimony of the church which makes sense.
anyways, thats about all i have to say for this week. i havent had to beat up my comp yet but we will see about next week. hope you all are doing good.
Love, Elder Johnson
Fried Chicken and Burning Tires
Hey family,
This week wasn´t has crazy as last week, so i´m sorry if this letter is pretty boring. Halloween was pretty much a blur for us. at lunch we went over to another Elder´s house and i made rice with corn and fried chicken (yes that is right i actually cooked and it was good) and then we ate a cake that one of the other elders made. besides that it was just a normal day with teaching the gospel. Etcel, the guy who swore in church last week, was at church this Sunday an hour early. we even had a ¨spiritual breakfast¨ on saturday at 6 in the morning and he was there. He even bore his testimony about the Book of Mormon in sacrament meeting. at first i was really nervous because i knew what happened last time he talked. he actually gave a really nice testimony. so far he has read the Book of Mormon 5 times and has 37 other books by the Church. He loves the church but we still haven´t taught him yet. we have passed by his house probably once a day and he is never home. He is the perfect golden investigator but something still feels a little wrong with him. hopefully we will actually be able to find him in his house to start teaching him.
There is a guy in our ward who is leaving for his mission tomorrow, so lately he has been going out with all of the missionaries to see how the mission life is and start teaching. it will be sad to see him go because he is a really great member here. we also have two part member families that we are teaching. in one of them, only one 16 year old boy is the nonmember but he seems to be progressing and i think he will be baptized in a couple of weeks. in the other family, the only member is a 17 year old girl and she wants her parents to become members so they can be an eternal family. we just started teaching them so i´m not sure how interested they are right now but we will see. as far as that, is has just been a normal flash flood free week. Last night we saw a lady get hit by a car while we were walking to an appointment. everyone rushed over to her, but she didn´t seem too hurt, maybe a broken foot but nothing major. we were already late for our appointment so we just let them deal with it. there was also a small riot in one of the neighborhoods in our area. when they riot they just burn big tires in the middle of the street. we asked them why they were rioting and they said there wasn´t any water. we told them we were sorry and kept on walking.
I do not have anything more to say so i hope you all had a great holiday and have a great week. love you
Elder Johnson
This week wasn´t has crazy as last week, so i´m sorry if this letter is pretty boring. Halloween was pretty much a blur for us. at lunch we went over to another Elder´s house and i made rice with corn and fried chicken (yes that is right i actually cooked and it was good) and then we ate a cake that one of the other elders made. besides that it was just a normal day with teaching the gospel. Etcel, the guy who swore in church last week, was at church this Sunday an hour early. we even had a ¨spiritual breakfast¨ on saturday at 6 in the morning and he was there. He even bore his testimony about the Book of Mormon in sacrament meeting. at first i was really nervous because i knew what happened last time he talked. he actually gave a really nice testimony. so far he has read the Book of Mormon 5 times and has 37 other books by the Church. He loves the church but we still haven´t taught him yet. we have passed by his house probably once a day and he is never home. He is the perfect golden investigator but something still feels a little wrong with him. hopefully we will actually be able to find him in his house to start teaching him.
There is a guy in our ward who is leaving for his mission tomorrow, so lately he has been going out with all of the missionaries to see how the mission life is and start teaching. it will be sad to see him go because he is a really great member here. we also have two part member families that we are teaching. in one of them, only one 16 year old boy is the nonmember but he seems to be progressing and i think he will be baptized in a couple of weeks. in the other family, the only member is a 17 year old girl and she wants her parents to become members so they can be an eternal family. we just started teaching them so i´m not sure how interested they are right now but we will see. as far as that, is has just been a normal flash flood free week. Last night we saw a lady get hit by a car while we were walking to an appointment. everyone rushed over to her, but she didn´t seem too hurt, maybe a broken foot but nothing major. we were already late for our appointment so we just let them deal with it. there was also a small riot in one of the neighborhoods in our area. when they riot they just burn big tires in the middle of the street. we asked them why they were rioting and they said there wasn´t any water. we told them we were sorry and kept on walking.
I do not have anything more to say so i hope you all had a great holiday and have a great week. love you
Elder Johnson
New Companion = New Challenge!
hey everyone,
so to tell you the truth, this was one of the longest weeks i have had in the mission. i like the area and the ward seems really good but my comp is crazy! He is always talking and trying to one up me in everything. he is also impatient and kind of rude to people. i can already tell that this is going to be a long transfer. There is one super market that almost all of the missionaries go for pday and when i told them who my comp was they just said they were sorry and good luck. the biggest problem there is in this companionship is that i don´t feel the spirit when we teach which makes it really hard. i know its probably not the best thing to vent like this but i can´t help it. lets just say that i have been doing a lot of praying for patients lately. i talked to my old comp today and he has been having the same problems with his new comp so at least i´m not the only one. anyways, enough bad talking about my comp. the area that i´m in is exactly what you think the ghetto in a third world country would be like. there is just run down houses everywhere. where ever there is a 30 by 30 square foot of land, there is a house. there is also a bunch of run down walls and little alley ways. the good thing about it is that there are a lot of people. la cienaga really didn´t have that many people but now there is a whole new batch of people to teach. the apartment we have is REALLY small. i don´t think its even half the size of my old one. the good thing about this apartment though is that there is running water all the time. its freezing cold but at least we have it. the light situation is about the same as in the old area too. they actually have a ward here instead of a branch and we have an actual church building instead of just a house. they also have a couple of pianos so i have been practicing a lot more lately. this sunday i got to bless the sacrament which was the first time i did it in spanish, and they asked me to bear my testimony. unfortunately, there is no one here to fix our meals so we have to do it ourselves. that pretty much means that i eat cereal and sandwiches and every now and then i will make some soup or pasta. there are only two missionaries in our apartment but 4 in the ward, and one of the others (who is a dominican) is a really good cook and is going to show me how to make a bunch of dominican food. i was hoping to stay in my old area at least one transfer longer but the Lord knows best. i have talked with the missionaries who took our place in la cienaga and they said alejandro is doing great. he got a calling last week and bore a really powerful testimony in church about how this gospel has changed his life, so he is still doing good. i know one of the missionaries that took our place and he is a great guy so i´m not really worried about anything there. anyways, there really isn´t anything else that happened this week. just getting acquainted to the area and trying to not kill my comp. hopefully this next week i will have something more positive to say. the mission is still great and i love doing the work everyday. hope you all have a great week.
Love Elder Johnson
so to tell you the truth, this was one of the longest weeks i have had in the mission. i like the area and the ward seems really good but my comp is crazy! He is always talking and trying to one up me in everything. he is also impatient and kind of rude to people. i can already tell that this is going to be a long transfer. There is one super market that almost all of the missionaries go for pday and when i told them who my comp was they just said they were sorry and good luck. the biggest problem there is in this companionship is that i don´t feel the spirit when we teach which makes it really hard. i know its probably not the best thing to vent like this but i can´t help it. lets just say that i have been doing a lot of praying for patients lately. i talked to my old comp today and he has been having the same problems with his new comp so at least i´m not the only one. anyways, enough bad talking about my comp. the area that i´m in is exactly what you think the ghetto in a third world country would be like. there is just run down houses everywhere. where ever there is a 30 by 30 square foot of land, there is a house. there is also a bunch of run down walls and little alley ways. the good thing about it is that there are a lot of people. la cienaga really didn´t have that many people but now there is a whole new batch of people to teach. the apartment we have is REALLY small. i don´t think its even half the size of my old one. the good thing about this apartment though is that there is running water all the time. its freezing cold but at least we have it. the light situation is about the same as in the old area too. they actually have a ward here instead of a branch and we have an actual church building instead of just a house. they also have a couple of pianos so i have been practicing a lot more lately. this sunday i got to bless the sacrament which was the first time i did it in spanish, and they asked me to bear my testimony. unfortunately, there is no one here to fix our meals so we have to do it ourselves. that pretty much means that i eat cereal and sandwiches and every now and then i will make some soup or pasta. there are only two missionaries in our apartment but 4 in the ward, and one of the others (who is a dominican) is a really good cook and is going to show me how to make a bunch of dominican food. i was hoping to stay in my old area at least one transfer longer but the Lord knows best. i have talked with the missionaries who took our place in la cienaga and they said alejandro is doing great. he got a calling last week and bore a really powerful testimony in church about how this gospel has changed his life, so he is still doing good. i know one of the missionaries that took our place and he is a great guy so i´m not really worried about anything there. anyways, there really isn´t anything else that happened this week. just getting acquainted to the area and trying to not kill my comp. hopefully this next week i will have something more positive to say. the mission is still great and i love doing the work everyday. hope you all have a great week.
Love Elder Johnson
The only size 14 shoes on the island...
These are a couple of pictures that Mark sent to his sister, Angeli. Anyone who truly knows Mark knows that he is particular about his style. As a missionary, there is only so much one can do with fashion to stand out. But our little Marky Mark does not fail to disappoint - he has expressed himself by designing his own pair of shoes. He said that the only pair of size 14 shoes he could find on the island were plain white "old man shoes", so he drew on them to reflect his family and Dominican pride. Love it. Typical Mark. :)
First Transfer to the City of Cien Fuegos
Everyone,
This week was a crazy week. i know that last week we weren´t going to baptize Alejandro, but we did. we have never asked him straight up if he has been gambling, we were just assuming, so we asked him. he told us that he hasn´t gone in over a month and then he bore his testimony to us about the church and how grateful he was for us. we definitely felt the Spirit and knew that he was ready. since he has only gone to church 2 times we called president to see if we could still baptize him. he said if we felt good about it then it was fine with him, and we felt good about it. We arrived at the church half an hour earlier and Alejandro was already there just sitting by himself reading a hymn book. he knew what time the baptism was, he just wanted to go an hour earlier to get ready. The other two missionaries had 6 people baptized on the same day too. a family of 5 and a brother of the husband, so all in all there was 7. The best part about it was that i got to baptize Alejandro. He knew that i hadn´t baptized anyone myself in the mission so he wanted me to be his first. It was really an amazing experience. At first i was a little nervous because about half of the ward was there and President Lee and his wife showed up too, but all went smoothly. The only sad part of it was that no one from his family came to support him and there was a ¨families can be together forever¨ theme because of the other family that was baptized. We promised him though that if he would continue in the church faithfully he and his family would be blessed. Hopefully they will accept the gospel at some time in their life. the next day on Sunday, he along with one of the men received the priesthood and the other one will receive it next week. i know that he will be a great leader in the church and will help the branch a lot. The president of the branch said that they are trying to find some land to build a chapel which will be really nice because the house we are using now is getting to small for all of the members. there are usually 70 to 80 members that come each week and the most we have had since i have been there is 96, so they are close to becoming a ward.
As far as transfers go, both me and my comp were transferred out of our area. i got transferred to a place just 15 minutes down the road called cien fuegos and my comp got transferred to la vega which is on the other side of the mission. i was kind of hoping to stay in my area at least one transfer longer especially since alejandro just got baptized but i know everything happens for a reason here. I´ve only been in my area a couple of hours but it is completely different. first of all its in the city so there really isn´t dirt roads and huts, just run down apartments. when i told everyone where i was going, the first thing they told me is that there is a lot of corruption and drugs there so we´ll see how things turn out. my new comp is another american, which was a little disappointment because a dominican would help me learn spanish so much faster. i don´t know much about him except that he is 5 ft 8 and from arizona. i´m not sure what kind of missionary he is like either but i will find out really quick. Anyways, thats about all that happened this week. just a lot of packing and saying goodbye to people. Hope you all have a good week and i will let you know how my new area turns out. love you.
Elder Johnson
Thursday, October 8, 2009
General Conference, Moths, and Centipedes
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Everyone,
So i guess the biggest thing that i have to talk about this week is conference...amazing! we were able to watch all 10 hours live and in english in the stake center which was only about a half an hour away. all of the talks were amazing, Holland of course... I also really liked Anderson´s about repentance and Nielson´s about missionary work. Maybe its because i am a missionary but it seemed like conference went by so fast. each session seemed like it was 10 min long. in between the two sessions on sunday, my comp and i had the opportunity to go to the hospital and give two children a blessing that had gotten Dengue. That has kind of been a problem here for a bunch of little kids, but it was a great experience. we are going to go by again today to see how they are doing. None of our investigators went to conference which was a little disappointing again because there were so many talks that would have helped many of them. Later that night we went to see why Alejandro didn´t go. he told us he went twice but he got mixed up on the hours and went when nobody was there and his phone had died so he couldn´t call us. he explained in detail the church so we know he actually tried to go. i felt really bad though because there were some great talks for him. He still has a lot of desire to join the church and is doing everything he is supposed to (except the whole gambling thing) so hopefully he will be ready for baptism in a couple of weeks. His family has been having some problems lately so he is really hoping that his 3 daughters (who are a little rebellious) take an interest in the church and start going.
Lately, we have been having a little problem with bat size moths in our house. we found a solution though. we have a ceiling fan with a light so we turn on. the moths fly around the light and eventually they fly a little to high and hit the fan. it might be a little brutal but they are annoying and are always in our things. they have to die some day. we also found a huge centipede right outside our house that was about 8 inches long and an inch thick. if they bite you its suppose to be a really sharp pain for a couple of days, but none of us have been bit yet.
One of the other missionaries that lives with us goes home next wednesday which has not been to best thing to help us from getting trunky. Besides that everything is great though. this saturday we have 6 (maybe 7) baptisms planned. well, there are the other missionaries but we are all in the same ward so we are going too. the parents of this family just got married last week so now they can get baptized.
I don´t have anymore to say, i´m just taking the DR one day at a time. Have a great week, love you all.
Elder Johnson
I Hate Hiking.
Hey family,
So this was kind of a long week. everything was fine until sunday. none of our investigators or the other missionaries investigators we live with didn't come to church. last week we had 12 between the two of us and this week we didn't have any. i knew that most of ours wouldn't come but alejandro (the one with the baptism date) was a surprise because he has progressing so much and we saw him an hour before church and he said that he was coming. we went over to his house to see what happened and his wife said that he went to the cock fights all day. when we asked him about it later he just said that he had an errand to do with his brother, so i'm not sure what we are going to do. we will probably have to postpone his baptism until he stops gambling. it was really disappointing when we found out because he has been doing so good and is really excited about being a member, but if he isn't ready there is nothing we can do about it. there is still a chance that he will be baptized the 10th but we'll see.
This morning we climbed up a mountain that is near our area with a member in our ward and some of his family and friends. it kind of just reminded me how much i hate hiking. it took 5 hours to go up and down (3 1/2 hrs straight up and 1 1/2 hrs down), but the whole time we were picking fruit and eating it and we came back with 4 backpacks full of oranges so it was worth it...maybe.
My spanish is coming along though. i understand about 80% of what people say so i can communicate with most of the people. my trainer is almost positively leaving next transfer in two weeks so i'll probably get a Dominican comp then which will help me a lot.
Anyways, we got back really late from the mountain and we have an appointment pretty soon so i don't have too much time to write, i'll try to tell all of you more next week. have a great week, love you.
Elder Johnson
So this was kind of a long week. everything was fine until sunday. none of our investigators or the other missionaries investigators we live with didn't come to church. last week we had 12 between the two of us and this week we didn't have any. i knew that most of ours wouldn't come but alejandro (the one with the baptism date) was a surprise because he has progressing so much and we saw him an hour before church and he said that he was coming. we went over to his house to see what happened and his wife said that he went to the cock fights all day. when we asked him about it later he just said that he had an errand to do with his brother, so i'm not sure what we are going to do. we will probably have to postpone his baptism until he stops gambling. it was really disappointing when we found out because he has been doing so good and is really excited about being a member, but if he isn't ready there is nothing we can do about it. there is still a chance that he will be baptized the 10th but we'll see.
This morning we climbed up a mountain that is near our area with a member in our ward and some of his family and friends. it kind of just reminded me how much i hate hiking. it took 5 hours to go up and down (3 1/2 hrs straight up and 1 1/2 hrs down), but the whole time we were picking fruit and eating it and we came back with 4 backpacks full of oranges so it was worth it...maybe.
My spanish is coming along though. i understand about 80% of what people say so i can communicate with most of the people. my trainer is almost positively leaving next transfer in two weeks so i'll probably get a Dominican comp then which will help me a lot.
Anyways, we got back really late from the mountain and we have an appointment pretty soon so i don't have too much time to write, i'll try to tell all of you more next week. have a great week, love you.
Elder Johnson
Investigator or Rap Artist?
Family,
This week went by so fast so i really don´t know what to write about. Last p day in the evening some guy picked us up to give us a ride. he was white (which is really rare here). he had a scottish accent but he said he has lived all over the united states. when then started talking a little bit about religion. he said he respected our church but his religion was quantum physics and then he told us he was God... by that time we were where we needed to be so we got out. i wish we would have had more time to talk to him and hear his reasoning for why he is God.
This Sunday was really good. before church, we went and picked up our investigator who has a baptismal date. i told us he really liked it and he participated and the class after sacrament meeting. he really understands the importance of the church and has a strong desire to get baptized. he left after the second hour which was kind of good because during the third hour we had some crazy guy teach the lesson who think Joseph Smith wrote the Constitution. Our ¨golden investigator¨ never showed up to church which wasn´t too big of a surprise.
There is a 16 year old we are teaching, but he doesn´t look like your typical investigator. he has piercings all over and always wears chains, but he has been really receptive to our messages. one time he even called his mom and told her that she needs to hear our message. well, we haven´t seen him in about 2 weeks. when we went back he had a huge life size picture of him and his brother like on the cover of a rap album.. they won some contest and 350,000 pesos (which is only $10,000) but here it goes a long way. He still loves our messages and says he wants to come to church, but i think he is on his way to becoming the next big thing to hit the DR.
as far as the rest of our investigators go, they aren´t really doing anything. a lot of them like our messages but they really don´t want to do anything about it. it´s too hard to keep the word of wisdom and the law of chastity. we are about to get rid of a lot of them and find a whole new batch of people to teach.
I didn´t get to play baseball this wednesday because we went to the monument here. its a big building that gives the history of how the DR got its independence and its on a hill which looks over the entire city which was pretty cool.
It´s still as hot and humid as ever here, but the work is going great. next week we are going to put a couple of more floors in and paint a house or two. anyways, that's about all i have to say for this week. have a great week.
Love, Elder Johnson
This week went by so fast so i really don´t know what to write about. Last p day in the evening some guy picked us up to give us a ride. he was white (which is really rare here). he had a scottish accent but he said he has lived all over the united states. when then started talking a little bit about religion. he said he respected our church but his religion was quantum physics and then he told us he was God... by that time we were where we needed to be so we got out. i wish we would have had more time to talk to him and hear his reasoning for why he is God.
This Sunday was really good. before church, we went and picked up our investigator who has a baptismal date. i told us he really liked it and he participated and the class after sacrament meeting. he really understands the importance of the church and has a strong desire to get baptized. he left after the second hour which was kind of good because during the third hour we had some crazy guy teach the lesson who think Joseph Smith wrote the Constitution. Our ¨golden investigator¨ never showed up to church which wasn´t too big of a surprise.
There is a 16 year old we are teaching, but he doesn´t look like your typical investigator. he has piercings all over and always wears chains, but he has been really receptive to our messages. one time he even called his mom and told her that she needs to hear our message. well, we haven´t seen him in about 2 weeks. when we went back he had a huge life size picture of him and his brother like on the cover of a rap album.. they won some contest and 350,000 pesos (which is only $10,000) but here it goes a long way. He still loves our messages and says he wants to come to church, but i think he is on his way to becoming the next big thing to hit the DR.
as far as the rest of our investigators go, they aren´t really doing anything. a lot of them like our messages but they really don´t want to do anything about it. it´s too hard to keep the word of wisdom and the law of chastity. we are about to get rid of a lot of them and find a whole new batch of people to teach.
I didn´t get to play baseball this wednesday because we went to the monument here. its a big building that gives the history of how the DR got its independence and its on a hill which looks over the entire city which was pretty cool.
It´s still as hot and humid as ever here, but the work is going great. next week we are going to put a couple of more floors in and paint a house or two. anyways, that's about all i have to say for this week. have a great week.
Love, Elder Johnson
Boy Still Knows How to Throw a Ball :)
Hey family, so i had another good week this week. the highlight of my week was playing baseball. there is a team here of 16 to 18 year old who play on wednesday morning that we played with. we played for a couple of hours which was such a nice break from our regular routine. some of the kids we played with were really good. they had a scout there watching the pitchers throw some pins. unfortunately, they didn´t let me throw a pin. i don´t know if i could have even if i wanted to. i was so excited to play i warmed up a little too fast so my arm is definitely going to feel it this week, but it was worth it. after we played, the coach asked me to play on another team he formed but the only play on saturday and sunday so i told him i couldn´t.
A couple of days ago we were on tv. last pday we saw some guy with a camera recording us as we walked. then a couple of days later a member on the other side of the island called and said she saw us on t.v. she also said that the show she was watching was on things people fear...
Last weekend, there was supposed to be a national riot. the people want more electricity (even though the little they are getting they are stealing). the day before it was supposed to happen it was canceled because there was supposed to be a big tropical storms. so there wasn´t a riot and the storms never came. this was a blessing because there were a number of baptisms in the mission that weekend and they probably would have been canceled if there was a riot or even a big storm. the Lord really knows what He doing.
So there is an old investigator in our area named Ramon. he has a lot of problems. his family left him because he is an alcoholic and now is drinks more because he is depressed. last week we went to visit him to see how he was doing. when we walked into his apartment we could tell he was drunk again so we told him we would come back another time. then he broke out in tears and started saying how nobody loves him and his is all alone in the world. we tried to comfort him a little and talk about Jesus and how He is always there but then we remembered that he would probably forget the whole conversation the next day so we kind of just left. we saw ramon a couple of days later (drunk of course) sitting outside of his house with a newly purchased machete in his hand. he told us that he was going to kill someone. we really didn´t know what to do so we asked if we could see his machete and then we hid it behind his dresser in his house. now we don´t know how to tell him that we hid his machete.
As far as the people we are teaching goes, they don´t want to come to church. we are teaching about 17 different people and the past 3 weeks none of them have come to church. the one with the baptism date had a good excuse, but we told him we are going to come to his house and pick him up for church which he thought was a good idea. he really has progressed a lot over the past couple of weeks. his date is the 10th of october right now so hopefully that will go through. also, the other day we were making some contacts. we knocked on a house and the guy that lived there told us to come in before we even told him who we were. he said that he is confused because there are so many churches in the world but he wants to find the Lord. we started talking about the restoration and in the middle of it he told us he was coming to church this sunday. its seems almost a little too good to be true, but we will find out on sunday.
I don´t have too much more to say. i still love the mission and i don´t want to come home, at least not yet. have a great week. love you all
Elder Johnson
A couple of days ago we were on tv. last pday we saw some guy with a camera recording us as we walked. then a couple of days later a member on the other side of the island called and said she saw us on t.v. she also said that the show she was watching was on things people fear...
Last weekend, there was supposed to be a national riot. the people want more electricity (even though the little they are getting they are stealing). the day before it was supposed to happen it was canceled because there was supposed to be a big tropical storms. so there wasn´t a riot and the storms never came. this was a blessing because there were a number of baptisms in the mission that weekend and they probably would have been canceled if there was a riot or even a big storm. the Lord really knows what He doing.
So there is an old investigator in our area named Ramon. he has a lot of problems. his family left him because he is an alcoholic and now is drinks more because he is depressed. last week we went to visit him to see how he was doing. when we walked into his apartment we could tell he was drunk again so we told him we would come back another time. then he broke out in tears and started saying how nobody loves him and his is all alone in the world. we tried to comfort him a little and talk about Jesus and how He is always there but then we remembered that he would probably forget the whole conversation the next day so we kind of just left. we saw ramon a couple of days later (drunk of course) sitting outside of his house with a newly purchased machete in his hand. he told us that he was going to kill someone. we really didn´t know what to do so we asked if we could see his machete and then we hid it behind his dresser in his house. now we don´t know how to tell him that we hid his machete.
As far as the people we are teaching goes, they don´t want to come to church. we are teaching about 17 different people and the past 3 weeks none of them have come to church. the one with the baptism date had a good excuse, but we told him we are going to come to his house and pick him up for church which he thought was a good idea. he really has progressed a lot over the past couple of weeks. his date is the 10th of october right now so hopefully that will go through. also, the other day we were making some contacts. we knocked on a house and the guy that lived there told us to come in before we even told him who we were. he said that he is confused because there are so many churches in the world but he wants to find the Lord. we started talking about the restoration and in the middle of it he told us he was coming to church this sunday. its seems almost a little too good to be true, but we will find out on sunday.
I don´t have too much more to say. i still love the mission and i don´t want to come home, at least not yet. have a great week. love you all
Elder Johnson
Thursday, September 3, 2009
I Get to Play Baseball!!!
hey family,
this week was pretty much the same. we did get another baptismal date for an investigator we are teaching which i am really excited about. we were teaching his wife for a while, and at the time he didn't live with her so we never taught him. a couple of weeks ago he moved back in so we started teaching him. he has really progressed and has a ton of desire to learn more. we need more priesthood holders in the branch and i really think he can help the church. his wife doesn't have the same desire though. she loves our messages but she is a die hard evangelical and doesn't want to change. we asked her to be baptized and she said she was already baptized. she doesn't understand that the authority was taken from the earth and restored through joseph smith and that the person who baptized her didn't have that authority. we are going to keep teaching her so hopefully she will understand and have the desire to be baptized.
oh yeah, its already christmas here. last week i saw my first christmas tree in the stores. they don't have halloween or thanksgiving here, so the next big holiday is christmas. my comp told me its really different though. people just get together christmas eve, eat dinner, and then get drunk. thats it...
the other day, we walking home around 9 at night, and we saw a couple cars just stop in the middle of the road and a bunch of people run out and over to some houses that were on the side of the road. when we asked what was going on, they said that they saw a thief trying to break into a house. they don't just call the police like in america, they take matters into their own hands. first they find the person, and then they beat them. this actually made me feel a lot safer because if someone ever tries to rob us, he won't get away if there are any people in sight!
today were transfers, i thought for sure that my comp was going to go because he already has 7 1/2 months here, but he's staying which i was really happy about. one of the other missionaries in our house only has 1 transfer left so it will be interesting to watch him get ready to go home. the language is coming little by little. hopefully by the end of this transfer i will be able to understand most of what people are saying. i feel like i'm just rambling on but there is not too much more to say so i am going to keep rambling on. in my personal study this week i came across a scripture in Psalms 37:37. i looked up my name in the topical guide and i found this scripture so i think you will like it. anyways, that's about all i have to say. i will try to send some more pictures of the area. have a great week, love you!
Love, Elder Johnson
P.S. i forgot to tell you, today i am going to play baseball for the first time so i'm super excited. they know that i play baseball so they have been asking me to play for a while and i finally have a free morning. also, mom, you asked about my p-days. i wake up a 6:30 and do a little scripture study, then we go to the city and buy stuff we need, then we go back home and eat the food we bought and relax until 6 when we have to go back out and teach. sorry if i am not more descriptive but that really is all that we do. the only thing that changes is the stores we go to every week. oh yeah. HAPPY ANNIVERSARY MOM and DAD!!! i was actually talking with my comp about the cheesecake factory this week so i am really jealous. the pictures that i sent with this email is the baseball field that jose reyes built for the kids in Palmar Arriba which is right next to our area. in the other picture, the little shack at the bottom is a church. its really a little shack with plastic chairs. the huge yellow mansion on the mountain is the home of the pastor of that church. he also has another one that even bigger being built a little ways away. i wonder where all of the money the members are paying goes?...
Love you
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