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

General Conference, Moths, and Centipedes

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

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

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

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