26 December 2012

*Email received today from President Scott Taylor of the Spain Madrid Mission


 Dear Brother and Sister Johnson,

It is a pleasure to inform you that we have called your son, Elder Johnson, to serve as a district leader in the Madrid 2, 4 y Alco. This position carries with it increased leadership responsibility. The District Leader is to set an example for the other missionaries in his district through his study of the scriptures and the gospel, obedience and hard work, proselyting skills and other aspects of missionary work. Elder Johnson will be responsible for planning and conducting weekly District Meetings, and in supervising, teaching and inspiring the other missionaries. He will also interview baptismal candidates, which requires spiritual sensitivity and maturity.


This assignment is in addition to his regular proselyting responsibilities. We have confidence in Elder Johnson's abilities and know that this will give him opportunities for growth as well as to strengthen those he serves.  You can be proud of your son. We enjoy working with such a fine Elder in this great work.

May God's choicest blessings be with you and your family as you support your son in his missionary service in the Spain Madrid Mission.

Sincerely,

President Scott T. Jackson Spain Madrid Mission

25 December 2012

 Merry Christmas to US!!!!!!!

Talon's mom here - we got to have a nice conversation with our missionary on Christmas day.

He is doing well.  He looks great.  He smiled a lot and loves the work.

He even got his Christmas package in time!

There were a couple of technology snags, however.

For the first 10 minutes we could hear him, but he couldn't hear us.

After getting some headphones, he called back.

Then, our new internet (we switched 2 days ago) kept going out repeatedly and ending the calls,

or putting them on hold.

During one of the outages, Elder Johnson got to Skype his brother in AZ.

This is how we felt about the internet by the end.

It was so good to talk to him!

He was able to have two investigators get baptized on Saturday.

They are making a huge sacrifice to join the church.

It is a couple that has not been married, but living together - and the legal paperwork for their marriage may take up to 6 months.

They have chosen to live apart rather than wait to be baptized.

That is a testimony.

We loved every bit of talking with our son/brother.

Until Mother's Day, Elder Johnson.

19 December 2012

Hello!

So last week and this week have been ridiculously crazy ... again. So last week we ended up being able to find a piso (miraculously). We found a really nice one, but that wasn´t going to be available until January, but, a day later, we received a call from the person who showed us the piso, and he said that there was one that was equal that would be available that day. So we quickly picked out a time to see it, and we were able to look at it Saturday morning, my companion wrote up the contract that afternoon, and we bought it Tuesday morning, Then we quickly put in the furniture and set it up just an hour before the new Hermanas got there. But, in order to do that, we drove to and from the suburb ( about 1 hour round trip) about five times, to switch cars, pick up materials and furniture, and finally we were able to get it all ready and set up. It´s a really nice piso, and the Hermanas are really lucky to be able to get a bunch of new things for their pisos, the other pisos all got old things put into theirs.

But because of all the travelling and setting up we were pretty beat last night. I completely lost consciousness last night. However, I´m still pretty tired today. I´ll try to sleep when Elder Winkelkotter practices driving today. I pretty much have a stick car down, but the problem is that I always get super nervous when i´m driving in Spain, so they decided that it would be in the best interest of our health ( and for our hygiene) if he drives.

So also, thanks for the mission pages, they are awesome!! I really enjoyed reading them.

So I did end up getting my package. I got a slip on my birthday that said that I needed to pick it up in Customs. We didn´t have time on Friday (because it is only open for about 5 hours a day, in the morning). So I picked it up Monday morning, right before we picked up my new and next companion, Elder Winkelkotter.

So thanks a ton for the package, it´s great!!

So Elder Forsythe is still here. Since he is the Executive Secretary for the mission and the President, he has to train Elder Winkelkotter so that the mission doesn´t fall apart. So I still get to be with him for two more weeks.

So my Spanish isn´t perfect, but I definitely fell like my accent has improved a ton. I think that now that the chaos has settled down a little, that hopefully I can pick up my Spanish studies again.

So I had something eventful happen on Monday, we were unpacking the car full of furniture on Monday night, and I was closing the door of the van, and smashed the head of Elder Laubaugh... It turned out that it was a pretty nasty gash, he had to get some stitches from President, and there is still a puddle of blood on the ground. The worst part would probably have to be that it was the first time that I had seen Elder Laubaugh for about 5 months. Soo.. it was my welcome back to Madrid for him ... Oops. He took it like a champ though, he was super nice and calm about everything. He´s awesome! (here´s a picture of that, it has a sister and an Elder that went home yesterday, (I also interrupted their last night in Spain with this) and the President´s daughter, and Elder Winkelkotter in front of the Christmas Tree).

So here´s a picture of our bishop and almost all of his family (his other daughter is taking the picture) They´re a German family that also have lived in several locations, including Japan.

 And also here´s the cooked rabbit. (you can even see the eyeballs!). and it´s not burnt, it´s just the large amount of spices that they put on it.

 So thanks for everything! and until next week!

Elder Johnson

12 December 2012

Hello!

So this week has started to get pretty crazy, and we don´t even have a ton of missionaries in yet. So one of the pisos outside of Madrid has an infestation of cockroaches, and it´s pretty old anyway. So we have been trying to get a good piso for them. We found one that was really good, but it turns out that the lady works for a company that is overly tight about everything, so in the end, they won´t accept our money. Anyway, we finally found another piso that would work, and we were going to be trying to sign the contract today, but it turns out that the bank is being rather ridiculous, so we´ll see about how things will play out. So we´ve been running around all morning today to try to get that worked out.

We were supposed to go to the temple today with the rest of the missionaries in Madrid, but that didn´t work out either.

So we also have to find a new piso for some Hermanas that are going to be coming in (we have 6 sisters and 2 elders coming in this next week. (transfers got changed to next Monday, Surprise!!) So we´ve also been trying to find a good place for them to live. Hopefully we´ll find a place before too long, because it wouldn´t really be good if they had to live in the street.

So this Friday is my Birthday (that´s weird). In Spain they don´t do anything special that I know of, I know that in Colombia that they do the same thing as they do in Honduras though. I haven´t gotten the package yet, but it should be coming any day now.

 I am plenty warm, I am actually a little too warm at night usually, and the jacket that we bought before the mission is really good, so with the jacket I almost don´t even feel the cold.

Well, the mission isn´t really decided yet about what we´re going to do with all the new missionaries. For right now the incoming missionary rate is about normal, and it´ll stay that way until the May transfer, and then we´ll receive about 30 (about triple the normal) so with all the greenies from before, we're basically just planning on having a ton of people training. Actually, with this transfer, we´ll have about half of the Hermanas training! We also have about 15 people waiting for their visas, so we could expect them any day, and we actually probably won´t know about them until the day before or so. But as for right now they are waiting for their visas in other missions in the States.

So this morning I was also looking up the mission year history that I´m going to have to do, and I saw that nothing has been inserted in there since I came in (what fun!) So these next few weeks are going to be pretty crazy, since I also need to send out about 40 packets and letters. (yay for the office!!)

As of right now we have about 80 or 90 missionaries, and with all those coming in we might have around 200!

We have about 16 Sisters and 65 Elders right now. (roughly estimated).

The most common thing that I eat now is probably sandwiches in the office. And outside of that it would have to be hot dogs. (pretty boring)

There are four of us Elders in the office (the financial secretary, the secretary, and the executive secretary, and then the Historian) and the AP´s are also in here on Mondays.

We see President Mondays, and then maybe once or twice more during the week.

I feel like the testimony that I have most received would have to be in the recognizing that there is a blessing that we can receive for obeying every one of the commandments, rules, guidelines, etc.

I think that I miss not being able to enjoy all the gag gifts that everyone gives to each other (giving presents to each other).

Well, time to go back to the bank, so until next week.

(and Christmas day has been made our p.day, so I´ll skype you sometime when you´ll be awake.

Elder Talon Johnson

 

* (Sent in a second quick email) - Something that I forgot to mention: Last Saturday we went to visit an investigator that we have. His only problem is that he is still a bit Catholic and that he is hesitant to seperate himself from his girfriend. But, last Saturday we went to his apartment, and he said that he wants to get baptized this Saturday! We can´t make it work out for this Saturday, but him and his girfriend are going ot get baptized on the 22nd!!

Miracles are posible, even in Spain.

Hasta Luego,

Elder Johnson

5 December 2012

Hello!

 

Happy Birthday Dad!!! (sorry I didn´t say it earlier, I forgot to put it in my letter, and then remembered it Saturday).

 

So I believe that I failed to mention, but we had a member of the Seventy: Kent F. Richards, come to our mission and give a tour. So last Thursday I had the opportunity of listening to him with our zone. He had a great message about not over complicating the lessons and of becoming better teachers. It was really good, and allowed me to think about the parts of my teaching that may end up only distracting the investigators.

 

Also, last Sunday, we had a two stake conference where Elder Richards divided the stakes! So now there are three stakes in Madrid! We are still in the East Stake, but half of our old stake has gone to the new stake of the Madrid Central Stake. I was able to see almost all of the converts there that I had baptized, which was really cool. It may have been a once in a lifetime event.

 

We were not able to watch the Christmas Devotional, but maybe for a p-day or something I will.

 

My companion actually goes home next month, barely. He goes home the 3rd. Which is honestly a small disappointment, He misses Christmas and New Years in the States, Which aren´t as big here in Spain, and he goes home right before Reyes, which is huge here in Spain. So it´s a little bit of a bummer. Elder Wilson actually has about 5 months or so left. So he still has a little bit at least before he goes home. I can´t really believe it that I am so old, I definitely don´t feel that old in the mission right now.

 

I´ll look for nativity sets, I saw a store the other day that had some, but I don´t know if they have any that are especially from Spain.

 

 

 

So missionary work is one of the most important, meaningful, and eternal things that you can do in your life. The entire reason for missionaries is to allow other people to be with their families forever, as well as to be allowed to enter the presence of God. Without missionary work, no one would know the truth and the values and civility of man would degrade to the state of non-exsistence. If there is not missionary work, man cannot receive the blessings of Heaven because that man has no idea of what the commandments of the Lord are. It is through missionary work that the Lord can carry his love to his children. Without missionary work, God´s children cannot come to a knowledge of his truth. Missionary work is something that can be done every day, with every person that we see. So it´s really important

 

Well, that´s about it for now,

 

Until next week

 

Elder Johnson

28 November 2012

Hello!

 

 

The rabbit wasn´t too bad. In the end it looked like a baby Rottweiler or some little demon animal because it was pink/tan with black from the spices. The part that I had didn´t have too much flavor. Anyway, the chicken turned out really well, it turned out that only we brought chicken, (someone else brought hot dogs, and there was the rabbit). But it turned out alright.

So, for thanksgiving day, we almost had a turkey bowl, but it turned out that we wouldn´t have had enough people, so we played basketball instead, then afterwards, we joined some other missionaries and members in playing soccer, and while we waited we had our quick turkey bowl. Then we quickly ran to eat our thanksgiving dinner. Then afterwards, about eight of us ran to the nearest missionary piso and showered and got ready in the ten minutes that we had before the talent show. So then we had the talent show. It was really good, and there were some skits that were really funny. It turned out that we didn´t do anything because our only idea was drinking water that everyone else had gargled and brushed their teeth in, and me and my companion convinced everyone else that it was nasty and not that funny.

So Sunday, our bishop invited us over (by the way, he is from Germany, his family speaks English perfectly, he also knows some Japanese and is doing very well economically). So they told us that they were going to make us a Thanksgiving dinner, and they did well. It was rather delicious, and they even somehow got a whole turkey there! To say the least, it was a satisfying Thanksgiving dinner.

The baptism last Saturday was really good! Miguel got baptized, and I had the opportunity to be able to baptize him. So that makes him the seventh baptism that I´ve been able to have so far.
 

So I do get to see the new people coming in, I don´t know for sure the arrival dates, because the people that are waiting for their visas come randomly the day after or two days after they get it.

Well, we need to get going here pretty quickly, so thanks for the letters and until next week!

Elder Johnson

22 November 2012

Hello,

 

So I forgot to tell you last week, but this week our p-day has moved to Thursday for Thanksgiving.

 

So this week hasn´t been nearly as hectic, we didn´t have to do to much after the transfers were over. Yesterday, though, we had to drive to a small suburb to look at some pisos for the Elders that are living there. Unfortunately the building has a large roach infestation, and the piso is starting to smell really bad. So we are looking for a new place for them. We went by two pisos yesterday, and a chalet. So far one of the pisos has been the best option, an older couple wanted to live there, so everything is new, then they decided not to for some reason, and now they are willing to rent it to us. So we´ll probably have to drive down there a few more times this week to look at more and to decide on which one to rent.

 

So today is going to be a pretty weird day. We have a normal p-day, but then afterwards, we are going to have a talent show at 7 tonight, so we actually may not have very much time to do proselyting work today. Though it should be a pretty fun and festive day. We are also going to have our own turkey bowl at 2, this afternoon, so hopefully we´ll get a good group of people coming to that too. Also, we´ve each been told to bring something for the thanksgiving dinner that we are all going to have later today, and it´s rather funny because all the Elderes in our apartment were told to bring chicken, however, last week one of the Elders (who is rather funny) bought a rabbit ( skinned, without guts, and without feet, though still with the eyeballs and teeth for some reason, and it also has it´s head, and the heart is in a separate package.) so instead of buying some chicken, they cooked the rabbit. So this could be an interesting Thanksgiving day.

 

So this last week we got to teach about 17 lessons, even with all the person trafficking (which is really good considering that it´s about the average for the mission).  * I'm inserting a monther note here - the missionaries are not involved in human trafficking.  He meant driving all the people around during the transfers. * 

 

 

Unfortunately we didn´t have a whole lot of time to find new people, but as of right now we are trying to inspire the one couple to get separated (the first problem is that if you are lucky it would take at least 3 months to get married, so you can assume that it would probably take about 6 months, but they are also having some legal issues, so they have to wait for some papers to come in from Colombia, but the lawyer is doing it really slowly to get more money, so it is probably going to take awhile), the Romanian that we are teaching is basically done with smoking, he´s just trying to not smoke anymore for his baptism this Saturday.

 

One day i´ll drive, i haven´t practiced for awhile, but I really need to get some more practice, in, the main problem though is that I need to set a time to do it, because all our p-days are really busy.

 

Well, i hope that the herd of missionaries coming in can be in by this December/January, but we´ll see. Something weird that I saw the other day though is that one of the Hermanas that just got her mission call is only 7 days older than me! (that´s weird, for me at least). It´s going to be a completely different mission seeing how all of us that are in right now are going to be the oldest in the mission.

 

Well, for Christmas, I´ll also look for something to send to you guys. I thought about sending a leg of jamón, but that´s actually illegal to get out of the country, so maybe i´ll just send a rabbit instead. But anything else, I think that I am good for right now, maybe some American candy or something small.

 

Well, that´s about all the time I have right now, I really wish that I had a spare hour or two, there are a lot of letters that need to get sent/read. I´ll try to do better with sending letters though.

 

Well, it´s weird to think that Dillon has already come home, I didn´t think that he had been out that long. But hopefully he can help out with the family in AZ and inspire them all to get out in the mission field.

 

Well, until next week,

 

Elder Johnson

14 November 2012

Hello!

 

So these past few days have been pretty crazy with transfers, we have had to get up early every day so far and drive or pick up missionaries. On Monday we got up early to go to the train station to pick up 8 missionaries that were coming from the north (including Elder Levorsen, my companion in Madrid), then we ran over to the stake center to drop them off and wait for the transfer meeting to start. I passed out all the materials that the missionaries asked for while we waited. We had a good transfer meeting, it mostly focused on fulfilling your calling and to be faithful in the work, and President inspired us to focus on families again and to think about how joyful it will be to find, teach, baptize, and see a family get sealed. (it´s completely true though, when a united family gets baptized and converted, it´s one of the happiest moments that one can get. I can accurately assume that to be together in Heaven, for any family, will be the happiest moment that any person can have. So after the meeting, we went to drop off some luggage of some Hermanas in their apartment, and we picked up some more luggage there for two Hermanas that were going north. Then after that we took a former AP and his new companion to their new apartment in a suburb outside of Madrid, we got lost there for about 15 min or half an hour, and then we went to the office. By then it was about 2 in the afternoon. So we were in the office for about five minutes or so, and then we went over to a missionary apartment to take down a bunk bed, in order to take it to another apartment where an extra companionship was moving in. After that, we went to an appointment that we had with a member couple, that finally got their papers to get married which is really exciting for them. After that appointment, we picked up some missionaries that had been visiting some people around our area because they were waiting for their plane flights, and we took them home to stay the night.

 

So Tuesday we got up early and went to the mission home in order to pick up a Portuguese sister that had a flight for that morning, she ended up taking a tad bit longer than expected, so we enjoyed some pancakes and syrup for a second. Then we hustled over to the airport to drop her off. After the airport, we ran home for a second, and then we quickly went to the office. We stayed in the office for a little bit. Later, we had two lessons with some investigators that are doing pretty well.

 

Well, we haven´t had much time to do anything today either because we had to go to the airport twice in the morning, drop off an Elder and an Hermana after President interviewed them, and then we went shopping, and now i´m here.

 

Also sometime during the past few days we went to an appliance store and a furniture store to buy a few things for a piso that is getting another companionship, so we also set up a bunk bet, two chairs, a desk, and put a mattress in there as well.

 

 So basically we haven´t had a whole lot of time to be doing anything unfortunately. Though the constant being in a car makes me rather glad that I am not going to be in the office forever. Eventually, I will be able to be a normal proselyting missionary again, which makes me rather grateful. One day, I´ll be able to be in the street all day long. Also, i am pretty excited to be able to train, we have about 60 people or so that are waiting for visas or that are in the mtc, and we are expecting a huge increase in the amount of missionaries in the next few months. So my opportunity to train will probably be coming pretty quickly. Hopefully.

 

Well, last Saturday we also took away all the cigarettes and machines that an investigator had. So far, he has smoked one cigarette, which is still too much, but he is almost  down enough to be ready for baptism.

 

Well, unfortunately we rather need to leave now, so until next week.

 

Elder Johnson

 

also, the pictures are of a transfer trip we made, and almost all the missionaries in Madrid at the mission home last Wednesday.

 

 

7 November 2012

¡¡Hola!!

So we´ve had a decent week, we had as much lessons as a normal companionship in the field which is really good. We´re usually always pretty busy here in the office, which is good, and bad. It´s always nice to have something good to do, but then for all the things that don´t or can´t get done, it´s rather annoying to have to answer to those complaints. Overall, it´s pretty nice to be working in the office. (the perks are pretty nice too)

 

So my companion has been getting a lot of letters from his family and friends, and they´re basically saying that the nation is doomed. I suppose that they aren´t too happy with what Obama has done.  Well, hopefully Obama can be led to do what is right. While getting to know other parts of the world, you really come to know how great things are in the US. So as long as we can continue to keep good standards and personalities the States will be a great place to be.

 

Well, we are teaching several people right now. Firstly, we are teaching a Romanian, who is the boyfriend of a member that was less active. They are an investigator from the Elders that were here before us, they actually stopped working with them. However, when we got here we found out that they were going to get separated in order to obey the law of chastity and to allow him to get baptized. He is progressing pretty well, we have a date for him for the end of November. right now.

 

We also are teaching a couple that wants to get baptized, however, they are just waiting for some papers from Colombia that would allow the wife to get married legally. Yesterday they were saying that they were thinking about separating because the papers could take up from 6 months to a year in coming. So they could get baptized pretty soon if they are able to do that.

 

We are also teaching the ten year old daughter of an inactive. She started going to church, but then she got divorced and the husband took the car. And that means that she would have to take her three young daughters through the subway to church, which she is not willing to do right now. So hopefully when her daughter starts getting close to baptism, she´ll think more about the importance of coming to church and the blessings of her life when she does. Or at least we hope that she´ll think about her daughter and the blessing that the church will have in her life.

 

We are also teaching an Ecuadorian lady. She has been coming to English classes for quite some time now, and finally she started accepting missionary visits. The other elders here said that they had tried teaching her earlier, but that she wasn´t ready for the gospel at that time. However, as of now she seems to be rather receptive of the message that we have. Her biggest problem is going to be her testimony, because she is somewhat doubtful of the story of Joseph Smith ( mostly because it goes against her prior teaching and it is somewhat incredible).

 

That´s basically our teaching pool as of right now, we´re trying to find more, and we have found some really good potential investigators, however, it is somewhat difficult for us to be able to get in touch or meet with them. So hopefully we´ll be able to correct that soon.

 

So I think that the best part about being a missionary is the opportunity that we have to become friends with a lot of people and we can also see them progress as they accept Jesus Christ in their lives. It´s amazing what the gospel of Jesus Christ will do to people as they learn and practice it´s teachings. SO that would have to be my favorite part about the mission.

 

My favorite part of the office... would have to be the opportunity to get to know all the missionaries, and the ability to see all the new missionaries that are coming in. Also, I rather enjoy how I feel like I help a lot of people throughout the day.

 

As for driving, other than the fact that they all drive European diesel cars, it´s pretty much the exact same as in the states. The people are also a lot more aggressive on the road, and their hands are glued to the horn. There are also a lot more roundabouts here in Spain. But other than that, it´s basically all like home.

 

We get fed by three families. The Romanian that we are teaching, a boyfriend and girlfriend that are also waiting to get married, and the investigator couple that is also waiting to get married. Unfortunately it kind of seems like the ward here doesn´t have a whole lot to do with the missionaries unless the missionaries ask them to do something. It´s definitely not the same as in B3, I was spoiled in B3, and regrettably I didn´t know it until the end of my time there.

 

And yes we do have daylight savings time here.

 

Well, unfortunately that´s all the time that I have for today.

 

The pictures are of an old building in Toledo, the temple, and all the office elders one night.

(*I think all his pictures didn't come through in the email since there were none of the temple and only three elders in the other picture.

 

Thanks for everything and until next week!

 

Elder Johnson

 

 

31 October 2012

Happy Halloween!

 

So this week has basically been the same as most, though now, the temperature is dropping, significantly, it´s starting to rain some more, and the leaves are all starting to change color. Also, today we saw snow on the mountains for the first time today. It´s definitely good that you all stayed safe. (*This was right after Hurricane Sandy)  I heard yesterday, before I read your message, that the New York subways were all underwater, so I got a little worried for a day, but it´s great that we only lost a tree.

 

So we are still moving along in the office, running around a lot for other missionaries, helping the assistants when they forget their zone conference video, helping President and basically just doing the random assortment of material that is given to us.

 

We had a basketball tournament today, right after we all went to the temple. we had a bunch of 3v3 teams going against each other in the stake center. It was pretty fun, we actually got there late because the President needed two copies of the Book of Mormon. It was rather urgent, because there are some area authorities that are here in Spain to look at the mission, and today they also had the mission president conference for Europe, so there were about 45 mission presidents there too. Anyway, we were able to play a little bit, near the end of the Tournament. I won one game, and lost the other but that´s alright.

 

 

So I finally brought my camera and cord, soo you have some pictures today. There is one of an old cathedral in Toledo. Also, there is a picture of the Madrid temple at night, and there is the baptism of someone I taught in B3 named Vanessa. And I think that´s about it.

 

Well, I don´t know what else to say... we haven´t really had that exciting of a week, and the most spiritual experience that we had this week of course was the temple. But I can´t really think of anything else to say.

 

Just remember that God answers prayers and that he is always willing to help, pray with faith, and all (righteous) questions and needs will be provided and answered. Don´t be lazy, and make sure that you do a good turn daily (outside of what you normally do). Learn something new from the scriptures every day (yes, it is possible). Try to feel God´s spirit in your life every day too. Enjoy the moments now.

Thanks for everything!

Until next week,

Elder Johnson

 

24 October 2012

Helloo!

 

So this week has been the first week without the married couple in the office, though to be honest, it´s about the same, on my part at least. The airport, was.... normal, we´ve already driven there about 5 times, so it wasn´t anything super exciting. It was weird though to see them go. I didn´t drive though, I am still working on the second gear of a manual car, so it will be awhile before I do anything as dangerous as that.

That´s kind of weird that Dillon will be home shortly. I guess that it feels like he has been out for awhile, though it will still seem weird to think that he will be home in a month. It´s also weird that I have 10 months already, it definitely seems like I am still new in the mission.

 

That´s awesome that there are so many more people applying for missions, it will be great to be able to have so many more people working here. There are a lot of small areas that struggle in the branches, and they could really some people to help them get things straight. It will also be weird that everyone that is coming is going to be so young, it will make me feel even older than i do right now. Hopefully I can figure out how to teach missionaries better, so that when I need to teach a new missionary I´ll be able to do it.

 

The Madrid MTC actually doesn´t have a whole lot of space, however, if the current visa wait continues, then the Americans probably will just be going straight to the field when they get here, so they won´t need a ton of space in the MTC for them there. But if they do start needing more space, then they are going to need to extend the building, or find a new one.

 

Halloween is pretty small (in Spain) right now, but it´s getting bigger. There are more people that do it every year, so eventually it will be a big holiday. And that´s probably it as for October holidays.

 

So, we´ve had a few more opportunities to teach, as for right now we kind of need to set a schedule for when we need to leave the office, and when we´re going to need to be in the office.

 

Right now we are in a small ward. Which isn´t too bad.

 

I ate something new today, though I don´t know what it was. It was kind of like a flour roll/tortilla with syrup or something on top, it wasn´t too bad. The lady that gave them to us said that they are a traditional Christmas food.

 

I´ll ask about the newsletter, though I know that there is a mission page, if you didn´t already know about that.

 

So, I have my cord, though I forgot it in my backpack in the car ... sorry, eventually you´ll get some pictures. I have some decent ones in the old part of a Spanish city called Toledo. They have a ton of sword shops there and also a lot of old buildings, so you´ll get those eventually.

 

As for pictures from you, I don´t really have any preferences about the topics of the pictures. I would just say that as long as they include someone in the family, they´re good. It doesn´t really matter if it´s something that they do every day.

Well, I´m afraid that that´s all the time that I have today, unfortunately we really need to get going if we want to have enough time to do everything else that we need to do today, Sorry that you didn´t really get a long letter this week.

 

Until next week,

 

Elder Johnson

17 Oct 2012

Hellooo!

 

So this week was an average week in the office. So basically we have spent the mornings and afternoons in the office, and afterward we have had all the lessons. Also this week there was el día de la hispanidad, which basically means that everyone has a party to celebrate that they are Latin American. So we had a nice activity in the church where several people did some dances from their country, and afterwards we all ate food from the countries represented.

 

So unfortunately that is basically the most exciting thing that has happened this week.

 

Tomorrow the married couple missionaries that Elder Forsythe and I are taking over for are going to be leaving, So we´ll be driving to the airport to drop them off nice and early in the morning.

 

Well, we also don´t really have p-days anymore, usually they are spent with dealing with problems that other people have. So, from now on, i can expect to have a little less time to write each week, unfortunately...

 

The riots in Spain don´t really affect us, at all. We usually hear about them from the president or from some members or investigators. But outside of that they haven´t had any impact on us at all. I am pretty sure that they only take place in the center of Madrid, where it isn´t exactly the most efficient place for missionary work. So there shouldn´t be any problems that involve us.

 

It is pretty cool that the age limit has been changed, it´s also kind of weird at the same time. We should be getting a ton of new missionaries which will be really exciting, and also it should be really good for the mission. The only thing though, is that now I am going to feel really old compared to all the new missionaries. It will be a little weird at first in that perspective, but other than that I think that it will be really exciting. Also I need to learn how to train all these people coming in, If there are a mountain of people coming in, then there is going to be a mountain of training that is going to need to get done too.

 

Well Happy Birthday to Arya! Hopefully she enjoyed the circus, and actually i still do remember a part of the circus in Texas, and the one in Oklahoma. Hopefully she´s enjoying all her new gifts, and hopefully they can satisfy her until Christmas.

 

Well, to be honest there isn´t much to say about the fall in Spain, yet. The weather is cooler, it´s down to sweater weather in the mornings, and in the afternoons it´s just wonderful. But other than that the only thing different is that the grass is growing. The leaves are all the same color, and the is only a slightly bit more cloudy.

 

Well, to be honest that´s about all the time that I have right now, So until next week,

 

Elder Johnson

10 October 2012

Hello!

 

For p-day we went to a town in the middle of nowhere, however it used to be a small castle, and now there are a bunch of sword shops there and also a bunch of old buildings. It was pretty cool, once i finally bring my camera cord you´ll get to see all the pictures that i´ve taken. Eventually...

 

So this week has been a little bit better, {meaning more time for teaching} at the end of last week we started to have more time to contact and to have lessons, so now we should be able to get a little bit more of the work done. So something exciting that happened this week (other than general conference) was that after one of the sessions we had a lesson with a couple. The girlfriend is Mormon, but was less active for a while, but her boyfriend is not, though he has been coming to church for a very long time. Anyway, we had a lesson with them and proposed a baptismal date for the end of November because he regrettably has had a problem with the word of wisdom for a few years. However, he knows that the church is true and he enjoys coming and hearing all the spiritual messages. So yesterday night, we went to meet with him at his apartment and we gave him a plan to follow, that will allow him to completely overcome his problems. So the part that was really exciting about that lesson was near the end of the lesson when we gave him the promise, that if he trusted in God and completely obeyed with the steps that we had given him, then he be completely free in less than a month. It was amazing to be able to see the light that lit up in his eyes when we told him that he could stop and then later get baptized. It is really amazing how the faith that people have in Christ is able to make them happy and completely change they´re lives. If we all follow through the steps that we have been given.

 

So I have not taken any stick driving lessons, though maybe one day we´ll get it done, though first we have to find the time.

 

Well, unfortunately we don´t exactly have a whole lot of time right now, so maybe I can send a longer message next week, Sorry.

 

Hasta luego,

 

Elder Johnson

3 October 2012

Helloo!

 

So this week has been a festive week in the office (not really), so basically all of last week we were in the office until about 6 or 7 at night, and then we usually had a lesson or two afterwards.This week we started with transfers, so basically we went to the transfer meeting, then ran out the building to drop off a missionary at the airport because he was going to the Canary Islands, then afterward we went to the office for an hour, then ran to the airport again to pick up a future missionary because the mtc couldn´t do it, we then dropped him off at the temple and then ran back to the office, later we had a lesson with Fran. He is from Cameroon, Africa, right now he lives in the homeless shelter, but he seems pretty good, he appears to be genuinely interested in what we have to say and he also brings his notepad to all of our lessons. We recently set a baptismal date for the 27 of October, which is kind of close, but he said that with God, that we can make it. Afterwards we met some members that are really cool, the wife is pretty active (in energy) and wants everyone else in the ward to have the same excitement about the missionaries and the church. They got me pretty excited too, because unfortunately not all of the members want to help out the others, and unfortunately some people don´t even want to help the missionaries. However, it´s always pretty exciting when we can find members that always want to help the others as well as non-members.

 

Anyway, yesterday we had a crazy day, we started with going to the mission home to take an inventory of the supply closets there, then we sent some packages (which ended up taking half an hour), which of course made us late to pick up a missionary ending his mission at the temple. So we quickly drove there, found out that he had just gone into his interview with the stake president three minutes before (and his train was going to leave in half an hour, with a 15 minute drive to the station). So we quickly ran out of the temple square with the Elder after his meeting, and drove very franticly ( I don´t remember how to spell that) to the station, he ended up making it with 6 minutes before it left. Then afterwards, we went to the office, then we had to pick up all the new missionaries up from the mission home and take them to the Temple to get their companions. They (of course) were late too, so we drove them down to the temple amidst complaints in English, Spanish, and maybe some French, as to the poor quality of the driving ( it was a manual 8 passenger van, with a poor first gear, and in traffic, so it really wasn´t that bad of driving). Afterwards, we waited at the meeting and then drove over to a piso to steal a desk and mattress for another companionship that had just been put into a trio. Afterwards, we ended up having to cancel our appointment in order to go to the office and finish the newsletter for tomorrow. Soo, despite the fact that we did not end up having to drive some other elders to the train station at 10 at night, we still had a crazy day of driving.

 

Well, that´s basically the run down of what happened these past two days. It is definitely a different type of work that we do here in the office, and there is a ton of stuff that has to get done. Soo, welcome to the office...

 

So there have been some letters that have been sent to the MTC and not to the mission office, so just so everyone knows the mission office is at the street Calle Fuerteventura, 4, 2 8-B. San Sebastian de los Reyes, Madrid, España, 28703.

 

Well, I believe that that´s about all that I have to say right now, so ...

 

Until next week,

 

Elder Johnson

26 Sept 2012

Dear familia,

 

So this week has been roughly the same as the last week, though now we know where we live and we know where the church is, and we also have key to both and the key to the office. But, basically we´ve just been contacting for the entire week, and we had a few appointments. But we did get to know some members at church, and there was also a talent show too. I´ll send a picture of it, but one of the other Elders ended up brushing Elder Forsythe´s teeth and got toothpaste all over his mouth. It was pretty funny.

 

So there are currently four other Elders in Alcobendas/San Sebastian de los Reyes, so we´re not alone here which is good. Also, the office is in our area, so it´s only a half an hour walk to the church and to our house. So it´s not too bad right now. We´re going to get a car when the missionary couple leaves, so that will also be pretty nice.

 

So we came to do internet right after playing basketball, so I forgot my card reader again, sorry.

 

So the anchovies weren´t too bad, but for some reason they put on a mountain of salt, so that was basically the bad part about those. And, no, they did not make me feel any better at all. So I got kidnapped because I thought that the member was taking me to the church, but he took me to the emergency room, even though we already knew that it was a lack of sugar that I had. So I didn´t really want to go, but he took me anyway. My mission president wasn´t too worried once they found out what it was that I had. We only talked with his wife, but she seemed pretty calm with everything.

 

So Elder Forsythe is from Texas, he knows a lot of the same people as president does for some reason, he really likes football, he entered the field at about 6.3 and 300 lbs, but now he is down to about 260. He does p90x almost every morning. He speaks Spanish pretty well, though he would like an accent from Andalusia ( they basically cut out all the "s"´s and replace them with a small "th"). He went to Snow College in Utah for a year before the mission, he wants to now go to BYU i think. He has a younger brother who is bigger than him. He is the oldest of 3 if I am not mistaken. He is half Hawaiian, for is father. And he is surprised that I am from Oklahoma and I don´t know how to drive a stick shift. ( almost all the cars in Europe are stick shifts, so I am going to have to learn if I plan on driving our car). But that is basically a brief overview about my companion. No I did not know him before, though I had heard a lot about him from the members in B3 and B9 because he was there for a long time in the start of his mission.

 

I´ll get those pictures for you and hopefully i´ll send them next week.

 

So I am the mission historian, with some mission secretary duties. So I am in charge of the references, the cars, sending letters to the families, the weekly newsletter of the mission, certificates for people leaving and new packets for people coming in, ordering supplies and plaques, and writing a report about everything that happened during the year, at the end of the year.

 

So, also, the president has been thinking about keeping Elders in the office and putting the new older couple out in the field or something, so, I could be here for the next six months or so.

 

Well, I think that´s about all that´s happened lately, my old companion misses me of course, and I feel like I don´t really know my new companion yet. We´re getting to know the area, and my English is getting worse, when i talk now, I have left out all the consonants at some points. So, we´ll see how that is when i get back.

 

Well, I think that´s about it for this week,

 

Until next week, and hopefully Rhett gets (his mission call) somewhere almost as good as Spain.

 

Elder Johnson

19 Sept 2012

Surprise!!! I am now in the office!?

So we had a surprise transfer on Monday and me and Elder Forsythe got shipped to work in the office. Elder Wilson ( who is now an AP if i didn´t say so earlier) called me up Friday morning and told me that i was going to be leaving B3 that Monday. Soo all those letters that just got sent will probably be taking a little while to get to me since they won´t exactly be coming to me anymore. For the future letters you can just send them to the office, i am basically there every single day so i´ll see them when they come.

 

 

So basically me and Elder Forsythe ( who is a giant of a man, he played left tackle in football, and he is from Texas, where I suppose that everything is bigger), he is almost done with his mission, he only has 3 months left, which means that I am probably going to kill him this December. It´s kind of funny though because when he is sitting at his computer, he kind of reminds me of Mr. Incredible in his cubicle.

 

 

So basically we are going to be in the office until the next married couple comes in from the states. We currently are replacing a married couple that is going to head out in a month. So, we had to come to the office a little bit early in order to get trained in all the things that we need to do. The next married couple is waiting on their visas of course, so they´ll probably be coming this December.

 

 

So from what i have heard Vanessa is doing pretty good, she is probably going to be baptized in the beginning of October because she needs to come to church a lot more. But basically, Elder Berthon said that they had a lesson with her that was really good. And i am hoping right now that i will be able to go and visit b3 again when she gets baptized.

 

 

So basically Elder Forsythe and I are opening up a new area here. There are currently four other Elders working here, however, we are not inheriting anything from them. So as of right now, we are here in Alcobendas/ San Sebastian de los Reyes starting from scratch. The first day here was pretty funny too because we were walking around the area without any idea of where we were or where we lived, with a phone that really wasn´t ours, without keys to the house ( if we even knew where it was) and without anyone to teach. So basically we were joking and saying that we were some third and fourth wheels, basically without a purpose ( but not really). But as for now, we are going to be contacting... quite a bit....

 

 

So, i forgot my camera cords, so maybe next time you can get some pictures from me.

 

 

Also, i didn´t have time to eat breakfast Sunday, and i gave a talk. So basically i follow Caleb´s and Breanna´s example and passed out. However, i din´t fall down, i somehow almost made it back to my seat unconscious, before i hit a seat, and then afterwards ( to be brief) i sat down, ate some candy (to bring the sugar level back up) and then a member fed me sugared milk and crackers and then i got kidnapped and taken to the emergency room ( that was annoying). Before finally being taken home, eating some anchovies and drinking peach juice. And then starting a rather busy day of goodbyes and last lessons ( I didn´t feel like staying home all day, I had more important things to do).
 

Well, I think that´s about it. I am going to be sending a package home because I have too many things right now, and some of the things I am not going to be using during my mission.
 

I´ll probably be buying that sword after at least a month, though maybe a more, I was thinking about doing it today, however, with the surprise transfers, it didn´t exactly work out too well...
 

Well, I think that´s about it for right now. I am going to be getting a car sometime in the future, and we´re going to be looking for another family to baptize here in Alcobendas.
 

And, i haven´t yet used the bidet, though when i run out of toilet paper i might have to get desperate.
 

Until next week,
 

love,
 

Elder Johnson

12 September 2012

Hola!

So this week we had a little bit of an adventure. This Sunday, as we were getting ready for church we realized that there were droplets of water coming from the ceiling in the bathroom. Within 20 minutes those droplets had turned into 3 steady streams of water coming from the ceiling in three different places and some droplets starting on other parts of the ceiling, And we had water coming from the roof in the kitchen and water in the living room. Soo, Me and Elder Perkins ( the zone leader and companion of Elder Rodriguez stayed behind to deal with the water problem and Elder Rodriguez and Elder Berthon went to church to find the investigators there. Soo, me and Elder Perkins dealt with the water and when the pond in the bathroom started to flow into the bedrooms we decided that we should probably see if there was someone that could help us. So we tried our neighbor upstairs but nobody answered, though we did hear a sound that was similar to a fire hose going off. So we made some phone calls to our dueño and tried to find the building president ( but he unfortunately was sleeping) sooo we cut the water for the entire building.... Later we talked with the president and everything. Now we have some insurance people that are coming and looking at the damage. Our neighbors upstairs turned out to be in vacation 8 hours away, and left a faucet on or something broke, we're not quite sure which. But that´s what happened this week that was really exciting or at least somewhat of a big event. Now half of the ceiling is yellow and some paint is missing, but it was somewhat of an adventure.

 

 

So also this week we extended a baptismal date to an Ecuadorian named Vanessa. And, she said that she would like to get baptized!! She came that Sunday to church to see how it is. And she really enjoyed it!. So she is looking at a date for the end of this month, for the 22. It´s going to be pretty exciting. Hopefully we can help her and some other people to the blessing of baptism.

Well, sounds like everyone is doing good and is enjoying their new found activities. Hopefully they can continue to enjoy the next year of school and hopefully the girls can keep up with their new found geniuses.

 

So i am doing pretty good, i think i have a sever lack of sleep though because i feel tired all the time and i am starting to feel somewhat uncomfortable in the stomach and head. Unfortunately i am also almost out of vitamins, but only send some more if you have a bunch of stuff to send, i don´t want you paying 50 dollars for just two bottles. And, the money could probably be used to pay for other things. I don´t have any allergies that i know of. I actually haven´t had any allergies for the past few years, so those don´t really worry me. As for US food, i would love a gallon of almost chemical free milk.... but, that would probably spoil in the trip, so don´t worry about that. Those peanut butters were pretty good and they funcioned well too, though next time i might send a big jar, just for the size/amount ratio, because the big jar would have a lot more peanut butter for the amount of space it takes up. Nonetheless, i thoroughly enjoyed the peanut butter cups and they are pretty fun to use too.

My clothes still fit, my jeans are the only things that don´t, and i also have some shorts that are only usable for bed now, but other than that they all still fit. I have a few new ties, Now i probably have about 15 or 20, so that´s definitely a little bit better. And yes, there is also a dry cleaner that isn´t too far away

I am also still getting along well with Elder Berthon, he is rather funny at times, it´s rather strange that in about 3 weeks i could be with someone else in a completely different place. I rather hope that it is just as good as B3. I would actually rather enjoy B3 for 4 more months, I don´t think that it would honestly be that bad.Though at the end i could probably walk our area blindfolded.

Well. that´s about all the time i have right now

hopefully you have enjoyed this amazing and wholesome letter, though i can´t make any promises in the spelling or grammar, sorry. With a native companion Spanish is starting to feel a little bit more natural than English.

I included some pictures of the fiasco that came to pass in the Bathroom.

Well, until next week,

Tell the kids that i miss them too ( and you too of course, though talking to yourself might be an activity somewhat odd, so don't say it to yourself out loud)

Ciao,

Elder Johnson

5 September 2012

Hello!

So this week we had some pretty fun stuff happen. It was Elder Berthon´s birthday on the first of the month, so to celebrate it Elder Rodriguez made him hunt for his toys, and smashed an egg on his head (i guess it´s something that they do in Colombia). And then Elder Perkins cooked him some brownies and that´s basically it. For his birthday he got a figurine of Woody and Jessie from Toy Story.

So also yesterday i celebrated my 8 months in the mission (and Elder Berthon too, he entered in the same day that i did). I celebrated it by remembering today and announcing it to Elder Berthon. To be honest we didn´t do anything to celebrate.

So I have a picture of Elder Berthon is in there with a cowboy hat, celebrating his birthday. Also there is Elder Rodriguez, Elder Perkins, and Elder Berthon attacking the brownie. The BBQ that we did today, and a picture of someone that you all love.

 (Can't straighten this one.  Don't know why, it's straight in my photo gallery and from the download.

Just turn your head to the side.)

(This is Maya G.  She/he is a family joke that made its way in a package to Talon.

He keeps sharing the love by sending the picture back.)

So today for p-day we went to the church and had a BBQ with a bunch of other missionaries. It wasn´t actually that exciting because it was half organized the day before, but basically we went there and ate some food and talked to some people. The meat was especially delicious.

So sorry that there are only 4 pictures there, unfortunately with my new camera the pictures take up a lot more memory so I can´t send as many.

And the picture of your favorite person in the world didn´t happen to show up well on the computer. On the camera it looks a lot better.

So that´s basically it for the week. Everyone is starting to come back, but they are also starting to work... Soo we´ll see if we can help them.

So something exciting that happened this week is that we were in a lesson with an inactive member. We were going to eat with her mother and brother, however the mother has health problems and therefore had to go to the hospital that day. Anyway, we had that appointment and during the appointment Elder Berthon was testifying and at the end of the lesson the daughter was saying that she realized how much she pain she had caused her mother ( because although her mother is less active too, she wants to do the right things and she want her children to do the right things too). The next day her mother said that the daughter wanted to go with the relief society to clean the church... Sooo it looks like she is starting to get reactivated. Its really exciting because she has basically wanted nothing to do with the church, but now it appears that she is starting to open back up. Soo hopefully we can help her.

Well, i think that´s about it, good luck with school. And keep Bremen learning and maybe he can be a child genius in a few years. Enjoy the old/new washers. Also, it appears that the ward wants a cafeteria lady out of you (just try no to get fat and grouchy please).

So until next week. It´ll come like tomorrow (the time goes by way to fast, the hours fly by like minutes, it´s rather ridiculous)

Well, hasta luego.

Elder Johnson.

29 August 2012

Hello,

So this week has been the second to last week of vacations, so then the streets will one again be filled with the people of Madrid and then the work here and the baptisms will start to pick up a little bit more.

So I bought a camera this morning, so this next week i´ll start to send some more pictures. The camera seems pretty good, its a Nikon, it cost 99 euros, so in dollars it´s about 130-ish. However, the salesman said that the camera actually costs about 130 euros, which would be about 160-ish dollars. So it´s not too bad. it seems like a pretty good camera. It takes some rather good pictures, when it wants. But i´ll get better with it in a few weeks or so.

So we don´t have labor day, but what we do have is every single catholic celebration or day as a holiday, as well as a few more that Madrid wants to have. To be honest i don´t know why they have most of them, but they do have a lot, i don´t know when they all are, but they are somewhat frequent too.

So if i said that there were going to be changes in three weeks, i am afraid that i don´t remember what they would be, the next transfers will be in 5 weeks though. But i have forgotten if there will be any before then.

So, i don´t think that we have much else to say about this week. Were adjusting little by little to how the other teaches and how we can work better together. However, unfortunately there haven´t been a whole lot of things that were out of the normal or especially exciting this past week. This is probably the last transfer that i have here in Barrio 3, because the new president doesn´t like to have missionaries in an area for more than 6 months and i will have been here for 7 and a half. Soo, i can assume that this is my last 6 weeks in this area. But we´ll see what happens.

So in this next week and a half we should be setting up some baptismal dates. We have some good investigators that have been a little bit busy lately, but soon their schedules should be opening up.

So i am also teaching my companion a little bit of English because he would like to know it better. He also knows Catalan, which is a dialect of Spanish only spoken in the Barcelona area. And from what i have heard, he is pretty talented with the guitar. And the songs he knows on the piano are pretty good too. He also likes to draw and he is pretty funny too. Hopefully with his help, and the help of Elder Rodriguez (who lives with us) I will be able to get rid of this American accent that i have. It´s rather annoying to have too because i have to worry about if the people understood me after every single phrase that i say.

Well, i think that´s about all that i have to say right now, until next week, sorry, unfortunately i don't have as many stories to tell, so it´s a letter a little bit shorter, hopefully next week.

love,

Elder Johnson

22 August 2012

Hello!!

So, I am staying in barrio 3! Elder Wilson went to be an AP. And I am now with Elder Berthon. He is from Bolivia (technically). But he has been living in Barcelona (Spain) for about 12 years now. He has the same amount of time as i do in the mission, and i think that he has spent all of his mission in the Canary Islands. He is the exact opposite of me. He had his trainer for only one transfer, and about the same amount of time with all of his other companions. He came in at a weird time-. We were expecting him at about 10 or 10:30 at night and he came at 9:30, which of course was exactly right after we said the prayer on the food at the bishops house. So we ran over to the piso. Found the Presidente and his wife and my companion. We ran inside, dropped off his luggage and then ran back to eat with the bishop. So it was a night that was rather occupied.

so unfortunately I haven´t been able to take a whole lot of pictures, i was going to try to buy one today, but i don't think that i am going to have enough time. Sooo, we´ll see when it gets done. I would have really preferred if i had it two weeks ago, but i didn´t think about it then nor did i have a lot of time to buy one. I asked elder Wilson to send me some pictures of this past week so i should receive most of the ones that I would have taken.

So the pictures I have here are of our district at our last district meeting.Now the only one that is left is Elder Raiano, and he lives a different piso ahora. The transfers were pretty crazy. The president put some hermanas outside of Madrid ( which hadn´t been seen for a long time) and he put some in the Canary Islands. So all of the hermanas have disappeared from barrio 3 and 9. Elder Rodriguez, who we picked up last Wednesday is one of the elders that has taken the spot of the hermanas that were in our ward. the other elder in our ward is Elder Perkins. The elders in b9 are Elder Raiano, Elder Cardoso, Elder Veintimilla and Elder Strand. Elder Laubaugh ( my companion that i met my first day in Provo and my companion in the Madrid mtc has gone up to the north east corner of Spain. Now he is in the rain and cold there.

So this past Saturday we went on the ward trip. We drove a 40 minute drive (that took and hour and a half) up to a park north of Spain. It wasn´t too bad to begin with. One of our investigators came with three of her friends and so we spent a lot of the day with them. Once it started getting hot out a lot of the ward went to go swim and a ton more people came. To be honest it was somewhat disappointing because it felt a little bit like the ward was in separate groups. Because for the morning we set up blankets that were a descent distance apart, and then later a bunch of random people came and filled in the gaps. But, other than that it was pretty well. We got to spend some more time with the members, and Elder Rodriquez got to know them as well, and we also got to know our investigator(s) a little bit better and spend some time with them, so now they know that we aren´t just crazy religious fanatics...

Well, i don´t know what much else to say, today we went to a park and hung out with some other missionaries and we also played a little bit of American football. Other than that, i would just say that i think that this piso for these three weeks is going to be great. Elder Rodriquez is really funny, Elder Perkins is just an awesome Christlike person, and i don´t know elder Berthon really well yet, but he seems like he is a pretty good person too. Also, i think that my Spanish may improve quite a bit with a native companion and also because we have 5 native companions in our district, out of the 8.

vacations in general end at the beginning of next month, but i think that some people will still be in vacations until October or so. But most of the people are or will be starting to arrive or come back in the semanas que vienen.

So that´s basically all that i have for today, Hopefully i can send a mountain load of pictures next week.... or sometime at least. And hopefully everyone at home is doing well too.Good luck to all. I have to write to Papa now...

So hasta luego.

Elder Johnson

15 August 2012

Hello!!

Well, I still don´t know if I am staying or leaving. Though we did get a surprise today, and now we are in a trio. We had an activity at the mission home and there we played some soccer, some basketball, and some tennis (I am really terrible at playing anything, though I was better at tennis this time than I was the last time). So after that we were going to leave because we had an eating appointment with an investigator at 5 and it takes an hour and a half to get to or from the mission home. However, they hadn´t started cooking the food yet, so we waited another hour and a half ( and i played some volleyball with a ball that was flat every 10 hits, it took a fall on a cactus during a serve and wasn´t quite the same afterwards). So then we ate, and were about to leave when we were told that an Elder Rodriguez will be accompanying us. (he was in the north and came down for his papers and the president said that it wasn´t worth sending him back up with transfers next week)(so maybe he will be staying in b3). We actually forgot a little after that and started walking to the bus station when i remembered, and then we had to go back to pick him up. So then we ended up taking 2 hours to travel and wait, and then we changed, ran to our appointment, got cancelled on by our other one, and now i am here, so the letter is kind of late. Sorry about that.

So i bought a new memory card, however, my camera is a little too old to use the new memory card. So now i am going to buy a new camera so that i can remember everything. Hopefully i can do it really soon.

Well ¡Feliz Cumpleaños! espero que es uno que no olvidará. Por lo menos creo que no olvidará a dar comida a noventa misioneros. Sé que los misioneros la encantará esa comida y actividad. Yo también me gusta mucho para tener actividades así. Esta muy bien su servicio.

Well, hopefully having 4 at home isn´t too bad. It will actually be the norm in about 5 years or so. Hopefully the kids don´t miss me too much because i still have about 17 months, a little less. I´ll try to get send something to them ... one day. By the way, would i need to buy boxes or can i use the ones you sent me?

Pues Padre, cómo va el español. ¿Ya sabe muchas palabras o todavía esta en los básicos? espero que puede preguntar por el baño sin ofender a nadie. No es tan difícil, el más difícil sería que tiene que hablar con un acento que ellos entienden. Porque muchas personas aquí no han escuchado la acento americano. Y también el acento americano es tan raro que casi nadie entiende nada de lo que digamos. Tenemos una converso reciente que dijo que en el principio ella no me entendió para nada. No obstante hay algunas personas que hablan el ingles o podrían entenderle. Espero que puede aprender muy rapido el castellano. La unica cosa que diría que le ayudará mucho sería que debe leer en voz alta un poco español cada día; debe aprender nuevas palabra; y tambien debe conjugar verbos cada día. Son reglas que nos fue dado en el mtc de Madrid. También tengo un libro que estudio pero en esta momento no recuerdo cómo se llama. los siento. Si habla solo en español com mamá le ayudará también y para que la gente pueden entenderle mejor, ser seguro que pronuncia sus vocales bien y también que hace el "r" correctamente, porque no son igual en español cómo en ingles. Mamá debe poder ayudarle con eso. Creo que estas cosas le ayudará más que cualquier otra cosa. También recibí avisas de un ex-misionero en el mtc que debo aprender los verbos antes de los nouns. Quizas eso le ayudará mucho también.

Well, we have some pretty good investigators right now that are progressing pretty well. Unfortunately they are all working in the place of the people that are on vacations. So they won´t be able to get baptized until next month/transfer because they can´t come to church. However, in just a few more weeks some of our other investigators will be coming back and hopefully we will be able to resume teaching them when they return.

Well, martha is still in the hospital with the baby, at first the baby was trembling so they kept her there to figure out what was the problem. But they have no idea. But now Martha is having a reaction to the anesthetic, so the have to stay there for a little bit longer. She actually might be coming home tonight though...

Well, Melissa, one of our recent converts is going to move to bolivia with her family. Its kind of sad. But at the same time it is really good that she can do it, because it would really help her to leave some things/people behind. It will be a good change for her, but its bitter sweet.

Well, I don´t know what else to write right now. The week has been pretty normal, other than the fact that you could fry an egg on the road outside, it has been really hot this past week. But other than that, it has been pretty good/normal. I am kind of excited for these transfers, i really like changes, so i think that this could be pretty good for me, that, and the fact that i have heard that there are going to be a lot of changes, so it will be really interesting to see everything that happens.

Well, that´s all that i have for today, enjoy the evening and make sure that those rebelious missionaries behave themselves.

Well. tell the kids i´ll be home when i can.

os amo

Hasta luego,

Elder Talon Johnson