I'M GOING TO BOISE!!!!

Just finished an evening of torture! Tyler emailed today and said that he received his travel plans and would call us at 6:00 and tell us where he will be going. As you know, his Visa has not come yet and his entire district flew to Mexico on Monday without him. He was sad to see them go. Everyone rushed home and waited patiently by the phone. He didn’t call until 9:35! He will be flying to Boise, Idaho on Wednesday, January 4th and will begin serving his mission there until his Visa comes. He could be there from one week to three months. Personally, I wouldn’t mind if he stayed there for two years!! He is excited to serve. The mission he is going to will be English/Spanish speaking so hopefully, he will be able to use the Spanish that he has been learning. It sure was great to hear his voice!

EVERYONE'S GOING TO MEXICO TODAY EXCEPT ELDER JOHNSON

Tyler and his entire district were supposed to leave for Mexico on the two days after Christmas. On Thursday, December 22nd we received a phone call from him saying that since everyone was leaving on Monday, December 26th, they let them call home to give their families their travel plans. Since Ty is the only one out of the entire district who has not yet received his visa, they felt sorry for him and let him call too. It was great to hear his voice but I could tell he is disappointed that he will not be traveling to Mexico with the rest of the missionaries today. He will remain in the MTC for a few more days and if the visa doesn’t arrive, they will transfer him to someplace in the US until the visa comes. I know everything will work out exactly the way it is supposed to and so does Tyler. Ty has become very close to the missionaries in the MTC and will miss them when they all leave to go to their specific areas to serve. Hopefully, he has made some life long friends during this stage of his mission and will continue to make many more as this wonderful chapter in his life continues. We are so proud of Tyler and love him so much!

FELIZ NAVIDAD!

Feliz Navidad!
How was Christmas for everybody? What did everybody get? Did you guys do anything fun today? If you have time email me some pictures of everybody so I can see them tomorrow during my P day. Things here were way good today. David A. Bednar joined us for our sacrament meeting today and gave an amazing talk about the character of Christ. I was able to spend lots of time with Kalin last night and today too so that was really nice to have him here. This morning my comp and I got up and opened our presents, and then we went to breakfast. After breakfast we watched music and the spoken word, and then we had Sacrament with Elder Bednar. After that we went on a temple walk, had a district meeting, and a Christmas lunch. After lunch we were supposed to have time to email our families, but all of the computers were taken and the internet was super slow with everybody on them so that's why I'm just barely emailing you now. After that we watched another MoTab Christmas special, and then ate sack dinners in our dorm rooms. After, the managing director of the missionary department for the Church came and talked to us. After him we watched Mr. Krueger’s Christmas. In all it was a pretty good day. I wore my new pillow tie today and got tons of comments on how good it looked, and they didn't even know it was a pillow tie! I missed you guys a lot today, but I know that I'm where I should be. Thanks so much for everything, I love you!

CHRISTMAS EVE IN THE MTC

Hey everybody,
My district is leaving Monday and Tuesday, so they need to have their P day today to pack everything up and get ready to leave. So I get to have a Pday today, and again on Monday! Christmas Eve at the MTC has been a normal day so far. We're having a fireside at 6:30 today, and then watching a movie after that. They have all sorts of stuff planned for us tomorrow, including Sacrament meeting with a GA. The rumor going around is that it's going to be Holland, but I'll let you know on Monday who it really is. I've been getting quite a few packages lately, we have great friends. I've gotten quite a few Christmas cards too; I'll send them home to you later. I've got so much food it's ridiculous! I've been trying to share it with everybody but I still have so much. Thanks for everything, I've only opened a couple of my Christmas presents, but I'm saving most of them for tomorrow. We all love the digital picture frame. Everybody is using it to look at their pictures, and we played some music on it today while they were packing too. Kalin came up to my room last night and we watched a couple of the videos on it. He's doing pretty well, pretty much exactly how I was the first couple of day, it just takes some time to adjust. I'll give Dallin's present to him tonight. Thanks for the stocking it's way cool. I love the back and head scratchers too, I've got the back scratcher in my suit it's perfect. The Spanish and English dictionary is 3 times the size as anybody else's, my companion's even been reading it. What are you guys up to today? Are you going to see Jerry? What's the plan for tonight and tomorrow? Thanks for everything; I've definitely gotten the most from home than anybody else I've seen. I'll be back on here either tomorrow or Monday. I love you!
Feliz Navidad!
Elder Johnson

ME LLAMO ES ELDER JOHNSON

Ty and one of his roomates, Elder Hunsaker

Ty and his Companero Elder Scott from Lehi

Ty and his other roommate, Elder McCarl

Ty with Elder Worthington aka Party Cat

Ty and Elder Kemp

Ty and Elder Ika

Ty and Elder Hyrum Smith

What do they feed those missionaries in the MTC?

TY & KK AT THE MTC!

Tyler was able to be a Host at the MTC today and escort his close friend and new missionary Kalin Olson. There are two mom's that are happier tonight knowing that their boys were with a friend for at least part of today!!

FUN TRIP BUT NO VISA!!

Hey Mom and Dad

So the trip to Boise was really fun but unproductive. There were 10 of us that went from the MTC, and 3 others that were serving in Boise for a couple weeks to get our visas. Everybody got their Visa but me. I don't know why I didn't. According to the Mexican Consul the people in SLC didn't send all of the papers they needed to for me. According to the MTC travel office, the Mexican place just hasn't done what they have needed to yet, so I really have no idea what the status of that is. Don't worry, they said it won't take too long to get, and I would be just fine spending a little extra time in the MTC. Nobody in my district has their travel plans yet though, which is really weird we should've gotten them by now. Austin hasn't heard a thing about his Visa or his travel plans either. It's just a waiting game now the travel office said.

Anyways the trip to Boise was so much fun. We got to order Dominos the
first night, ate at Carl's Jr and Panda the next day, and Subway the day after that. THERE ARE SO MANY GEESE IN BOISE!!! They were flying
everywhere, and at every park we drove by they were all over the grass. We stayed in an apartment, and from the back porch of it you could throw a rock and hit Cabela's. We never got to go to Cabela's though I was kinda bummed. A senior missionary couple that lived in Idaho drove us around in a big van, and they would drop us off wherever we needed to go, but they didn't stay with us. We did service at DI for 5 hours on Tuesday, and then the rest of the time just hung out at the apartment. The kids I went with all were really fun. Oh and I got my shoes shined at the Boise airport it was definitely one of the classiest experiences of my life!

I'm not trying to brag or anything, but of all the missionaries I went
with, I was the only one to get an address from anybody who wanted to learn more about the gospel! We flew Southwest on the way there, so I sat next to this business man and taught him while he was throwing down a Coors! It was way cool to actually teach a real investigator, I can't wait to be able to do that all the time.

I get to be host on Wednesday, tell the Olson's they better be looking for me! I'm going to try my hardest to find Kalin. You carry their bags into their room for them, and then take them to their classroom and answer any questions they have. I'm looking forward to being able to do it, since I missed it last week for Boise.

I promise I'll send the memory card home today; I filmed a video on it last night. Put everything on the computer and erase it and then film a video on Mom's Nikon camera (I think it will work better that way), and then send it back to me in the package this week please.

The temple is closed this week, so today I'm going to get my dry-cleaning and laundry done, and I have a haircut too. I'll get back on email later, so try to reply back to me if you have time. Thanks for everything, I love you.

Elder Johnson

Ty getting his shoes shined at the airport.

Real food in Idaho, Domino's Pizza

Ty's favorite, Panda Express!

GREATEST DAY EVER!! (OR AT LEAST FOR THE LAST 7 WEEKS!)

So, today was pretty much the greatest day! Tyler sent an email around 12:30. In it he said that when they returned from the Temple this morning, several of them were called into the Travel Office at the MTC. They told the missionaries to pack a bag and that they would be leaving the MTC at 2:30 to fly to Boise to meet with the Consulate about their Visa’s. He said 10 missionaries would be going. They would fly out on Monday afternoon, meet with the Consulate on Tuesday, and then fly back on Wednesday. Around 5:00, my cell phone rang, on the caller ID was a number that I didn’t recognize. When I said ‘hello” the voice on the other end said “Hi Mom”. It was Tyler calling from the airport!! He sounded SO GREAT!!! He said everything is going great and he loves being where he is! His voice had a little bit of an accent and he said that sometimes he can’t think of the English word for what he wants to say, only the Spanish words. He was glad to have a little field trip and get out of the MTC for a couple of days and if everything goes well in Boise, he will be flying to Mexico two weeks from tomorrow. He has been in the MTC for nearly 7 weeks. It was so great to hear his voice. I have been missing him so much! I could not be more proud of him! That was the greatest Christmas gift I could have received! When they are in the MTC at Christmas, they do not get to call home so I guess this was to make up for that!

BREAKING NEWS!

As soon as we got back from the temple today, they called
us into the MTC Travel Office and told us that the consul of Idaho wants to
talk to us. We're leaving at 2:30 today and flying to Boise. We'll do
whatever for our Visa's on Tuesday, and then we'll fly back on Wednesday.
We have to pack a carry on with all of the stuff we'lll need for the 2
days. I believe there are 10 of us going, 6 from my district and the other
4 are going to Mexico City too. I have a couple of my phone cards and I'll
call you if I can, but I'm not sure if I'll be able to or not, but I'll try
my hardest if they'll let me. I'll try Mom's cell number first. Anyway, I
gotta run pack, I'll mail you my memory card, and some letters to you on
Wednesday when I get back. I love you!
Elder Johnson

MEXICO CITY: TWO WEEKS AND COUNTING!!!

Hey Mom,
How's everybody doing? What's new with everyone? Things here are still going great. Time has gone by so fast I can't believe I only have 2 weeks left here. I gave a talk yesterday in Spanish at Sacrament meeting. It was about the Doctrine of Jesus Christ and I think it went pretty well. They don't tell you beforehand who is going to speak at Sacrament so everybody has to prepare a talk just in case. When the President got up and said that we would be hearing from Elder Johnson today my stomach dropped, I had prepared a talk, but I was still scared to do it in Spanish. Anyways it went good though and I even added some stuff to my talk that I hadn't written down in Spanish.

I'm both excited and a little nervous to leave, only because of the
Spanish. Our teacher that our first companion will almost certainly be a native. He said they don't like to pair up two gringos together because white kids don't know what they're doing in Mexico. I'm a little worried about not being able to communicate with my companion, because right now it seems like I can only speak gospel Spanish. I'm sure I'll learn quickly though.

Nobody in my district has heard anything about their Visas. I have no idea if we should be worried about them or not. Our teachers have no idea what the status is either, the travel office in Salt Lake does everything. Hopefully we'll hear something this week; I guess you usually get your Visas a week and a half before you leave. If we don't get them we'll either stay at the MTC for a week or 2 extra, or they said they could send us somewhere stateside for a little while. It's all speculation though, nobody knows anything for sure, we just have to wait and hear from the travel office.

I found out that I get to be a host for the new missionaries on
Wednesday, I'm way excited to do that. I'm hoping that I'll get to do it next week too, so I can pick up Kalin.

For Christmas, do you think you please get me an English/Spanish picture dictionary? My companion has one and it seems like it would help a ton. Make sure you get the one for English people learning Spanish and not the other way around. His parents got his at Barnes & Noble for like $20.

I've gotta run to the temple but I'll be back on later, not sure what time though. Thanks so much for everything. I love you!

Elder Johnson