October 29, 2012

Greetings from Nezahualcoyotl! See Mom I told you everything would go good with the ward Halloween party and your program! I wish I could’ve have seen the primary program, that’s always one of the funniest Sacrament meetings, and the Spirit is strong too. Are there any big plans for Halloween this week? Con and his date look pretty funny as pirates. Here they don’t really do a whole lot for Halloween; it’s all about the Dia de Muertos here. Tell Mason congrats on his first buck, but it’s not as cool as Goliath! Well it’s kind of weird to think that I’ve been on the mission for a year. I opened the hump day package in the morning and then that night I burnt my shirt as the sacrifice. Looking back on the mission it really has gone by pretty fast, and its crazy to think that in just one more year I’ll be back home hunting again, oh ya and spending time with you guys too ha-ha! My comp has already been wearing the shirt you sent him, thanks a lot for the package it was way cool. We scared the hermana that we live with when we burnt my shirt because we poured alcohol on it and everything and the flames were giant and I think she thought we were going to burn the house down. The work is going pretty good here in La Perla, we found 11 new investigators this week and taught quite a few lessons. We weren’t able to have the baptism because the lady had to leave and take care of her parents who got sick, but she’s getting baptized this Wednesday instead. We also should be having another baptism this week if everything goes well, the only problem we could have with the investigator is that she has to stop smoking and has had problems doing it but we’re going to pass by her tomorrow and talk really well with her and give her a blessing. My companion is pretty cool and we get along great and we’ve been working super hard. Even though I usually don’t realize it, I really have changed a ton this first year on the mission. I’ve been worrying more about other people than myself, and that’s something I didn’t really do at home. Lots of time I wake up the middle of the night worried about different investigators and how we can help them to get baptized and change their lives. I know that is the Lord’s work and there is nothing better that I could be doing with my life right now. Thanks for everything Mom, have a great week with Halloween and everything. Oh and a big question, how do you boil eggs? I’m not dumb; I know you put them in boiling water but for how long? The yolk is where all the cholesterol is so I should eat that right? If you could tell me how to cook those that would be great, I’m sick of greasy everything. Well anyways take care I love you! Elder Johnson

Does your church have a security system like this?

Elder Johnson and his companion on the roof top of his apartment in the city of Nezahualcoytotl.

As a tradition and sacrifice, I burned a shirt the day I turned a year old in the mission. Thank you for all the treats and things for my "Over the Hump Day".

October 8, 2012

¡Hola Familia! Wow that’s great you got to watch all 4 sections of conference. That’s crazy that Connor can now leave when he’s 18, the first thing I thought was that I might not be seeing him now for almost 4 years! Let me know what he decides with that, and I’ll talk to him more about it too. Mexico was the only country where missionaries could leave at the age of 18 before, so that wasn’t really big news to the people here. With the ages changing to 18 and 19 years old for girls I think there are going to be a lot more missionaries serving everywhere. We watched the conference in the stake center and I was able to watch almost all of it, and in ENGLISH! I can understand it just fine in Español but I like hearing their original voices a lot better. We had our own classroom for all the gringos to watch the conference. Elder Holland’s talk was my favorite I think, when he asked if we really love the Savior. So remember the investigator D? Well we’ve still been working with him a lot still, and he was able leave his addictions and was able to get baptized this week! I baptized my amigo on Friday, and it’s truly amazing to see the changes he’s made in his life. One year ago he was selling illegal drugs in the roughest part of all of Mexico City, (missionaries aren’t even allowed to go into this place for safety reasons), 6 months ago he was in a rehabilitation center for drugs, and then this week he officially left all that behind and made a covenant with the Lord! I love seeing people change and find a happiness in this life that can’t be obtained through other means. So my convert, M that I baptized in April was excited to go to his first General Conference, but about the week before his appendix ruptured and he had surgery. The healthcare isn’t quite the same here as in Dad’s hospital and where they cut him open, opened back up and he had to have another little procedure done to sew it back together on Saturday. We passed by to check on him Sunday morning, and he told us that he was going to go to conference with us. We told him he that he shouldn’t but he insisted that he was going to come so we went together. After the first 2 hours I saw him and he was in a lot of pain. His cut had opened back up and there was blood on his white shirt. Elder F and me grabbed a first aid kit from the office and went into a classroom to see if we could do anything to help him. He took his old bandage off and I almost fainted! I could pretty much see his guts! The Lord gave me strength though, and because Elder F is just like me with blood, I had to clean out his wound first with gauze and medicine, and then patch it back up with more gauze and then we gave him a blessing. I’m getting to be pretty good with the medical stuff now; I’m thinking I might be a doctor now when I get home! The English classes are still going really good. The only thing is that I gave the prayer in English to end our classes the other day, and I’ve realized I’ve completely forgotten how to pray in English. I haven’t said an English prayer out loud or personally since the MTC, it was so weird! My "students" were all laughing after because they recognized a couple of Spanish words mixed in my English prayer. I’m almost sure this is my last week in Texcoco, I’m really going to miss it here. I have no idea where I’ll be going, but I’ll let you guys know as soon as I do. Thanks so much for everything; I’ll let you know when I get the packages. I hope you guys have a great week, and tell dad and Connor to keep sending me hunting pictures, even though they make me jealous. I love you! Elder Johnson

Elder Johnson with his companion Elder F

October 22, 2012

October 22, 2012 Dearest Family, Wow can I just tell you guys that I HATE packing! I was up until 1 in the morning the night before the changes, and then woke up at 5 the next morning to finish everything. I found out that I’ve accumulated quite a bit of things over the last 7 months in Texcoco, and that I’ll need to buy another suitcase sometime soon! I ended up filling my 3 suitcases completely full with everything and then had 2 cardboard boxes full of stuff and 2 other bags as well. Luckily, a sister from the ward took me to Santa Martha, where the whole mission meets for the changes and there everybody leaves all of their luggage outside while we have a meeting with President where we find out the changes that are going to happen in the mission. I am now with Elder R, in the area La Perla and our zone is called La Perla as well. I had never met Elder R before, but he’s a pretty nice guy and has 20 months on the mission. I’m senior companion, but I’ve been following him around all week because I’m not very familiar with the area yet. All the streets look the same, and you know how I am with directions, let’s just say I’m always super lost! Our area here is really small, because we’re in the city of Nezahualcoyotl and its super populated. There are a ton of people that live here so there’s lots of work to do. We can get to every part of my area by walking, which is way different than Texcoco where we always had to spend money on transportation. There hasn’t been a baptism in this area in more than 3 months, but this week we’re going to have a baptism! It’s actually been really cool; a couple of people contacted us in the streets and said they wanted to learn more. That hardly ever happens; usually we’re the ones that contact them! The members here are really good too, and they seem to work with us. Our house is super small here; we don’t even have a kitchen. Actually the little electric grill we have is on top of the fridge that is right next to the table where we study. I honestly think my bedroom at home is bigger than our whole house! To have hot water we have to go up to the roof and turn on the boiler with a lighter every morning and then wait about a half hour. We do live in front of some members though and they let us use their kitchen when we want. Elder S and Elder G that were with me in the MTC are both in my district here, so it’s pretty cool to be able to see them. I got the hump day package on Monday, but I’m waiting until the 26th to open it just like the box says! Jarrett had written me last week and told me was getting married, that’s great for him. Keep me updated on the other weddings too. Good luck with your crazy week, I’m sure your program will be great, don’t worry too much about it! Let me know how it goes and keep me updated on all the news. Oh and tell Brock to give me the updates on the World Series too. I love you! El Elder Johnson

October 15, 2012

Hey Mommy! What’s everybody been up to? How’s everybody doing? Wow, I can’t believe you guys did that to the car! Ha if I were you I wouldn’t let dad off the hook that easy! But you’re right, stuff happens sometimes. I haven’t gotten the letter with the plan of salvation stuff or the package, but hopefully they’re at the changes tomorrow. Yep, it’s official tomorrow I’m leaving Texcoco, but I have no idea where I’m going or who with. Elder J will be staying here. It’s been hard to say goodbye to everybody, and I’m going to miss them a lot. At the same time though I’m excited to get to know another area and start working there. This week we had another baptism of a teenage girl named M. She had lots of doubts when we were teaching her a couple weeks ago, but we helped her a lot and we committed her on Tuesday to getting baptized on Sunday and she accepted it. She asked me if I would baptize her, and it was great to be able to baptize somebody my last week in Texcoco. The only thing, I don’t know if you remember how I told you the church ran out of gas for the boiler, well anyways there still isn’t any gas and we had to fill the font with really cold water. I was freezing after, and I can only imagine how cold the poor girl was who got baptized! Yesterday at church we had five confirmations from people we had baptized the 2 weeks before, because we couldn’t confirm anybody during conference. Also, 8 of my different converts shared their testimonies in sacrament meeting. It was awesome to see the progress they’ve made from when I first met them. This week I’ve eaten so much, I’m getting so fat, a Gold’s Gym pass is the first thing I’m buying when I get home! Lots of people knew I was leaving and everybody wanted to feed us, and we can’t say no to anybody! Tonight we’re going to go say bye to some more people, and then a hermana from my ward is going to take us to Santa Martha, where everybody meets for the changes. You know how I like to wait until the last minute to do everything, well I still haven’t started to pack, so I might not be sleeping very much tonight. Anyways I gotta run and do a couple things before I leave, sorry I don’t have too much time today. I hope you guys have a great week! I love you! The Elder Johnson

October 1, 2012

Hey Mom, That’s crazy the Bud’s are already home, the time is going by super fast. Poor Uncle Jerry I feel so bad for him, hopefully he gets better fast. That’s good that he hasn’t been in too much pain though. I’m sorry you have to go to the dentist tomorrow. That does not sound very much fun at all to have a root canal! Good luck! I actually went to the dentist this week too for the first time and Mexico, and let’s just say it’s not quite the same as Dr Francis´ office. I just went to get my teeth whitened though. One of the ladies that works there is a member and they gave us a super good discount. I’m going back on Thursday again to get them whitened and check for cavities. The English classes are actually coming pretty good and I’ve had about 14 different students so far. I’ve realized I know more about Spanish than I thought. This week for conference we’re going to the stake center to watch it with lots of members and all the 22 missionaries from our zone. It’s not on TV here, but the members can watch it on internet if they have a computer. This last Monday I was really worried that we weren’t going to have a baptism this week. On Tuesday we went to eat with E and his family, who are investigators and while we were eating he told us that this Sunday (yesterday) that him, his wife and his granddaughters were going to get baptized. I was super shocked but super excited to be able have 4 baptisms this week. It was truly a miracle from the Lord because 2 days before at church he told us that he would not be getting baptized for a while because he didn’t feel ready and wanted to wait. His service was super special and lots of people were crying because the Spirit was so strong. Everything is going really good, still here in Texcoco. I’ve memorized most of the stray dogs here because I’ve been here so long, but I really like the people here and have had lots of success in this area. Thank you for everything, and I’ll think this week and let you know what I need Brother Garcia to bring me. I love you! Elder Johnson