September 24, 2012

¡Hola! It sounds like you guys have had a fun week with homecoming and Brock’s first duck hunt and everything. I saw the picture of the duck hunt; tell Brock I’m proud of him ha ha. Sorry but the letter is going to be a little short this week because I don’t have very much time. This week on Tuesday the baptism we were going to have fell through, and I’m still not really sure why. I talked to the girl in the morning and she told me that everything was fine and that we could pass by her house to visit her before her baptism. We passed by her house to take her to the baptismal service and she had completely changed her mind and everything. We tried talking to her but it didn’t help a lot and then had to hurry and tell everybody the baptism was off because we had told the bishop to fill the font and everything. We’ve tried visiting the girl since, but she hasn’t been home. Her school teacher that’s a member told us that she has a new boyfriend and that could be the problem. We did have a baptismal service yesterday though of N, a 9 year old girl whose parents are members. They’re super nice though. This week I saw my first live mariachi, it was pretty funny. It was Jorge’s birthday this week and we helped his wife blow up balloons and everything and then she hired a mariachi that went to his house in the morning and surprised him and we there with their friends and everything, it was really cool. Also the ward party went really well, we had several investigators there and I tried some new foods for the first time. One was cow hoof, and it was really gross, like slimy. I also ate a bowl of cow stomach soup that wasn’t too bad, it was the first time I’ve eaten an entire bowl of it and I can’t really describe the taste. The texture is like the tongue cleaners that are on the back of toothbrushes, if you know what I’m saying? Anyways I got to run shower and everything so we can go to a zone meeting. They aren’t too fun but the leaders usually teach us something. But ya I hope you all have a great week, thanks for the pictures and everything. I love you! Elder Johnson

September 17, 2012

Hey Mom, It sounds like you guys have had a good week with all the football, the dove-a-que and everything else. The MTC president must have changed recently because when I was there President Brown was the man in charge. I know that because Kalin and I had a meeting with him when we got in trouble one time. Ha, we’ll tell you guys the story when we both get home. So this week was actually a pretty tough one. The 15th and 16th of September is their big fiesta here celebrating their independence. We had to be home early on the 15th for safety because there were tons and tons of drunks in the streets and everything. We still celebrated though with J and G though it was fun, I’ll send you some pics when I can, the adaptor isn’t working right now. We visited the boy that’s on dialysis this week, and his mom told us that they weren’t interested anymore and that they wouldn’t ever get baptized again because they were already baptized when they were babies in the Catholic Church. I felt really bad because I think her son would have been baptized and everything if she would have let him but what can you do? I wanted to talk to them more about the scriptures, but I decided not to and we talked a little bit and then sang a hymn to them and left. The people that first knew of the church 28 years ago are still coming every week and even went and bought their own hymn books and scriptures this week. They don’t have a baptismal date yet because there are some doubts still but we’re working hard with them. Tomorrow we should be having a baptismal service of a teenage girl, and then on Sunday we’ll have another baptism as well. I really hope we can do both of the baptisms this week because it will be the first time I’ve had 2 services in one week. Also there is a fiesta in the ward tomorrow to celebrate the 15th of September, and when I gave my talk yesterday I told the members to all invite investigators to the fiesta. This week I did exchanges a couple days with Elder C, my district leader and it went really good. Everything is still going good with my companion, he’s a little different but I’m more patient than I’ve ever been nowadays. Also this week I’m going to start giving English classes once a week in the church for our ward and the other ward that uses the same building. It’s an idea to be able to find more investigators, but a whole bunch of members are super excited for it. Little do they know that I’ve never taught English before but I’ll let you guys know how it goes! Oh, that will be way cool for the kids for conference, I’m sure they’ll like the candy! When I get back I want to go to a live General Conference session. It’s funny that some people here save up all year to be able to go to Salt Lake for the weekend and see conference when we live 1 hour away and have never gone! My clothes are pretty good, the pits are all stained on my garments, and the necks are stained on my white shirts but they’re fine for now but when I get back we’ll definitely need to go shopping. My feet are fine and I’m pretty good with everything health wise, but my shoulder still does bug me a little bit. We played handball the other day and it really bothered me then and the day after, maybe I’ll have to do more therapy when I get home or something but I still can’t throw really at all but its all good don’t worry about anything, the main sport here is soccer and I don’t have to throw to be able to play that. Thanks for sending me a hump day package, I can’t believe I’m almost half of the way done! As a tradition I think I’ll burn one of my white shirts that day. Everything is going good, even though I’m really missing hunting this time of year but I try not to think about it too much. The language is coming along really good, I even dreamed in Spanish last night, weird huh? I think almost always in Spanish, and I’m forgetting some things in English. Anyways I hope you guys have a great week, thanks so much for your examples and everything.

September 11, 2012

Hola Mom! I’m glad that everything’s going good for everybody, and your sharing time sounds really cool too. Thanks for sending me those pictures, I’ll let you know when I get them. So my new companion is Elder J from Aguascalientes, Mexico. He’s a really good guy and likes to work and so far we’ve got along really well. He went to the MTC in Mexico the same day I went to the one in Provo, but he got to the mission in November and I got here in March. Elder J looks like he’s about 13 years old though. Yesterday I got to baptize E, it was a really cool experience. He chose me to do it a couple of days before and it was awesome when he decided for sure to get baptized and asked me if I would do it. He’s 18 years old and in the last year of high school, so hopefully he can keep progressing and serve a mission soon. I’ll send you pictures when I can, I don’t have my memory card adapter with me right now. This week a hermana from our ward who is a teacher gave us a reference for one of the students in her school. We went and visited the 16 year old kid, and he’s really sick. His kidney’s don’t work, and he has to do 6 dialysis treatments every day. He still goes to school but has to come straight home and start doing his treatments. His family doesn’t have very much money either, but so far people have donated all of the medical supplies he has needed. We’ve visited him several times since and he’s been reading the Book of Mormon and everything, but the bummer is that they didn’t come to church yesterday. Today we had a zone activity in another church, and we did a scavenger hunt, an obstacle course and played that volleyball water balloon game with the towel. It was pretty fun and every activity was related somehow to missionary work. It’s also Elder H from my district’s birthday so we’re going to go eat cake in just a minute. We’re currently teaching the family that first knew about the church 28 years ago, and their granddaughters should be getting baptized next week. The work is going great here, and we should be having lots of success this transfer. Thanks for everything mom, I can really say that I am happy here in Mexico and am so thankful for the opportunity I have to be here. I hope you guys have a great week, I love you! Elder Johnson

September 3, 2012

Hola Mom, That’s really a cool experience you had about listening to the Spirit, you’re so right we always should be listening to it. I got your letter this week that you sent on Aug 10. As far as D goes it doesn’t seem like he’ll be getting baptized anytime soon he’s gone back to partying again and can’t stop smoking. The week has gone pretty well though, and I found out yesterday that I will be staying in Texcoco again for at least 6 more weeks, but my companion is leaving and I’m now senior companion. Tomorrow I have to go to Santa Marta to drop my companion off and get my new one. I’ll let you know how he is next week. More than anything I’m hoping that he’s clean and organized and likes to work. I’m actually glad that I’ll be staying in Texcoco because there is a lot of potential in this area for the upcoming 6 weeks. We’re going to have a baptismal service this Sunday for E. He’s an 18 year old kid that’s way cool. One of the things we’ve done with him is taking him to the church to play basketball with the other young men, and then we play too. I’m know I’m not super good at basketball but nobody here is very good at all so I like playing and schooling all of them. Yesterday at church we had 7 investigators at church, which made me really happy. M, a guy I baptized in April blessed the sacrament for the first time, and then after that I was sitting by him and made him a deal that if I bore my testimony he would bear his too for the first time. He was super nervous but he did it and it was really cool to see the changes he’s been making in his life. We’re going to go to his 5 year old daughter’s birthday party this week. Also this week an older couple that nobody knew showed up at church. They had talked to the missionaries 28 years ago but were never baptized, but the guy had a dream that he needed to go the Mormon Church in Texcoco and so there they were. We’re going to visit them this week; I’ll let you know how it goes. I ate a goat head taco on Friday. Yea, like the eyes, the cheeks, and the brains. It wasn’t too bad but I got sick after. Anyways, I’ve got to run because my comp has to pack all his stuff and I’m hoping he cleans up some of the huge mess he’s made too. I love you and I hope you have a great week! Elder Johnson

Happy Birthday Elder Johnson!!

¡Hola Mama! Thanks for all the happy birthday wishes, I had a great day. The members and other missionaries in my district took care of me. It’s weird I’m not a teenager anymore, I feel old now! I opened the cards and presents in the morning, thanks for everything. Some of members here had a fiesta for me last night. It was really cool, they put lots of work into it. They bought me a tres leches cake too and then we’re going to go back on Wednesday to eat the cake you sent me. The people that did the little party are like my mom and dad here in Mexico, he even calls me his adopted son. I think this is going to be last week in Texcoco because we have transfers next Tuesday and I’ve been here for awhile but who knows. We ate hamburgers, they let me choose and I wanted something American. We were actually going to go out to eat at an Italian restaurant but our zone leaders called us in the morning and told us we had a stinkin meeting at 5 that night. We didn’t have zone conference yesterday, just a zone meeting for the goals of September and stuff like that. This week was going really good until Friday and we got disappointing news. D´s aunt told us that he wanted to wait a week to get baptized because he had some problems. We’ve gone to his house a couple times to talk to him but he hasn’t been home so we don’t know exactly what to think. The opposition is always working against us and it seems he works hardest on people right when they’re about to do something really good with their life and he knows that and doesn’t want that to happen. This is definitely not the first time I’ve seen this on the mission. On Saturday we had a really cool activity here in Texcoco. All of the youth from the entire stake of Los Reyes came to Texcoco for an activity where they got the chance to be a missionary for the day. It started with a fireside then we split into groups and every companionship gave an orientation on how to be a missionary and then we left to our own separate areas of Texcoco to visit less active families and then to proselyte and knock doors and everything. It was fun to work with the youth and we received lots of references from everybody. I gave a talk on Sunday about repentance and when I talked about restitution I used the example from when I accidentally stole the Jazz pen from Fanzz and then went back a couple years later to pay them back. I’ve learned that people pay more attention to talks when we tell stories or give examples of things that have happened. As far as the food is going, I’ve really gotten used to all the spicy stuff, and can eat habaneros without crying too much now. Everything is going great, and I love the people here. It will be sad when I have to leave, and I think I might be leaving next week because we have transfers on Tuesday. Thanks so much for everything for my birthday and for the support, I can honestly feel all the prayers from everybody back home. I hope you guys have a great week, I love you! Elder Johnson

This is the activity we did with all of the youth from the Los Reyes Stake.

We went to a dinner to celebrate with the firefighters.

I had the most amazing birthday fiesta. Thank you so much J & G for spoiling me! I love you and appreciate all you do for me!! (My Mom and Dad thank you for taking such good care of me!)

August 21, 2012

Hola Mom, That’s crazy that school starts today, are you excited or sad? I got the pictures you sent me, they were fun to see. School started here yesterday. I’m writing you today because we didn’t have very much time yesterday. This week has gone pretty good. We focused on working with the members and received lots of references and found lots of new people that want to learn more. We weren’t able to baptize D because he wanted to wait until this Saturday to do his service because he wants his dad to be there. There are a ton of potential baptisms to be done in the next month or so and I’m scared I might not be here because we have changes in 2 weeks. I’ve already been here in Texcoco for 5 months now, but there are other missionaries that have been in the same area for as long as 9 months too so who knows what will happen. We confirmed A on Sunday, and then his wife was actually called to be the 2nd counselor in the relief society. It was super cool when she was called, a couple of months ago she was inactive and A didn’t want anything to do with the church. Another hermana told me on Sunday that you can tell he just got baptized because he can’t stop smiling, and its so true. Their goal right now is to go to the temple in a year to be sealed with their 2 kids. We did more service this week, one day we went to a farm to do a lesson, and cut some firewood for them too. Two days later we went back and did more service for them. We cut some more wood, picked apples and pomegranates, and then I learned how to use a sickle, at least I think that’s what it called. I sent you a picture so you can see it. It was fun and good to help these people out. I’m glad to hear that everything is going good, and that is definitely true that each companion has their strengths and weaknesses to learn from. I can’t believe I hit day 300 this week too. It’s gone by so fast! The only bummer this week was on Saturday at about noon I looked at my watch and saw the date and realized that it was the first day of the bow hunt back home, that’s more exciting than Christmas for me! But it’s all good; I’ll be bow hunting again in exactly 2 years. I hope you guys have a great week, keep on keeping me updated on what’s happening. I love you! Elder Johnson

August 13, 2012

Hey Mom! How’s everything going? Are you ready for school to start? The M&M´s weren’t melted at all, everything got to me perfectly. I’m jealous you guys are going camping again; let me know how it goes. This week we were actually able to work really well, I think my companion got sick of me always dragging him around so he decided to cooperate and work a little harder this week. We found some new investigators that have lots of potential, and we should be baptizing D on Sunday. We also were able to baptize A yesterday, his service was really special. His wife is a member but was less active for lots of years. She showed up in the chapel one Sunday and we talked to her and everything and she told us her husband wasn’t a member but wasn’t interested in talking to us or anything. We told her we’d pass by her house to visit her and see how they were doing anyways. The first day we went there, about a month ago, he was outside and was avoiding us but after a minute he came into the house and started to talk to us and had lots of questions. From then on we kept passing by with him and last week he told us he wants to get baptized so that he can live with his wife and kids for eternity. He asked if I would baptize him and we made his service really special with a program and everything. One day this week, A´s wife asked us if we could cut their "grass" for them. It’s more like the field that’s at the end of scenic drive than an actual yard but anyways ya we showed up and they had a pair of scissors and a scythe, like the one the grim reaper uses to cut the grass. I hadn’t ever seen one of those in real life but it was fun to use and we cut almost all the grass in their yard, we were there for more than 5 hours. It was way cool to learn how to use a scythe!

Elder Alonso, of the 70 area presidency of Mexico came and visited our mission this week. We had a conference with him one day, and he taught us lots of really good things. He taught us to be direct with the people, and that the Lord’s elect are prepared to accept the gospel. He also told us that we shouldn’t ever baptize somebody that’s not ready to be baptized. With all the pressure the leaders put on us to baptize people, there are lots of people who get baptized before they’re ready and then they go inactive right after. President Morales taught us some good things too; he actually used to be an area 70 as well. We had to part our hair when Elder Alonso came to visit.

This week I ate cow liver tacos, is that safe? One guy told me that liver has clenbuterol in it so it’s not safe to eat but other people have told me that it’s fine. I only ate 1 taco because I didn’t like it very much. They tried to invite us to come back with them this week to eat some more but I had to hurry and tell them we already have another appointment that day and wouldn’t be able! One day we were with some of our recent converts and they had this super cool little plant that when you touch it, the plant moves. I think they saw that I was mesmerized by it and they gave it to me as a gift ha ha. We passed by with the C family yesterday and were able to talk with them for a while. We also watched part of the Olympics with them in their home theater and they fed us and gave us a bag full of food to take home to our house. It’s hard to pass by them a lot because they’re only in the house in our area on the weekends. Everything is going really good, and I’m glad that you guys are all doing good too. Let me know how everything goes this week! Thanks for everything, I love you! Elder Johnson