Thursday, April 30, 2009

First transfer, new companion, and teaching a criminal?


Here's the latest from Elder J. He sounds great and has had quite the experiences already. This new area will be different in many ways! I am just thrilled at how good he looks and that SMILE... what can I say, he's adorable!


Hello Johnsons!
How's it?
Well... here's the news...
My area has two wards, the members are awesome, we get fed a bunch! The work is actually pretty good here. So all i have to do is just put a little bit more effort into it and make it even better! My companion elder douglas is way cool. He's from Arkansas and he played bass in a band there. He really enjoys being bold and shambucking(chastizing) our investigators and less active members... it's pretty funny. We're like a good cop/bad cop routine. I must say it's pretty effective. Wow... i am so glad to hear that you all enjoyed the death cab show... I'm jealous but i know that someday i shall see them again.
I have yet to tract since i've been here.... It's been pretty crazy. We ALWAYS have people to see. I think at the moment we have 2 people on date. and a few more that we're hopeful for! Hopefully next week i'll have even more info about our investigators and members and what not. Here is something funny though... a couple of weeks before i got here the missionaries met a guy named shaun la roux. He seemed like a normal guy. He came to church and all was well... then they visited him and found out the following:
1. He was raised by wild dogs
2.He is at large with every crime orginization in the world.
3. He personally knows osama bin laden. But osama is posing as a man named John Robinson 4. He wants to be reincarnated as a bird 5. He can communicate with animals quite well.
Any ways.... i had to oppurtunity to teach him...twice. and he is indeed nutsers. So... we are planning to distance ourselves slowly but surely. haha But all is well here sorry about the email problems last week, i let my mail box get way too full. But i'm clearing it out bit by bit each p-day. As far as calling goes... we're thinking to call on sunday around what will be 8 or 9 in the morning on mothers day for you guys.... i hope that will work ok?
Anyways... i hope you know that the church is true..... in south africa too.
The gospel is such a great blessing to have in our lives. So make sure you are trying to help others receive those blessings as well by sharing it with them!! The youth are wise... listen to them. It's "like" the best!
haha
-elder johnson
p.s. here is a picture of me with the tsela's!

Monday, April 20, 2009

Two Emails~ Melissa is the MVFM...for now!

Guess who won Most Valuable Family Member??
That would be melissa jones.
For some reason i didn't get the email from mom and dad... and the
rest of the fam... but if you could forward this email to them and as
well have them resend their other one, that would be great.
Anyways... This saturday i got the news that i will be transfered to
Edenvale. Which is in the Jo'Burg area. So that's gonna be
interesting! I guess it's a pretty rich area. I'm gonna have a lot of
fun. anyways.... i am leaving the area with 4 people on date! We put
Precious on date last on tuesday night! So hopefully the nelspruit
branch will grow by 4 on may 24, 2009. Anyways I'm totally freaking
out though. The next elder better be good and ready to work hard.
cause if any of those fall through i am gonna throw a fit. But i am
excited for the challenge of a new area. I guess the area im goin to
is right by this place called Bruma. Which is this huge place full of
Curios Shops... which is where you buy all the traditional african art
stuff and what not! so that's exciting! There are also two wards
there. So i'm going from an area with barely one branch to one with 2
wards! i am so pumped!
I'm kinda scared though cause the way things are working out it's
looking like a situation where i might train in 3 months.... that
could be scary. But awesome at the same time. So there are gonna be
lots of crazy stuff happening in the next little while!
Next week i'll be sure to send you all the pictures of me with some of
my investigators as well as some of the members down here!
Anyways... as far as you are all concerned.... make sure you're doing
member missionary work.
We had this sister complain about not being able to feed the
missionaries and about how they are missing out on blessings because
of it. And i just said Don't worry about feeding us with food, just
feed us refferals. Cause noone does member missionary work here. So i
want you to all to always be doing all you can to spread the gospel
and give the elders help in teaching the people. If you help them then
the work is much more effective. so just remember that and maybe set a
goal to have someone you know be taught by the missionaries by the end
of the month, summer, year.... whatever you think you can do!
Well i hope you all have a great week! i look forward to hearing from
you all in my new area on monday!!
:)
-elder j



Eita hola.
How's it family?
Well i'm glad to hear that your easter went well! Mine was pretty fun... We had fast sunday so that was awesome.... ha. But church was great. fasting can be tough but it definately helps you be more in tune with the spirit. It's pretty cool. But I taught sunday school and Combined Priesthood/relief society... my lesson was about lengthening our stride. I separated it into 3 sections.... first Personal, 2nd Family, 3rd Member missionary work.
It was great, i'll use it again sometime when i get home!
That was great to hear about kevin's Rugby game.... I wish i could see mom on the sidelines watching.... but ya rugby is huge hear. Everyone loves it, i do too. I watch whenever i am in restaraunts or at investigators. For souvineers for the family i'm considering getting some of you rugby jerseys and some of you soccer jersey's. The soccer jerseys are sweet. KAiser Cheifs are my favorite but that will change depending on if i go to an area that has a soccer team! haha
But the work is great here! Lawrence, Thabo and George all came to church again! George says he wants to get baptized! so that's pretty sweet. We get to start teaching precious again this week, i'm excited i think she's starting to realize that the church is true and what that means to her! hopefully she'll be on date soon.
Oh and testimony meeting was awesome last week! Kanyhi went up and bore her testimony it was awesome! i was so proud. and this elderly black sister named Elizabeth went up and bore her testimony it was so sweet. After testimony meeting lawrence said " I could feel the spirit" I was so happy about that.
And as far as mission news goes.... I am so excited for benson and especially for kevin!! He's coming to the best place on earth (besides boise)! The church is huge in ghana too! They even have a temple in Accra. So he should be pumped!
Oh we went caving today! it was sweet! It's a place called sudwala....
here's a website with pictures of it... sudwalacaves.co.za
We took the extended tour deep into the caves! it was crazy. Hopefully it will be the last of our very expensive p-day activities! i gotta stop spending so much! eish!

Well i hope everything continues to go well back home.
Remember The Church is True!
-Elder Johnson
P.S. Can someone get me Matt Featherstone's email address... I want to write a email that he can read to the seminary students. I wanna encourage those kids to get out on missions!!!!

Monday, April 6, 2009

What a Sense of Humor? The Dome, Diapers, Puke Boy???

Hello family!
hows it?
well this week was awesome... General conference was the bomb-diggity yo. My fav's were.... Holland, Eyring, and Uchtdorf. Holland blew me away. He's probably my favorite apostle. he has been since the mtc when i heard him say..." We aren't the church that runs down to the end of a football field shouting im saved!!"
but ya, awesome general conference. I haven't seen Priesthood or Sunday Night yet though. So i guess there is still more to be seen!
We had a bunch of investigators come watch a session! Lawrence and Thabo came and brought their friend George. He's actually very interested in the gospel. So i hope that we can start teaching him and his family. as well jennifer came and Carolaine. So that was exciting. The lee's havent been coming to church lately so i'm getting worried....
but it's ok we'll work it out!
Umm... let's see what else is news from the area.... We have zone conference this week which is exciting! So we'll leave early tomorrow and stop by god's window on the way. Hopefully this time i'll be able to get some decent pictures!
But how are things with the fam back home? How is rugby for kev-bot? Is there a countdown for Death Cab Yet? I'm jealous, i can't wait to hear about it! And i loved the pictures! Those kids are growing up so fast! Are all of them out of diapers yet? I know that jack might beat kevin but it's ok we all love kevin anyways. HAHAHA just kidding.
And i just realized how much i miss the light that shines off the top of George's Dome. It's awesome. sorry im just in a joking mood today!
Umm.... i think i'll send you all some kruger pics next week! I have some pretty cool one's of Baboons and maybe lions if you're lucky.
But ya... i'm getting more and more nervous with transfers approaching! I wanna make sure that this area is in AWESOME shape in case i do have to go. I'm gonna be an emotional wreck. haha
It's funny how much this town has grown on me... at first i was just dying to get out, go to township and never tract again. but now it's awesome.... i love it! This area has so much potential as long as the missionaries work hard and the branch will fellowship like true christians! That is the key to success for Retention.
Lately i've been only eating pbj's and squillo's! But now that we are getting back to a somewhat normal p-day schedule i may have time to get real food! I'm excited!
But i hope you all have a great week! i can't wait to hear from you all soon!

-elder johnson
P.S. Oh and tell sydnie i do indeed remember puke boy! and that she is the cat's pajamas, the bee's knees and and what what!

Wednesday, April 1, 2009

Not that I'm Counting

I really haven't been too "into" the time that has FLOWN by since Michael has entered the mission field. But crazy enough it has been 4 months already. Kevin made the comment that it seemed longer to him. Michael is doing so well and is loving his mission. Here is this week's email! Is this really my Michael, or has someone else taken over?!

hello hello family!
Hows it?
Well today was a fun day we went to kruger and saw 4 of the big 5! so that was great! I'm sad to say that in lall my trips i have yet to catch a glimpse of the ever elusive leopard.... But as far as sending stuff back home to you all, we have had super busy p-days lately and i haven't gotten around to it. So i guess i'll have to save kevin's b-day card for next year! He'll love it even more when he's 18.
Anyways onto some news from the mission field! Yesterday i gave a talk about "Our Duty is to Save Souls" I gave this within a week of listening to a talk by Gene R. Cook called Teaching by the spirit. If you ever have the chance, listen to it. it's long but it will blow your mind. anyways.... it went well! I am pretty much speaking or teaching a class every week for church!
As far as teaching goes.... Things are going great, we had 5 investigators at church on sunday!! it's a record for us! Lawrence and Thabo came as well as a lady named jennifer and her kids. We also have a new investigator who was being taught in Witbank but recently moved to Hazyview which is a long way away from here but she came anyways. We're pretty sure she'll get baptized! It's exciting
Things with precious are good, we are currently seeing her twice a week which is awesome cause it really helps keep the pace up and keeps things rolling!
This area is just continuing to blow up.... It's all because of the faith and hard work that we put in. Tracting is no longer a burden we always view it as an oppurtunity to find more and more of god's children and bring them back to him!
In other news... the weather is cooling down here! so im pretty pumped about that.
And conference is this week! i am so excited....it's the super bowl of mission! New Apostle news, as well as other great news and talks! it's gonna be rad.... All of the elders in the flat are calling the announcement of the book of mormon.....part 2!! haha
But i loved the ward conference goals.... They are perfect and will definately strengthen the testimonies of the members as well as invite others to come unto christ! As far as things that i need..... I would like some more churchy music if possible! And if anyone can get their hands on some sweet talks that would be much appreciated. you can probably send them as an attachment. you can send pictures as well! The music can just come in the next package, don't go out and buy anything just find something you have that you think i'll enjoy.... If you have any Lex De Azevedo i would love that as well as Jon Schmidt. They have awesome arrangements of church songs....
But for the most part things are great so don't worry about sending anything too quickly! haha
Well i hope things continue going awesome for everyone back home! I love hearing from you all every week! I want you to all know that i love you and the great blessing that we have as being members of this church and how thankful we should be and that we should share these blessings with those around us... i challenge each of you to have at least one name to give to the missionaries by summertime this year. I hope to hear about the progress you make!
Remember....
The Church is True
The Book is Blue
and Jesus is a Mormon.(sorry we have an elder here who always says that and it cracks me up.)

-elder johnson