Monday, July 27, 2009

He SLEEPS in These? Another Camera Bites the Dust!


Hello hello hello
I'm glad to see that the family has all survived: Melissa with child birth, Mom with the hot texas sun, kevin with providing for himself, and dad with cloning himself. congrats. I am proud to announce that i too have survived, in fact, i have more than survived i will say that i thrived.
The first full week with elder leve was quite nice. The guy knows how to work. And we got a lot done! And we are now having more fun, So things are good! Work & Fun go hand in hand. Work Hard, Play Hard(appropriately) is a good tip for an enjoyable and successful mission experience.
As far as the teaching of the gospel goes.... It's great! We keep doing the talk about program as president asked us to and even though we have yet to see fruits from the program itself, We are blessed with referalls from other people in the ward. I think it just springs from the willingness that we have had to use the program and the lord will bless us whether it comes out of the program or not.
So we will have a couple of new people to teach in the coming week so that's exciting!
Grace is going to be baptized this week! I am soooo pumped!! She is so ready for it!
And then Chantelle will be baptized next saturday! So that will be awesome! Delicate is on date for the 20th of september! he is a stud as well. He already knows the church is true and is loving it! It's crazy cause his wife is a member and has been trying to get him into the gospel for a long time but he never did and didn't want her to go to church either. But then one day he felt that he needed to go and he is doing awesome!
Paul is doing ok as well! We're still working on solidifying his testimony but he'll come around! I think we'll give him an official baptism date this week!
And Siyanda came to church this week! Luckily delicate & his family lives right across the street so they gave her a ride! She seemed to enjoy it!
Oh and mary munyariri came to church! That made me happy. She has been struggling a bit lately. The Seventh Day ADVENTURERS that live with her keep telling her stupid stuff about the church so we have to go in and explain that it's a bunch of rubbish. But i think she's doing much better now!

To answer your questions.... We dont really have JR and SR companions but elder leve is 12 months and i am 8.
OH and tell Bro. Leve not to worry all is well! Elder Leve and I are kicking some serious spiritual booty. And not to worry after the short adjustment phase into the new area the smile has once again arisen.
Well what else can i tell y'all about!?!
I think i'll send you a picture of me in some african pj's! Oh and speaking of camera.... i've got sad news. I put my camera in my suit pocket and the pocket flung underneath me and i sat on it and the screen broke. I'm an epic failure, i know. So if you don't see too many more pictures from me for a while you now know why.
But aside from that everything is dyn-o-mite! It's been a very nice/busy week!
Have a great week!
the church is.... DOUBLE TRUE!
-elder johnson

Monday, July 20, 2009

WOW! The work is on FIRE!

SPENCER IS GONNA BE A STUD!! Especially with the mullet! Mullets are huge here by the way! so he's actually quite fashionable from an international perspective! :)
Welp everything is going awesome here! The gospel is exploding down here! Right now we have over 800 baptisms year to date. At this time last year we only had just over 500. So it's going awesome!
We now have 6 people on date for baptism! I can't remember if i've told you about frank and mary yet. but they are some immigrants from zimbabwe that we are teaching and we put them on date last thursday and then they came to church on sunday! So i'm very excited for them. when ever you can find a father led family it's a big deal! so we're very excited! As well we met with this guy named Delicate, who is from the congo! They came to church last sunday and we found out that his wife is a member and his brother and they were inactive for awhile but then they came to church so i jumped on the oppurtunity and spoke with him and his brother and we set an appointment, now we're teaching them and they've come to church two weeks in a row! It's so bomb!
That's an FEF right there.... FUTURE ETERNAL FAMILY!
Paul is doing quite well also. He will be getting baptized in early september i believe. FEF #2! haha
and lastly grace and chantelle will have their baptisms in august. We dropped the ball and didn't get them interviewed in time for this sunday! So hopefully the first or second week of august they will take the plunge! And how is the kev-bot? i haven't heard from him... i hope he's prepping for the mission already. Hopefully he'll get used to the "no mother to cook and clean for you" thing while mom is in houston!
Oh and we also met with jared and candace last night and natasha was there. So that was good. We chatted with her. i think she'll start going to young womens again and eventually back to church once Connie the Dragon(her mother) chills out. And that name was not one that i made up it's what jared, candace and natasha call her. I'm only quoting! haha
But with all that said I think our area's steady progress shall continue. OH and i forgot to tell you, Elder Leve is my new companion. He is from Nashville, Tenessee. He's pretty cool. He needs to smile though more. But if anyone can help with that i can! :)
If you don't look like you're enjoying the gospel then noone else is gonna wanna hear about it. I hope you all remember that, cause it's true. So make sure you actually SHOW people how much the gospel blesses your life by showing how much joy the gospel brought to you!!
Well have a good week! i hope all is well back in the gem state. Let me know how melissa and the baby are getting along and as well how everyone else is!
have a good week!
-elder johnson

Tuesday, July 14, 2009

UGHHH.......!!!!! Internet Cafes...you gotta love them!

UGhhh.....
Well i have already written this email but then i lost track of the time that tells me how much time i have on my account here at the internet cafe and i ran out and it kicked me out. So i may not be as excited or as detailed this time around i am very sorry! :/
Well here's the news!
I had a lovely case of food poisoning this week! So i spent most of my week trying to work through stomach cramps and runny stomach and what not. SO that wasn't very fun. I am feeling better now though and we are preparing to go to The Royal Boma Buffet. IT's kind of a going away p-day party for elders douglas and bell who are going home from our district. So i'm excited for that!
As far as the work goes.... IT'S AWESOME!
This area is set to explode. Chantelle and Grace are doing great as usual! We committed paul to baptism, and he will have a specific date by wednesday hopefully! So we are pumped for that! We also met a black father led family in edenvale that has transport! So we will be meeting with them this week on friday! i shall tell you more next week!And hermi came to church with her sister this week! she was the rich white lady i was talking about last week! She's really cool. I know that if she earnestly reads and prays about the book of mormon she'll be baptised. That generally how it goes.... The book of mormon is so awesome like that. Moroni 10:3-5 is so true. If you do what it says you get a testimony. simple as that! :)
I'm excited for baby Tyson, uhh i mean, Spencer! hahaha
I'm pumped for another neice/nephew.... I always end up telling stories about my many neices and nephews to the people we meet who have kids and i always say "I have a niece/nephew who's about that age and she/he......." its awesome! i miss those kids! tell them all i say hello! and they need to be good for their mommy and daddy!
To answer dave's question.... First off i showed it to my companion who is from Pea Ridge, Arkansas. And he smiled and said " sounds like home" haha as far as that stuff goes over here, you run into it here and there but no one is too open about it. A lot of the whites like to throw in comments here and there but they never go as far as that. It's pretty funny. BTW... dave, does your mother praat afrikanns? Man it's a crazy language.
And yes i got the package! it was awesome! i heavily endorse something of the same nature coming soon! I would really enjoy some snacks like jerky and what not. Oh and i was wondering if i could maybe purchase some cleats for soccer? let me know i've seen some for around $30 that are quite nice.
Oh and sean is the one who i told you about a few months ago who is at large with al queda and all that stuff. I must have forgotten to tell you that he claims to be raised by wild dogs!
And Don't worry i am not a horrible slob. i could be tidier but im not too bad! i'm getting better, i swear!!! haha
Well, i'm sorry about the weak nature of this email if the computer situation wouldn't have come up it would have been WAY WAY WAY WAY WAY better! But have a good week!
I love you all so much! thanks for everything!
THE CHURCH IS UBER TRUE!
-elder johnson
p.s. hearing about the carrs going to the temple is sooo awesome! i can't wait to meet them someday! THE Temple is amazing! i get to go again next week on friday, i am Pumped out of my mind! Make sure you are all getting there as much as possible! Challenge yourselves to go once a week for a month and see the blessing that come from it! You may have to sacrifice but remember what the hymn "praise the man" says "sacrifice brings forth the blessings of heaven" "True Dat, Double True!"(if any one can name the reference for this last phrase i will give them a mental five!)

Monday, July 13, 2009

Now that's a SNAKE!











dear family,
how are things?!
Well things are still going awesome here in South Africa!
I would like to apologize about the lack of pictures last week.... actually i think the internet cafe people should apologize as the server was acting up and it made sending pictures very difficult.
This week is for sure though! and you should enjoy them... we ran into sean(wild dog man) for the first time in like 2 months and i took a picture with him so i'll send that one for sure! It actually happened this morning as we walked into the email place!! As well as the ones previously mentioned.
Well we had some sad news.... natasha won't be getting baptized as of yet. She bailed on her interview and has since been sketchy... it's lame, elder douglas both knew she wasn't ready (from the spirit) yet we were so excited we tried to just ignore it and keep going. But hopefully things will improve this week! On a much brighter note we put chantelle on date for the 26th of july so she'll be good to go with grace! we're pumped about that... We were gonna put paul on date but he and michelle got their house broken into! it was a bummer.... So hopefully this week things will happen! As well we have some new investigators that we are excited for... one is a couple from Zimbabwe who seems pretty promising... pretty much anyone who is willing to read and pray about the book of mormon is hopeful because if they do that they will feel the spirit and know that it is true. It's pretty radical. Anywho... we are also teaching a very wealthy white family.... which is crazy! cause that doesn't happen too often! but we'll see how it goes! Hmm... but yes it's true the greeniness has worn off! It's crazy, but i'm turning into a battle hardened servant of the lord. I can officially bash the living daylights outta seventh day adventists. Of course i do the right thing and try to avoid it with testimony but after awhile i just give them a little something to think about. Oh geez.... if kevin goes AP then that will leave me as the underachieving elder of the bunch......just kidding!
I'd rather be out in the field then stuck in the office any day. haha It's not what calling you're serving in, it's how you serve in the calling to which you've been called.
It's funny i was just thinking about how big of a role humility has played in my mission thus far... my farewell talk was about it, my mission scripture was about it and i keep coming across it over and over again. It's something that i have to work on big time cause whenever i don't work on it the lord likes to remind me that i need to work on it. And like most things in life it's better to just work on it then be reminded to do it. But i have a formula that i developed early in mission it looks like this:
Humility = Obedience = Happiness
Pride = Disobedience = Unhappiness
When it comes down to it there is a whole lot riding on how humble we are.
Well i hope that everyone has a baia lekker week!
and i hope you all enjoy the pictures.
Oh and the church is true and the book of mormon is uber true. I believe it more and more with every day that passes!
I love you all so very much and i thank you for your prayers and i hope that you will continue in supplication to the lord on my behalf!
until next time!
-elder johnson

Thursday, July 2, 2009

Trunky Companions, Crazy Teaching, and a Juice Fast

hello everyone!
How's it?
I'm glad to hear that all is well in The City of Trees.
Things are good here in the city of...... Disappointing soccer???(US 2 BRA 3) haha
Well the house sounded like it was pretty crazy! Too many little ones. eish!
I'm glad to hear that you've gone green george. But don't go too green. They watched an inconvienent truth for an activity at church and all the members of the ward thought that the world would meltdown before the second coming could ever happen! it was pretty funny.
As far as MY physical well being.... I am doing quite well we did a juice fast last week for 2 days.... it was nuts. it totally cleared my system and i lost 3 kg's!! It was legit!
But i will definitely not be doing it for a long time.
Mom you can send me a letter either way! whatever works best for you!
As far as the teaching of the gospel goes... IT'S AWESOME!!
Things are going so well. We keep getting awesome referrals. We are teaching the Fiancee of a guy in our ward and she pretty much already knows that the church is true and will readily accept the baptismal date once we give it to her! Lesson 1 was powerful! I love that lesson every time you bear testimony of it... it's just an ASB (Automatic Spirit Bomb) being dropped in the room!
SO we're excited for her(Chantalle). Oh and get this.... She's VERY AFRIKAANS! Which makes it a "baia lekker" miracle! As far as how many lessons we teach every week....i can't really count. We have a bunch. We are usually teaching or visiting Investigators/less-actives all day! I have only tracted 45 minutes since i've gotten here. We are always staying very busy. OH and Grace is doing dyn-o-mite. She came to church again on sunday! that is 3 weeks in a row. And she's really building her testimony in the truthfulness of the gospel! We're super excited for her.
Then with graham i don't know if i mentioned it but we're gonna wait a bit longer to baptize him. He still has a little bit of growing up to do before he makes a serious decision like this. But he is doing well he comes to church and learns very quickly we just want to make sure the message is in his heart as much as it's in his head!
Who else is there exciting news for.... Oh elder douglas is going home in 2 weeks and he's beginning to get uber trunky! It's fun for me. I love elder douglas but i really hope my next companion is a younger guy. I have had 2 super old trunky district leaders in a row as companions! haha
As far as sending those pictures and what not through the mail goes i'll try to do it next month, my allotment is pretty much gone and i really don't want to use my home card too much more.
But things are still awesome here, i am loving every minute of it! BTW the reptile park was awesome and as promised i will send pictures of me with some big snakes!
I'm trying to think if there is anything else that needs to be brought before the family this day.... I taught my first sunday school class since i've been here... it went well! i can still teach classes ok!
Btw keep working with the members on doing mission work... these days it's the ONLY way to do the work!
When i send the pictures i will send one of the "family mission plans" from talk about. it will rock the ward mission leaders socks.
I shall leave thee with my testimony in the great work in which we are engaged...
IT is true. Every facet of it is. It's hard work but it's the greatest work there is and i wouldn't rather be doing anything else!
have a great week! I hope to hear from you all very soon!
-elder johnson