Tuesday, January 27, 2009

HEEERRRE'S Elder J!

wow, it sounds like everyone is falling apart! that's rough! Things are great over here. We are working hard and the work is progressing. And summer will last until march! so that will be a blast!!! .....not. Way too hot! but aside from that no complaints. The meals were coming along great until this week when i ran out of food. today for breakfast i ate what i had left which was rooibus tea and toast. i definately need to restock today at the shop! Once again let me re-emphasize my jealousy of you getting to hear elder holland speak, the general authorities are now like rockstars in my eyes. So.... im definately jealous.Sounds like fun! And i hope sydnie will go as well! That would be really great for her. But ya it will definately be a great experience!
I can't believe it's already super bowl time! that's insane. TIme is going by sooo fast. I have lost all concept of it. Usually without my planner i'll have no idea what day it is! Anyways this week is gonna be pretty normal nothing too big goin on. This week was tranfers but noone is goin anywhere so it's not too big of a deal! I still get to experience some greenie hazing here and there so that's fun. Lately i've been reading jesus the christ a bunch. It's an awesome book! Definately recommended if you haven't read it already! oh and we do eat out like once every two weeks or so! A couple weeks ago we got chinese, it was pretty good! But definately things are great here, we're working hard, you can tell by how bad i smell everyday! Hope everything goes well out there, tell everyone to get better! and if i don't start hearing from them soon they shall receive " The First Epistle of the Elders to the Dead Letter Writers" So they best be looking out for that! haha
Have a great week! The Church is True! Talk to ya laters!

-elder johnson

Wednesday, January 21, 2009

41 Celsius???

Just how hot is 41 degrees celsius?
I looked it up and it is 105.8 degrees!!!
No wonder he looked so tan in the pictures he sent home.
I sure hope he is drinking enough water!

Sawubona! Kunjanyi!

Sawubona!
Kunjanyi?
well another week has past and quite frankly i can't believe it.
Things have been awesome here!! WE HAVE AN INVESTIGATOR ON DATE FOR BAPTISM!!!! Elder Mbhele made me make the commitment and i was so nervous but all went well so Kanyhi Dlamini will be baptised in march! It's so exciting! I am really excited!
Wow, that is a crazy super bowl! Go Cards! Maybe if they win Kurt Warner will retire. It think it's wrong for senior citizens to be put through that much physical stress. haha

and btw... I am soooo jealous that you all get to hear from Elder Holland! he is the man, probably the best speaker in the quorum. That should be incredible! We watched a lot of his talks in the mtc, they are awesome!

Anyways im really glad that mia enjoyed her b-day!

And here are some answers for mom:

1.i did not get the package yet! maybe in a couple of weeks!
2.Things are good, I eat different foods now. i made some tuna helper stuff the other day that was really good!
3. We shop at a place called pick and pay! it's pretty cool! its cheaper than all the other stores here!
4. Some foods are expensive, others aren't!
5. nothing new for the new foods. i'll let you know once i go to township! :)

Anyways this things are great here. It was 41 degrees celcius the other day! when we showed up at our invesitigators house we were soooo sweaty. it seriously looked like we had just gotten out of the shower! it was bad. I felt really sorry for the family! But the work is great here and we truly have been blessed and i know that the lord is preparing the way for the people over here to recieve the gospel!
Tell andrea and ryan that i wanna hear from them and to tell the girls hi for me!
Same to dave and mel and Trevor.
And just so dave knows my body clock is so on track right now. it's not even funny.

Have a great week! and i'll try to write some letters home soon!
Talk to ya soon! And i'll try to send my picture memory card thing home as well!

-elder j

Wednesday, January 14, 2009

Michael has a Day with the Elephants and...


Here are some pics of Michael at Kruger Park. Isn't just "Mikey" that he is on a mission somewhere that he gets to see wild, and free animals! It is just so his personality!
I love it!!!! And I love my missionary!
sawubona family!

Wow, things sound great over there! things over here are awesome, the trip to jo'burg was great! and i had mail!! and we just went to kruger today and it was awesome! (see attatched photos!) Anyways HAPPY (belated) BIRTHDAY MOM!!!! I didn't know if i should send it early or send it now, i chose now. haha Anyways that's great news for the bsu alum goin all pro!! woot!
And good luck to ryan on the music decision, it's definately a tough one!
anyways things are goin alright with petros we only got to meet briefly this last week but we meet again tomorrow! On saturday night we tried to swing by to remind him about church and to drop off a book of mormon but we left it at the flat and had to bike all the way home and all the way back! unfortunately the worst rainstorm ever kicked in as we were riding and i have a picture or two of me after the storm as well as a video which you can see when i send the card home! :) Anyways when we did that it reminded me of Bruce r. Mckonkie( however you spell it) and his "missionary commision" quote where it says something to the effect of "i will do and say what he himself will do and say if he were ministering to the people to whom i've been sent" anyways point is Christ goes back for the "one sheep" and so do we as missionaries! But ya things out here are awesome! we're working hard trying to get our investigators to come out to church. they keep standing us up. but im sure we'll get 'em soon!
Anyways i would like to inform the family that we may be having a baptism here in the next couple of months! One of our members daughters is getting baptised. They are a part member family and the dad (James) and one of the sisters (khosi) are already members but we just began teaching the other daughter her name is Khanyi. And she has told her dad and several other people she will be getting baptised! so it will probably be around march when it happens! If it does happen in march then it will be the first baptism in 6 months for our area!! I'm pumped! Anyways as soon as i have a p-day when we aren't out of town i will be sure to write letters home for y'all!

anyways talk to you all very soon!

and yes i got a new camera! the pictures were taken with it! :)

elder j
p.s. sydnie, cheetah is "ingwenya"

Monday, January 5, 2009

Last 2 weeks of emails!

Jan.5,2009
wow things sound awesome back home!!
k it's the moment we've all been waiting for.... the mission scripture!!!!!
ETHER 12:27
hope your pleased! i love this one!
well here is an update on the work.
We currently have like 5 pretty decent investigators! we usually teach lessons everyday. some people are more interested than others!
right now we are teaching this guy named petros who is freaking awesome!! he's a swazi-man! but just to fill you in he already has a testimony of joseph smith and we've only got through lesson 1! crazy. But here is an example of the questions we get from him. " So, i know that jesus died and rose on the third day, but where was he in between that time?!?!" I about peed my pants when he asked that!! I told him we will have that answer for that next lesson. the plan of salvation lesson will rock! anyways.... that's just one investigator and i'll continue filling you in on others over the next few weeks!
Anyways the work here is awesome!! unfortunately i don't have too much time to write because i have to be in jo burg in about 5 hoursm so we are on a limited schedule! anyways i'm soo pumped for my next niece/nephew if it's a boy, "Thabo" haha jk that's my favorite african name. it means happy. by the way here is a quick lesson in zulu for you all:
Hello-Sawubona
whats up? Kanjanyi?
AWESOME/COOL/SWEET- SHOP SHOP!

anyways i have a bit of sad news, the camera broke. I was tracting in the rain and forgot it was in my backpack, it got soaked and doesn't work very well anymore. But don't worry my memory card still works and i think there is a cheap camera on sale at a nearby store that i might pick up! Btw, yesterday we got caught in a hailstorm and got pelted by hailstones the size of marbles, it was crazy i thought i was going to die. Aside from that life is awesome the work is great!! its seriously so freaking amazing!

Anyways have a great week and keep filling me in on how life is and all that great stuff!!

-elder j


Dec.29th,2008
Awesome things sound great back home! And i want to let you know things are great back here as well. Yesterday after church we tracted in just about non-stop rain for 5 hours, it was.....great. haha
It's a shame about the bears. But congrats to the dolphins and chargers. not to the falcons though, because.... well they are the falcons. but ya things are bomb here in south africa, the work is tough these days seeings that everyone is outta town! We had about 7 people in the chapel 5 minutes before sacrament meeting started luckily more people came so we finished with like 30 by the time sunday school started!
David, no monkeys but don't worry i set my body clock 5 minutes fast, so im always one step ahead of everyone else here.
Mom,
you love me best, and nooo dinners!! it's alright though because when it does happen it will be even better.
I think today for p-day we are driving out to go see some awesome waterfalls. so that that should be epic.
Next week at this time i'll be on my way to jo'berg so that's excited we get to hear from a general authority! i cant remember his name but its gonna be good!!
Welp unfortunately there is not too much to tell you about seeings that we just talk a few days ago but, i cant wait to hear from you all next week, let me know how new years goes!

love you all very much!

SHOP! SHOP!

-elder johnson

Monday, December 22, 2008

Random Pictures of the Night Before Michael Left

Typical reaction to my need for hugs!
Michael and Jack. My "MEN"!!! Michael and his dad.
Very proud parents!






























Emails from Elder Johnson

Received December 22nd
hey family! well i am emailing you from beautiful Nelspruit, South Africa. It's 4 1/2 hours east of Jo'Burg and its sooo freaking hot!!! The entire town is built on hills and im lucky enough to be in one of the only biking areas left in the mission... as you can imagine my legs are pretty much jell-o all the time. It's a really nice town though and the people are nice. right now in south africa it is summer vacation and everyone is outta town, usually at church we have about 60 people in our branch but this week we had about 30. So summer vacation is a pretty big deal around here. Our living quarters are pretty nice. However when i first got there we did have a bat living in the shower, and we have roaches! But aside from that it's a pretty cool flat!
My Trainers name is Elder Mbhele from Durban, South Africa. He's a cool guy and a good trainer. He's also an african so we're a bi-racial spiritual wrecking crew out on the streets. haha He's been out for 14 months and he has served in Botswana and Lesotho. And yes we get along great! My first door approach was fine, my second one was really messy. But i've been doin pretty well. We usually end up getting to teach somebody at least once a day. My first teaching oppurtunity was with a lady named Sharlene we tracted to our house and tought her the lesson 1! She's super spiritual and we made her cry(in the good way) so i think it went pretty well :) Tonight we are going to visit a part member family and work on getting the mom and the daughter into the church. The Dad and the other daughter are already converts. And the apartment we eat whatever we can, I usually eat ramen and eggs or ramen and grilled cheese. Sometimes the senior couple in the area will hook us up with food, that's usually a great thing. Not very many native foods however they have this juice concentrate stuff called wild island, it's super cheap and super good and i love it. And Rooibus Tea(it's herbal tea) is awesome as well. And over here they have this sweet chili sauce. It is so good! it's replaced ketchup on eggs on for me.
The mission president and his wife are great! they are very nice. President Paulsen runs a pretty tight ship but it's all good!
As far as letters go, we don't get mail up here so the only letter i've got is the one that mom sent early aside from that i will have to wait til january 6th when we go down to jo'burg for "mission tour" hopefully i'll get some mail by then!
On christmas day be expecting a call from 9-11 o clock in the morning. I will call on the home phone.
Im excited to hear about the bsu game! i can't believe it's already bowl season and i can't believe i've already been a missionary for almost a month! it's crazy! And hopefully the bears can pull it off, that would be awesome!! Oh and kevin you're email was weak sauce. And for that im gonna tell you that i'm probably better than you at rugby. haha jk unfortunately we havent played since i left the mtc. but hey dude let me know on how things are back there you're my youthful insight on things in boise!
Anyways hopefully i answered all your questions well enough. Things here are super awesome and hopefully the lord can prepare some people for us to be ready for the gospel!
oh and congrats on the white christmas thats awesome!
and unfortunately most missionaries don't get accents here, you usually end up coming home and talking to people like they are 5 years old cause you really have to simplfy what you say and speak slowly!
And tell jeff i better hear from him next week!
Love you all so much, thanks for checking up on me!
Love,
Elder Johnson
p.s. mom, can you get marcus's email address from his folks? I'd like to see how he's doin
Email #3
Sent: Friday, December 12, 2008 11:47 PM
To: Johnson, George (Cons. Support-Boise)
Subject: Re: OPEN FIRST: 12/12 Johnson Family E-mail
wow it's great to hear about the snow! that will be awesome! No such luck down here, however it does rain EVERYDAY! the loudest thunderstorms ever! OH and you guys should know that i play touch rugby everyday, it's pretty rad. And yes i'm super pumped for the real deal. We get out of the mtc on tuesday and start in the field on wednesday! As far as the package goes don't worry too much about it, i already bought a watch and the only treats i really want are mints, i miss gum. And yes pool the emails together cause i don't know what the rules will be once im outta the mtc. and make sure you're forwarding them to the rest of the family! anyways today for p-day we are going to go on splits with the missionaries in Soweto, which is a township in jo'berg. it's gonna be soooooooo rad. and don't worry i have faith that my bears will pull it off! hmm...im trying to think of anything else.... I know that letters take FOREVER to get here. the only one i've gotten is the one that mom sent a week early! that was great. And i too am reading the book of mormon, again. I finished it just before the plane landed in johannesburg, hence acheiving my goal of finishing it before i got into the mission field, and at the rate i'm reading it right now i'll finish it again by february! Anyways the mtc has been awesome, everyone here is great, and i'm so freaking pumped for the field! my next email will probably be next monday the 22nd. cause p-day is on mondays for the jo'berg missionaries! anyways have a great week! i hope to hear from you all later! oh and sorry george i still don't have a plaque scripture, i can't really zone in on one yet!!!
anyways love you all so much!
talk to ya soon
elder j
Email #2
Alrighty here is the weekly update from Jo'berg! The MTC experience so far has been incredible we've been super busy and the spirit has been super strong here! We've been outside of the mtc gates like 3 times i think, once for the temple and then twice to go buy stuff! So i guess first things first i better answer mom's questions:
1.Yes my body clock is back in order i can now sleep from 10:30 to 6:30 with no problems
2. I eat this fruit and nut cereal with yogurt, it's killer. And the MTC has a kitchen staff that makes all the meals for us. the food is great! and at night all the missionaries hang out and eat Casadillas! There are about 28 missionaries about half are africans. the african guys are sooo freaking awesome!!
3.Favorite time of the day? Casadilla time then bed time.
4. Yes we went this week and a lot of the african guys were going for their first time and it was probably the best temple visit i've ever had. and then we go again next week!
Anyways melissa, the beginning of your email was not funny. but congrats on trev bot and tell dave good luck for cougs b-ball!
Oh and i'm glad to hear that my baby (the kia) is back into good hands.
Jeff, im glad to hear about the stampede ring that's fantastic. And yes my companion is a kiwi, he's maorie and can probably beat up anyone in the world. He's a super spiritual guy and a great companion it's been awesome!!
Since the group is pretty small we are all pretty tight! it's actually been pretty much what i expected, probably better than what i expected!!
Anyways i best be goin but thanks for filling me in on how things are and if any of you run into any of my friends get after them to write me so i can feel cool and get letters!
I hope to be hearing from you all soon!
Love,
Elder Johnson
#1 can’t seemed to find it. But I will keep looking.