December 17- Ushuaia, Argentina

Family,

This week is going to be a really short letter. Only because I was only in my area for about 3 days before today.

but just to tell you a little about my area. There are a ton of hills! The biggest hill of course is the one that leads to our house. so every day without fault we have to climb the hill to get home. Its very cold, and since the ocean is just right here the weather can change super quickly and it does... all the time. we have to have our jackets with us always cuz we never know if the weather is going to change from the time we leave our house or not. We have a branch of about 60 to 90 people. instead of having a zone we just have a district which is also our zone. so there are only 4 companionships down in this city. On the plane ride here I talked to the lady next to me on the plane, and she is in another area down here, but she is now talking with the missionaries from that area. I hope that things continue well with here, cuz that would be super cool to see her get baptized. My companion is from colorado and his name is Elder Bean. He´s really funny and this is going to be a fun transfer. We have to knock a lot more doors than we have had to in our other areas, but the last baptism they had here was found through knocking doors. Another cool thing is that no matter where we are we can always see the ocean, and there are mountains all around us. Its a little hard at times because we have part of the mountains in our area too. My knees just need to get used to it and ill be fine. Well thats pretty much all I have to say today. I will have a lot more next week hopefull. As long as my fingers havent frozen off I should be fine. Love you lots, can´t wait to talk to you in a week. If we all make it that far cuz apparently the world will end on the 21st. haha, anyways, until next week.  Love you! 

Love,

Elder Johnson

December 10th

Family,

So after all the complaining about the heat here in Argentina, Im finally going to be relieved from it. Yesterday was transfer calls, and I am once again being transfered. This time, to the most southern point of Argentina. My plane leaves on wednesday to take me down to Ushuaia Argentina. I will be serving in an area called monte olivia. So today and tomorrow Im staying with some elders then the wednesday im saying goodbye to all this heat. :) I may even get to spend my christmas with some penguins. This week was really really insane. Probably one of the most memorables of my entire mission. 

So thursday, was one of the craziest things I have ever seen. We have weekly planning on thursdays, and we are in our apartment until 3 o clock planning out our entire week. So the whole time we´re inside its raining. a good 8 hours of straight rain. Solid rain too, like in AZ when it rains super hard for 30 minutes and afterwards the sun comes out, but this time the sun didnt come out. Just very heavy rain all day. So in provincia argentina they have these things called Sangja´s. Its like little 5 inch deep canals on the side of the roads and they all flow to a giant river and its basically their sewage system. So we leave at 3... still raining, and we go down a little ways into our area, and the water is easily at our knees. then we crossed the train tracks and entered into a lake haha. The water was up to our waists. So we cross the tracks and we´re walking toward the street, and forget that there are sangjas. So we both fall into a sangja and the water is now about up to the middle of our stomachs its was incredible. Then we went and taught a lesson, and afterwards had to make our way back to the other side of our area. We get there by crossing a bridge over this giant river thing. We get to the street and make our way in that direction. Get to where the bride is (or used to be) to see kids in refrigerators rowing and pushing them like boats, and people swimming. As we start to wade through (cuz we have to cross to get there) The water easily made it up to our chests. Our scripture bags were just floating at our sides we didnt even have to carry them any more. It was really insane. I was really grateful that fred bought me the rain jacket at pomeroys that day, because with out it, I would have probably been pruned all over and definitely gotten sick. It was really a life saver haha. also it was great because it has a water proof pocket on the inside so I took my camera with us and got a few pictures of it. The bad news is, the place im at right now doesn´t have a SD slot so I wont be able to send them til next week. 

So I can´t remember if i told you guys this last week or if it was this week, but im going to tell you anyway. So we had a lesson with a reference named elsa. she told us that she didnt want to talk to us anymore cuz she just wasnt sure, but in all the lessons we have had with her she was always telling us that she wanted to know which church was the true church. I dont know if it was peer pressure or what, but for some reason she didnt want to talk with us anymore. So my companion and I obviously werent giving up that easily, so we told her that we weren´t going to stop coming by until she actually read the Book of Mormon and asked God if it was true. So she then said, "I just don´t understand why you guys are always so happy. You guys are so far away from home, your families, you have to walk in this extremely hot weather. How do you guys do it?" thenw e told her that we only do it, cuz we know that these things are true and that they can change her life. So she said that should would do it, and we set up a time to come back the next day and talk with her. We came the next day anbd she said that she had read, but she didnt´pray. so we asked her if we could just talk for about 5 minutes. She let us in and we told her the importance of asking God, cuz if we dont ask, he cant give. So we shared some scriptures about how to ask, and how the Holy Ghost speaks to us, and she told us she would do it at night time. Then we asked her to do it right there with us. She was a little hesitant, but did so anyway. She asked in her pray if the things she had read and if what we were sharing were true. Then we just waited in silence for about 1 minute after the prayer, and we asked her how she felt. She told us, "I don´t know why but I feel like crying." Then I said to her, "You remember how we told you it would be something you feel, but not explainable?" Then she started to cry, and my companion said, "So Elsa, do you know that the Book of Mormon is true?" Then she said yes, and we committed her to be baptized in 3 weeks :). It was a super cool experience. It was incredible to see the Holy Ghost touch the heart of an investigator right there with us. I know that God really does answer prayers, and all we have to do is just ask. "ASK and ye shall receive..." We must act if we want the blessings we need, and I know if we do so God will really help us according to His will. 

I love you all so much. Don´t forget to read and pray every night, alone and as a family. It´s important that we do so to strengthen our relationship with the Lord as a family, and strengthen our personal testimonies as well. 

Sé que Cristo vive, y que el es el Salvador de cada uno de nosotros. Sé que la oracion es el mejor manera que podemos recibir la ayuda necesaría día por día. Sé que este es el evangelio restaurada y que por medio de Jose Smith, hoy en día tenemos toda la verdad para que podamos saber lo que necesitamos hacer para vivir con nuestras familias y Padre Celestial para siempre. Sé que Thomas S. Monson es llamado por Dios y que el nos guíara hacer las cosas buenas acá para prepararnos por la vida que viene. Solo necesitamos escuchar, y actuar. Les amo mucho. Hasta la proxima semana, les escribo del sur!

Attentamente,

Elder Johnson

Pictures 12-3-12

                                         Slingshot...he said the kids use them to kill the birds.

                                         A view from the area he is in.

                                                  Golfing Range??

                                         Fries-the staple diet for Elder Johnson

                                             Planking...because there is nothing better to do??

                                          What you do when your birthday package arrives
                                           2 months after your birthday.

                                         Making tortillas...it isn't Elder Johnson cooking :)

                                         Hanging the dishes out to dry...
                                         yes I said hanging out the dishes.

                                         Soccer injury...fell on glass and cut his hand.

                                         Pretty cool picture...sure do miss him.

December 3rd

Family,

 

I hate to break it to you, but this week was really rough, and I don´t really know much to say. It was a really long and HOT and HUMID week. I would give anything to be in 120 degree weather right now. Just please get rid of this humidity. Then we hear it every single day. "Just wait til january and february, it gets even worse..." The other bad thing is that we don´t always get time to wash clothes. before it wasnt that much of a problem cuz there wasnt much sweating, but now its super hard to wear a shirt more than once with out being repulsed by your own stench let alone making others smell it.

 

Enough of that though. Just some things that happened through out the week... Early on in the week, we had a lesson with a recent convert, he´s super weird but super funny. He lives with his 84 year old mom and takes care of her. He{´s like 55 or something. We asked if we could say a prayer, and we said it, and when we finished he had both his arms extended high into the air. Then we asked him wahat he was doing and he said, "Oh I saw it on an evangelist tv station, so I wanted to try it." Then his mom, also a member, proceeded to do a cross over her body with her fingers, and she said we´re the religion that does that right? Then we told her no, and she apologized and started rambling on about how her neighbor is catholic and always yells at her for being mormon or something like that. Then its really funny too, because when he says prayers, after everything he says he says, "in the name of Jesus Christ" So we have to listen very carefully to make sure we hear him say Amen when he ends the prayer its really funny, and in his prayer he also asked for a blessing on his mom so that they could find someone to give her a hair cut so that she doesn´t look like a crazy witch when she wakes up in the mornings. Its quite the visit every week.

 

Then apart from that, not really a good thing, but something I just6 remembered. We were doing service on saturday, and this time we were making a floor out of cement. I was smoothing the cement, and i flinged some in my eye. It hurt a ton obviously, and I got up and started toward the water, when I fell in a hole and scrapped up my leg really bad and got my shoe all wet. Then I washed my eye for about 40 minutes and it wouldnt come out then we got q tips and toilet paper and attempted with that, didnt work. So eye figured I would just wait til we got home so i could use the shower and get a solid flow of water in my eye. Then the member calls me over and tells me that when I fell in the hole, I broke his water pipe... So my companion is trying to help him while I still have cement in my eye, when our branch president shows up. He tells me to wash it some more (2 hours later) I told him I had been for forever, and he says give me some toilet paper. Then tr

ies again. Then he tells me again, wash your eye. So I washed and washed and washed for another 30 minutes or so, then it finally came out. For the rest of the day though, I had a swolen eye, and I woke up the next day with it glued shut. Luckily it is better now, but it was very very painful. Also in the middle of the week I was playing soccer with some kids and I fell on some glass and sliced my hand open. Its been quite a rough week.

 

The missionary side of it, we have been finding some new investigators. Which is really good for this area. We´ve been working with a lot of les actives who say they will be at church, then they dont go... its hard but hopefully what we do now will change their minds in the future. Also, we met a lady, who seems pretty solid, she wanted to know why there are so many churches in the world, so we told her :) She seemed to except it, then we asked her if she really sincerely wanted to know what church is true, and she told us yes. So we gave her a part of the book of mormon to read, and told her that if she reads it and prays sincerely and asks God, she can know for her self that his is the true church. We have a lesson later in the week with her, and hopefully everything turns out good with her!

 

It's so weird for it to be so hot, and be christmas time, we´ve started singing christmas hyms, and transfers are this next week. once I find out who my comp is for sure we´re going to go by a little christmas tree. I hope you all have a good week, and hope your weather stays cool. Just remember im suffering over here while youre enjoying a nice cool breeze. Love you lots! Til next week!

 

Elder Johnson

November 26th

Family,

Well this week, little weird to be honest. Especially do to the fact
that my companion and I were walking and we were talking about the
date, and then realized that thanksgiving was the day before. Quite a
bummer that we didnt even get to do anything for it. It´s crazy how
fast the time flies by here im not even kidding. Except for when you
are stuck in your apartment for 24 hours. I swear, it was the longest
day of my life. It was so hot, and all we had was a standing fan. It
was too hot to sleep. Me and my comp played 1 game of chess, then it
was too boring/aggrivating, then we played uno... once...again, then
we played golf (with cards), then we played solitare till we got too
aggrivated of losing so much. It was just too hot to go to sleep. Then
we cooked banana bread, and we tried to make french fries, but they
just wouldnt work for some reason. It was such a long day. I think I
drank like 2 liters of pepsi out of boredom. Oh and due too the fact
that we have to wash clothes by hand here, I got to wash like 2 shirts
and a few other things before my arms got tired and I gave up haha.

Its good to hear that the devils beat the stinking cats. Thats
definitely the best news I´ve heard all day. All week maybe haha. Its
kind of weird that they can´t win at home though, either one of them.

After that, our week was pretty long. we have been working on finding
new investigators, and its been working, now the only problem is
finding them at home. We have met some new people, but a lot of them
are kids, and we cant just go into their houses without their parents
there. So right now its kind of like we have a lot of people that we
can only visit between 6 pm and 9 pm. So now were just trying to get
into their houses at the right time of the day. The other day we had a
pretty cool experience. Our President talked to us about how we have
to pray top the Lord and ask for things or He cant give them to us.
like you cant receive something from someone else without asking for
it first. So my companion and I do service for a member every
saturday, and some times it takes a really long time to do it and some
times its quick. But I was getting kind of tired of spending so much
time at his house and not having it benifit us (which is a little
selfish) but in the end of it everything we do as missionaries is to
help us help people come closer to baptism and receiving the blessings
of the Holy Ghost. So before we left our apartment, we said a prayer
and asked that through this day of service that we could find a new
investigator. So we were at his house digging a hole, it was super
rough, and then out of nowhere this kid we have been looking for
forever walks into his backyard and helps us dig a hole, and we
finally were able to find out when he is at home so we can go visit
him.

It was a really cool experience to see that whatever our president
promises us are true things. It also helped me to learn to trust in
the Lord even more. It really helpedme to understand that the Lord
really does answer our prayers as long as we ask with faith.

I missed you all on thanksgiving (or after when I remembered) But
thank you for all the pictures and I hope you had a great time. I also
believe that we use skype for christmas so you can go ahead and start
preparing that now. Love you lots, have a great week!

Love,
Elder Johnson

November 19th

Family,

Lets see... Where to begin. I guess I could start with the biggest thing on my mind right now. So we had our monthly every other month conference with the President, and he was teaching us about the importance of putting a date as a goal of baptism with every investigator we talk to. He told us, to put in our planners on sunday, "recapture dates with all investigators" So yesterday, as we were leaving church, we received a text message from our leaders that said, "Just a reminder, today is the day to recapture all dates with all investigators. Also this week is giong to be a little different there is going to be manifestaciones(i dont know the word in english) Through out the country so tomorrow (monday) you will email and go shopping then start working at 1 pm just like a normal day, and on tuesday, no missionary will leave their apartment." So thats where we are right now haha. I guess its not anything super dangerous, its just to be sure and safe. The country shuts down all their transportation systems and does some sort of protest, so they just dont want us to have run ins with any angry people I guess. But my companion and I were freaking out when we heard it, then our thoughts went quickly to.. "oh my goodness, what are we going to do in our apartment for 24 hours..."

So anyways, back to the missionary work. This week was pretty empty. 1 Due to the fact that we had zone conference which takes up a whole day. But on Wednesday, we did splits, and I went to the area called Vusetich. We went and visited some families that were quite aggrivating, and all they wanted to do was argue with us. Then at the end of the night we had to go to a members house to make dinner for them. Cuz the elders volunteered to do it for them. So we get there and the less active member is a little bit drunk. So he starts talking to us, and just like every drunk person who ever talks to missionaries, he hugged us, and started crying and thanking us for everything that we have done for him. Then he proceeded to ask me where I was from and I told him Arizona. He then said, "I don´t like people from the eastern united states. so I dont like you." Then I told him it was just north of mexico and east of california. Then he said, Oh I guess youre okay then. I like you. So then we started to cook. We were boiling the chicken and he was like mmm it smells good. It needs more spices though. Then he started throwing some things in while Elder Walsh was stirring it. Then all of the sudden he dumps about 1/2 cup of cinnamon in the chicken. Then says oh shoot, thats cinnamon... oh well it will still taste good. Hahah. Then Elder walsh was like no no no no. and tried to get as much out as he cood. Then we washed it really well and then just thought, oh well. We´re hungry... haha. Then we put it on the table and his daughter come up and smelled it and said..." Ohhhhh how yummy!!!" and had the biggest smile on her face. Hahahaha it was super funny. She also had some friends over and one said, Im alright, my stomach hurts haha. Then another one brought the plate back and said, yeah my stomach hurts too. We ate it, and it wasn´t bad, but it wasnt very good either. or maybe just as missionaries any food is fine with us haha. It was a crazy night.

Other than that, this week we built a roof, and we found some new investigators, and things are starting to pick up a little bit, its just a little rough having to watch it pick up so slow. I just want everything to happen now. I guess the Lord wants me to learn some patience or something so Im just going to have to keep working. Also this week, I learned how to build a roof, I had my first Asado, and I also got to eat some refried beans. They were incredible. other than that not much happened this week. Sorry for the bad news on that part. I hope we can get things to pick up faster here, and have a baptism this week.

Oh on a good note, we did set a baptism up, the only problem is that its for the 12th of January. Because a couple is waiting to get married and then they are going to get baptized. They are super solid though and they go to church weekly, so its just a matter of time. They have a cat too, so I really enjoy going to their house haha.

So thats it for this week. I hope everything is going well at home! Never forget that the Lord is always listening to your prayers, and will help with anything at any time as long as we are just willing to ask Him.

Love you all!

Love.
Elder Johnson

November 12th

Family,

 

This was quite the week. It was super super super hot. All week long. Its worse than home cuz its so humid here. Also, everyone takes siestas here so we are never in peoples houses when its the hottest. It kinda stinks... a lot. So on thursday night an investigator told us the whether was supposed to cool down, and possibly send rain. So as we were studying, the clouds are pretty whiet sky is pretty clear, then about 10:45 before were about to leave, it starts getting darker, then we leave for lunch at 11 and get on a bus and it just starts pouring rain (we went without jackets of course cuz we were excited to be cold for the first time in weeks). Then we run to the members for lunch and its pouring rain, so we go inside soaked, and it rains the whole time were in there. Then we leave and the water was literally up to my shins it was insane. So we had to walk home and grab our rain jackets then we spent the rest of the day walking in water up to our shins, it just got to a point where it was just quicker to walk through it than sit there and try to find a way around it and end up wet anyway. It was super fun though.

 

Other than that though, we still arent finding too much success. Other than on the shopping market. I found a shirt from my team today that is pretty nice. Then also, I am going to be a hair trimmer, so dont be alarmed if some money comes off of my card.

 

The best news is that we had 27 in the chapel on sunday. We had 2 young men go, one investigator and one member. The young mens teacher was shocked because it had been so long that he had to teach a class, and he hasnt prepared anything for weeks. When we first got in the chapel too, I was super excited, cuz there was about 40 people there. Come to find out, the 13 that left, missed the sacrament in their ward so they stayed for ours... what a bummer. One of the coolest things that happened this week though, was that we went and contacted an old investigator. He was being taught 2 years ago when he was 10 years old... so now hes 12 obviously. we went and talke to him, and asked him if he still had his book of mormon. He said yes and went inside, then came out with a book of mormon, and a childrens picture version. I asked him if he remembered anything from it, and he said, "Yeah, I remember this part about a king who didnt believe in God and so someone taught him and then he couldnt move or something for 3 days and after he believed in God and told everyone. Also about some guy who was preaching about God and the king wouldnt listen to him and so the killed him, but before they killed him he cursed them and said that they would die the same way he did..." He just continued for about 5 minutes telling stories he remembered from the book of mormon. The only problem is, the reason he didnt get baptized is because his parents didnt allow him... here we go again haha. So hopefully we can work a miracle here.

 

I believe thats all the news I have for this week. Im goign to try to get some things together and send a package home for you guys, if you could let me know how much money I have on both of my cards that would be great. Tell spencer all he has to do know is get a giant shot in his toe and he can be even more like me haha. It looks nasty though. That is pretty awesome that you guys got to have stake conference and listen to elder Holland and Eyering. Hopefully an Apostle will come here, cuz its just the best and Ive already had quite the luck on that. Well if I remember anyhting else too tell you before I get off, Ill do so, if there is anything specific you guys want, just tell me. Love you all! HAve a great week. :)

 

Elder Johnson

November 5th

Family,

Once again, I don´t have a ton of time to write. I spent 20 minutes
trying to get a computer running...

So my area is called Las Islas Malvinas.. I don´t really know what the
ward is in english but here its called a barrio. It´s like cities
within buenos aires. If you search Las Islas Malvinas provincia
argentina it may come up. Or if not, the only address I can think of
right to look up on google maps is 72 Palpa. This is nothing like
Capital. It´s super super weird and super different. Also, I can
assure that summer has started here. 31 degrees celsius with a ton of
humidity. I´m dying. Also the other day we had to do yard work for a
member. We dug a hole for his bathroom haha. It was pretty trying,
I´ve never sweat so much in my life. Also I forgot that I haven´t been
in the sun for like 8 months so I got a little sunburned, the good
news is that my tan is coming back. Also, another funny thing is, the
street we live on is called maipu. Its pronounced my poo, and its a
city in Chile. All the english elders get a kick out of it. So like
half of my area is like normal city streets in a really calm town, and
the other half is dirt road with brick houses and frogs and mosquitos
everywhere. It´s my favorite part. All the kids in that area walk
around with slingshots and kill the birds, which is good with me
because I hate birds now from them being everywhere in capital.

So my new companion is cool. He´s a utah fan,  we get a long and he´s
a good teacher so thats all that matters. So I arrived to the area and
we have absolutely no investigators whatsoever. It´s pretty rough, we
spend a lot of our day walking and looking for people to teach.
Totally different from what I was in before. I´m trying to bring what
I had from the other area, it seems that the elders here before were
just a little lazy. So in my ward we have a little over 500 inactive
members and we had a total assistance of 24 members yeseterady,
including us. I passed the sacrament... alone. Then everyone in the
ward bore their testimonies and we still had 25 minutes left of
sacrament meeting. IT´s pretty insane. My goal is to turn this branch
into a ward before I leave. It´s going to be a little tough, but img
oing to do it.

Other than that nothing much has happened. It´s a totally different
lifestyle though. No air conditioning, I wash my clothes by hand, our
fridge is like the size of our freezer at home, theres cockaroaches in
our house every night haha. It´s gonna be fun though. Our branch
president is from paraguay, and they speak a language called Guarani,
I´m trying to learn that along with my spanish, so hopefully I can
come home and know 3 languages. That would be pretty cool. Oh and also
there is a mexican in our ward and he taught me how to make tortillas.
:) Grandma should be proud of that.

Just some things I wanted to ask for and tell you. Well one thing.
Could you possibly send my some very simple magic tricks that I can do
on the kids here. Cuz they always go nuts about magic tricks. And
also, don´t shop at pomeroys for the boys. All my stuff is starting to
fall apart right now. Just a heads up :)

I´m glad to hear you guys had a good halloween, I don´t know if I even
thought about it haha. It´s super weird here cuz they have a ton of
little holidays and then like 1 or 2 huge ones, and they close
everything down for all the holidays. And send me some pictures please
so I can put them on a flash drive and print them off here. Thank you!

Okay, I gotta go write my mission president. I love you all, I´ll have
more time to write more next week cuz I´m not coming back to this
internet store cuz its a piece of junk :) Well love you. Thanks for
your emails. talk to you next week!

Love,
Elder Johnson

October 29th

Family and friends,

 

Sorry I cant write all of you, the transfers make things a little tight.

 

First off, to the family, I got my package, and im so grateful to finally have American stuff. I dont know how long it was sitting in the office for, but im happy that I finally got it.

 

So anyway, today was transfers. What they do for transfers is on sunday night, we plan and do everything just like normal, then between 930 and whenever that night the assistants call the zone leaders and tell them all the changes in the zone, then the zone leaders call all the areas and tell them if they are changing. So we were waiting last night, and waiting and waiting and Elder Stocking was ready thinking he{d be gone cuz he had been there already 3 transfers, and so he thought I would stay and lead the area. So at 10:35 The zone leaders call us and they asked to talk to me, so my companion and I were a little shocked. Then he said you are going to las islas malvinas. Which for those of you who dont know are some islands just off of Argentina that they lost in war to the Britains and its a very touchy subject for them. So me and my companion laughed and said "hahaha good one, so whats the real news?" then he said youre going to las islas malvinas with elder Lauder... and we thought for sure it was a joke. Then he said, I have a few more people to call I will call you back. So we waited and waited again, and I started packing a little cuz I wasn{t really sure. Then he finally called back and explained that there is an area called las islas malvinas, which is way it the provencia. So I was super shocked, cuz yesterday my companion had said bye to everyone, and I didn{t say bye to anyone haha, so now its going to be a little weird for him to go to work today.

 

So anyway, today (and last night) it decided to rain a ton. The way we do transfers, is we call a guy, called a remisero. He{s like a taxi driver but he just uses his own car and he{ll go pretty much anywhere unlike a taxi. So we wake up at 630 like always and try calling some, but they all are saying that the roads are too flooded to work... so we had to go to a members house and wake them up and have them look up remises for us that would be willing to take us. We were supposed to be there at 9 but didn{t get to the offices until 10. It was crazy. Then I found my companion and around 1130 and we headed back to our area. I get to the area, and its nothing like capital buenos aires... There is like two 2 story buildings in our area, then I ask, do we get a lot of help from the members, and he says "Yeah, from the active ones". Then I ask, "How{s the Bishop" and he tells me "Its actually a branch president, we only have 20 active members in our branch, actually yesterday we broke the record and 21 people assisted sacrament meeting." So there you have it, thats what Im in for right now haha. I{m super excited, I know im going to have to work super hard, but im ready and willing to do it. Im pretty sad to be leaving San Cristobal, but obviously there is a reason for me coming to this area. Next week Ill send some pictures so you can all so what its like.

 

My companion, from what I know so far... He{s from Utah...and his family is all Utah fans, blech. He played water polo and was a swimmer though. Hes the oldest of 7 annnddddd thats all ive really learned this afternoon. Im excited to work here though. This is going to be a big test, and also I get to bless the sacrament in spanish for the first time so im really excited for that too :) I{m trying to get some things together so I can send a package home too, but its a little bit hard to do it all in one week so within the next 2 years you will receive a package haha :)

 

Well, I hope everything goes well this week, I hope you have a good halloween, and yeah.

 

Yo sé que este is la iglesia verdadera. Sé que Dios es nuestro Padre Celestial, y que Él mandó a su Hijo a la tierra para establecer su iglesia para que podamos tener las cosas necesarias a regresar a Él. Sé que las familias pueden estar juntos para siempre. Sé que el Libro de Mormon es verdadero y contiene palabaras verdaderas de los Profetas antiguos que hablaron con Dios. Les amo con todo mi corazón y les invito hacer todo posible para prepararse a vivir con nuestro Padre Celestial un día. Que tenga buena semana!

 

Con Amor,

Elder Johnson

October 22

Meat Truck

Supermarket

Justin's companion making fries.




 


Chapel where they attend church.




Justin, his companion, and a couple of Peruvian members.

 Family,

Thank you for the uplifting words.I know I´m in the right place, its just that it stinks when everyone else is having success and you are just sitting there working your butt off and not seeing results. Transfers are one week from today, so we´ll have to see what changes are made and if anything new comes out of it. The good news is, that on the 28th, we do have a set baptism. The only worry now is that his mom is in Peru, and his dad wants her to be here for it.... ughhh. But we talked to our leaders and we got permission to have her on skype to see the baptism, so tonight we have an appointment with the family, and we are going to talk to him about that. Also it´s his cousins birthday, so we are going to cook french toast for him. So that should be super fun. They don´t have maple syrup here, but Elder Stockings family sent him maple extract, so we are going to attempt to make our own. If not, I´m going to be more than happy to eat french toast with or without it.

So sounds like the weather is pretty weird over there right now, but apparently spring started about 6 weeks ago here, the only thing is that its rained or been cold for 95% of the time. Yesterday, it rained a ton and we had 2 appointments fall through so we did a lot of walking in it, and we didn´t have are jackets with us. I was pretty excited because I love the rain, (then usually the members give us hot chocolate too haha) but it turned out no one was home haha. I also decided that for sure for sure for sure peruvians have the best food in south america. We ate this thing called loma soltado and its rice, meat peppers and french fries, all together. I FINALLY GOT TO EAT SOMETHING SPICY!!!! It was so delicious and it was from a restaraunt so it was made almost perfectly. It was definitely the best meal I have had here on my mission.

I believe I told you about the girl we were teaching english too. It turns out that she is super weird. We´ve gone to her house 3 times to teach her and then at the end of one of the lessons she told my companion that one day they were going to get married. It was super funny and we started laughing cuz we all felt like she was being a little weird. Then my companion was super direct and was like, "Sorry, but thats not going to happen." and stuff like that. We had a member with us too who was super direct with her. We were pretty bold on the rules and everything, so pretty sure she won´t be a problem anymore, especially because she told us that she would be going to church si o si with out a doubt and then we called her and she said she had an emergency and would be there for only sacrament meeting (sacrament is last in our ward) and sacrament came around we called her again and she was still busy haha.

So its been raining a ton, we might finally have success, and things are starting to look better. There is a Chilean in my ward, and he helps us out a super ton and he told me the other day that he would by me a soccer jersey from chile or colo-colo, I thought that would be something that matt would like to hear. It´s fun to work with him too because he teaches us a lot of chilean slang. It´s super weird to think that in every country spanish is different. Like what I spoke in Fresno, doesn´t work here haha and then there is a word in Argentine spanish that means cry baby, but its one of the most offensive swear words in Chile. I definitely feel like my spanish is improving pretty quickly.

Yesterday I had to give a talk in church, and I prepared a ton, and I was super excited to speak, and my companion even gave a shorter talk cuz I wanted to speak for a long time. But turns out that Argentina has to be different than everyone else, so yesterday was mothersday in Argentina, so there was a lot of speakers and I only got to speak for 5 minutes and I was super ticked. I hope I got my point across though. I can´t remember who it is in our ward, I think its brother farnsworth, but I talked about how he always talks about the gospel to people when he flies places. A lot of people said they liked my talk but I didn´t feel like I said what I wanted to in only 5 minutes.

October 15th

Family,

Thank you for the update. It is really sad, but I´m glad she doesn´t have to be suffering any more. Could you send me a picture of the cement thing? and if we have any pictures with her to please. I would like to see that. I hope everyone is doing okay there. I´m fine here.

So this week was quite the let down. I´m tired of not having any success out here. Me and my companion feel like we are doing everything right, and we´re just not having any success. This week, we had a 10 year old kid, whose dad is a member. He was less active for a long time but recently started coming back to church. His mom is super catholic and doesn´t want anything to do with us. This sunday, David was going to get baptized, but on tuesday his mom said that he needs to wait and make sure he really understands what he´s doing. Which he does, because we already gave him the interview and everything and he knows. Then we had a lesson with the dad, and told him that he needs to talk to his wife and do all thats possible to change his wifes mind, because the longer he goes without being baptized, the longer he´s not going to have the Holy Ghost, and the longer satan is going to be able to work on him. So the next day we called, and he said that he talked to his wife, but nothing changed... we´re pretty sure that he didn´t talk to her and that he´s just scared of her. So nothing changed all throughout the week, no matter how hard we tried. it was really upsetting on sunday, when the dad didn´t even wake him up to take him to church. :( but we´re going to keep working with him and hopefully this sunday.

Then on tuesday, we had to go 1 hour by train to go to the presidents house for transferly interviews, where I thought I was going to receive my package, but I didn´t haha. so that means I probably won´t get it until october 29th when we have transfers. I guess the best news of the week was that this lady that has been waiting to get baptized for a long time, and has been goign to church every week for months, but isn´t married. Is finally going to be able to get married, but on november 20th. So whoever stays here next transfer is going to have a set baptism haha.

But ughhhh,, I just have no idea at all what we are doing wrong right now, I just hope that we can see success before too long.

Something funny that happened, yesterday the stake had this competetion thing where all the youth give a talk and they choose the best talk or something like that from each ward then they compete against the whole stake... something like that. but then they were taking a ton of pictures of the kids at the pulpit, and the bishops wife told him that they aren´t allowed to be doing that, but they continued anyway, haha. Then after that, they asked for everyone to give all the youth a round of applause, then one of the sisters sitting next to us just shook her head and said, I don´t think we´re supposed to do that either. It was super funny, and we were all just waiting for some lightning to strike the building or osmething.

Ohhh yeahhh,,, I just remembered something I can share with you haha. We had divisions with our district leader on wednesday, and I was with an Elder from Chile who started the mission the same day as me. He went to the Argentina MTC so I put 2 and 2 together and found out that Ian Hatch was in his district in the MTC. Then that night, we ordered a pizza, at 9 pm from a restaraunt that is 1.5 blocks from our house. Like its from our house, to the dutsons house, we can see it from our apartment. We have to be in bed at 10:30, so at 9:45 I called and said, I ordered a pizza 45 minutes ago, and with the terrible customer service here, the lady said, it was not that long ago... but anyway, its coming. So we waited 10 minutes... still didnñt come. Called and they said oh yeah its on its way. Then at 10:10 I called and said look, We ordered a pizza more than an hour ago, you are 1 block away and it hasn´t come. then he asked me about 10 times if I was sure, because all their orders had already been delivered... then he said alright 10 minutes and it will be there. So at 10:25 we called and I let the Chileen talk because he could be more bold and he said, we oredered a pizza an hour and a half ago and its not here, so we want to cancel it, and the lady pleaded with him for so long to just wait that it finally got there at 10:29, so we had to eat our pizza in the dark in bed haha it was super pathetic, so I was just thinking I would let you know thatyou should be greatful that your pizza gets there in 30 minutes or less. Thats a huge blessing.

Anyway, thats my week. Hopefully I can have pictures of a baptism to send home to you next week. I love you. Don´t forget to read and pray every day.

Love,
Elder Johnson

October 8th

First off, I cannot believe that missionaries can leave at ages 18 and 19 now, that is so insane!!!! After I heard that I was just so excited and all I could think about was how incredibly quick the missionary work is going to grow and about all the people who could leave right now. I just wanted to yell with excitement, I don´t really know how to explain it. I was just so happy. I was also excited to hear that Tucson is finally going to have a nice building in the city, haha :p. Yeah, the first session was a little rough for me though, because they didn´t have an english session in the stake center we were at. So for the second session we went to another one and watched it in english. Then we don´t get to see the priesthood session because it starts at 9 pm here... I was a little bummed about that. So then the sunday morning session, we had to go to the spanish session cuz we had investigators there and so that was a little bummer once again that I didn´t get too much out of that session. It´s just that it was hard to take notes and listen and have the apostles and prophet saying big words that translate into big spanish words. Then for the last session, (youre going to like this one) we got the stake president to set up an english tv for us, because we now have an investigator who speaks english. :)

So there are some elders from another area, whose apartment is in our area. A few weeks ago, they were leaving their apartment when a guy yelled, "Hey Mormons!!" So they quickly turned around after hearing english and all, and they got the guys information and told him that we would come by one day. So for the past 2 weeks, we have been going by and calling his apartment number, but he never answered. Then one day, we were just walking by and me and my companion, without saying anything both turned into the entrance, and rang his apartment number. He answered, "Hola?" with a TERRIBLE spanish accent. Then I said, "Uhhh, is this John?" He says, "Oh, yes, hi!" I then say, "Hi John we´re umm, we´re the Mormon missionaries." Then he said, "Oh no way? Alright! Do you guys want to come in?!?!" He is super super friendly, and he is an english teacher, who travels from country to country teaching english and starting english schools, then leaves the school off to someone else. Right now he is here in Argentina, not having any success. He told us that he feels super lonely right now, and that he is 60 years old. All he does is sits in his apartment all day and smokes and drinks. We talked to him about baptism, and he wants to get baptized, and he goes back to the united states for good in december. So we´re going to be working really hard with this guy, but it is going to be an exciting thing. It is also pretty hard to teach in english, as funny as that sounds, but its going to be a cool experience. I think it would be super awesome to baptize an english speaker here in the depths of Buenos Aires. 

This week was pretty successful too, which was refreshing since we have been having some rough times. We have a baptism set for this weekend, and a baptism set for every weekend til the end of this month. One thing that happened this week that was super cool, was that super awesome kid from Peru, that is living with his aunt uncle and cousin, we talked to his cousin, and his cousin wants to get baptized, so on the 28th is when he will be getting baptized. The kid that is a member, will turn 16 on the 22nd of october, which means that he will be able to receive the priesthood, and then be able to baptized his cousin. I am super excited too because that will be possible my last sunday here in this area depending on how transfers go. 

Oh and how could I forget, I got my ingrown toenail removed. We went 1 hour by subway to the south american church offices, which was definitely the nicest building I have seen here. And the doctor numbed my toe, and cut my toenail then ripped it out. I thought it was going to be a lot grosser than it was. But its just been really painful all week. It shouldn´t hurt too much longer though.  

I hope you enjoyed the empanadas. We get empanadas every thursday from a member. I´m kind of getting sick of them but I´m just thankful to have real food and not be eating flour and water like some missionaries have to do. Anyway hope you all have a good last week of break. I hope you enjoyed conference and got a lot of inspiration and advice you were looking for. I love you all!! Until next week!

Love,

Elder Johnson

October 1st

Family,

This week, like many in the past... was pretty rough. A lot of things got switched around for leaders and stuff and so we had some plans fall through cuz we werent informed about meetings that were going to be dropped for us. Well, to start things off good, we were reading through the information sheets of past investigators, and we found 2 girls and their mom who had been to church before, and their older brother was already a member for more than 6 years. The sheet said that their mom wasn´t interested at all, but obviously she gave her son permission to be baptized so we thought that we would head on over and see if we could get in and find out what was up with them. It turns uot that they were super interested a while ago, but their dad wouldn´t give them permission to be baptized, so they couldnt, and with that they stopped going to church (for some reason their brother stopped going too). So we were talking to them all week, and we shared some messages with them and we asked them, "if you could be baptized tomorrow would you do it?" and they were both really reluctant, and they told us that they were scared of what their dad would say. Then we talked to them more and found out that their dad doesn´t live with them and he only has time with them on saturdays and sundays and he just randomly calls and gets them for like 4 hours each day. So that meaning that they only need permission from their mom. Although we knew they weren´t going to be able that week, we were working super hard to get them, and their brother, to go to church so they could be baptized this week. So we called at 830 on sunday morning and he told us that he was too tired because they went to a wedding saturday night and didn´t get home until 6 am.... so none of them came to church.

So thats a bit of a bummer right now. The rest of the good things that happened this week, are that one of our recent converts moved away, and now we just found out he moved back. and he is super capo, he´s only 15 and he wakes up at 5 and goes to all the peoples houses that don´t go to seminary and wakes them up so they can go at 530. He´s a super stud. and so we found out they people he lives with aren´t members. His aunt uncle and cousin and they all came from peru. So the first day we visited them they fed us arroz chaufa, no idea what chaufa is but arroz is rice and it had a ton of meat in it and was super good. then the next day we had siviche which is raw fish covered in super spicy lemon sauce. IT WAS SO GOOD!!! I am beyond jealous that will is going to Peru on his mission because they are so super friendly and they have the best food in the world. It was incredible. Then also, mcdonalds here has this thing on sale and its a triple cheese burger.. when I say on sale, here that means its like 2.75 for it but still, I don´t know if they have those in the united states but it was stinking delicious. 

Also I was on divisions with our district leader and we had lunch with a family from ukraine... and the kids only speak spanish not the parents so they translate through us... and obviously someone translated wrong cuz we didn´t get lunch haha. and it was super but super awkward. 

So thats all the news I have. I can´t believe the wards split again. Thats gonna be weird to give my talk when I get back in a different ward. they should have a plaque moving ceremony or something for all the elders, cuz right now there are a lot out and we´re pretty important :p. Oh and if youre going to make empanadas chicken is the best or ham and cheese. Let me know how they go. Oh also you need to try milanesa and let me know how you like that. make sure you soak it all in mayo cuz thats how they do it here :p

I love you all, thank you for emails, and hopefully I´ll get my package this week. Oh and I can´t wait for conference, hope you all receive the answers youre looking for! Make sure the kids stay awake for conference cuz now I understand how important it is and they need to also. 

Love,

Elder Johnson

P.S. I have an ingrown toenail and I have to get it removed on tuesday or wednesday. I´ll have pictures next week :p Love you mom! haha

Spetember 24th

Hola familia,

Como anda todo?

Good news... kinda... I got a phone call the other day... it doesnt make much sense to me but someone from the offices called me and they said that my package has arrived in Argentina, but they arent going to be able to pick it up for 2 to 3 weeks. So... I have a meeting in the office october 5th so I guess ill see if I can pick it up then. I hope it will be there cuz I´m kinda getting tired of it haha. 

This week went better than the last, we are still having a tad bit of trouble but things are going up hill... well they were until we got to church on sunday and there wasnt a single investigator OR recent convert in the gospel principles class. So that is quite a bummer. We are finding some new investigators, so hopefully we will see some success out of that shortly. Also, our stake president told us that we should find anyone who has 2 or more church attendance and invite them to watch general conference. So hopefully we can see some success from that also. I would like to say that my spanish is getting good, because at times, I forget how to say things in english, but maybe that is just cuz I don´t get to hear much english until the end of the day. It just seems that at times I go to say something and I can only remember how to say it in spanish. Also I don´t know if I have said this, but Argentine spanish is super weird, its not even actually called spanish, they call it castillano. So they say things super different than all other south american countries. I think its a little bit of a pride thing but who knows.

Oh yeah! The other day, we were walking in the streets, and there is this huge street called 9 de julio, supposedly its the largest street in the world. and there was a group of protesters from who knows what and then the riot squad came and shut down the street and took on the riot. it was crazy. then some inactive member saw us and came up and talked to us and was telling us that as gringos we need to be careful, then we told him, "Yeah, we know, we live here" then he just said, oh... well be careful anyway haha. But I don´t really know why people freak out. but everyone is scared for us, even though nothing ever happens. My companion and I think that people have tried to rob elders so much in the past that they realize that we are broke gringos who don´t have anything for them so they just leave us alone haha. 

My companion and I were just talking about how being here has made us immune to bad things that happen. Like this riot, or the other day we were walking down the street and there was a police officer beating up a drunk guy. or on the way to church we see a broken window and blood on the sidewalk and just shrug it off, or say, hey Carlos, why are there so many cops outside of your house, oh I don´t know I thought I heard gun shots a few minutes ago. Hahah, but in reality we really are safe here. So no need to worry. 

So as of right now, my companion and I are working with 3 couples who want to get married. The other day we were talking to an investigator and we said that he needed to get married to her or move out before he got baptized, and he said, "I know, I have been thinking about that a lot, and I really want to spend the rest of my life with her.." then my comp and I didn´t know what to say after that cuz we were so excited, so we just looked at each other and did the latin finger snap thing that everyone does here when they are excited. It was a super funny.

Also this sunday my comp and I and a member that helps us a ton spoke about missionary work. I wish I had the knowledge I have now before I went on my mission because it would have made my talk a lot easier. I didn´t plan hardly at all and I just spoke, and ten minutes went by so fast. I felt like a stud. Then after the member and my companion spoke there were people in the chaple crying. I hope that means that we had some pretty good talks. It was a super good sacrament meeting and made up for the fact that we had no investigators in church.  

Well, thats all the news I have for you right now, hopefully one day I will be able to get my package. maybe you want to send me a christmas one right now... haha just kidding. Thank you for your prayers and for all your support. Love you lots!

Love,

Elder Johnson

Pictures

 

September 17th

Family,

Thank you for all the birthday wishes. This past week was pretty rough, but my companion and I had pretty good birthdays. So even though the days were rough, the nights were pretty fun. On my birthday, my companion and I went and got some facturas, its like a breakfast dessert kind of thing, like donuts. Then for lunch we had empanadas, that a member buys for us every thursday, and we also drank an Inca-cola which is a super good soda from peru, it taste like bubble gum. It´s incredible. Then in the night one of the members in our ward bought us a pizza, and some things that kinda were like cake pops. It was super good, cuz I´m always super hungry when we come in at night. Then for my comps birthday it was pretty much the same thing.

So also, this last week, we received an email from our president, and it was a plan that he had made through revelation on how to work better with the memebrs of the church. Cuz like President Hinckley said, "the best way to do this work is through the members." So my companion and I have been having a little bit of a rough patch. We are really low on investigators right now, and the ones that we do have can only meet once a week. So we decided that we were going to put this plan into full force asap. What the plan is, is that the members make a list of names, then the pray with us to know who is ready to talk to the missionaries. After that we make plans with them so that they can do missionary work with them, and then they will introduce them to us, rather then us asking them for help with our investigators. So far we have done it with  about 8 families or so, and the names are coming in fast. We are pretty sure that we are going to have a ton of success here in the next week or 2. Also, it has been super cool to see that through this plan we have been gaining a lot of respect from the families. A lot of the families in the ward we didnt know to well, because my companion and I haven´t been here super long. But we have really noticed how much more excited people are to help us, when they actually know us. So it has been nice to also see that we are gaining relationships and trust here in the ward. We really think it is going to bring a lot of success.

Also, today is transfer day... and my companion and I are staying together haha. So we are really excited for another 6 weeks to put this plan in full effect and see the miracles that will come out of it. Also, I´m not sure if my package has come in yet. They haven´t told us anyhting, so my companion and I are going to go to the offices today and see if it is there. I don´t have a ton to write this week, there aren´t a ton of updates, except for the fact that we saw a walmart the otherday when we were going to the stadium for the celebration, and I forgot to tell you that last week :p It was super exciting to see a walmart haha. Oh and also, we had dinner with a family, and they invited a mexican guy, and he brought spicy chilli powder and we added it to the super weird spinach tarta that we ate. It was super good. He also said he is going to invite us over one day and make us some mexican food. I´m super excited for that haha. It´s been way too long. I also found out this week, that there are a TON of elders here in this mission from Arizona. Like 5 from mesa a few from other places too, and one from snowflake. Maybe one day I´ll have a companion from Az then we can be good friends after the mission too. But who knows! That is pretty much all I have to say from my boring week. I hope everything is super exciting there as its getting cooler going into the winter, just remember that I´m dying of high heats and humidity over here!

Love you all!
Elder Justin Brent Johnson

September 10

Sunday Spetember 9th the Buenos Aires Temple was rededicated.  The day before there was a Cultural Celebration.  President Erying, Elder Christofferson, and Elder Ballard were there as a part of the rededication.  Some of what Justin is talking about is the events that took place this weekend.


Buenos Dias!

How is everyone? Thank you for all the birthday wishes... I can`t really believe that in 3 days Im going to be 20. It doesn´t make it look any better when you put it on a cake that I can´t eat either :p The good news is that I thought I got fatter while I was here... but I just weighed myself and im 68 kilograms.. if our math is correct that means im 149. Which means I´ve actually lost weight since I´ve been here. Which also means that I can keep drinking coke and Pepsi :). Mom, I still haven´t got my package. On Friday there was a package that came but it didn´t have a name on it. Inside there were some warheads some other candy and some cd´s from like the 17 miracles soundtrack. I don´t think it was mine, but if that was mine let me know in the next email and I will get a hold of the offices. If thats not what you put in then I will just keep waiting for it :).

So this week was pretty crazy. We tried to work hard, but there wasn´t a lot of work to do haha. We have been trying to find new investigators but they are never home when we go to visit them. So we have a few people were trying to find but we just keep checking at the wrong times. But on thursday, we went to the mission offices, which is 30 minutes by subway, then 45 minutes by train, and when we got there we had a short meeting with Pres. Gullbrandsen and then we went another hour and a half or so to the buenos aires west mission office to wait for Pres Eyering Elder Ballard and Elder Christoffersen to arrive. After an hour of reading in the scriptures (without talking to ANYONE...I thought I was going to die.) they finally came in.It was more of a fireside, a lot different than when we met with Elder Ballard in Fresno. It was still good though. Elder Christoffersen spoke first. He served his mission in Cordoba Argentina, and served as a mission President in Mexico. So he spoke to us in spanish. Something really cool that he talked about was that some of us will have 2 mission presidents (for me 3) and that we should take every piece of advice they give us to heart, cuz it will help us for the rest of our lives. Then Elder BAllard got up and spoke. He talked about his grandpa, who was an apostole, who opened up southamerica for missionary work. When he first came here, there were 4 members... and they were all German. The first missionary lesson in south america was in Argentina... in German.... haha. So that`s how it all started. Now, there are 3,400,000 members. He gave an analogy in the sacrament meeting before he left in 1926 and said, "The missionary work in South America will not grow like a sunflower, very quickly and just die, but like an acorn, and grow into a mighty and sturdy oak." It was super cool to think of the missionary work that we are doing here like that. No matter how rough it is or how slow it is goign. We have been promised that it will grow strong and sturdy. Then President Eyering got up, he was all over the place... haha. But something he shared that was super awesome was that a few days ago, his daughter just had a baby. The problem is, she was only 6 months pregnant, and the baby is only 1 pound 9 ounces. They don´t know if it will live, but the story he told, was that his daughter and her husband sent him a picture. They are both standing over the baby in the little box thing, and they have super big smiles on their faces. They we´re smiling, because they know that whatever happens, they will still get to be with her after this life as an eternal family. He then talked about when we really understand what in means to know that God loves us, and that he really is our Heavenly Father. That we will never look into the future with fear. We will have a smile on our face and be excited to bring on the new day, no matter what is happening.

Then on saturday, we went to the stadium of Independiente...(my team, 1. because my dad (elder stocking) and his dad (elder Rose) are from Independiente and its just in the blood, and 2. because they are the devils so it kinda makes me feel like im supporting ASU still haha) but that was super cool to be there. We got there at 4 and the celebration started at 7. We thought we were going to practice, but we just stood on the field for like an hour and did nothing. then they had us sit down in the stands haha so it was kinda lame. But then it started and they did a ton of dnaces from Argentina, and they gave the Apostoles ponchos, and they spoke in them haha, then they showed some videos about missionary work and we marched on the field singing called to serve (which is 4 verses in spanish) Oh yeah, and the whole program was done by the youth. and they had to stages in the middle and the apostles were like in the box seats. So we all marched in singing and lined up all around the stage. then after we sang all the youth stood up and sang I hope they call me on a mission. It was super AWESOMEEE!!!! then we did a mash-up the primary sang I am a child of God and called to serve. It was super cool. I bet its on you tube somewhere (celebracion del Templo de Buenos Aries...maybe?) so after that we didn´t get home until like 11:30.... I know I know... Like 7 months ago that would be super early... BUT I WAS DYING FOR SLEEP. Not only that but we hadn´t eaten since 4 so we stopped and got some food first so we didn´t get to bed until like 12. What a joke!

The temple rededication on sunday was at 9 12 or 3 so we went to the 9 o clock one so we could get some work done after. we woke up at 630 like always, and we went and I could barely stay awake.. It was super difficult. But I managed it for the most part. (except the closing prayer) Elder Ballard spoke in the redidcation and said until the temple was built in sao paulo brazil, all of south america went to Mesa Arizona to go to the temple. I was thinking about how on the corners of the temple it has the pioneers. That is super cool to think about. I don´t know why they did that, more than likely for the pioneers that came to Salt Lake, but I think secretly it was a sign, that the families of south America would do the same so their families could be together forever. It is super cool now to know that Argentina finally has a temple again. Soon they will have 2. It´s a super great blessing to have a temple so close at home and now I know lots of families are going to have great opportunities here in Buenos Aires and all of Argentina.

So thats my week, this sunday is transfer calls, more than likely I´ll be staying here with Elder stocking, but we´ll see. Thanks again for all the birthday wishes. I love you all a ton, can´t wait to hear how soccer and baseball seasons go for the boys! Don´t forget to read your scriptures and say your prayers every night!!!

Love,
Elder Johnson

September 3

This week was incredibly insane...

So on wednesday we had a training meeting with the President, and something we do a lot here, especially cuz Ushaiah (the souther tip of south america) is part of our mission. We do mission conference calls and President talks to us. So as President walks in he is on the phone and the assistants have set up a conference call, so we started off with a prayer and he starts with his call. and he then tells the entire mission that everyone companionship has someone in their area who can be baptized this saturday, confirmed sunday and go to the temple rededication on sunday the 9th. So this is on wednesday, and me and my companion have been teaching this girl who went to the temple and so we thought for sure it was her. so Thursday night we have a meeting with her and we invited her to be baptized this weekend, and she told us she wasn´t ready. We worked really hard with her and taught the importance of it and about how much of a blessing it would be to go to the temple dedication, but the answer stayed the same. so now we have friday and saturday morning to find someone in our area who is ready to be baptized on saturday night. On friday, our district leader did exchanges though, and we had an appointment with Blanca (that same girl that night) and so they went to the appointment and I was with another Elder and we talked to their "prepared" investigator. He told us no... so we get home and call the other elders to find out that Blanca had cancelled the appointment. so now neither of us have a baptism for saturday and at this point we are all kinda just feeling like we have failed to fulfill our President´s promise. So the next morning we called again. and we asked our district leader if I was supposed to do the training program since we were on an exchange, and he said no.. right now I want you to go through the area book (which has a list of all the people who have been taught in like the last 5 years) and find all those who have attended church 3 or more times, then pray about which one is ready to be baptized tonight. So thats what we did. and only 2 were still living in this area that I was in. So we prayed, and chose one. And as we were walking we came in contact with her aunt who she lives with. which is obviously not coincidence. So we found out that she was at work, and so we went and asked if we could talk with her for about 5 minutes. So she came out, and 5 minutes became about 30 haha and after a lot of spiritual questions and waiting. She agreed to talk to the zone leaders (who would give the baptismal interview).

So at this time it was when we were switching back to our normal areas. Super excited for their area, but bummed for ours we call and find out where we are meeting, to hear that they had also found someone who was ready. The went through the list of formers and found a 10 year old girl who´s Grandma was recently baptized, but the parents told the elders (about8 months ago) that if they came back they wouldn´t let the girl go to church anymore either. (she hasn´t been for a while) but they went and talked to her and the Grandma and the parents and invited her to be baptized at 7 pm (5hrs later) and they gave permission. That is easily called a miracle.

So thats how crazy my weekend was. I think my companion and I have walked more in the pass 3 days than we normally do in one week. But it was well worth it. I´m just happy that its p'day and I get to rest a little bit haha.

The computer place we´re at isn´t letting me upload any pictures... so I´m sorry, but you´re going to have to wait another week. I still haven´t got the package yet but I could possibly hear something about it today. who knows. also me and my companion have super close birthdays. he turns 20 on the 15th of september. so we´re just casually bringing it up to members telling them that we have close birthdays haha.

Todo bien aqui en Argentina, espero que todo esta bien alla. Gracìas por las oraciones y por todo que hacen para mi. Nunca Olviden que para recibir bendiciones primero viene el sacrificio. Yo sè que el Libro de Mormon es verdadero y que por medio de la expiacion de Jesucristo, podemos vivir con Èl y nuestro Padre Celestial para siempre. Estoy agredicido por todos las cosas que Dios me da y por los milagros que hemos visto aqui en este semana pasada. Les amo con todo de me corazon!

Elder Johnson

Translation of the last paragraph:

All good here in Argentina, I hope all is well there. Thanks for the prayers and for all you do for me. Never forget that first come to receive blessings sacrifice. I know that the Book of Mormon is true and that through the Atonement of Jesus Christ, we can live with Him and our Heavenly Father forever. I agredicido by all the things God gives me and the miracles we've seen here in this last week. I love you with all of my heart!