August 27

Family,

This week was pretty rough. Nothing much really happened this week and to be honest, I really have nothing to write about at all haha. This past week was the last week for the Temple open house and so we had to get rid of all the fliers that we had by wednesday. and the bad news is that we had like 1200 fliers. oh actually I just remember something I could write about. This monday, our zone leaders called us and said bring a map of your area and a change of clothes to the boca (a chaple) at 6 on monday, youll see what were going to do when you get there.  so we get there and we did a random exchange for the night. they took all the senior companions names in a bag, junior companions in a different and areas in a 3rd. then they drew a senior companion and a junior companion and said you are going to this area for the night to try to find more investigators. so I ended up with my companion at first and so I was pretty excited but then we got switched because they didnt think that was fair. so then I got put with another Elder and he was super lazy and didn´t have much drive. and we got to the area and we got lost and we couldn´t find anyone on the streets to talk to. so that was pretty bad. so then we were on our way back to the house for the night and we found some people and we started to do some street contacts. I asked him if he had done any street contacts before and he said no, and I don´t wanna be rude or anything but that was all we did in Fresno so I thought I had a pretty good knowledge of how to do it. then after every one that we did he told me that I did it wrong and that I needed to change it. It was kinda funny but also really annoying haha. So I was super happy on tuesday to come back to my area and be with my companion again.

So back to the fliers. we had soooo many. so we just went on opposite sides of the street and for 3 hours we just walked down streets and put them it peopls houses and gave them to people we saw. It was insane and we walked soooooooo far. Something really good that did happen is that we got a reference from the temple and her name is Blanca. She is super ready to be baptized and we set a date with her but that date is the temple dedication. So we got permission from our President to baptize her this saturday and confirm her sunday so she could get a reccomend for the dedication. The bad news is... she didn´t come to church yesterday because she works with some old lady and takes care of her and the lady she lives with didn´t show up til 1... and church ends at 12. so no we are trying to figure out what to do and we have a lesson with her tomorrow with our zone leaders and they are going to decide what to do with her. So we´re going to be praying really hard that she can get baptized and be able to see the dedication of the temple.

President Eyering, Elder Ballard, and Elder Christoffersen come some time this next week. We have a conference with them next saturday and then I´m pretty sure we´re going to be in the celebration. So that will be super cool.

Thats funny to hear about McKenna doing that. Thats the best way that she is going to get her practice though is by doing it. I remember the first time I drove with the kids and they were all freaking out. I can´t believe Braden was laughing at her haha.I can´t wait for them to start playing soccer so I can hear about it and see some pictures. I don´t have any pictures today because we cant really have our cameras with us in case we get robbed. it doesn´t happen very often but we just have to be safe..haha so I´ll try to take some more pictures some how this week so I can send them home.

I love you, thanks for the emails. keep working hard in school and work and don´t forget to read and pray every night! It´s super important!!!

Love,
Elder Justin Johnson

August 20th

Hi family, 

So my first full week in argentina was pretty awesome. Although it has been a pretty rough week i have definitely learned a lot. Everyone has been telling me that my spanish is really good, but the only thing is that I have a hard time understanding. So I believe them when they say that I speak well  , but understanding is a different story. But this week was pretty rough due to a lack of lessons that we had. We have been teaching this family and everyone is interested but their dad. but he told us that we could teach them. one of the most important focuses here in the mission is that we have daily contact with our investigators. then on tuesday we were at their house and Lautaro, the kid that I  baptized was reading 1 nephi 1 vs 1 and it says about nephi being born of goodly parents, and in spanish goodly is said buenos and so he read it as "naci de buenos aires" it was super super funny. we were alughing for a good couple of minutes about it. but then after that we were walking out the door and the dad came in and he asked if he could talk to us. and he asked us if we were going to be at his house every day when he came home. and he got super mad and told us that we arent allowed to go by ev ery day anymore so we have been having a little bit of trouble with that. But we know that everything is still going to work out fine as long as we work our hardest.

Wednesday:

So right now since the temple is open for everyone a huge focus right now is passing out temple invitations to EVERYONE. so me and my companion were doing that and we gave one to a man and he said "hola huevos fritos! Mormones solamente son un secta!!" Which means hey fried eggs! Mormons are just a sect!... then he ripped up the flier and threw it in the air. It was kinda crazy because it was a little exciting to have someone recognize us....then he just tore us down haha. its a little sad to see that there are people liek that in the world today but there is always going to be opposition.

Thursday:

We had two refrences of people who went to the temple today and we had one at 3 and one at 4 and we were meeting them in the chapel. The one at 3 accepted a baptismal date, but then afterward we found out that he isnt in our area so we hgad to give his info to the other elders. then at 415 the other lady hadnt shown up so our member didnt come either and we were a little bummed. so we were just sitting there thinking what to do and the the buzzer to get into the building rang and we jumped up and ran to the door and it was her. so we had to have the lesson outside of the chapel since we didnt have a manb with us. Both me and my companion felt super lost during the lesson and afterwards she was telling us a ton of information and then we told her about priesthood blessings and we gave her one at the end. It was a super miracle too because a member of the ward came in and invited her to church in the middle of the lesson. so on sunday she came to church and we are meeting with her again some time this week. she is super solid and we´re excited to keep teaching her. 

Friday:

Nothing happened really we just passed out a ton of temple invitations.... sorry.

Saturday:

Today we went to the templ again with some investigators.It was a little bit of a bummer because there were over 8000 people who went through the temple that day. and so it was a lot faster then the first time we went. and we didnt have much time to explain things this time. he liked the temple and everything but he says that he doesnt really want to be baptized right now so we arent really sure whats going to go on with him. and afterward we were riding the bus home and I wasnt efeeling so good and I threw up on a tree right on the side of a busy street. it was pretty embarrassing. 

but the good news is that Yanina, one of our recent converts is pregnant and she went to the hospital today and found out that she is going to actually be having twins. So that was super exciting.

Sunday:

Sunday was a rough day. we went to lautaro´s house to wake him up for chuch so he could come and get confirmed and no on answered their door or phones. so after  class we walked back to his hosue at 10:30 and we called and knocked and knocked liek crazy and finally got him up and we ran back to church and we walked in right at the start of the opening prayer and right after the prayer they anounced that they were going to do the confirmation. it was super scary but thanks to a lot of praying we made it just in time haha.

Other than that there isnt too much, I did remember during the week that I forgot to wish mom a happy birthday last monday. So happy birthday mom :) hahah. oh and we also found out that we are going to be participating in the temple celabration and rededication stuff so im super excited for that. and also PResident Eyering, elder ballard and Christofferson are coming for it and they are coming to our mission for a mission conference. So that is going to be super awesome.  

Also my companion told me that the key to getting packages here safely is to not put everything that is in the box on the outside when you write it on there. he said just to put like missionary supplies and the a lower ammount of money than what everything is actually worth. 

and to answer your questions my comp is from Idaho and that picture is a view from the apartment. sorry i didnt ssend any explanations I was out of time :)

today were going to a super cheap shopping place so hopefully I can find some things that IU can send home. 

I love you!  Thanks for the emails!

Love,

Elder Johnson

No explanation...wondering if this is his apartment.

Justin's first baptism!

Tourist area in Buenos Aires.

 Professional Football (soccer team) in Buenos Aires.  Not too surprised Justin has already found this.

#2-August 13

Hi family,

 so my first week has been really good. There are lots of different rules here than they were in Fresno. It is a lot more relaxed here. I´m really sorry but we got on a bus and we got to a stop and they just told us all to get off so we don´t have as much time as we expected. but the temple was awesome and we got to go in because its an open house right now. We took some investigators and one of our recent converts looked in the mirror and she gasped. and she said Elders in 11 months I can come here with my family! Only 11 months!. It was super incredible. Argentina is definitely not what I expected it. It is a lot more poor than I thought. We have to walk a ton and my legs are killing me. I think i pulled my calf today so this should be interesting. It´was super weird yesterday because we went by an investigators house and they told us they dind´t want us to come anymore and so we were super upset and as we left a guy walks up to us and in english says. I recognized Elders anywhere! and we gave him a temple flier and he is going to get in touch with the missionaries again. It was super crazy because NO ONE nknows the missionaries here and no one talks englihs. It was nice in Fresno because I could say a efw words in english and they´d understand. Here they don´t understand a word. Well I need to go email my president. I Love you all. I´ll write longer next week. today was weird. Love you!ç

Love Elder Johnson

E-mail #1 from Argentina

Hi family. My companion and I are leaving in just a few minutes to go to an activity with our district, but we are going to come back so that we can finish emailing a little later in the day. So I just wanted to pop in and say hi real fast and that Buenos Aires is not anything like I expected. I didn´t think I would have to fear for my life as much as I do haha but it is really awesome. My companion is super cool and I already have some great news. I had my first baptism yesterday :) I baptized a 13 year old kid named Lautaro. His brother was baptized last week and they are both super strong. his brother is 23 and is probably going to serve a mission once the year comes around. So anyway. We´re going to get going right now but I will update some more and send some pictures as soon as we get back. Love you!

 

Love,

Elder Johnson

July 30th-Last one from Fresno. Next time it will be from Buenos Aires.

Family,
It is really exciting, I'm sorry though, I have no idea what time I'm going to be leaving. The only information I have is that I have to be at Presidents house on sunday night for a farewell dinner. So, I don't know what you want to do, just make sure someone answers the phone :). I can't believe Will is leaving. That just sounds so weird, and that Ryan is coming back too. It's weirding me out. It feels like just yesterday I was walking through the security gate and had to sit there and watch you all stand there for 30 minutes! My time in Fresno went by so fast, I don't want to think about what is going to happen in Argentina.

That is so weird to that Bishop Day is no longer there! I can't see Bishop Owens. It sounds so weird!!! He is going to do awesome though. That is really good to hear that Brother Gould is back to church. I was reading in an ensign magazine and Hungary only has 5000 members and 21 wards and branches in the entire country. It's gonna be rough for Jake.

I can't believe that Braden wants to play Violin. I'm sorry. ahah. Just tell him to practice a lot cuz thats the only way that he's going to stay with it, and probably the only way that you are going to stay with it too. haha. But he'll have a lot of fun.

There isnt anything I need before I go to Argentina. I just need to get there! I'm now getting emails from my mission president and stuff. It's gonna be a long week, but I need to make sure I finish strong in fresno. We watched a video clip of the movie Miracle the other day in a meeting. It was really funny because they had to edit it a lot in order to show it to missionaries hahah but it was super inspiring. It reminded us that we are all here on the same team. We all need to work together in this. Our zone met our goal for the month of August of 7 baptisms so we all decided to raise it to 11. Which was really cool becuase our Zone leader, after we had made the goal, told us that when the stockbridge family (a family one of our companionships is teaching) when they get baptized, our number for that month will be 11. So that was super cool to see that the spirit had worked with us all to help us decide what the Stake President had received revalation on.

Right now I am just a little bit nervous, because I'm super excited to get going to Argentina, and I know that my Mexican spanish is alright, but I'm super scared to be fully immersed in spanish. Not only spanish, but spanish with a totally different accent and speed. I've heard that Argentina is one of the fastest spanish speaking countries there is. So I'm gonna have to pray for the gift of tongues a lot in this one haha. So thats pretty much it for now. I'm probably not going to be able to email next week because I'll be getting to Argentina, but obviously I'm going to call from the airport so that'll be okay. So anyway, I'm glad you all liked the things I sent home in the package. thank you for your emails and I love you lots! Can't wait to talk to you!

Love,
Elder Johnson