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