I have to pay how much to pick up my package?!

Dearest family:

No, I have not forgotten about you. No, I did not forget to write you all. Yes, I am still living. No, I have not been jumped yet. Yes, I feel fine. No, I did not plan on starting this letter like this.

Well, now that i have answered all of Mom's questions, lets get started ;)

This week has been quite the week. The highlight of it was finding a 17 year-old investigator named Bruno. So we went out with the bishop's son who is leaving on his mission on April 10. He wanted to visit Bruno, his friend. We got started with the first lesson (the Restoration) and Elder Thurgood recited the first vision. After waiting for 10 seconds, Thurgood asks Bruno how he feels. Bruno literally shakes, has goosebumps, and then asks "Could you say that story again? I have never felt so happy in all my life. Please?"

Yeah, I died. Right there. After the lesson, he committed to pray and come to church and asked if we could come back the next day. When we came back, he had two other friends there! Needless to say, it was an awesome experience. But unfortunately, he didnt come to church so he wont be able to be baptized before Vitor (Bishops son) leaves :(

That really was one of the most spiritual lessons ever. Everything that day seemed to be going right before that. It was a great day. 

So, this week I have been studying the section in Pregar Meu Evangelho about developing christ-like attributes. Yes, I have a lot of work to do and many ways to improve. Humility (taking the high road), Faith, and patience are among my biggest challenges right now. Studying does nothing however, without application.

A funny thing happened this week too! During a lesson, there was a gunshot literally 3 houses down. Later that day, at night, we were walking past a house in a different part of town. As we pass this house, they set off fireworks. Because of the gunshot earlier, my first thought was "I cant believe my mission ends like this." Thurgood started to run then stopped because I wasnt running. I was just waiting to feel something painful. But then we realized that it was fireworks, and speed walked to the bus stop. Sometimes, I feel like James Bond here. 

So, that is really it for this week. Rodgers and Rocha had a baptism and we are getting close to having 3 soooooo we are working hard here.

For General Conference, we will be watching it at the chapel. The whole ward will be there! Yes, it will be in portuguese. But we might be able to watch it in English in the Clerks office. Maybe. But I am torn whether I even want to watch it in English or not. I am kind of leaning towards the no.... But we will see!

Great news! Your package arrived! Bad News! I have to pay R$157 to pick it up because of size/contents. SO new plan. Only small packages and not very often. Ta bom? I will have to withdraw from my debit card because I dont have that much money to spare with the regular allowance we get. But thank you for sending something :D

Life will be crazy this month! On Lexi´s 10th birthday, it will be my SIX MONTH mark. Already! AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH I do not feel like it should be that long this soon! 

Andrew called me last p-day and the whole call was in portuguese. Talk about weird. It was like I was calling home but I was talking portuguese... Crazy!Well fam, I have officially been out for 5 months and one day. Crazy huh? It really feels like time flies!

Have a good week everybody!

Elder Johnson

A Study of Alma

Wellllllllllllllll this week has been kind of dull here. We are focusing more on "the rescue" and it is paying off. We had a ward conference this sunday and we doubled the attendance of the ward... Yeah, I'd say that our work paid off too. But we have had difficulty meeting with our investigators this week so the work has slowed down.

Other than that, I am having an absolute blast here. I am loving the area, the ward, and my companion. He needs a reminder to chill and laugh every now and then but I have laughed so much more this transfer than last transfer. It has been a nice change. Also, Sister Cabral has told us to complete studies of Alma 5, 41-42, and then 43-63. It is quite a lot of reading, but I am doing a study of Alma 41 and 42 right now and I am learning so much. President Cabral told us that if we truly understand the lessons in these two chapters, all difficulties in our life will seem small. Sure, these chapters help us gain an eternal perspective, but the lessons are still the same. The hardest part about these studies are that they have to be written in portuguese.

Speaking of Portuguese, I am understanding more and speaking more fluidly. Speaking English is actually hard. I speak a mix of English and Portuguese when I try to speak English. So, as hard as the Portuguese is, I am more comfortable speaking Portuguese than I am speaking English... Coming home will be strange for sure :D

I love Elder Thurgood. We work, we laugh, we joke, we teach. It is like Elder Netane all over again. We talk a lot of Portuguese and are both learning a lot.

I don't wear my glasses a ton here. I dont have a ton of headaches for some reason. Usually if I get a headache, I wear them but when it goes away, i take them off. Elder Lopes nailed me in the face with that football you guys sent last transfer and they got bent just a little. But it is all good!

We had a meeting with pres and sis Cabral this week and Sis Cabral talked to me for 20 mins about Andrew. I am actually super excited to see him!

Mothers Day is so close! I think it is next transfer. But I am already on week 21 of the mission and i only have 83 left... That is actually scary to me! I feel like I should have more time than that! IT is just motivation to work harder. But dont expect very good English during that call... Writing is so much easier than speaking it.

We might have a baptism this week (fingers crossed) and another two next week. We are working our hardest and are coming home exhausted. I love the mission. I love the work. I love the challenge. I love the person I am now.

Elder Wiscombe (American) got a football and a basketball sent to him so all the Americans in our zone played some American sports this morning... so refreshing. Elder Thurgood and I rocked our America socks too :D

I hope you all have a great week!

Elder Johnson

Sempre Fiéis

Beleza? I hope so! I don´t really envy the snow that you guys have had. Although it is pretty hot here and I sweat buckets, I don´t sunburn so it is bearable! Not sunburning must be the gift of the spirit that I was blessed with, not the gift of tongues!

When I was having a particularly difficult day in the MTC, brother Paulich took me into another room and we had a little chat. After our talk, we both came to the conclusion that my lesson that I need to learn from the early part of my mission is to learn to have patience with myself. I did much better after that chat but ever since I got here it feels like there is this pressure to be fluent now. I don´t know. But I have spent hours and hours on my knees and in the scriptures (i have finished the D+C, pearl of GP and started the OT this week). I also read ´´our heritage´´ last night and something stood out. Lorenzo Snow (i think it was him) went on a mission to hawaii at age 16 and was fluent in 3 months. The author said that was the gift of tongues. The way that I have been viewing the gift of tongues has been completely wrong. I thought of it as this immediate transformation but it isn´t. Ignorance of youth huh?

Yesterday, Bishop pulled a fast one on us and asked all the missionaries to speak in church. It´s a good thing sacrament meeting is 3rd hour here! So I gave a short talk on faith and miracles. It was a miracle that I got through it haha. Now half the ward thinks I can understand portuguese and the other half doesn´t. One of the young women in the ward calls me ´´Elder não endendi´´ (Elder I don´t understand). Isn´t that nice? But all is well and I am understanding more and more each day. We clapped outside of a random door on friday (you don´t knock in Brazil, you clap and yell. it is pretty fantastic) and this lady answered the door. She was smoking and had a prosthetic leg but after we taught her the first lesson, she committed to baptism and to come to church that sunday. And she did! Even when we told her that she would have to quit smoking and drinking coffee, she said ´´No problem, I need to stop both anyway.´´ So, she is slated to be baptized the 19th and I am so stoked! We are also teaching a 13 year old and we are trying to get his dad to listen in but he is a bit stubborn. We have a couple more people that we have had for a while but Satan is hard at work. All one family has to do is get legally married and they can be baptized but the mom took the money that they have been saving and used it for a down payment for a new house. ÇALSKDJFAHGAGHUIAEGIERG. We´ll see what happens!

Lunch is the big meal here and they stuff you to the brim. I eat really well. The brazilian diet is very balanced. We hardly buy food because we are given left overs all the time. most of our money goes to the buses. We take the buses a lot and after a while, it gets pricey! I´ve been thinking about buying a cheap guitar here but I don´t know if I will. 

I am loving brazil and can understand more of the jokes and funny stories. Old Brazilian people are my favorite people in the whole world. They are so sarcastic and blunt. One old guy in his 80s had me in tears!

I hope you all are doing well! Enjoy school and work :)

Bom trabalho,

Elder Johnson

Week 10: Tucson

Hey fam!

So, I don't really have any crazy stories this week. I am sending home my 1st memory card and there is a video of me talking in the end so watch that! Honestly, this has been a pretty good week.

My first apartment

We haven't found any solid investigators though. Heather's date got moved to the 25th so my first convert baptism could be on my BIRTHDAY! How cool would that be?? But I would like to share a little thought with you guys:

Elder Netane and me

In Alma 27, Alma experiences joy so great that he falls to the earth in thanksgiving. The very next verse asks us to try to be "humble seekers of happiness." That phrase really stands out to me. I'm all about happiness so I was wondering how I could be that. My mission president gave us a thing called the Fourth Missionary (read it, it is awesome). In it, the guy gives a definition of what happiness really is. Happiness is having righteous works AND righteous desires. Now, how do we have righteous works? I have started the D+C this week (on Section 47, whaddup!) and the Lord constantly gives us the answer: Keep my commandments. The answer is obedience. It all comes down to the things we view as "boundaries" are actually things that keep us safe! Watch the Mormon Message from Elder Holland about "Staying in the Lines." Rules are just like the string of a kite, without the string that "holds it back," we can't rise to our highest heights. I can promise you that obedience brings true and lasting happiness. Temporary pleasure or happiness is not real happiness. Real happiness shouldn't have to go away! When we are happy, we stay happy! When we are obedient, we are happy. Remember the verse in Mosiah 2: Remember the BLESSED and HAPPY state of those who keep the commandments of God.

The answer is right there! So, Austin, Cam, Lexi: Listen to Mom and Dad. Listen to the things you learn in church. I promise you will be happier. Life is supposed to be happy. Make it that way.

Love you guys and just wait for the memory card to get there. It is awesome!

Miss ya tons,

Elder Johnson