Delayed Photos from Tucson

How I found out I got my Visa...oops! 

The best companion.  One of my best friends in the world. My older brother.  This is our last night together.  I miss Netane like crazy 

The Conover's.  The best family in Tucson.  I miss them so much!

Thanks for the memories, Arizona!

Quick post from Elder Johnson's father:   Earlier this evening, Elder Zac Johnson boarded his flight that would take him to Dallas/Ft. Worth and then on to Sao Paulo, Brazil.  13+ hours of flight time, plus an hour long bus ride and our son will be in Santos, Brazil.  His mother and I would like to thank President and Sister Killpack, the members of the Camino Principal Ward who fed our son, and the missionaries who have become life-long friends to our son, Elder Onti and Elder Daniel.  We would especially like to thank, Elder Netane.  Elder Netane was Zac's trainer and exceeded all of our expectations, hopes and prayers.  Thank you for being such a good Elder, a great friend, and someone our son can always look up to.  He loved you very much and is saddened by his departure.

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

Week #7 Live from Tucson!

Hey Mom,

 

Tucson is crazy. Literally crazy. We have a relatively small area and we walk everywhere. The weather here is perfect! It is soooooo nice. It gets a bit chilly at night but its not bad when you are walking everywhere! We have one investigator and she is progressing, which is good. Because we walk, we get a couple birds flipped at us and some people say some really funny things. But the members always honk and wave and that happens way more than the other garbage! It's crazy how a mission changes you. I am a much happier person and I find myself really caring for the people we talk to. I absolutely believe I am here for a reason. We have made progress with people who haven't had wanted a thing to do with the missionaries for years. It's not me though. I'm just a tool in the Lord's hands. He just has to find the right size for the people who are prepared.  

We have one investigator who Elder Natane had only taught one lesson to before me. She is really cool. She is super young and has a baby boy. Her husband and her were high school sweethearts, got married way young, and aren't on top of things financially. But she is eager to learn more! The member that goes with us to teach Heather is Sister Lyon. She is from Ireland and is NUTS! She is so funny though. She is very artsy and uses very flowery language to describe the blandest things. But she cares a lot about Heather and it helps a ton. We are also working on an inactive member who got super offended at something another member said and so she left the church and hasn't been back in 12 years. But she wants to change and her daughter wants to get baptized so she is trying to come back. Both people said they would come but had stuff come up last second so it was a quiet day at church.

 

Church is super different here. The ward choir is 1/3 of the ward and they sing almost every hymn then the congregation joins. It's weird. But the members here are amazing. They feed us almost every night. They either host us at their house or they bring it to us. They rock. Missionary work is huge with the members.

We are at the Library. If i'm here in april, we get ipads. And we get to keep them if we leave the mission or go home! How awesome is that?

 

Elder Natane is a stud. He is so awesome. He is the greatest trainer I could ask for. He works hard and is obedient. We come home exhausted every day. We play rugby on pdays and friday nights we play flag football with some of the investigators and members (the mission pres told us to do it so it could be a misisonary op for the members haha). We can listen to music here. Imagine Dragons, Bastille, and Jack Johnson are on the approved list! We don't have a car so we can only listen to music at home but that's good and keeps us talking to each other. Netane is sooooooo funny. Polys are the best. He always calls me "Toks" which means brother in tongan. I love this guy! 

Other than that, we work hard every day. We come home absolutely exhausted. I'm still sore and we last tracted on Thursday. We played Missionary League Baseball while we were tracting so it was bearable. Getting rejected isn't as hard as I thought it would be. You just move on to the next house and hope they have been prepared!

We eat well and the apartment is relatively neat.  The bathroom is the worst part though.  Mom would probably barf!  haha. We eat Ramen for lunch and the members feed us dinner.  I'm so grateful they do that!  But sometimes they give us the ingredients for something and we have to make it.  Talk about an exercise of faith!  We had pasta and tomato sauce given to us last night and Elder Natane makes this amazing dish.  He just randomly put stuff in and made up an oven temperature and time and BOOM!  It was good!  Though it was probably Elder Ontiversos's fervent prayer that made it better or at least edible.  Elder Onti and Elder Daniel share the area with us.  They are super cool.  I'm lucky to have awesome elders here.  They are class acts but can have fun too.  I'm so happy that I'm here.  I love it.

 

Okay crazy story time! We were walking down the Highway to go visit a new member family, and this truck randomly pulls over in front of us. This guy gets out and is like "Hey are you guys Mormon?" We were like "Ummm yeah, can we help you?" He starts talking about how he wants to learn more about the Book of Mormon and asks if we have anything he could read. So Elder Natane, stunned, hands him a Book of Mormon, testifies of it's truthfulness, and then is speechless. The guy thanks us and promises to read it, says that he will give us rides whenever he sees us walking, then leaves. It was insane! We found out he doesn't live in our area (of course, right?), but he is talking with the other missionaries in is area. It's still awesome though! Miracles happen every day!

Love you tons,

 

Elder Johnson