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!

It's Here!!! It's Here!!!!!

VISAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

I got my visa and I leave for Brazil on Monday! My flight leaves at 4pm here so expect a phone call monday afternoon/evening! It's crazy how it all worked out!

 

We got to go to the Gila Valley Temple on Wednesday and after we got out, I saw that we had gotten a text. It was from the guy in charge of money. It said: "Hi, I didn't know Elder Johnson was leaving monday. So elder johnson should take out $20 of the $40 that I put on the card and I will delete $40 on the next load." As I read that, my heart stopped. I'm leaving Monday?! That can't be right! So I called him and said that I had heard nothing about my visa. "Oh, crap... I shouldn't have told you..."

 

Well 15 minutes later I got a call from President Killpack and he told me that they had recieved my visa and that I would be leaving on Monday. Wow.

 

So I was kinda glad I opened my package from you guys. Thank you SO much. You guys really went above and beyond. I don't know why I'm so lucky! I hope you guys haven't sent anything recently because I don't know if I'll get it.

 

Besides the visa news, I had my first "bible bash" experience yesterday. These two pentecostal guys came up and chewed us out for a solid 45 mins. I was so frustrated. Finally I asked if we had changed their minds. "No you haven't." "Well you haven't changed ours either but it was great talking with you so good bye!" I replied. "One last question, please," asked one of them. "Will we see you in heaven or will you see us?"

 

Now, what I said wasn't very Christ-like but I had to say it. "Well, you guys are a bit older than us, I imagine you'll get there first so I guess we'll see you there!" They were stunned by my response. They walked away, having wasted their time and seeing us leaving with smiles on our faces and talking with someone else. Bible-bashing is lame and a total waste of time.

 

Well, I think that's it for this week. I'll be calling monday night so get excited :D

 

Love you guys!

 

Elder Johnson

Week #5

hey guys!!

Week 5 is officially here! I will be getting my reassignment on Thursday so you'll be getting an email from me in two days telling you where I'll be! GET PUMPED!! 

As you guys can see from the pictures, it is snowing here. 7 inches and still coming down. Blah. 

How is everyone??? Any super exciting FHE's? 

We have had 2 English-fasts where we speak no english all day. Those are hard but they help so much. The gift of tongues is absolutely real! I've been reading the scriptures so much here. They are getting really marked up. Especially Alma 32. Its all about faith! I have a quote from Henry B. Eyring written in the margin. 

"If the foundation of faith is not embedded in our hearts, the power to endure will crumble."

That is from his April 2012 talk "Mountains to Climb". The mormon message with the same title is amazing. I encourage you to watch the talk or the mormon message. Both have helped me so much. 

the shift key is broke on this keyboard so i don't know if much of this will be capitalized correctly. sorry! Thanksgiving was great! we had a devotional where we knew that a senior apostle was coming! Russell M. Nelson came and spoke to us about testimonies. it was great.  he looks just like he does on TV but i think my view of the apostles is a
bit different. They are regular human beings. they look so humble. it's
incredible. He taught how to gain a testimony. Alma 5:44-47 shows how to
gain a "pure testimony" that is mentioned in ch 4. alma 5:44-49 is one of
the greatest testimonies in the BoM. if anyone in seminary is struggling
with their testimony, have them read that.

throughout my personal study, I've been reading a lot about missionary work
and faith. The objective of missionaries is to "astonish" their
investigators. Ammon astonishes the lamanites in ch. 17 and 18 of alma 5
times. Also, the incredible thing is that although ammon was a great
missionary, he had to earn the trust of the Lamanites before he could teach
them. He taught by example rather than words. then Alma 26 shows the
humility of ammon. he is such a pro.

we also took part in the largest humanitarian service project outside of a natural disaster! we put together 350000 (four zeros) meals for the utah food bank! it was a great way to spend the day. after that we watched Ephraim's rescue! 

Turkey day at home sounded super fun! i hope everything turned out great! Not gonna lie, i think the christmas music is starting to grow on me. we sing it in every meeting here! also, it is snowing right now. we have 4 inches of it and it is still coming down. the mtc put up christmas lights up in the main courtyard and it looks awesome. i took a pic of it but only half the lights were on that night haha i'm going to send a bunch of pics today.

I don't really know if i wan't anything for christmas. I'll let you know the closer i get to the day if i need anything. depending on my reassignment, i'll need a winter coat. but that should be it. 3 people got visas this week! one was from my district. one of the new guys got his and his last name is johnson too! We have 3 elders in this zone with the last name johnson and 2 have gotten visas. I'm the only one who hasn't! 

portuguese is getting better. since my last letter, we have had 2 "english fasts' where we aren't allowed to speak any english all day and night. those days are much quieter than usual but awesome nevertheless. 

how is everyone doing? i'm so grateful that you and dad write me every week. a lot of the guys here hardly get anything from their parents and it's sad. i'm truly blessed to have such great parents! have you talked to grandpa and grandma riggs recently? they sent a dear elder but i didn't have their email so i sent them a paper letter with my email inside. I hope they have gotten it!

i miss ya'll like crazy and i'll be able to write you thursday when i get my reassignment. I'll also be able to call you from the airport when i leave so be sure to have a phone close by!

 

Elder Johnson

Week #4

Hey mom!

This week has been pretty crazy. I got a package from Sis. Mannewitz and a letter from Sis. Harmon's Valiant 9 class. I thought it would be cool to write all those kids back individually so I did. It is so weird to be receiving these letters from primary kids... I remember writing missionaries in class haha

Thanksgiving here is kinda crazy. We don't have class that day but we will have a devotional where some high ranking GA will be there (rumor has it that it'll be Jeffrey R. Holland!). Then we are doing a service project with soup packets or something. It'll be a full day but I think they aren't having a traditional meal. I don't know. Either way it'll be a great day!

The MTC has only had me request the background check from the State Police. However, all the new missionaries that are going to brazil had to get FBI CLEARANCES so we'll see. Also, it is now official that the Church's last set of American missionaries going to Brazil will leave the MTC in Feb 2014. Getting visas is just too hard and Brazil has enough members now to provide their own missionaries. So I'm one of the last ones to be called to Brazil! how cool is that?

I weighed my self last week... the scale said i gained 8 pounds. There is no way. It has to be broken. But we sit around all day so I wouldn't be shocked if it  was true... yes I got my haircut last week. I didn't have to pay (they are free) but the lady didn't do a good job. I'm gonna get it cut next week again. Could you tell me my debit card balance? I have to pay my own baggage fees and I want to make sure I have enough money.

Yesterday we got to skype with a guy from Sao Paulo. He helped us with our portuguese but he spoke english almost the whole time so the MTC guys were pretty upset. He kept asking about my companions older sisters. It was pretty awkward. 

I think that's all that happened this week. Week 5 starts tomorrow! We get our reassignments at the end of next week so I'll let ya know when it happens. Andrew is betting that I go to Dallas. I wouldn't be shocked if that happened. Keep working hard in school! You're almost done! You're a great role model!

Love Ya,

Elder Johnson

Dad,

It's already been 4 weeks!  How crazy is that??  Time is flying by!

I miss you like crazy.  I feel like my skill of sarcasm and movie quotes are severely under-used.  Well it's nice to hear Romo didn't choke the game away.  I told Troy this is our year to win because I'm gone and can't watch any of it.  I heard about the leak from Cam!  I'm sure everyone was relieved that there was hardly any damage or else Vacation Dad would have been unleashed!

Visas are something that are talked about everyday.  But I'm not worried about it.  I was chosen to be an example missionary to show the new guys how to begin teaching.  It was in English (the first time I've taught anyone in English as a missionary) and it felt so easy.  I know why I have to learn Portuguese.  It's teaching me to rely on the Lord and I don't think I had learned that lesson until now.

So I want to tell you about Saturday.  I was feeling super homesick.  It was the first time I've felt that way since I've been here.  One of my teachers, Brother Nothum (great guy, like the older bro I don't have) called me out of class and asked if I was okay.  I told him I was feeling homesick and just wasn't feeling the Portuguese.  He just looked at me , smiled and said,  "Don't even worry about it.  You are doing a great job.  I'm so proud of you.  Just keep working hard."  The cool thing was that I didn't hear his voice.  I swear I heard yours.  And I really needed that.  The Lord blessed me with that and I'm so grateful for it.  Even if it was just my imagination, it helped.  I miss ya, Dad.

Elder Johnson

Week #2

Hey Mom!

I thought I would send you a quick note now before i do laundry later. Yes, we have 5 gym periods a week. Four Square here is the most intense game ever. So many SC Top 10 plays happen. It is awesome!

Thanks so much for finishing up all that stuff for me. I'm kinda disappointed I didnt get it done before I left. I know you have enough on your plate! I hope you are feeling better about school! The Portuguese is coming along a bit better now. Pretty much we study vocab and phrases for each lesson we teach and learn about the grammar and the "why" behind it later. We have six hours of class instruction plus 3 hours of personal/companion/language/additional study per day. What really stinks is that our class room doesn't have a window so the class hours are rough.

But today is the big tuesday night devotional! Everyone here is super excited because tonight Apostle L. Tom Perry is speaking to us! I'll be in the same room as an APOSTLE OF THE LORD! It will be great and I'll tell you all about it next week!

Thanks for all the dear elder letters. they are so amazing to get. Though some guys in my district haven't gotten any but they are all okay about it. 

This will be the only time I ask for something but could you send a couple pairs of sunday and white socks? I have enough but just barely :) Also, if we have any extra CortiBalm could you send that too? this USU chapstick i brought is weak sauce :) 

Thanks for all you do! I'm so glad you are my mom! I truly am lucky!

I feel like a different person. I've never spent so much time in the scriptures and Elder Bednar's talk last week that we watched was a true life changer. I can't remember if I told you or not but I started the BoM over when I got here and I'm already on Alma 57 :D It has been so incredible to start reading with a prayer to ask Heavenly Father (Pai Celestial in portuguese) to help you with a question. Every time I have done that, a scripture has stuck out tome that has answered me. Personal revelation is real!

Word on the street is that Salt Lake isn't going to be calling any American missionaries to Brazil until visas start coming. It is incredibly hard to get them now. Usually Districts of 12 elders will get one or two visas. Two guys from our district got theirs and left last week. It is a rumor but we it comes from elders who got emails from their mission presidents about it. Who knows! If i'm meant to get a brazil visa then I'll get it!

Anyways, have a good week and I'll be talking to ya soon!

Love, 

Elder Johnson

p.s. hymn 100, Nearer My God To Thee, is my new favorite hymn. Verses 2 and 5 are so relevant right now. I sing it all the time!