February 26, 2014

Hola Everybody,
How is everything going at home? Things here have been going pretty good for the most part! We have laughed so much these last few days and things have been pretty funny.  Last night Elder P’s companion went home because he said he was homesick and has been wanting to go home ever since he got here it seems like.  My belly has been feeling not so good these last few days, I think its because of the food, and the amount of it that I have been eating.  I have already gained a little weight which is good.  I have been at the hospital for a few days this last week so I have gotten to weigh myself.  My comp got his hand x-rayed the other day and found out he broke his finger. It was a spiral fracture, I guess, going up the bone so they had to do surgery on it.  We got to the hospital at 9 in the morning and his surgery wasn’t till ten that night.  So that day and the day after were the longest days of my life.  We just sat in a bloody hot room the whole day till he went under the knife.  That night he got back to the room after his surgery at like 1am and then like every hour after that either he was trying to get up to do something or they were bringing him in food or medication so I think I ended up with two hours of sleep that night on the couch in the room.  It was cool though that I got to give him a blessing before he went into a surgery with a nurse here from the CCM.  The next day after the surgery we left the hospital at like 3 in the afternoon and they let us just go and sleep the rest of the day in our house which was nice because I was sooo exhausted.  He is doing fine now with his hand and I have to take off and change the gauze and re wrap it every night in a cast.  So I guess you can just call me Doctor Johnson now.
Some of the funniest things have been going on lately.  The day before my comp got hurt we were studying in our classroom and my comp asked if he could talk to me outside for a sec, so I was just like sure... when we got out there he says, So basically Elder Johnson I need to go change my garments right now.  So I was like, what in the world.?! But I just said alright let’s head back to the casa.  Then when we start walking back I notice that he is freaking waddling like a penguin and I realized he had POOPED his pants!! I had to hold back from bursting out laughing the entire time and we got back to the house and he changed and you could hear him in the bathroom scrubbing his garments.  It was soo funny and me and all the guys in the house have been laughing about it ever since it happened.  Then.. last night, I was changing my sheets on my bed and he was laying on his bed right in front of me because he is on the bottom bunk and I am on the top, and I let out a little fart that stunk soo bad and I knew it stunk so I waited for him to smell it then the second he smelled it, he went to get off his bed and I ripped him in the head with my pillow and just took off running out of the room and Elder P was dying because he saw it all happen and my comp was so mad but it was so funny and he forgave me for it.  We have been having to make our own fun lately because things have been pretty basic and boring here lately.
We taught our new investigator for the first time yesterday and it went soo good.  I was the only one talking to the investigator the whole time because you cant use any English and my comp sucks at Spanish, but the lesson went well and on the first visit I pulled out and asked the baptism question at the end and she committed to baptism on the first lesson, which was pretty sweet because she said no to everyone else that asked her to be baptized in our district.  When I asked her to be baptized she first said no because she has already been baptized because she is catholic, so I went on and taught her about how we follow in the example of Jesucristo by being fully immersed during baptism and then I repeated the baptism question again and she committed to being baptized which felt so good even though it wasn’t a real legit investigator.
I look forward to gym time every day and I am getting pretty freaking good at volleyball.  The group I  play with is pretty dang good so it gets pretty competitive and is always a lot of fun.  I am really enjoying it here at the CCM and I am becoming so grateful for the experience to serve a mission because I have already seen the changes it makes and how much it will help me through my life.  I  have such a great district and we are all really close and good friends which has made it more fun.  I hope all is well for everyone at home and that things are going great for you all.  Thanks for all the love and support.
Love, Elder Johnson

My view of Mexico City from the hospital room

My comp after surgery

The Elders that live in my house

The CCM

New missionary haircuts for Elder Perkins and me

February 19, 2014

Hola Kimbo,

Everything here has been going pretty good, it was a long week with a lot of meetings and orientation things, but overall it wasn’t too bad. Everyone has been telling us just make it till your first Sunday then everything starts getting better from there. The language is coming along and I can understand what people are saying really well which I have been surprised with but I just have a hard time responding with what I want to say, but my comp  is really struggling with the language. We teach an investigator every night and it is the same guy so we move on through the lessons with him, but with the lessons so far I have done pretty much all the talking during the lesson and my comp is constantly asking "What did he just say?" Because during the lessons the investigator knows zero English so you can't even try to explain anything through English to them which makes trying to teach them so much harder. We write down tons of things in our notebooks in Spanish of what to try to say to him but then he always will ask a question and I never have what his questions are written down in my book so I just try to answer it the best I can with the language I know because my comp doesn’t even know what the guy is asking. The second day here we taught our first investigator as a group, and there were like ten elders in the room teaching a lady and we got to use English in this lesson, but I nearly killed my buddy Elder E’s companion. I was doing almost all of the teaching during the lesson because nobody else was saying hardly anything so it was basically a lesson between just me and her it felt like, but then Elder G (E’s comp) speaks up and starts telling her about all this doctrine about the book of Mormon which ruined almost the entire lesson I had just talked about her with. She just started asking all sorts of random questions about the book of Mormon after that and I was so mad because what we were talking about before was going so well then he piped up and said something.

Oh, I almost forgot to tell you, I had the coolest experience on Sunday. A sister in my district came up and asked me after one of our language study lessons if I would give her a blessing because she said that she had been having a really hard time and has been feeling super homesick and just wanted me to give her a blessing to feel comfort. So later that night we went to our classroom where our district always studies and I gave her the blessing. It was such an awesome experience, I started saying the blessing and I didn’t know exactly what I was planning on saying but I definitely felt the spirit and words just came out of my mouth and it was one of the coolest experiences. It was the first blessing I have ever given and it was pretty sweet.

My companion is Elder H and he is from Torrence, CA which is 20 minutes from LA I guess.  Elder E is from Nauvoo and his parents own the hotel right next to the church sites. He grew up in Arizona though and lived with his grandma in American Fork for like six months during his senior year. He saw some of my hunting pictures when we were showing each other our pictures and he I guess has been wanting to get into hunting so bad because he went dove hunting with his girlfriend down in AZ and thought it was a blast so now he wants me to take him when we both get home.

We play Volleyball almost everyday for gym, there is volleyball in the gym which is fun because I can slam it every time with the court being on a hard floor and a sister in our district, Hermana Téo, is really good and sets me up all the time and we dominate. There is also sand volleyball which we play about half the time. We play so that if you win the game to eleven then you stay on the court and a new team comes on the court and you stay on till you lose, so we get to stay on usually the whole time. Hermana Téo is Manti Téo niece. Her dad is his brother which is pretty cool and she is straight from Hawaii. She is a really funny girl and always wants to play volleyball and basketball with us.

In my room it is me, my comp, and Elder Perkins and his comp so it is cool that me and Elder Perkins get to be in the same room. We live in a house, which is where everyone wants to live because they are a lot nicer than the dorms, but it was just luck of the draw. There are 4 rooms of elders in our house and most of the elders are pretty cool in our house which has made it pretty fun. The food here has been pretty good so far and it is always all you can eat, I will be surprised if I don’t gain at least 10 lbs before I leave because I have been eating soooo much every meal. It is always real Mexican food, it is usually always some kind of meat then there is always a stack of these little tortillas so I just make a taco every meal with rice and beans and the meat on it. There is always chocolate milk and these yogurt drinks that I always have that are way good too. Then they have a juice machine with like guava juice and pineapple juice and its all really good too.

The weather here has been awesome. Right at 75 like every day with no breeze and I am getting my tan on. I am going to be dark when I return home with all the sun I will be getting from now and the next two years:) How was Mesquite? How did Brock do down there?? Did Coco come visit you guys while you were down there? Today for P-day I think after we get done writing, me and E are going to go play volleyball for most of the day and go play some catch with the gloves I brought. I got my laundry done first before anyone else this morning right after we got done with breakfast. It has been a good week though and I have enjoyed being here. I have already made a lot of friends and I have been having a great time. I have felt the spirit so strong a few times while teaching and during lessons from our instructors and I know this is exactly where I am supposed to be in my life right now. I am so excited to get out of the CCM and head to Texas but I am having a lot of fun here though and I didn’t think I would be having to much fun till I got to Texas. I hope everything home is going well, keep me updated with how everything is going and with what everyone is doing.

I love you so much mommy,

Elder Johnson


　

　

This is the group I flew in with, they are all studs!

               This is where I live, I am on the top bunk, which is the one that is made :)

This is our house, notice the fence in the background. 

 It is cement, then chain link, then barbwire on top!

This is my district, there are 4 sisters.

 

February 12, 2014

Hey Dad and Mom, I just arrived here at the CCM in Mexico! This place is soo amazing and so nice! It is the largest MTC and it is so much nicer than the one in Provo. I have already made a great friend that I met on my second flight. His name is Elder E and he is from Nauvoo. He is such a cool kid and we were hoping to be comps here at the mtc but my companion is Elder H. I haven’t even met him yet so I'm not quite sure what to expect. It has already been an adventure so far and I met a bunch of the elders that are already here at the mtc that are all Tongans and they are all so cool. I am already having so much fun already. They gave us our name tags and told us we could send a quick email before we go to dinner and watch a movie tonight. I am so excited and so glad I am at this MTC. It sounds like it is going to be a lot of fun! I will write you more when I can next week! Tell mom to actually email me before then! haha talk to you next week.

Love, Elder Johnson