July 27, 2015

So this is my family, when you get a new missionary, he is called your son and the trainer is called his papi, usually if you are lucky you might have a grandson, meaning your son starts training before you go home, but I already have a grandson and it is possible that I have a great grandson, which has never happened before here in this mission! I got to work a day with my son and my grandson in their area so it was a super fun day!!

　

　
I don’t have much time today so i just wanted to send out an email about what is going on here in McAllen. Things here are going really well, in the zone we had tons of baptisms which was a lot of fun! I also got to go and work for a day with my son, Elder Duerst, and also his son that he just got, so my grandson!! They work in an area where they only have bikes and right now here in Texas we are in what is called the Canicula, that is what it is called in Spanish but I don’t know what it is called in English, but it is the hottest 30 days of the year down here so it is pretty bloody hot here. But anyways since it was so hot I spoiled my son and his son and I took them in the truck for most of the day then we just rode bikes for like 3 hours. Right now things are going well with our investigators. We are working with a family of 8 right now where the parents are members and a couple of the kids are members but a lot of the kids haven’t been baptized and the parents are less active, but yesterday it was really cool because at the start of sacrament meeting the whole clan came walking in and filled up like 3 benches. We are working with some of the kids to be baptized, the parents are thinking about getting in a divorce but since we have been visiting them things have gotten a lot better and now they are giving it more thought, so hopefully we can save the marriage. They are a really cool family and we love them a lot so I hope they continue to come to church! Things with Savannah are going well, tomorrow we are having a FHE in the home of other members and she is excited so that should be a lot of fun! I hope she continues because her husband wants her to be baptized sooo badly and he wants to get sealed to her in the temple so that is what is going on with Savannah. So this last week, I got permission to get a gym pass, since I am in my last 6 months now, I have to start my "6 months to sexy" :) We go every morning at 5 am and workout till 7, right now I am soo sore but I am loving being able to go to the gym!! I am going to come back ripped just you wait;) But for reals though!! Right now we have a missionary in our zone that is thinking about going home because he wants to play college basketball really badly, so I have been asked to work with him a lot since I might go back and play baseball and so the mission president put him in my zone to work with him a lot, because he has to decide to go home or not by next week, so I am worried about him but I am learning a lot and he is changing a lot so hopefully I can get him to stay, because I know that it is exactly what he needs right now. We have changes happening here in just under 2 weeks, I cant believe how fast time is going.. it is freaking me out down here!! I hope everyone is doing well though, I love you!!

Love, Elder Johnson

July 20, 2015

 Me and my reeper, just cuttin' the back lawn for a member!

Hey Kimbo, How are you doing?? Looks like Izzy is quite the stinker but she does look like she would be hard to get mad at though! What have you guys been doing to try to get her to learn to go outside to pee?? I will send an email soon to Jace to see how he is doing. I sent an email to Kath but I haven’t heard anything back from her though. I cant believe it is Fiesta Days again already... Time is going by soooo so so fast here!! Things here are going really good right now in the zone. We did a little activity for an hour this last week just to get everyone pumped up and yesterday as a zone we brought 22 investigators at church which is more than what we have had at church in a super long time. So that was super good to see all the success the zone had this last week. We also had to change some of the area in our zone and President Maluenda just left it up to us with how we thought it should be done then just to check with him to make sure that is what should be done so we have spent tons of time with a bunch of the missionaries trying to figure out things with areas and how we should change them so it has been a lot of work just sitting in the office making changes. So this last Saturday we had a lesson with a guy in our ward that has a wife that is not a member and she has been taught off and on by missionaries before but never make it very far so they just give up, but on Saturday we were on exchange so I was with another elder in the zone and we went by and I just talked a lot about eternal families and how she could be sealed to her husband and little 3 yr old boy and half way through the lesson she started getting tears in her eyes and she said that is something she really really wants and I talked to her about being baptized and she said it is something she wants to work towards now. She is a super sweet lady but just hasn’t had any interest in the church before and when we talked about the sealing in the temple it really caught her interest and she said she wants to start the discussions with us. I am super excited to start working with her, she would be such a cool convert to have because I know that on her year mark she would be wanting to head to the temple. So keep Savannah in your prayers!! Things are going well here and time is just going by to quickly. Here in 3 weeks I will have to start my 6 months to sexy and get rid of this little belly I have going! I am hoping to get permission from pres to go to the gym because I want to try to come back huge and go play baseball somewhere. Usually if you want to play a sport after the mission he gives you permission to get a gym pass and you can go in the mornings. Things are great, and I hope everyone is doing well at home. I love you mommy!

July 13, 2015

Hi Mommy how are you doing?? That puppy looks pretty dang cute and looks like it is a lot of fun! I am so glad that daddy loves her.. he always acts hard and tough on the outside but I am sure on the inside he just loves that thing to pieces!! That is crazy that Brockles is going through drivers ed and going is driving you guys around!! I can’t believe that the twins are now 16 and legal to drive!! What are Olson’s going to do? Like are they going to get them each their own car to drive or what?? Ty sent me some pics of the temple there in NY, looks like that would be a pretty cool experience, how is he liking it out there?? I am glad Chase talked to dad, Chase really needs a good parent figure in his life, and he always told me that he has looks up to you and dad so much for help and guidance and he really loves you guys a lot and would always ask me what you guys what think of things. Have you talked to him recently?? Well when KK gets engaged tell him he can’t get married till after I get home!!! This last week was a pretty good week. I got to have my interview with President and it was soo amazing. He is such an inspired man and just knows how to go about things. He asked me to read a part of my patriarchal blessing to him and he explained some things and he promised me that he would read my whole blessing on my final interview with me when I am going home, and missionaries always ask him to do that but he always says no, but he promised me he will do that with me and explain some things so I am super excited for that!! Yesterday I had a really neat experience, we were going over to the building where I was going to church for the last 6 months in my old area because some of the elders in our zone had a baptism, so we went over there and I ran into Bishops wife and their family and they asked me to give a blessing to their boy that was in some trouble a while ago but is a really good kid and is an amazing soccer player down here. So I gave him a blessing, and after she sat down all of the youth from the ward and grabbed her son and had me sit in a chair and she wrapped his arms around me and she was holding onto him because she knows she can’t give me a hug, and she told all the youth how she loves the missionaries and they are always just like her kids, but that I am a very special missionary and have changed the life for her family and especially her sons life as he is now planning on serving a mission and is going to mission prep and everything and just told everyone how much her and her husband love the changes they have seen in their son that came from me working with him and him coming out to lessons with us so it was just a really neat experience getting to go back and hear about all the great things that are going on in their family now and what their son is doing with his life now. It was a good week, we are just always super busy but things are going great. I hope you have a great week, I love you mommy!
Love Tu oso

July 6, 2015

Hi Mommy, sounds like a crazy weekend!! I am sure Granny loved going and seeing her family, and you guys got a dog??? Is this dog going to be able to hunt?? I heard that labradoodles are really good hunting dogs. Like for real tho, I am not just joking around!! I am not so sure about the name Izzie... What other names did you have in mind? Does she have a good personality?? She looks like a big puppy! I love puppies so much!!!! And I haven’t seen a clean dog since I have been here on the mission. But sounds like a fun/tiring weekend! How is Dad doing?? I am sure he will love the puppy, whether he says it or not. Is the pup playful?? Hey you got after me for taking the car, which means you have to get after Brockles too!! Just because he is the baby doesn’t mean he should is special! I am going to whip him into shape once I get home:) haha That is funny though that he did that, I can’t believe he is starting drivers ed.. Time just won’t slow down!! This last week I got my new companion, his name is Elder Jones and he is from Virginia. He has been out on the mission for a long time and will be going home in just 2 months. He has 2 transfers left, so I imagine I will be leaving this next transfer at the start of August because I have been here in McAllen for like 8 months now which is an eternity in an area! By the end of this transfer I will have been here for 9 months!! My companion is pretty cool, he is definitely trying my patience but we are getting along for the most part. I have been crazy busy this last week because he is a new zone leader and doesn’t know what to do and once I tell him what to do he just doesn’t seem to get it done a lot of the time so I am staying plenty busy. I hope he starts to get the hang of things quicker so that I can give him a little more to do with the zone so that I don’t end up blowing up here trying to get everything done but everything will work out fine. This last week on Sunday we had 4 missionaries that were going home staying with us because they have to have an interview and do some other stuff and since we are the only ones close to the office other than the APs, we have to split all the people with the APs. So we had those 4 with us Sunday, Mon, and Tues, then Monday we also had 5 greenies (new missionaries) staying with us too and we also got 2 more dead people so on Monday night we had like 13 people in our apartment!! And I was the only one that either wasn’t going home or not a new missionary so I had to do everything because they people going home don’t care, they just talk about their finding a wife plans and the greenies have no idea what the heck is going on. So Tuesday and Wednesday was absolutely insane getting everybody to their areas and sending the other missionaries home, but I finally got it all done and got to take a big deep breath for like 5 minutes, then I got my new companion:) haha so things have been crazy here but they are starting to slow down a little bit. Tomorrow we have interviews with President Maluenda, so I am super excited for those. We have an interview with him every 3 months and he is just crazy, I don’t doubt him being an apostle one day. So interviews are super cool and I love them a lot. So yesterday before church we had a meeting with the bishop and a few other leaders in the ward at 8:30, and my comp is so slow when it is time to go out the door, he also doesn’t have driving privileges so I drive every day, meaning he is always in charge of having the phone. So yesterday morning I told him we will leave at 8:10, I just sat at the door waiting for him till 8:25 then he came running out and we jumped in the truck and I flew because I hate being late to any meeting at all, we also had to stop and pick up something from some of the sister missionaries in our zone on our way, that is why I wanted to leave 20 min early, so we went and picked up the stuff from the sisters then he asks me, hey did you grab the phone? And I just looked at him and said, please don’t tell me you forgot the phone... So I ended up just hammering on the gas to get back to our apartment to pick up the phone that he had left on his desk and we flew back to the church. We run into the church and the room where the meeting was supposed to me is empty. He then pulls the phone out of his pocket and we had 3 messages telling us that the meeting had be cancelled, and to make it better, we got those messages 2 hrs earlier... and he just forgot to look at the messages we had received... So it was relaxing finding out that the meeting we were running late to was cancelled but let’s just say that was about the closest I have been to kill a missionary in my life. I just kinda laughed and I just didn’t really want to talk to him for a while, but we went into a room and let’s just say we had a little chat, well I had a chat as he sat there. So yesterday morning was pretty crazy!! haha But I am now calm again and things are going alright! This last week was just full of meetings and crazy stuff so it just flew by but things are going well in our area and we should have a few baptisms here in a couple weeks so that is exciting! But I hope everything is going great with the puppy!! I am super jealous you have a little puppy to play with right now!! I hope you have a great week Mommy! I love you!

Love, To oso