November 17, 2104

Hey Mommy, how are you doing?? It has been pretty chilly down here in Zapata lately, but that's all good! I went to buy some sweaters today at Ross but it was so packed with people we just left. Hopefully I can get some sweaters this next week. I got your letter this last week with your conversion story, thank you so much for sending me that. I loved reading through it!! For thanksgiving, J already invited us to go eat with her and also one other little family of less actives have invited us over to eat also, so we should have somewhere to eat it looks like! M should be getting baptized this next week, he should be paying his probation tomorrow. Things here are going pretty good, it has been getting really cold here which I wasn't expecting, it has been down in the 40s a few days and with the wind it has made it real cold. So riding the bikes around all day has been a little miserable, but we have been finding people like crazy these last couple weeks. I think we found a new investigator to teach just about every day this last week which has been cool. We will be having another baptism in the lake this weekend, we have been baptizing like crazy down here in the lake which has been awesome. S, our recent convert got the Aaronic priesthood this last week which was super cool, so we have 2 active people in the church that have the priesthood now!! We also got a new senior couple down here too! They are senior missionaries from Arizona, she was born and raised in Peru though. They are pretty cool. They are the Strong’s and I think should help a lot down here to have a couple to help us out. It looks like I will be conducting the meetings now at church, because the couple that would come down from Laredo on Sundays, the husband could speak good Spanish but now with this new couple the husband doesn't speak a word of Spanish so it will be a little different! So during a lesson with some investigators this last week in a place in Zapata called Medina (lets just say its kinda a rough place) we were teaching them about the Book of Mormon outside of their trailer, then all of the sudden we have a cop come walking through our lesson then we look up and there are a bunch of policemen that are coming running down the street and the next thing we know there are police all around us! We had one that came over and told us what was going on and it comes out that the guy we had set up a lesson with for the very next day is a fugitive and had just wrecked his car into someone, but because he was already running from the cops just hurried and drove to his house and was hiding in the field somewhere right next to his trailer, so that cops came chasing him and were looking for him in his house in the field next to his house and they found them. But it was pretty exciting! We couldn't leave for a little bit but then they let us take off. We never know what’s going to happen there in Medina! haha. But we know we will always be protected here and we don't ever worry. Other than that I cant think of anything to exciting that happened this week. Thanks so much for sending me a little something, I always love getting a letter or something from my mommy!! I hope you have a great week! I love you!

Love, Tu mas guapo hijo

November 10, 2014

Hi Mommy!!!

How is everything going? What are you up to? Sounds like you have been pretty busy lately.. Do you have some time to relax this week or another crazy week like usual? Sounds like St George was fun, Brooke told me she saw ya and that she always loves it when you come down! Thanks so much for sending me your conversion story, I was actually going to ask you to send that to me so thanks so much!  How did Brock do today at tryouts? I hope he doesn't stress himself out to much so that he can play well, tryouts were always stressful but there is a time you have to get rid of that stress and just have fun and play so I hope he is able to do that!! Things here are going good, we had the pool baptism on Saturday of a lady named R who is the nicest sweetest lady. She has a niece that is a member so when she saw us in Zapata she stopped us one day and asked us to come out to her house because she lives out on a big ranch and so we have been going out there and she is such a strong member already. She got baptized Saturday and confirmed yesterday. Also I baptized A yesterday in the Lake!! My first time baptizing in the lake! I have always made my comp do our baptisms because he is young in the mission and hasn't baptized anyone before I came but he has baptized the last two people we have baptized and so I did this one. It was a very cool experience and a very different experience outside of a font! We walked out on the boat dock and I dunked him. I will send some pics of that. We should have another baptism of A’s friend M this next week if he gets off of probation within the next few days. There is so much work to do here in Zapata and our group on Sundays has been growing very quickly. I love it down here in Zapata, there are few members, but there are some awesome recent converts!! Transfers are the 2nd of Dec so I will find out around then if I go or stay. I imagine I will stay, especially with how the work has been going, my comp could easily get transferred also which would mean I would stay. But I hope you have a great week Kimbo, I love hearing from you and I love hearing about what you are up to and what’s going on up there. Espero que tenga una Buena semana! Te Amo!

Love, Elder Johnson

November 3, 2014

Elder Johnson is very fortunate to have a wonderful family that takes great care of him and his fellow missionaries.  They are always feeding those hungry boys!!

 

Hey Kimbo! 

How is everything going?? How has your week been? What have you been up to? I can’t believe that story about Jason... That is unbelievable.. I feel so bad for the kid, I really like Jason a lot and that is too bad that this thing has gotten so dang big. I hope he realizes that it is still just a football game and that it is nothing more. You will have to keep me updated with everything with that, I hope he is doing okay now. Oh yeah, we just call her J, she is such a cool lady. She has us come over like twice a week and always likes to feed us or do something for us. She has three kids that are so funny. She really wants to go to the temple but wants the Salt Lake temple to be the first she goes to. I keep telling her I want her to come up to meet you because she is so funny, she has a personality a lot like you, she can be a smart aleck sometimes but it’s always a lot of fun there. She got baptized a little over a month ago now I believe and she is super solid in the church. I did the clappy thing and I told her that you guys think I look retarded when I do that and she agreed but told me that in Spanish, she called me malito, ask Ty what that means!;) I told her you would probably kill me if I showed her that so she said she would have to tell you about it then! Well of course something happened to Sherwin, how in the world did he get that thing so stuck?? That is such a funny story though!! I can’t imagine how hard Dad was laughing, I probably wouldn’t have been able to breathe from laughing so hard if I would have been there! Daddy is getting old, he needs to be careful with those hips that he has. Things have been going super good here, we should be having another laketism this Sunday! We are going to baptize a guy named A, he actually looks super white which is weird for down here but he is from Mexico somewhere. He is a super cool guy and told us he will get baptized if he feels the same feelings he felt when he was in Korea with the army at some church. He has come to church and cried both times, he said this is the first time he has had those feelings since Korea which is super cool. I will be baptizing him in the lake this Sunday it sounds like which should be super cool. Other than that we haven’t had anything to crazy happen this week, on Halloween we went over to our recent converts house, J, and she fed us some chicken but we had to be back home by 6 that night because things get pretty crazy here on holidays. Us 4 went back to the apartment and we played poker the rest of the night with cookies, and to play we all had to put in a tie and the winner got all the ties, and of course guess who got the ties... I did! haha it was a lot of fun, that’s all we did all night because the game took forever but it was a lot of fun though. The next night S, the guy we baptized two weeks ago took us out to the steakhouse again here in Zapata! He got us 22oz steaks there and wanted to see if we could eat it all. Of course I put that thing down like nothing! It was a big ol steak though! This week was a fun week, it went by super quick but things are going good here in Zapata. There is so much work to be done here and so many people interested in the Gospel here. Things are a little different here but I have loved this little town. Well Kimbo, I hope you have a great week, thanks for keeping me updated on everything. Be safe and have fun in St George! Make sure Daddy spoils you! I love you!

Love, Elder Johnson 

October 27, 2014

Hey Kimbo!!!
How are you doing? How has everything been going there at home?  haha Yeah I couldn't remember if I had told you we had gotten a building or not, well it is a funeral home and we have made it kinda into a place we can hold church. We have had too many people at church lately so they had to hury and do something about it and got us that building. What has Elder Duerst said about me on that blog so that I have some dirt on him! haha No he is a great kid and a hard worker, he struggles with the language but is learning more each day. You are quite the witch Kimbo... I always knew you were a witch... haha I am just teasing!! I really couldn't ask for a better mom, I always tell stories here to other missionaries about how funny you are, like we met a girl the other day that was named Bernice!!! I thought only my armadillo had that name! I didn't think it was even a real name... so after we stopped talking about her I had to tell Duerst all about Bernice the boy armadillo.  That is cool about the pic with the baptism in the lake, S. is doing great and he bought us 4 missionaries these super nice Winchester knives and he is carving our names into them also which should be super cool! He also gave me a pair of brass knuckles yesterday too!! haha He is such a boss and he took us out to a steak house here in Zapata also. He has been doing so much for us since he has been baptized and he hasn't missed church in a while either. He is such a strong convert. This week went by super fast and I cant even remember many things that happened. One of our investigators was drinking one night and had taken way too many of these anxiety pill he has to take and almost overdosed, we were with him from like 7 till 9 one night because he wanted to commit suicide and kept driving around the block and he was super drunk. We finally got him home and calmed him down and had to talk to him for a couple hours and talked him out of committing suicide which was good then when he walked off I stole the keys out of his car and we fell asleep in the side yard of the trailer. His parents got in a fight with him so he ran off and abused his medication and started drinking, but you bet we had the "Word of Wisdom" lesson with him first thing the next day. He came to church yesterday and really liked it and promised us he wouldn't touch another beer again. He has changed a lot and is turning into a super solid investigator, the only problem is that he doesn't get off of probation for almost another year so he can't get baptized until then which really stinks.. he is changing his life around and we told him that if he did these things to come closer to God that he would find a job, and tomorrow he is now starting a new job which was so cool to see happen like that!! We had 37 people at church yesterday which is the most Zapata has had since missionaries have been back here and more than has been here at church here as far as records go back which was cool to see! So things are going good here and the work has been going great lately! I hope everything is going great for you Kimbo!! I love you and miss you! I can't believe how fast this time is flying, it is kinda freaking me out!! Have a great week Mommy!!
Love, Elder Johnson

October 20, 2104

Hey Kimbo, How is everything going today? What have you been up to all week? That is good to hear that Aaron Duffin is going on a mission, I was worried about what he was going to do. Jeez bout time Jason pops the question!! It is so weird to me that people are getting married!! Sounds like Colt has been doing pretty good, he says the team sucks but has been having a lot of fun though. Of course Kev has that tag but chose football instead! haha hopefully he kills a deer still!. What has Dad been up to lately? I am glad he got out fishing, what have you and Brock been up to lately to keep him entertained? I am glad you will be getting your car back, did you have to pay for anything with that since it wasn't your fault? Sounds like the witch party should be fun! Send me some pics of you being a witch!! Do you know what Kade has been up to? Things here are going good still, found out I will be staying here in Zapata with Elder Duerst again this next transfer, we had the baptism of Simon this last week, he is the tattoo artist guy I have been telling you about. We had a great baptism and I confirmed him yesterday at church. He has completely changed his life around which has been super cool to see. And he now really wants the priesthood which is what we need here in Zapata. So the guy I casted the demon out of like started tearing up the other day when he was thanking us for coming over and teaching him, and he just told us how much he loves it when we come over because he feels like he has changed so much and wants us to teach a bunch of his friends now too because they told him they want us to come talk to them now too. So everything with going over there and using our priesthood one night turned out really cool. We had over 30 people at church yesterday which is the most that there has ever been since this area opened a few months ago! We had quite a few less actives at church and also lots of investigators. I had to talk and then teach the lesson of course but it was a super good Sunday here in Zapata. Things are going great here and I am glad I get to stay here at least for another transfer because I know there is so much work to be done here and so many people that need the gospel in their life! I hope you have a great week Kimbo, I love you and miss you! Be safe with everything!!!

Love, Elder Johnson

October 13, 2014

Hi Mommy!! That is weird to hear that it is 36 degrees up there the other morning, because yesterday it was still in the mid 90s when we were on the bikes all day! Yeah sorry I didn't really wanna worry you about the accident but nothing to bad happened, he hit us pretty dang hard but we were fine in the car. So you don't have to pay for what happened to your car right? Since you weren't at fault. Jeezo that is a lot of money jen has to pay for her car! You guys need to see the meet the Mormons video, we had to drive up to Corpus, it is like a 3 hour drive last week to the Stake Center and we all got to see the movie. It is super good and it will definitely help others understand us better, because something I have come to find out is that the majority of the people that have heard of Mormons think we are crazy, most think we have tons of wives or just all sorts of weird stuff. So go see it when you can! The demon story was kinda crazy, I haven't experienced anything ever like that before in my life! That is funny about the Christmas tree, but you don't have any new memories from this year’s Christmas tree so when I get home we will definitely be back to going up the canyon to get them again.  What is Ty going to Cali for? Is that where that kid is from?  That is cool that Nae is going to do that Pageant, I hope she does well! I’m not sure what she is going to do for her talent.. But I am sure it will go well! Today we just went and dug for some ties and get some super expensive new ties for a dollar a piece, then ate lunch at Little Caesars then we are going to go play basketball a little later today, we have to stay at the Zone Leaders apartment every Monday night because it is an hour back down to our apartment after P day ends at 6 and we have to be back up here first thing in the morning for district meeting so we sleep on the ground in the ZLs apartment and work in their area every Monday night.  I have to drive back and forth from Zapata to Laredo almost every day because we are having the special trainings all month and we have them 5 times a week so I am getting sick of driving a couple hours in the car every day.  Things have been going pretty good here in Zapata, that thug tattoo artist is getting dunked tomorrow! We are baptizing him tomorrow night in the lake at like 6 o’clock so that should be super cool! He has been in prison for a long time and now lives in a little tiny camp trailer out in the middle of nowhere but he has been loving what we have been teaching him and told me when I get home from my mission he wants to take a Harley ride up to Utah and see the Salt Lake temple! He also said he will take me to his buddy’s ranch down here too to shoot a pig! But it has to be with a bow he said because he isn't allowed to be around guns for the rest of his life! ha-ha Last night we had a carne which just explains South Texas to the T!! It is just a bunch of cuts of meat thrown on a BBQ with Elote, (Corn with Mayo) and a bunch of chili. I think south Texas is the only place that has Carne/BBQs like this! But we had that Carne with a couple that the wife is a recent convert here in Zapata and her husband that is getting baptized soon. They love the Cowboys and the husband told me that he is going to get me a Cowboys tie soon! ha-ha but things are going good here and transfers will be coming up here next week again! I am pretty positive I will be staying here but you never know what is going to happen! I hope you have a great week Kimbo! I love you so much and before long we will be talking to each other through Skype for Christmas! I can’t believe how fast time is going here on the mission! Have a great week!
Love, Tu mas guapo chamaco

October 6, 2014

 

 

Hey Kimbo, how are you doing?? I am so glad that you are okay and that everything from the crash went okay! I don't know if I ever told you but in my last area I also got in a car wreck... ha-ha a guy smashed us from behind on a freeway when we had to hurry and stop because the car in front of us and the car behind us hit is pretty good but we were fine. I am so glad you are okay though and also that Jenn and all the girls are okay too!! Don't be getting in anymore crashes Kimbo. That is too bad Haley got engaged, I love Elder Perkins and I am living with his comp that he had when she broke up with him too. Thanks so much for sending me the emails too, I wanted to write them and see how they are doing. We had conference here in Zapata and it was pretty interesting! We watched it over a lap top because we wanted to give the investigators and the members here the opportunity to watch conference for the first time because usually the missionaries just go up to Laredo when they have been here before. So we watched all of the sessions through a laptop. We met an investigator this week that is awesome. He was in Prison for 10 years and is a tattoo artist here in Zapata but really wants to change his life because he has been in a couple motorcycle accidents that he shouldn’t be alive from. Just a couple weeks ago he hit a boar on his bike going 65 and he was thrown have his bike just wearing a t shirt and no helmet and is still living and came away from the wreck with just a broken arm and road rash that covered a lot of his body. He came to conference and we will be baptizing him here in not too long and is a super cool guy. He loves skulls and he gave me a skull knife of his the other day and wants be to come back down after the mish to hunt hogs with him on his buddies ranch. He is an awesome guy, a little on the rough side, but is loving everything with the gospel. I also had the opportunity to "cast out a demon" last night, we got a call from some random guy that we just gave our number to a while ago asking us to come over to his cousins house right now so we headed over there on our bikes to find out that his cousin had been seeing things in his room and hasn't slept in three days and he just looked like a mess. He couldn't stop shaking and had a hard time just talking to us. As a cat was walking down the hallway while they were telling us about this, when the cat walked past the room, it jumped super badly and flew out of the hallway and we knew something was there. People think that demon things aren't real but it’s crazy to know that they really do exist. I went into the room of his with my comp and the worst feeling came over us as we walked in and I used the Melchizedek priesthood and blessed the room/house and at the start of the prayer I felt one of the weirdest feelings I have ever had during a prayer, and it was kind of scary, then half way through my prayer everything went super calm and you could tell that something had left. It was one of the most intense experiences I have had in a long time and I just know that the Priesthood is legit and is the authority of God. Conference was great and I learned so much during it, conference is so much better on the mission for some reason! I hope you have a great week Kimbo and I hope you get your car back!! I love you!
Love, Tu Oso:)