16 August 2012

Dear Family and Friends,

When does Mark get back? [October 2]

This week wasn't anything super special, just another super fast week.

On Thursdays, since Prep Day ends at 6pm, we go to something called TRC. Don't ask me what it stands for. But once there, we split off in our companionships and teach just a one timer lesson with volunteers. It has become my favorite part of the MTC. Last week we taught a native Chilean who had immigrated to the USA. It is way fun teaching and trying to understand Spanish, and even more fun when you do. Tonight we have our first 40 minute lesson. In the past, for week 2 and 3, we went into TRC (Again, these are in small rooms, 2 missionaries, 1 investigator) with lessons prepared. For the last 4 weeks, we have not [done this activity]. We walk in, get to know the person, and talk on a topic that is relevant to any questions or concerns the person may have. These lessons are usually twenty minutes long and tonight will be a challenge because we have to find a way to teach for 40 minutes. I think it should be fine. We'll probably spend a bit more time getting to know them and more and more time getting the investigator involved in the lesson as that has been something we have been working on improving upon. It has also started to be the case that we can teach with little to no preparation. That said, we try to prep as much as possible anyway.

Speaking of teaching, this week we did something we've never done before. Hermana Olsen, our teacher, has been out of town for 1.5 weeks and came back last week. One of the days she was back, the other three Elders had to go to the hospital for a non-serious problem. It was Elder Myler, both Hermanas, and our teacher for that whole class period. She bailed on her original lesson plan and we had her teach the four of us the first lesson. It was about 30 minutes long and unbelievably good. We were all a little bummed when it ended. The spirit was strong and we were all involved in the lesson. Afterwards, she had us teach each other, Elder Myler and I teaching the Hermanas one on one. Hermana Olsen said that before the Elders/teachers responded to anything the Hermanas said, we had to count to 10 in our heads. This, at the start, was awkward. In a society so dominated by noise, silence is very awkward. However, the more we did it, the better it felt. What it did was to force us to listen to the spirit and any small prompting we may have to take the lesson in a certain direction. We also worked to keep our minds blank while one of the Hermanas said something. It turned out to be the best lesson either of us had ever taught (it was also in English...). Hermana White, the person I taught, afterwards said that I took the lesson in the exact direction she wanted me to take it without saying anything, and the way I took it was different than I had originally planned. It was a very unique experience.

I ran into a sister missionary going to DC South. If you live there, keep your eye open for Sister Stone. Turns out that I am going to her home mission too. Small world.

This past Sunday our District of 7 people total had the opportunity to hold sacrament meeting for the cafeteria workers. Hermana White and I spoke, she on love, me on informal missionary work. I spoke on how casual it can be, even mentioning information at a workplace or school or to friends. It went well and it was a neat experience. On the way back, I saw a quote on the wall. I think that you, Dad, have paraphrased it before. It was, "When obedience ceases to become an irritant and becomes a quest, at that moment God will endow us with power." Elder Myler and I had to teach for district meeting later that night about faith and I used the given quote. I like how it says quest. Quest implies something grand with a great reward at the end. Monty Python and the Holy Grail comes to mind. People traveled far, sacrificed much, but at the end, got eaten by a rabbit. What a great reward.

Later on in that same lesson I mentioned that our district has been doing blind walks to build trust, although in reality it is more just for fun. We will walk all the way back from the classroom (~2 min walk) with one person guiding the other (who has their eyes closed) from a distance. It is tricky and builds trust in the other. I mentioned how that is like faith in God. We are guided by something we cannot see but in the end, we are assisted in getting to our destination. On the way back, people try to distract you and pull you off course. The same is true for temptation as it is ever-present but is there to slow and harm you. At one point I walked into a sign. Guess I can't trust that Elder again...

Every Tuesday and Sunday at the MTC, we have a devotional. I'm still waiting for when a member of the Quorum of the 12 or President comes, but the last one was pretty great. At one point, the speaker called for all who were baptized in the last 2 years to stand. He then said, "Now I want you to come up (pause........), I will choose two of you." One of these converts was standing up right behind us and in the time that he paused, his district yelled at him to go up and he literally ran up. In the meantime, the speaker chose the two. He interviewed each one and when he turned around and saw a third missionary there, he was quite surprised and said, "Now, I can't wait to hear from Elder _____, I'm sure he'll be the icing on the cake." We were all laughing in the corner. No one else in the room with 2300 missionaries knew why it was so funny. When the Elder was finally interviewed, he said things like, "I'm from the Garden of Eden," with a super awkward pause and many other very awkward things. It turned out to be hilarious but a strong message of faith on how prayers are answered.

So I still haven't figured out who sent me those shoes. Thanks again whoever did, they're like walking on clouds. I think my feet are still growing though since my toes almost touch the end of them...they're size 14.

Yesterday I officially finished my first mission planner. They last 6 weeks and you plan out hour by hour what you will do the next day in it. On to number two. I'm writing the dates that I used them on the front so that I know they're retired and that I can read them later.

We went to the temple today and performed sealings for the first time. Elder Myler and I went into a small room with two other missionaries from our zone and two proxy couples. I learned some interesting things. First, proxy work for those deceased is very clear in the Old/New Testament. I mean, Jesus Christ and the atonement was the epitome of proxy work because it applied to all people, anytime, anywhere, living or deceased. The second was something that the sealer said. He said, "If you cannot complete a two year mission, you cannot complete mortality or immortality with an eternal companion. I have been married for 53 years and it is easy! It's all about making and keeping commitments." The spirit was strong and it was a very peaceful morning.

One of the proxy representatives had the last name Lindberg. I went up to her afterwards and asked if there was any relation to Charles Lindberg. She said it was distant but they were indeed related. It was cool meeting a descendant of one of, arguably, the most important men in aviation history.

On our way back from the temple today, we stumbled upon a free tie box. Inside were hundreds of ties. I grabbed a bunch and plan on trading them if possible. I'm going to participate in the black market. Unfortunately, they're hideous ties. No wonder they were free. I'd want to get rid of them too.

I may or may not have torn/separated a muscle in my arm. We were playing soccer and someone corner kicked it. I jumped up to hit it away (which, just to get it out of the way, I did) while someone on the other team was running forward. He slipped and hit me while I was in the air and I fell hard on my shoulder.  I'm not planning on getting it checked out but I'll let you know if it is still bad in a weeks time.

20 days left!

Thank you Aunt Andra, Dad, Mom, Eric, Will, Natalia, Tori, Doug, and Grandpa and Grandma Johnson for the letters and package! It was a great week. Replies are in the mail. If I forgot anyone, sorry, I write down all I get but sometimes one slips past me.

Thank you all so much for the letters and care, it means so much and is nice to hear of the "outside world" and how family and friends are doing.

With lots of love,

Elder Johnson

PS: Romney chose Paul Ryan as a running mate? Why on earth... he was struggling with moderate votes, not republican votes. Ryan is Palin of the 2012 election, he doesn't need more republican-ness in his platform.

9 August 2012

The statue of Angel Mornoi on top of the Provo temple represents the preaching of the gospel of Jesus Christ to all nations, calling all to worship and give glory to God, in preparation for the second coming of the Lord.
Not all temples include this feature (e.g., the Cardston, Alberta temple does not).  The inclusion of Moroni is an architectural and stylistic decision; it is not a feature of worship or a requirement on all temples.  Nice photography Paul!

Paul has always been intrigued by tie knots.

Paul's desk at the MTC.

Paul's nametag.  As he spends more time in the mission, the white letters will become more yellow.

Paul and his MTC companion.

Provo Temple

Paul's schedule at the MTC.

Paul mentioned this "oops" in a previous letter.

Farewell party for departing missionaries from the MTC.

Dear Family and Friends,

So this week we passed the halfway mark! It's crazy how fast time flies. I think I mentioned it last week but weeks feel like days and days feel like weeks. Yesterday, when we realized that today was P Day, we were amazed because it felt like two days ago was P Day. That's only a good thing though! We're all itching to get out of here and into the field. The MTC is great, but...there's more out there than a small fenced off campus. Some of the things we do to make the weeks better are Purple Tie P Days (Preparation Day = P Day), Smooth Tie Sundays, Trump Tie Tuesdays (If you feel inclined to send me another one of these ties...they're pure class.), and that's it. Super super lame, yes, but it makes time go by a bit quicker. We always get funny looks when our whole district has matching ties. Two of our elders are trying to do "Change your Hair" Wednesdays. I'll pass.

The family reunion sounded like a blast! Glad you all could get together, family is important. Going out on the lake in the boats must have been a good time, too. Did anyone fall over? Grandma Wolthuis, we have a Sister here from Hawaii. For some reason I am forgetting the Island but it starts with an M. I told her about you teaching the granddaughters how to do that dance and she got a good laugh out of it. Grandpa Wolthuis, that's a fantastic quote about being on time. For those who don't know it, it is, "If you are five minutes early, you are on time. If you are on time, you are late." That's so true for missionary work. Granted, we are still in the MTC and our time is pretty scheduled out for us, but being early really does make a difference. That has been our districts goal for a few weeks. After gym, we have 20 minutes to get back, shower, dressed and back to class. It's not much time but we have been getting better and better at it. It has made quite a difference in our evenings. 

I've been reading Jesus the Christ more and more involvedly. We will pretend that that is a word.. For those who don't know, it is basically a history of Jesus Christ from his birth to death, but not in that order. I think everyone should read it, if not with a religious text then just a curious view on a historical event. I've learned a ton about his life in Israel. If anyone wants a copy, let me know, I can get discounted copies here. 40% discount off everything in the bookstore! Anyway, my new way of reading it is not just...reading it as I have been doing. Instead, I'll get my scriptures out and when I find something with a footnote/reference from the Bible, I will go to that page and if anything from that story sticks out to me, take a note about it in the book. For instance, I was reading about Jesus and the tax collector and when he asked for money from Jesus and Peter. Peter, going to Jesus, asked Jesus what he would do. The tax was atonement money, money that would be used to help forgive sins. It was implemented by Moses. Jesus said he didn't need to since he was the Son of God but he sent Peter to go catch a fish and he said the first fish he caught would have enough money for "thee and me." The last three words stuck out to me and apparently James E Talmadge, the author. He said that in every instance that Christ compares himself to people, he never says us. Instead, he says, "my God and your God," or, "My father and your father," or the aforementioned example. This is significant because it shows that he is different from everyone, being the literal son of God. It also shows how similar he is that he can use his own name in the same sentence as the others. I took a note of that in my scriptures and now I'll always remember that. Its a more involved method of study and applies Jesus the Christ to the scriptures far more.

So remember about that Canadian saying that Canada burned down the White House and it's only white because that was the only color left? I heard something else classic at dinner. It was, "And the Fukushima thing was way stupid, too. I mean, more people die on planes than nuclear incidents." This made me laugh because the comparison had absolutely nothing to do with the threat from Fukushima, which was the problem with escaped radiation into the water and adjacent area, not to mention the uncertainty over the problem in the first place...or the magnitude 9 Earthquake associated it. They went on to say that Chernobyl wasn't dangerous, either. I held myself back. Sometimes its not worth it. Did I just say that?

We have also been reading about the Apostles of Christ during his ministerio terrenal (earthly ministry) [editorial remark:  Paul is starting to mix Spanish and English!] . Peter, James, and John are considered those closest to Christ. Peter is the one who denied Christ three times. He is often considered as betraying Christ, though to a lesser degree than Judas. They were brought to see Lazarus raised from the dead, the transfiguration of Christ, and many more miracles. One such, though, the Atonement, is more important. On that night, directly afterwards, he was taken prisoner by the government. When they tried to tie Jesus the first time, Peter jumped forward and cut the ear of the man who tried off. Jesus promptly healed him and scolded Peter by saying, more or less, "Would you not have me do the will of the Father?" Peter then followed these people to where he was tried and sat in to listen. He waited for him to come out. During his wait, he was approached and in that time period  he denied Christ three times. Directly afterwards, when he realized what he did, he cried. Then, he stayed and waited until everyone left when they moved Christ. He waited to see him go. To me, it almost seems as if Christ asked Peter to deny him. This would allow Peter to be kept safe and experience the Atonement in full and give him an opportunity to grow before he lead the Church. Anyway, my point is that Peter was far too dedicated, at least to me, to have not had a testimony and deny Christ in earnestness. He cut off the ear of that soldier in front of the leaders of government, something that was very dangerous. His devotion to Christ was also very apparent. When Christ called to them when they were on the sea at one point, instead of waiting to sail back, he jumped in the water and swam. When word came to them that Christ had risen, he ran there, and while John waited outside, he ran right in. He also took the most criticism from Christ, called Satan even in one part when Peter asks him not to die. I cannot believe that Peter didn't have a strong enough testimony in Christ to die for him when the people approached him.

Another thought I had this week was comparing Jesus and Joseph Smith. Directly before the crucifixion, the Romans offered Christ an alcoholic mixture to dull the senses. He denied stating that he would rely on the father for strength. When Joseph was a child and the surgery was performed on his left, he turned down alcohol and instead asked to be with his Father. In both circumstances, they rely for strength on those who have more strength to give and practice faith greatly.

Changing topics to a weekly summary in the little time I have left, our district sang in the Devotional this week. We got on camera twice, one such instance we were zoomed in on. I couldn't help but giggle, but that's ok, because I was zoomed in on. People have come up to me and said, "hey, we saw you on camera!" Another time, during the devotional, the Elder directly in front of us was called to stand up and they panned the camera to him. Elder Shreeve, Thorsen, and I just sat behind him smiling. It was pretty hilarious.

Here's a great quote from James E Talmadge. It says, "To deny the actuality of miracles on the ground that, because we cannot comprehend the means, the reported results are fictitious, is to arrogate to the human mind the attribute of omniscience, by implying that what man cannot comprehend cannot be and that therefore, he is able to comprehend all that is." That stuck out to me while reading Jesus the Christ this week. Powerful quote.

Mom, please send my SD card back! Also, do you have any cool family history stories? Both sides of the family, please! 

Everyone should read Doctrine and Covenants 87 (Mom, link it here and explain what DC is). It, in 1830s, predicts the Civil War in surprising detail. That is decades before the war.

I got shoes in the mail today. Whoever sent them, thanks! I imagine it was family because I told them my old ones were literally falling apart. I think my feet are growing because my toes are near to the end of the size 14 shoes. They are comfortable.

Thank you Susie, Natalia, Jamie, Family, Cousins and family from the reunion, Tori, and Doug for the letters! What a great week it was to hear from all of you.

Thank you all for the letters, they mean so much!

Love,

Elder Johnson

2 August 2012

Dear Family and Friends,

Despite this being letter four, we are approaching week six in the MTC. They count weeks strangely. As such, we are now within one or two days of being halfway done. Time sure does fly. Someone here said it spot on, "Days feel like weeks, weeks feel like days."

Just wanted to thank my family, the Hines, Scott, Alex, Michael, and Max, Grandpa and Grandma Johnson, Natalia, Katie and Brother Campbell for the letters this week. Letter are always so fun to get and it's nice to hear what is going on outside of these walls. I've never felt so in the dark about what's happening in the world. Luckily, I'm in the light for all that matters for the next two years. I think that was everyone, if not, I'm sorry.

We were sitting in on one of the devotionals this last Tuesday. Elder Pinegar spoke about "Why we are here" and some other topics. He told a lot of great missionary stories about missionaries receiving life saving revelation and whatnot. It was one of the best devotionals. I also heard one of the funniest things I've heard in a while. Right before it started, some elders behind me started talking about US history. I heard, verbatim, these words, "Do you know why the White House is white? It's because when Canada invaded and defeated the United States, we burned down the White House. They had to rebuild it and white was the only color left." I later found out they were from Canada. I let them have pride for something and didn't correct them. We started talking about the Oil Sands since they were from Alberta. Unfortunately, they didn't know much on the topic.

I finally learned how to roll my R's this week! After years of being taunted by Mark with him "machine gunning" me, I can finally do it. Granted, it isn't so smooth yet, but I'm learning. It's crazy how quickly we are learning here. We just sat down and in 15 minutes I had learned it. I have spent hours and hours growing up trying to master it. The MTC is amazing.

Something about the MTC is making me sleep walk. I've sleep walked once, maybe twice in my life. It started last week. I woke up at 3am and didn't know where my sheets were. (Elder Myler and I are the only two in our four person room). I found them hanging from the empty bunk above Elder Myler. I had either put them there or thrown them. The next day, I woke to find my socks folded on his bed.

But it only gets better. Three nights ago or so, I woke up in someone else's room. The way the rooms are set up is that the buildings are rectangular. There are two bathrooms per floor in the middle with a hallway going around their perimeter with rooms on the outside of that hallway. Our floor has two zones: zone 38 (mine) and zone 40. They are split down the middle. In the middle of the night I woke up in room 219. I sleep in room 243. Those are different zones. I do not know how I got in their room and how I left mine, but I did. I freaked out and stumbled out the door. Half awake, I half walked half crawled around the hallway looking for my room. It took two laps to realize that I had passed it twice. I knocked on my door a couple times without looking at the room number. On the second knock, I noticed it wasn't my room either so I stumbled away not wanting to be the person standing, half awake, outside their room banging on it for them to open it. So I got up again and kept walking. After a while I found my room with the door barely open. It was a tad stressful. The next day I was talking to Elder Myler about the incident and he said he remembers me walking out of the room around 10:45. He got up since I had sleep walked before but assumed I was going to the bathroom so he let me go. Some companion he is... (sarcasm, he's great.) He said he waited a bit for me to come back but when I didn't he just fell asleep. Weird, I know. But I've gone two days without sleep walking so maybe I'm cured. We joke around that I have an evil spirit (we've been reading about Christ casting out Evil spirits when he was in Israel)

One of the games we play as a district to spice up the MTC is to pretend we know other Elders here. Since everyone has name tags and only calls each other by our last names, it's pretty easy. We'll go up to a random person, one person on one person obviously, and be like, "Oh, Elder ____! How are you? I haven't seen you in forever!.....remember me? I moved away _____ years ago" and so on and so forth. Most of the time they call us out on it at the endwhich is fine but others it gets going and going. One such Elder started saying, "wait, you're from Alpine, Utah? 5th Ward?" It was perfect. Just putting words in Elder Shreeves mouth. It's harmless fun and makes the long days a bit more exciting. For the sake of time, I'll cut out the specific stories and leave it at that.

We were reading in class the other day, out of the Book of Mormon, and I had two interesting insights. In Moroni 7:6, it says something along the lines of offering up a gift to God 

 6 For behold, God hath said a man being ^aevil cannot do that which is good; for if he ^boffereth a gift, or ^cprayeth unto God, except he shall do it with real ^dintent it profiteth him nothing.

I started thinking about if prayer is a gift to God. Do we give him gifts when we pray? Obviously he wants to talk to us and it's up to us, most of the time, to open that channel. The other one was in the first five verses of 1st Nephi. Lehi sees the vision of Jerusalem getting destroyed if they don't repent. What if Jerusalem is representative of us and if we dont repent, we will get destroyed as well? Nothing too deep in these two insights, just little thoughts I had while reading that struck a chord with me.

I met three elders going to the DC South mission (that's my home mission for anyone who doesn't know.) Mom and Dad, keep an eye out for Elder Gustafson, Allred, and Felt. They're all from Calgary, Alberta, CA going to DC South. I told them it was the second best mission after Tempe, AZ. It's close though.

Mom, turns out those black pants we got that were machine washable aren't. Luckily I caught a glimpse of the tag first. The two grey ones are but the two blacks from Mr Mac are not. Too bad.

One of the Hermanas in our district got a package of cookies. It had home made oreos, which I had for the first time inside. Those. Are. Heavenly. *hint hint*

A little excerpt from a letter that made me laugh out loud. Brother Campbell apparently emailed you, mom, and said you responded instantly to it. Just reminded me of the few times that instead of calling you about an emergency, we've emailed you because you're better at responding to email than picking up your phone.

It dawned on my yesterday that I have only known the Elders in my district for ~32 days or so. It feels like we've known each other forever. Maybe it's because we get along so well, maybe it's because we spend every minute of every day together, but either way, it is crazy. Sad to think that half of us will be splitting up for two years to Peru, California, Canada, and AZ. It has been fun though,

We got to go to the temple today. It's great to see such a profound difference between even the outside and the inside. It is hard not to notice the strong spirit inside. You always feel good in the temple, but sometimes something just sticks out. One such occasion was today. I felt such a great feeling. It was almost as if someone was saying thank you to me. Pure elation was the emotion. The Church is true as are all it's teachings. No way it can't be. Anyway, I had some other interesting insights which I'll avoid mentioning in this letter but the temple is a great place to just think. It's refreshing and a great place to be. Glad to know I've got a few temples in Arizona.

Oh, speaking of AZ temples, can anyone find out for me which temple(s) are inside the Tempe, AZ mission?

I really am running out of things to say about the MTC. Seems like the letters are getting shorter and shorter. Everyday here is so similar since it's just classes, studying, and whatnot. If anyone has particular questions they want answered, let me know.

Random questions:

Why can't we draw what we see? What causes us to be unable to convert what we see to what we draw?

In Genesis during the creation recount, it mentions the two commandments that God gave to Adam and Eve. One: Do not eat of the tree of knowledge. Two: Multiply and replenish the earth. Our district went to the temple today and I started thinking about that. We know that Adam and Eve had to break the first commandment because they could not have kids in the garden so either way they were breaking a rule, hence why we believe we are not accountable for Adam's transgression. But why use the word REPLENISH? "Re" in English means to do something over again. Refill your cup, refuel your car, redo an assignment and whatnot. Does anyone know why it uses the word replenish? Just something I thought of and am unable to answer. I'd love to hear ya'lls insights. (We have a Texan in our district...)

Love you all, thanks for the letters again

Elder Johnson