17 September 2012

Dear Family and Friends,

I'm going to send a couple emails since these computers won't let me compress files/pictures. Expect 2-5 emails, only one with text.

This week has been a little less hectic than last week. As we've gotten settled and a little more of a grasp on things things have fallen into a place a bit more. That said, we're still working our way around things. 

One of the interesting things that the Church is doing with the mission vehicles is installing "little black boxes," known as Tiwi's. They're connected to the cars electronics to measure G forces, RPMs, top speed, etc, and compared to a GPS signal and measured speed limit on a certain road. If you go above it, you get three warnings. On the third, a report is sent to salt lake then forwarded to President Howes, the mission president. It will speak to you over the speakers and say, "check your speed," and then "speed violation recorded." It was cool for one day.

It has been funny to see people's reactions to us in the evening. We biked up to this one guy yesterday and started talking to him. When we first said "Hello," he wasn't facing towards us. He saw us, jumped, and started to run. When he realized we weren't cops, he started laughing. He was trippin hard and really drunk. Good guy, though. We had a nice conversation on how he has drawn closer to God when he has been in jail. He's on probation and not supposed to be drinking or smoking. Similarly, some of the latinos will jump and run from us because they think we are immigration or border patrol.

I was talking to the Mission President about how Prop 1027 has affected missionary work in Arizona. If you'll remember, Prop 1027 is about the legal immigration/illegal and search and arrests. He said millions, literally millions, have left Arizona and the amount of Spanish missionaries in the Tempe, Arizona mission have dropped to 30. There are ~200 total missionaries in this mission. 

Speaking of politics, the people here are surprisingly "loud" about what they think. Elder Sawyer and I were biking around the other day and came across a couple of guys drinking. We started talking to them about the Church. One of the guys suddenly asked us who we were voting for. Sawyer and I didn't say anything. Then the guy said all Mormons vote for Romney. I said, "this one isn't." I left it at that. He asked if I was a socialist then. When I said no, he said, "It's not about political parties anymore, it's about capitalism vs socialism." If I wasn't on my mission, I would have said that even the socialist party "disowns" Obama and asked the man if he liked the street his house was on since it was paid for through "communal" taxes. Luckily I held back. After I saw one Elder freak out in the MTC (literally yelling about politics. Not my fault! I was just asking questions) I've been working on cutting back on that. It is actually surprisingly hard. Even the members here like to talk about Romney. In a Correlation meeting we had (talking about ward missionary work with ward members), this one guy spent about five minutes talking about how Romney will be the savior of missionary work and the church will grow so quickly as a result of his name being out there. I put my head down, bit my lip, and tried to zone out. He went on about how he wishes everyone had the vision he had. If I wasn't on a mission, I would have said something like him being president can go two ways. It can go really well for the church, or it can follow the trend that almost all US Presidents face, and that is, being hated by the world because we go and do whatever we want, whenever, wherever. There's a reason the world hates US Presidents. And then as you said Dad, what if the world hates him and starts taking missionary VISAs away? Based on what Romney has said in the past about increased military use, who knows. But I'm on a mission so I stay quiet on these topics for 2 years. Some people get too emotionally involved in politics. Once emotions get involved, logic and manners go out the window. It isn't worth ruining a missionary relationship over politics. But really, staying quiet on that is way hard.

Elder Sawyer and I went biking thrice this week. We did two half days and one full day. On the full day we went 21 miles, and we went 7 and 9 on the two half days. We're sitting at a solid 37 miles this week. My "cyclometer" has a thermometer on it that measures the temp at ground level which is more likely what it is for us since the waves reflect off the pavement. It has been between 102-117. I'd say it's accurate to +-3 degrees. It gets to 100 degrees at night which is nice and down to 85-90 in the late night. 

We have also started going to the gym most mornings. They have ergs/rowing machines! I've been doing 1k sprints, then running a mile, then weights. Weights are boring.

We got anti'd this week! We biked past this guy who yelled, "mormons er'y mile!" We laughed and kept going. About two minutes later we heard someone yelling at us. Turning around, we saw Thomas biking as fast as he could at us. We laughed again and stopped to let him catch us. He was yelling, "hey, want to learn about the Bible?" We said, "do you?" He went off on how the Catholic church was The Antichrist and church of the devil, how the world was created in one day and not seven, and some more crazy things. After 30 minutes, we just left him. He was probably 65 and definitely not "all there." Mexicans are nice. I'm turning into one since I'm red now. 

Is Mark home?

I got chased by my first dog! Luckily I was on my bike but that thing jumped the fence and ran after me. Once I noticed that it was right behind my heel (on my bike, I was), I braked hard and swerved into it. It barely missed my tire and ran off. I won.

It has been fun to see how many people have never heard of Joseph Smith here. It provides us the opportunity to teach from scratch and not have to dispel misbeliefs like that we're Amish. We get that one here.

We met one guy in a trailer park. He looked pretty high. We spoke to him a bit and then he asked, "hey guys, do you mind if I come chill at your place for a bit?" Never expected to hear that one. 

We ate this corn soup thing this week. It was the worst texture. Other than that, I'm surviving. I think that beans are going to become my new favorite food whether I want them to or not. People eat a lot of beans.

We did a deep clean of our apartment this week. We have to do one more since we have cleaning checks this week. We can't walk barefoot since our feet turn black. We spent about 2 hours vacuuming, cleaning window sills, and finding junk everywhere. We have a long way to go. We are getting a floor cleaner thing this week, we need it bad. 

Mom and Dad, I'm missing an SD card I sent home ~3 weeks ago.

Mom, please link this talk here. "The Peace and Joy of knowing our Savior Lives." Russel M. Nelson 2011 in December. (https://www.lds.org/liahona/2011/12/the-peace-and-joy-of-knowing-the-savior-lives?lang=eng&query=m+peace+%28name%3a%22Russell+M.+Nelson%22%29 ). In there is this great quotation by Joseph Smith, "The fundamental principles of our religion are the testimony of the Apostles and prophets, concerning Jesus Christ, that He died, was buried, and rose again on the 3rd day, and ascended into Heaven; and all other things which pertain to our religion are only appendages to it."

I've noticed gas prices have shot up in  recent days. I asked one of the members about it and he laughed when I told him that gas prices usually follow world crisis. He told me that indeed there have been many as US ambassadors have been killed in the middle east. Is that true? 

We were biking two nights ago down a hill. Elder Sawyer was in front, I was following. We got going pretty quick. As we were going down, I felt as if I should slow down. Just as I did, a car flew past the stop sign and would have hit me had I not slowed down. I was able to turn myself and go behind it. Little promptings save lives. 

Quick question: why does the church buy different makes of different cars? In Yuma zone alone we have a Chevy Malibu, my swagger wagon - the Dodge Caravan (I think that's the name..), a Pontiac Vibe, and two Corollas. I imagine it's due to deals the church is given but who knows.

I forgot to mention this one last week. Apparently in the Tempe zone the members are very...involved in every day lives of missionaries. I think it was President Kimball who used to say, "every member a missionary." President Howes likes to say, "Every member a mission president." Apparently they get calls if missionaries haven't shined their shoes, if they're driving too fast, etc. So funny. Luckily that doesn't happen much (to my knowledge) in Yuma.

I got called on to give a talk in our Spanish branch yesterday. They gave me plenty of warning, a solid 10 minutes. We were getting ready to leave our apartment when the phone rang and the second counselor, Hermano Steenstra (from Netherlands, fluent in English, dutch, Spanish), said that their speaker cancelled and if I could speak. I wasn't too nervous but my limited vocabulary made it...interesting. I shared Isaiah 41:10 and how we can get strength through Christ etc etc. 

We have an investigator who is rock solid. She's ~20, has a strong catholic background, and draws all these great connections between the bible stories and the readings that she is doing in the Book of Mormon. She gives insightful feedback that I learn from and has enjoyed our visits and church. One time we stood up, forgetting to say a closing prayer, and she said, "hey. don't you leave without saying the prayer!" Needless to say she's progressing well.

I was wrong about Dear Elders! I got one from William this week. You just have to pay for postage to get it directly to me. It comes in an envelope. I think you can get them printed at the mission home but they take 3-6 weeks to get to me if you don't pay for postage (45 cents) and send it to me. To clarify: if you pay for the postage stamp on a dear elder, it will get to me in ~3 days and will be mailed directly to our apartment. If you do not, it will be printed at the mission home and take 3-6 weeks to get to me. So pay the 45 cents for a stamp!

Thanks Natalia, Sister Hines, and William for the letters! It is great to hear from you all. Replies are in the mail.

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

19 July 2012

Dear Family and Friends,

What a fast week! It seems like I've been here far longer than just 2 weeks (today starts the 3rd). Soy un profesional missionaero. I can't spell in Spanish.

I think the non-spiritual highlight of the week was finding Ergs. There are two gyms on campus, one at the fieldhouse area, another under the mailroom. It has elipticals, weights, and 2 ergs. I've been using those regularly. I had completely forgotten how evil they are. No other machine is as good as workout as they are though. Running the 3 miles that we do per day is easy in comparison. I rowed a 2k the first day, 3k the next, and 5k yesterady. The first 2k was 8:40, pretty lame, but a bit better than I expected, especially considering I stopped for 15 seconds to help my companion fix the shoe tightening thing. He was pretty exhausted afterwards, I won't mention his time. The 3K was equally hard. What I like to do is row 500 meters at a fast pace then every 500 meters try to get a faster split time than the previous split time. It's a good workout. I rowed the first 500 meters of my 5K at 2:17 split then dropped down to 1:50 for the last 500 meters. I almost died. Ended with an average split of 2:10, or two and a half 8.2 minute 2K's. Though it wasn't too quick, it felt good after I was in bed but pure agony during. Gotta love ergs. I'm racing the other elders tomorrow. See who can row 500 meters the quickest...we're all pretty competitive.

Mom, when you served in Honduras, did you know an Hermana Colledge/College? (spelling?) Her son is your same age and served in Honduras, can't remember the mission presidents name. If you knew her I would laugh.

Also, Dad, you never answered my question if you knew an Elder Shreeve in Portland, OR. My roommates Dad served your same years in Portland Oregon. Elder Shreeve.

Thanks for all the letters! I got nine on Tuesday. Needless to say, my roommates were jealous. Thank you Aunt Andra for your note! Glad to hear that you're following along! Uncle Matt was spot on: the MTC isn't easy but it's so rewarding.

Thank you too, Roland. There's a letter enroute. Snail mail, of course.

Random connection. Apparently Elder Shreeve, one of the four elders (including me) in our small room, knew Tiffany at BYU. What were the chances. He also just found out he dated my companion's girlfriend before they started dating. They didn't know eachother beforehand. Only at BYU...

William, I quoted what you said to some of the elders here. Apparently you guys went to a catholic cathedral and it was, "so nice that I decided to make it in Minecraft." They all laughed.

Elder Brown just left the MTC this week. At the MTC, or at least in my zone, when older missionaries leave, they leave things behind for select missionaries. My companion got a bouncy ball, my roommate got a gross robe and a quarter (?). Elder Brown passed down a poster of Joseph Smith and a sweet toy car. Good guy. He's the DC North mission but if you ever see an Elder Brown, tall and skinny from CA, blonde hair, feed him. I gave him a list of things to do in DC, as well as our address in Arlington. Elder Campbell passed down a nerf gun to me. 6 bullets and all. I'm set. If our zone breaks out into all out war, which is highly unlikely since we all love each other, I think I'll survive.

My study question for the week was one that took way longer than I expected to answer. I was reading in some scripture and realized that we pray to God in Jesus name. Why have to go through someone? I spent three days reading around trying to find a good answer. Here's my conclusion. The atonement exists because we are not worthy to return to God's presence because of our sins. Similarly, we aren't worthy to speak directly to God so we use a "mediator," or, Christ. I analogized it like this: back in the old days before even the internet, phone operators would be dialed in order to reach someone else. You had to go through a central figure to reach someone. Similarly, we pray through Christ to God because it helps us contact him. Anyway, I'm not 100% sure that's true, but thats what the scriptures made it seem like.

Elder Shreeve, Myler (companion of mine), Elder Thorsen, and I decided to sing in the Choir this week. We sang, "This Is the Christ" during the devotional. It was pretty great to hear so many people sing such a great song. I didn't know it was written (lyrics) by President Faust! The cameras panned over us for a bit and it was hard not to laugh. Nothing like being zoomed in on in front of 3000 people.

Naturally, Hermana Dicarolo, the only person at the MTC/this side of the coutnry who follows F1 got transferred to the Intermediate spanish class. Hermana Maier went with her. We also lost Elder Diaz Galarza to the advanced class on two days ago. He is going to Peru, Lima Central tomorrow. 2 weeks in the MTC and he's already going to the field. He's not going to the MTC in Peru. his Mom is Peruvian and Dad is Mexican so they are very excited. We had a nice farewell for him.

Elder Peterson and Elder Adams leave on Tuesday for the Peru MTC at 3am. After that, we will have five elders and two hermanas. Elder Thorsens Visa isn't coming in for Peru so he's getting delayed it seems. Our group of 12 will soon be 7, and then 6 when Elder Thorsen leaves.

We had a musical devotional this week. First time I've seen one of those. Elder Oaks' daughter who is a concert violinist performed. She went to Giuliard etc etc. It was pretty impressive. At the end, her four kids (Piano, Violin, Guitar, Cello, ages 13, 10, 8, 5) performed a song. It was amazing and everyone was impressed.

Our "Investigator" got "baptized" this week. Our new "investigator" committed to baptism too. (Mom, you can explain this if you want, as in what the investigators are. For the sake of time IO won't)

not sure if I said this last week but the showers here are brutally bad. They are either FREEZING or SCALDING. This morniing my shower was 30 seconds long, the longst 30 seconds of my life. I think they make them bad on purpose. Some peopel still manage to shower for 20 mintues though...

Speaking of lame, the rooms are also really hot. Some elders have fans which get passed down from person to person over the years. One such fan, a pink one, was in Elder Fullers room. He was about to give it to me then read all the signatures on it. One said, "Elder ______ will be coiming back in one year to pick this up.) He came back with the new district last week. Somehow that fan had made its way through multiple buildings, zones, and people, to come to the same floor and district that he entered. I gave him the fan because destiny is destiny.

We've been taking some cool long exposure pictures recently at night. I'll send those home when the 2nd SD card arrives here. I'll also have names/descriptions of anyone I have a picture of. There are a lot. Anyway, these elders are really creative with what they can do with some flashlights and a 15 seecond exposure. I've got all of them on my camera.

Thanks for that letter Dad. No, it doesn't distract me any more than reading any other letter would. I'm so happy Mark Webber won, he's the man. Totally deserved it. McLaren need to step up it seems. Kudos to Massa too! Keep sending me descriptive letters about the races! Also, putting that Loonie in there was awesome. Canada was a great trip, thanks for it. It's taped to my wall.

6 minutes left and I've used all my bullet point topics tio talk about. 

Does anyone have any questions they want answered about MTC life/schedules? Pop me a letter and I can answer them next week.

This week was full of teaching and teaching. "Julio"," our "investigator" is now our teacher, Hermana Angel. He served in Ecuador and has some hilariously paintful stories about food and what it did to him. Use your imaginations.

We taught a lot of lessons this week. Elder Myler and I work really well together and our whole district still really loves each other. We use less and less notes and are getting more and more confident in our spanish. That said, it's still trash.

MTCdelivery.com! Apparently that is an easy way to send packages. Just saying.

I've had a lot of fun discussing politics. Yes, I know, I'm on a mission, but sometimes it comes up either when we're talking about church doctrine or whatever. It's fun to talk to people who "hate Obama," because, "he does nothing." But unfortunately they don't know what specifically he hasn't done. I am educating!

Hermana White told me she can always rely on me to say something interesting. I guess wikipedia is finally paying off. Whether it be relativity in "If you could hie to Kolob" to whatever else, apparently I know interesting things. Word.

Time's up.

Yo se que la iglesia de Jesucristo de los santos de los ultimos dios es la verdadera. Yo se que el expiacion de Jesucristo es for nuestro y es muy importante por nuetro salvacion. Yo se que este mediante mucho diligencio y fe, todos cosas es posible.

Love you all, thanks so much for the letters again. There's few things as exciting as checking the mail after lunch and dinner and having letters.

Love,

Elder Johnson