5 May 2014

A lot of crazy things happened this past week. Why don't we start with Tuesday?

The Tuesday following MLC is always "zone meeting," meaning that we train, not the district leaders. Prayerfully, we chose to discuss goals and goal achieving as our topic. The Sister Training Leaders (STLs) trained on goals that are wishful thinking and faith-filled goals. We followed up with how prayer is involved.

There is a lot of power in prayer. One of our wishes was that every missionary serving in the Phoenix South zone would leave that meeting with an increased desire to pray for specific goals and then pray to achieve them. 

We switched things up a bit and put the chairs in a giant circle and gave some time so that missionaries could share experiences that they had had with setting goals, in whatever sense, and achieving them. We heard some great stories about scholastic goals, music, scouting, sporting and more. All of the success came as the people did everything they could, consistently, to hit the goal they had set.

And then one missionary shared the best story I have ever heard. His story was about how he had become the best at Call of Duty. It was the funniest 5 minutes of my life because he was completely serious. He ended by saying, "And then I did it. I did what no one else had done! I unlocked the gold UMP! My eyes literally teared up. I paused my game. I turned off my PS3. And I went to school so proud of myself! But no one cared! And then I decided that there was more to life than games!"

Hahahahahahah I wish I could give it just a little bit of justice to how wonderful the story was. Everyone was dying. It was the perfect story. The missionary who told it is one of my favorite people in the world.

At the end of our zone meeting we had every missionary split up into their companionships, go somewhere in the church, and pray together about very specific things. There was a very special spirit as we left that day.

And since then the miracles have come. We doubled our stats last week. Doubled! Amazing miracles happened with people coming out of nowhere to get baptized, surgery dates being changed so that baptismal dates could be moved up, and many more mighty miracles (that's a lot of Ms). God is a God of miracles and if you don' t believe it, ask Him! 

People are interesting. We met a young girl this week who told us to come back later to talk to her parents. So, when later came around, we went back. We knocked on the door and she opened it with a big smile on her face. She was probably 9. From the back of the house we heard, "SHUT THE DOOR! WE'RE NOT INTERESTED, WE'RE CATHOLIC!" The girl innocently said back, "I'm not catholic!" Quickly the mother said, "SHUT THE DOOR."

95% of the "Catholics" we meet don't even know what Jesus did during His life. We know those are the ones baptized as babies who never ever went to church. The other 5% are my favorite ones: the ones who know and practice what they believe. If you're going to use something as an excuse, at least believe your excuse.

This past week we had interviews with President Toone. But they weren't normal interviews. They had a meeting with Elder Bednar this past weekend and were committed to getting the information to us as quickly as possible. So, instead of one on one interviews, we met and learned from President Toone. As part of that meeting, we were asked to give a training as well. More details on that to come.

The meeting with President Toone was amazing. I'm going to write some quotes. These come from Elder Bednar.

-"Successful missions can be measured by how active the grandkids are."

-For you to think about: What is it about missions that make them so powerful in conversion?

-"Talk to your missionaries about their memories from primary or young mens. What was their motivation to do something? Normally a treat. We have failed our children in helping them do things for the wrong reasons. Doing things because you get something is not the right reason. As missionaries, we need to act because it is what we are supposed to do, not because something is being offered. Our testimony of acting for the right reasons will bless us for the rest of our lives. 

-"Act, do not be acted upon."

The way that missionaries are called has changed.

This is the new method:

1) Three or four Apostles go, all together, every Friday, to process 200-300 new missionary calls each week.

--The set up is different. Each Apostle sits across from two screens. Sitting by him is a member of the Missionary Department.

--Each Apostle comes to this meeting while fasting and praying.

2) Picture of missionary comes on screen. Apostle asks questions while reading his background information. The representative from the missionary department responds as if he were the missionary. A small conversation is had. It is an interview [based on the information submitted by the missionary].

3) Then the Apostle says at a random point, "Show me a picture of President ___ from the ___ Mission."

--A picture of said mission president appears on other screen

4) The Apostle considers the Mission President. 

--"What do you have to offer Elder ___, President ___?"

--Another small "interview" is had.

--The relationship between the mission president and the missionary is now as important as the missionary and the mission.

5) The Apostle seeks for a confirmation on every single instance that the mission and the mission president are right for the missionary

Intimate evaluations are done with not only where the missionary serves but also with whom. Companions included.

"There is no mistake when Elder ___ is assigned to the __ mission with President ___. There is a reason a missionary is called somewhere, gets sick, and is reassigned elsewhere."

Amazing, right?

I had planned to go into a lot of detail about a devastating thing that happened to one of our investigators. It involves permission from a spouse but there is much more involved. I've been reflecting a lot about this topic this week. But I just want to ask one question to everyone who is reading this: What are you doing right now that is impeding the [spiritual] progress of someone near to you? Now why don't you stop? 

It was the saddest moment I've had in many months

As part of our training we also taught about the importance of fast offerings and raising the level of our fasts. Fasting isn't just going without food. It is a process of delicate preparation and then persistent prayer. And it works. We challenged all of the missionaries, under direction of President Toone, to donate fast offerings and fast with more intent.

It worked. Miracles? A less active family came to church for the first time in a year, a part member family did for the first time in months, and a family we're teaching managed to come! In a different companionship, a boy decided to get baptized in two weeks! 

I've never fasted without miracles. They're everywhere! 

Anyway, I need to run now! Thanks for the letters family! 

Have a great week and HAPPY MOTHERS DAY! 

Love,

Elder Johnson

23 December 2013

Chocolate Never Faileth. Never.

This last week was the realization of much prayer. A man came from another state to get baptized here in our ward. It was a happy day.

As I sat there during the baptismal service, I thought to myself, "I've done absolutely nothing for this baptism. I've met him once before today for 30 seconds." And then the thought came, "You've been obedient. What more can I ask of you?"

It was an interesting moment. I realize that, as we read in Job, the disobedient may still flourish in some regards, true growth and progress comes to obedience. 

This was a special baptism too. His family came from all over the country to the service. He had such a great support group. He, his wife, and his kids will be in the temple in 363 days. None of his direct family knew until the day before the baptism that he was getting baptized :)

I was spiritually chastised at the baptism too. We were to be the witnesses at the service. The person who baptized him said the baptismal prayer just a little off and then quickly when he came out of the water went to change. I stood there trying to justify to myself that it was ok. One of the high councilors approached me as soon as we shut the curtains and said that he thought they may have said it wrong. We ran into the changing room and invited them to do the baptism again behind the closed curtains. We poked our heads around the stairs and wall to witness it and make sure it was done correctly. It was.

I sat in my chair feeling terrible afterwards. It was such a minor thing he did incorrectly (he said "commissioned by"). I'm not quite sure what I would have done if that high councilor hadn't pulled me aside but I sat in my chair repenting as soon as they had correctly done the baptism. Lesson learned.

This past week was, "THE MEETING." Brother Lee Donaldson came back from Salt Lake City to do some trainings with the MLC and some other missionaries chosen "at random." That meeting blew me away. He talked about teaching more effectively and "staying in our lanes of responsibility/stewardship." It was enlightening. I sat in my chair thinking, "For x months I've been teaching this lame way when I COULD have..." I resolved then and there to change everything so that I can teach better. It has made a HUGE difference already.

One of the things he invited us to do was change the way we teach about the Book of Mormon. Instead of teaching the entire restoration and introducing Book of Mormon in one lesson and then inviting them to read it before our next visit, we are moving some things around. He said that the average college educated recent convert reads 8 pages in the Book of Mormon before being baptized. "That is not enough."

So, to help them read more, we do this.

In our first visit, we teach the "Restoration" in 8 minutes using the pamphlets, focusing primarily around the pictures. Invite them to read the pamphlet between visits. End the visit with, "Next time, we're going to bring you a gift!"

In our second visit, follow up. Pull out "the gift" and talk about this amazing book that _____ to us or whatever. Emphasis its value in our lives. Relate the characters to our investigators. Help them learn how to liken the scriptures. Don't read every verse of a chapter, pick and choose some that illustrate a point. For instance in 1 Nephi chapters 1-4 we can talk about faith, prayer, and acting in faith, overcoming trials. Wow, that sounds a lot like what many people today do!

I left that meeting enlightened and excited. We put it to test yesterday, obviously changing that basic outline I just drew to help the needs of those we teach. It. Was. Amazing. The spirit was so much stronger and he left saying, "I can't wait to read this!"

The other part of that training that day wasn't so exciting. One of the internet proselyting people who works with Mormon.org came to talk with us. He said that we should not connect with people we do know personally know over Facebook. 

I disagree. He said that the week after I had just finished doing one on one trainings with all the zone leaders emphasizing the power and potential of connecting with people everywhere, not just our proselyting areas in Mesa or Tempe. I wasn't very happy. I used 8 hours of my time to do these trainings. He sat in on one and said he loved it. Then later he went in front of everyone I had just trained to tell them the complete opposite. Not cool.

He told people to refer those we do not know to local missionaries then move on to finding local people. I totally disagree. 

I talked to this man and President Toone afterwards about it. I told them the miracles I'm seeing through it. President Toone talked to me later and said, "You're the exception, Elder Johnson, not the norm." 70% of our mission hasn't even taught a lesson on Facebook yet. And with them being pushed strongly to teach locally, that number will stay that way since they can't look outwards for investigators. 

I see online proselyting differently than SLC. They see it as 99% your own proselyting area. I see it 50% 50%. I am teaching people that live in Mesa over Facebook that we can't visit due to family situations. But I am also teaching people in Africa, Europa, etc who are meeting with missionaries, going to church, and setting goals for baptisms. When Facebook was introduced we were told that we were called to the AZ Tempe mission but our area now also includes the world. That was an inspired statement because I've seen it become a reality. 

Anyway, I have President Toone's complete support to continue doing what I've been doing on Facebook and other tools. The vision that that side of the proselyting department has right now isn't high enough.

Good thing the gospel is still true!

Elder Gaspar is home now. This mission couldn't get rid of him though! He went to the airport for his flight and, once dropped off, realized that his flight was cancelled. So he got a ride back to the mission office and hung around an extra 40 hours waiting for his next flight haha. Poor guy.

We had a neat experience this last week as we were driving to visit someone. We were in a really sketchy part of Mesa and drove past this apartment and I felt immediately that we needed to knock the door. I turned the car around, drove back to the apartment, and knocked the door. A heavily tatoo'd man answered and said, "JOAN! THE MORMONS ARE HERE FOR YOU!" I said, "We're here for you too!" 

They let us in. I was already surprised! Turns out they were a member family (part less active, some active) that had just moved in and needed to know where church was and at what time it was. 

God works in mysterious ways.

Anyway, I'm excited to Skype this week! Merry Christmas everyone!

Thanks Grandpa and Grandma for the package! Love you!

Con amor,

Elder Johnson

1 October 2012

Dear Family and Friends,

This was an excellent week.

 

One of the Sisters' investigators was baptized on Saturday. He asked me to baptize him which was my first opportunity to do so. Took two tries since his finger was out a bit the first time. Since we baptize by immersion, the body must be just that: immersed. After the second time, as I picked him up out of the water, he looked around for a second and then broke down. Later on he told me of an amazing thing that happened. We will leave it at that. He also told me that the second time, he could not feel me and I sounded like someone else. It was an amazing experience that the miracles happened when the baptism was done correctly, when even the finger of his knuckle was where it was supposed to be. Really goes to show that when we put forth the effort and do our best to follow those guidelines and commandments we get blessings. It was a very neat experience.

 

He was slated to get confirmed and given the Aaronic priesthood the next day in Church. Keep in mind this is our spanish branch. Sacrament meeting starts and he is nowhere to be found. After two hours they found him - his ride had never shown up! He was rushed to the Church and set apart. When he was asked who he wanted to give him the Aaronic Priesthood, he looked around for a minute. Kept looking. Then looked at me and pointed. I got up there and said I had no idea how to do it in Spanish and he said to do it in English since he can understand it as well. Whew! Heart was beating for sure.

 

Church yesterday was a long one. We went to all three of our wards/branches and totaled out at 7 hours of Church. We had two investigators at our English ward and one at our Spanish. The one at the Spanish branch loved it. Didn't want to leave at all. El agua esta listo para el! [The baptismal water is ready for him!] Afterwards, he said that his #1 priority was to get his family there the following week. The day before as we gave him the Church tour and showed him the picture of Christ, he said, 'Well, maybe you will be able to baptize me, Elder Johnson.' A miracle seeing how reluctant he was jsut days before. He has made great progress.

 

Our English investigator is also working towards a baptismal date of October 13th. She will be ready for sure and will be our first baptism that we worked for ourselvs. We are aiming for 4 this month and right now it looks attainable. We are helping one man and his less-active wife quit smoking.

 

I had the opportunity to give two blessings this week. Actually, three, but two of healing. The first one was for a woman I had never met before who had a serious migrane and could not open her eyes. After I said amen, she looked up at me and said, "Wow, I've never had a headache just go away like that before." A miracle. Later that week, actually, yesterday, we gave one to one of the Sisters' investigators. She had some nerve problem in her arm and could not move it. Again, after I said amen, she could start to move it again. Again, miraculous. I have a real testimony of priesthood blessings now.

 

One of my favorite things is to see investigators pray for the first time. Recently we had one offer one of the most sincere and heart felt prayers. It was not eloquent. It was not smooth. But it was from the heart. One thing he said was, "Thank you for teaching me to be me." For some reason that stuck with me as being one of the most humble things I have ever heard. These people come from nothing to have so much through their faith.

 

I have noticed as we teach more and more that I learn more and more from the people. Instead of saying, "thanks for letting us teach you," I have begun saying, "Thank you for helping us learn from each other." People make inspired comments without even knowing it.

 

Unfortunately, the young woman who I wrote about last week having the amazing experience in the lesson decided she was no longer interested the other day. She is going through a hard time and is locking herself in and turning inward. I don't feel like we could have done anything better. Agency, man.

 

On a different note, the people of Yuma are more and more racist the more I meet them! We were eating with an elderly couple in one of the other wards (we were on exchanges that day) and the husband was talking about all the new diversity in their ward. He said, "and I don't know why, but all these new negro families are moving in!" Quick to correct her husband's statement, she said, "No, honey, they're colored people!" Needless to say, we sat there and tried to not laugh. Earlier on in that same meal as she was dishing what she called 'goop' onto my plate, I said, "oh, that's a great amount." She looked at me and sound, "No, Elder, you need more! You are quite conservative with your food!" Elder Heathcote, whom I was on exchanges with, said, "actually, he is quite liberal!" I lost it. The elderly woman didn't get it at all.

 

There has been a solid amount of drug activity this week. On Tuesday evening about 15 cop cars pulled up to the apartments down the street and ran in guns blazing. Fun! Later on, about three Border Patrol SUVs peeled out of a parking lot, sirens blazing, and floored it down the road. Best yet was the hostage situation! We got a call from the English elders telling us to book it to 15th street. We get there and there are about 40 cop cars, SWAT team, search helicopters, and news crews. The Elders told us they were walking by when they saw a man bookin it down the street. Right behind him were three cops on foot. The man ran into a random house. After about a minute, the other 40 cop cars started pulling in on all roads. Earlier that day an armed robbery had taken place and they thought this was the guy. Running didn't make him seem innocent. We stood outside waiting and a sniper walked past us. He told us that they had the guy in custody. I haven't heard anything else but I heard rumors that it was a different guy who was guilty of something else. What luck!

 

While we were knocking on a trailer door this week to visit a referral, the security guard came over. After we said hello to him, he said, "what are you doing here?" We answered. He then said, "I know you mormons, I grew up one! I've come to learn that yer all a bunch of crazy mother______s! GET OFF THIS PROPERTY!" We told him they wanted us to come by and we were just trying to help. He said, "yeah, you mormons are sure known for helpin people..." sarcastically. Fun times. White people are crazy.

 

Recently there have been a substantial amount of Dept of Homeland Security vans and trucks driving around Yuma. I want to know what for...

 

We talked to this interestnig guy the other day. He was sitting on a picnic bench waiting for some "friends." We get talking to him and he says the usual, 'I don't need a church I accepted Christ 12 years ago' thing. We told him a bit more about why we need to be in Christ's Church for salvation and he said, "I don't believe in religion!" As we spoke a bit more, we learned what he was there for. He was passing around pamphlets for people to visit his church which was showing a street racing video. I asked him, "So what's the difference between church and religion?" He looked at me and said, "Well...you got me there!" and got up and left. A good laugh.

 

Tonight we are back to eating with the Spanish branch. We spend the 1st-21st eating with them then 22nd-30/31st eating with the white ward. I heard that all white people feed you is Spaghetti. Naturally, I was stoked for that! We went 10 days eating with them and all we had was potato soup, encheladas, and beans. No spaghetti! I was robbed. English people sure do give a TON of brownies and ice cream. At almost every dinner we had that. It has been interesting to compare the two dinner "scenes." Latinos don't usually eat with you, they dish your plate for you, and then you leave. With English people, they eat with you, let you dish your own food, stuff you with desert, give you money, and then send you home with brownies. They give us a lot, the English people. The latinos give us more, I think, in the sense of humility and love. That said, I still want a spaghetti dinner...Speaking of food, I honestly do think my taste buds have dulled out. I can hardly taste food. I can't decide if that's a good thing or a bad thing.

 

I'm rocking a sick tan line from my watch as you can see in those baptismal pictures.

 

Great quote from Spencer W Kimball: "Someone said we live in a day when God, if there is a God, choose to be silent, but the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter day Saints proclaims to the world that neither the Father nor the Son are silent. One of those theologians above indicated it was impossible for man to know God. This is like saying: I have never climbed Mt Ararat - therefore, no one can climb Mt Arart. How presumptuious and arrogant for any man to say God is unapproachable, nuknowable, unseeable, unhearable, because he has not prepared himself for the experience."

 

Also, "Anything worth anything is worth working for."

 

So each month we are given 1,100 miles to drive in the car. Since Yuma is so huge and hot, they give us cars. Yes, I know. We bike everyday though! Anyway, yesterday was the last of the month. As such, everyone was working to make their miles last. We got a phone call from some elders, "we're out of miles! Come pick us up on the side of the road!" We didn't since we were also low on miles! We finished the month with 1.3 miles left. Close call!

 

In some of the pictures I sent earlier you can see a field. EVery week I want to write abuot irrigation here but always forget. They flood the fields. The yards. Everything they flood. 2-6" of water sit on all fields at least once a week. Ducks swim in it. There could be fish if it wasn't all dried up the next evening. The Church did that and it smelled exactly like a pond. That picture won't do it justice at all, but it is just funny how they do it here.

 

Question!

How do you fix squeeky disk brakes? We have a lot of lube just can't figure outwhere to apply it.

Also, does the sun set across the horizon faster than it moves across the sky? You can see it drop below the horizon in 10 mins here but it seems to take far longer to move across the sky.

Also, I keep hearing about a Native American "white God." Apparently he came once, surrounded by much destruction, and will come again. Sounds like Christ.

If the sun and the moon are on opposite sides of the Earth, how does the moon seem so bright yet the Earth seem so dark?

Can thermal cameras catch body temperature move from the extremities to the core?

 

 

Thank you Grandpa Johnson, Eric, Mom, Will, and Mark for the letters this week. I should have time to write everyone today but the new bowling alley just opened up and our zone is pretty competative on P-Days with bowling. I'm undefeated with an average of 160 per game. Not great, but not too bad! Now we don't have to drive up to the Native American reservation @ Cocopah to bowl now! Letters will be en route this afternoon. It's great to hear from you all.

 

Thanks so much for all the continued support, it's great to hear about how life is going from everyone,

Con amor,

Elder Johnson

23 August 2012

Dear Family and Friends,

Whew, time at the MTC FLIES by. We have 11 days left as of today and we're all starting to get excited to get out of the MTC.

Earlier this week I stumbled upon an Elder with a tiny Preach my Gospel. It is about the size of 2 notecards with all the pages, pictures, notes and everything of the full size one. I asked Hermana Olsen where I could get one (Since I'm worried about weight for my bags when I fly out. I planned on sending the full size ones home to save weight.) and she said since the Church didn't publish them, you have to go around and buy them and technically they're illegal. Well, I walked into the bookstore yesterday and apparently the church has just started publishing the "pocket sized" P my G's (Preach my Gosepls). I quickly bought one for an obscenely expensive $3.20. A steal. Spanish copies are coming this week and I'll buy one of those too. I will then send my English and Spanish full size P my Gs home to family where they can read whatever notes I have (I'm transfering mine over). I haven't taken a ton because I figure I still have 1.9 years left, no point over marking it now. Anyway, they're awesome and way more convenient.

At the MTC, Apostles, or Members of the Quorum of 12 Apostles (Think James, John....modern time though) try to make it to the MTC every 9 or so weeks. The week before we came to the MTC, there was a huge conference here where almost all the apostles came and all the mission presidents. All the missionaries here got to meet their presidents. I'm jealous. Anyway, we are running out of days here and we still had not had an apostle come speak at a devotional. On Monday night, in my nighly prayers, I asked if we could be blessed with the opportunity to hear an Apostle of God speak to us. I ended my prayers and thought nothing of it. The next day, devotional day, as we were singing in the choir, someone walked on stage. Immediately, the whole room stood up. I recognized the person as Elder Anderson, one of the 12 Apostles. Elder Myler leans over to me and goes, "Why is everyone standing up?" I excitedly said, "Elder Anderson!" He then said, "Who's that...OHHHHHHHHH" We won't let him live that one down. He delivered a great devotional about 10 things President Monson would have said if he was there (it was his birthday that day.) I don't remember them but one was, "Since you are on the Lord's errand, you are entitled to His help." Entitled to His help.What a powerful idea. Anyway, my prayer was very much answered. God knows the desires of our hearts before we do. Prayer is showing that we care enough to ask and have enough faith that we can receive the answer.

We just got back from the temple. We went an hour earlier than our scheduled time because there are lots of lines there. We did initiatories today. The spirit was so strong and I felt great feelings of peace as I was there. Since next week is our last P Day, we're toying with the idea of doing initiatories, endowment, and sealings in one day. That would be special.

For the entire time I have been here, I think as I have mentioned before, I have had a hard time sleeping. A couple of weeks ago Elder Myler and I went to the onsite doctor and I asked if I could get sleeping pills. He said no at the time but if it continues to come back. His concern was that I would wake up sleepy....which I did already since, you know, I wasn't sleeping. On Monday night I got a solid 3 hours of sleep which was enough proof for me to go back to the doctor. I had also woken up that night standing in the hallway. I told him it was time for the sleeping pills and he agreed. As I was walking to pick up the perscription, I ran into none other than Sister Wood, Roland's mom. She was driving up and pulled over and said hi and that she had just dropped off a package my mom sent. I said thanks, hi, and goodbye. What were the chances that I would see someone from Virginia while walking on a small sidewalk outside the MTC in a small city in Utah. It was a fun experience. Anyway, since I got the pills I have slept wayyyyyy better. Tropozene I think are what they're called. Supposedly they're anti depressants (spelling?) but I get a smaller dosage. I'm definitely not depressed. He told me to take one a night, two if absolutely necesarry. The first night I took two pills just because I wanted to sleep quickly. Within 20 minutes I was having a hard time walking since I was so dizzy. I fell asleep so fast and slept like a baby. I took one last night and didn't wake up tired at all. I think one is the magic number.

Elder Myler and I are the new Zone Leaders for our zone. For those who don't know, there is a, I hesitate to use this word because it isn't really applicable, hierarchy on the mission. Not in the sense of power, but in the sense of responsibility. You get a mission president who is in charge of 100-300 missionaries in an area and his two counselors. You have an Assistant to the President. Idon't really know what they do. Next, you have Zone Leaders who are in charge of all the missionaries in a large geographical area and then district leaders and then "regular" missionaries. Zone Leaders are responsible for helping maintain order, helping new missionaries, and more. In the MTC their responsibilities are a bit different. We help with new missionary orientation, help resolve conflicts and more. For the sake of time I won't go into much detail. Moral of the story is that we're now the missionaries in charge of ~60 missionaries in our zone. It's a lot of work but very rewarding.

Yesterday was an exciting day, too. We got to be "Hosts" for new missionaries which essentially means we escorted the new missionaries when they got dropped off at the door to their rooms/classrooms etc. It brought back memories of the first day I was here, or what is left of them. That was a crazy day. Lots of crying. Lots more than I remember. Elder Myler also had to go to the Orthodontist to get his retainer re-glued. As such, we got to go off campus via shuttle to the place. I had forgotten there was a world outside of the MTC, Temple, and soccer field.

It rained last night! Finally.

I finished Jesus the Christ this week. What a book. 5 weeks later I finished the most dense 780 page book I've read since the Count of Monte Cristo. Maybe I shouldn't compare those two books but both were great, relatively hard to read. I learned so much about the life and ministry of Christ. Everyone needs to read it. The climax, in my mind, was the last two days of His life. He knew it was coming and was very ready. I learned some really interesting things about Pilate, the Roman governer who sentenced him, officially, to death. I've always heard about how guilty he was of that action but the more I read it the less I thought it. He tried five times to stop the people from sentencing him, four more times after he tried, and twice during the lashings. His wife had a dream that he should not do anything with ¨¨this just man¨¨ and he even said, "my hands are clean of the blood of this just man." His responsibility to his job and the guilt of his life beforehand came back and he was, in my mind, almost forced to do so. I do not view him as half as guilty as the Jews who gave him an illegal trial and killed him. He was the man who "signed the paper" but it was with regret. He is obviously accountable for his actions as agency comes in at some point, but he is the "less of two weavils" (who can quote that movie)

I met an Elder who watchs Formula 1! We geeked out about it for a bit. He's serving in Montreal. He told me F1 is the 5th largest GDP on Earth since they spend over 3 trillion a year on it. I haven't heard that number but I wouldn't be surprised seeing how Ferrari alone spends 500,000,000$ on engine research alone.

Spanish is making me REALLY good at Charades. Good luck when I get back trying to beat me.

On Sunday, for no reason at all, we tried to see who could go the longest without speaking. Elder Myler went 5 minutes, Elder Jacobsen went 3 hours, Shreeve went 6, I went 8, and Thorsen went 8.1. It was a long day.

Mom, Dad, Grandpa and Grandma Wolthuis: Do you know a Bonkemeyer family from Sweet Home Oregon? One of my good friends here is named Bonkemeyer. He told me his father worked in the logging industry in South Africa (they're Americans but he runs a business down there) and I mentioned my grandpa owns a tree farm. He asked where, I said a little city near Sweet Home Oregon where they live. He got all excited and said his Dad worked in logging in Sweet Home in the 80s. I don't know his Dad's first name but the last name is Bonkemeyer. I said my Mom's side is named Wolthuis. The two are not very common names and he said he recognized Wolthuis from stories his parents have told. Think hard, it would be awesome if you knew them.

I heard a story about a man who was asked what his biggest fear was. He said, "I live in constant fear that I will offend someone." - J. Reuben Clark.  

Thank you Aunt Carmen, Mom, Dad, Eric, Will, Mark, Natalia, Manda, and Aunt Andra for the great letters this week! I'm writing this at 9:50am, a little earlier than usual which means if I get any mail today it won't be able to be included in this. Thanks in advance.

Thank you all so much for your continual love and support,

With Love,

Elder Johnson