June 9, 2014

I think the absolute highlight of this last week was a spontaneous companionship study with President Toone. I've always had questions that I don't have the answers to and he ALWAYS has the answers. I think for a year straight I've been texting him at random intervals with questions that I cannot answer. A few weeks ago he said, "Elder Johnson, why don't we have a companionship study together?" I wasn't sure how serious he was.

On an exchange with Elder Nelson this last week, I told that very story to him. Elder Nelson said he had always wanted to do one with President and encouraged me to text President and invite him to come over the next morning. At 9:45 pm we sent the text to President. Ten minutes later we got the best text ever.

"Oh wow...I would love that! Let me check my schedule. I will call you."

We got a text from him the next morning saying, 

"I'll be there in 20 minutes!" 

We were stoked! Luckily our apartment was suuuuper clean (isn't it always?) and we invited him in. He had to lean over to fit his head through our door frame. We all sat down in our room and bam, it started. We asked him some questions which triggered his excitement and for 1.5 hours he taught the two of us in our small room.

It was one of the coolest memories of my mission. President Toone LOVES church history and knows absolutely EVERYTHING about EVERYTHING. All three of us were all smiles that morning as we talked about the doctrine and some very interesting things that he has learned over the years. It was an amazing experience. President Toone has instilled a passion into me for church history. He knows the absolute coolest things in the world. 

I got a message from President Toone this morning saying, 

"I loved out companion study the other day. We should do that more often."

If you insist!! :) 

I'm going to miss President and Sister Toone.

This past week was zone meeting. In all my time giving them, I had never struggled so much to plan one as we did for this one. Our zone is perfect. There are no problems. We sat there for hours and tried to figure out what to do. Eventually we concluded that we'd show them the improvement. We made a graph of the last 16 week statistical areas for each area and the zone. We are 3x as high as we were 16 weeks ago. This is the place to be! We also talked about a mission-wide push for a family mission plan. 

After the zone lunch we went to heaven: Canton Wong #8! We squeezed 21 missionaries into the tiny restaurant and had a great lunch. We all love that place haha. 

Story time. This last week the craziest thing that has ever happened to me happened. A missionary almost died. [Paul often writes stories about people dying.]

Here's the story. We have the best district in the world. Elder Sylvester and I, Elder Nelson and Torres, and Hnas Smuin and Acosta all serve in the same ward and we make up district 1. We usually eat dinners with Elders Nelson and Torres. This past week we were slated to eat together but the member asked us if they could drop Carls Jr (haha) off for us at the church at 5:45. We said yes and went a little before that so that we could just eat dinner in 15 minutes and be out at 6:00 to work. At 6:05 she showed up and we were all starving and out of time so we quickly blessed the food and ate.

Elder Torres and I are both allergic to sea food, except he is deathly allergic. Once consumed, he has 30 minutes to live.

We opened the giant bag and pulled out the food she had brought us. There were two chicken nuggets inside of it that Elder Torres and I grabbed. He ate the entire one and I took a bite, looked inside, and said it tasted funny. It was fish.

In a moment of pure panic, he ran to the bathroom to gag himself. I hadn't swallowed and spat it up in the kitchen. I came back and we waited for Elder Torres to come out of the bathroom. Panic started to set in as Elder Nelson explained to us the seriousness of what had happened. While waiting, we quickly called President and Sister Toone. No answer. We kept calling. No answer.

Eventually Elder Torres runs out of the bathroom with tears running down his face with a look of pure terror. "Guys," he said, "I don't want to die! I can't throw it up! I don't want to die!"

The expression on his face was one that I will never forget. It was one of someone who was sure they were about to die.

Elder Nelson quickly grabbed a chair and said, "Sit down, we're going to give you a priesthood blessing!" We gave the phones to Elder Sylvester and had him call President and Sister Toone over and over until they answered. 

During the blessing we had contacted President Toone and been approved to go to the ER or Urgent Care. We ran to the car and I floored it backwards. 

I like driving fast. [from mom: better not drive fast there OR when you get home!]

As I backed, I called 911 and asked for the nearest location. I had a 15 second battle over not sending an ambulance. He insisted, I insisted against it. ($$$). He gave us the cross streets and I raced around the corner going...at a safe speed. Thank goodness we did not have Tiwi - that was the first miracle. [from mom:  I think we need a tiwi for him as a coming home present!]

We left the zone then the mission as we raced to downtown Phoenix. We sat in utter silence as Elder Nelson encouraged Elder Torres. It was a weird feeling. I was watching the clock closely, terrified that 30 minutes would expire before we arrived. Elder Torres started to react with his throat closing off and his tongue becoming inflamed. His speech was slurred. 

We kept driving.

After five or so minutes, I commented that I felt a very strong peace in the car. Elder Nelson agreed and we kept driving.

We arrived at the Urgent Care. Elder Torres ran inside, naturally still scared. 

There was absolutely nothing wrong with him. The doctor thought we were crazy since he had no symptoms of any allergic reaction.

He had been healed. Completely healed. His life was saved.

And with that miracle came a secondary miracle to all four of us: an assurance that the Lord runs the show. This is His church, His priesthood and authority to perform miracles is back. 

And it works.

We reflected on it after we left and I continue to think back to it. He should have died. But he didn't. He is completely fine.

:)

Another miracle happened when the only missionary couple on Sri Lanka contacted a referral I sent them! They have a return appointment today :) She told me the entire family was excited to see them! So excited, actually, that they called another family member at the doorstep and let the senior couple talk to them over the phone!!!

It is so hot in Arizona.

Yesterday, eight of our 10 zones were affected by an ET. Hna Acosta, our favorite Australian sister, was transferred back to her last (and only other) area in Northern Phoenix. Sister Smuin is staying and will be training someone who has been out for three weeks, Sister Finau. She's from Tonga but lives in Hawaii. She'll be a good addition to our weekly zone gatorball activity! 

Elder Sylvester and I found a hornet nest on a door at church yesterday. The building we go to is really unique: there is a courtyard and the classrooms go around the perimeter of it. We pointed it out to Bishop. He's a tough guy. We had seen hornets fly in and out of it. He walked over to it, grabbed it with his hand, and ripped it off! Somehow there were none inside haha. His response, "Will it kill me? Then I'm going to take it down!" Hahahahahah. He's the man.

This last week I finished a personal goal that I had set to read the New Testament in 3.5 weeks. What a great experience! I've read the gospels many times but never all the way through the epistles. Every chapter I read just reinforced my gratefulness for the our church. Everything that no one else can explained is so clearly explained in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints! There isn't confusion! "God is not the author of confusion." 

This morning I started my next challenge: read the Book of Mormon in 22 days. My goal is to read about 25 pages a day looking for attributes that I want to have. I read 28 this morning and am loving it so far. It's about 150 a week or so. I'll keep you updated as I go along but I have already learned so much from Nephi, Lehi, Laman, Lemuel, and more. 

Thank you all for your continued support! I hope it's freezing cold wherever you are!

Love,

Elder Johnson

28 October 2013

This morning I sat and made a list of how my mission has changed me. It'll be an ever-growing list I hope.

This coming week is going to be tough. From 5-9 PM tonight we have MLC where we will be at the mission home discussing the mission, goals, and the future.

Tomorrow from 9-12 we will have another MLC and the Director of Proselyting and some other SLC officials are coming to train the zone leaders about the iPads. From 1-4pm the mission will be coming in by zone to get the iPads and be trained quickly on how to use the AreaBook Planner app and other tools.

So we're not working tonight, half of tomorrow, and from 4-9pm on Thursday since it's Halloween. Joy.

Last week was the last "greenie" meeting for half of the zone as they completed their 12 week training program. Half of the zone got transferred. One sister missionary who has been out six weeks is training and three who have been out 12 weeks are training. 60% of the missionaries in the Arizona Tempe mission now are in their first 6 months. Things are changing dramatically! 

We made the last greenie meeting fun. From the stand, Elder Gaspar and I did announcements but only saying one word each. We played the opening hymn by playing one note each too. 

It has been really hard for a lot of the new missionaries to come into the field and then be put on Facebook. They said goodbye to their family 2-6 weeks before and now they can potentially talk to them everyday. That's not the idea of Facebook unless it's focused around a missionary purpose. 

The wards we cover have been very enthusiastic about us being on Facebook. We get lots of "thank yous" at church. We're still waiting for other people to start sharing the gospel over Facebook though. We invite, invite, invite, then follow up, follow up, follow up, and usually nothing happens. We are very grateful for the few who have taken it to heart and are sharing all over the place on Facebook. 

It has been fun to see friends and family posting on my statuses to answer questions and doubts of other people posting on my statuses on Facebook. The discussion is great! And it gives everyone a tiny tiny glimpse of the opposition we meet everyday :)

This past week we got a referral from other missionaries about a woman who wanted a blessing. We went over and gave the blessing. She has been very sick. Three days later we returned and she said she has felt dramatically better emotionally and physically. 

We also had the opportunity to give a blessing this past week who is struggling with giving up smoking. He's working towards baptism. Twice before he had "fallen off date" for smoking and so we decided we would step it up. We'd been praying for weeks for our investigators to get "recommitted," but it wasn't until this day that I realized we had to become recommitted as well.

That's not to say we've been lazy, no. I've just gotten in the mentality that I can teach correct principles and things will work out. I've taken a step out of the day to day affairs of those we teach. I've stopped caring about their personal lives as much as I should.

So I recommitted myself and we recommitted our companionship. We visited this man, taught a lesson around feeling the spirit, and then offered him a priesthood blessing. He asked me to administer it. He said that as soon as we said "Amen," that he felt a burden taken off his back. We sat down, finished the lesson, and left.

The next day we walked up and he had a cigarette in hand. He looked at us and said, "I have a curse." He told us that every time he had tried to smoke he felt sick and nauseous and like throwing up. 

He couldn't smoke anymore.

I left that day with an increased testimony in the power of priesthood blessings.

But as I pondered this morning on what helps me endure it isn't the amazing miracles that I see. What helps me keep going are the little things; the blessing given to me in the MTC by a dear friend, the personal revelation that has assured me of my purpose, the miraculous changes I've seen in those around me and in myself. Miracles are great. They reaffirm my faith. But I don't look to them in the times of trial - I look to the quiet and personal answers I have received from a loving Heavenly Father.

The work is picking up in the Spanish ward. We are finding people who are prepared and they are progressing in the gospel.

This week was another week with over 50 lessons taught. Facebook has clicked for me.

We got played. We were teaching someone who looked so interested. She did everything we asked her to do, she came to church, general conference, and made friends in the ward. And then she asked for welfare. She got it. And then she disappeared.

I've been thinking a lot about that this past week. The church helps random people out with everyday problems, why? Not because they're expecting them to get baptized and come to church, but because the church solves problem. Christ told us to sacrifice all we had for others. Through our sacrifices, through our charity, through our Christlike love, we can help other people recognize in themselves their true identity as sons and daughters of God. All we can do is hope they act on that.

I also realized this week that in my entire mission I've only come into an area and had one person that was already being taught get baptized. Of everyone I've ever baptized, I have found and taught them all except for one. That's pretty cool.

Well it's official! The Mesa Alma stake is part of the Gilbert temple district. We are 10 minutes walking distance from the Mesa temple and yet we are assigned to the temple 30 minutes away. Classic. All that that means is that we get to be super involved in the open house...assuming I'm here in two months.

Oh goodness this past week someone asked what we did as missionaries and I said, "we are eating people, I mean teaching people..." That was embarrassing. I was hungry...

Six weeks ago Elder Gaspar and I taught someone who we ended up referring to the young single adult ward in Tempe. He was a cool guy and had some things to work on, as we all do. That was the last we heard of him. This past week we were teaching the friend of one of our recent converts and this guy we had taught six weeks before randomly walks out of the house and says, "Hey! I'm getting baptized this Saturday!" 

That made our day.

That very recent convert is amazing. Every week she brings a friend to church. This past week she brought a family to church with her. Why do we, as lifelong members, lose the missionary spirit that these recent converts so clearly love, live, and share? I hope we can all recommit ourselves and follow Elder Ballard's challenge from General Conference and invite one person to church by Christmas.

I posted this status on Facebook this past week but I will repeat it here for those who missed it.

Talking with people on the street can either the best or the 

worst part of the day. 
Last night we were visiting someone who turned out not to be home. While we walked away I noticed two people on the third floor balcony. I wasn't planning on talking to them originally but as I walked away I felt something tell me to go back. So I did.

From 40 feet below them I said, "How's your evening going?" The woman yelled back, "I'm feeling blessed!"

I asked her why and she said, "Do you think I'm happy?" "Yes," I responded. She said, "Well, I'm not."

She and her friend were both smoking and had clearly been drinking. It wasn't a great situation and being 40 feet below didn't help.

I replied, "What can I do to help?" She quickly said, "Give me a 40 [ounce] to drink!" I told her, "I probably can't do that..."

She said, "Then what can you do?"

I thought for a second and said, "I can pray for you."

Thirty seconds later she was walking down the three flights of stairs with her friend to the ground level.

We gathered together and she said, "My best friend just died and I'm lost. I'm struggling with several addictions and I don't know what to do."

We bowed our heads in humble prayer.

As I said amen and looked up I saw them in tears. The woman thanked me repeatedly and said, "I feel better."

Watching her walk away with a smile on her face put an even bigger one on mine.

Just like I said the other day, it is those tender moments that make it all worthwhile. Watching one person struggling with the loss of a loved one, addictions, sadness, and depression is humbling but watching them overcome those and get back in their feet is truly inspiring.

May we all remember that He is the healer.

Missionary work is great. 

Thank you all for your support! Thanks for the letters Eric, Mom, Mark, and Will! 

Con amor,

EJ

10 September 2012

Dear Family and Friends,

I caught the 3:10 to Yuma!more on that in a bit, though.

Two things: I don't speak Spanish and it is really hot.

My Address:
Elder Paul Johnson
1600 W 12th Street
#3422
Yuma, AZ 85365

What a crazy few days it has been! Left the MTC at 5am, plane left at 8, and landed at 10. On the plane, I fell asleep for the first ~20 or so minutes then woke up to find Elder Jacobsen talking to the guy next to him. I was in the aisle. The guy, named Mark, was a grad student at ASU studying communications. I butted into the conversation and we had a great discussion about communication, our plans for the future, and what missions are. It was a very relaxed conversation and flowed well.

Once we landed, we were quickly scurried up by the mission presidents, assistants, and his wife. We all somehow squished into two MAVs (Mormon Assault Vehicles - long vans) and went on our way towards the mission home. Luckily, it was only a 20 minute drive. Once there, we unpacked some things and threw it into a room in the Church. We had a short brunch where we got to meet people and talked for a bit. They split us up into two groups: one that went and OYM'd (Open Your Mouth, contacting random people on the street) and one that was interviewed and did a short orientation. We were in that second group. Interviews were nice and short. After that, Elder Myler and I were dropped in a random trailer park and told to go pass out some copies of the Book of Mormon and talk to people -- in Spanish. We were still companions because we had not received our companions for the field yet. We walked around and talked to some people. Our first contact...words cannot describe how bad it was. We walked up to a woman cutting Cactus for dinner and tried to talk. Words didn't really come out. She just sat there laughing. It was way too awkward. We opened to a scripture, gave her the book, and just left. After that, they slowly got better.

The rest of the day were meetings with the staff and whatnot. We had dinner at a members house, taco salad, and then we dispersed to spend the night with a member. We all stayed in the Tempe area. The one who Elders Jacobsen, Myler, and I stayed at were awesome and very welcoming. We talked a bit and then fell asleep at 8. It had been a long day. Since they did not tell us where we were going or who our new companions were, we were all dying that night. The next day was the day!

We woke up at 5:45 to get ready and then left to the church to have the transfer meeting at 7:15. Once there, we talked a bit with the misison president and his wife about things I can't remember but were doubtlessly important. You could sense the excitement in the room. They moved us into the chapel after 2 hours of meetings to meet our trainers and learn where we were going. When we walked in, all the trainers (companions that help introduce new missionaries to the area) were sitting on the far left side of the room. We were told to sit on the far right. One by one, President Howes, the mission president, read off a name of the trainer, a name of the trainee (us), and the area they would be serving. Lets see if I can remember: Elder Jacobsen is in Skyline, Elder Myler is in Chandler, and... I can't remember where the Hermanas are. Woops. They read everyone's name off and eventually I was sitting by myself on the right. They had saved me for last. I was dying, but, naturally kept a cool face, yo. I heard my name, my trainers name (Elder Sawyer, 16 months in, form Meridian, ID), and then Yuma! I had been saying that if there was one place I wanted to serve, it was in Yuma. Yuma is the border zone. Then they said we were whitewashing into Yuma.

Whitewashing means that they take both the missionaries who were there out and put two new ones in. They do it to put a breath of fresh air into the area if it is struggling a bit. Whitewashing and training means that both he and I have no idea what we are doing here haha. The first couple days we spent ~6 hours planning and looking through the Area Books. It was hard. Furthermore, when we walked into our apartment, it was a mess. They had had a "party" the night before. Lots of things were on the ground, there were burnt papers (?!), and more. Mom, if you thought MY room was bad... We spent 3 hours a couple days ago cleaning out one room and found 3 garbage bags full worth of trash. We have a lot to do today. There are also cockroaches and bed bugs have come back. I haven't seen any bed bugs yet...Mmhmmmmm

Our apartment is nice, size wise. We have a sweet view (I forgot my camera in our room...I'll have pictures next week..) of a trailer park and then the desert right after it followed by some grande mountains. Ooh, and a small canal/stream/river!

Yuma is hot. Hot. Hot. If you leave a water bottle on the ground it melts. If you leave a CD case on the dashboard, it melts. It is dry, too. Luckily, we've had two days of showers and awesomeeeeeeee thunder storms. Thunder that shakes houses, lightning that is everywhere. Anyway, they give missionaries a car down here (we drive a swagger wagon. Dodge van, can't remember name) a car and give 1000 miles a week. We bike once a week (picked up bike, by the way. thanks!). They say being sent to Yuma is like banishment. We don't get to go to a temple even though we're close to San Diego, we don't get Dear Elders often, we don't get to go to mission meetings, it's really really really hot. It doesn't really feel like the US here. Lots and lots of trailer parks and Mexicans. The city isn't tall and the landscape is quite literally a desert. There are stray dogs, chickens and roosters running around the streets. The poverty is unbelievable yet the people are so welcoming. More on that in a bit... Just real quick, Yuma is large geographically but few people. There are only 4 companionships here, one of which are the Zone Leaders (ZLs).

I made it through the entire MTC without ironing once. On our first day, I started ironing but Elder Sawyer told me that there's a dryer on our balcony. Never ironing my shirt again!

I've joked about how it rains when I leave or go places. It rained for 3 days before we left the MTC, it rained when I got here! Move over Schumacher,there's a new rain master in town. [Schumacher is an F-1 car racer who must have the rain follow him too.]

Food. We eat at a members home 6 nights a week. We've had Pizza, Beans, Shrimp/Cervichi and ALMOST Menudo. I think I'm going to die in Yuma. I eat it but every time it almost comes up. Of everything we've eaten, I'd say Pizza is the best but I wouldn't go out of my way to eat it still. Cervichi is the devil. Bane of my existence. It's like shrimp and..other stuff, I don't even know what. We ate at this one members' house. It was a trailer without a table and a tiny couch and two chairs. The Sisters in the area eat with us so we stuffed in. There was room for the two sisters and Elder Sawyer and me sitting near each other, no more. She fed us cold Cervichi. I ate about half and while the host stepped out to grab something, Elder Sawyer, like a boss, switched plates with me. He ended up eating mine, a Sisters, and his own. Como un jefe [like the boss]. Did I mention it was cold? Straight out of the fridge. They didn't have power in their trailer. Their willingness to help out was humbling though. Menudo is what I'm most scared to eat. It is the stomach lining of cow in a soup.

But first, let me explain the last two days. We have given five blessings in 1.5 days. For some reason everyone has been asking recently. Two have been in English, three in Spanish. Elder Sawyer takes those ones. They take a lot of time out of our day since three were at the Hospital (2 year old girl had top lip bitten off by Dog, needs surgery, older less active woman asked, and  third was a woman who wanted one also) Let me preface the story with this: I've been praying a lot for my taste buds to just die for 2 years. On the way out to our dinner apt I was saying a prayer in my heart that the food would be spaghetti or something. As we are driving out, a huge storm comes in. We're talking 40+ mph winds, rain, LOTS of lightning, and sand! (There are lots of dust storms here, like hundreds of feet tall walls of dust coming at you. Waiting to get a picture of one...). Anyway, we're driving there and then we see power go out everywhere. Since the desert is flat, you can see everything. We pull up to the house and they said since the power went out, they couldn't cook the Menudo and instead had to order Pizza. I've never been so happy to eat Pizza in my life. Little blessings like that keep you going. I doubt that will work for two years, but we'll see. I think between my prayers and the willingness to give so many blessings, we got a little one in return.

While we were in the hospital, a nurse asked us to go visit a woman who just got transferred in. As we were walking in, a Border Patrol dude/agent/guy stopped us and said, "Who are you and what are you doing with my convict?" He was pretty intense about it. we told him our business and he let us go. Inside we learned (Or Elder Sawyer did. Remember, I can't speak Spanish) that she had been in a group coming across the border illegally and the coyote left her behind in the desert to die. US Border Patrol found her and saved her. I can't imagine knowing that I am about to die and being alone in 110 degree weather. It's kind of crazy how close we are to all the action. Unfortunately we're not ON the border (That's the San Luis district, we're in Yuma, ~15 miles north) but we see everyone coming through the Yuma hospital.

We cover three wards for our mission area. An English, a Spanish Branch, and a Young Singles Adult. Not sure why that last one since they usually send ZLs  [Zone Leaders] there but we have it. The English branch is pretty large, the YSA [Young Single Adults] has about 25 and the Spanish branch has about 40. It seems dead. I leaned over to Sawyer and mentioned that and he said, "We're here to save it."

In the 6 days we've been here, we've taught 3 lessons, 2 of which were yesterday. Everyone listens but no one follows up. Must be a cultural thing. Most people are really nice.

But some aren't. We were walking around this one trailer park and went up to these guys. Lots of tats, cigarettes. They were angry with us and told us that we were in their gang zone. We mentioned what we were doing and they lightened up. Intense stuff. One group had a shotgun pulled on them. I love Yuma!

Selective poverty is also clear. Nice cars, nice phones, but living in a tiny powerless trailer. Sad.

Lots of homes have solar cells. Makes sense. It's so bright... I'ma need to find me some shades.

For one of our investigators, we're teaching him to read. That officially starts tomorrow. Never taught anyone to read before...especially in a language I barely speak.

I should clarify a bit. I understand about 25% of what people say but since they mumble and talk so quick I can barely get that. I can usually speak relatively well for being so 'young.'

That's all I have time for, expect some sweet pictures of a dust tornado thing, rain storms, a gross spider, desert landscape, and more.

Thanks Tori, Natalia, and Doug for letters and brownies! Quick note on Dear Elders: since I'm in Yuma, I get Dear Elders once every 3-4 weeks. We're 3.5 hours from the mission home which is where they go.

 What causes time to slow near a blackhole? Can someone look up the etymology of Apostle and Apostasy and tell me why the words are so similar?

"It's so hot up in dis club that I ain't got no shoes on"

With love,
Elder Johnson