15 October 2012

This was the first picture Paul sent home today.

Good thing his mom has his passport at home. . .

Paul's pretty curious about this border. . .

Here he is:  Elder Paul Johnson

Ever an airplane in the group of photos.  He really should become a pilot, not a politician some day.

He was pretty excited to hit the 100 mile mark on his new bike.  I suppose that is 100 miles since about September 4.

Dear Family and Friends,

 

Transfer two has begun!

 

And I am...

 

...

 

...

 

Staying in Yuma! So relieved. I love Yuma. Elder Heathcote is leaving but everyone else is staying. In fact, they're adding two new members down in Somerton, the second closest town area to the border. But I'm staying in the "city" so I'm happy. That means my address is staying the same so feel free to send lots of letters!

 

I was flipping through the letters you have all sent me (thanks!) and I found one I didn't notice. At least a part of one I didn't notice. Mom, you mentioned a picture you got of Grandma and me hugging? Could you send that to me? Gracias.

 

I went down to San Luis this week on exchanges. That is the city on on on on on on the border. I asked Elder Allen what all the lights were outside the back window (They have a house down there for the missionaries. Place is a dump) and he said, "Oh, those are the border lights!" Two blocks away was the border. We went by the next morning and I got some pictures. Now I can plot my way to sneak across! They say that no one sneaks back into Mexico. The town is an interesting one with the majority of signs being in Spanish. Elder Sawyer was "born" there (started his mission) and loves the place. It has lots of fields and it is humbling to see the men out there working all day, literally 16 hours, in these fields. They take them out in buses with trailers of porta-johns. These guys do real work. I'm impressed by how hard they work to put food on their tables. I can't believe that anyone would think of them (mostly illegals) as bad people. They're so humble and rush to give us water even when they can't afford enough food for their families. They won't take no for an answer. I think we can all learn something from them.

 

 I've mentioned in previous letters about how crazy things happen when we recount the story of the first vision and recite it word for word. When I was in San Luis, a really nice Mexican family, very obviously drunk, invited us in. As we recounted the vision, the spirit was strong. I realized nothing was happening as we were nearing the end of the quote. Right before we said the last two lines, the door flew open and four loud kids ran in. The spirit was gone and the opportunity was lost. he works hard against us. Just interesting how it happens over and over and over.

 

The stars in San Luis are also very bright. I was in awe and tried to remember all the constellations that I had memorized only last year for my Astronomy class. Couldn't do it. What is the constellation that looks like a W in the sky? The name starts with a C...

 

Nothing big happened this week crime wise except for police storming a car dealership with guns drawn three blocks from home. I wanted to go take pictures but Sawyer, probably wisely, said we should get to our lesson. But don't worry, we're safe.

 

We have met one of the most interesting religions down here. They are called the Ba'hai. They have a book out called "Vibrational Medicine" if someone wants to send me one :) We can read that stuff on P Day.

 

Lots of Jehovah's Witnesses. Jay-dubs. We went to one house to teach a lesson as JWs were walking out. It was hilarious, they gave us an awful look. Apparently they lose many investigators to us. I want to sit with one and talk about what they believe. Everytime we find a JW maganize on the road I pick it up and read it. Interesting, to say the least. But to each their own!

 

Can someone send me in-depth stories of family history from both sides of the family?

 

I saw a plane flying over us doing an aerial refueling the other day. I tried to snap a picture but it focused on the tree nearby.... They have been doing flight orientation this week so many many many T38s, F16, F18, KC130ish planes, helicopters I won't try to name but Chinook and Cobra and Blackhawk are there, and even radar planes. I always stop to look haha.

 

 

Highlite of this week was SPAGHETTI DINNERRRRRRRRRR. Everyday as we walk through the door to dinner I tell Sawyer, "Man, I'm feeling good about dinner tonight! Spaghetti time!" I'm always brutally wrong. I expected it when we ate with the white people and never got it. We ate with a Mexican family and they gave us a ton of spaghetti. Since we eat with the Sisters every night too (since we share the branch) they know that I'm always looking for spaghetti. As such, we all got a laugh out of it. They gave us a monster plate full of it since Mexicans eat so much. I downed it. When she asked if I want more and since you don't say no to Mexicans regarding food, I said I'd take a little bit. She came back with another plate full. I was full for the next 26 hours.

 

Which was convenient since the next day the whole Spanish branch leadership and missionaries did a long fast for our investigators.

 

I just realized I forgot to make a list of who wrote me this week. Let's see if I can remember. Thanks Mom, Eric, Will, Grandpa and Grandma Johnson, Natalia, Katie, Sister Hines, and I know I'm forgetting at least one person...sorry! I'll write you all back today, I think. Hopefully I'll have time. If not, you'll get a shorter letter.

 

Remember when I wrote about eating the Chil Pequin a few weeks ago? Today we're taking it to the next level with an Habanero. The Sisters and Elder Sawyer always laugh when the most subtle spices kill me so I figured I'd challenge them all. To the death. I'll write how it goes next week if I'm alive.

 

I was looking through the hymn book this week and noticed a hymn by Ralph Vaugn Williams. He has music in the movie Master and Commander! Who knew.

 

I've been working on Mexican slang this past week. I started out of curiosity but I've noticed that as you speak their spanish to them they open up a lot faster. One instance was down in San Luis at a family's house where the father served in McAllen, TX mission 10 years ago. They told me to pour the tang but I said that if I did I would spill everywhere. It was full to the brim and had no lip. They insisted, so I did. I spilled everywhere. EVERYWHERE. Super embarrassing. So I said, "que oso..." which literally translated to "what bear" but in essence means "how awkward." The dinner that had been a little slow beforehand livened up and it was way more exciting. So now I love slang and use it when appropriate. Think anyone can send me a Mexican slang book de buena gana?

 

We had an interesting experience last week at the Foothills open house. I don't remember if I wrote about it but what happened more-or-less was that at the open house, Elder Heathcote and I saw and open room and went into it. It was the bishops office. The building is brand new and the room was empty. Heathcote conducted a mock interview. The bishop walked in. Paused. Looked at us and said, "OUT!" loudly. We shuffled out. Fast-forward like a week and the zone leaders pull us aside and tell us how it is unfair for us to ruin their member trust and they expect us to apologize. Neither of us were very sorry since it was an open house, the door was open, and there was no one there. But we did as asked, or rather demanded, and apologized. The bishop freaked out. He went on to us about how immature we were, how he would never dream about stepping into someone else's office, "let alone a bishop's," how he hopes we have learned a valuable lesson, and that he hopes we grow up someday. Not a very cool guy. I told him we were sorry we offended him, that we took four hours out of our day to serve in a community 30 mins from our zone and that would not benefit our areas in the least and we were burning some steam as we waited for people to come. Not the coolest of guys and definitely not the kind of bishop with a sense of humor. Maybe he's right, maybe he's not. Either way we won't see him again.

 

At the YSA [Young Single Adult--ages 18-31 approx.] branch yesterday we were going around and getting to know the people a bit better. There are a few Marines. One came up to us and asked if we liked killing things. Obviously we said no. He said, word for word, "Killing bodies is fun, especially for your country. You should try it sometime." Even if he was kidding it would not have been funny. But he said it totally seriously. I was thinking about it last night and it just disgusted me. Killing is never good. Never. There's one person I would trust to decide who deserves to live or die and He doesnt' live on this earth. Bloodthirst has never done good for anyone. If we spent half of the money we do on learning new ways to kill people on how to teach people, this world would be such a better place... Just disgusting. I don't want someone who wants to kill people defending this country. That should be something you do solemnly and when forced to do so. Let's try to save lives, not end lives. Diplomacy!

 

I wrote out a minute ago a huge thing a ward member said about politics but I'll leave it out. I'll just leave it that out. But I will say that compromise always yields the better result and when emotions get involved [in politics], logic goes out the window. No one deserves to be called an idiot. Don't attack the person, challenge the ideas.

 

 

Can someone break down the word Proselyte and give an etymylogical definition? I think that's a word. I read in the Bible Dictionary that a proselyte was, if I remember, someone who left Judaism for Christianity. 

 

What is a welfare sister?

 

Can someone tell me about the relationship between tanic acid and tea? Missionaries teach it all the time.

 

Classic moment during the YSA elders quorum lesson yesterday. The guy gets up to teach and says, "well, I realized thirty minutes ago I was teaching..." He taught for a bit, or rather read, and then said, "man I wish I'd highlighted some things." Hilarious. The YSA branch has some really racist people in it too.

 

Not a ton this week, mostly just pictures and anticipation surrounding transfers. If anyone has any questions, let me know. Thank you all for writing me and your prayers

Con amor,

 

EJ

8 October 2012

Dear Family and Friends,

Since this is the last week of transfers, I will know next Monday if I am staying or not, but informing all of you via this letter will mean some letters will go to my old address, assuming I'm leaving.

I hope I stay. But it is starting to seem like our Zone Leaders will get white washed out. Their work has stalled, one is going home, and they are English missionaries in a predominately Spanish area. As I learned this week, 54% of Yuma is Latino but 75% speak Spanish. So we will see. And if that happens, it is very likely that Elder Sawyer, my companion, will be a new Zone Leader. That means I will likely either leave Yuma, or be white washed again into the new area they are rumored to be opening in Yuma down in Somerton, close to the border. I hope I stay with him, he's a beast.

Quick request: we have a Christian Belief Comparison Chart in our house but it is very outdated. Can anyone find a new one and send it to me? Ours has ~10 major religions and their beliefs on things like the God head, pre-earth life, post mortal etc etc. I'd love to be able to study an updated one.

I ate a Chil Pequin this week. I'm not sure how you spell it, either that or Chil de Pin. Either way, it was a big mistake. My mouth has never hurt so bad. We were eating at the Branch President's house and he took a video of it. Elder Sawyer and the Hermanas all ate one with me. Sawyer was stoic and emotionless as he destroyed it. Hermana Drake said it was hot. Hermana Thompson said it hurt and drank 2 glasses of water. My nose started running, I couldn't breath, I drank 6 cups of agua and basically died. Next step: Habanero. Presidente Dominguez and his family were dying with laughter. I will try to get the video and send it home today. I need to see it first and say if I approve it or not haha. Miserable, it was!

We have three investigators on date now! For one of our lessons, we were planning on teaching the Plan of Salvation (why we are here, where from, where going) but we found that somehow our investigator already knew it. He had never spoken to missionaries before. He has read to Alma 60 in three weeks. What a beast. He taught it to us. El agua esta listo.

Grandpa Johnson, I remember you talking a lot about hummingbirds. How does one make a homemade feeder? We have a few in our backyard area and it would be cool to hang one from our balcony.

How have the Presidential polls been going? I have heard a lot from members. More on that in a bit. Either way, I have officially voted as of yesterday via absentee ballot. Got my "I voted" sticker and everything! I've been pushing missionaries to register and to vote for whomever they wish.

This week I realized how flawed my trick to understand Spanish was. What I try to do when someone is speaking at a rapid-fire pace is to look at their eyes and read their emotions. As a result, I can laugh when they laugh and be sorry when they are. This week I tried that. And it failed. One woman was telling me about something I couldnt understand and I saw her eyes curl a bit so I laughed, assuming she was telling a joke. Little did I know she was talking about a family member being sent to the hospital. Yeah, probably won't do that one again.

We were teaching one of our investigators this week who has been through a lot. Crazy lot. Her good member friends were there too and one piped in, "You have been through a lot of changes recently. And you're sick of them! But don't forget to leave room for the good changes!" It was insightful and reassuring to her as she struggled with overcoming an addiction to smoking. She is on date to be baptized, lets hope that she can resist the urge to smoke. She gave us all her cigarettes and lighters. Once in the car, I jokingly held one in my hand and got a very curious look from a different member. In retrospect, that was probably a bad idea but it was a good laugh. We crushed them and threw them away.

I passed my one-month-in-the-field-versary the other day on the 5th. That marks 3 months in the mission. Elder Heathcote likes to say, "you're never going home!" I am very happy here but sometimes that seems like truth. I'm taking two years out of my life and everyone else is flying on with theirs. I'm missing great vacations, the return of Mark, Roland, Ian, and other good friends, and it feels like getting left behind sometimes. But that's ok because I'm happy, it's just a weird feeling.

I don't know if I have mentioned it before, but we are situated right near the Yuma Proving Grounds area and the Marine Air base down here. We see a lot of cool planes flying around. I'll throw some pictures in in a bit.

I have mentioned before that it rains when I come and leave places. The last two days have been cloudy, I hope it doesn't rain, because that will foreshadow my departure from Yuma. I'm staying whether President likes it or not!

A brand new chapel opened up recently in Foothills. Last week we gave tours through it. As you will remember a couple weeks ago, when on exchanges in Foothills, we ate dinner with a crazy lady who is not LDS. Well, she was there that night. But this time, instead of talking about the crazy things she has done to her disobedient daughter, she spoke about politics. Twenty minutes she went on about it. Twenty. Pure torture. She spoke about the debate and how, well, to spare details, Romney destroyed Obama etc etc. Ward members started gathering nearby. I didn't say anything. She told of one instance where Al Gore was defending Obama's poor performance by saying that, 'the elevation affected his mind.' One of the ward members chipped in, "It's probably all that global warming getting to his head!" All the ward members laughed, I cried. Not really, but inside I did. After that I decided it was time for no more so I spoke on how the church is politically neutral and how impressive that is etc. It ended the conversation.

You know, I have no tolerance for ignorance. There is no excuse when we live in a time when we can pull out our cell phones and learn the equations that support the existence of a black hole or learn how to estimate the mass of a star millions of light-years away. I can understand if you're from terribly impoverished conditions, but there is so much information out there to be had. Use it! I also understand and respect opinions, as I have many, but that is exactly that: an opinion. Respect those who differ, challenge those who disagree. We as a people (humanity) are terribly close minded. We don't like to be wrong. We don't like to admit fault or yield. But it is that very attitude that makes us imperfect and flawed.

Anyway.

When I was watching conference yesterday and Saturday, I thought that you all would be watching it at the same time as I and see the same things. Then I remembered that it was probably ten minutes behind from having to pause so much for...various things haha [This made me (Rene) laugh and laugh. . . so true.  We were about 10 minutes behind the actual broadcast because of. . . various things. . . pausing for boys to get settled.]

Mark, do you remember an old TV/Movie we used to watch way back when with two frogs as the main characters? One blue, one green/brown? Or maybe the other way around? Either way, I can't remember what it was called. I think they wore top hats? 

Faith dining is hard in Yuma. Apparently in the valley you can go to a restaurant and since there are so many members, they often volunteer to buy your food. Super nice. I've never tried it nor plan on it, but one Elder was telling me that he went to Olive Garden, ordered his food, and when he remembered that there were not as many members here in Yuma, he realized he had to buy his own meal. The idea is hilarious but it's a tad...I don't know, just weird.

Last night I celebrated my first P-Day Eve. We went over to a members house that wasn't in our ward with 6 of the missionaries in Yuma and had "Twice cream." Actually, we never had twice cream, but we did have ice cream! Bluebell, too! They had a walk in fridge. Yeah, that's right, a walk in fridge. And probably 6 cartons of Bluebell ice cream. It was a good time. What twice cream is, is, if I remember, bluebell with extra milk frozen into it? Apparently it's heavenly. We ate too much last night to have space for it. Next week, though!

I took General Conference notes on a post-it card. Here they are, unorganized:

• 18 and 19 year old missionaries now, sweet! I'm the last of this generation of 19 yr old Elders
• Tuscon and Arequipa temples! How ironic that those are where/near Mark and I serve(d)
• "Ask the missionaries!"
• "Life isn't meant to be just appreciated in retrospect."
• "There is something in every day to appreciate."
• "Perhaps we should be looking more with our hearts than our eyes."
• Many of the deepest sorrows of tomorrow can be avoided by Faith in Christ
• Do better. Be better. Become better.
• "I pray that we do not wait until we are about to die to learn to live."
• Allowance! Prophet endorsed!
• Service is the definition of pure religion
• A man never stands taller than when on his knees
• Blue Angels flight for Uchtdorf?! Ahhhh
• "We must be able to see men, not as they are, but as what they can become."
• God is never hidden, but sometimes, we are.
• As we serve, we become like Him
• "Feed my sheep" = why are you back here where you used to be?!
• The crowning characteristic of love is always loyalty
• Take an inventory of your blessings!
• The more we act upon spiritual impressions, the more we get
• The lord is in the details of our lives
• A testimony is a personal knowledge of truck received through revelation.

Conference was pretty good.

Who invented freeze dried food? 

What causes contrails?

Why do mountains in Arizona pop out of nowhere? Plains then suddenly a huge chimney.

Than you Doug, Cassie, Tori, Natalia, Mom, Eric, Will (I got two weeks of letters from you, one from Sep 8), Sister Hines, and Katie. I hope hope hope I'll have time to write everyone today but we are going out and giving blessings at the hospital this morning then a goodbye for Elder Proskine. His last P Day today.

Love you all so much, thanks for the continued support!

What causes ink to flow out of pens? A vacuum?

How do you make rice on a stove?!

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

24 September 2012

Dear everyone,

I usually send the email on Mondays around 10:45-11 am. Look for them then, mom.

Mom, the ties that you ordered at the MTC are here haha. They're definitely unique ties. I don't think anyone will forget them haha. Thank you for sending them. Speaking of ties, do you think you could send me a knot cheat sheet? The one I've tied forever gets loose throughout the day, kind of a hassle. 
I don't know if I mentioned this last week but I figured out that Elder Sawyer dated and is writing one of my Political Science TAs. I saw a letter on his desk from her and asked if it was the same person who TA'd for comparative politics. Small world, eh?
  
This was definitely a crazy week. Last Tuesday we had interviews with President Howes. He drove 4 hours from Tempe to Yuma and spent 2 days here doing trainings, interviews, and whoknowswhatelse. In the days preceding his arrival, the zone leaders started pushing our zone of 5 companionships to pick up the baptisms. In September, to date today, we've had 3. It looks like we'll get 8 this weekend, none for Elder Sawyer and I. When we started talking about them coming to church (have to come at least twice), President Howes gave them permission to baptize them and confirm them "fontside" on their second Sunday. If that dosen't make sense, I'll try to clarify: attend 1 week, attend 2 week, baptize that day, confirm that day. I already felt weird about doing it after 2 weeks and not 3 but the idea of baptizing on that second Sunday made me really uncomfortable. I brought up my point during district meeting with the missionaries the day before interviews. During interviews I brought it up too. What was supposed to be a 30 min. interview turned into a 1.5 hour one haha. I told the President I didn't know how to voice my concerns to him, he said just be bold. I did. He wasn't too happy. I said I'd rather baptize for retention and get 3 total in one month and that it felt like we were just pushing for a month's goal. I then said if I baptize 2 people durning my entire mission and both stay active, I'll be more happy then if I baptize 3 and 2 stay active. He wasn't too happy about that either. So we'll see how that progresses. Elder Sawyer and I put a goal for 3 baptisms this month. He asked me why we didn't achieve it. I said, 'sometimes, setting high helps you work harder. You may not hit the goal but you will have worked harder than you did otherwise.' What's that saying, aim for the moon, that way when you miss, you still hit the stars? or something. He said we should have gotten 3 baptisms this month anyway. Yeah, we'll see what happens with that. I'm all for baptisms but not rushing people through.

 
On a different note, the new Scion FRS is a sweet car. Pretty athletic looking car.
 
While we were teaching one of our investigators about the plan of salvation - using Spencer's drawing might I add - they asked lots of questions about the veil [between our pre-earth life and mortality on earth]. While thinking, this thought popped into my head, "We have to forget so we can learn to remember." Pretty cool idea, I thought. It's all about practicing that faith and having that hope that there is something else. If you have that, you'll come to know that there is something else.
  
We had a really good experience this week with one of our investigators. I'l preface it with what brought it about. During personal study that morning, I was reading in Revelation. I was falling asleep and what better to keep you awake than ~12 chapters of pure confusion. For some reason I felt like I should read Joseph Smith History. I've never read it before. I was reading in verses 1-20. Verses 11-13 and 15-18 stuck out to me for a reason I did not yet know. I marked them, wrote a little note, then closed my book and read something else. I told Elder Sawyer that morning that I felt we should share those scriptuers with our investigator. (I'm not supposed to name the investigators...) Fast forward to the lesson. That day, we were planning to teach her about the Plan of Salvation and those JSH (Joseph Smith History) scriptures did not relate at all. I still felt I should share them. I paused our lesson in the middle and read those scriptures written above. As I was about to start reading the fisrt vision part, there were very loud knocks on the door. You hear about how crazy things happen before the first vision is recounted. I've heard of houses burning down, power going out, people coming over etc. Anyway, her friend had come over and wanted to do something but we eventually got things settled again. I started over. When I finished reading said verses, I looked up and she, in tears, said, "funny that you say that." We asked why and she said it was too personal. Elder Sawyer then said that I had told him that morning that we should read it to her even though it was unrelated to the lesson. She broke down for a few minutes. I was awestruck. The house was silent for a few minutes. We found out yesterday why it was "funny that we say that" but that probably isn't appropriate to share. Regardless, it was an amazing experience about how prayers can be answered through other people and how revelation works. I'm still in awe over it. 
 
We biked about 35 miles this week. We're sitting at just over 50 total miles. We are averaging 10mph each day which isn't bad considering the heat. When we're pulling into our apts at 9pm, the stores that have thermometers outside say it's just under 100. Joy.
 
Roland, did you know Samurai Gonez? He served in McAllen, TX and is from Yuma. We saw his name on the stake center mission board. Just curious.
 
I learned this week that 75% of Yuma speaks spanish. Yuma also apparently produces 80% of the US' lettuce in the winter time. I keep hearing that the winter is to die for. Time will tell.
 
As we were going around talking to people this week, we biked to a house and started talking to the father on the "stoop." The kids ran up to us and said, "Please don't arrest papa!" Totally sketchy. Lots of people run when they see us because they think we're border patrol or police. I'm sayin we should proselyte in street clothes! We had a running across with the Border Patrol (BP) two nights ago. BP was in an alley talking to a guy and we, out of curiosity, biked past them. The BP officers looked at us and said we shouldn't be in that neighborhood. Nothing too serious, I know, but still good times. Those guys are intense when they're on duty.
 Keep hearing about "your candidate Romney." Yup.
 
My first night in the field we were eating at a members house and somehow the rapper Drake came up. I said, "El es mi hombre!" Everyone looked at me for a second and then just laughed. Apparently that has some gay connotations. But they didn't tell me that until after I had also said, "Jesus es mi hombre!"
 
We went on exchanges this week. I went up with Elder Berriman, ZL1, in the foothills. He's english and the whole area is english. It was nice speaking a language I have more of a grip on. But white people are crazy! One woman swerved her car towards us when she saw us then drove away laughing, lots of yelling etc. Fun times for sure! Latinos are way nicer. At least they listen. When we got there to the trailer that the Elders there live in, Berriman realized he had lost the meal calendar so he called a recent covnert and asked if she could give us dinner. We had cheese/lettuce/mustard/onion/tomato/ham sandwiches. At 5:57 we got a phone call from an angry woman saying, "So Elders, still planning on coming over tonight?" Woops. We sprinted over there. She wasn't very happy, especially since she had her nonmember friends for dinner over that night. Bad first impression. We sat down and ate some stuff, I still don't know what and probably better that way, and talked for a bit. They were crazy. Told stories of calling the cops and having her daughter arrested, dragging her daughter out of the mall literally by her hair, etc. She said that someone better call CPS if she ever catches her daughter with a loaded gun/alcohol again. Interesting dinner.
 
We biked through a meth neighborhood the other day. Smelled just like it! We went up to talk to two people (it was 8pm, no streetlights) and they jumped so high. Once they realized we weren't the powleez they laughed and talked for a bit. They were pretty out of it. I'll give them the benefit of the doubt and say they were...tired...
 
It's always interesting when we see 2+ big SUVs and 2+ cop cars pull out of different streets, all with sirens on, and chase down a single street. One can only imagine what's going on. That happened last night in our apt complex, too! But not SUVs, just fire trucks, ambulence, and the fuzz. We biked up because we thought our home could be on fire but luckily it was one just past us. Luckily for us, that is. And it wasn't even a fire. They ran in with a stretcher but came out with no one. Guess they lived. 
 
I was reading through my MTC journal entries the other day and came upon this gem. "Today started as a normal day. Actually, it ended as one too." 
 
When urging people in the ward/branch to register to vote yesterday at Church (the LDS church is nonpartisan but encourages all to register to vote and vote before general elections. Doesn't endorse a candidate) the guy said, "make sure you THINK about everything you say. That said, is it True, is it Helpful, is it Inspiring, is it Necessarry, is it Kind? Word! More people need to do that. I'm talking to you, drunk man on the corner yelling things about this election!
 
I discovered the Bible Dictionary this week. What a treasure trove! That should be one of the years of seminary alone! It's like a mini Wikipedia! 
 
Eric and Will might appreciate this one: there are hundreds of lizards that live around our appartments. Apparently they're easy to catch w/ a noose thing. What would you do if I sent you a letter with a lizard in it? Haha
 
It's almost snowbird season! Lots of old people move down here during the winter because he's "heavenly" here. There are a couple branchs they make of 600+ people just of snowbirds. They're called that since they leave the snow and "migrate" to Yuma. It's also almost planting season. That means everyone who sits at home watching TV, literally, all day are going to be working 14+ hour days. Guess it'll be harder to find those latinos who already go to bed at 8pm. You'd like that, mom. They're out of work for 4 months of the year then work all day er'eday for 8 or so. There are also a lot of date farms.
 
Yesterday I spilled lemonade all over my dinner plate. That was awkward. 
 
I heard this week that the Pope, when called, is baptized for [by---thus begins Paul's spanglish!] immersion. Can anyone confirm?
 
Hot week this week. We biked a couple days here and there for half days at a time. One day was 120.6 F. I spilled some water on the ground on accident but ~10 seconds when I looked down it was gone. 
 
Speaking of evaporation, I heard a good talk from Holland at the MTC that I just remembered. He was talking about how at 211 F, water doesn't boil, no steam is produced. Without that last one degree, nothing will change. Such is us. If we don't put in that little bit extra of effort, nothing will change. But when we do, we get results. 
 
And on the other extreme, why does water get less dense when it freezes?
 
Thank you Tori, Doug, Dad, Eric x2, Will, Aunt Andra, Grandpa J, and Mom for the letters! They keep me going! It's always exciting to open that mailbox and come out with paper gold. I hope I have time to write everyone back today. I'lll make it happen.
 
Love you all so much, take care,
Elder Johnson

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.

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

Paul arrived in Tempe!

The Group of Missionaries who arrived in Tempe with Paul

Elder Paul Johnson in Tempe September 4, 2012--a greenie!