Hey Guys,
So Sunday was definitely the highlight of my week. It was a long and busy day, but it was awesome. To start it off, I spoke in sacrament meeting. The focus this week was chapter 5 of Preach My Gospel which is the role of the book of mormon. So my talk was basically a five minute testimony. After our church meetings and lunch we had a devotional from president packer. He taught the plan of salvation using only verses from the Book of Mormon, so that was a really interesting one. I took some good notes cause I feel like that might be useful later. Right after we finished the devotional, we had a little introducion with all of the new elders and hermanas. There are elders from New Zealand, Belarus, Ukraine, Russia, and the United States, and there are hermanas from Albania, Ukraine, Italy, the United States, and Serbia. We have a lot of diversity here now. After the intro we did something really cool. I'm sure you remember how emotional and spiritual it was when I was set apart. We kinda topped that here. The hermana from Serbia had a complicated situation, and wasn't able to be set apart before she got here. So we had a mini testimony meeting and then President Packer set her apart. Afterwards there was a lot of crying and bro hugs, but we got it together after a few minutes. The hermanas spent about 15 minutes hugging though. That was a crazy spiritual atmosphere.
I started talking to some of the guys that are going to Ukraine, and one of them thinks Dad will know some of his family. He is actually from Minsk. His name is Elder Makarov, an here are the names he gave me: Oleg Makarov, Vitaly Smirnov, Andrey Kovalev, Sergy Zubovich, Michail Davidik, and Uriu Ustin. The spelling might be weird since he was using a different alphabet. He is awesome though. I'm going to try to get a video of us singing called to serve in all 5 languages this sunday for you guys. We have english, spanish, italian, russian, and portuguese now.
This week has been interesting. A few of my odd talents have come in really useful. I am now the CCM barber. So I know you guys always thought it was funny how much work I put into my hair, but just this week I cut 3 guys' hair, and I'll be doing at least one more tonight. I'll have to figure out a way to get you some pictures. The second thing is even better though. On tuesday, We were playing soccer. We had a lot of guys playing that hadn't played before we got here. So the game was a little rough and I decided to sit out for the last 20 minutes. Right after that, Hermano Pregnolato and Elder Jones went in on a hard tackle and both ended up hurt. Elder Jones ended up dislocating his shoulder. So we got him back to the President, and he ended up putting it back in place right then. Somehow he knew that I had experience with physical therapy, so I've been taking care of him for the last couple of days. Who would have thought that a month into my CCM stay I would be cutting hair and doing physical therapy.
I kinda forgot about that concert. When we were talking about it, it seemed so far away. Time has flown by lately. It looks like it was a party though. It's crazy that the girls have already started school. I would make a joke about how happy I am that I'm done, but I spend 14 hours a day in a classroom here. This is extreme school where you only study one thing. Mr. Van did that same thing for us our first week. Emma will definately love that class as long as she doesn't mind being covered in clay all day. I'm glad Erin is liking Matheson. I can't believe she's in Jr. High.
Emma, this paragraph is for you. It sounds like your patriarchal blessing was SUPER specific. That's really cool. I think that it's awesome that it says you'll go on a mission. If I were you, I would start thinking about it and preparing now. It's definately the hardest thing I have ever done, but it's also the most rewarding. If you think about it, you could leave less than a year after I get home.
So you guys have mentioned food a few times in your emails, and It's kinda killing me. The food here has gotten soooooooooooooooooooooo bad!!! Hermano Rodriguez saw the pictures that you sent me of the spanish food in NY. He said it looked legit. He wasdrooling. They dont have any good candy here, so if you guys ever want to make my day just send a little care package with twizzlers. :)
I started talking to some of the guys that are going to Ukraine, and one of them thinks Dad will know some of his family. He is actually from Minsk. His name is Elder Makarov, an here are the names he gave me: Oleg Makarov, Vitaly Smirnov, Andrey Kovalev, Sergy Zubovich, Michail Davidik, and Uriu Ustin. The spelling might be weird since he was using a different alphabet. He is awesome though. I'm going to try to get a video of us singing called to serve in all 5 languages this sunday for you guys. We have english, spanish, italian, russian, and portuguese now.
This week has been interesting. A few of my odd talents have come in really useful. I am now the CCM barber. So I know you guys always thought it was funny how much work I put into my hair, but just this week I cut 3 guys' hair, and I'll be doing at least one more tonight. I'll have to figure out a way to get you some pictures. The second thing is even better though. On tuesday, We were playing soccer. We had a lot of guys playing that hadn't played before we got here. So the game was a little rough and I decided to sit out for the last 20 minutes. Right after that, Hermano Pregnolato and Elder Jones went in on a hard tackle and both ended up hurt. Elder Jones ended up dislocating his shoulder. So we got him back to the President, and he ended up putting it back in place right then. Somehow he knew that I had experience with physical therapy, so I've been taking care of him for the last couple of days. Who would have thought that a month into my CCM stay I would be cutting hair and doing physical therapy.
I kinda forgot about that concert. When we were talking about it, it seemed so far away. Time has flown by lately. It looks like it was a party though. It's crazy that the girls have already started school. I would make a joke about how happy I am that I'm done, but I spend 14 hours a day in a classroom here. This is extreme school where you only study one thing. Mr. Van did that same thing for us our first week. Emma will definately love that class as long as she doesn't mind being covered in clay all day. I'm glad Erin is liking Matheson. I can't believe she's in Jr. High.
Emma, this paragraph is for you. It sounds like your patriarchal blessing was SUPER specific. That's really cool. I think that it's awesome that it says you'll go on a mission. If I were you, I would start thinking about it and preparing now. It's definately the hardest thing I have ever done, but it's also the most rewarding. If you think about it, you could leave less than a year after I get home.
So you guys have mentioned food a few times in your emails, and It's kinda killing me. The food here has gotten soooooooooooooooooooooo bad!!! Hermano Rodriguez saw the pictures that you sent me of the spanish food in NY. He said it looked legit. He wasdrooling. They dont have any good candy here, so if you guys ever want to make my day just send a little care package with twizzlers. :)
I did get your email with the blessing. That was awesome. I also got the girls camp letters. We went to the Prada Museum today. It was really cool and my kind of thing, but it was hard to enjoy with 75 bored missionaries following me around complaining.
Tell grandma and grandpa I have been getting their emails and I'm loving them. I will email them next week. I just suck at time management when it comes to these things. I talk too much.
The pics are of my district and the ammon district. We do everything together.
September 5 is coming fast. I'm nervous and excited at the same time. I guess a lot of the trainers are South American. Next week I can email you guys twice. Once on P-day and once on saturday to update you on my first area. I'm loving all the emails even if I don't respond to all of them. Keep them coming.
Talk to you next week,
Elder Johnson
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