December 30, 2008

hello family how are you all! well i am now writing you from kuching which is such a cool place! so the first day elder schneider and i went and visited with a few people. the most interesting i felt was meeting with a recent convert family of 7 people. 5 kids all under the age of 7 who all lived in a tiny little wood house on stilts. it was so neat just because they were so kind and you could just feel there strong spirits.

so i am riding a bike here. the bikes are not so great but its a good thing that we have them or else we wouldnt get anywhere this area is so big. yesterday we went suuuper far away from the house to a place called londeh to meet with a few investigator families. So while we were riding there the rain started. It rained, imagine the hardest rain you have ever seen in california for about 2 and a half hours hahaha. then elder schneider got a flat so that was a test of my bike tire changing skills. but it was so fun in all honesty. at first i was like ahhh man im all wet. then you get to a point where its just the way it is. word is that happens almost every day here so that should be interesting haha. but i honestly already love this place.

Elder schneider is such an awesome person. we get along really well and this is going to be good. it like never happens to put two new elders together like this so they must be trying something new with us. i am really excited to prove that we can do this well. so my new adress is:

matt johnson
33 jalan desa wira taman desa bumik
o93250
kuching, sarawak
East Malaysia

But you can just send anything to singapore. they will be more reliable i think.well thats something crazy about Jennifer B., never thought i would see the day haha.and i did use the candy if thats what you mean haha. but ya ill be using that flashlight here for sure as well as some of the other stuff. my p day clothes are fine. i barely ever wear them. i just wear the normal clothes everywhere. its just easier. and whenever you go outside and you're not playing sports or something you're supposed to wear white shirt and tie apparel.thats funny about gerry working for chris! good for him. it will make him a little more tough. i hope he always brings alot of food seeing as hes diabetic and chris likes to not take brakes unless you tell him to....ok fam i hope your all doing well and happy. because i know i sure am! this new place is totally awesome. Im in the jungle! haha.well...jungle/city so its the best of both worlds. ok love you all hope you have a great week!

elder johnson

Matt is being transfered to East Malaysia

Here is some info on his new area, in general. We are waiting to hear more about his specific location and new address.

East Malaysia consists of the Malaysian states of Sabah and Sarawak, located on the island of Borneo to the east, across the South China Sea from Peninsular Malaysia (West Malaysia) which is located on the Malay Peninsula. While East Malaysia is less populated and relatively less developed than West Malaysia, its land mass is larger and it has notably more natural resources, which are chiefly oil and gas reserves.

Of note, Sarawak contains the Mulu caves within Gunung Mulu National Park; among these is the limestone cave with the largest chamber in the world, the Sarawak Chamber. The Mulu national park was declared a World Heritage Site in 2001.

Sabah's many attractions include the World Heritage Site Mount Kinabalu, and Sipadan island of which is a world renowned diving hotspot.

The indigenous inhabitants of East Malaysia are fiercely partisan and maintain culturally distinct dialects of the national language, Malay, in addition to their own ethnic languages.

Federation
Both Sabah (formerly British North Borneo) and Sarawak were separate British colonies from Malaya, and did not become part of the Federation of Malaya in 1957. However, both voted to become part of the new Federation of Malaysia in 1963, encouraged by the inclusion of Singapore, which was expelled from the federation in 1965. Previously, there were efforts to unite Brunei, Sabah and Sarawak under North Borneo Federation but that failed after the Brunei Revolt occurred.

As states of the Federation, Sabah and Sarawak retained a higher degree of local government and legislative autonomy when compared to other states in West Malaysia. For example, both states have separate immigration controls, requiring Malaysian citizens from West Malaysia to carry passports or identity cards when visiting East Malaysia.

The island of Labuan was part of Sabah until 1984, when it was annexed into a separate Federal Territory, administered by the federal government. It was used to establish a centre for offshore finance, with its own separate tax system and customs.

December 24, 2008, following call home to family

hello again family. just letting you know that i got your emails! ok well it was great to hear from you all and it sounds like you are all doing well. ok i will talk to you later. next wednesday i will let you know my new address for the mail. but email will be staying the same. that was so good to hear from all of you! and thats crazy to think there's going to be another addition to the fam! congratulations again shanny.

ok love you all! im off to play with some nepalese haha. o ya and if you feel like looking up info about the history of east malaysia especially kuching and if you find anything interesting you should let me know seeing as like i said, i dont get to learn much about history and what not while im here. ok love ya all!

elder johnson

December 17, 2008 to Family

hello family!
thank you mom and dad for the letters! sounds like everything is going quite well. Glad to hear you made it home safe mom. It sounds like you had a good efektif time in utah with the coontz fam. so elder kartchner has been in singapore since monday for his visa run. so i have been on exchanges with elder wall from the petaling jaya area for the last 2 days because his comp. got transfered. so to be honest these last few days have been nice haha. its good to get a small break from companions every once and a while haha. but he's coming back around 3:00 today so i will be seeing him later. but about the mtc bill thing i thought i had mentioned it but i was fairly sick about a week before we left. i had an ear infection for i think the first time so they gave me antibiotics. but all is well. speaking of which, i am now feeling better. i had the cold for about a week but im getting over it now.

Speaking of starting something when i go back i know i will change something, i will make sure wherever i am that the elders know where i am and that i want to help because i now know how important members are to missionary work. having someone come along that is not dressed up in a tie and testifies of the same things is so valuable to helping investigators grow. i dont know mom, if you or dad have got the opportuinity to or if the elders there ask for help, but if you have the chance i know that helping the missionaries helps them sooo much, as well as being super important to the investigators as well as being rewarding spiritually. So as of right now, thats kind of all im thinking about changing when i return haha. but people saying goodmorning back would be good too haha. (saying good morning back when we say it in church).

But ya right now we have 7 people on date for baptism so i hope for the best. they are all neat people and i love them so much. there is one guy in particular from bangladesh that is so cool. if we have an appointment on friday i look forward to teaching him all week haha. its kinda weird though because of the limited language usage i think whenever i call him he answers, " hello jesus! how are you?" haha. i guess he just assimilated me with jesus...its really werid because he calls me johnson in person. sadly though both gun and dinesh have been uncontacted for about 5 days and weve been trying hard to find them so... i hope we can find them soon. im pretty sure its just that our schedules aren't matching up well. and it doesn't help that nepalese people don't have phones personally. usually one person in a room has one (usually in a room of about 12-18 people which is ment for 4 or 5 people max). so hopefully we can get a hold of them soon.

But one story that breaks my heart but is so good at the same time is about a nepalese investigator that has a baptisimal date named Hem. so the other day we met with him and taught him a few commandments but had not taught the word of wisdom yet. so at the end he started talking about tea and about how he had bought some really good green tea that is supposed to do wonders for your body and he offered us some. so we proceeded to teach him the w.o.w. turns out someone skamed him into buying 500 ringets worth of this tea...which is a months salary if not more for him. so it was so sad because i wished we had taught him the wow before he bought it. but we figured it would be a good test of his faith to see what is more important. So he said he would stop drinking it.a few days later we saw him walking outside and we asked him how tea was doing and in his limited malay he said " o, te tutup" which means closed haha. it made me so happy. Hem is so cool. enough about that though.

One thing i realized though. you know how for alot of missionaries their mission makes them much more fluid and seem like they are great speakers...well its the opposite for me haha. My broken english is getting awesome. im starting to speak like a caveman haha. like when i was teaching elder beir my district leader for training and instead of saying the celestial kingdom is compared to the glory of the sun, i said without thinking any different. this place like bright of sun...all spaced out and slow hahaha. and i was just supposed to be like teaching another missionary not an investigator haha.

But that story about the nepalese people, sounds pretty accurate. it sounds like there are probably primarily woman in nepal just because all the men get married and go other places for work. For example, i have only met 2 nepalese women since being here versus like 500 nepalese men if not more. so they will do what it takes to survive because apparently you can't in nepal... :( but anyways, i hope that package does arrive so i will know later this afternoon when elder kartchner gets here.

So word is that we get phone cards for calling home so i will do that ok. so i will be calling you at 8:00 in the A.m. here on christmas eve the 24th, which means that i will be calling you at around 4:oo pm your time on the 23rd. so i will not exactly be calling on christmas but thats when i have to do it so im not calling you at 3 in the morning, so i hope you can all be there then!

So batu caves were pretty awesome. i took so many pictures. mostly of monkeys. there were monkeys eeeeeveyrwhere haha.like monkeys within 3 feet of my face in some instances haha. i am going to go and try to make a cd with pictures and send it home today hopefuly so we shall see.sounds like dad is quite the bag piper these days. sounds like alot of fun to be honest. and i think you should be doing that more than work dad! after all you are working for free haha.thats good about the beckster. glad to hear shes feeling better.

Shannon quit her job hu? well i dont know much about why or the details and what not but im sure it was for good reasons and was well thought out...shannon's calculating like that...hahah.

OK parents and rest of the fam i hope your all doing well and hope you know i love you! ok i will talk to you next week! until then merry christmas! and have a great week!

love,
elder johnson

December 11, 2008 to Family

hello family!

sounds like the last week has been pretty interesting! Dad and duke hangin out alone at home? this sounds like trouble...haha. I wish i coule have seen you in the parade dad thats would have been neato. i dont think i got to see you other than just at home playing.o ya before i forget i wanted to say to becky that one of the elders here elder mattox is from northern florida, so he is quite southern one would say. and so he has sparked interest in the south for me. so now i have this awesome image of georgia/the south and it makes me want to go there haha. just big old trees, huge houses and kudzu everywhere haha. o ya and i asked him about kudzu and something about the south planting it in the north to take it over and he said " yup your sister served in georgia" ahaha.but sounds like the surgery wasnt quite as breezy as it sounded like last week? it seems like thats how it usually works. you feel quite good the day of, wake up and ouch...i hurt...haha.snow sounds like so much fun! i will miss it.

sounds like you had a really good time at church mom. its true though. the church is the same here as well and its pretty darn far away. the only difference i have seen thus far is when people say good morning in the microphone everyone says it back haha its pretty funny.so the day that i wrote last that night i got to play basketball. so we went over to the appartments where most of our investigators live and played there. a bunch of little nepale guys were sitting off to the side of the court watching me and elder bickmore (just came for zone conference) play. so i went over to them said namaste and they all got excited like normal said a few more things in nepale and before i knew it we had 10 people playing and more that wanted to haha.

just so happens the next day at zone conference we recieved a training partly on building relationships of trust. This is so true. we cant just blab at people without them knowing about us or being able to trust us. unless they are super ready. but usually not haha. so regardless we went back that saturday and got 10 new nepale investigators from playing basketball. so i got to have fun for an hour and on top of that a whole bunch of new people to teach! so awesome!so 2 days ago i got to teach all day in malay! it was really cool! we went with a member named eder. he served in malaysia on his mission and has been off for about a year. so needless to say he helped so much since he speaks malay natively. but still it was an awesome experience.

i feel so blessed for the mtc experience. i got to talk to those peaple and help them hopefully come closer to the lord. while my companion since he didnt have that experience in the mtc(but has been out for almost 6 months now) just sat and listened. i am greatful for that time in the mtc even though at the time it seemed so long.and yestrday was sooooo good! we extended 4 baptisimal invitations and 4 people excepted. one was dinesh whom is so ready already. he is so awesome. and to a guy named roni from bangladesh and 2 others to men from nepal. all of which if it wasnt for work would be baptized within the month but will most liekly take into january.we had district conference on sunday which was really good. we got to hear president and sister skelton speak again. they are both so lovely and funny. i like them so much. and one of our investigators from nepal named gun pronounced goon got to go. He changed his work schedule to go to church which is really hard to do. he said that if he liked it he would change his schedule for good. he also got to meet president skelton for a short while. it was really good for him. i havent spoke much about gun but he is another super good nepalese man. i feel so bad for them since they are forced to work so much for so little money. its awful. the people of america are so very blessed. a job in america payiing 10 dollars an hour which is not a very good job at all is like better than any foreigner could get here. thats about 35 ringet an hour which is amazing seeing as people here work for four about 4 ringet an hour. americans are so blessed.

i hope this experience here will help me to never complain about the american economy when i go back. but enough about that.

ya still no packages but whatevs. something i would like though. some elders here have sufjan stevens christmas music and so if you would send me those cd's that would be nice. i think there just in my dressor. but if you cant find them, no worries.i get around by foot and bus. sometimes taxi. but not usually because you cant contact more than one person in a taxi. the bus system is really good here. and quite cheep.so it rained super hard yesterday. alot of the roads were flooded. no serious damage or anything though.

i got a picture with me in it so i hope i can send those home soon haha. ok well i had better go! we are going to batu caves for p-day. its a huge tamil community so it should be fun and full of good food. also theres a huge hindu temple with monkeys everywhere. so that should make for some interesting pictures haha. ok love you all! thank you so much for the letters! o ken glad to hear your going to church with brandon! keep it up ok. i know the lord blesses us when we are doing the simple things he asks of us. i love you kenny and think about you often! hope you are still safe on your motorcycle and not doing anything crazy on it. Everyone rides motorcycles /scooter things here and i havent seen one yet half way as nice as yours yet hahaok i love you all and hope you are all doing well! have a great week!

Love elder johnson

December 5, 2008 to Family

Hello family!

Well, i am writing you on this fine thursday because today and tomorrow are zone conference and p-day is today. well o would just like to say how very much fun i am having here. RIght now i just feel odly excited and happy to be here...i cant really explain it haha. these last few weeks have been especially wonderful! just the other night something really neat happened.

I was talking to two little boys and i noticed that elder kartchner was trying to communicate to a little nepalese man that spoke malay and he was having a hard time communicating, so i got to go over and talk to him. turns out he is hindu and not at all but he said he had a friend from nepal who wanted to learn, but i feel so blessed that i could communicate with him. I didnt really think anything of it because that is a common way to get away from us here to tell us that they have friends that are interested so i didnt think anything of it. But later that night on our walk back home i heard a hay tunggu!(wait) and this little nepalese man was chasing after us leading his friend by the hand!! haha. it was so cool. The mans name is dinesh, he speaks ok english and he was born in nepal but grew up in darjeeling india and he rock climbs! haha. but anyways, we taught him the next day and gave him a book of mormon in hindi. we then met with him the next day kindof on accident, but when we spoke,we asked him what he had been doing to day (day off) he said he hadbeen reading all day. he has already read one half of the book of moron in about a night and half a day! so cool.

Im so excited to be here. thats just one story about whats happening here its all so incredibly fun, i feel bad saying that this is fun because it seems a little irreverant, but its true, its fun.well it sounds like you all had a great thanksgiving! were you all there? kenny too ya? we ate with the australians and it was just like an american thanksgiving. It was goood. you must tell me who stopped coming to church? thats really weird!we go to church in a place called petaling jaya which is about 15 minutes from where we live, so its not too far. On any givin sunday there are probably about 60 people more or less, more if were doing our job! haha. and ya its in englishBut nope no sign of packages yet, kindof dissapointing, but that is ok because i know that you have been sending them, and its really not any huge deal, its just fine.but like i said, zone conference is today and tomorrow, so i need to be going soon.all my clothes are holding up quite well, its quite sweaty here so you can imagine what my collars already look like haha.

i will work really hard to take pictures today and tomorrow so i can send some home. sorry i havent sent any yet! ive just been super busy and i dont know where a picture place is.but about eric and talking to the chinese man in argentina, that is the story here everyday haha. the most common language is malay, but the extent of people knowing it doenst go much past hello how are you, can i have one of those haha. because only the malay people know the language really well, and we cant teach them. so knowing malay is for east malaysia. one day i will go there and thats when ill use it more extinsively. but as for now, its used for contacting little nepalese men who speak it worse than i do haha. but like i told you earlier, it worked so thats all that counts.but yes that is true about the members and fellowshipping they are what really matters in the long run in the converstion process. anyways christmas package, if anymore are so be sent, some tasty jerky would be nice...haha. besides that all is just fine dont worry about anything.im dissapointed because megan sent me some pictures but this is a different internet place and it wont let me see them.

So I'll have to wait til next week...ok well thank you for all the letter, thank you to grandma as well i appreciate the messages so much! ok wish i could talk more but i must go! love you all so much! so its true about the okland temple being closed??!? ok well i gotta go, love you!

elder johnson

November 26, 2008 to Family

hello family!

this is your son/brother/brother in law/ uncle/ whatever else haha.sounds like fun with yall up at the house! those are fun times! i miss them. but just thinking about it makes me feel really happy so i'm glad i got to hear from you about it!thats crazy about gas! i cant belive it. you should probably buy tons of it now! haha.thank you all for your letters i appreciate them! and to dan, ya this is such a wonderful experience.

I do take a minute quite often and just let it sink in that i am in maylasia with such craaazy neat people. I plan on picking up on some nepale lingo so u and me man, when i get back i'll get one of my nepale friends to be our sherpa up mount everest haha jk, but seriously i would like to go there one day.but anyways, thank you all so much for the letters i appreciate them so much.and im just using a regular tooth brush ma, ill make do for a while. o in the package maybe some snickers and assorted other choclate. All the choclate tastes different here because they make it weird for the muslims to be able to eat it (halal) and its different because of the humidity here. so thats all i request.there are like no mosquitos here...i assume all those shots were for east malaysia or when the mission used to include so many different places. so as for now, everything is fineThis is such a amazing place.

I am meeting so many diverse people. just the other day i spoke to people from saudi arabia, nigeria, botswana, libya, somalia, india,nepal,iran, bangladesh,indonesia, etc etc. all in one day. so cool. i wish i had more time to talk but i have to go because we are atually going to go do something today for p-day. were going to chinatown/ petronis towers.(they are pretty awesome) ok i love you all so much and you are all in my prayers. hope you have a great thanksgiving!

love elder johnson

November 11, 2008 to Family

hello family!
this is a letter from your son that is in maylasia...haha. thats pretty funny sounding still. sounds like for the most part you all are doing well! except the bathroom roof incedent. its funny it took me a few seconds to think of the word roof, first wrod that came to mind was atap haha. Im sure dad can take care of that stuff no problem. there isnt much he cant do with construction and what not.o ya! i ment to say happy birthday to megan in my last letter, but happy birthday megan! thank you for the letter and the updates on life and all the adventures with Lily!so you emailed good old president skelton hu? he really is a neat fellow. I hear around zone meeting is when you really start to appreciate him for what he has to teach. Word is he is a very powerful teacher. this last week was totally and completely fun and awesome! yes we had the baptism of asanka the sri lankan man and it went very well! i wanted to send some pictures but elder kartchners plug thing doesnt work for my camera :( but anyways the baptism was very spiritual and the spirit testified to me while the baptism was happening that this is truely what we must do to enter into the kingdom of God. It was very powerful.

Other than that this last week was very hard work, and we didnt get the best results but we worked hard. This week is already shaping up to be much better. All of our meetings with investigators have been powerful this week and its so rewarding. I'd just like to say that, if i havent already, which i think i have, people from nepale are soooo cool. I just love meeting with them. There are alot of them here for work and they are all so kind and humble. I have been picking up a little nepale from some members so i can just start conversations with them. this country is so diverse and I love it!thats good news about prob 8! i heard from all the africans that oboma won, ya? they all ask us what we think about a black man ruling the world. its pretty funny. we tell them its awesome but we dont know anything about politics (which we dont) and the subject changes haha. its very interesting how some of the africans we talk to honestly think that they can now go to america without a passport or anything. They're in for a surprise haha.About the nativity scence mom.

This country is primarily muslim and christians are very scarce so it may be hard to find but i will keep my eyes open. And in answer to shannons question, right when i got here hari deepavali was going on. which is an indian holiday, i think it has to do with the hindu god which made for alot of fireworks and good food haha. i just missed hari raya which is a muslim holiday, but im sure there will be many more.well theres not much i need. but my toothbrush doesnt charge anymore so i will be needing to get a new one if they have them here. I will keep ya posted. But i will check here for one first. YA if you have questions for me put them in like 1,2,3...format so i can remember them better. that has seemed to work in the past. thank you dad for your letter I wish i had time to comment on them all but i have to go. but i just wanted to share how a woman in my branch named ima from indonesia called me last night and had a question about the plan of salvation. she doesn't speak any english so i had the opportunity to help her understand about her mother who is not a member, whom just passed away. i got to tell her more about the plan of salvation in detail.

And i know that earlier i said how it was a little dissapointing how i dont speak malay very much here, but if i didnt know malay, i would have never been able to help her. I guess what im trying to say is, that god knows all things. and im sure she could have found her answer elsewhere, but i had the opportunity to help her in her native language.i feel so blessed. missionary work is truely amazing.sorry if that didnt make sense but i have to go!
love you all so much!

elder johnson

November 11, 2008 to Shannon

hey shan shan!
yes! Denise did email me but sadly i was long in Malaysia by the time she got here. Hope she enjoyed it there! it really is a really cool place. But i definitely like Malaysia more. Singapore is like ridiculous rules and everything is super expensive. for example. at a fast food place in Singapore it would be about 12 sing dollars for a meal or what not, which is almost exactly the same as 12 American, whereas here it would be about 14 ringget which is about 5 dollars, so ya. besides that i just like the people here its a neato place.

I don't know why i used that example for money...i feel kinda silly now, but i already wrote it so im not going to erase it haha. ok thank you for the pictures! there all cute and funny. that one looks like Claire's doing a little jig haha.ya i don't know about the packages. there prolly all in Singapore. love you!

elder johnson

Matt's time zone

Hello all,
Just for your information in case you were wondering. Matthew is 14 hours ahead of us (Pacific Time). Take the time you are at now and add 2 hours and that will be his time the opposite of your AM or PM. If it is 6:00 PM it will be 8:00 AM his time. Interesting huh? Take Care!!

November 5, 2008 to Dad

hi dad!

how was colorado and stuff? im sure it was awesome. I can't remember, did you get to play over there? ya i got to google earth singapore in the mtc and its pretty neat. when you said selangore i thought you just horribly misspelled singapore haha, but i guess thats the state i'm in haha. well thats good to know theres finally rain in california, that was kinda rediculous for a while. Very good that bathroom needed to be remodeled haha. well i hope the election goes smoothly i cant do anything but pray. i wish i could be there to lend a hand as well.

But yes i have been trying really hard to write in my journal and its been hard this week since we have been so busy.I dont really understand how you say the elders at home are kinda slackers. Thats so weird. my companion and i are in a place where we might be lucky to see a member once a week besides sunday, and thats probably because we invited them to come teach with us and yet we are seemingly always busy.

It seems like a place like california that has quite alot of members, even if you wanted to slack, you couldn't because the members would know if you were. thats seems like it would be incintive to work, if your own selfworth and integrity aren't. I don't mean to come off like i'm a great missionary, because i know i am by no means a great teacher. But i know this is two years that belong to the lord. I want to look back with no regrets. THAT is my aim and my goal. i love the lord and want to serve him with all my heart. like i said though, i am not a great teacher by anymeans, but i have faith that if i study when i am supposed to and work hard all day (like were supposed to) the lord can make up the difference. this is a wonderful place and the people here are soo awesome.

Thus far i think my favorite people are the nepale people. They are so humble, kind, and generous. o ya! this sunday will be our first baptism! with a sri lankan man named ashankar. Very sweet ,man. You can tell he is ready. on his right hand he only has a thumb and half of an index finger and he still shakes your hand like nothings different, i think thats part of why i like him so much haha. also its considered very bad manners and insulting to shake with the left hand here, as per indian people bathroom heigene haha. but anyways, i better get responding to moms letter as well, ok dad thanks for writing me!

love you!
Elder johnson

November 5, 2008 to Mom

hello mom!
how is everything back there? sounds like dads got his hands full with the bathroom and cleanin up the place. I say you should have a deacons quorm service project! make them all do it! haha. just kidding.

But about that teaching and building a relationship thing. It is starting to happen now. I think the first week was just kind of weird just because i didnt know the investigators yet. But now i do and its going pretty well. now its becoming more than just teaching. its a friendship in Christ. If that makes anysense. some of these people and the problems that they are trying to overcome, before this i would never be associated with them. But this opportunity i have to share this gospel gives me the opportunity to talk to all these people and actually be their friend. i love this! we are going to go speak to a nigerian named isaac and his girlfriend precious( i know funny, but not the weirdest ive heard yet haha) and they are so neat. They've come to church twice in a row and the questions they have and the spirit that is in the room is real and its so much fun to take part in it. I know its not me but, i am so happy that i have the opportunity to take part in it.But yes i indeed have seen monkeys here haha. there is one that is tied up on a street corner that when we walk by he just raises his eye brows up and down and stares at you haha. i have decided to name him murka just because of a previous incendent haha. it means wrath haha.

i dont know what i would want in the package it doesnt matter to me. just mom like things. and no i didnt get those other packages. kinda dissapointing. what address did you send it to? malaysian one or singapore? And i have only been fed once by a member. and he was a recent convert and we were teaching his friend that day, so no we like never get fed by members here. But there are food stands everywhere and food is super cheep so i dont go hungry haha. Yes my appartment has an air conditioner in our room but other than that its hot in the other rooms. But its ok, i think im getting used to it. I havent woke up and thought it was hot in a while now! thats good! haha. our transportation is mostly by foot. but when we go a long ways its by bus.It just started raining monday and its rained each day since. It rains crazy hard here. its awesome. The thunderstorms are so impressive i love it!

WEll mom im sorry i dont have time to write much else but i want to tell you that i ate durian for the first time. It was the most viel disgusting thing ever haha. maybe i can write to the ward next wednesday. ok ya i wrote to dave already.That soundsgreat about your lesson mom. You always worry so much. You know your a good teacher! you just need to have faith in yourself. But its true, heavenly father really does help you. its not usually for us that he is helping us though, it is for others. Ok mom, and fam, hope you are all having a great week. sorry i cant write you all individually, but i love you all! bertahan sampai akhir.

November 4, 2008 to Shannon

hey shanquesha!

haha those pictures were hilarious! claire bear is so cute. speaking of monkeys, i just saw two baby monkeys outside here in a cage...kinda sad...I'll see if i can send mom some pictures on here today. ya i know my spellings bad though. I am so rushhhhed! haha. ya eating with the hands is kindof a muslim thing so we dont do it that much here. its pretty darn messy. i will probably do it many more times though. The food here is super spicy, and hot. But its not spicy in an american burn your mouth off and not be very good while that happens way. Its a more, flavorfull and delicious as it burns your mouth off kind of way hahaha. ok shan thanks for writing me! I hope you have a great week!

love,
elder johnson

October 29, 2008 to Mom

hellooo motha!!

Well its wednesday at 12 here and do i think that means the difference is about 15 or 16 hours. Mother this is crazy awesome! i am so excited to be here! Its not like im in the jungle our anything, i am in a city but its not like any city in the states haha. I haven't got to use my language much and i dont think i will be here, which, is dissapointing but its ok, because whatever i am needed to do here, whatever i am needed to speak is whats important. However nearly everyone speaks malay so i can say hi to them and what not and make initial contact and then it usually falls into broken english because either they dont know anymore or they go off and i get lost haha. There are tons of indians here so most people speak tamil.

My companions name is elder kartchner and he has been out for a little over 4 months so we're both new but hes super solid, a good teacher, follows the rules, as well as being nice and knowing how to be funny. Hes an all around good elder. I have had the opportunity to teach quite a few times thus far and all of them have been pretty amazing. its crazy the difference between here and the mtc...even though the spirit was strong in the mtc in a learning sense, here its not even like your teaching...i dont know if that makes sense, because im not sure it makes sense to me, but this is all amazing because this isn't my message and its so important. this has all already been so awesome. I am already loving this work.

Yes it is quite hot, infact the humidity is crazy haha, but it doesnt matter, i think im already getting over that, its beginning already to be something i dont think about. So, i have seen 3 monkeys already...hahaha, thats important i feel like i need to add that in haha.

So the food here is amazing, i am not just saying this because i am here and its what ive got and i have to put up with it. Indian food, which is primarily what is everywhere here is amazing. Its so spicy but not in an american way where it burns your mouth off and you think wow thats not good, everything is flavorful and different. enough of that im getting hungary haha. Not as good as you food though mom!!so we are teaching these men from sri lanka, pakistan, nepal, and malaisia. they are all friends and they are all super amazing. two of the investigators friends are members and it is all so cool i am so glad to be here.

One of the mens name in senturan, hes about 5 ft 5 maybe 105 probably the coolest necest most spiritual people ive ever met, its all soo cool. one sad thing tho, one of the men from pakistan is a muslim, and we cannot teach muslims. he speaks malay and i have been talking to him alot and we have become pretty good friends and because he can talk to me he stays at our lessons now(whereas he didnt before) and he seems really interested. I wish so much we could teach him, he wants to learn but we cant teach to him. maybe one day muslims will be able to be taught here, but until then it will be a sad thing. but o dont worry about the bottle mother we have a filer in the appt. and it works just fine. however you can send me other treats in the bottles place!! hahahow is kenneths new appt? is it now fully decked out? i know how you work mother! haha who is he living with? Ok mother well i probably better go.

Just let you know everything is going great here, i am feeling healthy and happy. the church is true!!o ya i left singapore before i got money out for the bike, so i may or may not end up paying it, we will see. we dont even have bikes here so i dont feel so bad.Ok i love you all hope you are all having a great wednesday, and a great weeklove you all!

Elder johnson

October 29, 2008 to Becky

hello becky ray!
mom will most likely be sending aroung the letter i sent her and it has most of the info you asked i think. But ya, my companion is really a good elder. ive only been withhim for 5 days but i dont think much will change, he is pretty cool. He knows how to be funny and i think is a super efektif teacher. the english you speek here is different. I will come back sounding like a tamil man, that is if i stay here haha.but the mission in east malasia is the jungle, and that will come with time. ill be there eventually. but for now i am in the city.

Its funny how the lord works. I'm not being prideful here but its funny how the elders who know malay kindof ok (elder compton and myself)got sent to west malasia where you dont use much malay,whereas the elders who dont speak it that great got sent to east, where they will only use malay. i will admit, i was a little dissapointed when i heard i wasnt going to be using my malay very much, but its ok. either way, i get to share the gospel, wether in english, malay or some hybrid language(what i teach in now haha) Its all where we're needed. But anyways, i need to head out thank you for writing i appreciate it.

i hope you have a great week! ok love ya!

Elder Johnson

October 23, 2008 - In Singapore!

hellllooooo family!!

well i made it to singapore! My flight including layovers turned out to be about 27 hours in length and i finally made it! singapore is amazing! truely what everyone said it is. it is very clean and orderly.Yes it is quite warm here, very humid but everything is going to be alright. This place is much more than i expected though. Every race that you can possibly think of lives here and its amazing. Including the american retirees, and I think its safe to say that no dad, you most likely would not want to retire here...way to hot for you haha.

This is like a huge city springing out of a jungle, its super neet. and i think its safe to say i have never been to such a large city before, i wasnt expecting so many highrises but they are everywhere and i am just in a daze right now haha. we were picked up by a mission couple here taken to where we will be staying till saturday when we leave for our various destinations, then we went and met with president skelton. Awesome guy from what i have seen thus fur he seems like he meens business and it makes me all the more ready to go and serve with all my heart. Ok and now, the point ive been anxiosly waiting to say, is where i'm going to be for my first city....i am going to be serving in KIlang malasia pretty coool! bad news is, my trainer apparently doesnt speak malayu so ill be on my own in learning that for a while, but thats ok because from what i have heard from the elders here at the mission home we basically have a 6 months advantage on them with the language atleast.

ok well heres my address i will be going to first
Elder johnson
No.RC1-1709 Blk A
Pangsapuri Ridzuan Condominium,
jln PJS 10/11 Bandar sri Subang
46000 subang jaya, selangor
West Malaysia

Woo thats a long one. Well i just had an authentic singapore experience, i just ate indian food, with my hands, it was awesome haha. very hot stuff and my hands are permanently ornge from the curry haha. o ya, so i wasnt aware but they are telling me that i have to donate to the bike fund....and i guess its 250 dollars so ill be withdrawing that amount very soon...i think i have it in the account but im not sure. If you could check for me that would be good. Im kinda frustrated with that seeing a i bought my sweet bike for 140 and its probably way better than these. but i guess you gotta do what ya gotta do. But ill check and make sure that i actually have to pay that cuz now that i think, i think its voluntary. Ok well i prolly better go! sorry this is so scattered, thats just how my brain feels right now haha. Ok i love you all have a great week!!

Matty's Call Home - leaving MTC

Matt called once at about 7:00 to let us know they were leaving SLC to head to LA. He called then about 11:00 or so. He sounded great, VERY excited to go. He is hoping and praying that he will go to Malaysia. He wants to be out in the jungles. That kind of surprised me. He thinks Singapore sounds great but he said it sounds like a prison, mostly due to the laws such as no spitting on the sidewalks, that it is illegal to eat a certain fruit in public because it smells so bad. My friend Glen Sellars told me about a fruit that smells so bad but tastes soooo good. Matt heard the same thing. Funny. He was in good spirits about the long plane ride, about 19 hours. He should get there about 6:00 tonight. Ugh!! He refused to buy a neck pillow that he actually told me he would do. I am sure by now he wishes he had one, but you know, you gotta do what you gotta do. Too macho to buy a pillow. :-) He was happy to get out of the MTC, food, sicknesses, etc. He said the guy who was the District Leader when he got there and then Matt was given the assignment was kind of a poop. He was offended I guess that Matt took his place. He said he was the most sensitive person he had ever met. Thankfully he went to Indonesia and not Matt's mission. He did have good experiences though. He especially enjoyed President Ughtdorf when he came to speak, and he also got to meet and shake hands with Elder Scott. He said the he is a very small man. He came to about Matt's shoulders. He said he stood in line for about 1 1/2 hours to meet him. He loves the language and is so excited to learn more of it and will be bummed if he doesn't get to use it. :-) It is a cool sounding language. He is fired up and ready to go. I am sure he will do well, but as you all know will have challenges that will test him. He needs to hear from all of us on a regular basis so when we find out when his e-mail day is I will let you know. He will be only able to carry 43 lbs. in his luggage when he travels on airplanes there so that will be his first challenge, what to leave at the Mission Home. He will be leaving his suit for sure. No problem there. :-) Ok, I am trying to remember all that he said, will write more later when I remember. Gotta go!! Love you

Mom

October 15, 2008

hello family!

Well! we finally got the flight info and we are heading out tuesday at 5! we will probably arriving at the airport around 6 and we will be there tell 8:30 mst.so im not sure when would be best for you folks but i can call home. and i'm not sure if youll be at home from 6-7 or from about 10-11:30ish because we fly to LA and we have a really long layover there so if you would be home from 9 or 10 on, on tuesday night, that would be good! so i get to talk to you for a bit!And dont worry mother ill get a neck pillow if you insist haha.

Ya about david, hannah wrote me and told me some david character talked to her and said that he knew me so i figured he went up there, kinda weird. And thats great to hear about gerry. Keep me posted on there mission stuff when they get their calls. So dad went dear hunting hu? thats a little different for you dad! Well that's too bad about the dogs, i thought they would have had their last chance by now and all be out back...if you know what i mean...hey now! i told you no letting Duka get fat, not allowed hah.

Well that sounds great about megan and ericks house! i can imagine the feeling of having your own home is quite nice.Thats good advice about the missionaries and the woman watching the movie. thats kinda what i hope i will be able to rely on the spirit as well as use common sense with situations like that.well i'm finally starting to feel a little better, i had an ear infection (weird) over the last weekend and i've been on antibiotics since and it seems like its slowly going away. so needless to say i will be glad to get out of the germ factory. no need with the hymn book motha, cuz once i get to singapore i can only have one suitcase i travel on the planes with so i have to travel light. I will be leaving alot of stuff at the mission home.

Im not sure if i told you that already, but once we arrive at the mission home, all the missionaries leave their suitcases in a closet until after they are going home. pretty exciting if you ask me.But anyways, the fact of the matter is that i will be over in singapore/malasia in a matter of days actually teaching real people and that fact is both super exciting and it makes me nervous! i'm not scared though, im really not. i know the lord will help me. I know i have tried my hardest hear in the mtc. I can honestly say there hasn't been a day that has gone by where i havent tried as hard as i could to learn as much as possible about either the language or this gospel. I have worked, and i plan on working continually for the companionship of the holy ghost and i know that i am not alone in this effort to preach this gospel.

Thank you. i know you're praying for me and i need it so much. I miss you all so very much. mom i miss your company and your loving disposition, and i love you. thank you for all of your letters and support. Dad i miss your powerful presence that i could always turn to for help whenever i needed it. I love you both so much. i hope you're all doing wonderful. Im sorry my letters are all speratic and all over the place but i'm pretty rushed. so i will be arriving there on a thursday, wednesday for you, and hopefully they will call you and let you know but no guarantees. ok well i have to go! i love you all so much! next time i write ill be in singalaysia!!! I'm so excited!!!!!!!

love,Elder johnson

October 8, 2008

hello fam fam!

so i finally got this silly email thing figured out and thats good because i ran out of stamps and i dont feel like going to get more haha. but anyways, How are you all? everyones health is doing great i hope? Hows grandma? make sure you tell her i love her and am praying for her. Man, this mtc thing is a disease pit. I have been sick just about everyother week here. I'm never really sick but its just uncomfortable. its terrible because i sanitize my hands everytime i see a dispenser and i take my vit. C so i dont know what to do haha. but all is well, things are still going great here, its just kinda like the calm before the storm i think because i can speak the language pretty ok (for being in the mtc) so all the teachers are just kind of babysitty i think and were just trying to build vocab, but like i said its the calm before the storm when we all get there and cant understand anything haha.

But this is all very exciting. We get our flight plans sometime next week and then were off the following week! i will be out of the mtc in about a week and 5or 6 days! i'm pretty excited ! last week im not sure if i told you but we had a member of parliment in indonesia come and visit our class, it was really interesting!, he didnt seem that interested in teaching us but his little wife was so funny, she kept on yelling: saya pasti, saya dapat, saya bisa, tidak munkin, etc which just means: i am sure, i can, i can, not maybe.she was just telling us that we need to be sure and know that we can spread the gospel.

It was really cool. even though she wasnt mormon, she is christian and apparently over there because there are so fwe christians, many of the christians that dont believe in us will still really support us just because were christian which sounds very promising. o ya get this the guys name was parlindungan perba which is one letter off from perlindungan which means protection haha which i thought was kindof funny. speaking of which the word duka, which i so often called duke means sorrow hahaha. and adipati means duke...im not sure why i remembered that but i looked it up after being here for like a week haha.but anyways...thats crazy about prop 8...thats doesnt make any since because its private property, if you or dad could let me know more info on that i would appreciate it.

That sounds great about erick and megans house! is it closer to work for e-rock? i shall try my hardest to send the watch home before i leave, thats annoying it doesn't work, i was actually wearing it too. I'll just get a cheap cool one in malasia. I also plan on getting snake skin boots...i hear they have them all over there, so dad i may come back looking like a eastern cowboy if thats possible, haha. dont worry about money mom i they have a atm here. \So about studying i study seriosly about 10 hours a day and the majority of it is language study just because even my scripture study is in indonesian. but sometimes we read out of preach my gospel in english so thats almost about it for english scripture sudy. but it is true i study more language than scripture per say, except all i'm studying in language is religious stuff so i guess that answers the question haha.

And it is getting a little cool here but no i wont be needing a coat thank you though. O ya konfresi umum, general conference was great! i ran out of time i only have 2 minutes left but i got to watch all the sessions and i have tons of notes i need to review but off the top of my head i really really enjoyed the talk by president uchtdorf saturday about hope. harapan. It really was quite inspiring. all of confrence was inspiring. its different in the mtc, its a different experience. Ok well sorry i rambled about not much this entire letter but time is up in 45 secs so i love you all and hope you are all doing great. be safe and know that i pray for you all...in indonesian isnt that cool!

love elder johnson

October 6, 2008

Hello! so I tried to send an email but for some reason the darn thing wouldn't take my password! Kinda frustrating. Just wanted to say thank you a bunch for the package Mother! My glasses were getting hard to see out of .ha ha. Well sorry I won't be writing everyone via email, so hopefully you can just copy this or read it to them. If they want to hear it. Thank you for the absentee ballot thing. Is it true what I heard about if gay marriage passes in California, temple marriages may stop there for a while? I doubt it, it was just a rumor but it's bothering me & I need some comfirmation of my suspicion. I guess I was told that if it passses homosexuals could sue the church or something for not letting them go in? I hope not, if so this world is getting ridiculous, O, and what's the deal with the stockmarket? I heard it crashed...does that mean much for us??

Anyways, that sounds great about Erick and Megan's house! Have you seen it yet? That does sound good that they won't be paying John's mortgage anymore, ha ha.
So how much did Glen seem to remember? Did it sound like he used it a lot when he got back (Indonesian)? Cuz I have a feeling I may not use it much when I get back, except Elder Schneider is going to BYU-I as well when we get back, so I'll be able to talk to him & that will be neato! O, we're planning on most likely rooming together, at least at this point.

Thank you Shannypoo for the package! The isue-isue (cookies) were delicious! That's crazy about Denise! Tell her to let me know whats going on! I don't know her particularly well but it will be good to see a familiar face if I do see her. And ya, still leaving Oct. 22. That Claire-Bear, she is a cutie! give her a big hug for me! And tell her not to work to hard on learning Indonesian while I'm gone so she doesn't make me look bad when I get back! ha ha. And it sounds like Lilly's quite the little smartypants! learning sign language and building things! I miss all three of those little girls. O, and Erick don't worry, I am wise in the ways of avoiding the Atomic sit-up. thanks for the heads up though ha ha. Also we get to go to the temple every P-day, in fact I will be going in about 4 hours, pretty exciting if you ask me. O, and I'm not sure if I told you, I don't think I did, cuz Erick asked about the District leader, I am the Distric leader. I have been for about 3 weeks now. So, to answer the question, ya, I guess I like my District leader...haha.

Becky, that is great about Dan Dan Noodle going to church!! I really hope and pray he will keep on wanting to come. I know it will be good for him. What's that Kinster up to!!! Shinanigans I assume! ha ha

About that testimony meeting where everyone spoke and said they appreciated Dad, they had better! He is an awesome Bishop if I do say so! Well everything is going great here! I'm teaching lesson 3 Friday, tomorrow, so that will be interesting. But I'm excited to get out there and serve! I love you all, and I better run! Hope you all have a great week!
Love,
Elder Johnson

September 24, 2008 to All

hello family!
so great to hear from you all! i appreciate the letters so much! well i have quite a few jawaban (answers) to your pertanyaans( questions) so here it goes! sadly i will not be singing in the choir. i heard a rumor that the mtc would not be singing at conference and so the one week i didnt go they past out the sign up slips and i guess you could say i missed the cut haha. but o well not the end of the world even though that would have been awesome.

I believe my flight length to singapore is about 21 hours with layovers and what not, so ill be in the air for a while. But when we spoke to president boone he told us that he would call the parents of the missionaries when they arrived but he's not sure about president skelton. there are a total of 5 elders going to my missin that i am here with. they are all in the picture i sent home i believe...maybe i didnt...but there are also 2 elders going to indonesia and two of my teachers served there so we hear all about indonesia.

we arent told much about malasia which is where i'm assuming we will be serving. and that is why i'll be learning indonesian dad. but i think alot of people speak it in singapore also. If you look at the address for the mission home i think its like bukit merah jalan or something like that which means red hill road. so even in singapore alot of the roads are in indo. A kindof cool thing you might want to do it google earth singapore/malasia. they let us do that and it was pretty neato.

Well mother thank you veeery much for the package! the jerkey was devoured! thats precious stuff around here so in the future keep that in mind haha.happy late birthday to the clair bear! that little rascals already 1 hu? shes going to be writing a novel by the time i get back. o mother, if you could send me a good glasses cleaning kit i would appreciate it, i have dirty glasses haha. also my watch broke i think...should i send it home and see if you cant take it back to walmart? i would not worry about it but i think it was like $35.other than that all is doing well the langiuage is coming along nicely and this place is treating me well. i'm learning so much here. its amazing to think how little i know of the language right now, but to think how much i know compared to last week. i can just about say nearly anything i want to say in a round about indo way right now and i am quite happy about it. I want to say some stuff in indonesian to you but my time is about up so i may just write you a short letter by hand. but anyways, thank you so much for everything! all the letters and th package! I love you all!( shannon,becky, erick,kenny, matt, megan, dan and your children!) i love mom and dad, and hope your all doing wonderfully! ill write a letter also if i have time!

Bye!
Elder Johnson

Sept 14, 2008 - To Mom and Dad

Hello mother and family!

well i dont know where to start mom, i have like 6 letters and 4 emails from you that i dont know what to say! haha. but regardless getting letters is a big spirit booster for me and i appreciate it. But about the birth certificate thing im not exactly sure if i do need them...did it say i did? if you have one you might as well send me one just in case. Either way i wont feel that bad cuz one of my companions didnt even get 3 or 4 of the shots he needed to get before he came here...im not sure what hes going to do haha.this is kinda crazy cuz i only have 30 minutes to write you and i spent 10 of it reading. But all is well here! i was a little bit sick just the other day but i was over it in about 24 hours. we are already going to be teaching lesson 2 saturday which is pretty crazy cuz the spanish elders on our floor told us that they have 2 weeks to get each lesson down. This is all going so fast in here! it seemes like yesterday i just got here. You should tell erick that i have been stearing clear of the orange juice. not for any particular reason besides seeing other people drink it and at the end having half an ounce of concentrate just sitting at the bottom haha. not the best if you ask me.

The food...not fantastic but i will say i'm never hungary haha.everythings still great with my companions they are both great elders.about the neck pillow thing i would most likely use it, i mean i hear the flight is like 16 hours so whatever makes it bearable i would be ok with.well i hope everything went ok with the prop 8 thing. that still seems kinda strange to me that you and everyone else has to go around spreading the word about it. It sounds like its a little out of the ordinary way of doing things for the church. I'm sure this will be email will be getting to everyone so i'm going to try and consolidate time by saying things in here that i would ordinarily write a letter for...BUT! i mean it just the same!haha.

Megan! thank you so much for the package! its great to have little side snacks besides mtc cookies and pie with cool whip on it haha. I had some cake one of the elders parents sent him and it was amazing....i mean it was probably gross but it just stasted alot more real than the food here haha. I'm sorry it probably seems like i'm complaining. Honestly though the food here is good, i'm just a baby haha.But once again thank you megan got the package those slim jims were devoured...: ) hahaha. Thats crazy they found matt's truck! is it still in descent condition? I hope so. are all of his cleaning stuff still there?

I have been reading the kitab mormon latelty, indonesion, and its quite neato! even though the reading and translation process is way longer, i think it is alot more meanigful. I'm having a great time here motha! sometimes things get a little crazy but with all the letters and the amazing spirit that is here it is hard to be upset or overstressed, which is great because i need all the help i can get with both of those things. Well time is about to expire so i wont really have time to spell check this. soooo if you would do that for me before you send it out i would appreciate it : ) haha. Alright i love you all so much and miss you!

tell everyone hello for me and give D-U-K-E a pat on the head for me! love you all!
elder johnson

September 11, 2008 to Mom and Dad

Hello family!
I already wrote you a letter in the mail and it should be there in a few days! I don't have much time to chat but I love you all and hope everything is going well! i need to study it up for lesson 1 in Indonesian! I may actually just keep on sending things in the mail because I have a whole bunch of stamps that i need to use and ill prolly just send the stamps home when I'm done haha. This will be my email for my mission i believe so feel free to write to this, and divvy out my email. Alrighty I'll talk to ya lata! love you all!

Elder Johnson

Sept 8 to Erick, Megan and Lily

Hello Megan & Lily & Erick!
How are you all? Thanks so much for your letters and the package! It's wonderful. I've been capitalizing on the gum as soon as we walk in the residence hall haha. But ya, it's pretty crazy that we're leaving in about 3 weeks now. Tha language has been going alright. It's really hard but I think with the Lord's help, time, and practice everything will be alright.

The Spirit here is so strong and conducive to the Spirit. But it sounds like everything is going ferat. Everything is fine here. The food is kinda funky but it's not so bad. Anyways I don't have much time, I have to study because I'm teaching leasson 1 in Indonesian on Saturday! Crazy, I know. But just to show off, here goes my testimony! (Refer to Shannon's last letter! I think it is the same and just as hard to read!)...Amen. So I can speak it alright...It's all coming along. Alright well, I hope all is well! Thank you again for the letters and package!

Love, Elder Johnson

September 4, 2008 to Shannon and Matt

Hey Shanny Shanyl,
Thank you for the letter! I know it was probably quite a traumatic experience on mom and dad's computer - haha. Oh, don't worry about it Shan [not coming to the farewell] - no one could have known we were going to ship out early.

But yeah, the language is going well and I'm enjoying it quite a bit even though it's hard. But the food is ok - nothing to write home about...haha. My comps are both great Elders. Both very nice and spiritual - they are from Utah. Oh, and tell Matt I met an Elder at lunch who is going to Texas to speak Vietnamese. Matt went to Houston, no? Cuz that's where he was going.

I'm having a great time here- it's all so wonderful and it's a spiritual place. Learning is comparitively easy when compared to school. And yeah, you can put these on the blog if you'd like, just make sure to correct eny spling erors for me plese? haha.

But I better hurry up cuz I'm needing to stuyd for Saturday! I have to teach lesson #1 in Indonesian! Here's a little Indonesian for you. This is what I would say to introduce myself and bearing my testimony:

Nama saya Elder Johnson dari gereja Yesus Kristus dari orang-orang suci zahman alshif. Saya ingin bersaksi. Sa ya tahu babwa Allah hid up. Saya tahu bahwa Yesus Kristus mati dari kita. Saya tahu bahwa malali kurban tebusan dafat kembali kelada allah kita. (Note from Shannon - he wrote more of his testimony, but Matt's handwriting is a bit difficult to read so I apologize for any mistakes to his Indonesian).

Well, I've gotta go! Love ya and thank you for the letter. I love you all!

Elder Johnson

Sept 4, 2008 to Becky

Beck!
I am doing good. Seriously. I know you know they tell us to write good things home, but seriously, saya sempurna (I am perfect). I feel great and am enjoying myself. This really is a great place to learn. I have experienced a lot in just a week. The language is tough but it's coming along. I get to teach lesson #1 in Indonesian on Saturday, so that should be interesting. I'll just study and depend on the Lord.

That's so sad about Kinster. A little tear welled up in my eye when I read that. Haha. I'll miss her a lot. I love you 3 and hope you're all doing well. Thank you for just being such a good sister. I feel so truly blessed to be a member of our keluarga (family) We are all so different and bring different strengths in order to help each other.

Don't worry, I'm having seriously a good time. I enjoy not wasting any time on TV. It's refreshing. I wasn't going to bear my testimony cuz I have to go, but here it goes.

Saya irgin bersaksi, saya tahu bahua allah hidup. saya dahu bahwa yesus kistus yeruselamaf. saya dahu bahwa melalvi rencana kesalamatan dapat kembali kepada alla kita. gereja ini benar. saya kisih kelvarga saya. well that's a bit of my testimony. I love you 3! Hope all is well. Oh and if you try and translate that, good luck. My spelling errors are pretty bad. Plus, gospel words don't translate well in dictionaries. Ok well, you all be sage! I love you! And Geraja ini benar! (This Church is true!)
Elder Johnson

Sept 4, 2008 to Mom, Dad and Kenny

Fam!
Hey Mom & Dad & Kenny!

Thank you for all the letters Mom! Yes I have been getting them. How are you all? I am doing pretty darn well! The MTC has been great thus far. The food is no mom quality, but it will do for now. But Ya! we’re supposed to be shipping out on the 22nd of Sept! It’s way crazy because we’re supposed to be here for 9 weeks to learn the language initially but, it was a decision made by the first presidency for us to leave on the 22nd, so I’ll just trust in Heavenly Father that He will provide. I’ll keep on praying and studying. My two companions are Elder Campbell & Austin. They are both from Utah and are awesome Elders. They are both very nice and extremely spiritual guys. Well it sounds like you had a great time with the Hiller’s. It sounds like fun.

But no mom I don’t think I need anything. Except your e-mails! I’ll set up my e-mail account next week so if you would tell me that I would appreciate it. I am loving this Parents! I so enjoy not wasting time on t.v. and what not. This is truly what I need to be doing with myself, and I know it’s what God wants me to be doing. Well I don’t have much time seeing as I have to study to teach lesson #1 in Indonesian on Saturday so I’m sorry this is short but, thank you again for all the letters. I’d like to bear my testimony, saja ingin Bersaksi, saya …(like in Shannon’s letter, I can’t read some of the words, sorry, Mom’s note to you all)

I love you. Hope you are all doing great! Sorry but I am having to go, I can’t translate it. Just mull that over and know that I know this church is true, and that God lives. I love you all and will write you later! Say Hi to Kenny for me or should I say…Hi Kenny… ha ha. Tell him to be safe on his bike! Or else. All right talk to ya later.

Elder Johnson

Sept 2 to Erick

Erick!
Well, this is what my name tag says:
Elder Johnson
GerejaYesus Kristus
Dari Orang-orang suci
Zaman AKHIR

So ya...It's pretty crazy but I am so excited to learn! Apparently they have made it so we will be in the MTC for only 4 weeks... Sorry I just went out and showed some Elders up at pull-ups...I had to haha. Well Erick thank you so much for what you said, I appreciate it and will keep it in mind. Well I'm super tired and I'm sure mom will fill you in on the other specifics. I already wrote to her. But thank you so much for the letter. I appreciate it and I love you brotherrrr. Alright. Take care and I'lll write you soon.
Elder Johnson

PS - Sorry for my chicken scratch...I'll work on it.

Into the MTC - a week early

Matt went into the MTC a week early - it was that or a month or more later, due to visas and travel plans, etc. So he went in on August 27, 2008. Mom and Dad and Becky went with him to the MTC to say goodbye, and Erick, Megan and Lily, and Kenny met them before they left CA. Shannon and Matt had travel plans all ready to see Matty for his original date - over Labor Day weekend, but weren't able to change plans with such short notice so they missed his departure. The recent family reunion in Idaho would have to be enough for the next 2 years.
Here are some pics of the day at the MTC:

August 27 - first letter from the MTC

Mom! Dad!

Thank you so much for all your help! Mom, thanks to you I feel so very prepared for everything that has come my way.

Thus far the MTC has been great. The elders I am with are Elder Austin and Campbell. They are both great guys and I am enjoying their companionship a lot. Our branch presidency is full of wonderful men that have so much wisdom to impart to me. Thus far even though the first day has been mostly instructive on rules and what not, I can still feel the spirit so strong. These young men are the Disciples of Christ.

It was so sad to see you go but I am truly happy to be here. I was informed that we will be only in the MTC for 4 weeks. I know it’s crazy but I am trusting in the Lord that he will help me. I love you guys and hope you are all doing well because I am doing fantastic! Well, I better go. Big first day of Indonesian tomorrow! Yee ha! (Seriously, I am really excited). All right, love you and will write you soon.

Love,
Matt

So, we just found out...

... that Matthew now has to learn Amasa/Indonesia! Which I guess means the language of Indonesia. Yikes!! The mission now is only Singapore and Malasyia. Apparently it was split back in 2007. No more Sri Lanka, Pakistan, Bangladesh in the mission. They need to update the booklets that they send out.... we thought he would be moving between all of those countries.

He will be in the MTC now for about 10 weeks. Funny how things change in a week or 2. He already has his passport and he is getting ready for his temple recommend soon too - lots of changes in the next few weeks!

Getting The Call

On 5 phones at once to get the news out to the fam!

The letter - leaving Sept 3 to the MTC

Reading the Call - Singapore? Where the heck is that?!

Singapore!

Matt got his mission call today - he is headed to the Singapore Mission on September 3, 2008. He is speaking English, which got me curious. What do they speak in Singapore? A visit to Wikipedia later, here is what we know:

Singapore is in Malasia, which is located South of Vietnam, Thailand and Cambodia.

Singapore is a multi-religious country. According to statistics, around 51 percent of resident Singaporeans (excluding significant numbers of visitors and migrant workers) practice Buddhism and Taoism. About 15 percent, mostly Chinese , Eurasians, and Indians, practice Christianity - a broad classification including Catholicism, Protestantism and other denominations. Muslims constitute 14 percent, of whom Malays account for the majority with a substantial number of Indian Muslims and Chinese Muslims. Smaller minorities practice Sikhism, Hinduism, the Bahá'í Faith and others, according to the 2000 census.[66]
Some religious materials and practices are banned in Singapore. The Jehovah Witnesses, for example, are prohibited from distributing religious materials[67] and are sometimes jailed for their pacifist refusals to serve in the Singaporean military.[68]
About 15 percent of the population declared no religious affiliation.

English is the first language learned by half the children by the time they reach preschool age and is the primary medium of instruction in primary school; however mother tongues are taught in the respective languages.

I hope they call me on a mission!

Matt Johnson is waiting for his mission call! He sent his papers in and now it's just a matter of time. We expect he will get his mission papers on Friday - this Friday, June 20, 2008.

So, this gives us time to do a little family contest. Where will Matt be called? Send in your guesses by commenting on this post - we will see who was the closest, and if anyone guesses his exact mission call, we will send you a package of goodies for winning!

My guess is he will go to a Scandinavian country and put those Swedish good looks to use! I am going to guess Norway though, not the motherland.

Ok - send me your guesses! And I will use this blog to keep everyone updated on Matty's mission and post his letters, pics, etc. Stay tuned!