August 25, 2009 to Mom

hello mumsy,

well i did get transfered. after 8 months in kuching i am now in the state of sabah in a city called kota kinabalu or kk whateva haha. ive noticed a pattern thus far and that is that i have served thus far in cities that start with the letter k. klang, kuching, kk. kinda funny. well i am a zone leader now. i think its funny. my new companion is elder compton. he was in my mtc group. he was elder schneiders companion.hes a good fellow. hes pretty serious from time to time but i still like him.hes from Arizona. but thus far i really like it here. we live in a nice apartment with a view of the south china sea. ill send pictures eventually. sorry its been so long. i just never remember to bring my camera.

o ya sorry also to Erick. i meant to say happy birthday a while back but it slipped by. sooorrryyy eeaaaiiiirrrr beeeeeeaaaarrrr haha. hope you had a good b-day gravy master.well that's neat you had a dream about me ma. i wonder what i was off to. work as what. interesting.well sounds good that your foot is doing better now. keep up the good work.

well thank you for the loot. i got an over weight charge and had to pay 50 ringgit. like 15 American or something. but it was still annoying because i think in ringgit now and that's alot fo money! ahah.camera is working well. its quite nice. I'm trying to take more pictures lately than i have so i can remember things better, since I'm not so diligent in my journal efforts even though i try. i also have a book of remembrance. yes i finally gave into it. i thought it was funny at first but i got one too where i have people write in it and leave a picture too. it will be a good journal as well.Daniele toleman is going to college hu? thats kinda funny indeed.

but the new area is good . its a mix it seems of east Malaysia and west. its like a nice city with good food and your surrounded by native people from Borneo. west Malaysia only has foreigners or Muslims and Sarawak has all natives but i was in the country haha. so its a mix of both. its been thus far nice and i hope it continues the same.OK I'm about to go get some food. I'm starved haha! ok ma i love you i hope you have a great week. if you ever want to send anything you can just send it to Singapore. it will get there for sure and i can just get it later! talk to ya later!

elder Johnson

August 25, 2009 to Dad

hey dad!
good to hear its cooling off at home. here we are on the ocean so from what i have seen thus far it is cooler here than in kuching. so my first couple of days have been nice.you talking about moms cookies made me hungry. i hope sandy enjoyed them( said in jealous sarcastic voice) haha.no sound system at church? what happened? the sound system in kuching was terrible. it was so muffled and hard to hear. yes you can have a loud voice when you want to haha.well I'm glad to hear Carl is getting to business. i like that little clown. hopefully he keeps on going. Joe needs a good example. I'm pretty sure he does exactly the same stuff Carl does so if 1 goes i bet both do.well its too bad you didn't hear about Gerry yet. i was excited to hear about him.

mission president Johnson...ohh better not say that too loud ill curse you haha. well all is well here pappy. ive just been meeting alot of the members here as well as a few investigaros mixed in. elder Compton is kinda a dry fellow so I'm trying to bring some life into the appointments and thus far its been really fun. i don't know if i told you but ive acquired a little arsenal of card tricks hah. they love them here and its fun to see them get so surprised. getting that relationship of trust with members and investigators is so important. well everything is good here. happy and healthy. i hope you are too dad. have a good week!
love you,

elder johnson

August 18, 2009 to Mom

hello mom!

well that is very cool i have a little nephew (Miles). he will be kickin it old school by the time i get back, walkin around probably and starting to talk up a storm. and clair bear. she sounds like a character. i look forward to seeing pictures next week.wow ma you and pappy have been busy with that little truck.128 thou hu? haha just kidding.i think i have that same relationship with duke. love fear. you never know when hes going to come charging into your room and leap up on the bed "...dingle dingle dingle, fwoop......boom, ahh! o, hi duke." haha.almost every morning like that.well that sounds good that your foot is doing better. just take it easy and everything will go fine. the human body is a neat thing in being able to repair itself. whats cool is your bone will grow back even stronger where it broke. there will be a thicker layer of bone material where the break was. i think that is very neat.ya elder merrill and i smoothed some things out. things still aren't perfect but were trying. i just think he hates being a junior companion. i really don't understand why. its not like i am IN CHARGE haha. most of the time we do what he wants. but i just don't think he likes the idea of being the "junior comp" pretty funny. I'm more than ok to be the junior comp.but lucky for him we've heard that he will be training here soon and i will be getting transferred to sabah. a place called kota kintabalu which is where i will have to be a zone leader if i get transfered there. not a whole lot of fun but we shall see. that's all just rumors that we have heard, and not certain, but it sounds likely that i will be getting transfered soon.thats ok i have been here for a long time. im sure the members are tired of my face by now hahaha.well not everyone is converted to the word of wisdom. but most people who get baptized remember that, most prominently as what they learned from the elders. not about the plan of salvation, eternal families, or the gospel of Jesus...its just annoying they cant remember the other things as well as those 5 things haha.its pretty crazy. Ive been out for a year august 27 crazy stuff indeed. the first year went way fast. It seemed really fast but if i think about it it feels like forever since I've been home. but at the same time it went by fast if that made any sense haha.we had a wonderful baptism last week. her name is Reeta. she is really cool and is going to be a strong member i know it. her whole family is Anglican but she was willing to make changes despite that. i was very proud of her.ok mom well thank you for your letter i hope your ankle continues to heal well. have a great week!

love you,

elder johnson

August 18, 2009 to Dad

hey dad!

sounds like you had a good time in vegas! that sure would be fun to see all them. good old Miles. little kids are like the best part about here haha. they are so funny. theres a little girl about 4 years old who is the niece of a member but the little girl herself is a muslim because of her parents. but the little girl always comes to church with the auntie. her name is siti sahara about as muslim a name as you can get haha. its funny because since she started going to church and learning stuff she would always tell her muslim parents, lets pray before we eat, and stuff like that haha. very funny.little kids are pretty darn cool.

thats too bad you had to go home so quick. but i bet you had a good ride home with doo. did you have any fun experiences with duke jumping on your lap while driving when you didnt expect it? those were always fun times haha.well that sounds good about gerry. hope i get to hear about it next week. i hope he goes somewhere neato. i had hoped he was gonna come here but then i realized his blood sugar thing probably wouldn't let that happen.ya I've been reading in Matthew as well. i read the b o m a few times and now i figured id start out with the new testament. i hope i can finish it by December at the latest so we shall see. its just kinda hard to get alot read because theres so many notes i have to take as i read. so if i can read a chapter or 2 in an hour I'm lucky.but thus far I'm in Matthew 25. good stuff indeed.

i get surprised sometimes by the sharpness of Jesus's words but i suppose he had to for the audience he had, and often times he says things that are vague so without alot of pondering and or usage of additional scripture the authentic meaning could easily be ascewed . I'm thankful for additional scripture and especially now the Joseph Smith translation. i used to be really weirded out by it. wondering why he changed the scriptures...but i just didn't understand then, and my testimony wasn't what it should have been. but now i get really excited when i see that little jst at the bottom because i get to see what it really means. its soo cool. like i forget the chapter maybe 23 its speaking on marriage and it makes it sound like after death there is no marriage, like no one is married in heaven, but from the d&c and the translation we clearly see that is not the meaning. i am very grateful.

Joseph Smith was an amazing man. i like the parable of laborers as well. that's a hard lesson but a good one.well pappy I've heard word that i most likely will be getting transferred here soon. not confirmed yet but maybe it was the same in your mission maybe not, but rumors get started and i heard that I'm getting transferred to sabah. to a city called kota kintabalu. its kinda the best place you can serve if you go to sabah, so im excited. not to be bad or anything but im also excited to get a new comp...shh don't tell anyone haha. if i do go to sabah my comp will be someone from my mtc group elder compton. not many people like him but we got along pretty good. once again i am excited but will be happy no matter where i go even if i stay here. Ive been in this area for 8 months already. what was the longest you stayed in an area dad? ok well ill talk to ya later dad. thanks for the letter! i love you. give duke a pat on the head for me.

elder Johnson

PD - did i tell you i often times get called "johnsonbaby" as in johnson &johnson baby shampoo? funny i think