April 14, 2009 to Mom

hey mom.
you just had spring break hu? you lucky one. sounds like you had a good easter though. your first ham hu? you sound like grandma johnson! your making hams now!thats good to know ken was there. how is that little guy kenny? ken where are you located these days? i hope you get that job. have you been thinking about doing a county fire job maybe? hu. keep me up to date.haha ya those videos were pretty funny.

speaking of kenny, that little fat chinese boys name was ken haha. he was hilarious. his dad was an investigator for a while and we went on bike rides with ken before our lessons with his dad. it was fun.ill probably send a new cd home in a while.

ok sounds good about the package. it should get here shortly. is there jerky in it? haha jk.g

ood for gerry durnall. i really hope all goes well for him. thats really cool there will be 3 guys from plvl ward all serving at the same time. good stuff.

haha yesterday we had a funny experience. we were riding our bikes and a school bus/van thing went buy us and a little chinese boy stuck his head out the window, waved to us and yelled profain words at us haha. he didnt take into account that we were going the same way as him and his bus was going slow haha. so we chased after the bus and i got along side it and proceeded to teach him a lesson on manners at high speeds,and telling him to watch his mouth and dont say that again . he looked pretty scared...hahha. needless to say he probably didnt understand english, but it made us feel better ha.well all is well here, i feel good and healthy. the work is going along well.

i love you all very much!
elder johnson

April 9, 2009 to Mom and Dad

hello mom! Happy birthday in two days for me and 3 for you! so your going to dillons beach for your b-day hu? sounds like fun! thats always a fun place. once again happy birthday and i hope you have a great time. I hope the package i sent gets there sooner or later. it should be arriving eventually for you. and it has a cd with all my pictures i have taken since leaving for here up until about a month ago. also i wanted to let you know i got the first package with the powder in it. thank you, i very much appreciate it. i now have the family pictures in my scriptures to show people. the other packages should be arriving soon also. Im sorry i'm asking for you to send alot of stuff but one thing that would be very valuable for me would be pictures. Pictures that relate to the restoration and the plan of salvation. elder griffin's mom sent him some pictures a while back and they have been serving us well but we won't be together forever so I'd like to get some of my own. He says they're called the gospel art pictures?they're about the size of a regular line paper sheet and im not sure where she got them. maybe at a place like desseret book? if you wanted to just ask her yourself her name is Diane her email is diane.h.griffin@gmail.com. but ya the people we teach here i think benifit alot from visual aid. so if you could send me some pictures that would be awesome. And if they're laminated that would be nice seeing as they wouldn't last a week here if not laminated haha.

What might help you know what pictures might be good would be to go through lessons one and two of preach my gospel and just see what pictures might correlate to the lessons. That would be very useful and i would appreciate it. THANK YOU!well unfortunately we haven't seen conference yet. we wait two weeks after its over so hopefully next week it will arrive here on dvd. but i am looking forward to it! yep the baptism went well last saturday and everyone was confirmed Sunday. 3 people. a mom and two kids. what's cool is, her children speak chinese better because their dad is chinese and she is indonesian so on sunday we just had new chinese speaking elders arrive in kuching so they got to confirm them in chinese. and whats even better, their father who doesn't speak hardly any malay or english was there to see the baptism and then to hear the confirmation in chinese so he could understand. It was all really a happy experience. all went very well. thanks for the childrens toys. i always love giving little kids things here. i usually carry around candy to settle them down when they're being loud. but now they all know i carry around candy so they always come asking now haha. o well.well all is well, elder griffin and i are having a fun time here. im healthy and the work is moving along. yesterday we rode our bikes to our farthest area ( about 25 miles easy) and the whole way it was a downpore haha. it was alot of fun. o ya I didnt tell you, that about 3 weeks ago I got contact lenses. I couldn't wear my glasses since arriving in singapore because they just fogged up and slid off my nose. So i've been wearing contacts for a little while now and they are pretty sweet. I enjoy them. well I hope you're all doing well and having a wonderful easter! i hope you know mom if i was home i would still expect an easter basket even though I'm older! haha. ok well have a good time at dillon beach! love you all!

elder johnson

April 1, 2009 to Mom

hello mom! everythings good here! before i forget because i know i will. if in the next package you could send me some sandals that would be awesome. I lost mine a while back.some tivas would be most enjoyed. i loved those sandals. size 11 1/2 if you can haha. but anyways...hahaits true the things that are happening here truely are amazing. the people here are soo cool and without a doubt very accepting of the gospel. im pretty sure they are all descendents of haggoth or something. they're like lamanites. so excepting. just a little lazy haha.and o ya the lady from england had a crazy accent . she had basically forgoten her mother tongue. she like only knew english. she called bahasa malaya bahangsa malayu because she had been so englishified. haha.

i have been getting a few letters here and there from dave. he sounds very good.. I am embarrased to admit and i feel like a baby but as i was riding home the other night and i had an i miss duke! feeling. ahaa. how is the little guy. still black and white and furry all over? haha. im not sure where general conference is watched here.i hope i do hear from Elijah. hes a good guy. i like him. i hope i hear from him. but ya toys from the dollar store would be AWESOME! lots of them. some for boys and girls. of course you know boys like cars and girls like pretty dolly things/ stuffed animal things. that would be really good for the next package. ok thanks mom. i love you and hope your doing well. o ya! we have another baptism for a family of 3 this saturday. so exciting! ok have a great week!

elder johnson

March 24, 2009 to Shannon

A boy! thats so cool! cangrats shan. i bet thats a relief knowing that you dont have to buy everything in yello or green haha. well i hope your happy and healthy. know that your in my prayers and i miss you. i expect to hear some of the names your thinking of so you can get my lulus...approval haha.

just the other week there was a lady that told us she was pregnant and she wanted us to think of names. for boy we said isaiha or however you spell that or elija and for girl we said heidi. i think all pretty solid names. she said if it was a boy she was going to give him a middle name with a mix of my companions and my name haha.poor kid...matthew-johnathan...mattathon, jonatthew hahaha.

talk to ya later

love elder johnson

March 24, 2009 to Family

hey mom and fam. sounds good about the package. im sending one your way as well.just has some random stuff in it. as well as your b-day present. i look forward to the package getting here though.dont worry if i get transfered it will get to me eventually. well sounds good about you and the calkins sounds like your all having a good time together.preach my goepel is very good. all the missionaries in the world use it or at least are supposed to and it is very good. it covers all of the basic principles of the gospel in a very concise simple way. which is what we need for this part of the world. the trip to singapore was good. ate some good food. contacted some interesting people but im glad to be back. like i told dad we had a great baptism right when i got back and it was such a good experience.

Also we had a really interesting experience the other day. We have a member that lives out in the middle of no where who called us up one night that says she has met a member that is from england that is visiting. so we went out to meet them last night and turns out its this little malaysian lady that had been living in england for 50 years. she had married and englander and comes back sometimes to visit family and do business here. like dad told me a while ago on the special he saw on pbs about the palm oil in borneo, apparently she is part of that haha. but she didnt know there was a church here so she never thought to share it with her family. but we went out and we met with her brother's family and we are now teaching them. it was so weird to meet someone who knows how the church is supposed to be run. even the people here that have been members for as long as it has been in malaysia just have a different feeling about them. don't get me wrong the gospel is the same. they just don't know all the same lingo and jive talk members have in the states. it was so funny. but anyways she's from stafford england. i dont know her name, i just called her auntie.i got to singapore by plane, and i stayed with a couple of missionaries in their appartment. 2 elders that i knew from klang actually. i was there for 3 days total.

i just got a letter the other day from dave and he has been emailing me too. he sounds like he is doing great. im proud of him. i have been feeling prety good lately. nothing to complain about. the work is very good here. it was slow for a little bit but things are picking up. the members are helping alot. how did that go with the inactive member that you and dad had been helping with? I know members make a huge difference. just a few weeks ago we were contacting and one lady was super rude and didn't want anything to do with us. it turns out her husband has a sister who is a member in another branch. this member refered us and took us over. all of a sudden, she was very polite, let us in, and we are now currently teaching her and her family. i now know how important members are to missionary work. im sure the missionaries need all the help that they can get there ma. always be on the look out to share. don't ever be scard to. ok well, i love you mom, and i love you all. hope your all having a good week and ill talk to ya next week.

love elder johnson

March 18, 2009 to Family

hello mom and family!

well today i am in singapore on my visa run. things are kinda busy and don't have a lot of time haha. but singapore is singapore. clean place full of alot of really interesting people from all over the world. i met a phillipino telemarketer last night and i asked her why her english was so good and i said she sounded like and american, and she said its because i talk to americans all day. and i thought to myself it was you all those times!!! hahazone conference went very well. it was all very spiritual and a good learning experience. yes president skelton was there. he's leaving for home in june or july. it should be interesting what the new president does for changes. thus far i have only eaten once since arriving here and yes it was delicious. it was indian food...i can't find any in kuching and it was to die for haha.

yes i can listen to cd's and if you want to send it if you like/ i'm sure its appropriate and i'm sure i could listen to it. the mission's not to strict about it. as long as it doesn't distract or take away from the spirit. I can listen. And yes if you want to send that vegitable stuff. that would be good. elder griffin and i have been looking to get more vegitables and fruits.well thank you sister clark. i dont really know her but thank you. and i just took out 100 sing which is probably about $80 us because everything is super expensive. so if you checked again eventually that would be good.well the lizard was interesting. it tasted like tuna haha. ok sorry i can't write you too dad but i don't have any time to write another letter right now. i love you all and hope you're having a great week. bye!

elder johnson

March 10, 2009 to Family

hello family! i think i would have to second that mom. february was done in a hurry and its already the 10th of march! things are going by really fast.thats good the ladies around work have been on better behavior. they always seemed like such rufians haha.today and tomorrow are zone conference. that is why i am writing to you a day early. We have our p-day one day earlier. today we had a really good training. the second counselor from the presiding bishopbric came and shared with us. apparently they are here to interview people to translate the book of mormon into malay. whereas before it was indonesian. which will make it only a little bit different. but i guess they know what they are doing. he shared alot of really good things with us and towards the end he shared a blessing with all of us that our families would be blessed for our service here, and that according to our dilligence and service our relatives who may be having a hard time in the church would be helped or touched in someway to help them come back to church. he worded it very elligantly and i just butchered it i know, but i felt the spirit very strongly and i hope that i can be worthy enough and serve so that that blessing can be fulfilled. i love the gospel very much, and it makes so much sense. i am so glad that i am here. the other day we ran into a bunch of white people, or orang putih, as it is in malay, which i hear numerous times each day haha. they were a christian group here building a house for habbitat for humanity. turns out they knew we were mormons and consequently they told us to go away and they didnt want anything to do with us haha. it was so funny, because they come here to do something so great in there own eyes, and yet while doing so they still manage to be the most prideful and rude people i have had the pleasure of meeting since being in malaysia.i wonder why they weren't helping any of the other 6 members of our church that live right by them whom live in wood shacks. some of those members don't own those houses and are just staying with relatives. i think you can probably tell that i am a little bit frustrated with it. but it just helps me to know how true this gospel is. and even though we can't go around building them a house, i know that what we bring is so much better. and that is hope. maybe not a small cinderblock house on this earth but a mansion in heaven. now that i have that out of my system haha.

well thats good to hear about david. he's in the right place. and yes this little branch is growing. its doing well. just across town they are going to build an actual church building for 1st and 3rd branches. so 2nd branch (my branch) will still be in a large shop block, but that shows progress here in kuching and its exciting.we don't really have to give talks so much as we just get called on all the time to expand on ideas in class and stuff. its interesting. but nope not too many talks.well it sounds like maryanns funeral went well. thats good to know. and sounds pretty crazy about judy. its a small world i guess.

about the malaysian food...i haven't ran into alot of really awesome food here. i eat fried noodles and fried rice. when i was saying how much i loved the food in west malaysia that is because i was eating indian food so i wish you luck at that restuarant. its probably better than it is here haha. i mostly just want you to go there to ask them if there are actual people from malaysia there so i can come home and talk to them haha. so good luck!! hahawell all is well here its been raining a fair amount. O! crazy story i almost forgot! so yesterday we followed a recent convert into the jungle and trapped monitor lizards!!! sooo cool. we caught one and we're going to eat it tomorrow.i have a bunch of pictures and videos i will send home one day. so much fun. i dont think i need anything ma. thank youok fam i love you all and hope your all happy and healthy.

love elder johnson