My first week (in the field)

Hello Yalls!

P-day was on Wednesday this week because we went to the Temple.

Man so much has happened this week and I can only record but a hundredth part of what has happened since last letter. - 1 Nephi ?:?

Missionary work is fun! It is super fun to talk to real people with real challenges and desires and concerns. Teaching lessons is actually a lot easier most of the time than I expected it to be. For the most part people are really friendly to the missionaries and they are willing to let them into their home. I have met A LOT of people since I got here. Investigators, Less Actives, Active members. My area is in the Moran Prairie Ward in South Hill District A in the South Hill Zone. It's on the South side of the city of Spokane. My companion/trainer/dad is Elder Sanders from Orem UT. He's been out for 9 months today! He is a great guy! I've learned a ton from him since I've been here. He has a pretty laid back personality and he is really good at talking to random people on the street. Talking to random people on the street is scary! But I've been getting a lot better at it. When they are interested its actually really fun! When they aren't interested its really awkward.

On last Tuesday, my first day of proselyting, we got a call from a nonmember named Ian that my companion had only met once at church a few days before. He basically in a matter of words told us that he wanted to be baptized, and he knew who he wanted to baptize him, and his only concern was that he needed to quit drinking coffee. It was awesome!!! I was like man, missionary work is easy! We met with him a few days later and gave him a tour of church and taught him the restoration. He is super humble guy and ready to hear the gospel. His baptism date is set for June 20th which happens to be the day before he gets married! Ha ha its going to be a big week for him. Its actually perfect because he said that he would invite his family to come to the baptism because they were going to be in town for the wedding! We have another investigator named Shae (Male) who is living with a less active named Liz. I've only taught them once but the lesson was really great. They are both really nice and very humble. They are super interested in learning more about the gospel, they just have a few concerns with the Word of Wisdom. Prayers on their behalf would help!

I am hesitant to share this next part for fear of making people sick. So if you have a weak stomach, grab a bowl. When I arrived at my apartment in Spokane I went into the bathroom and found a very unpleasant surprise. The inside of the toilet bowl was completely black! I looked a little closer and realized that the blackness was not simply a stain but was thick bacteria growing all over the inside of the toilet bowl. I soon found out that the reason was because my trainer's last companion was doing a competition with another companionship to see who get their toilet the dirtiest. I don't think the toilet had been cleaned in 12 weeks! It was nasty! Although I must say a little impressive. Don't worry, its clean now.

Now that you all feel sick I'm going to talk about food! There is a Costa Vida in our area that is owned my a member so he gives all missionaries a 70% discount off of everything on the menu! Needless to say I've eaten a lot of Costa Vida since I've been here. I think I been 5 times.

Well being a missionary is awesome! I love the people! I love you guys!

Love Elder Johnson

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And here is a letter from Andre's Mission President and a couple pictures...
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22 May 2014

Dear Brother and Sister Johnson,

I was pleased to welcome your son, Elder Johnson to the Washington Spokane Mission this week.  I’m happy to report that he arrived safely.  I had the privilege of meeting and associating with him the day of his arrival and note that it is evident that he comes with a great desire to serve Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ. Elder Johnson understands the role of the Holy Ghost in accomplishing the work here in the Washington Spokane Mission and has committed to live worthy of that power.

After prayerful consideration, I have called Elder Sanders to serve as Elder Johnson’s companion in the Spokane Washington, area. It is our objective to call only the best missionaries to serve as trainers and I believe that your son is in excellent training hands.  We expect that your missionary will serve in this area for the next 6 to 12 weeks as he begins his mission.

                                     

I have enclosed photographs of your missionary and assure you that Sister Mullen and I will love Elder Johnson. Our great desire is that his time here will further establish him on the path of righteousness, as well as bless the many people he will serve.

The mission has a website where you can see what is happening in the mission.  Go to:  washingtonspokanemission.wordpress.com

You can send mail to your son at:

Elder Andre Johnson

2707 E 32^nd Ave Apt 2

Spokane WA 99223-4741

Thank you so much for sharing Elder Johnson with us. 

Sincerely,

Donald E. Mullen, President

WASHINGTON SPOKANE MISSION

My First Official Letter Home!

Hello family, friends, friends of friends, and friends of friends dogs.

First I wanted to start off by apologizing for my capitalization errors. the shift button on this keyboard i'm using in laundry room at the mtc doesn't work very well.

the mtc is incredible!!!! i could live here for my whole life! i have learned so much more about the doctrine, and about how to teach than i ever thought that i would. my companion elder perkins and i currently are teaching lessons to 3 investigators. the first one is kaitlyn. At first she was interested in the church but she didn't really have a personal relationship with God. she mostly was only interested in the church because it would provide something stable and good for her children. so elder perkins and i felt like she needed to learn more about how she could have a personal relationship with god. so last lesson we asked her to pray with us. the spirit were really strong! we committed her to pray everyday and to go to church with her little sister who is a member. i am really excited to see how it went.

the second investigator that we have been teaching is named Chris. Chris was much bigger of a challenge for elder perkins and i. the first lesson was really rough and the spirit wasn't there. man, one thing i have learned while here at the mtc is that lessons go nowhere if the spirit isn't there. well we've taught him two more lessons since then and they went much better. chris is really intelligent. he knows a lot of random facts and he is interested in things like philosophy and psychology. he is also really faithful. he is really interested in religion and he has been religious for his whole life. it was hard at first to teach him because he wasn't really interested in joining our church, he just wanted to know more about it because everyone around here is mormon. last lesson went really well though because we all finally got on the same page with each other and we started having really conversation with each other. i feel like our role to help chris is to help him understand what things our church has that his doesn't like proper priesthood authority and covenants. because he already is so faithful and diligent i feel confident that when the time is right, when he feels like he needs more in his life he will look for the truth in the lds church. i wish we could teach him longer but we only have one more lesson with him. if we did have longer i feel like we could do more to help him understand that he does need the fullness of the gospel that our church has. oh well. i'll keep praying for him and i'm sure that the lord will help him in his own time.

The last investigator is named lance. he is awesome! he is one of the investigators that hangs out around the mtc campus and waits for people to talk to them. elder perkins and i and the other companionship of elders in our district saw him eating lunch outside so we went up and talked to him. he was really interested in the gospel and he is way nice. we've taught him one lesson over skype and will teach another today. we may only be able to teach him one more lesson before we leave.

oh yeah, i forgot to say in my last letter. i'm the district leader. I love my district!!!!!! It is such a blast to be around the same 8 people all day everyday. we have lots of spiritual moments together, lots of funny moments together, and lots of hard moments together as each person has their turn to deal with their individual challenges. as the district leader mostly i just help facilitate the awesome comments and suggestions that every person in the district has!

i love the mtc!
i have learned so much in the last week!
i love the rules and the schedule! it is the perfect environment for the spirit.
I love all of you at home! (especially the friends of friend's dogs that are reading this email)

next time I will email you i will be in the field! Spokane here I come!

love,
elder johnson

I get to Call Home on Mothers Day!!!!!!!

Man the MTC is Awesome!!!!! Before I came, people said that it would be but I was still a little nervous. But I have felt the sweetest spirit here. I feel like God is right beside me telling me what to do and what to say. I never knew that I would have this much help on my mission. My MTC companion is Elder Perkins! I have enjoyed getting to know him but honestly I don't know him that well yet because its only been about a day. My district has 8 people in it. Elder Perkins and I, Elder Dugan, Elder Lyden, Sister Hunt, Sister Huntsman, Sister Henriod, and Sister Smith. I love them! Its been so much fun to hang out with them all hours of the day and I'm excited to continue for the 11 more days. Anyway I got to go now. MTC is awesome!

Love Elder Johnson