Describe your apartment
It is really small. We have a bunk bed, two desks, a dresser, and two doors. Oh and on the dresser is one of those gigantic water bottle things so we can drink because the faucet is no good.. about 100 square feet before you put all that in there. a lot less with it in.
Tell us more about your companion
My companion..idk if i said already.. but is the only member in his family. Has been a member since he was 15, and took 3 months to get baptized after he met the missionaries. Here we have a goal of a 3 week process from meeting them to them knowing that this church is the true church, and being baptized.
How do you get around?
We walk or bus everywhere. Usually hit the bus at least 2 sometimes 4 times a day. The busses are great fun. To get here we took one that was unusually tall. The roof was at my normal shoulder height. One other person had to bend his head a little.
What are the streets like?
The streets depend on where. We often go teach in the Mansion area, which is the most poor area. Their streets are tierra, and exceedingly dry. There hasn't been rain here in at least 6 months, so dust gets all up on the shoes and some on bottoms of pants when you are being careful. In the nicer areas, the streets are paved, something different than asphalt. bigger pebbles are used... but it isn't concrete. Here too the streets are generally dusty. Also there doesn't seem to be much public concern for the cleanliness of the roads. Everyone drops and throws their trash out the cars, busses, bikes. In consequence, there is a ton of trash.
How are you received?
My all time least favorite phrase is: soy catolico. We hear it EVERYWHERE. Usually people are nice and will at least listen to us a little. Maybe 1 in 7 doors will agree to let us back to teach another day, which isn't bad counting the doors which are unoccupied. It is just that the people often are quite close minded towards us and our message of Christ, and additional teachings which would bring them all many blessings.
How are you feeling about Spanish?
My spanish is coming. I and rapidly understanding more and more even though they talk about a billion miles per hour. The problem is when they use words I don't know, which happens a lot. Especially when the words is a key word that decides the meaning of the sentence. I tell most by picking out most of what they say, and then looking at their body language and facial expressions to get the rest. Still tho, last night we were talking to a woman and her sister... and they started to cry. I only understood something about drinking alcohol... probably her husband, and that the sister was feeling very unhappy. My companion did a good job of reassuring her. I tried to do what i could.
Those goals--were they for your companionship?
the numbers like 540 contacts a week? yes. companionship per week
Name the elders/sisters in your district
Oh I’ve only seen them a few times. but we have an Elder here from American Fork, he has 22 months here, and he knows Jared! He played soccer on a team that occasionally borrowed jared apparently, and his brother played on Jared's team.
What are you doing about food?
Food. The food is quite good. I love the rice flavors and stuff. Its \all good.. but i have had to eat fish twice here now. Luckily i am beginning to be able to.
What do the people in your area do for work?
i have no idea...ill try to find this one out.
Temperatures?
A little warm in the mid day, cold at night. It is a desert after all. So short sleeves in the day and coat in the night after dinner.
What is the ward like?
We go to two. One is very good, with lots of people and strong membership. THe other is very very small. I don't know why it is so small, but one of our goals is to work with the bishop on that this week.
What is the name of your area?
Hunter zone, area is Augusto Freire
Any major insights?
Yes.. So many. I wish i had more time to write on them. I have learned more than i could write in 30 minutes. One is that obedience is the most important thing when trying to improve
Any missionary experiences you can share?
yes!
What a great week! alright, let me try to throw out the highlights. We took some investigators to the young mens young women activity, and i had no idea what was going on...basically like always. Anyway they were all just chilling on the basketball slash soccer court and some music came on. All of a sudden the 25 or so youth were doing this sweet organized dance for the next 7 minutes. Way cool.
I just wanna say that teaching people for real is so awesome. The other day we were in a home, actually the nicest ive been in so far. Anyway we were reading 2 Ne 28 with them, discussing the prophecies. They got way into it and how exciting it was that many were true.
Another day we were teaching at a one room home. The candlelight glinting off the tin roof and giving the cinderblocks warmth. it was very very cool.
ahh time to go
love Elder Johnson
