Re: Article from deseretnews.com: Carpenter 'humbled' by Mormon temple work

Hey Fam,
man wow! what week you all have been having. kinda kills me I cant be there... actually it really kills me. however I know that this work is more important. wow yeah pictures would be way cool! I've told everyone here about it so I think almost more than I they expect pictures. man this week was a LONG first week of the transfer... had lots of fun. but my companion is really getting to me... making me excersize my patience alot. but he is pretty funny sometimes. for instance last night we were teaching this woman in her house and Elder Reynolds had been quite pretty much the whole time I was teaching. talking to her and talking to her and then all of a sudden there was this break of seriousness and he... well you know when you go to laugh but you dont want to so you make that funny scruffy noise. like what I did at the opening of twilight that night in the theatre.. well he does this right in the middle of the lesson... I was like what?! you ok? me and the investigator was really confused... anway the lesson continued and he yet remained quite and then broke the silence again really trying to hold back bursting into laughing. I did not understand at all! I was tryin to think if there were any cognate words or something that we were saying that sounded funny ... I could think of nothing. anyway we end the lesson (which we dropped her, she is not willing to keep commitments and says she will NOT come to our church that she is orthadox catholic) she tells my comp to pray because he was laughing at her.. anyway I ask him afterwards what the heck was going on. he says well ... he tries to tell me through broken laughter.... you know when she said she had not read? well I wanted to leave right after that.. (she was a new investigator to me and an old one to him because I had gotten transfered into his area so I didn't really know her) he said so I thought what would be the most innapropriate thing to do to express the way I was feeling when she told us she hadn't read. well in the lesson there was this poor helpless cat sitting on a chair in front of him... he got a visual of grabbing the cat throwing it through the wall and tell the lady that she's not getting it!... and thus provoked his laughter... haha he's got alot to learn. he is still a little newer than I am so he still has that cloud of darkness that some what surrounds his mind as far as the language goes. way interesting. well yeah thanksgiing was really good! I hope the wedding and everything goes well. thank you so much for the transfer.. it was - 15 yesterday. I'll be frugle promise. good luck with the wedding, send me pics! unfortunantly my camera has gone down the drain.. it will no longer turn on. right when I found out I could just use the MP3 form and record the week and send it to you and make typing so much more easier! but alas thats what I get for waiting so long to figure it out. so you are going to have to wait on pictures! oh and another thing! our time to talk with each other is coming up! I'm not sure what day but you will get to call me and we will get to chat! 'm stoked for that! um yeah... lets see the work is still hard but its fun! I'm reading Jesus the Christ right now.. what an AWESOME book! I want to read the Great apostacy but nobody has it here. hey how is tine doing? I haven't heard from her, I sent a letter to grandma aswell. Alright Angel wings! here is your shout out! GOOD LUCK WITH THE WEDDING! oh I just got an Email, ok you have to pick either Christmas Day or New years eve or new years day. keep in mind we have a 9 hour or 7 hour difference. so get back to me on the time and we will figure out further, we are planning it now so we wont have any problems. I sent dad the guide lines man I'm excited! love you all and I hope the wedding goes well.. wow I cant beleive that.. well I'll do my best to quote un quote "be there" :D love you all keep your heads up

Carpenter 'humbled' by Mormon temple work
PIERRON, Ill. — In the beginning, J.R. Potthast saw it as just another job.
But the metro-east carpenter later learned that this or…
Full Story: http://www.deseretnews.com/article/700088576/Carpenter-humbled-by-Mormon- 

temple-work.html--

Старіишина Джонсон

A VERY HARD LOSS/Taleya and Daddy's wedding song dance.

......................wow, that was the last thing that I could have thought of that I would have recieved from you this week. I cannot beleive that... dallin is gone? ... I honestly dont know what to say. man every week there is always something that I read in where I forget everything I else I wanted to say. I cannot beleive it! any news on Laura? how are rick and val? give them my email I would like to hear from them! ... what to say. man Dallin was tight, one of the few cousins that we actually knew.... what all happened in the accident? like how did it come about? did anyone else get hurt? who hit dallin? ... man I wish I would have known about this last week, I could have put there names in the temple. the temple was great! first time in there on a session. it was in russian :D but I took the translator and listened to it in Ukrainian. I also was curious and found myself listening to german which I quickly changed because it became very difficult to keep a straight face... so awesome making those covenants in Ukrainian... it really is a melodic language. I told you its the second most melodic right? Italian is the first... we also ran into some italians and we are teaching them the message in there spotted english. plus we are getting to learn some italian.. the italian guy siad yeah people say that italians dont speak when they talk, they sing! :) his wife said after she found out that I love italian food that she would make some for us. see mom I didnt have to go to italy to have there food! :D by the way transfers happend. Elder Hofeling is now training here in revna and I was transfered to the other companionship here in Revna because Elder Powel finished his mission... so my new comp is Elder Reynolds... and guess what? I've gone senior comp!! what?! man now I dont have the luxury of speaking the language.. I have to now! I'll be spending christmas in revna which I'm very happy about! this branch is great! oh by the way its really snowing over here... yeah I could use some things ... like shoes.. one pair of them are already pretty much distroyed. I have found it doesn't take much to keep me warm.. however keeping me stable on the ground is another thing.. I've been sliding all over the place

                       hey thought of an Idea but i might be a little to late. you know how I wanted to sing at taleya's wedding.. well I TRIED! let me reemphisize that I tried to sing the song. picked the best of them all and if know someone who knows how to remix songs ... just an Idea. anyway there attached to this email. so yeah.. wow I cannot believe that happened to dallin... how is the rest of his family? man. sent some pics of the fews from the new apartment. everyone says its suppose to be very cold but I'm still waiting on it. I mean we just got snow a little bit ago. tell the briner family that my prayers are with them... and that I love them very much! not only I but my district will be praying for them. they cant beleive it iether... they tell me I have had the worst luck with relatives on the mission so far. however I'm grateful for the plan of Salvation. because I know I will see my brother in the work again. wont that be a day. family I love you and I hope that everything goes well with the wedding.. oh I guess that I have one more pday before it. what day is it? on the 8th our mission president is doing a parley p pratt day for reading the book of mormon. meaning for the first half of the day we are going to read and finish the book of mormon! ... wont that be fun! wow.. I love you all. tell the briners I love them aswell. all the work here is great! I have given this side of the city an overhaul on the area. my comp decided to play sick and go to kiev all week so he could buy shopka's to send home.. so the area completely died! ( I was still with my old comp) but things are looking up. within the last two days we were able to swing two new investigators which is saying something! considering the mission goal is two in a week. I have alot of hope for this transfer. love you all... tell everyone I said hi. p/s/ is Chris working? cause that could help him go. and I also like how bryndon is sporting my clothes. thank you for the pictures! keep sending them! love yur eldest.

GOALS, PLANNING & CHALLENGES

Dear Fam,
so... well... this week was another fly-by, however, these past two weeks have been the best in my mission. I have never been able to do so much here. Planning has become huge to us, all those things that before the mission I would have thought were meaningless and pointless to plan. well we are planning them now! the city we live in doesn't often see baptisms... however we started this transfer with two. we took our ratio and attached it to the cities.... we have to find 54 brand new investigators to get our goal of 4 baptisms haha wow... or just find 6 amazing investigators. but we broke it down and now exactly what we have to do to get them all. its way cool. last week we traveled to Lutsk (I have almost over half of the mission) and we did a missionary day with the members from Revna and Lutsk. was alot of fun! members recieved a little bit of we do as missionaries. it was really weird though being in a city with no rules again.. I didn't really know any other way than trying to pick a perfectly good person that I didn't need to trick into talking to me. we had LOTS of exchanges this last week. our district leaders last week in the country... I'll attach the pictures.. we ate the biggest pizza in Ukraine. about a meter long with 5 different topings or something like that. it was HUGE! also this week as far as investigators go... have I mentioned I have lost ALOT of respect for ALL other religions.. infact one might say that I have absolutley no respect for them. this week we met with a baptist minister (considering my experience with baptists) I knew exactly what he would say, however this one was slightly different. he was a very facticious man. had read the book of mormon already and was on his second time around. he has not yet found any... facts "" that bring cause for the book of mormon to be false. when he called us he said he wanted us to bring him a D&C in russian. sounded like to me he just wanted to peice at it until he found something that was incoherrent with his "FACTS". we meet with him again tonight. I have found I have lost ALOT of patience for other religions, if they understood the bible like they say they do they would understand that there is something missing. and instead of finding out for themselves what is missing they make up something that sounds good and then go out an preach it. anyway on a higher note. this week right before transfers was awesome! we are taring up this city and loving every minute of it. however if I get transfered I will be going to the other companionship... which the companion staying just let the area die with his little vacation to kiev.. I'm kind of upset about that. we making all preps for kiev so that we dont hurt the area we are leaving. we will be coming back on friday, but thats still 3 days that we wont be here. anywhos... hmm. its cool everything is going well on the home front. thats kind of scary about bryndon, so there still going to let him go on a mish right? and what about Chris!?  so everyone is going to the wedding right? I honestly dont care if there parents are being retarted that does not mean we as a family leave taleya hangin..... in the temple of all places!!!   :D LOVE YOU ALL! :D so yeah I have found I'm not reporting back to you everything that is happeneing and alot of that has to do with I cant seem to remember all the cool stuff at the end of the week and the starting of this week. I dont know if I told you but a few weeks ago we just finished a lesson and saw this man drunk out of his mind go head first into the ground spliting his head open. the W of W of such an issue here. we dropped an investigator last week for it. we are still working with him but he is not keeping commitments. we have our baptism that is planned to go down on the 11 of Dec. we pray we are still together. we have so much work to do here. and its the holiday season. oh wow the other day right after our personal study I stopped right in the middle of my sentence because I heard this noise coming from outside... elder Hofeling looked at me and asked "is that a bombing rade siren" we bolted out to the balcon where we estabished yes it most deffinently is and we grabbed our camera's and started filming! it was so crazy! we asked around and apperently sometimes they go off just for tests and other times for bad weather... I thought what a sick joke!! two totally opposite things to attach one siren to.... (siren sounding) well boris looks like we have some bad weather today  BOOOOOOOOOOOOM!!!! lol I mean seriously, I would say that some bad weather when it starts exploding!. haha anyway oh I started this like web cam week thingy where I just sit infront of the camera telling all of the funny and amazing things that happened during the week! OH and we get to go to the temple this week! YEAH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I'm so excited for that! oh wow now I'm way excited! oh for part of my study this week in the back of the Ukrainian book of mormon are these 17 points of the true church, I wrote them down and translated them. whats awesome is they all have bible refrences! and we used them with this bible bashing orthdadox catholic dude this week... after the lesson he pondered for a bit and said... hmm.. I need to read that book! do you have an extra copy!? he is now a new investigator! with SOO  much potential!  was funny we got dogged that day and didn't expect him to be the one who was going to help us accomplish our goal! man we have got to expect miricales! by the way how is your missionary work coming? also part of my study is all the stupid questions and statements that have been given to me on the mish so far... anything from baby baptisms and they are born in sin to the God and Jesus being separate! it has helped so much! my companion is ... I've gotta say it probably the best one I ahve had! its awesome! well thats all from me for this week! I promise I'll get better at this emailing thing! I love you all!  CHRIS GET CHUR TUCKAS ON A MISSION! your going to regret it! I have a feeling you headed this way! love you all! Bryndon! I love you buddy! and I'm so ......sorry we didn't hang out as much.. that we never had you come with us.. bud I promise when I get back we will do all the hangin out you can handle!!!! capeesh?! mom  and dad... I love you.
your eldest

Старіишина Джонсон

DIFFERENT CULTURAL LAWS DIFFERENT RELIGIONS

Dear Family,
wow... The weather is chilly, and its humid so its even more chilly. the language is great! infact now I kind of yearn to speak it. its a way pretty language, I understand pretty much every thing now, however sometimes I'll completely forget or something and speaking back can be hard... unless its in a lesson where I cant shut up lol na its all good! how is the computer doing? oh hey you never answered about my pistol? or about Wells fargo... I'd really like to know how that is working. the town is really pretty and I think I will probably be staying here for Christmas.. I think. not sure though. The word from the DL is that I'll be goin sr companion next month... :S not thrilled. but it happens... people here speak alot more Ukrainian and its way nice to be able to know that you will know what they say when they open there mouths. The only reason its harder to teach is because we cant do normal missioanry work.. there are those stupid rules here that make it difficult however this last week was the best week other then the ones with the baptisms that I have ever had. President has a standard of lessons and what not every week and me and my comp obliterated them this week... in a city where we cannot prosilyte haha. well... Transfers are already in 2 weeks.. and then a huge thanks giving feast. info that was leaked out of the office so obviously the whole mission knows already haha so I'll be headed to Kiev on a 7 hour train in a few weeks. looking forward to that. Hey bryndon the video games sound awesome! that will be fun, hey how is Chris on the mission papers!? HEY HAPPY BIRTHDAY DAY BRO! I wont be able to mail you on saturday so I thought i'd do it now rather then later! big 21! so have you turned them in yet? I want to know where your going! I still think your headed out this way! I'm really going to laugh if you get called to france haha you and your french out look haha that would be way funny. the pictures are a service project out in one of the villages.. haha that stump was Johnson Cut! you name 5 people who know how to specifically cut out one fourth of a log! haha this week really has been great! the people just kept coming! and if we would get dogged the Lord provided another.. literally, 5 min later we recieved a call from a man who wanted to meet. and he is now a new investigator! boggles my mind sometimes.. I'm learning also that I have really no patience for other religions now... lol its kind of bad. My companion is such an example to me. we rent apartments here and to get into the apartment building your have to have a little specific key, or you have to call up to the apartment you want to go to. well we had some Jehovah's witness call us yesterday morning wanting to come in to prosilyte... my comp answered and said ofcourse. however as far as I go I would not have let them in... I actually am very pationate about other religions and about how people seem to think that they know the scriptures and they should be delivered this way. If they truly understood the gospel and/or the bible they would know something is missing, and instead of searching it out for themselves they create there own answer and go out and preach it to others who are to ignorant to know any better..or to those who are searching for the truth. they are about the devils handy work. THAT is the fruit of apostacy when people take there own idea's and mix it with doctrine. Joseph Smith said that those people who are about this work can speak so close to the truth that even the chosen ones will fall to it. AUG! makes me so mad sometimes... they are messing with peoples salvation!!!! ANYWHO! I will stop.. there are plenty of pages in my journal about that we can read when I get home... well I think thats all from me this week guys.. i'm sorry next week I'll just reply after and email the week first so its still fresh in my head  Love you all... I'd really appreciate some pictures! Chris dont break my computer! lol ... but seriously!
YOUR eldest and big bro

WAKE UP ELDER WAKE UP

I feel like sending some of the church members here in Bila a word about this... almost the entire preisthood is ex mafia but they still use there connections. Darin says he speaks russian so they'll get along just great :D if this keeps up, those two are not going to like my return, especially if they are at the airport! I'm afraid I dont have as many pictures this week! way funny though me and my comp had some really funny experiences... anywhere from him think that he didn't have a contact in and once he put it in he found out quick he already had one in... haha he gave me this weird look and then asked me.."wow.... you know when you look through binoculars backwards!" haha I laughed so hard his face was priceless... and then this morning haha so my comp gets up and Iwas like NOOO it cant be time yet, so I started to say my prayers assuming I was just tired because of the day light savings...anywho so he comes back and starts praying to... I get up to go the work out room but I cant bring myself to I was just WAY to tired... kind of fell to sleep sitting there. and then I heard him coming my way so to be a good example I started doing something anyway he comes in and says hey... so uh "how did you sleep" told him "honestly? Horrilbe! I'm so tired right now! how bout you?" he says "yeah.. not so good either... hey do you know what time it is?" immidianlty I thought oh no we slept in! I looked at my watch ...and I read 1:39 A.M. I was like WHAT!??? " my comp goes "yeahhhh....I"m confused" we checked all the other clocks and then finally determined it was a huge misunderstanding on my part! he just needed to go to the bathrooom, I thought he was getting up so I began to pray, then he came back and saw me praying so he thought that oh guess its time to get up... "he said honeslty elder I wasn't praying I was sleeping." haha I told him yeah I wasn't working out either! was way funny but the first thing we did this morning when we got up was check the clocks to make sure they had the correct time. haha hey anway what are the rules with the card? are there any fee's for withdrawing money from another country and what not? I'll just be needing boots and a coat. and... maybe shoes... the covington's we bought are SHOT! there are ripping all over the place... there is a hole on the ball of the foot, rips on each side and the soul is majorly cracked. but those aren't as expensive as the other things I need to get. I just asked taleya whats up and so I want to see what she says..see if I cant use my missionary training to probe the questions. well love you all... oh hey mom what about my pistol? what happened to it? love you!  Tell Bryndon I"m stoked about all the games! does he know that batman comes out in 2012 the rise of the dark knight? told dad I think Christopher is headed my way on his mission.. maybe not Ukraine but perhaps one of the surrounding countries! think that would be way funny if it was russia! haha always competeing anyway love you all stay strong!

OH HOW TIME FLIES

So another incredibly fast week out of Рівне (Revna) lots of working and wow I'm beat. Im surprised the tree's here have survived for so long, the leaves are still falling and its making some of the parks look way pretty. Well this was my first normal week in my new area, the work is harder to do here... and sometimes frustrating... that and when people wont treat us like human beings. The trick to this city is finding ways to work around the rules... for instance this last week we did that tie contacting with Elder Powell on exchanges (by the way the statue picture is what we refer to as "the man" statue, apparently a bunch of dentists in Рівна got together to restore the statue lol kind of funny it was dentists that restored it) anyway its been working well, the Church is WAY fun to work with here, we have lots of member presents and I have found that that is the best way to teach is WITH the members.. there is nothing more powerful than the testimony of a convert (yeah I know we are all converts but you know what I mean) this last week was my introduction to the branch so I got up and bore my testimony/talk lol about you all and why I came out on a mission and then I have made a goal to sing in every city that I serve in so after sister yulia who just so happened to talk about music and how we need to share our talents, so after my talk I sang a short him for them... but I sang it my way :D lol it was fun! and I didn't mess up so that was WAY good! its really nerve racking getting up and speaking anyway but when you have to do it in another language is where it really takes nerve! finally listening to conference in english! it was SOOO great! I loved Elder Hollands And President Uchtdorf's talk! especially President Uchtdorfs! haha I am now going to use that "but Elder! what does that have to do with flying the plane?" the other picture of us kind of mad is in Kmilnitsky for Zone meeting! the missile in the back apparently was to be shot off towards america back in the day... and they made a memorial about it!! as you can see I was not thrilled! this last week also my companion who is AWESOME! preformed a Concert for the city in the church.. and with our unability to procilyte was kind of tricky to get the word out. we had a decent amount of people show up and did he ever play that piano! I have it all recorded on my piano.. was anything from CHarlie brown and starwars to Claire De Lune and a an awesome accompanament with a sister in the ward. yeah remember how I said I thought Ukrianians couldn't sing? I was so wrong! she is an amazing singer! it was way spiritual! everyone loved it! I have had a good time here, its hard alot of the time but I think this city is good for missionaries.. makes them learn to be creative and find ways to share the gospel or how we put it "trick them into asking about it" I'm in another learning stage with the language and when I say that I mean its been SOOOO tough this last week with the language, I dont know if everyone decided to use big words or what but I had the toughest time understanding people this week. but such is life! ... I'm way excited Chris is now a High Preisthood holder, now when is he getting out here! I dont want him to be at my homecoming! I want to be at his! ok I'll let the office know its on its way and to keep a look out for it. we are headed to Луцкь next week for another district meeting so maybe I can have the zone leaders pick it up or something! thanks a bunch! yeah I'm not sure what else I can say... I should start bringing my journal to remember the week! I just barely finished that one I left with, I have exactly 7 months in that one if I counted right... oh yeah this last week I ran into another JDub....grrrrrr I have about had it! ah man I get all sorts of fired up when they start preaching to me! lol on that note I have been really contemplating something Pres. asked us, are we always keeping Jesus Christ in our thoughts, constantly thinking about him, what he would say if he were here, I have been trying it... and wow, I feel bad saying this but it has been really hard. I mean preaching the gospel yeah but CONTSTANTLY having him on my mind... its a goal of mine and I'm trying. I feel like I always need to have my nose in the scriptures to actually accomplish it! Thanks mom for the scriptures! I love scripture study, its one of my favorite parts of the day! Elder Holland said that we could either make of break our missions and that all depending on those few hours in the morning, word for word he said " you can make or break your missions between the hours of 8 and 10! that is SOOO true! I have found out so much more than what I knew, I'm on my third time around in the book of mormom and still trying to get the first time done in the language. Ukrainian is truly a beautiful language, after a while of not speaking in it you start to miss it, lol its kind of weird how all the missionairies relate on that. This last week the president of Ukraine was here in town, this place isn't very big, some 100,000 people or so I hear, but its REally up to date. Житомир wasn't really so its kind of a nice change. wow guys I love ya! I'm grateful to be here! Bryndon stop telling me how long I have!!! hahaha wait until I atleast get past my year mark, or even my last six months! our District leader here is kind of trunky, he goes home in less then a month! I cant wait to get there and game it up with ya bud! wha what! he so yeah I could still use some pictures! oh hey mom I showed your picture to one of our investigators and he said that he thought you were my sister! good job momma! haha he was really confused when I said no I only have one sister in my family! but yeah if you could send more that would be great! I love you all and I hope all stays well at home! anything I can do to help you? I promise I'm working as best I know how! in short sleaves some days just to tick off the grandma's haha its a great contacting Idea! :D thats all folks from my side of the world! dos vidania

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Старіишина Джонсон

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!!

hey mom!,
thanks for the happiness of the birthday sending! but unfortunately I read dads first so technically he said it first! I'm emailing you all from Kmilnistky today we are having a big meetinghere so five hours later off a bus here we are! but guess what... yeah I've been transfered! 5 months in Житомир... my first area matter a fact! I'm serving now in Revna with Elder Hoffling! we just pumped out two more baptisms out of here between Elder Hoffling and I, Revna is a really pretty city! and when I say that I mean that I hear Ukrainian 85 percent of the time! its so nice! the ward here is huge! ... well kind of haha 40 members strong.. well now 42 HA! Revna is known for her "branch girls" as the missionaries refer to them as.. apparently missionaries have just been baptizing woman here, yeah we contributed to that last week with yuliana and Inna. however we have alot of preisthood here to which is nice. the only crappy part about Revna is there are rules here that the missionaries have to follow! no no no not white handbook rules! but city rules! apparenlty somes missionaries a while back got kicked out for being retarded and when they let us back in they tagged us with some rules .. one being.. we cannot prosylite.... at aLL!!! we cannot talk to anyone about the gospel.. unless however they ask about it. cannot tract... all this junk however I think its a blessing in disguise because it makes us that much more creative. For instance one of our contacting tools.. other than every "bob" (our abreviation for Бабуся which is grandma) giving me and earful when they see me just wearing a shirt.. I found out lots of people like to talk to me in those circumstances so it works great! however at times it gets annoying and in those cases I just make a 360 degree turn, find the nearest short skirt (many here, yes even in winter) and then I point! and they stop chewing me out! but one of our other contacting tools that works great is TIE CONTACTING! basically we walk up to people and tell them we are having a tie contest. well its EUROPE! and they are all fashion like so they love giving there imput! Elder Hoffling and I have been taring it up here in Revna. He is a madman on the piano! he knows music, and he knows music theory and knows how use them both! he can turn I'm a little tea pot into a motzart composition. infact this next week we are having a little concert with him on the piano and we are inviting everyone! wow what else! .... oh yeah I haven't told you about BURNER BOB'S.. basically here, the old world war two, under Stalin rule, ancient grandma's are afraid of technology. Actually it would be better to say that some of them REALLY dont like it! so what do they do??? well they walk on into the apartment complex and they will light the circuit breaker on FIRE!!! and then waddle away! you see these giant scortch marks on the walls walking in to the complex sometimes haha I get a kick out of it! there SO superstitios sometimes! well sorry I will continue later because we arrived here kind of late and we aren't exactly getting a pday.. might be on thrusday! anyway love you! hope all is well! oh hey Chris and Bryndon... any uh... any potentials in florida??? haha love ya

MOVING!!!

your moving again??? to where? yeah this week was sort of cold. down to 6 degree's celcius... I think thats like the 20's for you. yeah I thought that coat was going to work but turns out it wasn't made for someone my size. I did find a gold mine of  hand warmers though in the house. yeah transfers are on thursday.... you just send it to the mission home, the address I gave you, they get it to me. not sure if I'll be staying in Житомир anymore but we will see. haha many are willing but few are chosen that was our modo for the MTC because there was only 4 Ukrainian speakers and 36 Russian Speakers lol which by the way all of conference was in Russian....yeah so it was a trip. I understood most of it but it would have been easier in Ukrainian and even more easier in English.. obviously. just send whatever you think I will need and I will find some way to use. I"m getting really good at making European food. crapes are way fun to make, cheap and easy. also Borsh I have not made yet but its a Ukrainian Delicacy seriously! it is WAY good! I will have to figure out how to make it. This week we went on Exchanges and I was with Elder Larson. it was way nice we were both trained by Elder Johnson so we knew how to get the job done right. all of study went well, we actually went out and contacted and then ...oh yes it gets better we threw down on a eternal investigator and now have another baptismal date for the 30 of october! it was an awesome day. the reason for exchnages was because Elder Schnell and Elder Lapinski wanted to go to the archives and do family history which is good but I thiought it could have waited till pday and because I have no Ukrainian ancestory I would not have felt very effective there... it was a pretty good week, however .... your moving again??? to where? yeah this week was sort of cold. down to 6 degree's celcius... I think thats like the 20's for you. yeah I thought that coat was going to work but turns out it wasn't made for someone my size. I did find a gold mine of  hand warmers though in the house. yeah transfers are on thursday.... you just send it to the mission home, the address I gave you, they get it to me. not sure if I'll be staying in Житомир anymore but we will see. haha many are willing but few are chosen that was our modo for the MTC because there was only 4 Ukrainian speakers and 36 Russian Speakers lol which by the way all of conference was in Russian....yeah so it was a trip. I understood most of it but it would have been easier in Ukrainian and even more easier in English.. obviously. just send whatever you think I will need and I will find some way to use. I"m getting really good at making European food. crapes are way fun to make, cheap and easy. also Borsh I have not made yet but its a Ukrainian Delicacy seriously! it is WAY good! I will have to figure out how to make it. This week we went on Exchanges and I was with Elder Larson. it was way nice we were both trained by Elder Johnson so we knew how to get the job done right. all of study went well, we actually went out and contacted and then ...oh yes it gets better we threw down on a eternal investigator and now have another baptismal date for the 30 of october! it was an awesome day. the reason for exchnages was because Elder Schnell and Elder Lapinski wanted to go to the archives and do family history which is good but I thiought it could have waited till pday and because I have no Ukrainian ancestory I would not have felt very effective there... it was a pretty good week, however .... oi I cannot get my comp to follow some of the most simplist rules like getting up in the morning. and HUGE blessings are flying over our heads because we cant get it. I've said I could help him, so he said use the squirt gun... that just ticked him off, I set the phone on opposite sides of the room so he has to get up, so he does and then just goes back to bed. this is his last transfer .... I  mean really! come on! anyway I'm just venting. Englsih was fun this week. if you could send some ideas that would be appreciative. love you mom, thanks for the help, its been great here! like how president monson mentioned that the Cultural celebration in Kiev was in a palace! haha that tickled me a bit, it was just called palace it was really an opera house. thats all for me, anyway I love you mom keep me posted on whats going on
Your son

Bros

hey bud things sound fun!
how is the family doing? you preppin for a mission soon to? whats this I heard about moving? yeah its nice and cold here, all of the grandma's are yelling at me as I walk around in my shirt lol they dont understand that I'm a hot blooded person. well the game sounds fun. do you know how taleya is doing? haha cars! I love that movie, we are going ice skating today, and last week we played risk but the original one! and I won!! haha we have to get it so we can play when I get home which is now less than a year and a half. I'll be going to bulgaria next summer to renew my visa so that will be fun! how was dads birthday? you know mine is next monday! hey you should take alot of pictures and send them ok? love you bro

Conference

Hey mom!
how are ya? how was conference? we haven't seen it yet here, we dont get it till next week and it will be in Ukrainian. Kind of jelous, because the Bulgarians got to watch it in English last weekend, come on I mean we have a temple here!!! you cant tell me they cant broadcast it! lol anyway yeah heard about taleya, told dad I thought it was alittle funny because she really wants to put her hand on the stove and see if its actually hot! no biggy! just be prepared to be able to get her a ticket back home if the times require it! hey so mom I read something that Joseph smith said in that teaching manuel teaching from joseph smith. I think we have one, and when you find it or go online and read it but its on page 176 about half way down the page the paragraph right underneath the bold title. made me think of the little one that was lost after you had me. really neet to think about and that jo smith has a way of putting words together! lol had an investigator this last week, thats what he called him. well we had another baptism last week! kinda sucks because I cant get the camera to dowload the pictures but Elder Larson was the one who baptized and what was funny is we dont have a baptismal font so we have to use a pool, or basan. well the people told him it was less then 2 meters deap but when he got in he couldn't touch the bottom. he's probably likr 5'10 5'11 so they gave him a bright orange life preserver to baptized her in lol it was way funny. I got to sing again. singing in Ukrainian is really pretty, did I tell you its apparently the second mosst melodic language? right after italian. anyway got to do that. we are headed out on bus tonight to another city Kmilnitsky for district meeting tomorrow. lol yeah remember after my colorado for christmas experience with bus's and I vowed I would never use a bus again? lol well this one will be only 5 hours and not two days. but still.... the work is hard. my companion is freezing! he is from california, granted he is going home soon so he should be used to it but it feels alot like colorado right now in the winter but people say its going to get worse. yeah when you get a chance please send the pics. so your sending stuff next friday? or this last friday? yeah it was the oatmeal stuff, peanut butter, brown sugar, flaming hot cheedos with a hint of lime, the debit card lol that would be nice. because as much as I dont want to admit some days its pretty cold outside. but once we get walking for a while I start sweating so its all good. I cant really think of anything else. I have alot of things that I get to introduce the family into and when I mean things I mean food!!! and I've almost mastered them haha funny how your made to cook, its not just something you pick up you have to figure out FAST how to on the mission. atleast a variety of things you have to learn fast. anywho's yeah thats all I can think of. apparently you will be fine sending it to the mission, no one has really ever had a problem but you can right some kind of trickery on the front if you would like. what was your favorite talk in conference? man I can wait for it! love you mom! keep smiling! we have aLOT to be happy about!

Gettin the update from the bros

Hey Bryndon,
what is this reach game you spoke of? what is it about? haha man that was a good movie x men origins!  when does the new one come out? nicely done my friend keep up with the work outs! yeah so I feel like I'm getting smaller here.. so you have a chance ;D wait what the family is thinking of moving back now? to where? and when? lol man we sure do move alot. you I live here next to this Chocalate factory and every morning we smell fresh chocolate being made... however this being a communist community the owner of the chocolate factory thinks that the Ukrainian President whom is Russian wants to shut them down. so he has booby-trapped his factory with an order of these (ninja's) is what we call them but these security gaurds who have all of these pads and armor haha its kind of funny. one of these times I'll sneak a picture for ya so you can see them. yeah I've almost been in my city 5 months! so I might be getting transfered to a new one at the end of transfers which will be on my birthday! how was conference? which one was your favorite talk? hit me back soon! love ya bro

Digging Holes

Hey mom,
I'm so happy to hear everything that is going on. thats really cool about you callings! I love teaching I found out. but I'm learning alot on exactly how here, they have this new training program that we are using and its way cool, and it works! I attached some pictures of leviv when we were there, sorry the camera isn't the best so I only put up the ones that turned out. thanks for the package haha yeah this transfer ends right on my birthday, so your sending the card in the package then? thats good because I thought dad send like the bank was mailing it. anyway. if you could throw in maybe some brown sugar, they do not have it in this country and there are lots of good things we could make if we had it  lol made banana bread and better then "sunday school " cake this week! and it was amazing! I'm really enjoying cooking. this week we sat in a whole for one of the days diggin it. I will have to get it off of my comps camera because mine didn't really take a good picture.but yeah like 4 ft deep and a foot wide.. well mine was the other elder who are smaller then mee made there's like 4 inches wide haha not really that small but lets just say when they had me helping them my digging motions were that of an "i'm a little tea pot" song haha hardly in zhitomyr this week with all of the traveleing we have been doing, weather is being weird and some days just looks cold but really isn't. Anyway I hope you enjoy these pictures and can SEND MORE!!!!!!!!!! I REALLY REALLY REALLY REALLY REALLY REALLY! need them!!! well mom I love you and keep your head up,  I love you mom, hey if you have some cool Idea's for english would you please send them? I'm running out! I love you mom! your the best!

Translating and Teaching

there is two options you could do for the card, either send it in a package quickly to Ukraine and hide it inbetween pictures or something, or call the MTC and send it to them telling them to send it with the next missionaries that are coming out here however that will not be until Nov.. so... I dont know. yeah I have called them here, the only conflicting thing is the time zones! there giving me the run around but I have one number I'm going to be trying today with president on a conference call tonight at around 7 so yeah. hope its the right one cause it is alot of money to call out.  well this last sunday we had one of our senior couples come to our city and see how its doing, they only know english so it was my privlage to translate... and he did NOT make it easy in his talk. we are told that the translators for converence rate the speakers 1-7 in diffuculty and President Holland seems to always be one of the most difficult. lol funny example I could just see as Elder Maxwell once said "we need to protect ourelves with a coat of spiritual tephlar" and I can see the translator just sitting back there screaming "WHY?!!!". this week I accidently ate fish, we didn't realize it until we chomped into it, not a smart move. the church has a rule against it saying that the fish is not healthy here .. soo yeah woops. it was at one ofour referrals givin to us by a member, however we need to talk with that member and tell her the next time she gives us one she needs to make sure a few thigs are done first. when we walked in the house it was filled with smoke, alcohol on the counter (not uncommon) and a pornographic welcome poster as soon as you walk in. NOOOOT the best enviorment to teach in. but it went REALLY well after a while.oh hey mom I have a song for you to look up its called "just a heartbeat away" by Jenny Jordan Frogley. good song. so guess what I have decided I want to learn a few new insturments when I get home! I have been playing the piano here and I'm getting better at it, but I want to embrace our heritage and learn how to play the bagpipes and the penny whistle! kind of a random note but hey..last week we were in the gem of Ukraine! Leviv, really pretty city and unfortunantly I forgot my camera so I cant exactly send pictures but next time. really pretty city, and then 7 hours later back in good ole zhitomyr. I am starting to wonder what will be happening next transfer, I'm coming up on 6 months in this city and if I dont get transfered I will REALLy be wondering what will be going on the following. sorry mom I'm having ahard time typing I hve got to type taleya reall quick. I'll also type to dad and you can read that one aswell.. stay strong mom, prayerful and keep on keeping those commandments!  Love you

Food for Thought

Hey mom,
ok so check this out have I got some food for thought for YOU! so what are you thoughts on the New and Everlasting Covenant? obviously it is a commandment and we were told that only through this convenant would we be able to achieve the highest glory of the celecstial kingom! well I want you to grab a bible RIGHT now dont read anymore until you do! ........................................ lol ok so have you ever thought, Christ being the Son of God, how is it that he has obtained the highest Glory of the Celelstial Kingdom? granted yeah He is the Savior! but with that calling He came to earth to teach us how we can return and what we must do to recieve the highest of blessings! well I was thinking about this and I came to the conclusion (may be ignorant one but I ahve my reasonings) that to obtain that glory Christ infact TAUGHT us how to do that by being married Himself. Yeah I know its different but hear me out. In John 20 it speaks on His ressurection, and when He returned to the Tomb and found Mary Magdalin there weeping. In the Russian Translation of the Greek Bible Jesus Christ addresses her as Wife. and when she turned about Jesus Christ said "touch me not for I have not yet ascended to my Father" now look at the Joseph Smiths Translation for "touch me not" at the bottom of the page. ........... crazy huh? and also if you read on that same day he appears to His disciples and Thomas touches His body (cuts in His hands and what not) and he had not yet ascended. the begining of Acts says that He did not ascend until 40 days after He had been resurrected. and in Mathew and luke it talks about how Mary (magdalin) and the other Mary (Mary and Martha) held His feet and worshipped Him.  sooo my common sense says well.... ok so if people were allowed to touch Him as one would a diety or God than it was allowed, but with Mary's "hold me not" earlier I conclude that some kind of affection she wanted to show Him. And because all of His lifes ministry was teaching by example I think I could venture to say that He was indeed married her or else why would she act in such a way, and why would He say hold me not. it was really interesting for me, I have another one for you but I give it to you next week. because it involves visuals and I would have to draw it. I'm glad I was able to help with my email last week but it seems it didn't really prove useful, not sure what she is going to do now about anything but I guess we will see. I gave dad the site for the meridian times but I guess you already saw that lol.....yeah not the best picture of me :S the prophet was up and to OUr right hense everyone looking that way. we were suppose to be singing... but well yeah lol. oh hey I need some English teaching Ideas from you! we teach english every week and I'm running out so pllease ALONG WITH PICTURES! send a bunch next week. we head to Leviv this week so that will be fun. I'll try and take some more pictures for you all. Ask Taleya what the Ukrainian Version of "sleep tight dont let the bed bugs bite" is lol it was SOO funny. HOLD ON A SECOND! where is Taleya right now???? I thought she was in Florida? sorry this just clicked! lol I've decided the Lord is filtering out my mind and thus I have some empty space in there now and I'm trying to fill it back up!  hey mom want to tell you and dad if he is right there with you, how grateful I am to have you TWO specifically as parents! I could have had 2 of the BILLIONS of other people in the world, but you two ahve something special... and I think I saw that, you are good parents and I have learned alot from you. mom and her dreams of becoming a stewartess on the plane, I remember that time she went out for the schooling... we were all anxiously awaiting her arrival at the airport (thats when we could go in) dad sitting there trying to keep us all coralled up so that we wouldn't run all over the place. plane finally arives and all of us kids looking down the ramp to see which of the heads bobbing up and down behind the first person was our mom. finally we see you and I remember seeing a HUGE relief on dads face witha  kid in hand...lol just "oh she's here". mom hurt because she didn't quite make it in to the school. The early morning trips to take dad to work in the mornings listening to K bul 93 lol I would not trade any of that! you two are truly one in a million ... well I guess it would be billions. love you both keep reading the scriptures and MAGNIFYING your callings. dad those lessons you teach on sunday are MORE important that your work! you are affecting the lifes of many people spiritually with what you teach. its also your chance to serve your fellow man! so just MAGNIFY! its the most importan thing you could be doing, the Lord will bless you in your job if you do this... I beleive it. I love you both and cant wait for the giant hug when I get back! love you.. oh yeah Christmas is coming up so I'll get to talk to you then! love you all keep writing

Brothers 2

hahaha so I love how you dont even write your name and I know who the email is from! thats way cool bud, we are going to have a blast at when I get back and you had better be just about on your mission by then. GIRLFRIEND?? man you have to send pictures! flats screens and xbox oh yeah hahayou better start lifting man I'm still pretty big! and I'm only getting stronger! tell you what here is your goal. start out doing 30 pushups but only 10 at a time every day ok? and then 50 sit ups! we will do that for a few weeks alright? yeah I've seen ALOT of old stuff I'll take pictures in Leviv and here and send k? haha KUNG FU PANDA! keep writing bud! tell Chris to aswell!

Knowledge Day

yeah I'm good! this last week was REALLy hard. I took Senior companion this week and oh man! my language skills went through the roof but I felt like my head was going to explode. it was really hard... BUT we have now more investigators and another baptismal date! YEAH!!! t this was holday weekend? which one? sorry I cant remember.

I know that they had a holiday here lol its called Knowledge day! aka the first day of school! wow the kids her go all out! everyone of them in suits... even the small kindergarners. and then the little girls where HUGE white bows in there hair... it looked as though there was a layer of snow inside the bus that we were on.. lol at first we had no clue what was going on, only knew that there were ALOT more of hte Gods children in our city now, we didn't know why but we were excited! wrote a email to dad... thought it might help, maybe ask him to read it. um... what else.oh yeah... my shoes.. atleast one pair. the soul is now cracked! has a HUGE cut on the underneath that opens when i wallk.... yeah I know  "great!".

yeah I'm so grateful for the clothes thing that happened at the begining of the week.. my suitcase had practially EVERYTHING in it!! big relief. we are headed to Leviv again next week for zone conference. get to get back on the Harry Potter Train for 6 hours :D yeah struggles and trials are usually in the areas we hate, because they are our weakest ones, but thats why we need them because thats how we learn, He shows us our weaknesses that we may be made strong! you sound alot more patient these days mom! lol good on ya! hoped you liked my Hinckley thing. Elder bretzing sent it to me. this week we have been having new classes that are teaching us how to teach even better, we used them this last week on a couple of our investigators and it Broke through ALL of there defences or questions or problems or excuses! the spirit was felt so strongly there. it was amazing! I do havea really good comp, the new one that is. he is a smart lad. yeah I do want to know about Kristine, and tell bryndon and Chris to write. wanna know whats up with them.. well mom Im' sorry this is so short, I will write longer next week... but is would seem everyone in this Enternet Club is looking and watching videos that are SOO innaporpraite.. we feel really weird and uncomortable. oh and please send Picutres!!!! love you mom! stand tall! fly straight!
Love you

Pictures

Generosity

Дорогий Мате, (dear mom) 
Thank you, that helped. kind of put it into perspective for me, yeah the baptizms are huge here, we have two more in the next to weeks one for both my comp and me. I think I'm going to start bringing my journal to the computers because I can never remember them. although this week we did run into an American while trackting. that was really weird, me and elder Johnson go ever other door and this one was my turn so I knocked and he opened, I spoke to him in Ukrainian, and he was like huh? so I was like oh uh..... so I spoke to him in russian and he replied in English "sorry boys I dont understand" we were like OH! lol cool! we speak english. he invited us in, man I forgot how different people were in America. this guy was WAY generous, granted everyone here offers you stuff to drink, but as we started talking he offered us a room to come stay in when its to hot, he wanted to give us the keys to his apartment lol it was weird but he was way nice, catholic, and he is hearing training the Nato army. he is a retired Col. for the army. really nice guy, I invited him to the Temple but forgot the temple invitations are all in Urkainian so my comp tranlsated for him. OH I have been drawing these pictures every P-day and then at night after my journal. its План Спасіння "plan of salvation" its really kind of cool, I'll take pictures and send them to you. sorry I'll have more to type next week. I just need to bring notes. mean while go ahead and type everything you want. actually next week I'll be in kiev helping with the open house not sure how pdays work there but.. yeah no that I love you all and miss you something fierce. yeah pictures would be really cool to see, and I'm supposed to have a family album which I dont have of pictures to show the people we teach, its weird once you show them pictures you are like IN THE FAMILY! lol its weird. lots of different htings about this country. you dont fill up you gas, someone else does it. Alot of Ukrainians have house shoes that they where around the house... weird habit that I have started lol sometimes they paint the bottoms of the tree's. and wow these people no how to dress up, you say church to someone who has never been before and they will put everyone to shame! lol but yeah so I think thats it for this week. Tell dad that if you come to pick me up that I will still be a missionary and have to abide by missionaries rules, I will have to stay with my comp, cant go site seeing until my last day... yeah just something to think about. love you mom, thank you for your support... lately its been rough. I have really been tempted to come home... so thanks
sweet dreams
Elder Johnson

Working Hard

Hey mom, hey dad,
I am working REALLY hard, I know how to work and I mean it when I say I"M WORKING HARD! ..... I am always sunburnt, its either sun, or rain that is up to your shins! my feet hurt everyday, my hands are all sore and cut up from the service we do in the villages, we walk mile after mile each day, I try to talk to as many people as possible! even to the ones who dont give a hoot to why I am there!! we are scoffed at, threatened and all of this in hopes that the blessings would come to the family!!!!!  I had a bunch to type today but I cant remember any of it... we went to leviv for zone conference got back this morning. yeah thats all on my mind right now.  I dont know what all to say this week, other than that I am still here, you will all be waking up in a few hours. I hope the move goes well. mom be careful about all of the fasting. its good to, but D&C tells us not to run faster than we are capable. be smart about it. . I love you all!!! stay faithful. Bryndon/chris! get your butts to church! what is this! you have to fulfill your duties as priesthood holders! come on your Johnson's! lets step it up a notch. any thoughts on where you think your going for the mission? well thats all from me this week. sorry, it took me a while to read all the emails. love you
Elder Johnson 

Brothers

Hey bud,
so I'm pretty sure this is bryndon. lol figured it out when you started talking about games.  yeah I'm loving this mission thing. its WAY hot and the language is difficult sometimes but we are working as hard as we can every day. I cant beleive the 2nd transfer has just started. in about a month and a half I will have been out 6 months already!? what?! thats insane. the mission goes by so fast. the mtc really didn't but the feild goes by incredibly fast! hey so when are youthinking of going on the mission? going to think about starting your papers? where do you think you will go? hit me back bud. sorry the email is so short. dont have lots of time. love you though email back
Elder Johnson

Kiev Temple

This is so exciting to think about the new freedoms they now have.  It will also bring a tear to your eyes!

http://ldsmag.com/youtube/100603temple.html

Elder Johnson

Thinking of Home

Hey mom,
wow I have become so blunt, and its because of the enviorment here, they are not afraid to tell you how it is. if they dont like you they will literally say I don tlike it you, or if you have put on weight they will say you look fatter. they are so not afraid. and they speak like 4 inches away from your face, they have no personal bubble bounderaies lol its way funny, I have to stop myself from laughing in there face sometimes. I have been praying for Taleya and I think the Lord is anwsering our prayers in His own way. Just trust in the Lord, things will work out for the best. but you have to stay strong in the Gospel, dont be afraid. especially if your doing what you KNOW is right! dont not be afraid to speak upi because the Lord will give you what you need to say. I know this through this past month and excersizing my faith in Him like this. He WILL be there for you! I promise! just keep chizzling at the icerberg it will work out. and yeah... Tine sent me a letter before I left the MTC I know everything.... my heart dropped when I read it. I have emailed her, president says as long as you send you family and him a good email everyweek than it doesn't matter who else we speak to if we have enough time left. yeah tell ben and sis I said hi I cant wait to see them again. miss them alot aswell as the fam. stay strong and tell the bro's to do what they do out of love and it will be better. yeah they have lots of good food here, borshe is way good, verenicky ? I dont know how to spell it in english but it sounds like that. guess what we cranked out 2 more baptisms this week! I'll send pictures when I get them but the 2nd one was last minute on sat. with an ancient in vestigator. way cool! and we have 2 more this week! a lil old man named Valerie ( stress the first "E" it makes it sound more masculine) about 60 years old 5 ft nothing and I"m baptizing him this saturday and then the other elders have there baptism on the same day and then 2 more are sechedluled for the next week after that! we are just lining them up for the temple dedication! EVERYONE wants to work in zhytomyr lol the language I can finally understand people and its been great! we are just being Very bold with them, but not oeverbearing. funny story so the other elders were havein g a lesson and went to give a scripture about obedience and wanted to use 1 nephi 3:7 well they said 3rd Nephi 3:7 lol haha way fuuny go and read it. and I think the next couple verses after it to.well mom thats all the time I have. I ahve to write dad to, he wrote this week. love you stay strong! have no fear! why should you if your doing what YOU know is right! stick it to em! love you all! tell me bro's I love em and miss em
Elder Johnson.

ps the pictures are from the Harry potter train and from these sweaters a really old member gave us. lol mine is ukrainian made lol way loud. shoot I had a poem.. dang I'll send it next week.

4th of July

Hey Mom,
so HAPPY 4th OF JULY!!! and no the missionaies are the only people who do anything here, and it consists of wearing a  patriotic tie. my first Holiday every outisde of the US. so yeah wow I'm glad things are starting to look up! its good to hear all of the good news. sounds busy but it sounds good. I'll keep all those people in my prayers and the family as you prep to move. yeah I told dad about coming to get me and some need to knows. its a long time away but just take into consideration not just your passports but you visa's for the country. they take some time to get in to. also the currency. it just went back  down to 8 gryvan for 1 dollar so you come here with $1000 its 8000 gryvan. which is quite alot here. we only live on $37 a week. kinda of funny how it works. and then transportation once we get here. public is easy to take but its hot, they have a superstition that if you open the windows that it will cause of a draft (obviously!) and that then everyone will get sick! so it gets hot but there way cheap. I think it would be like 25 cents in U.S. dollars. Anyway! So the work here is just exploding! I have my first baptism this weekend! Valentina is her name! very sweet old lady. she got up and bore her testimony yesterday which was awesome for all of our other investigators there! I have been memorizing the baptismal prayer so I can say it write. and then have to find out her full name which will be an adventure in itself! after this baptism we have 3 more next week! wow! I think that we should have a temple going up every transfer! everyone is way stoked for "the day of open doors" as it translates here, aka open house. its been an intersting week. had my bed sheets get burnt by cigaretts as they were hanging out to dry. Ask dad about that one. also missing a few things, we got tricked into talking to a j-dub aka Jehovah's witness! he stopped us on the street and kinda told us he was interested so we set up a meeting the following day. I didn't catch this but I guess right off My comp asked him what religion he was. he responded that it wasn't important. and I guess, Elder Johnson told me after that he knew right off who he was. well at the begining of the "discussion" I didn't know he was a Jdub and I was have a hard time understanding because he was speaking surgic (Ukrainian Russian mixed) but it was SO amazing! I got a prompting!!!!!! kind of random but it said " Satan will also put people in you path that would distract you from those who would here the truth" word for word I remember it so Clearly. I dwelled on that and then really started trying to listen in on what was being said. I then got another prompting after I started to understand that he was trying to find fault in the Book of Mormon and with what we said. I remembered the book of Alma when Amulek is teaching and some of his words reigned true in my head as he spoke to the lawyers who were trying to find fault in his words. he said to them "you are trying to lay traps and snares to catch the holy ones of Israel" by this time I had a way bad feeling! Elder Johnson looks at me and in English says lets go... I agreed. just after that he says "you need to address God by his name" OH MY GOODNESS! those are the words of a Jdub! thats when I figured it out. I got kind of contentious! because he persisted to teach us! and in D&C 43:15 it states that we are not sent forth to be taugh, but to teach the children of men that which God puts into our hands. and in 16 " you are to be taught from on high" I thought wow if we were not missionaries and people looking for the truth and you told us that by calling God by his sons name will allow us to be saved, where would our salvation lie then? the actions he does in his life will hang over his head on judgment day for leading the Children of men astray! I was so fired up! but none the less I guess thats missionary life! so yeah we had a couple of other experiences where people persisted to say that what they knew was true. here they pray to Icons alot. people sell these cards with apostles and prophets on them. I call em Pokemon cards "gotta catch em all!" its good though Im always sizing people up, making sure if the drunk ones get crazy we can either take em or get out quick! I'm way excited for the baptisms coming up I finally feel like I'm remembering the language! but yeah thank you for your prayers, everytime I get and feel promptings like that I can always justify that I am here, and worthy to be! that I have the holy ghost and the ability to have my Heavenly Father Direct my actions! My heal has been really hurting me though lately. I dont know what it is. we went tracting yesterday from 4 till 8:30 and it was killing. but it only started doing that a few days ago. like the begining of the week. its weird but If its suppose to teach me something I'm all for it! well I'm going to email dad now I have some pics for you to. OH and yeah so my camera got rid of ALL of my pictures before Ukraine. and the first ones in Ukraine. I am so angry! I dont know what happend butthey are no longer there! AUG! stupid Camera!  I love you all and hope all is well. Enjoy the pics
Elder Johnson (the younger)