Trying to be useful!!!

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Dear Family
So wow! what a week! I enjoyed ALL of your letters! its good to hear everyone is doing well! yeah I think its funny/interesting that the missionaries are starting to do that there. We started something similar to that back in Sept. but instead of going to peoples homes we do it on the streets!!! the highest baptizing mission in Eastern Europe right now is the Russia Samara mission and so they have been sharing Ideas with us on how they are better doing the work there/. We have started praying on the "streets, and in their homes, .." anywhere and everywhere! and its brought about HUGE miracles and mighty changes of hearts among the people of Ukraine... and her missionaries :D This week was pretty crazy! we started off here in Kyiv. We did service in a hospital this week! that was nuts! there was 8 of us there and they sent us off by two's to the operation room, Neurology, Emergency room, and somewhere else. Elder Hofeling and I were sent to the Operation deck where we hauled people around in there beds for x-rays and what not! it was really cool! the week flew by and before we knew it, it was Thursday which ment we were on our way to L'viv with President in the van. Almost the equivalent of the Salt lake city to Boise trip but about an hour longer. It was really cool! we got to know president a little better, had a chance to pick his brain, he showed us pictures and video's of his family! it was way cool! I hope that his character can rub off on me before I go home! I really like the qualities that he has developed and the attitude he has towards things! Our zone conference in L'viv was really good! I went on Exchanges with Elder Wilson (Zone leader) you remember him? he is one of the members of my original district in the MTC. He is still really cool and I imagine we will be friends alot longer then just the mission! we found a bunch of people there, its unfortunate you will only be here for a few days! L'viv is definitely worth seeing. We headed back Sat. night on a train, unfortunately but fortunately they had NO tickets... in the regular 2nd class... and we are not allowed to take 3rd class. so guess what we got to do??? :D yep! first class! lol It wasn't anything incredibly awesome but it was a lot nicer! a lot more comfy I felt. However, that is not going to be compared to the trip to Odessa this week which will be by the means of a plane!!! YEAH!!!! I'm way excited for that! by the way Odessa is strictly Russian speaking... so Ukrainian speakers NEVER get to see what is down there... so this is a way fun opportunity! we have 3 zone conferences this week! one on Tues, another on Wednesday, and the last on Friday! and then on Sat we have new missionaries coming in and before i will know it I will be typing to you again. Hey mom don't worry about it yes we will be skyping! I'm surrounded by computers here in the office and the former Assistants from a while ago already set up the skype for it so no worries. No I'm trying not to think of going home, I honestly.... dont want to. I could easily do this for the rest of my life and not have a problem with it! Its way cool! and very... progressing.. if I can even use that word! we have started decorating for Christmas already! that will be really cool to see Christmas in Kyiv for the first time, but come next week we will have my new companion here with us in a threesome and I'll start making plans for our exchanges with the other zones including L'viv! I just hope that I remain useful! what I do now is what I'm told and I do it to the best I am able... however, what I have to do is not all on the brain yet.. so I know the how, but the what is still floating around up there. In fact right now President Klebingat is calling my new companion to tell him he wants him to be the new assistant hahaha poor Elder he has no Idea whats about to hit him haha. So President has told me that I'm probably going to "die" as they say it as an assistant because he wants me to be with Elder Saltmarsh (new comp) as long as possible to give him the downloading experience. I really like president Klebingat and his enthusiasm for the work and his family! Thats so weird! a safari Christmas???! no snow! what is this blasphemy!!! I'm going to call you all to repentance! lol its not Christmas without snow!
We are having big problems right now with the new missionaries because Ukraine made some new laws that are restricting more religions coming into Ukraine. and we have been told that its the Orthodox church (big power here) that presented the bill! :S but in the long run its going to help us out! anyway! so yeah president is a little stressed. He is a big family man aswell so a lot of the time he just says "well that's why I have assistants, so you guys figure it out" anyway! so yeah... we have a huge really fast week this coming week! before I know it Christmas will be here... wow! I love you all! and hope that you enjoy the email. I'll try and get some pictures from Odessa this week...
love you

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Старійшина Джонсон

Hi There

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Dearly Beloved!
so.. ya know this week was kind of a kick in the pants! honestly I could look at this week and say wow! Elder Johnson... your not a very fruitful missionary! I'm mean come on! look at you!... yuck! lol aside from what I know that we did this week I still see myself coming to a conclusion every week with the phrase.."what lack I yet?" and in my case more than one. Yeah so mom our mission president is not American... I just said he lived there for a while and thus knows english better than most. However, I wont be really celebrating thanksgiving this year... :S infact president, Elder Hofeling and I will be on the road to L'viv on the 24th. And then for Christmas he is encouraging the missionaries to do something but as for the mission as a whole as he states " the holidays are not going to put us on hold". I really like working with President! way practical man. This last week we had Leadership training, alot of the missionaries are starting to struggle, or complain more or less that its hard! ... well DUH! ofcourse its hard! and thats pretty much what president told everyone! It was quite the entertaining thought for me... sort of humorous. however, something I picked up on this week, I think the Idea is that we despite what we want to have happen need to submit to the Will of our Heavenly Father rather than complain about it. The Lord is the Lord of the Harvest and he makes the calls! its not our work its his! he simply invites us to make it our own purpose in other words submitting ourself to him in every deed, action, and thought! and well you know that sounds great! but honestly I'm not there yet! but I do get that you shouldn't "kick against the bricks" as it says, "our ways are not Gods ways" he will ultimately determine what happens. thats why we are encouraged to pray so much so that we will come to the knowledge for ourselves the Will of our Heavenly Father, and what ever it might be that we dont complain about it! the very first story in the BOM tells us what happens to those who complain. Its funny, we who wear the wrist watches and carry the pocket watches seek to complain to and council the One who over see's the cosmic clocks and calenders! He does everything in his own time! That should be enough for us all to know. Obviously wanting to find someone to teach and baptize is something great to want, but all those "great "things obviously are not given with out a price or some effort on the recievers end. The instrictions I beleive could be any clearer on HOW TO BE A MISSIONARY! We've got a written missionary library that practically screams it at us. Being willing to submit to our Father in Heaven I feel is alot more then just bended knee and a bowed head. there is a requirement involved. "except ye become as little childeren" it says " ye shall not inheret the kingdom of God." or even help build it for that matter. I have been in Mosiah lately and I think mosiah 3:19 really applies, The recipe to become a Saint is to become as a child, Submissive, Meek, Humble, Patient, full of love, (here's the kicker) willing to SUBMIT to all things which the Lord seeth fit to inflict upon him, even as a child doth submit to his father. Elder Maxwell said that "discriptive Simplicity of Spiritual Submissiveness is matched by its developement difficulty." Its so easy to be half hearted, but this only produces half the growth, half the blessing, and just half a life, really , with more bud then blossom. Such a superficial view of this work will not do! All missionaries (Missionary= member) lest we mistakenly speak of this life only as coming here to get a body, as if we were merely picking up a suit at the cleaners. Or, lest we casually recite how we have come here to be proved, as if a few brisk push-ups and deep knee bends would do. Our Heavenly Father alloteth unto man certain thing which we are to be content. The submissive individual will be led aright, enduring some things well while anxiously engaged in setting other things right. all the time discerning the difference. Obviously we have to recognize (also a new principle hitting home with me... recognizing) Heavenly Fathers love for us and the he is not just oging to hang us out to dry. I know God wants me to succeed and be happy, I know he if we let him ready's us for all of the learning experiences. But we have to own up to those learning experiences of the past and listen to the soft Whisperings of the Holy Ghost as he prompts if we are to succeed and be happy!
Im way excited for Bryndon! thats way cool about the papers! Taleya it was way good to hear from you! and I dont care if they are short or not send them anyway! just... dont be consistent with the short ones ;) and mom you can count on me (atleast while single) coming home for the holidays so you guys wont be alone! once married well... probably have to compromise a little bit.. you know the family will be a bit bigger. anyway so I love you all! my holidays are going to be busy! found out that we are flying to ODESA and I'm stoked! its been awhile since being in the air! so that will be fun! I love you all! I'm doing well! trying to stay away from apendisitus! its gotten like 6 missionaries since I've been out and just got one of our zone leaders into the hospital :S the end of the week was kind of depressing because our baptism didn't go down! he wasn't quite ready.. but it will happen. I'm not discouraged! president gave the mission a thought to play with! if your discouraged than its because your being disobedient! haha I like it because its true! if you have done ALL you could that day! you may be disapointed because of the results but its not because of what you didn't do! you did all you could! anyway love you all! I'll talk to you again soon!

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Старійшина Джонсон

 

Blessed are those that humble theirselves. Alma 32:16

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Dear Everyone!
So this week was a week of miracles! we started off the week with a baptism on Tuesday! the guy said that he wanted to get baptized on Monday when they met with him! He is pretty cool! he requested that President Klebingat Baptize him. It was really cool! President went right ahead and gave the permission to give him the Gift of the Holy Ghost immediately after the baptism! His wife gave a great talk on the Holy Ghost. It was weird for me to sit back and listen to her and be reminded that English is not her first language. She speaks fluent Russian because she is from Latvia, and she knows German because of her husband and English because of her study at the BYU. It was really cool! Also however, on the other spectrum of the week ... oi we had exchanged this week with our zone to try and help them out. well I was with a missionary by the name of Elder Sadigashavilly .. yes he is a native from Georgia, in fact he is the first missionary ever to come out of Georgia, and he stands about 3 ft 8 inch. he is a small Elder.. anyway so we are on exchanges but not only that but we have meeting with one of our investigators at President Klebingat's home. If it wasn't for our taxi we would have been way late. but we got to the temple and president drove us to his house. WAY beautiful house and the inside is way cool! it was my first time there.. in fact for all three of us Peter, my temporary Comp, and I. Peter has baptismal date for this week and working so close to president he always knows about our investigators. anyway so we are there and Sister Klebingat also graced us with her presence on the lesson.... well long story short... it was way.. weird! or humbling I guess I should say. Elder Hofeling and I had been talking about what to teach him, Elder Hofeling new him better and thought that another lesson on the Restoration is needed. I thought that perhaps the Plan of Salvation would be better, anyway we agreed on his idea. and so we are there and we are talking about the restoration. well... woops number one. President and I had not talked before the lesson so he had no Idea what to expect, nor did his wife. Petya is being kind of back off ish. not really himself so his answers and everything are really quick and short, I mean it makes sense, new environment, new people, I was the only one he knew. My companion wasn't saying anything.. so it was kind of a one missionary show, President didn't know where I was at, the investigator wasn't really open... and above all I'm speaking Ukrainian and only Peter and I are the ones that do. President and his wife and Also my temp. Comp. are Russian speakers... however Sister Klebingat was keeping up with me which was kind of cool... anyway .. it was just way humbling, I was way worried for Peter but he said that it was good, and that everything went well. The Sisters in our district also baptized someone this week! for the baptism they had asked me to sing... so well I did.. and I BOMBED!!! it! I mean it wasn't horrible but I was way nervous! so yet again ANOTHER humbling Experience.
Elder Hofeling and I were out talking to people and I stopped this older gent who had a baby stroller and started talking about our family message... well he shut me down very quickly trying to tell me that this is all nonsense, that how I can teach him because I'm so young.. lada yada yada! anyway he kept bouncing back and forth between Ukrainian and Russian and so during the argument I asked him to pick a language! he asked me if I wanted him to speak Ukrainian I said yeah sure. he responded with a "goodbye" he then turned and said "you come to Kyiv and your not speaking Russian" I responded "we live in Ukraine!!! " he then replied with "your an idiot" and walked off laughing as if he was really trying to laugh ... you know what I mean? anyway I was like wow!! so yeah it was a really humbling week.. I cant believe that it has already been two weeks! I'm going to blink and its going to be all over. I have been reading D&C .. an activity most missionaries do when they get down to there 138 days of the mission. a chapter a day! its way cool! the snow is here, things are cold.. well what else.
I'm stoked that Chris is FINALLY ready! woof! that took forever!!!! but good on im! I'm way stoked to hear about Lynette! that is way cool! if you want you can give her my email and if she would like to email me she can!
That's to sad that none of the Grandparents could be there at the baby blessing... why couldn't Josh's parents come? Perhaps another week of waiting wouldn't of hurt. but whats done is done. anyway so we have lots happening this week, exchanges, Leadership training, Zone conferences... lots. And no Elder Hofeling does not go home until December 14 so we have a while. Anyway ... so I'm beginning to think about school... and am wondering what is down there in Florida, If that's where we are planning on staying. I hope your conversing with the office here in the mission on when you want to come. Actually I can kind of help now because that's where I'm at... OFTEN! honestly we handle everything and keep the mission going the way president wants it to go... so in 5 weeks elder Hofeling has to teach me all about running a mission. .... I'm getting it. for the most part. he has been here 5 months so he's got a handle. anyway family I love you and I'm way excited about everything going on here and there. and yes we were some of the first to hear about the missionaries in Texas.... its kind of sad. but if those elders had to go back to their Father in Heaven.. they probably couldn't have picked a better time then on there missions. I didn't know it was the Strong's though.. wow.. well once again I love you all! that's everything from Kyiv, Ukraine! tune in Next week!

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Старійшина Джонсон

Grueling Monday Morning

Dear everyone,
So Mondays are always going to be crazy busy! we are usually in the office by 8 or 8:30 depending on traffic... I just did the weekly reports and it took me 4 different times to do them!!! excel programs and what not... their relentless!!! you make one mistake and they are unforgiving! such a program should not exist in a church mission office that believes and preaches repentance :P anyway I finally get to type to you all and tell you how the week went. so I meant to take pictures and send them your way however I am still trying to fix the camera and haven't found time. speaking of that Time FLY'S now! I blinked and the week was over! I like my new assignment and working right next to the temple is way cool! its a great missionary tool! this last Monday Elder Hofeling and I set a new baptismal date with somebody! (just like ole times) he is a way cool guy named Peter who is about our age! we work with president a lot here... so much in fact where I already know who my next companion is going to be.. and its going to happen quick to because elder hofeling goes home in 5 weeks... so I have to get this assistant thing down fast! however after this morning I don't think I have any excuse to ever mess up again! This last week was our Stake Conference.. do you know that this last week was the first week in the last two years that I had not held a calling other than being a missionary? it was such a weird feeling! yeah I'm still first counsler there in K ville but that will change soon. for the stake conference we sang in the men's choir on sat., it was way cool! its really weird to see so many different people.. and such an amount. I'm use to 40 tops! coming to church. Here they have upwards of 200!! the sun is changing here already.. it only goes so high before it starts to set.. for example right now its on its downward slope and it will be dark by 5. we have seen alot of success this week, however, kyiv is still really weird for me! I think its going to grow on me though. President himself set a baptismal date with someone this week... she agreed if he would find her a white dress to do it in! (an older classy type lady) she doesn't like the look of the jumpsuits. Its way crazy being here.. but I really love it! I'm glad everyone is doing well! and I hope I can catch up with the mission before she sends me home! lol I wish I could type more but I have alot to do still... I'll be better next week because of today! I love you and am doing great!

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Старійшина Джонсон