Missionary Service

Hey mom,
well I will try to respond to everything, took me a bit to read. resort to dads email to because I put stuff in there to. so yeah I am finally getting over being sick. it was way bad but we muscled through it. there really isn't any sense in sending me stuff I need now like the colloidal silver because it will take like 3 weeks to get here. and as for the boots and stuff I would rather not risk it. I can buy them here, there are really good stores here that sell very good products. but the shoes I had to buy I bought at the renok which is like a giant market place with every random object you could think of. so rather than risk them being stolen I can buy them here. because I have access to my account now. Thats way sweet! I hope you got the job! who cares where its at. its kind of weird my comp has only 2 more months left. I will be "killing him" as we put it in the mish. so I have whats going on with me in just getting out here and then there is his were as he has been here for 2 years. kinda of wierd. yeah I would have quite the cleaning job a LONG! time ago I'm glad you did. just yesteday (thats why I didn't email) we had to go start a garden for one of our investigators who has a baptismal date! (WE HAVE 3 NEXT MONTH BY THE WAY) pretty tough work. because they dont have tools that make it easy to do like in america. we use scyths like the grim reaper holds, shovels, this other weird tool that I cant remember the name. hard work, got lots of sun and bit by a bajillion misquitoes! the work is exploding here, and we can only be grateful! we know we have been doing the things that we should be doing here but Heavenly Father has blessed us in being able to witness His miracles happening in Zhitomyr. One of our investigators is looking for happiness... he has got to be like 65-70 years old and lives alone (way lonely) he is separated from his family who live in Russia, he writes to them but never recieves anything back, he was in the army so lives off of pention which is not alot here. we tracted into him about a week ago and he seemed somewhat intersted. we left him a book of mormon and about a week later he said he read the address in it and came to the church. we just saw him intently reading the sign outside, he cant be over 5'2. came out and invited him to church, to our surprise he came, I sat next to him and tried my best to speak to him. one of the songs I assumed touched him because he started crying, dont know him well enought to call him out and ask why he was crying but he stayed for all 3 meetings. we gave him the plan of salvation with a baptismal commitment and he said "I will, I will" he is way solid. really nice old man. I dont have time to write down everything that I want to say, nor can I remember it all. but just know that I am SERVING!  I dont know the language very well but what I do know I share. we tract ALOT! and its paying off. last week we had 31 members at church. that is HUGE for zhitomyr. the people here, since they have been under soviet rule for so long. the comparison that the MTC gave us is they are like a coconut, and we are like peaches. we are just a bunch of softy's, we will smile to anyone even if we dont mean it. they have really no expression on there face. you really have to search for a reason to talk to them. they are true though, if they dont like you, they will tell you. if you have put on weight, they will tell you. once you crack the coconut they are the nicest people ever! it would seem like they live to serve and help. Its harder to contact the younger generation. but we are working on it. That makes me very happy to know I'm in everyone's prayers. I want you to know I am serving the best I know how. The Lord is letting us witness this great work here and we are doing the things we need to to be apart of it. I Love you all, and pray for things to continue to get better.
Elder Johnson