Some of Sean's emails have had the most atrocious grammar and spelling I have ever seen! So, I sent him and email just saying that maybe he should watch that a little bit better because this is a life skill and a great time to practice typing well, plus I didn't want him making it a habit to type poorly. Here is his response
"tal vez voy a responder en solomente espanol si usted no le gusta me ingles... pero... Si las zappatos son buenas por supuesto! gracias"
What a stinker, he just thinks he's sooo funny!
Monday, September 30, 2013
I'm from Argentina
This week was soo slow and idk why.
We have a fecha for a family!!!! and they came to church and want to have their baby named and blessed in the church!!!! It´s a miracle the first family here in Comayaguela in half a year!
This week we went to Tegucigalpa, that was not fun. We are on a bus for two hours and then we get there and they tell us we can´t watch General Conference.... what!?!?!?!!?! I think that some missionaries almost stood up. He changed it, we just aren´t allowed to go to priesthood session because Saturday night is the best night to find families. Which makes sense but it is still a super bummer. I was soo excited for it. Oh well, I can read it after.
Oh, one exciting thing, I mastered an Argentine accent in Spanish for about 4 or 5 sentences, so if I want to make a joke with contacts I tell them that I´m from Argentina. At first they didn´t believe me, but now like four contacts believed me! woo!!! Spanish is coming, and yesterday I spoke the whole day in Spanish without asking once for a word in English! wwoooooooooo! Finally one goal accomplished.
We aren´t working as hard as we should... my companion, I love the guy but he is sick of being "rejected". I feel bad for him. Also, he`s taken to looking at our work as condemning to the people who don´t accept us. Which I haven´t been able to prove to him we aren`t. That our goal is to save, but kinda by attempting it and making the chance that they reject us it's scary, but we kinda do add one more problem for them....
Um... the food is good, I´m becoming quite the chef and mastering all sorts of little tricks. I enjoy improving myself very much but I have to remember this mission is not about me... it`s tough to think outside of myself. One thing is we get fed all the time but I´m always hungry!!! It`s so frustrating! Yet sometimes we just forget to sit down and eat, like yesterday we ate lunch and now that I think about it I don´t think we ever ate dinner.
Funny story about last night though, my companion locked our keys in our room so we had to get the security guard and he broke in for us..... yeah kind of ironic. Other than that, the shock and excitement is wearing off. Time to buckle down and work.
Oh one more cool thing! This month was a record for the mission!
188 bautismos y 40 Familias Whoo whoo just some mission pride there
:) btw my address is
Elder Sean Johnson
Misiòn Honduras Comayaguela
Apartado Postal 2625
Tegucigalpa Honduras
Love to hear from ya`ll
Let me know if I can do anything for you. I will do my best.
Monday, September 23, 2013
The beginning of our mission journey
This journey started years ago, but Sean received his mission call on Thursday, March 14,2013. He opened it surrounded by family and friends, receiving a call to Comayaguela, Honduras. He graduated from high school on May 30, 2013, then received his endowment in the Logan Utah Temple on June 4, 2013 in the 9am session.
After a full summer filled with father & sons camp out, family weddings,
a trip to Idaho and a trip to California and Las Vegas, his farewell and a family reunion,
Sean flew to the Mexico MTC on July 9, 2013 at 7am.
His first email to tell me he made it:
"Hey mom, so things are pretty crazy out here haha I have Pdays on tuesday. Today we went to the mexico temple, all in spanish... My companion is way cool, he was a gymnast and, kinda a red head. The food down here is craz! haha like all mexicano except once when we had pizza on our first night, ha so far.. I´ve liked all of it . They´re kinda unorganized down here so basically we have been allowed to do anything we want. but its kinda frustrating when you are assigned a lot to do and not given any time do do it. We started teaching a "investigator" on the second day I will refer to him as angel (prounounced anhel) we do all of our communicating in spanish which is so hard but its coming extremely fast. I call it communication because its not quite talking yet. ha anyways we committed him to pray, go to church, and read the book of mormon. and yesterday we challenged him to be baptized and he said "Si" I almost jumped up for joy! actually I kinda did. I just stood up and shook his hand. I know that this is the kind of work Christ would have us do. It´s really hard and last week really felt like an eternity. I miss all of you and Love you. Stick with class and tell everyone to write me through email. The mail system out here isn´t well..... let's say established."
Can I just say, um, hello! AP English high school graduate! Where is your spelling, punctuation, capitalization? Ugh, I sent a little email out about that. I also sent an email about giving us a little more detail. I asked a few questions, like how was the bus ride. In response the next week we got:
"hahahaahhahahaha the bus ride????? hahaha you joking me we had a bus driver who seemed to have the philosophy of "grind it till you find it" we were stuck in traffic until the cops started their sirens then everyone was like flying. I think the rule is when you change lanes you honk. and the bigger you are the less warning you have to give. Motorcyclists were shoooting gaps i didn´t even think were gaps. and we looked out our window and saw a lady tied up and gagged in the back of a Geo... it´s like wha? I asked the elder next to me if we should tell someone. Since neither of us had any idea how to convey in spanish what was going on he said "nah, i think that that´s probably normal round here" so we didn´t say anything.
Sorry i may have mislead you guys on the baptism thing, these investigator guys are latino teachers who are acting the way they did during their conversion lessons and such Angel is actually maestro who is now teaching us on how to teach (in spanish of course). My companion is getting really frustrated with the launguage. the food theses days is sooo good but we still don't have irons.... odd. we learned that Manana doesn't mean literally tomorrow... it really just means not today.
I have seen like four kids from my schoool now and talked to all of them. Including scott and josh i'm telling you the first week is the hardest. and i played soccer the other day with Bud it was sweet.
We have two more investigators. one is really hard and the other is medium... serious like when they talk a million miles an hour it's all i can do to get the gist of what they are saying. I'm still tired all the time and more and more funny thing keep happening but nothing as funny as an elder's sleep walking. Tell everyone i say hi and that i miss them. Stay close to god and mom read 1 nephi 2:8 if you ever miss me too much. ;) love ya dad thanks for being such a good example to me maybe when i get back i can learn portuguese, and you can help me?"
Ok, so he gave us more information, but really, a girl tied up and they didn't tell anyone? I still haven't gotten over that one. But there is some improvement. We then asked some more questions and for some more information like who was in his district and what the sleep walking story was and such. Hence, you start at the MTC in the beginning, the first post. It only took a few weeks to get to that point. We still ask questions all the time, and answers seem far and few between, but we are getting there.
Shauna
Mom
and so you are, at the beginning of a mission adventure!
Horse Whisperer
This week was.. really fast gee whiz where the heck is it going?
This Monday was the first Monday in the campo that I played soccer and just fyi... all the Latinos in my zone like me now.. (weird) We have been teaching like nuts, but no one has accepted fechas yet. Interesting fact, an hour away from where I am, George of the Jungle the movie was filmed. Sweet
We found this new peublito called Quebrocho. Missionaries have never been there before, I was like.. what? It's so cool, people are soo humble and they are letting us in and everyone insists on feeding us. I really feel like I'm gaining weight.
We went to Las Anonas again and of course, it was one of my highlights. We had an adventure, we decided the trail was boring so we went up a cliff cause it would be faster... it wasn't much faster and we were way dirtier in the end... haha. Then we helped calm down this little horse of one of the members, and the people now think I'm an animal whisper just cause I touched the nose of the horse and it just stopped. Yeah, not spiritual or anything, I think it was just surprised, they treat their animal pretty poorly here.
I've been wondering what are my strengths in missionary work without Spanish...... I've also been wondering where do abilities come from? Very broadly, that's what I've been wondering about.
We also went to a place called "valley of angels" super pretty and we taught an 8 year old who got baptized this Saturday.
This week we have been focusing on meno activos, less actives. Here a lot of people can't afford the bus to go... and it's too expensive for the church to rent a bus every Sunday. My companion and I want to set up a branch in Las Anonas cause that would be EPIC and everyone in that direction would be able to go.
I'm learning a lot about myself out here, and I'm clarifying my beliefs. That's important. Figure out what you want to become. Always remember it, I'm not talking about your job, or future, I'm talking about your essence. We are SUPPOSED to change, it's what we're here for. That's why we don't like it so much. Comfort is the enemy of progress.... that was in a gym over here, I think it's partly true, but I think that the ultimate progress would to become comfortable with progress, expect it of yourself, God expects it of us. And Jesus Christ didn't suffer for our sins for nothing.
Anyways this week was super fun, can't wait for the next week. Let me know if there is anything I can do for any of you. Que le vaya bien!!
Love, Elder Sean Johnson
p.s. If you write letters to me make sure you put "Elder Sean Johnson" on top because we have two or three Elder Johnsons in this mission and fyi, I really like letters.
 |
| Elder Johnson the photo bomber. The elder on the right is Kay Pearl's grandson, my former coworker from the temple. |
This Monday was the first Monday in the campo that I played soccer and just fyi... all the Latinos in my zone like me now.. (weird) We have been teaching like nuts, but no one has accepted fechas yet. Interesting fact, an hour away from where I am, George of the Jungle the movie was filmed. Sweet
We found this new peublito called Quebrocho. Missionaries have never been there before, I was like.. what? It's so cool, people are soo humble and they are letting us in and everyone insists on feeding us. I really feel like I'm gaining weight.
We went to Las Anonas again and of course, it was one of my highlights. We had an adventure, we decided the trail was boring so we went up a cliff cause it would be faster... it wasn't much faster and we were way dirtier in the end... haha. Then we helped calm down this little horse of one of the members, and the people now think I'm an animal whisper just cause I touched the nose of the horse and it just stopped. Yeah, not spiritual or anything, I think it was just surprised, they treat their animal pretty poorly here.
I've been wondering what are my strengths in missionary work without Spanish...... I've also been wondering where do abilities come from? Very broadly, that's what I've been wondering about.
We also went to a place called "valley of angels" super pretty and we taught an 8 year old who got baptized this Saturday.
This week we have been focusing on meno activos, less actives. Here a lot of people can't afford the bus to go... and it's too expensive for the church to rent a bus every Sunday. My companion and I want to set up a branch in Las Anonas cause that would be EPIC and everyone in that direction would be able to go.
I'm learning a lot about myself out here, and I'm clarifying my beliefs. That's important. Figure out what you want to become. Always remember it, I'm not talking about your job, or future, I'm talking about your essence. We are SUPPOSED to change, it's what we're here for. That's why we don't like it so much. Comfort is the enemy of progress.... that was in a gym over here, I think it's partly true, but I think that the ultimate progress would to become comfortable with progress, expect it of yourself, God expects it of us. And Jesus Christ didn't suffer for our sins for nothing.
Anyways this week was super fun, can't wait for the next week. Let me know if there is anything I can do for any of you. Que le vaya bien!!
Love, Elder Sean Johnson
p.s. If you write letters to me make sure you put "Elder Sean Johnson" on top because we have two or three Elder Johnsons in this mission and fyi, I really like letters.
The gospel is a path that exists FOR us, but knowing about a trail or a path doesn't mean you know the path... LIVE IT.
Ok.. well this week was loco. I had interchanges, I went to the temple and we have a BAPTISM!! Woo! I also met a man who lives in New York and we're teaching him, and I did my first service day of chopearing... which is like cutting a lawn with a machete.... yeah pretty sweet..
So Interchanges are when you and your companion trade companionships so my companion was the district leader for one ...day... He is sooo good at contacting, we contacted 8 people and they all gave us food. He's from Tonga... and BIG like really big, that's probably why everyone gave us food. Oh and I freaking met a monkey, like it climbed on me!! Woop! Woop! yeah I'm cool, that was a really cool day.
That was on Tuesday, it was super cool, but on Thursday we went and did service chopeando,. It was honestly really hard but I can now say I have used a machete.. whoever thought that using a machete is cool and fun.... oh man that person has a lot to learn. We are so blessed to have weed wackers. I have two blisters on my hands still and I never get blisters, but after that the guy drove us to the city and bought us Honduran Chinese food, it was pretty good:)
The next day we went to the temple. Hahahaha, that was crazy. We had a bus meant for 28 people and we fit 40 missionaries on it!!! haha and the temple is sooo small that we filled two sessions just missionaries... but it was cool. I understood like all of it ,so that was a miracle!!
Then that night we got home and went contacting. I met a man who speaks ENGLISH!!! Man, I would be so good at teaching Latinos in English, oh well. Man, OH and the 15th is the Day of Independence, here they had huge parades and almost no one came to church, but it was ok hahaha um..
We're really close. We have been focusing on finding people. Just this week we found 18 investigators and 4 families... total we have 42 investigators and 9 families.... but many aren't progressing. They just don't want to do anything. They think if they let the word of God into they're home they're blessed, but they don't act, they just listen... oh well they have agency and I really am trying my best. I'm having a blast and working hard and honestly loving it...
I can't think of anything else and I'm out of time. Basically this week was super fast and really fun. I hope it will be like this always.
Just one last thing, the gospel is a path that exists FOR us, but knowing about a trail or a path doesn't mean you know the path... LIVE IT.
Love Elder Johnson
Questions and Answers
Here are some questions Sean answered about his mission:
1. How many missionaries serve in your mission? 230
2. How big is the area you serve in? Idk really, we have half of a city and then like a huge mountain area at least 10 by 35 mi...les but rough estimate.
3. How many wards are in your area? 1
4. What is something that has surprised you while you have been a missionary? How much time you spend in the apartment, you have to prepare before you can teach effectively.
5. What is some advice you would give the youth? Dude, be an example, even if everyone is pretty much white over there they still notice if your following the standards set by our lord. Also you don`t have to share a message to someone who doesn't want to hear it.
6. What is a cool experience you've had while there? I suck at Spanish but this pregnant lady asked us to give a blessing i did the anointing of the oil, then my companion blessed. The baby hadn`t moved through the pregnancy and she was 8 months and 20 days in as near as she could tell. during the blessing the baby moved. It was a miracle. Priesthood power is the power of god, and your intentions and worthiness to exercise the priesthood are more important than how well you speak.
7. Anything else? The church is so strong in Utah, appreciate it. We have 1,500 baptized members here, but only 130 members attending church every Sunday. See More
1. How many missionaries serve in your mission? 230
2. How big is the area you serve in? Idk really, we have half of a city and then like a huge mountain area at least 10 by 35 mi...les but rough estimate.
3. How many wards are in your area? 1
4. What is something that has surprised you while you have been a missionary? How much time you spend in the apartment, you have to prepare before you can teach effectively.
5. What is some advice you would give the youth? Dude, be an example, even if everyone is pretty much white over there they still notice if your following the standards set by our lord. Also you don`t have to share a message to someone who doesn't want to hear it.
6. What is a cool experience you've had while there? I suck at Spanish but this pregnant lady asked us to give a blessing i did the anointing of the oil, then my companion blessed. The baby hadn`t moved through the pregnancy and she was 8 months and 20 days in as near as she could tell. during the blessing the baby moved. It was a miracle. Priesthood power is the power of god, and your intentions and worthiness to exercise the priesthood are more important than how well you speak.
7. Anything else? The church is so strong in Utah, appreciate it. We have 1,500 baptized members here, but only 130 members attending church every Sunday. See More
A rough week
So this week sucked..... nobody came to church!!! probably because tomorrow is la dia de ninos (kids day what? talk about epic culture) and therefore they were saving the commute money for the pinatas and candy. Also Honduras beat Mexico in a qualifying game. No me and my companion didn´t watch the game, we just watched people dance and set off fireworks all night. then our neighbors came in and ...told us all about it. They are so crazy here, it was actually pretty freaking sweet to be surrounded by people who care about soccer.
OK but other than that, I mean it rained alot.... not much happened. I`m getting used to life here, I had pirahana yesterday and my companion didn`t like it.
I hope that since I`m becoming accustomed to life here I`ll be able to focus more on the gospel and the teaching of it. That sure would be nice, my Spanish is todavia terrible, but it`s coming... slowly. When I tell people I`ve been here for 2 weeks they compliment me, so whatevs.
We`ve been focusing on contacting a lot this week. It`s hard, people don`t automatically like you if your a gringo here, its work. I still feel like I could do more, I just need to do something, Idk know what yet.
Oh ok, so the most exciting story happened during our trip to Las Anonas, the night before we left we had three dinners.....bad idea. Woke up and was fine, started heading out and on the bus, I started getting car sick. I never get car sick, so it was a weird experience. We get off and we have a member RM with us, and just start hiking, I felt terrible, like sick sick. So half way up I just told my companion "yonecesito vomitarse" "I need to throw up" so I stop, tuck in my tie to my shirt (I didn`t want to get it dirty) and then bend over and puke my guts out. Yeah..... that was half the story, we get to Las Anonas and they feed us lunch, chicken head stew... I ate it.... haha and then threw up all over the porch. The starving dogs loved it!. After that they gave me this juice and I felt good, and we had a really spiritual lesson on the importance of temples.... hahaha then they made me take some corn before we made the hike back.
Another story is, well, the day after Honduras won we went to the hospital because this lady, I`m gonna call her Esperanza, had her baby. This is the lady we blessed and the baby hadn´t moved her whole pregnancy until we blessed her. Then it moved! Man this is a freaking miracle packed mission or something, Idk what's happening, maybe I just never had recognized miracles until now... anyways we went to visit her in the hospital...
It was gross, like really gross. I tried not to touch anything at all and washed my shoes when we got home. I don`t want any diseases.... the crazy thing is I learned that men suck.....(and we need to fix how they treat women).
We need lots of prayers.
I don`t want to end on that note sorry, but I`m out of time. Love you all, I really could use your guys` prayers right now. And just pray for people in general. Gee whiz. Keep your face toward Zion k? and love where you`re at and what your doing when your doing it, it`s important to have joy in the moment.
OK but other than that, I mean it rained alot.... not much happened. I`m getting used to life here, I had pirahana yesterday and my companion didn`t like it.
I hope that since I`m becoming accustomed to life here I`ll be able to focus more on the gospel and the teaching of it. That sure would be nice, my Spanish is todavia terrible, but it`s coming... slowly. When I tell people I`ve been here for 2 weeks they compliment me, so whatevs.
We`ve been focusing on contacting a lot this week. It`s hard, people don`t automatically like you if your a gringo here, its work. I still feel like I could do more, I just need to do something, Idk know what yet.
Oh ok, so the most exciting story happened during our trip to Las Anonas, the night before we left we had three dinners.....bad idea. Woke up and was fine, started heading out and on the bus, I started getting car sick. I never get car sick, so it was a weird experience. We get off and we have a member RM with us, and just start hiking, I felt terrible, like sick sick. So half way up I just told my companion "yonecesito vomitarse" "I need to throw up" so I stop, tuck in my tie to my shirt (I didn`t want to get it dirty) and then bend over and puke my guts out. Yeah..... that was half the story, we get to Las Anonas and they feed us lunch, chicken head stew... I ate it.... haha and then threw up all over the porch. The starving dogs loved it!. After that they gave me this juice and I felt good, and we had a really spiritual lesson on the importance of temples.... hahaha then they made me take some corn before we made the hike back.
Another story is, well, the day after Honduras won we went to the hospital because this lady, I`m gonna call her Esperanza, had her baby. This is the lady we blessed and the baby hadn´t moved her whole pregnancy until we blessed her. Then it moved! Man this is a freaking miracle packed mission or something, Idk what's happening, maybe I just never had recognized miracles until now... anyways we went to visit her in the hospital...
It was gross, like really gross. I tried not to touch anything at all and washed my shoes when we got home. I don`t want any diseases.... the crazy thing is I learned that men suck.....(and we need to fix how they treat women).
We need lots of prayers.
I don`t want to end on that note sorry, but I`m out of time. Love you all, I really could use your guys` prayers right now. And just pray for people in general. Gee whiz. Keep your face toward Zion k? and love where you`re at and what your doing when your doing it, it`s important to have joy in the moment.
Never take doing laundry in the U.S. for granted
Let me just start by saying that I will never complain about laundry in the United States again..... haha laundry sucks!!!! oh man 2 hours to do 7 shirts and & unmentionables and a day and a half for them to dry hoping it didn't rain and you do it all over again.
Anyways this week was awesome!!!!! We went to a pueblito on Wednesday called Las Anonas. It's a 4 mile hike in and it's literally in the middle of no where on top of a random mountain in the jungle... about 150 people live there and 30 of them are members of the church but the crazy story is how all this started. I mean no one would ever tract there so how did they get converted? Well there was an old man there who was studying to become a Catholic priest. One night he can't sleep and when he finally falls asleep he receives a vision that he needs to go to Comayagua and unite himself with the Mormons. So he hikes down, and the hour drive from the trail head goes to Comayagua and stays a week taking lessons from the missionaries every day, gets baptized on the 2nd week (because he had to attend church twice before he could get baptized.) then he brings the missionaries to the village Las Anonas and they baptize 4 families and 15 people... yeehaw! crazy story
So every Wednesday we go up and work in Las Anonas. It's an all day thing so we get up early, leave the house at 6:00am and leave the village at 4:00pm running down the mountain to catch the bus because the last bus leaves at 5:30. Super fun, cool and you'll never meet a more humble people. Such a cool experience. They fed us lunch which was chick head soup with "chips"(really just pig skin dried but it's actually pretty good and pretty common here, not homemade)
Then this weekend we set really high goals cause we're trying to work hard. We had no progressing investigators. But now.... we found 4 families this weekend and have 10 progressing investigators in Comayagua alone. SWWWEEEETTTT. Then we travel on Friday to another pueblito called where we have a family, and then on Saturdays there's a new Pueblito with a family who asked us to be baptized... my companion says this isn't normal, but I hope it becomes normal. This one family, they are so cool. They want to feed us, that's a sure sign that they're ready for baptism. I still don't know a lot of Spanish but I can understand it a whole ton better than I can speak it. So much work to do.
Oh one last exciting thing, be grateful that church in Utah is awesome. We had kind of an apostacia aqui. during priesthood elders, I think I'm very grateful for church in Utah.
Lots of love I'm running out of time, I hope you're all doing great if not I'm definitely not opposed to being written, sometimes it's very lonely out here speaking English.. and being a noob, but God will help us always, we just have to rely on him.
Stay with God, Love ya all
Elder Johnson
Anyways this week was awesome!!!!! We went to a pueblito on Wednesday called Las Anonas. It's a 4 mile hike in and it's literally in the middle of no where on top of a random mountain in the jungle... about 150 people live there and 30 of them are members of the church but the crazy story is how all this started. I mean no one would ever tract there so how did they get converted? Well there was an old man there who was studying to become a Catholic priest. One night he can't sleep and when he finally falls asleep he receives a vision that he needs to go to Comayagua and unite himself with the Mormons. So he hikes down, and the hour drive from the trail head goes to Comayagua and stays a week taking lessons from the missionaries every day, gets baptized on the 2nd week (because he had to attend church twice before he could get baptized.) then he brings the missionaries to the village Las Anonas and they baptize 4 families and 15 people... yeehaw! crazy story
So every Wednesday we go up and work in Las Anonas. It's an all day thing so we get up early, leave the house at 6:00am and leave the village at 4:00pm running down the mountain to catch the bus because the last bus leaves at 5:30. Super fun, cool and you'll never meet a more humble people. Such a cool experience. They fed us lunch which was chick head soup with "chips"(really just pig skin dried but it's actually pretty good and pretty common here, not homemade)
Then this weekend we set really high goals cause we're trying to work hard. We had no progressing investigators. But now.... we found 4 families this weekend and have 10 progressing investigators in Comayagua alone. SWWWEEEETTTT. Then we travel on Friday to another pueblito called where we have a family, and then on Saturdays there's a new Pueblito with a family who asked us to be baptized... my companion says this isn't normal, but I hope it becomes normal. This one family, they are so cool. They want to feed us, that's a sure sign that they're ready for baptism. I still don't know a lot of Spanish but I can understand it a whole ton better than I can speak it. So much work to do.
Oh one last exciting thing, be grateful that church in Utah is awesome. We had kind of an apostacia aqui. during priesthood elders, I think I'm very grateful for church in Utah.
Lots of love I'm running out of time, I hope you're all doing great if not I'm definitely not opposed to being written, sometimes it's very lonely out here speaking English.. and being a noob, but God will help us always, we just have to rely on him.
Stay with God, Love ya all
Elder Johnson
First week in Honduras
So, I feel like I need to start the count over since now I'm in the field. As most of you know I am now in Honduras. I arrived here 6 long days ago and am now an experienced missionary. And yes I was very surprised by Elder Hanks and I read his letter. It only got that way near the end for me, so elder good luck with 6 weeks of it. I don't have to worry about it For those of you who don't understand that... it's ok, don't worry about it. Let me start telling my story from the beginning with leaving the CCM.
So we woke up at 5:30 to get to the airport to catch a flight to San Pedro Sul airport. Then from the airport we caught a tiny plane to Tegucigalpa and the landing was one of the most fun things in the world (as in we were literally 50 yards above the houses right before the landing and then suddenly a airport appeared and we were jamming our breaks).
Then we got off and were hustled to the A.P.s house and we had our first meal with the president. This meal was very foreign and known as pizza. It was actually really good and just normal stuff. When I say we I mean the 16 gringo missionaries from Mexico. So.... 18 missionaries in one Honduran house.. amazing. The next morning we went to the Presidents house on the other side of town and just played... really hard first day. Then we met the Latino missionaries coming from the Guatemala CCM, there were 14 of them and 4 hermanas... yeah seeing trouble yet? that's 32 male missionaries... anyways they gave us the low down on the rules and the things we will need here (the nurses seemed to think we only needed two things: water and Pepto Bismol) and then we had Lasagna!!! ooh so good, then we hopped into two large vans but not quite busses, and went back to the A,P's house. It was nuts we somehow fit and found 32 beds in the house, luckily it had two floors and a semi open garage. But all of this is Honduran size remember so... small.
The next day we went to the changes meeting. I was assigned to my companion who is El Salvadoran, he's really funny and a great teach. He is the only member in his family and soooo strong in the gospel. He is my trainer and I am blessed. He speaks about as much english as I speak spanish soo.. it works We took a bus for 2 hours to Comayauga which is the area I have been assigned. They call this place a pueblito, meaning small village. It is in the center of Honduras and isn't small but it's not big. I don't know how to explain it. When we got back we went to visit with members seeking referrals. I had no idea what was going on. We met the bishop who all the missionaries agree kind looks like Will Smith, with a big smile, and they fed us.
So we woke up at 5:30 to get to the airport to catch a flight to San Pedro Sul airport. Then from the airport we caught a tiny plane to Tegucigalpa and the landing was one of the most fun things in the world (as in we were literally 50 yards above the houses right before the landing and then suddenly a airport appeared and we were jamming our breaks).
Then we got off and were hustled to the A.P.s house and we had our first meal with the president. This meal was very foreign and known as pizza. It was actually really good and just normal stuff. When I say we I mean the 16 gringo missionaries from Mexico. So.... 18 missionaries in one Honduran house.. amazing. The next morning we went to the Presidents house on the other side of town and just played... really hard first day. Then we met the Latino missionaries coming from the Guatemala CCM, there were 14 of them and 4 hermanas... yeah seeing trouble yet? that's 32 male missionaries... anyways they gave us the low down on the rules and the things we will need here (the nurses seemed to think we only needed two things: water and Pepto Bismol) and then we had Lasagna!!! ooh so good, then we hopped into two large vans but not quite busses, and went back to the A,P's house. It was nuts we somehow fit and found 32 beds in the house, luckily it had two floors and a semi open garage. But all of this is Honduran size remember so... small.
The next day we went to the changes meeting. I was assigned to my companion who is El Salvadoran, he's really funny and a great teach. He is the only member in his family and soooo strong in the gospel. He is my trainer and I am blessed. He speaks about as much english as I speak spanish soo.. it works We took a bus for 2 hours to Comayauga which is the area I have been assigned. They call this place a pueblito, meaning small village. It is in the center of Honduras and isn't small but it's not big. I don't know how to explain it. When we got back we went to visit with members seeking referrals. I had no idea what was going on. We met the bishop who all the missionaries agree kind looks like Will Smith, with a big smile, and they fed us.
The people here have almost nothing, you can buy a violin here for 100 american dollars. Nuts! They have tin roofs, cinderblock mud houses. Dogs wander the street, cars fly through the street at the same time as people cross the street. Soccer is in the street ( I love that part, one language I understand) apparently it's pretty sketch still, we aren't allowed to show our camera or anything like that.
Yesterday was church. We have a strong ward, of about 100 people, and this is where I noticed that we are very similar, except in sunday school. But I'll get to that. I had to give a talk in spanish and I'm pretty sure most of the congregation had no idea what I was trying to say..... I still felt good that they were nodding at me and the incomprehensible sounds I was making. Then we somehow ended up in primary singing I am a child of god and then to sunday school half way through the hour, I look behind and someone is just nursing... Yeah kinda freaked me out but... apparently it's not a big deal at all... I didn't look back again. Then we went to a member's house for lunch and they gave us a traditoinal soup called "mandoga". It's something they are all very proud of with corn, potatoes, rice, planotenes (like potatoes in the shape of a banana) and carrots and... Cow stomach. I didn't know what it was until after I ate it and my companion said something like "you handled that well for a gringo." I was like, "what, it was good". Then he told me what it was.... yeah definitely an experience to remember. It wasn't too bad, Ii just thought it was like pig or something... yeah no. Haha today I get to learn to wash clothes by hand!!! Yipee! I have way too many clothes.
I pray for you all and hope your doing great. I would love to hear from you guys! Thank you for writing me.
Love, Elder Johnson
MTC Routine
So this week has been super boring.... but busy it´s just the same thing every day. I mean don't get me wrong I am working or studying from 5:45 in the morning till 10 at night. Then I write in my journal from 10-10:30. My mom asked me to tell her the schedule of my typical day.. so here it goes.
5:45 work out, shower, flashcard selection, Jesus the Christ
6:30 Prep( shave, brush, make bed, tidy...
up desk)
7:00 Companionship study (1 chapter in Espanol escripturas attempt translation)
7:30 Breakfast (tamale or pancakes, a veces cereal)
7:45 clase Personal study( 15 min of english scriptures, 30 min espanol study plan, 15 min flash card study, 15 min congugate)
8:00 teacher comes and teaches
9:00 teach 1st investigator ( Zach or Raul 30 min) comp study (30 min reveiw of lesson prep for next)
10:00 Teacher led gospel study ( Hno k-po (stud) 60 min
11:00 Personal study (30 min ingles 30 min espanol)
12:00 Lunch (Usually the biggest meal I love their cordon bleu)
12:30 Gym (futobol with latinos, I´m pretty decent, or volleyball, much less decent)
2:30 prep (shower)(usually on the way buy a water at the store because its cold and good water is precious here)
3:00 Clase (teach 2nd and 3rd investigator 30 min and comp study 30 min)
4:00 Teacher (teaches on how to teach)
5:00 teacher led gospel study 60 minutes (hno. (guapo) )
6:00 Dinner
6:45 Tall (Technology assisted language learning)
7:45 back to the class plan for next day
7:15 Language study (language plan30, red books30, flashcards15, role playing15, spanish B.O.M. translate every verse 30 congugate with companion on board(kind of like tutoring)15)
9:30 Head to the casa, and personal study in jesus the christ, pass of flashcards, and read Bible)
10:00 Write in journal or letters
10:30 lights out
This is an average day. Today is p day so from 7:30 to 5:00 we can do whatever. Today however was our districts turn to go to the temple so we got up early to get our laundry done and then snagged some of the amazing bread here and got on a bus. It was amazing, I love the temple and it is such a huge blessing in our lives. Even if it doesn´t de-stress me the way it would if it was in english. Also on Thursdays we do service. We haven´t been getting much mail lately except one kid who´s mom is sending him a package every week using like mydearmissionary.org or something.
One thing about being out here. My first week I was always sooo exhausted, but the lord has picked me up after he humbled me. He is blessing me with energy to accomplish everything and still have energy. Sometimes enough energy to rant spanish in my sleep according to my companion. . I´m so scared and excited to go to the field, one week!!! ahh!! IDK how I´m going to do it, well that's a lie, I´ll do it with God´s help. It´s been cool to see all the kids from school out here, I think there are about 9 of us here now, we see each other quite often. But, oh I´m ready to go do something new, even if I don´t know spanish all that well.
Now to the exciting stuff!! An elder in our room slept walked and talked like crazy like two nights ago. He started just talking so I, being the extremely thoughtful and fast acting missionary I am immediately grabbed a pen and a notebook and started writing everything down. He was speaking english, but it was still hard to understand. He punched the wall next to him. like five times, hard. Basically he was having a dream. He got up, walked to the corner of our room by the door, and just stood there then he started to wander back to his bed, but he ran into my bed in his sleep. It looked like he hit the uncrossable wall, so what does he do? Just lays, down like hard, on my bed while I´m on it, writing all of this down. He bounces up and falls onto the floor at which point he just lays there, then he wakes up and is like "whoa, what.... did you move me here?" Being the charitable person I am I had gotten under my covers and pretended that He had just woken me up and say, "wha...? go to bed" in the voice that totally sells my innocence. He lays in bed his breathing regulates and he gets up again eyes closed, walks out our room and I hear the outside door open. I´m kinda freaking out because we live on the second story of the apartments and I´m afraid he is jumping off the edge. So I start to get up, and then he comes back and just lays down in his bed. The next day he remembers nothing...
Um... Yeah spanish is coming great, all thanks to the Lord, and I´m definately going to learn more languages in the future. One of my latino teachers, had twins and is super funny because of it, always complimenting us on our horrible spanish... We have now "baptized" but not for real, 2 investigators, and are down from four investigators to three.
Thank you all for praying for me, I am so blessed every day. I pray for ya´ll often and think about as much as I pray for you. (like literally, because I don´t have time to be thinking much)
Miss ya´ll,
Love Elder Sean JohnsonSee More
5:45 work out, shower, flashcard selection, Jesus the Christ
6:30 Prep( shave, brush, make bed, tidy...
up desk)
7:00 Companionship study (1 chapter in Espanol escripturas attempt translation)
7:30 Breakfast (tamale or pancakes, a veces cereal)
7:45 clase Personal study( 15 min of english scriptures, 30 min espanol study plan, 15 min flash card study, 15 min congugate)
8:00 teacher comes and teaches
9:00 teach 1st investigator ( Zach or Raul 30 min) comp study (30 min reveiw of lesson prep for next)
10:00 Teacher led gospel study ( Hno k-po (stud) 60 min
11:00 Personal study (30 min ingles 30 min espanol)
12:00 Lunch (Usually the biggest meal I love their cordon bleu)
12:30 Gym (futobol with latinos, I´m pretty decent, or volleyball, much less decent)
2:30 prep (shower)(usually on the way buy a water at the store because its cold and good water is precious here)
3:00 Clase (teach 2nd and 3rd investigator 30 min and comp study 30 min)
4:00 Teacher (teaches on how to teach)
5:00 teacher led gospel study 60 minutes (hno. (guapo) )
6:00 Dinner
6:45 Tall (Technology assisted language learning)
7:45 back to the class plan for next day
7:15 Language study (language plan30, red books30, flashcards15, role playing15, spanish B.O.M. translate every verse 30 congugate with companion on board(kind of like tutoring)15)
9:30 Head to the casa, and personal study in jesus the christ, pass of flashcards, and read Bible)
10:00 Write in journal or letters
10:30 lights out
This is an average day. Today is p day so from 7:30 to 5:00 we can do whatever. Today however was our districts turn to go to the temple so we got up early to get our laundry done and then snagged some of the amazing bread here and got on a bus. It was amazing, I love the temple and it is such a huge blessing in our lives. Even if it doesn´t de-stress me the way it would if it was in english. Also on Thursdays we do service. We haven´t been getting much mail lately except one kid who´s mom is sending him a package every week using like mydearmissionary.org or something.
One thing about being out here. My first week I was always sooo exhausted, but the lord has picked me up after he humbled me. He is blessing me with energy to accomplish everything and still have energy. Sometimes enough energy to rant spanish in my sleep according to my companion. . I´m so scared and excited to go to the field, one week!!! ahh!! IDK how I´m going to do it, well that's a lie, I´ll do it with God´s help. It´s been cool to see all the kids from school out here, I think there are about 9 of us here now, we see each other quite often. But, oh I´m ready to go do something new, even if I don´t know spanish all that well.
Now to the exciting stuff!! An elder in our room slept walked and talked like crazy like two nights ago. He started just talking so I, being the extremely thoughtful and fast acting missionary I am immediately grabbed a pen and a notebook and started writing everything down. He was speaking english, but it was still hard to understand. He punched the wall next to him. like five times, hard. Basically he was having a dream. He got up, walked to the corner of our room by the door, and just stood there then he started to wander back to his bed, but he ran into my bed in his sleep. It looked like he hit the uncrossable wall, so what does he do? Just lays, down like hard, on my bed while I´m on it, writing all of this down. He bounces up and falls onto the floor at which point he just lays there, then he wakes up and is like "whoa, what.... did you move me here?" Being the charitable person I am I had gotten under my covers and pretended that He had just woken me up and say, "wha...? go to bed" in the voice that totally sells my innocence. He lays in bed his breathing regulates and he gets up again eyes closed, walks out our room and I hear the outside door open. I´m kinda freaking out because we live on the second story of the apartments and I´m afraid he is jumping off the edge. So I start to get up, and then he comes back and just lays down in his bed. The next day he remembers nothing...
Um... Yeah spanish is coming great, all thanks to the Lord, and I´m definately going to learn more languages in the future. One of my latino teachers, had twins and is super funny because of it, always complimenting us on our horrible spanish... We have now "baptized" but not for real, 2 investigators, and are down from four investigators to three.
Thank you all for praying for me, I am so blessed every day. I pray for ya´ll often and think about as much as I pray for you. (like literally, because I don´t have time to be thinking much)
Miss ya´ll,
Love Elder Sean JohnsonSee More
Mexico VS USA at the MTC
This week was honestly kinda boring, We are always talking in spanish and it´s really messing with my english. My companion says I´ve been screaming spanish in my sleep and if thats the case it would probably be better for everyone if I could teach in my sleep or just hand over control to my subconcious.
I almost got stitches!!! We were playing soccer and this big.....(tie f...lip) Gordo (tie fixing) kid totally swept me. I landed on my elbow got back up and started playing again. Then we got scored on so the teams switched. I look down at my elbow and like a river of blood is coursing down my arm.
I just wiped it on the grass cause we only get an hour of gym time and it´s just blood. Gym time ends and we go home to shower and prep for the day again, as I´m showering I look at my elbow and notice that when I bend it I can see white stuff.... Yeah pretty cool right? I show my companion and we decide we don´t have a big enough band aid for it so we go to the doctor and he comes to us, looks at us, says something in spanish and comes back, then the spanish mumbler nurse comes in and takes out a needle and stitches... we´re thinking yikes this will be a good story. Then the doctor comes in, says something and the nurse proceeds to clean my wound...I would rather break a bone than have her clean a scratch on my arm gee whiz! I thought only German nurses were famous for brutality! I wonder who would win a competition German or Mexican? It would be close. Anyway, she ended up just putting butterfly strips over it, and then my blood soaked through so an elder in our district fixed me up with some army bandages and those worked like a charm in a x pattern across my elbow.. now its off and healing well... haha And thats the story of the week.
We have three investigators, our spanish is rough but we can get our point across, and two have accepted the challenge to be baptized. I´ve now had 3 interviews with the President.
This one Argentine Investigator is amazing, as a teacher and investigator.}
I have three teachers, one latino, and two gringos who could speak spanish like bosses on there missions. If I can be like Hno by the time I´m 23 I will have been blessed greatly by God.
Umm... what else.... Things are going good, kinda wanting to just get in the field. Don´t get me wrong it´s great here, just ready to start doing things that feel.. idk real.
Oh we also played Soccer last pday it was epic, MEXICO VS USA. We tied and I had 3 goals, and 2 assists. It was a full fledged game 11 on 11 and the final score was 5 to 5 with the Mexicans scoring in the last minutes.... but no one was keeping score.... of course...
The spirit is so strong with the latinos and our other latino roomates just left, I envy them. But I have much to learn. God has been telling me to be more humble and I really am trying.
I know this church is true. It feels true, it sounds true, it makes sense. Stay close to God and everything else works out. Like David Bednar said when answering the question of how to recognize a prompting of the spirit."Don´t worry about it!! Just do the things that you think are good, do your best to be a good boy, and a good girl. And then in hindsight you can recognize those as promptings", or you may never notice and just keep being a good person idk neither of those sound like bad things to me.
We think an apostle has been staying here at the CCM because the fancy dining room in the cafeteria has been used. No one saw anything but we all saw the tray and dirty dishes. You all stay close to God and He will stay close to you.
Love Elder Sean Johnson
P.S Please send me Home addresses for when I´m in honduras. I´m not sure we´ll have computers all the time there. Thanks!!
I almost got stitches!!! We were playing soccer and this big.....(tie f...lip) Gordo (tie fixing) kid totally swept me. I landed on my elbow got back up and started playing again. Then we got scored on so the teams switched. I look down at my elbow and like a river of blood is coursing down my arm.
I just wiped it on the grass cause we only get an hour of gym time and it´s just blood. Gym time ends and we go home to shower and prep for the day again, as I´m showering I look at my elbow and notice that when I bend it I can see white stuff.... Yeah pretty cool right? I show my companion and we decide we don´t have a big enough band aid for it so we go to the doctor and he comes to us, looks at us, says something in spanish and comes back, then the spanish mumbler nurse comes in and takes out a needle and stitches... we´re thinking yikes this will be a good story. Then the doctor comes in, says something and the nurse proceeds to clean my wound...I would rather break a bone than have her clean a scratch on my arm gee whiz! I thought only German nurses were famous for brutality! I wonder who would win a competition German or Mexican? It would be close. Anyway, she ended up just putting butterfly strips over it, and then my blood soaked through so an elder in our district fixed me up with some army bandages and those worked like a charm in a x pattern across my elbow.. now its off and healing well... haha And thats the story of the week.
We have three investigators, our spanish is rough but we can get our point across, and two have accepted the challenge to be baptized. I´ve now had 3 interviews with the President.
This one Argentine Investigator is amazing, as a teacher and investigator.}
I have three teachers, one latino, and two gringos who could speak spanish like bosses on there missions. If I can be like Hno by the time I´m 23 I will have been blessed greatly by God.
Umm... what else.... Things are going good, kinda wanting to just get in the field. Don´t get me wrong it´s great here, just ready to start doing things that feel.. idk real.
Oh we also played Soccer last pday it was epic, MEXICO VS USA. We tied and I had 3 goals, and 2 assists. It was a full fledged game 11 on 11 and the final score was 5 to 5 with the Mexicans scoring in the last minutes.... but no one was keeping score.... of course...
The spirit is so strong with the latinos and our other latino roomates just left, I envy them. But I have much to learn. God has been telling me to be more humble and I really am trying.
I know this church is true. It feels true, it sounds true, it makes sense. Stay close to God and everything else works out. Like David Bednar said when answering the question of how to recognize a prompting of the spirit."Don´t worry about it!! Just do the things that you think are good, do your best to be a good boy, and a good girl. And then in hindsight you can recognize those as promptings", or you may never notice and just keep being a good person idk neither of those sound like bad things to me.
We think an apostle has been staying here at the CCM because the fancy dining room in the cafeteria has been used. No one saw anything but we all saw the tray and dirty dishes. You all stay close to God and He will stay close to you.
Love Elder Sean Johnson
P.S Please send me Home addresses for when I´m in honduras. I´m not sure we´ll have computers all the time there. Thanks!!
Mexico MTC, in the beginning
In our district we have 10 missionaries.
One elder was struggling just like everyone else one morning and he was defeated by sleep. Leaning forward on his plastic desk almost completely enveloping it in his girth. suddenly the desk starts sliding forward and he just keeps his head on it and slides forward, walking, bent over on top of the desk. In this process he almost runs over another elder who was in the national guard and isn´t by any means small. Finally he looks like he just gives up and pushes away the desk just to lay on the floor. When he lays on the floor, he starts doing snow angels, all of this with his eyes closed. People keep saying "ya ok" he keeps just saying "I'm good, I´m good", then he suddenly stops doing snow angels, turns on his side on the floor and just like starts running on the ground, spinning around like a rock star. It was nuts! I had no idea a big guy like him could be so agile!
Then he stops. Our teacher is like"you´re an Elder now you have to act like it" then he helps the big guy up and takes him out to the hall. Later the teacher told us he was like falling asleep while he was being chewed out and walking with him. He comes back to class and keeps falling asleep on his desk. The teacher takes him out 3 more times. Then he sits down and leans back against the wall. Everybody is like "ok this is normal". Suddenly he just stands up and screams, and takes off out of the room, his companion the drill sergeant gets up and follows and we´re all like, "what just happened." They come back and he has his eyes closed and suddenly has a back pack that he insists is his.
This story ends when they go out to teach their investigator, his companion takes him to the bathroom, splashes him in the face saying "wake up wake up, ready to go teach Angel?" and he finally opens his eyes and says "yeah lets go I´m good" and they went to go teach Angel. We learned this part of the story during lunch time in which he remembers none of this. hahaha soo funny.
Another funny story - so we have latino roommates, one companionship who are also getting trained here. They change out every two weeks. They are kinda a part of our training and its super funny because they speak less english than we speak spanish. They wanted pictures before we left and all their friends came so we had like 10 latinos in out tiny apartment yelling "sexy sexy pictures!!!" This is right before everyone goes to bed. One tiny Latino is yelling sexy sexy and then everyone just kind of faded off and he just yelled "sex!!!!" hahahaha all his latino friends like blow up and say " NO NO NO cillete!! no sabe hablando (he doesn´t know what he's saying)" it was super funny
That was last week. This week I´m kinda sick with agrippa (cold) and then my companion got sick and we blessed him yesterday and today he's totally healed! It's soooooo awesome!!! I'm super excited about it! hahaha Well I can´t think of what else to tell you but I miss you all and think about you as little as possible. I pray for and hope you all are doing great. Remember God loves you and knows all your struggles.
Love, Elder Sean Johnson
One elder was struggling just like everyone else one morning and he was defeated by sleep. Leaning forward on his plastic desk almost completely enveloping it in his girth. suddenly the desk starts sliding forward and he just keeps his head on it and slides forward, walking, bent over on top of the desk. In this process he almost runs over another elder who was in the national guard and isn´t by any means small. Finally he looks like he just gives up and pushes away the desk just to lay on the floor. When he lays on the floor, he starts doing snow angels, all of this with his eyes closed. People keep saying "ya ok" he keeps just saying "I'm good, I´m good", then he suddenly stops doing snow angels, turns on his side on the floor and just like starts running on the ground, spinning around like a rock star. It was nuts! I had no idea a big guy like him could be so agile!
Then he stops. Our teacher is like"you´re an Elder now you have to act like it" then he helps the big guy up and takes him out to the hall. Later the teacher told us he was like falling asleep while he was being chewed out and walking with him. He comes back to class and keeps falling asleep on his desk. The teacher takes him out 3 more times. Then he sits down and leans back against the wall. Everybody is like "ok this is normal". Suddenly he just stands up and screams, and takes off out of the room, his companion the drill sergeant gets up and follows and we´re all like, "what just happened." They come back and he has his eyes closed and suddenly has a back pack that he insists is his.
This story ends when they go out to teach their investigator, his companion takes him to the bathroom, splashes him in the face saying "wake up wake up, ready to go teach Angel?" and he finally opens his eyes and says "yeah lets go I´m good" and they went to go teach Angel. We learned this part of the story during lunch time in which he remembers none of this. hahaha soo funny.
Another funny story - so we have latino roommates, one companionship who are also getting trained here. They change out every two weeks. They are kinda a part of our training and its super funny because they speak less english than we speak spanish. They wanted pictures before we left and all their friends came so we had like 10 latinos in out tiny apartment yelling "sexy sexy pictures!!!" This is right before everyone goes to bed. One tiny Latino is yelling sexy sexy and then everyone just kind of faded off and he just yelled "sex!!!!" hahahaha all his latino friends like blow up and say " NO NO NO cillete!! no sabe hablando (he doesn´t know what he's saying)" it was super funny
That was last week. This week I´m kinda sick with agrippa (cold) and then my companion got sick and we blessed him yesterday and today he's totally healed! It's soooooo awesome!!! I'm super excited about it! hahaha Well I can´t think of what else to tell you but I miss you all and think about you as little as possible. I pray for and hope you all are doing great. Remember God loves you and knows all your struggles.
Love, Elder Sean Johnson
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