3 Days of house arrest

Well apparently Thanksgiving already passed... I forgot, bad American sorry guys.

This week was super long why?

1. We have a tiny apartment and we weren't allowed to leave for three days

2. Lots of noise in the night for 3 nights

3. All because of the elections here - everyone is scared to talk to anyone... ugh dang politics!!

But anyways, right now feels like the height of success for me.  We're two weeks into training and now we have 7 people and 3 families with fechas accepted.. how firm they are is the next question... I hope the don't flake out...

 

Um.. other than that we have just been working our butts off and sometimes I feel like I need to be like a better example, but really I'm just doing my best but it's a little hard and scary to try to be responsible for everything including the results. Scariest part.. The phone, I struggle with spanish in person, imagine spanish with static and a funny accent.... oh man, but the best thing to do is just do it. Maybe NIKE was inspired idk.

 

In the three days of our prisonhood we actually had a lot of fun. I learned alot about Dominica and I can now cook like a Dominican and I'm working on the accent. From what I can gather, they're like the Hollywood of Spanish America. Always singing and dancing, I learned a lot of dances and music and one more thing, Domincan people are crazy about pool... soo yes we made a flipping sweet pool table using a box(for the borders) 3 bottles (for the pockets) and an extra sheet that was in the apartment.. and finally a ton of tape.  Then for the sticks we used the broom handle and some golf balls we had from my golf day... Yeah it was sweet and I made cake and we had cake and ice cream like every day... so really maybe the phrase prisonhood is a bit harsh.

Welp I'm excited to get out of the house finally, hope people warm up again and Love you all, Have a good Thanksgiving!  Hasta manana!!!

Elder Sean Johnson

Happy Birthday Angela!

I was admittedly a little sad with the shortness of Sean's email today, and lack of photos. But then Ang checked her email and there were a bunch of silly photos wishing her a Happy Birthday and she got a personal email which made her day. I guess I'll get over it.

A New Companion

welp I looked at a calender and discovered I've been out of the house for 5 months now, where did it go?

I have now had a Son, yes a son.  That means in missionary language I'm training.  Yes, it was very sudden. He is from the Dominican Republic. He's 19, has two younger siblings and his parents, but is the only member of all of them... yeah, he likes to play baseball, and basketball, and is a great kid.

Um.. oh Good new one of our investigators we've been teaching since I got here accepted a date for baptism with his whole family!!!!!!!

Well got to go, we have a new district leader, and basically new district.  I'm the only gringo and still struggling with Spanish... um.. yeah well that's about it!  Peace out!!!!

Love, Elder Johnson

 

Here are some questions I asked him:

 

1. I hear elections are coming up.  What is missionary protocol at that time?  Have you heard much about it? Elections are coming up our protocol is not leaving the house the day before, day of and day after. then we're good. so I'll be writing on Tuesday next week.

 

2. We also heard there is an air force base near you, do you know much about it? Yes there is an air force base that the Americans own and allow the Hondurans to use. All I really know about it is the DFAC is where you eat and they have burgers there.

 

3. What is your favorite thing about the area you are currently serving in? My favorite thing is that we live in comfort in the middle of a city but still visit peublitos and hike in the mountains.  Really this area is just the best in the whole mission for baptisms, beauty and the ward.

 

4. What has been your favorite food? What do you eat the most?  I really like the soap here. I eat a lot of rice and beans and plantanos.

 

I'm a little confused on that last one, I don't know if he spelled something wrong with the soap, misunderstood the question, or really likes to eat soap. 

Sean opening his mission call

So yes, this is a little late in coming.  I originally posted this on Facebook in March, but realized I should probably add it here too!  Plus, it is so great to hear his voice and see his face!

October Family Baptisms

Here is a video Sean's mission president's wife, Sister Fortuna, made.  I love finding things like this!
Mision Honduras Comayaguela 2012-2015: Familias Octubre

Week 12

SO this week was super crazy.  Just to sum it up, I´m with the zone leaders in a trio right now... yeah pretty much is the result of craziness!!! shya

Ok so Tuesday my companion got called as secretary, so they have to be trained a week early so we went to Tegucigalpa where I received a native Honduran for a companion. He was waiting for his visa to go to his mission in Mexico but the thing is, he was trained here and we already knew each other from the mission president's house. So we had 4 days together, then he got taken by the pres to go to Mexico and I am now with the zone leaders...

We found 28 people and 4 families.. in 3 days... yeah both of us were in training still and training each other and we have the highest numbers in the zone.... weak things shall be made strong.. it´s amazing. Sooo ready to rely on the Lord, it was like a test drive of training and now I'm learning from the best,  our ex assistant and the zone leader.. man, God really is looking out for me.  I wish I could have had more time with this elder cause really, he and I made a great team, but the Lord knows better than I.

Hope that you all don´t get mad at me if I don´t write a personal email, I'm really limited over here. Love you all running out of time again! 

umm..... yeah wish we could have focused more on missionary work instead of missionary coordination but all is well...

Stay strong, the Lord WILL help us. Love you all.

Love, Elder Johnson

Visiting Picacho

This week was pretty sweet until Sunday.

 

On Monday we went to a place called Picacho which has a giant Christus at the top of this mountain. We went with the president and it was awesome to get to know that he is a real person not just a person we send numbers to.

 

 

 

um... yeah the rest of the week was spent working, I´ve been feeling sooo tired lately it´s crazy I never thought that I would have to fight my eyelids so hard. Really this week was double hard because we didn´t have money to visit the peublitos so we had to stay in the city with the stiff necked and hardhearted. It´s not that they don´t let us in, it´s that they don´t receive the message we share, but in their minds they didn´t reject the word of God because they let us in the house so they´re good. Still frustrated with my Spanish inadequacies that continue to be pointed out to me. 

 

 

 

I had a trainers meeting this week and was with Elder Livingston. This guy is a missionary, he just finished being an A.P. and then he was my Zone Leader and now he´s going to finish his mission training. One thing that stuck out to me was how happy he was. Like that´s seriously one way to tell an obedient hard working missionary from a disobedient one, how happy they are. So in the end isn´t it easier to be hard working and obedient and LIGHT than disobedient, lazy, and unhappy HEAVY.

Maybe this is applicable to more than just missionaries but I´m not going to think about it right now cause I got a job to focus on.. just keep this letter so I can think about it later. haha.

 

 

 

One of our biggest struggles is getting people to church. Even with a new schedule we lost 30 people who were attending before. They aren´t willing to eat lunch a little later for the Lord.... yeah.. a bit dramatic but I mean literally it´s such a small thing to keep someone from such a grand potential it´s like tripping on a pebble the size of your pinky toe. And we went to church and ended up being fed 5 times!!! Ridiculous I'm getting fat! I gained all the weight back that I lost in Mexico but its all fat.. awkward. 

 

Love you all, I really appreciate the emails and letters of encouragement you guys are great. Remember don´t trip over pebbles, shoot just don´t trip.  

 

Elder Johnson