My Face Tastes Good

Welcome to Boise, y’all!

Yeah so a lot happened since the last email, part 300 billion and six.

Since my mom and sister were already up here in Idaho for my cousin's wedding my mission president gave approval for them to come see me!! Elder Farnsworth and I made them bacon at Maria Luisa's house and kept setting the smoke alarms off. It was seriously the best morning ever.

Three days ago Elder Farnsworth got to his asignación original, Costa Rica.

I got booted to the Boise north area to be with my new companion Elder Burgess and they dissolved the area I was in, meaning all the people we were teaching got split up between three other missionary companionships in Nampa. It's going to be a little crazy for them to figure it all out since the transition happened on such short notice but I've learned that even when wild stuff happens out here, when we're all trying our best to make it work the LORD WILL FREAKING PROVIDE.

Up to this point I've only been in one area for my whole mission, Nampa Idaho. I spent about 6 months there, HALF A YEAR eating dinner and going to church with the same awesome families that whole time. It really felt kinda like I was leaving home again.

One of our last dinners there was spent with the Lopez family and we played a game where we got to scream random fruit names and smack each other with a stick. Then we all hugged each other and cried.

It was pretty awesome

We went to Kuna Caves one last time for my second to last P-day. We crawled suuuper deep into the caverns this time and found some still glowing glowsticks on the ground, which we promptly crushed and flung all over the walls and ceiling after turning off all our flashlights. Guys, it was awesome. It looked like the milky-way was surrounding us. It was the perfect spot to sit down and tell scary stories, Elder Mr Incredible Wilcox started us off with a really good one.

One of my last nights in Nampa I opened our window and crawled out onto the tiny piece of lawn above us to watch the sunset and sip a cold peach drink. As the sun sank down behind the city and the stars replaced the orange layers in the sky I started praying randomly about all the things I was grateful for. I laid on the cool grass and just stared at the sky for a while, feeling the cool breeze and smelling the summer Nampa air – boiled rubber with a hint of beet-factory. I tried to lay still enough to see if I could feel the earth spinning at a thousand miles per hour in space. It blew my mind to think about how little I was compared to everything in outer space. The little tiny piece of the world I knew was so small and insignificant compared to the rest of the worlds out there.

Laying on the ground in the middle of a city in Idaho at night, that was one of the most spiritual experiences of my whole mission so far, maybe even my life. There wasn't anything really special about where I was or what I was doing, I just made that moment special because I gave my thoughts to heaven, connecting with God, laying on my back on that tiny lawn in the middle of Nampa.

There might be a life lesson or something in that...

My very first day in my new area we walked up to a house with this huge dog behind a chain link fence in their yard. I walked over to it because it jumped up on the fence and was looking at me wagging its tail and I was like, "Oh my gawsh this dawg wants to PLAY with me AAAGGHHKKK!" So I walked over and started to offer my hand out to him yanno like you do to let them sniff you and stuff but this guy JUMPED two feet in the air for my head and snapped down so hard I actually heard the air whoosh and crack like one of those cartoon sound effects. Thankfully the Lord enhanced my reflexes in that moment and I jumped back exactly in time to avoid getting my face ripped off. I felt like one of those gazelles on national geographic when they walk up to the one watering hole in the middle of nowhere to get a drink but then the alligator chomps down on their skull and drags them down to their death.

I am so grateful that I read my scriptures that morning so the Holy Spirit could compensate for my stupidity. I am also grateful that my Heavenly Father blessed me with a tasty looking face. My future wife is gonna love that.

I went on a three mile run with my new companion and then totally forgot about the dog experience because that was really the most dangerous thing I've done on my whole mission. Up to now I've never had a companion who was willing to go running with me and suddenly I was trying to keep up with someone who ran cross country and let me tell ya I would not wish that experience on anyone not even the guy who invented artificial banana flavoring. When I got home my face was so red it was almost purple and I was so hot that the ice cold water from the shower didn't even touch me I swear it was just evaporating above my skin for a solid minute at least.

Yup, I'm doing good in this new area guys! God is very much taking care of me, the families I've met in our wards so far have just been incredible I mean the sheer love and generosity of these people still blows me away. It is a simple truth which I am reminded of every day that people trying to live like Christ are genuinely happy and kind.

I love you! Your Heavenly Father loves you! The fact that you were created the way you are and put where you're at to grow and one day live with your family and God in Heaven again is your Heavenly Father's evidence that He loves you. If you want to know how much He loves you, ask him. He wants to tell you. :)

Un fuerte abrazo,

Elder Juanhijo

Get That Alpaca!

 Elder Farnsworth just burned himself on a tack which he lit on fire.

The flame never got close to his finger, it just heated up the metal part which he was holding. He was staring at the flame, entranced, and murmured in a low voice, "Ooh, that's toxic.… MOTHER FREAKER!!!" And then blew the flame out before dropping it on the ground.

These past couple weeks were great.

We sang a song in Spanish and I played the ukulele for a Hondurian lady and her family after devouring a meal we actually helped prepare at her house. (I can make killer homemade tortillas now so hmu future wife just get me some flour and water babe our fam's eating gooood)

I played basketball and four-square with a group of kids and then they challenged me to a footrace around the trailer park which I lost because I rolled my ankle on a stick. Since I lost I had to do 50 pushups. Definitely had way too much fun with that.

We had mission conference! All the missionaries got to come together in person to learn how to be better people and improve our relationships with Jesus Christ -- then, during the social media leader meeting I ate a Jimmy John's sandwich and talked with Elder Tai from Hong Kong about his son who is ALSO into videography and then got a PICTURE WITH HIM. It was a group picture but still, I'm tight with a seventy general authority now.

We went to an alpaca farm and the owner said if we could catch one we'd get to RIDE ON IT. After a hot pursuit and some tactical maneuvers we were able to corner and grab one. One of the elders got on and the alpaca was NOT having it. He was spitting and running around with the missionary hanging on, the elder eventually dismounted nicely and the alpaca ran off quite disgruntled.

On top of the regular shenanigans that come with living in Nampa Idaho, I had more than a few spiritually-growing moments in the Lord's work. A lot of them come while I read the scriptures and contemplate big questions prayerfully but those are kind of boring to talk about so I'll tell ya about my experience with the old dude we visited last week.

So I was practicing a song one day to play for some new people we'd be meeting with that night. I felt like we needed to sing "Love at home" with them after talking about how the gospel can bless families. Right before that appointment though, we had dinner with this older couple who I'll call brother and sister Jones. When we got to their house I had a quiet thought like I should bring the ukulele into their house. I hadn't been planning on playing anything for them as I figured we'd just eat and run for the lesson we had, but I listened to the idea and brought the instrument anyway. I leaned it up against the wall while we talked with the couple.

Brother Jones was in his 90s. Sister Jones was a little bit younger than him. Brother Jones was in incredible shape physically, especially for his age. He didn't use a walker or anything, he just moved slowly and carefully around the house. His memory was super foggy though, he struggled to recall how many kids he had or what he used to do before he retired. Only 15 minutes into our visit sister Jones had to leave for a family history meeting so we finished eating with brother Jones, trying to converse with him as best we could. Their house though, it was so cool. They had all these pictures on the walls of different places and people, books and artifacts with different languages written on them. It wasn't cluttered either, they had everything neatly arrayed on shelves and organized by location with a map above them.

So we started walking around his home, and I would ask him about certain pictures which he'd look at, jog his memory for a moment, and then start talking a little bit about each photo. He pointed out his mom playing the piano, and the island family he lived with on a mission trip. He showed us some model ships among other things and then we walked outside to his backyard.

It was so quiet and peaceful there. He had a neat little garden with some trees that he planted when he first moved there 30 years ago. We walked slowly, in silence. At the end of his yard there was a large canal. We paused for a moment there, and he talked about one time when he fell in and his neighbors had to come out and save him.

I had an experience unlike any other then, out of nowhere. I felt the most powerful spirit with this man. I sensed that even while his body and mind were growing weaker his spirit was getting stronger. He was closer to heaven than he'd ever been and I don't know how to explain the sensation any other way but I could just feel his ancestors crowding around him, waiting to welcome him home.

I seriously thought about myself in his place then, nearer to the end of my life. What will that be like for me? What will there be to remember, if I can hang onto my memories at all? Who will be waiting for me when I die?

We walked back into his house, thanked brother Jones for sharing his home with us and then said a prayer with him. I picked up my ukulele and we started to walk out, but then he asked "What's that?"

I paused and said a bit bluntly, "This is a ukulele."

He smiled and looked down, "Oh, yeah I figured that's what it was." 

Then we shook hands, said goodbye and I felt a pang in my heart. What am I DOING?! Rushing out on him? No, I needed to play a song. I think.

So I awkwardly cut back before we walked all the way out the door "Would you like me to play you a song?" His face lit up immediately and I felt the spirit confirm this was the right thing to do before brother Jones even got to say, "Oh yes, please! I would very much enjoy that."

So I unzipped the case and got out the uke, brother Jones sat down in his chair across from me and I began playing and singing "Love at Home" for him. I stared intently at the music while I sang, focusing on the chords and my voice and the words -- it took 300% of my concentration let me tell ya. But when I got to the chorus I knew it well enough to glance up at brother Jones and when I did my voice caught for a second because there was a totally different person sitting across from me.

He was sitting up straight, with tear-filled eyes that were somehow crystal clear for the first time all that evening with him. He sang the last line with me quietly, "...when there's love at home…" He broke into a smile that lit up the whole room and in that moment I felt such incredible love for this man. I mean, it was overwhelming. My heart blazed in my chest and I had to start thinking about my breathing so I wouldn't hyperventilate, it was unreal.

He said to me, "That song takes me back…" Then he launched into a whole story about growing up in Arizona and he was giving all these details like the kind of boots you had to have to keep rattlesnakes from biting you and all kinds of stuff. His mind was refreshed suddenly with a kind of energy and clarity that definitely wasn't there before. He appeared 30 years younger I swear, and it was awesome.

Later, those people I had originally practiced the song for asked so many questions and our discussion ran so late that we really did have to book it out of there before we could play them anything. I was practicing that song, turns out, just for brother Jones.

The Spirit is awesome. Listen to him, do what he says and you'll never regret it.

God is real, miracles really do happen every day to people all over the world and they can happen to you too!! Jesus Christ's invitation to his disciples was never just to believe in him. It was ultimately to "come, follow me". Come, see His miracles for yourself. Don't quit before you even get to the best part of His gospel.

I know that Christ lives! He is actively engaged in bringing people to a sure knowledge of Him. We need to have the Holy Spirit in our lives. Christ does not ask nor expect us to survive spiritually without the direct influence of his Spirit. It's always been a bit confusing for me to understand what exactly that means to follow promptings from the Spirit, and I might not ever know how to do that perfectly, but one thing I've learned through practice is that more often than not we have to act on the good thought or feeling before we can know for sure if it was really sent to us from Heaven.

Love,

Elder Johnson

1. Me and my best friend Elder Gong (you'll notice I'm the closest one to them)

2. A beautiful sunset caught while my companion and I were actually very much lost on the wrong desert road coming home from a young mens activity. 

3. Gangster.

4. This is a mega inside joke but my comp says cinco ALL THE TIME. Whenever he doesn't know what's going on in a spanish conversation his go-to answer is "cinco". He also uses it as an expression. "CINCO!!" either means he's excited. Or hungry. He also says cinco instead of saying "sí", like a stronger version of sí. "Ciiiiiiinco amigo." Everyone razzes him for it, which only makes him use it even more.

5. Elder Mr Incredible

6. Representing the Jeff City Jaybirds on a rock

7. The district on our hike

8. This random dog jumped onto my lap while we were talking to some people we just met. The owners were shocked and said he's never done that with anyone. He must've sensed that I was a representative of Christ or something. Or it could be I'm just so hairy and dumb that he mistook me for one of his own.