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| Elder Johnson answering his mothers questions:
1. Yes, I am getting transferred, I was completely shocked.
2. The families here are doing good.
3. Actually, we are in Spring and Summer is just around the corner.
4. I have switched from chocolate milk to skim and I drink a liter every day.
5. I eat 3-5 bananas everyday and a tamale or two.
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| "This week I am going to be ponderizing Matthew 28:18-20. I usually like studying the scriptures more in English but I actually like this scripture better in Spanish for two reasons. First, in Spanish, it doesn't just say "teach all nations, it says, "make all nations disciples. Second, at the end it says, " He will be with us every day until the end of the world." Elder Johnson |
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| Instead of training dolls, we have a photo of real newborns that have been resuscitated. It has only been 2 months since we visited a Neonatal Resuscitation and Newborn Care Training in Nazaret sponsored by LDS Charities and Ethiopian Pediatric Societies. We learned today that 84 newborn babies have been resuscitated since the workshops, including these triplets. We were so thrilled with the results that we asked for this photo. The people who attended just 2 months ago have taught university classes and held more trainings and as a result, over 500 people have been trained to save newborn lives and they will serve many areas of Ethiopia. |
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| New Year's was September 12th and here we are celebrating with our neighbors. It is now 2008 in Ethiopia and 7:00 am is 1:00 here, but we just go by our calendar and time. |
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| Playing outside on the grass after Primary. |
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"The highlight of the week without a doubt was conference. definitely going to be thinking of and setting lifelong goals about sabbath day observance, scripture study, and personal revelation. Also, I was super excited about the 3 new apostles. I am glad to sustain them and I really know that they were called by revelation." "I Love you guys!!!" Elder Johnson |
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| Preparation Day |
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| Andrew got to sing in the Primary Choir |
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| "This is a super awesome family that has been going to church for about 2 months now. The 9 year old memorized the sacrament prayers. |
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| "This family was referred by their neighbor but when we knocked on their door, they told us that they had been praying to find a church that could unite their family. Well, I guess they found it. They are all super awesome and they have a goal to go to the temple and be sealed." |
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| Matt has always enjoyed cleaning the beach. |
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| "Saturday was International Day of Cleaning the Beach. We went to the beach right by my first area and I was able to see the bishop from my first ward, it was just great. We also found interesting things half buried in the sand(bottles, birds, blankets, shoes, tires, pigs)." "This week we worked really hard but we were having a hard time finding people. On Sunday at 6:00pm we had only found one crazy guy who recently got out of prison. But I felt like I needed to call a contact we had had about a month ago that we could never find. When I called, they told us to come by and when we got close, they were waiting in the street for us. We went inside and found that there are 11 people in their family. I know that the Lord guides the work and our lives and if we trust Him and have patience, we will get to where we need to go." Elder Johnson |
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| "On Tuesday, I got a new companion from Piura in Northern Peru. He is super cool." |
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| "On Wednesday, all the zone leaders had a super awesome meeting with President Archibald. We talked and learned about prayer and personal revelation. Right now we are teaching some really awesome families." 'Sometimes it surprises me to see the changes that people make in their lives when they learn about the gospel. It is always a super powerful testimony to me that the gospel is true and that it doesn't matter who we are. If we accept it in our lives, our lives will change, and they will be better." Love you guys tons, Elder Johnson |
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| The drive to Hawassa is always beautiful. This boy was herding his cattle and this little girl saw me taking photos of these sheep with interesting colors. She went and got her lamb so I could take a photo of it. She was so sweet. |
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| This is Elder Johnson's last week with this companion. They bought 24 hot dogs and 2 kilos of avocados for a hot dog roast. They had a great week and taught an awesome lesson with a couple that is being baptized at the end of the month. They taught about temples and eternal families. This work isn't just to baptize, but it is to baptize and have families be sealed together in the temple for eternity. "I love you tons and I hope you have a good week!" Elder Johnson |
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| We had a great leadership training with members from all over Ethiopia coming to the Megenagna Chapel and Priesthood Leaders coming from all over the world to teach. In the women's meeting, we talked about our divine potential and of the attributes of Jesus Christ. If you look closely, the Amharic words are underneath and women defined them and chose one to try to improve on in their lives. |
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| We knew there wouldn't be enough candles for elder Elder Johnson's birthday so we didn't even try.  mission president and his wife. |
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  spring is coming. This week was super fantastic. We had a meeting with Elder Bednar and it was just the best. I can really say that, that man is an apostle of the Lord and also one of the best teachers I have ever met. Here in our area, things are great. We are teaching families that are progressing well and are going to be baptized this month." |
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| We are settling in to our new house. As you can see we have all the comforts of home with little bits of Africa and Utah mixed together. Most of the time we have electricity too. We miss family and friends but are so grateful for the opportunity to share the restored Gospel of Jesus Christ. There are so many good people here in Ethiopia. We love the missionaries, the members and the people we meet. |
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| "One day we were walking and a guy came out of his house. He started spewing out every anti Mormon thing I have ever heard. Apparently, he had been looking up the church on the internet the night before" (If he wanted to know, he should have gone to mormon.org ) "After telling him that the things he read weren't true, for example, "Mormons hate black people", "My parents live in Africa and love black people." He let us in to teach him about the restoration and he actually liked it. It was a super awesome lesson and I felt the spirit so much. We had a really good week and I just love being a missionary!!" |
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| "I did a work visit with an elder and learned that it's not a good idea to leave your dirty plates out for more than a month." Elder Johnson |
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| It's transfer week and we are moving 10 minutes away but we are still companions. We love serving with the youngElders and the members in the branches here. We love the good people throughout Ethiopia. Here is a slide Dale made about a conference we attended. |
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| 'Our conversion is a lifelong process as we strive to become like our Heavenly Father.' |
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| Elder Johnson was able to attend this family's sealing in the Temple last week. 'This week, we had to teach a zone meeting and I always love preparing to teach because that is when I really feel like I learn the most, when I'm teaching. I know this is the Lords work and He isn't going to fail. Because I am on His team, it means I can't fail either. I love the Gospel and I know that sometimes we feel like we are failing or the world is beating us but all we have to do is remember whose team we are on and that He will never lose." Elder Johnson |
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| Training Dolls We attended part of a Neonatal Resuscitation and Newborn Care Training given to nurses, midwives, doctors, and professors. LDS Charities works with Ethiopian Pediatric Societies to teach people to save newborn babies and then train others to do the same. They teach ways to help babies breathe, stay warm, get nourishment, and teach kangaroo care to the mothers. Many newborns have been saved. |
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| "I had transfers and am in a place called Los Olivos (still in Lima).I am with a companion from Peru named Elder Quezada. My area is super awesome and so is my comp. Something fantastic that happened this week is that I went to a sealing in the temple of a family that I was working with. It was the first one that I have been to and it was awesome!!! I love the temple! "I also ate guinea pig so that was also pretty tasty. I love you all!" Elder Johnson |
