Russ email 6/21/2010

Russell's companion and pictures of his new apartment. He is in Merida.

Hola!!!

Hows it going up there in dry old Utah? Its going great here. This week was PONENTE!!!!!!!

So to start off the week on Wednesday when we walked into our apartment some huge bird thing flew and smacked me in the face, turned out it was a giant moth!!!!!!!! It scared the crap out of me but it was hilarious!!! I've still been sitting in the office all week waiting for Elder Reyes to get all the work done that he needed to do, but yesterday he finished and now we are in our new apartment. We spent all morning deep cleaning it. It kinda sucks cause we have no power or water yet so last night was freaking hot. I didn't sleep much so now I'm way tired, but there are tons of giecos everywhere in there so its pretty awesome. The area we are in is call Quetzacoalt. We are the ones reopening the area so we start at all 0s. I'm pretty excited, it should be a good expirience having to work hard for investigators.

Last night I learned that Elder Reyes is leaving next week to be a zone leader in Ticul, so I'm going to have a 3rd trainer!!!! I feel so unwanted... haha not really, but hey, who can say that they had 3 dads? haha.

On Saturday when we went to the church to fill up the font it was already full, full of 3 week old water that had algea growing in it. So we had to empty it and refil it, which took over an hour. Then at another baptism we overflowed the font cause we forgot the water was still on. It flooded the halls and everything, It was hilarious!

So that was my week. Hope all you are doing well. Go MEXICO in the World Cup lol
Love you all!

Love Elder Johnson

Russ email 6/8/2010

Well another week is done and we're still trapped in this wonderful prison. I do like it here, but I cant wait to get to Mexico and out of Provo. We are getting put back in with our old zone tomorrow. They can't decide what they want to do with us.

Nothing much has happened this week. We've just been teaching and having class. I'm pretty excited for tonight cause Elder Robert D Hales is coming to give the devotional. I found out through my sources (fyi Elder Fotu).

I hope all is well with you all and hopefully next time I email I will be in Mexico.

Love Elder Johnson #2

Update:

Elder Johnson #2 flew out this morning, Friday, June 11th. He is on his way to Mexico and very excited to be doing so!!

Russ email and pictures 6/1/10

Russ and a friend from school. Both are in the MTC.
Tripanionship. The three left behind waiting for the visas.

Russ and Jessie at the Temple on a Sunday afternoon. Both were in the MTC.

Hola! Como estan? estoy muy bien. No recibemos nuestras visa's.

That's Spanish for hi, how are you all? I am very good. We haven't recieved our visas, just incase you were wondering haha.
This week has been pretty good. Yesterday we went and volunteered in the trc for 3 hours being investigators, it was pretty fun.

The new Elders in our district are pretty funny, one is a HUGE 380 pound Tongan, he's pretty funny. The other two are elder Toone and Furlong, they are both scrawny white boys lol. We still haven't heard anything about our visas yet, we're just sitting here waiting, wishing. But all is well. Hope all is well with all of you.

Peace, love and happiness!
Elder Johnson #2

Russ email 5/28/2010

Well as you all know I am still here in the MTC just chillin waiting for my VISA to come. We still haven't heard anything about them so we are in the dark. We are getting switched into a new zone tommorow, so we will have a completely different schedule. They were going to make us move residence halls, but not anymore, we get to stay where we are thank goodness! The new district that we will be in has 3 other elders that are going to Mexico that have been delayed for 3 more weeks than us. They are really funny, I know we'll enjoy each others company.

Nothing much has happen this week. D. Todd Christofferson came and gave the devotional on Tuesday. It was the 3rd General Authority that I have heard talk here. It's been awesome!

Well, I'll keep you all as updated as I can on the visa situation.

Love, Elder Johnson #2

Russ email 5/21/2010

So, this past week has been very interesting. All that we have been doing all day everyday is teaching lessons. We currently have 7 progressing investigators(teachers) and teach about 9 lessons a day. We have only been having about an hour of class everyday, so not very much.

Me, Elder Despain, and Elder Wynn are in a tripanionship now. We are the only ones in our district left so our class room is rather empty. I like it cause its a lot more quite now and less distracting, I get a whole lot more done.

The Spanish is still coming along great. I don't really have any problems when teaching any of the lessons in Spanish, so I think I'm doing pretty good so far, but I'll probably get to Mexico and not know anything cause they talk so fast.

We still haven't heard a single thing about our visa's, so we're just chillin here, it's a waiting game.

I hope all is well with you all and love you all!

love Elder Johnson #2

Russ email 5/14/2010

Hey everyone.

As you all know I have been delayed in my journey to getting to Mexico, so I wont be flying out on Monday and I have no clue when. I guess its just more time to become even more amazing in Spanish...haha :).

This week was pretty good. I finished the Book of Mormon last week, I think I forgot to say that last week. I got so much out of it reading it with the intent of learning from reading it. I haven't decided if I'm going to read Jesus the Christ next or read the Book of Mormon in Spanish, we'll see tho.

Nothing else too exciting happened this week, oh, except for the devotional Elder Jeffrey R. Holland gave (When we spoke to Russ on the phone on Thursday he mentioned that the talk was about continuing on with living the gospel and staying strong after the mission). It was the most amazing talk I have ever heard! I felt the spirit stronger during that meeting than probably ever before. It kinda makes me sad to think that I'll probably never hear another talk like that again seeing as it was in the MTC.

Well, I hope all is going well with you all. I'll try and keep you updated on my travel plans.

Love,

Elder Johnson #2

Russ email 4/30/2010

Hola,

Well, we're down to only 2 and a half weeks left, supposedly. That's if my visa comes. Me and Elder Wynn are the only ones that don't have our visas yet. Kinda a bummer, but everything happens for a reason. Non the less, I sure hope they come soon! This week in the TRC Elder Trumbo and I taught yet another native Spanish speaker and we nailed it! We wouldn't have done near as good if we hadn't prayed as much as we had. It truly is amazing what the Lord can do for you if you just ask and have enough faith.

Last Tuesday we had the privilege of having Elder L. Tom Perry come and speak to us for the fireside. It was the most awesome experience ever! The spirit was so strong, it was a truly unique experience.

All is going well with me. I've had a sore throat all week, but nothing 6 bags of cough drops can't fix. I've gone through one a day, probably because they taste so good!

My new teacher, Hermana Bingham, her dad is a member of the 70. His name is Elder Nash. He is currently the area authority for Northern South America. I thought that was pretty awesome. Oh, and her husband served in Merida!!!! She tells us stories and such about it. I cant wait to get there!!!!

Well everyone, I must say adios until next week. Hopefully I'll have my visa by then.
hasta luego!!

Elder Johnson #2

Russ email 4/23/2010

Hey ya'll!!! Beautiful weather we're having...not really. We got stranded inside for gym the past couple days. Not fun, but it was a good chance to catch up on sleep. I have been doing absolutely great, except now I have a sore throat, but nothing cough drops can't fix. Because of my sore throat my voice has been cracking like a 14 year old the whole time, its pretty funny.

This week we taught a native couple from Peru in the TRC. They didn't speak a word of English! It was amazing! Although they were talking really fast and at the same time I could understand basically everything that they were saying. This last Wednesday was Hermana Bott's last day teaching us because she graduated and can't work here now. We told her that we were going to make the new teacher cry so that she would leave and then Hermana Bott could come back. We aren't really going to though. haha.

So funny story, the other night when we were all alseep I slept walked out of the room and woke up the other Elders. They said I came back in 10 minutes later(they have no clue what I did) and kept asking what time it was. After they told me the time a million times I said very sassily, "you guys need to go to bed!!" then layed down on the floor and went to sleep. I laughed pretty hard the next morning when they told me.

So I don't exactly know anything about my visa. All I know is that we are suppose to leave May 10, but every other missionary going to Mexico has been delayed at least a week. So I'm not planning on leaving until the 17, but you never know.
Well, hope all is well with you all!!

-Elder Johnson #2

Russ email 4/16/2010

Hey everyone!

Yes, I am still alive. I went to the physical therapist on Tuesday...I think, and I am going again today later on. My migraine has however gone away quite a bit. Yesterday I got the prescriptions that the doctor prescribed me. Little did I know one of them was a muscle relaxant, so I took 2 as it said to right after lunch. I couldn't stay awake in class to save me life. Hermano Dubois kept waking me up, but two seconds later I'd fall right back to sleep haha. I even fell asleep while Elder Trumbo and I were teaching the 1st lesson in Spanish. The Elders that we were teaching kept busting up laughing because I would flinch in my sleep. I'll be sure to only take those ones at night now.

Everything is going great, I feel like I'm not progressing as much as everyone else in Spanish so this week I'm devoting all my free time to memorizing vocabulary in espanol. I have officially gained 9 pounds while being here! But the food is starting to get old and gross here so I think I'm going to stop gaining weight because all I eat is salad these days.

Last Tuesday Glenn L Pace gave the devotional and he talked about the spirit world. The ironic thing is earlier that day Elders Haws, Wynn, Trumbo, and myself were having a discussion about the spirit world. In his talk he literally answered every question that we had. The spirit was so strong there it was amazing! The topics that he talked about were so deep that he asked that they didn't record his talk because of the sacredness of it. It was a real testimony builder for me.

Well hope all is well with y'all
sincerely, Elder Johnson (#2)

Russell's Email-- 02 April 2010

Well the second week is done with and I'm still loving it here.

This week they showed us how to use the referral center and Elder Trumbo and I have been in there calling people during every second of our free time. I love calling people and testifying to them, it's even better when they let me send the missionaries to them. I have been yelled at many times, and every time it happens I get even more excited to make the next call. I think we're the only ones that are way enthusiastic about it.

Today at the temple was GREAT! Elder Trumbo and I did sealings instead of a session. It was way awesome! My first time doing that. While I was sitting there during the sealings, it suddenly dawned on me-- we have been struggling with teaching our second lesson perfectly all week, and the part that we've been leaving out is the importance of families in the plan of salvation. All the sudden it all made sense, it was like the Spirit was telling me what we've been leaving out and what we need to do. It was a truly unique experience.

The language is coming along great! I'm in the top 3 of my class for knowing the most Spanish. This week we're working on teaching the whole first lesson is Spanish. I'm super psyched! Hopefully we'll do good. Well, hope all is going well with all of you and have a Happy Easter.

Sincerely,

Elder Johnson

Russ email 3/26/2010

So I've been a week here, and I'm still loving every moment of it! The food is still great and the strength of the Spirit is still burning in my heart. Today we got to go to the Temple and do a session. It was very awesome!! I love it there so much! The language is still coming along great, we are getting ready to teach the first lesson in Spanish this week, wish me luck!! Me and Elder Trumbo are getting along great, it helps that he understands me psychotic humor and has a good sense of humor himself. I've been struggling with the lights out by 10:30 rule lately, I just can't seem to be able to write everything in my journal that I want to say in the hour that they give us before bed, but I'm working on it.

I am known as the master of four square during gym time. EVERYONE fears me!, but not really. but the NFA (National foursquare Association) has been scouting me and want me to come play professionally after the mission. I told them I'd think about it,,, ha ha just kidding, but I am pretty amazing at it. Well hope all is well with all of you!

Love, Elder Johnson

First Email From Russell-- 20 March 2010

hola everyone,
the first fours days of the mtc have been great. great food, great spirit, great food, and more great food. i eat way too much every single meal, yet haven't gained any weight. my companions name is elder trumbo, he's from st. george, utah and is a freakin awesome guy...oh i mean elder ;). i'm still getting use to calling everyone elder and not having my hands in my pockets. the language is coming along great. i can already pray and bear my testimony is spanish along with greet and meet some one.
just in these four short days here i have gone through such a change. i have never felt the spirit so strong or felt so close to christ. each day during class i get the burning feeling in my chest that i know this church is true. i have set a personal goal to read the entire book of mormon while in the mtc. reading it is like candy for me now. i can't get enough of it. we havent had much study time cause the first week is crazy busy so i'm only on chapter 20 of 1 nephi. i look forward to reading it all day.
sorry i didn't have time to put up pictures this week, but i promise next week i will have some for you guys.
love you all,
elder russell johnson
(p.s. the keyboard was broken so i could use shift, thats why there are no capitals.)