New Companion- from Utah

Wednesday, September 07, 2011

GO ORANGE GO BIG BLUE!

Sounds like it has been an awesome opening weekend of football! BYU got it done too! Awesome!! I liked the all white jerseys, way cool!!! Sounds like Kellen tore it up too. hopefully there are plenty more great things to come this football season!

Well, I have a new companion now, Elder Marijanto moved to Bogor today. My new companion is from Highland, Utah his name is Elder Kujanpaa. WE will probably be comps for about 6 weeks and then the next group of Indonesian elders will be ready to be trained so he will probably be a trainer and I will be with the Indonesian elder that came to Manado with me. He seems like a pretty cool guy. He is super tall, which will get a ton of laughs from the people here.

This week has been pretty good, a little confusing at times. Unfortunately Ferry doesnt want to talk with us anymore, it is really a bummer. Plus we always seem to lose investigators out of nowhere and dont know why, most likely because they've talked to their friends from church about this church and were told not to meet with us again. It is a bummer.

Novita is doing really well. She is still set on getting baptized in November and is starting to find the courage to talk with her mom about how she feels about this Church and stuff. It really is a matter of having faith and praying and knowing that Heavenly Father will prepare her way to follow his commandments. From Nephi 3:7 we know He always does!

Please keep sending me lots of info about football and stuff, it doesnt make me trunky, but if you stopped it probably make it worse! haha
I think it was Dad that asked if I have gotten any mail from friends- the answer is not yet. But it's not that big of a deal. Oh and what if you sent like 60 -70 dollars for the camera?

Sorry I havent talked much about what the city is like and stuff! I see the ocean everyday! The church is right next to it! It is pretty awesome. Sunsets are pretty amazing here because of it. Manado is pretty much a busy busy city, but my area is the northern part which is more neighborhoods and stuff. The living conditions are pretty rough in those areas, but I am pretty much used to it. The people are really funny, and for the most part almost always happy. I love this place for sure, except for days like monday where we get fed WAY too much and I feel sick all the next day because of it. But usually after a day or so I feel fine. I have definitely lost some weight here but I am not sure how much, there's no scale at our house. Maybe 10-15 punds? Hayden sounds like he is a skinny kid now! How funny!

The branch here is really small, and the branch president has been in the same calling for over 20 years. A very very long time. He is a really great guy, but at times it easy to see he is burnt out with being branch president. He has done a lot for the Church here though, and endured a lot of criticism from the newspapers and people here.

Well, sorry I dont have a whole lot to say! I always forget what to say in my emails! I know the Church is true and I know this is the Lord's work. I am learning more and more to just love these people and the importance of being myself right off the bat so they feel comfortable too. I have had a tough time with that, but hopefully it will get better with time! I really love this experience and that I could be a part in the most important work on the Earth.

I love you all! I hope you know it!
You are always in my prayers!
Elder Johnson