Christmas eve

Hello and merry merry christmas to you all!! I hope all of you have thoroughly enjoyed you week and I hope that Jack frost hasn't bitten off any of y'alls ears or toes.

I am always enchanted by this time of the year. But this christmas is way different...its around 90 degrees outside, lots of sun, and people selling bananas on the side of the street still strikes to my cheyenne wyoming side of my personality as summer. It's one of the most confusing things I've faced here as a missionary in Madagascar. But on the flip side there are a lot of things here that the christmas in the US and the christmas here have in common. The people are so amazingly courteous, they never go one instant without saying hello to us, even if it's in french. I was walking back to my apartment today and it absolutely tore my heart to shreds and shards when I saw a little malagasy boy with dirt riddling his hair and rips ravage his clothes with his arms extended and his hands cupped, asking me if I had anything to give. It reminded of one of the saviors teachings to his disciples in the new teastment, "Suffer the little children, and forbid them not, for such is the kingdom of heaven". I wish with all the remorse and earnesty of my humble heart that I could've given all that I had to him, even the clothes covering my back. But, if I had given to him then other people would've selfishly assumed that the money was free game, so I was constrained to hold it in. How easily the natural man turns unstable in all his ways, and how foolishly he deals with his fellow men when they bargain for their salvation with the world as dogs to their vomit. I know that Jesus christ never would forsake any of his fellow beings. If he did, his sacrifice for our abominations would be invalid and gods plan of redemption would become corrupt. Every day I pray and pour out my soul's  inexpressible gratitude for his infinite patience and undaunted perseverance. He is forever my hero and he will forever be my king.

Here's what has transpired this past week in Mahamasina 2, Antananarivo, Madagascar:

Tuesday:Tuesday was a frenzy. We were everywhere that day and it was kind of a big mess. I don't really remember all of it other than we did a lot of walking and we only taught a little bit that day...We did not get the chance to write in our planners for that day because we were far too busy for planning, so for those of you who are preparing to go on missions, PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE remember to plan every morning RELIGIOUSLY for at least 10 to 20 minutes. It will save you a lot of time and energy.

Wednesday: We taught francois again that day and it didn't rain again on this wednesday...There was hardly any rain this week and the sun gave me a few tender spots on my neck. We talked with her about her interest with us and her commitment to getting a baptimsal date. She said she was still thinking about getting a date and that she would get back to us about it. I was a little bit sad because when investigators do this, it generally means that they don't really care and they eventually drop us. But, you'll never know until they actually give you an answer so I'm going to wait for her response. It's a emotional roller coaster anticipating their desicions.

Thursday: This was a really fun day! We started it off with district council and we played scriptures jeopardy. My team won but that really was because elder Leishman was on my team and He is a scripture genius...Me, not so much. XD  After that we went and ate out...again. The fast food here is getting tastless and bland. I wish I had a say in what we eat, but elder keener really doesn't like taking suggestions because he is really tired a lot and I don't blame him for not wanting to take suggestions. We went and stopped by a members house, Soeur Flourina. She was just talking to us about her voting decision for a new president here in madagascar. She said that she voted for Andry and someone (A member actually) cussed her out and was really mean to her. I felt super bad for her and I wanted to comfort her but elder keener really just wanted to get along with the lesson so we did that instead and that made me mad. I really detest of some of the things that he does, and it's not because I view him as mean or selfish. I just don't like it because I'm not used to the way he does things. I pray every day that I can be more christlike and accept him for who he is. I know I am by no means a perfect person, and that we are all beggars from the same god, so that just tells me that I have no room to complain and just move forward with my mission. We walked all the way to paraky that day (Paraky is malagasy for tobacco) and paraky is around 2 miles away from where we live so it was pretty far. We had dinner with a nice member, Soeur Saondra. She served us some cold macaroni with potatoes and some smoothies. It was really good. The members here are super supportive of missionary work and I just love it so much. I hope it can always stay that way here in madagascar.

Friday:On this day we got the zone leaders to come with me, elder keener, elder latola, and elder allen to a service project that lasted for around 3 hours. We had to rebuild a brick wall that had been knocked over by a passing monsoon. It reminded me of the cyclone now incoming for madagascar in about a month, and how that will be one of many walls tumbled down, which is kind of a sad thought. The way they make cement is really cool. They get a bucket of water and mix some dirt with the water until the dirt is pasty and becomes mud. Then they slather the mud on top of the remaining bricks and place more bricks on top. It actually works really well and if a monsoon ever crosses through wyoming I will definitely use that technique. I helped destroy the broken bricks and while I was doing that some malagasy kids came and asked me to play some games with them, so I played hide and seek with them, I had them race, I played a local game called vaky vaky ny koko (break the coconut). After that we went to the bishops house for review of our weekly planning and we ate at his house.

Saturday: We had around 10 baptisms in our ward and the manakambahiny ward and elder keener and latola got to baptise while Elder allen and I watched. I wanted to baptise some of those little kids, but I knew in the lords due time I would get the chance. We had to help set up chairs and put them away, and I decided to go to the little party after some little kids baptism. I noted a piano sitting lonely in the corner of the room with the cover off and the power on. This was my cue. I walked over to the piano and played the spirit of god without music for the first time in my life. This was also the first time I played the piano in madagascar. Everyone loved it. I was flooded with people on either side of me as I left and I felt the reception of the holy ghost confirming to me that I had righteously utilized a precious gift graciously given to me from god.

Sunday: On this day we had only one hour church and we had an investigator come to church for the first time and he loved it! My breath was literally taken away from me when I saw lalina approaching me and elder keener. We had a couple youth talks on the temple and christmas and the bishop talked about the greatest gift of christmas. He did a fantastic job and by this point I pretty much understood all of his words. After church we had the baptism of the girl Lalina. It was a very nice experience. We got to go to different people's houses that day and we ate a TON TON TON of rice. My stomach was going to burst if i ate another morsel of rice.

I just want to note something that has been on my mind a lot. The miracle of christmas and Jesus Christ. In the premortal life, jesus offered his life on earth as a sacrifice for the remission of our sins and wrongdoings. Satan wanted us to be enslaved by his diabolical yoke of bondage and swipe the glory for himself. He was thrust out of heaven and became satan. Jesus Christ had taken upon himself the most crucial part of the plan of salvation: The role of a savior. He was born in the city of David in a manger. He lived his life and did his very best in all things. He was baptised to fufill all righteousness. He was persecuted. He was befriended. He taught the beatitudes. He was betrayed. He bled great drops of blood from every last pore in the garden of gethsemane. He was scourged, tried before. He was smitten. Spit upon. Mocked. Tortured. He carried a wooden cross to golgatha, or the place of the skull. There, he was nailed painfully and excrutiatingly to the cross. He was raised up. He said to his mother standing in the croud amidst his suffering, "Woman, behold thy son!" He plead with the father to forgive those that had despicably hurt him, to bless those who had cursed him. He cried "Eloi, eloi, lama sabacthani?" "My god, my god, why hast thou forsaken me?" He finished his mortal ministry and sealed the title of christ he was entrusted to from the beginning with the words "It is finished."

I humbly Implore you all, to please consider this amazing story of incomprehensible love. It couldn't have just happen by mistake. It was not a spontaneous event triggered by the fantasized explosive inflation of the universe. It was not programmed by the so-called users who speculatively launched the universe as a simulation on a computer. It was not a package sent to us expedited on amazon prime from an unknown being. It was a MIRACLE. It was an eternal, sublime, precious miracle. Please ponder this,

I love you all! Have a great holiday

Merry chistmas from Elder David Johnson

December 17th 2018

Hello all amazing people!!!

No words can properly express the excitement and anticipation for this moment I have been waiting for all week! I enjoy every moment of doing this and I have to because the time slips by like sand through my fingers. I can't wait to tell all that has happened!

Let's get to it!

Tuesday: On this day I started to notice that I am starting to get the hang of this language. I can start to understand the people more clearly and ask more questions and incorporate more words into my vocabulary. I was able to teach an entire restoration (no help included) to an investigator named lalina. He is very solid and very ready for the gospel of Jesus christ. Elder Keener was proud of me which was also a tiny little thing I was shooting for! It rained a little bit that day, which was a precursor to the following day, when it poured buckets!

Wendesday: On this day, it poured rain a whole lot. I was at the top of the hill with elder keener when it started to rain again and I was very happy and grateful that we got some moisture. We went and visited a lady named anastasia and she is someone we recently found to teach. We taught a lot to her about prophets and authority. She seemed to understand a lot of it, and she also loved our message, which was really good. After her we went finding a little bit, and something you have to understand about malagasy children is they are always wanting to hang out with white people. With us being the white people, we were at the center of the spotlight. The children always made me laugh as they asked me for a donadona kely (little fist bump). I love the malagasy kids, but elder keener not so much. He is really set on getting from one place to another without delay, so to him the kids are a little bit of a drag but I love the kids and it honestly teaches me a lot about how to be perfect and happy. Madagascar has taught me so much about temperance and patience and humility that I would spend too much time naming all the things that have already helped me to become a better person.

Thursday:On this day, we had district meeting and we talked a lot about our areas with elders oberhansley and leishman. They are the zone leaders for our zone and they are amazing. After the district meeting we went to a little restaurant called fish and chips and I bet what y'all could guess what we got! After that, we went out to go finding and we stopped by this one man at an eppisserie who was drunk (I didn't know until afterwards). He started trying to break us down saying stuff like madagascar would still have the gospel even if god didn't send missionaries like us down here. I tried to explain to him more, but he just rebelled, so we left. I didn't want to have another experience like pablo again.

Friday: We met up with an investigator named francois and she is really curious about the gospel but she's a little bit wishy washy about it. We went to her house and shared a vatsim-panahy (Spiritual thought) and invited her to be baptised. She said she would think about it, but we are fairly confident she will say yes to that. The gospel is so amazing and I couldn't be more happy to be preaching that word to his children to the far corners of the earth.

Saturday: I went on exchanges with the zone leaders. I went with elder leishman while elder keener went with elder oberhansley. Elder Leishman and I taught the somewhat fluent class about tongue twisters, space, mathematics, and a lot more. We had lots of fun and ate out at fish and chips again afterewards. I had to lead elder leishman around mahamasina 2 for the first time without my trainer, and I was able to get 2 out of 3 lessons done. I was so glad I could talk to someone who actually understood my feelings and respected them, because I really don't have that privelige with elder keener. I still pray for him every day and I still love him with all my heart.

Sunday:we had fotoam-bavaka and fracois came to church! She actually had a hard time with that commitment and with sone other things but she actually came to church and we were both so very happy about that! Elder keener had to do a couple of baptism interviews with some other 9 year olds. They all passed, which was good. After church we went to a members home in manakambahiny and it was awesome. The person who makes the food always makes us a mountain of rice with some sort of topping with it and its awesome. The name of the member is andie and she's getting ready to go on a mission, and i'm so happy that she has made that desicion to serve the lord.

Everytime I stand in the middle of the busiest streets in Antananarivo, I think of how many people are actually on the earth, and all the necessities that are needing to be met. When I look at the children, I think of how selfless and brilliant and strong they are as friends and as individuals. Everytime I see someone holding their hand out to me on the street begging for food or money, I can't help but feel my heartstrings get plucked out of their places because they are in so much need and I want to help them so bad. I know they are in good hands though, because two thousand years ago in the city of David, a savior was born to a virgin. His name was called emmanuel, or Jesus. He was born to take on himself the sins and struggles of the world. Only HE knows what it is like to hold out his hand for food and money on the streets of a third world county in a prefect manner. Only HE knows what it is like to lose a son to brain cancer, to contract a terminal illness, to lose a job, to have his home burn to ashes, to have his town washed away by a tsunami, to have a tornado rip a loved one from his grasp. He knows your pain perfectly, and he can help you see the good in this world like a flashlight in the dark. It is a gift so precious, so divine, we must always remember to use it. We always say each sunday I will take his name upon me that I may have his spirit when we eat the bread and drink the water, but what does it mean to you as an individual? I invite you all to ponder that as the chirstmas season passes. I humbly express my small yet fervent witness that Jesus christ is the savior and redeemer of the world. I know that he is our only hope of coming home safely. If we choose to embrace the ultimate gift of repentance and hope, he will guide us to the farthest reaches we need to go to. I know this to be true, and I invite all who read these words to come to know it for themselves.

God bless you all my friends!

Elder Johnson

December 10, 2018

Hello Everyone!

This week has been fantastic, and i have been waiting all week for this moment to share what has transpired the last 7 days! I hope that everyone has had a great week and I hope that it's not too cold in the USA. But, lets get into what happened!

Tuesday: Elder Keener and I went out to a members home and their names are suzanne and francois. Francois and suzzane are both inactives that we have been trying to get to come back to church. Unfortunately, we didn't get a whole lot of time with them, as it started to rain considerably hard. So, we had to cut that meeting pretty short. But, overall we had a pretty spiritual experience with them. We also went to a place in Tana called Tsimbazaza where we usually go to knock on doors, but we went to go visit another member. They weren't home, unfortunately. We did a lot of walking around that day, and in my area, mahamasina is probably about 3/4 of a mile uphill and down. I walk around 3 or 4 miles a day or more.

Wednesday: That day was by far the raniest and coolest day of my mission.

Elder Keener and I were out finding when the rain just started pouring! And it wasn't stopping! We had to hide under little episserie roofs in order to shelter ourselves from the rain. We had to very carefully make our way down the little mountain with the water rushing from behind us. It was practically like a little waterslide from 6 flags. When we had gotten to the bottom of the hillm we saw that the streets had been completely flooded and that some of the taksibes were swamped from the rain. The natives were telling us to stay on the center of the meridian, but at that point there really wan't a meridian. We came home and stayed home for the rest of the day. All of my clothes were sopping wet and when I took off my shoes they were fillled with little puddles. It was a very interesting experience. It was really amazing because I love the rain and I just felt so blessed because madagascar is in great need of water.

Thursday: It rained a whole lot AGAIN and this time we didn't stay home. We went out to go visit another investigator, lucy. We knocked on her door and taught her another restoration lesson. She is really solid but she needs to be able to understand us a little more because she doesn't really understand a whole lot about preisthood authority. I came home again that day will tiny little puddles in my shoes from all the rain and puddles.

Friday:I was cleaning a little bit on this day when I noticed a few things next to my bed. for the past few weeks I have been bittien by an unknown bug in the night. Butm as I was making my bedm I noticed that I had killed what had been biting me and sucking my blood: Cockroaches. The bites were big and red with a redder dot in the center of the bite. They were very itchy and painful, but if Elder keener heard me say something about it he wouldn't really care about it much so I didn't say anything. (I don't really think he knows it, but he has taught me a lot about patience already). We went out again and tracted some more, and to our pleasent surprise we were able to find 4 new people to teach! I am so grateful for the chance I have had to find some new people to teach here in madagascar.

Saturday:We taught english class from 10 to noon on this day and I can already tell that my malagasy is getting better by the day as long as I am trying my hardest at it. I taught 25 kids in a little classroom with elder keener about elements and the alphabet. Before we had english class, Elder keener aqnd I taught our most progressing investigator, lalina. She is set to be baptised next saturday. We practiced the baptismal interview with her that day and sunday. She is a sweet young lady and I can't wait to see her get baptised.

Sunday; We had sacrament meeting and while the sacrament was being passed out I let a little malagasy kid draw in my notebook because he wanted to draw in it and He wanted to sit next to us. We sat through elders quorum and gospel priciples. We learned about the last war that happens when satan is loosed for a little season. I was really interesting, and It taught me some new great and meaningful words.

Well, I hope this was very entertaining for you all and somewhat spiritually edifying. I love you all and hope you have a great fantastic week!

Mazotoa!

Elder Johnson

Miracles

This week I had an incredible experience that I thought was worth sharing and that I felt like was a miracle.  Saturday night around 12 am (10 am Saturday Morning in Mada) I woke up.  It felt like I was jolted out of sleep and I sat up wondering what was going on.  I felt some strange feeling, like something was wrong, but the house was completely silent.  I sat in bed looking around wondering what the feeling was that I was experiencing, when all the sudden I knew I had to get out of bed and pray for my boy in Mada.  I woke up Enoch and told him we needed to pray for David and so we did.  I felt better but I couldn't help but wonder what was going on.  Knowing that the Lord would take care of David, I decided that everything was resolved and that he would be ok.  Fast forward to this morning when I got to chat with David about my experience (and if you read his email) he mentions that they were lost in Madagascar at 10 am (midnight our time) and that it was a miracle that they were able to find their way.  David also said that there was a group of people who looked pretty unsavory as they found themselves completely lost.  I was so happy that I was jolted awake to pray for him so he could be protected.  Other miracles have been taking place in our home and in other areas that are too personal to share here, but I feel like a flood of blessings is pouring down on us right now.  Sometimes I am so blown away by the blessing that I find myself in a little bit of shock, like it couldn't be real, like you're still trying to wrap you're head around it.  I do believe in miracles. So many have happened in the last year, it would be hard to count.  I'm grateful for this experience that has taught me more fully about the power of prayer and that even though we can't communicate through phone, we are still very much in touch! Praise be to God for His tender mercies and gifts that bring me so much joy and happiness!

December 3, 2018

Hello y'all!

This week has been amazing! I know I say that every time, but it still is! I love madagascar, the contrast of culture has taken its toll on me and as a result i don't really feel a culture shock here anymore. Also, i've pretty much gotten over my sickness which is really good.

Here's the fill-in for the past week...

Tuesday:Elder Keener and I had to tract a lot since a lot of our appointments fell through. It was a little disappointing, but it gave me a chance to improve my malagasy a little more. I am not quite mahay (fluent) yet in the language, but it's coming quick to me! I can understand quite a bit know that I am fully 100% immersed in the language. That night we had dinner at a members home and had some soup, I'm not sure what was in the soup, but what I do know is that the pepper I ate afterwards was super hot! Its called the (and I don't know if this is completely right) sakai pepper. It's actually hotter than a habenaro, and just a few weeks ago I had a habenaro pepper, but the sakai pepper gave me little blisters on my lips afterewards. Yeah! It was fun!

Wednesday-Friday:Lots and lots and LOTS of walking, talking, and member-meeting-up-with. The only reason I am combining these days is because i cant really tell the difference between these days. But, there was a specific day where I got called vazaha a lot, and it ticked me off!! I have learned to kind of ignore it when the people call me that. 

Saturday:Craziest day of the week! (Or the weekend?) We were invited to a fanambadiana (wedding) and it lasted from 10:30 AM to 3:00 pm. The wedding was crazy fun! I never danced because it's against the rules in the white handbook, and neither did any of the other elders. Before the wedding (so right around 10) we got seriously lost. But, we were blessed when I think it was Elder keener that found the way to the wedding. It was a miracle, it would've been a long day if we didn't find it. 

After the fanambadiana, I had to go on splits with one of the zone leaders for a baptismal interview. I went with an elder named elder oberhansley, and after we went to a lesson, I crossed around a concrete corner, and a chicken flew up against the wall right next to me due to the fact that elder oberhansley scared it, and then it slapped me in the face, full contact. I doubled over for a second, and I heard, "Elder Johnson, are you okay?", and I went, "Yeah, I think it might've scratched me." It hadn't luckily. That rest of the day was filled with more and more blessings.asthe day went by.

Sunday: Fast and Testimony meeting! I didn't bear my testimony, but I will next time! I promise. After the fotoam-bavaka (sacrament meeting) elder keener and I taught the young single adults. we taught an investigator about fahafolonkarena (tithing) and she understood a lot about it. After church, I was walking around with elder keener and we had to go to a members house to give a blessing. After the blessing, we went home. When we were walking home, we were going down some stairs, and it was pretty dark outside. I made a wrong move, and plopped my meaty left leg right into a poop river puddle about to my knee. I was trying to walk it off, but the smell didn't leave. I won't describe it more, but the whole experience was humbling. Elder keener was chewing me out saying that it happens all the time and that I needed to stop whining about it. I guess he knows what he's talking about.

This morning, I was able to go to the zoo with Elders Latola, Keener, and Allen. It was really fun, because I got to have some lemurs climb off me and lick some honey off my arms and face. I'll have to send some pictures next week, because the computers here don't accept USB. Walking out from the zoo, Elder allen got pooped on by some storks from about 50 feet up. It was pretty funny, and we had a good time.

Well, that's all there is for now! I would sure love to hear from y'all about your weeks! Have a great one, and I'll talk to y'all later.

Love y'all, 

Elder Johnson