Elder David Johnson

                                                                                 I'm Home!

Hey there everyone! This is Brother Johnson typing my last post. It has certainly been a ride and journey to remember; I don't believe that anyone else besides the people who were with me at the time could get such an experience as one of which we had. It all started out last week on Wednesday when I was still a missionary in Madagascar, getting ready for the day as usual with my companion. We used to have a house of four, but it went up to a house of 6, because 2 Elders from Fort Dauphin (ironically, they were the Elders in the Tanambao area, the area that I served in) had to bunk with us for a while since Fort Dauphin and Fianarantsoa both got evacuated due to COVID-19. The disease had not yet come to the island. We were talking with each other in our room, I can't be too sure what we were talking about, but at around 8:30 I felt a vibration coming from my shirt-pocket and I soon realized that the vibration was our phone, so I pulled out the phone (which is really small by the way) and I saw that the caller was Ampefiloha, the Elders that live with our Zone Leaders. To be honest, I was slightly confused about this call, but I answered it anyways, and when I said Hello, Elder Spencer Cottle, one of my Zone Leaders, told me, ''Get everyone in one room, we've got an announcement''. I got everyone in the room and put him on speaker. Now, leading up to this point, we all had thought that by this call we would be getting quarantined, because we speculated that because they had asked us to go to the store and buy 2 weeks worth of food (which we did), they wouldn't want us to waste $500 worth of non-perishable foods. What my zone leader said next shocked me: ''Madagascar is getting evacuated; Pack your bags and get to the mission office by 3 in the afternoon. Don't be late. Don't say good-bye to anyone, because this is something that the government is secretly allowing the church to do. The church had bought a chartered plane to get us out of here.'' My companion and I left our home at 1-ish and got to the mission office at around 2:30. The whole office was packed with Missionaries from all across the island. We had to re-organize all of our luggage, weigh our bags, and get them set for departure. Later that night, we had a final emergency mission conference about any questions that anyone had, about what to do, and more updates about the coronavirus. I had the privilege to play the piano for the last time at this historic meeting. Lots of tears of sorrow were shed and we were all pretty shaken by this turn of events. As for myself, I was sad that I was about to leave 9 valiant people behind who all had a baptismal date in the near future.

 The next day, we got our bags on the 3 buses that would take us to the airport. The airport was complete pandemonium; for a small airport, it was completely jam packed, people were literally in line to escape for their lives, to return home, and to escape Madagascar overall. It was really an interesting experience to hear the rumble and clacking of the wheels of the 80+ missionary's bags rolling on the pavement. The guards standing at the airport only let people get through once every 15 minutes or so, but all of the missionaries got through. I had to exchange my ariary money back into dollars, so I went and exchanged my money, and got some dollars and some euros in return. It was a miracle that all 80 missionaries got on that plane that day to escape the jaws of the malagasy government. The way that the mission president found out that we needed to go was because one of his assistants found out that the president of Madagascar was going to shut down all flights within those 72 hours. The mission president forwarded that information to the Quorum of the Twelve and at 5 in the morning on Wednesday, He got a text from the brethren saying that the Twelve had approved the evacuation of the Madagascar Antananarivo mission. Our flight left the airport 6 hours before the airport shut it's gates. It was sad to see Antananarivo dip from my view for the last time, but I knew that my life had been preserved according to the mercy and grace of God.

We left that airport at around 5 or 6 and got to the Seychelles islands at around 10 at night. We were only there for about an hour and a half or so, but it was really humid walking around outside in the Seychellian breeze. It  reminded me so much of Fort Dauphin, one of my previous areas that had beaches in it. At around 11:50 we took off in an Emirates 777 airplane bound for Dubai in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). It was really neat to see all the commercial ads first in Arabic and then in English. Whenever there was a significant things happening in the plane, the flight attendant would first speak in Arabic and then in English. It was a huge blessing for me to go to Dubai since I learned a little bit of Arabic on my mission (I learned how to read and write and to speak just a little bit in Arabic). We got to Dubai at around 4:30 in the morning. It was spectacular to see the underwater hotels that everyone likes to look at on the internet in real life and from 5,000 feet up. I got off the plane and ate some McDonalds (which was also in Arabic). When I paid for my meal, the cashier gave me Arabic money as my change (which I loved). I got to practice some Arabic on some of the people in the airport which was really neat. When we were waiting to board our next flight, the sun was starting to come up on the middle eastern city and I saw the unmistakable form of the Burj Khalifa tower, which is the tallest building in the world. It looked tiny where we were from, though, so I took a picture of me pointing to it. I was so tired that I fell asleep in my chair, and the other missionaries had to shake my shoulder to wake me up and get on the next plane. The next plane I got on was an Airbus A380, which is one of the largest commercial airline aircraft. It was also an UAE plane, so everything was in Arabic and English again. It was the longest flight that I have ever been on...14 hours! I could barely stand it. I didn't sleep at all during that flight, just like the flight that I had from London to Johannesburg coming to my mission. We flew over Iran, Italy, France, and the Atlantic ocean.

 We took off at around 8 and got to New York's JKF at 2 in the afternoon. We had a 6 hour layover, so I was able to call my mom at that time and tell her what was going on. She had no idea what was happening, so I told her what happened and where I had been. I was so happy to hear her voice. At around 8 that night we took off from that airport and landed in Salt Lake City at around Midnight. All the missionaries that live in Utah got off there, but there were still a considerable amount of people who still had to go home outside of Utah (not including people who aren't Americans; they took another flight), so I was one of the few who stayed at the airport overnight until my last flight to Denver. I connect well with a man named Blake while I was waiting and I heard about the earthquake in Utah, which I was shocked about.

 The last flight from Salt Lake took less than 2 hours and it was beautiful! The mountains were covered in snow, and I was back to the pristine, stark Colorado/Wyoming terrain I had been itching to behold. We landed in Denver at around 10, and when I stepped off the plane, I just about froze my booty off. I wasn't in Madagascar anymore, Toto. And then I met my family at the baggage claim. It was a really tender moment for me, because I had envisioned in so many ways how it was going to play out. I was so happy to see them and to connect with them again. After that, we went back to Cheyenne, and my Stake President released me.

Reflecting on that once-in-a-lifetime experience, I noticed countless blessings and last minute miracles that took place. If I could list all the miracles that happened those days, I think this blog would crash. Seriously, Heavenly Father was behind all of this. He saw me through the moments I thought I couldn't go on. I am so grateful and I have had my testimony hardened in an unequivocal way. I know that God lives, and that Jesus Christ is the Savior of us all. I didn't feel that God loves me or anyone else less when I saw people praying to Allah in Dubai; If anything, I really wanted to connect with them and bring them closer to the truth. As Lehi says in his remarkable first vision in the Book of Mormon, ''Thy throne is high in the heavens, and thy power, and goodness, and mercy are over all the inhabitants of the earth; and because thou art merciful, thou wilt not suffer those who come unto thee that they shall perish!''

Lastly, I want to thank you. Each and every one of you. All of you. You have made a difference in my life and in countless others in return for your generosity in money, in prayers, in tears, and in diligence of fasting. From the deepest and most meaningful part of my heart, I thank you all for all that you have sacrificed on my behalf, and for responding to my emails. I did not have a lot of people on my emails, but a lot of you always responded. Thank you! May God bless you people in rich abundance for your charity and christ like character that you have shown.

God bless you all,

Brother David Ivan Johnson

Returned full-time missionary for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day saints