Everything Is Coming Up Mushrooms

Well this week just kind of flew by. I don't really know where it went.

So on Tuesday we have district meeting then afterwards we had a district finding activity in München. We set a goal to find 20 potential investigators in two hours but we only ended up finding 15 as a district. That was super hard. My companionship didn't find any potentials but we did talk to a lot of people and had a lot of meaningful conversations. I had my first austausch or exchange that day. So I was with Elder Evans our district leader. After the finding activity I took him home and we went out to contact a referral that didn't actually exist. 

On Wednesday I was still with Elder Evans so we did our studies and went to a lunch appointment with die Familie Madei.  They are a really cool couple that live in Ramerberg. I didn't even know where that was and we actually missed our train to get there so we had to wait an hour to get the next one. So we ended up going by on some investigators and less active families that lived by the Bahnhof. Once we got to the house we had mushroom soup.. Yuck! and some really good schnitzel.  Then we had a get a train back to Rosenheim to be able to get a train that went back to München so we could tausch back. Our original plan was to be back in München at 15:00 but we didn't actually end up there until about 18:00. So by the time we got our companions back and were back in Rosenheim it was time to eat and go to bed. 

Thursday we were supposed to help Sister Hunger clean the church but she called us and told us that she couldn't make it that day so we decided to get a train to Traunstein to visit a 96 year old member. She was really nice and we're going back on Thursday to work in her Garden. 

Friday, we had lunch with die Familie Brajkovic. He had me cook this week and we made noodles with a chicken cream sauce and...... Can you guess? Mushrooms.... I think I've had mushrooms at every single eating appointment I've been to.. But no fish yet so that's good. After lunch we went into Bad Aibling to visit Dominik. He's doing alright and he's hoping to be home by his birthday which is July 16. We gave him the plan of salvation and he really enjoyed that visit. On the way back to the train station we stopped by on Frans because he was sick and hadn't been answering our calls. He had gotten home from the hospital the day before and he had pneumonia really bad. He wasn't going to be able to meet with us for about a month or two. We shared a quick message with him and had to get on our way. Then on Sunday he called us and dropped us. He said that he had read for a bit in the Book of Mormon and felt like it wasn't the right way for him. It was really sad because we had some good lessons with him and he was so excited to meet with us.

Saturday was weekly planning day which ended up taking all day long. It was so long and I was dying. We didn't even get to go outside. It was so awful. I also got a headache towards the end so I was just feeling so dead that night. 

On Sunday we had a meeting with our ward mission leader to discuss our investigators and what we had been teaching. That was alright, then as church was about to start Bruder Lederer asked me if I would bless the Sacrament. It's really scary when you do it in German because they use some different words than I'm used to. I also had to give a talk. This one was different from the one I gave in the MTC. First off, no one in the MTC really spoke German so it was fine, second, I got to talk about the Book of Mormon in the MTC which is an easy topic to talk about and bear testimony on but in church I had to talk about the Great Apostasy. I guess I did alright and I got a few compliments from the members after. Later that evening we took the bikes out to go contact some less actives on the outskirts of Rosenheim. My tucus is a little bit sore from all the riding we did. 

So I guess this week was alright. It's been a little more cloudy and rainy lately thank goodness.  We're also getting our iPads on Wednesday. We have a zone conference and they'll be giving them to us. I actually knew that we'd be getting them for quite a while. Oh the joys of being in the same district as the office elders, the zone leaders, the AP's and the sister training leaders. They've all had theirs for a little while. I also see the boxes and boxes full of them whenever we have district meeting. That'll be fun. I can listen to music and we can check emails everyday but I guess we're only allowed to respond on P day. Which is interesting. I'm kind of excited but at the same time I'm not really. It's just a tool and we'll be using.

I'm hoping the internet at the church will start working so I can actually send some pictures home to you. We've been doing some pretty cool stuff here and it's amazing to see how God prepares people to hear his message. He really knows what He's doing and He is sending angels to help us do everything that we need to do. I know that even though life can be hard at times that God loves each and every one of us. He is watching out for us and blesses us. I know that He has restored his church through Joseph Smith and that the same church is being led today by Thomas S Monson. I love you all so very much and am praying for you. I wish you the best week and I'll see you next week. 

Alles Glück, 

Elder Johnson

More Photos From June 2015

Wandern in Der Wildnis

So this week was pretty sick. So Tuesday, we had district meeting so we had to catch the train to München. Then we had an appointment with die Familie Baguardo. They are my dream family. The dad is from Italy, the mom is from Equador, and so it was nice to be able to use my few lines in Italian, and Spanish. Haha, They loved it so much, and we had such a great night. Their eight year old son spoke Italian, Spanish and German. Holy Cow!! Plus he loved soccer. So we ended up playing soccer for about half an hour with them. That was such a sick night! I love soccer so much and I haven't been able to play it at all here until that night.

Wednesday we had lunch with Sister Schrank, and Sister Damm. The old people in our ward really like Asian food for some reason. But it was nice so have lunch payed for us. After lunch we caught a train to Kiefersfelden which is where Sister Morgner lives. We helped her with her yard. She has so many plants and flowers and it really reminds me of Mom. I got a picture of her yard so hopefully I can get those up next week. 

Thursday was also such a great day. We went hiking with Bruder Hunger in the Austrian Alps!! He's hiked Elephant rock! It was a beautiful hike that wasn't hard at all and I got so many pictures of it. It was called Köglhörndl. Oh my goodness. I love hiking so much. Especially in the Alps. I guess Austria just has way better mountains than Germany. But after that hike my calves have killed all week long. We went to die Familie Brajkovic for dinner that night and you've already seen pictures of that. 

Friday I had to go back to the dentist to get some more work done for my root canal treatment. I love the dentist there. He's super funny and way talented. They've almost got it finished up. I need to wait a few weeks to see if it still hurts, then they need to put a permanent filling on. Later that day we took a train to Bad Aibling to visit with Dominik. I'm way excited to be teaching him. We were hoping to meet with Franz too because he lives down the street. But he was sick and was in the hospital so we couldn't visit him.

On Saturday, we got to go to the Lübke's.  We had hamburgers at their house and Elder Rodgers and I gave the wife a blessing. We had such a great time just talking with them. She has been playing the piano for 18 years and served a mission in Chicago. She ended up helping convert her husband. They are such a sick couple! I love listening to her play the prelude music at church. It's so beautiful. 

Sunday, we went to church and I understood almost all of the testimonies that were given. Elder Rodgers had the opportunity to translate for this Australian couple that was visiting. When we had Sunday school, and priesthood I didn't really understand a whole lot of what people were saying but that's ok. Church is pretty great.

Today, we tried to go to the church to do emails because the internet was finally working yesterday. But when we got there today it wasn't working again, so I'll have to send pictures hopefully next week. But we ended up going to this place close to the church called Moser and I got a Lederhose set. They were having a sale and I just had to get them. Now I really look like I belong in Bayern!! :) They look so sick! I also got to try my first Döner today. I guess it's a Turkish food but you can compare it to Mexican food in that there are Döner stands everywhere. They have such a good taste and are just amazing. Shopping this week was super good. We get everything we needed for just over €30! That included some air spray, a basil plant, tomatoes for district meeting tomorrow, and some expensive chocolate milk which we don't usually get. It's crazy how cheap it is when you buy stuff together. 

This week has been really good. I know that the Lord blesses us every day. More than you will ever be able to comprehend. There are so many small tender mercies that He grants us every day that we don't notice. I know that as you live your life worthy of being an example of Jesus Christ that it was have a profound influence on all those around you. I pray that the Lord will always be with you and that you will all be able to shine the light of Christ and help bring others unto him. Every member a missionary. I know that people have such great effects on others just by the way they live. Keep up the awesome work. See ya next week.

Week Number 2

Well this week has been pretty vollkrass. So on Tuesday Elder Rodgers and I had to catch the train up to München for district meeting. That was way fun. We sang some songs and talked about how our district was doing and how we could improve. Also, I love being in the same district as the mission office, because whenever mail gets sent there, it just sits there until the zone leaders come to pick it up at mission leadership council. Then they have to take it back and then distribute it to the other districts and it takes forever. But I get to check every week if there is mail for me. So mom, I got your letter last Tuesday. On the train back to Rosenheim we met a guy from Indonesia named Franz. But I'll talk more about him in a second. On Wednesday we went to a klinik to visit an 18 year old kid. He fell 25 meters from a church tower trying to commit suicide over a girl. But he survived the fall and was in a coma for a few months. After he received a priesthood blessing he come out of it, and is now recovering. He is really interested in the purpose of life and wants to know what God has in store for him. Then we had our appointment with Franz. He lives in Bad Aibling and is so ready to listen to the Gospel. His situation was perfect to receive the Gospel. Plus it just so happened that we had an Indonesian Book of Mormon in our apartment. He's so accepting of our message and I cannot wait to see where we go with him. On Friday, we helped with an Umzug or a move and then served at two other members' houses. So we were in Kiefersfelden for most of the day. Elder Rodgers was telling me how that was the most beautiful area in our ward. We were literally two minutes away from Österreich. There were so many mountains and the air was so fresh up there. I loved it. On Saturday we caught another train into München for Pfahl Konferenz. President Kearon was the guest there. So Saturday night we had a Priesthood meeting with him, then another general meeting which was also way good. I got a pretty good picture with him after. We had an Übernacht with the office elders so we didn't have to go all the way back to Rosenheim. So Sunday came and we had to go to a special building so we could fit everybody, and I don't know really where it was. But after Konferenz we went with Bischof Kainz to his house for dinner. Man that guy is loaded. He has everything you could ever need. He owns his own business and has three houses, a beautiful wife and the cutest kids. He must have worked really hard on his mission. But he works a ton. He said he does 400 hours in a month.. Yikes! But we had some fun there, then caught the train back home. Then today! It was a normal Pday, but I had an appointment with the Zahnartz. My tooth has been giving me some trouble for a little while so we went to go get it checked out and they ended up doing a root canal on me. There are still two more nerves that they need to extract so we have another appointment on Friday. I've got this big huge hole in my tooth right now. So yeah, isn't that exciting? This coming week is going to be pretty busy. We've got some pretty good numbers set and we can attain them. We just need to work hard. I love you all and hope you're doing great!! Have fun and remember who you are! Tschüss.

Arriving In Rosenheim

Well I'm safe and sound here in Rosenheim. All is well. We woke up at 3:45 in the morning Wednesday and had to fly out to Germany München. The first night wasn't too bad but I had a tooth ache and a terrible headache that kept me up until two in the morning. So I had then gone two nights without really sleeping. Thursday was interesting because it was transfer day and there was a train strike so all of the main trains that we use for transfers weren't working. So transfers were a nightmare. My daddy (my trainer) was trying to help some of the other missionaries get on their bus so I didn't see him for quite a while but he finally showed up and gave me a great big hug. I love Elder Rodgers so much. Er ist der Hammer. He's from Lethbridge, Canada. and has been out for 22 months, so he's going to die by the time I'm done training. Elder Rodgers and I are so alike that it's kind of freaky but I love him so much and we've been having a blast here in Rosenheim. I love it here so much and I just want everybody to know that I'm in the best area and I have the best companion ever.

 I've found that I can actually understand most of what people are saying. I can especially understand everything that Elder Rodgers is saying. But when people start speaking Bayerisch everything goes right over my head. The dialect here and such a funny accent and they change so many words. But I absolutely love listening to the people here talk and I'm learning so much. I'm honestly so blessed to be here in this part of Germany. This is where all the good stuff is. I'll be looking for a good pair of lederhosen these next couple of weeks. The other day we rode our bikes through a rain storm and that was a lot of fun. I thought it would be way miserable but it wasn't too bad. It's been raining here a ton but I really don't mind it at all. I've gotten better at street contacting too. All in all I love it here. The only thing that I don't like is that I haven't played soccer yet. But we talked to some people at church and they talked about organizing a sport night where we can play soccer together. 

One cool thing here is the public transportation. I thought it would be super confusing to use but it's not. It's the easiest thing in the world to do. Oh yeah and the people who sent the pictures the other day and investigators that picked us up from the Bahnhof. Svonomir was a member but then he took his name from off the records a long while ago. Now he wants to rejoin the church. His wife Connie also wants to join the church but she's waiting for Zvonomir to receive the priesthood so that he can baptize her. They are an extremely nice couple and they invite us over all the time. They're really great. This is truly the best place in the world. 

For any of you back home who were wondering my address is 

Elder Johnson

heilig-geist strasse 54

83022 Rosenheim 

Germany

You can all feel free to mail me. That would be awesome.

Just Photos of England

Leaving the MTC

Hey I'm leaving now, no time to email. I'll email you next week. Bye