Baptism :)

This week was awesome!!
Or weekend i should say  i had my first baptism and he's a way sweet guy who really deserved it :) It was this saturday at 4 and it was definatey a cool experience too. So, first of all the font. The font looked normal and was pretty normal except for a big yellow spot that came from the faucet...um and so when they turned it on it got all smeared around and i was like//holy cow..that'll go away right? cause it was really gross...it did though but the water here doesnt have chlorine here and well it was really gross. The water was like a yellowish brown and you could kind of see the bottom of the font. I didnt want to go in there let alone totally immerse someone in there...but when the time came around and we got in the water... it all went away and i really didnt care. Wearing that cool white clothes was awesome too :). What was even more interesting was we didnt get the water high enough and even though we checked many times...it still was too low...so bishop had us kneel..yah kneel in that dirty water...but it still  worked out anyway. Then on sunday we got to see him where the white shirt and tie i gave him...and it was cool to see :) 4 of us 5 elders gave him a tie...so that was cool. Then he got to be officially become a member of the church and received the Holy Ghost :) Then later he received the Priesthood and that was really cool to see just because ive had friends that ive dreamed of this for and none of them have come this close and it was just like a dream come true just to finally see someone i care so much about, who was my friend, take those steps. Later he mentioned how happy he felt and just kept repeating it :) i was like thats the Holy Ghost :) Youre gonna feel like that all the time :) and so that was it :)...he was really shy on sunday but it was still just cool to see him take those important steps in the gospel :)
Thats it for now...the work is moving :)
Elder Johnson    

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3 months :)

So ive been out 3 months now and its been awesome. This week had espeacially been awesome...we cut down trees with machettes, climbed some mountains, swung on vines, squeezed through really small holes and walked through dense forest. We also walked on a really  narrow path on a cliff...it was awesome :) We went to pilar today which is about an hour from my area and went in the caves...we had a tour guide too. So those were way cool. Just cause the caves are way different form amaerican caves. Oh yah we had bats fly around us too :) Um, so we walked through the caves with the sisters :)  and we treaded through some awesome mud too...so it was aweome. The caves had been very obviously corroded by water...like they were so beautiful to see. Just awesome. I flet like i was in a movie the whole time just simply because we were in those kind of places that only you see on movies...like with the vines and with the jungle and the mud that could suck your shoe in...an in one spot i was sure they had filmed the Princess Bride ROUS's scene there...it was crazy :) The jungle was just awesome. Someone climbed a tree and got some coconuts for us and they showed us how to eat the meat inside and drink the juice..it has a cool taste it tastes like watered down sprite literally. So that was really cool :) And the meat wasnt that bad either. Um so we got way dirty and had a ton of fun....the caves were gorgeous and it was just awesome. The on Friday we went to some member in another ward to cut some trees for an investigator of some other Elders...and i was thinking oh well we'll just go in their backyard with a few axes and cut down some trees...well we cut down trees but we had to climb a mountain and go to the top to do it...then they used these really cool machettes made from the spring of a car and chopped the trees like axes...then they tied them together with vines...like actual vines :) Then we carried them down on our shoulders an easier path thankfully  and then they gave us some food and i got to try papaya...but unfortunateley it tastes a little like sour milk...but thats probably because i have american taste buds...like things that are sweet here arent so sweet to me because everything in America is really sweet. But yah its still way cool to like try all this stuff and its been a really awesome week :)
Elder Johnson
Still loving it :) 

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isa pa butang (one more thing)

So, this week on sunday all three of us elders gave talks in
sacrament...and it was cool because i was actually able to speak in a
lot of ilonggo like i found my topic and wrote a lot fo it down by
myself in ilonggo and had E. Williamson correct to make sure it made
sense..and so that was cool just simply to see that like a lot of what
i wrote made sense...and just to be able to communicate to tem what i
wanted to say in their own language was awesome :) The bishop rick was
pretty impressed at how far ive come and i was too...E. williamson
helped me with some of the stuff but i wrote a lot of it myself. I was
just way nervous but it was ilonggo and english mix so it wasnt that
bad...so that was an interesting excpereince to just see how ive grown
:)....
Elder Johnson

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Hey!!

This week was pretty interesting. Now that im officially clear form
pnemonia and able to work. We're really getting work done. We have a
baptism lined up for this the 24 and its awesome cause the guys really
cool :) and hes been waiting for this for a long time :) then also E.
Williamson had his birthday this week he turned 21 on the 7th and so
on satuday we celebrated and for my birthday present to him i ate
balut (baloot)....i was really cautious at fisrt to promise him that i
would on saturday...but i did and he said its no big deal because it
literally tastes like egg....like literally...even though its an
aborted duck..it tastes like egg. So heres how you do it...you crack
open the top and then drink the juice inside the egg..then you peel it
off like a boiled egg and then you eat the duck seperate from the hard
stuff that they call cartilage but idk if it is...but anyway and you
eat the cartilage later...and thats pretty much it. :) It really wasnt
that bad.
So here is another fact about the Philippines:
Gay people are in abundance here...and they are the main comedians
and in a lot of tv shows and movies espeacially one called "Show time"
its really crazy how open they are here...many of them dress like
woman too and carry around purses and stuff. But there really are a
lot of them.
Oh yah ive lost some wieght so thats awesome since i got pnemonia and
didnt eat too much...i lost some weight and everyone keeps noticing it
lol...so im gonna work out more to continue to lose it :) so i can
look great when i come home :) oh yah and E. Unabia gave me a second
balut to eat...which i did hesitantly...so that was funny...the second
one was harder to eat but i still ate it...it was great :) i got it
all on video too :) Ive been out for 9 weeks and thats crazy in
itself...that 4 months of my total mission gone...crazy. 9 weeks in
the MTC and 9 here...thats crazy...oh well thats pretty much all thats
gone on this week thanks for all of you who read this....hope i keep
you "updated" and satisfied...oh yah our fridge broke and created a
huge mess of water and wouldnt keep anything cold...so a bishop from a
ward in our area came over and is fixing it...but itll take 3
days...so for three days we wont have a fridge...or freezer which
sucks cause you need that espeacially in the Philippines...so yah
there thats it.
Elder Johnson :)

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2 months :)

ABOW!!
I've been in the field now two months...thats four months all
together!!! thats crazy. But anyway not much has been happening...i
still have to rest says the doctor til thursday so it sucks
terribly...but i feel i might be able to head out soon. So thats
exciting. I can tell my companions are getting itchy to get outside
also. But on sunday we had one investigator come and since hes now
progressing we were able to just teach him and so that was nice to get
back into teaching. So that was way cool and hes doing great he hasnt
smoked in a week...so we just gotta get him to not smoke for three
weeks and he'll be done for good :) so thats awesome too. It was
awesome to just teach him again. So yah not much has been happening.
Although now that i finished the Book of Mormon, im reading D&C and
thats cool. Um i like section 4 cause it talks about a marvelous work
is about to come forth among the children of men. It then talks about
how if you have a desire to serve God you are called to the work and
if you serve Him then youll be saved...so its the perfect missionary
scripture. Things have been rather boring just because im not
suppossed to work but im trying to do things that keep me busy...i
think God is going to test me to see how committed i am to the work
and thats why im going through all of this. Oh apparently i lost
weight while i was sick...i thought that was awesome just because ive
been trying to lose weight lol. So that was cool.
I just cant believe that four months hae already gone by....thats
only leaves 21 more...just kidding thats still plenty...everyone says
it flies by...but i wont listen...i dont want it to go by fast...so
yah. I just cant beleive that its been 4 months now...oh well thank
you all for reading...sorry if this is kinda scatter brained...im just
not sure what to say.
Elder Johnson

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Week 7

Soooooo....this week was interesting. So friday i had a headache
and a slight fever....so on the next day my fever was even higher and
so i found out on sunday as i was admitted into the hospital that i
had Pnemonia and sooo....yah so i spent the last four days at the
hospital getting bigger and bigger antibiotics until i had the biggest
one possible and the needle was about literally 3 inches long and the
surenge it was in was probably an inch around...so it was dako guid
(huge) but no worries it went into the iv and not my arm thankfully.
And so at the start of my adventure the guy in the ER was trying to
stick the iv on my arm which hurt really bad...like really bad..but he
made two of my veins collapse and had to switch hands. lol....so that
was fun. Then they did this weird allergy test where they did like a
TB test only it hurt for like a minute and it was sakit guid (hurt!!!)
but then it went away...it was at ST. Anthonys College Hospital and it
was Catholic guid. They had a very interesting picture of Mary as a
goddess and then a glowing Jesus on the Cross but only Jesus glowed
not the cross...so even at night you could still see him dieing...it
was a little creepy. Um and the hospitals here are again interesting.
This one was nice but it still had ants and bugs crawling around. I
found a Phantom coackroach in the bathroom one night but i tried to
catch it and it dissapeared...so yah. Then just the normal ants that
crawl by the millions on walls and stuff. They they put this wierd
nebulizer mask on me which secretes a wierd gas that you breathe in
and it helps with your breathing to remove whatever it was that was in
your lungs...and that worked really well but started to turn
everything i ate into its really bad taste...but it worked. But, so
yah it was a long 4 days but through prayer and the doctorshere i am
typing this. So that was fun...im just glad to be out of there. And
ill have a cool story in my first area :) So far a mission still a
blast and its a very interesting experience i cant beleive ive been in
the field for almost two months...thats 4 months of my mission
total.....thats crazy!!!! So im still going and it was a cool growing
experince even though i pretty broke everybodys wallets and more lol.
Oh yah i have a new companion Elder Unabia. Hes a pinoy! Hes my follow
up...Elder williamson is still here but when he leaves well go from a
tripanionship tp a normal one :) So far hes a cool guy. So i hope it
continues to go well. So yah. Im thankful you all read my blogs...i
hope i write enough for you guys.
The doctor says i have to rest for another week just at the house so
that sucks that i dont get to get to work straight away...but oh well.
God knows what He's doing :) Im just glad im out of the hospital...so
yah. That was pretty much this week just having people tak shifts with
me since i cant be alone but that was fun too. So i was thankful for
that comfort and just their personality. Im still amazed how if we
really try though that lord really does give us really does bless us.
He really does work in the strangest ways. I love you all. And thank
you again for reading it means alot to me :)
Elder Johnson
Oh i got to talk to my family too this week. President gave me the ok
and felt it was ok because of my mom and how worried she was...not to
make her look bad. But yah so it was cool as i got to talk to them and
it was just great to hear thier happy voices. I assured them i was ok
and that it wasnt the type of Pnemonia my mom thought it was...it was
just a cool tender mercy of the Lord that really made my day :) Oh the
joys of a mission :)

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