02-10-14 Broken Heart, Contrite Spirit, and Ripped Pants – What a Combination!

To answer the questions, the food is apparently the best thing ever in Cameroon, but I have yet to try any of it. Members usually don’t feed us unless it’s a special occasion. We get sodas and small stuff regularly but not constantly, because it’s not like America.  I have had to learn how to cook more. This is the first apartment where I’m the main chef.  My cooking is not the best in honesty but it gets us by. 

To explain the title of this email, I have a humorous story.  This week we were asked to give service.  A member wanted me and Elder Hunt to help him move (my first thought was, why the heck is every service opportunity in my life a church move?!) Being an expert in this field of work, we gladly accepted. I insisted to Elder Hunt that we go in shorts and t-shirts. But he wasn’t too keen on that idea - so ties and slacks it was. We arrived and it was the father, two members and us. The father had a friend who came with a big truck, but the guys driving the truck didn’t even help load or unload!  So with that as a back drop - I went head first into the work and got my clothes all dirty. In the first twenty minutes however, I bent down to lift up a couch, and in the process of bending.....RIP!!!  Right down the middle of my slacks. So for the rest of the 2 hours I worked with a massive hole in my pants.  I guess if I was going to lose a pair of pants - service wasn’t a bad way to lose them.

Working with Elder Hunt has been a good experience and we’re getting along fine. This week was a little slow in overall excitement.  Hopefully next week will be a little more exciting. We are meeting with our mission president this weekend, Sat – Mon.  So I’ll do emailing and such next Tuesday - just so you aren’t worried.

That was such a funny story about Kaleb sitting in the back of a cop car cuffed for 2 hours! Glad it was a mis-identification!  I think that’ll be an awesome story to tell your future family. I shared parts of it with my companion who thought it was interesting. Well, Kaleb, officially getting in more trouble with the law than any of us ever before. haha.  If you have to get a job - I suggest lifeguard. That’s probably what I’ll do as a summer job when I return.  But semi-pro skater wouldn’t be a bad dream to chase either - maybe it’ll be me living in your basement in a few years.  haha. Tell Gage that I saw the photos and think they are “sick”.  Reading that story definitely made me miss being in our family where literally anything can, and does, happen. 

02-03-14 Marche Talk

Happy Birthday Mom!!!! I definitely didn’t forget, and it’s actually
written in my planner. I hope the celebration was/is going great.
Thanks for raising us and doing your very best. Looking back I now see how hard you really worked and see all the rewards of that effort.  Thanks for the advice on life - always appreciated. Love you bunches!

Update on Cameroon: the new sector is much different. First, the
elevation and hills in Yaounde are insane, I was running out of breath the first few days it was so crazy. Also Hunt, is turning out to be a super nice guy, but it’s an interesting companionship. He is much more “green” and still so innocent missionary-wise.  I’ve been trying to let him led as best I can, and for the most part he does a fine job. The French is a little rough but he is fearless in talking. I think it will take some time to iron out quirks but it will come!

The Cameroonian people are much less intense than Congo. They don’t yell racist comments, or shout vulgar things. They all live in extremely nice apartments (nice for America even). And as you predicted, less interested in religion. They all go to churches but the lack of real commitment is still there (at least with this
church). I’ve had some fun experiences already. One night I bought bananas. I bought $2 and the lady gave me the whole dish of bananas basically. Things here are cheap, cheap, cheap. I also spent all day in a Marche (market) and had some fun bartering!  I am dang good at negotiating - let me tell you!  I got everything at the prices I wanted. I AM ADDICTED TO MARCHE SHOPPING IN AFRICA haha.  Also I have learned how to make friends in the town. So now we have: Johnson (the hat seller), Monic (suit seller), Gee (egg roll seller), Chichi (bread guy), Blaze (2nd suit seller), and Christine (vegetable lady) who know us by name and give us sweet discounts!  Yeah Baby!  So that’s sort of an in-depth look at my last week in this country. It’s been a blast.

Lundberg, simply told me, very harshly, that I had no idea what it was like to live in difficulty, to have financial or family problems, and so I needed to be more compassionate to others. (he hadn’t pieced together my family life yet or my personal history)  So naturally, I got extremely upset and gave up on being even remotely buddies. But as I said, with time we worked it out and we ended as good friends and I wish him the best. :)  Even missionaries say things wrong sometimes – I’ve had plenty of those moments.

Kaleb! Give the new bishop a run for his money. There are some crazy questions people have, including missionaries, but every question has an answer in the Book of Mormon. So, have at it, but make sure you search the right books.  Let me know how it goes.

Maya! Future missionary!  I’m glad you liked hanging out with the sister missionaries - teaching is a blast - prepare well now for that future name tag.

I really hope the rest of y'all are doing well. Hopefully everything
is working together for you’re good!  I love you abundantly and wish the best this week.

PS - I think the sun is burning away some of my hair! NO!!!  Good thing there will be a resurrection and I can get my hair back. 

01-27-14 So Glad to Make it to Cameroon

Sorry I didn’t get to respond to your questions last week, like I said the internet in Africa was terrible. But this week I’ll be giving
you a full update. 

To begin with Elder Lundberg.  Me and him are still best buds in
honesty. He is my favorite companion and I think it is the same on his side. We simply had some tension between us for a while. He said some things about my life that I didn’t appreciate and on top of that, I was so bored with Africa that all of it upset me more. But in the end we worked things out and we are buds. I learned a lot from him. Mostly I learned that it’s okay to be relaxed about missionary work. It’s okay to just talk with investigators about their lives and their normal interests instead of just teach, teach, teach. I learned that being overly concerned about your salvation, is actually bad in large degrees. I think you all will be surprised at how much Lundberg helped me change for the better.

But now things have changed! I am in high class Africa!  Literally, we live in a neighborhood where the houses are bigger and nicer than our apartment. Cameroonians are rich. It’s extremely hilly as well.  The streets are as steep as the ones in San Francisco.  The weather is cooler, so good break from the Congo. I think I’m going to like it here.

My new companion is younger than me and I’m only his second companion (making me his "mom".) To explain, in missionary generations, the first companion is dad, second mom, and if you have the same first comp as another person you are their brother) His name is Elder Hunt. He comes from Utah and has been here for 4 transfers. Teaching with him is going to be a process - he likes to prove things with the bible, whereas I have learned that that usually never works. He still has that greenie fire in him and is super pumped to baptize. So in this relationship I’m the “squid ward” (Sponge Bob Reference). haha.  He is extremely scared to break rules and so I am going to try and mellow him out a bit. It seems like the Congo was full of black sheep missionaries, whereas, Yaounde is a bunch of straight laced missionaries! (I’ll let you know how my work goes with him though).

The missionary stories you guys are sending me sound absolutely
awesome.  I know I might not respond to them sometimes but I read them and am impressed and like to know about the awesome work over there. 

I definitely will try to play piano at the church if I ever get the
chance. I think that would help. I think I am ready to keep going to
the end, Africa can get boring, but I am learning to cope with it. If
you can tell everyone at home I read their emails (Nani’s, Dad’s, and Friends)

BTW - Me and a college friend serving in Brazil, have decided that in 2016 we are going to go to the Rio Olympics. Get passports and y'all are welcome to come along. :)  

01-25-14 Julius is Officially Safe and Sound in Yaounde' Cameroon!!

Just wanted to let you know that we picked up your handsome Elders safe and sound from the bus.  Elder Tripp and Elder Kampoy on Thursday, and Elder Johnson on Friday.  They are getting comfortable in their new apartments. 

We are the Senior couple serving here in Yaounde'.  I keep a "blog", if you are interested in looking from time to time.  I try to keep current pictures of the Elders on there.  It is found at whitesidesinafrica.blogspot.com

Let me know if we can answer any questions you might have.

Sister Whitesides

Yaounde', Cameroon

Africa

Welcome Elder Johnson into Bastos!  I still need to get a picture of Elder Tripp and Kampoy in Ekounou!

01-20-14 I'm Going to Another Country!!

I had some trouble getting into my LDS email account, so this week I’m just sending a short message from this account.  The week has been slow. We don’t have any more baptismal candidates so teaching has been with some less progressed investigators. But this week ended well for a few reasons. 

First, and least important, I bought some cool hats and have built up my collection of hats! Here you can buy some sweet ones for $1.  So I have been keeping my eyes peeled for good ones.

Two, and more importantly, I got a transfer letter today and I AM GOING TO CAMEROON!!! I’ll be in Yaounde working with a younger missionary, Elder Hunt!!  I am so excited to go live in another country. The Congo has been awesome, and I love the people I have met. They are really great people! But for the sanity of my companion, me, and everyone else, I need to change up my location. This Thursday, I’ll take a plane to Cameroon, and from there I’ll be on a bus for a day to Yaounde. All I have to wait for is my passport to get back from Brazzaville, where I am getting Visas and such. Anyway, that is the most exciting news I have for the week - and it’s pretty epic!

PS - I just got a post card from Cassie that was sent before we broke up. All of us were laughing.  : )

Good Bye to the Congo - Point Noire

01-13-14 God Loves and Cares for Each of Us

I am really glad that you are all doing much better, especially Kaleb and Maya.  That’s good that they are all healed up from the tonsillectomies.  Except for Maya's knee!  I’m sorry that that happened.  I’ve heard it’s painful if it pops out of place.  What were you doing silly?  And how did you fix that?

Fun fact for Kaleb…there are these Canadian kids that skateboard at the church. Their parents are here for humanitarian service and so they need a place to hang out and skate, they chose the church basketball court!

For Ferious and Robert, as missionaries we always look for cool air-soft and paintball spots throughout the town.  There are some cool places we’ve seen before.  I’ve decided that going air-softing with you guys is something I’ll have to do more regularly.  I also remember the anime TV show that Ferious was getting into before I left.  I watched a few episodes with him and it was pretty funny.  Just over the top dramatic and epic haha.  As a side note, all of us missionaries love Adventure Time!!  and  The Regular Show!!  I’m glad I had siblings that liked those shows.  : ) 

Also, new Bishopric!  I think I know Bro. Carole who you’re talking about, the previous first counselor?  If so, he would be an awesome Bishop.  I remember hearing his testimony once before I left.

Don’t worry about sending stuff to me.  I think I’ll just buy shirts here soon.  They’re super cheap ($5) and I can get them in a slim cut so it might just be a win win if I do that!  Thanks for the thought, I appreciate it.

We definitely try and work with less actives here. They can be really hard to get to come back sometimes.  It seems like they go in cycles - month on, month off.  It’s kind of like baby-sitting for them here in Africa.  If you don’t stop by one week they don’t come to church, and if they don’t come to church it’s hard to fix appointments with them and then it just spirals downward.  Working with less active is something I should definitely be better at.  I think that now, I have baptized enough and am more willing to give it a rest for a bit and focus on current members.

Mom, that dream was crazy!  I am very surprised you had that dream. In fact, I read it twice just to make sure I read it right the first time.  These last few weeks it seems like things have been going a little south for me.  I've gotten extremely bored with the same sector and a little bit with Africa.  Plus, my companionship is not doing well.  There’s this stress management book at the apartment and I went through and did a self exam and basically – I’m way too stressed emotionally and spiritually. I am definitely not saying I’m asking for a plane ticket home,   but it’s interesting that you should have that dream the same time things seem to be falling apart for me.  Like I said, I’m still out here and will be for a while, but I think being a missionary in Africa is giving me a run for my money. haha.  I’ll keep you updated and continue to work my hardest out here for the next year!! (Note form Mom – I dreamt that I went to visit a city in Africa about 4 hours from Julius. He showed up at my hotel and said he was ready to go home because he missed listening to music.  I wasn’t disappointed but I was concerned that Julius would not be happy with his decision and I asked him to stay or serve another year in another country.  When I awoke I sat straight up and looked around because it felt so real!  When I typed my weekly email to Julius, I hesitated to type out the dream – I didn’t want to put thoughts in his mind that may not have been there, (power of suggestion).  But I felt such an overwhelming prompting to type the dream out in detail to him.  It just goes to show how Spiritual promptings work and that God is so aware of us and our needs, that He’ll use others to help us if He can.)   

Today we had a little adventure which was kind of exciting.  We went out to the African bush and romped around for the day.  

We followed an old slave trail along the beach and looked at old storage houses for slaves and the port from where they left.  It’s cool because along the trail there are mango trees everywhere.  The reason is because the slaves ate mangoes and then threw the seeds on the side of the trail.  There are also massive bamboo groves in the forests as well.  In fact, me and a few others took bamboo shoots and poll vaulted with them because they are so strong.  haha (I’ll try and get you a picture of me doing that) Today was a fun adventure in the village, sadly no monkeys.  It ended with lunch at a super nice hotel on the beach side.

From this adventure I think I learned something.  I remember talking about starting a rock-climbing company in America, but why not just take people on excursions throughout the World?  I think I’ll seriously consider that for my future!

For this week I think that’s all.  It’s been slow except for today, obviously.  I hope all is going well for you guys there: school, work, fun, and family life!  It sounds like when I get back we’ll need to find some serious adventures to spice things up a bit - for all of our sakes.  I love you guys bunches, thanks for all the support and prayers from across the oceans.

2013 Pictures

12-30-13 The First Joel (Noel)?

It was super awesome to get to talk with you this week on Skype!  I know I was a little awkward but that’s only because I forgot how to talk with Americans.  Honestly conversations in Africa go something like this -
"How are you?"... "That’s good.  How’s your health?"... "It sure is hot today!  haha!"..."But really...how the heck are you?"..."Well I’m happy you’re good."

So you can see how it might be a little hard to hold a real conversation!  But I was super happy to see all of you and know that all is well for you there.  Someone asked me on Christmas if it has been hot here, and this week has been no exception.  Every day of the week has been blisteringly hot!  Simply sweating all day and night. And the only relief we got was sprinkling this morning. 

But despite the heat we had a baptism with an older man - Joel!  We didn’t even teach him one lesson!.....Now before you think I am just baptizing anyone out here, he came from Brazzaville and had been studying with missionaries for 6 months or so already.  He simply moved here and wanted to be baptized.  I got to do the ordinance for him and now I’m getting pretty good at plunging someone in water.  : )  Joel is an awesome guy who will be a great strength to the branch.  What a great present for him on the week of NOEL.

We will be going to the wild life reserve this next week so I won’t be emailing next week if everything goes well. This next paragraph will have things that are funny but not really relevant to missionary work.  We cleaned our apartment today and found a dead little gecko!  Not sure where it was but yeah...always check for dead animals when you clean in Africa.  Also we have mice in our apartment and we found there hiding place!!  Its under an old wardrobe on our patio.  We kept finding the baby mice but not the mom or dad.  So now the war is on!!  When we find babies, we scoop them up in a dust pan and launch them from our balcony into puddles on the road.  We have done this twice now, but the keep reproducing!  It’s a fierce battle.  I’ll keep you updated!

Well, happy new year to all!  I hope you have some fun partying to start off the New Year on a good foot. Hopefully you got my pictures?!  

12-23-13 Merry Christmas from the Congo!

First off I’m so excited to talk with you all on Skype this week!  I’m trying to think of some fun stories to tell you when I get the chance but we will just see.  Also if you have any questions that would be a great time to ask. I know my emails may lack the detail of Africa you want so let me know this Wednesday.  With that said I WILL BE SKYPING CHRISTMAS DAY 8:45AM!  That’s my time to talk with you all.  I know it’s not preferable but that’s how it fell for us.  So be expecting the call sometime around then. : )  Like I said, I’m so excited to talk with you all!

This week was good work wise but kind of normal.  First, I had to take a sick day.  Not too bad, 1 day of rest for 200 days of work.  I was just feeling sick and had a head-ache and a fever so I slept the entire day and that whole night.  But I am much better now!  Probably just some nasty bug I had. (that’s both literal and figurative haha) I’m glad Lundberg is my companion though. He was totally okay with me taking the rest I needed and never complained. I really have come to love Lundberg, sadly he has 10 weeks left so he won’t be around for too much longer. We have been talking and we think that I’ll stay in this sector until he leaves in a few months and then I may leave to another area.

This week we finally earned the branch's respect.  We went out with the relief society president – Aoeur Sandrine - to do some teaching, and it was incredible.  While the zone leader held a baptismal interview for a 14 year old girl, me and Sandrine taught the family and got them excited to try and get married.  Soeur Sandrine is a return missionary from Kinshasa who is 35 and has an awesome family!  Now we have a new friend among the leaders and our work is being accepted by the members and people are really taking to us as a companionship!  It’s great, the Pointe-Noire branch basically feels like my home ward now.  As I hinted at, we had a baptism.  Soeur Merveille.  She is 14 and loves the church.  She has a bunch of friends in the young women’s and already wants to serve a mission.  She joined the church because her father accidentally attended an LDS meeting on Sunday 6 months ago.  He has slowly introduced his family to the church and now we are just waiting on their marriage so that they can be baptized.  Merveille is awesome and I am sure she will be a great strength for her family.

Next week we may be going to a jungle reserve to see some sick animals.  If that is the cause, it will be all day and I won’t be able to email.  So if you don’t get an email, I’m ok - just playing with some monkeys!!

I love you all and hope that the holiday season has been awesome and continues to go well.  Maybe if possible Gabbie could stay until Christmas morning so I can say hi to her.  But I love you all, and am so glad to be in this family.

Until Wednesday,
Elder Julius Johnson

PS – Also, a bus ALMOST hit me!  We were returning home at night and crossing a connection between the main road and a side road, when a bus came hauling down the street and then slammed on the brakes.  I didn’t notice the bus until I felt a tap on my arm and realized it was a bus!  Well, angels round about, right?!

12-18-13 Note From the New Senior Couple

What a privilege and pleasure it is for us to write to you.  You have a right to be so pleased with your missionary.  He is a great young man.  He always appears to be happy and smiles easily and knows what he is about. He is the one who can tell us how to get where ever we need to go in this city.  He brings good thoughts and cheer to us all.  He is very obedient and respectful.  His testimony is strong and he is always willing.  This is a group of elders "above the notch".  They all seem to be healthy.  I checked his apartment today and he passed the cleanness test!  He seems to take good care of his person and his clothes.  He never misses an opportunity to share the gospel with the great people of this land.  It is a crazy place but Pointe Noire is more secure than the center of the mission.  They all get along well--and have a sense of humor—an essential in this mission. Merry Christmas to you all.  We will have the elders for Christmas Dinner and they will Skype with you.  We assume all of that is set up.  We go back to the DRCongo in January and a new couple comes.  We were here just as an interim between couples.  We will miss them all.  We hope to meet the families of "our elders" one of these days. Thanks for teaching him correct principles.  It shows!

With love,
Elder and Sister Bybee

12-16-13 7 Months Down!

Just like you this week has been kind of boring for us. We have had some great lessons and such but just sort of work as normal. Lundberg and I ended the transfer with 103 lessons taught or so in total – so not too bad. As the year is coming to a close we are ready to start again with new investigators and new adventures.  But for now it’s same old same old.

President Cook came to town this weekend to hold a Branch Conference.  Just sustaining all the leaders and such.  And he also did some of our interviews.  My interview with him was good - we just talked about nothing for a bit.  Then he told me he wanted me to try and start getting up at 5:30am from now on because, we have to be in earlier than other missionaries.  Psh!  That is not likely to happen.  We already work extremely hard and are the highest baptizing mission in the world - I think we are earning all our blessings.  As always, president and I remain distant friends.  For once in my life I am the black sheep. haha. (Note from Mom – Its comments like this that make me realize that, although Julius is a much better 19 year old than I was, he is still 19 and pride is still something to be work on.)  

So for Christmas Skyping….We talked with the couple and we’re trying to make a plan.  Either we will Skype Christmas Eve (night here) so it will be Christmas Eve (morning there), or we Skype on Christmas day (night here) so Christmas day (morning there).  It’s up to you to tell me what time will work best for you and we will try and Skype then.  So in your next email I need to know when you want to do it.  Also I need your Skype account information so we can friend you from here.  So to recap - pick a time when you want to try and Skype and send me you information so we can set it up next Monday and Skype middle of the week.  Hopefully that is a little clear but we will definitely be talking on Christmas which I am excited for!   

As you all are getting ready for Christmas, I wanted to let you know I love you all - everyone.  Being in Africa definitely shows me just how much I enjoy being in this specific family.  There’s not another like it in the world, but I wouldn’t have it any other way.  So Mother, you’re right again, I certainly chose this family in the pre-existence.  I love you guys bunches and can’t wait to talk to you soon.  Have a fantastic week and I will try to think of some good things to tell you over Skype!

Love you,
Elder Julius Johnson

P.S. - Thanks for the pdf files I asked for mom. Love ya!

12-09-13 We Are Still 19 Year Olds

It’s been a crazy week so far and there have been some fun stories to share.  So first off, thanks for responding about what’s happening in America!  All the missionaries here found that we’ve become more patriotic about our Country.  All the scriptures about America are marked in red, white, and blue. 

So - no transfers.  And that’s not a bad thing really. I love Elder Lundberg and so staying with him was my second choice.  So, all is well for me.  : )  I’m thinking that I’ll stay here for 2 more transfers until Lundberg goes home in March. Maybe after that I’ll move. My first choice was Gabon.  Gabon is a country that was just dedicated and missionaries finally got permission to enter the country and join the branch that has already been formed there.  Sadly that was not my lot and I’ll not be opening up a country.  Kinda bummed about that, but I’m sure I’ll get a chance to work there in the coming year. 

I baptized another person this week.  Chanelle, is a 19 year old girl who was extremely excited to be baptized. She was a contact from other elders a while ago.  She moved into our sector and then didn’t show any real interest.  But after she read the Book of Mormon for the first time something sparked in her and she prepared herself for baptism basically!

With all the work we have also had some fun.  For starters we have made a new game.  It’s basically close quarters combat soccer!  We clear out our living room, which is not too big and then set two dining room chairs on opposite walls. The goal is in between the two legs!  So it turns into a game of kicking each other's feet and ankles and getting lucky with shots. Our floors are made of tile so we have given ourselves blisters from sliding bare-foot on the tile!  Yup, we are still 19 year old boys.  Haha.  Also I have enhanced my sewing skills.  Last night I turned a pair of those blue kakis into a pair of perfectly slim shorts!  Hemmed properly and by my own hands!  Even in Africa you can have great fashion!

12-02-13 Scripture Power Does Not Substitute for Electrical Power

Hey  Y’all

So I’m trying to type this on a French keyboard so it’s pretty rough.  This one might be a little shorter.  As the title suggests we have been living African this week.  About a week ago we got an electrical bill from a drunk guardian for our landlord.  Thinking they were trying to scam us (which happens) we didn’t pay it. Well, turns out the drunk guy was serious, and our power got cut this week on Wednesday.  This year Thanksgiving included some humble pie.  haha.   Also the new senior couple was out of town and so they couldn’t help us fix the problem; and I have yet to mention that we had money problems this week and were running out of money for a lot of things!  So all in all, we haven’t had power for the week which means bucket showers, fanless nights, and no water.  But overall the problem is fixed and we all had some good laughs (and also really good scares as it’s pitch black in our apartment).

With that as a backdrop it is crazy that we had a normal week of work. We had another baptism this week.  It was for a young man named Elios.  He was a contact from other missionaries in Pointe Noire, but he is solid. We taught him at his work, which is an old garage with a bunch of grease monkeys.  Usually during our lessons there are 3 or 4 other people joining with us.  Elios has already introduced us to his friend who has agreed to baptism in January!  The work continues to move along!

For thanksgiving we just played basketball again, I love basketball now but I’m still dying to learn how to play soccer like a boss!  Maybe in the coming year.  And then we just bought a bunch of food and had a fun hangout with the zone.  This week President Cook, is coming, so the parties just keep going on and on, haha.  As for transfers, I’ll know next Monday before I email. I have been in the same place for 6 months so everyone thinks I’m out of here.  Part of me wants to leave but part of me feels/hopes I haven’t finished my time in Congo.  But wherever the Lord wants me will be fine by me :)

I hope that’s all your questions answered, if not sorry but there is always next week and the week after. In fact there is a lot of time.  Also, is it true that Michigan went bankrupt?  An African told me that on Saturday and I don’t know.  Let me know how life goes for you all there and I’ll do my best to let you know how I am doing down here.

Love you all,
Elder Johnson

11-25-13 Interesting Things Happen in the Congo

Lundberg and I have been praying for interesting things to happen every day to help keep our spirits up, and Heavenly Father has heard those prayers without a doubt.  We have been laughing so hard almost every day!  Lundberg has even started drawing comics to keep a record of our adventures.  So to start - we may have set a record this week. 1 lesson interrupted 4 times by crazy/drunk people!  We were teaching at the church in its courtyard.  The big gate was open so everyone could see what we were doing.  (we were teaching a young lady so we had to have the lesson in public view - but that’s not a problem at all).  So, the lesson commenced on the Atonement, a pretty deep subject.  A drunk man walked by and then asked, "Is that the word of God?"  We said it was and he approached us asking for a brochure, we gladly gave him one and then he left staring at the brochure repeating "I love this, I love this".  So we continue, and reached another spiritual point in the lesson when a local drunk lady, who interrupted us last week, walks right into the courtyard, stops in front of Elder Lundberg and says, "Give me 100 CFCA!" (money).  At this point she knows we speak French so we can’t play dumb and she won’t leave.  We kept telling her to leave because she won’t find money here.  At the same time I notice an old lady walking by the gate who looks totally normal, trying to diffuse the situation in an attempted cry for help, I yell out, "Hello mama, bonjour!" (adding in an extra sharp missionary smile). FIRST thing she says..."give me a 100 CFCA!". What!!! We told the grandma to go, and after we got the drunken crazy lady away too!  At this point we and the investigator are all laughing and having a good time.  We are about the close the lesson when Elijah Green (a crazy Congolese man who was deported from America years ago, does drugs, drinks, and is 100% crazy.  (He also knows the church because of his friend)  He walks by the gate, notices us and begins talking to us and he said, "Listen to me….listen to....listen to me man! I got a friend here who don’t know about the Gospel, give me a book an' I'll teach him."  So we did and sent him on his way.  Now, why did I share this story?

1 - it proves God not only answers and hears prayers but that he also has a sense of humor :) ALSO MISSIONARY WORK IS FUN!  During that lesson Chanelle explained her desire to be baptized and we set a date for 7th of December.  The 4 crazies were hilarious, but those are just funny moments among awesome spiritual experiences!

The week only got better! (hopefully that made you laugh a little) Half way through the week I found a shirt of Top Gear!  We were walking through a market and I saw it hanging up, I ran to the stand and said "I will give you 2000 CFCA for the shirt".  Not caring about the size I bought it and was so excited to try it on that night.  Luckily it fits! - Julius style that is.  Haha.  And the best part is the shirt simply has written on it - "I am the Stig" :)  New favorite shirt.

We attended a youth activity and got to see some African culture, at least from the youth.  And surprisingly it’s not that different from our culture at home.  They danced and it took me back to church dances with Gabbie and Drew and Kaleb.  Haha.  Dollar for dollar the same!

Spiritually we are working hard in the sector.  5 baptismal dates and more to come.  We are currently preparing an 11 year old girl Delicia.  I love Delicia, she is so smart and funny.  She wears innumerable amount of bracelets ever day and is just always smiling.  It’s also fun because she is in the exact same situation I was in when the missionaries found us in Centennial Apt. Almost the same set up as well.  It has been such a blast teaching her and being where Elder Hellewell and Kuafauna were, almost 9 years ago for our family!  Sshe should be baptized this week :)

Sadly, we had a less active start some trouble at church, so this week we will be doing damage control with him and the others he affected.  He was arguing in church, apostate doctrine.  Claiming that we should not be teaching about "American or European marriages".  That this is Africa so we shouldn’t be taking advice from American/European leaders on marriage.  The members handled it marvelously and courageously defended the standards the church holds on marriage.  Expressing that we are learning about marriage in the way God views it, not American, European, or African.  And they also defended the sanctity of marriage!! WOAH MEMBERS!

Thanksgiving this week!  We will be playing soccer most of the day on Thursday - so I am pretty excited :) I hope the holiday is just as great for you all there as it is here.

11-18-13 The Congo is Still the Congo

The week started off well.  We went to a FHE (Family Home Evening) with one of the branch presidency members and had fun with their family.  I also ate a mango for the first time and thought it was really good - however now I know that eating mango is super messy! 

With that - this week Elder Lundberg and I were led by the spirit so much this week.  We have met members from Brazzaville, Sierra Leone, Benin, Ivory Coast, and even some less actives from Congo.  Because the church is so small in this city, when people come here they often lose contact with the church for some time until they find the missionaries.  Some of these people were met while we were lost looking for some street or simply walking from rendezvous to rendezvous. I t was really awesome to notice that this week. 

Also we did something that is pretty awesome this week - we went a whole week spending $3 on transport!!  That’s a whole week of buses and taxis on three American dollars. So we felt pretty proud of that. 

We are now teaching another man from Ghana - Peter!  He's really awesome but does not speak or read French, so we’re getting a bunch of English things for him. But at church I sat next to him and translated for him.  The group would talk for a few minutes and then I would write, on scrap paper from my planner, two or three sentences explaining the doctrine that was being explained.  At the end of church he had three pieces of paper that were full of doctrine, which he read and reread!

Elder Lundberg and I have been feeling that things are getting a little dull here so we are praying for exciting experiences this week - maybe next week I’ll have a crazy story! :) 

Also to clarify, yes we put the homeless Ghanaian with the paralyzed Congolese.  Yeah...smart.  We are learning that it might not have really helped, but we will see. 

11-11-13 It's the End of the World as We Know it, but I Feel Fine

This week there’s Ferious' birthday (my older brother), but also my 6 month mark on Friday!  That’s crazy how fast time flies!  So I think I’m no longer a greenie :)

This week has been crazy - just seems like our branch is getting
struck by lightning. (hence the title of the email, but don’t worry I’m okay).  So Elder Lundberg and I set a goal to build relations with the Branch President this week, and Heavenly Father blessed us with that opportunity.  We all went out to visit the brother who is having trouble walking and tried to find a solution.  Basically he has no family here in Pointe Noire and so we couldn’t improve the situation, or so it seemed.  But Heavenly Father later provided a solution.  Also a recent convert I baptized, Gilberto, is having some problems with his family.  After his mom died he moved in with his aunt and was baptized.  But his aunt is against the church and so she gives him endless chores so he can’t go to church.  He says he gets up at 5am to clean the entire house but she still finds things to keep him from coming.  So, we are trying to think up a solution to that problem as well. 

Later, Steven, a man from Ghana who I love, came to us and after visiting with him we learned he had no place to stay and had slept out in the ran the night before. (his house burnt down about 3 weeks ago)  So that night we set up an appointment with President Sombo and thought of some solutions.  The idea came - Steven needs a place to stay.  Alfonse needs someone to help him.  So, Steven is now staying with Alfonse to help watch over him and in return is staying in Alfonse's home!  How incredible that Heavenly Father would set up this situation.

That’s why the title is as is.  Me and Lundberg have to laugh and shake our heads when we see all the problems that simply come without ceasing, otherwise it might get down.  And although we sometimes have no idea what to do, we feel fine and are strengthened by the resolve that heaven will provide a way!  And that’s what has happened so far :)

Investigator wise - we are doing good.  We have refreshed our pool of now 20 people and are seeing some awesome growth.  All is well for us below the equator!

Elder Bednar dedicated Gabon this week!!  So that means missionaries are going there soon and we are starting to hear rumors of Brazzaville opening up.  As was said in conference (which we just watched this weekend) the Lord is hastening his work!!

I love you All and will keep praying for your success!  Thanks for the support and love, but until next week

Adieu,
Elder Johnson

11-04-13 Back in the Saddle!

Don’t worry I’m staying in Africa!  Not only am I staying but I’m
about to light Africa on spiritual fire!  Haha.  Yeah, last week was bad, but this week was a great reset for me.  And just in time for the 6 month mark.  Honestly, I slept maybe 2 hours Monday night and prayed a whole lot - but Tuesday - I got up said a very sincere prayer and went to work.  That has made all the difference!  I just felt very calm about all this.  I told Heavenly Father in my prayer that I will dedicate myself to the work here, and forget my worries about things and when I get home…if he can help me out when I get back that would be great.  Regardless, Elder Johnson is now completely on the Lord's errand.

We had two baptisms this week, and I got to baptize for the first time ever!  The first was Ange (Ricardo).  I started teaching Ricardo when I got here but he went on a trip to Gabon for a few months.  He is the son of a Jehovah witness pastor and I have already relayed the situation he was put into by his father.  He has a lot of questions but he has enough faith that they never become a problem.  After his baptism and confirmation he bore his testimony in church!  He said he knew the Book of Mormon was true and that this church is true.  Also Djo gave a powerful testimony! (he was baptized in august)  That made me so happy to see that the fruits of our labor are being kept!

Roland is the second new member of the church.  I baptized him which was kind of nerve racking but it all worked out.  He is the son in law of a very strong member and the brother of another great sister.  Soeur Dilov!  We love this family and they have been such a blessing to missionary work here in Africa.  From them we have baptized about 6 other people.  Lesson to be learned - give your friend’s number to the missionaries.  They can help you! We have been working with the branch a lot lately to try and get them
to trust us even more with their friends and family member's
information.  We will see how that goes.  As you know president Sombo doesn’t take too strong of a liking to us. We had another argument with him in his office yesterday.  But we are determined to help everyone here we can.  Elder Lundberg is great and we get along fine.  No problems.  I’m probably a little more humble than I was when I started with Elder Baker.  This week, like I said has been good for me.  The next year and a half I am expecting the miracles to increase!  Ahh, I’m out of time for the week, but I love you all and wish you the best.  Thanks for the prayers.  I’ll have to pay you back with my prayers this week!

Love Elder Johnson

PS - I saw a dump truck do a pop a wheelie the other day. haha

10-29-13 No Fancy Titles This Week............

This week has been awful! To start off the week we were attacked by a massive spider Tuesday. It was about the size of our hands and so we tried to kill it.  We trapped it under a can and then tried to burn it with by making a flame throwing with air-freshener and a match. Ha-ha.  Sadly, Elder Lavering wasn’t too good of a shot and so in the end we just killed it with a broom. 

Also, I was accused by some South Africans of being a spy!  They swore I was from the FBI or CIA and that I was really here to see how we could infiltrate Africa.

As it is the season of scary stories and spooky tales - I have a story for you all about the scariest night of my life.  Friday at 1am I was awoken by Elder Lundberg shaking me violently yelling, "Johnson, Johnson, get up! I don’t know what the heck is going on but get up!"   There were loud banging sounds that sounded like gunshots and shattering of glass.  The sound was coming from our garage and we all remembered we forgot to lock the inner gate to the apartment!  So at 1am we were thinking that someone is breaking into the house and we were freaking out, especially because there have been two murders in Pointe Noire recently!  After about 10 minutes it stopped and we learned that it was just a crazy drunk guy smashing windows in the apartment under us.  This was the scariest night of my life!!

Ngasaki was supposed to be baptized but it turns out that he has a fiancé that he doesn’t want to give up.  So that’s 6 months of work that may never produce fruits.  Aflonse is a member that was paralyzed and was doing better with the branch members help but now the members don’t visit him and so he doesn’t eat for days on end or have water.  We bought him water and food on Friday and then talked to the Branch President on Sunday.  To which the president chastised us for bragging about our service.  So disappointing!  We just want to get him some help.

To top off the week I got a “Dear John Email” from Cassie.  I can’t blame her, after all I’m 8000 miles away in a 3rd world country. This week has been so rough and I am just about ready to come home.  I’m not sure what that would do to you guys but Africa is a rough ride for me, I guess.  I’ll keep you updated on my plans and how I’m doing but until then, I love you all and hope all is well for you, which it sounds like it is!

Elder Johnson

PS - Note from Mom to blog followers:  Please go to the contact page above and consider writing Julius a postcard or short email to encourage him and uplift him.  Any positive thoughts would be appreciated as that may help give him the additional strength to push through the trials he'll experience in the next year and a half in Africa.  

10-22-13 Slinging Mud...........

Sorry about the weird Links - not sure what that glitch is all about...

The rainy season has started kicking into gear so every night it will just down pour! One night mud was being blown into our room. And when the power goes out it’s almost impossible to get a full nights rest. But that is Africa, and I love it!

This week has been very fast and not too many crazy stories. We are teaching a Nigerian named John. He’s amazing. He quit his job because they won’t give him Sundays off and now owns a hat selling stand. He is awesome and should continue to progress. He also somehow knew about the marriage rule in the church before we taught him. He was already working on the DOT and so we will see where that goes! 

Ngasaki was supposed to be baptized but he never showed up for his interview. We will try again next week. Ricardo is doing well. His dad reopened his monetary support so Ricardo does not have to worry about starving! 

Elder Lundberg and I are getting along very well.  We teach very well together and are both dedicated. We are on opposite ends of the mission though. He has 4 months left and I have been out for 5 months. By the way - that is ridiculous! Almost a 1/4 of the mission finished and I am still learning French and the scriptures. Transfer letters come this week again and so I don’t know where I’ll be in 2 weeks. I’ve been here for 3 transfers so I could change spots. 

We have a fun activity planned for today - we are going to the beach one last time with the Wheatly’s before they leave for America.  Should be fun! Well life continues for both me and all you at home. What are you all doing for Halloween? I don’t think we do anything special. 

Well, if you have any questions I am here to answer them. Thanks for all the prayers and support. Congrats Maya on all the great things you are doing at home. Sounds like you are getting really involved in school and church activities which is great! Hopefully you are all having success in all your endeavors - school, work, and play. 

Love you guys! 

Elder Johnson