06-16-14 A Long Long Email

I loved the pictures of Comicon - looks like it was a blast, so I’d be pumped to go with you guys! I'm glad the business trip went well for you, mom, as well. Sounds like home life is pretty smooth sailing for the moment. 

Out here things aren’t too different. Some fun experiences of the week. So remember how I always said I wanted a big family? Yeah, I’m not sure I want that anymore. Here's why. For the last 2 Sundays I have been forced to babysit primary kids during sacrament meeting. Not really by choice - the kids just like me so they take a seat next to me and the parents aren’t around - so it’s like forced babysitting started by the kids. The first week I was taking care of Regian, Beldin, and their little 3yr old sister Methusalah. It was rough. Trying to get them to sing and pray and not run around. While also trying to keep them quiet and calm and entertained. Making sure my planner kept getting passed around so everyone had a drawing turn only caused more problems (and a mess of scribbles on its pages). I almost lost control of the situation when the pinching and slapping started or when Methusalah was pulling threads out of her dress; BUT the dress and all of us survived. ha-ha :)

This week it was an older kid sitting with me - an 8 year old. This little girl was not as nice as Regian and Beldin. Basically this week I was just trying to keep her from ripping my hymn book (and also keeping her quiet)! When I would grab the book she would start getting louder. Also she was determined to pinch and bite me to death! She would whisper "je vais te blesser" or "I will hurt you" - kinda scarey ha-ha. In the end all was well, only thing that was hurt was my dream of a big family! I think 4 will be enough for me. 

Ntambwe and I have had some good experiences teaching this week. And by good I mean it’s good that we had them because we gained some important experience. Here in Africa a new church is becoming super popular - Adventists! Or the seventh day church. There big thing is they say the Sabbath is on Saturday, as that is the seventh day in the week and God blessed the seventh day. 

Okay, good idea and it’s right in a way but wrong as well, let me explain why to you. First problem with the logic - when God created the earth he wasn’t using our modern day calendars. Its men who designated Monday and Tuesdays and such. So really God designated the 7th day as Sabbath, but it never says Saturday in the creation. Okay, clear, but even a scriptural account explains the problem. Yes, true. Old testament, Sabbath is Saturday. Awesome everyone is on same page. But that’s law of Moses - when Christ came he established the gospel. And after his resurrection which happened on a Sunday, the Sabbath was changed to that day. After all to remember Christ’s sacrifice on the Sabbath, what better day than the day his atonement was completed? Scriptural proof is in Acts chapter 20 when it says "Paul and the apostles gathered to break the bread". Obviously taking the sacrament. So even in the bible it explains that Sunday is the new day of worship.

The main problem with Adventists attitude, is they are so blocked on this point that they don’t even want to hear about anything else. Even with the proof and logic above they simply won’t have it - so teaching them is impossible. We taught a man named, Pascal. The lesson took 2 1/2 hours and we got nowhere. It was like pulling teeth trying to get him to commit to pray about our message. It’s crazy how popular this church is becoming. 

Also we had a meeting with Jehovah's Witnesses! One was a 70 year old mama that is hilarious! The first day we crossed them and fixed the rendezvous we said, "You’re Jehovah witnesses, right?". She responded "Yup, Jehovah, the real name of God!".

 We tried to keep it away from arguing and just explaining our message which actually worked, a little. We explained the restoration completely and I think they understood what we said. However when I tried to commit them to pray they responded like this: "No I refuse to pray about this" and the other "I will never pray about this!".

Last crazy teaching appointment - A man named John wanted to talk with us only because I am American. basically whenever we tried to teach about the gospel he just wanted to know why Africa isn’t rich or politically powerful. The dialogue from the lesson went like this:

Me, "So God called a prophet today whose name is Thomas S Monson"

John, "If God called an African as prophet would you accept it?"

Me, “Of course, IF he was called of God"

John, "No, Johnson. Johnson. Johnson, God calls African prophets everyday!"

Me, "Umm, no...no he really doesn’t. He calls one prophet for the world."

John, "If God was universal then there would be Africans preaching to me right now." (oblivious to the fact that there is a Congalais teaching with me)

Me, "Good point, there is a Congolais sitting next to me who preaches the gospel, so yeah universal."

John, "No, Johnson. Johnson. Johnson, I’m not against you. Johnson, we're friends Johnson..."

And thus the lesson continued for an hour. In the end I had to explain to him that the White House is called the White house because the paint is white and it's a house because someone lives there. Also that Martin Luther King Jr. is not the one that started the Protestant movement (Martin Luther) and he is also not a prophet simply because he said, "I had dream". Also he tried arguing what American culture was like with me. WHAT!? I’m American, I think I know pretty well what it's like to live in America! That lesson ended with me literally walking out of his house, departing with an insult after he ridiculed us and our church to our faces. : (

So this week I have gained a lot of experience from teaching. Sadly, even in Africa, there are people that just refuse to listen. But the good news is the recent converts I've helped baptize are all still active and doing incredibly well in the church! So far not a single one has left the church. In Congo I baptized maybe, 20 people. And a lot are less-active. Here I've baptized 5 and all are still active!!!

Ntambwe is doing well. He is a little upset with me for the insult I throw at John, but understandable, since I’ve gotten to Yaoundé I’ve become much more aggressive with teaching. Ntambwe told me this morning however, that he doesn’t want to do anything together except plan and teach. Basically, he's decided that we will only work together as little as possible - let's hope the companionship holds together for 4 more weeks.

I love all you guys. Usually, when we missionaries talk about home life, my stories are always coupled with; "once with my brothers" or "as a family". I miss hanging out with you guys and am excited for all the things we will do together upon my return! Have an amazing week and do a good job following spiritual promptings! 

Love, 

Elder Johnson     

06-09-14 Where’s Your Ticket

Walking over to the cyber, I said to another missionary, "I don’t know
what I’m going to write about to my family, all my experiences are the
same". So this week we haven’t had a lot crazy stories. Just work as
always.

But I guess I can start by explaining my companionship. Ntambwe is a
super hard worker, and his mission means everything to him. Also, he
is super compassionate towards our amis, I think he just relates more
to their stories and problems; which is a super good quality. He's
really different from Kampoy as well. Kampoy was super social and
talkative (kinda like a girl ha-ha) and was a little more relaxed. If I
had to make a comparison, I would say Ntambwe is more like me at the
beginning of my mission and Kampoy worked more like me now. Honestly,
our arguments have just been over little things that then blow up into
massive problems. I think the little arguments are pretty much over
though, which is nice. We both recognize that we prefer to work, even
if it means working with someone different than us. So I guess we will
see how the next 5 weeks ago.

This week we had a baptism as well. Marcel, has been studying with
missionaries for almost a year! and finally I got him in the water! I
think it was just being super stern with him that helped. For a long
time when I arrived we taught him even though he didn’t want to be
baptized. He was basically a member in honesty. He came to church
every week. Read the book of Mormon and doctrine and alliance. Knew
the members, but he simply had some problems with commandments. About
a month ago we told him that we won’t keep teaching him because he had
learned everything and now needed to choose baptism or not (but we
said as soon as he was ready we would be there). And it worked - he
chose! On Sunday it was hilarious, because about 40 minutes after
leaving the church with some members, they all came back. Kind of
strange? Apparently, Marcel was just talking about the Gospel nonstop
with them and didn’t want to go home, so he came back to church and
hung out with all the members from the other branch! It was nice to
finally have his membership made official.

That seems to be all, today we played basketball with everyone and a
new temporary senior couple, the Gates. Even though Elder Gates is 60
he was dang good - and also talked a lot of trash talk. ha-ha. He would
go up to others and say "Show me your ticket! Do you have your ticket?
I mean you might as well be watching the game" It was fun, but
left us all a little wiped.

I think that's all I got for this week. New ward mission leader! Nde
is a member from London that got called to be our leader - so that’s
going to be cool!

I love y'all! Happy summer vacation, let me know of all the fun plans
you are making :) best of luck to all of you, I love you!

Elder Johnson

06-02-14 It’s the End of the World as We Know It

I just read your email about Peter, that's extremely shocking. I’m relieved that Peter is doing ok as of now and is recovering fine. If you get the chance do me a favor - tell Peter (or Sister Carpenter), "I love him, and will be praying fervently for him." Also you have to add in a classic "Peter Carpenter type joke", like this one - What do you call a man with no arms and no legs playing in the leaves?  Russell.  

That made me smile a good deal, so maybe Peter will like it as well. 

That news seems to dwarf anything I had to say this week. So like I said, Ntambwe came to work with me this week. Our companionship started on Wednesday. There are definitely some similarities between him and kampoy - I mean they both have some African characteristics - but there are some stark contrasts. Sunday, some sparks started flying between us, and by sparks I mean massive fire balls. It worked itself out with the help of the zone leaders - it'll be a long 6 weeks! But gotta accept the challenge, right?

As of news this week, we walked. Walked again, walked after that. Did I mention we walked? The day after that not too surprisingly - we actually shuffled ha-ha. In reality, this week was pretty plain. The transfers changed everything up so we have just been getting settled in. 

Sorry it’s a short email but I think that’s all the news in honesty. I love ya guys as always and wish you the best with last week of school! (or first week of summer, I forget) But have some fun and be a beast!

05-26-14 History is Beginning to Repeat Itself

We just got transfer information! So, Kampoy is going back to Kinshasa as expected - he asked President Cook to put him there for the end of his mission and so no surprise. BIGGER SURPRISE - I am working with another African! Elder Ntambwe. Funny thing is I’ve already lived in the same apartment with him when I was in Pointe-Noire. The story goes that while I was being trained by Baker, Ntambwe was being trained by Lavering in the same house. This transfer is so crazy - people are leaving and coming all over the place - and now I am the 2nd oldest missionary in the city. Also a companion from the MTC, Elder Leavitt, is coming to work in Yaoundé; which I’m pumped about. So to answer your question, yes I am expecting some big things this week, namely a new companion. Who knows maybe the rest of my mission will be with Africans?

We also had a baptism - uber short notice - but we didn’t know until Thursday. Thony was the brother, and he's got a good conversion story. 1 year ago he found and bought a Book of Mormon from some street venders (who resell the free copy given to them) Just out of curiosity - 2 weeks ago he walked into the church and explained that he knows the book is true and was looking for the church it espoused. Cool! True to the story, he had learned all the doctrine from the Book of Mormon, everything from the Plan of Salvation to commandments. Our teaching went super fast, 2 weeks fast, and we decided he would be ready Saturday. Thony is Ferious' age (22), and so we will be encouraging him to go on a mission, but it was incredible that randomly someone so prepared took the initiative to be baptized. 

I guess there are a few lessons from his story. One, if you want to know the Doctrine start with the Book of Mormon. Thony knew it all because he read - he didn’t need missionaries. Also if you want a testimony of this church, again start with the Book of Mormon! Might sound repetitive, but that’s the most important book for members. It solves problems and builds faith. I'll emphasis; I am a big avocate for the Book of Mormon - READ IT! Two, don’t be afraid to act. There is some amis that wait for months for baptism, Thony just jumped in the font as soon as possible. So don’t be afraid to act in changing, fulfilling callings, or doing ordinances (those things are important). 

On Thursday we went out to lunch with the Canadian diplomat, Brother Laurence. Sickest. Lunch ever! We just had a good time talking about Temples and missionary work - all in French. Sadly, he's going back to Egypt Wednesday so who knows, maybe I’ll see him again around Africa? 

Now that I've passed my year mark it seems like some experiences are repeating themselves. Maybe I’m just that experienced now, or maybe I need to go through them again, or a mission only has so many curve-balls to throw your way, either way I’ve been out here for a while I guess. That is all that really happened this week. I taught in church yesterday, which reaffirmed my love for teaching. I've thought that maybe I’ll just be a teacher when I'm older since I like it so much - idk. 

I've been writing Peter for a few weeks and it seems like he’s doing well, same with Braiden - occasionally, we write back and forth. Hey, I’d love to hear from siblings and such, I’m going to call you out - Ferious, Drew, Kaleb, Gabbie (Maya your exempt for sending me movie quotes ha-ha). But I’d love to hear about the news in your lives, even if you think it’s boring send it my way :) I love y'all and hope things not only go well but keep getting better. 

Speaking of unimportant stories - I was giving myself a haircut, because I’m just that skilled, and it was looking super good! Well I took off the safety-guard-thingy to cut some longer hairs I missed - and well, I took out a chunk of hair from the side of my head ha-ha! So although I looked good on Skype a week ago, now my dew is a bit funky ha-ha :) ohh well, it don’t matter, hair grows back. 

Keep doing what you do best! Have a rockin' last week of school and awesome summer vacation. I love you all bunches (literally, I love you guys!)

Elder Johnson

05-19-14 There’s Always Next Week

Julius could not Skype on Mothers Day because the power was out.  He said the he lives on one side of a large hill and the Senior couple lives on the other side, as well as the President of Yaoundé. The power rarely goes out on the President’s side of the hill but is out on the missionaries’ side quite often. And they don’t have running water but the Presidents side always has water.

Julius Writes –

It was so nice talking to all of you - even if the 30 minutes went by super quick. I already want it to be Christmas to talk again! I guess this email will be a follow up of our conversation and some ajoutes (additions in French). 

After the conversation I realized that I could’ve answered some questions more in-depth. So here we go. You asked about entertainment, and what Africans do. So soccer is the biggest thing for the guys and hand-ball for the girls. They spend so much time watching and playing. Especially since Cameroon has a worldwide team - the Lions. Alcohol is big as well. But also pirated DVDs are a massive source of entertainment. Most people don’t have cable, and original DVDs can cost 8000 CFCA. So venders sell tables full of homemade copies. Everything from Disney to Jackie Chan! The copies cost $1 so pretty inexpensive. Once a missionary informed then that pirating is illegal to which the sellers responded, "Only for you Americans, we don’t have money so it’s okay that we copy the films". . 

Also about the rich whites. Living in Africa is super expensive if you want nice western living - and although a lot of the houses are subsidized by banks and companies, it’s also just the type of whites that come to Africa to work which creates such a difference. Its business owners (usually of construction) and diplomats that come, people of no small reputation, thus they can afford the western housing which is simply expensive because it’s built in Africa. 

I don’t think there was too much that went on this week that's worth of note that I didn’t mention in our phone call. This week is going to go by so fast, zone conference with President Cook tomorrow; baptism Saturday of an 8 year old; so it  shouldn’t be too long until I’m back here writing you guys. Side note - I talked with Braiden - and we decided that we think we'd like to room together again when we return to BYU. 

Well have a fantastic week of finishing up school! keep working hard and have some sweet adventures. I love you guys bunches!

Elder Johnson 

05-12-14 Funny Video

While cleaning today I had an idea. So happy mother's day mom! Not only did you help me learn how to clean with endless hours of wall scrubbing but you also helped me develop a light hearted attitude! I love you (mom) bunches!

- julius​

PS – I cannot upload his video although it was funny!  He was shirtless with shorts on and barefoot and was sliding across the tile floor of the apartment while the middle of mopping which made it like a tile slip and slide. He asked Kampoy if he wanted to try and Kampoy replied, “No, I will look foolish!”

05-05-14 Lesson Learned

 

This week Kampoy and I have been working hard. We got up at 6:30 every day and studied and did everything as stated in the handbooks. Some results but overall just another week. There was one super cool spiritual experience I wanted to share.

So when Kampoy first came to work with me, I had the thought - "You need to go see Daniel". Daniel is an English speaker who is an awesome member. The missionaries love him and he is completely dedicated to the gospel. I rationalized and pushed the thought away. I thought "Daniel is an awesome member who doesn’t need our teachings. And plus Kampoy can meet him at church. I’m sure I don’t need to go see him." And it was left at that, Kampoy and I worked last transfer without seeing him.

Now fast-forward to present day. Kampoy was praying at dinner on Thursday and the thought entered again into my head, "You ignored the prompting to go see Daniel 6 weeks ago. You need to go see him tomorrow!" It was such a strong impression and with it came the realization that I hadn’t seen Daniel at church for a month! The next day I penciled him in for 3pm. In the sector that day (Friday) Kampoy asked "Why are we going all the way out there today, we have no one to see out there?" I explained the prompting and he agreed to go. When the time came we left for Daniel's. Walking the road to his house I was anxious to arrive and see Daniel - I wanted to know why I had such an impression the night before. When we got to Daniel's house, a picture of him was set up outside the gate. (in Africa that means someone died). We entered the house and found his family, but not Daniel. He had passed away 2 am that very morning! We spoke with the family and informed the Branch president. I walked away very regretful that I hadn’t listened to the prompting the first time.

I don’t think I have ever had a prompting so clear and precise as that one. Not even when I prayed to know which college to attend or if I should serve a mission - that prompting was so clear and strong! If another prompting like that ever comes again I don’t want to wait to act. This week that is the only big story I have to tell. But I'll add my testimony that God hears and answers prayers. And that he speaks to us today through the spirit. I encourage you guys to act on promptings you get.

The story however doesn’t end there. Sunday half the branch went to Daniels house where we sang songs and gave a spiritual thought. It was fantastic to see the members actually participate. Because Daniel spoke English, the Anglophones in the branch stood up and bore testimony that Daniel is alright. One member stood and boldly said, "Daniel had all the ordinances necessary to be saved - for the members of this church, the loss of Daniel is not really a loss at all. We know he is alright!"

Next Sunday I should be skyping with you guys, which I am pumped about! So prepare some awesome questions and stuff : ) I love you guys! Have a rockin' week - I will actually talk to you soon!!

04-28-14 What the Chinoise? Part 2

Thank you for the email this week. I absolutely love hearing about all the adventures going on at home. Hand-guns, 5k runs, and plays may not seem like a lot but they are incredible stories for me : ) So thanks, I love y'all and miss you.

This week was kinda short because we had conference that took up Saturday and Sunday. It was awesome, even though I had to play technician by setting up projectors and laptops and trouble shoot broken DVDs. All that problem solving was actually super exciting for some reason. But conference was really good. The music was awesome – it’s so funny because Africans love singing, so whenever the tabernacle choir sang members and Kampoy would quietly hum or sing along, even if the choir was singing a different arrangement. The best talk was Bishop Stevens (presiding bishop) about our 4 minutes of performance on the earth. I love conference!

Working out in the sector was hot this week! The days are filled with sunshine which is turning me very tan. I was changing out of some old garments when Elder Kampoy said "Elder Johnson! You are two colors!!" haha Pretty bad farmers tan I guess : )

Now onto the big story of the week and explaining of the title. So after a day of work we had 2 hours left before the end and nothing to do. Also me and kampoy have a goal to teach white people! So we decided to do some door knocking in the rich neighborhood behind our house. To explain these neighborhoods, all the houses have massive metal gates and guards who stand outside (also massive dogs inside, as we learned haha). Missionaries have told me that these houses never accept brochures because the guards just don’t let you past, and the guards themselves never can progress in learning about the gospel because they are so busy with work. Anyway, Kampoy and I walked down one road, and true, no one on the streets. We looped back having done nothing. As we were about the leave the neighborhood, I had the thought, "this is ridiculous, we are too scared to even ring a door bell!" So last house on the street, I rang the doorbell - no answer. But hey, not too hard! I exclaimed to Kampoy, "I want to go back, walk the same loop but knock every door!" Turning around we did just that. If guards came to us, we simply said, "We are missionaries sharing our message, can we talk with whomever lives here?" and nearly every house agreed, or at least accepted brochures. Contacting is pointless - FALSE!  Near the end we came across a crazy Chinese looking house. I knocked and then a Chinese man named "Lu Xi" answered. He had a thick French accent and had met with missionaries in Paris. What?! We left a brochure and took his number. That is the big success of that contacting. We also stumbled across the house of someone working for the American Embassy. I laughed when I saw the same uniforms that stopped me a few weeks earlier haha. And my luck with the embassy is still rotten. After explaining who we are the guard took our passports copies them and returned and said, the man is not interested. Stupidly I asked "who is it that lives here?". I got a fast reply, "You don’t need to know that" and a slammed gate! lol Such a good contacting experience.

But wait! There's more! A few days later we received a phone call, the unknown number said, "I'm not a Christian, but I read your plan of salvation brochure and I am interested, can you come to my house? I live next to the Japanese Embassy."...THE CHINESE HOUSE!!  We dropped everything and headed to the house. We then met, Yin, a Chinese man who has no knowledge of Christianity but wants to know what we believe. That was the most nerve racking lesson every, because I knew that if we failed we would not be invited back, everything had to be perfect. And although I said some things that I thought would get us thrown out, he accepted a return appointment and agreed to start praying this week!!! I can’t explain how little he knows about Christianity. Stuff that even Pagan Americans know, he does not. We read a bible verse (after explaining what the bible is) and he read the word "angel", to which he asked "What’s an angel?". The good thing about that is we can fill his head with true doctrine. I love Yin! I can’t wait to see how he progresses.

Also this week I tallied up all the lessons I have ever given in one year, and I would say I'm a veteran- 799 lessons as of today! Kinda bummed that I fell short of the 800 mark but I'll get it tomorrow. Not too shabby, I'd say. As I've been busy meditating a lot about my mission, I learned this week, that I love the sense of purpose a mission gives you. I honestly had a hard time trying to think of other eternally productive things I'll do after my mission. I learned that I honestly do not want to go home. I love the badge and the work. Teaching is such a passion of mine. But maybe I'm just struggling with feelings of inadequacy and fear.

Kampoy is taking control of our schedule this week to try and push us harder (we had a heart to heart last night and we agree that we will work harder if he is playing leader). So maybe after being forced to work super hard this week things will change - I'll keep you updated!

Thanks for the love and prayers. I miss you guys bunches and hope this week goes well with school and work and play. Go be awesome and have a rockin' time!

04-21-14 Guess Plans Don’t Always Work Out

Sad news - the baptism did not happen this week. We talked with Regine and Beldin Tuesday and it turns out that their dad in reality said no. He would like for them to wait for their mother to return to Cameroon - but currently she is doing something out in Thailand, so baptism probably won’t be happening anytime soon. But hey, it was still a good week!

In thinking about this week, I can’t remember that much that was monumental. Kampoy and I are teaching and finding to our best efforts. Some investigators have returned Book of Mormons and pamphlets (which is a first), others express a desire to have priesthood power without becoming members, just some interesting situations.

Jean Victor is an awesome investigator, he has been coming to church and meeting with us for 3 weeks and he has embraced the gospel! This week we had a lesson with his whole family, which is the first lesson I've ever given to an entire family. Normally, only a few are interested at a time - or the fathers tell us that they want to scope the church out before their family. But anyway, back to the story, first we took a taxi to the edge of the city. We decided that we wanted to show the restoration video because it would keep everyone interested. As we prepared the dvd player we learned that Jean Victor's dvd player only read the music and image from the dvd, not the commentary. So kampoy and I got creative, we narrated the video ourselves. Kinda rough, but the coolest part was citing the first vision with the video and music behind us. We would cite the vision while the Mormon tabernacle choir was singing on the cd - it might not sound too cool but the spirit was super strong and it was the coolest rendition of the first vision I've ever given.

As it is the Easter season, Africa blew up in celebration (mostly just flashy hypocrisy). But some lady out of Yaounde claimed that JESUS CHRIST came to her home and was waiting for everyone to come and visit him!!  Apparently that was legit enough for the general population, because within hours thousands of people were going to the house. New channels arrived to film and report on the situation. Since Thursday, we have not had a day pass without being asked if it's true. So in case you are wondering, Jesus decided to return to the earth, and his entry was in a shake in a town unknown to the world.  Lol  Along with this Easter tale, our branch president forgot it was Easter so the talks were not “Eastery” in nature, actually one was on Joseph Smith.

But I had a thought on Sunday, I was sitting in church and I thought, "Today is special because we get to remember the atonement of Christ. Wait! We do  remember his atonement every week anyway with the sacrament, right? So why would this Sunday need to be any more special than the other Sundays? Hey! Easter isn’t really an extra special occasion to remind ourselves of Jesus because we are already remind ourselves of Christ every week!"  I’m glad I belong to the real church of Christ! : )

Next week we will be listening to General Conference!  I guess conference weekend is a week late for us here, but I’m sure it'll be awesome.

The news from home sounds awesome. I am so proud of Kaleb and Maya for working so hard this school year - way to be! Sorry y'all were sick; here people get sick but it's always chalked up to be malaria (even when it’s just a headache haha). In fact, I had a cold as well this last week. Finally got rid of it Saturday, so I'm back to tip top shape. Speaking of sicknesses…. reminds me that a recent convert died here due to an infection.  She was a 30 year old sister who had just finished after baptism lessons with us and had been called as an instructor in the relief society. Sad, but also happy because she was so faithful for her whole life :)

I think that was all the news I had for this week. Thank you for the continued encouragement and chastisement (I guess it’s my turn the be the one receiving the counsel in the family haha but I truly appreciate it!) I especially liked the Lorax quotes!

04-14-14 What A Week!

To start the week, Africa has been getting pounded with rain and insane lightning storms. That’s provided some nice cool weather that is rare. In fact some nights I slept in jeans and a sweater to keep warm. So true, you can be cold in Africa.

Running through the week, Elder Kampoy will be staying another transfer with me in the same place. Which both of us are okay with! This week he has continued to teach me Swahili and he also taught me how to make fufu. Basically flour and water….in reality not basically….that’s all it is. But it comes out in solid balls that are used as a filler food. I will have to make it at home sometime – it’s actually not that bad.

Saturday was a very good day, surprisingly. Our activity was awfully planned Saturday morning. Kampoy and I were pretty worried and frustrated. To add to the stress, our Ward Mission Leader told us before our baptism that the branch president had expressed zero confidence in us, and actually was ragging on us in their branch council!  The whole day we were seriously on edge - to make things worse other branches put on activities that took the youth's attendance. So scared because a lack of an activity and lack of potential attendance, we went into it shooting from the hip.

Now the good part of the story! We had planned to do a Q and A for investigators as well as play kickball. Activity started at 5pm with 20 members...no investigators. Kampoy and I decided to do a Q and A for members. An opportunity to ask any question on any subject to missionaries. Things started slow, but after 10 minutes questions were posed and we spent a bunch of time talking about revelation. Perfect because we have been having problems with members understanding "receiving" revelation for the branch president and others. The activity became a perfect opportunity to correct and clarify everyone. (strangely, those that came are those that have caused problems) In the end, 30 people attended and we had gained massive respect from leaders. I don’t think for one minute that what happened was merely coincidental! The day after, we were invited to give talks in sacrament for a later date and the presidency talked high of us in church meetings!

That same day we had a baptism for Daniel and Desmond. Concerning them, I'll tell you how they found the church. Daniel had been talking with his dad one day. After a few hours he asked his dad, "I need a bible, can you find me a bible?". Daniel's father simply disregarded the request. The next day, missionaries gave Daniel's father a brochure. The dad, mockingly, gave the brochure to Daniel and said, "You want a bible? Start here, with this!" Daniel loved the brochure and immediately called us. As he says, missionaries were there at his house (Hunt and I) 20 minutes later : )  Daniel was prepared and accepted and changed immediately. He later brought Desmond, his cousin, saying, "You are always dragging me to church, this time I’ taking you.  "Two months later these two are baptized. How awesome!

Also, it’s apparently Easter this week. I know that because I have been seeing some celebrations around the place. Example - Sunday was Palm Sunday. The day Jesus rode into Jerusalem and everyone threw down palm leaves. Sunday morning every African had a palm leave and had a parade through a part of the city (running right in front of our church ironically). To give you some more description, in the taxi on the way to church we got stuck in traffic. Literally the whole road was flooded with people. Thousands upon thousands. People who forgot to bring leaves bought them from vendors on the side of the road - reminded me of the merchants selling in the temple in Jesus' time. It was interesting to see this tradition in their culture.

In other news! Regine and Beldin got permission to be baptized!!! This week again we will have a baptism. I was so happy when they came up to me after sacrament and told me the news Such a full week of work!. After this week, we gained the respect of leaders, added to the church amazing members, and made plans for another baptism!

Today, I forgot, we haven’t had water for a week. So today, we took 3, 200 Liter trash cans to the church and filled them up. The district president (stake president) brought a truck to help us transport them - awesome! One problem...we live on the third floor of an apartment building - merde! We unloaded the cans outside and then it was up to us to move these cans into the apartment. Pause….1 liter of water is 2.2 pounds. Each can weighed nearly 400 pounds! Not to add we had played football and Frisbee this morning. Now again, for the happy part. Kampoy and I got one up to the apartment only to return and find the guards helping bring another up the stairs.

It was honestly surprising to see that. I expected people to gather and laugh, I mean there was already a group doing that very thing just like when we pushed the whell barrow. Not to mention since I am white, I usually get the racist treatment. My heart was softened today by these guards. Sadly, I later went outside to mop the stairs that we had dirtied with spilling water, only to get a snide comment. Some guy walked by and said "hey boss, I’m looking for work maybe I can come work for you over there hahaha". Overall, like I said, I appreciate the service from those guards.

That was my week entirely, I think. We learned our new mission president will be an African from Lumubashi, DRC. Sadly, President Cook will no longer be coming to Yaounde, so I won’t get to talk to him - I guess it'll have to be over email. I’m feeling fine. Happy as ever.

I love you all and hope this week goes well - finish school strong!

04-07-14 Monkey Play

So first off don’t worry I’m not depressed or sad. Even though I miss home I am having a blast as I think the photos show!

I’m impressed and happy to hear about your indexing efforts! That’s awesome that you are preparing for a temple trip with family names. Let me know if you find any crazy things while searching our ancestry.

Sadly, I believe the penguins are in South Africa, but I'll try and steal a baby lion from the zoo. Speaking of which, I just went there today with Kampoy. We were laying on our beds relaxing when I proposed that we go search for this "mystery zoo" that no missionary has ever went to for some reason. He agreed and 10 minutes later we were there!!  Happily, the gate was open and no one there so we got a free zoo trip today. Mostly it was just filled with monkeys, a lot, but there were 3 lions and we got to see them being fed. Now, this zoo is not like Denver's zoo. To explain, imagine Jurassic Park…...okay, now just put monkeys in place of dinosaurs :)  All the fences were electrical, good idea, but they didn’t have roofs so the monkeys literally jumped out and wandered around. That is a little bit about our fun P-day adventure.

Lessons for the week were normal in honesty. Nothing too crazy on that note. Daniel and Desmend are two investigators being baptized this week which will be awesome. I'll explain more about them next week.

As with President Cook, he was really busy so our meeting with him was only for a few hours. Because we don’t have a senior couple, they stayed in a Hotel downtown. They invited us for breakfast on Wednesday, which was cool. Then we had a quick conference. Later he did interviews. Honestly he only had 5 minutes so we didn’t have time to talk a lot. He’ll be back on April 17, so I’ll get another chance to talk with him then. I will let you guys know what happens again when he comes and we actually talk.

This week was pretty plain, or at least I can’t remember anything right now. Sorry, I guess my mind is kinda all over the place still. Kampoy and I will be busy preparing for a baptism and a missionary activity this week, so I hope all goes well. We get transfer information next Monday as well. Kampoy could go back to Kinshasa - we just don’t know. He is from Lumubashi DRC and his family lives there also. His parents and 4 of the 9 children are members. He is the second missionary from his house. He is such a cool dude!!

 African Skits

 African Moon

 More Skits

03-31-14 Comic Relief

Julius has always loved drawing and used it a boredom filler or stress relief activity. I’m not sure what got his mind on this, but the funny thing is that Hemoglobin saved his life when he came down with Kawasaki’s disease at 6 months old. It covers the cells to keep them from attacking each other.  

                         La Fin = "The End!"

03-31-14 MADE IN THE USA!

Another good week, Kampoy and I have had some cool adventures. I’m glad you liked the comic I sent home and the pictures! Hopefully everyone is feeling a little better at the house. Adam sounds like a really cool guy, maybe I can go with him rock climbing when I get home. 

We taught Regine and Beldin again this week, but this time about missionary work! To make it interesting I let them wear my name badge, which they absolutely loved, and they role-played inviting me to church. Pretty good missionaries I'd say. 

Sadly the work in the sector has slowed down a lot. Investigators have either gone missing or stopped progressing. Turns out most investigators still have some problems that old missionaries never fixed so now their baptisms are pushed back significantly. Not surprisingly I've found that the Book of Mormon is the one thing that helps no matter what. After wrestling with people over word of wisdom and obedience, or church attendance - the silver bullet is always when they read the Book of Mormon. In fact, when people have problems the first question we ask is, "How is the reading of the Book of Mormon going?" Almost always, the response is - "Well, you see Elders, I haven’t read in a long time, I’m just so busy." That is the spiritual advice I will send home today - if you are going through difficult times, ask yourself that question, "How is the reading of the Book of Mormon going?", and maybe you'll find a solution. (I know I’ve been doing that recently and it seems to help). 

So - stories from the week…..After teaching a lesson with Kampoy, we decided that we wanted to stop at the American Embassy to check it out. We were in the area, we had time, and well why not? On the same road as the American Embassy there is the Saudi Arabian embassy. We turned onto the road and I thought. "Hey that’s a cool photo, the American flag and Saudi Arabian flag side by side." Remember, we were a distance from the American embassy, and the building itself was hidden from view at this point. So I pull out a camera and snap! Continuing down the road I felt pretty sly, like a secret agent. Now in front of America's embassy, a Cameroonian police officer stops me and asks, "Do you have a camera?" The conversation went something like this:

Me: "Yeah"

Officer: "Did you take a photo of the embassy?"

Me: "NO! I’m not stupid I know it’s forbidden, I took

         a photo of the Saudi Arabian Embassy." 

Officer: "Well I was told from security inside that

              you took a photo so I need to get your

              identification."

Luckily, I had a copy of my passport and visa with me otherwise I would be sending this email from the jail cel in the American embassy. haha.  The funniest part of all this is literally the night before all the missionaries were joking about how no missionary ever gets checked on passports. That’s what I call Johnson luck! After 30 minutes my information was taken and 3 guards were questioning me (mostly just repeating each other in their questions because they thought I didn’t know French). I was tempted to ask if I could hold the guards FAL (gun) but decided against it - also not being sarcastic in saying I was a terrorist wanting to destroy the Embassy. Figured I was already causing problems. In the end I got a mug shot (more like my costco card smile) pinned up somewhere in the anti-terrorist section of the embassy. haha. 

The next day Kampoy and I were walking on a road that was being closed off for the entourage of the President’s wife. Soldiers were everywhere, and strangely, African women singing and dancing. But again a soldier stops ME!  Asking what’s in my bag. Now experienced in this area, I respond in my harshest voice, "Books, just books".  Again I refrained from asking to handle his G-36. But maybe next time I'll get the chance. These stories inspired my title, Stopped twice by police and each time I proudly showed my American passport, proving that I'm, MADE IN THE USA! :)

On another note, Kampoy is teaching my Swahili! It’s actually pretty similar to French so it’s coming fast! Tri-lingual here I come! 

Mission President is coming tomorrow and Wednesday, so wish me best of luck. I've honestly enjoyed these past two weeks but anything can happen. Also this week, but of lesser note, taught a lesson where a man wanted "some substance" that would enlighten and open his eyes. Wrong church  dude. And we attended a talent show with hilarious African skits that only make sense after living here. That was the week in a recap. 

General Conference is this weekend! I encourage all of you to watch it in its fullness and let me know what are the best talks. I remember clearly going to stake centers as a family and although we trashed the relief society room it always was worth the time. So thanks mom for dragging us along and going to Priesthood sessions with us as young men when we didn’t have anyone else to take us - I love conference, and that love started way back when in a stake center with a bingo board and M&Ms. : ) Happy Conference! 

Mi na kupenda! (I love you in Swahili)

Elder Johnson

03-25-14 I Love To See the Temple

Absolutely no one has been available this week. It’s been a little slow teaching wise. But the up side, is that me and Kampoy have had more time to get to know each other and we have found that we are pretty similar in attitude. We have quickly become best friends. 

I’m flipping through my planner to try and find something that was interesting this week. So, here are some stories from the week.

Last week I told you about Regine and Beldin. Well this week we had a lesson on Temples and it was the best lesson I’ve ever taught.  Because they are so young we can’t go too in depth. So I decided we would draw temples with them. We gathered pictures, paper, and markers and went to work. I could not believe the enthusiasm of the whole family.  Regine and Beldin's mom, holds a study group for neighborhood kids, so when we went the whole house was excited and participated. I have never seen 16 year old Africans get so excited (to say the least of the 8 year olds for who the lesson was intended)! I will attach pictures in another email of their art so you can see how fun it was. I guess it was good training for future kids that I will need to teach. 

Regine and Beldin are the two really young ones. 

Kampoy and I also got stuck in the rain twice this week!

  

Friday morning we had no one in our planner scheduled to teach.  We weren’t sure what we would do. The district leader then gave us a number of someone who had asked for the missionaries on Mormon.org. We called the guy and set up a rendez-vous. Meeting a long way from the city and behind a gas-station - it looked like a drug deal or something. haha  But there we were talking with Claver. Claver told us that he found a Book of Mormon somewhere. He can’t remember where, but he read it and gained a testimony of the book and knows it’s true. This was a year ago, and since then he has been sharing the book with friends out in the village where he lives. For a year a group of 20 people have been sharing 1 Book of Mormon and have been holding unofficial study sessions. It wasn’t until he started to research the origins of the book that he came across a Facebook page for the church and found that there were members in Yaounde - so he requested us to come see him. Sunday he came to church and says he will come every Sunday.  Kampoy and I will go out to their group with church materials and present the church formally to them! Pretty exciting and crazy how the gospel can disperse on its own. I remember hearing that if the Book of Mormon had legs we wouldn’t need missionaries - well this book doesn’t have legs but somehow it found its way to a village and a group that was prepared!

Friday afternoon, we were waiting at the church for an amis (meeting), when branch leaders began to file into the building for branch council. One of them is President Omam, 1st counselor. Omam began by joking about the Dote (marriage money, which the church is against because it stops marriages). Omam made the comment that started an apostate flow of ideas, "The only reason the church is against the dote is because the leaders are white!". Then turning to me he said, "why do you allow homosexuality in America but say polygamy is a sin?". I quickly corrected him and explained that, I nor the church allow the two. Omam became an absolute jerk, yelling and attacking "white" ideas. With every phrase I got more and more upset and my French got worse and worse. I’m not sure if it’s clear what happened, but basically a leader yelled false doctrine in my face and undermined my calling as a missionary, referring to me as "as child who doesn’t know anything".  In the end, I left so upset that we stopped work for the rest of the day and emailed my mission president about the affair.  A few days later and I’m still furious about the whole thing.   

The week has been an interesting one - full of adventure just like I wanted. I committed to President Cook to stay another 2 weeks until he comes to Yaounde so we can talk face to face. Lately, I’ve had some crazy experiences that have made me laugh and some that had taught me some new things.