3-31-2014- Cynthia and Precious got baptized!

     3-31-2014- Cynthia and Precious got baptized!

3-31-2014- Cynthia and Precious got baptized!

William came to church for the first time since Precious was getting baptized. It was good to see her whole family there. Theo, her mom who is less active, came as well. Baptizing was pretty cool. Cynthia went first and then Elder Davies, Zone Leader, baptized Precious. Yesterday Elder Davies forgot to bring a white shirt to baptize in. So he had to used a gigantic, old, and stained one. I forgot to bring pants but I was able to find some there that were clean and the right size.

This week was the best week as far as lessons that we have ever had. Elder Haynes was impressed. Wednesday and Saturday were our best days. We have a whole bunch of new people we are teaching. Concorer has been coming out with us to teach the women investigators and he has been contributing well in each of the lessons. At fist we weren't too sure about him but I asked him what he thought about the Book of Mormon and the things we teach. He says, "It is real." He seemed interested in watching general conference so we will have to invite him to watch it. Tumelo needs to come to church more but he still reads and studies. Molefa, the diabetic who is going blind we gave an audio Book of Mormon. We dropped Moses because he won't progress.

On Friday we had a good zone meeting about being obedient, dropping investigators, and helping people progress towards baptism. It was really good. After that we helped Sister Tyler, Lionel's grandmother, move into a new building in the senior home. She was very grateful and gave us pizza. It was fun doing service again. Oh, on Sunday in sacrament meeting we sang the mission song. The people liked it but I'm still not a fan of singing.

On P-day last week was a lot of fun back at the game reserve. We got to chase rhinos around and stuff. I didn't get any pictures because my camera was at the flat but Elder Mcclellan got some amazing pictures of the rhinos and me with the rhinos. I probably will never get those pictures from him though. He is not one to share. Today we are going to see lions and cheetahs... I love Africa! A guy in our ward offered to take us up to Kruger's National Park for free! He is quite wealthy. We got it authorized so we can go. Well, that is a small summary of the week.

- Elder Johnson

Part of his email to his mom:

Yes, I got to baptize Cynthia. It was very cool. She bore a very good testimony. I think her son will get baptized sometime in the near future. The driving. I haven't had another chance to continue learning to drive. We are too busy on the 2 days we get to have the car. Yes, I have spent money for example hair clippers. I cut my own hair now. It doesn't seem much like fall. It is a bit cooler. that is all.

Part of his email to his dad:

I have not gotten another chance to drive because we don't get the car often and we are busy. Is Bishop Sharp your teaching companion now? How is he doing? We didn't get to finish email but we'll be back tonight.

Elder Winward became president last Sunday and I'll get to skype on their computer. Sounds like a cool movie. That is great that you can read the French version now. I is a good refresher I bet. I got your letter last week. Way to use the sandwich method, haha. Thanks for the encouragement. How do you think BYU did over all this year? Love you!  

- Elder Johnson

Notes about the pictures he sent:

P-DAY This has been the best pday activity

You should look up Kruger National Park sometime. I hear it is very cool. Bro. Sekhula is taking us.(another time)

Baptism of Cynthia

Baptism of Precious with her relatives

The guide with the lions. He pet the full grown ones on the snout!

Petting a cheetah

Cat nap

Holding a lion cub. (Circle of Life!)

Vehicle we rode in

Letter from Michael 3-24-2014-Baptisms this coming Sunday

Letter from Michael 3-24-2014-Baptisms this coming Sunday

Dear everyone,

So there will be two baptisms this coming Sunday. Precious, who is William's daughter is getting baptized. She used to be our investigator but is going to a boarding school now in the Zone Leader's are. Then Cynthia is still good for baptism on Sunday. Cynthia is having me baptize her and then her father will do the confirmation. Her father is no longer the branch president. The senior missionary, Elder Winward, is now the branch president.

I served in Mokopane again on Friday but this time with Elder Kafusi. It was good.  Elder Haynes and Elder George saw Tumelo on Friday. He has not come to church the past couple Sundays. He needs to get his priorities in order. Just after the lesson with him someone drove their car right through Tumelo's wall and left the car there. Random! Boy, I have got to get a picture of that! No one got hurt though. I hope not, anyway.

We now have a car two days a week. We barrow the zone leader's car on Tuesday's and Thursdays. Don't worry, we got it Authorized. The car is a manual so I will have to learn. Elder Haynes gave me one lesson so I've got the lower gears down okay. Pushing in the clutch all the time is a bit annoying. I think I will always prefer auto. A mission is hard but it is worth it. Good fruits are coming from hard work.

- Elder Johnson

Part of Michael’s letter to his dad.

Cynthia and Precious came to church. Bernard is able to walk a bit now. He came to the church. But he goes to the one that is a branch off our branch. We had Eddy help us teach the women on Thursday. The only problem was that there was no one available to teach that day. It was quite rough. We had one lesson and a kinda lesson that day. I know about the batteries. I just forgot to bring fresh ones. That is cool that Ian works at the Mr. Hotshine now. Good job, you and Mom being social! It is nice isn't it. Lionel is consistently a hit and miss at church. But at least he comes. He came last Sunday but not yesterday.Thanks for the email and updates!

Love,

Elder Johnson

link to websites on Jessica the Hippo.  https://www.google.com/search?q=Jessica+the+hippo&rlz=1C1RNAN_enUS461US558&oq=Jessica+the+hippo&aqs=chrome..69i57j0l5.6515j0j8&sourceid=chrome&espv=210&es_sm=122&ie=UTF-8

link to youtube video of Jessica the Hippo:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G3NueKXS6dk

Letter from Michael 3-17-2014, that did not get sent due to computer problems Staying in Polokwane

Letter from Michael 3-17-2014, that did not get sent due to computer problems

Staying in Polokwane

Dear everyone,

So we got transfer news and I am staying with Elder Haynes in Polokwane. I will probably be here for a quarter of my mission. On Saturday the Zone Leaders played a joke on all of us. They gave false transfer news. They said that I was leaving and that Elder Mcclellan was staying and training. Then we found out the truth. I was relieved and thought it was funny but Elder Mcclellan was upset. He got his hopes up for training. He is the one from my MTC group.

Francua, a less active, has been coming to church the past few times to church. Bro Sackey or Ratsoma, a less active, also has been coming and hasn't smoked since a couple Wednesdays ago. We continue to visit and strengthen him. Tumelo couldn't make it to church last week but just right now Tumelo said hi and talked to me a bit while emailing in the internet cafe. He is doing fine. Cynthia came though. The District Leader is coming down this Friday to interview her for baptism.

This P-Day was AWESOME! We touched and fed a 1,500k Hippopotamus. It is "Jessica the Hippo." She is not in captivity but this Africaaner guy calls her name and she come down away from the other hippos the same time everyday to get fed. (This was from last week and I did not even finish it because there were computer problems.)

-Elder Johnson

A few lines from Michael 3-17-2014

A few lines from Michael 3-17-2014

He had computer problems and the main email did not get to us. Here are a few short lines he sent to his mom & dad.

Wow, that is great about the missionary news in Auburndale. I'm glad Austin is finally going on a mission. Taiwan, cool. I am happy. I sent all of the news in the main letter. Elder Wadsworth left and is going to be a District Leader for his first time.

Lionel came.Bernard came to church. I am staying here with Elder Haynes another transfer. My camera batteries died but I will get some great pics from the other Elders from our p-day activity. I know why the price for email dropped. It is because the service hear is very poor and they don't even know what they are doing. Thanks for the email! Love you!

-Elder Johnson

3-10-2014   This Saturday we get BIG news on who goes 

(This was not posted last week, but now is 3-17-2014)

Ello,

So we had zone conference last Tuesday which was really good. We learned a lot on how to be more effective missionaries. Monday/P-day we were going to go on a hike but we ended up just getting lost and never made it. But we did eat at a nice restaurant on the way down to Joburg. It took us about 6 hours to get down there from here because of the getting lost. I finally decided to go ahead and order a mini quad of scriptures. 

On Friday we had exchanges and Elder George, the District Leader, came down to teach with me. He gave some good advice and we were able to help some less active that day. This Sunday Russell, a less active, and his friend finally came to church. All we had to do was be bold. That is something I could be better about and have done better this weekend. Oh, I have a random weird story. So the Seshego Elders have a member intheir branch named Bernard. He is pretty young. He is only in his 20's or 30's. He had 3 strokes and found out he has diabetes. He died 3 times in the hospital. The Elders gave him a blessing. Then he died. So the hospital had Bernard all covered up in the plastic bag and then all of a sudden he rises up and is not dead. He was wondering why he was being wheeled out in a plastic bag. It sounds kind of funny but he is getting better. He is using a walker. 

We taught Cynthia this week about the 10 commandments and went over the baptismal questions. She seems like she is prepared and ready for it. Tumelo, our investigator who started coming to church, was our male present. It was good to have him there. He came to church again this Sunday. This week we will invite him to be baptized. Miriam, the Born again Christian we used to teach we are now teaching again. We had an appointment canceled and I decided to stop by and say hi to her. She said she has been super busy lately and has not been feeling well. She feels better now, wants us to teach again, and will go to church next Sunday with a member in the branch. Precious, who we used to teach, is now at a boarding school in the zone leader's are and she wants to be baptized. The school won't let her though unfortunately. This week I ate a cow's heel at a member's house. It was hairy and disgusting.... never again!

- Elder Johnson

Letter from Michael 3-3-2014- Tumelo

3-3-2014

So this Sunday we had an investigator besides Cynthia come to church. His name is Tumelo. We have taught him a few time and he is an easy going fun guy to teach. He even agreed to come teach with us sometimes. He made a commitment to a baptism date but still needs to pray about all of these things we have introduced to him. He has been reading and mostly understanding the Book of Mormon. He is also looking for a job. Someone in our branch works at a restaurant called Spur and I introduced him to Tumelo and said that Tumelo is looking for a job. They talked quite a bit so it is good that he found a friend in the church. Eddy, the guy who works at Spur, said he could get him a job. He was glad he came to church. We walked part of the way to church with him. During church it was raining super hard. Good thing it wasn't while we were walking. 

So we have plenty of people to teach... the only problem is that they are all women. We can't even teach them because there are no male's around. Luckily we have gotten 3 male investigators  who said they would come teach with us... when they're available. I'm a bit sick of so many people saying they believe in God and Jesus and then they light straight to our faces. Too many people are not serious and just play games with us. But that is when we just drop them and look for those few who really care.

By the way the road from Mokopane to Polokwane literally exploded! A big truck ran into another truck filled with dynamite and explosive caps. It left a huge crater in the earth and trees all around were wiped out. Some cops died and some other people died. Some people that the were in the Seshego Elder's group got blown up. So sad. 

Good news is I am done with the 12 week training program! I'm no longer an infant on the mission! Other good news is that I had the best fast ever this Sunday. I decided to have a better attitude about it and it just went a lot better. That's about it. Today we are having a zone activity (hike) and spending the night at the mission home. Then tomorrow is zone conference.  I can't think of much else worth typing. I am grateful for the fullness of the restored gospel.

- Elder Johnson 

From his litter to his mom:

Yes, I read my blessing on Saturday. Moses #1 is okay. We started chatting with his 18 year-old son a bit and ended up introducing the Book of Mormon to him. We planned to come by and teach him. We will get the whole family 1 by 1. We will get the wife next after the son. Cynthia came to church again and she will be baptized on March 30th. Tumelo might be next. I don't know. I did get pictures of the misty mountains but they didn't turn out great because I was in the back seat. But I could still send some pics next time. We drove past the baboons too quickly so I didn't get pictures of any of those. Nice poem! Yes, I got the other stuff too. I like the pen. Transfers are soon. In just a couple weeks now. The district leader I know wants Elder Haynes and I to stay in the area a bit longer since we opened the area. The zone leaders think the same but also because they love having us. It makes sense to me but really, anything could happen. Love you!

- Elder Johnson

 From letter to his dad:

I am glad you liked the letter. That is sad about Bro. Holmes. I will pray for the family. Thanks for sending the pictures, I enjoy them. Thanks for the BYU updates. Go BYU sports! So Lionel came to church this Sunday. Last week he was doing an Ikedo thing and the week before he just slept n. Hopefully he will be steady in church attendance. His blessing really strengthened him though. I'm glad he got it.

Article on the explosion is found at:  http://www.sabc.co.za/news/a/5b475880431472dba10db945a23ba143/Four-police-officers,-truck-driver-burn-following-truck-explosion-20140227