Letter from Michael 12-7-2015- 21 Years Old- Last Email Home

Part of his letter to his dad:

Thank you very much! I enjoyed eating at Carnivore! I ate warthog, springbok, kudu, zebra, lamb, and crocodile. For me crocodile was the best meat of all! See you in 2 days! Ya, unfortunately we missed the zone photos. No investigators came to church. I actually went to Carnivore on Monday because it is so far away. On my birthday I ate the Monster Burger and a place called Yankees. On Sunday night some members had a birthday party for me! 

Ha!!! I will get to see that rivalry game! Whoooo!

Congratulations to Blake going on a mission! I like Chicago!

Part of his letter to his mom:

Yes we left before the zone pics. We did not know it was going to happen. 

Yes, I got a couple letters from you. One was the very last one. I am all packed to go home now!

Yes, I bore my testimony in tsakane! I don't think it was necessarily harder to be a missionary the last week. But there is no way that I can't be thinking about home in the back of my mind. I am looking forward to coming home, but a little bit sad that the whole journey is over. I have been reflecting some on the times I served in all of my ares. But I feel a satisfying sense of accomplishment. all in a hard DAYS work... 2 years service.

I have a scale and I know my luggage is under the weight limit.

I will be in the mission office at 3pm to make sure my luggage is the proper weight.  Then 6pm at the mission home is our departing dinner with President and Sister Dunn. 

Michael’s last email home:

Behold, I am an old Madalla (grandpa) now. My 21st birthday, 3rd birthday on mission, was a great one! I enjoy being with the members and eating exotic animals Crocodile is the best, by the way! 

I really have enjoyed serving a mission. I know it is the best thing I have ever done. I would not trade it for anything the world has to offer. I know anyone who is sincerely searching for the truth with a humble heart will find it if they read scriptures (Book of Mormon), pray to Heavenly Father, and live the principles of the gospel. I don't need to see or have anymore physical evidence to know what I have learned by the Spirit. I will never deny it. I thank everyone for their love and support. I have felt the prayers of many and look forward to seeing everyone again!

- Elder Michael Johnson

Quotes:

“The power of God is the priesthood, which is necessary in the true Church of Christ. We can have the true Church without all of the programs, without perfect people or perfect administration, but we cannot have it without the keys of the priesthood.” —Elder Jeffrey R. Holland of the Quorum of the Twelve

“Christmas is the spirit of giving without a thought of getting. It is happiness because we see joy in people. It is forgetting self and finding time for others. It is discarding the meaningless and stressing the true values. It is peace because we have found peace in the Savior’s teachings. It is the time we realize most deeply that the more love is expended, the more there is of it for others.” – President Thomas S. Monson

Merry Christmas!