August 25, 2014-Tena Maloto Be

Well this week was a very sad week because I learned on Monday that I had to leave by Tuesday so I only had one day to say goodbye to the wonderful people in Manandona. But on the bright side I will be able to see my branch missionary from Manandona in 1 transfer when he comes here on his mission.

This week was a crazy week though. We had to cram into a taxi brus again with 4 big missionaries on 3 seats in a van. It is one of the worst things ever but I guess we did survive it and what does not kill you makes you stronger right? We got to the office later that day and headed straight into our areas of tana that we will be serving in.

Well my area is 67ha and it is the middle of the city. It is a great area to work but the worst to live in. We have many rivers running through our area that have poop and a lot of trash. I will try to get a picture of one for you guys one of these days. Also it always smells like a out house wherever you walk. Some good news for now is that right now I do not have any hills to walk up to. The bad news is that when the rainy season comes all of the trash, poop and water will run right into my area. I also have had many wonderful oppurtunities to ride in taxi be's all of the time. These beautiful things are just like taxi bruses but have no limit on how many people they put in them. Also I am a little to big for them so I get to smash my legs in the seats in front of me.

Also our hosue looks like one of the poop rivers in 67ha. But me and one of the other 3 missionaries living in the house got the kitchen and the room with the toilet clean, and it only took like 5 hours. However the great part about my area is that our branch has many return missionaries. We have them for our ward missionaries and our ward mission leader. So hopefully with there help we can get all of the wonderful people that are in 67ha and are ready to hear the gosple to hear the gosple. We also have a beautiful church building here that is 4 stories tall and is just like an american church. I think that this area can be one of the greatest areas in the mission after me and the lord are done here. Well I hope that you are all doing good and have a great week. Love you all!!!

Love,
Elder Johnson

Also hopefully these are my pictures on the computer. But one of them is me and Elder Bowler at the sign of Manandona right before I left there and the other is the view from our Balcany so you guys can see that Tana is a huge city. It is a lot like a New York but no sky scrapers. There is constant traffic and also always a bunch of people on the streets.

August 18, 2014- Soizante Sept or 67 ha!!

Soixante Sept or 67 in french is the area that I will be working in next. It is Tana which the big city in Madagascar. It is also the dirtiest area in Madagascar that is in the whole area. Also I have been told it is the first or second most dirty area that you can serve in. They said that India might have one place that is dirtier but who knows. I am super excitied to go there and hopefully the work is going good there.

My new companion is going to be a Malagasy whos name is elder Anjamanganoro. He has somewhere between 1-3 transfers left in his mission but I will update you guys more on him next week when I get to meet him. 

Aza kivy fa tsy nantaneraka ho resy ianaon

I really love this quote it means don't be sad you were not born to loose. I know this is such a true quote we were all born that we can conqure anything. Well have a great week all of you. I have to go pack!!! Love you all!!!

Love,
Elder Johnson

August 11, 2014-Famadiana

This week has been a crazy week so I will just share a little bit of the things that me and my companion did. We did our service project again. Which is the worst thing ever because Malagasy tools are rediculous but it was fun to do with our members. We also went to a Famadiana or a turning over of the bones.

The Famadiana is just a huge party for the ansestors but now since there is christianity it is pretty much an excuse to have a huge party. It was super fun but all the people here feed me and my companion like three times within 3 hours which was the worst thing ever. For the Famadiana we had to walk up to the Fasana and then they opened the grave and pulled out the old bones. We then had to carry it to the other Fasana like a mile away. It was pretty fun but we had to carry the coffin which was not on the top of my list to do. Then they put on new cloth to the coffin and put they guy in the new Fasana. It was a pretty interesting look into Malagasy culture.

We also have had three branch missionaries get mission calls and the one I always work with is coming to Madagascar. Maybe I will get to be his trainer if I am really luck.

Well This will probably be my last week in Manandona which is sad but right now we are really focussing on the members trying to get them to be strong. I hope that you all have a great week and keep up the good work at home. I love you all.

Love,

Elder Johnson

August 04, 2014

Well this week was a pretty crazy week to say the least. On monday me and my companion went out to teach one of our less active members without a branch missionary. However on the path we got chased by some dogs so on the way back we decided to take a path that we both did not know that well. Then the fog rolled in and it started to rain way hard. So me and my companion may have gotten lost on a mountain side for 30 minutes. That is what happens when you forget your flash light at home. But that best thing about it is we were probably 30 feet from the car and we just could not see it. So as we were stumbling around in the dark we found some house and the guy in the house lead us back to the car. It was a very interesting monday.

We also had a baptism on Saturday which was an amazing thing. I got to help another child of god come closer to him. I baptized the little girl while my companion baptized the two others. Well sorry that I don't have a lot of time this week because we have a zone activity in a couple of minutes but I hope that you all have a great week and enjoy the last few weeks of summer. Love you all!!!

Love,

Elder Johnson

P.S the photos are of the baptism and the only fastfood that I have seen in country.

July 28, 2014-Hey

Well I hope that you are all doing well. I am doing great because hopefully in a couple days we will have some more money. We saved as much money as we could to repay for the car getting broken into and I lived off of 40 Dollars for the month which was pretty rough. This week has been a very successful week without us working many hours because my companion has been sick. Well he is not super sick but we think he has a worm so he has been taking the worm pills so that hopefully we can get him good to go. 

Well for the crazy story of the week we watched a taxi brus/15 seater van get in a crash. It was not bad at all but the funny part about it was it was a church group so of course they said they crashed because there was a devil in the car so we got to watch 20 people perform a exirsisum which was kinda interesting. 

We have our investigators ready for baptism on this Saturday which is super exciting. There will be 3 of them being baptized hopefully. It was amazing to watch how they have changed and how they want to come unto christ.

Today we went and hiked another waterfall which was super great. Well I hope that you are all doing great and enjoy your summer.

Love,

Elder Johnson
The pictures are of me driving or maybe just sitting in the mission presidents car, and my beautiful hiking clothes since I don't have any shoes since they have been stolen. But it has been a great week!!! Love you all!!!

July 21, 2014-Wedding Bells

Well this week was a great week. We were able to get a lot done but the best part of the week was the wedding. Malagasy wedding are way funny. They have the bride talk her parents and the groom talk to his parents. Then the guy marrying them asks them a question and they see if they have the same answer. It was pretty great and then you do a parade through the street back to the place that you are going to have the party and then you eat so much food you feel like you are back in America. Well it was pretty great to say the least but the best part of it is hopefully they will be ready to be baptized on August 2nd. 

We also went and built bricks today which is some really hard work. But you get to do some great things with it like smash the mud with your feet. But my favorite is you get to wild a sword and slam it into the mud as hard as you can. Well maybe Ill get some pictures of it if I get to make bricks again. Well I hope that you are all doing well and that you are all enjoying your summer.

Love,

Elder Johnson

Cute! 

July 14, 2014-Hello

This week was a lot better of week because nothing got stolen this week. I also was able to clear the Virus off of my camera as well so I can send some more pictures again. Things are going great here with the teaching of the gosple. We have one family that is progressing very well towards baptism they are going to get married on july 18th and then keep moving on to the baptism hopefully on the august 2nd. 

We also have a little girl that is going to get baptized hopefully with them. She is there niece and she has been doing way good. She struggles a lot with talking to white people because she is super shy but she has started to do a lot better. Hopefully things here will turn a lot more normal. 

The pictures for the week are my branch missionary. It has started to get super cold here. You know in the 70s and 60s durning the day and like 40s at night and morning. The other picture is people working in the rice paties.