i dont even know where to begin... i guess the airport. as soon as i walked away from security i felt like i wanted to just sit down and cry. i was soooo sad. but that all quickly changed when i realized that i had to go exchange my money in a different terminal so i tucked away my emotion and started going. i havent stopped going since. there is so much work kto be done and so little time to do it.
this experience has been so great already. i have already learned sooo much and i have already met so many amazing people. i am in a tripple companionship. my companions names are elder mertz and elder ballard ( yes his grandfather is the apostle but he doesnt like mentioning it because he wants to be his own person). they are both so awesome. they are lots of fun and we have already spent many hours laughing together.
the first day here was the longest day of my life. all 14 of us missionaries who came from the states met up together in the atlanta airport to fly to chile over night and i dont think any of us slept for more than 3 hours. we were all exhausted. we spent the next day in a daze trying to get to know one another and the teachers while also trying to memorize the missiony purpose in spanish... and at the same time chile was playing a world cup game so the teachers were a little distracted =p we got through it though. and we all crashed super hard that night.
we thought day 1 was long but day two was longer. it was our first day in the mtc (we are living somewhere else in santiago in a house by a bunch of embassies) and it seemed like we were there for a week. but it was still an amazing day because i felt the spirit so strongly and learned so much about being a missionary in the classes we were in.
the days following those first two days have been extremely... bipolar. we will be on such a spiritual hi and then all ther sudden be torn down. we are beginning to teach mock investigators and the language barrirer is so unreal. we want to talk and get to know the investigators but speaking to them is pretty challenging at this point in time. i cant really even talk to them about soccer because i just dont know how. it feels demoralizing. but yesterday in my night class (the best class of the day) our teacher shared a message with us that i loved. we might not speak the language very well but the language of the spirit is universal. as missionaries we are just mediums in which the spirit reaches our investigators. if we can just get them to the point in which the spirit can touch their hearts than we are doing and saying exactly what we need to.
i love this mission already. i am so thankful for the oppertunity i have to be here. if anyone is on the fence about serving i highly recomend they come out because it is truly life changing.
i love you all. i cant wait to hear back. i will be back on in a week!!!! now it is time to go to the satiago temple =)
love,
Elder Johnson
p.s. pdays are on tueday the whole time im in the mtc
i love you and miss you mom. im doing well! my stomach is really good because the food here isnt super flavorful. im having funa and being safe. tell the girls i love them and im sorry i didnt write back but an hour really flies. thanks for getting all that done for me. please just spell check and correct anything in the emails i write home before you put them on the blog.
i love you
elder johnson
(I know that Declan wants me to clean up his grammar and spelling, but I am choosing to leave it so that he can look back and see how hard it was for him to get used to a Spanish keyboard, and also to watch as his Spanish becomes easier to speak and his English becomes harder. Another thing I want to remember is the fact that my constant worry about his stomach, something I have been concerned about for over a year, was immediately addressed by Declan and yet another concern taken off my plate- at least for now.)
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