My Companion is a Tree
HOLA AMIGOS
Today is a very special day. Today is special because you decided to actually read a missionary email. You truly are a cunning warrior in the ways of Email reading. I rarely accomplished such noble acts myself when a non-missionary. Then again, I rarely checked my email for anything in the first place. Nevertheless, for your courage and strength in the battle of inbox I shall seek to regularly repay you with the best stories and thoughts I got to the very best of my circumstances and abilities. 💪
However, given the circumstances of my only completing a week and a half of home MTC so far you might be asking yourself:
"ELDER JOHNSON YOU HAVEN'T EVEN LEFT YOUR HOUSE YET AND ITS BARELY BEEN 9 DAYS WHAT COULD YOU POSSIBLY HAVE TO SHARE WITH THE WORLD"
Good question. To which I would respond:
9 DAYS FEELS LIKE A LOT OF TIME WHEN YOU'RE DRINKING 10 BILLION GALLONS OF SPIRITUAL LESSONS AND KNOWLEDGE A DAY
It's pretty awesome though if I'm being honest. It's like, yes I understand that going to 9 hours of zoom meetings a day and sitting in the same room most of my waking hours should be terrible, yet somehow every time we join a meeting, even when 2min ago I was thinking I might just take a nap or accidentally chuck my laptop out the window instead, whenever I suck it up and just do the work I'm supposed to do, I join the zoom meeting and I suddenly can't help smiling. THE CRAZY THING IS me and my fellow newbie missionaries (My district is freakin awesome I wish I had more time to talk about those legends but I fear it would take far too long) have talked about this together and they feel the same way! We're like "How the heck are we so happy to be here AGAIN" Apparently anything can become possible when the Lord is the guy asking you to do it. I'm serious bro, I did online school and I know exactly where my limits with zoom meetings should be, and here we are FAR surpassing those limits.
Yes, I would even say that all of us teenagers sitting still in zoom meetings till 10PM is a type of miracle.
Also I read a scripture this week from the Book of Mormon about some of the Lord's missionaries a long time ago experiencing this same kind of against-the-laws-of-physics-
Alma 31:38
"...and he also gave them strength, that they should suffer no manner of afflictions, save it were swallowed up in the joy of Christ..."
It's pretty freakin awesome that God is the same yesterday, today, and forever because I can testify that our Heavenly Father is still here to help us, just like he was for people back then. I've realized that it makes the scriptures suddenly very relevant when you realize one of the characters in these stories is someone you interact with daily (God)
I also decided based on vs 36 of the same chapter that if your bro ever needs the spirit just slap him (heres the verse so you can laugh at it)
((also JK that was probably one of those hype up bro handshakes))
Speaking of bros, mi companero is Elder Berry and he's awesome. The title of this email is because Elderberry is a tree which my dad-joke brain thinks is hilarious.
Earlier this week we were in a zoom meeting by ourselves sometime around 10PM and we're both super tired. And then mid-sentence finishing up our meeting we discovered there's a whiteboard option and we spent the next half hour talking about pickleball and drawing out a picture of us playing it in the MTC once we're in person. That was a really fun loopy tired pre-sleep bro moment.
Alrighty talk to you guys next week!
PS: if you got any other ideas of stuff you want me to start adding to these emails just lemme know
Pictures:
#1. The District
#2. Elder Berry and I's glorious work of art
#3. Lars staring at everyone in the zoom meeting while brandishing his need for a haircut
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