Olá!

This week was a little crazy. A lot of stories. I will start out with the family trip. On Wednesday we had interviews in one of the zones here. President wanted to do splits with me so that we could go and help him at the interviews. He came and picked me up at our house and so I went with just him and Sister Thomas. It felt just like a little family trip. I was talking to them about life, family, scouting, golfing and all sorts of other things. It was super fun. At the interviews, I helped President organize his phone and his iPad so it seems like I am back to doing tech support. So again, it felt like I was back in my family. haha. I also went to lunch with them. We ate Yakisoba that was described more accurately by President Thomas when he said that it was just, "Japanese spaghetti". The sushi was pretty good though. It was better than Sister Thomas' food which President described as "rabbit food and wall paste"(salad and mashed potatoes) It is a lot of fun to be with President and Sister Thomas they are so funny and truly care about everyone in the mission. We will actually do a few more splits with them for the rest of the interviews this transfer.

The second story is about sand. A lot of sand. Two truck-fulls of sand. Two monstrous piles of sand that were almost taller than me. We were told that we would have a simple service project of a little bit of sand. When we arrived it was a lot larger task. We had a couple of wheelbarrows and we went to work. There were us four missionaries and also 5 members. We worked in the morning but barely made a dent. We realized that it would take a lot longer to finish than we thought. After lunch, we spent the rest of the day moving the sand. It actually was more like dirt which is even worse, but we were able to finish finally after about 11 hours of work. Everyone was completely dead after the day. I will get some pictures from the people there and will send them next week. The next day everyone woke up with sore backs and legs, which then leads us to the story of the rats.

The day after the service project we got a call as we were returning to our house. The other elders said that when they got home they saw a rat in our house. By the time we got home they were already tearing apart the house trying to expulse the rat from whence it came. We all grabbed brooms and other pieces of wood and we were ready. My companion went a little bit crazy. He ended up breaking a few things. Nothing too expensive. Just a drawer and a broom. Through much screaming and prayers, the rat finally left. The problem is that we didn't know if he was the only one. It was getting late, but we decided not to sleep in the rat-infested house. Call me a coward, but I don't like sleeping on the floor with the rats(I sleep on the floor because I have already broken three beds. The floor didn't seem too bad until I thought about those beady eyes and sharp teeth). We bought rat venom and it seems like the problem will go away, but we will see.

I remembered one more thing about the week. We went to a market. Every Friday there is one close to our house. It was a lot of fun. I was able to barter with a few people. haha. It was super cheap to buy a lot of fruit. I especially enjoyed the pineapple that I bought. I was also called Donald Trump and was told that the United States does not have bananas. Many interesting experiences came from the morning of the market.

In regards to the work, it is going great! We have been teaching a lot of people. The best investigator we have is Thayná. She is 23 years old. She went to stake conference and then church yesterday. She said that she received an answer that The Book of Mormon is true and also the church. She said that since we have been teaching her and she has been reading she has felt a lot more peace in her life. She will probably be baptized this week! We are super excited for her. We also are working with Rogerio who has gone to church three times now. He is still wanting to wait to be baptized, but I think he will be soon also. He has to use crutches because he was in a car accident. He was on a motorcycle and he was hit by a car going around 60 miles per hour. It is a miracle that he is alive. He is awesome. He even invited us to a barbeque he was having. His friend bought us soda and picanha (a delicious type of meat).

So this week was full of adventures and stories. I am really enjoying all these opportunities I am having. I know that the Lord is blessing us and I am so grateful for Him. I also thank you all for your love and support. I love you all!

Tchau!

Elder Johnson