Dalton - 6/3/13 email

Funny Thing About the Pictures...

I'm flattered that you all think I'm not the forgetful little boy that you all know and love, but I still am. Definitely forgot to bring my camera to my first baptisms on my mission.  Thanks for rubbing salt into that wound, my dear family.  No, it's really not a big deal, because I can get Elder Paredes to email a photo or two in a couple of weeks when he's home doing nothing with life.  JK,  Elder Paredes!  I tell him that "todo esta trunkilo" with him, but he's actually doing great.  Nothing trunky about him.  [Spencer explained that Dalton cleverly changed the common saying “Todo esta tranquilo,” which means “Everything’s tranquil” or “Everything’s okay” to “Todo esta trunkilo” for “Everything’s trunky.”]

I'm sure Jamie killed that guitar solo [she sang a guitar riff from Bohemian Rhapsody at a choir concert recently].  That riff  is going to be stuck in my head all day, but that's ok.  That doesn’t have a huge effect on P-day.

Our area right now is, honestly, overwhelmingly massive.  The area we are covering right now is usually two areas, and will probably be three areas before long.  Almost every day we find ourselves saying, "Wait, this is part of our area, too?"  As a result, much of our planning involves looking at our planners and drooling, figuring out how we can best walk from one place to the next without killing too much time. The drooling part, of course, I mastered long before my mission.

I forgot to bring my planner here, so this name might be horrifically off, but we met a man named Afortunato (plus or minus 6 wrong letters).  He lives in the top of a poorer and huge hill.  It’s called "Vista Hermosa" because, from the top, you get a great view of Thailand. His daughter is a member, and the whole family knows people in the ward.  He mentioned such a strong desire to change his life.  He will face challenges in marital changes, which is a more faith-trying process here than in the states, but he really is just gold.

Also—and this is only difficult because he only has time on the weekends—we are also teaching Martin Pillaca, the father-in-law to the stake president.  In reality, he's more ready for baptism than anyone in the world, but he's still a bit afraid.  We shared with him the Tree of Life story, telling him that he's obeying the commandments and is thus at the tree, but he needs to be baptized to eat the fruit.  Don’t be afraid to eat the fruit!  Yeah, we're going to go to town this Saturday to get a date for baptism, because he's been consistently coming to church for a year.

I'm sorry if I haven't been writing enough, but Davi sure is picking up the slack.  JAJAJAJAJAJAJA!  [I believe that is HAHAHAHAHA.] Just kidding, Davi.  You are awesome.  This was a long email, too.

Love you all!  Doing great—don’t worry!

Elder Johnson