January 13, 2014

This week was really cool!  I had a really great time being with Elder Lincoln,  he is awesome and understands the language really well for how new he is.  Teaching was pretty slow this week, we didn't really have much success.  But, we are going to have a baptism next week! We taught the boyfriend of a member and he wants to join the church!  The sister he is dating pulled out all of the stops for the first lesson with him, she called the Bishop, some of her family, and another member to be in the lesson, so it felt like half the ward was there!  It turned out really great because at the end of the lesson we just went around and bore testimonies.

I really liked Elder Paiva and I think I learned quickly with him but I'm really enjoying having an English speaker as a companion!  Elder Lincoln's birthday was this past week and a member made a cake for him, that was really great!

We went to the Parque Ibiapuera last P-day which is like the central park of São Paulo. It was really awesome, we get to wear normal clothes there and we rented bikes and biked for a while, it was really relaxing.

I haven't had much trouble with past participle, the tenses I've had the most trouble with are the 3 subjunctives: past, present, and future.  They are just not as existent in English, it's weird.

You can see my tan lines in one of the pictures I attached, it's horrifying but also hilarious.

Mom, I like what you said, and it is almost the same thing President Tanner wrote in his weekly spiritual thought to us (it was in Portuguese but I ran it through google translate, sorry if it has bad grammar)

Message from Sister Tanner

'' Whom the Lord calls He qualifies "

Sulcessinho , January 13, 2014

President Thomas S. Monson often says , "Whom the Lord calls , He qualifies ." The Lord has called each one of you to his service as a missionary. It will qualify you to do His work diligently as you do your part. It will take you to those who are seeking the truth, he will give you strength and protection , it will help you in knowing what to say. These blessings come when you are obedient and diligent in his studies and his work. So, as President Monson reminds us to be worthy of the promise we also read in Doctrine and Covenants 84:88 : "For I will go ahead of you will be on your right and your left, and my Spirit shall be in your hearts, and mine angels round about you, to sustain you."

Thanks for your kindness . Thanks for striving to do your best every day . We love you and pray for

you always .

Sister Tanner

Love you!

until next week!

Elder Johnson

And this is Nathaniel with a boy from his ward!

 

January 6th, 2013

Hello everyone! Hopefully, soon I will be able to post a lot of his first four months, but for now this is a letter we received from Elder Johnson yesterday, with some pictures attached! -Julia (sister)

oi! 

This past week was really cool!  I got my trainee!  Or according to the mission lingo, my son was born! haha!  I attached a picture of us.  He is really great, all of my prayers were answered in respect to who my new companion would be.  He's American, which is really awesome. I have spent the last 3 months surrounded entirely by Brazilians so it's kinda nice to be able to speak to an American.  But training an American means that 100% of the language burden is on me... eek.  But I've been really impressed, this past week I can honestly say we have had absolutely no problems with the language.  I was called by the Lord and he has qualified me for the task, but it's not just little things here and there, it's obvious.  I almost feel like I shouldn't be able to have this much understanding this early, but I do and I am extremely grateful to the Lord for this blessing.  

Elder Lincoln is fantastic!  He came here really ready to work and is especially excited to just talk to anyone and everyone we see, which I am grateful for because I think I had grown a little lax in that.  His understanding of the language is very impressive for being fresh out of the MTC.  We try to do a lot of language study and we set a goal that we would read the whole Book of Mormon in Portuguese together in the 12 weeks of his training.

So while my new companion and Portuguese is great we had some problems crop up this week.  We have always had big hills to climb with our investigators but we had never had to worry much about our members and recent converts. Being a missionary can be extremely happy, but I realize now it can also be pretty sad sometimes.

I told you my watch broke right?  The straps fell off, but I bought a new g-shock watch this week from a guy on the street with a little stand.  Its a really nice watch and was unbelievably cheap, 40 reais, which is like $20!

Elder Brinton did arrive this past transfer, I got to spend some time catching up with him. and guess who his trainer is here? Elder Paiva!  He's being trained by my trainer! haha!

I also attached a picture of all the new missionaries and their trainers.

I have been really interested in middle eastern countries since getting on my mission.  When I get back I really want to learn Arabic and Armenian or Turkish.  The Bible and Bible dictionary are incredibly educational when read to understand both spiritual things and historical things and I'm really enjoying learning so much from them!

Love you all!

Até mais!

Tchau!

Elder Johnson

 His new companion:

 Elder Brinton: (His companion in the MTC)