EMAIL #2 Taylor MTC BRAZIL

March 30, 2010

TO FAMILY –

Yes I got your candy Heidi and Justin.. infact i just had hot tamale and I’m still working on everything else... I really meant to tell you thanks last letter but i couldn’t really think of what i wanted to say with just 30 minutes to write. i have really enjoyed the treats and thank you so much for you secret notes and for the special cd... I’ll try to find time to listen to it soon! Thanks for the inspiring words and all of the tips for how to be a good missionary they are very very needed!

Mom! I’m doing good, great infact! It’s amazing how emotions change from one minute to the next, sometimes overwhelmed sometime laughing uncontrollably and sometimes just overcome by the spirit. The language is tough but we are all working hard and working together. I’m loving my district and having a great time with all of them. mom and hales i don’t know if you were able to forward my e-mail to any friends but maybe you can let them know that they can e-mail me at trjohnson@myldsmail.net I just can’t write back. i have pretty much everything i need mom! i might need a new journal when i get into the field, but i can probably find one here...other than that, just shampoo and i already got that! missionary ties works great! i get a hard copy in my mailbox of your letters about 2 days after you send them...but if it costs you money it isn’t a big deal really. i wouldn’t worry about it. i haven’t been sweating much as a matter of fact and today was the first day with tacos...cause i was running up the street and it was hot today! hahah. I’ve sent a letter each week to the house with a couple of notes that i was hoping you could get to friends. it really doesn’t matter f you want to do snail mail you can... ill try and make time to write back! Today was another awesome morning at the temple and our first real experience with a Brazilian restaurant! I’m so excited to hear about baby bean and i know you’ve all got to be super excited as well!

Dad i found out the the word caminhao means truck....hence el camino!...JUST BARELY my zone leader walked into the computer lab and said he wants to hear me play the piano to know if i can play for devos or what not....ooooo cold hands now! haha i found out about el caminho because i was talking to my brazilian roommates about music a little and i had to tell them i sold my truck so i looked up the word... they are clowns... such nice people for sure.

Tell Miranda mckell for me that all the Brazilians and most of the Americans loved the tie they gave me...some of them even pretend mugged me and acted like they were going to run away with it...successful tie shopping i would say! i love you all so much once again and i thinkin and pray for you everyday! Even in Portuguese :O ps I’m sorry you all got sick... but you have to understand that when it comes to mind power....sickness is no match! ; ) love you all Ç )

TO EVERYONE - So i decided a little something about the ctm here. i feel like i know everyone here, as if I’ve met them before and i just can’t recall their names...after some pondering and reading the dedicatory prayer for this building...i decided that it is simply because the veil is literally thinner here. We were all set apart to do this work before we came here, and I’m convinced I’ve met all of these elders and sisters before...where it was in this life or before. This is the Lord’s work and some very sacred preparation goes on behind the doors of the mtc. Sacred stories are shared and sacred feelings are felt, i know because i feel them everyday. We are continually trying to strengthen our testimonies, not just learn how to teach, so that when we are in the field and have the chance to testify; we can have the spirit to written that when we say I KNOW . . . it is true. I’m continually striving to know, even while I’ve had many a confirmation in my lifetime. i have a few thoughts that I’ve jotted down over the course of the week in order to make sure i actually say what i want when i sit down at this computer...rather than freak out and have nothing to say like last week haha. We have all been called to do this work, it is the most important thing that we can be doing...ever. Elder Holland gave an address to the elders at the Provo mtc which i loved with all my heart.... he said that THIS is real life... you don’t go on a mission and then go back to real life... THIS is as real as life will ever be for us. He was very animated and I’d suggest that if you have time... you find his talk (given in 2009) and listen to it.

Another thought he shared... The world is a hospital and The Lord is the Master Physician. .. We don’t have much knowledge compared to him, but he has given us a first aid kit, and we have to find people, and through the power of the spirit, discern what their needs are and allow the Lord, the mast physician, to heal them. I know with all of my heart that he CAN and WILL heal each and every one of us, because he has been there, and he has performed your specific operation before.. and he know EXACTLY what you need. it is no small thing to be set apart to do this work. Time is a precious commodity, we have not much of it, do not waste it with pointless things. If i have learned anything... it is that. Not to say I could live it to perfection, but i have an understanding of its importance. D and C 35. the weak things shall be sent forth to thrash the world with his gospel... essentially... that is a humbling and inspiring scripture! Go read it. I am privileged to be one of those weak things of the world, seeking for strength in him.

ON a less serious note... this week my district started singing afternoon delight, rather than hymns.... i decided that wasn’t a very good idea so... to the same tune i rewrote it..... it goes like this.... gunna grab my scriptures gunna read about Christ, gunna get some afternoon insights, my mottos always been just fight the good fight, why wait until the moment when temptations nighhhhh... ohhhhhh afternoon insights!! haha try and sing it.... you’ll LOVE it. I love the whistling and singing missionaries... it brings joy to my soul and makes me think of home! I have to go... I love you all! I pray for you everyday.

ps our missionary who went to the hospital is back!! yahoo! quickly an mtc joke. how does a leper make ground beef? answer: (motion) rub your hands together like you’re warming them up...ewww.

Love again! - Elder Johnson

1^st Email from Elder Johnson

CTM in BRAZIL!

Received March 23^rd 2010

oi from sao paulo! i won´´t be using the capitalization key seeing as it is in a weird place on the keyboard and i can~t type fast enough to say everything that i will want to say!

mom i~m not going to do an e-mail for family and friends today, just one e-mail to you and if you have time to take out any info or messages that would probably be for family only then you are welcome to take it out and send it to friends. as, they say, the days have been looong and now i can~t believe that i~m at the end of my first week´!

i hope you received my e-mail saying that i got here safely, i didn~t know off the top of my head whos e-mail to write down so i tried to remember mom~s gmail account and \i don~t know if i got it right.

but i~am here and it has been an adventure! brazil is beautiful and the weather has been amazing here in sau paulo! a good portion of the hallways in the ctm are outside because the weather is pretty much always awesome. today has been the hottest and most humid day yet, but that is just boring information! for our pday today we went to the sao paulo temple which is about 45 minutes away by bus. we took about 100 missionaries this morning, such an awesome experience! mom, if you love the oquirrh mountain temple, then you would be amazed by the sau paulo temple, i know they are all beatiful. but this temple is amazing! just across the street from the temple you have tons of street shops, old houses, grafiti, and tons of cars. Little does everyone know, the amazing peace and quiet in the temple. A true haven from the world, i only wish i could have had my parent to talk to in the celestial room!

The best way to descibe brazil, and particularly sau paulos is simple...´people´ there are SO many people here, it~s ten times crazier than LA. 22 million people...and they all seem to be trying to get somewhere at the same time. Dad i apologize for ever telling you that you tailgate people....even though, for utah, you do. You have no idea what tailgating or being cut off is until you drive here. when traffic is at a standstill....you probably have 5 seconds in between each motorcyle that flies by, just inches away from cars on either side...we contemplated opening our car doors just to see what happened, but thought better of it. there is one death a day just in this city due to motocycle wrecks. ENOUGH of this! you can find out anything you want about this city on google!

My companion is Elder Waldron, from So. california. we get along great and simple enough, he is a great guy. very quiet, sort of like a bradley johnson, but sometimes i can get him to laugh pretty hard. i~m loving my district, they have become my family away from home! i don~t know that it will be the best way to maximize my success as a missionary, but i seem to have taken the role of entertainer in the district. sometimes you just HAVE to laugh, and if i don~t.... i start to go crazy and get all tied up inside...much like bob and doctor leo marvin...laughing is simply a baby step.

all my instructors are brazilian and have a+ senses of humor. the language is tough, but it is coming along....it was very hard at first to lose something that i found so much confidence in. i always had confidence in my ability to have a conversation with someone and genuinely care about what they were saying and avoid any hint of áwkward´, but that was instantly stripped when all of the sudeen i could only say hello, goodnight, good morning, good afternoon, hey! and very cool! you learn to trust in the lord, and even thought

i can~t see myself speaking this language fluently, i have to trust that if i put forth my very best effort than i WILL eventually be able to speak it. I have 5 roommates, 2 natives who speak basically 0 english so we have learned a bit in trying to speak with them. it helped to have pictures of family and friends to show them and talk about. I know that you were all curious as to my amazing ability to jump, but it has finally been explained. all the natives that know we are going to brazil tell us that we are going to become black and we are ´going to meet the sun´ . . . so combine that with the fact that my room is on the 6 floor here and we aren~t allowed to use the elevator, and you will understand why i will be able to dunk like ronnie price when i come home. i would seperate these lines and makes this e-mail look better but i don~t have an enter keyo n this keyboard. we only have 30 minutes a week to spend with our e-mail so i~ll do my best. i don~t know how effective hardcopy mail will bet, but if you write me i will do my very best to get back to you....we have no random freetime to just sit down and write a letter...from 6ç30 in the morning until 10ç30 at night it is go go go go. because of all the worldly updates, i~´ll give you my spiritual thought for this e-mail... earlier in the week i heard a bit of advice that i loved. it goes like this.

we only decide one time in our lives. if we had to decide EVERYTHING, EVERYDAY than life would be miserable.... so decide ONCE that you are going to go to school or work or pray every morning, or study at night, or whatever it may be....but make that decision ONCE and then, you never have to decide again.. you don~t have to wake up and wonder if you~re going to go to church, or if you are going to get on your knees to pray.... it~s been decide, then you just do it. i love and miss you all, and i think about you everynight. friends can e-mail whenever they want, but i just can~t email back. hales, i look at that picture of our family you gave me everynight...not to encourage home sickness, but to remind me of why i~m here and the joy that the gospel has given me, especially in my family, and i want to share it with others. i love you all and i can~t wait to here from your and update you next week.

with all the love in my heart - Elder Johnson

The Farewell

Taylor's Farewell was held on February 28, 2010.  He did a remarkable job on his talk and we had a family luncheon following the meeting.  I know Taylor is very appreciative of all the support he was given by family and friends.