I call this letter the TOOTH DOUTRINE ... Repentance is like brushing your teeth. Everyone needs to do this every day, every hour and every opportunity. We have to use toothpaste, the brand is reliable and strong (it's usually colgate). Without the use of toothpaste, our teeth will begin to deteriorate. The toothbrush . Sometimes there are some places that are very difficult to brush and therefore, we must use floss. If we forget to use floss, yellow plack begins to grow. After time, this yellow substance becomes black and rotten and continues to eat ate your tooth. You begin to have pain when you bite, chew, and even breath. In this phase, You will have to draw upon other stronger tools that are only found in the dentist´s office to take off the plack. If you don´t act, the situation gets worse. Maybe you will have a tooth cavity. Or maybe the dentist will have to take certain steps to save the tooth (like an iron cape or a fake tooth).

Toothpast=Atonement

Toothbrush=Action on our part to brush our teeth

Plack= Sin

Pain= Guilt

Dentist= the Bishop

As always, it´s better to prepare and prevent than to repair and repent.

Repentance is RELIEF! Everyone needs to apply the Atonement of Jesus Christ to have that winner smile and to be more happy in this life!!

Elder Johnson

 

What a week my friends!!  I can officially say that we´re getting a move on here in Bocaivua (my companion suggested the name Boc a MORMON as we have a new goal to give out 1 book of mormon per day).  

I am extremely pleased to present a few important people that Elder Fajardo and I have encountered here in the small town.  I´d just like all of you to get to know a few of the children of the Lord here in the small, forgotten village of Bocaiuva.

    Family of Nice (yes that´s the mother´s name):  This family consists of 6 persons who are relativily new in the city.  Two in this family are blazing the straight and narrow path toward baptizm.  Their names are Luis Guilherme(15) and Isabele(12). It was actually these two that we initially contacted!!  We were knocking doors and were close leaving for a marked appointment, when I felt impressed to say a prayer.  I brought my companion to the side of the road, we bowed our heads and sent our desires and thankfulness directly to God.  In this prayer, I pleaded that we, as representatives of the Lord, would be accepted into a house and that someone would here our message. When we finished, a young man passed and we waved to him, saying that we´d pass by in his house soon enough.  We went house by house and one by one no one answered or we were rejected.  At the last house stood a gigantic metal, sliding gate.  I had to jump to clap (the way to knock doors in Brazil).  Finally, the gate slid open to reveal a young woman with curiosity written on her face.  We were let in and given a chance to teach.  We sang `I am a child of God` in the end.  

Over the next week, we marked baptismal dates for Gui (the young man we comprimented in the road) and Isabele (the girl at the gate) for this Saturday and for the 28th of October!  A few nights ago we taught the whole family about the Commandments using a white board and markers!!  Everyone participated and loved the activity/lesson!!  What makes the message is the time and preparation that a missionary puts into task!        

I hope the same shining sun of success is upon all of you in your work and labors this week

Braço,

Elder Johnson

Clearly, today isn´t Mother´s Day, but I as this is my last email before Mother´s Day, I feel like I should just give a shout out to mothers. 

To just get the ball rolling...this week I´ve been thinking a ton about my mother and what she means to me.  I started asking questions like:

1.  What would my mother do?

2.  What would my mother think?

3.  If she were standing next to me right now, would I smile and give her a hug or RUN because she `caught you` (believe me, I´ve run A LOT)?

4.  How can I be more like MOM?

Then a scripture came to my mind....Isaiah 29:24 which reads (in my interpretation)

`Therefore, behold, I will proceed to BRING marvilhous MOMS among this people, even marvilous MOMS and WONDERS: for the wisdom of their wise men shall perish, and the understanding of their prudent men shall be hid.`

Yep moms rock and the guys...not as much.  Everyone needs to know who you are (yes, WHO you ARE), and you are THE MARVILOUS WONDEROUS MOMS.  Has anyone seen the new movie `Wonder Woman`?  Great...because I haven´t...but I had a great idea!!  Why not re-make the movie and name it, `Wonder MOMS`!!  Even with all the power that wonder woman has, she doesn´t even come close to the power of love that mothers have for their families.  

I personally am thankful for Melanie Johnson, my wonder mother, for teaching me all that I know and warning me of threats to my physical and spiritual safety.  My head was as hard as a brick before my mission!!  I didn´t like being nurtured and shown what was wrong and right.  NOW I KNOW BETTER.  Kids...learn now.  Teenagers...soften up.  Parents...be one.  Moms...continue on!!

Lots of love,

Elder Johnson

It´s just as Preach My Gospel says, `Nothing occurs until an investigator is found.`  How are we supposed to find people to teach and bring to Christ??  Through opening our mouth and proclaiming the good news.

Speaking of good news, Elder Vasconcelos and I began having a bunch more success this week!  We shared a few of our beliefs with a older couple, Jehova Witnessess, and it went really well!!  They´re new in town and have a bunch of dogs.  One dog realy caught my attention.  His name was Homey (after Homer Simpson :) ).  He was an absolute sleeping machine!!  When we came to the gate, he ran out, barked once, then immidiatley laid down.  Multiple times during the lesson I would find him sitting on the floor with head cocked to one side...SLEEPING.  Homey even started SNORING (and I mean loud...louder than my companion at least).  I think it´s because he finds a hard time breathing through his nose (which looks like he got run over by a semi).  Sadly, Alexandre and Marivone were a tad hard on a couple subjects like Christ being the God of the Old Testament, another `Mormon Bible` and more than 133000 people on earth being saved, yet the whole experience taught me something.  Sharing is the first step to create a bonding relationship.  I learned that JW don´t give blood, don´t vote, were persecuted during WW2, believe Christ was nailed to a stake (not cross), and they´re homemade bread is Fabulous!

After leaving the Jehova Witnessess with our testimony and a Book of Mormon to read/examine, we encountered members Rose and Gabriel (son of Rose) along with Malu (Rose´s sister and nonmember).  We entered their house and taught about the Restoration of the Gospel at night.  One of my favorite parts was when we were explaining about the Apostacy.  For an simple example, I reached for the light switch and turned off the lights.  Utter darkness dominated the room.  I explained that there was a period of confusion and darkness without the fulness of the gospel on the earth.  I then stated, `In 1820, everything changed (I flipped on the lights again)`.  The spirit was extremely strong.  Vando, the father, said that not one of the past missionaries that had passed by had taught with such knowledge and power.  We explained that it was just the spirit opening his heart in that moment.  

I know that we must share to show that we care for each one of our Heavenly Brothers and Sisters here on earth.  And I pray for more opportunities each day.

See ya next week!!

Elder Johnson 

Hi everybody!!  One more week past and gone here in Campo Largo, Brazil!  Man time really flies!  I´ll be quick because this Lan house is pretty darn expensive and I only have 20 Reais to live off for the next 4 days!  I´m getting really sick of Ramen, ya´know?  

This week was really cool because us missionaries planned out a huge activity for the entire church!  The activity was called `Campo Largo Espasoso`.  We essentially made a giant `tree of life` out of paper and put Christ in the center.  We had every participant write their names on a white sticky-note in the shape of a fruit (which us missionaries collected and slapped on the tree) before comencing the activity.  We tied ties around all the participants` eyes then led them to a cord (the iron rod).  They followed the rod until they entered the church.  Then they were loosed to try and find their way through obstacles to find the tree.  The holy ghost (us missionaries) whispered the way to go, while other helpers tried to distract.  In the end, everyone was laughing and having a good time.  

With the help of the spirit, EVERYONE made it to the tree (Christ).  What´s more, is that, when others arrived in the chosen destination, they returned to help their families who were struggling along the way.  What a great example, right?!!!  We always will have friends or family struggling to arrive in the kingdom of God, therefore, WE have a great duty to look back and help guide.  We are all one big family...the Family of God.  Why don´t we help out our fellow brothers and sisters along the rough path of life?  It´s so easy to do.  So let´s go!!  Hope to hear from you all next week!!

Elder Kumen Johnson 

Just to start it off...if you ever want to visit Brazil there´s a few tips you should know.  Some of the biggest ones are: the toilet water pressure is weak, everyone wears flip-flops inside and outside the house (to not get bitten by spiders and not get foot diseases), and mousse de maracuja is an instant tranquilizer.  By tranquilizer, I mean, this dessert is so powerful that it´s rare to see missionaries leaving a members house walking in a straight line after eating.  They´re literally sleep-walking!  

             Anyway, let´s see...about my week...Well, this week was pascoa (Easter)!  It was quite fascinating to see this holiday happen in a different country because it´s a tad different here in Brazil than the US.  They fill the whole supermarket full of giant football sized, chocolate eggs (Which you wouldn´t even believe me if I told you how expensive they are).  They don´t have easter egg hunts But they do have cool german chocolate eggs that have starwars figures inside (we bought 22 eggs in order to find the whole entire collection to the girlfriend of Elder Vasconcelos).  YEP, that was FUN!!!  

Also, we had a gargantuan conference with President Hart, wherein every dupla brought a member and their family.  The focus of the conference was members and missionaries working together.  WHY?  Because 1) an apostle promised that the mission of Curitiba would have success if missionaries and members worked together and 2) All the prophets since David O. Mackay have been COMMANDING it!  Since that conference we missionaries have been visiting members, marking appointments/lessons with them, explaining the necesity for effort on both sides (missionaries and members), and helping families create plans to bring friends and neighbors to the church, or in better words, to Christ. At the end of each visit, we left each house with an invitation for every member to bring 1 special individual to the Waters of Baptism or bring 1 person back to attend Sacrament Meeting. This invitation I extend to all of you, because every single soul on this earth has his/her part to do.  

Elder Johnson

....Poopy.  Plain poopy.  It all started out with one step.  One small step for (Ku)men, and lots of giant leaps afterward.  I happened to be walking down the road with a smile on my face, head turned, talking with my companion when I brought my foot down in the center of a huge pile of brown mud. Mud that really stank.  

I looked at the bottom of my shoe and only one that passed through my mind...`It doesn´t look like mud...it doesn´t smell like mud...IT´S NOT MUD!`  My companion began to crack up.  Immediately, I began leaping and kicking the curb to clean up the mess.  Finding a nearby patch of grass, I hurried over and commenced dragging my foot back and forth to resolve the situation.  Looking up at the other Elder, I saw them almost crying with laughter.  I stopped for a minute, then looked around me.  It turned out that I had been cleaning my shoe on the grass in front of a statue of Maria in close to the Catholic Church.  Furthermore, an older Catholic lady stood not 10 feet away with wide eyes, a pale expression, and the look of a person about to faint.  Stifling my laughter, I expressed my apologies and headed off with the rest of the missionaries.  

So it comes to this...when we have days that are just plain poopy (literally speaking included) do `we shake it off, shake it off` and smile and bring out the best of things.  For, after all, `at the end of the day it´s another day over` and we can´t go back in time to get it back.  Are we the ones that when `lost and alone and sinkin` like a stone, carry on` or just stay in our sad circumstances?  Many times in my mission I´ve sang the song, `I get knocked down, BUT I GET UP AGAIN, no NOTHING`S ever going to keep me down` to lift up my spirits and the spirits of my companion in bad weather, when an appointment falls, or something frustrating happens. I can promise each and every one of you that it makes a difference.  My investigators, companions, and random people in the street have seen this.  It makes a huge difference, for after all `men are that they might have joy`(2 Nephi 2:25)!

Elder Johnson