A Note From Mom...

To Iver's Family and Friends:

Iver is down to two weeks until he is supposed to leave the MTC. As of now, he still does not have his visa. Please pray for him, that the visa will come, and he will be able to get to Mexico to be with those he was called to serve.

Thanks! Michelle

Now the good stuff...

On July 27, 2010 Elder Johnson Wrote...

Hello Family and People I Love!

...Our district has the opportunity to be "hosts" tomorrow, and to greet the noobs and take them to their classes and such. That will be fun.

The temple is open again! Woo hoo! We are going there in about an hour.

I found some swell scriptures this week: Philippians 4:13 and 3 Nephi 12:11-12. I enjoyed them immensely.

We had a cool thing happen yesterday as we were aimlessly wandering about contacting and bearing our testimonies to other missionaries. We met a guy from Nebraska and he was going to Wisconsin speaking Mong, and he had only been here for about six days. My companion, Elder Sonntag, had begun his testimony about families (we usually have a theme, and it differs). When he finished, the Spanish words I wanted to say would not form in my mouth, so I asked him in English about his family, who are all active members of the church except his brother who is sixteen and pointed in the wrong direction. The Spirit kept telling me, as he was speaking (almost audibly), "Do not speak Spanish. Bear testimony." So I did, I told him why I was doing it in English, and bore testimony to him of his example for his brother, and that he needed to tell his brother he loved him every P-day. When we finished, the elder sprang up with wet eyes and gave Elder Sonntag and I a huge hug. Elder Sonntag told me later that as the Elder was talking about his family he was prompted to tell me to speak in English, and thinking, "he better not do this in Spanish." Cool contact. I hope he follows through.

I was told a story about a soldier this week who in battle was near a grenade. He was able to get away, mostly, except for the very bottom part of one of his legs which was instantly turned into hamburger. The medics had no morphine and only a dull baonnette to amputate his leg in the middle of his femur. Imagine that pain, on the battlefield, in the mud, no morphine, a bunch of soldiers holding you down while a few others cut off your leg with a dull baonnette. All this agony caused him to bleed out of one, one little pore on his forehead.

I love you!

Elder Iver Johnson

Mom: The veggies look awesome! I'm so jealous! The veggies here are cooked to death and are all totally mushy...I love you!!