Howdy!

On December 27, 2010, Elder Johnson wrote:

Family and Friends:

Well, this weekend has been full of pizza, fireworks, lots of drunk people, and very little teaching (it's hard to teach drunk people, and lots and lots of people are not home at this time of year). My companion and I have been struggling to find people home. They are all out visiting their moms for the holiday.

This week was a great week to start off with, we found some great people (all of whom were not home at the end of the week) and were teaching a lot. Then Christmas Eve hit. People disappeared. I learned that the people here stay up all night on Christmas Eve. You could venture as far as to say that it is more important than the actual Christmas Day to them. They party and dance and drink (don't drink, kids. And don't do drugs, either) and the next day they are near-to-dead. However, we had a miracle happen on Sunday; we had someone come to church! It was really awesome! He even told us that he prayed about Joseph Smith, and felt a warmness in his chest! We are excited to be teaching him and his wife. Their names are Fabiola and Cristobal.

We were able this week to visit with some of the members here (they stay up all night, too, but they don't drink), and to share a little bit of Christmas with them.

My companion and I are doing well, at times he disagrees with me (usually about what bus to take, I'm usually right, I've been here longer than he has!), but we are doing well finding and teaching. I have been doing a lot more teaching with him! My Spanish is getting to be good. Getting there.

I love you all! I hope you have a good rest of the year, and a good start to the next one!

Elder Johnson
A note from Michelle:

It was so wonderful to talk with Iver on the phone on Christmas Day! He laughed a lot, which was just what we needed to hear! He is so happy and doing very well. He had a hard time with his English at the beginning of the call, really out of practice! Instead of saying yes, he always said, "si!"

Many people sent him Christmas packages, but only one made it in time for Christmas...Kevin saved the day!! He will have lots of goodies there soon, another Christmas!

He told us that even though he really doesn't like it, MENUDO (soup made from cow stomach) is his favorite thing to be fed because it is one of the things that doesn't make him sick! On Christmas day, a wonderful woman in his ward made him hamburgers, and he was quite thrilled! He has had enough of street tacos.

Iver has asked us to assist him in praying and fasting for him to find those who might be seeking for the gospel in their lives. We invite all of his friends and family to join us!

Yay!!! Love this boy with all of my heart!!!