As Black as a White Man Can Feel - Last MTC Letter - Aug. 23

Well here i am and i have found myself in the bowels of the basement of 1M. This week was good at some points and bad at others but ill start at the begining.

We started at the trc and the lesson went really well and i can tell im learning more and more cause im able to pick up more and more what the fluent speakers are saying. we taught about the role of the spirit and this helped alot cause alot of our lessons over the next week would revolve around this. funny how things just work out like that... anyway so we taught a 30 min lesson but we had 35 min in the room with jacob and jeff, two frequent commers to the trc. after we taught the talked about their missions in haiti and how is was really crazy there. they said thier zone leader got stabed by his companion and some other missionaries got kidnapped. so im REALLY glad im not going to haiti. they also said the haitian missionaries are really teritorial and they always have to have control. they said recieving death threats by senior companions if you woke them up on time was normal.  None of us are going to haiti though cause the mission is closed to palongys (white people in tongan). Rasmussen is going to fort lauderdale florida and elser olsky and Stegal are going to tampa florida. speaking of which the tongans are leaving today. its sad to see them leave but they have deserved to leave cause they have been here two weeks more than us. now that they have left that means our distrit is like the model district now so that means the presidancy will be breathing down our necks and steal our room for leadership meetings. it dosnt REALLY matter cause elder campbell and i are only here for another week but its still nerve racking.

Our teaching has gotten so much better. our focus in class has switched less from the language to more focus on teaching. it was funny cause yesterday fre jean (the only haitian teacher) toook a whole hour in class to practice teaching with the three other elders in my district. it was funny cause he said we had 5 min of prep time and then campbell and i would teach for real, but instead he took a little detour to help the other elders with teaching, which they desperately needed. campbells and my lessons flow like a waterfall. they are so much better than before and the language is almost never a problem for me now.

yester day fre jean used some wierd sayings that i cant even remember and i gave him the wierdest look and he gave me one back. it was wierd cause in direct translation he said "are you working fire" which i was totally lost but it meant "are you warmed up?" i laughed cause it was a saying that made sense but didnt at the same time. he just called me a greenie and we moved on lol. the new haitian proverb for this week which i thought everryone would like is

"si bab komrad boule, ou kouri mete pa ou nan dlo"

which means if your friends beard is on fire you should go get yours wet. another one:

"yon dwet pa manje kalamarou"

which means a single finger cant eat ochra. (the green vegitable that we eat in couscous) its means like "alot of hands make quick work" kinda thing.

i used some of these in some of my lessons this week and i felt as black as a white man could in creole.

thanks for the package that you sent mom and i loved everything you put in there. ill most likely be calling home on next monday but be ready cause its going to be pretty early in the morning. im sad that sophie has already taken over my phone and i hope that nothing else will come to the valuables that i left behind.

so this week i have 200 note cards that im going to finish this week before i leave. its 27 words a day which is a little less than what ive been doing but im doing alot of other stuff in my scriptures so im staying really busy. my allergies have been acting up but i also think its cause im getting sick again so bottom line is i really dont know why my voice is changing pitches at 9:30 every night and i have LOADS of snot but im taking some meds so hopefully it goes away when i get to NYC. sad story is that i have to get my hair cut this week so everyone pray for the barber and that he doesnt make me look like an old man.

anyway thats it for this week and ill call home on next monday probably. thanks for everything everyone is sending and for all the mail!! talk to you guys later!!

-elder johnson-

p.s. thanks mom for the addresses and dont let sophie get crazy on my phone.

p.s. dont send me any letters past saturday cause they will probably not get to me. just wait till i give you my NY address

Photos of the MTC

Zach and his companion Elder Campbell

Part of Zach's district at the Provo Temple.

Zach with his Haitian Creole teachers, (left to right) Fre Pixton, Fre Nelson and Fre Jean.

Flowing like a waterfall

well this week was verry interesting. some days were a totall sucess while others were a total flop. like saturday. i accidentally took 2 antihistamine without knowing that it knocks you out so i had THE hardest time staying awake during pst that day. we also had two sub teachers that day cause for some reason everyone decided to go out of town that week end, and the subs were from the tongan and samoan classes so they taught like tongans and somoans, which means that they didnt do as much teaching as they did talking. i also had no motivation to even study so it was really hard to stay focused.

sunday was a complete opposite story though cause we had this awesome devotional and i did so much vocab and scripture study and church had alot of really good speakers. then yesterday all of our teachers came back so we had really good lessons and we actually did some teaching. the teaching that we did do was awesome and the creole flowed like a waterfall. our teacher also told us a story about how he saved his friends life over the weekend. he was at his family reunion and had a prompting to call his friend from haiti. the guy had just moved to NY and his apartment got robbed and he lost all of his paperwork for his job and citizenship. he got fired cause he lost all of it and he was seriously considering suicide. Fre Jean called though and he wasnt going to at first cause it was 1 am in NY when he called but he said he just listened for about 40 min and just cause he listened and bore his testimony about trials his friend came up with the solution on his own and decided to join the army.

it was a really sweet story to hear how he listened to the spirt and it was for a really good reason. we have been trying to use the spirit better in our lessons and i can tell that it helps so much especially when you know the language haha. i didnt keep my goal very well this week and i didnt even come close to doubling my vocabulary. but i did learn the fist vision in creole and i think my understanding for some topics including the lessons has grown alot.

good news my companion still knows everyone in this place and i still only know 4 people. but i did get to see breyton and parker and i took some pictures with them. ok and speaking of friends i have some NEW assignments!!!! 1) i still need MCKAY JOHSON's email or mailing address. his mom was supossed to email me or someone was supposed to call or something. anyway bottom line it didnt get to me. his parents phone number should be in one of my earlier emails. 2) some one in the johnson house needs to look up on my phone for AARON PAINTER's number and call/text him my address or ask for his or something cause i want to know how he is.

thats it for the assignments for this week and thanks to everyone who has been doing these little things for me. they mean alot and help out alot even if it seams that they arent that big of a deal. CAUSE THEY ARE to a missionary in the mtc. some elders that are going to mongolia just got here and they are here for 12 weeks. i think i would jump the fence if i was here that long. two weeks seems like so far away and i cant wait till im acutually going REAL missionary work.

this weeks elder spotlight goes to Elder Olchewsky. i think thats how its spelled but its pronounced ol' chef skii. hes from midville utah and he is a SUPER NERD like me!!! before sundays devotional we talked about everything from computer games to computer progamming and ive decided im going to HAVE to see him after i come home cause he is awesome. his mom sends him huge boxes of cookies every week and im getting fat from them cause he is super nice too. hes always offering everyone mints and has everything in office max from a to z in his back pack. he is the ultimate eagle scout and he shows it.

the temple was good this week and we ATE in the temple. who knew there was a cafeteria in it right? i had a bread bowl soup with clam showder. it was a nice and greatly needed break from the nasty cafeteria food that we eat all the time. OHHH MYYY. ok so i had a spinich salad with rasberries in it like last week, it was actually good and i like it but it gave me THE WORST gass i have ever had in my life. seriously i farted once every ten minutes after dinner till i fell asleep that night. it was horrible.

thanks to everyone that send mail this week and i hope everyone got mine too. i havent checked mail today but im going to soon after laundry. anyway thats pretty much it for this week and i hope everyone has a good week this week too!!

-elder johnson-

3 Weeks Left in Spiritual Prison (or in other words, week 5 in the MTC)

HEY FANMI MWEN!!!!

So im trying to respond to everyone who sent me mail within the past two weeks but there are alot of you so im going to try my best! Well parker is finally here so thats good that it takes him only 3000 miles to respond to one of my letters haha. Well there are some funny language stories for you: first its that while in the middle of some lessons ive said the COMPLETELY wrong thing like saying satan instead of "tann sa". i was trying to say thank you for the this time we have, but i said thank you for satan we have. my teacher burst out laughing in the middle of the prayer while i was totally confused haha.

I also said "pete" instead of "pedi" so the gospel farted in the world instead of the gospel was lost from the world. it was a real hoot to hear all the jokes after that one. One day my teacher asked us what mwa ment and i automaticaly said "it means me!" in reaction to that fre jean takes off his glasses, looks at me in disapointment and says "welcome to haiti my friend". i said what it ment in french haha.

i broke my bottle today cause i set it on the paper towel despencer and it fell and broke but my companion suplied me with another one so that was a tradgety averted. we held a funeral service for it which lasted about 3 seconds from me carrying it to the garbage. heres a shout out to my mom for sending me a BUTT CUSHION!!!!!!!!! its sweet and i will never be uncomfortable again in class. THANKS!!!

on friday when i was running my mile, elder zajak and elder corder stoped me and said if i wanted to do a buddy carry with them. i said yeah sure whats a buddy carry? elder zajak then picked me up and ran a lap with me while he fireman carried me. he said it was a real work out and thanks for the help haha.

the last story is the funniest i think. the last 5 hours of our day on saturday consists of language study, a 3 hour pst block , and going to the tall lab. This is all done in the class and we were really tired and so we decided to spend the last hour outside to wake us up. elder rasmussen then went to this tree and started meowing at it. we all thought he was going crazy but then he look up at it and started saying there was a cat up there. we all knew he was pulling our leg but about 50+ elders running to gym believed him. everyone that passed by look up too and were concerned about the imaginary cat that was up in the tree. some people even claimed to see it but then none of us could keep our cool and busted out laughing. we had the whole zone in on it and was a great way to relieve stress and woke us all up from a long day.

anyway today we went to the temple and did inititories again. elder rasmussen and i went to a different session, or more like we didnt change fast enough out of inititories, so we went to one by ourselves. it was kinda different cause we were by ourselves in a corner of the celestial room and the spirit was so strong it could have lifted me up out of my chair. its amazing to be inside the house of the Lord and going there every week strengthens my testimony so much. every time i go i always get an answer to my prayers which is also why i look forward going there everyday.

im still going strong on 35 words a day and thanks to everyone that believes in me. we taught the second half of the second lesson yesterday in creole and it was so hard. everyone butchered it and we made our investigators really confused. its a huge lesson with alot of new things that people never have heard of before so its the hardest to teach. its a make it or break it lesson for alot of people so we are trying really hard to get a teaching strategy going. i can testify really good in creole now cause i can feel the spirit testifying to me of what im saying. its not so much about the language now but about using the spirit. the lessons are still a little choppy but we are working hard on them.

thanks so much for all the things every one is sending and for all the mail. it brings so much excitment to the same four walls and just helps the day move along. thanks for all of your prayers and thoughts. they help so much and im praying in creole for you too! everything here from the devotionals to the food are an answer to my prayers and im thankfull for all of it, even if the food nearlly kills us everyday. i love everyone so much and i have really come to understand the role of my family and my love that i have for them since i have came here. Na wai!

avek lamou,

Elde Johnson

Week 4, A Week of New Firsts

 WHEWWWW ok well this week was a week of new starts. I ran a mile yesterday and on Sunday I shined my shoes for the first time. also today I had my first whole apple since I've been here. It feels good to feel tired from running and from eating apples but I still have to do this whole missionary thing ontop of this. Well, anyway the mail room had some disaster or something like that and so I didn't get some of your mail till like Thursday. So yeah sorry I didn't write cause I figured I could address all your concerns like this one:

Kayla said I didn't indent enough so here ya go:

this

one

is for

kayla

:)

     Today we went early for the temple which was a really smart idea cause we did inititories, did a session, had lunch, and it was only 1 o' clock. I feel like this is that "God's speed" all of you are talking about. I also got this Haitian shirt with the Haitian flag and with the population and stuff on it. I figured I could get a nyc one while I was there so I didn't special order it from the mtc. The language is going great. This week I'm going to try and double the amount of knowledge I have in Haitian. I've started praying in Haitian and our class is speaking it 75% of the time now in class. I'm trying to get my district to speak during meals but I don't think they like that idea very much.

     I want to give a shout out to kayla for sending me PICTURES and SWEETROLLS (I have yet to get them but they are on their way) and for my mom for making me a BUTT CUSHION. This will definitely make my week. Nothing really outrageous or crazy happened other than I'm still trying to do 35 words a day in Haitian and unfortunately I think its taking a toll on my English spelling. It's phonetic so you spell what you hear or say. I LOVE IT. I can spell EVERYTHING just by hearing someone say it. Our progressive investigator is going well I think.

       We just challenged him to read the first 7 chapters of first Nephi in a week so I hope he does it. He has kept all commitments before so I think he will do this one as well. I want to move onto the third lesson but Elder Campbell doesn't know enough vocab to teach it he says. I'm going to kick his butt this week cause it's hindering our ablility to teach when he is asking me for a word every sentence.         We have trc tomorrow which is where we teach someone else who actually KNOWS the language and who isn't our teacher. We will teach lesson 2 in Creole but I know that really well so it shouldn't be a problem.

     Grats to Mitch for mastering guns for the fourth time and for his new found ablility for becoming a misterfix it (welcome to the club). Kayla said that Katherine got engaged and I've been looking for her fiance (a french word that means the same thing in creole as it does english) but its hard to find a brother Wanket. : / Good luck for Kayla and Mitch to find jobs and I'm praying in Creole for you!!

uhhhhhh well OH well I just remembered a NEW (nouvo) Haitian proverb told to us yesterday by brother Nelson one of our teachers. it goes like so:

     woch nan dlo pa konnen doule woch nan soley.

It translates to the rock in the water doesn't know the pain of the rock in the sun. Meaning that we shouldn't juidge others for what they have cause we don't know their problems. Also that everyone has different trials and some that may seem easy to us may be hard for them. This last Sunday's devotional was about love. I've really taken this to heart and I've really tried working on charity and loving everyone more and judging less. It's kinda hard but I've found that being sourounded by the spirit really helps to accomplish it. I've been praying hard for this along with doubling my knowledge about Creole. I know that with my faith and the power of the Lord anything is possible to accomplish.

     My teacher Brother Pixton told us that some one in our mission would try to fast for 40 days and 40 nights and that this was STUPID and I know this is impossible and something that only Christ could accomplish but I'm really trying to push my boundaries with learning, eating, exercising, and teaching. I hope and pray everyday that I can acomplish these goals. Anyway can't wait to hear from you again.  I'm going to try and get some pictures printed for some of you guys (I still have room for like 300 pics so I won't send my card home yet). Thanks so much for all the prayers and thoughts and I can see all of them at work in this sacred place that I can't wait to get out of. My teachers are an awesome (onfom!) influence on me and I love the way they teach us every day. Any way times up so I can't wait to hear from you this next week!!

Elder Johnson