Finally on Christmas!

At the Christmas Island Airport

Mom,

Yep! I am officially in my new area!! and I have been here for a little less than a week now, and let me tell you this Island is NOTHING like Tarawa!! hahah, there are sooooo many trees and a ton of vegetation! The bike ride from my house to our area is about 20 minutes, so that can give you an idea of how big our area actually is!! hahah Living conditions are alright, we live in the Captain Cook hotel, but with no air conditioner or hot water, it's not bad though cause just having a fan is pretty cold.  We are no where near the rest of the other Elders, probably about a half hour ride in a car from our house to theirs, so it is just Darm and I except for p-days and District meetings.  hahah The nice thing is our house is right next to this store JMB's  that gets it's cargo from Costco in Hawaii! So we get some pretty good stuff!! hahah My companion is amazing! He is really funny and a really hard worker!

Catching up with MTC Missionaries and Meeting Elder Darm

I am so glad that you guys got to pick the gang up, I love those guys so much!! They are all going to be such great missionaries!! That was so nice of you guys to give them those bags!! I know that most of them only had one or two neck ties, both Taibati and Tenoa were wearing ties that I gave them!! haha

I know that they would LOVE getting packages in the MTC hahaha and that fish thing would be way awesome for them!!! hahah

We did not get a forward/copy of that email sent from the Temple presidency! That is literally the coolest thing I have heard!! I know I was kind of confused as to why we stayed a week in Fiji! But that gave me the answer, that is literally so cool!!! I want to share with you a very special experience that I had while going through the temple last week.  I decided to go through one of the sessions with a question in mind, and I know that it is a while a way, but I couldn't stop thinking about whether or not I am going to swim and which college I will go to.  What I did was I prayed at the beginning of the session and when we got into the Celestial room I prayed again and sat and pondered.  And it was as if I was having a conversation with my Father in Heaven.  Not only did I receive my answer to whether or not I was going to swim, but I received my answer to a whole lot more.  After I received my answer I prayed to confirm what I heard and I was overwhelmed with the spirit.  I am so grateful for the opportunity that Elder Miller and I had to go through the Temple as many times as we did last week.  I know that Heavenly Father watched over us and provided us with the means to do what we needed to do.

District Meeting- Back Row- Elder Berends, Elder Beacham, Elder Miller
Front Row- Elder Osborne, Elder Johnson

Mom,  I love you soooo much and you stay in my prayers every night! I love you, and I know that the Lord will continue to bless you as you do your very best to serve him first!

love your son,

Elder Johnson

Sunset at Banana

WE MADE IT TO CHRISTMAS!!!

hahah finally, but just from experiences this last week and the emails I got from you and Mom, I know that I was supposed to be there. 

I am so glad that you guys had the chance to pick those guys up that makes me so happy!  I love the pictures you sent!! they look so good!!! hahah I bet they were dying with how cold it has been there! haha I also love the cartoon that you drew it made miller die laughing! XD  Yeah, he was wearing my pants, and Taibati and Tenoa were wearing my ties! They only had one each!

Apartment has been invaded by crabs!

I know mom told me about that email, I'm surprised that President didn't say anything to us! that is definitely a testimony builder right there, knowing that the Lord was there every step of the way! I had an amazing time in Fiji, and so much happened that I just know wasn't a coincidence! I didn't tell you this before but the day we left Tarawa the dentists that were there doing a check-up on all of the Missionaries and the kids at Moroni High School left with us and stayed in the same hotel.  And when we went to go check if we could get on the flight, they told us that they had already talked to the front desk at the Hotel, and told them if we come back they would pay for another night for us, amazing, then when we did come back we had a place to stay for the night, then in the morning, they bought us both breakfast!!  Everything just worked out so well in our favor, that it really strengthened my testimony.   So amazing

Tari- Smoked Fish with texture of Gel

Christmas is AMAZING!  When I got here, the first day, we taught 10 lessons, it was crazy!!! My area is soooo far away from every one else on the island, so we only get to see the other missionaries on district meeting days, and p-days!  haha pretty cool, so it's like outer island life without living on an outer island!! It was soooo cool catching up with Berends and Osborne I missed those guys so much!!

Darm is a way funny kid, he is a big kid but has lost 50 pounds since he has been out on his mission! crazy! He is a really hard worker, he lives is California, played football and wrestled in high school, and is really good at connecting with the people 

Baptism on Christmas

Funniest moment from this last week is probably our baptism, Darm performed the baptism itself, and here we do it in the ocean every time, so when the two of them went in to the water, he started saying the prayer this HUGE wave came down and crashed into the two of them and Darm goes head over heals, no joke into the water, it was SO funny!!!

Most spiritual... was probably yesterday, I got asked to give a talk yesterday at last second and I decided to do it on the Book of Mormon, it was really powerful and I felt the spirit way strong through the whole thing.  It really strengthened my testimony of the truthfulness of the Book of Mormon, it was really sweet. 

I love it here, there is soooo much fresh fish and it is all soooooo delicious! and yes I am bragging! XD

I love you dad,

Love your son,

Elder Johnson

Baptism Group

Letter President Weir forwarded from the Fiji Temple President

Dear President Weir:
My name is Thaine Olsen and I am first counsellor in the Suva Fiji Temple. 

This last week we had the great pleasure to have your two fine elders join us in the temple. We, by a little miracle, were able to run into them and find that they were stuck in Suva and were with the young elders from Kiribati. They willingly shepherded the young men to the temple and we had them with us Thursday, Friday and Saturday in the temple for all the time it was open. They got to do baptisms for the dead in Kribati, sessions, initiatory, and they helped with sealings of some couples and families from Kiribati. They are fine young men full of the Spirit of the Lord. They took hold of those boys and made sure they got to the temple and served there. One of the greatest blessings was that they were able to translate for us and help these young men straighten out their communication with the Fiji mission and with us in the temple, also they helped them get to where they needed to be in the temple. They were an absolute answer to prayer; who knows but that they were brought to Fiji for that very purpose. I am sure that you were worried about them being stranded in another mission, in another country, but they were faithful and diligent. When I asked if they would come and help us in the temple and particularly to bring the young Kiribati elders, they said they had to get permission from their mission president and then perhaps they could come. 

You should have seen them in the temple doing baptisms and confirmations in Kiribati. The young Kiribati families there to do the work for their ancestors rejoiced with them and the other young elders to have those ordinances in their native tongue. Being that we just opened the temple we were not  prepared to do them in Kiribati. 

So again thank you for having such fine elders, so steady and faithful, and reliable. They were Saviours on Mount Zion. Could you please forward this on to their parents. I would be most grateful.

On Saturday afternoon we ran into them in a store and took these pictures. Pictured in the group photo were some of the other couple temple missionaries. 

Your brother in Christ

President Thaine L Olsen

Suva Fiji Temple

Temple Workers and Kiribati Missionaries

Elder Johnson and Elder Miller

Amber and I had the chance to take these awesome Kiribati Missionaries to the MTC. 
We also got to meet Elder Miller's parents (not in pictures), amazing people, no wonder their kid is such a good missionary