Barbershop

Sup cholos!

Last week was transfers so unfortunately I had to chuck up the deuce to Elder Judd and tell him it's just the mission life. He is a good guy. My new companion is Elder Torgerson, he is from Escalante, Utah. Ever heard of it?...its ok... Neither have they!!! He is a solid guy though. He likes to have fun but we still get a lot of good work in. 

Since we had transfers last Wednesday I wasn't able to email much. I forgot to tell you a story about the adventure that Elder Judd and I had at the barbershop. What went down is both Elder Judd and I were looking like Zac Efron as Troy Bolton in High School Musical, all shaggy and stuff. We needed a haircut and we both wanted a good ole fashioned black man haircut. One of the black primary children in our ward named Justin showed up to church on Sunday with a tight fade so we asked him where he got his "do" at. He told us to "go to the place by Rite Aid" so when we had the chance on P day we went. 

This place was the cats pajamas. It's one of those places that everybody knows everybody. The kind of place that conversations of local sports occur. The place that cool cats talk about stories from their childhood and stories from their children's childhood over the all too familiar buzzing sound of the hair clippers. This is the kind of place that houses barbers of 25+ years, who have aspired to be a barber all their life not for the money but because they like making people look good. All of this taking place perfectly in sync with the rhythm of an LL Cool J album playing in the stereo. In other words, this was the place to be. We knew it was the second we walked in. Elder Judd and I felt foolish ordering our haircuts like a bunch of white boys, for we didn't know the barbershop lingo. The barbers were nice and put up with our rookie ways. The haircuts were great! They lined us up real well. I'm talking the back of our necks, sideburns, forehead, everything. Mine turned out pretty good because I asked them to leave mine longer on top. As for Elder Judd, he now looks like a white version of Usher.

The best part of this whole barbershop experience was that both of the men cutting our hair were interested in what we were doing as missionaries. We taught both of them lessons while we sat in the chair. We gave both of them a Book of Mormon. They even gave us their phone numbers. That is the first haircut I have paid for on my mission but if I would have known it was a finding opportunity I would have been getting fresh cuts months ago. 

I hope everybody's Thanksgiving was a good one. It seems like Thanksgiving never even happened. I ate the turkey and everything but it just didn't feel like Thanksgiving. It's not the poultry that makes the holiday, it's the family. The best/worst part of Thanksgiving was that all of the members like to give us the leftovers. We still have 5 pies and a big serving tray of turkey still in our apartment. It's ok though because it will be cold this winter and I need some extra fluff to keep me warm. Nah mean? 

#HeIsTheGift

If you don't know now you know.

Elder Tyler J Johanson

Middletown home of the fierce middie bears