Faith, Fun and Miracles

Konnichiwa from The NYC,

Wanna hear how my week went? Of course you do, or else you wouldn't be reading this letter about how my week went. This last week was full of faith, fun, and miracles!!!

It all started out with the Jehovah's Witnesses knocking on our apartment door early one morning.  Elder Kia answered the door and because he was getting ready to go help someone move, he was in regular people clothes. They talked to him like a regular person. I could hear the whole conversation, as the front door is right by my study room. As Elder Kia was talking to them, he silently beckoned me over (I was in proselyting clothes with my name tag and all). I came into their view and they got all hesitant and weirded out. They didn't know they were talking to LDS missionaries hehe. Their door approach was sub-par but they were nice people so we politely told ‘em that we respect what they're doing because we know how hard it is ‘n stuff. They smiled back and said, "you too" it seemed kinda fake but you gotta love those J-Dubs.

Elder Schneider is the District Leader so he had a mission leadership meeting this last week. I was able to go on a split with Elder Meek who is a Spanish missionary. Since I went into his area, that meant I was able to be a "Spanish missionary" the whole day. We had a couple of appointments that we went to. Thanks to two years of Spanish in junior high, I could understand a little bit here and there. However, also thanks to two years of junior high Spanish, I could barely speak a word. The day consisted of me nodding my head and saying "Si" over and over again. The amount of times I said, "Si" is prolly up in the huneds.

Saturday we were able to baptize Steve!! He is the guy that moved from Ohio who had met with missionaries before and been taught everything. What makes this baptism even cooler is the fact that for the month of May our mission had a goal of 100 baptisms. Elder Schneider and I really wanted to contribute to the goal, however, with our teaching pool and the people we were currently working with at the beginning of the month, we didn’t know if they could possibly be baptized in less than a month. Elder Schneider and I had been praying for a miracle all month. Is it a coincidence that we met Steve, who was all ready to be baptized, randomly on the street? I think not!

The day Steve got baptized.

Saturday night we had an appointment with a blind investigator that we have. He lives up in Riverdale where all the Jews live. It is actually the sister’s area but they passed him to us. We enjoy going up there because it reminds us a little of home. As we came out of our investigator’s house, we were walking to the bus stop and we heard, "ELDERS!" coming from a car on the side of the street. We went over and started talking to the three women in the car and found out that they were members. Two of them were from Cottonwood, Utah. They were on a road trip and gave us all the food in their car and then gave Elder Schneider and me each twenty bucks. We tried pretending like we didn't want it (even though we did) or need it (even though we kind of did). It was a huge blessing. Food is very expensive in the city so we were both out of money for the month. Could I have found ways to save my money better throughout the month like not eating New York pizza or blowing money on HONEY BUNS? Yes. Yes I probably could have. My point is that we were in desperate need of some flow and God watched out for us. We don't need to live off of cheese and crackers people, when we have the restored gospel.

When you're doing what God wants you to, He will provide. It is literally that simple.

I Love you all like obesity loves a combination of Taco Bell and Pizza Hut.

-Elder Tyler Johanson

*Simba talking to Mufasa*

Simba: Dad, what's that green stuff?

Mufasa: I don't know son, we are from the Bronx.

It's a problem here.

Never a Dull Moment

Oh hey there,

So I'm just going to hop right in to the juicy details this last week since that is all that anybody cares about anyways.

This last week we were walking home at night back to our crib when all of a sudden this guy yells, "hey, Mormons!" I thought he was going to heckle us because that's what usually happens… Turns out he just moved from Ohio and was being taught by the missionaries back there. We scheduled a time to meet with him. When we went and taught him, we found out he had basically been taught very thing and wanted to be baptized. We extended an invitation for baptism for May 24th aka this Saturday! He was pumped about it. We had to do a baptismal interview with President Morgan because back in his college days some stuff went down.. He was really nervous about his interview but he was given the "ok" by president and he is getting baptized this Saturday!!! We take very little credit for this baptism. Those missionaries in Ohioprepared him well!

We got passed an investigator from the sisters named Benny. When we went into his house I saw that he had an album by "The Fugees". I made a comment on that album saying how I loved certain songs and he got really happy and excited and told me how he used to be a video manager for them. He went on to say how he has worked with a bunch of famous people like Biggie Smalls, Tupac Shakur, Bruce Willis, Spike Lee and many, many others. Apparently at one point he was living "the good life". I hope we can give him the actual good life when we share with him The Gospel of Jesus Christ!

I received my first death threat this last week. Some lady said she was going to tie us up and throw us out the window of her 5 story apartment. It was almost kind of funny because she wasn't an intimidating lady at all. (Don't worry Mom, it wasn't as scary as you're probably thinking.)

Unfortunately Brother Antwine (WWE wrestler) aka "Phoenix" is moving out of our ward. :( :( :( He is going to move to Houston and get back on the WWE tour. We went and helped him move. It was kind of cool being able to carry out boxes of metal baseball bats and leg braces that he has used during matches. He will be missed.

I am doing really great out here in The Bronx! I hope you're doing well wherever you are. Always remember to keep improving. It may sound cliché but there is always room to improve. The best improvement comes through Jesus Christ. Find ways to improve physically, mentally, and especially spiritually. Why settle for being average when you can be one of God’s choice children?

Loves and lollipops-Elder Tyler Johanson

This is Elder Kia. He is pointing at some girl's ratchet weave that blew away and got caught in a telephone pole.

A closer view of what we, in the Bronx call a Tumbleweave.

Another Selfie with Elder Schneider.

These are the people I have the privilege of working with. This man's name is Cisco.

Be Bold

I hope your last week has been a celestial one. I know mine has! It all started last week on p-day with the Bronx Botanical Gardens....Our district was missing grass and flowers and shrubbery and sorts so we decided to go to the gardens. It was therapeutic seeing "nature" and stuff.

Checking out neature with the district

Since Mother's Day was this last week, our zone did an activity. We cut out hundreds of paper hearts and went around the city, places like Yankee stadium and around Fordham University, and asked people to write down on the hearts something that their mom taught them or something that their mom has given them. People were generally excited about this idea! When they would write something down, we would then take apicture of them and stick it up on a Facebook page for them to go and see what others wrote. You can go on Facebook and check out pics of the people we contacted and what they wrote on the page "It Was Mom- Bronx, New York".

Yesterday I went on a split with Elder Kia. Elder Kia is a half Iranian dood from Beaver, Utah. He is my new zone leader/roomie. I don't say this about everybody but he is a homie. We had so much fun together and were able to still have a successful day. I took him to an appointment with a new investigator and thanks to Elder Kia's boldness we were able to get him a baptismal date! Elder Kia is a good example of a bold missionary. It was a good wake up call for me to see what can happen when you are bold. It was as if God took me aside and said, "Son, there comes a time in every man’s life when he needs to get out of his comfort zone and be powerful in declaring The Gospel of Jesus Christ." I'm going to try to follow Elder Kia's example this next week in being bold. Hopefully I will have some crazy stories for you next week because of it!

Split with Elder Kia! Brother Sacks (Ward Missionary) took us out for pizza.

In the mission we have a goal of getting 100 baptisms in the month of May. President Morgan has been trying to get the point across that, with faith, you truly can accomplish anything. Elder Schneider and I really wanted to contribute to that goal. The only problem was we had nobody on date, we didn't even have a single investigator that was progressing at the beginning of May. In the second week of May, we were able to come in contact with three people who are very interested in the gospel. They have many challenges and obstacles in their way, in order to be ready for baptism, but we believe that The Lord has placed those three prepared people in our way because of our faith. Now, if we can just exercise some more faith we might be able to work past their challenges. Whether they will be ready to be baptized by the end of this month I know not. What I do know is this gospel can change their life and eventually, they will come to know of its truth.


Elder Tyler Johanson

In the garden with my boy, Elder Schneider.

Week 15

This last week has probably been the best week of my mission so far! I got my new companion, Elder Schneider, he is the coolest. He is super duper witty, patient, and easy to get along with. He is a champ. He has been a blessing this last week as I have taken over the area. Now that Elder Reynolds is outie so that means it is up to me to get us where we need to go... That's not always easy in the Bronx. Do you know the difference between an avenue and a parkway? Hey, neither do I! But I am learning. Elder Schneider's patience and easy going attitude has been a tender mercy.

Wanna hear the highlights or lowlights first? Oh what's that? You guys don't have a choice because we are not talking in person and I am the one writing the email? Ok, let's do the lowlights first to get them out of the way.

Lowlights:
A guy on the street told us he killed a man once.. (Not the first time this has happened)

We bought Jarritos for Cinco de Mayo and it ran out way too fast.

Elder Schneider is too funny and sometimes my jaw hurts from smiling.

We were licked by a pit bull. Everybody here has pit bulls for protection. Most of the time they hold them back on chains. The other day this huge pit bull came up and we thought it was going to eat us, instead it licked us… The guy holding the pit bull back on a chain kept saying sorry, then I said, at least he didn't lick us twice!

Highlights of the week:

A woman we bumped into on the street kindly told us to be careful in her neighborhood because we are white and they don't like "us" there. That was the nicest racist thing I've ever heard.

My roommates: Elder Schneider, Elder Griffiths, and Elder Kia.

The sisters gave us a new investigator that looks like Santa Claus.

I get to be a missionary and help change people’s lives for the better whilst doing the same thing for myself in the process.


On Sunday Elder Schneider and I were walking back to the church for the CES devotional and some guy stops us on the street and asks us who won the fight between Mayweather and... Some other dood. Obviously we didn't know, but when we walked away we started talking about if the apostles had fighting nicknames. They could get up during general conference and have them announced with a deep raspy voice.

Anyways, moving on to more spiritual things. At the CES devotional Elder M. Russell Ballard laid the smack down on young adults for using technology way too much. He talked about how technology dulls our sensitivity to the Spirit. We shouldn't have our faces crammed in our iPhones all the time. He talked about how if there is somebody else in the room we should not be ignoring them and using technology. We need to talk about life experiences with others while we still have them around. So many times before my mission I would waste time with family and friends and be on my phone. I wish I would have talked to them more and built stronger relationships. I encourage each one of you reading this to limit the technology you use, for when you constantly
use technology it is harder to feel the Spirit. When you're in the room with somebody, talk to them (no I do not mean texting or through social media.) "I pray that we won't wait till we are ready to die before we truly learn to live." (without technology)

Have you guys ever noticed that The Spirit rarely prompts us to do stuff in our comfort zone? For example, I have yet on my mission to have The Spirit prompt me to get on the subway and not talk to anybody while I daydream about playing flag football.
When we are prompted by the Spirit to do so etching, we should do it. It may not always be the easiest but we are being prompted for a reason, who knows, you could be the answer to somebody's prayer.

Loves and lollipops,
-Elder Tyler J Johanson

 Before he left me. The last known photo of Elder Reynolds and myself. 

Me trying to be super trill next to street art.

Transfer Day

Hello old sports!

Today is transfers. I am officially done with training so The Bronx better look out because Elder TJYoungBuck is comin’ on through! Ok, I'm sorry, that was a very prideful thing of me to say. I will go repent for that one later. There is good news and bad news about the transfers... Bad news first.

Bad news: My daddy, Elder Reynolds, and I are being separated. The man who brought me into this mission world is leaving me to be a Zone Leader up at West Point Military Academy. Before I came on my mission, I prayed for weeks that my first companion would be 1. A hard worker and 2. An obedient missionary.  These last few months have been hard on Elder Reynolds because he has been dealing with a lot of trials, the biggest being the death of his father. Even though we have many personality differences, I love Elder Reynolds. I wish that everybody could have as much faith in Jesus Christ as he does. It just so happens that two of his best qualities are being hardworking and obedient. Elder Reynolds was an answer to my prayers.

Good news: I am staying in the Kingsbridge area #BronxTeam. Also, I am getting a new companion. My new companion’s name is Elder Schneider. I haven't met him yet, all I know is that his name is Elder Schneider.

Since I don't have much time to email today because of transfers I want to do highlights from this last week. It will be like SportsCenter’s top 10 plays only missionary style.

10. We have a lot of Jamaicans in our ward and they like to feed us so I eat curry goat and ox tails like they're tic-tacs.

9. Bishop Merkley and his wife fed us last Monday. Bishop Merkley is seriously THE coolest dood.

8. There is an investigator named Raquan that is 18 and really wants to serve a mission! The only bad part is his mom is super anti Mormon and won’t even let him get baptized so we will see about that…

7. My 100th day on the mission is coming up… That means 100 nights that I have slept in a bed that is too short for my long legs!

6. Sister Merkley (Bishop’s Wife) is a ridiculously good singer (she has her own CD) She sang "I Believe in Christ" during sacrament meeting.

5. I think my mustache is starting to grow in thicker.

4. We had a less active that we have been trying to get a hold of, unexpectedly come to church with her whole family... That like, never happens.

3. "I am blind, but that’s okay- I still have my jar of pickles."

2. We played basketball again with the youth and I still have yet to lose a game here in The Bronx.

1. There is a God who hears and answers my prayers. When I pray with a sincere heart, in a genuine matter, I know he hears my prayers.

I am sorry this letter was so-so and not a lot of juicy details were spilled but I love you all and will try to do better next week.

-Elder Tyler J Johanson

The Celestial District I have the opportunity to be a part of.

They say a picture is worth 1,000 words...This selfie says somewhere around 3,000.

Drunk Doods in Happy Moods

Hello my fellow hood rats,

I hope your Easter week/Sunday was great because mine sure was!

Last week for P-day we had a zone activity. We all went to da Bronx zoo. I saw grass for the first time in a while. The animals were cool and all but I have to say that I have seen wilder things walking the streets of the Bronx than I saw at the zoo. The lovely children of God that reside here are all just so wonderful.

I stepped in dog poop on the sidewalk for the first time since I have been here. I have made it long but it was bound to happen eventually so it's probably good that I just got it out of the way.

On Saturday our district went to the street corner by Fordham University and did a "Chalk event" for Easter. The video that the church put out for Easter, "Because of Him", is having an impact on people so we wanted to focus it on that. We got our chalk out and wrote, "Because of Jesus Christ..." and had people passing by write down what they are able to do because of Him. We had our iPads out and showed the "Because of Him" video to people that would stick around to watch. Many people watched. Some even left in tears. One lady I talked to said she didn't have time to watch but I sweet talked her into sticking around for 2 minutes to watch. By the end she was in tears saying, "God is trying to tell me something." She was very interested, along with many other people that we were able to find. It was a very successful event.

    

"Because of Jesus Christ" chalk event

Chalk Fun-in-the-Sun with the District

On Easter Sunday we were sitting there in a meeting before church when one of the Spanish missionaries pokes his head in and utters the words every missionary wants to hear, "There is somebody here looking for you." Elder Reynolds and I walked out wondering who it could be. It was a man who we met on the bus a few weeks ago and invited to church. We lost contact with him and were stoked when he showed up Easter Sunday to come to church. We had an hour and a half until church started so we taught him a lesson about the Book of Mormon. We had to cut the lesson short because we needed to go pick up an investigator for church. He told us that he would sit there and read his scriptures until we got back. Well............. We came back to the church and this man was nowhere to be found. Sacrament meeting started and at the beginning of the first talk we hear a man start clapping and shouting, "AMEN". It was our friend. Sister Newsome, the wife of the first counselor in our ward, sat by him and calmed him down and it seemed like she got it under control. The musical number starts and he whips out a homemade flute that doubles as a weapon (essentially it's a metal rod with holes in it. He said cops have taken it away multiple times). Sister Newsome used her motherly instincts to, again, calm this man down. At this point, Elder Reynolds and I were getting uneasy and were debating taking him out and telling him how we behave at our church but the next talk started and everything seemed fine. Then... I hear a noise, I look back and he started kissing Sister Newsome's hand. Brother Newsome, sitting up on the stand, looked like he was gonna bust somebody up! Elder Reynolds and I popped up along with Brother Desmond (a tall/built black man) and escorted him out of the church. Turns out he disappeared before church because he was doing a lil boozin and got drunk. We told him that he is welcome back but he has to be sober. We are going to go try to talk with him this week. Our drunk investigator is lucky Brother Antwine (a WWE wrestler) in our ward didn't get his hands on him or we could've had a problem. Long story short, our ward needs a new calling, "ward bouncer".

#HappyEasterSelfie

Saturday night I had an experience that strengthened my testimony greatly. We went to go teach a lesson to an investigator. She is very flakey and suffers from an abundance of addictions and depression. The last few weeks she has been very slowly making progress. When we showed up she was not well. Her kids opened the door, free as June birds, with no clothes on. There was more nudity in that apartment than in sumo wrestling. She said she wanted us to leave her alone and she didn't have time for us. She slammed the door in our faces and we walked off disappointed. Before Elder Reynolds and I made our descent into the abyss of the subway, I had a lingering feeling that we should go back to her apartment. It wasn't so much a quick thought as it was a deep desire. I knew without a doubt in my mind that it was the Holy Spirit. I knew if I didn't act on this prompting, I would feel guilty. I told Elder Reynolds and we went back, in a caring manner we told her how much we loved her and how much God loved her. You are all probably thinking something miraculous happened, right? Well, nothing happened. She told us again she didn't want us over and shut the door before we could tell her goodbye. As we walked off, I felt a deep sense of satisfaction, not because she necessarily listened to us but because I know I acted on the prompting of the Spirit. I don't know if that experience will ever change her life but I do know that it changed mine.

Heavenly Father will send The Holy Spirit to guide and direct us. We must be in the right position to listen and to act on those promptings. For when you act on those promptings, you know you have done the will of your Father in Heaven. There is no greater reward than doing God’s will.

I love you all and hope you've had a great Easter and focused on why it is celebrated.

-Elder Tyler J Johanson

One more selfie because it's been too long

Ima Up in Brooklyn, Now I'm down in China Town

Hola,

I hope you were all able to find ways to strengthen your testimony this week! Cuz like, how is feeling of God’s love for you not at the top of your to-do list!?

Last p-day was pretty Radink to the hinkulous. The New York New York north mission has the best p-day activities in the whole world. I'm not being arrogant, I'm just stating facts. (R.I.P. To those few serving in Nebraska ‘n stuff)

Last week, as a district, we went to Manhattan and went on the Brooklyn Bridge. Since Brooklyn is part of the south mission, we could only walk halfway across because we didn't want to go out of our boundaries but whatevs. The bridge is long and ain't nobody got time fo dat. After the bridge, we went to China Town and got dumplings. Mine were supposed to be beef dumplings but there is a fifty-fifty chance that it was cat meat. After a delicious lunch of cat meat, the elders wanted to go to a store called Century 21, right across from the temple and buy ties. Century 21 is every missionary’s dream store. They got ties coming out the wazoo up in there. Outside of the temple I saw a kid wearing a Lone Peak sweatshirt and I was like, "Yo!" Turns out it was the Brother Hafen (from my home stake) and his family. We talked for a bit and then we took a picture so he could send it to my mom. I decided to put my arm around him in the picture even though I don't know him on an "embracing basis" but it was worth it.

We went with some Spanish missionaries, Elder Nelson and Elder Smith, to a lady named Sparkle's house because they wanted to pass her over to us. She asked the question, "I've already been baptized, why do I have to be baptized twice?" Inside, we were all thinking, "Oh crap. We have to break the news." Nobody was speaking up so I decided I would volunteer as tribute and tell her that she needed to be baptized again
because she wasn't baptized by priesthood authority. The rest of the lesson went well and she accepted everything we told her. The only thing she had a problem with was that all of our pamphlets had pictures of a white Jesus and not a black Jesus (a lot of people here think Jesus was black). But other than that, it was good. As we left and updated her teaching record on our nifty iPads we noticed she was already in there. We had 4 missionaries there and not one of us thought to ask what church she was baptized in! Apparently she was already a member! She doesn't know anything about our church though and she can't remember much about her baptism so we think she was baptized when she was 8 and hasn't been back. We knew she was too golden to be true...

I played basketball again last night with the youth. I still have yet to lose a game here in the Bronx. Swerve.

A group of children called me their “N word" the other day. I know most people think that word is offensive back home but here in the Bronx they use it as compliment.... and a verb, and a noun, and an adjective, and a sentence. I felt loved.

This last week has been tough on us lessons wise. People are way flakey on appointments. You will call them and confirm the appointment that same day, show up at their house and they won't be there. Sometimes they won't even call you back and tell you why they weren't there for a week or so. Despite the low numbers I know I can still be a successful missionary. Success doesn't come in numbers but it comes when you can feel the Spirit in you as you testify.
I desperately want whoever reads this to know that Heavenly Father loves you. You put the limitations on how much you feel of God’s love. Open up your heart to him in prayer and he will manifest his love to you in some way.
Have a happy Easter homies.

-Elder Tyler J Johanson

Look at the Bridge on that one!

Selfie on the bridge with Sister Arquero (lil Philippine gal. Super happy all the time. Basically everybody's little sister/ the district mascot), Elder Davidson (Zone leader from American Fork/ my roomie), Sister Fletcher (She's from Idaho Falls, went to BYU-Idaho. Swag.), and Elder Griffiths (southern gentleman from Georgia... Ladies??...)

Our Chapel in the Bronx.