Week 29

To all my friends in the place with style and grace,

We dropped by an investigator's house and his American Flag kept whipping me upside the head so I just decided to take a selfie of it, obvi. #Merica


The craziest thing that happened while we were meeting with our investigator Doug. Doug is one of my favorite people to meet with. He became an alcoholic at the age of 12 and started smoking a pack of cigarettes a day shortly after that. He was able to stop drinking in his late 30's but still struggles with smoking (he's 55). His main problems are his addiction and he won't come to church because his mom helps him out a lot financially and his mom is anti Mormon. We have been focusing with him on his addiction and he relapses all the time, but he is making progress little by little. When we went over, he was having some problems with dizziness. Apparently, he suffers from vertigo... We know that now. We sat down to pray and halfway through my prayer I hear Doug talking on the phone, he had dialed 911 and called an ambulance right in the middle of our prayer! We waited with him until the paramedics arrived and made sure he was ok. He is fine now but it was Kuh-Ray-Z in the moment. Turns out he has vertigo and he thought he was gonna die for a minute but we are good now.                      
Elder Burton and I were uh-driving in our car and we drove by a former investigators house that we have never met with before but I recognized the house so we stopped off and decided to go see if we could stir up his heart. He answered the door and said he was busy and couldn't meet with us but then we (I really mean The Spirit) convinced him to give us 15 minutes to talk to him. The conversation turned to The Atonement and how he feels he needs to repent. As we were talking about repentance, out of nowhere he stops us and asks about baptism and what he needs to do to be baptized and if we can baptize him. I was at a loss of words and so was Elder Burton, for I have never had anybody be the first one to bring up baptism. We told him, "we can fix that". We extended a baptismal date to him for August 30th which he accepted! We told him that if baptism was something he really wanted that he would have to keep certain commitments like come to church and if he wanted to be baptized that quickly he would have to come every Sunday up until his baptism... He committed to do it! He didn't end up coming to church so we will have to push his date back a tad..... But we talked to him and he still wants to be baptized! We will play it by ear and I'll give ya the detes as they come.
I am really starting to love being a trainer/district leader. My companion, Elder Burton, is a great guy. His desire to serve The Lord is the cats pajamas. My companion is great and my district is just as cool. There are eight of us here, 4 sisters and 4 Elders. There is a companionship of each in Scarsdale and Yonkers. My favorite part of being district leader is being able to have stronger relationships with everybody I serve around. I give them a call every night and make sure they're home safe and then I ask them how their day was so I get to hear all the awesome miracles we encounter every day.
I wish I could add more to this email but I forgot a lot... Sorry. I will repent and try to do better next week.

K. Bye.

-Elder Jyler Tohanson

Oh Ye That Walk In the Service of God

Hola mi gorditos,

Good news! I'm starting to dream in the language now. I woke up last night and realized that the people in my dreams were speaking fluent English. #Milestone

We have had 4 different moves in our ward this week. Elder Burton and I have felt more like professional movers than missionaries but it's ok. We will act on any excuse we can to wear basketball shorts and t shirts.

I just realized that I haven't sent a picture of Elder Burton and I, so I took this picture right before sending this email.

We had a zone APF over in Yonkers. Yonkers is legit because it is a weird mix of The Bronx and the "upstate" area. Elder Burton and I were out doing some tracting. As we knock on a door, we hear a guy in a car behind us asking some people if they knew how to tie a tie. Nobody knew how to tie a tie! We flipped around and said that we could help him. He was on his way to a job interview and needed to tie a tie but had no clue how. We had the opportunity of teaching a grown man how to tie a tie on the street. Afterwards, he asked us what we were all about. We told him we were missionaries and he brought up that he and his wife were actually looking for a church to join. We got his digits and gave them over to the Yonkers Elders, so hopefully that guy and his wife will get in contact with the missionaries.

Yesterday President Morgan initiated something called a "car fast" where we can't touch our car for the whole day. I don't exactly fully understand why... So we weren't able to use our car yesterday. It would have been cool except Elder Burton and I live 4 miles outside of our area, let alone anywhere with work so we walked and walked and walked. When I first found the news that we couldn't drive, I was pretty mad, I don't know, something about walking in blazing humidity didn't sound cool. But then Elder Burton reminded me that just as we can fast from food and water and we receive blessings from that, we can have a "car fast" and get blessings too. All of our investigators live too far to walk so we tracted and street contacted the whole time. It was tiring but at least our legs were getting strong. Now our calves are so huge you can milk em. There were a couple times I wanted to murmur but then I thought back to dad at home. Whenever I would complain about something he would usually just say, "it will be good for you." Every time I wanted to complain yesterday the words, "it will be good for you" popped into my head. We weren't able to see a bunch of success yesterday... Mainly planting seeds..... But if nobody learned anything from us, at least I was able to be taught a little lesson.

It was still worth a shot to knock... They weren't interested.

My birthday this last week was pretty gouda. I was able to spend it in New York, so that cool right? When I woke up in the morning, my awesome new missionary, Elder Burton made me a great omelet for breakfast, he made it right in front of me. I felt like he took me on a bro-date out to Hibachi or something. Later that day, I had scheduled a district leader interview with Sister Groberg and Sister Udy. I showed up to the church and they threw me a surprise birthday lunch with the district! They baked me a cake and everything.

Happy Birthday Elder!

By the far the best part of my birthday was that night we had an appointment with a less active. The guy we were meeting with is 27 years old and was baptized a few years ago. He has struggled ever since he was baptized with fitting into the "Mormon Culture". He tried going to a singles ward but he struggled making friends... All the girls shut him down because he never served a mission, his interests his whole life have not been similar to what these lifetime members have been interested in. Basically he has no support group. He knows he is struggling with keeping the commandments and wants to change. This guy is a genuine dood. He keeps it real and I could sense everything he was saying about change was truly from his heart. Since we could tell he was being "real" it was easier for us to bear genuine testimony. I had the opportunity to share with him one of the most sincere testimonies I've ever offered about the Atonement. In that moment I didn't feel like a missionary robot that quotes the same rote testimony. I could feel the power from every experience I've had with repentance behind my words. Most of all, I knew in that moment that The Spirit was testifying to him of the hope that repentance can bring.

Elder Tyler "Brown Chicken Brown Cow" Johanson

Blessings and Lizards

To any Jews or Gentiles that may be reading, hello.

If you're just tuning in this is your boy, Elder Tyler J Johanson. I just got done playing some basketball for p-day. I made a couple hoops. It was ill.

This last week was, without a doubt, the most stressful of my mission so far. At the same time, it has been a great week. Between trying my best to be a good trainer for Elder Burton and adjusting to being a District Leader it's been tough. But, I love it. Elder Burton is a great companion. He is a shortie. He is 5 feet and 5 inches tall. He is from Salt Lake and he likes art. He is pretty shy but he is starting to come out of his shell a little bit.

On Friday we had a zone APF in New Rochelle. The whole zone was out street contacting and I was eyeing for who my next victim would be. I saw a man down the street and I told myself I was going to talk to him. As he approached, I saw 2 lizards on his body, one on his head and the other on his shoulder. I told him I liked them and I asked where he got them. He stopped for a second, looked me straight in the eyes and with a voice full of stern said, "I breed them." The he continued to walk away. What a man.

Elder Burton and I received a call from some missionaries in the Rochester mission. They asked if we could stop by a hospital and give a blessing to a member in their ward. We typed the address into the good ole GPS and it took us to this far out hospital hidden in the trees. We pull up to the hospital and this was no ordinary hospital. It was a mental hospital and looked like something out of "Shutter Island" (never seen it but that how I imagine it.) We went in and had to get cleared by security multiple times and then we walked around this massive, old, empty building trying to find this patient. We eventually found her and we were able to give her a blessing and share a message with her. The building was creepy but she was wonderful. That was a good experience.

I gave a talk this last week in church. We have an investigator who has been investigating the church for over a year. He comes every Sunday but he hasn't been baptized yet because in 1 Nephi there is a verse that talks about how there were horses, sheep, and goats in the Americas and he doesn't think there were those animals in America during that time period due to some science stuff on he read on the internet. He doubts the Book of Mormon but he hasn't read too much of it yet. We keep telling him that he needs to exercise faith and read it. Anyways, I wrote my talk specifically for him. I talked about how "faith without works is dead". Faith is more than just a belief. That belief is great but you have to act on that belief. Even Satan believes in Jesus Christ. The thing that separates us from Satan is that we can do good works and act on the belief in Jesus Christ that we have. The talk went great but our investigator didn't end up showing up... I was a lil chapped.

God loves you all. I hope you know that. I love you too.

Elder Tyler J Johanson

I Plead the Fifth

Hello.

Wanna hear a story that is absolutely radink-to the-hinkulous? So Elder Brown and I were driving around town, coming back home from an appointment when our phone starts ringing through the Bluetooth in our car. The caller ID reads "President Morgan" and my initial reaction was to start squealing like a 1-Direction fan girl, for we knew why he was calling. He called and asked me to train a brand new missionary! So yup, apparently I'm training. I received my brand new companion today at transfers. His name is Elder Burton. He is a short guy that just graduated high school from Salt Lake. That's really all I know about him at this point... We are going to have some fun and do some good work. 

Almost everybody in my district hit a milestone of some sort so we had this cool sign. I meet the top two criteria. (#1. Happy 6 Months! #2. Happy Training)

Then Saturday night I received a call from the Assistants to the President and they extended the call to be a District Leader. There are 4 companionships in my district and not a single missionary has been out over 1 year. 3 out of the 4 companionships will be training, so it will be a very young district. Needless to say, with training and the call to be a District Leader, I am feeling pretty overwhelmed. It will all be good though because God is real and He will help me.

Notable events this last week: 

Elder Brown and I received a 20 dollar parking ticket because we were parked in a 1 hour parking spot for 1 hour and 4 minutes. I guess it was still an illegal activity tho...

 This is after we received the parking ticket. I plead the 5th obvi.

I got asked to give a talk in church this Sunday. It will be the first time I will speak in church since my farewell.

On Friday there was a training done by President Morgan and The Assistants for all of us training. The thing that stood out to me the most was when President Morgan addressed feelings of inadequacy. He read in Ether 12:27 which reads:

"And if men come unto me I will show unto them their weakness. I give unto men weakness that they may be humble; and my grace is sufficient for all men that humble themselves before me; for if they humble themselves before me, and have faith in me, then will I make weak things become strong unto them."

He talked about how the first step of becoming more like God is to recognize our weakness. If we don't recognize our weakness we can't become better. The problem with recognizing our weaknesses is that Satan's greates tool is to stop us from progressing past that first step to become more like God. It made me realize that it is ok to feel weaknesses, but it's not ok to let the adversary get the best of me and leave me stuck there. It will be a hard next few weeks, I am sure of it. I am also sure that I will look back at this time and appreciate the things I will learn. 

I don't know what it is about the mission but I love to learn and get better. Where were these feelings hiding before my mission?

-Elder Tyler J Johanson

Our beautiful district. Elder Schoenfeld was in the bathroom so we took this picture while he was gone. We threw a pic of him up on the iPad tho so we were content.

I Met Richard Simmons

Salutations,

I am happy that I can write to you safely this  P-day.
For this last week it rained in an inexhaustible way.
It poured so much that we received warnings for floods.
I prayed so hard for sun, my knees and the floor are now best buds.
It's hard enough as it is to drive in New York when it's clear.
Throw in the rain and suddenly I drive like I've drunken beer.
But do not worry, we have remained safe and sound.
Now as I write, the sun is beginning to shine on the ground.
I realize this poem is getting corny and kind of lame.
But I think my companion reading over my shoulder is to blame.

So ya. It rained quite a bit this last week. When it rains on the East Coast, it pours.

On top of the rain, the work has been kind of slow this last week because everybody in Scarsdale leaves for the summer to go on vacation or what not. The best part of the week was that I was able to see one of my Priesthood Heroes, my home teacher, Brother David Norton from home! He was doing business in the White Plains area and so he got permission to come and say hello. He was kind enough to take Elder Brown and I out for lunch. He was introducing us to a bunch of people in there, telling them what we do as missionaries. I don't know what got into him (probably The Spirit) but he was as fired up about missionary work as I have ever been! Our meeting was short but the time spent with Brother Norton was great. I thought that seeing him would maybe make me miss home or something but all it did was pump me up even more!

My Priesthood hero, Brother Norton and I!

Today for P-Day we had a zone activity. The Zone Leaders received permission from President Morgan to watch The Saratov Approach. I love that movie. Of course I already knew what happens because I saw that movie come out but it was still good. It was hilarious to see all the missionaries that have been out forever watch that movie as if it was their firstborn child. Now all the missionaries are going around quoting the movie, freaking out about how good it is. Don't get me wrong, it is a good movie but for some of the older missionaries that have been distanced from media for a while, they are treating it like it’s the greatest movie ever. The Saratov Approach is good but come on.... It's no Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants! (Am I right guyz?!?!)

Fun fact: We looked up a former investigator named Richard Simmons. Richard Simmons. Richard. Simmons.

Snapped this rubbish right outside of Richard Simmons apartment.

Yesterday Elder Brown and I were supposed to teach an online Facebook lesson to a recent convert who has essentially been struggling with the question of, "why do bad things happen to good people?" He juked us so we didn't get to share our wisdom that we studied up on so I would like to share a quote with you about that topic. Why do bad things happen to good people? "There are many kinds of challenges. Some give us necessary experiences. Adverse results in this mortal life are not evidence of lack of faith or of an imperfection in our Father in Heaven’s overall plan. The refiner’s fire is real, and qualities of character and righteousness that are forged in the furnace of affliction perfect and purify us and prepare us to meet God."-Elder Neil L. Andersen

I love you guys. You know what they say, slow motion is better than no motion so keep it moving.

-Elder Tyler "'Twas the night before Christmas" Johanson

P.S. It's Elder Johanson's birthday on August 2nd (which is in about 2 weeks). If you'd like to send him something, his mailing address is on the sidebar!

Forth of Jew-lie

Sup,

My 4th of July was aight. It was a regular day. We had no appointments or anything, everybody in Scarsdale goes to their beach house our wherever for the summer so it's kind of slower than before. Also, it was pouring rain all day. Since no missionaries had appointments, we got together and had a BBQ. It was a really, really ok 4th. The best part was that Elder Gleason, Elder Smith, Elder Brown and I took some selfies with some festive mustaches that I received in a package (S/O to Alex Fairchild for supplying).

Happy 4th of July from the missionaries that live at The Avalon (me, Elder Brown, Elder Smith, Elder Gleason).

I'm not gonna lie, not too many crazy notable things happened so I am just going to name the 3 best:

3. We saw an Amish man walking 6 dogs in the pouring East Coast rain.

2. There are fireflies here that come out at night. They are legit. I can see why Owl City wrote a song about em.

1. We saw an old man on one of those electric wheelchairs riding on the streets like it was street legal.

The old man riding thru da streetz

Tuesday we had a district APF (stands for Area Proselyting Focus. It's when all of the missionaries in the district focus on one companionship’s area, then we go out and get work done for that companionship.) I was on a split for the APF with Elder Schoenfeld who is a really quiet, gentle man. He has a powerful testimony tho... We went tracting for a couple hours in the blazingly muggy weather. I haven't had to do too much tracting thus far on my mission, so for some reason I was extremely pumped to go out there for a couple hours and do missionary work the old fashioned way. First door we knocked this old lady cracked the door open, poked her head out and yelled, "go away, I'm naked!" Elder Schoenfeld and I looked at each other and "peaced out" on that sitcheeashun pretty quick. Then all the other doors we knocked on nobody really cared. After being out there for 2 hours, both Elder Schoenfeld and myself were dripping sweat, we looked worse than Tom Hanks so I can see why nobody was letting us into their home. In my mind, I kind of jokingly asked God to have someone offer us some water even if they didn't accept our message. Sure enough, 4 houses later, a nice Roman Catholic lady named Janet Fitzpatrick who didn't care about our message whatsoever, offered us some water bottles. The water was Celestial. Even though she didn't care about our message, God answered my prayer (even if it wasn't a super serious one) through this woman. I bet God is a funny guy but at the same time when you need something, no matter how big or small, he doesn't joke.

Hugs and lubbs

-Elder Tyler "My Heart Will Go On" Johanson

Elder Smith and I acting tough

Take Me Out to the Ball Game

*Doesn't know how to start the email*

*Jumps into email without a proper greeting*

This last week was a tough one because Elder Brown and I were sick with nasty colds. We were never confined to our home but there were days that we had to come back a little early because neither of us could function properly. Elder Brown and I are very different people. As we have been sick, I have really been learning to love him. Last Saturday, we had to come home early because my body was spazzing out and I had a huge headache and couldn't breathe. As I was on the couch, about to take my last few breaths before I trespassed into the Spirit World, I saw from afar, Elder Brown serving me by making me chicken noodle soup. In that moment I was like, whoa, this is a good kid. As weird as it may seem, I am grateful for the plague that we've had this last week because I have realized a lot of good in Elder Brown that I haven't seen before, and that chicken noodle soup thing was just one experience.

Want to hear a story of me getting ripped off? After district meeting on Monday, all the missionaries went to the food court at the White Plains mall and got lunch. I was thinking, "Yo, imma save some money because I wanna be thrifty." So I went to Taco Bell because that’s cheap, right? Wrong. I ended up paying $8.50 for two crunch wrap supremes. #WestchesterCountyProbs

There is this girl in our ward that reminds me of Eunice from She's the Man.

Today, as a mission, we went to a Yankees game!!! It was ridiculously hot and humid and we had to squint to see the ball from the nosebleeds but it was the bomb diggity. Everybody here worships Derek Jeter. Go baseball! (Even though I serve in New York and went to a Yankees game, can someone please tell Grandpa Wood not to worry? I haven't been converted to a Yankees fan quite yet). 

Gorgeous piece o real estate.

My words of advice for you today are to be humble and teachable. This last week, we went over to an investigator’s house that we are trying to help get off of cigarettes. He was smoking a pack a day and now he is down to a few every couple of days. This guy is in his 50s and doesn't have much education, he has no job and used to be an alcoholic. We have invited him to read The Book of Mormon every time he gets tempted to smoke and he has been doing so. He read Lehi's dream in 1 Nephi and was able to understand everything and told us about everything he learned from it which was quite a lot. I was surprised that he picked up on it because I have read over Lehi's dream with a philosopher, with a really rich retired guy that reads a lot, and a man that was an English college professor for 25 years and none of those guys understood how they could apply Lehi's dream to themselves. Yet this guy who never went to college and who has no job can get his spiritual glass of water spilling over. It is because he is teachable and willing to learn. There is a reason that God first came to Joseph Smith as a young, teachable 14 year old kid and didn't appear to an old, knowledgeable pastor that knew "everything". #BeHumble

I will try to do a better email next week.

Bye guys.

-Elder Tyler "How bout them Yankees" Johanson

A cool hallway thing with banners of boys in baseball pants.