Elder Johnson's e-mail - Tuesday, December 7, 2010

Hi Dad,

Thanks so much for you package and letter. I appreciated the talk you sent
me, got some good stuff out of it, and it lead me to some other talks that
I'm printing out right now. Thanks also for the update. I guess I left at
the perfect time; I'll miss the Cards rebuilding stage, and by the time I
come back, they'll hopefully be good again.

The weather's great. Negative one is the coldest I've experienced, and it's
not that bad. If you bundle up it's all good. The hard thing in the valley
is the wind. We've experienced nearly 60 MPH winds. You mix that with the
cold, and it can get pretty fun.
You're right. Everybody does outdoor stuff. Fishing, hunting, camping, "snow
machining" (snow mobiling) and anything else you can do outdoors. During the
winter, though, people usually do nothing. The sun doesn't stay out very
long: we're only getting about four/five hours of sunlight--and when it is
up, it just looks like it's early morning. It's way pretty though, and I
don't mind it at all. I'll get you some pictures--I've found a good way that
I can transport pictures to you.

The best experience this week was having two of our investigators, Tanner
and Giselle Messing, at church. They're currently working towards baptism on
January 1st--they're doing so good, it might happen sooner. They loved my
Gospel Principles class, which by the way has been going very well. And they
loved church. We also have a few other promising investigators, and we look
forward to have them accept the Gospel and be baptized this next transfer.

I received an e-mail from your mom and Grandpa Jack. I am unable to e-mail
them back due to mission rules, but I do plan on writing them and sending
them a letter this week. I do not have their mailing address. Will you
please send it to me so I can mail them the letter next Monday? Tell them
thank you so much for the e-mail and to expect a letter from me in a week or
so.

You can also expect a letter from me in a week or so, explaining in much
more detail what's been going on. I have a project I need to get on before
we have to leave the library, so I must go--but I'll tell you more in my
letter.

Can you please include in your letters each week to me exactly how much
money I have in my account? I don't want to overdraw. I won't need anything
else for a while, but they've asked us to have about $100 of extra money in
case of emergency. I've used a lot lately because we've had a wierd week
with some expenses related to getting settled and organized in our
apartment, but it will get to the point where I will only use the missionary
allotement that I am given.

I love you. Expect a letter from me soon.

Love,

Elder Johnson