Elder Johnson's e-mail, Monday December 24, 2011

Hi Mom,

Thanks for the update and the package. I did get all of those letters from the kids. Sorry, I don't know who to send a Thank You letter to. Please send me an address of the person I should thank, and I'll write one.

My companion Elder Bird is a good Elder. I see why they sent him to me; they knew I'd keep him in line and working hard. He's hilarious and probably the weirdest dude I've met but way nice and willing to work hard when motivated. We're really teaching a ton right now. We will have a baptism soon.

We had our quarterly interview with President Dance. I met with President, and we talked about my goals and such. I finally got to show him the template I made on Excel, which tracks all of the teaching that we do and the frequency with which we teach. He asked me to send him a copy of that and a split calendar I made up and Active-Member Critique Sheet I made. He said he thinks this will greatly benefit the missionaries and provide them a better way to keep track of their visits throughout the transfer.

I've got to hurry. Here's a copy of my letter to President Dance. It is attached to this e-mail.

Oh, by the way, call Isaiah and Marcus and tell them to write me back. Thank you for all that
you do. I love you.

Love,

Elder Johnson

NOTE FROM ELDER JOHNSON'S MOM:

The missionaries in Alaska send a weekly letter to the Mission President to update him on the people that they are teaching.  Here are a few excerpts from that letter:

Dear President Dance,

Progressing Investigators:

This Sunday we saw Elizabeth Coleman and David Huycke at church, both of whom we met with during the week.

Elizabeth is progressing beautifully: she’s reading her scriptures, going to church and making friends in her Primary class; we can also tell that she has been praying each night, because her prayers have improved dramatically: before she was timid, short of words, but now she offers to pray and prays at length.

David is progressing, albeit at a geologic pace. He’s reading his scriptures, studying in-depth—tracking the Book of Mormon authorship and geography as he goes. He still smokes. He says he quite likes smoking but knows he should give it up.

We knew that Danielle Davis would not be at church because she was in Anchorage on a work trip; we expect her there this next Sunday; we also hope to extend an invitation to be baptized on February 12.

The members are very pleased with our RCLA work. Home teachers and visiting teachers call us and ask us how to best approach certain less-active families on their teaching routes. We’ve just a few families in the ward who we have not yet met, and we expect to have a chance to meet them this week.

Elder Bird and I have done as much role playing as possible in our companionship study sessions. We want to teach with fluidity and unity. We also taught seven active-member lessons (26 total lessons) to improve our teaching skills.

Sincerely,

Elder Bradley Johnson