Elder Kaden Johnson: MTC Week 1

Family and Friends,

I first want to say HAPPY BIRTHDAY yesterday to my amazing sister, Brynn! Hope you had a great day, Brynney, love you so much. This week has been great. It is pretty hard getting used to, but I love how it is helping me learn and grow as a person. My testimony has grown so much these last 6 days. I can read emails all day every day so I'd love to hear from all of you throughout the week and I can receive and send emails basically all day on my p-days so feel free to email me all day today.

The first thing that happened to me here is I had to take a couple assessment things and surveys and I got to send a quick email home. Then, I got to my classroom where I met my district and my companion. My companion's name is Elder Crandell. He is from a place called Heber, Arizona. He is a good guy. My district is awesome. There are 14 Elders and 2 Sisters LOL. One of the sisters is from England and she has a way sick accent. There are a few kids in my district that love sports like me so it's been good having some sport discussions with them. There's an elder named Elder Willis who is going to play football at BYU when he gets back. He is from Connecticut and is 6'5 300 pounds. He is a big boy. Then his companion, Elder Nielsen, is from Houston and he is going to play college baseball when he gets back. My district leader's name is Elder Tousley. I like him a lot. He is from New York and went to a year of BYU before his mission. There are five of us heading to Salem, Oregon in my district. My comp, Elder Crandell, Elder Eldredge, Elder Hill, Elder Smith and myself. Us five have kind of bonded and gotten really close, it has been fun. My favorite people though are my roommates and the elders on my floor. They have made it so fun. In my room, we have Elder Crandell, Elder Cook, Elder Boulingbroke, Elder Warren and Elder Brimley. Brimley and Warren are in my district are going to Albuquerque and Elder Cook and Boulingbroke are both going to the best mission ever, I'm so freakin' jealous...they are going to the great city of Pocatello, Idaho...hahahahaha. I tried so hard not to laugh or say that that sucked. Hey, that is where the Lord wants them to be. Cook is from AZ and Boulingbroke is from St. Louis so I guess it's not as bad for them than it would be for me. Everyone in my room absolutely loved Grandma's cookies, I was so glad I had two batches, they were so good. Thank you, Grandma, love you! I have a fellow die hard Cubs fan in my residence named Elder Tlustek. He is from Indiana and he's a stud. We've talked so much about the Cubs and how they are about to repeat this year ha ha. Everyone in my residence is awesome and I love them so much. My zone leaders are Elder Gundred and Elder Harris. Elder Gundred went to Lone Peak and played on the same club soccer team as some of my buddies from Ridgeline so that was cool to talk about. He is also a big 49ers fan and Sharks fan because he was born in the Bay Area so it has been fun to talk to him about all that. I have seen soooo many people that I know here it is crazy. I have seen Elder Bryan everyday that I have been here. Elder Blotter is in my residency but he's upstairs so I hardly get to see him in the residency, but I see him alot. I have seen Elder Bernhardt every day that I have been here as well. It has been great to see everyone. Whenever, I see them though, it has been in the cafeteria so I don't have my camera so I don't have many pictures with them.

I have learned so much about the gospel and my purpose as a missionary this week. My teachers Brother Anderson and Sister Stevens are great. We have taught our teachers as if they were real investigators and we also have role played a lot. It has helped me to get comfortable teaching other people. We started TRC's yesterday. Our first investigator's name is Austin and he is awesome. Our first lesson we really just got to know him and taught him just a little bit about the gospel. Next time we are going to focus on the restoration. Our second investigator's name is Rebeka but she cancelled on us yesterday so we didn't have a TRC last night. I have grown and learned so much. we watched a video Sunday night that was of Elder Bednar giving a talk called the Character of Christ. I don't know if you guys can watch or read it because it was given at the MTC but it was probably the best talk I have ever heard. He talked about Christ and how we need to be selfless like him and focus on others rather than ourselves. It was soooo good hopefuly you all can look it up and watch or read it, but I'm pretty sure you can't--that stinks because I feel like everyone should read it.

Week one was great and I love and miss everyone back home but I am also loving life as a missionary. Again, I can read emails all day everyday, I just can't respond so just hit me up with a nice little note or something, ha ha! Love you all!!