Oi! First and foremost, HOW ABOUT CONFERENCE!!   I feel so blessed to have had the experience to listen to conference here at the MTC right before preparing to head out into the field. IT was truly inspiring. General Conference (for those unfamiliar with the church) is a meeting where all the leaders of the LDS church, the Prophet and the Apostles gather (every 6 months) in Salt Lake and give a broadcasted message to the world. http://www.lds.org/?lang=eng There are 10 hours of conference over a weekend, and all of the "general authorities" (leaders in the church) are able to speak and share any message they feel impressed to share. http://www.lds.org/prophets-and-apostles?lang=eng  I love Conference, because no matter the specific message of the speaker, there are personal lessons learned from each and every one of the talks that are applicable in my life! I'd love to share all the insights I gained from conference this year, but if I did, the e-mail would be long and boring. Instead I encourage you to go and listen to whatever parts of conference you can and take away your own lessons and meanings.

Other than conference, the week has been pretty standard. I hosted for the first time this past Wednesday ( I welcomed new missionaries arriving at the MTC), and that was a ton of fun, and I look forward to hosting again tomorrow!  http://www.lds.org/locations/missionary-training-centers?lang=eng The craziest thing though is that now our district is the "oldest" in the zone! It feels like yesterday that we were babies at the MTC! Elders Anderson and Goodrich (my roomates) are the new Zone leaders, and I couldn't be more pleased. They are an awesome pair of missionaries, and I just love them to pieces! My entire district is waiting with baited breath for reassignments/visas to come this Thursday. Many of my district is expecting visas, but I just found out (literally) 20 mins ago, that I probably won't be getting mine for a while. The day after I get my reassignment I'll be sure to shoot an e-mail to my parents with my 2nd mission location!!! It really is pretty exiting.

Me by the Samuel Smith Statue with my laundry bag :)

My birthday in the MTC una festa espeical!!!

Me and my companion Elder Hinckley with a friend from home Sister Ariana Grunvig

top row (from left to right)- Elders Tibbits, Anderson, Bascom, Goodrich, De La Rosa, Hinckley, and me (I don't know why I'm separated from the group, sorry) Bottom row - Sisters Greenal, Larimer, Chadwick, Franks, and Thedell.

Last but certainly not least, I had a dream literally come true on Sunday. (drumroll) BYU VOCAL POINT came and did a devotional HERE at the MTC!!!!!  http://www.byuvocalpoint.com/ I just about died. For those of you who haven't heard me rave about the awesomeness of vocal point, they are awesome. They are a men's accapella group at BYU that I have been listening to and cheering for for years now. It is one of my most lofty aspirations to one day be a part of this group. However, not only are they absolutely brilliant musicians, they are also all returned missionaries, and the messages they shared were almost ;) as inspiring as the mind blowing as the songs they performed.

Unfortunately, I ate up a good chunk of my time trying to send pictures, so let me just finish with one thought. It's all about Christ. Period. Being a good person is great! Keeping the commandments is great! Any belief that inspires someone to do and be good is totally fantastic. BUT until we come to Christ, good is all we can be. Only through Christ can we become perfected, and thereby reach our full potential. 

I wish I had time to write more, but life happens :) 

my love to all!!!

Elder Johnson