La Mitad

In a lot of missions the tradition is to burn a tie at 6 months and a shirt at a year. Because I have neither a shirt nor a tie to spare, I have decided to burn a pair of pants. It was an old pair that ripped along the side as I was waiting for a collectivo one time in Encarnacion. It's weird how even that seems so long ago to me now.

I remember reading my friend Henry's weekly when he hit a year and I was sitting in my sister's old room in a brand new shirt and a tie in my Home MTC thinking I would never make it. A year seems like such a long time to a new missionary. It almost seems like close to being done. I always hated the beginnings of things like that. I remember my first day in high school wishing I could magically transport to the time I would be a sophomore just to cut out the awkward beginning parts.

It's hard to believe that my journal now has duplicate dates. I haven't always been the best at writing and my journal sometimes has weeklong periods missing but I can look back in my little leather bound book and see what the old Elder Johnson was like. What he was thinking back then. I honestly consider my journal a work of art. It's not something that you can make in an hour or a few days. It takes forever.

And the year that seemed so far away has come and gone.

I found out yesterday that I am going to be staying in the same town of Ayolas for another transfer. I wasn't surprised, but I've been here for a long time. As long as my whole time in my last mission I've spent in this area alone. I can't complain about it being new anymore. It's like being a senior in high school. I know the halls, the people are familiar to me. I know the quickest way around and the shortcut through the woods. All of the information a missionary could want about this area.

I continue to train a new missionary. It's been different having to take the lead for everything. I feel so natural when I speak Spanish now. It's almost second nature to me. I feel like I can express myself in someways better here than I can back at home. I've gotten my way out of difficult situations I would used to do everything I could do to avoid. I can turn just about any conversation into something about the gospel. I can make people laugh even though sometimes they don't understand my dry humor.

For the first time ever I'm fluent enough to be Elder Johnson. The real Elder Johnson. Not the one who is held back because of his MTC vocabulary and second grade reading level.

La Mitad means half in Spanish. It's usually used as a measurement or in distance not necessarily in a time limitation. But I like to think of my mission as a long run. I had a hard few months coming up to this point. A lot of humbling moments. The good thing is now I feel like I am reaching my second wind.

My best friend in the world just started his mission. I used to always think I would never forget what it was like starting a mission but I find myself too focused on the present to look on the past. I used to compare everything I did on this mission to my old life. Now I compare it to a year ago.

As far as Ayolas goes it continues to test me in all of my shortcomings. My body has adapted to walking the long sandy paths and the isolation from any other Americans. I was ready to leave after two transfers but the third one left me wanting more.

I think it would be harder to leave than stay at this point.