Zachary Justus Johnson

  It all started with a stormy night in Natalio... There was an Elder in my zone named Elder Melgarejo. He was pretty young in the mission. About 7 months or so. But he was a stud. Handsome, tall, hard working. Just an Elder who knew how to get it done. He grew up in a rougher part of central Asuncion. A city called Luque. It's notorious for its gang violence and "ladrones." Elder Melgarejo was serving in an area in my zone called "Natalio Diez." A small city with a lot of faithful members that sits on the side of the highway on the way to Ciudad del Este from Encarnacion.  He was serving with an Elder named Elder Bariero. Elder Bariero was also from Luque but not nearly as "fachero" to say the least. He is tiny. 4 feet 2 inches max. He sort of just looks just like a little kid with the face of a man. I had heard a couple different things about him.  He walks too fast He isn't a good comp He doesn't know how to plan etc... After we got done wit...

This transfer has flown by (not surprised). That is literally what everyone has told me about the mission since the day I arrived. That it gets faster the closer you get to coming back. It's like a roller coaster. The first half is slow, it's all uphill, it gives you anxiety, etc. What kind of scares me now is actually going back. I was pretty comfortable saying I had 4 transfers (around 6 months) left. But I recently surprised myself by saying yeah I have about 4 months left. 4 months. That's it. When I arrived here again in Encarnacion I sort of felt as if I was returning to my High School after graduating. Even though I'm in a different area it was all so familiar, yet so much had changed. I knew the "halls." I was recognized by the "teachers" here. I often heard, "Hey didn't you serve in the first branch a while ago?" All of the spiritual experiences I had here, the lessons I learned, the people I met. I consider it my Holy Land. It...