This week I have been praying to love the people that are here. I've been getting nervous that as I leave this area (which I don't know when and hope is not soon) I will find other areas that I love more, and won't like this area as much! How terrible is that! This area is too amazing! President Mortensen is honestly one of the most amazing men I have ever met. The love that he has for the members in our branch is absolutely amazing. We have a lesson planned this night with his family where Travis and Erika will be coming to have family home evening with them. The Mortensen family is amazing. One of our members this week is moving back to Mexico as well. He has lived here without his family for so long to provide for them. Hearing him bear his testimony yesterday was one of the saddest experiences that I have had on my mission. But I will always remember the people here. And the good news is that the next area can be just as good. I can be filled with just as much love. I don't have to reserve it for a single area haha. The love of Christ is so amazing.
This week we saw miracles. Normally we like to see miracles in being able to teach lessons, working with the members, and baptizing. The usual haha. But this week we were very blessed to see other miracles. We have seen miracles in the branch itself and activity throughout being reinforced. We have seen the miracle of the members in the branch becoming more focused on getting their visits done. We saw the miracle of member friendships being created with Gloria. We saw the amazing miracle that Gloria came to church and put that priority over past priorities. She is progressing!! She is truly progressing and that has made me so excited and happy! If you look up and into the light, you'll always find a miracle!
Elder Tingey is an amazing companion. It is completely different than the work I did with Elder Sullivan though haha. I would have to fight for the chance to talk at times with Elder Sullivan, and now I am having to fight to not talk! We are working well and loving working with the members.
Thanksgiving!! I almost forgot, because I have loved listening to all the Christmas music now!! But however, Thanksgiving did happen. And it happened twice... no thrice! We had a super great thanksgiving day inside our apartment until 6:00....and I never want to do it again haha. It is hard to be in an apartment that long. We were very grateful to be invited by some past investigators to eat with them! We stopped by to say hi at their sisters house as invited, but when we knocked on the door someone else answered. They did not seem very happy that the missionaries were rudely interrupting their thanksgiving dinner. We asked if Juliana was there, and they invited us in. There was a room full of about 30 hispanics that went completely silent when we walked in. It was soo awkward! We did end up eating a plate of delicious spanish turkey, and talked to the gracious family member to keep us away from them. We left completely full, and went straight over to our actual dinner appointment! Now this seems crazy, but that is pretty typical. We recently ate three dinners in four hours haha. I thought I would never gain weight, but I thought wrong...
Our actual dinner was super good. I made cornbread, and we had some super good turkey roasted with pineapple. I never thought that I would eat turkey spicy though. It was soo good.
Well sorry for such a long letter today! I hope that you all have had an amazing week! And I hope that you have an amazing week to come!
To tie the title in to the week, I would invite you to think back to the stake conferences we have had recently. I have often thought of the leaders of the church as just leaders. I have been wrong though. They are all missionaries and they have been exhorting us very strongly for about a year now to get out and do the work. As the Lord said, "Behold, I will hasten my work in its time." The time is truly now. Missionary work has changed, and I know that because of how many missionary experiences I continually hear about from all of you. I will keep praying for you to have missionary experiences. I am learning from all of you how to be a lifetime missionary!
I love you all a ton!
Love,
Elder Johnson
This week we saw miracles. Normally we like to see miracles in being able to teach lessons, working with the members, and baptizing. The usual haha. But this week we were very blessed to see other miracles. We have seen miracles in the branch itself and activity throughout being reinforced. We have seen the miracle of the members in the branch becoming more focused on getting their visits done. We saw the miracle of member friendships being created with Gloria. We saw the amazing miracle that Gloria came to church and put that priority over past priorities. She is progressing!! She is truly progressing and that has made me so excited and happy! If you look up and into the light, you'll always find a miracle!
Elder Tingey is an amazing companion. It is completely different than the work I did with Elder Sullivan though haha. I would have to fight for the chance to talk at times with Elder Sullivan, and now I am having to fight to not talk! We are working well and loving working with the members.
Thanksgiving!! I almost forgot, because I have loved listening to all the Christmas music now!! But however, Thanksgiving did happen. And it happened twice... no thrice! We had a super great thanksgiving day inside our apartment until 6:00....and I never want to do it again haha. It is hard to be in an apartment that long. We were very grateful to be invited by some past investigators to eat with them! We stopped by to say hi at their sisters house as invited, but when we knocked on the door someone else answered. They did not seem very happy that the missionaries were rudely interrupting their thanksgiving dinner. We asked if Juliana was there, and they invited us in. There was a room full of about 30 hispanics that went completely silent when we walked in. It was soo awkward! We did end up eating a plate of delicious spanish turkey, and talked to the gracious family member to keep us away from them. We left completely full, and went straight over to our actual dinner appointment! Now this seems crazy, but that is pretty typical. We recently ate three dinners in four hours haha. I thought I would never gain weight, but I thought wrong...
Our actual dinner was super good. I made cornbread, and we had some super good turkey roasted with pineapple. I never thought that I would eat turkey spicy though. It was soo good.
Well sorry for such a long letter today! I hope that you all have had an amazing week! And I hope that you have an amazing week to come!
To tie the title in to the week, I would invite you to think back to the stake conferences we have had recently. I have often thought of the leaders of the church as just leaders. I have been wrong though. They are all missionaries and they have been exhorting us very strongly for about a year now to get out and do the work. As the Lord said, "Behold, I will hasten my work in its time." The time is truly now. Missionary work has changed, and I know that because of how many missionary experiences I continually hear about from all of you. I will keep praying for you to have missionary experiences. I am learning from all of you how to be a lifetime missionary!
I love you all a ton!
Love,
Elder Johnson
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