I cannot believe it is a New Year already! It's already 2012!! WOW!
Time goes by so fast! Happy New
Year!
I am doing well.
Tuesday- Hermana Marshall and I got to go out on our own. It was so good just trying to make it. We taught a great lesson with an older man named
Francisco Felix. He is doing really well
and has a baptismal date set for Jan 14th.
We knocked on some doors and had some interesting conversations and some
fun rejections...haha.... We have learned not to take them personally. We had dinner with the Pyle family. Their daughter Kristina was the very first new
missionary I hosted in the MTC!!! She said
she was from Salt Lake. It was such a coincidence
that her family signed up to feed the missionaries and Hermana Marshall and I went
by ourselves. It was so interesting being
at their house and talking about their daughter. I had just received a card from Hermana Pyle (who's
still in the MTC) last Friday so it was neat telling them how she's doing and everything. I was so grateful to be there and I felt inspired
to share a few scriptures with their family because they are really struggling and
are forced to find somewhere else to live.
I was able to tell them about dearelder.com that's free!
(while Hermana Pyle is still in the MTC.) I felt like I was able to be an answer to someone's
prayers. Her parents promised they would
send her a dearelder that night after we left...hopefully it worked out. But, it was just neat to be a part of that and
feel like I hopefully made a difference.
Later on, Hermana Picuasi and I met up and went
to Temple Square with our investigators, Digna and her 4 children, and Beverly and
her 2 sons. It was cold and super crowded!! But it was neat just to be in that atmosphere
and the kids really loved it. (Oftentimes I was chasing after them while Hermana
Picuasi was teaching Digna and Beverly-haha).
But afterwards, Digna and Beverly said they really felt the Spirit and really
LOVED seeing the temple.
Wednesday- TRANSFERS! Hermana Picuasi's
feelings were correct. She left and went
to Magna, Utah and we got a new senior companion named Hermana Magdaleno from Fresno,
CA (…born in Mexico.) She's great! All 4 of us get along well. She's super funny but also really personable. She is very fluent in Spanish and easy to understand. She just got baptized 3 years ago...the missionaries
knocked on her door. She is the only member
of the church in her family and been out for 10 months on her mission.
Today we visited recent converts and leaders in
our ward so she could meet them. Then we
all got to bear our testimonies to our investigators and we told them our purpose
as missionaries and what we do for them and then expressed what they need to do
individually.
When we were visiting Andy this 12 yr old boy,
(only nonmember in his family besides his little siblings...... had a baptismal
date but it didn’t work out.)....anyway, we taught him a short lesson. Hermana Magdaleno asked the questions---was super
direct with the mom. And then out of the
blue the mom said..."So, Andy's ready?" and we were like "YES"
and she said "Okay, can he be baptized on Saturday?" Basically we wanted to be a Hallelujah chorus
haha....
Also we visited with Beverly. She's got a strong testimony she just needs to
take a leap of faith and say yes to the baptismal invitation!
Thursday- Went to a recent convert's house- the Garcia family. Julia is the best cook ever. She's from El Salvador
and her husband is from Honduras. We helped
her and her daughter (who's in Young Women's) prepare their testimonies so they
could share them at church on Sunday (too bad we ended up not having fast and testimony
meeting...).
Then Hermana Magdaleno and I visited Andy and
reviewed the baptismal interview questions with him. He was super surprised and pleased with himself
that he was able to answer all the questions.
Then the elders came and interviewed him, which he did well. We were so happy for him. :) There's this family that I love SO MUCH. Their last name is Arviso and they're from Guatemala. They have been living here for 5 years now. The parents are still trying to learn English,
(so I help them every once in a while and they help me with my Spanish). I taught the Hermano Arviso how to play a church
song on the piano, and the daughter, Maria (11 years old) I gave her some tips that
I learned from my voice lessons I took growing up (she really wants to be a singer). Nelson Jr. (the 7 year old) I gave him a picture
book Book of Mormon. Their family is great.
But are struggling with Joseph Smith... :( they
know everything about our church...they've talked to missionaries in Guatemala and
quite a few since they've lived here...it's been heart wrenching for me to hear
them and their concerns. They need some sort of bigger answer to their prayers...They
pray perfectly, they feel good. But that's
not enough for them. Feelings aren't enough.
I don't know...we'll see how it goes...we are all fasting together Wednesday...their
family and the 4 of us.
Friday-Did a lot of stuff. We had
an AMAZING lesson with Beverly. She committed
to a baptismal date. She was hesitant but
the Spirit was SO strong (especially after teaching about the Plan of Salvation. She had a baptismal date before with other missionaries
but I guess it didn't work out...). She even
asked what her sons had to do to prepare for missions someday. Her date is Jan. 28th! :)
Saturday- Andy's baptism! :) Amazing! I played the piano again. It was a lot better this time because it was "I
am a Child of God" and that was fine with me because I played that all the
time for Bryanna :) And then Hermana Marshall finally said she would help me and
so she played "Families Can Be Together Forever." Andy was crying. I know he felt good. It was neat. :)
That night......we had a Mission Party!! Super fun!
Sunday-Busy...hard to get people to church but we got them! :)
Today- Salt Lake Temple-live session!!
Best ever!
Families...are you praying together? If you're not, please do it! Such power!
I love this work. I love my family SO much. I love being a missionary. I love this gospel. I love my Savior. I LOVE having the knowledge of the Plan of Salvation.
Happy New Year!
Love,
Hermana Johnson
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