Dear Family and Friends,
I still am so grateful and blessed
to be in this area where we can find Spanish speakers everywhere! The other Visa waiter that is left here (besides
Hermana Marshall and I) got transferred to an English speaking area. So I am glad I am still here in the Spanish area.
We have been knocking on a lot of
doors trying to find new people to teach.
We need to strengthen our faith because we know that people are here and
that they're prepared to accept the gospel and be baptized. We need to be worthy to listen to the Spirit and
to find these people. We pray for it every
day but I know we can for sure work harder and more diligently in the middle of
the day. (The toughest hours are between
12-4.)
I still love my companions and we
have been getting along well and when we are not, we are able to talk things out
and set goals to be better. We love having fun and joking around...so when there's
tension we figure out how to get rid of it fast! It's been great. :)
One exciting thing was visiting with
Sister Mayberry again on Tuesday. She was
so happy because she was preparing to go to the temple to do work for her mother. How cool is that? It was awesome to see the joy on her face. I didn't
really think about the impact I had on her, but she told me a lot of special things. Honestly, it was the Spirit...and I have been
working with her friend and we've been talking a lot about patriarchal blessings. She thinks hers doesn't apply to her anymore.
I felt inspired to ask her if she would get her blessing out and then pray to Heavenly
Father for help in understanding and finding something that could apply to her life
still. Then I told her to read over it once and then read over it the second time
while taking notes of things that she thinks that could still apply to her now. Then I told her to pray again and give thanks
for the wonderful blessing that she has.
She said she was able to find a few things in there the second time reading
it that still apply to her life. She told
me that she was so grateful I told her to do that and she is going to try it again
because she needs to "let down her pride and be more teachable." :) What a wonderful example.
This inspired me to look through my
patriarchal blessing. I studied it one morning
during personal study. I am so grateful that
I have it. I can't wait for our recent converts
to get theirs as well. There are so many things in there that help me and I love
it.
Transfers were on Tuesday and Sister
Harris thought she was leaving... she's been here for a while. We were dying because the Zone Leaders (who usually
tell us around 10) didn't tell us until 2!!
We are all staying, which is good.
We really work well together.
Transfers brought new changes in our
District. Our District is now bigger with
the new people. We still have Elder Dreiling
as our District Leader, who's a funny guy.
I love District and Weekly Planning Meetings on Fridays.
Everyone: Thank You for the wonderful
mail you have sent me! I am so grateful for
the support and feel very uplifted :) I am
for sure enjoying it while I can because I know once I get to Spain I won't be getting
mail as much...or as often... so... Thank You!!!! :)
Saturday we had the Ward's Valentine's
Day party. Un baile en el barrio North Star.
As missionaries we can't dance of course but we went because we invited anyone
and everyone we talked to. It was tough to listen to that music and not dance! But we loved seeing people in the Ward come together
and it really unified them. We took a lot
of pictures and videos.
Sunday.... Very busy!
Sundays are probably the toughest days sometimes. We knocked on so many doors in the morning to
wake people up for church. It was raining,
then snowing & cold, and so early in the morning. No one came to church: sad. :( The Bishopric was changed. A Spanish speaking brother who was originally
in an English Ward (was a counselor in the Bishopric there), now is the Bishop.
It's up to us personally to feel the
Spirit at church and I love going to feel the Spirit. It's good to take the sacrament and renew my baptismal
covenants and to learn more about my Savior and how I can become more like Him. I love going to church just to be in one of Heavenly
Father's sacred buildings, too. Church is
wonderful and is one of God's commandments.
If you don't love church, you might want to try and figure out what you need
to change so you will love it.
I love praying to my Heavenly Father. I know without a doubt that He knows and loves
me and all of His children personally. He
tests us and tries us so that we can learn from our experiences; so that we can
grow; so that we can humble ourselves and rely on Him more. He loves us unconditionally-no matter what. He hears and listens to ALL of our prayers....He
really cares......
Love you all.... Have a good week.
:)
Love,
Hermana Johnson
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