HI, I am doing so well! I LOVE BEING A MISSIONARY!!!
LIFE IS WONDERFUL!!! :) :) I can´t imagine being anywhere else right now. I love
my companion, being in Zaragoza, the members, our investigators, and just love life.
I don´t have time to write separate so here is
part of Presidents letter...sorry...
Dear President,
I love being here with Hermana Reeder! She is wonderful and Zaragoza is booming with
work! We have been so busy this week running
around Zaragoza from citas to citas. We have
visited and ate with some members and some less actives. We have been contacting
all of the referrals we have received in the past little while and are trying to
organize our lives better with the people we are seeing.
A miracle story this week, (there were many!),
was when at Church a woman came up to us and asked if we can have a noche de hogar
in her house that night. We didn´t know much
about her because I just saw her for the
first time last Sunday. We never found her on the Ward list. Then our Relief Society
President called us and said she heard that we had a cita with this woman at her
house. She told us about her and her family and the history with the Church that
they had. Apparently, Esther (her name) has
a big family that used to all be active in the Church. Her parents, grandparents,
and other family members all helped start the Church here in Zaragoza! But things happened with different families in
the Ward and among the leaders and now the parents are inactive. Sad stories go
along with the process of inactivity. But,
Esther has hope that we, as Missionaries, can play a role in getting her family
reactivated. We came over for noche de hogar
with a great message planned. Hermana Reeder and I prayed hard before going over
there so we could be directed by the Spirit.
We met and talked to the parents for a short time. The Dad asked us if we
had a message, which we did. We sang "Families
Can be Together Forever" and the parents barely sang along. Then we had a prayer
and then read 3 Nephi 11:1-11, which tells about when Christ came to the Americas. We bore our testimonies about Christ and his love
for us individually. We then had a short
video to show them but the Mom immediately got up and said they were leaving to
take the baby on a walk. The Dad got up also,
shook our hands and left. We felt disappointed. But the little miracle that I thought was that
while they were leaving the Dad was whistling the song we just sang. :) That made
me smile. We have hope for the family. The video was wonderful and Hermana Reeder played
her violin and it was beautiful. Esther started
crying. We asked what more we could do to
help. She said that she would try to set
up more citas with us for the future. She
said that her husband asked her Dad to participate in their baby's blessing next
month in Church. The Dad said he would think about it. Esther does not doubt that her parents will come
to the baby's blessing. Anyway, it was an
interesting visit and also a little miracle visit in my opinion. I really feel so blessed to be in the position
I am in, which is to be a representative of Jesus Christ and to have people rely
on us to help them in their moments of need.
We have a fecha for the 30th of June! She is wonderful and is so willing to learn and
wants to be baptized so badly. Her name is
Cleopatra and is from Nicaragua. She has lived in Spain for 8 years. Her Dad died when she was young and her Mom has
had a pareja for many years now and says for some reason they have never gotten
married. They live pretty close to our piso.
Cleopatra has a younger brother who also lives with them. He is also a JAS. Cleopatra is 22 and lives in a rented room in
a different piso here. She found the Church
through her fiancé. His name is Blass and
he is from Nicaragua, also. He is 24 years old and has been inactive for 10 years
or so. His Mother who lives in Nicaragua
is an active member. Blass just moved here
two months ago to be with Cleopatra. He is
really impressed with the Church here and the people. They feel really welcomed
here. Blass met with one of the counselors
of the Branch Presidency and had an interview yesterday to get reactivated. They want to be married in the temple and have
great plans for their future. Cleopatra loves
reading the Book of Mormon. She loves seeing
us and loves feeling the Spirit. She is always
able to recognize the Spirit. She said "I
went to Church happy but I left Church so much happier." She knows it´s true and wants to learn more.
It has
been wonderful visiting and getting to know the members here and building trusting
relationships. Everyone wants to feed us
and I know we will get many referrals and see many miracles in the future. Things
are really looking up and the future is bright!
Thank you for coming here and visiting Zaragoza
and for you and your wife´s testimony. It
really helped all of the members and our investigators that came as well. It was a wonderful meeting and we heard wonderful
comments afterwards. We will miss you so
much!
Love,
Hermana Johnson
Hermana Johnson
With a recent convert Obi from Africa
Eating with Zaragoza District at members house
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