Hello!!!!!
This week!!! Wow, what a week!!!
So! Saturday and Sunday Elder Nelson came!!! Of the 12! It. Was. Awesome. Oh my goodness I wish I could describe it. Saturday night he talked about member missionary work, and if that doesn't get people pumped, I don't know what will. He had like- all the misisonaries from Houston 2 go up, including my old roommate Hermana Ricks and like- asked them how the ward was helping them out. Talk about nerve racking. He also said something I thought was pretty cool. He's like- there's only two big promises in the scriptures from the Lord that haven't been fulfilled yet. 1. The great Gathering of Isreal. and 2. The second coming. Seriously, that's all that's left! And here we are on the front battles, gathering Isreal! It's so awesome!!! Both the members and the missionaries. Because the Lord has to fufill the promises He's made to our Fathers. Dah. I just feel so blessed to be here in Houston. This big cultural mixing block. We actually just went out to eat today at this random Italian restaurant. And our waitress there was from Kazikstan! She's like "what organization do ya'll belong to?" So we told her and she was like "Oh. The only thing that I've heard about the Mormon's is that they have this huge database for family history." Well looky who had a familysearch.orgpassalong card in her bookbag. This girl. (It was in Spanish, but you know. The websites the same) Anyway, she comes back like 2 minutes later with her Ipad and was like "How do you do this?" hahah. She already had it started up. Spirit of Elijah! So cool.
Anyway, the stake conference!!!! Saturday night I went and shook his hand!! Whoot!!!! He looked at my name tag and said "Sister Johnson, how are you?" Good!!! So cool!!! And I was with Hna Martinez and she was crying and she's like "tell him you helped my husband!!!" So I sheepishly was like "Uh... I helped her husband be baptized." and she's burst out "27 years!!!" Miracle. He said "Well, if anyone can do it it's these two." Looking at me and Hna Dorian. Well... pretty close. Hna Dorian and I do mish work pretty well together. I mean, at least I think so. Anyway. Super cool we got to meet him!!! He was so great. Sunday he had all the primary kids stand up and sing "Soy un hijo de Dios" or "I'm a child of God" it was so powerful!!! Oh my goodness. And then at the end he was like "I want to make this a memorable experience, so with your faith, I'm going to speak in a language that's not my own." And he spoke in perfect Spanish!!!! It was So AWESOME. I mean, I think he learned it on his mission but he's 92 years old and his brain is like- probably not the freshest ever. So cool.
Miracle of yesterday. We were going to see a potential and on the other side of the parking lot I could feel this guy staring at us. And I got the strongest impression to talk to him. Now, k, let me just tell you, we're in Houston, and sometimes like- I mean, we're totally safe all the time and I haven't not felt safe ever, but generally we avoid just talking to men because sometimes it turns out a liiiittle weird. So I'm like- we can't just go talk to him, what if he's crazy? So I just said a little prayer in my head: "Heavenly Father, if we need to talk to this guy, please let him talk to us." So we walk by and Hna Dorian says hi and then I ask him what he's doing and ... well, he pretty much started talking to us!! He's like "I have a question for you guys!!! What motivates you to learn Spanish?" So we told him about what we did and how we got A LOT of help from Heavenly Father, and we just kinda talked to him. Well guess what? It turns out he had been baptized 15 years earlier in Guatemala! Yeah! And he was looking to go back to church. A miracle. I was like "Ohmygoshdidthatjusthappen?" It just is a testimony builder to me how much the Lord cares about his lost sheep. Really, he'll do anything, leave the 99 and go and find the one.
Also, we pass these guys that hold up signs everyday for businesses and we're like their best friends.. I mean, we don't really talk but we always say hi. Yesterday we passed one of them on our bikes and stopped and talked to him. He's like "Man, you guys are so faithful in what you're doing. You don't think people notice you or your sacrifices but they do. What do you guys do anyway??" So we shared with him what we do! And we bore super powerful testimony of the Book of Mormon, and said, "Would you like a copy of that Book?" He was like "I was just going to ask you that." It was so awesome! You could just see his eyes light up as we testified to him of faith and repentance and the Book of Mormon. So we told him we'd go give him one one of these days when we pass by him (we only carry around Spanish BoMs).
Janie's boyfriend stayed for a lesson. I od'nt know why, but I feel such a connection to him. He's like- drunk half the time, but I think there's a man that's really broken and has had a hard life somewhere in there, and I think he's looking for something more. I don't think he likes who he is or what he's doing right now. So we taught them about the gospel of Jesus Christ, and testified that through Christ we can become renewed. Man, this gospel is so amazing!! Seriously! I love it! It changes lives!!! I think it's going to take him a long time, but - it'll be worth it!!!
Antonio pretty much told us he wants to wait to get a new job before he gets baptized (cuz he wants a calling- hahah. He's so cool.) But he doesn't want to get a new job until school is over... in may. *face palm* I don't know what to do about that kid. He just needs a spiritual slap in the face!!! I really do think like- once he really feels it he'll go for it even though he won't be perfect. We'll see.
This week I learned so much about the love from our Heavenly Father and about the Atonement. That Christ literally suffered for all our pains and afflictions as well as our sins. It doesn't matter if the pain comes from not being good enough, not feeling like we're as good as we should be, from our sins, from being misunderstood, from being cast out or feeling alone, it doesn't even matter. The reason why we felt the pain isn't conditional on if Christ felt it or not. He feels it, He knows it all, and He chose to do that so that when we suffer, we don't have to do it alone. That no matter how deep our wounds, the Lord has one to match it, and can suffer with us through it. I am so grateful for Him. Grateful for His love for not only me, but for every single person. I think that's why sharing this message is so important, through all the difficulties of life, you literally don't have to battle them alone. How wonderful is our message!
Love you :) Have a great week!
Hermana Johnson
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