September 5, 2011

Hello Family!!!

Well, I was super excited to hear from you all. That really is fantastic that Grandpa y Grandma Johnson could show up for a couple of days. I have looked back on those opportunities that I have had to be able to work side by side, building with Grandpa and learning how to cook with Grandma, and I will cherish those experiences for my whole life.

Well, we have now officially started the last week of Elder Rovaldis Mission. He has been counting the days for about two weeks now. It really is kind of funny. Now, but in all honesty, I have seen the hand of the Lord in our lives. Especially for my companion, giving him these last few experiences, that he will take with him for the rest of his life. After having worked so diligently in the work of Señor, he is now being blessed greatly.

We had a miracle this past week. (well actually we have them quite often... haha) So we had the amazing opportunity to baptize Noe Torres! I has so happy you could not believe. This really is the first step in changing the rest of his life, and we helped give him the opportunity to realize his true potential. I know that the Lord is preparing a way for each and every one of his children. He knows them and loves them on a level that we cannot possibly understand. If we, the missionaries (but this applies to everyone), live up to our fullest potential, obeying the commandments and living in accordance with the Holy Ghost, then the Lord will be able to manipulate and use us for the welfare of others, and in turn we will be built up in the process. If we really understand this, and turn ourselves over to the Lord, he will make us 762348900.03 times more effective.(this number has not been exaggerated or made up, but has been taken from statistics...or something like that) You get the point.

Well, other than that we are still praying for and working with Myra Mesa. She did not come to the church this Sunday. That was a bummer. But we are really excited, and trust that the Lord will provide the means whereby she can make these choices.

We had a Junta de Zona today! Yeah! It was really great. I learned much. But as always, the part more important is that I need to apply what I have learned in my life and in my teaching. I think that there is a saying that goes like this "The difference between wisdom and knowledge is... Wisdom is the ability to apply knowledge". Or something like that. Who knows I could be making it up. And we played soccer as a Zone!!!!!!!!!!! Yaaay! I do not know if you all know it, but I LOVE soccer. I found out something really strange today when we played. We were playing really well at the beginning, but we could not beat anyone for some reason. Then about half way through I was put in Goalie (which I really hate... I am scared of the ball or something) and we started to win. We won five games in a row, which was more than any other team. I do not think this was due to my super Goalie skills, but was more due to that fact that I am a little bit of a ball hog, and not a team player. Do not worry, this story applies to mission and life. The mission is a team effort. The family is a team effort. Life in general is a team effort. Everything is a team effort. If we go at something alone, we will never achieve our goal. God gave us families to help us make it through this life.

To conclude my epistle, I would just like to tell you all that I love you. I pray and care for each and every one of you.

Love,

Elder Johnson