March 26, 2012

Dear Family, Hey! How is it doing? Thanks for your letters, I really enjoyed reading them. That is fantastic that you could go off and visit Grandpa for his birthday. I hope you enjoyed it up there in Canada. Oh, and just to let you know, I did not even know that there was an earthquake until you told me about it. That will let you know how powerful it must have been. So, guess what! in two days, I will complete my first year in Mexico! I cannot believe how fast time just flies by. The heat has been starting up these past few weeks. I have started sweating again (I know you really did not want to know that). It is such a contrast to where Jake is serving. I have officially entered into the hottest 6 or 7 months of my life. (I say that, because last year, I served in the Baja California, and over there it does not get near as hot as Sinaloa) Oh well. Life goes on. :) Well, as for the past few weeks of my life. About a week and a half ago, Elder Garcia and I put together another Family Home Evening of the Ward. It was super fantastic. There was lots of people. I bet we had about 25 people show up, and compared to 13 the week before. We felt that the fame helped excite the people to come. Well, the best part of this activity, is that the Sister Dioselina brought with her a friend, the Hermana Maribel. Pure Gold! We´ll, talk about her later. So besides that, the activity was successful, we taught a little lesson, had a fun little activity, and felt the spirit very strongly. Anyways, this Hermana Maribel, felt so good in the church that day, that she told us that she was going to come to the church the next Sunday. AND SHE DID! We were super excited, and way happy. This was about a week ago. She then told us that she liked what we did so much, that she wanted to bring her husband and all of her family with her next week (or as it would be, this past Sunday). Guess what, she did not show up. We were a little concerned because we could not understand. She had been so excited, and so ready, and then she did not show up. We decided to go to her house last night to see what happened. Basically we had one of those classic missionary experiences. We showed up at her house, (after walking for 45 minutes) and no one was home. Bummer huh? Well, we sat down, and wrote her a note, saying that we had passed by to visit, and that we did not find her, and that we hoped that everything was alright. Right when we finished writing the note, a car pulled up, and her husband got out. So he let us into the house, and we began to chat with him. Then, like clockwork, Hermana Maribel walked in the front door. She gave us a funny look, and sat down. Well, we decided to teach them about the restoration. It was amazing. There was a little baby, running around the house screaming and crying, but we were still able to feel the spirit. As I began to relate the experience of Joseph Smith, she started crying. She then proceeded to tell us that when she had left the house that day, she had been so upset, and frustrated, because she wanted to divorce with her husband, but then again, she did not want to put her children through that. She was in that train of thought, pleading with God for an answer, when she returned to the house, and there we were. Like it had been planned or something... She then went on to tell us that she loved what she had seen in the church, and that of all of the dozens of churches that she had known, it was the only one, where she had felt such peace and such love. She told us that she wanted to be baptized, to clean her sins. She even went as far to ask what she had to do to be able to be baptized. I honestly felt the spirit so strongly in this lesson, it was an indescribable joy and happiness. Well, there is one of the most powerful experiences that I have had on my mission. I know that the Lord really has people ready, who´s lives we can bless, if we just open our mouths, and proclaim this gospel. He has a plan prepared for each and every one of us His children. Also this past week, we had interviews with president. I always love those. I feel so spiritually uplifted. He told me many things that I can improve on, one of them is dividing the daily agenda into 4 columns. That means that we have to have four plans for each hour of the day. That is like 40 plans per day. Crazy huh. We sure have moved on from knocking doors all day. Well, this church is true, and I love it. I love you guys. Take care this week. Love Elder Johnson