July 16, 2012

Dear Family, Thank you so much for the letters. I do appreciate and enjoy reading them. Side note, the boss of the internet place is playing all oldies music, and it is way awesome even though I know I should not listen... Chicago, Kansas. ahhhh... I´m sorry to hear about Sister Dearden, and Dad´s cousin. Life just seems to take its course whether we like it or not. All we do is the best with what we´ve got. You know, now that I think of it, driving a scooter in the rain would be super sketchy. My companion and I have talked about these types of things a little bit, because he is from California, and they don´t see very much snow out there. He has never driven in snow, and when I asked him, he told me that he would probably just crawl along until he got ahold of the way. This past week it rained so badly that when we left, it literally took 10 seconds to be completely soaked. The water was up to our knees. It is great when you are in the house of a member or an investigator, but when you’re out in the street, it gets pretty interesting. This Saturday when it rained, was just the perfect example of this. We actually were inside an inactive members house when it started raining, but it was getting late, and we decided that we could either stay with the family and wait out the storm, or we could go out and invite people to church the next day. Well,... we went out into the rain. I was hoping that we would be able to get sympathy points.. ha ha. Anyways there we were out contacting ALL of the people that we have in teaching. We invited the whole world, but no one gave us straight answers. The most common response that we get is super ironic. They always se "si Dios quiere" which means "if God wants".... Well obviously He wants them to come, that is why we are out here inviting them. Sometimes the people say the silliest things. God blessed us greatly this Sunday. Every single person who we had invited did not show up. Really sad. We actually arrived late to church because we were out looking for people and then we missed our ride. (p.s. if we miss our ride, we have to take two buses to get to the chapel...) When we arrived, we met this guy whose wife is member, and he lives in our area. We made plans to visit him in these following days!!! yay!!! It just goes to show that when we do everything possible and rely on the Lord, one way or another, God blesses us. Usually it is not in the way that we were expecting. Funny,... "For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, sayeth the Lord." Isaiah 55:8 That sure is true. Well, to wrap this all up, Elder Toomey and I have made some great memories in these past few weeks. Today, after the District meeting I made Pasta for the district. It really was great fun, but I do not know if they enjoyed it as much as Elder Toomey and I. Food customs are just different here. I love you all. This mission means so much more to me than you could possible imagine. It has changed my point of view on life in general,and many other things. It really is so much easier to see the "bigger picture" when you are dedicating all of your energy to the Lord. Love Elder Johnson From Elder Toomey: 1st book of Toomey And it came to pass that after Elder Johnson had made an end of his teachings I was commanded in continuing the record. For behold, I read the writings of Elder Johnson and saw that they were good. After being burdened with making a map for the space of many days, we continued our work in the vineyard. And it came to pass that as soon as we continued our work the heavens opened, and the earth was filled with many waters. Now behold, the waters were great. After the space of many hours we were tired and none were willing to receive us. So we began our ministry by another approach. And behold, we saw that it was good. Visiting those that we knew and taught and inviting them to church. After the ends of our works, we rested. Many other things have come to pass but I will now make an end to the record of what Elder Johnson has already written.