November 12, 2012

Dear Family,

How was your week? It sounds like it went great from your letter. I sure am a little bit jealous that you all got snow. Here it has just been hot. Actually, it has seemed like it has been getting hotter this past week. You know why?!... Because it has become cooler in the morning and when it warms up, you can feel heat more noticeably Funny huh. You know, I sure am not excited for the cold. I have now decided that I do not like freezing my toes and fingers and noses off! (yes, I do know that we only have one nose) Actually, today at 7:00 in the morning, we went and ran up to the light house. It is like 800 meters up a big hill. Besides the fact that I am out of shape, I could not help but notice how my lungs were stinging as I breathed in the brisk morning air. I can only imagine how it must be with snow. Oh well, tis life.

Anyway, I did not tell you about the awesome activity that we had last week in the graveyard... oooooooOOOoooooo Let me explain. Here in Mexico there is a holiday that is called day of the dead. It is the 2 of November. So, as a mission, we all put together an activity where we along with the members of the church would go to the graveyards and cemeteries and contact the people. It was incredible the success that we had. There must have been thousands of people who passed through the graveyards in those dates. And we were there alongside of the members contacting the people, giving them a message about the Plan of Salvation, and then taking down their information. Hopefully in these coming weeks, we will be able to find many more people to teach.

Oh, and guess what.... The mission has changed greatly in these past few weeks. For questions of safety we are not allowed to knock on doors anymore. We can only work with the referrals that we receive, the information that is in the area book, and contacting people in the street. It has been quite a new experience for me. I realized more and more this past week that I need to confide 100% in the Lord. The work goes along in His time and at His pace.

So, I will tell you about a man that we have been teaching for 2 weeks now. His name is Carlos. The manner by which we found him is actually quite interesting. We met his wife one day knocking on doors. She told us that we could drop by in another occasion. The next time we passed by her husband answered the door. At first he was reluctant, but promptly he invited us in, and we shared a message with him. As we began talking with him, we began to take note that he had a very chauvinistic attitude Honestly, at first, I did not fall very well with him because of his personality. We shared a message about the Family and the role of the husband and wife. At the end of the message, we gave him a "Proclamation to the World". The next time that we passed by with him, there was a definite change in his attitude. He told us that he had read the pamphlet, and he had felt that it was true. We also noted a change in his reception towards us. The first time we passed by with him, he was suspicious, and at times he even tried attacking what we were teaching. The following time, he was totally receptive to our whole message, and showed a real desire to change and make the relationship with his wife better. I know that when the people begin to put into practice the concepts and principles of the Gospel, they can see and feel the change in their lives.

Thank you so much for all of you help and support. I love this work, I am so grateful for this opportunity that I have to be a missionary. I know that this Gospel is true. I am so grateful for the chance the God has given me to be able to repent and change. Thanks to Jesus Christ, this is possible, and without him all our efforts would be useless.

I love you all.

Elder Johnson