Tuesday, May 29, 2012
Sunday, May 27, 2012
Monday, May 21, 2012
This week has been super amazing, (like all weeks) but we are
just finding more and more people as the weeks go on!! We have about 9
people who are going to be baptized in the next 6 weeks and more and
more people just keep coming to us and it has been really nice!! It is a
really good thing when you don't have to schedule the day during out
daily planning sessions at night and just plan for what we are going to
teach!! That is what it is anyway, daily planning not daily scheduling!
We have been so blessed to have been able to see all these people
come closer to the Lord and to God :)
So here some really cool experiences this week with some of the people that we have been:
The
first one is Tiffany and Sam!! They have come such a long way since we
first started teaching them!! Tiffany has stopped smoking completely,
Sam is coming to church in a suit and they are becoming more and more
closer to our Savior!! They passed their baptismal interview and are
getting baptized on Saturday!! :) I will take some pictures and send
them to you :)
The next one is Leah. She has quit all of her old habits and now
when you walk into her apartment it looks like a normal LDS home and
feels like one too!! You can definitely tell that the spirit is there
and when she is baptized, she will have it there all the
time!! It is so amazing to see the change in a person when they are
coming closer to Christ. :)
The Next one is the amazing family of Conrad and Naomi!! They are
getting married a day before their baptism and are just soaking up
everything that we teach them!! They have been prepared a ton for the
gospel!! They are in the process of giving up smoking and they said
that they are down to just one cigarette a week now!! That is a huge
change!! They realized that all that money that they spend on smokes
they could be spending it on a car payment and things that they need!!
It is so amazing to see that whole family come closer to Christ and to
God!! :) Their two older kids Harvey and Alyssa are getting baptized on
the same day! I can't wait to see that family be sealed in the
Temple!! :)
The next one is Robert!! We taught him the rest of the Plan of
Salvation and he said that it clicked for him :) He then leaned over to
me a church yesterday and showed me something in the Plan of Salvation
pamphlet that we interesting and said that is has been going trough his
head for the past few days!! it was a line that talked about when you
have faith, repent, are baptized and receive the Holy Ghost and live by
the spirit is when you can fully use the Atonement of Jesus Christ. (it
was something like not, not the exact words) So that is really good
because he is ready and we have shown him that he is but he just doesn't
know it yet. He is coming along and with his faith and our faith he
will be baptized soon.
The next one is Eric!! He was the one who about 2 or so
months ago dropped us the Monday before his baptism, well we made
contact with him again and he is wanting to come back and be baptized!!
So we set a date with him for June 23!! He really has his heart in it
this time and it is such an amazing thing to see how when someone really
feels the spirit it is very hard for one to go back.
Well that is an update on a few of the people and most of them that
are progressing. If I were to give on update on everyone it
would literally be a couple pages long :)
Well hope all is going well back at the ranch!!
Love,
Elder Johnson
Monday, May 14, 2012
So this week was super fun!! This last Wednesday we had about 6
member present lessons and set 3 days to be baptized on!! So we now
have a total of 4 people with a date and counting!! :)
So the first one with a baptismal date that we set this week is Conrad and Naomi. They are that huge family that we are teaching and
they are super ready for the gospel and for baptism!! They are so
amazing!! They are very humble. They love the gospel and it will help
them in their life. They are so humble that most of the things that
their kids eat are Top Ramen and bottled water...It just is such a real
eye opener to me that I need to appreciate the things that I have. They
were unfortunately unable to come to church this past week because they
got kicked out of their house and they are going to be moving into a
much smaller apartment. The plus side is that they will be living by
themselves instead of living in a 3 bedroom house with about 15 people
living inside to a place of their own!! They are great and they are
going to be baptized on June 16. They have really strong faith in Jesus
Christ and everything that we tell them they should do they do it!!
The next date with set with is Sam. We have been working
with him for about 2 months now and he is now ready to be baptized!! We
really wanted his wife to be baptized with him, but her dad is not for
it and she is afraid of loosing that relationship that she never had
with him as a child and so we set the date for Sam and Tiffany, his
wife, will maybe have to be baptized after him. He is really ready and
we don't want to hold him back to wait to get baptized with his wife.
We think that is will be a good thing for her because she is overcoming
some word of wisdom issues, but I know that she will some along. Having
Sam baptized and then the Priesthood in her home through him will be
good for her.
Our other one with a baptismal date that we set last week is Leah.
She is doing amazing!! She is super ready for the gospel and we did
have 1 concern with her, but because of the faith that we had the Lord
was able to bless us and that concern vanished!! It was so cool to see
that.
The Irish guy, Chris that we are teaching is doing good. He got
married this week and so hopefully by him now living the commandments he
will be able to feel of the spirit more. He is unfortunately moving back
to Ireland for the summer in a couple of weeks and so he will be taught
by the missionaries over there.
Robert is doing really well too! I sat next to him yesterday
during church and he saw the people go up and bear their testimony and
he whispered to me if he was able to do that and I said yes and he said
that he might just next month!! So he is starting to gain a really good
testimony of the truth and that is amazing to see!!
So this week I had a really cool experience!!! I was able to teach
a Chinese lady!! So last week a member came up to us and said that
her neighbor was very ready for the gospel and so we went over there and
she is!! He name is Wendy and she can't speak great English, so we got
a translator to help us and it was so cool to see the gift of tongues
happen and how the spirit teaches everyone no matter what language they
speak. It was so cool!! So we are going back next week to continue
teaching her!! :)
We are also continually teaching Valarie. She is still not
understanding the spirit, but I am sure that she will. She is really
wanting to know and she has even received a calling, but she is going be
increasing her faith as she continues to understand.
We picked up a new investigator this week!! His name is Khayne and
he reminds me a lot of Tavi, and no not just because he is black, but
because of the way he acts. He asked us some really good questions
about life and all those things and some good questions about the plan
of salvation. He is super cool and we are going to be teaching him
every Saturday!!
We also have many, many more people who are either going to be
taught or we have appointments with!! The Lord has blessed me so much
because of the faith that I have been having to always trust in the Lord
and he will provide!!
Being a missionary is so amazing and it is going by too fast!!
The weather is starting to heat up here!! Supposed to be very hot
this week!! Here comes the 118 summer again!!
So anyways that is all for this week!!
Hope all is well!!
Love,
Elder Luke Johnson
