6 MONTHS

Sorry to my missionary friends....this is long and just a gospel rant. Maybe just skip to the pics lol

Wow, can I just say that serving a mission is the BEST DECISION OF MY LIFE? I often think about who I was before my mission and give thanks that Heavenly Father saved me and brought me to El Paso. People write me all the time and ask for advice on whether or not they should go on a mission and for me, the answer is YES. We can try to pick our own paths, fill our lives with things that seem good (which I was so guilty of), but if you give it all to the Lord for just a few short months you would be so surprised at how much better His plans are. His plans are filled with HAPPINESS and JOY and PURPOSE!!! I don't even think I knew how much he LOVES his children until now! And if you aren't at the age to serve a mission, that's okay you can put your trust in God and have the same incredible happiness. Make sacrifices, keep the commandments, do His will, pray to him always, study His words, serve those around you. Then you will find that He takes your dreams and makes them 10x better. Every thing you have ever wanted goes away cause you know that everything He wants for you is beyond your wildest dreams. 

Someone in our ward shared this with me: A mission is like walking through a field of roses for 18-24 months. It is really scratchy, sometimes its even painful. You might be crying and cringing. Your legs are bleeding, your eyes are watering, and sometimes you just want to get out. Then when you are out of the field you look back and all you see is a beautiful ocean of roses. The thorns are completely forgotten and all you can talk about is that beautiful field of roses you spent so much time in. 

There are definitely hard times on a mission. But at the end of a hard day you learn the most valuable lessons. I have learned that Heavenly Father loves me. How many times do we say that and think we know what it means? It's not until I got out here, and the only person who is taking care of me is God, that I actually realized that He LOVES ME. He love ME. I am the worst! I've messed up, I've complained, I'm lazy, I've been rude to people, I've made mistakes, I've bailed on people, I've told lies.... and the supreme ruler over the whole universe personally loves ME. 

If you don't know how much love He has for you, I would recommend doing all it takes to find out. Cause once you know you will never be the same. 

There is a sure way to feel His love, and it actually is not a mission. For me, a mission just helped me realize, but this formula applies to anyone. Ready? 

The Formula:

Faith + Repent + Covenant 

That right there is the Doctrine of Christ. It is the Atonement!  I have seen those three steps change lives over night. I know it saved me from taking a completely different road, and I know it can save anyone who is willing to really apply it. 

Here are some solid scriptures that are all about the doctrine of Christ, and there are so many more than just these. 

"Know ye not that ye are in the hands of God? Know ye not that he hath all power, and at his great command the earth shall be rolled together as a scroll? Therefore, repent ye, and humble yourselves before him, lest his shall come out in justice against you." -Mormon 5:23-24

"And also that ye might know of the coming of Jesus Christ, the Son of God, the Father of heaven and of earth, the Creator of all things from the beginning; and that ye might know of the signs of his coming, to the intent that ye might believe on his name. And if ye believe on his name ye will repent of all your sins, that thereby ye may have a remission of them through his merits." -Heleman 14: 12-13

In Alma 22:15 Lamoni's father, a king, asks Aaron (a super awesome missionary who went through a crazy repentance process) what he should do to have eternal life and joy in this life. Aaron says in 16, "If thou desirest this thing, if thou wilt bow down before God, yea, if thou wilt repent of all thy sins, and will bow down before God, and call on his name in faith, believing that ye shall receive, then shalt thou receive the hope which thou desirest."

Some people think that repentance is a bad thing. That if they repent that they will just be trapped in shame and guilt. But it is just the opposite! Repentance is the best feeling in the world! You can do it every day! There are so many people in the Book of Mormon (Enos 1, Alma 36, 2 Nephi 4) who had to repent. Most of the stories are of people repenting from serious stuff, but because they repent God makes them into WARRIORS and PROPHETS and SEERS and MIRACLE WORKERS. And guess what, the moment we get on our knees, give up a bad habit, walk into the bishops office, pick up our scriptures again... those prophets, seers, and warriors  are right there with us. Guess who else is right there with you? Jesus Christ. He's been there, he's felt what you feel, and he's just been desperately waiting to chose to make the change and come to Him. Just believe that He is waiting to take you into His arms, and He will. 

"Yea, verily I say unto you, if ye will come unto me ye shall have eternal life. Behold, mine arm of mercy is extended towards you, and whosoever will come, him will I receive; and blessed are those who come unto me." 3 nephi 9:14

Then the last step is covenant. That is baptism, taking the sacrament, going to the temple, personal promises (like the Anti-Lehi-Nephis). That's why the people we meet who have faith and repent, practically beg to be baptized! How cool is it to make a promise with God. He is the best person to make a promise with because we promise to keep the commandments and in return he gives us HAPPINESS, PEACE, JOY, and ETERNAL LIFE. That's not even a fair trade for Him! But it works, I've seen it and I've experienced it. 

Wow, this next year is going to be so incredible. I can't believe time is flying so quickly! I wish it would slow down. Thank you for all of the support, and for all those who pushed me to get out here! I am so in debt to all of you! THANK YOU!

Hermana Johnson xoxoxoxox

Baptisms, Birthday, Blessin's

We started out the week without a car so we had to bike everywhere. The problem was that El Paso was having a crazy sand-storm, and we had a baptism to get to and our church is way far out of our area. Well, it wasn't really a problem...just a set back. I just threw all of the food and baptism stuff in my backpack and put everything that didn't fit in plastic bags on my handle bars. It was cool until the sand blasts ripped the bag open! I wish someone could have seen us biking up hill, one handed, in the wind with a bunch of white clothes in my arms haha!

Jose and Blanca

The baptism was SO BEAUTIFUL. Jose had fasted all day to be ready, and Blanca has been waiting for the day that she could be clean since we first went to her house. They were so nervous and excited. Blanca wore her heels all the way to the font haha. Then when she got baptized she came out of the font, with tears running down her cheecks, and gave me the biggest hug. Then Jose got dunked! He said he felt at peace for the first time. It was such a beautiful experience. All of their non-member family was their to support them and afterward Jose told me that it was the anniversary of his mother's death and that he knows she was there. 

Holy cow I'm running low on time. I'm probably just going to send like 25 photos and let you look through those haha. 

Joel

Joel's baptism was so so great! When he went into the water he yelled "DANG THIS IS COLD!" it was so funny. We took a bunch of flexing pics because pretty much all he does is flexes and talks about his muscles. We thought we would play along. 

20!

My birthday was INSANE. Thank you to everyone who did something!!!! It was such an awesome day! Nora (one of our members) did a cake and a bunch of Mexican traditions for me. Our investigator Myra gave me a locket with a note from her inside and the sweetest letter in the world. Joel gave me a present that was kinda flirty so we actually have to pass him off to the elders now (he sprayed the card with cologne hahahahha) and I came home to the COOLEST presents from the COOLEST family. My zone leaders even tried to get me a present! They called Hna Garcia and asked her what my favorite drink was and she was like....ummm water? So they got me a case of water HAHA.  It really was one of my favorite days of my whole mission!!! I felt so loved through the simplest tiniest things. 

The Temple

We got to go to the temple yesterday!!!! SO incredible. I missed the temple a ton. It is such a beautiful place. It makes me so excited to go with Mayra, Angel, Joel, Blanca, Jose, and Pablo. I can't wait for them to go in for themselves!!! We are already planning a road trip to do baptisms with Jose and Blanca! They are so excited to baptize their parents and her brother. 

Man, the church is so true. In Alma it talks about how our joy will be so great if we just bring one soul to the fold of God. When we look at it through the eternal perspective, I can see why! Each soul has hundreds on the other side waiting for their work to be done. One convert could mean a whole family tree of converts who have already passed on! I know because I have felt it. I know that the angles that are "on our right and left bearing us up" are the family of the people we are teaching. I know it without a doubt. I have felt it! Mayra even told us the other day that she heard the voice of her daughter before she was born, and waaayyy before she knew us, saying "mom, we have to follow HIM and then we can be a family.". Now she knows what that means and her little baby is going to grow up with married, sealed parents. 

Well thank you again for all of the love. I have no idea how I got such great friends and family. I feel so humbled and blessed to have you all. Getting so spoiled on the 4th made me want to work 100x harder so that maybe I can deserve a FRACTION of all the love I have received. You people are AMAZING. I don't know what I would do without you. 

LOVE,

Hermana Johnson xoxoxox

There's a cute pic of my cat in this email

Just a quick update and some pics!

We set a record this week with our investigators at church! We had 8!!! And all of our less actives that we have been working with forever FINALLY came to church! It was awesome! And then one of our awesome couple's that we are teaching came to us after church and was like "So....we feel like this is our home. Let's get baptized on Tuesday".

Soooo stay tuned!!

The best part of church was when Pablo got called on to say something about prayer in Gospel Principles. He said something like this:

"When the sisters found me I was mad at God and only ever asked him 'why do you make me suffer so much?' But now I can really open up to God and I don't have a for sure answer, but I don't need one. Now that I pray I know that God loves me and all I want to do is say thank you."

The picture with the big group is our 4 investigators, their kids, and their family who introduced us to them. We had the most INCREDIBLE lesson with all of them. At the beginning the member shared an email that her son who is on a mission wrote to our investigators (his cousins) it was so powerful. Then we taught them about repentance and baptism and EVERYONE was crying. They just want to get rid of all of the baggage from their past through Jesus Christ! It was so beautiful. Then, their cousin gave them all blessings. The cousin didn't even know what we had been working with each of them on (Word of Wisdom, Marriage, Praying...they each have their own struggle) but the blessings were PERFECT for each of them. So everyone was crying even more. It was so awesome. 11/10 lesson for sure. I will never forget it. 

Hope you all have a great week!!! Love you mucho!!

xoxoxo

The pics (not in this order)

-My cat Galleto (Hermana Garcia kicks him out of the house but I bought cat nip at walmart so I can rebuild his trust. He's about as skiddish as an investigator!)

-Us standing with the elders in our ward and OUR investigator Joel. But Joel is huge and he loves us too much so I guess I got weird and stood like 100 feet too far away. HAHA I for sure wrecked the pic. So awkward. Oh and elder Sutton is trying to flex to be as big as Joel cause Joel is like a pro body builder or something... he started training all the young men for free HAH 

-The one with the tree is a throw back from Christmas with the best district ever

-The one with the houses is what we see when we drive to the edge of our area. That's Mexico folks! Like a suppppeeerrr sketchy part of Mexico. Our members that are from there have STORIES

"To the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, Thanks but no"

This has been such an awesome week!!! I can't really even put it all to words, and I don't really have time anyway. But here it goes.

Here are the updates:

-Joel is still waiting to hear if he can get baptized. He's so excited. We meet at the park like every other day, but lately he hasn't had time cause he is too busy training the young men from the ward at the gym. HAHA. 

-Maria called us saying that she didn't sleep all night and that we need to go over. We went by and she handed us 3 letters. The envelopes were printed out and addressed to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. One for me, Garcia, and our Bishop lol. Freak I should have taken a picture. Inside she wrote the most formal letter saying she won't be getting baptized this weekend. She wrote like 3 paragraphs assuring the church that we have done our work well, and then she said she wants to go to her sisters church so she can build a relationship with her sister. WHAT. 

Pretty sure she is stressing about other things...so we will keep working on it. But it's a bummer. We picked out her white jumpsuit and everything :'(

-Blanca Jose Mayra and Angel!!!!

Okay so long story short, we got a referral from a member for her aunt Blanca. We went by and invited her to Pablo's baptism. She and her husband Jose came. They told us they want to be members so we were like...COOL you are talking to the right people!

We tried by Blanca's house a bunch but she was never there. We finally got her to come to a dinner with her niece's family (members) and their shared their coolest most POWERFUL conversion story. Blanca was like "cool lets do the baptism next week!" haha

We still could never find Blanca at home, but we got another referral for a girl named Mayra. We went by and Blanca, Jose, Mayra and her husband Angel were all there! Turns out they are always all together! So we have been going over every day to eat with them and teach. They all sit down on the couch together and listen so closely. I LOVE THEM . They were all struggling to pray, but the other day Angel was brave and got on his knees to say his first prayer. He sobbed through the whole thing. Then in the middle he stopped and looked up "is this normal?" I was like "yes shhhh keep going!" haha. Then after the prayer his CUTEST 3 year old son threw his arm's around Angels neck and said "it's okay daddy!"

-I had to give a talk in church yesterday...in Spanish...but it went okay! I am growing to love this ward SO MUCH! I feel as comfortable and at home with them as I did with the Eagle 9th ward!!! 

-We got invited to a special leadership conference up in Albequerque! It was so awesome. I learned soooo much and can't wait to take the work to the next level. But for real, the best part of all of it was seeing HERMANA MADDI THOMPSON!!!!! Oh my goodness it was like being reunited with my sister. ANNNDDD I saw elder SPECER SMITH! He's doing so awesome! Eagle represent!

-We are biking sooooo much! These pics are from biking to meetings at the church with the elders haha. Elder Sutton's head rarely makes the pic cause he's so tall.

-I sang at the funeral of one of my FAVORITE members. It was such a sweet service. Then after, another member (this crazy old lady who basically kidnapped us once...that's another story) asked me to sing at her funeral! HAHA she's like "I'll tell my son your info so someday he can find you and you can come back and sing at my funeral." 

lol....hopefully I don't bail on her. 

-That's about it!!! Life is good! The weather is warming up! And I'm still getting chubby on Mexican food!!! :) 

xoxoxoxxo

Hermana Johnson

"Look who I ran into at leadership conference!"

Spencer Smith, a friend from Eagle

"I found a pineapple bush"

"This is my favorite person in El Paso. He's basically Molly but brown and a boy. HE"S SO CHILL AND HE LET ME WEAR HIS HAT <3"

Bikes!

Hey Family!!

This week has been AWESOME! Just a few highlights:

Menos Activo- Misonero

So remember or recent convert Ruben? He was so awesome...and then withing 3 weeks went less active. We had been trying to meet with him like every day and then finally he told me and Hermana Thompson that we "Annoy him" and that the church annoys him too. WHAT! We were so bummed. 

THEN last week I got THE BEST PHONE CALL OF MY MISSION!!! Ruben was on the phone (in spanish) "Hermanita Johnson!!! Let's schedule a session!" 

I'm like...."WHAT? Okay for sure! What's the occasion?"

"I WANT TO GO ON A MISSION!!!" -Ruben. 

I was jumping up and down and freaking out! We met up with him the next day and he filled us in on his 180 change. He told us that he had been in Juarez Mexico staying with family for the past two months. Turns out, all of his cousins are returned missionaries! He had no idea!! They got him all pumped up about the gospel and a mission and everything! Ruben told us that as he thought and prayed about a mission, something came into his heart so strong. He said it was so warm and powerful in his chest! He was so eager to learn everything he could in a one hour appointment haha. He was asking, "How do I find people to teach? Where do I get the pamphlets? How do I know what to say?" 

He still needs to get the priesthood and go to the temple and stuff, but in the mean time he is a ward missionary! We were helping him practice for lessons and we said, "What would you say to someone who doesn't come to church, but has already been baptized?" 

He replied, "That's easy! Bro, I got baptized and was SOOOO LAZY. Don't be lazy. Just get out of bed and come to church!" hahahah

Milagros!

I had the craziest experience with Joel. He is the guy we found living above Pablo's house! He is so cool and ready to be baptized, so stay tuned for that. But we were teaching him about temples and baptisms for the dead. You could tell he was really pondering the whole concept of being able to help those who have already passed on receive a baptism. I had a paper in front of me so I drew a box, trying to illustrate what the little piece of paper that has the name of the person being baptized on it looks like. You know, the blue/pink slip that says the name and the birthdate and the bar code and stuff. Anyway, I drew the box and said "For example, you will get a piece of paper like this. It will have a random name like....." A name popped into my head and I wrote it. Gorge Neria. Joel freaked out. "How do you know Gorge!?" 

Turns out, Gorge Neria is his cousin who got murdured. He already had told us that he wanted to to a baptism for this cousin of his, but he never had told us the name. He had been thinking of Gorge the whole time we were talking, and somehow the spirit put the name onto the paper! 

Tell me the church isn't true! 

More Updates

We had so many other awesome lessons this week! We have a handfull of AMAZING children of God preparing to be baptized this month and next. I can't even express how amazing it feels to see lives change. It makes every minute worth it. 

Biking is super fun! That makes mission life SO MUCH better. I feel like I'm at home cruising around Hillsdale with my friends haha. Me and my comp are doing great! We got invited to a special leadership conference this week so we will go up to a few other missionaries and spend the night in Albuquerque this week for the conference. Super pumped!

Again Haha

Also, It happened again! A different ward asked me to come to their relief society where they were teaching a lesson about "Turning lemons to sweet lemonade" (mom's article). I sang Grande Eres Tu (how great thou art) again and the spirit was so strong. They asked me to share my testimony and then passed lemons and limes to certain ladies in the room and the came up and shared their stories on how they used the gospel to turn "lemons to lemonade". I thought the relief society room was going to get water damage from all of the tears! Such a powerful meeting. Thanks again mom!

Sure love ya! xoxox

Pablo Gonzalez (basically the El Paso version of the guy from UP)

All I want to talk about today is someone who has impacted my life a lot. Pablo Gonzalez!

GRUMPY

We met Pablo two months ago in his garage. We were walking up his road, trying to talk to anyone we could find. He happened to be standing in his garage fixing his car, so we asked if there was anything we could do to help. 

He seemed a little surprised, no words for a minute, and then he tried to shew us off. He said "I have a lot of cancer, and I'm very cold. I can't fix my car. I'm going inside."

Hermana Thompson pulled out a scripture about Jesus Christ's power to heal. He listened, thanked us, and then very grumpily reminded us that he has cancer and needs to go inside. 

We made a note of his name and then a mental note to not go back. 

Three or four days later we arrived to an appointment with another person on his street. The appointment canceled and we didn't know what to do. I felt very strongly that we should go back to Pablo (which sounded a little useless when I said it outloud to my companion) but we both agreed to try by and see if he knows anyone else who might be interested. I remember being a little nervous as we knocked on his door. I was scared the same grumpy, easily irritated man would be on the other side. But to our surprise, Pablo opened the door and invited us in with open arms! He almost looked relieved to see us!

Dios Por Que?

As we sat down he told us parts of his story. Pablo has almost died several times. Once in a car wreck, and 3 times from cancer. He didn't just "almost die", he actually saw the light, felt the peace, and then something pulled him back every time. The last time he actually fell off the bed and he snapped out of it! He can recount each of these experiences in detail (as he does often). He told us, through tears, that he just wants to know why. POR QUE? Why does God let him suffer? Why does he live with 12 painful tumors, several diseases, and all alone? 

We told him we can help him answer these questions. We know exactly why God has kept him on earth. He told us, again through tears, that he knows that we can help him. He said that when he saw us he thought we were angels. He said he was actually very confused. For a moment he thought that two angels were standing in his garage the night we met. Then he asked, in all seriousness, "are you angels?" 

"For they were treated as though they were angels sent from God to save them from everlasting destruction" Alma 27

That was one of the most humbling moments of my life! We taught him about God, about his devine potential in God's eyes, and about how God wants to hear from him through prayer.  

Pablo Prayers <3

He spread out a blanket on the floor and we all knelt in prayer. His prayer was so powerful. Pablo PLEADED with Heavenly Father for help, peace, purpose, healing, and love. He just kept asking "Dios, Por que? POR QUE tengo tanto sufrimiento?" (god, why? why do I have so much suffering?)  It was like he was kneeling at the feet of God himself. The spirit filled the room and I left wondering how we are going to be worthy to teach such an incredible person who is so close to God (even though he didn't know it, yet).

The Book Of Mormon

We came back the next day to find a Book of Mormon sitting on the table. "Pablo! Where did you get that?"

He received it from some "great young men in white shirts" more than 40 years ago in Las Vegas, and has kept it all this time. 

We told him that his answers were in that Book, and he said he already knew. He had never read it, never looked into the church, but he said out of the several religions he has looked into he always knew this one is right.

Our lessons continued to get better and better. He told every member we brought to his house about how he is convinced that we are angels. In every lesson his prayers continued to shake the earth. It is incredible. He bows his head and I feel that actual angels come and kneel beside us, the spirit fills the whole house, and we all feel like we are in heaven for a minute.

Dancing...King

As we got to know him better we learned about his incredible life. He has always been a major party planner. He loves to throw a classy evening with music and DANCING! Pablo LOVES to dance. He even made sure that he could dance and be a Mormon. HAHA. He has stories after stories about some insanely famous people, but to him the are just old friends. One of the most famous Mexican artists, Juan Gabriel, was one of his closest friends! He is like every famous person's hype-man. He used to live such a wild, fast paced life hosting fabulous dances and parties (imagine a Mexican Great Gatsby). I could listen to his stories all day! 

The day Hermana Thompson left, and also the day after Pablo went to church for the first time, he called and said he wants to give the book back, and that he won't be baptized. We went over there right away and he had somehow decided to not be baptized! His reason was because he has to work (host dance parties) on Sundays and he doesn't want to make a commitment to God that he can't keep. We testified of what the gospel will do for him if he has faith and then invited him to talk to Heavenly Father about it. He bowed his head, sincerely asked for help knowing if this is the right path for him, closed the prayer, and said "I will prepare to be baptized".

Eternal Marriage

Then when he turned 50 he found the perfect woman he had always been waiting for. They lived the perfect life. They went through good and bad times, but when they were together everything was magical! Nothing could get them down!

They lived in Las Vagas together for several years. Together, they always admired the big white church (temple) Pablo, as he told us about his wife and their love for the temple, told me that he wants to go inside before he dies. 

Turns out, Pablo knows nothing about the temple! It is just something beautiful that he and his wife have always loved. Before we could tell him the purpose of temples, he told us about what happened to his wife. 

Three years ago his wife fell in the kitchen, hit her head, and died in his arms. Hearing him tell this story first hand was about the saddest thing I have ever heard. He just melted, face in hands, sobbing. I couldn't stand to see him so broken anymore! So I reached out, took his hand, and told him about how him and his wife can be together forever in the temple. His face lit up, the spirit filled the room, and he said another incredible prayer giving thanks to God. 

Baptism, The First Step

When Pablo arrived to his baptism he was beaming! He wore the classiest metallic suit and had his brother and girlfriend (hehe) there to support him! He got all dressed in the white clothes and was so excited and nervous all at the same time. When he went under the water I swear the heavens opened!

As he changed, the elders in our ward shared the message of the Restoration in the chapel for the SEVERAL non members and investigators who were there. When they finished the room was so still. Right then Pablo walked in, absolutely glowing, and I sang "Mas Cerca Dios de Ti" because Pablo had asked me to. 

(then we did an awesome church tour for all the non-members...super fun)

The next day, after he got confirmed in the church, he stood up to get sustained. As he stood he waved to everyone and said "Gracias!". So sweet. Then just about every talk was directed toward Pablo. 

Change

Change is a miracle, but it is possible if we just put our trust in God. I think about the grumpy grumpy GRUMPY man that we met in the garage. He was depressed and so mad at God. His cancer pains were too much to be able to stand up well, let alone do is favorite thing in the world, dance. He was so depressed, missed his wife, and just felt alone. But, from the beginning he withstood the pain to be able to physically get on his knees, he sacrificed his dancing to come to church on Sundays, and he allowed himself to go through an uncomfortable repentance process. Now, if you ask him he will tell you that he has stopped asking "por que?" (why) and has started saying "gracias". His cancer pains hardly bother him any more and his depression and anxiety is healing! 

After he got confirmed he gave me a big hug. He thanked me for being his angel and then looked right at me and said, "I feel brand new". 

If I ever forget why I'm on a mission, just forward this email back to me. I mostly just wrote this story for me. I never want to forget the miracles we saw with Pablo!

P.S. Our recent convert (Ruben) called me and said he wants to serve a mission! We are helping him work it out right now! SO awesome!!!!

P.S.S. we are biking now so I'm pretty much the happiest girl ever

Knock on Wood!

Another incredible week! It has been so fun to be training! I love it!!! I feel like I'm a big sister again (which is something I miss every day!). It also can be stressful....I have never been so tired in my whole life! 

The Holy Ghost

I'm learning more and more about how ESSENTIAL the spirit is for us to learn ANYTHING. I've learned that if you want to have the spirit you gotta

- be worthy (repent often)

-be humble (the spirit always tells me i'm wrong...so I gotta be humble)

-seek it

-recognize it!

When I can't feel the spirit its usually one of these three things, and for our investigators it is exactly the same! For example, we are teaching a man named Armando. He reads the scriptures every day (like 2-3 chapters), prays, and comes to church. He's been doing this for months! Why hasn't he been baptized? He says he doesn't feel God could love him personally. The only way he will every know that God does love him is through the spirit. But, he says he doesn't feel the spirit! All he says he feels is a "peace and calm". Oh brother.  So we have been working with him like CRAZY to help him recognize that "peace and calm" is the spirit! We had a lesson the other day and of course the member started getting in his face about doctrine and talking over him. Things got so tense that finally I had to knock on the table and say, "sorry, but the spirit isn't here so we can't continue. If you would like we can sing a song and invite the spirit back". But nobody else was down so I had to remember the words to I am a Child of God in spanish all by myself. HAHA I really got myself in a hole there. But all worked out, the spirit came, and he definitely started to recognize the spirit!! Score!

So the other night, about an hour before we had to be home, we pulled up to a less actives house to drop in for a visit and I felt like we shouldn't go in. The weird thing is that I could see the family walking around inside...there was no reason to cancel! But we said a prayer asking for guidance on what we should do. I asked, "is there someone in this area who needs a lesson right now?" The spirit dropped a bomb on us! Someone in our area needed a lesson, and we had no idea who it was. We just started driving for home. I turned on a road where I knew a few people and that's when the spirit told us to stop...in front of the house of an active member from the english ward. WHAT? WHY? haha we knocked the door and inside was some relatives of theirs who just got in from MEXICO! We said, "We are here to teach you about your family's church". Sure enough, the family sat down and at the end of the lesson the mom said, "nothing will stop me from being baptized!". 

Knock on Wood!

PABLO IS GETTING BAPTIZED! okay...i'm jixing it. But, we announced it at church, and Pablo was there...so pretty sure he's down! The only thing is he has cancer really bad and he could get sick at any minute and miss his baptism this Saturday! Cancer sucks!!!! But, the coolest thing is that Pablo believes that God will help him figure out the purpose of his struggles if he gets baptized. So much faith!!!

We found a new woman named Maria! She is the cutest. We were trying to contact a referral when across the street we saw this lady saying goodbye to her grown-up kids. As the kids drove away we approached her. She was so surprised to see girl missionaries! After making friends for a minute she invited us in. We taught her about the Book of Mormon and she said it seemed really interesting. 

We came back the next week and Maria welcomed us into her house with so much love!!! She asked if she could feed us anything and we said no. But she went to the kitchen anyway! So we agreed to quesadillas if she would show us how to do it. Long story short we wound up eating:

-4 quesadillas

-a giant bowl of gourmet guacamole

-3 fajitas

-some mexican sausage and egg thing

-pasta

-and nachos.

Not to mention she filled three bags of food for us and the elders, and she has never met them! (Dad...she is literally the girl version of you hahaha) 

 Guess what fam...i ate it all. All the flour, and pasta, and grease...I ate it. And I was so full I dreamed I was pregnant that night. BUT I did it for the GOSPEL!

After she tried to kill us by overfeeding us, we taught her the Restoration. I have never felt the power of the First Vision so strongly. She started CRYING! That has only happened a couple times on my mission! But Maria started crying. She said she hasn't cried over a thing in years, and she isn't even sad! She couldn't figure out what was happening. (cough cough...it's the Holy Gost)

She told us she KNOWS it is true and she will be baptized as soon as possible! We gave her a date for 3 weeks out and she asked if she could be baptized sooner! 

Maria came to church and all was well until....she signed her name on the food calendar. lol.

Joel is awesome. When we first met him he was way drunk and way depressed. He actually lives above Pablo (who ironically just kicked Joel out.) So Joel was about to be homeless when we met him and has about 1,000,000 problems that he will tell anyone about. But, this guy loves God. He has always done his best to keep the commandments and read the Bible. Long story short, he knows the church is true and he CAN'T WAIT to be baptized. The cool part about this story though is the members! Every day Joel sees a member. People have gone to help him find a new home (in our area), negotiate contracts, have a visit, give a blessing, teach about the church....a bunch of members even helped him move on Saturday. Get this- we as missionaries didn't ask for any of it! The members just saw a need, the word spread, and did it!!!

I have heard several times from our investigators "I know the church is true because the members are happy. They practice what they preach." I hope when I come home I can be a good member...I used to be so lame! But how powerful is it to just set a good example and serve. You never know how much of an impact you are having.

It Happened Again

Just thought I would throw in a follow up to last week. This week at church the Sunday School teacher asked me to sing. He had actually translated the entire article of mom's into spanish! So cool! He read the whole thing. And then he made the connection that "Hermana Johnson" is one of the kids from the article and had me sing. Mom I can't tell you how powerful it is! The whole room was in tears! Countless people have told me that the article has had an impact on them. Even my companion had read it before she met me! 

Honestly, these moments are some of the most powerful in my whole mission. I love my family and I miss them like crazy. How unique is it to sit in church and have the talk be about my mom? And then have the speaker look right at me and tell me that this all will be worth it? And then have the whole ward say a prayer for my mom? I feel soooo blessed. Not every missionary gets this. MOM YOU ARE AWESOME! KEEP BEING A MISSIONARY! You ROCK! Thank you for your faith and your willingness to share. If we keep this up, the whole El Paso stake is going to be praying for you!

Love you all!!! xoxox

P.S. Hermana Garcia is complaining that I talk in my sleep...buttt IT'S IN SPANISH! Heck ya. nothing to complain about. that is a straight up WIN