Tuesday, September 24, 2013

September 23, 2013

Well, it was another great week. I just love life.
We didn’t have to do a lot of tracing this week, which is a huge blessing in my eyes. We had p-day on Monday, New missionary training on Tuesday, district meeting and lunch on Wednesday, MCM on Thursday, interviews and planning on Friday, and a full day of appointments on Saturday... needless to say, it was a busy week. I always knew that God would send me to the area that I needed to be; I assumed that there were a few people that I would meet throughout my mission that I needed to meet. But that is a great understatement. Because I have met so many wonderful people that have changed my perspective and impacted my life.

To name a few: my companion. Hermana Child is an amazing missionary with all of her priorities in the right place. She is a great teacher and trainer and her testimony is simple and powerful. My favorite hours of the day are personal study and companionship study because we get to share everything we learned with each other. She is so good at applying scriptures and doctrine in her life, and is continually striving to be a better person. Sister Colburn and Sister Thompson: they are the two sister missionaries (English) in our area. They live a few apartments away from us so every morning we get to work out with them and we carpool to all our meetings together. They have to serve in English and they help me to appreciate my mission so much more (Spanish is hard but it’s that greatest thing that has ever happened to me- there is something about being rejected in English that hurts a little more). They are having a pretty hard time but I have learned so much from their examples and their positive attitudes.
I have developed so much love and appreciation for the families and members of our branch. I learn something new every lesson.
Also, President and Sister Fenn are such great examples to me! President Fenn is truely an amazing person. He is a great example of selfless service. I have learned so much from him, and I look forward to every meeting because he is such a powerful speaker. I’m talking general authority-type of powerful! Every time he speaks you stop and pay attention because you can feel that he is a representative of the Lord. He is so wise and so loving... In Zone Conference he gave a powerful talk about the principles of mortality.
He started out by saying "I want you all to know about the first principle of mortality. It is that Life was not intended to be easy." I guess that is the moment when I snapped into reality a little bit. But he continued to explain that just like life, your mission is not meant to be easy. That is not why we were sent to earth. We were sent here to prove ourselves worth of the blessings and glory of eternal life. The lord gives us trials because, in His infinite wisdom, He knows just how much He can push us and stretch us so we will become who we were meant to become. God knows exactly when He needs to intervene... and more often than not, the trial or tribulation will not be taken away. But He promises that if you have faith and patience, you will be strengthened to bear them. Christ is your personal Savior, He knows you personally. He knows your trials and your burdens because He has personalized them just for you. He knows when to let you walk and when to carry you. It is up to us to have enough trust in them to know that they will step in when the time is right; to realize that God trust you enough to make it another day, another week, another month. This is because they understand the importance of experience... I think that every person is the sum total of their experiences. That is why everyone is so different and unique but we all have strengths and weaknesses. But it’s all part of the plan. So we should be grateful for the experiences that we are given. And it is our responsibility to learn from the opportunities presented to us. This knowledge should give us that perfect brightness of hope. Because we know, it isn’t until after the trial that we receive the reward - which in an eternal perspective - is incomprehendable joy and eternal life... which is pretty cool!

Anyway, Elgin is wonderful! The work is slow but little by little we are trying to align our vision with Gods.

I hope everyone is doing well! Thanks for the pictures, looks like you had a great time in Idaho! I  miss you all a lot and pray for you every night!!!!
Talk to you soon!!


Love Hermana Johnson

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