Transfer week! Please send any letters not sent by Wednesday to the mission office!
But
a bad day and a hard day are completely different. I believe that a bad
day is the result of something we do or do not do. A rough day is
something that is controlled by the agency of others.
This was a rough week.
I
don't want to go into too many details, but this last week we did random
iPad checks in our zone. We ended up having to cancel all of our
appointments on Monday because the first checks we did yielded negative results. An iPad was confiscated for a time and needed direction was given.
Tuesday we had to confiscate two. That broke my
heart. It gave me a glimpse into what it feels like to be a wayward
parent and watch children fall away.
We are taking a missionary to the airport today and might have to take another later this week. 
On Wednesday we had two more serious problems to deal with.
On
Saturday our recent convert passed away. We baptized him together in
Chandler six months ago and he was faithful until the cancer took him.
All in all, we had about two to three days to
proselyte. But the missionaries are our number one priority and we are
happy to sacrifice for them.
On Sunday,
yesterday, was stake conference. We were ECSTATIC to hear that the
husband in the family that we baptized three weeks ago was invited to
speak at stake conference! He got up, did it like a PRO, gave us a shout
out, and then taught, testified, and invited the congregation. It was
honestly one of the best talks of the weekend.
Immediately afterwards, the stake president stood
up, came to the pulpit and said, totally serious, "It seems like we have
a great potential for a high councilor!"
Next week a high councilor space is opening up since one is moving...
He's AWESOME! The whole family is AWESOME!
This
morning we got special permission to go to the temple as a
companionship. This will very likely be our last week as companions.
I've been in Mesa for 7.5 months and we have been together for a total
of 6 months. But in those 6 months we have had 16 baptisms and nothing
but pure joy. Elder Diaz has made me a better person.
So in this week of such chaos, we were very blessed
to have our members step up and do the finding for us. We were referred
to an entire family to teach who "weren't interested." We went in with
the goal of making new friends.
Their last words to us were, "please come back and visit me!"
Sister
Burton, the wife of the fasmily that we live with, made us cinnamon
rolls this last week. Oh. My. Goodness. I love cinnamon rolls.
We are working with a woman to help her quit
smoking. I was planning on telling her that if she gave up cigarettes, I
would give up chocolate. I really believed that I was addicted to
chocolate. But then she moved away so I never had to do that.
But as I thought more about it, I really became
scared that I was addicted to chocolate haha. I committed myself to not
eat chocolate for an entire week. Of course the week that I do that is
the week that everything goes crazy. But I gave it up! I did it! Hahaha,
it's the little thigns in life, isn't it...
This past week we did an exchange with some
missionaries whose area is completely and utterly dead. They have no
hope for it. But as we sat down to pray I told him to expect miracles
and that we would do all that we could to find them!
That night we found them. We found prepared people.
We had a great experience. We both grew from it and it was a successful
evening. His vision is now raised and he is more excited about the work!
Success!
Thanks Tanan and family for the great letters this week!
I'm
short on time today for this letter! Today is not going to be a P-Day
for us. In twenty minutes we are going to the airport and then
afterwards Elder Diaz has an eye exam. He thinks he may need glasses.
But that's ok - we got to go to the temple!
Life is good! Love you all!
Elder Johnson
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