I don't like being sick. Especially not for five days. No no no no no no. . .
Our week started out so well. We visited an amazing family on Monday
and the wife was a little sick. The next day, Elder Diaz was sick. The
next day, I was sick. The next day, the other missionary that we live
with was sick. I think I was sick the longest though and it went from
Tuesday night to Saturday night.
On Saturday I thought I was fine again. We went out
and worked that day and then I made a terrible mistake: we went our to
Chipotle with some members. Big steak burrito with salsa = terrible
idea. I was sick again within three hours. I made it to our baptism that
night and then went back and died at the house.
But I'm fine now! Wooooooooo!
I
learned a lot from that experience. My timetable isn't the Lord's. On
Sunday night I was analyzing our previous week and was looking back on
how good it was and said to myself, "We'll repeat this every week!"
Nope. We were then sick for five days haha. I learned a lot about
patience and trust. I was beating myself up for being inside and feeling
guilty for the first two days. I was so antsy to get up. Brother
Burton, the sealer that we live with, told us that there is a season for
all things and that really struck me. Sometimes we need to move slower
than we want to for the right things to happen.
That baptism was the best service that I have ever
been to. Ever. We announced it for two weeks before hand at church and
got permission to get every missionary in the zone there. We set up over
60 chairs and had to set more up due to the crowd. The family getting
baptized invited friends and coworkers and they came in force. It was
awesome.
The ordinance itself was performed flawlessly for
all three of them. As they were changing the Bishop bore his testimony.
When they came out after changing each one shared their testimony and
opened up a little bit more to the members. It was POWERFUL. The final
testimony was the eight year old. That was the highlight. The closing
hymn was "families can be together forever," and during the closing
prayer I laughed a little bit at the number of people sniffling.
In the post prayer moments the 8 year old approached
me and said, "I don't know why, but I feel really peaceful right now!"
Later at church the next day she would pull us aside and say, "Last
night I had a moment with God. I felt so good."
It was a pure moment of innocence and love.
We love that family. Their baptism was one of the happiest moments of my life.
This
past week we said goodbye to the Lamberts, a senior couple that we both
served with in Gilbert. They covered the reservation and we love them.
They went home on Thursday and on Wednesday we were able to go have
lunch with them. We shared mission stories and "what we've learned so
far" and it was an uplifting experience. Fun times.
Last P-day we spent the day with the couple that we
live with. We played a fun card game with them and then bocci (sp?) ball
afterwards. They are temple workers and a wealth of knowledge. They're
hilarious and energetic - we love them!
Elder Diaz and I have been making some plans
for this next month, at least trying to. Nothing feels right. We have so
many things to focus on and every missionary is at a different level.
It's hard to put a blanket statement on the needs. Being so close to
Tempe gives us the unique ability to go and visit President Toone and
get some counsel from him. We talked and talked and he said he has felt
the same way about the mission. None of us got answers but we got
direction. That's better than nothing, right? February is going to
present some unique challenges but we're ready for them!
Well, a new week has began and with it will come new experiences! Thanks to everyone for their continued support!
Love,
Elder Johnson
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