This last week we had MLC (Mission Leadership Council.)
We focused on making it more of a council rather than just a "here's the
direction of the mission, apply it to your zone and make it work." It
was an exciting experience as we all learned from each other and shared
things that do and do not work. Elder Diaz and I went into it with the
idea to destroy zone baptismal goals. I've been thinking a lot about
effective missionary work and a zone baptismal goal doesn't fit into it.
From a business point of view or a leadership point
of view, to get someone "onboard" for something you need to sell it to
them. Well, there isn't time to sell ideas to missionaries whose areas
need something else. So, what we are focusing on this month, is
sustaining the ideas and direction that the individual missionary has.
Sustain their area baptismal goals. Sustain their district baptismal
goals. And then do everything we can to help them learn how to achieve
those goals. Zone goals just happen. We don't control those, it is the
result of the efforts of an individual companionship.
So I presented the idea and it sparked an hour long
debate. No official conclusion was made but everyone left with something
to think about.
This last week I heard
someone say, "I can be just as experienced living in ____ for my whole
life than someone who travels the world. Everything they experience I
can find in a book."
No. No. Noinonononononono. Nonononononononoonononononoo.
I
was able to see some exciting miracles this past week through Facebook
proselyting. I haven't had time to use it much for three weeks due to
the...things that have been happening around us, but this past week I
was able to get back to speed. Three people came out of nowhere and
asked me how they could meet with missionaries in their countries
(Tanzania, Ghana, and Pakistan.) Referrals were sent and missionaries
were contacted.
Just because I haven't written much about Facebook
efforts in the last weeks doesn't mean it is slowing down :) Great
things are happening. I've been talking to missionaries a lot about
getting out of the habit of looking at the News Feed. Nothing destroys
time and productivity faster than that page. Put your line in the water?
Nah, I'll drop the net.
This past weekend we were able to go to the Gilbert
Temple Open House again! President said that missionaries in Mesa are
allowed to go since we're close. WORD! The very day he announced that
was the very day that we went. It was a marvelous experience. We went in
a Spanish tour which was much smaller. The family we took loved it and
left with an increased desire to get sealed. This is the second family
that we have brought.
Mesa zone interviews were this past week. The planned time was from 8:00am to 12:00pm but it went until 3:30. President always does us last.
I was readmitted to BYU this last week.
At MLC President told us a crazy story about the new
Stake President in the Tempe Stake. The stake is 50 years old and last
week they called a new president.
He is 27
years old. Home from his mission for 6 years, never a bishop.
WOWOWOWOOWOW. Part of me thinks, "Poor guy. His secular life will be
stagnant for 10 years. No more school, no more work, no moving, no
vacations..." The other side of me said, "This is a great man being
prepared for great things." I haven't been able to stop thinking about
him all week. During MLC, President said some pretty intense things
about the future.
Spanish wards, Spanish wards, Spanish wards.
Sometimes it is hard to be patient in Spanish wards. Yesterday during
church someone got up and said, "And I am grateful for a living prophet,
President Ezra Taft Monson!" [should have been President Thomas S. Monson, not Ezra Taft Benson-a previous latter-day prophet]
NONONONONONONONONONON THAT IS NOT HOW THAT WORKS.
Hahaha.
Goodness. I need to be patient with them since they're all recent
converts. But even our investigators at church were like, "Wait, what?
Did I miss something?"
No, you didn't miss anything...That person did though!
This
was a tiring week. We went to WORK since we were sick two weeks ago. We
finished with twenty lessons with members present - the third best week
of my mission. It was exciting but it was exhausting.
Girl scout cookies are the worst. Well, they're the
best and that's the problem. I bought two boxes from a family in the
ward and 12 hours later the first box was gone. I felt so disgusting but
so good....
This past Saturday
we went to the visitors center with a family. I had forgotten about a
lesson we set up for that night and totally missed it. Later that day it
hit me! We called her and said, "We are so sorry!" She was a referral
that we had called and she waited for an hour in the "cold" for us and
we never showed up.
I felt so bad...
We set up another appointment for Sunday night and she was there. She is amazing. Super prepared. And I am 100% sure that that miracle came from our fast.
Anther fasting miracle was a man showing up to
church saying, "I want to get reactivated and I want my wife to come
with me! She isn't a member!"
We taught both yesterday and found them to be a great couple with a great future.
We have been worried as things have been slowing
down and the fast yesterday is what qualified us for more blessings and
those two people were exactly that!
I
discovered a website this last week that I apparently wasn't supposed to
discover. SLC is working on developing a website that missionaries
access to manage referrals and their status. It is designed to replace
the IVR system, the telephone based system that is currently in place.
Well, I found it and told the entire mission about it.
The next day after MLC I looked at the phone and we had five missed calls from SLC.
....
....
RUN! was my first thought.
I
called them back and they told me to get off of it since we weren't
part of the beta testing. I never told them that I told the entire
mission about it.
Later that day the guy in charge called and authorized us to be in the beta test. Hahah woops....
As
a mission right now we are putting a focus on the Book of Mormon.
President has given every zone space on how we do that. We will be
dedicating all District Meetings in Feb as a get-together-and-read-the-
The last month of President Howes' mission we did
that and that was the month that the Arizona Tempe mission set a record
for the most baptisms in a month. Lesson learned. President Benson's
time as prophet was the time of the highest convert baptisms. What was
his message? "Flood the Earth with the Book of Mormon." Lesson learned.
That is our plan on deepening the conversion of the
missionaries, members, and others. It's what we need and it's what we'll
do!
Speaking of fundamentals, we are starting
a weekly workshop with the Spanish ward members where we teach them how
to use the fundamentals of preach my gospel to be effective member
missionaries. Expecting miracles.
Miracles, miracles, and more miracles. Life is good!
Thanks for the letters this last week family! Love you all!
Elder Johnson
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