I'm
staying in Mesa for another 6 weeks! At the end of that time I will
have been here for 7.5 months. That's fine with me! Right now we have
two families getting baptized within two weeks. We're pretty excited.
We will be moving apartments though. I do not know
the address. We are expecting a zone of 28 missionaries this transfer -
the biggest in the mission by 4 companionships. We're ready for that.
President Toone needs to split a zone and we've been on his radar as the
top producing one so this is the first step in the split. We are going
to spend the next 6 weeks pumping everybody up for what is going to
come. #mesapride.
I'm proud of our area. Six months ago there were no
investigators, the ward was unexcited and slow, and there were some
problems. Gradually through that time things have picked up
dramatically. I can safely say that if I were to leave tomorrow, I would
have left it better than I found it. And I don't say that pridefully,
but rather as Dad said it. "I know that it was not because of our
abilities but because the Lord enhanced our capabilities."
I am excited to stay with Elder Diaz for at least 6
more weeks. On the transfer recommendation form we wrote, for us,
"DEJENOS TRABAJAR" (Let us work!) It clearly worked :)
Transfer call night works like this: we get in at 9:00pm, plan till
9:30, and then lounge around and wait for either a leadership call or
the call telling us who is leaving or staying. For the past 6 months,
the "who-is-leaving-call" has come between 11-12:00am - super late. Last
night it was done by 10:10pm.
My normal tradition is to sit and lounge around
while sharing cookie dough with everyone. Last night we were still
working on weekly stats when the call came! So disappointing! Oh well,
next time.
The big news of this past week was going to be how
our instrumental and vocal performance for Elder Holland went! It was a
week of stress for me as I worked on refining the parts that needed
refinement. Many hours were spent on just a few notes. We practiced
twice a week for two weeks as a group to prepare. Our last rehearsal was
at the building we would be performing at. We quickly realized that we
would have problems with speakers in the gym being broken. There was
also not enough space. But we practiced anyway.
On our last two practice run throughs, the pianist,
who had memorized the music, skipped the second page. Twice. We were
nervous that would happen during the performance but we trusted him and
he is an amazing pianist. As we were talking, one of the audio
technicians who was setting up for Elder Holland (on Friday, the day
before the devotional), had his phone go off. He said, "Uh oh."
We said, "What?!"
"Elder Holland will not be coming. He is on an emergency reassignment from the first presidency."
WHAT. NO. NO WAY. ARE YOU KIDDNG.
Those were our first reactions. Elder Myler screamed
haha and my heart just sank. Three missions were going to come together
for this - over 800 people. We had spent hours and hours practicing.
And Elder Holland wasn't going to come. Elder Myler jokingly said, "My eternal bragging rights are gone!"
And
he never did come. Instead, the area 70 filled in for him. The
devotional was kept on the program and three missions came together to
listen to three mission presidents and their wives and a Seventy speak.
It was a great program. Powerful.
Our
performance went alright as well. I was terrified haha. I haven't
performed in front of 800 people before I don't think. My leg was
shaking and my bowing was a little shaky at the start but it came
together and I was miraculously able to hit my last few notes which were
a challenge the whole time for me. We prayed a lot. And it worked!
As I was sitting in that front row listening and
watching the mission presidents and their wives speak and sit and
interact, I was super impressed. I guess I had never really looked
closely at them before to the degree that I had then. These were people
of power. But also, equally people of humility. They knew their purpose
and they weren't afraid to help others know their purpose. I was blown
away by their professionalism but also the pure love that they showed.
It was a tender moment and one I hope I never forget.
Sunday was one of the happiest days I've had in a
long time. And that says something because I've been happy for a very
long time. I was able to watch the members and the families that we
brought interact and mesh perfectly. I was all smiles. Members, your
examples and love make a huge difference!! You don't even know! Even
little things make big differences!
The families that we are teaching will forever be
special to me. All of them are, but these ones, I don't know, there is
just something special about them. They are two families that are
already looking to the temple. Two families of future leaders on the
ward and stake level. Two families that have been prepared by members
and by the spirit for where they are now. And it is so exciting to see.
Speaking of being prepared by members, we were
pleasantly surprised when two women and a man walked into church
yesterday. The benefit of being in an area for 6 months is that you know
everyone. I didn't recognize them so said hi. One said, "This is my
friend. I work with her and we are in a different stake but this is her
ward and we came with her. She is ready."
She loved church.
We had a
sad moment yesterday when we handed off another investigator family to
the sisters. It's a long and complicated story but it's never fun to say
goodbye to someone who you have grown to love.
We are teaching a lot of families. This is awesome.
This
week I repented and became more bold. I've been pretty straight with
people for my whole mission but I don't feel as if I've been as bold as
the prophets in the Bible or the Book of Mormon. We were standing
outside a man's home and he was explaining how his life was and how hard
it was. He was a gangster and it was very, very, very clear. The
impression came to be super bold with him. I was scared but I did. The
words came out, "Hey ____, your life is not good right now. If you don't
make changes, your kids will come out like you and you just told us
that that is not what you want."
He got really offended. He did not like that. But we
testified powerfully to him that this was his moment. Five minutes
later he said he would be baptized.
How cool
that was for me! He has unfortunately moved since then but I was
grateful to know that because I acted on an impression from the spirit,
he was able to recognize and start making some changes that he should
have made years ago. I was grateful to know that I had done my job.
I don't ever want to be the reason that someone is not able to repent as soon as they can.
On
a completely different note, I want to share with everyone some new
slang I've learned this past week. It's almost a completely different
language.
Here goes:
What's up:
Que rollo?
Que cho?
Que jais?
Que cucas?
Que cuento?
Que cuarenta?
Que transita?
Que once doce?
Que tramas?
Que chorizo?
Que pasion?
Que hubole?
Cool down/relax!
Alivianate!
Send me money!
Mandame billuyo!
Boss! Send me money because I'm super hungry!
Jeffa! Mandame un billuyo porque esta gruesa la jaria!
See you later!:
Alli se ven
Alli las bisagras
Alli los vidrios
Hahahhaha.
These people are awesome. We had a member - the most Mexican man you'll
ever imagine - and he knows the best slang. So awesome.
This past week we had a zone meeting and a zone
conference. For my training in the zone meeting, to teach the importance
of obedience I did a fun little game. I took all of the missionaries to
the gym and set up 12 chairs. There are 12 companionships. One of each
companionship was blindfolded and sat down. The other companion stood
nearby. They were given 60 seconds to guide their blindfolded companion
to four separate chairs - but the unblindfolded companion was not
allowed to move. So the room became very loud, very quick. I put
obstacles like tables in the gym for them to get around.
Only the listener who followed exactly what his companion said got to win.
It
was a fun way to teach obedience and also the difficulty of choosing
the right in a world with so many distractions. I had a good laugh and
no one died which was nice :)
For zone conference the next day I did a training on
unity. I took "the most unified companionship" and tied them up from
their fingertips to their shoulders, made them sit down, then lay down
on their side, take off their shoes, and try to stand up together. They
were tied back to back. It was pretty hard but they eventually got it. I
then tied it into how, as missionary companionships, we need to be able
to stand up in difficult situations and succeed.
Thank you so much for the letters, Doug, Scott, and family! You're all the best!
Con mucho amor,
Elder Johnson
