So I didn't do much for my 21st birthday. I spoke with the hermana leyva, who is perhaps the sweetest person on the face of the planet. I don't know how she has the patience to talk to all the missionaries that pass through this mission for three years on their birthdays and tell them about their specific qualities that make them special. She truly is a wonderful woman and an example to me. I'm glad pres has Hermana leyva. They make a good team. She took away the sting of having to review area books all day for your birthday. On the bright side, my zone leaders invited me to eat Chinese food with them after word, so that was pretty delicious.
In approximately 3-5 months my mission illusion bubble will burst and I will have all of those school stresses and pressures for the first time in two years. I'm scared. But I'm trying not to think about it. The problem is, somebody told me on Wednesday that the new limit for staying in an area is now five changes. I have three changes here in Huajuapan already. I have two changes left in my mission. Do the math.....I think I'm in my last area. That scares me a lot.
By the way, Another thing I want to do when I am home is go to the Guthrie. YOur little piece about plays reminded me of that. Can you check what plays are going to be in town in August? Please? Can you also remind me what temple Taggart is going to be married in? I don't know if you already told me that, but for the life of me I can't remember anyway. I'd like to know.
I laughed out loud at the Grandma story. She's the coolest woman ever I think.
Anyways, I really liked what you said about delivering your entire life to God. It's hard. It's hard to put personal things aside, like grudges, comfort zones, pet peeves, self-pity, "me" time, etc. And being a disciple doesn't mean you have to give up all of these things all of the time. We do not have to be monks. But hey, we certainly can do more. We can go out of our way on the way home from work to visit a less active. We can bust out of our comfort zone and teach a lesson or invite a friend to church. We can forgive somebody when they do something that's honestly not a big deal without even telling that person we were ever mad in the first place. We can change how we talk, what we do, and how we do it. That's what being a disciple is for me. If more people were willing to do those things, we would have a lot brighter world. Christ got it right.
So I guess I'll tell you a little bit about my week. I had a pretty normal birthday. I did get my package (on my birthday, actually). Sunday was a great day again - seven investigators and 8 less actives came, meaning that the missionaries brought fifteen people to Church. Also, on Sunday, we went to eat with the family we have been teaching. WE had plans to invite them to baptism, but instead, Rolando, the father of the family and the one we have been the most worried about, leaned over to us before the meal and said, "hey, I invited my entire family to come eat with us today. I did it because I want you to start teaching them." So instead of inviting Rolando to baptism, we taught his two brothers and their wives, and his sister. It was a pleasant surprise.
The other big thing this week was that my comp and I finally worked out our differences. Don't get me wrong; I love my comp. We had such a great start to our companionship. Problem was, we have never had a comp for more than eight weeks. We are now in week 17. The honeymoon was over, I guess. We had started to get defensive, closed off, and the fun died. It was bothering me. We had a lot of talks that got close to the subject, but never actually breached it. So it never got resolved. Until one night, when, finally, I said it directly what I was feeling and we worked it out. Just by letting each other know what we were really thinking and feeling and why, we've gotten over it. We are back in the first transfer mode, which is the happy, bubbily transfer. I think that might have really helped our success this week too.
Well, I've got to go. I love you all and I'll be praying for you. Keep it up and I'll see you in two years!
Love,
Elder Johnson
NOTICE: This email message is for the sole use of the intended recipient(s) and may contain confidential and privileged information. Any unauthorized review,
No comments:
Post a Comment