CAMBIOS!!

Fuhamily!

Hello everyone.  Have I ever mentioned that I love your letters to me??  They always stoke me up and get me ready for the week ahead!  I love my family.  So I thought I'd inform you all that there were changes today and I am now with a new companion....his name is Elder Crisp!  He's a super rad missionary and he seems like he's gonna be an awesome companion and I'm super super excited to work with him!  Elder Aylesworth got changed to Los Cabos so he was pretty stoked about that, but I will miss the guy.  Anyway, that's the crazy news of the week here in Costa Rica. 

I'm glad to hear that everything went well there with the primary program and all....I actually almost forgot that those existed!  haha.  I'm honestly not sure if they just don't do it here or if it just doesn't exist...who knows, but I'm excited to see another one when I get back!  haha.  It's also really good to hear that the work is going so well there in the home ward and that everyone is super stoked to help the converts out....PLEASE KEEP THAT UP!  Oh and I would more than happy to be able to speak in the Kensington ward when I get back...that would be way cool!! 

So I'm pretty excited about the week that we had here....we needed to find a lot of new people to teach so we decided that we were just going to open our mouths and talk with EVERYONE!  So that's basically what we did, we just talked to a lot of people on the street and we ended up finding a lot of cool people!  There was actually one time when we were walking down the street and then suddenly a lady yells out to us "MISSIONARIES!"  So we turned to see who it was and neither I nor Elder Aylesworth recognized her...but come to find out, she was a less active member of the church who told us that she had just left the house like 10 minutes before we arrived because she was kinda frustrated and needed to think of or find something that would help her and her family.....then we come walking along and that's why she frantically yelled "MISSIONARIES!"  We started talking with her and she had comemented to us that she had been talking with her husband just a few days ago and that he had commented to her that he wanted to go to church....and she surprisingly says to him..."wait, mine or yours?"  haha.  He had told her that he wanted to visit our church because he knew or felt that we could really help him and their family  with struggles that they were having.  Anyway, she asked us if we could come by sometime to teach her and her family....and of course we said YES!!  haha.  So this week we were able to meet Pablo and the rest of his family!  As we were talking with him he was telling us that he had actually talked to the missionaries before and was going to church and actually was going to be baptized....but at that time, he couldnt stop drinking...so he was never baptized and the missionaries never went back. but then he went on to tell us that just about a month or two ago.....HE QUIT DRINKING!   Supposedly, his drinking problem was causing a lot of family problems and not to mention the economic ones and that his wife had told him that he should pray daily for the strength to quit....so he started to really pray day and night and just out of nowhere he stopped drinking and doesn't have a desire to drink again!  And that's when he remembered about the church and hence the comment to his wife about his desire to visit the church again!  We are hoping to see good progression with Pablo and his family, pray that he will have the strength to not go back to alcohol and that he and his family will be able to go to church!   I learned a lesson that God truly does "go before your face.  I will be on your right hand and on your left, and my spirit shall be in your hearts, and mine angels round about you, to bear you up."   God goes before us, he prepares His children to hear and accept this Gospel!   Always remember that....when you feel the impression to talk to someone, DO IT!   God is on your right hand and on your left and His angels are literally round about you....DONT FEAR!!!   I love this work, I learn new lessons every day and God helps me to strengthen my testimony as I am able to strengthen the lives of others and I share this wonderful Gospel with them! 

I love you all, keep up everything thing that you are doing and do as your Stake President says...."Stand up for JESUS CHRIST!!!!"   Loved that by the way.

Elder Johnson