WAIT A SECOND....... REALLY?

My Dear Family,

 

HELLO EVERYONE!  I'm so sorry that I didn't have an opportunity to write last week, it's just that sometimes we get SUPER busy and have a lot of things to do on pdays and it was a holiday and so everything closes earlier and all that jazz.  Anyway, I'm glad to hear that everything is going so well there in Mesa!  It's cool to hear all these cool stories from all over the world about how God truly does answer our prayers, and He does it in the whole world!  Thats pretty cool.

 

Also, I was soo stoked to be able to talk to you guys on Christmas, you all sound good....different, but good!  haha.  That's way cool that Court got her own board and Dillon was shreading with his new go pro!  DDDDD!  Yes, I was kinda jealous to see the pics of you guys tearing up the mountain, but it's ok, I still have work to do here and I'm sooooo happy doing it!!  Talking about the work that I am doing here....I have some cool stories for y'all!

 

So now that it's been a couple of weeks since the last time I have talked to you....a lot has changed and a lot has happened!  So I'm honestly not sure if I have mentioned Sofia and Jose in one of my emails to you but if I haven't.....they are AWESOME!!  Their daughter Nadia just got baptized a few weeks back and we started teaching more to her parents....hence, Sofia and Jose.  Anyway, Sofia is an elementary school teacher who is super nice and very receptive....they both have been wanting to know more about how they can help their family be more united and have more peace in their home.......hmmmmmmm, I think there is an answer for that!!  haha.  It was perfect, they have desires to do good things and become closer to God, and poooof, we arrive!  We have been teaching them now for about 3 weeks or so and it has gone super well!  2 Sundays ago, they both went to church and while they were there....Sofia saw that everyone was grabbing tithing slips and filling them out so she decided that she would too!  WHAT!  Crazy story.  But the funniest part of it all.......she told us this last week that she is a member of the church!!!!  DOUBLE WHAT!!!  She got baptized by the missionaries like 10 years ago and never told us until now!  haha.  It was super funny cuz Elder Hernandez and I had never taught them about tithing and there's Sofia, paying her tithing.....we thought it was a pure miracle, well it was a miracle that someone that hasn't been to church in 10 years comes and pays tithing the first time, but still, it was a funny experience!!  hahaha.  But yeah, they are progressing a ton and they are loving the branch and the church!   Pray that Jose will continue to progress, he is going to be a future leader here in the branch, I repeat, he WILL be a future leader here in the branch!  SO STOKED!

 

This last Sunday was probably one of the best days of my life....we have been working super hard and really trying to help the members be more converted to the Gospel and we saw some AWESOME results this Sunday at church meeting.  This Sunday we had 81 people in total go to church!!!!!  WHAT!!  I literally could not believe it....when I first got here we were having 13 maybe 20 come.... there were around 18 less active members that we have been visiting that went and around 6 investigators that went to church this week....including Sofia and Jose!  The members helped out a ton with the less active members and they are all super stoked to start working together to help this branch grow!  Even our investigators have assignments that they are going to be doing this week with the members!  We are seeing a ton of progression in the branch and I could not be happier!!!!  The best part is that it's starting to become a...."hey president we have an idea to do this in the Relief Society and we are going to need this and this and this, what do you think??"  "thats perfect!"  The members are starting to take the initiative in doing things to help the branch and I think it's great!  If we continue to do this, we are going to see a lot more progression, or at least the progression that we are having is going to stay.

 

Basically, I'm super stoked right now and I'm loving every minute that I'm here!  I love you all and I'm grateful for your prayers on my behalf and for all the investigators that we have!  I couldn't be happier to hear that you are having daily scripture study and prayer!   Those 2 components are so critical in our salvation!  Keep it up....I love you all so much!  Paz Fuera.  That's spanglish.

 

Elder Johnson