This week has been absolutely fantastic! I love serving here in New Mexico, even though sometimes it's super hot down here, but nontheless the people here are so amazing and their reception has been a true blessing to me. I cannot be more grateful for them. And I also cannot be more grateful for all of you! Thank you all so much for your fervent prayers and fasting on my behalf, I have seen in abundance the blessings which they have brought to me, and I hope that you will start seeing the blessings the lord will rain down on you for your kindness.
Tuesday: For the first time here on my mission, I was able to help out at a Dinosaur Museum! It was amazing, we got a ton of rain down here on Monday night and Tuesday, so we had quite a bit of standing water. One of the museum worker's houses got leaks coming in from her roof and her walls because the water was sitting on her roof for too long and the gutters were clogged. So, we helped her to climb onto her roof and unclog the drains. When the drains were unplugged, the water came gushing out and it was just about the funniest thing for me and Elder Ward. We helped her back down from her roof (just in case you were wondering, we didn't get on the roof...that's against church policy), and got the ladder back to the museum. After that, we went to the Ministry of Hope to do some service because we had missed the week before, and guess who was there.......Pablo.
Yep. Pablo.
It was a little awkward at first, but he said he was sorry about cussing us out and calling us brainwashed, and he said he was willing to listen to a little bit of what we had to say about the bible, but Elder Ward has a sneaking suspicion that he is only saying that because he is in public, which I could understand. I got to know him a little better, and he brought his homeless friend Larry with him. I got to talk with him a little bit, too. We are planning on visiting them sometime this week, and not for too long either. After that, we went finding and we visited the Powell family and talked about life after death. Brother Powell is a Mechanic and he is a great christian.
Wednesday: Elder Ward and I went to District Counsel (again....we go there often, now don't we?) and we discussed in great detail the importance of families and roleplays. Roleplays are super fun, but they can also be a little bit awkward for the person teaching. We do roleplays all the time at District Counsel now, and it has been very helpful not only to me but to everyone. We got 2 new sisters (one of them came out with me into the field), and we had the privilege of getting to know them better. They are great missionaries and I can't be more grateful for them. We came back from Amarillo, and went finding some more...I can't remember much more of this day, but I will say on Monday after we had Dinner at a member's home, we went outside and saw the most magnificent rainbow. The colors were so vibrant and radiant, I had the slightest urge to cry.
Fortunately, I didn't.
Thursday: We went finding a LOT that day, and we didn't find a single person to teach except for one man named Eloy. He's Catholic, and he was willing to read from the Book of Mormon. That day, however, was a very exciting day for us Elders, and do you know why? Because Dawn was having her baptismal interview that night. We were so excited! We went to the church and one of the mission leaders with his wife came to Tucumcari and interviewed Dawn to be baptised and confirmed. She passed the interview! We were EVEN MORE excited!!
We just could not wait until Saturday, which was the day that Dawn would be baptised.
Friday: We went to Logan to go finding and to meet up with one of our investigators. His name is Joe. We had called and texted him many times, and he answered nearly all of them. We came to his house, and he was not there. We decided to drop him, and I will say this much, that we do not joy in exiling potentials. They are generally the people we love to teach, and Joe didn't want anything to do with us anymore, so we had to let him go, which was a shame, but it was ok, because we knew that the lord would bless us with more people to teach. We went finding a lot that night, too. We really didn't find anyone to teach. In Tucumcari, there are more dogs and cats here that there are people. You wyoming people would know how many rabbits are in Cheyenne, which is a lot. Well, multiply that population by like 2 and thats how many dogs and cats there are here, even though Tucumcari is like 1/4 the size of Cheyenne. There are also tons of crows and ravens here, so it's super funny to go driving the truck by puddles of water where the birds usually hang out and then splash them all and see an ocean of black feathers coalesce and fly away.
Saturday: The big day finally came!!! The Baptismal service started at 5 pm and there weren't very many people there, but it was still a very spiritual experience. There were probably no more than 15 or 20 people there. Elder Ward and I were scrambling to get people to do certain things like give talks or say prayers. It was all so rewarding in the end. Elder Ward baptised Dawn, with the presiding authority and I as the witnesses. We had cupcakes after the baptism, and everyone got to know Dawn a little better. She is just a ray of sunshine! (Haha, get it? Dawn....Sunshine....oh!)
Sunday: I fasted and prayed that my visa (if it was the lord's will) would come soon enough. I got an email saying that I had an update on my visa status, and we were so happy until we opened it and read that it hadn't come yet and that they would let my mission president know when it will come. It was ok, though. I had the supreme privilege of confirming Dawn a member of the only true and living church on the earth today, and giving her the mighty gift of the holy ghost. I am ever grateful for her loving spirit and her amazing sense of generosity she carries with her. I will never forget how she taught me how to knit and how she loves rock and roll. She is one of the greatest people I have seen to blossom spiritually. Elder Ward bore his testimony and shared with us a scripture that talked about if you only had one person join the church because of you, you would still be really happy, and I bore my testimony and told the story of how Billie broke his bow and how we need to break away from satan's spiritual yoke of bondage, and enter into the yoke of christ. For those of you who don't know what I mean when I say Billie broke his bow, it is a reference to a story of one of my ancestors when she was away from the salt lake valley and her family were being harassed by indians, and one of the indians scared one of the oxen named Billie, who happened to break his bow and run away from the indians.
As you can probably tell, i haven't obtained my visa yet, and what I have been told it probably won't be coming for a few more weeks.
Recenly, I made a scripture case made out of cardboard for my malagasy scripture case, and it came out too small for the malagasy scirptures, but it can fit my cambodian scriptures nice and snug, and also my english and spanish book of mormons. I taped pictures from the ensign on the case, which I thought turned out to be a success. I also did the same thing for my scripture journal, which I also invite y'all to keep.
Also, I forgot to mention to y'all that I have completed reading the New Testament and the Pearl of Great Price. It is amazing writing and I strongly encourage you all to read them.
Thank you all so much for your prayers and love. Hitahy Andriamanitra Ianareo!!! (God bless you all)!!!
Malagasy Scripture
Doctrine and Covenants 25:15
"Keep my commandments continually, and a crown of righteousness thou shalt receive. And except thou do this, where I am you cannot come."
Fotopampianarana sy Fanekempihavanana 25:15
''Tandremo lalandava ny didiko dia handray ny satroboninahitry ny fahamarinana ianao. Ary raha tsy manao izany ianao dia tsy afaka mankany amin’ izay misy Ahy.''
Sunshine and smiles,
~Elder Johnson~
No comments:
Post a Comment