July 8, 2013

1. mini golf

2. mike and Ariana right before his baptism

3. happy 4th of July. me with sister bean on exchanges

4. raccoon at golf course

hello lovely family,

 

Its been an amazing week. Let me share with you what I can remember as of right now:

 

MIRACLES are every where every day. I am so grateful for the opportunity that I have to serve. Sister Tuai and I had the great opportunity to see a loved one enter the waters of baptism on Saturday. Mike is incredible! He is 24 so really he should be taught by YSA but we got special permission for many reasons to be able to teach him. Clearly it is what the Lord wanted. We consider him our older brother. He works at a vet place with dogs every day and hates it haha but its a job. He is the youngest in his family. His parents didn't support him in being baptized at all. It was very hard on him. He has become a best friend for sure. He also proposed on Friday night to Ariana who we LOVE! She has been less active for quite a while but Mike has brought her back. Its amazing. She lives in Arizona though and will be leaving Friday to go back. That's another sealing Sister Tuai and I will be able to go to :) Teaching Mike has been a great experience and has helped me to greater understand the atonement. His baptism was one of the most spiritual baptismal services I have ever been to. You could just feel the approval of our Heavenly Father with the decision he had made to be baptized and confirmed. He shared his testimony and with tears streaming down his face he expressed how gratifying it felt to be baptized. He shared his journey in preparing for baptism and how much it has changed his life. On Sunday, he also bore his testimony! it was amazing! He brings the spirit so powerfully with him where ever he goes! What a blessing it is to be a part of such experiences! We also had two of our investigators show up for the baptism that we weren't expecting to come! That was the cherry on top! It was a beautiful day one I will never forget. After the baptism Ariana's family from Arizona who came just for the baptism took us out to lunch to BJs. It was really yummy. I hadn't had that good of strawberry lemon aid for a long time.

 

A few more details on the baptism we had the previous week. We taught German for about 5 weeks. He is from Mexico and speaks little English. Sister tuai who is amazing at Spanish taught most of the lessons. I did what I could. Between his broken English and my broken Spanish we are able to communicate haha. It took so long for him to be baptized because he was living her without ID. So he had to apply for a new visa. Then he had to have his mom whos in Mexico find his birth certificate to send it. After he received both of those things( it took about two weeks) we had to their marriage license (one week process) then they were finally able to be married! He is going to be a great priesthood holder! He is working on the Ft Lauderdale temple right now and we keep telling him that in a year he can be sealed there! He says its beautiful on the inside. He is actually doing the tile in the bathrooms dad. I thought you might find that interesting :)

 

 Now Sister Tuai and I are trying to find more people here. Both the baptisms we have had have been from members. That goes to show the importance of member missionary work. We have a different family feeding us almost every night this month. That's a huge blessing. They also buy us things for our pantry so we are getting well taken care of in this area. Its been a great blessing. There is an Olive Garden right across the street and I still haven't gone! I will sometime soon its my fav so I have to. I still have a meal left of the card dad sent for my birthday. :)

 

Working with all the sisters in our group of sisters can be overwhelming at times. We have a companionship that is really struggling at this time and it gets pretty intense at times. I'm learning a lot from them and have been blessed with the ability to offer council.

 

This past p-day we went mini golfing it was a lot of fun. There were raccoons running all over the course it was random haha. Today we are going to Hollywood Beach with Mike and Ariana for lunch I am looking forward to it. We have another busy week with meetings and trainings. The weeks are just going by way too fast. I cant even keep up with everything. I appreciate hearing from all of your wether its email or mail. its so good to hear whats going on and how every things going. I would love to hear another mission story when you get the time dad! I love those. Well I have to get going we have lots to do today! I love you all so so so much! I look forward to writing next week! I keep you all in my prayers daily! Talk to you soon!

 

with all my love xoxoxoxox

sister johnson