Dear Family,
What a cool week. Here are some stories.
Briefly, this is a part of what I wrote to our mission president this week.
[Translation of what he wrote]:
How did the week go? For us it was very good; we learned a lot. I have to have an unbreakable faith to accomplish our goals. I realized that it is very difficult to not be like the waves of the ocean. Even though I am weak, yesterday we had a sweet experience.
After putting myself well with God, I invited the Lord to accompany us to a lesson. We taught a young boy who came to the church with his friend who had had only one lesson on Friday. He was uncomfortable and didn’t speak much. Looking at his face, I prayed, asking God to allow us to touch his heart and that the Lord could accompany us. I felt His presence while I asked His questions and not mine. The young man opened up, recognized the spirt, and strengthened his desire to be baptized. From there, we went to another lesson that was even better where I felt the spirit so strongly. It was a lesson with a family.
Como le fue la semana? Para nosotros fue muy bueno, aprendimos mucho. Tengo que tener una fe inquebrantable para poder lograrlo (las metas). Me di cuenta que es muy dificil pero que para no estar como una ola del mar. Aunque estoy debil, ayer tuvimos una experiencia tan dulce.
Al ponerme bien con Dios, pude invitar el Señor a acompañarnos en una leccion. Enseñamos a un joven que vino a la capilla con su amigo con solo una leccion el viernes. El estaba incomodo y no hablaba mucho. Yo, mirando a su cara, oré pidiendo que Dios nos concediera tocar su corazon, y que el Señor nos pudiera acompañar. Sentí Su prescencia mientras pregunté Sus preguntas y no las mías. El joven se abrió, reconoció el espiritu, y se fortificó en su deseo de ser bautizado. De alli, fuimos a oltra leccion aun mejor en que sentí tan fuerte el espiritu que casi no me pude contener. Fue con una familia.
I'm definitely going to mention a lot about this week. It’s been so awesome.
Monday we left the room late. I was so disappointed in myself... proselyting starts at 6 p.m. on Monday and we left late, then wasted about an hour and a half. Feeling pretty bad we sat down in a park and talked a little about what we need to change. We prayed and talked with God about how we are going to change and asked for forgiveness. Getting up, we walked up a hill and looked for a former investigator. He was sleeping but he got up and readied some chairs to be able to talk to us. Then, we went to visit a family. They are SO AWESOME and I love them so much. It has been so so special to be able to teach them this week. We have visited them 3 times this week.
Last week the dad came alone to church since we invited him. Haha. But we didn’t, the spirit did. We invited him to pray Saturday night and he told us Thursday that he DID and that he felt something so special. For the past few years he has had the desire to change and be able to make his family more united, and he wanted to be able to expel the imperfections that make it hard for him to do so. That night he had a dream, that let him know that with the Book of Mormon, he was starting the change in his heart that would make it possible to renew it. We read with him a scripture in Moroni 8 about how Christ comes as medic, not to the healthy, but to the sick. He was so amazed to read that and remember his dream. Starting last Sunday he is now in 1 Nephi 16 and reads every day.
Thursday teaching with his wife, there was a difference and line that was separating them because she didn’t read or pray and she felt a little left behind since for so long she has been the one praying and asking that God could change her husband so that their kid could have a wonderful family. She was kind of shocked to see that all of a sudden her husband was making the strides and bounds and said at the beginning that she had quite a few doubts.
I felt impressed to address the feeling she was having, and seeing that I remembered a picture of the Liahona de trunky [?] as we refer to it sometimes, but the one from a few months back all about marriage advice. There was a picture of a couple climbing a rock thing supposedly part of a mountain. One was reaching down helping the other to get up. Thinking more I realized I could share an experience with her.
My compañion was the one who received the impression to read in Moroni 8 when we heard about the dream of the dad, and in that moment I had thought, interesting why did the Lord give that to him and not to me, and in the moment I learned that that’s what God will do often to teach us as a compañionship.
Painting the picture of the Liahona picture and the experience I had had earlier in the lesson, we helped her to understand that she and he were a unit for God, that sometimes He is going to give guidance to her, other times, to him, but to guide and bless the family always. She felt so good to be able to understand that and the Spirit carried the message to her heart.
She had been reading the pamphlet of the law of chastity and they were filled with the desire to be married, and we promised them that the scripture in Genesis when God blessed Adam and Eve since they were married, would be able to apply to them, as God blessed ( the brother and sister) and their family. That made them so happy. The dad expressed that he knows that God has sent us to answer the prayers of him and his wife to make to family strong.
Yesterday we also visited them. They told us how in the afternoon, after he got back from church, he went to drop off the lunch for his wife at work (she is watching over some kind of oil tank thing) They stayed there talking for 3 hours about all he learned in church, and all he has learned in reading the Book of Mormon. He explained about how Jehovah is Christ (almost everyone here thinks that is not the case) to her and even explained a little about how they are descendants of the Lamanites and how that makes them from the House of Israel.
When he told us about how they talked for 3 hours (they keep telling us that before they knew us they always had problems and no patience and would never have talked 3 hours) about all his reading in the Book of Mormon and study. My understanding was enlightened and a scripture was fulfilled in front of me in Galations 5:22. The first fruit of the spirit is love. I had never really understood that until that moment. HOW many times have I read that verse... probably more than an average of one per day in all my mission, and after hundreds of times the words were made clear and I saw the effect of the spirit in their life, and that he had brought love to them, patience, and the ability to change.
I realize that I have been able to feel the spirit much, much more this week. And writing this I see that I have been blessed with this same fruit this week. The fruit of love. I hope I can keep learning to love more and more. It’s weird.. but it’s actually possible to meet someone for the first time, and be able to feel genuine love for this person.
I’m trying to be like Jesus, I’m following in His way, I’m trying to love as He did, in all that I do and say. [These words come from a song Mark learned as a child in Primary]
This Christmas and actually last, Skype is approved for all! send me information for an account so I can log in and call y’all the 25th since it’s Sunday the afternoon would be needed. There IS a time difference now I think.. right now it’s 1:29 pm.
LOVE Elder Johnson
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