Tuesday, July 9, 2013

Davi - 7/8/13 email

I Love Being a Black Missionary!

You know how there's a lot of black people here?  Well, we are teaching all of them.  Less than 15% of our investigators are white.  I would be lying if I said I didn't love that statistic.  I say, "I'm Sister Johnson," and these great people respond by saying, "Johnson?  We are Johnsons!  Come in and have some purple drink!"  We are anxiously awaiting the day we get invited in for fried chicken. 

The members here are so incredible!!!  Oh my gosh, it's the coolest thing.  We just discovered this thing called the 21-day promise  that was given to the members in the Las Vegas Mission.  If they write 10 names of people they know, and then pray morning and night for them by name, and read the specified verse as written on the sheet, and follow the promptings they receive, at least one of those people will be ready to receive the gospel either for the first time, or again if inactive.  How cool?!  So we commenced it, along with the fast for personal missionary experiences, and people proceeded to say how excited they were about it in front of everyone during the third hour of church.  

The feeling in this ward is so cool!!  It is becoming a missionary ward, and it's amazing to be a part of. The members seriously are the best.  I love them so dearly.  They take such good care of us, and are always anxious to help us.  We are doing all we can to get them excited about inviting their friends to things and stuff.  But yea, it would comfort my mother to know I have the people in this ward taking care of me.  Nicki and Lisa and Alycia and Jake and Billy and Tui and Colton and Dallin and Courtney and Kalli and Ciara.  Oh man, they are the best.  We want everyone to meet them.

Ann!!  Oh my gosh.  She is so incredible.  The hugest blessing ever.  She came to a lesson on Saturday telling us that she left the barbeque on the 4th (oh yea, the 4th was super fun!  barbeque at a member’s house for shishkabobs with three of our investigators) deciding that she's getting baptized.  How cool is that?!  We are so incredibly blessed to have met her.  She told us how grateful she was for us, and how happy she was that I didn't get my visa.  So she is getting baptized in Lake Mead as soon as she tells her family :)  The lesson with her was so power punch of the Spirit, it was awesome.

This lady came running out of her house yesterday to grab us and tell us she wanted to go to church.  We had given a card to her son, and she called us, and chased us down.  Can you believe that?  People are out there, and ready, and willing.  They just have to be given the option.

Derrik and Theran both have temple recommends now.  And they are so excited.  We had them at a lesson with us, and they impromptu testified of the temple and how excited they were to go.  And I just beamed like mad crazy.  They get it!!!!  They get it, team!!  They are converted!  And they both bore their testimonies in sacrament.  They are making this missionary so happy and proud :)

I love my companion.  She's a dream.  She's such a good missionary, and so devoted to the work, and so hilarious, and a great cook to boot.  Anyway, I am so grateful for her.  She's going to train next transfer probably, which is a bummer because I want to stay with her, but I have to share I guess.  

So I was thinking about something:  comfort vs. improving.  Because really comfortable is dangerous unless you are comfortable only in reaching.  I had to ask myself this morning, "Do I want to be better or do I want o be comfortable?"  And basically, what I want is to serve, and be the best tool in the Lord's hands I possibly can be.  So, that's the challenge.  Let's all be ok trying to find growth as opposed to comfort.  As Sister Elaine S. Dalton once told me, "Do not avoid trials, for that is where we truly grow." (love name-dropping)

Anyway, I love you all.  I love being a missionary.  I love my companion.  I love my family and friends.  I love Las Vegas and when it makes sweat drip down places you didn't know sweated.  I love the people we get to meet every day and especially the people we get to see more than once.  Most of all, I love the Lord who is so incredibly patient with me and loving and good.  He is in the details of my life.  So thank you for the prayers.  I know without them, I wouldn't be having the experience I am.  So thanks.  I love you.  For real.  A lot.

Sister Johnson

No comments:

Post a Comment