July 28, 2014
Oh, that’s right. I
forgot to tell you all that I have a new companion. His name is Elder
Vega, and he is from the heart of the Peruvian jungle, a city called Iquitos
that passes through the Amazon. I, for one, am doing just fine serving
here. I would have died in Iquitos. Anyway, he has been out here
for about 3 months, and he's really great. He gave up a soccer career to
be out here. The only weird thing is that I am the only one of the four
missionaries that doesn't have the crazy Peruvian jungle accent.
Here, I am finally
learning, I think, the difference between working with the members and bugging
the members. I generally was a missionary that kind of avoided working
with the members simply because I had seen many missionaries visit members
because they have nothing else to do. I've become a lot more excited
recently to do actual work with members because we have a clearer concept now
of what to do when we are there. We are essentially doing in this ward
what the missionaries are doing in the Reno mission. We have the members
make a list, say a prayer, then set a date for a family home evening. We
saw some results this week! We have a new family that actually wants to
attend church, as well as the non-member parents-in-law of the first counselor
of the bishopric. The last ones are going slowly but surely, but the
family says that it is huge progress for them that they are giving us a real
chance.
On a similar note, the
bishop had us speak in sacrament meeting, which I hope helped the effort. Just
a couple of things I learned as I prepared the talk:
--2 Nephi 5:27 in Spanish, reads “and it came to pass
that we lived in a happy manner." In English, it reads “and it came
to pass that we lived after the manner of happiness." The
clarification in English helps us understand that the gospel is not only a
happy manner of living, but the only way of living that will bring true and
full happiness, something that everyone wants, regardless of circumstance.
--An activity:
Read the first two paragraphs of chapter one in Preach My Gospel with a
prayer in your heart. If you really pay close attention, someone, whether
you know them well or not, will come to your mind. Then, just trust the
thought.
In other news, we had
a nice experience Saturday.
Absolutely everything fell through, and our finding efforts brought no
fruit. It was 8 o’clock at night, and I was personally dead, when I told my companion
that we should go buy a soda and contact the store owner. To explain,
stores are different here. Here, there are little stores on every block
that double as the store owner’s house. That form of contacting, for me,
seemed like the laziest form of working possible, because I just wanted a soda.
The second store we went to was way more than just receptive. We
were talking for half an hour and then both the store owner and the neighbor that
was there told us to stop by any time we like and we would be received with a
chair and something to drink. Afterwards, I realized that if we didn't
have such a hard day in the first place, we never would have found these
people. The Lord knows what He's doing.
Anyway, I'm loving it
here. Happy 28th. If you know any Peruvians, don’t forget to invite
them to English class Fridays at 7.
Elder Johnson
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