Monday, July 23, 2007
You guys got hosed....
The significance of that statement will be mentioned later. So life is movin along, you will not believe what phone call I got on Friday...no it wasn’t for free pizza....not it wasn’t from Steven Spielberg....it was from Sister Roberts, it was my trunky call. Every transfer she calls the missionaries that are going home in a few months...yah, it was weird. She asks if your Bishop, Stake President, Home address and all that stuff are the same (I’ll have to give her the new info when you all move to Silverdale) and then the last question she asks is what airport to buy your plane ticket for. I told her that since the church is paying I wanted to fly to Australia and she laughed and said "Elder Johnson you need to go home, plus I don’t think your mother would like that too much". I guess she is right. Its hasn’t really hit me yet that my time is getting shorter and shorter. I don’t think it does till they get on the plane, well I making the best with the time I have left although it gets tough at times.
We got some bummer news about Cynthia. To start with the good news we had a great lesson with her last week and she has decided to get baptized!!! That’s the exciting part; she has gotten confirmation through prayer that it’s right. The bummer is that her mom isn’t gonna let her go into the water. Booo. She doesn’t turn 18 till September of next year which means she will have to wait until then unless we can get written permission from her mom. She is cool with her coming to church and the lessons and all but when she asked about baptism she told her that they are Catholics and they've been Catholics forever etc. SO yah, I was pretty bummed after she told us on Saturday at the stake pioneer day picnic. I’ve been waiting to see a baptism forever and we finally have somebody ready to go and the mom nixes it.
I’ve seen a lot of disappointments like this on my mission, a lot of baptisms falling through, I guess it’s what I needed to learn to handle. She assures us that she is gonna stay active and if she has to wait a year, then she will so the good news is that she has converted although she may have to wait to receive all the full blessings. I’m tellin ya, I might get fired from some big job later in life and it probably won’t phase me as im getting used to disappointments. We still have hope and are praying that her mom will have her heart softened. I’ve seen many miracles and have faith that more will occur. Something really cool is happening with Ina Minney, the English old lady in that one picture, I’ll update you about that next week.......I’m gaining a stronger testimony of the sacrament out here and realizing how I can choose weaknesses every week and repent during the sacrament and see a change in myself.
Recently I have overcome road rage, 7 weeks ago when I first got transferred here and began driving again (after 6 months on a bus) I was yelling at everybody on the road (let me tell ya, they are horrible drivers here and the street lines make no sense) and I realized that it was making me angry and thus taking the spirit away. A few weeks ago I decided to repent and work on that weakness and took the sacrament with that in mind a few weeks ago and now I have no road rage at all. It’s amazing what the sacrament can do as we truly repent and seek to change and renew the covenants we made at baptism.
I and E. Greer also had a special fast yesterday and I’m growing in the fast department as well. I also am gaining a testimony of the word of wisdom as of last night. We were at the Spanish/Hmong Elders apartment doing numbers and faxes and we were outside on the porch with our cell phone where we get reception and a drunk guy without a shirt and a beer in his hand walked up to us and started talking to us. He was pretty funny and very plastered, probably the happiest drunk we’ve met in a while. He had some great 1 liners. Including "I may have to puke on your bushes". I asked him how many beers he had that night and his reply was " Counters don’t drink and drinkers don’t count" and then he told us he had a friend that served a mission in Peru and told us that we got hosed getting sent to Wisconsin and finally a girl, must have been his friend came up and grabbed him and he said "Sorry guys, but she's a lot hotter than you" and they walked off. It was pretty funny...lesson learned...stay away from the booze. Good ole Wisconsin. Well that’s the news for this week. Love ya lots. Later. Elder Ben Johnson
We got some bummer news about Cynthia. To start with the good news we had a great lesson with her last week and she has decided to get baptized!!! That’s the exciting part; she has gotten confirmation through prayer that it’s right. The bummer is that her mom isn’t gonna let her go into the water. Booo. She doesn’t turn 18 till September of next year which means she will have to wait until then unless we can get written permission from her mom. She is cool with her coming to church and the lessons and all but when she asked about baptism she told her that they are Catholics and they've been Catholics forever etc. SO yah, I was pretty bummed after she told us on Saturday at the stake pioneer day picnic. I’ve been waiting to see a baptism forever and we finally have somebody ready to go and the mom nixes it.
I’ve seen a lot of disappointments like this on my mission, a lot of baptisms falling through, I guess it’s what I needed to learn to handle. She assures us that she is gonna stay active and if she has to wait a year, then she will so the good news is that she has converted although she may have to wait to receive all the full blessings. I’m tellin ya, I might get fired from some big job later in life and it probably won’t phase me as im getting used to disappointments. We still have hope and are praying that her mom will have her heart softened. I’ve seen many miracles and have faith that more will occur. Something really cool is happening with Ina Minney, the English old lady in that one picture, I’ll update you about that next week.......I’m gaining a stronger testimony of the sacrament out here and realizing how I can choose weaknesses every week and repent during the sacrament and see a change in myself.
Recently I have overcome road rage, 7 weeks ago when I first got transferred here and began driving again (after 6 months on a bus) I was yelling at everybody on the road (let me tell ya, they are horrible drivers here and the street lines make no sense) and I realized that it was making me angry and thus taking the spirit away. A few weeks ago I decided to repent and work on that weakness and took the sacrament with that in mind a few weeks ago and now I have no road rage at all. It’s amazing what the sacrament can do as we truly repent and seek to change and renew the covenants we made at baptism.
I and E. Greer also had a special fast yesterday and I’m growing in the fast department as well. I also am gaining a testimony of the word of wisdom as of last night. We were at the Spanish/Hmong Elders apartment doing numbers and faxes and we were outside on the porch with our cell phone where we get reception and a drunk guy without a shirt and a beer in his hand walked up to us and started talking to us. He was pretty funny and very plastered, probably the happiest drunk we’ve met in a while. He had some great 1 liners. Including "I may have to puke on your bushes". I asked him how many beers he had that night and his reply was " Counters don’t drink and drinkers don’t count" and then he told us he had a friend that served a mission in Peru and told us that we got hosed getting sent to Wisconsin and finally a girl, must have been his friend came up and grabbed him and he said "Sorry guys, but she's a lot hotter than you" and they walked off. It was pretty funny...lesson learned...stay away from the booze. Good ole Wisconsin. Well that’s the news for this week. Love ya lots. Later. Elder Ben Johnson
# posted by BenJohnson @ 9:17 AM 
