Family!
This week has
been so amazing. Full of so many tender mercies and miracles. I hope all is
well at home and everyone is doing well! I want to say thank you for all of the
kind Valentine's Day notes from everyone! That package was so amazing! Mom, you
are the best. I am so lucky and am truly blessed to have so many
amazing people who love and support me through out this incredible
journey!
My heart is full of
love and gratitude this week. I have been able to partake of Christ's love and
to experience the power of his Atonement in my life. I have been opened up and
have learned so much. I am progressing and growing so much every day. I know I
say that every week in my e-mail, but it's because I am, and I am grateful for the
opportunity that the Lord has given me to use me as a tool in his
hands and that I am able to be a representative of him in all I do.
One
thing I learned this week was that I need to become the Lord's "Golden
Investigator." I am opening up to him and allowing him to change me. I am
trying to keep his commitments and learn from each of my weaknesses every day.
The gift of Prayer is
real. Through sincere prayer, we can receive answers to any questions we have or
we can receive any help that we need. I have a strong testimony that the Lord
always gives us what we need, at the exact time we need it! This week I have
relied on my Savior in all I am doing. There have been so many miracles this
week!
Today is a big
holiday in Korea. It's the Lunar New Year. It is a time where all the families
get together and celebrate the Lunar New Year. From what I've heard, they all
gather together to eat a special kind of food called DuckGook (It is a soup
with rice and meet, it's delicious) and the youth bow to the older
people in the family to symbolize the welcoming of a New Year. Once they have
done this, the elderly in the family give the youth money. Today we had the
chance of going to one of our member's homes to eat and its was awesome!
Unfortunately, they didn't have any young kids, but it was fun to talk and share
a short message!
This last week was
zone conference. It was so incredible!. I have been spiritually fed. President
Shin is really focusing on consecrating our mission, and he has really been focusing on teaching us how to become consecrated missionaries and what things
we need to do to give our all to the Lord.
After Zone Conference,
Elder Oehler and I were talking and we really felt like we needed to fast. Fast
to know how we could really consecrate ourselves to the Lord and that we would
be led in every aspect of our work through the spirit. As we were fasting, we
came up with a list of a few bad habits and weaknesses that we were willing to
give up in order to be consecrated missionaries. After our fast ended the next
day, we directly went out side after eating lunch to 전도 (proselyte). The
first person we talked to walked right past us and didn't want to talk; however,
we kept walking down the street but could see no one in front of us. I had a
feeling to look back and right as I did, there was this college student who was
right behind me. As we were talking to him, he said he didn't have any special
beliefs and that he didn't really care to have religion. As we kept talking to
him, I could feel his heart being opened up.
As we got to the tree where his
bike was locked up, I just had a feeling to ask him if he had any plans and if
he didn't we could go to our church and talk more about our church. As I asked
him this question, he paused for a sec and replied back to us and said he would
love to come! It was amazing! (originally we didn't have any plans and were
just going to proselyte.) As we got to the church, we were able to teach
him a little English and then after about 10 minutes, he started asking all
these questions about our church and as we explained, he asked for a Book of
Mormon and he just kept asking all these questions. It was a huge Miracle! The
Lord answered our prayer and we are so grateful. We have been able to meet with
him twice now, and we try to call him on some of the week nights to follow up on commitments and build a better relationship.
I have experienced so
many other miracles this week. I feel so blessed and so thankful for all the
Lord is giving me. I have been praying for five gifts each night: The gift of
Teaching, Understanding of the Book of Mormon, Remembrance, Holy Ghost, and the
Gift of Tongues. I have been trying my best to set goals to be accountable to
myself and to the Lord. I have had countless experiences this week where I have
seen the hand of the Lord in my life and where I have received answers to these
things I have been praying for. I am grateful for prayer. It's weeks like these
that I know that my Heavenly Father loves me and knows me personally. He has a
plan for me, and I am here on my mission trying to seek for that plan. He is
giving me exactly what I need when I need it and I am so grateful for that.
The Book of Mormon is
bringing a new light to my life. The feelings and thoughts I receive from
reading it are so real. I am grateful to serve the Lord. I am doing all I can
to strengthen my relationship with Him and am relying on Him in all I do. When
we rely on the Savior, He is always there to help us.
One thing I have really
come to know here on my mission is that we can never reach our full potential.
There is always space to learn, grow, and improve. God has a SPECIFIC and
SPECIAL PLAN for each and every one of his children and through that plan we
must rely on the Savior's atonement. Because we have Jesus Christ, all things are
possible. We, through his atonement, can become better. I know that for myself
from these past 7 months.
I love the Lord and I
am so grateful for the chance to serve him. Thank you for all the
love and support you show me. It means so much. I love and miss my family so
much. I have felt your prayers these past few weeks and am so thankful for
them. Keep sending them my way:) I love you! Have a good safe week!
Elder Johnson
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