FAMILY!
It's weeks and days
like these where I know that the Savior is with us and guiding us in His
work. My companion and I have seen countless miracles this week and have seen
the hand of the Lord in His work! I have studied a lot about diligence,
repentance, and humility this week and I know that because of that, we have been
able to see soooooo many miracles. Two of the miracles of which we saw are
probably two of the biggest ones I have seen in my time serving thus far!
The first one that I
want to share happened on two different days this week.
On Wednesday as we
were on the way to go to a member lunch appointment, I sat in the back of the
bus talking to this girl who attends another church that is similar to the
message of the restoration. She talked about how her church was restored and
what things they believed in. As I continued to talk to her, we began the topic
of our Gospel and how we believe and as we did that, the Lord gave me an
opportunity to share my personal testimony of the Restoration. As we got to our
stop we quickly exited and right as we did so, an older man that sat a few rows
in front of us exited with us as well and began to talk to us. As we were
walking up the hill, he gave us his number and told us that he just started
attending a church about two months ago, but he met with missionaries a while ago
and wanted to start meeting again. He was very nice and as we continued to talk,
I heard him say his address of where he lives. Like the exact building and
door. As he said that, I have a strong sudden impression that I needed to write
it down. I pulled out my white hand book and on the back side of it on the
sticky note I wrote: 105-225.
Well, the next day we
intended on visiting him. He was on our plan, but we had another appointment
that ended up going over that was on the total opposite side of our area, so we
assumed that the Lord had prepared something else for us and we decided not to
visit him. (which was like four other huge miracles that happened!)
The next day, we
called his number that he gave us... which for some odd reason, is a phone
number that cant be reached?? When I first obtained his number, we called it and
it came through to his phone, so it was really weird that after several times of
calling him, it wouldn't go through.
But, because we
followed the Spirit and wrote his address down, we had nothing to worry about:) Hah. We just figured that we would do it the easy way and just show up at his
house and share a message with him.
Well, come Saturday
afternoon as we took the bus about 40 minutes over to his house area, we exited
the bus and made our way up to the address that we had written down earlier in
the week. As we approached his apartment building, I pulled out the white hand
book with my sticky note to confirm the address, but apparently my eyes saw
something different.... I had what was written 105-225 but apparently then, my
eyes saw 105-205. Why? Because the Spirit had another plan for us. Did I know
at that time that we were going to another apartment? No. I looked at the
sticky note and saw 105-205 when it was actually written 105-225.
As we got of the
stairs to floor two of this HUGE building with tons of people living in it, we
turned the corner and there was a door slightly opened. We approached the door
and realized that it was the house we were intending to visit. We turned back
around, went back around the corner and said a quick but very sincere prayer. I
don't think I have prayed in English in a long time, but for the first time I
said a few English words because I wasn't quite sure how to word them in Korean.
The English words of which I used were, "Arm us with thy power." After saying those words, I went back into Korean and shortly ended the
prayer.
We knocked at the
door. No one came. It was opened so we knew someone had to be home. We knocked
again. I looked though the crack of the door and saw a little girl run away
from the frame of the door. We continued to wait and then still no one came to
the door.
We knew someone was
in there but started to think maybe that little girl was in there alone and she
was probably frightened out of her mind! Haha So we gave it one last shot. We
rang the door bell and waited. Finally, a woman came to the door. She wasn't
Korean. I introduced us and asked her where she was from. Before I did so, my
companion already knew it in his heart. She was from the Philippines. Her first
reaction was a little different and she didn't show much interest, but we
continued talking. We told her who we were, what we are doing, and asked her a
few questions.
Her heart began to be
opened. We were seeing it! We were feeling it! My comp was talking and bearing
strong testimony in Tagalog. I had absolutely no idea what was going on. I
could only see smiles and feel the feelings of the Spirit.
Apparently my comp
was talking about the Restoration and sharing his personal testimony and how it
changed his life as well as his family. As he finished talking, he looked at me
and said, "Okay, talk about the restoration!" Haha I had no idea what he just said
and I didn't want to say exactly what he just said in English. (She could speak
fluent English.) But, I paused for about three seconds, kind of gathered my thoughts,
and relied on the spirit to give me exactly what I needed to say. I talked
about families, happiness and how we can live together forever as a family unit
through the priesthood authority restored again on this earth through the
Prophet Joseph Smith. I began to testify probably the strongest I have ever
done, in my native language, (feeling and being armed with power, as we prayed
for earlier.)
Her heart was
softened. We could see in her eyes how she knew that what we were speaking was
true. She pointed to the Book of Mormon, and being Catholic, she said, "I
want one of those. I like the Book of Mormon."
We continued talking
to her and she later said that she knew that it was by God's will that we met.
She wants us to come back and teach her again and we have set up another
appointment with her. She invited us in so many times but we told her because
of the rule we weren't able to. She then offered to buy us lunch and it was
just so crazy to see how much her heart was opened. She has the cutest little 3
year old and her husband is Korean and is believing in Buddhism, but we look
forward trying to meet with their family.
From our house to a
very large apartment about 40 minutes away, the Lord guided us straight there.
We did not knock one other door except for hers. She was the first and
according the number of the grandpa that we had written down, we had made a
mistake but it was according to the will of the Lord that we went to 105-205.
He led us there. I know that we were guided there and that we followed His will.
He led us because we
have focused on becoming humble and have been repenting to be consecrated unto
the Lord. Elder Bombasi and I are becoming one and are seeing so many miracles. We have focused on
sharing pure personal testimony and people are responding and are beginning to
slowly accept our message.
I have learned a lot
about personal testimony, what it can do, and why it's important. I have been
given many opportunities to share it this week.
I love my mission more than I can explain. If there is one thing
that I want my companions to know and the people around me to know it is that I
love my mission. It has changed me and in the most hard and happy times, I can't
help but be so grateful to the Lord for all of the miracles he has poured out
upon me.
I love you and hope
you have a great week! Hope all is well! Have a good safe week! I wish I could
share the other miracles, but I have no time. We had a very special miracle with
a less active from a different ward here in Korea this week. I will never
forget how I felt as we sat on the bench with this man, looking and seeing
first hand how alcohol and tobacco ruined his life. He sat there in tears. Pain.
Something that I never want to put myself through. We sat there on the bench
next to him, testified of the reality of the Atonement, and promised him he can
come back. The Lord will heal him.
I reached in his
pocket, grabbed cigarettes, he took them from me, grabbed them and threw them
as far as he could. My comp suggested to pray. We did so and the feeling that
we felt will never be forgotten. We felt the pure love of Christ. The kind of love that heals any kind of wound or heart ache.
I testify that the
Atonement is real. I am so grateful for the sacrifice of the Savior Jesus Christ.
He Lives.
I will never forget
that experience. We met him through a prompting as well. The Spirit told us
that we needed to wait five more minutes outside of the train station. We had no
idea why, but we felt that we needed to wait. After about two minutes passed, the
man came around the corner and before we knew he was a less active, we
approached him. We knew we were led my the spirit.
Love,
Elder Johnson
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