December 9, 2013
Dear Family and Friends,
We are definitely making progress in the Bartlett/Memphis area. We
are currently teaching two families and we have extended the baptismal
invitations to both families. My companion is great. She works hard and
has a few struggles but I honestly believe that is why we were put
together as companions.... because I had gone through that same thing as
her and I had to overcome that and I know that I am put as her
companion to help her with that specific problem.
This week was incredible. We taught a less active family who everyone
had given up on included the members of the branch, the families
visiting and home teachers and even the missionaries. When I first met
her I never thought in a million years she would come back to church but
the lord works miracles. I know I was specifically sent to this area to
help get that less active family active again. We went to visit her and
she told us how it is hard to work with the missionaries because we
always change so often. She only has 1 friend and she can't really
confide in the missionaries because we are constantly changing. She has
gotten to know me since I have been here in Bartlett and I have gained
her trust. We were working with the elders and they are going to baptize
her son this Sunday. We decided that we need to activate the entire
family and the wife is the person who needs the most work. We went to
visit her this week and she opened up to us and told us the reason she
hasn't been coming to church and we quickly resolved that problem. We
talked with her about having a family home evening and she even said she
would like a copy of the ensign and the friend for her children. I
know I have been sent to this area to help her.
This week we also taught
a referral from one of the members... It is a great day when your
investigators offer to feed you dinner. Also we made such a big
impression with their daughter she took all the pamphlets, put them in
her bag and was walking around trying to share what she had learned with
her friends. President I love this family so much and we are doing
everything we possibly can to help them progress towards baptism.
This
week we also taught the Velasco family. We have a baptismal date with
the wife and then we started teaching the rest of the family and all 4
children are baptismal age. We are teaching them the last lesson tonight
and they want to be baptized. The Lord has definitely led us to these
people and in Chris's case the Lord led him to us.... He was Hermana
Velascos uncle and he just happened to be at the Velasco's house when we
went to teach them. He asked what time church was about 5minutes into
the lesson and we knew the Lord had led him to us and is prepared for
baptism. He lives in Arlington about an hour away from the church and on
Sunday he called us and asked for directions to the church and we had
to tell him it was cancelled.... you know someone is prepared by the
Lord when they are willing to drive an hour to church in bad weather. Me
and Hermana Millington would have had 11 investigators to church this
week had it not been cancelled and also we are planning on baptizing all
11 of them before the year ends.
This week we also met an 90 year old Bellevue Baptist... she was
really sweet and kept telling us she loves us and gave us I don't know
how many hugs. The day got better and better when we went to the gas
station to fill up our car and this guy pulls up next to us and asks if
me and Hermana Millington are twins, I tell him no and he responds by
saying we both are gorgeous. I tell him thanks and then he asks if we
are AMISH. WHAT THE.... ??? First of all, I don't think Amish would be
driving in a car, or at the gas station, and I did not look like an
amish person in the slightest bit... I guess that is what we get for
dressing modestly. So this week was also pretty interesting. Hermana
Millington told me I started to sleep talk in Spanish. Pretty cool.
This week there was an ice storm and supposedly it was supposed to be
really bad but Memphis didn't get much of it. The ice storm was the
coolest, we went outside and the trees were completely frosted over and
on most christmas decoartions they look shiny and sparkly and that is
literally what all the trees looked like here... it was so
picturesque. When we were stuck inside most of the day on Friday I
decided that we should read the book of mormon in spanish. I had never
read the whole book of mormon in one day and President Hinckley promised
that if you read the entire book in your mission langauge you will know
the language by the time you are finished. We didn't get very far
because there is a lot of words we didn't know and had to look up but
Hermana Millington's pronunciation has improved a whole lot... we got to
the point where we are able to almost completely understand what each
verse means.
This week has been incredible and we have seen so many miracles.
The Lord has definitely blessed us. I have prayed harder than I have
ever prayed in my life and it was amazing to see how everything that I
prayed for happened this week. When we are doing what the Lord wants us
to do and trust in him that it will be given to us, God is bound and we
are automatically given those things we asked for. When we do what the
Lord asks the Lord provides and anything we ask for, if it be right WILL
be given to us.
Love,
~Hermana Larissa Johnson