Mon, Jul 13, 2009
This week started off right with a quadruple-zone dodge ball tournament. I hate dodge ball, but I got to see my trainer Sister Davenport!!! So we talked for a bit and that was cool. We had a member from our ward drive us up there. Her name is Sister Partridge (Her son is Edward Partridge the 7th. If Edward Partridge the 1st was a king, then Edward Partridge the 7th would be his successor…hmmm, random analogy…but it really wasn’t an analogy, I was just trying to illustrate the direct lineage—okay, I ‘m done). She and her husband are very nice to us and help us out a lot. She is a recent convert of 4 years so she loves sister missionaries cause we were the ones who found her. I like being a missionary cause everything good that preceding missionaries have done gets passed down to you…on the other hand anything bad other missionaries do gets passed on as well).
On Tuesday we got a sad phone call from Corina who is a woman we found last week. We had an incredible lesson with her and she knew it was something she wanted in her life, but her husband came home later and was very offended that she had let us in. She called to tell us that because of her husband she doesn’t want to continue lessons. Sad day. But we have to respect her and her husband so all we can do is pray that someday her husband will be willing to listen.
On Wednesday we spent half the day driving around San Antonio after our district meeting to pay for Sister Kleisler’s ticket that she got last transfer. As a result of all that, I am now the driver to protect her from getting another ticket. Yay! I get to drive the big black truck! Well it’s actually a small gray pickup, but it’s still cool. We had our new member lessons that night with a bunch of recent converts and investigators in the ward. We had Brother Silvester give a lesson on prophets, but apparently the Spirit had other plans. Brother Silvester tried to talk about prophets, but he ended up talking mostly about the atonement of Christ. The things he taught that night were exactly what these converts and investigators needed to hear. He didn’t realize how perfect his teaching was cause he knew nothing about the challenges and struggles of the people in the room, but we did. As missionaries, people feel comfortable telling us all their life stories, so when we heard Brother Silvester say something we’d casually glance to the person we knew it would apply to. It was so cool.
On Thursday we planned an amazing lesson to get Toby excited about his baptism. He’s still sweet and kind, but we’ve been able to tell a difference in him since he talked to his mom about being baptized. He lost the fire. When we saw him for this lesson he had started reading the book of mormon again and so his light started to return. We had the lesson at the church. When they walked into the gym we had set up a bunch of play tents (from nursery) and we acted out the story of Ammon the missionary complete with costumes, weapons, stuffed animals, and of course a fake arm. Toby and his brothers loved it. It was fun and he seemed his normal, happy self when it was over.
Friday was a finding day…bleck. We didn’t find any one.
Saturday was another finding day…bleck. We contacted a referral, but that was it. I had this brillante idea to get in service clothes and drive around the town and find people who were doing yard work or who were moving and pull over and offer to help them out. It would have been a great idea except for the fact that it was 108 degrees with 3000% humidity! Okay the humidity is an exaggeration, but it was hot. No one in their right mind should have been outside on that Saturday afternoon. Well, we learned our lesson and wasted a bunch of miles. :) Then we had a lesson with Toby again to make final preparations for his baptism.
On Sunday…Toby got baptized!!!!! And Clarissa got confirmed!!!!! We actually didn’t get to watch his actual baptism cause…all spare you the details but just know that baptisms are crazy and something always has to go wrong…but the adversary can’t win!!! Even though it wasn’t picture perfect and stuff happened that we didn’t plan on, Toby still got baptized!!!!! Toby’s mom was there and she seemed pretty uncomfortable at first. She was annoyed that we told her she couldn’t take pictures of the actual baptism. But by the end she was smiling and happy for Toby. The ward was really awesome at fellowshipping her. Brother and Sister Silvester took her around the church on a tour and everyone was very complementary of Toby (cause he’s awesome) and they were complementary of her for raising such a fine young man. All in all, it ended up being an awesome baptism.
Clarissa loved her confirmation, but it was a sad day for her as well. Gary was supposed to come and be there for it, but he got drunk the night before and said a lot of things to her that hurt her feelings. She realized that he wasn’t ready to change yet and that she was going to have to move on in the gospel without him. She’s going to have to find an apartment and job and everything cause she knows they won’t get married for a while. As missionaries we get to watch things like this. We can’t counsel her on these kinds of matters, all we can do is tell her to pray and read scriptures and find out what the Lord wants her to do.
I was thinking about Gary and how sad it was that he’s given up on progressing in the gospel. We had some incredible spiritual experiences with him and his family. He witnessed spiritual expression that some people wait their whole life to receive, but don’t. How could he turn his back on those things? I have a living example now of Laman and Lemuel denying the faith after seeing an angel. Poor guy. But I realized that as cool as the experiences have been, they are pointless unless your heart understands their significance.
I’ve noticed that since I’ve been on a mission I’ve witnessed a lot more spiritual experiences. At first I thought that it was because of the work I’m involved in. I just thought that missionary has more spiritual stuff than other areas of life such as school, work, and family. But now I’m learning that that’s not true. The difference is not the work I am involved with. The difference is me. The Lord has been around this whole time leading and directing his children through Angels and the Spirit. It’s all around me all the time, but since I’ve been on my mission, I’ve paid more attention and caught more experiences that otherwise may have just passed by without notice. All the experiences I’ve had haven’t been huge fireworks and loud noises. They’ve been very subtle and quiet yet incredibly profound moments that come and go without pomp. I just notice now because I’m aware of the needs of these people and what their lives and challenges entail. I pray for this people a thousand times during the day. I am studying and searching for God’s hand in my life as well as in my investigators and now I’m seeing it. I can’t help but see it because I’m actually looking for it. My days are long and filled with drudgery and boredom and then suddenly a small speckle of light breaks through all of that and if I wasn’t consciously looking for it I’d miss it.
We meet a lot of return missionaries who have gone inactive or fallen away from the church. And since I’ve been out I’ve been trying to figure out how they could fall away after all the miracles I’m sure they had seen on their missions. But it’s probably because they stopped looking or they forgot how…or maybe something else, I don’t know.
Well, I’m done rambling. Thank you for your prayers and emails and letters! I love you all! Talk to ya later!
Sister Johnson