Oh yes Jesus!

So we've been teaching a lot of people recently who speak spanish....and neither i nor Sister Wesley speak spanish. how did we get through the lessons and make a return appointment? i have no idea. but now sister wesley and i are reading the book of mormon in spanish with a handy spanish/english dictionary nearby. We met this really short, older hispanic woman. We communicated that we wanted to teach her about jesus. she smiled and put her shaky hand into her bag and pulled out her address. "We come jueves at cuatro o-clock." So we showed up later that week for the appointment and she opened the door and looked mad. "uh....hi...we're those missionaries you met last week...somas missionarias...can we come in?" And she snarled at us and said, "no!" We stood there stunned not knowing what to do...and then suddenly she started laughing! This tiny little hispanic woman fooled us into thinking she was mad at us and she thought it was hilarious. then she had us come in. We read the spanish pamphlet of the restoration and half way through she stopped us and start telling us a story. Sister Wesley and i would smile and nod and then we'd look at each other and through our facial expressions we'd ask, "Do you know what she's saying?" "No idea." After her stories she'd start laughing and laughing and i would laugh because she was laughing and because she was so cute and nice. Then she gave us Sprite. I'm not sure she understood our message, but we understood her message. She loved us and we hardly knew her.

We taught linda sue again this week. it was awesome. She's so worried about her "test." We tried to explain the baptismal interview and she thinks it's a test so she stressed out trying to learn everything. but we finally helped her understand the restoration and Joseph Smith!!!!!!! The cut outs worked and the Spirit helped a ton! She understands that we believe that we are the only church that has the power. When she first figured out that what we believed she was hesitant. yes!!!! I love when people question that claim because it means they understand it! So we told her to pray about it. She said that one day her family was getting frustrated with her and calling her crazy and she felt bad. So she grabbed the Book of Mormon and started reading it and she felt better. When we came back we explained more about the restoration to clarify somethings and afterwards she said, "Can i show yall some'n?" She put in the restoration DVD and we watched it. She's watched several times before and didn't really understand it, but liked the way she felt when she watched it. Well, this time as she watched the movie she started explaining to us what it all meant. "So he was confused about church! Just like I was. And then God told him and he didn't have to go to the other churches anymore because now he knew! Am I right?" "Yes Linda Sue, " I said, "You understand. You get it" And then she threw a little punch in the air and with childlike excitement exclaimed, "Yes! Oh Jesus! I get it" Sister Wesley and i were crying like little babies...so embarrassing. I love the restoration DVD and i always feel the Spirit, but i was watching it through new eyes. i was seeing it as though i was learning it for the first time because Linda's eyes were being opened and was starting to understand. She is so excited to get the Holy Ghost because she believes that it will help heal her even more.

We'll see if she' get baptized this week i hope she does, but there's just some minor road blocks...before my mission i was all about people taking a long, long time to get baptized because I only saw baptism as membership in the Church which it is. As a missionary I see baptism as the necessary ordinance to get the Gift of the Holy Ghost. I've seen investigators that took 6 months, 2 years, 7 years to join the church and they are completely less active. i've also seen investigators who get baptized with less than a month of study and they are super active years after. personal conversion is a choice. it's not about time, it's about faith. When you have faith that leads to repentance time is irrelevant. As soon as you're ready to let Him in He comes in. Plus, conversion is totally amplified by the gift of the Spirit. But before baptism you must show through your works to the Church that your faith is pure and sincere so it creates road blocks...good road blocks. sigh. But she'll get baptized!

Margaret...we're still working, but she's coming along.

love yall,
sister johnson