Skip to main content

August 28, 2017 - Change, but not much change in Sault Ste. Marie!

Hi there, (btw, my next p-day is Tuesday)

It was transfer calls last night, I will be staying in Northern Ontario for a 3rd transfer. I'm excited to see what the Lord has in store. Although, the work has been very slow over the summer, I have a feeling the fall season is going to drop some tasty missionary fruit if you know what I mean. 

My current companion Elder Fabiano (we were together 2 transfers) will be serving with my MTC companion Elder Kaku which is awesome. Elder Fabiano is a great guy, I will miss serving with him. I hope I get to serve around Elder Kaku someday, he is so sweet!

With transfers, comes the spirit of change.

I've learned a lot about change while on a mission.

Change can be stressful, it can be exciting, it can be terrifying, it can be not that bad actually. "Wait a second...Elder Johnson, you're only 20 years old, what do you know about change?" I may have only 20 years of life experience, but if I put together the experience of all of the people in my life, it is 1000's of years of experience. When I was a young teenager I realized that the best way to learn is through experience. For example, if you want to have a good golf swing, you might read or watch videos how to do it, but until you pick up the club and swing, you will not swing a golf club well. The more senses that are involved in an experience, the better you grasp them (spiritual senses included). Simply reading or thinking about something, is not the best way to learn it, you need to experience it. Over the past couple of years I've also realized that just as beneficial as learning from our own experiences, is learning from the experiences of others. If I was given a golf club without ever seeing anybody else swing it, I wouldn't know where to start. Thankfully, I didn' have to figure it out on my own. Guess who showed me how to do it? My dad. Before teaching me, he had being practicing swinging a golf club for hours and hours and hours over many years. From my dad's experience, I learned how to best experience swinging a golf club for myself. He also showed me how to play certain holes, what clubs to use in certain situations, how to play the wind, and many other things he has learned from playing on the golf course himself. I've been swinging a golf since before I was 8. Today, some might say (myself included) that I have an even better golf swing than my dad. I would not have become a good golfer so quickly without being guided by my dad (my older brothers helped as well). Ultimately, my experience with golfing has been benefited greatly by the experiences of others. I've learned from others how to approach change in my life and make good choices.

 As a Christian, I strive to learn from the experience of Christ. Jesus Christ has experienced many things:  he created the earth, he was born in a manger and grew up, he endured 40 days of hunger, he resisted intense temptation, he performed miracles one person at a time, he taught his brothers and sisters face to face, he witnessed his sheep betray him and their friends, he suffered incomprehensible suffering in the garden of Gethsemane, he was whipped repeatedly, he was scorned and ridiculed, he was nailed to a cross, and he experience death. Christ lived through all of this. Alma 7:11-12 "And he shall go forth, suffering pains and afflictions and temptations of every kind...he will take upon him death that he may loose the bands of death which bind his people; and he will take upon him their infirmities, that his bowels may be filled with mercy, according to the flesh, that he may know according to the flesh how to succor his people according to their infirmities." Christ would have no power to heal and change me if he had not come down and experienced all of it. I am grateful to him, for everything he has done for me and everything he has taught me. I hope I will always remember my Savior, Jesus Christ for saving my life. I know He lives, he is experiencing things as we speak. I know my Father in Heaven lives. I am doing my best to love and respect Him by following his only begotten son and loving my fellow men. Because of the Father, Savior, and the Holy Ghost, I am never alone. The reality of this is comforting. 

I invite you to think about all that has been done for you by others. Hopefully, this realization will motivate you to do more for others. As you think about what the Savior has done for you, I'd like to leave with you one question: 

What more can I do today for my Savior? 

I hope you enjoy your week! Till next Tuesday :)

Elder Johnson

Sorry no pic, the tech is not working.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

May 23: Loads of Service this Week and Golfing!

​​Hello! Yesterday was not our p-day because of Victoria Day. We missionaries do the opposite of everybody else: the Sabbath is definitely not a day of rest and holidays are go days!  My week started off pretty sweet. For p-day Elder Kohl and I went to the golfing range and also played on the chipping and putting green. We shared a $14 bucket of balls and played for close to 3 hours so it was absolutely worth it! I'm still good at golf :) We also helped out the members a lot this week. We have mowed and done weed whacking for a couple senior members, helped a sister pack stuff before she moves, cleaned out gutters, painted a bedroom, and de-cluttered a back yard. What would the ward do with out us?! Some might think that's too much service, I think I would rather be doing that than tracting haha.  We've been primarily working with the members to find people to teach. This way of finding basically looks like the following:...
Post a Comment
Read more

January 22, 2018 - The Iron Rod is a sure Foundation

Hi, We found a really nice lady this week through tracting. She really liked the Restoration message and we answered her many questions. She's married and in her 30's. She is just a really cool person so I'm excited to keep meeting with her. Elder Martin and I have been pushing ourselves to talk to more people recently. We set a weekly goal to give out a certain number of Book of Mormon's. Having the goal in mind has motivated me to get out and talk to people when I don't feel like it--it's a feeling I get a lot unfortunately. I've noticed there is always opposition before and after we do something important for Christ.  Getting up Sunday morning and going to church has never been difficult for me; however, living what I learned at church is a little more difficult. I've learned that the adversary is relentless at "following-up" with me shortly after I have a spiritual experience. Satan will do anything in his power to make me lose t...
Post a Comment
Read more

January 29, 2018 - No Longer Stuck in a Rut

Hello, We transitioned from flip phones to smart phones this week. Unfortunately for me, my phone has not been delivered yet so I have to wait a little longer. And unfortunately for Elder Martin, the software on his phone is glitchy and he can't get into it so he has to get the software re-installed by a Samsung specialist. Unfortunately for us, we are the only companionship in the mission without a working smart phone right now. Hopefully the specialist gets it fixed today so we can get on with things. We've just been using our old flip phone and it works fine for now. In my email last week I talked about a lady we found by knocking on her door.  Her name is Michelle, we had our first sit down lesson with her yesterday and it went very well. She has a catholic background but didn't stick with the religion (big surprise there, no offense to the Catholic church). She accepted the message of the restoration (she understood the apostasy and the need for priesthood auth...
Post a Comment
Read more