{6.15.15} Transfer Week Miracles!

This week was so crazy! First of all, I know that Mom and Dad fasted for me to receive help learning Spanish. So, guess what? I live in an Apartment with 4 Latins hahaha. God really does answer prayers! My companion is Columbian (who speak the slowest, clearest Spanish), and speaks English and Spanish 100% fluently. Huge Blessing. Elder Sandoval is also Latin and is fluent in both, and Elder Stewart has been out for 20 months and speaks great Spanish too. Basically I get to be surrounded by really experienced missionaries, so I'm hoping to learn a lot this transfer! In Spanish, the Gospel, and Missionary Work.

The only way to describe my new Companions work ethic is that he attacks thing. He has sooo much energy that sometimes it's a little overwhelming. But this week we were so diligent, accomplished so much, and found so many people. We had four investigators come to church, which was the best feeling because we haven't had any for a few weeks.

We found Carlos from Cuba, and Carlos has very little Christian background. It's so much fun to teach him, because as we teach him about Jesus Christ and baptism, you can just see him light up with excitement, knowledge and the spirit. He's super excited to get baptized, and he just loves everything about the Gospel! It's so cool to see him grow and feel the Spirit.

Yovana is progressing really well as well, but she still has a lot of questions. We were teaching her the other day, and trying to answer all of her questions. It was getting really complicated, and was turning into a vicious cycle of question after question. I was having a hard time following the Spanish, and couldn't contribute much to the conversation or lesson at this point because the Vocab was beyond my current knowledge. I sat there and said a quick prayer, and just asked to be guided by the spirit what to say to help answer Yovana's doubts. At this point, Yovana was praying for the 20th to be baptized. She said she was feeling more and more confident, but still didn't think she'd received an answer. My mind went to what truly makes us different from any other religion, and that's that we have the same Priesthood Authority that Christ, His Apostles, and all of God's Prophets had, restored on the Earth Day. How can we know if this is true or not? Through the Book of Mormon. So I turned to Yovana, and I asked her, "Do you know the Book of Mormon is true?" She said yes, and that she believed it complimented and supported the bible.  Then Elder Chaparro asked, "Have you prayed about it and received an answer from God?" and she said no, I haven't formed that question yet, I've just been praying for the 20th.

SO HUMBLED in that moment. We'd been so focused on helping her progress towards baptism we'd missed the most important step. We testified that if she prayed about what she's been reading, and continued to feel the peaceful and calm feelings as she read, that she will receive an answer and receive a knowledge that it is true. And if the Book of Mormon is the word of god, then he translated by the Power of God. If he had that authority, he truly was a Prophet of God and Christ restored his church again through him. It's really that simple. We just hadn't done our job! We completely changed our direction and focused on that. We're going to see her tonight, and I'm super pumped.

Ultimately we just had great week. We met so many people. Dennys and Sheyla came to church, and we met this huge Cuban family that is super cool! Honestly, this week has probably been the Happiest Week of My Life. None of it had to do with me. True joy comes from Charity, and helping others receive all the blessings God has for them.

I hope everyone is doing well! Thanks to everyone who sends me mail. It means a lot! If I don't reply its probably just because I'm busy. I promise I try to and do when I can.

Love,

--

Elder Johns