Week #5

hey guys!!

Week 5 is officially here! I will be getting my reassignment on Thursday so you'll be getting an email from me in two days telling you where I'll be! GET PUMPED!! 

As you guys can see from the pictures, it is snowing here. 7 inches and still coming down. Blah. 

How is everyone??? Any super exciting FHE's? 

We have had 2 English-fasts where we speak no english all day. Those are hard but they help so much. The gift of tongues is absolutely real! I've been reading the scriptures so much here. They are getting really marked up. Especially Alma 32. Its all about faith! I have a quote from Henry B. Eyring written in the margin. 

"If the foundation of faith is not embedded in our hearts, the power to endure will crumble."

That is from his April 2012 talk "Mountains to Climb". The mormon message with the same title is amazing. I encourage you to watch the talk or the mormon message. Both have helped me so much. 

the shift key is broke on this keyboard so i don't know if much of this will be capitalized correctly. sorry! Thanksgiving was great! we had a devotional where we knew that a senior apostle was coming! Russell M. Nelson came and spoke to us about testimonies. it was great.  he looks just like he does on TV but i think my view of the apostles is a
bit different. They are regular human beings. they look so humble. it's
incredible. He taught how to gain a testimony. Alma 5:44-47 shows how to
gain a "pure testimony" that is mentioned in ch 4. alma 5:44-49 is one of
the greatest testimonies in the BoM. if anyone in seminary is struggling
with their testimony, have them read that.

throughout my personal study, I've been reading a lot about missionary work
and faith. The objective of missionaries is to "astonish" their
investigators. Ammon astonishes the lamanites in ch. 17 and 18 of alma 5
times. Also, the incredible thing is that although ammon was a great
missionary, he had to earn the trust of the Lamanites before he could teach
them. He taught by example rather than words. then Alma 26 shows the
humility of ammon. he is such a pro.

we also took part in the largest humanitarian service project outside of a natural disaster! we put together 350000 (four zeros) meals for the utah food bank! it was a great way to spend the day. after that we watched Ephraim's rescue! 

Turkey day at home sounded super fun! i hope everything turned out great! Not gonna lie, i think the christmas music is starting to grow on me. we sing it in every meeting here! also, it is snowing right now. we have 4 inches of it and it is still coming down. the mtc put up christmas lights up in the main courtyard and it looks awesome. i took a pic of it but only half the lights were on that night haha i'm going to send a bunch of pics today.

I don't really know if i wan't anything for christmas. I'll let you know the closer i get to the day if i need anything. depending on my reassignment, i'll need a winter coat. but that should be it. 3 people got visas this week! one was from my district. one of the new guys got his and his last name is johnson too! We have 3 elders in this zone with the last name johnson and 2 have gotten visas. I'm the only one who hasn't! 

portuguese is getting better. since my last letter, we have had 2 "english fasts' where we aren't allowed to speak any english all day and night. those days are much quieter than usual but awesome nevertheless. 

how is everyone doing? i'm so grateful that you and dad write me every week. a lot of the guys here hardly get anything from their parents and it's sad. i'm truly blessed to have such great parents! have you talked to grandpa and grandma riggs recently? they sent a dear elder but i didn't have their email so i sent them a paper letter with my email inside. I hope they have gotten it!

i miss ya'll like crazy and i'll be able to write you thursday when i get my reassignment. I'll also be able to call you from the airport when i leave so be sure to have a phone close by!

 

Elder Johnson