Annapolis

 

I'm not quite sure what else to title this, so there you go haha. But this has been a week of many, many lessons learned, and some awesome experiences! But before I get to that, overall the area is really starting to grow on me. I'm telling you all, you need to do a quick Google search of Annapolis. It is the coolest town! We're going downtown a little later today to really discover it some more, so I'll have more pictures to send later on. The people here are awesome and it is a privilege to work in this area. My comp is awesome. She has really been helping me with street contacting, since it's something a little out of my comfort zone, but is very successful here. And of course it always just makes you love people a little more haha.

One awesome lesson, and also really funny lesson, we had this week was with a guy named Juan Daniel. He is around 20ish and the previous sisters had been trying to work with his mom. He is super nice and has been present in the lessons, and so when we caught him at home we thought, hey why not teach him on his own. We set up on his back porch, talked about the gospel of Jesus Christ, which he basically taught himself. Honestly the gospel just clicked with him. And when we talked about the step of baptism he told us he has never been baptized. Actually no one in his family had. It just hadn't felt right yet. The spirit was strong, and he is now preparing to be baptized on September 10. We are super excited to keep working with the family. The funny part is later on when my companion realized he has never been taught about the restoration even though he has a Book of Mormon....just goes to show we missionaries are not immune to human error haha. Needless to say, we know what we will be teaching next time. 

Now on to the lessons learned. There have been 2 very overwhelming themes this past week for me. They just keep coming up whether at church, in my studies, or from lessons. The first is about faith. I have really been striving to understand faith better because I feel like I have just a very basic concept of what it is, and it is so misunderstood by the world. Faith does not mean merely a belief in Christ. It means acting on that belief. We believe the sun will come up in the morning, so we set our alarms for 6:30, knowing it will be there. The faith part is not knowing the sun will be there, it is setting the alarm. Equally with faith in Christ, our faith is shown as we take action to come closer to Him. We read our scriptures, say our prayers, and go to church, because we know we will come closer to Him through keeping His commandments. The second theme of the week has been mental illness. The branch here has suffered a lot because of mental illness, and they devoted the past Sunday to the topic. I have learned that sometimes, for those who suffer with depression and other illnesses, faith is a much, much harder concept. Sometimes you don't even have the light to walk towards, you just have to walk. It's like setting the alarm continually for 6:30, but the sun doesn't come up. However, as we learn, we have faith when we, "hope for things which are not seen, which are true." Alma 32:21. I know that even if you are not sure if those steps are in the right direction, there are unseen angels guiding your feet. It is not something to be taken lightly, and I encourage you, that if you suffer, or know someone who suffers, seek help, from a friend, a parent, a bishop. Whoever it may be, because someday the sun will rise when you wake up for that alarm, and you will be glad you kept setting it. 

Again, this is a longer letter, so I apologize to all the missionaries with limited time. Pero les quiero muchísimo y yo quiero agregar mi testimonio que yo sé que esta es la iglesia de Jesucristo. Que fue restaurada otra vez por medio del profeta José Smith, y que Jesucristo dirige la iglesia hoy en día. Él nos ama. Que les tengan una buena semana y que vean la mano de Dios en sus vidas. Está allí!

Hermana Johnson 

We got to go to a nice Mexican birthday party and meet some awesome people!