Hi, I'm Elder Johnson, and I have officially been a missionary for 6 months as of a week ago. Or was that 2 weeks ago? I can't really remember but whatever it is, it's gone by so fast!
With the help of our amazing families in the spanish ward we've really changed the pace of the work here and I have actual conversations with native Spanish speakers almost on the daily now which is a HUGE BLESSING for us.
The culture of our Spanish area is just incredible, you guys. They are so freaking nice to us! Even when we were out dropping in on families out of the blue on Saturday people would just ask us to come in and eat some pancakes with them or whatever even if they weren't interested in coming to church with us. GAh!! I love them!
A brand new Elder is now training in our area now and he's the best. I'm pretty sure the guy did strongman competitions before his mission, because his shoulders are easily as wide as I am tall and boi is just a tank of a man. Elder Farnsworth compared him to Mr Incredible and I have to agree that the resemblance is uncanny.
I got to go on exchanges with our new Elder Mr Incredible and his companion in a trio and we had the time of our lives helping a guy move, teaching a fire lesson about the Book of Mormon to a family and playing volleyball with the youth in our Spanish ward. The new guy lost his voice because he was shouting so much at the activity. So once we came home that night we setup my LED lights and shot a quick video of this Elder tying his tie, lifting weights and pushing our car around the parking lot and put it to dramatic music. Then I tried to record him talking in his squeaky mutilated voice at the end and I lost it.
I was laughing so hard tears were streamingdown my face as I tried to hold the camera steady for him. We had a good day.
But not every day is awesome as a missionary. Kind of like regular life, you get the usual ups and downs. One day I woke up feeling like I swallowed an anchor. I dragged myself out of bed to exercise but I felt so dead inside I couldn't muster the motivation to do more than a few reps of anything. My emotional lack of energy felt like it was sapping my physical strength that morning. I tried to do some pushups but I wound up laying on my stomach instead with my face turned to the side, like a limp jellyfish. All my limbs were super heavy and I was like, "Dang it's really gonna be one of those days huh."
So I hauled my butt over to my desk and started reading the scriptures instead. It was so hard to focus, I didn't want to be here reading my scriptures. I wanted to be sleeping. Or watching a good movie. I longed for a morning at the lake instead of a morning in the basement I now live in. My thoughts wandered while my bleary eyes skimmed over the Preach My Gospel guide and a couple references in a random lesson I had turned to. At some point I put my head down on the desk to rest for a second and I sort of inadvertently started talking to God.
"Hey."
"So uh, I think I'm depressed. Will you send a message my way just for me?"
Then I sat up, flipped to a random page in the Book of Mormon and started reading in Alma chapter 7.
This chapter was written before Jesus Christ was born, but it talks all about him, how he will go through all of the bad stuff everyone ever goes through just so he can understand us better.
Then I got to verses 24-27.
"And see that ye have faith, hope, and charity, and then ye will always abound in good works."
"...and my soul doth exceedingly rejoice, because of the exceeding diligence and heed which ye have given unto my word."
"And now, may the peace of God rest upon you..."
These last verses really got me. They were like cool, refreshing water to my soul. May the peace of God rest upon you, and just like that, it was rested.
Or something like that.
But it was cool because when I read those words it really felt like God was there, commanding my heart and mind to feel at peace. And just as all elements conform to his will, so would my heart and mind if I allowed it.
After that experience I was really glad I hadn't slept in. And not even a whole day at the lake could've made me feel as good as receiving praise and my very own personalized pep-talk from Heavenly Father.
God loves you and he freaking WANTS YOU TO BE HAPPY aight?! Don't try to distract yourself when life gets you down, stare your problems in the face and use all the heavenly help you have access to in order to take them down. The happiest experiences of your life are yours for the taking when you make God your coach.
I love you, God loves you and he's here to help you so don't settle for a mediocre existance on this planet. Arm yourself with the power of your Creator and go do something awesome today.
Love,
Elder Johnson
