Sunday Will Come

Dear Family,

when I wrote last week, Hna. Brown and I were pretty discouraged. No matter how hard we worked, it didn´t seem like anything pulled through- our progressing investigators had fallen through on coming to church. And as for other investigators... we didn´t have any.

We´re still luchando/tirando, as they say, but we´ve received so many blessings this week. I´m not sure if I ever made mention of it, but a few weeks ago we had to stop teaching the little boy named Samuel (with the less active parents) for some potentially hostile circumstances, and we were so disappointed- he loves the gospel, reads the Book of Mormon on his own and cries when his parents don´t take him to church. Anyway, we met his dad on the street by accident, and he apologized to us and asked us to come back and teach his son. Furthermore, the whole family came to church on Sunday.

We also found a new investigator who has the pinta of being a faithful investigator. He has a pretty sad past, and can´t even get in contact with his wife who left him, or his three adult children. He says he´s really been waiting for something like this. 

Things are going really well with Sandra´s family. We´ve been able to meet with them about three times this week, thanks to a little more help from the members. Natacha is preparing to be baptised November 2, and Gustavo... well, he´s reading from the Book of Mormon at least :)  and really has real intent. They are like a member family already- honestly, when they came to church this Sunday (back to that in a minute), they looked neater and more modest than many of the members, and definitely more reverent. Both Gustavo and Natacha have a really good understanding of what being baptised involves- they recognize that it´s a lifelong commitment, and they want to be sure of their decision before taking it. We have high hopes for them.

Sunday with them was good- we advised everyone that they were coming, so each group (YM/YW/RS) gave them a warm welcome. Despite the normal arguments in Relief Society and the lengthy talk on the evils of pornography during sacrament meeting, they all were happy- they said they felt very accepted- it brought back good memories to Sandra, and both Natacha and Gustavo said it wasn´t as boring as they´d anticipated. 

Just one more thing I want to share from this week. The mission involves such an intense sort of love. It´s the kind of love President Hinckley described when he said that love is an "anxious concern for the well being of another". It´s this anxious concern that drives me out into the street in the morning, and leaves me either exhausted and spent at the end of the day, or awake for hours worrying about these people. When Sandra´s family fell through last week, Hna Brown and I hit a slump that was hard to recover from, and when they came, our joy was so intense it left us breathless. I think so often of how easy missionary work would be if we only sought for numbers and a quantity of baptisms- if we protected ourselves from disappointment by not allowing ourselves to love so deeply. But if we didn´t feel this way, this work would have no heart, and no real purpose.

I have hard days, I have hard weeks, but I would embrace a hard 18 months if I can love and help just one family like this.

I know this is the work of the Lord, and that my love for the people around me is nothing compared with His. "[The Lord] doeth nothing save it be for the benefit of the world; for he loveth the world, even that he layeth down his own life that he may draw all men unto him. Wherefore, he commandeth none that they shall not partake of his salvation. Behold, doth he cry unto any saying: depart from me? Behold, I say unto you, Nay; but he saith: Come unto me all ye ends of the earth..." (2 Nephi 26:24-25) I know Christ lives, and I love Him more than I can say.

Love, Hna. Johnson

P.S. Sorry for such a long letter- just making up for last week :)