Bonjour family and friends!!
This week we had a rendezvous with Marie, who was one of our "last minute miracles" the past week. We taught her and her 18 year old daughter. She is a practicing Catholic but she wanted us to come over to explain what gives us to motivation and desire to be a missionary. She was so impressed that two young girls would have enough courage to just stop people on the road and start talking to them about religion. We each bore our testimony of why we decided to serve a mission. I explained that personally, I feel that I have been really blessed in my life because of the gospel and want others to have access to the same blessings. We introduced the Book of Mormon and explained that the Book of Mormon is essentially why we are here. We bore testimony of the power and spirit she can from reading the Book of Mormon. She promised us that she would read the whole thing. She is starting work again so she said we can come back again in a few weeks after she has read a little bit of it! She gave us a little "pep talk" at the end of our lesson and told us not to get discouraged because people in the world need God in their life. She was so sweet!
We met the coolest lady while we were contacting! Her daughter met the missionaries awhile ago on the tram and her daughter started taking the lessons. They invited her daughter to church and it happened to be Mother's Day so the whole family went together. She said that she really likes our church and so since then she comes every Mother's Day with her family. We talked for a minute and when she was about to go we asked if we could say a prayer with her. Right as we were about to say it, I turned to her and asked if there was anything in particular she needed us to pray for. She stood in silence for a moment and then started crying. She explained to us that her family was going through a hard time because of some choices that her son had made. After the prayer, we talked about Gods plan for each of us. She told us that she believes everything happens for a reason and that were supposed to meet each other that day. She said she was so grateful so she wanted to give us something in return... She told us that she has a house on the beach and would love to give us the keys so we can go have a fun weekend! She said she totally trusts us and it's something she would really like to do for us. We both didn't have the heart to tell her we can't spend the weekend at the beach so instead we took it as a good opportunity to get her number. I am going to call and tell her that in 9 months I would love to take her up on her offer but until then we would really appreciate if she would let us come teach her the missionary lessons... I will let you know how it goes!
This past week I hit my 9 months mark! I can't believe I am half way done with my mission. There are so many different things I have learned in these last 9 months and so many more things I need to learn in these following 9 months. As I reflect on my last 9 months of my mission, I can't help but feel a overwhelming feeling of gratitude. I am so grateful for the gospel. It has changed my life. It has helped me change my priorities between what is important, and what is not. The gospel has given me an eternal perspective. The gospel is one of the only things that stays consistent in life. It is one of the only things that will never change. We live in a world that is always changing and there are people around us who change with it. If we want to be truly happy, we must keep the gospel at the center of our lives. That doesn't mean we won't have bad things happen to us. That doesn't mean we won't have temptations or life won't be hard. It just means that we will be able to get through those bad times more easily, because we have an eternal perspective. It means that we will make better choices because we know the eternal consequences. It means when we make mistakes, we will have a desire to do everything we can to fix the wrong we have done and then move forward, trying everyday to be a little better.
The gospel gives us the knowledge of why we are here and where we are going. That knowledge makes ALL the difference as we are given the opportunity everyday to use our free agency. How will we use it? Will we choose to make the gospel our first priority? In the Book of Mormon we can read about what happens to a people when they make the gospel the center of their lives.. "15 And it came to pass that there was no contention in the land, because of the love of God which did dwell in the hearts of the people...and surely there could not be a happier people among all the people who had been created by the hand of God." As we make the gospel the center of our lives, we too can be among those "happy" people. The happiness that comes from living the gospel is different from the happiness that the world give us. We will have the kind of happiness that comes from having a love for God and the gospel... And that is true happiness! Church is true. All is well. Have a wonderful week.
Love, Soeur Johnson
This week we had a rendezvous with Marie, who was one of our "last minute miracles" the past week. We taught her and her 18 year old daughter. She is a practicing Catholic but she wanted us to come over to explain what gives us to motivation and desire to be a missionary. She was so impressed that two young girls would have enough courage to just stop people on the road and start talking to them about religion. We each bore our testimony of why we decided to serve a mission. I explained that personally, I feel that I have been really blessed in my life because of the gospel and want others to have access to the same blessings. We introduced the Book of Mormon and explained that the Book of Mormon is essentially why we are here. We bore testimony of the power and spirit she can from reading the Book of Mormon. She promised us that she would read the whole thing. She is starting work again so she said we can come back again in a few weeks after she has read a little bit of it! She gave us a little "pep talk" at the end of our lesson and told us not to get discouraged because people in the world need God in their life. She was so sweet!
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| "Flower carpet" in Grand Place! |
We met the coolest lady while we were contacting! Her daughter met the missionaries awhile ago on the tram and her daughter started taking the lessons. They invited her daughter to church and it happened to be Mother's Day so the whole family went together. She said that she really likes our church and so since then she comes every Mother's Day with her family. We talked for a minute and when she was about to go we asked if we could say a prayer with her. Right as we were about to say it, I turned to her and asked if there was anything in particular she needed us to pray for. She stood in silence for a moment and then started crying. She explained to us that her family was going through a hard time because of some choices that her son had made. After the prayer, we talked about Gods plan for each of us. She told us that she believes everything happens for a reason and that were supposed to meet each other that day. She said she was so grateful so she wanted to give us something in return... She told us that she has a house on the beach and would love to give us the keys so we can go have a fun weekend! She said she totally trusts us and it's something she would really like to do for us. We both didn't have the heart to tell her we can't spend the weekend at the beach so instead we took it as a good opportunity to get her number. I am going to call and tell her that in 9 months I would love to take her up on her offer but until then we would really appreciate if she would let us come teach her the missionary lessons... I will let you know how it goes!
This past week I hit my 9 months mark! I can't believe I am half way done with my mission. There are so many different things I have learned in these last 9 months and so many more things I need to learn in these following 9 months. As I reflect on my last 9 months of my mission, I can't help but feel a overwhelming feeling of gratitude. I am so grateful for the gospel. It has changed my life. It has helped me change my priorities between what is important, and what is not. The gospel has given me an eternal perspective. The gospel is one of the only things that stays consistent in life. It is one of the only things that will never change. We live in a world that is always changing and there are people around us who change with it. If we want to be truly happy, we must keep the gospel at the center of our lives. That doesn't mean we won't have bad things happen to us. That doesn't mean we won't have temptations or life won't be hard. It just means that we will be able to get through those bad times more easily, because we have an eternal perspective. It means that we will make better choices because we know the eternal consequences. It means when we make mistakes, we will have a desire to do everything we can to fix the wrong we have done and then move forward, trying everyday to be a little better.
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| Belgium countryside! |
The gospel gives us the knowledge of why we are here and where we are going. That knowledge makes ALL the difference as we are given the opportunity everyday to use our free agency. How will we use it? Will we choose to make the gospel our first priority? In the Book of Mormon we can read about what happens to a people when they make the gospel the center of their lives.. "15 And it came to pass that there was no contention in the land, because of the love of God which did dwell in the hearts of the people...and surely there could not be a happier people among all the people who had been created by the hand of God." As we make the gospel the center of our lives, we too can be among those "happy" people. The happiness that comes from living the gospel is different from the happiness that the world give us. We will have the kind of happiness that comes from having a love for God and the gospel... And that is true happiness! Church is true. All is well. Have a wonderful week.
Love, Soeur Johnson
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