Thank you for the email this week. I absolutely
love hearing about all the adventures going on at home. Hand-guns, 5k runs, and
plays may not seem like a lot but they are incredible stories for me : ) So
thanks, I love y'all and miss you.
This week was kinda short because we had
conference that took up Saturday and Sunday. It was awesome, even though I had
to play technician by setting up projectors and laptops and trouble shoot
broken DVDs. All that problem solving was actually super exciting for some
reason. But conference was really good. The music was awesome – it’s so funny
because Africans love singing, so whenever the tabernacle choir sang members
and Kampoy would quietly hum or sing along, even if the choir was singing a
different arrangement. The best talk was Bishop Stevens (presiding bishop)
about our 4 minutes of performance on the earth. I love conference!
Working out in the sector was hot this week!
The days are filled with sunshine which is turning me very tan. I was changing
out of some old garments when Elder Kampoy said "Elder Johnson! You are
two colors!!" haha Pretty bad farmers tan I guess : )
Now onto the big story of the week and explaining
of the title. So after a day of work we had 2 hours left before the end and
nothing to do. Also me and kampoy have a goal to teach white people! So we
decided to do some door knocking in the rich neighborhood behind our house. To
explain these neighborhoods, all the houses have massive metal gates and guards
who stand outside (also massive dogs inside, as we learned haha). Missionaries
have told me that these houses never accept brochures because the guards just
don’t let you past, and the guards themselves never can progress in learning
about the gospel because they are so busy with work. Anyway, Kampoy and I
walked down one road, and true, no one on the streets. We looped back having
done nothing. As we were about the leave the neighborhood, I had the thought,
"this is ridiculous, we are too scared to even ring a door bell!" So
last house on the street, I rang the doorbell - no answer. But hey, not too
hard! I exclaimed to Kampoy, "I want to go back, walk the same loop but
knock every door!" Turning around we did just that. If guards came to us,
we simply said, "We are missionaries sharing our message, can we talk with
whomever lives here?" and nearly every house agreed, or at least accepted
brochures. Contacting is pointless - FALSE! Near the end we came across a crazy Chinese
looking house. I knocked and then a Chinese man named "Lu Xi"
answered. He had a thick French accent and had met with missionaries in Paris.
What?! We left a brochure and took his number. That is the big success of that
contacting. We also stumbled across the house of someone working for the
American Embassy. I laughed when I saw the same uniforms that stopped me a few
weeks earlier haha. And my luck with the embassy is still rotten. After
explaining who we are the guard took our passports copies them and returned and
said, the man is not interested. Stupidly I asked "who is it that lives
here?". I got a fast reply, "You don’t need to know that" and a
slammed gate! lol Such a good contacting experience.
But wait! There's more! A few days later we
received a phone call, the unknown number said, "I'm not a Christian, but I
read your plan of salvation brochure and I am interested, can you come to my
house? I live next to the Japanese Embassy."...THE CHINESE HOUSE!! We dropped everything and headed to the house.
We then met, Yin, a Chinese man who has no knowledge of Christianity but wants
to know what we believe. That was the most nerve racking lesson every, because I
knew that if we failed we would not be invited back, everything had to be
perfect. And although I said some things that I thought would get us thrown
out, he accepted a return appointment and agreed to start praying this week!!!
I can’t explain how little he knows about Christianity. Stuff that even Pagan Americans
know, he does not. We read a bible verse (after explaining what the bible is)
and he read the word "angel", to which he asked "What’s an
angel?". The good thing about that is we can fill his head with true
doctrine. I love Yin! I can’t wait to see how he progresses.
Also this week I tallied up all the lessons I have
ever given in one year, and I would say I'm a veteran- 799 lessons as of today!
Kinda bummed that I fell short of the 800 mark but I'll get it tomorrow. Not too
shabby, I'd say. As I've been busy meditating a lot about my mission, I learned
this week, that I love the sense of purpose a mission gives you. I honestly had
a hard time trying to think of other eternally productive things I'll do after
my mission. I learned that I honestly do not want to go home. I love the badge
and the work. Teaching is such a passion of mine. But maybe I'm just struggling
with feelings of inadequacy and fear.
Kampoy is taking control of our schedule this
week to try and push us harder (we had a heart to heart last night and we agree
that we will work harder if he is playing leader). So maybe after being forced
to work super hard this week things will change - I'll keep you updated!
Thanks for the love and prayers. I miss you
guys bunches and hope this week goes well with school and work and play. Go be
awesome and have a rockin' time!
