Sounds like life is insanely exciting for all of you,
and just in time
for my return; I’m excited to jump back into the mix and help out.
It’s obviously weird that I’ve got 2 weeks left and then - done - it's
over. So as we need to organize some stuff for my return, let’s start
there.
The Baileys told me about the money situation, which will be awesome.
I know there are western unions here but not really sure about the
address, there is one in a place called grand-Marché. (I think). I was
really grateful when I heard that you all were planning on doing that;
thanks so much. Whatever you send
I’ll be more than happy with!
As for the school problem, don’t even worry about it. I’m not
stressing; I’ve learned on my mission that you just do your best and
go along with whatever happens. Sounds like a loaded schedule for that
first month – which is perfect! For the family dinner, I don’t really
care – now, I literally eat anything, ANYTHING haha.
So to the missionary part of the email. It’s a cool story about
repentance. There is this young man, named Desty. I think he is pretty
awesome. Well Mondays down here we play basketball, as the church has
a basketball court on its property. A lot of people know we play
Monday so a good group always shows up. Well last Monday, we were
playing some games and things got a little heated. Obviously a lot of
rules are broken because no one really knows the way the game should
be played, and because it’s a competition we all got kind of intense.
Well, in one of the plays this young man, Desty, got elbowed in the
ribs. The offender excused himself and the game continued. Desty said,
“I said it was alright; but inside I didn’t want to let it go and I
was angry.” the next play this same offender was going for a dunk
(because the hoops are basically little Fischer-price children size
hoops we can dunk on them) well while he was in the air Desty thought,
“ohh this is the perfect time to give it back to him.” So Desty ran
into him while he was in mid-air, causing this young kid to lose
control and smack his head on the pole holding up the hoop. Well that
was the end of the game.
I didn’t learn about any of this until that night during an FHE when
Desty told us what happened. Desty said; he went home with a broken
heart. He flopped on his bed and didn’t leave his room for the whole
day. All he thought about was “why did I do that?” “Why didn’t I let
it go?” He acknowledged that what he did was wrong and decided to be
better next time. During the closing prayer at FHE he asked for
forgiveness for what he did. The point of this story and why I was so
touched by it is the fact that Desty was mature enough to acknowledge
a small sin and fix it the best he could. I think it would’ve been
terribly easy to simply shrug it all off thinking, “huh, that’s what
happens in sports.” or “ohh it was just an accident.” But he knew what
happened, and he knew it was wrong. I’ve learned time and again on my
mission that ALL sins small or big need reparation and repentance. I
wrote in my journal that night, understanding what sin is shows our
spiritual understanding; but recognizing it in ourselves shows our
spiritual maturity. The best part is once we repent the guilt goes
away, sure the memory stays but the guilt of what happens is gone –
all because He lives. In fact that was the church’s theme for this
Easter, Because Jesus Lives. Go onto Helives.mormon.org and watch the
video, I know you’ll like it if you haven’t seen it already.
Well tonight we are watching conference – finally! I have one question
that I want answered, “What do I do with all my time when I get home.”
Not really what kind of job or which school or hobbies. But what am I
suppose to do church wise. Temple, dating, callings, family history,
FHE, and all the other things. As a missionary you kind of only do one
big thing – preach the gospel. A lot of things members do regularly
are things that we don’t get to do. So the life of Brother Johnson
will be different from that of Elder Johnson and I want to know what
I’m expected to do.
Off I go for another week. I love all of you and thank you for your
support and love. Saying I’ll see you soon, is actually pretty serious
this time around!
