What a week

The beautiful Primeria-they had a primary program

Dear familia e amigos...

What a week! I have decided that sundays are the hardest on the mission. mostly because it is judgement day. it is where we see what investigators will actually come to church... and yesterday we did not have the numbers we were hoping for. it was a big let down for me and kind of discouraging. i felt like we werenºt doing enough through out the week to help these people realize how important it is to come to church. i have noticed the small and simple things really do bring great things to pass. for example, when investigators stop reading their scriptures or stop saying their prayers we can tell a big difference in them and in their progress. the same is when they choose not to go to church. i feel like we start way back at square one. but i have to keep positive and realize these people have thier agency. and i need to keep doing the best i can do.

this week i would say the highlight was the zone conference. the food was the best... haha just kidding. the spiritual feast was really the best! We talked about the mission goal... which is mcvp. mission cabo verde praia. so first we have being master teachers... then we have c is consecrated missionaries. i love talking about consecrated missionaries. this was my goal to learn how to be one before my mission and i have learned that on my mission it is a process. but the zone conference was really helpful. we talked about our agency and our will. our agency is the one thing that is really all ours. and the goal is to learn how to give it to god. we read a quote that said giving up our agency is really the one surrender that is actually a victory. i love this. i decided to learn how to better give my will all to the lord and what he wants me to do day to day and what he wants me to be. and it wont be losing anything i will be gaining so much. this is also a process. but it excites me to. the fact that we can truly give our will to god. it is exciting.

so after the zone conference we had to take the barco.. ship... back to our island... but the only one left was the fast ferry. mom... i am so sorry but you will probably never be able to come to santo antao.. the only way is to get here by boat and on the fast ferry imagine being on a rollercoaster... or that ship ride at lagoon... for 30 minutes. Never again!!!!!!!!!! i even get sick on the regular barco... but the fast ferry was... well death. the two other sisters with us were vomitting the whole time. sorry for the details... i never actually threw up but man... i had a headache so bad the whole time and felt like i might. my companion and the district leader came out the best... our district leader was ready for more... we begged for him never to make us take that again... it was rough. but back to happy things...

i think my favorite part of the week was finding domingas and her boyfriend bemvindos... they are great. the day we saw them bemvindos was in a bad mood... or just really sad. we told him that our message can help him through difficult times. and his face kinda lit up and he got kinda hopeful. so we set a time to meet with them. come to find out domingas is actually a member. hasnºt gone to church in 20 years. she sat in the lesson and we talked about the restoration. bemvindos said he would study it out. he seemed pretty sincere about it to. and during the lesson domingas wasnºt really into it... but after the lesson we marked to talk to them again and sister zimbleman quietly asked domingas if she would help us teach her boyfriend. that was an inspired question. domingas got really animated. and she got super excited to help out. i think she just needed to know she was needed. she doesnºt want to feely needy.. but that fact that we need her really changed her attitude. and come to find out this sunday a member knows her really well and has been asking her to come back to church for years. she has been planting the seed and now she is prepared to make that step again in her life. i am really excited for them in the coming weeks!

this week sister zimbelman and i made some goals for the companionship. we talked about a lot of ideas and a lot of things we wanted to improve on and i think by doing this we got pretty overwhelmed. today we talked about how we are actually going to accomplish these goals. making goals has always been a struggle for me. i feel like when i make goals i never complete them. so then i get discouraged and just decide not to make them in the first place. because i always want to improve on so many things i always want to make so many goals... and then i get discouraged. but today sister zimbelman suggested that we make a list of what we want to do as a companionship... this list may get long. but then we will prayerfully pick the one thing we want to do better and make a goal with that one thing. i learned again that by small and simple things great things are brought to pass. it is always little by little.

 

i am loving santo antao with all my heart. i have definitely found loving the people is easy. but the hard part comes when i try to find the best way to serve them. so my goal this week is to also find ways to better serve the people. so when we teach the doctrine they will have open hearts and want to listen to us. and for the members, want to help us in this great work. we need to members in this work. for one, they understand creole better than i do. and they know the people here and where they live, what they like to do. i noticed this week that investigator families opened way up when we had a member present that they knew really well. so we need members, but we also need members who are friends with these people. and that is another reason why references are super important as well. we will have a built in member friend right there. i hope to better learn how to use the members in this work and work with them and help them get excited about the amazing spirit that comes when we teach the gospel and help others come unto christ.

i hope i never leave here... like in alma 17:23... i want to stay here... perhaps until the day i die.. die in the mission at least :) hahaha i have been studying alma 17. what a great chapter for missionaries. today i learned i need to be patient in my afflications. and then the lord will make me an instrument in his hands. 17:11 i think... patience. :)

Love~
Sister Johnson