My Cape Verde Mission: Charity and Love

Dear Family,

so i blame myself... for the second month in a row. I made the goal of charity and love this month and i got sister zimbelman to make it with me and we are suffering. haha So this week it was a lot of learning and patience and muito (a lot) of LOVE. haha

So first with ernesto. So ernesto is this super awesome old man. He has a nephew who is a member of the church preparing to serve a mission. And also he has a niece who is a married member and about to have a baby. The only problem is his daughter... adopted daughter... was super successful in her life. She was a nurse and everything, but then she got into a bad relationship and now she is an alcoholic. She comes into our lessons very out of it and it just takes away the feeling because ernesto feels super embarrassed. So he has been taught before by the missionaries and has gone to church various times and he knows the book of mormon is true. Golden... And even better every lesson this week his daughter didnt come in and disrupt so we were feeling pretty good about it! Well we invited him to be baptized and he said he really wants to... its just not time... and he is not ready. The classic excuse for someone who has some kind of other doubt. So we kept trying to find out what it was and the whole time he brought up another type of question...

I tried to have patience during our lessons and bare testimony... but i learned i needed to have more love because during the lessons i just got so frustrated and started giving him all sorts of classic come backs and scriptures and fighting words.... it was truly hard to have love. We then taught him during my division and i received my chastisement. The cute sister who was with me with her little portuguese and her new missionary spirit just bore her testimony... the spirit was so strong and i realized that it was the testimony that we needed to bare and the simply invite with power that we needed to give. i know that it is the testimony that brings the spirit and changes the hearts. So to end... ernesto was not baptized this week and we ended up having to leave him for a while because he was not progressing. but maybe one day we can go back and see how he is and i can show more love.

The next is that another baptism who was super ready decided she wants to be catholic... the padre is calling. que dor. And then every other single person who seemed promising just left... just plain stopped wanting to talk to us... Learning so much love and charity.

So this month has been quite the difficulty.... but as i was thinking yesterday i had a great revelation about basketball and mission... i love how everything in sports applies to life. heavenly father is super intelligent. And i have decided that i will be like elder uctdorf and all of my talks will have a reference to basketball.

haha but anyway i realized that as i played basketball i was super good at getting to the basket... like it was easy for me to get past people...but then when i was there at the basket... ready to make the point and i panic and miss the shot... so ALL that effort to get to the basket was just wasted...Because it didnt result in anything just a turn over. haha so i applied this to our missionary work right now. We are getting everything to the church... in the chapel and even to the fonte... but we are not getting them in the water. Its easy to help them get there but then we freak out... something happens and they fall! So then all that work... wasnt for nothing, but it didnt result in what we wanted. We are working so hard... but we also need to work smart! So we have decided to be more smart about what we do each day. Each lesson, each hour has a purpose. We are on the Lords errand and we need to do things his way. We need to work hard and get the numbers but also realize that these numbers are people and we know and love these people. So my goal this week is to work smart! Sorry if that analogy made no sense... its better in my head.

Just know that i love this gospel and i love the lord. I am seeing how the lord changes people and their lives and just as the rocky roads come and we think we cant go any more.. not even one more day.. a miracle happens. So after having a rough week and everything falling through.. we found what we have been looking for.. A FAMILY. They are super sweet and we started by teaching the 13 year old daughter. Then she invited us to her house to meet her family and they are just ready to hear the gospel. We are super excited and teach them for the second time today. they mom came to church yesterday and her husband promised to come next week. I dont write they names down in the planner i just write.. THE FAMILY... families are what we are working for. to have families forever.

Love you my family,

Sister Johnson