Ami ka tem txeu kuza pa fala-nhos

Dear Family,

I thought about writing this email in kreole... i hope you like the subject those of you who understand :) haha But basically It says that i dont have much to say today.

So i will do a regular review of this week. It has been a great week. It had some sadness yesterday though... But basically here is what happened. This week i gave a training in my last district meeting... this week we will not have district meeting because we will have special training from president. But it was a good district meeting i believe... i brought drops and it made everyone happy because the district was a little dead this past week because of some sicknesses but we are getting back on track! 

Next is keny! TXEU tristeza.. So keny is a great investigator. And he had a date for the 26th and was super super prepared. He had a problem with smoking, but we did a fast and he has been reading and started working and it has been going so well. He has been to church but needed to come to church this sunday so that he could be baptized this week. But he didnt come... we still have no idea what happened!!! He had his baptismal interview on saturday and he seemed so excited and happy afterwards. So we think maybe he gave in to temptation and smoked, but we will see this week. It was super sad, but usually when i would be absolutely devasted... i am not. I think it is because i trust in the Lords plan for keny and even though i wont be here for him to be baptized, I know he is in good hands, the lords hand and he has the book of mormon that can help him overcome anything!!!

So yeah.. 

Everyone seems to be expecting an email next monday too... but i dont guarantee anything. I will be in praia with time mostly for my Cabo verdian family.  i will do my best to send you all a line or two.

But starting the last week of my mission i have two thoughts... or maybe one.

As i was praying last night I thought about all my experiences on the mission and i felt a lot of gratitude for the amazing things i have seen and heard and enjoyed and learned! These people are so loving. But i was also thinking about this last week.. At the very beginning of my mission i heard Elder Holland speaking about how we need to be missionaries until the end. He said... We need you sister for the FULL eighteen months... not a week, not a day less. This has always stuck with me. And i intend to finish strong. I have felt the strong influence we have as missionaries and the power and authority we hold to help others come unto christ and i know there are people this last week that need Sister Johnson to continue to endure so they can hear the gospel. So this week... is like any other week... Always in the middle :) I know this is teaching me the principle of enduring to the end which is something we will need to do our whole entire lives! And i will also enjoy this last part.. because enduring is also enjoying! LOVE YOU ALL

until next week.. maybe ;)

Sister Johnson 

OLA

OLA.

This week was amazing.... So many answers... so many great miracles. I cant even describe them all... but i will start with eugenio!

So the story of eugenio starts when he basically contacted us! Sister goncalves said that she was cold as we were walking down the street and asked out loud how long we must suffer this coldness... he answered and said something like until march... PS- it is STILL cold.. (well cold for me who has been in africa for 17 months... for you all back in the states it is a summer vacation)

Back to the story. he then asked us where we were from.. we explained our purpose as missionaries and showed him where to find the church and yeah.. we then called him the next day we were in Palmeira and he happened to be there too and we shared with him the message of the Restoration which changed his life! So he progressed perfectly. Golden investigator. But he had some challenges. 

The main one was that eugenio is military and the military here is like they get drafted and it is super difficult and they dont get very much money and can be transferred to whatever island in like seconds. So basically he told us a week or two before his baptism that he would be doing some testing that week to see who would be transferred to Praia. We happened to be teaching fasting that day and it was perfect. We decided to do a fast all together that he would not be transferred. He has so much faith, he did the fast with us and last week we learned that 13.. THIRTEEN of his group were chosen... but not him :) Fasting is so powerful. I dont know how he didnt get picked, but he didnt and he can stay here to be with his family and also to help grow the church here in Sal. 

He also had a challenge with his father not wanting him to be baptized, but he didnt think twice. And now we are teaching his father and brother too!

So yeah... that is basically my week. I also had a great division on thursday with Sister Cardoso. She is a cabo verdiana from Fogo and we lived in the same house in Santo Antao. She is an AMAZING missionary and sister leader and really helped me to keep on progressing and know what i need to do. Wow... i was super impressed by her abilities to lead and serve. The young generation is so strong. haha

But that is all. i love you all and have a fabulous week doing the work of the Lord. 

Sister Johnson 

Atonement of Jesus Christ

This week has been great!

I will be super short because time is money... haha just kidding.. time is baptisms

kidding again.

But truly today i have little time so i will be quick.

This week Benito was baptized! We are super excited for him! He was so happy the whole day and the whole week actually. I think i talked about Benito in the last email so i dont have much to say just that he got baptized and that our goal now is continued repentance and conversion! 

I would just like to share my testimony of the Atonement of Jesus Christ. wow... we sang a sacramental hymn yesterday that as i played the piano and heard the words i started to cry.. it says basically this that For us, he suffered. I love that Christ did not have any personal motives. His love for us is enough. And i know that this week i have truly felt that the bad thoughts and hurtful feelings have been taken away and cleaned... literally... by the atonement of jesus christ. The power of his atonement is without words and i truly testify that it can clean and cure anything. From the smallest offenses... to the big heartbreaks, he is there to cure us. I know his holy spirit is our guide and comforts us. I am so grateful that he left with us his comfortor. I know Christ lives. In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen,

Sister Johnson 

Leap Year

Dear Family,

Well i will start out with a funny story... that is funny now but in the moment it really wasnt that funny. 

So here in cabo verde, sal... we often have problems with AGUA.. (water). So one morning i woke up and i followed my normal schedule... get dressed to exercise.. do my hair.. and then... go to the bathroom. Well this day i put my long braids in a pony tail down my back... after i finished using the bathroom i turned my head around to get the toilet paper and wacked the scency thing off the top of the toilet with my hair and it just happened to hit the old rusty tube that connects the pipes to the toilet and WAM i feel this hard water splashing on my back.... i got up quickly and tried to turn off the water pipe but the turn off part was rusted too and so i ended up braking it off without turning it off or anything.. so here i am ... standing trying to stop the water from going everywhere with my hands. I end up putting my finger in the right spot to stop the water from getting everywhere...but my bathroom is already a lake. i call my companion to come help and we call some people but no ones phones are on in that moment... we then get super lucky and hear our neighbors leave and we ask them for help and they knew who the house guy was and we got thing settled eventually and they found a way to turn off the water. but yeah! i woke up super fast that day... i usually dont say a word until 9 o clock companion study but that day i was forced to speak. hahaha but now all is good and i got a good working toilet and everything! 

Next.. is some updates on the work here. We are seeing so many miracles. We have taught some lessons that have left impacts on me! 

You all remember Eugenio from last week. He is progressing amazingly. This week he went to church and our lesson in principles of the gospel was about prayer and he bore an amazing testimony of prayer in his life and how since he has started praying he knows that god loves him... we watched as he gained a stronger testimony of prayer in that lesson, the spirit was so strong! He spent the whole day at church and activites. He is super excited for his baptism. He already has plans... once he leaves the army next year... to serve a mission! 

Next is Benito. Remember benito? Yeah well we taught him in january and he was preparing to get baptized but then his work schedule got so busy and he never had time to talk to us. We found him about 2 or 3 weeks ago again and showed him how to put the book of mormon on his telephone. then about a week ago we were in a members house teaching a lesson and he knocks on the door. after the lesson he said he just felt like he should come to the members house in that moment and has been reading\listening to the book of mormon and is in mosiah. He is preparing for baptism in the month of march. it is great when the lord just puts.... literally PUTS people into our hands. 

Lets see.. i think that is it for the stories. This week went by super slow... haha a lot of unplanned things just happened like the water and all and we had a lot of patience builders. but february is almost over and its going to be march soon and march means MIRACLES. It also is march madness... but yeah... i hope this march is a march of miracles and we can have a month of diligence and keep helping others come unto christ. 

I would like to explain something i learned this week in our zone conference as well. We had zone conference and as it is my last i was picked on as i like to say. i got called up to do a practice in front of the zone and it was an interesting one... I was asked to teach my "14 year old rebel son" who had just come up to me and said he doesnt want to go to church anymore... it was an interesting practice but i felt my love for this son during it. I then was asked to teach an investigator who had just told me he didnt read the book of mormon... I realized how my attitude and way of teaching kind of changed. I realized that it really shouldnt. I love these people so much and if i would teach them like a son i think they would feel that love even more. We really need to see people through our heavenly fathers eyes. We are ALL children of a loving heavenly father and a lot of the times our heavenly father puts us in places so that we can bless one of his other children that he loves just as much as he loves us. So i have applied that lately.. teaching people like a parent and seeing them how heavenly father does. And i have felt my love increase for them. 

I love you all so much and ate proximo! (until next time) 

Sister Johnson