Elder Talon Johnson: 30 May 2012

Well so unfortunately I didn´t exactly use my time well last week so I didn´t get a letter off to you guys. So now I need to make up for both of those weeks now, or at least try to. So the week before this one we had the baptism of the family. It went really well, It was really exciting to see the family all together in white. We had 5 people in the font at once, (the other three were standing off to the side). I remember that we unfortunately had to do the program right before the baptism was supposed to begin. But everything else went really well. We started a little late, but the Spirit was really strong. It felt great to have all those people changing their lives. After the baptism we had each of them give their testimonies about how they felt about the church. They were pretty standard, but it was really cool to hear it coming from people that maybe a month ago didn´t exactly want anything to do with us. I really love to see people change and change their lives for the better. I hope that they can all stay as active and faithful as they are right now after their baptism. Unfortunately that is the hardest part for almost everyone. Unfortunately they don´t always do the small things that keep up their faith so then they fall.

So something spiritual that we had this week was of course in a lesson that we had with another family. The mother and son were waiting for the father to return before they got baptized and now that he is back we are teaching them the lessons and we set a date with them yesterday. I really hope that the change and make the right decisions. At least two of them have either received direct answers or know that the church is true. So if they don´t do it it will be rather upsetting. Something in the scriptures that I really like is how straightforward and direct it is. And also how much spirit it has. When reading the scriptures I can learn a lot. I also really like how there are great examples in the Book of Mormon, and also that it states directly how we can be like them. That way we can focus on what we need to do and we can change.

So the spring here is full of the 5 minute rain followed by 20 minutes of cloudy or clear skies. And it follows a pattern during almost the entire day. Already though it is summer, which means that I am in the 90´s for the weather right now, and clear skies all day every day. It´s rather tiring to be out in the sun so much. So hopefully we can get a lot of appointments during the middle day time so we can avoid the heat. Luckily there are a few trees and parks every so often so at least it isn´t a complete concrete jungle. There are also some red flowers that look pretty cool. But they are only in some parks every now and then.

So something else that will happen tomorrow is that the ward boundaries are about to change. We will lose about half of our area in travel time. It wouldn´t be that bad except we are also losing some good families. Including an awesome Armenian family. They are some of the only ward members that actually love us I think. So it is a little disappointing to be losing them.

So I am also going to try to send some pictures, you´ll have to tell me if it works or not. It should include our baptisms, a picture of the hermanas in our ward, some shots of Spain, my companion in Provo and Madrid MTC´s and my companion right now, and the Gate to Narnia. The elders in my district in Provo, the Madrid temple, and our district here, at least before the changes this week.

Well ciao,

Elder Johnson