Dead Lizard in My Socks and the Spirit in My Heart

- May 16, 2022

Good morning everybody! This email is coming a lot earlier than it normally does but I hope you all enjoy. This week was such a blast. We spent a lot of time in the Lord's vineyard and had an awesome zone conference as well.

In reference to the title (because sometimes I write a catchy hook title and then forget to talk about it in my email), my sock/handkerchief/underwear drawer (to clarify, that's only one drawer) was making my clothes smell bad and I didn't know why. Like all the clothes in there smelled super bad even though I had just washed them. Finally, I took everything out, and lo and behold there was a dead and decaying lizard on one of my socks! It was quite the experience, but I'm glad I got it fixed. Hopefully my socks will smell better this week.

Putting deceased reptiles aside, I loved this week. Zone conference was incredible! It was President Morrison's second to last zone conference and he knew it. There was a lot of urgency to what he said and the things he taught, which I liked but it also kind of stressed me out. He really wants things to be going good for our new mission president who will be coming next month. My main takeaway was that I can't rest where I am. Life and missions are about progression, so if I come a little ways down the covenant path and then just chill there for a while, it doesn't do me any good. It doesn't matter how far you walk towards God's kingdom if you don't make it through the gate.

Our first district council was on Wednesday and it was great. Elder Amevor, our district leader, is a really awesome guy and did a good job leading the discussion and council. We learned about preparing people for baptism and confirmation. I'm glad he talked about that, because in Ghana it's easy to baptize people before they're ready or before they fully understand what they're doing, then stop teaching them the moment they get baptized so that you can do and do the same thing to someone else. That's been a problem since I came but the Mission is working really hard to fix it.

We had some really awesome moments this week. Our friend Yayra, whose mom is a member, is going to be baptized next week! We had a lesson with her yesterday after church and she's doing so well. She's such a sharp kid, and I feel like I've seen her change even in the two weeks I've been here. The gospel is incredible.

We also had such a great experience with our amiga Patricia. She has a shop where she sells soap and diapers and stuff, and we've probably been there like 6 or 7 times to try and teach her since I came but she is always busy.

Fast forward to Saturday, we were mega busy and had a ton of appointments to get to. We planned our week and stuff in the morning so we were even running late, but as we passed Patricia's store, my companion felt like we should go say hi, even though we were late. I followed him in, and she told us to sit down and teach her.

I was stressed about us being late, but followed my companion as we sat down to teach her. I'm so glad I did.

Elder Fatoma and his previous companion had taught her the beginning of the restoration the last time they were there, so we finished teaching her about how the original church of Jesus Christ and his priesthood authority which allows us to do the things we need to do to go to heaven like be baptized and receive the gift of the Holy Ghost has been restored to the earth through a prophet named Joseph Smith. I felt the Spirit so strongly, and Patricia did too. Her English is pretty minimal so understanding is kind of small, but after we finished teaching the lesson and asked her what she learned, she told us the whole story. It was incredible.

More incredible than that even is that we invited her to church and she came! She had to walk a long ways, but she made it. One blessing of our branch is that we usually start sacrament meeting about 30 minutes late, so even if our friends are super late (in reference to the 10 a.m. start time), they don't miss much.

It was so wonderful. We're so excited for her and for Yayra especially. Pray that Yayra's baptism comes on! There's still stuff we have to teach her but she's starting school tomorrow so we're praying that she'll still have time to learn after school.

In conclusion, one bad habit (or dead lizard) can mess up a lot of stuff. Don't let small sins, problems or habits fester in your life the way my lizard friend festered in my sock drawer. Take them away immediately before they stink up your life.

I love you all!

Love,

Elder Johnson

1. If anyone connected with Brough Ranch Beef is reading this email, some of your jerky made it to the African continent, thanks to my mom. If you use this picture for advertising, I'll expect my share of the resultant profit.

2. We did a Baptismal interview with this sweet little girl named Kate on Saturday. This is us with her and Elder Tarpeh and Elder Donkoh in Nyinase, the village where they serve. Kate couldn't speak English but Elder Donkoh helped translate.

3. TWIFO PRASO

4. Our buddy Desmond (Yayra's brother), his ax, and a sweet rainbow. Praso is a
gorgeous place.