20 Years, 20 People

Good morning everyone! This week was wonderful. A lot of big stuff happened and while we had some disappointments, we also had some really huge blessings and miracles. 

One big miracle is I am now 20 years old. Yup. No longer a teenager! I'm a big boy now. My companion is 27 so he's not all that impressed with this milestone, but it's OK. I'm old now.

And thank you all for your kind birthday wishes! I felt very supported this week. 

One cool coincidence that I wish we had planned was that we found 20 new people this week, which is the most we've ever found. 20 years, 20 people. I wish I could say we had planned it out and worked really hard to accomplish our previously set goal, but our finding goal for this week was 5. Still, it was cool. One lady named Vivian seems especially promising. We gave her a pamphlet on Friday and when we came back Saturday she had read the whole thing and had a ton of questions. I love lessons like that. We had a similar lesson with Isaac, one of our other people, where we just discussed the restoration. The awesome thing about it is it can't be disproved! Jesus Christ and his apostles had the authority to baptize, but then they were killed. That power was restored to Joseph Smith, who gave it to others within the true church, which means that you can only receive a baptism by that authority in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. It's really nice to teach something that makes so much sense and that can't be disproved because it's true. 

This week was cool though. We had exchanges with Elder Carr and Elder Sampson in Nuamokrom, which I really enjoyed. Elder Carr is a really good guy, missionary, and teacher. We had some awesome lessons and did a lot of finding. 

I feel bad for them though. Their area is a really small village with zero cell service and basically zero English. They can't speak the language and it's difficult to get members to help translate because they can't call anyone. Elder Carr is being transferred, so hopefully they send a Ghanaian there. Or fix the cell tower. Either way, Nuamokrom could use your prayers. 

Speaking of transfers, they are happening this week. Elder Fatoma is going and I'm staying. I'm sad to see him go, but excited to see what my next companion will bring to the work. Elder Fatoma taught me so much about hard work, loving those we serve, and enjoying the work. I admire him a lot. And his food is nice too, which is also something I will miss. 

This Sunday was our district conference. I loved it so much. We did it at a school because none of the churches are big enough. It was so great! I love how new the church is here. There were probably 200-300 people there, and probably 80 percent of them are first generation members of the church. As we sang the intermediate hymn, I looked around and had the overwhelming feeling that I'm surrounded by God's elect. We're all children of God, and we're all building ?His kingdom. Although we are imperfect, the kingdom we are building has no flaws. 

There has been some small small drama with our branch and the other Praso branch and the district presidency, and because of that, a lot of members refused to come to the district conference. Additionally, all of the people we invited to the conference except 2 didn't come. We went around on Sunday morning to pick them up but none of them would come, despite saying they would earlier in the week. 

This was all pretty frustrating to me, and I walked into the conference with kind of a cloud over me. I was feeling pretty resentful towards the people who didn't come. However, as we sang that intermediate hymn, all of my negative feelings slipped off. I realized that if people don't want to be there, that's their loss. We can invite and help and convince and work with them, but at the end of the day, it's their choice. They're the ones who miss out on the Spirit and joy of the gospel if they don't feel like coming.

The church is true! I love you all. I also have some exciting news for today. A year ago today, I was set apart as a missionary. I've grown more this year than I ever thought possible. I've discovered the joy and peace of discipleship. I've learned to love and study the word of God. I've learned that I have a lot of flaws, but that God can still use me to do his work if I let him. I'm so pumped to have made it this far, and I know that this year will be even better. I'll hopefully be a lot more effective and energetic now that I know what I'm doing in a small way. Let's do it again!

Love, 

Elder Johnson

1-2. The mighty Praso zone. From left, back to front: Elder Tarpeh, Elder Donkoh, Elder Amevor, me, Elder Fatoma, Elder Smith, Sister Peter, Sister Owodede, Sister Lapunare

3. The brethren

4. Me and the chief! I'm not sure what he's the chief of, but he seemed really important. He had like a seat of honor and stuff. 

5. Me and the chief and President Davies