The Natural Man vs. The Willing Spirit: Fight Night

Good morning people that I love! I hope you all had a great week. We certainly did. We had some huge unexpected miracles and a lot of learning opportunities as well. And some weird but cool side notes as well. 

The first kind of weird but cool side note is that I now enjoy playing games. Like card games and stuff. I really didn't before my mission but now I do! It's crazy. Elder Ogdon, one of the missionaries in our zone used to work in a game store so he has a lot and I've also bought some so it's been cool. We've been keeping Grandpa Beck in business lately. 

Also, fun aside, we are moving apartments today. Our old apartment was being remodeled because the roof was leaking and the walls were moldy but they've reroofed and repainted it so hopefully that's done. I think it'll be cool to be staying in our area again, but I'll miss the Elders in the old apartment it was fun to stay in a 6-man for awhile. 

The most important part of this week was Sunday though because Blessing got baptized! She's the 10-year-old daughter of Sarah, a powerful recent convert and also one of my favourite people I've ever known and she was so ready. We've been teaching Blessing since I got here and it was cool to see her open up to us and become our friend as we taught her. At first she was super, super quiet and shy but by the end we couldn't get her to stop talking. She bore her testimony at the baptism and thanked us for teaching her and it made us both feel really good. The family picture with us in it is below. 

Sunday we also had a miracle. Anthony, a guy who was preparing for baptism some months ago but then kind of fell off the face of the earth came to church on Sunday kind of out the blue and had a great experience! I talked to him after church and he said that he still wants to get baptized. He even said that we should just set a date right then for his baptism! We had a lesson with him over the phone last night and it was so good. He said the church has really helped him and he already thinks of himself as a member. He also seemed so grateful that we were able to make time for him to meet over the phone. I'm super excited to see him progress! Pray for Anthony. 

This week we also had some great exchanges. I went on one with Elder Hatfield and one with Elder Self. Both of them started their missions with me and it was so fun to work with them. Both exchanges were great, and most of our appointments didn't bounce which is kind of rare for exchange days. Elder Hatfield and I still did a lot of finding, which I enjoyed. He's a very hardworking guy, and his attitude about finding really called me to repentance.

Sometimes when we have other appointments, I get really lazy about finding because there's other stuff to do. Elder Hatfield was ready to talk to anyone though, and it was fun to try to keep up with him. 

That kind of ties into the title. Something that has been in my mind this week is my own fragility. I feel like I have such big desires to do the Lord's work and I usually know how to do it. But sometimes, despite good desires and drive, my silly little human self gets in the way. If things don't go my way I get frustrated. If I don't eat for awhile, I get hungry. When I'm hungry, I get cranky. I get tired. When I'm tired I'm less effective. And the list goes on. 

Sometimes I get frustrated with myself. Like I'll say something to my companion I shouldn't say or not talk to someone when I feel like I'm supposed to or fall asleep in my personal study and not get as much out of it as I could and I'm just like what the heck. I don't want to have problems with my companion or limit my personal growth or offend someone, etc. 

What I know though is that that won't go away. Those human urges and feelings are here for at least the next 60-80 years. My job is just to learn how to control them with help of the Savior. And he's here to help with it. As long as I'm willing to let Him in, He'll change me and help me to overcome those silly little human emotions and chemicals and hormones and make something better out of me. It'll take a while, but luckily I've got forever to try it, as long as my spirit stays willing and I keep my covenants. It's pretty sic. 

Anyway, I'm sorry for the scattered nature of this email. I wrote most of it this morning and am now finishing it with 13 minutes left of pday. However, during our 3 hours of proselyting, Martin put himself on baptismal date! I'm so excited for him. Even with all the wahala and the move and stuff we were able to get out and teach him and it was so good. He's going through challenges, but God's helping him and he's ready to commit. He'll be baptized on the 23rd of next month if God permits. Please pray for him and Anthony and all of Ghana! 

Love, 

Elder Johnson

1. Fufu and fish. My best food

2-4. Pretty Tadi

5-6. Sarah, Blessing, Promise, Franklin, and us at the baptism. I love this family with my whole heart. 

7. This the coolest shirt in the whole world is only 14 dollars and i think the future Sister Johnson will be into it...... please if you're interested in donating contact my mother.