This week has been stupendous. We had a zone conference this week in Albany. That was a pretty awesome meeting. I could explain everything that we talked about but that would take a long time. Anyways I left really pumped to do missionary work.
Still been teaching Tony and Amber they didn't come to church yesterday which was disappointing. They will not be getting baptized on sept 3rd. Probably the highlight of the week is seeing Olivia at church. Olivia has been an investigator for a long time. A member invited her to dinner on the day they scheduled to feed us when I first got to Newport. Then we kinda lost contact with her. All we knew is that she lived somewhere in Toledo. So one day we were in Toledo and we were actually looking for a referral. We were just walking down the street and then we see Olivia who just happened to be outside her house working on the yard. We were able to find where she lived and she helped us find the referral. Nothing ever came from that referral but we know that it was just a way for the Lord to show us where Olivia lived. Anyways since then we have been teaching her but she has really been struggling to keep her commitments. She hadn't read the Book of Mormon and she hadn't come to church. It was really hard for us to keep moving with her. But she felt the spirit when we came over and taught her. She asked us what she had to do to be baptized. We told her she had to read the Book of Mormon and know it's true and come to church. Well we have been working hard with her for a while. And on Saturday night we called her and asked if she was coming to church. She said she was.....but she said that every week for the past 5 weeks. So we told her we would call her Sunday morning. So we did. And when she answered she said I'm on my way right now. YAY! We were jumping up and down. She only stayed for the first hour which is better than nothing but she said she really enjoyed it. Then we told her there was a boy being baptized right after church at 1:30. This was a child of record baptism. We invited her and she said she would come. We were really anxious we really wanted her to attend this baptism so she could see what it was like. Well she did end up coming to the baptism and not only her; she brought a friend along with her, Brandi. They both watched the baptism and we explained everything the whole time and wow. The spirit was very strong. Brandi also felt it. Afterwards she told us that she was really excited for her baptism. So basically that just sealed the deal. All she needed to do was come to church once and now she is in. She will keep her commitments now.
It's amazing how the Lord works in people. It's not really about what we say to people as much as it is the spirit speaking to them. The spirit really is what converts and we missionaries are simply the mouthpiece. What an amazing job for us though. It truly is a fanastic blessing.
Good luck on the upcoming school year! Congrats to Andre turning 16. Hope Marci is doing ok on her own. Hope you all are doing good. Please write me and let me know. I miss you guys a lot. I love you so much!
With love
Elder Johnson
