Well I have a new companion. He is straight from the MTC and he is golden. His name is Elder Thompson. He is originally from Canada but grew up in American Fork. He likes to say "eh" and "you betcha" and other Canadian lingo. He is a bit of a rancher so that's really cool. Trying to connect with him I told him about how I branded some cattle once at the Teichert's ranch. He wasn't impressed when I told him that since we weren't skilled we had to use the lasso as a trap on the ground instead of roping the normal way. But he's a really cool guy. And he is getting right to work here in Newport. I'm amazed when I see all these new missionaries who were so much better than I was when I first started. It is a very humbling thing. I try to teach him new things but I end up just learning more and more. I'm so very grateful for this opportunity to train another new missionary.
Well this week started out really slow because we were in Eugene Monday and Tuesday all day. On Elder Thompson's first day in the field we helped Shari (one of our investigators) move out. It was a very tough move. It took 4 hours!!! She didn't have anything packed up. So we ended up just throwing everything in boxes for her. Well later that night we received a voicemail from Shari saying that some of her stuff had been damaged and that she was missing some stuff. We were really busy since we took so long at her house that day. When we finally got the message we were a little bit.....disappointed. We had just helped her move all day and she was complaining to us?!?! Well we didn't call her back til the next day and she was mad. She was mad because of the damage and the lost items. In particular there was a coin collection that really meant a lot to her and she couldn't find it. She was furious as she asked us which box it was in. We honestly didn't know. We calmed her down trying (very hard) to be patient ourselves. And I told her to say a prayer. She hung up calmed down. About two minutes later we got a call back. She said, "do I sound happier?" I said " you found it didn't you?" She had hung up and taken my advice to say a prayer. She checked one last box that she had already checked a hundred times and there it was. It was an amazing miracle!
We also had a lesson with Olivia this week and we set another (more solid) date to be baptized. This time it is on September 25th. She just has to quit smoking and she will be good. She already knows the church is true. This is going to be a really hard week for her. I just pray that we will be able to meet with her a lot because that will be the key to quitting.
We met with Brandon and Susie twice this week and we set the date for September 18th for them to be baptized. This is also the same day as 9 year old Tim is getting baptized. I don't think Susie will be baptized quite yet just because she doesn't think it is necessary...yet. But 14 year Brandon called us the other day and told us he feels really solid about the 18th so we are really excited.
Well that's about it for me. Thanks for all you do and for all your letters. They really mean a lot to me!
Love Elder Johnson
