Well I have some good news and I have some bad news I'm not really sure which is which at this point. I wish I could make this sound more elaborate and cool but I can't really think of any words to describe it. We were heading back to Newport from Waldport and we received a call from President Young he said he was going to be in Newport and he wanted to meet us at our apartment. We high tailed to our apartment to make it their on time. We met him there and he just talked to us and made us feel good. Then suddenly he asked me if I thought Elder Thompson was ready to train. I said yes. Elder Thompson has only been out for 6 weeks. Then we said our good byes. The next day we received a call from President Young again. He said he told Elder Thompson he was going to train then he gave the phone to me. He told me I was going to be called as a zone leader in Eugene. I just paused for a few seconds and said "you want me to be a zone leader?" He said "yes can you do it?" I said yes.
I've never been a District leader so I don't really feel ready at all for this......I feel really inadequate. I don't know why I've been called as a zone leader, but I am ready and willing to do what the Lord wants me to. I kinda feel like the way i did when I first came out on a mission. I knew I wasn't anywhere close to being ready but I went forward with all the faith I could muster. I will be companions with an awesome guy named Elder Hackett. He has been out less time than me I think but I met him once and he seemed like a really cool guy.
But other than all the stressful phone calls and everything we had a fantastic week. We had about 10 investigators at church and yesterday we had 4 lessons. So we had a meeting with Elder Koelliker from the seventy and he taught us that if we get our investigators to pray with a sincere heart and real intent and with faith in Christ we will double our baptisms. He also told us that they will have more response from heaven if we get them to kneel when they pray. Well we taught this lady named Miranda this week and we decided to implement this. At the end of the lesson we had her say the closing prayer on her knees. She prayed very sincerely and she started crying. At the end the spirit was so strong. I wish I could be there to teach her the rest. We also did the same thing with Daniel. He knelt down and said the closing prayer and he began to cry too. Man! I wish I had learned about this at the beginning of my mission. It works so good.
Well this week has been pretty hectic so is every single week. I don't know what to expect about being azone leader but I will probably have to prepare a lot of talks for missionaries. Anyways I better be off to Eugene.
Love Elder Johnson
