So President and Sister Nielsen, my friend Josh's parents, picked me up from the airport. It was very nice because they made me a sign and cookies and had vitamin water in the car waiting for me, haha. They are so nice. Someone who had class with me and Josh at BYU was working at the MTC and walked me in so it was cool running into him. There have been so many funny coincidences of meeting people or seeing people that I knew or weird connections that I just think is so sweet. That "sweet" was for dad.
There was an orientation type thing and we met the teachers and companions. I got tested the first day and I will be moving to Intermediate Spanish (instead of beginning). It’s sad that I will be leaving my district.
I love my companion Elder Profiler, he is from northern Utah, a town called Tree Mountain or something.
I was able to help a lot of the guys in my district with Spanish questions during our personal study times when the teacher wasn't there.
(Another Elder was on the same flight as Jacob at the Burbank Airport) Remember that elder who was at the airport with us? Well he ended up being in my district and was actually in a 3 person companionship with me and elder Profiler because his companion didn't arrive until the night of the first day. My district has two companionships going to my mission in Ecuador and we all live in the same room. The other 4 companionships are going to different parts of Mexico.
I can say my purpose as a missionary in Spanish now and pray in Spanish alright. My class definitely does not push me to my Spanish limits and for that reason I am excited to move on to the next class. I find myself reading other stuff because the teacher is going over vowels but that's hard too because you know how I love to participate! Haha.
There were so many General Authorities here this week and Apostles and the Prophet. The devotional last night had 7 of the twelve! But we got stuck in overflow seating :( It was a really good talk by Elder Bednar and answered a question I had been thinking about! The question was whether or not it is a good thing to want to be District Leader, Zone Leader etc. I wasn't sure if it was pride or just wanting to be better. Elder Bednar said that we shouldn't preoccupy ourselves with these thoughts. To strive for that is to satisfy your pride and vain ambitions and is PRIESTCRAFT. Anything that you do to draw more attention to yourself is priestcraft. That hit me hard and humbled me. I want to be more Christ like. In a video we watched at another devotional last night Robert D. Hales said something that also hit me hard. "Sometimes we forget just how obedient the Savior was. HE HAD NO PERSONAL AGENDA. Everything he did was out of obedience to his Father." I never really thought about that and I thought I had thought about everything. There is ALWAYS more to learn. Especially in the gospel. To have no personal agenda and do only the Father's will for you is the ultimate form of obedience.
What can we, as God's children, give to Him? He has everything. The only thing we have to give to Him, and that he left us with, is our agency. That is what we can each give back to our Padre Celestial. Ultimate obedience will pour out blessings we won't even have room for.
I’m running out of time but I wanted to share a miracle that happened yesterday. After breakfast I was feeling sick, similar to how I felt sick at Disneyland with Spencer so I was scared because that sickness lasted for two days and that was with lots of medicine and sleep. I didn’t have time for either here. I said a strong prayer for strength, health, and energy throughout the day while in the bathroom. All of that happened. Lunch was this taco salad thing that I loved and I was healed. I felt good and strong and had energy all day even in the long devotionals. So did my companion. He said I must have prayed for him too. That taught me to pray for both of us.
I love you all,
Elder Johnson
Hasta Luego!
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