Bye Guayaquil

Dear Family,

I am in a city called Machala. I finally left Guayaquil, I'm kinda gonna miss it but this new city is awesome. It's a lot cleaner too and I hear it might be a little safer. The weather is also awesome. Really hot, but the sky is so blue with lots of clouds and it's just so great. We live on the fourth floor and the view is great. There are mountains in the distance that look like California mountains. Gosh, I'm just so happy. I was a little sad to be leaving Elder Carnese. He reminds me of Christian and we were great friends. It's amazing how much stuff you can go through and learn in 2 weeks. Sunday night was really special too. So we had ward council and were talking about a big plan to bring a lot of people to general conference and after we were just talking to the Bishop. His mom lives with him and she's not a member. I had a special feeling about her when I first met her. Anyway, I guess she's gone through a few pairs of missionaries. So that night I was like "Hey Bishop, can we teach your mom?" Then Elder Carnese said "Yeah, we still owe you a spiritual thought." He agreed and we went. Man, this lady was a little rough, but everyone bore testimony. The Bishop told her that she had already been taught by a few pairs of Elders and was worried she wouldn't be getting any more chances. The problem is that she is Catholic by tradition, and the family would make fun of her like they did to her son when he got baptized. We talked nicely and shared scriptures from the Bible and BoM. Man, it was special. I asked her if she would be baptized finally on April 7th and she said no. Then we talked more and more and then....Yes! She is going to be baptized! She started crying and so did the Bishop. It was his birthday. That night the call came that I was leaving. Guess I did what I needed to there. They are really nice people.

My new sector is called La Aurora. I don't know anything about it yet but I am with an Elder Savage. He's from Utah. It's nice because he says he'll be able to eat what I can't. You know I have a small apetite. They just eat so much rice here! Everyone makes fun of how slow I eat. I imagine it's the healthier way to eat, or that's what I tell myself.

Those who can adapt the fastest to changes are those who progress most. This life is short. And it's a test. How long will we wait to adapt to the will of the Lord? God loves all of his children equally, but he trusts some more than others. What are we willing to give up in order to gain the trust of God? That's the only thing that matters. We can learn his will as we seek it. I have had a change of heart. Before I wanted to know the plan. My plan. I wanted to just know what it was that God wanted to me to do. See the expectation and reach it. In my two weeks in the city part of Guayaqil I learned that I can be thinking bigger than that. I think that God wants me to reach my potential, but he won't tell me what my potential is. What does that mean to me now? Well, before, I wanted to know my potential so I could reach it. Like knowing that I wanted to jump just high enough to dunk a volleyball. That was the goal. But it's different now. I haven't been told what the potential is. It's like an open slate. The sky is the limit. Which means my faith has grown so much. The change of heart is that the barrier was taken out of my mind. The barrier of reaching a certain limit or potential. I'm ready to fly!

I love you all so much. I'll try and send pictures next week. Oh, so the zone is called "El Oro". I'm leading the Gold zone with Elder Savage! Oh, and Elder Whitney is here with me living in my house. He's from my group. It's cool.

Love,
Elder Johnson