Mother's Day

Dear Family,

I will dedicate this letter to my mom. Instead of writing a general letter of how moms influence the lives of their sons and how important that is, I will express to MY mom the way she has influenced my life:

Wow, I always knew I had great parents, but until I came out here I never realized how great. I remember when our stake president told me I would realize how blessed I was to have parents like the ones I have while I served here on the mission. He was right.

Mom taught me how to express my feelings, how to share testimony, how to think rationally and critically, and how to act in the moment. "I know I've taught my sons to not be in the crowd and watch, but to stand up and do something." That's something she told me when I told her about a fight I had stopped in football practice one day.

She taught us to be peacemakers, to seek to be better and to follow the example of Christ. I know that this has helped me in the mission.

Haha, I remember turning 12 and being ready to leave the Primary. But because my birthday was in January I had to stay in the Primary being 12 years old for the rest of the year. I would be singing the Mother's Day songs with the rest of the little kids. Haha, I didn't want to. "Sing to your mother." She told me and I went up there to sing when all the little kids walked up. I was so tall to everyone else and felt too big to be there. I think I sang the first two lines of "Mother, I Love You" and then started crying. I don't think I understood the emotions at that time, but I was feeling love for my mom. The love of the Savior. Pure love. I love you mom.

Elder Johnson
P.S. We´ll talk tomorrow :)