Week 5

Hey momma! Well I was glad to get to read your letter. I'm so glad
Cody had a good time at EFY and went to the temple. I'm so happy
he's dedicated to serve and wants to go to BYU, he just has to go
through the struggle of high school! Haha that's so crazy he is
already driving by himself! But I know he's smart and can do it, he
is after all better than me on a dirt bike now (don't tell him I said
that) lol. The vans breaking down doesn't sound very good at all
but that's awesome Barron can do it himself and save lots of money.
Tell that Nate Harman he needs to flippin write me! Ha it would be
cool to talk to him so if you get a chance to do that it would be great.
Okay, so I got Aunt Mary's package yesterday and also my bag from
Missionary Mall. It was zone conference yesterday and it was at the
mission office in Boise. Mary out did herself, Sister Young (the lady in
charge of mail) came and told me I had a package and it was the
biggest one she had ever seen, then when I came back out I had one
from missionary mall and one from Cara on top of it. So I left zone
conference yesterday with 3 packages.

So this past week has been a lot slower than the week prior. The first
few days of the week are a lot slower and harder to do work because
we meet with most of our investigators the same day of the week and
those are usually Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday. So
Wednesday both of our appointments canceled on us and then we
went to go contact some of our less actives and recent converts
but every single person we tried wasn't home. So that was hard. We
got 1 new investigator this week. Well kinda, he's been ex'd and now
wants to get back into the church and the bishop wants us to teach
him the lessons, which he wasn't happy about because he told us he
knows them already. So on Sunday we went over and taught him the
first lesson and he pretty much taught us it which was great that he
actually knew the stuff because most the time people say they know
all the stuff and when we start teaching, they realize that they really
don't lol. But teaching him was awesome, the spirit was so strong
and there were some tears and he loved it. He is such a good guy,
so humble and so faithful, he's gonna be a great member again. Oh
and I needed to ask you if you knew Brother Miller. He was a GM for
Applebee's the same time you worked there. He opened up 7 stores
in Las Vegas, some in Boise, and in Nampa. His name is Troy Miller
and he said he knows your name and doesn't remember if he ever
met you though.

So Thursday our closest investigator, Melissa, canceled her appoint-
ment with us, we were so bummed because we planned so hard for
this lesson because she's had all the lessons, she knows it's true,
she bears her testimony on things every time we teach her and then
she still doesn't think she's ready for baptism. So we planned on
going over the baptismal interview questions with her so she could
realize that she is ready but we have to wait for next week now.
They also weren't at church which wasn't great because she said
they would be so we gotta work on her husband Brian, who's
less/inactive.

Then we met with Brent. Brent is in his 40's. His wife and kids are
members and just less active. He decided awhile ago to take the
lessons, so we've taught the first 2 lessons. He is so amazing, he
is so analytical and puts 110% in everything he does. So last
week we gave him a reading assignment to read the Book of
Mormon, and this week we asked him if he read and he said he
didn't read much just got to 1 Nephi 16, we were like wait, what!
We were so happy because usually we're excited if a investigator
reads one chapter. So he is a guy that will read and study so deep
and  it may take him awhile to join the church but he will join and
he will be a strong member for life so we're excited about him.

We also taught the Shiner family. We're helping them kick a
smoking habit. The mom is a member but has really been
inactive her whole life, so we're teaching them and it's going
really well, they came to church this week which was awesome.

Sean is a guy we love teaching. He's in his 30's, has been ex'd,
but wanting to get back in the church, so we're teaching him
the lessons. He is so great, I love hanging out with him. He
wants his family to join the church and his kids to grow up in
the church so it's gonna be great teaching him. He came with
his 4 year old son to church this week which was awesome!

So we had 6 of our 7 planned investigators come to church this week
so we were really happy about that. We have been trying really hard
to meet with the ward mission leaders for the wards and the bishops.
I guess Kuna had some really lazy and bad missionaries in the past
and lots of the bishops and members didn't trust missionaries, so
Stepherson has been working hard to do that and now we're trying
to get the last of them to meet with us and start giving us referrals
because we have tracted out all of the sub-divisions here. So we've
been working hard and seeing some good results.

We have 3 investigators that are close to baptism this week so we're
hoping to set 3 dates this week for the middle/end of July. The
weather has been absolutely insane, its been 90-100 everyday for 5
days and is only gonna get hotter. So biking is gonna be a big work
out this week.

We had zone conference yesterday (Monday) and it was awesome.
We had 4 or 5 zones there so there was probably 50-60 missionaries
there. It was an all day thing 9-4, but it was great. The topic was on
sacrifice and faith and how they go hand in hand. I heard a great
quote by Bruce R. McConkie- "the tests and trials of mortality are
designed to determine whether men will use their time and talents
in worldly or spiritual pursuits. The crowning task in this field is the
task of sacrifice". It was a great experience.

I got so much candy and food in Aunt Mary's package it will last me
my whole mission lol. I don't really need anything in particular, I am
always buying stamps so I guess I need those and other than that
I don't think I need anything, thanks for everything I love you and
miss you, I don't have Barron's e-mail so could you give it to me or
maybe tell him to write so I can get it? Love you.

-Elder Johnson