I'm pretty bad at remembering what I want to write in the weekly
letters! But that's ok. I'll just write what my heart desires!
Anyways, I think the highlight of our week was our zone conference on
Friday. So we weren't allowed to go see Meet The Mormons at the
theater of course, because that would just be trouble. But my MTC
companion who's in my mission in Vallejo emailed me (which is against
the rules we know now even if he's a guy!) about how at their zone
conferee they watched the movie! And I of course freaked out and told
my whole apartment. They're like, no way!! And then our zone leaders
came over to help us with 12 week training study as we call it, and
Elder says, "How are we supposed to talk to people about this movie we
haven't seen!" They, having already known we were going to watch it in
2 days just kinda went quiet and went, "uhhhh idk!" Haha so basically
we were positive we were going to see this movie! (This is a big deal
because the only moving pictures we can watch are mormon messages and
videos we take of each other)
So at zone conference President Alba shows us the trailer with David
Archuleta singing "Glorious" and asks us if we know enough about the
movie to talk to people about it. We all just kinda stared blankly. At
this point I was thinking, "we better watch it.." He sits there for a
second, and then he says, "do you guys want to watch it??"
The room exploded into a "YES!!" And everyone was cheering and me and
Elder Roper stood up and high-fived, and it was hilarious. President
Alba responded by saying, "I've never seen you guys more excited about
anything!" Haha I felt super cool because I knew it all along (kind
of).
So we watched it and we got a bunch of snacks as we watched it on a
huge projector in the church gym. It was sweet. It was such a great
opportunity to remind us in a way of how the gospel blesses each of
us. The last one with the missionary mom just made me think, "wow I
have a long time left.." Haha But her story was also amazing because I
remember when she expressed how she didn't want to hear about God
after her second son died right after birth. It's a tough thing to
know how to teach someone how the gospel can help them at such a time.
We taught a member yesterday, which was great because we've had a
total of about four teaching opportunities while I have been here. But
anyways he was about 30 and had served a mission, but had gotten
divorced after having three kids. He said, "I don't want to hear about
eternal families or anything like that." He was nice to us, but said
he just was taking a "vacation" of sorts from church. It was a bit
eye-opening for me. We showed him the "Mountains to Climb" video of
Henry B. Eyring's talk. It is amazing! You all should watch it. I
think it was a good option to show him because it emphasizes that even
a twig of faith can let the lord help us when we feel we are losing
the ability to endure. The guy we were teaching asked us if we had
ever been devastated by anything. My brain went, "uhhhhhhh" I realized
I didn't have an answer! It made me realize I have been blessed in my
life. It was an interesting lesson, but we left a blessing on his
home, and the spirit was there.
This email is really long, but deal with it :) another funny thing
about yesterday was we sort of stole our roommates' investigator.
She's an older lady who's 13 year old granddaughter just got baptized.
(Who apparently had a huge crush on the missionary who just left) So
that's an interesting situation haha.
We had Thomas there, a recent convert who is so golden! He's about 19
and Hispanic, and he's flippin hilarious. He was baptized two months
ago, but he knows so much about the church you can't tell. Elder Roper
baptized him, and he is with us a lot and drives us around. He is so
amazing and impresses me the more I'm around him. He recently broke up
with his girlfriend of 3 years because he felt she wouldn't help him
keep his covenants. Like, WOW that's real commitment. He also is
planning on a mission next summer! It's sweet. I told him I think he
is going to the Jacksonville, Florida Mission and he's going to eat
dinner at Elder Roper's greenie's house. That would be so momentous.
So I'll shut up now, but I just want to tell you all that I love you
guys. It's kind of funny because all the missionaries in our district
always say we love each other. (Not the sisters though because that's
kinda not allowed) But anyways, thank you all for actually caring
about my life! Haha it feels good to have a lot of support, even if it
is across the country!
I know this church is true, and I can already tell a mission is going
to be the most important thing I've ever done. I hope I can do all the
Lord wants and expects of me. Keep me in your prayers, and I'll pray
for you all. Thank you!
Elder Janson
Me in Elder Roper's iron man morph suit
That's me and Elder Sutterfield
Us asking for service opportunities!
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