Are You Happy?

Fun Pday at the beach with my district.  

Hey everyone! Howzit goween? I hope you all are great! Because I am! I have had probably the worst to greatest week of my life. Up and down and all around. I wish I could write every little thing that happened, but I can't. So I hope you bear with me. It has definitely been a hallmark to my mission though. Let me tell ya...

Mån: Well, p-days are always good you know. And stressful. It's funny that the one day we have as missionaries to relax usually ends up being the most stressful ha. Oh well. We met up with the district at the beach and walked along the shore, roasted mallows and played some football. That was pretty fun! We then chilled the rest of the day and ended up finding some new investigators/friends to teach. (We taught some other guys on the street and they gave us some false numbers. Rats. haha)

Beautiful Castle

Tis: We helped move this small but very densly packed piano-seriously the heaviest thing of my life. We moved it down 3 flights of spiral stairs and then up 1. I'm still a little sore from that:) But on the way home we stopped by this castle and walked around a bit and got some cool pics. I got to capture the moments:)

We taught S- things are stressful with school but she's doing better. We had a lesson with C and N about working for the temple and the blessings thereof. We had President talk with them about their living situation and what they can do in order for him to be baptized. We are not sure what will happen, but will do our part and make sure he is ready as soon as possible.

Ons: District meeting about one of my favorite themes of all time "Prayer of Faith". I got many thoughts from a talk by elder Bednar "Ask in Faith". Joseph Smith prayed not just what church is true, but which one he could join. He was willing to act on the answer he would be given. Are we willing to act on the answer God gives us. Joseph studied it out, it wasn't just one and done. He worked for his answer as should we. Later we went to ward council and it was the best one that I had been apart of since I have gotten here. Stake conference has really helped us come together and things are really going forward. I love it.

Ice cream makes everything better!

Tors: Exchanges with Elder R. He and I have had similar life experiences. We had a good time talking about life and figuring out that we have a lot in common. It's always nice to be with other missionaries and see their styles of teaching, planning, finding, etc. It was super funny though, the whole day, we were cancelled on one after another. So we decided to get ice cream, because it was the first time where it was warm enough to have any! It was delish:) So with all of the cancellations we got the ok to start moving into our new apartment in Lund. We worked hard and then got more ice cream haha. Later we taught L about Baptisms for the Dead. She had a grandma who she was really close who died just a couple of months ago. When we told her she could be baptized for her, she was thrilled. That is her motivation to keep on track. It was a very powerful lesson.

Before

After

Fre: Moving. O, a member, helped us a ton by driving a trailer from our old apartment in Malmö to our new one in Lund. We didn't get all of it, but a big chunk. We also did some rearranging to make things more homey. We had to clean too.  I had to clean out the bathroom drain and that was gross. 

Dinner with YSA's

We ended the night by having an awesome dinner with some YSA's, S was there, and a nonmember. It seriously was the most fun I have had in a long time! Just having a good time with people my age-ish. We left them with a great message on prayer. Super fun.

Lör: Stayed in Malmö one last night and packed up and traveled the long way to our new place. It was quite the show, 2 missionaries with all of their bags stuffed on a bus:) but we survived.  Got in one teach and then had a member dinner and the kids just absolutely loved us. Gosh, I love that! We also taught N and C. They are just taking their time but they are good and they love church.

Sön: Another glorious Sunday. Friday and saturday were miserable weather days. Sunday, things got better again. We taught the YW class about the Atonement and Missionary Work. We focused a lot on the Tree of Life and Lehi first tasting the fruit-the atonement, and then looking out for his family and friends-missionary work. We had a huge dinner with the Nilssons (best members ha), then swungby an old investigator just to see how he was doing.

I didn't really go over any of the things that were hard for me this week. It's confidential and personal, so it'll suffice to say I have had a hard time. I have been really stressed, confused, frustrated, exhausted, tired, worn down, etc, Its all gotten to me. I had some breakdowns and some very humbling experiences. One of which, my companion and I were talking one night. I asked him "are you happy?" and he said yes. I told him to ask me. And I answered "I am trying to be." We discussed more and came to the conclusion that I have to have a justification for everything, but its really not necessary. If something in the past has happened, you can't change it. Just let it go, and move on. Thats something I have struggled with for years. And I can finally say that i'm moving forward. I felt so strongly the power of the atonement as I physically gave up those burdens/chains that were holding me back. I can't fully describe it or give it justice. But I know the atonement is real. I know that my sins are forgiven through true repentance. The hardest thing about repentance though is forgiving yourself. The atonement not only cleanses us of our sins, its gives us strength to do things we cannot do ourselves- for example forgive ourselves.

Be Happy!

This has truly been an immense turning point in my life. I have been taught, I have testified, I have lived, I have thought about the atonement. But now,-it is so real. It is so real and personal. I can honestly say now 100% that I am happy because of what the Atonement can and does for me.

Det finns inget ord som kan beskriva vad försoningen betyder för mig. Det är verkligt. Det funkar i mitt liv. Jag vet att de som vill kan använda försongingen när som helst. Kristus är altid där. Han lever. Han älskar oss så mycket. Min bön är att vi låt kristus in i vårt liv. Jag älskar er. Ha det gott

Translation: There are no words that can describe what reconciliation means to me. It is real. It works in my life. I know that you can use the atonement at any time. Christ is always there. He lives. He loves us so much. My prayer is that we let Christ into our lives. I love you. Have a great day.

mvh,

Elder Johnson