Writings from West Virginia: Service Week = Good Week!

Hello family and friends! I hope your week was as good as mine was!

First off, on Tuesday we had Specialized Training in Pembroke! President and Sister Salisbury, and the Assistants Elders Stechnij and Coligan came down to deliver their Christmas message to us! It was a lot of fun. I'm glad we were able to see them and listen to them speak. We talked a lot about The Work of Salvation and what it actually means. It's mentioned repeatedly in the scriptures, but really doesn't mean squat if the missionaries and members aren't doing their part to share the gospel! Our ward mission leader, Brother W!, he knows how the Work of Salvation works. He always has tons of people for us to go see, and he is a great teacher in and of himself.

After Specialized Training, we headed back to Wytheville to participate in something called Feeding America! Feeding America is a national program dedicated to getting people who aren't poor enough for food stamps, but too poor to provide for themselves, food! It's a wonderful program, and it was great to see all the humble people that we were able to help out. A couple congregations come together to our church in Fort Chiswell (In between Wytheville and the other missionary area Hillsville) to hand out food. They sent leftovers home with us after everyone had left!

We also had dinner that night with the Gw. family! They are a really cool younger family, who have lived in Wytheville for just over 6 months now. He is an eye doctor who works with our Bishop at his clinic and has a really awesome beard. They also invited The F. family, a really cool family I think I told ya'll about last week. We were supposed to get a less active girl there too (that was pretty much the reason for the dinner) but she bailed. Bah. That didn't make the Chicken Casserole taste any less awesome though!

We had a really cool lesson with a girl who's been investigating for a month or two on Wednesday! Her name is S., and we were teaching her the Gospel of Jesus Christ. I had the opportunity to set her on date for baptism on December 28th! She just needs to quit smoking (like everyone in this state does), and she'll make it! She's a really cool girl who's had a hard past. I'm grateful for the opportunity to teach her!

Thursday night we had a lesson with the K. family! I've heard they're awesome, but have yet to meet them. we get started on our drive out there (which is apparently pretty far away), and whoops, take a wrong turn onto an interstate headed for Charlotte, North Carolina. Guess what then? Some genius who designed that interstate thought it would be funny to not put another exit for another 15 miles. Yeah, we had to cancel our appointment. Bah humbug. But it was still fun! Good adventures on the mission.

Friday was a fun day too! That morning an investigator named M. called us and asked us if we could do some service for him on his farm for an hour or two. We said certainly! He's a cool guy, and we pulled staples out of cattle post fences for an hour or two, and then lost the phone for a little bit, which was a little freaky.

Right after that, and investigator named R. asked us to come over to help him move some stuff in his yard. We hurried over, moved the hay, cut some wood with a chainsaw, and split some wood with his axe. I accidentally broke one of his axe handles, which I felt quite bad about. I went and got him a new one. I know I didn't have to do that, as he told me, but his family doesn't have a whole lot of money, you can tell, so I figured it was the least I could do.

That night was the long-awaited Ward Christmas Party! Woo hoo! It was a blast! In all my previous areas, parties and ward activities usually had a 20 to 30 person turnout. There were over a 100 people at this party, and at least 20 of them were investigators or just non-members and less-actives! How awesome is that? This ward is great! The food was really good too. We, the missionaries, had to the chance to show "He is the Gift" to everyone while they were there! Despite YouTube having to load a couple times, it went well and I think the point of it got across. It's a powerful video. Share it with everyone you can! Members and Nonmembers alike! Share it on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Instagram, wherever! Share share share! #Sharethegift!

And ending to a great week was Sunday. I had the chance to teach Gospel Principles, chapter 19! It brought back some memories on teaching it back home in Spanish Fork. As I was sitting in Sacrament Meeting, I had a thought pop in to my head for the lesson. It was a question. I thought, "How could I do this differently?" So to do it "differently" I drew the Plan of Salvation diagram on the chalkboard, and asked people how we get from Earth to the Celestial Kingdom, and went from there on repentance. It was a great lesson, but that's really not the point of this paragraph... I've been thinking about "Doing it differently" since I had that thought yesterday. I feel prompted now to ask you all reading this to ponder about how you can "do it differently." What does that mean? It's up to you! Maybe stop some things you shouldn't be doing and "do it differently." Maybe it has ties to missionary work. How can you "do it differently" with sharing the gospel? You don't have to go out and tract with us missionaries! That's not what we're asking you to do! Just ponder the possibilities. How can you all "do it differently?"

I sure love all ya'll! Thanks for praying for me, I testify that the power of prayer is real! Remember this week to use The Atonement liberally, or, as I once heard someone say it, to, "Apply it liberally." It's here for us all to use!

I love you all! Talk to you all next week!

Elder Braxton Johnson