Writings from West Virginia: The week of Tender Mercies and an Apostle!

Hello family and friends! We had an amazing week this week! I hope you all did too!

After emailing last P-day, we went to a place near the bottom of our area called Foster Falls. All it really is, is a river that drops 30 feet over a period of about a mile, but it's really pretty! Lots of vegetation everywhere, and a fun little park where we swung on the swings and played around with the Hillsville elders. It was a lot of fun!

Jumping over the mountain, we went to a Recent Convert's house, C. She was baptized a year ago the day that we went over! She is an awesome lady. We started preparing her for the temple, which she will attend in April. I've never had to teach that lesson before. It's interesting. We are going back on Wednesday, so we will be preparing really well!

Due to being low on miles, we have been walking everywhere for the last week or so, and it turned out to help us! As we were walking down a street, a Frontier truck pulled up. The window rolled down, and the man started talking to us! We had a good talk with him, and he was pretty interested! We gave him a Book of Mormon and a Restoration pamphlet. It was such a cool opportunity! It was a testament to me that The Lord can provide opportunities no matter where we are and what we are doing, as long as we're faithful and trying to do his will.

After dinner on Thursday, we went to Ch.'s house to see him and S. with Brother V.! We had a great lesson with them about overcoming the trials in our lives. They both struggle with some things, and we were able to testify to them that everything they have in their lives is known of their Heavenly Father. That maybe someday, the problems they face may be taken away, but if not, they are for a purpose, and they will make us stronger in the end.

We also saw D. and D. with Brother V.! We committed them to come to church, and talked about church and The Book of Mormon for a while. More on that later, we saw them again on Sunday.

We had a lesson on the priesthood with J. and N. this week too! We aren't sure we really got anywhere with them, but we know that it was a great lesson, and we felt the Spirit. We hope that something we said can touch their hearts and make them want to change their lives. We sure hope so!

On Friday night, we had the awesome chance to host Elders Mortensen and Cluff at our apartment in preparation for our mission conference the following day! They are currently serving in Roanoke together, and I knew both of them from my time in Kentucky (and I met Elder Mortensen my first transfer in Buckhannon). They are both amazing elders and we had a lot of fun together!

Now for the most amazing day of my mission so far! On Saturday we headed up to Charleston at about 5 in the morning! we arrived around 7, and got to talk to all the missionaries from the whole mission for an hour or so! It was great to see my previous companions, Elders Sawyer and Davis, as well as all my mission friends. Such an opportunity probably wont occur again in my mission, so it was a great tender mercy for me.

The conference started at 8:30. Elder D Todd Christofferson, accompanied by Elder Jack N. Gerard, our Area President, and Elder Larry S. Kacher of the seventy! What an amazing opportunity we had!

Before the talks were given, Elder Christofferson asked to shake all of our hands, so we all lined up and moved through the line. During my turn, I shake his hand and say, "Elder Johnson. I'm Priscilla Johnson's (his sister in law) grandson." He looks really happy to see me and we talk for just a moment, and then I move on and don't think much about it.

Well, fast forward to after the best mission conference ever, and I am standing by the bathrooms with Elder Larson waiting for Elders Cluff and Mortensen. They come out and we start heading down the hall to get going on our way. President Salisbury and Elder Gerard come up to me to ask if I'm related to Elder Christofferson. I said yes, and they took Elder Larson and I into the back stake president area to see him! Wow! Elder Larson got to talking with the other people there (Elder Gerard, Kacher, and the three stake presidents), and I followed Elder Christofferson into the stake president's office where we had a chat for the next 10 minutes! How amazing an opportunity is that? I am probably one of the most blessed missionaries in the history of ever. I'm so grateful for that chance I had!

Coming off of that spiritual high, we had an amazing Sunday as well! We were blessed to have 5 investigators come to sacrament and 5 less actives as well! What a day it was. We were able to see a few people with Brother Wh. after church, but due to a stomach bug I caught somewhere, we returned home early.

I'm so thankful for an amazing week! I hope all of your weeks went well, and have the best week ever this week too! I love all of you, and thanks for taking the time to read this. Have a great day!

Love,

Elder Brax Johnson