Writings from West Virginia: A Pineapple, Crystal Hunting, "Again", and Exchanges!

Hello friends and family!

I hope you all are well on this fine day! We had another exciting and awesome week! Let's jump into it!

Monday morning we got a call, right before we're about to leave for emailing. Our Relief Society President calls us and tells us that we're her last resort for helping with the Food Kitchen that morning, because everyone else she called couldn't come, and the person who was supposed to come couldn't either. Being eager to help the ward members in any way we can, we readily accepted! It was awesome! We got to meet a whole bunch of new people that don't usually work the Thursdays that we work at the Food Kitchen, and got to talk about the gospel with them and introduce ourselves. It was awesome.

Later we spent the day with R! He had told us about a cool rock quarry on his property in the northern part of the county. We headed up there with him after he got off from work with the intent to find some diamond looking crystals he had told us about! How fun, right? Unfortunately our crystal count was a goose-egg, but now we know where they are! We'll get rich yet!

Tuesday was interesting. We had planned to go see H. at her office (as usual on Tuesdays), so we headed over there after lunch! Lo and behold, her car wasn't there. Usually in that situation we would just go to our backup, but for whatever reason I just started driving toward her house. As fate would have it, there is her car, sitting in her driveway. We go up to the door, she lets us in, and we just talked. She had been having some rough experiences the past couple days, so we just opened up the scriptures and had a great conversation. It's amazing how the Lord knows everyone's situation and what they need at that time. She's such a strong and awesome woman.

That night we stopped by D. and D.'s house for the last appointment! His baptism is coming up, and his baptismal interview was on Friday (see later in the letter), so we were really just getting him prepared for the interview and baptism in general. He did great, as he always does, and even taught us a little bit. Can somebody say "elect"? I can. :D

The highlight of Wednesday was seeing R. (again). It was his 56th birthday, and we wanted to make it special. We didn't want to get him anything sugary to make his blood sugar rise. But we didn't want it to be boring either ("Here's a carrot!" Yeah, thanks a lot.) So we pondered a little bit, and bought him a pineapple! He said it was the first pineapple he'd ever gotten as a birthday present. How awesome, right? Pineapples make surprisingly good substitutes for birthday cakes.

Thursday things picked up again, starting off with the Food Kitchen (yeah, again)! It was great, as it always is. Had a great conversation about missionaries with a couple people there, and I think that some of them are honestly interested! That's what service is all about. Helping people and getting your name out there to find these sons and daughters of God.

We saw D. and D. AGAIN (Lots of 'agains' in this letter). This time was the review of everything we had taught. We went through the baptismal interview questions and quickly reviewed the lessons. He passed with flying colors, and was all ready for Friday!

Speaking of Friday! That morning we had Zone Meeting up in Bluefield! What a fun time. We learned a lot, taught a lot, and had a lot of fun! I love our zone. Nicknamed "Bluefield zion" it really does seem like the promised land. Funnily enough, the Bluefield Zone is entirely elders. Not a sister in sight! I'm still a little bitter about that, so we'll end this paragraph before I rant any more.

Zone Leader exchanges were on Friday as well! Elder Bean went up to Princeton with Elder Bingham and Elder Labrum (Who is staying with them due to some unfortunate circumstances), and Elder Trujillo and I partied down in Wytheville! Elder Trujillo is from Fruit Heights, Utah, and came out on his mission with Elder Larson! (A long, long time ago) He is a great guy.

One of the first things we did was D.'s interview! He passed with flying colors, and now Elder Trujillo is as excited as we are for his baptism. May 10, 2015. Mother's Day! Save the date! What an amazing day it will be.

Skip to Sunday! After an awesome fast and testimony meeting (and the rest of it of course), we headed out with Brother Wh.! Our first stop was to C.'s trailer, where he, S., J., and J.'s boyfriend G. had gathered! (Along with J. and G.'s little newborn E., can't forget him) We had a good lesson with them, and answered some gospel questions, and joked around for a little bit. I also took some good-natured abuse from everyone for saying a prayer and "rushing us out" as Brother Wh. jokingly said. Sometimes we stay too long at people's houses that we are supposed to when we are out with Brother Wh., and so to make our time most effective, I've been trying to keep us a little more on track. I learned that by doing so I get a little resistance. Oh well. Being a missionary never was supposed to be easy!

After them, we went and saw B., who I hadn't seen in ages! Brother Wh. and I both agree that B. will eventually join the church, once "the lightbulb goes off in his headed." He's just scared right now. Too many hours spent watching Sister Wives. One day though! We'll watch and pray and wait for it.

We ended the day at D. and D.'s (the last again). They fed us an awesome dinner of Salmon Cakes, Stuffed Mushrooms, and Cheesy Broccoli! A true Southern dish. What I love most about D. and D. is how naturally the conversation flows to the gospel. It just happens, without any pushing on our part! We had a fun conversation with them about early Church History and stories from that era. I think all 5 of us (D., D., Wh., Elder Bean, and I) went away learning something new. I love this church and all its history. No matter what nay sayers and anti-seekers say, this church will always stand, unmarred by its Iscariots.

Didn't mean to start sermonizing! It happens more and more the longer I'm out, haha.

Well, today marks 11 months down! The time moves too fast. This time next year I'll be packing up. I want you all to know how much this mission means to me, and how grateful I am to the Lord for choosing me to be a laborer. I'm serving with all my heart, might, mind and strength, and I know that because of faith, I am seeing these miracles.

I love you all! Make this week the best week ever! Have a great Mother's day next week!

Love,

Elder Brax Johnson