Writings from West Virginia: The Spirit Teaches!

Hello everyone! It's been a crazy week this week! Lots of responsibility! It's fun though! I don't have a whole lot to go over today, but let's jump into the highlights of what I do have!

On Tuesday morning we had District Meeting! In our district we have:

Lexington 1 - Elders Ostler and Criddle

Lexington 2 - Sisters Kelly and Christopherson

Rockbridge - Elders Morgan (Our DL) and Kelly

It was a blast! Elder Morgan, who goes home in 2 weeks, taught a great district meeting! We had a lot of fun, and I learned quite a bit, especially about baptismal interviews and dealing with tough situations. It was awesome!

That night we had dinner with the F. family, E. & E., who have only been married for a month and a half! They fed us an awesome dinner of delicious pork chops, and then came out to a lesson with Sister C. with us! The lesson went great, and the Spirit was strong. The F. [family] are super excited to fellowship Sister C. now! And now she is just that much closer to coming back to church. We will get her someday soon! We know it. She is such a great lady.

Skipping to Thursday, we had a really fun morning! Normally Thursdays drag on a little bit because it is Weekly Planning day, but we had a great chance to mix it up a little bit and got to do a missionary panel for a mission prep camp called Zion's Camp! It was super fun. We answered some awesome questions that really made you think about your mission experience. We get to do it again this coming Thursday for the next group of Zion's campers! I'm excited.

Friday was a blast! I had the opportunity to go with Elder Wheeler, one of our amazing District Leaders, on exchanges to his area of White Sulphur Springs/Lewisburg! Their area is HUUUUGE. One of the biggest in the mission, I know that. Like, 80 miles across and something like that vertically too. They make it work though!

We had an awesome lesson with one of their investigating families while we were there. One of their teenage daughters had gotten anti'd by some of her friends the night before, and so she had a lot of honest questions and it was good to be able to help her see what the true answers were. They are progressing and we're super excited for them!

We also invited that daughter (M.) to come with us to a party that the ward there was throwing in celebration of the 24th! She had a really awesome time, and the Young Women's President (who was the party host) just wrapped her up with fellowship. It was so great to see members going out of their way to help a nonmember feel welcome. All in all, it was a fantastic exchange!

Sunday was amazing for me! We had a great sacrament meeting, you could feel the spirit just moving through everyone there. It was strong. Our Stake President, President J., who was presiding since our bishop was out of town, stood up right before the closing prayer and encouraged everyone who wanted more fully to access the power of the Atonement in their lives to speak with Bishop D. It was a call to repentance in the most humble, powerful, bold, and loving way. The Spirit taught everyone there that day that wanted it. It was great.

We also had a great lesson after church with a new investigator, G. We tracted into her a couple weeks ago, and this was our follow up appointment. The first time, we had left her with a Book of Mormon and Restoration Pamphlet and encouraged her to find out for herself. She didn't take it at first, but after some persistence, she decided that it couldn't hurt.

Well, we come into this appointment and say the prayer and everything, and she pulls out like 10 pages of notes!!! She studied! She also says, "Sorry, I was really busy these past two weeks, and I was only able to get through the first two books of Nephi." I think our jaws hit the floor, including our member friend we brought with us, P. She had a lot of questions and concerns, but is open to learning more. I don't think I've ever met someone who knew the bible more than she does. It's crazy awesome!

I love you all! Thank you for your prayers and support! Know that I know that this gospel is true, and missionary work is the work of God on the Earth. Have a great week, and make it the best one yet!

Love,

Elder Brax Johnson