10.19.09
Hello everybody,

Today: Rain, a high of 46 and a low of 41.  Tomorrow: Rain, a high of 45 and a low of 40-with a moderate breeze.  Friday: Rain, a high of 47 and a low of 42-with a slight breeze...ie 'chill factor'.  And it's getting colder............not exactly the most motivating forecast to hear at the start of the week in a walking area. But despite the wet and the cold and the wind (all of which I am not a fan of one bit while having to walk everywhere) the week has still been good.   :)

The crowning moment was the baptism of Willie we had on Saturday night. It was awesome :) And it was the first time I had ever baptized anyone.  The Spirit was super strong just as I pulled Willie up out of the water. It is really too amazing to be cheapened by simple words in this e-mail, so let's just call it Pure Bliss.  I know that it was confirming to me that the Lord was smiling down upon his son, Willie, at that very moment. I feel so blessed to have been able to take part in something so significant on an eternal perspective.  

And to be quite honest, in comparison to that, the week seems rather dull....not because it was a terrible week, but merely because of the fact that participating in Willie's baptismal service easily out shines the rest of the week.  Transfers came and went, and in my district there were no changes, which is nice. Elder Davis and I have really high hopes for this next transfer here in West New York.

We did an awesome lesson with Jessica, who is still struggling with faith in Jesus Christ..."what if it is all just fictionalized to make him sound better than he really was?" ....is more or less her question. Our lesson was trying to help her see the sacrifice that he has made for her.  What we did was we made cookies and put 4 golf balls in a jar. For every golf ball she got out of the jar she got a cookie. But she couldn't touch the jar.... The object was that she had to ask Elder Davis for help...then for every golf ball I did 25 push-ups, then the gold ball was taken out and she got a cookie. And it went perfectly, right when we sat down she said, "I want cookies"...so we did the lesson. It worked perfectly and she was able to put together the meaning very easily...E. Davis was like our Heavenly Father, I was representing the suffering of Jesus Christ, the balls were sins or obstacles we need to overcome, cookies were blessings...etc. It was one of my favorite lessons we've done thus far simply because it went down so perfectly.

It was also Willie's b-day and we were invited over to dinner that night and last night we got some amazing food as well. It's simply delightful :)   I'm totally lovin it here in WNY and I'm really starting to finally like get to really know people in the ward and that sorta thing...youth and adults alike (its easy with the youth though, they all speak english) =D


Anyways, I hope everything is going well for all of you and hope for nothing less than a great week for all :)

...till next time,
Elder Johnson