Elder Johnson's E-Mail - Tuesday, January 18, 2011

Hi Dad.  (Sorry Mom. We ran out of time. I'll write you a long one next week),

I wake up every morning at 6 AM, sometimes before the alarm even rings. And when I'm up, I'm up and ready to go. I think I'll be like you after my mission; I won't be able to sleep past 8 AM.

We got transfer calls yesterday (Monday). Today is our P-day, and today we will have our transfer. My new companion's name is Elder Bird. He will be the Senior companion.

This past week was our most successful week in Colony--an ideal week to send off Elder Luke; he truly worked all the way up to his departure, never slowed down once. We had the opportunity to teach 22 total lessons, not including active member lessons.

We have been blessed with a strong investigator pool. We meet weekly with Elizabeth Coleman. She has come to church about five weeks in a row; she reads and prays daily; she knows the Book of Mormon is true and has accepted an invitation for baptism and confirmation for receiving the Gift of the Holy Ghost. Speaking with her mother, Sister Coleman, Elizabeth's baptism will take place in the month of May; we have been unable to arrange a specific date because Sister Coleman does not know which week of May she will return from the Slope. We will continue to meet with Elizabeth regularly and stress church attendance.

Danielle Davis went to church this past week. She enjoyed herself. She will be in Anchorage this next week for work, but we have planned to meet with her the beginning of next week to find our more of her church experience. We have had two wonderful lessons with her: the last one, this past week, covered the first half of lesson two. She continues to read and pray; she says she believes that God would call modern-day prophets because he has done so in the past--this point of doctrine she brought up in our review of the first lesson. She has accepted a conditional baptism invitation; we hope to get her on date in our next meeting.

I have focused my studies this past week on the Atonement of Jesus Christ, reading all the scriptures listed in the Topical Guide and a number of conference talks on the subject. I know that as I strengthen my testimony and understanding of the Atonement, I will be a more effective teacher; I desire to teach the Atonement with power and conviction. The Atonement is the Gospel.; it is the most important event that has occurred in the entire history of created things; its significance is made clear in the works of Joseph Smith: "All things which pertain to our religion are only appendages to it."

Love,

Your Son