April 25, 2011

Dear Family,

     Well, here I am in Mexico still, if you were wondering.  Writing you from the same old cubical as normal, paying this Mexican lady to use the internet….hmmmmm I can’t believe that you are all down -  well up  in St. George without me.  It’s horrible thinking about it.  I have been waiting all week to hear all about it.
     I am really really glad our whole family can be together this week having a good time enjoying the love you have for one another. It truly is amazing to see how much joy we can have from the family.  One thing that I have learned is that it is the family that everything is centered around.  You can ask anyone in the world about their family and they will have something to tell you no matter if their family is the most amazing in the world like mine, or that they don’t have one.  People will always have something to relate or talk about when you bring up family.  I have learned that testifying about my family is what I am best at. haha!  We have a little bit of everything in our family and I’m glad.  I have learned something from everyone in my family and apply it in my life to make myself a better person.  I hope and pray that you can all  make this time that you have together an amazing experience.  I wish you all could know some of the things I see here about family.  The family is a blessing from God and the sad part is that a lot of people abuse the blessings that we have.  That is why this week I pray that no one there will abuse, waste, or take away from the time you have together to love every moment with each other.  If you could see what I see everyday I know you wouldn’t waste one moment.  It really breaks my heart to see 9 year old girls washing the family’s clothes all day because their mom is too lazy or when I see bare footprints in the sand of a small boy because his dad can’t afford to buy him shoes but has enough money to get drunk every night.  We don’t know how great we have it.  I have been blessed to see these things and learn from them and I hope that all of you can remember what we have.
     So how was the Easter Sunday for everyone??  I hope it was great.  I hope we all took the time to remember the Savior and what he sacrificed for his family.  The perfect example.  Our older brother who died for us, for our sins.  This week has been a week of reflection for me.  I have really been thinking about the sacrifice of our Lord.  I remember thinking this week, as we were knocking on this back door, about what we say when we contact someone, then the lady yelled from the other side of the door,  “Who is it?“  We responded, “ We are representatives of Jesus Christ can we share a message with you?”   She responds, “I don’t have time!”
     Now this is the point; I was thinking how can anyone reject Jesus Christ like that as if Jesus Christ is waiting outside your door, waiting for you to open the door and invite him in….why would you say no to Jesus Christ?   I just didn’t get it.  Why would someone say NO to our Savior?  … Well, first what does Savior mean?  Someone who could can give you salvation… I didn’t get why someone would say no to salvation.  Salvation is the ultimate goal right?  We go to church, we pray, we keep the commandments…all so we can someday receive our salvation and live with our families forever!  We were lost and our Brother was loving enough to save us.  Now we are on our own terms, to be saved or not, for our own sins.  Well, we will sin and so He gave us a way to be saved; Faith, Repentance, Baptism, the Holy Ghost and then live out our lives worthily…
     So why isn’t that good enough for us. idk, maybe we are just to lazy, maybe we don’t have enough money to go to church, maybe the football game is on, maybe we are about to go out with our friends…or maybe we are just to lazy to get off our butts walk to the door and let the Lord save us!!!!
     I have learned so much here in the mission.  I have learned that it is ONLY through the guidelines of our Savior that we can be saved with our family.  That is the most important thing I know.
     So I want you all, for this reason, to remember Jesus in everything you do.  I will tell you all my favorite law of heaven  -   With everything we do, we either receive blessings or no.  So watch what you do this week, because I know that if we all remember Jesus Christ we will all have a good week- every week.
     I wish I could be there with you all this week.  I wish could be having a great time with you all, but I will be having a better time you just don’t know it !!haha
     I pray for you all every second of everyday.  I hope you get as much fun as possible out of this week that you have together.
   I love you and I will be praying that you have a great time this week.
Love
Elder Johnston