Wow, so Reed Johnson is headin to the mission field already?! Time moves quick! He will experience much growth and much learning as he works as a missionary, I can attest to that. But, as one who is coming to the end of his mission I have learned that, no matter how much I learn and understand, some things--like the meaning of the word "tutelage" or why Utah State is all of a sudden good at football--will forever stay out of reach of my understanding. Humbling.
This week has been such a blessing. I don't remember many details but there were a few things that I have clear remembrance of. Thursday was one of my most memorable days.
We started off the day by going to the temple. Pres. Harding called a ZL council but decided that he wants us missonaries to go to the temple more often. I'm ok with that hahaha. Well, blessings don't come w/o a little anxiety. The meeting was scheduled to start at 9 am. ATL traffic is HORRENDOUS but that particular morning we were making good time thanks to some expert driving. At about 840 am we were well on our way: 30 miles away from home and about 5 minutes to arriving at the temple..yes! That's when I decided to take a quick look at my wallet to make sure I was prepared...I wasn't. It dawned on me that my recommend was sitting on my desk in our apartment. All I could do was laugh and turn right back around. We let Pres know that we were gonna be a little late as we fought traffic back to Lithonia and then once again made our way back to the temple. We got to the temple at 915. Oh yeah.
We did a session and it was a good experience. E. Smith hasn't been to the temple for 14 months, so he was just ecstatic about his visit. Afterwards we had a meeting and Pres Harding expressed his ideas and shared a bit about his promptings with us. Staying true to "mormon time" (which means never start or end on time) we went over time about an hour and 45 minutes. We were getting anxious towards the end cuz we had a baptism to get to at 6pm. It was 4:45 and we still had to travel through ATL rush hour again.
The meeting ended and we BOLTED out of there. For most of the trip to the chapel in Lithonia we were in stand still traffic. As we were sitting there trying to plan out our plan of attack we kept realizing how unprepared we were for everything. We had no programs for the baptism, I had no clothing, no one was at the chapel and the baptismal font was empty...and it was 5:45 and we were a good 8 miles away. During these times I just laugh. By some miracle the cars parted like the Red Sea and we sped toward the chapel and arrived with 5 minutes to spare. Hindulo wasn't even there. It was just us two and Bishop Young. We made the preparations and quick! When Hindulo finally arrived we pulled together one of the smallest, simplest baptisms I have ever been to in my life. We were a whopping 6 people (and a baby). Despite the few numbers of people, the ones that mattered were there. The Spirit flooded the room as I baptized Hindulo (and nearly broke my back from trying to make sure he was completely submerged. The water level was ridiculously low due to being pressed for time to fill it). Really cool experience.
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| Elder Heimuli, Brother Smith, Elder Smith |
Sunday was great. The other missionaries had two baptisms that morning so in sacrament we had 3 confirmations. That made for a very powerful rest of the day. Hindulo, his wife and his daughter were so cute w there matching african patterned clothing.
Ky came to church again. We still haven't gotten to meet w her. Crazy! Kn is good. I wasn't there for the last lesson we had with her but things are good. We just need to find out how we can help her take the next step.
Oh, we got a new ward mission leader and guess who it is?! BRO SALDANA!!!!! Oh man, I'm so excited! I freaking love him and his family! you have to meet them some day, you'll love 'em too!
I talked to Pres Harding this morning and it was confirmed that I will die (finish my mission) in Lithonia. I will be staying with E. Smith, but we're gonna have to take that posterity picture again cuz we'll be training someone again!!!! E. Smith is pretty excited hahaha.
Alright, I love you guys! Thanks for all you do!
with love,
E. Heimuli
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