#StormJuno

So you're probably wondering if I made it through #StormJuno? 

The answer is yes. This week we were getting reports that we were going to have a historic storm hit the New York area. It was scheduled to hit us Monday. Monday morning we have staff meeting where we meet with President Morgan, the assistants and the senior missionaries in the office. We discuss upcoming events and things going on in the mission. In the morning when we walked in, President Morgan was visibly in a hurry. He was saying that the storm was supposed to be brutal and we were going to have a shortened meeting. At the end of the meeting he asked Elder Moss and I to go fill up gas cans at the mission home and prep the generator. President Morgan asked us to go out and buy water, food, and flashlights. Everybody was flipping out about this storm. Elder Moss and I went to the store to buy stuff and the shelves were empty. People were buying any food they could. It felt like something from the walking dead. Everybody was preparing for it like it was the apocalypse. All the missionaries had to be in early. It started snowing a little bit and we anticipated it to continue to dump. The snowstorm wasn't even bad. The news said we were going to get 2-3 feet but it only showed about 8 inches. It was more anticlimactic than Kony 2012. So just like most things in New York the storm was all hype. 

Even though the storm wasn't nearly what people thought it was going to be, there was still a bunch of snow on the ground on Tuesday. So Elder Moss and I, along with our Zone Leaders/roommates/friends, Elder Critchfield and Elder Christensen went out with snow shovels and walked the streets of New Rochelle in the bitter cold looking for people to help. We were out all day and when we got back home we calculated that we had walked 8 miles and had been out for about 5 straight hours. It felt so good to serve people. Sometimes doing good old fashioned service because you're a good Christian and not because you're out to make them a baptismal statistic is really fun.

Cleaning up after #StormJuno 

(Left to right, Elder Critchfield from Murray, Elder Christensen from Highland, Elder Moss from Highland, Me from Highland ) So much Utah; so much Highland in one pic. Go team :)

This last week there was a Sister’s Conference for all of the sisters in the mission. The sister missionaries went to the Scarsdale chapel and had breakout sessions, trainings, lunch, and a Q&A with President Morgan. There were no Elders allowed.... Except Elder Moss and I! Skkrrrrrttt perks to being an office Elder. President Morgan didn't even let the Assistants come but we got in. The Sister’s Conference was seriously sooooo good. That was better than any zone conference I'd ever been to. I'm super bummed they don't have one for the Elders. It was a fun day. President Morgan gave us his camera and had us document the whole thing so I was able to get my “Garrett Lewis” on as I strutted around with the camera around my neck. #FiltersOnFiltersOnFilters #VscoCam #SlapAVsco #LikeForLike #FollowForFollow #IMissInstagram #KImGoingToStopTheHashtagsNow

The lunch was the cat’s pajamas. We ate salad. For the main course... But it was a Sister’s Conference so what was I suppose to expect. Sister’s Conference was basically the sickest. 

I want to end by posting the Facebook post that I put up this week, for a couple of reasons.

1. I want to make it seem like I wrote more.

2. Since I'm a missionary doing spiritual stuff all the time, I guess I should end on a spiritual note.

3. The way we are advised to do Facebook posts, is we are supposed to pray about a post and pray with somebody in mind to post for. Instead of throwing up a post and hope people like it, they want us to try to seek revelation and post for a specific person to their specific needs. I had the hardest time coming up with a post and I sat there for a while. Elder Moss already had his post done and I couldn't think of anything. He told me to just post something that I need. I came up with this post and felt confident that it could inspire somebody. I don't know if it inspired somebody over Facebook but I want to include it here in this email to hopefully have it reach someone that it wouldn't normally have reached. Here it is:

There is SO much I do not know! 

I don't know why they make microwaves with a popcorn button if the instructions on the bag tell you not to use it. If your car broke down on the highway and you asked me to look under the hood and find out what the problem was I wouldn't have the slightest idea of what was going on. I don't know why some are born into lavish circumstances while others don't have the time to wipe the sweat from their brow as they try to make ends meet. I don't exactly know how depression works or why some children pass away and slip into eternity at a young age.

Sometimes I find myself praying to God asking Him if He loves me not because I haven't felt his love before, but because sometimes I want to be reassured that there is a purpose for the struggle in life. I don't know a lot, but I do know that sometimes God lets us struggle a little bit so we can learn to rely on Him. I know that there is a purpose to the trials that stare us in the face of life. I know that just because I don't know the answer doesn't mean there isn't one.

"Be patient in afflictions, for thou shalt have many; but endure them, for, lo, I am with thee, even unto the end of thy days."-D&C 24:8

Love yuh. 

Elder Tyler J Johanson