Silver Lining

December 9, 2015 

Aye,

It's December 9th and we haven't gotten remotely close to having it snow. Elder Casela had never left the Philippines before the mission and he has been waiting for snow. He has only seen it in the movies. He keeps telling me that his life is a lie and that snow doesn't really exist. Hopefully soon he will be able to witness this so called "snow" people keep telling him about.

We met a Jehovas Witness while tracting. She was a nice lady. She hooked me up with a nice copy of The New Translation of the scriptures. She was saying something about how my soul needed saving or something..... I don't even know, it was a nice gift though. I should have got my New World Translation autographed by a real Jehovas Witness but I totally spaced it in the moment.

I don't know if you remember the story I wrote to you about last week where Elder Casela and I miraculously showed up on complete "accident" (there are no such thing as accidents) to a member’s house at the perfect timing. They found out that Sister Jenson was going to be giving birth within the next 24 hours and that their child would most likely pass away within a few hours. They were having a really tough time emotionally and spiritually and Elder Casela and I were able to go and give them a spiritual thought focused on Christ and how having a Savior can bring peace into our lives.

On Sunday Brother Jenson got up and shared his testimony. (Their baby is still alive by the way but has some major health issues.) As he stood and shared his feeling about the Savior and what had happened the last few days you could tell that he was a man that was humbled before God. He wept as he began to tell the congregation that Elder Casela and I showed up in the exact moment that they needed us. What we thought was a pretty cool miracle last week turned into an even more powerful experience being able to hear just how much it meant to this young family. God works miracles. It's incredible. The mission is incredible. I love my mission (most cliche saying ever but it's so true.)

We have been going hard in the paint trying to show everybody that will let us "A Savior is Born". At the end of the video it leaves a two word invitation, "discover why". Because that has been the topic of focus for us with our missionary work I have been spending my personal study reading about the purpose of a Savior and why we need one. I came across a cool quote by Boyd K. Packer that says:

"Restoring what you cannot restore, healing the wound you cannot heal, fixing that which you broke and you cannot fix is the very purpose of the atonement of Christ."

When things happen in life and it seems out of your hands to control that is precisely the moment when Christ can help. Obviously he can help us all the time, but he didn't necessarily come and live on the earth and die for us to help us with the things that we can already do on our own. He came to fix the things that are broken and are out of our hands. The purpose of a Savior is to help us find peace in the silver lining of chaos.

-Elder Tyler J Johanson

 

Saying goodbye to one of my best friends, Elder Torgersen. He's going back home to Escalante, Utah. If you don't know where that is, it's ok because neither do they!