merry christmas

Merry CHRISTMAASS!!!

I hope all is well in the land of utah!

I just wanted to share an amazing experience I had while serving here.

The beginning of this week was pretty awful, I was smart enough to say "I'd be happy if we just taught one lesson!" Lo and behold, we taught one lesson, and every single appointment afterwards canceled on us.....It was a rough start to a week. But friday, Miracles began to happen. So here's some background. Denise, is a less active woman who has a killer testimony of the church, so spiritually powerful! She's had some health issues so her brother Al came to watch over her for a while. We've been teaching Holly, which is Al's exwife and Denise's sister in law. Got it? Good. Anyways, so we were teaching Al with Denise present, and it was just not good. Al had so many questions and basically told us this religion was a lie. Halfway in the lesson Al and Denise invited Holly over, and it was a DISASTER. All three were yelling at each other trying to prove why or why not the church was true. Elder Birrell and I didn't have a second to breathe. Before we knew it Holly stormed off and the spirit was gone.

We all simmered a bit and Al took off too. We said a prayer and brought the spirit back, and told Denise she needs to be a support for Holly now that Holly's discovering the truth. Luckily Holly still accepted to have a lesson that night. We taught her the Plan of Happiness, and the spirit was so thick there. We were all beaming from cheek to cheek, understanding God's wonderful plan for us. At the end of the lesson, Holly said "I just want to bear my testimony, that I know the Book of Mormon is true!" The spirit hit us like a wall. It was so powerful. Holly immediately felt the spirit come over her and helped her realize how powerful her words were. Holly was in awe at what she just said, and the spirit was with all of us that day. It was one of the most powerful experiences I've ever had. Brothers and Sisters. What a blessing it is to have the Book of Mormon, another testament of the life of the Savior Jesus Christ. May we all remember how wonderfully sacred this time is! I know the Book of Mormon is the word of God, and will bring us closer to Heavenly Father than any other source. I love you all, so much. Merry Christmas from Pittsburgh Pennsylvania! 

With love,

Elder Johnson