Fort Stockton

UPDATE:

I'm getting transferred. TO FORT STOCKTON, TEXAS. Never heard of it before? Yah, neither had I. I'll be a zone leader down there with my new companion, Elder Garey. It's a Spanish area, so we teach English and Spanish investigators. Since my comp is solely an English missionary, I'll be teaching the Spanish lessons on my own, which I am SUPER nervous to do! My area actually borders Mexico, so I'm preparing myself to be using a lot of Spanish. Ft. Stockton only has 8,000 people living in it and there are two sets of missionaries there. There are 6 companionships in my district in areas including Van Horn (The missionaries there live in a traveling trailer), Pecos, and Alpine. I'll be serving in a Branch that is part of the Fort Stockton District I'm pretty sure. It'll be a new experience for sure!

We had the opportunity to drive to Muleshoe, TX, for exchanges, and then to Portales, New Mexico for a district meeting. Never been there before, probably won't go there ever again lol. The missionaries up there have a strange tradition of eating at a Chinese Super Buffet after every District Meeting. It was actually really good haha.

We've been broadening our horizons lately when it comes to service. We're serving almost weekly at the New Havens Animal Shelter, Lubbock's Meals on Wheels, the South Plains Food Bank, and other little opportunities we get around town. We've met a lot of neat people serving the community, and have got our name out for the public to see. It's been a blast.

We were serving at a local supermarket for one of these organizations, collecting money for a fundraiser. We sat at the front entrance and waved to people and asked if they'd like to make donations. We saw a young Less Active boy in our ward walk in the store. We had been working with him and his family lately, so it was a pleasure to see him. He came in, shook our hands and said he would see us later that evening for our appointment. After a few minutes, the boy walked back out of the store.... he was very obviously stealing something in his coat pocket. He nervously walked out the exit, and I yelled and waved, "Have a good day!" He nervously nodded at me, and walked out. A few minutes later, the boy walked back into the store, and out of his own free will, got back in line and paid for the drink that he had stolen. He had been guilt tripped by the missionaries waving at him haha!

Wellll, I'm super SUPER bummed to be leaving Lubbock. We finally had some progressing investigators, and we had been sorking SO HARD over here. It's a bummer, but it's now time for an opportunity to learn Spanish; an opportunity I've been praying for since my call as an English missionary. It's so BITTERSWEET!!! Elder Sork has become my best friend out here, and I was 100% positive that we'd stay together. He'll get a new zone leader comp and finish training elder Walker. They'll do great together.   #WhileDaringGreatly

Have a blessed week, Elder Johnson