One week after recieving the information that I would be giving a talk in front of an Apostle of the Lord...PSYCH!!!  I was told that they wouldn´t be coming and that we should just expect an average mission conference.  Que LIXO(trash)!  However, I can still hold my head up high because I have a talk about understanding the spirit that will totally blow the minds of anyone that will hear it!!  Whahoooo!!  

 Before my mission, I worked Monday-Friday, 10 hours a day, in a landscaping company.  Life was tough.  Life was dirty....yet life was so simple.  To me it seemed like there was always someone more experianced, stronger, or older than me.  Automatically, I thought that I would just follow their orders and my life would be fine and dandy.  What I learned in those 3 months working under the blazing sun of San Antonio, Texas was: please the patient/house owner.  My opinion as well as all my fellow workers opinion was ALWAYS second to the owner to whom we were serving.  When giving the order to plant a tree, build a wall, create a pathway, or clear the yard we attended to the needs and wants of the owner first.  And we did it together.  A bleak, vacant yard full of rocks and thorns TRANSFORMED into something beautiful.  Finally, at the end of each day, I returned home filthy yet with a big smile on my face! 

 There are around 80000 missionaries of the church of Jesus Christ of latter day saints serving world-wide.  Each one has a specific way to plant a tree or build a wall (give a lesson), but what´s truly important is if we´re heeding the promptings of the spirit and attending to the needs of these investigators (house owners).  If we don´t listen to our investigators and just build a wall (give the average lesson), they will not be pleased...they will see the beauty of our message and refuse to change. CHANGE is our purpose as missionaries.  This is what I´m doing here in Brazil. I´m gettin´ real dirty because I´m working a ton and I´m workin´ happy.  An I hope you guys are too!

Elder Johnson