Johnson, Ethan

“For thou art my lamp, O Lord: and the Lord will lighten my darkness.” (2 Samuel 22:29) Follow the Light, the Light is your guide. We aren’t talking about controllers of Planet X and misinterpreted invitations of a lizard king, but of a psalm. A psalm, not the same one that King David once sung, but one of an intergalactic anti-hero that has seemingly been stuck in my head this entire week. If I were to tell you that “Fazers” by King Geedorah was going to be stuck in my head during one of the most spiritually fulfilling weeks of my entire mission (and life), you’d probably have laughed in my face. But, lemme break it down.  So, from what I can recall, this song is about a famous rapper who builds a fanbase so big that he starts to become like a king. But, that fame doesn’t come without a price. He becomes an other-worldly king, becoming not even human, like something out of Godzilla, and he’s got the bars to back that title up. The song opens with a sample stating, “follow the ligh...

“...Sanctify yourselves: for to morrow the Lord will do wonders among you.” (Joshua 3:5) If we’re continuing my adoration for the book of Joshua and the character of Joshua, this quote feels like the culmination of how the week went, as well as a welcome conclusion to my two part analysis of how much I empathize with Joshua.  This week I put my full trust into the Lord and so many things happened. First, we had transfers. Elder Lawyer left and I stayed in Sealy to be senior companion and lead the area with Elder Funk–and just like that, I had to fill in his role within the area. Although I felt like I was making the big decisions before, the shifting of titles made me feel immense pressure, especially because Elder Funk has been out longer than me. And just like that, as I put my trust in the Lord, we saw miracles. We have been working to find people who are ready for the Gospel, with a greater push and a greater focus on building a Spanish Branch in Sealy. We also had a baptism th...

“Be strong and of a good courage, fear not, nor be afraid of them: for the Lord thy God, he it is that doth go with thee; he will not fail thee, nor forsake thee.” (Deuteronomy 31:6)  One of my favorite quotes of late has been this one, first delivered to Israel from Moses and then often repeated to an anxious–I’d imagine–Joshua the son of Nun, the succeeding prophet after Moses. Joshua had a lot on his plate. He had followed Moses nearly all of his life, fulfilling every commandment God had given him, including being sent as a spy into the Promised Land, being one of twelve representatives of the tribes of Israel, and being one of two who returned alive. He followed the commandments faithfully, so much so that out of his entire generation, including Moses, he and Caleb were the only people allowed to enter into the Promised Land. The prophet, the one who had led the Exodus out of Egypt, persevered wandering in the wilderness for more than forty years, directing twelve tribes of ov...

I have had so many opportunities to film this week! Not only am I editing a project with artist Kenneth Turner, I have been able to film a bunch of reels this week as well as edit a project for President and Sister Richards. We had what will probably be our final Zone Conference with the Richards on Thursday and it turned into a Texas Houston South Mission General Conference because every single mission leader talked; it was incredible. Afterwards, Sister Richards asked me if I could edit something for her, to which I said yes (of course). The next day, we drove down to the mission office and met President and Sister Richards as she walked in with her entire Mac in her arms. We then spent the next five hours editing a video to send off the final training group that the Richards will oversee. It was exhilirating. Afterwards, Sister Richards offered for us and President Richards to get dinner together, but because–unfortunately–we are such amazing missionaries we had to pass on President...