{4.28.15} That's What's UP!

The most common phrase in the mission to someone accepting the invitation to be baptized.. "that's what's up!" It's funny, there's definitely mission lingo out here. So what did I say to Felix after he came up out of the water? hahaha you betcha.

Felix's baptism was great! There was a huge turnout from the ward, and he was so excited for it! I got lucky enough to do the ordinance again. Felix is a pretty big guy, so I was a little worried because the baptismal fonts here don't fill up very high with water. But he went all the way under, and it was the best feeling! I've never been so stoked in my life. He came out of the water, and looked at everyone smiling at him, and he said "Que Voy Hacer Ahora?" or something like that hahaha. Basically "what am I going to do now?" referring to the repeated efforts of everyone to help him accept baptism and his stubborness in doing so. It's great though, because Felix knows this church is the true church. Someone as stubborn as him would not be baptized if he didn't know of a surety. He read much of the Book of Mormon, Doctrine and Covenants, and as much info as we could get him about Joseph Smith before accepting. He was really delighted when we gave him thee additions books to read after his Baptism, "Principles of The Gospel" and "The blessings of the priesthood" parts 1 and 2.

So this week Elder Gomez and I found the coolest guy every. His name was Rodger, but most know him as "The Dolfan Maniac." He dresses up crazy for Dolphins games and is all over tv. We were knocking and I saw this decked out dolphins truck, and I was like ohhh mann, we gotta knock on this guys door. So we did, and this burly man came out and conversed with us. He told us his story of conversion to Christ, which consisted of a conversation with a demon, 3.5 grams of Cocaine, and being pulled out what he described as "penetrating darkness, surrounded by the wails and screams of the lost" by a bright light. He lived when he should not have lived, he got his family back, overcame a terrible drug addiction, and runs a church in the prison for the inmates. He was a man very firm and very strong in his beliefs. Although I have personal knowledge of the truthfulness of the Restored Gospel and wanted to share it with him soooo badly, I didn't want this man to feel we were taking anything away from his amazing story, strength in Christ, or his own beliefs. We simply wanted to add more truth. I left him with a Book of Mormon, wrote our names and numbers in it, and simply committed him to read about it and pray, asking to know if it was true. If he does, I know he'll receive an answer. I've already seen it here in my mission. I truly believe we haven't seen the last of Rodger, especially if he's willing to simply ask the Savior that he knows so well if what he read was true.

Couple last things.. my bike seat got stolen by a 14 year old. It made my bike unrideable. I'm now riding a 1960's (idk if that's the real year, but its OLD) racing bike. I've affectionately named her Peggy Sue. The mission office is tracking down the right parts to fix my bike, but I might just sell it back to the mission office cause it's heavy and Peggy is light and quick and way less exhausting to ride.

We've met some cool people this week, but they all work a lot and it's hard to meet with them. We ride everywhere, back and forth, trying to see people when we can and track them down. It's exhausting. Also, it rains here like every other day now. When it rains here.. it poursssssss. I prefer it though, cause I can either be drenched in rain water or drenched in sweat from the humidity. I prefer the rain, because I can at least ride through the puddles.

Hope everyone has a great week!

Love,
Elder Johns

{4.20.15} My Person

Man so this week has definitely been the best week of my mission so far.

To start off the week, we got to go on another exchange with the AP's. but not for missionary work, just to spend the night. It was just a huge sleepover, the 5 of us. The next day was trainer/trainee follow up and since we didn't have a car we had to get picked up the night before by the APs because no one else is close to us. It was a nice little break, if only for like 2 hours, to get to tell stories about before the mission, and the AP's have a makeshift Ping Pong table and we got to have a little tournament. One of the AP's, Elder Marshall, and I had a conversation late into the night about life and the Gospel (we repented for not going to bed on time, dont worry). But, as a missionary who has 1 transfer left and has spent the last 4-5 months as an AP, I gained some amazing insights that I know are going to make a huge difference in my mission.

After all the fun was over, we went straight to work. We worked SO hard. We knocked this entire week, because we haven't been able to find any investigators who are ready to accept Christ into their lives. It's been like this since last week, and we've been praying so hard and knocking so many doors. The great thing about Fountainebleau North, is there are so many doors here. I couldn't knock them all with another set of missionaries in 3 transfers. But we knocked and knocked and knocked and... nothing. We came home each night completely exhausted, drenched in sweat (it's getting so hot here), tired, and feeling really defeated. We had some postive experiences visitng less-actives inbetween knocking, but other than that it was really tough and discouraging.

Then came Friday and Saturday, and BOOM. Everyone was opening their doors! People wanted to pray with us, people were stopping us on the street asking to come to church. People offered us a crab dinner! hahaha. On Friday and Saturday, we found 9 people who accepted return appointments. We found even more than that, but these 9 were so cool! Just totally excited and ready to learn about baptism, and we could just feel their love for God and their desires to come closer to him. All of that hard work became so worth it. It was the happiest two days of my mission. I just couldn't stop smiling!

And then there's Felix. Our mission President, President Richardson, always talks about how each missionary has at least that 1 investigator in their mission who is their "person." Someone we knew premortally, that asked us to come find them if they ever got lost down here on Earth. Felix is my person! Without a doubt. Felix has been taught by the sisters first, but he's a very difficult person.. he's very stubborn, very inteligent, very deep. He asks these really complex questions, that are difficult to answer. For whatever reason, Felix loves me. I don't know what I did, or said, or why.. but he always testifies that we're brothers. He refueses to call me Elder too.. just "Johns" in a heavy nicaraguan accent. He also refuses speak to me in Spanish, which is a huge blessings. When he speaks in Spanish, he speaks in.. parables of sorts. He over complicates things and talks himself into circles. But his english is very limited, so he has to speak to me in very simple langauge. This allows him to simplify the Gospel of Christ, and he understands it which allows the Holy Ghost to testify and teach him. He's getting baptized this Saturday! I just love Felix man hahah I don't know how to explain it. He's also just an insanely cool guy. He's trained in some form of nicraguan fighting and he teaches me stuff all the time. He kind of reminds me of Dad. He's got like a million different hobbies and talents. Oh, and for a living, he works with a chain saw, and a few years ago it came back and cut open his face really bad. The scar kinda looks like the joker, but only on one side. Anyways, he drove the hospital with all his teeth in his hand and it took over 1000 stitches on the inside of his mouth alone--all without anesthesia. He's got a super high tolerance for pain, so he came to church this sunday with a dislocated shoulder hahaha. He's a cool guy. ANyways, that's enough about Felix. The Point is, I know that God really does prepare specific people for us. Baptizing Felix will without a doubt be the happiest moment of my life.

Being out here is the best! i don't really know what else to say. I love it, and I love the hardwork, even though it's hard. Nothing has ever been more rewarding in my life. And I know I'm continually changing and I'm almost scared to see how different I'm gonna be by the time these 2 years are over, but all for the good.

I know this church is true! Without a doubt.

 

Love

Elder Johns

{4.13.15}

So Saturday was super cool.. because Juan finally got baptized!

He was supposed to be baptized like 3 weeks ago.. but problem after problem got in the way, including a trip to the hospital. But by Saturday, Juan was sooo stoked to get in the water! A little background on Juan: he referred himself to be taught by the missionaries, because his friend was taking the discussions. He was super excited, and he told us, "Well, my father was a Jew, I've always wanted to learn about being Jewish, so I'm really excited for you guys to teach me about the Jewish religion." We sat there, and told him we weren't jewish. He stared for like 10 seconds before he said anything. But, after learning about the restoration he was way excited! The coolest thing about Juan: he's been smoking his entire life. He had a stroke last year, and has really high blood sugar and suffers from Diabetes. After teaching him about the Word of Wisdom, he agreed to live it and the blessings were immediate! He had a really bad limp from his stroke and couldn't stand on his own, but after giving up smoking, coffee, and alcohol, he shows us everytime we come over how easy he can walk and stand up now, and he takes his blood sugar and shows us. It's dropped from the 200's and 300's to 130's. The blessings of this Gospel are very real! His testimony is so strong and tells us everytime we come over that he's man enough to never smoke or drink again. He's an awesome example of strength and conviction and relying on the Lord. He knew he could do it through the power of Prayer. After his baptism and confirmation, he kept telling us how different he felt! I'm super grateful for this Gospel and getting to see how much it has affected and blessed one of God's Children. Hopefully I'll get to see it bless and affect many more!

I want to share some insights from my Personal Study this week. The following are taken from The Book of Mormon in the 2nd Book of Nephi, Chapter 1 Verses 13,14,21, & 23:

"O that ye would awake; awake from a deep sleep, yea, even from the sleep of hell, and shake off the awful chains by which ye are bound, which are the chains which bind the children of men..""Awake! and arise from the dust... and be men, and be determined in one mind and in one heart, united in all things...put on the armor of righteousness. Shake off the chains with which ye are bound, and come forth out of obscurity, and arise from the dust."

I've read these scriptures several times before, but they resonated with me differently this time when I read them. I've made the sacrifice to be here in Florida and serve for two years. I can put in the hours every day, I can be obedient to mission rules, and I will do good for the people here and change some people's lives, even if it's in a small way.

But I can do more, also. I can devote not only my time, sacrificing the things I've left behind like school, sports, the mountains, friends, personal desires and relationships, continually desiring them, missing them, and wishing for them. Or, I can also devote my desires. All of those things are good things to desire, miss, and want to do and have. But if I choose to leave those desires boxed up back home and focus all of my desires and thoughts on loving the people here in Florida, and giving them and God every ounce of who I am and what I can be, I will not only better change them but also myself. There are a lot of things I could do to be a better person, and a lot of things I did back home that was chaining me down. There are also thoughts from home that are chaining me down here. As I "Awake!" and "arise from the dust" to "shake off the chains" here, I will better be the representative of Christ that I want to be. Each day, I have to ask myself if I gave my all, If I'm becoming the man that I need to be not only today for these people, but for my future family. I've resounded to each day for the rest of my life, to look in the mirror and see myself wearing the Armor of Righteousness, or the Armor of God, talked about in these scriptures. We arise from the dust, because that's where came from and what God created us from.. in the scriptures, it states we were literally created from the dust. But, through Christ, we can  "come forth out of obscurity," never again being in the dark without our Savior or his Holy Spirit, but continually with his Spirit which will guide us, protect us, and uplift us.

It's not hard to change people's lives here. I'm not saying that because I'm some great missionary; in fact, I am very inadequate and need to and could be doing a lot more. But it's because God has already prepared people for us. All we do is knock on their doors, and ask them some questions. It's God who speaks to them, who teaches to them, and confirms to them. Literally the only thing we do is knock and show them His Gospel. Anyone could do it. I'm just grateful to be a part of his work and to get to benefit so immensely from it.

Love everyone! Have a great week!
Elder Johns

{4.6.15} A Day in the Hood

There's coconuts everywhere here! I drink one like everyday
 and then eat the meat when I get home.

So this week was really good and really bad. Our numbers sucked, but it was because we helped two members move and went to the hospital twice to give blessings and then another blessing to a recent convert. Our ward covers an area much bigger than our proselyting area, so these events often took an 1-2 hours out of our schedule. This is also lead to our appointments being shifted and therefore falling through.. which was really frustrating. We also dropped half of our investigators, but I know that the Lord will help us find the elect! So this week is going to be a lot of knocking and finding and asking for referrals. Also, there's nothing better than serving others. There's nothing wrong with low numbers if you're out doing the Lord's work.

one benefit of those long bike rides to help members is that one of the members lived in the Everglades! I was so pumped! They're sweet, and even though they're flat they remind me a little bit of home. We also met a non-member who we were helping move. His name was Elias from Honduras, and he was pretty cool. He has a lot of interest in the church, but also he and his uncle want to take me into the glades and also take me fishing! I'm praying a day will come that'll work out for them on a p-day hahah even tho its unlikely.

General Conference was so boss! Beforehand, I wrote down 5 questions I wanted answered and sure enough I got them all! it's so amazing that we have a Prophet on the earth today that receives revelation for all of us from God. I wish we could have heard from him more, but I was grateful what we did hear as well as hearing from the Apostles and many members of the 70's.

I went on an exchange with the Zone leaders Friday into the english area of Opa-Locka. It was a whooooolle other world from Fountainebleau. I'm positive we were the only white, non african american for 15 miles either direction.  I felt like I was in Grand Theft Auto walking through this neighborhoods with Chevy Impala's on big Rims and Pit-Bulls and Rotweilers greeted us at every house.BUT man there were some cool people in Opa-Locka! and the members there are way strong!

Putting the true meaning in BLOOD, sweat, and tears.

Also, I totally biffed it on my bike yesterday. That's all I will say. See the Picture below hahhaa. I'm all good! My hand is just torn up.

I dont have a whole lot more to report.. have a good week! Also, if you've sent me any letters I'm jsut barely getting them! But I'm receiving mail normally now. I've received letters from Mom, Grandpa Hinckley, and Syd. I'll be replying to them today!