{6.29.15} The Cuban Finger (& hardest working week ever)

Family Foto

Two things to sum up why this week has been great.

1. WE GOT A CAR
2. I haven't spoken English for 5 days.

So yeah we have a car now.. one of the Sister Missionaries in our ward went home, and they don't have enough missionaries right now to give her a new companion so she was sent somewhere else for the remainder of the transfer to be in a trio. This mean we inherited the Sisters proselyting area in addition to our own HUGE bike area. Since the Sisters car was going to be just sitting for 3 weeks, they decided to be merciful and loan us there car! at least until the end of the transfer. The best birthday present I could have ever gotten! No more coming home every night, stinky, smelly, sweating through my white shirt and slacks. No more biking my brains out to try and get to an appointment on time! Needless to say, Elder Chaparro and I are stoked! Elder Chaparro however, lost his driving privileges, so I'm the one behind the wheel. Hialeah is the most dangerous city to drive in the US (from what I've been told by locals), so it's definitely been a crazy experience having not driven for almost 5 months and now driving with Cubans who think an acceptable form of signaling is sticking your finger out the window and pointing the lane they're about to speed into.

I probably shouldn't stereotype like that but it's true... it's called the Cuban Finger hahaha. (there's also the Cuban Sneak)

This week has been insanely difficult but super rewarding. Our investigator Dennys is trying to quit smoking (about a pack a day) and drinking coffee (about 7 cups of cuban, which are waaaay strong and super addicting). In order to prepare for his baptism, he needed to quit by today. When we told him, we had 5 days. He wasn't sure if he could do it, but I testified super hardcore that he could quit and he just needed to take away 2 or 3 cigarettes each day. In order to show my faith that he could do it, I told him I wasn't going to speak English for 5 days. Hardest Days Ever. Luckily, everyone in my apartment is completely fluent and so my Spanish has improved like Crazy! It actually felt weird to speak in English today, and I dreamed in Spanish two nights ago. I actually think I'm going to do it again because it helped my Spanish so much. My favorite sentence was definitely "Yo quiero mis palabras!" hahaha. I guess I have a different personality in Spanish., according to my companion Elder Chaparro and my roommates.

We have been working insanely hard. I come home every day so exhausted. We've been getting members out with us, setting baptismal dates, helping our investigators progress, and finding new investigators. Our teaching pool had like 11 people this week (not including potential investigators) so it's been super difficult to see everyone and try and prioritize (everyone is important to God, how do you pick) which is another reason we are super grateful for the car. The 11th of July is a HUGE day, and not for me or what has happened on that day... but because we have 6 potentials for baptisms.

Elder Chaparro is really challenging as a companion. He knows the language so well, but he also knows doctrine soooooo well. He teaches super simply, which is helping me teach better because we can teach in concise power statements. A true teacher can take a profound subject and explain it an a way a child can understand. That's our goal as missionaries, because in reality many of those we teach are babies spiritually, especially Cubans due to the circumstances in government over the years.

This Church is 200% true! I know it. OH also, Reintjes family! Quick shoutout! Thank you SO MUCH for the parcel. The Stance socks are so sweet! I'm wearing them right now (couldn't wait for the 4th of July). Also mom I got all your packages. I LOVE the picture book, and we're making the cupcakes on the 4th (we have to come in at 7:30) and we're planning some different stuff to make the most of our little break. Love you all! Grandma and Grandpa on all sides, I'm getting your letters. Thanks so much for writing I really appreciate it!

Love, 

--

Elder Johns

{6.22.15} Happy Father's Day Email

The new  comp and I,
Elder Chaparro de Columbia!

Life is sooo good down here in South Florida right now! Elder Chaparro and I working super hard and it's been so much fun. We also have a crazy prank war going on in the apartment.. but it's been a blast. We are also growing and learning so much. These 3 other misioneros i get to live with know so much and have so much awesome material! I'm gonna go into the Library at the Church and just copy all the awesome talks they've acquired throughout their missions. Right now is definitely the most I've ever studied in my life. During personal study every morning, it seriously feels like 2 mins because I'm just trying to absorb so much! I love it, it's the best.

Even more than growing myself, I love the other 23 hours of the day dedicated to other people. That's what I'm really trying to focus on with Elder Chaparro right now, making all of our conversations and actions focused on others. It's hard sometimes when we are out knocking doors to not start talking about Music, home, sports, those kinds of things--things that aren't bad at all. But as missionaries, when we give all of our thoughts and attention to the people we are serving and who we are trying to help them come closer to, Jesus Christ, not only the reward larger but so is the Joy. There is NO greater Joy than helping others receive more of the abundance of blessings our Heavenly Father has for all of us, his children!

We dropped a lot of our teaching pool this week, but we still have Yovana, Francisco, Dennys & Sheyla, and Carlos. They are all SO close, but each has their individual obstacles they need to over come (except Francisco, on Saturday he tried to convince us to baptize him in his blue Jeans hahaha). But that's just life--we all have our personal trials, concerns, and doubts. This doesn't make us inadequate! Everyone has weaknesses, doubts, and questions are good! It's our desires to not give up, act on our faith, and true effort to Follow God's will and commandments that makes the difference.

That's about all I have for this week. Sorry it's a boring email! I had pictures but I forgot my camera again.. my bad. Happy Fathers day to all the fathers out there! 

-- 

Elder Johns

{6.15.15} Transfer Week Miracles!

This week was so crazy! First of all, I know that Mom and Dad fasted for me to receive help learning Spanish. So, guess what? I live in an Apartment with 4 Latins hahaha. God really does answer prayers! My companion is Columbian (who speak the slowest, clearest Spanish), and speaks English and Spanish 100% fluently. Huge Blessing. Elder Sandoval is also Latin and is fluent in both, and Elder Stewart has been out for 20 months and speaks great Spanish too. Basically I get to be surrounded by really experienced missionaries, so I'm hoping to learn a lot this transfer! In Spanish, the Gospel, and Missionary Work.

The only way to describe my new Companions work ethic is that he attacks thing. He has sooo much energy that sometimes it's a little overwhelming. But this week we were so diligent, accomplished so much, and found so many people. We had four investigators come to church, which was the best feeling because we haven't had any for a few weeks.

We found Carlos from Cuba, and Carlos has very little Christian background. It's so much fun to teach him, because as we teach him about Jesus Christ and baptism, you can just see him light up with excitement, knowledge and the spirit. He's super excited to get baptized, and he just loves everything about the Gospel! It's so cool to see him grow and feel the Spirit.

Yovana is progressing really well as well, but she still has a lot of questions. We were teaching her the other day, and trying to answer all of her questions. It was getting really complicated, and was turning into a vicious cycle of question after question. I was having a hard time following the Spanish, and couldn't contribute much to the conversation or lesson at this point because the Vocab was beyond my current knowledge. I sat there and said a quick prayer, and just asked to be guided by the spirit what to say to help answer Yovana's doubts. At this point, Yovana was praying for the 20th to be baptized. She said she was feeling more and more confident, but still didn't think she'd received an answer. My mind went to what truly makes us different from any other religion, and that's that we have the same Priesthood Authority that Christ, His Apostles, and all of God's Prophets had, restored on the Earth Day. How can we know if this is true or not? Through the Book of Mormon. So I turned to Yovana, and I asked her, "Do you know the Book of Mormon is true?" She said yes, and that she believed it complimented and supported the bible.  Then Elder Chaparro asked, "Have you prayed about it and received an answer from God?" and she said no, I haven't formed that question yet, I've just been praying for the 20th.

SO HUMBLED in that moment. We'd been so focused on helping her progress towards baptism we'd missed the most important step. We testified that if she prayed about what she's been reading, and continued to feel the peaceful and calm feelings as she read, that she will receive an answer and receive a knowledge that it is true. And if the Book of Mormon is the word of god, then he translated by the Power of God. If he had that authority, he truly was a Prophet of God and Christ restored his church again through him. It's really that simple. We just hadn't done our job! We completely changed our direction and focused on that. We're going to see her tonight, and I'm super pumped.

Ultimately we just had great week. We met so many people. Dennys and Sheyla came to church, and we met this huge Cuban family that is super cool! Honestly, this week has probably been the Happiest Week of My Life. None of it had to do with me. True joy comes from Charity, and helping others receive all the blessings God has for them.

I hope everyone is doing well! Thanks to everyone who sends me mail. It means a lot! If I don't reply its probably just because I'm busy. I promise I try to and do when I can.

Love,

--

Elder Johns

{6.9.15} Adios Muchachos; Transfer Week!

It's Transfer week and I'm staying!!!

Adios Hermana Anderson (left)

But everyone else in my district is leaving. Everyone hahaha. My Trainer, Elder Gomez, is gone. The sister missionaries in the ward, including Sister Anderson who came in with me is leaving (which is really unusual) and the English Sisters are also leaving and being transfered. So basically the entire District is getting White-Washed, which basically means the new missionaries coming in start from scratch instead of coming into an area with established missionary who knows the area, members, investigators, etc. So there should be some really big things happening around me these next 6 weeks!

I'm super Sad to see my Trainer Elder Gomez leave, but I'm also really excited for him. He's only served in 2 areas for his mission, and he's been out a little over a year. He's hopefully going to get to see a lot more of Florida and meet a lot more people! He's been a great trainer. He's extremely obedient, and has been amazing with Spanish. We have pretty different personalities and backgrounds, but he's been able to put up with me and it has worked really well! At least for me, hahaha. 

Adios Elder Gomez

BUT besides getting a new companion, there will also be another set of Elders moving into our Apt! there will be four of us instead of just two, which will be a lot more fun. The other Elders will have a car too!! BEST DAY EVER. I will still be on Bike, but on P-Days and for activities we will be able to hitch a ride. Sooooo great. 

Elder Gomez and I got some serious blessings this week! That family we met Sunday night I mentioned in my email last week is SO cool. Dennys and his wife Sheyla. They have a lot of objections in other Churches and desires to attend churches that perfectly matches with the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints!! They have a Date for the 27th currently, but Sheyla is tentative to make a decision because she wants to learn everything, while Dennys goes more off of his promptings of the Holy Ghost and how he feels, so he's more ready for the date. Sheyla loves the church tho! We are just working with helping her learn as much as possible to work for that date, and as well as having her focus on Praying after everything we teach and focusing on her answers from God that she feels through the Spirit. It's important to put in the work, learn, and have Faith, but it's also important to Grow our personal relationship with God, Jesus Christ, and the Spirit.

We also received an amazing miracle! A new family moved into our Ward from Peru, and one of the son's is Married to Yovana, who isn't a member. She has amazing desires to learn and want's to get baptized! She is a lot like Sheyla, and wants to learn as much as possible. We're focusing with her on the Same things and helping her grow her relationship with God and receive those answers from the Spirit. We, as missonaries, are just 19-20-21 year old kids, but the Spirit is the PERFECT teacher and can answer any and all questions, and teach us anything. We simply extend invitations for people to learn through the Spirit. This is why prayer is so important in all of our lives, as well as being worthy and living our lives in a manner that allows us to hear and feels those distinct, subtle promptings and answers from the Holy Ghost.

We have to finish rearranging our apartment to accommodate four missionaries, but I want to leave you all with my testimony that The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints is the exact same Church that Jesus Christ established on the Earth during his ministry. It was restored through a Prophet of God, who was called to be a Prophet by God himself and received Priesthood Authority to act in his name. The Book of Mormon is evidence of this Testimony, and it supports and sustains the Bible, as well as clarifies it. Don't tell me I'm wrong if you haven't read it, prayed it about it, and honestly sought for an answer with real intention to act on whatever answer you may receive. If you do, I know you will receive an answer, if you have even a particle of Faith.

I hope everyone has a great week! 

Love,

--

Elder Johns

{6.1.15} BMWs Hurt

This week was a really good one. We got a referral from a newly wed Couple in our Ward, Natasha and Kevin. They told us to go visit Natasha's Uncle, so the next day we knocked on the door not really knowing what to expect. Her Uncle, Julio, answered the door. He invited us right in! Called us Elders, and seemed to know a lot about what we did. We were kinda confused.. but he gave us dinner so we didn't argue!

After getting to know them a little bit, we finally asked, "so.. are you guys members? or..?" They weren't, and explained that they were Catholic, but Julio explained how his two siblings have been baptized in the Mormon Church, separately without knowing the other had been baptized hahah. He explained he's been the Mormon Church more than the Catholic Church, and then told us every reason ever of why he "hates" (his own words) the Catholic Church. We whipped out the Restoration Pamphlet and started teaching him in a little more detail why our Church is different than other Churches. They loved it! They thought it all made perfect sense, and we invited them to pray to know if it was true and their response was "well deep down, I think we already know it's true." We were stoked! But told them they still needed to read in the Book of Mormon and ask God if it was true, because we don't want them to believe in our Words, but their answer from God.

We came back, and they hadn't read due to the son, Bradley's, Graduation and their Daughters Quince, so we read 3 Nephi 11 where Christ first appears in the Book of Mormon. They loved it, and said they know it was the word of God, and that they promised they would Pray together as a family that night and attend church on Sunday with Natasha and Kevin.

We were so stoked Sunday morning! We already loved Julio, his Wife, Giselle and Bradley. We waited by the door for them, and waited... and waited... and waited... but they never showed up. We called, and finally got ahold of Julio, who told us he was out doing errands and everyone else had been asleep and he didn't want to wake them. We were pretty devastated, but he told us to come by after church. We did, and we taught them about the Plan of Salvation. The Spirit was SO strong. I haven't testified so hard in my entire mission. I bored testimony over and over about how much God has a plan for us, and that it's through Jesus Christ that we can be changed, baptized, and receive all the blessings he has for us, but it's only through his Church and his Priesthood! And if the Book of Mormon is true, and they know that this was Christ's same Church restored again with his Priesthood Power. His Church! They were all nodding their heads, and the Spirit was just engulfed in the room. Elder Gomez asked them all, simply, "Do you guys feel that?" and they all nodded their heads, and talked about how they felt so happy in that moment, and how they felt peace, and how when we came was the only time they felt unified as a family which they had expressed was a huge desire they had--to grow in their Faith in Christ TOGETHER, as a family.

We asked if they knew if these things were true, and if Joseph Smith was a prophet, and if the Book of Mormon was true, and they all said yes. We testified again, that if all these things were true, this was Christ's Church, and they said they would want to be apart of Christ's Church. We invited them to be baptized...

and they said no.

I was so shocked, I couldn't even believe it. Why?! You said said it was all true? So I asked, What?! Why? Kinda laughing hahaha. Essentially, they said "that'd be nice.. someday. But we just aren't ready yet." I was so confused.. they were contradicting everything they'd been saying. We testified again and showed them how if all these things were true like they said, that this baptism is the next step. There's nothing more but to act! But, they just didn't want to act.  We'd done all we could do, and invited them to do everything necessary to prepare. They just didn't want to give up their social drinking, and forsake their old ways to receive those blessings from God.

We left, feeling super defeated and bummed out. To add insult to injury, I got hit by a car on the way home hahaha. It's funny, because I'm okay, but it coulda been a lot worse. God was definitely protecting me. She was texting and was pulling out of a street and tried to shoot between two cars and took me from the side walk (in Miami, its safer to ride on the street than the sidewalk, believe it or not) into the street. I some how pulled my leg out and just kinda rode it out on the hood, but I somehow pulled my bike up to so it didn't get ran over! I walked away totally fine, and my bike didn't even have a scratch. She came out and was like Are you ALright! I'm so sorry! Don't call the cops!" and I just kinda stared at her and she just kinda stared at me.. and I just kinda stared at her, and I didn't want to deal with it so I just said "esta bien, no se precupe." And rode away.

It would be really easy to feel discouraged, but I walked away knowing we were closer to finding those who are truly ready to act on their Faith, and that that family someday will be ready and willing to act on their Faith and Knowledge. It's like my dad emailed me this week:

little bear hunter

"After they left the bait another large Boar came into the bait.  My friend shot him with his bow and it appeared that he hit him really good with an arrow.  The next morning we spent five hours on the blood trail on our hands and knees searching for blood and only finding a spect here and a speck there.  It was very steep and required us to climb steep inclines and crawl through very dense thickets of brush.  We didnt have water and got very dehydrated and frustrated because the trail of blood dried up over time.  In the end we covred several miles and my friend could barely walk.  It made me think of you and how you work to find the trail to good people that are elect.  I am sure you are often very fatigued and frustrated.  I know you are thirsty and suffering in your labors.  Even though we don't always find the Bear or animals we may wound, we can always take solace in knowing we have done our best.  As we reflected on our hunt later when we had refreshment and rest, it seemed easier and more fun than it did when we were thrsty, tired and frustrated.  Keep that in mind on those days when you can't find the trail of the elect.  The trail may be lost but the effort will be richly rewarded.  And once in a while you will retrieve the trophy for which you seek."

We struggle through the hard times to find the rewards. Even more importantly for me and other missionaries, to help others find those rewards and blessings. We were able to go and find another Family after all this happened! They accepted Baptism on their door step, after giving a short lesson. God creates a path for us to follow, although it may not be easy and may not be the easiest road to travel.

Love,

--

Elder Johns

PS Mom don't call the Mission President and request for to be put in a car. It won't happen hahaha.