{12.28.15} Some Thoughts about Thoughts

I hope everyone had a great Christmas! I sure did. It was great getting to talk to the family. Getting to see everyone really reminded me of how important they all for me. Sometimes out here on the mission, I get so focused on mission life I forget that there's an actual "real world" out there. The weirdest thought is that one of these days, I'll be forced to return to it. I'm not really sure what it will be like not to be a missionary anymore. On the plus side, I've still got a ways to go!

Christmas suits were a big hit at the
Christmas Conference.  AP Tanner had to snag a pic

Sis Peel and Sis Haws with Elder Johns & Elder Riggs

It also made me realize how much everything is different now. It felt weird for a moment to think that life has been going on without me for over a year. It made me feel as if I've been frozen in time and I've almost been "left-behind" in a sense. Lately, I've been caught up in some pretty deep introspection and meditation, and while pondering on that one morning I realized that it's quite the opposite. The reason I will never be able to return home to the same life is not only because the world has been going on without me, but because I'm no longer the same person and I won't fit into that same world that I used to know.

One of the most important principles of the Gospel of Jesus Christ is change. Change is inevitable. Change is necessary. Change is unavoidable. But there are two great gifts God gave us. The first, is his Son and our Savior Jesus Christ. The second, is our Agency. The ability that we have to choice. Lehi taught that there are two essential building blocks in this universe, "Things to Act" and "Things to be Acted upon." Besides the application this has in the creation process, it can also be applicable to us. We have the agency to choose, we are "the masters of our Fate; the Captains of our Souls." Or, to quote one of my favorite highschool movies (NeverBackDown!) "You Control the Outcome." We have the choice to deliberately control how we change and what we become, or we can become a product of our circumstances.

    Elder Kamalamalama went off on the Haka.

  made me miss those Poly Comps in the MTC

So how do we control the outcome? How do we control our "unfair circumstances?" It's a Law that every single input has output.Or as Christ taught it:

16 Ye shall know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles?

17 Even so every good tree bringeth forth good fruit; but a corrupt tree bringeth forth evil fruit.

18 A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can acorrupt tree bring forth good fruit.

Therefore, to change our circumstances (output) we must change our thoughts (input). All actions are the seeds of thoughts: so when we deliberately control, monitor, and regulate out thoughts, we can regulate not only who we are, but the circumstance that surround us. Conscious control and regulation of your thoughts will lead to a change in your impulses and unmediated actions. Nourish the tree in Good Soil, the tree will bring forth good fruit.

If anything has changed over the past year, it is the way that I think. People often wonder why us as missionaries have all these amazing experiences and miracles, and how as 18, 19, 20, and 21 year olds can change lives so influentially. It does have to do a lot with God's hand intervening; He is the one who prepares. But there's still a second factor, and that's us as missionaries. We have to knock the doors. We have to teach the lessons. We have to extend the commitments. We cannot however, make people believe, and we cannot make them feel the Spirit. That's where God is essential, and is in charge. However, I'd like to suggest that the secondary reason we see so many amazing miracles, experiences, and changes is because We know that it is possible. We are converted to it ourselves.

If there is anything I have become converted to on my mission, (and even before during my preparation) it is that through God I can accomplish all things. I am a very weak person, even to this day. But like Ammon in the 26th chapter of Alma, I can rejoice in my God. I can boast of him, for "in his strength I can do all things." If we have full belief in God, and trust in him, I contest that we can do all things. I will add that 98% of the time it's not in the specific way that we want, but as we seek to follow him we always end up reaching the end goal. More importantly, I have found serenity in my life. There's great power and knowledge when you know the direction of where you are going, that you have dominion over yourself, and that with God at your side, you truly cannot fail.

Welp... that's all I have to say about that.

Love,

Elder Juanes

Elder Jace Johns

23162 Post Gardens Way

Apt #709

Boca Raton, FL 33433