{5.31.16} Deeeeeeeeeep Side

Crappy pic, but the tail end of a dirt bang/quad gang of
50 that was rollin through shallowside on Memorial Day.
They do wheelies and all kinds of stuff down the main
roads. They're great guys too. Bike gangs
are always great people :)

It was a great week in Deep Side! We were able to keep finding tons of people this week, but we were able to find more who were willing to act and come to church! The Sad thing about the area I'm working right now is there are SO many humble people, both humble in heart and those humbled by circumstance, that truly WANT to do the right thing, and want to do good. But growing up in this part of Fort Lauderdale and living here, there's absolutely zero positive influence around. They have no support and their about as surrounded by sin and temptation as you can get. Most don't have cars or transporation. Some have put themselves their, others are scrambling to get out. The only metaphor I can think of for it is walking into a Coal Mine and trying to find Diamonds. There's a lot rocks made of Diamond Stuff, but they can't (or won't) put themselves in the right environment to be pressurized and become diamonds.

One of the "diamonds" who's been found in the past
year in this area. She's not goin anywhere!
(also, she took 3 bullets in Iraq and beat up a
man who broke into her work lol)

I'll keep working on my metaphors.

One of the highlights of this week was John and Jeremiah. We found their mom Anelia last week, and then came back and taught the whole fam. Anelia started off cool but started to fizzle out and lack commitment, but John and Jeremiah just couldn't get over "how different" we were. We saw them a lot this week, and they came to church Sunday. John is a homie, he's like 18 and he's in that really important phase where he may or may not drop out of school, may or may not stick with the right crowd, may or may not become gang affiliated, may or may not move out or move in with the wrong crowd. Right now, he's just a good kid. Really want to see him pick the straight and narrow. His little brother Jeremiah is 16, and he's super sharp. reads everything and retains it. He will follow John. They both loved Church, which has bumped up Anelia's desire and she says she's for sure gonna be at church. Last night we taught the word of wisdom, to help them have the spirit morea and to help them see if they really do have strong desires and are growing strong testimonies. They Understood it, they accepted it--but John understands the commitment it means to live it, and when everyone around him is smoking the green every he knows that he's gonna have to change everything in his life. He wants to do it, but he's scared to do it right now. We left them reading and we're going to be keeping contact over the phone and stopping by once this week to solidify them for church, but he followed us out the truck after our lesson to talk to us about it in private outside of the hearing range of his mom, and told us about how much he wants to change but just doesn't believe he can do it right now with the situation he's in. I got to bear testimony of my personal conversation and how much I had to change to go on a mission (like all of us do), and Elder Christensen showed him the picture of a member up in Boynton Beach who ran with gangs in Chicago for a long time and is tattooed from the top of his head to the tip of his toes, who has been a faithful, active, elder in the Church for 2 &1/2 years. God is no respecter of persons. The elect hear his voice, and he can help anyone change.

One of the sweeter G-Whips I've seen--this was 

parked outside the mission office!

In stark contrast, we knocked into this guy yesterday who tried to argue with us for 20 mins about how because we are white, and because of what happened in th past, we are damned. That the real Israelites are black and that white people are Edomites and are fore ordained to be destroyed from the earth. Never mind that faith in christ, repentance, and baptism stuff. God has chosen people, and it doesn't matter your desires! hahaha I never knew people could take Jesus and turn it into racism.

My point being, i'm grateful for the knowledge I have, and the perspective it gives me. I'm not perfect, and never will be, and I will never know that much in the grand scheme of eternities. Not in this life anyways! But I want everyone to know I have a firm testimony that anyone, anywhere, can change.

Elder Juanes

Elder Jace Johns

5310 NW 14th Pl

Ft Lauderdale, FL

{5.23.15} I say sak pase, she say ma boule

(Elder) Matthew Kwon showed up on Sunday!
visiting from USC.

This week's definitely been a blur, but Elder Christensen and I were able to have a lot of cool experiences! I'll just summarize what the last week has been like.

-Dropping my dad (trainer) E. Gomez off at the Airport to go home.

-Seeing the sheer joy on a missionaries face when he sees the airplane and realizes it's only a few hours away (Elder Mason lol)

-Finding 5 new investigators in less than 2 hours

-Seeing a Recent Convert risk getting fired so she could come to church because "life gets reeaal sucky soon as i miss a Sunday" (quote, unquote)"

-Seeing police, fire truck, and ambulance sirens every day.

-Getting to drive the Nissan Frontier. Truck Baby!

-Getting to talk to President Richardson pretty much every day.

-12 yr old "hood kids" tellin us we better be careful round here

-Not getting to sleep

-Spending half a day on a computer

-Eating lots of Haitian and Jamaican food.

It's been a lot of fun so far, and these next 3 weeks are going to be especially crazy. I can't remember who first warned me, but who-ever said it was right: there's so much more to do than I could have ever thought up. It's great though!

A little more info: My Companion is Elder Christensen. He has 2 more transfers including this one. He's a creole missionary, and right now we have permission to teach Creole because the ward was recently split so the Haitian Elders in Fort Laud are trying to cover a ward in English and Creole as well as our branch in Creole. When those lessons come up, I just get to hang out and play with the little Haitian kids and their toys and pretend like I understand what they're saying.

The area is really diverse. It goes from pretty hood to the richie-richies. Lot's of really humble, really really nice people. Everyone respects us. Except the Hebrew Iraelites but they just have beef because they believe Jesus is Black and they don't like that we hand out pictures of "white jesus." i love the area! It's just a whole different animal. It's also really weird teaching and praying in english. Took a couple days to get used to.

Hope everyone is great! Thank you for all the emails of support and love.

Elder Juanes

Elder Jace Johns

5310 NW 14th Pl

Lauderhill, FL 33313

(I transferred from the Lauderhill area, but now I actually live IN Lauderhill hahaha)

{5.17.16} TRANSFERS: God has a sense of Humor.

Someone surprised me with this
great picture of Elder Cutler & Elder Johns

well, transfer calls came last night. President had told Elder Cutler and I that we were staying together. But last night, as we were teaching this awesome part-member family, the Chicaizas (Gabby and Vanessa have a date for next weekend), when I looked down at the phone and saw "President Richardson." I thought maybe he was just calling to give us transfer read out. Nope.

"Elder Johns, are you sitting down? I'd sit down. I've called you to be one of my Assistants this coming transfer."

So, I definitely never thought I'd be AP, especially after only 1 transfer as ZL. I have no idea what to expect. There's a lot of better qualified, more experienced missionaries that could and probably should be serving in this position. I still feel like I'm just trying to get this whole missionary thing down, let alone AP, or even a Zone Leader. Let's just say there's been lots of praying and pleading in the last 12 hours for help and guidance. I feel like "learning to rely on the Lord" is going to reach a new level of intensity for me these next coming transfers.

It's very bittersweet to be transferring. I love Lauderhill SO much. Our Recent Convert Jose texted us last night and told us "he will always remember us as if we were his sons" AND his wife FINALLY read in the Book of Mormon! She's always loved us, been more than friendly and warm, but has never been open to seeking out on her own. Luckily i'm not too far away and I hope to see them continue to progress, as well as the Chicaiza family (cutest little girls from Ecuador ever!!!) My new area is called Sunrise, also known as "deepside" throughout the mission. It's gonna be a change of pace! It's english, for starters. Lots of Haitians (my comp Elder Christensen is Creole), and for lack of others words to describe it... it's super ghetto hahaha. But I'm excited! The people are very humble, very ready for the Gospel. It's a very successful area.

In all seriousness, please pray for me! I need it so bad hahaha.

Elder Juanes

{5.9.16} The Halfway House

Mother's Day Call!
Not the greatest pic... but the Greatest Call!
Loved hearing him speak Spanish to la familia

Since Mothers Day was yesterday, I'm all talked out. Also, I have a lot of stuff I need to do today so this email will be pretty short! Happy Mothers Day to all the mothers out there, and thanks to everyone who still reads my weekly epistles.

I just want to share a cool experience I had this week. In the Zone, we did "District Blitzes" where everyone goes and knocks in a specific companionships area to help them find new friends to teach and share the gospel with. During a blitz on Saturday, I was knocking with Elder Duvinston (awesome Haitian kid from Jersey, his dad got baptized last week!) and We knocked into a HalfWay house without knowing. 3 guys were coming out of the house. At first glance, you could  tell they'd been through some things. We offered to say a prayer, and they accepted. They all asked for one thing: "Pray that we can stay sober." So we did. One of them left quickly; he obviously felt uncomfortable, for reasons I don't care to know or judge. But, we kept talking with the other two, asking how they felt. They opened up pretty quick. One was from Philly, the other from Jersey, both super handsome guys not much older than me. One was super clean cut, with icy blue gun fighter eyes, and the other had a long hair and a neatly trimmed beard. They talked to us about their experiences with AA, how far they've come, how much temptation is in the world, and that in the AA it's very Faith Based. We were able to invite them to church, talk about baptism, and coming closer to God. We left them with all the information they needed. Halfway houses won't let you come in and teach, and with everything goin on they may not find their way to church for awhile. But I definitely felt my purpose fulfilled and walked away feeling edified.

Elder Cutler, Elder Adams, Elder Johns, Elder Foster, Elder Schaugaard
 "visiting" the ocean...just looking...not touching the sand or the water!
Thankful for their obedience

Because in reality, in our own way, are we not all the lost sheep at times? Do we not all have our "prodigal experience?" I know for me, I had countless experiences where people spoke to me and shared things we me that I knew came from God, but I did nothing at the time. But those moments always stayed with me, until a later date when I decided to change, or decided to pray, or decided to ask for help. It's important to remember, No Effort is ever wasted.

Elder Juanes

Elder Jace Johns

3641 Turtle Run Blvd

Apt #913

Coral Springs, FL 33067

{5.2.16} Edification

The week was great and went by super fast! too fast.

First off, we had interviews with President. I love President Richardson. He's a homie. As I've gotten to know him better, I've realized he's just like all of us! He just has all the keys. He reminds us frequently of that hahaha. He was able to answer some questions that I had about being an effective leader as well as some personal questions. It was a very edifying experience as always.

 This whole week was edifying. I just felt as if I was doing what the Lord wanted me to the whole week, especially yesterday. it's a very peaceful and comforting thing to feel the love and support of the Lord, even when things don't always go as planned.

Elder Nielsen's "funeral"

We've seen some more Miracles this week! This guy named Carlos Morales was walking out of his apartment in Bogota, Colombia. He saw two white americans standing on the street corner. He lives in America now, and he thought it was pretty interesting. He asked them in English "are you lost?" Which really shocked them, being in the middle of Bogota Colombia hahaha. Fast-Forward a-bit, those two Missionaries took down his information, it got send to us, and now we are teaching Carlos and his family! They came to church on Sunday. We talked about the foundation of the primitive Church doing Christ's day in Gospel Principles, which PERFECTLY answered a lot of questions Carlos has about churches on the Earth today and why they don't follow the Bible more accurately. He asks amazing questions, and he's finding answers. The only awkward moment was after church when he tried to insist we have a "cervezita" with him. He knows about the word of wisdom now! hahaha, but he understood and we'll finish crossing that bridge later.

The area is doing really great. We see miracles daily. To quote a fellow missionary, Elder Tanner, "the Miracle is in the Finding." It truly is a miracle who God either puts people in our path, or like Carlos he puts the missionaries in the path of the people.

The Zone finished up super strong with 5 baptisms this week. Really proud of what everyone was able to do.

The Church has to be true!

Elder Juanes

Elder Jace Johns

3641 Turtle Run Blvd

Apt #913

Coral Springs, FL 33067