{9.12.16} Will you stand back up?

 If you can't avoid it, enjoy it right?

This week was probably one of the coolest weeks of my mission, probably one of the most rewarding, and also one of the most disappointing. I guess that's how you know when life is good--opposition in all things.

Some Zone leaders promised their zone if they hit their goals
they could pie the APs in the face...they just forgot to tell us
until we showed for the Zone Training.

2 really cool experiences happened this week!

1. I got to drive for 2 hours alone in a car with President Richardson as my companion for the day. 

2. Elder Adams and I got invited to eat breakfast with Elder Golden of the Quorum of the Seventy. 

Both experiences were fillled with tons of revelation and very strong promptings from the Spirit. God definitely calls men, and he qualifies them!

A quick update on some friends we've been teaching:

Gav & Shav: I can't remember if I put them in my email last week, but they are the COOLEST. Gavin is the branch relief society president's son. He hasn't been to chuch in years, and has been living down in South Miami. He works at Chili's, but a month or so ago some missionaries came into this work and talked with him, and gave him a big desire to come back to church. He got transferred to the Chili's up here in our area. He's living with him mom for the time being, and he's been at church the last 2 weeks. His wife, Shav, comes from a big Christian background--her mom is a pastor, her dad is a devout and active catholic, and she has been LOVING church and the lesson. She searches, prays, reads, basically does everything with real intent. She's getting clear answers, and she can get baptized any day--we're just helping her at this point feel 100% cemented to her decision and knowledge that this is what God wants.

Leo-  He's honestly one of my favorite people I've ever met. He's coming to church every week, participating openly, making great comments, loving all the principles of the Gospel--he's just a little iffy on his committing to anything too soon. He's been making a lot of big changes lately: getting married namely hahaha, which he struggled with for a lot of years. He will get there as well, because he also searches and prays and has real intent in all he does.

Reyes Fam: This is the big heartbreak of the week: the told us they love what we do, that we've helped their family sooo much, but they don't want us to come by anymore and they're going back to the Church of God. That's been a really hard one to accept. One of the hardest things in being a missionary is accepting that not everyone will act on your message, and even when you see people receive answers, and they TELL you they receive clear, unmistakable answers, they turn their backs on it. Our last visit was very positive, and we left them with the invitation of what to do if they ever feel that something is missing. The difference in this situation was again, real intent. One person in the family had real intent--and got answers. The other didn't have real intent, and therefore did not act, and therefore receive no witness. Without action, God will not respond. as Neal Maxwell said, "It is up to us. God will facilitate, but he will not force." 

That's my thought I want to leave this week. God loves us infinitely, and his power is infinite. Faith is the power by which God works, but without the action of faith, God cannot respond with his power. Of course, none of us will ever be perfect in our actions--not in this life. But, we can act with real intent in all we do. If we earnestly seek, ask, and act, with urgency, God will direct our paths. If we don't do those things with true intent to act on how God directs us, then he'll eave us to our own understand and our own strength. I've recently become obsessed with the powerful principles in Proverbs, 3:5-6:

Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding.

In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths.

Sometimes we think we have it figured out, and that we don't know to counsel with the Lord. But if we Trust in him, he'll always lead us exactly to where we need to be! Sometimes it may some like we've been lead the wrong way, or that we've fallen down too far. But like Presdient Uchtdorf (i think) said in a couple conferences back, God isn't so much concerned with the # of times we fall, but the number of times we get back up.

Elder Juanes

Elder Jace Johns

Florida Fort Lauderdale Mission

7951 SW 6th Street, Suite 110

Plantation, FL 33324