{12.27.16}

Who's 'Yeti' to party?

This last week was memorable! Elder Petersen and I saw a ton of success. We taught a lot of crazy people, but I definitely felt we were on the Lord's errand and doing his work even though many of those people chose not to continue to listen or to act on what we shared with them.

Christmas Eve with Tristen!

Tristen is doing super good! We had 3 pretty powerful lessons with him this week, and really helped him identify his vision and purpose in life that he's always known he has. He put it down on paper, and wrote down the daily habits he needs to develop to get there spiritually. It boosted his confidence drastically--he feels confident he can overcome the temptations and has game plans to escape them. he set his own baptismal date for the 12th!

Good Ol' Cuban Cookin

Alex is doing great as well. He missed church because he probably stayed out too late on Christmas eve, but he told us that he's decided to Stay in the US. He really sees God's hand directing his life. He broke up with his Girlfriend in Venezuela and wants to make his life here in the States, and focus on putting God central in it by preparing to be baptized. 

It's been really fun teaching Alex and Tristen. They're 22 and 19, and I feel like I can unload some of the lessons I've learned on my mission and help them apply it. It's been cool to see them get excited and make changes, even in a place as crazy as Key West.

Sorry for the short one. Hope everyone has a great week!

Elder Juanes

Elder Jace Johns

Florida Fort Lauderdale Mission

7951 SW 6th Street, Suite 110

Plantation, FL 33324

{12.19.16} Paradise

Lisa baked me a cake

 We landed in the keys! but first, before I left Deep Side, I was able to say good bye to a lot of awesome friends made during my 8 months in the area.

Gavin and Shavonne!

The House Family

Zapata Fam

About how our lessons went, too...

​Down here in Key West, things are going better than I could have ever imagined! Elder Petersen and I are loving it. Honestly the people are sooo friendly, and everyone is super interesting. Some people have never left the Keys their whole lives, and you can tell hahaha, but as a majority, the peole are awesome.

We've seen a ton of great miracles this week! First, if you remember Sunny, we were able to make contact with her. She's the lady that almost got baptized when we came down to visit. We're going to see her tomorrow night. She's been out of town all weekend for her birthday, I was super happy to see her again and we're excited to help her and her family out.

Big miracle # 2. Tristen! He's from the great Potato State of Idaho! He grew up surrounded by members his whole life, almost was baptized awhile ago back in Preston, but never went through with it. Now he's stationed down here in the Navy and he's been coming to church for a few months. He's seriously going to become one of my best friends.. he's a great kid! Tonight we're going out to eat, and then we're gonna teach him and help him overcome some fears he has about getting baptized. We aren't exactly sure what they are, but that's the purpose of tonights visit.

Then we got Alex, straight from Venezuela! Elder Petersen doesn't speak Spanish, so i've been teaching him one on one. It's been super weird, I keep saying "we" and waiting for my companion to teach as well. But he's one of the most elect people I've ever met! I love Venezuelans. He loves the Gospel so much already, so all the new things were teaching him are making perfect sense to him and he's super excited to keep learning more. He's already accepted a date for baptism! He wants to be baptized before he heads back to Venezuela.

The members down here are great. We're really trying to work closely with them, and they don't mke it too hard! I already love them a lot, and they're trying really hard to give us tons of people to teach! They're great examples of being disciples of Christ.

We're off to have some Key West good times! We'll try and stay out of the water...

Elder Juanes

{12.12.16} If I Die Young, Send Me Down to Key West..

...For the Wynwood Alley-Oop

So it's official. The Mission President is sick of me, the missionaries are sick of me, everyone just wants me to "die" (mission lingo for ending your mission) already, so they've banished me down to the southern most regions of the Continental US to re-open the Florida Keys for mission work.

I'm not complaining though.

Before I got persecuted, I want everyone to know this was 100% President Richardson's revelation from the Lord--I simply agreed to it. That being said, I'm so excited! It's going to be a big change of pace. It's a little island, and you can only knock it so many times. There's a lot of tourists, and also a lot of people who don't like the LDS church..

But God prepares people everywhere!

I texted one of the Branch Members who recently returned from his mission, and he's been working with a young man (19 yrs old) stationed down there in the Navy, from Idaho, who apparently went to Seminary in high school. There's also Sunny--the lady we visited, taught, and who almost got baptized a few months back when we went to visit--and I'm really excited to see her and her family again and help them learn more about the Gospel. The Branch members love missionaries, and are so excited to have them back. It'll be a lot of fun working with them--I've been bad most my mission and relied more on finding and teaching through my own efforts. I'm really excited to team up with the members!

My new comp is going to be Elder Petersen.. so stoked. 

This last week in Deep Side was definitely one to remember as well. We got bombarded with Bible Referrals, taught a a lot, visited some formers, and ended up with tons of new friends to teach, a lot of which came to church. We also were able to visit the Reyes family--Edwin and Isela--who we lost contact with and had to quit teaching for awhile. After visiting them, their situation is SO much better. Edwin has a steady job, they've got a car, and Isela prayed at the end that "the missionaries will keep coming by again." That was such a happy moment. I loved that family so much and was so sad when we stopped teaching them. It just shows God works on his time and in his way!

We had a pretty crazy P-Day last week. We teamed up with the Doral North and Hialeah West Elders and played some 7-On-The-Line (it's a basketball shooting game)... but instead of being confined to a gym, we took a plastic hoop, taped it up in different well known Landmarks all throughout Miami (Pork-and-Beans, Miami Beach, Calle Ocho, Little Haiti). It was a memorable way to get back into Miami one last time and make some good memories with good mission friends.

Pork and Beans.. it's a place. It's a little sketch.

from Riggs to Johns...

From "downtown" @ Calle Ocho

Life is Good.  I love serving the Lord. Hope everyone has a great week!

Elder Juanes

Elder Jace Johns

Florida Fort Lauderdale Mission

7951 SW 6th Street, Suite 110

Plantation, FL 33324

{12.5.16} Doral For Life

I have no time to write, but I'll share 2 quick experiences from this week.

About 6 months ago, Elder Christensen and I knocked into a lady named Alana. She was baptized as a teenager on a small Caribbean island (i can't remember which one)  but when she had turned 18, she moved to new york but fell away from the teachings of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Her life got pretty difficult after 10 years up there, so she moved down here to Florida to be closer to her daughter (who lives with her ex) and her mother, which is when we found her.

Doral For Life

We started going by to see her and she started having really strong desires to come back to church and live the Gospel, and to have her daughter become involved as well. Unfortunately, things took a really bad turn--her boyfriend she was living with was abusive, and things got so bad she told us she was going to leave and not come back. She had no phone, and we went by several times to see if she was ever there but we never heard from her again.... until a couple nights ago. I was driving by where she lived and I saw her door was open and a I saw a woman who lived there that looked just like her. I didn't think it was possible, but it kept sticking in my mind, so after we dropped off Elder Toews and a member from the branch to visit recent converts, we went back instead of knocking doors. Sure enough, Alana was back! She'd completely flipped her life around. She's been reading in the scriptures daily, has a job, a car, and is out of the bad relationship. Her daughter is also with her now, and they're coming to church next week!

Awhile ago, we were also teaching the Reyes family. They're an awesome family, but when we were teaching them, life was coming at them 1,000 mph from 11 different angles. They had just moved from New York as well--had 3 kids, 1 on the way, and the father was working double shifts every day detailing cars. They got too busy and too distracted and stopped meeting with us. After Alana, we went and stopped by their house, and the situation has completely changed--they have a car, the father has a 9-5 job selling insurance, their house has furniture now, and they seem a lot happier, and less stressed. We shared the #lighttheworld christmas video with them, and the spirit was instantly there. They asked us to pray and bless their house, and invited us to come back and start teaching them again. 

It's amazing what time can do in peoples lives! It's also amazing how God can work in our lives over time. But what really stands out to me is all the little seeds that we sow, what they can really develop into. Sometimes as a missionary, I can get frustrated. I'm giving my all to serve people and give them what I KNOW will help them have more peace and happiness, and they just don't want to be served or they just don't understand. Serving in this area for 7 & 1/2 months has been a huge blessing, because normally I wouldn't have been able to see those seeds I planted develop into what they are now. Never underestimate small acts of service and the ripple effect they can have on someone's life, or their eternity.

Elder Juanes

Elder Jace Johns

Florida Fort Lauderdale Mission

7951 SW 6th Street, Suite 110

Plantation, FL 33324