Elder Johns in Florida: {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.