{10.24.16} It's All Good in the Hood

This week was insanely busy, but a really good week. Because of hurricane matthew a few weeks back, we got really behind on all our exchanges and had to catch up before the transfer ended. I spent 2 days out of my area shadowing the Blue Lagoon West and Fontainebleau North Elders in Miami. Blue Lagoon is right up next to the heart of Miami, and Fontainebleau was my 'birth' or 1st area! it's West Miami, but in my (completely un-bias) opinion the best area in the mission. Saw a ton of awesome miracles in Blue Lagoon. We found a family of 3 from cuba, and who just got here from Cuba who has been praying to find a church and lives all by herself in a tiny efficiency on the side of a house, and in Fontainebleau I got to visit my convert Juan and all his family, many of which are now baptized and all the grandkids who are working towards baptism! Check out the photos:

In our area, Lisa and Chevy passed their baptismal interviews and will be getting baptized on Wednesday! Chevy came with us to do service the other day and he is loving everything. He's been investigating the church for a couple years, and his time finally came and he's now ready. I can't wait to send the baptismal photos so everyone can see his million dollar smile. It's seriously worth a million bucks. You'll believe it when you see it. Lisa is doing so great as well. She's quit smoking quite awhile now, and she loves the Book of Mormon and after her baptismal interview she was so excited she called all her new friends in the branch. She's so much happier from when we first met her as well. Huge blessing.

Huge miracle this week is when we found Marina knocking doors. We invited her to church and she was sooo down and wanted all her kids to come. We were going to go back and teach them all that night (saturday) but they were all at a birthday party, so she told us to come by before church Sunday. When we came by, they were all waiting for us--all 9 members of the family! 8 of them came to church, including Marina whose manager miraculously gave her the day off just because she mentioned her family was going to be going to church (NEVER happens in south florida). They loved it, and kept asking before we could even bring it up if they can be baptized, how they can learn more and participate more, and what's 'required' to become a member of the church. Such a huge blessing!

Hope everyone has a great week!

Elder Juanes

Elder Jace Johns

Florida Fort Lauderdale Mission

7951 SW 6th Street, Suite 110

Plantation, FL 33324

{10.17.16} Come Unto Christ

Had to catch up on a bunch of personal emails to people, so this is gonna be super short, but here's some highlights for this week.

-Lisa got solidified for her baptismal date. She's quit smoking and only has a few more days left! She LOVED church, and has a ton of friends in Relief Society right now. Sunrise Branch steppin up in their member work!

-Tendrick FINALLY is getting the divorce papers, and he's as solid for baptism as ever as soon as the divorce and marriage can happen.

-Our miracle bible referral came to church! It was perfect, they loved it, and the members again stepped up big time and helped with the kids during sacrament meeting.

The mission right now is fired up. There's more Faith than I've seen since the beginning of my mission. Everyone is doing everything they should be, and striving to become better each and every day. There's an awesome quote that I may have shared recently but honestly can't remember that has become something I look at every day, from President David O Mckay.

"Man is a spiritual being, a soul, and at some period of his life everyone is possessed with an irresistable desire to know his relationship with the infinite... there is something within him which urges him to rise above himself, to control his environment to master the body and all things physical and live in a higher, more beautiful world."

I constantly  long to rise above my weaknesses, and live in the way my Father in Heaven wants me to with him someday. On days when those feelings leave, and I want to be content with the weaknesses I've been given because we've all been given them, I pray to feel those desire again, and try to follow the advice in Moroni 10 to deny myself of the things of this world for something above myself:

32 Yea, come unto Christ, and be perfected in him, and deny yourselves of all ungodliness; and if ye shall deny yourselves of all ungodliness, and love God with all your might, mind and strength, then is his grace sufficient for you, that by his grace ye may be perfect in Christ; and if by the grace of God ye are perfect in Christ, ye can in nowise deny the power of God.

and then, the promise, if we live faithful to the covenant we made at baptism for the remission of sins.

 33 And again, if ye by the grace of God are perfect in Christ, and deny not his power, then are ye sanctified in Christ by the grace of God, through the shedding of the blood of Christ, which is in the covenant of the Father unto the remission of your sins, that ye become holy, without spot.

Elder Juanes

Elder Jace Johns

Florida Fort Lauderdale Mission

7951 SW 6th Street, Suite 110

Plantation, FL 33324

{10.10.16} HURRICANE MATTHEW

It took about 5 hours to get all the shutters up,
but it was a fun experience and I guess I can check it off the list of things
I can say I've done in my life hahah.

In response to everyone's questions about my crazy stories from Hurricane Matthew...

I've seen worse rainstorms in Idaho.

But in all seriousness, we were VERY BLESSED to have Matthew avoid us. We hardly got any rain, I think 1 tree blew down in all of Broward County and the news showed it over and over again.

We could have been directly in the path as originally predicted, and we need to pray for and support those who did get hit directly, especially those up north in florida and particularly those in Haiti, Baracoa Cuba, and the Bahamas. 

Here's a more accurate description of
Hurricane Matthew for us AP's:

In our area this week, we had a lot of our investigators drop off. Asi es la vida. We are still working with a few really solid people, and we had a HUGE miracle this week with a bible ref. Michael ordered a bible. He recently got married and has a lot of step sons now, and he really wants to step into the father role. His mother recently passed away, and her dying request was that he "get back into church." So he ordered a bible, we came by, delivered it to him, and taught him the restoration and he accepted baptism. Probably one of the most sincere people I"ve met on my mission. Just a really hard-working, genuine guy. He's a pretty stout, strong african-american man, and when he said the closing prayer he had tears welling up in his eyes. He felt the Spirit and he recognized it. I've said this a lot, but it's SO important that we follow the Spirit and that we qualify for it's constant companionship. The adversary can use any number of tools--including people--to try and dissuade us from the truth and lead us down "forbidden paths" but the adversary cannot duplicate the peace that only comes from the companionship of the Holy Ghost, which we qualify for by being meek and teachable and following the teachings and commandments of Jesus Christ and his Gospel.

​

Also, last week I got to do some more fishing. Elder VanCott and I reeled in two nice ones at the same time. gotta love serving in Florida!

Elder Juanes

Elder Jace Johns

Florida Fort Lauderdale Mission

7951 SW 6th Street, Suite 110

Plantation, FL 33324

{10.03.16}

Camo handkerchief President gave them for Hunt for 100

Fam and Friends, I'm super short on time but this week was awesome! General Conference was a little different this time around. It was my last one in the field, which was definitely bittersweet. I received a lot of really good, little promptings. I love how conference seemed very focused on the basics--the gospel of Jesus Christ. We had 7 investigators come to church, and each identified very particularly with a certain message. 

For me, my biggest take away is sometimes I might get too caught up in the big picture of things, but as a missionary I know the small and simple things work. I do the small and simple things every day, but I need to always remember the why of the small and simple things, how they help me increase my faith in Christ, repent, and keep the covenants I've made with the Lord. The recipe for success in the Gospel is very simple. Though it may at times, it doesn't always require large, sudden bursts of all our energy and exertion. Rather, most of the time, it requires stamina, persistance, and of course, enduring to the end. We will all, always, make mistakes. It's those moments sitting on the ground that we need to "arise from the dust" of those mistakes and feel our way back, step by step with one foot in front of the other, to the strait and narrow, find the iron rod and hold on tight.

hope everyone has a great week!

Elder Juanes

Elder Jace Johns

Florida Fort Lauderdale Mission

7951 SW 6th Street, Suite 110

Plantation, FL 33324

{9.26.16} (Almost) Baptizing in the Keys

This weekend, we went to the keys. We got a referral for maybe the coolest lady I've met on my mission. She's studied the church for 8 years, but never met with missionaries, and has literally just been waiting to get baptized. SHE ALMOST DID. When I say almost did, I mean we had the baptismal fount filled. But, she has a huge family (husband and 6 kids) who are recently blended together with her and her husbands marriage, and they know next to nothing about the church (besides what they've heard in the book of mormon play lol) so her decision was to have her family receive a little more exposure first. She will be getting baptized VERY soon, and she wants us to do it. We've gotten permission to stay in contact with her (bc there's no missionaries in the Keys currently) and a chill RM who's off-track at BYUI is in charge of teaching her family some of the lessons, so she's in good hands. We're gonna make it happen! #HuntFor100

But in other news, we DID baptize in our area! Shavonne is the newest member of the Sunrise Branch!

She's solid as a rock. Her Husband was able to baptize her, which a crazily unique experience. Gavin is also big on supporting her and receiving the the Melchizedek priesthood, and says that as a couple they're shooting for "the perfect attendance award" hahaha. 

In Key West, we had a lot of fun fishing. This fish definitely wasn't the biggest of the trip (to put it kindly) but it was the first, which is why I'm repping it so proudly.

Despite what it looks like, we DID do missionary work in the Keys. We went with the Branch Mission Leader of the Year, Herman, and visited a ton of less-active in the branch. He's probably the most solid, funniest, friendliest old cuban man I've ever met. Everything that comes from this man is GOLD, and he has a way of relaxing people and making them laugh that only an old Cuban can, but unlike most old Cubans, he doesn't share apostate doctrine in lessons hahaha.

All in all, it was a successful trip. One of the members we visited hadn't been to church in 5 years, but when we showed up he was mourning the recent loss of his brother. We shared with him briefly the power of the Savior, his plan of Salvation, and promised him coming to church would re-confirm what he already knows to be true. It's a true testimony of God's timing.

Of course, another testimony of God's timing is Sunny, the lady we visited and taught who is preparing for baptism. She knows the church is true, and she's found out on her own. God prepared her on her own, we just happened to come down at the right time, and as I had the opportunity to interview her, she realized and the Spirit confirmed that she IS ready for baptism, and she was/is SO excited to become a member of Christ's Church. More so than anyone I've probably ever met!

The church is true, and God is preparing people to receive the truth even on a little island called RamRod 50 or so miles East of Key West.

Elder Juanes

Elder Jace Johns

Florida Fort Lauderdale Mission

7951 SW 6th Street, Suite 110

Plantation, FL 33324

{9.19.16} Elevator OYM's.

half mission conference

Had an awesome week in Deep Side again this week! I have a lot of thoughts, but unfortunately no time. Here's some recaps.

Tuesday & Wednesday we had half-mission conferences! We unveiled our new push in the mission--"The Hunt for 100." We related to the story of Nephi breaking his bow, and take about Faith, Heed, and Diligence and why we need to apply those principles in order to achieve our mission goals. People responded positively-- and people have really adopted the "hunting" theme with Camo, hunting analogies, and applying Jeremiah 16:16 to the fullest. 

With our investigators, Shavonne is getting baptized this week! She was sick but still came to church, and was participating a lot in the classes and is really excited for her baptism this wednesday. Her Husband is coming back to church and he is going to be the one to baptize her--she was really excited about that.

We found a lot of new friends this week. After the conference, we found Marie. She's from the bahamas and she had been praying right before we knocked on her door. She came to church with her baby girl and loved it! Next week she's bringing her 14 & 15 year old kids, who were with their dad this week.

We had a boss FHE at Elder and Sister Packs house on Saturday, and taught Leo about the Book of Mormon. He's still too down to get baptized, but he's still waiting for his answer from God. He's really busy and we can't see him too often, but he's at church every week and he knows this is what is going to bless his family. His answers in Sunday School and Elder's Quorum are honestly money--the Gospel just comes super easy for him. He for sure will be a future leader in the church!

Funny story of the week. We've been working in this tall apartment complex with doors for days. We finished one of the buildings late Saturday night, and had 10 mins or so before 9. Instead of heading home, we decided to try and knock a few doors in the next building over. As we got in the elevator, a family got in as well and we explained the restoration to them in 15 seconds and invited them to church. We got a return appointment from it! so for the next 10 mins we rode the elevator up and down and talked to everyone who got in. It worked really well hahaha, the people can't ignore you. One of the times we hit the call button to send the elevator back to us, the door opened and there was a huge guy with dreads and a snarling pitbull. We decided to take the stairs.

Hope everyone has a great week!

Elder Juanes

Elder Jace Johns

Florida Fort Lauderdale Mission

7951 SW 6th Street, Suite 110

Plantation, FL 33324

{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