Week 102 - The End

The End

So to everyone who is not my family. You can email me at brycejohns@comcast.net

This has been an amazing week to end on. We have had miracle after miracle. Our dry spell has officially ended. We received a referral from a Pentecostal non-member for a guy who wants to be baptized. He was super cool. We also had a good lesson with Serena, and another new family that wants to get baptized. Yesterday we put Heather Emmich's brother on date for baptism and he is super excited about it as well. Things are moving so well. I am really proud of my companion Elder Foster. He's going to be taking over the area today. I remember when I was in his shoes two years ago when my trainer left. I feel that I lived up to his example of working hard to the end. (I didn't even start packing till Saturday night).

So, this is my last email as a missionary. I wanted to share a list of the things that I have learned as a missionary.

Ten Things I have learned from my mission.

1. Choose Charity

Charity is the most important attribute. As Paul says in the thirteenth chapter of Corinthians verses 1 through 3:

 1 Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, and have not charity, I am become as sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal.

 2 And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries, and all knowledge; and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, and have not charity, I am nothing.

 3 And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, and have not charity, it profiteth me nothing.

We can have all the other positive attributes in the world, but it doesn't matter, it doesn't help us to progress and grow to become the people we have the potential to become. The goal in life is to become as Christlike as possible we cannot do that if we merely go through the motions, we must have a mighty change of heart and have Christlike actions with a Christlike attitude, then we can have all the blessings and attributes that Paul enumerates in the rest of the chapter.

So: Love everybody! Even if you don't like them, love them and you will be able to see them as Christ does.

2. Unify Yourselves

As a missionary, the companionship is the basic unit, and the work in an area succeeds or fails on the unity of the companionship. If you are not on the same page nothing gets done. As Jesus said, " A house divided against itself cannot stand." So you must decide to love them no matter what because contention will drive the spirit away. Without the Spirit you can do nothing. So Serve each other, discuss ideas, make plans, be humble enough to compromise, and take companionship inventory seriously.  Be unified.

3. The power of positivity

Alma 41:15 "That which ye do send out doth return again unto you and is restored..."

You get to decide what your reactions will be to every situation you come across. If you choose to react negatively you feel bad, which is no fun, if you instead chose to act positively and move forward you can learn the lessons you need and have fun while you are at it. You are only robbing yourself of your own happiness. So choose to enjoy what you are doing so you can excel and put your full effort into it.

Also, nobody likes negative people.

4. Be Obedient

As a missionary, we are here to learn to obey. Obedience is the first law of the gospel. If you want blessings, obey the commandments. Mission rules are commandments.

It's that simple.

5. If it's good, do it.

The Spirit will guide you if you let Him. Usually, for me it's just a thought, a quiet prompting to go and do something good. Then when I go and do it, we see a miracle happen. I usually don't recognize the thought as the spirit till afterwords.

The Spirit answers the questions we have as missionaries, where to go, what to do, what to teach, what to say. As we live worthy, we will have his presence. We may not always recognize it, so if you have a prompting to do something good, do it, it's probably the Spirit.

6. Study the scriptures (and Preach My Gospel)

D&C 11:

 21 Seek not to declare my word, but first seek to obtain my word,and then shall your tongue be loosed; then, if you desire, you shallhave my Spirit and my word, yea, the power of God unto theconvincing

You need to know the scriptures before you can use them. God doesn't work by ex nihilo creation. The Spirit brings things to your remembrance, so you need to have something in there before you can talk about it.

Also, the book of Mormon, is the most powerful tool. Either it's true or it's not and the only way people can know for themselves is by reading it and praying about it. 

7. Teach, edify, Commit

The Scriptures tell us that we must teach nothing but repentance. In all interactions as missionaries we must teach true doctrine, edify with the spirit, and invite people to commit to do something (Repentance). As we do those three things we will be effective teachers of the gospel. Also, make sure to center your teaching on the Savior.

8.Question with boldness

Ask questions. Then find the answers. It's that's simple. In teaching, in studying, in the gospel, in everything. God wants us to ask questions so that we can receive answers for ourselves. 

9. Plan properly

Something our mission president is big on is the concept of Vision, Goal, Plan. Have a general vision/purpose goals to create that vision and specific plans to achieve your goals and make your vision a reality. "Life without goals is like golf without holes (it's called a driving range)."

10. Do you understand the import of your message?

“We as a people have one supreme thing to do, and that is to call upon the world to repent of sin, to come to God. And it is our duty above all others to go forth and proclaim the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ, the restoration again to the earth of the plan of life and salvation. … We have in very deed the pearl of great price. We have that which is of more value than all the wealth and the scientific information which the world possesses. We have the plan of life and salvation. … The best way in the world to show our love for our neighbor is to go forth and proclaim the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ, of which he has given us an absolute knowledge concerning its divinity” (in Conference Report, Apr. 1927, 175–76).
(Youtube/listen to the talk "The Profile of a Prophet" by Hugh B Brown.

Bonus!

Remember the miracles
Keep it simple

This has been the best two years of my life, and I would not trade this time for anything else. I thank God for the miracles I have seen, the people I have touched, and the changes I have made. I love to see the Joy in people's lives when they live the gospel. May God continue to use me to help people in our lives.

Love, Elder Johns.

See you in 24 hours.

Week 101

The Last leaf.... Rather the Penultimate leaf

June 16, 2014

Missionary Barney
(or what Elder Johns looks like now.)

This is what happens when you achieve perfect charity....

So I figure that I will write a "Last" email next week that will be all spiritual and stuff so this week I'll send pictures of me in a barney costume... lol.

Our week was a little Bi-polar. We didn't have a lot of lessons, but we picked up a great new part-member family. I've been trying to get in with them the whole time I've been here, and finally we did. The mom is not a member, they were both saying about how this is what they need in their life. The Spirit was in that lesson super strong. They are going to be a great little mormon family soon.

We also had a good lesson with a Less-active's fiance yesterday. I've talked to her several times, and she would sit in but wouldn't do anything. She was saying, "If you were here for two more months I'd be a Mormon" I said, "well there is skype." We finally got her to take a copy of the Book of Mormon. Hopefully she reads it. I think that she will be baptized, she just doesn't know it yet.

We Confirmed the Emmich boys yesterday in sacrament meeting. It was really cool. Probably the last ordinance I will do on my mission. It was so great to see all the dominoes fall into place for them.
Aside from that our week was mostly just meetings and stuff.

For my last DDM I trained about out the "10 things I learned on my mission" Which I will share in my last email.

Our God is a God of miracles. I've seen that Time and Time again. This week is going to be amazing, and we are going to get a ton of work done. This is the final sprint to the finish line, so it is going to be great. See you soon.

Love Elder Bryce Johns

Week 100

San Jacinto Transfer three week whatever... This week I petted a camel. #JesusBumps

Davian and Dylan Emmich's baptism. Their dad Trent, Stepmom Heather and sister Shaelee a bunch of missionaries and their fellow-shipper Thom.

June 9, 2014

We've been struggling trying to find more people to teach. Which seems to be a very common theme throughout my mission... So we've been biking and walking around San Jacinto talking to everyone that we see.

So remember Dylan and Davian? They were on date for this coming weekend but it worked out better for everyone to do it yesterday, so we did. But not before a cool miracle. On Wednesday I went on exchanges and left elder Foster in the area with Elder McConkie (one of the zone leaders). Elder Taylor and I had a good day in their area, but we got a phone call from Elder Foster he said. "We got a text from Heather, Dylan says he doesn't want to get baptized anymore, he's going to be home later today to meet with us." I was a little worried, but said "Just bring it back to the Book of Mormon and help him remember how he's felt. " "That's the plan" they said. But it turned out they didn't really need to do anything. They showed up and Dylan said that his dad had answered all of his questions and that he got an answer. He was in a fight at school and he was sitting outside of the principals office when he heard a voice behind him say "You're getting baptized" He looked around and didn't see anybody and then he felt the "Jesus bumps" So he knew he needed to get baptized. And they both did yesterday. It was a really cool baptism. Standing room only. It was also really cool because Trent, their dad, was able to baptize them. He's only been a member for a few months now. The spirit was very strong. Hopefully this isn't my last baptism as a missionary, but if it is it was a good one to end on. They are both so excited. Next week Elder Foster and I will be confirming the boys in Sacrament meeting.

So that was really cool. #Jesusbumps.

While I was on exchanges we stopped by one of their investigators who owns a ranch. She has two camels and we got to pet them. They were really friendly. Apparently they are very emotional animals and if you insult them they will sulk for weeks. The neighbors also had a zebra. Which was pretty fun.

Last Monday, we received a prompting to go visit a less-active recent convert. Someone was home, but didn't answer the door. As we were walking back to the car, there was a woman speed-walking by pushing a stroller. So of course I went to talk to her. She said, when I hit that speed bump I'm going to start running, you can talk if you keep up. Challenge accepted. She hit the speed bump and started running. So I ran with her, trailing Elder Foster. I was talking to her about the restoration and stuff, but in the end she wasn't interested in us coming by. You would think that after running with her for 1/5th of a mile (we measured it later) she would have let us come by. But no.

We did however run into a really cool guy named Dean who we talked to for a long time. He was really impressed with us invited us over for a barbeque later that week. He had to cancel unfortunately, but said we could probably come by this week.

Serena had an interview with President Smart on the fourth, she'll probably  need another one. But she's still coming steadily to church and reading. However she got a job so it will be harder to meet with her as frequently.

Still working hard for the last two weeks, with an Eye Single to the Glory of God as they say.
Love you all!

Elder Bryce Johns

Week 99

100 weeks or more ago when I was newly set apart...

All:
Our investigator list has stayed the same. But Davian and Dylan Emmich are on date for this month. We overcame Dylan's concerns and got permission from Davian's mom. So that's exciting. We had a really good lesson with them. It started out a little rocky (the kids were all jittery and not taking things seriously.) then the spirit locked in. We invited Dylan to baptism, he said no. We asked why not. Eventually, he asked, "do I need to bear my testimony after the baptism?" We said no. I really think that was his main concern, because after that he said yes, then he called his mom and got permission to be baptized.

That's the main thing that happened this week. We had a lot of long and somewhat disappointing days, lots of cancelled appointments and "Hunting". I did get bit by another dog. One of our potential investigators has a big dog (it's still a puppy more or less) and it loves to play. But he plays rough, and gnawed up my arms while I was distracting it so my companion could get through.

We also took a couple bike days to save on miles. but my tire popped so we couldn't the other day.

That's really all I have to talk about. I don't really feel in the "writing" mood.   

It's weird to think that I'll be 21 after Thursday. But not too weird.

We have certainly seen the hand of God in our work here though, when things are difficult it means big blessings are on the horizon.

Thanks for everything, See you guys soon.

Love,
Elder Bryce Johns


p.s.

Elder Foster and I went hiking with one of the priests in our ward today too. It was really fun. We had to clamber up and down some cliffs which was fun. We almost started a rock slide, but it all turned out okay. My SD card reader broke so I can't send any pictures.

Week 98

San Jacinto Transfer 3 Week 2

May 26, 2014

This week has been a spiritual roller coaster.

On Tuesday we went to Riverside for the Incoming meeting. That was the day that rest of the new missionaries came in. So we were in Riverside all day. There were some really good trainings/testimonies though.

One of the new Hermanas came from New York (Originally Columbia) and the missionary who baptized her lives in Riverside and was there to meet her at the Mission office.
Something President said was a good reminder for me. Alma 26:27. The last half of the verse says: "Bear with patience thine afflictions and I will grant you success." I think that verse sums up my mission as a whole.

We also had meetings most of Wednesday.

Thursday I had my outgoing interview with President Smart. That was really good. I asked him for a golden bullet piece of advice and he said "Keep it simple."

Aside from all those meetings our week was not very eventful. Serena is doing well, she brought a friend to church this last sunday and the friend enjoyed it alot. Unfortunately she lives in Perris. So we will have to send a referral. But It is really cool to see Serena open up to us.  She has had a very difficult life, in the past and recently, but she wants to put everything behind her and restart.
Other than that no one was home, one of our new investigators dropped us, and we spent the time rolling around trying to visit people.

Hopefully she can get baptized this month or next. We have to wait for president's approval.
We should be having at least one or two baptisms besides her. The Emmich boys, Davian and Dylan should be able to be baptized in June.

Now that I think about it there were a couple cool miracles that I can write about. We were out "hunting" (visiting PMFs and Potentials) and we drove past a part member families house en route to another one. We saw the non-member dad out front and we swung by when no one answered at the other house. He wasn't interested, but the member wife needed a blessing. It was the spirit that prompted us to go by. The next day we were basically out of things to do and I asked my companion "Want to go to the Indian Reservation?" I knew that there was one member family out there and I hadn't met them yet. "Sure" he said. So we drove waaaay out there and showed up. The sister is inactive and has been sick recently. She also needed a blessing. It was interesting, the prompting was simple and I didn't even recognize it as one until she requested a blessing. It is cool how God allows us to be instruments in his hands.

Training is going great. Elder Foster wants to work hard and is willing to talk a lot. I think I am probably doing the best job training that I have done so far. I'm working hard at allowing him to learn by experience rather than just doing everything.

We also went hiking this morning which was fun. Nothing too special though. 

Thanks everyone, Lots of Love
Elder Bryce Johns

Week 97

San Jacinto Transfer 3 Week 1 - and then there were two.

May 19, 2014

Hello,

Back down to two elders today. Elder Snider got transferred to Corona. He will be living in the same homeshare I did, the Higgins. He wont be in the same area, but anyway.

This week has been pretty crazy. Serena and Payne are moving forward (mostly Serena) but they will need more interviews with President Smart before they can be baptized. It's a similar situation to Tommy's I think. But Serena loves church and a member bought her a quad. So that's good.
We visited everyone in the beginning of the week so we had to do a lot of "hunting" towards the last half of the week.

We finally got teaching in a trio down. We taught a restoration lesson in the beginning of the week which didn't go all that well, we role-played it in the middle of the week and we taught a really good one at the end of the week. As these things usually happen, once you get stuff down the Lord changes it up on you.

Last week, Elder Foster bought the Frozen Soundtrack... Now I have all the songs memorized.... ha ha.

A couple of interesting experiences from the last week.

Tommy blessed the sacrament yesterday. I was so struck by the cleansing power of the atonement as he was up there. God's arms are outstretched to all, all are invited but none are compelled to partake of the atonement.

We also got a call from a member to go give a blessing. We went over to his run down trailer in a little, ghetto trailer park. A raggedy dog greeted us quietly at the door. The brother inside called us to come in. He's bedridden and had some breathing machines hooked up to his nose. He was obviously in a lot of pain. We gave him a blessing and left shortly after. It was a very humbling experience. "There is always someone worse off than you, so stop whining" was the message I got from that experience. Also I was reminded of the power of the priesthood.

Going strong for the last transfer! A bunch of baptisms on the way!
Love
Elder Johns

Week 96 Letter (after Mother's Day call)

San Jacinto Transfer 2 Week 6

May 12, 2014

This was a poem that Elder Johns wrote for his mother for Mothers day.

I've been gone 

for two whole years

I haven;t died you see

That's because

of all those skills

that you taught to me

I know how 

to cook a meal <knock on wood>

and do my own laundry

Yardwork too

and using space

most efficiently

all of that

 and other things

but more importantly

you taught me

the gospel, true

that I share today

Compassion

humility

faith, hope, charity

thank you mom

for all you've done

spontaniously

Happy Mother's Day

Also, after discussing that he will need to live in a tent when he returns home from his mission, this was his reply:
I'm SO down with a tent (Seriously) that would have HUGE story value. Lets do it! 

And his other observation:

Observation: When it comes to the gospel (as with everything) you get out what you put in. If you are having a bad experience with something, usually if you change your attitude about it you can make it a positive. Always find the positive, otherwise things get boring and annoying really fast.