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. 

Week 95 Letter

San Jacinto Transfer 2 Week 5

May 5, 2014

Dustbowl - couldn't see other side of intersection.

All
This week has been pretty interesting.
The first half of the week we had a really big wind storm, climaxing on Wednesday. Massive trees were down all over town, and trailer homes were decimated.
We knew that we were going to get our new Greenie on Wednesday, but we got a call in the morning that we had to drive all the way out to Ontario and pick him up from the airport (usually president does but something came up so he wasn't able to.)
So we embarked in the worst of the windstorm. We headed out and headed North into wind. As we approached the edge of town we saw a growing cloud of dust. We got to an intersection (and of course the light was flashing) and we couldn't even see the other side of the intersection because of the dust (See the picture I sent.) The road turned out to be closed so we had to go the long way around.
So we drove out to the Ontario airport and got there exactly when his plane was supposed to land. It took forever to find somewhere to park (#airport probs) but finally we did and then we ran into the airport and elder Foster came down the Escalator. (and there's a picture of him)

He's from Dallas Texas, and is pretty cool dude. and is as green as all get out... ;)
Being in a trio has a very interesting dynamic. Me being the control freak I tend to be. I usually run the main body and transition to the other elders to testify and teach principles. I feel like a director of a play a little bit. But it's working out. Just teaching Elder Foster
Our investigator Serena came to church and wants to get baptized this month. We had a really great Word of Wisdom lesson with her. She smokes, but we read 2 Nephi 31 with her about baptism and keeping commandments, then we went into the Word of Wisdom. She accepted it without question, and committed to quit. When we explained that she would need to quit and not do anyof  those things for a week before her baptism on the 24th she told us that that was basically obvious. "You gotta be clean" and then told us about how she knew that she could quit all that and it wouldn't be an issue for her. She's been really prepared and it's been a pleasure teaching her. "The Elect hear mine voice and harden not their hearts" As the scriptures say. 
By small and simple means are great things brought to pass. God needs all three of us to be together for a reason. We will find out what that reason is.  
Love,
Elder Bryce Johns

Week 94

San Jacinto Transfer 2 Week 4

April 28, 2014

 All
So today I hiked the Pacific Crest Trail, it was pretty awesome.
The zone leaders have been saving up their miles and invited me to go on a trip to Idyllwild (Elder Snider wasn't able to go because of his allergies. Idyllwild is a little town up in the mountains past Hemet. It was amazing. The mountains up there are forested and look very similar to eastern Washington and parts of Utah. We drove up the scenic highways into and past town through the mountains then we drove onto a dirt road to get to the PCT trailhead. It was a really fun drive. We went 8 miles up this windy, dirt road that was in pretty poor condition. We also saw and played in all the snow up there. Along the way we stopped and climbed some of the massive rocks off the road. Finally, we got to the trail-head and hiked for about an hour. I was so happy to be back out in the woods again, breathing in clear air. We met a couple through hikers, (going from Mexico to Canada) which re-affirmed my desire to do that as well within the next 5 years. We were up at about 7500 feet and were able to see all of the valleys (and cities/windmill farms in them) on the West, North, and East side of "Black Mountain". I would send some pictures, but my SD card reader broke so I wont be able to do so.
I also decided that I want to live in a little town in the middle of nowhere Washington or Oregon. Like Cougar or something. 

Also awesome from this week was Tommy's baptism and confirmation (I would also send pictures of that, but... See above). The baptism was super spiritual. Once he came up out of the water Tommy hugged his brother (who was baptizing him) for a long moment and the spirit hit everyone like a wave. Participating in his confirmation was great as well. He was beaming for the rest of the day. There is a man who understands the redemptive power of the atonement. I wish that everyone we talk to could see what the gospel has done for him. I don't think most members understand the gospel as well has he does and he's only been going for six months. He's already read the entire triple combination and has restarted the Book of Mormon.
We also picked up a new investigator named Serena. One of the Spanish Elders talked to her at Wal-Mart and referred her over to us. She's a middle aged black lady who is very relaxed in attitude, We taught the restoration and she really liked it, and totally recognized the Spirit. We went over again and taught the Gospel of Jesus Christ. She accepted the invitation to be baptized on the 22nd of next month. Most importantly, she came to church and liked it! Church is probably the best indicator for someones conversion that I can think of. IF they are willing to to come to three hours of church there is a reason for that, they have a testimony (they may not know that yet, but they do)!
Big news! (I almost forgot) So my companion, Elder Snider and I were getting some ward lists from the Ward membership clerk when I recieved a phone call from President Smart. He started out by asking about the details of Tommy's baptism (he's been very involved with Tommy for the last 6 months and so that wasn't odd) then he said "Elder Johns, I have a new assignment for you"... my heart dropped. I was thinking: Things had been going so well, President is going to Emergency transfer me somewhere for the last 8 weeks?! "What is it? I asked, a little dumbfounded. But he said "We have a new elder coming in on the 30th, (halfway through the transfer) I need you to train him." "okay" I said, "where?" "You'll be there with Elder Snider. Make sure to go through the 12 week training program with him. The Office assistants will bring a bed and things soon."
So, I'll be training a greenie in a trio as of Wednesday. We heard some rumors about why he is coming in during the middle of the transfer (health issues we hear) but we wont find out for sure until we meet him. The OA's dropped off a bed and a desk the other day. However there was no where to put them so we re-arranged everything. Now the bunk bed and the new bed are in the living room. We used the box spring, mattress and the fouton cushion to make an awesome couch (that's where I sleep, it is super comfortable).
The cool thing is though, that I have wanted to end my mission training for the whole time. I "killed" my trainer (He trained me and then went home) and he "killed" his father, and I have always wanted to keep the tradition going. I asked president about it several months ago and was a little disappointed this last transfer when it didn't happen. (there were no new missionaries in our mission) but President remembered and I got my wish! Hopefully it turns out well. I've never been in a trio before, and we will probably be in a trio for just a couple weeks  till the transfer ends. Should be fun!
I received a simple but cool answer to prayer this last week. A couple months ago the SD card with most of my mission photographs got corrupted and I was worried that they would all be lost. At the time I prayed that I would be able to get them back. This week a recent convert recovered all the photographs on the SD card. It was awesome! Prayer works. 8)

Love, Elder Bryce Johns

PS
We also painted a gazebo for Mormon helping hands. 'Twas fun.

Week 93

San Jacinto transfer 2 week 3 

The Noodle Incident + Hippy Cult Commune

Email Date: April 21, 2014

Bryce at the Temple

The Noodle incident

All

This has been a really, really eventful week. 

Starting with...

The Noodle incident:

Last P-day, my companion and I went to our old apartment (that we had moved out of) to do laundry. We still had the key, and the lease wasn't up yet. So we were there doing a load of laundry and playing a card game. After a while, my companion needed to get a drink so he went into the kitchen and 

saw the right side of the sink overflowing with foul water. It looked and smelled like someone had puked into our sink. It flowed into the second sink and filled that one as well. We ran the garbage disposal which made a horrible sound and quit working. It did at least get all the water down. 

We went back into the other room and heard the water spilling over onto the floor. Unfortunately we had appointments, so we had to leave it (there were no supplies in the apartment to try to clean it anyway.) 

We returned to the apartment a couple hours later to the scene in the photograph. What you cant tell is that the floor is under about half an inch of water. Noodles were everywhere. Luckily we had armed ourselves with a plunger, a mop and a bucket. Elder Snider bravely dove in. He began bailing out the putrid sink, and plunging it. Noodles and other half dissolved foodstuff was EVERYWHERE! After three buckets full of noodle water Elder Snider cried in despair "Where the 'fetch' did all these noodles come from!?" We were dumping the buckets out into the yard, as I tried to mop up all the water. At the end of the evening we had emptied the sink, and got most of the water off the floor.

The next morning we returned and saw that our efforts were in vain for the sink was again full, the floor flooded, the carpet saturated, and noodles everywhere. A member of our ward (a plumber) came by and told us that the main line was clogged so whenever the people upstairs sent anything down their drain it came out of our sink. He went outside and unscrewed a cap so that instead of coming up our sink it flowed into the backyard. Then we went to the temple. 

The next day we got our roommates and began the long, arduous process of cleaning up. Later, the plumber came and roto-rooted the drain out and reprimanded our upstairs neighbors for dumping noodles, and rice down the drain. 

So moral of the story, Do not dump noodles, rice, or egg shells down the drain otherwise it will cause noodlepocalypse in your downstairs neighbor's kitchen. 

In the midst of the noodle incident, I went to the Redlands Temple for the last time as a missionary. It was a great experience as always and received some answers I was looking for.

On Wednesday, Tommy (our investigator who has been waiting for first presidency approval to be baptized) had an interview with our mission president. We had to wait for the other zone to finish their interviews as well so we were there for awhile. THen Tommy went into his interview and was in there for a loooong time. (the interview before was only about 20 minutes). Finally, President and Tommy came out. Something was off. President Smart was beaming from ear to ear (usually he is very stoic) and Tommy was teary eyed. Before I had time to process this information Tommy told us, they got the letter. He can be baptized! We were so excited! He has been waiting for so long, and is so ready. Every time I am over there I think of the Anti-Nephi-Lehi's. That is Tommy to a T. Converted to the Lord. He tells us about how he is constantly repenting, he will roll out of bed and start repenting. He understands the atonement so well. He was telling us "I feel like a snake, shedding off all of this stuff". He is getting baptized this Saturday, I am so excited. 

I had my second to last interview with President Smart. It was good, as always. It is weird to think though that the next time I will have an interview it will be my outgoing interview. 

Saturday was also very eventful. We moved last of the appliances out of the old (now really smelly) apartment. and later in the day went to the Calvary Chapel Easter pageant. Calvary Chapel is a major born-again church in the area and noted for being anti-Mormon.  One of our investigators was in it and invited us to come. We showed up at the outdoor amphitheater it was at and the guy at the door asked us "why are you here?" We stuck out like sore thumbs and everyone was giving us funny looks. We were only there for 20 minutes or so (we had another appointment which I will tell you about next) and saw a few scenes and songs. It was about as cheesy/well acted as most Mormon productions. However we saw the scene when Nicodemus comes to Jesus and talks to him in John 3. They have the conversation about "how can a man be born again when he is old?" but they skip the "Jesus answered, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be ^aborn of ^bwater and of the ^cSpirit, he cannot ^denter into the kingdom of God.

and went straight to "Ye must be Born again"

 So that was pretty funny. Baptism guys, it's necessary. 

Then we left and got a free NKJV New Testament. 

Remember the benevolent cult, the "Family of Christ" that I wrote about a few weeks ago? Well the Zone leaders and us were invited to go to their Sabbath (which for them is Saturday) service. So of course, we went. It was really interesting. There were about 20 people there dresses mostly in white and wearing white hats. We had a all vegetable meal. Homegrown beets, carrots, potatoes, millet, sprouts and some other miscellaneous vegetables. It was really good. They are really nice. They told us some stories about their travels "on the road" and showed us their bus that they used to tour in. It was really cool on the inside, they built a deck with removable panels for storage and they had a kitchen in the back. 

After the meal, they sang. Everyone had a hymnbook full of songs that "Brothers and Sisters" had written. There was no music, just the lyrics. Everyone took a turn picking a song and they sang that song. It was all acapella and there was no real tempo or rhymes to the song. They just flowed and sang. It was a pretty interesting experience. Some of the songs were really fun and catchy, except for the ones singing the praises of Lightning Amen. It was a fascinating experience, and a glimpse into a very relaxed and Christlike lifestyle. 

Easter went well, nothing really special to relate though. This week (a midst all the craziness) I have been studying Christ's last week in the Gospels. Something that really stood out to me was John chapter 15 where Christ teaches that He is the Vine and we are the branches. Everything we do that bears fruit is through him. We must bear fruit in order to be saved at the last day, and he tells us how to do that later in the chapter. Love one another. How do we show/develop that love? Serving others. I've been really focused on serving others as often as possible. 

Also, we have been sharing the "because of him" video all the time. The message in there epitomizes the message of the atonement. http://easter.mormon.org/ 

 

This week has been crazy but a testimony builder all the same. As we use the Atonement of Jesus Christ in our lives we can have second chances, clean slates, and there is no such thing as "the end".

Week 92

San Jacinto week 2

Email Date: April 14, 2014

David's (investigator from Pradoview) baptism

Remember my investigator David from Pradoview? I got called back to go to his baptism. The baptism was on Sunday, and the day before he married his girlfriend (the one in stripes). The is getting baptized in a couple weeks. 

David has been so determined to do whatever it takes to be baptized. The two weeks prior to his baptism he lived in a tent outside his house to keep the Law of Chastity. He said after his baptism that he just felt light, jittery and like laughing. I'm so glad that I got to be a part of his teaching process even if it was only for the beginning. He has made such a dramatic swing. From Satanism to Mormon in 10 weeks, all of his own will and drive. 

Taylor's baptism

Taylor's baptism! The talks were done by primary children in the ward and were super good. The baptism itself was a little scary. Grandpa hadn't baptized anyone in a long time... So he didn't know how to do it. On top of that he started shaking real bad. He tried to dunk her the first time, and she didn't go down all the way and then Taylor said she didn't want to do it anymore. After some (slightly awkward) negotiating, she got baptized.... That is an Interesting family...  I'm glad that everything panned out for Taylor to be baptized. I hope that we can keep them going.

So this last week was a little tough. But the Coolest parts I sent with the baptism pictures. We are back in finding mode. We've baptized our main investigators that we are not waiting on outside influences for. But we have some good potentials. 

Just continuing to work hard and finish strong.

I had the best breakfast burrito ever today. A Recent convert took us out for breakfast. 

Funny story: So our new apartment is great. However, three or four times this last week I have been awakened at the wee ours in the morning. Twice, our neighbor was making very loud phone calls in an Asian language right outside our window at 4 in the morning. Also, an alarm clock accidently got turned on set for 4 in the morning so that woke me up. This morning, our carbon monoxide detector decided to fall off the wall at 2:30 in the morning. I was awakened by it beeping every 30 seconds. I thought it was the smoke alarm. So I took the battery out, and had it dangeling from the ceiling. The beeping continued, but because it was so high pitched I couldn't tell where it was coming from. I was running back and forth between the two fire alarms on the ceiling trying to locate the beep. I was furious with the thing, I was taking the battery in and out, punching the fire alarm until finally after running in circles for what felt like forever I noticed that the CO detector was on the ground and was the source of the mysterious beeping noise. I slammed it back into the wall and stormed to bed. I looked at the clock and it said 3:20... 

Easter is this Sunday. This week preceding the Savior's death and Ressurrection. I plan on reading the accounts of that week in all 4 gospels. I will write about this study next week. In the meantime though. Check out Alma chapter 7. I know that the Atonement of Jesus Christ is real, and is there for each of us to use, if we so choose. For it is given unto man to Act, and not be acted upon. 

Determination is a Caterpillar Climbing a Mountain. 

Also, Share the video and webpage mormon.org/becauseofhim with everyone! The Church is trying to make the video go viral for Easter. 

Love,

Elder Bryce Johns. 

Week 91

San Jacinto Transfer 2 Week 1

Email Date: April 7, 2014

Before I talk about this week I want to write out a funny experience from the week before that I forgot to write about. 

So, I learned a very big lesson on the importance of cleaning up. If you ask my mother, she will tell you that I am not the most cleanly person in the world, and I totally admit to that. However, there is a point (much sooner than it used to be mom, I promise) where it is time to clean up. 

I went on exchanges a couple weeks ago, and we went to help someone move. They were in some apartments in a bad part of town and were moving within the complex. 

We went into the house and were greeted by an overwhelming stench of cat urine, followed closely by a scene of utter devastation. There was garbage and nastiness, literally everywhere, on the floor and every surface. The carpet and kitchen floor was disgusting, the entire kitchen was full to the cabinets with anciently dirty dishes. So we started cleaning up and moving. Our main job was moving their heavy objects so we started with their freezer, and discovered that underneath was entirely covered with cockroaches. The scattered as the freezer was moved. We moved some other furniture and I felt cockroaches literally crawling on my hands. It was super bad. The worst was the fridge. I was standing next to the fridge levering it onto the dolly. We lifted it up and it was like a scene from the Mummy, or Moses parting the cockroach sea, they scattered in a tsunami wave across the kitchen, up the wall, over my shoes and everywhere. It was one of the most disgusting things I have ever seen. We tried to spray the bottom of the fridge with Raid, but it was the wrong type. They didn't seem to mind that they were infesting their new apartment...

The best part was the comment made by the lady we were helping about all the cockroaches "when your neighbors have bugs, you do too" .... I honestly don't think that she realized that all of the food left on the floor, dishes in the sink, soda cans everywhere, cat food all over the place made for a perfect cockroach habitat.

So, moral of the story. Keep your apartment clean, realize when you have a problem, and don't dumpster dive. 

General conference was really good. I especially enjoyed elder Holland's talk, elder Uchtdorf's and Elder Eyring's in the Priesthood session. It was really cool. I went in with a few questions and each of them was answered, including the very specific non-gospel related one. Yay spirit! It is such a testimony builder that prophets are again on the earth. The purpose of the Scriptures, and general conference is to open our hearts to the Spirit so we can receive revelation. Questions questions questions, ask them! 

Someone in conference said that the things of true importance cannot be taught, only learned by the Spirit. It's all on us, so go and do. 

We also moved out of our ghetto apartment full of noisy and smelly neighbors into a nice new, clean apartment. Moving was a chore though. The old place had had missionaries living there since 2011, so was pretty bad, and it had a lot of junk. We got everything moved though, and it's really nice. I've been lucky on my mission and I've opened 3 new apartments. 

No updates on investigators. 

Thank you everyone! I love you and are praying for you.

  

Love,

 Elder Johns.

Week 90

San Jacinto week 6.  Bailing for Baptisms

Email Date: March 31, 2014

All

This week was really good. My district has been doing really well. Two of the three companionships baptized this last week, and we all have really solid investigators set for the next couple of weeks. 

We've had a really good week and a couple of good stories. 

For starters I went on exchanges with one of the Elders in my zone, and we had a really spiritual lesson with a member lady who was moving. It was really cool to see how the conversation was guided by the Spirit. Even though the main message was for the Lady and for the Elder I was with (we were talking about overcoming depression and whatnot) but I was there merely to provide scriptural backing to what they were saying. I felt the spirit super strong confirming that people are placed in the right place at the right time to do the thing that God needs them to. 

We helped the Sister move the next day which was one of the best moves ever. Super organized, everything packed and ready to go. 

On Saturday we had Jason and Cheyenne's baptism. It was something of a fiasco, but it all worked out in the end. So we don't have keys to the baptismal font (bad Idea, missionaries should have them.) but when we got the building reserved. I told the WML that we needed to make sure that we have the key. He wasn't able to come so he had a ward missionary go in his place. We reminded everyone about the key. An hour before the baptism we went to the building, expecting the ward missionary to be there filling the font... We opened the gate, and showed up into the empty parking lot. Bad sign. 

Anyway, to make a long story short. We didn't have a key. We made a bunch of phone calls, and the guy with the key was in Riverside. Made more phone calls and got somebody to come out and unlock the font. So 20 minutes before the baptism was supposed to start we started filling the font, and it's a slow filler. 

We found a galvanized steel trash can in the custodial closet and filled that up along with some buckets, and made a bunch of trips too and fro dumping the trashcan into it as the program was going on. 

Miraculously, we got the font filled on time, and the baptism ended 15 minutes after 4. The room was packed, and everything went well. The Lord Provides a way. 

  

This morning Elder Hanson and Plotkin and I went hiking (Elder Snider has bad allergies so he couldn't come). We had a good time, I don't have time to send pictures unfortunately. 

It was really weird getting my travel plans today.... It's so weird that I'm going home in 3 months 0.o

Thank you for everything, Love you guys!

Love, Elder Bryce Johns

Week 89

San Jacinto week 4

Email Date: March 24, 2014

Elders Perez, Agular, Snider and myself react to the eternally empty mailbox.

Elder Blackburn (my trainee from El Cerrito) and I back together on exchanges. In a Car!

Anyway, this week was pretty good. 

I got to go on exchanges with the zone leaders in their area today. They cover parts of Hemet, and a town called Homeland. Homeland is... and interesting place. Nearly all the houses are mobile homes in various stages of disrepair. The few houses are old and beat up. It reminded me a lot of Mira Loma, but less horses and more sketchy. We were trying to visit some less actives and we ran saw a yard with a sign over the gate that said "The House of The Lord"

I had heard about this from a couple of my companions. 

"dude, this is a cult's commune..." I said. "Do you want to check it out?" Elder McConkie asked. "Sure" I said. There was a  broken down bus, the license plate said 4Jesus.  We came to an outdoor kitchen, with room for a lot of chair in the front and a main house in back. We halloo-ed a couple times and then walked up to the house, where there was more chairs. The whole place was pretty eerie. We saw someone on the otherside working outside. He was wearing all white. We knocked a couple of times and no one answered. 

So we walked around the block to the other side of the property. No one was there. We walked up to the house again, and a woman got out of an RV behind us. Didn't see us and started watering some plants. We walked over and said "hi"

When she saw us she said "Oh Good" and proceeded to tell us about the place. She showed us in and waved down Gary. The guy we had originally seen. They both were wearing all white, had a rag on their head and a hat on top of it. While their clothing was white/cream it was very well worn, and their hats were very battered. Gary had what I could only describe was a homeless beard, and a big smile. 

They call themselves "the family of Christ" and their catchphrase I guess you could say is "No violence, no sex, no materialism." They all renounced everything for Jesus. In their 20s, they wore sheets and walked barefoot for Christ. (Now they do wear shoes) They said that they all have a different story, but they all "were called" somehow they all ended up together. They told us about"Lightning Amen" who they believe was a manifestation of Christ in the flesh who they followed until he died recently. 

We sat down and talked for awhile, they explained what their beliefs are and how they have sabbath meetings (sabbath to them is from when the sun goes down friday to when it goes down saturday). The basic gist was that everything is all about building love. Love for God, and your fellow man. Building a relationship with God, you don't need religion for that. Giving up everything and relying on him. It was pretty cool overall. You could tell that they were happy, and receiving the blessings for living according to the light they have. It is always cool to see people living the things they believe. It was a fun experience to talk to people who live in a bus and organically farm for their food (and do financial planning for seniors... lol)

We had some lessons with Tommy. He's our investigator who is waiting on 1st presidency approval to be baptized. He is super converted, all of our lessons with him are super solid. He has already finished the Doctrine and Covenants and is halfway through the Pearl of Great Price. 

One of our recent converts Trent had a great missionary experience and asked us for some advice on how to tell people about the salvation of the dead. 

So that launched me into a really fun study about it. It built my testimony about how Christ is the universal savior of all. Not just those who happen to hear about him. 

Unfortunately I've got to run. But Thank you so much for everything!

Love, Elder Bryce Johns

Week 88

San Jacinto Week 4

Email date: March 17, 2014

This week has been pretty good

I did get pie on pie day. A member took us to a place called "Polly Pies" which is basically Sherries, but with more of a homey feel. A member also gave us a whole pie, which I've only had one slice from. 

This last week we had a multizone conference which was pretty good. Our mission president gave some good training on staying focused and using our companionship studies effectively. 

We haven't had any luck with our college friends, they flaked on three appointments in a row, so we'll be waiting for them to reach out to us if they want to move forward. So that's sad. 

Aside from multizones we haven't had a whole lot of spiritual experiences or notable lessons this week. We've been pounding through the ward list visiting a looot of people. Trying to find people to teach. We do have a couple of return appointments to follow up on this week.   

Although, I went on exchanges with Elder Blackburn on Thursday. It was really weird being back with him again. We stayed in my area (with the car, because we have already done our time on bike haha) He's doing well and has grown a lot since I trained him over 6 months ago. 

Investigators to pray about

Micah (9): That his less-active parents will get serious about their son getting baptized.

Taylor (9): That she will be able to be baptized on april 12 as planned

Davian and Dylan: That their parent's hearts will be softened and allow them to be baptized

Shannon: That she can look for and recieve a testimony about the BOM

Tommy: That he will get permission to be baptized.   

Love you guys, thank you so much for all the love and support you give me. 

Elder Johns

Week 87

San Jacinto Week 3

March 10, 2014

This week has been pretty good. I've gotten used to the neighbors. Teaching is really good.  We had twice the number of lessons this week that we averaged in my last area. Things are popping. 7 new investigators last week, one of whom is a sure thing.

Jason, is basically a child of record but he is 10 years old and has downs. He wants to be baptized, however, so technically he is a convert.
We also picked up a new investigator named Shannon Lucas. She's taken the lessons before and her husband is a less-active member. We also picked up 4 big black college guys, Raymond, Dante, Reggie, and Kalim, and left a blessing on their home. They are pretty cool.

I am putting a strong effort into my final months. Everything is coming together to make this time probably the most effective so far. I'm in the top 5 as far as experience goes in the mission, so yeah. Elder Snider is easy to work with willing to learn.

We've had some pretty spiritual lessons this week as well. Several with Tommy.
I'd invite everyone to read the "Parable of the Pounds" and compare and contrast it with the "Parable of the Talents" It's pretty interesting.

Unfortunately, I've got to go. Love you all thank you so much!

Elder Johns

Week 86

San Jacinto week 2

March 3, 2014

The new area is pretty cool. Here's a picture of our house and my companion. Our neighbors are all black, smoke a lot of weed, and listen to very loud music all night.

This weekend the region's prayers for rain were finally answered. It poured Friday and Saturday. The whole town flooded. Whole lanes were swallowed up to the curb with water. So that was fun to drive in. Luckily we didn't stall the car.

So the names of our investigators. Tommy (who I talked about last week)
Micah (he's nine. His family is less active, and he is tentatively on date for the end of the month.)
Taylor (another 9 year old. She's on date for the 5th of April)
Mike and Denise, They've been investigating for a Loooooong time, they need to get married before they can get baptized but they don't want to.


There's a really cool recent convert family here, Trent and Heather Emmich. They got baptized the week before I got here.  Trent has two sons Davian 10 and Dylan 11 from different women. The boys want to get baptized but need their mom's permission. They are super cool.

Aside from that, I don't have a whole lot to report on. We are mostly focused on finding people to teach.

Church yesterday was really good. As was ward council. It was really refreshing to hear nearly all of the testimonies born were focused on the Savior, and that the ward leadership are very pro-active and willing to do things especially with regards to missionary work.
Overall I'm pretty excited about this area, things are looking good here.

My companion's name is Elder Snider. He's really used to having insane amounts of work going on in the area (and it's his first one so he doesn't know any different) so our expectations for what makes a "good" week or day are very different. It's pretty funny.
I'm also Elder Blackburn's (my former companion) district leader. So I give him grief at every opportunity.

So yeah, Thank you for your prayers, I look forward to your letters.