Week 92

Hey guys! That`s such great news about the house!! That`s going to be so great. I`m really glad for you guys. It looks really green all year round in magdalena, they are always watering the plants. So as you all know I`m training!! WOO I`m so excited. My companion`s name is Elder Alfaro from Tarija, Bolivia. We are both new in the Valdiviezo ward, condevilla stake, where it is not really green all year round. our sector is a giant hill with lot`s of stairs and lots of people. It`s kind of like Caja de Agua but the hill is taller and bigger. you can see our entire mission and beyond from the top of our hill. My companion and everyone in our ward thinks that I have a year in the mission, and I`m not going to tell him until May 31st. I feel like it`ll be better that way so I`m not tempted to talk about going home all the time. Everyone thinks that I speak really good spanish for someone that only has a year in the mission. So that boosts my self esteem. My companion is awesome. He just barely finished a year of membership, and I admire the great leap of faith he has taken to come out on the mission. I was in Rimac training Elder Mestre when he was baptized. We had a great week. Elder Robbins from the presidency of the seventy came to our mission and I feel like it was exactly what I needed to hear at this moment in my mission. Elder Alfaro from day one hasn`t been afraid to talk to people when we contacted, because he would accompany the missionaries a lot in Bolivia. But it was hard for him at first to talk during the lessons, but now he`s getting used to it and his personality is coming out. I`m really greatful for the advice that sister Larson gave in the meeting with the trainers. She said that an eight year old doesn`t clean a bathroom like she would clean a bathroom, but at least they`re cleaning the bathroom. I feel like with elder Bates we had created a really great atmosphere in our companionship in which we both knew how to listen to eachother and the investigators and really teach with one voice. But thanks to Sister Larson`s advice on tuesday I was able to recognize from the start that it wasn`t going to be like that, at least for now, with my new companion. We worked really hard this week and I can tell that Elder Alfaro is getting a lot of satisfaction from what he`s doing. He teaches with the first book of mormon he ever recieved, and he keeps his place in it with his first contact card. I`m really excited about these next 3 months I`ll be with him, and I want to take advantage of the time I have left to continue to develope christlike attributes.

Elder Jones