Hey guys! Good to hear that everything is going well! I had a great week. A family moved into our ward a couple of weeks ago from Habish and the father and two of the sons, 12 and 10 years old, aren´t baptized. But they all went to the General Conference last week and came to church yesterday, and we were going to have a lesson with them yesterday because it seems like they really want to get baptized, but there was a blackout in their neighborhood yesterday and they didn´t have any light. So we´re going to come back today. They´re really nice.
We´ve been working a lot with Laura and Isabela this week, who are going to get baptized this month on the 25th. Isabela has been having some family problems that don´t allow her any time of the week to receive the lessons. But she is really excited for her baptism and we had a really great lesson yesterday. We read Mosiah 18 with her, and at the end she told us that there isn´t anything that impedes her from getting baptized on the 25th. Laura is also getting ready for her baptism the 25th. She did a fast this week with some of the other members her age from our ward, and she went to a baptism service this week. She´s been to four baptismal services in the last couple of months and she is really determined to get baptized this 25th.
We had a lesson with Eugenio, Doris, and Sofía on Saturday with the Peso family and they´re still trying to get everything ready for their wedding. They´ve already received all the lessons, so we reviewed the ten commandments and the word of wisdom with them, and we verified the commitment to keep the word of wisdom with Eugenio. He said that since the first day he met with us he stopped drinking and that he has seen the difference in his home and his family. Doris has seen the difference too. I think one of the greatest testimony-builders that Doris has received is in the change that has happened in Eugenio. He´s a different man. So I keep praying for them that everything works out with their marriage.
We had a lot of appointments planned this week with people that would have been new investigators, that seemed like they would progress but almost none of them were there when we came for the appointments, but we are finding a lot of people. One of the things that has helped a lot is that Elder Price taught me what a ward directory was and also a ward action list. And I don´t know why I haven´t been using it my entire mission. There are so many inactive parents with unbaptized children. I feel like we are going to have a lot of success with it, and also the ward leaders are helping us out a ton in identifying people that need our visits. It´s a lot more effective way to work, especially since we´re both relatively new in Rimac and we don´t know all the members still. But yeah, I´m excited and I know that there are prepared people here in this sector.
I hope you guys have a great week and I love you all!
Elder Jones
We had transfers this week, and I am with another American! I thought I would never have an American companion in the mission but I have had a lot. Her name is hermana Swan and she is super tall and from Utah. I am in my new area now, which is in Lerma. It is close to my area before, in Toluca, where I served for six months. I am probably going to finish my mission here because I only have about four months left, but I am happy because I like this area a lot. I am also happy because now I have another sister training leader working with me here, so it should be easier.
This week was a lot of work because we had to prepare the house for the elders to live there. We went house hunting with the zone leaders Wednesday and Thursday but we couldn't find anything that would work. So we ended up putting up a huge tarp to separate the elders' house from the other house because it is all women living on the downstairs floor. So that was pretty entertaining.
Oh, also I knew my companion before we became companions. In the picture that I sent of all the leaders in the mission she is the blond one with long curly hair-- the first one sitting down on the left. I am glad to hear you guys had a good week. And hope you guys have lots of fun in school!
Love,
Hermana Jones
I went to all the meetings for mission leaders today, which was fun. We talked a lot about the "Because He Lives" video that came out. We saw it in Spanish and it has over 12 million views, so I cant even imagine how many people have seen it in English!
This week was super amazing. I looooved conference -- ha ha ha, especially the talks that were in Spanish, so we didn't have to listen to the voice-overs. One of my favorite talks was the Saturday morning session when they talked about how there is always a light, we just have to go out and look for it, and that light is our Savior Jesus Christ. It was funny because you could feel the spirit a lot during that talk, and then in the middle of it, the person doing the voice-over started crying during the talk, so they had to switch who was doing the voice-over!
I think it was one of the best Easters ever. We got to see conference, Jorge got baptized, and brought all of his family to see his baptism, and there is no better way to remember Christ than here on the mission.
The last couple days have been good but I am a little sad. They are shutting down our area and are removing the other hermanas in the zone and are going to put in elders and one of the areas they are not going to have hermanas or elders. It is sad but on Monday there are exchanges, so it will be exciting to see where everyone goes because everyone will be going to different areas in the mission. I have really liked my area here, but it should be good to learn from another area. I am excited to see where it will be because it will probably be the area that I will end my mission.
This week I got a letter from the lady that served in Dad's mission and I was super excited because they are some of my favorite letters I get, even though I have no idea who she even is. It is funny that someone can have an influence for good in your life without ever meeting them, but her letters always are super good and always seem to come right when I need them but this one I especially liked so I felt like I should share some of it with you guys. she shared a talk by Michael Wilcox called the 4th watch. She said in this scripture in Mark 6 the disciples leave and go to their ship and the savior goes to the mountain to pray. Then a terrible storm comes. The disciples don't know that the savior is watching them from the mountain, thye just knew they were exhausted and needed help. They rowed for thirty furlongs which is about the length of 70 football fields! and in the fourth watch (about 3 in the morning) they see Jesus come to them and he went into the ship and the wind ceased. Brother Wilcox pointed out that he was sure the disciples would have preferred that the savior came in the first watch about 8pm. But we worship a fourth watch God who often allows us to toil in rowing against the wind. When we get to the second watch and god hasn't answered our prayers ,we start to worry, and then when we get into the third watch and nothing has happened, we make dangerous assumptions: God is not listening to me, or God doesn't care, or I am not worthy. When we feel desperate, when it seems as if our prayers are not answered and the wind is still blowing, we can take comfort in the knowledge that the savior is on the hillside watching, and when he is ready, he will come to us. We just have to trust him and "be not afraid"
Hope you have a great week!
Love Hermana Jones
Oh, also my classes look like they will be good! I am glad I got into everything I wanted :)
Hey guys! I hope you all had a great Easter and General Conference! I learned a ton, and I really liked the talks. Also, happy Mormon Christmas, since Jesus was actually born on April 6th.
So we had a great week! I´m sending pictures right now of our Pday last week. We ate guinea pig for the first time on my mission! It´s actually really tasty. I thought it would be like the chicken here with a lot of fat, tendons and cartilage, but it´s basically all meat! Even the skin was really good and I usually can´t eat the skin on chicken. The best part was probably the head. I ate the eyes and the brain and the ears and basically everything else. I have a video of me eating the brain that I can´t send because it´s too big, but i´ll have to show you some day. Just so you guys know, Little Ging... tastes really good.
So we had a lot of great spiritual experiences this week. On Monday we were walking in the street to an appointment and a woman stopped us in the street and told us that she wants us to visit her and her children. She said that she had received the lessons from the missionaries years ago and her ex-husband is a member. So we came back another day to teach her and her children with Sister Tasaico, the Relief society president, and we had a really great lesson. It turns out that her life events are almost identical to Sister Tasaico´s life events. The spirit was really strong in the lesson, and she came to the conference and she had a great experience.
So news with Eugenio and Doris, we have news about their marriage. We found them a lawyer! Someone from Elder Price´s old sector in Magdalena who is a lawyer offered to help them try to get married for free! And that´s a big relief for me because I have no idea how to get people married in Perú and all I could do was talk with ward members, and they would all give me advice on what to do, but no one knew exactly what to do. But now that that is getting taken care of I feel less of a weight on my shoulders, because honestly I´ve never met two people that want to get baptized as badly as Eugenio and Doris. They´re progressing so well. The second counselor in the stake presidency lives in our ward and we had a family home evening with them and Eugenio, Doris, and Sofía this week.
We´re preparing Isabela to get baptized soon. She had a goal to get baptized this Saturday the 11th but family problems arose this week which complicated things, but I´m certain that she can get baptized this Saturday. She is progressing so much and it´s obvious that a mighty change has been brought to pass in her life. That is one of my favorite parts of doing missionary work: seeing the change that one undergoes as they come closer to their Heavenly Father and make covenants with him, from the door to baptism. It is a testimony that the feelings and changes that were brought to pass in my own personal conversion weren´t coincidences, but something real, something true for everyone.
Also we actually met a British family this week. They´re from London. We were waiting for someone to open their door because we had an appointment with them, and across the the street on the 2nd story of the building we heard someone say in English, and in an English accent. "Look daddy, white people". We turned around and we saw two of the whitest kids I´ve ever seen and their parents were there. We started having a conversation with the parents and they´re from London but the dad´s family is from Perú and they recently moved here to Perú to run a foster care. We couldn´t come in because the mom was feeling "a bit ill" but we talked from the window. The mom told us that we "look a bit smart today" and we had no idea what that meant but apparently it means that we were dressed in white shirts and ties. We´re going to visit them this week.
I really enjoyed conference. I learned a lot. I need some time to reflect and apply what I learned. I hope you guys have a great week!
Elder Jones
Somebody in the ward said that I should tell you that I am staying in Mexico to marry a Mexican boy...as a joke for April Fools Day! But I decided not to, hahha! Anyway, this week was really good.
We have a guy named Jorge who is getting baptized this week in between the conference sessions on Sunday and then a family who is getting baptized the next week. This week was really good and we have been working really hard.
There has been a lot of drama going on here in the ward but one of the things I like about being a missionary is that you don't have to worry about it. What I have been thinking about a lot these few weeks are the experiences we have that help us remember what is really important. One of the things that I love about being in the mission here in Mexico is it helps you realize all the things that I had in the United States that we don't have here. Like air conditioning or washing machines, or not having to warm up our water with an iron in a bucket of water or coming home every night to kill tons of cockroaches. But the thing is, you can be happier even though you have less and it comes from realizing what is really important.
Also, I was reading my blessing that I got when I was set apart for the mission, and it was really interesting because it talks about how my family will be protected with protection and strength while I was gone. I thought about some of the things that happened while I have been gone (like Dan having health problems) and I was a little doubtful that Heavenly Father was protecting my family until I remembered what I had been thinking before. What is really important? Sometimes we can't see the plan Heavenly Father has for us but I started to think the protection that I was promised in the blessing was not physical protection at all-- it was the spiritual protection of our family. More important than anything that happens in this life is the spiritual strength that we obtain and the chance to live as an eternal family.
Since I can't think of anything else exciting that happened this week, I will share some more things I learned from my studies. Oh, and the class schedule looks good for BYU. OK, so another thing I was studying was about Jesus Christ and how when John the Baptist was in jail and asked if it is really the Savior and what the Savior sends back is tell him the people that were healed and the miracles that were preformed. He didn't send back any of the words he said or the lessons he taught he sent back the acts he had preformed. I like this example a lot because we need to follow the example o Jesus Christ and show people that we are representatives of Jesus Christ by our actions and deeds. What is the best way to share the gospel? by being an example.
Also in church they were talking about family history work and someone started talking about angels. How a lot of times we don't believe in angels in this day but how when we are doing family history work we are surrounding ourselves with angels. Our ancestors are guiding our efforts here in our lives or they are guiding our efforts to find their names. It brought a new meaning to family history work for me.
Anyway, I hope you guys have a great week and I hope it gets warmer there for you. The photos are of the family that is getting baptized next week, and of the washing machines here in Mexico :).
Love,
Hermana Jones
Hey guys! I had a great week!
So I received my new companion, Elder Price, this week and since the start I´ve realized that he´s such a blessing for this sector and ward. I was a little worried about being in the trio because I felt like we weren´t going to be able to teach all the people that need our help but now that I´m working with Elder Price everything is going really smoothly. I´m really grateful for the opportunity to work with a missionary as dedicated and obedient as Elder Price. He´s from Sacramento California and he has 16 months in the mission. He came from Condevilla because he was also training and his companion had to go home. We witnessed quite a few miracles this week.
On Thursday we were able to teach a recently reactivated young man, Samuel, with plans to go on a mission next year. We taught his cousin, William, who is almost ready to be reactivated, and his cousin Renato, who isn´t baptized yet but really enjoys the lessons. These three young men have such a great desire to learn more about the gospel and progress, it´s so much fun to teach them.
We´ve been working with Laura this week, and she will get baptized on April 25th. She´s so excited for her baptism and we can really see the progress she´s made. She´s made a goal to finish the entire book of Mormon before her baptism.
On Saturday we went to a baptism in Elder Price´s old ward and it was really great. Elder Price baptized a 17 year old young man named Franklin who looked really happy to be able to get baptized. It was a little sad, though, because that same day of his baptism his dad had to go to prison. On the way back, we were in a taxi talking to the taxi driver and he was actually really interested in our message. He accepted a book of Mormon and we wrote down his information to pass the referral, and when we tried to pay him he didn´t accept the money. He said that the Book of Mormon was more than enough.
Yesterday we were walking to a lesson with Isabella and someone said "hello" to us in English, like always, but for some reason we decided to go up and talk to him and he spoke perfect English, and it turns out that he was from Salt Lake City. He was born in Peru but grew up in Salt Lake with his Dad. His name is Raul, and he´s not a member, but his dad was and he always brought him to the general conferences when he was growing up. His dad passed away in November and now he´s living here in Lima alone. He´s 28. He told us that he feels really alone and that he´s going through a hard time right now. So we´re going to visit him this week and he´s going to go to the conferences with us. He´s a really nice person. He also has a really heavy Utah accent.
I´m learning a lot, and I´m really happy.
I hope you guys have a great week!
Elder Jones
So this week was really good-- we had the baptism of Israel! Not a ton happened this week. One thing I did realize this week is that in every bad situation there is always silver lining. This week our backpacks got stolen with all our scriptures and everything, which was kind of sad because I have 13 months in the mission now, so my scriptures were pretty marked up. The good thing, though, was that we got to go to the temple visitor center and I got to go to the temple for the first time in my mission! It was so nice to see the temple after so long of not seeing it. That is the nice thing about the mission is your desire to go to the temple really grows. You learn so much more about the importance of the temple and I got really antsy sometimes thinking about not being able to got to the temple for a year and a half but really there is such a peace just to be on the temple grounds and feel all the peace that you can feel there.
Also I learned a lot of humility because I had to start all over again in my scriptures but it was a good experience to study basic doctrines again. Don't worry, though, we are completely safe though.
I am working super hard on my Spanish because my dream job after the mission would be to work at the MTC and if that doesn't happen maybe the cupcake store at BYU, so at least I will get lots of yummy cupcakes.
Anyway, more things that have happened this week... well, we spent most of the morning getting my visa renewed so I can stay here in Mexico. Also, I don't think I will be able to sign up for my classes for BYU, so Mom & Dad, I will need you to do it. I don't really care what classes they are, as long as they cover some of the classes that I need. Also, if I could finish my classes as early as possible because I would rather have classes early and finish early too. Especially on Monday because there is Family Home Evening. Also if you can sign me up for intermediate tap dance and beginning guitar. The other classes is just whatever generals I need and the beginning English classes.
