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  

Week 91

WOOOO SAN JOSE CALIFORNIA!!! I´M SO EXCITED FOR TYLER!!!! I just looked it up and it seems like a sweet mission. Way bigger than my mission. That´s so awesome he´s going to do great. That´s awesome that he´s leaving so soon and that he´s going to go to the Mexico CCM. He´s going to love it. So all three of us are going to be Spanish speakers!! We´ll have to plan out really well what we´re going to do from the 9th to the 13th. We had a great week! Johan and Erika were baptized! Ali and Dominica were going to get baptized too but on Saturday morning their grandpa came to take the kids out to do something and didn´t bring them back in time for their baptism. So they´re going to be baptized on Saturday. But what´s important is that the parents were baptized. the bishop baptized them. It was one of the best baptismal services I´ve ever attended. So many members came and bore their testimonies. Johan and Erika bore their testimonies, and I can tell that they´re going to stay in the church. They´re so happy.

This entire week we were looking for an apartment for the sisters in Jesus Maria, and it took a lot of time because there aren´t a lot of rooms within our price range that are big enough and meet the privacy requirements. we probably looked at about 10 apartments this week, and none of them met the requirements, until we finally found one that did. In the flyer that they put up they said that they were renting it for 650 soles a month which fit into our price range, but when we went to go see it they raised it to 800. I don´t know why, and I don´t want to assume why they raised it to 800 for us, but we told them that we would have to talk to our president about it because it was out of our budget. President Larson approved it, so I felt like we should move the sisters in, but Elder Bates kept saying that we should look for somewhere cheaper. I didn´t want to waste more time looking for another apartment because the apartment was approved by the president, so I resisted, but Elder Bates persisted. So I realized that if Elder Bates felt that way, it was probably an impression from the Holy Ghost, and that I should listen as well. So the moment that I mentally accepted what Elder Bates was saying, a member from their ward called us telling us that they were renting an apartment. We went to go see it, and it was a lot cheaper, and a lot bigger than the other one that we found. So I was reminded that I not only need to listen to the impressions that the Holy Ghost gives to me, but also to my companion. 

We found a lot of people to teach this week and I hope that whoever comes here to replace me tomorrow is going to help them get baptized! Have a great week!!

Elder Jones 

Week 90

Hey guys! So Johan wasn´t baptized on Saturday because he got stuck in traffic and missed his interview several times this week. and neither the president nor his counselors could do an interview on Saturday, so we postponed it for next week. So he´ll be baptized on Saturday with his family. He´s still happy. Erika and Ali are excited for their baptism too. Today in the family home evening with them and the bishop´s family we´re going to teach them about keeping the Sabbath day holy. This week we had a very spiritual lesson with them. Erika had heard about the sealing in the temple at church and she wanted to know what that meant. After explaining what it meant, Sebastian, a young man preparing for his mission, the bishop´s family, Elder Bates, and I all shared our testimonies about the temple and what it means to us to be sealed to our families. It was a very tender moment and they understand that their goal is the temple one year from now. Also we were a little afraid that they wouldn´t accept to pay tithing, because they have a lot of money, but they accepted it right away. They´re excited to pay their tithing and they know that it will bless them. I´m really grateful for the opportunity I´ve had to meet them and be an observer of their conversion.

We met a lot of really prepared people this week. We met so many that I don´t have time to describe them all. We met a family that is half Croatian and half venezuelan. They know a family from another ward in the stake. The parents are catholic, but the mom, Romi, spends most of her day on familysearch.org either looking up names of ancestors or indexing. She loves family history, but she´s never talked to missionaries before. They have 8 children, but so far we´ve only been able to teach the parents with 2 of their daughters: Romina, 17 years old, and Yanina, 16 years old. Their daughters aren´t members of any church because Romi wants them to look for their own religion now that they are old enough to think for themselves. They are awesome, they have so many questions because they are actively searching for the truth. It´s really convenient for us being missionaries of the true church because we can answer all their questions with true doctrine, and with clarity. Yanina feels like she has done too many bad things in the past to be acceptable to god. She also has a smoking addiction and knows that in our church we don´t allow smoking. She experiences same sex attraction, and whenever she investigates a church they tell her that she is a bad person because of it and that she needs to be cured. From the very start they were both very sincere with us about what it is they are searching for and what they struggle with in life. That has helped us really address their biggest questions first. We felt like we should share Ether 12:27 and 2 Nephi 26:33 with them and explain about how weaknesses come from God. He gives them to us to allow us to be humble, and if we are humble and come unto him, he will make our weaknesses a strength for us. But even though god gives certain weaknesses to certain people, it doesn´t mean that he loves some more than others, because all are equal in his sight. We also talked about the atonement and baptism. There isn´t anything that can separate us from god´s love. He will always welcome us back, and it is possible to come back t through repentance and baptism thanks to Jesus Christ´s atonement. Romina doesn´t have as many immediate problems, she just really enjoys the book of Mormon and she´s already read quite a few chapters this week. lds.org is answering all her questions we haven´t had time to answer yet.They came to church yesterday and they loved it. They love singing and the bishop, without knowing it, invited them to join the priests and Laurels prepare a special musical number for church in a couple of weeks. The young men and women did a really great job of making them feel included. At the end of the meetings Yanina told us "I can give up smoking for this", and they are going to make sure that their parents come to church next week.

We also had a really great lesson with Hernan. Miguel, our ward mission leader, and the bishop were there with us in the lesson. Hernan hadn´t read the chapter we had left for him, and he wouldn´t budge on his answer about being baptized, But he said that he had been praying and that he was finding a lot of guidance. So we started reading the chapter that we left him and I felt impressed to ask him if he has ever in the time he has been listening to us, directly asked God if this was the true church. He said no. So we started to explain the importance of an answer from God, and how nothing else will matter if he receives an answer from God. We invited him to kneel down with us and to ask God if this is the true church. He did so sincerely, and after the prayer he remained kneeling with his eyes closed. It was silent for a few minuets, and during that time we were all praying that he would recognize an answer. When he finished he decided to be baptized, but on friday he´s going to pick a date. That is the power of prayer.

I hope you guys have a great week! 

Elder Jones 

Week 89

Hey guys! glad to hear that everyone is doing well. Hopefully Ty`s call comes in soon!! I hope mom  and Allison feel better. We had a great week! Johan and his family are ready for baptism. I have never met someone so excited to be baptized like Johan. It`s hard to describe in worldly terms how good I feel when we teach his family with the bishop`s family. I can`t deny that the spirit is there when we are with them. They really enjoyed church yesterday as well. During the Gospel Principles class the teacher broke us up into 4 groups to talk about different parts of the lesson about prophets. Johan, Ericka, a recent convert named Cesar, Zulema, Elder Bates, and I were in a group, and we had a really good discussion about prophets. It hs been a little hard for Ericka to accept some things because she has been raised by jehova`s witnesses and we needed to clear up some misconceptions she had with the bible. Now that she is starting to understand, she is able to come some very important conclusions by herself. So Johan will be baptized on Saturday, and on March 5th he will baptize his family. Please pray for him that everything will work out this week. What worries us is that there hasn`t been any type of opposition to his progress towards baptism, and it will probably come out this week, because there must needs be an opposition in all things. So please pray that he will be able to superate any type of opposition that comes this week.

Iris is doing well. It`s hard for her because she`s going through depression and other health problems because of the separation from her husband. When we met her I don`t think it had really hit her yet that her husband was gone, but now it`s really taking a toll on her. We`re trying to help her understand the importance of baptism and receiving the Holy Ghost who will give her comfort, but with all the things she is worrying about right now it is hard for her to make baptism a priority. She came to church yesterday but only for the first hour because she was sick. So please pray for her as well. 

On Wednesday we had the multi zone conference and I had the opportunity to learn from my mission president and his wife and it was an edifying experience. In the night we had our meeting with the stake president, President Larson, and Elder Alvarez, the Area seventy in charge of our mission. He was connected by via Skype. He helped us focus our attention on the vision of the area presidency and also that of the prophets. He gave us some good advice and we left the meeting with a clearer idea of how the missionaries in the stake are going to work with the members. I`ve said it before in earlier emails, and I`ll say it again. I feel so blessed to be here in Magdalena and learn from the leaders here.  

 

I hope you guys have a great week! 

Elder Jones,

Yea that would be awesome to be in your ward if it`s possible! yea it hasn`t really hit me yet that I have a lot of time in the mission. I`m probably going to get transferred in a couple of weeks, and I think that In my next ward I`m going to tell everyone that I extended and that I`m not going home until July, so no one tries to make me trunky. No we`re not allowed to, but I`ll read it in a few months! Yesterday Elder Godoy was in sacrament meeting. It was the first time in a few months he wasn`t traveling somewhere on sunday. After the 3 speakers gave their talks he felt impressed to stand up and say a few words. He told the story about the Israelites after the death of Joshua, when Judged were appointed to lead them. The Lord commanded them to destroy the Idolatrous groups of people in the lands the Lord had prepared for his people. They took over the lands, but didn`t destroy all the people there. They began to intermarry with the people there and started to worship false gods. This resulted in the withdrawing of the Lord from them and they fell into the captivity of the Midianites. The Lord sent an angel to an Israelite man named Gideon and commanded him to fight and free the Israelite s from captivity. Gideon said that he couldn`t because we wasn`t a warrior, and they didn`t have even one sword, but the angel said that Jehova would be their sword. Gideon had 10,000 men and he was commanded to shorten that to 300 men. He was commanded to give each man a trumpet and an empty pitcher with a burning lamp inside. The 300 men were to surround the Midianite camp at night and all of them in unicine blow their trumpets and break the pitchers revealing the light from the lamps. When they did so it gave the appearance of an army much greater than 300 men, and the Midianites started freaking out and falling upon eachother`s swords. The Israelites were able to overpower the Midianites despite their number. Elder Godoy said that we as members of the church preach the gospel with our trumpets and our lamps. When we blow our trumpets, we proclaim the gospel to the earth and make it known to everyone that we are members of the true church of Jesus Christ. The light from the lamp is our example. Our ability to let the spirit work through us. Sometimes we don`t break our pitcher, and we only blow our trumpets. A pitcher that can cover our light is the impurity. Any act of impurity such as participating in pornography, immorality, not observing the Sabbath day dutifully, blocks our light. He said that pride can also be another pitcher that doesn`t let our light shine. When Jesus told us to be a light unto the world, he wasn`t talking about blowing the trumpet, he was talking about breaking the pitcher and letting the light shine.  Neither do men light a candle, and put it under a bushel, but on a candlestick; and it giveth light unto all that are in the house. He said all of that and more in 4 minutes. It was brief, profound, by the spirit, clear, and exactly what our ward needed. Hopefully someday I can get to that level of teaching. Have a great week!

 

Week 88

Hey guys! Glad to hear that everyone had a great week. Yes I´m getting dad´s letters. I´m actually surprised how quickly they arrive. They come in about a week from when dad sends them. Yesterday I was showing people the picture of Tyler´s missionary application photo, that´s so exciting that his mission papers are about to be sent in. Thank you so much for signing me up for calculus and Spanish and in the morning! I´m really excited. It´s going to be fun.

I had a great week! It was a little difficult because almost all of our appointments fell through, and a lot of the people we had with a baptismal date last week just stopped in their progress, which is sad. We still had a great week though. My first week here in Magdalena we met a less active member, named Gino, that had already attended church 3 times and had his interview with the bishop but just didn´t have any of the lessons to be reactivated, so we gave him all the lessons in one day, and we counted him as reactivated. After that he never  came to church again and was really hard to find. We found him again last week and we starting teaching him again, but this time we actually talk to him about what is important to him, what he wants to do with his life, and how the gospel can help him personally. He´s coming to church again like last time, but this time he´s starting to feel something. We´re helping him overcome his problems and the spirit is really strong in the lessons and the gospel is starting to help him. It was interesting to see the difference in how I treat the people I teach now and 6 months ago. He´s not a number anymore for me, he´s a real person with real needs. So Gino is doing well and is happy in the church. 

The Ramirez family is doing very well, I wasn´t able to teach them this week because I was on a companionship interchange with Elder Tomkins in the Venezuela ward. But they´re really excited to continue to learn and progress. Johan, the dad, is the most enthusiastic about the church, and that´s great because now that the head of the household is excited, he´s going to help his entire family. On Thursday when I was with Elder Tomkins we visited a family that they are teaching called the Rodriguez family. The parents aren´t married, but they and their 4 children are really excited about the church. When we visited them on Thursday we watched "Together Forever" with them, and they felt the spirit. We asked them if they had talked about marriage and they said that they hadn´t and that they still needed to wait more time (because 2 weeks ago when the missionaries found them they were about to get separated). We invited them to pray together to ask God if marriage was what He expected of them. They accepted. Last night I found out that when they arrived to church on Sunday they were both really happy and when Elder Tomkins and Elder Millward asked them why they were so happy they told them it was because they received an answer that they needed to get married! So the entire family is going to get baptized in a couple of weeks. 

I hope you guys have a great week!

Elder Jones

Week 87

Hey guys! This week was probably one of the best weeks of my mission. We just saw so many miracles this week! On monday the bishop and his family invited us to a family home evening in the house of some friends of theirs. The family`s name is the Ramirez family. Johan and Erica have a 13 year old son, that we don`t know yet, because he`s on a trip to england, an 8 year old daughter, and a 6 year old daughter. They really enjoyed the family home evening with the bishop`s family, and we made an appointment to visit them again on thursday with the bishop and his wife, and they understood the lesson really well. We taught them again on saturday morning. There was a young men`s car wash to raise money for their camping trip. They brought their car and we taught them with the stake president and his wife in the church while their car was being washed. They came to church yesterday for the 3 hours and they really enjoyed it. The members did a good job of making them feel welcomed. They have already felt an answer to their prayers and they want to continue learning. They have a baptismal goal for the 27th of feburary. I love teaching with Bishop Ampudia. He`s such a good teacher and I`ve learned so much this week about how to become an effective teacher. Something that I`ve been trying to get better at this week is listening intently to the responses that people give after asking them a question so I can ask a follow up question based on what they have said that will allow them to think deeply about what it is we are talking about. I feel like I`ve been getting better at that and I think that my investigators can tell that I`m really listening to them and I care about what they are saying.

Last monday we saw that we had a referral from Arizona. Her name is Iris Alva she`s about 50 years old and her sister is a member in the united states. She visited her sister and she attended a baptism. She spoke with the sister missionaries there and they gave her a book of mormon. Last week she was separated from her husband, but this week as we have been visiting her and teaching her she has been able to find peace and comfort, especially when she prays. She has been able to recognize the Holy Ghost`s presence stronger in her home, and she came to church with us yesterday and she really liked it! The also helped her feel welcome. She also has a baptismal date for the 27th.

   

Hernan is doing great! we had a lesson with him on friday with the Bishop and we`ve been able to find out that it`s hard for him to let go of some of his catholic traditions and beliefs, but he understands that he needs to ask God, and that`s all that matters. He came to church yesterday too and he has a baptismal goal for the 27th.

We`re teaching one of Elder Bates` dad`s converts and her son, Diego, who is not a member, is also listening to us and he wants to be baptized on the 27th. So he`s progressing really well. 

In the mornings this week we`ve been going to study with other companionships in the zone to help them have a good companionship study. They`ve been really great, and I`ve learned a lot form them. We had one with the secretaries and we practiced listening to investigators and asking follow up questions based on what they have said. 

After the zone meeting on wednesday we always have an hour together for language study, and we had Mario, who was baptized in september, come in and teach spanish to the north american missionaries. It was really funny, he taught us poetry and we practiced reciting it. It was awesome. This week I`m going to teach the spanish class, and as I`ve been studying spanish this week I`ve realized that I really really enjoy teaching spanish, and I feel like I`m good at noticing small details about spanish that most people don`t pick up on. I like learning about spanish grammar. And I think teaching spanish might be a good part time job for me when I get home, I read my patriarchal blessing this week, and it supports that idea. 

I hope you guys have a great week! Love you! 

Elder Jones 

Week 86

HEY GUYS so you´ll never guess where I got transfered to... I didn´t get transfered! Woo! I´m staying in Magdalena for 6 more weeks! I´ve been here since august! haha. But I´m actually really excited to stay here and be able to teach all the amazing people we´ve been teaching. There were a lot of changes in the zone, a lot of new missionaries, and things are looking better than they have before. I´m really happy. Elder Bates and I have been having some pretty fruitful companionship studies this week and we can tell that the lessons that we are teaching are more spiritual and our investigators are more engaged because we are teaching according to their needs. This week we had a leadership meeting for the mission and we talked alot about how to improve the companionship studies in the mission and relying more on the spirit. So we´ve been applying what we´ve talked about in these last few days to be able to train the zone about it on wednesday. We´re really excited about it.

We taught Hernan again this week, and he got to know the Bishop. He´s progressing really well and he´s understanding everything. We still haven´t been able to figure out what would possibly prevent him from progressing, which worries us because everyone always has some sort of challenge that comes out during the lessons that if left unresolved, prevents them from getting baptized. But he is completing with his committments and he´s really enjoying the church. We can tell that he trusts us more now than before, just by the way he talks to us.

 

We taught Jordy again this week and he also is understanding very well, but still not willing to dispose of a lot of time to continue progressing. His questions are excellent and he´s feeling something, so we´re confident that with time he´s going to start feeling the need to pursue the truth with more effort. 

So yea those were the highlights of the weeks. We spent a lot of time running around the zone interviewing people, giving keys to people that lost their keys, and helping people move. I´m glad that I have the opportunity to serve here in magdalena for a little more time, because every day I have the opportunity to minister and administer to the missionaries in my zone one by one.

I hope you guys have a great week! 

Elder Jones