Sister Jones Week 31

I really love the cake that Allie made it is super cute :) Also I am super jealous of the concert that dad got to go to. When is Holly's baby due? So this week was super hard but it was a good experience. I really learned that your attitude really makes all the difference. The first half of the week I was super stressed and didn't know what to do.  Then I just learned to enjoy it and focus on having the spirit and having fun.  Then the week was so much better. It is a little funny having a new companion because you forget how hard it was at first like speaking the language, cleaning your laundry, and even just walking all day. I feel like this cambio is going to help me a ton with my Spanish.  It is like I am here in Mexico with a baby and I have to do a lot more than before. One thing I love about having a new companion though is they are just so excited to do everything and just so obedient. One day I was having a kind of hard day and I was asking my district leader what to do and he just sent one phrase... "The distance between you and God is the same distance between your knees and the ground." I loved that so much because sometimes I forget that when we are stressed or going through a hard time that the first person we can turn to is our heavenly father. Oh I forgot on Monday at night they called sister Wood and said that an hermana came that they weren't expecting and they needed a trainer so hermana Wood is training too.  It was super stressful because at the presidents house all the trainers were downstairs and we waited for about 2 hours to go upstairs.  Then they call the new hermanas one by one and announce who their trainer was.  I was one of the last ones to get my daughter so I was super nervous. It is so funny though because I have 8 and a half months in the mission so everyone says that my baby is a premature baby. She is my daughter in the mission. Also it is super funny because there are two more hermanas in our ward and one of them was companions with my companion at the MTC. Also the Elder in our ward has a son straight from the MTC.  So our ward has 3 Americans straight from the MTC and then
me and then an Elder from Peru and then just one hermana from Mexico. It is so funny. Anyway I hope you guys have a great week!

Love,

hermana Jones

my new companion!

pan de muertos is lkike the best bread I have ever tasted in my life.

me and then an Elder from Peru and then just one hermana from Mexico. It is so funny. Anyway I hope you guys have a great week!

Love,

hermana Jones

Elder Jones Week 21

Hey guys! so I had a crazy experience last week that I need to tell you guys about. Last Monday right after emailing you guys Elder Torres felt like we should go visit Angelo and his family to verify our appointment with them later in the week. At first I thought it was strange because we don´t do that on Pday but we went. When we arrived at Angelo´s house we were waiting for someone to answer we saw two moto taxis crash, and one of them fell over on it´s side. (So a little bit of background: Here in Perú there are small 3-wheeled cars called moto taxis, and they´re really dangerous because they´re very light. But the area that I´m serving in, Caja de Agua, is very poor and no one has a car, so everyone uses them to get around.)  We ran over to help them and inside the taxi that was on it´s side was a woman from our church and her grandson. She was screaming a lot but when she saw that we were there she began to calm down. We pulled out her grandson and flipped the taxi right side up to get her out. Once we got her out and away from all the broken glass, the drivers, who were both bleeding heavily, drove away. People began to crowd around to see what happened and I realized that I was the only one there that knew what to do so I took control of the situation and I made sure that everyone knew that what I was saying wasn´t just another opinion but what was going to happen. I checked to make sure she wasn´t bleeding anywhere and to see if she was okay. She was complaining about her lung and side and she began to show signs of going into shock. More and more people began to crowd around and they all were giving their opinions of what to do and videotaping with their phones to show their families what happened. She went unconscious, and at that time there was a crowd of about 50 people and they all panicked and began to close in on her. I knew that I had to regain control of the situation, so I stood up and I told everyone to "back up" in the loudest voice I´ve ever used in my life. A lot of them did not like that because the way the culture in Perú is, is that if you´re young you have to respect the opinions of those older than you. Even if they don´t know what shock is, or what spinal injuries are, or why it´s a bad idea to take her in another mototaxi to the hospital or why you need to call an ambulance if they lose consciousness, or what to do when someone loses consciousness. I made sure that an ambulance was called and I monitored her breathing and heartbeat until it arrived. There were a couple of old Peruvians spitting on me and yelling at me the whole time, and I really wanted to lose my patience, but I knew that I needed to keep control of the situation and if I lost it I would instantly lose the respect of everyone there, and I wouldn´t be able to help the woman. The ambulance arrived and they took over and took her to the hospital. She is okay right now, her entire side is bruised, but she didn´t break anything. Her grandson is completely fine because when they crashed she grabbed onto him to protect him. They can use some prayers though. I started to think about what would have happened if I had a different mission call or if I wasn´t serving in Caja de Agua, or if Elder Torres hadn´t felt that we should visit Angelo´s family. I want to testify that the missionaries are instruments the the Lord´s hands. All the revelation received the prophet, my mission president, and my companion was directly from God, it wasn´t chance. And if I as a missionary hadn´t listened to my companion, then all the revelation leading up to that point would have been in vain, and the missionaries wouldn´t have been able to be instruments in the Lord´s hands in that moment. I know that God leads this church and that promptings from the spirit aren´t suggestions. 

More news about this week, Angelo got the Aaronic priesthood, one of the young women in our ward fell off her house from the 3rd floor, Jackie is getting baptized this week and it will be my first time baptizing! wooo. and the book of Mormon is still awesome.  Don´t worry about my weight I´m sorry about scaring you last week, I´m fine. I hope you guys have a great week. and wooo go Allie! 

Elder Jones

Sister Jones Week 30

I loved seeing all your pictures and it looked like Grandpa had a good week too with a baptism. This week was super good but it was sad because it was the last week of the cambio. I felt really good though because our last Sunday we had 3 families/investigators at church with us.  It just makes me so happy when we have families at church with us. 

 

We went to Taluca centro last Pday and it was so fun because we went to a botanical garden and there was tons of people in masks and dulces for dia de los muertos. Instead of having chocolate bunnies for Easter they have chocolate skulls for dia de los muertos. 

 

I can't even think about what else happened this week because I am so nervous!!!! I AM TRAINING this cambio AND SHE IS AMERICAN!!! I know that it will be a great cambio.  However, I feel like I can hardly speak Spanish and how am I going to teach someone else how to speak Spanish. I will definitely need your prayers this week. Anyway I don't receive my hija until tomorrow because the Americans don't fly in until tonight.  So today I am working with two Hermanas who live close to presidents house and guess who it is....Hermana Wood and her companion. I was so excited when I found out I would be working with her :) Hmmm en verdad I can't think of anything else to write because all I am thinking about is receiving my hija. They didn't tell me her name but she is from Oregon. Oh also the photos of Dan Dan are so funny :)

last Pday of the cambio! we visited toluca centro and went to a botanical garden!

dia de los muertos

more dia de loos muertos

mom is pretty much famous here in Mexico :)

so it made me laugh because a member gave us food to take home because she had to work and this is litterally the classic mexican meal

dia de los cambios is always the best because we get to see everyone!

Elder Jones Week 20

Hey guys! This week was great. Transfers were this Tuesday and Elder Torres and I will stay together for the third transfer in a row, so we`ll be together 4 and a half months in total.  By the end of this transfer I`ll be 6 months done with my mission! That's so scary. I`m feeling a lot better, not so sick. I lost a ton of weight though. I weighed myself this morning and I`ve lost 9 kilograms since I started my mission. I don`t know how many pounds that is but I`m thinking it`s too much. 

On Saturday all the members of the ward were supposed to clean the church and only the missionaries and Jesùs showed up. He`s almost completely blind but he was sweeping and mopping and singing Battle hymn of the republic the whole time. He got the Aaronic priesthood yesterday and also he got called as a ward missionary! So he`s going to go teaching with us a lot more. It`ll be hard because there are a lot of stairs but he wants to do it so we`re happy. Today for pday we`re going to the other side of our mission with Jesùs to visit the cemetery where his mom was buried because he can`t remember when she was born and when she died. Also just because he hasn`t been able to go in a really long time. 

That`s awesome about the Halloween party! October is kind of different here because of the Catholic holidays. There are bombs and fireworks constantly going off and everyone wears purple in honor of Santa Rosita. and there are a bunch of... I don`t even know what to call them.. floats, that are carried by priests. Kind of like the arc of the covenant but with an image of Santa Rosita. So yea that`s fun. 

Yesterday we had a lesson with Jackeline who has a baptismal date for November 9th, and her little sister also wants to get baptized, and we taught them both. It was a really good lesson because we can tell that every time we meet with Jackeline her conversion is continuing to increase. Saturday she called us that she wouldn`t be able to come to church because she had a commitment with some of her friends, and we encouraged her to make the decision to go to church, and yesterday she went to church with her little sister and her friend! She`s really progressing well. 

On Saturday morning there was a ward activity for the young men. It was a soccer tournament, but each of the young men in our ward had to make up their own team with friends that aren`t members. 35 young men showed up and only 7 were members. A couple of our investigators, Jon and Noè, came with their own team too. And then while teams were waiting to play we were there talking to them about the church and answering any questions they had, and we invited everyone to church and almost everyone that went to the tournament went to church yesterday. It was really cool. 

Our mission president told us to restart the Book of Mormon regardless of where we were at in it, and at first I really didn`t want to because what I`ve been doing for the past couple months is when I read a chapter in the Book of Mormon I write what I learned and important scriptures to remember on half a notecard and tape it to my wall, and I`m already halfway done with Alma. The idea is that when I finish and I have all the chapters of the Book of Mormon on my wall, when we are planning and thinking about which chapter we should give to our investigator to read, I can just look at my wall and find a chapter that would be good for that investigator. But I made the decision to restart the Book of Mormon and I`m really glad that I did because I notice things that are really important and helpful for my investigators that I didn`t notice before. 

I`m really excited for Jesùs in his new calling and the opportunity that he has to progress in the gospel. OH also something really funny that happened yesterday and almost every Sunday in the class for new converts and investigators. Whenever the teacher tells us to go to a scripture in the Bible, Jesùs just starts reciting it from memory. I don`t know how he does it or how he knows the Bible so well but I`m convinced he has the Bible memorized. This week was great. I`m still loving it. Hope you guys have a great Halloween! Goodbye

Elder Jones 

Sister Jones week 29

So this week has been so amazing and so fun. So we had Raul who was going to be baptized this Sunday.  He passed his interview and everything.  When we went to his house on Saturday he said that he wasn't going to be baptized on Sunday. He is taking classes right now so that he can pass elementary school.  When he was younger his parents took him out of school so he could work in a slaughter house. He had to take his final exam on Sunday morning at 8 the same time as when church starts. He asked if he could take the test another day but they said no.  If he didn't take it at that time it would count as if he failed the test. We were so sad but told him if he had faith and prayed everything would work out. We visited him in the morning at about 11.  We were praying and fasting all day that he could be baptized! He finally called us at 8 in the night and said that the teacher was sick.  She changed the test time to the following Saturday! It was such a miracle! 

I heard the whole story about Raul at the baptism.  His son bore his testimony in the baptism and everyone was crying. So two years ago everyone in the family was baptized except for Raul. He wouldn't even be in the same room as the missionaries and would leave if he saw the missionaries coming. After two years he warmed up to the missionaries little by little. Then about 8 months ago he started listening to the missionaries. he said though that before he would do anything he had to read the whole Bible.  So the missionaries dropped him. When my companion and I visited him he was only in Genesis.  We were a little bit discouraged but the thing that kept us coming back was his wife. Every time we shared a message with her she would cry and tell us how much she wanted her family to be able to go to the temple and be together forever. So we visited him almost every day and soon we started to see some progress. When he didn't understand something he would start looking in the bible dictionary that his wife had. Then he started reading some of the book of Mormon and then one day we were talking about Joseph smith with his wife and he said out of nowhere I want to be baptized! We all just looked at him and didn't no what to say but then his wife got super happy and called her son and told him and we started preparing for the baptism. It was super great and the best part of the baptism was his sons testimony and his wife ran to give him a hug after he came out of the font. I think this was one of the best experiences of my life just to see a family so happy together. 

This week also our zone leader called us all to the stake center and we did crazy switches.  He gave us all different companions for the day and gave a us all 3 goals we had to complete that day. It was actually super fun to switch things up and work with another person. 

Oh I have Halloween pictures because a member sells Halloween masks. Usually people sign up to have all 4 of us to come and eat. So we took pictures of our district after we ate at her house.

The thing that kills me here is how much food they give us. First they gave us a plate of spaghetti and I was feeling bad after that.  Then they brought out enchiladas with salad and all kinds of stuff on top and they gave me five enchiladas and I wasn't feeling so good after.  Then they brought out a hamburger with cut up hot dogs on top of the burger and I nearly died. Sadly that is not the first time and probably won't be the last time that I almost threw up from eating so much.  One of the rules in the mission is you have to eat everything on your plate because it is super offensive here not to eat all your food. Oh and next week we are getting two more hermanas so we are going to have 4 hermanas and 2 Elders in our ward! yea hermanas!!! :) Have a great week!!

Love,

hermana Jones

Great things happening in this mission. The majority of the zones are starting to have more hermanas than Elders :)

Hot sauce on Pizza:)

 

Elder Jones Week 19

Hey! Okay so this week was great. I got a stomach infection on Tuesday. It was the first time I've been too sick to leave and teach. I couldn't even leave my bed except to go to the bathroom, which I had to do every five minutes, and throw up. But yea I`m better now.

Jesùs` baptism was Saturday! Elder Torres baptized him and I did the confirmation yesterday during sacrament meeting. It was my second time giving a priesthood blessing and my first time in Spanish but I wasn't really afraid.  It was fine. Jesùs also has his interview tomorrow to get the priesthood.

We had a training in the stake center yesterday with our Zone and we talked about the problems that we have about the leadership in our wards and I realized that Buffalo Grove 1st ward is such a good ward. Our ward has a lot of problems right now but I`m glad I`m serving in an area with a lot of problems because I`m learning more about how the church is led and the responsibilities that every leader has. I`m excited to learn more and get experience. 

So I sent pictures of the baptism, a granadia which is that alien looking fruit that tastes really really good, and my Peru scripture cases. A heads up for the pictures, Peruvians don`t smile in pictures but they smile all the time in real life. I took a video of when we sang Battle hymn of the Republic in Jesùs´ baptism. It`s 20 seconds long but it`s still too large of a file to send through email.

This week I read my patriarchal blessing for the first time on my mission and I realized that I need to read it more. I realize something different every time I read it and the things that I realized were exactly what I needed at that time. 

So the family that we are super super close to reactivating is doing well, and I don`t think we would have been able to make it this far without their 12 year old son Angelo. His family has been inactive all his life but when he was 9 he decided by himself that he wanted to get baptized even though his father told him that he shouldn`t. He kept insisting and insisting and they let him get baptized. He hasn`t been able to go to church since then because he was too young to go alone, but once he turned 12 they let him go alone to church and he`s been going to church alone for the past couple of months, and we`ve been teaching him and his family and a few weeks ago his mom started going because of the example of her son, and then yesterday his mom and his sisters went to church and it`s really awesome to see how much power a good example has in a family. Angelo has his interview tomorrow to be reactivated and to get the priesthood and we`re really excited for him because he`s such a strong example to his family. It was a good week.

Hope you guys have a great week!

Hermana Jones week 28

So I don't have a ton of time to write because we have a baptism this week and we went to their house today. We also helped a little on Saturday with the young men and young women but we only had our skirts on Saturday so we couldn't help much so we came back today in our pants and helped. It is kind of hard here because people dont really ever have lawn mowers so you cut the grass with sickles and machetes. Alos we helped weed out his garden. All I can say on Saturday is that is was a pretty bad idea to give a bunch of young men machetes......lots of people got cut. After we helped clean the garden we were going to leave but the hermana wanted to make us lunch and it took over two hours to make, but it was the best food I have ever had in my life it is called pasole and it is super yummy. Sadly though we only have an hour of a pday but it was worth it because it is the hermana we are going to baptize this sunday.

It is crazy to see the difference in him from the first time we met him where he would get up and walk out of lessons to know where he wants to get baptized. His family is super exctied because they have all been members for a litttle over a year but the dad didnt want to listen because he was super super catholic. And super catholic in the US is different thean super catholic here. Super catholic here is the have a shrine of the virgin maria that takes up a whole room in their house and they walk through the strrets to the church singing and  bring flowers to the virgin every friday. So the change in him is a little cray but we are soo excited!!!

Thank you for all the talks and it looks like you had a fun time in Boston. So exciting that Audry was baptized. A student ward with 150 people sounds like it would be so much fun! This week I also had a great experience with the Book of Mormon. I had a question about something I found and we looked in the bible and we found the answer but that just caused us to have 5 more questions. By the end we were so confused we were looking everywhere when finally my companion said hermana Jones do you believe that the book of mormon is true? I said yes and she showed me a scripture that answered every question that we had in 1 verse. I cannot even explain how much my testimony grew of the book of mormon in that second because the answer was in the bible but with the help of the BOM it made so much more sense. That is one of the things that I love about my companion is every night we talk about the things we dont understand or the trhings we have doubts about and then we both look in the scriptures fro the answers. Before my mission I thought it was bad to have doubts or questions but I have really learned that it is OK to have doubts because everytime I have doubts and find the answer for myself in the scriptures my testimony gros drastically that things things are true. I still think it is funny that before my mission I thought I knew everything that there was to know about the church. I have realized here on the mission that there are so many things that I didn't know and so many things that I still don't know!

I hope you have a great week!

Love, 

Hermana Jones