Elder Jones week 29

It was great to talk to you guys and hear your voices! I´m glad you´re all doing fine! Hope you all had a great Christmas with all the cousins. This week was great. On the 23rd we went Christmas caroling as a Zone and it was so amazing. We visited so many families and we visited a small children´s hospital too. On the 24th in the morning we had a breakfast as a Zone and we made banana pancakes, and then we played games for a while. We weren´t able to go to the temple this last week but we are going this week on Thursday. I´m very excited. 

On Monday we had a lesson with Oliver, the 11 year old brother of Isabel, and It was the best lesson I´ve had on my mission so far. When we got to his house he was crying because Isabel had been trying to teach him from the pamphlets that we teach from and he still couldn´t understand them. He told us that he didn´t go to church last week because he didn´t think he understood enough to be baptized and that made him scared for the baptismal interview. We taught him about the gospel of Jesus Christ and how before baptism all you need is faith and repentance, and you need to have a heart willing to follow Christ and his commandments. I realized that the week before we had been focusing on teaching his father, mother, aunt, and cousin, and they had really complicated questions with really complicated answers and we kind of forgot about Oliver. So after explaining to him that he doesn´t need to know everything before baptism and that baptism isn´t the end but the beginning, we played a game with him and Isabel to memorize the steps of a prayer. Oliver and I were on a team and Isabel and Elder Figueroa were on another team. Oliver and I  won and that made him really happy. We read from Ether 12:27 with him and explained to him that God gives us weaknesses, but if we learn to trust in him he will make our weaknesses our strengths. And we promised him that even though right now he doesn´t understand a lot of what the scriptures say, if he learns just one new thing from the scriptures every day, by the time he´s 18 he will know more about the scriptures than any other young man in our stake.  And we told him to pray about when he should get baptized and he immediately told us that he wanted to get baptized this Saturday with his sister.  So on Saturday we had 2 baptisms, Oliver and Isabel.  Also 3 others from our stake got baptized the same day.  Oliver and Isabel went up to bear their testimonies at the end of the service and I was so proud of them and how far they´ve come.  I know they´re going to be great converts. Their mom came to the baptism too because she is planning on getting baptized in January, and she found work that doesn´t require her to work on Sunday!!!  Their father wanted to come to the baptism but he can´t walk.  He´s been in bed this week and they think the cancer is getting worse because he left the hospital.  We´re teaching him and we gave him a priesthood blessing.  He and his family have a lot of faith. 

We didn´t do very much else this week since we had 3 days off.  Yesterday during sacrament it was very cool because the 3 people passing the sacrament were Jesús, Angelo, and Jairo.  One of my converts and 2 of those who I reactivated. 

I hope you guys have a great week and a Happy New Year!

Elder Jones 

p.s. I have scriptures, as promised, for the kids to read and tell me what they learn: Tyler: 1 Corinthians 15. Allison 2 Nephi 31. Dan:  Alma 32: 21-43

Hermana Jones week 39

So I spent a long time writing the president of the mission so I will just send you part of the letter I wrote to him so you can know about the baptism story of Yudy :) Her baptism was super sweet because she bore her testimony, the young women sang a special number, but the best part was that Yudy and her three sisters sang a special number and it was I am a Child of God.  It was so sweet and you could feel the spirit so stong and their dad was crying so much and so was Yudy when they were singing (you pronouce yudy, Judy in spanish :) ) 

This week I learned a very important thing about the work of salvation. it is the key to happiness in this life! I think the beginning of this week was the lowest I have ever been in my whole mission and talking to my family just made it so much worse. I was feeling like I didn't know what my purpose was here in the mission, all of our investigators had left on vacation, and I felt like I was wasting my time. The members could see that I was struggling a little and offered words of comfort that really stuck with me.  As a representative of Jesus Christ you have to feel at least a little of the pain that he felt while he was here on the earth. I decided after that moment that I needed to change and I needed to find purpose so what better place to look than in preach my gospel in our purpose! I love Preach my Gospel because every time you read it you learn something new that you have to do better. 

We had no one who could be baptized for this Sunday, but we decided for the rest of the week we were going to give it our all. Then on Saturday night we went to a former investigator's house who the missionaries had dropped because her dad wouldn't give her permission to be baptized and it was the most I have ever felt the spirit in my whole life. This investigator has her two parents and 5 siblings and they were all sitting there listening to us. We taught the dad about prophets and he said he could feel the spirit and told us that some parents want their kids to be stars in basketball, others want their kids to be stars in ballet, and others in music but what he wanted for all his little girls was that they could be stars for Jesus. He didn't want them to be little girls he wanted them to be princesses that when people saw them people could see something different.  He said that he didn't know how he could help his children but he told us that he could see that we could help them reach their full potential.  I almost cried to see a dad that at first we thought was trying to keep his daughters back because of his rough exterior of tattoos and signs of a rough life, to a dad who had so much love for his daughters that he wanted them to have a life so much better than the life he had lived. This Sunday his oldest daughter was baptized and the whole family went to church together. 

I know that God lives and he loves his children.  I know that when we are sad or discouraged the antidote is our faith.  It is service.  It is helping others come unto Christ.  At the beginning of the week all I wanted to do was go home and missed my family so much but my the end of the week I never wanted to go home. I know that the plan of our Heavenly Father isn't to bring missionaries here on missions to separate them from their families, it is to help more families become eternal families. I know that this church is true with all my heart and I know that we are here in the mission to forget ourselves and go to work. I have never experienced a greater miracle in my life than seeing the way that the gospel of Jesus Christ can change a family. I thankful for the low times that we have in our life because like it says in the Joseph Smith movie. The Lord brings you low so that he can life you higher.I am thankful to be in a mission that teaches us it is possible to baptize every week that pushes us past our normal capacities.  Before my mission it was my goal to have 10 baptisms on my mission but I am so grateful to be somewhere that teaches you to work hard, to be obedient to every rule with exactness (even though only talking to your family for 40 min was hard), a mission that tells you that everything you have to give still isn't enough, that it is through Christ that we can achieve what isn't possible. 

I am grateful to be in the best mission!  I am grateful that I am pushed every day to realize who I really am, to realize what I was sent here to earth to do.  Something that really stuck with me from the Zone conference was that if you have an easy mission your life will be difficult but if you have a difficult mission it is teaching you the things you need to learn early on, not so that you will have an easier life but also that the challenges that are sure to come in life will be easier to handle and conquer.  The mission is the MTC for life!    

I love you guys tons and hope you have a great week. Remember we have trials because God loves us. 

Love,

Hermana Jones

Elder Jones week 28

Hey guys! Courtney and I are thinking 11am Chicago time for the 3 way Skype call. AHHH I`m so excited to talk to you guys. If you want you guys can have like 15 or 20 minuets alone with Courtney since she has a time limit.

Okay, so this week was so great. We had the mission christmas party on Thursday which was the best. There was a bunch of really great food, soccer, volleyball, dodgeball, basketball, and every zone had a skit that they prepared, and there was a gift exchange.  It was a lot of fun and I got to see all my friends from the CCM on the day of my 6 month anniversary on the mission!

This Saturday we had planned that Isabel and Oliver would get baptized, but Oliver wasn`t able to go to church yesterday so he`ll have to get baptized the week after, but Isabel is for sure getting baptized on Saturday. We started teaching their dad, Eucebio, who has terminal lung cancer. He has left the hospital to be with his family for Christmas and New Year`s. He does want to get baptized, but he wasn`t able to make it to church yesterday.  We taught him 4 times this week and he kept every reading and praying commitment that we left for him, and he has faith that the Book of Mormon is true.  He asks a lot of questions about the plan of salvation, and I realized that it is really hard to teach someone that has already come to terms with the fact that they are going to die.  To look them in the eye and tell them that you know that they will see their family again and that they will live again after this life.  It is very hard but I know that this is true, I have a testimony, and the promises we make are real. They aren`t just made up to make people feel better or to handle death more easily.  It`s real, and it`s true. We`re working really hard with this family because they are prepared by God to receive this gospel. 

We did a lot of service this week and we didn`t really get much out of it.  It didn`t help our sectors grow, and we didn`t find new people because of the service we did. And I realized that it`s because we didn`t ask for referrals when we did the service.  Members of the church have the responsibility to do service because by serving their fellow being they are serving their God.  But missionaries are already serving their God 24 hours a day, and we have the responsibility to preach the gospel.  And I realized this week that if we do service projects without the purpose of finding new people to teach, and we don`t ask for referrals, we are wasting the Lord`s time.

I had a great week. We taught a lot of new people and we`re trying our best to help them progress. We have 3 families that we are working with, including Isabel`s family,that we really have a lot of hope for that they are going to get baptized.  And a goal I have for myself is that I want to see a family that I taught get sealed in the temple before I finish my mission. And I realized that if I want that to happen, the records that I fill out in the area book need to be superb, because I need future missionaries to prepare them for the temple and they have to be able to teach them according to their needs. 

I hope you guys have a great week and a very Merry Christmas. I`ll see you all on Thursday! wooo. 

Elder Jones

Hermana Jones week 38

First of all, I will talk to you guys at 11 in the morning so i can talk to Hal, too.  The  only thing is no one here has Facetime, so I might need you to make a Skype account for me.

This week was really fun because on Wednesday we had an activity with the half of the mission that is outside of the city. We had a talent show and I sung with my companion which was fun. Also we played chimes with all the missionaries which stressed out the mission president's wife because it sounded sooo awful :) Then we had a big lunch with all the missionaries.  It was funny because there are more Hermanas than Elders. Then president said that he got a present for all of us! We were so excited, but then we walked into the room and it was flu shots for everyone! It was very sad, but at least we will stay healthy. Then afterwards we got to watch a movie and we watched Meet the Mormons! it was actually a really good movie.  It was sad though in the part of the missionary mom because when the guy left on him mission pretty much all the missionaries were crying, even the elders.

I think a lot of people get a little homesick during Christmas time. The thing that helps me here is that it doesn't even feel like Christmas because in the afternoons here it is freakishly hot because the altitude is so high that the sun is super strong during the day so I really don't feel like it can be Christmas with it being so hot and because here they don't really play Christmas music on the bus all we hear is mariachi music.  So that explains why it doesn't feel like Christmas. The only thing I don't like about this time of year is that everyone leaves on vacation, so right now we really don't have any investigators to teach.

Anyway, tell Allison happy birthday.  It was funny because on Allison's birthday I completed 10 months on my mission. Crazy how fast the time goes. My new companion is from Washington, which is funny because my last companion was from Oregon. I t is funny because I thought that I would never have an American companion on my mission but I have had just as many Americans now as I have had Mexicans. 

Also, here for Christmas it is really funny because the party just keeps going on forever. Every night starting on the 16th there are posadas on a different street, so every street has their posada. I n the posada it is to remember when Mary was looking for an inn to stay in, so in the street they go house to house with candles singing and asking if they can come in, but every house says no until they get to the house of the person who is assigned to do the posada and that house they can come in and there is a huge party and a piñata and all kinds of stuff. It is actually a really cool way for the neighbors to spend time together.  Our new converts were in charge of doing the posada for the street so we were over visiting and at the end we asked if there was anything we could could do for them.  Usually people say no, but this time it was fun service because she needed help getting ready for the posada so she had us make sandwiches and Atole and Ponche.  Those two drinks are the most delicious thing I have ever tasted other than Arroz con leche.  We couldn't stay for the party, but I did take a few pictures and videos of the people with their candles singing and going from house to house asking for posada.

On the 24th of December everyone has to stay up really late and they start their dinner at midnight. They don't get presents until the 6th of January when the three wise men come during the night with presents, but here in Mexico Christmas is super fun because it starts the 16th of December and goes until the 6th of January.  Mexico just really loves their parties.  The parties look really cool-- whenever we pass by, we see that they have put giant tent things outside and there are people dancing and they have a live mariachi band.  I think I am going to learn some of these dances after my mission.  Anyway, I hope you guys have a great Christmas!  Today for our Pday we are going to buy all our christmas food so that will be great! I don't think I am going to get any Christmas packages or letters because on Wednesday they gave me some letters, but they all said Happy Halloween!! Hahhaha so happy Halloween, everyone!

Love,

Hermana Jones

Week 27 Elder Jones

Hey guys! This week was the best. Elder Figueroa is still the best. We eat so much but we work out so hard in the morning and we work so much during the day. And we eat so much good food. We eat a lot of spinach, carrots, tomatos, fruits, and oatmeal. So I`ve never felt this healthy on my mission before and that makes it a lot easier, because I`m not so sick all the time. Also happy birthday to Allison this week! It was weird when Courtney`s birthday passed this last week because that was the first family member birthday that I`ve missed on my mission so far. I got the Christmas package! that made me so happy. Elder Figueroa and I are gradually eating the twizzlers this week and we`re waiting for Christmas to eat the rest. Thank you so much guys that made my week. Oh speaking of Christmas I don`t have a time limit to talk to you guys so I guess we`ll just talk as long as you guys want to talk, haha. My mission president is very cool. I have to coordinate with Hermana Jones because I think she`s an hour behind me in Mexico City, and I don`t know if Chicago is the same time zone as Lima or an hour ahead. This week on Thursday is the mission Christmas party and I`m really excited. That`s really awesome about Mina I hope she gets baptized, because I`m pretty sure we have the best ward in the world to support new members. Congrats to Allison on her talk and her 3 stripes! and Dan and his two stripes! And Tyler on being on Youth Committee, and the ACT! That`s so weird to see a picture of the inside of our house because sometimes I forget that I used to live in a comfortable house.  

Okay so about this week. We worked really really hard. Isabel and Oliver have finished all the lessons and now they accompany us to teach other investigators. They`re both getting baptized the 27th, two days after I talk to you guys. They`re both really excited. We taught an amazing lesson to the inactive family of the missionary that left from our ward to Paraguay a few months ago. Before he left he told us to work on his family and try to get his parents to arrive at the temple and get sealed. Elder Figueroa`s family is inactive too and he bore his testimony to them, and told them that if they don`t want their son to suffer on his mission, they need to go to church. And they came to church yesterday! For the first time in years. There`s also a family in our ward with 9 children, and all of them are members except one daughter, and a while ago she would avoid us and didn`t want to listen to us, but then she fell from the 3rd story of her house, and now she`s bedridden for the next 4 months and we come by to visit her every day and we teach her and she actually listens to us now and she wants to get baptized. It probably wont be while I`m still here in Caja de Agua, but I`m still really excited for her. We reactivated a family this week too! They`re a really beautiful family and they are now preparing to enter the temple! It`s a lot better when the goal for the people we teach is the temple instead of just baptism or reactivation. We have a lot of investigators that are progressing very well but none of them were able to attend church yesterday. That was the first time in my mission that I didn`t have any investigators attend church. So in Gospel principles the only two people we had in the class were Hno. Jesùs and Hna. Salomè. Hna. Salomè is a recent convert and is 87 years old, and has been my substitute grandma for the past 5 months. She can`t hear very well but she loves to talk about Jesus Christ. Her daughter is a recent convert too and so is all of her daughter`s family. I`m excited for this next week and I hope you all are doing great and that you have a great week! 

Elder Jones

Week 37 Sister Jones

So this week was super good. I feel so weird though because I am 20. You guys have a 20 year old daughter now! This week on my birthday we got to eat with the bishop at his pizaria. So pizza on my birthday! It was super good. Then one of the hermanas from the ward said she was going to have a noche de hogar ( family home evening) at her house. Two of our families investigating the church ( Yanze and her family and Rosie and her family) were going to her house for the FHE.  It was funny though because when we got there it wasn’t a noche de hogar it was a birthday party for me and they had a cake, a piñata and everything. So it was super funny. Those three families are so fun. We had to leave and go to one of our other appointments.  They said that they were going to continue the party. When they were super tired the next day at church and people asked why, they would say it was because they were celebrating with hermana Jones.....oh these hermanas really kill me :) Then we went to the house of hermana Vitalia because she said that she would come with us to a lesson of one of our investigators.  There was another party! It was really funny because I learned the birthday song in Spanish and it isn’t the one that everyone sings in the US. Then in the night someone rang our doorbell which freaked me and my companion out because there have been some problems.  When people open their doors and someone will punch them and then rob the house. So we were super scared but it turned out to be one of our investigators and they brought a present. So really it was a super good birthday. I still feel weird that I am 20 though. Also it was weird to pass my birthday in warmish weather because usually it is freakishly cold by the time it gets to my birthday.

On Wednesday we are having a Christmas activity with half the mission here in Toluca. I am super excited because I will get to see old companions and it is always fun when lots of missionaries get together. Anyway my new companion also went to BYU and lived in Heleman halls the same as me. She is a piano major so she is really good at the piano. It is crazy how small BYU makes the world. I was also thinking about how am I going to sign up for classes if I am here in the mission... oh well I am sure everything will work out. Anyway life is good, the mission is great, God is good. Share the gospel!

Love Hermana Jones 

 one of my converts seals chocolates and she offered to teach us how...hahah my first one turned out pretty terrible but she thought it was super funny that I made a Mexican Santa!

my new companion and pizza on my birthday at the bishops pizzaria!

piñata

best birthday ever :)

birthday cake...they smashed my face in it

Elder Jones week 26

Hey Guys! That`s such great news about Dan!!! That makes me really happy. And also congrats to Allie and Dan in their karate testing! I`m really excited to talk to you guys! 

So transfers was on Tuesday and I`m staying in Caja de Agua, and my new companion is Elder Figueroa from Cordova, Argentina! I`m not exaggerating when I say this, he`s the funniest person I've ever met in my life.  I spend about 90% of my day laughing. He also works harder than almost any other missionary I know, and it`s amazing because I really want to work hard too so we get a lot done.  This week we had 8 new investigators.  He also knows how to talk to people, and this week we`ve gained the trust of a lot of people.  I`m the happiest that I have been on my mission.   Elder Figueroa runs with me every morning so that`s awesome.  I am going to work as hard as I can to keep up with Elder Figueroa.  I realize that I won't always have such hard working companions on my mission, and I'm going to take advantage of it.  

We met a family this week, the Parra family.  The daughter just had a baby last week and they`re really prepared to receive what we teach. For the 27th of December we`re going to have 3 baptisms: Isabel, Oliver, and Michelle. Isabel and Oliver I`ve already told you guys about and their mom won`t be able to be baptized the 27th because she is still looking for work that won`t make her work Sundays.  Right now she has a job that she works every other Sunday.  Michelle is 10 and her sisters and cousins and uncles and aunts are members, and she attends church every week and she received the lessons from the elders a while ago, but never got baptized because her family members went inactive.  But now they`re active and we`re going over the lessons again and she`s going to get baptized.  This week was stake conference and one of the 70 came and he`s so awesome. Elder Calderòn.  We brought Jesùs and he was able to talk with Elder Calderòn for a while.  Also speaking of Jesùs, we were able to get him the Book of Mormon on audio when we went to the temple and one of the members in our ward let him borrow something to play it on, and this week he`s been listening to the Book of Mormon!  He says that he already knew it was true, but now that he has the opportunity to study the book of Mormon his testimony is even stronger.  Also Jesùs got the Melchizedek Priesthood yesterday!  That was really exciting for me.  He told me that now that he`s an Elder I have to call him Elder Pachas.  

I got bit by a dog this week. We were walking up a staircase and I saw the 3 year old son of one of our investigators, Nato, and I shouted "Nato", and the dog that was next to me on the staircase, that I didn`t even notice was there, bit me on my calf.  It didn`t break the skin but there`s a hole in the calf of my pants. I`m going to try to fix it this week.  And what`s funny is that it was on the way to pick up Isabel, Oliver, and Jesùs for stake conference, so I didn`t have time to change pants before stake conference.  My mission president and the member of the Seventy were at this conference and when I shook their hands they both noticed that I had a hole in the calf of my pants. I hope you guys have a great week. I`m loving my mission and it`s going by too fast.  It gets pretty hot here, but there are people with Christmas sweaters.  It`s really different than any Christmas I`ve known but I love it.  Love you guys. 

Elder Jones