Elder HJones: God Has A Plan for Everyone

Taken my first day

This week was pretty hard. I literally don't understand anything people say. It's hard to speak, too. I want to talk to everyone and understand everyone, but that's gonna take patience. People talk to me, and I have no clue what to say. So I pray literally 24/7 for God's help. It's frustrating sometimes, because I know what I want to say, I just can't say it. I just need to realize that God knows I can speak Spanish. I got called to Chile for a reason.

Some days, I feel like the mission will never end. Like I will live in Chile for the rest of my life. Its hard, but the best feeling I get is when I bear my testimony in my terrible Spanish. I really feel close to God and that I'm doing His work.

Our schedule is pretty much exercise and plan in the morning, work and eat lunch, work some more, then return to the casa and go to bed. I actually wake up at 7:30am and go to bed at 11:30pm. Everything is shifted one hour ahead.

I had my first sacrament meeting in the mission. It was comforting. I guess for the first time in my mission, I didn't feel so far from home.

Yesterday, we had two investigators come to church with us, so that was great! Not a lot of people are members here, so the ward was really small. We meet a lot of members at church, but its hard to find them during the week. We knock doors quite a bit. We live with two other Elders. Elder Camara is from Brazil and Elder is Perez from Bolivia. We live in a member's home. All the elders in our house speak Spanish, so I really am immersed in the idioma (language).

The food is really good. I never ate salad at home, and I'm kinda forced to eat it here and I would be lying if I didn't say that I actually kinda enjoy it. They also put mayonnaise on a lot of things. I am getting used to that, too.

Arica, Chile looks nothing like Utah. The homes are a lot different. Dogs are everywhere so I hear barking all day long. Borrachos (drunk guys) are everywhere, too. Yesterday, a borracho walked up to us and starting talking to us. He was talking about Joseph Smith, but I couldn't really understand him. I was so confused but it ended with him wanting to fight me. YES, FIGHT ME!!! We finally kinda walked away but it was pretty strange. God protected me so I know I am safe.

And I know God has a plan for all of us. My companion, Elder Lopez, and I are teaching two sisters. We learned that their abuelo (grandfather) was very sick and died the other day. It's amazing how right when a tragedy occurs in life, God sends someone to help. I am grateful that God has a plan for everyone. Sometimes we don't understand why things happen but God is always with us trying to help us.

The mission is hard. I feel like I am never gonna learn the language, but it is a blessing. It is so hard to understand people. People talk to me and I have no clue what they said. So it's a work in progress. I just need to learn patience. I am not gonna learn a new language in two weeks.

Thanks so much for your prayers!

Love, Elder Jones