Elder EJones: The Most Wonderful Time of the Year--Until October

My companion's name is Elder Calkins. And this week was good. We did lots of contacting and are working with lots of investigators that are progressing pretty well. There were 4 of our investigators at church, so that was good, and are working with three right now that could possibly be baptized the next Saturday, or one of the days of Conference. So pray for Erika, Madaley, and Yolanda.

I honestly can't wait for conference. I bet if you asked my companion, he'd tell you that I've probably told him how excited I am for it everyday like 100 times. But really, I'm so excited to be able to hear the words of Christ's living prophets and apostles that receive direct revelation from Him to guide us, so that we can receive all the blessing that he has to offer to us as mortals on this earth.

This week I really liked something in the last talk from President Nelson. In district meeting, we talked about the importance of the Holy Ghost in our lives, and that through him we can receive the revelation that we are looking for. I liked in his last talk when he said, "The Lord impressed upon my mind the importance of the name of His Church, even the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints." I love that we receive the same spirit, the same time of revelation as do the prophets and apostles, an impression, a thought, or maybe just a feeling. But maybe its that we don't act on them as much as we should, and we aren't recognizing them as we should.

Love you tons,
Elder Jones

Elder HJones: La Restauración del Evangelio de Jesucristo

So this week and this past week, I don't know why, but we have run into so many people of different churches and want to talk and discuss about the things that we believe. And almost all of them attack us because we believe that Joseph Smith is a prophet.

I remember an interview that I had with my mission president a while back. We talked about the Restoration and about Joseph Smith. He told us that we need to teach it and defend it, because its what makes our church true. During the week and during the conversations that we have had with them, I am grateful for the knowledge that we have about the Restoration and that Joseph really was called of God. I know that God loves us. I know that His church is here on the earth.

Love you all! Please pray for Ana, Daniela, Dangeli, Naldi, and Ruben.

Elder Jones

Elder ZJones: It Was a Good Week

Last day with Elder Rivera

The weather here has been changing little by little. I can't believe that it is cold again. That means the time is blowing by super fast! I haven't received my "trunky papers" yet, (aka release date) luckily!

It was a good week. We had a lot of side things that we had to do because my companion was preparing to go home. He had his last interview with Presidente Resek. My companion wasn't trunky and it was hard for him to leave!! It was awesome working with him. We worked super hard even though we didn't receive all the results that we wanted. We worked to the last minute.

We baptized two individuals this past week! We baptized Pablo and Deysi. They were super excited. Their parents want to be baptized, but it is hard because they aren't married and they have to get married first. They don't have documents from Argentina, just from Paraguay, so the process takes a while. But today they went with a member to the registro civil to figure everything out. I love it when members help us out. So we will see what happens with them. We have a lot of people that we need to visit this week and help them to come to church. We had 7 in church and are grateful. We will be working with them this week.

I am super excited for General Conference! I am excited for any changes and the new things that we will be seeing.

With my changes......I will be staying in Gral Rodrighuez. So, by the end of the transfer, I will have six months in the area! haha I will receive Elder Candela as my new companion. He is from Spain. I am excited to learn from him. He has about 16 months in the mission. He was also AP for a transfer. So I am excited to learn from him and to find miracles as well! Other that that, in the zone there was just two changes, so about everything is the same.

I was reading this week about Alma and his change. In Mosiah 7, the last two verses it says:

36 And thus they were instruments in the hands of God in bringing many to the knowledge of the truth, yea, to the knowledge of their Redeemer.

37 And how blessed are they! For they did publish peace; they did publish good tidings of good; and they did declare unto the people that the Lord reigneth.

He wants us all to be instruments in his hands to teach and preach good tidings of good. What are good tidings of good.

13 But behold, that which is of God inviteth and enticeth to do good continually; wherefore, every thing which inviteth and enticeth to do good, and to love God, and to serve him, is inspired of God.

As we follow Him and listen to the Spirit and to those things that entice us to follow Him and when we share these things, we can publish these tiding of good!

Exito este semana en los estudios y trabajo. Voy a tratar a llamarles este jueves!

Elder Jones

Elder EJones: Obedience Brings Blessings

This week in our English Class, we talked about obedience and the importance of faith, repentance, and obedience. As I thought more about obedience and the importance it is I thought of this...."Sometimes we may obey at first as something we have to do and not something we want to do, until we obey because we want to and not because we have to"

I know that as we strive to be obedient to all of the Lords commandments we will be able to see all of the blessings he has for us. We receive blessings when we are obedient!!

21 And when we obtain any blessing from God, it is by obedience to that law upon which it is predicated.  (D&C 130:21)

Love you all,
Elder Jones

Elder ZJones: Cambios

This week we have transfers. And I will be staying in Gral Rodriguez! I am excited to continue working here. My Companion, Elder Rivera, just finished his mission today. It was such a blessing to be  able to work with him and learn from him. We worked hard this past week and baptized two people, Pablo and Deysi this past weekend! He was super excited and the family as well. There parents want to be baptized, but they need to get married. We are helping them with the process so that they can be baptized in the Church Of Jesus Christ.

My new companion is Elder Candela! He is from Spain. He has about 16 months on the mission. I am excited to work with him and know that we will see a lot of miracles!

There is a line in Preach My Gospel that says:

As your understanding of the Savior’s sacrifice, also known as the Atonement of Jesus Christ, grows, your desire to share the gospel will increase. You will feel, as Lehi did, the “great … importance to make these things known unto the inhabitants of the earth” (2 Nephi 2:8).

As we study and learn more about the sacrifice of Jesus Christ, our desire to become more like Him and to follow Him will grow. We will have a true desire to take upon ourselves the name of Christ and always remember him. As we follow Him and His commandments , He will be bless us.

Have a great week!

Con Amor,

Elder Jones

Elder ZJones: Something I Learned This Week

This week during Zone Conference was to have a better relationship with my Father in Heaven. A better relationship will allow Him to have His complete confidence in me. Elder Rivera shared a phrase with me that Pte Resek shared with him which is, "Hay mas poder sin poder!"(There is more power without "Can!")

I love it! I have been trying hard to not use CAN in my prayers, but when I ask for God´s help, I try to use the word WILL. If I have the faith that it WILL happen, the Lord will make it happen. I know that the faith that we have is a big sign to our Father in Heaven that we know He has all power and that through him, all things are possible!

This week was great! and tough like always, right? My companion is awesome and we are working hard! But we haven't seen the results that we have wanted. We sacrificed all our time last week to find people to teach. We even worked on Thursday, our P-day, so that we can find more people. And the Lord did bless us! As we were contacting we found a Bolivian family! They have a desire to learn more and want to go to church. The mom left for Capital so in the end they didn't come to church. It is the Montabe Family. Please pray for them that they will progress, that we will find them during the week, and that they will pray and feel that they should be baptized. We also found another family. The mom is named Adela. She has a couple kids and lives with her mom and sister, I believe. They are from Peru and have been to church before. They really want to come to church, but many times Adela works on Sundays. Pray that she will get Sunday off this next week so that they can come to church with us next Sunday!

Baptism. Brains Wests mom was baptized on saturday! It was an awesome blessing! She was super excited and Brian baptized her as well! I am glad that this gosple is changing her family and helping them see his hand in there lives!

The most difficult part of the week was that nobody new that we found came to church! My companion and I were both bummed. We worked hard during the week and looked for everyone Sunday morning. We complained for five minutes, haha,  then put it aside and worked again. We will be working harder this week so that we will have His help!

Other than that it was a great week! Another week to serve Him is all that I want! And I know that He has blessings for His children through us.

Have a great week!

Elder Jones

Elder EJones: Crazy Week

First off, thanks so much to my mom for sending me pants and a camera that I will eventually get when it arrives!

This week was really crazy for me. I left my area on Monday because of Carnival and didn't get back until Friday. On Saturday night they called to give us our cambios and they told me I would be training and that I would be the new district leader!! I didn't know who my comp was gonna be until Monday when the assistants called me and said I would be training a gringo. So I left to another area for Wednesday and Thursday to wait for my companion.

And my companion came on Friday. We met in the house of President Rodrigues to receive al the new missionaries, so it was pretty exciting. He's from West Jordan. He's really cool and we're getting along well and learning lots together. He still is trying to understand the language, but it will come with time.

And I'm learning a lot being a district leader. I'm really trusting in the Lord more than I have ever done in my life, because I know He is the only One that can help me. I'm going to need your prayers, too, as I try to be a good example to my companion, and to my district, and so that I can receive the revelation I need to help them, and so that we can become better missionaries.

That was my week in a nutshell.

Love you,
Elder Jones

Elder HJones: Going well!

Everything has been going really well here! Our zone is doing really well. We have six sectors in our zone. Three of them are working really well and having a lot of success;  three of them aren't having as much, so this week we are going to work with them to have more progress in their areas.

This past week was really good. We are seeing a lot of progress from a family that we are teaching. The Nuñez family. The mother Karen and one of her daughters Coni have already been baptized. Now we are working with Javiera and Camila. They can get baptized on Saturday. Camila might have some problems with some commandments commitments, so this week we are going to teach her and go over the blessings to those commandments so she can receive them when she lives it. Please pray for our friends!

In church yesterday we had eight investigators with us!! Most of them were the family of Karen. They came to see the confirmation. The family is way awesome and we are going to be working more with them during this week.

One thing that we saw last week and something I have learned over the course of my mission is the importance of the members of the church in the mission work. The missionaries need the help of the members. I didn't do much before the mission to help them, but its something that I want to change. It's a invitation that every member should accept. Help the missionaries. Give them references. They can't do it alone.

Les quiero caleta!

Elder ZJones: This Week

This week was good, but hard.

We didn't have much to work with so we decided to try and find a lot of new people that we could teach. We put the goal at 50 and found 38 new people to teach! Many of them have a desire to learn more. But the harder part is as we passed by them during the end of the week to commit them again to go to church, we didn't find anyone home! Or they didn't want anything! It was tough because we didn't get people to church like we wanted to. So we have another week where we have to find new people and plan well so that we can find those who are ready.

My companion has three weeks left in the mission and wants to give it his all. We put our goals really high this week so that we can find baptisms for the last day in his mission. Please pray for us that we will have the spirit with us and that we will be diligent all week.

My birthday was good. We actually had Zone Conference on my birthday. So I got to learn and listen to the AP's, Presidente y Hna. Resek speak to us. It was a good present! haha And I got a bag of candy from Hna. Resek!

This week Naomi went to the temple. Brian had to work but went on visits with us yesterday. His mom will be getting baptized this Saturday! I haven't bought a camera, yet. My comp said that he will give me his when he leaves! haha maybe three times with a camera is the charm!

Love you,
Elder Jones

Elder EJones: Carnival

Soooo Carnival starts tomorrow here in Santa Cruz, and we can't leave the house for a couple days, so I'm writing today, on a Saturday. This week has been a normal week. But a normal week as a missionary is a GREAT week. We always have the opportunity to learn and to grow spiritually, to help all to come unto Christ. That is our purpose. Everyone deserves to hear the message of the Restoration of the Gospel. It is a message of peace and love to all of God's children.

One thing I've learned and loved is that the Restoration of the Gospel is an ongoing process. It is our job to help all to participate in it, or we will watch it flash before our eyes. The Lord needs faithful members of the church to share the gospel. He lives and loves and has a perfect plan for all of us.

Love you all,
Elder Jones