Elder HJones: Paying the Price

One thing that I love about the mission is the way that God blesses us. I remember that last week Presidente told my companion and I that the key to everything is that we need to "pay the price." Even if things aren't working out and if people aren't progressing, God knows is we are giving our all. He knows the price that we are paying. And the blessings and miracles will come when we pay the price. And I feel that the whole month of April we were paying the price. We literally did everything and we weren't seeing much progress. But recently, God has blessed us with miracles.

First, we are teaching Carolay. I talked a little about her last week. Ella es una escogida!! She is a miracle sent from heaven. We don't know what to teach her because she already knows everything we are teaching her about the church. She reads like three chapters in the Book of Mormon everyday! She has two sisters that are returned missionaries. She is awesome. The other day she called us and wanted to have a lesson with us. And she invited her friend. She isn't even a member and she is already sharing the gospel! She is going to get baptized on Saturday. It's gonna be awesome!

Then, we are also teaching Suilay and Fernando. They are siblings. Their mom is a less active member and their great grandmother is a active member. She brought them to church. They are really awesome. We are going to work with them throughout this week.

Tomorrow we have cambios, asi que vamos a ver que pasa!

Les quiero caleta! Elder Jones

Elder EJones: Slow

This week was very slow.

Slow to find new people to teach.

Slow to find those and work with those who are progressing towards baptism.

Sometimes its like that, longs weeks, and slow weeks. Good weeks and bad weeks, there is opposition in all things, there needs to be. My companion and I talked about that this week. That there needs to be opposition. That God exists. And because He exists, so does the devil. And we as human beings have the ability to use the gift of agency. The gift that God has given to all of us freely. That's why it is called "free agency" its been given freely, and although it is free, the consequences to our choices are not.

This week I was able to study General Conference, Book of Mormon style. I studied this week the teachings of King Benjamin. He teaches and testifies of the Lord Jesus Christ, and prophesies of his divine identity as the Son of God. e highlighted the phrase, "salvation cometh through repentance and faith on the Lord Jesus Christ" That is the ONLY way that we have to be able to receive "all that the Father hath"

I know that the Lord works with us. He is here in our lives as missionaries and manifests his spirit unto us. This work is hard, but I wouldn't like it any other way.

Elder ZJones: Patience and Humility

This week was awesome!!!!

We were able to help a lot of people come to church and to learn more about Christ! One was a family of 4! They are from Peru. We contacted the mom in her kiosko (a small store). Her daughters were playing outside and we started talking to them. When we talked about the Book of Mormon and Church they got excited! They came to church with us and they will come this Sunday, too! They were super excited and want to learn more!

This past month my testimony of patience and humility has been strengthened. In Preach My Gospel it says,

“Life is full of difficulties, some minor and others of a more serious nature. There seems to be an unending supply of challenges for one and all. Our problem is that we often expect instantaneous solutions to such challenges, forgetting that frequently the heavenly virtue of patience is required.”
—PRESIDENT THOMAS S. MONSON

I know this will bless in my the days and weeks and months and years to come!!!

I know that as we are steady, the Lord will bless us. He has helped my learn about patience and waiting until He is ready and not when I am ready! I know that He loves us and as we work with Him, He will bless us more than we can imagine!

Elder Jones

Elder HJones: Hey!!

So this past week was a little rough.

I have learned during the course of my mission that Satan works really hard, too. He knows that we are teaching the restored gospel and that the people we are teaching are making steps to be saved, so he is working really hard too. This past week some baptisms fell through in the zone. People who are really awesome that want to baptized but just want more time. Satan is putting doubts in their heads. But I know that God's power is stronger. We are just gonna keep working, because compared to God, Satan is nothing.

The zone is doing pretty well. Working really hard. As the zone leader here, I'm pleased with the missionaries here. They are hard workers. It's awesome when you don't have to worry about disobedient missionaries or missionaries that don't want to work. So as a zone, we are doing pretty well.

We have had a little hard time in our own area. It has been a little difficult to find people that want to progress and come to church. We talk with everyone and we are trying to work more with the members. But we are just gonna keep working and trusting in God.

This week we are working with Carolyn. She is a miracle send from God. She contacted us in the street the other day telling us that see wants to learn more about our book! Her sister is a member and she came to church with us yesterday! She is super awesome and we are planning and working with her so that she gets baptized this weekend. Please pray that she can feel the Spirit more and make the decision to get baptized.

Crazy story! We have been teaching a lady named Estefani and her family. She is cool, but believes in reincarnation and in the beginning didn't believe in God. She likes to read and we gave her a Book of Mormon. She read the whole thing in like 2-3 weeks. We talked to her about it and she wrote a summary of the book, and it was quite exact. Like she understood the whole thing. In the end she told us that she believes in God now, but still believes in reincarnation and that the true church isn't on the earth. We just need to improve in our lives and that's that. But I guess that's what happens when you don't read that book with the intent to know if it is true. She read it to inform herself and learn more, but she said that it doesn't mean much. What!?

Love you guys a ton! Elder Jones

Elder EJones: He Lives

This week wasn't that different from last week. We started the new cambio so we are working towards our new goals. Sometimes, I feel like they're hard to reach, but I know it all depends on our faith in the Lord and our personal worthiness and diligence. We are agents unto ourselves and the Lord is relying on us as missionaries, but as all of us as members of His Church, to help others to see how important the gospel is and to live and show it.

The Lord literally gave everything He possibly could to atone for us and we must be willing to sacrifice to allow others to feel and share that love.

This week I marveled at how much most of the world looks at the Atonement of Jesus Christ. Lots focus mostly and only on the death of Jesus Christ on the cross at Calvary. But as we remember and know, the Atonement of Jesus Christ started with His suffering in the garden of Gethsemane, then his physical death on the cross, and ended with his resurrection.

I love the scripture found in Matthew 28:6-7

He is not here: for he is risen, as he said. Come, see the place where the Lord lay. And go quickly, and tell his disciples that he is risen from the dead; and, behold, he goeth before you into Galilee; there shall ye see him: lo, I have told you.

Christ lives. Yes, He died, but He did live again. He not only lived again, but He lives again. He lives so that we too can live again. He lives to love, to guide, to comfort, to console, to succor. I know that He is the only person who can understand us completely. I am grateful for His sacrifice, His willingness to submit to the will of the Father. His love for His Father in Heaven, and for us.

May we remember him not only for Easter and for Christmas. But...as we remember to but the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ at the center of our lives everyday. Always being willing to take his holy name upon us.

Love you all,
Elder Jones

Elder ZJones: Yo Se Que Jesucristo Vive

What a week it has been! It has been a tough one! Like I told you, I studied Patience this week, and it hit me straight in the head!

Something that I have observed the past few weeks is that during the first part of the week, we have a lot of success finding people, teaching, and committing people to come to church. But when Friday and Saturday roll around, our friends cannot be found or they have other things to do. Abril, the girl that we had plans to baptize, left to visit family in another area. So we will be helping her so that she can get baptized this weekend. Her brother doesn't want to hear anything, now.

We tried to help the Saldaña family. They said all week that they were planning on going to Church, until Sunday rolled around and they didn't want to come. haha What are you going to do? So I had a lot of experience with exercising patience this week. I will be studying on how to be more humble and just listening and waiting for the Lord's help. That is one thing that I saw with Elder Burk. We never found anyone on Sundays because they were all in church. They were complete miracles from the Lord. My companion and I will be praying and looking for the miracles this week.

Studying patience, I read in Romans 5:2-5. I think. One part says, "Tribulation brings Patience, and patience experience." This week will help me grow. It will give me the chance to grow from the experiences and plan better for the weeks ahead.

This past week I was studying in the Bible about Jesus Christ and His last week on earth. I read about His example and what He did. I thought, If I had one week to live, what would I do with my time? I think all of us would talk about trips, vacations, doing crazy things, and spending time with family. In Jesus Christ's last week, He dedicated His time to serve His apostles, the poor, and His enemies. He went teaching tidings of great joy, preparing the way for His apostles.

As we dedicate our time and the time that we do have to serve the Lord and prepare with way for Him, we will be blessed and help others receive the joy that we have felt in out families.

Please pray for Abril, the Saldaña Family, and for the people here in Argentina! Have a great week!

Elder Jones

Elder ZJones: Christlike Attributes

It has started to get cold at night and in the morning, but during the day it is hot! It's the change from Fall to Winter.

We started working in an area where we never worked before and we found a family that I taught in Jardines! They are helping us teach their neighbors. Abril, one of their neighbors, will be getting baptized this weekend. We will be helping her other two siblings to get baptized next week!! Please pray for them that they will continue to have this desire and that all will go well. We worked hard and 6 people came to church with us this Sunday! We also found a family that wants to learn more. It is the Saldaña family. It is a single mom and she has a ton of kids. We talked with 5 of them and they all want to come to church! We will be helping them so that they can come with us this Sunday to church. Pray for us that we will be able to commit them well so that they will feel and know that they should go to church!!!

We had zone conference this past week.

One thing that I loved was when Presidente Resek explained why Christlike attributes are so important. He explained that it is how we receive exaltation. As we become more like Jesus Christ and learn to live as He did, we will receive exaltation and receive a place in God's Kingdom!! I know it is true. I will be studying better Christlike attributes. I will be sharing the things that I learn with you. This week I will be studying paciencia!!

Elder ZJones: General Conference!

 

The weekend of General Conference are always ones to remember. It is always a great time to feel the spirit and change things in our lives so that we can become better members The Church of Jesus Christ. I loved all the talks. One phrase that I liked from President Oaks's talk was, "Start with the end in mind." As we do things, we should think about the consequences and what will come to pass. We should look at what we want to achieve, see us achieving it, and do everything possible to do it. As we rely on the Lord for help to guide us and give us the direction that we need to make it to the end, it will come.

As I listened to the prophet, I felt the spirit testifying to me that he is God´s Prophet here upon the earth and that he does talk with Him. President Nelson is His mouthpiece. As we follow his words and listen to his counsels, we will prepare our families and our lives to receive His blessings!

Elder Jones

Corner Canyon!!

Elder EJones: The Feeling of Christmas

You know that feeling when you go to sleep and it feels like Christmas Eve--- because you get to watch General Conference the next day? Well, it happened, and then I woke up to realize that it was April 6th, it felt like Christmas, but it like literally, was Christmas.

I know that prophets and apostles are called of God. We need them to lead and guide us so that we can learn what the Lord wants and needs us to know. I liked what Elder Christofferson said. "The Lord allows us to work with Him in the vineyard." We are here to help the Lord bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man. He needs us in the work, just as we need him.

Love you all,
Elder Jones

Elder HJones: A TEMPLE IN ANTOFA!!!!

This is a very happy missionary!

Hyrum's reaction

 So this past week was definitely one to remember!!

I still cannot believe that they announced a temple in Antofagasta!
We went nuts when they announced it. A huge blessing from God! We are all super excited!!

We also had consejo de lideres in Antofagasta on Tuesday. I was awesome. We talked a lot about the Book of Mormon and about Joseph Smith. I learned a ton. Throughout my mission my testimony and love for the Book of Mormon has grown so much. I always feel so good when the people that we tech read it and gain their own testimony that it is true! he Book of Mormon works miracles!

I loved ALL the talks during conference. But some on my favorites were by Elder Uchtdorf, Elder Holland, Elder Oaks. But they were all so good.

Right now, we are working with a couple people that could use some of your prayers. Sandra and Julian. Sandra has so many problems with her husband, so wants to finish things with him. So she is trying to get closer to God. Julian is her son. We are always working with Naldi and Ruben. They need a testimony that this is the true church on the earth. And Sebastian. He was a miracle on Sunday. We found him on Sunday morning and he was preparing to go to church with us. It was crazy because we stopped passing by his house because he wasn't progressing. But then we found him in the street and he was walking to church. So he attended the first session of General Conference with us and then watched the baptism that we had right after. He's super awesome. He was baptized  like 2 years ago in la iglesia evangelica. Asi que vamos a ayudarlo entender mas de la restauración para que entienda la autoridad.

Happy noise!

Elder EJones: Let Us Be Faithful

This week was good, and yes, it was incredibly fast. I've learned a lot with my new companion, and right now were working with 3 investigators that are progressing really well. Erika and her daughter Madaley have come to church about 4 times, and have a fecha por el 13. So please pray for them. They come, but need prayers so that they can really feel that the message that we are giving to them is true, and that it testifies of Jesus Christ as our Savior. The other that we are teaching is Yolanda, shes from Venezuela and is 14. She is also progressing really well and has lots of help from some members that are helping her to progress.

I CANT WAIT FOR CONFERENCE. Literally, my comp and I have been talking a whole lot about it and how excited we are, and how slow this week is gonna be, and yes we did like conference before it was cool, if you know what I mean. And now everyone wants to join the bandwagon when we are the real originals. But yes, I've already noted some questions, and yes some predictions as well, I'm amazed at how many rumors we hear about conference here in the mission.

I like a part in PMG that says, "al crecer su propio entendimiento el la expaicion de Jesucristo, aumentara en usted el deseo para compartir el evangelio." I know that that is true! As we learn to love and live the teachings of Jesus Christ, we learn to love him more. We learn what it was that he really did for us. He suffered, bled from every bore, a pain that was hard for the Son of God to even bare. He was mocked, spit upon, tempted and more. In Alma 7:11-13 it talks about what He did for us and I found a few things he suffered PAINS, AFFLICTIONS, TEMPTATIONS, SICKNESS, INFIRMITIES, WEAKNESSES, SINS, AND TRANSGRESSIONS. Sometimes, I don't even realize all that He did for me. He was then crucified, He experienced physical and spiritual death. Nothing that we will ever face in life will ever come close to a portion to what He did for each one of us individually. I know that He loves us, and that His atonement was and is eternal.

I think of all the things that we taught this week in our lessons was faith. But too many times we don't understand faith. Its not only to believe, but to act. To use what we do know, and to act upon that.

Nephi explains, "Yea, and how is it that ye have forgotten that the Lord is able to do all things according to his will, for the children of men, if it so be that they exercise faith in him? Wherefore, let us be faithful to him."

We don't just have faith, we have faith in Jesus Christ. Faith that he is the Redeemer of the World and our Savior. He loves us, and wants us to follow him. This week we are working with three investigators, Erika, Madaley, and Yolanda. Pray for them that they can and will exercise their faith in Jesus Christ, so that they can receive all the blessings that the Lord has for them.

Love you all,
Elder Jones
(and a little too excited for general conference)

Elder HJones: Priesthood Power!!

So this week was pretty interesting. It was both hard and funny. Sometimes, I am just really confused and don't know what to do. But I know that God has all the answers, asi que vamos a seguir adelante para que podamos recibir las respuestas (but as we press forward we will receive the answers).

Our zone here in Vallenar has always been the zone that doesn't have success or baptize. In December we had 15 baptisms. That is the most that Vallenar has ever had! So many missionaries come here without faith, but I want to change it so bad. We finished this month with 11. We had like 10 set baptisms, but they all fell through. Every single one of them. AHHHH. So we are kinda confused. Our zone is obedient, we are always fasting and praying together, we don't know what else to do to break the ice here. But I know that God has the answers. So we are going to do our very best to receive revelation to receive them. I am learning a bunch here. Im happy to be here and I know that answers and miracles are around the corner.

I had an awesome experience this week. A sister in another branch asked us to go the hospital to give a priesthood blessing. We went and it was in the ICU. The place were the people are really bad and close to death. It was really humbling to walk in. I felt a different spirit. We were able to give a blessing to the sister. It was special to do the blessing to her. She was crying and she was praying, thanking God for sending us to her bedside. She had so much faith. She knew that the power and authority that we have really does come from God and that it works. We finished and when we walked out of the hospital my heart was filled with love and joy. I felt the love that God has for each one of us. I am so grateful that God has placed His power here on the earth, It really does bless others. I am grateful that God has called me as an instrument to hold His priesthood and bless the lives of others!

Super excited for conference this weekend! I am super excited to be able to hear the words of the prophet and know more about what God wants for us!

Elder Jones

Elder ZJones: Many Have Come Unto Christ

GENERAL CONFERENCE!!

I am super excited and know that the Lord will be preparing us with the changes that He will be making! I have some questions already in mind that I will be writing and looking for the answers during conference!

Everything is good here! We have had a couple tough weeks lately. During the week we find a ton of people who have the desire to learn and want to come to church. Yet, as we pass by on Friday and Saturday we either can't find them or they don't want to go. It is hard because, you know, if we don't get people to church, they can't feel the Spirit in church and won't progress. So we are praying a lot about that and will be working hard to commit the people to go to church.

This week we will be working to help a kid named Antonio to come to church. He is 27. He wants to be baptized and has been to church before. We will see what happens. Other than that we will try to pass by those who we found last week to help them progress.

Blessing: On Sunday, we were out working and heading back the our apartment. As we were walking and contacted, everyone was rejecting us. We saw a family a street in front of us. We started singing (as a joke) "Families can be together forever!" jaja We went and contacted them and they were very receptive. We invited them to church and they want to go. They have 4 small kids and they are excited to go to church as well. It is the Garcia Family(Finally a last name that is common,jaja). Pray for them that they will progress.

In this month, we baptized 227 people in our mission! Everyone is super excited!

My Companion is awesome, Elder Candela. And he doesn't speak with the theta! He lost it while serving his mission. He will try to cook me some Spanish food.

Have a great week!
Love, Elder Jones