Elder ZJones: Being a Shepherd

This week was better than last week! Thanks for your prayers.

This week we baptized two people, Gabriel and Miguel. They were super excited. Gabriel is 23 years old. A lot of people in the ward know him. He was happy. Miguel enjoyed it as well. He can barely see and walk so it is always hard for him. On Sundays, we are literally helping him everywhere so that he can go to the bathroom, sit down, get to his classes, etc. It is hard because there are only like two other members that help us with him. All the other members just watch us! jaja what are you going to do??

For preparation day, it was my companions birthday! He turned 23 years old. He wanted to go back to his old stomping grounds, Lujan 2. So we went and visited converts and families there. It was fun.

This past week, I almost gave a talk in church about missionary work. But the bishop, at the last second, said I didn't have to because a member from the high council came.

I was reading a talk by Elder Gary A. Stevenson this week that I was going to share in my talk I didn't give. I want to share it with you.

As children of a loving Heavenly Father and as sheep in His flock, we enjoy the blessing of being individually ministered to by Jesus Christ. Simultaneously, we have a responsibility to provide ministering assistance to others around us as shepherds ourselves. We heed the words of the Lord to 'serve me and go forth in my name, and … gather together my sheep.'

Who is a shepherd? Every man, woman, and child in the kingdom of God is a shepherd. No calling is required. From the moment we emerge from the waters of baptism, we are commissioned to this work. We reach out in love to others because it is what our Savior commanded us to do. Alma emphasized: “For what shepherd … having many sheep doth not watch over them, that the wolves enter not and devour his flock? … Doth he not drive him out?”11 Whenever our neighbors are in distress temporally or spiritually, we run to their aid. We bear one another’s burdens that they may be light. We mourn with those who mourn. We comfort those who stand in need of comfort. The Lord lovingly expects this of us. And the day will come when we will be held accountable for the care we take in ministering to His flock.

We have a lot to do. The Lord needs our help. He needs to use us to teach his children. We are shepherds and He needs us to find His sheep. Like He explains, He knows all His sheep by name. He needs us to create our own flock and know them by name.

Elder EJones: Bermejo

My new area

Today I had cambios. I am in an area called Bermejo, on the border of Argentina!!! Where my Dad served his mission [in Salta]. My new companion is Elder Rodriguez from Ecuador and he has the same amount of time as me in the mission. Traveled a lot today and just got here. [It's a 12 hour car ride from Santa Cruz to Bermejo]. Talk to you next week,

Elder HJones: Milagros!

So this past week we had the awesome opportunity to see a couple of miracles. We were able to see our people enter into the water of baptism! It was an awesome experience! Sandra, Constanza, Carolina, and Pia were all baptized. It's always a great feeling when God puts people in your path that are already ready to hear and accept the gospel.

"Si quiere llegar donde pocos llegan, haga lo que pocos hacen." I saw this quote this past week and I liked it. If you don't understand it you can put it in google translate. haha

The Church is true. God loves us. And we can show our love to Him by keeping His commandments!

Love you all!

Elder Jones

Elder EJones: Make the Lord Happy :)

 
What a week.

We found some really good people that are willing to learn, grow and to follow the Savior. This week we were able to witness the baptism of Livia. She has finally made it to get baptized. It was an amazing experience. If it makes me so happy to know that she has received the Lords ordinances, I can imagine how happy the Lord is for her!!

It made me think of something, "How can I make the Lord happy?"

Pray that she can be an example to her family, so that they too can be baptized. Pray for Eliot, and the Ruiz family as well!!

Elder HJones: Suffer with Joy!

So everything has been going really good here in Vallenar. The work is good. We are teaching many great people and families. God is blessing us a ton. We are teaching Sandra, Constanza, and Carolina. Please pray that they can keep progressing! They are really awesome.

One thing that I learned during the week was a formula that was given during Sunday School. The formula of how much we are worth.

It was: Value = (Knowledge + Abilities) x Attitude

But the whole class was centered on our attitude. That we can have abilities and knowledge, but if our attitude is bad, it doesn't mean everything. And I have learned during the mission that having a good attitude is everything. Even if things aren't going well, we suffer with joy. 

Thanks so much for everything!!

ZJones: Happy Mother's Day

District Council and last day in Lujan

I don't have a lot to say just because I was able to talk with my family yesterday! It was awesome to spend a little time with them! It is weird to think that that was my last Mother's Day in the Mission. It does go by super fast!!

Elder Marquez and Me

Today I also received my TRUNKY PAPERS! NOOO!! My release date is the 30th of July. Super close.

This week was great. We found a lot of new people and helped many to be baptized.

Twins!

This week we will be working with a couple people.

1- Poala and her kids (Kevin, Tomas, Antonela, Oriana). They have been to church before and want to come. They also want to be baptized, Kevin not so much. But the hardest part for them is getting up in the morning! They are worse than Ezrom and Corom getting up for scriptures in the morning! Can you imagine that!!! haha

2.Adaliada's friend- My companion and his former companion baptized an older lady and she brought her friend to church. We still haven't gotten to know her yet, but we will be passing by during the week.

3.A less active family- We found a less active family this past week. There are 3 in the family and one of the kids hasnt been baptized. We will be helping them to come back to church and to help the kid to be baptized! Please pray for them that we will find them during the week and that we can help them and commit them to come to church this weekend!

Elder ZJones: Transfers

Esequiel's Baptism

Family in the Ward

P-day

This past week we have received transfers. I will be leaving my area after being here for six  months. I will be heading to an area called Trujui. My companion will be Elder Yepez. He is from Peru. He was my companion before, when I was in Lujan. I am excited to be with him again and know that we will work well together. Please pray for us in our new area that we will be able to find the right people to teach. i know that through prayer, the Lord will help us receive whatever we need!

I thought a lot this week about testimony. A testimony is the thing that drives us to act. When we have a testimony of The Gospel of Jesus Christ, our desire to to follow Him grows and we begin to convert ourselves to His teaching. Everyday, look for the opportunity to share you testimony, you will be blessed!!!!

Family in the Ward

Working on building a house

The coolest thing that I have learned this week is when I was studying in Alma 34. Verse 8 says:

And now, behold, I will testify unto you of myself that these things are true. Behold, I say unto you, that I do know that Christ shall come among the children of men, to take upon him the transgressions of his people, and that he shall atone for the sins of the world; for the Lord God hath spoken it.

I was thinking about Amulek's testimony and how it is different from mine! He had a testimony that Christ SHALL come and that  HE SHALL ATONE for our sins. He had a testimony of things that hadn't happened yet! Many of the things that are gathered in our testimonies are things that have happened, like Christ has come, He has died for us, He has been resurrected from the dead and, He lives! No matter what time we are in, we have evidence in the scriptures, THE LORD GOD HATH SPOKEN IT. The Lord will let us know what will happen so that we can have a testimony of those things! It is only through Him that we can have a testimony!

The foundation of the house
we are helping to build

Elder EJones: Compleanos

Hello from Bolivia!

President Russell M. Nelson: "You are never too young to learn, never too old to change. "

I love how short, yet how powerful these words are. We are never too young to learn something. To apply the doctrine of Jesus Christ into our lives and to allow it to change us. Our church was restored through a prophet who saw Jesus Christ and God the Father at 14 years old. And we have to ability to choose for ourselves at 8 years old. And even Zacharias in the New Testament was humbled by the Lord to know that he would have a son, who would prepare the way for Jesus Christ.

The Gospel is a gospel of change. We have to be willing to change, to learn more to be able to receive more influence of the Spirit in our lives.

This week was my birthday!! Well, literally in Spanish, it means complete a year, so this week I completed a year. We were busy this week looking for new people to teach. We found lots, and I've learned that we never who know is prepared to receive the gospel, but we have to be willing to talk with everyone. Family, friends, neighbors, everyone!!

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Ahh, I miss the temple a WHOLE lot. I can't wait to go back. Just having my recommend with me makes me want to go, but that'll just make it worth the wait when I get to go back in two years.

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This week was good. It happened fast, but it was good. We had intercambios with the ZLs and those were good. I learned about the importance of helping others to know the importance of baptism so that they can receive and enjoy those blessings in their lives, too. Right now we are working with a joven, Jose Angel, who is progressing well. We are helping him gain a testimony of the Book of Mormon because without it, he really can't know that the things that we are teaching him are true. We are working with a Venezuelan family who is progressing to be baptized. Pray for them that they can continue to learn and grow, and that they can be more united. Also, that they can resolve the problems that they have to know that the Church is true, even though we are definitely imperfect. (Like Elder Uchtdorf said in the last last conference).

We run in the mornings and it's good for exercise and really, that's all there is to do.

I loved this quote that I read from President Nelson:

Recently I heard a chorus of children sing the beloved song “I Am a Child of God.” I wondered, “Why haven’t I heard that song rendered more often by singing mothers or faithful fathers?” Are we not all children of God? In truth, not one of us can ever stop being a child of God! As children of God, we should love Him with all our heart and soul, even more than we love our earthly parents. We should love our neighbors as brothers and sisters. No other commandments are greater than these.

We are all children of a loving Heavenly Father. I've been trying to focus a lot my mission on how I can develop a better relationship with my Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ. And I've learned that its through diligent prayer and to feast on his word. To live as Christ lived.

I know that we can one day become like Him!!

Love you tons. Have a great week!
Elder Jones

(yes i bought a uke for cheap and my comp a guitar, and birthday with cake and the other with pizza)