Elder EJones: A Slow Week

Not a ton has happened this week. It has been hard because lots of our investigators have started to work and do other things, and so they are not in their houses all the time. But we are continuing to look for more people to teach. We have a new goal in the mission, and that is to talk to 20 new people each day. Some days it is really easy, but other days not as much when we have lots of appointments. But it has helped us a lot in our area.

I read a little this week in Jesus the Christ, and one thing stood out to me a lot. It talked about the Father our Heavenly Father, and His Beloved Son, Jesus Christ. The few times that we hear the vice of our Heavenly Father, in reality the only times in recorded scripture is to present His Son, Jesus Christ.

Matthew 3:17
And lo a voice from heaven, saying, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.

Matthew 17:5
While he yet spake, behold, a bright cloud overshadowed them: and behold a voice out of the cloud, which said, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased; hear ye him.

3 Nephi 11:7
Behold my Beloved Son, bin whom I am well pleased, in whom I have glorified my name—hear ye him.

JSH 1.17
One of them spake unto me, calling me by name and said, pointing to the other—This is My Beloved Son. Hear Him!

WOW!! I thought I really am waiting for the second coming. For our Heavenly Father to present His Beloved Son to us again. His commandment to us is to listen to His Son and hearken to his counsels. I know that as we follow Christ we will be blessed. And the way to follow Christ is well, through small and simple ways. To take time to study the scriptures daily. To take time to meditate and speak with our Heavenly Father through prayer. And to listen to Christ's mouthpiece, Russell M. Nelson.

I know this gospel is true. I love it!!

Elder CJones: One For the Books!

This week has been one for the books!

With crazy things happening, both spiritually and physically, the mission and the Lord's work will go on, we will continue to push forward. "The Standard of Truth has been erected; no unhallowed hand can stop the work from progressing; persecutions may rage, mobs may combine, armies may assemble, calumny may defame, but the truth of God will go forth boldly, nobly, and independent, till it has penetrated every continent, visited every clime, swept every country, and sounded in every ear; till the purposes of God shall be accomplished, and the Great Jehovah shall say the work is done."

This work is really great. There are truly blessings that come when we get the opportunity to teach and invite others to come unto Christ. There are great blessings that come as we work hard, even though we haven't had baptisms we still feel successful because we have done all that we can in this area to make it better.

Not a lot of excitement has happened this week in the work. There are always things going on, but this week has been really interesting between the military and the drug cartels. So there are times that we need to be careful about what's going on around us.

One of the hardest things about serving here is the people don't like to keep their commitments. The people don't like to go to church and to be baptized the people need to go to church at least 2 and that's lucky if we can baptize them after 2 times.

This last week I finished reading Jesus the Christ. That book has completely changed my view of the  Atonement, about my Savior and Redeemer and all the great things that happen to us as we constantly work to be the best representatives of Jesus Christ that we can be. I absolutely love Him and I know that through Him all things are possible. I challenge you all to read it and to learn from it's pages. . . Even you Zeram, you are named after him!

This week, yes, my letter is short, but make sure you check out this week's voice recording.


--
Elder Corom Jones

“It is well to know that prayer is not compounded of words, words that may fail to express what one desires to say, words that so often cloak inconsistencies, words that may have no deeper source than the physical organs of speech, words that may be spoken to impress mortal ears. The dumb may pray, and that too with the eloquence that prevails in heaven. Prayer is made up of heart throbs and the righteous yearnings of the soul, of supplication based on the realization of need, of contrition and pure desire.”


-James E Talmage (Jesus the Christ)

Elder CJones: Mission Objective - Preach and Serve to Invite ALL to Come unto Christ

My new area is HUGE!! and when I say huge, I mean it. My area is one of the 2 biggest areas in my mission. We do a lot of walking. There are days it takes us over an hour to reach our first lesson because it is on the other side of our area. I really am getting good at walking, believe it on not! My companion and I are getting along really, really well. We work really hard through the days and we help each other a lot to make the best of the work and even when it gets hard, we work to do the best we can.

So, the food here is Mexico is always spicy, which I love, don't get me wrong. But when they say something is spicy, oh boy is it spicy! This week we had a mission conference which lasted from the morning into the late afternoon and so, as usual, they fed us. I will say the tacos were amazing, but the heap of salsa that I put on it wasn't so much. To say the least, it hurt, going on and coming out, but that's the life of a missionary.

This week we are planning on a lot of things to do. A family that we have been teaching is getting all the work done to be a legal wedded family. One of the big problems out here in Mexico is that a lot of people live together but they aren't married. To be able to baptize these people, they need to be married or they need to live in separate homes. This week we are working with a family to get them married. We have to work on a ton of papers and they have to take a ton of tests so they can legally be married. We are hoping that they will come to church this week and the next and if they do we will have a baptism that night, which happens to be my brother's birthday. Happy Birthday Abram!

I have been reading Jesus the Christ for my personal study and really studying the importance of the life He led and how we can use that example as our example. Jesus Christ is so important to all of us. Without Him, we would not be who we are today, we would have no chance at anything but Hell. But as we turn to Christ and use Him in all of our dealing, He can change us, He can change out hearts and homes so we can be the best we can be with a change of heart. I have seen this with the family that I can teaching, they have problems with coffee and with being married, it's really expensive for the people here to be married, $1000 MXN, which is about $50 US. This family has nothing, their house tiny and they barely have the food to survive from week to week, but they show their faith by not drinking coffee and paying a lot to get married just so they can be baptized in our church.

This Gospel is the greatest blessing that I could have ever asked for. I love the feelings that I get when I share what the Gospel has done for me as I use it to change and enhance my life and the lives of the people here in Mexico. There is a feeling that comes with serving a mission that doesn't come at any other time or place in our lives. I am so glad I took this opportunity to serve and to come to love the people here in Mexico.

I know that our lives can change as we look to the Lord in everything that we are doing on our lives. I love the work that I am doing and I hope that all of you will find a way to become closer to the Lord everyday in your lives. None of us are perfect, we all make mistakes, but I know that with Christ, we can become perfected. Don't ever judge others of their decisions, even if they hurt you. As we constantly strive to become more like Christ we will know that what He would do is simply help them along the way. I love you all and hope you will serve and bring joy to someone else this week. -

- Until next week,
Elder Corom Jones

"When we withhold forgiveness from others we are in effect saying that the atonement alone was insufficient to pay for this sin. We are holding out for more. We are finding fault with the Lord's offering. We are in essence demanding that the Lord repent of an insufficient atonement. So when we fail to forgive another, it is as if we are failing to forgive the Lord - who, as you [know], needs no forgiveness." -James L Ferrell (The Peacegiver)