Elder CJones: 17 Months

Well, this week was a pretty good week. The members began to help us with the missionary work and we began working with lots of references. The weather has gotten hot, like really hot, and it's a blessing when the members help us when it gets hot outside.

The heat really kills us and we have been looking for better ways to work so we aren't out in the sun so much. We thought that the help that we are getting with a few members will help grow the confidence between the rest of the members and is and then we will be able to have greater success.

This last week was Spring Break and the youth in the ward have been helping us reach their friends.

Junior, a young man that was baptized almost two years ago, is planning to serve a mission and he went out with us a couple times this week. He is honestly a really good teacher and understand the doctrine of the gospel so well that I know he will be a great missionary. On Tuesday, he took us  to visit his friend Jaqualine. She accepted a baptismal date and is really excited to come to church and learn more. If you can pray for her that her parents will have a more open heart to the gospel and let her come to church.

We also have been working with the Palomarez family. They are a member family that brought a friend to church and we are now teaching the friend and her two kids. They are really awesome. The mom will be getting baptized this week with her kids, we hope. Her kids are Ezmeralda and Junior, but not the same Junior who is planning to serve a mission haha.

Those are our people that Elder Ancco and I are teaching and focusing on at the moment, we are also trying to find more people to teach and it's getting a lot more difficult with the heat and humidity. Pray that we will be able to find some more people and families that are more willing to listen to the message of God.

So, something really interesting happened yesterday. We had stake conference and it was alright, not too well prepared, but it was good. Afterward, we got a ride to where we were going to eat and we got there before the family did so we waited outside in the shade on a small bench. As the family showed up, we saw a man coming toward us and he wanted to talk to us and we didn't feel the Spirit as he walked up and said that he wanted to talk to us.

At this point in the mission, a drunk is a normal thing to see and I know they always want to talk with us. I would have been fine with a drunk, but this was next level stuff. He started asking us who we were and what we were doing in business suits. We told him we had just returned from stake conference. He started telling us the he was the greatest guy ever and that all he had was thanks to Satan. This guy was a legit Satan worshipper! He rolled us his sleeve and he had a tattooed Satan on his arm and told us a bunch of trash about what he believed. He honestly just wanted to fight with us. We were kind to him even though he went off on a bunch of things. It was a very interesting experience.

Well, I have some really cool news!! Back in August and September, when I was serving in Valle Hermoso with Elder Hernandez, we baptized a mom and her daughter, Flora and Julieta. This week, Julieta will be finishing up her mission papers because when she completes a year in the church she wants to go on a mission!! It is one of the coolest things that you could ever hear, that your convert is not only active and serving in a calling in the church, but that they will be going on a mission!!! I am so excited for her!!

I absolutely love the mission and I know it blesses the life of the missionary and the people! Whoever has the chance to serve, do it!! It will only be the best thing you could ever do!!

Elder CJones: Temple

This picture was taken in front of the Monterrey Temple. We went there as a mission for a day to hear Elder Neil L. Andersen and receive some counsel from him for the mission.

July 1st is the day that the Mexico Reynosa Mission and the Mexico Monterrey East Mission the missions will be combined and we will be able to work in the area of Monterrey. They are still deciding the boundaries for the missions and we might get the temple area! If we get the temple in our area, I will have the opportunity to go before I come home, which I would honestly really love.

Elder CJones: Paciencia con 16 Meses

"As the Lord is patient with us, let us be patient with those we serve. Understand that they, like us, are imperfect. They, like us, make mistakes." -President Dieter F. Uchtdorf

I have been slacking in the mass e-mail that gets sent home every week, so I decided to start with writing it this week.

The mission is always a place to learn and to grow. For different situation there will always be an opportunity to get better. The mission is the greatest place to learn, no matter if you have 20 days or 20 months. I have been learning about patience, as well as many other attributes of Christ.

Ward Valentine Party

It is finally clicking that I am one of the older missionaries in the field. I have been able to understand that now that I have to be an example and be patient with the other missionaries. I know that the experiences and qualities that I learn and apply here will help me in the future. They will help me in my marriage, my family, my career, and my schooling.

The mission is an amazing thing. A mission is a place where, whomever serves, will learn so many qualities that are essential to a successful life in the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

I want to give some advice to those that are thinking about going on a mission and those that are barely starting for the mission.

1- Throw that ego out the window, on the mission you will truly learn the meaning of humility, you are nothing and God is everything, without Him, you are NOTHING. Learn it now or it will be harder when you get out in the field.

2- After that harsh point, the mission is the greatest thing you can do up to this point in your life.. It will help you grow into the person that God wants and needs you to be, not what you need or want to be.

I know the mission is a blessing, it will test if you are truly willing to follow the example of Jesus Christ

--
Elder Corom Jones

"He saith unto him the third time, Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me? Peter was grieved because he said unto him the third time, Lovest thou me? And he said unto him, Lord, thou knowest all things; thou knowest that I love thee. Jesus saith unto him, Feed my sheep." -John 21:17

At the U.S. Border at Matamoros

Elder CJones: Matamoros

Last week, we had transfers. I was transferred from Rio Bravo to Matamoros. It is the biggest city in our mission. I am here with Elder Ancco from Lima, Peru.

Also, a couple weeks ago they announced changes to our mission. Presidente Regalado  has already shared them with us. The Church is going to close the Mexico Monterrey East Mission and add most of the missionaries and the area to our mission. A small portion will go to the Mexico Monterrey Mission. We will add about 25 more wards and 3 stakes. So, we are preparing to get more missionaries from the Monterrey East Mission and begin to help the other areas. Everything will happen on the 1st of July.  I will only have three months left on my mission by then. But,  I've noticed that there have been fewer missionaries coming out every month, so they are adjusting to the changes in that way, as well.

Today was my first P-Day in Matamoros. I went on splits with another missionary that has had time here in Matamoros. We walked through the city and showed me the different places, sadly, my camera battery died and I couldn't take any pictures. We saw the international point, so I did see the United States. This area is great! It's big and the bishop is AWESOME!! He is helping us and the ward to grow. Our goal is to reactivate a lot of people and baptize so it can be split into two wards. There are about 130 active members of a ward of 850! We will be working with everyone to get all of them to church.

There are just four of us in our district. Like I said, my new companion is from Lima, Peru and is really, really cool. He has been a member his whole life but was inactive for a time. He has six months in the field and LOVES soccer. When he was inactive he played a ton of it and became a really good shot. He also has a cool crown tattoo on his right leg. Ha ha.

Elder Annco (left)  y Elder Mera

The weather here is TERRIBLE! It's already really, really hot and it's only February. I don't do so well in the heat. This is the city that gets the hottest in the mission because it is right next to the ocean. However, other than that, everything is going well and we are working really hard!! Thanks for everything, love you tons!!

Love you all!!
Elder Corom Jones

Elder Torrico

Elder CJones: In A Hurry

Everything is good here, tomorrow I have cambios and I will be serving in Matamoros.