Elder EJones: 2020

2020? Hello!!

Well these past two weeks have been great here. It's been a mix of really rainy and burning hot. This week we were able to teach and find lots of good people. We were able to give out gift bags to people for Christmas-- it was the best. Not much new has happened. We had a Christmas conference and talked about the importance of the Book of Mormon. I know that it is true and will help us come unto Christ and come to understand his promises. Hope you all have a good new years!!

Got bit by a dog this week, but surprisingly there is no mark

Got bit by 14325 mosquitos too, and there are many marks haha

Elder ZJones: Happy New Year 2019!!!

So we had transfers this past week. I am still in the same area with Elder Burk. We are staying together. I am excited! We get along and he works hard, so it has been fun.

This past week we baptized Bruno and Julieta which was a blessing. There dad came right when they were getting baptized. He is a less active but he wanted him kids to be baptized. We are hoping that this will be the first step of helping him to come back to church!!

We are teaching 3 families.
1. Familia Salinas. There are 3 in the family. A single mom with 2 girls. The Mom came to church with us, the others weren't there. But she has a kiosko. She hasn't been getting many who are buying. We promised her that if they come to church they will have people who will buy from them. She came and loved it. She was participating and everything. Pray for them, Cecilia, Martina, and Delfina.

2. Familia Castro. Sebastian, Monica, Alexander, and Aylen. They have come to church with us. They love talking with us and learning. They don't have such a great desire to read The Book of Mormon though or be baptized. Pray they they will pray so that they will know that there family can be eternal.

3. Familia Guzman. Santos, Graciels and they have 3 younger kids. They absolutely love church. When we went by on Sunday to wake them up and pick them up, they were already walking to get on a bus. We were contacting somebody and they ran passed us so that they could get on the bus and get to church. Santos is going to Bolivia for 2 weeks. They want to get baptized but want to wait. Pray they they will feel and know of the blessings that they will receive if they are baptized!

Happy New Year!!!! I am excited for a new year. I told my companion that 2018 was the best year of my life. It is the only year during my life that I served God all year without worrying about other things!! I am pumped for 2019 and can't wait to help more people come unto Him!

Have a Wonderfilled New years!! Love you!!

Elder EJones: Happy New Year!

Where do I start?

This week was so amazing being able to see all of my family and to talk to them. That was the best Christmas gift!!

This week has been good, hot and rainy. Lots of our appointments this week fell through and so we did a lot of contacting. Literally, contacting is not the funnest especially because it's so hard to find some people that will actually be there when you say you're gonna return. And I need to remember to keep my teaching simple. Very simple. Because it's difficult to understand the gospel when you don'y know it. It makes me realize how spiritually weak I am compared to the Savior, and I can't be impatient with people, because I know the Savior isn't impatient with me.

So this week we finally got the Liahona from General Conference. Yay! And I have modified my daily reminder, the first part remains the same, but I have added another line (phrase) from this conference. So I have October 2017 and October 2018 in one....

REMEMBER TO PUT JESUS CHRIST AT THE CENTER OF YOUR LIFE TODAY....BY BEING WILLING TO TAKE HIS NAME UPON YOU

I'm trying to be better and strive to live and love every moment in my mission. It's really hard sometimes to be completely focused, but I'm setting more and more goals, and New Year goals: to improve and to become the servant of the Lord that He needs me to be; to help gather Israel and do what I've always wanted to do; to be a missionary; and here I am, so I'm trying to not waste one moment.

Lots of fireworks, drunk people, parties, and not a lot of people in their houses is what happens here for Christmas and New Year's. But things are good, and my goals for 2019 are motivating me right now!!

Elder CJones: No Manches es 2018!

Talking with the Fam: Christmas 2017~!

I can't believe we are in 2018! It's crazy to think that I left for my mission in 2016.

I had a great holiday! I have the wonderful chance to talk with my family and enjoy the holiday season in Mexico. I know that this season is here for us to remember Christ and the gift that He is for us as we continue to work hard.

We had a baptism this last week, Julia. She is a lady that we found a couple weeks ago and she is doing really well in her progress in the Gospel and in life. She is the first convert baptism for my companion!

With the lack of time today, I don't have much to say, but know that we have started a new year, now is a time to think and be better, we should always look for how we can always get better in our lives!

--
Elder Corom Jones

"Wherefore, whoso believeth in God might with surety hope for a better world, yea, even a place at the right hand of God, which hope cometh of faith, maketh an anchor to the souls of men, which would make them sure and steadfast, always abounding in good works, being led to glorify God" (Ether 12:4).

NOG!!!

Elder ZJones: Happy New Year!!

Yrupe and Fabricio

Feliz Navidad and Happy New Year!

This past week we had a baptism. We baptized the two children, Yrupe and Fabricio from the Escobar Family. It has been such a blessing to work with them and help them grow in the gospel. This next week, Fabricio can receive the Aaronic Priesthood, which is so awesome! Their family has been though the ups and downs and have now received many of the blessing from their faith and
trust in the Lord!

We are still working with the Cornejo Family and hoping they come to understand the importance of coming to church and enduring to the end. We are also working with a less active member named Nancy. Her daughter, Ludmila, hasn't been baptized. Nancy served a mission and knows this
church is true. She just has some problems and concerns that are keeping her from coming to church. Please pray that she can understand the help that she can receive from the Lord.

Mission Christmas Party

Presidente Resek has come up with a goal. This goal is for all missionaries. He said that every missionary can baptize 48 people this year! As we are obedient and work hard everyday and all day, we will see the blessings of these baptisms and I know that it is possible.

This past week week we met a kid named Christian. His friend is a member who told us to go by and teach him. We taught Christian about the Restoration, the Book of Mormon, and prayer. When we talked about prayer he explained that he prayed that two missionaries would come and teach him. This was such a blessing to me that the Lord does answer prayers on both sides. We have been praying to find those who are ready and what to hear our message while Christian has been praying to
receive us.

Christmas Eve

Being able to Skype home was awesome. Definitely the best Christmas present. It makes me happy to see that my family is happy.

Grateful for all of you and this New Year. There has been so much change in my life, but I'm glad that I can make goals to become a better person and better missionary!

Love, Elder Jones

Package from home (HAIR GEL!!!)

Elder HJones: Families Can Be Together Forever

It's my Familia!

This last week I had the awesome opportunity to talk to my family! It was so cool and probably the best Christmas present! As I have been on my mission, my love for my family has really increased. As I have seen broken and hurt families on my mission, my love and gratitude for my wonderful family grows.

The gospel is centered on families. The purpose of this life is to have a family and eventually live with them for forever in righteousness. I am so grateful for the message that I can share to people in Chile: that families can be together forever through Heavenly Father's plan and that families that are broken can be healed.

New Year's Eve Dinner with the Bishop

The work is going pretty well now. We are working hard and trying are best to help people come unto Christ. We have two baptisms planned for this week. One on Saturday, for a 14 year old named Fernanda. And one for Sunday, for an 11 year old named Gianmarco. These two are great investigators and I am so excited to see them get baptized this week!

I won't lie, the mission has been hard. My area has been hard. Arica has always been a place in the mission that is "difficult" to baptize. But God is blessing us. We are working hard and trusting in Him. And we are starting to see great things happen! Thank you so much for your examples. I am super grateful for my family. God has blesed me A LOT.

I am so grateful for this gospel. It is perfect. We can be happy and live with our families for eternity.

Love, Elder Jones

Christmas Eve

My after-Christmas hand-delivered package!!

Elder CJones: Transfers, New Year's, and the Atonement of Jesus Christ

This week has been very interesting, but before, I would like to apologize for my grammar. The Spanish language has really been messing with my speech and my writing so I will do my best to express myself.

First off, I'm getting transferred!! Transferred to a new area in the northern part of the city, which means more malos (People for the Cartel) and more poverty. I am so excited to start in this area and teach the people. The people here are so humble and such great members.

This week started with a goal, the goal was to teach at least 2 people the first lesson. Well, we taught one person and she will hopefully join the church in the future. The work this past week was super hard. The holidays are huge here in Mexico and we have to be very careful about what we do on the holidays. The people here throw on crazy parties and get so drunk that they have no idea where they are, they love to sing when they are drunk, so after all the parties, we can walk down the streets and hear drunk people singing to the radio.

New Years' Eve, what a day to remember, we had to be very careful in the streets, even more so in the evening. A family hosted us that night, we had some amazing food and had an awesome karaoke party.

Story time---

Before my mission, I took Spanish in Junior High and 3 years in High School, in the 5 years I had 3 teachers. My last teacher, Mr. Draper, I had for a year and a half, and was probably my favorite teacher ever. He loved music and loved soccer. He served his mission in Uruguay, and during the mission he was given the privilege to listen to the radio to learn Spanish. He listened and found some amazing groups to listen to. During class he would play these groups on the big speakers he had in his room. I liked this music and listened to some before my mission. There was one group, Reik, that I really loved and I listened to them all the time as I would practice my Spanish and I just loved the style. Eventually I memorized the lyrics to some of the songs and I would sing with it. Anyway, at the party, they started playing some of the songs that I know the lyrics to, so I started to sing with them and they were so shocked that I knew the words to the songs that they were playing. We continue to sing until we had to go home. The family was so great to host us for the night, there are 3 daughters in the family and they are all learning English, so we help each other with the languages.

Since I am being transferred, I was able to visit some of the members of the ward. I went to visit our ward mission leader as well as the bishop of the ward. The bishop reminds me of my dad years ago when he was the bishop. Our bishop has 3 little kids and they are off-the-walls crazy, so that would have been my brothers and me, and my mom had to take care of all of us. I love the people of this ward and I am going to be sad to leave, but I know that it's what the Lord needs of me, so I can grow and so I can bless the people in the other area.

I want to share with you a tender mercy of the Lord that was expressed these last 2 weeks. When I arrived to the field, I got to our house and it was a mess, there was so much junk everywhere, so the next few weeks when I would get the time to clean I would, I would find dead cockroaches, like 4 inches long, and I bunch of stuff, but one the the greatest things I found was a box of books. They are books about different subjects on the gospel and I was really interested in them. I asked the other missionaries and they said that they weren't their books so I took most of them and began looking through them. They are books by apostles, like James E Talmage. I stopped at one book, "The Peacegiver" by James L Ferrell. It's a book about the Atonement of Jesus Christ. I decided to read and as I read I learned so much about the book, I finished it in one night after we returned, this was the week before Christmas.After I finished, I went back through the book and studied the scripture references and the stories that we written in the book, everything that was shared was something that I needed to hear about me, and about my role and what I need to do to have the full power of the Atonement's expressed to me. It tells of two stories in the Bible, the stories of Abigail and David and also the story of Jonah and the example they both are for the Atonement. I know that Christ has cleansed all of us through the Atonement, that we can all overcome anything if we just show an open and willing heart to the Savior.

I love this work. I wish I could share it with everyone in the world. I have been out 76 days, 2 months and 15 days, and I have already seen my testimony grow and my understanding of the doctrines of the gospel have been a blessing to me as I have studied and applied the teachings to my life. I testify that through the Atonement of Jesus Christ, we can overcome and accomplish anything. The Atonement is there for us to use so we can live with our Father in Heaven again.

I made some goals for this next year, I am going to give you a challenge. Find a way, in your talents or abilities, to share the gospel in your daily life. I know that if you do, you will see a flood of blessings in your life and the Spirit will be more prominent in your lives. I love this gospel and I am to thankful that I am about to share this joy with the world.
--
Elder Corom Jones

"Being mistreated is the most important condition of mortality, for eternity itself depends on how we view those who mistreat us."  --James L Ferrell