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: 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)

Elder HJones: Work for Blessings

"Nadie recibe experiencias grandiosas con mínimo esfuerzas."

This was a hard week for me. Not really because the sector was bad, more kinda personally. I have learned in the mission that Satan wants everyone to fall. He doesn't want our investigators to progress. But he also doesn't want missionaries to progress. This week was hard with the language. It's easy to get frustrated with myself when the language isn't as good as I want it. When people in the street or members constantly tell me that they can't understand me, or I need to improve my Spanish. I know its not there intention to make me feel bad, but sometimes it just stinks.

So this week I learned that no matter my circumstances. No matter how hard the mission is, physically, mentally, personally, I still need to work hard. Con animo, con el Epíritu. It's easy to give up or slow down when it hard. But the blessings come when we get up and press forward, even when its difficult. I have learned this week that my efforts, in every moment, mean something. That when things are easy and successful, I need to continue working hard. And when things are hard and I feel like I'm failing, I need to continue working hard.

I had my birthday this week! And it was Elder Perez's birthday (my companion), this week too! It was good. We spent some time with members in our branch and ate a lot of food.

We can't receive great blessings, miracles, and experiences if we don't work for it. Blessings are like a cake. If we want these blessings, we need to bake a cake. We need to work for our blessings.

We cant wait for miracles to come, we have to get up and look for them.

Love, Elder Jones

Miracle Story:

So last Monday I lost my wallet. It had my mission card and my personal debit card inside. I left it in a collectivo (taxi). I called the mission office about it that night. They canceled my mission card. But they said that they cant do anything about my personal card. That I needed to wait a week to email my parents to cancel it.

I was worried. Because I am from a different country my card works like a credit card, so you don't need a pin to use the card. So someone can take all of the money that was on the card. I prayed so hard during the week to either find it, or that a crazy person wasn't using it. In my prayers I pretty much told God that I trust Him. That I cant do anything about it, but that I can trust Him that everything will be alright.

Anyway. The collectivo driver found us in the street driving past and gave it to me. Oh man...super grateful. Strengthens my testimony that God cares. Even the small things in our lives. And through faith, we have no need to worry!

Elder CJones: Birthday and Basketball and a Bautismo

"Limpia tu mente del 'No Puedo'"
-Unknown

This week was packed with good and bad things, like every week, but I really loved this week!

I'll start with a week ago. I missed an email due to a lot of work that we have to do as missionaries. We had a baptism a couple weeks ago, Cinthia was baptized to join her sister, Anahi, as a member of the church!

This week I got to play in two basketball games! Our first was on Tuesday and the other team didn't show so we won haha. We got some guys around to play and our team played against the refs and the other men that were there. Our second game we received bad news that we were to lose one of our biggest guys. Yet, we had hope and we beat the team in first place by one point! I love basketball and it helps us take a break from the work so we can recharge our mission energy!

We met some really cool people this week: Christina, Carolina and Carla. They are friends and invited us to teach them this week. They are really cool and they came to church this week!! Pray for them that they will feel the desire to continue and pray as well for the members and the bishop to help us more with the missionary work.

There are two Mama Galletas in our area. Mama Galletas are people that really show and love the missionaries. Two of them, Hermana Dinora and Hermana Tellez, put on a party for my birthday. We had food and cake and music! It was really cool and I love the people here!

I know this Gospel is true, I know that as we continue to work hard we will be blessed if we abide by it's teachings, one thing we are sharing with the people.

THE PARABLE OF THE PEARL

You have seven beautiful pearls. They are very brilliant and shine brightly. You meet a man that has nothing, no house, no food, no car, nothing. How many pearls would you be willing to give him? Two? Three? Let's say you give him six. You tell him that he can do whatever he wants with his six pearls but the last is yours, and it's very important to you. How would you feel about this man if you found out that he robbed you of your last pearl? Angry? Maybe he is greedy? Our Savior has given us six days to do what those things we need to do and he gives us one day, Sunday, to specifically remember Him.

I love this work and the amazing things that happen as we follow all of the commandments!

-- Elder Corom Jones

CLICK HERE for his birthday cake video