Elder HJones: MILAGROS!!!

Everything is going super well here in Chile. It is burning hot [because it is going into summer], but we are still working really hard.

This week was AWESOME! We saw miracles and God blessed us a ton.

So to make a long story short, we baptized SEVEN people yesterday!! It was super awesome! We baptized an entire family and it was really cool to see. It was the grandma, the mom, and five children. One thing that  have learned during my mission is that we can never give up on people.

We knocked on their door a while ago. The grandma was really awesome. But when we past by their house again, they didn't progress a lot because they could never find time to listen to us. So we stopped passing by. And that is what I have learned in the mission, we can't give up on people. It's not going to be easy, but we can't throw in the towel so quickly.

So a couple weeks later we were talking to some kids in the street. They were playing soccer so we started to talk with them. well, we meet up with one of the kids that lived in the house. He was really receptive and in my mind (I'm sure it was the Spirit telling me), I knew that he and his family were going to accept the gospel. Something told me that God was calling the people that lived in that house.

So we started passing by again and they were all so receptive. They listened. They asked questions. They felt the Spirit. And they all came to church and all of them wanted to get baptized. They were definitely prepared! So yesterday, seven of God children entered in the water of baptism!! Silvia, Erika, Bayron, Brandon, Jacob, Tati, and Gregory! Miracles!

We have a couple more friends progressing as well. Two girls that always come to church with a member: Nicil and Francisca. They are always in the church during activities and such. They want to get baptized but we need permission from their parents. Nicil and Francisca work a lot so it's really hard to find them. And we are also going to focus on a young adult named Rody this week. Another friend of a member. He is really awesome. He is about 24 years old and really receptive. Please pray that he can feel the Spirit and that he can show his faith by coming to church. He works on Sundays, but his boss is a member. So she is willing to give him work off, but he needs to ask and show that he wants to do it. 

And tomorrow we have a conference with Presidente. Three zones are meeting with Presidente. I am always excited to have zone conferences with him because the Spirit is so strong. Today we played soccer with Presidente. And when we were starting, he told me that tomorrow at the conference, I have to talk in front of everyone and tell them what we did to baptize the seven people this weekend. So that's gonna be fun...

And this week we have cambios! I am not sure what will happen. I feel like I am going to stay in Copiapo. My companion has quite a bit of time here, so I think that he is going to leave, but I am not sure. But I am pretty sure that I will stay and end up having more then a year here in Copiapo! yeah!

So that was my week. Full of miracles and blessings from God. I am so happy to be a missionary and to be a instrument on God's hands!

Something crazy about Chile (and I think South America in general) is that everyone drinks soda. With every meal it's soda. So the members are always giving us soda to drink. When I was in Arica it was more juice, but here in Copiapo, pure soda pop. I am getting fat. haha just kidding

It's weird that Christmas is just around the corner. People are already putting up decorations, which is weird, because there is no snow and it's not cold.

But everything is good here. I LOVE being a missionary. I think I am just gonna live here, so don't expect me to come home. haha

Love, Elder Jones

Elder CJones: Trayendo Almas a Su Redil

"What you do in life echoes in eternity..." -President Brett J. Davies

Hellos to Everyone!!

I hope this letter finds everyone well and faithful in the Church. I know this Church to be true, and I testify that with all my heart. I know this work is the work of the Lord and he leads it. He has His
hand in all of it and we are work as His representatives.

It is now really really hot here in Reynosa. We get to about 105° everyday and there is not one cloud in the sky. The sun beats down on us all day, but we are working really hard to find the people that are looking for the gospel!

This last week we baptized three members of a part-member family and they were so excited to be baptized!! We will finish the month almost completing the mission goal of five baptisms a month per companionship. We are really happy that we had success this month and we are excited to see what the Lord will reveal to us during this next month.

For the first Saturday in August, we are working with an 18 year-old named Esmeralda. She is really excited to get baptized because she knows that she will receive the blessings that she needs for her
daughter that she will have in December.

I want to invite everyone to remember to read the Book of Mormon everyday. I know that if we do we will be in better position to resist temptation everyday!!

--
Elder Corom Jones

"My dear associates in the work of the Lord, I implore each of us to prayerfully study and ponder the Book of Mormon each day. As we do so, we will be in a position to hear the voice of the Spirit, to resist temptation, to overcome doubt and fear, and to receive heaven’s help in our lives. I so testify with all my heart." --Thomas S. Monson

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: Little Wonders

"Love to serve, serve to love" -Dad

A typical Valle Hermoso Twilight

This week was a week well planned and put together by my companion and me. We had a lot of success this week and we thank it to our prayers and the diligence in our work.

We are preparing three people for baptism this month and are hoping that a few more will be willing to come to church so they can start their eternal progression. The work that we do together is powerful and we know that is all because we trust in each other and in God.

Flor is a mother who is looking to find happiness in her life. She is about 45 and one of her friends who lives in Utah told her about the church. She is coming every week. She has a desire to learn, to be baptized, and share the Gospel with the people around her. She is going through a lot of family problems and she needs our prayers so she can feel happy and have the blessings of the Gospel and a happy family in her life.

Estrella is another investigator, is 14 years old. We met her one morning as we were walking down a dirt road. She was on the second floor of her house and through the window and we began to talk to her. Our recent convert, Anahi, is helping us teach her so Estrella can feel like she has friends at church. She is really happy when she has the chance to talk to us and come to church.

Marianela is a young mom. She is 20. Her husband is a member of the church and they are looking toward a goal as an eternal family. She is feeling that she needs to wait for baptism but we are trying to help her understand that the longer she waits the longer it will be until they can go to the temple. Pray for them both that they will be able to go to the temple in a year.

 I made Brownies!!

One of the hardest things for me here in the mission is the heat!! The average temprature each day is 104 degrees. Some days are hotter than others. The humidity is deadly! On a normal day, we have 95% humidity. When it first started to get hot I was very against it! The members who know me know that I love the cold. I have gotten used to the heat - - - but not all the way. I was really not a fan this week because it got REALLY, REALLY hot! July and August are the HOTTEST months of the year. During the day we pray for clouds becausethe shade is wonderful. As it changes to night, it's most peaceful and beautiful, with bugs of course.

One night, as we were walking it slowly changed from day to night. I was able to see more stars and the creations of God during the nights here in Valle Hermoso. As I was peacefully walking with my companion, I was reminded of one of my greatest testimony builders before I left, an experience from my job before the mission, Harmons.

Many things can testify of Jesus Christ. One day, when I was working, pushing carts at Harmon's, I heard a song play on the overheard speakers, "Little Wonders,"  by Rob Thomas. It comes from one of my favorite Disney movies. I listened to the lyrics as I took out the trash. As the part of the movie played through my mind, I felt a rush of something I can't explain. It's a feeling that's common to me only at times when I intensely feel the Spirit. As I exited the building, I put in an earbud and turned on the song again, analyzing it for ways it relates to the gospel. The lyrics stunningly, in my mind, related so well to mortal life and the Atonement of Jesus Christ. The following are the lyrics to the song and my attempt to verbally analyze them.
As we repent, we are told that our sins are no longer remembered by the Lord,

Let it go

Let it roll right off your shoulder

Don't you know

The hardest part is over

Let it in

Let your clarity define you

In the end

We will only just remember how it feels

In the end of these mortal lives, we will only remember the unconditional mercy our Mediator shows on us when we truly repent.

In one of the classrooms in the Alta Seminary building, a teacher had a single strand of string that ran the diagonal length of the room. The string, itself, represents eternity, forever extending in both directions. In the middle of the string was a single knot, which represents mortal life. That knot will always be there no matter how long the string is. Mortal life will always determine our eternal kingdom. This mortal life, this blip in time, is so vitally important it accounts for the entire eternity afterwards. Therefore:

Our lives are made

In these small hours

Small tender mercies we see from the Lord:

These little wonders

These twists and turns of fate

Time falls away

But these small hours

These small hours still remain

Again reminding us of the power of repentance:

Let it slide

Let your troubles fall behind you

Matthew 5:16, “Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven.” So I thought as I listened:

Let it shine

Until you feel it all around you

And I don't mind

If it's me you need to turn to

We'll get by

It's the heart that really matters in the end

Earth life is critical:

Our lives are made

In these small hours

These little wonders

These twists and turns of fate

Time falls away

But these small hours

These small hours still remain

The power of the Atonement is one of amazement! We will never fully understand its power, but the Lord does:

All of my regret

Will wash away some how

But I can not forget

The way I feel right now

So using the Atonement here in mortal life is so critical to the eternal progression of self:

In these small hours

These little wonders

These twists and turns of fate

These twists and turns of fate

Time falls away but these small hours

These small hours, still remain

Still remain

These little wonders

These twists and turns of fate

Time falls away

But these small hours

These little wonders still remain

I know that each of us receive our promptings from the Spirit in different ways. God knows each one of us personally and He knows how He can touch each of our hearts so that we can have a change. I know that God loves us all and wants us to be successful and as we turn to him, our lives WILL change.

--
Elder Corom Jones

"And whoso receiveth you, there I will be also, for I will go before your face. I will be on your right hand and on your left, and my Spirit shall be in your hearts, and mine angels round about you, to bear you up."

-Doctrine and Covenants 88:84

 Zona Poderosa Valle Hermoso
FRONT l to r: Elder Dangerfield, Elder Shipton, Elder Henley,
Elder Palacios, Elder Dias, Elder Hidalgo, Elder Chosco, Yo
BACK: l to r: Elder Hernandez, Elder Cruz