Elder EJones: Bermejo

This week I had cambios and left Los Olivos with my comp Elder Calkins. I am now here in Bermejo which is at the very bottom of Bolivia, on the border of Argentina. It has been a crazy week with lots of changes. My new comp is from Ecuador and he has the same time in the mission as I do.

We found and taught lots of people this week. We are teaching the Velasquez family as well as Alfredo and Natalia. Pray for them that they will be able to open up and keep being receptive to the gospel. Pray that the gospel will be able to touch and open their hearts so that they can feel and know that this is the true church, and what we need in our lives.

I found something that I really liked in my personal study this week...

Alma 24:18-19
18 And this they did, it being in their view a testimony to God, and also to men, that they never would use weapons again for the shedding of man’s blood; and this they did, vouching and covenanting with God, that rather than shed the blood of their brethren they would give up their own lives; and rather than take away from a brother they would give unto him; and rather than spend their days in idleness they would labor abundantly with their hands.

19 And thus we see that, when these Lamanites were brought to believe and to know the truth, they were firm, and would suffer even unto death rather than commit sin; and thus we see that they buried their weapons of peace, or they buried the weapons of war, for peace.

I love how the Lamanites made a covenant with God. We know they did to not take up arms against their enemies, but it also teaches us that they covenanted to labor abundantly, and to give rather than to take. And they would rather suffer death then to commit sin.

I know that as we come to know of the Atonement of Jesus Christ, we will come to love Him more and more. We will come to the knowledge to not sin any more, but to follow Him with faith.



Thats this week!!

Elder Jones

Elder EJones: Bermejo

My new area

Today I had cambios. I am in an area called Bermejo, on the border of Argentina!!! Where my Dad served his mission [in Salta]. My new companion is Elder Rodriguez from Ecuador and he has the same amount of time as me in the mission. Traveled a lot today and just got here. [It's a 12 hour car ride from Santa Cruz to Bermejo]. Talk to you next week,

Elder ZJones: Transfers

Esequiel's Baptism

Family in the Ward

P-day

This past week we have received transfers. I will be leaving my area after being here for six  months. I will be heading to an area called Trujui. My companion will be Elder Yepez. He is from Peru. He was my companion before, when I was in Lujan. I am excited to be with him again and know that we will work well together. Please pray for us in our new area that we will be able to find the right people to teach. i know that through prayer, the Lord will help us receive whatever we need!

I thought a lot this week about testimony. A testimony is the thing that drives us to act. When we have a testimony of The Gospel of Jesus Christ, our desire to to follow Him grows and we begin to convert ourselves to His teaching. Everyday, look for the opportunity to share you testimony, you will be blessed!!!!

Family in the Ward

Working on building a house

The coolest thing that I have learned this week is when I was studying in Alma 34. Verse 8 says:

And now, behold, I will testify unto you of myself that these things are true. Behold, I say unto you, that I do know that Christ shall come among the children of men, to take upon him the transgressions of his people, and that he shall atone for the sins of the world; for the Lord God hath spoken it.

I was thinking about Amulek's testimony and how it is different from mine! He had a testimony that Christ SHALL come and that  HE SHALL ATONE for our sins. He had a testimony of things that hadn't happened yet! Many of the things that are gathered in our testimonies are things that have happened, like Christ has come, He has died for us, He has been resurrected from the dead and, He lives! No matter what time we are in, we have evidence in the scriptures, THE LORD GOD HATH SPOKEN IT. The Lord will let us know what will happen so that we can have a testimony of those things! It is only through Him that we can have a testimony!

The foundation of the house
we are helping to build

Elder HJones: 2019!!!

So we are starting to see more progress in our area. We have found more people that have the desire to learn more and follow Christ! But the sad thing is, I am leaving. We had transfers. But the transfer is really small. I will be in the same branch, and will just be changing areas. My new companion is Elder Ambao from the Phillipians (thinking maybe I can learn a third language...??).

This past transfer was a little difficult. We worked a ton but didn't see the progress that we wanted to see. We found some awesome people and families, but they didn't progress and didn't want to act. Sometimes its frustrating when you do everything you can and they still don't want anything. But I'm sure that's how God feels. He does everything in His power to help us. He answers prayers, sends revelation, send other people to help us. But in the end we have agency. God can do everything in His power to help us, but we have to accept it and do it.

But now I am excited to be in a new area and find new people to teach!

Elder ZJones: God is Good!

At the Buenos Aires Temple

This week has been crazy!

To start off, we baptized Lorena and Aylen this past Friday! It was a blessing to see there desire and the love they felt after they received the Holy Ghost. We will be planning on helping Gabriel and his little brother, Juan Pablo, to be baptized this week. Pray for them that they will continue to change and love the gospel.

Baptism of Lorena y Aylen

So we had Stake Conference this past Sunday. Our ward is big so they divided one ward into two. There were six missionaries here in the area of Gral. Rodriguez. They took out a pair of elders, brought in the sisters from our area and put us in the other side of Gral. Rodriguez. So we will be working to find new people to teach and trying hard to help the new ward that we will be in. It was require some work to take it all in, in the beginning, but we know that God knows better than we do and that He can bless many peoples lives as we find them.

There is a part member family with two kids that want to be baptized. Right now, the Father doesn't have a big desire like the kids. Please pray for him that the his two children, Bruno and Julieta can be baptized  this weekend!

Some fun news: So a missionary who served in Antofagasta, Chile, who served in the same mission as Hyrum,  just finished his mission. He is from my old area and during stake conference, I got to meet and talk with him. He said that Hyrum and I look exactly the same (like everyone does) and we got to talk for a little bit about him and the mission. It was a cool experience and one to remember.

Hermano/Elder Sequira

Thanks for everything! Love you all!

Elder Jones

Elder HJones: Vallenar

So Vallenar is different.
We don't say "difficult" here in mission, we say different. And Vallenar is really different from my last sector. We have to work extra hard here to find people that want to listen and come to church.

The church house is really far away from our area. And most people don't have cars. So to go to church people either have to walk 30-40 minutes or pay a collectivo (bus). So it's a sacrifice for the people here.  But this week we are going to work extra hard to get people to church with us.

I feel like ever since I got here Satan has put in my head that things here in Vallenar are "impossible." Many things are working against us and it's true, things here are different, but we are just going to work harder. I know that it isn't gonna be easy, this week was pretty hard getting used to everything, and I got angry a couple times, but I know that God is at the head of this work. And I am just going to trust in Him and go to work.

Con caleta de amor,  Elder Jones

Elder ZJones: Family

What a week and what a change! I'm in my new area with my new companion, Elder Burk, and we are lost! The area is huge and we are both new. We are helping our zone to accomplish their goals and to work hard in their areas. Much of the time during this past week, we have been contacting to find new people to teach because when we came there wasn't much to work with.

So we started contacting houses one by one. When we got to the third house we met a man outside. He was watering his plants and explained that his son doesn't believe in God. He invited us in and we taught his family. There are 8 in the family, but there are only 4 who have the interest in listening. The parents, Juan and Lorena, want to see a change in the family. We are teaching and trying to help them understand the importance of faith, that through faith they can see a change in the family. Two of their children, Gabriel and Ayalen, are interested in our message, as well. Gabriel does't  know if he believes in God, but wants to know. Pray for them, the Familia Vergara, that they will continue to grow in the gospel. They came to church with us yesterday and loved it!

We have the goal to find families this week. The gospel is centered in the family. Pray that as we work, we will find families that have a desire to change and accept the Savior in there lives!

Love you all! Have a great Week!

Elder Jones

Elder HJones: I Can Do All Things Through Christ

This week was really good. A little slow because my companion was sick the whole week. But we pushed through and he survived.

On Tuesday, we had a zone conference with Presidente Ferriera and it was really awesome. I always learn so much from him and he always teaching with so much love and power. We also received transfers this week. And I am leaving! After 10 months in Copiapo I am leaving to a city 2 hours south called Vallenar. It's really green and the smallest zone in the mission.

I am going to miss all the people in Copiapo. I had 10 months in Copiapo and I am going to miss all my converts and the members. But that's alright. God needs me in Vallenar. Y vamos a hacer todo lo que Dios quiere que hagamos!

One of the things that we teach the people here in Chile is that we all have difficulties. It is part of our lives here on earth. We are here to be tested, to fail, to use the Atonement, and to improve. But the only way that we can improve and progress is if we use the Atonement of Jesus Christ and look to Him. Though Christ we can do all things. Even if things seem impossible, they are possible through Christ! 
 
Philippians 4: 13 I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me.

Con mucho amor, Elder Jones

Elder EJones: Week 1 in Bolivia

Elder Reyes y yo

Hello all!!

This week was quite the journey. We left the MTC Monday morning at 7:15 and were on planes all through the night.  It wasn't too bad recovering from jet lag, but the plane right was the most amazing napping I've ever gotten haha.

We arrived in Bolivia Tuesday morning and spent that day resting and spending time with the mission president and his wife (Presidente y Hermana Rodriguez). On Wednesday, we got our areas and companions. My companion is Elder Reyes from Lima Peru, and he doesn't really speak any English, so it's different speaking Spanish all the time. It's hard to speak and understand, and people are probably sick of me telling them to repeat what they said, but I'll eventually get it.

Another thing about this week: I got sick this week and still am kinda sick. On Saturday, I came down with a fever and threw up, had a fever and a headache and stomachache like all of Sunday, and today my stomach isn't doing too well, but it's better then yesterday. It's probably just because I'm getting used to the food and stuff.

Mi Casa

However, the best part of this week is just being able to teach the gospel even though I don't really understand anything. The Spirit is real.

My area is called El Quior and is in the outer rings of Santa Cruz. Santa Cruz is laid out in rings, and the farther you get out of the city, the more poor and humble the living circumstances become. It's been crazy to see how people live on so little, yet are so happy.

Funny story from this week. We were teaching at a member's house with some nonmembers there and one of the non-members was talking about his brother who didn't shave his beard or cut his hair because Jesus never did. He then asked if it was against the commandments to have a beard and long hair. And at that moment, my comp turned to me to answer the question. haha it was kinda weird, but I just kinda testified about the commandments we do have, and that long hair and beard wasn't, but it was just kinda weird overall haha.

"Pure love is the true sign of every true disciple of Jesus Christ." (Elder Massimo De Feo)

I know that as we learn to love Christ, and live everyday in loving him, we will be able to receive the blessings he has for us in numerous ways. I know He loves us and that this gospel is true.

Love you all,
Elder Jones

La Cuidad de Santa Cruz

Elder ZJones: This Week

This week was hard to get people to come to church. But we had one person who came. This week we are working with Yessica and Emanuel for them to be baptized at the end of this week. Pray for them that they will feel ready and that we can prepare them.

We had an awesome blessing this past week. We passed by an investigator who said she was busy but wanted us to visit her daughter who has been sick for weeks. We has passed by because we knocked on this house before but they shut the door on us, but this week they let us in. We talked with her and gave her a blessing of health. Her health still isn't changing much, but we are teaching her and her children. She has a lot of children!

So about district stuff: Sometimes it is hard to teach in district meeting for an hour and a half about a particular topic. But with time, it will be better. My companion is good. He works hard and wants to baptize a lot. We are a good companionship.

Elder Jones

Elder CJones: Working Really Hard!

The mission is great! The secretaries are heading out today to Monterrey as well as Presidente Regalado. We don't know much about the new missionaries or the new areas quite yet, but we will!

We are teaching a ton of people right now. We worked really, really hard this week and found some new families to teach. Probably one of the best weeks of my mission., just working really hard!!