Mountains of Information

Alright, make sure you guys are in a comfortable chairs because I have a bunch of information (two weeks worth) to share!

1) Poem. I know, I know. This doesn't really sound like me haha. Two pdays ago, Elder Birky was sleeping and I didn't have anything to do. I had already studied, written letters, and drawn. So I was just sitting there and decided to start writing a poem to pass the time while birky slept since I couldn't do anything else until he woke up! Anyways, here it goes!

A Missionary´s Message

Consecrated by the Prophet,
Testifying to the world,
Guided by the Holy Spirit,
To preach a gospel unfurled,

Travel the young around the globe,
Teaching of the salvation,
That through Christ, Redeemer ours,
Will come to every nation.

It´s this sacerd contemplation,
That divine message of love,
That through the restored gospel,
Lies the church of God above.

Nonexistent then a resaon,
To not testify this truth,
From the humble, tender hearts,
That reside in every youth.

Nonexistent then a message,
That contains a greater truth,
From the ancient dispensations,
When dwelled Christ, a tender youth.

It´s this, this so special knowledge,
Anchored in our hears of love,
That through our testimonies,
Is relayed from God above.

Travel us, the missionaries,
Relaying this salvation,
That through the eyes of those we teach,
Is seen in every nation.

Consecrated by God divine,
We venture throughout the World,
Guided every sacred second,
To teach a gospel unfurled.

Not bad, eh? haha.

2) Christmas Tree. Elder Birky and I bought a tree from a small store and it is SUPER small. Still serves its purpose though :)

3) Shell Stop. Guess what, Dad? We were walking, and I saw a Shell off in the distance. I went there and bought ice cream to help you out a bit haha. It was good and actually pretty similar to ones in the states. They are really nice here compared to some of the other gas stations.

4) Horse Meat! So in the states, you guys have ham and cheese. It is pretty good, and sometimes we eat it here too. But guess what? We were eating at a member's house, and she started cutting meat that looked a little different. We found out it was horse and tried it. It was actually really good. It tastes kinda like salami or bologna. I like it a lot more than cow intestine and all of the other stuff i tried earlier :).

5) Divisiónes. I think this is called companionship exchanges in English, even though it translates into divisions in English. But yes, we did them about two weeks ago. I went with Elder Contreras, who is from Paraguay. I met a bunch of new people, and it felt nice to work in a different area. We had Bishopric counsel meeting that night, and while I was sitting in the room, I realized something cool: I was the only one who knew English in the room! Crazy.

6) Waterproof shoes. I remember that we weren´t sure if we needed to buy these. Definitely worth it. I love them, and it rains quite a bit here, so they really come in handy. Zach, you will have to be sure and get some when you serve your mission :)

7) I gifted a tie and one of my button down shirts to Pedro Mariano, who recently got baptized. I have enough anyway, and he really liked it. We taught him how to tie his tie, and he proudly wears it every Sunday now. I will try to send a picture :)

8) Speaking of ties, every once in a while I wear the tie that Brother Rumsey gave me. Everybody compliments me on how cool it is!

9) Service. Whoa, I don't have enough time to describe all of this, but we did A TON! Her name is Rita, and she has a gargantuan backyard. She hadn't done anything with it for over a year, so in some parts the grass was up past our knees. We had a small electric lawn mower and some other equipment to use. It was a fun experience, and we worked with her and her family for about three hours, pulling weeds, mowing, moving rocks, watering, and fixing the fence. It was really cool. I have pics of this too and will send them if there is time!

10) Haircut. Well, let´s just say that we have completely said goodbye to any sort of long hair. Everybody just gets it buzzed here, so that´s what I ended up doing. Something cool happened, though. We were eating lunch at a member's home one afternnon when I mentioned that I was going to get my haircut later that day. Guess what? They offered to do it. I was a little hesitant but accepted their offer. They just used a machine and buzzed everything, just like they did at the MTC :)

11) Pday. Our next pday is on Tuesday because we have transfers. I just read part of our weekly message, and it says that there are going to be a lot of changes. The clock is ticking, and I have no idea what is going to happen to me :)

12) Teaching English to a family. MagolÍ and Monica, some of our best investigadores right now (who showed us how to make the pizza), had a couple of appointments with us last week. After one of our lessons, they wanted us to teach them English. It went great, and we taught them some random phrases that they could use if they met someone who speaks English :) They are great people.

Alright, and to polish up, I am going to talk about the baptisms we have had, which have really kind of touched me. I had so much to say and sorry for not having too many details above. I thought you guys would want some pretty solid info about the baptisms, though. So i am going to donate a lot of time to this :). Alright, so first off, we had the two baptisms of Pedro and José two Sundays ago. We had taught them for about nine weeks when they accepted their official baptism date. Elder Birky and I each had the opportunity to baptize one of them. I baptized José, and I can´t really explain the amazing feeling of these baptisms. I´ve decided that baptisms are by far the best part of the mission.

I just realized that I had spoken a bit about this last time, so I will focus a little bit more on Sergio. We found him through a reference. It is actually kinda of complicated. Other missionaries who have an area near ours were tracting when they found this lady. She stopped them and informed them that she wanted to start going to church again and leave behind a lot of her bad habits. After talking to her a bit, they found out that she lives in Elder birky´s and my area. So they wrote down here phone number and info and then eventually gave it to us. When we went to teach here, we met Sergio, a neighbor of hers. He is 18 years old and had a lot of interest in our message right from the beginning. He is a great guy and progressed extremely fast. We taught him for about two weeks and he felt ready to get baptized. Right now he is waiting to get the Priesthood because he wants to pass the sacrament. It was great. Elder Birky Baptized him two days ago. :)

This mission is definitely hard some days, like when we are outside for 6 hours just talking to people who don´t let us in to their houses. The baptisms and changes in people´s lives make it worth it though :) Thanks for all of your support guys and everything. Some people have told me that my English can be a little weird sometimes, and every once in a while I type a sentence and am not sure if it makes perfect sense. If anything sounds kinda weird, that is probably why. :) Life is good, though. Happy holiday to everyone!

Also, thanks for the emails and dearleders. I really liked reading them and look forward to getting my package soon! Just to let you guys know, I really like the mission. The baptisms, the language, and everything is great. I am a little frustrated with the office though. I am living without hot water right now. We don't have a stove or fridge and had to steal a table from the church to use to study. All I can buy right now is fruit and dry cereal since we don't have a fridge. Yes, we did move to our new apartment, but things are still pretty meager. I really really appreciate what I had in the states, and this has truly been a humbling experience. We have worked hard and have had five baptisms! People tell me that I sound good too! I really do love the people and my ward, but the stuff like with apartments is really frustrating. We should get the money sent electronically from the mission office to the bank by us in Santa Fe this week. I finally slept on a real bed four days ago for the first time in my mission haha. We got the tools and assembled our bunk bed. Anyways... We will just have to see what happens with transfers:)

Overall, it really is great though. I just downloaded all of the General Conference in English to listen to on my ipod speakers. I will keep you guys updated and everything. Thanks for everything. I cant believe that you guys are almost of vacation from school. Keep me posted.

With Love,

Elder Jones