Another Crazy Week!

Hello, hello! I hope you guys are all doing great. Like always, I have
quite a bit to say and not as much time as I'd like. It's all good,
though. :). And basically, I was thinking about my past messages, all the things I still
haven't had time to share with you guys, what you might like to hear,
and what would be fun for me to share with you all. So after all of
this, I realized that we have had seven baptisms, many of which I've
never really explained very well. I could just talk about baptisms for
a whole email, actually. So guess what? That's what I plan to do today
because there are so many details and small parts that I've never been
able to describe completely. Ready? :)

1) Juan and Mikaela (mee-cah-el-a) on 10/30/11. This was my first
baptism in the mission field, and it really hit home with me. Juan is
eight years old and Mikaela is 14. They live in a very humble house by the
outskirts of our area, and we found them as a reference from some
members. They were a semi-active family who now are really strong in
the church. The mom had been a member for a long time who is about 50
years old, has tan skin, and is always smiling. She speaks Spanish
just as fast as her kids run around the house. Haha. Sometimes,
especially at the beginning, she was hard for me to understand. Eight
people live in their small two rooms, and every time we visit, we get
bombarded with cards, small toys, and jokes. They are one of my
favorite families, and I've grown to love them. As we began teaching
them, we realized that two of her kids hadn't been baptized, despite
their ages and willingness to perform the ordinance. So, of course, we
taught them all of the lessons and shared simple scriptures that the
kids could understand. We also would just play games with the kids for
short periods of time after the lessons, which always made me smile
:). After about three weeks, we had taught all of the basic doctrinal
lessons of the church from PMG, and they had attended church twice. In
other words, they were ready for baptism :). Both of them passed their
interviews with ease, and the Bishop felt like they were ready. So
we prepared the program and had the baptism directly after a Sacrament
Meeting, which is the last part of the block on Sunday. When I stepped into the
water and motioned to Juan to come join me, a bright smile crossed his
face and he came into the water by my side. I muttered a few
instructions to him in Spanish, just to make sure he remembered what
we were going to do, and then raised my hand and did the baptism. The
feelings in the room were powerful and there were some tears in our
audience of about 15 people. You have to remember that the church is
still developing here, so we don't have any where near as many members
as in the state wards :). Afterwards, Elder Birky baptized Mikaela,
and then we all went to change while the Bishop talked to everyone.
The program went really well, and I really truly enjoyed my first
baptism here in Argentina. I want to give mote details but have to
move on, else I'll run out of time :).

2) Pedro and José on 12/4/11. Pedro is sixteen and José is fourteen.
Both of them are sport junkies and play soccer like ALL day. I really
mean it. One of them recently got asked to try out for a national
league in Buenos Aires. We messed around with a soccer ball for about
fifteen minutes one night at a ward activity and they could do SO many
cool tricks :). But yes, their mom is a member and comes to church like
every Sunday to listen and to help with some of the classes. She told
us one day that she really wanted to bring her sons to church, but
they always had soccer tournaments, especially on the weekends. So, to
help her out and to get to know her and her family better, we started
visiting their house about three times a week, usually in the morning
:). They live in the nicest part of our area in one of the very few
two-story houses made of all cement. They always gave us homemade
bread, and we would talk about soccer a lot--maybe a little too much
sometimes :). But like always, we would set apart some time to share a
spiritual thought or to teach them about the Restoration. At first
they never really showed that much interest, but with time and through
our testimonies, they realized that we were serious and really believed
that the church could help them in their soccer-filled lives :). One
morning while we were teaching them, they told us that they had
thought about it as a family, prayed, and had decided that a baptism
was right for their two kids. The father chose to remain Catholic but
still completely supported his wife and kids with their decisions. So
we put everything together and had another great baptism. We held this
one on a Saturday, just to see how it would work, and guess what? We
only had eight people show up from out ward!! It still went really
well, and José and Pedro were really exited. I gave them one of my
white shirts ans ties, and Elder Birky did the same because they both
didn't have white button-down shirts. I gave Pedro my tie that is blue
and gold, the same colors of his favorite soccer team, Boca! He loved
it and wears it every Sunday when he comes to church with his mom :).
Overall, it was a great baptism, and we all went to their house
afterwards to eat and celebrate a little bit. I loved it. We still
pass by them about once a week to see how they are doing and to
share a quick message. Alright, once again, gotta move on :).

3) Sergio (ssss--air--he--oh) on 12/10/11. This has probably been the
most interesting one that I've had so far for two main reasons: (1) it
all happened in about two weeks, and (2) he got baptized on his
birthday! Alright, I'll try to explain everything with the time I
have. First off, to find him, we went through a pretty lengthy
process. Two other Elders were out working when a woman stopped them
and told them she needed some help in her life. After talking with her
for a few minutes, these two Elders realized that she lives in our
area and not theirs, so they wrote down her address and passed it to
us that night. Then Elder Birky and I, pumped and ready to teach,
visited her the next day, basically as soon as possible. While we were
visiting this woman, we found Sergio, who lives right next door and is
18 years old. He tracked us down in the nighttime dusk and told us
that he had heard about our church before, knew the woman we had just
met, and had wanted to learn more about what we do as missionaries for
quite a while. Could we have met a better person? Probably not! haha.
People really are prepared. They are ready to hear our message. They
are ready to receive the blessings that come from Christ through the
church. Anyways, to make a long story short, we began to teach him and
his neighbors the very next day, explaining the Restoration and other
basic principles of the gospel. He accepted everything and walked into
the waters of baptism about 13 days later. And yes, we scheduled the
baptism on his birthday intentionally, just as he asked :)

4) Leonardo y Nelvis (Nell--vee--ss) on 1/8/12. Favorite. Baptism.
Yet. Oh man, I'm gonna run outta time, but I can't think of a better
way to end this message than to talk about these two incredible,
amazing people. Though it may sound kinda surprising, we found both of
them while contacting one night toward the end of the day. We
introduced ourselves to them, like usual, and then asked if we could
share a quick message with them before leaving. And that's how it
went. They chilled in their seats out on their patio and received
their first quick message about the church, not knowing it would
change their lives in just a mere few weeks. :). They were Jehovah's
Witnesses and knew the bible well--really well. They are incredibly
nice and always gave us snacks and juice, which always felt great after
having walked in te scorching heat. You guys gotta remember that it
hits 90 degrees or higher every day here, and sometimes I forget it is
January :). Haha. But yes, we actually learned a lot about their
church, and they learned a lot about ours during the first few visits.
Basically, we just treated it as Q and A and didnt want to offend them
or anything, but rather show respect and really try to discern their
needs and help them whenever possible. Eventually, they told us that
they had always had a few doubts about their church and that they
actually really wanted to learn more about the Church of Jesus Christ
of Latter-Day Saints. Plus they liked talking to us since they both
are in their sixties and get a little lonely. This happened about the
fourth visit, and from that point on, we really began having great
lessons. We watched some of the church movies, read the scriptures
together, and sometimes we just went over to eat dinner and to share a
spiritual thought :). They always had a lot of questions and wanted to
learn all of the basic principles really well before baptism. This was
great because they always kept their commitments and promises,
sometimes even studying even more than we asked :). After just over a
month, they told us that they really had studied, prayed, and even
done a fast to know if the church really contained the plentitude of
the gospel of Jesus Christ. We love to hear this because we never
obligate anyone to do anything, but instead ask them and invite them
to pray so that they can know for themselves. It really is powerful
because we share a few massages and ask them to pray and study the
Bible and the Book of Mormon. Because of all the talk and much of the
time wrong information about us, people sometimes don't realize that
we are asking them to pray and ask God. Really it isn't our church, it
isn't the prophet's, and it isn't the Mormon church. It's the Church
of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, run and directed in the same way
as Christ's in the ancient times. I love it when people realize this
concept. They told us that they really feel like it's true, even
though they had gone to like five other churches during ther life :).
This would be the best translation from Spanish to English: "Elders, we
want to get baptized and help with your church as soon as you guys can
put it together." Wow! There progression and everything really has
amazed me, and they know the Bible SUPER well--way better than me and
Birky. They are just great people. So, to fulfill our part, we cleaned
the baptismal font and prepared everything. We held their baptism
right after Sacrament Meeting, and this was the best--and most
hectic--Sunday I've had here in Argentina. I don't have much time, but
during this Sunday I was able to do the following: set up the
baptismal font and room, give a 5-min testimony on missionary work in
Sacrament (Bishop's request), direct the two songs during the baptism,
baptize Nelvis, and help Birky baptize Leonardo. This is a story of
its own. Leonardo had hip surgery recently, so he can't support
himself very well. Plus he is old, around 70 years of age. During the
baptism we had to bring a chair in the water, just as an extra support
for him. Elder Birky said the prayer, and then we both had to work
together. Elder Birky held his legs, and I put my my arms through his
arm pits. We slowly kicked out the chair and lowered him into the
water. His toes still stuck up out of the water, so we had to do it
twice. It was a great experience and we really had to be sensitive
with this old and tender man. With time, we completed everything :).
Then I was scheduled to give the talk on the Holy Ghost, but luckily one of
the members volunteered to share it while we changed :). It was a
powerful experience, and they had tears in their eyes. They are
getting callings in the church next Sunday, and Leonardo and Nelvis have their own triples,
Bibles, and copies of other church literature. We visit them at least
every couple of days, and we actually had some ward missionaries called
who should go over and reteach them the basic doctrines of the church
:)

Alright, I gotta end. These baptisms really are why I am serving here
in Argentina, the best country in the world. :). It's just like my MTC
teacher said: "We don't go to learn a new language or to just increase
our numbers in the church, but we go to share a special message--a
message that has blessed our own lives and will bless many lives to
come in these, the latter-days." :).

Gotta go soon, but these baptisms really have blessed my life.

Please keep sending mail! I love it, just like I love all of you.

Goodbye for another week,
Elder Jones :)

Another New Message From Good Ol' Argentina :)

Hey, guys! Happy happy new year. I finally got mail and have TONS to say!! I hope every thing is going really well for everyone up there in Houston. :). To start off today, I want to talk about the mail I received in general.

However, I still do have a lot off comments about your letters. They were incredibly fun to read.

- dad, you asked about watching DVDs in people's houses. Like 75 percent of the people have a small tv in my area and like half of those people actually have a DVD player. We have used the "Restoration" video four times. It works really well, but a lot of people don't have the equipment. I think it is just b/c my area is so poor. I thought it was funny that you had to use car batteries and extension cords on your mission in the reservations. :)

- I cannot believe that Jake Heaps is leaving and then will only be able to play during his senior year. That's really too bad since there was all the hype about him and everything. He kinda failed. Haha

- Zach, you said that you ate my piece of pie for me at Grandma's house. I wanted to thank you and let you know that I will DEFINITELY eat yours for you while you are on your mission :):).

- One of you asked about wards in our buildings and if they change at the start of te year like in the states. No, my times stayed at 9am. There are two wards in my small building, but they don't change because they are both satisfied with the schedules that they have :)

Anyways, as all of you know, I also received my DearElder package full of just American candy. I ate my two favorites (Twix and Starbursts), but then decided to do something cool with the rest of the candy. Guess what? I took it to investigators and members, just so that they could try it. It went extremely well--much better than if I'd eaten it all for myself. Just to fill you guys in, I will give a short description of every member or investigator that invites us to lunch. Ready?

Lucas y Vicki. They are some of the strongest members in our area and come to church every Sunday. Lucas is first counselor of the bishopric, and Vicki is over our small nursery. We have about 50-60 people attend every week, just to give you a ballpark estimate of the size of our ward. I've heard that ours is one of the biggest in the mission :). Anyways, they are both in their twenties and have a kid names Lorenzo, who is about 3 years old. They are so nice, friendly, and humble. I am currently serving in one of the poorest parts of my mission right now. Just to paint the picture a bit, their house is about 3/4 the size of a standard bedroom, just a little smaller than my room, for example. They have their queen size bed, a small fridge, and a stove, with a tiny electric box that heats their water for their showers. They are amazing people, despite their circumstances. We eat lunch with them every Sunday after church. They sit on the floor in between the bed and the fridge and always let us sit on their mattress cuz they insist and cuz they don't have chairs. Last Sunday, I decided to start this whole candy expedition and brought Sour Patch Kids to their house. There is a ton of candy indigenous to Argentina and people eat candy all the time. However, there is nothing like Sour Patch Kids down here. So I let them all try it ad part of our dessert. There faces were hilarious as they cringed and revealed their surprise. Lucid and Lorenzo, their son, ate them right up :). Lorenzo chomped on it for like two minutes and just made really funny faces as the sour juices squirted out. It was priceless. Alright, I always put too much detail. Gotta move on :).

The Duran (doo-ran) family. Their dad is our Stake President and has served for seven years. They are one of the six strong families in our wards, and they invite us to eat a meal with them almost every week. They live in the best-off part of my area, which is really close to our small apartment complex. They have two bedrooms, a kitchen, and a small living room. Everything is made of cement, and they have church pictures taped on their walls. I love this family of six, and they are absolute soccer fanatics. They actually have a tv that works well ,and they always watch the games. Just over half of the people have a tv. Anyways, since they are a big family, I brought two treats: Butterfinger and Sour Patch Straws. Once again, I showed it to them during dessert, and it was great fun to watch them try these candies which are really rare and weird to them. The Stake President's wife started coughing cuz she got a bunch of sour straw sugar down her throat without knowing. The kids loved the Sour Straws and downed them fast. Once the president started cutting up the Butterfinger, that's when everybody honed in the snack. They licked it a bit and then chewed it. All of them loved it, and there was a scramble to try and get the last bits. One of the kids even licked the wrapper. It was a great experience for me because with such simple means I could make their day :). Plus it was fun to watch!

Alright, I really want to write more but gotta go, like always.

Your missionary,
Elder Jones

Happy New Year!

Hello! Well, first off I want to say that it has been a pretty crazy week, chuck full of lessons and all of the normal good stuff. I still have about 45 minutes and thought that maybe a bullet list with smaller facts would be interesting for you guys.

Thomas Metcalf, my friend from Cy-Fair who played ultimate frisbee with me all of the time, has been writing me a bit too. Guess what? He is serving in Mexico City and started about 6 weeks ahead of me. He weighed himself this week and has gained 32 pounds!!! hahaha. He actually had the opportunity to skype for Christmas, and he said that his girlfriend and family laughed at him for a long time b/c his face was so fat :). He says we are going to have to play ultimate to lose our weight when we get back.

Speaking of weight, I have gained a little bit too. We haven´t found a scale that works yet, so I don´t know how much. Maybe that´s a good thing :). My pants still fit fine, and I guess that´s all that matters!

I am living with Elder Stephen Winert right now. We were talking one night, and guess what? He knows the Weavers and ran for Cedar Park cuz he lived in Austin. He grew up in Spring, though, and knows Mary Lyman, Anna Morris, all of the Weavers, and a handful of other members like Spencer Guerrero haha. O, and there is more. He lived in J hall at BYU for fall and winter term, he has slept in the Weaver´s house before, and he had the same dining plan as me at college. So we are living together now in our small apartment down here in Santa Fe in the Rosario mission. We had never met before but still know a lot of the same people, which is really funny. He says "hello" to spring, and especially to the Weaver family :).

Dog bite. A dog chased me and Elder Birky this week. It ran fast and caught up to us quickly, snarling loudly and biting Elder Birky´s leg. Luckily it didn´t puncture anything and wasn´t too terrible of a bite. It was funny though. There really are dogs everywhere here.

Hermana Rita. She is a member who we found through a reference. We have visited her, on average, about twice a week. She is really nice and lives in extremely humble circumstances. She has less than most people in my area, and I found out last week that my area is the poorest in the mission. One day last week we taught about how the gospel of Christ can help us during difficult times. She enjoyed the lesson and towards the end looked a little touched. As I was talking to her about the scriptures and the blessings of going to church, she began to cry. Tears rolling down her cheeks and with a smile crossing her face, she looked at us and said that she feels so uplifted in the church and during our visits. She is a really heavy smoker (almost three boxes a day) and really wants to make some changes in her life. I will keep you guys updated. She is a really sweet lady of about 50 years who stuggles to get to church b/c it is a two mile walk and she stuggles to even afford a bike. We are trying to help her.

Sloppy Joes. We found some American sloppy joe mix in one of the other missionary´s apartments. We asked around and nobody wanted to use it, so we took the contraband back to our kitchen. We had a special lunch appointment scheduled with an investigator the next day and decided to do something interesting: make them Sloppy Joes. That´s exactly what we did. After calling and telling them that we were going to cook for them, they couldn´t believe it. They did accept our offer though, and so the next day we traveled over there and cooked Sloppy Joes for them. They absolutely loved them, and it was really fun to watch them eat since it was completely foreign to them. :)

Electricity. We finally got electricity because the offices finished the contract and finally got it sent to us. So we went to Centro and talked to some of the employees of the business who later turned the electricity on in our apartment that night. So after three weeks of using an extension cord from our neighbors, we could finally unplug it and use our own electricity :)

Gas. We had an inspector come to our apartment to verify if we could have natural gas sent through our system. When we began renting, the contract said that the we could get gas once we obtained the contract. Since we didn´t pass the inspection (which was completely the fault of the last people who rented before us), we have to do buy some other saftey equipment and have the inspection done again. The people didn´t tell us this when we were looking for an apartment. They told us that it was ready to have gas sent to us, which we now unfortunately know was untrue. We were told that we will probably have to wait anywhere from 2 to 3 more weeks to get gas. So yep, cold showers and no real cooking for a while longer!! Gosh haha. At least we finally have our own electricity and a fridge. :)

Baby blessing. One of the members in my area has a baby who is currently really sick. They asked me to give it a priesthood blessing, and I did it for the first time in Spanish. They thanked me and I had a great experience helping others down here in Argentina :).

And I guess that´s about it. I hope my English makes sense. We always speak Spanglish or complete Spanish now, just because it helps during the lessons, and I didn´t ever think this would happen, but it is actually harder for me to say some stuff in complete English.

With love,
Elder Jones

Merrrry Christtttmassss!

Hello, hello. I have some news for you guys during this great time of year! I don´t really have that much actually, since it has only been like three days. Anyways, here it goes.

93 degrees. Yes, that´s right. We hit 93 degrees in our apartment. I am so grateful for fans b/c I would probably die if we didn´t have them. We just sit by the windows and sweat it out sometimes as we try to feel the breeze. Maybe you were right, dad. We should probably hide Elder Birky´s thermometer since it just kinda puts us down anyway. It´s definitely a cold Christmas here in Santa Fe. haha. NOT :)

Special Conference. I just realized that never before have I talked about these special conferences. To fill you guys in, we have a zone conference every three months or so, when the President and his assistants come to our zone, give some talks, and we usually have a big lunch afterwards. They are usually about four to six hours long, and we learn a bunch. I have already attended two conferences and one special conference for new missionaries and trainers. Sorry for not writing about them before. Anways, this last (my third) conference was special. We still had talks and everything, but its theme centered on Christ and Christmas. And guess what? Last Pday, almost directly after I had sent my email to you guys, one of the president´s assistants called our phone. Elder Birky gave it to me and said that the assistants to the President wanted to talk to me. So I picked up the phone and started talking to them in Spanish. One of the assistents is from Chili, and the other is from Utah. They are cool, and I know one of them a little bit from my trip to Rosario about a month a half ago to do all of that paperwork to get my DNI. So we were talking, you know, just some small talk. Then after a litle bit, they said they had a special question for me. "Elder Jones, as you know, we have the special Christmas Conference coming up in a week. We have thought about it, and we think that you should give a short 5 minute talk." This really caught me off guard because I am still so new in the field, but they said they had heard my spanish before and felt like I should be the one. Just to fill you guys in a little more, since this was a special conference, it consisted of three zones. Or in other words, I had to give a short talk in Spanish in front of about sixty missionaries, the assistents to the President, and in front of the President himself with his wife. I prepared whenever possible during our short amounts of free time, practicing my spanish and deciding which thoughts I desired to share. Finally the day came. It was yesterday actually. :) We arrived, and just like during all of the other conferences, there were tons of people everywhere talking and getting ready. After a couple of minutes and prep, the conference started and we all filed into the chapel of the church in which we were meeting. I felt a little nervous, especially since this talk was in spanish, but felt excited at the same time. Generally, I really enjoy giving talks or teaching classes like Elders´ Quorum, which I did at BYU :). Anways, they introduced everyone, we sang, and everything went like normal. While sitting there, I counted and realized that there were about 55 missionaries, plus the president and his wife. And guess what?? Half of these missionaries are native speakers from South America!! Oh No haha. Anyways, they called my name, and a lot of the missionaries looked at me because many of them didn´t know who I was. haha. Usually the missionary who speaks has a little more experience. My talk went really well though. I told a story about a young boy and how he showed the spirit of Christmas one night long ago. It is a great story from the Liahona that I read a long time ago. I also talked about the true purpose of Christmas and the birth of the Savior. I talked a little bit above my natural ability right now, and I believe this happend becuase of my practice and the Spirit's presence. A lot of the natives talked to me afterwards and said that I did a good job. So, as of right now, I am a little more well known in the mission :)

And that´s about it for this week. There is a bit more to say, but I will have to type more next week since other missionaries need to use the computers to write to their families. They have to set up when they are going to call their families. We are pretty packed in this small computer shack! Thanks for all you guys do, and Merry Christmas to all! I love Argentina.

With love,
Elder Jones

Ho Ho Ho From Argentina

Hey, it is almost Christmas! Sometimes I forget the time of year because it was about 90 degrees yesterday. Crazy, huh? It has been another crazy, busy week with a bunch of interesting events. Anyways, I better get started since we don't have tons of time.

First off, all we have is a microwave right now. So, with my amazing cooking skills, I tried to make a mini cake in the microwave :). We did this for FHE one night at BYU, and it tasted really good. Well, let's just say that my cake here in Argentina wasn't quite as good. haha. I tried three times, but I think the microwave doesn't have enough power. Haha. It always makes weird noises and sounds tired. Oh well, it was a good idea, at least in theory :). My FHE mom was Emily Evans, and I guess I'll just have to ask her how to do it again sometime. I'm just gonna blame the crappy microwave.

Another kinda crappy thing happened too that I forgot to mention in the last email. I've had an eye infection for the last two weeks, so I've been rocking my awesome glasses. Some people tease me, but a bunch of missionaries and people wear their glasses b/c it is so easy to get an infection here. So it's not really that bad. My infection never really hurt, but half of my eye was super red for a pretty long time. It was actually my first eye infection ever. At least it wasn't that bad :). I am wearing contacts today, which is really nice.

Okay, some good stuff DID happen this week. One word: hamburger stand. There is this guy who works right outside a restaurant and sells hamburgers and a bunch of Argentine food like milanesas, chorripan, and some other good stuff. We usually don't eat at places like this b/c typically they have some pretty dirty equipment. This guy, Jorge, is really clean so we decided to try him out. For 10 pesos, which is like 2.50 dollars, I bought a hamburger the size of a dinner plate. It was SUPER good :). I had heard about stuff like this from other missionaries, but it is difficult to find stands like this that are clean enough. Now we are going to go eat there a lot since we know of this guy and didn't get sick after eating his food. If you guys come to visit me after I finish my mission, one of the days we will have to eat huge hamburgers. They sell them in real restaurants too, where we know it will be clean enough. :).

Oh and guess what, I am officially Argentine. All of that paperwork that I completed in Rosario about a month ago has been completed, and I received my DNI, which is a Spanish document kinda like a driver's license. It has my picture and a bunch of other information. I guess a good way to describe it is this: it is like a small version of my passport that is used like an ID card here in Argentina. Almost all of the citizens have one too. It is a really cool looking document and makes me feel official here in Argentina.

For example, my companion had to use his DNI number to buy appliances for our apartment this week. We bought a fridge, oven, stove, table, and basically everything we need for our apartment. We are living with two other missionaries right now, so there are four of us in total. Normally there would only be two of us, but this other companionship doesn't have an apartment right now, either. Our apartment is actually pretty nice, but it is pretty cramped with four people. It's all good, though. We still don´t have gas, so the showers are cold and we still can´t cook anything. That´s just the way it goes.

So basically, I carry this DNI card around with me everywhere now instead of my photocopy of my passport. (my real visa and passport are in the offices of the mission home, just for security purposes)

Also, I just found out that I am not getting transfered. Elder Birky and I are still together.... We finally got the money, did some more shopping, and bought all the general appliances. We still dont have gas or electricity. We have been using a cord from our neighbors to have power in our house. We should get it the week after Christmas or something like that. This is really frustrating, but it has really humbled me. I have been living on the floor for three months with nothing except one table and two mattresses. We buy stuff off the streets for meals since we can't preserve anything without a fridge. It really stinks sometimes. Finally, we got a fridge and can use our neighbor's power to run it. We put our bed together last week. I think I mentioned this in the last email. So now we are doing alright. It has just been super hard. I love you guys so much, and you have taught me many things that have prepared me for my mission.

Aside from our crappy circumstances, the mission work is great. We had four people come to church with us!! Two of them are Jehovah´s witnesses who say that they have always had doubts about their church. We are probably going to have at least two, maybe three, baptisms this transfer. We will have to work hard for them though.

Whew, I am sick of typing and wish that I was skiing with you guys. I know there is a purpose in everything, though.

Thanks for everything guys. I love you and Merry Christmas.

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

Craziest Week Yet!

Alright, guess what? We played soccer this morning with our zone, and a lot of the elders lost track of time. By the time we had finished playing, we were in the siesta. So all of the computer places were closed. I wanted to go to central, but nobody had money on their bus card. Also, we didn't have enough money in coins to ride the bus. We tried to get change, but none of the stores in our area were open either. It was just bad luck and bad planning. So right now we are using the bishop´s computer, and we only get about 30 minutes each to write to our families and to the president. :( Birky said that we can type for like two hours next week, though. I hope so!

I have tons to say and only have about ten minutes. So first and foremost, we had two baptisms this week!! Pedro y José got baptized, the two guys that we have been teaching for about two months. They are great people, and we are going to eat dinner with them tonight to celebrate! We are having chicken and cake, along with some other foods that the mom is going to cook. We are still talking and teaching their dad, who is a little bit stubborn at times. The mom has been a member for about 10 years, and she absolutely loves the church. Her name is Norma. Actually she has a calling and everything. The dad is really nice and super busy with work all of the time. We have become pretty good friends, and he has come to church a few times! Anyways, I would write a ton more, but I only had like 10 minutes!!! This is kinda lame, but I promise I will write a ton next week.

Alright, I guess thats it. I will make a super quick bullet list cuz other elders are waiting to use the computer.

- We did divisions this week, and I spent a whole day with Elder Contreras. He is from Paraguay.
- We FINALLY moved, but our circumstances are still horrible!!! We don't have gas, a stove, warm water, or bed stands yet. So I am pretty much camping haha. We are going to do a bunch of shopping, and most of this week should be dedicated to buying all of the stuff we need to live there. We better have hot water soon!!! The showers are SO COLD!

Alright, i really have to go. I love you guys though. I have a ton more to say, but it will just have to wait till next week since we have so many restrictions today.

Have a great week!

Elder Jones