how many hours in the airport???

lets see if i can try and sum everything up pretty quickly. so basically, we got out and taught a lot for the first time in forever! this lady named maria showed up at church 2 sundays ago and bishop pulled us out of class and was like "hey guys this lady says she wants to get baptized" and so that was AWESOME! turns out she came with her son and his family, which are all less actives, but the mom isnt a member. she had already been going to church with her son in some other place but then moved here and weve started teaching her! and she is just amazing! its so wonderful how one can get really really really discourage at times (especially in the offices) and then you can see the miracles of the lord placing a really prepared person in your path and i just feel really blessed for that. its like she craves the teaching we have to give.

de hecho, shes supposed to get baptized on the 30th! so keep her in your prayers, and lets all hope that this turns out well. were actually gonna go teach her again tonight.

so hopefully you guys remember i told you about what a trompo was a few weeks ago, the mexican top thing, but the little kid thats obsessed with trompos actually has about 25 of them. he told me he has 9 out of 10 of the "best" trompos except for one, which is called the mini car. and it just so turned out that i had the mini car haha!! so i decided to give away my trompo to this little kid and it made his night. i think im coming to learn that the greatest happiness one can feel, or better the most you can receive comes from giving away. were basically best friends now.

this week we got to eat with the messerly family, which is a senior couple here in the wards, and we got to eat roast, and mashed potatoes, with rolls, and then brownies for dessert. i was basically in the united states again for an hour. 

i had my first experience in uber this past sunday. i highly recommend it, its pretty fancy. but this uber ride came after a -- hour wait in the airport.

5 WHOLE HOURS ON EASTER SUNDAY

it was kinda miserable. but we were able to explore the whole airport (terminal 1 actually which is the fancy international terminal and it was pretty fun to be able to spend that time with elder sweat. ive been to the airport twice this week now if anyone was wondering. 

to end this short email, it rained SO MUCH this week. we actually had some pretty decent thunderstorms this week which was pretty cool. but what was not cool, is that it alwas started to rain as soon as we went out to work and teach. so theres this bridge that we always have to cross to go into the little area that we work in, and this bridge only has one drain at the very end of the bridge, so the entirly thing floods almost up to the curb and its CRAZY. and the cars have no mercy and just drive through as fast as they can. so the other night we try to find a gap in the cars to run across, and we find a little space and start to run down this tiny side walk in the dark, and were almost to the end when this huge land cruiser comes through and just soaks us. it was miserable, but we enjoyed our selves. im just glad my phone still works. then we started to help this guy clean out the drain because it was getting clogged and everything and then another car speeds by and splashes us in the face. but hey thats just what we do, and i think its more fun when its raining.

sorry it was so short this week guys! but i hope everyone enjoye their easter weekend remembering the savior and what hes done for us!!

love you guys

elder jones

the one with my friends

Buenas tardes amados amigos míos.

Espero que todos se encuentren bien. :) 

Whoever can guess the meaning of my subject or where it comes from will win a grand prize.....

This week was just another week in the offices. I guess I forgot that I was going to write every other week but I already started so oh well. I’ve got some cool things to write about so why not.

So the word is getting around that it’s my birthday on Friday which is kinda cool because yesterday I had my first “fiesta” haha. It was actually super dope. There´s this family that’s the Medrano family and they're really great. They always feed us We ate with them about 3 days ago and Elder Sweat said something about it being my birthday on Friday. We had another appointment to eat with them again on Sunday, so they said we were going do something a little more special. After we had dinner they bring out this cake that one of the daughters made for me.They put a candle in it and then sang me happy birthday in English which was super great. It's nice to be taken care of. I feel like I've got all these friends here in Mexico between my compa and the families here that take care of me. I know that I'm making really great friendships.

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We got permission from President to be able to go on this “turibus” thing. It's where you get on this double decker bus and go around the city. It's super dope. Next week we're going to tour around the city. Hopefully I'll have some awesome pictures next week.

On pday Elder Sweat and I had a nice little jam session in the chapel next door to the offices, turns out he's like a master pianist. We're working on some master pieces right now of course.

Last night I had the opportunity to give a blessing for the first time in a while, and it was so great. We were in church and this hermana named Berta came up to us and as we were talking to her, out of no where she was said, “Quiero que me den una bendición”. She told us to pass by later on around 6. Because our internet was out ALL WEEKEND (how do you work in an office without internet?) we were doing all of our mindless work that we had been putting off. We turned on the Testaments (GREAT movie btw, you all should watch it) and got distracted....we looked at the clock and saw it was 5:50 and freaked out a little bit becuase we were suppose to be at Berta's at 6:00. We literally ran over to her house. We chatted for a little bit and learned about her and then she asked us to go ahead and give her the blessing. Elder Sweat said he would anoint and I would do the blessing. I gave the blessing and it just felt so great to be able to say those words again. After the blessing, the first words that came out of her mouth were “que tan bonito habla!” (how pretty you talk! or something like that...idk how to translate it to well, but it makes sense haha)) and then she said, “you have to read a lot of books to be able to talk like that!” hahah This was such a confidence booster for my Spanish. It was such a nice compliment. I then had the opportunity to explain how yes I was the one saying the words but that really it was the Lord who was talking. I was just being an instrument in his hands. That’s what I strive so hard for, is to be an instrument in His hands. Sometimes it's really hard but I think that’s how I can become the most successful missionary possible. It was also such a testament to the priesthood for me, you could visibly see the comfort in her eyes afterwards and the gratitude in her face, which just filled me with the spirit. I'm so grateful that the priesthood has been restored to this earth, that in the same way that Christ gave his power to his apostles (Matthew 10:1; Mark 3:14-15; Luke 9:1-2), that power has been restored and now we have the opportunity to receive those same blessings that come from it, through blessings of health and comfort, authorized baptisms and confirmations. That same authority exists. I think that’s what makes us the most different from everyone, is that we have that same authority today that Christ established his one true church with.

I know that today I have the privilege of having the authority of God with me in every moment so long as I'm worthy of it. I know that this power can bless the lives of others through those principles of faith and righteousness. I've seen the miracles that can happen as I and companions have exercised the priesthood righteously. I'm so grateful for this church today, that blesses our lives immensely.

I had the opportunity to share my testimony in English church yesterday. I talked a lot about the temple and about families. These past few days I've been thinking a lot about temples and eternal families, because we saw a video by the church about the Paris, France temple that was just finished. I started thinking about how much I love the temple and how nice it is and just the wonderful atmosphere that it brings. Also about the wonderful things we can do there, one of which is being sealed to our families for time and all eternity. It's so weird because I feel like in the mission I've thought more about marriage than any other time in my life (maybe because it’s the next step after the mission?) but it crosses my mind every so often! I see families at church or in the street or young couples and it just makes me happy to think that I know that I'm going to live with my family forever, and then when I get married and have my own wife and kids I'll be able to live with them for all this life, and the next, and forever! I think one of the principle decisions that I decided to serve a mission was because I know of that happiness that one can feel in life and I want to share it with everyone else. That comes from the knowledge that you'll be able to be with the people you love the most forever. I feel like a 12 yr old girl some times dreaming about being married. Just seems like a happy state of life ya know?? Haha

I have a testimony of eternal families. I know that through the restored gospel we can be sealed to our families forever and live with them even after death. I know that the phrase “til death do us part” is a phrase and nothing more, because families are forever. I always share the quote “A missionary is someone who leaves their family for a little time, so that others can be with their families forever.” I know that this gospel blesses families, and there's nothing else in this life that can bring us more joy than a gospel centered family.

I love you guys! Make sure to watch the church’s prince of peace videos because they’re DOPE!! Lets all think about why Jesus Chirst is called the  prince of peace and what he’s done for us.

Stay safe this week!

Elder Jones

Prince of Peace Easter videos can be found here:

https://www.mormon.org/

nopales no problems

So here it's very common to eat nopal (cactus) and it's SUPER healthy. I must say it's not the best tasting, but if you grill it up with a nice char and throw enough salt on it, it's not bad. I decided to buy some because Elder Sweat and I decided to get super healthy so this is my creation (it doesn't look great but it tasted delicious) 

​I learned how to make bomb Mexican rice, potatoes, nopales, and bell pepper. . Who said that missionaries don't cook (well)?¿

Did someone say Mormon mafia?

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Elder Sweat has inspired me to just be healthy and turn all the weight I've gained into muscle. Here's a picture for you all to analyze. My new saying is "it's never too far for the gains"

​There's this BYU speech called "the instrument of your mind and the foundation of your character" by Boyd K Packer. I encourage you all to listen to it! It's so funny and it has such a great message. 

In case you were wondering my level of dedication to this whole workout thing: 

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On Saturday we ate with the familia lara. They're this super awesome new family in our ward. I've become good friends with the father, he's super cool. We went over to their house between conference sessions and they fed us. Hermano Lara starts pulling out TONS of meat and sausage (arrachera y chorizo) and we get to grill it with him and we grill nopales and onion heads and then we made quesadillas/ tacos with it. 

On Sunday morning we were invited to eat breakfast with an English member. The wife is Korean and works for the Canadian embassy and the husband is German and their children speak four languages. It's pretty cool. We ate pancakes and watched conference. It was a really good morning.

I'll just share one thing from conference that President Monson said : "a strong testimony of Jesus Christ and His Gospel will help see us through to safety." I started to think about what safety meant here. I think it means safety spiritually, safety emotionally, and literally safe. I've experienced this in my life. I know that our testimony will do so much more for us than we can imagine. It will comfort us, guide us, and give us that safety that President Monson talks about. I'm not sure how all of you have gained your testimonies or will one day gain a testimony, but I know that for me I've felt the love of Christ without a single doubt. I know that he's there and that he died for me, that he loves us just so very much. That feeling is greater than any other feeling in the world. I invite all of you to try and find that feeling too. It changes lives. Changed mine enough that I'm serving the Lord in Mexico City for 2 years 

Love you guys so much!!! Go back and study conference it was so great! I hope you all have a wonderful week, cuidense!

-Elder Jones