This week was pretty good, just a normal week of work but another week closer to getting home. Today we had this zone activity which was okay, I think it was kinda just more of a waste of time because I like to enjoy my pday instead but hey it was kinda fun. My ccm teacher Hermano Vargas is in a coma right now. He got really sick, and his mom passed away yesterday, and his sister had to come back form her mission on Friday because of a knee problem, so it would be good if you guys could pray for him. But life is good. I feel good. I'll have some more dope pictures next week because I'm gonna do the tradition for one year in the mission on Wednesday which you'll see next week, but it'll be dope. 

que le pasa calabaza

I learned that phrase this week and I think it's funny so I decided to throw it as my subject line this week.

Two weeks ago in the zone we prayed all week for someone to have a miracle on Sunday. Some days I forgot to pray specifically about it but most days I did pray about it (this is like the most milagrous (miraculous maybe?) thing that has ever happened to me in the mission). Anyway all week we were praying and then on Friday I needed to call the mission leader of one of our 5 wards. I call him and explain him what's going on. He says "okay, great now I have something to tell you. There's a girl that had her records lost and she's going to get baptized on Sunday. it counts for you guys but she needs an interview." It just so happens that I am the district leader and I had to do the interview. I call her mother and said "I have to interview your daughter so she can be baptized on Sunday. We can be in your house in 30 minutes if that's okay with you." She says "I'm not in my house..." and we're like dang it...what do we do now. Then she says "I'm in the chapel" and we're like GREAT we'll be there in 10. So we sprint to the chapel, I interview her, and she gets baptized on Sunday. Isn't that a miracle????? Like it says in Moroni 7, today is still a day of miracles, but as long as men have faith, we can see miracles. Man, gotta love missionary miracles! Aren't they the best???

I went to my first wedding this week. We had to marry some of our investigators so that was pretty cool. They got married in the chapel and then the husband (the investigator) comes up to me and says "well, you obligated me to do this, and here we are" haha! It was so funny but he's a great guy and he was happy. It was a tender moment.

This past week I experience the metro more full than ever. It was the best thing ever. The metro at around 8am in a station called el rosario is like WWE smackdown or something. Except it's not acting. Elbows flying, everyone pushing and cussing at each other, and squeezing in as many bodies as you can is what its like. This past week we got in around 6pm in a different station, and it was so packed that you didn't even need to grab on to anything. It was like sardines in a can. I couldn't help but laugh so hard because if the metro went around a curve and everyone just leans and smooshes each other. You haven't experienced Mexico until you experience the metro like that.

One of the members in one of the wards has this painting in their house and in Spanish its called "discutiendo la divina comedia" and it's DOPE. Google it and someone buy it for me please. :)

On Saturday we baptized Gerardo (the homie that we got married) and it was just great. I was able to give a talk in the baptism and mentioned eternal families a lot because his wife has been a member and finally they're all members and in a year they'll be able to be sealed. It's sad because I wont be here in a year so it'll be more difficult but I hope I can go to their sealing. 

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LOOK WHAT I FOUND THIS WEEK IT'S A CHRISTMAS MIRACLE IN AUGUST

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We were eating this week with an hermana and talking about all the dangerous places in our area and dangerous things that have happened in the mission. I told her that the other day we went out at night to buy some pancake mix and passed this sketchy guy and she was like "omg no you didn't. let me go get you some right now so you don't leave you're house again" and she gave us a box of Krusteaz pancake mix. #blessings

Yesterday we went to the baptism of the son of Gerardo (he got to baptize him. How tender.) It was so funny because he got confirmed after and they finished confirming him and he stands up and says "do I have the spirit now???" It was super cute. 

To finish, I would like to share 1 Nephi 15:27 
27 And I said unto them that the water which my father saw was filthiness; and so much was his mind swallowed up in other things that he beheld not the filthiness of the water.

Is that not just so interesting? So many times in life we think "how in the world can I avoid temptation or bad things or whatever it may be?" For example with pornography: we can put filters and block websites and check phones and all that stuff, but the best way to avoid whatever form of evil in the world, is to be so swallowed up in other things that we don't see that evil. We always need to study the scriptures and pray and do all those things that are good for us to help us stay on track. 

Thanks so much for your support and prayers and help. It's all downhill from here! Love you guys, stay safe!

PS: Pray for Andrea so she can get baptized this coming Sunday.

don't lose the faith

Heard a great quote at church yesterday:

Don't worry if your kids don't listen to you, because they're always watching.

byu essay

Hey guys, I finished the essay about which CES school and also about the passion, and the risk one also but dad needs to revise it. Right now I'm finishing the short essays in part 6 of the application which I don't think need revision, but also my SAT score needs to be sent from the collegeboard website. The only thing is that there's one more essay that I can write about other things that I want the board to know about me. If you guys could think of some things I could mention that would help a lot. Can you please send me scores this week to because it takes a few weeks to get there, and I want for my application to be submitted by the end of this month. 

Also I already told mom but my invitation this week is for you guys to go to the temple on Saturday morning or whenever you can. And then take a picture together outside and send it to me. It'll be good! You have to go more for me because I can't go right now. Love you guys lots and talk to you next week!

Hey mom! Here it rains and it just stays hot. But the funny thing is that when I say hot I mean it's like 75 degrees. I'm gonna die when I get home. Last night we had a pretty solid lightening storm which I appreciated. I got to water the plants of the bishops wife yesterday, she really reminds me of you. It was fun, kinda felt like I was close to home. Alright here's my crazy dream from last night: I was dreaming about marriage, (who knows why) but anyway I was dreaming about marriage and saw myself in front of the temple, and then in front of the altar (but I'm not really sure how that works so not too much) but then a person appeared next to me in front of the temple in a wedding dress..... and it wasn't XXXXXX lol, but it was XXXXXX. Isn't that so weird? But I remember thinking that it just kinda felt right. But at the same time she's not a member and never talks to me and stuff. So I'm pretty much done there. But it was really odd. Thought I'd share with you haha. But anyway, life is good. No pics this week but hopefully next week!! Love you lots mom and I'll talk to you next week.

welcome home

Hello everyone. As I mentioned last week this change we will be in 5 areas.The Elders who covered some of the areas that were closed left a lot of work for us, so this past Saturday we had a baptism!

​This baptism is quite the tender story. This little joven is called Ines. Ines lives really close to my first convert in my whole mission, called Juana Maria. They spend a lot of time in Juana Maria's home. Ines is Juana Maria's granddaughter!!!! Isn't that amazing?? It's amazing how one convert really does lead to more. Sometimes as missionaries we're upset because we don't baptize much, but Ines is a living testimony that one baptism always leads to more.

I was also able to go to the services of Tezozomoc on Sunday to confirm her and it was like coming home. Lots of people were really excited to see me, and turns out some members had even been asking for me. It was quite the tender mercy to be able to come back to that ward. It felt like home.

We ate some cake this week. It was weird. I'm not sure how many of you have eaten a cake made out of shredded jicama, carrot, and cucumber, with mango and gummy bears on top. And then it was sprinkled with spicy sweet Mexican stuff on it. Not gonna lie it wasn't bad, but it was REALLY weird.

I'd like to share this poem I stole from Elder Nielsen's email (homie from my CCM district):

"In whose hands"

In my hands a basketball is worth $20

The hands of Lebron James worth thousands

A baseball in my hands is worth 8$ 

A baseball in the hands of Babe Ruth is worth millions

Some mud in my hands will get me dirty

Mud in his hands will heal the blind

With couple of Nails in my hands I can build a bird house

A couple of nails in his he saved all of us. 

Whose hands are we in?

This made me think...what can we be in the hands of the Lord? It's interesting to take this perspective about things and really think about: whose hands are we in?? Each of us has the divine potential to be instruments in the hands of the Lord. Sometimes we may think, we're just another human. Why would God care about me when there are billions of others to care about? But in God's hands, we're a priceless work of art. 

I love you guys! I hope everyone has great week. I almost have a year in the mission! Letters and emails are greatly appreciated.

- Elder Jones

PS....Perks of a waterproof camera: you can take selfies from beneath the water of the baptismal font. Cool, huh? Someone should make this tumbler worthy with a cool quote.

11 months

Hello friends and family! After 11 months in the mission, thank you for still reading my emails.

Today are transfers!! I'm still here so basically me and Elder Noris are hoping to rock out 8 baptisms this transfer. We're covering 5 wards right now because President closed the area next to ours. We are covering the same 5 areas that I did at one point in my first two transfers. I'm just living in a different house now. So good times. We're going to baptize the grandchild of my first baptism!! Isn't that cool? Small blessings of the Lord.

Few cool food things: I discovered A&W Cream Soda close by, so you can all be sure that I bought a case of 12 cans. You can also all be sure that all 12 cans were gone on Saturday night. Also, there's a sister in our area that has a sister that comes to sell chicken wings in her house on Thursdays, Fridays, and Saturdays. Those wings are free for missionaries. We eat free food so much. It's a blessing.

One of the very last things I did before the mission was build a trampoline. Well last week, I put together a trampoline as service. It was fun. Too bad the hermano didn't let us jump on it

We went to go eat with the Hermana Miranda Iniestra (those are both last names btw) and she has a son that's in the military. Mexico doesn't really fight any wars, but they do fight the narcos. Her son is in the north in the mountains searching narcos and for a long time she didn't want him to do it because she was scared. On Sunday she said something that really hit me for some reason. She said "solo estamos aqui de paso" which more or less translates to "we're only here to pass by". Before the mission I didn't really fear death. I just knew it was a part of life and if I died I would move on. But now that I'm in the mission and I know that next comes studying/school, working, and most importantly having a family, it scares me some times. I want to be able to have a family and enjoy that for a while before parting ways with the world. haha. But when she said that, I realized that really we're just here for a time. We're not entitled to a certain age, but when we go we go, and it's because the Lord knows that it's our time. I pondered on that for a bit and it gave me some comfort.  Hopefully that can bring us all comfort. Eternity awaits us after this life, so there's no need to worry about how long we'll be here.

Hermana Tita is this lady in our ward who loves the missionaries.  Yesterday we went to go visit her and we just talked about life and all this stuff. I asked if we could share something and she said "of course because I know that you guys always say what I need to hear". I got scared  because I was thinking what if I don't share what she needs to hear?? So I opened my scriptures and found Mosiah 4:14 which talks about our children and how we should teach them and help them to be obedient. I explained how our duty is to teach our children, but that doesn't mean they'll always be obedient. I explained that if our kids make some not so great choices, it's not always the parents fault. As parents we need to teach them correct principles. That is our duty. As I was explaining that the hermana just started crying. She explained how that is what she needed to hear. This is something that kind of scares me....that my future kids may or may not make good choices and may not be obedient at times. But then I think about myself and how I was at one point in my life. We can all return and repent. The Lord has his mysterious ways of doing things, and we just have to trust in him. 

Thanks for everything! I appreciate your prayers and support. Have a great week!!

-Elder Jones