welcome to the jungle

This week I went to the jungle! I'll send some pictures soon. Let me tell the story: there's a girl, whose name is Blanca. We call her Blanquita. She's 18. She lives in a place called la Pedrera. la Pedrera is a farther, poorer part of our area, and at the very end of that part of the area there's a dirt road, and then there's a trail, and then there's not even a trail, it's just "the jungle" and you make your own pathway. Blanca lives at the end of this pathway in a house made out of sticks and tarps. They heat up food and stuff like that by the fire, no stoves or ovens. There is no carpet or linoleum floors, just dirt. In January Blanquita got a disease that paralized her from the waist down. She couldn't use her legs for a while, and then she got the feeling back and had a walker, and now in July she's walking fine. But this week I got to meet her. We taught her the restauration (the pamphlet in the picture....that's on the roof of the church btw)

On the front of this pamphlet there's a picture of Jesus. He's holding a little lamb. It looks like he loves the lamb and he's hugging it tightly. I explained this to Blanquita, and explained that there's a certain way that we can access that love that he has for us, and we do it through covenants, or promises, with God. The first of all these covenants is baptism. Blanquita accepted to be baptized on august 12th, and we're going to work with her so that that can happen. I've met many people like Blanquita in the past 23 months, but her story touches me. She's still willing to follow God despite her circumstances. How many of us would do the same? Blanquita is a great example for me, of humility and love for the Lord. Hopefully one day I can also make sacrifices like she does. I know Jesus loves me. He's my best friend. I've come to know him much better throughout my time in the mission. And I'll never be able to deny it. I love you guys!  Have a great week, Elder Jones