DONT OPEN UNTIL SUNDAY

HAPPY MOTHERS DAY

I hope that you can enjoy this mothers day even though the one who made you a mother (and your favorite) isn't there hahaha. I miss you guys a lot but I know I'm out here where I need to be and I'm super stoked. I'm sorry I haven't written just you in a long time. I'm kinda a bad son but I'm writing write now haha. Anyway. I love reading your letters every week, especially the pouch that I get because it's just fun to hear about things from home and see how everyone is and it's so funny how similar everything still is, I kinda forget how Texas is sometimes lol. But anyway I just wanted to send something short just to you and tell you how much I love you. I'm quite positive I wouldn't be here if it wasn't for you and all that you did for me back home to try and get me to wrap my fat head around the gospel. One of my friends from the ccm sent an email with the title (in Spanish) we do not doubt that our mothers knew it. And that so true. I don't know where I would be without mom, and I don't doubt that you know that the gospel is true. Thank you so much for everything mom!! I love you so much and miss you and before we know it I'll have a year and it'll be like whatttt and then I'll be home and then you'll be a gma or something!!! hahha I love you LOTS!!!! Have a great day mom!

at the end of the tianguis

Hello my amados friends, I am now in the middle of nowhere, just chilling. My new area is called Tianguistenco, which means "the end of the tianguis" in some dialect. A tianguis is an open air market or something. I don't really know how to explain it TBH. It's a bunch of stands in the street where they sell EVERYTHING. Like I mean EVERYTHING. In my area there's the biggest one in all of Mexico. It's CRAZY. Like the entire colony where we live is just covered in stands. It's pretty crazy, but I'm stoked to be here.

So now I'm in the "pueblos" not in the city anymore, which means everything is SUPER different. The other night we saw a guy herding a herd of sheep down the street, and another guy riding his horse through the middle of town. There are dirt roads in a lot of the places we work in and it's super cool. It's a beautiful area with all these mountains surrounding the place, so hopefully we can get some cool pday action in and send some cool fotos. 

Here's my new apartment:

and the view from our balcony.

We're going to have a lot of success in this area. I can feel it, so I'm super excited to learn the area. Elder Matchett and I are opening this area. It's three hours in every direction on a bus. So pray for us. hahaha! The ward really needs our help so we're here to put some chispa in the ward and get them going again. 

These emails will be shorter now because of my limited computer capability. Before I go I want to share something from our district meeting yesterday.

I was asked to speak on the lesson 1 and how to teach it. Lesson 1 is the restoration of the gospel of Jesus Christ and how it came about. I really wanted to focus on Joseph Smith and the first vision, and how we can share that experience with everyone so that they can feel the spirit. I had the different companionship's do some practices about how to teach it. I had the two sisters in our district teach me and then the other two elders teach my companion. One of the sisters started explaining it. She had me close me eyes and visualize the place where Joseph knelt. She started explaining what took place and shared the experience with me, and literally even as a missionary pretending to be an investigator I just about started crying because I could really feel the spirit so strongly. I know that it's a CRAZY experience and super hard to believe that a little joven saw God the Father and the Son, but I know that it happened. I know that he saw them both and that through him Christ's true church was restored to the earth. I'm so stoked to share that with a bunch of people here.

I'm so excited to be out in the field again! We're going to do everything we can to help the people here come unto Christ. Please pray for our safety, our success, and for the ward so they can keep growing and doing better!! I love you and miss you!

Also, today is Mexican Mother's day and Sunday is American Mother's day!! Happy Mother's day to all the cool moms out there like mine. Have a great week!

Elder Jones

yo

Hey sorry we got to our area at like 6 so we had to just go out and work but I'll be writing another day probably Wednesday but maybe on tomorrow. I'm freaking out being a real misisonary again so prayers will be appreciated haha. btw if you want to look up where I live it's called santiago tianguistenco, the street is alfredo del mazo or something like that. love you guys, talk to you soon

the water was REALLY cold

okay, not REALLY cold, but it was cold.

I had the wonderful opportunity of baptizing Hermana Maria yesterday, whose family was all less active members but are now returning to the church with her. She is just amazing. ​In the picture are Elder Ellsworth, me, President and Sister Grossen, Maria, Monica and Jonathan con Josue, Josefina, y Elder Sweat. It was a very happy day for everyone. I learned so much from this family about humility. They're just SO amazing. I feel so blessed to be able to know them.

To answer the question I know you ALL have (not really)....who is Elder Ellsworth? pues, ME VOY DE LAS OFICINAS. I'm finally leaving (sorry mom, I said I wasn't but it was a joke. I'm going to be a real missionary again). haha! Elder Ellsworth got here last week and I'll be training him all this week until I leave next Monday.  

I have received several nicknames since I have been here:

1.) Elder Mom - so I got really sick on Tuesday and had a not so pleasant time. Elder Sweat and I were talking about moms and I shared about how one time I got really sick at home and every time I would throw up mom would come and check on me....then one time I threw up and was waiting and she didn't come. So I screamed MOOOMMM and she came. Elder Sweat and I had a moment over that so then on Wednesday Elder Sweat got sick and I became "elder mom" and took care of him all day. It was very sweet. I learned a lot about caridad that day.

2.) Elder Contractor - so we have 16 burnt out light bulbs in our house. Welll, we DID. But not anymore, because I'm Elder Contractor. So basically I was climbed all over beds and bathroom counters and kitchen counters to change light bulbs and figure out how it was done (because they're weird) so now I'm Elder Contractor... because I can change light bulbs

3.) Elder Dad - I have no idea where this came from actually

4.) Elder Houdini - I bought some cards the other day and have been picking up my card magic again to show some families after we finish teaching them. I'm going to have to make a video of a trick this week because the people's reactions here are THE BEST. They're a way better audience than my parents and siblings were. 

5.) Elder Squad Leader - this may be my favorite. Today we went to the bosque de chapultepec to the botanical garden to do some touristy things, and we took a few pictures like this:

and because I am the one orchestrating the shots and was in the middle I became Elder Squad leader today. 

6.) Elder Guru - I got this one about 20 minutes away. Elder Ellsworth was saying something and I apparently gave him some profound advice so he called me Elder Guru.

7.) Sherlock Jones - this is a confidential nickname that I can only tell you about when I get home.

Anyway, I have 8 months in the mission now. Isn't that crazy??? 

30 But this much I can tell you, that if ye do not watch yourselves, and your thoughts, and your words, and your deeds, and observe the commandments of God, and continue in the faith of what ye have heard concerning the coming of our Lord, even unto the end of your lives, ye must perish. And now, O man, remember, and perish not.

President Grossen shared this scripture with us in an office meeting a little while ago, and talked to us about how there's a need to take care of ourselves, our thoughts, our words, and our actions.  I think that's really interesting. One thing we always teach when we teach the law of chastity, is how there are three things that we must "cuidar" when we talk about this law, and they are: thoughts, words, and actions. The relationship between the three are actually super interesting. For example, with music: I've noticed in the past with music that I've listened to that I listen to it just because I like it and nothing else. But then it gets stuck in my head and I'm constantly THINKING it. It's always in my mind, and then that transfers into my WORDS, and you start saying things whether you realize it or not and then it becomes a mannner of speaking, and finally those things can change into ACTIONS. I've noticed they almost always become words but not always actions depending on how much we realize whats happening. My invitation this week, is to think about whats happening in our lives. What kind of things are we thinking, are we saying, and are we doing?? When someone starts to change their manner of thinking, a whole lot of other things will follow. I've noticed this in my life too

I love you guys a lot! It's crazy this is my last time to write in the offices, and after this it'll be from some danky cyber in real mexico, but I've loved my time here and learned a ton. Keep writing me friends, it's always great and really encouraging to hear from you.

Miss you guys a lot! Stay safe

-Elder Jones

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