Monday, December 8, 2014

Holy cow! What a week. To start off I want to say that this week reminded me lots of my first week in the mission. My first week in the mission was the hardest week of my life. To start off on Monday we wrote and worked like normal and then Tuesday was our Pday. On Tuesday we ate lunch at the pencion and then we ate McFlurries at McDonalds. They were very very yummy. Then we went the the Stake Center in Campoy to find out the cambios or transfers. I wasn't expecting to get transferred since I was training but well that wasn't the case. I did get transferred and I got transferred to Sucro, which is a really rich area where the work is a Little harder. And well I got transferred and am now a district leader, which I was not expecting. I was loving everything about my other area. I loved being with Elder Anderson more than any other companion I have ever had and I was sad to leave. Anyways we all went to transfers early in La Molina because Elder Nunja who was Elder Netzleys companion was training. When we got there President came up to me and asked, "Well Elder Jones, do you think you are ready?" I answered "Yeah I think so..." At this point I thought I was just getting transferred to be a District Leader and going to a new area and well nothing more. Well after that I went and talked to some of the other missionaries and then the Assistant came and found me telling me I was training.... again which meant that we were both going to a new area. WOW. Anyways that's where I am at. I am training Elder Juarez from mexico and we are opening an area and I am District Leader and I´ll tell you what it has not been easy. We are opening an area where the old elders had problems with girls, which is another long story, and we no nothing. I knew nothing about being a district leader but I am learning. Elder Juarez is really annoying and talks a lot and only talks about his girlfriend and his parents. He is really weird and nothing like Elder Anderson :(. I have been so stressed trying to figure all this out haha but I know it will get better. Yeah so anyways right now I am in a rich area where there is a KFC a McDonalds, Pizza Hut and basically what ever I want but the problem is, is that we don´t have money... The members here are really nice and we eat lots of food! They cook so much better here! Oh yeah and on top of training and being district leader and opening an area we need to find another place to live by today, find somebody to do our laundry and find a permanent penchion because the one we have is only temporary.... wow. Its really nice here and there is Little dust. There are members with cars!

Anyways that is my crazy week. Hopefully this week goes better. I need to figure out some way to get Elder Juarez to stop talking or to start talking about something else besides his girlfriend haha. The mission is great and I learn so much. I don´t really like learning hard things but I have to do it. I hope that when I get back I will be a better person and have developed more attributes like patience! Well that's about it! Thanks for the support! Love you all! I would love some letters!
Well this week was fun. I am a little short on time this week because I have had some more people email. So I will make this a little shorter. Also I didn´t get your email either so... haha just kidding. This week was good. Challenging but good. We went to the zoo in lima on monday!! Wow it was awesome! My favorite part was when we were driving to the zoo we drove for like 10 minutes right by the OCEAN!! I finally got to see the ocean in peru! Ahh I loved that. Anyways we went to the zoo and my camera died... haha so I hung out with Elder Derr, from Hyrum haha and I used his camera a little to take some pictures. He is an awesome kid. He is new and enjoys being with me. The new elders now look up to me haha but I am still new! That was fun anyway! On tuesday we just had a regular day. On Wednesday we had a zone meeting. It was really good. We learned about the importance of time management. On thursday we didn´t have a whole lot of luck teaching either. On Friday though, I think we had the best day I have had here in Surco! We had 5 lessons! Thats a miricle! We got 2 new investigators! On Saturday and Sunday we got to watch conference! I loved every minute of it! I learned so much! I want to download the talks but I feel that my internet time is a little bit limited to do that.
Okay, from the conference I want you, as a family, to do one thing for this week. You MUST have your family home evening. I want you all to watch the talk from the Sunday Afternoon session of Richard G. Scott! There are some promised blessings in this talk that I want you to find and write down. I also want you to make a plan and review how you are all going to do better at completeing the 4 things he asked! Take notes of this talk and whatever more you have time to watch this week! The family needs to do better at sharing testimonies with each other as well. Have a little family testimony meeting one of these days! Yeah!? Ok I trust you with this! I am treating you like I treat all my investigators! You must do this if you want blessings! Will you do it? In the next visit we will check up on how you felt and what you learned... Ok! Sounds good! You´re the best! I promise that you will find answers to your questions if you do this and you will receive the blessings you need!
Well thats it for me! Thank you! Love you! Keep working hard!
Elder Jones
Hey! 
Well this week was a little bit less stressful! Thank goodness! It was busy but not super stressful since we are both getting to know the area a little bit better. On Monday we watched Brother Bear as a zone and then we had one lesson later on. My companion was a little depressed because he didn't get to say everything he wanted to his family haha. He felt better after the movie. On Monday night we stayed the night at the zone leaders because Elder Harris, our zone leader, and I had to be in La Molina early for a District Leader´s training haha. It was really good! We woke up early and then we headed in the Train!! they have in Lima now! It was good! We got to La Molina about an hour early... We got back about 3 and ate lunch about 3:30. On Wednesday we basically did the same thing. We got up at 5:15 so we could get to the zone leaders apartment before 6:45 so we and the the hermanas in our district could take a taxi to La Molina for a Multi-Zone conference. It was good! I really love hearing from President Boswell! Once again we got back kinda late and ate lunch late. On Thursday we had our District Meeting. It was good. I taught about Faith! I feel that the district really enjoyed it and felt the spirit. On Friday my companion was really depressed during our weekly planning and did not want to help out at all! I got after him a little bit and had to be a little harsh with him so he would be humble enough to tell me what was going on and how I could help him. He finally gave in and told me he was really home sick and was having negative thoughts about how his girlfriend wasn't going to wait for him and such. It was a good time for us to bond. I gave him what council I could and showed him I loved him and he felt better. He is having a really hard time getting his family and his home out of his mind and is having a hard time focusing on the work here. He is a good missionary though and he will be great! Saturday we had 1 lesson and looked for rooms pretty much the whole day. We have to move because the place we are living has a girl that is about 25 or so living in the floor below us and for the rules of the mission we have to move but we cant find a place to go.... oh well. We will find one. Sunday was voting here in Peru so they do not allow meetings... Nobody was home and nobody wanted to have lessons with us. We pretty much contacted all day but it was a really good thing! We had some really cool experiences contacting! We even found a new investigator!! That's about it for my week! It was a good week! Keep praying for me and I know that in the coming weeks things will go even better! 

I love you all! Keep doing the things the prophets say and you will not go astray!

Thank you for everything! Love you!

Love Elder Jones 
368 los agrolagos urbanizacion las acacias de monterrico, la molina, lima 12 peru

Monday, November 10, 2014

Hey! Well this week was a good week for us! On Monday like I said, Elder Anderson went to immigrations. I went back to our area and we ate at the Pench. Marcos, a member, was my comp for a while and that was wierd. The rest of the week was pretty calm. We didn't have a ton of lessons but we had consistant days everyday. We had two people ready for baptism for this coming saturday but the one named Juan didn't come to church sunday. He is having problems and he is scared he wont be able to lie all the commandments. Its sad for me to see that he doesn't want to accept especially when we hae worked with him for like a month and a half now. He is really good! That was more stressful than anything this week. We hae some really good investigators but they are just having a hard time accepting baptism. We have lots of new requirements for baptism now and we have one young man that is really ready for baptism, named Luis. He is Juan's brother and is a stud. He is practically a member just  not baptised and is waiting for his brother... Oh well. All the prayers for them and our other investigators is more than welcome! We have been teaching english in the chappel on Saturday nights and we had a really good class on saturday with them! I felt like we helped them learn and understand lots. The Lord really directs us here! It's so crazy! I get humbled everyday haha but things go well for us! I am really blessed to be here with Elder Anderson! Man it's a blast! I hope he feels the same way but I don't know haha. I believe that this week on Wednesday Elder Netzley will be leaving... that is really sad for me... He is the best! haha  something funny, Elder Anderson forgot to click send on his family's email last week haha so he didn't even write them haha. Elder Netzley and I have been continuing to run in the morning so we can not get any fatter haha. I have gained like 10 pounds or more on the mission haha. Its a little sad. 

Well that's about it for me this week! Its exciting to hear about the temple dedication!Thanks for everything and all your support! The only things I ask is that you keep praying, reading your scriptures, and paying your tithing. You're all the best! Thanks! 
Love you all! 

Elder Jones


Hey! This week was a little longer for Elder Anderson and I. We worked hard but we just didn't have the lessons and success that we have had in the past. This week on Monday we went to Jikamarka and played soccer. It was fun. I was sore Tuesday so I feel that I got my exercise in. We only had one lesson Monday... On Tuesday we had a good day. we had 5 lessons. We had an awesome Noche de Hogar with a member and one of our investigators! The family bought us Chinese food or Chifa! It was so good. On Wednesday our pench was ticked because we didn't come to dinner and Elder Netzley and Nunja bought hamburgers and didn't go to dinner... haha we knew what dinner was because we always have the same dinner as what we had for lunch and, well, lunch was gross, so we didn't go to dinner. She was mad but she is cool so it was funny! The rest of the week was pretty low on lessons but it wasn't a bad week. On Thursday Elder Anderson had immigrations we went to La Molina at noon and then I went on divisions with Elder Baldarrama who is an elder in our zone and from the same group that entered the mission as me. He is cool. I wont lie I didn´t enjoy the day very much but Today Elder Anderson and his comp. are in immigrations again so I am with Elder Baldarrama and have been since 6 this morning and I have enjoyed it very much! It was a blast to study with Elder Baldarrama! We have 2 investigators with a Baptismal date and so hopefully in 2 weeks, Luis y Juan can be baptized. We have lots of investigators but we are having some problems getting lots of them to progress... We are praying and trying hard but you can pray too! We have Luis y Juan, Their cousin Edgar, Carlos, Celeste, Magali Chang, Jesus Chaves, Renzo Chaves, Cesar Chaves, Yeimi Zavala, Luz Palomino, ect. haha They are all sooo soooo good! But they are all having problems right now. They could all progress so easily and be such good members! Ahhh it has been frustrating! 

Well this morning I was studying in the book of Mormon in Mosiah 7 about rejoicing and trusting in the Lord. I made a connection between Mosiah 7, Alma 17: 2-3 and 2 Nephi 4:30, 34-35! It´s pretty sweet! I know that when we trust in the lord we will rejoice! Give me reason to rejoice in you guys at home ;) haha Thanks!

Love you all! 
Love Elder Jones 

Tuesday, October 21, 2014

This week was a good week. On Monday we got our money out for the month after writing and then we ate at KFC!!! Wow that was crazy!! It was just like the US!!! It felt so weird! We went to Grau which is like a huge mall that is full full of stuff!! There is more stuff there than I have seen in my whole life!! Its super crazy! If you come to pick me up we need to go there just so you can see it! I bought 2 new ties that are sweet. They were 8 soles or like less than 3 bucks!! I bought a CD case and a camera case. I would have taken pictures but I know my camera would have gotten stolen or I would have gotten robbed!! Tuesday we had lessons like normal. And basically it was like that all week! We had a really awesome week! We didn´t have a slow day or a super busy day so we were really blessed. This week was pretty Tranquilo. Yesterday we had 8 investigators at the church!!! What a miracle!! We are seriously receiving so many blessings! We have 2 more with baptismal dates and they are progressing well. I just love this area and this ward so much! Elder Netzley and I have been leaving in the mornings to run and I love that too! It´s so awesome to live with him! I am also collecting the collection of soles here. Its like the 50 states quarter collection! I´m having a lot of the members help me find coins because it is pretty hard. There are 21 and right now I have 13! I feel I´m doing pretty good for only 2 weeks of collecting! 

That's about it for me! This week was awesome! Thanks for everything! I hope you enjoyed the letters! Love you!

Elder Jones 
Hey this week was a pretty good week for us here in Mangomarca! To start off the week we played soccer and ate pizza and watched Tangled in Spanish! That was fun. Our zone is pretty awesome! We have Elder Martinez in our zone. He is the missionary I lived with in my first area for 2 transfers. So I really love that! He is such an awesome guy so its way sweet to have him in my zone! Last week we got money out for elder Netzley! We had 3 lessons after Pday on Monday!! That was a miricle but then the rest of the week was pretty slow for lessons. On wednesday it was our Penchtanistsas birthday and so we orderd pollo al la braza and Pizza for her family and for us and because the cell phone in our companionship has minutes and Elder Netzley´s doesnt I called and ordered the Pizza but it was really really hard and I didn´t know the direction of our pench´s house so finally the lady got frusterated and asked Can I please speak to somebody who knows more spanish!!! hahah it was so funny! I was like well sorry at the moment there is no body else. I guess what I should have done is given the phone to Elder Anderson who speaks way less than I do haha. It was hard but finally I got the pizza and chicken ordered! The rest of the week was slow except Saturday and Sunday. On saturday we went to the chapple early to get the baptisimal font all cleaned and prepared for the baptism and cleaned the chapple and then we found the baptismal clothes for the two kids we were baptising! Then we had 2 lessons and had our baptism! Elder Anderson had is first baptism!! He baptized Genta and I baptized Tatsu. These kids are crazy and we have been working with them for like 7 weeks. They are Japaneese and Brazilian and Peruvian haha and are super energetic. Their mom is a member but was inactive for like 30 years and now she is getting active again. She has a lot of things to change but she has been working so hard to fix her family and get them all doing what is right!
Anyways this week was a good week! We had some good times and good experiences! I was humbled yesterday when we went and taught with a returned missionary who is a really good teacher. We also got a few more good investigators who are ready to listen and progress! We had 6 investigators at church yesterday! That was awesome!
This morning I was studying about how we need to focus on our investigators and not the lessons and I made a great connection with something President Boswell told me. In Preach My Gospel we read about how we need to be directed by the spirit to focus on our investigators and so I was thinking how can we receive the spirit. Then I thought about the thing President Boswell told me. When we are reading and studying and praying; when we are trying to do what is right and honestly trying to receive guidance we will receive it. We may not receive guidance directly from the words in the scriptures but we will be directed in our lives! I know that just as this applies to me in teaching, it applies to each of you as you live. My invitation for you this week is search for those things you need to improve in your lives and try your best to do just as the Lord asks. Read and study. Pray and search and the Lord will direct you for the better!
Love you all! Thanks!
Elder Jones

Saturday, October 4, 2014

Hey!
This week was a good good week! I had lots of fun and probably too much fun and didn't concentrate on the work like I should have. To start off on, Monday we went and cooked hamburgers again with Marcos and then we went and ate and played yatzee and Uno in our apartment! That was fun! We had 2 lessons on Monday which was a good way to start off the week! On Tuesday, we had a Zone meeting which was pretty cool! I learned lots and the spirit was really strong there. We did a little study exercise during the zone meeting and I was reading in Alma 36 about the conversion of Alma hijo and found some really cool stuff that helped me. Alma suffered lots for his sins just like any of us who sin but he was able to remember the Savior Jesus Christ and overcome his sufferings! When he finally received a remission of his sins, he understood the Joy that the Savior brings. When he felt that joy he didn't just sit around he went to work preaching the gospel so that they could experience that same joy! He worked unceasingly for years bringing people unto the Lord. He wanted more than anything for others to feel his same Joy. Throughout his years of service he recognized the help of the Lord in his life! Alma 36:27. Basically he saw the hand of the Lord in his life and because of this he always put his trust in the Lord for his protection and so that he could accomplish what ever he was asked to do!
I learned tha's something I need to do better as a person. I need to recognize the hand of the Lord more in my life. I need to put my trust in the Lord and when I do he will help me through anything! I know that each one of us can apply this in our lives and I encourage you to do so. Take a minute and think about the belssings you have received from the Lord and then have a little more trust in him so you can overcome your trials faster and easier!
Wednesday was pretty slow day but Thursday we had the opportunity to have interviews with President Boswell!It was so awesome! He is the coolest guy! I love him so much! Interviews with him are the bomb! I went in there and we just talked like we had known each other for years! Man what an awesome experience I have to have a President!
Friday was pretty slow and so was Saturday. Sunday was good though! We got a reference from a family and so we went with them to the house of another family and met some people who I feel are super prepared to hear the message of the gospel! This week was good! Hopefully the coming week will go as well as this week did!
This week was good. On Monday we went to Huachipa, basically a dust bowl with lots of make shift houses, and played soccer! It was fun! I'm terrible at soccer but I enjoyed running and trying my best to play like the Latinos haha. I had a fun time talking to the other gringos in my zone too because I get tired of the just talking to my companion day after day! So that was sweet! Tuesday was a little rough and I can't remember what we did exactly but I know it was rough because the whole week was hard. We had a district meeting on Tuesday as well which was good. I always enjoy the lessons that Elder Netzley teaches! Wednesday and Thursday were long but Friday was by far the hardest day. I finally talked my companion into doing practices in our companionship study and so I did a practice because I want to be a better teacher and he just tore me to pieces... he made me feel so bad about myself and my teacher and my knowledge about the scriptures but he was being so hypocritical at the same time... Anyways Elder Netzley saw I was struggling and pick me up again! haha it was rough but thanks to Elder Netzley I felt a ton better. Latinos don't understand how hard the mission can be for us gringos trying to learn so much so quickly. My companion can be quite prideful but he is good and I'm learning lots from him. Also on Friday, Elder Netzley talked me into buying Pollo a la Braza and a pizza and a soda and french fries for us 4. We ordered it and had it delivered to our apartment! It was pretty sweet and super delicious! It was 43 soles which turns out to be about $16! They enjoyed it and so did I so that was fun! Saturday was long as well and Sunday was long as well until I finally understood that maybe it's not my companion that's driving me nuts, but maybe it's me. So I changed my attitude and started enjoying his company instead of dreading it! I feel a whole lot better now because of my choice to enjoy him! It's amazing what one little choice can do! Today we are going to cook hamburgers with Marcos again and play monopoly haha! It should be fun!
I've been reading in Doctrine and Covenants in my spare time and there is a ton of information that I am learning! My goal is to finish it here shortly! Also, I've been trying to memorize scriptures!
We have a baptism coming up this week! One of our investigators, Ysela, got married on Saturday so now she can get baptized!! That's sweet!

Thursday, September 4, 2014

Eating Greasy Pizza!!

This week was a really long week for us here in Mangomarca. To start off the week we ate hamburgers with Marcos again and then played Monopoly. It was super sweet! It was a good day and the sun came out so that was nice! On Tuesday it rained and was cloudy and nobody wanted to leave their house or listen to us. When we got back to the apartment my companion discovered that his bed was soaked haha. it was funny for me. It was cold too which was no fun. He got things figured out and we slept okay. On Wednesday we had a guy come to check out our roof, the same guy that fixed it last week haha. He determined after messing with it for a while that he needed to replace it. They messed around with it and made it leak super bad. Wednesday was about the same with lessons. It was bad. We got home anyway that night and because our roof was leaking so bad, we couldn't sleep in our room so we moved a mattress into Elder Netzley's room but the floor only had room for one mattress... Elder Horo and I had to sleep in the same bed on a twin mattress.... That is breaking the mission rules I know but we had no other choice. It was the worst night ever. Thursday we had divisions and it was a long day. It sprinkled all day and was cold and I was with Elder Jacome, who is really weird, (he is Elder Netzley's companion) but it was a good day. On Friday we found a new apartment that we can move into and once again had very few lessons. On Saturday we kept searching for apartments but went back to the one we found on Friday. It's really nice! So hopefully the zone leaders approve it. On Friday we had a baptism for Ysela Caballero!! She is awesome!! A True Convert! Saturday we had an English class in the church! That was cool! We had some investigators come. Jaime Zavala and her family! If you want you could pray that they can progress! They are some good people! Sunday was long but good. Our lunch with a member was steak and french fries and rice pudding and fried banana and rice of course! Oh man it was really good! Also on Friday I lost my USB with my Mormon Messages on it... That is sad. Really sad. It cost 40 soles or about 15 bucks... Now I have to buy another one. Oh well. At least I had my pictures backed up. Hopefully this week we can move to our new apartment because I'm tired of sharing a bed with my companion.

Thanks for everything! Love you all! I've been studying about the tree of life this week!! It is the best! There is so much in this vision that we can apply to our lives! It's amazing! This week we get to go the the Temple as well so that will be awesome! Thank you all! 

Love Elder Jones

Friday, August 29, 2014

Hey!   :)
This week was a good week for me! I really enjoyed it! To start off the week we didn't have PDay like normal because we went to the Temple on Thursday. On Monday we just had lessons like normal! It was good. We didn't have a ton of lessons but it was a good day. On Tuesday we had our district meeting and then the zone leaders came to our area to check out the apartments we were looking at. We went to the one we wanted first because it was brad new and super pretty but they said we couldn't have it so we went to the other one that we had never seen ourselves. It looked like crap... It was so sad looking on the inside. The lady had not moved out yet and the place was trashed. The walls were just full of drawings from kids and it stunk but the zone leaders loved it haha so that's one we got! haha I was a little ticked off because I did not want to live there. Anyways we went about our work and had a couple lessons to finish off the day. On Wednesday we went to the Zone leaders area to help them move. They have a huge apartment they moved into. We helped them carry lots of boxes. They had a on of stuff. It was a lot of work to carry all their stuff like 2.5 blocks. It was good though. On Thursday we got to go to the Temple!!!! It was the best. Our zone leaders were really worried about us not getting there on time so we left at 8, waited for them until 9.... and then got to the temple about 9:30. Our session did not start until 12:45.... haha but we got to spend some time talking to President Boswell and his wife. We got done with our session about 3:30 and the Temple cafeteria was closed so we went to Totus, which is like a Walmart, and bought a pizza that was terrible and some fries and Chicha Morado which was delicious. Chicha Morado is the purple corn drink! We made it back to our area about 6:30 and had one lesson. On Friday we had a pretty good day! We had 5 lessons! It was awesome! Saturday was a crazy day though! We woke up and moved all our stuff out of our rooms so we could take it to our new apartment. We ate and then went to our new apartment to move the lady out so we could paint and move in. Man it was a lot of work. We had a member helping us and 4 other missionaries besides us 4. Anyways we got her moved out and then while some were painting we moved most of our stuff over and put it outside. (I just want you to imagine what it must look like to see 4 missionaries carrying mattresses, suitcases, boxes, drawers full of clothes, ect. down main street) haha it was awesome! Anyways we got the room painted and cleaned and our things moved in by about 3:30 in the afternoon... and then we ate lunch and started our fast! Now that we have everything cleaned up and painted (if you could call it painted) I really love our new apartment! The best part is that the roof doesn't leak and we all get our own bed! How lovely! and we have hot water! It's the best! Sunday was good as well. We ate lots of food and had one lesson haha.

I finally finished my study about the Tree of Life vision this week! There is so much stuff to study there! My testimony is growing so much! I'm not sure if my Spanish is any better yet all I know is that it's not very good. We have 3 people with baptisimal dates! That's awesome! I can see our investigators changing and feeling the spirit in every lesson! It's the best feeling see the change and come to church! We are working with one family and one lady named Yeimi Zavala! She is so awesome and she can accept a baptism date here soon! We also have this one kid who is 12 who is super awesome! His dad contacted us in the street when we were passing his house one day and his dad used to go to church but then moved and never got baptized. Now his son, Luis, is ready! Man he is so prepared. His dad gave him a Gospel Principles book and he had been reading it before we started visiting him! He knew everything basically about the Resurrection and about a ton of stuff, and he is only 12. When we teach him I forget so easily that he is 12 because he understands everything so well! We teach him like he was a 20 year old guy! Man!! It's the best!

Well, I Love You All!!! Keep up the good work! Love you! Always pray, read and have FHE!

Elder Jones
Wow. So this week was fun... haha not really but not terrible! This week on Monday we went to Grau, which is a place in Lima where you can buy things like clothes and about anything else you want for quite a bit cheaper. Last week I think I mentioned that I lost my USB so while we were at Grau I bought 2 more because they were cheap. That cost me some money but it was worth it. After Grau we came back to Campoy, our zone, and then went back to our apartment. My companion wanted to play Monopoly and it was just the 2 of us. That was lame, really lame and that lame experience started off the long week. Tuesday we had a district meeting, which was cool! We had a Spanish class! Then we had our lessons! Wednesday was good as well! I mean, considering that the whole week my companion was in a terrible mood and didn't want to do anything. Thursday we had service in the morning and that was Awesome. We cleaned a roof off for a member. Friday was good as well. Not a whole lot to report on and Saturday was good! Sunday was good as well. This week we had quite a few lessons which was super nice! We had more this week than any other week this transfer! It was a hard week and I'm slowly loosing my good spirit but tomorrow we have CAMBIOS. Hopefully I get to stay here because right now we have 4 people with baptismal dates and we have 3 more that are getting closer to accepting a date! We will see what happens. I could leave or stay but I'm pretty sure that either way I'm going to be getting a new companion. This week I worked on writing letters to those who have written me! Hopefully in the coming weeks I can send them!

This week I had a cold and I passed it onto my companion who said last week that he never gets sick haha. He now has the cold and I'm almost done with it! I don't have a whole lot left to report. Oh, my companion found my lost USB in his bag! I must have put in there by accident, oops! Now I have 4 USBs haha!

Hopefully this week goes better for me wherever and whoever I may be with! Keep safe in all your travels! Keep reading your scriptures! Keep praying! Keep having FHE! I love you all!! Thanks for all you do! Keep up the good work!

Love Elder Jones

Thursday, August 28, 2014


Matucana

Elder Jones and Elder Netzley; friends since childhood, meet up on Mission! 

Elder Jones overlooking the city of Lima

Dinner at a Member's 

Hey!! Well this was about the crazies week of my whole mission!! It was really intense and we received a lot of blessings!!
Alright, so I'm going to start on Monday! So Monday we went as a zone to play soccer again! We played against another zone and it was a blast! My companion, Elder Horo, was in a really bad mood and he just pouted all day, he wouldn't even eat lunch... It was fun for me though! 
On Tuesday, we had a district meeting like normal because cambios or transfers got moved to Wednesdday. My companion was in a super bad mood again and Elder Netzley taught a good lesson about how our attitude brings the spirit! Tuesday afternoon we found out what the cambios were and from that moment on Elder Horo was happy! He went to a dust bowl haha. Tuesday is when things started going crazy for me! Tuesday was when I found out I was training and not only training but I was training a Gringo! haha talk about crazy for me, who doesn't know Spanish very well yet to be training a Gringo! Wow. 
So on Wednesday morning we went to La Molina early so that we could get there to have the training for all the new missionaries! My new companion is named Elder Anderson and is from Centerville Utah. He is such a good missionary just that so far he doesn't know very much Spanish haha.
Man I was not expecting to train a Gringo but so far it's been an awesome experience! I'm starting to realize how far I have come in the past 7 months! 
I'm trying to compare myself to him and trying to decide if I knew more Spanish or less but I know either way I was in his shoes not long ago. This week with Elder Anderson has helped me remember my first week in the mission and remember all of the problems and trials I had. As of right now I don't know if he knows more Spanish than I did or not but I know that I have been blessed with the gift of tongues to come as far as I have in such a short time. So Wednesday we had our training and then made it back to the area about 5:30 to start working. We were only able to have one lesson after the training but it was good. On Thursday we had a few lessons and a recent convert, named Marcos, go with us so he helped me teach a little bit in the lessons while Elder Anderson suffered trying to understand what was going on. I felt so bad for him... It's rough trying to understand. Friday we had some lessons as well and we got a new investigator! That was awesome! Saturday we had 4 lessons and I am seeing the progress in Elder Anderson everyday! He is starting to help teach the lessons a little bit and he is starting to understand little by little!! Sunday was a crazy crazy day!! We got 4 references and it seemed like every member in the church wanted to say something to us about the people we were teaching! It was awesome! Elder Anderson suffered through that because of course he had no clue what was going on! We were super blessed Sunday because we were able to have 4 lessons, receive 4 references, and we taught with the spirit a ton in our lessons! The one thing I love about having a new companion is that he has such a spirit about him! He can't really say much in the lessons but he can testify of the truth and this is most important! This week both he and I have been super humbled and we are relying lots on the help of the Lord and this makes our lessons super special! I have noticed a little bit of pride in my past companions and Elder Anderson does not have this pride about him so we are able to haves some really powerful moments! I love it!
Thank You for all your support! Love you all! Keep praying for me because what I'm doing here isn't easy! I don't feel qualified to train but I know the Lord must trust me enough to fulfill this task so I'm going to do my best! I know that any prayers I can get will help me that much more! Thank You!! Love You! Always pray! Always read the scriptures! Have FHE! You know the drill! Good luck this week! Love You!!!
Love Elder Jones

Tuesday, July 15, 2014

This week for me was good! Monday was what I thought was a pretty awesome Pday! We wrote and then when we were done we went to a member's house and ate a big meal! One of the converts here that helps us a lot cooked rice, mashed potatoes (or rather runny mashed potatoes), and chicken. Haha, typical. It was good though and we had desert! While we were waiting for him to feed us, we watched 17 Miracles! That was awesome! The best part is that they don't yet have it translated into Spanish, just subtitles! So we got to watch it in English!! Elder Netzly and I enjoyed that! After the movie we got our hair cut and we cleaned our apartment. Tuesday was pretty sweet as well! We got to go to La Molina for the Muliti Zone Conference to say goodbye to President Ardila. It was good. I got to see Elder Lascano, haha, and Elder De Paz. Elder Lascano was hapy to see me but Elder De Paz is never happy so he wasn't happy to see me, haha. It was fun though. Also all the elders got to give Hermana Ardila a hug! That was sweet! Wednesday was good. We didn't have a ton of lessons but we did set a baptismal date with one of our new investigators! Thursday we had like 6 lessons. I'm not sure how but we did. The Lord blessed us with the people being in their homes and accepting us on Thursday for sure! Friday was good. Our zone leaders came with some guys and they installed our hot water heater for our shower! Now we have hot water to shower in! That's awesome! My companion is weird and doesn't want to shower in hot water though... he says that he will get sick because of the change of temperature...I believe that it's the other way around because I had a cold for my first week in this area...haha. Saturday was good, we had a district meeting and Elder Netzly did a good job! He is super cool to have here! Sunday was frustrating but okay. We had a cool training that we did for the visiting and home teachers. That was cool!
This morning was pretty cool! I studied a little bit about patience and the other attributes of Christ in Doctrine and Covenants and in the Book of Mormon! I was strengthened lots by that! Also I thought a lot about my testimony of tithing and wrote my experience with tithing and my testimony of tithing! As I thought about it I realized that our family has been so blessed by paying tithing. The spiritual and temporal blessings never end! I thought about how because of the tithing of mom and dad and everyone else who payed in our family, the shop was able to be built and it became a place for me to focus my energy so that I was not taken down by the temptations of the world. I was able to develop my talents so that one day I can support a family!!! Man the blessings just keep going but there are a couple that I recognized! Tithing is pretty awesome!!!
I hope that things go good this week! Love You All!!
Love Elder Jones

Monday, July 14, 2014

This week was really good for me! On Monday, we had Pday as a zone and we played soccer and watched a movie! I was super sore all week from playing soccer on Monday... haha, that goes to show how out of shape I am...  On Tuesday we had a pretty regular day. It was easier to get along with my companion this week, I was less frustrated with him anyways. On Wednesday we did some service for a less active who has a broken foot. We, along with another member, took her to a store that is surprisingly very very similar to Lowes or Home Depot to buy some things for her apartment. Then we just had some lessons and what not. Nothing super exciting.
On Thursday we had an AWESOME Zone Meeting!! It was about the Atonement of Jesus Christ! The zone leaders did a demonstration that would take me a long time to explain. It was super spiritual and helped each one of us understand the Atonement better and helped us understand how to apply the Atonement more in our lives! In this activity I represented Jesus Christ and I had to do lots of push ups for the sins of the zone! That was cool! Seriously it was a really good activity and I learned a lot through the Spirit. After the meeting I started feeling sick. Anyways, we went out and worked like normal until about 5:30 when I couldn't any longer and we rested the rest of the day. It was a little weird to rest since it was the first time I had to come in early on the mission. I feel better now though! Friday was a fun day! We stayed really busy in the evening because we had the young men's president to work with us. We visited various families and found like 3 new investigators in a less active family who wants to come back to church and her kids to come to church too!! The thing is is that they did come to church yesterday!!! and they Loved it! On Saturday we painted the old room of the missionaries here before us. That took a lot of time. Then we had a baptism for an 8 year old girl, the daughter of one of our investigators and a Part Family...her dad is a member. Then we had 0 lessons after the baptism... Sunday was fast Sunday and it was good! We ate at about 3:00 and we almost died. Then we had a lesson with a reference! We found 3 new investigators there too! This week was good! Better than most. Goes to show that for us to know the good we need to experience the bad. Just like to know the sweet we need to experience the bitter and trust me, I have experienced plenty bitter here on the mission but the sweet always out weighs the bitter!

I'm a little short on time so I love you all!! Keep working hard!
Love you!!! Keep up the good work!!! This week we have a lunch with President Boswell, our new President. Rumor...or what the zone leader secretly told me sis that we get PIZZA!! A HALF PIZZA EACH!! We will see what happens!! I never get to high of hopes her in Peru... Love you! Read, Pray, have FHE, go to Church and go to the Temple!!!
Love,
Elder Jones

Monday, June 30, 2014

Hey!
Well it finally happened! I finally got sent to a new area and got a new companion! I got transfered out of Chosica to Campoy which is pretty much in Lima. It is flat here which is a good change but this week my legs have been more tired than ever and I don't know why. The war I am in is called Mangomarca (you can google maps it if you want). My area is really small but because of that we walk a lot I think. IN my other area we planned our lessons around where the people were according to distance but here we have one lesson at one boundry of the area and another lesson at the other boundry... basically we just walk from one side of the area to the other all day long. This ward is much richer than the other ward! There are actually people in this ward with Cars!! Crazy huh! Basically every house has a computer with interenet! It's a pretty cool area! The one problem with teh area is that we don't have a single investigator with a baptismal date... We don't have any invistigators progressing either... but the good thing is that we found a few new investigators this week that have a chance of progressing. I have faith that if we work hard and pray lots we can get back on our feet.

My companion is Elder Horo from Chimbote, the same city in Peru that Elder De Paz is from. He is 25 and a little wierd. I'm not exactly sure how to describe him. He has glasses and is pretty short. He is brown, has black hair, dark brown eyes that are almost black. Haha! I think I just described most of the people living her in Peru, haha!!! He is good though and wants to help me learn lots. He has the same amount of time as me, 5 months, so we are both still learning lots and improving our teaching everyday. The thing that's hard about him is that he treats me like a baby, haha... it's quite annoying. For example, On saturday, I stepped in some dog crap (which is not uncommon because of the quanitity of dog crap here) because I was walking peacfully down the side walk and he suddenly had a change of thought, nudged me and said "Elder, por aqui"(meanining "Elder, come here") and since we are companions, we have to stick together and so I did what he said and stepped off the side walk because he wanted to go another direction and stepped right in a pile. Then, because I obviously "don't know how to scrape dog crap off my shoe" he says "Elder," (ahh that's all he says, haha) "ven aqui esta un cancha de grass." (Elder, come here onto this piece of grass.) So I scrape some crap off on the sidewalk and follow his advice and use the grass. But just as I start using the grass he pointed and said, "Ven por aqui hay mas grass"(There is more grass here) (ahhh haha what do you want from me!?) haha, anyways the thing is is that he always is telling me what to do, how to do it and where to do it just like I'm a 4 year old child.

Haha anyways I like the story of me stepping in crap and I think that if some comidian was standing there watching us, he would have used that in one of his acts. Hey, what's super cool about his area is that there are 4 missionares in this ward and one of them just happens to be Elder NETZLY!! We live together and he is my district leader! It's pretty sweet! His is cool and he is a super good DL. We have the tiniest room haha, it barely fits 2 twin beds and our desks. It's like 10 feet by 8 feet, litterally.

This week is the last week of President Ardilla and we get our new president on Friday. President Boswell! There are going to be some huge changes here in the mission and hopefully for the better!
My new penchtanista is not nearly as cool and loving as my old one. She is not a member, but the worst part is that at night we barely get any dinner and we are dying of hunger. I've been buying lots of fruit after dinner so I don't die of starvation and so that I don't get fat!
Also, we don't have a hot shower here either but it's really not a big deal and I'm pretty well uesed to it after only a week. Oh yeah, and yesterday we went to a members house, (This member has money) and he is a photographer and a videographer and he took some sweet pictures of my companion and I! They are sweet, but I can't send them today...

That's about it for me! Thanks for all your love and support! Love you! Keep working hard! Don't forget to read and pray and pay your tithing and have family home evening, and always talk about the church!
Thanks!
Love You!!
Love Elder Jones
Hey!!
It sounds like things are super good in ol' Wyoming! Man it really is super weird for me to think about Brad getting married, but I can accept it because that's what I'm going to do when I get home haha! Brad sent me some pictures of Wyoming and I miss Wyoming so much haha. He also sent me som pictures of his work and his adventures with Ken and Tyler and Michael and ahhh how I miss motorcycles and being a person sometimes haha. That's super cool that Sheri and Larry are listening to the missionaries!! I hope that in some small way I helped but I know it's not me, it's simply that the Lord has plans for everybody and this was obviously the time to touch their hearts! Super Cool!!

This week for me was good! On Monday we went to Matucana which is up in the mountains and super pretty! It's not like a jungle or anything but there is grass and there are a couple waterfalls that are really pretty! Man it was super awesome! We hiked up to this waterfall for about an hour and it was tough because it is high elevation and I'm not used to hiking! But I thing the coolest part is that when we got to matucana I saw COWS!!! For the first time on my mission I sas Cows! There are little patches of grass that they feed on in these crazy steep hills and there are little "herders" more or less, that watch over them! It's sweet!
Tuesday was good as well! I believe that most of our lessons fell through but that is normal. I can't remember anything super exciting that happened this week but on Saturday I went on a division with Elder Fernandez, the companion of Elder Rasmussen, which was cool but not a whole lot of fun because we only taught 2 lessons and walked like 20 miles, haha, not really, but we walked a ton, probably like 10 miles...it was rough. The news for this week is that tomorrow is cambios or transfers and I believe for real that I will be leaving this area and will be getting a new companion because I've been in this area longer than normal. It will be interesting to see where I go and who is my new companion! Lately Elder De Paz has been trying my patience quite a bit because he has an attitude a little different and will not talk when he is upset or if something annoys him so a change will be good but it hasn't been bad.
This week I've been reading in the conference Liahona, which has been Sweet! I'm reading to improve my Spanish as well as receive guidance and feel the spirit and while I've been reading there are lots of things that have caught my attention about families. There is one talk given that focuses on the importance of family prayer, scripture study, and family home evening and I know that honestly these things are simple things that don't take much time and not a whole lot of sacrifice but in the long run will bring huge blessings!!! I also know that this is one thing that I say everyweek but it's because it will help strenghten everyone and help bring peace in homes and tons of other blessings!
The other thing that caught my attention in the talks given was about patience. I know that I need more patience in my trials because I have pleanty of them and that I am learning this attribute. I know that each one of us need to develop more patience! Thnks for all the support!! Thanks for the love! I know this Church is True! I know that the Scriptures Help Me Everyday! I love you all!
Love Elder Jones
Hey!
This week was good for me!! Monday was pretty sweet! We had P-Day and we tried climbing a hill in our area but it was super steep and the rock and everything was super looose and dangerous so we came down and went and explored the limits of our area. We explored the cemetary and went to where the houses end and there is litterally nothing for miles but rocks. That was cool. Tuesday was good and so was Wednesday! I can't remember exactly if it was Tuesday or Wednesday but one of these days we felt an earthquake!! It was kind of strong I guess...the strongest I'd ever felt!! It was awesome! Sadly no damage for the people to repent but it was cool! Actually what was cool about the earthquake was that we were knockingon a dorr, rather a piece of plywood wired to a 2x2 stick stuck in the ground, haha, and the family didn't want to have a lesson apparently because they weren't coming out and we could hear them inside the house but then Heavenly Father decided that they needed a lesson and sent us an earthquake and they came out, haha!!! I believe the earthquake lasted like 10 seconds because it was sufficient enough time for the whole family to come down their stairs and leave the house, haha. We had service this week and moved lots of dirt out of a "house" in 5 gallon buckets. I would have to guess that Elder De Paz and I each carried like 75 buckets of dirt out of this house and probably walked like a mile and a half carrying a 5 gallon bucket ull of dirt. It was a work out for sure! We were so tired. I'm not sure how much dirt it was but a good 4 bobcat bucket fulls! haha. Then Saturday and Sunday we had Stake Conference here in Chosica and we had 70 come. Elder Juaquin Costa and President Ardila also came and talked. It was good! I really enjoyed it. Today we are going to Matucana as a zone. It's about the limit of our zone and is about an hour and a half in bus! Apparently it's green and almost jungle and has waterfalls and stuff! I'm excited! And yep, tha's about if for this week!
I'm a little disappointed on the lack of spiritual experiences this week, haha, but no worries! Keep working hard and keep studying the scriptures. I love you all!!! :)

Monday, June 23, 2014




Hey!!It's winter time here so it's been a little chilly in the mornings haha. Nothing compared to the chill of Wyoming but it's enough that I put my sweater on to study! Luckily we have hot water in our shower so I don't have to freeze that way! Hot showers are awesome!
This week was a little longer for Elder De Paz and I. Monday he was a little upset with me but we got that all settled haha! The rest of the week was just simply long because we don't have any investigators that are progressing and we have Elder Rasmussen breathing down our necks 24/7. We've been working super hard but right now we are learning the lesson of patience and diligence because we know one day our hard work will pay off. Elder De Paz says he hasn't been in an area this tough for a year and he said that before he came to this area he thought his trials of the mission had passed but that's not the case. We had a ton of lessons this week but nobody is progressing. We've been teaching a ton of less activities. Who knows haha. I don't really have any awesome experiences this week but something that's cool is that this morning Elder De Paz said that I was talking in my sleep last night and that I was talking in Spanish...haha. I guess that means that wither my mind is really confused or I am slowly changing to Spanish so that's cool. Anyways keep up the hard work.
Keep working hard, praying, reading the Scriptures, and going to Church and everything will work out great! Love you all and the support you give!

Elder Jones

Friday, May 30, 2014

I haven't gotten bit by a dog this week, but Elder De Paz got bit by the same dog that bit me twice in the last 3 weeks haha! Just his pants though, no skin. This dog is nuts...silent but deadly...!
Hey!
This week was really good! We didn't have P-Day Monday, but we got to write so that was cool. Monday was a pretty blank day really. I don't know if it's just Peru or us but there was nobody around to visit on Monday. We had some lessons though which was good. Tuesday was pretty much the same. We had a lesson with Susana who has a baptism date set for this Saturday!! She is super prepared and is living all the commandments, she has been going to church, reading the scriptures and the pamphlets that we give her and is progressing really well! Wednesday wasn't too bad because more of our lessons or more of the people for the lessons were in their houses. We had a lesson with Andre who has a date for baptism set for this Saturday! On Thursday pretty much all of our lesson fell through but we had a lesson with Sandra who has been going to church as well and is progressing but slowly...Friday was the best day ever! We got to go to the Temple as a zone! The way it was going to work out was that there wouldn't be room in the session for 3 of us new guys in our zone but everybody got to go through!!!! That made me super happy because we only get to go to the temple every 3 months! President was in the Temple with us as well and we got to talk with him and ask him lots of questions! It was awesome! I went through the Temple with Elder Batty as well and got to talk to him! That was cool!! After the Temple we went to the Chapel in La Molina, which is huge and nice haha. We ate lasagna and them played sports until about 5. Then we left and came back to Pierola and ate dinner and our day was finished. It was so much fun! Saturday was good as well, other than pretty well all our lessons fell through. We did meet with 2 less active families and one came to church on Sunday. We also ate steak and french fries and ice cream with Julino! Sunday was really awesome as well! There was hardly anybody at church due to laziness and mother's day so that was a little sad since none of our investigators were there but after church we ate dinner with Ivonne, a member in our area. It was really good and a ton of food!!! Then we went to the Family Shikshi and skyped our families!! That was really really awesome as well!!!! I got cake and skype worked great!! It was so cool to talk to the family! It was awesome!!
My Spanish is improving as well!! I gave a talk in church yesterday as well! I believe that this is my last week here in Pierola... It's actually pretty sad because i really love it here and I love the people! The ward is pretty lazy and the bishop doesn't like to help the ward out much but other than this aspect, I'm going to really miss this area. We have 3 baptisms scheduled for this Saturday and I believe that they will go through! That's about it for this week!
This morning I studied a little bit about hope and learned quite a bit about this attribute! First I learned or realized my idea of hope wasn't completely accurate but i came up with a little definition of hope for myself. "Hope is a knowledge of something good and a desire to one day have that good thing in our lives." -Elder Jones  :)
I'm not sure if that definition is completely accurate or if it makes sense to anybody else but I like it, haha.

I studied in Ether chapter 12 this morning. This chapter is awesome and I think that all can benefit from this chapter! The chapter talks a lot about faith, hope and charity and by studying this chapter I learned how closely intertwined these attributes are.

Tuesday, May 6, 2014

This week was a bite free week with the dogs haha!! It's a miracle but the same dog that bit me last week snapped at Elder De Paz this week haha but only got his pants! In about 2 weeks I'll be getting a new companion haha! SO my companion is good. He is a little mean sometimes but I need somebody to get mad and straighten me out haha! He is really good for me! Yep thats about if for this week.

Monday, May 5, 2014

I like clean stuff and I'm kinda collecting a little bit of junk in my apartment. Mostly books but the problem is that I don't have places to put them haha. It will be cool to see the huge change when I come home!
Monday we went to a members house to get a soccer ball and we stayed there for like an hour and a half which was nice because afterwards we were going to play soccer. Then we played soccer and I really don't like soccer. Then Tuesday we had some lessons. Then Wednesday I had divisions with Elder Rasmussen. It was good but we only had 1 lesson because he is already really strict on the rule where there must be an adult make in the hose if we are going to have a lesson and in this part of the world that is practically impossible since every man works until 8 at night. It's a good rule if there are problems with an Elder or other person but it's kind of hard to follow. He interviewed Diego for his baptism as well. Thursday was normal other than we had service in Chosica as a zone. That was fun. We filled bags like grains sacks with sand and gravel and hauled them to the third story of a house for like 2 hours. It was hot! Then Friday was normal. Saturday was pretty awesome!! We studied personally and then went to another zone to do service. I got sun burnt and we had a baptism that night. Diego, who is 12 got baptized! I baptized him as well which was SUPER SUPER Cool!!! Baptism help make all the work worth it! Sunday was good as well. We had 7 non-members from our area at church. I can't really call 4 of them investigators just family of a member but maybe someday they well be investigators. We had lunch in the other missionaries area which was super far away. We are out of money for transportation too. Yesterday we only taught 2 families because nobody was home and I helped one Hermana with her English homework haha. People are always wanting help with English. It's everybody's goal to live in the U.S. one day. It's so sad because everybody wants to so bad but it's so hard to get visas and they don't know English. Most people spend a good couple years here after high school studying English. I am super glad and blessed that I know this language and I live where I live!! Also this Hermana works for a factory that makes the plastic covers for cakes and gets paid 35 soles for 8 hours. That's like 12 dollars!! Her brother works nights and gets 50 soles. That's rough!!!! It's like 2 hours at the fairgrounds.... Anyways other than that not a whole lot has happened. This morning I studied in Alma 7! Alma 7 is a really awesome chapter because I think in versus 23-25 it talks about patience and love and Christlike attributes and the blessings we can receive if we develop these attributes! Also if you want a good spiritual chapter, I really like Alma chapter 5. This chapter is so true!
Love Elder Brent Jones
This week was super great! I got a new companion, Elder De Paz!!!! He is super cool! He is 20 and way more serious and grown up than Elder Lascano! He was converted when he was 10 and he knows so much about the scriptures and the doctrine of the church and I envy this! The toughest part is that he knows so much but when he is explaing things to me and helping me learn more I don't get all the information because of course it's all in Spanish! Probably the best part about his change is that Elder De Paz is way way way more obedient than the other Elders that were in the apartment before! Now I have somebody to wake up with and I'm not tempted to sleep in! Elder De Paz is from Peru and has 16 months in the mission! Also in this change I got a gringo in my apartment!! His name si Elder Rasmussen from Sandy. He has 14 months in the mission and I am grateful for him as well to help explain things to me! He is way strict with the rules, letter of the law, which is good but it's a complete change from Elder Lascano and Elder Cuadra. (by the way I have a story to tell you about Elder Cuadra but due to time and I'll it to you later, it's intense!) This new change has been great! Let's see, Monday was our P day of course and it was a huge bummer in all truth. We wrote our families and then went back to the apartment so Elder Lascano could write his convert...a birthday card... then we went to chosica and printed some more pictures and then went to the post office to mail a letter for Elder Lascano. Then we waited for his convert's mom for like an hour... and then we went to a meat market in chosica! Haha try to imagine that!! And then we ate chicken and french fries at a resteraunt with them for like 3 hours. In total we spent like 4.5 hours with this family! It was ridiculous! Then we had a couple lessons that night. Tuesday was cambios (transfers) and so i went to La Molina with Elder Lascano and picked up Elder De Paz. We had some lessons to which were good! Wednesday we had some sweet lessons and committed Pamela to Baptism on the 19th!!! She is so ready! Her sister is a member and right now she is living with her sister! She may have cancer or some ailment so that prepares her even more! She understands total! Then Thursday we had some more lessons and committed 2 more people for baptism on the 10th of May!!! It was a mom and her daughter. Friday was good too and so was Saturday! Sunday was sweet too because this one kid that Elder Lascano and I stopped working with due to our laziness came to church so we went to his house and visited with him and his dad and set a baptism date for 26 of April! His dad was awesome. He was laying down the law about how he needs to read the pamphlets and the Book of Mormon instead of going out and playing and how he needs to make sure he goes to church every sunday because this is a big choice he is making!! The crazy thing is that his dad is catholic and doesn't want to change! Yep, that's my week! It's crazy the success you can have when you work hard and have the spirit and are obedient and have awesome companions!! This week I was studying in the scriptures and this morning I did a little studying for the family and came across a scripture in Mosiah 3:13. This scripture talks about prophets and how we need to follow them and how they are called for us!
Love Elder Jones

Wednesday, April 23, 2014

This week was a long week in all honesty but it was good too! On Monday, we had Pday as a zone so we played soccer and watched ice age 3. We can watch Disney movies as a zone! That was cool. Then Tuesday we had a good district meeting. We had a baptism scheduled for the 19th but then the lady who we were going to baptize said she wasn't quite ready so we didn't have one. But she is really prepared and I think when she gets back from her parents home in a few weeks we will baptize her. She is awesome! On Wednesday we pretty much just walked around all day up the hills and down the hills. Thursday we had service at the pench for Hermana Cindy! That was cool I was kinda sick but nothing bad. Thursday night I was sick sick but recovered not too bad on Friday. We just walked around a lot too. Then Saturday we got a new investigator that is probably going to be baptized. Adre is 12 and his step dad is a member and he came to church on Sunday too. Sunday was a good day. We had 3 investigators at church. Susana is one of our inv. and she is awesome!! She is so ready for baptism and she will get baptized next month! Elder De Paz is a good too! We get along pretty good for now. He has his quirks but nothing bad at all. He is starting to figure out the area as well so that makes it a little easier on me. He uses a ton of different Spanish words that Elder Lascano never used and so sometimes I don't understand him haha but it's all cool. It's really nice having Elder Rasmussen in my apartment and as a district leader!! He is a cool guy! Not a whole lot else happened this week in Verdad. Oh yeah, it rained for a little bit this week one day!
I got bit by a dog yesterday!! Didn't rip my pants or anything! Just a little bruise that was pretty funny! That doesn't happen everyday!

Tuesday, April 8, 2014

A Whole Lot of Randomness!

This week was good but definitely could have been better haha!! The scriptures, the prophets, and all the church leaders, and even I preach this to those we teach that without trials and hard times we don't know good times. So far in the mission I've had a lot of good times but sometimes it feels like more trials than good times. It may just be that I don't recognize the good times but in total honesty the mission is super hard! This week was a good week though! Monday we ate and then pretty much just rested and I exercised a little bit because I was feeling sick from all the food that I eat and the lack of walking a manual labor haha. Then Tuesday we had a service with the other Elders in our ward! Oh man was that nice!! Elder Lascano does not like to do service so we never do any of it but this week we finally did some! We climbed up in the hills where the houses (or rather shacks or huts or forts) ended and worked on leveling a place for a house be put. We moved what felt like a lot of dirt and probably worked for like an hour and a half but we didn't really make a dent in the hill side. The rake I was using had a broken handle and was about 3 feet long. The shovels here are really heavy too and are about 2 feet long haha. I got a few blisters because my hands are those of women after nearly 3 months of no manual labor haha!! It was a blast. Wednesday nobody was home so we walked around a lot and hardly taught anybody. Thursday, Elder Lascano went to the doctor in Lima so I went with him and found out that one of his muscles was torn but was healing. He was releived that it was healing. Then Friday was the best day ever!!!! Elder Lascano and Elder Cuadra had to go to Immigrations so Elder Martinez and I were companions!! We are the quieter ones in the apartment and we are the more obedient ones too and we are the ones who want to work hard so on Friday we worked hard!!! It was a great day! We taught 5 lessons. 3 in his area and 2 in mine! We walked probably like 10 miles and on top of all of this we did the paperwork that we were behind on and planned for the week!! Elder Martinez and I woke up and went and did service before conference while the other Elders "Prepared for the day" haha it was so much fun again! Then we watched conference Saturday and Sunday!! It was really nice. Everything was in Spanish but I got the majority of the messages and didn't even fall asleep. (I have a problem with falling asleep when my mind gets bogged down with too much Spanish) haha oops... It was nice and the messages were good. This conference was directed towards the youth and addictions in the world. It is super necessary that they talked about that because I know that Satan has a huge hold on the youth and we are the future of the church. The temptations during high school and even middle school are unreal!!! My only advice to offer is that everybody prays daily!! Reads the scriptures daily!! Prays for help!! Listens to conference talks!! And Family Home Evening is super important as well. It's the little things that build testimonies and it's the testimonies that save us in times of struggle and temptation!!!

Anyways, some of my struggles this week that might be kind of funny to you:
1. I have bed bugs!! I have been super itchy this week because I have bites all over my body haha!! It's really not that terrible but it's annoying! I think it's my blanket but I don't know. I honestly don't even know if it's bed bugs but it's something. I sprinkled some sort of baking soda salt stuff that a member gave us in my bed because he said it is good for everything like soaking your feet and for bed bugs but that did no good. So last night I sprayed my bed with bug spray and myself as well. I think that helped haha. I believe that was a first for sleeping with bug spray on!
2. I may be getting a little bit fat.... I know I'm not as thin as I was when I left home but I don't think I'm that much fatter either. There is one family in our ward who likes to feed us and we never turn them down because the food is so good. We are not supposed to eat out of the pension but we do sometimes. Yesterday he fed us pizza and a whole bunch of other stuff! We got snickers too!! That was a first since the U.S.!
Yep, those are my funny physical struggles so far... haha
 So, while I was reading this morning, I came across this scripture in Helaman 3:26, 27, 35. It's pretty good. You should read it.
Transfers is tomorrow and I'm not sure what is going to happen but whatever happens will be good! I would like to change but maybe Heavenly Father thinks it is better this way haha. I don't think so and neither does E. Lascano!!
The food here is really really good, or maybe I've just changed my outlook, but I love it! We had liver and rice and split pea mush the other night, and man was that amazing!! I'm learning to love stuff like liver and the poor cuts of animals more! I don't know if it's the way it's cooked or just me but it's good! They use every part of the chicken in their food too, except the head! They use the feet, liver (chicken liver is not as good as other livers, but it's not bad). Yeah, it's really good! I love rice right now, but maybe after 2 years that will change! We eat bread and either ham (rather something like ham) cheese or jam for breakfast and it's so good! Love You!
Love Elder Brent Jones

Miracle With A Taxi and a Cell Phone, Plus the Rest of the Week

On Monday after writing, my companion was all depressed and didn't want to do anything so we went and ate and then I took a nap while he read and prayed and got his spirits back in order. Then we went to chosica and fixed my radio so that I can listen to music! That was nice. We took a taxi to chosica and when Elder Lascano reached into his pocket to pay, the cell phone fell out onto the seat and I looked down at it but didn't think anything of it. We got out and didn't even have time to shut the door and the taxi was gone and our cell phone as well. We prayed and I prayed we could have a miracle and for some reason I felt that we would and never lost the hope. Anyways, a new cell phone would cost 80 soles (40 a piece) so Elder Lascano decided he wanted some spiritually up lifting food. Pizza!!!!! We went to Godfathers Pizza and he bought a pizza for 30 soles!! And wouldn't let me pay so I got pizza!! We went and taught a lesson after that. Tuesday I can't remember what we did but I can tell you we did nothing. Elder Lascano has been so worried about his leg and he can't hardly walk much and he has been all depressed so I'm pretty sure Tuesday we taught like 1 lesson. Wednesday was the same way. Elder Lascano has lost all his ambition about the work and won't hardly get up in the morning and won't do anything during the day so Wednesday we had maybe 1 lesson as well... I don't know what to do so I'm just being obedient for myself and studying ad being super patient for him since he is depressed and unhappy and what not haha. On Wednesday though I saw the taxi that we lost our phone in and so I chased it down and said in rough Spanish that we lost our cell phone in your car on Monday. He looked at me like an idiot, shook his head and finger at me and zoomed off haha. For some reason I still had faith though. Thursday Elder Galindo (missionary from the CCM in my mission) went to a training with the President and all the other new missionaries. It was very good and uplifting!! I loved it! We went to distribution, the temple store. I bought a video of President Monson and a case for my Spanish scriptures, both Bible and Book of Mormon and some stickers. We then made our way to Burger King and ate there and came back to chosica! What a fun day and a nice break!! Then after Elder Galindo was safely at home with his companion, Elder Martinez and I made our way back from their area to our area and it just so happened that we got the same taxi that we lost our cell phone in!!! How does that happen!!! Then I told Elder Martinez that this was the taxi and the guy overheard me and said it was at his house and he would give it back tomorrow!!!!!!!!! How does that happen!! These people are so dishonest but Saturday morning we got it back!! What a miracle!! What a blessing!! Friday was pretty sad as well. Elder Lascano went to the Doctor on Friday and they just gave him pain pills so he was depressed and had absolutely no ambition and I think we taught like 1 lesson.... Saturday was bad too because we taught 1 lesson. I had an awesome fast Sunday though! and now we are back to Monday! Elder Lascano goes to the Doctor on wednesday and hopefully gets transferred out on Tuesday of next week. If this happens we will have some new fire in our area and will be able to be missionaries, not lazy bums haha. That was my week in a nutshell. Nothing too spiritual and hopefully the coming weeks are better for missionary work. I am happy and content in this area because the people are amazing but we need to go to work or else I will eventually go insane! Thanks for the help and support! Oh Yeah, and we might change penchtanistas(the lady who cooks for us and washes our clothes) Tuesday because ours is so far away! Love you! Keep me in your prayers! I'll do the same for you! Thanks for everything!!

Love Elder Jones

Learning About People and Their Trials

I think I'm going to have some time today to send you letters and pictures!It's kinda pricey. 20 soles or so and we only get 87 a month... This week in all honesty was difficult. Elder Lascano is still having problems with his leg so that is driving him and I a little crazy. We had our problems this week but got them worked out which was super good!! We also were blessed with Kentucky Fried Chicken again on Saturday night and french fries which was amazing! We had some good lessons as well but our investigators seem to be going down the drain haha. I'm not sure what we can do differently. We had José Rodreguez this week who had a baptism date for the 29th and he needed to either get married or separate from his girlfriend and he was going to separate but then they decided to get married which was the wrong decision because she is no good. He was an alcoholic too but didn't drink for 2 weeks then he caved and then caved again and didn't come to church. Then we had Angelica who had a baptism date for the 5th of April and was progressing really well but then for some reason she had a terrible experience at church yesterday and so I'm not sure whats going to happen there. Then we have Grabriel who needs to gain a testimony of the Book of Mormon but he won't put forth the effort to read haha. We have more problems with all of them too. Then Jessica progressed this week and came to church. Missed sacrament but made if for the classes. At first it was bad but after she warmed up to the people and got her 2 kids settled into their classes it was better. She is amazing though and is in like Alma 25 or so. Other than that, this week was good. I believe that my Spanish is getting better but I can't tell haha! This morning was crazy too. We woke up and then the zone leaders called and said we needed to leave as soon as possible for Lima for the mission doctor for Elder Lascano. So we left without breakfast and made it just about to Lima and the zone leaders called and said the doctor wasn't there today so we got off the bus and came back to chosica just in time to write haha. It's hard to believe I've been on the mission for 10 weeks and in the field for one Month! The days drag on but the weeks fly haha. Thanks for the support! Love You!
Love Elder Jones


Thursday, March 20, 2014

I don't have a lot of time to write by my companion is a good kid, but a kid, not a man haha. Life is good. I don't have a favorite food because all I eat is rice, potatoes and chicken but I love the fruit here. They have all sorts of different fruit. My favorite are the little bananas that are like half or quarter the size of a regular banana. They are so tasty! They flavor things differently and use more oil in their cooking. I like all the food but the fruit is my favorite. I also love granadillas. You should look for them in the stores because they are starting to sell them in the U.S. now according to one of my teachers in the CCM.

Friday, March 14, 2014

A MUST Read Letter

Nothing is the same here. The people act weird, look weird, smell weird and even taste weird...haha. I don't get to look in the mirror very often so when I do, I just about have a heart attack because I am white and have blonde hair and blue eyes haha. Everyday I have people that stare at me when I walk down the street. Families that can't get over the fact that I have ojos azules (blue eyes), and little girls that love to say HELLO because it's in English or people that love saying GOOD AFTERNOON because it's in English too. The people are crazy...

A Better Week

This week was so much better!! Last week was like the hardest least fun week of my life but this week was honestly no bad at all!! Getting a Pday was super nice and I definitely needed one! I thought a lot less of home this week and that made it easier because home is seriously the most awesome place in the world but everyday I get more and more used to this place. Latino companions are rough as well and I'm sure you can testify of that too. Last Monday we went to a members house with the other Elders in our district and ate lasagna and it was so so good! I fell asleep on their couch waiting for them to finish preparing the food and that was nice. When I'm at members houses I feel more at home too because they are generally a little cleaner and way more friendly and love the missionaries. On Tuesday we taught some people but I can't remember who at the moment and same for Wednesday and Thursday. We have a little group of investigators we have been teaching but it would take too much time to remember all their names and write them .On Friday Elder Martinez, (Ever is his first name haha and he is in the other companionship in the Pierola ward and lives in our apartment too) anyways, we got to go to Lima to Immigrations! We had to get up a 4 and shower so we could make it too La Molina by 6:15 but we got up and the shower barely had a little trickle of water and the heater wasn't working either so we kind of had showers. Then we went to Lima and when we got to immigrations, I saw a few gringos from the CCM, my Comp. Elder Sitton and 2 hermanas. They were looking so rough! They were like depressed and hating life haha. I was doing pretty well but they weren't. I cheered them up a little though. I was fun to talk to them and they have much easier living conditions than I have. We got to eat Chineese food too! Then on Saturday, we had some apartments set up, but then the people were gone so we went to one investigator's house and she was busy preparing for whycol...(when it rains and the mud and rocks come down the mountain and flood the houses and streets and fill the river with lots of water and mud and trees. I guess it's pretty serious) so she said she couldn't come to church but I told Elder Lascano we could go do some service because we had nothing else to do so we wnet and filled sand bags in our church clothes haha. The pile of sand was down about 12 feet or so and Angelica's nephew was carrying buckets of sad up a ladder and filling the sand bags. I carried a couple buckets up the ladder bu mostly just carried the buckets over the treacherous trash haha. We worked there for like an hour and a half and filled like 20 sandbags haha. It was a slow process. I'm slowly learning how much  of an immature little child Elder Lascano is haha. It takes so much patience! It was funny to me that he couldn't even shovel sand. That was a nice change though. Sunday was pretty normal, not much happened. We live on a hill and our penchtanista lives like a mile away so we usually walk down there 2 times a day to eat but lots f the times we don't have time so we get a taxi or we have the other elders bring our food up to us. It took Hermana Bety like 5 days to get my laundry done this week because of all the rain we've been having so I had to wear my shirts like 3 days in a row nad garments 2.. haha and I still haven't gotten my socks back...a week later so I've been wearing the dirty ones again. We have some crazy eating conditions too and our laundry is done in a bucket and laundry tub it;s so crazy. They come back clean, I don't know how but they do. I bought some new Spanish scriptures at the distribution this week was 97 soles!! We get 87 personal soles for snacks and soap and stuff per month. (30 Dollars)!! So far I've used like 10 soles, so I'm in good shape for a while. I used my debit for the scriptures. Things are much better! No need to worry haha. I'm sure that they well continue to get better with time as well.
I sleep fine in the field but when I was sitting all day long in the CCM, I couldn't sleep at all! It was terrible. I still want some candy and chocolate and maybe a good jump rope for morning exercise. I bet if you go to a sports store somewhere, you can find a good one. I prefer one with bearings on the handles and like a cable rope but whatever. One of the Hermanas in the CCM had a really nice one like that. Life her is crazy but good. Thanks for the support and the love! Hopefully I can send some pics, but the computers are slow so maybe not haha. Thanks! Love you all!

Tuesday, March 11, 2014

All People in Lima Peru CCM

Rama Manti:
Elder Pond, Elder Jones, Elder Sitton, Elder Foster. 
Hna. Cunningham, Hna. Mahas, Hna. Smith, Hna. Flora.
 Hna. Riverin, Hna. Huish, Hna. Hubert, Hna. Bowers, Hna. Kingsford
Pdte. González, Hna. González

Rama Zarahemla:
Elder Velarde, Elder Garcia, Elder Vanegas, Elder Temporelli, Elder Lazo, Elder Yegros, Elder Morno, Elder Sosa
Elder Martinez, Elder Tello, Elder Bonilla, Elder Gomez, Elder Pardo, Elder Blanco, Elder Balderrama, Elder Batista.
Hna. Perfecto, Hna. Simons, Hna. Cano, Hna. Perez, Hna. Guachalla, Hna. Lopez
Pdte. González, Hna. González

Abundancia:
Elder Sinuiri, Elder Esteban, Elder Murillo, Elder Zegarra, Elder Ortega, Elder Castillo, Elder Farfan,
 Elder Rosales
Elder Fernandez, Elder Galindo, Elder martinez, Elder Correa, Elder Naranjo, Elder Igarza, Elder Sepulveda
Hna. Ponce, Hna. Guachalla, Hna Aquino, Hna. Medina, Hna. Tacconi, Hna. Flores
Pdte. González, Hna. González

Hermana Zambrano, Hermana Milano, Hermana González, Presidente González, Elder Galindo, 
Elder Bobadilla.