Hola

So things are going well here in good ol Peru! 

We definitely had a week of ups and downs but things are going well and progressing. Not much has been happening but here are a couple of updates:

The Rodriguez family is progressing well, I don't know if I already mentioned them, but it is Alejandro and Sonia and their two daughters Lucero and Araceli.  The daughters are our ages, and the family actually lives in the area of the Elders, but the daughters are kinda flirty so they gave the family to us and we are teaching them now, and working so they can get baptized in October! 

We had a cool little miracle with them this week.  We visited them on saturday and they told us they weren't going to be able to go to church on sunday because Alejandro had to study for a big test at work.  Well we talked to them about sabbath day and eventually they agreed to go to sacrament meeting.  We left but still weren't pleased because we have this new rule that they have to attend ALL THREE HOURS three times to be able to get baptized so if they didn't go on sunday, we were going to have to move their bapt. date.  So we left worried but had said all we could and were just praying that they would stay three hours and we would be blessed for being obedient to the new rule.  we weren't sure how it was going to work out but we figure the Lord would help us out! 

So on Sunday they all came as promised, and after sacrament meeting we went to talk to them and casually asked, "so are you going to go to the classes?" and then without hesitation the stubborn dad just said, "yeah." and then went to class.  We didn't ask questions or anything we just went along with it and we aren't sure how the Lord did that, but it worked and they are stil on track to get baptized! 

I received some great news this week that my 2nd baptism, Maria Hambudge, who got baptized last August, got endowed! I was so happy to hear that.  It's one thing to baptize a person but it's another to know that they are progressing and enduring to the end! There has been a lot of focus on retention here because it wasn't done very well in the past, so there are a ton of inactives.  So we are very careful in making sure that they are going to stay strong.  I am excited to see the progression of everyone else as well and I think that would just make my joy complete to see them making it to the temple. :)

This saturday our branch is going to the temple, and so all of our converts here, the pimentel family and the Cuenca family are going to go and do baptisms.  The twins in the Pimentel fmaily just turned 12 last week so they got the priesthood on Sunday and are going to be able to go.  They were originally going to go this past weekend to the temple, but we brought up that situation with the twins so the branch changed the temple date for them. So cool! So I am excited for them all to go :) 

Last monday we played volleyball, and it was sad.  All athletic ability that I ever attained is now gone.  I've turned into a tall awkward gringa full and slowed down by all the rice and potatoes. But it's okay because I've never been happier than being in the full time service of the Lord. :)

The church is true!

love you bunches. 

Hermana Jones 

Life is Good1

Hola,

We had a good week and things are picking up a lot here.  We are starting to see a lot of fruits of our efforts and things are going well!

The entire Rodriguez family FINALLY came to church! The two daughters, Lucero and Araceli, who are 20 and 22 have been coming for weeks and are great, but the parents have been more difficult to get to come.  But they came yesterday and it was great.  The Relief Society teacher didn't come so the president asked me to give the lesson about temples and sealing. So I taught on the spot but it turned out really well and was perfect for the family because I focused a lot on how it is Impossible to enter into Exaltacion without sealing in the temple.  They were pretty worried because their Catholic marriage isn't cutting it.  So they enjoyed the lesson and we went by afterwards and taught more about it and they are definitely warming up to the idea of getting baptized so they can get sealed as a family.  

These next few weeks will be interesting because we found out that on October 5th they have elections here.  Well apparently they always have elections on saturdays, and when there are elections, it's illegal to have any sort of public reunion or gathering because it is law that all go vote. So we aren't allowed to have church that day.  Which means we can't watch general conference that weekend! Sad. :( So we have to wait until the next weekend.  Don't tell me about anything cool they talk about until I see it! haha. That also means that we can't have baptisms those two weeks because they have to get confirmed in sacrament meeting.  So we have to plan a lot better now.  

I have been reading Jesus the Christ a lot because I really want to finish it before I finish my mission.  I love it! I was reading about lots of the parables and I love the explanations and insights that Talmage gives. Not going to lie, I didn't really understand a lot of those parables before haha.  But I especially loved when he was describing the parable (I don't remember the name) but when the man goes and knocks on his neighbor's door in the middle of the night asking for bread for a traveler, and the neighbor doesn't want to get up and give it to him , but in the end he does it.  I love that becuse I was thinking about my life and how much Heavenly Father loves us, that he really wants to give us all these "gifts" so we just need to keep knocking and when we keep knocking and keep asking humbly, he will give them to us when we have proven our Faith.  So keep having faith! 

Good week, thanks for all the love and prayers! Life is good here and I love being in the service of the Lord. 

Helaman 3:35.

Love you bunches!
Hermana Jones 

p.s. I did a work visit with Hermana Stirling and she had ranch dressing and we made wraps and it was heavenly. I forgot that ranch existed! 

chanchos

Hola mi familia!

Good week this week, not much to write!

We went to Lima and had our monthly leadership training which was awesome.  They put in a couple of new rules for baptizing in this area. The investigators have to attend church three times, and they have to go to church all three hours three times before getting baptized.  Also, they have to pay some sort of offering or donation before they can get baptized.  It will make things a bit trickier but I can definitely see the wisdom in these rules, making sure that the converts remain active and faithful members of the church.  We'll see what type of good results it brings!

We found lots of awesome families this week that are MARRIED so that was awesome.  We'll see what happens with them! stay tuned.

The Pimentel family invited us to help them out a bit in a field by their house where their uncle raises pigs.  So we went and it was definitely the grossest experience I've ever had haha.  Let me just say, we saw the BIGGEST pigs I have ever seen in my life! I haven't really seen too many pigs but I HAVE seen Charlotte's Web and these pigs were like 50 times bigger than Wilbur. I'll try and send a picture but I don't think you'll be able to tell how big it is. There was one that was like over three feet tall when on all fours. crazy! It convinced me to never raise pigs, even though I don't think that ever would have been a possibility.  

Jose Pablo passed the sacrament yesterday in his cute little white shirt and tie. That is so satisfying to see!  All the converts here are progressing really well and we are working to find more prepared families.

Thanks for all the love and prayers! Love you! The church is true! 

Hermana Jones

crazy week

Hola familia!

On Tuesday night Sister Archibald called me and told me the news that Grandpa had passed away.  Thanks for letting me know beforehand that he wasn't doing well, so it wasn't super shocking. I hope everyone is doing okay, especially Grandma. It sounds like everyone had a pleasant time together for the weekend and How great is it to be members of the true church! 

This week was pretty crazy and I was only in my area for a day and a half! Here's a rundown:
On Monday hermana Leyva had to pack everything because she went to Lima for a couple of days before her flight left.  Tuesday morning she went to the transfer meeting but I stayed in my area with another hermana and we got the news of who our new companions are going to be.  Mine is now Hermana FUENTES.  She is from Colombia and has 7th months in the mission.  She is awesome and we are excited to work together! We are now sister training leaders together. So she got here on Tuesday night, and we worked all day Wednesday which was great because we found some awesome families!

On thursday we had a big leadership training meeting with all the Zone leaders, district leaders, and sister training leaders.  It was basically a priesthood meeting but we were invited as well so I enjoyed it haha.  President talked a lot about just being an example to others because there is no point in being a leader in the mission if we aren't having success because then people won't be looking up to us.  It was a great meeting and then we rode back to Lima with Pres. and the Assistants because on Friday we were going to the temple!
So Hermana Leyva and I went went to President's house on Thursday night which was AMAZING! Funny thing: About a year ago I stayed a night at the mission home when I arrived to Peru and my thoughts were; "This is a nice house. It seems pretty clean and updated." but now, after a year being in Peru, my thoughts were this, "THIS IS THE NICEST HOUSE EVER! There is carpet! And hot water!" I was tempted to sleep on the ground because there was carpet.  But I opted for the extremely comfortable bed instead.  I was literally in Heaven. And Hna. Archibald made us grilled cheese and ice cream and we just sat on the couch chatting with them until midnight. It was the best.  

We got up early on Friday and went to the temple and then went to Chilis to eat lunch. I was in heaven there as well while eating chips and salsa. I had missed chips and salsa so much! 

The Temple was beautiful.  I'm so excited to be able to go to the temple as frequently as I want when I get home.

On saturday we stayed in Lima because Bishop Davies came and did a conference with our mission, with Elder Uceda as well.  Hermana leyva and I sang in the choir which was great.  After that we went right to the airport to drop off hermana Leyva which was really sad, but now she's at home safe and happy. :)

We returned to Barranca late on saturday night and had a great day yesterday as well! We are trying super hard to reach the goal of baptizing families weekly. We have foudn some great families this week and are excited to see what happens. 

One of my favorite experiences this week was when Neil, our recent convert, was able to give the priesthood to his son, Jose Pablo who got baptized last week.  I honestly didn't know before that Priests could give the priesthood! So he read the prayer to ordain him, and then he gave him a blessing that was so beautiful, the just came from the Spirit! It was very spiritual and it sounded like he ahd been giving blessings for years. That family is so great!

Well Sorry for the long rant of information, but it was a pretty crazy week.  Life is awesome and I'm so happy being here in the service of the Lord. 

Whenever I think of Grandpa I think of an extremely hard worker, so I decided to just work harder than ever before to finish things up here. 

Love you all and thanks for all the love and prayers! 

Hermana Jones