Week 38 (Jun 11, 2012): Finding Lorezo and Claudia

Dear family,

It's been a great week! I cant remember if I told you, but Carlito's dad said that he doesnt want him to get baptized. We are working with the Flia. Cabdevilla to try and help get his permission. Keep him in your prayers!!!

Noelia and Marcos... if we get their Moms permission first, will be getting baptized this Saturday... it is going to be a crazy week getting everything ready but I am so excited! As we were sitting in sacrament meeting I look over at Marcos who was sitting next to me and he was reading in Jacob 5! The alagory of the olive tree... ummm hahah but after church he told us he had to get home to do his homework. "Oh, you have a lot of homework from school this weekend?", I asked him. "No...in my Libro de mormon!". Noelia has made a lot of friends at school also.

We have started working with two new FAMILIES!!!!! That is a missionaries dream. The first family is Mirta and Arnaldo with their two beautiful girls Zira and Gudalupe. They are great parents and are preparing to be baptized the very first weekend in July.

The other family we just found yesterday named Lorezo and Claudia who have a little boy named Santiago and a little girl named Valentina! He had asked us to come teach them about three mONTHs ago but we couldnt find their house and after looking for two days for a couple of hours... we gave up but by a miracle he passed us on the street the other day and we taught them the first lesson yesterday!

Ah, I love this work. Keep praying for missionary experiences and they WILL COME!!!!!!!!! This is the Lords work and it is our work... our sacred opportunity.
I LOVE YOU ALL SO MUCH... ¡LES QUIERO MUCHISIMO Y DISFRUTEN LAS FOTOS!

amor,

su Hermana Jones

Fotos:

1.Beautiful Paraguay- Barrio Ca'guazu
2. Hna. Arnell, me, Celeste, Pati, and ... Marcos right after church yesterday :)
3. Celeste wanted to take another picture outside and once we got out there EVERYONE wanted to be in the picture which I was fine with... I love my ward!!
4. Hna. Arnell and I with Noelia and Marcos. Noelia doesnt have a skirt so luckily Hna Plummer left one behind that she will be able to use!! She was SOO excited about her "For the Strength of Youth" booklet.

Week 37 (Jun 4, 2012): Happy and Safe

Mi querida familia,

This has been a great week! They are closing the cyber early so I wont be able to write a whole lot, but wanted to tell you that I am happy and safe andddddd that I am soo grateful to be a member of the church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. I know that this is God´s church and that He leads and directs this work. He is the head of this church and leads us through His Prophet, Presidente Monson. I love my Savior and learn every day how I can show Him that I love Him as I keep the commandments and serve those around me.

Sure do love you all so much.

amor,

su Hermana Jones

Fotos

1. Walking to a lesson. It is gorgeous here!
2. Marcos y Noelia, this is right after we had a lesson and watched the Restauracion. They felt the Spirit really strong. Thanks for the CTR rings Mom! I always have some in my backpack and they were SOOOO excited! I told them that they were from you and that made them happy.
3. Quiero presentar: MIDIUM!!!! and her two little girls, Nuirim y Niyum. They will be baptized with other missionaries in the future. It is so hard to stop visiting someone, but its not so hard when you remember and feel that in some day, the missionaries after us will be able to help her get baptized.
4. I hope you can see the bug in the jar. I want you to know that yes. I put him in the jar all by my self haha! His body is almost as long as my hand! Ahhhhhhhhhh!

Week 36 (May 28, 2012): Pure and Quick to Believe

Dear family,

Hermana Ojeda recieved her visa finaly for Argentina and left for the airport at 2:30 this morning. Ah that might be ONE of the hardest parts of the mission for me is saying goodbye to people. I love her a lot and will miss her, but I know that is where the Lord needs her and so am excited for her at the same time.

Noelia and her brothers are really excited to be baptized and I was thinking a lot this morning about the requirements for someone to be baptized and as I studied in Doctirna y Convenios about each of these different requirements, I realized just that much more how "pure" and quick to believe and repent kids are. We took them to a baptisimal service the other day and when we asked them afterwards what part was their favorite part of the baptism service, Marcos said "when she went down into the water!" and Noelia agreed. She started to cry during the service and you could tell that they both, Marcos and Noelia, could feel the spirit. Marcos asked us..."Christ was baptized, wasnt He?"..."but He didnt have any sins so why did He get baptized?". If we could all be like "the children" we would be so much more humble and quick to follow Christ and so much happier! Their Mom is going to come to church this Sunday!

Mauricio Cabdavilla is doing a great job inviting his friend, Carlos Denis (13 años) to church and he came again yesterday! We had a lesson with Carlos Denis and the flia. Cabdevilla and he is such a great kid! He accepted a baptisimal date the 16th of June! He was a little nervous to pray during the lesson, so Mauricio loving said told him, "thats okay, this is the page (in the pamphlet) that teaches us how to pray and I can teach you how and the next time you can pray!". He is a shy kid but spends almost every day with Mauricio at his house doing homework and hanging out and the Flia. Cabdavilla is one of the strongest families in the Gospel that I know so he is learning by example! We will be meeting his parents and sisters this week and sharing with them!

Vincente has been having a lot of problems lately. We havent seen him in over a week and his mom also. She went downtown today to look for him... sometimes he leaves when he is frustrated but we are really woried right now for him. Hno. Miguel offered to go with Hna. Leanor to look for him. Keep him in your prayers.

I love this Gospel. I love my Savior, Jesus Christ, and am grateful for the knowledge that my Heavenly Father will love me no matter what. Each and every one of us, He has a plan...and it is so much greater than we can imagine!

love you all,

Hermana Jones

Fotos:
1. We blew up 50 balloons for Hermana Arnells birthday while she was getting ready sunday morning and then surprised her!
2. La familia Gomez- Hno Gomez was working, but we eat with them every saturday. A familiy with a big, big heart and with a dad who has never grown up! ahah They take really good care of us. Hna Gomez is the relief society president!
3. in order: Hna. Arnell, Noelia, Hna. Ojeda, yo, Elias, Isryel, y Marcos! They are all reading their Book of Mormons and will be baptized on the 16th of June! I love teaching kids... they
4. Hna. Correa and her daughter daisy- it was her birthday and she loves brownies so we surprised her! She was really happy!
5. It was so good to see Hermana Plummer and her VERY American parents. I forget sometimes how much I stand out with my hair and think I am Paraguaya already!
6. Hna. Ceci and I - a recent convert. She is so funny. We had a lesson about family history work and afterwards she was really excited but said that she thought it was a little overwhelming with all of her family that are not members.
7. 2:30 en la madrugada! I hate hate hate goodbyes...and I stood on our porch waving until we couldnt see the car... like I always do :)

Week 35 (May 21, 2012): Meeting Noelia

Mi querida familia,

Its been a great week.

We have found a lot of new investigators. Oh, by the way, I am starting my fith transfer in Ñemby and I was so relieved that the Lord still wants me here in this area. We are still training Hermana Ojeda, but she just got news that this next Monday, she will be flying out to Argentina to start working in her assigned mission. That made me really sad because I love her so much. She is the really sweet one in our companionship and I love being in a trio because you learn so much from eachother.

We have also been starting to work with a little girl named Noelia. She is the cousin of the less active member that I told you about last week named Juan. She loves the Book of Mormon but it is really hard for her to read. We gave her the "For the Strength of Youth" pamphlet and she was so excited and showed it to her mom. She just turned 12 April 17th and reminds me a lot of Alexandra. She just is really really happy and has a huge smile. And she looks like she is going to break she is so skinny. haha Anyways we have had a girl named Mariela in the lessons with us and she is thirteen years old and they are best friends now. That is a missionaries dream. Noelia lives about a thirty minute walk from our house in Bario San Miguel and lives in very very humble circumstances. She came to church yesterday in jeans and a nice shirt. I wanted to give her one of my skirts but it would just fall right off! She loved the church the other day and she is excited to get baptized in the beginning of june. She has her Moms permission and we are just trying to teach her Mom now!

I have a big testimony that the Lords hand can be seen in our lives in the tiniest ways. I have seen so many times these past couple of days the smallest tiniest things that happened that I KNOW was because Heavenly Father knew it was important to me. I wont even give the examples because they were things that were so small that you would laugh, but Heavenly Father, being a perfect Father, made sure that I was blessed in so many tiny little ways just because He loves me so much. I love Him and I love my Savior, Jesus Christ. I love the Gospel. I know that it is true and ther is no other way to be happy and return to live with Father in Heaven other than throught the Gospel of His Son.

I love you all so much. More than I could ever say. Thank you for your prayers. I know that you pray for me, my companions andn the people I work with every day. My family here in Paraguay. Prayers are heard. They are answered. Thank you for all of your love that you show as you live the Gosple.

love,

Hermana Jones

ps.Daddy, happy birthday! ahem... sorry HHAAAPYYY BIRTHDATY DADDY. LOVE YOU SO MUCH!!!!

Week 34 (May 14, 2012): A Mission - Hard but Sweet

Mi querido familia,

I sould think of a better subject line, buuuttt... "i love you" is the only thing I can think of when I write these letters. It was so great to see all of you but as I talked to each of you, it was just confirmed even more that my time and place in life right now is serving the Lord in Paraguay. I love it here. We just had our stake conference a few weeks ago and it was really neat to listen to a sister who had just gotten back from her mission. In her testimony she said that the mission wasnt hard but sweet. She went on to explain that it is like a sugar cube (okay weird but hear me out!). It is hard...but in the end it is just sweet. I dont know if that made any sense, but I hope it did! Every day there is something that is hard for each missionary but at the end of the day as I sit down to write in my journal, I can only think of all of the blessings and miracles that we have seen and have been given. And you cant even remember how hard it might have felt at the moment but are just filled with a solem gratitude that you have the opportunity to serve the Lord and litterally fight for your brothers and sisters. I am learning to do that... it is hard in the moment but so "sweet" in the end. And I love it and will always be so grateful to Heavenly Father for sending me here to Paraguay.

One of my favorite families in the ward, the familia Cabdevilla, have two kids, Mauricio and Flo. Mauricio is your age Nick and you and Spencer would seriously be best friends with him! I can see him sitting there and playing chess for hours or RIsk. Ah how I Miss that game hahah.

Well, Mauricio brought his best friend to church yesterday! I was so excited for him!! Hno. Cabdevilla even said that they were talking to his parents to see if he could recieve the missionary lessons so that, as a missionary, made me even more excited!! Hno. Gomez, the young mens president, is kind of loud and very funny and practically asked me in front of Mauricio´s friend, Carlos Denis, if he was going to be baptized! I wasnt sure what to say because it was his first time to come to church and we had barly introduced ourselves. haha Hno. Gomez said it kinda-of jokingly but you could tell he was kind of serious and Mauricio was really embarassed. hahah I was excited that he invited a friend.

A quick neat story... do you remember the grandma, Antonia "abuelita" who is always kinda cranky? Well we felt like we should visit her the other day and we ended up having a miracle! Her neighbor´s son, Juan, had come home. He was baptized a long time ago and was a local missionary for a couple of months but has not been home for a longgg time and has not been to church for almost a year. We finally met him and talked to him about why he had not been to church. He didnt say much and as we invited him to come to churhc the next day, he seemed really reluctant to tell us that he would come. Well... HE CAME!!! We didnt have a single investigator in teh congregation but Juan came and I was sooo excited!

As we were talking to him afterwards he looked around and asked us if Charlie Aldier, a 12 year-old, who has not been to church in a long time also. Come to find out that he baptized this boy...and so now we have Juan to help us get Charlie come back to church and other members to help us with Juan!

I love you all and I love this Gospel.

¡Que tengan un buen semana!

amor,

su Hna. Jones

Jess can you send me Monicas and Hollies mission addresses please?! Thaks!

Daddy, After church during lunch I get to play the piano and have been playing a song that Hna. Arnell has called, "My Kindness Shall Not Depart From Thee" by Rob Gardner. You would love it... they are the words of the Lord to the Prophet Joseph Smith when he was in prision.

Week 33 (May 7, 2012): Have to have the Spirit

Querido familia,

I was trying to figure out all of that skype info so sorry it isnt a long letter, but here are a few pictures and I just want to share my testimony with you...

I am filled with gratitude for this opportunity that the Lord gives to me to serve Him and to be His representative and messenger. As a missionary you littarly declare repentance and you HAVE TO HAVE THE SPIRIT WITH YOU OR YOU CANNOT DO ANYTHING! I am gratful for the Gift of the Holy Ghost, the role that it plays in the work and in my life and am grateful for the Gospel that helps me know what I need to do to have and live worthy of the guidance of the Holy Ghost.

Love you all,

demasiado...
su Hna. Jones

Mom...
you should call the mom of Hna. Arnell and be friends becuase I love her daughter and we are going to be friends forever!!! haha
neenarnell@gmail.com- jeaneene
and the mom of Hna Ojeda... she speaks ENglish! Lydiachica2006@gmail.com

FOTOS
1. La familia Lopez - I lovveee working with the Members. Here is the Familia Lopez. Hna Lopez is always helping Midium and they are really great friends. Her two little boys Miguel y Abel are the FUNNIEST and cuttest little boys i have worked with.
2. Zone Conference - You are blessed with a special love for your mission president and his wife. President and Sister Callen help and inspire me to become a "consecrated" missionary... I am slowly learning and I LOVE them sooo much. They will be finishing their mission in just one more transfer and we will be getting a mission president from Argentina!
3.Hna. Arnell... a true companion takes my burdens upon her back... my back hurt really bad one day (pathetic and dont worry mom ;)) and so she took my backpack from me for a little bit!
4. This is Anna, a less active member. She has stopped coming to church becuase of her work.. She has worked 7 days a week days and nights for 12 years now and she is looking for different work right now to COME BACK TO CHURCH!!! wooo hoooooo!!! This is her picture of the Elder that taught and baptized her yearrrsss ago so we took this picture to send to him... hopefully he or his parents still live in the same house and then he can write her a card!!!

Week 32 (Apr 30, 2012): Agency and exersizing faith

mi querido familia,

I cannot believe that another week has passed. I love Ñemby and this transfer is winding down and I hope and pray that I get to stay here in Ñemby!!

Norma has decided to not get baptized. A week ago we passed by her house again to talk to her and see how we could help her. She told us that she has felt really good about getting baptized but that there are times when she thinks taht it isnt the right decision for her because she was born into a Catholic family and she was "already baptized". (A lot of people have said negative things about her getting baptized and I know that she knows that the church is true... she made what other people said more important than what she knows Heavenly Father wants her to do. We had a very intense lesson and followed the spirit the best we could and she agreed to read from the Book of Mormon a LOT during the week and pray a lot and that we could come back Friday and she would let us know. On Friday she told us that she had read and just doesnt feel that she should be baptized. I want to cry just writing this because I KNOW that she has recieved an answer that all of what we teach is true but that she has let what others say affect her decision. I have a lot of faith and hope that she will be baptized in the future... those missionaries will be so lucky :)

My testimony about our agency has grown so much while on the mission. Do you want to have more faith? Thats awesome becuase Heavenly Father will, as you show just the tiniest amount of faith help your faith grow in ways you never thought possible! You have to decide and act first though! Do you want to be a more patient person (aka me :)... you just decide to be patient and Heavenly Father helps you to become more patient and more Christlike just like that. He promises us that. He gives us the wonderful gift of agency so that we can learn to make decisions for ourselves and at the same time, as we do that, we realize just how quickly He blesses us and just how much He loves us. Wow. I am a daughter of God with divine potential. We always repeted those words in Young Womens, but they have taken on a new meaning. I am a daughter of God. We are children of a Heavenly Father. He loves us and we love Him. And because of that we strive hard each and every day to become like His Son so that we can be with Him forever.

Midium and Cristian still have not decided to get married. Lots of prayers with them!

Love you all. Thank you all for your love. Heavenly Father blesses me so much each day and I know He does for each of you also.

Cariñosamente,

Hna. Jones


Fotos.
1. It gets pretty cold here! I have two pairs of tights and about five shirts on under my jacket! you would be in heaven dad
2. Hna. Ojeda y yo con la Hna Tomasa Gonzalez. She is a less active member and one of my favorite people to teach. We are in her negocio in this picture. Many moms have little shops built in front of their homes where they can sell anything from cookies and empenadas to laundry detergent.
3. Hna. Arnell stopping to wash all of the dirt out of her shoes. When it rains, it rains alll day!
4. I love my companions!! La Hna. Arnell y mi.

Week 31 (Apr 23, 2012): Come to the wedding in your work pants.

Querido familia,

Love you all! We have been pounded by rain and I LOVE it!!

We are still working with Midium and Norma and her son Gabriel.

With Midium, she and Cristian still need to get married so that she can get baptized, but Cristian wants to wait until he has enough money to pay for a big wedding and they dont have enough right now. Midium really really wants to get baptized. Her two little girls were jumping up and down on their beds every day saying "marry daddy! marry daddy!". They are so cute and will often sit down and pretend to read in an extra Book of Mormon with us. :) We are having a fast with her this tuesday so that Cristian will agree to get married sooner! She said that now that she knows that it is a commandment, it doesnt even matter to her if they have a cake or a dress... she said to Cristian, "right after work you can just come in your work pants (he is a mechanic) and you can just sign the papers!". I hope and pray that she can be baptized soon. She is a perfect example of true repentance and she is different (night and day) right now. Just imagine what will happen after baptizim!

Norma is struggling right now and called us this morning to tell us that she didnt want to come to church any more or be baptized. There is a ´LOT of oppostition with friends and family. We are going over to her house tonight to see how we can help her. My heart just broke when she said taht because she has said so many times how she wants to change and be closer to Christ so that she can be an example for her boys.

I bear my testimony that this is Gods church. He listens to us as we talk to Him and according to our desires and obedience, He answers. Everything around us testifys of Him. I love Him and I love this work.

Love you all... Les quiero tanto. Dios les bendiga y que tengan una buena semana lleno de bendiciones!

FOTOS
2.Barrio Caáguazu (it means giant herb!)... this is one of my favorite parts of our area...on our way to find more people to teach!!!
3.salvamos almas y peros! last night we saved a dog in the street, but had to let him go ... because it is against the rules obviously! jaja
ps. I got Joshs wedding announcement!!!! woo hooo Josh and Clarissa I am so excited for you two!!!!

ps. by the way mom, you asked if I had gotten my birthday package...i dont know if you were refering to the letter with photos you send me or the VERY mom like package you send with two bottles of DEET and calcium c vitamins with a memory chip for my camera! haha but the man that delivers our mail just stopped by and says that the next monday I will be getting two packages sooo taht is probasbly what you were talking about! Gracias! My companions think it is hillarious that I take vitamins every day! and say that I plan wayy too far in advance (aka i am taking calcium every day so that I dont have arthritus in 30 years:)... and then I just say taht I get it from you haha... te quiero.

ps. daddy y nick, just got you dearelders from the 15 of abril! rapido! gracias!

Week 30 (Apr 16, 2012): Pleading with the Lord for help changing

Dear familiy,

Its been another great week, although it scares me how fast time goes in the mission!

As for our investigators, Norma Lopez is doing great but is still working on stopping smoking. She doesnt smoke a lot, but it has just been really hard for her. I cant imagine. She has such strong desires to change and to be a good example for her sons. We had a lesson with her the other day and she just loves the scriptures. Whenever we plan on using a scripture with her, she always takes time to think and apply what we just read to herself while we are in the lesson. As we finished the lesson, we knelt down to have a prayer and she just started to cry and she litterally plead for the Lord to help her change. We are working towards the 28th of April with her for her to be baptized. It would mean so much to her if Gabriel would be baptized also because he doesnt have a lot of good examples around him.

Midium is doing great, but her marido, Cristian doesnt really want to listen. He is reading a lot in the Book of Mormon, but still says that he has his own religion. We are working with them to help them get married so that Midium can be baptized but getting all of their papers together is really complicated. She has such desires to change, once again like Norma, for her daughters. I think that she is really disapointed that Cristian doesnt want to be baptized also. She had all of these plans to have all of them together in the church.

Aquilina and Laureano... for right now we have to leave their names in the area book because they are not willing to get married. At least not Laureano. Other missionaries will help them in the future, but this is definitly the hardest part of the mission... to get to really love someone or a familiy, but because they are not keeping their commitments, we have to stop teaching them for a while.

Family, I just want to bear my testimony. I know that this church is true. I am so grateful for the knowledge that families can be together forever. Jesus Christ lives and guides us. He gives us council. He gives us direction. I love the words of the Prophet and the prophets and know that they are of God. I am learning more and more every day how to live a truely Christ like life and as I do this I am more and more greatful for His infinite Atonement that makes this posible.

Les quiero a todos,
su Hermana Jones


Fotos...

1. This is an example of what Hna. Leonor y Vincente do to earn money... they collect plastic and then sell it.
2. Gabriel and me' i was trying to teaching him to play the piano while we waited for everyone to show up for the baptism... it was planned for 7, but in south america time we all know that that means 730! We took Norma and her youngest son, Gabriel, to a baptisim this Saturday. Gabriel tells us that he would like to be baptized also! He just finished 9 years!
3. Our avocate tree!
4.We got a new map for our area that has a lot more detail, so we took a before picture before taking down our map of Ñemby that we have been using! You cant tell from the map but our area is HUGE! At least I think so! It takes more than an hour and half to walk from one end to the other! I love it!

Week 29 (Apr 9, 2012): In a Trio again

Querido familia,

I hope that everyone is happy! This has been a great week full of surprises and miracles! We are in a trio again and I love it! Our new companion will be here just for this cambio until she gets her visa for Argentina!

Our District Leader needed some inormation, so my time has run out... Norma, Midium and her marido Cristian, Aquilina and Lareano are doing great. They are progressings little by little. The greatest gift Heavenly Father could give me at this point in my life is to play a role in helping them come unto Christ.

I love you all so much and I LOVE THE GOSPEL!!!! Dios les bendiga. (and I promise the next weeks email will be a little longer!)

les queiro,

su Hermana Jones

Grandpa... I still need your address!!! love you!

Fotos

1. Ña Lina.. we are not teaching her right now, but she is a good friend of ours. She has had MANY experiences with the misisonaries and would be very surprized if she doesnt get baptized one day...
2. Hna. Ojeda, use with president and Sister Callen and all of the new missionaries! While she waits for her visa, she is going to be with us just for this cambio and then she will be serving in southern Argentina! She is an amazing missionary and has an incredible testimony that is felt by those that get to know her! She is from northern Paraguay.
3.Francisca...haha maybe i shouldnt have taken this one, but i was just so excited... she was baptized in Agosto y she hasnt been to church in a long time. When we got to her house, she was sitting outside reading in the Book of Mormon! She learned how to read in general when she started reading the Book of Mormon!!!
4. Fuimos al templo! The Lords people will be a covenant people. It was such a blessing to go to the temple.
5. The end of the week for a missionary. This is what we had to eat. haha

Week 27 (Apr 2, 2012): Aquilina in the hospital

Querido familia,

Its been another great week and I feel like my work here in the mission will just take a different turn as I study and apply the council of the apostles and the prophet we recieved in General Conference. Both Medium and Norma came to General Conference and absolutely loved it. It was actually Norma´s first time to actually come to church... no better way to start than with the Prophet!

I dont even know where to start...

Aquilina has still been in the hospital this past week off and on (and when I say off and on it is every day she goes back to the hospital... nothing is working to help her get better). She loves to be sung to so we went to the hospital to sing to her, but later found out that we cannot go in the hospital to visit or give blessings if we are not family. So we doing what we can right now to remind Laureano to read in the Book of Mormon and to just take care of Aquilina. They and we are really worried, but Hermano Miguel keeps in contact with them too. As for this week to help them progress, we are just praying a lot and will try and find a time to have a lesson with Laureano and Hermano Miguel...we just need to find a time that Laureano is not in the hospital.

Norma loved General Conference and also came to her first baptism the other day. All she had to say afterwards was, "That was so exciting!". She is slowly progressing, step by step and fully recognizes and admits when she doesnt come to church and hasnt read her scriptures, it is because Satan doesnt want her to do it. She really desires to change for her sons and as a Mom. This week we have a focus on helping her to get to know more members with the ward activitiy this friday.

Midium is doing great! She is good friends with Hna. Lopez now and she is still reading in her book of mormon and taking notes. We finally had our first lesson with her marido Christian and it was short adn sweet, but we were just able to bear testimony of our purpose and why we are here to help people change and be baptized. We are going back tonight to teach him the first lesson and with the help of Midium, he will want to be baptized also! He is a very happy person and a good dad.

I accidently deleted my email, so this one is short, but I lvoe you all and I love this Gospel. And we have a Father in Heaven. How great that is to say :)

te amo a todos,

su Hermana Jones

FOTOS!!

1. Barrio SanMiguel- Paraguay is absolutly gorgeous... this was right after a lesson that we had
2. Antonia (nuestra abuelita)- the is the biggest smile that I have ever seen on Antonia! She just had a heart attack and it is hard to see how weak and helpless she feels.
3. Murals in the city- we live cerca del pueblo in Ñemby
4. In front of our house! (they take very good care of the sister missinoaries. Its just a fact. :)
5. Mi cariñosa Hermana Plummer- I sure miss her! I loved her as a companion so so much and she was an amazing trainer.

ps.
Mom- has Monica gotten her mission call?
Jess-could you ask Hollie king for her address?
Grandma- that music you had talked about the other day...do you think the lady in your mission would still be willing to send a copy to my mission?!
Grandpa-what is your new address again?!
Daddy- well, I just love you :)

Week 26 (Mar 26, 2012): Alejandro's Baptism

Mi querido familia,

It is raining so much and i wore a sweater today and my rain coat! woo hoo!!! It is starting to cool down down here and it is definitly true... it rains more than seatle WA! No joke! But that is why it is so beautiful and I love it!

We had a neat experience the other day. Thanks to Sister Matney and her box of surprises and cookie mixes all of our members in our ward think that I am the best cook in the world! haha but no, I dont know if I have ever told you about Hna. Gomez but she is the RS President here and has a huge heart. She has been through a lot physically and is in remission for breast cancer right now. She works hard to make everyone feel loved and to remember everyone that she can to help them come to church and to just be happy. We eat lunch with her and her 14 year-old daughter Laura every Saturday while her husband is working. Her birthday is in September, so to celebrate her half birthday we make some of the cookie mixes and brought them over. We put a huge candle in the center of one of the cookies while she was out of the room and started singining Feliz Cumple when she walked in! She was really confussed at first, but then she just got the biggest smile on her face. As we finished she almost started crying as she told us... "I will never forget this". Acts of kindness go a long, long way. I love her and her family so much. I really hope I never leave Ñemby!

Norma still has not come to church and we are worried about her because she has not been reading a lot in her Book of Mormon. I know that the Lord has prepared her though. I have never in my mission felt so guided to someone and what to teach them.

I think I told you about Denge the other week? They have an epedemic of it here in Ñemby and all of our investigators are getting it! It is spread by mosquitos and so we are just really careful to use lots of DEET (dont worry mom!). But if someone gets Dengee and they are already sick or they are older, it can be really dangerous. Aquilina and her grandaughter have had Denge since this past Monday so we havent gone by to teach them. We are going over tonight to visit them por fin! finally!

Midium is doing great! We taught her about living prophets and she is excited for General Conference this weekend and has been reading and taking notes from the Liahona of Gen. conf. that we left for her! She thought she had Denge also because she got really, really sick, so we havent been able to teach her as much as we would like, but we had a great lesson with Hna. Rosa and we basically didnt teach...theyn just talked! haha but it was the best lesson that we have ever had with her because Hna. Rosa shared her testimony about a million things that Midium needed to here and now she has a friend at the church with boys the same age... or close to her girls!

We are still trying to have a lesson with her husband Crisitan, but each time we passed by late at night (the only time that he is home) Midium was sick! Her girls want them to get married- it truley is a commandment from teh Lord and children feel the security and love when their parents are married. When we were talking to her just a few days ago, her oldest daughter Nydum, brought over a drawing she had just made. She proudly showed it to us and it was of her parents getting married!

Also, at the beginning of one of our lessons we were asking Midium how she was and everything and she told us that she had had a really strange dream (Paraguayans and their dreams! They all have them!). She told us that she was with us in this forest and she wanted to get somewhere but she wasnt exactly sure where to. She knew that we knew how to get there so we were guiding her. In my head I thought, "YESS!!! First baptism and then the temple!!!" But we just smiled and used the opportunity to share our testimonies and testify of our role as missionaries!

The baptism of Alejandro was great! He has such as strong testimony and his dad even shared his testimony for the FIRST time! Another little boy was baptized also named Ablel. He is the son of Hna. Rosa. His dad even came to church and he hasnt been to church in almost 6 months. Abel is the smallest but cutest little boy that I have ever met in my life! After Alejandro bore his testimony Abel went up and instead of bearing his testimony, he started praying! hahah one by one, as we realized what he was doing, we all bowed our heads! It was really hard not to laugh, but we couldnt because his prayer had been so heartfelt!


Well, ¡feliz semana de conferencia general! I am so excited for General Conference and am excited to listen to the words of a living prophet. I bear testimony that Christ lives and loves and guides us through His servants. This is not just a church or a "way" to worship and follow our Savior. The Gospel is the ONLY way and we must LIVE the Gospel to be happy.

Thank you for your love and support! I love you all so much and I love you all more and more every day. How thats possible when i cant see or talk to you? A blessing from our Father in Heaven.

¡Dios les bendiga!

con amor,

su Hermana Natasha Jones

(Just to let you know, I got your DearElders dad and nick from March 18th! pretty fast huh? and I got a happy birthday card from you all! I LOVE IT SO MUCH... i cried. surprise surprise)

Week 25 (Mar 20, 2012): "They are going to get married!!!"

Mi querido familia,

We are working with Alejandro Arevelos. He will be baptized this Saturday! He is an example to his parents and really wants to do what is right. It is hard for him to come to church every Sunday and read his scriptures without the example of his parents, but they are working together and his parents are starting to come back to church more and more

We are also still working with Norma Lopez. She still has not come to church and the only thing that really keeps her from coming is because of activities for her sons that she feels obligated to be at. Understandable and commendable as a Mom, but she just needs to come to church! It is her ultimate thing keeping her back from being baptized. She reads her Book of Mormon every day and keeps her commitments. We are teaching all of the commandments right now and just taught the law of the tithe and because money is really really tight, she is praying for the “faith to keep it”. I shared your story, Dad, of when you were in college and you didnt have a job or money and chose to pay your tithing and the next day someone offered you a job. That really really helped her.

Midium, the mother of the two little girls, is also progressing. She is already in Jacob 5 and reads the scriptures and really thinks about what it means and applies it to her self! We can already see a change in her. She is much happier and is gaining more and more confidence in herself. She is also more and more patient with her two little girls. She and her marido, Christian are still not married, but he continues to read the pamphlets that we give to Midium and asks her lots of questions and she shares what she has been reading in the Book of Mormon. We have talked to him a couple of times, but he is starting his own negosio, so he is not home very often. They have both said that they would like to get married, but the thing that is holding them back is that at this point Christian feels that it would be for “the church” instead of to keep a commandment. Midium told us, "if he would just read the book of mormon he would make the decision faster!" We were like yes yes yesss!!!!!! PLEASE!!!! We are finally going to have a lesson with him too this Thursday! We also taught about following the prophet. Many times, even if people believe that Joseph Smith was a prophet, they have a hard time accepting that we have a prophet who lives and guides us. But we left the Liahona with her to read his talks from General Conference and she is excited to come to conference to listen to him and the apostles! No matter what she will know President Monson is a prophet and i am excited for her!

Aquilina and Laureano are also progressing. (Aquilina is the lady with diabetees and uses a wheel chair because she had her leg amputated). Aquilina’s problem is that she cannot read because her sight is so bad. Her granddaughter, Violeta, will read to her sometimes, but hasn’t read to her since she started school. Laureano has been to church every Sunday for almost a month and Aquilina came to church for the first time a week ago and made the effort to come this past Sunday even when Laureano couldn’t which was a really big step for her. We looked for a large Book of Mormon today when we went to the temple in the Distribution Center next door, but they didn’t have any. I was so bummed...that is exactly what she needs to progress!!! We might start going to her house every day to read to her or something!

We also just taught the law of chastity and they, after 35 years of being together, have decided to get married! Hermano Miguel was there of course... and his testimony was exactly what they needed. We asked them what they needed to do to prepare to be baptized, "We need to get married!", Aquilina stated emphatically! Hno. Miguel (the member who helped us with Vincente also and baptized him) was so excited he blurted out, "I will be your witness if you would like!". In my head I was thinking, "AAHHH POR FAVOR, NO AHORA HNO MIGUEL!" haha but just asked him, "you know, maybe we can talk about that a little later!". I had to laugh...it was very Hermano Miguel. As we walked home for the night, hno. mig. drove by honking, "they are going to get married!!"

I sure do love all of you and pray every day that Heavenly Father takes care of you and I know that He does. I know that Heavenly Father lives and so does His Son, Jesus Christ. They live and guide this church and this work. I love they people here in ñemby and I hope and pray I can serve my whole mission here :)

Te amo.

les amo a todos,

Hermana Jones

Week 24 (Mar 12, 2012): Angels Watching Over Us

Querido familia,

Things are going great with our investigators! Aqilina finally came to church this past week! We have been working with her and her husband Laureano. They are an older couple and she is diabetic. Because of her diabeties, she had her leg amputated this past year and is loosing her sight. Laureano has been coming to churhc the past two weeks and I think because of his example she came to church. She told us that he has never wanted to listen to any missionaries that pass by or pray or go to church... she said "something is different". The GOPEL IS TRUE AND IT CHANGES US... the power of the atonement of our savior!!

I want to share a quick exerp from my journal:

"3.5.12- lunes
We had angels protecting us tonight. It was a normal P-day...we left to teach at 6 at night. We had planned to go and visit Olvidina first in barrio los Naranjos. We have only had one lesson with her, but she told us.. or rather , had her grandson tell us that we could come back another day. So we used all of our plans de respald (back-up plans) and no one was recieving us!!

We even passed by Normas house early to see if she was already home from the doctor for our cita with her. The second time, we told her yongest son, Gabriel, that we would come back a little later because he told us that she would be coming back in a few minutes. So... we decided to walk down a street next to hers and contact a reference that we had recieved of a family. We talked with the Dad adn planned for another day to pass by when we could teach him with him and his wife together. We are going to go back and visit them this Wednesday... i am excited! Familia!!!!

As we had been walking to this mans house Hermana Arnell had asked me if there were areas where we werent allowed to go at night because it is too dangerous. There really isnt... we just know where we should and shouldnt be and use precaution. Especially during holidays and football games when there area a lot of borachos (drunks).

We turned back to go to Normas house. We got to her street and I was just talking and talking and just before turing into her street, Hermana Arnell stopped and said, "we shouldnt go down this street." I looked up. Ya it was really dark, but I told her, thinking that maybe she didnt recognize where we were because she is still getting to know the area... "but this is Normas street!". Just passinga patch of trees was her house... literally thirty steps away. "Ya, I know. We shouldnt go down this street," she said. I stopped and all of a sudden I had the strongest feeling that we needed to leave right away. "Ya, we need to go." i said. We turned away and started walking out of her neighborhood really fast. We both knew that we had angels watching over us. I was a little scarred, but Hermana Arnell said it had been as if there had been a huge wall put up in front of her and she literally could not more one step forward. As we walked away in the darkness heading back to our barrio, I said, " We are okay...we have angels watching over us."

I will have to share more of the experience in a letter with you all, but the veil is so thin sometimes. I bear testimony that the Savior lives and loves us. His Gospel is the cure for any problem and He changes us if we will just let Him. We are eternally indebted to our Father in Heaven. This work is true. Thakn you family for supporting me and praying for me and my brothers and sisters her in Paraguay.

les amo!

Hermana Natasha Jones