September 11th - I will have been in Costa Rica 1 year! WOW!!!!
Ok....now for my email.
First...so sorry that I am writing earlier in the morning. We have decided to
write earlier so we can have the rest of the day to do fun things and not feel
stressed getting back into work at 6. But things are going great! Thank you so
much for your emails. I love all the updates.
I have been focusing on
the positive and being happy. I wrote a list of attributes of Nephi and then
attributes of Laman and Lemuel. Every day, I am studying happiness. I call it
my own pursuit of happiness. I'm happy but I think that all of us can be a
little bit happier each day and find the positive. Today I read in the Index
about happiness. The first scripture was in Lehi's vision. So...I read about Lehi's
vision and what it means to be happy. What it summed up to is for day 1
happiness means being obedient and reading the scriptures daily and applying
them so they lead us to partake of the atonement. How do we partake of the
atonement? By applying repentance and partaking of the sacrament. It was so cool!
And that was just one chapter. I challenge each of you to study about
happiness, joy, cheerful, rejoicing every day and I promise that you will see
your confidence in Heavenly Father grow. We all have a reason to be happy.
Satan is cochina which means that Satan is crap. He is. He enters our minds and
makes us doubt who we are and our potential. KICK HIM OUT. You guys are so
awesome and we are JONESES.
Well...ok...I have 20
minutes left to tell you all about the rest of the week. I sometimes only tell bullet
points because we run short on time and we are trying to be super obedient so
we and you guys can receive blessings. I realized from my comp that everything
I do determines how many blessings you all receive. So I am trying to be 100%
everything...obedient, focused and all so that you can receive everything that
you need. I want the best for each of you. You guys are so important to me.
Me on divisions with Hna. Jerez in Ojo de Agua.
The elder in the back is Elder Valasquez from Texas who bought us a treat for the zone conference because we begged him. Ha-ha. He’s our district leader.
Me with Manuel and his wife Sarene. He’s the one we are teaching who's been taking the lessons for 2 years. He’s awesome and from Guatemala. She’s from Wisconsin and they talk Spanglish in their home. He speaks and understands English. They are so incredible! I love them. Her personality totally reminds me of Sami and Kimi! They bought us pizza this night after a lesson and the one I’m showing you is FRIJOLES pizza....it's beans in bbq sauce on a pizza. Sounds gross but so good. Don’t worry...ate two pieces and that was it. So still sort of healthy. Ha-ha. But last night she made such a healthy meal like Kimi's fun crazy recipes of new Thai Seattle way stuff. She made quinoa with other stuff in it and then salad from her garden. Oh and a drink that was habiscus flower. Kind of weird but a little bit good.
Me with a sister who just left for her mission in Honduras I think. She bought us little chocolates that look like ladybugs.
So people....well I did divisions in Ojo de agua with a sister there. I needed it so bad because I needed a break from my area for a moment. Ha-ha. But we had such a good day. They
had been struggling with putting baptismal dates in the first lesson. I helped
her out with that. We went to one appointment of an old investigator. We talked
with him about our purpose and what he had liked from the lessons before and
how his life is different now without them. I said it is due to the spirit that
he could have all the time. I challenged him to baptism and he said yes and
that he doesn't even need to pray to know if what we are saying is true because
he knows it is. THEN we went and passed by two men talking in the street. My
comp overheard that they were talking about God. We stopped and said what we
overheard and would love to talk with them about that specific topic.
Well...she got new investigators and it was awesome. It turns out that the man
has had many close to death experiences but is always saved. We said...well
it's because you needed to meet us so we can share our message with you about
how you can have an eternal family and all live together forever with Heavenly
Father. THEN we went to a lesson with a less active women and her husband who
is Jehovah’s Witness. Well....talked with them and we ended up teaching the
first lesson. I gave the first vision and the man totally changed in his face. I
bore my testimony and sat there. After a little bit he said....but where does
it say that man can see God, in the Bible. I said....listen....we could Bible
bash all day but really what would that do. I know that this is true and I know
I saw your face change when you heard this story so you know it's true too deep
down in your heart. Then we explained about how to know if the Book of Mormon
is true. We read the two paragraphs in the intro and paused where it says the
three things to do...read, think and then pray. We talked about each. We gave
him an assignment and then bore our testimonies of the truth. I said....when
you know that this is true and accept it...will you be baptized. He said yes
and that he would come to church. He got teared up and his wife said...we have
been looking for a reason to come back to church and for this extra spirit. She
has been trying to come back to church. IT WAS INCREDIBLE. I totally cried of
course because the spirit was so there. His face had totally changed when we
talked about the restoration. With the great apostasy he was like....oh that
does make sense that no one has authority. BAH it was great! So they have two
families now that they are going to baptize this month. The spirit is so
awesome! Love it.
Our area.....we are
still teaching Manuel. He is actually really progressing. I taught him with
another sister because we were on divisions. He has so many doubts and fears.
So....we taught him about the Book of Mormon. I said....if this book is true,
then the word of wisdom is true. If this book is true, we need a prophet today.
If this book is true, then Joseph Smith was a prophet. If this book is true
then Christ is your Savior. So basically this book is quite important. We
showed him a liahona that talks only about the Book of Mormon. We talked about
the different ways that someone can know if it is true. He shares the magazines
and info about the church with people in his work. I asked him why and what
motivates him. He said...I don't know. I told him it's because he knows that
this is true. Then my comp shared Alma 32 verse 27 about having a desire to
believe. That chapter is actually one of his favorites. I asked him if he's
been asking Heavenly Father with REAL intention to know and is willing to
accept the answer and change his life accordingly. He said he's not ready to
change his life so he guesses he hasn't been asking really. He said he'll
change that and begin praying. I left the frequently asked questions page in
the magazine for him to read. We finished with the video of Elder Holland’s
testimony of the Book of Mormon. So powerful and a great lesson. So
then...Sunday we taught him again and we watched the movie about the
atonement...to this end was I born. It was so good and powerful. We bore our
testimonies of the truth and it all went well. We challenged him to read all
about the atonement and study it in the bible and the book of Mormon. They are
such a great family. They said we need to eat dinner with them more. They went
and bought us almond milk at Price Smart because we had been wanting it but
it's so expensive. And he had traveled to Miami Florida for his work and bought
us each pens with alligators on it. Just such a nice guy. So that was our week.
Super powerful. I've got to head out. But I love you and hope you all have a
great week. Be happy! It’s more fun than being sad. Work hard and just enjoy
the journey. Woo hoo...party! Love you all. And I'll try and do better with
responding to things. Oh and dad...good luck in your tri! You’ll totally rock
it.
xoxoxoxoxoxoxooxox
xoxoxoxoxoxoxooxox
Hna. Jones
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