WEEK 24

Buenas tardes mis amigos! 

This week, i wanna start with an awesome spiritual experience, and then the scripture... haha

This past sunday, i had the opportunity to confirm Damariz and Pepe members of the church, and to give them the gift of the holy ghost. Thats something i never have done before even in english! haha so it was a super neat experience to get to do that. I really felt guided on what to say in their blessings, and it was pretty cool how i (the spirit) had different guidances and suggestions for the two different people:) I cant wait to get to confirm a few more people;)

My favorite scripture this week was in Doctrine and Covenants 122:7-8

Really boldly explains trials in our lives, how if the worst possible thing could happen to us, and we have more suffering than imaginable, its is for our benefit, because we will become stronger, and come out with a closer relationship with our heavenly father. And then verse 8 throws one more thing in there. How the worst imaginable thing, Jesus has already felt and lived, but he did it for all of us!! There really isnt a way to comprehend the actual amount of suffering jesus felt, but we can at least try to comprehend the love that he has for all of us. Its such an amazing blessing to think about. Take a little extra time to thank Jesus in your prayers this week:)

I just have a few other cool experiences from this week so im gonna throw those in too. 

We take multiple taxis everyday here in monterrey. its just a totally normal part of life. That in mind, we have at least like 6 opportunities to "contact" and teach taxi drivers everyday! Almost always, they really dont care, and sometimes you have to make the decision to not talk to them cause every now and then they will get mad and yell at you... haha but anyways

This time, i was talking to the driver (i was riding shotgun) and i was cracking jokes like i usually do to break the ice and it almost always works pretty good, and then using some sweet spiritually inspired transition. This time, i was just answering some basic questions about what us missionaries do, explaining how its just two years, and then we have a normal life, and then he out of the blue asked "since only spirits existed in heaven, where the (spanish cuss words) did Elijzah end up? Cause he got taken in the fire chariot and he still had a body! theres no bodies in heaven?

I then asked him the question, where do you think Jesus is right now? He said "in heaven obviously" and i told him after he died, he ressurected and all the apostles felt his hands and sides cause he was a person with a body! And then we he went back into heaven, he didnt just leave his body here on earth! He took it with him! 

He just kinda looked surprised, and i told him that there is flesh and bone in heaven, and one day we are going to be resurrected and live in heaven with our bodies. He just started laughing and thanked us so much, cause he said he heard the story of Elijah the prophet as a boy and always had that doubt about the story cause there is no bodies in heaven. He said out of every priest or pastor or church instructor from other religions he ever asked, they never answered his question. 

And then he told us, out of all the options, he least expected two white kids who are very young to answer the question! He gladly gave us his address, and number, and good times to visit so we could pass the reference to the elders for his area. 

Something that i really took from this experience, is that personality as a missionary is suuuuper important. He told us before we got out, i only asked you guys the question cause i got a good impression and you felt like normal people. In his world, missionaries were robots without emotion, or without the ability to make jokes! 

The other, is that im so glad that i have studied, and gone to church in my life, so that i knew the answer to his question! Cause as a missionary, everyone asks questions about the gospel and if you dont have the answer, there goes an opportunity for someone to be converted!! 

This experience is about not being afraid to talk to someone about the gospel!! 

for almost 3 whole days this week, we had a guy working here in the office, reconnecting and rewiriing some phone lines. It never even entered into my mind to talk to him about our message, or share a scripture with him, he was here to fix the phone lines! He finished his work and we signed the papers and he left! like 15 minutes later, he came back and asked us what we believed in our church. TALK ABOUT A SECOND CHANCE!! He said that he has kinda wondered what mormons believed in, and felt like coming back and asking. We talked with him for a solid 15 minutes cause he had other appointments to get to, but man that was such a well accepted lesson! Talking about how the authority was lost, why, where, dates, and then getting to joseph smith and the restoration. The most important was when we asked him to pray specifically if the message we had shared was true, and if our church was the restored and true church of jesus christ. He said he has never had any other pastors or preachers tell him to do that. They just say its in the bible! you have to believe it. 

In our church, we know that its the true church! We dont want people to take our word for it, or believe us!! Ask heavenly father, he is the one who is gonna make it known to peoples hearts

Dont be afraid to talk about the gospel! people are ready to learn! not all of them, but its not up to us to decide which ones are and arent, we just need to share our testimonies:) 

Keep being awesome!! 

Elder Jones 

(dont have pics this week, so i just have one email! 

This is some sweet breakfast burritos i made one morning, and vid of how we kill cukarachas here in mexico)

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