JonesMail!! SharkBait Hoo-Haha!

My brief time with Elder Chipana has now come to a close. He left to a faraway land called Bani, and another comes to take his place. But behold, it did come to pass that in those days, that one pale Elder stood in need of knowlege of the Mexican lands to the south of his homeland. And it did please The Lord to send him one from those very lands to teach him in those glorious arts.

And it was good.

My new comp´s name is Elder Zapata, and he is indeed from Mexico!

He wants us as we are. It doesn´t matter how broken or tattered we may be or feel, He wants us with Him. I´ve learned that a lot this last week.

¡HABLAMOS AHORITA!

-Élder Jones

1: Just an angel. Whatever.

2: Farewell is such sweet sorrow...

3: Note how my Stormtrooper is shooting the others.

4: That is me. And a sandwich. Made of shark. I´m eating a shark. Take that, Jaws.

JonesMail! ¨For the First Time in Foreverrrrr...¨

Freak! Febuary is already here! Dang it! I´m not prepared for this. The season of little rodents poking their heads out of the ground / commercialized affection (that´s a weird combo) is UPON US!!!!

I´ve also decided that when I get home, I´m going to do a weekly or bi-weekly vlog. It´d be so much easier than this written junk. Actual effort? HEELLOOO, we live in the days of technology! WE´RE ´MERICA!!! We do things the lazy way!!!! ;D

Okay, so I haven´t sent one of these weekly emails for a while...my bad. Time is a herb that grows not in my garden (ponder on that for a while).

Things have been pretty normal around here. We´d a glorious Zone Conference with Élder Maynes of the Presidency of the Seventy (doctrina PROFUNDA!). He expounded on the work and several tools we can use to help the work progress. 

We´ve faced quite a bit of rejection this week. In such, I found myself thinking, ¨Father, why don´t they recive me? Why don´t they understand? Why can´t they see that you sent me here to guide them to you? Why do they reject me? Why don´t they listen? Why can´t they see?¨

After pondering over such for a time, a thought came to me, which whispered, ¨Father, why don´t they recive me? Why don´t they understand? Why can´t they see that you sent me here to guide them to you? Why do they reject me? Why don´t they listen? Why can´t they see?¨  I then realized that these exact same feelings and frustrations were a portion of those that bore Jesus Christ as he hung on Calvary. How can I become more like Christ? I have to bear a portion of what he bore. I´ve found strength and comfort in such, and I´ve come to love Him more deeply.

I´ve decided to focus more on Preaching with the Book of Mormon. It´s the keystone of our Religion, so why not the keystone of our work? If the people can find out for themselves that the book of blue is true as true, then they´ll know that everything else is true too.

¡Sigamos Pues!

-Élder Jones

Pic: ¨Don´t worry, be happy.¨

JONESMAIL!!!! Let's Go To The Beach

Okay, so it´s been a freaking long time. I´m so sorry; my time management skills SUCK. But hey, what are ya gonna do.

¨Kill you.¨

Okay, well, don´t do that. Please.

Transfers have reared their ugly heads, and struck me down with a lethal blow. I was cast out to the wilderness of the south, with the letters ZL scarred into the flesh of my brow. (I was made Zone Leader.)

I´m in a place called Barahona, in the utmost south of the DR. My area is literally right along the ocean. IT´S AWESOME. We have a nice constant breeze that comes in from the ocean, which is a great defense against the overpowering heat.

As for the Zone Leader thing, I´m loving abusing other missionaries with my awesome power.

Kidding.

Nah, being a ZL is a lot of phone calls and crunching numbers. It´s cool, but all it really entails is more responsability. That being said, my understanding of such will probably change with time...as I only have a few days as a ZL. :D

I don´t know all things, but I do know that all things happen for a reason. If we strive to do right and to be true disciples of Jesus Christ, all things will work to our advantage. I´ve come to know for myself by countless special and sacred experiences that God lives, and loves us. I know this without a doubt in my mind.

I really want you all to know that I love you all, individually. I miss you all.

Happy 2016!

Sigamos Pues!

-Élder Jones

1: Hah, nerds.

2: I´m actually controlling that kid´s mind in that pic. He doesn´t remember being there when it was taken.

3: THE WATERS OF MARS. ...With a gringo and a peruano.

4: Make that your new desktop wallpaper. I totally will. ...When I get home. Heh heh.

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!!!

FELIZ NAVIDAD!!!!!

-Élder Jones

JonesMail...well, no.

Sorry y´alls...I´m out of time. BUT! I do want to tell you chaps about the experiences we had this last week...so...TUNE IN THIS SAME TIME NEXT WEEK TO FIND OUT! (Ooops.)

Peace, Love, Unity, Serenity!

-Élder Jones

DOMINICAN CHRISTMAS DECORATIONS! HA!

ZONE CONFERENCE!!!

JonesMail!!! Conferences and Contacting

I´ve been pondering a lot lately about creating completely unique Superheros with under-appreciated powers. For example,

THE GREEN THUMB. One bound at the heart with nature, The Green Thumb wields the power to control and manipulate blades of grass. It sounds lame at first...UNTIL HE MAKES A GIANT SUPER SIZED GRASS ARMY. Think about it.

GAS GUZZLER. There are some superheros that can shoot water or fire or webs out of their hands. Gas Guzzler shoots gasoline. BOOM BOOM BAD GUYS! Also, he can drive a car indefinetly, as HE WILL NEVER RUN OUT OF GAS. BRILLIANT.

PLASTOID. You´ve heard of airbenders and waterbenders? Well this guy is a PLASTICBENDER. ENOUGH SAID.

Well, like the subject line clearly states, we´d a conference this week. ZONE CONFERENCE, BABY!!! Élder Zivic was sort of the highlighting speaker in such, which was rather glorious (he has such a cool voice...). The focus was (logically) on being better, more effective missionaries. We´ve a goal/guide type thing called ¨The Pulse¨, which carries the end goal of to souls converted a month: one reactivation, and one baptism.

To achieve such, three items are needed (it´s dangerous to go alone):

1. Faith

2. Work

3. Obedience

The fruits of such are the results of ¨The Pulse¨ itself, as well as the Spirit, and, in all truth, miracles (which are indeed necessary as a missionary).

So, my final dedication: work like crazy, work like crazy, and work like crazy. Likewise, I´m trying to hit exact obedience so as to be able to enjoy all of the blessings that follow with such.

Glory.

We´ve done a bit of contacting this week (also mentioned in the subject line), and so far, we´ve found a few potentials. And a few freccas. But, we´re focusing on those that are interested in the GOSPEL, and not in us. :D

We shall see how these new people progress!

One of the two people that got baptized in September (Morelia, to be precise) received a calling this last Sunday! She´s progressing super well and is in truth very dedicated. WOO!

This next week is to be rather fascinating indeed! We shall drink from the fount of joy and joyness. Huzzah, my dear chaps. Huzzah indeed.

Peace, Love, Unity, Serenity!

-Élder Jones 

JonesMail! The Weird and The Wacky.

For those of you who are super crazy followers of ¨MKzing¨, no, I am not about to write about an under development internet series featuring MK clones and the supernatural. (I still want to work with that though.) Rather, this week has been a bit weird and a touch wacky.

Alright, so it´s only been weird in the sense that we´ve not been able to work a whole lot this week, which has kind of thrown us off a tad. 

Sunday: We worked.

Monday: It was P-Day. Hallelujah.

Tuesday: We left San Juan to head to the Capital for a Trainers Conference Wednesday morning.

Wednesday: We had the aforementioned conference.

Thursday: WORK!!! GLORY.

Friday: We´d a meeting which kind of chopped off half our day.

Saturday: We´d the whole International Mormon Helping Hands thing (did you guys do that too?), in which we raised awareness for a disease called Dengue. The service project was cool, but it sliced our day in half. No worries!

It´s truly heaetbreaking when people reject our message. How can we help them to understand that this is something different, something new? How can we help them to recognize us as servants of the Lord Jesus Christ? How can we help them to feel the divinity of our message?

Regardless, we press on.

Also, we found a freaking Golden Family. GLORY. If all is well, we shall teach them upon the morrow!!!!!!!!!! WEEEEEEEEEEEEEW!

That´s all I´ve enscribed for thee! Peace out.

Peace, Love, Unity, Serenity!

-Élder Jones

I Lost Count. 36! We Will Go With That! (*Mom didn't, it's 37 ;-D)

"And The Lord said, "Let there be a weird quirky post-adolescent nerd with a severe lack of melanin in his skin, and let him preach My gospel upon a small Frecca-infested Caribbean Island for two years". And there was Elder Jones. And The Lord saw that he was awkward, geeky and made random sarcastic comments at whim, and said, "It is good"."

...I was half-expecting a bolt of lightning to strike me as I wrote that. :D

I am going to be completely and whole-heartedly honest: I am freakishly exhausted. A huge part of that is due to the fact that I went hard-core in a game of Soccer for about three hours...without eating any breakfast or drinking any water. I later guzzled down three bottles of water, and nearly screamed with joy. WATER IS BEAUTIFUL. (And the game was fun too! I think I shed all fat from my body!)

I've a new comp, named Elder Peterson (I relaed such in the last General Email). He has two transfers less than I, and utilizes one of the purest forms of sarcasm I've ever seen. Apparently, this is the first time that two gringos have been in this area together for about two years. (Our Branch President keeps making jokes that they "whited-out" the area. Because we're white. [In all fairness, he's been making that joke since I first got here. :D ] Such is GREAT for our English Class!)

I don't really have any glorious stories this week about super awesome investigators; we're kind of struggling at the mo to find good investigators. Such is life, right? WE PRESS ON IN FAITH AND LOVE AND PEACE AND PROSPERITY AND TRANQUILITY AND UNITY AND HOPE AND HAPPINESS AND GLORY!!!!!!!!!!!!! WOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!! *Double Fist Pump/Shuffle in Place*

And now, I must flopp away. OPTIMISM RULES!

-Elder Jonesie, as they call me.

Week 35, I think? Umm...I've no flippin' idea. (*Mom knows- it's week 36 ;-D)

GREETINGS FROM THE LAND OF RICE AND BEANS! The glorious and gorgeous (and humble) Elder Jones is back to tell y'alls what's what! YEEEAH!

And now, I go to my journal so I can remember what the poop happened this last week.

The Transfers are in, and ELDER SERRATY WILL BE LEAVING MY SIDE FOREVERMORE! *Weeps bitterly*

It hurts, I know.

On the bright side, I'M GOING TO BE A STEP-FATHER AGAIN!! WOO!! His name is Elder Peterson...and he's actually the Trainee of one of the Zone Leaders. Yeah. He's going to be in the same Zone for his second comp/area. WACK! But dope, nonetheless.

I GOT SICK THIS WEEK! Tuesday eve, I twas out walking, whenst I felt upon my knecaps a lack of energy. Mine corpse though filled with life twas now reeling under the weight of a great nothingness. We retreated to our yonder abode, where I fell into a light slumber for the space of ten hours. When the following day dawned, I still lacked wholeness, so I thus aboded in my abode for the space of another day. It twas indeed a moment of great suffering and great sorrow. 

The dog downstairs went crazy when we went down to visit Marica (our neighbor), because we were clad in street clothes in the place of our normal missionary garb. She didn't recognize us dresed differently! (It should be noted that the dog is a chiwawa, so the spectacle was more hilarious than anything).

We made PIZZA! IT WAS GLORIOUS! AGAIN! (I'd make it every Sunday here if I could...but our oven doesn't work. No pizza is better than dying in a grand explosion, right? [Did that make grammatical sense?])

And now, a spiritual experience. For the past little while, I'd been trying to understand as to exactly why I didn't feel joy here in the mission, and why the work didn't feel satisfying. I could remember feeling happiness in the mission before, so what had changed? I pondered and prayed over this for a while, and the answer came to me during Church this last Sunday (Church attendance = personal revelation!). I suddenly remembered two quotes from the past, which tied together perfectly. The first was of my mother: "Attitude is Everything."

And the second was from a personal experience that occured in the MTC. When Elder Hugo Martinez of the Second Quorum Seventy visited us, we, at the end, shook his hand. When my turn came, he said to me, "The thing that will make the biggest difference will be your smile."

At that time, I thought he was talking about that it would make the biggest difference to my investigators, but this last Sunday, I realized that it applied mostly to me. Here was the key! The smile! Smile when you're angry, and your anger melts away. Smile when you're tired, and you're filled with energy. Smile when you're sad or lonely, and the feelings break apart. Your mind becomes clear, and you take a fresh, clearer perspective on the situation. Since that moment, I've felt full of joy and optimism for the work, and it has indeed been greatly more satisfying. God answers every prayer! At times, He asks us to have patience and wait for His answer, but He ALWAYS answers EVERY prayer!

Paz, Amor, Unidad, Serenidad!

-Elder Jonesie

A VERY IMPORTANT NOTE!!

Wei! Just as a jot, you chaps CAN NOW write me by email! ...I still can't respond to all because of time limitations, but I will try to hit up a few every week. But yeah, the rules changed, and now I CAN write y'all electronically! WOO!!!

-Elder Jones

Subject: This Is The Oldest I´ve Ever Been! (Also Week 35)

LEVEL UP!!! I´m now a level 19 Paladin! WOO!!!! (I´ve a photo about this that I´d love to send...but I think my card has a virus...the photos refuse to admit their existance in the computer.)
Nevertheless, I´m 19! I´m not sure what privileges this grants me...I´m sure I now have another attribute point or something. :D

 My favorite thing about having missionary friends is that as I write, a pile of their weekly letters suddenly appear in my inbox. It´s glorious.

So! Brought back by poppular demand, HERE IT IS...THE GLORIOUS AND MYSTIFYINGLY MKZING (whoops, I mean Elder Joneszing) WEEKLY LETTER!!! YEAH!

Well, starting with my oldest memory, this last P-Day, our Zone visited a big hole in the ground (we rolled like tourists to these National Park-type caves near our area). It was rather exquisite; we had several deep conversations (Tim, if you´re reading this, high five). I´d send photos, but...umm...yeah.
Skipping ahead to later on in the week, as we entered into an apartment to teach a first lesson, my eyes fell upon the most beautiful and glorious person I´d ever seen in my life: a Chinese man speaking Spanish, clad in a shirt that displayed both the American and British flags. HE WAS LIKE THE HUMAN MANEFESTATION OF THE UNITY OF THE NATIONS!!!!! So glorious...
 (You all were expecting something totally different when you started reading this.)

I´m not sure if you´ve seen the video (to my Parents: please put such on the blog where this emails are posted), but I had a wonderfully firey ending to the anniversary of my birth. We were downstairs from our house, in the house of the members who pranked me my first day in this area, when the son of this family challenged me to eat a little harmless red chili. (Okay, to be fair, he jokingly said, ¨Do you want one?¨, to which I pulled a YOLF (You Only Live Forever (my version of YOLO)) and ate one.)
 ...Yeah, my mouth was engulfed in flames. :D I was crying like a cracked aquarium, sweat poured from my gorgeous scalp, and my face was just a shade lighter than Rudolf´s Nose. The video you see is actually two minutes AFTER I ate the pepper, by which point I´d spewed the flaming midget vegetable corpse out of my mouth and into Outer Darkness. I nearly died.

And now, a spiritual note. In my mission, I´ve gained a strong testimony about the Gift of Tongues. I say this because I realized (after a while; it´s interesting that it´s taken me such a while to notice) that in our lessons, when the Spirit is present, my Spanish and my English seem to become one, and I can speak without difficulty (this is compared to outside of lessons, where on occasion (less now; this applies more to in the months before) I forget a point of grammar or mispronounce a word or fumble for a definition). Likewise, the fact that I was able to become fluent in a language in only six months attests to Divine Aid. The Lord does indeed give great assistance to His servants!

 Also, I´ve started reading ¨Jesus The Christ¨. It is a glorious work, and really helps you to better understand the Lord´s ministry, before His birth, during His life, and after His death. I´d recommend such to all!

Paz y amor!
-Elder Jones, Lord of Highly Concentrated Wackiness 

on fire!!

Wei! This is MK! I ate a chili pepper for birthday fun and nearly died! WOOOO!!

Almost 34 weeks!!!

A photo of the entire mission!!! WOO!!

We (as a Zone) visited a cave today! I want to send photos, but I think my card has a virus that is preventing the photos from showing up on the computer!

Love ya! I´ve got to bounce! (This one hour of internet thing is super dificult...but I´m trying to sustain my Preisthood Leader in such.)

Almost 33 weeks!!

Ah...vacation...yeah, here, we´re in what´s called ¨Semana Santa¨ (Holy Week). ...I´m not sure if we´re going to get any work done or not, because basically no one is home, and those who are really don´t want to listen (it´s ironic: a week about Christ, and nobody wants to hear about Him) :D ...they go to the beach, visit family...sit at home and drink beer...you know, the usual. ;D

We had seven people in church! That´s cool. Uh...stories...I can´t really remember. OOH! We accidentally made ice cream! WOO!!! I wanted to make an orange slushie, but I didn´t have any water, so I used milk instead. When we took the concoction out of the blender, we realized we´d made a type of sorbet! We did it again today, this time with strawberry drink mix instead of orange! Hmm...what new shtuff do I have to talk about...? Huh. I got nothing. :D

 Kids were an spring break, so we all were able to email back and forth to him! So awesome!!

32 And Lots of Stuff to Do! (Stupid...the names are getting worse... :D )

*Huff...puff...huff...HOOOOOO.*
I shall be completely honest: that week was completely exhausting. Partially because our P-Day was shifted to today, so as to permit us to go to the TEMPLE!!!!!! WOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!! *Dances like The Doctor*
But yeah, the past few days, I´ve been completely exhausted. It´s amazing how much your body can come to rely on that one day of the week. Nevertheless, ¡VAMOS PA´LANTE! (The latter is a Dominican word consisting of ¨para¨ and ¨adelante¨. It translates basically to mean ¨we go forward¨.)
You know the best thing about extra long weeks? I remember even less than normal! I thought a quick check to my agenda would set things right, but nope...I can´t recall squat! Although, I DO recall DOING squats... ;P

All I can really say is that we´ve been working really hard this past week. At least I hope so; we come home exhausted every night! I´ve actually gotten really bad at writing in my journal because of such...I just zonk out! Really, it´s a testimony that God is giving us a bucketload of help, because there have been a few days in which I´ve thought, ¨Uh...how am I get through today?¨ But all has worked out. That´s another thing: our goal should not be just to get through today, but to completly and utterly dominate! Actually, when I´ve focused on such, the mornings have been a lot easier; I´ve gotten up without as much struggle. GLORIOUS!

Next week, I should hopefully have a cool story or something...heh heh. :D

Paz y amor!
-Elder Jones

31 With a Step-Son

Greetings Nerds of all ages!

Well, it´s official! I´m away from the land of my birth (in the mission, I mean). It´s a bit odd to walk the streets of a different city, but time will soon meld the irregularity into a smoother stone.
What´s also odd is basically never speaking English. My first two companions were primarily English speakers, so I was more adjusteed to speaking a mix of the two languages. Here, my comp speaks only spanish, and the two other Elders in our house are primarily Spanish speakers as well. This is gonna be GREAT for my language skills! (And it has been, heh heh.)
Also, as noted in the heading, Elder Serraty is actually my Step-Son (I´m his first comp away from his trainer. Elder Sullivan was my Step-Father)! It´s wack...I´M A SENIOR COMPANION!!!

Madre Vieja is indeed a glorious area, but our nighboors below us...now, they´re a diabolical sort. When I was in the car heading to the house for the first time, the other missionaries and the Branch President warned me that below us live a family of Jehovah´s Witnesses. I thought nothing of it, as members of such a church are normally very nice people. Later, however, when Elder Serraty and I went to intoduce ourselves to them, the mother of the family came out with a face of loathing, and told me, ¨I don´t want Mormons coming into my house¨. After some pressuring from Elder Serraty, she let us in, just so the new missionary (me) could intoduce himself. I told her that we just wanted to be freinds, and she responded with, ¨I don´t want to be your friend. I have my friends at church. I don´t need to be friends with the mormons¨. It was at this point that her son came out and intorduced himself. He was a bit frendiler, and started asking questions about doctrine of our church. We responded clearly to his questions, and testified several times to the truthfulness of the message. As we went to leave, we asked the mother if there was anything that we could do for her, to which she replied with a cold, ¨no¨. I couldn´t help but think with dread, ¨Oh no. This is going to be a very loooooong transfer.¨ It was at this point that the son suddenly put his arm around my shoulder, gave me a one arm hug and said, ¨I´m a returned missionary. We´re members of the church. Welcome to Madre Vieja.¨
Suddenly, the mother, the son, and Elder Serraty dissolved into histerical laughter. They then brought out their photo of the temple, as well as the Jesus Christ picture that every Momo has. ...I couldn´t stop laughing for about two days. :D

Ah! We also had an awesome experience with a visit from an Apostle of the Lord. Elder Holland of the 12 spoke to our entire mission, and I have to say, it was spectacular. (I nearly died of laughter when he told us, ¨I´m going to step out to call my bretheren of the Quorum of the 12 Apostles, and then, when I come back, I´ll let you know if we´re headed for Jackson County.¨ (I´m not sure how many of you will get that.) His words were definetly inspired, and he spoke with a power that could have only come from the Spirit. (Also, in this same conference, I got to see Elder Thibault and Elder Sullivan again, along with missionaries from my group in the MTC.)

We also had a beautiful demonstration of the Spirit. Long story short, we contacted a house, and the ladies inside were not at all in the mood to listen. They openly attacked the church, and more often than not, talked loudly over us. Suddenly, in the midst of all this chaos, I felt the Spirit whisper, ¨Ask them as to how old they think you are.¨ At the time, I just thought, ¨What?¨ (Later, Elder Serraty told me he thought I was crazy at first when I asked the question.) However, such was definetly an inspired question, because our answers (18 and 19) seemed to extinguish their aggression. It was in this moment that Elder Serraty and I testified powerfully of the church, and invited the Spirit wish a force that I´ve never felt in my mission. In the end, they were completly quiet, and actually even asked for forgiveness for offending us. As we left, they even prayed for our well-being, and that the Hand of God would be with us in our Holy labor. The entire experience has just taught me truly the power of the Holy Spirit, and his power to melt hearts of stone.

Madre Vieja overall is just a glorious place. The members are loving, my companion is glorious, and the work rolls strong.

Hurrah for Israel!

-Elder Jones

My new Zone....I think this photo fairly describes us. More or less.

There's no day like a Monday! Especially when it's a P-Day! (Those would be MTC shorts I'm wearing. They were a gift from my old Ward Mission Leader.)

Elder Serraty accompanied by his Gringo Step-Father!

30! ...Man, I'm getting OLD!

HallO! (That would be the way Freccas try to say "hello".) The time rolls like a Sumo Wrestler down a rather verticalized hill. (Have I used that analogy before?)

REGARDLESS! Big big news (again like the Sumo Wresteler)! Someone give me a drumroll...*faint drumroll is heard*...Thank you Ishmael.
I'M GETTING TRANSFERED!!!!
That's right ladies and gentlemen, Elder Jones is getting shipped off to another location within the DR! Grab your SmartPhones and look up San Cristobal, because THAT'S where I'm going to be! (Specifically, San Cristobal, the area being known as Madre Vieja [Old Mother] North.)
My companion, Elder Serraty, is actually from the DR, so I'll be spending a lot of time speaking only Spanish (which is good; I strive to reach perfection ;D ).
OH! And here's the kicker: I'll actually be the companion with the most time in the mission. Elder Serraty has a month and a half less than I (if that's even possible). SO WACKY. SO BIZZARE. SO BEAUTIFUL. ;D

Anyway, because of the aforementioned, we've spent a bit of time heading around to people I've taught/members of the ward, so as to bid farewell. It's hard, actually. I've drawn to close to this land, to this people. And now, I'm heading off for a new adventure. Though the location will change, Villa will always stay close to my heart. *Sad french violin plays in the background*
Actually, speaking of French, I've considered dedicating time to try to learn that language too. It only took me 6 months to become fluent in Spanish, so why not French? :D I dunno, we'll see what goes down.

I'd a wonderful experience in Church the other day, when during a particularly reverent moment, The Lord brought to my notice the fruits of my labors here in Villa Altagracia, many of which were seated around me in the chapel. Pure joy and deep gratitude filled my heart, for I knew that my work here had been pleasing in the sight of The Lord. (This is not me bragging, just as a note. I'm 100% aware that everything I did was 1% me and 99% God. Actually, my percentage might be a little high. THE POINT REMAINS. :D )

When we meet again, I shall be in a mystical faraway land! (DK San Cristobal.) 

Adios mis amigos!
-Elder Jones

29 and a Bit of Time! (...That was stupid...*beats head with a pineapple*)

Hola, mís bonitos amigos! Esto es chevere...solamente las personas que habla Español puede entenderme ahora! JAJA! GLORIOSO! (...Y quizás los que usan algo para traducirlo...NO IMPORTA!)

Alright, now to English for you Gringos up north! (Love you.)

This has been a week filled with experimentations! (Food, namely.) I would love to send a list of Dominican recipies up to you guys...actually, maybe I'll do that next week.
SO! What did we make? I'LL TELL YOU WHAT TELL YOU WHAAAAAATT!!!
1. Ham cooked in a Ketchup/Coke mixture (it makes a gorgeous BBQ Sauce, actually!
2. Rice, Beans, and meat. Nothing new there. WOO!
3. Empanadas! ...Super unhealthy, but SO GOOD! (*SOO GOOOOOD!!!*) I actually have a picture of that one!
4. Chicken Coleslaw Sandywiches! Just...beautiful...
5. ...Something else that I can't remember! YAY!!!
6. Oh, and Pizza on Sunday, like always! YEHAW!

We'd a pretty awesome moment while teaching an investigator named Fransisco. He has about 12 times in church (A BUCKETLOAD), and is pretty receptive to what we teach. When we were teaching him the other day, he recounted a story to us about the first time he went to church. He told us of how immediatly afterwards, he randomly started to feel sick, and actually ended up vomiting a few times. The following day, however, when he woke up, he realized that he'd completly lost the desire to drink coffee (noting that before this, he'd been a heavy coffee drinker). The wackiest part, is that we actually haden't even touched the Word of Wisdom yet! (The LDS Health Code for those of you unfamiliar with the name.) WHAT DID I JUST WITNESS?! WAS THAT AN ENSIGN MOMENT RIGHT BEFORE ME?!

Also, Dominican Independance day was last Friday. It was cool to see the celebrations, but difficult, because we couldn't really get any work done! :D

Paz y amor, mis amigos!
-Elder Jones

28 Slices of Pizza in the pan...take one out, pass it around...now everyone has sauce on their hands.

SUPA QUICK! LIKE A SUMO GOBBLING DOWN A ROLL OF SUSHI! (I miss sumo wrestling with Brady and Squid...)

I have become victim to one of the greatest additions known to man. Like a demonic wildfire, it spreads without restraints, consuming every person it touches. I speak, obviously, of P90X3. :D
 Fitness! It's becoming an obsession of mine! ...Which is actually a very god thing, as I've (shamefully) never really been in to fitness! BUT NOW I LOVE IT.

This last...ummm....yesterday was rather glorious! We had 10 investigators attend church, which (I believe) ties with the most people I've ever seen in church! This was only made possible because of a member of the church (nicknamed "Chulo" [meaning more or less, "cool, dope, or pimp"]) gave a family a ride in his truck to church. Likewise, this same family is filled with interest in our message, so we'll see what the future brings!

MORE PIZZA! PIZZA SUNDAY IS MY NEWEST TRADITION! WOO!

..I honestly can't remember anything else at this point. This week's kind of been a blur. :D

I shall have more next week! Until then, enjoy a beautiful picture of a homemade pizza!

Paz y amor!
-Elder Jones

Isn't that just the most beautiful pizza you've ever seen? And its CHEAP too! The most expensive part would have to be the cheese. (its like buying gold. Seriously.)

Rice with green pigeon peas and a sausage thing that doesn't really have a name in English! DOMINICAN, BABY!

Our Chapel! IT'S FUN SIZE!

My face when I realize it's P-Day!

27 Gifts of Valentine's Day!

And of course, by 27, I mean NONE. *Cries in a corner and eats Yogurt*
Mmm...yogurt.
So, this last Valentine's Day, I was eagerly expecting a beautiful package from my girlfriend, when I realized rather sourly that I don't have one! ;)
But seriously, I actually didn't even realize that it was Valentine's Day until someone pointed it out. Our here, it's just sort of a normal day!

Speaking of not even realizing something until later, I've progressed with my Spanish to the point where at times I'll be speaking in Spanish, and not realize until afterwards that I was speaking in the Spanish tongue. THEY'RE CALLED MIRACLES, PEOPLE! AND I ONLY HAVE SIX FREAKING MONTHS (and three days) WITH THIS LANGUAGE!!! WOOOO!!!!

I've also received another blessing, and that is the dedication to exersize! Before the mission, I was always kind of indifferent and rather unmotivated to do such. In the mission, however, I've been blessed with a stronger resolve to do such. GLORIOUS!

One thing I'm still trying to hammer away at is my Time Management skills. They suck. We left our house a bit later than we should have to head to a Zone Meeting...one thing led to another...we got there an hour late...and President and Hermana Nuckols had randomly decided to visit our Zone that day. ...Yeah. It was a bit awkward. :D

YOUR WEEKLY CHALLENGE IS HERE! I desire to hear from all of some fantastic new recepies. I'm collecting down here, and my list grows. BUT I NEED MORE. I'm like an addict to recepies. ;D 

Paz y amor! -Elder Jones

And here's a photo of a beautiful tie burning! (It's a missionary tradition for the 6th Month mark.)

And I see fire...inside the mountain...or maybe the tie..."

Celebrating my "Bump" Day with Dominican Hamburgers/Soda!...Soda doesn't like me much...

HOMEMADE PIZZA! WHO DOESN'T LOVE ME NOW?1 ;D