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

Subject: 1, 2, Buckle My Shoe; 3, 4, Shut The Front Door; ... 25, 26, This Song Makes Me Sick...

WEI WEI WEI THOU BEINGS OF THE WORLD BEYOND! How goeth the things of normality?

Hugs not Drugs! The problem is, as missionaries, we can't give hugs (torture for a huggy person like me), so the latter will have to do! ;D But in all seriousness, we were out contacting, when I said, "hey, we've never contacted that house over there!" So we went...and there was a Hooka machine out. It wasn't on, so we continued the contact, but after a time, I noted that the air still had a scent to it. From that point on, I devoted my attention to breathing out hard, so as to (hopefully) clear an air pocket. When we left, however, Elder Sullivan told me that he'd a large headache, and that things didn't quite make 100% sense in his head. ...Needless to say, the next time we passed by to teach, we made sure the machine wasn't anywhere around before deciding whether to teach or not.

We've a raise and a fall within the same week! IT'S A TWO FOR ONE SALE! There's a woman named Fior we've been teaching for a while who made the commitment to come to church next Sunday, and likewise promised to pray with regards to the truthfulness of our message. GLORIOUS! On the other end of the spectrum, we'd a family who was progressing insanely insanely insanely well...and we couldn't find them for the longest while. When I called to see where they were, I was told that they decided to join a different church, and they weren't going to be continuing with us. ...It...it hurt a little bit. I felt like I'd been dumped. Ouch. ...Ow...

One thing that's been fascinating to see is truly how much I've changed over the course of my mission. I look back to my first day (by means of a journal, muhahaha), and I can easily note the difference. It's wacky, really! The Lord is indeed refining me in these years of service. I'll get off the plane next year, and all the world will be like, "woah, who's this Angel?" And I'll say, "Angel is a good friend of mine. I prefer to be called...*pause for effect*...Elder Jones." And then a shockwave of awesomeness will ripple across the Fresno Airport. ;D

Quote of the week!
"There is a misconception about righteou people and wicked people with regards to life. Being rightous does not guarentee complete immunity to the difficulties of life, and nor does being wicked prevent such people from good fortune. The true difference, however, is that for the followers of God, all things work out for their benifit, be they soft or rought. Wickedness, however, only recives a growing tower of condemnation, regardless if their fortunes be good or ill."

And now, please insert you favorite credit music.
...Doo wee doo...
Paz afuera! (The literal translation of "Peace Out!")
-Elder Jones

Pictures

Me new Comp! - Elder Sullivan

A PACKAGE IN THE MAKING! Muhahahaha...

An Agenda of Awesomeness. Aka, The Bearded Book

A parting gift from Elder Thibault. *Sobs*

"Hey, Patrick. You know what's funnier than 24?" "What?" "25." *Giggles*

Okay nerds and nerdlings! It's time for your weekly dosage of awesomeness. It'll be a short and sweet one, but there you go.

NEW COMPANION! Elder Sullivan is his name, and nerdcraft is his game! (He's a level 58 Nerd. *Bows in respect*) He's a great missionary, and is the possessor of several life habits which I desire to learn. DOPE!

DELUGE! We'd two days of strait rain (not curly rain, mind you). Just the little thing Elder Sullivan needed to get adjusted to Villa Altagracia! ;D

Anyway, because of the rain, we did something I've never done before: we wore our Work Crocs to work. AND THEY WORKED.

For those of you who are wondering what Dominican food looks like, here's one of the staples: ...Well, it's the attachment. VIEW IT WITH PRIDE. 

Time to bounce! *Grabs pogo stick* Awesome.

Paz! -Elder Jones

SUPER DOMINICAN LUNCH!! Fried Plantains with Salami and RICE!

Twenty and a Fourth! ...Okay, that doesn't exactly work...umm...24. LIKE THE HOURS IN A DAY! Nailed it.

*Rolls in on a Segway*
"They see me rollin'...they laughin'...it's all because I'm White and Nerdy..."

Wei wei wei! WEI! Ah, can you feel the freshness of that Dominican Breeze? ...Neither can we. We're indoors, and I'm dying of heat. :D

Transfers come soon! Elder Thibault received a call from the President of the Mission, President Nuckols, and was asked to be the Zone Leader in a chunk of Santo Domingo known as Independencia. I was informed that it's to be my role to say here in the gorgeous hills of Villa Altagracia, and that my next companion is to be called Elder Sullivan. According to Thibault (as Elder Sullivan is actually from the same group as Thibault), my next comp is a glorious missionary, as well as a thinker. And he's Asian. From Canada. And speaks awesome Spanish. A PERFECT MIX! I'll be seeing him tomorrow when the transfers actually go down!

There's this four-year old kid who lives by the church;whenever he sees us, he screams: "AMIGO!" in a rather high voice. However, this past week, we've had two rather comical encounters with this same little kid. Earlier in the week, we were walking down the street, when a car passed by and we heard the shriek of, "AMIGO!" We looked, and saw that our amigo was in the back of the car, waving excitedly at us. We laughed a bit after that. The immediate day after, we were teaching a lesson, and went to introduce ourselves.
"Hola, I'm Elder Thibault."
"And I'm Elder Jones. Elder is a title from the Bible, which means-" "AMIGO!"
We turned, and there he was, literally right next to us! He shook our hands/fist bumped us, then told the people we were teaching, "These guys are my Brothers"
. ...We were only a bit stunned. :D

Ah, and how could I forget? You guys remember Stayci, right? I mentioned her about an eternity ago, I believe. Anyway, she got baptized. Yeah.
 ...WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
*Dances in place madly* So pancake-flipping happy...
It's a joy really unlike any other. After so much rejection and so much labor, the fruit of our efforts is a sweetness almost beyond anything I can describe. It's truly glorious. THE POWER OF PRAYER!!!

It's utterly glorious here in Villa! There are always trials, but they help us to really see the beauty of the sweetness! It's like a Dominican Hot Chocolate: in order to really taste the sugar, you have to add a pinch of salt! (It's weird, but it works. No joke.)

And now, if you'll excuse me, I need to go save some souls. LUIGI JUMP AWAY!

-Elder Jones

Us with Stayci befor her Baptism!

Stayci!

...Just...beautiful...

Twenty Three and a Day!

Dum-dum dum dum, dum-dum dum dum, dum-dum dum dum, dumdumdumdumdum dum-dum dum dum, dum-dum dum dum, dum dum dum dum DOO WEE DOOOOOOOOO, BOWOOOO...*Doctor Who Theme continues*

Wow! That was an utterly EXHAUSTING week! I'm practically sleeping as I type this! Nah, I'm just messing...I'm actually sleeping. I'm extremely skilled in the art of sleep/writing. If any of you have ever wondered why I'm so random sometimes...it's because I'm actually sleeping. Good blueberries, right?

ALRIGHT! Set aside all of that nonsense. *Feverishly pounds the backspace key to erase the horrible joke*

Random tidbits! This past Monday (that feels super weird to say in English), we journeyed down to Santo Domingo for some shopperying, then feasted upon Wendy's. I almost screamed with joy. The funny thing is, Wendy's is a bit flipped here. In the States, people are always dressed super causal whenever they venture there. Here, The people who eat there are all dressed up and fancy, as the food there is a bit more expensive, therefore, only the uppity dare to tread there. ...Okay, a slight exaggeration, but it's sort of like that.

The teaching here goes spectacularly, and we've been blessed to see the fruits of our labors (and more importantly because of the presence of the Holy Spirit). We've had several new investigators come to church, all of which look extremely promising.

AH! And we challenged a family to baptism! We've been teaching them for a while, and they've said that they can definitely feel a difference when we are there/teaching. OH! BUT THAT'S NOT THE BEST PART! The last time we passed by, they told us that they'd decided to start praying together as Husband and Wife so as to receive the answer! AND WE DIDN'T EVEN HAVE TO TELL THEM TO DO THAT! I MEAN, WE WERE GOING TO, BUT THEY JUST DID IT ANYWAY! THE POWER OF THE SPIRIT!

Every person has their mountains in life that they have to climb. I recently faced one of these moments...and succeeded. My mountain is known as: The Marianchita.
It was a excursion of about 8-9 hours, but probably could have been shorter...if we hadn't gotten lost on the way back down. Heh heh. We lost the trail (there really isn't much of a trail at all) while descending, and spent a bit of time trying to search for it again. Acting on a prompting, we decided to pray to as to receive illumination with regards to the location of the trail. After such, we all mutually agreed that the wisest course of action was to ascend to the top once again and try to re-follow the path once again. The tricky part, however, was to find a way back to the top. However, due to a Heavenly miracle, we quickly encountered the point where we had truly lost our way, followed it back to the top, then descended once again in safety. Glorious.
The photos were good too! One is of the mountain itself, while the other was our view. That's Villa Altagracia over there! I WORK THERE!

The work is tough, and it takes tough people to get it done! *Flexes Spaghetti Arms*
Paz!
- Elder Jones

So, This is the mountain we climbed...   The Marianchita

And this is what it looked like from the top. I work there!

Here's another skyview of Villa Altagracia

A glorious sideshot of Elder MK

That would be Elder Indiana Jones and the Abandoned House of Some Rich Dude.
Sergio Vargas, I believe

Hiking!

Here we are with Stayci and two members! (Stayci is the one to the left.)

FRUIT NINJA MISSIONARIES!