Magandang araw sa inyo lahat.

How was everyones christmas?? For christmas here our mission did something special. It was called white christmas. The entire mission had a goal which was for every companionship to have at least two baptisms on December 26th. President Yap one of the members of the Branch Presidentcy here put together a special program for White Christmas. It was a great program too. There were a total of 5 people who were baptized including our 2 now recent converts Jesabel and Camille and 3 kids that are all 8 years old. We had a great turn out there was probably 40 people at the baptism and everyone was dressed in white. We all dressed in white since it was white christmas. The program that President Yap put together was great. Before the baptisms actaully happened we watched a video and President Yap was sitting by me and he whispered to me and said "You are very lucky Elder only once in your life will you experience this." Im very thankful for president Yap he helps us so much and his family is amazing. This January his family is going to the temple for them to be sealed.

Yesterday when we worked Jesabel came and worked with us. She wants to serve a mission already. The other day when we were at their home they were asking us what they need to do so she can serve a mission. That would be really cool if she would serve a mission. She still has a couple years but since her mom is a member sge is of course supporting her. We had a great week and its was kinda crazy with everything. Well I will talk to you all next week! have a great week! Bye and love you all!!

Elder Jones

Merry Christmas

Hello all This week we had a very cool experience in our area. While walking to go vist our investigators who will be baptized this week we talked to a girl who was walking beside us on the other side of the road. We asked if she knew our investigtors and she did. We told her a little bit about our message and asked if we could visit her. She said if she wantes to listen she will just talk to our investigators and join us. When we got to our investigators house we asked them if they knew the girl who we had talked to. They knew her and ansked if she was interested. A couple days later our investigators texted us and asked when we would be visiting because the girl we had OYMed was there and wanted us to teach her. Our investigators followed up with their friend. They were the ones who went to the girl we OYMed after we talked about her and they invited her to listen. We taught her and she also came to church yesterday with her two friends. We have FHE later today at their house as well and she will be joining us. It was a great experience for us and it was so cool to see our investigators go out and fellowship others. Im so excited fro white christmas and to see our two amazing investigators enter into the waters of baptism.Our two investigators that will be baptized saturday are Jesabel and Camille. They are best friends and we have been teaching them for about 7 or 8 weeks now. This December 26 in the mission is called white Christmas. President Ostler wanted us to all make a goal for white Christmas which was to have 2 baptisms on that day. Im super excited for it cause its a big activitythat the branch has been involved in for a longtime. The branch is also putting together a huge program for white christmas. Its going to be super awesome! Jesabel and Camille and doing great. Its so cool to see their progression. The are attending seminary and they love the church and gospel and the people. The members have been doing a great job with fellowshipping them and they have tons of freids at church and they spend time with the other youth in the branch. Jesabels mon has been a member for about a year now and now Jesabel and her mom are really helping eachother. They are now trying to get Jesabel's older brother and dad to go to church. Which I think the time will come like it did for Jesabel. I wish I could tell you more but time is short! I love you all! Have a great week and Ill talk to you all this Christmas!!! Elder Jones

Hey guys!

This week was very different because we had a zone Conference where Elder Bowen from the Quorum of the seventy came and taught us and the following day we had a Christmas party. All this happened in Puerto about 3 hours away from our area so we left early Wednesday Morning and didn't get back until Friday night. So we didn't get to work a whole lot in our area. Our investigators are doing good. This Friday Jezebel and Camille will be interviewed by our Zone leaders for Baptism. They are doing great. Jezebel has been to church now 5 times and Camille has been 4 times. Im really excited for their baptisms this December 26. Our other investigators are also doing good. We really have a lot of work to do in our area and sometimes I wish we could accomplish more than we do. But people have agency and we can only invite, teach, and do our best the rest is up to our investigators. But the work is coming along great. Its really fun and we are having a blast. We have also really grown to love those that we teach and really want to serve them and help them to receive the gospel. Being a missionary is a great experience I love it!

Elder Jones 

Hey I cant believe its monday again. Its crazy how fast time is  going by. This week was great though. We have several investigators, Jezebel, Camelle, and Michelle who are all progressing well. They all came to church last week and it was Jezebels 4 time at church in a row. Camelle has now been 3 times and Michelle has been 2 times. They all have baptismal dates for  December 26 the only problem is Michelle  leaves December 20 to go on vacation and then on January 30  she  comes back so  she may not be baptized this December 26 but we will see. Its  so fun to teach them cause they all ask good questions and they always read the chapters in the Book Of Mormon that we leave with them. When we teach now they have pens and papers and takes notes. They also all have their  Book OfMormons and Pamphlits and are learningso  much. They also toldus they beleive the Book  Of Mormon is true.

Anotherone of our investigators, Bryan, came to church yesterday. Bryan's mom is an inactive member and yesterday her, Bryan and Precious, Bryans younger sister all went to  church. We invited Bryan to be baptized and he has a  goal  of January 2. He is another investigators of ourswho always reads from the Book Of Mormon and we committed him and his mom to have daily family  scripture study and prayer everyday which they have been doing. Its so great  to see their desire and seeing them at church yesteday was  amazing.

We also have a new  investigators who  we taught on saturday, her cousin is an activemember. Kyla our new investigator went to church yesterday and we are teaching her again later today.  We are also going toinvite  her to be baptized on probably January 9. But this week was amazing we have had great success  and its amazing. Imight only have 6 weeks left her but I hope not. Im really hoping to see Jezebel, Camelle,Michelle, Bryan,Kyla,and Zember all be baptized before I leave. All of them are doing great and progressing so well.

Love you all

Elder Jones

Hey How is everyone doing

This week was different than other weeks. On Friday we had to travel to Narra which is about 1 hour away from here for a meeting. Then we had District Conference on Saturday and Sunday so we didn't go home. We all stayed in our zone leasers home for several days. Their home is really big though so it was OK. I work however was really limited because of District Conference. It was really cool even though District Conference was about 2 hours away we had several investigators attend which wouldn't have happened without the help of the members. One of the Area Seventy also spake at the conference with his wife, President and Sister Ostler and many others. I'm sure it was a great experience for our investigators. I know it was for me.

Iam absolutely loving this area so much! I cant explain everything but the work is great. We have so many investigators and many of them are progressing. Some of our investigators are doing amazing and many others come to church but not regularly. Several of our investigators come to church every week. We have many amazing investigators that can be baptized on December 26 and we have many other investigators that will be baptized in January and February. I don't know how to explain it all without telling you about every single investigator but I know that many of this amazing people will be baptized whether I'm here or not. I think I will probably leave this area in the beginning of January after My companion and I finish his training. We are working hard though and trying to help as many of our investigators to be prepared for baptism before I leave. I love this work though. It is hard but its amazing. It is stressful but it is so much more rewarding. I'm so glad I'm here and that I have been able to help in the little small ways that I have in order to help bring other unto Christ. 

Thank you all for everything I love you all so much!!

Elder Jones

Magandang Hapon po

This week we had an amazing week. I wont be able to tell you much about it because so much happened but I can say this, it was an amazing week. Last week I mentioned one of our investigators named Jezebel. Well she is doing great. She is attending institute now and came to church again yesterday. She also introduced us to two of her best friends Camel, and Mitchell. We have been teaching them three and they are keeping commitments and attending church. We invited Jezebel to be baptized on December 26 and she is really excited for that. We also invited her two best friends. They all have a baptismal date for December 26 and they are all progressing well. I'm sure that all three of them will be baptized on that day and they are excited for it, especially Jezebel.

Another one of our investigators named Zember who also has a baptismal date for December 26 had been struggling with receiving and answer lately. He reads the Book Or Mormon, Prays about it, and understands the lessons we have with him. This week Lymark worked with us. He is an 18 year old member. Then next time we went back and asked him if he had felt anything yet. If he had received and answer to his prayers. He then told us that he had. He said that when Lymark shared his testimony and shared his conversion story he felt something. Lymark talked about how it took him a long time to receive and answer and Zember has now been praying for weeks. Zember said that he felt something burning inside him that he couldn't describe. It was amazing and it just really helped me to understand the importance of members. Brother Zember also came to church yesterday.

We also had another amazing experience. Several days ago we talked to Bryan a 14 year old boy. Yesterday we went to visit him at his home. He is a part member family and his mom is an inactive member that I didn't know til yesterday. Bryan was taught by missionaries before and was almost baptized but then his family moved. They moved back here and his mom has been inactive for many years. When we began sharing with them his mother broke down in tears. She started talking about how she wants to go back to church and she knows she needs to but she has made mistakes and needs help. We told her we were there to help her as well as her son. Bryan than told us that he wants to be baptized so after having a short discussion and reassuring them that Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ love them we invited Bryan to be baptized and he accepted. He also has a baptismal date for December 26.

We have so many investigators with December 26 baptismal dates right now because of White Christmas. Our goal is for every companionship to have at least 2 baptisms on that day. Im so excited for Jezebel, Camel, Mitchelle, Zember, and Bryan.

Our week also ended perfectly with Rodel's Baptism. Brother Welmer, the ward mission leader, baptized him and I confirmed him. As I said before that Rodel is very quite and shy but as he has been reading, praying, and attending church he has really changed. He talks to members more, and yesterday he said the opening prayer in sacrament. That was really awesome. He has made a lot of friends and has become very comfortable with the branch. At first he would hardly say a word and now he talks to us all. He has a great testimony too and he is almost done with 2 Nephi. It was so amazing yesterday when the branch all raised the right hands to support Rodel as the newest member in the Quezon Palawan Branch.

Love you all

Elder Jones

This week we had another good week. This week was kind of difficult but was also rewarding. One of our investigators named Rodel Almugera was just interviewed for his baptism last week and this Saturday he will be baptized. Rodel is 19 and was being taught when I first got here. He is a very shy kid but its cool so see how the gospel is changing his life. He reads the book of Mormon so much that he has gotten a lot better at reading and he has started to open up to people at church and make several new friends. He also has a great testimony and has learned a lot. He hasn't missed a single Sunday in the last 10 weeks. I'm excited to see him get baptized this Saturday. 

Our mission is doing something this year called white Christmas. Where every companionship in the mission is working to have at least 2 baptisms. We have several  potential investigators in our area to be baptized on December 26. One is Jezebel. She is a 17 year old girl and her mother is a member. She is also familiar with the bible which makes teaching her very fun. Yesterday she came to church with her mom and we also taught her the Law of Chastity and the Work of Wisdom last week. Because her mom was taught by missionaries before and had a Word of Wisdom problem and her mom always teaches her the importance of taking care of her body it was like she already had a testimony of these two commandments. She saw the changes the Word Of Wisdom made in her moms life. It was super cool. Her mom is such a great example for her. Jezebel is also someone we see as a future leader. She understands doctrine so well and she lives it. She will be a future leader here. Another Potential investigator who has a baptismal goal for December 26 is Zember. Zember is also a 17 year old who has a lot of real intent. He is super great and he keeps commitments very well. He continues to read and pray. His mom and sister were just baptized several weeks ago in Narra. The only thing with Zember is he hasn't been able to go to church for a couple week because he was traveling and wasn't here in Quezon so for him to be baptized he really needs to go again which I think he will. He came three weeks in a row before and then missed the last several. I'm super excited for December 26 and we are going to work super hard to have as many baptisms as we can on that day.

Love you all and thank you so much for everything! 

Elder Jones

Good Afternoon everyone

Well it really feels like I just Emailed you yesterday. Time is going by so fast now its crazy. I'm loving the mission though. We had another really great week this week and we taught a lot of lessons. One thing though is it is hard to help people to be baptized. As many people as we teach and as well as some of them are progressing it takes a lot of time for them to really be prepared. We have so many investigators and many of them are amazing but it is hard to help them be baptized. Just this week the two oldest girls in the Alingasa family brought out that they don't feel ready to be baptized. They feel it is true but still have doubts. They were suppose to be baptized on November 21 but the soonest they can be baptized is in December. We are still just teaching them and helping them to over come their doubts. It really is harder work but its super amazing. 

The mission also has a new goal called White Christmas which is for every companionship in the mission to have 2 baptisms on the day of December 26. We have several investigators who have baptismal goals for that day. Many of them are doing very well. It is great to teach them to gospel and to help them understand it. It is hard work but it is definitely worth it. 

Love you all and I will talk to you again next week!!

Love Elder Jones

Magandang araw po sa inyo lahat

We had an absolutely amazing week this week. We had several newinvestigators who are very interested and it was really cool to share with them. One of our new invesetigators this week is the daughter of a member here in the branch. The member, Sister Clara, has been less active for a while but just recently has been going to church regularily so we decided to visit her. When we got to her house we met her daughter Jezibel and talked for a little.  We also grabbed some Suha from a nearby tree at ate it. Suha is grape fruit by the way. While talking to her we found out that she is very interstedin the bible and reads it pretty frequently.  Lately I have been reading and studying the bible in my personal study and we were able to use some of the knowledge that we have about the bible to help her understand our message. We told her about living prophets and aposltes and she couldnt believe there were liveing prophets and apostles here on the earth.It was a really cool expereince. She kept asking where they are and what the do she we told her. We also have a new investiagtors named Jason who is a 19 year old boy and his mother father and siblings all live several hours away from here. The cool thing is all of them are members. He is the only one that isnt a member. We taught him and in the first lesson we told him if he has questions to just ask.  He immediately asked why we were really there sharing with him.  It was a great question that led us right into the restoration.  We told him that we are really here because of the restoration, because once again aprophet has been called and the gaspel is on the earth, and that we wanted him to know that. It was a great dicussion and yesterday he came to church.

Everything here is going great. I love the mission and the people. Time is going to fast! HAHA But we have a lot of work to do and we have been able to accomplish a lot. Last week we had 14 member present lessons which was great. Im really looking forward to the progression of this area. We have so many investigators who I feel will be baptized. Also this last week we talked to a guy sitting on his motorcycle on the side of the road. When we started to talk to him he spoke english to me then i spoke tagalog back. He couldnt believe that I spoke tagalog. He asked how long I had been here andI told him "14 months already" He then said you have only been here for 14 months and you can speek tagalog. He was mind blown but we asked if we could visit him and he said yes. We then gave him a pamphlit about the resotration and but out names and number on it.

Im doing great here! Love you all Miss you all too!!

Elder Jones

Hello Everyone

So this week I was informed of some great news. Do you remember Sister Exyl? Some one that I frequently talked about while I was in y first area. Well I just found out that she was baptized! I knew she would eventually be baptized it was just a matter of her wedding happening. Her and Brother Jared are now married she was baptized and they are very very active in the church.Sister Exyl has been attending church for over a year now as an "Investigator" she has also been taught all the lessons over 5 times and has very strong faith and a very strong testimony. I may not have been there for her baptism but I was so happy to hear that she was finally baptized. My trainer, Elder VIllan, and I we so lucky to be the first missionaries to teach her!!

Everything in our area is going great right now. We had 11 investigators at church yesterday which was amazing! The Alingasa family was there and they are progressing so well. They just have some trails in their life and some oppositions but its so amazing to see them continuing with so much strength. Another one of our new investigators is a 17 year old boy who was referred to us from our Zone Leaders. His name is Zember and he is very interested. His mother and sister were just baptized a couple weeks ago. The Zone leaders here taught them and they told us to contact Zember which we did! Last week we taught him the Restoration and when we taught him that through Joseph Smith Jesus Christ called 12 apostles and how the Priesthood authority was restored to the earth. When we told him this he looked very curious and asked me "There are 12 apostles on the earth right now who are living" I told him yes and he seemed as if a question of his had been answered. It was a super cool experience and yesterday he came to church for the 3rd time in a row. Its so amazing to be able to teach all these amazing people about the gospel and see their lives change for the better.

Love Elder Jones

Hello all

This week we were able to accomplish a lot of work. In our area we have many who need to be retaught the lessons since they have just recently been baptized and we have many progressing investigators who we need to teach all the lessons before they can be baptized. We have a group of investigators right now, the Alingasa family and the Almugera kids who are progressing very well and they want to be baptized. The only problem is we still have a lot to teach them. My companion and I have been talking a lot lately about how we are going to balance the work so we can finish reteaching and completely prepare our investigators for baptism. Our investigtors that were going to be baptized in October which is the Alingasa and Almugera will now be baptized next month so we can finish the lessons with them. But they are all doing so amazing. They retain everything we teach them and really want to be baptized. We have build amazing relationships with these people and I'm so excited for them. This week I also went on exchanges with an Elder In our district, Elder Vega. We had a great experience as we were walking down the street suddenly a girl walked out of her house and we started to talk to her. She immediately told us to sit down and we taught her right there and then. By the way the discussion went we could tell she is super prepared for the gospel. It was an amazing experience. It helped me to better know that there are many people prepared for the gospel we just have to find them. 

This week we have transfers again! Super crazy how fast time is going by. This is the week were my trainer or tatay as we call it meaning father goes home. This Wednesday he will return to his home. I also received a text from president ostler that I will be training. This will be me 2nd time to train. I'm really excited but I also was hoping that me and my companion now would be together for a little longer. 

Elder Jones

Hello Family

This week was so crazy and we had so much stuff going on. First on Monday we had interviews with President Ostler then Tuesday we had our P-day Wednesday was district meeting and we did exchanges. There are 4 Elders in our apartment and 2 more who work in an area called Rizal which is about 2 hours away from here and they are in our district too. So last Wednesday we traveled to Rizal and did exchanges and on Thursday we came back to our area. Friday we had daily planning and then of course Saturday and Sunday was General Conference. We were still able to get some great work in and meet with many people. 

Here in our area we have so much work to do. We have many Recent Converts who need to be retaught so we are also reteaching lessons we also have many investigators and we are finding new investigators who are also very interested. The work is great and there is so much to do. The only problem is there is way to much to do which is actually a very good thing! We are always super busy. There is a family here who almost everyone is members of the church except the parents and the two youngest were just recently baptized. We are always at their home reteaching Alcris and his little sister Nevia. Their three older siblings are all members and strong in the church and according to everyone their parents are now getting close to receiving the gospel. Their parents have been super friendly with us lately and they are very welcoming to us always. I feel that very soon we will most likely be teaching the parents. Alcris and Nevia are two amazing people here. Alcris is 12 years old and is a really strong kid. He spends a lot of time working on their farm he is also super kind and friendly him and I have become good friends over the past month. Sometimes he comes and works with us which is cool! Nevia also reminds me of Rylee and Taylor. She is a young girl who is super friendly and we have a handshake that we also do when we go visit them. Its so amazing being a missionary and being able to meet all these amazing people! 

Elder Jones

Kumusta Jones Family

Yesterday we didn't have our P day we actually had interviews with President Ostler so we are Emailing today. We had a great week again last week we had about 20 lessons and we also had 9 investigators at church which was awesome! The entire Alingasa family came except for the dad and most of the Almugera family came! It was so cool to see them all there at church. They are so awesome! I'm really looking forward to their baptism which should be at the end of October but we still have a lot to teach so we are rushed for time. We set a goal to meet wit\h them every other day so as long as that happens they will meet their goal! Here in Quezon there at 4 missionaries Elder Bondad, Elder Vega, Elder Bernard and me. Elder Bondad and Elder Bernard are new in the mission and Elder Vega and I are batch. Its super cool to have all them in the apartment. Yesterday was Elder Vegas apartment so Elder Bernard and I woke up at 1 AM and surprised Elder Vega then dog piled on him. It lasted like 2 minutes then we went back to sleep! It was fun though Yesterday in my interview with President Ostler he told me that we might send another missionary here and there would be a three some. He also told me there is another big batch of missionaries coming in so he said he might need me to train again. Its not sure but I kinda feel like I might be training again. Quezon is kinda like Coron but it also has many differences. I love serving on Palawan though. The work here is so amazing and I love the people here. I've only been here for a short period of time but I already have many good friends here members and non-members. The work is great Im loving it so much and I'm very excited for the Alingasa and Almugera families to be baptized. We unfortunately are not teaching the Father of the Alingasa family cause he isn't interested but the mother and the kids have a desire to be baptized. The only problem is Sister and Brother are not married. She wants to be married so she can be baptized and all the kids Joana, Erika, Janet, Jenny, and Jonathan are amazing kids. The Almugera parents are very interested but aren't ready to be baptized. When we invited them to be baptized their kids accepted the invitation very quickly but the parents said their kids would be first. Because the Alingasa Kids and Almugera family are all cousins we invited them all to be baptized on the same day. I'm really looking forward to that day! 

Love Elder Jones

Hello sa inyo lahat

This week was super good. Last Friday we had a service activity which was super cool. One of the Recent converts here, Brother Paje, lives farther away from the little town here in Quezon with his wife and son. Brother Paje is half American and Half Filipino. I thought he was from american when I met him cause he is white and looks like an american but he was born here and grew up here. He knows like 5 different languages and its funny when me and him talk to each other cause its like 2 Americans speaking Tagalog. Anyway his house really needed some work so Friday morning we got together with a bunch of members here and traveled to his home. All the elder rode in a trike. So there were like 7 people on 1 trike! It was way fun! The entire activity was a surprise so the Paje family didn't know about it. When we got there they were surprised. It was kinda like Extreme make over except we didn't destroy their home.We carried all the new supplies to their home and stared. We fixed the roof the walls and got a lot done. It was super fun and muddy since its the rainy season. My companion walked over to a tree and then suddenly he let out a loud scream and came running back towards us. We asked him what is was and he said it was a spider. Everyone was laughing super hard cause my companion is a pretty big guy and the spider scared him half to death so that was the joke of the day. Also our investigator I told you about this week just returned on Saturday night. Last night we were able to meet with them all again. The remembered everything we taught them and we also had an opportunity to give Joanna a blessing. She was the one involved int the crash. The family is all fine now. She is just still recovering from here accident. This family is really awesome and they are so prepared for the gospel. They will be baptized this October and I'm super excited for their baptism. 

Love you all

Elder Jones

Kumusta sa inyo lahat 

Life here in Quezon Palawan is going great. This week has been great. We are making some good progress and my companion and I are working great together. Since Elder Bernard is still new in the field I translate everything for him but he is doing great in his Tagalog and really learning a lot. One family who we are teaching the Alengasa family is doing so great. They have a baptismal goal for October 17. There is the mother and her 5 kids. This week we had an experience that I wasn't expecting.The Oldest daughter in the Alengasa was involved in a trike accident and was really hurt. Because of this accident we have been visiting the family pretty frequently. Last we heard she is OK now. This family tho is doing great. They have been reading the book of Mormon and praying as a family. Its been so cool to see the blessings they are receiving in their life and the joy of the gospel in their life. 

The work here is great tho. We have lots of great investigators and yesterday we had 18 investigators at church which was awesome. We have been talking to lots of new people and we have been teaching quite a bit. Everything is great here I love it! 

Love you all and have a great week!! Ingat Kayo

Love Elder Jones

Hello Jones Family

So I wasn't expecting to get transferred but I did. I back on Palawan after just a short period of time and so far its great. Our apartment here is a house and Its so big there are 5 rooms 2 bathrooms and an upstairs and basically 2 kitchens so we are only using like half of the house. We are also right by the ocean too! Its kinda like Coron but it also has its differences. So far I really like it here. I love working Palawan the people are so nice and its a lot quieter here. I haven't yet met all of our investigators but I have met many of them. Last Saturday we helped a Sister in the Branch prepare her talk and this Wednesday we will be helping a recent convert prepare a talk again. 

One of the investigators here is the Alingasa family who is made up of a Mother here 5 daughters and 1 son. The dad isn't really interested. Yesterday then all came to church expect the mother cause she had something going on but she promised us yesterday when we taught them that she would go. It was super cool to see how much they learned at church. They all shared things they learned with us and their mom was super happy to see them so happy. We invited them to be baptized on October 17 and all of them accepted and really wanted it. They are all reading the Book Of Mormon as a family several of them already have a testimony and they are doing great. Im 99% positive the will be baptized on October 17. So far the work has been great here. My companion is brand new he just finished his training so I'm his 2nd companion in the mission. His Name is Elder Bernard and he is from Samoa but lives in America. He is a really big guy but fearless and super kind and nice to everyone we meet. 

Things are great here so far I love it. 

Love you all take care

Elder Jones

Hey Family

So this morning I received a text message that again I will be transferring. I will be returning to Palawan but not Coron. I will transfer to Quezon Palawan and I have also be called to be the district leader there. I'm super excited to go but at the same time I'm not ready to leave here since I've only been here for 6 weeks! 

This week my companion, since he will be going home soon, had a finish strong meeting with all the other missionaries that will be going home. We had exchanges with the Zone leaders on that day since one of the zone leaders also went to that meeting. The other zone leader, Elder Antaran and I worked together in their area. It was very cool because some of their area is part of my first area so I was able to return and work in my first area. I was able to visit some of the people we taught and also some of the members that I knew there. It was such a cool experience to work again in my first area. Because of the exchanges and the meeting the work in our area was kinda slow. But we had some great success at the same time. 

Love you all! Have a great week

Elder Jones

This week has been great so far we had a couple of really good
experiences. One of our investigators that we taught yesterday after
church is an 18 year old boy named Edon. He is super great and he
always comes to church and does the things we invite him to do.
yesterday he opened up to us and explained that he really wants to
know if it is true and he wants to get baptized and received the
gospel in his life but her has many doubts still. But he told us that
he loves the church and all the people there and we wants the
happiness and the gospel in his life like everyone else at the church.
But he doesn't feel as if he has received his answer yet. As he was
telling us this he began to cry because he really wants to have the
gospel in his life but feels like there are things holding him back.
when he was talking I realized how lucky I was to have be born into
the gospel and have it in my life. And I also really felt the desire
to help him receive his answer. This coming Sunday he is going to fast
to receive his answer and we as well as to other members will be
fasting with him. I'm super excited for him! We also had a great OYM
experience. While walking down the street there was a guy sitting down
just as we passed him so we stopped at talked to him. He told us he
has been looking for the truth for some time and has been going to
very many different churches. We Immediately set an appointment and
taught him the next day. We taught him the restoration gave him a Book
of Mormon and everything that we taught him caught his attention
especially about Prophets and Apostles. He said the true church has to
have Prophets and Apostles. Then he told us he had a goal to find the
truth before the end of this year before 2016. It was such a miracle
and amazing experience. I'm confident that he will read, pray and
attend church.

Everything is great here. I had some fun here in the Internet shop
while Emailing. There was a bunch of kids here and one of them saw my
name tag and said Elder. So I answered. They were kind of surprised
that I spoke Tagalog so they starting quizzing me asking how many
fingers I have in Tagalog and how many hands. I answered correctly so
they were all giving me hi fives and saying "ang galing mo Kuya" which
is like your great and Kuya is a word for older brother with respect.
It was pretty cool. So they are all calling me Kuya now.

The work here is great right now. We are finding new investigators who
have a very sincere desire and many of our investigators are doing
great and with in the next month we will have several baptisms.
Mahal ko kayo lahat. Mag-ingat po kayo

Elder Jones

Hey family

This week was good we were super busy! We didn't have a ton of lessons but every lesson that we had was great. We have several investigators that are doing great the only problem is church attendance. One of our investigators was suppose to be baptized on September 12 but for some reason they weren't at church yesterday. We don't know why yet. So we will have to re extent a baptismal goal. This investigator tho is great! She is always reading and praying and so far is meeting all the requirements for baptism besides church as of now anyway since she usually is at church. Any way I'm sure she will be baptized in the future. I was actually thinking that this would be better for her since her mom and dad have baptismal goals in October. Her parents aren't yet married and her mother knows that it is true and we just started teaching the father. We invited them to be baptized on October 17. Another family that we are teaching is also doing great. I'm sure I mentioned the Benedicto family last week but they are still doing great. They are very sincere and they are really working on living the Word of Wisdom. They aren't buying or drinking coffee anymore and brother is really trying to stop smoking. We invited them and their 9 year old son to be baptized on October 3 and they all accepted. We also found out that their 7 year old son turns 8 in October as well so our goal is to have Brother Benedicto baptize him shortly after his own baptism. I'm really excited for this family and I cant wait to see them get baptized! We have also been trying to find a lot since we need more investigators but sometimes finding is the hardest part. Things are going great here tho and Im really looking forward to the several baptisms we will be having in the next few months. 

Love you all!! 

Elder Jones

So this week we had a good week. We had a zone conference last Tuesday which was great. I saw some of the missionaries who are in my old area. They made some changes there. My first district use to be 6 missionaries and 3 areas but now its only 4 missionaries and 2 areas. My first area got split and added onto the other 2 areas since the number of missionaries is going down right now. I talked with Elder Bell and Elder Packard who are both in Sta Cruz. Elder Packard and his companion have the upper part of my first area and Elder Bell and his companion have the lower part. They both tell me that all the kids there call them Elder Jones. Since I was still learning Tagalog there I spoke with all the kids and they all still remember me. That was pretty cool to hear but the best part was Sister Exyl (If you remember from my letters before) Is getting baptized soon and her husband Brother Jared is now super active in the church. They never miss church and they are always reading and praying. That was so cool to hear. My first companion and I started teaching her and Brother Jared was super inactive at then but now all of them or on the right path including brother Jared's two Kids. 

In our area we dont have a ton of investigators but we are split between 2 wards so the work here is a little different. One of our investigators that we are curently teaching is the Benedicto Family. Brother Benedicto is a large guy but extremly kind, caring, sincere and loves his family. He is currenty working to quit his habit of smoking and he is doing great. He really wants to quit. His wife is very nive as well and their family is amazing. They love to have us over and they read and pray. The only problem right now is sometimes they come to church. We are going to invite them to be baptized or re-extend a baptismal invitation. I think this September they will be baptized an entire family being baptized! Im very excited for that. Then at the end of October there second child turns 8 and can be baptized shortly after the parents and the oldest boy. 

Everything right now is great. Im getting the hang of the new area and we have some great investigators that we are teaching in our area. 
I miss you all! Have a great week! Love you!

Elder Jones

Hey Family

My new area is right by my first area and yes my companion works hard. The work here is a little different since we cover 2 wards. The Sampaloc Ward and the YSA Ward. So we go to church twice every Sunday and usually don't work very much. The institute is also here so we spend some time in the institute teaching non members who are there. So we don't spend all our time in our area. Because we cover two wards and also are in the institute the work here is a little different but its still missionary work. 

We have a family that we are teaching in our area who is super great. There is the Father, the Mother and they have 3 kids. Their last name is Benedicto. They are super kind, and sincere. There are also very committed to listening to us and have been keeping their commitments. This week when we walked in to their home to share with the we noticed a couple of cigarettes sitting on a shelf. We decided at the last second to teach the word of wisdom to them. It was so amazing the way this family listened to what we were saying and they were very involved in the lesson. We talked about blessings of the word of wisdom and things we should and should not use or eat. Both Brother and Sister committed to live it and Sister Benedicto looked so happy when her husband said that he will live the word of wisdom. Its so great to see the gospel slowly changing this families life and I cant wait to see them baptized!

Elder Jones

Hey family!!! 

Ya sorry about last week it was super crazy! My companion got called to train in Coron so I'm now back in the mainland! I'm here in Sampaloc and its literally right by my first area. My first apartment is actually in our area Right now. Leaving Coron was super hard for me. All of our investigators had baptisms coming up with in the next few weeks and I was there since the time we taught them the first lesson. 

Before I transferred we went to visit some of our investigators. We of course went to the Camacho family and when I told them I was leaving sister Camacho said "Well I don't want to get baptized now you have to be here" I just told them that whether Im there or not baptism is more important we shared one last message with them and took pictures and left. It was really hard to say goodbye to Sister Camacho, Troy, Rolelyn, Rosalinda, and Jomel and also all the little kids including my favorite RR. We then said bye to the group of teenagers we have been teaching. The first one we started teaching Dexter has changed so much. He explained how he grew up in a broken family and other things in previous lessons and now he is striving super hard to keep all the commandments. Its so amazing how much we saw him change from day 1 to the time I left! We also took pictures with all them and taught. While walking away for the last time the all called out Elder and when we looked back they were all standing there waving at us!! I guess its not Coron that I miss so much but the people! I had so many good experiences there. learned a lot, taught some amazing people and saw the gospel change their lives! When me and another Elder were sitting on the plane as it took off I couldn't stop thinking about them as I slowly watched Coron disappear! 

Everything is great my new companion is Elder Espano and he goes home in 3 months so I might be his last companion. Love you all sorry about last week! Have a great week and stay safe!!! 

Love Elder Jones

Hello Jones Family

So this week was pretty incredible especially yesterday. Yesterday at church we had 12 investigators again and the branch hit a record for church attendance. The record here since this branch has been here was 110 until yesterday when 116 people came to church! It was so amazing and it was very crowded. On Saturday we also had a half day mission where members and missionaries went out for an hour and a half to talk to people. In that short period of time we talked to tons of people and we now at the beginning of this week have 22 referrals to contact. It was a great activity and the branch is really becoming stronger and stronger everyday!

We are teaching a small young family named the Dizen family. There is brother Joey and Sister Lenny and their 2 kids Mischel and Apriline. We are also teaching Sister Dizen's Mother and her other Daughter Dona. Dona's husband is brother Harold and his mother is actually a member. Yesterday they all came to church. Mischel and Apriline have come before so right after sacrament Aprilinr went straight to class and Mischel has a lot of friends now. They all stayed for all 3 hours of church and it was a great experience. They have been reading their book of Mormon and Mischel told us several times now that she feels it is true. I really believe that this family will be baptized and add some great new strength to the branch. 

Love you all! Have a great week! Bye!

Elder Jones

Hello Jones family

So this week was a very wet week. Its the rainy season here and it has been raining a lot. One day when we got home we were soaking wet even though we had umbrellas. At night there are some pretty cool thunderstorms too. The last few days have been sunny but all last week was super cloudy, rainy, and wet. It was also muddy in some parts of our area. So Sister Camacho and one of her daughters will probably be getting baptized this July 25. Sister Camacho still needs to be married in order to be baptized but the Judge is coming here to town next week on the 22,23,24 and they should be married then. So it will be cutting it close but it will happen. The other day we taught enduring to the end to her and her 3 kids that we are also teaching and she said how she wants everyone to be baptized and endure to the end. She really expressed it too her 3 kids that are teaching. They have been such a great family to teach and I love seeing them. They are super great. We have so many other investigators that we are teaching that I cant write about all them but teaching the Camacho family is a highlight every week. We are also still teaching the group of teenage boys who we met. They are doing great. They always read the assignments we give them and they go to church together and also the activities. We invited them to be baptized this august and I know they can make that goal. They are doing well. We have 17 investigators with baptismal dates and most of them are doing great some are keeping some commitments but I feel that many of the people we are teaching will end up being baptized. Things are still going great here in Coron. We had a district activity earlier and went to a beach and played ultimate Frisbee. 

Love you all have a great week!!

Elder Jones

Hey all

This week had been pretty great. We broke our record yesterday for investigators at sacrament. We had 12 investigators there and I'm sure we will have more next week! It was so awesome to have so many people there and the chapel in our little branch building was almost completely full. 101 people came to church yesterday which is the second highest number in the history of Coron. We are teaching a group of teenage boys here which is so cool. There is Philip, Paul, Dexter, Ariel, and Eric. They came to church yesterday and they have been going to youth activities and they always doing their reading assignments. We invited them to be baptized on |August 22 and they all accepted. I'm really looking forward to that. They are always hanging out together and anytime we need to share with them we just text them and they all go to one of their homes and wait for us there. I really hope I will be here for their baptism but the next transfer day is coming up and I have been here for a while now. But things are going great. Almost every investigator we met with last week kept their commitments as in read their assignment in the book of Mormon and has also been praying. We just need to get more of them to church now. Things are great here and its been raining a lot. We have been working a lot in the rain but its nice cause I'm not super hot and sweating a bunch but its just right. 

Hello Family 

Things have been great here! We are teaching a lot through out the week and we have more investigators who are progressing. For baptisms the closest one is an investigator who we have been teaching for a while. Here name is Sister Camacho. She needs to get married to her 'husband' in order to here to be baptized but she is doing great. We are also teaching several of here children who are also doing great and have baptismal dates. As long as the can get married and be completely prepared they will be baptized around the end of July or beginning of August. Im really looking forward to it and they are doing great. Its so cool to see how far they have come a long. We have many other investigators who are doing great and have baptismal dates. The only issue is getting people to church. Its so hard for some investigators to come to church. Even though they are reading and praying on a regular basis the some times aren't at church. That is just a common issue everywhere im sure.Our mission now has a goal for weekly baptisms. Im not sure if I have mentioned that yet but we are working super hard to reach that goal. We have been seeing miracles in our area everyday and Im really looking forward to seeing the progression of the branch here in Coron. Things have been great this week

Hello Jones Family! 

So I told you in my last letter that we had a very challenging week. But this week was absolutely amazing! We taught so much and found tons of new investigators. We taught 20 lessons and had 30 new investigators which are mostly families! It was so great and many of them are so interested in our message and love it when we come visit. One family we are now teaching is so great. The first visit with them was amazing and the spirit was so strong there and my companion and I knew it for sure but after we taught we asked them if we could help them with anything and the father said yes our son has a fever could you give him a blessing. It was so great to see them trust us enough and have enough faith to ask us to do that in the first visit. So we gave their baby a blessing. Several days when we returned after talking with them for a few minutes and seeing how they were doing the father told us that just hours after we had given his son a blessing he was back to normal. His fever was gone and he started to eat and drink again. It was such an amazing experience and It really strengthened mine and my companions faith and desire to help others. We have taught them twice now and they are doing great. I'm so excited to see how the do in the future. We found many other investigators who were amazing and one of them we found through a referral. They live pretty far away but we walked all the way to their home yesterday and met them. There are super prepared and the immediately said sorry for not being able to go to church earlier. The father wasn't home but we had a member with us so we were able to teach. We only taught a little and one of their little sons wanted to pray for us so he did then he asked me for a restoration pamphlet so I gave one to him. He started jumping around saying " Binigyan ako" which is kinda like He gave me one! It was really cool to teach them and we have a return appointment tomorrow! 

Things are going great here! We are having so much fun and Im learning a lot. I wish i could say more but we have to go shop now. I love you all so much and I miss you all too! have a great week!! 

Elder Jones

How are all of you doing

So this week was actually one of the hardest weeks so far in my mission. My companion and I went all over the place trying to teach and we always ran into a situation where we couldn't teach. For example the the father of the family was still at work and wouldn't be home to much later or they just weren't at home at all. It was very difficult and we kept asking ourselves what we needed to do to fix it. Unfortunately the entire week was like this. We tried so many different things and nothing was working. But this doesn't mean we had a terrible week. When we did teach we had some very neat things happen. One of our investigators is a 17 year old boy who is very interested and when we taught him about the restoration he told us that he is like Joseph Smith. He wants to know the truth but doesn't know where it is. The next time we came back we asked if her read his assignment. He did and he also had some questions like "why was Jesus Christ baptized?" "Why did he need to be baptized?" "Why do we need to endure to the end?" and some other questions like that. It was so cool and then he told us that he also prayed about our message and the book of Mormon. He said he felt something inside him like he had never felt before and then we committed him to be baptized. We had several other amazing experiences with some of our other investigators where they kept their commitments. It was a very hard week yes, but very rewarding and definitely worth it. I think this week will be great! I'm super excited to go back out and work later tonight and I know are day is going to be great. 

Thank you guys for everything!! Love you all so much!! BYE!

Hey all

So right  now everything is going good with our investigators we are just trying to get more investigators progressing. Its so hard though. We found a lot of new investigators who seem very interested this week and we were able to teach a lot. Our focus this week as a companionship is to help investigators progress. since now they mission is shooting for weekly baptisms we need to always be finding and teaching and baptizing. We can do it though and our area is now very capable of having weekly baptisms. It will probably still be a month of so before we start seeing weekly baptisms but we have been working super hard to reach that goal. One of our investigators, Sister Camacho, is progressing very well. She is always at church and she told us she knows its true. We are also teaching one of her daughters and now one of her sons. They are all progressing and have baptismal dates next month. The only problem is we found out that sister Camacho is married yet. She told us though that she has been talking to her "Husband" about them being married. I'm super excited to see them be baptized. She has also been inviting friends to go to church and to listen to us. We have several new investigators because of her. 

Last week we also found another sister who was taught by missionaries before. She asked for a book of Mormon and said she wanted us to teach her. It was super cool to find someone who really wants to hear from us and someone so prepared for the gospel. We will going back and teaching her later this week.

Have a great week! Love you all! Miss you a ton! 

Love Elder Jones

Hello Jones Family

This week was pretty good! We taught a good amount and had 18 new
investigators so we have a lot of following up to do and lots of
people we need to visit! This week is going t be super busy. We also
had a really cool experience yesterday! About 3 weeks ago we found a
recent investigator's teaching report and we decided to go visit them
in a part of our area called Kaligasgasan. We talk to so many people
trying to find this person and we spent some good time trying to find
them and we didn't! We just decided we couldn't keep spending time
trying to find this person so we haven't went looking for them since.
Yesterday we were in a part of our area called Bakawan and while
walking down the planks to an appointment we heard someone say Elders.
We stopped and talk to them and she said Elders had taught her before.
We asked what her name was and it ended up being the one family we
were looking for in Kaligasgasan. They had moved. We set up a return
appointment for Tuesday.

And we don't talk to a lot of tourists just because they are always in town and we spend a lot of time where the people live which is a just right outside of the town. But some

times they ask for directions then we talk to them about the gospel. 
I'm short on time so I need to go! But I love you all and Miss you!!!




Have a great week!! BYE!!!

Elder Jones

Hello,
So in our zoner conference the mission president changed the mission "Vision" Our goal is now a baptism a week and they incorparated a bunch of new things in order to help us reach that goal. My companion and I have been working really hard to meet that goal. We just had some very cool experiences in our area. On Saturday Mary Joy was baptized. She is 16 and her family is Brother MJ the one who works with us everyday. Her baptism was on an Island here by Coron. There was a swimming acivity the day of her baptism so she was baptized at the beach in the ocean. She asked me to confirm her in sacrament which was way cool. Then after church she asked us if she could work with us that afternoon so she joined us with MJ and us 4 all went to work. Also on Saturday we taught a friend of Mary Joy's named Red. He is 22 and super interested. WE invited him to come to church on saturday night and we told him we would come to his home andall go together. While walking to church we saw him and Mary Joy walking to church together. It was awesome and he also has a baptismal date now. Yesterday while visting sister Camacho, one of our progressing investigators, she invited a friend to join the lesson. After we finished teaching I asked if they had questions and sister Camacho shared her testimony with her. It was then that I realized she has to know its true. She told her friend that she wanted her to hear our message and then she talked a little about Joseph Smith and because of him we now have the fulness of the gospel of Jesus Christ. She also talked a little about agency and it was a super cool experience!

Love you all!! Have a great week and I will write you next week!! Love you all

-Elder Jones

Hello All

So this week was very interesting because the three other missionaries that were here with me all got transferred and I had no missionary companion for Wednesday and part of Thursday. My companion for both of those days was a member in the ward named MJ. MJ is like a full time missionary who works with us everyday. On Wednesday we also moved apartments so we spent almost the entire day moving and cleaning. But luckily we did get some good work in. MJ and I went and visited an investigator that afternoon. We have been teaching Sister Kamacho and her daughter for a couple weeks now. They always come to church and on Wednesday when we sat down with them we asked them about their book of Mormon reading. Sister Kamacho began to tell us that earlier that day she sat down with the Bible Book of Mormon and the pamphlet about the restoration and read for a good period of time. She asked us a couple questions about the restoration and the apostasy and everything went great. It was so cool to see her progress and her desire to know if what we are teaching her is really true. One thing I told her is that I know these things are true and if we read and pray about it and really want to know, we will know. Im really looking forward to seeing the progression of sister Kamacho and her daughter over the next few months and hopefully very soon see them enter into the waters of baptism.  

I love you all so much!! 

Elder Jones

Good afternoon,

This week we had another great week. We taught a bunch of lessons again and we have several people who are progressing so well. One of our investigators named Merryjoy is family with a Recent Convert here. While talking to her this week I learned that she lived in my old area. How weird is that? She lived in my old area in a place where we passed almost everyday and now she is here in Coron and she is doing so well. She reads everyday, Prays and she says she feels its true. We see her reading all the time and she will be baptized this coming may 23. Another Investigator of ours is actually a young boy who all his family are members. His older Sister works with us almost everyday and they are active in the church. Because the church hasn't been here for very long they didn't know that he could be baptized at 8. They are also converts. So we have been teaching him and the other day when we went to teach him he told us" Elders I didn't get to read the Book Of Mormon yet." It was really cool because we cold tell by that that it was important to him. When we teach him we also have to simplify things a lot because he is so young but he understands are remembers it. He understands the restoration, Praying, the word of wisdom, and everything else we have taught him. Its so cool to see even though he is 8 he understands everything we are teaching him so well. 

So today we had our district activity and we went Island hopping. Since here in Palawan there are over 100 islands its a huge tourist activity. So today we went with one of the families in the branch and the Senior couple here. We went to two islands and we left at 8:30 this morning and just got back about an hour ago. It was super amazing, really fun, and the things we saw were amazing. I will send you some pictures next time but we came from the boat straight to the internet shop. 

Love you all and hope you have a great week!!! Cant wait to skype with you all! BYE Love you!!

Elder Jones

Hello 

So this week has been probably the best week so far in my mission. We had 17 lessons taught to investigators with a member and we found 9 new investigators including a family who was taught before we also had 9 investigators at church and to finish it off we had a baptism on Saturday. It was great! We taught so much and every single day was so busy. On Wednesday and Thursday we had exchanges with the zone leaders and since we are on a island an the zone leaders are in Manila they flew out here and we had threesomes two days in a row. Several of our days this week we had tons of amazing experiences. One lesson led to another, and another and we have been finding many new people to teach. 

One day we went to a part of our area and taught one of our new investigators. She is family with a Recent convert here and she is doing great. She is always at church reading the Book Of Mormon and really feels that it is true. After that while trying to contact a referral we talked to a family who was actually taught about a year and a half ago. We asked them if we could share a message with them and afterwards we asked them if we could return and they all agreed. We have been having many great experiences like that and next month we have several more baptisms lined up. We are just doing everything to help their faith and desire increase. 

For the Baptism his name is Ryan and his mom is a member but his dad isn't. He is 9 almost 10 and his mom has been inactive for some time but now she is active again. Ryan asked Elder Ordesta my companion to baptize him and me to confirm him in sacrament meeting. It was super cool and the first time I've been able to do that. It was also in Tagalog so ya it was very different. My first time confiming someone was in Tagalog. Ryan is great he is just super shy. But he is always at church and he reads the Book Of Mormon and is very smart. His Dad came to the baptism and we think that he felt something. We are going to try to follow up and hopefully teach him. He seemed to be pondering a lot at the baptism and listened very well to the talks given. It was a super cool experience. 

But the work is going great. Every single day here is just teaching teaching teaching we hardly ever have a single hour where we don't teach. My companion and I are working super good together and me and him have actually been friends since my first transfer in the field. So it was super cool to be able to work together. Ya every week we get a letter from President Oslter and are able to read it. He is a really good mission President and we just had our interviews with him on Saturday which went great. Here in Coron we are almost nonexistent in the mission because there is only 4 of us and we are on an Island far from Manila.  

Mahal ko po Kayo at Mag-eemail ako sa inyo sa susunod na linggo! Mag-Ingat po Kayo