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