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