Insert Subject Here

I don't always have an idea for a weekly subject, so there you go.

Some of our progressing friends have made it known that they would like more involvement with us! We're excited about this.

One of them, Steven, has informed us that he'd like individual English classes and that we can continue talking with him about the gospel. He is so awesome! Very friendly too.

Imeldo is someone that comes to church almost every week but hasn't wanted baptism or visits for forever. He has been taught basically everything! We invited him to our soccer nights, and he was open to it. What was huge was when some of our English elders stopped by his house and he claimed he now has interest in baptism! We were so happy to hear this and plan to ask him more about it next time we see him in person.

As for Raydel, we had a member at our lesson with him, and two of his roommates are sitting in on the lessons too! Russell and Adrian are their names. Raydel has come to church twice now and is moving in the right direction! Russell listens to the lessons, but he isn't terribly interested. Adrian, however, said he'd read Alma 40 for sure when we invited them. As for what my companion and I discussed, we are going to invite the three of them to baptism tomorrow at our next lesson! We pray that the Spirit will abide and that they will understand how we will continue to meet with and teach them as they prepare. I love these three roommates! I'm also grateful for our member Reyes who cleans up our Spanish and joins us when we teach.

We are starting a soccer night! Each Saturday, we play with our members and investigators. Two days ago was our first, and one friend came! We are excited for how it goes and know it will be a great finding opportunity.

There is an inactive member who we visit, and he is incredible! His name is Marco Torres. He studies the Bible in depth and has shown us comparisons and interesting insights about it all. The interesting thing is that he speaks Spanish and English, but prefers English with us; however, he reads the scriptures in Spanish. Anyway, he is so kind to us and loves missionaries. We invited him back to church, but he said he attends a Catholic church. However, he let us know he'll return at one point. His testimony is rock solid! 

When Elder Snell and I visited him, I informed him how grateful we were to hear such great verses in the Bible and that we wanted to share verses of the Book of Mormon that are special to us. We read in 2 Nephi 4 about how a young man (Nephi) prays for forgiveness and seeks spiritual strength after his father passes away and his brothers are turned against him. We only read ten or so verses, and yet for almost each one, Marco highlighted them with his highlighter. He expressed to us how beautiful these words were and that they're like a psalm. We read them in both Spanish and English because he felt that English had deeper meaning in some. He also mentioned how what we were reading was like diamonds to him. I felt the Holy Ghost fill the room. I teared up too. Marco let us know that we could have chosen any other chapter in the book, but we chose the one he needed right then. He called us diamonds too for what we do, but I told him to give the credit to the Holy Spirit. We just speak the truth and the Spirit does the better part--testify to the heart. I felt a real love for this man Marco and am so happy to have shared Nephi's testimony with him!! What an incredible experience.

I love being a missionary!! It's usually not convenient or fun, but luckily this work isn't about me. And yet I get to serve and feel immense joy. What a blessing! 

That's my testimony. I hope you all can feel it.

I would invite you each to read 2 Nephi 4 too if you haven't in a while or never have. It is a spectacular chapter!

Anyway, that's all!

Elder Jones

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