Trio Life, Veteran's Day, And A Stellar Week!

¡Mucho ocurrió esta semana! Me encanta servir con dos compañeros que son divertidos y quieren trabajar duro.

I hope you all understood that part above. In all honesty, being in a trio is the BEST. I love it in almost every aspect. It's great especially because both of my companions want to serve the Lord and get experience in the language. We laughed so much together this week too!

Apparently, here in Auburn, the Veteran's Day parade is a BIG deal. I heard from various people that it's the biggest one in the west. It's hard to believe, but several of my photos of this past week are from the amazing parade. The Washington National Guard came with a smaller tank (bulletproof and all!!) and three guns--a sniper and two machine guns!! The guns were completely empty, of course. There were about 12 soldiers, and they were so nice to us! We got a sneak peek of the tank, and it was amazing to see the power of such a vehicle! I'm grateful for our U.S. defense and army. It made me think, however, how infinite the power of the Atonement is compared to the green armored 8-wheeler. It's way different and more significant. I have the privilege to share that! I love what I do.

We had some great meals with our members! For one of them, I ate a Nicaraguan dish called "sopa de res," which is a giant beef stew in soup form. It's pretty good!

As for our experiences this week, they were simply incredible! I am SO proud of Elder Wood; he has been in the mission field for ten days, and he's already so amazing with his missionary abilities! His Spanish is great, and he seeks to form solid relationships with people.

We had a lesson with José and a member, and we taught the Tree of Life with its Book of Mormon video! The spirit was there, and we helped teach how we want José to partake of the fruit--eternal life. He wants it! We are just working to help him make a prayerful decision on marrying his girlfriend Maria or separating from her. We understand that it isn't easy to choose, but we know how much he'll be blessed for making this change.

Raúl met with us! He went to court on Thursday, and we are waiting to hear how his divorce papers are going! We're proud of him for doing this.

English class was the best we've ever had!!! Four students came, and two of them were nonmembers. Two of them were our awesome members who are Nicaraguan. One of the students is also from Nicaragua, so they got along well! We did some English games that we came up with, and they went really well! They learned a lot and were very engaged with the class! We got a photo of our students during the English class. Check it out below.

Our friend Tomás is doing well! His family is all Mexican, but they all prefer English over Spanish. He is the only one that is strictly Spanish, so we are teaching him. His kids and wife are on board for baptism as they've met with the English sister missionaries, and we're helping Tomás get to that same point. On Saturday, we talked about the commandments and the Plan of Salvation. He had many good questions and comments! He understands the basics of our beliefs. We plan to teach and softly invite him to baptism next Saturday, so please pray that it goes well! We want him to come to church too.

Sunday was spectacular. My two companions gave talks in sacrament meeting!! Obviously, they were 100% Spanish, so that's amazing. What's also terrific is that four people came to church; two were nonmembers. Audry, a student from English class, came to church!!! She sat and talked with our Nicaraguan member, Hermana Fuentes. We plan to start teaching her the gospel now.

Hugo also came to church!!! This is his first time, and he was well-dressed! Hermana Gastelum (less active member) and their baby Hugito also came! We were thrilled to see them. We really felt that our efforts are paying off.

We had a mission-wide conference with Clark Gilbert--a General Authority Seventy!! We learned so much and loved his counsel.

¡Todo está superbien aquí en Auburn! ¡Hasta el próximo correo electrónico!

Elder Talmage Jones