1,000 Miles Per Hour

There have been a lot of changes with my situation lately.

I was a district leader (which means I was in charge of overseeing ten missionaries' efforts and well-being) for almost six months. I got released from that position a few days ago, so I get to focus on just my own area as I finish my mission. I had my last "transfers" on Friday, but there is no change in my area or companionship! I am going to finish my mission in Bothell with Elder Bloomfield and Elder Thompson. It's pretty ideal. The reason for the title is that we serve and teach at 1000 miles per hour. We are all far along in Spanish, so we are able to find and teach with almost nothing holding us back. We are all obedient and motivated about doing missionary work, so it's wonderful.

Fernando got confirmed a member of the church yesterday! It was great. He also got interviewed for the priesthood! He'll receive the priesthood next week, and then he'll be preparing for the temple. He is so excited.

We have been visiting several less-active members, and by doing so, we have met five or so new unbaptized children between ages eight and ten! These part-member families are great. We get to bring these members back into the light of Christ while teaching their kids about the Savior! For one of these households, we gave three of them blessings! They asked for them, so they were expressing faith! AND they came to church on Sunday; they hadn't come in months!

We had two lessons with Eli, Irvin, and Gris! Now that we have their records, we told them we'd love to set a baptismal plan. They told us they want to think about a date first and even have Eli come to church and primary some more. We taught Eli about the temple, and he loved it! We are praying that they decide on a date here soon. We invited them to church, but they didn't make it. Please pray that they will listen to the Spirit and pick a day for Eli; he's doing well right now.

Mission life is the great life! It's sad that I only have a little bit left. I am grateful for my testimony of the Savior and how it's grown.

The weather is beautiful right now. It ranges between 55 and 75 degrees! I love spring.

Time for a random miracle. One of our members gave us a printer that she didn't want, so we put it in our car. We knew we would only use it once or twice if absolutely necessary, but we didn't actually need it. We drove around for several days with it and asked if people needed this free printer. No one wanted it--until Sunday night! We saw a guy on the sidewalk in this complex, so we said hi to him and asked if he needed it. He said he did! He was speaking English, but his name was Carlos. We found out that he spoke Spanish and was from Mexico! He appreciated the printer and we got his number! So cool!

My companions and I laugh and practice Spanish a lot! I love it. On Wednesday, we did a 24-hour challenge of fasting from English. The only time we were allowed to speak it was when we contacted American people. Each time we said an English word in the car or when talking to each other in general, we sent an emoji into our little chat. Each one was a point against ourselves. My head hurt a little by the end of the day, but it was SO worth it! We were thinking in Spanish the whole day and had so much fun with it! It was definitely the day with the least English I've ever spoken. Aside from short English conversations with people in complexes, I only said twenty-four or so words in my native language! Elder Bloomfield said twenty-eight I think, so he lost. Elder Thompson had less than me. The consequence for Elder Bloomfield is that he gets to pay for our lunch. We have a lot of fun if you can't already tell.

This week, we made three friends, saw twelve friends at church, and had four member-present lessons! It was a decent week.

Por favor ore por Eli, Jonatan, Karla, Claudio, Fernando, la familia Aguilar, y Jorge. ¡Gracias!

¡Adiós!

Elder Jones