Henry Richard Jones 

has been called to serve in

the California Long Beach Mission

of

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints

Elder Jones reported to the Mexico City Training Mission on Tuesday, October 11, 2016 where he will serve until November 22, 2016 when he will report to the California Long Beach Mission to continue his two years of service.

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The Mexico Missionary Training Center was established in 1979 in Campestre Churubusco in Mexico City, with missionaries receiving their training through the Churubusco stake. In 1980, Ernest LeRoy Hatch was called as the MTC president. He and his wife, both from the Mormon colony in Chihuahua, took care of all training and administration. At that time each group of missionaries numbered between 40 and 50. The Relief Society sisters from Tlalpan, Churubusco, and Ermita made tortas (sandwiches) for the missionaries’ lunch, the only meal they would eat until they returned to the Brasilia Hotel, which served as their residence.

In 1983, missionaries began residing and training at the temple complex in Mexico, using space in the Aragon stake center until November 28, 2006, when the old Aragon stake center was rededicated as the missionary training center building.

In June of 2013 the Church High School, “Centro Escolar Benemérito de las Américas” was converted into the second largest Missionary Training Center and a large number of North Americans assigned to Spanish speaking missions in the western hemisphere began to be trained there.  Today it services all missionaries who will be serving in Mexico and the United States.

Arrived in Mexico CityFood is okaySpirit is great!

October 20, 2016

This is my first P Day here at the MTC and every P Day from now until November 22 is on Thursdays.  I'm having a great time here but there have been some difficulties with the companion that I'm hoping to fix within the next few days.

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The food here is okay, obviously not [Mom’s] cooking but it´s edible at least :)  I’m trying to learn as much Spanish as I can here but as I´ve mentioned there´s some difficulties with the companion messing around with other missionaries that´s preventing me from learning as much as I´d like to.  I know that Heavenly Father will help me resolve my problems as long as I keep working hard and asking him for the courage to solve them.  I feel the comfort of the Spirit every day as I counsel with Heavenly Father.  Sounds ridiculous, but I know what Heavenly Father wants me to do because when I speak with Him about any problems, I can feel His answers and they feel the same as they did when I read my Patriarchal Blessing that one day before I left.

The area here is enormous!  Apparently the Mexico City MTC can hold almost twice the amount of missionaries as the Utah MTC, but there are about 700 or so missionaries who are training here.  The people who work here are some of the most amazing people I´ve ever met. They love the missionary program, they love the missionaries, and they love the Gospel and Heavenly Father. Hermano (Brother in Spanish) Trujillo is our morning teacher, Hermana (Sister) Cabral is our acting investigator and evening teacher. They´re incredible people.  President Portillo is our District Branch President, and President Torres is his advisor/counselor. President Torres is probably the most amazing person I´ve met since I´ve been here.  I shared my temple interview experience with him and he shared an experience that he had while he was on his mission that was very similar to mine. I call him "Godfather Torres" in my journal. 

Sister Oscarson  who is the Young Women´s General President spoke to us here at the MTC on Tuesday, and she talked about how sometimes when you feel inadequate or lonely you can always rely on the Lord and Heavenly Father for help.  I´ve been trying to apply that especially over these past few days. 

There is a gym room that has weights that I can lift almost every day so Mom can remember when she´s working out at the YMCA that I might be working out too at the same time.  I want to work on my abs but I´ve been focusing more on my legs since i need to prepare to ride a bike all the time.

My companion´s name is Elder Gilmour.  He´s also going to Long Beach California.  He´s an okay guy but I´ve been having problems with him 3rd wheeling another missionary pair almost everywhere. It wastes a lot of time that I could be using to do what Heavenly Father sent me here to do which is to learn and to be the best missionary that He wants me to be.  I´ve tried talking with him but it hasn´t been effective lately so if this continues then I will be letting Godfather Torres and President Portillo know. 

I pray for all [my family and friends] every day and despite some problems I´m having a good time here. I have the Lord and Heavenly Father on my side 

- HRJ

The Temple and Scripture

October 27, 2016

Hola mi madre y padre! Hoy es el segundo día de preparación para mi aqui al CCM! Trataría a escribir en español pero ya estoy aprendedo la idioma, entonces hoy escribiré in inglés.

My week here at the MTC has been great!   We went to the Mexico City Templo for another endowment session. The temple is really beautiful here and I love how it´s tiered in levels like an ancient Aztec pyramid.  I felt the spirit so strongly there just like I did when I went with Mom and Dad and the Knights, Grammy Grandpa and Aunt Leslie.

We´ve been teaching more acting investigators and our lessons are gradually improving.  Loving the people is a really important part of missionary work. 

Godfather Torres (the counselor to the branch president) attended our District meeting this last Sunday.  I brought up the issue of irreverence in the classroom and he mentioned D&C section 4 (which is a really good section that has christlike attributes and virtues that we should always strive towards as missionaries.  My companionship has been stronger every day since then I think, but there's always more room for improvement! 

1  Now behold, a marvelous work is about to come forth among the children of men.
2  Therefore, O ye that embark in the service of God, see that ye serve him with all your heart, mind, mind and strength, that ye may stand blameless before God at the last day.
3  Therefore, if ye have desires to serve God ye are called to the work;
4  For behold the field is white already to harvest; and lo, he that thrusteth in his sickle with his might, the same layette up in store that he perisheth not, but bringeth salvation to his soul;
5  And faith, hope, charity and love, with an eye single to the glory of God, qualify him for the work.
6  Remember faith, virtue, knowledge, temperance, patience, brotherly kindness, godliness, charity, humility, diligence.
7  Ask, and ye shall receive; knock, and it shall be opened unto you.  Amen. 
                         Doctrine and Covenants  Section 4

This Tuesday my companion and I gave away our first Book of Mormon to one of the construction workers here at the MTC.  He mentioned (en español) that he has a lot of relatives living in Texas who are members and that he really wanted to know more.  When we went to talk to him we noticed he stood up and walked a little bit towards a trio of hermanas who were offering a Book of Mormon to another man, so we knew that this older man would be interested.  It was a really awesome experience!

I'll keep working hard here.  I pray for my family all the time.

Con amor,
Elder Jones

Letter written October 27th to Grammy and Grandpa

Hopefully my major issues with my companion have been resolved.  I've noticed a really good improvement in our coordination, planning, and teaching over the week.  I've also prayed at the temple in Mexico City for my family, the branch, Daniel, and the Hermana Sin un Nombre who bought me those clothes for my temple recommend interview before the start of my mission.

(Grammy sent the following Primary song with her previous letter)

          Search, Ponder, and Pray

I love to read the holy scriptures,

And, every time I do,

I feel the Spirit start to grow within my heart -

A testimony that they're true.

Search, ponder, and pray

Are the things that I must do.

The Spirit will guide, and, deep inside,

I'll know the scriptures are true.

So, prayerful, I'll read the scriptures

Each day my whole life through.

I'll come to understand.

I'll heed the Lords command.

Search, ponder, and pray

Are the things that I must do.

The Spirit will guide, and deep inside,

I'll know the scriptures are true.

I loved that hymn when I was in Primary, and searching the scriptures, thinking about the messages and praying about it really helps me a lot here at the CCM.  I want share my favorite scripture.  It's 

2 Nephi, Chapter 9 Verse 10.  I don't have my scriptures with me on hand right now but hopefully I can remember it:  Oh, how great is the goodness of God, who has prepared a way for us to escape the jaws of that terrible monster, yea, this monster, death and hell, which I call the death of the body and also the death of the spirit!

As I learn more about the priceless sacrifice of the Lord, I always think of how good Heavenly Father has been to me and to my family, and who has also provided a perfect, flawless plan for all of us to escape physical and spiritual death.  I'm hoping to use this scripture many times during my mission since it's my favorite and it really shows the blessings that the restored gospel promises to everyone.
We will all escape physical death through the Resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ, but by following his teachings and his Gospel through keeping the commandments, enduring to the end, repenting, being baptized, and receiving the Spirit (not necessarily in that exact order) and also learning more through His chosen servants the apostles and Thomas S. Monson, as well as the scriptures, we can all escape spiritual death as well and be with our Heavenly Father for eternity.

Con amor,
Elder Jones

November 10, 2016

Hola! ¿Cómo están ustedes? ¿Donald Trump es el Presidente de los Estados Unidos ahora? ¿He empezado construir un muro? Tal vez no puedo a regresar a los Estados Unidos en el 22 de Noviembre!!! Puedo hacer?? 

Solo Bromeo!!!

De todas formas, Mi trabajo aquí al CCM es mejorando cada día. Ayer cuando estaría un investigador sobre el plan de salvación y otras cosas, podríamos sentir el poder del Espíritu Santo muy fuerte. Mi maestro, Hermano Trujillo, nos dije que la lección fue muy buena. Para me, sin embargo, estuve preocupado porque a veces es muy difícil para tener un estudio compañerismo productivo, y antes de la lección, oró a Dios y le pedí ayuda y consuelo. Le pregunté: "¿Es esta lección suficiente?" Pero pienso que he recibido una respuesta después de la lección. Las pruebas de fe que están en las escrituras (¿Moroní, pienso?) me ocurrieron. Estoy muy agradecido por todas las cosas y experiencias que Padre Celestial me da qui en mi misión. Estoy tratando cada día a mejorar mi estudiando y mi enseñando, pero tengo que depender en el Señor, y como Nefi me ayudará con todas las cosas.

I felt like I should share that experience in Spanish.  Things are still going well here but sometimes it´s really difficult because I don´t think I´ve ever had a productive companionship study here.  I know once I head out into the mission field then we´ll have time alone that´s specifically set apart for us with basically no distractions, so I´m excited for that.  But sometimes I feel like it might hurt our teaching since it might not improve.  I don´t know, but I´m not letting it get to me too much since I´ll let things improve once I´m out in Long Beach in a couple of weeks! 23 more months left!  It doesn´t really seem like that much time has passed (it hasn´t really), but I´ve already learned so much here, both the language and with teaching, which is nice since I haven´t really taught anything before my mission!

I´m glad to hear everything´s going well for you.  I´m still trucking along here.  Since today is my P Day without going to the temple I decided to take some time alone in my room to prepare a lesson that I´m supposed to teach tonight.  I could feel those confirming and comforting feelings of the Spirit and my thoughts were completely clear.  I feel like the lesson plan is good but of course that won´t matter too much if I can´t teach it effectively.  I´m praying all the time for help even if I feel like I don´t need it.  Of course I´m praying for all of you, too.

Oh yes I´m washing my face and brushing my teeth every morning and night! That´s what I meant when I said "when I can". 

We´re also acting as a progressing investigator to another missionary, if that makes sense.  Basically I pretend to be someone who I know, a missionary teaches me, and then we switch.  I´ll let you guys guess who I´m pretending to be :p

Oh! There was a really cool experience that we had last Saturday called TRC.  Basically the MTC invites real members or investigators to be taught by some of the missionaries here.  We have to teach some of them one after the other without any breaks in between.  I call it The Gauntlet.  We had to teach 2 pairs of Hermanas who were already members of the Church, and the real David Mar (I don´t remember if I told you this but when we teach Hermano Trujillo he pretends to be David Mar).  We taught them about prayer and how you can receive answers to them.  The real David Mar is being baptized on November 19, so not very far from now!  Their testimonies were really strong and it was a really great learning experience even though it was all in Spanish and sometimes I couldn´t understand them a whole lot.  We´re having another Gauntlet next Saturday, the Saturday before I leave for Long Beach, so that should be fun!

Anyway keep doing what you´re doing and I´ll keep going here!  Oh apparently we can check our mail every day if we want here at the CCM but we just can´t respond to it.  So if you want you can send an email every day.  Personally I like waiting each week for the emails but it might be nice to check every day too.  I love all of you and I´ll give another email next week!

Con mucho amor,

 Elder Jones

Ahem, ¡fotos!

The first one was from today before I started my personal study in my room. It was really neat to feel the spirit as I prepared a lesson plan that I´m going to teach tonight to one of the acting investigators. I cleaned the room just before, too.

The second one is proof that I´m washing my clothes.

The third one is a painting that I really like that shows Jesus washing the feet of the twelve apostles.

Oh, and a scripture that I read this week that I really like. Mosiah 2:41. I only have my Escrituras Españoles right now so I guess I´ll type it in español: Y además, quisiera que consideraseis el bendito y feliz estado de aquellos que guardan los mandamientos de Dios. Porque he aquí, ellos son bendecidos en todas las cosas, tanto temporales como espirituales; y si continúan fieles hasta el fin, son recibidos en el cielo, para que así moren con Dios en un estado de interminable felicidad. ¡Oh recordad, recordad que estas cosas son verdaderas!, porque el Señor Dios lo ha declarado.

Oh last thing. I sang in the MTC choir this week during the Tuesday devotional. We sang "A Child´s Prayer" but en español. I remember that song from when I was in primary so it was cool to sing that in the choir.

The food here is okay, obviously not [Mom’s] cooking but it´s edible at least :)  I’m trying to learn as much Spanish as I can here but as I´ve mentioned there's some difficulties with the companion messing around with other missionaries that´s preventing me from learning as much as I´d like to.  I know that Heavenly Father will help me resolve my problems as long as I keep working hard and asking him for the courage to solve them.  I feel the comfort of the Spirit every day as I counsel with Heavenly Father.  Sounds ridiculous, but I know what Heavenly Father wants me to do because when I speak with Him about any problems, I can feel His answers and they feel the same as they did when I read my Patriarchal Blessing that one day before I left.

The area here is enormous!  Apparently the Mexico City MTC can hold almost twice the amount of missionaries as the Utah MTC, but there are about 700 or so missionaries who are training here.  The people who work here are some of the most amazing people I´ve ever met. They love the missionary program, they love the missionaries, and they love the Gospel and Heavenly Father. Hermano (Brother in Spanish) Trujillo is our morning teacher, Hermana (Sister) Cabral is our acting investigator and evening teacher. They´re incredible people.  President Portillo is our District Branch President, and President Torres is his advisor/counselor. President Torres is probably the most amazing person I´ve met since I´ve been here.  I shared my temple interview experience with him and he shared an experience that he had while he was on his mission that was very similar to mine. I call him "Godfather Torres" in my journal. 

Sister Oscarson  who is the Young Women´s General President spoke to us here at the MTC on Tuesday, and she talked about how sometimes when you feel inadequate or lonely you can always rely on the Lord and Heavenly Father for help.  I´ve been trying to apply that especially over these past few days. 

There is a gym room that has weights that I can lift almost every day so Mom can remember when she´s working out at the YMCA that I might be working out too at the same time.  I want to work on my abs but I´ve been focusing more on my legs since i need to prepare to ride a bike all the time.

My companion´s name is Elder Gilmour.  He´s also going to Long Beach California.  He´s an okay guy but I´ve been having problems with him 3rd wheeling another missionary pair almost everywhere. It wastes a lot of time that I could be using to do what Heavenly Father sent me here to do which is to learn and to be the best missionary that He wants me to be.  I´ve tried talking with him but it hasn´t been effective lately so if this continues then I will be letting Godfather Torres and President Portillo know. 

I pray for all [my family and friends] every day and despite some problems I´m having a good time here. I have the Lord and Heavenly Father on my side 

-HRJ