June 29, 2015

Happy birthday tomorrow Grandma.  Well, last night the Zone leaders called to give the transfers. Normally on Tueday night but this time earlier.  Elder Trinidad has left and is in Vallegrande (big valley) now and I am with Elder Molina from Guatemala.  I am also now a District leader and I can't even believe it.  I was not working to be a leader but the call from the Lord has come and I am now entrusted with the success of 7 other missionaries. There are 3 elders and 4 sisters in the district.  I am ready to work.  We had to drop off Elder Trinidad this morning at the airport so that is why we are writing later in the day.  Love you all

June 22, 2015

This week was a good one for Elder Trinidad and me.  We are working good together and I am trying to improve each day.  I am studying in English and then marking in Spanish afterwards.  I feel better with this method of studying.  I feel more confidant and ready for each day.  Our area is good, we are finding new people everyday and we are working towards baptism with a family of 10.  We have met 8 of the 10 and the majority are all excited to learn more. We have a baptismal date in place with Elias and Nely, Mario and Mabel, and Sandra and Gonzalo.  The others are in the beginnings of the visits.  I am trying to figure out what it is that God wants me to be.  I know I need to be a good missionary and an example to those around me but I sometimes feel like I should be on a different level of success than I am now.  I just want to be the very best that I can and I know it's going to come one day at a time.  I want to share a dream I had.  I was standing in an airport but at first I didn't know where I was.  Then out of nowhere my family came up to me and I realized I was home and finished with my mission.  then my dream was over.  Then we read in the mission handbook "The time that you have to serve with all of your time and effort is extremely short"  "Use it wisely and serve diligently".  I think that is what it says mostly.  I don't know what the Lord is trying to say but I want to do so much better here.  This is my biggest desire is to be a great missionary.  I am happy with my mission until this point and I would never trade it for anything else.  This is what I would like to share with you today.  Happy Lunes.
Love you Elder Kalen Jones

June 15, 2015

When we get our hair cut we just go to whatever shop and they do it how we want. Yes, I use my razor every day and I hate it. I am growing my beard after my mission because I don’t like to shave. I want to do a competition with dad to see who can grow one better in two weeks. I never really had hair on my face before but as soon as I got here shaving couldn’t be helped. I was looking in the mirror the other night and surprised myself by how much I look like dad. I almost didn’t recognize myself because I don’t look like a kid anymore. I am super excited for the rest of my life to be an adult and parent. I see so many families here with kids and I want to teach my kids all the things I have learned about the Gospel. I just talked to Hudson last week through email on his mission. I am so excited for Bailey to serve. Weird how much life can change one year out of high school and look where I am.

June 8, 2015

Just some pictures this week. Saw a monkey out walking today, had another baptism, dinner, and baby Lori that I told you about. I spent lots of time transfering all my pictures off my card so time is short. Enjoy

June 1, 2015

First off I am crying a little bit. I feel honored to have Kelly wearing my flannel shirts. Finally, I am someone he looks up to. J Transfers were last week and I stayed here in Tarija with my companion Elder Trinidad but he will most likely be leaving this next transfer. We have a new Elder in our house now. Elder Halik from Utah! Elder Pacheco the other Elder that was here went to Santa Cruz and he is in La Libertad with Elder Evenson. My old area and my old companion! Weird huh. Tell Kelly I love him and keep up with the Honor Kalen days.

One more thing. We named a baby here Lori!!!!! How do you like that? The baby is 4 months old but she doesn't have a name yet. The family asked me to start naming people from the States and I said your name. They loved the name. The little baby´s name is going to be Lori Emily Cuellar Cuevas. The first two are her two names and the other two are the last names of her parents. Her dad, Cuellar and her mom, Cuevas. How cool huh

May 18, 2015

To answer some questions--For the most part we just make appointments. Sometimes if we´re walking by a house and see a family, we will stop and talk to them. Not everything in the mission is how it once was. Everything is pretty chill and we just openly talk to people. We don’t have to memorize or anything that we specifically say, but we just talk with people. It is really fun but in the beginning it was really scary. I was not a person that liked to talk to people, now I pretty much just walk up to whoever in the street, introduce myself, ask how they are and start sharing a small message to peak their interest in a visit from us. It really is awesome. The average attendance here in my ward right now is about 150 or so. Pretty small. In my other area that was the average when I got there. By the time that I left 6 months later, we had worked really hard with the members and investigators and less actives. When I left, the average attendance was about 215 on average. We worked hard and the ward was pretty awesome. We are small for the time being here. Our stake is an entire city. All of Tarija is our Stake. 7 wards and 1 stake here whereas in Santa Cruz is about 5 stakes and I don´t know how many wards. Here in Tarija though there are three Zones of missionaries. Tuesday in the night of transfers when we get the call. Elder Trinidad is probably going to be leaving because he has already been here in this are for 6 months. I was in my last area for 6 months and then I moved. I have no idea what is going to happen I am a little bit scared but I trust that the Lord will strengthen me and help me do my job as His servant. It´s not my work, or in other words it´s not my company, He is the big Boss and I am his worker. I get paid with the joys of helping other people come to know their God. I am super excited for my mission to continue. There are hard days, there are great days and there are normal days. Everyone is different and we need to take advantage of everyone of them. ``Porque he aquí, esta vida es cuando el hombre debe prepararse para comparecer ante Dios; sí, el día de esta vida es el día en que el hombre debe ejecutar su obra.´´ Alma 34:32

I KNOW THAT MY REDEEMER LIVES AND LOVES US ALL!!!! I am a little emotional right now because I am thinking of all the love that the Lord has for every one of us. We are not perfect but because He died, we too will rise and Live. I have been thinking of the magnitude, depth, length and enormity that all consist in the Great Plan of Salvation that our Father in Heaven has given for everyone to come home. I want to come closer to my Father in Heaven and Jesus Christ. I love Him so much. I love you too Mom and I am so grateful for all of the lessons you have taught me. You are the best person in the whole world. You and Dad. Love you

May 11, 2015

It was good to see everyone yesterday Happy Mother's Day. Kelly I am so excited for you and your mission. You are going to do great things in Chicago and we will both be able to speak Spanish how cool is that. Well, I got a lot in yesterday on the phone so bye for now. I am doing great.

May 4, 2015

The baptism was fantastic. Maritza was super excited and we had quite a few people who came to support her. It was great. We did a service project too on Saturday for a recent convert. A big tractor first came and dug a 9 foot deep hole for a bathroom. We then came in and made it 14 feet deep by man power. Old school style. Buckets, ropes, pick axes, shovels and muscle. It was really fun to get dirty after so long of being a clean missionary. I was filthy afterwards. SO FUN.

April 27, 2015

It´s been a while but I would like to wish you all some happy spring greetings and say Happy Easter. I am doing fantastic here and I am loving every day. I hope you too are doing well. Look we have pizza here. Some cool things, we had a baptism for Josue Ramos and we will be having two more baptisms this Saturday. I am so excited and I recently had the Spirit tell me very strongly, THIS WORK IS TRUE. There is no other explanation or thing except that this is the true church of God. Jesus Christ lives and loves every one of us. I love my Savior and invite you to make a concerted effort this week to know your Savior even better. I love and miss you and hope everything is great. Elder Jones

April 20 2015

I love being here in Tarija. It is so beautiful. The weather is really nice. Chilly mornings and nice afternoons with some breeze. It´s great. Elder Trinidad is doing great helping me and learning english pretty well. We live with the Zone Leaders and they are so cool.

New package info Bolivian customs have changed, and the rules for incoming packages are more strict. Let your families know to NEVER send packages that weight more than 2kg. (4.4lbs.) Anything that comes into Bolivia with a higher weight will be very hard, if not impossible to receive. Also remind them that they shouldn´t send packages via FedEx, DHL, or any other private mail carrier. USPS only.

Thanks Love you all, der Jones

April 13 2015 picures