October 3, 2015
                                       
                                                                 

                                                                                                                      

The Baptism

Missionaries in a Zone cannot go to each other's baptisms unless they bring an investigator.  So when the couple we wrote about in our last blog got married and then baptized, the word spread quickly.   We have seven missionary companionships in our Zone, and six of the seven were at the baptism with investigators!  Several family members who were not members also attended.  

                       Jenny and Esteban and their family.  The two oldest sons baptized them.  

After the baptism, I was playing hymns while we waited for the couple to change clothes, when all the missionaries came up to the front of the chapel to sing.  We have had some wonderful spiritual experiences here listening to missionaries sing together, but when 13 missionaries (including Elder Cluff) filled the room with love, music, and testimony, it is not easily forgotten.  

When the couple and their sons returned, the spirit witnessed truth through their testimonies and also through a violin solo played by a sweet family friend.

When we think about that the whole family has been going to church for eight years and the children have all been baptized (Naccia, the 14 year old, is the only Young Woman in the Branch and is one of two who attend seminary), you have to realize what this means for them.  We attended a lesson after the baptism where they set goals, and the desire to be sealed together in the temple in a year is on the top of the list.  

The baptism was a powerful spiritual experience for everyone who attended.

I wish I had brought more cookies.

Joel

A few weeks ago we were leaving our apartment complex through the gate, which has a lock, when a 3 year old little boy escaped out of his first floor apartment window and ran after us.  He slid under the locked gate and hugged Elder Jones around the legs, either wanting him to not go or to go with him.  The expression on his face reminded me of  Veldon when he was younger.  (Veldon is Ben and Carline's youngest.)   His name is Joel, and he is the nephew of our sweet friend Emely, who is getting baptized in a week!  He loves to be with us.

He has helped me wash the car twice, which makes it take twice as long and requires a complete change of clothes for both of us afterwards.  He calls me Abuela Jones (Grandma Jones).  I bought a ball so I could play with him in the parking lot.  At least then he wont get sopping wet and make his other grandma have to do more laundry.

He gave us this photo of him in his native Chileno outfit.   It's nice to be called "Grandma."

Piano

I have been preparing for about a month to start teaching piano.  I had not begun yet because I needed to wait for the keyboards I ordered to come.  But after playing in Sacrament Meeting last week two sweet girls came up and asked me if I would teach them how to play, so I figured it was time to start, even if I didn't feel quite ready.  They did have a keyboard, so that helped.  We had our first lesson this Wednesday and actually three girls showed up.  We had fun!  Its obvious I am going to have to learn a lot more vocabulary, and soon!  

Young Single Adult Activity

The YSA activity we have been working on for so long was last Saturday.  It was fantastic!  Twenty YSA came  and we feel we accomplished our purposes of friendship and unity through games, meals, visiting, and having fun.  

These two photos are of the group working together to get everyone over the rope from the inside to the outside.  

Volleyball--we had no net or ball, so we used the rope and a soccer ball!

Elder Jones leading our "sticks" game, which teaches leadership, unity, and "do unto others as you would have them do unto you." 

The original location for this activity was the beach, about 30 minutes away from Ovalle.  After the earthquake and tsunami, all the sand got washed out into the ocean and left only rocks on the beach, so we moved it to a really nice park about 40 minutes away.  There was a river running along the park.  It reminded us how much we love the sound of a river.

Thoughts From Ross re. terramotos (earthquakes) and learning Spanish

Note the missing steeple, tilted bell tower, and caved in roof on this adobe church.

This is how Chilenos have learned to build for earthquakes.  Note the massive amounts of rebar and the ten inch thick concrete walls.

You know, there is something deeply unsettling about feeling the earth, which we have trusted our entire lives to be 
"rock solid" and give  stability and support (when possibly man-made structures may not), suddenly begin to roll and jerk and crack.  And then there is the deep rumbling and creaking that builds up from a distance, and starts it all off, and afterwards the people screaming and crying.  A very interesting experience, to say the least.  I think my feelings about "Terra Firma" will never be quite the same.  

Anyway, the experience was new, and therefore worthwhile, though we don't need any more like it, thank you very 
much.

Another very worthwhile, though not particularly fun experience, has been my effort to learn Spanish at age 71.  
German came to me so much easier way back when I was 19 and still had a brain.  Now when I'm trying to think of 
the Spanish word to fit a situation, the German word I haven't thought of for 45 years wants to come out. I think of 
our small grandchildren as they went through the process of learning English, and find myself going through exactly 
the same process, except for the German that keeps popping up.  And except that we are also studying grammar.   I'm 
learning so much about how the mind works.  

And we are getting Spanish, though very slowly.  Connie (Sister Jones) is getting the grammar much faster than I am, probably because she works much harder at it than I do.  I do tend to understand native speakers a little better than she does, however.  And my pronunciation is better, I think.  Working together, we can usually communicate with others.

Number of aftershocks since starting to write this blog:   8

Love to you all.

Elder y Hna. Jones