The Brazilian (And Native American Arizona) Adventure: Week 8 July 22-July 28
Dear Family and Friends
This just gets better and better. For this week, we were really busy
and we didn't get as much teaching done. But it was still pretty cool.
I've learned that sometimes, you are going to have some crapy weeks,
and that is ok. As long as I'm doing my best, then it is all good. The
Lord just had other plans for us this week. I can't get down on my
self and be discouraged. My companion taught me that discouragment is
Saitans best tool to use on us. To make us feel worthless, feel like a
failure and just not good enough. But I will always try not to let
thoughts like that ever cross my mind. As long as I'm doing my best to
be my best, then it is all good. Like for real.

Last Monday we went hiking for P-day in the Black cannons. That was a
lot of fun. At the begining of the week, Elder Kay and I ran into a
lot of JW's or Jehovah Witnesses. Man are these people stuburn, some
of them have hearts of stone. But not all of them were like that, some
were nice. But they all never let you talk. Everytime I would start a
sentence, I was always cut off. They are kinda funny, they all said to
us the same exact things and said the same exact scriptures. It is
like they got there things memorized word per word. And they all try
to flater us with there knowledge. They are kinda prideful. And every
time I would have the chance to say something that proved them wrong,
they would pause and then change the topic. But they did teach me
something, I think the Lord wants me to be more familiar with the
bible. I honestly don't know much about the scriptures period. I have
only read the Book of Mormon once. I have never read the bible,well just a
little. So I'm going to try to study the bible more. And I'm actually
excited about that, I'm going to read more about our older brohter
Jesus and his life. Hopefully I can learn to be more like him. It is
going to be sweet! I'm pumped up!

Last thurday night, before going home from our last lesson for the
day. We had a call from the other Elders from the north side of our
mission. It is raining season right now. And it is pouring like crazy
out here, there are some sweet lightning storms. So it has been very
muddy out in the Indian reservations. They said that they were stuck
out there in the Indian reservations. So we just thought we'll just
get them out really quick. But according to the way they made it sound,
it wasn't going to be easy. They called the mission president and told
him about it. And the mission president called us and told us about
how they already had to deal with a towing bill this week form some
other Elders in the mission. And he told us that what ever it takes,
get that truck out of there by tonight. The Elders got a ride to the
gasstation here in town and so we picked them up and took off to go
find and save the truck. We tried calling for help from members near
by. And a nice lady with her boys came out to help us. Ok, so out here
in the Indian Reservation's it is really easy to get lost. There are a
million random trails to everywhere and it was dark. And so after a
long time of searching, driving through roads full of water, runnuing
out side and scouting the area, digging through muddy traills and
getting stuck several times. We finally found the red truck and man
was it stuck. It was in this mini river and the tires were barried in
the water and mud. Acording to the Elders, when they got stuck, the
water was up to the door and water was getting in the truck. They had
to crawl out of the windows and walk miles away to find help. The
water has gone down since then. So we got our shovels and started
digging and we also found rocks and tree branches to put under the
tires. We came to the conclusion that the only way we were going to
get this truck out was from the back, the other side of the river. So
while a couple of guys and I stayed back and cotinued digging. While the
other Elders and a group of people tried figuring out a route to go
around. After a while, we were finished and the other group were still
gone. So we went exploring around this area. The guys that I was with
were some local Native Americans. They were pretty cool. As we were
exploring they were telling me stories about how this land that we
were on was cursed and a story about an ancient people that were
destroyed here and they were saying how their spirits were still
there. And they talk about how there are some old ladies out here who
still do witch craft. They were mentioning that the night was the most
dangerouse time to be out there. While we were walking, they were
talking about how this place still had some ancient arctifacts around.
As we were walking around they just found all this broken old clay
sculptures and arrow heads and other things. I couldn't believe how
many there was just everywhere through out the land just right there
on the floor. It was pretty cool. They then about how these objects
all had a curse to them, if anyone would take anything out, they will
be cursed. And at first I didn't believe them at all, but then they
started telling me stories about people who have been cursed and what
happen to them. So I took the arrow head that I had in my pocket and
threw it out. I was getting kinda scared. When all of a sudden one of
them said LOOK!! And we looked and there was this light and I got
scared for a second and then we realized that it was the othere Elders
and the truck that they were in. That was a relief to see them. They
were gone for two hours. They ended up getting stuck and not being
able to find a way around. And so we were about to go home and try to
get the truck out tomorrow. But then we noticed that the river was a
bit lower then before. So we decided that we were just going to try to
jump the river. So we cleared the area and we layed down a bunch of
branches and dirt on the path of the jump. And then the lady in her
truck just went for it. She jumped it and with a rough landing and a
lot of pettal to the metal. She made it across. And then we tied both
trucks up with a chain and with help form all of us pushing. We were
able to get the truck out. Yeah buddy! It was great. We then jumped
that same spot with both trucks and with a little push from everybody
at the end of the jump, we were able to get them both across. And then
we all headed home. It was a crazy night. We got home at 2 in the
morning and went to bed and about 3. And then the we woke up at 7:30am
and went to work. We were pretty exhausted for the whole week.

The next day they gave us a new truck. It was a nice truck. It is a
Nisson Forntier. After a amount of miles they switch out the trucks.
And it was our time to switch out. And this truck is sweet.

This Sunday was great. We had 7 Investigators at church. And that is
rare. There were some people who made a big effort to get there and
they all enjoyed it they said. So that was awesome to see. We do a lot
of service. Out here on the ress. There are a lot of people in need.
It is so much fun and so great. I love it!

Well that was a brief summarry about what happen this week. Just know
that I'm just loving it. Bad days and good days, it is all great. It's
what I expected and more. It is just so awesome. I hope you all have a
great week and you all are doing good and staying happy and smiling a
lot. Love you all and missing you all like crazy.

Love, The Elder Jones