Hermana Emily Jones: Patita de Pollo

Greetings folks! Hope all is well and just peachy over there. This past week was lots of fun as always. I had the pleasure of trying yet another exquisite dish from here in Mexico: chicken foot! Thankfully it did not have large talons :) We went home for the afternoon to stay the night holed up in the apartment due to the Dia de Independencia festivities and the Familia R invited us to join with them and their relatives for dinner (this was after one of our investigators had bagged up 8 slices of pizza, two members had brought us pambazos, and H gave us a container of Oaxaca style beef with salsa -- there is no escape from food but I am so thankful for the generosity and kindness shown to us here). We enjoyed eating pozole with tostadas de tinga con crema and, at my request, una patita de pollo. I had not yet tried chicken foot and figured that this was as good a time as any to go for't! It was actually not to bad. Tasted like chicken. It is basically skin and tendons with a teeny little bit of meat. I was instructed to just put the toes in my mouth and then spit the bones out afterwards. Anywho, we enjoyed hearing people do fireworks and sing karaoke from our little apartment and just enjoyed a day and a half of rest. During that time I was able to read back through all of the letters and cards that you wonderful people have sent to me throughout my time here and I just want to say thank you for that. I am surrounded by incredible people and I appreciate the time that many of you have taken to write to me.

This last week we enjoyed a special lesson with one of our investigators who has been through a lot of tough stuff. When we arrived we ditched the original lesson plan and instead read 1 Nefi 7 with her. In this chapter Nefi is tied up by his brothers and left for dead in the desert. He prays for strength from the Lord to loosen the bands, works to get them off, is set free and tries to talk with his brothers only to have them get even more angry with him. They are finally humbled by other family members and ask Nefi for forgiveness and then Nefi does something incredible. He writes, "And I did frankly forgive them" or en español "Y yo les perdoné sinceramente" and then invites them to pray to God for forgiveness. This was not the first or last time that this would happen to Nefi -- his brothers tried to kill him on a number of occasions but he forgave them every time and always relied on the Lord and exercised faith in Him. After reading this story, this woman shared with us that this story relates to her life perfectly due to things that have happened in her past in relation with her family. We shared with her that although we cannot change other people, we can always change our attitude or ourselves and not let the negative choices of others create anger or hatred inside of us. Nefi is an example of faith and forgiveness and Christlike love. My companion and I had the opportunity to teach the Principios del Evangelio class yesterday about el servicio, or service. As we were discussing, I realized that one act of service that we can perform, while maybe not the most traditional, is to forgive others. Any time we give service we grow to love those that we serve as well as our Savior. Any time that we forgive someone we allow the love of the Savior to work in our lives. I am grateful for Him and His perfect example and atoning sacrifice for us. I am grateful for all of you and I wish you a happy week :)

Love Hermana Jones

My mission family tree! From left to right: Hermana Llaguarima from Ecuador who trained me (mi mamá) and just finished her mission last week, your favorite guerrita Hermana Jones, my second "hija" Hermana Torres from Mexico, my first "hija" Hermana Carrasco from Ecuador, and the missionary who Hermana Carrasco just finished training, Hermana Becerra, from Mexico (that would make her my "nieta" or granddaughter").

Chicken foot! My companion and Hermana R laughing at me in the background, how kind. It almost looked like it was making a "peace out" sign.

Homemade gelatina with three different flavors -- strawberry (fresa), coconut (coco), and green grape (uva). ¡Feliz Día de Independencia!

Everybody enjoyed dolling me up a little bit. I really do love these people.

It was so much fun to spend time with Familia R laughing and eating and talking. Thank you!

With Hermana R, one of my most absolute favorite people in the whole world, and her little nephew.

Children of people we are teaching.

Hermana R and her daughter R. They are the ones who gave us the shirts we are wearing.

I enjoyed doing some interior decorating during our time in the house.

My companion and I started a new family home evening lesson that we use with families who have kids. It is the armor of God and we read from Doctrina y Convenios 27 while explaining the different pieces. It has been fun to give him different names every time we teach. Adventure Time or "Hora de Aventura" is a popular show here so one time one of the little boys we taught called him Finn el Humano. I made it in about 20 minutes so the first time I attempted to make the "helmet of salvation" it didn't quite fit :)

Our last district/zone meeting before changes. Love these crazy kids :)

I said goodbye to Hermana Llaguarima and Hermana Martinez last week before flying home. It was fun seeing ward members from Fovissste who came to see Hermana Llaguarima as well as other old pals from other areas.