We are the Jones Family – Clay, Hannah, Harris, Paul, and JonOliver. We are missionaries with Mission to the World. We moved to San Salvador, El Salvador in August 2023 to join the first-ever church planting team in this country from our missions organization.
How We Got Here
We’ve always had a desire to serve overseas, but substantial student loan debt and God’s perfect timing kept it from becoming a reality. In 2020, God worked in miraculous ways to bring our family to a place of financial freedom but impressed upon our hearts that His purpose was not for us to become more comfortable or chase the “American Dream.”
In February 2021, it became clear that God was calling us to leave behind our home, family, friends, and successful careers in industrial manufacturing and marketing to serve Him with Mission to the World in El Salvador. We attended a missions conference at our church, First Presbyterian Church in Macon, Georgia, and felt the pull towards foreign missions through the testimonies shared by multiple missionaries who were zooming into the conference remotely. Each of them said the same thing:
“It doesn’t matter what your gift or skills are, if you are willing to GO, God will use you.”
Clay heard these different missionaries and realized God was speaking directly to him. He didn’t have any experience in full-time ministry and had never been to seminary, but Clay was convinced that God could use the skills he had for God’s glory in another country.
God had also been working in Hannah’s heart at the same missions conference. On a date a few evenings later, Hannah shared with Clay her desire to go on a short-term mission trip with their church. His response was, “…or we could go long-term!” This shocked her at first, but after a couple weeks, she felt complete peace about the idea. If you want to hear more about her internal struggle of choosing missions over their comfortable life, watch her testimony video here.
As Deuteronomy 31:8 says, “It is the Lord who goes before you,” we believe that God had been preparing the way for many years so that our family could follow His call to El Salvador.
The Jones Family Mission
We will spend our energy, time, & resources on endeavors that have an eternal impact by SHARING the love of Jesus with all people, REDEEMING the world around us, and GLORIFYING God in all things.
Why El Salvador
When we first sensed God’s call to missions, we didn’t have a specific location in mind – we just knew that if we were willing to go, God would equip us and use our specific skills for His glory. Our sending agency, Mission to the World, connected us to Rodney & Jana Davila, who felt the call to start a brand-new church planting work in El Salvador. After much prayer and consideration, we took a vision trip in May 2022 and God affirmed our desire and calling to serve the people of El Salvador. We are excited to partner with the Davilas who have been serving with MTW in Latin America for over 30 years.
Join us!
Would you join us as we seek to make the heart of Jesus lovely – whether through prayer, financial partnership, or physically coming to serve with us in the heart of San Salvador? Learn more about partnering with us.