Dear Family,
Hey everyone this is it. I`m not sure if I`ll have a Pday next week so I`m going to make this my last letter. I leave Artigas next Wednesday night. I get to Montevideo Thursday morning. We go straight to the mission home and have lunch with President and Hermana Heaton. After that we go to the temple. After that we have a testimony meeting. Somewhere in that time President will interview all of us. We should have a few other activities too. I`m not sure. We leave for the airport at 8. My flight leaves at 10:15. These changes are different because President has a conference in Buenos Aires. We usually have two days in Montevideo. I don`t know if I`ll have a lot of time to buy stuff but send me some money anyways. I`ll grab something at the bus station. A hundred should be fine. Maybe a little more just in case I have airport fees. Gracias.
Well I `m having a baptism this Saturday. Her name is Miriam Severo. She will be a great member. She has gone through a lot to get baptized. As usual, Satan has been working a lot. The last two Sundays she`s had to walk to church because her motorcycle wouldn`t start. It worked fine throughout the week and then came and it just happened to not start. That didn`t stop her though. She just walked. She`s super excited to get baptized. I`m super happy for her. It`s been great teaching her. I met my goal. I said I would baptize my last weekend and I`m going to do it. We also have a lot of other investigators who will get baptized in November. We have two Aaronic Priesthood age investigators ho have dates for November 4th. Their names are Jacinto and Isaac. Their older brother is already a member. Their mom and dad are going to get married so they can get baptized as well. Then there are Marìa and Carlos. Marìa is doing great. Carlos is struggling a little bit. He says he doesn`t have a desire to go to church right now. We`re working with him though. We`re having an FHE tonight with the stake president and his family, and we`re hoping that he goes. All we can do is jeep invithng him and let the Lord do the rest. Everyone is doing well. This area will have a lot of baptisms next change.
So I`m not exactly sure what to say now. This all so weird to me. I remember everyone telling me that before I knew I`d be on the plane heading home. I didn`t believe that before but I believe it now. It`s really weird. These two years have been the best. The mission has been the best experience ever. I`m so grateful that I was able to come to Uruguay and teach the gospel. I have learned so much. I have seen people change as they embrace the gospel. One family in particular is the Moreno Family. We went through alot to get them baptized but they finally took that step of faith and now are completely converted. They share the gospel with everyone. I hope to be able to come back here when they get sealed. One thing I`m going to miss alot is wearing my name tag. I wear it with pride every day. I`ll miss being able to work full time in the work of the Lord. It`s so tiring but so awesome. There were defenitely hard times. There were times when I wondered, "Why?" In the end, however, everything always worked out. I love this work. I have loved representing the Savior. I can`t describe in words how much I have enjoyed being here. Know that I have really tried to be a good missionary. I tried to honor the Lord. I tried to do my best. This week will be the best week of my mission. I`m going to work my comp and myself to death.
I have no doubt that this is the work of the Lord. He leads it. He helps us. This is His church. Jesus Christ is our Savior and Redeemer. He lives. Our Heavenly Father lives. He loves us. I felt His love in very special ways. I love my Heavenly Father and His son Jesus Christ. I love testifying even when people don`t listen. I love sharing the Book of Mormon with everyone. I know it`s true and that it has the power to change lives. The gospel is the answer to everything. It doesn`t matter how hard the trial is. We can always succeed. I know that through Jesus Christ we will be perfected some day. We can all return to live with our Heavenly Father again. This is the true Church.
I want to thank all of you for your support in these last two years. It really helped me. Thanks for the letters. Thanks for the advice. Thanks for everything. I love you all so much. There is no other family that I would rather be with than this one. Thanks again.
Umm next week at the airport please record everything because I want to remember that moment always. Invite anyone to the airport. The more the merrier, right? Also can someone copy and paste the letters that I sent home. I want the ones I sent and the ones I received. Gracias.
Well I guess that`s about it. I`ll see you all next week. I love you all.
Love,
Elder Ethan Jones
Monday, October 24, 2011
Sunday, October 23, 2011
I`m sad
Dear Family,
Well I`m not sure what to think right now. It feels really weird to be in this situation. Everyone keeps reminding me that I`m finsihing. It`s really getting annoying. I really feel sad because I waited for the mission for years and it finally came and now it`s two and a half weeks from being over. You were all right. The mission ends before you know it. Oh well that`s life. However these last two weeks are going to be great. I will be having at least one baptism my last weekend in the mission. It`s a lady named Miriam Severo. Her two daughters got baptized almost a month ago. I was so happy to see her at church yesterday. Everything is going well here. The ward is getting really excited. I really don`t have anything else to report.
I have a few requests. I can a get a little more money? There is nothing to buy here in Artigas, I`m going to have to buy stuff in Montevideo and it`s a little more expensive there. Also I hope that there will be a lot of cereal waiting for me when I get home.
That`s really it for now. I don`t know what else to say.
Love,
Elder Jones
Well I`m not sure what to think right now. It feels really weird to be in this situation. Everyone keeps reminding me that I`m finsihing. It`s really getting annoying. I really feel sad because I waited for the mission for years and it finally came and now it`s two and a half weeks from being over. You were all right. The mission ends before you know it. Oh well that`s life. However these last two weeks are going to be great. I will be having at least one baptism my last weekend in the mission. It`s a lady named Miriam Severo. Her two daughters got baptized almost a month ago. I was so happy to see her at church yesterday. Everything is going well here. The ward is getting really excited. I really don`t have anything else to report.
I have a few requests. I can a get a little more money? There is nothing to buy here in Artigas, I`m going to have to buy stuff in Montevideo and it`s a little more expensive there. Also I hope that there will be a lot of cereal waiting for me when I get home.
That`s really it for now. I don`t know what else to say.
Love,
Elder Jones
Hey Family
Dear Family,
Well it looks like I`m already picked on to give talks and I`m not even home yet. Where`s the justice? Dad, I think that you being in the stake presidency might not be such a great thing. Haha. Oh well. One thing I`ve learned on the mission is wingin it. I remember in my sixth change, I was asked to give a talk an hour before sacrament meeting started. I had about ten minutes to get it ready right before sacrament meeting started. At least this time I have more time to prepare. Ummm can someone put an announcement on my Facebook account telling all my friends that I`m speaking on the 13th. I would greatly appreciate it.
So the work is progressing right along here in Artigas. We had a great week last week. We worked like locos. I`m enjoying every minute of the mission because it`s going to be over too soon. I hope my comp doesn`t mind if I work him to death. We`re seeing a lot of miracles here. That`s something else I`ve learned on the mission: there are miracles everywhere. Yesterday we had three of our investigators go to church. The first two are Juan and Mònica. They were defenitely prepared by the Lord. From the first lesson we had with them last Tuesday, they were completely commited to do everything we asked them. They went to church by themselves yesterday. There starting the process to get married. They do everything. They even made us food. We had to take it home though because we were fasting. It`s pretty fun teaching them because Mònica speaks a mix of spanish and portuguese. I get to learn spanish and portuguese at the same time. The other investigator that went is Marìa. She`s great. She`s just waiting to get divorced from her first husband so she can get married to the man she`s living with now. His name is Carlos. They should be getting baptized in November. Satan is really, really, really, really working against them. Satan always attacks the strongest ones the most. But with the Lord`s help, we`re going to get them baptized. We`re also teaching a teenager named Fernando. He`s awesome. He couldn`t make it to church yesterday because he didn`t have any shoes. This sunday he`s going though. He already wants to leave and work with us so I guess you could say that means he`s pretty commited to getting baptized. As of now, I will be having at least one baptism my last weekend on the mission. That was my goal and it`s going to happen. So ya. That`s what`s happening here.
So the Black River trip sounds good to me. Which part are we going to? Are you going Nathan? If you do, you, the Bishop, and I can speak in spanish and no one else will understand.
Someone tell Robert congrats. That`s great that he got his mission call. I know Mark Cooley is in Houston but I think he`s in the Houston South Mission. Colton Jones is there as well but I think he`s in the Houston South mission as well. Maybe they`ll see each other. But ya someone tell him congrats. I`d do it but I can`t.
That`s too bad about baby Briana. It is very good to know that death is not the end and that we can be together forever. Knowing that, Bobby and Kaylene will get through this trial just fine. I`ll be praying for them for sure.
Well I guess that`s just about it. Oh ya Mom were you able to start printing out the letters? Did you get that email I sent you? Also could you send just a little more money? I want to get stuff for everyone. Gracias. You`re all awesome. Thanks for all that you do for me.
Love,
Elder Jones
Well it looks like I`m already picked on to give talks and I`m not even home yet. Where`s the justice? Dad, I think that you being in the stake presidency might not be such a great thing. Haha. Oh well. One thing I`ve learned on the mission is wingin it. I remember in my sixth change, I was asked to give a talk an hour before sacrament meeting started. I had about ten minutes to get it ready right before sacrament meeting started. At least this time I have more time to prepare. Ummm can someone put an announcement on my Facebook account telling all my friends that I`m speaking on the 13th. I would greatly appreciate it.
So the work is progressing right along here in Artigas. We had a great week last week. We worked like locos. I`m enjoying every minute of the mission because it`s going to be over too soon. I hope my comp doesn`t mind if I work him to death. We`re seeing a lot of miracles here. That`s something else I`ve learned on the mission: there are miracles everywhere. Yesterday we had three of our investigators go to church. The first two are Juan and Mònica. They were defenitely prepared by the Lord. From the first lesson we had with them last Tuesday, they were completely commited to do everything we asked them. They went to church by themselves yesterday. There starting the process to get married. They do everything. They even made us food. We had to take it home though because we were fasting. It`s pretty fun teaching them because Mònica speaks a mix of spanish and portuguese. I get to learn spanish and portuguese at the same time. The other investigator that went is Marìa. She`s great. She`s just waiting to get divorced from her first husband so she can get married to the man she`s living with now. His name is Carlos. They should be getting baptized in November. Satan is really, really, really, really working against them. Satan always attacks the strongest ones the most. But with the Lord`s help, we`re going to get them baptized. We`re also teaching a teenager named Fernando. He`s awesome. He couldn`t make it to church yesterday because he didn`t have any shoes. This sunday he`s going though. He already wants to leave and work with us so I guess you could say that means he`s pretty commited to getting baptized. As of now, I will be having at least one baptism my last weekend on the mission. That was my goal and it`s going to happen. So ya. That`s what`s happening here.
So the Black River trip sounds good to me. Which part are we going to? Are you going Nathan? If you do, you, the Bishop, and I can speak in spanish and no one else will understand.
Someone tell Robert congrats. That`s great that he got his mission call. I know Mark Cooley is in Houston but I think he`s in the Houston South Mission. Colton Jones is there as well but I think he`s in the Houston South mission as well. Maybe they`ll see each other. But ya someone tell him congrats. I`d do it but I can`t.
That`s too bad about baby Briana. It is very good to know that death is not the end and that we can be together forever. Knowing that, Bobby and Kaylene will get through this trial just fine. I`ll be praying for them for sure.
Well I guess that`s just about it. Oh ya Mom were you able to start printing out the letters? Did you get that email I sent you? Also could you send just a little more money? I want to get stuff for everyone. Gracias. You`re all awesome. Thanks for all that you do for me.
Love,
Elder Jones
AWESOME CONFERENCE
Dear Family,
Well let`s start with General Conference. In one word: AWESOME. There were a lot of different topics and they were all good. Maybe it`s just the missionary in me but I love General Conference. I`ve been looking forward to it for the last month. I did see all the sessions. I watched the Priesthod Session Sunday morning because it was 9 Uruguay time and at 9 we`re supposed to be in the house. I had to watch that session in Spanish because they only recorded it in Spanish. Good thing I understand spanish. It was thinking that this was my last General Conference in Uruguay. It was a good conference to leave on though. I hope you all enjoyed it too.
What else? To answer your question yes I did stay in the same area. I just have a new comp. We have a lot of work to do here this month. We set a goal of five baptisms this month so we have to do a lot to meet that goal. It`s going to be great though. We`re trying to find some new investigators. This week is important because they have to go to church this Sunday and every other Sunday this month so they can get baptized. We`re going to work like crazy this wek so we can get everyone to church. That`s the update there.
So everything sounds good back home. Did Robert get his mission call yet? Make sure to tell me when he does. Ummm how`s school going? Has the job market improved yet or am I going to be jobless? Any new callings in the ward? Say hi to Tyler for me and find out why he neve wrote me.
I know that my letters have been short lately but I really don`t have much to say. Just know that the mission is going well and that this last month will be great. Thanks for everything.
Love,
Elder Jones
Well let`s start with General Conference. In one word: AWESOME. There were a lot of different topics and they were all good. Maybe it`s just the missionary in me but I love General Conference. I`ve been looking forward to it for the last month. I did see all the sessions. I watched the Priesthod Session Sunday morning because it was 9 Uruguay time and at 9 we`re supposed to be in the house. I had to watch that session in Spanish because they only recorded it in Spanish. Good thing I understand spanish. It was thinking that this was my last General Conference in Uruguay. It was a good conference to leave on though. I hope you all enjoyed it too.
What else? To answer your question yes I did stay in the same area. I just have a new comp. We have a lot of work to do here this month. We set a goal of five baptisms this month so we have to do a lot to meet that goal. It`s going to be great though. We`re trying to find some new investigators. This week is important because they have to go to church this Sunday and every other Sunday this month so they can get baptized. We`re going to work like crazy this wek so we can get everyone to church. That`s the update there.
So everything sounds good back home. Did Robert get his mission call yet? Make sure to tell me when he does. Ummm how`s school going? Has the job market improved yet or am I going to be jobless? Any new callings in the ward? Say hi to Tyler for me and find out why he neve wrote me.
I know that my letters have been short lately but I really don`t have much to say. Just know that the mission is going well and that this last month will be great. Thanks for everything.
Love,
Elder Jones
Change 16 of 16
Dear Family,
Well change number 16 of 16 is now starting. Oh boy! I`m pretty nervous. I`m getting a new comp. His name is Elder Ponce. I have no idea who he is. All I know is that he`s now starting his fifth change. My plan is to not let him find out that this is my last change. It`s going to be a little hard but I`m try and make it work. I`ll also be a district leader again. I hope my new district is as good as the one I have right now. We ended up having 19 baptisms as a district. We had 30 as a zone and 120 in the whole mission. The work as always is moving unhindered. We`re giving our best effort and the Lord is helping us. It`s great being part of such a great mission. By the way mom, you`re right. I have nothing negative to say about the sister missionaries. They really work hard. My comp and I had a great week last week. Three of our investigators got baptized. It was a miracle that they all got baptized. Their names are Victoria and her older sister Paola. The name of the other is Carlos. It was a really good baptismal service. Last night we taught Carlos` little brother Fernando. We gave him a date for October 21st. Even better is that Carlos is talking with his friends about the Church. Last night he asked us for some pamphlets to share with them. What else is happening? Oh Paola`s and Victoria`s mom has a date as well for October 14th. On top of that we have a lot of other good investigators who are progressing right along. This last change will be a week short so that means I have a lot to do. It`s going to be a great change. I have a feeling that it`s going to be a little hard too but I like a good challenge. I have a little over five weeks to have more baptisms and I want baptisms in my last change. It`s going to be a great last change. I`m super excited.
When I read your letter mom there were a lot of names that I didn`t recognize so I guess that means that there will be a lot of new people to meet. It`ll be fun to meet them all. By the way someone say hi to Tyler for me and tell him "Portate bien". Also if anyone sees Ryan again tell him hi. Can someone find out if I `ll be speaking in church on the thirteenth because if I am someone needs to post that on Facebook so all my friends can go. By the way if you didn`t get the hint in my last letter I want my old room back. Also can I get some more money sent to me? I`m looking for stuff to buy. I bought a machete in Brazil today. It`s pretty awesome. I plan on going there a few times this change because it`s cheaper there. I would greatly appreciate it. Gracias.
Well that`s all for now. Have a great week everyone. Thanks for everything.
Love,
Elder Jones
Well change number 16 of 16 is now starting. Oh boy! I`m pretty nervous. I`m getting a new comp. His name is Elder Ponce. I have no idea who he is. All I know is that he`s now starting his fifth change. My plan is to not let him find out that this is my last change. It`s going to be a little hard but I`m try and make it work. I`ll also be a district leader again. I hope my new district is as good as the one I have right now. We ended up having 19 baptisms as a district. We had 30 as a zone and 120 in the whole mission. The work as always is moving unhindered. We`re giving our best effort and the Lord is helping us. It`s great being part of such a great mission. By the way mom, you`re right. I have nothing negative to say about the sister missionaries. They really work hard. My comp and I had a great week last week. Three of our investigators got baptized. It was a miracle that they all got baptized. Their names are Victoria and her older sister Paola. The name of the other is Carlos. It was a really good baptismal service. Last night we taught Carlos` little brother Fernando. We gave him a date for October 21st. Even better is that Carlos is talking with his friends about the Church. Last night he asked us for some pamphlets to share with them. What else is happening? Oh Paola`s and Victoria`s mom has a date as well for October 14th. On top of that we have a lot of other good investigators who are progressing right along. This last change will be a week short so that means I have a lot to do. It`s going to be a great change. I have a feeling that it`s going to be a little hard too but I like a good challenge. I have a little over five weeks to have more baptisms and I want baptisms in my last change. It`s going to be a great last change. I`m super excited.
When I read your letter mom there were a lot of names that I didn`t recognize so I guess that means that there will be a lot of new people to meet. It`ll be fun to meet them all. By the way someone say hi to Tyler for me and tell him "Portate bien". Also if anyone sees Ryan again tell him hi. Can someone find out if I `ll be speaking in church on the thirteenth because if I am someone needs to post that on Facebook so all my friends can go. By the way if you didn`t get the hint in my last letter I want my old room back. Also can I get some more money sent to me? I`m looking for stuff to buy. I bought a machete in Brazil today. It`s pretty awesome. I plan on going there a few times this change because it`s cheaper there. I would greatly appreciate it. Gracias.
Well that`s all for now. Have a great week everyone. Thanks for everything.
Love,
Elder Jones
Hey
Hey everyone,
What`s up? I got the picture of the new stake presidency. Nice suit dad. Well from what I`ve read, a lot of stuff has happened in the stake. Good times. Lots of new people to meet. Yay! So mom when are you going to get put in a stake posotion? I`m sure you`de love that. Keep that in mind dad. So am I going to be President Johnson`s second missionary realease or is someone else going to get home before me? Well dad I hope you have lots of fun in your new calling. Just think only a few more years. Haha.
Cool well moving on. Artigas is doing great. My district is baptizing like crazy. Last Saturday and Sunday I did five baptismal interviews. All of the them were for the Hermanas. They are baptizing machines. In the last two weeks, they`ve baptized eight people. They`re baptizing one more this weekend as well. On top of that interview, I`ll have three more to do for the other two companionships in my district. In short, I`m very happy because my district is working really hard. Thye`re showing the Lord that they`re willing to work and He is giving them people to teach. They`re all pretty awesome missionaries.Tomorrow is our last district meeting. This change has flown by super fast. I`ve learned a lot.
Umm can someone tell Aunt Jabice to tell Robert that I won`t be speaking in church until November 13th. He wrote me today and said that he already bought a ticket and will be in Mesa from the third to the tenth. He needs to stay a little longer so he can be at my homecoming. Oh and about the the whole sleeping thing. I say that the guests can sleep on the couch and I`ll stay in my room. Just kidding. I`ll take my old room again and when anyone shows up, I`ll just take the couch. That`s what I always used to do.
Well that`s it for this week. There really isn`t anything else to report. The work continues and that`s all that matters. Have a good week everyone.
Love,
Elder Jones
What`s up? I got the picture of the new stake presidency. Nice suit dad. Well from what I`ve read, a lot of stuff has happened in the stake. Good times. Lots of new people to meet. Yay! So mom when are you going to get put in a stake posotion? I`m sure you`de love that. Keep that in mind dad. So am I going to be President Johnson`s second missionary realease or is someone else going to get home before me? Well dad I hope you have lots of fun in your new calling. Just think only a few more years. Haha.
Cool well moving on. Artigas is doing great. My district is baptizing like crazy. Last Saturday and Sunday I did five baptismal interviews. All of the them were for the Hermanas. They are baptizing machines. In the last two weeks, they`ve baptized eight people. They`re baptizing one more this weekend as well. On top of that interview, I`ll have three more to do for the other two companionships in my district. In short, I`m very happy because my district is working really hard. Thye`re showing the Lord that they`re willing to work and He is giving them people to teach. They`re all pretty awesome missionaries.Tomorrow is our last district meeting. This change has flown by super fast. I`ve learned a lot.
Umm can someone tell Aunt Jabice to tell Robert that I won`t be speaking in church until November 13th. He wrote me today and said that he already bought a ticket and will be in Mesa from the third to the tenth. He needs to stay a little longer so he can be at my homecoming. Oh and about the the whole sleeping thing. I say that the guests can sleep on the couch and I`ll stay in my room. Just kidding. I`ll take my old room again and when anyone shows up, I`ll just take the couch. That`s what I always used to do.
Well that`s it for this week. There really isn`t anything else to report. The work continues and that`s all that matters. Have a good week everyone.
Love,
Elder Jones
Hey
Dear Family,
So apparently a lot has happened back in Mesa. So Mesa South Stake still exists. That caught me by surprise because last week everyone told me that Mesa South was going away. I`m glad it stayed. I do have to admit that when I started to read your letter, dad, I thought you were going to say that you were called as stake president. I know you would have looooved that. They did snag ya though. I don`t know what it`s like to first counselor in a stake presidency but I bet it`ll be fun. Uncle Doug got put in the stake presidency as well. I think I know who this President Johnson person is. He was a bishop in Pueblo stake before, right? He`s a red head or something like that. Maybe I`m thinking of someone else. I`m also happy top hear that the wards are still the same, at least for now. I was super anxious the entire morning becasue I wanted to know how everything was going to turn out. Everything turned out great. Have fun this week dad with everything you have to do.
Ummm well the work here continues. One of the zone leaders here is number hungry so he`s got me stressed out. I prefer to just let my district work the way that is best for them. Each area is different so I can`t really make them work in a specific way. In my first district meeting with them, we read the story of Enos because I wanted them to understand how we should be praying. I told them they need to talk to the Lord. I can give them suggestions but ultimately it`s between each compaionship and the Lord. That`s the way I prefer to work. I kind of wish that my zone leader would get that. Oh well, life goes on. Remember that Weston and Cameron on your missions. Talk with the Lord. It`s about people not about numbers. Right now my comp and I are trying to find the best way to work in our area. It`s a really small area and everyone has heard the missionaries at least a thousand times. We`re talking with the Lord to figure what to do. Little by little we`re figuring out what to do.
Let`s see. Tomorrow is my last zone conference. I`ll be giving my final testimony. That`ll be really weird. I`ll give it in the same church where I gave my first one. I guarantee that when I go up to the front everyone will think, "He`s finishing his mission?" Everyone thinks that. We have to leave at 5:15 tomorrow morning because it`s in another city about 2 hours away. I`ll be getting up at about 4. It`ll be fun though.
Well I think that`s about it. I hope everyone has a good week. By the way my guess for Robert is that he`ll come here.
Love,
Elder Jones
So apparently a lot has happened back in Mesa. So Mesa South Stake still exists. That caught me by surprise because last week everyone told me that Mesa South was going away. I`m glad it stayed. I do have to admit that when I started to read your letter, dad, I thought you were going to say that you were called as stake president. I know you would have looooved that. They did snag ya though. I don`t know what it`s like to first counselor in a stake presidency but I bet it`ll be fun. Uncle Doug got put in the stake presidency as well. I think I know who this President Johnson person is. He was a bishop in Pueblo stake before, right? He`s a red head or something like that. Maybe I`m thinking of someone else. I`m also happy top hear that the wards are still the same, at least for now. I was super anxious the entire morning becasue I wanted to know how everything was going to turn out. Everything turned out great. Have fun this week dad with everything you have to do.
Ummm well the work here continues. One of the zone leaders here is number hungry so he`s got me stressed out. I prefer to just let my district work the way that is best for them. Each area is different so I can`t really make them work in a specific way. In my first district meeting with them, we read the story of Enos because I wanted them to understand how we should be praying. I told them they need to talk to the Lord. I can give them suggestions but ultimately it`s between each compaionship and the Lord. That`s the way I prefer to work. I kind of wish that my zone leader would get that. Oh well, life goes on. Remember that Weston and Cameron on your missions. Talk with the Lord. It`s about people not about numbers. Right now my comp and I are trying to find the best way to work in our area. It`s a really small area and everyone has heard the missionaries at least a thousand times. We`re talking with the Lord to figure what to do. Little by little we`re figuring out what to do.
Let`s see. Tomorrow is my last zone conference. I`ll be giving my final testimony. That`ll be really weird. I`ll give it in the same church where I gave my first one. I guarantee that when I go up to the front everyone will think, "He`s finishing his mission?" Everyone thinks that. We have to leave at 5:15 tomorrow morning because it`s in another city about 2 hours away. I`ll be getting up at about 4. It`ll be fun though.
Well I think that`s about it. I hope everyone has a good week. By the way my guess for Robert is that he`ll come here.
Love,
Elder Jones
Happy Birthday to Me
Dear Family,
Happy Birthday to me, Happy Birthday to me, Happy Birthday to myself, Happy Birthday to me. Wow so I`m 21 now. I`m not sure what to think of that. Turning 20 was really weird, but turning 21 is even more weird. I am officially legal. By the way Carly, my comp is 21 so you know what that means. Wink wink. It`s been a good day. This moring, one of the senior couples in the mission called me and me the birthday song. Right after that the hermanas in my district called me and did the same thing. After that we went and played soccer as a district. We almost didn`t play because it was raining all night long up til about 9 o`clock this morning. Luckily it stopped and we were able to play. Brazil was pretty cool. Surprisingly I can understand a good chunk of portuguese. I have to concentrate really hard but I was able to pick up what they were saying. The restaurant we went to in Brazil is like the one in Provo. They bring out chunks of meat and cut it for us right there at the table. They even sang Happy Birthday to me. It was really fun. Tonight we have a Family Home Evening with the relief society president. It`s her birthday todat too so I imagine that she`s making a cake or something. Anyways it`s been a good day.
We`re having a lot of success here. We`re really trying hard to work more with the members. That`s a really big focus here. We have a lot of imvestigators and the best way to care for them is to make sure that they have friends in the ward. The district leader is going well. It`s a fun experience. I`m learning a lot. I did my first three baptismal interviews this past Saturday. That was really fun. Super cool experience. I have three more to do this Friday. The hermanas in my district are baptizing like crazy. I have lots to do to keep me busy so that`s good.
So it looks like the stake is changing just a little bit. That`s pretty crazy. That means I might be giving my homecoming talk in a ward full of people that I don`t know. Maybe we`ll have the other 7th warders again. This means that I have to call the mission offices now and tell that my stake changed. I`ll do that next week though when I found out the changes. I hope that all goes well. Have fun.
Well family, I`m out of time once again. Thanks for everything, especially the birthday wishes. Have a good week.
Love,
Elder Jones
Happy Birthday to me, Happy Birthday to me, Happy Birthday to myself, Happy Birthday to me. Wow so I`m 21 now. I`m not sure what to think of that. Turning 20 was really weird, but turning 21 is even more weird. I am officially legal. By the way Carly, my comp is 21 so you know what that means. Wink wink. It`s been a good day. This moring, one of the senior couples in the mission called me and me the birthday song. Right after that the hermanas in my district called me and did the same thing. After that we went and played soccer as a district. We almost didn`t play because it was raining all night long up til about 9 o`clock this morning. Luckily it stopped and we were able to play. Brazil was pretty cool. Surprisingly I can understand a good chunk of portuguese. I have to concentrate really hard but I was able to pick up what they were saying. The restaurant we went to in Brazil is like the one in Provo. They bring out chunks of meat and cut it for us right there at the table. They even sang Happy Birthday to me. It was really fun. Tonight we have a Family Home Evening with the relief society president. It`s her birthday todat too so I imagine that she`s making a cake or something. Anyways it`s been a good day.
We`re having a lot of success here. We`re really trying hard to work more with the members. That`s a really big focus here. We have a lot of imvestigators and the best way to care for them is to make sure that they have friends in the ward. The district leader is going well. It`s a fun experience. I`m learning a lot. I did my first three baptismal interviews this past Saturday. That was really fun. Super cool experience. I have three more to do this Friday. The hermanas in my district are baptizing like crazy. I have lots to do to keep me busy so that`s good.
So it looks like the stake is changing just a little bit. That`s pretty crazy. That means I might be giving my homecoming talk in a ward full of people that I don`t know. Maybe we`ll have the other 7th warders again. This means that I have to call the mission offices now and tell that my stake changed. I`ll do that next week though when I found out the changes. I hope that all goes well. Have fun.
Well family, I`m out of time once again. Thanks for everything, especially the birthday wishes. Have a good week.
Love,
Elder Jones
Happy Birthday to Everyone
Dear Family,
Well first off, Happy Birthday last week to Irving, Annie and Travis.
Last week I forgot to tell you all to celebrate Uruguay`s Independence
Day. It`s the same day as Travis` birthday. Next year we`ll do
something fun. Also, Happy Birthday Mom on Wednesday.Don`t Worry. I
won`t tell anyone how old you are. I hope it`s fun. It`s kind of nice
that my birthday happens to fall on the next Pday. We`re going to some
big buffet in Brazil. I hear it`s like that Brazilian restaurant in
Provo. It`ll be good though. I`m excited to go. I think that`ll be a
pretty cool way to celebrate my 21st birthday. About the journal, it`s
a mini green, three ring binder. It says MIssionary Journal on the
front. One other thing. My comp doesn`t have a camera and I`m thinking
about giving him my other one. I want to make sure that it`s okay with
you mom.
Anyways moving right along. We had a good week. We`re trying to figure
out the best way to find people in our area because it`s pretty
difficult. We did think of some things to do though during our weekly
planning session last Friday. On top of that, we had a meeting last
night with the stake president to talk about what he wants us to do
here. It was really good. He gave us a lot of ideas. This week will be
really successful. We have good investigators that are progressing and
this new way of working will really help us.
Thanks for telling me about Elliot and Ryan. I guess Ryan went home a
little early. Probably for school. I knew he was supposed to get home
this month. That`s weird that he`s already home. All my friends are
going to be getting home soon. I have one favor to ask. Can someone
get Elliot`s address and send it to me. I haven`t seen him for a while
and he would probably enjoy a letter.
Being a district leader is fun and stressful at the same time. From 9
to 10 this morining I was just calling people. The zone leaders kept
calling me and telling me to call my district about a bunch of
different stuff. It`s fun though. I think the best part will be to do
the baptismal interviews. That was always one of the reasons that I
wanted to be district leader. My district has a lot of baptisms coming
up so I`ll be giving a lot of interviews. It`s also fun teaching other
missionaries. The best part is that it helps me a lot as well. Well
that`s enough about that.
That`s it for now. Have a great week everyone. Have fun with the molds
and all that stuff. Thanks for everything.
Love,
Elder Jones
Well first off, Happy Birthday last week to Irving, Annie and Travis.
Last week I forgot to tell you all to celebrate Uruguay`s Independence
Day. It`s the same day as Travis` birthday. Next year we`ll do
something fun. Also, Happy Birthday Mom on Wednesday.Don`t Worry. I
won`t tell anyone how old you are. I hope it`s fun. It`s kind of nice
that my birthday happens to fall on the next Pday. We`re going to some
big buffet in Brazil. I hear it`s like that Brazilian restaurant in
Provo. It`ll be good though. I`m excited to go. I think that`ll be a
pretty cool way to celebrate my 21st birthday. About the journal, it`s
a mini green, three ring binder. It says MIssionary Journal on the
front. One other thing. My comp doesn`t have a camera and I`m thinking
about giving him my other one. I want to make sure that it`s okay with
you mom.
Anyways moving right along. We had a good week. We`re trying to figure
out the best way to find people in our area because it`s pretty
difficult. We did think of some things to do though during our weekly
planning session last Friday. On top of that, we had a meeting last
night with the stake president to talk about what he wants us to do
here. It was really good. He gave us a lot of ideas. This week will be
really successful. We have good investigators that are progressing and
this new way of working will really help us.
Thanks for telling me about Elliot and Ryan. I guess Ryan went home a
little early. Probably for school. I knew he was supposed to get home
this month. That`s weird that he`s already home. All my friends are
going to be getting home soon. I have one favor to ask. Can someone
get Elliot`s address and send it to me. I haven`t seen him for a while
and he would probably enjoy a letter.
Being a district leader is fun and stressful at the same time. From 9
to 10 this morining I was just calling people. The zone leaders kept
calling me and telling me to call my district about a bunch of
different stuff. It`s fun though. I think the best part will be to do
the baptismal interviews. That was always one of the reasons that I
wanted to be district leader. My district has a lot of baptisms coming
up so I`ll be giving a lot of interviews. It`s also fun teaching other
missionaries. The best part is that it helps me a lot as well. Well
that`s enough about that.
That`s it for now. Have a great week everyone. Have fun with the molds
and all that stuff. Thanks for everything.
Love,
Elder Jones
Artigas Is Pretty Awesome
Dear Family,
Well Artigas is pretty cool; cool meaning cold and cool meaning awesome. It cooled down big time last week. We all thought that winter was ending because it was starting to warm up, but that all changed last week. It got super cold over night. It`s the wind that makes it bad. I have plenty of coats and stuff plus an aweome leather and wool beanie so I stay pretty warm. As I was saying, Artigas is a pretty awesome place. My area is big but there is a lot of nothing. There are still plenty of people though. Yesterday we found seven people which was awesome. It shows that there are people here who are waiting for the gospel. Being District Leader is fun but it`s a lot of work. I have the Zone Leaders brething down my neck. If my district isn`t doing well, I get the blame. Luckily I have a good district. We`ll see how this all goes. We do have some really good investigators. Two of them are a couple. They can`t get baptized yet because the wife has to get divorced from her other husband and then marry the man she`s living with. President Heaton gave me money yesterday and told me to use it to help the mom get a divorce(It`s pretty expensive to get a divorce here and they don`t have a lot of money to do it). They`re really cool. The dad, Carlos read the first 36 sections of Doctrine and Covenants in two days. Apparently before I got here, this family didn`t keep any of their commitments but something changed in them and now they are completely committed(commited?) to doing everything. We have a couple of other families that we`re teaching that are really good. This area defenitely has a lot of potential. The best part is that I`m in a ward with a bishop. That`ll defenitely help. That`s the update there.
So Tyler gets home in five weeks. Wow! I`m getting jipped out of a week of my mission because President Heaton has a mission president conference in Buenos Aires. The area presidency told him to do changes a week early and that happens to be the change when I go home. That`s a bummer but no one can control that. Now you know why the flight plans changed and why I`m coming home a week early.
Ummm did you ever find that journal mom? I don`t know if I have enough room left for the rest of my mission. Other than that I`m good. All is well way down here.
Well as Porky Pig would say "That`s all folks": Thanks for everything.
Love,
Elder Jones
Well Artigas is pretty cool; cool meaning cold and cool meaning awesome. It cooled down big time last week. We all thought that winter was ending because it was starting to warm up, but that all changed last week. It got super cold over night. It`s the wind that makes it bad. I have plenty of coats and stuff plus an aweome leather and wool beanie so I stay pretty warm. As I was saying, Artigas is a pretty awesome place. My area is big but there is a lot of nothing. There are still plenty of people though. Yesterday we found seven people which was awesome. It shows that there are people here who are waiting for the gospel. Being District Leader is fun but it`s a lot of work. I have the Zone Leaders brething down my neck. If my district isn`t doing well, I get the blame. Luckily I have a good district. We`ll see how this all goes. We do have some really good investigators. Two of them are a couple. They can`t get baptized yet because the wife has to get divorced from her other husband and then marry the man she`s living with. President Heaton gave me money yesterday and told me to use it to help the mom get a divorce(It`s pretty expensive to get a divorce here and they don`t have a lot of money to do it). They`re really cool. The dad, Carlos read the first 36 sections of Doctrine and Covenants in two days. Apparently before I got here, this family didn`t keep any of their commitments but something changed in them and now they are completely committed(commited?) to doing everything. We have a couple of other families that we`re teaching that are really good. This area defenitely has a lot of potential. The best part is that I`m in a ward with a bishop. That`ll defenitely help. That`s the update there.
So Tyler gets home in five weeks. Wow! I`m getting jipped out of a week of my mission because President Heaton has a mission president conference in Buenos Aires. The area presidency told him to do changes a week early and that happens to be the change when I go home. That`s a bummer but no one can control that. Now you know why the flight plans changed and why I`m coming home a week early.
Ummm did you ever find that journal mom? I don`t know if I have enough room left for the rest of my mission. Other than that I`m good. All is well way down here.
Well as Porky Pig would say "That`s all folks": Thanks for everything.
Love,
Elder Jones
Sin Tìtulo
Dear Family,
Wow! Talk about shocking news. I hope the Strebe family is alright. Wow! Well they`ll defenitely be in my prayers. I`m not exactly sure what to say about that only that I hope they`re alright.
Well Happy Anniversary Mom and Dad. I don`t remember if I said that last week. I hope it was fun. Also Happy Anniversay Jenny and Paul. I`m pretty sure I forgot to say that last week. Five years already. You still have a ways to go before you catch up to Mom and Dad, but you`ll get there someday. Also I don`t remember if I ever told Happy Birthday Nathan so Feliz Cumpleaños.
Moving on. So the White Mountains are fine. That`s good to hear. There is some good fishing up there so it`s not aloud(alowd?) to get burned. Let`s hope that nenver happens.
So how`s school? How`s Taylor Cameron? Do have any of my old teachers? What about you Weston? How does it feel to be a big, bad senior? Does it feel different? The way I saw was that it was me being that much closer to finishing high school. However, as I look back, I would like to be back in high school. Those were the good, ol` days. Anyways enjoy it while it lasts.
How`s the Book of Mormon reading going? I`m also trying to finish the Book of Mormon in Spanish before I go home. I`m in Alma 26ish. I should finish it in three months. It`s kind of hard to find the time to do it because I`m always studying for investigators and stuff like that. I think I`ll finish it though.
What else? Ummm changes are this week. I am leaving. I`m going to a city called Artigas. It`s right on the border of Brazil. Maybe I`ll learn more Portuguese. I know little bit already so we`ll see if I end up speaking a lot. My new comp is Elder Rodrìguez. I have no idea who he is. It`s that he`s latino though because he`ll help me improve my spanish. It`s kind of sad to be leaving Salto. These five and a half months flew by. A lot has happened here in that time. I learned a lot. I helped a lot of people. I watched the gospel change lives. All in all it`s been a great experience. I hear Artigas is really cool so I`m pretty excited to go. One of our investgators will be gettign baptized tomorrow night. He gets married tomorrow afternoon and that he`ll get baptized a couple hours later. His name is Juan and he has changed his life completely. Unfortunately I won`t see the baptism, but the most important thing is that he`s getting baptized. We have a few other families who are getting ready for baptism as well so Elder Montes and his new comp will have a lot to do. That`s the work update. I`ll let you all know next week how my new area is.
Well that`s all for now. Have a good week.
Love,
Elder Jones
Wow! Talk about shocking news. I hope the Strebe family is alright. Wow! Well they`ll defenitely be in my prayers. I`m not exactly sure what to say about that only that I hope they`re alright.
Well Happy Anniversary Mom and Dad. I don`t remember if I said that last week. I hope it was fun. Also Happy Anniversay Jenny and Paul. I`m pretty sure I forgot to say that last week. Five years already. You still have a ways to go before you catch up to Mom and Dad, but you`ll get there someday. Also I don`t remember if I ever told Happy Birthday Nathan so Feliz Cumpleaños.
Moving on. So the White Mountains are fine. That`s good to hear. There is some good fishing up there so it`s not aloud(alowd?) to get burned. Let`s hope that nenver happens.
So how`s school? How`s Taylor Cameron? Do have any of my old teachers? What about you Weston? How does it feel to be a big, bad senior? Does it feel different? The way I saw was that it was me being that much closer to finishing high school. However, as I look back, I would like to be back in high school. Those were the good, ol` days. Anyways enjoy it while it lasts.
How`s the Book of Mormon reading going? I`m also trying to finish the Book of Mormon in Spanish before I go home. I`m in Alma 26ish. I should finish it in three months. It`s kind of hard to find the time to do it because I`m always studying for investigators and stuff like that. I think I`ll finish it though.
What else? Ummm changes are this week. I am leaving. I`m going to a city called Artigas. It`s right on the border of Brazil. Maybe I`ll learn more Portuguese. I know little bit already so we`ll see if I end up speaking a lot. My new comp is Elder Rodrìguez. I have no idea who he is. It`s that he`s latino though because he`ll help me improve my spanish. It`s kind of sad to be leaving Salto. These five and a half months flew by. A lot has happened here in that time. I learned a lot. I helped a lot of people. I watched the gospel change lives. All in all it`s been a great experience. I hear Artigas is really cool so I`m pretty excited to go. One of our investgators will be gettign baptized tomorrow night. He gets married tomorrow afternoon and that he`ll get baptized a couple hours later. His name is Juan and he has changed his life completely. Unfortunately I won`t see the baptism, but the most important thing is that he`s getting baptized. We have a few other families who are getting ready for baptism as well so Elder Montes and his new comp will have a lot to do. That`s the work update. I`ll let you all know next week how my new area is.
Well that`s all for now. Have a good week.
Love,
Elder Jones
¡It Finally Happened!
Dear Family,
Well it finally happened. Emanuel and Ana git baptized last night. It was a great baptismal service. We did a lot to get ready for it. Last Monday we started cleaning the baptismal font because it was super dirty. We finished cleaning it on Saturday. We finally left the church at 4. We lost a lot of working time, but this baptism was more important plus the font looks great now. It`s been three months since we found them and they finally made the choice to get baptized so I made sure it went well. It was complete with hot water. At the last few baptisms, we had to use cold water because the watr heater was broken. It got fixed for the last baptism but the members didn`t know how to turn it on so the poor boy that got baptized had to be baptized in cold water. We went yesterday to fill up the font because that wasn`t going to happen to Emanuel and Ana. It was nice and warm when we got it. Once again it was great. Emanuel and Ana are very happy. They`ll get confirmed this coming Sunday. Now we have to get their son baptized. He wasn`t sure yet if he wanted to do it so he didn`t get baptized. He`ll get baptized though. I attached some pictures so you can all see. It feels good to be a missionary. The work is hard but seeing investigators get baptized makes it all worth it.
So what`s new back home? School starts next week. BUMMER! Oh well school isn`t that bad. Apparently you Tryons are now in your new home and starting a new life. Que lo disfruten. You guys better visit a lot so I can see my nieces. What else? So it`s hot and muggy there. It`s raining here right now. Hopefully it stops within the next 2 hours because we leave at six to go work. If not, I have my rain suit. Oh ya before I forget. Dad do you remember Scott Stapley? He got home last Friday. He was here in Uruguay except in the other mission. It`s weird to me that he`s home now because it feels like he just left. Anyways now you know.
Well I think that`s about it for now. I ran out of time again. I on`t type fast so I can`t write as much. Sorry. I hope you all have a good week. Thanks for everything.
Love,
Elder Jones
Well it finally happened. Emanuel and Ana git baptized last night. It was a great baptismal service. We did a lot to get ready for it. Last Monday we started cleaning the baptismal font because it was super dirty. We finished cleaning it on Saturday. We finally left the church at 4. We lost a lot of working time, but this baptism was more important plus the font looks great now. It`s been three months since we found them and they finally made the choice to get baptized so I made sure it went well. It was complete with hot water. At the last few baptisms, we had to use cold water because the watr heater was broken. It got fixed for the last baptism but the members didn`t know how to turn it on so the poor boy that got baptized had to be baptized in cold water. We went yesterday to fill up the font because that wasn`t going to happen to Emanuel and Ana. It was nice and warm when we got it. Once again it was great. Emanuel and Ana are very happy. They`ll get confirmed this coming Sunday. Now we have to get their son baptized. He wasn`t sure yet if he wanted to do it so he didn`t get baptized. He`ll get baptized though. I attached some pictures so you can all see. It feels good to be a missionary. The work is hard but seeing investigators get baptized makes it all worth it.
So what`s new back home? School starts next week. BUMMER! Oh well school isn`t that bad. Apparently you Tryons are now in your new home and starting a new life. Que lo disfruten. You guys better visit a lot so I can see my nieces. What else? So it`s hot and muggy there. It`s raining here right now. Hopefully it stops within the next 2 hours because we leave at six to go work. If not, I have my rain suit. Oh ya before I forget. Dad do you remember Scott Stapley? He got home last Friday. He was here in Uruguay except in the other mission. It`s weird to me that he`s home now because it feels like he just left. Anyways now you know.
Well I think that`s about it for now. I ran out of time again. I on`t type fast so I can`t write as much. Sorry. I hope you all have a good week. Thanks for everything.
Love,
Elder Jones
Another Week Gone
Dear Family,
Well another has gone by and there is a lot to report. First off, Elder Montes and I are going to have at least two baptisms this Sunday. Emanuel and Ana are finally getting baptized. Their ten year old son still isn`t sure whether or not he wants to get baptized. This Thursday, we`re playing soccer at the church and he`s going to go so we`re going to talk with him and see what he says. H probably just want to talk during the lessons because there are other people. We`re hoping this helps. The parents are excited to go to the temple. If I was still on the mission in a year, I would be allowed to go to the sealing. Maybe I`ll be able to get some great job so I can afford to come back here when they get sealed. This family is the kind of family that every missionary hopes to baptize. This last week, Ana told us that, when we first found them that they didn`t want to get baptized. They were listening just to listen. However the Lord has other plans in store for them. Before they knew it they wanted to get baptized and do the things we asked them to do. It just proves once again that this is the true Church because there is nothing else that can change a person in that way. Needless to say, this baptism is a miracle. I`ve been in this area for almost five months now and this fmaily getting baptized makes it all worth it. The mission really is great. The good news is that the miracle doesn`t end there. We have lots of other investigators who are getting ready for baptism. The ward members see it and they getting more excited. It`s great to see the work of the Lord move forward. I`m really glad that I got to stay in this area for another change. That`s the work update.
Oh and to answer your question mom, I am healthy, happy, and warm. As far as school registration and all that, I`m going to wait until I get home to worry about that because I have NO idea what I`m going to do. What I habve figured out is that I`m probably just work during those first six months back home, save a bunch of money, and then start school. What I would like to know is if I need to do anything to get my new driver`s license. Is there anything special that I need to do or wil the new just show up? Other than that, all is "fine and dandy like sour candy".
By the way, I met someone from Colonia Juàrez a week ago. I told him that grandma Jones is from there. He recognized the name Martineau. He also knows Berkley Hatch since he`s from there as well. It`s a small world.
So Emilie and Irving, you`re moving? Cool beans. I`ve never been to Reno, but I hear it`s cool. Where are going to work at Irving? That`s cool. I had never planned to visit Reno but now I have an excuse to do it. You two can start planning something right now. Haha...but seriously you should.
Two more weeks of summer vacation. Haha Weston you have to do your assignment. From what Mom said in her letter, it sounds like you have pretty waited until the last minute. There is nothing wrong with that. I did it all the time. You can use the excuse that you were thinking about it and now your thoughts are coming to life. Anyways enjoy that. I don`t remember doing anything for Mr. Baser. Maybe it`s something new.
Oh by the way Felix Cumpleaños Brian, if you`re reading this. I forgot to say that last week.
Well I guess that`s it. Be safew in that drive home. Thanks for everything.
Love,
Elder Jones
Well another has gone by and there is a lot to report. First off, Elder Montes and I are going to have at least two baptisms this Sunday. Emanuel and Ana are finally getting baptized. Their ten year old son still isn`t sure whether or not he wants to get baptized. This Thursday, we`re playing soccer at the church and he`s going to go so we`re going to talk with him and see what he says. H probably just want to talk during the lessons because there are other people. We`re hoping this helps. The parents are excited to go to the temple. If I was still on the mission in a year, I would be allowed to go to the sealing. Maybe I`ll be able to get some great job so I can afford to come back here when they get sealed. This family is the kind of family that every missionary hopes to baptize. This last week, Ana told us that, when we first found them that they didn`t want to get baptized. They were listening just to listen. However the Lord has other plans in store for them. Before they knew it they wanted to get baptized and do the things we asked them to do. It just proves once again that this is the true Church because there is nothing else that can change a person in that way. Needless to say, this baptism is a miracle. I`ve been in this area for almost five months now and this fmaily getting baptized makes it all worth it. The mission really is great. The good news is that the miracle doesn`t end there. We have lots of other investigators who are getting ready for baptism. The ward members see it and they getting more excited. It`s great to see the work of the Lord move forward. I`m really glad that I got to stay in this area for another change. That`s the work update.
Oh and to answer your question mom, I am healthy, happy, and warm. As far as school registration and all that, I`m going to wait until I get home to worry about that because I have NO idea what I`m going to do. What I habve figured out is that I`m probably just work during those first six months back home, save a bunch of money, and then start school. What I would like to know is if I need to do anything to get my new driver`s license. Is there anything special that I need to do or wil the new just show up? Other than that, all is "fine and dandy like sour candy".
By the way, I met someone from Colonia Juàrez a week ago. I told him that grandma Jones is from there. He recognized the name Martineau. He also knows Berkley Hatch since he`s from there as well. It`s a small world.
So Emilie and Irving, you`re moving? Cool beans. I`ve never been to Reno, but I hear it`s cool. Where are going to work at Irving? That`s cool. I had never planned to visit Reno but now I have an excuse to do it. You two can start planning something right now. Haha...but seriously you should.
Two more weeks of summer vacation. Haha Weston you have to do your assignment. From what Mom said in her letter, it sounds like you have pretty waited until the last minute. There is nothing wrong with that. I did it all the time. You can use the excuse that you were thinking about it and now your thoughts are coming to life. Anyways enjoy that. I don`t remember doing anything for Mr. Baser. Maybe it`s something new.
Oh by the way Felix Cumpleaños Brian, if you`re reading this. I forgot to say that last week.
Well I guess that`s it. Be safew in that drive home. Thanks for everything.
Love,
Elder Jones
Another Short One
Hey everyone. This will be a short one again. I don`t have much time. Well it sounds like the reunion went great. That`s pretty funny my surrogate scared everyone. I promise I`m not that scary looking anymore. I look a lot better in person. Well I hope everyone had fun. Now you`re all leaving again to go on a another vacation. I hope that`s fun. What are you all planning to do? How is summer vacation treating everyone? Is anyone ready for it to be over? School starts again next month. Weston you`re going to be a senior and Cameron you`re going into junior high. I bet you feel super old mom. It`s all good though. I still love you. Well the week went well. We were trying a new form of working last week. Elder Montes did it in his last area and he said it works really well. We visited all of our main investigators every day or almost every day. On the days that we didn`t have any scheduled lessons with them, we just went and talked for a few minutes to see how they were doing. It seemed to help because we had five investigators in church yesterday. However, we are going to change things up a little bit this week because we didn`t have much time to find new investigators. Now we have to try and find the perfect balance. This ward that we`re in is about to explode. They were lousy missionaries here for a long time but now we`re here and we actually work so the ward is now doing a lot better. Elder Montes and I have a famliy of getting baptized next week as well as the husband of a member. On the seventh, three kids will be getting baptized as well. I can tell that the members are really excited. Hopefully this will help the ward. This Saturday, we`re having a ward activity. Somehow I got asked to give a ten minute devotional about unity since that is what this lacks. I`m excited though. It`ll be fun. I see the itinerary came. None of you can be trunky because I`m not. Anyways, like I said it`s just a short one. Hopefully I`ll have more time next week. I love you all. Have a great week.
Elder Jones
Elder Jones
Just a Short One
Hey what`s up everyone? So I`m not sure if I was supposed to get that email about the pictures for the slide show but I did. So I`m going to take advantage of an opportunity to show myself off. I know there`s not much to see but there is at least a little bit to see. Maybe you already thought of this but, if not, you can put the picture I sent home last week in the slide show. I gotta make sure I`m there in some form. Anyways continuing on, last week was very nice. My new comp is cool. We did have a nice, long chat yesterday about obedience. We got everything worked out though. He`s a really funny kid though. He`s from Ecuador but lives in Spain. He doesn`t have that accent though. That`s good because, if he did, I think I would laugh every time I heard it because it`s a pretty funny accent (no offense Emilie). Emanuel and Ana are prgressing right along. Last week we taught them the Word of Wisdom and that lesson usually shows who the real investigators are. It went great though. The only problem they have, which actually isn`t a big problem, is the coffee and tea. They have no problem dropping it though. Ana said that that same day she had bought a different kind of drink called cebada that she had never bought before. She just felt like buying it. It`s as if she already knew that we were going to teach her the Word of Wisdom. They`re getting baptized next week. We`ve been working with them for almost three months now and now we`re seeing the fruits. The restored gospel has changed them so much. Everything about them is a miracle. What else? Oh ya I don`t know if any of you have realized it but as of today it has been two years since I opened my mission call. It feels like that was yesterday. So what else? Ahh Weston you`re getting your license finally. It`s about time. Now you can do all sorts of fun stuff: dates, road trips and who knows what else. Speaking of licenses is there anything I hav to do to get my new license? There was a missionary here that had to fill out some form so he could have an extension. I`m not sure if Arizona does that. Just a question. I hope you all enjoy the reunion. That`s all for now. Thanks for everything.
Hey
Well what`s up everyone? It`s cold here and that`s all there is to say about that. Well mom and dad I guess you`ll be at girls camp when you read this. I hope that`s fun. I`m not exactly sure what to say about that so just have fun. What else? Is the truck working again? How`s summer treating everyone? Anything new in Mesa? What are your plans for the 4th of july? Is the ward doing making breakfast as usual or is it going to get changed up a little bit this year? We`re eating lunch with a cool family. They know it`s Independance Day so I think they`ll give us something good. Let`s all that they don`t give us noodles mixed with peas and tomato sauce. By the way just so you all know Independance Day here is August 25th. I know that`s pretty far away so that gives you all plenty of time to plan a big party. I know that`s Travis` birthday as well so you can combine the two parties. Oh by the way, Happy Father`s Day two Sundays ago. I totally forgot to say that last week in my letter. I could use some more money. I`m going to order some awesome leather scripture cases from a member in Paraguay. Altogether it`s about 80 dollars. Gracias. Other than that I`m doing fine. I had to buy some new socks last week because my other ones finally gave out. I was doing good at patching the holes but the holes finally got too big that I couldn`t save them. Some members here made fun of me for patching my socks but I didn`t want to buy more because that costs money. However it was finally necessary. Moving on to the work. The work is good and difficult at the same time. We haven`t had anyone in church this entire change. It`s frustrating because we have really good investigators who want to go. However something always happens that keeps them from going. We have to keep posponing their baptism dates. However, this morning, we studied about setting goals and came up with some new ideas about how to get them to church. If we get all these people to church, we`ll have at least ten baptisms next month. That would help this ward a lot. It`s a constant battle but it`s fun. I really enjoy it. My testimony has been strangthened a lot. I`ve learned a lot too. Each of my comps has taught me something. I`ve had a lot of difficult comps but I always try to focus on their strong points instead of focusing on their weaknesses. That`s helped me a lot. We have changes next week so I won`t be writing until next Tuesday. I think this presidente Heaton`s busiest week. I`m pretty sure he`s in his office on his knees for a good long time every day this week. We`ll see what these changes bring. That`s the update here. What else? Ohh ya I got your package Valerie. Gracias. I was pretty surprised when I saw it. James is as cute as ever. Ummmm, how`s the fire? Is it almost out yet? What about the one by the cabin? How are the sports doing? Are the Dbacks still doing well? I heard there won`t be any football this year because the NFL had some contract problems. Is that true or am I just hearing stuff? Alright well I know this is short letter but I can`t think of anything else to write. Have a great week everyone. Peace out.
Love,
Elder Jones
Love,
Elder Jones
¿Her what`s up?
¿Her what`s up?
Hey family. What`s up? I was pretty surprised to see how many letters I got today. I spent almost 15 minutes reading them all. That`s what I like. So let`s see. What`s new here? The weather has actually been surprisingly warm. It was just cold for that one week a few weeks ago and then it warmed up again. I actually had to use the fan last night because it was too hot and the mosquitos were bugging me. I just sleep in shorts and a tshirt now. The first official day of winter is tomorrow. We`ll see if the weather changes or not. I`m cool with it like this. The only thing I don`t want is the humidity. Every night when I get in bed my sheets, pillow and sleeping bag are always damp. That`s not bad though. It`s been raining the last few days and it`s supposed to continue until Wednesday. It`s rained at night so the last few days and I`m cool with that. None of our investigators made it to church yesterday. The bad weather didn`t help and there was the play that all the kids were required to go to. Yesterday was the birthday of Josè Artigas(the George Washington of Uruguay). Every year, on his birthday, the kids have to perform a play in his honor. It doesn`t even matter if his birthday falls on a Sunday. They have to do it. That was annoying because all of the families we teach had to go. It`s alright though because they had a good excuse. We`ll just make sure they get to church next week. We still don`t have a bishop. The young men`s president got released yesterday so we`re thinking he`ll be the next one. I don`t care who it is though as long as we get a bishop. This ward is falling apart right before our eyes. The stake president is leaving for Virginia next week to go his daughter and he`ll be gone all of July. We`re hoping that he calls a bishop before he leaves. Until then we`ll make do. What else happened? We had a conference last Thursday with Elder Foster from the Seventy. It was pretty awesome. He taught us some new ways to work with our wards. Then he talked about who we are. He showed some video cliops from Discovery Channel to show us how big the universe really is. The videos about how the Hubble took pictures of thousands of galaxies that no one knew existed. It was pretty awesome. It really put in to perspective how small and insignificant we really are compared to all the other creations. That was the point Elder Foster wanted to make. Even though we`re so small, God still knows us perfectly. He knows us by name. One of the examples he used was the First Vision when God called Joseph by his name. I really enjoyed it. It made the whole getting up at 4:30 in the morning thing all worth it. Umm the work continues on. We`re finding good people to teach. It`s always great to teach them. The people here are really great. I like being amongst them.
Well it sound like the whole reunion thing is moving along. I like your idea Blaine. Take my surrogate. That way I can still be in the pictures. I`m getting one of those shirts right? I hope so. I`m assuming this is happening at the cabin. Is the entire family going? That will be quite the party. What else? Are there sister missionaries in our ward again? I thought they got shipped out of there. That`s a bummer that activity didn`t go very well. I know how that is. I`ve planned a lot of activities in my misison and hardly anyone, if not anyone goes. It`s all good though. You just have to keep trying and eventually it will work. How`s the missionary work there? Have there been any baptisms lately? Luckily I speak spanish now so when I get home I can go talk to all of our neighbors and get them baptized. What else? Did anyone ever find out if Water Mart got the letter and picture I sent? I got a letter form Mark Halbert last week. He says he just got a comp that doesn`t know sign language so he gets to teach him. I`m sure he`s loving that. Well I guess that`s about it. I need to email President and then go print out a huge map of my area. Until next next week...Que la fureza os acompañe.
Love,
Elder Jones
Hey family. What`s up? I was pretty surprised to see how many letters I got today. I spent almost 15 minutes reading them all. That`s what I like. So let`s see. What`s new here? The weather has actually been surprisingly warm. It was just cold for that one week a few weeks ago and then it warmed up again. I actually had to use the fan last night because it was too hot and the mosquitos were bugging me. I just sleep in shorts and a tshirt now. The first official day of winter is tomorrow. We`ll see if the weather changes or not. I`m cool with it like this. The only thing I don`t want is the humidity. Every night when I get in bed my sheets, pillow and sleeping bag are always damp. That`s not bad though. It`s been raining the last few days and it`s supposed to continue until Wednesday. It`s rained at night so the last few days and I`m cool with that. None of our investigators made it to church yesterday. The bad weather didn`t help and there was the play that all the kids were required to go to. Yesterday was the birthday of Josè Artigas(the George Washington of Uruguay). Every year, on his birthday, the kids have to perform a play in his honor. It doesn`t even matter if his birthday falls on a Sunday. They have to do it. That was annoying because all of the families we teach had to go. It`s alright though because they had a good excuse. We`ll just make sure they get to church next week. We still don`t have a bishop. The young men`s president got released yesterday so we`re thinking he`ll be the next one. I don`t care who it is though as long as we get a bishop. This ward is falling apart right before our eyes. The stake president is leaving for Virginia next week to go his daughter and he`ll be gone all of July. We`re hoping that he calls a bishop before he leaves. Until then we`ll make do. What else happened? We had a conference last Thursday with Elder Foster from the Seventy. It was pretty awesome. He taught us some new ways to work with our wards. Then he talked about who we are. He showed some video cliops from Discovery Channel to show us how big the universe really is. The videos about how the Hubble took pictures of thousands of galaxies that no one knew existed. It was pretty awesome. It really put in to perspective how small and insignificant we really are compared to all the other creations. That was the point Elder Foster wanted to make. Even though we`re so small, God still knows us perfectly. He knows us by name. One of the examples he used was the First Vision when God called Joseph by his name. I really enjoyed it. It made the whole getting up at 4:30 in the morning thing all worth it. Umm the work continues on. We`re finding good people to teach. It`s always great to teach them. The people here are really great. I like being amongst them.
Well it sound like the whole reunion thing is moving along. I like your idea Blaine. Take my surrogate. That way I can still be in the pictures. I`m getting one of those shirts right? I hope so. I`m assuming this is happening at the cabin. Is the entire family going? That will be quite the party. What else? Are there sister missionaries in our ward again? I thought they got shipped out of there. That`s a bummer that activity didn`t go very well. I know how that is. I`ve planned a lot of activities in my misison and hardly anyone, if not anyone goes. It`s all good though. You just have to keep trying and eventually it will work. How`s the missionary work there? Have there been any baptisms lately? Luckily I speak spanish now so when I get home I can go talk to all of our neighbors and get them baptized. What else? Did anyone ever find out if Water Mart got the letter and picture I sent? I got a letter form Mark Halbert last week. He says he just got a comp that doesn`t know sign language so he gets to teach him. I`m sure he`s loving that. Well I guess that`s about it. I need to email President and then go print out a huge map of my area. Until next next week...Que la fureza os acompañe.
Love,
Elder Jones
Hey Familia
Dear Family,
Well I guess it`s a little too hot in Arizona; wildfire season again. So how did this Wallow Fire start? Was it intentional or accidental? That ummm well isn`t cool. There go some good campgrounds. It`s almost as big as the Rodeo Fire isn`t it? Well let`s hope the weather starts helping out a little so they can get it under control.
So Uncle Kyle is bishop of a singles ward. ¡Mira! That should be fun. Hope he enjoys it. Bishop Eames wasn`t in too long or maybe he was and I just lost track of time. Anyways good luck to him.
So how`s Girls Camp looking? How was the cooking stuff last week? Was it good? Did you mail me any of that food? Are you taking the truck up to that or the van? Is the truck fixed yet? Well I guess all I can say about that is enjoy it.
What happened to Grandpa Jones? Is everything fine with him? Tell him to take care of himself.How are the other grandparents doing? How is the extended family? Are tthere any more great grandkids for the grandparents? I`m pretty sure everything will be really different when I get home.
Alright on to the misisonary work. So we found a pretty awe4some family last week. Of course they live about a half hour walk from our house; out in the middle of nowhere. The best people always live far away, but hey I can`t complain. At least we have another family to teach. The name of the family is Familia Cuña. It`s a mom and two girls and a boy. We haven`t met the boy yet. He`s always gone but we`ll meet him. The mom`s sister is already a member so she knows a lot about the church. We`ve had two lessons with them and they`ve both been great. We taught them about the Plan of Salvation on Saturday and they loved it. The mom really liked the part about the resurrection. We read Alma 40:23 together and then the mom asked us," Is that really how it is?" "Yep," we said. After the lesson the mom told us that she would love to be baptized, but, in a nut shell, doesn`t feel worthy. She said she did some things in the past that she regrets. We told her about the Atonement and that if she asked for forgiveness then all is well. She has nothing to be sad about. She was really happy after. They didn`t make it to church yesterday because they had family in town but I`m pretty positive they`re going to go this week. It the miracle of the day. Emanuel and Ana are doing fine. We talked with Ana on Saturday night. Emanuel was sick with the flu. We talked about eternal families. It was great becasue she said everything we wanted to hear. She pretty just read our minds. She said she knows that her needs to go to church to be an eternal family. She asked us to have patience with them. She promised, I mean really promised that her family would go to church this Sunday. We had her sign a contract. I don`t if that`s aloud but we did anyway. These two families should be getting baptized the same day. That will be awesome. I think it will help the ward a lot. That`s the update for now.
Well have a great week everyone. See ya.
Love,
Elder Jones
Well I guess it`s a little too hot in Arizona; wildfire season again. So how did this Wallow Fire start? Was it intentional or accidental? That ummm well isn`t cool. There go some good campgrounds. It`s almost as big as the Rodeo Fire isn`t it? Well let`s hope the weather starts helping out a little so they can get it under control.
So Uncle Kyle is bishop of a singles ward. ¡Mira! That should be fun. Hope he enjoys it. Bishop Eames wasn`t in too long or maybe he was and I just lost track of time. Anyways good luck to him.
So how`s Girls Camp looking? How was the cooking stuff last week? Was it good? Did you mail me any of that food? Are you taking the truck up to that or the van? Is the truck fixed yet? Well I guess all I can say about that is enjoy it.
What happened to Grandpa Jones? Is everything fine with him? Tell him to take care of himself.How are the other grandparents doing? How is the extended family? Are tthere any more great grandkids for the grandparents? I`m pretty sure everything will be really different when I get home.
Alright on to the misisonary work. So we found a pretty awe4some family last week. Of course they live about a half hour walk from our house; out in the middle of nowhere. The best people always live far away, but hey I can`t complain. At least we have another family to teach. The name of the family is Familia Cuña. It`s a mom and two girls and a boy. We haven`t met the boy yet. He`s always gone but we`ll meet him. The mom`s sister is already a member so she knows a lot about the church. We`ve had two lessons with them and they`ve both been great. We taught them about the Plan of Salvation on Saturday and they loved it. The mom really liked the part about the resurrection. We read Alma 40:23 together and then the mom asked us," Is that really how it is?" "Yep," we said. After the lesson the mom told us that she would love to be baptized, but, in a nut shell, doesn`t feel worthy. She said she did some things in the past that she regrets. We told her about the Atonement and that if she asked for forgiveness then all is well. She has nothing to be sad about. She was really happy after. They didn`t make it to church yesterday because they had family in town but I`m pretty positive they`re going to go this week. It the miracle of the day. Emanuel and Ana are doing fine. We talked with Ana on Saturday night. Emanuel was sick with the flu. We talked about eternal families. It was great becasue she said everything we wanted to hear. She pretty just read our minds. She said she knows that her needs to go to church to be an eternal family. She asked us to have patience with them. She promised, I mean really promised that her family would go to church this Sunday. We had her sign a contract. I don`t if that`s aloud but we did anyway. These two families should be getting baptized the same day. That will be awesome. I think it will help the ward a lot. That`s the update for now.
Well have a great week everyone. See ya.
Love,
Elder Jones
¡It`s Soooo Cold Here!
Dear Family,
Well as you all can see from what I wrote as the subject, it`s very cold here. It all changed last week. It looks like all the remaining warm weather has left. It`s pretty much cold all day long. The thing that makes it really cold is the humidity and wind. The temperature itself isn`t bad. However, when combined with wind and humidity, it`s very cold. It`s impossible to be warm during the day. Everyone is just constantly cold. It`s even cold in the houses because they`re all made of concrete and have no insulation. The only time anyone is warm is in bed at night. The worst sound in the world is the alram clock because we all know that we`re going to be constantly cold until we go to bed that night. It`ll be like this until August. It`s all good though. I got through last winter so I can get through this one.
Moving along. It looks like Gavin`s blessing went well. Gavin is a pretty cute baby. Just so you all know I sort of participated in the blessing because there was one here in my ward. I didn`t here anything they said because there was no microphone and the person didn`t talk very loud, but it was a nice experience. Felicitaciones Jenny and Paul. Now you just need to have one more so I can be there for the blessing. Haha. Oh and by the way Jenny thanks for updating the blog.
I don`t know if you`ll read this Charles but good luck with all that stuff. Have fun getting all trained up to be a mountie. You have fun too Valerie. I hope all goes well with all of you.
I think that menu sounds good mom. In fact why don`t you make a little extra and send it to me... seriously. I miss your food. Noodles and tomato sauce and peas just don`t do it for me. Well I guess you can`t do that so just enjoy it for me.
Now for the work update. The truth is it`s pretty stinking tough right now. We had no one in church yesterday. One of the families we`re teaching promised(again) that they`d go but didn`t. The other investigator didn`t go either. We tried to visit her last night, but she didn`t want to talk to us so we`re not going to go for a while. It seems like we`re just bothering her. It gets really frustrating sometimes. We find great people but there is always something that holds them back. I came to a realization yesterday. I think I may have been called here just to be a planter of seeds and other missionaries will be the reapers of those seeds. That`s cool wiht me though. I just hope I can make a difference in someone`s life. Elder Barton and I are pretty much starting from nothing this week. We did find five new investigators yesterday which was nice becasue we finally met our goal of ten new investigators. Even with them, we still don`t have a lot. The main focus of this week will be finding, finding and more finding. Did I mention that we`ll be finding this week? I just pray and hope that we can see some results. I`ll let you all know how it goes.
Well that`s it for now. I hope you all have a good week. Enjoy all those summer activities and that nice, warm weather. I love you all.
Love,
Elder Jones
Well as you all can see from what I wrote as the subject, it`s very cold here. It all changed last week. It looks like all the remaining warm weather has left. It`s pretty much cold all day long. The thing that makes it really cold is the humidity and wind. The temperature itself isn`t bad. However, when combined with wind and humidity, it`s very cold. It`s impossible to be warm during the day. Everyone is just constantly cold. It`s even cold in the houses because they`re all made of concrete and have no insulation. The only time anyone is warm is in bed at night. The worst sound in the world is the alram clock because we all know that we`re going to be constantly cold until we go to bed that night. It`ll be like this until August. It`s all good though. I got through last winter so I can get through this one.
Moving along. It looks like Gavin`s blessing went well. Gavin is a pretty cute baby. Just so you all know I sort of participated in the blessing because there was one here in my ward. I didn`t here anything they said because there was no microphone and the person didn`t talk very loud, but it was a nice experience. Felicitaciones Jenny and Paul. Now you just need to have one more so I can be there for the blessing. Haha. Oh and by the way Jenny thanks for updating the blog.
I don`t know if you`ll read this Charles but good luck with all that stuff. Have fun getting all trained up to be a mountie. You have fun too Valerie. I hope all goes well with all of you.
I think that menu sounds good mom. In fact why don`t you make a little extra and send it to me... seriously. I miss your food. Noodles and tomato sauce and peas just don`t do it for me. Well I guess you can`t do that so just enjoy it for me.
Now for the work update. The truth is it`s pretty stinking tough right now. We had no one in church yesterday. One of the families we`re teaching promised(again) that they`d go but didn`t. The other investigator didn`t go either. We tried to visit her last night, but she didn`t want to talk to us so we`re not going to go for a while. It seems like we`re just bothering her. It gets really frustrating sometimes. We find great people but there is always something that holds them back. I came to a realization yesterday. I think I may have been called here just to be a planter of seeds and other missionaries will be the reapers of those seeds. That`s cool wiht me though. I just hope I can make a difference in someone`s life. Elder Barton and I are pretty much starting from nothing this week. We did find five new investigators yesterday which was nice becasue we finally met our goal of ten new investigators. Even with them, we still don`t have a lot. The main focus of this week will be finding, finding and more finding. Did I mention that we`ll be finding this week? I just pray and hope that we can see some results. I`ll let you all know how it goes.
Well that`s it for now. I hope you all have a good week. Enjoy all those summer activities and that nice, warm weather. I love you all.
Love,
Elder Jones
What´s up?
Dear Family,
What´s up everyone? What´s new back home? What are your plans for the week mom since you pretty much have the house to yourself right now? Parties? Movies? House cleaning? I´m gonna have to go with the latter since that´s what you always do scout camp week. Whatever you do, enjoy it.
So grad night didn´t have a big turn out? Did it rain? Actually I guess the rain didn´t do a thing to stop grad night my junior and senior year. I guess Mesa High just isn´t as cool as it used to be. Did you go Weston? So there were seven graduates in the ward. We got Radison, Jeremiah. David, Danica, Heather and who else? There must be some new people that I don´t know. Congrats to everyone that did graduate.
So Little League is finally over...after 29 years. That is a long time. You know you´ll miss it mom. Just to be spiteful, I think Cameron should tryout for the baseball team in high school. Ya that´d be good. Make sure you do that Cameron. Mom will love it. There is no more Franklin anymore. Six more years and then it´s all over. That probably makes you feel old mom and dad. I can only imagine how you´ll feel when Cameron leaves on his mission.
Do answer your question about the luches, we get fed really well in this ward. The members in Uruguay seem to think that if we can only eat the first huge plate of food they give us, it means we didn´t like the food. After that we´re sort of obligated to eat more just so they don´t think that. Then dessert comes so by the time we leave we feel like throwing up all the food we just ate. Lately I´ve been watching how much I eat because if I don´t I just get super tired and then it´s really hard to work. So far it seems to be working.
What else? The work is going well. We had two investigators in church yesterday. One is a lady that we´ve been teaching for a few weeks. Her name is Mercedes. It was her first time going and she really enjoyed it. She has a date for June 17th. The other one was an ex investigator named Yalena. She came with her inactive member husband who doesn´t agree the Church. We talked to him once and he just doesn´t understand the Plan of Salvation. Anyways, it was big surprise to see them there. Elder Barton told me that he saw the husband crying during sacrament meeting. The talks were perfect for him. It was amazing how it all worked together. We have to get out to there house sometime this week to see if his wife wants to listen to the missionaries again. All of our other investigators have yet to go to church, but they all have great potential.
We had a really cool experience on Friday. It was about seven. It was dark and cold and almost everything we had planned fell through. The last thing we had planned was actually our backup plan. We planned to visit a less active family. We got in and played Jenga with some of the kids for about fifteen minutes, and then read a scripture with them. It was my turn to pick so I started looking for a scripture. We ended reading Mormon 9:21. I actually share that scripture a lot because it has a good mesage. However it was apparently the exact scripture that the mom needed to hear. With tears in her eyes, she told that she had prayed for the first time in a long time that morning. She said she prayed that we would show up that day. She just wanted us to visit her family. I can only imagine how she felt when knocked the door a little after seven. It was a big testimony builder for her. It was for me as well because it just shows that Heavenly Father answers prayers. I´ve never been the answer to someone´s prayer before. The funny thing is that we went just because were cold and there really wasn´t anything else to do. It´s great how Heavenly Father makes everything happen for a reason.
Well I hope everyone is doing fine. Have a great week. Que la fuerza os acompañe.
Love,
Elder Jones
What´s up everyone? What´s new back home? What are your plans for the week mom since you pretty much have the house to yourself right now? Parties? Movies? House cleaning? I´m gonna have to go with the latter since that´s what you always do scout camp week. Whatever you do, enjoy it.
So grad night didn´t have a big turn out? Did it rain? Actually I guess the rain didn´t do a thing to stop grad night my junior and senior year. I guess Mesa High just isn´t as cool as it used to be. Did you go Weston? So there were seven graduates in the ward. We got Radison, Jeremiah. David, Danica, Heather and who else? There must be some new people that I don´t know. Congrats to everyone that did graduate.
So Little League is finally over...after 29 years. That is a long time. You know you´ll miss it mom. Just to be spiteful, I think Cameron should tryout for the baseball team in high school. Ya that´d be good. Make sure you do that Cameron. Mom will love it. There is no more Franklin anymore. Six more years and then it´s all over. That probably makes you feel old mom and dad. I can only imagine how you´ll feel when Cameron leaves on his mission.
Do answer your question about the luches, we get fed really well in this ward. The members in Uruguay seem to think that if we can only eat the first huge plate of food they give us, it means we didn´t like the food. After that we´re sort of obligated to eat more just so they don´t think that. Then dessert comes so by the time we leave we feel like throwing up all the food we just ate. Lately I´ve been watching how much I eat because if I don´t I just get super tired and then it´s really hard to work. So far it seems to be working.
What else? The work is going well. We had two investigators in church yesterday. One is a lady that we´ve been teaching for a few weeks. Her name is Mercedes. It was her first time going and she really enjoyed it. She has a date for June 17th. The other one was an ex investigator named Yalena. She came with her inactive member husband who doesn´t agree the Church. We talked to him once and he just doesn´t understand the Plan of Salvation. Anyways, it was big surprise to see them there. Elder Barton told me that he saw the husband crying during sacrament meeting. The talks were perfect for him. It was amazing how it all worked together. We have to get out to there house sometime this week to see if his wife wants to listen to the missionaries again. All of our other investigators have yet to go to church, but they all have great potential.
We had a really cool experience on Friday. It was about seven. It was dark and cold and almost everything we had planned fell through. The last thing we had planned was actually our backup plan. We planned to visit a less active family. We got in and played Jenga with some of the kids for about fifteen minutes, and then read a scripture with them. It was my turn to pick so I started looking for a scripture. We ended reading Mormon 9:21. I actually share that scripture a lot because it has a good mesage. However it was apparently the exact scripture that the mom needed to hear. With tears in her eyes, she told that she had prayed for the first time in a long time that morning. She said she prayed that we would show up that day. She just wanted us to visit her family. I can only imagine how she felt when knocked the door a little after seven. It was a big testimony builder for her. It was for me as well because it just shows that Heavenly Father answers prayers. I´ve never been the answer to someone´s prayer before. The funny thing is that we went just because were cold and there really wasn´t anything else to do. It´s great how Heavenly Father makes everything happen for a reason.
Well I hope everyone is doing fine. Have a great week. Que la fuerza os acompañe.
Love,
Elder Jones
What´s up?
Dear Family,
What´s up everyone? What´s new back home? What are your plans for the week mom since you pretty much have the house to yourself right now? Parties? Movies? House cleaning? I´m gonna have to go with the latter since that´s what you always do scout camp week. Whatever you do, enjoy it.
So grad night didn´t have a big turn out? Did it rain? Actually I guess the rain didn´t do a thing to stop grad night my junior and senior year. I guess Mesa High just isn´t as cool as it used to be. Did you go Weston? So there were seven graduates in the ward. We got Radison, Jeremiah. David, Danica, Heather and who else? There must be some new people that I don´t know. Congrats to everyone that did graduate.
So Little League is finally over...after 29 years. That is a long time. You know you´ll miss it mom. Just to be spiteful, I think Cameron should tryout for the baseball team in high school. Ya that´d be good. Make sure you do that Cameron. Mom will love it. There is no more Franklin anymore. Six more years and then it´s all over. That probably makes you feel old mom and dad. I can only imagine how you´ll feel when Cameron leaves on his mission.
Do answer your question about the luches, we get fed really well in this ward. The members in Uruguay seem to think that if we can only eat the first huge plate of food they give us, it means we didn´t like the food. After that we´re sort of obligated to eat more just so they don´t think that. Then dessert comes so by the time we leave we feel like throwing up all the food we just ate. Lately I´ve been watching how much I eat because if I don´t I just get super tired and then it´s really hard to work. So far it seems to be working.
What else? The work is going well. We had two investigators in church yesterday. One is a lady that we´ve been teaching for a few weeks. Her name is Mercedes. It was her first time going and she really enjoyed it. She has a date for June 17th. The other one was an ex investigator named Yalena. She came with her inactive member husband who doesn´t agree the Church. We talked to him once and he just doesn´t understand the Plan of Salvation. Anyways, it was big surprise to see them there. Elder Barton told me that he saw the husband crying during sacrament meeting. The talks were perfect for him. It was amazing how it all worked together. We have to get out to there house sometime this week to see if his wife wants to listen to the missionaries again. All of our other investigators have yet to go to church, but they all have great potential.
We had a really cool experience on Friday. It was about seven. It was dark and cold and almost everything we had planned fell through. The last thing we had planned was actually our backup plan. We planned to visit a less active family. We got in and played Jenga with some of the kids for about fifteen minutes, and then read a scripture with them. It was my turn to pick so I started looking for a scripture. We ended reading Mormon 9:21. I actually share that scripture a lot because it has a good mesage. However it was apparently the exact scripture that the mom needed to hear. With tears in her eyes, she told that she had prayed for the first time in a long time that morning. She said she prayed that we would show up that day. She just wanted us to visit her family. I can only imagine how she felt when knocked the door a little after seven. It was a big testimony builder for her. It was for me as well because it just shows that Heavenly Father answers prayers. I´ve never been the answer to someone´s prayer before. The funny thing is that we went just because were cold and there really wasn´t anything else to do. It´s great how Heavenly Father makes everything happen for a reason.
Well I hope everyone is doing fine. Have a great week. Que la fuerza os acompañe.
Love,
Elder Jones
What´s up everyone? What´s new back home? What are your plans for the week mom since you pretty much have the house to yourself right now? Parties? Movies? House cleaning? I´m gonna have to go with the latter since that´s what you always do scout camp week. Whatever you do, enjoy it.
So grad night didn´t have a big turn out? Did it rain? Actually I guess the rain didn´t do a thing to stop grad night my junior and senior year. I guess Mesa High just isn´t as cool as it used to be. Did you go Weston? So there were seven graduates in the ward. We got Radison, Jeremiah. David, Danica, Heather and who else? There must be some new people that I don´t know. Congrats to everyone that did graduate.
So Little League is finally over...after 29 years. That is a long time. You know you´ll miss it mom. Just to be spiteful, I think Cameron should tryout for the baseball team in high school. Ya that´d be good. Make sure you do that Cameron. Mom will love it. There is no more Franklin anymore. Six more years and then it´s all over. That probably makes you feel old mom and dad. I can only imagine how you´ll feel when Cameron leaves on his mission.
Do answer your question about the luches, we get fed really well in this ward. The members in Uruguay seem to think that if we can only eat the first huge plate of food they give us, it means we didn´t like the food. After that we´re sort of obligated to eat more just so they don´t think that. Then dessert comes so by the time we leave we feel like throwing up all the food we just ate. Lately I´ve been watching how much I eat because if I don´t I just get super tired and then it´s really hard to work. So far it seems to be working.
What else? The work is going well. We had two investigators in church yesterday. One is a lady that we´ve been teaching for a few weeks. Her name is Mercedes. It was her first time going and she really enjoyed it. She has a date for June 17th. The other one was an ex investigator named Yalena. She came with her inactive member husband who doesn´t agree the Church. We talked to him once and he just doesn´t understand the Plan of Salvation. Anyways, it was big surprise to see them there. Elder Barton told me that he saw the husband crying during sacrament meeting. The talks were perfect for him. It was amazing how it all worked together. We have to get out to there house sometime this week to see if his wife wants to listen to the missionaries again. All of our other investigators have yet to go to church, but they all have great potential.
We had a really cool experience on Friday. It was about seven. It was dark and cold and almost everything we had planned fell through. The last thing we had planned was actually our backup plan. We planned to visit a less active family. We got in and played Jenga with some of the kids for about fifteen minutes, and then read a scripture with them. It was my turn to pick so I started looking for a scripture. We ended reading Mormon 9:21. I actually share that scripture a lot because it has a good mesage. However it was apparently the exact scripture that the mom needed to hear. With tears in her eyes, she told that she had prayed for the first time in a long time that morning. She said she prayed that we would show up that day. She just wanted us to visit her family. I can only imagine how she felt when knocked the door a little after seven. It was a big testimony builder for her. It was for me as well because it just shows that Heavenly Father answers prayers. I´ve never been the answer to someone´s prayer before. The funny thing is that we went just because were cold and there really wasn´t anything else to do. It´s great how Heavenly Father makes everything happen for a reason.
Well I hope everyone is doing fine. Have a great week. Que la fuerza os acompañe.
Love,
Elder Jones
Changes Time Again
Dear Family,
Well we have changes today. I`m staying here with Elder Barton for another change. We`ll see how it goes. I`m trying to help him follow some rules a little bit better. With him it`s the little rules. Now I have another change to do that so we`ll see.
We have a lot of good investigators right now. Unforetunately none of them went to church on Sunday. That`s always the hardest thing. We can only do so much and then it`s up to them. We have two investigators that tried to drop us last week. It wasn`t because they didn`t want to listen; it`s because they think they can`t live up to the standards of the Church. Essentially they think they`re too weak. One investigator, Delia, has eye problems and leg problems so feels bad because she won`t be able to read the scriptures and go to church. We tried to comfort her, but she feels like she can`t do it. However during the whole lesson I was thinking, "I`m not dropping you." I had the idea of reading the Book of Mormon with her one or two times a week. She thought that was a good idea so. for now, we`re going to do that and let the Spirit work on her. Carlos, the other one that tried to drop us has some issues with the Law of Chastity. He thinks that he`s too weak to follow that law. We had a nice, little chat with him on Sunday afternoon and left him with some scriptures to read in Ether 12. We saw him again yesterday and he said that he had already read those scriptures and was reading them again. I see a lot of potential in both of them. They`ll get over their fears. We should have almost ten baptisms in June. We have a lot of investigators that are progressing so we`ll just keep praying that they can be ready. It all depends on our faith and their faith.
I got the email about Ryder. That`s great that he`s doing well. What a blessing. If anyone says that miracles have stopped they better think about that. I hope all goes well with him.
It sounds like the truck should be nice and ready for me to drive again. Haha. So is the van going to sit at the house more? Is the truck going to be your main vehicle now Dad? I`m cool with driving the van. Has anyone come to fix the truck yet? You still have just about a week to get it ready. Will you be hauling Baby? Kuruma 3 is going to get a lot of use this summer. Have fun at all those campouts.
So graduation is this week. Did you get a bunch of announcements? Are you going to Sunsplash Weston? Hopefully it won`t rain again. I guess that just makes it more memorable though. Have fun.
Well I guess that`s about it. Thanks for all the support. I love you all. Thanksfor everything. Keep it real.
Love,
Elder Jones
Well we have changes today. I`m staying here with Elder Barton for another change. We`ll see how it goes. I`m trying to help him follow some rules a little bit better. With him it`s the little rules. Now I have another change to do that so we`ll see.
We have a lot of good investigators right now. Unforetunately none of them went to church on Sunday. That`s always the hardest thing. We can only do so much and then it`s up to them. We have two investigators that tried to drop us last week. It wasn`t because they didn`t want to listen; it`s because they think they can`t live up to the standards of the Church. Essentially they think they`re too weak. One investigator, Delia, has eye problems and leg problems so feels bad because she won`t be able to read the scriptures and go to church. We tried to comfort her, but she feels like she can`t do it. However during the whole lesson I was thinking, "I`m not dropping you." I had the idea of reading the Book of Mormon with her one or two times a week. She thought that was a good idea so. for now, we`re going to do that and let the Spirit work on her. Carlos, the other one that tried to drop us has some issues with the Law of Chastity. He thinks that he`s too weak to follow that law. We had a nice, little chat with him on Sunday afternoon and left him with some scriptures to read in Ether 12. We saw him again yesterday and he said that he had already read those scriptures and was reading them again. I see a lot of potential in both of them. They`ll get over their fears. We should have almost ten baptisms in June. We have a lot of investigators that are progressing so we`ll just keep praying that they can be ready. It all depends on our faith and their faith.
I got the email about Ryder. That`s great that he`s doing well. What a blessing. If anyone says that miracles have stopped they better think about that. I hope all goes well with him.
It sounds like the truck should be nice and ready for me to drive again. Haha. So is the van going to sit at the house more? Is the truck going to be your main vehicle now Dad? I`m cool with driving the van. Has anyone come to fix the truck yet? You still have just about a week to get it ready. Will you be hauling Baby? Kuruma 3 is going to get a lot of use this summer. Have fun at all those campouts.
So graduation is this week. Did you get a bunch of announcements? Are you going to Sunsplash Weston? Hopefully it won`t rain again. I guess that just makes it more memorable though. Have fun.
Well I guess that`s about it. Thanks for all the support. I love you all. Thanksfor everything. Keep it real.
Love,
Elder Jones
The Southern Hemisphere is Cold
Dear Family,
Hello. How`s everyone doing? I guess it`s starting to warm up way up there in the northern hemisphere. It`s starting to get really chilly way down here in the southrn hemisphere. I bought a beanie today because I lost the one that I had last year. I`m only having to use one jackt right now, but I think I`ll be using two jackets pretty soon. The only time it gets pretty chilly is during the night. During the day is nice, but, as soon as the sun goes down, it gets nice and chilly. I don`t think winter will be too long though or at least the coldest part won`t last too long. That`s good because this Arizona boy doesn`t like the cold weather.
Last week was good. We had stake conference yesterday. Presidente and Hermana Heaton and Presidente and Hermana Shurtleff(temple president and wife) were invited. During the general session yesterday, Presidente Heaton asked all of the investigators that were there to stand up so everyone could see them and then challenged then to get baptized. He also challenged every member to hand out at least one pass-along card every week. After that, Presidente Shurtleff talked about what happened in the premortal life. He said that we had all promised Heavenly Father that we would find the true church and get baptized in it. After that he directed his comments to the investigators and said, "You all promised Heavenly Father that would get baptized in the true church so how about you all get baptized this Saturday. Ya that`s a good day to do it." It was a really cool talk. It was very simple but powerful. Unfortunately we didn`t have any investigators there. I think the fact that yesterday was Mother`s Day here had something to do with it. Next week though they`ll all go.
This is the last week of the change already. I don`t know where the last five weeks went. We`ll see what next week brings. Everyone thinks that I`m training so we`ll see if the Lord thinks the same thing.
What else? Felicitaciones Charles. You`re almost a mountie. Every time I watch Dudley Dooright, I`ll think of you. Have fun in training. Felicitaciones as well to Weston. You`re done...sort of. Now you can get some palms. I got one so lets see if you can beat me.
About the journal. It`s a mini, green, three ring binder. The pages aren`t very big. I don`t how else to describe it. It says missionary journal right on the front. Hope that helps you find it mom. By the way, my suits looks fine. I picked up the pants from teh dry cleaner this morning and they match fine. So all is good there.
When is graduation? Is it this Thursday or the next? Hopefull it doesn`t rain. I guess that would make a good memory though. I`ll always remember mine because of the rain. Have fun chaperoning again.
I think that`s just about it. I`m about of time again. Have a good week everyone.
Love,
Elder Jones
Hello. How`s everyone doing? I guess it`s starting to warm up way up there in the northern hemisphere. It`s starting to get really chilly way down here in the southrn hemisphere. I bought a beanie today because I lost the one that I had last year. I`m only having to use one jackt right now, but I think I`ll be using two jackets pretty soon. The only time it gets pretty chilly is during the night. During the day is nice, but, as soon as the sun goes down, it gets nice and chilly. I don`t think winter will be too long though or at least the coldest part won`t last too long. That`s good because this Arizona boy doesn`t like the cold weather.
Last week was good. We had stake conference yesterday. Presidente and Hermana Heaton and Presidente and Hermana Shurtleff(temple president and wife) were invited. During the general session yesterday, Presidente Heaton asked all of the investigators that were there to stand up so everyone could see them and then challenged then to get baptized. He also challenged every member to hand out at least one pass-along card every week. After that, Presidente Shurtleff talked about what happened in the premortal life. He said that we had all promised Heavenly Father that we would find the true church and get baptized in it. After that he directed his comments to the investigators and said, "You all promised Heavenly Father that would get baptized in the true church so how about you all get baptized this Saturday. Ya that`s a good day to do it." It was a really cool talk. It was very simple but powerful. Unfortunately we didn`t have any investigators there. I think the fact that yesterday was Mother`s Day here had something to do with it. Next week though they`ll all go.
This is the last week of the change already. I don`t know where the last five weeks went. We`ll see what next week brings. Everyone thinks that I`m training so we`ll see if the Lord thinks the same thing.
What else? Felicitaciones Charles. You`re almost a mountie. Every time I watch Dudley Dooright, I`ll think of you. Have fun in training. Felicitaciones as well to Weston. You`re done...sort of. Now you can get some palms. I got one so lets see if you can beat me.
About the journal. It`s a mini, green, three ring binder. The pages aren`t very big. I don`t how else to describe it. It says missionary journal right on the front. Hope that helps you find it mom. By the way, my suits looks fine. I picked up the pants from teh dry cleaner this morning and they match fine. So all is good there.
When is graduation? Is it this Thursday or the next? Hopefull it doesn`t rain. I guess that would make a good memory though. I`ll always remember mine because of the rain. Have fun chaperoning again.
I think that`s just about it. I`m about of time again. Have a good week everyone.
Love,
Elder Jones
Happy Mother's Day, yesterday!
Dear Family,
Wow it feels like I just talked to you yesterday. Oh wait I did. I realized after I hung up that I never told you Happy Mother`s Day mom, so Happy Mother`s Day. You`re the best. How did the barbecue go? Thanks for the money. I also forgot to say that I need another journal. The other is all full. Another one would be nice. It`s the three ring binder style. I don`t need any fillers either; just the binder. Gracias.
The work is doing well. I think I told you last night about the lady we found yesterday. She was a miracle find because yesterday was a diificult day to work because there was a big soccer game. My comp wanted to watch and I said no. Number one I`m sick of soccer and number two I`m not here to watch soccer. I don`t think he was too happy with me but we left to work anyways. I had been praying that we would find a new investigator so my comp could see that we can always find someone to teach no matter what the circumstances are. My prayer was answered. We found a lady named Mirta. We walked by her house on the way to an appointment and saw her raking her leaves ( with a broom). We walked by her house about ten minutes later because the appointment fell through and she was still raking. Elder Barton recognized an opportunity to serve and went and helped her. Honestly I was going to walk on because I didn`t want people to think that we don`t keep the sabbath holy. Luckily my comp listened to the Spirit and helped her. Afterwards we nice lesson with her. I told her that Heavenly Father sent us to her house. I mentioned that I had prayed to find her. She wouldn`t accept a baptism date but she did commit to reading the Book of Mormon. Apparently we were lucky that we found because she says she is always gone. I told her that it was no coincidence that we happened to find her at her house. The Lord defenitely leads us in His work. That experience really strengthened my testimony of prayer.
Oh ya. Mom can you give the mission address to Sister Garner? I told Matt that I would include it in my email to him last week but I totally forgot to do it. That would be great.
Congrats on the Eagle Weston. Have fun at your Court of Honor. Congrats to the others as well.
Alright that`s it for now. There`s nothing else to report because you already know evrything. Until next week...
Que la fuerza os acompañe,
Elder Jones
Wow it feels like I just talked to you yesterday. Oh wait I did. I realized after I hung up that I never told you Happy Mother`s Day mom, so Happy Mother`s Day. You`re the best. How did the barbecue go? Thanks for the money. I also forgot to say that I need another journal. The other is all full. Another one would be nice. It`s the three ring binder style. I don`t need any fillers either; just the binder. Gracias.
The work is doing well. I think I told you last night about the lady we found yesterday. She was a miracle find because yesterday was a diificult day to work because there was a big soccer game. My comp wanted to watch and I said no. Number one I`m sick of soccer and number two I`m not here to watch soccer. I don`t think he was too happy with me but we left to work anyways. I had been praying that we would find a new investigator so my comp could see that we can always find someone to teach no matter what the circumstances are. My prayer was answered. We found a lady named Mirta. We walked by her house on the way to an appointment and saw her raking her leaves ( with a broom). We walked by her house about ten minutes later because the appointment fell through and she was still raking. Elder Barton recognized an opportunity to serve and went and helped her. Honestly I was going to walk on because I didn`t want people to think that we don`t keep the sabbath holy. Luckily my comp listened to the Spirit and helped her. Afterwards we nice lesson with her. I told her that Heavenly Father sent us to her house. I mentioned that I had prayed to find her. She wouldn`t accept a baptism date but she did commit to reading the Book of Mormon. Apparently we were lucky that we found because she says she is always gone. I told her that it was no coincidence that we happened to find her at her house. The Lord defenitely leads us in His work. That experience really strengthened my testimony of prayer.
Oh ya. Mom can you give the mission address to Sister Garner? I told Matt that I would include it in my email to him last week but I totally forgot to do it. That would be great.
Congrats on the Eagle Weston. Have fun at your Court of Honor. Congrats to the others as well.
Alright that`s it for now. There`s nothing else to report because you already know evrything. Until next week...
Que la fuerza os acompañe,
Elder Jones
It's May!
Dear Family,
You know the saying "April showers bring May flowers"? I want you all to know that that saying is real. I`m not sure about the flower part but the rain part is certain. April defenitely brought a lot of rain. Hopefully May will change that. Anyways about the call; I`ll call around 6:30 Uruguay time. I think that`s about 2:30 your time. I`ll call and give you the number and then you`ll call me back.
By the way, Happy Bday Jenny. I completely forgot to say that last week. Do you want to know what I did yesterday to celebrate your birthday? I walked around in the freezing wind and rain on Uruguay`s Labor Day. This place was absolutely dead. Church attendance was very low because it was raining(Uruguayos don`t go to church when it rains) and because the buses were shut down for the day. We spent the day visiting recent converts and less active members. It was a good way to make use of pretty lousy day. We did have some pretty good lessons though. It was o good day in a certain sense.
What else has happened here? We found two really good investigators last week. Their names are Emanuel and Ana. I don`t want to jynx myself by saying this but they`re pretty much golden investigators. Emanuel leaves work early on the nights that we have lessons so he can be home for the lesson. He even said, "I don`t know why you two knocked on our door when there were a bunch of other doors you could have knocked. God had something to do with that." The only problem we`ll have with them is getting them to church because Emanuel is working. We`ll get them there though. If they go once they`ll get baptized for sure. They are probably our best investigators right now. Another good investigator we have is Diego. He`s thirteen. He is at his house alone almost every day. His dad is always gone working. We`ve had two good lessons with him. He wants to get baptized so we`re going to make sure that he does. We have a few others but they`re so-so investigators right now. That`s what`s new down here.
Ummm, what`s going to happen at this family reunion? Where`s it going to be at? Is this just a Jones reunion or a full blown Martineau reunion? Make sure I get represented.
Is there anything new in the ward? Is Mr. Hekekia still there? I hope so because I want to talk to him. Tell him to stay there for at least six more months. How`s the missionary work going? Are there even more new members that I have to meet? I guess that`s a good thing though. The more people, the better.
That`s all for now. I`m about out of time. Talk you Sunday I guess. Until then...
See you later,
Elder Jones
You know the saying "April showers bring May flowers"? I want you all to know that that saying is real. I`m not sure about the flower part but the rain part is certain. April defenitely brought a lot of rain. Hopefully May will change that. Anyways about the call; I`ll call around 6:30 Uruguay time. I think that`s about 2:30 your time. I`ll call and give you the number and then you`ll call me back.
By the way, Happy Bday Jenny. I completely forgot to say that last week. Do you want to know what I did yesterday to celebrate your birthday? I walked around in the freezing wind and rain on Uruguay`s Labor Day. This place was absolutely dead. Church attendance was very low because it was raining(Uruguayos don`t go to church when it rains) and because the buses were shut down for the day. We spent the day visiting recent converts and less active members. It was a good way to make use of pretty lousy day. We did have some pretty good lessons though. It was o good day in a certain sense.
What else has happened here? We found two really good investigators last week. Their names are Emanuel and Ana. I don`t want to jynx myself by saying this but they`re pretty much golden investigators. Emanuel leaves work early on the nights that we have lessons so he can be home for the lesson. He even said, "I don`t know why you two knocked on our door when there were a bunch of other doors you could have knocked. God had something to do with that." The only problem we`ll have with them is getting them to church because Emanuel is working. We`ll get them there though. If they go once they`ll get baptized for sure. They are probably our best investigators right now. Another good investigator we have is Diego. He`s thirteen. He is at his house alone almost every day. His dad is always gone working. We`ve had two good lessons with him. He wants to get baptized so we`re going to make sure that he does. We have a few others but they`re so-so investigators right now. That`s what`s new down here.
Ummm, what`s going to happen at this family reunion? Where`s it going to be at? Is this just a Jones reunion or a full blown Martineau reunion? Make sure I get represented.
Is there anything new in the ward? Is Mr. Hekekia still there? I hope so because I want to talk to him. Tell him to stay there for at least six more months. How`s the missionary work going? Are there even more new members that I have to meet? I guess that`s a good thing though. The more people, the better.
That`s all for now. I`m about out of time. Talk you Sunday I guess. Until then...
See you later,
Elder Jones
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