Tanto Tiempo

Dear Family,

It seems like it was only two days ago that I was talking to you all. Oh wait... it was two days ago. It was great talking to everyone. It was kind of hard to figure out who was talking. Kyle really got me. I wasn`t expecting that. Weston, you sound different. Cameron, you do too. Everyone else sounds about the same. Not much else happened that day. I had a nice, long personal study. I read some articles in the Ensigns that were sent to me. I read from the scriptures. I read Luke 2 in the morning. I didn`t do any studying with my comp. He didn`t really want to any of that on Christmas. Anyways, all in all, it was a memoreable Christmas.

Yesterday was alright. We finished church at 12.30 and then went home and changed. From there we went straight to lunch.. We spent three hours there. The family forgot we were coming. It took almost two hours for them to get something ready. Meanwhile, we sat in their oven of a house sweating to death. I was fightning to stay awake. I was so tired. Elder Longfellow didn`t really care. He doesn`t like working in the middle of the day because it`s so hot.The whole time we were there, this family had a DVD going with a lot of classic songs. That was so hard for me to not look. I did look a few times. It doesn`t help when your comp doesn`t even care. We finally left their house a little after four. Huge waste of time. I committed myself to follow the rules better. Even if my comps don`t want to, I`m going ot try my best to follow them. Luckily, changes are coming up soon.

This week, I`ll be spending half of my personal study time everyday making goals for the new year. I`m dividing them into different categories. I`m trying to make them as specific as possible. I`m really looking forward to the new year. This last year was good. I hope next year is even better.

So Solomon Ward has a new member of the bishopric? Cool beans. I forgot that the Langfords moved out. Are they living in the same house again? I could end up being in a branch presidency or bishopric before I end the misison. There are plenty of wards here where that might happen. That would be pretty fun. Tyler and I could be in the same club. We`ll see.

I have another question. Yesterday after sacrament meeting, my comp and I helped put away the sacrament stuff. One of the members of the bishopric was helping us. We threw away the bread. Then the member of the bishopric poured all of the leftover water into a cup. Then he told us we had to drink it of pour it on a plant. We thought he was joking so my comp started messing with him. He was serious though. We told him that`s how it`s done in the states. Anyways, does anyone know what to do wiht the bread and water? I`m just curious now. It`s nothing important.

So that`s it for now. My next pday is this Saturday. I don`t if I`ll be writing then because everything will be closed. (Everyone was closed on Christmas that why I`m writing today). If I don`t write then, I`ll write next Monday. Until then, Que la fuerza les acompañe.

Love,
Elder Ethan Jones

¡FELIZ NAVIDAD!

Dear Everyone,

What`s up? ¡FELIZ NAVIDAD! First off, before I forget, I`ll probably be calling around 11 o`cclock your time. My comp is calling first so whenever he gets done, I`ll call. I figure it`ll be around 11. I`ll call to give you my number then you can call back. I assume you`ll get a phone card. That`s that.

So the work is good. We found two investigators last week. They`re awesome. They are two ladies. We still have to meet their husbands. Their names are Gladys and Cecilia. The lesson with Gladys was weird at first. First off, she let us in without any struggle. That never happens. We asked some questions about her family. Her answers were usually "yes" and "no". It felt like we were interrogating her. It was cool though. She committed to get baptzed in January. We almost had an investigator in Church yesterday. We had a great lesson with our investigator Elizabeth Saturday night. We talked about keeping the Sabbath Day holy. She said she would go to Church. Yesterday morning we went to pick her up to take her to Church. Unforetunately she got called into work unexpectedely. That`s life. I wish she could have come because Presidente and Hermana Heaton showed at our ward yesterday. It`s cool though. She committed to get baptized in January as well. It looks like January is going to be a good month.

Christmas is going to be fun. In the morning, we`re watching "How the Grinch Stole Christmas"(live-ation one) as a zone. After that, I`ll be calling home. Apparently we`re spending the night at our district leader`s apartment. President Heaton asked us not to do that but we really don`t have a choice because all the city transportation will be shut down on Christmas. We`d have to walk for a long time to go watch the movie. Anyways, it should be a fun day.

I have a few questions. First, can someone ask the Hulseys if Tyler is getting my letters. I`ve sent a few, but I never get any back. If not, I`ll have to find a different way to write to him. Also I`m looking for a new Bible. The LDS edition is a little big to lug around so I`m trying to find a smaller one. Could you put about 20 bucks in my account. That should cover it. I had to use my other personal money on other stuff. It`s getting reimbursed though. That`s all. Gracias.

As you can see I`m sending some pictures home. I took these within the last month or so. Last week at interviews Hermana Heaton had us act out the Nativity. I was a sheperd. Elder Longfellow was a wise man. Papà Noel decided to drop by as well. We all got to take pictures with him. The big building is Uruguay`s capitol building. Their legislature meets there.

Anyways that`s all for now. I`ll talk to you on Saturday.

Love,
Elder Jones

¡What a Week!

Dear Family,



¡What a week! First off the weather is crazy right now. It rained a lot last week and really cooled down. It almost feels like winter again. From what you all say the weather is weird there too. We can all enjoy a nice, warm Christmas together. We`ve really been having a lot of success. We lost a lot of investigators, however we`ve been finding some really legit new ones. On Saturday, we found a lady named Elizabeth . We contacted at the beginning of last change. We went by her house every now and then but she always blew us off. About a week ago we went to her house again and she was once again busy, however she said to come back on Saturday, so we did. We got there about eight. We got to know her. The guy she lives with showed up and we talked with him as well. He left to go cook something though. By the time we started teaching, it was almost 9. Honestly I wanted to go home because we get home late every night. From her house it takes us about ten minutes to get home. We wouldn`t have had time to teach a good lesson and get home on time. I just wanted to set up another appointment. I can`t do anything about it though because I`m not senior comp. The lesson went well though. I didn`t talk at first because I was upset. I didn`t want to break the rules. I started talking though and the lesson went well. She understood everything and she accepted to get baptized in January. We did get home late but I guess it was worth it.



I met an old investigator for the first time yesterday. He`s been investigating the Church for over ten years. He already has a testimony. He always reads the Book of Mormon. He is also reading "Teachings of Presidents of the Church:Spencer W. Kimball". He loves Presicent Kimball. He just feels he`s not ready to get baptized. While talking to him Mosiah 18:8-20 popped into my head so we read it. It was perfect. He still was being stubborn though. He`s a super nice guy. He asked me what I thought of him. I said, "You`re ready to get baptized. I don`t know why you`re not." We`ll see what happens with him. That`s the update on the work.



There weren`t very many people in Church yesterday because it was raining. The Uruguayos don`t go to Church if it`s raining. It`s funny.



I saw the coolest thing last Friday. We were eating lunch with Hermana Dulcinea, a recent convert(FYI she cooks really well, as well as you do Mom). From her table, we can inside the bathroom. Anyways her cat walks into the bathroom and does its business on the bidet. It stood on the back of the bidet and rested its front legs against the wall and did its business. I wish I had my camera so I could get a picture of it. Hermana Dulcinea says it`s always done that. One of the coolest things I`ve ever seen. It reminded of the scene in "Meet the Parents".



About the calling, I`ll proably call you guys around 10 o`clock your time. My number is 011-598-2305-0089. Elder Longfellow is calling first so when he finishes I`ll call you to say it`s safe to call. That way you won`t interrupt Elder Longfellow during is call. To answer your question Jenny, I`m not sure if I can call you. Interviews with the President are tomorrow so I`ll ask him and let you know next week.



Thanks fro sending the package. I`mnot sending one home. It`s too expensive. I`ll just bring a bunch of stuff home. I did a Christmas card today though. I`ll get that in the mail tomorrow. It should get there before Christmas. There wasn`t a big selection so I hope you all like it.



Have a good week. Talk to ya`ll later.



Love,

Elder Jones

You the man Cameron

Dear Family,

What`s up? You`re the big man Cameron. I can`t believe you`re already twelve. That makes me feel old. You have the priesthood now. That`s awesome. I hope your birthday was fun. ¡FELIZ CUMPLEAÑOS! Next year we`ll do something fun on your birthday.

I`ll answer questions first. About the calling: I have to go to the phone company and figure how you guys call down here. The phone system changed here a few months ago. Elder Longfellow and I are going ot figure that out today. I`ll let you know next week. FYI: I`m pretty sure Uruguay is five hours ahead of Arizona right now. You guys cancheck that to make sure.

It`s looking like Christmas down here. Christmas lights don`t seem to be as big, at least in the city. A lot of stores have decorations. The only difference is the heat. Christmas in the heat is weird. It`s supposed to be chilly outside. I`m sure the Uruguayos would think that Christmas in the U.S. is weird since it`s cold.

Congrats to Krysten. She got that taken care of quick. No sense in waiting I suppose.

Uruguay is the same. It`s nice and hot. Summer hasn`t technically started yet. To me it`s already here. Chnages are today. That`s why I didn`t write yesterday. I`m staying in Sayago with Elder Longfellow. I`ve learned a lot from him. He`s crazy but a good missionary. He talks about dirty stuff sometimes so we`ll see if I can`t fix that. It should be fun. I can`t believe this change will take us in to 2011. Where did the last year go? Time is going by way too fast. We`re pretty much starting with nothing this change. We`ve lost most of our investigators. Nelly. our best one, dropped us like a hot potato yesterday. She`s always so nice, but yesterday she wasn`t herself. I don`t know what happened. She was progressing really well. She was reading the Book of Mormon and understanding it. Her sister is Catholic and doesn`t like us so I`m thinking her sister finally got to her. We planted the seed though. Future missionaries can harvest it. That`s missionary work. I reread Alma 26:27 yesterday to boost my spirits. It always helps. All I can do is do my duty and be patient. It`ll all work out in the end.

How was the First Presidency Christmas Devotional? We didn`t watch it. It got broadcast at 11o`clock Uruguay time. It`s getting shown in the stake center this Sunday. Elder Longfellow and I are going to try and take an investigator because I want to watch it.

We ate at an awesome restaurant today. It`s a Mexican grill just like Costa Vida or Chipotle. It was amazing. It`s owned by Americans. A few weeks this older guy stopped a group of us missionaries and told us to go check it out. We finally found it and ate there. We talked with the owner`s son, Brian. It was fun talking in English. They have eleven of these restaurants all over South America . He gave all sorts of deals. We talked a little about the Church. He knows a lot about us. His best friend growing up in Colorado was a member. He went to Church with him a few times. He`lldefenitely get baptized someday. We will defenitely be going back there again. It was a taste of home.

That`s it for now. Have a good week. I love you all.

Peace out,
Elder Jones

Address:
Elder Ethan Jones
La Misiòn Uruguay Montevideo Oeste
Enrigue Martìnez 1167
Montevideo , Uruguay
C.P. 11.800

Lots to Talk About

Dear Everyone,

Where to begin? First off thanks for the testimonies. Hermana Heaton wants us to put them in copies of The Book of Mormon. So I`m going to type them all up, make some copies of them, and glue them in the books. I think it`s a really cool idea. Anyways keep the testimonies coming. Gracias.

I can`t believe December starts this week. Cameron you`re turning twelve. Christmas is in a few weeks. Where does the time go? I have to figure out the calling information. The numbers here changed so I have to go figure out what to do. I will get that info to you.

Thanksgiving was interesting. It all started a few weeks ago. The zone leaders had thought about having a zone lunch on Thanksgiving. We all said, "Cool. Let`s do it." A week before Thanksgiving, it still wasn`t planned. I don`t know what the zone leaders were doing. Elder Longfellow talked to the zone leaders and our district leader last Wednesday at zone conference to figure out what we were doing. They said they had district service and that the whole zone lunch was off. That was dumb because we are part of the district and we weren`t invited. Plus they said that President Heaton didn`t want anyone leaving their areas. Most of us think they made that up. Anyways that night we found out that that Elder Longfellow and I and two other missionaries weren`t invited because we lived "too far away". We looked at a map and realized we live just a little bit further. It takes the zone leaders and our district leaders just about the same time to get there on a bus. Anyways Elder Longfellow and I said, " I don`t think so. We`re going to enjoy Thanksgiving." Our zone leaders and district leader ate together. They had to leave their area to go to the restaurant which was one of the reasons why we couldn`t go. Didn`t make sense. The two of us got together with some other Elders. We had to wait for the zls and dl to finish eating and then we went. They still don`t know that the two of us went and that`s how it`s going to stay. We ate at a chinese buffet. It was pretty good. It was no turkey dinner but it was good enough.

Your Thanksgiving sounded fun with all the grandkids. Did everyone enjoy my piece of pie? Did anyone go to the Turkey Bowl? If not you`re bums. How was the parade? I hope you all took pictures that you can sen me.

About the money. Whenever you send me money Mom I just take it out because the dollar`s value is always changing. I don`t want to risk the dollar losing a lot of value and me losing money. I take it out and hide it. Plus there are quite a few places that don`t accept cards. That`s why it looks like I never have money. Don`t worry though. I do. I get plenty of money every month. I have everything I need. Now I`m going to buy a shaver. That should save some time in the morning. Shaving is not fun. If you read this, Thanks Grandma and Grandpa.

The work is going well. We have a pretty big teaching pool. The problem in this area is that we can never find our investigators again. We find them and have a great lesson and then we`re never able to find them again. We`re doing well though. We have some investigaotrs that are progressing. We found an awesome Catholic family last week. That was awesome becasue most Catholics never let us in. They`re some really stubborn people. Most aren`t aren`t open to learning more. This family was though. they didn`t seem to interested at the beginning of the lesson but as time went on the mom started saying, "You know I`ve seen your churches and I`ve always wondered what you believe." They committed to read The Book of Mormon. At the end of the lesson, we got the dad to pray. At first, he felt uncomfortable doing it so I did an example and then he said one. It was short, sweet, and to the point. We have a lesson with them on Wednesday. Their name is familia Olivera. Our investigator Nelly isn`t progressing very much any more. We haven`t been able to get in and have a real lesson with her. We always have to stand at her gate. We`re thinking about dropping her pretty soon if she doesn`t make some progress. We`ve been changing the way we talk with people. We`ve been really persistent. We don`t take no for an answer. We`ve been having a lot of success because of it.

Well that`s it for this week. Make sure the Christmas lights look awesome. Make me proud. Everyone make it a good week. Until next week...

Les quiero,
Elder Jones

I Have a Lot to Write About

Dear Family and anyone else that reads this,

First off, Hermana Heaton wants all of you do something. She is doing a Christmas activity and needs all your testimonies. So by next week I need you all to send me your testimonies. Those of you that know Spanish can write them in Spanish, of course. For those that don`t speak Spanish, write them in English and they will get translated. They don`t need to be long. Just write what you feel like writing. Gracias.

There was no uruguay t-shirt in the package to answer the question. I did get the t-shirt from Blaine and Carly`s wedding.

Baby Gavin sounds good. I`m happy to hear that. He sounds like a normal Jones baby. Nice and big, especially the head. I`m not surprised. Maybe he`ll be beat Cameron as far as weight goes. I`ll bet you`d love that Jenny. Haha.

That would have been awesome if you went to Church with a half haircut, Weston. You should have left it and grown out an afro. Mom and Dad probably wouldn`t have gone for that. Too bad. You`d fit in really well with the Uruguayo boys. They have some ugly haircuts.

I hope your tooth gets better soon Dad. Tooth aches are defenitely not something I like. Good thing we have pain pills. Anyways have fun with that.

I`m not sure how my Thanksgiving is goin got turn out. Supposedly, we`r eating as a zone. That`s not set in stone yet. We`ll see what happens. Hopefully it will be better that being stuck in the MTC. It sounds like your Thanksgiving will be fun. Are you all going to the Turkey Bowl? You`d better. I hope you all enjoy eating a piece of pie(minus pumpkin yuck) in my behalf. Let me know how it all goes having all the family there.

I did divisions last week with Elder Christoffersen. He`s only in his second change so he still can`t speak the greatest. It was all up to me. I was pretty nervous the whole time. That was my first time working with someone so young in the mission. It was a big learning experience.

The work is going well. We`ve been finding a lot of new investigators. The problem is we can never find them again. That gets frustrating because thye`re cool and then they disappear. We do have some progressing investigators though. Our best investigator is Nelly. She`s making good progress. We haven`t been able to have a sit-down lesson with her for a couple weeks. We always have to stand at her gate and talk. She`s reading the Book of Mormon diligently. When I was on sivisions with Elder Christoffersen, she told me, "No one could have made up this book. The names and the stories. It`s not possible." That made me happy. She said she believes the book is true, she doesn`t want to pray about it. Well it`s not that she doesn`t want to; she doesn`t see the need to do it. We`re going to help understand so she can get her own testimony. Our mission goal is to have a "White Christmas", and Nelly is going to give us a "White Christmas".

We found a really cool guy yesterday. His name is Jorge We contacted him a while ago and he told us that if we ever saw sititng in his yard, we culd go and talk to him. Yesterday afternoon we saw him sitting in his front yard and pounced. We sat on the wall and chatted for a while. We got to know him and then started to teach him about the Restoration. When we got to the Josè Smith story he was still listening but didn`t seem all too interested. Just then a younger guy walked by. He was a recent convert that Elder Longfellow and I met last week. Apparently the two know each other. Anyways this young guy just stats testifying to Jorge about the truthfulness of the gospel. He told him he had the Melquisadec(not sure how it`s spelled) priesthood. He showed him his oil vile and said that he could give blessings. He told him how his life had changed since becoming a member. It was PERFECT. Jorge started to really get interested. We explained the Book of Mormon and invited him to read it. We told him we wanted to give him a pamphlet and the Book of Mormon. Apparently he thought that we were just going to give him the pamphlet because he said, "I don`t want that. I want the Book of Mormon." It was awesome. The Lord defenitely had a part in that. He put that recent convert there at the right time. The Lord works in mysterious ways but HIs way is ALWAYS the best.

It`s great being part of the Lord`s work. I love testifying even when most of the people don`t want to listen. My testimony gets strengthened daily. I`m learning a lot and I love it. I`m so glad I got sent to Uruguay . I just hope I can fulfill my purpose here. I agree wihtoy Dad. It`s great being part of the Lord`s work. It`s defenitely not easy but so rewarding. The Lord always prepares a way.

I guess that`s it for this week. Have a great Thnksgiving. Enjoy your feast. I hope you all have a good week.

Les quiero,
Elder Jones

What A Week

Dear Family,

First off, thanks for the sending the money for my new camera. It works great. I`m not sure what happened to the old one. I`m defenitely going to save money by not having to buy a bunch of batteries. I christened it today. Elder Longfellow and I went to a huge cemetery. We had to have a permit to take pictues. There were even some open graves. We couldn`t see any bones or stuff. We also walked by the ocean and got a some cool shots of Montevideo . The camera works great. Thanks for the Christmas present Mom and Dad.

Last Tuesday and Wednesday, we had a training conference. I`m pretty sure I mentioned that last week. It was great. A lot of the other missionaries were whining. They said it was boring and that they didn`t learn a lot. Oh well; their loss. I learned a lot. Presidente and Hermana Heaton and the AP`s taught. Everything came right out of Preach My Gospel. A lot of missionaries just aren`t studying Preach My Gospel enough to keep those principles in their heads, myself included. We did a lot of practicing. I was on divisions with Elder Wilson. His comp and my comp already had the training so the two of us got put together. He`s younger in the mission so I was leading the lessons. It felt good. It was a new experience. I got to talk for once. My last few comps, and current comp, are all talkers. They don`t give me a lot of time to talk. I hope that will change. I hope I become senior comp soon so I can talk more. It was a great training meeting. It helped me realize where I need to improve.

We`ve lost some investigators. Andrès, one of our best, dropped us. He said he wasn`t really interested anymore. He was too busy at work and didn`t have time for us. That was a big bummer. Ana Laura, another great one, is out of town. She`s supposed to be back this week. Nelly is doing great though. We talked with her yesterday. She started reading 1 Nephi. She sais she believes the Book of Mormon is true. She hasn`t prayed yet though. We explained that we have to pray to receive a witness from the Spirit. She said she would read and pray. We mentioned baptism again. She was baptized in the Catholic church and didn`t see the need to get baptized again. We quickly explained the priesthood because we were short in time. She understood. We set up another lesson for this week. That`s the report there.

I saw a poster for Harry Potter 7 today. It looks like it comes out this Friday, at least down here. That makes me trunky. I`m sure a lot of you will be seeing it. Don`t tell me anything about it though. What about the World Series? They should be over by now. Who won? Anything new in the world of sports?

I`m sure that broadcast was great. The one we had a couple weeks ago was great. One of the Elders here is from Gilbert and he said the Gilbert Temple groundbreaking is in a couple of weeks. Is that true? What about the Phoenix temple?

To answer your question Valerie, I pray in Spanish, write in my journal in Spanish, and do my scripture study in Spanish. It defenitely helps with the language.

I found a cool Nativity today. It`s twenty five bucks so I`m debating if I should get it. I can find a cheaper one but probably not like that. I`ll get you a cool Nativity Mom. Don`t you worry.

Anyways that`s it for this week. I`m sending home some pictures. I hope you all have agood week.

Les quiero,
Elder Jones

¡ODIO MÌ CÀMARA!

Dear Family,

In case none of you could figure what I wrote for the subject, it says I HATE MY CAMERA. Last week I put all the pictures I had on my card onto a DVD. I just tried to look at them, but it won`t work. It shows the file name but it won`t show the pictures. To top it off, all of the pictures are no longer on my memory card. It looks like they got erased. I lost the pictures that I took on my year mark because that happened in the last week so they weren`t on the DVD. I HATE MY CAMERA. I don`t know if it`s the camera or the memory card or what. It`s starting to tick me off. I`ve decided that getting a new camera and a new memory card will probably be a good idea. It may just be the memory card but the camera isn`t good either. It goes through batteries like it`s its job. I found a good Kodak camera today. It looks like a good one. It`s got a rechargeable battery. It`s 12.2 mp. Kodak is s good reliable brand. It`s $200. Mom and Dad I will pay you back when I get home. I think this is the best idea. If I can`t get the DVD to work I`ve just lost all the pictures from the first year of my mission. I hope that DVD starts working. I guess that means I won`t be sending more pictures home. Sorry.

On a happier note, we had a good week last week.We found five new investigators. They`re all really legit. One of them is Ana Laura. She was really interested and she`s smart. She said, "If you two didn`t think this message was true, you wouldn`t be thousands of miles away from your homes sharing this message." I agree with that 100%. She accepted to get baptized if she knows that the gospel is true. They all accepted to get baptized if they recieve a testimony. One of them, Nelly, didn`t accept the baptismal invitation at first because she already got baptized in the Catholic church. We had to explain a few times that one has to get baptized by proper priesthood authority. She finally got it. That made last week awesome.

Tomorrow and Wednesday, I get to go to a training meeting. I mentioned this a couple of months ago. The Church has come out with eight new lessons to help missionaries teach better. They are not replacing the lessons in Preach My Gospel. They`re just helping us be better teachers. They are going to start teaching these lessons in the MTC in May. Before then, all the missionaries already in the mission field have to be taught the lessons. In our mission we have them every three months. I found out last night that it`s my turn to go. It`s from 8am to 6pm tomorrow and Wednesday. I`m looking forward to it.

Summer is gettig really close. Last week defenitely wasn`t cool. Yesterday we didn`t get a lot done. We left after lunch and were out for about an hour when Elder Longfellow started feeling sick. We went back to the house so he could rest and cool down. We left again at six and finished up the night. I`m just glad I`m not up north where it`s even hotter.

Friday was a weird day. It didn`t feel like I had already been on the mission for a year. We made brownies to celebrate. I also burned a shirt and recorded it. It was cool. As I was trying to fall asleep Friday night, I was thinking about that has happened in the last year. I speak another language fairly well. I know how to better share the gospel with others. I`ve learned how to better trust the Lord and many other things. With those thoughts came the thoughts of inadequacy. I still have so much more to learn. I should be able to teach the gospel better. I should be able to speak Spanish better. I should trust in the Lord more. That`s what the mission helps people do. It looks like it`s going to take two years to learn all these things. That`s why Elders serve for two years. I guess the sisters are smarter or something because it only takes them eighteen months. The point is, I`m looking forward to trhe next year. I can`t wait to learn more.

I guess that`s about it for this week. I hope you all have a good week. Oh congrats on the musical. Until next week...

Les quiero,
Elder Ethan Jones

P.S. Happy Birthday tomorrow Charles. I`m going to find a good card and send it to you.

Time Goes By Fast

Dear Family,

Well, I never thought the day would come, but it did. Where has the last year gone? I still feel like I have so much more to learn. It`s going to take two years to learn how to do everything and then I`m going to get sent home. I guess all I can do is keep learning and doing my duty and leave the rest up to the Lord.

Last week was good. We found some good, solid investigators. Our best investigator is a man named Andrès. He`s a stud(We missionaries call cool people studs, FYI). We`ve had one lesson with him. We have another lesson with him tomorrow night. He accepted the baptism invitation if he knows that the church is true. We read the last two paragraphs of the introduction to Book of Mormon with him. We told him that, if he really wants to know, he will receive an answer.

We had some good contacts last week. We met one man named Carlos. His wife recently died and he was sad about that, of course. We started tlaking about the Plan of Salvation. He doesn`t believe in anything. We chatted for a while and told him that he needs to pray to know that the Plan of Salvation is real. He kept rejecting the invitation and then he finally said that he didn`t know how to pray. We taught him how to pray. He changed after that. He was open, I think. We chatted a little while longer. I felt the Spirit while we were talking to him. I think he felt it to. I think he was a little afraid to let the Spirit in. I think he changed after we talked about prayer. That was a neat experience.

I`m going to send home some pictures. I`m pretty sure this is the first time I`ve sent pictures home. I sent home my group photo from the MTC but that`s it. Better late than never I always say. The computer I`m using is really slow so I`m only sending home a few. I`ll send home more next week.

I`m out of time again. I hope everyone has a good week. Good luck with the musical, young women stuff, school stuff, stake stuff. mounty stuff, and all the other stuff you all do. See ya later.

Les quiero,
Elder Jones


I forgot to talk about Halloween. It wasn`t anything amazing. There were kids out. A lot of them were dressed up the same. Their costumes weren`t very creative. Everyone was done trick-or-treating by eightish. Elder Longfellow and I were going to buy some cheap masks and go by some members` houses and ask for candy, but it never happened. We were too poor to buy masks. Maybe next year.

Anyways, Halloween in the U.S. is better, I think.

Now I`m finished.

Another Interesting Change Coming Up

Dear Family,

How`s everyone doing? How`s life way up yonder? All is well down here in tiny, little Uruguay . My new area is alright. My comp, Elder Longfellow, is an interesting fellow. He`s got quite the potty mouth. He`s got about six months left. He`s super trunky. He talks a lot about girls. I can tell it`s going to be an interesting change. He works though so that`s good.

Yesterday, we had a big regional conference. It was for all the stakes in Uruguay and Paraguay . Elder Costa of the Seventy, Sister Stevens from the Primary General Presidency, Elder Ballard, and President Packer spoke. They broadcasted it from the Conference Center . The translators had some crazy accents and it took a little bit for me to get used to their accent. It was good though.

It`s defenitely warming up down here. Luckily I`m in Montevideo so it`s not as hot. Last summer was terrible. I was in the hottest place in the country right in the middle of summer. That will probably happen again. I`ll get sent up north right in the middle of summer. Oh well.

To answer the question, I never got my memory card back. It`s gone. I don`t have the pictures from the first six months of my mission. Oh well. The memory card I have now is being stupid as well. I don`t know what`s up with all my camera stuff. I hope it stops being stupid. I might actually consider getting a new camera. I`m going to look around and see if there`s a cheap one. I`ll get back to you on that one.

The ward is changing. The Roberts were in the ward when I left. I never got to know them but I knew who they were. Last weekend sounded fun for some and busy for others. I have one question though. Who was your date Weston? Did she enjoy it? You`ve probably already been on more dates than me. My little brother is showing me up. Anyways who won the homecoming game? Who did Mesa play? Was it Westwood again? If it was we probably won. Are the Rangers and the Gianta the two teams in the World Series? I probably won`t see any of that down here. No one likes baseball because no one understands it. It`s fun trying to explain it because it goes right over their heads. Keep me up to date on that. I know you`ll do a good job at that Cameron.

I don`t know if Halloween is really big down here. There are stores that have Halloween decorations. I don`t know how big it will be. I don`t think we`re going to celebrate. I guess we can get some candy and celebrate by eating it. It`s probably more fun in the states. I`ll let you all know how it is. Thanksgiving, however, is this change. We are planning a big party for that. We just got our new ovens so we`re going to put them to use by cooking a turkey. Can you give me a good turkey recipe Mom? You`re an expert at that. Also can you send me a good apple pie recipe. You`re an expert at that too. We`re going all out for Thanksgiving. My last Thanksgiving I was in the MTC and it was lame. This one is going to be better. Also can you send me a good recipe for scones. We have a recipe but it`s not a good one. Scones are pretty popular down here so we eat them a lot and I want a good recipe. Gracias.

I`m glad tohear that the missionary work is going well. The work sounds great there. I wish it was the same here. Tell everyone to keep working hard. Everything willwork out in the end. If we`re trying our hardest, the Lord will lead us to those who are ready to accept the gospel. Pray for those opportunities and you will all receive them.

So you`re almost the council chairman Dad but without the headaches. I`m sure you love that Mom. Hey at least you`ll get to go to Lancaster County again and buy out all the Amish stores. That`s fun. I would love to go back to the Jamboree some day.

I also need some more insoles. I don`t have the information but I`ll get send the information next week.

Thanks for everything. I love you all. Have a good week and until next time...

Con amor,
Elder Jones

It`s Finally Pday...and changes as well

Dear Family and anyone who reads my emails,

It`s finally Pday. Our Pday was moved back to today because changes are today. Our last Pday was last Monday so it`s been ten days now. I was so ready for Pday. Today was fun. We went to the temple this morning as a zone. That was fun. I always enjoy going there. It`s also fun to see how much more I understand every time. The endowment is doen in vosotros. (Ask the spanish speakers if any of you don`t know what that means). Anyways sometimes during the endowment, I don`t understand everything right away because I`m not used to hearing people speak in vosotros. No one speaks that here. I`m pretty sure that Spain is the only spanish-speaking country where the people speak in vosotros. Maybe you spanish speakers can sympathize with me, except for Emilie. Haha. Another interesting thing in the temple. A little after the session started, the example couple(not sure whatto call that couple) was at the altar. Alll of the sudden, the wife fainted or something. Her husband caught her and helped her stand up. She looked super pale. Maybe she got sick or something. I don`t know. She and her husband left. That was an interesting experience. It reminded me of Dad`s similar experience. After that, we went to the Distribution Center . I got some new white pants. My other ones were bothering me. I`m not a big fan of CTR Clothing. They were about nine dollars I think. They are a lot better. I also got a couple other things. I put on my debit card. Just so you all know.

Changes are today. They normally wouldn`t be until this coming Tuesday, however, Presidente Heaton has a mission president conference next week in Buenos Aires . So changes are today instead of next week. I`m getting moved again. I`m moving about fifteen minutes away. The area is called Sayago. My new comp is Elder Longfellow. He`s from Utah. He`s a cool kid so I think it should be a fun change. I was surprised. I was expecting to stay. It was fun with Elder Arnett. We were starting to see a little success in our area. I`ll go where I`m called to go.

Stroy time. A couple of days ago an old man stopped us and started talking to us about the U.S. He was asking us about Ronald Reagan. I don`t think he was all there in the head. He was medio loco. He was talking about all sorts of stuff. Then he asked where we were from. Elder Arnett quickly said that he was from Canada . Then he looked and asked the same thing. I also said that I was from Canada . I think that saved us from having to talk more about the U.S. However, later that day we ran into him again and he pretty much begged us to go to his house to his pictures of the U.S. That was the nastiest, grossest house I`ve ever been in. It was terrible. There was dog poop on the ground. There were mosquitos everywhere. I don`t know how he lives in those conditions. He had a bunch of newspaper clippings about the Kennedys and Obama and all sorts of things. We left as quick as we could. Good times in Uruguay .

Moving on. The youth conference sounded fun. That sounded like a cool Book of Mormon activity. I`m working on strengthening my testimony of the Book of Mormon so I testify more powerfully about it. I hope all the youth learned a lot. Was there a big showing form our ward? I`m glad the Eagle Project went well. Time to write it up. Pretty sure it took me a year to write it up. Oh how I remember the nagging. Haha. Get that done quickly Weston.

I got two newsletters last week and was looking through the ward roster. There are a lot of names on there that I don`t recognize. Either I didn`t notice those names before or a lot of people are moving in. I`ve been thinking about writing a little something that can get put in the newsletter. I`m going to try and do that when I have time.

There is a nice razor here for 90 bucks. That sounds expensive to me, but I don`t know how cheap I can go before they start getting crappy. I don`t know how to tell if a razor is good or not. Grandma and Grandpa can send me however much they want. I`ll find something and make it work. My camera will work fine. The problem is it just goes through batteries really fast, but that`s not a big deal. Don`t worry about that. I was thinking about getting a new watch though. The one I have works, but there`s one problem. It has a fabric band and it`s starting to smell. Now that it`s starting to warm up, it`s going to start smelling. I want to find a good inexpensive one with a rubber strap. If you could put some money i my account for that, it would be good. I can find one for twenty dollars. That`s it for that.

Now about my new nephew. I guessed a girl because there have been a lot of girls already. I figured Jenny would add to that number. That`s great that it`s a boy. He`s gonig to have lots of uncles to corrupt him and teach the Jones ways. Awesome. Congratulations Jenny and PJ.

That`s it for this week. Next week will be normal again so I`ll write on Monday. I hope everyone has a good week. I love you all.

Elder Ethan Jones

Saludos

Querido Familia,

Saludos de Uruguay. How`s everyone? That thunder storm sounded awesome. Thunderstorms are the best. There have been a couple of big storms here, but nothing like that one. I assume the tree trimmer dudes were busy the next day as they usually are the day after a big storm. Anyways, what are the plans with the Eagle Project? What`s going to happen. Have you been saving a lot of money Weston? Mine was great because I didn`t have to pay for it. I hope that goes well. Is anything going to happen around the house this week? Are there any projects waiting to be done? How long will everyone be in Orlando ? Maybe thet`ll see Ryan or Branton. That would be cool.

Last week we had interviews. Presidente and Hermana Heaton have been visitng all the houses in the mission. Mopntevideo was the last to get their houses checked. All the houses in my zone got checked last Thursday. That was a long day. We were in the house until 6 PM. The zone leaders kept calling us and telling us different times so we had to stay in the house until they got there. Hermana Heaton gave us a big list of kitchen supplies to buy because every house in the mission is getting an oven by order of Elder Arnold. (Apparently he was appauled that we only had a little stove and a microwave to cook with. So he told the office elders to get us ovens.) Those are getting delivered this week. We all have a long list of things to cook.

Yesterday was a great day. We found a new investigator. His name is Sebastian. We were walking down the street and saw him sitting in front of his door. I think he was hoping that we would talk to him. The first thing he said was, "I speak English. I want to practice." Elder Arnett stood there while I talked a little bit about the Restoration. It was a little difficult. It was weird talking about those things in English. He was really open. He thought Elder Arnett couldn`t speak English because he wasn`t saying anything. We gave him a Restoration folleto to read. He gave us a book about his religion. He also tried to get me to drink mate. I told him that we`re not aloud to drink mate. He kept saying to me, "It`s not drugs." He eventually gave up. That was a miracle find. We fasted to find new investigators and we found him. It was really awesome.

I have a favor to ask. Whenever you send me another package(probably Christmas), can you send me an electric razor. Using a normal razor takes too much time in the morning. Or you can send me money and I`ll get one here. Maybe that`s smarter. It`s up to you guys. Also along with the temple picture can you send me a small map of the US . Some people like to see where Arizona is and all that good stuff. Gracias.

I don`t know what else to report on. We slept in this morning. Lasr week was long. I think the time change has something to do with it. Our bodies haven`t adjusted yet. We were dead so we decided to sleep in. It was great. So refreshing.

That`s it for now I guess. I hope you all have a great week. Until next time...

Con amor,
Elder Ethan Jones

I love General Conference

Dear Family,



How`s going up there? All is well way down here. Conference was awesome to say the least. I learned something from every talk. I had a lot of questions answered. Now I have to put those things in practice. Do remember Elder Arnold? He spoke in the Sunday afternoon session. He`s the area president down here. When he visited our mission. his wife told us that story about that cow. I had forgotten about it until he told it again. What else? Five new temples. I bet Kyle was happy to heat that a temple is getting built in Connecticut . The Church is growing. Temples being built is a sign of that. I`m so excited to get the Liahona next month so I read all those talks again. I saw all the sessions. We watched the priesthood session Sunday morning. Here the priesthood session didn`t start until 9 o`clock because of the time difference. So the members recorded it for us and we watched it Sunday morning. I saw the first half of the first session in Spanish because the TV with the english version wasn`t set up. We had to wait for someone to show up with the keys to the electronics closet. I understood it though so it didn`t make a difference. All in all, it was a great General Conference.



That`s super sad about Brother Clifford. I know Calvin. He`s a great kid. He`s a strong kid and I know he can get through this, especially after hearing all those general conference talks about trusting in the Lord. I hope his family is fine. I`m sure they are because they know where Brother Clifford is.



Weston you`re finally doing your Eagle project. Rock on. What are you doing? To bad I won`t be there to help. Darn. I`m so sad. Haha. Get it done quick.



The water and gas lines are finally getting fixed. Wasn`t that supposed to happen a while ago? I`m glad I`m not there to deal with that mess.



How was the Birthday Bash? It was probably pretty lame since I wasn`there because everyone knows that I`m the life of the party. I`m sure it was still good though.Haha.



Any plans for October Break? It`s a week long now right? Is everyone going to work on the house? Is anything different at the house or does it still look the same?



How`s your job Mom? Where is this store at? Is it just you and Sister Norris?



The only thing I need is the picture of the Mesa temple. Just send it with Dad`s Jamboree letter. I just want a 5 by 7. One that I can keep in my scriptures to show to people. That`s it there.



That`s it for now. Thanks for everything you all do for me. I love you all. Until next week...



Èlder Ethan Jones

Another Week Gone

Dear Family,

Wuz up? How`s life for everyone? That`s pretty funny that dad made you give your testimony mom. That happened to me two Sundays ago when I had ten minutes to prepare a talk for sacrament meeting. Good times. How was Uncole Kyle`s breakfast? I always enjoyed those. Are elections coming up soon? If they are, that term went by quick. It sounds like our family is pretty lucky. A lot of you guys( and ladies) won prizes. I missed the primary program. Those are always fun to watch. I remember doing those. I especially remember the one with Sister Eames. "BE ENERGETIC!" "USE YOUR HANDS!" Good times back in 7th Ward. Now there is a new primary presidency. That`s cool. One of these days I need to write a letter to the Riveras. I told them I would when I felt my Spanish was good/well enough.(Spanish is killing my English). Anyways, I `m to the point to where I can do that. I better do that one of these days.

Moving on. Last week was fun and busy. We did a lot of contacting again. We finally found out where some members so now we can start visiting some. That will give us more things to do. We`re working with our investigator Alejandro. He has a lot of problems. He`s so afraid to quit smoking. he dowesn`t think he can do it. We`re trying to encourage him. We think he still doesn`t have his own testimony. He says he believes everything, but he needs to have a personal testimony. We`re really his only friends so he believes anything we say. We are going to have a lesson this week about getting a terstimony and why it`s important to have a testimony. If he has a testimony, then he will be willing to do anything to live the gospel. He will be willing to change his life so he can get baptized. He`s a super nice, humble guy. He`s just too afraid so we`re going to help him overcome that fear and help him learn to trust in the Lord.

The ward here is pretty strong. They rely on the missionaries a lot. A lot of members here do that. We have correlation every week which is great. I`ve never done that in any of my other areas. The members want to see baptisms so we`re going to try and make that happen. Member help is so important in missionary work. As I said, we`ve been knocking a lot doors lately. We get rejected 90 percent of the time. People see us and automatically don`t want to talk to us. That`s why the members need to talk with their friends first and help them understand what the church is. Then we can go and teach them. They will be a lot more likely to let us in. Also, when they get baptized, they will be more likely to stay active because they have friends in the Church. I love Elder Bednar`s quote, "Missionaries are full-time teachers; members are full-time finders". That sums it all up. We`re going to try and emphasize that.

I`m super excited for general conference. The sessions here are at 1 o`clock and 5 o`clock. Priesthood is at 9 o`clock so they`re going ot record it and we`re going to watch it Sunday morning. I want to here a lot about missionary work. I want the members to get excited. Some of us have been guessing about where new temples will be. We think there will be at least one new in South America . We`ll see. Daylight savings starts this Sunday at 2 am. That means I`m losing an hour of sleep. Not cool. Oh well. Què serà serà.

That`s about it for this week. Nothing else to report on, so until next week...

Con amor,
Elder Jones

The Work Continues Part 2

Sorry I pushed the wrong button and it sent the email.



Our new ward is cool. There are a good amount of people that come. They had Elder Arnett and I get up and introduce ourselves and bear our testimonies during sacrament meeting yesterday. We`ve been knocking on a lot of doors the last few days. It`s fun. We`ve had some interesting contacts. We knocked at one guys house and he opened his window to talk to us. We tried to shake his hand and he said, "I`m not going to shake your hand. I have nothing to say to you." Then he shut the window. Nice guy. Another lady compared us the Testigos de Jehovà. She doesn`t like the Church because her daughter`s friend`s dad couldn`t see his daughter get married because she got married in the temple. She said we`re like the Testigos because they`re not aloud to give blood even if one of their family members is dying. She said that`s not what Jesus wants. Then she went inside. Nice lady. I`m met some interesting people on the mission. Good times though.



I hope you`re enjoying the heat. It`s warming up pretty quick here. It`s still a little chilly in the morning then it warms up quick. I can`t wait for the nice, hot, humid weather. ¡NOT! You sound nice and busy Dad. Good times, right? How`s school going for everyone? Is there anyone new in the ward? Tyler hits his year mark this week which means I hit my year mark in six weeks. I don`t like that. Time needs to slow down.



How`s the misisonary work in the ward? That`s a bummer that not very many investigators went to that activity. I know how that feels. Tell those missionaries to never give up. Everything works out in the end.



I have one favor to ask. When the Jamboree letter gets mailed to me, can you send a little 5 by 7 photo of the Mesa temple. When I tell members that Mesa has a temple, they want to sometimes see a picture. The problem is I don`t have one. Deseret Book or some Mormon store should have one cheap. Gracias.



I guess that`s it for this week. Nothing else to report. Until next week...



Con cariño,

Elder Ethan Jones

The Work Continues

Dear Family,



Hello from Montevideo . My new area is nice and big. It`s a prettyn central part of Montevideo. Like I said, we share the area with the two AP`s, Elder Ercison and Elder Maes. I am not one of the AP`s. The AP`s were working with a man in our area. So he is now now our investigator. His name is Alejandro. He`s a great guy. He`s had a super hard life. He recently quit smoking and now we`re trying to help him quit smoking. He smokes 40 cigarettes a day. He has anxiety problems and he`s always nervous. He`s also super fidgety. He smokes to stay tranquilo. The Church has this quit-smoking plan that we discussed with him. It`s a seven day program. There are fourteen steps to quit smoking. This is the first time that I`ve ever used this program. The most important step is to always pray for help. We tried to emphasize a lot. He`s really nervous to do it. We set some goals for him. We `ll see how it goes

Change Week

Dear Everyone,



How is everyone? It sounds nice and hot there. How`s the basement? You`re right Mom. Being a missionary has a lot of perks. That`s pretty cool that you`re in the musical Weston. Let me know how that goes. Is everyone staying busy? I am. How`s school going for everyone? How`s work?



Changes are today, September 14th. You can go ahead and out that on my calendar. I am leaving Playa Pascual. I`m going to Montevideo . I`m going to an area called Flores 11 Bis. My new comp is Elder Arnett. I`ll be junior comp. We are actually opening the area. It`s part of the AP`s area. I guess hat means that I`m an AP now. It sounds like a cool area. The AP`s just came to our house to get my luggage. I had to rush to pack all my stuff because I didn`t know when they were coming. Anyways, while I was packing they were telling me about the area. I`m excited to go there.



Last week was good. We met our contact goal for the first time this change. We found some new investigators. All in all, it was a good week. I hope that the investigators we found progress. Some of them were so-so. They didn`t seem to interested.



I got bit by a dog last week. It wasn`t bad. It didn`t break the skin. We were talking to this lady outside her house when I felt a sharp pain on the backof my right ankle. I looked down and saw a little rat dog running away. I have always wanted to kick a dog, and that was my chance. Too bad it ran away too fast. I also got hit in the head by a soccer ball yesterday. We were walking down the street, and there were some kids playing soccer. One of them kicked the ball and hit me in the side of my head. He didn`t do it on purpose. Anyways, no harm done. All is well.



I gave a talk on Sunday. I had about ten minutes to prepare. Elder Watson was asked to give a talk a couple of weeks ago. They never asked me, but I was thinking that I would give one. I was right. We were sitting in priesthood when the second counselor in the bishopric called us out. He confirmed that Elder Watson was giving a talk and then asked me to give a talk. Good ol` procrastination. I was asked to talk about how members can better use Preach My Gospel. After priesthood, I had to run home quick and grab Preach My Gospel. Then we had Gospel Principles so I couldn`t prepare anything then. I had a little bit of time just before Sacrament meeting started. Anyways, it went well.



I guess that`s about it for this week. Not much more to report on. Until next week...



Chao,

Elder Ethan Jones

Saludos from the 20 year-old

Dearest Family members,



Thanks for the birthday wishes. Yesterday was good. I ended up not telling anyone that it was my birthday. Elder Watson knew of course. He made a card. Elder Da Silva(my trainer) remembered my birthday. Hermana Heaton also called me last night to wish me a happy birthday. We made microwave brownies and ate ice cream. The brownies weren`t as good as usual. We didn`t have enough flour or cocoa, but they still turned out alright. I took some pictures that I`m going to send. Oh and by the way, I hope my birthday dinner was good. It sure sounded good.



We were supposed to do divisions yesterday with the young men. The branch mission leader set it up. He ended up not coming to church yesterday. He was in a little accident earlier in the week so we figured that`s why he didn`t come. Anyways on our way to lunch we had to walk through the feria(that`s like a flea market). While we were walking, we saw him there with his wife. He talked with Elder Watson. He wouldn`t talk to me. He kept whispering things to Elder Watson. Anyways, the point of the story is we didn`t do divisions. I think me and Elder Watson were the only two that remembered.



I finally used my rain suit for the first time last week. It rained all day Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, and half of Saturday. I stayed dry though. That was a plus. It made the work harder, though. We had terrible numbers. At least we were out trying to get some things done.



We`re still working with Antonio. He`s progressing slowly. We`re going to start over with lesson one. We`re going to go principle by principle so he understands. He came to church again yesterday. He also said the opening prayer in Gospel Principles. He`s our only solid investigator. We had a special mission fast yesterday. We fasted to be able to find those people who Heavenly Father is preparing to recieve the gospel. We also fasted to be able to apply all the things that Elder Arnold taught us.



This is the last week of the change. We find out changes next Monday. I`m actually hoping that I go up to senior comp. I want to be the one in charge. I want to stay out and work all day. In this mission, misisonaries usually go up their seventh change and next change is my seventh change. So we`ll see.



Elder Watson and I set some goals for this week. We want this to be the best week of the change. We want to have a lot of lessons and find some new investigators. We`re hoping it happens.



Anyways, it sounds like you are all doing a lot. That`s cool that you got some autographs Cameron. Keep me updated with the sports. What else? When do you find out if you`re having a boy or a girl Jenny? Thanks for the pictures Emilie. Annie is a cutie.



How`s your Labor Day? I know Uruguay has a Labor Day, but I`m not sure when it is. They have a lot of holidays here.



Thanks for telling me about Sister Flynn. I`m happy for her. Jason should be getting his misison call soon. Maybe he`ll come here, and I`ll be his trainer.



Anyways, I guess that`s about it for this week. I love you all.



Con amor,

Elder Ethan Jones

Last Week of Being 19

Dearest Family Members(and anyone who reads my letters),

How are all of you? How`s the heat? How`s Mesa? Is everyone adjusted to the school schedule again? How`s Kayli doing at her school? How`s Annie doing? It sounds like she`s not like a normal Jones baby. She sounds too small. That`s alright though. She sounds cute. I`m looking forward to seeing pictures of her.

Dad, you said that the Interstake Center is being remodeled. When did that start? Is it a major renovation, or is it just something minor? I guess it was time for that. That building is old. Have fun overseeing all that.

That`s awesome that Mr. Hekekia is in the ward now. Hopefully he`s still lives there when I get home. I bet finding out that I`m on a mission made him feel really old. Anyways say hi to him for me.

This is my last week of being 19. ¡Què triste! I`m getting old. No one in the branch knows that my birthday is this Sunday. We eat lunch with the branch president and his family every Sunday. This coming Sunday, my plan is to get on the topic of birthdays and then mention that it`s my birthday. Nothing will probably happen. They will probably just say, "Feliz Cumpleaños". Elder Watson and I are going to make microwave brownies and vanilla ice cream to celebrate. FYI: microwave brownies are actually quite tasty. We eat them quite a bit. As a missionary, I love microwaves. I can make so many things with it. I`ll take some pictures and send them to you all just so you can all see how awesome my birthday was.

As I mentioned before, Elder Arnold(new area president) was going to have a conference with us. He met with all the missionaries in Uruguay . Our mission was his last stop. I imagine he`s doing a tour of all the misisons in the area. So, if it hasn`t happened already, Tyler will probably be getting the same training that I got.

Anyways, last Wednesday night, Elder Arnold held a fireside. Missionaries were invited to bring their investigators as well. Elder Watson and I invite ours, but, because we live an hour from Montevideo , none of them could come. None of them can afford it. I was actually expecting that. Anyways, we went to fireside without our investigators. (We had to go to Montevideo anyways because he was having a training meeting with us the next day. Elder Watson and I didn`t want to get up early so we spent the night in Montevideo ). Right before we got to the fireside, Elder Arnold announced that if missionaries didn`t have investigators, they had to leave and go find some. So, we weren`t aloud in. There were about 16 Elders outside the stake center. We all went and did some contacts. I sang some hymns with some other Elders. It was fun.

On Thursday morning, we had our training meeting with Elder Arnold. It was about four hours long. It was really good though. We talked about obedience. We talked about how to make our lessons more spiritual. We practiced introducing the BOM to our investigators. One of the things Elder Arnold suggested was to have us kneel when we pray at our lessons. He also told how important it is to address the importance of prayer to our investigators. He also told us that we all get to start over. We all have clean slates. All in all, it was a great conference.

Elder Arnold also told the district leaders, zone leaders, and AP`s, in a separate meeting with them, that he wants senior companions to stay in their areas for five changes. He is strongly urging all the mission presidents to do that. If that really happens and I go up to senior comp next change, I will only have two more areas in my mission.

We applied a lot of the things we learned in a lesson Thursday night. It was with our investigator Antonio. We talked about the importance of praying to receive a testimony. At the end of the lesson, we got Antonio to say the prayer. It took a little persuasion, but he finally did it. He had never said a prayer before at our lessons. Elder Arnold`s training already paid off. He talked about those thigs for reason. I`m gald he was in tune with the Spirit and recognized the importance to talk about the things he talked about.

This morning, I set a lot of personal goals for myself. I`m struggling with some things, so I set some goals to fix those things. I spent my entire personal study studying about goal setting. I learned a lot. I can accomplish so much more when I set goals. I`m really excited to start working towards accomplishing the goals I set.

I think I`ve written enough for now. I`ll talk to you all next week.

Les quiero,
Elder Ethan Jones

P.S. Tell Jason Flynn ¡Felicitaciones! for me.

Last Week Was Better

Dearest Family Members,



Well, how goes it? How goes Mesa ? How is school going for everyone? School here gets out in a couple of months. School here starts in March and ends in December, I think. The elementary age kids wear a white tunic. The junior high age kids wear a blue button shirt with a red tie, The high school kids wear a white button shirt with a red tie. They look pretty ridiculous, especially the little kids in their tunic thingys. I`m glad I never had to wear those.



Anyways, how was the seminary social thingy? Ice skating is great. Was it crowded? What`s new at church? Is Jason working on his mission papers? Heather told me he decided to go on a mission. Does Sister Cluff have my current address so she can mail me the newsletter? Who is the new newsletter person? I saw in the last newsletter that the Rogers moved.



Did you get my email from last week? I resent it. If not, none of you missed out on anything. There was nothing really new. It was the same old, same old.




We found five new investigators last week. I really think it was because we were out working more. It made me happy. Elder Watson was happy too. None of them came to church yesterday, unfortunately. That was a bummer. That is the one of the hardest things to do; getting investigators to come to church.



I haven`t had to use the rain suit yet. It has actually started to warm up a lot. I`ll use it eventually though.



I guess I will have a new niece tomorrow. I`m going to tell all the Elders at district meeting tomorrow.



I guess that`s about it. I can`t think of anything else to say.



Les quiero,

Elder Ethan Jones



P.S. Almost forgot. Happy Birthday Irivng and Happy Birthday Travis

I don`t know what the subject should be

Dearest Familia Jones,

School finally started. ¡Que bueno! Now you have the whole house to yourself Mom. Is anything different at Mesa High? A lot of my companions laugh at me when I tell them I`m a Jackrabbit. They that`s a stupid mascot. Oh well. I guess they can think what they want. After this year, you won`t have to go to Franklin anymore Mom.

How`s the remodeling? Too bad I can`t be there to help. Haha.

The package arrived. Customs didn`t touch it. It Came to Pass is a hit. My comp likes playing it a lot. We had a zone activity today. Most of the other elders didn`t like it. A few did though. The candy is great. I`m going to make it last as long as I can. The thermals are quite nice. Anyways thanks for the package. I bought a sleeping bag from an elder that went home. It`s the best purchase I`ve ever made.

We didn`t get a lot of work done last week. We didn`t work at all yesterday. Elder Watson had a headache after lunch so he wen to slep until sevenish. He didn`t want to go out and work when he woke up. So we talked. We are having success with Antonio. We have to go slower with him since he can`t read. We extended the baptismal invitation. He said he would get baptized if God wants it. He says that a lot, "If God wants it". We told him that`s what God wants. He said he would pray. Hopefully, he will get baptized at the end of this month. He came to church again yesterday. This was his third time coming in four weeks. He likes it a lot. Anyways he`s progressing. He`s our only investigator right now.

This Thursday, we are having a conference with Elder Arnold, the area president. I`ll let you all know how that goes.

I guess that`s about it for this week. Unitl next week...

Les quiero,
Elder Ethan Jones

Greetings from Elder Jones

Saludos Familia Jones,



How is everything? The Jamboree like it was fun, of course. I loved the Jamboree. There are actually quite a few missionaries that went on the 2005 Jamboree. I keep them up to date on everything. It sounds like it was memorable. I`m not surprised Obama didn`t go. I`m looking forward to getting that letter, Dad.

School starts this week. Summer went by fast. That probably makes you happy, Mom, because now you have the house to yourself again. I wish I was still in school. Those days were easy. Life just gets harder after graduating. It`s rewarding but harder. Anyways, Cameron and Weston, enjoy it while it lasts.

How hot is it there? Has it been a wet monsoon season? It`s still nice and cold here. Everyone says that it gets pretty cold the beginning of August and then it starts to warm up. By the end of this change, the weather should be nice. It`s ironic that it`s colder in our house than outside our house. Insulation does not exist down here. I think the only buildings that have insulation are the church buildings.

We had terrible numbers last week. There was a reason for that. Elder Watson got some stomach thing. He wasn`t deathly sick. He was just sick enough that we couldn`t go out and work. This morning, he woke up and said he felt great. That makes me happy. Now we can get to work again. On Friday, we went to a wedding for a member. I think I talked about it last week. The weddings here are weird. First off, a lady did it. It went really fast too. They don`t say the same things that are said in a normal American wedding. It was cool though. The couple was happy. This was the first wedding that I`ve ever been to. Afterwards, we went to a party at their house. The wife is a member, and we`re teaching the husband. His name is Antonio. He didn`t go to church yesterday. We`re going to go back and have another lesson with him this week.

What else is new? Next week, Elder Arnold(area president) is coming and doing zone conferences here in our mission. I don`t know what he is going to talk about. It should be good though.

What else? Kira had finally had her baby. Tell Greg and Kira felicitaciones for me. Annie is almost here. Another niece. I guess that`s alright. Haha. I saw your picture Jenny. It`s weird to see you pregnant, I`m ot gonna lie. I thought the same thing when Emilie and Valerie first got pregnant. Anyways once again, felicitaciones.

Oh quick little note. President Eyring`s granddaughter is here now. She is one of the oros(greenies) that got here last week.

Anyways, I think that`s about it for this week. Until next week...

Les quiero,

Elder Ethan Jones

P.S. Happy Anniversary on Friday Mom and Dad. Thanks for everything that you`ve done for me. I hope you have a great day.

P.P.S.Happy Anniversary on Wednesday Jenny and Paul. I hope you have a great day, as well.

P.P.S. This is my address in case you don`t have it:


Elder Ethan Jones

La Misiòn Uruguay Montevideo Oeste

1167 Enrique Martìnez

Montevideo , Uruguay

C.P. 11.800

Nine Months Already

Dear Family,

Well, first off, I`m staying in Playa Pascual for a third change. That means I will be celebrating my birthday here. It`s on a fast Sunday again this year. Elder Watson wil still be my comp. I need to give him some slack. The two comps he had before me were pretty lazy missionaries. That didn`t help him at all. He`s told me many times that he`s sorry he didn`t work harder last change. He wants to work harder. I think this coming change will be good. We`re both going to improve ourselves and work harder.

This morning, we went to the temple. Elder Watson and I almost missed the session because we couldn`t figure out how to get there. We knew the general area that the temple was in, we just didn`t know the specific directions. We finally got there. They held the session for us. This trip to the temple was supposed to be a zone activity. There are 20 Elders in my zone and only 6 of us showed up. I don`t know why none of them wanted to go. Oh well, it`s there decision. After the session was over, we saw the oros(greenies) arrive. They were arriving from the airport. We all waved at them as they drove by on the bus. After that, we went to the mall and ate Burger King. It was quite delicious. Unfortunately, they were out vanilla ice cream to make shakes, so we all went to McDonald`s and got McFlurry`s. Now I`m here writing to you.

We have one solid investigator right now. I think I mentioned him last week. His name is Antonio. He is livnig with a recent convert right now. They are getting married this Friday, and Elder Watson and I will probably be going. He`s been to church the last two Sundays in a row. He only needs to come one more to get baptized. We`re going to give him a baptismal date this week. He doesn`t know how to read so we have to go slower with. His soon-to-wife is really helping out though. He`s our only investigator right now.

Utah sounded fun. It sounds like you all did quite a bit. The Jamboree is almost over. Annie is coming soon. Jenny is due in March. I`m going to have some new kids to meet. It sounds like the Dbacks have been busy trading. When to the Cardinals and the Sun Devils start? What`s new in Solomon Ward? Can you give Sister Cluff my new address, if you haven`t already, so she can mail the newsletter. I think I already sent you all my new address.

I hit my nine-month mark this Friday. I can`t believe how fast the time goes. This could be my last change as junior companion. I have to really improve my spanish this change. I am now starting my sixth change.

I guess that`s about it for this week. Thanks for everything that you all do for me. Until next week...

Les quiero,
Elder Ethan Jones

Letter from Elder Jones

Dear Family,

How is everything? How`s the heat? It`s still rainy/windy/humid/cold here. Do you want to trade? When does school start? I`m excited to get the package. Pretty ironic that Sister Hulsey was at the post office at the same time. I sent a letter to Tyler . I don`t know if he got it though. Can one of you ask the Hulsey`s if he got it? Gracias. When is my other niece/nephew due? No one is going to know me when I come home.

My transfer dates are: March 30 and May 11. I left the MTC/got to Uruguay on January 5. That`s it for now. I might get transferred next Tuesday. We have changes next week. I like it here. I wouldn`t mind staying.

We found some new investigators last week. That was nice. The work pays off eventually. We had an investigator in church yesterday. That was the first investigator that we`ve had in church this change. It has rained the last three Sundays in a row, and no one comes when it rains. We finally had an investigator in church. His name is Antonio. He lives with a member that got baptized last year. They are getting married next Friday, August 6.

I`ve been reading the Book of Mormon more in Spanish. I`m getting to the point where I`ll start doing my personal study all in Spanish. I understand most of it.There ae always some words that I don`t know. but I still understand most of it. It`s nice when I study Spanish grammar an everything starts to click in my mind. The gift of tongues is real. I took two and a half years of Spanish in junior high and high school and I could barely speak. It`s really cool to see how far I`ve come. I defenotely have the Lord`s help.

Something interesting happened down here. You all may have heard about it on the news. Argentina legalized gay marriage. Elder Watson and I saw it on the news the other while we were eating lunch at a member`s house. The First Presidency wrote a letter for the saints down here. They read the letter in all the wards yesterday. The First Presidency restated what the Church`s views are about gay marriage. They encouraged all the members to hang a copy the Family: A Proclamation to the World in their houses. They told the members to not be affiliated with any group that supports gay marriage. Hopefully this won`t effect the work down here at all.

Well I think that`s it about it for this week. I hope you all have a good week.

Les quiero,

Elder Ethan Jones

Another niece/nephew. I`m not surprised.

Dearest Family,

Well first off, it looks I`m going to be an uncle again. I`m not surprised though. I knew it would happen eventually. ¡Felicitaciones Jenny and Paul! Looks like I`ll another new niece/nephew to meet. It`s also good to hear that all the other unborn babies are doing fine. G and G Jones now have a lot more names to remember.

How`s the quiet house? It sounds like everyone gets to have fun during the Jamboree. What`s new in Mesa? How are the temples coming along in Gilbert and Phoenix ? Have the city councils approved the construction of them yet? Keep me posted with that. How`s the ward? Are there more new members? Is Jason getting ready for his mission? Heather told me he decided to go on a mission. I don`t know what else to ask. If you guys think of something to tell me, tell me.

Last week, we had our first zone conference with Presidente y Hermana Heaton. They are really nice. They act just like grandparents, especially Hermana Heaton. Presidente Heaton is remembering spanish. He served his mission here in Uruguay , so he knows Spanish. He just needs to remember it all now. He did pushups in front of everybody. There were a few changes. We are going to start having zone conference and interviews every three months(every other change). The Church has come out with 8 new lessons for missionaries. These lessons are not replacing the 5 lessons in Preach My Gospel. They are just to help us become better teachers. They help us focus more on the important things that we are supposed to teach. The Church will start teaching these lessons in the MTC`s around the world in May of next year. General Authorites are going to the different missions around the world to teach these lessons to the missionaries already in the mission field. That way when new missionaries come after May of next year, we will have all been taught the same lessons. The zone leaders, district leaders, and trainers will be taught the lessons. Eventually, every missionary will be taught the lessons.


It`s been raining the last couple of days. It`s supposed to continue until tomorrow. Last week, there was actually snow in the forecast. Luckily it didn`t snow. As a missionary, I hate the rain. It kills the work, especially in a culture where the people don`t do anything when it rains. We didn`t have any success yesterday. It rained all day. We came home about an hour early. We finished our weekly planning. Hopefully it won`t rain to much this week.

Last week was great. We found nine new investigators. Most of those investigators were found while we did divisions with the zone leaders. Elder Novoa came here to Playa Pascual, and I went to Montevideo with Elder Powell. I`m really glad that the World Cup is over.

I gave a talk yesterday. I spoke about the Atonement. I used the stroy of Alma the Younger as an example. It went well I suppose. There were only 22 people at church yesterday, including us. When it rains, people don`t go to church. I`m still not used to that. It was good though.

I don`t know if you have any Melaleuca lotion Mom, but I could use some more of that. Winter weather dries out my skin. That should be it.


I guess that`s about it for this week. Have agood week.



Les quiero,

Elder Ethan Jones

The World Cup is OVER

Dear Family,



How is everything going? How`s the heat? What`s new in Mesa? Before I forget, I`m fine with money right now. I`ve had some bills to pay. That`s why I kept taking out money. I`m also going to buy some more stuff to stay warm. I`m going to get a scarf and some earmuffs. The money situation is fine. I`m not starving or anything



About the thermals: a 28-30 waist sounds good. The tops should be fine. I have small tops right now, they fit me well. So that should work. Also I don`t if you have one yet, but I need another journal. It`s a green, mini three-ring binder form Deseret Book. It says missionary journal on the front. My favorite non-chocolate candy would have to be Sour Patch Kids. I think that`s about it there.


Elder Watson and I were supposed to give talks yesterday, but the stake presidency came. We`re giving them next week. I`ll let you all know how it goes.



Uruguay did lose. Fourth place isn`t bad though. Spain beat the Netherlands yesterday in the final. Hopefully we`ll be aqble to find some new investigators now. I know ther`re out there. We`ll keep looking for them. Heavenly Father will lead them to us or He`ll lead us to them. It doesn`t matter how. I love reading the stories of the missionaries in the Book of Mormon. It keeps me going because a lot of them had hard times as well. The only convert Abinadi had was Alma . Abinadi may have thought that he had failed, but, in reality, tens of thousands of people came into the church because of him. All those stories keep me going. I may not see immediate success, but I`m planting seeds that future missionaries will harvest. I love this work. I know I`m here for a reason. As long as I do my part, the Lord will do the rest.



Presidente y Hermana Heaton got here safely. We`ll meet them this Wednesday at Zone Confernce. All of the zones outside of Montevideo have already had Zone Conference. Everyone says that Herman Heaton is a great cook. Everyonedescribes them as grandparents. I guess that means we`ll get treated like their grandkids. Sounds good to me.



I think that`s about for this week. I love you all. Thanks for the support.



Les Quiero,

Elder Ethan Jones



P.S. Happy Birthday to Hazel last week and Happy Birthday to Brian this week.

Greetings From Playa Pascual

Dear Everyone,



How is everything? I guess a lot is happening back home. Philmont sounds great. The only place better to be is Playa Pascual , Uruguay . What`s new here? I got my new comp last Wednesday. I was late getting to the bus station to pick him up. I was supposed to be at the bus station at 6:30 AM. I woke up at 6:50. The alarm didn`t go off. Elder Zorilla and I took a taxi to the station. Luckily there were a lot of other missionaries there. We were at the station for a while. We eventually made it back to Playa Pascual. We had to wait for the AP`s to pick up Elder Waton`s luggage. Elder Watson is my comp. We take a city bus from Montevideo to our area. It`s about an hour bus ride. It`s far enough away that we can`t take a taxi there so the AP`s have to take the luggage to our area. Anyways we got that figured out and made it to our area. We are pretty much starting over here. We have no investigators. They all got dropped. Well we have one "investigator". His name is Luis. He has some crazy ideas. We found him last change. I took Elder Watson to meet him on last Saturday. He essentially told us to change our religion. He says the Book of Mormon is an alteration of the Bible. We`re not getting anywhere with him. He doesn`t want to listen to what we have to say. He tries to teach us the "real" gospel. Anyways, we told him we weren`t going to come by anymore. He flipped out. He told us that Jesus wouldn`t do that. He went off for about 5 minutes. We eventually told him we`d come back. We left him some scriptures to read. We`re going back in a month. Besides him, we have no one. We`re going to work with the members more. We`ve made some good plans. We`re hoping to see success. I`m giving another talk in two weeks. This is talk number 4. Ì only have to talk for twelve minutes so it shouldn`t be too hard. Presidente and Hermana Heaton arrive on Thursday. I believe there in Buenos Aires right now having a mission president conference with the Area Presidency.



I`m kept pretty up to date with the World Cup. The U.S. lost to Ghana . Uruguay beat South Korea though. Uruguay will now play Ghana in the quarter finals. All of the Americans were hoping the U.S. would win so Uruguay would play them. Unfortunately, it didn`t happen. Uruguay is doing great though. `We`re still not getting any work doen though. When we clap at houses most people don`t let us in. They see us, but they`re too busy watching the World Cup. I believe the championship game is July 7. It`ll be nice when it`s over.



I don`t know if you remembered Mom, but make sure you send packages in the USPS Flat Rate Boxes. Customs never opens those.



I don`t know what else to say. I guess that`s it for this week. Tell me all about Philmont. Until next week...



Les Quiero,

Elder Ethan Jones

Another Change Gone

Dear Family,



First off, Happy Father`s Day two days ago. What did you buy yourself this year Dad, more camping stuff? I hope it was a good day. Also say Happy Birthday to Grandpa Jorgensen. I looked on the calender and saw that it was his birthday.



Well another change is gone. The last six weeks have flown by. I`m staying in Playa Pascual. Elder Haslam is leaving. He`s actually going to my old area in Paysandù. I`ve been telling him a lot about it. He`s going to look for my memory card when he gets there. I hope he finds it. My new comp is Elder Watson. I`ve met him before and he is hilarious so it should be a fun change. I was hoping to a Latino comp that doesn`t speak English. That would have helped with my Spanish.Elder Watson speaks pretty well though so it should work out. I`m hoping that by the end of this change, I`ll be able to understand everything people say. I can speak alright; it`s the understanding part that I`m still working on. Hopefully by the end of this change I`ll be able to understand everything. I hope that`s the case because this could be my last change as junior comp. A lot of missionaries go up to senior comp their sixth change. We`ll see.



I went to the temple this morning. That was my first time going in almost sixth months. I went my second day in Uruguay . I understood a lot more this time. The first time I didn`t understand hardly any Spanish, but I understood a lot more this time. It felt so good going back. Elder Haslam and I had to spend the night at the zone leaders house because our session was at eight in the morning. My area is about two hours from the temple. We kind of got lost on the way to the temple. We got off the wrong stop. We finally got there though, and it was great.



So Philmont is this week. How long will that last? It sounds like it going to be fun, but as much fun as being in Uruguay . Let me know how that goes. A lot of stuff is happening in the family apparently. I bet that`s fun for everyone. I`m glad I don`t have to set up the backdrops.I`ve done that enough.



So me and Tyler are the only two misisonaries in the ward now. Rock on. Preston`s having a hard time with English. I hope that`s how it is for me.



Uruguay beat Mexico today 1-0. Everyone was pretty happy about that. They also beat South Africa last week 3-0. Whenever we`re on the bus we here about the World Cup. I`m not sure how much longer it goes, but hopefully it ends soon.



The work is slow here right now. We have two investigators right now. We found both of them in the last few days. We`ve had to drop a few investigators because none of them are progressing. I hope this change is successful.



I`ve had to pull money a couple of times in the last two weeks because I`ve had to pay some bills. Luckily, I get to reimburse them and get the money back.



It`s so cold here. I know I say that every week, but it`s cold. It`s really hard to get warm. I do have a pair of thermals though so that helps. I think I`m going to buy a thicker pair of gloves because the ones I have don`t do much. I`m also going to buy a scarf and ear muffs. That`s how cold it is right now.



How`s Water Mart? Who works there now? Did Neil get his mission call? I know Mark Halbert did. He sent me a letter telling me. He`s going to Riverside, California(American Sign Language). He sounds pretty excited to go.



Anyways that`s enough from me. Until next week...



Les quiero,

Elder Ethan Jones

Letter from Uruguay

Dear Everyone,



Well last week was better. I realized I just have to keep working hard and leave the rest up to the Lord. Elder Haslam and I met some interesting people last week. Yesterday, we chatted with a guy for about 20 minutes. He straight up told us that he doesn`t like our church. He had an interesting reason for not liking our church; a reason I had not heard yet. He said he went to our one Sunday about four years ago. After that, he never wanted to go back again. He thinks we spend too much money on our church buildings. He thinks we should be using that money to help the needy. We didn`t really say much. He didn`t want to listen so we left. If he only knew about the Church`s humanitarian services. As we walking away, I told Elder Haslam that that man better not go to Temple Square because he would have a heart attack haha. We meet a lot of interesting people who have some pretty crazy ideas, but I love them. Uruguay is a great place. The people are great. I`m still getting used to the country. Siesta drives me crazy. Nathan knows how siesta is. It kills the work. All the dogs also drive me crazy. Almost everyone has a dog. Everyone time we clap at sometimes house, the dogs start barking which makes it hard to hear people. I`m glad I`m here though. This is where I`m supposed to be.



The weather hasn`t been too cold the last few days. It`s been raining since Saturday morning. It`s still raining right now. We were out contacting on Saturday for a few hours. We were soaked from our knees down. We weren`t really having any success so we finally decided to go home. We got back around six and left at eight to go to a lesson. The rain makes the work hard here, but not impossible. We`ll probably be out in the rain tonight again. Rock on.



We have changes again next Tuesday. This change flew by. I think my Spanish improved quite a bit this change. I started studying harder which helped. I`m catching on to this language. I still can`t understand everything, but I`m getting there. I feel pretty good about the language right now. In fact, I have to repeat the things that my comp says sometimes because the people can`t understand him. That makes me feel pretty good.



The World Cup started last Friday. In terms of missionary work, that is bad for two reasons. First, everyone here loves soccer so, of course, they are going to watch it. Second, Uruguay is in the World Cup this year. The World Cup lasts for a few weeks. We`re not expecting to get into a lot of houses over the next couple of weeks, but we`ll try.



A lot is happening back home. The Jamboree is in a month. Philmont is soon. Westom has an Eagle Project. I guess everyone is staying busy. Preston gets home this week also. It looks like me and Tyler are the only two full-time missionaries right now in Solomon Ward. Is anything new in the ward? Is anything crazy happening in Mesa ? Has construction started on the Gilbert and Phoenix temples yet? I guess that`s all the questions I have.



Can you send me a conference issue of the Ensign? I have a Spanish one, but I want an English one. Normally the Church sends English ones as well, but I don`t know what happened this time.



I guess that`s about it for this week. Thanks for everything. I hope you all have a good week.



Les quiero,

Elder Ethan Jones

Saludos

Dearest Family,

How`s everything going in The Valley of the Sun? Is it nice and hot? I guess a lot of stuff is happening over there. Cameron was in the newspaper. Tiffany is getting married. rysten is coming home. Prestoon is coming home. Lots of stuff going on. All is well here. Presidente and Hermana Peterson have about three weeks left. We had our final interviews last week. After our interview with Presidente Peterson, we had an interview with Hermana Peterson. She wanted to know about our family and what our plans are after the mission. She also ased me if I knew the Cooleys. I told her yes. She was happy. Apparently Sister Cooley was in her Hermana Peterson`s wedding line. The two of them were very good friends in school. Hermana Peterson hasn`t heard from her in years. She was happy when I told I was good friends with Mar Cooley. I`m going to give her their address so she can write a letter to Sister Cooley. It`s a small world. Presidente and Sister Heaton get here on July 1. Presidente Heaton served his mission here so he`s really excited to come back. I`m sad that Presidente and Hermana Peterson are almost done. They are awesome. I`ve learned a lot from Presidente Peterson. I`m also excited for Presidente and Hermana Heaton to get here.

I`m pretty sure last week was the hardest week of my mission, so far. We just kept getting rejected. No one was listening to us. It was worse than usual. On top of that, we lost four investigators in two days. One of them is a girl named Maria Rivero. We have been woring with her for a while. We had a lesson set up on Saturday. When we got there, her step-dad came out and talked to us. He told us to not come back. He told us that we can`t teach her anymore and that she can`t go to church anymore. He was mad at us because he said we come by at any hour of the day. We only went by their house when Maria told us to, and if we were walking down the street and saw her outside, we would stop and say hi. He was also mad because he said someone from the church keeps calling their house late at night. When he showed us the number that keeps calling. it was our number. We told him that it`s not us because we`re in bed at that time. It was probably someone else calling him, but he wants to blame it on us. So we`re not aloud there anymore. We went home and prayed to now what we should do. Right now we`ve decided that we`re going to send over a couple of members to tal with the step-dad because he doesn`t like the missionaries. The other three investigators that we lost was the family that we found two wees ago. We were teaching the two sons and the wife of one of the sons. We went there yesterday and the mom told us that they want to eep going to their church. That was a huge bummer because they seemed so interested. We`re going by their house again tonight to see if they let us in. We just had a hard week. I was pretty depressed when we got home last night. I opened up my scriptures to find some comfort. I was reading in Alma 26. In verse 27, the Lord gives Ammon and his brethen comfort. They weren`t having success preaching to the Lamanites. They wanted to give up but the Lord told them to go back and he would give them success. He told them to be patient and long-suffering. That made me happy. I just have to try my hardest and trust in the Lord, and he will give me success. He will lead to those people who I am supposed to teach. It`s times like this when we really grow. It was a good lesson for me.

Now about the rain suit. I`ll be wearing my white shirt and sweater under it. I guess a medium for the jacket. My waist size is 30. It`s alright if there are logos on them. It doesn`t have to be plain blac either. There can a little color in it. That will probably make it easier to find a good one. They just can`t be huge. I do have a few pairs of thermals right now. That`s about it there.

I guess that`s about it for this week. Thanks for everything. Until next week...


Les quiero,

Elder Ethan Jones

Happy Memorial Day

Dear Everyone,



How`s the heat? I think it has gotten to the point where it goes to be really cold. It rained all weekend. Now it`s just cold. It`s not the kind of cold where you put on a jacket and that`s that. Oh no. It`s a humid and windy kind of cold. The winds goes through anything, and the humidity makes it impossible to stay warm. It`s great. The only time I`m really warm is at night when I`m in bed. We have a heater which warms up the room really quick and keeps it warm. Anyways, that`s enough complaining from me.



We keep getting blessed with more investigators. We`re staying really busy with them. Unfortunately, none of them came to church yesterday. However, a recent convert named Martìn brought his friend Marcos. Marcos is an ex-investigator, but now we get to start over with him again. I guess he wasn`t ready before, but now he seems interested. It`s all in the hands of Heavenly Father. The work here is hard though. Most of the time when we clap at houses, no one opens the doors. Whenever someone does open the door, they usually don`t want to talk. It`s hard to not to get frustrated. It`s a trial, but it`s all worth when someone does let us in. The hardest peopel to talk to are the Catholics. They are stubborn. On a side note: Last week we were contacting on the same street as the Testigos de Jehova. They worked one side, and we worked the other. They never stopped and talked to us though. Oh well. Another side note: On Saturday we had a lady yell at us. That was the first time I`ve ever been yelled at. We clapped at her house at 6pm. She opened her window and we introduced ourselves. Then she said in a mad voice, "Pero, por favor. ¿En èste momento?" Then she shut the door. That Elder Haslam and I a good laugh.



Mrs. Daniels died. She was my fourth grade teacher. She was great. That`s way sad. Was she still teaching at Franklin ? I thought she retired, but maybe she didn`t. I hope everything is well for them.



So it didn`t rain on graduation. That was nice for them. I wish that`s how it would have been for me. Scout camp and girls camp is the same week. The young women never do camp until July. It sounds like you`ll be busy Dad. Bishop Brubaker will be busy as well. I hope that goes well.



Did Kristen get home? I think she was supposed to finish this month. Her mission flew by.



I have a few things to add to the list. My jacket is not completely waterproof. Neither is the rainjacket I got at Sport`s Authority. I was wondering if you could send a good rain jacket and a pair of rain pants. My pants always get wet because there is sideways rain here. I figured Dad could get a discount at Bass Pro Shops since he`s got some membership. That would at least keep me dry.



I`ve been forgetting to do this. My mission address changed again. I don`t know why it changed again, but they said this is the permanent one. That`s what they said last time so we`ll see. For now, use this address.



Elder Ethan Jones

La Misiòn Uruguay Montevideo Oeste

1167 Enrique Martìnez

Montevideo , Uruguay

C.P. 11.800



I`m still looking for my memory card. I hope I find it. Elder Guardipee said he hasn`t found it yet. I hope someone finds. If not, oh well. That`s life.



I guess that`s about it for this week. Thanks for everything. Until next week...



Les quiero mucho,

Elder Ethan Jones