Saludos

Saludos Familia,

How`s everything going? Is everything pretty busy with Dad`s new calling? I`d imagine that it is. Four days until the wedding. Blaine and Carly better enjoy single life while it lasts. Haha. Was an invitation sent to me? I guess we`ll talk all about it on Sunday. How`s school going? Only a couple of weeks left. ¡Wow! The was fast. Now everyone can enjoy a well-earned summer vacation.

Last week was another slow week. We didn`t have a lot of success. That`s how it goes though. Elder Guardipee is still getting over pneumonia. It`s hard for him. Changes are today. I`m leaving Paysandù after only one change. I was surprised. I`m going to Montevideo . There are three zones there. I`ll in Cerro. My area is the farthest area from Montevideo . I have to take a one hour ride to get there. Cerro is one of the coldest places during the winter. I think it`s funny that I spent summer in the hottest place in Uruguay, and, now, I`m spending part of winter in one of the coldest parts. I`ll living a few blocks from the ocean. Rock on. My new comp is Elder Haslam. This will be his first change as senior comp so it should a neat experience. I`m excited. I leave at 4.30 in the morning.

Now to the main stuff: calling home. I`m going to call home around 6:30 pm, Uruguay time. You should all be home from church by then. Buying a phone card won`t work for me. Uruguay is really expensive plus I can only use the phone card on a pay phone. I don`t know my new phone number so I`ll call you around 2:30 pm your time to give you the number. Maybe Dad can get a phone card or something. That`s the plan with that.

The Suns beat the Spurs. That mae me so happy. I`ve talked with some missionaries that say the Suns have never been able to beat the Spurs. Now I can tell them all that the Suns not only won, they swept them. The Suns deserve to win. I hope you recorded game 4 so I can watch it when I get home. I`ve been talking about it all day. The Suns finally got revenge. Now it`s on to the Lakers, and then to the Finals.

Well, I think that`s about for this week. I`ll talk you all for real on Sunday.

Les quiero mucho,
Elder Ethan Jones

Winter has officially started

Querido Familia,

Well it sounds like it has been a very interesting week. Dad you`re the new 2nd counselor. I can`t say I`m not surprised. When I found out that Pres. Rogers got released, it never crossed my mind that you would be the new one, but it makes sense. It will probably be the same as when you were bishop. All I can say is have fun.

Uruguay is all good. Last Friday was the first official day of winter. It`s not too cold,but it gets chilly. Elder Guardipee and I had a pretty lowsy week. We have an investigator named Nair. She had a baptismal date. We had to wait a long time to give her a date because there was a man living with her. The man finally moved out a few weeks ago so we were able to give her a fecha. We went by her house last Saturday. The first thing she told was, "No puedo bautizarme." The guy came back. She said she didn`t ask him to come back, but we think she wanted him to come back because she was lonely without him. We were kind of surprised, but we knew somehing like that might happen. We talked with her for almost two hours. We read a lot of scriptures. She said she wants to get baptized, but she`s not willing to change. We had to be blunt with her. On top of that, she didn`t go to church yesterday. It looks like we have more work to do. Bring it on.

So how are the temples coming along. I know the Gila Valley Temple got dedicated yesterday. How are the other two. Have they started building them yet? You guys told me there are two new missions in Arizona . Do you know where they are? Let me know.

Changes are next week, again. Time flies by. My six month mark is on Wednesday. The last six months went by fast. It`s already May. This year is already going by fast.

I am in need of a few things. I need more long johns. I haven`t seen any here, and, if I do find some, they will probably be expensive because everything is expensive here. The size of the ones I have now are small. Could you send me a few pairs of those? It`s starting to cool down fast. I would also like a collapsible laudry basket. A member washes our laundry so my laundry bag is usually at her house because it takes a few days to wash everything. I usually don`t have a place to put my dirty clothes. Also can you send me regular Uno. A lot of missionaries have it. It`s a great game to play with people. There`s also this game called It Came to Pass. It`s probably at Deseret Book. I`ve played it a few times. It`s another good game to play with people. I`m also almost out of Nutella. That does not exist down here. Another bottle of that would be nice. The best way to send it is using the USPS Flat Rate boxes. The correo down here never checks those because they take too long to open. Put a lot of tape on it as well, just to be safe. Gracias.

I have some good news. Presidente Peterson doesn`t care which day we call home. So I figured I`d call the 16th instead of the 9th because everyone will be in town, plus I`ll have more time to talk because everyone else is calling home this Sunday. The 16th also happens to be Mother`s Day down here. Go figure. I`ll probably call around 3 o`clock PM your time. I`m pretty sure it`s a four hour difference, but check that just to make sure. I figured that would make you all happy.

I think that`s about it for now. Until next week...

Les quiero,

Elder Ethan Jones

Real Address

Dear Mom,

Today at district meeting, we found out that the new mission address is different than they originally gave us. So the one I sent this morning is wrong. Ignore it.

The new one is:

Elder Ethan Jones

La Misiòn Uruguay Montevideo Oeste

1175 Enrique Martìnez

Montevideo , Uruguay

C.P. 11.600

Thanks. Love ya lots. Talk to you next week.

Love,

Elder Ethan Jones

Sorry it`s late. ¡Get over it!

Dear Family,

Sorry I didn`t write yesterday. I went Montevidoe yesterday to sign my visa. I am now a legal resident of Uruguay . Rock on. The only place I saw to use the internet was really expensive so I decided to write today. We spent the day walking around Montevideo . We went to Plaza Independencia. That`s where the all the government buildings are. We also went to the ocean. The best part was going to Burger King. There were four of us. We all spent about 15 dollars. Worth it? Ithink so. I would send some pictures home to show you what I ate, but my camera is being stupid. It`s not working. I`ll try next week. We got back to Paysandù about 10:30 last night. It was a fun Pday.

We had bad numbers last week. My comp, Elder Guardipee, has pneumonia. He`s had it for almost two weeks now. He has medicine so he`s getting better now. We were inside most of the time. He slept and I looked at Ensigns. Hopefully we`ll be able to work more this week.

I gave a talk on Sunday. I spoke for almost twenty minutes. I was only supposed to speak for ten minutes. I even had to leave some stuff out of my talk. I think it`s ironic that I was never able to take up all of my time when I gave a talk in English, but in Spanish, I have to take stuff out of my talk in order to finish on time.

I hear the Hatches moved out of the ward. That`s a bummer. They were a good family. Who is John Riding. You said he gave a talk on Sunday. Are there any other new people in the ward?

How was the musical? From what Jenny said, it sounded great. I have a few picrures from Jenny, Send me more though. Weston, you got a free bass. You lucky little boy. You`re also going to Orlando ? Maybe you`ll see Ryan or Branton. They`re both in Orlando on their missions.

Is everything pretty much ready for the wedding? Is there a weeding announcement coming to me? Are you going to display my missionary plaque like we did with Valerie`s at Jenny`s wedding? Take some good pictures for me.

I will get to call home on on Mother`s Day. I thought that we could do the same thing we did with Valerie. Dad can get a calling card. I`ll call to give you my phone number, and then you can call me back. That way, I won`t have to spend a lot of money on the phone bill. I`m pretty Uruguay is four hours ahead of Arizona right now. You might want to check that to make sure.

Can you put some more money in my account? I`m going to buy a shoulder bag today. It`s about 35 dollars. I also want extra for paying bills and stuff. Gracias.

I think that`s about it for now. I don`t have any more news. Until next week...

Les quiero,
Elder Ethan Jones

P.S. This is my new address:

Elder Ethan Jones
La Misiòn Uruguay Montevideo Oeste
Agraciada 2893 #401
Montevideo Uruguay 11.600

Wut Up

Hola Familia,

¿Como esta todo? Everyone sounds busy. Are you going crazy Mom with all the Jamboree stuff? Probably. What about you Dad? Almost there. I`ll get my new mission president about two weeks before you leave. Weston, you should send me some pictures from the musical so I can laugh at you. Oh ya and what`s this I hear about you going on your first date? You`re taking after me. Haha. Let me know how the musical goes

We had a crazy week last week. We had zone conference on Wednesday. It was a great zone conference. Presidente Peterson talked about the Expiaciòn. It was great. At the end, he showed Elder McConkie`s final talk just before he died. He spoke abou the Expiaciòn. I have always wanted to hear that talk. It was as good as I thought it would be. I highly recommend it. This was a big zone conference. We had three zones together instead of the ususal two. For lunch, all of the Hermanas made us subs. I was able to understand about 90% of what Presidente Peterson said. He speaks in Spanish because there are Latinos. It was nice. I kind of felt like an experienced missionary. We only have one more zone conference with Presidente Peterson before he goes home.

We had an awesome baptism on Saturday for a ten-year old boy named Christian. His baptism was very interesting. Last Friday night, the night before the baptism, his mom told us that he can`t get baptized. She said he had been disobedient. To punish him, she said he couldn`t get baptized for a couple of weeks. Elder Guardipee and I were very frustrated when we left. We were defenitely doubting that Christian was going to get baptized. That night, we went home and I prayed for the two of us to know what we should do. After the prayer, I felt that we should have our district leader, Elder Lopez, go and talk to the mom. On Saturday, Elder Guardipee and Elder Lopez went and talked to the mom. I waited outside the church with Elder Liciolli. About 45 minutes later, we saw Elder Guardipee and Elder Lopez walking towards us with Christian. Christian had a big smile on his face. Elder Lopez talod Christian`s mom that baptism is a learning experience and that after baptism we have to be more obedient. His mom agreed. Elder Lopez interviewed Christian and he was set to be baptized later in the day. Afterwards, we bought him a tie so he could where it to church every Sunday. The story doen`t end there though. There is so much more. The baptism started a half hour later because we were waiting for everyone to arrive. We asked one of the ward members to give a talk. She was also the one that had the keys to unlock the baptismal font. Her name is Hermana Silva. She showed up right on time. About ten minutes before we started, we realized Hermana Silva was gone. We looked everywhere for her. Finally, we gave up and Elder Guardipee gave the talk. We started the service. Everything was going well. The time came for him to get baptized. We walked into the room where the font is and sat down. I tried opening the door to the font. It was locked. I asked the bishop where the keys were to unlock it. He said, "I don`t have the keys for the font. Hermana Silva has them." Eldre Guardipee and I didn`t know that she was the one who had the keys. If we had known that, we would have taken the keys from her. Soooo, the bishop went looking for Hermana Silva while the rest of us watched clips from the Doctrine and Covenants DVD. The bishop showed up a half hour later, with the keys. Christain finally got baptized. The rest of the service went smoothly. At the end of the service, Elder Guardipee and I were talking to the bishop. He made the comment that Satan was really working hard to keep this baptism from happening. He knew that Chrisitian would be a great member of the church. He didn`t want him to get baptized. Well, he lost, big time. It was a very memorable and awesome experience. Christian was confirmed yesterday. His mom also came. She has been inactive for along time. As we were filling out the baptismal registro, she told us that she wants to start coming back to church with her son. Heavenly Father is blessing that family more than they can imagine. Their family is living proof of how the gospel blesses families.

All is well here. I`m eating alright I guess. Paysandù is one the most expensive cities in Uruguay . We really have to stretch our money. I`ve had to use some of my personal money. The most common food that we are fed is fideos con tuco. Sometimes it`s good, but usually it`s not. It`s very oily and very bland. I eat cereal a lot. Big surprise. We also eat a lot of rice and beef. I really miss your cooking mom. Oh well.

We have a new mission address. The mission office moved. However, I forgot the paper with the address on it. So ,next week, I`ll remember it and email the address to you.

I do get to call home on Mother`s Day. I guess I need to send the info pretty soon. I better get on that.

I know I`m forgetting to mention some stuff, but I can`t remember right now. I`ll remember it later. I guess that`s it for this week.

Les quiero mucho,

Elder Ethan Jones

Me

Dear Family,

Hola. All is well here in Paysandù. I like my area. The work is going well. We found quite a few new investigatorsw last week. Two people actually found us. It was about 7:30 in the evening. We taking our laundry to a member that washes it for us. As we were walking, an old couple stopped us and said, "Do you just teach or do you help people too." We said both. We ended going to their house and talking until 9:45 or so. The wife just kept talking to us. She would not stop. She has so many problems. She told the reason she stopped us was that she saw a light around us and that she knew she needed to talk to us. That was neat. They`re both really open to our beliefs. They both went to church yesterday. They have a baptismal date for May 1.

The Jamboree is close. I assume that you`re in charge of distributing the uniforms Mom, since Dad is always at work. Fun for you. Too bad I`m not there to enjoy the chaos.

This is the week Dad. The best week of the year. I told a bunch of other Elders how many hours you work every week. They were very surprised. They said you were crazy for working that much.

How`s YW Mom. Is it keeping your life busy? Why won`t you go rappelling? It`s not scary. Tell Bishop Brubaker that when I get home, I want to go repelling and windsurfing and that he has no option. Thanks

Cameron, how`s little league. What`s your record so far? Thanks for the updates on the Dbacks. They started the season off good. Let`s hope they keep doing well.

Weston, how`s the musical? Is it taking up all of your life? Stupid school stuff. All it does is take up our lives. I think we would all be better off without it. Do you agree? Where are the emails man. Do you not care about your dear brother?

A lot of stuff is happening in stake apparently. Nice. Make sure you tell me who the new second couselor is.

I think that`s it for this week. Time to go to work. We have a lot planned tonight. Love you all.

Love,

Elder Ethan Jones

I love conference

Dear Family,

How`s everything going? How was Easter? How was conference? I loved it. It was awesome. I learned a lot. President Monson`s talk Sunday morning was awesome. Remember the story he told about Jason, the boy in the hospital? Remember that picture they showed of Jason at the hospital with his brother when he opened his mission call? His name is Kyle Gurr, the one that got his mission call. He was at the MTC the same time as me. He is in the other mission in Uruguay . He is a good kid. He told me the story of his brother one Sunday. I knew exactly who President Monson was talking about before he showed the picture. It was neat that President Monson used that story in his talk. Elder Andersen`s talk was also great. I liked that he used the story of the Forrests. That was a very powerful talk. That family has had a hard time, but they chose to react in a positive way. Those talks were even better because they were more personal. This was a great conferene. I can`t wait for October.

Easter was good. It`s a big deal here. The whole week before Easter is a holiday. It`s nuts. It`s so busy. Last week was a slow week for missionaries here. It was changes plus Easter. This week should be a lot better. I really like my new area. My area is the center of the city. The people are good though. There are six Elders that live in our house. We live on the seventh floor. It`s pretty cool. The zone leaders live in the house so it`s always crazy. It`s fun though. It`s starting to really cool down. It`s getting really chilly. I`m going to be using my sweaters in a couple of weeks.

I was given some tips about sending packages. You need to send packages in the USPS flat rate boxes. Those get through about 90% of the time. Customs won`t open them because it takes too long. Next time you send a package, do it that way. I did get the candy and pepto. Thanks. They will be out to good use. Oh ya, about the waterproof bag, don`t worry about. I found some here. Don`t worry about sending one. If it was already sent, oh well.

I think that`s about it for this week. I guess I get to talk to you all in a month. Wow. Oh ya, today is my five month mark. That doesn`t seem like a lot, but it has flown by. All the other missionaries tell me it just gets faster. It better slow down. Anyways, I love you all.

Love,

Elder Ethan Jones