This is a Short Letter

Dear Family,

It`s nice to know that someone cares enough to write me. Oh well. I guessthere`s a reason why no one else wrote to me. How is everything back home?How`s everyone doing? I`m doing well. I`ve had some stomach issues the lasttwo days though. I woke up Saturday night with an upset stomach. It wentaway pretty quick though. Yesterday, around five in the afternoon, mystomach started hurting me again. It was really bad this time. I wasnauseous and weak. I laid in bed for three hours before Ifinally fellasleep. I felt pretty good this morning when I woke up. I think I`m better.

Before I forget, I have some thinks I need to ask. Nathan, what is the nameof those stomach pills you used on your mission? You said they worked reallywell. I want to see if I can find them here. I also need a few more things.I need Q-tips, probably a few boxes. They do not sell those here, and I`mgetting really low. Could you also send another bottle of Pepto. They do notsell that here either. Lastly, can you try and send me a waterproof shoulderbag. My backpack isn`t waterproof. Plastic bags don`t do a good job. I`mtrying to protect my scriptures. I want one that I can put my scriptures,glasses, and water bottle in. I`ve looked down here, but I haven`t seenanything. If you can`t find anything, don`t worry.

Anyways, how`s the Jamboree coming? It`s getting close. How`s school goingfor Weston and Cameron? Did Cameron make it to majors? I forgot last week,so I will mention it this week. Happy Anniversary Emilie and Irving. I don`tknow what else to say. I hope everyone is doing well.

Love,Elder Jones


MyLDSMail was updated. I have a new email: ethan.jones@myldsmail.net

Happy Statehood Day

Hola Familia,I´m in Salto today for pday. Changes are this week so pday is today insteadof yesterday. I´m staying in Bella Uniòn with Elder Da Silva. This will behis third change there. I will mostly likely be in Bella Uniòn for threechanges as well. Everything is going well. My feet aren`t really botheringme. They`re sore at the end of the day just because we walk a lot. Theorthotics really help. I`m staying healthy. I have been eating well. I eatcereal in the morning(big surprise). We eat lunch with the members. Theyfeed us well. We eat a lot of pasta. It`s so bland. There is no flavor. Idon`t like it very much. We also get a llot of beans and rice. I like itwhen we eat that. It`s usually pretty good. For your information, I think Iam gaining weight. One of my belts fits me now. At the beginning, it didn`tfit me well, but now it does. I do need some stuff. Even with sun block, Istill get sunburned. I would like some Solarcain, the spray on kind. Thatstuff works really well. I could also use some more memory cards for mycamera. I have a 4 GB and and a 1GB. I think two more 4 GB cards wouldprobably last me most of my mission. I think that would be the easiest wayto save all my pictures. I can`t think of anything else.

We have been having a lot of rain. It will rain one day and be super hot thenext. The weather is weird. It should start cooling down next month. I`mlooking forward to the cooler weather.

It sounds like all is well back in the Valley. Will and Charisse are engaged. The plan worked. Rock on. I`m still waiting to hear about another engagement also. Any news on that? You know which one.

Carnaval started last weekend. Its the Mardi Gras of South America. BellaUniòn has been preparing for it for a couple of weeks. It`s very popular inBella Uniòn. It`s supposed to last for a couple of weeks. Luckily it onlyhappens at night so we don`t have to deal with the crazy people.

Before I forget, Happy Birthday Arizona and Happy Birthday Brisa. I guess Ishould also say Happy Valentines Day for those that celebrate it.

I hope everything is going well. It sounds like you are all staying busy.From the letters I`ve gotten, it sounds like the grandkids are doing well.I`m about out of time for today. I`ll say more next week. Thanks for everything.

Les amo.

Love,Elder Jones

Go Saints

Dear Family,

How`s everything going? I`m doing good. I do sweat a lot, however, I haven`tsweat a lot the last few days. We had thunderstorms all day Thursday,Friday, and Saturday. The rain took a break yesterday. It got really hot andI was sweating like crazy. Thankfully, the rain is back today. It rainedthis morning and it looks like more rain is on the way. My clothes areholding up fine. I`ve had to sew a couple pairs of pants but nothing major.The seamstress at Pomeroy`s didn`t sew my pants very well. I have worn mylomg sleeve shirt twice since I got to Uruguay. I wore it to ZoneConference, and I wore it when I performed a baptism. It`s going to stay ona hanger until winter.

I didn`t write letters last week to Jenny and Paul or Brian and Shelly. Ididn`t have time. Eventually I will get a letter written to everybody. I`llprobably hand write them because I don`t have enough time to email everyone.

Our investigators are progressing nicely. Moises came to church yesterdayand got confirmed. Veronica didn`t come. She said she was going fishing.Lame excuse. We have some work to do with her. She doesn`t understand theimportance of the Espìritu Santo. We`ll keep working with her. We watchedFinding Faith in Christ yesterday with the son of Moises. He`s probably inhis early twenties. He said he would like to learn more. We get newinvestigators a lot. We got four new ones last week. We are going to staybusy.

Elder Da Silva`s dad is the president of La Misìon Uruguay Montevideo. It`snice having a companion whose dad is a mission president. Elder Da Silva`sdad told us about our new mission president. He is from Utah. He wouldn`ttell us his name though. I`m sure you guys could find out if you looked inthe Church News.

It sounds like the family is doing good. James and Brisa are learning towalk. Fun times for there parents. Travis is getting ever bigger. Kayli isdoing good, and Hazel quit dance. Brian told me all that last week in hisletter. She is a funny girl.Tryon number two is due on your birthday Mom.Nice.

How did tryouts go for Cameron? I`m sure he did fine. Weston made it intothe regional orchestra. I`m glad I never had to do that. I lacked themotivation, but congrats to him anyway. The Jamboree is getting closer. Iwish I could go again, but I`ll be doing something better.

I wish I was helping with Sharing Time. I loved that. That Sunday was alwaysfun. The best one was a few years ago with Bishop Brubaker. Dad probablyremembers that. Good times. Are the Young Men helping or is it only theYoung Women?

How`s Water Mart doing? You talked with Neil Mom. He still hasn`t turned inhis papers? What the heck. I hope Connie is doing good. Just so you know Istill have water duties here. We have a water cooler in our house, and whenwe run out I get to put the new one on. All that traing I had at Water Martwas for a reason.

I have learned a lot about Uruguay the last 5 weeks. First, EVERYBODY drinksmate. They walk around with their cup of mate and an insulated mug full ofhot water. I think it looks gross. I think the best description is that itlooks like horse poo. Anyways, second, fùtbol is huge down here. It is verypopular. I`m not surprised though. Third, everyone has a motorcycle. Somepeople have cars but mostly motorcycles. Fourth, everything dies duringciesta. You guys can ask Nathan about ciesta. Artgentina practices it too.Those are the most prominent things I have seen so far. If I see more, Iwill add to the list.

That`s enough rambling from me. I hope everything is going well. Thanks forthe updates. Oh ya, go Saints. Take that Payton Manning. Have a good week.

Un abrazo de oso

Elder Jones

3 Months Already

Dear Family,

How is everything? My three month mark is on Friday. Wow. That was a quick
three months. Anyways, how is the nice, cool weather? I wish we had nice
weather here. So far today hasn`t been too bad, but it will get bad by the
end of the day. Last week was really hot. It`s so hot that Elder Da Silva
and I can`t sleep at night. We are going to buy another fan today and see if
that helps. Elder Da Silva wants to ask Hermana Peterson if we can buy a
portable AC. That`probably won`t happen since the cheapest one is 6000
pesos.

Last week was very busy. We met with a lot of our investigators. A lot of
them are progressing very well. The older brother of a recent convert told
us that he needs to be baptized. We were really excited. We are hoping that
after he gets baptized, his mom will become active again. That would be
awesome. What else? Moises and Veronica, two of our investigators that got
baptied last week, failed to show up to church yesterday to be confirmed. It
sucked because we couldn`t call them because most people here do not have
phones. We alsop couldn`t get a taxi because we had no money. Hopefully they
show up next week. We are going to talk to them a lot this week to make sure
they know that they need to come.

I am getting a lot of exercise everyday. Our area is forever far away. We
walk at least 6 miles a day. Fun stuff. My stomach is getting bigger. The
members here give us so much food. I`m usually full after one serving, but
then I have to eat another or else the members get offended because they
think I don`t like the food. So maybe I will put on some weight.

It sounds like everything is going good back home. Thanks for updating my
blog and facebook. Have my friends use the gmail address. Make sure they put
Elder Ethan Jones on the subject line. If my friends do decide to write me,
make sure they put their mailing adress so I can write them back. Have fun
during little league season. Tell Cameron good luck. I know he`ll do well.
If I can make it through tryouts, anybody can. Nice poem Weston. I`m
surprised that came from you. Who knew that you could write? I`m actually
surprised.

Do we have alo of new people in the ward? It sounds like there are. I hope
the ward conferences go well Dad. I am looking forward to getting your
letter.

Bella Uniòn is treating me good. You`re right dad, it is pretty poor. If I
remember I`ll send some pictures home so you can see. There is only one ATM
here so we usually have to wait a while to get our money. I got my monthly
money today. I got 2600 pesos. That`s not a lot though. It`s only like 135
dollars. It gets me through the month though.

I`m going to write some letters to Jennifer and Paul and Brian and Shelly.
They probably won`t get there for a coulpe of weeks though. The mail system
is very slow here.

Anyways. I thinks that`s about it fo now. I`ll talk to ya next week.

Love,
Elder Jones

A NOTE FROM THE SISTER...

If you are enjoying this blog, remember that Ethan would probably enjoy a letter from you. It only takes a minute. If you had time to sit down and read this then you probably have time to write a quick note. Thanks.

This is note from Ethan that came in snail mail.

“I can receive e-mails through g-mail. If anyone wants to do that, the address is urugoest@gmail.com. On the subject like put Elder Ethan Jones so they know who to send it to. Normally, you would only have to put the last name, but there is another Elder Jones in this mission. You can only send new e-mails. No forwarded e-mails, jokes, stories, etc. I cannot respond to there with an e-mail unless it’s an immediate family member.”

or at

ethan.jones.umo@myldsmail.net

Hola

Hola Familia,
How`s everything going? I am doing great. We have had a busy week.
We did a lot. Last Wednesday was Zone Conference in Salto. That was really
neat. At the end, Elder Haviland, Elder McRae, and I got to bear our
testimonies. All of the greenies get to bear the testimonies at their first
Zone Conference. After Zone Conference we did some contacting around Salto
before we had to catch our bus to go back to Bella Uniòn. We almost missed
our bus, but we got back safe and sound.
Elder Da Silva and I had two baptisms yesterday, Moises and
Veronica. We had to go pick up both of them, or else they probably would not
have come. We finally got them there. I got to baptize Veronica. That was
really neat because it ws my first time baptizing someone and I got to do it
in Spanish. Elder Da Silva wanted me to be able to do the baptizing for my
first baptism. Yesterday was vert good.
Today we are in Salto for P-day. We are going back to Bella Uniòn
tomorrow. We left at 3 this morning. I slept the whole way. We have a lot
planned today so it should be fun.
My Spanish is not that good. It`s still pretty hard trying to
understand people. Most of the time I can`t understand people because they
are talking too fast. I ask them to slow down and they immediately start
talking fast again. People always ask me if I know how to talk and I always
tell them I have nothing to say. I tell them that when I can understand them
better I will have more to say. That`s what I`m working on right now, trying
to understand. Eventually I`ll learn. I just need to be patient.
It sounds like you are all staying busy at home. I hope that Blaine
and Nathan are enjoying working on the truck. I`m glad it`s not me. The part
Blaine needs is a sway bar bushing bracket. What else? President Ashby is
right, President Peterson is awesome. I`m going to miss him when we get our
new mission president. We will probably find out who are new mission
president in a few weeks. President Da Silva replaced President Ashby.
It sounds like Ryan is doing well. Can you send me his mission home
address? That way I can send letters to him and Branton. I never sent Ryan a
letter the last time you gave me his address so I assume it`s probably no
good. It sounds like he`s ging to have a lot of work to do now. Fun for him.
What`s with everyone getting pregnant? Didn`t Chelsea just have a
baby? I`m going to have a lot of new people to meet when I go home.
I hope Connie is doing well. Next time you go to get water, can you
tell them I will send pictures as soon as I can. I have not forgotten abou
them. There are just no places in Bella Uniòn where I can print out
pictures.
How was Ward Conference? Was the building pretty full? Bishop Meek
finally got released. He was in a long time. What is he going to do with
himself now?
Thanks for the updates Cameron. The Colts and the Saints are playing
in the Super Bowl. I`m going to say that the Colts are going to win.
Congratulations on making first chair. I only made first chair once in all
the years that I was in orchestra. It was 8th grade.
I am looking forward to your letters Weston, even if you`re doing it
for points. Get your Eagle Project done. Don`t be lazy like me. Remember,
you can`t get your license until you have your Eagle. What`s this I hear
about you being in the school musical? What`s the mission choir?
I think that`s about it for this week. We are staying busy and
working hard. Thank you for your letters. You guys are the best.

Love,
Elder Jones

P.S. Who thinks that I am updating my blog myself? That`s pretty funny.

Another Letter from Elder Jones

Hola Familia,
How`s everything going? Everything is going good for me. This has
been a great week. We have made a lot of progress with our investigators.
Oscar is one of our investigators that is really close to baptism. We have
been giving him a lot of focus. He has been having problems with his wife,
who actually isn`t his wife because they`re not married. Elder Da Silva gave
him some scriptures to read the other day. We asked him if he would go to
church and he said yes. He kept his promise and came to church yesterday.
Elder Mace and Elder Smith, the other two Elders ,here, in Bella Uniòn, had
two baptisms yesterday. Oscar was able to watch those. He said he liked it.
We committed him to bring his wife and two daughters to church with him next
week. He promised us so I hope he does.
Another investigator closet o baptism is Julio. He has had some
problems in the past, but he really wants to change. We give him a few
verses from the LDM to read every night and the next day w ego and discuss
those with him. He is getting really close to baptism. We need to get him to
church a few more times and he will be ready for baptism.
My Spanish is coming along. I still don`t talk that much because I`m
still trying to figure out what the people are saying. I`ll eventually
figure it out. Elder Da Silva has been helping me a lot. I`m glad he`s my
dad(trainer). It must be a missionary thing to call your trainer your dad. I
have been learning a lot of missionary lingo here. It`s like missionaries
have their own set of vocabulary.
I almost broke my knee last week. We were playing volleyball
Thursday night. There is a sports night every Thursday at the church. I was
going up to spike the ball and the obispo was on the other side trying to
block it. I`m not exactly sure what happened. All I know is that the obispo
hit the side of my knee really hard. I couldnt walk on it for a while. It
was a little sore. I`m fine now though. You don`t have to worry Mom.
We gave our landlord a blessing the other night. I annointed and
obviously had to do it in Spanish. It went well. Elder Da Silva had to tell
me what to say at some parts but it went well. I need to practice that a lot
more.
Thanks for the updates Cameron. My companion is Elder Da Silva. He
is from Paraguay. Uruguay is five hours ahead of Arizona. We are on daylight
savings right now, I think. Have fun in Scouts. It sounds like you will.
Axes, knives, and saws. Fun for you and Mom.
It`s nice to hear that things are going well for Will and Sharisse.
They seem pretty serious. Rock on. Mom, it was my English scriptures that I
said were falling apart. I fixed them so they`re good now. You don`t have to
worry about it. Tell Kayli Happy Birthday for me. I forgot to mention it
last week. Also tell Valerie, James, and Grandma Jorgensen Happy Birthday
for me. It`s noche to know that the Church recognizes that I`m a missionary
now. Haha. Question: Why do Emilie and Irving have three foreign Exchange
students? One more question: Could you sace The Beehive that has my picture
in it? I would like to have one.
This is for Nathan. We had lunch with Familia Molina the other day.
He served in your mission about the same time as you. He served from `99 to
`01. He says he kind of remembers an Elder Jones. I`m going to show him a
famliy picture when I see him again. I was just wondering if you remembered
an Elder Molina.
Anyways, I think that`s about it for this week. You guys are the
best. Thanks for the support and the letters. Keep praying for me. Remember:
HLJ(Haz lo Justo).
Love,
Elder Jones