Week 87: Sacrifice Saturday part 3

2/29/16

Hey everyone!

I heart y'all to know that I love and miss each of you, and hope that you're doing well!

We have had a lot of things going on! We had a temple trip this past week, which was a nice break from the average day. I was able to
receive a confirmation about going home June 17th! On Saturday we had another mission wide Sacrifice Saturday (like the ones Elder
Palmer and I started :) ), except this time it was more focused on meeting the members of the Church in our mission to encourage  them to do
missionary work. We fasted all the day long. Elder Anderson and I had a bunch of appointments in the morning cancel, which was unfortunate,
but we kept ourselves busy through street contacting!

It was a lot of fun, and I learned a huge lesson about enduring to the end! Every time I wanted to drink water or eat something, I told
myself that I could wait another hour. Each hour I waited got me closer and closer to ending our fast at 8pm. Heavenly Father knows we
have the capability to finish anything as strong as when we started.  If someone asked me to serve a mission, and all they told me was that
it lasted for two years, that would be hard. But if they told me that 2 years could be broken down into transfers (6 weeks), my first goal
would be to make it to the end of the first transfer. Once you finish that first six weeks, you realize that it is not as hard to finish the next one either. The Lord asks us to take steps, not leaps. I love my mission and I love learning!

Here's another shoutout to those going on missions in the future: be prepared to be obedient and to work hard, but also be prepared to have
the time of your life! I can't think of a happier time in my life than the time I have had to serve God and his children. But make sure
you're ready to work. That is what a mission is about.

Hope y'all have a great week! Make sure to write!

Elder Jones

Week 86: June 17th

2/22/16

Hey everyone!

I hope y'all are doing well. Life has been a little crazy.

Today was transfers, and although neither me or Elder Anderson are getting transferred, we had to move out of the members' home that we were living in. It was a little sad to leave; I've never had people treat me so much like part of their family. They were said to see us go, even to tears. So we've spent the day moving into, as well as deep
cleaning, our new apartment.

The week has been awesome! We started teaching the non-member kids of the lady who got baptized a couple weeks ago. We're pretty excited about that! They seem like good kids! The way we started teaching them was due to a bet Elder Anderson made with one of the kids to play them in a game of basketball on our p-day. If he won, these kids (all either in high school or graduated) take the lessons; if Elder Anderson lost, we would wash the teenage daughter's car for the next 4 months. Needless to say, he won and so we are teaching them!

I got word this past week that my official release date is June 17th!  That's a bitter pill to swallow. And it's not too far away. Sure, I'll be excited to see everyone at home, but the mission moves way too quick. I don't think I've learned enough yet.

I love you all! Write if you have time!

Elder Jones

Week 85: Momentum!

2/15/16

Hey everyone!

My week was great! To start off, the baptism on Saturday was great! We again had a really big turnout and the kids getting baptized had a great experience! Sam, Sally, and Morgan had an awesome time and they
did say that they felt different after that. They are so solid!

After the baptism, A member from one of my old areas picked us up to go do some service at his house. The family had invited a non-member friend from the ward I'm currently serving so that he could introduce Elder Anderson and I to his non-member friend. The job was to empty a load of dirt out of a pick-up truck and then to spread it around, all while laying down stones to make a pathway to the backyard. It was weird being in my old area, but it was fun because we were able to meet the friend, and have dinner at their house!

Now that our teaching pool has diminished, we are beginning to really focus on finding more new people to teach. That means lots of street contacting and asking for referrals, so that should be fun! Our zone is doing really well, too! There are some struggling zone members that we are trying to help out, so we will keep working on that.

I was reflecting on how much my Gospel study has improved in the past couple years, and it just makes me feel really happy! Although I don't notice too many changes in myself, I have noticed that my faith has increased a great deal! Believing, and believing strong enough to act really aren't too much of a struggle for me, but the real test will be when I get home! We'll just have to see how that goes!

Hope y'all are doing well and that you are looking for missionary opportunities!

Elder Jones

Week 84: Baptisms and Broken Baptismal Fonts

2/8/16

Hey everyone!

Surely it's weeks like these that make missionary work worth it! I just love being able to recognize and feel the influence of the Holy Ghost in my life because there is just an outpouring of the Spirit in the mission field.

The baptism on Saturday was really nice. Janine (the lady being baptized) was so excited! Before the baptism, her husband Rex was very nervous because he was the one performing the baptism. We, and a close friend of his in the ward, gave him a blessing to calm his nerves. The turnout by members of the ward and members of Janine's family was great. It was easily the biggest turnout I've seen on my mission. We had so many people, we started the service in the chapel, and then proceeded to walk to the Relief Society room (where the font was). We didn't bother setting up chairs to watch the baptism, so everyone just stood. It was quite touching!

We all walked back to the chapel. While Janine and Rex were changing back into their church clothes, Elder Anderson and I taught the Restoration. We bore powerful testimony of Christ, the Restoration, and Joseph Smith to a congregation of people (many of which were not LDS). The Spirit in the room was so powerful; I will surely never forget that moment.

The baptism was great and all, but everything ended on a weird note because the stopper in the drain of the font was broken. It usually had a little handle that the person doing the baptism could just pull up on to drain the font, but that handle was broken off. To make a long story short, we called a member who brought swim trunks and a toolkit. He got in the font and fiddled with it for a couple hours. Finally by 9:30pm he got the stopper out and we could go home. 😴 That was kind of a crazy story.

In other good news, we have 3 more baptism this coming weekend. Sam, Sally, and Morgan are amazing kids who have an amazing mom! We had their baptismal interview on Saturday, and then Sam brought a friend to church on Sunday! It is so exciting when you're investigators start being missionaries before they are even baptized!

Well, that's all I have for this week! Hope to hear from y'all!

Elder Jones

Week 83: Snow, Baptisms, and a lot of a Food!

2/1/16

Hey everyone!

We woke up today to snow flurries and high speed winds. Considering it was 70 degrees  2 days ago, the weather definitely got volatile.

My week was crazy busy, evenings booked. Elder Anderson and I both agree that this has been probably some of the busiest times of our missions. I talked about Janine in my past couple emails: well, she's getting baptized this coming Saturday. We are hoping her husband gets to baptize her! They are such a strong couple and are a good example of how the Gospel and the Book of Mormon can change hearts. They truly have "no more disposition to do evil, but to do good continually" as it says in Mosiah. The kids we are teaching--Sam, Sally, and Morgan--are getting baptized next Saturday! They have such an awesome recent convert mother and have changed so much since we've started teaching them. They have firm testimonies of the Gospel, Jesus Christ, and Joseph Smith. It's incredible to see. After that, we have some more people who should be getting baptized in the next couple months. These wards are great!

The wards are so great that we get over fed! We have had 2 dinners a night for 3 out of the past 4 nights! I'm probably going to come home 30 pounds heavier 😭

Other than that, life is good! That's not to say it hasn't been tough, but it has been good! I definitely feel the love of Heavenly Father here! I'm so grateful to serve here!

Have a great week!

Elder Jones