Week 100: I'm Alive

5/30/16

Hey everyone!

I'm alive!

I survived the first week of the transfer! The best part? Things are surprisingly going better than I anticipated! Obviously, I probably won't find 50 people to baptize in the next couple weeks, but I am so glad that the Lord entrusted me to help build the area slowly and surely. I am also humbled to be able to serve with Elder Mingo and Elder McClure. They are both two very good young men. We were able to go to the temple this past week, and I had a great experience. Over the course of this past week, I have come to love Elder Mingo a lot! Even though we struggled as companions 16 months ago, my plan of attack is to just be his friend. It helps that we are in a trio as well.

We had an amazing experience this past week. We were walking in a neighborhood when we contacted a guy on the other side of the street from us named Earl. Earl is African-American, and just retired from the Airforce. He originally said he wasn't interested, so we left him a card and went on to knock another door. We were walking back by his house on the way to the car when he walked out of his house. I waved to him, and then he, surprisingly, called out to us and asked us to come talk to him. He invited us in and we taught him the Restoration. The coolest part was how humble he was. He said he had thought about our first conversation and pretty much said ,"Why not talk to them?"  And invited us back. It was also his birthday, and the funniest thing

was that he said that when he walked out to look for us he was praying that we would walk by again, and if he couldn't see us, he would have gotten in his car to go look for us. He ended up coming to church on Sunday, and had a good experience! He is so prepared to learn about the Gospel!

Hope y'all have a great week!

Elder Jones

Week 99: Love you

5/23/16

I love you dad! I'm so grateful for the example you have set! I am also quite excited for the new bishopric. It is definitely a little funny that the young men's leadership has transferred to the bishopric! It will be great to see Bishop Ward and Brother Pace again. Tell them I say hi!

Things were a little bit sad today. I have been transferred to a new area which is pretty much just down the street. My new companions (I'm in a trio) are Elder McClure and...Elder Mingo! Even though I wasn't expecting to be companions with him again (President said he wouldn't do that) I am definitely excited and happy to be given a second chance with Elder Mingo! He apparently requested to have me in a companionship with him again, so with whatever he is struggling with, I hope I can help him. The next 4 weeks will be great!

My last week with Elder Ernst was fantastic. I left the Springs zone with 7 people set for baptism! All those are scheduled to happen within the next few weeks because all of the investigators are ready to take the next step, they are all just nervous that they aren't ready! I plan to keep them in my prayers, to hope they make it to the waters of baptism and then to continue forward! We had an amazing visit with Jackie on Sunday. Her concern is that there are too many competing priorities for her to be focused on being baptized, but she seemed much more committed after we finished teaching her!

Things are going great dad! I hope you are doing well! I'm excited to see you again, but until then...keep on keepin' on!

Love,

Elder Jones

Week 98: Last Week in Bishopric

5/16/16

Hey dad!

Don't you fret about being released because it's going to be hard for me to be released soon anyway! 😭 You have
been a great example of gospel service since you were called to be in the bishopric! As far as transfers go, that will
probably happen next week! I have my classes planned out if you get on my BYU account. Look for something
myMAP on the BYU website and look for the list. I can't remember them offhand.

This week was amazing. As I am wrapping up my time in this area, the work just gets better and better! We finally got
to meet with Jackie again. She really noticed the lack of the Spirit in her life in the week she wasn't meeting with us! 
She recommitted herself to being baptized on June 7th. The two kids we have been teaching have their adoption 
paperwork almost completed! Their mom texted us today and asked us what date we thought might work. They 
are now set for June 11th! The last lesson that we had with the kids was funny because the 9 year old boy asked us 
what God looked like as a little kid. We asked him if he meant Jesus, and then he said that he had meant to say.
So pretty much he asked what Heavenly Father looked like, and we didn't have an answer. Some of those mysteries
are better left unanswered!

There were tons of little spiritual experiences this past week! I had been studying the talk by President Russell M. 
Nelson called "The Price of Priesthood Power". I have been trying to figure out what I can do to develop greater 
priesthood power. The answer came in a quote shared by the Elkhorn Springs Stake President yesterday in 
sacrament meeting: "When obedience ceases to be an irritant and becomes our quest, in that moment God will 
endow us with power." (Ezra Taft Benson)

I thought that was such a true quote. We simply need to be obedient to receive the blessings God wants to grant us!

Love you dad! Have a great week!

Elder Jones

Week 97: The Lamb of God by Rob Gardner

5/9/16

Hey everyone!

It sounds like everyone is doing pretty well! That hour to talk on Skype always goes by so fast! It was great to see the family. This week ended up being chalk-full of meetings. That wasn't the most fun, but that was intermittent with different opportunities to serve.

Like I said, things in the area are doing pretty well! We have a lot of people who will get baptized down the road, but nobody immediately on the docket. Not a lot there is to complain about. I have many opportunities to minister to my investigators and my zone members, and to exercise the priesthood when circumstances allow. It is so true that we need to be ready to use the priesthood whenever we are asked. We had an experience yesterday in which we went with a recent convert family to the performance of The Lamb of God by Rob Gardner over at the Smith Center. The performance was awesome and the Spirit was really strong. Afterwards, we were getting ready to exit when an older couple hobbled down the stairs. I guess that the wife had just thrown up in the row she was sitting in. She was feeling dizzy and her husband asked us to give her a blessing. Afterwards, the lady said, "You know, Elders, there was definitely a reason you were here, other than watching the performance." I felt the Spirit, knowing that the Lord put us in a place to use the priesthood! It was a humbling experience.

I hope y'all are still doing well! I'd love to hear from each of you, so make sure to write!

Love,

Elder Jones

Week 96: Elder Holland

5/2/16

Zach and Austin Chambers during Elder Holland visit

Hey everyone!

Our week was good! Unfortunately, Jackie decided to stop taking the lessons for right now because she doesn't feel she is ready to pay tithing right now. That and a couple other of the commandments are some of her hang ups. Although that was sad, we were able to set a couple of the kids we have been teaching for baptism this month. We are still pushing hard in making a lot of member visits because we have such good members in our areas! It is nice to have strong support from your ward members as a missionary! Considering where these wards were when I first got here, they have grown so much!

Elder Holland visited our mission this past week in a combined conference between our mission and the other Las Vegas Mission. He took group pictures with both missions, shook hands with all 400 missionaries, and trained us on how to improve our teaching skills.  Him and President Lynn G. Robbins of the presidency of the seventy
have apparently been on the road for the past 10 days or so, presiding at meetings and conducting leadership training all over the southwest.  Elder Holland talked about the importance of helping our investigators
to feel the Spirit wherever they are at in terms of their progression towards baptism. It was such a good training.

Things are going really well! I love y'all and hope you have a great week!

Elder Jones

Mission Leadership Council early May 2016