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Welcome!

November 21, 2008, 1:13 pm
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Elder Jones will be leaving on his mission
December 10, 2008 for the Tempe Arizona Mission!
He is very excited to serve! We will all miss him very much!
We wish him the best of luck for the next two years!
While he is gone his family will be posting events and pictures
from him mission to share with friends and family.



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Its Official!!!

December 9, 2008, 12:23 pm
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Brandon is now set apart as a full time missionary! It was such a neat experience!!!! He is now in Utah and will be headed to the MTC Wednesday. He is very excited to be a missionary and share the gospel with the people in Arizona. We will be posting pictures soon of his adventures in the MTC so be sure to check back soon!
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The first letter!

December 19, 2008, 12:09 pm
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Elder Jones is having an amazing time in the MTC. His companion is from Alabama!
He is learning so much. He said he is super busy and loving it. He has enjoyed being there very much! He just visited the temple and said it was an awesome experience. We will update again with more details and pictures as we get them! Elder Jones would also like to wish everyone a Merry Christmas.
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Helping Others

January 8, 2009, 7:31 pm
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We recently received an email from someone who recently had an experience with Elder Jones. Here is the Email. The member also took pictures of Elder Jones and Elder Lindsey which are posted below.

Dear Brother & Sister Jones,
We were unloading our car at one of our sons house for our Christmas celebrations with all of our children and grandchildren yesterday when these two handsome young men rode by (Elders Jones & Lindsey) and asked if they could help us unload our car. I said yes and was grateful for their help.
I was 15 when I first saw a missionary, before I knew what "Mormon" meant other than a name for a bridge that crossed the Missouri River between Council Bluffs, Iowa and Omaha, Nebraska, and a year later I became one.
Anyway, I was grateful for their help.

Happy New Year!
Larry & Linda Varney

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Mice and Toast are not a good combination!

January 21, 2009, 11:18 am
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Elder Jones lives in a garage/ shed type contraption and they have a big problem with mice! They have killed a few already and he has been there less than a month! Here is his latest story....
I have another mouse story for ya. So we got home on Sunday from church- we cover five wards although we only go to three, and they are great. Anyways my comp. wanted some toast so he popped some bread in the toaster and as he pushed the lever down then we heard squeaking. Ya we cooked the lil sucker. It smelt horrible after and we threw away the toaster but got a new one.

-- Elder Jones


We will be posting updated pictures VERY SOON so make sure to check back!
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Service, Enchiladas, and More Service 11th P -day in Peoria, 34th P -day in Phoenix

April 21, 2015, 6:54 am
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Service, Enchiladas, and More Service  11th P -day in Peoria,  34th P -day in Phoenix


Dear family and friends,

This week has been great. I hope you all can say the same. The weather
is teasing us with random 75°F days, but other than that life is good!
Random note: I found BBQ flavored bologna at Walmart and it's
surprisingly delicious. Haha! Elder Flynn is on this protein shake
diet to lose weight. Meanwhile, I'm eating my body's weight in
jellybeans every week. :)
Here was my week!

Monday: The usual P-Day stuff. Nothing too special. After P-Day, we
had a really solid lesson with Leah. Sadly, she still doesn't have a
baptismal date. It's coming, though. I can feel it! Elder Rodriguez
from the Spanish ward (Agua Fría Ward) came over for exchanges with me
in my area. Elder Flynn went with the district leader, Elder Canny in
their area.
Temp: 91°F

Tuesday: I spent all day with my main man from Argentina, Elder
Rodriguez! He is hilarious. He also came out with me. We went over to
an elderly couple's home to help him move a freezer and a tv out to
the curb. After that he asked if we could mow his back lawn real
quick. We said of course and went back there. I had never used a
push-mower and neither had Elder Rodriguez. So I did it. It was rough
at the beginning but I got the hang of it. It looked pretty good if I
do say so myself. :) We then went back and studied and had Culver's
for lunch. Elder Rodriguez sure can eat—he ate a triple Culver's
deluxe basket with a chocolate shake. He's smaller than me. (Well,
shorter—he's put on a few pounds....haha) We went out finding for a
bit then had dinner with the Dutry's. The dad works for the Suns so he
was giving me an NBA update. Haha! I got to know Elder Rodriguez
really well which was great.
Temp: 93°F

Wednesday: After studies we went and volunteered at the thrift store
in Sun City. We sorted hangers and sorted books. There were some
interesting books. Hahaha! Afterward we went through the store and
browsed their items. I found three awesome ties for $1 each. Then they
gave us half off for volunteering. So I got three ties for $1.50.
Score!! We had dinner with the Gonzalez family. Brother Gonzalez is
one of the funniest people I've ever met. They have a sweet 1980 VW
Rabbit convertible. I wanted to drive it so bad!!! Haha. After dinner
we went out with Brother Wincek to visit some people. We visited this
old lady who asked for help from the bishop. She's not a member, but
the bishop told us to go tell her to come to church Sunday and
he'd meet with her. She is the definition of crazy. She was all over
the place. She came to church...stay tuned. Then we visited this lady
who turned out to be a practicing Neo Nazi. Good thing she wasn't
home; only her roommate was. Haha. Pretty interesting day.
Temp: 84°F

Thursday: Happy birthday, Olivia! 19 is old! :)
We did a service project in the morning which was alright. It was
almost a bust. We helped homeless people around to different stations
to get them help with what they need. We acted as guides around the
church campus. There were way too many volunteers, so Elder Flynn and
I greeted people at the DES entrance. It was a pretty lax job haha.
After the service I had a pretty bad headache. We had dinner with a
younger couple. After dinner we met with Britney and went over the
baptismal interview questions. Yeah, I don't think I'll ever see
anyone as solid as she is.
Temp: 76°F

Friday: Our old phone was really bad so we got a new phone from the
mission office. It was the first time I had been there in 8 months! It
brought back memories. We had a great district meeting. It was all
about how we can prepare to the max to go back online in the near
future. We also learned how to control our thoughts better and be more
focused on the Work. I really got a lot out of the meeting. After
that, Britney had her baptismal interview!!! She passed, of course.
Her baptism is still set for Saturday, April 25thl. We had
Guatemalan food for dinner. Nope. Never again. We then had dessert
with Chris and had a lesson. She had a great spiritual experience and
is on the path once again. She loves her Elders!!
Temp: 82°F

Saturday: We had an early start to the day! We got up at  5:30am to go
help The City of Peoria clean up the New River Wash. Our whole zone of
Elders went. It took about 2 1/2 hours to finish. We covered about a
mile of wash. I was pretty drained after it! Thank goodness I wore
sunscreen. We then studied and weekly planned. We had dinner with a
member and it was the best food I've had on my mission. She made
homemade, authentic chicken enchiladas. I could eat those every day
for the rest of my life. Then they gave us this delicious chocolate
tuxedo cake. There are no words. SO delicious. We then had a lesson
with Britney and we went over her baptismal program and paperwork.
Still solid!!
Temp: 90°F

Sunday: Church was great as usual. Elder Flynn played a piano solo in
the Oakwood Ward. It was awesome! It's an arrangement of "We'll Bring
the World His Truth." Britney came to church and the Bishop announced
her baptism. There will be A LOT of people there. We came home, ate
lunch, and studied a little. Then we had sweet and sour meatballs and
rice at a member's home. It was good! However, their experimental
jelly bean cookies were....yikes. Haha! They even said they're gross
and we didn't  have to eat them. We then went to a fireside at a
member of the stake presidency's home for investigators, new members,
etc.. It was great! Chris and Leah went.
Temp: 93°F


That was my week. I hope everyone had a wonderful week as well. This
is one of my favorite scriptures:

3 Nephi 11:6-10

6 And behold, the third time they did understand the voice which they
heard; and it said unto them:
7 Behold my Beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased, in whom I have
glorified my name--hear ye him.
8 And it came to pass, as they understood they cast their eyes up
again towards heaven; and behold, they saw a Man descending out of
heaven; and he was clothed in a white robe; and he came down and stood
in the midst of them; and the eyes of the whole multitude were turned
upon him, and they durst not open their mouths, even one to another,
and wist not what it meant, for they thought it was an angel that had
appeared unto them.
9 And it came to pass that he stretched forth his hand and spake unto
the people, saying:
10 Behold, I am Jesus Christ, whom the prophets testified shall come
into the world.


I testify that Jesus Christ appeared to the people in the Americas.
The Book of Mormon brings the good news that God loves all of His
children equally—everywhere in the world. It brings the good news that
He does, indeed, inspire and call people to His holy work at this
time, as in times of old.

Have a great week!

Much love,
Elder Jones
Oakwood / Centennial Wards

Elder Jones and Flag lane:4. This hill had tons of flags. #'Murica

Zone leaders apartment

Elder Rodriguez and Elder Jones on exchanges.

P day zone activity

 Elder Canny, our district leader. (Elder Rodriguez's companion.
He's from Norway!! And 6'6"!)

Helping sort books at the thrift shop.

My, my bike, and flags

 Laundry (today)
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Baptisms and $70 Doughnuts : 12th P Day in Peoria-- 35th P Day in Phoenix Mission

April 28, 2015, 5:24 pm
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Britney Lieze-Gahona baptism
Baptisms and $70 Doughnuts  :  12th P Day in Peoria-- 35th P Day in Phoenix Mission

Hello, family and friends! I hardly have any time to write this email,
so I apologize if it's really short. A couple of great things happened
this week. Here goes!

Wednesday: We went to the thrift shop again to help out. This time we
sorted through incoming donations and put them in their respective
places. It was super fun! After that we had dinner with Chris's uncle
and aunt. They aren't members, but they respect us as missionaries.
They took is to Texas Roadhouse! I got a really good sirloin steak! I
now know that I love my steak cooked medium. It was perfect! :)

Thursday: It was a great day! We had a big zone conference with three
zones from the mission. We got to hear from the mission presidency and
feel of their Spirit. They fed us delicious tacos from Waldo's Tacos.
It's a taco truck run by members. They fed our whole three zones!
Members then took us to a pretty nasty Chinese restaurant, but it's
okay! The members are awesome and I don't think they liked it either,
haha. We then went out finding. We got a reassignment from other
Elders. His name is Dion. We knocked on his door and he said, "WHO IS
IT?" We told him it was the missionaries, and he said, "What in the
H-E-Double hockey sticks?!? OH, MEN OF GOD, GET IN HERE." We went in,
and he had some questions. Long story short, he accepted our message
and invited us back. He's a pretty cool black guy. Lots of potential
there!

Friday: We went to a youth fundraiser with a member. Britney was
there, so it was great to see her the day before her baptism! So after
the dinner, they had a dessert auction. Pies were going for like $70
to $100! So we couldn't afford anything, so a member INSISTED that she
buy us a dessert. So she bought us two dozen doughnuts. For $70.
Yikes. Haha! They are good, though! :) Oh, something funny was that we
met this lady there who was raised in Oronogo. She was so excited that
I knew where that is!!! So that was pretty cool.

Saturday: BAPTISM!! Britney was baptized at 11:30! She was so excited
to be baptized. She was confirmed Sunday. She is a new person. :)

We had a great week! I love and miss you all.

Much love,

Elder Jones
Oakwood / Centennial Wards


Elder Jones and Elder Flynn

Newest member: Britney Lieze-Gahona with Elder Jones and Elder Flynn

companions- Elders Jones and Flynn

Multi zone conference

Multi Zone conference

4 zones conference

Elder Jones  and the 2 Peoria Zones...   check out the
The big guy, Elder Langi on the endLeft to right:
Elders Ashby, Owens, Ingham, Johnston, Canny, Davis, Safford (back),
Flynn, Rodriguez, Weston, James (back), Earl, Jones, Timm (back),
Langdon, Frost, Zaugg, Langi.

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Transfers, 100°F Day, and Connections! 13th P day in Peoria, 36th P day in the Phoenix Mission

May 7, 2015, 5:59 pm
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Transfers, 100°F Day, and Connections! 13th P day in Peoria, 36th P day in the Phoenix Mission

Dear friends and family,

Hello, everyone! We had a great week. It was LONG. But good! We got
the news yesterday that Elder Flynn will be transferred out. He has
been here for 9 months, so it was expected. I will miss him, but I am
excited for new opportunities! Oh, and congrats to Olivia on getting
her mission call to Modesto, California! I wish I could have been
there to witness it, but I am still proud nonetheless. California will
be lucky to have her. Here was my week!

Monday: Extremely packed P-day. Again, I apologize for the pitiful
email. We had to do the normal stuff: laundry, lunch, haircut, emails.
Then we had a zone activity! I'll attach the zone photo. It was fun!
We played basketball, glow in the dark dodgeball, and chair soccer. A
member brought us Barro's Pizza for dinner which was delicious. We had
a great lesson with Leah. She finally told us her concerns about
baptism. She really has the desire to be baptized, but her mother
isn't very supportive. Her dad is, but her mom isn't. We told her to
pray to soften her mom's heart. She said she felt relieved that we
weren't upset with her or anything. In fact, we were relieved that she
WANTS to be baptized. We were worried that she didn't want to anymore.
So, good lesson. We got a picture with Leah and the Pottle family.
I'll attach it. Olivia got her mission call! Again, I'm so proud! I
went over to the other Elders' apartment for exchanges with Elder
Canny. 'Twas an interesting night over there, but I'll spare you the
details. Hahahahaha!
Temp: 80°F

Tuesday: It was a LONG day. We got up and changed into service
clothes. Elder Canny and Elder Rodriguez are the "moving Elders,"
which basically means they help the building coordinator move
missionaries in/out of their residences when needed. We had a moving
assignment, so I tagged along since I was there. We rode down to West
Maricopa to an apartment complex to move some furniture out of the
apartment and into the trailer. It was pretty easy; everything was
already out and ready to be moved. Plus, the apartment was spotless so
we didn't have to clean anything up. (Apparently the apartments aren't
always clean, haha) Elder Nolan, the building coordinator, took us to
Costco for hotdogs and sodas. It was pretty good, haha. While we were
there we met this lady who was from Columbia, MO! She noticed my Webb
City football MO state shirt. I told her I'll be attending MU after my
mission and she seemed pretty excited to meet someone else from
Missouri. She wasn't the only one who was excited! I was! After Costco
we rearranged one of the storage units. It was HOT. When we got home I
was as sore as I've ever been on my mission. No lie. We then had a
lesson with a Spanish guy named Alfredo. I didn't understand a word
that was said, but I could feel the Spirit. So yeah, long day!
Temp: 91°F

Wednesday: We went to the thrift shop to volunteer. We sorted and hung
up clothes for most of the time. We got to talk to one of the
volunteers there for a while. She had no idea we were out of high
school and out on a mission. I guess the name tags didn't give it
away! Haha. A member brought us Chick-fil-a for dinner because she had
some sick kids. Can't complain! We went out with a member to visit
Dion but he wasn't there. He walked up as we were leaving, and we got
to talk to him for a minute or so and set up a time to come by again.
We contacted a Jehovah's Witness, which was surprisingly fun. We
talked to her and she said she knocks on doors, too. I asked her how
their missionary program works and it was pretty cool to learn about
how they do things. She was very friendly. Obviously, not too
interested, though.
Temp: 93°F

Thursday: Weekly planning. Had dinner with a couple who is serving a
service mission! They're great. After dinner we went out with Bishop
Brewer, our ward mission leader, to visit some people. We taught two
people, one of whom we will be teaching weekly now! He expressed
desire to advance in the Priesthood after being inactive for many
years. I gave him a blessing to comfort him in his work transition.
Very successful day.
Temp: 99°F

Friday: We had zone meeting. We focused a lot on setting reasonable
goals and the importance of setting goals. Elder Flynn and I led a
discussion on doctrinal study. It went really well; the zone leaders
know how much Elder Flynn and I love our doctrinal study, so they gave
us that discussion. So it was pretty easy to prepare and give. After
the meeting, the Winceks took us to dinner. We went to a restaurant
called Rubio's. They're famous for their fish tacos. I can see why.
They were delicious. Best fish tacos I've ever had! President Griffin
called and talked to Elder Flynn about a medical question, and he told
him that he'll be transferred. So we've known for a few days now.
Temp: 100°F

Saturday: After studies we went to a lesson with Dion. He wasn't
there. :( sigh. We will keep trying! Brother Wincek took us around
visiting less-active members, but no one really answered. We tried,
though! We then took my bike over to the bike shop to repair the
brakes. They were almost nonexistent haha. He put new brakes on and
sent me on my way in about 15 minutes. I love that guy in the bike
shop. He's a great guy. He always makes sure the Elders are taken care
of. We then had dinner with a member. He is like 80 years old and he
has a 14 year-old kid. I don't even know. And his wife isn't young
either. Haha! It was a pretty awkward dinner, but still good! We then
had a lesson with Britney. We held it in the church because her A/C is
broken. We watched the Restoration movie on one of the big screen TV's
the church has. The Spirit was strong as Britney bore her testimony
about the Restoration.
Temp: 98°F

Sunday: Church. Same old, same old! 7 hours of church! I found a sign
in the young women's room that had a misspelling. I had to take a
picture of it. I'll attach it. Haha! We had a great break-the-fast
meal with a couple in the Oakwood Ward, the Babbels. (Pretty cool
name, huh?) They told us they used to live right outside Atlanta, GA.
I told them my uncle lived in Snellville, and Sister Babbel told us
that's where they lived! Turns out they were in the same ward and were
actually good friends with my aunt and uncle! We were just talking
about connections when you're Mormon haha. Anyway, it was a great
dinner. We then had a lesson with Alberto at Bishop Crump's home. We
got a picture and I'll attach it too.
Temp: 94°F

Monday: Monday work days are always rough! But we made do. We got the
official news that Elder Flynn is leaving, along with Elder Ingham and
Elder Canny in our district. Elder Canny was made the new Assistant to
the President!! The other elders told us he was freaking out and
basically crying because he just couldn't believe it hahaha. He'll do
great, though! :) We had a lesson with a less-active sister after
dinner. She complimented Elder Flynn and me on our teaching unity. The
Spirit was there. During and before the lesson, a pretty big storm was
rolling it. The wind and familiar rumble of thunder gave me a little
taste of nostalgia. I got a pretty cool picture on our way to
appointment with the clouds in the background.
Temp: 84°F


So that was my week. I'm looking forward to meeting my new companion.
Love and miss you all. Keep in touch!!

Much love,

Elder Jones
Oakwood / Centennial Wards
Arizona Phoenix Mission



Elder Jones with a storm brewing in the background

Alberto and Elder's Jones and Flynn

Elder jones says "Elder Flynn doing what he does best!"

Elder's Flynn and Jones

Leah and the Pottle Family

Elder Jones declares that "towards" isn't a word, I disagree!
I told Elder Jones that in my dictionary it could be "toward " or "towards", this was his response to me.... this REALLY describes him to a "T"!
"Just like God's laws, some people may think the rules can change
because of the ignorance of others. But in reality, the laws don't
change. So it applies in grammar."

Elder Jones with his new copanion Elder Bradshaw from TX

Members in ward Brother and Sister Rawson

Elder Jones with brother and Sister Babbel- they used to live in Snellville, GA and knew Richard and Suzanne family (my brother)


Elder Jones with Elder Canny, he is Norwegian.
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Family, and More Cheesecake! 14th P Day in Peoria, 37th P Day in Phoenix Mission

May 12, 2015, 2:36 pm
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Family, and More Cheesecake! 14th P Day in Peoria, 37th P Day in Phoenix Mission

Dear friends and family,

HELLO EVERYONE! Greetings from Peoria, Arizona! We had a pretty solid
week. It was slower than normal because of the transfer adjustments,
but it was great. My new companion, Elder Bradshaw, is awesome. I knew
him in my last area. It was kinda weird knowing my companion before I
was with him. We get to talk a lot about our Phoenix North adventures.
I actually went on exchanges with Elder Bradshaw in my last area.
Pretty crazy, right? Anyway, here was my week!

Tuesday: P-Day, Elder Flynn packed all day and I sat around all day.
Chris took us to the Cheesecake Factory for dinner and it was
delicious. It never disappoints. Chris took Elder Flynn's leaving very
hard. There is good news, though. I'll explain soon.
Temp: 84°F

Wednesday: Transfers! My new companion is Elder Bradshaw. He has been
out six months and he's from Pearland, Texas. Just outside of Houston.
He was in my zone in Phoenix North, so I know him pretty well. When
President Griffin put us together, we both stood up and cheered. Haha!
It's gonna be a great companionship. A member couple took us to Texas
Roadhouse (go figure haha) for dinner. I got a pretty good steak. :)
After dinner we went around and visited a couple people, but Elder
Bradshaw got to meet our ward mission leader in the Centennial Ward
and our ward mission leader in the Oakwood Ward.
Temp: 88°F

Thursday: Weekly planning. Had dinner with the Winceks. They're a
hoot! Definitely one of my favorite families since I've been on my
mission. They're awesome. We taught Leah after dinner. She's
progressing a lot, her mom just needs to be more open to the idea of
baptism. Leah is 18, but she still wants her mom to support her. She
is golden, though. They gave us ice cream after the lesson, so that
was nice. :)
Temp: 84°F

Friday: We helped a member move in the morning, then came home and
went to district meeting! It was Elder Rodriguez's first district
meeting as the district leader. He did great. He's a natural!! We then
came home and studied for Britney's lesson. We had dinner with a
less-active/recent convert family. They told us they want us to come
teach them the new member lessons! The mom and daughter are the
converts, and they're active. The dad has been a member his whole
life, but is less-active. He said he wants to come back and advance in
the priesthood and eventually be sealed in the temple. He has his
sights set on the prize so we're excited to teach their family once a
week! They're really a great family and it makes me happy that they
will be united eternally soon. :) We had a great lesson with Britney
after dinner. We held it in the church and talked about the priesthood
and the temple. She is excited to do family history and go with her
son to the temple to do baptisms for her ancestors. Her spirit is
impeccable.
Temp: 72°F (yesssssss)

Saturday: Typical Saturday. We had an open afternoon to go finding.
Chris fed us lunch at Culver's. (She knows I love Culver's, so she
takes care of us haha) We talked to her for a while and answered some
questions. We then went finding, but not much luck. I got to show
Elder Bradshaw around, though. So that was good. We then went to the
Oakwood Ward youth fundraiser/auction. The Winceks got us in and we
had dinner there and Elder Bradshaw got to meet the ward. The auction
was pretty funny. After a while one of the kids went up to be the
auctioneer, and he was like 7. He didn't really know what he was doing
but that was the funny part. We had Navajo tacos. Pretty good!!
Temp: 80°F

Sunday: Mother's Day! And Charles's 27th birthday! I got to Skype home
which just made the day perfect. I got to see my family and some
friends! I'll attach some screenshots I took and the "family photo" my
mom sent me, haha. Elder Bradshaw said that six hours of church is too
long! It's pretty long, but he'll get used to it. :) Dinner was super
awkward. Enough said. We then had a lesson with Chris. Here's the cool
part. So Chris was baptized in the Phoenix North stake in the Royal
Palm ward. So she usually attends church there. Chris was very upset
when Elder Flynn left, but we got Elder Bradshaw. He just came from
the Royal Palm ward! So he knows Chris! It was great to see her not as
sad. I think having a friendly face come in was comforting to her. It
was a great, powerful lesson on repentance. Progress is being made!
Temp: 88°F


That was my week. Fairly mild temperatures. Can't complain, really!
Hope everyone out there had a wonderful Mother's Day. I know I did,
and my mom did too.

Love you all!

Much love,

Elder Jones
Oakwood / Centennial Wards
Arizona Phoenix Mission


Skype session on Mother's Day!

We tried to get a Family Picture.  I needs to do a little photoshop work on it.

we tried to get a picture of Olivia and Elder Jones.  Last time they will see each other for 19 months.
trying to get a kiss from Elder Jones!  Not quite the same!
Elder Bradshaw, Elder Jones, Elder Thaut, Elder Flynn
Elder Jones' old and new companion, and Elder Flynn's old and new companion
Chris, Elder Flynn, Elder Jones at Cheesecake Factory

Elder Bradshaw and Elder Jones at Culvers

Elder Jones studying?

Somebody got my phone on Mother's day!

Elder Jones is either hiding, or looking at his map?
I think these two are going to be a fun companionship!

Elder Jones & Elder Bradshaw

Glad to see I can get more pictures from Elder Bradshaw!
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Biking in the Rain 15th P Day in Peoria, 38th P Day in Phoenix Mission

May 19, 2015, 7:09 pm
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Biking in the Rain 15th P Day in Peoria, 38th P Day in Phoenix Mission

Hello, everyone! We had a great week here in Peoria! Apparently this
is the most rain we've had in Arizona I'm May for a long time. Well,
here was my week!

Monday: P-day! We did the normal routine then we went to the stake
center and played some sports with other missionaries. I then saw
three Elders playing the card game ERS and I joined in and dominated.
Haha! Then game went 50 minutes and I emerged victorious. We then had
a lesson with Alberto. Well—we were planning on having one. We showed
up at Bishop Crump's home and waited for Alberto to come. He didn't
show up. We learned later that night that his truck broke down in
Prescott so he had no way to get there. He's in Mexico this week, so
we probably won't be able to meet with him for a little while. We
talked to Bishop Crump about the Work in the ward instead.
Temp: 93°F

Tuesday: We biked around all day. Not too much luck, sadly. My back
and chest were hurting pretty bad. I'm not sure why but it put me out
for a little while. We had a lesson with the Reese family! The mother
and daughter are recent converts and are active, but the dad isn't
active. He has expressed his desire to become active again and to
advance in the priesthood. He feels it will help his family and
himself. We are teaching their family the missionary lessons weekly.
They set their goals toward the temple—I'm honored to be a part of
such a great goal. Brother Reese prayed at the end of the lesson and
it was one of the most powerful events that have happened during my
mission. Anyone who was there would have felt the Spirit as we did.
Temp: 92°F

Wednesday: We went and helped at the thrift store during the daytime.
We sorted through and hung up lots of pants, ties, and pajamas. My
companion for the service was Elder Bunn, the new zone leader. He's a
pretty cool guy. We had dinner with the Moore family and we had super
good fettuccine alfredo. After dinner we went out with a member to
visit some people. No one answered until we tried a phone referral we
got from Church headquarters. We had his name, phone number, address,
AND email address. We knocked on his door and seemed like he had never
even heard of us. He said that wasn't his name, but it was totally
him. Dude, if you hate us so much why did you request missionaries to
bring you a Book of Mormon? Haha. Oh well. It was a pretty funny
experience.
Temp: 90°F

Thursday: Weekly Planning. We took a little break from planning and
played some ERS. I was beating Elder Bradshaw 15 games to 0. He
finally beat me and was so happy. I think the record now is like 20-2
or something. Yes, Jessica, Elder Bradshaw has beaten me more than
you! ;) We didn't have a dinner appointment, so we ate at Culver's for
dinner. My craving was satisfied. Leah's lesson had to reschedule so
we went and knocked on Dion's door. He was there, and he saw it was us
and looked through the screen door and said, "OH, HEY FELLAS!...UH, IM
GETTIN IN THE SHOWER RIGHT NOW BUT UH.....I GOT A PHONE! MY NUMBER
IS....UH....OH, JUST COME IN!" Haha so we went in and he was in his
underwear. He was so embarrassed but we assured him it was okay. He
gave us his cell phone number, told us that we'll meet next week, and
said he's going to keep Sunday open so he can come to church. It was a
HILARIOUS experience. He's a good guy. As we were leaving, Elder
Bradshaw saw that he had a thorn in his tread. He took out his knife
and pryed it out. We heard a pfffffff...... It punctured his tube and
he had a flat tire. We were about 3 miles from home, so Brother Pottle
came and rescued us. It was a pretty crazy night haha.
Temp: 82°F (WINDY.)

Friday: We had a great district meeting. President Juchau (pronounced:
"Jew shaw")  came to the meeting and led a very great discussion about
building bridges with members rather than walls. After the meeting he
drove us to the bike shop to get Elder Bradshaw a new tube. We had
dinner with the Hunsakers. He tried to stuff us with pizza. He's
notorious for insisting that the Elders eat a ton. We held our ground
pretty well! After dinner we had a lesson with Chris. We answered some
more of her questions. It was raining when we left, so we biked home
in the rain. We were pretty dang soaked. Haha.
Temp: 70°F (rainy)

Saturday: We went to Chris's house to help her and her parents move
pictures, clean/repair ceiling fans, and to change some vent filters.
It was pretty fun. Elder Bradshaw loves working on ladders so I left
that part to him. Haha! They fed us some fried chicken and strawberry
shortcake after we finished working. Thank goodness we didn't have a
dinner appointment; we were stuffed! We had a great lesson with
Britney at the church building. We taught about missionary work,  and
she told us of some experiences she's been having at work where she's
shared the gospel! She encourages all of her coworkers to pray. They
see the light in her eyes. It's hard to miss.
Oh—Jehovah's Witnesses knocked on the Alger's door and we opened ours.
They were pretty nice. They gave us a Watchtower thing. Pretty funny
experience.
Temp: 73°F (nice)

Sunday: Church...after church we taught Chris, we finally got into the
Restoration. We almost finished it! She made cookies, and I cuddled
with her dog. I'll attach pictures. :)


Arizona is awesome. I'm loving it here and I'm loving the experiences
that I'm having! I've been reading the Book of Mormon in Alma
recently. I just finished Alma 32. I encourage all of you to read it
or reread that chapter. It is always inspiring.
I love you all and appreciate all of the prayers and support. I can feel it.

Much love,

Elder Jones
Oakwood / Centennial Wards
Arizona Phoenix Mission



My flower for Mother's Day?  In Elder Jones' yard.
My selfie I asked for

After riding home on their bikes in the rain... I think they got wet!

After a visit from another religion

Elder Jones decides he is best at HOLDING the ladder.

Elders Jones and Bradshaw teaching those that will listen!
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Baseball and Tostadas! 16th P Day in Peoria, 39th P Day in Phoenix Mission

May 26, 2015, 5:23 pm
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Baseball and Tostadas! 16th P Day in Peoria, 39th P Day in Phoenix Mission

Hello, friends and family! I hope all had a wonderful week. It was a
fairly mild week here in Peoria, but as I look in the forecast for
this week......not so much. Anywhere from 99°F—106°F all week. So
yeah, summer is here, my skin will soon be as red as my bike! Anyway,
here was my week:

Monday: P-day. The typical. We got haircuts from Sister Moore, so that
was pretty awesome. We had a lesson with Leah which went really well.
Since we've taught all of the lessons, she thought it would be good if
we read the Book of Mormon with her when we come by. So we did that;
we read 1 Nephi 11-12 with her. She really enjoyed the fact that Nephi
was receiving revelation about Jesus Christ while he was still in
Jerusalem. In other words, the Book of Mormon was testifying of what
was happening in the Bible. The prophets in the Book of Mormon—in this
case Lehi and Nephi—understood and prophesied of the Savior. Leah
thought that was pretty cool. After the lesson, we started an exchange
with the Spanish elders. Elder Goehring came to my area with me.
Temp: 88°F

Tuesday: I was with Elder Goehring (gare-ring) for the day. He's a
gringo and has been out 22 months. He is a VERY good missionary. I
learned a lot from him. He was in the drumline and played snare all
through high school, just like me. We got to talk about marching
band—something both of us can't do very much anymore! We played back
and forth on my practice pad. Yeah, we had a good time. Haha! We went
to the thrift shop and did some service there. After service we went
finding. Since Elder Goehring is a Spanish-speaking missionary, he
made a goal to find a Spanish person to talk to. As we were biking
through the trailer park section of our area, we saw a trailer with
Christmas lights. He said, "Oh, they're so Spanish. Let's knock on
their door." They weren't Spanish. Just really rude white people.
Haha! The Pottles took us to "Which Wich". It was VERY good. A million
times better than subway. After dinner we had a lesson with the Reese
family. We taught about prophets and Jesus Christ. Elder Goehring was
able to connect with them well. He even spoke some Spanish to Sister
Reese. :)
Temp: 86°F

Wednseday: We went to the thrift shop again to volunteer. We are doing
it on Tuesdays and Wednesdays now. As we were walking out to the zone
leaders' truck, I see a familiar face wave at me out the passenger
window. Elder Canny was on exchanges with Elder Safford!!! I loved
Elder Canny and when he was made the new assistant to the president he
had to leave that same day. So I didn't get to say bye to him. I got
to spend some good time with him and talk. It was nice! Had some good
Swedish meatballs for dinner. After dinner we had a lesson with Dion.
Lo story short, we went from talking about faith to talking about
whether or not there's life on other planets. Yeah. It was a fun
lesson, though. He's interested and seems pretty solid.
Temp: 91°F

Thursday: Weekly planning. We went to a graduation party for dinner.
It was kinda awkward at first, but we ended up having a good time and
talking to quite a few non-members. They have a mac and cheese cooking
contest and Elder Bradshaw and I got to be the judges. Elder Bradshaw
got to spar a bit with another person who did martial arts back home.
He got a pretty good grass stain on his shirt, though..haha. After the
party Chris had a few questions so we went over there and answered
them.
Temp: 89°F

Friday: Four year anniversary of the Joplin tornado. It's crazy that
it's already been that long. We had district meeting and Elder
Bradshaw and I led a discussion on finding through out own efforts. It
went well. We got a lot of new ideas on how to find more people to
teach! We knocked on a few doors after the meeting and I went and got
new pedals for my bike. My old ones were demolished haha. Chris and
her family had us over for dinner. Her mom cooked authentic, homemade
tostadas. They were spectacular. We then had a great lesson with
Chris. It was such a beautiful night we held the lesson on their front
porch.
Temp: 83°F

Saturday: After we studied, we went over to Chris's home and Elder
Bradshaw helped her nephew, Dallin,  learn how to hit a baseball.
Elder Bradshaw had played baseball for like 8 years, so he coached him
a bit. Dallin really liked us and said that we should be his full-time
coaches. Maybe if we weren't full time missionaries...haha. Dallin's
mom was so grateful that E. Bradshaw was able to help him. By the time
we left, Dallin was hitting 3/4 of the pitches. It was a fun day. They
fed us lunch and we headed out shortly after. We changed and showered
and it was time for dinner again! We had burgers at a member's home.
They have 4 boys: ages 10, 8, 5, 1. We had a watermelon eating contest
with them. We won. Oh yeah! After dinner we had a lesson with Britney.
Of course, she's still doing spectacular. We taught about service and
enduring to the end. She seemed to like it a lot.
Temp: 83°F

Sunday: The typical Sunday, except we had ward council with the
Centennial Ward. After church we had lunch and studied. We were
supposed to have a lesson with Pedro, but he had to cancel. After we
biked all the way down to the corner of our boundary....haha it's
okay, though. We needed the exercise. :)
Temp: 84°F


The forecast isn't looking good for us in the next week. We have been
spoiled in that we had a very mild May. I guess it's time for the
desert to be the desert again. Highs for next week look brutal. I hope
you all have a wonderful week. Keep me in your prayers as I'm keeping
you all in mine. Stay awesome.


Much love,

Elder Jones
Oakwood / Centennial Wards
Arizona Phoenix Mission




crazy picture




Elder Jones with Elder Bradshaw's hat


district picture: Goehring, Rodriguez, Jones, Merrill, Weston, Bradshaw

crazy!

rearranged bedroom



zone leader locked keys in car so they waited 2 hours yesterday for someone from Ford dealership to come unlock the door.

gotta' keep the skills sharp!

Exchange with Elder Goehring

Helping teach investigators son to play baseball (Elder Jones is NOT the teacher!)

other Elders waiting to get back in the car!

Elder Bradshaw teaching boy to bat!  He is the teacher!

Elders Jones and Bradshaw and their student.
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It's HOT.....in This Car!! 17th P day in Peoria, 40th P day in Phoenix Mission

June 3, 2015, 6:27 pm
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Elder Stafford (zone leader) wearing Elder Langi's suit coat
Elder Bradshaw trying to study!
It's HOT.....in This Car!! 17th P day in Peoria, 40th P day in Phoenix Mission

Hello, friends and family! I had a pretty wonderful week. While the
Midwest is experiencing a lot of rain and storms, we're experiencing
really HOT weather. Mother Nature is ticked off! I guess this is what
we get for having an extremely beautiful May. OH WELL! I'm pretty
excited to say that I served through (and biked through) a Phoenix
summer! Anyway, enough rambling. Here was my week!


Monday: P-day. 'Twas fun. It was extremely eventful. We played
ultimate frisbee and flag football at a park in Peoria North stake.
Elder Wolfgramm (Elder Langi's companion, also a Tongan) TRUCKED our
zone leader, Elder Bunn, on accident. He was pretty shaken up. It took
a while for him to stand up. After that we got locked out of the
Spanish Elders' car so we had to wait for a while. Yeah, it was a
pretty full pday. Sorry again that I didn't get to talk to you all
much last week. We went finding at night, not much success because
everyone was partying haha.
Temp: 91°F

Tuesday: A LONG day. We woke up and went to help Britney paint one of
her closets. After being there for a while, we went home and grabbed a
quick bite to eat, then went to Eve's Treasures. They didn't have much
work for us so we left early. We then studied. Studying in the middle
of the day is the hardest thing ever. I don't know why. It's so hard
to stay focused. We then had a DELICIOUS home-cooked meal. They
invited some less-active members to eat with us. It was great to talk
with them and testify of the Atonement. That's the best part of being
a missionary. (Testifying, not the home-cooked meals...:)) After
dinner we had a lesson with Brother Reese. His wife and daughter
weren't there, so we shared a message about Joseph Smith and the Book
of Mormon with him. He's progressing so well. I hope I'm still in the
mission when their family gets sealed in the temple. I want to be
there for that. Dion left us a HILARIOUS message on our phone. He
said, "Hey, guys, this is DION. Just wanted to tell you I have started
reading the 'Mormon book.' I would like to meet sometime this week. I
gotta go, I'm runnin' out of minutes on my Obama Phone. Love y'all.
See ya."
Temp: 94°F

Wednesday: It was a rough day. I was pretty sick up until dinner time.
I still went to Eve's Treasures to help out, though. Our job was
throwing away some stuff that was set aside. There were some crazy
things! I found a brand new leather wallet, so I snagged it. They said
I could just have it. After service I had a pretty crazy headache and
stomach ache. I took some meds and took a small nap. The next thing I
knew, Elder Bradshaw was waking me up at 4:45........and our dinner
was 20 minutes away......so we booked it! Somehow we made it on time.
We had dinner with the Lloyd's, and on Sunday they asked us what we
wanted, and we couldn't decide. They said to think about it and call
them with our decision. We forgot to call them, so they just guessed.
Sister Lloyd said, "Well, you guys never told us what you wanted, so
we just grilled you guys steak." OH DARN. :) It was goooooooolod
steak. After dinner we had a lesson with Leah. We read through a
couple chapters of the Book of Mormon. She's progressing well. Her
spirit is so strong. It's so amazing to see how far she has come. She
said she went to her old church last week with her grandma, and she
told us that—with the knowledge she has now—her old beliefs just don't
make sense. She says she understands God's plan more now. Good day!!
Temp: 96°F

Thursday: Wonderful day. We had a zone training meeting with our zone
and President Griffin. We did a group meeting, then interviews. They
catered Jersey Mike's Subs for lunch. I LOVE Jersey Mike's. We were at
the church until about 4pm. We then had to leave and had a quick
dinner with a member. After dinner we went out with Brother Gonzalez
to visit some people. He is absolutely hilarious. He needed sugar
after our visits and took us to Sonic. For those of you who know me
well, the fact that I hadn't had Sonic in almost 10 months is INSANE.
:)
Temp: 99°F

Friday: Weekly planning. Before planning, we had a quick lesson with
Pedro. It went well. He's still super solid and doesn't have many
questions. He blesses the sacrament every week and I'm pretty sure I
saw him teaching in priests quorum. Since he graduated, he's available
more. I hope they call him as a ward missionary. We exchanged with the
Spanish elders. I was with Elder Rodriguez in his area. Oh yeah—I GOT
TO DRIVE. Elder Rodriguez can't drive yet so I got to drive! (I'll
attach pictures :))
Temp: 101°F

Saturday: Driving! Driving! More driving! I was super nervous to drive
again, but I did just fine. We did a lot of finding. Too bad I
couldn't understand a thing that was going on. Haha! We had some
weird, but good, Mexican food with a member. I ate so much I almost
got sick right there! Haha. One cool experience: we had a lesson with
a recent convert family, and they only speak Spanish. In the middle of
the lesson, Elder Rodriguez looked at me and said, "Could you hear
your testimony on temples?" Surprised, I bore testimony in English.
They understood everything I said. The Spirit is real.
After the lesson we rushed home only to find out we were locked out!
We then waited for Elder Merrill and Langi to come open the door. They
were on exchange. Elder Langi gave me a hug and I disappeared into his
massive chest Hahahahaha.
Temp: 104°F

Sunday: It was a Sunday full of meetings. At Church, Elder Bradshaw
gave a great talk on grace. Then stake general priesthood meeting. Our
stake president gave a wonderful talk about addressing the Church
members' problem with pushing young men to serve missions RIGHT when
they can. He said it's one of the biggest problems in the Church. He
spoke a lot on making sure we're prepared to do His work. He also
spoke about honoring our priesthood. They gave us pie and ice cream!
Oh yeah!
Temp: 107°F


So yeah. It was hot. But I got to drive. :)
I hope you all had a wonderful week. Stay awesome.


Much love,

Elder Jones
Oakwood / Centennial Wards
Arizona Phoenix Mission


Pday fun... volleyball

P day selfie

new shoes, he wore out the others, too much running




Monday temp
Elder Jones gets to drive after almost 10 months

the car!

companions for the day Elder Rodriguez

Elder Rodriguez point of view!
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Setting Tables + Lightning 18th P day in Peoria, 41st P day in Phoenix Mission

June 9, 2015, 3:46 pm
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Setting Tables + Lightning  18th P day in Peoria, 41st P day in Phoenix Mission


Good day, friends and family! Sorry it's a bit late, but we have been
pretty busy today. It has been a pretty good week! Nothing miraculous
or spectacular, but still great! Well, something miraculous happened
today. As I was reaching into the freezer at Walmart to grab a box of
Hot Pockets, I felt our phone buzz. I answered the unknown number.
"Hello, this is Elder Jones." It was Sister Tanner from the Centennial
Ward. She then told us about someone's friend from e temple who wants
to hear from the missionaries. Their names are Randy and Ranae.
Apparently they felt prompted to ask their friends if they could be
taught by the missionaries. They want us to go contact them this week.
Soooo...that was a miracle for us! We fasted for missionary work this
Sunday and look! The Lord answered our prayers. Anyway, here was my
week! :)

Monday: Pday. Went to Ross and Which Wich. We then went to the stake
center and played volleyball and frisbee. I made it known to everyone
that I'm a terrible volleyball player. I hit it over the net once and
everyone freaked out and cheered and picked me up. It was pretty
hilarious. Elder Langi gave me a chest bump and I almost died because
he's so big hahaha. Chris fed us dinner and we had a great lesson with
her. SHE ACTUALLY PRAYED AT THE END OF THE LESSON. Elder Flynn, yes,
I'm not kidding. Haha! It was amazing. The Spirit was so strong. I
almost cried. Almost. :p
Temp: 102°F

Tuesday: It was a good, hot day. So none of the missionaries went to
the thrift shop for service today and didn't tell us until we asked
who was picking us up...so that threw off our plans. Kinda
aggravating, actually. An older couple needed some help pulling some
weeds in their back yard so we went and helped them. At like 1 pm. It
was pretty dang hot! Brother Murri said I we looked ready to work! It
was pretty fun and hot. They got us Burger King afterward. I miss
eating fast food a ton....since I basically lived at Taco Bell my
senior year. We showered and got ready for the evening. We had a
wonderful lesson with Brother and Sister Reese. It got kinda off
topic, but we were productive. Brother Reese shared some really cool
experiences he has had recently. He said that his prayers are all
being answered and that he's ready. SO exciting.
Temp: 101°F

Wednesday: Whatta ya know? Everyone cancelled on going to the thrift
shop. Last minute. Again. Sooo our plans were thwarted twice in a row.
We went out finding and met a guy named Sean and set up an appointment
for Friday. He was a pretty cool guy. After more biking and knocking,
we had dinner with the Babbels. Sister Babbel makes such good food. We
then went on visits with Brother Wincek and met a lady named Angel. We
set up an appointment for her for Thursday. A couple more visits, but
no more luck. Sunscreen is my best friend. :)
Temp: 101°F

Thursday: Weekly planning. It was overcast all day which was really
nice. We plan in the church because the A/C is better. We kept hearing
noises in the church so we had to keep investigating. We didn't find
anything, though.....we then had dinner with the Dutsons, a recent
convert family! We had lasagna with homemade bbq sauce in it. Sounds
gross, but it was SOOOO good! I never thought bbq sauce would be good
with lasagna. I stand corrected!  Angel wasn't home when we went to
her appointment! After that it was just a bunch of doors. Sad.
Temp: 95°F

Friday: Another pretty bland day, Sean wasn't home when we went by for
his appointment. It poured down rain most of the day, so we were in
and out of the church. We didn't want to go far in case we got
stranded. We did our best to stay productive. We had dinner and a
lesson with Chris again Friday. After our lesson we helped her set
tables for a party of 40 for the next night. We did a pretty good job,
if I do so say so myself. Elder Bradshaw mainly helped cleanup the
plates and stuff and I put them on the table. Oh yeah. :) They were
playing some cool percussion music that sounded a lot like what we
would do in percussion ensemble. It was fun to hear that music again.
I couldn't control it, so might as well enjoy it...we then biked home
in a lightning storm. It was pretty sketchy hahaha. I was saying
"Heavenly Father, please let us get home safely." Over and over. Haha!
Temp: 90°F (rainy and humid)

Saturday: We had zone meeting. The main focuses were weekly planning,
nightly planning, online proselyting, and developing relationships
with ward and stake leaders. It was a pretty good meeting. I didn't
really get a ton out of it, but it was still good! We had dinner with
a pretty weird, witty family. It was good. Then a lesson with Britney!
Her spirit is just as strong as ever. It definitely recharges any who
meet her. We then stopped by Chris's to grab a homemade green chili
burrito. SO good. I had two! :)
Temp: 94°F

Sunday: Fast Sunday. BROTHER REESE CAME TO CHURCH!! Yes!! It was a
miracle. He's doing so great. After church we got a text from Brother
Pottle in the bishopric asking if I could speak next Sunday. So, if
any of y'all would like to learn what I'm learning, I'm speaking for
20 minutes on "The Parable of the Sower", a talk given by Elder Dallin
H. Oak sin this past Conference. I wrote it all in studies today. We
then had dinner with the Foulks. I told them about my family's green
bean sandwiches. They're going to try them. I said I promise they'll
like them!! We then had a lesson with Leah. It went well! She asked
her mom about baptism and her mom isn't too thrilled, but she'd let
her do it. Hopefully she'll get baptized before she goes to college in
August!!
Temp: 100°F


So that was my week! Thanks for all the prayers and support. I love
you all! Have a wonderful week!


Much love,

Elder Jones
Oakwood / Centennial Wards
Arizona Phoenix Mission


Waiting for a rainstorm to pass


Still waiting!




new watch

P day

Elder Bradshaw wearing Elder Jones' shirt!
I don't think they can share clothes!
 
Elder jones hiding under the curtains!
Setting tables




Lookin' Good!



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19th P day in Peoria, 42nd in Phoenix Mission- It's Transfer day..... Will he stay or go? Find out later this week!

June 15, 2015, 12:53 pm
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Hats from a 50th Birthday party 
Elder Jones and Elder Rodriguez

zone party

Elder Jones modeling lady's sunglasses

Elder Bradshaw modeling lady's glasses

Elders Jones & Bradshaw

Elders Jones and Flynn


Elders Jones, Flynn and Chris (I love this picture!  Doesn't everybody look extra happy?

Elder Jones gave talk 6/14/15

Poor guy having to sit all alone on the stand.

The Lone Elder!



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19th Pday in Peoria and 42nd P day in Phoenix Mission part 2! HOT.

June 22, 2015, 12:12 pm
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19th Pday in Peoria and 42nd P day in Phoenix Mission part 2!

HOT.



a gem he found looking at family history!
Hey, I was browsing our family line, and my 4xGreat (I think)
Grandmother's sister's grandson is Samuel Clemens (Mark Twain). He's
on mom's side. It is Obidiah Tate's wife.

Pretty crazy, huh?


Elder Jones'"Air Conditioner" (the FAN"
Hello, everyone! As you can tell by the title of my email, it is HOT.
Like, really hot. This week is going to be worse! But that doesn't
mean I'm not having a great time here in Arizona. When we're biking
around and its 110°F, attitude is everything. You can bike and
complain and be hot, or you can be positive and joke about being hot.
Either way you're going to be hot and gross; however, the temperature
doesn't have to affect how negative your thoughts are. That was my key
learning from this week. Anyway, here was my week!

Monday: Pday, and day 300 on the mission! I can't believe it's already
been this long. We got a pretty sweet referral from a member in the
ward. Excited, we knocked on their door in the evening. They weren't
there. So we decided to try back the next day or the next time we were
out finding. I'll get to that later in the email. I was told I'd give
a talk on Sunday so I prepared it during studies. I haven't ever given
a 20-minute talk in church so I didn't really know how to start, but I
did my best and received revelation on the topic. We had dinner with
the Centennial Ward bishop, and their dog just had 8 puppies. THEY ARE
SO CUTE. I'LL ATTACH PICTURES. After dinner we helped Chris and her
parents move some furniture, then we had a little lesson with her.
Plus cake. Cake is always good.
Temp: 106°F

Tuesday: We went to the thrift shop to volunteer. We helped move some
donations inside and sorted through them. Then we arranged and sorted
incoming books. Somehow we always get stuck organizing the books.
Haha! After service we cleaned up and headed to dinner at the
Hunsakers' home. Brother Hunsaker usually tries to force us to eat a
ton because he thinks it's funny. It's like a battle—who can overcome
the other? Haha. It's a friendly battle, though. "Here, Elder, you
need another piece of chicken.""No, I think I'm good, but thanks." He
turns to me, "Here, Elder, show your companion how it's done. Take
another piece of chicken.""No thanks, I'm full too!"...battles like
that. :) After dinner we visited Dion and talked with him a little bit
and set up a return appointment.
Temp: 91°F

Wednesday: It wasn't really that hot but it was still a pretty
miserable feeling. While helping at the thrift store a huge moving
truck came in. They were picking up donations. We unloaded the whole
truck. There were tables, couches, dressers, mattresses, and other
random things. The truck was about 20 degrees hotter than outside.
After service we showered and went out. We visited the sweet referral
we got. They answered and were NOT happy to see us. They were very
confused when we said that their friend told us that they were
interested. The member told us that THEY requested a missionary visit.
So yeah. That was a bummer. We had dinner with a member and then went
out with a member of the Elders quorum. We visited some members and
potential investigators. 3/4 of them opened up which was great!
Temp: 95°F

Thursday: Average Thursday—we weekly planned. We decided that we
should focus on part-member families because the work here is getting
kinda slow. We had dinner with the Parris family. They just moved into
the ward like 4 days prior. So we ate on their couch. :) They made
suuuuper good chicken, pepper, sausage, and shrimp skewers on the
grill. We went to our lesson with Angel, but she wasn't there. Again.
Sigh...we visited Chris and shared a message with her.
Temp: 100°F

Friday: District meeting! Our first one in three weeks! I led a
discussion on the importance of getting our investigators to sacrament
meeting. An insight that I read is that when the people we teach stop
coming to sacrament meeting, it gets easier for them to miss other
commitments like reading the scriptures and praying. When they come,
their progress is multiplied tremendously the next week. For instance,
Britney. She was pretty closed for the first few visits—until she came
to church. There, she was fellowshipped and opened up to us the very
next visit and set a baptismal date. Attending church is important. No
wonder it's a commandment! After the meeting Elder Bradshaw had to get
a new bike tire. He installed it, and we went out for a little while.
Chris took us to a pizza place for dinner because our dinner
appointment cancelled on us last minute. We then had a really solid
lesson with Britney. We taught the Plan of Salvation and the Spirit
was there. Our tongues were loosed as we testified of eternal
families, and His eternal plan for all of us.
Temp: 102°F

Saturday: My 10 month mark! To celebrate we went to Culver's for
lunch. Elder Bradshaw got a deluxe triple. He regretted it
later...haha. When we went home we looked through our paper area book
to see if there would be any potential. We found a couple people in
there and will be contacting them this week. We then went with Brother
Wincek to a lesson with Dion. Surprise, he wasn't there! So we went
visiting some people who Brother Wincek wanted to see. We had some
success there. Then the Winceks took us to a delicious deli. I ate the
whole sandwich really fast. Haha. We ended the night with a wonderful
lesson with Leah.
Temp: 104°F

Sunday: I gave a talk in the Oakwood sacrament meeting. It was 20
minutes. I haven't given a talk since I left, and I've never given one
that long. It went well, though. Chris got some pictures of me so I'll
send them. We had dinner on the other side of our area so that was
pretty miserable. But it was super fun. We had some delicious BBQ pork
which made up for it. After dinner we went finding. Not much luck, but
we tried!
Temp: 106°F

Monday: Non pday. We had a lesson with a new investigator, Paulo.
Elder Bradshaw and Elder Goehring contacted him at CVS Pharmacy and we
taught him the first lesson. He's YSA age, but it was great to get to
meet and teach him. We then had dinner and a lesson with Chris.
Temp: 111°F


I hope you all have a wonderful week. Keep in touch. I really
appreciate all of your prayers.


Much love,

Elder Jones
Oakwood / Centennial Wards
Arizona Phoenix Mission


Back row: Elders Weston, Bunn, Melsen, Ashby, Bradshaw, Jones, Langi,
Rodriguez, Langdon, Wolfgramm
Bottom row: Elders Earl, Safford, Goehring, Merrill, Owens, Gonzales,
Zaugg, Timm  ( Elder Langi who is standing next to Elder Jones is the big guy from Tonga that BYU has recruited to play football after his mission.  He is 6'7" i think and weighs 415 pounds.  He makes Elder jones look pretty small!)

His favorite!  Splurg!

look what they found in the church freezer!
New puppies
weekly planning break



Chillin' with Punnin'Head

Lone Elder- waiting to give a talk on Sunday!

Service car wash...

Or a way to stay cool?

Get that car CLEAN!
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Search

20th P day in Peoria, 43rd P day in Phoenix Mission- Free Pants!!

July 2, 2015, 3:13 pm
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 20th P day in Peoria,  43rd P day in Phoenix Mission- Free Pants!!

Good afternoon, everyone! I hope it was a good week for all. I had a
pretty good week. It definitely flew by. Happy Father's Day to all the
dads out there, especially my dad. He is truly my hero and greatest
example. Words cannot explain the impact he has made on my life. Also,
be sure to thank your Heavenly Father for your life. I am thoroughly
convinced that we can never thank Him enough. It brings peace to my
soul every time I thank Him. Anyway, here was my week! Yes, it's still
hot; no, it's not getting any cooler any time soon. :)


Tuesday: Pday! Transfer day. Except we're both staying....so not much
changed for us. I basically just hung out with Elder Owens at the
church building while everyone played sports. I didn't feel much like
playing. We got laundry done, went shopping, yeah. That's about it.
Pretty boring pday! After our rest time was over, Chris took us to
dinner and we taught her a mini lesson there. After dinner we had a
great lesson with Brother Reese. We shared the importance of the Book
of Mormon and prayer. He really enjoyed the lesson and we all felt the
Spirit. We brought a recent convert with us and they really enjoyed
each other.
Temp: 111°F

Wednesday: We went on exchanges with the zone leaders. I went with
Elder Safford in his area. (They have a truck...score!!) We started
the exchange at the thrift store where we helped out for a little
while. While we were driving over to the store, Elder Safford had two
huge bags of clothes that he was going to donate. (He goes home in 5
weeks). Among those clothes included a sweet sidebag and two pairs of
black slacks! They're 31x31, but the waist is altered smaller. (I
normally wear 30x32) They're a tiny bit short, but it's not noticeable
at all. They're CTR clothing and "featherweight" which is perfect for
this climate. So hey, FREE PANTS! Free pants are the best types of
pants. Especially when they fit! After the thrift store Elder Safford
and I went to a YSA member's home to help mow his yard. He just had
surgery so he can't exactly move around very well. Plus, it was 3pm so
it was about 115°F. Yeah, it wasn't the smartest time to mow a lawn.
Oh well! He fed us some awesome burgers afterward. We then showered
and headed out. We visited a couple people, then knocked on a member's
door. They were about to hold a temple prep class, so we stayed and
commented. It was super fun. For our exchange wrap-up, Elder Safford
drove us to Waldo's Tacos, a taco truck owned by members in the
Spanish Ward. They give missionaries free food. It's authentic Mexican
tacos, soooo yes. It was delicious.
Temp: 117°F

Thursday: Weekly planning. It's a good thing we planned during the day
because it was hot as Hades. After planning and dinner, we had a great
lesson with Leah. We read out of the Book of Mormon and discussed her
baptismal plans. She wants to show her mom that the Church will help
her focus rather than hinder her focus. She plans to go to college for
a month or so and attend there. She will then come and be baptized in
September. It's so cool to see how much Leah's attitude has changed
toward baptism. It's 100% what she wants to do, but she doesn't want
to lose her mother's trust. If I'm not in the area when she gets
baptized I'm totally coming back for it.
Temp: 116°F

Friday: Typical Friday—we studied and had district meeting. It was
Elder Weston's first district meeting as the district leader. He did
really well. We were the only companionship in our district that
didn't change. Elder Goehring is with Élder Manzano from South Phoenix
(yeah, super close), and Elder Weston is with Elder McCullough from
Snowflake, AZ. (He's a 12 week missionary). After the meeting Elder
Weston stopped the car in front of our house, contemplated for a
second, and said, "yep, y'all are on bikes. You need this." He got out
of the car, went to the trunk, and pulled out a huge case of Gatorade
and gave it to us. Score!! A member gave them like 4 cases of it. We
then went out finding. Again, super hot, but fun! I have found that
while it is miserably hot, biking with a humorous attitude makes it a
whole lot more bearable. And hey, sometimes enjoyable! We had dinner
with the Lopez family and had a lesson with Chris.
Temp: 112°F

Saturday: A super fun day. Elders Weston and McCullough picked us up
at 8am and we went to help out with a kid's Eagle Scout project. He
held a car wash in the Walgreens parking lot! So we washed cars and
had a lot of fun doing it from 8-12! I got a bit sunburned but it's
okay. Worth it! We then went out to lunch and headed to a lesson that
fell through....we studied until dinner. After dinner we had a
wonderful lesson with Britney about the Plan of Salvation. Her faith
is unbelievable. I swear, we must leave more strengthened than she
does after each lesson. She's great.
Temp: 111°F

Sunday: Happy Father's Day!!! We had a great day at church! Leah came
and sat in on our gospel principles class now that she's done with
young women. We then gave a short missionary lesson to the young men!
That was a blast! We finished out church and had dinner with the
Skidmore family. We knocked on their door when we got there, and no
one answered. They were watching a movie and couldn't hear the bell or
knocks! So we called them and they let us in haha. After dinner we had
another great lesson with Chris. Brownies were included, which made
for a happy Elder Jones. I also got to hang out with my favorite dog,
Puddin' Head.
Temp: 109°F (GET YOUR JACKETS, FOLKS. UNDER 110°F.)


So that was my week! It was full of fun and excitement... Haha. I'd
love to hear from you all. Have a wonderful week.


Much love,

Elder Jones
Oakwood / Centennial Wards
Arizona Phoenix Mission


Biking around!  Taking a shade break.

Service project

Weekly selfie

WATCH OUT!


more

Puddin'Head



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21st P day in Peoria, 44th P day in Phoenix Mission Puzzles, Breakfast, and Rainbows!

July 2, 2015, 3:52 pm
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Sky

Weekly Selfie

puzzle done on study breaks

Elder Bradshaw isn't happy since Elder Jones id holding PuddinHead

Companions- Elders Bradshaw & Jones

Elder Bradshaw's turn

Party!

my note to Elder jones from the beach
Elders Jones & Bradshaw


Elder Jones

Calling to the Wind God

Great Twosom

Dust Storm

Dust storm

It is HOT!
Are YOU on the right track?
Sweet Sunset with Elder Jones Silhouette
21st P day in Peoria,  44th P day in Phoenix Mission  Puzzles, Breakfast, and Rainbows!

Hello, family and friends! I hope all is well for you. Peoria, Arizona
is still pretty dang hot but it's worth it. Being on the Lord's errand
is an honor. This week has been pretty normal, but that doesn't mean
it was bad! :) here was my week:

Monday: The normal Pday. We Went shopping and went to Ross. Then we
went and played sports at the stake center. After pday Chris took us
to Culver's. We answered a lot of her questions and helped her
understand some of the doctrine of the Spirit. I feel it helped her a
lot.
Temp: 108°F

Tuesday: We had a great day at Eve's Treasures, the thrift shop. We
spent the whole two hours rearranging the "incoming clothes" section.
That's a fancy way of saying, "hundreds of bags of clothes piled up in
a corner about 10 feet high." It was a daunting task, but we
accomplished it! We got the clothes reorganized. Then we helped the
zone leaders with books. We had dinner with the Lloyd family and then
had a great lesson with Leah. We read with her out of the Book of
Mormon. Sadly, the Reese family had to cancel their lesson.
Temp: 112°F

Wednesday: We stopped by Chris's house after studies to help her move
some stuff. We moved tables and chairs around her back patio in
preparation for a storm that never came, haha. She fed us lunch and we
talked for a little while. After that we met a lady for a lesson and
then headed to dinner. They fed us well! It was the first time I've
had breakfast for dinner on my mission. We ate with the Dutsons, a
recent convert family in our area. It was everything—pancakes, French
toast, waffles, sausage, bacon, eggs, toast....EVERYTHING! Plus orange
juice! It was amazing. They always feed us well. After dinner we went
out finding. Not much luck.
Temp: 111°F

Thursday: Weekly planning. We found a jigsaw puzzle on our shelf so we
began putting that together during our breaks. It was a good way to
relax. EVEN THOUGH IT WAS SUPER STRESSFUL because I'm super impatient
with puzzles. Haha. After planning we had dinner at home. Some members
brought us Barro's pizza. Had an impromptu lesson with Chris then went
out finding.
Temp: 109°F

Friday: We had a super good district meeting. I gave a discussion on
using the harder parts of the day to be productive. Talking with
everyone is the best way to do that. I'm super bad at it but we're
trying to do better. President Juchau, in the mission presidency, was
there and he took us home in his brand new 2016 Audi A6. It was
soooooooooooooo cool. We had dinner with the Moore's and their son
David just got home from his mission. He's awesome. He asked us if we
had a lot of investigators and we told him not really at the moment.
He told us, "That will change." And so we're pretty excited about
that. After dinner we had a lesson with Britney about faith. Her
spirit is still tangible. It's amazing.
Temp: 109°F

Saturday: Pedro never showed up for our lesson, so that was kinda
lame. After the failed lesson attempt we went out finding. Finally hit
dinner and she wasn't even there haha. I guess out appointment forgot.
So Chris and her parents fed us fried chicken. It was great! We talked
with Chris for a little bit afterward because our night was pushed so
far back....I hate when things fall through because it puts a halt on
the rest of your night. It was a good meeting, though. There was a
dust storm warning and we saw the dust cloud rolling in!! It was
SWEET! Not as cool as the one I saw last September, but pretty dang
cool. I'll attach pictures.
Temp: 109°F

Sunday: Church. We had ward conference in Oakwood ward and David Moore
gave his homecoming talk. It was spectacular. He is such a good kid
and I am so psyched to have him in the ward mission. We had dinner and
went out finding at night for a little while.
Temp: 111°F


That was my week. I have a lot of pictures so I'll attach those
(probably in separate emails.) I love you all and hope your week was
great and your coming week will be great. I appreciate all of your
prayers on my behalf. I love y'all!


Much love,


Elder Jones
Oakwood / Centennial Wards
Arizona Phoenix Mission


Sky!


Elder Jones after pigging out at dinner

Member W/Elder Jones




Companions
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Independence & Mustangs 22nd P day in Peoria, 45th P day in Phoenix Mission

July 12, 2015, 1:52 pm
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Independence & Mustangs  22nd P day in Peoria, 45th P day in Phoenix Mission

Hello, family and friends! Just a disclaimer: my iPad is absolutely
stupid today. Let me tell you my situation. We, as missionaries are
allowed to receive emails throughout the week, we just can't respond
until pday. All through the week I received emails from friends,
family, etc.. I even received an email at 9:55 this morning. As a
missionary, we can begin emailing & doing pday activities starting at
10:00. Well, now that it is way past 10, I still haven't received any
emails. Not because people aren't sending them, but because for some
weird reason I am not receiving any emails that people are sending. So
I apologize if I don't respond to your emails this week. My iPad hates
me and doesn't want me to communicate with anyone. Rant over. Here was
my week!!

Monday: Pday. We went to SkyZone which is one of those places with a
bunch of trampolines as the floor. It was pretty dang fun! Haha. Elder
Bunn, one of our zone leaders, landed on his neck and hurt himself. He
had to sit out for the rest of the time. He always gets hurt when we
play sports or do activities like this. We went to the Moore's for the
rest of pday and got haircuts and ate lunch. We talked with them for a
long time. They're a great family. Chris and her aunt & uncle took us
to dinner at Texas Roadhouse. It was great. Then had a short lesson
with Chris. We exchanged at the end of the day and I went with Elder
Weston to his area. There was a cool lightning storm so we slept with
the blinds open and watched the sky's light show until we fell asleep.
Utah people are so entertained by storms. It's funny.
Temp: 109°F

Tuesday: OLD PEOPLE. I was on an exchange with Elder Weston and we
spent the whole day in Sun City, which is a retirement community. You
have to be 55+ to live there. So, everyone we visited/taught was old.
(No one lives there at 55. They're all like 75+). We taught an
investigator named Dana who will be baptized this week! She's in her
70's. She's kinda weird but really solid. We then taught a blind
less-active member. Elder Weston took me to their church building.
It's super awesome. It used to be a bank and the library is the old
vault! The walls are super hard. We had dinner at a sketchy Chinese
buffet with a member. I'm surprised I didn't get sick. For real. Had a
lesson with a returning excommunicated member, and then another active
family. Elder Weston and I bonded pretty hardcore haha. Best exchange
ever!
Temp: 110°F (humid)

Wednesday: Had lunch with the some elders in our district and then
went to the thrift shop to volunteer. It was alright, as always haha.
I got a package and put a big dent in the candy. :) Had a lesson with
a lady and then went to dinner with the Hancock family. Set up a
service project to help them! We had a coordination meeting and then
Brother Wincek took us to visit Darin, a former investigator. I
haven't seen him since like April. He was there and is looking a lot
better than usual! He said he wants to start meeting with us again
which is cool. :)
Temp: 102°F

Thursday: Weekly planning. Chris took us to dinner because ours fell
through and then we had a lesson with her at the restaurant. It went
really well.
Temp: 106°F

Friday: BUSY DAY. We got up at 5:30am and got ready for a service
project at the Hancocks' at 6:30am. We spent about an hour helping them
clear some branches that had fallen in their pasture. The only catch
is that the branches had like 3-inch long thorns all over them.
Everything here in Arizona wants to kill you haha. We piled all of the
branches up and burned them. That was the fun part!! After that we
headed over to a new family's home to help them move in. Other members
came too. They are an AWESOME family. After we unloaded their truck
and everyone else left, we gave Brother Jenson (the dad of the new
family) a blessing. His back has been hurting for a while. We helped
them put their bed together and they took us for brunch at
Chick-fil-a! It was pretty good. Oh. And they took us in their
6-day-old 2015 V8, supercharged, 6-speed manual, 5.0L Mustang. It is a
monster. (Be jealous, Shurtleff.) We then showered and had a good
district meeting. Then studied. Had a great lesson with Britney in the
evening on the Gospel of Jesus Christ. She's fantastic.
Temp: 108°F

Saturday: Independence Day! We went to the Oakwood Ward breakfast and
then studied. Chris took us to Which Wich for the holiday lunch! It
was pretty delicious. We wore our American flag ties too! I'm pretty
sure we got complimented on our ties like a million and one times
today. We had to be in by 6 so we played sports with other
missionaries at the stake center until our ward party at 8. We watched
fireworks and had root beer floats with members of the Centennial
Ward. It was a blast.
Temp: 104°F

Sunday: Church. After church we had dinner with a kinda weird family,
but it was good. We then had a lesson with Chris about the importance
of prayer and God's love. It was a great lesson. She gave us some
leftover ribs sooooo that's always a plus. :)
Temp: 107°F


That was my week. Again, sorry if I don't respond to your emails
today. I'll probably get them all the second I can't respond at 6pm.
That seems to be how it works. Love you all! Have a great week!!


Much love,


Elder Jones
Oakwood / Centennial Wards
Arizona Phoenix Mission


PS.  The high yesterday was only 100°F and it was soooo nice. No lie, I
ACTUALLY saw someone jogging in a hoodie before church when it was
90°F. People here are insane


Again- Thanks to Chris for sending me some great Pictures of Elders Jones and Bradshaw this week.


Biking

biking

great smile

being ornery

Elder jones answered right and got a cookie?

weekly selfie

more biking

Elder Bradshaw's turn with PuddinHead

Happy 4th of July

Selfie on bike w/ Bradshaw photobomb!

Happy 4th of July

Hangin' w/ the Peoria "homies" Police Officers

Flag waving

concentration

Will he beat it?

Lesson in the park

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23rd P day in Peoria, 46th P day in Phoenix Mission-- It's Not Worth the Cobbler!

July 15, 2015, 1:33 pm
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Pretty cool sunset and clouds

Elder Jones says "I'm in trouble!"

BOOKED!
Elder Jones LOVES JARRITOS !





































23rd P day in Peoria, 46th P day in Phoenix Mission-- It's Not Worth the Cobbler!


Hello, family and friends! Greetings from Arizona. I have quite a few
pictures to share with y'all this week, so there may be a couple
emails after this with just pictures. Haha. Anyway, we had a really
great week. I was sick for a lot of it, but great nonetheless. Here
was my week!



Monday: Pday. Not much happened. We went shopping for groceries, and came home. That's about it. My email was being dumb so I couldn't really email much. So I took a nap. A good nap. Haha! As we were leaving our apartment after pday to go finding,  Chris texted us and told us she wanted to tell us something! So we went over there and she told us how she stood up for the Church when someone was trying to bash with her. We told her that if she wants real answers, go to someone who actually knows what they're talking about. I told her: "You wouldn't go to a Chevy dealer if you have a question about your
Ford, would you?" Just like if someone wants to know about the Catholic faith, he/she wouldn't come ask two Mormon missionaries!  Anyway, it was a great thing to hear that Chris stood up for the Church. Being a newer member, sometimes that can be hard. Especially if the person is someone you know and appreciate. Temp: 102°F

Tuesday: We started the day helping Chris's mom move some things from
their front yard to their back yard. They're having one of their trees
in the front yard cut down so we had to move the stuff that was around
the tree. Let me tell you, there was a lot of stuff! It took two hours
and we weren't just dragging our feet. Mary (Chris's mom) let us each
wear a bandana and a straw hat. I feel it helped. She then let us keep
the bandanas so I keep mine in my bike helmet now. We then studied and
had a lesson with a lady at a restaurant.  As we were pulling up to
the restaurant, a member saw us and basically threw $20 at us. We
didn't have time to say no. That was very nice of her. We had dinner
with Chris and her parents. Mary made home made tostadas again.
They're probably my favorite thing I've ever had on my mission. Had a
short lesson with Chris then a lesson with the Reese family. They are
doing great. Brother Reese is in the process of preparation to receive
the Melchizedek Priesthood! It's so cool to be a part of his
reactivation and their eternal family! I'm convinced they're one of
the reasons I'm in this area.
Temp: 106°F

Wednesday: Started off pretty bad. I woke up with a terrible migraine.
The whole shebang. Probably the worst one I've had since I've been
out. I slept it off. Since I have to have a lot of darkness when I get
a migraine, Elder Bradshaw was studying in the dark. Brother Alger was
worried because the lights still weren't on....so he called us to make
sure we're okay. Haha! We told him that we weren't just be
disobedient. :) We went to Eve's Treasures and sorted books the whole
time. So that was fun. We had lasagna with a "secret recipe" for
dinner...that secret recipe is bbq sauce. It was surprisingly good.
Haha! We went out on visits with Brother Shipe after dinner. He
understands my migraine problems. He suggested coconut water. Too bad
that stuff is nas-tay.
Temp: 106°F

Thursday: Weekly planning. Used the money those nice members gave us
to have lunch at Culver's. Of course it hit the spot. Even after 5
years I'm still not sick of it! So after planning we had probably the
most interesting dinner ever. I'll explain. We had sloppy joes. Sounds
normal, right? Wrong. So the way they eat them is by taking a bun,
opening it, and putting potato chips on top of the open-face bun, and
then slathering the bun and chips with sloppy joe meat. Then eating it
with a fork. Yeah, I'm totally doing that from now on. :) Not much
else went on that I can remember.
Temp: 100°F

Friday: Zone meeting. We had a few great discussions, mostly on
obedience. President Griffin actually showed up for a little bit of
it. Caught us all off guard haha. The most memorable part of the
meeting was the end. The zone leaders prepared a little object lesson
for us about the Atonement. They had each missionary bring two food
items. Literally any food item. Some food items ranged from pop-tarts,
baked beans, soy sauce, coconut milk, Hot Tamales, canned soup, etc..
The zone leaders also had peach cobbler and ice cream for everyone. So
we each went up and put a food we like, and a food we hate off the
table into the blender. They then blended it all up into a (basically)
liquid. We all then got a bowl of cobbler and ice cream, but there was
a catch. ONE person had to drink the whole blender-full of....liquid
before anyone could eat their cobbler. Elder Langi volunteered, and
said, "this is for you guys." In his thick Tongan accent. He struggled
for a couple sips, then went bottoms up and finished it like a champ.
I got a video of it, and I'll try to send it. :) We came home and then
had dinner with Chris and her aunt and uncle. I got sick from some
undercooked catfish haha. It's okay though! Wasn't too bad.
Temp: 100°F

Saturday: I was pretty messed up in the stomach from the bad fish the
night before. Chris took our pictures in the patrol car as she was
volunteering is morning. The daytime was a blur. That night we had a
wonderful lesson on church, prayer, and scripture study with Britney.
She was out of town last Sunday so she didn't make it to church for
the first time since her baptism. She told us that she felt sooooo bad
for not being able to come. She felt empty. She truly understands the
sacrament and the importance of church. It's so great to see. She is
currently in Alma 32 in the Book of Mormon. She's excited to read it.
Temp: 102°F

Sunday: Another Sunday come and gone. We had a very productive ward
council meeting with the Centennial ward. Lots of action items were
made which is what the meeting is all about! We made it back in time
to hear Brother Wincek speak in the Oakwood ward. He is such a funny
guy. He's kind of a HUGE Star Wars/Indiana Jones/ Star Trek nerd, so
he always puts some flavor into his talks/lessons. So it was a treat
to hear him speak. Then we went about our normal church day, and had
dinner at the other side of our area. Then a lesson with a less-active
sister. She just got back from the hospital because of her medicine
and she is doing MUCH better. She used to be kind of shy, skiddish,
and sad. Now she is alive, happy, and fun to be around! I have never
seen her like this. She's making a lot of progress. :)
Temp: 106°F


That was my week! Hope you all had a good one too. I love you and
never forget that God loves you too! His love is perfect, and His Son
is real. Find Him! :)


Much love,

Elder Jones
Oakwood / Centennial Wards
Arizona Phoenix Mission



Zone Selfie

Elder McCullough and Elder Safford (ZL).
"Prom pose"

Elder Goehring and me.
He was in drumline as a snare drummer too!

Elder Langi and Safford. Swapped suit coats.
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24th P day in Peoria- 47th P day in Phoenix Mission-- HUMIDITY!

July 21, 2015, 1:42 pm
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HUMIDITY!
24th P day in Peoria- 47th P day in Phoenix Mission-

Hello, family and friends. This week has been pretty great. Lots of
cool things happened. Plus, it was pretty humid! Here was my week!

Monday: Pday! After shopping and laundry we had a zone activity at the
stake center. We played sports. We played a game called speedball
which is like my favorite game ever! It's like a mix between soccer
and basketball! I'm not very good at it but it was fun nonetheless. :)
Then we played some basketball. After pday we went and taught a lesson
about Preach My Gospel to an active family. It was super great! We got
to know them and built trust with them. They even testified to other
members that we're great to have over. Mission accomplished! After
that we taught a lesson to Chris. We got a reassignment on our iPad of
someone who is already a progressing investigator! Pretty cool! :)
Temp: 108°F

Tuesday: We went with the zone leaders to Eve's Treasures to
volunteer. We sorted books for a little while then tried to match
Tupperware containers to their lids. That was kinda impossible. We
played a game where we had to pin a clothespin on someone in the
store. The person who lost had to buy the 4 of us a Polar Pop (44oz
soda). I couldn't get myself to pin a stranger as a missionary while
volunteering, so I bought everyone soda. Worth it, haha. With my luck
I would have gotten caught and we wouldn't be able to go back there.
We had KFC for dinner from a member. It wasn't very good...it was
incredibly greasy. After dinner we had a lesson with Leah and a lesson
with the Reese family. We taught them about the Plan of Salvation .
Their spirit is so strong.
Temp: 108°F

Wednesday: Went to Eves Treasures again. This time we helped their
moving crew clean out two storage units. It took a while and it was
really hot. We went home, showered, and had a lesson with someone.
Brother Gonzalez took us to a Hawaiian BBQ restaurant. We had our
coordination meeting then a meeting with the elders quorum presidency.
Turns out our new reassignment doesn't exist. So we're trying to get
in contact with them.
Temp: 104°F

Thursday: Weekly planning. Had a lesson with Chris after. It was super
good. We gave Chris a short lesson and gave her a blessing. That's
about it.
Temp: 106°F

Friday: Zone conference! We went to Surprise and had a great meeting.
We got there early to help people clean their cars for the vehicle
inspection. I was talking to Elder Langi for the majority of the time.
I found out that he wears a size 20 shoe. Dang. That's way bigger than
my size 9. So for dinner a member texted us during the meeting and
said they can't have us over, but they'd bring us a Papa John's pizza.
We gave them our request and they showed up with a Papa Murphy's
pizza. They come uncooked. We dont have an oven....haha. So the zone
leaders picked us up and let us use theirs. Then we went out finding
for the night.
Temp: 100°F

Saturday: RAAAAIN! With rain comes humidity...so we didn't have any
daytime appointments so Elder Bradshaw and I went to get him a new
helmet. His is falling apart. So we went into the bike shop and the
owner's friend was there. Apparently he has a son on a mission and an
RM son. So he paid for his helmet. It was pretty cool! We were out
biking for the rest of the afternoon. Chris took us to dinner at 4:30
because our dinner fell through. There was a bad storm and dust storm
coming so we went early. We ate and then went back to her house and
watched the Joseph Smith movie with her. It was cool to see her feel
the Spirit from hearing about the life of the Prophet Joseph. It was a
spectacular experience.
Temp: 100°F

Sunday: Super nice. We had ward council which went well. Chris came to
Oakwood ward because she couldn't make the later time. So we sat with
her in the comfy seats. :) We gave a mini lesson to the Oakwood Young
women over the Book of Mormon. It was weird being in young women
class. Hahaha. We set up an appointment with a lady named Jasmine who
has been coming to church with her family. She isn't a member. So we
should have a new investigator next week! Apparently she's super
prepared and ready for the Gospel. Had dinner with a member family,
and taught Britney about the 10 commandments and the Word of Wisdom.
She received it really well.
Temp: 97°F


So that was my week! It was really great. Sorry this email is late.
We've done a lot of stuff today. I hope you all have a wonderful week.
Love you all!! :)

Much love,

Elder Jones
Oakwood / Centennial Wards
Arizona Phoenix Mission



Elder Jones w/ Elders in his Zone

Sis Griffin Talking to Elders

lunch

lunch

group

group


singing Happy Birthday

Elder Jones singing Happy Birthday in Korean thanks to Elder Jeong

Elder Jones still singing

Multi Zone Conference- Elder Jones is easy to find with his red flower tie in the middle

Zone picture from 2 weeks ago.
Back row: (Left to right) Elders Newcomb, Langi, Goehring, Bradshaw,
Melsen, Bunn, Langdon, McCullough, Safford. Front row: Elders Davis,
Earl, Weston, Wolfgramm, Owens, Gonzales, Chidester, Jones, Manzano.

I Love Cheezits!

Cool looking VET

Selfie in the cool helment



weekly selfie


Elder Jones and Puddinhead
Elder Jones' new profile picture


Elder Canny and me! previous ZL now AP


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