Hump Week!! 53 week on Mission, 51 weeks in Phoenix Mission, 3 weeks in Glendale
Good afternoon, family and friends! We hit record highs this week in
Phoenix. It hit 118°F Saturday so that was absolutely insane. I've
never felt like my skin was boiling, but I sure did that day. As you
can tell by the title of my email, this week was "hump week" or, in
other terms, I hit my 1-year mark! It's crazy to think that I'm
already half way done with my mission. I never thought I'd be able to
endure a whole Phoenix summer while on a bike, but this summer is
almost over! Oh yeah! Onward! Here was my week! Lots of great—and
kinda crazy—things happened.
Monday: Pday, pretty boring but great. Our roommates are in a
different district than us and their district had an activity all day.
So Elder Thaut and I stayed home and emailed and were lazy. It was a
much needed lazy day. We taught a really cool recent convert family
about enduring to the end. I always love hearing about how the gospel
can change peoples' lives. Especially here—most people don't have much
money, but they are grateful for what they have.
Temp: 104°F
Tuesday: Haha Tuesday was a very crazy day. Things did not go as
planned! So we got up and went to service with a member of the Spanish
ward. As we were riding over there we got caught in a random dust
storm. It was huge. And windy. And gross. And we were trapped in our
car until it passed. It was crazy! Then all of our members who were
going to come with us said they couldn't go to our appointments with
us, and our teaching appointments all ended up canceling on us. So
that was pretty lame but we had fun finding. We had dinner with a
German sister and she brought her friend who isn't a member! We had a
good dinner with them and a good lesson on how much God loves us. He
said he agrees on what we taught. It would be cool if sometime down
the road he met with missionaries! After dinner we went to visit a guy
named David who we met a couple days before. He lives in the same
complex as us. I felt prompted to check the mail at like 8:30pm as we
were coming in. We had already checked the mail once that day, but I
felt prompted to check again. That's where we met David. He said he's
interested in learning more. So we taught him and as I shared with him
about Joseph Smith's first Vision, he said, "Wow. I'm speechless—I can
relate to Joseph Smith. I'm just searching to find out who's right."
It was a very powerful lesson. One I'll never forget.
Temp: 103°F
Wednesday: We went searching for a new apartment, but we couldn't find
anything much better. So it looks like we're going to stay here! After
lunch we went out finding until about 4. Not much luck. Before dinner
we had a great lesson with a progressing investigator, Sarai
(pronounced Saudi). We hadn't met with them in a while so we caught
up. She had a few concerns about church and the Book of Mormon, but we
were able to talk to her about them. She is excited to start meeting
with us again. That evening we went out with our assistant ward
mission leader, Brother Barton. He's the man! We got to visit with a
few of our investigators and set up times to visit. We then taught a
recent convert lady. Her dog was huge and cute. :)
Temp: 108°F
Thursday: HUMP DAAAAAY! And Weekly planning. After planning we had a
short lesson with Christine, a recent convert who is in very poor
health. Her testimony is still rock solid, though. She doesn't let her
health shake her faith. We then had dinner with Brother Gomez, a
recent convert, and his wife! I love Brother Gomez! We then visited
Jesse, a less-active member. He hadn't been to church in forever. He
wants to come back to church but he has a lot of misconceptions that
we're in the process of clearing up... After the day I headed over to
our district leader's place for an exchange with Elder Dennis. He came
out with me.
Temp: 111°F
Friday: Went on exchange with Elder Dennis. Not much great happened.
We had district meeting, which was good. Plus I can't remember and my
journal entry is super bad because I didn't have much time...haha. IT
WAS HOT.
Temp: 116°F
Saturday: All I remember is that it was incredibly hot. As I mentioned
earlier, there were records set. I have never sweat so much in my
life. Plus our appointments fell through so we were out in it all day.
Phoenix don't care about yo skin.
Temp: 118°F
Sunday: It was a great Sunday. Lots happened! Right after dinner we had a lesson with a girl named Gabby. She is 12 and has been coming to
church with some of her friends and Brother Bleyl, in the bishopric,
introduced us to her last Sunday. So we met with her! We taught her
half of the first lesson and she wants to be baptized. It was a pretty
cool lesson. I haven't taught someone that young since my first area!
After the lesson we went to a guy named Rich's house. He stopped us as
we were passing by his house and told us to come by sometime. So we
stopped by. He is absolutely crazy, but he loves God. He will be a
good place to stop by to get some water. After we talked to Rich for a
while we headed home. It was a great day with two new investigators!
Temp: 110°F
That was my week. Everything is going great here! Thanks for all the support. :)
Have a great week! I love you all!
Much love,
Elder Jones
Black Canyon Ward
Arizona Phoenix Mission
Good afternoon, family and friends! We hit record highs this week in
Phoenix. It hit 118°F Saturday so that was absolutely insane. I've
never felt like my skin was boiling, but I sure did that day. As you
can tell by the title of my email, this week was "hump week" or, in
other terms, I hit my 1-year mark! It's crazy to think that I'm
already half way done with my mission. I never thought I'd be able to
endure a whole Phoenix summer while on a bike, but this summer is
almost over! Oh yeah! Onward! Here was my week! Lots of great—and
kinda crazy—things happened.
Monday: Pday, pretty boring but great. Our roommates are in a
different district than us and their district had an activity all day.
So Elder Thaut and I stayed home and emailed and were lazy. It was a
much needed lazy day. We taught a really cool recent convert family
about enduring to the end. I always love hearing about how the gospel
can change peoples' lives. Especially here—most people don't have much
money, but they are grateful for what they have.
Temp: 104°F
Tuesday: Haha Tuesday was a very crazy day. Things did not go as
planned! So we got up and went to service with a member of the Spanish
ward. As we were riding over there we got caught in a random dust
storm. It was huge. And windy. And gross. And we were trapped in our
car until it passed. It was crazy! Then all of our members who were
going to come with us said they couldn't go to our appointments with
us, and our teaching appointments all ended up canceling on us. So
that was pretty lame but we had fun finding. We had dinner with a
German sister and she brought her friend who isn't a member! We had a
good dinner with them and a good lesson on how much God loves us. He
said he agrees on what we taught. It would be cool if sometime down
the road he met with missionaries! After dinner we went to visit a guy
named David who we met a couple days before. He lives in the same
complex as us. I felt prompted to check the mail at like 8:30pm as we
were coming in. We had already checked the mail once that day, but I
felt prompted to check again. That's where we met David. He said he's
interested in learning more. So we taught him and as I shared with him
about Joseph Smith's first Vision, he said, "Wow. I'm speechless—I can
relate to Joseph Smith. I'm just searching to find out who's right."
It was a very powerful lesson. One I'll never forget.
Temp: 103°F
Wednesday: We went searching for a new apartment, but we couldn't find
anything much better. So it looks like we're going to stay here! After
lunch we went out finding until about 4. Not much luck. Before dinner
we had a great lesson with a progressing investigator, Sarai
(pronounced Saudi). We hadn't met with them in a while so we caught
up. She had a few concerns about church and the Book of Mormon, but we
were able to talk to her about them. She is excited to start meeting
with us again. That evening we went out with our assistant ward
mission leader, Brother Barton. He's the man! We got to visit with a
few of our investigators and set up times to visit. We then taught a
recent convert lady. Her dog was huge and cute. :)
Temp: 108°F
Thursday: HUMP DAAAAAY! And Weekly planning. After planning we had a
short lesson with Christine, a recent convert who is in very poor
health. Her testimony is still rock solid, though. She doesn't let her
health shake her faith. We then had dinner with Brother Gomez, a
recent convert, and his wife! I love Brother Gomez! We then visited
Jesse, a less-active member. He hadn't been to church in forever. He
wants to come back to church but he has a lot of misconceptions that
we're in the process of clearing up... After the day I headed over to
our district leader's place for an exchange with Elder Dennis. He came
out with me.
Temp: 111°F
Friday: Went on exchange with Elder Dennis. Not much great happened.
We had district meeting, which was good. Plus I can't remember and my
journal entry is super bad because I didn't have much time...haha. IT
WAS HOT.
Temp: 116°F
Saturday: All I remember is that it was incredibly hot. As I mentioned
earlier, there were records set. I have never sweat so much in my
life. Plus our appointments fell through so we were out in it all day.
Phoenix don't care about yo skin.
Temp: 118°F
 |
| Elder Rodriguez's car shows temp outside! |
 |
| Elder Jones w/ apartment mates- Elder Thaut Elder Rodriguez, Elder ? |
 |
| Elder jones w/ his camel "hump day" tie |
 |
| Selfie weekly |
 |
| Elder Jones and Elder Thaut "flexing?" |
 |
| waiting at church |
 |
| We found sticky mustaches. Rodrigo pulls his off. |
 |
| Elder Thaut w/ his favorite animal cat |
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| White is so hot it's off the scale. Literally. |
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| Elder Rodriguez's hump day picture! |
Sunday: It was a great Sunday. Lots happened! Right after dinner we had a lesson with a girl named Gabby. She is 12 and has been coming to
church with some of her friends and Brother Bleyl, in the bishopric,
introduced us to her last Sunday. So we met with her! We taught her
half of the first lesson and she wants to be baptized. It was a pretty
cool lesson. I haven't taught someone that young since my first area!
After the lesson we went to a guy named Rich's house. He stopped us as
we were passing by his house and told us to come by sometime. So we
stopped by. He is absolutely crazy, but he loves God. He will be a
good place to stop by to get some water. After we talked to Rich for a
while we headed home. It was a great day with two new investigators!
Temp: 110°F
That was my week. Everything is going great here! Thanks for all the support. :)
Have a great week! I love you all!
Much love,
Elder Jones
Black Canyon Ward
Arizona Phoenix Mission