Baby Cows and Korean Food!-- Week 95,
93 Weeks in Phoenix, 8 weeks in Buckeye
Dear friends and family,
This week was choc-full of fun stuff! Well, not really, but it was
still fun. Lots of cancellations, but also a lot of happenings. Here
we go.
Baby cow
I guess the proper word for baby cow is calf, but "baby cow" sounds so
much better... Elder Thames hadn't met the Buckeye First Ward's bishop
very well yet, so we stopped by on Tuesday evening. After talking for
a little bit, they asked if we wanted to see their baby cow in their
backyard. Uhh....YES?! Is that even a question? Well, apparently its
mom died so they rescued him. His name is Jorge, and he is the cutest
thing ever. He is being bottle fed and petted on an hourly basis. That
thing is a pet! Bishop Gable said he won't be much of a pet when he
gets 400 pounds! So anyway, it was a good night because I hugged a
baby cow. Oh, and the bishop gave us some good referrals. That was
good too! :)
Korean food
There is a member in the Sundance ward who served his mission in South
Korea, Brother Dorrough. He is a super fun guy and loved his mission.
Funny, I told him that my trainer, Elder Jeong, is from Korea and he
asked his name and I showed him a picture....he knew him! From Korea!!
Pretty small world, huh? But anyway, he had us over for dinner on
Friday. One of his old missionary companions was visiting from Utah—he
just so happens to be a freaking chef! So he and Brother Dorrough
prepared an authentic Korean dinner for us. It was sooooooooo good! My
favorite meal so far on my mission! I ate so much. Of course I got
pictures. It just so happened to be his old companion's birthday, so
we sang him happy birthday....in Korean. (Thanks, Elder Jeong, for
teaching me that almost two years ago!!) It was a blast.
Baptism
Kinda a heartbreak for me, but it all turned out okay! So we have been
teaching this 8 year-old kid, Morian, before he gets baptized to make
sure he understands the Church because his family was less-active
until now. His uncle is the only priesthood holder in his family, but
he was going to be out of town for his baptism. So he asked me to
baptize him!! We showed up to his baptism (it was stake baptisms, so
there were three 8-year-olds being baptized) and I got dressed in my
baptismal clothes. Turns out his uncle was able to make it! So I
changed again! Nevertheless he got baptized and he gave me a big hug
afterward and said, "Thanks for teaching me, Elder Jones!" With a big
smile. Yeah, it was special.
Stephanie
We've been working with Stephanie for a while now and she finally made
it to a normal church service! (Not stake conferences....she had been
to two of those...) She really enjoyed it and no one said anything
blasphemous during testimony meeting which is always a scary thought
when you have an investigator at church for the first time... She
stayed all three hours and enjoyed all of it. She was the last one out
of the relief society room after church was over because everyone
wanted to meet her! The Sundance ward has some dang good
fellowshippers.
New Investigator!
We have been doing pretty well at finding people the past couple
weeks. It's a pretty slow area, so the fact that we have found 2 new
investigators the past two weeks is big! We visited a Part member
family and got in! Sister Quillin is not a member of the Church, and
she has had the missionary lessons a couple times. The teaching
records show that she struggles with faith a little bit, but she
seemed pretty faithful. We shared a message about the Book of Mormon
and its importance. She agreed that it is important and she committed
to start reading again! It looks like we caught them at the perfect
time. She had just been thinking about starting to read the Book of
Mormon again, we showed up, shared a message about the Book of Mormon,
and invited her to have us teach her. Plus, she's a teacher, so she
has the summer off! She said things are falling together. I love when
I notice when I'm being promoted by the Spirit to visit certain
people, share certain messages, and so on. It's a great feeling.
HOTTTT
YEAH it's been so darn hot. Saturday was 117°! Last year it didn't get
that hot until the end of July. This summer is gonna finish me off
strong. Haha! At least I'm only in it for 5 minutes at a time, not 5
hours at a time. ;) #CarLife
Well that's about all that happened this week. Maybe a couple small
things I forgot, but it's okay. It'll do! Have a good week, everyone!
Much love,
This week was choc-full of fun stuff! Well, not really, but it was
still fun. Lots of cancellations, but also a lot of happenings. Here
we go.
Baby cow
I guess the proper word for baby cow is calf, but "baby cow" sounds so
much better... Elder Thames hadn't met the Buckeye First Ward's bishop
very well yet, so we stopped by on Tuesday evening. After talking for
a little bit, they asked if we wanted to see their baby cow in their
backyard. Uhh....YES?! Is that even a question? Well, apparently its
mom died so they rescued him. His name is Jorge, and he is the cutest
thing ever. He is being bottle fed and petted on an hourly basis. That
thing is a pet! Bishop Gable said he won't be much of a pet when he
gets 400 pounds! So anyway, it was a good night because I hugged a
baby cow. Oh, and the bishop gave us some good referrals. That was
good too! :)
Korean food
There is a member in the Sundance ward who served his mission in South
Korea, Brother Dorrough. He is a super fun guy and loved his mission.
Funny, I told him that my trainer, Elder Jeong, is from Korea and he
asked his name and I showed him a picture....he knew him! From Korea!!
Pretty small world, huh? But anyway, he had us over for dinner on
Friday. One of his old missionary companions was visiting from Utah—he
just so happens to be a freaking chef! So he and Brother Dorrough
prepared an authentic Korean dinner for us. It was sooooooooo good! My
favorite meal so far on my mission! I ate so much. Of course I got
pictures. It just so happened to be his old companion's birthday, so
we sang him happy birthday....in Korean. (Thanks, Elder Jeong, for
teaching me that almost two years ago!!) It was a blast.
Baptism
Kinda a heartbreak for me, but it all turned out okay! So we have been
teaching this 8 year-old kid, Morian, before he gets baptized to make
sure he understands the Church because his family was less-active
until now. His uncle is the only priesthood holder in his family, but
he was going to be out of town for his baptism. So he asked me to
baptize him!! We showed up to his baptism (it was stake baptisms, so
there were three 8-year-olds being baptized) and I got dressed in my
baptismal clothes. Turns out his uncle was able to make it! So I
changed again! Nevertheless he got baptized and he gave me a big hug
afterward and said, "Thanks for teaching me, Elder Jones!" With a big
smile. Yeah, it was special.
Stephanie
We've been working with Stephanie for a while now and she finally made
it to a normal church service! (Not stake conferences....she had been
to two of those...) She really enjoyed it and no one said anything
blasphemous during testimony meeting which is always a scary thought
when you have an investigator at church for the first time... She
stayed all three hours and enjoyed all of it. She was the last one out
of the relief society room after church was over because everyone
wanted to meet her! The Sundance ward has some dang good
fellowshippers.
New Investigator!
We have been doing pretty well at finding people the past couple
weeks. It's a pretty slow area, so the fact that we have found 2 new
investigators the past two weeks is big! We visited a Part member
family and got in! Sister Quillin is not a member of the Church, and
she has had the missionary lessons a couple times. The teaching
records show that she struggles with faith a little bit, but she
seemed pretty faithful. We shared a message about the Book of Mormon
and its importance. She agreed that it is important and she committed
to start reading again! It looks like we caught them at the perfect
time. She had just been thinking about starting to read the Book of
Mormon again, we showed up, shared a message about the Book of Mormon,
and invited her to have us teach her. Plus, she's a teacher, so she
has the summer off! She said things are falling together. I love when
I notice when I'm being promoted by the Spirit to visit certain
people, share certain messages, and so on. It's a great feeling.
HOTTTT
YEAH it's been so darn hot. Saturday was 117°! Last year it didn't get
that hot until the end of July. This summer is gonna finish me off
strong. Haha! At least I'm only in it for 5 minutes at a time, not 5
hours at a time. ;) #CarLife
Well that's about all that happened this week. Maybe a couple small
things I forgot, but it's okay. It'll do! Have a good week, everyone!
Much love,
 |
| Jorge the baby cow |
 |
| The Korean FEAST with the Dorroughs! |
 |
| Yeah. It's hot. |
 |
| Brother Dorrough and me! |
 | |||
| Me and baby cow. Bishop Gable lookin on in the background! | I love that guy! |
 |
| Buckeye/Goodyear zone conference! Left to right: Elders Thames, Thaut, Price, Weston, Jones, Romney, Petersen, Davis, Elliott, Dwigans, Jensen, Preisdent Griffin.... Sitting: Hermanas Zamora, Lawrence, Lever, Sister Williams, Sister Griffin |
 |
| Weekly Selfie |
Elder Jones
Buckeye 1st and Sundance Wards
Arizona Phoenix Mission