'Is This A Dream?'--Week 98-- 96 Weeks in Phoenix mission--11 Weeks in Buckeye

Dear friends and family,

This has been the best week of my mission so far. Everything that
happened just blew my mind! Hold on to your seats...


Surprise!!
On Monday evening the whole mission got an email from President
Griffin telling us to be at the Glendale North stake center on
Wednesday at 9:30. We needed to be in our seats no later than 9:30. He
said that he received new trainings that he was excited to teach us.
Confused on why we had such short notice, we cancelled some lessons
and planned to go. When Wednesday came we drove the 40 miles up to
Glendale North. We got there really early just in case traffic was
bad. They directed all the missionaries into the gym to take a mission
photo. I took my seat next to Elder Bryan, my bff missionary from
Kaysville. Everyone was sitting and ready to go, but President Griffin
wasn't there. The assistants to the president tell us all to be quiet
and about 15 seconds later President and Sister Griffin walk in the
door, and ELDER JEFFREY R. HOLLAND of the Quorum of the Twelve
Apostles walks through the door behind them. WHAT.!?! Oh my gosh we
all just about fell out of our seats. So he takes his seat (about
three feet away from me...) and we take the picture. They go into the
chapel to greet each of us and shake our hands. Guys, I shook the hand
of my favorite Apostle. We then spent the next two hours listening to
him speak to us. Since he couldn't make it a couple months ago, he
said he had to make it up to us, so he came out for the day. Our
Church leaders do care about us.
One cool thing he said was this: "I always like shaking the hands of
all the missionaries at a meeting like this. I loved it on my mission
when I got to shake hands with a general authority. But I didn't
really do it for you missionaries. I did it so I could personally
interview each one of you as I looked each of you directly in the eyes
and STARED INTO YOUR SOULS." He said, "You have a pretty great mission
here. A few are struggling, but for the most part, you have a great
mission. And to those of you who are struggling, welcome to life." It
was seriously like the best day ever!! I got some good notes, but I
really learned the most from how I felt as he spoke.

Reunited!
At Elder Holland's visit I got to see lots of missionaries who I
hadn't seen in a while. Elder Young told me all about Black Canyon, my
last area. He told me he's surviving on bike. Haha. Apparently that
area is still killing it in English and French work. Last year that
ward had 22 convert baptisms. It would be cool if they broke that
record again this year! I was also able to see my two favorite French
missionaries, Soeurs Casagrande and Haymond! Even though they're in
the Scottsdale mission, President Griffin invited them to come. It was
a nice surprise! I also got to see Elders Clough and Rodriguez, and
Elders Bryan and Plourde. It was good to see everyone again.

Baptism!!
As if this week couldn't get any better, Stephanie got baptized! It
was kind of spur of the moment, but she decided to just do it! The guy
who introduced her to the gospel, Nick, was moving back to Utah in
just a few days and she wanted him to baptize her. (He met her going
door to door selling solar. She was interested after she asked if he
was Mormon! Craaaazy story!) Since she couldn't be interviewed until
Friday, we told her she probably wouldn't be able to do this week. We
asked the mission presidency if we could do it the day after the
interview if she passes and they said yes! Sooo we had like 4 days to
prepare. We called a lot of people, set everything up, and made tons
of plans to make this happen. IT HAPPENED. She passed her baptismal
interview with flying colors. We had the baptism the next evening.
Nick and his family were able to come and support her. The room was
pretty much full of people supporting Stephanie on her big decision.
Every time someone asked her how she was feeling she would say, "Is
this a dream?" I then confirmed her a member of the Church on Sunday.
Stephanie always said she had a problem accepting miracles. In the
Bible, Book of Mormon, present day—anywhere. Miracles were hard for
her. She recognized that God also recognized that about her. Her whole
journey to find the Church was a series of miracles. She definitely
believes God can do miracles now. The Sundance Ward will be greatly
blessed by Stephanie's loving heart and positive spirit. I'm grateful
to have been involved in such a conversion.

Weather
It continues to be outrageously hot out here. From 105–115°F every
day. It was 120°F a couple weeks ago. Yeah, no thanks.


Well that was my week! Next week is transfers so our pday will most
likely be Tuesday, but because of Independence Day, it might just be
Monday this transfer. We'll see! Have a great week and keep doing
good!



Much love,

Elder Jones
Buckeye 1st & Sundance Wards
Arizona Phoenix Mission