A Long Time Coming

sorry for not writing in a long time and not sending pictures! i have no excuse besides the fact that i am a lazy person! haha but i am going to do better!

lots to talk about these past weeks! we had a miracle find about 2 weeks ago where we were tracting in a complex and we ran into a less active member that we didnt know lived there! she was like, "oh my goodness it is no coincidence that missionaries knocked my door today! i have a friend who is wanting to know about the gospel! and i didnt know how to get a hold of you guys!" i mean we were like "whoa!!! is this happening???" haha so just this last week we met with her and met her friend named nury, and she is really prepared! both her grandpa and her dad were mormon but she never went to go see what it was all about, and so now she is going through a really hard time in her life and wants to know what her grandpa had in his life! 

another thing that is not so much a miracle but kinda is a miracle is we had to drop one of our really awesome investigators... :( we have been teaching her for about 5 months and she has been one of the people that just takes a long time to progress but does progress. she has a super strong testimony of the church and she has overcome so many things like coming to church and getting over an addiction to coffee. and i have really come to love her. but she just couldnt make the decision to obey one commandment of god. it was a super hard decision and we had taught her everything and she said that she just had to make the decision to overcome her weakness on her own and it would take some time to get the courage to do it. so we told her that we had to drop her and stop coming by anymore...she got super sad, and then she told us that our efforts had not been wasted at her house and that she felt like with this gospel it had filled a gap in her life and that their was always a special spirit that she recognized when we came to her house! and that she was really sad to see us go...

talk about HARD!!! i was about to cry and say, "well maybe we can keep coming over and just wait till you make the decision!" but we stayed strong and had the faith that when we leave that she will notice the difference and miss that spirit that she felt when we were there...yeah so not much of a miracle there...

BUT on sunday this same investigator came to church and brought her SUPER catholic friend! and she LOVED it!!! so maybe we will have to swing by her house to teach this new friend/future convert that she has!

well i always have felt that days go by super fast in the mission and that there was never enough time to just relax...well elder hunt got a sinus infection this week and was out for the count. and so that put our week out of commission and me stuck in the house...so first i cleaned EVERYTHING! then i read like 17 conference talks and then i read the book of mormon till the words startd blurring together! and it was still the same day!!! i feel bad for repunzel who was in the same room and same tower for her whole life! because after the 3rd day i was getting like legit cabin fever!!!! i would have killed to get out of that apartment!!! well elder hunt is better now and i have never been so excited to get back to missionary work!

yesterday was mothers day and i got to talk to my mom! it was so awesome! i love my mom soooooooooo much! and i can honestly say that i wouldnt be where i am today without her! something i have been thinking about lately is how much the gospel really blesses families! how families without the gospel have a noticable difference in their home! i am so glad for the blessings of this gospel and especially for the temples and the opportunity i have to be with my family for forever

love yat

--
Love Elder Jones

so this last week elder hunt got sick and so i had about 4 days of spare time...i thought i would work on my art skills... ;D


growing up in elk ridge with scott winn as my friend is a good thing! we went on exchanges and elder hunt forgot his bike so he had to ride the other elder's bike, which isnt good! hahaha his inseam on his pants is like 24" (so he has to ride a girl bike to be able to straddle it!) so we took the seat off and made a makeshift one out of...(sorry callan towse!)...bubble wrap! crazy stuff...

so i made this phillipino soup (shout out to elder may!) and it turned out pretty good! (even though in this picture it looks really gross haha)

and also these are our matching easter ties! (great ties!, not so great picture! haha ;))

and to celebrate my 6 month mark (1/4 of the way done) of my mission i burnt a tie! yay!

dont worry! we cleaned it all up! :)

Morgan's Seminary Project

In Seminary each year the students are tasked with creating a project that evokes the theme for them in their personal lives.  So Morgan decided to write a poem about what it means to bear our Saviors name.  So here it goes...

There Is No Other Name

There is no other name
By which I would be called
Than Jesus Christ the Lord
My Savior, King, my all.

His name provides me hope
From fear or grief or pain
A hope that keeps me going;
There is no other name.

I feel His constant love
I know He's always there
Watching and protecting me
From the adversary's snare.

I'm proud to bear His name as mine
Because of all He's done.
He bore my sins and died for me,
I really owe Him one.

And so I will stay strong and true
To the title of legend and fame,
The title that's my only hope,
There is no other name.

Morgan Jones

Rube Goldberg...

Mason had a science project that is pretty much his entire grade for the term.  They were tasked with completing a Rube Goldberg machine that lasted 30 seconds.  Rube Goldberg machines are a play on the forces of transferring energy.  So recognizing where the potential energy can boost the momentum in the machine.
 Intro to Rube Goldberg  He was teamed up with Jackson and Brenna (friends in the neighborhood) to make this happen.  Well, after much travail and a very late night last night, we (Jeff, and I and the kids) finally got a successful run!  Rube Goldberg Run   And finally the recap of what you saw.  Our kids are so eloquent.  It is really heart warming ;o}.  Final evaluation of the machine!

We thought it would be fun to share the video's with you all just in case you were tasked with something similar.