Birthday!

sooo my birthday was pretty much the worst day of my entire mission!....yup.

so the night before we didnt get in till late and then we had a dumb conference call that took the rest of the night. so we didnt have time to plan. then we had breakfast with a member that morning and so we didnt get any studies. so the whole day was a, "......hmmm what should we do now?...." so...yeah. 

Mom did you get a text from mary lofthouse with a picture?

well the rest of my week was pretty good...i guess.

so on monday i locked the keys in the trunk....again. so we called up the clermont north elders and they came and helped us come up with some ideas....none of which worked. so then we said a prayer and we remembered a guy who was a real jerk, who always yelled at missionaries (but who was a mechanic) who lived real close. so we go talk to him and he agrees to help us. so he ended up finally being able to break into our car at 8:45 at night. so that was good.

Tuesday was elder Dickson's birthday and so that was good. we ate at steak and shake, and we had dinner with the lofthouse's. on thursday we met with lots of less actives. The new Easter initiative video "because he 

lives" is super good! we shared that with a less active and now she wants to quit her job so that she can go to church.

Because He Lives

The ward is feeding us good though.

umm.....i dont really feel like writing too much today. sorry.

but i will write morgan and mason and dad a letter! we have some down time for pday today so i am going to use that to my advantage and try and write some letters.

Hope you have a great Birthday dad and mason! Happy easter too!

--

Love Elder Jones

I'm Sick and Tired of Being Paid to Lose.... I WANNA WIN!

it goes good! wow this week we had a ton of stuff that happened! so monday we had a dunk contest with our bishop! haha that was sweet! then tuesday we had a mission conference where we got new iPads! then the whole day was spent just setting them up and getting everything that we needed on them. then on thursday we had a great time! we had 3 member meals in one day! and they all gave us food to go! so we were good for days with food! then on friday we had to go to the doctor cuz my companion had to get a raised mole removed! then we had dinner with the B. family! haha they are so funny! they were telling us of all of these pranks they would do to their bishops to make sure they didnt get callings! like one time they got a really big rub on tribal tatoo going up his neck and onto his face when they went to a ward party. and they are really good at playing off of each others jokes and just going along with it! then we had exchanges with the district leader on saturday! i went with elder perez's trainee named elder leishman and he has some crazy stories let me tell ya! he was part of the marines before he left on his mission and so he had to go through boot camp and all that jazz! it was crazy! but we had a really good day! we finally were able to teach the M. family!  they are great! it is a family of 5 and they have a son named L. who has down syndrome! but he is so funny! haha then we talked to a bunch more people and got some solid contacts and then we taught a less active member named frank! he is so funny! we go into his house and i say, "wow frank! did you clean up in here? it looks nice!" and he says "actually no i didnt..." then i respond trying to dig myself out, "well it sure looks clean to me!" to the which he says, "man you guys are looking sharp today! " and i say "no frank, you are man! is that a new shirt?" and he starts getting into it, "no way man! i have been wearing this all day! is that a new tie???" i say "frank man! you're the best!" and he says "No you guys are the best!" and then we left... haha jk we actually taught him but it was just funny! 

then on sunday we had 2 cool miracles! 1 we were in an area looking for a former, but the street we had chosen didnt exist, and upon closer inspection this person didnt actually live even close to there! so we start looking for people close to us that we can visit and we finally find a former named T! so we go knock on her door and she was totally against us! totally die hard catholic! but with the help of the spirit and the book of mormon by the end her and her family had committed to read the book of mormon! then later that night we tried to pass by someone named crystal that elder dickson had contacted over 9 weeks ago during an exchange! she opened the door and we asked if we could share a message with her, and she straight up said no! she was not interested! but then we asked why she wasnt interested. then she told us her concerns about when she had met with the missionaries before. so we start to talk to her about it on her doorstep. then she says, do you just want to come out back and we can sit down? so we go out back and basically have this 2 hour long discussion where we covered basically every lesson and just talked and talked and talked trying to help her understand and trying to answer her questions. she was battling with the fact that she had been raised in a certain belief, and even though the evidence was placed before her she still didnt know what to do or how to think! then at the end she said, "oh i have to get some homework done but can you guys come over next friday and we can talk more?" so that was really cool and she was going to read more in the book of mormon to recieve and answer to her prayer! i love being a missionary and helping others come unto christ! there truly is no other work that will satisfy more! 

it def totes doesnt feel like my birthday! i cant even believe that i left when i was 18 in 2013. wow....now i only have 7 months left! gotta make the most out of it!

have a great week!

-- 

Love Elder Jones

Preference...

Now we are not photographers, by any stretch of the imagination.  So when we are having camera issues right when we need the camera, well this is what you get.  Her date was Zach Butler from Orem, the brother of one of Wesley's good friends.  She couldn't decide who to take, so I mentioned Zach and she took off like a flash!  They took pictures at the park, had Dominoes delivered there for dinner and then they were off to the dance.  Dessert was at our house with games and fun.  We are the spoil sports and made Mason accompany them back to his house so Morgan wouldn't have to drive home alone.  They had a good time and she is trying to make the most of her high school experience!

Obey The Law of the Land...

well i have a painful experience to relate today. this last week we was comin back from our district meeting and we needed to get to an appointment real quick like. And so we was drivin on highway 50 comin into clermont, and it was one of those things where the speed limit drops really quick, and apparently i didnt slow down fast enough and so when i pull up to a red light just after the speed change, i am sitting there and then when it turns green i see lights behind me and there was an undercover cop! so he pulled me over and gave me a ticket. he was a rough guy. didnt even give me time to talk just got my license and wrote me up. it turns out that representatives of jesus christ can get tickets too. but dont worry about it, i can take a traffic school course again online to make sure the points stay off of my record. and i have some birthday and christmas money still so i will only have to use a little bit from my checking account. so that was humbling for me.

but in other news just the same i guess! we are finally getting some solid people coming into our teaching pool, and we have a really good week lined up for us! we have a new district leader named elder perez and there is only one set of sister missionaries in our district! (YES! Sisters are Blisters!) but our sisters are way chill! so its cool! we actually found a really cool family named the m. family. we talked to her outside as she was doing her taxes and she just clicked with us! she was so funny! she couldnt believe that we leave our families for 2 years and she was instantly like "MOM CARD!" You're coming with me! so she is a non member and our mom! its awesome! we have an appointment with her for next wednesday! then we also found a former investigator family that we are going to start teaching! super pumped for this week! on sunday though we had a ton of less actives come to church! so it was really full!

Have a great week!

-- 

Love Elder Jones

Our Gorgeous Girl...

Well, it is senior year and all and that means senior pictures.  Morgan and I went with the photographer last Saturday and fortunately for us the light was "magical" (according to the photographer).  I think she did an amazing job capturing the beauty in Morgan inside and out!  Let us know what you think.  These are just a few of them.  We are in the process of downloading them and we will get announcements out soon.

This week-end is preference so we are all about that right now.  And Mason is starting track and getting ready for his Millenial Choir perfomance in April.  We will be heading down to get Morgan situated in Cedar City in a few weeks, and don't forget Birthday week.  Not a dull moment around here.  Have a wonderful week!