13th p day in Phoenix Kansas Brothers!

Hello, Everyone! Guess what? There was frost this morning. Yep. It's
getting real.

So I got a new companion. His name is Elder Shurtleff. He's from
Junction City, KS, and he's been out 15 months, and he's 20. Funny
thing is that he was in the Kansas City Cultural Celebration too. His
last companion was too. He said that his high school plays Washburn
Rural every year. I told him that's where I would have gone if I
stayed in Topeka! So yeah, Elder Shurtleff is the man. His last area
was Flagstaff. Haha, and Elder Jeong WENT to Flagstaff. Poor kid
hardly had a big enough coat for the cold nights in the valley. He'll
learn. Hopefully. Prayers to him haha.

We got a new investigator this week! His name is Quentin, and he's an
ex-gangster from Chicago. He's all tatted up, but he truly wants to
turn his life around. He had talked to missionaries in Mesa, and he
said that right after he met them, he covered up all of his gang
related tattoos. He fled the state, and moved here to get away from
everything. It's a really great recovery story. He is really awesome
and wants to meet 2-3 times a week. Plus, he was at church yesterday!
Woohoo! :)

Elder Shurtleff says he predicts that he'll get transferred this next
transfer and I'll train. That means I'll be here for like 8 months at
least....haha. Eh, I love the area. I wouldn't mind! Haha. I'm really
growing close to the members here. They're all so awesome. I am really
growing to love Phoenix. Maybe the fact that it's winter and 70
degrees. That could be a main factor. Haha!

I'm so grateful for the package I got! Oh, and Elder Buckway REALLY
wants a Webb City state shirt when they win. So do I :) A medium would
be great for me. Probably an XL for Elder Buckway, but I'll make sure
before next week. Cheer loud for me at the State game and PLEASE be
safe in St. Louis.

Next week is lookin good. How is everything back home?! :)

Much love,


Elder Jones

Elder Jones with his new companion Elder Shurtleff

Elder Jeong, Brother Meiners, Elder Jones

Going to transfers!  Bye Elder Jeong!

Boys will be boys!!

12th Pday in Phoenix BYE BYE ELDER JEONG

Sadly, Elder Jeong will be getting transferred and I'll be getting a
new companion here in Shaw Butte/Moon Mountain. I'll write more later!
I love you all! You can send mail now! Haha. By the way, I got the
package, Mom and Dad. Thanks a bunch. Those pumpkin pie pop tarts are
AMAZING. They're almost gone....hahaha. It's gonna be weird answering
our phone and not saying, "Hello, this is Elder Jones & Elder Jeong".


This week was pretty great!..right up until about 10:00 this morning.
We received a text saying that Elder Jeong will be transferred
tomorrow. I'm gonna miss that kid. He is so fun to be around and I
don't know how a testimony and conviction as big as his can fit into
such a small body. I'll miss my Korean brother, that's for sure. I am
excited to meet my new companion tomorrow, though. I keep telling
Elder Jeong he's going to go to Flagstaff for the winter and freeze
his butt off haha. We went to Wendy's for lunch to say goodbye!

Here's a recap of my week!

Monday: Elder Jeong was very tongue-twisted. We knocked on a guy's
door (we got a referral so we went to visit him) and a very heavy guy
answered without a shirt on. He was very friendly. He saw who we were
and said, "Oh, let me go put a shirt on real quick." Elder Jeong
accidentally said, "Yes, please." He meant to say, "that's okay!"
Hahaha. It was super awkward. We also were teaching a less-active,
returning family about them possibly taking the temple prep class.
When Elder Jeong brought it up, he said, "Would you guys want to take
the temple crap class?" Everyone started laughing so hard. He was
super embarrassed but laughed it off. Haha.

Tuesday: Zone conference! Four zones got together and President
Griffin instructed us. It was pretty fun. It was great to see lots of
missionaries I know! :)

Wednesday: Pretty boring, but we got to help Sister Simon trim her
tree in the back yard. She had to go somewhere and told us we can go
inside. We decided to finish trimming the tree while she was gone to
surprise her. She was super happy and thanked us a ton haha. I got the
package and I fell in love with pumpkin pie Pop-Tarts! They're almost
gone...haha.

Thursday: Elder Jeong woke up really sick with a sore throat,
headache, fever, and stomach ache. We got a flu shot at zone
conference, so maybe it was just a reaction to that. He was good by
that evening, though. We stayed in for a little while and let him
recover a bit.

Friday: Trainer/Trainee meeting! I got to see all of the trainees I
came in with! It was my last one of these meetings as a trainee. I'm
finally done with training! Haha. Just a normal missionary now. It's
crazy to think that there are now two whole groups behind me now. I
got to see my MTC companion, Elder Sultan, and the other missionaries
who were in the mission home with me! It was a great meeting. We got a
call that night from the Spanish Elders and they said they met a guy
in our area who was taught in Mesa who wants to talk with us and he
plans on getting baptized. It was a great call! Haha. Meeting with him
tonight.

Saturday: CULTURAL CELEBRATION!!! Such a great experience. The youth
treated us missionaries like royalty. I'll never forget when we were
practicing, the WHOLE group, 4300 youth, stood up and gave us a
standing ovation as we walked out onto the field. Probably the best
moment I've had on my mission so far. It was a unique experience. I am
truly blessed to have been in the presence of President Monson,
Uchtdorf, Elder Oaks, and Elder Lynn G. Robbins. There were a couple
other Elders who were in the KC celebration so that was cool to
compare experiences with them.

Sunday: Dedication! President Uchtdorf dedicated the temple, and a
member of the Moon Mountain Ward is in the new temple presidency, so
he and his wife spoke. Our stake president gave the opening prayer
too! Haha. It was a Phoenix North Stake reunion! :)


Monday: Not much happened, but on the way to an appointment we heard
like 5 coyotes howling and what sounded like a dog crying. The dog
stopped crying. Finish the puzzle. Yep, pretty sure I witnessed a dog
get killed by wild coyotes....pretty cool hahahaha.

So yeah, Elder Jeong is packing now. How's home! I want to hear from
everyone! :) it was 37 degrees this morning when we ran. Yikes.

Much love,


Elder Jones

Touchdown towel we sent him from the WC vs CJ game

He says he LOVES these!  Hint hint!

Kevin with his MTC companion Elder Sultan.  They saw each other at a trainer, trainee meeting.

Elders Buckway and Jones at the Cultural Celebration Practice Saturday.

Youth practicing

Elder Watson, from Wichita, KS, he is friends with a friend of Kevin's, Cassie!  Elder Jones says he is his new favorite person there.

Elders Jeong, Watson, Jones

Sunset before Celebration Performance

LOL!  Kevin says this is a picture of the prophet!  Guess he didn't get very close to him!

Kevin's BE A LIGHT, from the celebration

Oh my GOSH!!!!!  Kevin is COOKING!!!!! AMAZING!

Temp before early morning run. BRRRRR- for them, bring out the shorts for us!

The "Line" - Elder Bryson trained Elder Jeong, who trained Elder jones

Elder Ure, and Elder Bryson (both Assistants to the President [AP]) plus Elder Bryson trained Elder Jeong and Elder Jones

11th P-Day in Phoenix

Elder Jones and Elder Jeong official picture at the Phoenix Temple

Dear Family and Friends,

I apologize for the late message. It's been pretty busy today! I got a new tie and it'd pretty awesome. I'm at a computer so there will be pictures! :) This week has been pretty good. It's been a tough week for me, but I'm getting through it. The weather is finally cooling off so that sure helps. Every morning is about 55 and it gets up to about 80 every day. I wear my sweater almost every night after dinner. So, in other words, Phoenix is awesome. I guess this is why people live here. I wasn't really sure why people lived here when it was August and 120 degrees. Now I understand!

 Tuesday morning, our zone and a couple other zones had the opportunity to go to the Phoenix Temple and help prepare for the dedication. We moved furniture from some of the rooms down into storage. Some of those rooms include the Celestial Room, Sealing Rooms, Sealing waiting room, and the baptistry room. It was weird being able to just walk around a place that is usually so guided. It was also a pain to get the massive couches out of the tiny Celestial Room doors, but it was okay. It was difficult to get frustrated in the Temple! Haha. We then got a special tour of the temple. We got to go "behind the scenes." It reminded me of when we went behind the maintenance gates at Disney this past Spring. We got to see the water pumps, storage, everything. It was really impressive!

We got a new investigator this week from the Temple Open House! The first thing she said when we went to our first lesson with her was, "I want to know more." We told her we could help with that! She's 24 and a single mother of a handicapped 2 year-old boy. We actually set a baptismal date on our first lesson. She is super solid. Can't wait to see where the Gospel will take her!

Don't send any mail or packages to my house OR the office until after I can clarify next P-Day. By the way, next P-day will be Tuesday, because it's transfer week. Please please please watch the Cultural Celebration for the Phoenix Temple! I'll be in it, and President Monson will be there. I'm psyched to be in another Celebration. :) It'll be even cooler as a missionary. Our whole mission will be there! Even the missionaries in Flagstaff! Haha, they usually get left out of service/activities that go on in the Valley because they're so far away. It's already snowing a ton there and VERY cold. Eh, I'll keep the 80 degree days. My luck I'll get transferred to Prescott or Flag for the winter. Haha.

Hope all is well. How is home? Please let me know! I miss it! Glad to hear about Webb City. Dad, how's the other sports world going? 

I'll email you all pictures individually. Love you all. Prayers are needed, especially now! 

Much love, 

Elder Kevin Jones

Kevin's water bottle that he adds all his fruit stickers to

Elder Buckway and Elder Jones

Hi Grandma!

Elder Jeong cooking for Elder Jones!

Elder Jeong made some kimchi fried rice and fish! (Korean stuff)
(love his description!)

Fast Sunday is rough

10th P Day in phoenix

District photo: Elder Jones, Elder Buckway, Elder Jeong,
Elder Syndergaard, Elder Burgoyne, Elder Jensen

Greetings from the frozen wasteland! (That's what it felt like when it
was 48 degrees this morning—I guess I'm already turning into an
Arizonian)

I write this letter while eating my tuna salad sandwich, grilled
chicken on salad, yogurt, and chocolate milk. For all those who say
missionaries don't eat well: we do. Our week was pretty slow, but we
had a few miracles. I'll note them! I'm going to do my best to send
pictures, but we're pretty close on time today. We went to Goodwill
and I got two pretty sick ties. I'm excited to wear them this week!

Miracle #1: Tuesday, we had two lessons scheduled after dinner. It
was a full night and we planned accordingly. On our way to an
appointment, they called and cancelled. Five minutes later, the other
appointment cancelled. Bummed, Elder Jeong and I started finding
people to visit. I thought we should go see Dennis and Mary because
they couldn't meet last week. So we did, and, sure enough, they were
home. Dennis was home for the first night in about a week. Perfect
timing. They let us in and we ended up teaching the Plan of Salvation.
Mary had read up to 2 Nephi 2 by then, and she's almost done with 2
Nephi now. She's incredible. We invited them to be baptized on
December 6. We're super excited for them and their progress.

Miracle #2: We had gotten a referral from the temple open house a
couple weeks ago. We went back to try and schedule an appointment and
we did! They're a pretty diverse group. There were 20 year old white
people, a 92 year old black woman, and a middle aged Hispanic. They
all went to the open house and LOVED it. We set a return appointment
with Veronica, one of the people who live there. We're not too sure
who all actually lives there, but we're down with teaching everybody!
Haha.

Miracle #3: *This miracle is pretty personal to just our family. It is a great one i will say, but not to be shared sorry!  (This is Emily)


I am 128 pounds now. The dry cleaner is still cleaning our clothes for
free, and Elder Jeong cooks a lot for me. I told you my companion
would cook me food, Mom!! Haha. Anyway, this are going well here. This
week is week 11, which is the week I'm training where I, the new
missionary, lead in all planning and teaching for the week. Pray for
me and wish me luck.

How is home? You should send pictures! I miss it! How's Webb City?
What's our national rank now? Patriots? VT? Celtics (now that the
season started)?

Transfers are November 19and I will know by the Tuesday before the
transfer. (That P-Day)

I love you all so much! Probably start sending mail to the mission
office until I know if I'm transferred. I hope I don't get
transferred! Haha.

Much love,


Elder Jones

photo session after trip to temple

at the temple!!  Cool picture!

Elder Jones with YM president Brother John Cannon

Elder Jeong's short tie

Mucho Mango!! His favorite

sweater weather in Phoenix! 

Phoenix is having a cold spell!  Pull out the sweaters.

See how cold it is!!