I Love Cheesecake! 8th P Day in Peoria- 31st P day in Phoenix

8th P Day in Peoria- 31st P day in Phoenix
I Love Cheesecake!


Hello, family and friends! Greetings from Arizona. I can hardly
believe it's already my second week of my second transfer here in
Peoria. Things are going well here. With Conference approaching, us
missionaries are beginning to get excited. Here was my week:

Tuesday: P-Day! Found out that both Elder Flynn and I will be in
Peoria for at least one more transfer. We couldn't be happier! We got
haircuts and after that we went to subway for lunch. We were sitting
by the window and Pedro walked past and got super excited when he was
us through the window. He ran inside and said hello. Man, he's so
awesome. He's still extremely excited to have been baptized. He should
be!!! :) So after P-day we went to dinner at a member's. They fed us
tacos! After dinner we went to a lesson with a less-active sister. She
was very nice.
Temp: 86°F

Wednesday: We went finding after studies for a while and then came
back to read from the online training booklet. Brother Alger talked to
us for a while which took up a pretty big chunk of time...haha. We
went and visited a couple other people before dinner. A member brought
us KFC so that hit the spot. Elder Flynn isn't a big fan of the
greasiness, but I'm okay with it!! Plus there was cole slaw
so.....yeah. I was well fed. We forgot our apartment keys so we had to
eat outside while we waited for Brother Alger to get home. After our
coordination meeting we went out with Brother Wincek and visited a
couple other investigators. Pretty slow day!
Temp: 87°F

Thursday: Weekly planning. We ended up going to the church to plan
because it was too hot to plan outside and it was pretty stuffy in our
apartment. We went to the relief society room and cranked up the A/C!
Our dinner appointment called and cancelled like 45 minutes before
5:00 so we ended up eating at home. After dinner we had a lesson with
Leah at the Pottle's home. It went really well. She's so ready to be
baptized. It's in the Lord's  time, I guess. Oh, one of the Pottle
boys, Zeke, drew me while we were teaching. Haha. He's like 10 so it
was funny to see. I'll send the picture home in my next letter. :p
Temp: 91°F

Friday: After studies we had district meeting. It was pretty good like
always. After the meeting we studied from our online book for the
remainder of time until dinner. The Pottle's picked us up around 4:45
and took us to THE CHEESECAKE FACTORY. It was probably the best meal
I've ever had. I got a really good burger and after we ate, they
insisted that we get cheesecake. I got the "Oreo dream extreme"
cheesecake. Yeah....it was the best dessert I've ever had. It took two
days to eat the whole piece. Haha. After dinner we attempted to bike
on our full stomachs. We visited some people after our lesson
cancelled.
Temp: 92°F

Saturday: Very long day. I feel like we worked super hard haha. Maybe
it's because we didn't had any teaching appointments and it was the
hottest day since like October. Who knows? Haha. Chris took us to
Culver's for lunch and so we got to talk to her about some of her
concerns. After lunch we went finding until dinner. That was really
sweaty. Haha. We didn't have a dinner appointment. They cancelled a
couple hours before, too. I got a new bike helmet and water bottle. My
old ones were both falling apart. Yeah, the heat is coming...
Temp: 95°F

Sunday: We had a great fast Sunday. Leah made it to church for
Oakwood. It's great to see her come to church every week! Alberto and
Britney both came to church for Centennial! Having Britney come was a
huge, pleasant surprise. She loved it. She even stayed for the second
hour, too. So yeah, church was great. We had  dinner with the member
who the zone leaders live with, so they joined us for dinner too. We
had steak! And red velvet cake! After dinner we had a lesson with
Britney. She wants to meet twice a week so she can get baptized
sooner. She is determined! It's inspiring to see her determination!
She is progressing really well.
Temp: 94°F


That was my week! I hope you all had a wonderful week as well. I
appreciate all of the prayers on my behalf; I can feel them. Have a
blessed week.

Much love,

Elder Jones
Oakwood / Centennial Wards

Elder Jones drawing

Treat from KFC picinic

trying to navigate and a cool sunset

Elder Jones says, "Donkey, See I told you I serve in the country!".

Birds and Baptisms 7th Pday in Peoria, 30th Pday in Phoenix

Birds and Baptisms 7th Pday in Peoria, 30th Pday in Phoenix

Hello, family and friends. Happy Tuesday P-Day! Elder Flynn and I are
both staying in the area. Yay! :) We had another great week. We had a
baptism! I'll write about it later in this email. It was great. Some
other funny things also happened that I will write about. Let's get
started!!

Monday: Typical P-Day stuff. After dinner we were supposed to have a
lesson with Alberto, our 17 year-old investigator, but we never heard
back from him with his address. Apparently he was in the hospital
so....yeah. We're definitely praying for him. He's a great kid with
true desire. We heard he's doing okay, though so that's good. We
knocked on a potential's door named Lydia and she answered! She said
we can come back and teach her. She is interested in learning about
our faith. We were able to testify of the truthfulness of the Book of
Mormon and she said she's interested. Good day.
Temp: 90°F

Tuesday: Happy St. Patrick's Day! I wore a green tie and let Elder
Flynn borrow one of my other green ties haha. He doesn't have very
many! It's depressing! We met with Pedro and he said he's all good for
baptism and we worked out the logistics. Megan was sick so she had to
cancel her lesson. We instead met with a recent convert, Chris. She's
struggling a little bit, but she is great. I feel like she is trusting
me since I've been over there a few times now. I replaced an Elder who
was here for like 9 months, so it was a change for everyone! Oh, and
she gave us some Girl Scout cookies. Score!
Temp: 91°F

Wednesday, Eh, pretty slow day. After studies we went to our Oakwood
ward mission leader's (Brother Wincek's) house to discuss our week
because our coordination meeting was cancelled. We also discussed
Pedro's baptismal program. Brother Wincek is the best. Hahah he's just
always happy and on top of things. We had some awesome burgers for
dinner at a member's home. Burgers never get old! We've been having
them more recently and I can't complain! Our lesson with Sandra
cancelled so we just went finding on splits. Nothing too special haha.
Temp: 81°F

Thursday: We weekly planned, but it wasn't the typical weekly planning
session. About 15 minutes into our planning session, (we plan outside)
we hear birds squawking at each other and fighting. We run over to
break it up and they all fly away. A minute later, one bird just flies
down and lands on the table next to us. I guess it had a broken foot
or something from the fight and it couldn't fly away. It proceeded to
squawk as loud as possible right next to us. It was so strange. It was
absolutely terrified of us. It couldn't really fly away and we were
just staring at it. It finally flew into the air and we followed it
out front where it "landed" on the ground. It couldn't walk, so it
just lay there. We didn't know what to do! Neither of us could get the
courage to just kill it and end its suffering. It was stuck in the
middle of the road and I think if managed to fly over the neighbor's
fence. I'll attach a picture of the madness. It was wild, that's for
sure. So we went to Chick-fil-a for dinner and they were giving away
free ice cream. #inspired. We contacted an investigator who was super
solid but dropped her baptismal date two days before the baptism. That
happened a couple weeks before I got here. She was happy to see us and
she set up a time for us to come back! Oh yeah! Also inspired.
Thursday was choc-full of awesome things!
Temp: 70°F (rainy)


Friday: After studies we had district meeting and stuff. It was a
great meeting! A returned missionary from the Spanish ward came and
talked to us a little bit. He was pretty awesome. After the meeting,
we stuck around and prepared for Pedro's baptism. We had dinner with
Chris. She took us to Culver's and man, that hit the spot. Elder Flynn
couldn't get over how good his chocolate Oreo concrete was. He
probably told me how good it was about 50 times haha. After dinner we
had a great lesson with Britney. She's getting a lot better health
wise. She should be able to come to church this week! When we were
biking home from dinner, an unmarked police car drove past us on the
road and came on his loudspeaker and said, "Evening, Elders." It was
pretty dang sweet. I felt pretty good after that hahaha.
Temp: 81°F

Saturday: BAPTISM!!! Pedro was baptized by his girlfriend's dad and it
was spectacular. His journey to baptism has been long because his
parents weren't that supportive and kept telling him to wait. One day
he just told them that he's getting baptized. It was awesome!! Haha.
I'll attach a picture. After the baptism the Winceks took us to lunch
at a delicious deli. It's a definite lunch spot. It was packed! Dinner
was rough because we had just stuffed our faces 2 hours before. We
made it happen though. Sandra cancelled our appointment again.
Temp: 84°F

Sunday: Church was great. Pedro got confirmed and I got to stand in on
the ordinance. It's so amazing because he had been waiting to be a
member for over six months. He couldn't be happier to be baptized and
confirmed. We had dinner with the Chase family and it was awesome.
They have four teenage kids so it was pretty refreshing to just talk
to them. Plus they made some delicious chicken. It was grrrreat.
Leah's lesson had to cancel because of a fireside that she went to.
She's so involved! We went finding for the rest of the night--nothing
too exciting.
Temp: 88°F

Monday: NOT P-day...haha. We had a lesson with Pedro in the afternoon
and we read the Book of Mormon with him. He committed to read the
whole book by graduation which is really soon....if he can do it I'll
be extremely impressed. Haha. We had dinner with the Wrights, who
served a couples mission in Independence. They were involved with the
Kansas City temple! I told them I was in the Celebration and they
remembered out act! They even had a book about the Temple. (mom and
dad: the same one we have!) I got a picture with it so I'll send it.
We had a lesson with Megan and taught some more commandments. She's
been sick recently too. She's feeling better, though!
Temp: 84°F


That was my week! This week is supposed to get up to 97°F so pray for
my white skin....haha. Love and miss you all. I appreciate all of the
support and prayers. Have a wonderful week! I love getting mail so if
you need my address, just ask my mom or myself.

Much love,

Elder Jones
Oakwood / Centennial Wards

Getting ready for baptism

Arizona

Book family in AZ have that we have at home about Kansas City Temple

No explanation needed

Pedro's baptism

canal

Elder Flynn and Elder Jones in their matching ties

Broken footed bird mentioned in letter

Find. Teach. Baptize! 6th P-day in Peoria- 29th P-day in Phoenix Mission

Hello, family and friends. Elder Flynn and I had a great week serving
the Lord. It was a very busy week with lots of lessons. Next week is
transfers, so my P-Day will be on Tuesday. Pretty confident that I'm
staying....haha. Here was my week:

Monday: It was a pretty typical P-Day. Not too exciting. After our
time off, we went and taught Megan the Gospel of Jesus Christ and the
Word of Wisdom. She accepted the message well! Sadly, she did say that
she's interested in YSA ward now due to some relationship shifts (if
you get what I'm saying). She said she just wants to try it out soooo
she will. Who knows, maybe she'll find a YSA guy and get baptized next
week! Hahaha, that's a long shot. She really likes Oakwood ward so
maybe she'll want to stay. It's wherever she's comfortable. That's all
that matters!
Temp: 82°F

Tuesday: After studies we went outside for some fresh air and cleaned
out the Area Book. If I haven't told you all yet, we have to go
through all of the people in our area book and take out information if
there's too much. Privacy laws are making their way to missionaries!
Haha. So while we were cleaning out our Area Book, this huge bee kept
hovering around us so we went inside. We went finding for a little bit
but didn't have much luck. We had dinner at home and made some good
orange chicken that a member gave us.  After dinner we had a lesson
with Leah. We taught her some of the commandments. It was probably the
most solid lesson we've had with her. She said she's coming closer to
wanting to be baptized. She said that she knows that there's truth in
the Church and that she's praying about baptism. She's almost there!
:)
Temp: 88°F

Wednesday: It was a pretty tiring day. We had a lesson with Pedro at
1pm and we went through the baptismal interview questions. We're
hoping he can get baptized soon! After the lesson we helped the
Winceks--the ward mission leader and his family--decorate for a party
for the youth that night. They went all out and it looked really good.
Our lesson cancelled but we ended up going to see Darin, one of our
other investigators. He isn't progressing, but we stop by to see him
every once in a while. We had a good meeting with him.
Temp: 86°F

Thursday: Weekly planning. We tried to plan outside, but it got pretty
hot quickly. It wasn't really that hot, but it was a cloudy day with
rain in the area. It was humid! It reminded me of home. We had dinner
with Chris. She made us barbecue! It was delicious. Then we shared a
message with her about prayer and she wants us to re teach the
lessons. She said maybe that'll help her get back on track. After
dinner we met with Megan again at the Smith's home. We taught her some
more of the commandments and she committed to live them. Megan is
awesome but her parents want her to wait six months before she is
baptized. She's 20, but wants to respect her parents' wishes since she
lives with them. She'll get there!
Temp: 86°F (humid)

Friday: We had district meeting and I led a discussion on "The role of
the Spirit in an investigator's conversion." I think it went well. The
district participated a ton which is always nice. After the meeting,
Pedro had his baptismal interview. Hopefully now we can get him
baptized soon! The Winceks took us to a Mexican restaurant for dinner
as a repayment for helping them decorate, haha. We went to Mixteca. It
was alright. The fish taco I had was spectacular, but the shredded
beef one was just alright. It's okay though, I was super full after we
left. :) We went and saw Britney but she wasn't feeling very well. We
gave her a blessing and rescheduled for this coming week. She's been
sick lately. :(
Temp: 88°F

Saturday: BAPTISM!!! We got to go see Eliza, the 10-year-old girl I
taught in my last area, get baptized!! She had been taught for a year
and a half by like 6 missionaries. She was so excited to get baptized
and it was a testimony builder to see her smile as she came out of the
water. Elder Shurtleff baptized her and he completely forgot to bring
another white shirt so he had to wear the wet one under his suit coat
hahaha. Smooth! I'll attach a picture of us together. It was great to
see the Elders and Eliza's family again. Sister Simon was there too so
that was also awesome! We went to dinner at a recent convert family's
home. We had some great barbecue chicken. They're a huge Girl Scout
family, so they gave us two boxes each of cookies. Yesssss. Pretty
great day haha.
Temp: 88°F

Sunday: Lots of stuff happened that I really don't want to remember.
Haha. After church we taught Alberto and he brought his little
brother, Mark! Alberto is 17 and Mark is 13. Another new investigator.
They keep getting younger and younger hahaha. We taught them half of
the restoration but it was cut short so we're meeting with them twice
this week!!

We had a great week! Probably the best week I've had since I've been
on my mission. Our key indicators were great and I'm having a ton of
fun here in Peoria. The members are great and so are our
investigators. I'd love to hear from you all. Have a great week! Love
ya!

Much love,

Elder Jones
Oakwood / Centennial Wards

Orange Chicken and Rice

Studying?

cool sky, but I see Elder Flynn up ahead

Elder Fylnn

Eliza's baptism, with Elder Shurtleff

"No Hablo Español..." 5th P Day in Peoria- 28th P Day in Phoenix

Hello, friends and family! This week has been a great week. Elder
Flynn and I are teaching more and finding more people to teach! It's
been great. I had a few interesting things happen this week which I
will include in this email. Well........let's get started! Here was my
week:

Monday: The normal P-day stuff...email....shopping....boring stuff.
After P-day, we had a lesson with a new investigator named Alberto.
He's 17 (go figure) and he's awesome. His cousin, Moses, just moved up
from the Mormon Colonies in Mexico. He has been coming to church with
Moses, but he just got permission from his parents to let us start
teaching him. He is already solid. We taught him the Restoration and
he accepted it. The people ask him at church, "Are you a member of the
Church?" He always replies, "No, but I want to be." He's a really tall
kid but he is a gentle giant. Haha. We set a baptismal date with him
for March 28th. We know he will be ready by then. He is so solid. He
lives RIGHT on the ward boundary so we were praying he'd still be in
our ward. He is!! Oh yeah! :D
Temp: 63°F (rainy)

Tuesday: We had a mission-wide conference about technology! Elder Malm
of the Seventy was there. So was another guy from the missionary
department; I can remember his name. Anyway, they talked to us about
the technology reset and how we can better use technology in our
proselyting. The Arizona Phoenix Mission was one of the test missions
for the iPads, so now that the testing period is over, more missions
are getting technology. That being said, we are doing a reset. We
turned in our old iPads and got new devices (hallelujah). Elder Malm
is from Sweden so he spoke with a pretty cool accent haha. I got to
see all of my missionary buddies at the conference which was cool.
After the conference, we taught Leah the third lesson, the Gospel of
Jesus Christ, and the word of wisdom. It went really well. She has a
ton of questions and she said her testimony is growing tremendously.
She loves coming to church and she committed to live the word of
wisdom!  Tuesday was a great day overall.
Temp: 68°F

Wednesday: We had the actual iPad exchange at 11:30. We switched out
our old devices for new devices and set them up right there as a zone.
The zone leaders were there to help answer any questions about the
re-setup. These iPads are much faster and smoother. We got a pretty
nice case for them, but the cases don't have a flap to cover the
screen. Much more sturdy, though. We didn't have a dinner appointment
so we went to Culver's. Man, it hit the spot. The restaurant in Peoria
looks almost identical to the Webb City location on the inside. I had
some good memories. Haha! We did a little finding after dinner because
the elders quorum didn't show up for splits...haha. Oh well! Good day.
Temp: 70°F

Thursday: Weeeeeekly Plannnnnning. Yep, that took up most of our
morning/afternoon. After dinner we went on splits with the Oakwood
high priests. We took one with us and we went to visit one of our
other investigators, Sandra. She was home and we got in and taught a
small lesson reviewing the Restoration. Her daughter, Gabby, was there
too and said she'd be interested in learning more! We set a return
appointment to teach both of them next week. Pretty cool, inspired
visit! Another new investigator. I tell you what, this area is
exploding. We got back to the church and Elder Flynn realized he left
his iPad at Sandra's. So we biked all the way back and got it. Hahaha.
It was good exercise!!
Temp: 75°F

Friday: We had zone meeting all afternoon which was fun. We basically
went over what we learned in the mission conference regarding our new
iPads. It was a good meeting, but it was loooooong. We then had dinner
with Chris, a recent convert. Her mom is 100% Mexican, so she fed us
authentic Mexican enchiladas. They were delicious. I went over to the
Spanish elders' house for exchanges. I was with Elder Canny.
Apparently I talk in my sleep. Haha
Temp: 78°F

Saturday: No hablo Español.... I spent the day with Elder Canny in the
Spanish area. He's from Norway! He has a pretty cool accent. It was
super fun, though. They live with the other elders in our district,
Elders Ingham and Weston. The Spanish elders get to drive a brand new
Ford Fusion. It's niiiiiice! We had two lessons, both of which I have
no idea what was being taught. They just kept looking at me, speaking
in Spanish, watching my blank look, and laughing to Elder Canny. It
was kinda awkward, but fun. At the end of one of the lessons, one of
them wanted me to pray in English. It was pretty odd to have someone
want to hear me pray in English....but I guess it's similar to
Americans wanting someone to pray in another language. Anyway, it was
s great day.
Temp: 84°F

Sunday: We had a great Sunday. Pedro, Megan, and Leah all made it to
church. They're all super solid. After church, we had a great lesson
with Britney. We reset her baptismal date to April 11th because she has
been sick and in and out of the hospital recently. She is feeling a
lot better, though. We taught the Plan of Salvation and she loved it!
She said that she knows that the Book of Mormon is true and she reads
it every day! Oh, something funny happened at church. So we're just
waiting and greeting people in the chapel before it started and this
girl comes up to us. She looks at Elder Flynn and said, "Are you
Austin? Didn't you go to Syracuse high school?" Hahaha, turns out she
was in Elder Flynn's graduating class and they had classes together.
Small world!
Temp: 82°F

I added a lot more people to this email! If you want to write me a
letter, here's my address:

Elder Kevin Jones
7535 W. Banff Ln.
Peoria, AZ 85381

Love you all and hope you have a blessed week. :)

Much love,

Elder Jones
Oakwood / Centennial Wards

Elder Jones and Elder Flynn

He is in HEAVEN!  Gotta' get that Culvers fix!

Just because!  LOVE the shirt!

Waiting!!!!

The BIG and the Small in the mission

Who would want to arm wrestle this guy?

Mission picture
Elder Jones is on the stage sitting in a chair near the middle (second row of Elders)