Is this YSA? 4th P-Day in Peoria - 27th P-Day in Phoenix

Dear friends & family,

This week was great. I'm seriously loving it here in Peoria. The title
of this email is what I've been thinking since I've been here. It's
truly a new experience teaching so many young people. However, I am
noticing that they are all more committal than what I'm used to! They
come to church, read, and do what they know is important to help them
progress and gain a testimony. Let's get started! Here was my week:

Monday: P-Day. Not much happened other than the typical Monday stuff.
We had dinner with the Foulk family and they made really good
meatloaf. I usually hate meatloaf, but it was really good. Haha, I
just really think "meatloaf" is a funny word lol. Elder Flynn wowed us
with his piano skills after dinner. It's always a treat to hear him
play.
Temp: 70°F (rainy)

Tuesday: Another pretty slow day. We were supposed to have a lesson
with one of our investigators, Megan, in a member's home, but she
wasn't feeling well so she had to cancel. We ended up rescheduling it,
though! We went finding for the open time today and we had
coordination meeting. We went on splits with the Elder's Quorum but we
didn't have much success there. When we rode up to our house after
splits, we had a few minutes so Elder Flynn taught me about the stars.
He showed me some pretty cool constellations. He's really sharp.
Temp: 68°F

Wednesday: A pretty slow day. I was informed that my Grandma Margaret
passed away this morning. It was pretty sad to hear that I lost my
past grandparent, but it's also comforting to know that she's wanted
to go for a while. She's definitely happy, I can say that much. I
missed not being able to attend the funeral and see a lot of my
family, but it's okay. President Griffin called and made sure I was
okay, which I was. He's the best President ever!
Temp: 72°F

Thursday: GREAT day. We weekly planned most of the day, and we had
dinner on the OTHER side of our area at 5. It was about a 30-minute
bike ride over there, and after dinner we had a lesson on the complete
other side of the area. That lesson was at 6:30. Man, it was a haul.
It was SO worth it, though. We had a great lesson with one of our
investigators, Leah. She's 18 and is the boyfriend of a priest in the
ward. We taught her the Plan of Salvation and she accepted it so well.
She comes to church every week, and they taught about the plan of
salvation in her Sunday school class. She had a lot of questions and
we were able to answer them. Her boyfriend's family—the Pottle
family—is awesome. Brother Pottle is in e bishopric and really knows
his stuff. The lessons are always super fun because they're a super
tight family who has a lot of fun together. Leah fits right in with
the whole family. We can have fun, then feel the Spirit 5 seconds
later. It's unreal. Being a missionary is pretty cool, huh? :) Anyway,
we weren't able to set a baptismal date with her yet, but we're
working on it. She's keeping all of her commitments and reading the
BoM, praying, and coming to church every week despite her busy
schedule.
Temp: 75°F

Friday: Today was rough. I woke up really sick; I had a migraine and a
very upset stomach. It was pretty miserable. I woke up with a
headache, and got up when the alarm went off at 6:15. When I stood up,
I almost threw up right there. I told Elder Flynn that I'm going back
to bed. He studied while I tried to sleep off this plague. It finally
went away around 10 AM. I studied for an hour and then had district
meeting. I was still pretty messed up because it was the first time
I've slept in past 6:30 on my mission. My head wasn't very clear all
day. We had dinner with the Moore family! The father wasn't home, so
we had a little picnic at their neighborhood park. We took some
pictures on the grass. It was a beautiful night. Great picnic weather.
Oh, may I remind you all, IT WAS FEBRUARY 27th! And we had a picnic!
:) Our only investigator over 21 had to cancel because she was in the
hospital getting an MRI. :(
Temp: 75°F

Saturday: Day 200 of my mission! It's flying by (I think...). The more
I think about it, the MTC felt like an eternity ago. But then again,
I've almost been out 7 months. Now THAT's crazy. People I know well
are beginning to go home. Yikes. Haha. Our morning run was in the
drizzle. It was actually kind of refreshing. That's a shock to a lot
of you who know me well because you all know I HATE rain. It's
terrible! But today it was pretty good...I got my package from home
and it was super exciting! I'm loving the Patriots Super Bowl shirt my
family sent. Oh yeah! Represent! We had stake Priesthood leadership
meeting and the adult session of stake conference tonight. Elder
Rheine(sp?) of the Seventy was there. He was a great speaker! Our
Oakwood Ward mission leader, Brother Wincek, took us to jimmy johns
for dinner in between meetings. It was great.
Temp: 72°F

Sunday: We had another wonderful day. We had stake conference! Elder
Rheine put on a really special Morningside for all recent converts,
returning members, and investigators in the stake. We had three
investigators—Leah, Pedro, and Megan—go and two recent converts there.
It was a really special meeting and they all loved it. We then had the
Sunday General session of Conference. Elder Rheine was there again and
spoke amazingly. It's so cool that our investigators got to hear from
a general authority. They all loved it. We met a friend of a kid who
just moved in to the ward a couple weeks ago. He has been coming to
church with his friend. His name is Alberto and he's 17. He said he
really wants to be a member of the Church and wants to hear the
missionary lessons and be baptized. Haha, he even went up and sang
with the youth at Conference. He's the man. We set up an appointment
for Monday night! After dinner we got to teach Megan in the Smith's
home. We taught her the plan of salvation and set a baptismal date for
March 28! She really loves what we've been teaching so we're very
excited for her. She comes to church every week since we've been
meeting with her. She's also keeping commitments! :)
Temp: 75°F

That was my week! For everyone who doesn't know, almost everyone who
we're teaching is pretty young. Here's a list of them:
Megan: 20, Leah: 18, Pedro: 18, Alberto: 17, and Brittney who is older.

I miss you all and look forward to hearing from you. Keep in touch!

Much love,

Elder Jones
Oakwood / Centennial Wards

Area boundry

study couch

# bikestatus

Storm's a coming

selfie