Elder Kevin Jones: Baseball and Tostadas! 16th P Day in Peoria, 39th P Day in Phoenix Mission

Baseball and Tostadas! 16th P Day in Peoria, 39th P Day in Phoenix Mission

Hello, friends and family! I hope all had a wonderful week. It was a
fairly mild week here in Peoria, but as I look in the forecast for
this week......not so much. Anywhere from 99°F—106°F all week. So
yeah, summer is here, my skin will soon be as red as my bike! Anyway,
here was my week:

Monday: P-day. The typical. We got haircuts from Sister Moore, so that
was pretty awesome. We had a lesson with Leah which went really well.
Since we've taught all of the lessons, she thought it would be good if
we read the Book of Mormon with her when we come by. So we did that;
we read 1 Nephi 11-12 with her. She really enjoyed the fact that Nephi
was receiving revelation about Jesus Christ while he was still in
Jerusalem. In other words, the Book of Mormon was testifying of what
was happening in the Bible. The prophets in the Book of Mormon—in this
case Lehi and Nephi—understood and prophesied of the Savior. Leah
thought that was pretty cool. After the lesson, we started an exchange
with the Spanish elders. Elder Goehring came to my area with me.
Temp: 88°F

Tuesday: I was with Elder Goehring (gare-ring) for the day. He's a
gringo and has been out 22 months. He is a VERY good missionary. I
learned a lot from him. He was in the drumline and played snare all
through high school, just like me. We got to talk about marching
band—something both of us can't do very much anymore! We played back
and forth on my practice pad. Yeah, we had a good time. Haha! We went
to the thrift shop and did some service there. After service we went
finding. Since Elder Goehring is a Spanish-speaking missionary, he
made a goal to find a Spanish person to talk to. As we were biking
through the trailer park section of our area, we saw a trailer with
Christmas lights. He said, "Oh, they're so Spanish. Let's knock on
their door." They weren't Spanish. Just really rude white people.
Haha! The Pottles took us to "Which Wich". It was VERY good. A million
times better than subway. After dinner we had a lesson with the Reese
family. We taught about prophets and Jesus Christ. Elder Goehring was
able to connect with them well. He even spoke some Spanish to Sister
Reese. :)
Temp: 86°F

Wednseday: We went to the thrift shop again to volunteer. We are doing
it on Tuesdays and Wednesdays now. As we were walking out to the zone
leaders' truck, I see a familiar face wave at me out the passenger
window. Elder Canny was on exchanges with Elder Safford!!! I loved
Elder Canny and when he was made the new assistant to the president he
had to leave that same day. So I didn't get to say bye to him. I got
to spend some good time with him and talk. It was nice! Had some good
Swedish meatballs for dinner. After dinner we had a lesson with Dion.
Lo story short, we went from talking about faith to talking about
whether or not there's life on other planets. Yeah. It was a fun
lesson, though. He's interested and seems pretty solid.
Temp: 91°F

Thursday: Weekly planning. We went to a graduation party for dinner.
It was kinda awkward at first, but we ended up having a good time and
talking to quite a few non-members. They have a mac and cheese cooking
contest and Elder Bradshaw and I got to be the judges. Elder Bradshaw
got to spar a bit with another person who did martial arts back home.
He got a pretty good grass stain on his shirt, though..haha. After the
party Chris had a few questions so we went over there and answered
them.
Temp: 89°F

Friday: Four year anniversary of the Joplin tornado. It's crazy that
it's already been that long. We had district meeting and Elder
Bradshaw and I led a discussion on finding through out own efforts. It
went well. We got a lot of new ideas on how to find more people to
teach! We knocked on a few doors after the meeting and I went and got
new pedals for my bike. My old ones were demolished haha. Chris and
her family had us over for dinner. Her mom cooked authentic, homemade
tostadas. They were spectacular. We then had a great lesson with
Chris. It was such a beautiful night we held the lesson on their front
porch.
Temp: 83°F

Saturday: After we studied, we went over to Chris's home and Elder
Bradshaw helped her nephew, Dallin, learn how to hit a baseball.
Elder Bradshaw had played baseball for like 8 years, so he coached him
a bit. Dallin really liked us and said that we should be his full-time
coaches. Maybe if we weren't full time missionaries...haha. Dallin's
mom was so grateful that E. Bradshaw was able to help him. By the time
we left, Dallin was hitting 3/4 of the pitches. It was a fun day. They
fed us lunch and we headed out shortly after. We changed and showered
and it was time for dinner again! We had burgers at a member's home.
They have 4 boys: ages 10, 8, 5, 1. We had a watermelon eating contest
with them. We won. Oh yeah! After dinner we had a lesson with Britney.
Of course, she's still doing spectacular. We taught about service and
enduring to the end. She seemed to like it a lot.
Temp: 83°F

Sunday: The typical Sunday, except we had ward council with the
Centennial Ward. After church we had lunch and studied. We were
supposed to have a lesson with Pedro, but he had to cancel. After we
biked all the way down to the corner of our boundary....haha it's
okay, though. We needed the exercise. :)
Temp: 84°F

The forecast isn't looking good for us in the next week. We have been
spoiled in that we had a very mild May. I guess it's time for the
desert to be the desert again. Highs for next week look brutal. I hope
you all have a wonderful week. Keep me in your prayers as I'm keeping
you all in mine. Stay awesome.

Much love,

Elder Jones
Oakwood / Centennial Wards
Arizona Phoenix Mission