Elder Kevin Jones: The Dirty South! 57 weeks on Arizona Phoenix Mission, 55 weeks in Phoenix, 7 weeks in Glaendale

The Dirty South!
57 weeks on Arizona Phoenix Mission, 55 weeks in Phoenix, 7 weeks in Glaendale

Dear friends and family,

Last week was super good! We found six new investigators and had
transfers. I am staying in Glendale with my companion, Elder Thaut,
for at least 6 more weeks. Thank goodness! I love this area and my
companion and I are getting along better than ever. President Griffin
told us, "I'm not used to a companionship getting along as well as you
two...." So this week a lot of changes happened in the zone. Our zone
leaders now cover three wards! Because of all the switches, we are now
in the "Dirty South" district. We are no longer in the "Notorious
North." That means Elder Rodriguez and his companion are in my
district now! Rodriguez is the district leader. Ah, it reminds me of
Peoria. :) Anyway, here was my week!

Tuesday: Pday. We didn't get the transfer text until like 2pm which
was lame. We had lunch at Culver's. When the text finally came we
found out that our whole apartment is staying and that we're now in
the same district with our roommates! And Rodriguez is the district
leader! Heck yeah. After pday we went out with a member to visit Jesse
& Kina. Kina isn't a member; Jesse is less-active. Kina is extremely
interested! We used to teach them but they would always cancel, so we
dropped them. We decided to visit them just to check up on them, and
they want us to start teaching them again! We had a wonderful lesson
about how God loves us and how families are essential to His plan.
Kina was kind of scared off by baptism before, so we are moving slower
with them now. Which is totally okay.
Temp: 103°F

Wednesday: We visited an older lady named Alice! She is baptist and is
pretty set in her ways, but she enjoys us coming by and talking with
her. Somehow we got on the topic of family history and she just LOVED
talking about it. It was really neat to see her open up. We shared
some family stories and next time we will share more. Her neighbor is
a member of the a Church, so we will be talking with her about getting
her into the Family History center. After dinner we taught David. He's
the one who lives in our apartment complex. He had just got a ton of
new electronics so we opened them with him. Brother Barton was with us
and said, "Man, David, I feel like I'm with you on Christmas morning!"
We joked for a long time. We shared a message on spiritual CPR—church,
prayer, and reading scriptures. He enjoyed the message and knows those
are very important.
Temp: 100°F

Thursday: Weekly planning and a couple lessons. We taught some kids
who have been coming to church recently, Zach and Caden. They were
taught before, but they just moved back for the school year. It was a
pretty scattered lesson, but good. We had dinner at the Gomez home.
They have a couple Navajo sisters living with them temporarily, and
they made us Navajo tacos. Hooooooooly cow they were delicious. We
then had a lesson and went finding for the night. Not too much luck.
Temp: 94°F

Friday: We finished weekly planning then had district meeting! We were
"inducted" into the Dirty South district. It was good to have Elder
Rodriguez leading the district once again. Since we're in their
district now, that means we get a ride to district meeting. So that's
a perk. :) After the meeting we had dinner with the Jones family!
Brother Jones makes the best ribs ever. My face was a mess afterward
but that just means I enjoyed it. :) After dinner we watched "The
Testaments" with Mike (a recent convert) and his girlfriend who we are
about to start teaching! It was a great night full of laughs and
testimonies.
Temp: 100°F

Saturday: Exchanges with the Spanish elders! I went with Elder
Rodriguez in his area. Just like old times—sitting there, not
understanding a word, and bonding with Rodrigo. It was a great day. I
don't know why, but it seems like I always get American food for
dinner while on exchanges in the Spanish area. Someone did ask me
where I was from in Spanish. I responded, "Soy de Missouri." Rodrigo
was proud! It was a great exchange.
Temp: 102°F

Sunday: We had a pretty good Sunday. We had three investigators there
which was great! Unfortunately David didn't come today so he won't be
able to be baptized on the 26th...we'll just move it back a week or
two. No big deal! After church we met with Gabby finally. She's 12.
Her mom said that she can't get baptized until she's older. Laaaame!
But oh well—we're still going to teach her. Our lessons fell through
for the night so we visited a recent convert, Javier. He is AWESOME.
He's moving this week right by he church! So still in our ward. They
took us to visit their new home. Spending the evening with Javier and
his family was wonderful.
Temp: 103°F

Thanks for all of the birthday wishes. I don't feel any older....haha.
20 is a pretty big number. It's crazy to think this is my second
birthday on my mission. Ugh it's going by way too fast. I hope you all
have a great week! Love ya!

Much love,

Elder Jones
Black Canyon Ward
Arizona Phoenix Mission