Elder Kevin Jones: French Baptism- week 65 , 63 weeks in Phoenix,15 weeks in Glendale

French Baptism- week 65, 63 weeks in Phoenix,
15 weeks in Glendale

Dear friends and family,

This week was super great! A lot happened and we are making progress!
Plus I'm not sick anymore! I have a cough that's just lingering, but
that's okay. As of today, I come home in just 9 months. How crazy is
that? The mission is definitely changing me. In a good way, of
course... Anyway, here was my week!

Monday: It was pday! Not very many exciting things happened. But it
was still a good break. We spent the day at the church because our
neighbors still haven't reconnected their wifi. Haha! After pday our
first lesson fell through, but we were able to meet with the Popes. We
taught them about the Priesthood and talked to their 11-year-old son
about the responsibility of being a Priesthood holder when he turns
12. It was a great day!
Temp: 83 F

Tuesday: We actually spent a good amount of time trying to find people
to teach! We haven't been out biking and finding as much as usual
because of meetings, service, and me being sick. So it was good to get
back out on the bike. Plus the weather cooperated really well for us!
Nothing super crazy happened, but we were able to find and talk to a
lot of people and set up return appointments! We went on splits after
dinner. I went with Brother Gomez and visited Katie, one of our recent
converts. We read Alma 7 with her. She really enjoyed it. The Spirit
is always so strong when we read about the Atonement of Jesus Christ,
and that is what Alma 7 focuses on. When we got back to the church
after splits, my bike was locked with someone else's lock to the bike
rack. Someone thought it would be funny. Turns out it was our
roommates and they had forgotten they did it, so we had to wait for
them to come back and that made us have to bike in the rain. I wasn't
very happy, but it's okay.
Temp: 77 F

Wednesday: It was super rainy! We went and volunteered at the IRC and
worked in the shop. It was super fun, as always. Except for the
language barrier with most of the refugees. There was a pretty cool
experience there. It was nearing the end of our time working there for
the day, and a lady comes up to us and tries asking us a question in
broken English. She just couldn't get it out. She was extremely
frustrated with herself! Elder Rodriguez looks up and asks, "Habla
Espanol?" And she lights up and they start speaking Spanish to each
other! The refugees speak mostly waaaay different languages. Very few
speak Spanish. So that was super cool that Elder Rodriguez could
communicate. After the service I went on exchanges with Elder Clough
in my area. We went straight to an appointment across our area in the
cold rain. We taught Jamie, an 8-year-old girl whose parents are
less-active members. She really wants to be baptized. And I kid you
not, this girl is the most attentive child I have ever met! She pays
attention better than most of the adults we teach! We taught her the
Plan of Salvation. She understood it and loved it! Then we biked home
in the rain. My tan sweater was super dirty!! Went out with Brother
Barton after dinner. He always makes the nights better.
Temp: 65 F

Thursday: Weekly planning. Then we had a short lesson with Cesar
before dinner. He's a member who just needs a visit every week. We
then had two pretty solid lessons right after dinner! We met with Zach
and Caden, two boys who live by the church who want to be baptized.
They love going to scouts. We then met with Elaine and Aaron. We
retaught them the rest of the Restoration and talked about their
baptism. They are super psyched to be baptized next week. As we were
leaving with Brother Gomez to go teach a lesson at his house, Brother
Calhoun, our elders quorum president, stopped us and told us he had
been praying for two Melchizedek Priesthood holders to show up at the
church to give him a blessing. His prayers were answered! He had hurt
his leg and had a long shift coming up that night and he was hurting
super bad. We gave him a blessing and he told us later that he felt a
lot better at work. It was an awesome, chilly day!
Temp: 65 F

Friday: Super awesome day! We had our district meeting and interviews
with President Griffin! We met at the church building around 1 and
President provided lunch for the whole zone for achieving our
contacting goal from the month of October! He got us Bobby Q's, a
super good bbq restaurant. After lunch we had our district meeting,
and President came to it. He gave us a super good training about a
plethora of things...all I remember is that it was super good! Then we
had interviews. Mine was super short but I always enjoy interviews
with President.
After interviews we rushed off to dinner with Mike and Cindy. Cindy is
Mike's girlfriend, and she is investigating the Church. Mike is newly
baptized. We only planned on being there for a little while, so Cindy
left to go pick up some pizzas. Apparently while they were cooking our
pizzas, one of ours caught on fire. Apparently the whole restaurant
was filled with smoke and made everyone evacuate. Cindy somehow got
the 4 pizzas and booked it out of there. Hahaha! So that was just our
luck. :)
Temp: 72 F

Saturday: Amazing day! We had a baptism in our area for a guy taught
by the French sisters out of the Scottsdale mission! Raphael was
baptized and his smile was undeniable. He may not speak English, but
his testimony was so strong. So our ward will now have two more
missionaries for a while. A set of French sisters will come to our
ward to translate for him every week! They came last week too and man,
our ward LOVED having them there! We were invisible! Hahaha. Just
kidding. But it was a wonderful baptism. Then we we had zone meeting.
It was okay.
Temp 79 F

Sunday: Church was super good! The regional broadcast was great. Not
really sure why Missouri was included in the American Southwest
region, but what ever! After dinner we met with Elaine and Aaron and
taught the Plan of Salvation. We went over their baptismal program and
filled out their baptismal records. Elaine wants me to baptize her and
Elder Thaut will baptize Aaron. I'm so excited to baptize Elaine
because I know her favorite missionary--That's you, Elder
Claypool!--so well. Saturday will be a great day.
Temp: 81 F

That was my week. I love and miss you all. You're always in my
thoughts and prayers. Remember that God and Christ love you more than
you can imagine!! Stay strong and read your scriptures. You won't
regret it!!

Much love,

Elder Jones
Black Canyon Ward
Arizona Phoenix Mission