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| Transfer Day! |
Chopping Trees
Elder Jones is getting transferred!
Happy Pday, friends and family. Greetings from Peoria. First of all, I
want to wish my mom a HAPPY BIRTHDAY! Love you, Mom! 29 has never
looked so good. :)
It looks like I will be leaving this area after nearly six months of
service here. I will truly miss all those who I have met and been able
to serve. I will never forget those I have met here and I look forward
to seeing them again after my mission. Anyway, it was a pretty great
week. I'm learning a lot out here. One lesson I learned this week is
to wear sunscreen. I'll explain more in the letter. Here was my week!
Monday: Pday. Shopping, haircut, sports. The usual. One of the Elders
got a really bad bloody head from accidentally head butting another
player. Yeah, too much blood for me to handle. Good thing I'm not
going to be a doctor. Haha! So they took him to the ER and we all
kinda left after that. After pday we went finding for a couple hours
and then had a short lesson with Chris at 8. Most of her member
support was out of town this week, so we made it a point to visit her
often to help her stay going.
Temp: 100°F (humid)
Tuesday: Not much really happened during the day. We didn't help at
the thrift shop today so that made for a long, hot finding afternoon.
Probably our highlight of the day was our dinner appointment with the
Hunter family. They have never signed up but have been in the ward for
a while. It was one of those dinners where we just clicked with them.
We talked non stop through the whole dinner and had a great lesson
afterward. Usually there's a little bit of awkward silence during
dinners, but not this one. They loved us and we loved them. Brother
Hunter is one of the funniest guys I've met on my mission so far.
After dinner we met with Leah. We read 2 Nephi 1 with her. I never
really noticed what a powerful chapter that is. Lehi gives such
prophetic counsel to his sons before he dies. I suggest everyone read
it. Our lesson with the Reese family had to cancel. When we got home
for the night at 9, Chris texted us and asked if we wanted
Jack-in-the-Box tacos. We said sure and she brought us 4 tacos! She
was already there and figured we'd probably want some too. They were
pretty good! Haha.
Temp: 104°F
Wednesday: Another average day! Haha. We had a lesson in the
afternoon. After the lesson I really had to use the bathroom so we
went to the church. It was like 4:45 and we didn't have a dinner
scheduled so we were just planning on going home and fixing something.
So we get a call at like 4:55 from the Crump family. He is our bishop
in the Centennial ward. I guess he signed up for dinner but no one
told us...haha. So we biked over to their house and had a great
dinner. Last time we were over there, their dog had brand new,
2-day-old puppies. Now they were about 4-5 weeks old. Oh my gosh. They
are the cutest little things I have ever laid my eyes on. After dinner
we just gathered around on their couch, each of us holding one of the
puppies. Have no fear. I'll send pictures so you can behold their
cuteness. After our dinner appointment, we had a missionary
coordination meeting and then set out on visits with Jake, a ward
missionary. He served in Indiana two years ago. He's also a big video
game nerd, and I sat up front. Let's just say Elder Bradshaw was kinda
bored with our conversation consisting of League of Legends, World of
Warcraft, and other games we played. Yeah we totally nerded out. I
haven't had good game talk for a year!!! It was nice!!
Temp: 103°F
Thursday: Weekly planning. During our planning session we tried to
contact more people in Utah about the mystery referral we received a
couple weeks ago. Still no luck. So we figured out which mission he
lives in, and we called the Utah Salt Lake City West mission office.
Yep. They're supposed to get back with us with info regarding the
referral. We made plans and set goals for the coming week. After
dinner, our lesson cancelled so we set out finding. We got s text from
Chris asking to meet her at Culver's for dessert and a mini lesson. It
went great. And the custard was good as usual. :)
Temp: 102°F
Friday: After studies and lunch we headed to district meeting. It was
a pretty great meeting! Elder Bradshaw and I led a discussion on using
family history as a missionary tool. My goodness, I've given a
discussion in 4/6 of the last district meetings! Share the
love...haha. After the meeting we had a lesson with Pedro. We talked
with him about the Plan of Salvation. It was great getting to meet
with him again. He's always so busy with work and college
preparations. We had dinner with the Dutson family! We had Navajo
tacos!! They were sooooooooooooooo good. Words can't explain their
deliciousness. Then we had banana splits for dessert. I really love
the Dutsons. Haha! They were baptized a little over a year ago, so
they love missionaries. After dinner we had a scripture reading
session with Chris. We read the end part of Jesus's Sermon on the
Mount in Matthew 7. She really enjoyed how Jesus shows His love for
His Father. Then her parents showed us their 3D TV. Crazy.
Temp: 104°F
Saturday: Wow. This was a pretty intense day. We had planned on going
over to Chris's house in the morning to help her move their brick
patio in preparation of their trees being cut down. We ended up going
over there and they were trimming up the tree a little bit. Long story
short, we didn't move the patio. We ended up completely getting the
tree down to its bare branches so the people will just have to tear
out the stump and a couple thick branches. We made a lot of progress
on the tree after being there for a long time. Oh, and we did all of
it with a pole saw, hand saw, and loppers. Elder Bradshaw would saw
off a branch, and I would cut them into smaller branches so we could
load them on the truck and haul them off. This was a huge tree, so we
set to come back Monday morning to finish. That's about all the
excitement that happened Saturday. Haha!
Temp: 109°F
Sunday: Church! It was a great day of worship. The meetings went well,
the talks were great, and we had some people there. After dinner we
had a combined lesson with Britney and the Reese family. My goodness,
it went well!! Britney, Brother and Sister Reese and their daughter
Anna, Bishop Brewer, and his son, we're all there. Plus Elder Bradshaw
and myself. There was a lot of discussion and bonding between all of
us. We discussed the law of tithing, the law of chastity, and
following the prophet. It was great—I think we all learned so much
from each other.
Temp: 109°F
Monday: Not the typical working Mondayy.... Since it's transfer week,
pday is on Tuesday. We went over to Chris's to finish the tree. This
time without the shade of the tree!! We got it almost completely down.
I'll attach pictures. So earlier in this letter I mentioned how I need
to wear sunscreen. Well, long story short. I forgot. You can see a
distinct line on my face where my backward hat was. (I wore it
backward because my back was to the sun for the majority of the day)
It's pretty funny. So Chris's family fed us breakfast before service,
lunch after we finished, and then her aunt and uncle took us to dinner
at the Cheesecake Factory. I think it's a tradition for them to take
us there before a transfer. Haha! It was delicious as always. We ended
the night with a lesson.
Temp: 105°F
So it was a LONG week! But rewarding. Luckily my sunburn doesn't hurt.
It just looks funny! Thanks for all of the support. I look forward to
another good week. Thanks for the prayers on my behalf. You are all
truly amazing.
Much love,
Elder Jones
Oakwood / Centennial Wards
Arizona Phoenix Mission
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| Tree before it was cut down |
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| Elder Jones working hard |
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| This is how you use the shears |
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| taking a break on 2nd day of cutting tree down |
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| The pose |
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| break time |
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| what kind of Cheesecake to pick? |
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| Culvers |
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| Dinner at Chris's house |
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| always wants a cheeseburger |
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| Puppies at a members home |
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| Elder Jones is in love! |
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| First love Puddinhead! |
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| Kisses |
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| They love each other |
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| I think Elder Jones likes the crown. |
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| Weekly Selfie |
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| Elder Langi hanging out at church on P day |
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| Elder Jones's favorite Tostadas! |
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| THe last dinner at Chris's house |
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| Bishop working of the remains of the tree |
