July 15

Hey Family!

Time flies! Am i right! i cant believe its already been a week! i cant believe theres not much left of summer for you guys! what have you guys done so far?

First off i got something this week! Guess what it is...?! Poison Ivy! It was bound to happen and it probably wont be the last time. My left wrist looks disgusting though! Luckily i ran out of short sleeve shirts so i have been wearing all of my long sleeve shirts to cover it up. It seems to be going down and it doesn't itch too bad, but thats that.

Last week was Zone P-Day and it was so much fun to go down to Champaign and hang out with all the other Elders and Sisters! we played football, Volleyball, Frisbee... It was the greatest!

I got to go to the Temple this week! It was so good! Chicago and Nauvoo are both closer to me then St. Louis but since they're not in our mission we arent aloud to go to those. But we got up at 5:30 and it was a ward temple trip so we left with a member at 6:30. Took about a four hour drive down to St. Louis, and went to the Temple! It was awesome! I had been looking forward to it the whole week! and when i got into the Celestial room i just felt the most amazing calming, warm feeling ever! I sat there till i was one of the last people in the room and i didnt want to leave! it just felt so good! I cant wait to go back.

This week we had this awesome lesson set up at the church where we were going to "reenact" Lehi's Dream. So we invited all of our investigators and told the other Elders to do the same. So we went to the church to set up and had dinner with some members there. One of our investigators cancelled but we didnt worry about it to much. Then 7:00 came around (when we were supposed to have it) and nobody showed up. We decided to wait a little longer for someone to come. Finally we hear the door to the church open and in comes a family the other Elders are teaching. We sit down and read through Lehi's dream with them and discuss it a little bit. Then we send them through "Lehi's Dream" and at the end have a lesson with them about what happened and how it applies to us today. And it was the best lesson that has happened on my mission so far! The spirit was so strong and the kids were so smart and i learned stuff i didnt know before it was the best! Then the other Elders asked the family if when they came to know these things were true if they would be baptized? And they said YES! it was so cool! And im glad i got to be apart of it!

Me and Elder Smith are doing great! We have a baptismal date set with an investigator, Teresa, She was a potential we decided to pick up and we had a stellar first lesson and invited her to be baptized August 3rd. We have a lot of work to do though. She has some problems we need to work through but it will go good. We have a lesson and breakfast with her tomorrow at a members home so that will be good for her.

Well i love you guys dont forget it! Hope everything is going well at home and that you guys are constantly striving to be better!

Love, ~Elder Jones~

P.S. on our way to the temple we drove by the arch. it was cool!

July 7

Hey family!

Hows Everything going! How was the 4th of July?! Who sang at the stadium of fire?

This week we did a bunch of service! We do service on Tuesdays and Wednesdays at the YMCA every week. But on top of that a couple of people are moving in our ward so we got to help them do that. One of the families we helped move didnt want to move their piano so they were just giving it away, so obviously i wanted it! and i called it when we pulled up with our ward mission leader. But then our ward mission leader double crossed us and took it for himself. Its way out of tune and not very good (perfect missionary piano) and guess who is going to have to help him move it into his house...? :D

Last P-Day we went to... Indiana! The only part our mission covers! How cool is that? Its alright i guess, still just a bunch of corn fields. But it means i have been to every state in my mission! and thats pretty cool. We had service to do before we went over there so we didnt have to long to stay.

Ran another 5k, for the fourth! Me and 5k's have a love-hate relationship. Its good for me, so i love them. But... i hate running. So theres that. My companion came in 3rd place for our age group! He loves to run so i expected him to do pretty good. I think he came 4th overall, with a time of 20.00? Im not exactly sure how well i did in comparison to everyone but my time was 24.something. Not as good as last time but its decent.

After the race we helped someone move and at 4:00 was when we were able to have fun. So we went to a members home and played games and ate food until the fireworks started! We got to stay out till 10:30 which was pretty cool to watch all the fireworks laying on a blanket in the grass but, The next day was not as fun. Not getting as much sleep made the next day... well, we were all tired. The 4th of July was way fun! go America! It was probably better then P-Day...

We got to meet the new mission president this week and he seems way cool! His wife told us she quilts so i asked if she would make me one... she said no. but she said if she ever does that i could have it! :) This weekend the Assistants to the President came up and we have been on exchanges with them Saturday and Sunday. It was way good! They are great examples of obedience which was good for me because my goal this transfer is to become more obedient.

I got Katie and Randy's package not this week, but the week before. And it was awesome! Thank you so much! Katie... My least favorite chore would probably have to be... weeding and stuff like that. i dont like it when my hands get all dried up with the dirt. now question for you... Hows your missionary work?

Well that about all for this week! love you guys! Hope everything is going great!

Love,

~Elder Chris Jones~

Lexy's Baptism June 29

Lexy (12 years old) from Danville - June 29th 2013

July 1

Hey Family!

Cant believe its been a week already! Hows everything at home? Happy 4th of july week!!!!!!

So we had our baptism this week! It was awesome! Lexy is Baptized! And i got to confirm her yesterday. i was way nervous, my hands were shaking and everything! but i did it my first try! :) so that was good. It was a great opportunity to exercise my priesthood and it was pretty spiritual! i was nervous when she asked me to do it, but now im thankful for the opportunity i had to do it. Because it was awesome.

Finally did some tracting in this area. I missed it... which is weird. I know tracting is one of the most inefective ways of missionary work, but its fun to talk to people. Except there was this guy who said i believe in Jesus Christ... and we were like oh cool so do we and then he Straight up said " no, you guys believe in a false god and i dont have time to talk to you about it." ...Some people are the worst.

We are working with this guy whos name is Andy and he is a Lutheran. (Lutherans are stubborn) After our lesson we had with him he invited us to help him take down a tree that was at his church. so we did! And it was pretty fun. We even took some pieces of wood so we could do some carving.

Its definitely different here but everything happens for a reason. We have a new mission president! So things are probably going to change! this week he is coming up To Champaigne to meet with us all. Cant wait to meet him! I hope they are cool! ill let you know how they are next week. Our week is getting kind of messed up with him visiting us. not really but this week is the 4th of july, hes visiting, and district meeting (like every week)

Guess what! so on The 4th we get to stay out till 10:30!!! hahaha Im so Pumped! I wont be able to light off any fireworks though so im a little bummed about that. But sky rocket fireworks arent illegal here so they will be everywhere! ive already seen some! (are they illegal in Utah this year?)

Sorry this emails pretty short. Just I know i love you guys! i hope you are all making good decisions and sharing the gospel with everyone you know! it really is the greatest thing to do! and it makes you so happy! Love you guys!

Love,

~Elder Chris Jones~

Elders in the Photo Booth (June 22)

June 24

!ylimaF olleH

Hows it going?! Did you guys watch the leadership broadcast yesterday?! So tight! It got me so pumped for missionary work!

Well im in my new area now! Danville IL! Its way cool. Transfers was amazing! Our mission president is leaving this transfer and we are getting a new one... but thats not why. But since they are leaving we had a huge impact transfer! and there were tons of missionaries at the meeting! Anyways it was the best transfer meeting i have been to! it was so Spiritual and uplifting! I cant even describe it! Like, i wanted to cry. Everything from the testimonies of the departing missionaries to the musical numbers some missionaries wrote, It was amazing! But afterwards we got all our stuff packed up and took the three hour long drive to champaigne, then another 45min to Danville. And I didnt even get to meet my new companion till i got to champaigne! Crazy!

My companion is Elder Smith and he is way cool! we get along super well and we are going to tear it up here in Danville! The coolest thing is that the other Elders in our district live right above us! so... Pranks? Sometime soon it will happen. Its fun having them right there and they are way cool! I actually came out with one of them, and the other is fresh out of the MTC. Also our Apartment a lot nicer then my old one! There is so much room and we even have our own washer and dryer!!!! I never thought i would be so pumped to be talking about laundry! i dont have to pay $1.25 a load anymore! Im so happy!!!

This place is cool! There is corn fields everywhere! And at night the fire flies look amazing! the best way i could describe it is like the embers off a fire how they are so bright and but disappear as they drift off. One night on our way back from an appointment i looked out the car window and it was an amazing sight to see! so we pulled over and tried to get pictures but... that didnt work. so we ran out in the field and tried to get closer, but fire flies dont seem to light up when you get close to them. at least not as many. so we took pictures of us out in the field. It was way fun!

On saturday our bishop had a picnic for his company so we went and helped set up and take down... and eat... It was pretty fun. but it rained on us while we were there so no one got to use the blow ups that they had. But they did have a photo booth to use. so naturally... we used it. And it was way fun.

Guess what? I walked into another baptism... but this one counts as mine because the girl Lexy (who is 12 years old) asked me to confirm her! So crazy! But Im so excited that i get to exercise the priesthood and give her the gift of the Holy Ghost. The baptism is this Saturday and i will be confirming her on Sunday! AHHHH

Her mom is probably the next to get baptized! she wants to but the only thing stopping her is shes not married to her guy? man? Baby Daddy? whatever you want to call it. But we found out that we can marry her! so we are going to try and do that when her husband gets back. but i dont know when that is so it might be awhile.

Well thats all i have for this week the work is going good and i look forward to progressing it. Love you guys! I hope you are studying your scriptures! This Gospel really is the greatest ever! and i Know its true! i gain a stronger testimony of it everyday! Love you bunches 

Love,

~Elder Chris Jones~