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~

June 17

Hello family!

Happy Fathers Day!!!! I hope you got my card dad! i think its pretty funny :) I love you!

This week has been pretty slow. but ill start out with the end of it.

We got transfer calls this saturday... Yep, im leaving good ol' O'Fallon. And Im heading to Danville IL. Who would of thought? But apparently like The whole mission is being transferred around! We are going to get a new Mission President and everything! so why not move everyone else? Oh well Im excited to start fresh in another area and work my tail off! and i know its where im needed. Me and Elder Reay are way good friends! we say we got comfortable to fast. thats why im leaving. but its where i need to go.

Like i said, this week has been pretty slow. we haven't had a lot of teaching opportunities. All of our investigators keep dropping our appointments! so we have been visiting members and tracting a lot. A week or two ago we tracted into this lady named shelly and at first she was pretty hesitant. We couldnt get her number to call her later, so we told her we would stop by sometime. She just started getting back into church in January and she has been going to this methodist church because she likes the messages. Anyways... one day me and Elder Reay were getting ready to go out and he told me lets not ride bikes this time. im kind of tired of it. so we walked instead. We tracted some street and visited some potentials. Then we said, lets go visit shelly. We walk over to her house and shes not there. As soon as we step off her porch guess who pulls up... Shelly. Perfect timing! and we had like an hour long discussion/lesson with her. She just kept saying how we were on her mind ever since we left and how funny it was that as soon as she started getting into church we showed up... Funny isnt it? If we had rode bikes that day, we would not have met her and not had an awesome discussion with her. She is so Golden! and has so many questions! to bad im leaving... Oh well. she'll get baptized either way. I know it.

Guess what? i bought some swords! hahaha nothing big or anything, but we stopped by this garage sale while we were out and i got them for $8 what a "steel" <--- Get it? haha its been a dream to have two swords in X shape on the wall, and now i have it. but ill probably be sending them home because... well swords with a bunch of elders probably isnt a good mix so expect that in the mail later.

We went on splits with the AP's this last week, and i just tried to learn all i can! my goal for this next transfer is to be obedient with exactness. just improve myself and learn as much as i can!

One of the AP's is leaving this week and hes usually so exhuberent and happy but when we went on splits he was just down in the dumps cause hes leaving. How awesome is that? (in a weird way)

Well i love you family! I hope everything is going well and you're progressing in the gospel! It definitely is true. i see it more and more every day! And i know that if you put forth the effort, you will see it too.

Love you guys!

~Elder Chris Jones~

June 10

Hello Everybody!

This week went by fast! i hope you all are doing well! First off, Thanks dad for the birthday package! im actually trying to fix up a bike that we found in our closet so it was perfect! thank you.

This week has been pretty good! Guess what?! I was on exchanges and we tracted into these two kids, Alex and Sequoia. They are the best! We gave them each a Book of Mormon and set up a return appointment a couple days later, and when we got there they had already read a couple chapters! They love it! they say that every time they read it gets better and better and they want to know more. Oh yeah... did i mention, They are Lamanite Descendants?! Apache/Navajo. Its the greatest! They came to church yesterday and they loved it. We are going to try and set a baptismal date next time we visit.

There's this kid in our ward named Soren. Hes an only child and the only member in his family that is a member. And he was converted over X-Box! haha he met this kid on there and they became good friends and somehow they kept getting on the subject of religion. Turns out that kid he met is Mormon and asked him if he could send the missionaries over to his house... one thing led to another and here he is. he has a strong testimony but lately has been a little less active so we have been visiting with him and hes been coming to church and he is coming out with us on teamups Its awesome hes a way cool kid.

Anyways ive been feeling like i need to do more, our numbers don't look the best but we're working on it. Me and Elder Reay are way good friends now! We even have some mutual "Friends" back home.

Well i cant think of much else to say and im running out of time. We get transfer calls this week! ill let you know how that goes.

I love you guys. i hope you are all doing great!

Love, ~Elder Chris Jones~

June 3

Hello Family!

So everything is good with me and my companion. i felt bad about complaining about him last week so i told him that i did and... we're good friends now. Except for some reason he has a lot of energy at night and he never seems to be grogy in the morning. but thats all. :D

This week seems likes it went by way fast! i cant believe its already monday! Thank you for all the Birthday letters ive gotten so far! It was great!

This week we have been doing a lot of tracting and trying to get more lessons to teach. as well as working with the members and trying to get referals. On Wednesday we tracted into this house, and when we walked up to the door we heard a gun cock a couple times. so me and my companion looked at each other kind of nervous and kept going. Dont worry the guy was just cleaning his guns. :) so we talked to him for awhile aabout guns and hunting and stuff and then we got onto the subject of why we were there. We talked about the Book of Mormon and where it came from and stuff and how we can come closer to God, and find answers by reading this book. A couple of times this guy Jeremy (a different Jeremy) when we would be talking to each other, we would look at him and his eyes would be watery and you could just tell that the holy ghost was testifying to this guy and it was so cool! We set up a return appointment for friday but when we showed up he wasn't there... Darn. We will get a hold of him. and he will get baptized.

We tracted into this other lady, this black lady, and it was the funniest thing because she kept saying stuff like "Jesus is awesome" and "Give me that Book. This is my book" And we said a prayer with her and while i was giving it she kept agreeing with everything verbally haha so i kept hearing all this mmhhmm, yep, and uh-huh. and it was throwing me off a little. but it was way cool!

My Birthday was a pretty cool day! usual mission work, and then we celebrated at the Morellos house. (had dinner and cake) But it was such a good dinner. we used sparklers on the cake instead of candles and it ended up melting some of the cake and also a hole in their table cloth. haha 

a couple months ago they went on a trip down to central america and went on a Book of Mormon tour! Theres so much cool stuff down there! like these hiroglyphs of lehis dream! The people down there dont know what it is or means, but apparently they tell people all these stories about their ancestors. Like how these people came long ago on weird boats... Jaredites. There was a family that came and settled where two older brothers hated the two younger brothers... Laman, Lemuel, Nephi, and Sam. and theres the Glyphs everywhere and the translation of it is "And it came to pass."

Anyways sorry for the tangent, thought i would tell you about that because i think its way sick!

It stormed on my birthday... way hard! There was another tornado Sirens and everything. Not in my area though... :( but it was fun! the sky was green, the thunder was loud and the rain was thick!

Well thats about all. i love you guys and i hope you are doing great! Keep up the good work! it sounds like everything is great and i hope you are enjoying your summer!

Love, ~Elder Chris Jones~

May 28, 2013

Hello Family!

I got the fruit snacks last monday and they were all gone by saturday. Thank you For the birthday cards and stuff. Haha Tell Jared and the Braven team "thanks for the package" Its just what i wanted! Two chicken feet! hahaha gross....    added note: "Craig brought home, from his China trip, pickled chicken feet for everyone at Braven office.  So Jared boxed one up for Chris' Birthday and mailed it to him.  We all thought it was hilarious especially since Chris is living on 'Winged Foot Dr'"

This week has been pretty crazy with transfers and all. Got my new companion Elder Reay. And since then we have been trying to settle in. Which makes this week seem like its been pretty slow with the work. But its all good. My new companion is Total opposite from Elder Gallegos! Elder Gallegos was kind of a slacker and did his own thing, which bugged me a bit. Elder Reay however is like to the letter! And its bugging me too. Like last night i wasnt able to write in my journal earlier so i started writing at like 10:25. And when 10:30 comes around (time for lights out) He goes and turns off the lights. While im writing! and says its time for bed! It doesnt sound like a big deal, but it was making me frustrated! Anyways hes pretty loud and obnoxious sometimes but its starting to mellow out and i know we can become good friends. The same thing happened with Elder Gallegos (different story but same principle) and we have become great friends.

So sorry i didnt email yesterday. It was memorial day and everywhere we could go to email was closed. But it turned out to be a way fun P-day! we had a tri-ward picnic and to start it off they did a 5k at 7:30am. I ran it with one of the AP missionaries and kept up pretty well. Later they had the actual picnic so went and had a ton of food and talked with a bunch of people. but we left early to go play frisbee golf with our zone leaders. It was way fun! like hole 9 it started to rain insanely hard! but that didnt stop us! we finished playing in pouring rain and were Soaked!!! After that we went and played basketball at the church, but since our shoes and socks were soaked we decided to play barefoot... Bad idea! with the 5k and barefoot basketball, my entire lower body is Sore! Hopefully that doesnt affect the work today. just so you know... It wont! ill be pressing forward!!

As for our investigators... We are meeting with Jeremy tonight. Jennifer didnt come to church... again. so we are going over to her house today to set things straight. Nick is our most progressing investigator! we had an awesome lesson this last week! The spirit was there so much and i know he felt it and he was telling us how he knows he needs to change. like stop smoking and drinking and he say that everything we are teaching him makes sense. so we invited him to be baptized and he kind of avoided it but he said that when he does prary about it he knows he'll get an answer if its true or not. so keep him in your prayers. He will be awesome!

Well i think thats all. I love you guys! also, I know theres not a lot of big opportunities to do missionary work in utah but i know there are little ones, so take advantage of all of them because its the greatest! it doesnt have to be handing out a Book of Mormon, but just inviting someone to church or helping someone who is struggling can make the biggest difference. i heard a quote from a leaving missionary this transfer and i love it.

"Jesus Christ bled from every pore for us. Let us sweat from every pore for him."

Love you guys.

P.S. My birthday is on friday so.... do with that what you will.