January 3, 2011

Happy New Year Mom,

Anyway, so it sounds like you all had a great adventure in California.  I can't wait until I get to go again, it will be tons of fun.  28 people at that house is a ton.  I hope Dad had fun cooking.  Let me know how grandpa is doing too.  I hope all is well there.  By the way, are Mark and Debbie living across the street from Grandma and Grandpa now?  I thought you mentioned that they found a house there, but never heard anything else.  Well, I am glad that you all had fun and got home safely.

I am glad that Sunday was good too.  We had a great one here, even though we were at the church forever for meetings and whatnot.  I ended up teaching both Sunday school and Elder quorum which was fun I guess.  It was certainly a challenge, but an assignment that I was happy to fulfill.  Oh and "Jesus the Christ," would be a great book to do a discussion about, but I bet that reading it with Dad would be so much fun too.  I have read a little, but don't have time at all to study it so I probably won't while I am out here.  Good luck with your family history class.  Stas, the member whose computer we used, will be starting one here too so I am excited for that. It is way good for non-members who are interested in their families.  Lots of people really have the spirit of Elijah these days.

Everything here is going well.  We found a good new investigator this week who came to church and wants to change his life.  We are going to work towards a baptismal date with him this week I hope.  The branch members here are awesome and I love them so much.  I hope to be able to strengthen them a lot and help them get to the temple.  And as far as my getting to the temple, we are allowed to go once a transfer here, but I am not in Kyiv which is a problem.  I will have plenty of opportunities though so I am not at all worried.  Whenever it comes, I just wants to be ready for the experience.

So Mom, I love you.  Don't worry about me being gone.  I am being blessed so greatly here and I know that you are too.  I am glad that you have felt the love of so many others.  I have less than a year left which absolutely scares me.  It is going by soooo fast and before we know it, I will be finishing up, but in the time I have left, I have some big goals and desires.  Mostly, I just want to continue to build my love for these people here. They are so great and I love them so much and want to help them to have the happiness that I am having right now.  I know that this is only possible through our Savior, Jesus Christ.  I love studying the Doctrine of Christ in the Book of Mormon.  All of the prophets from Lehi and Nephi, to Jacob, Alma, Mormon and Moroni, they all testified of Christ.  Studying those words, the words of Christ, is truly an incredible gift.  I know that this is the rod that helps us to be happy and to return to our loving Heavenly Father, who created all of this for us.  I love you very much Mom.

With love,

Elder Jones