February 28, 2011

Hey Mom,

So we'll play Nertz when I get home.  That competitive streak of mine still exists by the way.  Thanks for bringing up my impatience ;P  Honestly, I think I have gotten better, but I bet I would still get a little fired up sometimes.

Thanks for the update on the family.  I didn't know anything about Scott and Marie or PJ and Kelli.  How often do you see Chad and Rachel by the way?  Roy isn't a big change, but I bet they are busy there.  That is good to hear that Jeffrey is doing well too.  He would have funny stories about crazy stuff like that.  I have lots of drunk people stories, but that is about it.  I do have some funny ones for sure.  I guess the mission field is just full of crazy stuff.  Europe is pretty civilized, but you can almost say that Ukraine is not Europe.  At least not the western Europe that you have seen, that is for sure. Oh I got the Christmas letter from Mark and Debbie so I heard from them about their family.

Good job on being a "strict mother" by the way.  (Chelsea's friends told her I was a strict mom because of my rules.)  I constantly am reminded of Elder Lawrence's talk from this past conference entitled "Courageous Parenting."  Maybe you can have an FHE and read that talk together because it is incredible.  I am definitely going to apply those ideas to my family in the future.  Speaking of Elder Lawrence, he is the 1st counselor in the Eastern European area and in two weeks, he is coming for a tour of this mission so he will be speaking to all of us.  I am super excited for that.  Anyway, seriously, I have thought a lot on my mission about how you raised us and you truly did a great job.  You are courageous and even though it wasn't perfect, I know that I wouldn't be here if it weren't for you.  Keep on doing what you know is right and what the Lord says and you don't have to worry.  We as kids recognize that you are the best parents in the world.

So Lviv is going great.  Elder Wallis and I are doing well and having success talking to people on the street which is good.  He is a great example for me and I am really happy.  We are working hard and even though it is coming slowly, we saw tons of success and expect a whole lot more this week.  We are just doing what the Lord expects and that is what is important.  He will bless us as we keep going.  Speaking of blessings, we had a huge miracle here yesterday.  An old investigator came to church yesterday morning and said he wanted to get baptized.  He had worked with the other Elders a while back, but he lives 8 hours away and didn't have a phone so they couldn't stay in touch.  He came though and they worked it out so that he could be baptized Sunday evening.  I interviewed him and he is just so humble and ready and I knew that it was the right thing so we put together a baptism and invited tons of people, all in about 6 hours.  We ended missing Sacrament meeting and had to take the sacrament later on, but it was so worth it.  It was just so cool that Marian decided that this is something that he wants and made it possible.  He has a testimony and it was so cool to be there and see him decide to come unto Christ by being baptized.  Now he will probably go to church in Ivano which is only an hour away from where he lives and that will be so great for him.  It was truly a miracle that Marian was ready and that we could make it work out so that he didn't have to wait any longer to make that covenant with Christ.  I just love this work!

Well Mom, thanks as always for the great updates and the thoughts and support.  You are the best.  I know that this Church is true.  This gospel is truly Christ's doctrine and it is what we need to come unto Him and truly be happy.  I am so glad that I am here and able to testify to all these people that Jesus is the Christ and that thanks to Him, we don't need to suffer or be afraid.  We don't need to worry.  He will help us get past anything if we just turn to Him.  I know that this is the only true church and I know that as we do what Christ has taught, we are preparing ourselves to return to Him for eternity.

I love you Mom,

Elder Jones