June 6, 2011

Mom,

Ok, so I am glad that you weren't too freaked out about the food, because it is better than American food. Ukrainian people are very health conscious and their food is really quite good.  And holodets isn't too bad, just weird because of the texture.  It is broth in a jelly form which is weird.  Anyway, it certainly is a great opportunity to learn more about the culture of other people, especially those among whom you serve and I definitely am very grateful for this opportunity.  You will be able to learn a little bit yourself when we come back here.

Wow, so I can't believe the school year is already at an end and the girls are headed off to work and relax by the lake.  (Caitlin and Chelsea are both working at the Bear Lake Aquatics Base for the boy scouts for the next couple of months.)  They are going to have a great experience and this will especially be a great one for Chelsea.  She will get to know a lot of new people and try a lot of new things which will be very valuable for her.  I am glad that they are going to figure all of it out and get those last minute things ready.  We here in the office are doing a lot of last minute preparation for these next couple of days.  We have some big events going down and I will tell you about those in a minute.  I am actually running around doing about three different things right now so I hope this makes sense.

I am glad to hear that Rachel and Chad and the boys are doing well.  I can't believe that everyone is growing up.  When I get home, I won't recognize some of the little ones and the others are going to be new to me.  It will be fun though to see everyone growing up.  It sounds like the ward is going to be completely different too.  Dad said that I won't recognize it.  I think that is pretty crazy, but I am glad to hear that people are doing well and going forward in life.  And I am sure that you will do just fine as the chorister.  (I was just called as Relief Society chorister.  Yikes.  I 've never been a chorister!)  I have never had any practice but I have done it quite a bit on my mission.  You will pick it up just fine. 

I will definitely look up Jacob's letters from his blog.  I usually go on to Curtis' every couple of weeks to print off the newest letters.  I really enjoying hearing about the success and joy that other missionaries are having.  I am sure that Jacob is going to be a great missionary and I am really excited to hear how he is doing.  I will try to write to him, especially once he is in Germany and it will be easier to get there.  And I just wrote Elder Sudbury the other day.

So things here are pretty fun.  This past week was a pretty good one, but we didn't get P-day until Saturday because of all the office work we needed to do.  Elder Kashiwagi is going to be very busy at the end of every month because he has to get baptisms entered into the system so they count.  We are pretty busy and we will be closed on Thursday and Friday so this may be a real crazy week.  I ordered a ton of tickets last week and I hope to get them soon so I can organize all of them.  Today and tomorrow are going to be absolutely crazy.  All of the missionaries are in Kyiv today for a big P-day in Kyiv and FHE with the Steinagels.  It will be President's last opportunity to see all of the missionaries together.  We have tons of activities and over 100 missionaries to take care of so it will be crazy.  Also, tomorrow we are going to be visited by President Clayton of the Presidency of the Seventy and President Lawrence of the Area Presidency who were in Moscow yesterday to create a stake.  (The second one in Eastern Europe according to Ryan.)  They are going to speak to all of the missionaries and it will be an incredible learning and growing experience for all of us.  I am really excited to hear what they have to teach us and then go out and work to reach our goals.  We have a lot of high goals and I think we are going to see a lot of success as we go forward this week and work hard.  We have a lot of potential right now which is awesome.  Oh and I can do a session whenever I want, but I am going to talk to Elder Belashov today and see if Zhanna is coming next week and if she is, I am going to try and go with her.  (I had asked if he'd been to the temple yet this transfer.)  That would be cool to be there and see her at the temple.  All is going well and I am happy right now, even if we are super stressed right now.  I really feel like I have grown a lot recently.  I am just trying my best to do what the Lord wants and I am sure that He is going to bless us greatly for all the work we are doing.  We are really expecting miracles here and they are going to come as we keep on going.  I am sure that we are going to have some great success here in the mission in the upcoming months.

Well I love you very much mom.  I know that this Church is true.  Jesus Christ is our Savior and Redeemer and thanks to Him, there is nothing that we can't overcome in this life.  I know that God's plan is true and it is the path that we all need to take to be happy forever.

Love,

Elder Jones

P.S.  Do we have a copy of President Kimball's The Miracle of Forgiveness, because I really want to read that when I get home.  I read the preface the other day and now I really want to read it.  I will wait 'til after the mission because I have other things to read here, but it is the first book on my list for home.  And have you read it?

May 30, 2011

Hi Mom,

I heard about the crazy Utah weather from a member here.  (We have received over 5" of rain this month, a new record for the month.  Also it is still snowing in the mountains.)  That is so much rain, but I guess it is a lot better than the hot, dusty, sweaty weather that we have here.  I bet the skiers are all happy that the snow is still pretty good up there.  Caitlin said that it is probably going to be cold for them at Bear Lake for the first week or two.  Hopefully she can survive it. 

Wow, that is a huge tornado if it did so much damage.  (I told him about the Joplin, Missouri tornado.)  That is the biggest tornado on the scale, isn't it?  It is true that the signs of the times are real.  The second coming is getting closer and closer everyday and almost all of the signs have been or are being fulfilled right now.  It is awesome to think about all that is going on, but to have a hope and a knowledge of what is to come.  I bet it is a lot harder for the people who don't even know that Jesus Christ is going to come soon and that all of our trials will be done, at least the temporal ones.

Happy Memorial Day by the way.  I hope that you have a good one and that all goes well and that you enjoy the day off from work.  It is certainly nice to be able to rest some time, but it is good to be busy too so I guess we just have to find the balance.  I can't believe that time is going so quickly though.  I didn't realize that Max Taggart would be getting home so soon...I guess lots of people are coming home in the next few months.  Before you know it, I will be home too.  Summer is always fast and then it will just be a couple of months.  December 15th is my release day I think.  It still isn't official, but you will probably get an email asking about flight details pretty soon.  Now that I am in the office, I see Sister Park all the time and she is in charge of the incoming and outgoing missionaries and getting things ready for that.  She called everyone from my group this last week to ask if they wanted to go home the early or later transfer.  Anyway, we don't really need to dwell on that right now.

Are you going to write a letter to Curtis?  If so, let him know that Elder Jones is appreciative of the love and support and sends his back and that Elder Jones is loving his mission and is working hard.  I read about the mission split on his blog, so I am interested to hear what will happen.

Elder Kashiwagi and I are doing great.  We worked really hard this week, but not much came of it, at least not much is visible yet.  On Monday, we set a baptismal date with a man, but then he went off the map and now he is not getting baptized any time soon.  He has some very serious alcohol problems which he isn't trying to change yet.  It is really sad that his life is being controlled by such an awful addiction.  The office was pretty slow this week, but we found stuff to do.  We really do run the mission here in the office.  Elder Schmutz once said that if we decided to go on strike, the entire mission would come to a standstill.  No money, no supplies, no travel...the mission would be ruined. But don't worry, we have no such plans at the moment.  Oh and there is air conditioning in the office, but it doesn't work right now.  They are renovating the building and that might be a part of the problem.  Because of the renovations, we have had three weeks of only Sacrament meeting here.  Hopefully they finish the classrooms soon so that we can have a full three hours.  The chapel (sacrament hall) won't be done for a while though, so I don't what will happen. 

Hey, don't worry about getting old.  (I told him that I can't believe all three of my children are driving now which means I must be old.)  I am not driving and I won't be for another seven months so you aren't that old, right ;)

Well mom, I love you very much.  I too am so very grateful for you and for dad and even Caitlin and Chels and all that you do for me.  I know that we will be together forever if we just keep supporting each other and relying on our Savior.  I know that this is the true Church of Jesus Christ.

All my Love,

Elder Jones

May 23, 2011

Hi Mom,

 

So correction, I have had one week in the office, but things are going great.  Elder Schmutz (we were in Ivano together) was with me all week to help in the office and then to teach me the area in the evening and it was a lot of fun with him. Elder Kashiwagi and I are finally going to be together this week.  I feel like I have gotten a hold of the office and that there won't be too many more questions, and as far as the area, we will see how the work comes as Elder Kashiwagi and I continue to learn it.  We have a massive area here, the largest in the mission I believe, and it is only one section of the city.  Right now, there are eight missionaries all working in this area, so I am excited for the work. 

 

Here in the office, I have a lot of paperwork, but it is all electronic which is nice.  I sit on the computer from 10 to 5 everyday and I fill out ticket requests, scan and send off visas and contracts, send out anything that needs to be sent through a mail service, and I also have some other small projects.  I put together the mission newsletter every Monday morning which has a lot of numbers, a letter from President Steinagel, some quotes and pictures of baptisms, and then we go out and do our p-day after that.  So we are in the office from 8:30 to 11:30 on Monday.  I do train tickets for everyone by the way, except for President Steinagel.  The assistants do a lot of travel so I have to stay up with that, and I also get tickets for all the senior couples and they travel a lot.  Other things include, transfer letters to the branch presidents, a phone report each month (that was the big project last week; I look at all the phone calls of missionaries to make sure they use their phones correctly).    I also pick up mail each week.  So yeah, that is about it.

 

So Elder Kashiwagi is from Arizona and is in his fifth transfer now.  Oh and the temple desk just calls the missionaries here in the office if a non-member ever walks in. Some of the temple desk workers are Americans that don't know the language so we help them out.  And yeah, we just ask if they want to find out more about the church and how they can enter the temple. 

I hope that Jacob's farewell was a lot of fun.  I am sure that he did great and that he will be an awesome missionary.  Send me his address when you get it please.  I am glad to hear that Jake is planning on turning in his papers soon and I think that I might be home for that which would be great.  I hope that everyone is doing well.  Oh and Sean is now in a city called Cherkassy, south of Kyiv.  And by the way, I am probably coming home with Sean because I need to come home earlier for school so if he stays the late transfer, we will go home together which will be neat.  There will be lots of us heading back to Salt Lake I think.

 

So the weather here is incredibly hot - it is summer time and I am suffering.  It has just been hot, but I will be fine.  I just need to get used to it.  Tell Chelsea good luck by the way on her lesson.  That will be a great experience to get to learn a lot more about President Kimball.  I really like him a lot and hope that I can study more of his life when I get home.  We will go back to the Teachings of the Presidents so I will definitely have a chance.

Anyway, I love you mom.  Thanks for all that you do and for your support.  I love you so much.  Thanks for always putting up with me when I was a pain back home and for teaching me all that you did.  I love you.

 

Elder Jones

May 16, 2011 - Photos

Hey Mom,

So here are pictures of the temple, the office, a sunset, Elder Schmutz and me with a hedgehog, and then Elder Kashiwagi, my new companion. 

Enjoy!

May 16, 2011

Hi Mom,

So this last week was a crazy one, but I am finally getting settled in to my new home, the mission office, right next door to the temple.  So yeah, I am now in Kyiv, in the Borshahivskiy ward which is the biggest ward in Eastern Europe, at least until it gets split which may happen soon.  As far as p-day, I think that it should stay the same.  I have to come to the office every Monday to do work, so I will probably write Monday morning.  Anyway, so I have a lot of things to explain I guess, now that I have a new assignment in the office.

First off, my companion is Elder Kashiwagi who is in his 5th transfer and just came from Rivne.  It is going to be a fun transfer as both of us are new and have never served in Kyiv.  Luckily we have Elder Schmutz and Fredrickson, the former office Elders who will basically be training us for the next few weeks so I will get to know the area and work just fine.  I have been on exchages with Elder Schmutz all weekend to get to know the area and then on the weekdays, he is training me on how to do the office work.  It is really neat, because there are 2 office Elders, and then the Parks who are the office couple, and then the Assistants to the Presidents, as well as the mission secretary, all in the office.  And President Steinagel as well, when he is around.  It is going to be a lot of fun I am sure.  By the way, I am in charge of travel and documents so I have to take care of visa and passport things and make sure that those are all copied and sent to the visa man, and I also get to buy all the train tickets for missionaries and make sure they get around.  Plus I have a couple of other things which I am privileged to handle.  It will be a lot of fun I hope. We are in the office every Monday morning where I put the mission newsletter together, and then Tuesday through Friday from 10 to 5.  So our opportunities to do missionary work are really cut down here, but we still talk to lots of people everyday and we have already had a couple of people show up to the temple site, wanting to go in and they were referred to us.  We got one new investigator, Igor, who came to church and two more people that may potentially become investigators.  Plus here we get to work with a lot of awesome members who are all so ready to do missionary work.  This is really a great area to serve in, even if the missionary opportunities are cut down.  Hmm, I am sure there is a lot more to say, but I don't know right now so if you have questions, please ask them.

Tell Luke congrats on his mission call.  I am so excited for him and I am sure that he will have an incredible experience.  And tell Dewey that I say congrats as well.

Wow, that ended up being a lot shorter than I thought it would be.  I just don't really know what else to say.  Please ask questions and I will answer them next week.  Thanks for all that you do Mom!

I love you and I can't wait to hear from you again.

Love,

Elder Jones

May 9, 2011 - Photos

Hey Mom,

So I did get the pictures.  I am also glad to hear that sacrament meeting went well.  I hope that everyone enjoyed it.  So I figured that instead of writing a lot, because we just talked yesterday, I will just send some pictures so here goes...thanks for calling yesterday by the way.  I hope that you had a wonderful Mother's Day.

Love,

Elder Jones

By the way, I tried to find some that I am in.  I don't know if I have sent some of these but I will send them anyway.  Enjoy!

 

 

May 8, 2011 - Mother's Day phone call!

Sunday morning we were able to talk with Ryan for Mother's Day.  It was so wonderful to hear his voice.  He is doing well and is loving his mission and the people of Ukraine.  We asked him some questions so I thought I would include a little of that information.

I asked him about Ivano-Frankivsk where he is currently serving.  He said the city is very green.  It is hilly countryside and there is agriculture everywhere.  He said most families have plots outside the city where they grow their food.  It is super humid and the temperature was 40 degrees that day, cold and very wet with a snow/hail mix.  He said there are usually around 35 people at church and the missionaries.  He spends pretty much every Sunday translating Sacrament meeting for those who don't speak Ukrainian and teaches an English lesson for the African members there.  He said the city is around 200,000 people and you could walk across it in an hour.  It is by the Carpathian mountains.

His current companion, Elder Belashov is a convert and the only member in his family.  He's been a member around four years.  His family is supportive, but not interested in the church and they are from a village with not much money.

When I asked him if he was sleeping well, he said the bed in Ivano is his favorite so far even though it is too short.  The walkway to the building has a sign low enough that he would hit his head if he didn't duck.  Okay, I guess my son is taller than most Ukrainians.  :)

I asked him how the food was there.  He says he loves the food in Ukraine.  They eat a lot of pasta, rice and meats and their monthly budget just went up so they should be able to get more fruit and vegetables.  They never have dinner appointments, but the older sisters will usually feed them when they go over to do service for them (such as mowing their lawns, carrying things for them.)  He usually eats two meals a day, breakfast and lunch, and then stop at a store at night for a snack.  They usually eat at home.  His favorite food so far are the Ukrainian cabbage rolls and the weirdest food are the holodets (jellied minced meat- don't google it, I'm warning you, it will make you nauseous.)

P-days they usually hang out as a district (his city where there are 4 missionaries) and they've been playing Risk.  Someone made a Risk board up and they play the game.

Overall he is doing great and really enjoying his time.  We invited his friend, Jacob, so they could say hi since Jacob leaves soon for his mission and they won't see each other for 3 1/2 years.  I just enjoyed being to hear his voice!