Coming home! Three more days . . .

 

So long and thanks for all the fish...

 

どうもジョーンズ長老です！！

Wow this has been the most incredible last week ever.

Before I get into it, I will say I go home on Friday! My homecoming talk will be on this Sunday the 19th at 9475 Mustang Way, Eagle Mountain, UT 84005, United States. Honestly I don't know what time we meet haha.

Ok so this week:

-Brother Goto got baptized this week. It was the most sudden and miraculous baptism I've ever experienced. He just got confirmed yesterday as well. 

-The other day our friend Nana san said she wants to be baptized before we go home and moved her baptismal date to tomorrow! The day of miracles has definitely not ceased.

-We had Zone conferences this week,and they all went great! It's really sad saying bye to missionaries though.

-President Wada of the 70 came and we got to drive him to the snow festival. He has such a strong presence it was kinda scary haha. He also led the family home evening at the mission home, and it was so good! Our friends Izumi san and Kudou san came too!

This will probably be my last email! I'm forever grateful for these two years. I can't imagine how my life would be if I didn't come out here. These have been so worthwhile. I honestly can't even describe it. I've seen so many miracles and truly been able to learn how to become a saint through the atonement of Jesus Christ.

I hope to meet all of you again! I love you!

Elder Jones 

Sapporo Drift

どうもジョーンズ長老です！

Hey everyone, what's up??

We had lots of stuff happen this week, so I'll just jump into it!

-Took the driving test and am now on the roads babyyy! It's been a lot of fun driving around

-During the test we met two foreigners and got their contact information. They seem super cool!

-Had a lesson with two of our friends at the mission home, and it went so well! They are thinking about Baptism right now, so hopefully this week we can set a date!

-All the primary kids came to sports night this week, so we had a really good time entertaining them haha

-We held this mission prep class with some of the YSA in our ward, and it was a lot of fun.

-We got a referral from some other elders, and she came to church! We talked with her and had her attend a YSA activity where she got to meet the bishopric and everything! It was awesome. Right now she has a baptism date for the 19th, but it's not super certain, so we're gonna do our best!

That's about it! It was such a good week, things have been going really smoothly in our area!

 

"By the way, you have never seen an immortal star; they finally expire. But seated by you tonight are immortal individuals- imperfect but who are, nevertheless, 'trying to be like Jesus'!"

Neal A. Maxwell

Bye bye!!

 

 

Wow, this is actually strange

 

どうもジョーンズ長老です！

Hey everyone!! Hope ya had a good week!

We had a lot of good experiences this week, it was just so much fun. Everyday we had so much fun just getting more time to do missionary work than normal. I'll just jump into what we did:

-We shared a bunch of messages with members about the Atonement and forgiveness this week, which was a lot of fun. We got to eat with a bunch of members too

-We went out to a high school as a district and started handing out English class fliers to everyone, but it was a big blizzard, which was a load of fun

-We made some hamburgers and brought them to a part member couple in our ward that we've been working with!

-We met with two of our friends that are progressing pretty well and it was just such a good time. I could teach them for hours, they ask such great questions! We have a lot of hope for them

-Taught a Filipino lady Japanese and the gospel, so we'll see how it turns out as we keep meeting with her!

-We had a big family home evening at a member family's house where they invited a friend we are trying to start to teach, and it went really well! I love that family so much

-After church this week we went and got to teach the restoration to this older guy in his doorway and it went so well.

Man teaching is just so fun!!

-Then on Sunday we had a super weird experience haha. This lady called the temple and asked for help from missionaries with her daughter's college English report. So we got in contact with her and went to visit on Sunday night. We go over, and all of the sudden, we are sitting in this kid's English classroom in the upstairs of some stranger's house. She was a really nice lady and brought us probably the best meal I've ever had. We ate, then talked to her a bunch and reviewed her daughter's essay. It was such a pleasant experience, but it just made me realize how weird missionary work is haha

Anyway sorry this is so long! Have  good week!

Love ya!

Morioka!!!

どうもジョーンズ長老です！！

Things have been really busy, but we had so many great things happen these last couple weeks, and I don't have much time, so I'll jump into things!

-On the 6th we flew down to Morioka on the main island of Japan! It was so much fun! And it was the exact 2 year anniversary of me starting my mission! So that was exciting.

-As fun as it was getting to be with Elder Raventos, he got transferred and we got two new companions to work with for the last five weeks of our missions!

-We had a big p-day with all the missionaries in Hokkaido, which was a lot of fun

-We also had an Elders quorum activity with one of our friends, where he taught everyone how to cook, and it was super fun... and tasty

I can't think of anything else big that happened, but it was a great couple of weeks! Have a good one!

Take some time to listen to "How Firm a Foundation" by the tabernacle choir this week!

Love ya!

 

 

Happy New Years!!

 

どうもどうも！

I haven't written an email since last year!! Can you believe that?! Haha I love those jokes...
Anyway, this week was really really fun. We taught a couple of really good lessons, which was so refreshing!

-One was with the two people we found last week, and we taught English, then went into our reasons for coming on missions and taught some basics about God. Sadly they didn't come to church this week, but we will meet again soon!

-We ran into a less active member randomly on the street. She's the first person I've ever met that willingly called herself an inactive member haha. 

-We had lunch and a lesson with a part member couple we've been working with lately. It went really well! Almost had him commit to a baptismal date, but either way we got stuffed with good food, and he's a little bit closer now.

-Soon after that, we had an older couple in the ward surprise us by coming to take us out to dinner... We were stuffed so we were praying for some help, then they turned into the restaurant parking lot and it said "All you can eat"... But luckily they were closed for the Holidays! A true miracle.

-We had a new year's countdown as a mission on zoom until 10:30, so that was a good time.

I had some really fun studies this week, so I wanted to invite each of you to study more diligently this week! Take time to study and be quick to observe the things you learn.

anyway that's all, have a good week! Love ya!

 

 

Merry merry Christmas

 

メリークリスマス皆さん！！

I hope it was a great Christmas for you :)

We had a lot of fun stuff this week, so I'll just jump into it:

-We met with a super nice guy at McDonald's and taught him about the Book of Mormon! He read the introduction with us and said this is a really sacred book! Hopefully we can meet again

-I got to practice driving, and took the paper test for my license! Next month I'll take the driving test and get my license, so that's exciting

-We drove around giving presents to people a lot, which was so much fun

-We helped some other companionships do some caroling at a senior home

-We taught two new people who had interest in English, but they ended up asking a lot of questions about the church, and we set up an in person lesson, AND they came to church on Christmas

-We went Caroling and had a big dinner with a bunch of missionaries and some people with a baptismal date at the mission home on Christmas

It was such a great week! Getting the chance to testify of Christ's birth so often was the best. I hope you all felt closer to Christ this season!

Thanks, Love ya!