Kimono time

 

ヤッホー皆さん！！

I hope you all had a good week! Mine was pretty good!

We had a busy week, but nothing crazy happened. Today Elder Johnson and Elder Sandy are gonna take off to their new area, and it'll be back to me and Elder Kobayashi! 

Not much happened, but I'll give a few highlights!

-went to Otaru and wore Yukatas around town for a bit. Pretty fun time

-I finally got a rope headband I've been wanting!

-Sat in our recent convert's house with him and a less active member eating ramen and singing "Ue o muite" and it was such a good time

-We had some good success housing this week! One lady was just so kind. We talked about eternal families and she said she didn't have time, but asked us to come back later! She was a tender mercy, because it was so hot that day, I was sweating like a sinner in church, but her kindness made it all worth it!

-We went to do some streeting at the big famous park in Sapporo and there were people everywhere. It's pretty intimidating, but we had a good time

That's about all I can think of. It's been hot here, but it's just so much fun. I can't imagine my life if I hadn't come out on a mission.

愛しています！

Too many missionaries!

 

皆さんこんにちは！

This week was sooo good! So like I said last week, we had Sandy Chourou join us in our area, and he got to stay for the whole rest of the transfer! We worked in a four man companionship for the week, and it was a blast.

Highlight of the week was probably our friend's baptism! Tt was such a cool meeting. We had to do a lot of stuff for it this week, so we were pretty tired by the end of it haha

But I gave a talk for it and that was scary!

But now for some stories from this week!

-Kobayashi Chourou and I had our palms read by an old dude while streeting

-Sandy Chourou and I biked all the way to the edge of our area and housed. It was way fun! But the hills were a little rough

-some guy saw us waiting at a light and he came over and hit the blind person crossing button, and said "it goes faster if you're blind" then walked away hahaha

-I got to clean the font and it was way fun!

-Our other friend accepted a baptismal date for next month too!!

-The APs and Muroran elders came to the baptism, so me and Elder Davis and Elder Oshima reunited! It was so fun! I love those two. There were 12 missionaries at church on Sunday haha

-We got transfer calls, and luckily I'm staying here!! I'm so happy about that. I am kinda sad because Johnson Chourou is leaving :( him and Sandy Chourou are going to open an area with the old AP Elder Jones

That was my week though! It was a busy week, but we had a good old time. Next transfer is gonna be fun

ジョーンズ長老

Covenants and Ordinances!

 

Well it hasn't been too long since my last email,  but holy cow so much has happened!

So on Wednesday we went to the temple and it was such a good experience. The temple is so pretty here, it's really amazing!

This Saturday we played sports with the youth in the ward and it was a blast! We got to build a really strong relationship with them

Then Sunday. Sunday was the most eventful day ever. It was raining cats and dogs all day, but we went in a taxi to church with one of our friends that's hecka old. He has a bad leg and other health problems, but he made it to church! Then after church we went to his apartment with him... and sat there for 5 hours with this man haha. But in those 5 hours we saw lots of little miracles haha. He is now on date for this Sunday and is preparing himself for that. He's been wanting to be baptized for a while, and really wants to go to the temple! After that lesson we went to a member's house and had dinner with them. They're so much fun. Definitely some of my favorite members I've ever met

Oh and yesterday night, Elder Sandy from my old mission came to our area for a little bit before he gets transferred to a new area! It's been good having him around.

New companion!

Us and a guy we're teaching

 どうもジョーンズ長老です！

Hey there everyone! Sorry my pday got switched to Wednesday because we have mission temple trip today! 

This week was pretty crazy though. We had an exchange and it went really good, but other than that we were doing our normal missionary thing! We also got news that an elder was gonna join our companionship! We picked him up on Sunday and he's a hoot. His name is Elder Johnson and he was serving in Utah before this.

Anyway, here's some stories from this week!

-Played billiards with a less active member and her friend

-Had a meeting with the stake leadership and President Kinjo, which was pretty cool. One of my favorite parts of my mission has been getting to see how involved ward leadership is with missionaries

-we sang Jesus Wants Me For a Sunbeam... in sacrament meeting! So that was fun

-Met my mission president's daughter who lives in Saratoga Springs! It was cool to get to hear how things have changed there

-We had a YSA activity at a member's apartment and it was so much fun!! Even played some Werewolf

That's some of what I've been doing lately, but honestly it's just been so fun here! I love the people here, and the missionaries are all such good examples. The Gospel is all about who we are becoming! I think it's beneficial to keep that in mind. But the key part of it is "becoming" not "become", we should enjoy the process, not just look forward to the joy of the results.

愛しています～

バイバイ！！

my kanji name Kobyashi chourou made

The YSA activity

ゾーン大会

 

どうもジョーンズ長老です！

Hello everyone, sorry for the double email today haha, definitely forgot to hit send last week.

This week went by way fast, because we were busy again. We had our zone conference on Wednesday which was really good. The temple president and his wife came and shared some cool stuff

Some other stuff that happened this week...

-Told my mission president's wife that I want to be a rice farmer, and she highly encouraged me haha

-Had a phone call with a drunk grandpa that randomly called us, and it was the hardest phone call I've ever had. I still have no idea why he called haha

-there were some super rainy days here. It was great!

-I'm buying a suit right now, and how there's some sick stuff at this store... I want to buy it all

-we had lunch at a member's house, so that was fun!

-Our english class was bussing this week. Lots of new people!

-This is kind of random, but I feel like it's important for any of my last companions to know. Japan doesn't have many American cereal brands, but I found their version of Honey Bunches of Oats ;) I used to buy it almost every week in America, but now I've switched to this japanese version and it is so good. Japanese milk tastes different too! So tasty!

As far as a spiritual thought goes, we've been watching that "Hope from God's light" video a lot, and it's really good. I highly recommend it!

忙しい～

 ヤッホー皆さん！sorry, this is Last week's email that I forgot to send haha

Wow this week was busy busy. We had so much going on, but it was a lot of fun!

-We had a meeting at the Mission home, which is right next to the temple, so we ate a conbini breakfast by the temple which was sweet!

-Convenience store food is actually delicious here!

-We had our friend that was on baptismal date ghost us... so pray for him please

-Met some of the funniest people ever while housing and streeting this week. One lady we just asked what the purpose of life was and then stood at her doorstep laughing for like 10 minutes. She was hilarious

-some guy that me and my last companions met online with once a few weeks ago just randomly came to church with his daughters! His daughters were so adorable. They were kind of scared when we sat by them, but when they were leaving they kept coming back and saying "bye bye"

-there's this random guy that plays the saxophone under a bridge here in our area, so we went and talked with him this week. He was the sickest old dude. He knew everything about the church because he decided to research it himself! He's not interested, but he even knew the name of the Hill Cummorah haha

Anyway, those were some of my adventures last week. Hopefully this week will be just as exciting... or maybe more exciting.

Have you ever studied early christianity and the history of the bible? It's so interesting and helps to understand our theology so much! Give it a shot!

Ok bye bye!

New Calling of Elder Jones

 Dear Brother and Sister Jones,

 

 

It is our great pleasure to send you this important announcement letter of a new calling extended to your son.  I am certain that you will be delighted as you read a letter written by President Kinjo included in an attachment file.  May the Lord bless you and your family so abundantly!

 

 

日本札幌伝道本部

Japan Sapporo Mission

011-890-8140

 

Sister Fujita

June 21, 2022

Jared and Leslie Jones

1765 Hidden Hills Road 

Eagle Mountain, UT 84005 

United States of America 

Dear Brother and Sister Jones, 

It is my pleasure to inform you that your son, Elder Jones, has been called to serve as a Zone Leader. Elder Jones will have the opportunity to serve the missionaries in his zone and be available to give guidance and support. He will take a big role in zone conferences, where Elder Jones and his companion will be teaching other missionaries creative ways to find new investigators by using the Spirit as their guide. He will also train and teach missionaries how to teach repentance and baptize true converts. Your son has been called because of his obedience and his ability to lead. He has been a powerful example of missionary spirit. I feel that he is ready to accept this opportunity and am confident that he will faithfully fulfill this significant responsibility. Elder Jones’s knowledge of the gospel and his testimony have continued to grow as a missionary. I have strong confidence in his character as a disciple of our Lord Jesus Christ. He will have many new and exciting experiences as he carries out this assignment. It has been a blessing to have Elder Jones in our mission. We love him and are grateful for the service he willingly gives. Please continue to encourage his efforts with supportive letters from home. 

Faithfully yours, 

President Hiroshi Kinjo 

Japan Sapporo Mission