25th Feb 2013 Zone Leader in Cape Town, South Africa

Good Morning!

Thanks for the support! And for the update on everything! Sounds like you had fun in the snow too! Those were cool pictures! It great to hear about what is happening at home! Well this past week has seemed like it has taken forever! A lot has happened!

 First I will start with the events that happened after I emailed last time, so last pday. We went Croc hunting again and this time we went to the bottom of a Dam that is by our area. So we drove to it and then parked at the bottom of the dam and got out and went to the river to search for crocodiles. Well that was probably the dumbest place to go, at the bottom of the dam, because there are no croc's there. What we did find though was a bunch of Xhosa kids! They were swimming in the water and cliff jumping and stuff! It was really cool! I got some videos of them doing flips and stuff!

Then since they said there were no crocs, we decided to just have fun and explore around the river. So we go exploring and we crossed the river over a bunch of rocks. When we got to the other side we walked around and looked at all the cool stuff by the river. We decided it was time to go back to the car. So we went back to the place where we crossed the river, but this time there wasn't a pathway of rocks to get across, it was a raging river! We were stuck... Luckily all of these Xhosa kids told us they had a way to get across. They said we needed to climb up and go across the dam. So we start following them. They brought us to this cliff face and then started climbing up the side of it! Not expecting that, but not having much choice, we followed. Luckily we were all able to scale the wall safely and everything was ok! We climbed up and crossed over the dam and got to our car and went to our appointment... an hour late... I learned a valuable lesson from all of that. Heed the warning signs!!!

 

As we got out of the car and went to the river side, there was a sign that said, "Warning: random flooding occurs due to automatic flood gates." I read it but just shrugged it off not thinking much of it... Well we suffered the consequences for not heeding the warning sign! reminds me of the warning signs that the prophets and apostles and scriptures give us, and how if we listen to their counsel, we won’t get caught on the other side of the river with the only way back being a long and dangerous journey, but we will be able to avoid those dangers and make it safe and on time. I can't lie though, that was a fun adventure! But being spiritually caught on the other side of the river is not a fun adventure...

The next day I left to East London and spent the night there, then in the morning I flew out for Cape Town! It was nice to be home in Cape Town again! I'm now with Elder Twitchell and I'm loving it! He's from Utah! He's very diligent with the work and very obedient and I'm loving it! My Zone Leader duties are still somewhat unknown to me. I know what they are, but I don't know how to do them all yet, so Elder Twitchell is teaching me these things. Right now I'm kind of just riding along, I feel like a greeny again just learning everything over again, but I'm slowly starting to get into the rhythm of things. It's only been 5 days... It's coming.

Also this weekend was Stake Conference! It was awesome! And I got to see some people from Khayelitsha! That was cool! They all thought I was home already! I was so spiritually edified and uplifted by Stake Conference! It was awesome! There was an area authority there and he had some powerful talks! One particular one stuck out to me about Pornography! He spoke so passionately about how destroying pornography is! He spoke about how he knows 7 families that have been destroyed because of the stuff and he said that the amount of members of the church who are tampering with the stuff is astounding. He spoke of how pornography is a big stumbling block to the growth of the church and how it is affecting the worthiness of a lot of the priesthood holders in the church. He also spoke of how that is the tool that satan is using to destroy God's children. He was very bold and passionate about this topic and I loved it! I wish I could portray the spirit that I felt when I was listening to him speak! There is also a cool Mormon message that he showed that shows about the impact of pornography. "A journey of a thousand miles starts with one step, so watch your step." -an old proverb.

Well my time is spent! I love you all! thanks for the support! Take luck!

-Elder Jones

18 Feb 2013 in Mthatha, South Africa

Hello!

It's been another great week on mission! No snow here though. I'm kind of jealous that you have snow, but that's alright, I'm sure you are jealous of my weather right now too.

 

 

Thanks for the update on everything! Sounds like everyone is doing well.

 

Well this week was interesting! Full of adventure! Monday for P-Day we went Crocodile hunting! Steve Irwin style! Elder Bullock is adamant that he saw a Croc in the river as we crossed a bridge one day, so we were asking some of the people here and they said that croc's do live in the river. He got pumped, and so we went croc hunting. It ended up being kind of lame and we didn't catch anything or see anything, but it was kind of fun searching the river bank.

 

 

Tuesday, Elder Bullock and I needed to head to East London for Leadership training. We came back Wednesday, so our week pretty much started on Thursday. On Thursday the Zone leaders came from Queenstown to do exchanges and we taught a couple lessons that day too. For supper, we went to Panorratis (all you can eat pizza place) that night. It was awesome!

 

 Then Friday the Zone Leaders interviewed our two baptismal candidates, and they both passed! I'm stoked! They will be getting baptized next Sunday! It's so awesome! Also on Saturday I was privileged to go on Exchanges with Elder Taylor, and I was able to interview their baptismal candidate. It was awesome! One of the most spiritual experiences I have had on mission so far! It is so amazing how the Gospel can truly change people, and I have seen it so much on mission and I feel so much joy seeing the joy that the gospel brings into other people's lives! I just want to share this with everyone! So there will be 3 baptisms this coming Sunday!

 

In contrast to that great news, I received a call this morning from President Wood... the bad news is that I won't be able to stay in Mthatha to see the baptisms happen on Sunday... The good news is that he gave me my transfer news, and... well... I'm going to Panorama to be with Elder Twitchell as the Cape North Zone Leader!!! I'm excited! No more District meetings to hold!! Woot! Also I won't have to wait an extra week to get my post because I will be in Cape Town and be picking it up from the office myself for the zone! Woot! I'm stoked! But bummed at the same time... I really wish I could have seen the baptisms...

 

 If this transfer would have been a normal transfer with 6 weeks instead of 5 weeks, I would have been able to... but It's not... So I'll be saying goodbye to everyone today and tomorrow... I'll probably fly out to Cape Town on Wed. I'm stoked! Well my time is far spent! But Mission is AWESOME!!!! I'm loving life! Thanks for the help Grandma and Grandpa! Thanks to everyone for everything they do for me! I love you all so much! Take Luck!

-Elder Jones

11 Feb 2013 in Mthatha South Africa

Good Morning!

Thanks for the update and pictures. I know I say that a lot but thanks!
This week was not very eventful because Elder Bullock and I were sick on Tuesday and stayed in the house all day.

Picture shows a cool cheetah eating a black man’s foot, all fake of course!

 

On Thursday we took the long trip up to Queenstown for Zone meeting, and we came back Friday night. Saturday we were on exchanges and were able to teach a lesson, it was great. Sunday we taught 3 more lessons, have and baptismal commitment, and a new investigator! It was a good productive day.  We have a potential priesthood holder committed to baptism! I'm stoked! We haven't set a date yet, but probably sometime in March. We have 2 investigators getting their Baptismal Interviews this Friday and their baptism is on the 24^th of Feb! It's so exciting being on mission and seeing people progress and better their lives so nicely! I don't have too much to say this week.

Me cutting grass the way that they do here, with a metal blade,

On P-Day Elder Bullock and I made a weight set using a bar, buckets, and concrete. I will have to take a pic and send it sometime. Elder Bullock and I have been running a lot and working out, so I'm trying to lose my flab and get ripped! Elder Bullock was an MMA fighter (mixed martial arts) so he is gun ho when it comes to fitness! Plus he is really strong! I've learned to love exercise and I WILL be doing P90X when I get home! Buyah! I hope Riley is down to join me! :) Other than, that there is not much to say.







The latest prank Elder Bullock did to Elder Taylor (put his bed and desk and everything into the bathroom).

 

Thanks Aunt Terri for the Valentines gift! Thank you everyone for all the constant support! I'm still working on writing to everyone, but it takes time! Love you all! Take Luck!

Elder Jones                                         

4th Feb 2013 in Mthatha, South Africa

Good morning Mom and dad,

 Well this is going to be a really short email... I wrote out a nice
big long email... and then when I went to send it, for some reason the
screen timed out and it didn't send... so now I have to write it all out again and I only have 10 mins... Thanks so much for the update on everything!

Thanks for sending the priesthood line of authority. It worked this time.
That's cool that dad was able to talk to some people from South Africa! I don't know of a place called Niomi though... I'll try to think of a cool South African name for Anona's new dog! Well I don't have time but I'll briefly explain my week!

We went to Queenstown and had Zone Training and Interviews with
President Wood. I really enjoyed it and learned a lot about the House
of Israel and about how to use the Book of Mormon with finding. Then
we came back after a day and continued working! We had some canceled appointments this week, so with the free time we just
focused our efforts on searching out all of the Former investigators
we have in our Area Book! It was rather effective! One lady said that
she was waiting for over a year for the missionaries to come back, and
that she was reading the Book of Mormon and her friends were also.
That was awesome!

We had a few more successes like that as well! We
still have a lot of them to go through so I think we will be having a
lot of work from that. We are also still helping 3 people
 with their baptism this month! That will be really cool! They are progressing very well and are almost done 1st Nephi in
the Book of Mormon!

 I love mission so much! It is hard work but quite rewarding knowing you are helping others and I am learning a boat load of stuff! I couldn't think of a better way to
spend two years of my life! And the time is flying by too quickly!
Thank you for everything you do to support me while I am here! I love you all!

Sorry no time for pictures this week.

-Elder Jones