Elder Tyler Jones week 50

Hi all, it made me happy to see you guys and Allie happy in the pictures. Thank you so much for that.

It's been an good week. Charlie got confirmed this week and there are a couple more people planning on being baptized at the end of July.  They came to church this week and we took them on a tour of the building. They enjoyed it, we showed them the baptismal font and they seemed to think it was interesting. Overall I think they had a positive experience.

We've been teaching Charlie's friend for a while and his dad for a while. They've been sort of half in about it all but after they saw Charlie get baptized they were pretty excited about it and they committed to baptism. He sort of just told us "okay, I want to learn, let's go to the table and let's learn." We ended up teaching him the rest of the night or for about two and a half hours. He had a lot of good questions and committed to be baptized.

We had our last interviews with president Mella. This Friday we're going to get a new mission president. President Hunt. It'll be sad to see president Mella go but I'm excited to get to know president Hunt. We'll have a devotional this Wednesday for their going away.

Also, brother Clemente got the priesthood and so when we went over we had him give his wife a blessing. It was so sweet and it was a great experience. They both have their temple recommends now and are planning to go to the temple soon. So we're all excited about that.

Elder Tyler Jones week 49

Hey! That's awesome that you guys are going to go to New York! I bet you guys will have a great time! I still remember going to New York years ago. That was a lot of fun. I hope you guys have a great time! That's so awesome that Dan got the priesthood as well. That's so cool to think he will be passing the sacrament soon. That's awesome to hear about Allison as well! I hope she is having a great time! send some pictures of her in Japan.

It was a good week for us. Charlie got baptized on Sunday. His family came to support him. His uncle got to baptize him. They're a great family and it was awesome to work with them. We're going to keep on seeing them because one of Charlie's friends is preparing to be baptized as well. The service was great it was just stressful getting everything together.

One of the other investigators we were trying to get baptized has kind of fallen off. He had come to Church many times and then he hasn't had time to meet with us and hasn't come to church in a couple weeks. So we're trying to get back into contact with him because he had already committed to be baptized and he'd already been coming to church for a while.

Earlier I had the opportunity to baptize one of the sisters investigators last Friday. She had been investigating for a while and we had passed by to visit them a couple times to give her blessings and whatnot. It was an awesome service and a lot of the ward showed up for it. So we were happy about that.

We went on a hike today. It's been super hot the past few days. So we've been going through water bottles pretty fast. It was a really nice hike though. The Tongan Elders went with us so it was a good time.

It's been an exciting week. I hope you guys have another great week!

Allison Japan Trip photos June 13

Elder Tyler Jones week 48

Hi, about the cane - I didn't get hurt, we just helped a member move. They had the old cane and wanted to give it to us. So I just gave it to someone at District meeting. Sorry to give you a scare

Sounds like things are going pretty great in Indiana. That's awesome that Dan is getting the Aaronic Priesthood soon. I hope Dan and Dad had a good birthday. That's awesome to think that Allie's in Japan right now. That's awesome that she's having a great time! Sorry to hear about the dead mouse. In the Church Building here a few months ago 2 skunks died a few months ago. There's still a lingering smell from that.

Its been an awesome week here. This Sunday Charlie is going to be baptized. He's the son of the less active family we've been working with. They've been coming back to church and He's going to get baptized. So we're super excited for that. Also, Next Saturday Abraham is going to get baptized. He showed up to church with his girlfriend, who's a member, a couple months ago. Since we started teaching him he was golden. He had told us that he had already read the Bible and that he felt like he needed to be baptized. He's been reading the Book of Mormon and coming to church and believes that it's true. So that's been super awesome.

We had a father's day activity a couple days ago. I don't know why it was this week. It was kind of poorly announced so not very many people came to it. But we brought an investigator named Isaias. No one talked to him though, not even when we went up to members and told them that he's new. So it didn't seem like he had a great time. So if the missionaries in Indiana bring someone to church or an activity, please talk to them.

Other than that it's been a good week. Another part member family that we've been meeting with had us over for dinner one night. The dad has been coming to church with his family. His wife is a member but he isn't. He's really enjoyed coming to church. His name is Sergio. While at dinner a couple nights with them. He was asking about the word of wisdom and about alcohol. We told him that we don't drink and a little bit about it and why. He asked if it was all members or just missionaries. We said all members. He just replied "welp, I'm lost". Which was a bit disappointing since he'd liked all the things we had been teaching before. But he still came to church the next day. So we're going to keep working with him and see what'll happen.

I love you guys and hope you have another great week!

Elder Tyler Jones events

Elder Jones week 47

Sounds like you guys are having a good time. Hope you guys are having a great summer. That so exciting that allies going to go to Japan soon. That's funny to hear about the kid singing the kitty song. Sorry for the late letter we had  a really really busy day. I'll try to make up for it with pictures.

It's been a pretty great week. We've had some really promising investigators pop up out of nowhere. So that's been really nice. We've been getting a lot of really good referrals from members. We've been working a lot with the elders quorum president. He had been trying to get home teaching all organized so now they're pushing home teaching a lot and seeing less actives. So the elders quorum is pretty pumped about missionary work. 

An investigator that we had lost contact with a while ago who was pretty close to getting baptized just walked into church yesterday. He still wants to take the lessons. That was a pretty pleasant surprise.

We have an investigator we have been teaching for a long time. He's been coming to church and he quit drinking. He's just decided that he doesn't need to be baptized and whatever we teach or say doesn't seem to have much effect on his decision. So at the beginning of the month we decided to fast one day a week for the whole month that something would change his mind. Yesterday at church his son, who is a member, gave a really good talk about his baptism and conversion and how it's affected his life. He felt the spirit so strongly during that talk and left crying. That was awesome and altogether they're an awesome family. 

We had a multicultural event Saturday that was a lot fun. It was for the whole stake but pretty much none of the English wards came. So it was a big party of Latinos, Tongans and Samoans. Some investigators came and everyone had a great time. 

We found out that Elder Freeman is getting transferred to South east San Jose. So he's leaving tomorrow morning. I'm getting a new companion named Elder Fajardo. He's from El Salvador and a native speaker so I'm pretty excited for that.

Anyway I hope you all have a great week! Try to stay dry!

Elder Jones week 44

 I'm glad you guys are doing well still. Sounds like Dan and Allie are having a good time with track and school. Sorry to hear Mom's babies are so crazy. That's fortunate that the school year is almost over though. Hopefully all goes well with the baby exams.

It's been another good week for us. The week started with us helping a lady move. She was moving stuff from 3 locations to a room she was renting. It took all day because not too many people showed up. So we were there from about 10:30 to about 7:00. She had a lot of stuff to move into her little room. When we were finished the room was full from floor to ceiling with stuff. There was hardly room to move around. But that's the way she wanted it and she wanted to have all the stuff in the room so she just had it like that now. So all swell with that now.

The weather was kind of weird this week. It started off really hot at the beginning the week, then it went to cold, or cold by California standards. That was a bit strange but the cooler weather has been nice.

We've still been working with the elders quorum president, he has some people he's directing us to that he wants us to work with. We've also been working on the ward list to figure out who's still living in the area so that he can assign home teachers to those that still live here. That's been going well for us. We end up knocking on a lot of doors and no one being home and a lot of people that do open the door are afraid of us so they'll tell us someone doesn't live there and then after we explain that we're missionaries from the church, they then tell us that they do. So it's been fun working on that.

Through that we found a less active and got him to come back to church this week which was awesome. He ended up talking to all the people there and making some friends again. He hadn't been in such a long time that he didn't know hardly anyone there but it seemed like he had a good experience.

We invited one of our investigators to be baptized. He's quit drinking and he regularly comes to church with his wife, who is a member, all of his children are active members that have been sealed but he declined to be baptized again. So we're still working with them. He's really nice to us and always likes to have us over for dinner. He's just a little stubborn. But we're still working with him. I know it would mean the world to his wife if he would get baptized so they can be sealed in the temple. So we're fasting and praying for them. 

Anyway all is going well with us here. I Hope you all have another great week!