Back in Business

Without a computer lets just say there are no posts and that's where we have been for the last little while.

Having a missionary blessing at our house meant that many of our machinery's stayed in working order, this was our blessing that we can now in hind sight come to understand.
When our son came home the list of break downs skyrocketed:
Swather died,
Farm truck blew some part, still trying to fix that one.
All of a sudden computers crashed and died dead.
Red horse hauling truck can not get replacement tires to save its life so it sits until we find some.
Wow lets just send that missionary back out we need the protective blessings that come with having one.                                                                                                          

Shall we see a Real Elder Price not a stage Elder Price? Lets compare the Broadway show to real mission life.

So you want some other truth about what its really like to serve in Africa, This is a great article done to compare and contrast the Book of Mormon Broadway Musical to a real Elder Price that serves.

The first part of the Real Elder Price here
The second part of the Real Elder Price here

Loved these stories and wanted to share.

The last letter from Africa

Well, I don't know what to say. I feel a bit mixed right now. I'm
scared to death of coming home, but at the same time I'm excited to
see my family and start a life of my own. This has been the best
experience I've had my whole life and it is now coming to a close.
Last night was my last day of teaching, as Elder Kafeero and I will be
leaving tonight for Gaborone and then at about 6:30 tomorrow morning
we will be on our way to Johannesburg to the transfer meeting. I hope
that what I've done here is of value to those who have been effected,
as well as the lord. I know there are things that I could have done
better, there are mistakes i could have avoided, but in answer to you
question Mom, I think I've served well. I love you all and I'll see
you on Wednesday

Sincerely

Elder Tyrell James Jones

 Dear Elder Tyrell Jones
Its been a rough day, with kids arguing and name calling so I feel like a rung out Mom. We came home from church and hurried to eat lunch and then popped popcorn and made lemonade and drove up to see the huge flash flood that came down because the mountain burned last summer. We also went all the way to the top of sawmill bench and looked at the burned mountain. SAD it will never be a good camping place in mine and your Dads life time again. But there is lots of firewood its just going to be a really messy job to get it. This week there was the flood that left all of shingle creek that did not get burned wiped out now because of the water. It was so bad it almost wiped out Ed Shaws home at the bottom. The water hit 8 feet high in places along the walls of the narrows. Several other places were at sever risk too but in the end all came out safe just alot of clean up which because of the fair our kids are not going to be able to serve in the shovel clean up. Tue. the kids are all to haul the animals in and have the big intro meeting that evening at the same time that's when they were going to have  kids shovel the gardens and yards out of mud that went everywhere.
We have spent the whole week trimming animals and trying to work the not behave kinks out of a few stubborn ones. K has one sheep that is really hard to make walk and Jo's steer is not to nice at times. I guess they will just have to learn fast with the one day they have left to work them.

The night that the storm brought the flood I just talked about Jo and I were washing the steers to start trimming. She looked up and said wow Mom your hair is standing straight up in the air on top. I looked at hers and the same thing was going on with hers. We really quick finished washing and moved away from that spot. The electricity in the air was scary and we did not want to feel it by any means. The FFA teacher had just got there and she was like hey get out of that water. Dad had been on his way over to tell us we needed to quit before something hit us. As soon as we got over to Brock and Jamie's our hair stoped floating in the air.
Mc went to Timberline all week and had lots of fun doing that and will start football this mon. evening. C started but this week will be out because of finishing the steers off. Mc was also made 1st counselor of the Deacons and has to do a presentation at 7am Sunday morn at the stake center. He also has his first game Sat and he is thrilled that you will be here to watch him but you will most likely have to split yourself in two as K will do his horse show and want you there too. Ya your going ot feel like a pulled apart person until the novelty wears off that your here.
I got a message from a young man named Mykel you is thrilled to get to see you this month at a mission reunion called your talk. I am not sure what more to say as the week just flew past so fast I almost did not have time to breath. I have a few of your school books but we will have to go up to snow to get the rest sometime next week. And then we need to start cutting wood because heck its already getting cold at night which is really eery usually we are sweltering when we sleep but not this year to much rain. You will be just in time to bale hay cause Dad is cutting this week and already got the swather stuck in our mini river that runs by the side of the hay. Well that's all from our side of the world give us a few crazy days and we will be seeing you soon.
1.C was talking about that trench coat not the suit coat when he said you had to bring it home. You do not have to bring it home it has already gone through 3 of your other cousins by the time C serves in 5 years it will have lived a nice life there in Botswana serving someone else so not necessary to bring it home. It would be better to choose something else to take around the world, choose something that you can assign that tradition to and then tell the boys what it is when you get here making it an important symbol for C to work towards for when he serves.
 2. Also C said this about the letter question "I guess he does not think emails are letters, but Mom you still better send an email just in case." So this is the last missionary email to you Elder Tyrell Jones because then you will be home in two days.

 4.What more can I ask then have you served well?????

Farm Kids staying busy all summer long.

Jo tried to make her steer pull her up the log when he backs up it did not work so well.

Jo made Jer sit on the little filly who is so friendly. He didn't think it was so cool as it was not too level standing there eating.

Mc is trying to hide that he ate a fresh green pepper and will start on the cuke next.

This is C teaching a steer to lead for showing at the fair.

Is that what we call a bucket head over there in the distance. Picking veggies at the Papas garden spot.

Jer thinks he is so big standing on the old hay wagon bed.

Mc had to pitch fork dropped hay into the baler to make bales.

Z always comes up with something to entertain himself, walking over the plank spanning the mud from the trough line.

K boy wishes that things would lead like the Mary song but that is not to be.

Jo has a steer that is not nice at times so today the horse got to do all the dragging power instead of the tiny girl and was she ever thrilled to take it easy.

They finally all got off the Mt. and are heading for home to be done with the walking of show animals.

Z boy rides a mutton at the 24th celebration and won 10 bucks was he ever thrilled.

C stroking his steers belly to help it stay calm.

He says its his best bud.

C helping to chuck dropped hay into the baler that is not being very nice this season.

Two cuties who are helping to sheer the show sheep to keep them cool so they will get bigger only a few weeks left till the fair now.

ONE WEEK Left for the Missionarys mission time now.

1. Please tell me what happens when a baby is named after me. Sam said they can't do that in
 his mission because they have like three names. A registered name, a house
 name and a street name and it ends up being confusing to them in the end. Do
 people go by that many names in your mission?
1. The baby is just named after you. that's it

 

2.Old question here DO Rhinos really stomp out fires now that your in the land where they live.
2.I still don't know. Rhinos don't just run around wild. They are all
in game reserves.

 

3. C wants to know how much you regret not playing football the whole high school of years your life?
3.I do regret not playing football, but I also saw what it did to some
of my friends who got a bit of popularity and helped them to make some
stupid choices. I'm not saying don't play football, cause you'll
regret it, I'm just saying be careful who you associate with and the
peer pressure you give in to.

 

4. Have you ever played angry birds.
4.I've never even heard of that.

 

5.You need to bring home your suit coat so it can go all around the world
 with the rest of the boys.

 C boy is talking about the trench coat that  Elder Jones took that went with three other cousins to other parts of the world.
5.Sharp!

 

6.Are elephants really scared of mice?
6.also not so sure on that one. but if I remember correctly I think
there was an episode of myth busters about that.

 

7. Is it really hard to convert elephants.
7.Yes, very very hard. They are a bit stubborn and they like to make a
big stink about whether or not the Book of Mormon is really revelation

 

8. Do you want a letter sent to you next week.
8.Well I think if you send a letter now, it will get here when I get there.

C boy says apparently emails are not letters in the missionaries point of view cause that's what he C boy meant as a letter.

 

9.What is the first thing you want to do when you get home.
9.Have a big weekly planning session.

 

10. What is your greatest experience on your mission and off your mission.
10. Can I tell you that one when I get home?

Well once again, this week has been great, and for some reason,
it feels like it has just flown by
Monday was a normal day of preparation and so forth, Tuesday We
had Leadership council in Gaborone, which was interesting due to our
new mission president. It was great, but not the same as was usually
conducted by President Poulsen. I got to see some old companions and
flat mates while there. I saw Elder Makosa who is now a district
leader, as well as Elder Byrns who is also a district leader now.
After Leadership council we had to get some supplies from the office
and then we left for Kanye to start our proselyting. Wed. was a fully
booked day but only our first three appointments kept and the rest of
the day was spent trying to full fill back up plans and find people to
teach. Thursday we had weekly planning, and the Morgans also came over
to inspect our flat. They said it was the best one they had seen so
far, but I'm not sure if they were just saying that. After planning, I
went on exchanges with Elder Oketa in his area. We had a great day
but I'm struggling to remember all of the things we did. We contacted
a few new investigators on his side, On of our contacts was a group of
sisters that all go to a different church. They had alot of questions
for us and we did our best to answer them. I think they will be great
potential for baptism soon. Friday we had a great district meeting at
our flat and it was my last district meeting on mission, as this week
we will be having a zone activity instead of district meeting.
Saturday was a bit like Wed, except we had a few more appointments
stick, and one of them was with a new father led family. The family
seemed open so far and didn't have any argument with what we were
saying, they had questions about what the Book of Mormon is, but they
accepted the things we explained and said they will be willing to pray
and study about it. We also practiced a musical number that day to
preform on Sunday, in an effort to try and get more people to choir
practice. Sunday we had church as usual and we did preform our
musical piece. I hope it has the desired effect, I guess we will find
out on Saturday this week. One great thing about church was we are
starting to see the fruits of our efforts in inviting others to come
to church. We had 8 investigators come to church and some of them are
really great progressing investigators. After church we had lunch and
then saw Lydia and Matlaa, whom we had to move their baptism date,
because they are behind the requirements. Later in the day we saw Bro
Rampou who is very prepared to receive the gospel. You can just see it
in his countenacne, the struggle will be working with his schedule
because he is away on weekends and works during the day. I guess if
Christ can raise Lazarus from the dead he can make it work for Bro
Rampou. Over all it's been a great week and I'm looking forward to this
week as it will be my last full week on mission. Man the time fly's by
and before I know it, I will be sitting at the computer again typing
my final e-mail and prepping to come home. All I can say is that if and
when you get the chance to serve a mission, cherish every moment
cause when your through, your through.

Elder T Jones

 Good Day!!!!
 Elder Sam Owens spoke today about the things he learned on his mission it
 was really great. Trevor Maglby spoke just before him too. They both said
 they felt like fish out of water at the moment. They spoke about wanting
 all your family to be with you in the temple and the attonement. Sam still
 stuggles with not slipping into Protugues but he is slowly getting better at
it. He even offered to stay with you when we have to leave so early to the

 fair shows before being able to get you released. What say you to that??

 I sent a note to Jake about when your talking and would like to send to any
 others that you would like to have be in the know about it. I am assuming
 he also sent that note to you that he forwarded to me this week.

 So there is 100.00 in your account if you need more please tell me so I can
 fix that tomarrow. Also I did a link up story of the transfer suit after
 finding it one day when looking at some africa mission blogs. There you were
 posing for Sister Hendrichsen. I told Aunt Twila and she told Mark they all
 had a great laugh over it but wish that they could see all the signatures in
 the inside of that jacket after this many years.

 I set up an event through facebook so that friends of college could get info
 about your return through Will and thought you would like to know that Sam
 is waiting a jingle from you and Will is too and I have his cell number so
 you can make connection. Also Justin said this
  "I have missed Jones a ton while
 he's been gone. I'm deffinately going to be there; especially since I am
 working
 and can finally afford to do that every once in a while".
 There are several others who are excited for your return including many
 little cousins and older cousins.They were all at Uba yesterday when Uncle
 Jathan brought his boat and we played on the lake. I did a jet ski and took
 C and Z out on it. Then Jo took me out on it. She is one scary
 driver I kept falling off the back almost. Then the fun got quickly ended
 because the wind came up and sent sand everywhere and rain pelted us. At
 least we had almost come to the end of our fun day. Dad of course was silly
 and did not get in the water its just not his thing.

  I have not been running very well this summer so I hope that we can maybe
 make that a goal once the fair is over. The kids can't wait to get back into
 school and football starts for Mc and C this week but Mc will be going
 to Timberline first and miss the first practise and placement of where he is
 supposed to play. The thing that counts is that he wants to do it this year.
 Its going to be a busy week of getting everything show ready and trying to
 clean up from the summer kids cause they are just not good at keeping things
 cleaned up. I have not been able to buy one set of books as the bookstore is
 not knowing what the teacher wants yet. So hopefully we can get that done
 soon.

I wanted to comment on the rough experiance you had last week or so about
trying to teach to the man who did not want to listen except out of the
Bible. At least you left that home with a prayer that will flow around them and will slowly soften thier hearts as they pay attention to the bible. You have done your best and must remmeber that is like people we even love here.
They make many a mistake and turn away and wont let them selves come back to the peace that they can have by beliving in the one good truth Jesus Christ.
 One day they will know that he is the whole truth with the Book of Morman
and the Bible too. You have planted a seed and it will take root maybe
 slowly but it will. That is why we should always be missionaries our whole
 life.

 We are anxious to know what that week has held for you and

At this point in my letter/email my C boy took the computer hostage and asked the silly questions and hit send before I could finish so thats what the missionary got this week. Kinda  funny.

Missionary chooses to name a baby after his Mom.

1.Have you been trying to get money out of your bank account? Do You need some?
1. On the question about needing money, I think I might need some because I want to send a package home but don't have the means to do so. I'm afraid if I don't send it in a packaged I'll have to pay a whopping customs.

2. What song would you like to have your family sing on the Sunday you do your return talk, and preferences?
2. I don't know? As long as it is good.

3.So did you tell the Morgans about your great grandparents?
3.Yup they know them.

This week has been a good week as always. Starting with Monday as it always is, then Tuesday was a very full day. We visited briefly Sister Keatlaretsi, who's daughter just had a baby, and is now named Brooke after Brooke Jones my own mother, as they asked me, the Lekgowa (white Man), to name the baby.

We also taught a new sister named Sefela, who gladly accepted to be baptized and is ready to learn more about the church. she has even shown her desire by keeping the commitment to read the literature we left. After that we picked up Bro Nyoni to show him where his home teaching families live. We also saw Sister Bontle again and we taught about the Word of Wisdom and the Law of Chastity, which they committed to keep. We also taught Bro Kago who is really struggling to accept what we say. He's very "a bible! a bible!" we are still teaching him, but it's not going anywhere fast.
Wed we started the day by taking Bro Dukudu to his home teaching families and then our day was a bit rough. Most of our appointments cancelled, except that we saw Sister Sefela again and a Bro named Vincent who asked us not to come back again. We also saw Sister Nanikie for a short bit
and then our day didn't consist of much after that. Thursday we had our weekly planning, Followed promptly by lunch, provided by a member named Sister Lucia. We saw Sister Keatlaretse again and taught her about the Book of Mormon. We also taught Sister Lenong and her kids, which were all recently baptized. Lelentle the young daughter age 9 asked us to help her prepare for a talk on prophets. So we gave her a set of questions to answer that can help her give a good talk. After we saw Bro and Sister Masebola, one of our most progressive, as of now, Father led families. We taught them the restoration and they understood it quite well. Next we had a horrible experience with first appointment. We were teaching a man named Francis and his wife Emily. The last time we had met them was just outside their house so we gave them a restoration pamphlet and set an appointment. Once we got into the teaching, they had a question about the Book of Mormon, which we tried to explain and then he said " If you come and discuss with us, we have some conditions, that is that 1. you should be open to hearing what we also have to say. and 2. everything we talk about should come from the bible and the bible only. They then proceeded to try and teach us from the bible that we don't need a prophet on earth today, and that we only need one cannon of scripture, being the bible. They hardly let us have a word in and when I asked if I could ask a question Francis replied "yes, but let me explain..." I cut him off quite abruptly and said again "May I as a question!" he stoped talking and I asked " Bro Francis from what you are saying, where do you see all of this going?" he replied "just be open and listen to what we have to say..." " We have been listening," I replied "and from everything you have said it just seems like you are trying to disprove what you have read from our booklet." He didn't pay much attention to what I had to say and he just kept on rambling on and quoting the bible until Elder Hove piped in and said " Bro Francis this isn't going anywhere can we leave you with a prayer?" " yes" said Francis" but let me give you some advice, don't go around teaching falsehoods from books other then the bible..." I interrupted and said "Bro Francis we really have to go, may we leave you with a prayer?" he continued rambling and I finally said " BRO FRANCIS! who should pray?" He silenced himself and then signaled that I should pray, I left the most Christlike prayer I could muster, even with the contention that I felt boiling up in me, and we promptly left their house without effort to set a second appointment. Elder Hove and I talked about that experience for quite a while afterwards, and just recognized it for what it was. We tried to talk positively about Bro Francis and his family and we prayed that one day his heart will be softened toward the gospel. We saw one more family after that and because we didn't have an appointment with them we just took time to set an appointment to come back.
Friday We went to Molepolole for District meeting there and to do exchanges with the Molepolole District leader, Elder Alder and his companion Elder Jenkins. I went back to Kanye with Elder Alder and Elder Hove stayed with Elder Jenkins. The exchange was great, and I learned alot from Elder Alder, He also said he learned alot from me and was going to take some stuff back to help his district. Elder Alder is a great missionary, he's very humble and I can see him going very far in life.
Saturday morning we exchanged back and the day was a bit rough. We did see quite a few people though. Boinelo, Keatlaretse, The Lenong family, Bontle, and Bro and Sister Ncube. Any free time was spent inviting people to church and hopein that every one saying they would come was being honest.
Sunday proved to be a bit disappointing as we only had 4 investigators at church again, but on the upside the one that came is part of the Father Led Family I mentioned earlier, The Masebola family. We had an intense meeting where one of the Stake High council men came and the Presiding authority over Kaney, Pres Mopare. In Sacrament all the classes they were pressing down on the importance of paying tithing as most members here are not being honest tithe payers. After all that was preached there, I will be surprised if people don't pay their tithing now. Sister Bontle is now officially avoiding church, she didn't come even after we called her in the morning and she told us she was coming. We found out later she went to the hair salon that she owns to work instead, I don't know what to do to help her now.
Overall the week was great and hopes are high. I probably won't be having many baptisms here, but I've met alot of people in a short time.

Elder T. Jones.

Dear Son who serves the Lord 

Well this week has been packed full with all the comings and going of kids and taking time to have our voice heard about the river prevention by fixing the banks higher on our farm. I had to go into a meeting and do a whole presentation showing how the water is still breaking the banks and not being able to get out of our hay field. The Powers to be said that there would be monies to fix it and get it back it to the path which of course will not happen until Nov. but at least they saw we were getting paper work filed.

Jo went to watch Kailey at the high school rodeo and she is all thrilled to go run the barrels. But she says the dances that they hold are not the kind she will ever go to. The boys are just out to get something and they dirty dance and its sick her words not mine. Jo came right home that day and talked Uncle Brock into taking her to the arena to ride the barrels.
The next day we went to Enterprise to Uncle Wendell and Aunt Esthers funerals. They passed away within a week of each other and so the funerals were held together. It was fun to see lots of Dads cousins since the reunion was canceled because of the fact that stuff was flooded. The next morning was a busy get lots done day so that we could have fun on the 24th. That evening we went to the primary parade. Jer was very sure he wanted to ride in it. C ended up pushing him down the road all the way so that he kept up. Z also rode his bike there too. C and Mc got to stay and watch the 3on3 basketball stuff. I never heard if they really had lots of fun.

K has gone camping for the first time without parents. He got to go with Uncle Brock and Aunt Jamie. He packed everything all by himself and was ready to go way before they left. He is going to be gone for 5 days and he was thrilled.

C and Jo have been really working their steers so it looks like they will be pretty prepared when the time comes. I sure hope one of them at least makes it to the blue ribbon round. C also had wrestle camp this week at the high school and that kept him really busy which is always a good thing for him

Dad ended up taking the little boys to the parade as Jo and I were not anywhere ready. It was good for him to do, then when they came back we went to Salinas FFA fundraiser little rodeo. Mc tried to do barrels and poles on aarab but because K rides her slow for 4H she would not really perform well. He did not place. Jo took second in barrels and third in poles and then Dad and her rode the hide ride. They took second and she actually got the barrel kind of caught on her face for a sec. She really had lots of fun though. Z took first place riding a mutton and got all of his money back and then tried to race in a boot race, money steer and chicken chase. Even Jeremy chased a chicken too but it jumped the fence so no little kids could get to it. Mc tried a hog chase and caught its foot and then the butter slipped out of his hand. He even had a hold of the money steer but a kid shoved him into a fence so he lost the ribbon as the kids jerked it out of his hand. Then they all talked me into do the boot race for grown ladies and I did ok except I could not get my boot back on on one of my feet very well so it slowed me way down. On our way home we went to Dads high school reunion dinner and then over to the parade to watch fireworks. It was a very fun day unlike the last few years where Dad has been grouchy about going to see the fireworks.

The other great news for the week was that Sam came home on Tue and we got to see him Sunday. he has a hard time speaking and he tried to sing in choir and Caleb sat by him and said he kept using words that were not on the page that he knew meaning he would revert to Portuguese however that's spelled. Next week is his return talk. I cant think of any other news stuff really its just that crazy busy summer time and now kids are getting bored and school needs to get going so they can keep their brains busy too. All the families are doing great and being busy as ever. Maybe when your home will be the first time everyone will get together for the first time this summer.

To answer the question about the jump in class. The reason I originally picked it was because of the timing you were coming home. Its a shortened version class from my understanding. It is the only one held on campus and gives you a day to go up there. But you will need to decide if you want to spend out the gas to do that class or drop it and do it later maybe. The day after you get home we can go over that stuff and you will have time to look into it.

There is a special program that Lex de Asavedo the famous music arranger for the church has set in to place where he asks that many learn a music piece and then it is videoed and shown at a special Christmas program. They are asking all to be involved so if it sounds cool you and I could do it together if you want to.

Rhett face booked that he could not wait to get back to America and see you he returns after you do though. Jared moved to St. George.

Well smile have a great week and keep touching many hearts.

Love Mom

The brown transfer suit once owned by our missionaries cousin when he served in South Africa.

The traveling transfer suit.

Ah going back in time a bit here. Today I found a picture of my son who serves in South Africa it was on someone else's blog that he serves with. I hope they don't mind that I link because the way she writes the story of their experiences gives greater insight into the world that my son has lived in these last two years of his life. And yes I copied his picture the one where he is dressed in the brown suit of his cousins that has a transfer pass around tradition attached to it now. Here is a link to when our missionary asked if this suit was once worn by his cousin who served back in 2000 here. This is a spot telling when one of the Older missionary wore the suit here. This is the spot that tells her side of the tradition and how it started of course after Elder Jones cousin left it when he was done serving his own mission there in 2001 read here.  After speaking with Elder Jones cousin returned Elder Mark Owen he laughed and said "he couldn't believe that suit was still floating around the Johannesburg Mission field this many years later".
And last but not least please enjoy the link to a street meeting in Dobsonville the one wearing a pink tie just happens to be our very own Elder Tyrell Jones back at almost the beginning of his mission start.  Read here.

Counting down the weeks now.

1.Well we are curious about what having a new Pres is like of if your so far away it has not really affected you.
1.It's not to strange to have a new Mission President, I got to meet him on Friday. He's actually a very cool guy. He's going to bring a strong sense of spirituality to the mission. We had interviews with him on Friday so that's why we met.

2.Also we are wondering if you got your coat now that your in the Winter of Botswana from the mission home?

2.Yup I've worn it almost every day at some point in time. Question about that, Do I have to bring that home cause it' kinda bulky?

 

3.Do they have such things as gloves there?

3.Yes mom I'm not living in the middle of the jungle.

 

4.Who are you teaching now in Botswana.

4.Well we are teching quite a bit of people. The people we are focousing on is a Sister named Bontle and her Sone Laone, lydia and Maatla, A sister named Tebogo, and the others we are teaching aren't really progressing. We are still hopeing to find more father led families that are prepared, because right now the fathers we are teaching ethier don't understand or are not keeping apointments.

 

5.Tell us one new tradition that you have learned or it all just life as normal now that you have been there so many months?

5. Well I haven't seen to many traditions apart from South Africa so I couldn't say there is anything new yet.

 

6.So do you think Nissans are the best car out there now that you have driven them alot in the field?

6. Well I've only really driven 1 Nissan car on mission (nissan tida), because the rest are all Chevy Aveos'. But the nissan is much nicer then the chevys we drive.

Well this week has been quite good, but I think I'm going to kill this computer because it tries to skip out on typing things that i tell it to, and it is making the typng a very slow process bcuse if i type fast it misses whole sentances. i'm goingto se if i ca get anew computer...... Ok so now I have a new computer hopefully this one will work alot better.

As for the week, starting with Monday. We had a good p-day as usually and by 6:00 we had FHE with our recent converts. After that we briefly saw a member named Sister Lenong and we just shared a thought because no one else was home with her. By 8:00 we were supposed to see a guy named Justice, but he cancelled so we went to check on some other investigators and didn't find any of them awake. So we went to the first house we saw with lights still on and met a man and his sister. His name was Nico and he was very welcoming and wanted to know everything he could about who we are and our history, we left him with a Book of Mormon and a Pamphlet about the Restoration. That finished our night. Tuesday was a very full day as well, but 4 of our appointments dropped one right after another. It was starting to make me frustrated, that's when we started to have some great success in teaching our most promising investigators. I felt a bit of guilt that night because I was frustrated about the appointments that dropped and then we had so much success. I think the Lord was trying to teach me a lesson. Wed morning we met with Bro Nico again and it didn't go as well as we were expecting at all. He was very preachy when we were there and we hardly got a word in. He wanted to tell us how he is rooted in Christ, and he doesn't think we should follow Joseph Smith. Every time we tried to explain that we don't worship Joseph Smith he wouldn't listen and he just kept interrupting us. So we called it quits and he said he would call if he wants us to come back. At around 5:00 we had our Book Of Mormon class and we invited everyone to bring a friend. I sure hope they do because we need some good Member Referrals to get some progressing investigators. Thursday we had a great planning session again and we made some good plans to get our investigators to baptism. It will just take a little more effort on their side now. Friday, we didn't get to do much finding and teaching because we had to Drive down to Gaborone for President interviews. President Omer is a great Mission President, He made me feel like I could just serve for another two years with him around. Saturday we did everything in our power to get our investigators to be at church on Sunday. We visited all of our most promising investigators and a few others. As Sunday came around we ended up having only 3 investigators at church and were not even teaching some of them because they have been investigating the church for years and just don't want to get baptized. The reasons that some of our investigators didn't come was do to one of the families had a daughter go into labor, one of the them had an emergency meeting to discuss Labola :( and i don't know why alot of the others didn't come. I've got to say it's pretty frustrating sometimes, but we have to remember that God works by faith otherwise we would probably just give up. We are facing challenges and we are having good experiences all at the same time. I tell you mission is the best of times and the worst of times sometimes. Love you all very much, keep smiling and keep me informed on what's happening.

Love Elder T. Jones

 P.s. Mom I was wondering if that courtship and marriage class also starts in august, if it does I would rather be enrolled in that then the October section and have to catch up.

 

 

To our Elder

The kids have been keeping the animals walking and feeding and really working the steers lots and lots. Then C and Jo went to youth conference and had a blast. The temple pres. Elder Pinager came and spoke to them they had a blast listening to him. He was very funny and Jo said he would be a great grandpa to have. They did square dancing and workshops and swimming. They were also camping on the lawns of the old state building in Fillmore. They really had lots of fun and came home wiped out and having to almost start over with their steers on getting them to walk nicely. They are not so easy to get going. Jo at the first of the week had dragged hers with the truck so she was frustrated to have to seem to be starting all over again just cause they hadn't walked them for three days. We also had to shear the sheep to keep them cool so that they will keep gaining weight and not lose because they get hot all over. Hopefully they will really gain some cool blue ribbons with this work after all that they have put in.

Derek Forbush spoke in church today. Its really amazing to see the change and growth after a mission, that kid always seemed so so so shy and there he was speaking very very strongly about the atonement's and the Holy Ghost. I am going to admit right now that I can hardly wait till these two little lap sitting boys like to sit in their own chairs. My legs are so numb from the wiggle wiggle of their little butts on my legs. Jo also had to speak about her experience of girls camp and she really did a great job. I wish she would take some speech classes though so that she had confidence more about.

I still have to take the CDL test I have taken it 3 times and this will be the 4th and I better pass it this time. The last time they gave me the wrong test and so i missed it by 15 where the the first I only missed one and the second time I only missed 3. They couldn't change the test they gave me the 3 time because the guy who gave it to me left to do drive test and so the girls did not know how to fix that issue and just told me i had to come back later and they would make it no charge to me. Of course though that left me feeling really defeated and I want to make sure I get it done this time for sure. They would like to put me on a bus but cant until I drive with a trainer which of course can not happen until the test is all passed.

 

Ps. Going to buy your books this week so that they get here in time for you to study with them.

Love you lots have the very most amazing week and remember the Lord loves you and so do we.

Love you lots

Your Family

Winter in Botswana and its COLD!

1.Are you still a Zone Leader, we are a little unsure if that is still what your position is at this time?

2.Hey we asked you other questions on the bottom of our letter last week but you did not answer them so maybe you can go back and review and answer them ok.

6. Do black Mambo snakes climb up into moving cars because they portrayed that they had this ability and the land just hoped right out of her car and left it in the middle of the road?

6. not that i have seen yet.

7. Do all the ladies there in Botswana wear lots of beads and necklaces and huge dangle earrings? I thought they all looked really unique? 

7. well i think that's for special occasions

8. Did the ward or stake finally split on the 26th of June as the Morgans spoke about in their blog I am not sure if you will know what i mean but you were there so if something happened to that church area you would know that?

8.not yet

9. How many primary children are there in the ward you are in?

9.not sure

10 shoes did you take a picture or two of the dog bite marks?
10.not yet

 Dear Family

     You'll have to forgive me if i can't write fast enough to say everything i want to. My hands are really cold and it's making it difficult to type. This week has been a little bit rough on the side of alot of success. Monday was a regular old Monday with not to much happening. We had a family home evening with some recent converts as we have done since i've been here. and then we ended up tracting around 7:30pm-8:30pm because our last appointments cancelled. That didn't fly very well. Tuesday we had quite a full day. Some of our appointments cancelled but we did teach some new people, two of which accepted a baptism date. Sister Keatlaretsi and her Daugherty tshenolo. We also taught a sister Named Tebogo, who seemed a bit skeptical, but very willing to listen and try out what we are teaching. Hopefully they each progress well, none of them came to church yet but we'll get there. Wednesday we had a pretty cool day. We did alot of finding. We also taught a new brother named Pako and his Uncle named O.D. Pako accepted a baptism date as well and has tons of questions about why there are some many different beliefs. He was talking quite a bit so we struggled to get in a word, but there will be next time. We had quite a few cancel on us that day which attributed to all the finding we did. Thursday Elder Hove and i had a great planning session which should really help us get down to business this coming week and baptize very soon. We ended up teaching one father led that day , Edwin, which i may have written about last week. The lesson didn't go very well this time. They were very preoccupied with watching the upcoming Episode of Generations that they didn't really concentrate on what we had to say and they seemed very uninterested. It's really frustrating when stuff like that happens. You think you have a golden family and they start showing a little less care then you would expect. Friday Elder Hove and i spent the day in Lobatse trying to help them get the work going there. They have been struggling quite a bit with achieving their goals, so we thought we would go see what we can do. I took the day to go with the Lobatse 2 Elders, Elder Schwab from Logan and Elder Dlamini from Swaziland. The advice that i gave them was to make a list of all their new investigators at the end of each week so as to remember them. They seem to find and teach lots of people but their people fall out of touch pretty quick. I hope that can get their district going.(and to answer the question yes i am still a Zone Leader) Saturday was a bit questionable on the side of how much work we actually did. We got back to kanye by 12:00 and ended up stuck at the flat for about 45 minutes because the other elders had to take the car to run an errand and then got back so we were doing the work by around 12: 45 and our 1:00 cancelled so we took the time to remind invests about church. Then we had just a bit of time to take lunch which we were fed by a member and rush to our 3:00. It was a great lesson with a sister named Sister Koore and her niece/ daughter. she accepted the message quite well and accepted the invitation to baptism. By 4:00 we were supposed to be at choir Practice but everyone was late and it didn't start until later. During that time we also discovered that the Kanye 2 elders were expecting us to do 2 interviews for them during choir practice so we had to exchange so we could make it to the 5:00. I was nominated to do the interviews, so i did and then had time to burn while we waited for everyone to leave and waited for My comp and Elder Kaffeero
Elder T J Jones

LOve Your Family

Well we had a blast for the 4th of July. We just stayed in Joseph because Jo did not get signed up to do the barrels this year so there was no reason to go to a rodeo. The kids were a little put out by that but oh well the fireworks were good.

We had a blast talking to Chad Mcwilliams he asked us all kinds of things and he can't wait until you come home to ask you some more stuff. He told us alot about his areas which were Tazneen and Gaborone in Botswana. But he was also in Swaziland and Lesotho the most. He really did not like the city at all. He also asked us if you had got turned on to the black worms that are fried. Manaputi is what I think he called it. He said he still has his little bushman kit so you should try to trade for one also. He asked if you had learned to hide the stuff you did not like to taste in your tie or newspaper that you stuffed the unacceptables into as they often leave you to eat alone when feeding you in traditional black home. He still can not eat tomatoes because of the pop that was put on them so are you having that same experience? And the spinach mixture that you eat with your fingers he is not fond of either. He said if you get an eternal family carving then you need to carry it on the plane by hand and do not try to pack it. His were broken and so he had to have a friend that he is still in contact with get one and bring back to him. He thinks out of all the things there that is one of the most amazing is the eternal families that they already believe in. He is excited to hear about the changes of the mission area and to see if you might by some great chance know someone he knew in some of those areas but he is sure there has been huge change since 1996.

 

Mark Owen also said he was in Gaborone Botswana and loved that area. They both did not know there was another branch in Kanye. But Chad was there in 1996 and Mark in 2000 so that's a lot of years of change to be made in time.

Well this week was kinda an adventure for Jer. He shut the bathroom door and then pulled out the drawers every single one of them and the bottom on fell of the hinges. So after doing his job he called to have someone come help him and they found him locked in there. He finally helped himself got off and still could not shut the drawer. C got a jack and slid it in and tried to pop the drawer up but started to lift the whole cabinet and got worried that he would break the plumping so stoped. After three hours we finally called Dad and said get home he can not get him out and we are going to have to maybe break the door down. He never cried he played Mc Ds the whole time and one time asked C if it was dark outside yet. One time when C was trying to think of some new way in he yelled hey get me out of here. But otherwise he was pretty content about the whole thing. All Dad had to to was pop the hing with a long screw driver and then talk Jer into doing the other side and he was able to get in. C was like really after that many hours and he does it in 5 seconds. It was kind of funny.

Well its confirmed that the 21st is the day of your homecoming talk and it will be in the morning.

 Jo and C get to go to Youth Conference. They get to go build a log house at the Fillmore state county park and do all kinds of fun things that are pioneer related.
 Today Papa and Dad gave me a blessing as I am going to go in and take the CDL test and I surly want to get it passed and finished off. I hope to be able to pay to send about 5 other boys on missions when the time comes. Love you have an amazing week and we can't wait to hear all the things that you have been able to do with the gospel this week. We sure hope you found some more father led families there.
Love Mom Lots and even the kids love you they are walking their animals right now so they are pretty busy every single night theses days.  

Missionarys First Week in Botswana

1. Any particular reason you would prefer to have only us come to pick you up, care to elaborate? Maybe the idea of lots of little kids is a hard one to get used to again is that it or just simply a quick quiet moment alone with us is that it. Or could it be that your just thinking about the long night drive back and kids falling asleep and it would be easier to see them in the morning which you do not realize will be pretty crazy too because they all have to be up early to go show again and Jo has plans to have you come watch her do the fair thing since you do not have to work this time, other then somewhere in there we have to go get you released too.

1. Yes to just about all of those

3.I'm not sure, but  I will find out 
3. We have enjoyed reading some of the Morgans  blog and seeing into the area that you are now serving in. Have you had Wacky cake that Sister Morgan makes?

4. I hope you send us photos of your house there and I saw some of their native cloth in Morgans blog, do they make that themselves like with looms or what?
4.ok

5.If you have emails of people you want me to invite of your companions please tell them to me.
5. ok next week.

Well this week has been a more full week, as I have been here a full week now. Monday didn't go as well as we had hoped, Elder Oketa and Elder Kafeero didn't get back from Gaborone until around 5:00 so we didn't get to go shopping and had to move that to Tuesday morning :( we've recently had alot of appointments with the following: a lady named Rosalind and her mother and sisters. They are a great group, but they are stubborn when it comes to accepting a baptism date. They don't quite understand the Restoration of the Priesthood so they feel that they have already been baptized and that is enough, nevertheless they are really open to us and I think they enjoy our lessons. We also taught Mummy a recent convert, A family by the name of Montsho and the lesson wasn't all that great, they don't seem to be very interested, but it is a referral from a member and they let us in so we will try to pick things up there. We taught a new brother named Turupa, unfortunately we haven't been able to see him much more this week, and I think he was a little drunk when we taught him the first time. We also taught a sister named Bonhle, She's a great lady, but she is struggling with keeping commitments, she is to involved in her work, and I always comes first on Sunday. We've talked about it with her but she seems not to understand, because she missed church again yesterday for the same reason. Our last appointment was with Gorata, but we couldn't stay because we had no other priesthood holder with us and she is just a young girl. So we set another appointment and went to see a less active named Julius and his wife Linet. We gave them some pictures of their baptism in the hope it would help them to gain some gusto to come to church. We've been finding alot of new people to teach, and we've especially been searching to find more Father Led Families because all we seem to find are sisters, and we are in desperate need of Priesthood Leadership here in this small branch. Unfortunately many of the people have given us the same reply as Sister Rosalind, concerning Baptism. The only plans we have to overcome that is to thoroughly teach the Restoration and emphasize the need of Priesthood Authority. We have had 6 lessons this week with Father led Families which is an improvement from last week which was only one. The district here is great, everyone is willing to improve and we had a great Flat inventory on Thursday talking about improvements we can make to be in harmony with the spirit. Friday we had a great district meeting, conducted by Elder Kafeero our district leader, and Saturday was a great day to find. We also had a baptism for Katlego this Sunday, who was a bit scared of the cold water and bearing testimony, but overcame fear of the water and we told him he didn't have to bare his testimony.

Unfortunately I'm out of Internet time, sorry my thoughts have been a little bit scattered in the e-mail.
Love Elder T. Jones
    

Wow you finally made it to that part of Africa.

Happy 4th of July by the way.

Guess what, you should ask Pres. and Sister Morgan if they know JR. and June Holbrook and Dee and Bessie Bingham who are your great grandparents. Ask them if they remember Kendell and Connie Bingham your grandparents, because they remember them when Papa broke his back in 1980. You see they are from Burley Idaho the very same ward that your grandparents lived in. I don't know as they live in that ward area now but they might. I also think that you actually fly home with them because after reading a few of their letters on their blog it said about the same time frame as your flight tickets but I could be wrong. Just so you know all missionaries all over the world always fly on Wed to arrive home so you come right in the middle of the week and like I said you are coming the same day that the kids show at the fair for the very first time Pig, Steer for Jo, Steer for C and Sheep for K.

Well all the financial aid results are in as far as I can see and its not as much as I had hoped for but by staying at home you will be able to get by the first semester and then if you earn enough then hopefully we can get you in to a room in Ephraim. Unless you want to accept the loan that they offer. I interviewed several of your cousins to see how they did it so when you get home you can make a choice as to what to do after hearing the way they did it. Unless you want me to tell you how they did it in the next letter so you can think about it but you will have to tell me if you have time to do that now or later. I attached the class schedule to your letter and a note at the bottom. If you want me to change anything please let me know now as there are only a few classes open online status. You should be able to see everything by going in to that site of badger web now. Also Doug told me that he bought fixer up houses and then sold them and paid off his loans a little at a time but if you go into he thinks Education and maybe criminal Justice areas (but he is going to check) then they write off all of your student loans if your willing to go teach in a small rural area. He is going to look into all the angles to get you more funding and then will tell you what ideas so you can make a few more plans that way when your here.   

Pretty sure that your homecoming talk will be on the 21st of Aug as the bishop wants it done before the court trial also. We would do it on the 14th but by the time we get you home and get done with the county fair and the horse show I am pretty sure I can't think to do dinner or even get all of us to church early on the 14th. Aunt Amber and Jamie are all thrilled to do a big meal for you too so at least I am going to get help and we will hold it at the town hall so no one gets lost trying to get to our house and I do not have to clean up like crazy.

K became a Weblo scout today and already has so many earned awards. Mc and C went swimming in the ponds that are now in the old gravel pits out by  Whites house. Dad and Mc and C all went horse back over night up by Knosh. The scouts did it for an activity of C age group but Mc could go because of Dad being there. Jo has worked every single day this week and is she ever tired. Its been long hours and she is getting an education in how tired you can get doing that. C to has gone in but not as many times so he keeps helping Dad with farm stuff which has really helped out lots. If he goes then Mc goes somewhat willingly. K did his first horse show and we had to talk him into doing a few things but he did them and now he is all brave about it and has lots of confidence over it. Its nice to see that in him because sometimes he isn't confident about stuff and this year in school was really hard and his teacher was not cool almost mean and K did not want to perform. He in the end finally learned that it was only hurting him but by that time trying to catch up was way hard to do.

Jordan baptized Karly this Sat. it was cute he had to do it three times but it was great when he got through the whole time frame.  He had forgotten to raise is arm the first time and then Karli stuck her toes out the next time. Shane was the witness and had to keep telling him what had needed fixed. I am so glad he was able to do this for Karly.

Church was so inspiring today. Brother Payne spoke about how he heard Brother White tell once about how he had been on Hawaii 5 O show and had tried out and hoped for more of a permenate part. He had even prayed and fasted to be blessed and when it did not happen he asked why why to the Lord. One day as he drove past the set he felt the words that "The Lord Jesus Christ and Heavenly Father were the only ones that mattered and that was why". And just think had he not come back to Utah with that incredible voice Manti Pageant would have had someone else doing that voice over the speakers. And the many church productions that have his incredible voice with such clearness speaking the truth. When we do the Lords work we will never ever go wrong we just need to always ask what that work is that he wants us to do.

Today was fast Sunday and I kept feeling like I needed to bear my testimony but could think of really nothing that felt very profound or testimony building. Then I got to thinking and went up to share about this tree up on the top of the mt rock ledge that we saw when I got to girls camp and the fact that it was most likely older then when Christ was on the earth and how they can tell this by taking and drilling the core out to tell by the tightness of the rings how hard it had to work to survive its struggles and that we can be like that but thank goodness we do not get drilled to see if we stand those tests. And then that we are so lucky to have the freedoms that we have because after reading the Morgans blog and hearing how hard it was to get the missionaries in and out of the boarders and all the sad poverty and yet there they are every Sunday with white shirts in a rented building made to be their chapel they worshiped. The people of that country who will make a difference to the generations to come some day. That no matter whether you were a missionary or a military as we pray for Rhett that we are gaining freedom if we believe in God and work towards that goal. That I loved your Dad and all my children and my ancestors for the willingness that they fought for this country to have freedom and justice if we but believe in Christ. I will end by saying this is my testimony today that we are blessed to have freedoms. In the name of Jesus Christ Amen.

After all that several people came up to me and thanked me, one in particular who said he had needed to hear several of the points I made that helped remind him to be better in his life. Then sister Gay the ones who moved in just before you left said have you ever watched the # 1 Lady detective of Botswana movies. I said I had heard but had not been able to find them so on our way home we stoped and got them and spent the day seeing the land that you are in, along with the boarder crossing area, and the town of Gaborone, and the language and some of the poverty and sadness too. C and groaned about watching the  movies and then he was the one who was the most into them it was pretty cute. They are very oppinionated teens though about what they think you can say and do when you get here. So it generated a few more questions that the kids wanted answered.

6. Do black Mambo snakes climb up into moving cars because they protryed that they had this ablity and the lady just hoped right out of her car and left it in the middle of the road.

7. Do all the ladies there in Botswana wear lots of beads and necklaces and huge dangly earrings? I thought they all looked really unique.

8. Did the ward or stake finally split on the 26th of June as the Morgans spoke about in thier blog I am not sure if you will know what I mean but you were there so if something happened to that church area you would know that.

9. How many primary children are there in the ward you are in?

10 shoes did you take a picture or two of the dog bite marks?

Have an amazing week touching the lives of many of Gods beautiful children who seek the good light of truth

Photo peek of a busy family farm life.

Two boys trying to ride without a horse. Z boy and Jer.

My lovely fish for Mothers day that the boys found in the field while irrigating.

Irrigating boots at least they stayed outside this day.

The kid made another milestone in life. Love that Jer boy.

The kids surprised us and saddled the horses so we could ride this time, even built in babysitting was provided for. We took a very long 4 hour ride up the mountain to look over the valleys.

We started the dream of building a greenhouse.

She must have had to rest after all that green house building.

We started to watch as the river got higher and later took out all of these old trees, there are some already laying down off to the side.

Pulling the fallen trees out of the River head to allow more free flowing. It was backed up 4 or more feet in our fields just because of the 8 trees that are caught here in this spot.

The roots of this huge old tree just wrapped up around the spillway. It took hours to pull it free.

Jer's birthday bike for turning 5, it had to go everywhere with us for a little while.

Dehorning cows is always messy and tough for the dehorner who was Dad and C boy. I really think C boy got a kick out of the whole thing to tell the truth. Most of these kids had never seen this messy job but none ran away from the noise and sight of it.

Ok those are really big horns on that head. Yehaw ride it C boy.

The girl has no fear and gets in there like the boys. Hold that head C boy hold hard.

Its a messy job but had to be done. This is a show steer and they do not allow the horns in the ring. To dangerous to all the kids that are showing beside it.

Dare Devil  Z kid standing on that fence, maybe he should join the circus.

Our hay field being flooded more and more.

The new rivers entry point into our field. It broke the banks that we already repaired several years ago.

We hold reunions down in the bottoms near the river but this year not a plan as the river is now in our party place with a vengeance. It has pulled the tarping that shades our big pavilion and knocked out the picnic tables too.

After a month of rushing flood waters the last tree is standing and all the rest have been knocked out of the pasture area.

On to one more adventure for the summer time, we are now doing the Salina Rodeo Queen Contest with our Pretty Girl Jo. Here she sits waiting her turn to show her charm. Our Matty is in pink on the right and Malia to her left with Trav waiting it out being her right hand horse handler today.

A whole lotta of cowgirls standing around waiting, hope their horses are doing it just as nicely as they are.

Jo and Kaily smiling up, waiting to be judged to see who gets to be the Queen out of all the girls that tried out. And the winner was Kailey on the right, Don't those two cousins look so much alike.

All lined up pretty being judged.

Lets finish off the fun with making hand cranked ice cream, Every lick a well earned treat in the end.