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