The Dads Testimony to the Missionary and other family stuff.

Dear Tyrell
I'm sorry I don't write as much as I should. Things get busy and I don't take the time to let you know how proud I am of you. Mom talked with your companion's parents this week, I'm sure she will fill you in on the details. We bought a car this week that runs on natural gas. It has saved us a lot of money so far. The only down side is the places are limited to fill it up. It's used and has a lot of miles on it but it is new to us. The suburban is on its last tire. I hear a lot of good things coming from that area. Your Mission President sent us a letter two weeks ago and told us what a good job you are doing. You will never know how much you have changed the world in these short two years, but you do. With all the things happening in this world, it’s great to see positive and uplifting things taking place little at a time. Stay focused and work harder than ever. Time is getting short. It's time to take the things you have learned so far and put them to work. For me the last six months became the most productive because it took until then to get things right. Staying focused gets harder the closer you get to coming home. But if done right it will become the most productive time of your mission. The Gospel of Jesus Christ Is moving through the world like a forest fire and you are a part of that fire. I may not say much about my thoughts and feeling about the Gospel but it is the way back to our Heavenly Father. The Savior Jesus Christ is divine and he is the head of that great and glorious plan. By following his plan can only bring you happiness. I do believe that.

Well son take care and work hard and pray often. You are in our thoughts in all of our prayers every night. You couldn't make me any prouder than I am. My Mission President when I first arrived in the mission field gave me some good advice. He said you only have two years to make the best of your mission and then you have the rest of your life to think of it and talk about it. That is so true. There isn't a week goes by right now that something happens that reminds me of an experience I had while serving the Lord. I Love you and think of you often.

Love Dad

Letter from the Missionary to the Dad
Hey Dad thanks for the e-mail, it always gives me a boost when you send me something. This week has been good but a little bit challenging, at least in the end of the week on Wednesday we had exchanges and it was actually a really good exchange. I was with Elder U, the missionary that sat next to me on the plane ride over, and he's been struggling a little bit. The last couple of areas he's been to have been areas that he came into a whole lot of clean up and so he's been losing his joy for missionary work. I hope the exchange went well, he said he was going to do better by the end and so I now have to call him every once in a while to follow up on how he's doing. Thursday we had weekly planning and exchanges so it was kind of hectic. Elder Seastrand and I got back together Friday morning, planned for an hour, then drove to a township about 30 min away and then switched again. I then had to drive back having only gone that direction once and you guessed it, I missed our exit and we lost a whole lot of time. By the time we got back to the area, we had missed our appointments and only had time to visit our Bishop before we had to travel to another area again.(we cover two wards) Well this time I got pulled over in a routine police stop that they do around here, missed another exit and missed our last teaching appointment as well. I think the only effective thing we got to do was tract for 20 min and have correlation with the other ward mission leader. I've got to admit I was a little frustrated but after looking back, a lot of good happened. I got to talk a lot with Elder Kelly (the missionary I was with) and see things that we both could improve. His district is doing the best in the zone so he shared a little about what he's been doing. Now on Friday morning we were supposed to attend our districts district meeting and do splits with the Assistants, but I made the mistake of leaving our phone with Elder Kelly and didn't notice until we had already made it back home. So we had to pick up the assistant and the go back again to get our phone. Man I had a headache, but I learned a lot. I've recently been working on having much more meaningful prayers and it's paid off. On Saturday we had an appointment and I prayed that he would be able to accept the message. I also prayed that if he wasn't home we would be able to find someone who was prepared and I asked if it could be a Father led Family. Well we got to the appointment and no one answered when we knocked so Elder Seastrand called him and sure enough he wasn't around. Hoping that we could receive answers to our prayers, I spotted a lady that was walking down the street and started talking with her. She said she had a family, but unfortunately they are in Angola, she told us she would call us if she wanted us to come and then walked away. As I turned around a man was pulling into his driveway and he waved to us to come and talk with him. He invited us in and we taught him and his wife. That was really powerful and a definite answer to prayer. Over all it's been a good week and its crazy how fast time flies’s because this transfer is in its last week and it feels like I just got here. You should send me some crazy stories about your mission.

Love MilkToast
AKA The first little Alonzo Jones boy that got called this name
whenever they had to do hard work chores on the farm funny thing is he hated being called this..


Dear Elder T. Jones Letter from the Mom
Where do I begin there was so much that happened that I hope I can keep it all strait.

1. Mc of course tried to drive over the log that you saw and now the sub is in full need of repairs that will cost almost more then its worth to put into the car. So Dad got a car that will hopefully save us a small fortune as the price of gas goes up up up. The red truck took the amount it would cost to pay the car payment to fill up in gas and that just made Dad cringe into getting the new car that I am sure you will get when you come home.

2. Tue night after wrestle practices, C had a learning lesson on listening to the shouts of the Holy Ghost and the consequences of what happens when you choose not to. He said before hitting a 200 pound back of the head that he could hear a voice saying don't do it and was looking at D B but his lips were not moving and hearing "don't do it don't do it" and then just doinging it any way cause by that time he was in defense mode and mad. Thus a broken hand called a boxer break, we had xrays on Wed morning fanagled an appointment to hurry and do a half cast which meant we went to Provo on Thursday and got a special cast allowing the wrist and knuckles to move made to be able to still wrestle by a sport orthopedic hand specialist. While waiting to get into the cast maker we went and met your mission companions Mom, Dad and little sister. We had a rather fun get to know, even got to watch Elder Seastrands try for Broadway (well ok rest home, Oklahoma sing out as a priest) while we we there. Rushed back to get the cast on and then rushed to meet with the team that was playing laser tag before the State Wrestle tournament. I went home went to work on Fri and then Dad and I turned around and went back up to stay the night but missed C's matches as they were early in the day. He won both of them that day. The next day Sat. he won the first a kid that he beat all year those are the photos of him doing his squeeze on this kid, The kid really hates him and is the one who tried to hit him and the ref intervened. The next kid got ahold of his hand and he had a hard time getting it a way, after that his fire was a bit gone from the pain he was having in his hand along with the fact that he couldn't hold on with anything but the one hand. The kid beat him by one point after that was the Millard kid and without the two hands he just couldn't do it. So he places 4th but next year he says that will not be how it will play out. The cool thing is that he is the only freshman on that stand all the rest are Jr. and Seniors. That alone was an accomplishment.

3 Mc went on his first Kondike and they won that made him feel really good and he even stayed alive and didn't freeze and it hasn't been the warmest kind of winter this year. I didn't even have to hardly help him pack he had it all ready to go on Thur when I got back from Provo along with having the chores done and the fire all stoked up.
Jo helped me by watching the boys and of course talking Aunt Amber into helping her so she could go on a date Sat. day along with T talking his Mom into helping him on Fri night so they could go on another date with his big brother and new friend. Next week Jo will be bringing this new friend to Church as she is not a member and she has invited her to go to girls camp with her too. She fully intends on helping her to become a member so watch out the girl is getting missionaryish. T and Jo have tried to stoke the fire twice now and I fully recommend that they should make sure that they have a different source of heat in thier houses when they are adults as they suck at it and we have to fix it every time after. Mc wishes that he had been awake to help them because he ended up with the cold shower this Sunday morning after the take an hour shower girl got done with her luke warm one.
Today superman was on and Jer saw it and went up and put his PJs on then told me that he needed new super pants because there was a hole in the middle and the power fell out. Never laughed so hard, he also does not fly he rides his mot-er bike to the rescues. He alternates to a dog for Z's benefit periodically through the day.

Dad finally feels better and Mom is so glad that there is only one more week of wrestling because I am so tired of it now. I will have to go again to Provo so C can get a cast that is permanent and to make sure that nothing got riped up while wrestling. We have to be back by 2 so its going to be the craziest drive ever.


I have a really cool Hello Jones family on my facebook from a fellow that I think you know that just flew in from Columbia by the name of Will Casper.
Justin Carter is in LA performing at the Kennedy Center American College Theater Festival his group made it to the finals and preformed on Sat. Thats about all I know of that.
Robbie and Nathan return from their parts of Africa in two weeks it will be interesting to talk to them if I run into them.
I haven't heard updates on your other cousin missionaries so sorry no word but they must be doing great still.
It seems so strange to sit and think that almost two years have gone by and yet it isnt feeling like that much time as past all at the same time. Especially when I look at the basement and its not getting done very fast so there is still not a room to put you into at the moment. Not that you are very concerned about that I am sure. I am so grateful for all the things that you are learning and gaining that will help you to be the very best father and leader and continuing server to the Lord which is what our lives are supposed to be balanced with. Well I dont want to take up any more space because I want you to take up the space with what your mission is teaching you and helping you to gain that will help you be a better person.


 Love you have a super great week and teach many beautiful Children of God.


1. Does anyone ever ask for extenstions to thier missions these days? Are you, just wondering?
2. What one thing would you want us to send to you this next month?
3.Please tell us one scripture that has helped you this week.
4.When should a person ask the missionaries to meet with one of there friends?
5.How do you prepare for fast sundays as a missinary?

Missinary Letter back to the Mom
Well, I did write alot about this week on Dad's page, so you'll have to ask him to read it. Other than all that not much has happend. Other than we deep cleaned our flat and our car today.
I can't belive Will is already home. You need to send his mailing address to me so I can write to him. I havn't heard from my buddy in long time. I did get a letter from his sister though.
I got a letter from Sam, he filled me in on everything that has happend lately and you'll have to fill him in that I got some of his Christmas letters from the ward, he said he didn't get very many.
You'll have to give C my congradulations he's doing really good. You'll have to tell him to watch his temper though so he can do even better. I know plenty of wrestlers who lost their chance to wrestle because of stuff like that.
Well sorry it's short, but I did write stuff to Dad, you'll have to convince him to let you see it and put it on your blog.
Love Elder Jones

New Zone Leader and New Area for the Missionary.

So our questions are
1. Where are you in South Africa these days?
1.Well I'm am serving now in place called Pretoria East.
2. Will you be traveling all over and what are the names of the areas that you will cover?
2.Yes and the areas are Pretoria east, Mamelodi 1and 2, Centurion, Sunnyside, Soshanguve, Mabopane, Attridgeville and Saulsville
3. Who is your new companion, name and where is he from?
3.His name is Elder Seastrand. He's from Orem Ut. He is soon to finish his mission but he's doing really good at making sure it doesn't show. He is very obedient and I think that is going to help me to be obedient as well. It's really easy when you have a companion that wants to be obedient. It's positive peer pressure.
4. Did you have to write a letter to the parents of your son(companion he trained) also when you left him?
4. No we didn't do that, it would have been a good idea though.
5. Was it a bitter sweet parting?
5. Well yes I really loved Tzaneen, but I'm going love Pretoria as well. Pretoria is a big change from Tzaneen. 90% of the ward is white people and it's the same in our area. I think I'm going to have to start learning Afrikaans.
6. What will you miss the most about the son you have trained?
6.Well that's really a hard question for me to answer. I just enjoyed being companions with him, and it feels like it was really short.
7. What advice do you have for your brothers about learning to clean that will help them while serving there missions?
7.Just learn to clean up the messes you make when you make them.
8.Tell us the story of why the young man was being forced to leave church early before his interview by his Aunt.
8. Well the young man was scheduled to be baptized after having attended church for two weeks, the only problem was that he was going to be moving to Eastern Cape for school, on the same day. I was told that I should interview him but really just discern if he was ready and really converted. So we set up the interview and it went well. He, was personally prepared, but I still felt that the situation wasn't going to be good for him. Despite those feelings, I didn't want him to feel upset or discouraged so I filled out the record and said it would be ok. I really had two things pulling on me, the one was that I was afraid he would get upset and stop progressing if we said he should wait, and the other was guilt in feeling that I wasn't doing what God wanted me to do by saying yes. Well it turned out that his Aunt who was going to be taking him to Eastern Cape was a little impatient and said they would be leaving on Sunday morning before church and being unable to get baptized. So I really believe that was supposed to happen, and it was a humbling experience for me. I should probably do exactly as the spirit prompts me to do next time because the Lord just might not be there to save me the next time.

Well this week has been great, but it feels like it has taken forever. it started with transfers on Tuesday which was really suspenseful. They didn't announce where we would be going until the very very last minute before it was time to leave. Finally when I found out where I was going I was kind of excited because of my companion. I served around him a little bit in Soweto zone and he is a great missionary. I have already been learning alot from him. I'm no longer a senior companion but that 's kind of a good thing because it takes alot of pressure off of me. It's difficult sometimes being a trainer because your comp doesn't always know what to do and you have to try and make up for that yourself. So it's nice. so far we have both been able to talk and give ideas to each other so it's going well. Being a Zone Leader is nice because you have someone else there to get your back. One of the Coolest things that happened during transfers is that Elder Lechner is now my District leader here in Pretoria so I still get to hang around him. It's way cool! The other thing is that there are alot of Missionaries from my MTC group and missionaries that are older than me in the zone so it can be kind of intimidating to have to give them instruction. But the lord qualifies who he calls. A lot has happened this week, first we had Zone Leader council and that was great. It has helped me get in the swing of things. After the Zone Leader council President Poulsen took us to "The Top Of Africa" It is the tallest building Jo'burg. I had never walked around down town Jo'burg before and I got to tell you it's a little scary. Talk about big city! I could see one of my old area's from the top so that was really cool and if you look hard enough you can see the temple. I have some pics but I don't have time to send them today. The week has been alot of running around trying to organize things and doing interviews so I can't wait until we really get to crack down on our own area. Well that's all for now so I'll talk to you later
Elder Jones

Dear Elder Jones
So its been a very busy week again. Life with all these busy children just never seems to be quiet. Right now we are non stop after school. As soon as they hit the house we are hurrying to eat, run to do chores and fire stoke and then race to be on time to wrestle practices. We pick C up at 7:00 who of course wrestled right after school and then head for home. On nights when there is a match we have to hurry even faster to get all that done so that we can drive over the Mt. to where ever the tournament is happening. Thank goodness J is some-days able to stay with Jer and Z so that they are not always having to go off somewhere or with us. Pretty soon though it will be Zs turn to go to practices and Mc will start to slow down. On Fri Dad and I drove to Provo to watch the Hales Theater Play Foreigner that he got for my Christmas present. We missed the first 15 min because of how bad the traffic was but they still let us in. It was really funny to watch the play. We stayed in a hotel without any kids, strange for the first time in 4 years to not have at least one with us. The next morning we drove up to Heber city to watch C wrestle but it was so foggy that we got lost trying to find the arena that they had the tournament at. By the time we found the spot after going around it about twice he was all done and had gotten beat out placing him 7th out of 68 in his bracket. He felt really good about the time spent considering that not many freshman get as far as he did at this particular tournament. It was called the Rocky Mt Rumble and there were like schools from everywhere, 66 to be exact. We watched for awhile and then after falling asleep in hard spectator chairs we headed for home.
Today in Church the Parker family told about preparing to go to the temple and how when they were ready as a family to go Tiffany was not able to go and yet she had been the one that had needled at her Dad for most of her life until she hit her teen years. She told how she had to sit outside while her family went in and were sealed and how alone she felt. She said I know things happen for a reason and I am grateful that Brent came when he did because he helped me to get to a place where I needed to be to go and become a forever family. It was really a neat sacrament meeting today. Preston Parker said it was sad that he had the attitude all his life that things had to be his way or the Highway and then one day he realized that maybe the Highway he was on wasn't really going anywhere all that great. It almost broke his heart when Tiffany was unable to be with them when he had finally gotten ready to go to the temple. Several very close loved ones that passed on helped him to know that there was an urgency and he needed to be sealed to his family Now and to not waste any more time getting it done. I have never heard such urgency in a guy who never ever seemed that serious about anything to me. He made tears come to many an eye.
Well tonight I went to a Prom Dress check to make sure that J lovely lime green prom dress is temple garment worthy and then we went to a fireside. The boys would not come with us so it was just me and her. It was fun to be with her alone for a min.
That is so fun that you would get to eat dinner with the public affairs Rep over video production. I have always hope that would be a direction that the Lord would somehow open for you in your life. I guess time will tell right.
Well everyone wants me to tell you that they love you. Aunt Jamie said she thinks about you each day and she should be better about writing. Uncle Jathan is going back to school in the medical field. He does work at times with Uncle Brocks company but he got shocked and lost the feeling in his finger on a job that they had sent him out on and that is the thing that made him start to consider Physical therapy after having to go get the therapy done again, This is something he considered many years ago already once. He says its about time he does it and stops just thinking about hints and directions that he keeps receiving. Brock is back to work but his leg does get to bothering him at times. He has to wear one of those compression socks. Papa is still driving truck and Nana has her birthday today. Uncle Brock took us Jan. birthday girls out for dinner yesterday and he paid for it all it was kind of fun to do together. I love you your Dad loves you and we hope that this week is super great for you and we are all on pins and needles waiting to hear where and what you are now up to these days.
Love the family

Missonary is Thankful for???

1. I hope that you are not going to use anymore money out of your account unless you tell me because you actually overdrew your account. I am not sure if it is because you were ahead of me or behind my deposit. Please tell me if you still need more so I can make sure there is more in there for you. Or could there be a possibilities of someone else accessing more after you used your account?

1. Yeah about the account, I figured that there was money in it so I actually used it to buy some emergency airtime for our phone, when we were trying to figure out Bro Kuda's situation. My card is secure, I just should have done a better job checking my account before I used it

2, Did you get a notice that they maybe have a package waiting for you at the mission home yet?

2.Well they usually don't notify us we just find out when they bring it, and they forgot to bring it for zone conference. I may find out on the 1st of Dec

3. What is the price of sunscreen there?

3.Sunscreen is way expensive!!!!

4. So do you still wash clothing in your own apartment? Take a pic to show us someday maybe even the fridge or the rooms that you are in.

4.Yeah we have a washing machine. We just have to hang dry everything

5.Yes we all read your letters on Mon morning or evening depending on how it all works are you worried that we don't all read them?

5.I just wasn't sure.

6.We ate oranges from Africa this week do you think they taste better there or here now that you can compare.

6.I actually haven't had an orange for a long time. But I think they taste the same

7. Is your favorite scripture still the same or have you got a new one these days?

7.Yeah I've got lots of favorites

8. How are all your greenies doing including your companion?

8.There doing really well, Their all very obedient and motivated. I'm worried that my companion is annoyed with me about something but when I ask he says everything is fine.

9. How do you feel about your mission right now HONESTLY, when people ask me I say he loves it and is really enjoying it but I want to use a word that you feel expresses how you feel about it please.

9.You've got it right. There are obviously frustrating days, but overall I LOVE my mission

10. Please tell us one thing that you are thankful for now that you have seen another country and are living far from home.

10.I'm grateful for my Family and for My companions and everything I can think of that makes my life easier.

Well this week has been a good week, but we didn't get alot of good proselyting due to leadership training and zone conference being on Tuesday and Wednesday and both of those activities took up a good portion of the day. but by Thursday everything was good and funny story there was a small earthquake here. We were sitting in our room doing our planning and there was a distant rumbling noise and a small quake. Elder Lechner and Byrnes in the other room didn't feel it though. Some of our investigators that day said they had felt it and others didn't know a thing. I wonder if it had anything to do with the earthquake there. Friday I was in Modjadji with Elder Palmer on exchange and I actually got permission to do a three way Exchange because my companion and Elder Palmer's comp cant drive. So I went with Elder Palmer. Elder Lechner went with Elder Searcy(Elder Palmer's comp) and Elder Rasi went with Elder Byrnes(Elder Lechners comp). It was interesting but i thing the rest of the district liked it so they could get to see the other areas. Saturday was a nice day, we had some few appointments in the morning that didn't hold, We found out Jerald and Faster are actually Muslim, We went to a church leadership training thing(because I needed to go as clerk) and it was actually really interesting to see. later we contacted a referral that we received from Elder and Sister Atkinson. And it was awesome!!! He was telling us his whole story and how he wanted to join our church and prepare for baptism. We had hardly even said anything yet. So we got to know a little about his needs and we decided we should just share shortly about "The Gospel Of Jesus Christ"(it talks about faith, repentance, baptism, receiving the holy ghost.....) After that we gave him a solid invite to church and the next day he showed up bright and early! Man it was cool! Later that night some of our appointments dropped so we called up one of our part member families that was preparing for baptism, but missed it because they went Zimbabwe, and we set thing straight with them. We gave them a new date to look toward and they are now on their way for Dec 12. Cross your fingers! their a great family though. Sunday we had the Africa wide District and Stake broadcast from church headquarters addressing directly to the African countries. We were addressed by Elder Oaks, Sister Dibb, and Elder Packer. Elder Oaks basically Shamboked(beat down) in a good way, some of the false African traditions and that was pretty cool. I hope it helps alot of the members of the church. anyway that was pretty much the week, and the today the most that has happened is I got a hair cut and we got our car washed. It's promising to be a fairly normal p-day and that's usually ok by me. Maybe I'll catch a nap who knows.

I love the family Too much

Elder Jones

Notes from the Fam

This week is Thanksgiving will you have an kind of a moment to think about it on Thursday? By the way we are thankful that you are serving and that you are learning so much about the good life that is there for the learning and taking. We are going to have our own dinner and then later go over to Jadies house with only Nana and Papa and Amber and Us. This will be the first time that Justin actually gets to see your letter that you sent him as he has been down at school since you sent it. Maybe then he will send a note to you after reading it. We were going to try and get a tree but now to night there is a ton of snow everywhere and we even took and parked the cars up on top so we had some in different places. Uncle Tom poured gravel on our hill so we kind of have a bit to have to drive through and with snow added to that mix we were worried about getting out of the drive way.

So I thought that there was lots of Chickens which would make lots of eggs right in that land of Africa. If the only thing that you could eat were eggs you would be getting enough protein to make it through the day. Did you know that? Those take as long to cook or boil as noddles. Start eating some so your body has enough protein. Also pack celery and peanut butter with you for fast snacking. They do have peanut butter right? The celery has fiber which a body needs and protein is in the peanut butter. I need a healthy boy when you get back here if you are going to keep up with all of us. Besides you must learn now or it only gets harder as you get older and have more on your plate to have to attend to. Right now there is only a mission and your physical needs and healthy eating is one of those parts that are in the physical need. Also Avocados are really healthy for you brain with low fat fats that your body can break down well. Do you need good tasting salt or do they have some?

The craziest thing happened on Tuesday night at about11:15PM I was just dropping off to sleep and Dad was just laying down on the bed when there was the craziest roaring sound and then a shaking. Dad was like what the heck was that and then I was wide awake thinking J had maybe just drove her car into the side of the house or some such thing as that. We went down the stairs and the dogs were barking off in the distance and all lights were out across the valley still. It was a 3.2 earthquake stated two miles from Jo meaning right about in our part of the valley. Close to Grandmas house and moving out towards Richfield.Jamie and Brock heard it but didn't really feel it very much. They said they could hear the sound echoing out towards our house so it must have started there somewhere. We really quickly called J and she was on her way from the High school but hadn't felt a thing. After that I really do not like the idea of boys in the basement for a bedroom to much. Not that being up in the air feels much better really.

We talked about listening to the promptings of the Holy Ghost and how each of us has times when we know things that we should do but maybe we don't do, or the whispers are rather quiet and we have to practise heeding the warnings. Then there are times that the warning is really very loud and maybe even repeated again loudly and we instantly see the result of what could have been had we not obeyed. I hope that I will practise listening better and better because I can think of many a time that he told me and I wasn't paying attention very well at all. But then there are other times that I payed lots of attention. I think that when I take the time to have a quiet moment in the morning along with reading my scriptures is when I am better about listening and hearing what he has to warn me with through out the day.

Brother Levi asked how you were doing and I said great and named off all your jobs that you have at the moment. His response was that out of all the boys he knew you would be one that would have the energy that that takes to do them

We are hoping that your investigators week was somehow less painful and that you have been able to share the fact that families can be forever to him. We have prayed that the pain would lesson and that he could still listen to the truth that the Lord is tyring to help him to know to get through this painful time. We are a bit unclear as to if the Bro. Samuel was the son or someone else that lived with Bro. Modika.

Mc wrestled this week and won two and lost one he is learning so much and trying to take it all in. K is working hard at wrestling also and he is going with the Jr. High kids because he is so much bigger then the other kids that are his age. C made the weight and now knows how to eat good and drop it fast now if he can just keep it up. He is on the Varsity team as he beat out the 112 and the 119 kids that were going into those spots.

Hope you like all the news and the questions. Make sure to write a tiny note to J she says you never write her back so make sure she feels the love today she needs it a bit.

Love you and keep smiling as doing a great job. Love the Family