Transfered to Botswana

THE CHURCH OF

JESUS CHRIST

OF LATTER-DAY SAINTS

South Africa Johannesburg Mission – Botswana Mission Office

Dear New Elders and Sister,

Sister Morgan and I want to welcome you to the wonderful country of Botswana. This is the top of the mission in more ways than one. You will create great memories here that will last a lifetime.

I am a counselor to President Poulsen and Sister Morgan and I serve as the senior couple here and we are here to help you to have much success in your missionary work. We take care of the rent for each of the flats, pay utilities, and give assistance if anything goes wrong with cars, or in your flat. We even help if you get sick.

Each of you are members of the great zones here in Botswana but we have to take care of immigration items to make sure you are legal in Botswana during your service here. We try to get Botswana residence permits for the duration of your missions. This way President Poulsen doesn’t have to move you in three months back into South Africa. It also gives you a chance to be transferred back to Botswana later in you missions if that is where the Lord wants you.

There are three wonderful zones here in Botswana with the Botswana West Zone with missionaries in Lobatse, Kanye, and Molepolole each having their own branch. The Botswana East Zone includes Gaborone with three wards and Mochudi with its branch. Francistown is its own Zone with three branches. Wherever you are called to serve the Lord will bless you if you are obedient and hard working. You will find the people very receptive to you and eager to hear your message.

May God bless you for your efforts and try to be the kind of missionary that your mother thinks you are.

 Please forward this letter to your parents as the address they will need for sending anything to you while you serve in any of these three zones is:
Sincerely,

President and Sister Morgan

To enjoy thier blog please visit here.

Trunky info letter coming our way.

1.What have I done to be a good missionary Mom?

1. Just What your doing I guess. It's hard for me to answer that because I  only get e-mails from you once a week. I guess that's all I can ask for. You've been great.

2.Please tell me what I should not have done while you were serving your mission, Please be very honest about this one.

2.I think your doing great.

3. Zone goal or should it be better stated you and your companions goal for this month?

3. Well just zone goal because that's the focus for now

4.7 New missionaries arriving what does that do to the mission goals? I know that there are like 7 coming from the Provo MTC.

4. That doesn't effect the goal unless their is a new area opened in the zone or mission

5. Are you and Elder Palmer running too?

5.Nope :(

6. Are there other companions in your flat?

6.nope

9,.How many missionaries are there in your mission, do you know total Mark is asking?

9.i don't actually know the total, but it's around 184

10.Why did these new missionaries go to the Provo MTC?

10. there could be lots of reasons for that, the most common one is that they are cleaning the mtc here

11.When you were in Tazaneen was the town fenced to keep the animals out?

11.I'm not sure what you mean by fenced in, There are Fences around almost every house in south Africa apart from the villages, due to the crime, But one big fence around the town i don't think so.

12.Was Matupou fenced like a compound?

12.Nope

13.Did you see any Crocodiles? Jo is doing a talk about the Bruce R Maconki(sp?) talk about the crocodiles in life and how its like the ones he saw in Africa.

13.nope

14.Mark says if you are liking the chocolate there you need to make sure you send lots home so that you can have it or you will be missing it lots.

14. I'll see what I can do.

Well the biggest news this week is that due to the circumstances of now having to come home early, I have received the news that I'm being transferred to a new area, otherwise me and my companion would be going home at the same time, and they would have to white wash our area, so I'm going to my last area for 1 transfer and then coming home. It's a little lame to have had such a short area, but I hope I did some good. I will tell you where I am in my next e-mail, because as of right now I don't even know where I'm going.
As for weekly news, we've don't alot of finding this week because most of the people that we were teaching are no longer being taught due to their choice or lack of progression. We've now started focusing our efforts in the area closer to our chapel, so that we can get people to church. And it's been hard, a lot of the people closer to the chapel are a little better off in the world and don't seem to have the humility that others have.
On a good note we have two investigators who have now been changing alto and have made some progress, the first is Ralph. he came to church perfectly sober and has expressed the fact that he now is trying to quit smoking and has accepted a date for baptism. The other is a girl named Leri, who missed her baptism, because she felt she was unprepared, now after having gone to institute and received some answers she has requested to be baptized as soon as she can, which will be july17th. We had a baptism on Sunday of 6 girls who have been coming to church for about 2 years now and have been up and down in their progression. They are called the Buhle Angels (self proclaimed as such).

Overall I feel like it's been a good week and I'm excited to go and see more of Africa, where ever it will be.
Elder T. Jones

This week Son

Mc had a blast in Cali snorkeling and collecting shells along with going to lots of fun places. C loves wrestling and was way bummed when he came home to find only him home as all the others were at camps and he just wanted someone to wrestle with. K was like looking at you the first time you went to scout camp. He loved it. He has a stick with feathers and everything. Jo has been getting her horse all ready to ride by going all the way to Elsinore and then Travis brings them back. They finally were able to get the river back into the banks down by Whites but it sure made a huge mess of the road. They had to open the old railroad track to get in and out since that road was a river instead of a road to Whites house. Jo did the rodeo Queen stuff but she sure has a lot to learn about being a lady and not a tom boy. Her horse decided to not be willing to turn during the ride and that really messed her up. Kaily won again for the second time this year. She is the fair queen and the Salina queen which really has boosted her confidence up, its the first time she has ever won so it made her feel pretty dang good after trying these many many years. Poor Travis, Dad let him drive Jo and the horse home with the truck and trailer and it lost its tread and then before we caught up to them a highway patrol man was there helping them. He was a bit nervous to drive after that because he does not want to hurt Dads truck since he really likes it alot. Jer has like a flu and gave it to me so sitting in the sun about sapped all out of me along with the fact that he has not slept well for 4 nights now. Jo leaves for girls camp tomorrow and I hope she doesn't get sick with it too because her tonsils are really sore tonight she says. We are just waiting to see exactly how much money they are giving to you for the financial aid status before I can determine if there is enough funding to do on campus housing this first semester or if you will have to wait it out till Jan. I am a bit nervous because they said it would take 6 weeks to get it all in order since we did not do it like back in Jan. So I check every day and we wait to see what happens. I am pretty sure that all will work out the best way maybe not the way we want it but the best way and we must be prayerful and patient.

Well this week the news has had a huge hot spot that drew lots of attention to the Book of Mormon, there is a play on Broadway called BOM Musical, its filled with lots of parody and satire written by the South Park authors. It got 9 tony awards but lots of religious people are not please at all with it and that's other religions that we are talking about. The thing that gets me is that its about two Elders that go to Uganda faced with all the issues that Africa has within its boarders and from poverty to aids and how they deal I guess. It has raised a huge ruckus but the church is just using the curiosity to proclaim more about it the gospel and the truth of the BOM. Also one of the Billings Montana mission is doing a facebook mission response to see if they can get others to ask them mission questions. One of the Savage boys from Sigurd is in that mission and they made a comment about it on facebook his mom is my friend because of Jorja doing 4H. Well I can't think of anything else to say other then I could use a prayer today for me. Its been a rough week the washer broke so that backed up all the laundry and the boys seem to not keep things cleaned up very well so it makes for a sad mom and a messy house. I am sorry that there are miss spelled words but the computer has these dang glitches now and it shut everything down and I lost half my letter so I had to do all kinds of stuff to make it work so that I could just send this to you. I am really tired after all this so good night love you have a great day and just know that  Dad has not even gotten on the computer since the letter mess up since it is being so frustrating for all of us to even make it work at times now. Please tell me your thoughts about the mission. Have an amazing week tell us all about it Love you lots and lots.

Mom

Two Latter day Saint views of the Book of Mormon Musical

1.view.  A Latter-day Saint view of Book of Mormon musical  Head of Public Affairs, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints Michale Otterson Writes for the Washington Post.
2.view. I used to think that Broadway was so cool.  Yes I once lived in New York and worked there as well, attending a few shows as well during my college years. Well its now not so cool when you think that it has a play that makes fun of the very thing my son has given up two years of his life to serve the Lord in doing good things. Yes he is Elder Jones a Missionary for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints and he shares the Book Of Mormon with others in AFRICA.

While serving he has done many Good Things like distributing school supplies at an orphanage, serving a native when his home was destroyed by a hail storm, or carrying buckets of water so that orphans can wash dishes, hands, and clothing. My son did those things this year while serving an LDS mission IN Africa (2009 to2011). This leads me to state that after seeing many reviews but not the play itself, along with noting that I have never liked South Parks shows written by the same authors as this musical I am not ever if given the chance going to waste my time nor money on such a show like this.
I would far rather put money towards a box filled with supplies to help a child read or food that will grow a strong body knowing it will be sent to Africa by the Mormons!

Read this mans review to see another view point by clicking  above on the red link.

I echo the statements he makes and I maintain this same Faithful statement:

We believe in being honest, true, chaste, benevolent, virtuous, and in doing good to all men; indeed, we may say that we follow the admonition of Paul-- We believe all things, we hope all things, we have endured many things, and hope to be able to endure all things. If there is anything virtuous, lovely or of good report or praiseworthy, we seek after these things. Article of Faith:13

Broadway is not always what its cracked up to be truth find here.

African Saints find hope in the gospel (and perform Book of Mormon productions of their own)

A truely uplifting story that holds real truth about what the

BOOK OF MORMON gives to the African people.
Click that link back there to read real info and here good things about the gospel.

Lookin for Light

1.Was the worms good that you ate the kids want to know?
1. The worms were actually pretty good! YUMMY!

2. Can you read all the letters we have sent you on your email?
2. yup I can read all the letters from the beginning of my mission

3. Extra birthday money now in your account coo?
3. I hope I will be good for cash, there are a few things that I wanted to get before I come home so it's all good

5.So is Germiston far from the mission home I can't google it cause of the computers issues

5.It's very close. only about 30-45 minutes drive.

6. Yeah I would probably hang out with any of my companions on mission.

7.Is your trainer companion (sorry name is gone from me at the moment) and Elder Formen someone that you would want to have invited to come to a big home come party on the Sunday you talk? Oh and the Mission Pres. since he will be here before you.

7.Same and I would really think it is cool if President Poulsen could come to my home coming and probably some good friends that I know but I wouldn't make a huge fuss about it.

9.How did the teaching of people go this week or did you mostly have to focus on doing Zone Leader activity?
9. The teaching has gone great this week, I'll fill you in on that in the meat of the email

10.So really how are you doing is what Dad and I really want to know.

10. I'm doing good, I had the chance to talk with President Poulsen on Monday and that really helped me to come to terms with the whole going home early and what not, he also gave me some career advice and education advice so I hope I can apply it.

11. Jo asked if you have been attacked by locus ever while on your mission.

11.Nope I can't say I've ever been attacked by locust, should I be?

12.What is the first thing you want to do when you come home Jo wants to know.

12  The first thing I want to do when I come home is have a big weekly planning session where I can make sure that I have good things to do when I get home.

13. Do you love the county fair as much as Jo does we are arguing about this so please solve that wonderment.

13. I'm not sure how to measure who loves the county fair more because you can't really measure love. You can only measure what you do to show that love. I do love going to the county fair and watching all of the stuff that happens their, but I didn't ever do much in it

14.Jo has lots of Questions. When you are done with the mission what do you want to do with your life? Who do you want to marry? What kind of girl do you want to marry? Do you feel mature enough to get married? Rule Number 1 you better make sure she is my best friend PLEASE PLEASE she has to think I am cool and not be a snotty brat and I am going to visit you so she better like me that way lots ok. JO JONES said all that!!!!!!

14. All questions pertaining to this question can not be answered at this time! Please hold for further information. Thank you!

Dear Family
Well this week has been a pretty good week I would say, but I usually say that about most weeks. Let me get out my planner and try to remember everything... o yes here we go. Well on Monday we had the regular old p-day activities, along with a trip to the office to talk with President Poulsen and hand in some forms, we also gave a birthday card to Elder Watts, one of the best senior missionaries ever, by 6:00 we went to our first appointment, I can't say it went that well, the family was very skeptical and wouldn't accept a booklet or a return appointment, they felt that we would do better to teach others about Jesus Christ because they were already born again and saved. We left and that was about it.

Tuesday Started with President Poulsen calling us to talk about our zone and get a report on how things are going and after that we went to Bedfordview to visit Bro Rodrick Jones who is still healing from breaking his hip. He will hopefully be ready for baptism by the end of July. Most of our appointments cancelled that day but we had a lot of good to do because we planned well. We ended up doing alot of contacting on a street corner with a box's of pamphlets and Book of Mormons Reading Free Books. We handed out alot of pamphlets, a couple of Book of Mormons and made some great appointments. Our day finished off by teaching a man named Joseph who lives across the street from the second councilor, he isn't progressing very well and either are his colleges that live with him. We are considering spending time else where because they just don't keep commitments

Wed was similar to Tuesday the same with Thursday, but Friday was great. We got to go to the temple, and then we did exchanges straight after. I went to Alexandra with Elder Wagner. I really enjoyed the Day, Elder Wagner and I had a heart to heart about making decisions, and how sometimes its better to just go and do, rather than sit and stew. He told me that sometimes it's hard to do that because we are afraid of making the wrong decisions. I hope the day helped him out. I feel like I learned a lot.

Saturday was really full. We had appointments starting from 10:00 until 8:00 every hour, unfortunately only 3 of those appointments kept. The first was with a recent convert the second was with the bishop and the third was missionary correlation with our ward mission leader. I hope the day was a success on the side of gaining a relationship with the bishop. We actually made him and his wife dinner, because his wife is sick with a baby on the way. Elder Palmer is a former chef so he cooked up a nice meal for them. Afterwards bishop introduced us to his neighbors which was awesome!

Sunday was a normal day, we finished it up with a meeting with the  Stake Presidency concerning the different area's and their relationships with the wards and branches. It was really effective and I think we'll see good relationships coming from it.

Overall it's been a great week and I dont' have much to complain about.
Love Elder Jones

P.s. Something that would really help is if you ask about how we are doing at achieving our goals as a zone.

Looking for light this week in all we do.

I have had a great week this week with lots of wonderful enlightening things come into my hands. When a person is keeping their eyes open to see truth and gain knowledge its amazing how it can just pile up in your lap. Some days writing a letter feels so hard because I want to share with you all the cool little bits of truth and light that I have gained and I just can't stuff it all in a letter. Please read Moroni 10:30 and contemplate all the gifts that the Lord has for us to partake of in the world. I am going to print a small article and send to you hoping it gets to you about gifts and all the things that we can learn if we but keep our eyes on the Lord at all times. Which of course is what your whole two years have been about learning to do so that you can bring his children to the light. Now as you are approaching the space where that mantle changes shape and is not as focused because there are so many other things that will came into your day this article helps to remind me and will you how to keep that focus daily. Its really a book that was written by a person who was on a mission and had many delays to their mission getting started so in that time frame of delay she took the time to write and she felt impressed to give words to paper about her thoughts and if I can I will find the book so I can read the whole thing cause I really liked the info in it. Its called Light in the Wilderness: Exploration in the Spiritual Life out of a magazine called LDSMAG.com
So when you get a letter in the mail that's what this is about but in the mean time look up gifts in the topical guide and focus on that a bit if I am allowed to guide your scripture study a bit. This week has been lots of arranging of the kids and the boys trying to finish the field that Dad went into debt to buy seed for. I sure hope it turns a huge profit cause ugha everything is so expensive right now. C and Mc marked, planted and did the whole field at Whites. Its a huge thing he had to buy seed three times to finish it. I really wish I could get the computer to be nice to send you pic but it has big issues and is baulking at times to even send a letter. I think there are too many videos and I do not know how to edit and get them burned to cd to unload them off this hard drive. Well here is a ton of newsy news. Treton is buying a house  with his new paying job he makes more then Dad does on start up. So when you want to if you need to live in the Lehi area he needs roommates till he finds a girl to marry. Heather keeps thinking your going to school up that way and told he to tell you that. Sister Mary Macintosh who you used to get fast offerings from passed away but they never even said that she had gone so twice now Mc has been sent to gather and he could get no one to respond to his calling at the door the way C taught him to do. Whites basement and all the houses along that way not Mike and Robins has water in the basement. The river jumped bank because our trees that the river pushed out have blocked the path and it went off into those old gravel pits out there and took out the road. Mechams have to travel along the top of the hill road to get out now. Its going to be alots of constructions to repair all the mess.

Today at Church Dad had an adventure and I can say the Lord works in mysterious ways. Jer was throwing a fit about needing food and he had taken him out when a lady who is new in our ward and has a guide dog walked out and he watched her go down the stairs. When she reached her car she slumped over and he put Jer down and went out to see if she was ok. He caught her just as she went to the ground and had a seizure. He could barley get his phone out of his pocket and then called me which I was like what the heck he can't handle the little guy. But that is of course not what he said when I quietly tried to answer the phone in the middle of sacrament meeting. He practically yelled go get that ladies Mom that has the guide dog. Which I guess I looked scared because after walking to the middle of the chapel and sliding into the seats to get the Mom who is really old and carry all her bags of stuff out several people like EMTs (Tom, James) followed me out the door. Including Brother Zufelt he was already calling 911. Dad was crouched on the ground holding her trying to get her to breath and talking to her calmly. Jer was gone so I had to go find him and then he was all thrilled cause the ambulance arrived. I do hope she is ok. I ride the bus with her son and I wish my kids could be a little more caring and not so labeling cause the teen has some issues but most of all he just wants to be accepted.The poor dog was beside himself watching and whining and pushing her to move. Dad said that was one of the reasons he knew something was wrong including that she was slumping over. So today I guess we can be grateful for a temper tantrum cause the Lord works in mysterious ways and she would have landed really hard on that cement had Dad not been there.

This week is going to be strange cause Mc has week long scout camp and C is going to go to wrestle camp this year. He most likely will be picked to be the leader of the group. I sure hope you can weld some Christ like spirit upon him with your new found learning of the gospel. No really he is a very good kid he just gets way hyper at times and then Dad and I could wring his neck. If he is kept super busy and tired then he is less wild but some days I wish they would call him to work at the ice house soon. All the last year kids get to work the hours first though so he has to be patient. C helped a young man who joined the church this last two years by just being his friend for a bit. They dug out the field at the head so that the water can go down it and then went and headed up to the Fathers and Sons, Brother Zufelt took them up and they slept on a cliff edge crazy kids but he still didn't come to church sadly today. If we had a bigger car I would pick him up. Maybe you can help C know how to keep him more activated since the young man is supposedly going to wrestle again and that can be one way C could be a good influence to him. Well I can't really think of any other news and since pictures are being stupid I guess I will close. But please tell us your thoughts and feelings and the week that you have had. 

Love you lots and lots. Everyone says hey don't get trunky and dig really deep over the next few weeks cause you are making a huge difference in the Kingdom of the LORD!!!!!!!

Looking Ahead

Dear Family
Well some Highlights of the week was when I Ate Mupani Worms. Which I was going to send pics but the computer is on strike.
Unfortunately I'm really finding it hard to think right now so next week will be very full of info.
Love all of you lots
Elder T. Jones

Dear Son

 1. Did you decide if you wanted to have me tell Will when you were coming? He is going to school all summer. So are you basing off of price or shared?

     1.Sure you can tell Will. I would like to stay in the dorms because it's cheaper. I don't care about having my own room. I would actually prefer a roomate. The best dorm is called Castalija Hall (not sure on spelling) If the meal Plan is Required then maybe it would be better to stay in a complex. I'm not really sure right now. I may have to just trust you, but do somthing that will be easy on my pocket

2. The Dorms are 600$ a semester plus you have to buy a meal plan. Which Dad really is not in the liking to much because then you have to eat when they are in and it costs 950$. He says he lived on noddles and mac and cheese of course thats why he hardly eats it these days.

    2. I don't know if it is possible to get on to campus for the august semester but if possible I think it would make life easier. But again I trust your judgement and I will be patient.

3. Because of thinking that you were not going to be here until a month into the online classes. I picked ones that were easy, should I maybe change a few to the needed english or science since you will be here right on time? Also the ones I did pick are all usable especially if you do go into counseling but you could spread them over time a bit more now with how the time frame is working out.

    3. Sign me up and get me on the road to graduate. If i can get on campus i could take campus classes as well.

4. There are some scholarships that you can try for again like the one where you went and did that interview the first time.  I will just fill out forms for you on all levels if you say yes and then which ever ones will work with your late return we can go for them. Leadership YES NO Benifactor YES NO?

 4. Yes Benifactor Probably Yes on anything i can qualify for, but don't get me into debt.

5. So what is that stuff mogula or how ever you spelled it that you never want to eat again?5. Magoudu Is Cow intestines

6. There is a missionary Mom who her son is now in Tazaneen and if you want to know about anyone who had finally made it into baptism she can ask him and I can pass it on. His name is Elder Welch. You should tell your companions to tell thier Moms to join http://www.ldsmissionarymoms.com/ its really fun for us Moms to be connected and ask questions of each other when we need to.

    6. I know Elder Welch, I see him every once and a while it's ok.

Ok on to news.

This week has actually felt like a million weeks in one and then all the things that we have done. Mon started with pulling out 7 of the old trees from behind our house that were stuck in the big spillway making the river back up horrendously. The next day we lost 5 more its really sad to look at and the river has been declaired a state desaster. Ron B has moved back to central and he came and took Mc with him up on a big 4wheel ride to see if they could get near the cabin but nope still way to much snow up there. Then on Sat we dehorned our cows there were four and one was Jo's show steer that was huge. C was the one who held on to the head while Dad sawed away. He was covered with blood and loved every second of it Jo videoed the the whole things. First time for all the kids to watch that go on. They had a bishop bike hike breakfast and Jer got a bike for his birthday and was in seventh heaven as he rode and crashed his first time too. C made him crash he said but it was really the case of he let go at Jer's insiting and it had a bit of a hill so ya crash but he recovered. Kailey made it to rodeo Queen and she was way thrilled. Jo is going to try for the Riding club one because she wont have to model anything so that way no fussy dresses to have to be found. Well the road over to Monroe Joe Town hill is firmly closed so its the biggest pain to have to go all the way around. The river is over the top but they really could dike it higher and then it wouldnt run over. D M  blessed his little baby Boy today. And Sam Owens will be here on July 20th. But they are keeping Devon there till after Christmas so that will be three Christmas that he will be gone while on his mission. Still not much info from him they all said they just get one liners like great week well gota go. He is in Main right on the coast and its rainy and cool.

Please keep working hard and praying strongly and giving many of those other missionaries a super great example. I sure hope you were able to get another baptism in this weekend. I think you said that you had one but the computer is so slow that I can't go back and look at your letter from last week. Also I hope you get to do the Zone Leader stuff that you said you hoped to implement after learning it last week. See I knew one day you would learn to be the best leader ever now think about how you can use that skill at school or in church callings as a Young mens leader later on in your life. Well I have to get sending this off. Dad says to not go ding door ditching it would not look good right now (just kidding you he says).!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Love all of us the family and we think your the very best missionary there ever was

Mormon Missionary we love you.

Well this week has been pretty exciting I could say. Starting with Tuesday we had Zone leader Council which really helped a lot on how we can better improve our zone performance. Zone leader council took most of the day to attend, but we did have some time to visit an investigator and a member family that invited us for dinner. I'm really excited to apply the stuff to our zone.

Wed we had another interesting day. We had some appointments up to about 4:00, and then all of our appointments after that had to be cancelled because the Assistants asked us to go and pick up a missionary from the airport, because they were going to be in the north east. Well we did as we were asked and we went to the airport and waited a long time until the missionary finally came out of the terminal. We picked him up because he arrived 2 weeks before his MTC date, so until he enters the MTC he is going to be working in our zone with Elder Heward. He has quite an interesting story. He is originally from South Africa, but he has been spending the last year in Utah. He went to Utah looking for his long lost father, Found his father, Found that he was a member of the church, and ended up joining the church as well, and decided to serve a mission. He got his call to serve in the Johannesburg mission, because there actually wasn't any other option due to visa problems. In all of this he accidentally overstayed his visa and got thrown in jail for 4 days so now he is in South Africa early. Story of a life time!

    Thursday was interesting. we had planning as always. And then we had exchanges so that our Investigators could be interviewed for baptism. I went out of the area because I don't quite know it yet, and I went to an area where the missionary has been there as long as me, and that was our only option because the district leader had to go do the interviews.... Lets just say we were a bit lost and we didn't make it to our appointments. The car also started to overheat so we had to take it to a petrol station and get it cooled down. In all of that we did manage to contact some great new people, one of which was a father led family and we set 2 appointments so you can't say the day wasn't a success.

Friday was also interesting. Due to the recent events of Elder Van Heereden's life we had to pick him up and take him to the U.S. consulate building so he could turn in some forms that would allow him back into the United States after his mission. He plans to go back because he has a scholarship to BYU. That didn't really take a lot of time so we were back in time for district meeting. Which was great! The rest of the day went ok. We did a lot of finding and also an interview for some Elders in the zone. It's been hard to be in our own area this week but it's paid off. the Zone just achieved 30 baptisms with a goal of 31 so we were really close to making it for may. I'm sure we'll make it for June with a goal of 30.

Saturday was a normal day apart from when the first thing we had to do was change a tire on our car that had gotten a screw in it. After changing and fixing the tire, we were rolling awesome.

Sunday was great, we found out that we cant use our shower because all of the plumbing is plugged up and whenever you flush the toilet the base of the shower fills with sewage water, so we went over to the other Elders flat to shower and prepare. We made it to church on time and filled the font! As church started we had another interesting experience with one of our investigators named Ral, coming to church completely out of his mind I'm not sure what he was doing, but he was definitely under the influence of something very hardcore, because after a while he could hardly stand straight or stay awake. He kept falling on my shoulder and then waking back up. Finally we had to go out with him and try to figure out how to get him home. It really makes me feel sick inside to see so much self induced pain. He is definitely struggling so keep him in your prayers.

     On a lighter note we had 3 baptisms and the baptism went wonderfully. It was the baptisms of Renaius, Sarah and Tafadzwa. It was a good end to a week. Other than that we are now staying in a different flat until the plumbing is fixed up.

1. Baptisms did they go through?

1. Answered

2. Where is your companion from again?

2.He is from England

3. What is the town area like there?

3.It's a lot like Monroe but bigger

4. Did you need money put in account it should be working for you now.

4.well i don't know if i need money but i could probably use it.

5. Is there anyone that has inspired you while your serving there whether its a member or one who joins.

5.I would say Elder Van Heereden

6. What is one food that you would like to never see again since being on your mission.

6.um..... i don't know. Probably Mgoudu (this is cow intestines)

7. DO you HAVE you temple recommend up to date
7.yes
8.How is the changes with the mission president affecting you?

8.hasn't happened yet

9. So now are you being able to run with the change of place and companions?

9.I'm getting it now

Well that's all i have time for
Love Elder Jones

To my dear Missionary son

I am trying to make sure you get at least one note this week as I am at Beths typing it. The computers at home are having issues so that's why I am thinking ahead as we have to take Dads in to get fixed and we might not have it back in time to write a note Sunday.

I need to know out of those two classes which one you would want of the jump in class, Marriage and Courtship or the Public Speaking if taking the time to drive up there is something you want to do. I have to get the registration on it done next week. It can be dropped up till Aug 22 if you want to change you mind but as of right now one has to be picked and on your schedule before the class filles up. Its not really one I want to pick but I did say that the Marriage one would be the best as a class working towards graduation just pick based on the names and then we will reevaluated as the time gets near.

The kids are done with school today and so summer has started. I hope I can keep them busy. I have decided that I wont work because first I have no car to drive. And I kind of need to be here to referee the kids being at home. Jo and C both are going to be working at the ice house so that xxes me out of a car to drive. I also need to be on top of Jer and keeping him eating. I found out that I still may have the job come starting school because the boy who I sat with will be back on the bus come Aug. So it looks pretty good for my chances.

Well enough about me. We want to hear what your adventures are right now. Now that your in a new spot.

We think we have asked you every question that is possible to ask we too are having a hard time thinking up things to ask. Maybe I need to ask Mark and Chad what they would like to know about you now that you have been there so long.

Well Maybe there will be more letters later this week but as of right now that's it for my computer time as I have got to head for home to keep the roof on since they are all there and most likely doing the swim in the mud or play in the water while they change it since they think summer is here. The crazy thing is there is still all the snow in the mountains to melt and its cool all the time unless we have a really fast snap of warm up.

Love you lots keep up the good work for the Lord. Have the best week ever