From Dad: Week 6 - The Return of the BlueSky (no more haze for now)

Dear Elder Jones,
You may have seen Elder Josep Rivera today. If not, you may run into him at lunch. Last night mom was on a parent panel at Spectrum Academy. She talked about Sarah and some of the challenges. On Monday, mom and most of the girls went to Jordan High School to see the play Falling. It is a story about a family with an autistic child. Mom and Hannah were moved.

Dallin arrived home safely and then flew with his family to Arizona for a family visit. Ben is interviewing several places including St. George, Texas, and Iowa.

Our missionaries have been fighting colds/flues etc so we haven't seen them very often. I am trying to get their help in going around to every house in the ward to update the ward directory and possibly help them get some investigators.

I will be getting a new home teaching companion this week. If I didn't tell you before, please let me tell you now. I appreciated you as my companion and knew that I could rely on you. I hope you enjoyed some/most of the visits and that you picked up ideas on how to visit with people. I know you will use yours skills in Korea. I miss your companionship and help.

We hope that you continue to progress in Korean and your teaching skills. I constantly have people ask me how you are doing. I tell them that you are doing well and are learning more Korean every day. With the cold weather that we had for the last few weeks, I was starting to get a little concerned for you once you are in Korea. Hopefully you will find all of the warm clothes you need.

As I drive Hannah and Ashley to early morning seminary, I think of how many times you drove them. Thank you.

We love you and pray for your success. We look forward to you letters/emails. Even if you don't feel like you have much to say, we appreciate the correspondence so that we can feel like you are part of our lives.
Continue pressing forward through the hard work, enjoy the moments of joy, and continue smiling because your family and your Heavenly Father love you. You are a great son.

Love,
Rachel, Bekah, dad, Mom, Sarah, and Hannah

Our only hope...sends another one!

From: Jordan Stamps Jones <jsjones@myldsmail.net>
To: Steven Jones <sajmba2002@yahoo.com>
Sent: Thursday, January 9, 2014 2:56 PM
Subject: Re: Week 5 - the World strikes back

Ok, I'm back. As I was saying, everything is going pretty well here. I wish we had more language study time and fewer meetings with the district and zone, but, other than that, things are pretty good. I look forward to the time I feel comfortable speaking Korean, but I think more and more that that won't happen until a long time after I am in Korea. Though, I do feel I am making progress, slowly but steadily.

The longer I am away, the more I realize I miss friends and family. I think it will be better in the field because I will get to work with the ward and investigators. Here, however, I only have my district. Although they are all great people, once you finish talking about the difficulties of a mission and friends back home, there remains little to discuss... I suppose it is good practice for when I can't understand anything anyone says in the field. I don't know. Everything will be different once I leave the MTC.

Thank you all for everything you are doing for me and for those around you. I miss you all, but I know we will see each other again. Have fun, be happy, and know God loves you.

Press forward with steadfast faith in Christ

Best wishes,
Elder Jones

P.S. I just realized I never said happy new year... Happy New Year Everyone!

From Elder Jones -- our only hope!

From: Jordan Stamps Jones <jsjones@myldsmail.net>
To: Steven Jones <sajmba2002@yahoo.com>
Sent: Thursday, January 9, 2014 10:32 AM
Subject: Re: Week 5 - the World strikes back

Thank you for the news, I'm sorry to hear about Dallin's situation, and I hope he heals quickly. I'll keep him in my prayers. The same goes for the missionaries in the ward.

I'll work on smiling more. I do smile, but it never seems to be when cameras are around. It may be that I don't have fun getting my pictures taken.

Whatever the case, I have had a fairly uneventful week this week, aside from one or two things. One, the new schedule. P-day is now on Thursdays. Classes are in the morning and afternoon and study time is at night. So far, this has had a slight negative impact on my study, but I think a net positive overall. We also got to go to the temple today for the first time. It was very instructional and I look forward to telling you more about my experiences when I come home. I also had an experience that really reminded me that God can speak through us. Once again, I can only do the story justice by telling you in person... Sorry...

All in all though, things are going well, life is good, the language is progressing, and the district is growing as a whole. I look forward to getting to the field, but I know my time here is important as well.

Thank you for everything you do, and I will try to write more later.

Press forward with steadfast faith in Christ

Best wishes,
Elder Jones

The World Strikes Back (from dad)

Dear Elder Jones (or Jordan for short),

Hope you are doing well. I sent you the email about Dallin. By the time you read it he will be home. You have already completed 5 weeks in the MTC and only 99 left. You are now in the double digits instead of the triple digits, to give you some math language. We are doing well. Mom said that she talked with Mrs. Mangelson and told her that you were bored except for the Korean. She said that it is a good thing that you are learning Korean instead of Chinese; otherwise you would be bored with that too.

Mom read a bit of your email in church on Sunday and mentioned the part about Bro. Hecker. He was surprised and a bit embarrassed but thanked her afterward. The girls are back in school and mom is back at work. We miss you taking Hannah to school in the mornings but it is selfishness on our part. You are a great young man who helped with the family and did what was right. In a way you are still helping the family and doing what is right. Please keep up the good work. We saw some of the pictures that your companion took. It would be great if you smiled more. You were the only one not smiling. If you smile the world will look brighter and you will influence others in a positive manner. Plus you have great smile, especially when you are having fun.

I didn't understand why you wanted me to read the paragraph in the handbook. I assume that you meant the missionary handbook. You could have meant Handbook 2 but I need some guidance for the section if that is what you meant.

The elders in the stake have been sick for a little while and we haven't seen them much during the holidays. I hope to use them in going around to all of the houses in the ward area to help gather information for the ward directory. We use the online tool but we also want to get the information on the non-members for emergency purposes. It may also allow the missionaries to get some more contacts.

I know you have several emails to read so I will end now.

Know that you are loved and that Heavenly Father is smiling at you, so smile back every now and then.

Hope to hear from you soon.

Love,

Hannah, Rachel, Bekah, dad, mom, Sarah

Letter to everyone

Well, this week has been fairly uneventful. Language study progressed. The district developed. I was tired.


The only truly eventful thing that happened this week only happened a few hours ago. I came to the realization that I was 1/24th of the way through my mission.


I know that doesn't seem like very much, and, in many ways, it is not. The fact remains, however, that time is passing at a surprisingly fast pace. If my whole mission goes by as quickly as this first month has, I feel I will be home in no time. In many ways that is comforting and invigorating, but the more I think about it, the more I realize that time is fleeting and that I need to use every moment to the fullest.


I thank everyone who has prayed for me and the missionaries. I am grateful for the mail I have received and I look forward to responding to everyone the first chance I get.


I wish I could say more, but time is short. Thank you to everyone who has helped and is helping me on this mission. You are all in my prayers.


Press forward with steadfast faith in Christ


Best wishes,

Elder Jones

Noting that we were on the computer at the same time...

I love you I love you I love you I love you I love you I miss you I love you! [From mom]

To mom

Thank you for the concern [about my boredom]. I think it will get better as time goes along. I just don't like that I am not learning anything other than the language and culture of Korea. I miss the lessons back in our ward about ideas and tangents that would stretch and challenge the mind. Here, it is all review or additional perspective. This is not bad, but I feel no challenge to grow. The only time I get to do that is during personal time which never seems to last long enough.

Despite their busy schedule, Grandma and Grandpa were able to write me. I will be writing them back this week. It was helpful and good to hear from them. I have been trying to follow your suggestion, but there are only so many sentences to make with words like baptism or priesthood. I will be working on everyone's suggestions though.

I had been making one of the letters to you or dad the "public" letter for the week, I thought... Nonetheless, I will be doing a public letter once in the field. The MTC does not inspire many letters. They would all be terribly similar. I will see what I can do, but, at least this week, there is literally nothing to write about. Tell dad to read the first paragraph about communicating with family in the Handbook.

I will tell Elder Taylor you like his letters. He likes writing letters, so don't feel bad if you write more.

Thank you for everything. I look forward to hearing from you again soon.

Press forward with steadfast faith in Christ

Best wishes,
Elder Jones