I also meant to say happy birthday to both Rachel and Grandma, but somehow after writing a reminder down 3 times, I forgot. Happy birthday to them both! Nice work on finishing the kitchen. :)
Press forward with steadfast faith in Christ.Best wishes,Elder Jones
Hey! It was great talking to all of you, too! I hope you're all doing well still. I also hope Rachel still has both her eyes despite the bow and arrows. ;)I'm so glad you all had a fun Christmas time. Sorry again about the problems with the phone call. That was stressful... It worked out in the end, though. It was fun to hear from so many of you. I'm sorry I didn't get to talk to Grandma and Grandpa Stamps, Ben, or Sarah. Please tell them "Hello" for me. :)I'm just curious, what was a typical week in the Ecuador, Taiwan, Sweden, or Alabama missions? (I think I got all of them in there...) A normal week here is a lot of street contacting, very little door approaching, and a couple lessons here and there. I imagine we may be quite different from the Ecuador mission. ;) Just to give an idea, we have talked with and given gospel material to nearly 700 people in the last 3 weeks. We don't keep track of the people that don't take gospel material. I'd love to hear what normal weeks are in other missions. :)We haven't had any interesting lessons or people lately. We've really been working on finding those who want to hear about our message. There is one man who was slightly interested when we talked with him on the street, and was impressed when we talked with him in a lesson setting... He then got to look us up on the Internet... I'm still helping him sort out false, misunderstood, and misinterpereted information. It really all does come down to the Book of Mormon.
I realize everyday how easy a missionary's job would be if people would just read the Book of Mormon. I'm grateful to know it's true, and I hope you all realize the blessing it is in our lives. Without the Book of Mormon, and by extension no prophets or priesthood, we'd be left to our own devices. It was sad to see the complacency of our friend when he said there is no perfect church on earth. Though true through certain lines, how much happier could he be if he realized that prophets, revelation, and God's guidance had returned to the earth.
His argument can be explained through an analogy... he used it with me. Christ is the light of the world, and all the Christian churches are like different facets on a diamond. They all give light, and so are all "true." I am overjoyed that we are able to know that instead of having to rely on refracted light through mortal crystals, we have plain and simple truths given from God. We don't have to sit around knowing that Christ's church isn't here. We can know that He has restored it and has again brought us into His light. Please don't let that be treated lightly. It can be such a source of joy. :)Thank you again for all you do. Thank you for your prayers and love. I am so grateful and pray for you many times every day. I hope you are expecting miracles. :) Love you all!Press forward with steadfast faith in Christ.Best wishes,Elder Jones
Hello! 매리 그리스마스! That's really how it's said in Korean, no joke. :)This week has been an interesting one. It has gotten colder and it is said that it will get colder. It's okay, though because the colder it gets, the crazier we seem to be outside, and so the more likely people are to at least say hello to us. :) Still no luck with door approaches. I guess people don't want to let the warm air out... I don't know how the American missionaries do it. Tell them good luck for me. I hope they're healthy.We've been doing a lot of finding lately. On Saturday we found one many who religiously attends 장로교 (the Presbyterian church) but who thinks it really doesn't matter what church you go to as long as you believe in Christ. I suppose that's a problem most missionaries face sometime during their missions. We verbally wandered for an hour seeing sights from all the first three lessons and eventually strolling past the Word of Wisdom and the Law of Chastity. HE likes basically everything except our non-Trinitarianism and the fact that we insist on baptism by one with the priesthood. :) He even liked latter-day prophets! ...once I explained that their purpose isn't to replace Jesus. ;) We have high hopes for him. It really wouldn't take much much for him to get baptized. Just a paradigm shift. :)We've been working hard. We've been learning lots. I don't know what more to write than that. Oh yeah, I did only speak to Elder Bradshaw in Korean for nearly a full day yesterday. That's something I couldn't have done a year ago. It's much easier than English nowadays. I don't know if I want to switch back... I guess that's just not much of an option, is it? :) Another missionary is from somewhere close to us! A Sister Boud is from... Sandy area... I forgot exactly where. Since it's Utah, she could be 3 stakes away, but I may as well throw it out there. It is always astounding how different things are here from home. Our stake includes a large part of Seoul and part of another city.Oh yeah, just to give a bit of an image of what the streets look like now: instead of a sea of umbrellas like it was during the summer, the street is filled by people dressed like the rebels on Hoth in Star Wars got in a paintball fight. Everyone is bundled up in layers poofier than packing peanuts and more colorful than hot-air balloons. It's entertaining to say the least. :)Thank you for the emails. It is really a great thing to see a letter from family. :) Love you guys! I hope you enjoy this pre-Christmas week week. I'll probably send more Christmas-y stuff next week. :) Have fun!Press forward with steadfast faith in Christ.Best wishes,Elder Jones
Dear Jordan,
We continue to have beautiful weather. We have highs in the 50's to 60's. We still need a lot more rain (snow in the mountains) so that we don't have a drought like California had this year. We received some rain on Saturday and we woke up to a little bit of snow on Sunday but it probably won't last the day in the valley. Fortunately there is still some snow in the mountains. Does Korea ever have to worry about droughts? This coming week we will be in the 40s.
On Monday we had Family Home Evening and Sarah joined in again. On Tuesday the girls helped with the Sub For Santa with the YM/YW. Unfortunately they left before I could get home from work. On Wednesday I cleaned our old refrigerator so it would be ready to be taken away on Monday. On Thursday I went to the scouting Round Table for training and information.
On Friday Bekah and I watched some shows together. She has most of her science fair project finished and it is due next week. On Saturday we cleaned the church again and then I drove to Alpine to help put in the flooring in Grandma's kitchen. Ben wasn't able to go but Sarah went with me. We didn't finish putting in the floor but we got everything prepped for next Saturday. Mom and I went on a date. We saw Maze Runner at the dollar theater and I then did the shopping. On Sunday I went to the YM's presidency meeting and then we went to church. We then went to Robert's house for dinner.
You now have less than a year until the end of your mission so please keep working hard. You have been doing a wonderful job. Hopefully you are feeling closer to your Heavenly Father. I know he loves you and will bless you with those things that will help you on your mission and in your life.
I know in your last email that you said that you would call us. Are you able to Skype? Do we need to do anything for the phone call? Please let us know.We love you. We appreciate all you do.Love,Hannah, Rachel, Bekah, dad, Mom, Sarah
