Week 16 "POSITIVITY"

This week, I'd like to focus on the principle of being positive.  All around us, there is a lot of negative crap going on.  There are mean people, hard times, difficult problems we don't know the answer to, and a whole bunch of other things that we can say, "why try?" why am I still going when there are a million reasons to quit and just stop.  Because we can't; God has given us this life to learn and progress, and the thing we need to learn to never do it give up; never stop and never give up because in all honesty, our lives are too blessed to quit. I feel like you'll get what you're looking for in this life.  If you look for the positive you'll see the positive, and on the contrary those who look for negative will get that as well.  

me in front of the belltower

On my mission, I have had times where I feel so lost and confused, like I've tried all the solutions out there and I'm still not seeing results.  I am learning that there are times that although we don't know why we go through the ringer sometimes, through everything, God knows each one of us individually, He loves us more than we know, and like Matthew 7:9-11 says, God knows how to give us the best gifts. 

me and a bunch of kids playing basketball!

So in whatever circumstance we are in, be happy for the circumstance or situation that our Heavenly Father has put me in.  Oh, man, do I have a lot of work to do in this regard. I want to completely trust in Heavenly Father so much, I want to be the best missionary and I know that I have a lot of work to do.  The hardest thing to do though, is keep progressing constantly, in all the little ways.  I really feel that it's through all the little acts of faith that we'll do our best.  If I keep a positive attitude and take small steps of faith every day I can get to the level where God wants me to get to.  

   

District meeting

We have had a great week, I felt really proud of all my efforts, and I am really greatful to be, exactly where the Lord needs me, in LILLE.  We have a new ami D. and he has committed to be baptized.  Also we went to the Bell Tower which is 340 feet high, but it is closed on monday, NOO!  But there are some awesome things that happened this week too! We took cool pictures in front of the Bell Tower and I absolutely love soccer every week! Autumn is awesome, the leaves are changing, I got some mad stomach cramp on sunday morning, but it was okay.  Also, we had such a cool ward conference with activities and games and yeah. It's awesome.  Keep looking for positive, growing your faith, and just being a good person every day!

Love everyone!

Elder Jamison Jones

Beaux Arts Museum; it's so COOL!!!!

Week 15 "Difficult is Good"

Man! Missions are so good! But MAN, I am so tired, ha, and I thought p-day was a day of rest...well I was mistaken.  It's okay though, because this week went so great.  

This is the first baptism I have had on my mission!

     For over two months we've been teaching one of our investigators M. and her son R. and this week they were finally baptized!  There was so much preparation that went into the baptism and it amazed me how much effort is required for a baptismal service.  We cleaned the font, created some programs, found people to participate in the program.  The morning of the baptism we arrived very early to fill the font.  Because the faucet in the font is very slow, we attached a hose to the kitchen sink and ran it to the font.  That worked for about an hour, until the hot water ran out.  After that we heated pots of boiling water and dumped them in the font.  Then the font was finally full, and just in time for the service.  The service went great and the spirit was so strong.  I enjoyed being a part of one of the characteristic parts of missionary work.  I felt like this entire experience from teaching our investigators to baptizing them taught me the lesson that a baptism is such a team effort.  There were elders prior to Elder Johnson and I who had initially come in contact with this incredible family, and many more people who were involved in helping them to progress towards baptism, especially all of the members that had helped us teach them.  So in reality, nobody "gets" baptisms on mission and they are certainly not an indicator of spirituality or success.  They're simply a blessing that the Lord allows us to participate in when all invloved work together and work hard.

Making sure the font is nice and clean for the baptism

Boiling water to ensure the font is warm

Our creative solution to get water to the font

   Other happenings this week, we continued to do service for a member of the ward by trimming hedges and cutting her lawn.  She thanked us by feeding us lunch at her house, and we had Raclette, which is basically a meal where you melt cheese and pour it over whatever you want, usually potatoes, ham, mushrooms, tomatoes, etc.  We also moved a lot of wood for another member in the ward, and I don't get tired of doing service, I think it's one of my favorite parts of a mission!

Toad I found

    Elder Johnson and I continue to see success, and I feel like our efforts are paying off.  I feel like the Lord knows the challenges we face as missionaries, and though we all continue to be faced with difficulties and problems that doesn't mean we're bad people, It means the Lord has confidence in us and wants to test us to improve.  I'm feeling a lot of that pressure and though it is difficult to see self-improvement, I know I'm being refined and improved each day out here!

   Love you all, have a great week!

Elder Jamison Jones

Week 14 "BEST WEEK"

One of the last things I told my parents last week was, I'm going to kick this week in the pants, and that's just what I did! Man, one of the hardest things about the mission is to keep a good attitude for whatever happens, to not compare you situation or yourself with other people but just look at where you are, where you want to get and go for it. While I sometimes think about and miss my family, I have to come to the hard truth that I am here in France, and I'm here to serve and do my best, and that's hard to do, but it's worth it.  Ça veut la peine, as the french say.  

We played soccer for 90 minutes in the pouring rain, woohoo!

   There are a couple of reasons that come to my mind of why this week went so well.  The first being I started the week with a resolution to count my blessings and do my best this week, and that made me feel good and motivated to go and do the work.  My trainer, elder Johnson had me set goals so that I can measure my progress out here, and honestly that has helped me to feel a lot happier. Every morning I wake up and during my personal study I write three goals of things I want to accomplish during the day.  Then when I get back to my bed at night and review how the day went, I have something to measure my progress, and when I complete my goals, I feel really happy. I have started with some goals such as "contact 2 people today" and even small things like that help me so much, because when elder Johnson and I are moving from one thing to another, It's hard to know whether I should be looking for people to contact or planning for what's next, be it a lesson or something else.  The Lord has been really merciful to me out here because so far, I haven't had an entire day devoted to contacting (knock on wood), we have been blessed with the great opportunity to teach a lot of people, and that has made me so happy.

This is the big canal path we had to walk down to get to the soccer field

   Another thing that's made me happy this week has been my reminder to myself that it's okay to be happy! A couple of days ago, me and elder Johnson were walking around trying to find another soccer field to play on because for some reason we can't play on the old one, and I started to get a little down on myself and think, man, I just don't feel like I've done my best today.  I had a feeling to go a certain direction and I didn't and.....(sometimes I play the chain reaction scenario in my head, if I would have done..., this would have happened) and I just told myself to stop that.  I said, okay, It's okay. I'm just going to choose to be happy right now. I can't go back and fix the past, whatever happened, or whatever I did is over.  All I have now is the future right in front of me, and all I can do is act on what I have in front of me.  And then I just started to feel happy and the day went really well.  That's an important part of my mission I want to remember, I cannot live in what would have happened, or what I had before I came out here that I miss.  I'm here in France.  I'm a missionary.  I'm teaching people the Restored Gospel.  Like, Really!  It's crazy still to wrap my head around.  All I can do right now is work with what I have in front of me. With goals in my mind and a positive attitude, and courage to do God's will, I'm going to be so blessed, and bless other's lives to, I know it!  I just want to thank the Lord for this experience so far.  It's HARD, but AWESOME!!!

The Bell Tower in the middle of Lille, 104 meters high!

   So in terms of fun things that happened this week, let's see.  Well, we played soccer in a downpour for almost two hours.  The bishop in our ward, probably 60 years old, played goalie and he wrecked, meaning he played amazing, like Josh Campbell in the little league days.  I scored three goals, and my companion scored a header.  We had many people talk to us this week, and although I love trying to understand people in French, we talked to a lot of english speakers too!  We did service for a lady in the ward, trimming hedges, mowing grass, and fixing up the yard, It was way fun! We had a family home evening with the Gouttin family this week, and they made Ratatouille, the real deal for dinner, basically it's a bunch of veggies with, I don't remember, but that was probably the food highlight of the week, besides the fact that we made gnocchi again.  We have a new zone leader, elder Sikich, and he is super cool!  We have a great district and I'm absolutely loving it out here.  I love France, and although a mission is hard, that's because I'm working hard, and I can't wait for it to get even better!

Love you all!

Elder Jamison Jones

Week 13 "Conference Week"

Man.  I'm sitting here at the computer thinking of what to write, and I just have a lot of thankfulness in my heart, that God is giving me this experience.  I really loved conference this week, it was amazing to feel like I was receiving so much guidance and direction on the things that I needed help with, because the Lord knows I need a lot of help out here. 

     The highlight of the week was definitely General Conference.  Here in France, we are eight hours ahead of Utah, so the 10am session plays at 4pm, we watch priesthood session in the morning, and the saturday afternoon and sundaymorning sessions on sunday night.  I still need to read the sunday afternoon one sometime soon.  However, I gained some awesome revelation and motivation from conference that I love.  Some of my favorite talks included Uchtdorf's about, "Lord, is it I?" or the talk with Eduardo Gavarett, or Jorg Kleginbat, or well, man, there were so many good talks that I benefitted from.  I think that the message that I really took from conference was that, 

     Hey, it's not a bad thing if you have trials in life, sometimes you will think that but life is a time to test you, and it's okay if you're having struggles, it means you're trying!, You wouldn't have opposition if you weren't being pushed.

From Holland and Uchtdorf combined.  In one way or another, we are all beggars, we all need the Savior in our lives.  We should never criticize other people for their mistakes or flaws when we have so many of our own.  In my opinion, the best way to help other people do better is not by immediately correcting their mistakes, but complimenting them on what they're doing well, that way, they feel good about themselves and capable of improving.

     I enjoyed conference so much, and I realize more now that it's okay that my mission is hard, and it's okay to not even know why it is hard but it is! If I say, okay, I'm out here for a good reason,  and although It's hard for me there's people who need this gospel, and they are more important than my personal concerns.  Even though it is hard to stretch and grow every day, we get such blessings from the Lord when we do!  One of my goals right now is to start talking to people in the metro, and when I find something cool, or interesting that they're doing I summon the courage to tell them.  It's not much, but it's better than sitting and doing nothing.

     My trainer Elder Johnson is teaching me great lessons out here about the purpose of missionary work.  He loves the people, and knows his purpose with a rock-solid foundation.  I know if I put my trust in the Lord, he will give me the love for the people, and help me to focus on the work, because you have to out here!  Last night I had a good conversation with elder Johnson on the importance of setting goals.  They are the way in which we're going to measure progress in our lives, and although my goals are small, I know that they'll help me to improve.  Some of my goals for today are to be positive in my email, contact two people, and thank Elder Johnson for his hard work in training me.  The mission is so hard! But what else, what experience will bring me greater joy? I don't know how my mission will play out, but so far, I've felt so blessed to be here in France, and I'm excited to overcome the culture shock, get on top of things, and become who the Lord needs me to become!

     Fun happenings of the week: We did service projects twice for different members of the ward! We did yardwork for a nice lady in the ward, and helped another family move.  I love meeting the members of the ward and just getting to know them.  Also my French is improving, I am so happy! Our investigator M. continues to come closer to her baptism, and I'm looking forward to the good things to come in her life.  Elder Johnson's Grandparents came and visited today, and they bought our groceries, and stocked our fridges with lots of meat, pastries, and other good food!  Best meal of the week: Elder Johnson and I made Gnocchi, a pasta filled with potato, we put gouda cheese on top, with meat on the side, and I almost died it was so good.  So basically, the mission is great when you look at all the positive, and yes, there is more positive than negative every day!

     Love you all, have a good week! And look at conference again, it was so good!

Pizza that looks like snowbird's logo, cool! The other elders in our apartment made pizza because it was Elder Christensen's birthday, and also Sister Walton's birthday as well! Sister Walton's family (from Holladay!) lives right down the street from us, so that is so cool we're in the same district.