Week 38 "So much has happened this week!"

Last sunday we ate at a member's house, and their son, Jules, the 7 years old, really attaches to me because I know his favorite missionary ever, Elder Austin Sikich. 
We plowed through our area book looking for people who had beed taught previously and wanted to pick things back up.  One man, T. was really happy we called because he had lost contact with the missionaries for a few months, and we were able to get back in contact with him and that made me happy!  We invited him to be baptized, and he said, 'It's gonna take a little time'.  He really seems like someone who is willing to go forward and take serious steps to find the truth, which is, you know what we're here to help people find.  I'm so happy for him, and that was a great part of the week.  

This picture is for Grandpa Richard

We had fun making waffles, called Gaufres (pron. goafs) for our district meeting.  Thanks to Pascal's recipe, they turned out so good.  We did this sweet gourmet presentation with strawberries, whipped cream, and caramel sauce.  Later in the week, I attempted to do the thing when the automatic high quality waffle irons flip the waffles over to make them lighter and cook more evenly.  But, so, I did it by hand so i just grip the waffle maker in my hand and spin the maker upside-down, and the batter just fell out, but the waffles still sort of worked! Anyways that's all you'll here for the week about "gaufres".  Went on exchanges with the zone leaders, saw some amazing miracles.  Tackled multiple rendezvous with investigators and less actives at the same time.  We had a cool experience sharing the Gospel of Jesus Christ with a recent convert and his wife who's planning to be baptized in 2 months.  Really powerful spirit, really good.  Our recent convert has a giant Bob Marley picture above his TV in the living room.  It would be good if we could put a giant picture of Jesus up there instead, I said, and he agreed.  So I think we'll do that soon.  Finally went and looked inside the large cathedral next door.  It was really big and there were some cool ancient things in there.

Cathedral right by our apartment in St. Quentin

We got to go visit lots of less actives as well this week.  We shared some great spiritual thoughts and I was happy to to that and see one of the sisters who had health problems come to church again this Sunday!  Alright, so we got splattered with some lame sauce this week too.  After having scheduled times and places to meet two people, they both ended up not being home when we to there. But that isn't really too sad, we'll just pass by those people later.  On Sunday, our friend T. showed up to church!! Woo!!  And we got to see a few other people on Sunday such as the less-actives, and some potentials that we'll have the opportunity to teach coming soon.  The nice thing about the missionary work here is that members are so nice.  We're really trying to remember the ward member's names, and I think that helps us and them to be more connected.  We had a pretty miraculous experience yesterday.  We had finished eating lunch and were walking back home when I said, Elder Bigelow, let's go pass by K.'s old house, 'I think I wanted to show him how I tried to move furniture out the window.'  We arrived and the Landlord was looking out his first floor window, and I recognized him so we went over to say hi.  At first when we offered to him our card, he said, 'no, I don't need that, I don't need religion,  I've done too much bad in my life...'  So well, I thought, that's why we need Jesus.  Because no matter what we've done we can get over with Him!  We kept explaining about Jesus Christ and he didn't really seem to care.  So we asked him about his beliefs.  He said he liked meditating, and that yeah, he did believe in a higher power, and he felt that when he helped other people he felt good.  Sweet!  So Elder Bigelow said, when we're serving others we're serving God. Nice Mosiah reference. He slowly agreed with us more, and Elder Bigelow offered to pray with him before we left, and he said, okay, come in. We said a short prayer with him blessing him with peace, and as we left he said, hey, why don't you give me that card, y'never know.  Now, that was a cool experience!  I am really grateful for my hard-working optimistic companion who's really helping me to stay more happy through all this.  I feel pretty down sometimes with all of the demands I have to face as a missionary, but God is giving me others to help me like my mission companion, my parents, and other awesome people. 

My Companion, Elder Bigelow

Speaking of awesome people I got the package of letters from my ward!  Thank You!  You're all so wonderful!   I am really looking forward to Zone Conference, exchanges, and the big GC at the end of the week!  I am learning a lot, and despite the difficulties God is in this work, and it's great! 

This letter would not be the same without food

Elder Jones and Elder Wilson: Oly High Friends

Week 37 "New Companion in St. Quentin"

This week has been one of the best!

I'll miss Elder Smith. I said goodbye to him and he was off into the real world.  The world of being alone, swimming pools, and college life.  He taught me great lessons as being a missionary who's very real with others, knows how to manage stress, have fun, and one who can pull extravagant pranks and cook like a champ.  Good job Elder Smith, bon rétour! 

Elder Smith's last day

  So, we got things started up in St. Quentin with Elder Bigelow.  Honestly, he is one of the nicest, hardest working missionaries ever, and honestly I have been so thankful he's here in St. Quentin.  We are gonna tear it up this transfer!  I am really thankful for the struggle of the mission, and the good that sprouts up along the way, because the good is so good.  I'm very thankful to be here!

Elder Bigelow and I at pascal's

Fun side note, ended up in Amiens this weekend with elder Mitch Wilson, my high school buddy, and Elder Chase Player the next-door neighbor of my Hirst cousins.  Very very cool, and a good day passed doing missionary work and catching up with them both.  I have a good feeling about the work here in St. Quentin, It'll be good,  we just have to give our best!  Love you all

Scrip of the week. Moroni 10:8   God gives us so much, take advantage of it.

Have a good week!  Jamison

                                                     Elder Jones and Elder Wilson

Here is a letter from Elder Wilson to his Mom. We were so grateful to Cari for sending us  this letter today. It was fun getting more information about their experience together!-Mimi 

"I'm frightfully short on time today, because the traditional emailing library was closed, but one other experience must be shared.  After a district leader training, I met up with a certain Elder Jamison Jones!!  We soon found ourselves contacting an older lady on the bus as we returned to the train station!  Had you told me I'd be contacting in French an elder woman on the bus in the streets of Amiens with a fellow Titan, I'd a called you crazy!  It was truly a delight to hang with him again.  I hope like mad we'll be able to serve together at some point, because that man is something special."

 Elder Mitch Wilson

Week 36 "Bon Voyage Elder Smith"

Hello!

I'm happy to be emailing on a laptop today, sometimes I'm on an Ipad and the letters run especially short when we do that, but anyways, happy to be here at the computer on a monday, sending news from the land of Liberté, Egalité et Fraternité! 

Found this sweet bike in my cellar...I'm now training for the Tour de France!

Allllrighty, this week was filled with side activities, most of them involved Elder Smith preparing to come back home;  we registered him for college, weighed and organized his luggage, and got rid of lots of junk.  During the times when Elder Smith was signing up for his classes, or preparing different stuff to get ready to go home I got caught up on the challenge to finish the Book of Mormon by the end of the time Elder Smith and I are together.  Got 50 pages left, gonna be done by tomorrow! Soo, well let's see.  I might get kicked off this computer soon and change to the Ipad  but for now I'll keep going...Despite the busy preparation for Elder Smith to go home, we were still able to teach some lessons, and visit some members of the ward! 

Another shot of our spooky cellar

Alright, I'm having trouble remembering everything that happened during the middle of the week...I will share one of the best experiences of the week, though. Before I say that, the weather is getting A lot nicer!  Ok now for the good thing...

Baking homemade bread...French style

   We had just finished looking at the Repertoire...the paper that tells us where we got for mutations (transfers). I looked at it and I was kind of disappointed because I was hoping that I would be training a new missionary, or be a district leader; both options were possible, and I ended up staying just about the same, with a companion who is somewhere halfway thru the mission...although I have heard he is really cool.  So I was talking this over with elder smith, and I hate to say it, but I was feeling a little pouty, ha.  And then elder Smith got after me, saying, 'Alright, let that get you, go through your mission comparing yourself to other missionaries, and feeling like you're a good missionary only when you're a district leader, zone leader, or an AP, go ahead and let that ruin your mission.'  

A sneak peek behind the scenes of mission living

We got through the conversation, and we arrived at one of our investigators houses.  He had been through surgery and requested a blessing.  When we got there he was really happy to see us, and also pretty excited to show us his scars.  So at that point he showed us, and I had this little epiphany.  I was dissapointed because I didn't get a leadership calling, and here I am, getting to help this man who has gone through a lot, and give him a blessing.  I felt pretty embarassed at myself for caring about something that really doesn't matter.  What really matters out here are the people.  I just think of the smile that guy had when we showed up to his house, and that seriously, bringing happiness to people is so much more important than any title ever will be. So, That was the big lesson I learned this week.  

Ceremonial transfer countdown...my comp, Elder Smith is going home after 16 transfers!

Have a good week!  I'm going to miss being able to talk about airplanes so in depth and pulling from elder Smith's deep knowledge of missionary work.  He's going on to a fun future, and I'm excited for him.  I'll miss his potato dishes, the onion soup he makes, his killer organizational abilities, and his calmness in living missionary life, he's a great guy, I'm glad I served with him.  I hope I can be as organized as he is, and yep, life is hard and good!

Love you all!  I'm getting a greater testimony that the book of mormon is true, it's great!

Elder Jamison Jones 

Week 35 "Little Miracles"

Hello! This week was great but sadly I don't have much time to write today.  To summarize, our week has been full of miracles and reminders about the importance of the atonement and trusting in Heavenly Father.
One fun experience was when we made bread and went to deliver it to a member.  Upon meeting him, we met one of our investigators too.  Strange coincidence but it was really cool.
My companion Elder Smith goes home in one week.  Elder smith is actually giving me some really really good advice on how to be a better missionary and to learn from his experiences.  He is calm, patient, and he and lets me ask lots of questions.
I'm gonna tell you a story about what happened yesterday. I gave a talk in church and following the meeting we were invited to a members house to eat with a few other members.  Since we are limited to how much time we can spend eating with members, right after the main meal I had this feeling to say, Alors, on doit partir maintenant, 'k we gotta go now' but I decided not to say anything as there was a non-member eating with us and the conversation was going well.  I felt a bit mixed on how to deal with the situation but I just kept a happy disposition through desert to see where the conversation would lead us.
Following a very long visit, everyone had left and it was just me and my companion and the member who had invited us over for lunch.  As we were about to leave, the member told us how amazed he was that Francoise was totally engaged in the conversation as she usually avoids the missionaries when they're around.  I know that talking with someone for a long time might not seem like a miracle to you but over here in France this was a small miracle and a really nice end to our week.  I also learned from this experience that sometimes you just have to go with the flow and trust your instincts when opportunities arise to share the gospel.
Sorry my time is short…Love you all, the mission is wonderful.  God will help us through our trials, even though they're really hard.  All my love.

Elder Jamison Jones

Week 34 "It's always a good week"

We had a couple of fun experiences this week.  Starting off the week, we helped the Boyault family move, and I really enjoyed that because I got to work hard and get to know the members at the same time.  I really want to get to know them better, because missionary work goes really well when the members and missionaries work together, like really really well.  When a member has a friend to attach and relate to, the missionary work is like halfway done. It's super nice.

gouda pesto cheese

French fields St Quentin to Lille

   Now that I think about it we actually had a great experience this week.  Elder Smith and I went to teach a recent convert as of last year.  When we came to his house, we were surprised to find his family, plus some of his friends from Nigeria, who were talkative and nice to us.  Our recent convert's friend, Kevin happened to be visiting from Nigeria, and as we talked to him a bit about church, and he hadn't really heard much about our church, and thus a cool unexpected gospel sharing opportunity! 

sunset last monday

pizza from pascal's

 We taught Kevin about the Restoration of the gospel, which includes the basics about our beliefs such as God loves us, and he's given us modern day prophets and the book of mormon.  As we watched the restoration video his friend stopped paying attention halfway through, and I was thinking, I wish he would pay attention, and just then our recent convert told his friend, "hey, pay attention, this is what I believe!"  That made me happy, and Kevin payed attention for the rest of the evening, and by the end he was much more interested and he wanted a book of mormon!  I feel so grateful that we have the opportunity as missionaries to have miracles happen like that one, which, happen as a result of...well I don't really know what.  Despite the imperfect missionaries we are God blesses us with miracles every week and every day too!  

Haircut for elder smith with help from the sisters soeur Clark and Brazeal!

   I am going to say, the mission is really hard, for me it's the fact that I'm a perfectionist and I know many areas where I can improve.  Like I have a glass half full, or even eighty percent full and I only focus on the part that I can fill up.  There is so much good around, and I'm doing a lot of good, I just have to remember that.  When I feel down on myself, I've got to remember that I'm a good missionary and I just have to go forward trusting God that things will work out.  That's what I know in my heart, and I feel like improving on having positive, confident thoughts about myself will help me be a better missionary! I know that the gospel that I share with people and that I feel in me makes me happy, and it can make you happy too, especially if you share it!

Love you all, have a wonderful week.

Elder jAmIsOn JoNeS

Lunch with pascal and Devyn - pascal calls us by our first names

lunch

Dessert on Sunday creme anglaise with marshmallow and caramel