Week 60 "HAPPY 20TH BIRTHDAY ELDER JONES"

Baptism of "S", Elder Jones, Elder Gunn and her son

Hello,

Well the biggest and greatest news of the week is to come, but to leave you in anticipation for two paragraphs or so, let's start with Monday.  We visited a less active sister named Sister B. She is so much like me! She is very into cool impressionistic oil paintings, which are all over the house, and she loves classical piano music, like Gershwin as well.  When I told her she played, she said, you're not leaving this house until you play me something.  We have been going over to her house consistently every week, and helping her to feel more loved, because she's going through a very difficult period in her life.  Well that made for a fun night, oh and we opened the packages.

          Tuesday marked the very last district meeting of the transfer.  I felt very inspired to give a training on what it means to really give our best.  The basic idea was, that our best is always improving, and only with the Savoir can we give our best.  I loved giving the training, and really felt the help of heaven in presenting the message, so it was really good. It was fun to go around at the end of the meeting and tell everyone why we were grateful to have them in the district.  We didn't get home till late that night.
     Wednesday we taught our ami J.  He has been really struggling over the last couple months to read the Book of Mormon.  Once again, Elder Gunn went hard core on him, which I loved seeing because it's cool to see him making progress and getting fiery with people.  He said look, read the Book of Mormon, or you're not going to go anywhere with you, if you don't read it wastes your time and our time.  A sixteen-year-old member, Yves Pettitt helped us out a lot and we, once again, committed J. to read the Book of Mormon, with the hope he will do it.

     Thursday through Saturday we prepared for the baptism. We created a program, cleaned the font thoroughly, and the morning of, filled the font!  S. our investigator had some worries about the baptism: one, that I wasn't strong enough to lift her back out of the water, and two, that Elder Gunn would lack vocabulary to confirm her.  We took the worries into consideration; I did a bunch of squats and pull-ups every morning in hopes of getting a little stronger, and wrote out a list of things Elder Gunn could say during the confirmation.  I am happy to say that both events went through successfully.  The wearing complete white and the whole experience, as cliché as missionary experiences come, was so surreal and amazing.  I have confidence that S. will continue to progress and have the opportunity to go to the France Paris Temple when that comes next year!

Decorating for my 20th Birthday

     As you know yesterday was my birthday.  Sooo, elder Jones, what did you do for your birthday?  Well I had a very very fun birthday.  I would like to say my birthday started Saturday with the baptism, and ended Sunday with opening presents. 

Thanks for the letters!! These are from John, Mary and kids

 As soon as the baptismal service and the little after party ended we had to leave directly to the heart

of Paris for a big 'Book of Mormon fireside', hosted by our mission president, his wife and all the Paris-central missionaries.   We brought one of our investigators named A. who we met on the bus a month ago. She loved it, and we're seeing her again this weekend.  I pray she stays interested.  Walked down the streets of Paris on a Saturday night just taking in the air and the people and the culture. Sunday morning we woke up and went to church like usual, but the unusual was that we confirmed Sidonie a member of the church. Although Elder Gunn struggled with the words at the beginning, he got the hang of things and finished well.  Then we went home and I opened the presents my family sent. Just want to let you all know the highlights so when you send missionaries packages you know what to send: beef jerky, ritz crackers, socks, birthday candles and a HAPPY BIRTHDAY sign, recipes from chez moi (home) and the cheese in Macaroni and Cheese packages, which is pretty rare in France.  For all the hundreds of fancy cheeses it's difficult to find powdered synthetic American cheese.  

Inside the Package that my Family Sent

THANK YOU FOR ALL THE LETTERS AND KIND MESSAGES!  I don't think I've received all of the family's letters yet but I've loved what come so far. Mom, your letter was so kind, it made me cry.  Dad your letter didn't make me cry but it was good.  Abby, thanks for giving me the updates on your life, love it.  Eliza keep going strong with all that's happening in life, so proud of you in cheer.  Madeline I thought SpongeBob comics were so funny.  Man those letters will be saved forever. After letters we had to finish up planning, and then...nothing else in our schedule.  All day we had things going and, yeah, I just wanted to go contact people all day but we didn't have much time.  I tried to make time after church but we did have to get back and plan.  So four hours later I said Elder Gunn I just want to go out contacting for my birthday.  With as much enthusiasm as I expected him to have, haha, he accepted my request and we went out for the last hour of the day looking for people who need the Gospel.  We found two people who were interested to speak with us, and we gave away two Books of Mormon!  That was the best part of my birthday, just feeling I have  - in large part - overcome the fear of contacting.  Feels so good.  No cake, no candles, just sharing the good ol' gospel. haha it was the best.

Opening the Double Decker Airplane from my Grandma and Grandpa Hughes

     Which leads me to the best spiritual experiences of the week. Context you have to know before reading: my goal for this day was to stay positive and happy. A potential ami never showed up at the lesson we set up, and we were determining plan B, when I felt like we should head to the church about fifteen minutes away.  Suggesting that we do our weekly planning there to elder Gunn, he accepted and we headed up there.....only to meet J. our investigator from earlier. We didn't set a meeting with him, but he was used to meeting with the missionaries at that time so he came without thinking twice about it.  He read The Book of Mormon chapters we left him with,  and beginning to climb out of his plateau progress.  Very cool; next as we finished the lesson I had a strange feeling to cancel our meeting with another investigator we had that night, as I sat there thinking about that feeling she called us, telling us she couldn't make it.  I felt like I should invite her to the Book of Mormon event going on in Paris, though we live about an hour away.  She admitted she actually lived in Paris, and that she comes up to Cergy to visit her family, and she would meet us at the activity the next night, which she did.  As we left the church building I felt like we should go back, for whatever reason, and I'm sure by this point I left Elder Gunn feeling confused at my decisions, but we went back, and I found his watch, which he had accidentally left.  So there you go folks, there's the inspired three-pointer, game winner of the week.  So cool;  there are so many blessings everywhere we look out here, we just have to recognize them and STAY positive because the Lord works through positivity.  Thank you for all your prayers and help out here.  This would be much harder without your help. I had a very good birthday, and I'm doing great.
Love,
ELDER JAMISON JONES

My New Birthday Gift Floating Above My Desk

Abby's College Friends Singing Happy Birthday to Jamison  

Sending a Letter to Stephie on her Mission (Perth Australia)

Week 59 "everyone I'm doing great"

Picnic in the park in Rouen for District Meeting

"Hi mom, Hi dad, Hi Abby, Hi eliza, Hi madeline.  Guess what?  All your praying worked!  In fact as miraculous as it sounds there were certain moments during the week when I felt, and knew, that someone was praying for me, notably all of you.  It doesn't explain well over email but I knew I was very very loved in that moment, and now too. I got the package at about  10:30 this morning...or the packagessssssss!  Wow, you are all so nice.  I loved the presents. Haha kidding I didn't open them although elder Gunn wanted me to...haha. When should I read all the letters you sent? Man I sneaked and saw the floss, oh what a joy that will be to use floss.  Burritos are in the fridge and freezer.  AAAnnnnnddddd, I have sooooooo much peanut butter!  mmmmm...Elder gunn thinks it's pretty funny how much peanut butter I've been eating. But thank you.  Thank you even more for all the prayers.  I know Heavenly Father is blessing our family! And now those blessings will triple with Elder Hogan and Hirst out as well.  Woo, well um I'm scheduled to do the baptism on Saturday so it should be cool to actually use my white pants.  I hope they're still in the closet.  The big email will come but I wanted you to all personally know that I've been trusting in the Lord and though I'm not perfect, he is and he makes things work out.  Thank You , Thank You, my heart sings.....for the [peanut butter] we eat... Love you each one of you so much."

Packages!

Packages!!

Packages!!!

So let's address our biggest priorities first, our amie S. who is getting baptized this week.  Not the S who I met in the bus, that's a story to be explained further down, but our other S is preparing for baptism.  At the beginning of her time taught by the missionaries Elder Gunn and Roth taught her, but when we merged companionships a month ago the privilege passed to me and Elder Gunn.  Of the four times we went over, the most memorable was Saturday night.  Our phone call went a little like this,

"Hey, S.. I don't know if we'll be able to come tonight, our member cancelled on us, and unless there another man there we won't be able to teach."

"Oh, no, wait....I will get them (her son and nephew) to stay...(hear talking in the background)..ok just come over"  At this point I'm not sure if they'll actually be there but we felt good about going over and we were met with a nice surprise.

"I made you beignets!" She exclaimed as we arrived.  Ohh, so that's why you wanted us to come so bad.  Well I'm not complaining.  Shrimp beignets, just so you all know, are cocktail shrimp, breaded and deep fried.  And were they good?  I don't even have to tell you whether they were good or not, of course they tasted good!  The other best part, was P., her son and her drunk nephew also listened as we taught. Though the nephew threw some curveballs during the lesson, elder Gunn calmed him down, and we connected with P.  who came to church on Sunday. We'll start teaching him soon as well.

Me, Elder Gunn, P. and S. Beignets are in the center of the photo, sorry no close up.

   Let's talk about Elder Gunn.  Although we sometimes argue, he means well and most the arguments we do have are well-humored.  This week I bought a bunch of bananas for myself and put them in the fridge; unfortunately the fridge was set for colder than normal and ruined all my bananas, requiring me to eat them all a couple days after I bought them. Elder Gunn lectured me on my mistake and though I was annoyed I did actually learn that usually it's better to let the bananas sit out, unless the fridge isn't too cold. Throughout the week we have our share of squabbles but usually it ends well If I'm just honest with him, haha.  His french and participation in lessons is improving a lot.  Notably with one of our investigators, J. J has struggled for months to read the Book of Mormon but Elder Gunn pounded it into him by saying, "You need to read the Book of Mormon!" ten times during our brief mid-week meeting. Haha, I loved it and felt very grateful for his participation.

Peanut butter and bananas on the bus to Mantes-la-Jolie then a train after that to Rouen

   That brings me to a bit of a sad topic, our other investigator S. After a week and a half of little to no contact with him, we called him and he actually answered. He was doing well and he wanted to see us the day following our phone call.  So we meet him at the church, planning to pick up where we left off, and we got the following: "So, after having done a lot of thinking, and feeling confused about quite a few concepts I've learned such as the Fall of Adam and Eve, I remembered you saying, even if you don't understand all that now, just remember that Heavenly Father loves you."  "I think I've been too caught up in the small details of things, and I've concluded that the fact God loves me, and I can pray to him is all I need to know.  So with that I'm telling you goodbye."

What?! NO! Ahhh.  "S. what you've learned is just the beginning!"  I said.  Our efforts to sway his decision were to no avail, and then he left...aaaaaaaaacccccgh.  Well at least we ended on good terms, and we said  that whenever he felt ready to come back we would be ready.  Man that was too bad, he's the one I met on the bus about one month ago; he was progressing so well, and we planned on him progressing toward baptism next month, but he's got his agency, and we have to let him use it.  Is there anything more we could have done for him? Probably, but for now we just gotta let him go.

Nice sunset!

        The sad moments never last long in Cergy, if we get up quick at least.  This Sunday elder Gunn and I had a very very cool experience. After returning home for lunch, I was trying to relax and take a nap, but due to everything going on, and some other stressors I was feeling, I could not sleep.  Elder Gunn was knocked out on the couch, and I was debating over what to do that afternoon.  I had the impression to go outside to talk to people.  There were calls to be made but I decided they could wait.  Elder Gunn woke up and I suggested the idea and he accepted.  We made our way to the bus stop, and sat down.  Sometimes I feel like I should sit somewhere specific, well actually quite often, and even though no one sat currently where I felt like I should sit I did it anyway, and waited.  At the halfway point to Cergy Prefecture, a load of people got onto the bus, and a black woman and her daughter took the seats across from me.  The bus started off and before I had the chance to start a conversation with the woman she squinted at my plaque an read it out loud, and asked, "So what exactly is your church?"  We got the chance to explain the restoration to her, and to point out where the church is from the bus. As we conversed she said she has been searching for awhile for a church, and then BAM, we run into her; we testified of how this was Not an accident, we exchanged numbers, she's coming to church next Sunday. BOOM.  Just like my sister Eliza told me in an email this week.....'and He shall direct thy paths' (Proverbs ch.3 v.6)

Look at this airbus a330 i saw this week!

        Thank you.  For all of your prayers! Man I need to start praying for everyone who reads this blog you are all so important to me.  I am a witness to the best and the worst out here, but mostly and over-ridingly the best.  Thank you for praying for Elder Gunn.  Thank you for praying for France.  Thanks.  If there was a scripture to summarize the week, there probably isn't one, just that I feel really blessed out here.  And I realize that If we're just trying to make ourselves happy we won't be as happy as if we turn outward.  And try to cheer others up, that's how the contacting usually starts.  People love it when elder Gunn contacts because normally, he just says, 'Hi, how's it going?'  French get thrown off by that. It's our secret weapon.

     One more miracle. In Rouen the missionaries have a challenge to give out a ton of Books of Mormon this month, and we got to help them at the end of our district meeting-picnic.  Another elder and I carried the heavy bags of picnic supplies back to the church and we crossed one of their investigators on the street. Normally we might have bee-lined it there due to all the bags we had but we took half an hour to teach him and du-   du-du-dun...give him a Book of Mormon! I love you all so much have a great week!
Elder Jones

Week 58 "Progress in Cergy"

CERGY!!

Things are going amazingly here in Cergy! 

Taking things back to Monday - last Monday.  We had the opportunity to teach two people at the church, our amis R. and S. the lessons went really well but I felt so tired by the end.  Then, not much progressed with these two after our lessons that night.  That's because R went out of town and S suddenly caught a case of heavy fatigue...interesting.  So I'm hoping that they stay involved.  Tuesday marked my first self-created district meeting.  We discussed the importance of setting personal goals each day, and how that helps us to feel more successful and see the progress we are making. Personally that process of personal goal setting helps me a lot because I have very high expectations of myself and sometimes when I don't perform to my desired capacity I tend to let the feelings of hopelessness and failure creep in.  When I pray at night and set a few goals for the following day I feel better about my performance because despite my failure to perform at a level of perfection, I can usually say that I accomplished my small personal goals, which goals I prayed about and made with God, so I know that if I accomplished those goals I did the Lord's will in greater measure.  Each one of us can apply this process of personal, daily goal-setting; it boosts morale, gives us purpose, and aligns your will with Heavenly Father's.  Start doing this and see the blessings, I know they're there.  Just to give you some examples, I have set goals in the past to: do three unnoticed acts of service for my companion, talk to two people about the Gospel with focusing on really loving them, and just today, I set the goal to plan a solid training for the district meeting tomorrow.  Completed. See, now I feel good about the day despite the eight other things in my head that I have to (more or less) do right now.

S. our ami, Elder Gunn, and Me:  Baptism is planned for the 29th!

   Wednesday we went to Le Havre and the best part of the exchange was that we got rained on while contacting and I saw the Atlantic Ocean! We're not allowed to go to the beach during the summer as missionaries, due to the 'clothing optional' standard of French beaches, but we got just close enough to see the dark blue bar of ocean about a half-mile away, and you'll see a picture of it in the email. 

Le Havre with the Atlantic ocean in the background

Thursday hit with our Zone Leader exchange. I was very content to have Elder Mitch Wilson, a good friend of mine from school, come and do exchanges in our sector.  He went with elder Gunn, while I went with Elder Sumsion.  Elder Sumsion gave me some really good advice on ways to contact and cope with stress.  The contacting advice was to give people something to look forward to in your contacts, for example, finish sharing briefly the Restoration then say, 'we would love to meet with you another time to tell you about a book of scripture Joseph Smith translated, the Book of Mormon. Could we come by tomorrow night to talk about that?'  I have tried this method several times since the exchange and it works wonderfully, especially here in Cergy.  We are so blessed here to live in an area with so many different cultures!  I had no idea I'd get to serve a mission in ten countries at once....very very cool!

Elder Mitch Wilson, and Me at the apartment thursday night!

        And guess what another exchange! Friday I served with Elder Van Tonder in Cergy.  He's a really cool missionary and I made a goal while serving with him to learn six things about him and remember them, and that goal turned out a lot harder than I thought, but hey did it! Don't need to list all the things I learned about him on the email but just know I was successful in that goal!  We also found a very kind African family at the end of the night who invited us over to their house next sunday, we will see, and I hope, that that goes somewhere!!! Because you know, finding an interested family is a big blessing.  Saturday we planned, Sunday we went to church, I played hymns.  We taught our soon to be convert, S.  Another one, and we noticed an increased spiritual light in her as we taught the commandments, very cool.  I'm proud to say Elder Gunn is improving in participating in the lessons, and I'm happy to serve with him.  I'm learning to be confident, even if you're not one hundred percent sure on things.  He's really cool, calm and confident, and I work toward having that personality every day.

So we had a problem cooking rice. We tried to fry the rice in vegetable oil and when we strained it we melted the strainer

Elder Shaver and I in the tiny 2 person elevator

        Well folks I'm out of time.  I know that being grateful for all we have makes the biggest difference.  Out of encouragement from our mission president's wife we have been offering, in our companionship, a prayer of gratitude.  In that prayer we say only things we are thankful for and honestly that has been helping me to recognize how much I have been blessed by God to be here on a mission, at this time of the last dispensation.  I invite everyone to take a moment and think of all your blessings.  I know taking time daily to do such has really helped me to be happier and see my life in a brighter light. Those who do this , as Psalms says, 'shall receive the blessing from the Lord, and righteousness from the God of his salvation.'  I have a testimony of Gratitude because for everything negative that happens we realize that it's all pretty insignificant compared to the Divine potential and blessing we have to be here on the earth, to be the children of God, and to have accepted His plan and to be here in a time of amazing testing.  It's a wonderful time to be alive.  Pray for me to have strength to continue to talk to people all the time, everywhere I go about the Gospel.  I love you all so much!
Elder Jones

Found an amazing chocolate store today!

My chocolate pain au chocolat with gold flakes

Me crying and eating it

Getting kebabs with Frere Rochet

Paris on Pday: The obelisk from Egypt and the Arc de Triomphe

I received the awaited package from
my very good friend, Stephie now Sister Wiest, full of good things, and that boosted my morale this morning!

The really good chocolates, over a euro for each one! I got Nine 

I saw a double decker plane in the sky!