9.29.11 email

Hey all. This week was pretty good. Not too productive, but heck, I can now say that we are bed bug free!!! Ha now my arm can heal up!

Today's temple trip was pretty adventurous! We (our whole district), took a bus there, like a half hour to 45 minute ride, well as we're passing the temple we ask the bus driver to stop and he made a huge deal out of stopping where there wasn't a designated stop. So.... we got off a little over 3 1/2 miles later and hoofed it back to the temple! (The temple workers kept saying that it was a huge sacrifice to walk but I looked at 'em and said hey, at least it wasn't 3 days!) Didn't make it to the ten o'clock session but had time before the 12 o'clock one so we did some sealings. It was nice to spend some extra time in the temple.

Other than that, the week was pretty good!

Transfer calls come in Sunday morning instead of Saturday night because of general conference and the priesthood session. So we'll see if I go or stay!

The mission also recently got new phones! They're alright, all the missionaries that have been out for more than a year are in awe and wonder! Ha I just told them to wait till they get home!!!

Think that's about it for this week!! Love ya, peace out.

~ Elder Jones

9.22.11 letter

9/19/11

Family -

What up, doe? How goes it on the home front? Anything new or exciting? :) Getting used to the temporary building? Hey - gotta question... have you thought about visiting my mission? Like when I'm done? Just a thought. :) And that's not a hint or an invitation, haha, just a question!

Everything is alright here. I love rain... :) :( But it's all good. I'm just glad that I have a bike!!

Random thought: it's INSANE that Lion King has been out for 17 years!!! =:O

This week was alright. It was kind of an accumulation of a good & bad week put together. It had both, so it's just a 'whatever' week. Optimistic, I know, right? Haha.

Still trying to get rid of the bed bugs. I just LOVE waking up with more bites! Ha. But it's gonna get taken care of - hopefully tomorrow!

I had an interesting experience this last week! Ha. We were leaving a dinner appointment and it started pouring rain. So, naturally, we were without a jacket, so we put trash bags over us and started the 3 1/2 mile ride back to the apartment! Ha! But!! The fun part was the ride! I couldn't wear my glasses because they were getting soaked, plus they were fogging up because of the heat difference, so I put them in my bag. Well, it was dark, and I couldn't see, which made it more interesting! So I was riding on the side of the road, and all the freaking trash cans were out!! So, I was playing a real-life Sonic game! Ha! I was going as fast as I could, hitting the rings, which would be avoiding pot holes, and avoiding the spike walls, which were the trash cans! All for the experience, right? Haha. (BTW, I WON!)

Well, I gotta run. I love you all!!

Peace out ~

Elder Ethan Jones

9.19.11 email

Hey there all. What up.

This week was alright. Not too much exciting! Just kinda romped around and lifted Detroit a li'l higher with a li'l prayer :) hahaha there’s bumper stickers everywhere that have that saying! I love it!

Not too much exciting. The rain stopped for 2 days and it's dumping right now! Ugh! Ha but it's all good. I’d rather be riding than walking in the rain! Imma run out of time on here so imma keep it short!

Oh fyi, I wont be e-mailing again till next Thursday because we’re going to the temple so our preparation day got moved! Hope y'all have a good week! Peace out ~

Elder Jones

9.17.11 letter

9/14/11

Mom & family,

Hey there family! How's everything going? Is it cooling down there yet? It is here! They're saying we're supposed to have snow by Halloween, but we'll see!

Everything is alright here for the most part. Nothing too much more besides what was in my email. Except for what we did yesterday for our P-day. We chilled for a bit, emailed, ate lunch, went bowling and then went up to the Ferndale Elders and played Ultimate Frisbee.

Bowling was pretty fun, played 6 games - my highest score was 175, then it went down from there. But!! I got a strike bowling it through my legs... while I was facing the pins, hahaha. I was pretty happy about that!! Bowling keeps me sane. It makes me wanna curse, too, but mostly sane. ;)

F.Y.I.! Ultimate Frisbee is lame...... I think it's dumb, haha. Everyone else had fun, so I guess that is what counts. The grass was freaking tall, so my legs were itchier than all get out!

This week is looking pretty nice, as of right now. But we'll see!

All the kids in Detroit are now back in school, so the city is more quiet than normal. I like it, but at the same time, I don't! It makes night time more fun, because that is when all the kids are out of school & that's when they do stupid stuff!

So guess what, Elder Chaus doesn't like country music, so I'm stuck listening to, like, a total of 4 CDs, haha. And you can only listen to all of "the best of Mo Tab" so many times 'til your brain melts! All for the experience, right? :)

This week's funny story: Riding down the street and some drunk guy yells out, "Hey, lemme ride your bike!" (which happens 10-20 times a day) to which Elder Chaus responded... "Gimme a thousand dollars!" and the guy yelled back, "Man, if I had that, I'd buy more beer!" Hahahahaa - I was laughing sooo hard! Way funny!

It's crazy that I'm already halfway through week 4 of this transfer - it's almost over!

So, how is school going for everyone? What grade is everyone in now? I forgot! :) How's work for Dad? Home life for Mom? I already know about Brett, haha.

Well, I gotta bounce. Hope you all have a fantastic week. Love you all!!

Peace out ~

Elder Jones

9.13.11 email

Hey all.

Pretty eventful week for me!

To kind of finish a story that I thought was over from last week, after I got everything taken care of for my money getting taken, within 3-4 days the rest of my wallet was stolen - that means the blue card, temple recommend and all my bus passes. So.... the only thing I have for identification is my name tag!! Feels weird not to have a wallet... aggravating too! But on the plus side, I know that I am for sure worthy to enter the temple because I had to have another interview with president yesterday to get a new one! :D

Something that happened, well is continuing to happen, is the bed bug problem! I hate waking up with 5-7 more bites on my arm, back, chest or face! haha. But, it’s a VERY good incentive to get up and at it in the morning! :) All for the experience right??

On the plus side, my bike is running well, haha... no more problems with it besides the usual airing it up with the temperature changes.

This past weekend, we had stake conference which was sweet. The stake center is on the same plot of land and right across the parking lot from the temple! I can walk from the outside wall of the stake center and walk to the door of the temple - and if I remember right it's like 50 or so feet! So there is always a special presence. But both sessions I attended were awesome. There was a special focus on families and temple work.

Then on Monday, well yesterday, there was a mission tour for Elder Packer (you know, President Packer of the 12? This was his son) and that was combined with our zone conference, so that was cool. He did like a question/answer type thing, so that was pretty legit. It was after the conference that I was interviewed!

We also had, like, every appointment possible cancel because it rained most of the week! I was sooooo irritated!!! They wouldn’t (I explained it to all of them!!!) understand that we are gonna be out in the rain if we’re at their house or not! Hahahaha... so we rode around a lot and got wet for most of the week. :) I just pray and hope that this week is a little less wet and that people will be more understanding!

Hope you all have a fantastic week.

Peace out ~

Elder Jones

9.6.11 letterS

{Finally got a 'real' paper letter today - with a bonus! There were actually 2 letters in the envelope. Yay!}

Family,

Hey there! Sorry it's taken so long to write! It's been way busy the last few weeks. Like, intensely super confusing busy! But, I'm taking the time to write now!

So, how are y'all? Everyone excited to be back in school? The streets are a little more empty here, but halfway through September most of the schools start here, so I can't wait! It'll be a lot easier to ride down the streets without kids either throwing stuff at us, or wanting to race us on their bikes!

Elder Chaus is pretty chill. He's way laid back & really funny. He is full of the Spirit and willing to listen. He actually contributes and wants to help with investigators! Not saying that my last companions weren't, but it's refreshing to be back in my own area and doing work!

Right now we have 8 on date! I'm not gonna tell you who or when, though. Only because here in the city everyone is waaaaay flaky & if it can happen, it WILL happen!

So I know it's the beginning of this transfer, but I've been thinking a lot about what's gonna happen this next one. I'm getting conflicting feelings on if I'm staying or going. I know it's dumb cuz I have such a long time! Oh well.

Thank you for the stickers!!! I've been passing them out and sticking them on things left and right!

So speaking of left and right, I've been using 'port' and 'starboard' a lot and it's been confusing everyone and I love it! :D

So! There is a member here in the Palmer Park ward, and he has the same last name you do! My jaw hit the floor when I heard it! I actually met him last transfer, I just keep forgetting to tell you guys! You should see if there is any relation. His name is Phillip {surname}. It would be sweet to have a 2nd relative out here!! {Mom's note: Elder Jones discovered some time ago that one of his fellow missionaries in the Detroit area is his 3rd cousin - how fun is that?}

------------------

Family! 8/31/11

Hey there! Sorry it's taken a minute to write ya, but I told myself I was gonna this week, so I am!

From the emails it sounds like everything is going good. Everyone's back in school? Fun! Kids here don't go back till the first or second week of September! So all of 'em are still getting ready. I tell them that my family back home are already in school, and they give me a surprised look and say, "That's sweet!" Every kid here is bored in the summer, so they count down the days till school starts when they get out!

Everything is good here! I got to go to Wal-Mart finally on Monday, so I'm good on food for a minute. Everything except for milk & bread! Got lots of ramen & lots of cereal.

Thanks for the new scriptures! I forgot how good it feels to feel those stiff pages and the excitement of pulling two pages apart for the first time!

How's the new building you guys are attending? Well, visiting? Probably feels weird, huh? Well, guess what! I bet I beat you in the odd feeling category! The Palmer Park ward church building is an old Greek Orthodox church building. It's got a huge dome in the chapel and in the end of the pews, there are still crosses engraved in the sides! This place is HUGE - words and pictures don't do it justice. You'll just have to come pick me up when the 2 years are up and see it for yourself! Ha hahaa...

So, the bike is doing much better! Haven't had a flat in a few weeks! So right now, my flats total is 11!! I pray that the number doesn't get any bigger!

Well, I gotta run. I have to prep an instruction for district meeting, on "how to be diligent in all phases of the work."

I love you all! Have a good week!

With love -

Elder Nye-Nye Jones

9.6.11 email

Hey all... it's been an alright week. Super busy, but not very productive.

The numbers definitely didn’t show the effort we put into it... but I'm gonna make sure this week is better!

Crashed a couple times due to a companion not doing stuff, ha, but I still love him... so the elbow and knee are a little sore.

I had a SWEET prep day yesterday, I slept like 5 hours. I was tired!!

But... today not so fun so far. Found out my debit card was stolen over the weekend and I have a ton of money missin'! So prayers would be very much appreciated.

I want so very very very badly for this week to work out the way I want it to!

Hope you all have a good day! and week!

Peace out ~

Elder Jones