After not hearing from Elder Jones for six days, we finally received two emails and a handwritten letter from him! He is doing great. The following letter is to all of his family and friends- enjoy! The other email was a request for Phillies stats... haha.
Dear Everyone,
I haven't even been here a week but it seems like I have been here for at least 3 weeks. Yesterday on sunday we had an awesome fireside which helped me a lot with my stress. It's been overwhelming but not discouraging. The language is coming quickly but with hard work. I can pray and pretty much bear my testimony in portuguese as well have pathetic conversations. Today has been really great. We got to pass the MTC police and walk out of the gate into the world for the first time in 4 days. We even got a "I'm really proud of you guys" yell from some hobo in his pickup at the red light while crossing the street.
My time here has been a great blessing. I was called to be the district leader of district 33A the thurday night after I got here. That added to my worries but I handle it just like everything else here. Just put it on the Lord and press forward. 21 min left..pshh. anyways, gym time is way to short so i just run and do lower/upper body everyother day. I think im doing a good job staying in shape. campus is huge, theres lots of walking but im pretty sure ive spent at least 300 hours in this one classroom that our district sits in for what seems like a lifetime while our teacher, irmo petty speaks portuguese to us without stopping to actually tell us what he is saying. sometimes we miss really important stuff..maybe he doesnt realize we just got here? its getting better though. my comp, elder rios and i have been teaching an investigator since the 2nd day we got here. weve had 2 appointmetns already. the first was incredibly bad..we had no clue what he was saying and we didnt know what we were saying either. after we finished the lesson we stared at eachother for 2 minutes trying to figure out how to say thanks for meeting with us see you next time..it was bad. the second one was a little better.
anyway, this is truly the Lord's work. I have never felt the spirit so strongly and all day during every meeting like I do here. This place is awesome. I'm doing great. While I miss everyone at home, I don't let that get in the way of the work which I'm here to do. I'm happy and excited about the future. I know the future is going to be touch so im trying to learn portuguese asap. I cant wait to be a middleman for the Lord. as long as i do my best to bring others unto the Lord I can know He will be pleased with my work. the outcomes may vary however if im doing my best i will have joy. my entire district went to choir practice last night for tuesday's devotional..prolly gonna be an apostle!! it was legit..everyone was insanely good and we completely sucked but its all good cause the reason why we did it was so we could get front row seats tuesday!!! we didnt get cut or anything hahaha..what a joke. Thanks for all your prayers and thoughts. I pray for all of you daily!!
Love,
Elder Jones
