Fw: Farewell to Fruita

 

 

 

 

Hey, everyone!

 

This week was kind of a slow week. We kept trying to see a lot of people, only to have no one home. It was ratherly frustrating, and I found myself getting kind of down. It wasn't too bad, but it still made me not want to do any work, and then I caught another cold which didn't help matters any at all. So I was out doing work with a stuffy nose and no success, but I guess these kind of weeks happen.

 

Transfer call came Friday morning (It was early for some reason) and I'm leaving Fruita. I'm honestly not too horribly surprised. I got the feeling that my time in Fruita was coming to a close, so I made sure to tie up any loose ends this week. There are many people that I've grown to love out here, but they are fond memories I can take with me. Leaving Fruita is less of a shock than when I left Eagle, and I'm at peace with it. So I can put a big grin on my face and say, "Thank you, Fruita, for the time I was able to spend here! I'll come back some day to visit!"

 

Anyway, that's all I've got for this week. Sorry it's kind of short. It's been a slow week as I said before. Love you all! We'll see where I go next week!

 

~Sister Richelle Jones

Fw: Muddy Situations

 

 

 

 

Greetings everyone!

 

I have a couple of different stories to share with you this week, and unfortunately I don't have a whole lot of time to do it in. I'm emailing Tuesday since the library was closed yesterday because of Martin Luther King day. And since I actually have appointments and stuff to fill today, I can't spend too long doing email stuff.

 

So to start off with, while the snow melts, a new problem begins to arise. Mud. For some reason in Washington, it rains all the time, yet the mud isn't as bad there as it is here. It's like the ground here isn't used to dealing with water, so when it gets water it sort of goes "AAAAAAUGH" and turns into mush. One of the families we visit hasn't put down gravel in their driveway, so their driveway is a giant sinkhole. One night, it was 8:30 and we wanted to try to stop by one more person's house before calling it a night, so we stopped by their house. No one was home, so we started to drive away. Until we fell into a mud pit anyway. So at 8:40 we're calling members desperately to help us out of the mud. :/ Finally some members who lived close by came and helped us out, but now I have the fun story that we got stuck in the mud. All of my boots have taken nice trips through the mud now, too.

 

This week we also got to try some elk! Twice! I've never eaten elk before in my life and this week, two members fed us elk. One was an elk steak, and the other was an elk burger. It's... Different. Not bad. Just different. I think I'll stick to eating beef.

 

So Fruita has been going through a lot of major changes missionary-wise this transfer. I told you about how we lost 3 out of 4 elders new years eve. We got another elder to replace the three and that companionship has been covering two of the Fruita wards. Well, this week, one of the sisters went home. She was struggling with depression and finally called it quits. So her companion is now with the Sister Training Leaders in Palisade. So Sister Moa and I are really the only missionaries left in Fruita who have been here for a while since the one elder who actually stayed this full transfer only came in just this transfer. It's pretty nuts. I think that Sister Hilton going home was a major blow for me mostly because I've felt close to that point a couple of times already in my mission, but I've managed to pull through. It just... struck me. That's all.

 

Speaking of transfers. Guess what's coming up this week? Yeah, so Fruita is about to really get overhauled since I'm fairly certain that either Sister Moa or I could be leaving next week. *Shrug* we'll see what happens.

 

Anyway, I think that's all for this week. I could share more, but I'm out of time. I love you all! Have a great week!

 

~Sister Richelle Jones

Fw: Melting!

 

 

 

 

Yo!

 

Guess what? IT REACHED ABOVE 40 DEGREES THIS WEEK! YAAAAAAAYYYYY!!!!! Seriously, roll down the windows and throw off your jacket, it's not below freezing anymore! Well, ok, it still get's cold sometimes, mostly at night, but considering the fact that the temperature hasn't gotten any warmer than 30 degrees on the warm days for the past month or so, it's been nice the past few days and a lot of the snow and ice is finally melting. But I've heard that it's a brief break and that it's supposed to get colder. So I'll enjoy the warmth in the time we have it. I'm just glad we're not in North Dakota or something like that. I heard it's been getting -60 up there.

 

Anyway, I don't have a whole lot to say for this week, actually. Lessee... We had zone conference this Thursday, that was fun. I got sick again Friday, but that's no big surprise and this time I asked for a priesthood blessing to hopefully put a stop to the weekly sickness thing. An elder got home from his mission this week and gave his homecoming talk on Sunday, so the chapel was chuck full. And that's about it. It was a good week. Just not many fun stories.

 

Well, ok, here's a random yet amusing story. We were over at a member's house and we were waiting for the sister's husband to get home. She pulled out a glass pan of brownies out of the oven, set it on the counter, and then we went into the living room and started chatting. We weren't in there very long when we suddenly heard this BANG! CRASH!! We all just sat there startled for a few minutes before dashing into the kitchen, and the glass pan had exploded! No reason for it, it was just exploded! There was glass and brownie everywhere, and some of the brownies had fallen on the stove which was on for some reason, so that started to burn and fill the room with smoke. We were scrambling around trying to fan out the room and sweep up glass and brownie when the husband got home. It was chaotic, random, and amusing. :)

 

Anyway, that's it for now. I love you all!

 

~Sister Richelle Jones

The one with me making a funny face was me attempting to look sophisticated with my new ruffle scarf. :) The funny thing is I got two other ruffle scarves from members that look exactly the same but with different colors. The red shirt I got as well as the headband were also gifts from members.

Fw: Welcome to 2014

 

 

Helloooo, everyone!

 

This week went by pretty quickly. New Years happened. Yay. New Years eve we were invited over to a member's home, which would have been fine except that most of the people wanted to play video games on their xbox, so us missionaries were left being bored in the corner not allowed to participate. But New Years day we got to play volleyball with a bunch of Sisters and Elders from Grand Junction, so that was fun.

 

It was a little odd, though, seeing our district leader there and asking him when zone conference is and his response is, "Oh, I've been emergency tranferred so I don't know and don't really care cuz I won't be there." ... Yeah, apparently three out of four of our elders got ET'd this week. The rumor is that they got caught staying up partying New Years eve. I don't know how accurate that is, but that's the only explanation we've gotten. :/ Silly elders.

 

Oh, so as far as good news goes, there was this guy who showed up to church a few weeks ago. He was apparently a former investigator who had been dropped like a year ago or something but who decided it was time for a change in his life, and so came to church and asked to take the missionary discussions again. So, that was pretty cool!

 

On the flip side, it's been getting cold again here. Last night it dropped below zero again. It was sad, because the icicles were just barely starting to melt. But so it goes. I hear that the eastern side of the united states is getting hit harder than we are, so I can be grateful that I am where I am. It's a cold winter. My only complaint is that I have to walk in it, but thus is the life of a missionary.

 

Several people have voiced their concerns about me continually getting sick. It's more of an annoyance for me than anything else, mostly because I'm not certain what's causing it and it's interfering with me doing missionary work. I've been pushing through it as best as I can, but since I'm the only one who can drive the car, it's a bit dangerous to do so when I can't focus properly. This week was better, but it's still a concern. My guess is that I'm just not used to this kind of weather, both with the extreme cold and with how dry it is, and so my body is reacting to it negatively. *Shrug* I'll get over it eventually. Sister Moa has been very patient with me getting sick, so I'm grateful for her.

 

Anyhoo, I think that's all for this week. I love you all! Thanks for all that you have done and continue to do!

 

~Sister Richelle Jones

 

P.S. Hey! This morning I discovered that you sent a converter for SD cards in my Christmas box! I was too distracted by the shiny presents before, but now I can send you pretty pictures whenever I want! PICTUREZ!!! YAYYY!!!