Fw: Snow Angels

 

 

Greetings!

 

Winter seems to have settled in to stay. We got a bad snow storm on Wednesday (The schools canceled which doesn't happen very often down here apparently) but the missionary work trudged on. It was a good thing I got those boots when I did, but even with them, my feet have been freezing. The below-zero temperatures don't really help. (It's currently -3 degrees outside right now...) The Fruita and Grand Junction area is supposedly the warmest place in the mission with the least amount of snow. And certainly, it held out longer than Eagle did. But even still, it's really really cold.

 

It's only been a week and I'm already quite sick of it. It's apparently one of the coldest winters they've had since Fruita usually doesn't get snow this early in the year, but the snow we have isn't supposed to melt till late February, so I'm just going to have to get used to it. It's funny, after the snow storm, they were pretty good about plowing most of the streets, but then it snowed again Friday night and they never bothered to plow any of the roads from that. The roads are pretty slick and it's been an interesting experience driving in it, but I think I'm getting used to slipping and sliding on the ice. Definitely all those times that Dad forced me to go out and drive in the snow to get the experience has helped, otherwise I might have freaked out by now.

 

I have discovered that one of the most amusing things to do is break off the gigantic icicles that are almost big enough to create spears out of and javelin throw it against the ground and watch it shatter into a thousand pieces. SO much fun.

 

I have to admit, I'm not a fan of the cold. I never have been. I suppose it was a tender mercy that I was removed from the mountains before the winter or else I would probably refuse to go outside. It's COLD. I kinda feel sorry for all the cows that have to stay outside in the freezing cold.

 

So this morning, one of the members took us up to the Grand Junction Monument, which is the giant Grand-Canyon-like rock formation on the south side of Fruita, so I got lots of pretty neat pictures.

 

Also, I got to sing in the Ward Christmas Party last Friday. I'm getting more confident standing up in front of a bunch of people and singing. It's still not my forte by any means, but my voice doesn't shake so bad anymore.

 

Anyhoo, I think that's pretty much it for this week. It's cold. Really cold.

 

~Sister Jones

Fw: Holiday Schniffles

 

 

 

 

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!!!

 

This week was kind of a slow week since most people were out of town for the holidays. We were asked to take care of two people's animals while they were away which has been fun. Chasing down chickens. That keep escaping. Five minutes after you round them up into their cage. Curse you, chickens.....

 

We're really excited for Lizzie who is getting baptized in a few weeks. I think I mentioned that last time. It's weird, I turn 21 soon... How odd. Yeah, Lizzie agreed to be baptized the day before my birthday, and she's doing really well and will be making it to that date. She will be the fourth person I've helped bring to baptism. I've been able to help Jess, Susanna, Ricardo, and now Lizzie. The promise given in the Doctrine and Covenants is really true when it says that when you reap with your might, your back will be laden with sheaths. I love all the blessings the Lord is able to give to his children, and it's been my priveledge to not only witness it, but be a part of it.

 

Thanksgiving was fun. We got a day to hang out and relax until dinnertime, where we went to a member's house and hung out and relaxed. It was great! A rare occurance indeed!

 

Then on Black Friday, I caught a cold. We tried to go see people anyway, but nobody was home, so when we got to the point where the only thing left to do is tracting, I gave up and we went home. I've been sick ever since, but we got some spray stuff that helps with sinus problems, and that's been helping. Hopefully it will be completely gone by tomorrow.

 

There was a cool thing that happened, I went on exchanges the week before with one of the Sister Training Leaders, Sister Jones. (We confused the heck out of people. It was fun.) But while we were out tracting, we ran into this guy who was from our area in Fruita who was looking for some help moving. So we got to help him. That was pretty neat.

 

I also got your package! I am enjoying it. :) The white chocolate Reese's are really good since it's all just basically peanutbutter and sugar. DAAAAVIIIIID!!!! Thank you for the music CD. Hearing you play piano brings back good memories and I love you. I think it's funny that in most of the recordings, you can hear Tess in the background walking on the wooden floor in the front entry room. Some of the recordings got a little maxed out in the sound in places, but it still makes me really happy. I laugh at the parts where you mess up. Bahahaha!

 

Yeah, so today we went to the mall and I got myself a pair of boots that will keep my feet dry. I have no idea how I'm going to pack said boots, but I'll figure it out when that time comes. All of the snow we had last week it completely gone except for the melting snowmen in front of people's houses, but I'm sure that we'll be getting a lot more this winter. I'm lucky to be in Fruita where they don't get as much snow as up in the mountains.

 

While at the mall, I also decided that my hair needs a trim since the ends were pretty dead. The person there told me that to get rid of all the dead ends, I would have to cut six inches off my hair. I wasn't willing to do that, but I still had to chop off three inches. :( That's basically all that I grew while on my mission so it's the same length as when I left. I also decided to try out some bangs. I figured, hey, if I don't like them, they will be grown out by the end of my mission. I cut them to be chin-length, so they're not too horribly short and I can still pull them back if I so desire, and the rest of my hair is still nice and long. I'll send you pictures eventually.

 

I kind of wanted to get a picture of me all decked out in black with my sunglasses on and carrying a book of mormon and posing all matrix just because I mentioned it last week, but I never got the opportunity to do so. Too bad. Then I could have sent the picture to you and you could put in the caption of "Bringing Souls to Zion" or "Are you the One" or something amusing like that. Maybe I'll get the picture... Maybe.

 

Well, I think that's all for this week! Happy holidays everyone! December is here! Whip out all your Christmas trees, santa outfits, and credit cards! Yeah! :P

 

~Sister Richelle Jones

Fw: Cold, Wet, and Blind

 

 

 

 

Dear family and friends and all you wonderful people out there who are reading this.

 

This week was a very interesting week. I don't have much time, so I'm going to attempt to be fast.

 

First on the agenda: My glasses broke. :( I didn't notice until one morning I opened my glasses case and discovered that one of the screws had come out and the lense was gone. I scoured the farmhouse, the car, the surrounding areas, the people we visited the previous day, and there's no sign of the lense. So it's quite sad and I will need new glasses. I've gotten permission from the zone leaders to wear sunglasses until I get new ones. With the sunglasses and the long black coat I have, plus my black boots, I kinda look like I belong in the matrix.

 

Second on the agenda: It snowed. It's melted by now, but it's freezing cold outside, and I discovered that my boots are not water proof. They soaked through pretty fast. :( I will need to get new ones I think.

 

I am SO out of time. The library is crowded today and I have 3 minutes left.

 

We had one of the investigators on baptismal date move to a different ward which made us very sad. But the other investigator on baptismal date is super solid and moved up her date to December 14th, so it's like a birthday gift to me! :D That was really a miracle.

 

I'm sorry, I'm out of time. I love you all!

 

~Sister Richelle Jones

Fw: Prophets, Seers, and Revelators

 

 

 

Hello, everyone!

 

Sorry about last week's short email. We went to the library to do emails and it was closed due to labor day. But we had to get the car checked (because the headlights are being dumb and will only turn on the brights for some stupid reason) and while waiting, there was a computer in the waiting room, so that was what I used to email. Then we got permission to email on Tuesday instead of Monday since the library was closed, but I had already sent my email and stuff, and I discovered that I have this fun little time limit while on the computer here.

 

So first on the agenda, I sent you guys the wrong address. It's only wrong by one digit. I sent Darcy the correct address on Tuesday, but I want to make sure everyone gets it.

 

Sister Jones

2048 1/2 J Road

Fruita, CO

 

All of the addresses here are weird and there are lots of fractions included in said addresses. I think J 2/10 road is the weirdest one around here, but yeah...

 

I'm less lost than I was the first week of being here. I still haven't connected all the dots of where everything is yet, but I'm getting the hang of it, and I'm learning more about the people in this area and whatnot.

 

So I mentioned last week that we got to see M. Russel Ballard, which was pretty cool. It's like how Elder Oaks came to the Lacey stake a few years back. It's a pretty rare thing, and I got the priveledge of being transferred to this area just in time to see it. I thought that was pretty nifty. Elder Ballard is a pretty funny guy, and he actually met with all the missionaries after stake conference was over. So I was sitting only about five feet away from an apostle of the Lord. That's pretty significant.

 

A lot of what he talked about was how we need to hasten the work. Members are being asked to contribute more to missionary work, and as such, it's also up to the missionaries to step up the pace to make sure that none of the effort of the members is being wasted. It's still our job to find, to teach, and to baptize. He challenged us to talk to at least ten people a day on the streets in between tracting and teaching appointments. It was pretty intense. He basically looked each of us directly in the eye and told us to work harder. He also talked about how he, as an apostle of the Lord, could go out into the world and declare who he was and what mantle he had, and he could find 30 people on the street for us to teach, but that isn't really his role, it's our role, so go out and do it. Basically.

 

Anyway, there's a lot of things I could talk about. Sister Moa, my new companion, is awesome (She's Tongan, so that's pretty neat), and this new area is awesome. It's actually comprised of more farmland than Eagle was, which was a bit surprising to me, but alright. Eagle wasn't fully farms, it was just out in the middle of nowhere. Fruita is a bunch of farms, but it's right next to a big city. And it's close enough to Utah that there's still a great influx of members here. You ask people where they're from and the answer is usually "Vernal Utah." so they have a joke here that all of our less actives moved from Vernal over to here.

 

I actually live in this creaky little farm house. It's pretty legit. There's a red barn and a bunch of cows next door, all of the floors are made of wood and they squeak and creek wherever you walk, there's talk that the place is haunted (Tom says hi), it's nifty.

 

I don't think there's really anything else to talk about. It's going pretty good here. There's people to teach, things to do, we're doing significantly less tracting over here, we have two people on baptismal date who are going to make it, it's great. Yup.

 

I'll talk to you all next week! Byez!

 

~Sister Jones

Fw: One field to the next

 

 

 

 

Dear home peoples,

 

I don't have a lot of time. So this will be short. Sorry.

 

My new area is Fruita, a suburb of Grand Junction. I'm serving in the 4th ward. There are significantly more members here than there were in Eagle, and we're right next to a fairly large city. It also doesn't snow nearly as much here and the temperature went up significantly, so I'm not freezing to death here. All the members keep telling me that I left Eagle just in time before the snows set in. Fruita is right along the border of Utah and is mostly desert, rock, and cow farms. Yup. I live on a cow farm now. I went from sheep to cows. Yaay. Sheep smell better than cows do.

 

The streets are ratherly interesting here. We get things like J 2/10ths road. The streets are lined up on a grid, so one way is letters, the other way is numbers. So when I say that I live on 20 1/2 road, that means that I am 20 1/2 miles from the Utah border. Yyup. It's pretty interesting.

 

I also discovered that it is incredibly easy to get lessons here. I worked extremely hard just to find people in Eagle and barely scrambled one or two lessons a day, but I came out here and we pretty well get lessons without even thinking about it. Let's go over here and teach these people. Ok. Let's go over here and teach these people. Ok. It actually makes me appreciate just how hard I worked in the Eagle area.

 

Anyway, I'm just about out of time here. Before I leave, I need to tell you my new address.

 

Sister Jones

2040 1/2 J Road

Fruita, CO

 

I think that should be right. I'll double check it next week. Anyway, that's all for me. This Sunday we're having another stake conference here and M. Russell Ballard will be speaking at it, so that's pretty cool. I'll keep you more updated next week.

 

CYA!

 

~Sister Richelle Jones

Fw: Eagle Wings

 

 

 

 

Dearest family and friends,

 

First of all, I want to say YAAAAAAAAA Congrats, Mrs. Darice Sowers!!

 

Ahem.

 

Anyway, I'm sure you all had a more enjoyable week than I did. This was a very depressing week for me, and felt like one of the longest weeks I've experienced here on my mission. We had time after time of appointments falling through, we had one investigator drop us altogether, and many hours of having nothing to do but knocking on doors, and multiple times, we went through an entire street and had only one person home and they weren't interested. I got so discouraged at times, I didn't even want to go out.

 

On Tuesday, I had my doctor's appointment. They said that the cartilage in my knee had a rough spot on it that was rubbing up against the bone, but other than that, I was healthy and fine. They sent me away with a slap on the knee and a piece of paper prescribing some physical therapy to take the weight off the rough spot. In my opinion, it hurts more than "just a rough spot" but I'm not the doctor I guess. At least I don't have to do anything extensive like surgery or anything like that.

 

For Halloween, we went over to the mission leader's house and baked cookies and Polish Apple Pie for the remainder of the night, so that was fun.

 

Friday afternoon, I was feeling really down. The schedule for the day was like, "Tracting in black bear, tracting in cotton ranch, tracting by the Luchycky's," stuff like that for the whole day. And all the while, I kept thinking to myself, "My sister is getting married and I'm not there for it and I'm not even accomplishing anything while doing it." This lasted all through Saturday. Sister Mayne and Sister Henderson were both like, "Don't think about the fact that you're missing it, think instead about how happy your sister is!" and "You'll see her eventually. You have the rest of your life to see her." But I was still very down.

 

Then, late Saturday night, they gave the transfers phone call. I've been transferred. I don't know where I'm going, but I'm going somewhere. I then had the hard task of saying goodbye to a great many people here, members and non-members, that I've grown to love.

 

That was a VERY depressing night.

 

Sunday was fast and testimony meeting during church. And during that, the Lord answered my prayers as one person after another got up and bore their testimonies and many of them included experiences of how they were grateful for the sister missionaries in the area, one member who came out with us to a lesson and had his testimony grow, one member who we had dinner with who's husband wasn't a member and said we touched her husband's heart, a previous less-active family who are returning to church and planning on going to the temple again who thanked me personally for all that I did for them. Then we had a fireside after church that a few of our investigators came to, one of which gave me a scarf to show how grateful she was that we were able to help her, and then we visited Susanne and Ricardo who (In Spanish) told me how very thankful they were that Sister Pfeifer and I had found them.

 

I was very weepy during the experience, and it was the Lord's way of saying, "You are doing great things out here." Just as the knee thing was like the Lord's way of saying, "If I wanted you to go home, I could very well send you home. But I chose not to because I need you out here."

 

And apparently, I'm not needed in the Eagle Valley anymore. I'm going to move forward to new areas, meet many more great people, and continue to have awesome experiences out here while on the Lord's errand. I'll tell you my new address next week when I'm in my new area.

 

Darcy and Josh (Hosh) I love both of you and I wish you the best! I will see you when I get home at the end of my mission!

 

~Sister Richelle Jones