Illinois, Chicago Mission Spanish Speaking July 2015-2017
April 24, 2017
I will just share pictures of how my birthday went. So nice of everyone to celebrate with me.
April 17 2017
Hey mom! :) birthday week already? I hadn't even noticed ;) 20 tho... no more teenager excuse.. eh whatever I guess.
We just did the funniest thing:) So this week I found a rope swing in the front of these people's house so I decided to take a ride:) haha I'll include pics but it was just the most random thing for me that I thought it was awesome:) also, we had our last zone training ever! I am not a hundred percent sure why it was the last one, but my president told me as we walked in together that we won't be having anymore! So that was some big news because we have had those once a transfer since... always.
Transfer week!!! This weekend we got our transfer text and calls. First off my good buddy and fellow MTC mate Elder Erekson got called as our new AP so shoutout to him. Secondly, we are getting transferred. Way sad that my time with Elder Hill has probably come to a close for the third and final time. In Mexico, Chicago 2nd, and now Chicago 5th, we have been a lot of places together! He will be continuing his mission though in Gurnee 3rd, my birth ward. He is way stoked and I have been hyping the ward to him all weekend. I am getting another fellow MTC mate, Elder Hincha!! Wayyyy good guy and heck of a friend, I'm super excited to be his comp going into our last three months together. It could be my last companion... dun, dun, DUN!! My district leader is Elder Hanna who was my leader when I first got to chi 3. I am still in chi 5 That's weird.
Three months left so what do we do? Celebrate the time with 25 scoops of ice cream!! I will include pics and a video, but we found this place called Margie's which sells something called the Royal George. 25 scoops of gourmet ice cream absolutely smothered in hot fudge and caramel, topped with more whipped cream and cherries than you could possibly eat yourself! Obviously we took 7 elders to help us with this colossal dish:) 10 bucks a piece was worth the creamy goodness that is the Royal George. No regrets! It was a good week:)
We just did the funniest thing:) So this week I found a rope swing in the front of these people's house so I decided to take a ride:) haha I'll include pics but it was just the most random thing for me that I thought it was awesome:) also, we had our last zone training ever! I am not a hundred percent sure why it was the last one, but my president told me as we walked in together that we won't be having anymore! So that was some big news because we have had those once a transfer since... always.
Transfer week!!! This weekend we got our transfer text and calls. First off my good buddy and fellow MTC mate Elder Erekson got called as our new AP so shoutout to him. Secondly, we are getting transferred. Way sad that my time with Elder Hill has probably come to a close for the third and final time. In Mexico, Chicago 2nd, and now Chicago 5th, we have been a lot of places together! He will be continuing his mission though in Gurnee 3rd, my birth ward. He is way stoked and I have been hyping the ward to him all weekend. I am getting another fellow MTC mate, Elder Hincha!! Wayyyy good guy and heck of a friend, I'm super excited to be his comp going into our last three months together. It could be my last companion... dun, dun, DUN!! My district leader is Elder Hanna who was my leader when I first got to chi 3. I am still in chi 5 That's weird.
Three months left so what do we do? Celebrate the time with 25 scoops of ice cream!! I will include pics and a video, but we found this place called Margie's which sells something called the Royal George. 25 scoops of gourmet ice cream absolutely smothered in hot fudge and caramel, topped with more whipped cream and cherries than you could possibly eat yourself! Obviously we took 7 elders to help us with this colossal dish:) 10 bucks a piece was worth the creamy goodness that is the Royal George. No regrets! It was a good week:)
April 10 2017
This week has been crazy and weird. Honestly probably the most stressful week of my mission. I didn't even realize how stressed I was until today. So we work very closely with our ward mission leader and his family right? Well he got released this week and got a new calling to be in the bishopric of the new single adults ward so the family had to change. His girls felt like they were "kicked out of the ward" which is not true of course. We explained it to him that we just need to go and serve where ever the Lord sends and needs us. This is a hard job because I am not good with feelings or talking about them.
This week we got to try the best burrito in Chicago! And I'm not gonna lie, it was true to its name! The place is called Garcia's and they are very proud of their burrito making prowess. I was impressed and my companion as well! Definitely will be taking the family there when we come back someday:)
This week we got to try the best burrito in Chicago! And I'm not gonna lie, it was true to its name! The place is called Garcia's and they are very proud of their burrito making prowess. I was impressed and my companion as well! Definitely will be taking the family there when we come back someday:)
also got pizza Chicago's is the best.
April 3 2017
Hey mom!
We taught like 6 lessons last week and had like 27 dcms or something. We have a few investigators but like... none of them will come to church! It's the most frustrating thing when they are like so fine when we are in the same room as them but as soon as we ask them to do something when we aren't there they are like nah. But oh well.
The lady from last week update- Ya we are going to have our first lesson with her sometime this week. She canceled on us last week so... soon tho! And she sounds pumped to see us again because Elder Hill and I have literally both taught her before.
The weather has been straight poop. Rain for at least a week straight. We just got finished playing soccer in it for three hours tho which was way fun. I am sooooooo sore now. I feel like I haven't done anything for weeks and I realized today how much I was always in shape to just be able to run out and put in work but not now. I was surprised to see my skills came back so fast after not playing for so long. This other elder, Umahi is his name, asked me if I was going to play college and said that I totally could if I tried. And he was way good so.. that was cool and nice of him:)
The girls told me about their games so that was fun! I'm way excited to come home and participate in their training and stuff too. I have been eating great and working out great until this conference. I think between these last two days the only things I have eaten are butterfingers, Doritos, and Powerade. It was some hard snacking.
Elder Jones
We taught like 6 lessons last week and had like 27 dcms or something. We have a few investigators but like... none of them will come to church! It's the most frustrating thing when they are like so fine when we are in the same room as them but as soon as we ask them to do something when we aren't there they are like nah. But oh well.
The lady from last week update- Ya we are going to have our first lesson with her sometime this week. She canceled on us last week so... soon tho! And she sounds pumped to see us again because Elder Hill and I have literally both taught her before.
The weather has been straight poop. Rain for at least a week straight. We just got finished playing soccer in it for three hours tho which was way fun. I am sooooooo sore now. I feel like I haven't done anything for weeks and I realized today how much I was always in shape to just be able to run out and put in work but not now. I was surprised to see my skills came back so fast after not playing for so long. This other elder, Umahi is his name, asked me if I was going to play college and said that I totally could if I tried. And he was way good so.. that was cool and nice of him:)
The girls told me about their games so that was fun! I'm way excited to come home and participate in their training and stuff too. I have been eating great and working out great until this conference. I think between these last two days the only things I have eaten are butterfingers, Doritos, and Powerade. It was some hard snacking.
Elder Jones
March 27 2017
Elder Hill and I are killing it. Story of the week would probably be this lady that I taught a little bit in my last area just moved into our area here. Now we are gonna work with her for real. So that's pretty cool:) I also received the shaver from Harry's mom I am excited to try it.
March 20 2017
A member invited us to go to breakfast downtown. Here is a picture of what I got to eat. Way nice place too.
March 13 2017
So ya I got my package and thanks so much! :) The mangoes are way good! I was transferred and now live in Chi 5 area now which is back north side. Elder Hill is my comp now. He is from Murray and from the MTC with me. It's crazy how much nicer the area is!! Haha down south it is soooooo ghetto compared to here. But it's great! My new ward is completely crazy. I don't think this will be my last comp. I've got at least one more transfer but you never know!
March 6 2017
Has anyone ever been in a tornado? Anyone? Well I haven't but we had a close call experience this week! On Tuesday my companion Elder Jewell and I were just going about our business when my district leader calls us with some news. A tornado had touched down close to Chicago and was heading our way! The sky was dark and stormy and the wind was getting a little rambunctious, but the thing was we were very far from our house. So what do we do? Run. Haha yep! We just took off running towards the nearest train station, which fortunately was only about 15 blocks away. I use the word only because we actually were able to catch a bus after about 5 blocks of running. We made it home obviously! The more disappointing part of this story is that the tornado didn't actually get very close to us at all. We never even saw it. But it was a pretty exciting way to start the week!
Other big news is that I am being transferred! This didn't come as a huge shock even though I have only been here for three months. The crazy part was that my area is being shut down. Or better, taken over by the other elders in our ward. There will only be two sets of missionaries in Chicago second now. Super sad. Apparently this is happening because we are continuing to drop in number of missionaries in our mission. When I first started we had 250. Now we are hovering just over a hundred. The difference is actually pretty crazy here and we notice it for sure.
I also went on exchanges with my zone leader Elder Vandenhazel this week. If any of you recognize that name it is because I was comps with him for three transfers back in Chicago third! He has still been my longest lasting comp and it was super fun to be with him for a day. I got roped into singing a song in sacrament meeting for his ward because of our exchange. It was great and we had a blast!
As always thank you for all your love and support. Chicago is amazing! My birthday is next month also so for anyone who wants to send me something you can start thinking now:) love you all!!
Elder Jones
Other big news is that I am being transferred! This didn't come as a huge shock even though I have only been here for three months. The crazy part was that my area is being shut down. Or better, taken over by the other elders in our ward. There will only be two sets of missionaries in Chicago second now. Super sad. Apparently this is happening because we are continuing to drop in number of missionaries in our mission. When I first started we had 250. Now we are hovering just over a hundred. The difference is actually pretty crazy here and we notice it for sure.
I also went on exchanges with my zone leader Elder Vandenhazel this week. If any of you recognize that name it is because I was comps with him for three transfers back in Chicago third! He has still been my longest lasting comp and it was super fun to be with him for a day. I got roped into singing a song in sacrament meeting for his ward because of our exchange. It was great and we had a blast!
As always thank you for all your love and support. Chicago is amazing! My birthday is next month also so for anyone who wants to send me something you can start thinking now:) love you all!!
Elder Jones
Feb 27 2017
Davin emailed me today which was so great to hear from him. It's pretty cold and snowy here got keep moving to stay warm and teaching. Hope you guys have a good week.
Elder Jones
Elder Jones
Feb 20 2017
I didn't have time to write a long letter this week. Just want to say awesome job to my sisters playing soccer in St. George this weekend. I heard it was wet and cold but you did great anyways. So cool that Trevor went into the MTC this week. Tell Brad and Bristy hello and I love them tons so glad you got to see them. Also mom your birthday present will be arriving July 11th at the Salt Lake airport. The surprise present will be ---ME! Love you all! Elder Jewell and me.
Elder Jones
Elder Jones
Feb 13 2017
Hello!
This week was an awesome one! We had stake conference here in the Chicago stake which is cool just because it is the Chicago stake. So something really unfortunate for my companion but very fortunate for me, is that he has diabetes! This is only a good thing because he needs to work out every single day to keep his blood sugar down. So that means I get to work out too! This has been my best transfer ever for extra curricular exercise. Also, we have been biking! Lately, the weather has been above 4 degrees so why not right? Biking keeps me in such good spirits though so it's way worth. We also did a lot of work reactivating this family this week..
Elder Jewell and I are working very hard and are loving being together in Chicago 2nd. I hope everyone has a great week! Love you all!
PS.Happy birthday to my brother Kalen and my mom this week!
Elder Jones
This week was an awesome one! We had stake conference here in the Chicago stake which is cool just because it is the Chicago stake. So something really unfortunate for my companion but very fortunate for me, is that he has diabetes! This is only a good thing because he needs to work out every single day to keep his blood sugar down. So that means I get to work out too! This has been my best transfer ever for extra curricular exercise. Also, we have been biking! Lately, the weather has been above 4 degrees so why not right? Biking keeps me in such good spirits though so it's way worth. We also did a lot of work reactivating this family this week..
Elder Jewell and I are working very hard and are loving being together in Chicago 2nd. I hope everyone has a great week! Love you all!
PS.Happy birthday to my brother Kalen and my mom this week!
Elder Jones
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| yep biking in the snow!! |
Feb 6 2017
This week was great! Elder Jewell is a way funny dude. A lot like... Andrew Hunt type humor. We get along great. He is taller than me tho... :/ oh well!
So I am about to take pics with a tarantula:) it's gonna be awesome. He was being moody so I only got the one in the cage but next time I go over I will be holding him.
Elder Jones
So I am about to take pics with a tarantula:) it's gonna be awesome. He was being moody so I only got the one in the cage but next time I go over I will be holding him.
Elder Jones
Jan 30 2017
Hello Everyone!
I am so relieved to report that I am out of the trio life. I realize that some people may not even have known I was in a trio because I have missed a week or two. Just to catch up then! My companion was sent home three weeks ago and I was sent to live with the other elders in our ward till the end of transfer. It was a super fun experience because one of those elders was my mtc companion, Elder Hill! It was great to be with him again because he is such an awesome guy. So after living out of two suitcases in their living room for three weeks, I have now returned to my own area and my own house with my very own companion. I never realized how much of a blessing a normal companion is until now.
His name is Elder Jewell and he is from Kaysville! He is pretty new with only 6 months under his belt but his Spanish is well beyond where mine was at that point in my mission so I'm way jealous. We are excited to work together. Have I ever mentioned our apartment has two bathrooms? Quite literally my favorite part about it.
Unfortunately, working two areas basically just means that we could add the member appointments from my area to our schedule in the other area. There has been pretty much zero work done in my area since I left which means we are kind of starting over. We didn't have too many investigators before anyways. Jose is still doing great though, and we have re-engaged the work with him. The goal is to have his baptism before the end of the transfer. Which shouldn't be too hard with the Lord on our side!
I feel as though this email will be super boring so I am making it a goal to have another crazy experience for you guys next week to keep you on the edge of your seats. Keep praying for me though because this place is dangerous! I love Chicago and can definitely feel the Lords protection as we walk down some of these streets. Thanks for all of your support as usual! Love you guys!
Elder Jones
I am so relieved to report that I am out of the trio life. I realize that some people may not even have known I was in a trio because I have missed a week or two. Just to catch up then! My companion was sent home three weeks ago and I was sent to live with the other elders in our ward till the end of transfer. It was a super fun experience because one of those elders was my mtc companion, Elder Hill! It was great to be with him again because he is such an awesome guy. So after living out of two suitcases in their living room for three weeks, I have now returned to my own area and my own house with my very own companion. I never realized how much of a blessing a normal companion is until now.
His name is Elder Jewell and he is from Kaysville! He is pretty new with only 6 months under his belt but his Spanish is well beyond where mine was at that point in my mission so I'm way jealous. We are excited to work together. Have I ever mentioned our apartment has two bathrooms? Quite literally my favorite part about it.
Unfortunately, working two areas basically just means that we could add the member appointments from my area to our schedule in the other area. There has been pretty much zero work done in my area since I left which means we are kind of starting over. We didn't have too many investigators before anyways. Jose is still doing great though, and we have re-engaged the work with him. The goal is to have his baptism before the end of the transfer. Which shouldn't be too hard with the Lord on our side!
I feel as though this email will be super boring so I am making it a goal to have another crazy experience for you guys next week to keep you on the edge of your seats. Keep praying for me though because this place is dangerous! I love Chicago and can definitely feel the Lords protection as we walk down some of these streets. Thanks for all of your support as usual! Love you guys!
Elder Jones
Jan 23 2017
So we got transfer calls this weekend and I am getting a real companion of my own! I have been in a trio with Elder Brimley and Hill, living in their living room on the couch. Haha it's gonna be great:) His name is Elder Jewell and he's been out like 5 months or something. I'm going back to my apartment and our district will be normal again. Elder Brimley goes home like April. Elder Hill is from Lehi and Brimley is from Draper. They have been great and they taught me to make ties. They are really good at budgeting so we all went to Michael Jordan's steakhouse restaurant. It was sweet they let us sit at his personal table (because he wasn't there). It was super expensive so thanks for the extra money mom! I still want the whole family to go there when you come back with me to Chicago. I'm so stoked for Trevor as well! Finally, finally, finally he is getting out there on the mission.
Jan 16 2017
Guess who emailed me today that hasn't in forever?? DAD! :) haha it was great:) But so ya the work is still going great! So I have a bit of a crazy situation with my investigator who is planning on being baptized! So I think I told you about Jose who is this like 19 year old kid that I put on date my first lesson with him in this area right? He is super cool. And so we were getting him all prepared and then in his interview we find out that he is on probation for something he did when he was 14. Still on probation! So we had to call our president to see if that was ok and he is like um... well actually we now need special permission from the first presidency for his baptism. And I'm like great.. haha so what we are working on now is getting a little bit more information on what happened and some of his probation details so that our president can ask Salt Lake. Other than him we haven't been able to find anyone new or solid yet and we have to visit almost two members every single day because of our two areas. It's really great but we stay sooooo busy!!
I heard Ally is stoked to get back out onto a big pitch this spring! Her email to me was hilarious:) I seriously want to send you a screenshot or something it was so good. That is so weird...that Kalen is now hanging out with my mission friend! We haven't actually gotten hardly anything in terms of snow lately. I think the last time it snowed was like Christmas. It rained pretty bad one day this last week. That was weird. And it's been really cold. My boots are still great and I love them a whole lot.
I heard Ally is stoked to get back out onto a big pitch this spring! Her email to me was hilarious:) I seriously want to send you a screenshot or something it was so good. That is so weird...that Kalen is now hanging out with my mission friend! We haven't actually gotten hardly anything in terms of snow lately. I think the last time it snowed was like Christmas. It rained pretty bad one day this last week. That was weird. And it's been really cold. My boots are still great and I love them a whole lot.
Jan 9 2017
So... I hope you are ready for a story because I just had the craziest two weeks of my mission.
First off, yes I got the pictures and they were great! I am still super salty that your car got broken into on vacation though and don't know how to take my feelings out on that one. That snow you are getting is awesome! I might have a pic or two.... but nothing great. I'll explain that in a bit with my story. My area is pretty great but... we have soooo many less actives. Like it's a big ward but nobody comes to church.
Ya so the crazy story. Well you remember how Elder Recillas is my companion? And we were comps
(in a trio) before when he got sent home last February? (he was only home 6 months then came back out) Well, he just got sent home two days ago. Again. I almost got sent home as well because of what he did and was doing. Crazy right? it was the weirdest thing to hear president tell me I might be going home. It was sooooo scary. Recillas was an idiot and did something wrong and got caught so I am in a trio again! President realized I was not involved at all and I couldn't have prevented it either cause I didn't know. Good thing you tell me to follow the rules every week. The weirdest 2 weeks of my mission life. I am in the Chicago zone. My new area is great! I am now with Elder Hill (my MTC comp) and Elder Brimley. Right now I live in their front room I left most of my stuff at my apartment. They are also teaching me how to make sick ties. Here are a few pictures.
Elder Jones
I am cutting out fabric.
Jan 2 2017
Happy New Year. This is my last year in the mission and it is going by too fast. It only snowed here in December but it is super cold. So you went to Magic Mountain with Hermana Knowles?? that is so cool Send me pics!! We are still teaching Jose and things are going well with that.
Elder Jones
Dec 26 2016
Thanks mom for my presents:) so good talking to you guys yesterday! I loved it! I hoped everyone liked their gifts I sent! I have been collecting all of those for a lot of months! I don't know what else to say. I am too lazy to write an email this week. Have a good vacation family without me. I know it won't be that fun.
Elder Jones
Elder Jones
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| Captured on Ipad while talking at Christmas |
Dec 19 2016
Merry Christmas!!
So yes we will have church but just the first hour. Now that Ammy Trujillo is home from her mission I have seen so much of her on facebook lately it's been crazy! Haha tell her hi for me. A lot of people know her sister here in my mission because she served here.
For P-day we went to the church this morning and played some darts and basketball. My new apartment has no cockroaches!! My companion is Elder Recillas. So we were actually comps for a week back in February. Haha almost a year ago. He has been out the same as me although he is a native. He's from Mexico... I'm pretty sure. I am in the Chicago 2nd ward now.
So yes we will have church but just the first hour. Now that Ammy Trujillo is home from her mission I have seen so much of her on facebook lately it's been crazy! Haha tell her hi for me. A lot of people know her sister here in my mission because she served here.
For P-day we went to the church this morning and played some darts and basketball. My new apartment has no cockroaches!! My companion is Elder Recillas. So we were actually comps for a week back in February. Haha almost a year ago. He has been out the same as me although he is a native. He's from Mexico... I'm pretty sure. I am in the Chicago 2nd ward now.
We found a kid named Jose that we are going to teach.
Elder Jones
Elder Jones
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