STAYING IN BERGEN

Hei hei!

Well that takes the fun out of my email... yes I am in a threesome. The other two Elders here in Bergen right now, will be my new companions.  So we will combine our two areas and the three of us will be the bergen elders. I will be leaving the family's home and moving in with the new elders on thursday.  they live in an apartment near to the church as well.  So it should be an interesting month with the three of us in that apartment.  I am definitely excited for it.  The other Elders have a baptism this week so techinically I will have a baptism this week as well!  That is pretty cool!

But I was glad to hear that all is well at home.  It is cool to hear that Darcie is home, that is so wierd but it felt like that whole generation was already of their missions.  I guess we did overlap for a bit though haha.

I haven't taken any pictures since last week so I don't really have a lot to give to you... but I will see if I can get some soon and get them to you.  You asked if my clothes fit... yes for the most part.  My pants are all pretty big but I just tighten down my belt and it works.  

The weather here has been like you have seen; rain, rain and more rain.  It was sunny for the baptism Saturday though, so we had refreshments outside. I am super happy with this rain jacket that I bought here.  It keeps me totally dry.  The shoes have been holding up really well too, so no problems there.

Other than that, things have been going good. Y finally came home.  Although we haven't seen her yet.  She got back Saturday night, super late.  So we get to teach them both before my comp leaves. We have been teaching D the gospel of Jesus Christ through the Book of Mormon.  We have shared the stories of Enos, Brother of Jared, the Stripling warriors and a couple others.  We focus on a different portion of the Gospel of Jesus Christ each time.  So I am way pumped for that.  We had a lot of time on the street last week, so there really isn't much to report other than what I have said.  

Anyways we are making Taco Pizza's for P-day today. So I have to run.

Jeg elsker deg så mye! Jeg kan ikke vente til snakke med dere på Mors dag!

Din sønn,

Eldste Jones

Hei hei!

Well not much to report from the last week I guess.  Not a lot on the new investigator front. We have been struggling to find new investigators in the past week or two.  We Have been trying to do a lot of contacting and what not.  Other than that there really not a lot going.  The weather here is getting a lot more Bergensk.  We have seen a lot of rain in the recent past.  It is definitely warmer though!  

A typical day here without being in training, well it is a lot like the other days.  We wake up and I do jump rope, write in my journal for the day before, shower and then eat breakfast. We start with studies at 8; personal, companionship, and language.  At 11 we eat lunch.  Then we usually have appointments or contacting for the rest of the day.  With dinner in there somewhere.  If we go into the city we try and stay in the city for the rest of the day.  But ya, thats about it.  

The ward is about 500 members.  Only about 100 of them are active.  We just got the second stake last year.  So I am part of the Drammen stake. 

That is cool to get to hear that things are all going well at home.  Things are good when we are busy.  Also could you find out where B comes from?  Tell the team hi for me!  I was trying to remember the other day and I couldn't.  

I am not totally sure if I have any pictures for you but i will see if I can dig some up haha.  

Now for the events of the week.  We have a baptism this Saturday in the District!  The sisters here have one of their investigators getting baptized!  So that is exciting.  We have continued meeting with D, Y is still out of the country.  we met with T again, he is still not progressing though. We are thinking about giving him to the end of the transfer and if he is not progressing we are probably going to drop him.  We did a lot of contacting in the past week as well.

I almost forgot, we had a really fun ward activity here!  The YSA here put it on, basically we had different activities going on throughout the church.  Elder Davidson and I both taught the ward how to contact on the streets for our little portion.  it was super fun and we had a blast.  I will see if I can get those pictures to you.  They are hilarious.  We had people dress up like missionaries in our clothes and then we brought wigs for the pretend investigators.  People were looking so ridiculous!  Way to much fun.  I could not stop from laughing and smiling the whole time.

Today president is coming into Bergen.  He is visiting our district for our district meeting tomorrow.  We hope to find out stuff about the transfer calls and what not.  Not sure if he will give any information though.  Won't stop me from trying!

I am so nervous about transfers, I cannot think about leaving Bergen.  This place is perfect.  The members here are awesome, I learn so much everyday, i really cannot describe how amazing this place is.  It scares me to think that I could leave to go to an area with on 4 members... but I guess I go where the Lord sends me!

Anyways thats about it.

Jeg elsker deg så mye!

Din sønn

Eldste Jones

WE FINALLY GOT A BAPTISMAL DATE!

Heisann!

The week here has been way good.  We finally got a baptismal date with D and Y!  But I will talk more about that later. Questions first.  Transfers basically happen when we have Elders or Sisters coming or leaving.  So we have elders leaving on may 2nd and then we have a big group coming from the MTC on May 27th.  So we basically have 2 big moves next month.  It looks like we will lose a lot of leadership and what not so I think I will probably lose Elder D soon.  But ya, there is no set schedule for transfers now, just when we have some leave or come.  As far as pictures, I have bought a Flash drive here that I backup all of my pictures on.  So I have my SD card and a flash drive that has my pictures.  It is actually pretty common for elders here to have full on portable harddrives that they store a bunch of stuff on, but I just got a 16gb flashdrive.  I will see if I can find some to send to you from the recent past.

This week though.  It was awesome.  I went to Stavanger on splits for Thursday and Friday with our Zone leader.  While I was there we got the opportunity of picking up one of the new missionaries from the Airport.   She looked like she was doing well, and she definitely has an awesome trainer.  Other than that though Stavanger was awesome.  I was with Elder A.  The other zone leader, Elder C was here with Elder D.  It was really cool to see another part of Norway.  It was wierd though being by myself in the airport travelling and what not on the way back.  All good though!  Elder A was way cool to get to work with, he has this really cool dialect that he picked up in Bodø, so he sounds really cool when he speaks norwegian.  He was way good to get to learn from to, its amazing how many people there are around you that can teach you so much!

Anyways, while I was in Stavanger Elder D and Elder C. taught D and Y.  So I wasn't there for the baptismal date, but it sounded like a really good teach.  Other than that not a whole lot went on.  We were hitting the streets a lot.  It has finally started to rain here.  So that is a little interesting.  I went out and bought a waterproof windbreaker that has a hood.  I realized that was something that I was lacking.  It was a little expensive but I think it will be really good to have here.  

Anyways,  thats about it.

Jeg elsker deg så mye!

Din sønn

Eldste Jones

 

THERE ARE FEW THINGS MORE POWERFUL THAN THE PRAYERS OF A RIGHTEOUS MOTHER!!

Hi mom,

Yes 30 pounds... I have no idea how it happened. I stopped drinking soda and I no longer sit behind a desk for 8 hours a day... so I guess that would do the trick.  My clothes fit, kinda. I just cinch my belt really tight and then everything is good.  I don't feel like I look any different though.  So I think that most of the wieght I lost was in my legs, or something.  

D and Y are doing good.  Y went away 25 days though. She comes back on the 27 of April.  So as of now we are just working with D.  We sent the missionaries her information so they could contact her. D told us that she found out that her brother got baptized so that was way good news to hear.  We hope that he takes her to church with him.  Other than that, there is not a whole lot of news on the investigator front.  

We actually just finished watching conference, we had to Watch Sunday afternoon session here this morning.  We watched Priesthood and one saturday and one sunday sesssion yesterday.  So the schedule was all messed up.  Conference was way good though!  Lots of great inspiring talks and an awesome emphasis on missionary work.

Ya the family got to go to conference, I was way jealous haha.  And yes she is pretty amazing, she is actually from the phillipines. Transfers come up at the begining of May.  So it is coming fast.  I don't know if I will stay in bergen or not.  Either my comp or I should be leaving.  We have 6 elders leaving on that day so there will be a lot of changes.  

By the way, today is officially the day where I am no longer a greenie!  My twelve week training is over!  I am so pumped!

That is good to hear about spring break and some time for the family. Tell taylor to write me!  That kid never does it!  

A line from conference comes to mind though, there are few things more powerful than the prayers of a righteous mother.  I forget who said it, but I want to say it was in priesthood session.  I don't have my notes at hand so I couldn't tell you.

On that note I just wanted to tell all of you at home how grateful I am for you.  I know that your prayers, Mom, especially help me every day.  Thank you.  I know how important this work is and I am so happy that we can all stand together in pushing it forward.

Takk skal dere ha!

Mye kjærlighet til dere!

Jeg elsker deg mama!

Din sønn,

Eldste Jones

MY INCREDIBLE SHRINKING BOY (DOWN 30 POUNDS IN JUST 2 MONTHS!)

Hi mom,

 

Not a whole lot of time for email today.  We have maybe 5 minutes each to shoot an email off.  Anyways, no I do not have a bump on my arm, yes I am healthy.  I actually have lost weight, I have lost 30 pounds!  My paints are super big on me and I am on the last belt loop of my belt. 

 

We get fed by members a lot.  We actually eat with members about 2 or three times a week.

 

Last week was way good, ate with members for easter and lots of other fun stuff.  People in Norway all leave for the mountains though, so there was no one in the city.  So we didn't have a lot to do.

 

Tell everyone sorry that I can't write but we have a dinner appointment with our investigators at 5 that we have to get to.

 

They are progressing so well, and we found out that they are getting married in june in Spain!  We are way pumped and are so happy that they are progressing.

 

Anyways, I have to go, I love you!