Man vs. Wild video of Elder Jones in the sugar cane fields

 

Hello Everyone, 

Here's what I've been up to this past week,

Monday 

So P day was pretty good! But way hot!   We went to the King’s Palace here in Solo and it got talked up to much. It was cool but just not as cool as it was said to be ... but we had a fun day!

Tuesday

Today I held my first District meeting it was good but kind of weird for me to be doing it. Then we went way out of Solo to another town riding bikes to go teach a lesson.  During the lesson there was this little dude like 5 years old running around butt naked at his house and he had a fishing pole hitting us during the lesson. I've mastered patience!

 

 After that we rode off into the sugar cane fields.  They are awesome!   I ate some sugar cane and it was fun knowing where my red bull and sour gummy worms begin their life.   We printed some pictures and I’ll send those out to you soon.

 

Wednesday

Today was good,  we were on our way to go eat and my comp pulls up to our usual chicken place and all the tables are full so we have to sit with someone random … So we sat down with this man and I tried just talking to him about normal things and then he asked what we do here, so I explained that we were missionaries.  Then I felt like I should give him the Plan of Salvation pamphlet.   I started talking about how we believe in a life after death and eternal families.  He started crying and told me his wife had died 30 days prior to this and that he used to be Christian and how happy he was that we met him and things like that... it was cool!

 

Thursday

Woke up and went right to our service project which consists of cutting weeds and burning trash and stuff. So that’s fun.  After that we ate and had a normal hot day.

Friday

Today we taught an eternal investigator (never progressing) and we’re lost.  Not quite sure how to help them... So we will probably just move on and see if they want us back.  The day its self was long. Towards the evening I got really trunky missing my pals Elder McCleary and Elder Barrus who went home last week.

Saturday

Went out to a half member family with lots of little kids. I brought all my magic out there and they just LOVE it! It’s so much fun ... then we related it to the gospel. Since I’ve been here in Solo they come to church every week it’s been great!

 

Sunday

I love Sundays! It was nice and we came home ate studied. There are a lot of members here.  We had 180 at our ward!  It’s full! Everyone loves me in the ward because the Bishop is a car dealer to and I told him dad was too!  The members that come are really good!   

I like my district and we all get along well.  We actually do get a cool breeze here which is nice.   I was going to go take my district fishing but looks like that’s next week. There is a lake out by the airport.   !

 Questions:

Are you running or lifting at all? People don’t run here. They start thinking something bad is happening!

How’s the weather?  still hot!

How’s the economy? Rupiah is still 1300 to a dollar. There is lots of poverty.

Do you teach English class in this town? Yes!
What are you doing for P day? Playing pool
How is your Javanese coming? I’m not going to try and learn it. But Elder Bills can write it!
Eat any strange food this week? nah not really
Did you have any cold contacts this week? What?
Are there fewer Muslims in Solo and more Christians? Or vice versa? I don’t really know?
How is your apartment? It’s okay ...
Do you like your new bedroom? Not compared to the mission home
Is this a town full of cats too? Yes!
How is the missionary work progressing this week? Better! We did great this week!
Get any letter mail? Nothing :(!
What does a District Leader do?  I keep people in line. Call shots and interview for baptism and lead and watch over the sisters.

Love you guys!

Elder Jones 

 



Week 69 1/2 - There's a Spider in my shirt!

This post is written by Wendy....

Mother’s Day Skyping!!

“I’m happy I’m moving ... I’m happy I’m the district leader in solo .. I’m happy I’m moving... I’m happy I'm over all my health problems... I’m happy my kidneys are better I’m happy, I’m still alive, I’m happy  that no matter what happens I will one day be back in America, I’m happy I can eat cool things, I’m happy for my mom!”  -Tyler

So we got to skype Tyler for Mother’s Day and it was awesome!  He called us at 5:00 a.m. Sunday morning.  I (mom) hurried and put some clothes on (after being awaked from a deep sleep) and we talked to him for an hour.  After we hung up I went to the kitchen to get some breakfast and felt something in my shirt I was wearing.  I shook it out and THIS IS WHAT FELL OUT!!!

YES I WAS A LITTLE FREAKED OUT!  it even has glowing eyeballs!  Luckily it didn't bite me :/  not sure what kind of spider it is?!

 

Also a picture from Elder and Sister Mitchell (Brenda Bennett's parents who are serving in Indonesia now)  So happy that they were able to meet Tyler before he was transferred to Solo!

Week 70 - Transfered to Solo

WEEK 70 – May 18, 2015

Hi Everyone,

I made it to Solo ! This place is awesome it’s like its own little mission inside of its own! The first thing I noticed when I got here is how dang quiet it was!

Everything here is really easy going and laid back. Everyone here is like slow mo, that’s the Javanese way! Speaking of that... everyone here speaks a different language called Javanese. You probably could YouTube it to hear. So I’m not going to do my normal weekly run down cause it wasn’t a normal week. But hopefully by the pictures you can see kind of some of the high lights of my week! SO the mission in this area is mainly to reactivate members. We have like 1300 non active members. It’s crazy ... But missions aren’t measured by baptisms but by invitations! To come back to church or to learn or to be baptized. I love my district here and I think we’re going to do awesome.

 

Funny story...

SO Sunday we were in our room in the evening and were studying, so it’s quiet and we hear something crash upstairs!  It’s dark and I said did anyone lock the doors? And everyone’s quiet... but now it’s obvious someone is in our house! So I run out into the kitchen and get a knife so I'll be ready for who knows what?!  And then that alien you guys sent me gets thrown at me!

 I was so confused ... turns out Elder Arthur and Elder Marianus broke into our house ha-ha! I almost killed the guys! But it was funny!

Here are some pictures of a typical lunch place in Solo

Questions:

Did you get to ride in the cockpit? Not in flight; / but I did get window seat alone! Ahhhh :)
Did you dress up like a pilot? Yes! I got asked 10000 times if I was!
Did you take a taxi to your new apartment? yeah
(Just remembering when you got transferred to Semarang and how you had to drag your suitcase several blocks to get to your apartment hoping this didn't happen this time!)
Do you like your new companion? Yeah he is a great guy! We’re going to do awesome
Are you the only two that live in the apartment or do you live with other elders? 4 elders here. The the Zone Leaders and the sisters are also in this town.
If so, who are they and where are they from? Elder Bills from America and my comp is ELder Hethuarua
Do they speak Indonesian or mostly Javanese in your town? Mixed
How do you like it so far? So far it’s good!
I see from your pictures that you are bike elders! What do you think of this? Love bikes!!
How do you like your new ward so far? It’s huge!!!
How is the work in your new area? Slow :)

The "bike repair shop"

Have a great week!

Love, Elder Jones

Week 69 - Mother's Day Skyping!!

 

 

Hello Everyone,

 

 

I got to Skype with my family this week and that was awesome!  I will be getting transferred on Wednesday to Surakarta, Indonesia.  It's right in the middle of the island!  I'm so excited to be back in the "jungle" again.  I don't have a lot of time so here are some pictures from this past week and I'll update you next week on my new adventures! 

 

Love, Elder Jones



The ULTIMATE carb sandwich!

Riding in the taxi

A trip to the Zoo for P-day!

Week 68 - 3 Baptisms!

Hello,

We are having 3 baptisms this week, I'm very excited!

I lost my voice for 2 days... and legit couldn’t talk at all. It was kind of funny!! So I couldn’t talk to anyone!

On Thursday I went with Elder Barrus and Elder McCleary  it was awesome! We met with our pals Steven and Henry they took us out to eat at a Chinese restaurant! It was really nice of them and tasted good! Steven is really funny  he told all these girls at the place that we were Katy Perry’s guards (she’s in concert here on the 9th ) they all believed it and took our pictures. 

Elder McCleary and I taught 3 people on the bus on the way home together and gave them all a Book of Mormon and it was awesome.   We also went to a member’s house.

Friday  there was a HUGE demo/ Riot thing in Jakarta so all the roads were shut down almost the whole day and only little roads were open.  I would have taken pictures of it but I can’t, so we worked in the office that day because we couldn’t leave until the evening.  That night we had English class and taught Andy a lesson.  I could feel the Holy Ghost so strong. That night I also gave a member a blessing and he was really thankful so that was nice.  Man my mission is flying by!

Saturday was awesome. Just glorious! We ate lunch with Sister Ina Asa and Den Den and that’s always a lot of fun! I love those guys!! And then we came home and weekly planned and all our appointments fell thru so we went out and had dinner with them again! They are so nice to us :) Makes my day!! :) Then we came home! And cleaned and went to bed.

We did not partake of the Margaritas :)

Sunday we went to church and we had 3 baptisms! 2 for the sisters and 1 for the AP's so that was great!  Later on,  Elder McCleary and I went and taught a few people then it started raining so hard that we just got drenched and destroyed and yeah it was crazy so we just went home! 

My new pet

Catching the frog

That's my week!  Love you all and can't wait to Skype you on Mother's Day!

Love, Elder Jones