15 February 2011

Hey family

First of all, let us have a moment of silence for the resignation of Jerry and Phil.

Thank you.

This week has been another good one. Biggest news first, I had a very yummy orange off an orange tree, and it was very tasty.

Next biggest, Billy got off parole on Tuesday afternoon!!! He is super excited. He had his baptismal interview on Saturday night, and it went well. His baptism will be this Saturday at 5pm. The ward, us and Billy are all very excited. Pictures to come soon

We found out the reason John was in the hospital was because he drank over the past weekend. He drank, and drank, and drank some more. Then he drank some more. He hadn't had alcohol in decades. He got some pretty nasty alcohol poisoning. We kindly let him know how stupid that was of him, and he has learned his lesson. We 3 fasted this last Sat/Sun for him to quit smoking. He joined in and did very well. We didn't think he'd make it through the night without smoking/eating something. He made it until noon on Sunday. He actually missed church because his medicine without food made him very, very weak and sick. He tried really hard. We were very proud of him. Let's see how that goes!

On Wednesday, all missionaries in our mission got the privilege of texting. Oh my has it been nice. The past few months President has experiemented with it with the zone leaders and district leaders. It is so nice, because people won't ever answer their phones, but they're happy to reply to a text right away.

On Thursday, Elder Bailey woke up with super severe itching. He had weeded right in the middle of stinging nettle the previous day. Mom and Camille will remember how crazy that kind of itching drove me that one Sunday. He was going berzerk, it was funny. The whole time I was in the shower, he was punching his pillow to get his frustration out. He emptied a whole tube of Gold Bond anti-itch that morning. Didn't do a lot though. Funny stuff.

I got a letter this past week from my friends in the U of U band! They sent one during marching band, and now this one. That was a good booster! They sent a couple Valentines Day cards and a lot of the people I know signed it.

Also on Thursday, we had three evening appointments, and they all fell through. That makes for a bad day as a missionary. Jamie and Christine both got sick. We ended up helping Bro. Christensen see some of the inactive people he'd been assigned to find. After that was done, we still had two hours left. Just then, a couple in the ward that we're friends with called and she asked for a blessing (she's almost due with a baby). We went to help her out, and they were very very grateful. After that, we called Donna on a whim (she never answers her phone), and she answered and said it was a great time to come by. We had an awesome lesson on the beginning of the Plan of Salvation. She loved it all, especially the fact that we lived in heaven before here. Most people don't react to that, but she loved it. She also ended up coming to church this week. She's starting to progress very well. It's neat to see that God works in many ways to bless His children! A bad night turned into a great one.

That's all I have time for this week. Thank you all for your support and love. Have a phantastik week!

Elder Jon

Go Utes!