Merry Christmas y'all! 

Can't believe Christmas has already passed. It's really crazy. I remember when I got here and it was Halloween and then Thanksgiving and now Christmas. So insane. It has gone by so fast. 

This week was kinda weird with Christmas and all. It didn't just feel like Christmas since I didn't get to watch It's a Wonderful Life like my family normally does on Christmas Eve. I missed the traditions but that's just what Christmas on a mission is like. 

This week we did a good amount of service. I was on exchanges in a town called Elgin. He and I are both greenies haha and we went around to do some service tracting. We went around asking people if they wanted service and I was surprised that people didn't want it haha. They all just rejected us and didn't want FREE help. Like who doesn't want FREE help? But anyways I guess thats what normal tracting is like. 

But Christmas turned out to be pretty fun. It was my first and probably my last Christmas in the country 😂. We went to our stake president and bishop's house for a little bit. We spent some good time with them and it made Christmas a lot better. We were able to talk to some of his extended family and his son on a mission. But Bishop's son is a senior in high school and so he and I are kinda tight haha. We play basketball together on p days and he calls me Jimmer. So ya it's kinda funny. But then he showed us in his room a signed Jimmer jersey which I thought was pretty cool cause Jimmer is a stud hahaha. 

But not much else happened this week. We got 6 people to sacrament meeting! That was a super big accomplishment since we haven't had anyone come in a long time! It was super cool to see them hop on the zoom link or come in person. So that was a blessing. 

Oh ya I forgot to mention. I spoke in sacrament meeting. All four of the missionaries in the Columbia ward were first asked to sing together and we all didn't really want to haha. We all don't have good voices and so it woulda been bad haha. But we met with bishop on Wednesday and he told us that we were gonna speak rather than sing. I was grateful cause I'd rather speak than sing. All four of us spoke. I had to speak on how Light the World is helping the world for the Second Coming. But it was actually way awesome. I love speaking. 

Here's a quick little spiritual thought for yall this week, its in Matthew 7:24-27

Therefore whosoever heareth these sayings of mine and doeth them, I will liken him unto a wise man, which built his house upon a rock:

 And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell not: for it was founded upon a rock.

And every one that heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them not, shall be likened unto a foolish man, which built his house upon the sand:

And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell: and great was the fall of it.

We need to be like the wise men. We need to HEAR the word and DO it!! We cannot be like the foolish man that HEARS the word and DOESN’T follow it. The only difference is the ACTION. They both HEAR the word yet only the wise man takes action and DOES what he is asked to do! 

I hope y'all had an amazing Christmas and have a wonderful New Year! Love y'all! 

ELDER JONES