I have not found all the extra time to write blog posts that I thought I would have once Joshua had left for his mission. It seems that in the past six weeks, since he has been gone, I have spent most of my time online writing and emailing him. Then, there was also the family Christmas card and the family Christmas calendar to get done - both of which ended up being more time consuming than I expected. Both are finished now, with only the family Christmas letter left to write. I decided however, that a blog post was way over due, especially when I feel so over whelmed with blessings that I want to express gratitude for.
Josh (the one of the right - shown here with his buddy Elder Johnson) is doing well, and will be on his way to Mexico early tomorrow morning! He has been at the Missionary Training Center on the BYU campus learning Spanish for the last six weeks, and now the time has come for him to use what he has learned. Here is just a bit from his last email which we got on Thursday...
Hello Everybody,
This week has certainly been alot better. It's my last week here I have my flight plans and everything so the next email from me will be from Mexico. It turns out they're putting us all the way through Atlanta, GA so we have like a 5-6 hour flight there and then probably like a 4 hour flight to Monterrey. I'm going to start packing today. I've been here for like 6 weeks and I still don't know very much Spanish. I hope that when I get there and go to a baptismal service I don't accidentally say Donde es bautizado servisio? Cause then I'd be asking where the baptismal toilet is...Not much interesting happened this week just another week at the MTC. I think I'd just like to apologize my last email went a little over the edge. It just gets so stressful at the MTC. Once again I love all of you and will remember you in my prayers.
Love, Elder Jones
I am very thankful that I have an 18-year-old son who is making good choices in his life and is taking two years out of his life to serve the people in Mexico. This young man is certainly a blessing to his family, and, as our bishop told us last week, he is a blessing to our entire ward (church congregation) family.
I am also very thank for my son-in-law, Joseph, shown here with my grandson Miles (the picture was taken right before Joseph baptized Miles last summer). When Joshua had a challenging and discouraging week trying to learn Spanish at the MTC, Joseph stayed up late writing a heart felt letter of encouragement to Josh. This isn't the first time he has written to Josh, encouraging him in the right direction. His letters carry a lot of weight since he also served a mission and had to learn a foreign language (Joseph served in Brazil) so he really knows what Josh is going through. I know that his words of positive encouragement make a difference to Josh. Joey is a great husband and father too and we are truly blessed to have him as part of our family.
Speaking of missionaries, I am grateful that I had the opportunity to make a small difference for one young Sister Missionary (the one on the right in the striped sweater). Last Sunday was her birthday. Her mom (a total stranger to me, who lives in Maryland) put out a request, through a missionary moms Face Book group I belong to, for someone in Arizona to personally deliver birthday greetings and love to her daughter. Turns out her daughter's current address wasn't far from me, so I put together a small gift and set out to find Sister Bryant, and give him a vicarious birthday hug from her mom. It was such a small thing - it only took about an hour of my time, but it helped make a young missionary's birthday happy. Doing this very small act of kindness for a total stranger made me feel happy for the rest of the day. It also made me wonder why I don't take such opportunities to serve more often - something that I need to work on!
I am so grateful that I can read and that I enjoy reading. This is what I have been reading this past week. I finished Outliers and Three Steps to Success in parenting and In Life and just stared The James Miracle. I am also grateful that, as an English teacher, I am blessed with the opportunity to help others love reading and learning. This past week, I was heartened when a the students in two of my classes expressed to me that they are enjoying the books they are currently assigned to read. I will consider myself a successful teacher, at the end of my career, if there are a few more readers in the world who learned to love the printed word in my class.
I am thankful for my mother-in-law, Lois Perschon Jones. She is back in the hospital with late stage Parkinson's Disease and is not doing very well. This is a picture of my mother-in-law and my daughter, Tiffany taken last year after Tiffany finished Volume Two of her grandmother's memoir. Lois has always been kind and loving to me, and has treated me as if I was her own daughter. There have been many years in my life when I felt closer to her than I did to my own mother. I know that at 85 she has had a good long life, but she is my prayers as she enters, what could well be, the last stretch of her journey here on earth. I know that God will take good care of her on the other side and that she will one day soon have a joyous reunion with her husband and parents who have gone on before - truly something to be grateful for.
Finally, today, I am thankful for the kind and wonderful people I have met through blogging. Your blogs are creative, interesting, upbeat and positive. You have great stories and amazing ideas. Many of you have been wonderful role models and have helped me change my life for the better. Thank you all! Blogging is truly a blessing!
Have an awesome Thanksgiving Week!
"Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father..."
James 1:17
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