25 April, 2016 - Photo Blitz!

    

25 April, 2016 - A fun week in Riverside

Dear Family and Friends,

It has been both a long and short week. I don't know how that works but it did. Anyway...

Monday- After I had E-mailed last, We went shopping and had dinner with the other University Heights Elders (We call them Dixie because they are the south side) and the Chinese Elders in their apartment. After dinner, we were able to pick up a new investigator named Johnathan Vasquez. The thing about this mission is even though it's California, I feel like I have been called to serve in Mexico English Speaking. It is ridiculous. I have never met so many Jose's and seen so much Mexican food in my life. So Johnathan's girlfriend is Patricia, who happens to be the sister of Sis. Pasillas, a LA we are working with. Small world.

Tuesday- Today was the Multi-zones in Corona so that was a good 30 minute drive. As office elders, we were there to inspect the car. We ran out of coolant so we had to hurry and get some more before we had to leave. After the Multi-zones, we had our monthly ZDM meeting. It was super good. Long, but good. After that, we had time to try some people with no luck but we did have the chance to eat dinner with our home-share people, the Wards. That was awesome. They do so much for us. Then we went walking for a bit and visited the Pasillas for a little bit.

Wednesday- we did basic office stuff like cleaning the office and all that boring stuff. Then we went walking with no one really out since it was 2pm and WAY TOO HOT! I hate California heat! The AC is at max 24/7 but my Cali-native companion hates it when I do that. We were able to meet up with Mike who became a new investigator. He is so cool and wants to learn from us about the church. Then, we had dinner at Farmer Boys with the Brown family. The 12 yr old named Andrew is a total goof-ball and bouncing off the walls. It's awesome. We had an investigator named Josh go the the Chinese Elder's English class so that he can learn some Chinese. After about 30 minutes he got totally lost so we had a chance to talk with him 2 to 1. We usually teach his mom at the same time and Josh doesn't really talk much so it was good to talk with him individually.

Thursday- There was a ZL training and we had to be there to set up and clean up. We were planning to see Bro. Chavez but he cancelled. Apparently, he has been going to church for a long time and knows a lot but for some reason he won't get baptized. We wanted to go over and find out why. Then we went walking after lunch at the same time as yesterday so no one was really out. We decided to walk later on like 6 or 7 so we can find more people out and about.The Tippetts brought us Pizza and I got to try the Deep Deep Dish Stuff Crust from Little Caesars and it was pretty good! Then we went on splits and got to ride in Bro. Darrington's Dodge Challenger. Nice Car.

Friday- Was the last day of multi-zones. We read the schedule wrong and thought they were in Lake Elsinore when it was really in Menifee. ooops. Well, we got done in time so it was alright. Then we had our weekly planning session. Then we went walking met with Michael who just asks a bunch of random questions that don't pertain to our salvation. We are trying to get him to CPR (Church, Pray, Read) so that he can answer his own questions so we can actually teach him.Then we had dinner with the Dillman's... and dinner with our investigator, Hoy. He surprised us with homemade tomales and they were delicious! It was a great lesson as well.

Saturday- we had a big service project at the Trijillo Adobe, which was the first house built in Riverside and Southern California. Riverside had some deep, rich history. We spent about 3 hours cleaning the weeds, painting the dwelling and cleaning up the plot. Then, we tried a bunch of people but only really got to meet up with Jose (like I said: Mexico, English Speaking). Then we went walking for a while and talked to a ton of people and got a few potentials. Then we had a late dinner and planned.

Sunday- was a good day at church. Yvonne Chavez came, that was it. She also got her baptism interview done and was found worthy for baptism next week!Now we just need to finalize everything for that. We also learned that she was moving. It is still in the ward, but not in our area. Then we had dinner since we have 1pm church with the Crocketts. Then we went walking in the evening and found 8 people in 1 hour and then reported to our DL and ZLs.

Today- was unusual. We got a call to help some Elders in Jurupa move to their new apartment and missed the Zone Activity, but I got to meet up with Elder Olsen so it was totally worth it. After that, we ate lunch, got cleaned up and got to E-mailing.

I guess the week was long and short because of the unexpected things from waking up early to drive to Menifee or having a person we had come to love found worthy for  baptism to come into the fold of the Lord. This transfer is coming to a close in a couple weeks but I have learned so much in the past 10 months and have a lot more to go. I love you all. Until next time...

Elder Jewkes 

 

* First of all, thanks for sending pics. Especially the selfie. Oh how I needed to see that face! Then to have it pop up on Facebook! Elder Stabler's mom put out a plea for someone to find her son and take a picture...and since your companions, it benefited me, too:] Is Sister Cook who put them on facebook the Sister Cook who replaced the Puskas'? Then yesterday I got another one from your service!!! Such a great week for pictures:]*

 

Yeah it is so funny. We have the Cook's (The Puskas' replacements), Isabel from the YSA and others randomly taking pictures of Elder Stabler and he is totally embarrassed from the attention. I keep telling him that if he would just take pictures this won't be a problem.

18 April, 2016 - Pictures!

The first one is Elder Doi, the missionary I trained. The second one is a paper bass that my companion made me. The third one is a dinner that our Relief Society President dropped off for us. "Fishy sandwich with chocolate milk in a bag.

18 April, 2016 - Another week

Dear Family and Friends,

It has been another week here in Riverside, California. It has been a good one with great spiritual experiences.

Tuesday- Today was actually an early day. It is the beginning of the Multi-zone conferences throughout the mission so as an Office Elder, I assist the vehicle coordinator to inspect the cars to make sure all the cars are clean and working properly. That starts at 7 in the morning. We live 40 minutes from the first one in Hemet (my first area)... without traffic.We needed to pick up the vehicle coordinator an hour before the inspections to load everything. Let's just say that we woke up at 4:30am. It was good. I got to see the missionary that I was training. It was good to see each other again. He is on the same path as me. He is in a trio so he is on companion #3 and #4 and in his 3rd area...this is his 3rd transfer. Anyway, after that was done we were able to visit some people even though we didn't really have any luck.

Wednesday-  Today we had weekly planning. It is the only time we can squeeze it in without interfering the multi-zones. We helped the Spanish Elders inspect their car so that they can save their miles for when they go to their multi-zone tomorrow. After planning, we were able to see Yvonne Chavez who is loving the gospel. She is getting close, but Bishop wants us to slow down to make sure she fully understands what she is getting into. We also got to contact some people we are working with and set appointments for later this week.

Thursday- The Multi-zone was in Jurupa which is only 20 minutes away so it wasn't as bad as Hemet. We also finally got our 2014 Chevy Cruiz back. We were supposed to have it back like 8 weeks ago but things keep popping us since our car is the first to go if something happens to another car else where  then we would just use the office 2015 Chevy Silverado. It is a nice truck, but bad MPG. We went to visit some people at bishop's request and saw a semi-active family, the Browns, that bishop asked us to visit to give 12 yr old Andrew a good priesthood influence...even though wrestling with him probably wasn't the best thing to do. Hey, he kept coming back. He reminds me of Tucker...is that bad?

Friday- was our own Multi-zone. It was in Moreno Valley (my last area). It was good to be back. The conference was super good. It helped us work with the members better and help our investigators read, pray, and attend church. The rest of the day wasn't much since the we were at the multi-zone until about 4pm or so. Gotta love the day-long meetings.

Saturday- Our full day of proselyting without office work. We went street contacting all morning, visited a lot of potentials with return appointments or "Come back Later" responses. The fun began after dinner, which was at a fundraiser dinner for the youth. It was a spaghetti dinner with an auction of goodies and service. After dinner we went to see 2 PMF (Part-member Families) the Mamawals and the Pacillas. They are both doing good.  The Mamawals were in a car accident but they are all ok.

Sunday- was church. We had MCM at 10am then PEC at 11am and church started at 1pm. So Yvonne Chavez and the Pacillas' came to church (the 9 yr old being the non-member). It was a good Sunday. After church we had dinner with the "best" family, the Best's. We had an appointment that fell through so we went street contacting the rest of the night.

Today- is P-Day! So far we have played Basket-ball all morning, ate lunch, got our car washed and currently E-mailing. The rest of the night includes shopping, dinner, an appointment with Maria and Angel, and an appointment with an investigator that the Spanish Sisters sent to us yesterday with contacting in between to fill in the cracks.

It has been a busy week in more ways that one, but the Lord's work is the Lord's work. The upcoming week includes 2 more multi-zones, some appointments and regular missionary work. I love you all. Until next time...

Elder Jewkes

11 April, 2016 - A rather wet week

We got 4 of the flying saucers for MLC. That's a lot of pizza. Unfortunatly, none of the pizzas were cheeseburger flavored

Elder Hale and Elder Young are my Zone Leaders so I thought this was kinda funny.

Dear family and friends,

This past week has been a good one, a wet one, but a good one. It went a little like this:

Tuesday- wasn't really eventful other than DDM which is always good. The new initiative is "Are you insane?" Meaning are you doing the same thing over and over again even though nothing is getting done. It was interesting when Elder Zeng changed the order of the meeting so that Accountability was at the end instead of before the training. It was inspired because the training before helped us solve investigator's concerns. We tried some people but had no luck

Wednesday- was a little more eventful. We had our weekly planning earlier than usual because of MLC tomorrow in which we have to prepare for. After planning and office work, which wasn't really anything, we were able to have a lesson with Michael. He has a really young family and is worried about not knowing how to raise a child. Even though we can't help him, we were able to relate that the gospel and the church can help him since our church is a family-centered church.

Thursday- was MLC (Mission Leadership Council). Even though I am not in it, we still came early to prepare, put supply orders together, and get the pizzas. 4-28" pizzas is a lot...and I ate a lot. Anyway, after the meeting and cleaning up after said meeting, we tried to get as much work done as possible. Being Office Elders means that we need to be masters at time management.... still a work in progress.

Friday- we had exchanges. I stayed in my area (again) with Elder Zeng... on the day we needed to bring two truck loads of furniture to Corona (a 20-30 minute drive without traffic but come on...Californina...there is always traffic) including a 3 seat couch, queen size bed and box spring, a dresser, and a fridge...in the rain. Elder Zeng isn't exactly the biggest and strongest elder but we were able to get the job done...more or less. After that, we tried some people with no luck, but were able to set up appointments for tomorrow.

Saturday- was our full proselyting day of the week. We had a blitz for the Mt. Rubidoux sisters with some luck for them. After we had lunch, we went contacting for another 2 hours and saw Michael again in the process. We invited him to church and he said he would. We also saw the Mamawal's (a part member family) Bro. Mamawal is starting to warm up to us. It's great.

Sunday- was Fast Sunday...even though Elder Stabler forgot. No one came to church. The Guyers were out of town, Yvonne was sick, the Pacillas didn't show up and neither did Micheal. It was kinda weird, there were only 5 Elders at church... Elder Merriman went to the YSA ward with some of their Chinese investigators. After church and no luck visiting other people, we had dinner with the Sandovals. That house is always a party. Last time we all tried Habaneros (Even Elder Stabler who refuses to eat anything spicy) this time they made homemade Salsa which was also spicy. I love going to that house. That was about it for the rest of the night.

Today- we played B-ball and chair soccer for hours! Some of the Elders I was playing chauffeur for were practicing for a musical number for our Multi-zones on Friday so we were there longer than I hoped. We ate lunch, came here to E-mail, and will go shopping, eat dinner and try by some people.

This past week had been an interesting one... as all weeks in the mission are and next week will be even more interesting as I go to Hemet, Moreno Valley, and Jurupa setting up for Multi-zones. Isn't office elder life great? It has definitely been a learning experience. I love you and until next time...

Elder Jewkes

4 April, 2016 - General Conference weekend

Dear Family and Friends,

It has been a great week here in Riverside. General Conference, missionary work, it couldn't get much better.

Tuesday- was the whole incoming missionary orientation and we needed to help run that all day. We were able to try to see some people in our free time but no luck. We also managed to squeeze in our DDM meeting. After the orientation, President Mullen asked us to take some bikes to the missionaries' new areas and take a missionary back to Lake Elsinore. One was in Hemet and two were in Moreno Valley: both places I have served before. Good times. The one in Hemet was going to the very ward I had started my mission in. We left the mission home at around 5 and we didn't get back until 9:40pm. I hate California traffic and drivers!

Wednesday- We were able to see our golden investigator, Yvonne who will get baptized as soon as she quits smoking and drinking Coffee. She is doing great and loves the church. Everyone loves her too. We also worked with a Part Member Family, the Pacillas'. The 9 year old son hasn't been baptized yet but our bishop wants us to fully make sure the familiy is re-activated before that can happen. All for good reasons. Also tried by some potentials with no luck. We need to find more solid potentials.

Thursday- was a DL meeting that we helped run as well. Isn't office elder life great? We also had to run to Moreno Valley to pick up a bike and grab an extra bed in Jurupa. All fun stuff. Then we were able to see the Guyers. They are progressing slowly but surely. They are totally ready but they don't know it yet.

Friday- we were able to finally do our weekly planning. Other than that, nothing really happened. We were in the office for longer than we planned, then we weekly planned, then had dinner then tried some people and were able to talk with a few of them.

Saturday- was General Conference! Sooooo good. We had to watch it at the stake center which is 20 minutes away from our area so there wasn't really any time to do work until after dinner which is for some reason hard to do in this area after 8 for some reason.

Sunday- was the rest of General Conference. Afterwards, we visited some people and had dinner with our home-share owner since our dinner cancelled last minute. She fed all 6 missionaries in the ward. She is the Best!!! After dinner, we were able to talk with Hoy, an investigator who is hard to meet with because he is getting a PhD in Psychology... not an easy thing to do.

Today- we played basketball for hours like usual. We now have some really good players in Riverside, and even an investigator that the YSA elders brought. He is like 6' 5" and has a killer shot. After we ate lunch, went to Ross to get stuff like watches and shoes and now currently E-mailing. After, we will do our grocery shopping, eat dinner and meet with the Pacillas again along with some other potentials.

My favorite talks were the ones from Elder Oaks, Elder Stevenson and Elder Holland. I desire that you all read them or listen to them again. They have touched my heart in particular. Love you all!!!!

Until next time...

Elder Jewkes


 It sounds like tons of fun stuff happened back home. I am jealous of the snow. I try to crank the  A/C to get as close as possible but my California-native Companion is not a huge fan of that. I tried to find Trevor during conference, but I couldn't see him. A blurry projector screen didn't really help. I did manage to get new shoes. I also needed a new watch since mine broke yesterday. All is well though. So today Elder Merriman and I were reminiscing of the good ol' track days and then I realized that I have a rubber disc at home and since we are serving around 2 campuses and one of them have an open field, do you think that you can send my rubber disc to me please? That would be great.