Prepare Ye the Way of the Lord

William James Jones has been called to serve a two-year mission for The Church of Jesus Christ ofLatter-day Saints in the New York Rochester Mission from November 2012 to November 2014.





Wednesday, August 14, 2013

The wheels are turning for missionary work . . . 


12 August 2013

I can't believe that it's already a new week.  It just seemed to fly by here.  Anyways this week went okay but not as good as I would have liked it because I got sick.  It started with my companion Elder Kelly getting sick from his previous companion.  Then another Elder serving in the Brockport ward (we have 2 sets of Elders and 1 set of Sisters in this ward) Elder Moulton got sick so to keep the work going I went of exchanges with Elder Johnston(Elder Moulton's companion) and stayed and worked the Brockpork Elders area (they are called the Brockport Elders and me and Elder Kelly are called the Spencerport Elders) while Elder Kelly and Elder Moulton rested.  But then on Friday I got sick and Elder Kelly got feeling better so I stayed in doors all day.  And then on Saturday Elder Moulton got feeling better and I was still sick and Elder Johnston got sick so I stayed indoors all day and the same thing happened on Sunday and I'm still sick today.  So yeah it was pretty funny that we all got sick from each other but at least the Brockport Elder's area still got worked.   So it's been an interesting week in that I've been with different companions at different times.  

On Tuesday we stained an investigator's (called Diane) balcony that wrapped around her swimming pool so that was fun.  She's an eternigator in that she's been investigating for 7  years but we will keep working with her.  She really appreciated the help and took us out to lunch and while we were working with her we had some great conversations about many different things.  On Wednesday we also did service with another of our investigators (named Viki) and cleaned her windows.  She is suffering from depression and we are trying to motivate her to get her out of her rut.  And then this boy named Chris Post has expressed interest on becoming baptized. He's nine years old and his family has just recently been reactivated.   The father is a widower and went inactive when his wife died 3 years ago when they were living in England but he has since recently become reactivated and so we are teaching his son.  We are hoping that his son will get baptized with his two twin sisters who are turning 8 at the end of the month.  That's was mostly it in Spencerport this week.  I taught a few people in Brockport too. When I was with Elder Johnston we were doing street contacting and talked to these two emo looking girls.  They're super cool though despite their appearance and seemed to be interested in learning more so hopefully the Brockport Elders will continue to keep teaching them.  I also was privileged to go into ward council yesterday too and the main focus was on missionary work.  I'm really pleased with that.   It seems that the wheels are turning for missionary work in this ward we just have to find some people to get the ward machine working.  Also the ward mission leader here came up with this great idea of a fasting calender in that the members sign up for days of the month to fast for all of our investigators and its seems to be pretty effective too.  That's it for this week.  


Love Spencerport!

5 August 2013

I got transferred to Spencerport last week and I really love it here. It's really pretty here too.   The people here are really friendly and are actually willing to listen to us and have conversations with us. We actually found someone from tracting this week.   This area was recently opened about 4 and half months ago so there's a fair amount of work to do.   We are part of three sets of missionaries in the Brockport Ward.  The ward is shrinking and is very aged so we're trying to find some more families to bring to it.  The ward boundaries are also really massive  so we have a lot of work to do.  There are also a lot of less actives a lot more then Fairport too so we will be working with them a lot too.   But I'm glad to be here and I'm happy that people will actually talk to us when we tract and pray we will have success here.   There's one person we're working with that's pretty close to baptism.  My companion is pretty cool.  He's been out for six months and is a good guy. His name is Elder Kelly.  We will work as hard as we can and will hopefully bring some people unto Christ . 


Off to Spencerport!

30 July 2013

Well, Fairport has been fun. I've met a lot of awesome people and have learned quite a lot from my stay here. Now I'm off to Spencerport.

A pretty awesome analogy



This is Shrek the sheep. He became famous several years ago when he was found after hiding out in caves for six years. Of course, during this time his fleece grew without anyone there to shorn (shave) it. When he was finally found and shaved, his fleece weighed an amazing sixty pounds. Most sheep have a fleece weighing just under ten pounds, with the exception usually reaching fifteen pounds, maximum. For six years, Shrek carried six times the regular weight of his fleece. Simply because he was away from his shepherd.

This reminds me of John 10 when Jesus compares Himself to a shepherd, and His followers are His sheep. Maybe it’s a stretch, but I think Shrek is much like a person who knows Jesus Christ but has wandered. If we avoid Christ’s constant refining of our character, we’re going to accumulate extra weight in this world—a weight we don’t have to bear.

When Shrek was found, a professional sheep shearer took care of Shrek’s fleece in twenty-eight minutes. Shrek’s sixty pound fleece was finally removed. All it took was coming home to his shepherd.

I believe Christ can lift the burdens we carry, if only we stop hiding. He can shave off our ‘fleece’—that is, our self-imposed burdens brought about by wandering from our Good Shepherd.

“Come to Me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy and my burden is light.” Matthew 11:28-30



Leaving Fairport - making my way up the Erie Canal

30 July 2013

I'm leaving good old Fairport and making my way up the Erie Canal to Spencerport which is on the other side of Rochester.  It seems to be similar make up to Fairport except its a bittle smaller and a bit poorer than Fairport.  But yea hopefully I'll have a good time there and have some success there too.

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