July 29, 2013

Dear Family,
Thank you for the Birthday Package last week! You guys are so nice! Thank you so much, I was so happy to get it. It made it a good Birthday day. And sister Morphy is the best, she is so nice to the missionaries. She made cupcakes for mine and Elder Jensen's birthdays. The ward is so nice to the missionaries as a whole.

That is crazy that you had another big storm with houses being flooded, was anyone hit in the ward as hard as the last one I was there for? The back yard does look nice though even as a puddle.

Things like always are going well here. We have really been able to get good street lessons. I think that is a big tool to be able to do hear because people won't give you the time of day to ever come to their house. Having the trio is good too for that because we can surround people so they can't leave and they have to listen to us. haha No really it is good having a trio, the training is going good for them, they are awesome missionaries so it makes my job easy.

 I don't know if you guys have kept up with the latest missionary announcements but there have been quite a few. One that is going to be going into effect immediately is that we need to get side bags instead of backpacks. Our mission is doing away with backpacks as a whole. The mission president hasn't set a date of when we need to have them by but it is already going into effect. So that is something that I don't know how we will work out. I am sorry to put this extra burden on you guys! Do you think it woul be better to get one out here or do you guys know of good ones to get? Maybe the church is going to start making some that we could get? I am not sure but I just wanted to let you know.

 I love you all! I hope that things go well with Troy's interview, I hope the Caziers can keep hard enough books in Parkers hands, I'll pray for the city of enoch and it's flooding, Julene as well with her new life starting to go. Much love from Huntington Beach!
-Elder Jolley


P.S. look on the news about the down town Huntington Beach riots that happened Sunday night from the US open.

July 22, 2012 Happy Birthday!

Dear family,
Thank you so much for the Birthday Wishes! It made my day for sure. Holidays just aren't the same on a mission so it's nice to have the real world reminder that holidays are in fact alive and well and still celebrated. I hope no one get's offended that I am hardly ever able to resond to emails. I do love getting emails (and pictures) and being able to see everyone and their families and get updates and hear how everyone is doing. It is the highlight of the week so please keep them comeing. The downside of that deal for yall is that I am super pressed for email time and so I am not always able to respond but know that your emails are VERY MUCH appreciated.

This week has been awesome. We got our third companion to complete the trio and he is a nice Elder. He is from Oregon and is a visa waiter going to Brazil. It is very interesting trying to train 2 at once but it is also very fun. I really like being in the trio. I have already seen the blessings of it and so I am excited to have it longer.

The people we were hoping would come to church didn't show up. But we found another family on Thursday that is a mom and a 13yr old daughter, 12yr son, and 2yr son and had a good lesson with them about families. It is nice having a big family to be able to have so many examples and lessons to share with people. But we had a church tour set with them the following day (Friday) and it fell through, their car was having problems...

We have been having an explosive amount of street lessons and that is awesome. I am loving it. This week the surfing US Open started and so things in downtown Huntington are crazy (the only area we are serving in so we can't go else where) but it will be fun. We had alot of success on the 4th with the church open house, so I think this will be a success too.
I love you all! Thanks for keeping me updated!
Elder Jolley

July 15, 2013

Dear Family,

It is always so good to see pictures of everyone and hear the latest updates. Tyson and Dawn look like they are going to have a some good years coming up for them, that is exciting he is starting Dental School. It is amazing to see how everyone in our family is progressing and growing and becoming successful. I better get my act together so I can do the same! Now Julene, I said that you better be careful. You better stay in "just a relationship" for 19 more months ;) No really it is good to see that you aren't too prone to the post mission malaria.

It's been another good week in Huntington beach. This Tuesday is transfers and an Elder that has been in this ward the whole time I've been here is going home so that is sad. He was in the ward for almost 9 months I think so he had has a huge impact on the area. But he is ready to go home. It's funny/sad seeing the missionary dieing process in action. With the transfer we also have new leadership calls that come in. Last transfer I became a trainer and that lasts 2 transfers so I'll be continuing that with Elder Jensen. That has been going very well. Elder Jensen has been learning fast (I am learning a ton too) and he wants to work hard as well so it is good situation for both of us. We are doing the best we can. But then I got a call Wednesday that I am going to be training again but I'll still keep Elder Jensen and finishing his training and getting another Elder and training him, so we are going to be in a trio. It is going to be awesome! He is a visa waiter but they have a reputation of being here for at least 2 or 3 transfers. Especially with all the missionaries now that are going to be waiting for visas. So that means I'll be able to totally train him most likely. This is going to really help the work here I think. There are some ladies here that we haven't been able to go into her house and teach them because we only had 2 of us and that's against our rules and they would never set appointments so we couldn't get a member with us to be able to get in. But now with 3 of us we will be able to go into any house at any time. I am super excited about that. It is crazy though that I'm out 3 transfers and Jensen is out 1 and now we will have a fresh guy. We are a super young set, which will be to our benefit because it seems as missionaries get older they loose some of their excitement. This will be an opportunity to grow as well. To stop leaning on my own understanding but to lean unto the Lords. Whither I want to or not it will cause me to put myself aside and realize I can't do it on my own and that this is only possible through Gods help, only after everything I can do. I am excited to see what happens these next few week. Here is a cool little story that doesn't sound big but is neat. Our zone had a high goal of investigators to church and so all week we have been inviting after lessons, street contacting, knocking doors, phone calls. We were trying really hard to get our part there. No one was going to come all the way until Saturday and still we had no one. Then we were walking in between visits and a guy walked around the corner I didn't know but Elder Jensen had meet him several weeks ago when he was in another area on splits and they had invited him to church then but didn't know if he had gone. We start talking and he says he tried to go to church but couldn't find the building and asked where it was and we gave him directions and his words "awesome, that sounds good. I'll see you in the morning" and walks away. We didn't know what had just happened, stuff like that never happens! It is awesome to see that when you do all you can and try your hardest God will ALLOW you to then have success. It really puts you in perspective of where the power really comes from. It's Gods work. With out him this is all futile. I love you all! I'm excited to hear from you all next week!
Elder Jolley

July 8, 2013

Dear  family,
Oh my goodness everyone is so cute! Shannon has gotten so big and Dustin has too. I think he looks kinda like me, atleast in that picture he does. The stairs the boys built look so good, I wish I could have helped them with it. You guys are having all the fun now that I am gone. I want to see more pictures of the yard if you have done more improvements in it. You are doing a good job Dad. I feel like I need to be there to watch over Julene and make sure these guys are okay for her! I said I expected a niece or nephew from her before I get home but actually she can't even get married. Same for Jessica. I need to supervise their male interactions. haha
Things have been continual good here. Always trying to improve and make ourselves better so that we aren't hindering the work. We spend most of our time trying to find people to teach since no one is progressing. I am glad we don't have a car so that we can always be on the street talking with everyone. Training with Elder Jensen has been going good. We are getting better and better every day as a companionship. He is a hard worker too. One of the other Elders that we share the ward with goes home a week from tuesday and it is sad seeing the process happening. I can sort of sympathize for you Julene, I am already not looking forward to that last week. Luckly it is far away! We have been trying to do alot more work with the members and we are already seeing improvements, the members here are awesome. I encourage you guys to get to know the missionaries in that area and support them. I don't know how they function in that mission but haveing members to work with is awesome. I am sure you all are so good at sharing the gospel with those you have in your everyday life. Even if they are already members, it is amazing to see members strengthening each other and how reaching the effects are. I love you all! Keep up with your daily missionary work. You are just as important of a missionary as I am. have a good week!
Love,
Elder Jolley

July 1, 2013

I am glad to hear that all is well! It sounds like the family gatherings have been good and that everyone is still chugging along. I have limited time (again). I wish I had more time to respond to everthing but know that I appreciate it all. Especially the pictures, it is so good to see everyone!

Huntington Beach is doing good. It has been getting a little warmer but not bad. We have been meeting with this man named Lenny and he has not been keeping commitments too well and hasn't come to church but we have really been working him and we hope that he will start to follow what we are teaching or drop him. He is older ( mid 60's) and grew up catholic but has turned to born again christian. These guys are very stubborn. But we will see what happens with him. We also have a lady named Pamala who is the same situation too. Same age and Catholic as well. She is more open though and hopefully will come to church soon.

Our neighbor we have talked to several times (another born again) and he is just in it to bash for the most part. We got home from a 4th of july program the church put on (it was so awesome, alot of nonmembers there) but when we got dropped off he was out walking his dog and we had one of the best convos with him. He said that in church they were talking about mormons (throwing us down) and that he was worried about us and our selvation but we were able to turn it around and it was really good and he invited us back. The work goes on! I love you all, thank you for all the support!
Elder Jolley