Dec 23, 2013

Dear Family,
Poor little Cannon! It's good to hear that he will be okay but that is still scary he got so sick. I will keep him in my prayers. That's fun that Troy's family was able to stop in unexpectedly, too bad they couldn;t make it to their party though. How much snow is there now? We have had a good 60 degree low for the winter here ;)
We had a baptism for Kassie Webb yesterday! It was a really good service. The room was packed and she had a ton of her non-member friends there as well and her whole non-member family. It was really neat. I would say probably one of the best services I have been to. While she was getting changed she wanted it to be a really good missionary opportunity (she is a solid missionary already, she would bring a different non-member friend to all of her lessons we had with her) and so me and Elder Dean taught a sweet lesson and the spirit was so strong. Things are going to happen from that experience. At the end Kassie even got up and bore her testimony on her own desire and was bold and spared no shyness. She even told her mom that she was going to get baptized next and she shook her head yes. Not a dry eye in the room (expect mine, I don't cry ;) )  The rest of the week was awesome too. We picked up a few new investigators that are solid so we are excited to work with them. I hope you all have a very merry Christmas! The members here take care of us very well so don't worry about me! I love you all!
Love,
Elder Jolley
Here is a picture from our Christmas Zone Conference. I am back row, left of center

Dec 16, 2013

It is always so good to hear how everyone is doing! I'm glad to hear all is well.
Exciting things have been happening here. Daren has his Baptism set for the 28! pray for him! We are so excited for him. This is going to be so good for him and his family. We have a bapt on the 22 for Kassie as well, I don't know if I have told you about her. She is really awesome and is progressing and staying strong. We got her program lined up and it is gong to be a good one. She is excited to be able to use it as a good missionary tool because a lot of her nonmember friends are going to be coming. The work is going forward and fast. I hope that things are able to stay good at home! Thank you for keeping me updated! I love you all!
Love, Elder Jolley

Dec 9, 2013

Hey family! How have things been going at home? I hope you have been getting into the season, I love Christmas time. We weren't able to watch the christmas devotional yesterday because we are going to watch it as a mission together a little closer to christmas. I love things like that now, I used to think it was a good nap time but it is now what I live for!

This week was good here, we had 3 investigators that were suposed to come to church with members lined up to  give them rides but they all fell through. We had Daren at church though. He is so solid! I am so excited for him. We watched the Joseph Smith hour long movie with him and his family becuase he said he said he wanted to learn more about him and so we did and it was perfect. His wife is a member and in their private conversation she told us that she had asked him if he is close to make his decision on baptism (we invited him for the 29) and he said quote "I think I am about 9 1/2. What do you think about that?!?" so he is right there.

It is really cool to see the gospel work in peoples lives. I love you all! Keep me updated on what is going on at home! I love hearing how all ALL of you are doing. I love you all!

Love,
Elder Jolley

Dec 8, 2013

Hey Sister Jolley. My names Kendall Pefley. Your son is serving in my family ward and the singles ward. When they came over for Thanksgiving a couple weeks ago, we took some pictures of some of the weird traditions my family has and I thought you would like so see some of the pictures. (:

We have this little challenge called the whipped cream challenge where you put some whipped cream on your wrist and slap your arm and try to catch the whipped cream in your mouth. I know its weird, but the Elders had fun doing it. (:   (We took some video, but the file is too big to email)

Dec 2, 2013

Dear family,
Sorry you didn't get an email from me last week! It sounds like it was a good week for you though. Thanksgiving is always a fun Holiday. Especially going out to Enterprise, it is always a lot of sun there. Tell Angel and Wade congratulations for me!!! That is so exciting they are having a baby! That is going to be so fun for their family, I love them. How far along is she? That is going to be one lucky baby going into that family.That is going to be an adventure for Troy and Sam moving to Mesquite. Jamie's family is always so awesome, it's good to hear that things are taking off for them in New Zealand. They are having so many original and neat experiences. That is still too bad about Dad's back, that will be nice to get it fixed in not too long. I'm keeping you in my prayers Dad. 

Things are way good here. We have been having alot of success. I haven't baptized my whole mission so far, it's been kinda tough getting people to progress. But as of like the past several weeks things have been so sweet. Lastnight we set a guy named Daren with a date for Dec 29! It is a part member family (Daren is the dad and is the only nonmember) his wife is a solid mormon and they have 5 kids. So ever since they got married 25 or more years ago I would guess missionaries have been coming by. But now he is prepared, it goes to show that things are on the Lords time. We can try to speed things up or slow them down but we will be wrong. We have just got to align ourselves with God and we will never be wrong. 

Also we are over a singles ward as well as the a family ward (the one Daren is in) and in the singles ward we have a solid girl that is going to get baptized dec 22. Her name is Kassie and she is super solid. David is another black YSA guy that we are teaching too! We have a date for dec 15 with him too but I think that one might get pushed back maybe. We will see with him during our next lesson. Those are the most promising people we have right now. More than I have had my whole mission no doubt! For Thanksgiving we went to Daren's house (our investigator) and that was a lot of fun. Their family reminds me of our family and so it was fun to be with them. We also had a less active family invite us over so it was good to build relationships and still do missionary work on a holiday that would have been tough to otherwise. 

Well I love hearing from yall. I hope this Christmas season is special for you. It is so neat being a missionary during times like these. I love you all!
Love,
Elder Jolley