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

Nov 18, 2013

Dear Family,
It is always so good to hear how everyone is getting along. That is a big accomplishment 60 years! Good job grandma and grandpa, good job. They are so cute, in the first picture grandpas hair looks a lot whiter than I remember it being.
 That sounds like a fun party, that is cool they even had high school friends come as well.
That is the cutest, Connor and Cannon's Halloween costumes,  haha! Janessa is always doing cute fun stuff with her kids. They are getting so big!

That is sad that there have been several deaths there in your Stake last week especially the really young guy of cancer. It is so good to have the knowledge that we do. makes life a little easier. The gospel brings us hope. But I can just imagine Dad being there at any point that anybody needs him, he is such a great man. I learn so much by his example.

Life here has been crazy. We have transfers again and I am with Elder Dean! I don't know if I have told you about him but he is awesome. He is from Alabama and was my zone leader in Huntington Beach and in cypress as well. We are going to be over 2 wards, the cypress 5 and Park wards, One is a family ward and one is a singles ward. I am so excited to be with him, we are going to be able to do so much work together. It was sad leaving Elder Lo though, it was a good experience being with him, I learned a lot. President Tew is an awesome man and is making so many changes in the this mission for the better. It is entirely different from what it use to be. Not that Pres Bubert was bad, it was just time for change.

I was on exchanges with Elder Dean 2 sundays ago as well and the day before he informed me that we were singing in sacrament meeting and so I had to do that, it was so funny. It was 4 of us that sang for a missionaries farewell sacrament departure. I don't know how good we turned out being but it was so funny. Everyone said that it was good, but no news is usually good news and we got a lot of news so... haha

There was also a Veterans day parade that we helped with. We had like 18 missionaries that we had volunteer. And then they let us be the last people in the parade. One of the high council members was a veteran in the parade and he lead us in his uniform and we followed him. It was way cool to do, we had bikes and we made a mighty duck V behind him. People all clapped and waved and cheered for us. It was a really good public rep opportunity. The stake public relations guy that set it up for us was super excited for it and it was a success.

Elder Dean and I have already got quite a few people that we are teaching. Daren is a father of a part member family. They are probably in their late 40's and the mom has been active thier whole marriage for the most part. their kids are all pretty solid too. 3 of them married and one in college and the last in HS. We have had several sweet spiritual lessons with him and his time is coming soon. Elder Dean is a masterful teacher, I am going to be able to learn so much from him. We also have a YSA girl Kassie that we have taught several times that has a Bapt date for dec 22 so that is really exciting too. And a black guy named Darren that we found this past week that has alot alot of potential. We had 4 inv at church this past week! This transfer with Elder Dean is going to be so good, we are able to do good work together. Right now is defiantly the busiest and most teaching I have done so far. It is so nice to be able to help people.

Life is still good here in sunny california. Is it snowing there yet? It is crazy what is going on in the world. The Philippines- the bishop of the singles ward has a son that is in the mission that was hit dead on. He is okay but it was scary how they didn't know the all the missionaries situations for a while but it is a miracle they all turned out the be fine. His son is going to come home early though because he had less than 3 transfers and because of it they are sending alot of them home if they have that much time left. But then also the tornadoes in Illinois! How many was it, 57 or something? That is crazy, things are really starting to happen and pick up... the time for preperation is getting shorter and shorter. I am glad to hear everything is good at home still! I love you all! Have a good week.
Love, Elder Jolley

Nov 4, 2013

Dear Family,

I am always realizing how awesome my family is! I love you all. I am still keeping Dad in my prayers for his upcoming back surgery, I hope that he will do alright all the way until February. That is a fun trip for the girls to make. John and Shannon are so cute, I am missing all the little kids but by the time I get back there will probably be new ones that replace the ones ages of where they are so I really won't miss too much ;) Everyone here that I am emailing with said to tell Grandma and Grandpa Jolley congratulations! 60 years is a long time! They are number one everyone says.
Life has been good here. I love you all!
Love, Elder Jolley