Elder Jones and his Mission President (and wife)

About a month ago, we opened the mailbox to find this picture inside along with a nice letter, welcoming Eric to the Roseville, California Mission and letting us know that he is there and okay.

 

I love this picture!  Doesn't he look so good?  :)

This is his Mission President and wife, President and Sister Weston

 

A few weeks ago, I got a call from the mission president.  I missed the call, but he left a really nice voicemail on my cell phone, which, consequently, I can't seem to erase.  Would it be weird if I transcribed it?  Too late....I'm going to.  Here is what he said:

 

"Brother and Sister Jones,

 

President and Sister Weston from the California, Roseville mission.  We are just calling to say hello and thank you for your wonderful son who is serving with us.  He is outstanding.  And if you know now, he is serving up at the very north end of the mission, up in Hayfork and Weaverville, in the Redding area.  He is doing great.  He is enjoying serving with Elder Waldon.  I have spoken with him a couple of times and I'm just very impressed with your son.  We're grateful for him, he is doing well, and we'll make sure that he is safe and happy.  If you have any questions at all or concerns that come along, or things that I might be able to do to help your son, please don't hesitate to call us.  We will be happy to help in any way that we can.  It's been fun to have Elder Jones explain about his 4 younger brothers and your family.  What a great example he is and we're grateful to have him here and we love him.  Have a great day!  Bye."

Isn't that totally awesome!  It made my whole day!  (and week, actually)  :)

Since I missed the call, I decided to send them an email in response.  This is what I wrote:

Hi President and Sister Weston,

We received your message regarding Eric and his progress.  Thanks so much for taking the time to share such encouraging and kind words about our son.  We are so sorry we missed your call.

We, also, have heard great things about you and your wife from Eric.  Thanks for your service to him and the others in your mission.  We feel better, as parents, knowing there are people who truly care about his well-being.  We appreciate your dedication, your faith, and your strong example to those whom you willingly serve.  We know Elder Jones is in good hands!

Thanks again for the wonderful voicemail.  It means so much.
Todd and Melissa Jones

 

This is the same picture with Eric cropped out of it.  What a handsome young man!

 

Eric is doing really well, and I look forward to his emails every week.  Some of them are too short!  But all of them make me smile!  Here is a portion of one of his letters, explaining where he is serving right now...



"Anyways, things are going great here! We are most definitely in a car, this area is huge. We cover the Weaverville ward (which includes Weaverville, Trinity Center, Lewiston, Douglas City, and Junction City) and the Hayfork branch (which includes...Hayfork). And the members are awesome!! They take such good care of us. :) They feed us a lot and we received about nine referrals within the first week! It's definitely hard, though..it's a lot of work. We're still getting the hang of things, but we're progressing more and more as time moves forward. "

 

In another part of his letter, he told us that Hayfork is full of weed farms and basically the missionaries aren't allowed to tract there.  I think he said they go there once a month.  That's funny!

 

Well, we are so happy and proud of our Elder Jones!  He IS a great example to his younger brothers and I hope they are seeing the joy in his service!

 

Have a happy day!