Email Received December 1, 2010

So this week has been COLD. I mean, like, high of 27 and low of 18 is kind of cold. My companion swears it wasn't that cold in Utah, and I believe her: 25 and humid is as different from 25 and dry as 80 humid/dry. I have to freely admit, I have very little desire to ever live in Illinois. Everyone talks about how a lot of missionaries leave their missions and are like, "I love this place! I want to come back!" But quite honestly, I am ready to go back to the desert. I don't like the climate here, and I if want to find Mexicans, I'll go to Mexico. I really don't see any reason to stay here.

We're doing' just peachy, when all is said and done. We're starting to really get a lot of return appointments going, so we're no longer knocking ALL the time. Thanksgiving was interesting, because we had a "thought he went back to Mexico, been inactive forever" member show up. He was a really good guy, but you could see how he had let a little thing ruin years of his life. I hope I never let anything like that happen to me. Still, it was awesome, because the atonement is starting to work in this guy's life, bringing with it humility, contentment, and peace in a man who wasn't sure those really existed any more.

So, I got a weird call from Elder Cuentas, our district leader the other day. He's a good guy, but he goes home in December, so he's getting a little trunky. Anyway, he calls me up and asks if we were having issues with the area. I asked him to explain, because I really didn't understand. He said that both he and the zone leaders were wondering why our numbers, which had been so high before the split, were now so low. Well, I thought it was obvious, but gently explained that when they area split, he and his companion got all of our investigators that were on date, and all that were progressing, and all of our new investigators, while we were left with a bunch of MIAs and a few good solid people that were just ridiculously hard to get a hold of. We had been spending day’s tracting, and we'd been firmly pushing the members for referrals. It wasn't being easy, but we were just beginning to reap the rewards that day. "It just is taking some hard work to get the area up to speed," I said.

He didn't say anything for a moment, and then asked, "Wait, you guy's didn't have ANYONE on date after the split?"

"No - you got all three of them."

"Oh."

We talked for a minute more, and then he hung up. but then five minutes later, he called back:

"Um, I just called to tell you that we're really grateful for all the hard work you put into our area, and because you did that, we want to do something for you."

And I'm sitting there going, “What on earth?”

"Do you know what a blitz is?"

"A what?" (I'm still back on "We're really grateful")

"A blitz." (A blitz is where missionaries get together and just knock out a whole area in one day - sometimes a whole city.)

"Yeah, I know what a blitz is."

"Well we want to come blitz an area in Woodstock for you Friday."

"Um, we're in Marengo Friday."

"OK then, just pick out some streets for us to knock, and tell us where it is this Wednesday at coordination."

"Ok, elders. Thanks a lot."

And all the time I'm still going, "Huh?" Still, the elders are so sweet.

Well that's all for now. Stay warm. Love you and miss you, and hope your Christmas is the best.

Sincerely,

Hermana Maren Jones