Well, Lance has officially completed his training at the MTC and has left for Florida. As of today he's been there three days. We haven't heard from him since he's been in FL. However, we have two e-mails that he sent from the MTC. I thought I'd post them for your enjoyment:

Week 1:

Hey Family this is lance i hope that you get this message, because im not 100 % sure that this is your email address, but i hope that it is. So the first week at the MTC has been good, i have been learning a lot, and learning how to teach a lot. I found a battery for spencers phone in my backpack and i sent it to him it should come in the mail in a couple of days. anyways my district is pretty cool, i like most of the guys in it they are funny and have a good attitude about it. My companion is elder Grant he is from sandy, he just graduated this last year from highschool, but he is a cool guy, he is a pretty laid back guy and we get along well. I saw justin one time, so he can probably tell you about my district. but one guy in my district is a guy named elder bradford he is a funny guy, he is way hyper and he always sings a song that he made up called elder jones, which is just the song "mrs. Jones" but he replaces Mrs. Jones [with] Elder jones its kind of funny, [except] he does it always so its kind of wierd. well any ways we got new teachers yesterday one of them is a woman whose name is sister lucas, and another guy who i cant rememeber his name. Yesterday elder Quinton L. Cook from the [Quorum] of the 12 apostles spoke at the devotional and he gave a very good talk on missionary work and on teaching with the spirit and stuff. so any ways yesterday we had a teaching evaluation but before hand our district was in the room studying, but people were just talking about stuff and arguing about doctrine so i couldn't concentrate, so e. grant and i went to another class room one door down, but when we came back they had left because the time for our evaluation changed, but they didn't tell us, so by the time that we got there we had already missed it so the guy was just like prepare a 10 minute lesson on the restoration, so we did. and then we gave it to this fake investigator and it was amazing. we taught by the spirit, normally i give the lesson and it doesnt really flow, but yesterday it just came to me, it wasnt even what we planned, but we did it well and the spirit was so strong it was good. i wasnt sure if i could do this mission stuff, but after that it made me feel more confident it was good. so anyways ive seen joe a few times, he works in the morning and he comes by our table and then we talk its nice to see him. so any ways ive been eating a lot of food, about twice as much as i normally eat, and i have just been sitting around, and the combinantion of these this have resulted in 10 lbs of fat in one week. which is crazy because normally i cant gain weight, but this food is so unhealthy that i have been gaining more than a lb a day, i want to gain another ten by the end of the mtc so i will tell you how it goes. well any ways i am out of time, so i will see you later. Love. Lance jones

Week 2:

Dear Family,

It took me seven minutes to rememeber my email address and password, and then a few to check my emails so i only have 18 minutes to write today so it might have a lot of errors and be shorter than last time, but thats just how it is. Life at the mtc is pretty good, the guys in my district are cool, and we all have a fun time together. Every tuesday someone comes here and speaks to the missionaries for a devotional, and some times it is some one from the quorum of the seventy, and some times it is some one from the quorum of the twelve, and this week it was Uchtdorf. It was awsome he gave a great talk about missionary work, and his wife spoke and she cant speak english very well so it was pretty entertaining, it was a good talk also though. It seems like time is moving a little bit faster now, it is still moving much slower than when i was at home, but it does not seem like it is moving as slow as it did the first week. this friday we started teaching the second lesson which was on the plan of salvation, it is a difficult lesson to teach, because there are so many little things that you have to explain to have it make sense. Elder grant and i taught it yesterday to an old lady in the trc who was pretending to be catholic, and we did pretty well. It was weird to teach an old lady, because she was so old and boaring, but i bet we will be teaching a lot of old people when we get out there.

I think that we will be able to call from the airport, but i am not sure i have not heard any thing about it here. but maybe you will probabably be home at five in the morning if i do call so just keep the phone by your bed in case. i am kind of getting sick of the food here, i cant eat nearly as much as i did the first week, now after i eat one reagular sized entree i feel full, but last week i ate two or three entrees every meal. so i dont think i have gained any more weight.

I printed off some pictures this week from my camera and i will send them home. elder grant and i got a light saber picutre that you must see. they have a computerthing here where you can print off your picutres and it is only like 9 cents a print for a 4x6 picture so i printed some off, i will send my camera card home later.

so spencer you are doing some guitar huh? that is cool, How is that? and what are you up to mallory? and i will just talk to you here at the mtc justin. and mom thank you for all of the packages you make all my district jealous, and now i have so much food that i could not eat it all. I love you all and will write again next week but now i am out of time bye.

lance jones

10 seconds left oh no!

Last wednesday we dropped my brother Lance off at the Missionary Training Center here in Provo, Utah. He is going to serve in Tampa, Florida. The Missionary Training Center (MTC) is an interesting place. When young men or young women become missionaries and enter the MTC they are no longer allowed to contact their family or friends except through e-mail or letters. They begin living missionary rules as well. It is a pretty tough change of lifestyle but it is also very amazing. The spirit of the Lord is very strong there, which helps their learning process. The missionaries often comment that they learn more in three weeks at the MTC than the four years they spent taking a class about the church called seminary. We are so proud of him! And I work at the MTC so hopefully I'll get to see him soon.

Back in Action

I feel the need to introduce myself, even though this blog is about me and has been up and running for almost three years. As you will notice, the last post was made more than a year ago and is in third person (I didn't write it). The truth is, I've only seen this blog a couple of times. While I was serving as a missionary for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints my father made and maintained this blog to help keep my friends and family informed about my whereabouts. During my service I knew about the blog but never got to see it since missionaries are only allowed to visit certain websites. I served for two years in Houston, Texas and I loved it to death! I consider myself a Texan now. I still use the word, "y'all" from time to time instead of the less flattering "you guys." I think that Bluebell ice cream is the best ice cream in the world. Talk to any Texan and they'll tell you the same thing!

So, funny story. The other day felt like starting a blog (i had completely forgotten about this one). I ran the idea by my father (who is a computer guru) and he reminded me that i already had one. So today I officially become a blogger; I join the world wide electronic conversation. I fully intend to update this blog regularly. I will try to keep it fresh and fulfilling. I hope that y'all will find my life and psyche interesting and will keep coming back for more.