Monday, August 18, 2008

We're Home!

If you have visited our mission blog recently, you may have wondered what happened. It seemed that we were stuck in time. We now want to bring closure to this wonderful experience. We returned home to Utah on June 21st. We were picked up at the Salt Lake Airport by Scott and Camille and their 3-year old twins Jane and Josh. Lori and Dave and their family were already in Utah (up from California), and they stayed with us for about two weeks. On July 1st we had a great day at the Seven Peaks water park with our family and on July 4th we had a big family gathering at Jones Cottage, including a picnic, games, and fireworks. We have seen all of our grandchildren except Kendra, who has been working extra hours to earn money for college. But she'll be moving to Orem (next to Provo) this week to begin her studies at Utah Valley University, so we should see her frequently over the next few months.

The second Sunday we were home, we both received callings in the ward. Randy is now teaching the Gospel Doctrine Book of Mormon Sunday School class and is enjoying that very much! Janet is on the Relief Society Enrichment Committee and just completed a BIG project of helping the ward members put together over 200 72-hour kits for Emergency Preparedness. It's also a great blessing to live so close to a temple once again.

Later in July we flew to Cincinnati, Ohio to visit Janet's family and so that she could attend her 50th high school reunion. We had a great time. We also spent four days in Cedar City (Randy's birth place) where we saw 6 plays at the Utah Shakespearean Festival and visited family, including a 98 year old uncle.

We have adjusted well and are happy to be with our family again, but we think often of our mission and miss the wonderful people we met there. We are grateful that we were able to have this great experience.


4 comments:

Kathy said...

Welcome home Uncle Randy and Aunt Janet! It was fun following your mission on your blog. I loved reading about your experiences and seeing all the great pictures. It's also fun to see you back together with your wonderful family. Thanks for sharing your mission with us!

Love,
Kathy

Grandma F said...

It was fun to read the last chapter of the story. You did have a wonderful mission and I am sure there are many people in Germany that miss you. I can also see from the pictures how happy your family is to welcome you home. Thanks for sharing your mission with us all and thanks for the good example you set.
Love,
Larry and Janice

Andre said...

Hello Sister and Brother Jones, greetings from Dortmund! Good to see that you are enjoying your family again, nice pictures. Our new couple, the Diederichs, is great, but we are missing you anyway! Here's the latest news from over here: The singles enjoyed another great summer camp in Geseke the other week, the Rohr family can look forward to a third son in law now: Little Amy Lisa Anni was born last sunday, and Marie from Unna was finally baptised two weeks ago: A big baptism with lots of people attending, and I am sure a bright future, since she has so many friends in church already.

All the best
Andre

KickButtMommy said...

For some reason I am just stumbling upon this! Welcome home. Thanks for sharing the pictures of all your beautiful grandkids. I haven't seen many of them in years, but it sure is fun to see them now!