Note from the Editor (Jordan's Pappy)
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| Leona Kelly with her grandchildren WITH children |
We have had a challenging week with the passing of
Maralea’s father, Howard Ray Kelly, on Monday afternoon. Maralea arrived at her parents’ home in Reno
Monday evening, while Kelli, Royal and I joined her Thursday evening. My father-in-law, also known as Grandpa
Kelly, was the epitome of what we should all strive to be in life. I first met him on Christmas break, 1982,
when I drove Maralea home to spend a few days with her family. We were pretty serious by then, and after
meeting her family, I knew I would ask her to marry me and hope for the
best. The best happened, and we are
grandparents of two wonderful children nearly 30 years later. Ray Kelly left mortality with 38 grandchildren
and 16 great grandchildren, with four more on the way. I am enclosing a picture of my mother-in-law,
Leona Kelly, standing with her grandchildren who have children (taken at a
family luncheon on Saturday). I am also
enclosing a picture of the Kelly family members who were able to make it to the
funeral on Saturday. It is a staggering
legacy, a living testament to the good that comes from living a gospel centered
life. I am also enclosing a picture of
Jordan with his grandparents, just before he left on his mission. Our children are so incredibly blessed to
have two wonderful sets of grandparents who have made our job as parents very
easy. I am grateful to know that in the
Lord’s great Plan of Happiness and Salvation, families are intended to be forever. These pictures remind me of what I am
fighting for in the battle of good and evil in this life. What will heaven be like? In my mind, it will be like this great Kelly
family photo, with numbers many times over.
What great joy we will have in that day.
May we all live with a desire to knit our hearts together as one with
the Savior, Jesus Christ.
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| Kelly Family, picture taken November 3, 2012 |
Here is Elder Royal's letter . . . .
________________
President Martino called on Thursday to tell me about
Grandpa Kelly's passing. He told me that
the letter I wrote to Grandpa Kelly was read to him before he passed away, so
that made me feel really good. Thanks so
much for that. I am sorry I could not be
there for the funeral and burial service.
I am certainly there in spirit. I
prayed a lot for Grandpa and Grandma Kelly, you all, and the entire Kelly
family a lot once I received that phone call from President Martino. I hope everyone is okay. Grandpa Kelly has set a great example of how
to live a Christlike life by serving others daily. I love him very much and will miss seeing him
when I return home. But, I am grateful
to know of God’s Plan of Salvation, that families are intended to be tied
together forever, and that we will be with Grandpa Kelly again in the next life
if we will simply choose to follow the Savior Jesus Christ and receive His
saving ordinances. Thank you for giving
me that gift of gospel understanding and power.
It sustains me daily. I love you
Grandpa!
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| This is the last picture taken with Jordan and his Grandpa Kelly, September 11, 2011 |
The work of saving souls moves ever onward. This week went by fast. (They all seem to blend together
lately.) We were only able to work in
Victoria from Thursday-Sunday, because I was in Victoria all week with Elder
Revillio until Transfer Day on Thursday.
I had a fun time working with him.
We had exchanges with the other companionship so I worked with Elder
Despain in their area as well. Elder
Despain and I were in Sta. Ignacia Zone for two transfers and he's an awesome
guy. He was still pretty new at that
time, so his Tagalog wasn't that great, but he's improved a lot in the past
months. I enjoyed working with him,
too. Our transfer announcements came
Thursday and they were absolutely crazy.
Elder Revilio made up a fake transfer announcement that fooled everyone,
even the former zone leaders that have done that in the past (haha). He didn't mess with my transfer, but everyone
else's was funny. We had an area close
and then other area with two new elders coming into the zone to open a new area.
My new companion is Elder Rabino from Digus, Dabao. He's my second companion from Dabao and my
third Bisayan companion in a row. I've
only had two companions so far my entire mission whose first language was
Tagalog. They know all Tagalog anyway,
so it's not like it's hard for them, even though they say it is. He's in the same batch as Elder Dela Paz, so
he's still pretty new in the mission as well.
He's quiet sometimes, but he's very good at teaching. Anyway, I'll go back to Transfer Day and talk
about what happened there. Elder Rabino
came from Cabanatuan City, so I had to wait at the Stake Center until about two
for him to show up. While I was waiting,
we saw Elder Palmer who came from Angeles to help the Sisters with their bags
and stuff, so that was awesome to see him again - especially since we had so
much time to talk and hang out while we waited for our companions. Sister Sharp was with us as well, so we just
talked about MTC memories and shared other mission stories from our areas. Once all of the traveling missionaries showed
up, we also saw Elder Biggs and Elder Brown coming to meet up with their new
companions. It was really cool to see
them both there since I hadn't seen them since the mission conference back in
May. We're having ZL/DC again at the end
of the month, so I'll be able to see them again. I met up with Elder Rabino and then we headed
back to Victoria. We got back late
afternoon, so we didn't get to many appointments, but at least we got a dinner
appointment that night (haha). It's been
hard with Elder Batingal gone. Not only
did I lose a close companion and have to start over with someone else, but now
I'm getting lost in the area trying to find appointments. Like one day, we pretty much traveled in a
big circle trying to find Mark's house, but at least I was able to eventually
find it. Since I've been leading the
area, I've figured out where a lot of things are, so that's good. Even Elder Rabino's starting to get the area
down. Like when we were on our way to an
appointment, I was about to turn down a street when he corrected me and told me
it was the next street. I thought, "Oh
yeah" (haha). We had some
really good lessons and stuff with Mark and his siblings, but they still
haven't come to church yet. Mark knows
the Gospel's true and it was restored by a prophet, but he's still active in
another church. (Sigh.) Always next week, right?
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| Jordan shows off his zone basketball jersey |
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| Back side of the zone basketball jersey |
Church was really good yesterday. Our attendance is getting higher and higher
every week. There were only 97 people in
church a couple of weeks ago, but yesterday there were 140. Even some less actives that have been less
active for years came to church, even though I don't know who they are. One less active is actually Mak-Mak's cousin
who lives with the Cortados (Hart). He's
21 and has only been a member for three years.
He said he stopped coming because he's done some bad things in the past,
but Mak-Mak really encouraged him to come to church again, and there he
was. We taught him yesterday with
Mak-Mak and he taught me how to do that cool pen-spinning thing that I've seen
people do before (like Gian). I
practiced it all last night before going to bed, and now I'm pretty good at it
(haha). I also learned a cool pen trick
from Elder Batingal that I've been doing as well. Well, since I'm on the subject of spinning
things, I guess I can tell you that Elder Brown taught me how to spin
notebooks, binders, and books on my finger like a basketball. I haven't done that one in awhile, so I was a
little bit out of practice when I did it yesterday while we waited for the
bishopric to call us in for PEC meeting.
(Nice that I am learning all these valuable spinning skills.) We taught Jovani again yesterday. He was the only one of our investigators who
came to church. It's too bad that his
dad won't let him be baptized right now, but he still comes to church and reads
the Book of Mormon, so hopefully his dad's heart will change. His dad's not from Victoria, so we can't
really talk to him or teach him. We have
talked with him before while he visited, but that was it.
I saw someone reading a newspaper on the bus this morning
with a front page headline that read: "Obama Takes an Early
Lead." Nooooooooo. Election Day's Tuesday, isn't it? Oh gosh.
If Obama gets elected, I hope the world will just end in Dec. 2012. ;)
Well, I think that'll do for this week. Sorry no.
Maybe next week. Hope you guys
stay safe. Please give my love to
Grandma Kelly. Mahal ko kayo. Ingat.
Elder Jordan "Help America Survive"
Royal
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