::Cody's Christmas Phone Call::

What a gift it was to speak to my son Elder Cody Allen Jones on Christmas. This has to be the best gift I've ever received in my life! He called from a members house and I needed to call him right back. Wish I would have had more time to speak with him. 
I miss him so much, but am so proud of him. Cody and I both understand that family is the central part of God's plan. As families there are going to be disagreements. But hopefully we all can recognize and realize that rifts in family relationships are of the adversary and not God. God's plan is for us to be an eternal family. It's not an easy task. God tells us this will be one of our continual struggles that we have throughout our life. Satan wants to grasp our family and relationships to follow him and not the lord. 
We need to remember of all the love, sacrifices, good times, and struggles we have in life. As we look at the positive side of these trials we will become a closer family and closer to God. I am thankful for my family very much. As we are going through current struggles, I pray daily that we can remember the good times and look past the bad times and each others faults so that we can be an eternal family! This is a very painful experience at times. We will face these challenges in some form or other throughout our entire lives.  It will be easier to succeed these challenges as we remember Gods Plan, love unconditionally and communicate and cleave to our entire family.  It only hurts and makes our progress more difficult as we forget to follow the basic principles and hold grudges.  We are stronger against satan as we help each other and join together instead of trying to conquer the fight alone.  That is a precious gift God gives to us as we follow his commandments. The most important thing I can think of is that we all have our faults (rather we think we do or not). We need to focus on these and always come up with an action plan to make our families stronger. No one is perfect, that is why we're here. We have a trial in life to become as Christlike as we can and have strong family ties. We need to love, forgive, and forget in order to have true happiness in our lives! 
As most of you know Cody's passion has always been Heavenly Father and has studied his first set up scriptures so much that they were falling apart. All through High School he would have his scriptures with him and read them every opportunity that he had.  He did get a new set for his mission and I know that he is putting them to good use. 
His family was invited for dinner and to talk to Cody. Unfortunately for Cody it was just me that was able to talk to him. Hopefully when he is allowed his next call on Mothers Day, his family will be able to gather together and make the call more special to him. 
He is definetly in his element being a Servant to the Lord and serving his mission! He loves the whole experience from the MTC to what he is currently doing. I couldn't be prouder of him! 
I had sent him and his companion a Christmas stocking and gifts for the 12 days of Christmas. They were asked by his Mission President to wait until Christmas to open them, so they had a lot to open on Christmas Day. His favorite gift (which I suspected it would be was the book of testimonies). So grateful to all of you that participated and made his day that much more special. The book really touched his heart and they are all wonderful words that he can read throughout his mission to comfort him during the difficult times. It's not too late if you would like to send him a letter of your testimony, favorite scripture including why, or just a letter of encouragement. I have printed the ones I had off in good good quality on nice paper. If you would still like to contribute please send them to me at harley2752@msn.com to print out and I'll make sure that he receives them to add to his book. 
Cody is absolutely loving being a missionary, the people in his ward, investigators, mission President and companions that he works with! He loves you all and loves hearing from you.  Below you will find his blog and email address. From my understanding you can email him. However, he is only allowed to use his email on Monday's and his time is limited that he can use the email. So if you can, it would be better to send him letters and he'll probably answer you through email. However, I did send him stationary and stamps. Those of you who know him well do know that it is difficult for him to write using snail mail! 
Also please look at his blog and make comments often; this will be made into a book of remembrance of his mission when he returns home with honor! 
He loves each and everyone of you and appreciates all of the love and support that you are giving him. It seems as though he's only been gone a short time he has grown so much! I was told by a very special and wise person to let him spread his wings and fly. This was difficult to do, but the best advice that I've ever had! I've always had a hard time seeing my children head out on their own.  The mothering and nurturig instincts are very difficult to let go of.  Cody has already grown leaps and bounds and will continue to do so. 
There are a lot of inactive families that they have been visiting. They are also working on trying to find new investigators! Please pray for him and his companion that they may be safe and be successful! 
Cody sends his love and appreciation to each and every one of you!  He wishes you and your family a blessed Christmas season.  He hopes that you will not only remember Christ during the Christmas season, but also throughout the year! Cody would like to ask you all to remember to have faith in all things.  Faith is believing in something that we can't see, but the Holy Ghost testifies that it is true and something that we should follow.  Take care and Cody will be very pleased to hear from all of you!
Love,
Elder Cody Alle Jones