Oct 28th. An extra letter to us that I thought you all would love!! Ok, I got more time to email

So the library kicks us off every 30 minutes if there are a lot of people in the library. So it is super busy today and I am now just borrowing my companion's computer time. I felt bad for not saying any thing about my week. So I thought I would hurry and let you guys know how my week went.

We had the BEST week ever!!! We went on our last exchanges this week so this week we are going to power it out and get as much done as possible. I'm sad that this is probally my last week with sister Bennett because it's the last week of the transfer! Our mission president told us that he was going to call more sister leader trainers so that means sister bennett and I are probablly going to be separated because we need to train the new sister leader trainers. CAN YOU BELEIVE HOW FAST THE TRANSFER WENT??? I feel like this has been the fastest transfer I have had! It's crazy!

Oh before I forget I wanted to tell you the super amazing experiance I had at zone confrence! So we had Elder and sister Baxter come! Elder Baxter is in the 1st quorm of the seventy. Elder Baxter is from scotland and sister baxter is from england! They were SO AWESOME!! They gave us trainings and they were super bold and straight forward with us. Which is what we need! So elder BAxter was doing role plays with us. Where us missionaries pretend to teach him something or invite him to do something. Yeah, you will never guess who he called up to invite him to read the book of mormon in front of our mission president and all 100 missionaires there at the confrence?? Yup.....he asked me..... Holy moly I was shaking in my boots!!!!! I'm pretty sure everyone could tell how nervous I was, but I didn't care. I put my heart and soul into that role play. I poured my heart out to elder baxter and invited him to read the book of mormon. Crazily enough he said Yes, he would read the book of mormon right away. I was a little taken back because I thought he would have me resolve a concern he has about the book of mormon. but he said yes right away. So then I bore my testimony of the book of mormon and promised him all of the blessings he would receive by reading it. Then when he stopped me he asked everyone there, "Why did I say yes?" Man I was dying inside because I didn't know for sure how elder Baxter felt about how I did. Two elders raised their hands and said that he basically said yes because he felt bad for me and didn't really have a desire to read it. I wanted to cry when they said that, but then elder baxter said, " I was compelled to say yes. Why is that?" Then a bunch of other missionaires raised their hands and all said that it was because of the spirit i brought and the humble testimony I bore. I was sweating bullets but elder BAxter agreed with them and he told me I did a perfect job! Wow, That was the craziest/best exeriance of my life! I really really needed that little boost of confidence because I have been really struggling to know if I have been teaching by the spirit or not. I know elder baxter was inspired to call me up because that experiance really helped me out with that alot!! Whew I'm glad it was over though and that I passed. Ok the time is REALLY running out this time. So just know that I love you all!! Keep being the best people ever!! Have a wonderful week!!

 

Love sister Jones 

Oct 28th. QotW -"That's my favorite thing to do in the whole world....cutting chicken's heads off." (my companion) Sister Bennett (she is a crazy farmer!)

What a week! So I have about zero time to email this week so it's going to be super short. Actually I just realized that I have two mintues to type this email before they kick me off. So I am just going to say my testimony! I love this church with all of my heart. Nothing brings more happiness, peace, and joy than living our lives like Christ would. I love that every day has a purpose and a meaning behind it. Every day has a miracle I feel so privilaged to live it. I love you all!!! Keep being wonderful examples of what you beleive. and I say these things in the name of jesus christ amen :)

 

Love sister Jones

Oct 21st. QotW-"If it weren't for chocolate, there would be no need for a control top pantyhose."

Funny things always happen every week, but this week was more of a spiritual and growing week for me. In a good way though. So today I will share with you what I learned.

We have been going on tons of exchanges as you all know. Sister Bennett and I will go with a 4 different set of sisters twice a week and we spend 24 hours with them and help them be the very best they can be. As I have been going on these exchanges I have been learning that we have a lot of really really good missionaries. However, each one have struggles and fears that hold them back from being the very best they can be. The biggest thing missionaries have been struggling with is being BOLD. I use to be this way, I use to be scared of offending people or making them feel weird and awkward. I didn't realize how bad it is to be this way until I got into this position. I didn't realize how much sister Bennett and the Lord has helped me overcome so many of my fears. I use to be terrified to put people on date or to pull over a car and sing a person a song who is walking down the side walk. I would have had a really hard time asking someone if they have a minute to talk to us even if they were on the phone. But something happened.....All OF MY FEARS ARE GONE! I'm not sure when this moment happened, but when I go on these exchanges I have no fear yelling and waving at a guy to hold on a moment so we could ask him a question. We pull our car over to ask an old man walking on the side walk if he wants a card. I learned this week that there is no other way to be.

We have the GOSPEL of JESUS CHRIST! The ONE and ONLY true church with the fullness of CHRIST'S DOCTRINE. Holy moly why aren't we more excited about this?? Why aren't we shouting it from the roof tops?? Why aren't we sharing it with our neighbors, friends, and complete strangers?? I'll tell you why..... It's because of fear....excuses....and satan. Somehow satan has slipped in and convinced us that it's ok to keep our religion to ourselves, to just be a good example, and only share when people ask about it. and for missionaries he has convinced us it's ok to not talk to that person cause they are busy, or to not ask that question because it might offend them. It scares me to death that I use to be that way and I never want to go back.

A couple weeks ago I was on an exchange with the fruita sisters and we were teaching a man who has been inactive for a really long time is trying to bet back to the temple. He didn't understand why it was harder to get back to the temple than it was the first time he went through. He wasn't keeping his commitments of coming to church and reading the book of mormon because his work only allowed him to have one sunday off a month and he worked long hours and was to tired to read. We went into that lesson and basically told him to get a new job. He freaked out a little because he didn't think that he could get another job. I told him that he needs to make a choice to follow and trust God or not. After the lesson I felt a little bad because he did not take it very well. We ended on a good note but at one point he threatened to leave the church for good and we had to calm the situation back down. I walked away wondering if I did the right thing?? Was it ok to basically chastise this man for choosing the things of the world over returning to God's house? The spirit confirmed to me that we absolutely did the right thing. We did it out of love and concern for this man's salvation. He needs to know that he broke his covenant with God and he needs to make the sacrifices nessasary to get back. If we walk away and he doesn't know, then we didn't do our job.

I've had a couple more experiances since then, not nessasarly people threatening to leave the church because of what I said, but they get very upset at me for being so bold. Of coarse I do it out of love and I know they feel that, but they still get upset a little.

Yesterday and the night before we had Stake confrence and two members of the 70 came. In the Adult session i have never felt so much love and heard such bold, chastisment in my life. haha It made me feel so much better. I really appreciated everything they said because you really could feel the spirit as they told us how to be better, how to push harder. I made my companion come with me to shake their hands and say something to them. All the other sisters in our zone followed us. So all six of us stood in line to say hi to him. One of them, Elder Nash walked up to us and he just gushed over how much he LOVES sister missionaries. He said if he could hug sister missionaries he would. He shook our hands with both of his hands and he said, this is my hug to you. He talked about when he goes on mission tours there is a different/better spirit there and he said it is because of us sisters. Then he looked into each one of our eyes and he said, "Before this life, each one of you prepared for this moment, you were BORN to be a missionary." Oh my gosh. The spirit hit me so strongly that I got pretty emotional. Wow, it is so true. We prepared for this WAY before we got here. We would never feel complete unless we fulfilled this mission. I feel so honored and privilaged to be apart of this work. I hope each of us can work on being a little bit better, being a little bit more bold, and fulfill the mission God has called us to do. I love you all

 

Love Sister Jones

Oct 14th letter. Stuck!!!

Another lovely week, in lovely Grand Junction :)

You will never believe an experience we had this week. On the side of a mountain in the middle of nowhere. Luckily I got a picture to prove to you all that I'm not pulling your leg. Actually I could have taken the picture and made up the story, but you all know I could never make up something this good.

S,o Sister Bennett and I ventured up to a beautiful city named Collbran. The people up here pronounce it Coleburn. It is the prettiest place I have ever seen in my entire life! Especially with all of the changing colors!! It's a tiny town placed in the middle of the mountains. I might just live there someday.

Any ways, the reason why we were out there was because we were on our way to track down the relief society president's house because we needed to get to know her better and figure out what people she would like us to visit in Collburn. Little did we know that the GPS had other plans for us. The gps lead us to this narrow dirt road headed directly straight up a mountain. The gps told us to turn on this sketchy, muddy, rocky road and Sister Bennett assured me that the gps was wrong and it was further up the mountain. So we kept trudging straight on up the road we were originally on. As we drove further up the mountain we passed some hunters trucks and trailers. Ironically deer were just chilling by these trucks and the poor hunters were nowhere to be found ha-ha we got a good kick out of that. We kept driving and driving until we ended up at this tiny little shack that said. Absolutely NO TRESPASSING. It looked more like Sasquatch would live there than the relief society president. So we concluded that it actually was the road we passed earlier. So we drove back to it and assessed the situation. The mud wasn't TOO deep and the rocks didn't seem TOO big. And if the relief society president can make it up here....we better be able to! So we decided to go for it.......yeah we made it twenty feet and then we got high centered on a lovely little, evil rock. Yeah I was driving.....but hey my little Geo Prism made up Smithfield Canyon on a road that seemed WAY worse than this one. I just didn't realize that not all cars are as amazing as Leo the Geo. You would either need Leo or a monster truck to get up that crazy road.

Sister Bennett, the Canadian farm girl, switched me seats to see if she could get the car off it. But that little rock was bound and determined to keep us there until Sasquatch really DID come around. We both got out and assessed the situation. I knelt in the mud to see if I could possibly dig under the rock to get it out. But with no avail. When I got up Sister Bennett said, "Let's say a prayer," Right when she said that another hunter in his truck drove passed the road we were stuck on. I waved my arms in the air kind of jokingly because I didn't think he would see us, but thanks to heaven he DID!! He pulled over and started walking up to us. We sheepishly walked to him and he asked, "How are you ladies doing?" I said, "kind of embarrassed" he laughed and said "Are you stuck??" sister Bennett said "NO, ok yes!" This guy was super nice he walked up to the car to see what was going on and we decided the best option was to get a 4 X 4 and drive the car backwards over the 4 X 4 to get over the rock.  So, he went back to his trailer and we followed. We had this guy laughing tons because of how weird the situation looked. He was like, "What in the world are you even doing out here?" And we were like "we are trying to visit this lady but we aren't even sure she lives up this road." He was amazed that we served for 18 months. (Probably because we looked like idiots ha-ha) He asked me how long we had been there and I told him 2 weeks ( thought he referred to how long we had been serving in grand junction) and he laughed and was like, "No, how long have you been stuck here?" Feeling silly and wanting to redeem myself I said, "Oh ha-ha well we have been stuck for......2 weeks, just kidding only about 5 minutes." We found out this guy is married and lives in Parker, CO but he works in the hunting business and loves to hunt. He said his high school use to be across the street from a Mormon church so he knew quite a few Mormons. He actually is from WASHINGTON!!! He asked us a couple more questions about our missionary work. When the car was unstuck and we got out of that mess our shoes and nylons were covered in mud. But we didn't care at all as long as we got out of there. At the very end, Brett, the guy, gave us a huge unexpected hug and made us take a picture with him because he said his buddies would never believe this story. So, I got my camera out too and we snapped a picture together. After that we told Brett about the Book of Mormon and about how it has changed our lives and it is the main reason why we were out here getting ourselves stuck on dirt/mud roads. We told him how desperately we want everyone to hear about the gospel and asked him if he wanted a copy. He said SURE! He told us that he would have tons of time by himself and he would love to read it. I pulled on out of my purse and marked 3 Nephi 11 and bore my testimony about how I knew the book of Mormon is true. It was the most amazing experience EVER. Everything was such perfect timing that I knew that it was all meant to be. And the best part is, if Brett does get baptized one day. He will have the hands down, best conversion story ever!!!! So hopefully right now as we speak/email Brett is in the mountains somewhere reading the Book of Mormon and the spirit is testifying to him that it is true. Just goes to show that Heavenly Father (or our GPS) has a pretty good sense of humor and you never know what next adventure he is preparing you for. I love you guys so much and I hope you are having a wonderful week. Happy Canadian Thanksgiving by the way ha-ha. I'M THANKFUL FOR YOU ALL!!!! Love you!!

Love Sister Jones

P.s. The relief society president didn't even live up that road! She lived 100 yards back from the road the gps took us to.

Oct 7th. Letter

HELLLOOOOOO!!!

So I don't have any time this week to email because I had to write a talk to my mission president about the doctrine of Christ. I thought since it is one of my better talks I am going to email it to you all too :) Just know that I had a fabulously insane week this week ha-ha. We went on two 24 hour exchanges and drove an hour and a half to a 7 hour meeting and we still taught 20 lessons!!! Whew it was madness!!! I will save some good stories to tell you next week. This week you can enjoy a little spiritual message. I love you all and have a wonderful week!!!! Love Sister Jones!!

My Talk on the Doctrine of Christ

My companion and I recently visited a young struggling single mother. We sat on her couch and listened to her broken voice and watched her tear stricken face as she told us of the struggles she was going through. My heart ached for her. So much pain and sadness engulfed her life. The hardest thing to witness was that it was affecting her 6 children too. I sat there feeling completely helpless and wished I could take the pain away. I wondered how everything in her life could go so wrong for her. 
As we were driving to our apartment, her appointment being the last one of a busy day, I pondered on what I had just heard and seen. I realized that yet again I have witnessed a direct result of a life without the gospel. Yet again I realized that it is truly better to "Prepare and prevent, than it is to repair and repent." This is a quote I heard quite often in Young Women lessons. 
This woman we visited carried the burdens of sin and consequences that followed for years. She had no idea that she could lay down these burdens and be free. She had no idea that the Savior has already carried that burden for her. 
The Savior paid the price for every sin that will ever commit. Through him we can be free of the guilt, the shame, the heartache, and the yoke that comes upon us from the mistakes we make and the mistakes of those around us. What precious knowledge this is. This truly is good news that we are blessed to share. 
All the Savior asks is that we come follow Him and be perfect even as He is perfect. We do these things by first having faith in Him. Faith is believing in things we cannot see. It is putting trust in someone or something enough to do something about it. Having faith in the Savior means we believe that He is the son of God. Trusting that he truly did die for his sins. How do you exercise this faith? By doing what he has asked us to do. Pray, go to church, read his scriptures, love your neighbor, keeping his commandments. When we do these things it strengthens our faith and it shows Christ the evidence of your faith. 
The second thing we must do to apply this gospel into our lives is Repent. Repentance is to change. Change for the better. We repent by recognizing what we have done wrong, making it better, asking for forgiveness, and refraining from ever doing it again. A companion once explained to me that, "repentance is gaining a fresh view of God, and yourself." Repentance is a lifelong process and will help us to be worthy of living in Christ's presence after this life. What a precious gift it is!
After we have gained faith in Jesus Christ and we have repented of our sins it prepares us to take the next step in our pathway to follow him. We are ready to make covenants or promises with Christ. We are baptized in his name and we promise to stand as a witness of him, always remember him, and to keep his commandments. Christ showed us an example of how to be baptized and his life shows us an example of how to live. 
Luckily Christ gives us a comforter and guide to help us along the way. After we are baptized we are given the gift of the Holy Ghost. He will be our constant companion. He is the connection we have to following the savior for the rest of our lives. Which leads me to the last step. 
The last thing Christ has asked us to do is to endure to the end. This is the hardest step because it is the longest step. Constantly remembering our baptisms covenants and being perfect is impossible without the guidance and direction Christ has given us through his church. As we consistently attend our church meetings, partake of the sacrament, read the scriptures and pray we will find the strength and knowledge it takes to receive eternal life. 
This is the path everyone is required to take. Without this structure and guidance we are lost. Like the woman above we wander a lost and broken path of sorrow. Christ is the shining light that everyone needs. We are his servants to gather in the lost sheep to point them to eternal life. I know these things are true. I have witnessed it on a daily basis. I say these things in the name of Jesus Christ. 

Amen

LOVE YOU!!!!!!

Love sister Jones

P.s. my quote of the week was my favorite quote from conference. So wonderful!