Humble Yellow

Dear Family & Friends,

This week has been one of humility.

But first a happier note! 

We walked up to a boy this last week who was skateboarding and who was basically in our pathway. I personally had the thought to walk right on by-My companion being very in-tune with the spirit and very willing to do anything-says "Let's go talk to him". We do and he tells us that he believes in Christ but doesn't attend Church so he must not be a Christian. Sister Hannah and I look at one another shocked and confirm that he is a Christian and that we would love to come and talk to him more about Jesus Christ. He said later that day he would love to talk to us. so we set him as a back-up to a potential appointment and walk away. We later that day get done teaching a lesson at the EKU campus and start to walk away when we have called the potential and he doesn't answer. We look over and because I didn't have my glasses on I couldn't see far away and down the hall walks this kid, who is ready and waiting to meet with us! WE sit down with him-His name is Blake-introduce the restoration and hand him a pamphlet and set up a return appointment. Two days later we text Blake to confirm us meeting with him and he said that it was still good and he also said that he read the restoration pamphlet and that it made sense to him. Sister Hannah and I flipped we were so excited. Once we were done planning we hopped on our bikes, literally went 50 MPH and zipped over to the college! As we sat down and started asking him about this pamphlet he was a little reluctant to say things and I personally was ready to give up because we were not getting much out of him and then sister Hannah says lets go through the pamphlet so we can explain more. So we do and we see that he is understanding and then we get to the par t about the Savior's life and why His Atonement was important and we begin to ask him whether he knows anyone that has had cancer, or diabetes or other untraceable things that has been caused to their bodies-he hesitantly said yes and with a blank stare he starts to tear up as we explain to him that those relatives and himself will be able to receive a perfect body because of the Atonement that Christ performed. We slow down a bit and make sure that we don't embarrass him at all for pointing out his tears. We begin to tell him about the first vision and I recite it to him as he looks at the picture. towards the end Blake tears up even more than he did before and we wait a moment and then we ask "What did this make you feel?" he stumbled a little bit and gestures to the tears in his eyes and says "Well...Joy", I ask how so (to get him to elaborate) (It was a dumb question) He was confused on how to answer and sister Hannah restates what I said by asking "Does this make you feel joy to know that God still speaks to his children today?" and he nods his head and says yes. I then ask him "Blake, do the things we told you about answer any of your prayers?" He says "yes." I say "Do you mind sharing?" and he says "I have been praying for life to get better." and Sister Hannah and I had this similar feeling of joy and our jaws dropping in our minds. We tell him that the Book Of Mormon is what will make life better and easier. WE then both feel impressed to ask him "If you were to receive your very own witness that the Book Of Mormon is true, will you follow the example of Jesus Christ and be baptized by proper priesthood authority?" before we were even finished asking he was nodding his head. and said "Yes". We then asked him if he could pray about his very own baptismal date that he would like to be baptized on and he said he would read and pray and then told us thank you and we all went home. As Sister Hannah and I went home we were so grateful and so happy and humbled all at once that our words only came a few at a time. Blake has been prepared to hear the Gospel and never throughout my mission have I seen anyone understand or even tear up when we recite the first vision. Usually people see it as a nice experience rather than seeing our desperation to tel them that it was reality and that it did happen and This young man saw and felt that and now knows why we come! We have an appointment with him next week!

  

Out of all the things that happened this last week I would like to share one that was on my mind the last few hours:    We(Us sisters and the elders of our ward) were asked to do a training for the members of the ward on how to be member missionaries plus I and Elder Vanbeekum were asked to speak in sacrament meeting about the Atonement of Jesus Christ. We did well with speaking with the Mission President in our meeting (Which was super scary!) and we went to the last hour with the relief society and priesthood combined started to share the new video for Easter that just came out. Everything was smooth sailing and then it came to Sister Hannah and I's part and were gonna do a role play about how to introduce the gospel to our friends. We did it and it was literally this 10 second freakout because we were both nervous and couldn't think of anything to say. Than we made a joke and everyone laughed and it ended and than I turned to everyone and asked if they noticed anything that stuck out to them. A man in the back raised his hand and stated that the most important part is to bare our testimony. But he didnt say so much as to one sentence but as to the effect that we had made a grievous mistake in that role play and said it so forcefully that I stood there in awe of what we had just mistakenly done. About to run out in sure embarrasment I stated that he was right and that that was the most important part to do. Not only were we called to repentance in front of the ward but in front of our Mission President....I walked away from church feeling like my calling as a missionary was put into question. 

We came home and took a lunch break-went back out and talked to a lot of people then came back in for diner still feeling slighted and the thought comes to me to read the new ensign. I read it and it leads me to doctrine and covenant 66 which says: "Behold, verily I say unto you, that it is my will that you should proclaim my gospel from land to land, and from city to city, yea, in those regions round about where it has not been proclaimed.6 Tarry not many days in this place;go not up unto the land of Zion as yet; but inasmuch as you can send, send; otherwise, think not of thy property.7 Go unto the eastern lands, bear testimony in every place, unto every people and in their synagogues, reasoning with the people.8 Let my servant Samuel H. Smith go with you, and forsake him not, and give him thine instructions; and he that is faithful shall be made strong in every place; and I, the Lord, will go with you.9 Lay your hands upon the sick, and they shall recover. Return not till I, the Lord, shall send you. Be patient in affliction. Ask, and ye shall receive; knock, and it shall be opened unto you."

I read that and I knew that God wanted us back out immediately. While we prepared to go back out after I told sister Hannah my impression I laid on the bed asking Heavenly Father where he wanted me to go  (We have colored areas on our map and so I asked which colored area he wanted us to go in.). The thought came to my head that he wanted us in "Yellow"! Which is crazy because it dark at 7 o'clock at night and yellow is a restricted area at night. We pray and walk out the door and I tell sister Hannah that I want to pray again and so we do and I tell her that yellow is where we need to go. She looks at me as though I am going to put her in the depths of hell and keep her there. and I tell her you think I am crazy but I think its where we need to be. She says well lets just walk that direction and if it still feels right we will but. So we walk up the stairs and around he corner and no sooner did I realize what "Yellow" meant. across the street there is this really ugly "Yellow" house. and in front of the house a EKU student is sitting on the front of his car looking through his phone. I quietly yell out "Yellow!" and she looks at me with excitement. we talk to this kid and his name is Dillon. We set up a return appointment and walk away. 

At that moment my testimony of following the spirit grew. It wasn't a bad situation that we needed to make sure to get out of or to stop but simply Heavenly Father told us where we needed to be and if we are humble enough to hearken to the call and do what it is He asks of us, miracles and blessings come from it. We came home excited and ready to hit the mattress. 

   This morning I prayed and asked to be humbled because the comment that member said at church really cored me and scraped me on the inside (Which is silly because I can move on from it but for some reason it took its tole). As I studied I was reading in the new ensign about what happens when we are humbled (Ironically not a coincidence). The author stated that being humbled is not to show that we have sinned but to show us our weaknesses and that there is a difference between the two. I didn't realize till that very moment that I wasn't sinning by forgetting to testify but that simply I fell short and as it had said in the article that the Savior Jesus Christ felt EVERYTHING; Not just our sins but our SHORTCOMINGS AND INSECURITIES as well. I felt an overwhelming desire to do and be better and a forgiveness for this member even though he was simply testifying himself what he thought was important for me to know. I know that Jesus Christ gives us His Grace when we do fall short. It is not the end of the world if we do not measure up because this life is meant for progression not perfect-that comes in the life-to-come. I know that Heavenly Father indeed answers prayers, especially for those that are faithful and turn to Him in every hour that they need.

We also got to watch the Women's broadcast on Saturday! Super cool! Cannot wait for General Conference! :)

I love you all! Have a wonderful week!

Hearken To It and Do It,

Sister Jones

*Sister Hannah's family letter compliments and adds dimension to the experiences these sisters had this week.  Please read and enjoy!

Dear family,

This week we saw more miracles.  Sister Jones and I are LOVING this warm weather and missionary work seems to too! I can't believe all the miracles we have seen... seriously.  By Thursday we had picked up 5 people who wanted to sincerely learn more about the church.  They are all incredible people too! The Lord is placing people in our path who are ready and humble enough to hear and ACCEPT the gospel!! :) AH I LOVE IT! :) 

Taylor. She is awesome. We met her while I was on exchanges with Sister Ward. She was super nice and we got her number, but nothing came of it.  Last week we were walking home from EKU and ran into her on the sidewalk... not a coincidence! (exchanges are when the companionship splits up for 24 hours and we have a temp companion who is one of our leaders train us.  We then switch back!) We taught her the first lesson this week and she was asking the most incredible questions. She loved the Book of Mormon and the spirit was incredible strong. She was asking things like "I have always believed there are prophets so is the Book of Mormon how we know there is one?" YES! She asked that! It was incredible! She left our appointment with the desire to pray about the Book of Mormon and Joseph Smith! She is so prepared and so humble! :) She is the sweetest thing and we look forward to continue working with her! 

Blake. Blake was an interesting sequence of events. I was prompted last week to take a different route to a lesson and we ended up being placed right in his path. (Coincidence, yeah, I think not.. I don't believe in those anymore. I believe in God.) He was skateboarding by the courthouse and we stopped him, introduced ourselves and then actually set up a return appointment with him for within the next few hours. The first interaction went really well. He understood why we are here and what we are doing. So we set up another appointment with him and it went way better than Sister Jones and I could have ever expected. It was completely spirit led. It was humbling. Blake is prepared. He had already read the Restoration pamphlet and understood most of it. We went over it and further explained the priesthood. When it came time to recite the restoration, He felt the spirit so strongly. Never had I ever experienced a lesson in a public place like this (the student center on EKU campus, it is usually loud :/) and the spirit be so strong. 

When he looked up, we asked him how it made him feel and he looked at us dumbfounded because his eyes were filled with tears and he was filled with joy and love. Sister Jones felt impressed to ask him "has this message answered any of your prayers?" and he said "yes, I have been praying for my life to get better and I think this is the answer." HOW AWESOME!!! We were so pleased with this lesson and strive to have every lesson to be like this one-  spirit led!!!!! Pray for BLAKE!! :) 

The YELLOW revelation. So yesterday we came in for dinner and were planning on doing some training also. Sister Jones had the strong impression that we needed to go back out ASAP. I looked at her and said "OK, let's go!" We prayed before we left and the color yellow popped into our head. Our map is color coded so we can organize people and places better. The yellow zone on our map is not safe to go in after dark. It is not lit, filled with drugs and just very unsettling. I looked at Sister Jones like she was crazy. I wasn't about to go to the yellow zone!!! Well, we start walking, literally we are 100 steps from out front door, and across the street from us is a yellow house. Just so happens there was a young man sitting outside and we were able to share with him the Because He Lives video, set a return appointment and share our message with him. Sometimes revelation isn't always what it seems! FOLLOW PROMPTINGS!!!

I also met Jehovah's witnesses this week.  They were incredibly nice and opened my eyes to their religion.  I have had many misconceptions about JW's and these two sweet women helped me understand better.  It made me think about the people who have misconceptions of our religion and how it is confusing sometimes.  Luckily, that is why there are missionaries!! We laughed over the fact that we always get confused for each other.  

These are just the highlight miracles! There are always more, but I cannot type fast enough or have enough time to write them all! I seriously wish I could just wear a go-pro and send home the footage! 

THIS WORK IS JOYOUS!  The joy I feel when I share the gospel is unexplainable.  It is so incredible.  It is what needs to be happening.  Member missionary work is important too! Don't forget that! I LOVE THE WORK.  I LOVE MY SAVIOR. 

Stay Rad. Stay Righteous.  

Happy Easter! :) Take some time to reflect on the Atonement of Jesus Christ this week.  It is the most powerful thing! :) 

I LOVE YOU ALL! 

much love, 

Sister Hannah

Some Cigarettes, a Gang and a Baptism!

Springtime on Jones street

Dear Family & Friends,

Yes we've had a few strange days! Mostly because of the people we met this week and the very awkward situations and lessons learned afterwards!

Well it started off as a fun week! we have had many opportunities to contact people this week but we had the opportunity to have dinner with brother and sister Brown and they made(Just like mom :)   ) SPAGHETTI! :) It was taking me back to the wonderful pile mom usually makes at home! We talked to them and shared with them a wonderful thought about Jesus Christ! It was super cute and then later Sister Hannah and I got on tangents with Brother Brown about deep doctrines and share our insights to what certain things mean!

Last week we had the opportunity to meat a woman named Avery Lewis. She is a single mom with two little boys trying to make it on her own and we had already shared the first lesson with her and we went by this week to see if she read. She didn't, however, we felt impressed to read the first chapter of the Book of Mormon with her and we noticed that she needed more of a 'break-down' with the language of the scriptures. So we talked with her and explained to her what the story was talking about and how it is important for her. Than we ask her questions and ask her what she should understand from the message from the scripture. She answered the exact thing that we were both about to express and stated that she knows that God sent us there for a reason. We were so excited and we told her that we agreed and than Sister Hannah, being a very kind, blunt person, wanted to quickly bring up smoking (because we were discussing baptism) and she said "But we have a sort of a health code in our church that we expect new converts to live by, so you would have to give up smoking" (I'm paraphrasing,of course.) and Avery looks at us and says "That's good because I need to quite and I always hated my mom for smoking and its not good at all for my kids". I start to explain the Word Of Wisdom and as I am speaking she is following but then, all of a sudden, she grabs the pack of cigarettes and squishes them together and chucks them in the trashcan! She is like okay that is fine I am done smoking and explains way and we sit there dumbfounded :) and sometimes for those reasons, I like feeling dumbfounded. She sets up to come to church and and unfortunately didn't show up, however she sent us a text later saying she was sorry for not showing up but says that she was afraid because she knows she is a single mom and does not want to be judged for it. My heart goes out to her. We told her to trust God and come next week :) So we shall see!

Haha Saturday was a hoot! We got up and the sun was shining and literally everyone was outside! We decide to bike and as we are going down main street we stop to see that a cowboy was singing and playing the guitar! He asked what we were up to and who we were and we said we are missionaries and preaching the gospel. He said that is amazing, here I think you will love this and you can sing along! he starts singing some sort of southern Gospel song that I have NEVER heard before and we stand there tapping our not know the words but humming anyway. At the end we share our card and tell him to have a blessed day and bike on. We felt so blessed to have that tender mercy from Heavenly Father to have someone respect our beliefs enough to share his talent according to what we believed! WE loved it! 

    

------As we are biking a couple minutes later we get skunked by two black women at their yard sale and tell them to have a good day and move on. Than we bike up another hill and close to the top we see five 6'5 black guys with biker clothing on standing in a circle.

 I was hesitant at first but then we both were like "Eh, its the Kingdom of God. They need it". So we contact them! 

Haha and as we pull up we ask to share our card and they ask what for and notice we are only biking and ask why we don't have motors on our bikes? We tell them its because we want the exercise. So we get off our bikes in this sketching part of town and Sister Hannah and I are the only white girls in sight around these huge buff black guys and start to tell them about the Gospel. They apparently are a Bikers gang with a "Creed" / Testimony that they go by- Which is that the red on their clothing stand for the blood of Christ; they are from South Carolina. In my brain I was like oh good! Religious bikers! they sure didn't look like it because they had huge metal chains around their necks (which meant that they are only as strong as their weakest link)! So they introduce themselves as: Bolt, Cali-boy, Show-off and Wolf. They were like puppy dogs compared to how they looked. I walk over to my basket on my bike and grab a book of Mormon and start to share Alma 7:11-13. Than another bike member comes out of this hotel/house (not sure which) and starts to act all "Cool" and literally starts to hit on us and I have my pepper spray ready -  but then I see one of the other bikers filming this from their phone and I said "Is that a camera?----This is the Book Of Mormon! " and than I turn to the bikers and say "I thought the other guy was named show-off?!" and than he stops acting cool and gives us a confused look and we tell him he is showing off! and the whole bikers gang says "OH!!!!!!!" and Bolt high-fives us and we share our scripture, our cards and our testimonies and they shake our hands and kindly say thank you for the message shared :) It was the funniest and coolest experience of my life! You never know when the scary biker gang turns out to be religious puppy dogs named show-off! haha!

typical Kentucky setting! IT is GORGEOUS!! 

Other than that wonderful experience that entire day we talked to 50 people all day and it was amazing to literally be inaction of preaching the Gospel! this week we did well with talking to 83 of God's Children! :)

Also we got to watch the baptism of a (used to be part member) family and the mothers were baptized a few weeks before I got here and their sons got baptized on Saturday as well. it was awesome to watch the Elders perform their priesthood and help the boys return to God. Than Sister Hannah and I took five Book Of Mormons and highlighted five scriptures and had five people read them and give insights to the scriptures. All of these scriptures talked about Christ and what he did and we testified that The Book Of Mormon testifies of Jesus Christ. The coolest thing is one of the Elders' investigators was there and he read a verse and then at the end of the service he asks us if he could keep that Book Of Mormon even though the Elders had given him a copy- he wanted that one with the verse in it! (Helaman 5:12 was the scripture!) and we said of course and I thought it was funny but cute how he wanted the one Book Of Mormon with his new favorite verse ! Which is in every Book of Mormon! We realized later on that when we were picking verses that we were trying to decided whether to include that scripture of not and we decided that that one was important and gave him that Book of Mormon to read from! It was a tender mercy from the Lord! Who knows nor cares whether that verse will get him baptized or not. Baptism is not the end goal. We are out here to help people come closer to Christ not to baptize thousands. Sister Hannah and I hope and pray that that is the result of our efforts but not the singular purpose of our desires. We are just glad we followed the promptings of the spirit that day! :)

Anyway there was a ton more that happened but these were the ones that were most important because they stick out in my brain! haha We are too busy and tired at the end of the night to remember everything :)

I pray for you all and hope that your lives are filled with the Gospel and strengthen through your faith in Jesus Christ! I Love you!

OH! I forgot to tell you our mission president is coming to talk at our sacrament meeting with me and an Elder in our ward next Sunday and we are talking about the Atonement! So I thought about your conversion story and knew that was one of the reasons I wanted it so bad! I hope you don't mind that I am going to use that end of it for your testimony about the Atonement and that you used the Atonement right :) I love you mommy! Keep working hard and I will too and your other daughter Sister Hannah will as well! :)

~Sister Jones

P.S. I got new name tags & am back to being Sis. Jones!

(MOM's Note:  I was privileged to hear back from Katelyn's companion and be included in her version of events.  For fun and something different I asked her some questions to get to know her a little better - enjoy!)

Dear Sister Hannah,

Thank you SOOOO much for being an awesome companion to my ONE & ONLY oldest daughter.  She means the world to me!  I can see from the pictures she is just beaming.  She seems to definitely be in total missionary mode, loving every second of it, and I can confidently assume that YOU have something to do with that.

****QUESTIONS FOR MY MISSIONARY'S COMPANION*****

How are you liking Richmond?

      -I LOVE RICHMOND!! I am falling more and more in love with it each and every day.  The warmer the weather, the better the day.  The more people that are out and the more opportunities we have to share the gospel! :) It is a wonderful place and I love the ward! (it is pretty much a Utah transplant ward! LOL) 

What other areas have you served in, or has Richmond been your only home so far?

     -Richmond is the only place I have served.  I have only been out for two months (as of this week! YIPEE) and your daughter is my follow-up trainer.  That says something about her- SHE IS AWESOME and a stellar missionary.  Seriously! She has taught me so much in the last three weeks! :)    

How is your family doing - your mom is a convert?  Super cool.

     -My family is doing great! My momma is a convert! Almost of two years! June 29, 2015 will mark two years! We were able to go to the temple together for the first time and it was aweosme! My brothers continue to get taller and biugger and I can't imagine them any bigger than when I left! They grow like weeds! My dad is so funny, he is only on me about golf.  "when are you going to golf on p-day?" HAHA.  I wish.  no time, sorry pops!  I hope you are facebook friends with my mom though! I know she would love to be friends with you and then y'all could really connect! 

When is your birthday?

     -My birthday is August 19, 1995.  Sister Jones and I are only one month apart! 

Is Katelyn a super 'cluttery' messy roommate? (umm.  my guess is YES - but we love her anyway!)

    -haha, we keep the room organized, but I am used to some clutter because my college roommate was the same way.  I just have an invisible line that if it gets too messy I just push it back to her side LOL. 

What is your favorite scripture today?

     -My favorite scripture today is Mosiah 2:41 Consider the blessed and happy state of those who keep the commandments of God! :) 

Hope you have time to answer and have an incredibly awesome busy P-day! 

Love,

THE Joneses

P.S.  Pic hint:  Name that prophet.

President Benson!!

(P.S. his grandson is in our ward and is the president of Eastern Kentucky University!)

love you lots!!!Thanks for your support!

stay rad

stay righteous

Hearken to it and DO IT!! 

Loving the work!

Sister Madeline Hannah

Richmond's Week of Miracles!

As a side note to the reader:  Sister Hannah is AWESOME.  She includes me on her email letter list, so I get to 'fill in the blanks' of what is going on from what Katelyn partly told us.  I will include parts of her letter through out (in a distinctive font) when it helps explain parts of what Katelyn was relaying part of their weekly experience. -Susan

***Questions for our Missionary***

How is Sister Hannah and you doing on your bikes?  Rain, mud, etc?

Ha ha we have hit every single weather here but if its raining or snowing we don't bike!

*Do you still have a car at all that you can use when the weather is bad?

NOPE. :) I have the nicest legs now from walking! :)

**Do you have a toaster and microwave in your house?  (I dunno, daddy was wondering about that yesterday - weird question!)

YES! we have just about every little thing we need-the ward tries to provide for us too, its AWESOME :)

*How many Young Women are in your new ward? 

active-8? less active-7? but there is probably way more than that than I already know about

*Tell us about your Sunday yesterday - do you bike to church too, or get rides?

We get rides- the members are so willing to drive us anywhere. Half of the ward are Utah-ins that moved out here for work so they know the blessings very well from helping missionaries and they love to FEED us! :)

**Do you go to more than one church on a Sunday?  I wonder how long of a day is Sunday for you if its full of meetings!

Nope we don't. Just our 3 hours of Sunday meetings and every other week is ward council so that is an extra hour. 

***(very important question) What dessert, or home cooked food do you miss?  Do you get enough home cooked meals from families in the area?

Yes we get fed a ton! I have had a variety of foods but I miss your APPLE CRISP the most :) ha ha and your random meal creations that you can always whip together!

*Do you want me to send out some spring clothes yet?  (I can send a big box or just a smaller one with some stuff if your ready for them).

no send them all out! it is supposed to be in the 70's here and get warmer by the week! and I will just keep a few warmer things and send all the winter stuff home!

*I Google-Earthed your house number and it keeps showing me a yellow house - is that yours?

 No it is behind the yellow house and it is white. Its 202 A Langford so it is this little house right behind all of these other ones with a cute fence that leads to it. It will probably look like the yellow house backyard but its not its our house :)

Thank you mom for all that you do! I love you so much!!!

-SISTER KATELYN JONES ;)

 Finally a sunny day!

Dear Family & Friends,

I cannot say more about what has happened this week! and I will testify straight up that it was all because the Lord guided us as we were obedient and faithful:

So this week started off with A LOT! of rain! but that didn't stop us! We will either be biking everywhere or walking everywhere! So we got drenched on Monday walking in the rain!

Also On Tuesday we made our way through the city teaching and talking to people and we were dumb enough to wear only flats when it was cloudy and we were soaked!! A member picked us up for the relief society birthday party and my shoes were so soaked we put toilet paper all in our shoes to get them dry! plus we forgot our umbrellas so that got wet too! Ha ha, gotta love that Kentucky-eastern weather! Also we were walking down main street and I lost my name tag- it was my last one.... not really happy about it but now I use Sister Hannah's name tag and that is kind of cool because we are already considering each other as twins :)

(Sister Hannah) Tuesday: POURING RAIN.  Like pouring so hard and wind blowing so strong an umbrella does NOTHING.  We were SOAKED.  (pictures should be on my blog) Sister Jones lost her only name tag and we went on the hunt to find it.  There is no miracle story with finding it sadly, she is currently playing sister Hannah 2.0. It was a rough day because it was pouring, then it wasn't so we shed layers and then it started to pour again and we were NOT prepared.  LOL.  We looked like we had just jumped out of a pool.  It was lovely.  That night we had the Richmond Ward Relief Society Birthday Party.  The RS Party was exactly what we needed to unwind a little bit.  We ate good food, chatted with our awesome sisters and then heard touching stories from fours sisters who each had different backgrounds with the relief society. So special. We also were sent home with a ton of food.  The Richmond Ward takes such good care of us! 

        (Failed object lesson @ the Bryners video link)     https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=10153106058429976&pnref=story

Wednesday we went to our zone meeting in Lexington and it was awesome! Our Zone is crazy cool and we learned so much as a companionship what we want to do and what we do not want to do and bonded so much more! Anyways while we made our way to go to another room Elder and Sister Benson (they are leaving for home today) came up and asked Sister Hannah if she could play the piano for the music at their ward's baptism on Saturday-I agreed for her! he-he and they were so excited and started to walk away when I felt the distinct impression to ask if I could sing at their baptism..... Now this was a really weird impression and I rarely never invite myself to do something like that. But I walked up to them, telling Sister Hannah this and she knows that I can be quite hesitant at times, she said "Sister Jones has something to ask"---She is an awesome companion ha ha and then I figured oh well its a good thing and if its a good thing that is being impressed upon me, its from God! So I tried to ask in the most non-boasting or self-inviting manner if I could sing at the baptism because for some reason (I didn't know why) I felt sorely impressed to do so. They leaped for joy and said "Of Course" ha ha and then I turned to Sister Hannah and thought" What did I just do?" and then she confirmed that it's from God and to "Hearken To It, Then Do It!" (Our companionship Motto). I shrugged my shoulders and went on!

  

    --Then after this meeting we went on an exchange with the Sister Training leaders and so I brought all of my stuff with me (in a duffle bag) and we loaded up and went our separate ways! I got to exchange with Sister Wu and Sister Hannah exchanged with Sister Ward and I went to Jessimine! It was a great night! first we had their ward coordination and went out to jimmy johns for dinner and then found a few people to teach and went to bed! The next morning we woke up and worked out hard! I was able-since my goal has been to strengthen my legs and my arms-to do PUSH UPS! hahaha, I know it sounds super silly but I was able to go all the way down and back up and did that ten times! Silly goal but worth it!

   

      As we went through our day we tried so many people and one person we had the opportunity to teach. She is a less active member named Sister Rhoade's and she has many psychological complication (So her doctor says) and is an alcoholic. WE started to talk to her and she humbly and sweetly admitted all that she had done wrong with her life and explained that she knows that cannot ever be forgiven for any of it but that she got a job at McDonald's and now has her own apartment and is doing so much better! We stopped her after she said that she thought she could never be forgiven and asked her why she thought that. She explained her reason and then we both felt impressed to talk about the atonement and the enabling and strengthening power. We read to her Alma chapter 36, which is Alma the younger's conversion story and how he went from the pain of hell to the pleasure of joy after he repented of his sins. She expressed that same pain earlier and we knew this would help her.She LOVED it! She has this child-like meekness about her and when she heard that it touched her heart and gave that exact hope that she needed to feel empowered by her situation, rather than weakened! The spirit was incredibly strong and I started to tear up because of the light that shown in her eyes as we told her that she has the capability of being happy! I don't know what is going on with Sister Rhoades now but I know that that exchange was a miracle and that she changed me more than we changed her! I will forever remember Sister Rhoades as a dear friend of mine!

Okay this will get even longer from here!

So we all came back together on Thursday and having learned so much from our exchanged we felt so empowered! we told each other what we wanted to change and Sister Hannah told me that on their exchange that they talked to 47 people that day! That never happens in any area unless you are literally around more that 60 people at a time! our usual weekly goal is about 140 people and we maybe talk to 50 people each week and drumroll please!.....WE talked to 102 people this week!!!!! We made it our goal to get passed talking to 100 peopleand we did it! It was so cool! and we got a new investigator this week named Ma'Kayla! She is 16 and works at taco bell and is the sweetest and most hard working girl ever! We met her with he friends and invited her to read to Book Of Mormon and she excepted that and also a return appointment!     

 We walked over to her house and knocked on her door three times and no answer! WE were so bummed but we both thought to call her haha and right when we did she opened the door and said she didn't hear us before! The Lord knows how to get his elect where he wants them to be! So we weren't able to go in her house because an adult wasn't home but she knew a recent convert that lives across the street and we were able to teach her there! We started to teach her about what our purpose as missionaries are and about the Book Of Mormon and told her about Thomas S. Monson and how he is our living day prophet--- she stopped us and said "Wait a prophet you have a prophet?" and we exclaimed "Yes!" She said "But wait how do you know he is a prophet?" We explained that through prayer we can know that for ourselves and she said she would like to hear from this man and we told her about general conference and how we hear them all speak and the excitement in her eyes as she said "Can I watch that?!?" was so cool! and we told her to come with us to the church in a couple weeks and that we would see it happen! After we left she told us that she said she would start reading tonight in the Book Of Mormon!now she is on chapter 7 and is probably farther along since then! :D

      

    Than we got home that night and we got a text, from a random number, that said "I got your card the other day and I was wondering how I could become a mormon?" We Flipped! We had seen miracles all day long and knew this was another one! We talked to her and she said she grew up baptist but was looking elsewhere for other things and when she got our card wanted to know more! WE are gonna meet with her this week!

(Sister Hannah) This week in my studies I came across something I thought would be of worth to you all.  I was studying in 1 Nephi 5.  It is the story of Sariah and Lehi waiting for their sons to return from the land of Jerusalem. At first, I though Sariah was this weak woman who was lacking in faith.  What I realized as I read it was that she started off lacking in faith, but then she was put through a trial.  She was taken out of her home and followed her prophet husband into the wilderness.  I too am following the prophet and was taken from my home.  She then goes through this huge trial of faith waiting on her sons to return.  She needed this experience in her life to make her rely on the Lord more and to trust more in His prophets and teachings.  Just like Sariah, I am in a trial of my faith.  I am being tried every single day.  If I remain faithful, I will recieve those blessings He has in store for me, as He continually blesses me through my trials.  I love relating the scriptures to myself and learning more from them.  Apply yourself to the scriptures and the world will be opened up!! 

The work is incredible in Richmond.  I LOVE IT HERE.  The sunny days are always better than the dreary days, but that is just because more people are outside.  More people to share the gospel with! 

Lastly (Trying to make this short) The night before the baptism we were so tired and frustrated and we realized that nothing had  been practiced for the baptism the we committed to ourselves the next day-I hadn't even chosen a song. As we prayed we thought to call a woman in our ward that is new that plays the organ and piano. We did and she was willing to play for us! Now for the song- sister Hannah found a book of song music and accompanist music and as we were looking the next morning we found "Savior, Redeemer of my soul" I screamed for joy when I saw it because it was the same song Sister Clark and I sang for Carolyn's baptism back in December! It was another miracle from Heavenly Father and as we practiced and then I sung it for total strangers the spirit was so strong! 

(Sister Hannah) Saturday: The most incredible day.  We were invited to attend a baptism and it was so inspired.  We were able to get a last minute accompanist for Sister Jones and I played the opening and closing hymns.  This baptism was so spiritual.  A husband and wife were getting baptized together.  The whole time I was reminded of my mom's baptism and the feelings of peace and comfort I felt at hers.  I know she did the right thing that day in June 2013. I know she knows that too.  I know that her decision has blessed my life and I am grateful I had this sweet reminder at the Hurst's baptism.  I shed a few tears of gratitude.  Heavenly Father knows exactly what we need.  It was a miracle I was there at the baptism and that I was able to feel those sacred feelings again.  That day we also biked everywhere, tried to plan but it didn't happen and then called it a night.

I learned from this that no matter what I am asked to do by the Lord that it is meant to influence someone else- I don't know if this simple act influence someone that I didn't know but it helped me to act on the impressions God gives me no matter my personal human thoughts on the circumstances. I love my Heavenly Father and I know He is there watching out for my companion and I! I know that obedience brings blessing and Exact Obedience brings absolute miracles! I know this to be true.

Hearken to it - and DO it!

Love, Sister Jones :)

Goodbye Olney ~ Hello Richmond KY!

At Transfer meeting in Louisville, got to see some MTC friends and my first companion, Sister Smith

***Questions for our Missionary***

• How was church today in your new ward?
• It was good but weird-I miss Olney a lot- feels weird because Sister Heiner the sister right before me) was here 7 months so we are both new but I feel like the weird bug in this ward but oh well we will all grow to love each other!
• Did Elder Polson get moved to your area as well?
• not in my area but I think he is in my zone!
• How much snow (what's the weather like - the air - does it 'feel' humid even in the winter)?
• not too much (like two feet maybe) and it depends on the day but all around it just is perfect here but I hear the heat will continue to rise and get worse but Ill live.
• Are you in a house again, or in an apartment now?
• a house! I will send pictures! it is the cutest little nook!! :)
• Are you close to the campus?  (I looked on MapQuest and it said there are 6 McDonald's, 2 subways, Red Lobster, a Mall, etc etc their
• Yeah we are but right after the campus its not our area anymore
• Who is your senior couple watching over you now that the Thaxton's are hanging out in Olney still?
• we don't have any! :( I miss them sooooo much!!!!!! 
• Tell us all about your companion, Sister Hannah :)
• She is absolutely my best friend! I kid you not that we work so well together that we are in sync and inseparable! She is from Orange County California and grew up most of her life inactive in the church and a few years ago her friend got her back into the church and they even got her mom to get baptized! and then get this she went to school up at BYU-I! Her and I want to room together and we laugh all the time and we are so close! ----literally her and I prayed for each other as companions because we were comparing journal writings and Heavenly Father answered our prayers! Now we have talked to so many people and learned so many things that I have never been so happy in my entire mission! It helps when you love your companion! :)
• Have you had a chance to be the trainer - what is different about being the trainer? Do you take the lead on study, making appointments decisions, etc?
• Not really because whoever trained Sister Hannah trained her VERY WELL- I believe she is a better missionary than I will ever become but she has learned many things from me as I have from her. Mainly I just have to pay attention to what she is doing (correct  her if needs be), set up training lessons in the morning from PMG and protect (you should do that even if you are not training) but we are practically learning more from each other than I am training! :)

I am loving every minute of my mission thank you so much mom! 

-Sister Jones

Sister Katelyn Grace Jones

Sister Madeline Brook Hannah

(Katelyn responding to  how she likes Richmond and being on a bike now) It is truly a difference and we work 95% harder. My body is stronger from biking and walking all in one week! so cool! I l have you so much more Momma! and also the woman in the ward here want to keep in contact with you all the time-so Sister Bryner  (on missionary moms) saw you on that FaceBook page and that you posted about me and they knew who I was before Sister Hannah and I were assigned! Sister Bryner also picked me up and drove us here and is the cutest thing ever! She is another aunt out here! :)

Its okay for you to keep in  contact all the time with them here, they love to help and feed us because most want to do it for their own missionaries but cant because they are in foreign areas!

-I love you lots more! tell me more of whats going on!

-Sister Jones

Hello Family & friends!

Well it has been a super crazy and awesome week! But because of transfers, I got to see my beautiful MTC buds and also I got to see my mission mom-Sister Clark! She is so amazing! I absolutely adore her! it was so hard to leave Olney and the Thaxtons! but I will forever have a place setting in Olney for my heart and I am grateful to be here in Richmond!

Anywho! Sister Madelyn Brook Hannah is my new companion and I am follow-up training her! If anything she is training me because her previous trainer did a stupendous job at training her +  she is an incredible human being so I don't have to worry to much!  At transfers they called our names and once she heard my name she stood straight up without hearing her own name first! She and I knew we were going to get paired up together because of wonderful information from people on FaceBook (Mom) and also Sister Bryner was FaceBook stalking me ;) even on a mission it happens!

We got to Richmond after a long drive and we live in a HOUSE! Wooo Hooo! We live in this cute little nook with a washer and dryer, 3 bedrooms and 2 bathrooms all to ourselves! way cool!

Well since Richmond is a bike area we get to strengthen and solidify our leg muscles by walking and biking! Richmond is also filled with hills galore! the best part about serving in a bike area is we have millions of opportunities to find God's Elect children! We have so many chances to stop and talk and chat- most people are nice and some just politely ignore but Sister Hannah has been a force of nature with talking to people! She knows exactly what to say and how to show love to everyone around her! She has trained me in the ways of contacting for sure! I can't say enough about her!

Making the Helmets look good

Anyway this week on my first day on a bike was awesome! and we were contacting and knocking in a neighborhood on one side of town and made plans to eat on the other side of town and nothing was working out with the neighborhood and we bowed our heads to pray and both felt the prompting to get on our bikes and go eat! WE did and as we biked through a neighborhood nearby we were going up this steep hill and a black kid named Kionta was walking his dog- we stopped him and shared a scripture about the atonement with everyone and he said that we could come back and talk to him more about it! It was so inspired and we didn't even comprehend how cool it was until later because he totally excepted a Book Of Mormon from us and was humble!

Yesterday another incredibly awesome thing happened! WE made plans the night before to go find potential investigators and to hopefully spark something in them. We chose a select few and all of them were not working- we turned around to go to another house of a potential and we knocked and said that we heard that she was contacted by missionaries before and asked to come in and she invited us right in! We started to ask her questions about her religion and and what sparked her interest with the missionaries before and she said that she didn't think being a baptist wasn't for her anymore so she was open to hearing about other things! Right as I started to share about the Book of Mormon her phone rings- she gets up to answer it and we wait until she hangs up without talking- there was no one on the phone!!! Sister Hannah and I knew right off the bat that it was Satan literally trying to stand in the way but apparently it didn't do too much because she shared our testimonies with her and she asked questions about how the American Indians are related to the Nephites and Lamanites and how Joseph smith was called to be a prophet! The spirit was so strong and we had two teenage girls with us that are also planning to serve a mission as well and we came out of their in Awe because they didn't understand how much of a miracle it was that we met this woman! Diana (the woman) said that she would read the Book of Mormon and pray about it and we set up to go back and oh man we are pumped to teach her!

NOW INTRODUCING.....Sister Madeline Hannah!

(mom) I was lucky to be online when Sister Hannah was emailing this morning and she sent me her version of events.  She is so awesome - I can already tell!  

(Sis. Hannah) This week has been miracle week!!!!! 

Here are some highlights: 

Tuesday: I said goodbye to Sister Heiner and hello to Sister Jones!! Sister Jones is incredible!! She is from Rigby, Idaho and is my homegirl!! We get along so well and she is just a doll!! I love her so much!! We are going to be best friends and it is going to be a miracle transfer!! We saw a couple of our recent converts and our neighbor, Crystal.  It was a great night, we got acquainted and hit the hay.  

Wednesday: We helped our wonderful Sister Wright unpack some more and move some stuff at her new house.  We were working with Elder Trost and Elder Van Beekum in our ward and the job got done quickly.  She fed us really good chicken enchiladas and then we ran back to an appointment with Katie, our golden investigator.  Katie is seriously stellar!!  She is so prepared to hear the gospel she  just struggles with the question if this is truly Christ's church or not.  We are working with her to help her realize that if the Book of Mormon is true, then Joseph Smith is a prophet of God and therefore, the church that he restored IS the Church of Jesus Christ in the Latter-days.  The chain effect is golden.  Pray for Katie :)  IT WAS POURING this day and we got DRENCHED.  To the point where we had to change before we went back out.  

FUNNY STORY OF THE WEEK: The missing meat.

We went shopping on Tuesday after transfers and bought some ground beef.  We unloaded everything, said Thank You to Sister Bryner and then put everything in the fridge, expect Sister Jones' new bag from Walmart, which stayed on the ground.  OUR HOUSE IS SO COLD.  Side note.  We have to study upstairs because our house is literally a refrigerator downstairs.  ALL the heat rises..... it is COLD.  (thank you Momma and Paige for the warm socks).  So we come in to make dinner on Wednesday night and needed the meat.  The meat is gone.  MISSING.  not in the fridge, not in the freezer and not in Sister Bryners car.... so we are baffled.  So confused.  Where the heck did this meat go?!!?!?!?!?!  We start looking around to see if it got kicked under the oven or just anything.... well Sister Jones looks under this Walmart bag that had her bag in it and sure enough, there is our ground beef.  Here is the best part: IT WAS STILL COLD.  YES.  STILL COLD FROM 24 HOURS PRIOR!!!!!! OUr house is that cold.  But we found the meat and we were able to eat dinner!! :)

Thursday: NO PROSELYTING DAY.  Yes, another no pros day. :( It was kinda sad because there are so many people we can be sharing the gospel with, but we also got ANOTHER 8 inches of freaking SNOW.  YES.... another 8 inches.... yay for more mud and slush!! hahaha!! It ended up working out perfectly because we were able to hold our weekly planning session which takes 3+ hours (can you believe that?!?!) and bond a lot.  Remember how I said she is my homegirl? Well I mean it.  We bonded all day.  We cried together, laughed together, read scriptures together and just had a blast.  We are so similar but yet so different.  We have already been learning so much from each other and it has been less than 3 days together.  She is truly an answer to my prayers and I needed her as a companion so bad.  There is no way I can deny that Heavenly Father played a HUGE part in assigning Sister Jones as my follow up trainer!! :)  That night we also had a crazy coordination with our assistant ward mission leader and then a conference ward coordination with our ward mission leader and it was a little bit hectic.  My parents were trying to get a pizza delivered but we missed the pizza delivery and it was just crazy.  We got the pizza, don't worry.  We ate it.  IT was DELICIOUS!!!!!

 

The gospel is so true.  yes, I have been struggling the last couple of weeks with various things, but that it just because I am in a growth zone.  When you are not in your comfort zone, you are in a growth zone.  Growth Zones BLOW.  They are hard, they make you cry, but ultimately, they shape you into the person God wants you to be.  I am loving my new comfort zone and I look forward to my next growth zone.  I know there will be more struggles on my mission- without a doubt I know that.  It is how we handle them that matters.  We put ALL of our trust in the Lord.  We RELY on the atonement.  We INCREASE our faith.  It will all work out in the end.  Heavenly Father knows all.  I love this gospel so much.  I love the work I am doing.  I was born to be a missionary and to share this sweet, sacred gospel with the people of Richmond, Kentucky in the Great Kentucky Louisville Mission.  I love it.  I love it!! :) 

Stay rad.  

Stay righteous.

Hearken to it and do it.  (This is Sister Jones' and I new catch phrase, because it is so true!!)

EXACT obedience brings blessings and pure joy.

God loves each and every one of you!! :)

MUCH LOVE from the GKLM

Sister Madeline Hannah

 

 Sis. Hannah's (awesome) mom ordered and delivered Pizza!!!

Cleanliness is next to godliness.

     

     (Katelyn) I cannot express enough the gratitude that I have for my Savior Jesus Christ and how He has changed me on my mission! I barely comprehend the full meaning of the Atonement yet I act on it everyday! I know that we all (not just missionaries) are sent to specific places at specific times so that the work of God can move forward swiftly and wonderfully! Thank you all for your prayers and your willingness to serve callings and move in the work of the Temples-Heavenly Father is so pleased with you all!

Love Always,

Sister Jones <3