Hot, HUMID, & Biking!

Well this week was one to remember!

We made the decision that we would need to get our messed up car fixed so we took it to the shop Monday morning and all week we have been car-less.

Relying on Members for Rides & Tracting

It's been a wild ride but I am so grateful for the members because we learned and got the hang of setting up appointments for members to come and get us and drive us to and from appointments.

We had some miracles this week from their help: Sister Rose was kind to drive us around and we had been stressing trying to get a list of less actives contacted all week, plus we have been trying to figure out "formers" and "potentials". 

On our list of less actives there was the name "Stephen Robert Schultz"! I jumped at that name because Schultz is a family name. We went to try and contact him but no one was home so we have yet to figure out that mystery but we will find him. (I promise that mom! :)  *Note to reader:  My Big Brother’s name is Robert Schulz and our maternal father’s family is all Schulz’s, our grandfather the only one that was baptized from his family.  All others live east of Kansas and are prominently Lutheran.

Anyway we also with Sister Rose went to contact a potential that they had said in the past had moved so we knocked on the door. A girl answered and said she was Muslim and didn't want us and then right before she slammed the door her sister said "why would you do that?! You should be nicer!!" It was so cool because the sister (Mikayla) invited us in and we set return appointment and went back later and invited her to be baptized! So cool! 

As we struggled a couple of days ago to find a ride to one appointment we prayed and asked Heavenly Father who we should call that would be willing. Right after we made a decision and were about to leave a text came from this less active woman that said "ARE YOU BOTH DOING OKAY?" And we had seen the answer to our prayers and she came out to teach with us! :D

Service Project & Finding My Inner Artist Again

We got to do a service project for a woman who does little parties for her grand kids and she goes all out! So we offered to help make cut outs for her cowboy party! So I put my creativity to work and painted a cowboy and a Cactus! It turned out so cute! And sit Patterson did a wanted sign that we took pictures with! Then we ate dinner and had grape floats, not root beer floats but grape soda floats! It was yummy! Totally a tradition I will take on!

 I can only imagine Kizzer's pure joy getting to paint and create again.  She probably just loved every second of it!

Suffering with the Humidity  

This entire week has been a HOT and Humid mess! We didn't have any rides yesterday so we went where things were closest to us and we had to bike up a hill.

Now humidity is gross, right when you step outside your skin from your head to your toes is drenched just from the first few seconds of being outside, it's nasty! As we got farther up this hill, we stopped and started walking up the bikes.

I hate humidity because it makes you feel like you’re in a locked car with a wet blanked smothering your face, and we had to stop and try to catch our breath.

Our appointment fell through and we decided to write her a note. As sister Patterson was writing a note I got slightly dizzy and sat down. Sister P. Thought it was funny and I just sat there trying to catch my breath. We kept walking around and decided to tract to try and find someone we knew lived nearby that we had seen often. 

The first door we knock on we about walked away then they opened a door and the man awkwardly looks at us and says "I just took a shower and ya’ll should knock on the other doors, and then knock on ours again."  The door shut and Sister Patterson and I just looked at each other confused and kept knocking. We knocked on the third door and a boy answered and his mom came to the door and ask who we were and we told her we were sharing the Book of Mormon with people. She is African and is from Liberia! Nicest woman ever, we taught her the first lesson and she had a problem with the priesthood but believes that what we say about Joseph Smith is true.  So we asked her to be baptized and she said no, and then we asked to come back and she said yes! So we can't wait to return this next week.

Seeing Potential & New Members Progress

So, remember Adam that we have been teaching? We taught him about the Atonement and in a separate lesson we also taught about tithes and fast offerings. In the lesson of the Atonement, Adam was feeling anxiety still about the law of chastity and we had Timothy (who is now a NEW MEMBER!) there to help. He bore his testimony to Adam and it was so cool.

Then the next day we had our lesson with him about tithes and offerings and he came back saying that he admits that he thought the law of chastity was too strict but he now is willing to commit to living it. Yay! He said that he would be on Instagram and bad pictures would pop up and he would be scrolling faster to get away from them! Ha-ha, we all laughed and were so proud that he has been learning so much. Plus he promised and did pay his tithing yesterday at church. And he is not even a member yet! :D

We couldn't believe it but we were happy it happened! Adam has been progressing so much. We have made a goal to baptize 4 people this transfer together and we have brought it to the Lord and He is willing to work with us! :D Adam will be one of those four! 

Also Timothy and Brother West passed the sacrament for the first time yesterday at church!! The smile on Brother West's face was absolutely priceless! Sister P. and were so grateful for the opportunity to be a part of their transformation and those others as well! 

This Gospel Changes You

I know this gospel changes lives and Heavenly Father has changed me and I will continue to change until I am not longer human.

I know Heavenly Father loves me and all of His children; here is a cool quote from this last week: 

“Just when all seems to be going right, challenges often come in multiple doses applied simultaneously. When those trials are not consequences of your disobedience, they are evidence that the Lord feels you are prepared to grow more (see Proverbs 3:11–12). He therefore gives you experiences that stimulate growth, understanding, and compassion which polish you for your everlasting benefit. To get you from where you are to where He wants you to be requires a lot of stretching, and that generally entails discomfort and pain. … This life is an experience in profound trust--trust in Jesus Christ.”  -Richard G. Scott

I love you all and hope your week is hard working and miracle filled!

Love, Sister Jones

Hey Mom!

I have been excited to email y all week! I have been out 9 months! Can you believe it!? I surely can't. It has freaked me out! I feel like I am not even done though. But the. I feel like I go home tomorrow! I have been just thinking about what has happened and what will happen and then I have been having day-mares about coming home and I wanna freak out a little bit! I miss you all so dearly but I love my mission and I remembers about 6 months ago when missionaries going home would say their "words of wisdom" and they would be so sad to go home and I would be sitting there thinking and wishing and praying to be them because I was not enjoying my mission. 

Then Sister Hannah and Sister Patterson jumped into my mission and it made a world of difference!

Receiving a Priesthood Blessing

I have had a trying week this week. It has been just spiritually uneven every single day, I think. But I have felt so inadequate and stressed and anxious about stupid things all week that I finally asked my District Leader and his companion that are the Spanish Elders to give me a priesthood blessing. 

Sister Patterson does this thing that whenever she has someone get a blessing she writes it down for them and gives it to them (kind of like a Patriarch's wife) and so she did that and the blessing was completely exactly what I needed to hear, word for word

Heavenly Father wanted to say all that I needed to hear because Sister Patterson said he was speaking so fast that she couldn't write all of it down. I know Heavenly Father sees our situations.

You guys went on that trek!?! That is so cool! I am at least glad that Sydney and I could at least go on that mini trek my sophomore year and that I could get idea of what would happen for ya’ll!

BIG NEWS: 
1. Sister Clark-my trainer- is engaged!!!!
2. Sister Hannah is now a trainer herself! Yep I'm a grandma! :,)

So how is the family? Is Sydney excited for putting in her papers! Is she working hard? :) I want to know everything! :)

I love you Momma!

-Sister Jones
Sent from my iPad