A Very Busy BiRtHdAy Week!

Dear Family and friends,

Yes again this week was jam packed with two exchanges (luckily we are getting through our last ones), a mini MTC in Elizabethtown and also my birthday.

First we exchanged with the lovely J-town sisters! They are incredible! Sister Bush is so awesome!  She taught me how to teach to the needs of the person we talk to! We got quite a few return appointments and it all went so well! One couple we start to talk even invited us to dinner that we went to yesterday! So cool! We also exchanged with the Glasgow Sisters and I was with Sister Holt again and it went very well! Her and I have grown to be great friends and we were so happy and joyful on our exchange. We ended up receiving quite a few referrals from people a few days before that we went to contact. We walked up to the door of one of them and knocked and as she answered she knew exactly who we were. She was a member of the church from another branch that was moving in there! It was so cool! And as we spoke with her, she seemed to be having trouble with a certain past mistake and was skiing us how the atonement worked according to her situation and we said that the atonement is for every situation she goes through and that it is not only for us to be forgiven but for us to have the ability to forgive. We finally said all that we could and we offered to come back and help her move- some went back yesterday and did that.

After talking to that woman we were walking back home for lunch and we saw a man from around our apartment complex walking to his truck and what I didn't realize was I had met him twice before but started to contact him as though he was still a complete stranger and I had literally just met him the day before. I said how are you, what's your name and he says "It's Brian I just met you yesterday, Remember?" No. So I played dumb and said his change of clothes threw me off and realized later one that it was the same guy- I felt so stupid haha :) but then we asked him more questions about what he believed because when we first talked to him nothing came out of him because he was around other people. He responded at he did t believe in religion and we said okay that's fair, do you believe in God? And he said he was sure because he has never had any signs that he did. Then like lightning, scriptures just fell out of my head and my hands ran through the pages of the Book of Mormon looking for them. We kept simply talking with him and concluded that he was not exercising his faith! It was so cool and this man was so engaged that it seemed as though we had talked to him about his concerns and showed him that we understood his situation. When really we didn't, the spirit did and used us to find the scriptures to help him! So cool! Sister Holt and I walked away and we're sort of freaking out that it happened. We were unable to set up an appointment but we knew he was the maintenance man. We invited him to read the Book of Mormon and he said very sincerely that he would. So we told him when we saw him that we would follow up with him.
Then we went later that day with a member down to Elizabethtown. The high council put together a mini MTC. So the youth around us in about three stakes all drove down and we got two sisters each missionary as companions. We went through mini meetings like district meetings and zone meetings (where President Brough was invited to come) and they learned with us how to teach the restoration!! The members here in Elizabethtown set up appointments with some of their friends or neighbors who were literally all NONMEMBERS and we taught with two fourteen year olds the restoration! Their testimonies were incredible and I was so proud of them. I went with two sweet sisters. One is name Annette Aiton. She will be an outstanding missionary one day! Loved her! Then we had a testimony meeting after Sister Jensen and I were asked to give a training and then went home! By the time it was my birthday on Sunday, we were whipped.

HaPpY BiRtHdAy!

My birthday was incredible. It was exactly how I wanted it. Not too crazy or extravagant and not boring. We woke up and I opened card wonderful letters and cards from friends and family (by the way thank you all so much for those! I loved them!) And opened the package my family had sent! I love it all! Although this year I felt like it was just getting older and not very too much was special except that I have been doing one of the most amazing things in the whole universe!  There is nothing like focusing on others on the day you were born! :) I got more satisfactory out of that than I did worrying about what {I} want to do. I love this work. I can't wait for my sister to join in, in about 2 months :) 

Well I know this work of God is true. I believe it with my whole soul.
I pray for you all always and hope you are seeing the value in this gospel as much as I am! I love you!
~Sister Jones

Nerf Fights, Sister Scire's Baptism, & The Catholic

9_14_15

Dear Family and Friends,

       

Why were we so busy?!? Here is why!

We had an amazing and incredible week! We were busy with two exchanges, a training and also a baptism! We were exhausted but any way I wanted to share a very spiritual experience that Sister Jensen and I had.

More Exchanges and Trainings

Before though we had exchanges with the Shephardsville sisters and also the Charlestown sisters. I went with sister spencer and we had so much success. I learned so much from her. She literally became a Mary Poppins for me that I just look up to her so much. We went to one of our investigators that we have just been having a hard with and she said that to solve our problem we needed to ask inspired questions.  We did and solved her concerns! It was incredible! So proud of her! She is so awesome!

Also I exchanged with Sister Webb and she came to Brookside. I was so grateful to be companions with her for the day and for her happy and bubbly attitude! She is very awesome about just going and talking to people and being their friend. She knows the doctrine and knows how to teach it. Sister Webb and Sister Spencer are both very terrific missionaries and they have a great desire to work hard and be obedient!

So Sister Jensen and I have been working our hardest to apply all of the trainings from the past couple of weeks. And we have been implementing powerful pure and simple testimonies. We have not hesitated to do this and it brought so many return appointments! My teaching in contacting even got better because I now can boldly explain the restoration so that others understand what I am sharing!

I got to look at a Koran up close

The Catholic and Book of Mormon Evidence

For example Sister Webb and I were using our last twenty minutes for good measure before going inside and she started talking to a woman on her porch. The woman was not going to listen at all. So we started to boldly testify to her that the true church was back on the earth and started to recite the restoration. She stood up completely straight and walked quickly over to U.S. And asked how we knew these things. We gestured towards the Book of Mormon and testified again. She started to cry because she said that she has been complacent on religion because she has been through so much and that she felt the spirit or something good touch her heart. We left her with the Book of Mormon and set a return appointment. We stopped by yesterday and had so many valid question to ask and is going to be our next baptismal date for October! So cool! 

Love our Kentuckians!

Also on Saturday all of our plans all fell through and we had an hour and a half before going to fill the font. We decided to go see a less active that a member referred us to. As we walked up to her house we noticed a man talking on his phone while sitting on the porch. We introduced who we were and asked if the member was home. He explained she wasn't and was ready to imply for us to leave when he looked at us and with stumbled words asked us what we believe. 

We said short things and he shared how he had been a catholic member his whole life and that he was not going to change his standards. We testified more how what we shared and he talked about how he had family pass away this last week. We asked an inspired question and shared Alma 40:11 with him. This started him in on asking more and more questions and finally we had ended up teaching all the first three lessons in one sitting. Finally out of frustration he said "all of this sounds exactly like what I believe in in the Catholic Church, now what makes you different from any other church?!" 

We thought we explained well but apparently not. We gave him the Book of Mormon and had him read Moroni 10:4-5. As he read it out loud his speech got slower and more solemn. Finally he read all of the verses and Sister Jensen was about to say something and I nudged her when I saw several tears fall from his eyes. He stared at the Book of Mormon and we couldn't help but cry as well. The spirit was so strong and he said "thank you, you both are angels, I don't know how to explain this to you but I feel as though I need to be alone to pray." 

He continued to wipe his eyes with his shirt and we told him that we were nearby and would stop by in the near future and he said "I'm not going to promise that I will be at church on Sunday but I do want you both to come back".  As he shook our hands multiple times and we walked away we knew the spirit led us to that very place. We cried a few times and then offered a prayer of gratitude for that man and a blessing upon him. It was incredible and I can boldly testify that I know this man felt the spirit and that he desired comfort and because he was humble he received it. We are representatives of Christ and the Book of Mormon is our evidence of this truth and many other truths.

Sister Scire’s baptism

We also had a wonderful baptism of Sister Scire! It was so wonderful!  She is now a member to god's true and living church! Her baptism started off a little rocky but it ended very well. Many members arrived and even her family came! It was so cool! Then we forgot to tell her to come out with her jumpsuit and so she sat in the bathroom praying to God as we were running around to get things done! We went to go find her and she was waiting patiently, we felt so bad! But she came out and as she was being baptized my heart was so full because I have grown to love this woman so much and she was making covenants with Heavenly Father. 

Then after getting dressed she came out and went straight to the pulpit and bore her testimony and calling us missionaries her 'tools' to grow closer to Heavenly Father! I love her so much! Amazing woman! The next day she confidently walked to the front of the congregation and received the Holy Ghost and even our bishop started to cry as he was giving it to her. The ward loved her and she fully started to participate in relief society and everything. It was so cool! Then to top it all off she sign up as a members on our meal calendar to feed us and we laughed hysterically on how excited she was to do it!

Splits with the Laurels

We have one more busy week this week. We got asked to be a part of a "mini MTC" and go on splits with several laurels in Elizabethtown Kentucky. We are so excited! And then it will be weird because our last week of the transfer will be a slow week because we won't have much going on! Crazy missionary work! I love it! Well that is pretty much it for this week! I love you all and hope to hear from ya'll soon!

Love,

Sister Jones

*P.S. It is my 20th birthday on Sunday! ;)

9_7_15

Dear family and friends!

Chasing Joggers with a B of M

     This week has been a rolling coaster of events. But one of the coolest things that happened this week was we went to the church to sync our iPads and  we saw some joggers walking out of the parking lot and we chased after them to get their attention. We introduced ourselves as being the missionaries for this church building and they asked us a couple of questions and the thought came like lightning to my mind to invite them to tour the church right then and there and so we did and they excepted it and came right in and as we walked around the building they were so excited to hear that we didn't have a preacher shout to us and hat we had another book of scripture! They begged us for a copy of the Book of Mormon each and said they would come to church! So awesome! They didn't end up coming to church but we knew that Heavenly Father led us to the right spot.

Rough week

This week has been rough but we got through it with the best of faith. We ended up losing two of our baptismal dates and many lessons have fallen through. We are planning to find other areas in our area where there are prepared people.  Sister Jensen is amazing! As she works harder and harder she sets higher goals even when she and I are in a pinch! She has taught me so much!

This last week we got to exchange with the Salem sisters, Sister Resendez and sister Israelsen! They are an incredible companionship!  As Sister Israelsen and I exchanged with each other we worked on her 12 week training for the day and on talking with people and sharing the gospel instantly! She was superb I was completely proud of the type of missionary that she is and the 'can do' attitude!

Nerf Gun Fight!

Today we just had a nerf gun fight and played in the gym with all of the sisters in our area! So fun. Sorry this email is short!

We are going to have quite the week! We are going to have back to back exchanges, we are teaching a training at zone meeting and then we also have a baptism! Sister Scire is so excited to get baptized! So I have a lot to share about next week as long as I don't drop and fall before then. But I know that Heavenly Father will strengthen us every step of the way!

~Sister Jones

Exchanges...Again :) And Derby Week!

August 24, 2015

**QUESTIONS FOR OUR MISSIONARY**

Did you get some Bouncy Messages?

(We sent to small bouncy balls that we had family and then everyone at church write a message on them to Sister Jones.)

I did get your package and it brought tears to my eyes! It was exactly what I have been needing to read! Thank you so much for the snacks as well! I have literally been wanting pretzels and Craisons this week! Thank you so much!

Well I have had a hard week, I talked to dad about it, but I would just be complaining to tell ya’ll. I took his advice to get out of my own head, get past my faults and just get to work.  Work as hard as I can when I'm feeling inadequate and my Heavenly Father will bless me.

New Companion

This week was a wonderful week of re adjusting. My new companion is Sister Jensen. Which is so cool because she was one of the sisters we exchanged with this last transfer and now she is my companion! She is a very hard working and devoted sister missionary and I am loving everything about her. 

Goodbye Sister P. :(

Hello, Sister Jensen!

10 Commandments and Sammy

This week we worked hard to see all of our investigators and help them progress. We have been teaching a little 8 year old boy named Sammy! He is Haitian and his mom is a less active member. We taught him the Ten Commandments this week and about following the prophet and obedience to the commandments. He was awesome. We taught this lessons with both his mom and sister and a group of neighborhood kids that were his friends and they LOVED the finger motions for the Ten Commandments. So awesome, we even set a return appointment for a girl that we will see next Sunday! Yay! We invited Sammy to come to church again but this time we made sure to invite his mom and brother thorn went by and picked them up and CAME TO CHURCH! Yay! We were so excited and even Sister Scire came to church and she gets baptized next Saturday! Oh my goodness it sprang up on us so fast. She is already in the book of Mosiah and is following every commandment. We love her to death.

Avoiding the Distractions & Vickie to be Baptized

This week we have been focusing primarily on working with the members and preparing ourselves to see our investigators. So this went well because we had a great lesson with Sister Vickie when we went to visit a new investigator named Angel Jarrett! We were first walking around talking to people and met an Albanian man who is Muslim and ended up reading the intro to the Book of Mormon with him! Sister Vickie was so awesome because any question he had she answered and helped him to understand everything! She is so great! Then she went with us to Angel and we sat down in her house where there was so much distraction from the spirit. We asked them to turn off the tv, and if anyone would like they could stay for the lesson and angel had a brother that kept making inappropriate jokes and we sat there with angel and taught her.
While we were teaching, her brother kept being himself and making a scene, and we were able to diligently teach the restoration. The spirit was so strong as we then invited her to be baptized and she accepted! We found out a little later that when we had first met Angel and gave her the plan of salvation pamphlet that she had read the entire PAMPHLET! So cool! She was quoting word for word part from the pamphlet! She said she was glad to know where we go after we die and she asked her mom to give her rides to church every Sunday until she gets baptized on October 24. We realized though that we will most likely be moving her date closer because it's nine weeks away and we feel she will get baptized sooner than that. So awesome!

Learning some Spanish & the Gift of Tongues

Also Sister Patterson in the past has taught me some Spanish and Friday we ended up speaking to a lot of Hispanic people! I could formally say he churches name and that we were missionaries but then the language barrier got in between us and we had to call the elders to talk to one of them! It was so cool and the gift of tongues is so real because there would be a point when I didn't know how to say a certain word and a memory of Sister Patterson saying it would come back. Way legit!

Sister Jensen's investigator baptized & a Fireside

Exchanges with Rolling Hills Sistas

Sister Jensen's investigator got baptized this last Saturday and so we made our way back there to visit. It was so awesome of Sister Blackwell to drive us half way. We are so grateful we did! There was a talk at the baptism about how we can we receive gifts that continually perish or face way away, but then our gift of the Holy Ghost will never perish. It's eternal! So true! As long as we are doing what is right.

Last night we went to the mission fireside and we were unable to get an investigator there but we went with a recent convert who was just made a ward missionary! It was one of the best Firesides I had ever been to and the meeting was spirit filled the entire time! I absolutely enjoy a woman's testimony that she had transformed from what the world wanted her to be to what God wanted her to be! I loved that!

This week we see so much potential from our efforts that will bring success! We are excited! I know God give us who and what we need and that we are His children no matter what! I love you all and hope you live like Christ lived!

~Love, Sister Jones

August 31, 2015

Hello, hello!

Last Monday we finally went to Churchill Downs! 

And we didn't even realize how short of a distance it was to us! It only took ten minutes to get to! So we stopped and went into the gift shop because that is basically all we had time for and took pictures! There were so many derby hats for sale and pins and other little trinkets for sale and we had a blast walking around the entire stadium that Churchill is surrounded by.  So cool!

 I have learned this week that constantly the adversary is trying to constrain my thoughts and my heart to being doubtful and being selfish and worrying. It has been a battle this week to get out of my own head and focus on outside needs. And the battle was won this week because I saw a complete difference in whom become when I take control of my situation and work hard! :) At the end of the day I was exhausted and satisfied that I did what I was supposed to and that Heavenly Father was glad.

I am to church whether I am baptized or not

We have been trying all week to get sister Scire to church and God once again answered our prayer and sister Scire (Sharri) came to all three hours of church! We were so excited that she could and we also found out that there are many ward function where priesthood and auxiliary leaders are going to be out of town this Saturday so we confirmed with one another that September 12 was a better date and that is set in stone as we will be getting her mor fellowship as the days go by. 

She stated to us "I am coming to church whether or not I am baptized" and while we sat in sacrament meeting and all of us waited for the water to be passed to us she started to cry. After saying her own silent prayer. She later said in our third hour that "the first time I came to church was Mother's Day and the flower I got has been growing and I have been growing as well, thanks to you sisters and all you have done to help me" then she cried and hugged me and kissed me on the cheek. I know she sees the truth of this gospel and I am grateful to have been able to see her change.

Rolling Hills Exchanges

We had exchanges with the lovely sisters in Rolling Hills and I was with Sister Achee this time! She is the cutest thing ever! We biked part of the day and made a goal as we talked to people to get three return appointments! So as we headed over to use the WIFI at Subway we stopped to talk to people and the third person that we talked to set a return appointment! Sister Achee was amazed and we kept going! Then while in Subway and after a while a woman passed us and she said very enthusiastically "Hey!" as though she knew us and we kept talking with her and she invited us to call her and she would feed us missionaries sometime and wanted us to share our message. So cool!

Sure, come on over.  I want to know more about the resurrection!

     We went home for lunch and went back out again and headed over to a referral. We had a bit of trouble trying to find the address, and so we thought maybe they sent the wrong number in so we called this man and asked where he lived and that we were close by --- if we could come and teach him. He said “Sure, come on over!  I want to know more about the resurrection!" 

We obliged and hung up and as we started to walk over we talked about how this man was probably another person trying to get us to answer every question about the Plan of Salvation and about resurrection but that it was important not to answer every question and get off topic. So we sat on his porch with him and talked about the Restoration and he said that he didn't care for the Mormon faith until he heard some preacher say that Mormons didn't believe in the resurrection and since he heard that he had been searching the truth because he knew we did. He had a copy of the Book of Mormon for the last twenty years, never opened it and then asked us where it talks about the resurrection of Jesus Christ in the Book of Mormon.  I said 3 Nephi 11 and he opened it up and shouted "Hey look!" And there was a book mark clipped right on the page of the beginning of the chapter started.

     He was so amazed and we challenged him to read it later on and pray about it! He was a nice spunky old guy that reminded me of crazy professors like the professor on back to the future only this guy was a little more sane! So we got a return appointment from him and then got a referral from a woman we talked to and visited her and got another appointment. It was legit! I learned so much from Sister Achee and mostly the pure love and hard work that she is determined to show for God! She knows what her purpose and why she is here and that is such a refreshing quality. I love her!

I am the BOSS

Francis and the Game Changer

This last week was a game changer for most of our investigators as we are trying to clean up our teaching pool and see how we can work with the ward members and less active members more.

We found a less active woman named Francis who had a falling out with the church 16 years ago.  She asked us about ourselves and I shared where I had been that I loved my mission and that I loved the church and Christ and as she listened she opened her mouth and shared all about her worries and her concerns as though she had been dying to say them. She started to cry and we shared the message of the Atonement with her, and promised her that Christ knew her pain and anguish. She was so sweet and we set up times to go back and serve her. We love her so much.

I love my mission and I am proud that I get to serve with so many lovely sisters here in the GKLM! I love them with all my heart!  That's all for now! I hope ya’ll have a great week!

-Sister Jones