Led By the Spirit & a New Companion

Dear Friends and Family!
This week has been kinda crazy but a great crazy! The kind of crazy that makes Satan whizzed and shake in his boots! Sister Ferrell is my new companion! Yay! She has been out on her mission 15 months, almost 16, so she will be going home soon! Crazy! She is from Virginia and is a convert of about four years, I love her to death! she and I have worked so hard this week.

Meet Sister Ferrell!

We talked to a lot of people( 83 to be exact), everywhere we went we talked to people and oh man we picked up investigators when doing so. We were biking and started talking to this man and he said we could come by but he has short term memory loss so he may not remember us. However, we stopped by at the appointment and no one answered the door. We waited and then left to continue working. Maybe five minutes later we get a phone call and its this man! He said that he was waiting for us and that he couldn't get up in time to catch us at he door and that he wanted us to come back! He remembered the appointment and everything! This man is incredible! He was jumped when he was younger and it was an attempt of murder and they damaged him so bad that he is partially crippled, has a speech impediment and short term memory loss. He has had it for fifty years and just about seems normal now. When we shared our message with him he said he felt the spirit and believed Joseph smiths experience happened. He has been remembering everything that we have taught him so far and especially our appointment times! We just love him so much, he is very inspiring! We set a baptismal date with him for January and we are going to get him baptized :) 

We had our annual Christmas conference and this year it wasn't so big because it was only a third on the mission this time! We had a wonderful set of missionaries sharing their talents and a great training of our purpose from our mission president and then we had a HUGE dinner created by the relief society in the stake! It was a huge feast. Then games! All sorts of games were there! The best one was I got to use chopsticks and feed marshmallows to an elder.... Awkward. Haha I was so nervous I couldn't keep the chop sticks straight. And it was just yeah, awkward but fun! Then they had several other games and the best one is they had us take panty hose and stuff them with balloons to make reign deer antlers! It was hilarious and then we put them on our heads and we couldn't keep back the laughter and tears rolling Down our faces!

 Elder Gould(he was in the MTC with us) is right behind me, I'm with sister Schultz

I even got to spend time with my best friend, love ya sister Hannah!

Sister Ferrell is doing so well, I love her so much. I feel like her and I are so similar that we work so well yet we are very opposite. She has so much courage. Yesterday a man was walking his dog and she gracefully walked over and in her natural quiet voice she told him about the Christmas card she was handing him. This man did not want anything to do with us but he couldn't hear her very well and kept angrily yelling "what?!" And she walked across the street and handed it to him and he said " no, not from you all I believe in Christ but my Christ is different from your Christ!" He stormed off as though we had punch him in the nose (we obviously didn't) and we yelled back " we believe in the same Christ, have a merry Christmas!" And smiled. Then she just turns around with a huge smile on her face and we go on to our appointment! She is just a bowl of light, I really love her a lot :)

God leads us on missions. This experience hit us so hard. We were biking home from an appointment and the thought came to turn at the light and check on one of our investigators because she had the flu. I thought that was a ridiculous thought because we had to go home for lunch. So like a bad missionary I kept biking. As I did the impression became greater and greater to turn around. Finally I squeezed my brakes and turned to sister Ferrell telling her that we needed to turn around. We biked to the investigators house, knocked on the door and of course she wasn't home but someone else answered. It was her aunt that lived there. She invited us right in and we asked if we could shared a Christmas video with them. They a lived and I asked if they could turn off the t.v. And the grandma with a huge sour face begrudgingly turned off the television . We showed the video and then after the aunt turns to us and asks who we were. We explain and then invite her to read the Book of Mormon. She kind of steps off a bit and then says "Oh, I have my own bible, thank you." We explain that we believe in her bible but that we also believe in this book as a second record. She then rapidly asks that we explain more to her and help her understand. We do. She then agrees to read it and have us come back! The words at that time had just fallen out of our mouths and oh boy it was an incredible lesson led literally by God, don't underestimate the opportunity to act on a prompting!

We had an opportunity for a random act of kindness. We were walking in a neighborhood trying potentials and a man was taking his leaving. We asked if we could help bag them. He stops and says "but ya’ll are girls!" Ha ha and we told him we wanted to help anyway he would direct us. He then said he could pay us and we refused. After going back and forth with him trying to give us something we started raking and bagging. He asked what we wanted in. Return and we told him that we just wanted to serve him and give him a Christmas card. He was so touched the entire time he was asking us questions about our church and then he about died every time we mentioned the standards we as youth have and that the church has. We ended right in time and gave him a pamphlet and invited him to church. He didn't end up coming but it was probably one of the coolest experiences because he was saying the entire time that he was looking for a church and that it was a blessing that we came by. I know God leads us in certain paths for a reason, and it was so cool to watch this man’s heart be melted little by little.

We are sure working with a less active/returning member and he is amazing! He is preparing to go to the temple! Yay! He met with the Bishop and even came to the fireside last night! So cool! We are super proud of Brother Coffin!

So my sister just got in her first mission area this last Wednesday and she is in Caerphilly, Wales!

It's been a long week of exciting events and now off to Christmas! We have a Christmas Eve bowling party and then we have wonderful members ready to take us under their wings!

I love you all! Stay happy and cheerful all the year long!

Love, Sister Jones

Sent from my iPad

This is my excited face!!!!!!!

CONGRADUATIONS MOM!!

Ah! I am so unbelievably proud of you!! I just keep thinking ask to those times in your first year when we were helping each other with chemistry, hahahahahahaha! I just am so grateful to have you as my role model for success! I just know that you are so loved and so precious to both me and my sister in Wales! And also two the two other men in our lives but let's be honest the three girls in this family are best connected by the hip! ;) I love you so much and I am so peeved that our family sucks at showing support and love! But the best part is we have opportunities to take higher ground, I know you and I will take that higher ground and be happy that YOU HAVE BEEN DILIGENT IN YOUR EFFORTS! 

Ahhh! I really love that it's Christmas again, it doesn't look like it here, it's cold but rainy. No snow, I'm kinda sad. It whispy snowed once this week but didn't stick and then it was 60 degrees one day and I was in awe! 

So I got permission from my zone leaders to have TWO SKYPES! I am allowed to Skype with you all at home in the morning 10 a.m. On Christmas and then at 1:30 a.m.that night. I can three way skype with you all and syd in England!ahhh! I was so grateful! They said that the skyping has to be under forty minutes each! :)
I sent a package and I sent exactly what Jaden and Dad wanted and since you didn't ask for something I got you something anyway ;) I hope you like it. I sent it today so it won't get there until Saturday so ya'll can open it when you want :)

I love you and miss you and I will see you on Friday, twice!

-Sster Jones