Last Week in the Mission Field

**First part of Katelyn's letter to mom**

Awe mom when I read this email I screamed and cried loud!!!!!! Ha Ha I am very much so excited to see you and Dad and Jaden and the whole family! I just can't believe that it's already here! And my companions now think I'm nuts because I was dancing around and scream when I heard sister Patterson and I will be roommates!! She just emailed and told me about it too! 

I love you so much mom! I'm so excited to hug you and hear your voice, I have frequently heard your and Dad's voice throughout my mission just
guiding me into making better decisions and what not. I love you, don't think I'm disappointed to be coming home at all! Kentucky has been my home away from home and I'm grateful for the opportunity to have served in this mission and the Lord.
I hope your week goes well, and that you and dad and Jaden find joy and peace this week. I love you so much and keep up your head and I will see you soon!
-Love,
 Katelyn❤️

Dear family and friends!
We have had a crazy week! I am putting more pictures on here for the sake of time! Haha well we had sisters conference and man was it just crazy fun! Saw my MTC buddies and we were sad because this was our last picture as a group together! I can't believe I'm shipping out. But I know Heavenly
Father is leading me down a good path! 

Cool thing is I am going to be rooming with one of my mission companions at school! Yay! Sister
Patterson and I will be playing it up like old companions again! I have loved my mission so much. I know that Heavenly Father has given
me the best experience ever. I feel like I am exactly who He expected me to be. One lesson I have learned on my mission is nothing can be
done without the Atonement of Jesus Christ and I must rely on Him in order to find peace and progress. I love my savior and I hope to be standing side by side with the general authorities when I also say
that I know He lives. We got to watch conference with a returning member and it was so powerful to hear their talks that were revolved around the answers that she needs. I know God is mindful and loving of all of us.

I will love and miss you all who are here in Kentucky-Indiana and Illinois. Keep moving forward, trusting in the lord, and being OBEDIENT. 

Sincerely and with great Love from the GKLM,

Sister Katelyn Jones

I hope to hear from you all soon, if you desire, here is my email and address to reach me at: katelynfromKentucky@gmail.com, 
202 N. 3700 E. Rigby, Idaho 83442

"Oh What Fun, Three Will Be"

Dear One and All,

     Oh my lanta where do I even begin?

      Well I'm in a trio and it is the most fun than I have had since forever. This has probably been the best week and most needed one!

      Sister Peterson is a fireball and loves to laugh and Sister Glad is the sweetest and kindest and most intelligent new missionary there ever was :)

     We took selfies galore and had fun getting Sister Glad into the thick of things ;)


      The first day together was a doozy but goody. We biked ALL DAY LONG and I think that both of the sisters were about to hurt me, haha but they are getting used to it now! but how much I truly love bike areas!

      So bike issues are a for real troublesome issue and it was Sister Petersons day! Apparently the rotten kiss in our apartment complex had kicked the little gear changing do-bobber and bent it and so the chain wouldn't change properLy and so her peddles started going ten times faster than she was used to. So Sister Hale picked our stranded butts up and we crammed three bikes into her mini van and went over to the bike store (mind you I haven't had to go at all in the last five months!) Then it was mine and Sister Glad's turn to be embarrassed haha.  Sister Glad had issues with her boots that we're giving her horrible blisters (sound familiar?) so we went home changed and grabbed our bikes and went onward. Then we stopped to look for a potential and Sister Glad moans "I just ripped my nylons" Bahahahaha! It was great!

      Then I pulled my iPad and a beautiful feminine item came flying right out to the ground with it. We were parked on the corner of a really busy corner- peachy. However we busted out laughing even harder that before.

      Every single appointment fell through this week except a couple so we were pretty much contacting and Tracking it on true shows Sister Peterson and I getting uncomfortable and actually yelling at a woman who I had no clue who she was, first asking for the weather report she had heard about and then contacting her. She wasn't interested but we made really good friends with her.  I think Sister Glad thinks we are freaks because Sister Peterson and I
have been slightly crazy this week but we have enjoyed every minute of this companionship! 

Role playing to sister star keys lovely picture! YES. :) so cute! ;)

      I'm so grateful that I could spend my last two weeks with these beautiful sisters- kinda jealous of Sister Glad's new adventure but hey we all have to start somewhere right?!

      Anyway we watched the woman's broadcast on Saturday night and it was great! I loved the fact that we are asked to do even more service and holy crow I'm not giving that up ever! I believe wholeheartedly in serving God's children, so I was grateful to hear about the refugees.


      Well I love you all, there was so much this week I didn't even cover but they are better tales to tell later :) Keep on loving the Lord and doing His will!

Love, 

Sister Katelyn Jones

Training a trainer who is training a trainee

Dear One and All,

     So the verdict is I stay for my last three weeks here in bluegrass west! :D and we are going to be in a trio! :D A Sister Peterson is coming and she will training. Haha hint the title of my email:)

      Well not much to report other than it was non- trunky week for Sister Ferrell haha she goes home tomorrow and yet is probably one of the least trunkiest missionaries in the world haha. We both got new pants from a member who was unable to wear them so we tried them on and took a picture! Weird! No tent-skirt on!

     Went to a Chinese restaurant and had a few fortunes: one about the Atonement and the other about faith>>take your guess which one it is!

     The Spirit was so strong and I saw so many members from the Richmond ward and hugged them and oh man it's been a great week!

     That's all for now! Love you all and I hope your week goes by well in preparation for the Easter weekend!
Love, Sister Jones

The HOT Brown in the Springtime!

Hello family and friends!

      This week doesn't have much to report but we have been working hard and found several new investigators to teach. And we had three
investigators at church!:D yay! Haha I think they were slightly freaked out though. This because they talked about temples and also walked in late (us missionaries not even knowing that they showed up)
and so they must have been confused the entire time. 

     Haha left early but oh well, more of an opportunity to explain later!

Spring is here! Yay! So I took pictures of sister Ferrell :)

      We have a woman we are teaching that I have only mentioned a few times but we taught her the word of wisdom this week and it went well, however the hard thing is EVERYONE drinks around-- that will be our goal is getting her away from the drink! Anyway, she had two strokes a while back that affected her physical ability, so her house has been terrible. We offered to come and clean it. Sister Heilig came :) and oh man....just in three and a half hours, we only got to her living room and dining room. Some of the grossest things I saw on my mission but I held my breath and endured haha :) finally we got done and Ellie was so grateful! Coolest experience ever! 

So here is The Hot Brown: the wares ( a part member less active family) invited us to come for dinner to cook us something "Kentucky" that we haven't eaten yet ;)

     It's: a slice of bread, slices of sandwich turkey and ham, white gravy, bacon, tomato and melted cheese on top from the oven heat ☺️ oh my it was quite delicious it doesn't seem so but it was a delight!


      So sister Ferrell goes home next week -_- I love HER SO MUCH. I'm gonna miss her a lot! I'm not really sure how this is gonna work because I leave two weeks after that and then something has to happen to our area. 

     Either it will be whitewashed(replaced with elders) or I will be in a trio! What!? That'd be kind of fun, and weird :)

      I learned a lot this week about the importance of looking up to God ❤️ and finding peace through Christ. I'm still figuring it out but I definitely believe that even the most simple prayers and cries given to God and the promise to try, brings so much relief. How can we deny there being a Loving Heavenly Father? He wants so much happiness for us and provides the means for it to work out. I hope to continue to live and believe that even after my mission :)

I love you all stay dry from the rain and happy!

Love, Sister Jones

A paranormal, goals and rain :)

Hey ya'll!

I love the south, totally My home!  We had a pretty awesome week!

member present lesson with return missionary, Brenda heilig! Woot woot!

We got 5 member present lessons! What?!? Normally that has been one of the hardest parts of our missions but members were available!

#skillslearnedfromsistareed! Yay gumbo!

     Last week we were told by our leaders to talk with everyone and we had been slacking and only had about 31 talk sighs once we got to Thursday and everyone in our zone were hitting the hundreds....I felt terrible and our district leader was persistent that we reach an even higher goal. So we chose 95 people for the end of the week! That meant we talk to A WHOLE LOT of people in three days -_- oh boy. . . But! We talked to 83 people ending on Sunday evening yay! Now we are goaling for 100.

      It was just crazy to talk to so many people and we had incredible lessons set up! We had time one night after dinner we were wondering where to go to get another lesson and help someone. And on a certain corner after we prayed and walked a house stuck out to me. We knocked and a very chipper woman answer! She was so nice! We offered to say a
prayer with her and she invited us straight. We asked what to pray for and she said that she had ghosts in the house that had been there for fifteen years! WHAT. 😫. I was freaked but felt if I prayed in the
process of helping her it would help me. We prayed and said amen and she said that she felt SO much better. She said she has had priests with holy water from at least every church in her house and paranormal people come but it hasn't change. I gave her a copy of the Book of Mormon and to,d her to read 3 nephi 11 ( TAKE THAT SATAN!) :) and she
invited us to come back and wanted someone to come bless her house!

what our getup looked like, YES.

  Well I'm not sure about that one but we will definitely be teaching her. I'm slightly creeped but oh well. :)

     Then we knocked on the door of a man and talked with him for a while and it was pouring and I asked if he had a grocery bag for our seats and he said "I have something better" and walked to his side porch
and gave us plastic rain coats! Bahahahaha so we biked with plastic coats, regular huge jackets, helmets and skirts! ROCK ON. :)

Well that's it, not much exciting other than spring is coming 😅👗no more winter clothing! Yay!

Well I love you all so very much, and I pray for your well being and daily success! 
 Keeping trucking and loving the Lord!

Love, 
Sister Jones

Baptism on Deck!

Hey friends and family!

     I hope your week is going well and that you are working hard and that hard work is paying off!

     We had a great miracle this week. We found someone who is going to be baptized on the 26 of March. His name is brother Rainwater. We met him about a month and a half ago and had given him a Book of Mormon and commit him to read it. Since that time of reading it, we hadn't been able to get it contact with him because of -- a recent divorce, his son being murdered and surgeries!?! But while he was in the hospital he found the peace and comfort that came from what he read in the Book of Mormon! He finished it! And he started yesterday again to study out of it so he can get more out of it! He didn't come to church yesterday because of timing.... We were saddened but he has three more weeks to go for! Yay!

     We did our best this week and worked hard as well as we could. I am still surprised about each time that we talk to someone and just by sharing what we know they get upset. Yesterday we knocked on a mans door to tell him that his hazard lights were still on in his car. He came out and after looking at it, offering to help we started to share the gospel with him. This old man got right in my face and raised his voice at me and probably was ready to push me..... He said we needed to leave and that was that. I walked away with sister Ferrell ready to yell in the air and probably gnash my teeth and probably throw a fit.

     But I took a deep breath and opened the Book of Mormon which told me to watch my thoughts, words and deeds.... Haha you think I could handle rude comments, rejections and things like that better but I know that Heavenly Father's spirit calmed me down we were able to find someone interested in having us come back. Then this morning I read about Aaron and how the people were hardened and wouldn't listen and I definitely felt comfort in knowing I'm not the one seeing this. The world is getting uglier but that makes the gospel a whole lot brighter!

     I'm doing well, this area is doing well, we are continually
progressing and working hard. We are excited again for zone meeting!

     It will be a great opportunity to set new goals, tune old ones and
strengthen others!

     Not much to report on this week! I hope ya'll find miracles this week and feel Heavenly Father's spirit with you always!

Goal Setting & Miracles

[Note to Reader:  The email servers for the church have been out of whack.  Leaving a majority of us mother's without an email from our DD's.  Hence the no blog update last week.  All we received was this amazing photo of Katelyn showing her finished painting.  I'll take it!]

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Dear Friends and Family,

Well the mission has been crazy with goal setting and I believe it is inspiration from our Heavenly Father!

We have seen so many miracles that I know either effect our area or other missionary's as we have talked to everyone. We had a goal of 95 people for this last week and we talked to 101! :D your right,

president, the effect of talking to everyone and having control over it has given such great motivation to keep working hard and it has

completely impacted our teaching pool. One thing that happened yesterday while we had about six more people to talk to. There was a man he was walking along the side of a church and we were quickly approaching where he was at but I knew that because he was on another church property we couldn't speak with him. As we stopped (we were

about to cross the street) I promised Heavenly Father I would talk to him if he would get away from that other church's property (haha).

Just as I was waiting there (I'm sure Sister Ferrell thought I was nuts for sitting at a cross walk and not crossing) he stopped and literally turned around and walked back the way he was coming from and I wanted to scream with joy! We talked to him and he quickly said I am willing to talk just as long as it's before seven pm. He gave us his address and phone number and we set a return appointment, so COOL!

That woman I told you about that we served, we set a baptismal date with her! Yay! She is super nervous about everything but our biggest goal for her is getting her to church. She wants to read the Book of

Mormon and really find out if it is true!

This week we made the effort to continue to talk to everyone and amongst God's children we found the ones that may seem like outcasts but are amazing in their own special way! One we walked up and this

black man was using his very beautifully decorative truck to move things. We asked if we could help then I begged them to please let take a picture with it! He has probably dug through the truck one day and

decided to super glue EVERYTHING! And I mean everything, the was a one dollar bill that was ripped apart and glued to the dash board! So funny! Then we shared the gospel with them and they were referrals for the elders! Yay! I love that it isn't like we are passing them off to another church! After that we were walking home for dinner and these three guys were helping a mans video game into a trailer and we started talking to them. One of them his stage name is Frack, is a circus performer! Haha he had the hair and split tongue prove it! Freaky! But it made laugh

so hard! Then he said he wanted a picture with US to put on his Facebook page! Heck yeah! 5,000 contacts please! ;)

We got to see finally one of the less active members that we have tried for weeks to get a hold of. She attended church last week and we stopped by Saturday morning to see her and she started crying! Yay! She was humbled enough to realize that she needed to come back to church and especially that God loved her! Amazing! Heavenly Father is

watching over his dear children. 

So we ended up celebrating at five guys with good ole' Saint Anthony potato fries! ;)

Also this last week we met a less active member who is from RIGBY! I know right!?! Of all places! His name is Bruce laval Jensen! If anyone knows him, let me know so I can mention you! It was so cool to find him and talk about familiar things! Yay! Blessings!

We are doing very well, we are trying to work hard each day and accomplish our goals and come home tired each night. It is probably the most fulfilled I have ever felt on my entire mission. I feel like

I am making my Heavenly Father proud and I feel more in tune with the spirit and that I hear Him more clearly each day. I hope to continue to be this way after I am home ( six more weeks) but I know it works the same way as on a mission, by keeping myself and life worthy of the spirit and seeking Gods kingdom in everything.

Led By the Spirit :)

Hello one and all!

This week was a great week of heat! 

     We actually had some spring temperatures and then we are grateful to say that the groundhog did not see his shadow and we will get an early spring! 
Kind of funny this week, we went to Panda Express and I had been waiting all week to go there be a use I was just craving it so much! We sat down at our table and there is an older gentleman who looks over at us and yells "Oh thanks to my god I get to be near to beautiful women!" Awkward! 
     We politely, yet awkwardly smile and we start to say our prayer over the fattening Chinese food and then start eating. This man continues to talk with us and yes it's a rare thing to see young people praying over food and how much of a blessing we were! We introduce ourselves and he gets excited about how we are from the LDS church and that we are Mormon. He was just completely, entirely happy :) we ended up reading a scripture with him and he acted as though we had given him a breath of life! So cool! Gave him a Book of Mormon and our phone number! We looked at each other afterwards grateful for the opportunity :)

I've painted our Savior Jesus Christ and the Louisville Temple

     We must have biked at least 17 or more miles this week. My knees have started to ache, not new for my family ;) but it has shown me that the faster we bike the greater our desire to share the gospel.We had the opportunity to serve a potential investigator.     We have been trying to get a hold of this man for a lesson for over a month now! Finally we had the time and opportunity to meet outside with him. This poor man has stage four cancer. We taught him and then he started to get cold so he went inside. Not before going inside had we offered to help him rake his leaves. We set a time to come back and raked them. This mans name is Kyle Dickey and is super nice! After serving him he offered for us to come inside to teach him, we quickly declined since we needed another female to be with us. It was probably no longer than five minutes his wife came home and we were able to go inside and teach them both! Yay! His wife actually lived in Utah and doesn't like Mormons but listened to us anything. We answered questions and brother dickey told us he read about Joseph smith and the Book of Mormon in the pamphlet we gave him and a few weeks back read the first chapter in the Book of Mormon! What?! We were so excited!

We are teaching him the restoration, yay!
At church yesterday we were pulled aside by brother hale telling us that he had a missionary experience and then walked away! I yelled at him, telling him that that wasn't fair so we sat down during sacrament, waiting for his testimony. we have been working with them to share the gospel with their neighbors whom they greatly desire should receive the gospel. President Gordon B. Hinckley states that members are the best way to declare the gospel. Brother hale bore his testimony stating that since they have been praying and fasting their prayers were answered. Their neighbors had asked to bring left overs to them and suddenly started to ask about their granddaughter who is going to be married in the temple in a few months. They explained families being together forever and not just this life. They bore pure testimony. WOW. It was amazing, dad! We plan to go back and prepare the Hale's to bare testimony again and continue to share the gospel in many ways! The gospel is true!

     Yesterday we were outside our area , in the eldersarea. We were heading to visit a member whose father passed away yesterday. I saw a man, probably around your age, he was carrying in his few groceries and he dropped his banana under his car and was bending over to grab them, so I biked right on over. We started talking to him and he was not interested in talking because he was having a terrible day. I looked at him and asked what happened, I almost felt like I was Heavenly Father looking at him, like a tender parent and I felt compassion for him. He looked at us confused and unsure but told us his whole world had fallen apart. He used to be the Vice President of CVS and made triple figures and has a great family and drove a work vehicle and everything you could imagine. But it all had gone down hill because he is an alcoholic. He said he was losing his wife soon and had already lost his son. I started to tear up and also smile because I knew what portion he might have felt and had experienced similar events. I explained to him that God was aware, that He has a plan for his life and to trust Him in everything. I told him that if he did that God would strengthen him in his trials and the blessings would rain upon him as I have seen it rain upon me and my family. He told us he was grateful have friends like us and that he loved us. I know we were led across his path.

      I know my companion and I are being exactly obedient and since by so doing we have seen those little miracles that will impact not only work in this area but in generations to come. I hope and pray ya'll's week is full of preparing for the blessings God has in store  for you.

I know this gospel is true and that we are the elect of his children!

Stay strong and press forward!Love, sister Jones

No Winding Down

This last week was almost too fast! 

I have had a lot of physical weariness. 

I think it's because my body has just ran its course through the mission. I had a 24 hour cold that I think I got from one of the members, but I just have the gunk in my nose and throat now  then on Saturday we walked three or four miles and I got home and my feet were absolutely shredded so I passed out after studies haha. 

Sister Ferrell and I are doing well. We just are working hard and doing the best we can. I think when her and I leave in nine weeks this area should be whitewashed.... Or at least changed in someway. 

At least we are NOT getting transferred this week!

We are doing our best and maybe we aren't working smart enough or something but the work needs to work faster in some way. But I promise you I know we are doing all we can to strengthen this area 

As for coming home I'm so nervous and excited and ready and also not ready. I'm mixed obviously. I am probably gonna get home and sleep for two days or so haha. I love my mission so much and can't believe that it's almost over! 

I literally realized that earlier in my mission I had the impression I would go home early and then other impressions over time that never made a lick of sense until now! It seems as though lately I have recognized thoughts of getting married and everything relating to it just coming out of the blue. "Prepare to go to the temple" has repeated in my heart and mind and then our ward and stake continues to get messages and talks on temple attendance. I believe that that is the first thing I want to do when I get off the plane. I don't think I'm going to get to go the temple before I come home, just because of time issues, who knows. 

[Note to the Reader:  Katelyn is officially coming home April 9th, a Saturday at 4 PM.  Yes, I already have the travel plans.   She has decided to come home three weeks early so she can start Spring Semester at BYU-I.  Which means she will have exactly one week to come home, get back to reality, shop for school -- a whole new wardrobe -- and have a Homecoming with family and friends.  We will keep you updated!]

I'm excited for everything and I know that blessings will be coming all of our way. Just continue to work hard and be my incredible mom. 

I love you so much and hope you know how much I cherish and love you!
Love, Kizzer

Exchanges....Oh How I Miss You!

Dear Fam & Friends,

     We had a great week!sorry this email will be short but pictures say a thousand words so that will mostly be a filler.
TueWe had exchanges! I absolutely love exchanges and they are definitely my favorite pass time. I was on exchanges with Sister Stephens and we had a blast. We worked hard and came home tired. The
last photo is us with a UK wild cat tailgate.( Haha don't worry Sister Blackwell I haven't converted over to blue ;) Sister Ferrell was with Sister Bush and Sister Taylor. She was companions once with both of
them so they had a nice reunion.


I can't really remember what happened in the middle of the week but then we got to and there was a fabulous snow storm that last the entire day and we got 14 inches! Oh man bringing me back to Idaho!
Crazy! So we stayed inside and it's funny how you keep missionaries inside for a long time they start to go a little crazy from not doing missionary work. We decided to make cookies and give them to our neighbors in our apartment complex!  Too fun and too so little time so we studied most of the day and then made calls... Pretty boring, I like doing missionary work a whole lot better.

We then went out and helped shovel snow. We went to Carols and while Sister Ferrell scraped off her car, I shoveled her driving way. By the time I was done it was, I had no jacket or hat or gloves on because I was burning up and hadn't eaten since eleven. So
Sister Carol had us go inside and wait for her and I passed out on the couch haha I was EXHAUSTED! It was great though:) Then she made some incredible chili that I had a couple helpings of :) then she drove us home because I don't think she trusted me to walk straight.
Sunday was good we got to teach a young man named Abraham and he was taught once before but he said he would try reading the Book of Mormon
again :) then saw sister darling and helped her clean most of her living room :)I love helping sister darling, she is so kind and so sweet and down to earth.

This week went by almost too fast! I now have about 10 weeks left since I will be going home early to  school on April 9th, Oh Boy,what is the world coming to!? 
Haha oh well ;)

Love,Sister Jones

The Snow, a Stabbing, and Miracles

Hello friends and family!

This week was a great week full of all sorts of miracles alike! We have worked hard all week and done our very best and by the end of the week we had taught many lessons and were able to talk to 92! We almost made our leap to our goal of 100 people talked to but not yet! This week we will! So on Tuesday we made it a point to get down to the bottom of our area. We had a member drop us off and we started to walk. It was cold, but not too bad. We kept walking and saws huge dark cloud in the distance. I thought it was a rain cloud so I swiftly got my umbrella out and prepared to receive it. Just then huge gusts of wind came and even snow! That dark cloud was a blizzard and we were caught in it!! We were luckily walking because if we were on our bikes it would have not worked out so well. We literally had to jump in a hedge of bushes to avoid the blizzard! It was so bad that we couldn't walk forward without being blinded. We decided to call a member and she answered but she couldn't come get us because she couldn't leave her baby or even bring her baby (which had pneumonia) into the cold. We waited and oddly enough ten minutes later the blizzard passed on through and the sky cleared up once more and the sun shone, it was still windy but it was not NEARLY as bad as ten minutes earlier. Then we were able to walk to a less actives house and share a message and get warm! Wow God has many blessings, we were freaked out for sure!
Miracles!:
So a couple of weeks ago we talked to a boy named Payton and he liked our message and what we had to share and then gave him a Book of Mormon before his mom drove up and picked him up for school! We walked away from that worried that his mom would take away his book but felt peace a short time later. So come Wednesday night we checked up on Brother Coffin ( he is a return in member we have been helping) and he opened the door saying he was sick and then told us his friend Jackie was in the middle of the book of alma in the Book of Mormon and we flipped out but were really confused. So apparently this is his Trinidad friend Jackie and some two girls gave her son a Book of Mormon and she picked it up and started reading it. We stopped by Thursday and her son was Payton! What?!? Wow I can't believe that! We talked to Jackie and she is excited to have us come explain the Book of Mormon tomorrow! Yay! Brother Coffin said that they have been hopping around different churches for a while now, searching for the right church! :D we are so very much excited! :D
So on Friday we had district meeting! Yay! We learned about the importance of iPad safety and keeping the rules with them. It was a good reminder of what standards I have wanted to keep. I am so grateful for this training! Then we saw some fellow missionaries I came out with and they reminded me that I have now been 15 months out! Crazy! Well not too much longer at all but a TON of work to do around here! :)
Saturday was an interesting day, we almost had several appointments to go to but then they all fell through. We were heading over to an appointment at Sister Butler's house and we booked it last minute to catch the bus. We were waiting there for about ten minutes and nothing showed up. I was concerned but had the impression to pray. So we did and no sooner had I said ‘Amen’, I looked behind me and nothing then turned back around to put something in my bad and when I looked back again the bus was pulling up! It was a true miracle! I had never seen a prayer so miraculously answered! We saw Sister Butler shortly after that and then had dinner with the Ware family. So we proceeded to use our evening to the best of what we could do and we decided to go to the bottom of our area and work. When we started biking back home we had a thought to try our investigator Amos and see if he would come to church. So we biked through his neighborhood and two cop cars drove passed us... A thought came to me that they were at Amos' house but I didn't think much of it and hoped they wouldn't have been. So we biked up, no cop cars (GOOD SIGN!) and we knocked on the door. His wife answered and she said it wasn't a good night because Amos got arrested! What!! We asked why and oh boy she said "Amos stabbed his son!" WHAT?! Yup. It's true, he had been drinking all day and snapped at his son... We were so grateful we had had a lot of trouble trying to get in contact with him because it would have risked our safety. We came in and the house was a mess as they had turned everything over running through the house. Amos' poor wife was just devastated and we had come at the right time to help her clean up and comfort and console her. She was very much comforted as we shared a scripture and a prayer and made her laugh! It was the best ending to our night and also the worst but Amos is definitely not an investigator anymore.
Yesterday it was the multi stake conference broadcast by the First Presidency. President Rasband and also Linda S. Reeves and Elder Hales spoke to all of us about the importance of attending the temple, keeping the spirit in your life and home and also by having charity for those around you. It was a sure blessing. Then we got home, ate lunch and went back down to the middle of our area and we worked. As we biked we stopped to talk to a man changing the tire on his car. He said and no sooner had we asked a question he proceeded to bash us. He would ask a question, then not listen to an answer and then we bore testimony I read a scripture and walked away. This man was not humble or patient and so that was that! As we walked away we realized it started getting even colder. We walked around and then decided to head home. As we kept biking we thought someone should come and get us because the cold air was getting worse. We called and got a ride. As we waited Sister Ferrell was not looking good. She started walking funny. They picked us up and then we got inside and Sister Ferrell took off her socks and her feet were blue! Almost purple! What?!? So we proceeded to get cold water and warm her feet up and gradually get the water warmer! We called the nurse and she said to keep doing that and not go out the rest of the evening! Oh my goodness we were really concerned but today we were able to get her new decent boots and make sure her feet would stay warm. So we made cards for the members and those around us and called potentials and got return appointments! Yay!
Out of all the things that happened this week we saw the blessings that came from working hard and trusting in Heavenly Father! I know He will always bless us!
~ Sister Jones

On Wednesday most of our appointments fell through and we were able to talk to a hug bunch of people! We saw so many miracles and then we saw Sister Blackburn, she took us out for dinner at a fancy Mexican restaurant! So cool! I love Sister Blackburn!

16 Degrees of Mud

Dear friends and family,

We went to a new area this week that hasn't been worked in really at and its " The blue area" and this area is filled with a lot of very wealthy homes. We decided to go tracting. We did and the second door we knock on they already have a Book of Mormon because a cousin in Utah shipped it to them, so they were very kind to us and told us about how this family member is in MOTAB, crazy small world. We knocked on another door and a woman comes to the door saying she was on a conference call and that her mother is sick but we could come by and help tomorrow. So we do. We get there and after maybe five minutes of her daughter talking to her sick mother about what service we could give she comes back. We are brought down stairs to a play room where Santa's Workshop must have exploded and rained play dough everywhere..... She looks at us and says 'Good Luck.  Take as long as you need.' And walks upstairs.... Haha I looked at Sister Ferrell with the biggest confused look. I wasn't really sure how to tackle it. So we got organizing and it took two hours but it got done! It was kind of fun but weird that we were in a stranger's home, cleaning products the mess after their grandkids haha I wouldn't be as trusting! (So mom if you want to know the weirdest service project, this one takes the bid!)

So New Year's Eve was quite fun! After weekly planning Sister Ferrell had the idea to watch the FACE2FACE with the piano guys on our gospel library and I made us baked potatoes, broccoli and bar-b-q chicken on the stove :) oh boy it was actually really good and I forgot to take a picture because I started eating it too fast! But it was so fun to come in early and laugh and relax a moment. I have recently gotten on his cooking kick with cooking a variety of meals, Sister Ferrell must be sick of it because she keeps resorting towards sandwiches but then I make food and she becomes the taste tester!  Brother Coffin (the less active we have been working with) is incredible! He had a calling in scouts! :D which is such a mile marker for him and now he is working furiously towards the temple! We had a lesson with him and then he was telling us about his 1974 conference 'books'! Nope not magazines, books! I'm sure this dates my parents and grandparents ;) Haha but he gave me one! So cool!

This week was probably one of our slower weeks, however God gave us so many blessings! Our district leader gave a training on study the scriptures and sharing the scriptures and I kid you not it was literally the boost we needed to share scriptures again!  We have been slacking, but that's okay because repentance is not a fairy tale, its real life endeavor! After we applied the training to the very first person we saw she was hesitant at first because she said she was Jewish, we then explained that the scripture came from God to His prophets and that the scripture was uplifting. As we read it to her we offered her the copy of the Book of Mormon and she gladly took it saying she would like to go over that scripture again, she then said she had Mormon neighbors and respects religious freedom! She didn't accept a missionary visit but I know the scripture softened her heart and now a Book of Mormon has been planted into her home, haha almost like a giant spiritual bomb that is waiting to explode when someone reads it! :)

Then later throughout that day and even through the week the people we would share a scripture with were miracles and one of them was so touched by the scripture that he shared with us that he had gone through so much depression and almost tried to kill himself (God Bless him) and after that his friend helped him to find hope and faith in Christ and get baptized. I know that even though other churches don't acquire the priesthood to baptize the repentance process still comes from God and we all have opportunities to change :) then his man offered to buy us hot chocolate at a gas station and we walked our bikes over with him. He then purchased the hot chocolate and walked out! MIRACLE! We turned around and started to talk to the cashier and share the Gospel with her. She was so incredible!  She started to tell us about her life and asked us who we were and where our church was and we had to like hold back our excited smiles and joy and be calm and collected, haha but we accomplished it. She accepted a return appointment, saying she was searching for a church! MIRACLE! Then we booked right out the door because we were about to miss our bus. We got there in time with our bikes and the bus pulled up and because it was New Year's Day it was so packed and there was a bike already on the rack and I looked at Sister Ferrell and said " oh crap we are going to have to bike all the way to the bottom of our area!" The doors opened and the person who got off went straight to the bike rack, took off his bikes and went away and then sister Ferrell and I looked at each other and screamed! MIRACLE! We got on the bus and a man looks straight at me as I sat down and says 'ma'am ya got a book for me?'  And he says it two times more until I hand him our last copy we had with us. Then he doesn't say anything else and looks out the window...weird haha but a MIRACLE! Then we visited a family that is less active and shared scriptures with them and they all attended church on Sunday! :DMIRACLE! Our week has been so worn while and now we can move forward having faced many trials and can say that we are much stronger!

Yesterday we were walking to an appointment and there were three Irish people! We talked to them and they sounded so legit! They were visiting family and so we shared the Book of Mormon with the, and they accepted with so much cheer! They were amazed about our decision to leave home and share the gospel. I wanted to hear them speak all day long because it reminds me of my dear sister in Caerphilly, Wales.  Haha she must hear the accents all of the time, crazy! I know the gospel is true and that through our dedication and hard work miracles happen as we trust in Heavenly Father. I love you and hope your week is full of opportunities of success!

~Love,

Sister Jones

Well hello all!
We started off his is week with very high goals that we wanted to accomplish! Our area has been struggling with finding and keeping investigators. So we fasted last Sunday for new investigators.  Heavenly Father is appreciative of those who sacrifice and work hard.  I know it! Every single day we made it a point to just accomplish our daily goals and reach a little higher each day. So remember I had mentioned that we raked leaves for a guy and he got all impressed??  Well he is now a new investigator. We introduced the Book of Mormon this week to him and were able to get his phone number so we could call him.... However after setting up a return appointment and going with a member wasn't really good because we think that he had his pastor there.... No good... But we politely walked to the member's car and drove elsewhere. He said he would attend church but did not show up, but that is okay because we just have to keep tying!

On Wednesday we had biked in the middle of our area all day and we were talking to people here and there and left and right and then we had to head home and there is a part where there is some construction is and a large amount of mud  and I being "bright"  thought I could just bike through it and it would be okay. Well I did. The mud was not watery like I had planned, it was clumpy and it stuck right to the wheels of our bikes... Haha and my companion followed right after me....:s so we stood there probably for fifteen minutes using a plastic bag to scrape off the mud from our tires! We must have looked super funny to the cars passing by, we got most of it off and then realized we had five minutes to get home on time and got there in ten :) all the mud is off now.
Thursday was our Zone Conference! Yay! Our zone is so small! But President Brough gave tune ups and they probably lasted about an hour and a half to get through! ;6 haha but we received a tune up from the First Presidency that we are not supposed to be having transfer meetings anymore, they were never allowed in the first place! :/ so now we basically just go straight to our areas without the excitement and mystery of knowing who is going home and who our new companions and areas will be! But we have to be obedient! We find more success when we do so! :) We had lunch and then had a great training by our zone leaders about repentance and my goodness it all worked perfectly! We applied it when we went tracting and it worked! It got us a return appointment!
Friday we called a recent convert in our ward and she lost her cat and so we offered to walk over and help her out up signs! As we were walking over we saw a man walking with a mountain stick and with longhair and almost looked like an Indian. We started talking to him and introduced the Book of Mormon and he said he only believed in the bible and so we explained God loves all of his children and so He wanted us all to know all of His truths. So he set up a return appointment for that day! Yay! We sat in carols car and stapled a picture of the cat Jill on wooden poles. It was fun! :)  Then we went to our appointment and lo and behold we saw a white cat come onto the porch as we were teaching brother rainwater! Haha but there cat was different in a few features, so it wasn't Jill but we about jumped for joy! :)
Highlight of the week! That evening we were walking with only an hour left and no appointments set. We decided to check on a few people.  There are two ways to get to this persons house but as I thought about going one way I felt unsure, as though it wasn't safe, so I took us the other way and we met a kid from Nicholasville who has been clean from drugs and he accepted a Book of Mormon! Cool! The. Kept walking and no one was home so we took the other way home which now didn't feel unsafe anymore. In my head I thought "Lord, I want to talk to at least to more people before returning inside. So with that in mind we walked through an alley and to the road to cross. As we crossed there were two kids that started to climb a ladder to a billboard. The boy was swing back and forth on the ladder over a random trailer under the billboard. I looked at sister Ferrell asking if we should consult them to get down and she said "probably" so we did and I shouted that their decision wasn't smart. The he said he bought was too and got down and we started to walk away like a bad missionary and then sister Ferrell said "should we talk to them?" I said "yeah we should". We turned around and asked to share a video and we showed because of him and learned that the boy was atheist and that he and his sister were bored and decided to climb the ladder...-_- my mom would kill me if she knew I had started doing that, really any mom would! Then he told us his sister doesn't hear very well and we realized after walking away that if he had fallen and we hadn't said anything his sister wouldn't hear anything if she turned around! His poor parents! And he would not have fallen gracefully! It would have been a painful fall!  Of man guess God led us along the right path! Those kids don't even know!
Last night we visited with Sister Darling (a less active). And she has a slight hoarding problem and a few other things she is trying to overcome. So we offered and got her kitchen and dining room all clean. She had the biggest smile on her face as we looked at all of it and it was actually quite fun! :) I have learned how important it is just to keep things clean in our house, it shows respect for Heavenly Father and the things he has given us so we can have his spirit.  I know that God lives and His Son is also there and is mindful of us.  They won't leave us, just be faithful and move of onward and onward.
I love you all and work hard!

Love,

Sister Jones

Here we are in the cold!