Feb 17th, 2014. Candle light dinner, Baptisms, and love sick zone leaders......

Hola!!!

So We are in the family history center because the libraries are closed and there are about 20 missionaries here....lets just say I am super distracted as I am emailing today. Especially because Elder Horman, who is on the computer next to me keeps telling me that I am going to marry the First african american apostle and I am going to have 15 children. Elders are so weird.....Anyways thank you for your emails!!! Thanks for getting my loan extended for me. I can't print the tax return here for me to sign it. So I will try to do it next week. 

Well we had a fantastic week. Sister Tew and I didn't have a dinner appointment on valentines day and we found out that Mcdonalds was having candlelight dinners if we made a reservation. Hahah We didn't make a reservation but we showed up and they squeezed us in. It was hilariously awesome!!! Sister Tew told me that I was her first valentines dinner date! I feel so honored haha. Something hilarious that also happened on valentines day was that our zone leaders and our district leader all got sick. haha We kept teasing them all day about how they were all love sick. They didn't appreciate that, but we thought it was pretty funny!

Ok I have to tell you about the absolute best part about my week this week. so there were 3 baptisms this weekend. Rick and Shirley in the 6th ward. They are such miracle investigators. The elders found them by knocking on their door. The first started teaching Shirley but rick joined soon after. Every time they visited after that Rick had invited friends over to hear the message. One appointment they had 6 new people their to hear the message. He also quit smoking cold turkey so he could get baptized!!!! So amazing!! Shirley (his daughter) is just as incredible. She has such a powerful testimony! Elder Whiteley just told me that rick went up to the bishop and said that he needs to get the priesthood as soon as possible so he could baptize his wife! AWWWWW THE CHURCH IS TRUE!!!!

The next baptism that day was just as powerful. The 7th ward sisters live with some members and it was their son in law getting baptized. When he got baptized his wife was just crying the whole time. Then after the baptism when the bishop is welcoming him into the ward, he has him stand up next to him in front of everyone. He points out into the congregation and says "Chuck i want you to look at these elders. They have the priesthood. That is your next step in the gospel. I want you to work towards getting the priesthood." Then he pointed to the married couples and said, "See these couples in this room. They are sealed for time and all eternity. She that blonde lady in the back, she is mine. I get to be with her forever." Then he pointed to Chuck's wife chloe and said, "Chuck i want you to picture chloe all dressed in white, you all dressed in white at the temple..." Right when he said this Chuck looks at his wife and gets teary eyed. then the bishop says. "That is the next step I want you to work towards, the temple." The spirit was so strong. I was, of coarse, crying. It just hit me so strongly that this is what this is ALL about. Eternal families. I LOVE THIS GOSPEL! It is so true. It brings sooooo much happiness!!!! AH i just love all of you. I hope you are having a fantastic day!! 

Love sister Jones

Family!!! 2/10/14

So mom had ten million questions for me so I will try to anwser them all for this email entry

 How has the weather been- Super good! it snowed about 6 inches last week but it is all melting and now we just have slush and it rains a little bit. But I don't mind it because #1 it reminds me of home and #2 it's not freezing cold (THANK GOODNESS!!)

How are you feeling-I feel SOOOOO much better. I have been having a lot better morning work outs and that has been giving me a lot more energy. (thanks for my energy drinks that you and dad sent me!!) I just feel a new sense of determination to work super hard and to do my best. So that is a huge blessing

  How is your new companion- I Love her!!!! She is so good for me. She gets super stressed out and struggles with self confidence so we kind of are able to help each other stress out less and talk about our feelings. We work really really well together. I feel like I trust her already and we are realy good friends. Thank heavens!! I have such good companions.

 Have you recovered and are feeling like you are doing better with your stress level? I do feel like I have recovered. Any time I am stressed I think "is this within my control or out of my control." I also try to remember why I am here if I get discouraged or feel exhausted. That helps a lot. 

 Have you started to eat better? WELL.....Since my chocolate fast is over everyone is congratulating me by giving me chocolate. I have been not eating to much but i could work on that hahaha. 

 Did you get your box? YES!!! Thank you times a million!!! I love all of the things you sent me!!!!! Your the best!!!

 

Did you get our note about your student loan?  Yes, please let me know if they said I could get an extension or not. I can ask my mission president if i can call them to get things sorted out. 

And in response to your passport question mom, I already got my passport before I left on my mission. It is all good to go :) I was hoping you could do me a favor and look up on ilp.orgto see what times of the year they are going to china or mexico or what ever other countries  they have listed. Could you forward to me what it says?? I would appreciate it a ton!!!

Well it sounds like you all are doing great! Sorry I couldn't email you individually. I will try to write you all a letter hopefully this week or next week. know that I love you all!! Hope you are having the best day ever!!!

Love sister Jones

Oh p.s. Mom we go on exchanges with the sisters and i feel like the biggest struggle they have is self confidence. SOOO  many sisters (including my companion) don't have self esteem. They think they are worthless. It seriously breaks my heart and I can't really understand it because I feel like you always taught us to have good self esteem. You really taught us how to love our selves even in our weaknesses and even when things aren't going the way we think it should. Could you email me on how you taught us that and what you did to over come that. I really don't know what to say to these sisters to help them understand they all have self worth. I would appreciate it a ton!! Thank you!! Love you 

Oh p.s.s. I found out that president murdock's wife, sister murdock, has a blog and I thought you would enjoy reading it. It is calledcoloradodenversouthmission.blogspot.com orcdsm.blogspot.com So you should look it up :) 

Sorry I didn't have time to write a mass email. I will be better next week. 

Well, I lived through the burrito challenge and my chocolate fast....barely feb 3rd

As you probably already know, participating in the burrito challenge was one of the worst mistakes I have ever made in my life.....it.was.horrible. AND It was painful! The only experience I have had in my life that comes close to how painful it was, was when I belly flopping off the high dive at my dad's work party. Luckily the burrito challenge wasn't as embarrassing as that experience. But instead of the pain being all over my body it was centralized on my mouth and it lasted for 30 minutes!!!!!!

I seriously considered quiting after the first two bites. There was literally a fire in my mouth! and about 10 minutes into it my face went numb and I went deaf for a period of time. (I COULDN'T HEAR!)  I really honestly think i could have chowed down the whole 2 1/2 pounds of burrito but the spiciness was TO MUCH! Just to give you an idea of how hot it was, I ate a jalapeno to cool down my mouth....yeah....im being serious! You will all be proud of me, i ate pretty much half of the burrito and I didn't quit for the whole 30 minutes. AND I didn't puke until after it was all done.  You will also be proud to hear that my companion DOMINATED that challenge. She ate the entire thing in 8 minutes! I blame her mexican blood. She beat everyone there. There was about 8 of us doing the challenge. We were the only sisters participating the rest were elders and one investigator. She was the champion! I was so proud of her. She didn't even puke after the ordeal was over. I am still trying to figure out how that's possible, but we will just blame her spanish heritage. It was a pretty fun bonding experience for our whole zone. Elder Whiteley even made me a sign on the back of a proclamation to the family that said. "Ghost chili peppers=nothing for sister jones" I emailed the picture to my mom if you want to see it. Everyone was cheering and making a commotion. Especially when elder White had two bites to go and he upchucked everything back on to his plate! Super disgusting. I was super close to throwing up when I saw it. I am so glad that it is all over. Never have to do anything like that ever again! Don't even think about asking me cause i will say NO!

SO besides having a gigantic stomach ache the first couple of days this week, it has been a pretty fabulous week. I have a new companion. her name is Sister Tew! She is from Hawaii!! She is the oldest of 5 adopted kids! Her dad works at byu-hawaii. She is pretty amazing and I'm so glad to have her as a companion. She will be a sister training leader with me. We have been out the same amount of time. We are now over 22 sisters. That is 10 companionships! Oh i forgot to tell you!!! Sister Sheppard is now with sister Robinson! The first sister I trained. ahaha how crazy is that. AND the other sister I trained is now in my district! Sister Gregerson!!! Aw man she is seriously the best! I love being able to see her! 

Well i better get going the computer is going to kick me off!

I love you all soooooo much!!!

have a great week

here are some pics from the buritto challenge

Today's the day.......

In exactly 40 minutes my companion and I, and several other missionaries will be taking on the Ghost Chilli Pepper challenge. Don't worry we have been training for this experiance all week. But a few extra prayers from you wouldn't hurt. Wish us luck!!!

 

So you may be wondering what the transfer news is and I'm sad to say that sister sheppard is leaving me :(. What adds to the sadness is our beloved elder Mcgee and the senior couple missionaries Elder and Sister Kneeland are leaving us too. Gosh it is heart breaking. But I also know that we will be getting awesome missionaries to replace them. Transfers are always just so bitter sweet.

 

I am really excited about staying here in what we call the Grand Jungle :) I seriously don't know how I could ever leave this place. It is just the best.

 

Want to know the best news of the week?!?! I think I told you about our investigator Sister Dahlen, we put her on baptismal date for saturday february 22nd last weekend. Well last saturday she said that she didn't want to make any huge decisions before she finished the book of mormon (she's in alma) and if she was ready she would be baptized on that date. So she was a little hesitant.

This saturday she asked us what time the baptismal service would be on the 22nd.....i was taken completely by surpise by her question. So we paused while we processed what she just said and then i told her, "ANY TIME YOU WANT!" She was all quiet and says "ok....the reason why i ask is because my coworker (who is mormon) wanted to know if i picked a date and I told him the 22nd and he wanted to know what time so i thought i would ask...." We were so excited and what made it even better was that night she texted us and said "Ok the 22nd at 3 o clock works for me, can i invite my family?" AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH so exciting!!!! She is so solid. She totally beleives that the book of mormon is the word of god! We still need to teach her the word of wisdom and all that jazz so if you could pray that she would accept all of those teachings that would be nice.

 

Well I hope everyone had a fabulous week!! I love you all and I'll talk to you soon!!

 

Love sister JOnes

 

picture of the senior couple! Aren't they just the cutest??

Just when you thought I couldn't get any dumber......

Well I am still going strong on this chocolate fast. But I think not having chocolate in my system is affecting my ability to make correct decisions.....This week I have made the absolute worst decision of my life.......

So there is this resturant called Dos Hombres.........They have this 2 1/2 pound burrito............that has ghost chili pepers in it.......and a challege to do it under 30 mins. The elders may or may not have challenged/made me promise to attempt to do it next monday...... and I may or may not have given into the challenge/forcing. I am sooooo nervous! two other elders will be doing this challenge at that time and it's going to be all recorded. I'm pretty sure that January 27th is going to be my last day of life here on earth.....pray for me.

Besides the ghost chili peper weighing on my mind and stomach the missionary work is going fantastic here!! We are finding new investigators and a lot of our inviestigators are progressing really well. The Dahlen family, who we have been teaching for about 3 months, was FINALLY put on date this week for February 22nd!!!! So exciting. They have been coming to church for about 3 months and Christie Dahlen is in Alma from her book of mormon reading :) We are super excited to help them towards baptism!! We also got to see chris again (the 13 year old who read the book of mormon in 2 months) and watched the restoration video with him. We asked him what he thought of it after and he said "It was good, I learned that people just need to have more faith in God. I want to have more faith in god." Then we asked him how he could have more faith? and he said, "Pray every day, that's what I  do." Oh he is just the coolest kid. Every time we teach him I just get so emotional because his spirit is so sweet and his faith so pure. We asked him if wanted to be baptized and he said yes!!! Oh he is the best little miracle this side of texas!! Please pray for him, that he will be able to meet with us regularly! I love you all!! I hope you are having the best week ever!!

 

Love you!

Love sister jones

 

Picture: us dominating at bowling!

My name is sister Jones and I am 13 days sober of chocolate!

I know what your thinking, "How is it possible?!" I am here to tell you that through the Lord all things are possible! I have gone the longest I have ever gone in.my.life without chocolate. You should be so proud. I even passed the little chocolate bowl in relief society without taking one peice out. It was rough but I lived. Only two more days and I will be half way through the month!! Keep praying for me!

 

Man we had a super awesome week this week full of miracles!

 

First miracle-

I sang in a duet (accapela mind you) with my companion for zone confrence AND in church!!! Whew it was a rush. That was my first time EVER singing in church. (in a group less than 30 people) The even bigger miracle was. EVERYONE LOVED IT!! Man it was awesome. Good thing i have a companion who has perfect harmonizing skills to sing harmonized with me no matter what note i'm singing :) That was awesome!

 

Second Miracle-

My companion only had gluten once this week and was only completely dead to the world for one day. Who knew gluten was so deadly. We had to stay in the entire day on saturday. At least it wasn't three and a half days like last week. No bueno. Oh and I got a lovely (I think much deserved) nap, while she was recouperating.

 

Third Miracle-

Brace yourselves for this one because I have been just dying of joy since it happened. So a couple months ago we were teaching these adorable little boys, Chris and Josh. Chris is 13 and Josh is 11. We started teaching them and their friends on the street once, last fall. Chris was the only one who wanted us to come back to teach him more. When we went to visit him we found out that his mother passed away when he was really young and when his dad got engaged again to a different lady, she passed away too. Now the dad is a complete alcholic and is wasted every time we go see them. It is a heart breaking situation. But chris and josh are the sweetest, nices boys I have ever met. I once asked chris if he ever prayed and he said, "Yes I pray every day. I taught myself how to pray." Oh man he is a sweetheart. We brought them to a halloween party and they loved it! A couple weeks later though the dad told us that the boys didn't want us to come back any more......I was broken hearted. It was so hard to let them go. I think it was extra hard because I have a 13 year old brother and I just see them as my brothers. That was the last time we saw them until this week.....We were going to see a potential investigator and I spotted chris walking across the street. He waved at us and I jumped out of the car to go talk to him. This conversation followed;

Me:"Hey chris!! How are you doing?!"

Chris:"Good, hey do you remember that mormon bible you gave me?"

Me:"Yes, the book of mormon?..."

Chris:"Yeah, I read it."

Me:"What?! You read the whole thing....The book of mormon!?"

Chris:"Yup, i read the whole thing!"

Me:........trying to process what just happened and then said...."Well what did you think about it?"

Chris:"I really liked it"

Me:"What did you like about it?"

Chris:"I don't know, i just liked the whole thing. It was all just so good."

Me:"Did you pray about it? What did you feel when you prayed about it?"

Chris:"I felt really good when I prayed."

Me:"Do you beleive that it's true?" 

Chris:"Yeah i do!!"

 

OH my goodness that was the coolest experiance of my life!! A thirteen year old boy read the entire book of mormon in 2 MONTHS!!! He wanted to come to church but unfortunately the dad said that the boys weren't home. Chris said he would like to be taught again and he would like to come to church. Oh my gosh. I burst into tears after chris left. I was soooooooooo happy. I have been telling everyone who will listen about this miracle because it is soooooo cool! Wow, I can just feel that chris has the most amazing spirit ever. I can not wait to teach him again. I asked him about how his dad said that we shouldn't come back and chris told me it is just because they were so busy, but now we can meet with them again. I would really appreciate anyone who could pray that we could meet with these boys again and help them to baptism. Man they are just to precious. I hope everyone is having a great week full of miracles!!!!

 

I love you!!! The church is true!!!

 

Love sister jones

Chocolate Fast.....what was I thinking?!

Yeah.....so I may or may not have made one of the worst mistakes in my life....I promised one of our investigators that I would go on a chocolate fast while she was trying to quit smoking. I thought it was inspired because I thought of it during the lesson and said it without thinking. Oh man I'm in trouble. However! I have not had one peice of chocolate for 2 whole days!!! Everyone should be so proud. I am telling all of you so I can get as much moral support as possible. I told her I wouldn't have ANY chocolate for the whole month of January. So if you could send some inspirational quotes about not giving up and not giving in, that would be helpful.

 

We had a fantastic week this week. WE GOT AN APARTMENT!!! Woot woot!! It feels so nice not being homeless any more. The elders and our ward mission leader helped us move. They only had 1 hour to help us....yeah we basically still left ten billion things at the sister apartment and we accidentally packed 2 shirts and a sock that wasn't ours. But! we have a home. Can't complain. Sister sheppard was a little bit nervous about the new area we moved to because it is a tiny bit scketchy. And there is a less active who is in love with her who lives down the street. But the elders left a blessing on our home and we have seen a HUGE difference. Man we just feel so safe now.

 

We had MLC's this week (Missionary Leadership Counsel). All the zone leaders and sister training leaders meet in glennwood. I.love.that.meeting!!! It helps us remember what's most important and how we can help the missionaries. It's super inspirational and helps me a ton.

 

Well I hope everyone is enjoying 2014!!! I really thought the world was going to end in 2012 so every year after that is like a bonus year to me!! So happy second bonus year!!!!

 

Love you!!

 

Love sister Jones