No letter this week. June 24th 2013

Sorry, I didn't have time to write a mass email this week but I will work on remembering to tell some good stories for next week. Love you

 

Sister Jones

June 17th post.

Well this week was so much better than last week. Ever since the blessing I received I have been doing super great. We had another successful week this week and we taught alot of people.

One cool thing that happened this week is the Widdler of the Wood competition. These widdlers from all over the world will come to Craig and for 3 days they will carve these gigantic carvings. These Carvings are ALL over town cause I guess the carvers dontate them to the city of Craig. The coolest one I saw was the Indian. They start out with this big stump and then they go to town on it with chain saws and wood burners and make this incredible statues.

They also have this 1 hour competiton where they carve something in an hour and then they auction them off. I couldn't beleive what they could do in only an hour. I'm pretty sure it would take me three years to make something like they did. It was awesome. I'll attach some pictures.

The most amazing thing that happened this week was when we were in Baggs, wy.

A few weeks ago we ran into this guy at a musuem. His name is Duane. He was in the office when we were asking a lady about service opportunities. We talked to both of them for like an hour. About the gospel and other topics. Duane said that we could come back and teach him more the next time we were in town. The next weekend he was busy so we didn't get to see him but we did go and see a family that was related to our Branch President. They are a part member family and the wife is Catholic. We also found out that the wife is related to Duane. (I think every one is related in Baggs) We had a really good visit with that family, but later in the day we found out that the granddaughter is getting married and she doesn't want her grandpa (our branch president) to marry her because she wanted a Catholic priest to marry her. The Branch president and his wife were really really hurt by this and they asked us not to go visit that family and to not see Duane any more. They didn't want the family to think that they sent us over there. And they didn't want to cause any more family drama because there was already enough drama about who was going to marry the grandaughter. ( I hope this is making sense)

We didn't know what to do because it's not like we tracked down Duane, we just ran into him when he was working at the museum. Plus he really did seem interested in hearing what we wanted to teach him. We wanted to respect the Branch president and his wife's wishes and we didn't want to cause any family drama, but we really really wanted to teach Duane.

We didn't really decide what we were going to do this weekend so we figured that we would talk to president and sister lee about it. Butthursday evening, after the ward party, we went around knocking on some doors to see if we could find some more people to teach. We knocked on one door and had a really good discussion with this older couple and then we went and knocked on their neighbor's door. You will never guess who lived at that house..........

Yup you guessed it....Duane lived there.

We seriously had no idea that he lived there. In fact we actually thought that he lived in Savery. A town about 20 miles away from Baggs. We were just as suprised to see him as he was suprised to see us. He invited us in and we ended up having a really powerful lesson about the restoration. He said we could come back and teach him some more. Wow, it was incredible. I know that the lord placed us there and that it was no accident. I love that the lord did that because Both times we saw him it was completely by "coincidence." We didn't seek him out to teach him and he knows that. He knows that nobody sent us to see him. (except the Lord) I love it. We talked to the Branch president and his wife and they said since he knows nobody sent us it was ok for us to keep teaching him. This is always how missionary work happens and I LOVE IT. I am really excited to see what the Lord has instore for Baggs, because I know some more miracles are just waiting to happen. I will keep you posted!!!!!

I hope everyone is having a wonderful week. I love you all!!!

 

Love Sister Jones!

 

Picture #1 my favorite wood carving...the indian

Picture #2 a carving that was completed in an hour! Crazy! I know!

June 10th post

Well, this week was a little rough I have to admit.

The work wasn't struggling or anything. We had another fantastic week with 5 new investigators and we taught a lot of people. The only thing is I am sometimes a little to hard on myself.

Last Monday, I was a little impatient with Sister Robinson and after I talked to her about it, I felt TERRIBLE. I was so mad at myself for letting things bug me.I was also got frustrated because it is taking me so long to really feel like I am in the swing of things and really feel comfortable with my efforts as a missionary. Especially because I am called to train and whitewash. I am constantly trying to be better, to work harder, to pray more, to be more in tune with the spirit, to reach our goals, to have more faith, to be exactly obediant, and to become the missionary the Lord would have me become. And it is HARD!

I don't have to just change my habits, I have to change my nature. It, is hard.

Before my mission I was always pretty complacent and I didn't really push myself to my fullest potential. I was satisfied with metocre. But that is something I want to change. I want to BE the best missionary possible, I want to make every day and every moment count. I want to look back on my mission and know that the Lord was proud of me and what I was able to help Him accomplished. I don't want to have any regrets when I am called to go back home.

So last monday I was pretty down and I had the impression to ask Brother St. John (the second counsler in our ward in Craig) to give me a blessing. We went over to his house after our appointments and he asked me what was wrong. I didn't realize how close to tears I had been all day until them because I just started crying. I felt so silly because when I explained to them how I felt it came out that I feel like I am not the missionary I want to be and I am frustrated with how slow my progression is. Brother St John and his wife and the first counsler in the ward Brother Herring  then spent the next hour trying to make me feel better and complimenting me and saying all these nice things that I didn't deserve. I really didn't want them to think that I had gone to them for attention or to get compliments because that's what it kind of seemed like. But I was SO grateful they were so kind to me.

Brother St John gave me a blessing and it was incredible. I felt so peaceful and all of the stress left my body. Heavenly Father promised me that He knows my efforts and He knows my heart and He has a plan for me. He said that he sent me here for a very specific reason and soon I will know what that reason is.

After the blessing Brother St. John gave me a few more words of wisdom and I know he was inspired to tell me this.

He told of a story of how some teenagers died in an accident because they weren't wearing their seatbelts. He said he went all through town and collected prize money from all of these places and took it to the police department. The police department then pulled over people who were wearing there seatbelts and they would give them prizes. Like gift certificates or free things. He said this went on for 17 years. Then Brother St. John told me the reason why they went to all of this effort to do this.  He looked me right in the eyes and he said, "If we saved one life....we did our job.....and If you save...one soul. You did your job."

The spirit was so strong I couldn't help but cry all over again. It is so true. I am so worried about myself and all of my problems I am not focused on God's purpose.

To find those prepared. So I have decided to quit worring about it and just push forward. To find those souls who need saving.

And in case that wasn't enough comfort, I just so happen to read 2 Nephi Chapter 4 in my personal study and it helped me SO much. I felt so much better after reading that chapter of scripture.

I know the Lord is watching over me. He will help me become the missionary I want to be. I am just going to focus on the work.

I love you all! Thank you for your prayers and all of your support.

 

Love Sister Jones

June 3rd letter.

Hello Everyone!!

This week has been one of my absolute best weeks on the mission! So many great things happened.
 We had Zone conference in Grand Junction on Thursday and we got to have a sleep over with the two other sets of sisters in Rifle on Wednesday night. It was so awesome. It was fun to catch up with the sisters that I served in the MTC with and to meet the other sisters I haven't seen yet. We had a great time. Zone Conference is always the best. For those of you who don't know, it is when a few Zones get together and we have spiritual thoughts/trainings from the Assistants to the President and trainings from President and Sister Maynes. I always leave Zone Conference on a way big spiritual high and it was the same with this one. We had lunch there and I got a little treat for having a birthday in the last transfer haha. 

Another awesome thing that happened this week is that we have a new pet deer. (Brother Bambi) He likes to sleep/rest in our front "lawn" and just say hi every once in a while. There are deer all over the place in Craig. The deer seem super tame and don't mind humans at all. I got within 5 feet from Brother Bambi and he didn't care at all. Last night he had a lady friend with him and Sister Robinson and I think we might need to teach him the Law of Chastity soon.

The best thing that happened this week though is we got 5 NEW INVESTIGATORS!!!!! That has been my goal of the mission. To find 5 new people to teach in one week. And it happened. Oh man I could cry I was so happy. All of them are really solid too. One of them is a little boy named Zachary. His family is really less-active and Zachary has only been to church about 2 times. (we think) The bishop asked if we could stop by and see if Zachary wanted to be taught and if he wanted to be baptized. We showed up and both Zachary and his brother,Preston, (age 9) Stole my heart!! If I could adopt them to be my sons I totally would. They are the most adorable little boys I have ever met. They are so precious! I just want to squeeze them and carry them in my pocket all day long. We went over for our first lesson with them we sat down around the table and Zachary says "When can I get baptized?" (I wish I could hear that every day) We told him that we needed to teach him the lessons and he needed to come to church 3 times. He was bummed it was going to take awhile but we started right into a lesson. It was all over the place. They asked us a million questions. We basically could only answer about 5 of them. They were questions like, "How did God put our spirit into our body? If God loves us why did he make things that hurt us?Are Zombies real? Why did Jesus make Dinosaurs?" The only two things we really did get to teach them was about prophets and pray. It was so sweet because when we told them how Heavenly Father hears and answers every prayer we pray they both turned to their mom and were like."Mom! we can not forget to pray at every meal!" At the end of the lesson we committed them to say their nightly prayers and ask Heavenly Father if what we said was true. The were like, "Oh we believe every thing you have said." (another thing I wish we could hear every day lol) We told them not to take our word for it, to ask Heavenly Father if it is true and they said they would. 
Oh that lesson touched my heart so much. Their faith and their hearts were so pure and so humble. It helped me to realize that, that is what it is all about. We all need to find our child-like humility and faith to remember our testimonies. When I think about when my testimony started i think I was about 6. Heavenly Father answered one of my humble prayers and I have always believed ever since. I am so grateful that I had a family to teach me at such a young age, when my faith was so pure. I am also so grateful to be here to help others find that faith again or for the first times in their lives. I absolutely love being a missionary and I am so excited to see the new miracles the Lord has in store for this area and these people. Thank you for all of your love and support! I love you all!!!!!!

Love Sister Jones

Picture #1= Brother Bambi in our "lawn" haha