April 4, 2011

Hey MAma,

When does AJ leave? I can ask the elders hear what they would suggest cuz it´s different for them. I mean, there are things that i wish i would´ve brought but they were all mostly sister missionary things. maybe random little things to be able to give to investigators and converts, like...nicer ctr rings because you can´t order them here, only the cheapy green ones, and they´re nice to give to really special people:) oh, and tell him to order lots of extra name tags in the mtc! or at least 4 extras because when you order them here they take FOREVER to arrive! and tell him to bring good writing pens! even just the regular old Bic ones are fine, cuz they´re better than the pens here:) ( that´s a suggestion from my comp) and he ABSOLUTELY needs a coat! I know it says optional on the papers but it is NOT OPTIONAL! without a coat, he will die!

that´s all i can think of for now, but if i think of other things, i´ll let you know:)

oh, hey, i also sent a letter for Chris to the house cuz i didn´t know his address, so if you could get that to him somehow when it gets there, i´d love you forever

 

so, first of all, I LOVED CONFERENCE!!! It was so good! and on Sunday, in between the sessions, we were able to teach the daughters of a recent convert who aren´t members yet. we started talking to them and then Araceli, another recent convert who is just AMAZING, came over and it was a fantastic lesson, because one of the daughters is 16 and she was asking Araceli -who´s 21- questions that she probably never would´ve felt comfortable asking us because we´re missionaries and they always just think we´re weird... and it´s kinda true:)... but, yeah, it was a great lesson, and that´s why it´s important for the members to work with the missionaries!!! They´ve got more power in helping people than they realize!

 

also, I was able to see the power of the Book of Mormon this week when we went to visit our investigator, Graciela. It was amazing the difference that we could feel in her home the last time we went to visit her. We could feel it even before she told us that she´d been reading:) She told us how much she LOVES reading it. and the more she reads, the more she just wants to keep reading! She liked the picture of Jesus in the Americas that´s in the front, the one where he´s on the steps of the temple, and said she wanted to blow it up big and put it on the wall. She has a giant poster of Gauchito Gil, he´s a very common saint here, above the fireplace, and we had planned to teach her later the ten commandments and how she shouldn´t have saints on her walls, but when we went, she told us she wanted to take it down and put the picture of Christ there, because she told us, ¨it says in this book that we shouldn´t have other things besides God¨
and that´s one of the smallest changes! They were all running around crazy in the house the other times we went, and yelling at each other, and she would yell back at them, but they were so much calmer, and she was patiently helping them with their homework. I´ve just never seen such a drastic change so fast. She´s read almost the whole Book of Mormon, and she´s just thirsting for more!!!
I´m so glad that i was able to see the power of the Book of Mormon working in their lives. I truly love that book! and God is continually confirming to me that it is true as i read it and see it´s effect in the hearts of His children!

Anyway, That´s all for this week! I love you BUNCHES! and hope all continues well! I pray for you all every day!

Be Good!

Love Hna Jones

March 28, 2011

Hey Mama,

I'm glad you wrote me early because if not i wouldn't have gotten it:) So, i'm gonna have a room when i get home?! yay! haha my comp is great! remember how you asked me before who she is related to. well, she told me her whole genealogy so here's how it is... her dad is John Bundy, and her Grandpa is Clarence Bundy... I don't know if dad knows them or not but he probably does since he knows pretty much everybody:) you should ask him... We've been telling all the members that we're cousins. they get a kick out of that, and my comp even went to one of our Jones family reunions once with Kelsey because she and Kels were best friends in seventh grade, but i really don{t remember her.... anyway, you should tell Kelsey and see if she remembers her, Kelsha Bundy.

Turns out, my new area is GINORMOUS!!! Seriously, We have the entire city to ourselves, which has its down sides because if we walk directly from one side to the other, it takes like an hour and a half, but if we plan well, that doesn't happen.

but mostly I'm just super excited because there are tons of people to talk to here. ill never get bored because i'm pretty sure ill never be able to knock all of it:) plus, the people her are really friendly and willing to listen, the members are fantastic, and all the missionaries that were here before were super heroes, no joke, and they have been preparing this area with all their hard work! Now, we just have to reap, and keep planting for the next missionaries to come. But honestly, i just feel more than ever like the field is white!!! its harvest time!!! I sound kinda like a nerdy sister missionary... oops:)

anyway, We're working hard and putting goals, and Hna Bundy has SO much faith! it's great.

Its time for the spiritual experience of the week... one of the many.

The other day we went to eat lunch with a part member family, and my comp told me before hand that the husband wasn't a member, so i said, well ill just invite him to be baptized then! haha but i really did want to bring the subject up and take advantage of the fact that i was new. so we were chatting with him and he told me he wasn't a member so i asked him why, and he said he didn't want to be a hypocrite or something like that... but the point is, we were able to open up the conversation, and we challenged him to just read the book of Mormon and pray to know for himself! my comp tried to hand him the book and he didn't want to touch it. it was like he was afraid of it. but he took it and we were like, all you have to do is read, and pray! this book comes from God! and my comp, in a stroke of pure brilliance... or the spirit:)... said, open it. and he didn't want to, so she said, why are you scared of it? just open the book and read the first scripture you see.

So he did it, and the Spirit was so strong when he was about to open it up, and he read a scripture, i don{t even know where he was reading, but it was in Alma somewhere, but it told him how he could find happiness, and he totally felt the spirit! i know he did!!! he said he would read and pray, and we have an apt with them on Thursday so I'm way excited!!!

Hey mom, could you just send this letter to the whole family:) haha I actually didn't mean to write it all here but, it happened that way, so... yeah

Love you lots!!!

I hope you all have a fantastic week!

Love,

Hna Jones

March 21, 2011

Hey Fam!!!!

So, once again it´s transfer time.... Wanna know what happened?! well, here´s how it went down... They transferred me to Centenario, which is in the same zone, and basically right around the corner from where i am right now! haha it was quite the surprise because this NEVER happens. people don´t change districts and stay in the same zone. Sometimes they leave and then come back but I´ve never heard of anyone who stays in the same zone... well, there´s always a first for everything! also, my new companion is Hna Bundy!!! sound familiar? yep, she´s the Hermana from St. George that i did divisions with before!!! We were so surprised! seriously, when my district leader called and told us i was like, ¨seriously elder?...¨ and i kept asking if he was lying to me until he got mad, and i decided it must be true:)

but i´m super excited cuz Hna Bundy is really great! She has tons of energy and spunk! So, we´re going to baptize everyone in Centenario!

This week was a good one. We have a mom and her daughter, Eli and Natalia, that are going to get baptized the week of conference. The other good thing about this transfer is that i´m so close that i´ll be able to go to the baptisms!!! YAY!!!

Anyway, that´s pretty much it for this week! I´ll let you all know more about my new area when i get there, because i have to stay here until Wednesday. Hna cruz´s new comp is coming from way down south so she´s arriving Wednesday in the morning and we´re staying with Hna Cruz til she gets here! fun fun!

I´m going to miss the members here but i´m going to see them in General Conference so it´s all good! can you believe how fast the time passed?! it seems like it was just barely Gen Conference time!!!! CRAZY!

well, gotta go! Love you all un MONTON!!!! Portense bien y cuidense:)

LOVE,

Hna Jones

January 17, 2011

Hey Fambly,

Just wanted to send a quick email and let you all know that I´m alive and well:) In fact, I´m doing great!!! We started teaching a while back, an inactive member, Analia. I can´t remember if i told you about her but She´s really great! I love her to death! She had been inactive for 10 years, and she´s coming to church now!!!! yesterday was the second week:) She has an adorable little family, but she´s not married and her husband isn´t a member. We want to teach him so he can get baptized and one day they´ll be able to go to the temple and be sealed! but he was in the oil fields so he´s never home:( Dang it! but we taught her about Eternal Families and they´re putting goals for when they can get married! Yay!!! Also, another less active family has the goal to go to the temple, and we´ve been trying to help them get there. they´ve gone to church 2 weeks in a row too!

We also have great investigators but it´s hard for them to go to church for some crazy reason (pretty sure it´s the devil´s fault) ya know, I really just don´t like that guy! but we´re working with them:) Carmen is the woman i told you about... or i think i told you, whose husband passed away. She didn´t go to church on Sunday, but i have faith that once we´re able to teach her the importance of it, she´ll definitely go!

anyway, I love you all! Thanks for your support, love, and prayers, and all that jazz!!!

Love your guts!!!!

Hna Jones

January 31, 2011

Hey Mama,

umm... first, I didn´t even know AJ had gotten his call! where´s he going? Shay did tell me about the baby though. I´m super excited! How are you, mama? And dad? working hard like always?

Our investigators are doing good:) we have 2 with a baptismal date, and they´re fantastic!!!! One is a girl named Griselda. she´s 17 yrs old and golden! She has so many questions, and is really trying to find the truth. I love it! God is really leading his work forward!

and Roque is the one i mentioned last week. he makes us lunch every Thursday when we go to visit him, and he´s just the sweetest old grandpa.

This week was a good one, but it´s been kinda hot... oh, yesterday, we did divisions with the hnas from Centenario and i was with Hna Bundy (she´s from St. George... pretty sure dad probably grew up with her dad, but i don´t remember his name to be able to tell you) and we found this adorable girl. She´s 22 yrs old, Milagros is her name, and she´s like Giselle on Enchanted, not even kidding. She´s probably the sweetest most adorable girl, and she looks like her too, big blue eyes and everything! we´re way excited to go back and teach her more:)

anyway, I love you so so so so much! haha but it really is true!

pass my love on to everyone else!

Love,

Hna Jones

Pictures

Hey, Here are the pictures of all the newbies with their trainers. it´s a really bad picture but you can at least see Hna Cruz:)

Love you all. hope the pictures get there ok!!!!

LOVE YOU ALL FOREVER!!!

oh, and tell JD i got his package, and thank you bunches!!!

Love,

Hna Jones

 

 Sorry the pictures are small but it was the best I could do.

Christmas Call Preparation

HI! So I really did finally send the Christmas package today, but don´t get too excited, it´s not all that great... There is really only one present but i hope you like it. Also, I discovered today that if i send the package certified it only costs me 40 pesos!!! Sweet eh? that´s only like $12. so yeah, That was exciting. Oh, and yes, I got my package today:) I´m going to try to not open anything til Christmas.

To answer your question, Franco´s mom is Evangelica, but i don´t know why she hates us. She doesn´t even go to the same church as franco anyway! but they are both Evangelica churches so i think that as long as he weren´t leaving the evangelicos, she would be fine with him changing churches.... I don´t know really....

but this week has been a pretty great one! Wewent to teach our investigator, Gabriela, who has a baptismal date, but we haven´t been able to see her for a while cuz she´s just never there, and we found her at home. so we asked her if she had read the book of mormon and she said, ¨no, i started to read it but i got bored. it just doesnt really call my attention¨ and then she was saying how she wasn´t really interested and stuf like that, and i don´t know how it happened, i don´t even remember what we said, but she all of a sudden was like, ¨ I started listening because i could see that you have something different. that´s why i let the other missionaries in to. because of the light i could see in them. You´re just always happy and smiling, and that´s just something you don´t see very much in people, that they´re just truly happy.¨ So we asked her if she wanted to have that, and of course she said yes!

We explained to her that she had to do 3 things, read pray and go to church, and she said, ¨I can read and pray but i´m not going to church. I don´t like churches.¨

so we started talking a little about that, and all of a sudden (miracle part 2), Her super catholic mom, who was only half-listening while she was cooking, piped up, ¨well, i´d like to go! i´ve never been to a Mormon church before! I´d like to see how it is¨

HOLY COW!!!! and she walks with a limp, so she said, we´ll have to leave early because it´s gonna take me a while to walk there. It took us about 40 minutes to walk to the church, but she did it!!!! and they really liked it too=)

I love miracles!!!

also, This Christmas day, we´re going to call between 6 and 7 Argentine time, so that´s... 3 or 4 your time i think...? anyway, we have calling cards so i´m going to just call you guys.

oh, and could you invite JD and Kennedy, i don't know if she´ll be able to but if she can...

and... yep, that´s all!!!

I love you bunches!

Love,

Hna Jones