Heeeey!
The FUUN has ARRIIIIVED! (Props to those of you who caught the slight
Tarzan reference)
So.... I am in New York! Like really, what is this life!?
I got to talk to my wonderful family yesterday and it made my life!
But it was hard saying goodbye because I know I won't be able to talk
to them again until Christmas:( But it's all good now, I feel a lot
better! Actually, it is all really overwhelming so I don't know if I
really feel better or if I am just feeling too much to really tell how
I am feeling!
Yesterday we slept at the Mission home and President and Sister Morgan
are amazing! I only get them for a few days but then we get an amazing
new mission president!
I am serving in Yorktown (Ossining to be more specific) and it is a
massive area so we get a car, YAY!
My companion is Sister Kovac and she is from Switzerland:) (Ethan, she
was really excited to find out that you served there even though you
didn't ever serve in Switzerland haha!) She is so nice and I'm excited
to serve with her!:)
I don't even know what else to say, I don't have a lot of time... But
I am loving it here! I'm really scared though because in about an hour
I am going to be doing REAL missionary work!! Meeting real people and
teaching them and AHH IT IS SO INTIMIDATING! But I know that I can do
it, because.... Well because I have so much help out here and I can
feel it!
President Morgan said today that the day that we love God more than we
fear man is a happy day, so that is what my goal is this next little
while! To love God more than I fear getting judged or rejected because
if I get rejected a million times, the one time that I won't get
rejected will be worth all of it!
I love you all and I am so sorry I couldn't write more! You are in my prayers!:)
Love,
Sister Jones
Thursday, June 25, 2015
Saturday, June 20, 2015
Time is weird
Have I really been here for 9 days? Has it really only been 9 days? Am I really leaving in less than 4 days!? The MTC is the only place I have been that can feel like time is speeding up and slowing own at the same time!
A lot has been happening this week and I don't really know where to start! I spend about 90% of my day in a classroom learning how to be a missionary and that means a lot of role play... And I have a love/hate relationship with role play. I hate doing it but I can feel myself improving each time that I do a role play so I am really grateful for it at the same time!
Spiritual exhaustion is a real thing. When the Spirit is so strong for so much of the day you actually become exhausted by it! But I am trying to view that as a blessing because how often do you have the chance to feel the Spirit so strongly so much of the time!?
The days can be hard but then small things happen that have such a big effect and it immediately makes me feel so much better. Like when I got to see Ethan 3 times and it was kind of the happiest part of my week! Or getting mail (Mail is the best thing that ever happens to a
missionary. It is Christmas everyday hearing from people and I want to say thank you for your letters, packages, and emails, you have no idea how much it means)! Or catching a future Michigan State football players kick in kickball;) Or when my sweet companion, Sister Vassau, and I teach good lesson! I am so grateful for my time here, even the hard days because those are the days when I feel God's love the strongest. John 14:18 "I will not leave you comfortless: I will come
to you." I have felt that comfort every day and it is so powerful! And
because of it my testimony gets stronger and stronger every day.
And now a life lesson from Sister Jones:
Go to bed happy. Just do it. As I have been writing in my journal the past week I have realized that I judge a good day from a bad day by how I am feeling when I am about to go to bed. There are good things and bad things in every day but if you aren't happy about something when you go to sleep then the whole day feels like it was horrible! So make the end of your day happy and you will be able to see how God has blessed you throughout your day! The end:)
Sunday in the MTC is different, but really good!
*All of our meetings are spread out throughout the day so it is like Church is an all
day event, which would've killed me at home but I love it here!
*Sister Vassau and I only taught 4 sisters in Relief Society so I was getting nervous
for nothing!
*Each Sunday we get to walk up to the temple and just sit on the grounds for awhile
and I don't know why I have never done that at a temple, it is the most gorgeous
thing ever!!
*On Sunday I learned a little lesson as well... Most of you know that I am obsessed
with movies, like that was extremely hard for me to realize I wouldn't be able to
watch movies for a year and a half. So when I found out we could watch a movie on
Sunday night (a church one of course) I couldn't handle how excited I was! So when
my District decided we were going to watch Character of Christ I wasn't all too
pleased... I thought, it's a talk haven't we heard enough of those in the last few days
to last a lifetime? But then it started and I found it extremely hard to remain bitter as
I watched Elder Bednar speak. The talk is about how Christ turns out when others
would turn in. I was angry that I wasn't able to watch a movie, just about the least
valid reason to be angry in all of history! Who am I to be selfish over something so
silly while Christ was and is completely selfless in everything that He does? I
definitely was served a slice of humble pie! But I am glad because I know that I am
better for it.
We had in-field orientation yesterday and it is so weird thinking that this time next week I am going to be in New York and doing missionary work! How did I get so blessed!? We are leaving bright and early Tuesday morning. Although we have to be up and at the travel office at 3:30 so there is nothing bright about it... Just early. :)
I want to challenge you all to do something this week. Be a member missionary this week! You all know at least one person who needs the gospel in their life and you can bring it to them. And it doesn't even need to be something huge, just serve them. Go visit them and see if there is anything you can do to help them out, or just talk to them because that could be exactly what they need. You have the power to make miracles happen but you have to act in order for that to happen!
This has been very random and all over the place (and not as funny as I would like it to be, so if you could do me a favor and just pretend like there are a lot of funny and witty comments throughout this I would really appreciate it;)) so I apologize for that but it is what I felt was most important to tell you all!
I love you. God loves you. The church is true!
Love, Sister Jones
A lot has been happening this week and I don't really know where to start! I spend about 90% of my day in a classroom learning how to be a missionary and that means a lot of role play... And I have a love/hate relationship with role play. I hate doing it but I can feel myself improving each time that I do a role play so I am really grateful for it at the same time!
Spiritual exhaustion is a real thing. When the Spirit is so strong for so much of the day you actually become exhausted by it! But I am trying to view that as a blessing because how often do you have the chance to feel the Spirit so strongly so much of the time!?
The days can be hard but then small things happen that have such a big effect and it immediately makes me feel so much better. Like when I got to see Ethan 3 times and it was kind of the happiest part of my week! Or getting mail (Mail is the best thing that ever happens to a
missionary. It is Christmas everyday hearing from people and I want to say thank you for your letters, packages, and emails, you have no idea how much it means)! Or catching a future Michigan State football players kick in kickball;) Or when my sweet companion, Sister Vassau, and I teach good lesson! I am so grateful for my time here, even the hard days because those are the days when I feel God's love the strongest. John 14:18 "I will not leave you comfortless: I will come
to you." I have felt that comfort every day and it is so powerful! And
because of it my testimony gets stronger and stronger every day.
And now a life lesson from Sister Jones:
Go to bed happy. Just do it. As I have been writing in my journal the past week I have realized that I judge a good day from a bad day by how I am feeling when I am about to go to bed. There are good things and bad things in every day but if you aren't happy about something when you go to sleep then the whole day feels like it was horrible! So make the end of your day happy and you will be able to see how God has blessed you throughout your day! The end:)
Sunday in the MTC is different, but really good!
*All of our meetings are spread out throughout the day so it is like Church is an all
day event, which would've killed me at home but I love it here!
*Sister Vassau and I only taught 4 sisters in Relief Society so I was getting nervous
for nothing!
*Each Sunday we get to walk up to the temple and just sit on the grounds for awhile
and I don't know why I have never done that at a temple, it is the most gorgeous
thing ever!!
*On Sunday I learned a little lesson as well... Most of you know that I am obsessed
with movies, like that was extremely hard for me to realize I wouldn't be able to
watch movies for a year and a half. So when I found out we could watch a movie on
Sunday night (a church one of course) I couldn't handle how excited I was! So when
my District decided we were going to watch Character of Christ I wasn't all too
pleased... I thought, it's a talk haven't we heard enough of those in the last few days
to last a lifetime? But then it started and I found it extremely hard to remain bitter as
I watched Elder Bednar speak. The talk is about how Christ turns out when others
would turn in. I was angry that I wasn't able to watch a movie, just about the least
valid reason to be angry in all of history! Who am I to be selfish over something so
silly while Christ was and is completely selfless in everything that He does? I
definitely was served a slice of humble pie! But I am glad because I know that I am
better for it.
We had in-field orientation yesterday and it is so weird thinking that this time next week I am going to be in New York and doing missionary work! How did I get so blessed!? We are leaving bright and early Tuesday morning. Although we have to be up and at the travel office at 3:30 so there is nothing bright about it... Just early. :)
I want to challenge you all to do something this week. Be a member missionary this week! You all know at least one person who needs the gospel in their life and you can bring it to them. And it doesn't even need to be something huge, just serve them. Go visit them and see if there is anything you can do to help them out, or just talk to them because that could be exactly what they need. You have the power to make miracles happen but you have to act in order for that to happen!
This has been very random and all over the place (and not as funny as I would like it to be, so if you could do me a favor and just pretend like there are a lot of funny and witty comments throughout this I would really appreciate it;)) so I apologize for that but it is what I felt was most important to tell you all!
I love you. God loves you. The church is true!
Love, Sister Jones
Monday, June 15, 2015
Greetings From The Missionary Training Center!!
Hello dear friends and family!:)
So, I've been here for about 2 months now right? No? Only 2 days? Ok...
But really though, so much has happened these past 2 days it feels like an eternity! If you would've asked me last week, I would've told you the "T" in MTC stood for torture but now (and I am fully expecting many emails to say "I told you so" next week:)) I love it!!
I just want to testify that the Lord is there. He is waiting and ready to give us comfort when we need it most. He knew how scared I was on Wednesday, and He knew I would stand on the drop-off curb forever hugging my family if I didn't get some help. So that is just what He did, He sent me some MUCH needed help! One of my best friends, Sister Toomey (or whatever the Finnish word for Sister is, it sounded like "seesaw" to me... :)) was by some miracle my host! Out of the 637 missionaries that arrived at the Provo MTC on Wednesday, June 10th, 2015 she ended up getting me. This was the first of many miracles I have seen the past 2 days. Because I also ran into Sister Fouts and Sister Forbes (other friends from high school) not having been here 15 minutes!
My name tag. I think that might just be the biggest miracle of all. I get to wear a name tag that says I am a representative of Jesus Christ! What bigger miracle is there?
GAH! So much to say and so little time!
My District. My District is made up of 2 sister companionships and 2 Elder companionships and they are already like family! I might feel like the black sheep of this family;) But I still feel so a part of this little family (but nothing could beat my real family!) My companion. My companions name is... Sister Vassau! Yep, it happened! Sister Vassau and I went to elementary school together and somehow ended up leaving for the same mission, on the same day, and ended up as companions, WHAT!? And the other 2 sisters in my District are Sister Sam and Sister Hislop, we are just 4 little Utah girls headed to New York and we are too excited for words!:) The Elders in our District aren't going to New York with us:( But they are going to the Chicago West mission, which is probably the second coolest;) I feel like we are already getting to know each other and love each other really well and I love love love it!
The MTC did not hesitate did not hesitate to start packing on the training because we got teaching experience the first day! It's not as scary as it sounds though! We were in groups of over 50 missionaries and we were teaching 1 investigator but I had a special experience with the last investigator we taught. His name was George (uh... but in Spanish) and his son had died at 14, his wife had just been diagnosed with breast cancer, and he was struggling with depression. He didn't believe that the church was true, he thought it was a beautiful idea, but nothing more! I could tell that he WANTED to believe and I felt like I knew exactly what would help him, but I COULD NOT find the scripture I wanted to share! (Alma 32:27 because of course I found it afterwards.) So, I didn't share and I felt like I had failed George but I still felt a wonderful feeling! Because an answer to this man's problem did come to my mind, I felt like I knew how to help him, I just needed a little help. I saw it in myself that I actually might be able to do this, but I just need to get a little training (huh, I wonder where I could go for that *heavy sarcasm). So I promised myself that even though I am only here for 12 days that I'm not going to try to make it go faster so I can get it over with. I am here to prepare to teach the gospel, and boy do I need the preparation, so I need to be working my hardest to do that every second of this short time.
So when I promised myself and the Lord that, He decided to step in to help me... I have been pushed out of my comfort zone SO MUCH the past 2 days I couldn't count the instances with my shoes off. (And it will interest my family to know that includes praying... I have to make up for all the times I told my parents no to saying the prayer!) I swear, 9 times out of 10 I will be the one asked to say the prayer in a big group. The first few times I was like, "really...?" But now I have just accepted my fate!:) I also got pushed out of my comfort zone yesterday when we met our Branch President and his wife, President and Sister Lords, (shocker: I was asked to say the opening prayer) and Sister Vassau and I were assigned to teach Relief Society for the next couple of Sundays! I was expecting it just because that is the one thing that I was least willing to do, the Lord is testing my obedience! I know that the Lord has a sense of humor. Everything He does is for our good but I like to picture Him chuckling at my exasperation as I find out the next thing He has in store to help me prepare!
Oh and one last thing before I leave you all to your thoughts: we got iPads yesterday! They aren't the ones we will be using our in the field, just to use as practice here, but I'm not complaining! Technology is really a wonderful tool if we use it right (that was a not so subtle hint to use technology right and keep all y'allselves out of trouble!)
Oh, I could write so much more but there is not enough time in the world! I want every single one of you to just be here and experience this with me because that is the only way you can see how truly incredible it is!
I love you all so much and I thank my Heavenly Father every day for putting such wonderful people in my life!
I'd sign off with my mission language... but I'm already writing in it so you will all just have to imagine me saying this with a horrible New York accent;)
Love you to forever and back again, until next week!
Sister Jones
Sister Forbes, Sister (seesaw?) Toomey, and Sister Jones
Sister Vassau, Sister Jones, Sister Sam, and Sister Hislop
Sister Vassau, Sister Jones, Sister Sam, and Sister Hislop
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