Tender Mercy!

Hello!:)

So, I just have to share this experience- such a tender mercy!:)

This week was kind of a hard week, it seemed that Satan was working really hard on everybody we are working with, including us because it was really hard to see everyone struggling so much! We were just working really hard not to let Satan get to us! 

So it was 8:15 on Sunday night and the clock was ticking. We decided to go do a lookup that we had stopped by a few times and nothing had come of it yet, but we went one more time. And the mom let us in! Walking into that house, the Spirit hit us like a wall. The doom and gloom feeling of the day and the week was immediately lifted and we felt how important this family was to our Father in Heaven! We taught them the restoration and as we were testifying of the power the Book of Mormon has to bring the comfort of our Savior to us the mom started to tear up and the Spirit in the room grew even more. They said they would read the Book of Mormon and pray about it! As we left the house to go home we both knew why we had such a hard week. We would not have been spiritually, mentally, or physically prepared to teach that family if we hadn't had the week we did. They could see that this really did mean the world to us, because we have had to apply it personally into our lives- and it works. I know that it does, the power of the Atonement and the Book of Mormon are REAL- I've experienced it and I know it for myself! We stopped by the other night again and they let us in a second time! They have a lot of struggles and they are so willing to do what it takes to have those lifted from them. They are planning on coming to our Ward Halloween party on Friday! Yay:)

I'm so grateful that we got to meet this wonderful family! And I'm just so grateful for this mission that I am able to serve, the good weeks, the bad weeks, and everything in between!:) 

Love you all lots! Have a good week:)

Love, Sister Jones

Hartford Connecticut temple!

Yay! :)

We got to go apple picking! 

Road Trippin'!

We got to go to the Hartford, Connecticut Temple open house this week! We went with an investigator and a member of our Ward drove us. It takes about 2 hours or so to get there, so that was fun:) It was so beautiful and it filled me with happiness to see another house of the Lord about to be dedicated:)

My favorite experience from yesterday was when we got to talk to an older couple after coming out of the temple, they are not members of the church and they have seen the temple being built for the past few years and they wanted to know what it was. It almost brought tears to my eyes to see tears coming to their eyes as they told us about the peace they felt in the temple. I am so grateful for the Spirit that is ever-present in the temple, anyone is able to feel it!

Miracle of the week：

We had planned to meet with an investigator at gas station and we were running late. When we got there, our investigator wasn't there:( So we started to leave and I was already in the car when Sister Lin started talking to a man I didn't recognize. I put the car in park and rolled down the window and found out he was a less active. We ended up talking with him for a while and even helped us get ready for the car inspection. Right as we were leaving, we invited him to come to church. And he said he can make it if he can get a ride. So we called up a member and got him a ride and he actually came! With his less active fiancée! It was good to see the Lord's hand at work again. I know that we may not always know why we are supposed to be somewhere, or why we are supposed to be there. But I know that He does! All of us are under His watchful care, He will never lose track of any of us. And I am grateful to be a part in bringing His children back on the path towards it. 

I love you all and hope you have been able to recognize all the miracles in your lives! Thanks for your support, and I hope you have another miraculous week! 

Love, 

Sister Jones

New Hartford temple!!

Meet my new friend.. Pan! :)

Mama Irene & Lisa

(So sweet when others feed our 

sweet missionaries!)

Pupusas y Manzanas

You thought the Spanish was done because I left the Bronx? Wrong:) We have a lot of members who are Spanish here in Kingston! And we are the only set of missionaries in our area, Spanish or English, so we get ALL of the investigators! This week we got to eat pupusas twice (the MOST delicious El Salvadorian food:)) in 2 days! And we got to go apple picking for P-Day today! Yay! What a wonderful week in Kingston! I came up state just in time to see all the beautiful colors:) And all the beautiful conversions! Fall is definitely a time of change! 

I wanted to share a quick miracle with you:) (because what else do I do?) We had a lesson set with a male and we were trying so hard to get a 3rd female, the one we had originally set had to cancel last minute and no one else could. So we went anyway and had a crazy idea to tract for a 3rd female! We prayed for a miracle right before we got out of the car and got to work. The less active we decided to try first wasn't home, and no one seemed to be interested until a lady named Anita answered. We taught her a little and she wanted to learn more, she couldn't come to the lesson right then but we were able to set up a return appointment. So with that, we went to our appointment with the male because we were out of time. And he didn't answer the door, which was a miracle in disguise since he has gotten upset before that we are unable to go in his home. So then we had some extra time and decided to knock a few more doors. And from those few doors that we knocked we found 3 more people who were interested in learning more and we set up return appointments with them all! 1 missed appointment and 4 new investigators! We had asked for a miracle and hadn't gotten the miracle we were expecting- but we got a miracle that the Lord wanted to give to us! We are led to places for a reason, and it is up to us to find that reason. I have a testimony of that:) 

Sorry I ran myself out of time for emailing today! I love you all! Stay tuned for some more amazing miracles in the Lord's work!

Love, Sister Jones

We are cute! :)

Jumping picture :)

Shot to the Top

Well, transfers came calling! And after 9 wonderful months- it is time for me to leave the Bronx:( There were definitely a few hard goodbyes. But I know that they are in good hands- the Sisters in Olmstead get to enjoy the fruits of missionary work as 3 of my FAVORITE people in the world enter the waters of baptism this weekend:) Words can't describe how much I will miss them, but also how excited I am for them to make such an important covenant with their Father in Heaven (whether or not I am there doesn't make it any less exciting!) This work is true, and the Bronx is most definitely a white field. How lucky and grateful I am to have had the opportunity to be part of the harvest!

New area: KINGSTON! Back upstate! In fact, it is the top of the mission- our area borders another mission to the north. My companion is Sister Lin, she is from China and we are already having lots of fun:) And I am driving again! I don't need to tell you how interesting of an experience it was to be behind the wheel again after 9 months! I almost forgot how to drive! 

It has been such a wonderful, stressful, amazing week! And what about General Conference!? Wasn't it amazing? One of my favorite talks (because they are all my favorite) was President Nelson's talk about JOY. I loved this quote from it: "Joy is a gift for the faithful. It is the gift that comes from intentionally trying to live a righteous life, as taught by Jesus Christ." Sometimes breaking the commandments does make us feel good, we can have good feelings when we listen to Satan- but those feelings are fleeting and will eventually lead only to sadness and misery, in the state that Satan wants us to be in. But the joy that comes from keeping the commandments is ETERNAL. They are real and they are not fleeting. I'm so grateful to Heavenly Father for loving us enough to give us His commandments, for giving us a way to find JOY. And I know that is the ONLY way to finding true joy, living as our Savior lives and loving as our Savior loves.

I'm grateful to be a missionary and I am grateful to be serving in Kingston at this time! Wonderful things are in store for this work, as they always are! I love you all and I have a bit of good news! Only 179 days until General Conference!;) But until then, I'm grateful we have 6 months to study these wonderful talks given to us by inspiration from our Father in Heaven. May we study them again and again, to get all that Heavenly Father intended us to get out of them!

Have a superfundiferous week (stole that word from Cat in the Hat.)

Love, Sister Jones

Joy & her kids heart attacked me when

they found out I was leaving! 

The countdown to the right is to

Joy & Lenia's baptisms!

Love them with my whole heart! 

Roomate selfie..

I will miss these Sisters a lot!

Sister Lin!

(and me behind the wheel of a car..yikes!)

Dum dum, give me gum gum! :D

(museum of natural history)