Happy Pioneer Day!🇺🇸🎇

Hello! I hope you all had a fantastic week:) It feels like I wrote you
yesterday and it is rather alarming! It has been a very entertaining
and Spirit-filled week!


On Thursday we had zone conference- so we got to hear from President
Smith for 8 hours! I love meetings like that, they always relight a
fire for this wonderful work! We also had another meeting on Friday
for new missionaries, so we got to hear from President Smith for
another 5 hours! So, with the Spiritual tank filled to overflowing, we
went out to work:)

On Saturday the Elder's investigator was getting baptized so we
invited our investigator to come! It started out so wonderful, the
ward has been waiting for this sister to be baptized for a long time
now and it was so wonderful that it was finally happening! So, long
story short- this sister is also afraid of water. It led to a lot of
people literally cheering for her and encouraging her very loudly to
"just do it!" It was slightly reminiscent of a Super Bowl game...
Everything worked out finally and the crowd treated us with a round of
applause. It was all especially interesting because our investigator
also has a fear of water... After everything settled down she came out
and bore her testimony. And that brought the Spirit so strongly! It
might not have been the most conventional baptism, it might not have
gone exactly as planned, but she had an undeniable testimony of this
gospel and of her loving Heavenly Father:) Our investigator loved it
and she is so excited for her own baptism:) I love how no matter where
we are in the world or what our background is, the true Gospel of
Jesus Christ unites us and the Spirit is the same wherever we are.

Sister Hess and I have been working hard this week and we have
definitely seen the blessings that come from it! One way we really saw
the hand of the Lord in our lives this week was all the referrals we
received from other missionaries! We got multiple calls from sisters
in the mission saying they had found the MOST PREPARED PERSON IN THE
BRONX! So we called all of them, I'm not sure which of them is the
most prepared person in the Bronx, they all seem like it! We have
appointments set up with all of them for this next week and I am so
excited to see how Heavenly Father has been preparing them! I know He
knows all of His children and that He is preparing hearts LONG before
we come into the picture, and it's such a blessing to have a front row
seat to the miracles we see!

I hope Pioneer Day was cheery for all of you! We had a different kind
of Pioneer Day, meeting REAL pioneers in our day:) Everyday there are
people deciding to follow our Savior, they may not have to trek across
the plains, but their sacrifice is hard and it is real. I am so
grateful for all of the sacrifices people have made for this gospel
and this church! I know it is true:)

Love, Sister Jones

I spy the Chrysler building!

We went through the whole museum

JUST to find this:) 

Art nuts would have our head! :)

We saw Sister Bain again!! :)

Random Thoughts!

It's one of those emails this week:)

* Sister Barnes was confirmed this Sundayy! She bore such a beautiful
testimony that made me cry! I have loved being able to share the
gospel with her and to learn from her:) It was the best day!
* Sister Hess and I met an amazing man walking home the other day. His
name is Ray and he was a paramedic during 9/11. He was probably the
sweetest man I have met and he has cancer because of what he did on
9/11, but he says that he would do it all again if he had to. What a
wonderful human being he is!
* So the other day, Sister Hess and I were talking about hurricanes
and how it would be sad if that were to happen here, but that all of
the service opportunities would be amazing! And then... All of a
sudden, there were a couple raindrops that fell from the sky, which
then turned into a lot of rain drops, which then turned into literal
buckets of water falling on our head... It added new meaning to "ask
and you shall receive"! It was really fun though:)
* I said "ax" instead of "ask" in a lesson the other day, and I am
slowly perfecting my Jamaican accent. I am basically from the Bronx.
* We had an AMAZING lesson yesterday! It was with an investigator
named Sister Marshall. And last night Sister Hess invited her to be
baptized and she said yes! She is so sincere in her desire to be part
of this gospel, she says she will be baptized but she wants to learn
what she can and be prepared to do something so important:)
* Also, our investigator, Joy, is doing wonderful:) I have never met
someone so prepared to receive the gospel! I have such a strong
testimony that Heavenly Father is preparing the hearts of those around
us, never hesitate to open your mouth about the gospel. We don't know
what it could mean to them, we are the answers to prayers as we act in
faith to share the gospel!

We have been learning a lot this past week! I'm so grateful for my
companion:) We work hard and I know that as we do as the Lord asks we
are blessed for it. I have seen those blessings in this area! Hearts
are being prepared and people are listening:) I love the Bronx. I love
my mission. I love my Savior. And I love all of you!

Have a terrific week!

Love, Sister Jones

This is the Bronx. 

And in the background is one 

of my favorite views, Manhattan:)

One of our Young Women came out with us the other night:)

Sister Kaufman used to be a Sister Jones:) 

Could a Week get any Better?

No, no it can't. Let me tell you why:)

First, SISTER BARNES GOT BAPTIZED!!! Words cannot describe how amazing
of an experience it was! She was baptized this past Sunday and my
heart almost burst with happiness to see how many people came to show
her support on such an important day. It's a day I will never forget:)
The Spirit was so strong, and it just got stronger as Sister Barnes
bore her beautiful testimony to everybody there. I know that this
Gospel is true and I have seen the power of the Spirit working in
Sister Barnes' life! I am forever grateful to Heavenly Father for
allowing me the opportunity to know her and share the gospel with
her:)

Another piece of WONDERFUL news! Sister Bain is safe here in New
York:) I got to see her yesterday and it made my day! Also...... I am
training!!! And my companion happens to be Sister Bain's MTC
companion, Sister Hess!

Let me tell you a little about Sister Hess:) She is amazing! I am so
blessed to have her as my companion, she is so willing to learn and to
work! She has a powerful testimony of our Savior and she really wants
to share it with everybody! We went to go get ice cream yesterday and
I said the deal was that we could get it if she gave a card to the
cashier, and she DID! Like a professional:) Our day yesterday was full
of moments like that, it helped me to learn even more how short our
missions are and how we need to always strive to make the most out of
it. Lesson number one I have learned from Sister Hess! I know there
are plenty more to follow!

We also had an amazing lesson yesterday with a mother and her 3
children. We met the, last week and we have already met with them 3
times, I have never met anyone with that deep of a desire to KNOW! And
their lives have already been blessed because of it, they have been
keeping all of the commitments we have left with them. And yesterday
we taught about the Gospel of Jesus Christ, as we were talking about
the Spirit the mother testified to us about the Spirit that has come
into their home since they have been meeting with us, and I we were
able to feel just how much their life has changed in just the past
week. It seems like such a short time to be able to see such a
difference, but I know that is what the Gospel does for our families.
Our Heavenly Father's blessings are immediate when we are keeping the
commandments. We may not always recognize them, but they are always
there! And I am so happy for this family who have been able to
recognize so clearly how the Lord has blessed them!

I love this work, I love the trust that our Heavenly Father has in all
of us! He KNOWS we can make it back to Him someday! And I have faith
that all of us truly can make it back to Him, and that we will! I love
you all, have a beatific week! (That's the new word I learned this
morning!)

Love, Sister Jones

Sister Barnes baptism!!! :)

"Look who I have! :)  

My girlies:) I love them both! 

(No... I'm not actually taller than them...) "   

Sister Hess & Sister Bain! :)

"One of our investigators gave us these, 

she is adorable :) "   

Goodbye Sister Fu. :(

HAPPY 4TH OF JULY!🇺🇸

Oh the joys of missionary work in the summer! Never again in my life
do I think I will be walking around all day, everyday in the burning
sun, and love every minute of it:) Summer is hitting us hard in New
York! Woohoo:) I hope you all have been surviving the heat, and loving
the 4th of July!

I loved our 4th of July, it was the best one I've had in my life! I
gained a deeper appreciation for our country as we taught the
Restoration to people on Monday. We watched the Restoration video with
one of our investigators and again with one of our recent converts,
and it was almost too perfect. What a better way to celebrate our
country than by teaching others the reason why? I am so grateful to
our Heavenly Father for allowing this country to be established, it
paved the way for the Restoration of the Gospel of Jesus Christ!:)
That's why we really celebrate!

We have been working a lot with less actives and we have seen so much
success! A couple miracles from the last week: We met with a less
active recent convert who recently had surgery and was also diagnosed
with a disease that causes vertigo so she is unable to come to church.
But we testified of the importance of the Sacrament and she said she
really did want to come back to church and we promised her that she
would be blessed as she tried her hardest to come to church- and she
actually did!! MIRACLE! Also, we set up an appointment with a less
active that neither of us had met, and neither of us knew how amazing
she was! She hasn't been to church in about a year, but she told us
that she reads her scriptures often and has watched General a
Conference when it is on! It really helped me to see that Heavenly
Father never forgets or loses track of any of His children. We are not
alone in this work, He is always preparing hearts:)

We really did have a good week this week and I am so looking forward
to another week in New York!:)

Love you all!

Love, Sister Jones

We had a Ward Barbecue on Saturday, 

twas fun:)

Sister Fu and I celebrated the 4th of July......

 By eating Chinese food;)

We made dumplings!!