Life as an *honorary* red head

So... Last Wednesday morning Sister Thompson said I would look good 

with red hair, and that is the story of how I became a red head.

Anyway, this week was good! I love Sister Thompson to death and we
have a lot of fun together, but don't let it fool you;) We work hard
and go to bed real tired every night!

This week was a random week... so a "random thoughts" email is fitting!

Random thought #1 Garlic- Ok this one is really random but I swear
I've been eating unusual amounts of garlic this week and I found
myself wondering if it was national garlic week or something? I've had
more garlic this week than I have my whole life- on the bright side
the garlic breath is sure to ward off any unwanted conversations (not
to mention vampires). On the down side... I'm out of mints.

Random Thought #2 Every single stinkin person we teach- They are boss!
I think I have said it in every single email, but I love seeing how
the Lord prepares His children to hear the Gospel! It amazes me as I
see people being changed so much just by a knowledge of the Gospel- it
is so powerful!

Random Thought #3 Teaching- Teaching has always been a struggle for me
on a mission. I'm always terrified going into lessons and I just want
it to be over as soon as possible, ripping off a bandaid style. But I
noticed something this past week! As I have been worrying less and
less about how I am going to teach them and trusting more in the fact
that God wants them to hear this message I have realized that He
called me, knowing I was going to fumble my words like a dork
sometimes, but He still wanted ME to do it. He isn't going to leave us
alone if we are doing our best- I took the hard way in applying D&C
84:85! But it's coming, slowly but surely!

Random Thought #4 Joaquin- This little guy is so cool! It was his
baptism on Saturday and we were lucky enough to be able to go! (I was
even asked to lead the music, I don't have musical ability, maybe God
thinks differently and that is why I've been asked to pretend I have
musical ability so much this week!) It was fun though:) I love the
Spirit at baptisms, no matter who you are or what your religious
background is you cannot deny the calm and peaceful Spirit you feel
watching someone enter the waters of baptism. And one of the roles of
the Spirit is to testify of truth, we all have heard that, but it
clicked for me recently and I realized that every time I feel the
Spirit it is God telling me, "this is true"- it's how my testimony has
grown so much out here! And now there is one more person in the world
who has the gift to be able to feel that all the time!

Random Thought #5 Musical ability (or the lack thereof)- Ok, I haven't
been asked to pretend I have musical ability a lot actually... Just
twice. We have a zone conference this Friday and I was assigned to
sing a musical number with 8 other missionaries! Hmm... This should be
interesting! But our Ward Mission Leader took the time when I told him
that to point out that I could pray for help to do well. I mean... Ya
I can! But it was another one of those moments where I felt the Spirit
and realized that what he was saying was true. Even something as silly
as a musical number that you are nervous about, God cares. He will
help you if you ask for it! It's just really cool how much God loves
us:)

Random Thought #6 Tracting Miracles- It was the end of the night and
Sister Thompson and I decided to do one more lookup. So we get to the
door and we both get a very bad feeling and we look at each other and
just kind of start walking away as fast as possible. And we get into
the car, and the key is locked so the car won't start. So we realized
that there must be some reason why we were in that area! We prayed and
decided that we were going to knock on a few doors. First door,
nothing. Second, nothing. On the third door a man answers and we start
talking to him and we testify about how the Gospel has blessed our
lives, and then we leave. We go back to the car and try to start it,
but the key still locked... But we prayed and then we got the key to
work and went home. That man didn't all of a sudden say he wanted to
be baptized, he didn't show up to church on Sunday, nothing came of
it. But I know that the Spirit was there as we were testifying to him-
I don't know if anything is ever going to come of that but it was a
good feeling knowing I had done what God asked me to do in that
moment.

Random Thought #7 True Conversion- We joined Young Women's for class
this Sunday and they used this quote, "Conversion is a lifelong
process of becoming more Christlike through the Atonement of Jesus
Christ. It includes a change not only in our behavior but in our
desires, our attitudes, and our very natures. It is such a significant
change that the Lord refers to it as a rebirth and a mighty change of
heart. We can know that we are becoming converted to the Lord when we
lose our desire for sin, we are filled with love, and we seek to share
the gospel with others." I have felt each one of those things at
different times in my life- and you don't need to feel all 3 at all
times to be on the path to conversion! It really is a lifelong
process, we are going to fall sometimes, but if we keep trying we are
on the right path and we are doing pretty ok:)

And Random Thought #8 5 Months!- Yesterday was my 5 month mark and it
has been the longest and shortest 5 months in my life! I'm just really
grateful that I have 13 left to change more than I have already:)

Red hair?!

(posted this again, since it went with her title)

Happy Halloween package! :)

Honorary Mustache Daschers! :)

Happy November!

Ok, so since I have been horrible at updates the past couple of weeks, I think y'all deserve a good one haha!:)

People:

Fantejah & Shahdeja- Holy goodness these two make missionary work worth it! They are teenage sisters and they were found tracting (so yes, tracting is worth it;))! And they are so prepared, they have been coming to church, they went to General Conference, they have gone to mutual, AND they just accepted to be baptized on December 13! And the best part is that none of it is us, it is all them! They have been so prepared by God for this:) And the Ward is just awesome at fellowshipping them!

Christina- This was FUNNY! So with daylight savings it gets super dark super early. So we were still out and about when it was dark out, and we were doing one last lookup before we had to go home. So we get to the house of this referral, and we park and pray and we are about to get out of the car when we hear someone outside. So we get out to go talk to her and it is the referral, and she was so relieved! She told us that she was on the phone with her brother and she saw us and got a little scared so her brother told her to call 911 to report a suspicious vehicle! But she saw that we were church people and she was so relieved that she gave us her phone number and told us that we could call her and come back anytime! And she hugged us and told us she loved us and it was so funny! So, that is the story about how we almost got the cops called on us!

Ofori Family- They are a less active family, the two little boys just moved here from Ghana and they have been too shy to come to church. So we had their primary class write them welcome notes and we filmed the primary singing the hello song and we went over and showed them all this... And now they are planning on coming to church on Sunday! I'm so excited!!:)

Lane Family- This one is the big miracle for the week! They are investigators, and we went over for dinner and Brother Lane had been reading Ether but he didn't make it to chapter 12, so we decided to read it with him. And he felt the Spirit SO STRONG as we read it with him. Like holy cow, miracles are real:) They asked where the church was so that they can come to church on Sunday (a miracle in and of itself:)), and Sister Lane said that she is already all in, she is just waiting for Brother Lane to accept it! I've realized that this 18 months is NOT a sacrifice, it's a gift- I'm a big advocate for people wanting to serve a mission, I've said it before but we aren't kidding when we say it's the best time of your life:)

Sister Thompson!- She is awesome:) She is from Sandy! She drove past my house everyday to get to school and stuff, SMALL WORLD! But she is about to move to the land of eternal P-Days so I'll be saying bye to her in January:(

Sister Kovac- I miss her! South Manhattan is lucky to have her! I'm so grateful for how she taught me to be a missionary, she set the bar high for me and now I just need to keep trying to be better!:)

Places:

Danbury- We had a zone meeting on Monday in Danbury so we decided to go out to eat afterwards for our lunch break. And we went to 5 guys! And it was the first time I ever went to one... But it was fun because we ran into a couple of other Sisters in our zone so we got to eat with them:) And they were about to leave so we got up to hug them, and Hermana Fink is super tall... So I legit stood up on a chair to hug her haha:)

Walmart- This was the coolest experience! So we needed to stop at a store for something and we knew there was a less active who worked at a Walmart in Yorktown Heights, so we decided to go to that store to see if we could find him, but the GPS didn't show that there was a Walmart in Yorktown Heights... So we just decided to go to another Walmart. (And that is the weird part since there wasn't a reason for us to go to a Walmart anymore, and we could've chosen any of the other hundred stores between us and Walmart!) And so we went and got what we
needed and we checked out and right as we were walking out the door I saw a guy wearing a name tag with the same name as the less active we were trying to find. So for some reason I thought it might be him (we didn't know because we had never seen him before), and it was! So we found out that he still wants to be a part of the church, the only reason he isn't active is because he works on Sunday! And it's one of those miracles that doesn't sound as good in writing, but what are the chances that we end up going to Walmart unnecessarily when we didn't even know it was the one he worked in, and then to run into him right as we are walking out the door? I call it a miracle:)

Newtown- We got to go to Newtown, Connecticut for Stake Conference last Saturday! And it was so amazing, I needed to learn to appreciate Stake Conference more! And this one was a good opportunity to learn it, the Stake President (President Checketts) asked all of the speakers not to prepare a talk but to go up and speak by the Spirit- so I was expecting some interesting talks... But they were amazing! The Spirit can prepare talks so much better than we can- and I loved that experience because you know that there were so many people in that room who needed to hear those things, because it was straight from the Spirit!:)

Ossining- Well, everywhere really. It's just so PRETTY! I've been obsessively taking pictures and videos of how gorgeous it is out here in New England (It just sounds so much more posh than New York;)).

Things:

Dropped:(- One of our awesome investigators dropped us to become Jewish... So that stinks, but things like this just make the good things so much better!:)

Halloween- Candy, candy everywhere. People like to give left overs to missionaries. And that includes candy. But Halloween was an interesting experience, when we went to people's houses they assumed we were trick-or-treaters... It was awkward:) But we had to be in by 6:30 anyway, so it wasn't too bad! And we had breakfast for dinner, so holidays on a mission can still be a party;)

Brownie Points- So after Elder Arnold came out District set goals for how we can apply what we learned.  And we called them brownie points, because if we reached them we were going to get brownies at correlation (I was wondering when I was going to be able to cash in all those that I've gotten over the years!) And one of those goals was to testify to 7 people everyday. And one night Sister Kovac and I didn't know if we were going to make it. It was 8 at night and we still had to testify to 5 people... So we park, go do a lookup and get one! And then we kind of run around like mad people going to another lookup nearby and testifying to someone through a closed door, going to a restaurant and striking up a conversation with a couple people in there that we could testify to, and then going to a gas station to fill up and then going inside to get hot chocolate and testifying to an employee in there. It was the craziest, most fun hour in my mission! And we did it! We testified to 5 people in the last hour of our day! Go us:) Actually, go the Spirit!

Anyway... Sorry this was such a long email, I just got too lazy and I needed to catch up a little bit! Thanks again everyone for being so awesome and supportive! I'm so blessed to have so many people who make it easy to miss home;) Have a good week!

Love, Sister Jones

Sister Iglesia made these,

I wish I could've kept it! haha :)

This is on the border of 

Connecticut and New York :)

I've been trying to get a good 

picture of it for months! :)

"Don't worry Mom :) 

it's a wash out kind ;) "

(It looks like she colored her hair)

Transfers!

Family!!

Sorry, I don't have a lot of time! BUT..... I've got a new companion!:)
Her name is Sister Thompson- and I met her like an hour ago but she is
awesome! Sister Kovac is headed to South Manhattan so she is in the
heart of it all, I am going to MISS HER SO MUCH!:)

But I am so excited for this cycle!

Love you all! Keep praying and reading your scriptures!:)

Love, Sister Jones

 Sister Kovac finds how I pray before studies amusing...

 Frenchy!! Sister Kovac is going to the city... 

Frenchy is moving toNew Jersey on Friday... 

I'm being abandoned!  Just kidding,

 I love them though! :)

There will be cuter pictures later! :)

Candy week!! :)

Hello family & friends!

This week Hanna wasn't able to write an update to share with everyone.  She sent a bunch of pictures & responded to our letters.  So, I am going to compile some of her comments & pictures for her update this week.  Here are her words:

"It was a good week, and transfers are coming up next week! So the next time you hear from me I might have a new companion!

Sister Kovac and I got a lot of candy this week... So we had Halloween a little early and
when we went grocery shopping today we basically just got green stuff (after eating so much candy, you just kinda want lettuce...)!

We candy attacked Bishop's door! Candy attacking works MIRACLES!:)

We also candy attacked our neighbor! They are the cutest family! This was some of the muchly much candy we got this week... We had to get rid of it somehow!:)

A guy who lives in our complex did this! He is a CHARACTER! We didn't know his name for the longest time so we referred to him as Billy Bob, we found out his name is Lee... I like Billy Bob better:) But this is soo him! He also walks around talking to a stuffed duck under his arm
sometimes:)

Milly! This is one of my favorite people on the planet:) She is the one we found on the car fast day right when we were about done with everything! She is the best! (We took this last pday when she went with us to get our flu shots, you know that me and shots don't mix, she held my hand while I was getting it! Bahaha, it was funny:)) "

It sounds like she is still doing wonderful & loving her mission!  I loved all the pictures this week, it makes my heart happy when I get to see her smiling face! :)

Thanks to all of you for your care & love for Hanna!

Melissa

Kick It Into Gear:)

Awesome week:) Let me tell you about it;)

So...On Thursday we had a member of the 70, Elder Mervyn B. Arnold,
come and gave us an awesome training! I describe it as a slap in the
face that feels really good. The mission got chastised pretty hard...
But it is so INSPIRING! There is so much room for improvement and the
Lord knows we can handle it, it's the best vote of confidence you can
get! Like the scripture, Proverbs 3:11-12 (with a little editing to
fit my situation)-
My daughter, despise not the chastening of the Lord; neither be weary
of his correction: For whom the Lord loveth he correcteth; even as a
father the daughter in whom he delighteth.

It means He hasn't given up on me, He knows I can do better and so He
pushes me to become who He wants me to be, don't ever be scared of a
little chastisement!:)

Anyway, we tried put this in action and kick it into gear this week!
But first, a fun little side note about Thursday night... We had a
dinner appointment at a less active member's house, and we ate pig
foot. That's it, that's my story- I don't want to talk about it.

Friday we got to go on splits so it was off to Danbury for me:) I love
splits, it helps you stay more motivated to be in someone else's area
for a little bit. You better work hard because it effects someone
else's work! And it was a really fun split! My favorite part was when
we got to go help at a food pantry, which is really cool but it kind
of breaks your heart to see people in need like that... It makes you
really grateful for the things that you have. The rest of the day was
awesome too haha but we unsplit Saturday night and the next day was Sundayy!!

I really loved Sunday- two of the coolest things happened Sundayy!
- We met with Kathleen, I don't know if I've written about her yet?
But she is so amazing! We committed her to baptism on December 13!
And it was such a spiritual moment when she said yes, her face LIT UP
and she said yes very quickly! And as we were leaving she said that
she was SO SURE about it. I'm so excited for her!!
- We were tracting and it was getting late so we were about to leave
but we decided that we were going to do 3 more houses. And we got to
the last one (I swear, it's always the last one!) and this man
answers. We could tell that he was slightly tipsy, but it's the
Gospel, everyone needs it! So we started talking not thinking we had
much hope with him, but he was listening, and he told us about how he
was struggling with alcohol and how his father was just diagnosed with
cancer. So we were able to tell him about the Healing Through Christ
program that the church has for addiction recovery, and testify about
how families can be together forever, it was perfect. And he wouldn't
have listened if he wasn't a little bit drunk, it is weird how the
Lord leads you to exactly where you need to be at exactly the right
time if you let Him.

Monday we set District goals for how we can apply everything that
Elder Arnold told us! And then we said we get brownies if we reach our
goals:) Nothing is wrong with a little bribery! Especially since we
have really seen the blessing of our goals! We set one goal to bear
our testimony to at least 7 people a day, and it has only been 2 days
since we started that but it keeps you thinking about it whenever you
are talking to someone. It changes pleasant conversation into a real
opportunity to bring someone closer to Christ! And once you start
thinking of every conversation in that way, bearing your testimony to
7 people isn't enough! And if people don't accept it, that's ok, I
know I did my part!

Wow, I'm kind of all over the place... There are just too many cool
things to write about, missions are great. 🏻️

Anyway, I love you all and I hope you have a wonderful week! Remember
that God loves you 

Love, Sister Jones


Ponderize! This week I'm ponderizing D&C 27:2, I want to make the
sacrament a bigger part of my life! It's the most important thing we
do all week!

We will bring the gospel to everyone! :)

It's not about me

Hey guys!!

I was kind of hit over the head multiple times this week by the fact
that this is not about me! I am serving the Lord and His children, and
it just isn't about me!

President told a story about a missionary who was returning home who
said that he had a lot of trouble with the music that we are allowed
to listen to. He really didn't like it... But he asked President not
to change it because it helped him to realize that it isn't about him.
A year and a half is all that is asked, a year and a half of it not
being about me. I've decided I'm going to try my hardest to make every
day not about me, I've already had some slip ups;) But it is amazing
how much the Lord helps you once you make up your mind to do
something!

I was hit over the head yet again during Conference when President
asked all the missionaries to watch Conference at the church rather
than at a member's house. I was kind of disappointed since Conference
has always been pajama Sunday when we get to have comfortable
seating... I was thinking about myself as I whined about that:) But
have no fear because I clued in eventually! As we watched Conference
and as I felt the Spirit so strongly as Sister Kovac and I sat in the
chapel (the only 2 in the room...) I finally got it! General
Conference is not about me, it isn't about being able to sit at home
in comfort on Sunday once every 6 months, it's about being able to
hear what God wants me to know straight from His prophets and
apostles! What!? Isn't that so awesome?:) I heard that all the time,
but it finally sunk in this Conference!:)

Oh and not to mention Elder Renlund's talk where he said that it isn't
about me... I kind of took that as another hit over the head!:) But
quick side note about him, and the other new apostles! How awesome was
that!? Getting to see and sustain 3 new apostles!? We would be lost
without these men and their inspiration from God, we are so lucky!!
And I see it more and more every day as I come across so many who
don't have that same blessing... Yet;)

So with those and many other hits over the head I decided that I would
start applying it more:) I started with my prayers, as I knelt down
one night a thought popped into my head, "it's not about you", and so
my prayer was only for others. And it's kind of funny how the Lord
works... As I have started praying only for others, I have found
myself happier, more confident, and better prepared than I have my
whole mission(however short of a time that may be;))! But I have
gained a testimony of the fact that when we focus on others and when
we truly strive to be unselfish, God will RAIN  blessings down on
us!

So, I'm still trying to get the hang of it all! But it is the sweetest
feeling to feel the Spirit and know that you are starting to head in
the right direction!:)

I love you all and I miss you everyday!:)

Love, Sister Jones


Ponderize: This week I have been ponderizing Helaman 10:4, it is such
an awesome verse that has helped me keep in mind that it isn't about
me!:)

I want these! :)

Pumpkin carving! 

Masterpieces! :)

New York- I'm Lovin It;)

Hello everyone:) I loved this week, I always do!

What really stood out this week was the importance of families! I love
my family so much and I'm really starting to understand what it means
to be able to help other families be together forever!

It's a miracle how many new families we were given to work with this
week, and I am so looking forward to seeing how the Gospel is going to
be able to change them:)

The Lane family: So Sister Kovac and I are really working on trying to
clean out our Areabook, contacting all the people we don't know and
stuff. So we called this one number and a man answered, we introduced
ourselves and asked if we could come over and teach them more. And his
response was so unexpected, he said that anyone who believes in God
and teaches about Him is welcome in their home. And so we went! (A few
nights later haha) But it was so amazing just seeing how the Lord
works, this family who missionaries met a long time ago and then they
kind of got lost, but then we decide to call at a time when they are
more prepared for the Gospel than they have ever been!:)

Vincent: We were tracting and Vincent answered the door holding his
little son. And we started talking about the power of the Book of
Mormon in bringing families closer together. We asked him if he would
read it if we left it with him and he said yes! And it was a very sure
yes, it kind of took me by surprise because that is not an answer we
normally get haha! But I loved it, we walked away from the house just
in awe at how prepared he was!

Yomaira: Also from tracting! She answered the door and I swear I
thought she was 16... But she is married and has 3 sons! But that
isn't important, what is important is how amazing she is! She invited
us in like she had known us for years, and we talked with her like we
were best friends! And she told us how her family is just always
looking for a church that they feel comfortable in and that they agree
with, and they haven't found one yet. So we invited them to church and
asked if we could come back to teach their family sometime and she
said yes! Again, so amazing, so prepared, so by the hand of God!:)

Jemaliegh: Have a written about Jemaleigh before? Anyway, Jemaleigh is
a less active and she is married to a non member, and Sister Kovac and
I have never met him because he works a lot. But we went over for
dinner a few nights ago and he was home! And we were able to teach
him! And Jemaleigh is less active because she doesn't go to church a
lot, but she still has the most solid testimony! And she constantly
bears her testimony to her husband and the Spirit is so strong when
she does! I am so excited to someday see them sealed in the temple
with their new son:) Because I just know that it is going to happen!

The Ofori family: The Ofori family is less active and they moved here
from Ghana! We have been trying so hard to get in contact with them
but have not been able to, until a little while ago! And it is just
the dad and his two twin sons, but we walked up to the house and the
boys were playing outside and one said, "Latter-Day Saints? We used to
go to Latter-Day Saints in Ghana." And it was so awesome to see these
two young boys remember this! Anyway, we were able to talk to their
dad and he really wanted his sons to go to church but he wasn't
willing to go himself. But a couple nights ago we had a lesson with
them and we focused on the two boys and it was so neat! At the end of
the lesson the dad said that he would like to be there when the boys
went to church so that he could show them support and help them to
understand what is going on!

So, those are some of the families that I am soooo excited for! And I
can't even begin to do these stories justice, they are so much more
miraculous than they seem on paper (or a computer screen!) and I am
SOO blessed that I get to see these miracles! I love how important
families are to our Heavenly Father! They are given to us so we can
learn and grow in the Gospel together, how sad life would be if
families didn't exist!

Also, who is excited about General Conference this weekend!? Raise of
hands! (And now I expect hundreds of pictures sent to me with people
raising their hands because we should all be excited for
conference!:)) Just take a minute to think about how amazing it is
that we get to hear from a Prophet of God! Gah, there are no words to
describe how excited I am!

I love you all:)

Love, Sister Jones

Sister Kovac's year celebration!

Bananas & Nutella.... cake is for squares :)

Jumping District! :)