Two in One: Camping out, Transfers, Training and something went missing....

April 22, 2013

 We still don't have water so that's a party. it's like camping :)

Our investigators are doing really well. we have 12 right now with a bapt date. 3 are going to church regularly. im thinking out of those 12..... 10 will get baptized in the next two transfers.. we'll see. they're doing well, we just need to get them to church! and we're working on that.... our next bap is may 5th. we pushed everyone back cuz we didn't feel they were ready so now they're all reaaaaallly excited to get baptized, they're pretty much waiting for us to give them the ok. it's good. they need to be better prepared, we have too many recent convert/less actives.

Our area is really good, im excited to train here, it has a good branch, good members, and good investigators! the only thing we're missing is dinner appts.... but honestly im ok with that and we just set one up anyway!

We're doing a short email time this week so my comp can finish packing and leave cuz they're picking her up at like noon ish! soo love you guys!

Hey this week we ate/drank fresh coconut. waaaay good. and another american sister had balut for the first time. still not delicious. but she's been avoiding it the whole year that she's been here! sooo pretty much im glad im done with that experience :)

I went on exchanges with a sister that is going home with my comp, sister w.   it was way fun. kinda helped me feel what it would be like to lead/train except sister w is super awesome at tagalog and teaching..... but i had to lead. oh and then our investigator may or may not have stolen our cell phone. cool. moral of the story, P800 later, we went back and taught her about repentance :) next week's lesson is on the ten commandment lolz joke lang. she probs didn't steal it but someone did out of her house sooo just kinda a bummer. but life goes on!

Everyone's really excited for this transfer cuz crazy things are going down. they're splitting two zones and adding traveling sisters which will be like aps/zone leaders but for sisters and the word on the street is sister garcia will be one of them!!!!!!!!!! she's such a champ. ummmm yep, life is good!

I got  bold testifying of the Book of Mormon on when we were on exchanges. it was suuuuper fun. this sister was like umm yeah i'll read it if i have time buuuut im busy. and i was just like nope. not good enough. we're all busy with unimportant things. you need to make time. this is your salvation on the line. i want you to promise me that you will read this book. blahdiblahdiblah
good times. letsbehonest we're always pretty bold though, that one was not that different from the norm :) we'll see what happens!

soo yep! peace out, make time to read the Book of Mormon. it's worth it.
-sister jones

April 28, 2013


Sooo im training an american!!!! she's the first 19 year old sister in our mission!!!! she's from american fork and her name is sister ch___ which everyone is having trouble pronouncing lolz. she's super chill and we're getting along great!

of course, since she was only in the mtc 6 weeks.    she's so eager to learn and super humble so she'll learn in no time! no worries :)
 it's been really interesting to teach everything. literally. sister ch_____  prays and testifies at the end..... it's tight though!

In other news, our area is doing well! we have two slash three baptisms on saturday and they are all potential priesthood holders!!! one of them is 13, one is 19 and married to a member, and the third is.... an unknown age. (he's older....) we didn't actually teach the third one which is why i don't know anything about him.

the senior couple that was assigned here is going home suuuuper suddenly on Friday because of health reasons. it's a huge bummer. so they're missing their baptism!! that's why we're in charge of it... we are definitely going to miss them in our branch! but he needs to go home to get things taken care of.

So this transfer was exciting! i got my american comp and they opened two new zones so they called a bunch of new zone leaders and they called the new sister aps/zls/dls!!!! (that's what president called them) they're traveling sisters and right now there are two so they are like aps but eventually there will be six and they will be like zone leaders. so the two right now are sister garcia!!!!! and sister walker!! two americans! which is unexpected! they were both half way through training so they took their trainees and one of the new trainers and put them all together as a tri-some. cray cray. anyway the traveling sisters go on exchanges twice a week with all the sisters and this week they're going on exchanges with us!! i get to work with sister garcia again!! im stoked. it'll be a party. soo yep. that's whats up.

peace out kids!
-sister jones

6 months out!

hello!!! this week was tight. we had conference broadcasted here which was of course amazing!! it was pretty much just the missionaries at all the broadcasts except sunday morning... alas, still amazing. so that was most def the highlight of the week.

Other than that, we went on splits again yesterday (i always feel like splits are a test to see if i can make it on my own or if im still being trained...) it went fine but i definitely still have so much to learn! im trying to soak up all the knowledge from my comp right now before she goes home!!! and we're going on exchanges this week with another sister that's going home next week so that'll be fun to see someone else's teaching style. anyway tomorrow is sister abanggan's birthday! and district meeting, and mail day! so its pretty much guaranteed to be a party :)

 ps mail day is always a good day for me so.... go team! keep up the good work. thanks for all the support via mail :D 

We made a primary program this week! so you know how we teach some munchkins every week at CTR kids, right? right. so this week we went around to all their houses and recorded them saying little things that munchkins would say in a primary program like "i am thankful for my family" and then the branch president is putting it together in a video and we're inviting all the families to come watch it on the 27th!! it's all in english, which im kinda bummed about. cuz i feel like the parents would get more out of it if it was in tagalog. buuuut they all love to be on camera and are so excited to see themselves projected up on the wall!!!! so that'll be fun. anyway i bet the senior couple here will like put it on youtube or something, maybe i'll figure out how you guys can watch it and see all the people we're working with! plus all the sister missionaries here! if not, they're giving me a copy and you can watch it in a year!
 (ps, i just passed my 6 month mark with this april conference.... weeeiiiiird.)

ano pa..... i find out if im training this week! maybe tuesday or wednesday... and then trainer's training is on thursday if i am training... either way you guys wont find out till next tuesday! (our next p-day is tuesday, not monday, heads up.) kinda nervous about that cuz odds are i am training. like literally there is a 1 out of 9 chance i will not train. whatevs. i'll just spend a lot of time on my knees for the next three months!

if i do train though, i want to train sister jones 2.0 (for reals there is another sister jones coming in who is 19!!!!) so im just expecting her to be like the new and improved version of me and it would be hilarious to train her. cuz then i could be like alam ko po na anong sinabi ni... sister jones! ay totoo. (i know that what sister jones said is true) or ako po si sister jones at ito ay ang kasama ko... sister jones! cge. tapos na ako. tingan natin!!! 

ummm we set two more bap dates? not really that exciting cuz they haven't come to church yet buuuuut they're legit! they're from the family of suuuuper inactives that we found. the mom (who was the daughter back in the day they all got baptized) is leaving soon to work abroad and so she is so stoked we met her when we did! cuz we got a chance to teach her before she left, she's stoked about the gospel again, and wants us to keep teaching her kids when she leaves! (they're like 13-17 years old and way awesome) for reals finding that whole family was a super random miracle. which is tight. happens erry day for reals. the Church is true.

well, that's all she wrote! 

peace out kids. 

love,
sister jones

The Road to Success is Always under Construction

So this title has nothing to do with my week... it was just on some kid's shirt on the jeepney ride to the computer place and i liked it :) 

anyway this week was good!

We have been working with a family where the grandparents are both members and raising two of their grandkids who are both heathens for now (they are 10 and 8) anyway the kids are soooo cute and super smart and way more solid than a lot of members i know but! they have no money so they can never go to church and therefore have not yet been baptized. so this last week we made a budget with them so that on Sunday they would have money to go to church and they would pay their tithing! 

it was so cute. we were like ok. you need 8 pesos for the next 4 days to be able to go to church on sunday. all of you. is that a lot? and they were like no! can you do that?? yes!! then the dad reached in his pocket and put everything in there in our little church money box and there was exactly 8 pesos! and the lil girl clapped and giggled and said we're gonna go to church!!! except in tagalog so obviously this whole interaction was 7 times cuter. 

Anyway Sunday came and there they were!! (except only the mom and the two kids cuz i don't think they had enough money.) but they walked to the highway and sat on laps so they could afford the fare. they were so proud and excited it was amazing. then the lil 10 year old boy got up and bore his testimony. i was sooo precious. he started out with this is my first time, im super shy, i didn't want to come up here but my lil sister made me lolz then he said they can never go to church because they never have money (he's crying btw) but this week they saved and walked and they had just enough! but they missed the stop on the jeepney!! so they had to turn around and ride again! he said satan really doesn't want them to go to church and that is why it is so hard. but that's also how he knows its so important. it was so great. he's not even a member yet! 

we also took those kids to temple tour the other week and it was awesome. they're the cutest and most well behaved kids around. hands down. 

Sister abanggan's time left on the mission is down to days!!! which is crazy. i think she has two more p-days! aka we're gonna be super busy trying to get everything finished for her before she peaces out. she's a champ. working hard all day erry day. 

We're stoked for conference this weekend, thanks for all the "not spoilers" apparently :P 

love, sister jones