Baliwag, Bustos trying to ride a Water Buffalo & a blanket!

This week we went on some great exchanges with the sisters in Baliwag and Bustos. It really is beautiful over there. we went to teach a family that just moved right next to this huge rice field.... or it might have been oats.... basta. right next to a super pretty field that was bright green and the sky was bright blue and there was a perfect breeze and the sun was just starting to set. absolutely beautiful... unfortunately i don't carry my camera around.... so you'll just have to imagine it. 

Buko Juice (coconut?)

We taught a sister that was baptized before i was born, was active, held a bunch of callings, raised her kids in the church, then about ten years ago decided she felt incomplete and returned to her catholic roots. that lesson was interesting enough on it's own but best part was right at the start. 

They offered us a merienda. not unusual. but it was our first lesson right after lunch so we were not hungry at all. so my companion for the day (a filippina) declined... unusual. but then told me i should try one because it's like the cookie that that area is famous for or whatever. so i try one and am half way through it when my comp points to the container of cookies and is like do you know what that's for? and im like uhhh no? (eating??) and she's like no, do you know what they use that for? .....eating? and she's like it's a pipe! and motions smoking..... the cookies are for smoking???? so confused. then the mom walks back into the room and tries to hide an actual pipe that was sitting on the table BEHIND the cookies. my bad. totes just wasn't looking far enough... i thought they were feeding me hash cookies or something... haha ps the cookie was delicious. 

This morning we went on a quest to ride a water buffalo. with angie (our recent convert) as our guide we wandered around the countryside (joke we walked along the high way) looking for one that wouldn't get mad at us.... as we were walking, the normal things were happening. people honking and waving and yelling at us as they drive by. being shocked when we speak tagalog. and overall just amazed that we existed..... but it was the first time angie had walked with us like that! she was cracking up. and pointing out like every time it happened. then things got even better when someone stopped us and asked to take pictures with us. good times. 

we found a water buffalo!!! but the dude wouldn't let us ride it.... next time. it'll happen. pictures still to come... 

This picture was lifted from Facebook:)  Taken by Angie.

It's randomly cold here right now. like the other day we were studying and i had to turn the fan off and grab my blanket.... it was that cold. 

but don't google what the temp really was cuz it's probs like..... 70. i have no idea. everyone here is busting out christmas sweaters and staying home sick because of the cold.... 

anyway! life is great. i love this area. our district leader spoke on Sunday and quoted miss mexico from the miss universe pageant like 4 years ago... it was pretty hilarious. but he did a good job! 

peace out!

-sister jones

Wawa Dam Jan 2014 Pday pictures

Sister Oliphant and Sarah at Wawa Dam on 1/2014 Pday

Reflections, Exhanges, Area Broadcast, and Wawa Dam

Reflections:)

This week was super fast! We went on exchanges in Malolos! That was great! I only had to deal with a few tears lolz but not about companionship drama so I was all for it.
Also I got sick on Friday. lame. but it was gone by sat! just in time for the area broadcast!

The area broadcast was the area presidency speaking to allllll of the philippines! so it should have been just about all the members there buuuuut it was mostly missionaries. alas. there were some stalwart
leaders there which was cool cuz it was back in Valenzuela so i got to  see them again (first area people)

speaking of!! when i was being trained..... back in January of 2013 i did a girl's hair for her wedding. cool. i saw her at the broadcast. she has a two month old baby!!!!! that was weird. she told me to come
back when her baby has hair and braid her hair too lolz.  
you know you've been on the mission a while........
Sunday  

Sunday was also great! we had a lot of people come to church! like a lot of less-actives. that was super cool. also our recent convert, Ruby, brought our other investigator! Cheche! cuz they're neighbors. but she just became an amazing fellowshipper for her because she knows exactly how it feels to be brand new. and she's super legit. go ruby.


umm yeah that's pretty much all that happened this week. but this morning we went to wawa dam! so i'll send you kids some pictures for your enjoyment.... 

peace out!

-sister jones

Lots of Walking nets new investigators

This week was very interesting... and involved a lot of walking!!! 

but it's all good cuz we found and taught some great people because of it. 

Including!! last night, we went back to Mark's family! Mark wasn't there. and neither was his dad. so we just taught his mom! but it actually turned out really great cuz she opened up with some of her concerns and we were able to have a really personal lesson with her. 

They weren't able to go to church cuz their tricycle broke down sat afternoon and they spent all sat and sunday fixing it :/ but!! we left them the assignment to read alma 40... and when we got back sister showed us brother's book of mormon, he's in helaman 5!! he read straight through! haha and hit all the war chapters!! 

We also met this really cute little family this week, JR and Cheche.... short for rachel of course. and they have a lil boy named... wait for it... like mike. yep, that's for reals. the dad used to be muslim!! but now he is suuuper christian. im excited to talk to him about that conversion. they're both really interested and seem super sincere. we were worried brother would have work on sunday but!! he chooses not to! just like that! coolest thing ever. 

This week we had zone conference, which was wonderful as usual. all the missionaries that are close to going home bore their testimony... next zone conference, that's me! weird. 

ano pa..... we set up all our exchanges for this transfer... we only have six sets of sisters now! so it'll be pretty chill. and it seems like a good group.... hopefully the drama will drop a lil bit :) 

We went to meet who we thought was a less active buuuut turns out she's not a member!! and has never even been taught by the missionaries!! haha sooo awkward at first. but then it turned out pretty cool. she let us come in and teach and set a return appointment! God works in mysterious ways!!

anyway! hope all is well in your part of the world!

thanks for the love and support!

-sister jones 

All sorts of good things happening

So it feels like i just wrote yesterday!! but it was wednesday naman sooo i guess a few things have happened since then....

yesterday was awesome. we had church (surprise!!) ok ok ok. it was fast sunday! so first awesome thing that happened, our less active got up and bore his testimony!! this was super exciting for many reasons. he is suuuuuper shy and kinda just came to church passively but then! he went to some youth activity and got friends! then! he started working with the elders!! (18 years old) and now! he's like doing really great and wants to serve a mission and has started the first steps of his papers! I

it was also great because his whole family was there to hear it! and after that he, his older sister, and older brother, all stayed for all three hours! (usually most of them go home after sacrament....) so great! that was exciting. we were super proud of him.

Then! we went to teach sister nora! our favorite less active that is actually just house ridden. rough. but she like used to be a temple worker and everything, she's amazing. talked to her for a bit. (taught her pala) she's the kind of person that just makes you pumped on life every time you talk to her. one of those that when other people visit her, they are the ones that leave uplifted. so great. 

So we're leaving that house and walking to another that's not too far away and this lady yells at us (in a nice way) are you from here? and we're like uhhh.... no. no we're not. anyway we start talking to her and she's like anak! go get the ipad to take a picture!! so she takes a picture with us on her ipad.... they're doing pretty well for themselves.... and we meet her and her husband and her adopted daughter that's actually her niece. 

And they invite us in! and feed us dinner and talk to us all about how they weren't even supposed to be home but their car broke down so they couldn't leave like they wanted to and now they're so glad cuz these two angels came and visited them!! (that was us ;) )

so we taught them and set a return and then we were super late so we needed to trike and they were like just ride the motor! (no can do) ok well here! pamasahe!! (they paid for our trike) but they paid like waaaaaay more than we needed... but we pretty much just gave it to our next investigator.... wait lang, story on the way

So we went back to our awesome lil family that came from the college thing!! but mark had already left!! cuz we were way late cuz that unexpected investigator was way madaldal.... but we started to teach the mom by herself and then the dad came home!!! he came home from work early just so he could listen to us!!! then we had a great lesson and he was like we'll totally go to church on sunday! expect to see us there!! yay!!!!!! and then he gave a ride on his trike to our next place which was way far. he tried not to let us pay him buuuuut we just gave him the money from the other family :) perfect! 

anyway! the mission is great and the ward is great and the people are great and this week is going to be great! 

love you all! 

ps. in the dad's closing prayer i almost started crying. and i'm not a weeper. the mission still hasn't changed that. it was so awesome. he was just praying that his family could receive salvation and all be together and it was so sincere. moments like that..... :D

-sister jones

A district picture (snagged from FB again)

Sister Noriega and Sister Jones and their district (a couple of transfers ago)

Happy New Year--advance notice of 2014...

Just so you know. 2014 totes happens. the world doesn't end. 

So yeah! Christmas and New Years both came and went! time goes by sooo fast!

this week we.... had a lot of dinner appointments. like for reals, every day. sometimes lunch too. the elders set up a calendar and then we just tagged along whenever we were free :) other than that it was pretty much a normal week! 

Cool story: back in the day when i was in nova we did that awesome college seminar thing where the zone leaders taught the whole first lesson to like 250 college students and their teachers. coolest thing ever, right? right. so there were a ton of referrals that came from that but we didn't know what happened to any of them because they all lived in different areas... 

One of them in fact lived in meycauayan area!!!!!! so we got a referral before i even got here but the other sisters were never able to contact it cuz it was wicked far away and the address was incomplete and the phone number was unresponsive and... yeah. 

we decided to try one more time. and we found mark!! not mavis pala! he's 17 and both his parents were home as well and we taught them all! he already had a Book of Mormon and was super receptive!!! they are a super awesome family :)

we went and taught them the next week as well and the dad was at work but he had brought the pamphlet we left with him to read when he had free time!

We taught the first lesson and at the end Mark asked us if there are still miracles like in the time of Moses. yes yes yes a thousand times yes. it was so great! we're stoked. 

cool finding referral story take two!

we got a referral from the office and the address was on our street!!! but the number was 313.... all the number on our street are like under 100..... so we were just trying every combination that could look like 313.... to no avail. so we stopped looking for the address and just asked if anyone knew the family.... to no avail. we seriously walked up and down this street like 12 times. then!! we asked this one dude. he didn't know. but there was this little munchkin walking by and he was like cortez? that's me! and he took us to his house! and that was who we were looking for!! and the whole family was home (like 8 of them) and we taught them :) they're great! they lived at block one lot eleven.... that's close to 313.... the Lord knows His people!

anyway! merry Christmas and happy new year!!!

make some good resolutions! see ya in a few months!

-sister jones