water buffalo... the new car

I rode a Carabaw!!!! if that's how it's spelled...... basta. water buffalo!!!!!

this lil dude helped us get up on there.... not scared at all. lil champ. 

Exchanges--Hot, exhausting, but soooo cool! No Excuses...

This week was so fast and so long!!!! 

We went on exchanges in fairview!!! that is a hot city. like literally super hot there. montalban is like down the grade from fairvew (totally reminds me of driving into ventura from LA every time) which means it's like 10 degrees cooler always. 

Other than that! had some good exchanges. this was an american week! i worked with both the american sisters over there. one of them is BRAND new and the other is like 5 months in.... actually she is literally one year behind me in the mission.... except she goes home in april.... haha it was so weird to see the difference one year makes.... 

Sometimes exchanges are exhausting because they take one area and try to make two day's worth of work in it... some areas you can do that, no prob. others.... we spend a lot of time tracting! and oyming!! but that's ok cuz it gives you a chance to talk to the sisters too and work out any concerns they're having. 

The brand new sister still kinda just feels like a sidekick so it was really nice to let her lead the area and show her she's making a difference and she actually is doing missionary work! one brand new tagalog word at a time :)

The other one is having a hard time with the language. she is actually doing very well. but she's rough on herself. It made me think a lot about the Atonement. sorry that was probs a jump for you. but we talked about the enabling power of the Atonement and how we can do hard things!!!!!! which she believes and teaches for others but hasn't gotten to the step yet of using it for herself. that's the hardest part right? Peter can walk on water, that's fine. but me? i could never do that!!! or so we think.....

I think that has been one of the most important and enlightening things i have learned on my mission. we can do hard things. we are not alone in that struggle every day. 

In other news. no one went to church again!!!! we literally walk our entire area always. there are no good excuses. pamasahe  [fare--as in a cab fare I think]  nah. you could walk if you really wanted to. lame. 

so!!

We took the AP's invitation in zone interviews to be bold very personally. Very personally. bold. 

it was amazing. we found out soooo many people's concerns!!!! just by asking the simple questions.

Do you know it's true? no? well kaya pala hindi kayo nagsimba {so  you do not go to shovel worship]!!

Nagdasal ka ba? [Do you pray?] hindi? [no or not]  kaya pala! [so shovel] 

Hindi mo alam!! [you do not know] 

Magdasal ka nga!!!!  [pray therefore]  

It was super cool. (maybe just google translate that... it's pretty simple, i bet google can do it)

[mom's note:  I tried google translate, and I get stuff about shovels...I don't think that's what she's talking about...]

Oh back to exchanges. sometimes they're exhausting. but sometimes they are soooo cool. for example. 

You're teaching someone you've literally never met before and you just learned their name a few hours earlier. but somehow, the words that need to be said just come. best thing ever. the right question. the right scripture. the Spirit is so amazing. probs the best part about serving a mission. feeling the Lord love people through you. so great. 

great week!

See you next Tuesday with transfer announcements for my last 6 weeks!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

-sister jones

Rock Paper Scissors...

This week was much like other weeks. 

Fun facts:

It is possible pala [it turns out] to play rock, paper, scissors with yourself. as proven by the kid in front of me in sacrament meeting.... 

If you ever think your life is hard, remember that there is a man in Meycauayan making a living as a pedicab driver.... and he only has one leg. (pedicab is like a lil bike taxi... google it)

this is a giant and delicious hamburger....... 

We're going to start teaching an english class this sat.... so i need to remember how to speak english properly...... that'll be interesting. 

This week i was teaching gospel principles and the investigator somehow got tangent-ed from our discussion of prophets to how people don't eat cows in india because they think they're sacred... luckily!!! everything links together. thinking its bawal [forbidden]  to eat random things- what God has actually told us is bawal through... wait for it.... a prophet!!! go team. 

President Sperry talked to us this week about how if we want to do good things we must also be good people..... so the question remains: are you a good person? 

have a great week!

-sister jones

Mission Leadership Conference taken from a FB post:)

Mission Leadership Conference March 2014

Catching us up in Manggahan

Sorry for the silence last week! but hopefully this will be a more than satisfactory update for the past two weeks.

Last Sunday! we went to church and all that great stuff but did not have a single investigator there!!!! lame. and our less actives all peaced out. so the awesome lesson on prayer that i was so excited to teach had to wait another week. but that's ok i taught it this week! (teaching gospel essentials is waaaaay fun. i volunteered to do it erry week.) 

Then! we went to check on a less active cuz they didn't come to church and we expected them to. turns out sister was like waaaay sick. and they were debating to take her to the hospital. we talked to her for a few mins and were like umm sounds like appendicitis!! but we had no idea. never had it kasi!! [because]   so we called a sister missionary that was a nurse before her mish and got her on it. just to know if they needed to go to the hospital that night. verdict was.... appendicitis!!! so helped them pack up and get ready and get to the hospital. which they got to by pedicab. and then she was operated on and all that stuff. alls good now, they even came to church yesterday! cuz sister wanted to share her testimony. champ. 

This week was pakistani week! we went on exchanges on wed and thursday and both times i worked with a pakistani sister. that was interesting! lolz it was tight. weird though cuz one of them speaks almost all english and the other one speaks almost all tagalog and they've been out for almost the same amount of time. i got to find out a lot about arranged marriages!!! sounds like the ultimate blind date..... moral of the story. im down with referrals buuuuut i would like to meet the dude before rings are involved. 

This week we had two investigators at church!!! one of them was a munchkin. the other was a man!! he's super awesome!!! a member brought him with him to church! fellow-shipping ftw!!! and since the member was his ride he stayed for all three hours and participated and met a ton of people. definitely awesome. we're stoked on him. sana [only] we're teaching his wife too buuut she always has work. he used to be a soldier but then he had a stroke. but he's still pretty strong. he just can't work yet. i think that's a rough transition. from being the protector to the protected. but he reads and asks great questions!! stoked. 

This Sunday i also got to teach my prayer lesson sa wakas[finally] and we started a preach my gospel workshop for all the soon to be missionaries and fellow-shippers in the branch. i also got to teach that! good times. and we talked about setting up an english class starting next week! lots to do! 

one day at a time, the work goes on!!

peace out!

So this week i went to probs my last new area. it was weird. the first day i just felt like i was on exchanges. then the second day it started sinking in. i was in meycauayan for a long time! i kinda felt like i was cheating on them at church this week... 

But that's ok! im super stoked to be here. the area is suuuper pretty. and my comp is great and we're ready to work!!! cuz along with being super pretty, our area is... in it's growing stage!! parang palagi [like always]... that's ok :) 

I get to go on exchanges in malanday! they really just can't get rid of me. last transfer i was in that stake and now im going to work there again! that'll be fun. 

This week was pretty normal. just getting settled in. we didn't go grocery shopping yet so i was living off any food that the last sisters left lolz but we'll go today :) 

We're teaching a dude that has lived here a few years but he's from nepal and doesn't speak a lick of tagalog. it was super hilarious cuz he's totally aware of the fact that he's at least doubled if not tripled my time here in the philippines but...... still can't speak or understand anything!! we talked about the Holy Ghost in sunday school and i just showed him the verse on the gift of tongues and said that's what he's missing. just has to go on a mission!! 

We're also teaching a ton of people that are not married. like more than ever before that is the number one hadlang [barrier]  in this area. we invite people to be baptized and literally our next question is are you married? and they're like no.......... cool. we'll work on that. 

The members here seem super great, it's a branch working on becoming a ward! they have a few missionaries out right now and a guy just got his call yesterday and they have a few more working on their papers! pretty impressive for the small group that they are. 

We're singing at the wedding reception of the first counselor in the branch presidencytomorrow..... you should probs pray for us..... we've got a loud and proud tone deaf kwan. oh well! 

have a great week!

-sister jones

Transferred--off to Manggahan and a new companion too.

Well. it's been a great three transfers. but now, im headin to Manggahan. my new comp is sister pacinio and i will still be an stl. surprise!!! lolz 

should be tight, it's really pretty there daw. and it will be my first small area. (geographically.... all my areas have been pretty giant and this one is TINY) that's over where that dam is that we went to the other week (wa-wa) and i'm actually taking sister mower's place! so that's cool. bummer she goes home tomorrow. 

sorry for the silence last week. it was just a crazy one. but hey now i should have lots of great stories to tell you about!  

Sunday was stake conference and Elder Ardern presided (of the area presidency) so that was super awesome. they did a great job. 

highlight: he and his wife have really great new zealand accents.

low-light: this kid preparing for a mission taking waaaaay too much time about how all he did before he worked with missionaries was play video games.... 

low-light take two: not a single less-active or investigator came... laaaaaame. but!!!! a recently returned less active that we're working with got the Priesthood. so awesome. he's preparing to go on a mission. lame though, no one in his family bothered to come. 

So there are three of us leaving the ward (out of six) and one of them is elder qaqa who is going home! and yesterday was his birthday. so obviously we had a huge fhe going away/birthday party. it was crazy! elder qaqa loved it. they made masks of his face and sang him a song..... it was a more than gentle reminder to me of my less than love of large groups.... whatevs! happy birthday elder qaqa! 

Last week we finished up our exchanges in plaridel and pulilan and that was great! i worked with a lil mexican sister from vegas. she was super funny. and she's never had an american comp so it was really entertaining to see her experience that for the first ish time. (people doing the whole oh heck it's a white person thing) there was a slight possibility that that was my last exchanges ever.... joke lang marami pa pala!! 

Also on exchanges that same sister was like hey so we have this investigator that we dropped cuz she just didn't get it. but you seem like you could do something there so we're gonna go back to her. we went back. and did work! it was super interesting. but probs the most interesting part was the random stuff this sister has heard about me to make her think that.... everyone has a reputation i guess..........

last Sunday! we went to this new investigator family that we have. they're super nice but the dad's only day off is wed. so we were expecting him not to be there. so we get there and we can see inside the house they're having this suuuuuper weird chanty prayer song ritual thing to a statue in the living room with candles........ the kid told us it was almost over and asked us to wait cuz they wanted us to teach...... so we waited outside... and watched this craziness... kinda creepy immabehonestwithyou. and then after we could hear the mom (she was the one doing the chanty stuff) telling her friends not to worry cuz she was just listening to us but will never leave their group.... that's what you think now! sister oliphant said in the bible they use, they took that commandment out of the ten commandments... and just made the last commandment into two... is that true?? craziness. 

ok well that's super long. have a great week! 

-sister jones

Tree of Life Meyccauayan Feb 2014

Pictures! Water Buffalo and Baptisms

Baptisms--Angie, Ruby, Carlyn and Gold

Mission Conference @ Christmas

Pico Family