vivir bautismo!!‏

Feb 22, 2016

hello family! i hope you are all doing so so well!

so this week was really good!!! LUCIA GOT BAPTIZED!!!! it was just a good day! she was a little nervous but she did it and i feel like my hija is all grown up. last week, we went over the baptism questions and she wasn't sure about joseph smith, if he was a prophet. so we invited her pray to know. we went back a few days later and she said that she prayed and she felt good. it was the first night she could sleep peacefully. she said i know that joseph smith was a prophet and that thomas s monson is a prophet. it was just a testimony builder to me. i love lucia so so much! she is 12 and is setting a huge example for me and for her family! 

kind of a funny story...the night before her baptism we were in the church cleaning the font and getting things ready... i was cleaning the font and the water was running and i went to go into the font and i totally slipped and fell on my bum.... it hurt so so bad but those are the sacrifices you gotta make! hahaha my body is just a little sore but its all worth it. 

we found a new investigator this week! it was kind of a miracle. about a month ago, we contacted a guy that was sitting on a bench crying. so we talked to him and said that he was passing through a hard time. he was very grateful for what we shared but said no for right now. his wife didnt want anything with religion. well, the other day we contacted this girl who is 15 and we had a lesson with her and we set another time to go back. bueno. we went back and who came out??? the man that we contacted on the bench! he was so happy to see us and he told us that he was for sure going to go to church on sunday! it was so cool bueno, on sunday we went to look for him and no one answered.. we were kind of sad but when went to church anyway and who what sitting there in elders quorum???? that man!!!!! it was a beautiful sunday and we have to go visit him to see how his sunday went! it was a true miracle!!!!

we had the opportunity to hear from elder bednar this week! he came down to argentina and spoke to all the missionaries in argentina, paraguay, uruguay, and chile. it was really cool to see him and hear him. he was so helpful how we can be better missionaries. he really focused on us trying to write down the promptings of the spirit and not just write down what he was saying. i felt better after listening to him. i know that elder bednar is called of god to be an apostle. 

centenario is a wonderful place. there are a lot of people here so we will never run out of people to teach. i like it here. the members are really good and we are trying to work hard. it was a really good miracle to see lucia get baptized. im so grateful that i am able to be here and see her progress. this week we are going to work with agustina and she will get baptized this coming saturday. 

thank you thank you for all of your prayers and i am always praying for you guys. thanks for being a motivator to keep going. i love you all. have a wonderful week! happy leap year!!!

hermana jones

 

 

Hola!

Feb 15, 2016

 

i hope everyone had a good week and full of fun! this week was a little better. about 3 weeks ago we were cleaning out the pension and we found a paper full of references! we have no idea where it came from but it was a tender mercy so we have been contacting people from that list. we found 3 new investigators that said we could come back! so there is hope! right now, we are trying to work together as a district, there are 4 of us, to have more trust in the ward. how can we have a ward more united and how can we work as a team. there are some members that dont want to do a lot so we are trying to find the excitement to help them. we are trying to start with the bishop. he is really nice and wants to help but sometimes its hard. the good thing is that there are already quite a few members that are willing to help us. the less actives here are really stubborn and its hard to get them to come to church. they are full of excuses. there are about 700 members here in centenario but only about 60 to 80 come every week.... can you believe that?????

Lucia is so prepared to get baptized this saturday! she is super excited! we did the interview and she passed!! haha she wakes up every sunday by herself and we walk to church together. the members are so nice to help her get to church. me and hermana afane are going to sing in her baptism so wish us luck! we finally talked with agustina and she decided to get baptized on the 5th of march!!!! so we are really excited! she is 15 and is really great! she is the neice of a member so they are also helping us. we are finding a lot of young women to fill up the young womans program! so we are seeing a lot of success!! 

argentina is doing great! its super hot over here and im just dying of heat!  but everything is good! hermana afane and I are doing great! i think we are just stressed sometimes but we get along great! she really helps me feel good about myself and is a hard worker! i also want to confess something. when we all planned to read the book of mormon as a family we planned to finish it by the end of the year 2015 but i never finished it. sorry but this week i can say that i finished the book of mormon!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! it took me a long time but its because it was in a different language. but i feel so good to have finished it. i didnt want it to end!!! but now im reading it again and i can put it down! i love the book of mormon and i now that it is a sacred book. im so grateful for jose smith and all that he did to protect the plates so he could translate them. it is truly a huge blessing to have the book of mormon with us today!!!

i love you all so so much and i wish you all the best! have a good week!!!

hermana jones

Zone Conference

February 8, 2016

hi family! how are you!! i hope you are all doing well!!

 

this week was really good! i was still recovering from being sick so we tried our best to work the most! 

 

this week we had a zone conference and the president got to train us a bit. it was really good because we are trying to change the mission culture. it is really good that we are doing that because we can always be better. i love going to zone conferences because they always give me the animo to keep moving forward. it also hit me that i have to work even harder because my time is coming to an end and i'll never be a missionary again. this week we also got to go and do exchanges with some other hermanas and i really learned alot. they are our hermana leaders and it was nice to get some new ideas. we have an estandarte de la mision or like the goals that each companionship has to try to complete! every week we have to have:

 BAUTISMOS – 2 every week, every companionship
·        lessons with member present – 14 every week, every companionship
·       References from members – 49 every week, every companionship
·       investagators in sacrament meeting– 7 every week, every companionship
·        investigators with baptism date– 10 every week, every companionship
·        new investigators – 18 every week, every companionship

this is what president has asked us to complete every week. This week we are going to try and do it. it may be a little dificult but its not impossible. 

 

this week we were able to see Lucia. she is going to get baptized on february 27th. she is so ready and she has started coming with us to teach! she is 12 and wants to get baptized. she is so prepared and i know that the missionaries found her prepared. we are also working with Agustina. she is 15...i think. she is really great. she is the niece of a member in the ward. she loves coming to church and we asked her to be baptized and she said yes. she will also be getting baptized on the 27th with lucia. we also have eliana. she is 21 and she told us yesterday that she has been reading the book of mormon every day! we were really excited to hear that but she works and goes to school every day so its hard to find her. but we invited her to be baptized and she said she is going to pray to see of baptism is something she should do. we are seeing good things here in centenario. the hard thing is that the less actives are really hard here. we try to help them and they say theyare going to come to church and dont show up. they also say a lot of excuses. its so hard when they don't let us help them. I know someday they are going to come back but i just want to help them get back to church now. it is so so so so so so so hard to meet someone who was baptized and they dont want to go back to church. they make up excuses so they don't have to go. it honestly makes me want to cry. Someone who has made a covenant with our father in heaven and they don't go to church. i feel sad when i see one person but imagine how christ feels or when the sons of mosiah were teaching and the people rejected them. i know one day they are going to go back to church but it just hurts so bad. i have such a big love for this gospel and i know that we HAVE TO GO TO CHURCH. or else we can't repent. we have to take the sacrament in order to repent. i know this church is true. 

I am so happy that i am here in argentina and we are seeing a little of success. be the kind of people that your heavenly father wants you to be. i love you all so so much. i hope that you enjoy your week! 

hermana jones

 

Wow....what a week!

Hello familia y amigos!!!!!!!! how are all of you doing??  i hope all is well!

well to start off... im in centenario. its about 20 minutes from neuquen. there are 2 sets of missionaries in our ward. our area is huge!!! we have to walk alot. it is more of a city type place and its pretty big. we have a lot to cover with just 2 people but its alright. the members are really nice and want to help. on sunday there were about 60 people but that was not a lot so that is a good sign. my companion is Hermana Afane. she is from el salvador but she lived in florida for a while. she is really nice and we get along great! she has been in the mission 1 transfer less than me so she knows what shes doing. she is really sweet and always says nice things. im really grateful that she is my companion! 

we have 2 or 3 investigators that are progressing and that are going to get baptized in about 2 weeks. they are all young women. they are all so sweet!! we are really excited! there are a lot of people to contact so that is always nice. This week was weird because we couldnt find a lot of the investigators. they just werent home. but this week we are going to find them. 

the other thing was that i got sick and was sick for about 2 or 3 days. i had the flu and then a huge migrane. i went to the hospital to see what was wrong and i had to get a shot. i was so nervous and the nurse said to me...lay down with you head facing down......so ya you can guess where they put the shot...it was terrible! hahaha but it helped.  i have no idea why i was sick for so long maybe because the stress caught up to me. Im feeling better now but it was tough. we tried to get and work as much as we could. but this week was a tough one. but we are pumped to start a new week! 

I was a little sad to leave plottier because it has always been hard for me to get to know new people but i know that the lord needs me here in centenario for a reason. i am so grateful to be a missionary and i feel like ive gotten to know my father in heaven more and the love that he has for all of his children, especially me. i know that i am a child of god. we are all his children. This gospel is so true i dont know what i would do or where i would honestly be if i wasnt a member of the restored gospel. I know that joseph smith was a true prophet. I know he saw god and jesus chirst. I am so grateful that he had the desire to read the scritpures and find an answer. thanks to that...we have the true restored gospel here on the earth today. I want all of you to stop and think of the blessings you have received from being a member. then say a little prayer in your heart and thank your father in heaven. I am so grateful for everything that i have recieved from the gospel. 

i honestly hope that you all have a wonderful week. i love every single one of you so so much. Keep moving on and doing what is right. 

Be strong. Be happy. Keep a smile on your face. Take it just one step at a time. 

Love,

Hermana jones

ps. here are some fotos from plottier.....

 

 

 

 

CENTENARIO!!

Jan 25, 2016

hello family and friends!!!! i hope that you have all had a good week!!!!!! well the transfer was made! hermana huaman stayed in plottier and i am now is centenario! i honestly  thought that i was going to stay. but they called us and said that i was going. Hermana huaman is going to be there for 5 transfers! its super crazy! i honestly didnt want to leave plottier. i felt like i had more to do. but said goodbye to my loved ones and i moved on. My new companion is Hermana Afane. She is from El Salvador but she lives in Florida. she is really nice and what ive heard she is a really hard worker. Im excited to be in a different area. it will probably be my last area because i have 3 more but im going to take advantage of every minute. Im also nervous to get to know everyone again but ill do my best.

otro buena noticia!!! Maximo Rodriguez got baptized on saturday!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! IT was amazing! we honestly didnt think we were going to have a baptism because they had been out of town all week but we went to visit them on thursday and they were still planning on it so we went with it and we taught the rest of the lessons in 2 days and he got baptized! it was really really sweet to see maxi get baptized. I'm gunna miss him a lot but i know he'll be okay. his example is going to help his family a lot. he really had the desire to get baptized. 

Did you tell you what happened with luciana?? she had told us that she didnt want us to visit her. so we went to talk to her. but she really didnt want us to come a lot because its summer and she always has her family over. but we apologized for taking a lot of her time and i never regret anything that we said or taught. because i know what we taught is true. Her "husband" doesnt want to come to church and its been hard because nicole and nicolas havent been home but luckily yesterday i got to say bye to nicole. it was really cool and it was sad to leave. 

im a so grateful for the opportunity that i had to serve in plottier. honestly im sad that i had to leave. it was really sad to leave hermana huaman. its going to be hard to get use to another hermana. but im going to try my best to be myself. im grateful to be a missionary and that i can use the atonement everyday. im ready to change and all i hope is to do what the lord wants me to do. "Recuerde que hay un Salvador que conoce tu nombre y entiende los deseos de tu corazon. te guiará y te brindará consuelo al acercarte en humildad y obediencia." 

i love you all so so so so much!!!!! i hope you all have a good week! remember that i love you so so much! éxitos!!!

hermana jones

ps. ill send photos next week.....i forgot to bring my camera to the cyber!

La ultima semana de enero

Jan 18, 2016

hello familia!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! how are you all doing? i can believe that January is coming to an end! this year is flying by. honestly it has been really hard for me to come to the knowledge that i will have to finish this part of my life. i know i still have a few months but now im making goals that are going to help me more to be the best missionary i can be. I am pretty sure that this is the last week that hermana huaman and i will be together as companions. this saturday is the last day of the transfer. we have been together for 3 transfers or 18 weeks. what a good experience it has been to be with hermana huaman. thank you for writing her and making her feel good. she was really suprised to see almost the whole ward on her email! it was reall cool! thank you so so much! 

this week we have been trying to change and be better. it has been a little tough because hermana huamans foot has been really hurting her and we have had to rest a little. but president casariego has given us new goals and to have more lessons with members so we were trying to do that. he did pretty well for the first week. we tried to have members come with us but also it was hard because all of our members went on their temple trip so no one has been here so this week we are going to work a little bit harder. we had 2 investigators in church and it was really good. we had committed a lot of people to go to church and they all said yes but we didnt have a lot of people in church it was a little bummer but we did with what we had. we have been progressing with familia ortiz. we finally found them again and we got to teach them. juan ( the dad) has a lot of good questions and it gives me the motive to study more of the bible and the book of mormon to know how to answer them. we invited them to come to church and they said that they are going to come. flavia is doing great! we are going to make tacos with them on wednesday! she is doing so great! she studies and come to church every week! we are just waiting for her husband to say yes. i dont know when but i hope soon. 

 

some sad news. On saturday, we called luciana and miguel to see how they were doing and to, of course, invite them to church. miguel spoke to us and was happy and normal, but on sunday after church Luciana sent us a message and told us that she doesnt want us to visit her for awhile. we are not sure why and we are really confused. we are going to go see her on last time to explain what happened. I feel bad because they arent following gods plan. i know, that they know its true. but they are denying it. so we are just accepting their agency and going to keep helping them. i dont feel bad for what we taught or what we said. i know what we taught them is true. they just used their agency to choose another path. it honestly breaks my heart. i love that family so so much but there is nothing that i can do. but our heavenly father is a god of miracles. so we just need to be patient and wait. 

I hope you all have a wonderful week! this is going to be a good last week...for this transfer! i love this gospel and i love being a missionary!!!!!!  

hermana jones

hola de argentina!

Jan 11, 2016

hi fam how is everyone?? i hope that you all have had a good week. this week has been good! good news im almost legal here in argentina! this week i had to do some paper work so hopefully ill get my dni soon.

we have 5 new investigators this week. there is a member and she is 12. she has a lot of friends. so we are taking advantage and we got to meet some of her friends. they are really great and we are going to work with them alot. Sadly, maximo didnt get baptized on saturday but he is scheduled to be baptized on the 23rd. he is ready but we are trying to involve his mom who is moving a little slower. maxi is really great. the other day he was asking his mom if he could get baptized! it was really cute! 

 

Flavia is the best, as normal! yesterday she came to church and payed her tithing! it was awesome! the only thing that is stopping her from getting baptized is getting married and her husband doesnt want to get married. its sad but she is really cool and is moving on! She loves to learn everything and is really smart. yesterday she taught us how to make homemade noodles. so we ate spaghetti! 

 

as a mission, our focus right now is working with the members. we are struggling a bit cause our members dont do much. ha but we are learning how to ask for more references and going to lessons with them. president sent us a stastistic and from the 1000 references that we recieve and the member comes with us to contact them 665 of them get baptized! WOW!!! so president is really working with that! so if you know people..... and i know you do please give their name to the missionaries and help them teach. it is so important you dont even know. 

 

yesterday was a good sunday. we had 65 people in the church! that is really good! these past few weeks have been in the 30s or 40s so 65 and we were very happy. also we had 3 investigators that went!!!! Flavia, Maximo and his friend, Ceferino. it was a good day! 

 

i am feeling ready to start a new week! i know i need to change some things but me and hermana huaman are really pumped for these last 2 weeks together to see some miracles!!!!!! i know that god is a god of miracles. he can help us with anything. thank you for all of your support and love. keep me updated on everything!! ha 

 

This church is true and all i want to do is follow the will of the Lord. i just want him to be proud of me. nothing is more important. I know that if i follow the commandments and do what he says, he will bless me and i will be able to live happily! 

 

I love you all so much and i hope you all have a good week!!!!!!!!!!!

hermana jones