Bienvenidos a Cutral Co!!‏

hola familia! como están? Let me tell ya, cutral co is nothing like esquel! it is flat and suprisingly colder! But i am doing really well here! cutral co is about 1 hour from Neuquen its pretty dry here! my area is alot bigger and it is going to get some taking use to but i am ok. we have a huge map in our pension so i know where to go. this transfer is only 4 weeks and we are pretty sure that hermana sanchez is going to leave so i have to get to know the area. a good and bad thing is that we dont have any progressing investigators so we have to do a lot of contacting. I dont mind contacting its good practice for me too!

Yesterday we had interviews so that is why i am writing today. They were so good cause its was also the last time i am going to see president lovell and his wife here in the mission! it is really sad but we are already making plans for after the mission. they truely are like my parents here in the mission so mom and dad you have nothing to worry about. BUt also the assistents taught us some new things too. it was aweosme! it was just what i needed to get into the groove of things here. They talked a lot about the carpeta de area and how we need to have it up to date and clean always. A lot of the time us as missionaries say that we dont have any investigators and the area book has a lot of names of past investigators. so elder park took the carpeta de area of the elders and opened it up. randomly found a name and he had a number. so he called it right there and the person answered! it was so cool and he made a cita with him to go and talk with them this week! it was so awesome! They mostly talked about how there are so many people in our area book who we dont know so we need to suck it up and call them! so that is what we did last night! we went through our area book and called a lot of people and this week is full of citas and we have a lot of contacts to do! i am so pumped!!!! 

I am a little scared to be in a bigger area and i dont know anyone but i am doing just fine! the missionaries here are great and it is also great to have a companion who knows the area! And she doesnt know a lot of english so i have to speak spanish. which isnt bad at all! i like it! i am finding out that i need to know a lot more! but it comes with time. next week i hit the 6 month mark! i cant believe how fast it has gone! i feel like im still getting trained.  But ya fue. yo amo la mision y estoy agradecida por la oportunidad estar acá en argentina. yo sé que el señor esta ayudandome con todos para que pueda hacer su obra. gracias por su apoyo y amor! Les quiero mucho! tengan suerte en su semana!!!!

con amor,

hemana jones

 

 

Hna Sanchez, Caballero, Maynard, y yo

Our Zone soccer team!

Zone Conference in Zapala. Yummy treats!

Transfers

13 hour bus ride later....... estoy en Cutral Có!!!  its about 2 hours outside of neuquen. it is super raro to be in a place that i know nothing about but i am excited to get to know the people! My companion is Hermana Sanchez! she is from chile! she super nice and sweet! We speak only Spanish.  i am nervous because this transfer is only 4 weeks long so i have to know this place in 4 weeks because she is going to leave! aw!! there are no mountains and its not the prettiest but ah whatever.... there are no hills which im really excited!

i can just tell you... traveling through argentina with no companion is somthing else! ha i got here just fine but traveling on a bus for 13 hours and hoping missionaries are going to show up and meet you is fun. everything went well and dandy! on the way up, there were so many lakes and they were clear blue and smooth! i wanted to take the "silent partner" on them so bad! tubing would have been the best!!! 

it was sad to leave esquel! i loved it so much and i am really sad that i cant see them everyday but i know they are in good hands. oh! 

hermana houston is training this transfer so she is excited about that! she had 6 months in the mission so she was super nervous too! i said goodbye to alot of people that i will remember forever. i know that they are going to be blessed and protected only if they keep and follow the commandments!!! yo sé eso!!!  i am grateful to be somewhere new and i cant wait to teach people this gospel. 

i am safe and i am ready to work! i am grateful everyday for my sweet family and for the opportunity to be here. a veces estoy pensando en mis debilidades pero yo se que la obra del senor no va a pasar si estamos pensando mal. my challenge this week is for you to think in the good things that you are doing and your strengths and how you can apply your strengths in your daily lives. it really will make a difference in your day. i am grateful for the opportunity to be here in argentina! i love you all so so so so much! have a good week!!!

Hermana jones

 

 

my favorite family in esquel! la famila vergara

another family that i loved in esquel! luciana, abril and luna

me and hermana houston made ñoquis!!!
we are going to make this when i get home!!!!!!
its literally the best thing ever!

i am officially a gaucho!!!
 i got bombachas and apargatas and a bona!!
 its super super cool!

my district in esquel!! todos son capos!

me and arturo and elvira, the old couple that i taught

 

Volcanos and no power

Just so you all know the volcano hit us real bad.... haha jk. we are fine down here in esquel. They called us friday night and we had to get food for 3 days and we had to stay inside but we woke up on saturday and it was about 9:30 and we were able to leave. the sky was clear and blue and it was actually really hot. but we are all fine and it never even hit us!

This week has been really weird. good things happened and we are working really hard. We did a Tsunami in our area. A tsunami is when we have all the missionaries go to one area and contact for a few hours. so we did that and we got a few contacts! it was actually really cool! we gave each companionship a part of our area and they went contacting. I hope we find someone to teach!! also this week we found a new investigator. his name is miguel! he is super cool! we havent taught him yet cause we need a member with us but we are going to see him on friday so hopefully he wants to listen.

this week we have had the opportunity to talk about the book of mormon and  this time i am reading it in spanish! it is so cool! speaking another language is legit. ill admit i dont know alot but i like speaking it. Anyway we got to teach  a lot about the importance of the book and why we have it. I hope this week you can all read it everyday and think about how it has effected your life.

my talk last week was about christ can change us from the inside out and how we can come alive from christ. It was cool cause it was also about missionary work so i got to drop a little cane on the members. only because i love them!!

I love you all and i hope you are having a good week! stay strong and remember that i love you! chau from argentina!!!!!

hermana jones

Breakfast and study time



My apartment in Esquel

Sorry I'm late!

Hello family! I sorry that i am a day late, we had a zone conference yesterday so our p-day is today. Ya, if i ever dont write on monday its because there is a zone conference or im traveling or something. so dont ever worry about me :)

This week had a lot of milagros! it was a pleasure to have President lovell and his wife at church on sunday with us! i showed up to church and there was president and sister lovell and i was giving the talk! it was crazy! I thought i did ok. My spanish can always be better but everyone understood me. An elder said i sound a lot like hermana lara which is really funny! I guess that is what 12 weeks does! But also a menos activo (less active) came to church! Daniel Villibar came! he smokes and drinks but he thought he couldnt come to church cause he knew he couldnt take the sacrament but we told him he could still go so he came! it was a miracle! i loved it! we also have been contacting a lot and it gets crazy cause the weather here has been CRAZY!! it rains all the time and it is so cold! but i am doing okay i might have to buy a sweatshirt or something cause it gets a little chilly!! 

We are really trying to work with our menos activos cause we have more of them than investigators. so we are really trying to get them to church!!! my challenge this week is to go to the menos activos in your ward and just visit them. Cause i can say with all the love in my heart that MISSIONARY WORK IS NOTHING WITHOUT THE MEMBERS! i know the Lord will be cheering you on if you do his work. 

We had zone conference this week. it was really good cause we talked a lot about faith and joseph smith. I learned a lot and we are working really hard to be bold but not overbearing with people. cause we need to be urgent with his message.... cause its the most important thing! 

I love you all so much. i hope you have a good week! stay strong and remember that i love you!!!

Con amor,

hermana jones

The insane stairs we have to climb everyday to go tracting.

The amazing Hermanas in the Esquel Zone

 Hermana Houston and I with our area behind us

Me and my muddy boots after ANOTHER rainy day in Esquel!

New winter hats display with Elder De La Sarena and Hna Espinal

Miracles!

Hi everyone! how are you this fine day?? My new compañera is amazing! hermana houston is from st. george and she is a really good missionary! we get a long great and she has been here 1 more transfer than me! she is so helpful with my spanish and we do things different but i like it!

 

One thing i like the best is everynight we list all the milagros (miracles) we saw that day! it has really helped me see the lords hand here in esquel! We have been doing a lot of contacting and we are having a lot of success! this week we are going to go back to their houses and get some baptisms! The members are really great and at first it was hard because i had to do everything but hermana houston is really helpful and we are both learning together!

 

 some sort of exciting news... i have to speak in church next week and i am freaking out cause i know nothing! haha but i am ready and i have to print the talk in english cause i have no idea what it says! I feel like the spanish is coming along and hermana houston is helping monton!!! I am not really scared to contact anymore! i am getting better..i am not perfect at it at all but i am trying everyday!

I am so happy that you guys got to meet hermana lara! isnt she amazing?! i still think of the funny stuff we did but me and hermana houston are making our own fun and it is aweosme!!! she is all about having the spirit and what am i feeling and where is the spirit telling me to go... i am really learning alot. i started the new testament this week! i love it! you never would have thought that i would read the bible! haha ya me too.... i love learning and i want to use the bible and the book of mormon together!

this week something cool happened.... we were knocking on doors and i picked 2 houses and both of them werent home. so i said to hermana houston "i chose two houses and none of them answered..." and she said, "its okay because sometimes god stops us at certain houses and they arent there cause he needs us at a certain place at a certain time." Not even 5 minutes later... we were crossing the street and this lady with 2 kids stops us and says "que son?" it was so awesome!!!!!!! we talked a little but she didnt tell us where she lived or anything but it was a testimony builder cause the lord needed us to be there so she could talk to us! it was awesome!

I love you all so much! i am really seeing the miracles here and i am going to be sad when i leave esquel in 5 weeks! oh did i tell you i get to call you guys next transfer?? in may?? ya im excited! I LOVE YOU ALL SO MUCH! HAVE A GOOD WEEK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

hermana jones

Holaaaaa!

This week has been so crazy and full of fun and stress all the same time.

 

Today is the start of a new transfer and i am finally done with my 12 week training so im a legit missionary. It was very very sad to say goodbye to hermana lara. We were so close and i will never forget her. my sweet mom in the mission. She left sunday morning so i have been in intercambios with some other hermanas. we are all waiting for our new companions.

 

I will tell you more about her next week because she doesnt come until tonight around 6 pm. but her name is hermana houston and she is from st. george. so that is good to know. i am really working on my spanish and i am going to talk way more. also hermana houston, i think, she has been here 2 more transfers than me so we are both pretty new but its all good. we are going to learn together. haha

Yesterday i got to watch conference in english, que bendicion! it was so good and i loved every talk. i really did. i thought about you guys a alot and about some of the people we have been teaching so i can know what to do with them. Since hermana lara wasnt there i had to do all of the talking with investigators and members and i can honestly say right now that the lord answers prayers cause i was able to talk to them, answer questions and be a missionary! dont get me wrong it wasnt a lot but i felt pretty good yesterday with the language. I had one investigator come yesterday! it was rita! I made a cita with her so we are going to go visit her this week and talk about conference a little.

i am really excited this week to start something new and i kind of have to show hermana houston around a little so i am nervous but im pumped. Thank you for all the prayers and love. i am realizing that the lord is blessing my family and my friends as i made this decision to serve him. esta semana, mi invitacion es agradecer el senor mas. El ha hecho muchisimo por todos y yo se que el esta. tenemos todo gracias a el. (this week my invitation is to show the Lord more gratitude. He has done so much for all of us and I know He is there.)

i love you all so much! HAVE A GOOD WEEK! TE QUIERO MUCHISIMO!!!

hermana jones

It's Me!!

Hi sweet family and friends! Its hermana jones here writing from argentina. This week has been great. Honestly it feels like i was here yesterday writing you guys. The weeks go by so so fast here and i have been here for 12 weeks now. Next week my training is done and to be honest, i am a little excited but at the same time not, because with that comes more responsibility. But the only way to learn is to do something about it. 

Our exito (success) this week was that we were in a lot of houses and not walking around. there are some days when all we do it walk around and no one wants to or has time for us to come in. so it has been a real blessing. Me and hermana lara have been getting along great and i am so sad that she is leaving but we are making plans to go do stuff when i get back. I am excited but also nervous to get a new companion. I hope she is a good missionary. I know she will be but sometimes i freak myself out. 

One thing that has been tough this week is Valeria. Yes, she got baptized but she hasnt come back to church since!!! we are freaking out cause we dont want her to just think since she got baptized that she is ok now. cause of course that isnt the case. but we had been teaching her husband and he was praying and reading and we had a fecha with him but all of a sudden he has crazy and he doesnt want to meet with us and that is why valeria hasnt gone to church. Ill i ask is for your prayers for angel. He is so sweet and smart but i guess right now it isnt his time and i hope that he will be baptized one day. 

 

This week the language has been better. i am a little scared cause next week i have to take my companion around and show her around so im a little nervous but hermana lara has been helping me with that. Sometimes i think that i am going to have to do it all on my own but i forget that i am going to have a companion and the lord is with me.

I dont know if you have all seen the new video for easter but holy cow it is amazing!!!!! i honestly thought of my family when i watched it. It is Gracias a que Él Vive. This month we are all really focusing on oracion (prayer). i am really trying to pray with lots of faith so that every time i pray i can feel that he is there. my challenge this week is to really get on your knees and talk to the lord. he is there and he wants to listen to what you have to say. I hope that as you pray, you can come to have a more close relationship with him and llegar a conocer su hermano jesucristo mas en su vida. El esta siempre. 

I am doing just fine and i hope that you all are doing so great. This friday is 4 months in the mission so i am trying so hard to cherish every second. Thank you for all of your support and I love you so much. 

Con amor,

Hermana jones

 

Zone Conference in Esquel