Week 34

wow this week was INCREDIBLE and so exciting!!! 

transfer news:

im staying here in juazeiro! im so excited andhappy! and im gonn train! im so nervous but i know that the Lord qualifies the called. i am going to grow a LOT this transfer!

at the beginning of the week we were really trying to help lauanny get baptized. we have been teaching her for a really long time and she has such a strong testimony of the church and the book of mormon! but she ended up choosing not to. we really did everything that we could, but she chose not to. we were super sad and dissapointed after our lesson on tuesday night, and we had an hour long walk back to our neighborhood. we were both about to start crying when i remembered the words of the brasilian song  "quem quer felicidade corre atrás" (who wants happiness chases it). i rememberd that happiness is a choice. i thought what can i do right now to make myself happy? i decided to buy a huge watermelon (the neighborhood lauanny lives in sells a bunch of fruit for really cheap). we bought a watermelon and carried it 45 minutes back to our house, all smiles. everyone on the street gave us the funniest looks (why are these girls carrying a huge watermelon at night, and so happy about it?) we cannot control everything that happens to us, or the outcomes of our efforts but we can control our attitude! we can also choose to find little things that make us happy everyday. i am learning this a lot on the mission.  

also, the olympic torch passed through juazeiro this week so that was way exciting!!! i have never seen these bahian people so intense/excited about anything before hahah

this week we focused a lot on fernandas family. we fasted that they would accept the gospel, and the next time we went to their house a MIRACLE HAPPENED. 

the mom is usually a little bit cold with us, but when we got there she was so excited to see us and invited us in! then she started talking about elvis presley and how much she adores him. (she was wearing a shirt wtih his face on it), she said that she named all of her kids after him (their middle names are all "presley") she even has a tattoo of his name hahaha. she is a big fan. she told him that she found out that elvis presley read the book of mormon! and if he liked it it must be something good! that made her excited to go to church and she brought her whole family withher on sunday!!!! THANK YOU ELVIS PRESLEY!!! hahahah i was NOT that to happen, but we will take whatever miracle we can get. she loved church. she cried during the sacremental hymn. they all accepted the invitation to be baptized on the 11th!!! we are SO exctied!!!

this week i finished the book of mormon. wow. i LOVE this book. all i can say is that the book of mormon is true. i know it´s true. 

i really like moroni chapter 6 because it talks about what i think would be the "ideal ward." they were so righteous. i especially love verse 9

"And their meetings were conducted by the church after the manner of the workings of the Spirit, and by the power of the Holy Ghost; for as the power of the Holy Ghost led them whether to preach, or to exhort, or to pray, or to supplicate, or to sing, even so it was done."

this is how our meetings should be! directed by the Spirit! the Spirit is SO important, because He tells us what God wants us to do. if we follow the Spirit, we will be doing the will of the Lord!

have an amazing week!!

com muito amor, 

sister Jones

pictures:

1- waiting for the olympic torch (our new friend got blow up torches for us)

2- a very very windy and exciting morning for us

3- WHOOO BRASIL!!!!

4- why bahia, why?

Week 33

hi friends and family!! 

this week i am especially excited aobut our investigator fernanda. she is so awesome and really wants to do the Lord´s will. during one of her lessons she told us that she has really been thinking if she is prepared for a conversion. she already knows that this gospel is going to change her life! it was so cool when she described the feeling she had after reading the book of mormon. she said it was "a feeling she had never felt before, a feeling of truth." i am so thankful for the Holy Ghost, and the answers He gives to our investigators of the truth. 

embarrassing language mess up of the week:

we were teaching about eternal marriage and i wanted to say that my family is sealed in the temple "selada" but i said "salada" my family is salad. and my investigator was dying hahahahah. 

also this week our ward started an activity called "gincana." its between the two wards and the branch in juazeiro. there are three teams (mixed up) and they do activities and have to bring stuff to get points. they get points for bringing friends to activities and church and winning the games, and other activities. it is AMAZING!!! i have never seen anyone so excited about missionary  work. bishop is stoked and now his nonmember mom is more active than half of the members hahahah. she is very old so he just wheels her to every single activity and meeting. it is really such a great way to get everyone more united as a church and excited about the missionary work. 

this week i read about the brother of jared and when they crossed the ocean in the barges. i love this story! every time i read it i learn something new. when they crossed the ocean, they literally had no way to control, or even see where they were going. they had to trust completely in the Lord. and He lead them safely to the promised land. it is the same thing in our lives. we have to humbly trust in the will of the Lord and He will lead us to the promised land. He has a plan for each one of us. often we cant see the promised land on the horizon, but if we rely on God, He will lead us there. 

have a wonderful week! 

com amor, 

sister Jones

pictures:

1- sunday with my lovely companion and sister l. sousa

2- our journey across a sewage river to an investigators house

3- bishop is stoked about #red (they pronounce it "head" hahaha)

4- team red again (gincana)

5- amazonas?

Week 32

his week was a rollercoaster! this week sister gonzalez got sick but i think it ended up just being stress. we are trying to learn how to relax more. on friday president came and did interviews with us! it was so great to talk to him. a couple weeks ago he gave us an assignmsnt called "my mission, my life" we made goals in every area of our life that we want to accomplish in the next six months. i made a lot of goals and i am already seeing so much improvement! goals are so important! they are especially effective when we write them down and keep track really well.  

something really cool happened this week. a couple weeks ago, we were walking on the street and there was a man standing in the doorway of his house. we went up to talk to him. during our conversation a girl came running out and said "are you guys from the church of Jesus Christ of latter day saints?!" we said yes! she then told us that she had been baptized five years ago when she was living in another city. she was too shy to go to church here alone so she stopped when she moved (years ago). we planned to go to church together the next sunday, but it didnt work out. this week on saturday we were walking on the same street when a someone called for us and when we walked up to the house it was the same girl, rafaela! she was at her friends house and promised to come to church on sunday, and she actually did! and she brought her friend, maria luzia! they loved it! and rafaela was so happy to come back. it felt like we had really brought her home. 

this week we had a lot of disapointments, but i am learning a lot about hope, and faith. at our zone conference they told us to think of how we go into lessons with our golden investigators-- we are always so much more excited and happy. they said we need to go into every lesson like this, so that they can see our light!

they also left us with a really cool message. they showed a music video with a song that is about happiness. the singer asks three questions: "o que te faz você feliz?," (what makes you happy?) "você feliz, o que é que faz?," (when you are happy, what do you do?) and "o que você faz para ser feliz?" (what do you do to be happy?). they had us write down these questions and really reflect. the things that make us truly happy are always good things. it is surprising, but many times we fail to do the things that make us most happy! happiness is a choice. it is ourselves that make us happy! we really can choose to be happy in our lives. i believe that if we are truly living the gospel and putting Christ first, we can be happy, no matter the circumstances in our lives. the gospel is such a source of happiness in my life, and it makes me even happier to share it with the people of Bahia! as i center my life more in Christ i become noticably happier. i know that we can all feel this joy!

have an amazing week!

com amor, 

sister jones

pictures:

1&2-zone meeting!

Week 31

hi everyone! 

i dont even remember anything that happened this week except for last night talking to my family was the most wonderful thing of my life. it strengthened me so much! i am so thankful for my beautiful family and their support and example to me. 

this week we worked a lot with marlene and jocimar. they are so amazing! during one of our lessons with them marlene was reading the book of mormon and jocimar starting reading out loud with her and they were both so concentrated and the Spirit was so strong i got so happy that i tapped sister gonzalez on the leg and we just smiled so big at eachother. i am so excited about them! when i left for my mission my biggest hope was to teach families. i want to help families experience the same joy and blessings that my family has! teaching marlene and jocimar and their two little girls has brought me so much joy! they all came to church yesterday! their girls love coming to church! i am so excited about this little family! i am especially excited for them to go to the temple and be a forever family with their little boy who passed away. this gospel brings so much joy and hope and i absolutely love sharing it with others!

yesterday i felt the Spirit so strongly sitting in church. four separate times when i was listening to the lesson/speaker a voice came to my mind that said simply, "this is true." i am so thankful for the Holy Ghost! it is the same way that He speaks to our investigators during our lessons. He simply  tells them "this is true!" 

i know that this church is true! the Spirit tells me so often. i know that thomas s. monson is a prophet called of God. i know that the book of mormon is true! it really is the word of God. there are so many people who dont accept these things, but it is so simple to know that they are true, because they are good! all good things come from God. they speak of Christ and they lift us up. of course these things are true! 

i am so so so happy and thankful for my beautiful life and this beautiful place i am serving. always look for the blessings that God gives us, they are many!

have a great week!

com amor, 

sister jones

WEEK 30

boa tarde!!! 

this week was so fast!

ill share about one investigator this week:

we decided to try knocking for the first time, and we had been praying so hard to find the Lord´s elite, and had been really talking to EVERYONE, so the Lord blessed us. the first house we went to, the lady let us in and told us about her family, her 4 month old son had died recently. we taught the plan of salvation and during the lesson, her husband woke up and listened too. they both really liked it and felt that it is true. her husband, jocimar even accepted the invitation to be baptized! marlene came to church yesterday with their two daughters, and they loved it! it was so amazing to see her reaction to everything as she felt the spirit, and met all of the members. it was perfect because we learned about the restoration in gospel principles! she loved it!

God has been blessing us so much to find the people He has prepared to accept the gospel. especially as we work hard to show our faith, obedience and love. 

this week i studied something really cool! in 4 nephi, it talks about a very very righteous generation. it says: "and surely there couldnot be a happier people among all the people who had been created by the hand of God." (v. 16)

and why were they so happy?!

because they truly repented, were baptized, received the Holy Ghost and were truly converted (v. 1-2). they knew t (v. 11 they were obedient (v. 12), and they fasted, prayed and went to church regularly (v. 12),  and most importantly: because of the "love of God which did dwell in their hearts" (v. 15). if we truly love God, we will find real and lasting happiness in our lives. 

"My brothers and sisters, the first great commandment of all eternity is to love God with all of our heart, might, mind, and strength—that’s the first great commandment. But the first great truth of all eternity is that God loves us with all of His heart, might, mind, and strength. That love is the foundation stone of eternity, and it should be the foundation stone of our daily life. Indeed it is only with that reassurance burning in our soul that we can have the confidence to keep trying to improve, keep seeking forgiveness for our sins, and keep extending that grace to our neighbor." -Jeffrey R. holland

com amor, 

Sister jones

photos:

1- reunited with my irmã sister seixas (we grew up together in coité)

2- beautiful juazeiro

Week 29

hi friends and family!!  

wow i have a lot to write about this week!

after i found out i was being transferred to juazeiro we packed our bags and we all took the bus to the nearest big city (3 hours), feira de santana. there were about 15 other missionaries there at the bus station to go to their new areas too. there were about 7/8 of us who were going to juazeiro/petrolina (the neighboring city). our bus was going to leave around midnight, and we would all travel together. all of the sudden elder dornellis comes running up to me and says "sister jones your bus leaves at 9:20!!" it was 9:25. the elders grabbed my suitcases and we ran to the platform for me to catch the bus.   the bus was just about to leave, but the elders stopped it. elder dornellis (our district leader) said: "sister jones whatever you do dont leave the bus station in juazeiro. stay there and wait for us! do not leave!!"the elders put my bags under the bus and i got on. i sat down in my seat and realized: 

1- i was alone for the first time in more than six months

2- i was on a six hour bus ride to a city i have never been to, and i had no idea where to get off

3- i was going to arrive at the bus station at 3:30 am

4- i am in BRAZIL 

then thought to myself: "right now i can freak out and cry, or i can trust in the Lord. i will trust in the Lord. He is not going to let anything bad happen to me." i was right! i arrived and everything was fine, the Lord took care of everything. when we trust in Him, there is no room for fear! (my district leader said that after i left he called the assistants to the president and told them that i was on a bus alone to juazeiro and everyone was very stressed out hahaha)

also i got to experience some live trash tv as a lady on the bus refused to pay, and also refused to leave and the bus so they screamed back and forth for about 30 minutes until finally the bus man gave up hahaha. 

my new comanion is sister gonzález, from mexico! we arrived together in the mtc and now we are together again and it is wonderful! she is really great and we are having so much success together! we did a ton of finding this weeka nd the Lord really helped us to find people who He has prepared to accept the gospel of Jesust Christ! we started teaching so many amazing people and i am so excited!

3 nephi 27 talks so much about what it means to take the name of Christ upon us. we need to do what we have seen Him do. i love verse 27, it was our ponderize scripture this week "therefore what 

pictures:

1-  our hilarious dog in coité i forgot to send last week. she had surgery and got super fat and is very irritable but we love her

2- i am "tranquila" and loving juazeiro

3- sister gonzález and i on sunday and the beautiful chapel

4- where we go running every morning (this city is a dream)

Week 28

bom dia!!!

this week was full of miracles! i know i say that every week but really we saw SO many miracles. 

this week josué, our investigator on date for this weekend struggled a lot. his aunt who is of another religion started saying bad things about the church to him, things that arent true (ex: that we dont believe in the bible). she told him that he shouldnt get baptized and a bunch of other things, so he started to avoid us and deborah (his friend who is a member). we prayed and prayed for an opportunity to talk to him. and we were able to! he met us at the church and we talked to him about everything. we told him that he needs to follow Jesus Christ, not anyone else. we cleared up his doubts and helped him and we ended up being able to talk to his mom and his aunt and they said "oh i didnt know! i told josué that your church was bad but its not! now i know that josué really will be baptized in Christ" it was incredible! and the spirit was so strong! then she lectured josues cousin about how he needs to "find Jesus" how josué did. haha. the day before his baptism, he traveled to another city and we werent able to contact him because our phone is very unreliable and we were out of minutes. he also ended up getting sick. it was so clear that satan was doing everything possible to stop him from following Christ. there were so many other little obstacles but everything ended up okay, and he was baptized, and he was so happy after! it was such a spiritual baptism!

also today is transfers!! i am being transferred to juazeiro! it is a LOT different than coité, and im really excited to meet the people there and serve them. i am sad, but ready to leave coité. i feel like i have given this town all that i have. i have no more to give! im excited to see what the Lord has in store for me in Juazeiro! 

pictures:

1- our little ana clara

2- josué at his baptism!