Week 7--AND PICTURES!

Oi amigos e família!!!

this week has AMAZING!! i am SO happy!

i left the ctm on terça-feira [Tuesday] and arrived in Salvador, where we had a "transfer meeting" with all of the missionaries who are serving in Salvador, who changed areas this week as well. it was so fun! Brazilian's have so much energy! i got to meet my mission president and his wife and they are amazing. at this meeting they reveal everyone´s companions and areas where they will be serving for the next 2-6 months. my companion is Sister Lee. I LOVE HER. she is from Spokane, Washington! shes already fluent in Portuguese and doesn't really remember English so we speak Portuguese almost always. the other day she was giving me a break and we were speaking English for a little bit and she asked me "como se diz dois e meia?' (how do you say 2:30?)  i was cracking up hahah. she helps me with my Portuguese so much and i am so thankful! I'm learning so much from her. she is such a good missionary and example to me. we get along so well! i seriously couldn't imagine a better trainer. i am so thankful for her! every time i pray i thank God for her. 

i am serving in a little town called Coité! i LOVE it here. seriously it is a wonderful place! the people here are SO humble. i strive to be like them every day. EVERYONE here loves Jesus! it is actually funny, pictures of Jesus are EVERYWHERE. the other day i saw a car, and the spare tire case one the back of it was a picture of Jesus hahah. 

 i love the people in our ward! they are SO loving!! they greeted us when we got of the bus and had cleaned our house for us and put food in the fridge and are always trying to help us and feeding us it is so nice! the people here don't have a lot, but they are the most generous people you will ever meet. a girl in our ward named tais is especially awesome, she has been helping us a lot. we are the first sisters to serve in this area for a while so we are "opening the area." its difficult because we don't know where anything is, where anyone lives, who people are, etc. we have been walking a lot hahaha. but it is also really fun! our ward is really excited to have sisters! yesterday at church was one of my favorite days every! i think i was hugged by every single irmã and shook hands with every irmão. they all love each other so much! i have never seen such a tight knit ward before. i am loving it here so much!!! i have never felt closer to the Lord. i rely on him every second of the day. i wouldn't be able to do this without Help. the first few days were physically difficult for me, but still so amazing because i am here! my body does not like Brazil at all.. haha but my spirit LOVES it here. i am SO thankful to serve in this town with these people, and to have such an amazing companion! 

trust in the Lord with all your heart! 

com amor, 

Sister Jones

this is me and sister madarani! my last companion, at the CTM

these are all the sisters in my district at the ctm

 this is my CTM district at the campinas temple

Week 5

this week has been so fun!!! in one week i will be in salvador teaching people! it is so crazy how fast my time at the CTM has already gone by!! i am SO excited to finally get to salvador!! i have been praying for these people for months and months and i already love them so much and i just cant wait to meet them and serve them and teach them about the gospel that can change their life! it has been really fun because a bunch of brazilians got here a week ago who are going to salvador aswell and we all sit together at lunch and all of the brazilians chant "SALVADOR SALVADOR" and fist pump its pretty funny! i love it because we are already a big family and i cant wait to serve with them out in the mission field!! 

 i keep switching back and forth between being nervous and not, but i know that God will help me through every step of the way! as long as i am obedient to God´s commandments, and the promptings of the Holy Ghost, i can be a successful missionary. and the people of salvador, ive heard, are AMAZING. people say that the further northeast you get, the more kind and humble and loving the people get. and i already LOVE the people in são paulo!! 

whenever i tell brazilians that i am going to salvador, they seriously just crack up at me because im so white! well all of the elders and irmãos do, but when i tell a sister or irmã, they get really concerned look on their face and say "sister, você PRECISA protecão do sol!!!" its pretty funny. i just say 'i know i know, eu tenho!"

i love my brazilian roommates right now!! they are so loving! and we told them one time that we were a little nervous about going to the mission field and speaking portuguese and now every time they talk to us they tell us that our portuguese is really good and hug us a lot and look us in the eyes and say "como você está?" because now they think that were about to burst into tears any minute or something hahah. it is so sweet how they want to help us feel comfortable in their country?

sister madarani and i are a power companionship!!! i am going to miss her a lot. our lessons have been going really well!! we are a very good team! she helps me out a lot. i am going to miss her a lot next week, but i will get to see her a couple times throughout the mission becase were both going to salvador! this week we are doing a 7 day english fast together. probably one of the most difficult goals i have set. but we have been very successful so far!! i am starting to think in portuguese, and now i always pray in portuguese even my personal prayers! i can feel God´s help with this language SO much!!! i am so thankful! 

this week i have been learning a lot about obedience. every day at the ctm they tell us that we need to be exactly obedient!! i didnt really understand why until recently. when we are exactly obedient, God trusts us and gives us promptings through the Holy Ghost. when we obey these, we receive more! i have had wonderful experiences with this this week. 

the biggest challenge right now with obedience is helping other sisters be obedient! haha since i am a sister training leader, i am responsible for making sure the sisters go to bed on time, and are in their rooms on time, etc. my first couple weeks of  reminding the sisters in the bathroom "cinco minutos sisters!" everone ignored me but now they listen and they are in their rooms on time! the other day one of the brazilian sisters saluted me hahahha. and now whenever i see sisters around, they say to me "cinco minutos sisters!" and wink at me hahah. brazilians are so funny i love them all! 

até a mais!

com amor,

sister Jones

Week 4

This week was so amazing!!! on friday we went proselyting out on the streets and it was SO AMAZING!!!! I LOVE BRAZILIANS SO MUCH!!!! every single person i talked to was SO kind! people are so loving here! everyone treats me like family, even if i am just meeting them for the first time! i love it here so much!!  

before we left to go proselyting, i was really really nervous!! i didnt think i had any chance at being able to communicate with these people! but when i was sitting on the but, a brazilian lady sat next to me and the still small voice told me to "open my mouth." i did! and i am SO glad that i did!! she was the most kind lady and i am so thankful that i met her! she was so grateful for my message about the gospel of jesus christ! she started reading the book of mormon right then and there and i could just see in her eyes how much she needed it, and the light it was already bringing to her life!! 

I LOVED talking to people on the streets in são paulo!!! i was a little scared to approach some of the people who didnt have a happy look on their face, but as sister madarani and i started talking to them about jesus christ, i could see their hearts soften right in front of us!! and we were actually able to communicate with them!! brazilians speak VERY fast so it is really difficult to understand every word, but as we spoke with them, God helped us understand what is in their hearts. I am so thankful for God´s help! i really couldnt get through any second of the day without Him. i am constantly praying for His help, and to feel His love. 

I have been working really hard this week because i am realizing that i only have 2 weeks to prepare for the mission field! at that point ill probably have a brazilian companion who doesnt speak any english! i am doing an english fast every day this week! i let myself speak english to the new sisters so i can help them but other than that, "somente português!!" my district loves to say "português até o fim!" hahah. i am SO tired!! and it is really frustrating sometimes not being able to express myself, but all the hard work is really paying off!1 the more portuguese i speak, the more God helps me and i can really feel the gift of tongues!!! it is AMAZING! miracles still happen today! 

I am SO thankful for my calling!!!! bign sister training leader has blessed me SO much! i love getting to know the new sisters and helping them. i feel SO much love for them!!! the new sisters that came in last week are especially amazing. they work so hard! on their second day i was talking to one of them and she says to me "posso falar ingles por favor?" hahahah (may i speak english please?) i was shocked. she had already been speaking português ALL day!! hahah and she didnt even know much at all hahah. they are very sweet. 

i have one last story that i really love. 

this elder who is companions with the zone leader shared this story during a leadership meeting, he has a speech impediment and really struggled to even tell us this story in english. but he said that when they went proselyting he was REALLY scared. he said "i can barely speak my native language! how can i speak to a brazilian in portuguese?!" but while he was on the bus, he made a reallly big effort to talk to the man sitting next to him. he said that he could barely communicate anything! he said "all i said was `outside-hot. i no like hot" hahaha but then the man sitting next to him looked at the books he was holding and just grabbed one of the book of mormons and started reading it! God knows when we are doing our best, and He is AWLAYS willing to help us. 

I love you all! and i am having the most AMAZING TIME OF MY LIFE!!! I am learning and growing so much!! this is the best decision i have ever made!! I LOVE BRAZIL AND THESE PEOPLE!!!

Com amor, 

Sister jones