Hermana Jones

Argentina Buenos Aires North Mission

martes, 29 de noviembre de 2011


Ya estoy en casa! Pero todavia no fui relevada. :)

lunes, 21 de noviembre de 2011

2 John 1:12

lunes, 14 de noviembre de 2011

Hola!
Well this week went well. We are currently in Capital because Hna. Hill had to do her paper work to get legalized.
Yesterday we put a baptismal date with Susana a reference from a member that went to church and she will be baptized the 27th once she receives an answer. She needs a testimony of the Book of Mormon, so we will be working with her on that. Other than that she is golden.

So this week we did divisions again and I was with Hermana Alfaro again. In one morning (wednesday) we found 4 investigators and baptisms and they got baptized on saturday! Franco, Tatiana, Abigail, and Alex. Also we found Antonio who will be baptized super soon. I dont have a way to send pictures today unfortunately. It was a huge miracle. They had gone to church awhile ago, then moved, and lost contact with the church. Just have to keep on working!

Funny story
This week during studies on thursday morning right before weekly planning, we get a conference call from the zone leaders saying one of the two nuclear plants in our zone was in danger and we had to all get out of the zone and go to the mission offices ASAP. So, Hermana Hill and I frantically scambled to leave. I grabbed the brownies I had made that morning and we were out the door asap. We had called a taxi to take to the bus station which is in the zone leaders area and headed out. Just as we were getting to the bus station they called and said it was a false alarm, that they were just going to have an emergency simulation. That was an exciting/adrenaline pumping morning. I am happy and proud to say we were the first ones to get out and to the bus station out of the whole zone. :) Also to say no worries Mom, we are all safe. Also good to see that brownies are a priority for me in life... jk. I had already grabbed my scriptures, with pictures of the family, dont worry.

Well, I would like to thank everyone for all the love and support in the last year and a half. I am so grateful for the chance Ive had to serve others and learn and grow. I hope everyone has a great thanksgiving. Is that this week? Is Katie going home for that? Hey, guess what I finally got the awesome scripture cases I ordered when I was in my first area today.

I love you all!!!!

Hasta ver!
Hermana Jones

lunes, 7 de noviembre de 2011



Hola familia!
This week was pretty awesome. We are super pumped and working like crazy. Could someone google and find a picture of the new buenos aires temple and email it to me? It could come in handy. Thanks!
So this week we found a new investigator named Melina. She is 11 years old I believe.
Interviews this week were awesome. President is awesome. Called of God. He makes me feel so good.
We had some bike issues this week. On my bike the bearing where the crank goes in broke so we had to replace that. On my comps bike the back bearings broke. We had several one bike days this week where I had to take her around on the bike of the bike (both of us on the same bike). As if we weren´t already a great sight... hahahaaa. My only wish is that I had a picture. Maybe next week :).
This week we found some new good families. We are struggling to get people progressing, but we just keep on working! We had stake conference this weekend and President came. That was really good.

You know you´re in Zárate if.....
• a rooster across the street wakes you up in the morning, during breakfast, and during studies
• you burn your garbage in the streets on a regular basis
• you water the street to keep the dust down with a bucket (instead of watering your grass)
• you crank your efy music to drown out the constant cumbia music next door starting at 9am everyday
• you are short a couple pesos and they tell you to pay the rest the next time you come in
• you sleep on top of your covers at night, even in the springtime
• everyone uses the same cup at the watercooler/dispenser
• little kids have free reign in Sacrament meeting, including going up on the stand
• the main boulevard is blocked off without warning so everyone drives down the wrong way
• men try to kiss you on a regular basis, at times succeeding
• you can buy juguitos (good version of otter pops) on every block
Now I would like to include the wise words of Elder Bruce R. McConkie: (see D&C 76:79)
¨What does it mean to be valient in the testimony of Jesus?
It is to be courageous and bold; to use all our strength, energy, and ability in the warfare with the world; to fight the good fight of faith.... The great cornerstone of valience in the cause of righteousness is obedience to the whole law of the whole gospel.
To be valient in the testimony of Jesus is to ´come unto Christ, and be perfected in him; it is to deny ourselves ´of all ungodliness,´and ´love God´ with all our ´might, mind and stregnth.´ (Moroni 10:32).
To be valient in the testimony of Jesus is to believe in Christ and his gospel with unshakable conviction. It is to know of the verity and divinity of the Lord´s work on earth.
But this is not all. It is more than believing and knowing. We must be doers of the word and not hearers only. It is more than lip service; it is not simply confessing with the mouth the divine Sonship of the Savior. It is obedience and conformity and personal righteousness. ´Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven.´(Matthew 7:21).
To be valient in the testimony of Jesus is to ´press forward with a steadfastness in Christ, having a perfect brightness of hope, and a love of God and of all men.´It is to ´endure to the end´. (2 Nephi 31:20). It is to live our religion, to practice what we preach, to keep the commandments. It is the manifestation of ´pure religion´in the lives of men; it is visting ´the fatherless and widows in their affliction´and keeping ourselves ´unspotted from the world.´(James 1:27).
To be valient in the testimony of Jesus is to bridle our passions, control our appetites, and rise above carnal and evil things. It is to overcome the world as did he who is our prototype and who himself was the most valient of all our Father´s children. It is to be morally clean, to pay our tithes and offerings, to honor the Sabbath day, to pray with full purpose of heart, to lay our all upon the altar if called upon to do so.
To be valient in the testimony of Jesus is to take the Lord´s side on every issue. It is to vote as he would vote. It is to think what he thinks, to believe what he believes, to say what he would say and do what he would do in the same situation. It is to have the mind of Christ and be one with him as he is one with his Father.¨
(Conference Report, October 1974, enfasis added).

This week I have been memorizing Mosiah 4:9-12. Love it.

Love you all!
Hermana Jones

The pictures are:
-cow nerves (yum)
-my great companion and I (I love her)
-Familia Montaldo (went back to church after 10 years!)

lunes, 31 de octubre de 2011



Hola familia
No, they dont really do anything for halloween here in Argentina. I think thats a pretty American holiday. :)
This week we had killer attendance at church, we are up to 60 now! We had some miracles and lots of inactives go. Lorenzo Montaldo went and I was so excited! We have been working with that family for a long long time.

This week we did divisions with the other sisters area in our zone, Campana. I stayed here in Zarate and was with Hermana Alfaro (Chile) and Hermana Hill went to Campana and was with Hermana Salas (Chile). It was a good experience. I learned a lot. We were together thursday night til saturday afternoon. There were some complications because Hermana Salas had to go have an interview at Presidents house, but all turned out in the end. There was a baptism as well and since Hermana Salas and Hill had to go clear to presidents house, we had to do everything to get the baptism ready, then the other hermanas got back right as the baptism started. Lautaros Grandpa was going to baptize him, but there were problems with the water heater and so the water was cold. Elder Solum ended up having to baptize him (district leaders comp) without a change of clothes. Luckily we had a pair of white pants that fit him. Lautaro was supposed to have his interview at the church but he didnt make it, so we had to go to his house which is clear across town with the Elders on two bikes. That was a funny sight. Hermana Alfaro has pictures, so Ill have to send those once I can get ahold of them.

We are trying to work with less active families and converts to find new investigators. I think thats a good way to help the ward grow and keep testimonies growing. We have a lot to do this week, and I like staying busy. It makes everything great. I am so happy when we have days where we go out and teach lessons back to back all day, working hard, and finding new investigators. So far so good, we are keeping up the work and picking up steam even! My companion is awesome. I really appreciate her.

Last week we had mission conference. It was super good. We focused on the 5 things we do. Pray, Plan, Find, Teach, and Study. It was great to see the connection even more between them and see the things I can strive to do better.
We are teaching two girls that are super excited to get baptized on November 20th. Maria and Mariana. They are 13 years old and have both read and prayed and know the Book of Mormon is true. She even asked to borrow my pen so she could right down her baptismal date and what she is going to read in the Book of Mormon so she doesnt forget (without my asking her to!).
This week we have interviews on friday with President. I think they will be at our houses/apartments so president can do checks of the apts. I love interviews.
I had to buy some bug repellent, the mosquitos have gotten quite bad. Also, my allergies have gotten quite bad. Lots of sneezing and itching. I may see if I can find some allergy medicine.

Today I was reading a talk that I really liked about how we always need to strive to be progressing and always be willing to do what the Lord requires of us. Unconditionally. We need to always put his will before our own, no matter what the circumstances are. We are always changing and are never at a stand still. We need to be the type of people that act and dont get acted upon. We shouldnt make excuses we should form plans.
Also, thanks for the mail to everyone!
This morning I also found an awesome scripture 1 Nefi 13: 37. We are going to share it with a less active sister thats going back to church. The goal is that she will help us find and teach investigators.
Thanks KASEY and FERGUSONS for the packages! The Reeses are already gone. Thanks Becky, Mom, and Hermana Payne for the letters!

The pictures are:
last p-day picking misperos
the baptism of Lautaro

Love,
Hermana Jones


NOTICE: This email message is for the sole use of the intended recipient(s) and may contain confidential and privileged information. Any unauthorized review, use, disclosure or distribution is prohibited. If you are not the intended recipient, please contact the sender by reply email and destroy all copies of the original message.

lunes, 24 de octubre de 2011

So my companion became an aunt this week! Shes pretty excited. Ive been calling her Tia Hill all week. Hna. Hill is so funny. We laugh a lot. We have a similar sense of humor I think.
This week we went crazy and found like a million new families, more new investigators than ever before, the only thing is they didnt go to church. It was hard because they have elections for president on sunday. But, yesterday we found this awesome family of 7 that have 5 that can get baptized very soon. One day, we were cruising down the bike path on our bikes and I stopped and talked to this lady. She gave us her address and we went yesterday. Turns out theyve been to church twice and it all just seems too good to be true. They are Bolivians and super humble. Today we have another appointment and the husband is going to be there. If all goes well and as planned they will be getting baptized the 6th. We are super pumped about that family. we are just a little nervous about the Dad. Hopefully we can resolve any doubts he may have. We found a ton of other families too, so hopefully we can get some serious church attendance this next week!

Last monday we went to a members house and picked some misperos, which is a fruit that I dont think exists in the US. Theyre super good. Im trying to send pictures, but this computer isnt letting me :(. Theres always next week!

Id like to give a shoutout to GRANDMA RICE and REBEKAH (and anyone else whose birthday is today). FELIZ CUMPLEAÑOS!!!

I hope everyone has a great week and that we get some people baptizing soon! We have mission conference this week with half the mission at a time. That should be good and Ill get mail!

xOoXoXxoXx,
Hermana Jones


NOTICE: This email message is for the sole use of the intended recipient(s) and may contain confidential and privileged information. Any unauthorized review, use, disclosure or distribution is prohibited. If you are not the intended recipient, please contact the

lunes, 17 de octubre de 2011

*Received Haley's release info this week. She will arrive home Tuesday, November 29th at 3:12 PM. She will be speaking in our ward in Sacrament meeting on December 11th at 11 am. Everyone is invited. We will have a dinner at our house after our meeting block that day around 2:30 if you would like to come visit with her more.



Hola familia!
Well, all is well here. This week we had transfers. We are both staying. Hna. Hill will officially be my last companion and Zarate will be my last area. I am excited because we are going to have a great transfer. We have some high goals set and are ready to work hard. We have a family that wants to get baptized but are waiting on papers to get married.
This week Hna. Hill gave a talk in church, which was really good. She spoke about mothers, her mother in particular. Also, I taught relief society. The lesson was on the millenium. It was a good lesson. I learned a bit that I was unaware of, also I´m starting to learn how to teach a little better.
We found quite a few new investigators this week, so the goal this week is to get them progressing and get more investigators to church. The ward is definitely progressing. We went to ward counsel on sunday, and they are starting to do things little by little.
This week we started to memorize a scripture everyweek. We memorized Alma 37:35-37. I challenge all of you to memorize a scripture a week. It´s a good way to have good things on your mind!

Love,
Hermana Jones

fotos
1-biking!!!
2-sword fight at Flia. Montaldo´s house
3-Zarate - Aguante Argentina!
4-My wonderful companion and I

lunes, 10 de octubre de 2011




Hola familia!

Well this was a good week. The Flia. Baldis got confirmed yesterday in church. They all seemed to be super happy. Oriana even got up and gave her testimony. She told some great stories and the ward is sure supporting them a lot.
We are working with lots of families right now, some of which are part member families it´s just hard because no one here gets married, so they´ve got to fix their lives first. Hopefully we´ll find some new golden investigators this week. We started a new ¨adopt an investigator¨ program in the ward that we invented. We´re trying to get members more excited about working and bringing people to church. I´m excited to see how it turns out!
This week, there was a crazy storm that lasted like 3 days long. Some streets were completely flooded. Lots of rain and mud! Also frogs and bugs!
Today, we played some soccer at the church with the Elders. The young men from our ward were also there so we played with them too. Today is like Colombus day for them here so everything is closed and there is no school. Oh, and by the way Sunday is Mother´s day. Happy Mother´s day Mom!!!
Last week we went and taught english and this english institute. That was fun. My companion actually does talk a lot in english haha!Also, last p-day we went fishing. That was fun, but we didn´t catch a thing haha. We were there almost 3 hours with lunch and all. Today, we are thinking about having a bonfire (or bonfuego as my comp says) in the back yard. We have a bunch of braches back there and we might roast some hot dogs, who knows.

Thanks for all the emails!
Monica MORA!!! Gracias por su email. Todavia tengo el llavero del LdM y a todos les encanta! Gracias por mandarme tanto ánimo! La quiero mucho.

Have an awesome week everyone!!! This week I complete 17 months!!!
Hermana Jones

lunes, 3 de octubre de 2011







What a great week. The work in Zárate progresses!
Well, on tuesday we moved. That was pretty great. Our new house is nice, and NEW. We have a nice patio out back and everything. I have lots of pictures to send today! We have only had to kill one giant cockroach in the new house since we´ve been there!

Flia Baldis got baptized!!! It was so great. They got baptized with 2 other people from other wards in the stake in between conference session on sunday. We did all the stake baptisms together since there was conference. An Hno named Daniel baptized Pablo and the bishop baptized Oriana. It was so awesome. I cant wait til they get sealed in the temple now! We need to keep finding and baptizing families! We did find a good part member family this week. The nonmembers didn´t go to conference, but we´re going to work hard with them.

Conference was so awesome! I loved all the talks. Saturday, my favorite was by Elder Christofferson. Sunday, my favorite was by Pres. Monson. Sunday afternoon session (the later one, since both here are in the afternoon) the power went out so I missed like a talk and a half or so. All I know is when it turned back on he was talking directly to missionaries. When the power went out, we said a prayer. Then we called another zone to here it on speaker phone. That didn´t work so well, but luckily the power came back on after that. It was supposedly going to be out for a few hours, but was only out like 20 min! I feel like every one of the talks are to prepare for the second coming. It is so important not to procrastinate!

This morning I was reading in Romans 1-5. I highly recommend it, it´s some good reading. Romans is like my new favorite book in the Bible. Just how it talks about the Atonement and mercy and justice.

Well, I hope everyone is doing well! Good to hear from so many! I´ll send more pictures.

Love,
Hermana Jones

Photos - the baptism fotos will be in another email.
1- the new house - moving in - you´ll notice my comp and I are (Utah State and BYU fans, respectively)
2- the back patio of the new house
3- capital last p-day - the obelisco and you´ll notice Eva Perón (evita) on the side of the building
4- watching conference, in english, with the elders

lunes, 26 de septiembre de 2011

Hola familia!
Well, it´s been a crazy week, but we are going to have some baptisms!
This week we had zone conference in Escobar which was great! Thanks Kasey for the letter!
Today, we had to come to capital to do paper work because my argentina ID expired. Lots of traveling. We went to Mcdonalds and shopping after and it´s been super fun! There isn´t too much of that in Zarate... The weather has been so nice here, I love springtime!
Flia Baldi is going to get baptized on sunday! We are working with them a ton. I can´t wait for conference!!!!!

TEEJ! Hope you had a great birthday!!! I bought you a birthday present today. It´s super sweet. I´ll give it to you in Nov.

I´ll send lots of pictures next week! We are going to move on wednesday! Finally! I think next p-day we´re going to go fishing and maybe play some soccer.

Everyone should have some questions written down to be answered in conference! That will be awesome.

I love you all!
Hermana Jones

lunes, 19 de septiembre de 2011




Hola Familia!
This was an adventure filled week.
We had leadership training tuesday and thursday. That requires a lot of traveling and getting up at like 4:30 in the morning to get there on time, but I´d defeinitely say it´s worth it. Wednesday night I was up all night throwing up. That was miserable and then we had to get up early to go to the training. I don´t know what I ate... Luckily I got better the next day and didn´t have problems during the training. I just didn´t eat much that day. I´m all back to normal now. This week also they shut off our gas because there was a bill we hadn´t paid from a previous rentor or something that the owner was still trying to get a hold of. So from monday to friday we didn´t have warm water or heat. Luckily we have a small electric heater we used, but those were some cold showers! Now something is messed up in our building and we don´t have running water since yesterday. I sure hope we move soon!

Flia. Baldi is doing great. They´re going to get baptized conference weekend. Also, Mari finally came to church. She´s a lady that has a small hamburger restaurant fastfood place close to where we live. Hopefully we can get her progressing towards baptism because she could also get baptized conference weekend.

I am super happy. I´m not sure why, but all is well! I got the package this week, thanks Mom!!! The reeses are already gone! Also, I am wearing the BYU shirt today to go play soccer! I also got a letter from Kasey, thanks Kasey!

I´ll send some sweet pictures.

-Me overlooking the ¨villa angus¨
-us with Flia. Tome and Flia. Baldi in an FHE
-getting investigators to go to church early sunday morning
-my companion (that may or may not be a sleeping drunk man on the ground in the background)

Could someone scan and email me a picture of my baptism? I think it will come in handy. Could you do that now so I have it this week?

Love,
Hermana Jones

lunes, 12 de septiembre de 2011



Hola!
Well, all is well down here in good ´ol Zarate. My companion is Hna. Hill. She is from Farmington, Utah. (or the factory as the members call Utah here). :) I find it funny that Hna PAYNE, my MTC comp in Resistencia is also training this transfer and her comp is also from Farmington and just so happens to be great friends and went to primary with my comp. I love the mission. I never want it to end. Today I complete 16 months already! I can´t believe how the time has flown.

So good news. We had a FAMILY go to church yesterday! That´s right, we´re going to baptize a FAMILY! I am so excited. We found them last sunday night with Hna. Malhue. The Mom is a member and she hasn´t gone to church since she was a teenager. Now her daughter goes to a private Catholic school and she doesn´t want her daughter to believe everything they teach her there, she wants her to grow up in the truth. (Her daughter Oriana is 9!) She also wants her husband who is/was atheist to get into it and her two other daughters. I am so excited for them. They were so cute in church.

I got to speak in church by the way. The least preparation for a talk ever. I prepared it sunday morning for half an hour in the dark, right after my comp had tried to blow dry her hair and blew the fuse. Luckily last night we found the breaker and after many attempts and two broom handles, got the lights back on, no big deal. My talk was on ¨how to be a latter-day Saint¨with an emphasis on saint. Anyways, the Baldi family is going to get baptized the 25th as of now. Beatriz is a little nuts, and I´m still not sure what we´re going to do with her. Yesterday we put a bunch of baptismal dates with people, mostly teenaged girls we contacted and they accepted. So hopefully we can get teaching them this week and they go to church next sunday. The hardest part is always getting them to church.

My companion seems pretty awesome. She about died when I told her we were in a bike area. She hadn´t ridden a bike since she was like 12. haha. So far so good though... :) We had to go buy her some spandex for her to put under her skirts so she wasn´t flashing the world. With this whole new dress code, her skirts all just go to her knees. My comp only crashed into me once so far. She couldn´t stop for some reason and rammed right into me. haha. No worries, we´re both fine. I´m sure any onlookers got a good laugh out of that one. Two American white girls with skirts and helmets crashing. My comp is still getting used to changing her eating habits, but she sure loves the food.

Lots of funny random things just happened this week. An example.
We were riding down the street and this whack-o pulled up next to us on his bike and asked us if we were mormon. Then he started saying how the US government is conspiring against the world and that we were/are spies sent from the US. They was funny. Then as he rode off he yelled back, I´m evangelical.

A miracle story.
So this week I was thinking a lot about this family we are reactivating and in my personal studies on tuesday before going to get my new comp, I felt the strong impression to talk about the temple and sealings in our FHE we were to have tuesday with them. We went and shared a scripture about when the sealing power was given to Nefi. Then talked about the temple. The hermana was like crying. She said that is was exactly what she needed. Later that night she told me about her Mom that adopted her that passed away less than 2 months ago. I had no idea. That was powerful for me. I am glad I followed the Spirit on that one... they went to church yesterday. Not because we go over there and give them invitations multiple times a week, but because she wants an eternal family.

What else happened this week, I don´t know. But, this is plenty long.
I hope you all have an awesome week! We are enjoying the sun! I´ll keep BYU is my prayers and they prepare to face the opposition (utah) in this world. There´s always going to be opposition when you´re doing things right. ;)
Love,
Hermana Jones

Fotos
1- My ¨hijitas¨and I (Hna. Reed and Hna. Malhue). By the way, Hna Reed got transferred from Nuñez to Vicente Lopez (my 1st area) as senior comp! You go girl! I mean sister.
2- my old district (I know with the palm trees it looks like we´re in paradise. That´s just Zarate for ya)
3- my new ¨hijita¨ Hna. Hill and I - right now writing you all

martes, 6 de septiembre de 2011

Hello!
Hey! Well, I have sad news. Hna. Malhue went to Ushuaia. She is so awesome. I already miss her a TON! Transfers are today and she is headed out on a flight this afternoon. She is going to be with Hna. Gonzalez, the first comp I trained. Now I am in Nuñez again waiting for my new comp with Hna. Cariola. They don´t come til tomorrow. I don´t know yet if she is ´merican or latina. She will be fresh from the MTC. We are still going to be in Zarate luckily, now that I have managed to learn the area.

This week was a great mail/email week.
Thanks to Brittney and Courtney! I got your letter Court, and Britt thanks for the email.
No worries, I knew you´d be super busy with the wedding. I LOVE the picture you sent. You are super beautiful! That´s also cool you know my cousin. You probably know him better than I do...

Well this week was a little crazy, but I think I can travel anywhere in Argentina now without problems. We had to go to Migrations because my Argentina ID is only good for a year and I had to renew it. That was a long day. We had to get up and leave at 4:30 in the morning. Then friday they called us to go to the mission home for a ¨special meeting¨. I had no clue what it was for, but we went and President told us, well all the senior comps, you will be training starting next week. So we new on friday that Hna. Malhue was leaving. I guess I´ll have to fill you all in next week about who my comp is since I don´t know yet.

We found a new investigator that is pretty awesome. Her name is Beatriz and we even got her to church (on the back of my bike, and she is like 70 years old... haha). She would get baptized now, but she lives with this guy. She says he´s a big jerk and wants to get away, but she has no where to go, and can´t get baptized because she needs to live the law of chastity... anyways, lots of work to do there!

This week poor Hna Malhue crashed twice on her bike, and within 15 min. The first time happened because she doesn´t have very good eye sight and it was started to get dark and there was a big hole in the ground, a pit that she didn´t see. I didn´t see it, but I heard her call out Hermana Jones! and when I looked back she was on the ground. Then, just after that we were biking downtown more and a parallel parked car opened the door right into her. Luckily she is fine and the only damage suffered is the basket on the front got crunched. I am sure going to miss her. We had some great times together and worked super hard. I know she is going to do great things in her mission. She is ready to do whatever. She is going to baptize all of Ushuaia. I love her attitude.

The biggest thing I learned with her was the importance of charity and love. I feel like my love for the people, my companions, and the Savior has grown so much in the past 6 weeks. I also yesterday was contemplating a lot during the sacrament. The sacrament really is the only time we have in the mission for ourselves. It is so important to take the sacrament with the right attitude and give an accounting to the Lord daily. I felt so strongly when I saw Beatriz´s face when she took the sacrament. Her smile and I could tell the Lord loves her and wants her to be happy. I hope we can help her get out of the house she is living in and she gets baptized soon.

I hope I can help my new companion with lots of patience and love. Sometimes I feel like I have no patience at all, but I am working on it.

This week Hna. Malhue and I started making up some, ´You know you´re in Zarate if....¨ and that was fun. I´ll share some now.
You know you´re in Zarate if more people travel by motorcycle/scooter than in cars
You know you´re in Zarate if you see a goat, cow, and horse stray walking down the same street
You know you´re in Zarate if all the active members of your ward are somehow related
You know you´re in Zarate if a rat runs through your lesson right when the spirit is the strongest

HNA PAYNE!!!!
There´s a new sister missionary that got here last transfer that is from Formosa and she knows you! She told me all about you and how you go home in December. haha. She is Hna. Hermosa. She is in my Zone!

Well, thats it for this week! Hope all are doing well and that school goes well this semester! Happy Labor Day!
Love,
Hermana Jones


NOTICE: This email message is for the sole use of the intended recipient(s) and may contain confidential and privileged information. Any unauthorized review, use, disclosure or distribution is prohibited. If you are not the intended recipient, please contact the sender by reply email and destroy all copies of the original message.

lunes, 29 de agosto de 2011




Hola!
Well, this week we found lots of new investigators so that´s the good news. We are struggling to get them progressing. Getting people to church is rough, but I know we can do it! We just have to keep on working!

GOOD LUCK IN SCHOOL THIS WEEK TO EVERYONE!!!!

Anyways, we visited Carlina, a grandma in our ward and she took us out right then and there to visit her friends. That was cool. She is funny.

We have a mission rule that our cell phones have to be in our ´socks´ for safety, but that doesn´t work so well as sisters. I sent a pic.
It´s almost september, I can´t believe how fast time flies!
It is starting to get quite a bit warmer out now. Yesterday I just wore a sweater. It´s crazy how fast and drastically the weather changes day to day. Last week it was super cold as you can see from the picture.

This week we had interviews with President. That was great as always. I love all there is to learn. We practices asking for references and this week after that we have received so many that we don´t have time to contact them all. Pretty awesome.
This week I studied 1 Kings 17. I love this chapter when the widow and her son are about to die. When they give the last bit of their food to a servant of the Lord. He even asks to be served first. They then see the blessings. The Lord requires sacrifice to be able to bless us. Many people do not understand that concept, but I know the Lord always comes through. This past sunday in church there were double the members (51) in attendance than from the first week I was here (23). I am happy to see progress. Little by little. Now I am just dying to baptize!

Well, hopefully everyone has a great week!
Love,
Hermana Jones

lunes, 22 de agosto de 2011

Hola! HAPPY BIRTHDAY MELINA!!!!!!!
Well, this was a long week, but all is going well. I have no clue what happened to Ivana but we haven´t seen her since wednesday. I think her Mom got into her head or something, but I hope that after her surgery she decides to talk to us again.

Yesterday was Kid´s Day here in Argentina!!! They have huge partys in parks and places like that for all the kids. It was kind of crazy. Yesterday was kind of a slow day, we were having a hard time finding investigators to teach, especially since this past week almost all of our investigators dropped us. Then a miracle happened. We decided we needed to visit a lady we had contacted last week and she invited us in. It was great. We taught an entire lesson and it is incredible what questions she had. We put a baptismal date with her and her son, so now we just need to get them to church. She asked why they are so many churches and said there should be one true path. Also, she wanted to know how the truth could be brought back to it´s perfect form if so many people have gone changing things and doing things how they want. She said that she doesn´t go to church and doesn´t want to go to a church, because she feels closer to God in her own home and doesn´t feel like going to something created by men is going to help her. She´s golden. She still has tons of doubts and questions, but hey, we have someone interested!

This week we had leadership training at the mission offices and we also had our district meeting in San Pedro, which is close to the mission Rosario. (It borders it) That was fun. Lots of traveling. I got mail too! Thanks for the letters!
Also, thanks Fergusons and the YW for the package! This week we have interviews with President. I am excited for that. He always makes you feel so good and inspires you to do better.
This week I was thinking about my level of dedication to the work and in general. It is so important to dedicate everything, all I have to the Lord. I always felt like I was pretty dedicated to the Lord, but I know I can do better.
Well, today I am going to write lots of letters, today the mail place won´t be open since yesterday was a holiday, but check your mail boxes in a few weeks!

We still haven´t moved. The offices are kind of slow in telling us what to do and if they have figured things out yet, but I´m sure since it´s almost the end of the month, they will tell us soon when we´re moving. Our apartment is gross, and full of bugs, so I look forward to moving with great anticipation! But hey, we have bikes, I can´t complain!

Everything is going great with the bikes! It sure made me sore the first few days, but now I feel much better. Don´t worry I´m getting in some good curb hopping and there´s even a good decent on a very rocky, dirt road down to a villa where I can practice the braking application and having my weight back over the rear tire. :) We sure do get some funny looks because first of all, we bike in skirts, and second of all bike helmets pretty much don´t exist here. Everyday someone asks us why we use a helmet. I learned I have good reflexes as I almost had an movie like accident when we were biking down a busy street ¨downtown¨when a parallel parked car door opened right in front of me as I was going top speed. Luckily I swerved.

Well, this week should be pretty awesome! I´ll keep you all updated! I love you all!

Love,
Hermana Jones

lunes, 15 de agosto de 2011







Hola familia!
Well, this week was pretty hectic but all is going great. We were informed this week we have to move as our contract in our apartment ends this month. So, we had to find a house and move by the end of the month. I wasn´t sure what to do since first of all, we´re new here in Zarate and second, I have never had to find a house to live in in a foreign country... haha. Well we are still in the process, but I think we found a nice little house thats brand new that the offices will approve. The rent is super cheap too. $250 a month.

Anyways, we finally had investigators in church! If all goes as planned Sunday, Ivana will be baptized. She is an investigator we found week before last. Her brother Diego is a little bit handicapped mentally and wants to get baptized too, but their mom won´t let him, she is super catholic. Pray for Ivana. Also the next day she goes in for surgery to get kidney stones removed or something like that.

We got the bikes finally!!! I´ll send some pictures. Also, monday we went to the river and used the elders bikes that we transferred to some other elders that didn´t have bikes. I´ll send pictures of that too.
We are planning an open house in the chapel, and for that we are going to make some big posters about families and we decided it´s better to use actual pictures of actual members (mostly less active and converts) to get people interested. So we have been taking lots of pictures the last couple weeks.

All is going better and better each week, now I just want to get people baptized already!!!

HAPPY ANNIVERSARY MOM and DAD!!!!! 24 YEARS!!!

Melina - enjoy your party!!!
Katie - enjoy your lack of wisdom tooth ;) sorry I won´t be there this time to change the gause

Love,
Hermana Jones

lunes, 8 de agosto de 2011

Hola!
This week went quite well I would say. My companion is pretty awesome. She is super super chilena. She is changing my accent a ton! She has a way of telling people they need to repent and go to church without offending, but she is super direct and teaches with so much love and with the spirit. I love her. I am already learning so much from her. She is honestly changing my mission. I know without a doubt we are going to have so much success and I feel like personally I have changed so much just in 2 weeks being with her. This week she put her first baptismal date. She was super nervous but she did it soooo well. We have a great companionship and she really likes me and looks up to me, which I find funny because she is the one doing the training... Anyways.

Great news, I know you were all dying to hear. Today we took out the money to get our awesome single speed, back peddle braking bikes. Im not sure what day, but this week we will have bikes!! I am so excited. Its been way too long. I will send pics of that for sure next week! We will be the only sisters on bikes in the whole mission! Our zone is the only zone I think with bikes. Love it!

Yesterday the funniest thing happened. Well, I thought it was funny anyways... We went to go visit Gustavo and Luisa (a mom and her paralyzed son) who we are teaching. They are super cool and open with us. We got there are there was who we thought was their friend, Esperanza there. We start talking to her, super nice, she tells us she always wanted to be a missionary and dedicate her time to serving the Lord. We were about jumping out of our seats excited to share the book of mormon with her and tell her how she could. We start to talk to her about the Book of Mormon and she starts asking a bunch of questions comparing it to the Bible, then suddenly gets up and says shes going to be late and runs out of the house. On her way out she says to Luisa, how could you do this to me? You guys betrayed me! and she slams the door. Hna. Malhue and I were so confused. Then Luisa and Gustavo tell us she was a Jehovahs Witness missionary. hahahaahahaaa. I had no idea. I thought we were going to have a baptism for sure, but no not even close haha. Usually its easy for me to spot them and tell who they are but she was not your typical JW missionary. Anyways... Thats the funny story for today. I think were going to go explore by the river today. I love Zarate. Its super chill and the members are great.

This week my companion shared an awesome scripture with me that we are using ALL the time. Ether 12:4. It is so great. Its so perfect for our area. We have to have the hope for a better world and I love how it anchors us and keeps us firm and strong. Our ward is really suffering. All the less actives are offending. No one likes the bishop, there are so many problems. The counselors in the bishopric are inactive, if that tells you anything... and theyre RMs. We just have so much work to do, and so little time. We have to change the culture in this ward, change the way they think, because just 3 or 4 years ago it wasnt how it is now. There was lots of active members, lots of activities and lots of happiness. We are now planning an open house in the chapel and its going to be the best open house ever.

Oh and this week we ate liver. It wasnt too bad.

Tomorrow for district meeting we have to go to San Pedro which is another 2 hours north. The district leader Elder Beck was nice to come here for 2 weeks since we are new and learning everything, but now we get to go up there. I am excited. Well, I love you all so much!!! I will write more next week and send pics.

Love,
Hermana Jones


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lunes, 1 de agosto de 2011

Hola!
Well, I am still alive! I am here in Zárate and after about 45 minutes of walking around town, we found a place with internet! The great news is I love the area and my companion seems pretty cool too. It is super small town here with lots of small houses. Nothing like Belgrano which is one of the richest areas in the capital! I am still going through culture shock. The people here are a lot nicer and friendlier. You say hi to people in the street and they actually respond! My companion is from Chile! Her name is Hna. Malhue and she is from a tiny pueblo Buin, that is a part of Santiago. She is my 6th companion and 3/6 have been from Chile, Go Back! She speaks spanish great and teaches great. I really can´t complain. She is also super good at imitating my american accent. :)

Well, this has definitely been a learning experience.
So, we got to the apartment tuesday night, which was a huge mess and super dirty, and found the area book (which hadn´t been updated since may) and a map. Then we called the bishop (who was out of town until later in the week). We still haven´t quite figured out who all their investigators were, but we did get permission to call the Elder that was here and ask him about them. He just told us of two families we should keep teaching.

Yesterday, we almost had a baptism. It was going to be a miracle. We found a part member less active family on wednesday, and they have a son that´s 10 that isn´t baptized. We put a baptismal date for sunday, but then a bunch of complications arose and he didn´t make it. Hopefully we can get baptizing soon. This last week we spent most of the time trying to find and meet converts from the last year and the investigators.

The ward is way different than Nuñez as well. There are hundreds of members on the ward list, but yesterday there were only 20-25 people there. There are very few active families. We have lunch with the same families every week, I am glad they are super nice here and want to feed us every week.
President said it was inspired that he sent us here. I definitely felt that this week as well. Everyday at least one person (convert, less active, active) told us they thought it was great and inspired that hermanas are here now because the ward needs a lot of help. The bishop also seems to be happy and we both had to speak in church yesterday on the spot. The chapel is super tiny though so it was not as scary. Also, speaking in public doesn´t really make me as nervous as it used to.

The area itself is pretty big, and actually we have bike! I am in a bike area!!!! But, the sad news is we can´t use them with skirts because the top tube is too high. Saddest thing ever. We are trying to talk president into letting us buy other bikes. There isn´t the public transportation here like in capital so we have been walking between 100-200 blocks a day. We´ll see how that goes.

Well, the showers are cold, we have about 1 minutes of warm water, but I´m just the glad people are nice and my companion is super nice. I like being in an area that´s not so crazy busy and full of people running everywhere with high rise apartment buildings. It´s like a nice breath of fresh air here. It will be even nicer when we get baptizing tons of people!!! and activating all this less active and PART MEMBER families!!! Well, I´m sure I´ve forgotten to say a lot of things, but I´ll write again soon. Like in a week. Chau!

Love,
Hermana Jones


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lunes, 25 de julio de 2011

Hola!
First things first, happy birthday saturday Mom!!! I love you.

Well, I am being transferred to an area called Zarate. It is the furthest north area in the mission and I think it´s like 2 hours away from Capital. It is very rural I have heard, so it is going to be very different. I am very excited about that part. The not so exciting part is that we are opening a new area to sisters. There were Elders there before, and they´ve never had sisters there. To top it all off, I am training. I receive my new companion tomorrow. I don´t know where she is from yet, but I´ll fill you all in next week. I talked to President this morning and he says it was inspired and I´ll do great, however, needless to say, I am a little bit nervous right now and I think this will be a huge learning experience. I plan on finding a ward list somewhere in the apartment and hopefully finding out where the bishop lives and going straight to his house.

Everything went awesomely this week in Nuñez. We are having more success then ever before. We have 5 people we are teaching (at least) that are getting ready to be baptized and we had 5 investigators in the chapel, which for being in Belgrano in Capital is almost a miracle. They will be having lots of baptisms this coming transfer. Hna Reed will keep working with them. Her new companion is Hna. Cariola from Chile. They´ll be a good companionship. Hna. Cariola is quite different from me so I´m excited for Hna. Reed because she is going to keep learning a lot. She really has grown a ton. She has a lot of drive and really desires to have success.

My mind is pretty much blank as to everything else I was going to say this week. I am sure going to miss Nuñez. I loved the members and everyone I met there. Being there 6 months, I made a lot of friendships and met lots of people that I´m sure I´ll keep in contact with. Well, that´s pretty much all I´ve got for now. I am exhausted. Oh, and this week the lock on our apartment door broke and we didn´t get in to the apartment til 12am that night, not last night but the night before. That was a pain. Also, last night because of transfers I was up packing. I think I´m going to go sleep now. Also, I´ve had a bad cold all week I´ve been fighting.

I love you all!
Hermana Jones

lunes, 18 de julio de 2011


Hola!
Qué tal familia!? Well, all is well here. Ezequiel got confirmed yesterday, and it was awesome. He said he felt an immediate difference. Yesterday we taught a family that he found for us, that was pretty cool and they said they´re going to go to church on sunday! We need to get more investigators in church. I´m tired of having 2 or so, I want to get up past 5 or so.

Last monday I got my hair trimmed. Finally. It was the first time in the mission. I also got a perm straight, to try it. It actually turned out pretty good. Now my hair is straight, and the only maintenance is you have to blow dry it when it gets wet. That will probably last about 5 months or so, so about til I get home. My hair is getting super long, it looks even longer now that it´s straight, even though I cut it. I think it´s lots cheaper here too. The only down side is the lady burned my head, because the chemicals are strong and she has to blow dry it lots, so my scalp didn´t like that, but my hair is healthier than ever, because supposedly the chemicals help the hair.

This week we got fed ridiculous amounts of food, I´m going on a diet now. (That is pretty much impossible). Saturday for example, everyone we visited gave us food. We ate mondongo, chicken, rice, all sorts of stuff. Sometimes if it´s someone that knows us well, we can just say no, and they won´t get offended, but other times they do, so you always have to be really careful. Converts, investigators, everyone wants to feed us here. I need to lose some weight. Now I understand why Sister missionaries always gain weight on the mission. It´s harder than you would think to turn food down. It´s like turning service down and then they feel like they can´t ever help you again. Tough situation, but hey at least I don´t have to buy much food here... :)

So, it´s looking like this may be my last week here in Nuñez. In fact, I´d be really suprised if it wasn´t. I´m going to miss it here so much. I love my companion, I love the ward and the members. Even if capital is a little more difficult and the people aren´t as open and warm and friendly as they are in other areas, I have sure grown to love it. I just love saying hi to the same people in the street and talking to people and meeting new people. Nuñez has sure changed me. Just in this last week I learned so much about having a love for the people. The Lord loves the people, so why shouldn´t I? I feel like I learn life lessons everyday. Ezequiel told me I need to express my personal experiences more to investigators to help them gain a testimony instead of just testifying. I have lots of humbling experiences everyday, and that was definitely one of them... haha. I´m proud of him, he is becoming a great missionary already, and he still has a year before he will leave on his full time mission.

Well, who knows where I´ll be writing from next week, but I love you all and I hope you all have a safe and productive week.
Love,
Hermana Jones

PD: the pictures are:
- Sarita and the flower stand (that creeper in the back is Ezequiel) I have known Sara since february. She is a super nice Peruana that we are friends with.
-My new hair cut

lunes, 11 de julio de 2011



Mom, please start forwarding my email to Daniella Rivera dani.riverag@gmail.com

Hola!
This week I think pictures speak louder than any words I could type. Ezequiel got baptized and all went just great. He´s got a powerful testimony and is already finding us new investigators and setting us appointments with them.
Now we are working with a lady named Dolly. She is great and has a strong testimony. The only thing is she works on sundays. She lives with a super old lady and takes care of her. She needs to talk to her boss and get that figured out, but she is kind of a timid person, so we are trying to help her overcome that. She was an old investigator for a couple of years ago that we found in the area book. I have seen lots of success working with the area book. Anyways, I´ll keep ya´ll updated on her progress.
Other than that things are going great. I´m trying to think of funnny or interesting stories to tell to make my letters more interesting.
This week, because we had a baptism sunday we faced some good opposition. Lots of rejection, or more than usual. Knocking doors, with our investigators, everything. We had 3 investigators drop us. Usually we´re the ones to drop investigators when they don´t progress, but they just flat out told us no. One is kind of a funny story, I guess haha. Two girls names Oriana and Mikaela. We went to stop by and verify their reading we had left in the Book of Mormon. They´re 13 and 14 years old and very outgoing, confident, think they´re all that kind of girls. haha. Well, they tell us, the truth is we aren´t interested in any of this, so don´t waste your time with us. So we talk to them a bit to see if we can change their minds and testify to them, but it´s not going anywhere. So then, we ask to talk to anyone else in the home to see if they´re interested. They say yes, just a minute wait right there, close the door shut, lock it and yell out Chau Hermanas! My companion and I just looked at each other. The two girls felt like they had accomplished an awesome practical joke. We then go up to the next floor to visit another investigator we have in the same building and a couple minutes later we hear them come out and say, hey they left!
Another funny story, that is when this lady offered us tea, and she was definitely not all there in the head... we did explain to her and everything but, long story short we dumped it out the window of the 6 story building. Well, that´s about it for now.
Have a great week! I love you all!
Hermana Jones

Photos
1- everyone in the mormon party bus headed to church, now that we go to a different chapel we all have to take the same bus at the same time since it´s further away
2- bautismo!
3- bautismo!

martes, 5 de julio de 2011