Week 40

May 21, 2012

Hello to the greatest family in the world!

How are you all doing today? Hope everybody is doing well!

I attached a few pictures for you all!

Some are from dressing up as pioneers and others are from when we went to see Boys Town last week for preparation day. Boys Town is an incredible place where youth go who come from broken homes and families. They have their own little community in Omaha with a school, churches, foster homes, and some other things that I can't remember right now. It's incredible! A lot of us trail center sisters were able to take a tour there. You should definitely look it up online and learn more about it. I would love to work at a place like that! I have a picture of the cathedral and also a collection of about 4 million stamps in a ball (or some large number like that). Pretty exciting!

This week we worked A LOT at the trail center! I had some cool experiences there! One was with a woman named Anna who is not a member of the church and from out of state. She was incredibly nice and she is at a hard point in her life where she has a lot of major decisions ahead of her. We had some great conversations relating to the gospel and the pioneers. She felt so connected with them and could relate to their hard experiences. During the tour I read her a scripture, 2 Nephi 31:20, and she absolutely loved it! At the end of the tour she asked if she could have a Book of Mormon to read. I am very excited to be able to follow up and see how she enjoys her reading and also see how her prayers are going to know if it's true.

I also took a really sharp family who were also not members of the church. They had 4 kids and they were all sooo smart! The 7th grader knew all about the pioneers because she loves to read. When I told them they could dress up like pioneers for the tour they went crazy and got incredibly happy! (Kind of like me when I found out I could dress up like a pioneer for the parade. haha! Just kidding) On tour I was able to share with the family and Joseph Smith's experience when he prayed and was visited by Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ. It was a neat and powerful experience. The Spirit was definitely there. They too left with a Book of Mormon but weren't interested in having the missionaries come visit them at this point. There was a big seed planted from that experience. The girls were so sweet too, in the middle of the tour the 6 year old randomly runs up and hugs me as I'm speaking. Then before they were leaving the 10 year old hugs me and says, "I love you!" There was a group of young single adults that had just walked in when that happened and they all went, "Awww, how cute!" Yeah, my heart melted a little bit. I just love kind and respectful children. :)

We had zone conference this week as well! The main focus was repentance. They discussed how we can help our investigators (and ourselves) better understand and apply the repentance process into our lives. Repentance is so key in our lives because it's the only way we can progress in this life and prepare to live with our Father in Heaven. That's ultimately what this life is about so repenting is incredibly important! We also got to do some really good role plays where we could teach half our lessons. It was great and reminded me of the MTC! :)

 A scripture that I really like that has stood out to me recently is: In John 16:33 the Savior says, "These things I have spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world." We read this scripture to Nancy the other day and she broke out into tears. It's powerful to know that the Savior really can relate to and understand any pain that we experience in this life. (Nancy is the woman who lost her 22 year daughter last month.) I just love this scripture! I wish I had more time so I could elaborate on it a little more.

I just wanted to invite you all to read from your scriptures... today! :) I have grown a deep love for the scriptures and I know that we can receive greater direction and peace in our lives as we study them diligently and apply them to our lives. Let me know what you studied or what you are currently studying! Thanks!!

Jones family- I'm excited to read your mormon.org profiles! (this is just a reminder to do them.) Love you all!

Thanks for being so great and supportive! You are all amazing!

Love always,

Sister Jones