Week 57

September 25, 2012

Hello everyone!!

Happy last week of September!! This month has literally flown by! Fall is definitely coming fast! Earlier this week it was getting cold and so I pulled out my long sleeved shirts and am gearing up for the fall/ winter! I thought I was being all prepared and wore a long sleeve shirt to the pumpkin patch that we went to with a group of other sisters today and then i was super hot because randomly it jumped up to 80 degrees! Nebraska weather is very unpredictable. The leaves just starting to turn colors! It makes me sooo happy!! If only the leaves could turn colors without the weather changing... I'll keep dreaming!

Oh goodness, I can't even describe what is going on lately. We have been teaching a ton and right now we have 13 people set to be baptized in October!!! These are mostly all people we've found this past month. I feel like Heavenly Father is directly over us literally pouring out blessings with a huge bucket! I have never taught this much and this many people at one time on my mission. It's the best!! I'll try and hit some of the highlights for you.. just know my emails do not give anybody or any lesson the justice it deserves. I wish I could just go around and record my life so you could understand what we do and how amazing being a missionary is.

On Wednesday I was on exchanges, Sister Graham came to the area and Sister Jarman went to another area. So Sister Graham and I just got done with a dinner apt and as we were leaving there was a man sitting out on his porch. We went over and talked to him and after about 5 min of him telling us about his life he came out and said he is mormon but hasn't gone to church since he was about 17, he's now probably 45. It was awesome! I had a great chat with him while Sister Graham was talking to a woman that was walking right next to us. We were back to back teaching/ talking to different people. Basically the guy i was talking to wants to look back into coming to church and the woman Sis G was talking to wants to learn about the  gospel and wants to come closer to God. We had a prayer with all of them together before we took of. Then we went to go visit a guy but he wasn't home but his bro was and so we talked to him and his wife, taught them about the BofM, read a scripture, had a discussion, said a prayer, and set up an appointment with them. So cool! THEN right when we are leaving the house there is a guy walking his baby in a stroller. I had a very strong impression we needed to talk to him so I signaled to Sis G that we needed to cross the street and speed up to talk to him. haha! Creepy? maybe. :) We hustle up and start talking to him and he was like, "oh hey! I've actually been wanting to meet with missionaries again! My wife is mormon and doesn't go to church and I learned a few years ago!" Too good to be true. Happy day!! We talked to him and had a good discussion. That's steven. I have such a strong testimony about talking to everyone and that Heavenly Father places prepared people in our path!

Continuing on with that last part. We went back to meet Steven and his wife the next day and he had already read the chapter that we left him in the BofM and prayed about it. He said he feels really good about diving in and learning and said he wants to be baptized. His wife also thinks she should go back to church. They know that it will bless their family and make them better people. They are younger and have a one year old son. Cute and nice family!

Beccard family- The wife is also Less-active and Steven is her husband. Steven and her 3 boys are learning and the older ones are set for baptism. So exciting! Their whole family came to church on Sunday!! YAY!!! That''s the best thing ever. Steven is working on quitting smoking and we're going over the No Smoking program today that helps people overcome their addictions.

Monica is someone worth mentioning. She is someone i randomly met in the hallway a couple weeks ago and we went back to talk to her the other day and she immediatley let us in to visit. We had a great lesson with her and she was very open saying she's tried out many churches but hasn't found the right one yet. We shared the Book of Mormon with her and read a scripture she said that she felt very good about it and got the chills. She definitely felt the Spirit and she's very excited to learn. She even brought up baptism herself and said that she wants to work towards that. Perfect! That's exactly what we do as missionaries! :)

We are so blessed! It's tricky because we also share our area with a set of elders and it's sad because they hardly teach anybody. We give them people to try to help them out but they still don't find very many people. We feel bad because there is a big difference between the work we are doing and what they area coming up with. Might be a mix of not vey strict obedience on their part and not being very bold when talking to people. I think it might be easier being a sister missionary as well because we are more friendly and inviting, not quite as intimidating as elders may be in white shirt and tie. I'll keep praying for them that they also will find people to teach. :)

Well so much more is taking place but those are the main people. Jamara is also doing awesome and says she feels like she has received her answer that the church is true. Yay! She is amazing! She watched the restoration DVD several times after we left her place and talked about joseph smith. She said she "loves it and that it's very enlightening!"

Love you all!

Have a great day!

Love,

Sister Jones