MTC Week 3!

August 12, 2011

Hello everyone!!

So I apologize for forgetting to mention last week that our p-day got changed to Friday because of our new schedule with the Visitors Center training that we started on Wednesday. I felt bad that I couldn't even write to let you know it changed and not to expect an email or letters on Wednesday. Sorry, I'm sure you were all hovered around the computer ALL day anxiously awaiting my email... HAHA! jk!

Alright, here we go... The 3rd week at the MTC has been good! Right when we got into our comfort zone with our schedules and teaching appointments they switched it up on us and moved us into the visiting center training. This past Tuesday all the Elders from our district went to CA! I'm excited and nervous for them! A little nervous because some of them didn't take advantage of the MTC as much as they should've so I hope it's not too big of a wake up call to them when they get into the field. They are all so nice and it's weird not having them around to crack jokes with. I may keep in touch with a couple of them to see how their missions are going. As much as we miss them we had an AMAZING class with just us 4 sisters the day they left. Our teacher, Sister Murray, just taught us sisters and it was by far my most spiritual experience so far at the MTC. I'll tell you a little about it.

The class period mostly focussed on us as missionaries and on Jesus Christ. We watched a movie clip on Christ's life where it showed many of the miracles He performed and also his crucification and resurrection. Watching the miracles Christ performed and seeing the peole's faces of love and grattitude made me cry. (silent tears, not like a baby or anything.) Then also seeing the Savior be crucified because of the love He has for us made me tear up even more. During that clip I just had so much love for Jesus Christ and during moments like that you can't deny that He is real and that the atonement was done out of pure love for us so we can return to Heavenly Father. After the movie our teacher had us write a letter to Jesus Christ expressing our feelings and to write "what we will to do be worthy of being a representative of Christ." So let's just say the tears continued to trickle out during that as well. I have water marks on my letter to prove it. It was an amazing experience I wish I could explain in more detail or clearer but the timer at the top is haunting me. I was just filled with joy and happiness! That was only my 2nd time crying at the MTC. The first was when we watched a video on virtue in our relief society meeting and at one point there were 3 sisters talking about eternal families and then started crying and hugging eachother... that was mean of them to show us that! haha, I couldn't even sing the closing hymn because I was choked up thinking about how much I love my family but specifically my sisters. I love my family and I'm so grateful for all of you! People ask me how it is having divorced parents and 2 big families and I say, I LOVE IT! I have 2 big happy families, doens't get much better than that!" I can tell they are jealous.. lol

So the visitor center training is pretty cool! There are 22 of us Sister missionaries in that class! They said it's one of the biggest classes they've had! It's such a fun and nice group of girls... with LOTS of personality! There are 9 girls going to Temple Sqaure, 3 to the Mormon Batallion, 5 to Winter Quarters (YAY!), and 5 going to Washington D.C.

The class is sometimes kinda funny because we do a lot of role plays... the first day was hilarious to me because we practiced, "Hi! Welcome to the visitors center! My name is sister Jones. What brings you here today?" or something like that. Practiced greatings and then we've learned how to introduce the Christus and carry a discussion about paintings. They don't actually tell us what to say or anything but we have to go with what we feel they may need to here. We've also practiced the referral cards. I'm still getting used to that. A lot of us sisters feel like we don't want to be annoying about it but they are training us a new way to ask people for referrals for their themsevles to hear more info or their friends. They say that it's another way to follow Jesus Christ and invite them learn more from the misssionaries. So we're all getting used to using those. Yesterday we had our first practice where there was a room set up as a visitors center with a Christus (cardboard version) and other paintins/ pictures of Christ, prophets, families, temples, the Book of Mormon and so on. We had 2, 20 minutes lesson/ tours with first a nonmember and then a memeber. Overall it went pretty well! It was interesting because we feel like we weren't prepared much of what to say but you learn as you go and once you get to know the person it flows and you're able to lead them to something that would interest them.

For a while we were eating meals with our zone and hanging out with them. They are a really nice group of Elders! They are pretty goofy though and can be flirty at times as well... so let's just say we've been eating with the Sisters from class a lot more often to avoid that scene. People supposedly like my laugh here... they think it's "hilarous and unique" An Elder even wrote me a note saying that my laugh is the best ever and that it makes him happy. haha! I guess I'll take that as a compliment. Whatever makes people happy i suppose!

So far I've seen 21 people I know here from AZ! That's always fun! My compainion thinks it's funny so she's actually the one keeping count. I talked to Shawn Alt, Colby Denton, Ashley Mitchell (caldwell's friend), Elder Naef, Chelsey Hieker (mark stokers friend), Elder Harris (bryce's bro). along with many others. Elder darrow and elder moore left on tuesday and i literally saw them every day at the MTC. I also got nice and awkward pictures with them befor they left!

Thanks mom for the package you sent me! I have so much junk food now! I really appreciate all the snacks though! Milton and Grace Jones sent me a whole box of cookies too! I'm going to write them a thank you note today because those were really good!

I'm glad everyone in Cedar is having fun!! That's awsome that the whole crew is hanging out there... like jon, caldwell, taylor, and lex. Thanks for keeping me up todate with all of the fun adventures that are happening! You better send me some pictures! :)

SO I leave to Nebraska this Tuesday! August 16th. I get to call home that morning at the airport so be prepared to asnwer the phone anytime betweeen 7:30- 10:00am. My flight is at 10:30 am Utah time! I'm excited to talk to you! I'll probably call mom first and then dad. Hopefully I have enough time! I don't know how much time they allow us to chat.

I can't wait to be in Nebraska! The only things I'm nervous about at the moment is my new companion and the weather. Have I mentioned how much I'm going to love the humidity? I'm already pumping myself up about it... and the cold! :)

Tomorrow (saturday) we are going to the Salt Lake Temple to be missionaries for the day!! They are going to pair us up with a sister that serves there and we get to walk around and teach for the day! I can't wait!! That willl be an awesome experience!

Have a great day I have to go now! Hope everyone is doing well! Talk to you on tuesday!! Remember to wake up and answer the phone! :)

I love you all sooo much!!

Love,

Sister Jones

MTC Week 2!

August 3, 2011

Hi family!!!

I'm so excited I get to write you!! On Tuesdays it takes me forever to fall asleep because I can't stop thinking about what I want to tell you all. Writing once a week is difficult but it's all good. It makes me even more excited for p-day. So i have 30 min, here it goes!

I am still loving the MTC! My experience is getting even better and easier as time goes on. We practice teaching  A TON! We normally teach about 3 different 30 min lessons a day. We practice with the other missionaries, then we have fake investigators that we teach. My companion and I teach about 4 people about twice a week. Even though it's not a real person when you are in the lessons it definitely feels real if you are taking it seriously and it's amazing how strong the Spirit can be. Even when I"m pretending to be an investigator I seriously get really happy and excited when they are teaching a lesson that can be applied to not only my fake characters life but to my own. It's awesome!! Our teacher does lessons with us and pretends to be an investigator with no religous background and after different lessons with him he committed to baptism. It's a really good feeling when somebody commits to follow Jesus Christ and have faith to follow Him. Sister Bergeson and I were so happy and the Spirit was incredible in the room.

We are loving gym. We have an hour each day except for Sunday and Wednesday (p-day). We have a lot of fun playing sand v-ball, normal v-ball in the gym and 4-square. I think 4-squar is the most fun and all my skills for elementary school are coming back!! Not to brag, but i have been doing pretty well and sometimes get to scare the Elders. They stand in line and say, "how are we going to get Sister Jones out?" haha! It's hilarious how intense they get! I'm normally laughing the entire time.

So last week I was given the responsibility of being a Coordinating Sister. That means I take care of all the Sisters in the zone! I make sure everyone is doing well and is keeping the rules. I work with the zone leaders and have a bunch of meetings I get to go to. It's fun! When the leader asked me if i would do this he told me, that basically my job "is to be the happiest person in the zone and be a great example. But you're always smiiling so you've got that down." The branch leaders are older men and they are really nice. On Sunday I had about 4 different meetings so it felt more like my normal SUndays at home. lol. I love Sundays at the MTC though! THey are so relaxing compared to the rest of the week. I also really enjoy the devotionals we have. We get guest speakers every SUnday and Tuesday to speak to us. That's one of my favorite things about the MTC.

My whole district is getting sick... it's no bueno. I think they are coming down with cold-like symptoms. My companion doesn't feel too well right now so we went and got her some meds. My roommates are feeling better now! I've been great except for last Thursday... Ready for a funny but kinda gross story?

Last Thursday I woke up feeling pretty nasty with a bad stomache ache. I thought i would be able to act like nothing was wrong until I started throwing up a bunch. Before breakfast I was throwing up, which was weird because we fasted the day before so i have no idea what I was throwing up. But after it calmed down I went with my comp to breakfast so she could eat. We walk in i hurry to the bathroom and throw up a little. THen sat while she ate and afterwards I thought i could make it back to the room but right when we left the cafeteria I ran to a bush and did my thing right in front of everyone. Sick! then we walked more and I had to hurry to an area where there was grass and flowers. So this happened 3 times outside then I made it to the room and made camp in the community bathrooms. Good times! Looking back it's pretty funny but in the moment it wasn't too fun. I had to miss the first session of classes but slept a bit and felt completely fine after that. My companion was a good sport though she was holding my hair back as I was throwing up outside iin front of everyone. That hasn't happened in a long time! Hopefully your stomache doesn't hurt now. haha!

We had to move 2 floors down yesterday in are living area. It wasn't that bad of a move. With the move I gave Sister Bergeson the bottom bunk since i've had it the rest of the time. I figured we could go half and half. Plus she's not feelign well so the bottom bunk is the least i could do to help her out. Also, our laundry is getting paid for by an elder in our zone because he dared us to eat ketchup covered fruit and we did it. So that's nice we don't have to pay for that. even though it's only 25 or 50 cents.

The sisters in our room love listening to my music! THanks Dad for all of the CD's you gave me!

Also, thanks everybody for the letters and dearelders! It's so good to hear from everybody throughout the week! I get the letters 6 days a week and normally in the afternoon. Our district leaders picks up all our mail and passes it out before class normally. They stilll all make fun of me because of how much mail I get. Then I read who they are all from and it's mostly all family. You are all amazing!

My 2 favorite sciptures for this week are Deuteronomy  31: 6 &8 and 2 Nephi 31:20. These are what I call the HAPPY scriptures. They work really well for people who feel like God isn't listening or doesn't care and just to give people hope and a purpose.

I'll be writing more personal letters later and sending pictures! Finally! Sorry it took so long to do that! Later today we will be going to the temple, doing laundry, writing letters, then class at 6. They don't give us much time to write unfortunately!

Well time is up! Talk to you later! I love you all! :)

Love,

Sister Jones

FIRST LETTER HOME! wooo!!

We received letters yesterday and an email today with an awesome update on Sister Jones at the MTC! Her email is pretty long, but definitely shows her personality and how much fun she is having.  She hasn't been able to send us pictures yet, but I'll post a few from the airport last week when she left. Enjoy her letter!

-Lexi

Officially a Sister Missionary! 

From Sister Jones on July 27, 2011

    So my first week at the MTC was awesome! This week flew by! I have had a ton of awesome experiences so far and have met a lot of people. My first day went really well. I felt comfortable from the start. I was like a giddy little girl being in a new environment with lots of new people to meet. I seriously couldn't stop smiling the whole day. Although I miss the family, I never was sad or had thoughts that I wanted to go home. Sorry guys! haha! But it was a comforting feeling knowing that this is where I'm supposed to be. Some of the other girls were kinda sad the first night and it sounded like when of them was crying when we were laying there at night after lights out. Even though I got 3 hours of sleep the night before I felt wide awake the whole day. What a blessing!! We had an orientation, met our companion and our districit, had a welcome meeting with the other 400 new missionries, had dinner, then called it a night.

    My companion is amazing! Her name is Sister Bergeson and she's from San Bernardino Mountains, California. She is really nice, has a strong testimony, is kinda quiet but I wouldn't classify her as shy. We get along great! She has a great sense of humor as well and laughs at my jokes- so that's a bonus! We have a great time together and really compliment eachother. She thinks it's funny that I talk a lot but likes it because it reminds her of her sister and it helps her feel more comfortable during our lessons. She's cute too! I'll send pictures sometime soon. The place has been closed where we can get pictures printed. What a bummer! She's also serving in my same mission so we get to fly to Nebraska together! Yay!

    I have 2 other roommates and they are really nice as well. Sister Bowers is from New Jersey and Sister Spencer- Kealamakia is from New Zealand. I love her accent. They are both serving at Temple Square! Us 4 girls get along great! Sometimes after we turn the lights off (at 10:30) we stay up talking for a little bit and we all are dying laughing! I was laughing so hard 2 nights ago that I was tearing up. Everybody is hilarious! Especailly Sister Spencer. She's a little more on the loud and outgoing side so normally we are the ones talking the most. Sister Bowers is on the shy side but still is funny. All the Sisters sing "Me and Sister Jones" (Me and Mrs. Jones from MIchael Buble with their own version of the song. It's pretty funny.) Unfortunately both Sister Bowers and Spencer have been sick the past few days. I'm really hoping that my companion and I don't get sick. They've just had to stay in the room for the most part and sleep and study. We bought airborne the other day and are eating healthy so hopefully we avoid that.

    I love our district. This is the group we spend most of our time with and 6 hours of classes with a day! We have 8 elders and then us 4 sister I just mentioned. All of the Elders are serving in Anaheim, CA. They are a nice group of guys and also are really funny! They all have such different experiences and personalities. I feel like they are my little brothers! All of the Elders make fun of me because I have recieved the most mail out of everybody, by far. lol! Even though it's all mostly from the family (good job guys! Keep it up!) they still make fun of me saying I have a ton of guys waiting for me and what not. Two people from my district have a connection to Cedar City: Elder Taylor Tait is from Cedar and had Jeff as his institute teacher! Pretty cool! Alex, do you know Elder Zane Hales? He went to SUU his freshman year. Alot of the other Elders are from Norther Utah.

    The 2nd day at the MTC they already had us teaching. I was pretty nervous but it went well! We do a TON of roleplays where we partner up with another companionship and one set pretends they are investigators and the other set teaches them the first lesson: about how God loves us, how we can pray to Heavenly Father, how the gospel blesses families, how we have prophets, talk about Christ on earth, the apostacy, the restoration and then the Book of Mormon. After a week my companion and I can comfortably and more confidently teach the first lesson to people. We also have to give lessons to people who volunteer or are paid to be an investigator. We roleplay by knocking on the door, getting to know them, and teaching them a lesson. The first couple days I would get nervous beforehand but now it's a lot easier and more natural.

    The food is awesome! I don't know why people compain about it! It's WAY better than the food I would be making myself at my apartment. My companion and I have been eating pretty healthy so far! Lots of salads! But they always have a good variety of food. Every now and then we'll have some pasta or a burger.

SO far i have seen about 11 people I know! Kailei SHelley, kevin Rowse, Day twins, Carlini, Rex Bale and Jepson plus others i can't think of.

    The only time I ever think about technology like phones or the internet is when I can't think of a scripture reference to a scripture I really want to find! haha! Other than that we don't even have time to think about things outside of the gospel and the MTC. They keep us super busy!

We wake up at 6, have personal study for an hour, have class for 3 hours, lunch for an hour, gym for an hour, then class for 3 hours, and personal study, dinner, and then meet with the zone and do role plays. It's not always in that order though. That's what we do but the order mixes up each day. THere's really no free time except around 9:30 where we can then get ready for bed, write in our journal, and plan for the next day. Some days can be kind of stressful but by the end of the day when you look back it seems to have gone by incredibly fast.

I love the gospel and I truly love Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ. I love teaching people of these truths, even if they are just pretend people. Well time is up! thanks for all of your letters, love and support! I have the best family ever!! Please send this to Dave and other family that I didn't have their emails saved to the system. I love you all!!

Talk to you next week!

Love,

 Sister Jones

Nebraska, here I come!!!

Guess what?! My mission call arrived June 9, 2011!

Out of all of the guesses that were made I don't think anybody even came close to where I am going! haha!

(Nice try everybody!)

 Can I get a drum roll please...

I got called to the Nebraska Omaha Mission and am assigned to serve in the Mormon Trail at Historic Winter Quarters Site!! I report July 20th!

 

I could not be more excited!! Not only do I love the randomness of Nebraska but I especially love church history so I know that being at Winter Quarters will be an amazing experience. I have heard wonderful things about this historical sight and many people have told me it is one of their favorite church sites where they have felt the spirit so strong. I can't wait to be in such a wonderful environment teaching the gospel AND learning/ teaching church history!!

I opened my call with my amazing family and friends. I am so grateful for all of the love and support I have received! It was such an unreal experience opening the letter and finally knowing where I would be serving. I had a feeling I would be called to a state in the mid-U.S. and even told my mom that before everybody came over. It was thrilling reading the paper but honestly I wasn't very nervous beforehand. Maybe this was because it still didn't seem real but more than likely it was because I was fine with wherever I would go because that is where I'm supposed to be. Overall I think this is an awesome mission and I am pumped!!

This is me reading my letter to my family who was together around the computer in Utah!  That was really neat to see my  close and extended family all together to support me, even if it was through skype. For a while afterwards Lex just sat on the computer talking to some of our friends who were there. She was sad she had to miss out on the fun!

I am so grateful for my mom and everything she has done to help me with my mission! She is amazing!

Only 1 week left and I will be reporting to the MTC!! I am so excited to serve the Lord and be a full-time missionary! The blog will now be taken over by my mom and my sister, Lexi. They will try to keep you informed of my experience in Nebraska while I'm serving as a Sister missionary! Thank you for all of the love and support I have received throughout this entire experience. I seriously have the best friends and family and feel incredibly blessed!