October 7, 2013

 

This week has been a good one. I feel like I am getting the routine of missionary life down a little better. I feel like I know my way around our area much better than before. The first week I felt like a little puppy following my companion around. This week I find myself leading the way sometimes. Language is hard. Right now I think what is holding me back is the fear of making mistakes, or saying the wrong thing. But let’s be real, that is the only way I am going to learn the language. You have to speak it to learn it. For the most part I understand all that is going on. I just don’t say much. At the beginning of the week Hermana Goodfellow stayed with us and we were in a trio because her comp had to go to Huancayo. It was fun having 3 of us. It was my companions Birthday this week. We had some of the R.S. sisters in the ward come and sing to her. They cracked an egg on her head and smashed the cake in her face haha. I guess that is what they do here for your birthday. I was glad I left the day after mine haha. The members here are awesome. We have a lot of less actives though. Also we don’t have a phone so that makes things interesting. My companion is the best. I just love her. I need to be more patient with myself. She is so good with me. Conference was AMAZING! At first we didn’t think that we would be able to go on Saturday and we thought it would all be in Spanish. But Hermana Goodfellow makes things happen and my mission president is awesome. We were able to go on Saturday and I was able to watch it in English. We had to watch one session in Spanish. It was really hard to understand. The Lord really blessed us to be able to watch the rest in English. It was just what I needed; it was cool hearing all about missionary work. I know that I am doing the right thing in my life right now. I love this gospel with all my heart! David McConkies talk was really good; he said a lot of things I needed to hear. I loved them all though! Anyway I love you so much !

 

Hermanita Jones

 

 

October 14, 2013

 

My week went well! We had zone conference and interviews with President Henderson. My interview with President Henderson went well. I really like him, I feel like he is just really relatable. He asked me how things are going; I said that they were going good. Then he said, "No really how are things going?" I laughed and said that that things are going good, at times it is really hard, the language is super hard, but life is good. I am in a great area and I love my companion. Life is good. He said that he was really proud of me and that I had a good positive attitude. He assured me that all my insecurities  and problems with the language are normal. He said that normally at this time in a mission people are crying and having doubts about being here. I told him crying is a normal thing for me (lately it has been from laughing at all of my silly mistakes with Spanish) but I love it here and I am planning to stay here for a while. =)

 

I was going to number the awkward moments on my mission but I haven’t had that many, and if I had it is because I don’t know the language. So I think I will do gringa moments instead. Basically white girl moments and awkward moments mixed

=Gringa moment for the week=

I was reading in preach my gospel with my companion and I read this, " Usted es el medio del que Dios se vale para Ayudar a sus hijos" (translation= you are the instrument that God uses to help his children) Instead of saying medio I said miedo.  This translates to fear. So basically I said that we are the fear that God uses to help his Children. I laughed really hard. =) gotta love it.

 

The most spiritual experience this week was probably the spirit that I felt while teaching. Every time we teach the spirit just testifies to my heart that the things we are teaching are true. I love it.

 

There are a lot of little kids in my ward, this week during sacrament meeting I sat by one of them. He was being super disruptive because he is not use to going to church. So I pulled out a sticky note and had him draw me a picture. When he was done drawing it I had him color his picture with one color. Then when he was done I pulled out another color. This lasted for all of sacrament meeting. =)

I haven’t been in primary yet. I will let you know when I do.

 

I feel like I have gotten use to the mission schedule. We do SO much during the day. Lots and lots of walking. I am pretty tired at the end of each day. One day I was writing in my journal around 9:40 and I fell asleep. It took a while for my companion to wake me up haha. I was out.

 

Sometimes I really dislike Spanish. It is super hard. But I know later I will love it and I will want to speak it all the time. I am looking forward to that day. I just need to work hard and be patient.

 

This week we had some grand accomplishments

1. BIG NEWS! I finally got the whole Latino snap thing down. (Where your index finger hits your other finger and makes a snap sound) I have been practicing for a while hahaI am one step closer to being a Peruvian! =)

 

2. Biggest news... MY FIRST Bautismo!!! His name is Brandon. He is 15 years old and is a good kid. This next week we have one more baptism, Louis (a 13 year old boy). The work is going really well! The members here are so willing to work hard with us. Most of our investigators are references from members.

 

My companion is working on her English. We have decided that I will read things in Spanish and she will read them in English. It is nice because I don’t feel so dumb being the only one that struggles with a language.

 

The area is beautiful. Our area goes all the way up until La Merced... so we have lots of back dirt roads.

 

Hermana Jones

 

 

 

October 21, 2013

 

It has been sooo hot here in San Ramón. I love it when it rains because it cools me down. My favorite is when it rains and the sun is still shining bright. It is like God is crying because he is happy. Love it. My rain jacket works well, I just don’t use it much because it is so hot. I am sure in cooler places I will use it more.

 

I feel like I don’t ever have enough study time haha. In the mornings we have 1 hour for personal study, 1 hour for companion study (we normally role-play the things we are going to teach... I hate role plays.. but they are good for me ) 1 hour of language study, and 1 hour for training. This past week we hadn’t been able to do all of our study time because we had other things we had to do, like district meeting and whatnot. We have zone conference 1 a month and district meeting 1 a week. This week in District meeting they got after Hermana Goodfellow and me for speaking English... it wasn’t very fun. But I know it’s for my good. So yeah, outside of our casa no English. Sad right? haha but that is the only way I will learn. I definitely feel myself being stretched every day. I just have to remind myself that I can do it! One phrase I have really learned is = if your dreams(or goals) don’t scare you, they are not big enough. It is so true. I am getting to know the missionaries really well... They are all awesome. Especially my companion =) She had a Latino moment this week. We were talking about the Stripling warriors and she thought I said the stripper warriors. Oh man we laughed really hard.

 

People are really friendly here; they are always surprised when we start talking to them.  They pay really close attention to every word that I say. I should really use that more to my advantage and talk more haha.

 

This week we had one more baptism!! horray!! His name is Luis, he is 14. Brandon (the boy we baptized last week) and Luis have turned out to be best friends. I am really happy about that because the YM program here is struggling. We are going to change that though! I feel like these two boys are my little brothers=)

 

We went to a waterfall last pday! It was beautiful. There is another lady in the ward that washes our clothes... by hand. She is awesome. I seriously am so blessed here!

 

I have my moments where I get down on myself. Sunday I had a good cry and now I am good! haha Everyday gets better, everyday I have more opportunities to improve and keep going. I just have to remember mistakes don’t define me, they refine me.

 

We are also working with a less active family. They have 4 kids that have not been baptized. They have been inactive for 15 years. It has been so great seeing their desire to change their lives. This church is true!! The Lord never gives up on his children. Members of the Ward where really surprised to see them come back. Miracles really do happen!

 

I LOVE YOU ALL!!

 

Paz y Bendiciones!

 

Hermana Jones

 

 

 

October 28, 2013

 

This week has been overall pretty good. We had splits in the middle of the week and I was really nervous about it. Another sister was going to come to my area and my companion was going to leave. (Luckily just for one day). I still don’t speak a whole lot of Spanish so this experience stretched me a lot because it forced me to speak more. I need to be more patient with myself and my Spanish. Next week is exchanges. We have tons of new missionaries coming in so it is very likely things will change. I use to think I liked change... But I think I just like it after the change happens, anticipating change is not my favorite. haha

 

My mission president seriously is awesome. I write him every week and he normally responds with something funny. I feel like he will know me really well during my mission.

 

My journal writing has not been very good. haha there were several days this week that I fell asleep writing in my journal and you can tell in my handwriting and in what I write. It is quite comical.

 

Right now we are trying to get progressing investigators. We have a lot that have accepted a baptismal date but are not keeping commitments. But overall the work is doing great. We have been trying harder to work with the members.

 

Love you to pieces!!

 

Te Quiero Mucho!!

 

Hermana Jones