The Weekend TWO got dunked

Hello everyone!!! 

We have had an awesome week here in Portugal!! Its been good to get to know the area more, and work with my companion!! It’s going to be a great transfer here!! 

We have a lot of work to do here but our area is SO big and has LOTS of new areas to try. What is weird is that our district is only us and the elders of our ward. SO all of our meetings are only 4 people.. Its so weird. Normally there are at least 8 people in a district but here we get to know the elders really well. One of the elders is on his second transfer and is struggling really bad with the language. Poor guy. Its like my first transfer. I am so glad I am not at that stage and won’t ever have to redo those terrible first weeks over again. 

We had a zone meeting this week and it was SO good! I got to see Sister Conrad! She said that you and good ole Heidi (Sister Conrad’s mom) are messaging. Of course. Also she sent a letter to our home, I don’t know what it says or when it will arrive but I hope its good things hahha

This week was awesome because there were TWO baptisms!! 

SO when I left Mafra Felyphe was marked for baptism on the 28th of February. But then this week as of Tuesday a lot of things happened so I figured he wouldn’t be baptized and I was way sad, but I knew that one day he would be. But then Friday night I received a call from Sister Conrad saying he was going to be baptized the next day on the 28th!!! I was so surprised and so excited!!! But it was so last minute and Mafra is pretty far from here. I tried to do everything in my power to attend, but it just didn’t work :( I was so sad to miss it because I was literally looking forward to  this day from when we found him in OCTOBER! But all that matters is that he was baptized!! Sister Conrad said everything ran smoothly and it was a perfect day! I am so happy for him!! I knew he would get baptized, but just a bummer that it happened when I couldn’t be there :( I´ll attach a photo of it!! 

Then we had the baptism of Mayara on Sunday right after church!!! Everything ran so smoothly and our ward was awesome and helped out so much! There were so many people there to help her and support her and it was SO especial!!! When she left the font we were in the bathroom with her helping her change and she was literally glowing! I am so happy for her! She has such a bright future ahead of her and I know that this decision she made will bless her life so much!! I am so so grateful for the opportunity I had to get to know her and be such a small help in her life long journey in the Gospel. 

THIS GOSPEL AND THIS WORK IS TOO GOOD!! 

But yeah so a lot of our week was spent finalizing and preparing for the baptism!! But we also had a broadcast for all of the missionaries in the world on Thursday. They talked a lot about how we are not here to just preach the gospel, but establish the church. It helped me to remember why I am here, and focus a lot more on the work and becoming the missionary I want to be. I am so humbled to be a part of this work and be just a tiny instrument in the hand of the Lord. 

Portugal has so many random holidays that are all Catholic. The months from November to December had like 3 and no one knew the significance of the holidays!! They were all like "I think it has something to do with our saint Fatima" SO yea they have a bunch of random ones too.. at least ours aren’t all about the Catholic church. 

Our mission leader (there is a way awkward photo with him in the Google drive) looks just like Barack and will literally cry at everything like Bishop Grossen. We haven’t had one meeting where he doesn’t cry... its so funny 

Also for everyone that was so worried about me out here, we bought a new heater and its starting to warm um a little.. in other words you can’t see our breath in our own apartment now. But we still only have hot water for 3 minutes at a time so continue with the prayers. thx. 

My back it doing fine. With all the cold it hurt a lot last week but now its all good. I am getting used to it. I really like Sister Truman! We are alike and different so it’s good! We have a ton of mutual friends from BYU so its fun to talk about them!! 

Also I know a lot of things funny happened this week but right now I can’t think of any, so I am sorry... I know those are basically the only interesting things to read anyways. I’ll attach photos because majority of the time that’s all I look at with group emails so hopefully that will make up for it. 

Have a great week!!

Sister Jones

 Sister Jones and Sister Truman

 Mayara and Sister Jones

 Felyphe's baptism

 These babies are twins and their names are Barack Obama (top) and Nelson Mandela (bottom). They live in Cape Verde and are cousins of Mayara (who just got baptized).  So funny!

 Here is a picture of the Ward Mission Leader that Madalyn says looks like Barak Obama

The week of New Things

Hello everyone!!! I hope you have all had a great week!! 

My week was a little rough. Adjusting to a new area is a lot harder than I thought, and I felt homesick for Mafra which isn’t even my home. Saying the final goodbye to everyone on Monday was so hard. Those people have a place in my heart forever. 

Transfers were good! Handling the suitcases was so hard. My arms were sore the next day hahaha but I could do it better than Sister Conrad so I didn’t feel too pathetic. But it took us 30 minutes to get from our apartment to the stop, which is about 7 minutes away. But also 4 flights of stairs with 4 suitcases is hard. My back was hurting a ton.

But I arrived in Seixal and its pretty much the opposite of Mafra. Its pretty ghetto/ugly to be honest so I don’t have any pictures. It’s actually probably one of the ugliest areas I have been in Portugal hahahha but that that it matters. Is also pretty sketchy so we avoid some roads at night but I think we are good. I was spoiled in Mafra. Also we have a WARD with over 100 members!!! And we had FOUR meals with people this week. This is so strange for me. Church yesterday was a little overwhelming. I don’t think I have ever given that many beijinhos (little kisses) in my life. Also was so weird to not have responsibilities and just enjoy church?? It will definitely be an adjustment!! But I am excited to work here with this ward! They are excited about the work! Also our area is huge… we spend about half of the day walking. That’s probably a good thing if we have a ton of meals with members (which is already proving to be a struggle for me and my picky eating habits. I will grow out of them quick I think/hope). 

But yea we had a good week here! I really like Sister Truman so I am excited to work with her for this transfer!! She is actually really good friends with Katie Engle and knows the whole San Clemente group because she did summer semester so that’s really funny. It’s been hard because our level of work isn’t exactly the same, so its been hard to work hard but not be that annoying missionary who is a party pooper. Sister Conrad and I just had a great routine that it will take a little longer to adjust to a new person. But it’s good!  Her language is good! We are about the same level with a lot of things because she only has like 3 months more than me. I actually have a better vocab (because sister Conrad knows so much so that’s good) but she has better grammar and accent so that’s good! It’s good because we are learning together!! 

We actually have a baptism planned for next Sunday! For a 19 year old named Mayara. The sisters found her just 4 days before I got here, and she went to church last Sunday and loved it. They marked her for baptism and then I arrived. She is the definition of an elect. We started teaching commandments and she ran to her room to get a notepad to take notes for our lesson!! Yesterday at church she participated more than the other YSA`s in her class. I love her. She is so ready for baptism so next Sunday will be an awesome day!!  Also Felipe should be baptized this Saturday but I have to call and check with the sisters!! 

Other than that this week has just been a lot of trying to get to know the area and adjust to the area. Also it has been freezing and our heater broke (I have the worst luck with heaters). On Friday during weekly planning we could literally see our breath in our own apartment. Also we only have hot water for 3 minutes at a time I learned while I was trying to take a shower HAHAHA. SO yea its been good ole mission adventures! 

Today for Pday we went to Lapos to be tourists and walk around and enjoy good ole Portugal. I love it here and I am so blessed to be in this beautiful land!! 

Also as a mission we were challenged to read the Book of Mormon cover to cover before February 15th. So we have been basically reading any free moment we have. Its been so good to just study the Book of Mormon and be reminded about how true and how blessed we are to have this book. I know without a doubt that it is true and we can receive revelation through it. I am so grateful for Joseph Smith and all the sacrifices he made to translate the Book of Mormon and restore this beautiful gospel. 

Com Muito Amor,

Sister Jones

RIP Sister Cones

Last dinner with Candida in Mafra. Love her more than words.

Today in Lapos. Pictures dont do anything justice here in Portugal 

Transferencias

Olá todos!! 

This week was a good, bittersweet week! 

It started off a normal week of a lot of work and door knocking.  Then on Friday when we were doing our weekly planning we got the phone call. The phone call that said we have to update our area book and prepare the area for a whitewash!!! It was a total shock because we thought for sure that at least one of us would stay in Mafra, but nope! We are both leaving!! 

It was a really bittersweet feeling to get this call. I love Mafra so much and it will always have a special place in my heart. This is where I learned how to be a missionary, and speak Portuguese. Also really bittersweet because I don’t want to leave all the special people and our investigators here, but I know that the next missionaries here will do a good job and keep up with them (we wrote really detailed lists on how to care for our people here). But it was also a good feeling because there were a lot of rumors about Mafra closing and I was really scared of this. It’s a hard area, and its way tiny, but it can’t close!!!! 

Also i highly doubt I will fit everything into my suitcases. Why did I bring so many things?? I understand right now how annoying things are. Also pray that I can survive with my 2 suitcases all alone haha. 

Then we had to wait until Sunday night to receive our call about where we are going!! I am going to Seixal to serve in Seixal 1C with Sister Truman. I am pretty excited to be serving with sister Truman! I don’t know her but she is good friends with Shelby Brown and so Shelby told me about her, and she only have 2 more transfers than me so we followed each other on Instagram for a few weeks before she left. It should be good. I am really curious to see what Seixal is like. I think its kinda isolated from other areas, but probably cant be worse than how isolated Mafra is but we will see!  I am scared, but also ready for a change!! 

The good thing about our whitewash call is that we had time to pass by all of our people here and say a proper goodbye. I will miss all of them!! We prepared Felyphe (how Felipe really spells his name, I don’t know what his mom was thinking) for the next sisters, and promised that he has to stay strong with the word of wisdom and we will stay strong with our sacrifices also! (He is giving up smoking so I am giving up ice (all the people that know me well know how hard that is for me) and sister Conrad is giving up sugar). We also promised to try our hardest to be present at his baptism on the 28th! 

We visited Duan, Juiliano, Sophia, and Icaro and said bye also. They have such a special place in my heart. It was the first family I knew in Mafra, and on my first night when I didn’t understand anything! We also said bye to Isabel and Candida (who cried.. love her so much). 

There are so many special people here in Mafra that I am going to miss so much, and I already cant wait until I can maybe see them one day in the future. They really have changed my mission and my life. 

But now I am excited to go to Seixal and work hard there! I know there are people prepared there for the gospel!! 

Give missionaries references!!! Member Missionary work is so much better than just missionary work!! It makes ALL the difference!! 

Love you all and hope you all have a great week! I know Heavenly Father has a plan for all of us!! 

Sister Jones 

The active members in Mafra:  Siria, Maura and Rafael 

The Cappella (Chapel) in Mafra!

Sophia and Duan

Cute Sophia