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

Converting Portugal One Animal at a Time

The Entire Lisbon Portugal Mission at Christmas Time

Hello everyone!! 

Hope you all had a great week! Our week was a LONG week of nitty gritty missionary work!!!

We had SO much rain and wind to start the week off, which made our umbrellas break (so sad I loved mine so much) and we ended the night completely soaking wet so that was a great adventure. 

Also this week with our search for new people we have been trying a bunch of new areas which are pretty far away, so we have literally walked so much. I cant tell you an exact number, but with the pain in my feet, legs, back, and shoulders I can tell you its A LOT: Its basically like Pioneer Children Sang as they walked, and walked and walked and walked. Everyday. Its good I love it. 

We found Felipe this week and had 2 lessons with him! One was so powerful and the spirit was so strong! We remarked him for baptism, but we have a few things we need to work with him to help him be more prepared. I will not baptize another less active here in Mafra. So we are praying for him and excited to keep working. He really is amazing! It makes me sad that I probably won’t be here for his baptism :( We have transfers at the end of this week so we will see where I end up. I don’t know if I want to go. Mafra is hard and I have so much time here already, but changes aren’t really my thing so I know either way will be hard.  

We want to baptize converts because Mafra does not need more menos activos. 

At the same time we had dinner with Isabel last night and she told us she want to remove her records from the church and that she no longer wants to be a member. It was one of the worst feelings in the world as I sat there I wanted to cry. Seeing her just leave all the blessings she has received behind is so sad. I want to help her but don’t think there is anything we can do at this moment :( 

Also with all of our walking this week we have found a huge field of goats. So of course we stopped and talked with the goats for a ton of time, because they were the only people willing to talk to us. It was so funny, and was good because there was a fence so we were safe from them eating my clothes of something crazy like that (only my family will understand this, but pretty sure they are the only ones who read this anyway) 

We are in Lisbon right now at the largest shopping mall (or 2nd idk) in Europe. It’s huge, but we only got lost one time so it’s a success. 

This week was pretty uneventful but just a good week being a missionary and working hard!! 

Thank you all for the love and support!! 

Sister Jones 

(Sorry no pictures they won’t work at this Internet cafe)

Mission Newsletter

Happy 2017

Olá!! 

Feliz 2017! I hope all of you guys had a great time ringing in the new year! We ended our planning early, and decided to go to bed a whole 30 minutes early (was a good day). We said the "see you next year" joke to each other before we fell asleep, and then woke up to a New Year! Probably one of the most layed back and quiet New Years Eve I will have in my life! It was good and I am excited for this New Year! Its a good time to think about last year, think about things we want to change, and then make goals! I made some good goals and I am excited to work hard to accomplish them! This year will be a good year!! I will spend the WHOLE year in Portugal as a missionary so that’s way cool and crazy also!! 

This week was a little more difficult. We have basically lost all contact with Felipe. He is supposed to be baptized this Saturday, but we found out that he smoked within the last 10 days so he can’t be. But we were willing to work with him and continue to teach him and just push the date back, but he hasn’t answered his phone  and didn’t come to church yesterday. I think he is a little embarrassed and doesn’t want to disappoint us, but we just want to help him!! We have said many prayers and fasted A LOT this week for him (which was probably a good thing after all of our Christmas goodies). So that has been so hard on us this week, but I know he will be baptized one day!! 

This week we have been working so hard, being more obedient, saying more prayers, trying our hardest, fasting a ton, and just working harder than we have our whole time together, but we just aren’t seeing any results. It is definitely trying my faith a lot and it has been really hard. We are knocking a lot of doors and literally talking to everyone that we see in the street trying to find new people, but we haven’t found anyone yet. But I know that if we just continue to work hard and try our hardest, and most importantly trust in the Lord we will find people to teach. It’s hard to not be discouraged, but I know its all part of the Lords plan! 

Also this week on Saturday afternoonish our group president called and asked us to speak in church the next day. So I prepared my 3rd talk for this group, and then TWO people showed up to church (not including our leadership from another ward) so that was good. haha But it was good to study and prepare for a  talk!! This Gospel is just too good!! 

Also we had a broadcast last night and learned about how the schedule for missionaries is completely changing!! It’s so crazy and it started today!! Basically it gives us more time to be on the street and teaching, and more time at night to prepare for the next day so it should be good! But also a weird adjustment!! 

But yea that was our week! Hope you guys all had a good New Years! I know 2017 will be a good one :)

 Com Amor,

Sister Jones 

Sorry I forgot my camera so no pictures this week!!