Called to Serve in the Philippines Quezon City Mission
Speaking the Tagalog language
January 2013 to July 2014

Tuesday, June 10, 2014

It's weird thinking that I may never see them again in this life. I will never forget them.

Hey Everyone!:D

Well I hope you have had a great week like I have.  I'm no longer on the island of Mindoro with the fresh air and the sea, I'm in my new area now here in TayTay back in the city with the smog and the squatters haha, I'm walking some of the same streets that I walked when I was serving in Cainta. The boundaries are right next to each other, so it's fun being back.  It was sad to leave all my sweet investigators in Mindoro though.  Saying good bye to the Absalon family was hard, we had a Family Home Evening with them and their neighbors the night before I left.  At the end Brother Absalon stood up to say a few words and thanked me for coming to their family and teaching them the gospel and helping them to be baptized.  I got there information before I left so that we could keep in touch and shed a few tears on the ride home in the tricycle. I will miss them so much, It's weird thinking that I may never see them again in this life.  I will never forget them, I'm so grateful that I was here to help them Come unto Christ and I know someday the rest of the kids will be baptized too.  Nanay belay and bitoy and bingo were also hard to say goodbye too.  I grew so attached to those two boys.  I know that they are in the Lords hands and will be taken care of.    Now I'm here and I'm loving Taytay.  The ward is AWESOME, the auxilary leaders are so involved, and I started out with a bang on my first Sunday in this ward by giving a talk in Sacrament Meeting haha.  Sister Morrell's old companion was supposed to give it but she transferred and the bishop just passed it to me.  It was great opportunity and I talked about the spirits influence in gaining knowledge and sharing the gospel.  Such a great topic! 
Family Home Evening with the Absalon Family. I'm going to miss them so very much.

My new companion is Sister Morrell she looks like Rosalie from the Twilight movies haha! no joke.  She's quickly becoming one of my favorite companions, we just laugh and enjoy the work.  She really teaches with the Spirit and it's nice being companions with someone who's around the same time in their mission.  She leaves 6 weeks after I do.  She's so excited to be with me my last few weeks, she points at airplanes as they go by and tells me how many more weeks I have left haha My companion is more trunky than I am! It's gonna be a great transfer.  There are a lot of investigators here that are really prepared, and they are progressing great.  We have a baptism coming up this week her name is Ella she's 22.  The sisters here had only taught her two lessons before I came so she's fairly new but she's moving to Japan on the 16th of this month and she really wants to be baptized here with her family before she leaves.  Her two siblings were baptized just this past January and they are super active in the church.  So we are on super speed trying to finish the missionary lessons before she leaves.  She's just like a sponge and soaks it all in and studies the pamphlets and all the scriptures in the back before we come.  We've been teaching her everyday hah she's so cute and I'm excited for her.  
Sister Monticalbo and Me.
Mangos. My absolute favorite food here.


ME

Our last supper. haha.




These four sisters were the best roommates there ever was.

Flag day.

Sister Fewster and myself leaving our beloved Mindoro Island
 
Yesterday we had some of the youth come out and work with us in the evening, we visited a less-active woman and shared with her a message.  Each of the 3 young women bore their testimonies and even helped teach part of the lesson.  I was SO impressed! Their testimonies were powerful and really from the heart and the spirit just filled the room.  Our less-active just kept thanking us for our visit and said that she loved hearing from the young women and she really felt the love of God and a greater desire to be better.  We've decided were gonna take them every Sunday with us haha it was just great.  I love the youth in this church, and I love how the church is organized so that even in our primary years and youth years we can gain a knowledge of the doctrine and testimony of Jesus Christ.  It makes me not so scared to be a mom someday knowing that they will have great teachers and leaders in the church who will help them learn about the gospel too just like I did :) 

Hope you have had a great week, I love you all be safe....Ingat po sa inyo lahat. 

 
Love, Sister Ammah Jones 

June 2nd - So some news....I'm leaving the island of Mindoro and going back to the mainland.


Jun 2 at 10:45 PM
Well...another week has gone by haha and now it's time for transfers again.  It really flew by, and now i'm starting to get stressed cause i only have 6 weeks left:/ ahhh! I could never imagine before how it would feel to be this close to finishing my mission.  I'm mixed emotions for sure but...i'm still focused on my purpose as a missionary and will work hard till the end.  So some news....i'm leaving the island of Mindoro and going back to the mainland.  I'll be in TayTay now, which is where i was right before i came here to Mindoro but i'll be in a different area.  I even worked there as an STL when we would do exchanges with the sisters, it's a great area and I've heard great things about the ward there.  so excited!:) My new companion is Sister Morrell.  She's known in the mission for being absolutely gorgeous haha.  I've worked with her before and she's a great missionary, she even served here in Mindoro as well for 6 months so we will have lots to talk about and will get along so great.

The Absalon Mother and Father. Baptism day.
This week Boyet & Andrea Absalon were baptized! It was a great service, Their two older boys who we are also teaching weren't able to come cause they had work, so we were sad about that but it was a great day for them. They are one of my favorite families here in the mission.  They have such sweet testimonies of the gospel and they are just always wanting to learn more.  Last week Brother Absalon told me how much he appreciates that I came here to the Philippines and taught him and his family.  He said if i transfer they will be so sad hah.  We are going to them tonight so i will tell them tonight. I know that the lord will take care of them.  I can see brother Absalon being a leader in the church here in the San Jose branch.  He's so humble and just christ-like. I'm going to miss them! 
Sister Wilson and ME! Yay.....Finally. We served together.

This past week I also got to work with Sister Wilson finally! we have wanted to work with each other our entire missions. It was so great to see how far we have both come and now we can both speak tagalog haha.  We reminisced throughout the day about our days in the MTC and about our fake investigators and laughed about our awful tagalog skills back than haha. It was great:) Were both excited to see our families and we can't believe it's almost the end of our missions.  We are already planning trips to visit each other after hehe.
Sister Fewster has an un secret admirer that gives her fresh fish everyday. haha. It's great for us all.

Sister Fewster and me.



I'm excited for this transfer and whats in store.  I'm sad to leave Mindoro but I know i've done what the lord has wanted me to do here and i've left the area better than when i found it.  We have 4 baptisms coming up next week, i won't be here to see them, but thats not what matters.  I'm just so grateful to Heavenly Father for each person i've taught here and helped prepare to follow the Savior and be baptized into his true church.  I just love this work so much.  

Hope you guys have had a great week, take care and be safe I pray for you everyday. love u! <3  

love always, Sister Ammah Jones