Hello my beautiful
family!
First off I just have to
say thank you for all the dear elder letters I am definitely feeling loved! All
the elders in my district always make fun of me and Sister Wilson because we
always get a lot of letters haha. It’s so nice to hear from all my family and
friends and get updates on how life is going for everyone. Hopefully you guys
got my letter by now I think I sent it on Thursday but it was a 6 page letter
haha Sister Wilson was sick for 2 days so we had to stay in most of the day so
I had a lot of time to write, so I decided to write you a letter with all the
details that I didn't have time to write in my last email, so enjoy cause you
probably won't get another letter like that for a while. It's hard to find time
to write cause we always have a lot to do. Also Andelyn and Amelia you should
be getting letters any minute as well I sent them Saturday, I miss you two weirdo’s
A LOT. Mom I'm glad that you found my companions blog and yes her pictures are
better than mine cause her camera is super nice sooo yah I’ve tried playing
with mine but I don't mind as long as it's working and taking pictures I'm
good. I asked the elders and only one said that he had a blog too.
We have the same schedule as last week same
food etc... I got to see Ryan Tuckett a few more times before he left. I think
he left yesterday? Sister Wilson and I got some new roommates they are headed
for New Jersey English speaking and it's kinda funny cause they both have one
parent who served in the Philippines. One of them has a mom who served there,
and the other her dad served there. Small world!
So we had an
"investigator" Jed, who we started teaching our second day at the mtc
and we taught him four other times. Yesterday he came in to say hello and turns
out he was one of the teachers here haha Sister Wilson and I kinda knew that
already but we tried not to tell anyone. He was a really good actor! and it was
fun teaching him. We start teaching two new investigators today and they are
actually two of our teachers that we see every day so it’s kind of weird but fun.
The language is slowly coming. I feel like I've plateaued a bit though. I was
learning and picking up stuff really fast in the beginning but now we are
getting into the harder stuff and.. It’s tough. I try not to get discouraged
though cause I have only been here two weeks and I know a lot for just that
short of time. One of our teachers told us yesterday that If you put in the
work and give it 100% everyday than the lord will bless us and we will receive
the gift of tongues, but only if Heavenly Father knows we are trying our best.
We can't just sit here and expect to learn the language without trying. So
True! Totoo! So Sister Wilson and I are constantly setting more goals to really
buckle down on the language. We make flashcards every day and add them to a big
pile and we try to go through them every night which has been helping.
It started warming up in
the beginning of the week, all the snow was melting, the grass was showing and
you could actually see the trees and bushes haha then, Sunday it started
snowing again and it hasn't stopped snowing since. We walked to the temple this
morning at 7am and when we got to the doors we all had piles of snow on our
heads and shoulders. I'm keeping warm though don't worry mom! It would help if
you could send me my rain boots when they come in though :) please!! They would
be super helpful in this snow which there is tons of.
Every Sunday and Tuesday
we have devotionals with a guest speaker and I love theemmmm. It's usually
always a general authority or something but in relief society we had the
general relief society president come talk and that was awesome. I'm looking
forward to who will be speaking at tonight’s devotional. Also on Sundays they
have videos available to watch after the devotional and they have a variety
like old talks that apostles have given here at the MTC, the Joseph Smith movie
Etc.. Stuff like that. They always have an Elder Holland talk playing and he is
Sister Wilsons and I's favorite speaker so we always go to those ones. The one
we went to on Sunday was so wonderful! It was a talk that he had given just
this past Thanksgiving Day here at the MTC that they had recorded. I'd like to
share some things that he said with you: He talked a lot about the old
prophets, in the bible and the book of Mormon. All about the hardships that
they had faced and the trials they had to endure. All while knowing that they
wouldn't win. Those prophets knew that their time would end in apostasy. But God
had shown them what would happen in the future, he showed them our day and
although they knew that they would not win, they knew that we would. In Mormon
chapter 8, Mormon says "I have seen your day, and I know your doing".
Elder Holland said he can imagine that they saw our generation, and that maybe
they saw a glimpse of a room at the MTC filled with missionaries getting ready
to preach to the world. They knew we would make it, and so they persevered
through all the things that the people did to them. Elder Holland mentioned how
Alma and Amulek watched as innocent women and children were thrown into the pit
of fire, and yet they still did not deny their faith. Peter was crucified
upside down, all these horrible things but they did not stop spreading the word
of god because they knew that someday, we would win.
This week I have truly felt blessed to be a
missionary in this dispensation. I don't know why Heavenly Father saved me for
this time, but I know it was for a purpose. It makes me want to be the best missionary
I can be, because I want all that those missionaries, apostles, and prophets that
went through all they did to be worth it.
I love you all so much
and I do miss you, but I know I need to be here. Be safe my little family,
listen to the spirit and I hope you can feel my prayers for you all. I do pray
for you every night that you will be watched over and guided. I love you!
Ingat!
Love Always, Sister
Jones
*Excerpts from Ammah’s 6
page letter
*There were 800 other
missionaries that came to the MTC the same week that I arrived. The average
before the age change was 300.
My district has 10
elders = 5 companionships and Sister Wilson and I. We are all headed to the
Philippines with Sister Wilson and me going to the same mission. The boys are
all going to different missions in the Philippines. There are 4 districts in
our Zone. Our Zone attends church together but we eat, study, attend classes
and the temple with our district. We have become like family and I love, love my
district.
My schedule is the same
everyday but Sunday and P-day (preparation day) Here is my weekly schedule.
6:30 am – Arise and prepare
7:00 am – Daily planning
session
7:30 am – Additional study
time
7:45 am – Breakfast
8:20 – 11:20 – Classroom
Instruction (language)
11:25 – 12:24 pm
Personal Study time (doctrine)
12:25 – Lunch
1:20 – 2:10 – Gym
2:10-2:40 – Showers,
dressing
2:40 – 3:55 – Language study
with companion
3:55 – 4:55 – Computer Language
Study
4:55 – 5:35 - Language
and Doctrine Studies
5:25 – Dinner
6:10 – 6:30 – Additional
Study Time
6:30 – 9:30 – Classroom Instruction
(Language and Investigators)
9:30 – 10:15 – Personal Time
and companion prayer
10:30 – Lights out.
(Ammah is so excited
about getting 8 glorious hours of sleep each night!)
I have seen Marian
Hatch, Kristi Farnsworth and Kailey Foxcroft all girls from my singles ward
several times.
Thanks for the cookies
Mom. I didn’t really share them and good thing because while Sis Wilson has
been sick I haven’t been to the cafeteria for breakfast or lunch for two days.
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