Another Week has come and gone!

Pretty good week in Kitsap Lake. I think I've adjusted to a new area. Nothing big happened the first half of the week butThursday was park day. We did the traditional planning and walked everywhere in the pouring rain. A year ago if you had told me I'd be in a skirt, walking down roads with no sidewalk, in the pouring rain, wearing a reflective belt, and enjoying myself I'd have thought you wre certifiable and yet here I am! I can't express how much I love being a missionary. I LOVE IT!

The big thing I've learned this week is even when we don't see anything coming from the work we have been putting forth God is doing things under the surface. Sunday we had to stay indoors because my companion wasn't feeling very well at all. I'm not one to stay in one room for very long so I got a little stir crazy. I studied a LOT. Out of every book that is included in the standard works. It was good but I couldn't help but feel that I wasn't doing my job in progressing the Lord's work. Not 10 minutes later the phone buzzes with a text from someone who had been working with missionaries but had stopped a while back. He requested to start meeting with us again! He said he was skeptical but really wanted to know the truth. It was so amazing!

Friday we had an exciting... experience when Sister Combs asked me if our tire should be making a hissing noise. I get out of the car and listen and air is rushing out of our front passenger tire! There was a nail in it at an angle causing the air to escape at a rapid rate! We call our mission vehicle coordinator then say a very heartfelt pray as we hurry to the Les Schwab (which was 5+ minutes away) we arrive just in time! The tire kept enough air in it to help us get the safely. I still can't get over another tire with a nail this is the 4th since I've come into the mission in 2 different cars. What are the odds.

Well I'm out of time but I love you all anyway!

Always Low on Time

I always seem to run out of time so here's a quick update! I'm in Kitsap Lake now. Its beautiful up here. I was surprised to discover how disoriented transfers made me. A few people have told me that's normal (I'm hoping they're telling the truth). I won't lie though walking into church yesterday made me REALLY miss my OLY 4th family. BUT I'm adjusting to Kitsap. There are some really great people here so it'll be fun! Sister Combs and are the only sisters in the Zone. That's weird. I miss having other sisters but the elders are good kids. I went from a zone where I was surrounded my older missionaries (about to go home) to now being like the 3rd oldest in my district and the somewhere up there in the zone too. its definitely different but as someone I love taught me "change means coming closer to God" so I'll embrace the change!

Kitsap has a LOT more trees than OLY and LOTS of steep hills so all of that combined with a companion who doesn't really know the area well means I've gotten lost a LOT. I'm not a fan of driving on the hills but again I'm adjusting.

We had a pretty slow moving week but I expect it to pick up here soon. We're going through all the old records of passed missionaries and gutting the area (for lack of better words). We're helping the investigators we have understand our purpose and determining what they want and going through past investigators. So far it seems to be working! We're working with a 16 year old girl in the Manette area (the sisters from that area were doubled out so now we're teaching her) and she's an absolute sweet heart! So ready! We also had a miraculous night of knocking where we found 4 people within an hour and will hopefully begin teaching them this week!

I can't think of anything else to share so I'll just give a few quick shout outs! Happy Be-lated birthday to my lovely sisters Amy and Sarah and Happy Birthday to another of my lovely sisters, Laura! You all are so old! :D Love you!

Until next week! Love you all!

Happy 2015!

This week has taught me many powerful lessons. I'm going to try and share a few (or as they say in Washington "a couple 3" ... yeah still haven't figured out what that means. I asked a member and they don't know either...)

For Christmas the Bishop and his wife (love them like crazy) gave each of us missionaries a picture of a family being passed the sacrament. I was going to take a picture and attach it but I forgot so I'll do my best to describe it.

In this picture you see a young family, each on e of them with different reactions as the look at the person passing them the sacrament but its not them I want to focus on. Its who they are looking at. All you can see is the white sleeve and hand of  the man offering them the bread, but the arm isn't dressed in the sleeve of a white collared shirt. The arm is dressed in that of a white robe with a red sash at the shoulder. The sleeve lays just above the wrist allowing the beholder to see the marks of both hand and wrist left by nails.

I love this picture. Clearly the man passing the sacrament is our Savior Jesus Christ. During companion study a few days ago Sister Kramer was sharing a talk she had read called, "Being Christ's Hands", as she shared this my eye was caught by the picture and this thought came to me. "When the sacrament is being passed the tray is given to the first person and they then pass it to the next person." We can each sit in the place of the first person in that picture as Christ gives us the sacred gift of His Atonement. Christ is there handing us this amazing gift but as we see at church on Sundays He isn't physically standing in front of us holding the tray. We are to be Christ's hands. Not because Christ can't do it Himself but because its another one of the gifts Christ gives to us to be able to experience just the smallest portion of the love He has for each of us as we act as His hands serving, loving, and helping our brothers and sisters find their way to Him.

This brings me to the next thing I wanted to share. In my personal studies I decided I needed to improve myself in the area of charity. As I studied day after day I gained a better perspective of what charity is and how to get it. That's not what I want to talk to you about though. But I do encourage each of you to study it for yourself, and dig deep.

As I dug deep I found, 2 Nephi 26:30

"Behold, the Lord hath forbidden this thing; wherefore, the Lord God hath given a commandment that all men should have charity, which charity is love. And except they should have charity they were nothing. Wherefore, if they should have charity they would not suffer the laborer in Zion to perish."

As I read this it dawned on me that we have only been given ONE commandment. The rest are God breaking it down for us. If we look at the 10 commandments we can break them into two subcategories. Commandments 1-4 can be grouped in to the 1st great commandment discussed by Christ and the Pharisees in Matthew 22:36-38

 36 Master, which is the great commandment in the law?
 37 Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind.
 38 This is the first and great commandment.
while the other 6 can be grouped into the 2nd greatest commandment discussed in the next two verses
39 And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.
 40 On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.
Those two can be summarized by  2 Nephi 26:30. Charity is the pure love of Christ. LOVE is the ONLY commandment. I wanted to go deeper into this but I'm out of time so sorry! I will say this though. I have come to feel God's love on a whole different level. I have also come to learn love for others on an entirely different level. I was informed on Saturday that I will be leaving Olympia 4th and going to a new area. Words can't express the heart break that brought to me. If I had more time I would try but I do so I'll end with this. I am so grateful to have been blessed to have served in OLY 4th. Here I came to find home, I came to find family, I came to find myself, and most importantly in OLY 4th I came to find our Savior. Every heart ache, every laugh, every frustration, every smile. I will cherish forever. So until later I will say farewell but part of my heart will forever be in OLY 4th. I'm sad to go but excited to see what miracles God reveals in Kitsap Lake.
Here's my new address!
4349 Erlands Point Rd. Bremerton, WA. 98312
I pray 2015 brings you each peace and happiness and you find your way closer to Christ.

Christmas has come and gone but the Gift remains!

DISCLAIMER! I am extremely low on time! Sorry! I'll try and type fast!

So Christmas! It was amazing! WAY too much food but the people are the best part! I loved videoing home and loved spending it with people of the Olympia 4th ward. I am truly grateful to have gotten to stay for this transfer. These are the exact people I would have wanted to spend my Christmas with!

I wish I could quickly and effectively put into words the feelings I have come to have for my Savior and the gift he has given me. Our language is so limited because the most effective words I have to use are love and gratitude and they don't even scrap the surface. Our savior Jesus Christ is so amazing and has such an unlimited love for us that we could never comprehend how much He does to help us. All of us. Nobody is ignored.

I was given a LOT of candy for Christmas and it came in very useful as we felt prompted to teach the principle of tithing and helping one another to our 11 and 13 year old recent converts. We were able to show them with the candy how paying tithing and helping others/giving everything to God can only bring un countless blessings. It was a lot of fun!

I spoke in Sacrament yesterday and for the first time instead of staring out at the crowd with terror I was overwhelmed with the feeling of love. Each face I looked into (of those who's names I knew and those I didn't) all I felt was how much I loved them and how a portion of how much Christ loves them. I knew without a doubt they each have such a great divine potential. As do all of you reading this. In speaking I was able to share a few lessons I have learned in the past 5 months and highlight how Heavenly Father has helped me learn them. I found that most of the lessons I have learned have come through others. I highlighted lessons taught to me by recent converts Christina and Gina and some by my favorite companion (yes I have a favorite). As I prepared for this talk and looked at the lessons they taught I learned another valuable lesson. We need to watch closely and listen carefully to those around us because there is NO coincidence that they are in our lives at that exact time. As Elder Mosbrucker said so perfectly in his talk, "The biggest proof of God's existence is in the people we meet. There is NO scientific equation that can explain why we meet the people we meet WHEN we meet them." God is trying to teach us valuable lessons but if we don't pay attention we're going to miss out.

I am SO SO SO grateful for this truth I have come to find and watch bless mine and every life around me. I love my Savior Jesus Christ. I know I am nothing without Him but with Him I can be EVERYTHING. I know that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is fullness of Christ's Gospel restored to the Earth. I know without a doubt that the Gospel can and will bless EVERYONE who chooses to allow Him to. I pray that those of you who know this will continue to strengthen your testimony and share it with others. I also pray that those of you who don't know this (members of the church and others) search it out. Pray about it. I know for a fact you'll find this is the truth.

I have set a goal to study the Book of Mormon through 2 times before the end of 2015.. I challenge you all to do the same read the Book of Mormon at least once. But don't just read it. Study it. Study with the desire to know if its the truth. I know it is and so can you.

I pray as this new year begins that you will all come to feel our Heavenly Father's love for you every moment. I pray that you will see the blessings He so happily gives to each of us. Until next week take care.

Love,

Sister Jones