Church hopping=spiritually fit

Hey y'all!

We we on exchanges this week with sister Terry and Chischillie. I got
to be with sister Terry again ! It has been so cool to be serving
close to her pretty much her whole mission! It was a great exchange :)
we saw miracles that lifted our spirits!

One of these miracles was finding Courtney and Jackson. We knocked on
a less active door to stop by and she wasn't there. Her son's wife and
the wife's Brother (both nonmembers) were there, we asked if we could
share a message with them and they said yes! Before the lesson we
asked her about her religious beliefs and she said that she had been
to a lot of churches, but none of them had really felt right to her,
or aligned with her personal beliefs about animals having a soul and
whatnot. After we shared the first vision, we asked her how she felt.
She told us that the first vision really connected with her personal
beliefs. She loves that Joseph Smith went out into nature to connect
with God and to pray! Both Courtney and Jackson have A baptismal date
for February 27!

We were also able to have a very powerful lesson with the Warrens at
Bishop Edward's home! We talked about the priesthood and how they can
prepare to receive it. On Saturday they were both baptized! It was a
very sweet service, James even bore his testimony at the end and
Brother Warren was in tears. Sister Cowper and I had the opportunity
to sing I know that my Savior loves me.

It was the Allen fourth ward's Ward conference on Sunday. So for
fourth hour we had a meeting with our ward mission leader and some
stake representatives. During the course of the meeting sister Cowper
and I were pretty quiet. I kept having the prompting to bring up The
Colony in the discussion. The whole time I suppressed this feeling
because I didn't want to seem prideful and I also didn't want to
compare areas. But then I remembered the talk given by President
Nelson titled, "A Plea to my Sisters". I decided to speak up and now
the stake representatives would like to have Brother Warner's email
and phone number (The Colony WML)  to get help with the Ward mission
plans for the whole steak! I'm glad that I spoke up and follow the
prompting to share!

We were texting an investigator to invite him to church and I just
wanted to share his response: "hey ladies, I am having a great
weekend. Thank you for asking. I hope you guys are too. I have been
doing church hopping trying to get spiritually fit and tomorrow is not
the Mormon turn, sorry. Plus, Jesus told me in my dreams that I wasn't
ready yet. Thank you for inviting anyways. I will attend it sometime
in the near future. You ladies be safe it's a jungle out there.
You have to understand that brother Avila to find this at all funny!
He wasn't being serious for most of it!

Ponderizing: D&C 82:3 "for of him unto whom much is given much is
required; and he who sins against the greater light shall receive the
greater condemnation"
I have been blessed with an ideal family, which is pretty rare in
these times! I was also raised in the gospel with the "Jones family
five" (family prayer, scripture study, family home evening, family
counsel, and temple attendance). These habits are my way of life and
have proven to be the biggest blessing in my life and the greatest
influence on my personal conversion. I have been given much more than
I deserve by a loving Heavenly Father. I don't know why I was blessed
with these things and others weren't, but I do know that because of
these blessings, I have a great responsibility to serve God. All I
want is to fulfill his plan for me, so I can serve him to the best of
my ability and help him in his purpose to bring his children
immortality and eternal life.

Love,
Sister Jones

The Warren's Baptism

Warrens with Shyanne

Exchanges with Allen 1&5

An old picture we got this week:

I'll get you my pretty! And your little dog too!

Hey y'all!

We have been able to teach the Warrens a lot this week!!! We had to
squeeze in all of their lessons before their baptismal interview,
which they passed!!!! Allen rarely baptized, last year they only had 5
baptisms in all of the multiple Allen wards combined, now in January,
the first month of the year the Allen 6th Ward is getting two baptisms
already! And the rest of the Warren family will follow soon I'm sure!!
The wife and four other kids have great potential!! James is SO smart!
He answers every question with such a mature and clear understanding,
and he goes to seminary every morning!

On Saturday we were biking and it was SO cold!! Sister Cowper and I
had planned to stop in on around 10 different families, but not even
one was home!!! We contacted a guy who very rudely told us to go home
out of the cold and don't get sick! Little did he know that we had no
choice in the matter, we were going to stay out and be obedient. We
were biking and in so much pain because of the cold! We started to
knock doors and we could hardly walk, then we praying and had faith
for a miracle. A member stepped out of his house and turned on his car
heater for us so we could sit alone in his truck for ten minutes to
warm up since he couldn't let us in his house with his wife out of
town. Heavenly Father is very aware of his missionaries, I know we are
unworthy of his blessings, but he loves and blesses us anyways!

On Sunday we had the chance to sing at a mission presidents fireside
for investigators and recent converts in the surrounding stakes!
Sister Cowper and I sang Joseph Smith's first prayer, we really enjoy
singing together!

I am so grateful to be here in Allen, I know it is where I am meant to
be, even if I am still having Nac withdrawals!

I am ponderizing D&C 25:12 "for my soul delighteth in the song of he
heart; yea the song of the righteous is a prayer unto me, and it shall
be answered with a blessing upon their heads."
When we are biking have a song in my heart really keeps my attitude in
a positive state! :) I'll either be humming "duhduh duhduh duhduuuh
duh, duhduh duhduh duhduuuh duh, duuuuuh" like the wicked witch of the
west on her bicycle in a dress or I'll be singing a nice hymn, both
are very uplifting :)

Love,
Sister Jones

Matching Outfits

Warming up in the members truck

Allen Zone

Goodbye miss Barbie Montanna!

Hey y'all!

I am now serving in the Allen 4th and 6th wards with sister Cowper!
This is her second transfer, she is from Pleasant Grove Ut. She is
such a hard worker! We have a lot in common as well, I am very happy
to be working with her! Allen is a very affluent and busy city north
of Dallas and east of my previous area, The Colony. The people are
still as friendly as ever though!

I get to be sister Terry's STL still as she was transferred from east
Texas to Allen with me! She is in Allen 1st and 5th wards. I also get
to be over sister Cooper still as she was transferred from out east to
crossroads and Aubrey! I am excited to get to know the other sisters I
am over! :)

Now that I am living the city life I won't smell like cigarette smoke
all the time, be covered in dog hair and slobber, hit a deer, possum,
or an armadillo on the road. I also won't receive a voicemail from a
LA letting us know she is in the dumpster, I won't have black mold
raining in flecks onto my bed from the vents, do service on farms,
drive on dirt roads, or have long road trips. I also won't become very
familiar with trailer parks, or develope a mixed accent with Texan
twang and African American slang.
But I will enjoy the bike life where we freeze! And sweat. And freeze!
And sweat. And freeze again! I will enjoy the cleanliness, the
friendliness, and the culture of the sweet city, Allen. I will enjoy
the fact that there are businesses everywhere if there is anything I
need. I am closer to Dallas for meetings. At first I struggled leaving
Nac, but  just as Lot's wife was commanded not to look back, I know I
need to consider that my future is better than my past, and don't look
back!!!

We taught James and Gary Warren for the second time this week and we
set a baptismal date with them for January 23rd! They are member
referrals, Gary is the father of James who is 15.  They gained their
answers and testimony through the Book of Mormon! They have been
reading it and came to church!

So unfortunately I had to retire miss Barbie Montana. In case y'all
didn't notice, I got a weave in Nac about 2 months ago. The African
American culture stuck on me! I really loved my weave! Jessica helped
me get it and showed me the best quality of hair to buy. But the weave
and the bike life just don't mesh! Plus Allen has a different culture.
So we hung it on the wall above my bed :D

This week I am ponderizing Moroni 7:45 and 10:3-5. the first is about
the attributes of Charity and the second is Moroni's promise at the
end of the Book of Mormon for all who receive and ponder the Book of
Mormon to pray and find an answer through the he Holy Ghost. I love
the verse on charity as it helps me learn how to  know what I need to
do to develop pure, Christ-like love. I also chose Moroni 10:3-5
because the Book of Mormon combined with the spirit is the most
powerful resource in conversion! This is how the Warrens received
their answer to be baptized! The Book of Mormon has changed my life
for the better. It has helped me to feel the Holy Ghost's promoting to
make changes in my life, it edifies me to become closer to Christ.

Have a great week!
Love,
Sister Jones

710 Featherbrook Ct
Allen TX 75002

Transfers: Allen, TX

Sister Melina Jones

710 Featherbrook Ct

Allen TX 75002 

Goodbye gator-man and Nac-a-no-where! I'll be back someday!

Hey y'all!

We had the best week ever! We taught up a storm! Taylor was baptized! He service was SO sweet! His non-member family all drove in from Dallas to see it and they were crying! Hannah his member girlfriend was crying! It was just so sweet! He bore a great testimony to one of our new investigators who came to church Sunday! Taylor also received the priesthood on Sunday!

We found and taught five new investigators this week! I'm ending Nac on a high note!

Oh yeah I forgot to say I'm getting transferred! I'm going to Allen! Back to the city! I'm nervous to go back to the fast track! I love the slower country and red-neck life out here! I will miss east Texas! I am going to be backup training sister Bramall's MTC companion, so in a way I get to finish training her, kind of. I am also still an STL. My trainee sister Bramall is going to be training!!!!! She hasn't even finished her own training! I am SO proud of her!!! She is so ready! I am so grateful that the Lord gave me the opportunity to train her, because she is going to work so many miracles for this mission!

Laura Blount (La) came to church for the fourth week in a row!!!! We are so proud of her! She bore her testimony, sweet, and powerful!

We gave a bible to "Gator-man" an older white guy who is Texan through and through! It was hilarious!
I am going to miss Nac-a-no-where experiences like that!

I don't have time really to update y'all but here is sister Bramall's email:

"Tue: We went to visit a young women's leader and see how we could help the program but when the door opened it was not Sister Hisel but an adorable African American family! Shocked I kept my mouth shut but luckily my trainer didn't miss a step and asked if his parent was home. Sadly, he responded "I am a parent." To which my companion said "oh, I'm sorry. You're just really short."  Also it was an adult female, not a teenage boy.... But the Lord and the Holy Ghost made up for all of our inadequacies and by a miracle they invited us. We are now working towards them being baptized later this month.

Wednesday: We were during service for the Mumm family in the country part of Nac. We moved 100s of bunnies to their new farm in Garrison. I could have sworn those bunnies were the White Rabbit from Alice in Wonderland, but they were really meet bunnies :( But don't worry they also had cute fluffy bunnies that were for the petting Zoo. Yup, a member of our ward owns a petting Zoo with donkeys, zebras, and emus!!!

Thursday: We street contacted at Starbucks!!! Here's the whole story: during our dinner hour we decided to go get smoothies but luckily the smoothie place was closed for the holidays. So we ended up at Starbucks getting pumpkin steamers.

Shortly after the SFA student (who weirdly looks a lot like captain America) sitting at the next table asked if I was a nun. I told him I was one step down, and was a sister missionary. We talked a little bit more about Mormons and then he asked when and where church was. Then later that night my companion and I were driving down this dirt road lined with trees when a possum ran in front of our car! Poor possum :( but doesn't that sound like movie?

Friday: New Year's Eve got pretty crazy down here in Nac... And by crazy I mean we were home by 9:30 pm instead of 9:00 pm. But we did have dinner and a game night with the Cox family and a recent convert family. Awkwardly though the recent convert (Janna) does not have a phone. So we went to find and invite her in person but she wasn't home. Instead her stepmother was there, so we taught her the first lesson. Right as we were leaving Janna showed up, so we agreed to wait for them to change so that they could follow us to the party. 40 minutes and shower later we were finally on the way to the party. We also had a lesson half way through the party so by the time we got there we awkwardly left.. It was just an awkward but very fun day.

Saturday:  Saturday we were in the rednecked area of Nac. That was an adventure. First we dropped of two bibles to this old man named "Gatorman" yup, you're guess is about as good as mine as why he calls himself Gatorman. Haha after him we did some tracking. One person thought we were the neighborhood kids doorbell ditching again and almost yelled at us for it, the next told us that her church aposed the Mormon church but the last lady had her grandson invite us in for a game of dominos because she thought it was her cousins at the door. It got pretty awkward when she found out it was to white Mormon missionaries and not her cousins. She agreed to have us back over though.

Sunday: Our less active, who has been less active for ten years, got up a bore her testimony about her deciding to come back to church and that she felt like this ward was her family. It was one of the sweetest testimonies I have ever heard. Also remember Captain America/Starbucks guy? Well he really did show up to church! But everyone who normally comes the gospel principles were out of town for the holidays. So we grab as many of the YSA kids as we could and convinced them to come to gospel principles. Luckily we were teaching that week and decided to just teach the first lesson. We even had some YSA kids come who didn't realize it was gospel principles but they just went along with the craziness and it all worked out. "

Thank you to sister Bramall for letting me use her email this week!

Love,
Sister Jones

New address
710 Feartherbrook Dr
Allen TX 75002

Aujayla and Jaymarian

Aujayla and Jaymarian

Aujayla and Jaymarian

Gator-man's Home

Goodbye to Ruth

Jessica Goodbye

Taylor and Hannah at Taylor's Baptism

We love Mexico!

Christmastime with the Taylor's