IOWA with Loo

  Sorry I haven't been sending a lot of emails, time is literally flying by. Recap of the last two weeks, last week we had a trainers meeting which was so good! I got to see all the missionaries I came out with which was really great! Especially seeing Sister Chatelain!!! I miss her so much, but we had fun and she's killing it out in Morton with Sister Chase.  One day last week we were driving around and no one that we wanted to visit seemed to be home. So we were a little sad that we didn't get to do what we set out to do, but we saw this massive icicle on the side of a building. It was at least 8 feet tall, so obviously we took pictures with it.  I have been a missionary for 2 months now! Time has flown, especially the last 6 weeks, it is so crazy. Sister Evans hit her year mark on Friday! We celebrated with pizza and cheesecake We had some great lessons with B! We read some more of the Book of Mormon with him, he still loves it in case you were wondering...

  That sounds like a fun week! B is still doing good, he's reading the Book of Mormon a few verses at a time and he really likes it. He came to church last week and was sad that he couldn't this week, it was stake conference and was during his parents church time so he wasn't allowed to come. But he'll come next week and it will be great! Next week we are going back to 2 hour church, that's exciting but it might be a little rough getting some people there for all of it I'm excited to get a little closer to normal though. Sounds like Grandpa had a good week! Did he actually smile when you teased him? I think he likes you better, I always got an eye roll and a "knock it off."  My week was really quick, we went up to Iowa City to a trainers meeting which was so good and I got to see Sister Chatelain! She is so cute and I miss being comps, plus we're not supposed to message other missionaries in our mission so the only contact we have is...

  Hi mom! First off you can take as much time as you want cuz I love you. Yes we did get snow and its not supposed to stop for a while. This whole week the high is 1⁰ if we're lucky, so we're gonna try our best to stay out of the cold. We don't want to fully avoid the outside world cuz that makes everything harder, but it's gonna be so cold. Yesterday was 1⁰ and snowing but it felt like -8⁰ so that was not fun at all. But other than the weather, it's been a good week.  We had combined district council with our zone on Wednesday so I got to go to Nauvoo! The temple is very pretty and I got to meet my zone in person so that was cool. We had exchanges on Thursday and that was so fun! My STL's are so cute! I learned a lot, right now we're trying to shorten member lessons, instead of doing full lessons with them we do SPF's which are short powerful and frequent and by short I mean like 5-7 minutes. And that is very hard to do when the members are...

Sister Evans is good she's a very sarcastic and smart person so we get along great!We are staying warm, it's been snowing and raining all week which is the worst but we don't go door to door so we're not outside for long periods of time which is so nice. It is supposed to snow a lot at the end of the week and get down to like 0⁰ on Sunday so maybe I'll have a different story by then. 

  So I've been gone for less than a week but it's been so crazy and I feel like it's been so much longer. I am in Kirksville Missouri and so far I haven't seen much because we are in quarantine until Saturday. I'm getting to know my companion, Sister Evans, really well and we're so busy doing the Lords work while in quarantine. Guys this week has been great! The flights and layover went by surprisingly fast so that was a blessing, and then orientation was fun getting to know the other new missionaries. I love it here so much and love the energy of this mission so far it's been amazing and tons of fun and I've only really seen my apartment. I love you all and hope you guys are doing great and remember God loves you! Love - Sister Jones P.S. I don't have Facebook yet so I don't have any of the pictures from this week so sorry about that. I was to busy and overwhelmed to take any, but maybe I'll get better next week.

 

 

You guys I am officially done with the MTC! That is so wild, I definitely just got here but I have learned and grown SO MUCH I feel prepared and ready to head out and continue my growth. This week was so good! Some highlights, our TRC's (practice teaching visits) went great and I especially loved teaching about the Plan of Salvation it is so great to be able to tell people about God's plan for us and how it can help them and bring them so much peace and light like it brings me EVERYDAY.  Some of my district met my younger brothers this week because in one of our calls Tucker decided that he would be a race car. He was very loudly making race car noises outside my room for all to hear. So obviously that stopped whatever we were talking about and they demanded to meet my race car brother. That was lots of fun and a good laugh and Tucker really liked the attention they all gave him.  Yesterday was such a great last day, I really felt the spirit and God's love for...

How was everyone's New Year's? mine was pretty quiet as far as celebrating goes, I had one class which was great and then I helped my mom around the house a little bit. I studied and was in bed around 10:30 because I was tired. But my week was great, Sister Chatelain and I are both getting comfortable teaching together and applying all of the skills we learn each day. It seems like every time we have a bad lesson or notice something we struggled with it comes up in our next class. So that is great that we see what we need to work on and then we are taught how to improve on it. I am so grateful for my companion and how well we are able to work together and get along. It has been so much fun getting to know her and just talking about the most random things in Comp. Study.  I watched some really good devotionals this week in my free time and my favorite was an MTC discussion with Jeffery R. Holland and M. Russell Ballard. It was great to see their love for each othe...

Merry Christmas everyone! have I mentioned how much I love the MTC? It is so great to be a missionary and be learning so much all day long AND to be able to share it with my family. So some sad news first, my trio's down to two, Sister Lockhart had to go some for personal reasons. We will miss her but are still hopeful that she will come and join us later when she can. Sister Chatelain and I are having so much fun together and there has been a lot of bonding this week both as a companionship and as a district. It is so hard to believe that I only have two more weeks before I'm done at the MTC and I become a full-blown missionary. It's going by so fast and I am so excited to go to Iowa and serve the people there and just teach so many people. Every class just gets me more and more excited to go out and teach people and give them this knowledge that gives me so much joy.  This week we talked a lot about the Book of Mormon and how to teach with it and how it is so...

 So I am at the end of my first week and let me tell you it has been amazing! I didn't know what to expect from the home MTC and doing it through zoom but let me tell you it was nothing like my experience with online school which I am so happy about, because that would be very sad. I am able to learn and feel so much in class and it is so powerful.  I am in a trio with Sister Lockhart and Sister Chatelain and they are so nice and I've only known them for a short time but I already love them. My district is great and have taught me so much and I can already tell it will be a great MTC experience. Two elders in my district are actually headed down to the GILBERT ARIZONA MISSION so I am kind of jealous they get to spend the next two years so close to my favorite people. For all of you in AZ if you meet an Elder Merrell or an Elder Wood take good care of them they're great.  This week I have learned so much about and through the spirit and I know that God is ble...