Onward, ever onward.

well folks I can't believe this day has come! I can't thank you enough for the support and prayers and love that all of you have given me.  

My oh my, these past 18 months given to me from the Lord have been incredible.  My testimony of Jesus Christ has been solidified by every experience I have been blessed with.  Everyday I felt like I couldn't keep going, everyday that I couldn't be happier; every time the spirit just filled my soul to the brim, and all the times that I felt so alone; all the people that rejoiced so much at the message we shared, and the people that yelled at us instead; the tears of exhaustion and frustration, the tears of relief and joy; the days where all our plans fell through so that the Lord could show us his plan; all these experiences, hard work, and the grace of God, have built me and built the testimony that I have of a loving Heavenly Father who gave us His son, Jesus Christ.  I can't express my love and gratitude for a Savior who has suffered and rejoiced with me.  I cannot and will not ever deny the love of our Father in Heaven, and the fact that HE IS REAL.  HE LIVES.  I have seen his hand in the lives of many, and in the details of mine.  

 

I know Jesus Christ lives and he is the Savoir of the world.  He is your Savior.  He is my Savior.  And I have learned that it is only through Him and His grace that we can find success and joy.  

"As we extend our hands and hearts toward others in Christlike love, something wonderful happens to us.  Our own spirits become healed, more refined, and stronger." -President Uchtdorf

I know that Jesus Christ lives.  And I know that there is no greater cause than the cause of our Father in Heaven, to bring to pass to immortality and eternal life of man.  I know that we can be forgiven through the atonement of Jesus Christ and that no failure is ever final. 


"12 Yea, I know that I am nothing; as to my strength I am weak; therefore I will not boast of myself, but I will boast of my God, for in his strength I can do all things; yea, behold, many mighty miracles we have wrought in this land, for which we will praise his name forever.  13 Behold, how many thousands of our brethren has he loosed from the pains of hell; and they are brought to sing redeeming love, and this because of the power of his word which is in us, therefore have we not great reason to rejoice?
 14 Yea, we have reason to praise him forever, for he is the Most High God, and has loosed our brethren from the chains of hell.
 15 Yea, they were encircled about with everlasting darkness and destruction; but behold, he has brought them into his everlasting light, yea, into everlasting salvation; and they are encircled about with the matchless bounty of his love; yea, and we have been instruments in his hands of doing this great and marvelous work.
 16 Therefore, let us glory, yea, we will glory in the Lord; yea, we will rejoice, for our joy is full; yea, we will praise our God forever. Behold, who can glory too much in the Lord? Yea, who can say too much of his great power, and of his mercy, and of his long-suffering towards the children of men? Behold, I say unto you, I cannot say the smallest part which I feel." [Alma 26:12-16]


 "Shall we not go on in so great a cause? Go forward and not backward. Courage, brethren; and on, on to the victory!" [D&C 128:22]

Onward, ever onward.  

Sister Jones 

The time is far spent....

HOLY CRICKET so much has happened this week.  soooo here we go. 

The weather here is probably even warmer than it is in Utah, so that's cool.  It has been so nice.  And icy.  I almost made it the whole winter without slipping.....thennnn i actually slipped.  and almost did the splits.  it was pretty graceful if you can imagine...hahahh.  

anywho onto the actually important things:

We got a media referral!!! Sharlene!  And she's AMAZING.  I have never received so many media referrals until I came to this area.  We also received two more today that we're going to go see.  but anyways cool story about contacting Sharlene: We went one morning to try to contact her, but nobody answered.  So on we went with the rest of our day.  Nothing was really working out, so finally we decided to try this other lady, Sister Heck (yes her last name really is Heck. :)) and we put her address into the GPS and so we went!  We reach the destination....and guess what apartment complex we were at....SHARLENE'S.  so yeah it was pretty inspired.  Heavenly Father just led us back to her, so we knocked on her door again and her fiance, William answered and told us she was in the hospital.  So we went and taught her and she's so solid!  They have both been taught by missionaries back in Africa and also gone to church before!  She's so wonderful.  

We had supper with this family from JAMAICA and it was so awesome, wanna know why??  ELDER BOYER THIS IS FOR YOU!  When Brother Allen was on his mission, he opened Junction for missionary work!  :) they had a ton of opposition and persecution from the people there, they all thought mormons were from the devil and what not....but here's this super cool miracle:  Apparently, there had been about a 26 month drought in the area, and they desperately needed rain.  But nobody thought it would rain again.  The elders felt inspired and told everyone that now that they, the mormons, were there, that God would make it rain for them.  And a few days later, IT RAINED!!!  And everyone listened to them after that.  Our God is a God of miracles!!! :)  

We had exchanges, and I went to Sturgeon with Sister Andrus who is such a spiritual giant.  Basically all our plans fell through and we weren't sure what to do.  So we felt like going to the library to print off a talk for a less active we would see later in the day.  We went, and the guy at the front desk asked us about what kind of relief our church has for people in need.  So we told him and then he introduced us to Jonathan!  He needs a lot of help temporally, but we were able to sit down with him at the library and meet his spiritual needs.  We mostly just listened to him tell us all the trials he has had in his life and his experiences, then we taught him about the atonement of Jesus Christ.   The spirit was SOOO strong, there was no denying it.  Then Jonathan said, "I know this sounds crazy, but I feel like I have been sitting here with you two before, talking about these things.  It all just feels so familiar."  He had met with elders before, but wasn't very interested.  but he told us that now he knows it's what he needs to do.  And that God has given him another chance, he won't let this one go by.  It was all in all just really awesome.  And Sister Andrus is such a great missionary.  She just follows the spirit so well.  

I just wanted to share a scripture I found in my studies this week that just blew my mind and made me so happy:

9 [God] hath saved us, and called us with an holy calling, not according to our works, but according to his own purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began,

 10 But is now made manifest by the appearing of our Saviour Jesus Christ, who hath abolished death, and hath brought life and immortality to light through the gospel:

11 Where unto I am appointed a preacher, and an apostle, and a teacher of the Gentiles.

 12 For the which cause I also suffer these things: nevertheless I am not ashamed: for I know whom I have believed, and am persuaded that he is able to keep that which I have committed unto him against that day.

2 Timothy 1:9-12

We were sent here to this earth with a purpose. Our Father knew us and he knew what we would go through while here on earth. Although God's eternal plan applies to all his children, we each have a plan that is just for us. There are specific things that He has sent you here to do.

I just love this gospel. I love the mission. I love the Lord!

Onward, ever onward.

Sister Jones